Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (30 August 2007)

0:08 Thanks Chad. Report an error in the passage at 0:08 Highlight the passage at 0:08

0:17 So welcome. My name is Chokyi and I am Chokyi. I'll say it slowly. Chokyi. It sort of sounds like cookie, like, except it's not. But it's, I mean, that's the way Americans tend to pronounce it and that's absolutely fine. It's better than Chokyi, which some people say, or Chucky, and it's not neither of those. Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:36 So let's go with Chokyi. I think the Tibetans actually say Chokyi, but we don't really have that in English. It's a little more French. It means Ch is Dharma and Ki is Joy. So it means Joy of the Dharma. It's a Tibetan name. And I'm the program coordinator here. So I figure out and invite and set up all the classes and the different activities that we do. And I teach two nights a week. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

1:04 And tonight's class, just like they always say when you get on a plane, right? Tonight's class is presenting the path. If you don't want to be in this class, you should probably get on a different plane. Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

1:15 And it's a great class because it's going to be going through, basically it'll give you sort of the cream or the essence of the whole Buddhist path in a seven week class. Report an error in the passage at 1:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15

1:28 And it's also going to go into the Buddha's life story a little bit. So it's kind of a nice place to start if you haven't taken Buddhist classes before. And if you have, for those of you who have taken Buddhist classes before, it's also a great place to go deeper in because we're going to talk about the three principal aspects of the path are what's called renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28

1:52 And so none of those are necessarily baby topics. There are topics that we're going to go into over and over and over again in the stages of the path. So I always start every class with a meditation, and part of it is giving us all a little break from whatever stuff we've all just been doing, all the work or study or activities or parking or driving or walking or bus rides. Report an error in the passage at 1:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52

2:24 Conversations or eating or whatever we've all just been doing. And it allows us to just like come into the room and really be present. So let's just start with that. And all meditation really means is calming your mind a little bit. So what we're really doing is we're starting with a meditation, our breath, that just allows us to calm our mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:49 And then we'll sort of contemplate a little bit. In this tradition, we start with meditation on the breath to try to sharpen the tool of our mind and then we apply that tool to something else. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:07 So the first thing that you do is kind of do a body scan. You might see where you're holding tension and try to release a little of that tension. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:21 If you hold tension in your shoulders or your neck, you might allow yourself a couple of stretches. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:36 And a really nice way to start is just to take three nice deep cleansing breaths. So really fill up your belly and your chest and then just let it release. Imagining with each breath that comes in, you're cleansing away, sort of washing away all the day, leaving behind everything you've just been doing. Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

3:58 And then with each out breath, you're just letting go of that. So every in-breath brings you more present and every out-breath you let go of whatever might distract you or keep you from being here. Then Report an error in the passage at 3:58 Highlight the passage at 3:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:43 we'll just review the posture for those of you that are not familiar with meditation. We'll get some information tonight. And those of you that are can just let your mind scan your body. The most important element of the posture for any meditation is to keep your spine really straight, extended. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:07 And this will shift during a long meditation, which we won't be doing. So it's something that one part of your mind always should be aware of where your spine is because the spine can kind of crumple as the meditation goes on. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:24 So you just kind of imagine it being like a line going up your spinal column and out the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:36 In this tradition, your hands are in your lap, right over left with the thumbs touching lightly. You can have them at the level just below your navel or just rest them in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:53 If it feels more comfortable, you can also have them on your knees. Report an error in the passage at 5:53 Highlight the passage at 5:53

6:02 And although the Buddha taught that it was really good to have your legs crossed in full Vajra position, what's called Vajra position, or even half. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:13 I think it's fine for our purposes just to have your legs in a position that feel comfortable for you. And if you're in a chair, just move to the front of the chair so you're not leaning on the back. It's too easy to kind of fall asleep, especially late in the day. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:35 Your chin is just slightly tucked under. This allows a space on the back of the neck. Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

6:46 You can have your eyes lightly closed or you can try having them open and unfocused. Just looking at the carpet a few feet in front of you. The Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

7:03 tongue is positioned on the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth and Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:11 that allows your mouth to stay moist without having to swallow so much. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:32 Shoulders are back just a little bit and level. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:39 And one point that's not listed but sometimes helps me a little bit is to kind of find where my sits bone hit the cushion and just be aware of that. So it might require a little roll of your lower back. The Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

7:59 final point is your breath, just allowing your breath to be natural, not making it any more exaggerated, not expanding your belly and so forth as you're watching your breath. Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

8:11 You're just watching, you're just being aware of what is without any changes. Report an error in the passage at 8:11 Highlight the passage at 8:11

8:34 So just start with watching our breath and you just have your level of awareness at either of the following three places. You can decide to place your awareness at your belly and the expansion and contraction of your stomach with each breath. Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:53 Or you can have it at the level of your chest with your lungs expanding, contracting. Or at the level of your nostril. But don't move around, just pick one. Report an error in the passage at 8:53 Highlight the passage at 8:53

9:06 just remember that each in-breath, each breath is It's completely unique. It's not at all like the one before it. You'll never see it again. Report an error in the passage at 9:06 Highlight the passage at 9:06

9:20 And also you can remember if it helps to let go of any distractions by your sounds, you know, that we have around us. This isn't the quietest center. Street sounds, sounds in the building, people coming in because people could come in still, or craziness in your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:46 You just keep placing your awareness back on the breath. And with each out-breath, you just imagine letting go of those distractions. And with each in-breath, just like we did in the beginning, you just bring in this fresh awareness, this presence, without any judgment. You just bring it back. We'll do this for a few minutes. Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

· · · silence, 4 minutes

14:09 We'll just begin by setting our motivation for this class and for this course, since it's the first night. So Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:22 you can begin by imagining yourself surrounded by... All living beings. You can start with your parents of this life on either side of you. Your friends behind you. And the people you find sort of challenging in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:41 And all the other strangers. People we don't know spreading out in all directions. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

14:59 And we can think about some of the suffering that we see just in our own lives. The suffering that we have and suffering that people close to us have. Suffering we see at our jobs, on the streets. In the news. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:23 And think about how unbearable it is for us to see this pain day after day and how much we want to relieve it, could take it away. Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

15:34 I think how amazing it would be to be able to bring happiness to all those beings, to remove their suffering. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:49 Try to imagine this wish for the happiness of all beings, the wish to remove their suffering as something almost physical inside you. Report an error in the passage at 15:49 Highlight the passage at 15:49

16:04 Imagine it like a glowing white light in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:11 I feel it filling you up and warming you until you're glowing with this powerful wish. And Report an error in the passage at 16:11 Highlight the passage at 16:11

16:23 imagine this warm glowing light pouring out of your pores and spreading out of you and encircling all the beings surrounding you, filling each one of them with all they need for happiness and removing every trace of their pain and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:56 Imagine it spreading out as far as your mind's eye can see until every living being is filled with bliss, empowered by your bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:13 And just rest for a moment with that connection with all beings and that awareness of them. And Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:25 when it starts to fade, you just come back into your own awareness, being in this class on your cushion. And try to feel real joy that we're able to come together and begin this class right now. Report an error in the passage at 17:25 Highlight the passage at 17:25

17:42 To learn the steps to being able to attain these levels of awareness and the ability to help all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:42 Highlight the passage at 17:42

17:57 So I motivate this class tonight to each one of us being able to do this. To learn whatever it takes to help others and to do it well. To do it perfectly. Just like the Buddha. And may it begin here. You Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:27 can end your meditation. And we'll start with opening prayers. Report an error in the passage at 18:27 Highlight the passage at 18:27

18:36 And in front of you should be a little white booklet. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

18:42 And on page 8 of that booklet is a little prayer that His Holiness says a lot. And I tend to use it as an opening prayer. It helps us really set this mind of bodhicitta that we'll learn more about in this class. Report an error in the passage at 18:42 Highlight the passage at 18:42

19:06 We'll do it three times. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion. Today, in the Buddhist presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:40 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

20:13 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Until I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 20:13 Highlight the passage at 20:13

20:49 Okay, thanks and welcome. Report an error in the passage at 20:49 Highlight the passage at 20:49

20:58 So like I said, my name is Chokyi. It's actually Lobsang Chokyi. I usually go by Chokyi. And we'll take a moment during tonight's class to kind of go around and introduce ourselves and say, don't worry, it's not like you have to give like a half hour presentation or something, but just to say who you are and kind of why you're here. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:16 And during the course of tonight's class especially, I'll kind of talk a little bit about my own background and how it connects with this. And so I won't really spend that much time right now doing that. Report an error in the passage at 21:16 Highlight the passage at 21:16

21:32 But I will talk a little bit about some of the logistics of the class tonight. And so we'll talk about that and you guys will get a syllabus. We decided to do slightly different. Normally we do up a bunch of binders that have like all the readings. And we decided we always get it wrong because we don't know how many people are going to show up. Report an error in the passage at 21:32 Highlight the passage at 21:32

21:49 So we end up with way too many or not nearly enough. So we decided. To wait and find out how many people were going to do the class and then we'll have them for you at the next class. So that's the way we'll do it. And it's probably the way we'll do it from now on, I think, because we just need to get it so wrong. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:06 So it's like the one certainty in life. So this class will meet Thursday nights at 7 through October 25th. There are two weeks that we will not have a class. One of them is next week. I couldn't figure out how else to do this because we start getting into holiday stuff in November and December and I was trying to work out the number of weeks. Report an error in the passage at 22:06 Highlight the passage at 22:06

22:31 So I had to start and even though we'll have a break of a week and then come again so we lose a little bit of momentum, it was the one way to be able to fit the class in. So we have what's called Suk next week, which is a group practice that we do on the 15th. 15th and 25th of the Tibetan month, so of course it falls all over the place in our month, and then whenever it falls, we can't have a class. At some point when we have a larger center, this will not be a problem. Report an error in the passage at 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31

23:02 But right now, this is just kind of what happens. So we won't have class next week, so the next class that we will have will be in two weeks. So I'll try to give you enough things to think about during the time that you're away. You're welcome to come next week and just kind of watch. It's a bit much though if you haven't ever sat in through one. I remember the first couple times I sat, I was just kind of like, what is happening? Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:26 But it depends on everybody's personal karma with it, you know, because it's like cymbals and drums and chanting and all this stuff's happening. So it's a good show, but you know, you might not know what's going on. I mean, half of us don't know what's going on. And then the second night, and this is all going to be in your syllabus. Report an error in the passage at 23:26 Highlight the passage at 23:26

23:43 The second week that we won't have a class is on October the 11th. I decided to go see His Holiness, to receive teachings from His Holiness in New York City. And so we won't be having class that week. And otherwise it will be on Thursday nights. And this, like I said, this particular class... I don't know if I said it or not. This particular class will go through the Buddha's life story and especially how that can be seen in terms of our practice because it's actually, there are things that we can learn about our own practice just by looking at the overview of his life. Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

24:25 And also we'll go through getting a little bit of feedback. I don't know. Chad, can you take a second to peek at it? Or Tim? Luckily we have two techie guys in here. I always just play completely innocent because I tend to make it worse. I'll like twist some dial and like... Last night the recording computer completely crashed. Like completely crashed in the middle. I guess she was teaching. Like all those... Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:50 You know how in the Matrix like all those weird numbers showed up? It was all... I just kind of went... And Stephen was sitting right there and I just kind of went, Stephen! And he just quietly took it and fixed it and brought it back. It's great. Anyway, we're going to be using, I think, the computer you just gave us, Chad, for the recording computer. Report an error in the passage at 24:50 Highlight the passage at 24:50

25:12 So this class will be going through the entire, what's called the Graduated Path to Enlightenment, but in a condensed form. Report an error in the passage at 25:12 Highlight the passage at 25:12

25:23 What I'm going to use is what's called the three principle paths. It's a really small lamrim text. We'll talk about what lamrim means too. It's a really small lamrim text that was written by Lama Tsongkhapa, who is the center figure on the statues that are right there. He was the founder of this particular lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. So he wrote a number of lamrims or graduated paths to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:50 And, you know, varying from like one page through volumes and volumes. And we still use his today. And we'll talk a little bit about sort of historical context of this. He actually lived in the 1400s and we still use a lot of his text today. So he wrote a little text that was called The Three Principle Paths. Report an error in the passage at 25:50 Highlight the passage at 25:50

26:12 And it's actually just a little... For us, it's just like a one-page text, and we're going to use that as what I'm calling our root text, and you guys will all get a copy of that, and we'll go through it. The main points of it are, as I'm saying, as I said before, renunciation, which is, we'll get into what it is and what it isn't, because people have baggage around that word, I think. Report an error in the passage at 26:12 Highlight the passage at 26:12

26:36 Bodhicitta, which is a Sanskrit word, so some of you, it may not mean anything to you, but basically means this incredibly brave, vast mind of compassion and love for all beings. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

26:50 And the correct view of emptiness, which basically has to do with the Buddha's teachings on the nature of reality. So those three will be the main point of our class. So each class will have a certain amount of presentation time and then also what I usually do is I'll start with the meditation and then I'll check in with you guys, you know, how did it go this week. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:13 So if you have questions about the reading or the homework, because I'm going to give you guys homework, meditation, we're going to talk about that in this class. And those of you who don't have a meditation practice, I'll give you a little cheat sheet on kind of how to get started. So that's usually when I'll usually start with that, kind of like, how did you guys do this week? Who has questions? And don't ever feel like your question's really stupid, because somebody else has it, I can guarantee you. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:40 It might be me. But you can ask your questions. If I don't know the answer, I'll do my best to get you the answer. But most likely, probably, I'll have some sort of answer for you. And if I don't, we have a really, really intelligent guy upstairs, Dukin Gashila, right above, our resident teacher. Not that you can run up and ask him, but we can make an appointment with you. The one thing that's good, it's one of the things with, especially with the Western teachers, but we've sort of gotten a little bit sloppy with Geshe-la too. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

28:14 We just sort of ask him questions whenever we feel like it. And it's really good to at least wait until I'm finished sort of. Completing, like if I'm saying I'm giving you one of the famous Galupa lists, the Galupa tradition is really known for its list, like ten of this and six of that and five of that or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:31 So giving one of those, like kind of wait to the end and then ask your question, unless it's such a burning question that you just can't breathe unless you have the answer to it. Or it's a clarifying question, like I missed number three, what was number three again? Or something like that, that's okay. But I tend to forget. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:50 Very easily where I am. So it's quite helpful for me not to just jump out with your question and just kind of hold it until it seems like an appropriate time. And I'll keep trying to ask, you know, anybody have any questions? Anybody have any questions? So that, you know, you have times to ask questions while time. Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:08 There's also a break. I try to give a break about two-thirds of the way through. And you can, you know, probably like a 10-minute, 15-minute break, probably 10 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 29:08 Highlight the passage at 29:08

29:19 A minute break and you can use the restroom at that point. You can also go into the cafe. You can shop in the bookstore. You can just hang out. You can just stretch, you know, whatever. You can also come up and ask me questions at that point that maybe you don't necessarily want broadcast or whatever. I'll try to take this off. So I'll try to remember if you... Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:41 Clearly, if you need to take a break at any other time, just go. That's fine. You don't have to ask me for permission to get up and leave. We're all grown-ups here. So just excuse yourself. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

29:53 I do want to make, speaking of the I'll broadcast it thing, we have a mic. And what we do here is we record everything onto this great little laptop that hopefully won't crash. And then we upload the classes to a website called archive.org. And so people anywhere in the world who are just like trying to find Buddhist teachings, which are not as available everywhere else as they are in the San Francisco Bay Area, can download. Report an error in the passage at 29:53 Highlight the passage at 29:53

30:23 And so when people ask questions, I ask them to speak into what we call the talking stick, the mic. And that's because if you're downloading a class and you're in, you know... Indiana or something, and somebody is going, and everyone's And you miss the question. It's very frustrating. So it's kind of annoying and it gets to be a little bit harping, but the reason is those The listeners at home will really appreciate having the full question. You don't have to necessarily give your name or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:57 You can disguise your voice if you'd like. I can't. They find me. I actually do get emails from literally around the world where people are downloading these classes. It's a very odd feeling, so I should be far more careful with what I say, too. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:14 But anyway, so that's the reasoning. It's not that we're trying to be annoying. It's really that we're trying to present as full a thought, a question, etc. for the people who listen to it and aren't here and need the whole experience. So about the homework, I do assign homework. The homework is always, well, it could be one of three things. It's always reading. I would say there's always Selma reading, not very much. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:44 And there's always some meditation. And actually I would say probably there's always meditation and there's most of the time reading. At some point we may not have, you may have a week off from reading. And then sometimes there's just contemplation. There might be just some thought that came up in class. It's not a fully formed meditation, but it might be something to think about this week like that. Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

32:04 So I might just suggest a contemplation. And so... I would just like encourage and I know life is crazy. We all have jobs. We all like do a billion things. I mean, probably more than, you know, all the monks who used to study this and had far more time to give it attention than we seem to. But what makes you get a lot out of these classes is really contemplating it. It's not because it can stay kind of at the intellectual level. And what I'm trying to do is to help you guys get it at a gut level. Report an error in the passage at 32:04 Highlight the passage at 32:04

32:39 So that'll help you get it at a heart level. You'll definitely get it at a more profound level by doing the assignments. That being said, however, if you haven't done it, still come. Don't feel like, oh, I haven't done the reading in three weeks, I can't show up again. Just come, because actually probably the most powerful thing is just to come and listen to everybody else and be part of the discussions and that sort of thing. Report an error in the passage at 32:39 Highlight the passage at 32:39

33:04 You'll get a lot out of that. Even if you never crack a book. So that's cool. And there are a lot of ways to offer this class. There's like the complete package. And there's the whole program of Discovering Buddhism, which is made up of 14 modules. And this is actually the third of those 14 modules. We just finished the fourth. We kind of, I mean, right now on the Tuesday night, we're actually doing the fourth. I kind of did them a little bit out of order. Report an error in the passage at 33:04 Highlight the passage at 33:04

33:34 But basically we're trying to give them in order and then we start over again, which is what we've just done. And it takes about 18 months for us to go through all the classes. That doesn't mean that everybody's done all the required coursework. Most people are just coming for informational, I would say for mostly informational purposes. Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

33:56 And that's totally fine. And some people will just come to this one and then actually... How long has it been since you were here? So some people will come like maybe six months and then, you know, life happens and then you come back again and then life happens. Some people like Chad just like come to every single one. So it totally depends on you, you know, your life and how that is. And the same has happened with Jeff, right? Report an error in the passage at 33:56 Highlight the passage at 33:56

34:21 It's been a while since you did the last class that you did. I don't remember which one it was. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:29 Oh good, excellent, excellent, good. Yeah, we just had, Venerable Amy Miller just taught the first two again, so that was mind and how to meditate. So there are 14 modules, and you don't have to take them in order, and like I said, you can just pop in and do one class, then six months later decide to take another like that. Report an error in the passage at 34:29 Highlight the passage at 34:29

34:48 Or you can do them all in order, and you can do all the coursework, or you can do none of the coursework. Or you can just keep, like Tim keeps taking them over and over. And it's like that. I mean, what they're doing, the Discovering Buddhism program was actually designed, developed by the senior Western teachers in this particular group of centers and organizations. Report an error in the passage at 34:48 Highlight the passage at 34:48

35:17 That's called the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition. This center is a part of it, FPMT. It's much easier on the mouth. So they created this, but it's basically roughly following the lamrim. And so it's just like the lamrim that you could just keep taking these classes until you die, and every time you take them, you'll get something else out of them. Report an error in the passage at 35:17 Highlight the passage at 35:17

35:42 You could never go beyond these classes if you want to. You just keep taking them, especially if you take them from different teachers. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

35:50 This is now my second time teaching this series and I look at each class anew and kind of go, oh, why did I put that? Let's get rid of that and let's put this in. So it changes because my mind changes, my life experience changes, my knowledge changes, hopefully, because I'm receiving teachings of the Lamrim over and over and over. Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

36:11 And it's just a lifetime practice. It's not like you... Study the lamrim, these graduated steps to enlightenment, and then you graduate to something else. This is actually something that you'll continue to work with until you die. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who's my main teacher and the spiritual director of this center and all the centers in the FPMT, just recently gave me... Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:41 Sort of an assignment, my homework assignment, which is to be meditating on the lamrim every day, this topic for this long, this topic for this long, this topic for this long, and then when you get all the way through, and I think it ends up being like seven months or something to go through the whole thing, then you start over, and you keep doing it until you have realizations. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:02 So basically, I'm just looking at it as lifetime practice. So it's not like it's the baby. And then you get to grow up and get the more exciting and juicy stuff. When you grow up and you get the juicy stuff, you still keep looking at the lamrim. You keep working with the lamrim. It keeps coming through every other teaching that you get in Buddhism. So I can also give you guys, if anybody's interested in doing the Discovering Buddhism program for a certificate. Report an error in the passage at 37:02 Highlight the passage at 37:02

37:36 Which basically requires a little bit more reading than I'll probably assign and various other... Integration experiences like retreats and things like that. If you'd like to do that, I can also bring what are called the completion cards. And what you do is for each of the modules, you complete the completion cards and then I sign off or whoever the teacher is will sign off on it. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

38:02 And it just shows that you've done the reading, the meditations, that sort. And then you hold on to it. And then when you have all 14, then you mail it in to FPMT and you get this lovely certificate that's probably signed by Lama Zopa. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:14 If anybody's interested in that, then they can do that. I think it's a great program whether you do that or not. So at any level, it's a great, useful program that'll allow you to take any Buddhist class anywhere with a lot better foundation than if you just sort of showed up. So it should help you in Geshe-less classes and things like that. The whole purpose of... Report an error in the passage at 38:14 Highlight the passage at 38:14

38:42 The Discovering Buddhism program is to help you sort of develop the tools that will allow you to go deeper once you leave these and change your life. They actually allow you to have enough tools when you finish even just one class, much less all 14 modules. There's 13 classes and the last one is not a class, although I did a little class for it. Report an error in the passage at 38:42 Highlight the passage at 38:42

39:09 But you actually, the whole point of this series of classes is to really help you begin to transform your mind. So it's not really so much about getting grades, and of course I don't grade on anything in here, because how could you? But it's not about, as one teacher said, about making a bunch of Dharma monsters, which is his... Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:37 His definition of a Dharma monster is somebody who just collects a lot of Dharma information and it never allows it to transform their heart and their mind, and they just kind of become kind of Mr. Know-it-all, kind of, you know, and we've all met that. Actually, we sometimes call those the Dharma police, too. They'll tell you when you're doing it wrong, but they aren't necessarily allowing it to change their mind, their heart, their... Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

40:03 Um, connection with other people, you know, so it just becomes kind of this, this knowledge that they, you know, the class ends, they put the book on the shelf and that's it. Like their life, they aren't happier, you know, their life isn't necessarily better. They just are collecting a lot of ideas and calling it their practice. And that's really dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:21 So we want to make sure that we don't, we don't do that. We don't. And that's definitely not where I'm coming from. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:29 So if that being said, if somebody in the class is asking a question that seems like completely off topic, I might just suggest that maybe we talk about it on the break or I can set up a time for a cup of tea or something like that if it just feels like it's going to sort of take the class in a completely different way, direction than we have time for. Report an error in the passage at 40:29 Highlight the passage at 40:29

40:54 Or it might just be something that's just... It's not really going to benefit. And that's where I'm coming from. Because there's just so much knowledge in the world. There's so much. We just are so used to using our minds in that kind of way of just collecting a lot of data. We have a lot of sort of computer minds. And so we're just collecting more and more data. And so you can kind of get caught in that place. So sometimes I might kind of steer you back. Report an error in the passage at 40:54 Highlight the passage at 40:54

41:20 And that's where I'm coming from. And that's why it's just like, let's keep it to the most practical, usable. usable terms that we can. But I'm happy to talk about it offline if people want. You know, we can always make a date. I'm good for dates. I'm also very available for emails. So on the syllabus, I have my email address. You guys can all contact me. Send me simple questions. Send me detailed questions. Report an error in the passage at 41:20 Highlight the passage at 41:20

41:48 I have a couple of detailed ones sitting in my box right now. Thank goodness there are a couple of classes I can steer those people to. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

41:57 But yeah, it's totally fine. And it's also sometimes easier, especially when you're new to, you know, in the privacy of your own home, just type out all the questions that you think people will think are really stupid if you have. So email is sometimes a really great way to connect and get your questions answered. The whole age of email has made this easier. Report an error in the passage at 41:57 Highlight the passage at 41:57

42:18 If you know you're going to miss a class or if you do miss a class, either through being sick or traveling or business or whatever. Let me know and I can send you my notes from the class and the homework so you don't fall behind and so forth. So that way you can kind of keep up. And my notes are pretty complete because I always get very, very nervous talking in front of a group of people so I always have everything right here. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:44 I may not get to it during the course of the class but it's all here. So actually you might get more out of it by not coming to the class. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

42:53 A little something about the lineage of these teachings. The Buddha actually lived and taught 2,600 years ago, I think, something like 26. Gisela always knows it to the date. It's like 26, 48 years ago or something like that. And he'll correct Tenzin Lama if he's like off a year, you know. Report an error in the passage at 42:53 Highlight the passage at 42:53

43:19 And it flourished in India actually after his passing away for a long time, more than 1,500 years. And then it began to die out due to a number of forces. But fortunately for us it spread to a number of other Asian countries. And then of course every time it spread it slightly changed. So it spread to Tibet where it has a completely different look than it does in Sri Lanka. Report an error in the passage at 43:19 Highlight the passage at 43:19

43:49 Thailand and Japan and China and so forth. This particular lineage made it to Tibet for the first time. There was two sort of flourishings of the Dharma in Tibet. The first time was with a teacher or a master by the name of Guru Rinpoche. Also his name was Padmasambhava. He's called Guru Rinpoche a lot. He lived from 730 to 805. Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

44:18 So quite a while ago. And he brought it to Tibet. And this is actually the beginning of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, which is kind of the best known, I think, of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It's the oldest tradition of Buddhism in Tibet. The glukpas are the babies. They're the youngest tradition. So then, according to our tradition, it began to degenerate a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:50 And I can only teach from our tradition because that's really the only tradition of Buddhism that I know, to be perfectly honest. And so some teachers went and found a great master by the name of Lama Atisha. Atisha was a master at a university called Nalanda, which was based near Bodhgaya in India. And flourished for many, many, many hundreds of years. Now it's completely ruined. You can see the ruins. The ruins are still there. It's quite inspiring to see the ruins because you can see how vast it was and what an amazing place it must have been in its time. Report an error in the passage at 44:50 Highlight the passage at 44:50

45:31 So they came and they got him. And there's a whole story about that. But they brought him to Tibet to reintroduce and clarify the Buddhism that was there. And he lived from 982 to 1054. So he was coming right around the time of the first millennium, the year 1000. Report an error in the passage at 45:31 Highlight the passage at 45:31

45:54 Now he's the one who, at the student's request in Tibet, wrote the first lamrim. The first graduated path to enlightenment. And we still read that. I mean, that's still, it's been translated into English. It's for sale. It's available. It's called The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. I think there's probably several translations of it. And then that actually is the basis for a number of these other lamrims. Report an error in the passage at 45:54 Highlight the passage at 45:54

46:26 And so he's the one who sort of started the whole ball game as far as we're concerned. And like I said, his teachings are still quite popular in Tibet and here and in Tibetan Buddhism as it comes to the West. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:43 He taught that there are three main components that were really, really emphasized, and they are still emphasized, I think, in Tibetan Buddhism. Devotion, analysis and absorption. And that's a very different... Three main components then you'll find in say the Thai forest tradition or some of the other traditions of Buddhism that still survive. Report an error in the passage at 46:43 Highlight the passage at 46:43

47:12 The devotion especially is a big one that's really different. You see much more of that discussion in Tibetan Buddhism than you do in some of the other lineages of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:28 But in terms of the lamrim, in terms of the graduated path to enlightenment, all four of the main traditions from Buddhism have some form of a lamrim. It'll all be slightly different in terms of order. And what I'll be teaching you guys is based on the Galupa lamrim, but they all have a lamrim and a lot of it is based on Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 47:28 Highlight the passage at 47:28

47:54 So then after Lama Atisha... Before he passed away, of course, he had some very deep disciples, very dedicated disciples, and they started a tradition that's called the Kadampa tradition, and now we sort of call it the old Kadampas because there's a tradition that's now called the new Kadampas that really has nothing to do with the Galup. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:22 They kind of broke away in the 20th century, actually. But this is a group that really took the Buddhist instructions, the Buddhist teachings as personal advice. So whatever the Buddha taught, they just took it to heart. If it said something like, you know, meditate on this, they would just give up everything and go off and meditate in a cave. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:45 I mean, they were quite... Diehard radical. They're sort of my personal heroes. They're just pretty amazing beings. And you've heard, I'm sure, if you've been around Buddhism at all, some of their teachings. They actually created what's called the mind training teachings, the Lojong teachings, that Emily is teaching on Friday night, a text from that, the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. Report an error in the passage at 48:45 Highlight the passage at 48:45

49:14 They, they, um, Anyway, so they're just kind of known for their earnestness of practice and their sort of almost radical approach to the teachings of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:30 And so they actually, this school actually practiced for the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. And then from them... Came what's called the Galupa lineage. So we didn't come around, this particular lineage didn't come around until Lama Tsongkhapa came. And then he was born in 1357. He actually created the Galupa tradition. It was originally called the New Kadampas. Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

50:00 So it was based on that tradition. And so that's why it's the newest. It was around 14, actually a little bit before 1400. He was a student of the Sakya tradition as well. So he continued to work with Atisha Islamrim, and he actually wrote more than 10,000 pages of commentary on it. He was an incredible scholar as well as a yogi. He spent many years in retreat as well. But he's really known as being quite the scholar. Report an error in the passage at 50:00 Highlight the passage at 50:00

50:35 And he started monasteries and things like that. And as I said before, he took the lamrim and he wrote like volumes on it and then he also then, you know, at students' requests, you know, especially because he sent out some of his students to various parts of Tibet to sort of tame the... The wild Tibetans. And so they would write back and they would say, can you please write something smaller? Can you please write something shorter that I can teach these people? Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

51:02 And so then he basically got around to writing this very, very short text, which we're going to use. Which of course is great for our wild minds as well, so we have a lot in common with those wild Tibetans. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:17 So the briefest one is the three principle paths. Um... And then in our lineage also, there was a great master that was called Pabanka Rinpoche who lived all the way until 1941. Report an error in the passage at 51:17 Highlight the passage at 51:17

51:32 He taught a very famous, profound commentary on the lamrim in 1921. It was a 24-day teaching, and that teaching was written down by one of his disciples, who was Trijong Rinpoche, I believe. Wrote it all down, who was the junior tutor of the present Dalai Lama. Wrote it all down and that became Liberation the Palm of Your Hand, which is still one of our most famous forms of the Lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

52:07 And also one of the required readings if you, you don't have to read the whole book for this class, but the different days, the different topics are discussed. It's on your syllabus. Report an error in the passage at 52:07 Highlight the passage at 52:07

52:18 If you decide to do the whole Discovering Buddhism program, like a different day will be for each class, you know, because it's 24 days. So it's like some of the classes have, you know, one day and some of them have two days from this teaching. Basically, he covers like, it's sort of like if you're going to be, you know, stranded on a desert island. Or I always think, you know, if you were going to be locked up somewhere, like this would be a great one to have. Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

52:43 It's sort of the... What do you call it? Encyclopedia. It's just got a lot of incredible information. It's a really good resource. There are a couple of translations of this. There's another one that's called Liberation in Your Hands that actually ended up, after they translated it, as three volumes. Report an error in the passage at 52:43 Highlight the passage at 52:43

53:01 So it's quite pithy. It's not like a good read that you're going to read overnight. But it's also a good resource, depending on how serious you get. And it is, like I said, one of the required readings for this class. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:17 And he's in our direct lineage. Pavanka Rinpoche, as I said, he's actually the root guru of a couple of lamas in our direct lineage, Trijong Rinpoche being one who, of course, became the guru for His Holiness, who became the guru for a number of teachers, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche. And myself. And he also was the root guru of Riba Rinpoche, who just passed away a few years ago. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:50 He was an amazing master, one of my teachers, and quite a practitioner of bodhicitta, all the teachings on bodhicitta. Just an amazing, I mean, you just looked at his smile and he just broke your heart. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

54:05 And he was a direct disciple of Bhavanka Rinpoche and also then, of course, became the guru of some of my gurus. And so it just continues down. That's one of the exciting elements of, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, just because I know that one the best, but that our lineage is a living lineage. It's still alive. It goes back. We can trace it back to the Buddha. And often when you receive teachings, I spend a little time on this because this is kind of, The way I learn it, but whenever like, even Geshe-la does this, but definitely His Holiness will spend some time saying, I received these teachings from blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 54:05 Highlight the passage at 54:05

54:44 And of course, I'm always writing it down and I never know the name. It's like I don't recognize the person's name and I'm just like, well, who did he say? What did he say? Because he tells you the lineage, you know, I received this and I also received this from him and blah, blah, blah. And he received it from blah, blah, blah. And he tries to tell you the lineage. Now he knows some of us are just sitting there, you know, we just kind of came because he's cool. But, you know. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:04 The people in the front row, those old gaches in the front row, they want to know this stuff. They want to know what his lineage is and where he got this because then it becomes their part of the lineage. And you guys now are part of the lineage in as much as you're taking this class and you're receiving these teachings through me as I receive them from my teachers. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:22 So that's why it is important to know a little something about where it all comes from. I'm not just making it all up. I'm trying to the best of my ability to give you what I got. From my teachers and so those are my teachers and it comes down to you. So just a little something about my background and my connection and my teachers. Report an error in the passage at 55:22 Highlight the passage at 55:22

55:44 My first, my main teacher for, my main teacher, my main teachers for the Lamrim have been my, my. The main spiritual teacher is Lama Zopa Rinpoche, but also Geshe Michael Roach. When I first started studying in 96, I took a number, 96, 97, 98, I took a number of Lamrim classes from him. I also attended a couple of month-long courses at Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, and the teacher of those courses both times was Venerable Neela. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

56:22 Houston, Tipton Dundrup, who's an Australian monk of many, many years, incredible, very humble teacher, who went through the whole lamrim as much as he could, considering. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:36 And so I consider him a main teacher of the lamrim as well. Of course, Benamuri Rinpoche, who I just mentioned. Chuddin Rinpoche, who's my abbot, who's based in San Jose now. Kirtysencha Rinpoche, who just passed away last December. Rubina. Those of you who know Venerable Rubina, who is based here and runs the prison project and happens to be amazingly teaching a week from Saturday here, and a number of others. Report an error in the passage at 56:36 Highlight the passage at 56:36

57:02 So that's my particular lineage in both Tibetan and Western teachers. My relationship with this topic of the three principal paths... Um. Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:19 Probably the most exciting thing when I first connected with Tibetan Buddhism, and like I said, I didn't really spend any time with anything else, so I think I must have had strong karma with Tibetan Buddhism. I never really checked out Zen, I never really checked out Vipassanā or some of the other traditions, although I know of them and I respect them. Report an error in the passage at 57:19 Highlight the passage at 57:19

57:39 I just didn't connect for whatever reason. But I really, really appreciated this whole methodical path of you study these lamrim teachings, you meditate on these things, then you go to the next one, you meditate on that, and you get enlightened. It's basically like this guidebook. I had come from a Christian background. I was raised in a Christian family, a Lutheran family. Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

58:08 I respected Christ. I think Christ was a very amazing being and had very amazing qualities. And there were a number of sort of saints that I admired, like St. Francis and so forth. But I don't remember seeing how you became like them. Like I couldn't, there wasn't like a guidebook that you did this, this and this and you got to be Christ. Report an error in the passage at 58:08 Highlight the passage at 58:08

58:28 It wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like St. Francis is all these things and all you have to do is meditate on this and this and this and this and you get to be him too. That's how Buddhism is really, really different. The Buddha didn't pop in like this. He wasn't born made of light with all these qualities and incredible compassion and wisdom and all this stuff and power. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:54 He was crazy like we are. He had delusions. He had depression. He had anger. He had frustration. He had all these kind of crazy monkey mind that we do. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:05 And through figuring out, you know, through different practices and through diligence and incredible hard work, it's not to say that, you know, it was handed to him, but he figured out how to transcend that. He figured out that it's possible to remove all of those delusions. They aren't part of our mind inherently, which is really comforting. Report an error in the passage at 59:05 Highlight the passage at 59:05

59:32 And he... Um, um, He was able then to teach us the steps to remove them ourselves. Basically, I mean, that's sort of his basic teaching is I will teach you the method and then it's up to you what you do with it. You know, he wasn't a big one for forcing anybody. He's very, very big on check up, check up, check up, you know, check up. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

59:56 So it's not like you just buy it all because the Buddha said so. Or because you think the Buddha is really neat. Or even because you like the teacher. Well, she's pretty nice. I think I'll believe it. It's not like that at all. The Buddha was really big on that. You don't just buy it all. You meditate on it. You think about it. You try to check it up with your life experience. Report an error in the passage at 59:56 Highlight the passage at 59:56

1:00:18 Does this make sense? So you're supposed to be analyzing all of it all the time. You're not just accepting it lock, stock and barrel. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:27 So, um... In terms of the three principal aspects of the path, my relationship with the first principal aspect of the path, which is renunciation, probably came first. I did a three-month retreat way before I was ready, which is, I think, the normal approach in the West. We all think we're ready far before we are. And I panicked. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:58 Like, you know, almost immediately. And so I started, you know, it was a Vajrasafra retreat, which is a purification aspect of the Buddha. And so you're doing a practice where you're basically purifying a lot of negative karma, but you're doing visualizations. I mean, it is, in a sense, tantra, even though it's not. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:18 It wasn't highest yoga tantra. And it was a group retreat. And, of course, when it's a group retreat, you think everybody else has got it figured out. Because they all look so calm, right? You know, they all have this and they all sit quietly, you know. And so I'm just sure, and I was in the back row, so you could just see, like all the calmness. And I, of course, it just like, it just felt like, you know, it's just my mind was so loud that they were going to ask me to leave, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:43 And so then I thought, okay, I need to really study the lamrim more. I had just come from, to give myself a little credit, I had done, you know, I had studied the lamrim a little bit. So I knew to study it more. So I really relied a lot on studying the Lamrim throughout that retreat, even sometimes during the sadhana, during the visualization, having the Lamrim open in front of me, which they actually say is fine to do if your mind just can't hold the visualization. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:43 Highlight the passage at 1:01:43

1:02:14 So I found that really, really comforting and profound, actually. And then, of course, leapt into my first solo retreat, which was a six-week retreat, which is even more horrifying because then you know you can't blame it on anybody else around you. It's just your own mind. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who kindly gave me instructions to meditate on death and impermanence every day, I did the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:14 Highlight the passage at 1:02:14

1:02:39 I just began, you know, I realized about a third of the way through with it that I was in over my head. I went and got all the lamrim books out of the library. I was at Copan. I was in strict silence and just began to study them and read them and incorporate those meditations into my sessions. And it became so profound, so much more profound, because I really, it was just way too early for me to be attempting to do anything more, you know, more Tantra-y than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:39 Highlight the passage at 1:02:39

1:03:08 Um, so The shift after those few retreats, I had actually went and spent quite a bit of time in India and Nepal because it was a cheap place to do retreat and study. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:08 Highlight the passage at 1:03:08

1:03:23 And sort of the result of that time was deciding to get ordained, which outwardly is a manifestation of renunciation. I can tell you that not everybody wearing these robes, myself included, is a fully renounced being. You call us renunciates, but it doesn't mean that we don't have our attachments to certain things like our favorite foods, our chocolate, or various things like that, that if we were fully renounced we wouldn't care about. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:23 Highlight the passage at 1:03:23

1:03:55 But it's an outward manifestation of renunciation, and it's definitely... Due to the time that I spent studying the lamrim in retreat as well as in formal study sessions. And renunciation sometimes has this, and we'll talk about it more when we are spending entire classes on renunciation, but it's not really about giving up things. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:55 Highlight the passage at 1:03:55

1:04:17 And I think that there is that view of it in the West. The word renunciation has a lot of, like I said, baggage. It's actually about recognizing the condition that the Buddha taught. that we are in, and we'll talk about that more. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:17 Highlight the passage at 1:04:17

1:04:35 So it's both of those things. It's sort of recognizing this situation that we're in and then realizing that we don't have to settle for this dinky ice cream crone. We can go for the full, you know, banana split. So it's not so much about giving up. all the good things and, you know, wearing a hair shirt and, you know, whipping ourselves and sitting in a dark room or something like that. It's not, renunciation isn't about What you're renouncing is this cycle of suffering that the Buddha taught that we keep being born into due to karma and delusions. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:05:15 And so we're deciding, wait a second, I'm fed up with this. There's something else better. The Buddhas are out there because they were able to transcend this. I want to do that too. So it's like, it's that kind of... It's actually a very active kind of mind where you're wanting to get past it. The second of the three principal paths is bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:15 Highlight the passage at 1:05:15

1:05:35 And this one I connected with when I was part of this study that was done through UCLA that was called the compassion training. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:35 Highlight the passage at 1:05:35

1:05:50 I was I I still remember actually getting the email that requested that I'd be part of it and I thought, I actually literally thought I'd come to the wrong place. I called up international office and I said, well, something's wrong because for some reason I think I can meditate. I actually said that because I just thought, well, there's, you know, clearly they have the wrong person and there's probably another Chokyi that they're trying to send this to and I just want you to know that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:14 And they were like, no, no, Rinpoche says it's you, you know. So I actually think in retrospect that it was just skillful means. On Rinpoche's part where he just wanted me to try to figure out, at that point I was the director of the center. I was the director of the center for two and a half years, right after I got ordained, just to make things lively. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:33 And I think he was trying to show me that it was, first of all, very important to maintain a serious sitting practice during that time period, because this particular training you had to agree to meditate quite a bit. Like in retrospect, I'm just like, how did I even do that? But you just did it because you said you would, you know, so you're like trying to be the good kid, you know. And it was like Rinpoche wanted you to. So you just try to figure out this whole way to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:07:01 But you were meditating on these steps. They're very, very precise steps to develop this mind of bodhicitta, which, as I said, is this, like, it's huger than the most. Just think of the time that you have had the most compassion and love for one being in your entire life and then multiply it by all living beings. It's like beyond what we can even think of. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:01 Highlight the passage at 1:07:01

1:07:25 It's this amazing mind. And then, like that's not even enough, then based on that mind you decide that the only way I can help these beings is by becoming a Buddha. That's the only way. And so I'm going to give all of my energy. To doing this, no matter what it takes or how long it takes or how difficult. So there's this mind of universal, they call it universal responsibility or altruistic intention or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

1:07:56 And that's the only reason that we're supposed to become Buddhas. And really the only reason we ever can become a Buddha. You can't just become a Buddha because it's really neat and you get to be made of light and you get to do these different things and manifest in different forms. Like, that's not enough, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:56 Highlight the passage at 1:07:56

1:08:12 You're doing it because of this mind where it's really the most effective way to help all beings. Like there's no way that you can help all beings other than that. And so you reach that mind. So I was meditating on this quite a bit during that time period. And then they hooked us all up. And I think somehow it must not have gone anywhere because I never heard any results from it. I think it was just all some scam. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:42 I think Rinpoche just figured out this whole thing. He probably hired the people to pretend like they were from UCLA. And I never heard what happened to it, but that didn't matter. It actually had a profound effect on my mind, not that I developed bodhicitta, but just in terms of my understanding what bodhicitta is. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:01 And having this amazing respect about it and knowing that for the rest of this life and hopefully for all of my lives, I dedicate myself to this mind. It's this amazing mind and there's so much courage to it. It's so huge. So it's not like any kind of like, you know, wimpy, passive mind of, you know, sometimes I think pacifism can get this really bum rap. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:30 You step to the side and let people walk all over you. It's not that at all. You're actually willing to take on any suffering at all if it will benefit, which is hugely brave. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:30 Highlight the passage at 1:09:30

1:09:44 Bodhicitta is an incredible mind, and we'll spend at least one whole class on that one. You know, so it's Report an error in the passage at 1:09:44 Highlight the passage at 1:09:44

1:09:51 And emptiness is the last one. Emptiness I actually related to first. The very first Buddhist teaching I think I ever received was oddly from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, even though I had no connection with them at that point. Although we all know that nothing is a coincidence. But a friend of mine, a very good friend of mine, came back and was named the director of Vajrapani Institute. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:16 She had been traveling in India and Nepal and had connected with Rinpoche. He said, in his style, now you go and you direct the center in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She had never been there. They didn't know her from Adam. So she just came and directed the center for three years. And I just came down and visited. And she said, well, there's this great Lama in town. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:16 Highlight the passage at 1:10:16

1:10:39 You want to come see him? And I was like, sure, that's great. You know, I mean, I had been reading about Buddhism at that point for a little while. I had seen Thich Nhat Hanh, I think, so it probably wasn't my first teaching. And it was at St. Mary's. And I remember her saying, don't have any expectation. Don't have any expectation at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:39 Highlight the passage at 1:10:39

1:11:00 And I said something about, I said something about coughing, too. Oh, I think my neighbor at that point was coughing and it was like bugging me and she said, oh, that's a bad sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:11 And if you meet Rinpoche, you'll know he has this little, like, he clears his throat. He had, what do you call it, what is the, tuberculosis, yeah, TB, yeah, when he was in India in the refugee camps. And so, but I think it's, again, skillful means, because he'll do that, and like literally people, she had warned me, she said, yeah, he does tend to clear his throat and he coughs and things, and so I was like, okay, well, whatever, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11:11

1:11:42 And I'm just sitting there, you know, and I'm just thinking, oh, this is great. This is fine. I have no idea what he's talking about. He's talking about the emptiness of this and this is just existing in this way. And I'm not understanding it, but I'm just like, that's cool. People were getting up and walking out. It was like these extreme reactions to him. And I'm just kind of like, yeah, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:42 Highlight the passage at 1:11:42

1:12:00 Yeah, cool. Okay. So that was my first introduction to emptiness. There wasn't a whole lot of connection. It wasn't like, you know, when you hear these stories of like llamas long ago, when they first see their llama, they burst into tears. And no, it wasn't like that. I was kind of like, yeah, whatever. I didn't connect with them again for like probably five more years. Four more years, I guess. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:00 Highlight the passage at 1:12:00

1:12:22 But I did receive some teachings on the diamond cutter. Sūtra from Geshe Michael in 97, right after I took, right, 96, right after I took lay vows and bodhisattva vows. And that class alone just blew me out of the water. My understanding of emptiness, which at that point was even more minuscule than it is right now, just completely changed my life direction. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:22 Highlight the passage at 1:12:22

1:12:48 I was studying to be a midwife and I just... I just decided, no, this is what I want to do with my life. I didn't decide to become a numb, but I definitely wanted to change my whole life. So even the tiniest understanding of emptiness totally can shift your reality. I mean, it's that powerful. It really is that powerful. And they say even the tiniest understanding just puts a crack in all of this whole cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:18 Taking these rebirths over and over and over again and having suffering. And they say even the tiniest understanding can put a crack in that. And what that means is basically the only thing, if the basis of that kind of psychic existence is our ignorance, the only thing that can cut that ignorance is this emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:18 Highlight the passage at 1:13:18

1:13:37 So it's quite powerful. Well, there's an entire class. Actually, I think there's an entire class definitely of the Discovering Buddhism series on emptiness. There's also an entire class on two classes, I think, on bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37 Highlight the passage at 1:13:37

1:13:57 So we're going to give you introductions, but you're not going to get the full of each one. You're just going to get the presentation of what they all mean so that you can go deeper into them in later classes. I think in all the classes that I teach, I somehow mention karma and emptiness because I just don't see how you can ever study the Buddhist teachings without some understanding of karma and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:57 Highlight the passage at 1:13:57

1:14:21 So karma and emptiness will always come up in all of my classes, so we will spend a little bit of time on karma too. So I think this is actually a really good time to go around and find out who you guys all are and why you're here. I mean, you know, again, keeping it brief. Tell me your entire life story, but you can tell me that offline. But just to say who you are and also what your connection with Buddhism is and why this particular class interested you, if there was a reason for that. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

1:14:56 Why don't we start with you, just because you're looking at me. He'll never look at me again. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:08 very new to all reading different spiritual books about It's actually about emptiness and stillness. Reading those books, I got sort of turned towards Buddhism. A Report an error in the passage at 1:15:08 Highlight the passage at 1:15:08

1:15:27 formal class I've taken, I've done some meditations, but only a few. So I'm very new to all of this. Cool. That's great. Charlie. Excellent. Great. Well, welcome. Cool. Steve. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:48 Rinpoche's books along the way. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. pretty busy lately, that's why I haven't been practicing it Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:16:04 My name is Jess and I have no connection with him yet. Is it from the Report an error in the passage at 1:16:04 Highlight the passage at 1:16:04

1:16:19 hospital? Yeah. Betty told me you guys are going. That's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:19 Highlight the passage at 1:16:19

1:16:37 Excellent. Jess, you said it. My name is Travis and I'm also very new to this and she told me about the class and it sounded interesting. Cool. Oh, that's great. That's great. And you're with Jess. Yes. That's great. That's good. Well, welcome. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:17:13 Cool. Well, if I say something that, you know, you happen to know about Zen or Vipassanā, you can tell me. I don't know so much about Zen and Vipassanā, so great. That's good. Welcome. Hey, Ray. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:13 Highlight the passage at 1:17:13

1:17:41 Excellent. And you've also been doing this Saturday morning, at least sometimes. Yeah. That's okay. That's what it's for. Catherine. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:41 Highlight the passage at 1:17:41

1:17:55 Oh, well done. Oh, that's good. Catherine's also an amazing editor. It's helped me for years and years on the calendar. Not to mention cutting Cat's claws. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:09 She has many skills. Are you Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:41 comfortable on the floor? Nobody likes this seat. This is like the hot seat. Go ahead. nobody that takes it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:41 Highlight the passage at 1:18:41

1:19:01 Yeah, Tim, you've done a lot of them, if not most of the Discovering Buddhism series and started again with the second time. He's going to go do the master's program in Italy in January for seven years or something. Somehow, some amazing amount of time. Yeah, and they'll come back and teach us all and then I'll be able to ask them all the questions we've ever had. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:29 Whichever name you want. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:20:02 Welcome. I'm Stephanie, and I've been interested in music for a long time, and I have periods where I'll study a bit, and then I'll kind of go away. I've known about Seichim Ling for years. I've come here a few times, and every time I come, I get very overwhelmed. I never, never know where to start, what class to start with. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:02 Highlight the passage at 1:20:02

1:20:27 That's good feedback, actually. Yeah. I came away at Geshe Dagpas. was Sunday talks, and it was very, it was much too advanced for me, so been a bit intimidating coming here, and finally, my Matt, in class, and said, hey, there's like a beginning and I thought Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:27 Highlight the passage at 1:20:27

1:20:55 totally. I haven't known where to start has always resonated with that I understand Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:08 Yay! That's great. Well, welcome. My name is Chad. I've been coming to the Center for about a year. I think Karma was my first class. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah, I've also always Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:35 find other people who answer questions. So I'll be the bookstore manager here. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:35 Highlight the passage at 1:21:35

1:21:48 And now you're doing all sorts of exciting other things like Tibetan language and the book group. Right. Helping us get Geshla's teachings online and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:48 Highlight the passage at 1:21:48

1:22:04 Olivier. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:04 Highlight the passage at 1:22:04

1:22:12 Sounds like you're in good company. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:35 Grand finale. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:35 Highlight the passage at 1:22:35

1:22:46 Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:46 Highlight the passage at 1:22:46

1:22:51 There you go. And those of you, if anybody asks you, is it too late to join? It's not. This is actually a class that people can come in at any time. Some of the classes, it gets to the point where you... as long as you got done with talks. Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:51 Highlight the passage at 1:22:51

1:23:05 It would actually be more confusing for somebody to join, but this one's actually fine. People can come anywhere along the way. I suppose at the very end, that could be a little bit much, but really through even the fifth class, people can just come and sit for a class and see if they like it and kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:05 Highlight the passage at 1:23:05

1:23:23 So do invite if people ask you. So why don't we take a break? You guys can stretch your legs and chat and get some caffeine if you need it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:32 An exciting treat at the cafe. Michelle just poked her head in, so she is out there if you guys need something. And Chad, would you mind hitting pause? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:32 Highlight the passage at 1:23:32

1:23:54 And then one of them is a stapled bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:03 Oh, there you go. There was it. Okay. So did you unpause it? Okay, cool. So I have to watch my speech again. okay. So I went ahead and handed this out early just in case somebody disappears. The required reading for this class, which is on the bottom of the syllabus, is in a couple different forms. The required reading that I'm requiring is going to be the binder material that you'll get at the next class, which is, I think, just three. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:03 Highlight the passage at 1:24:03

1:24:44 It's like three articles, basically. They aren't very long. And then I'll give you a handout that has the three principle paths and that's all one page. And then The Wish Fulfilling Goal and Son is a currently unpublished book by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and what I just do is the required reading for the course is like usually a couple pages so I just copy it for people rather than giving them the whole binder unless they get so serious later on that they want the whole thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:25:11 But usually I just hand it out so I'll hand that out. There will be another handout, venerable rubina kind of covers the entire lamrim in about 10 pages and I think it's just useful so I can... So I'll give you guys that. Then there's a book called The Essence of Tibetan Buddhism by Lama Yeshe and you can just get that as a free download and that's the link. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:11 Highlight the passage at 1:25:11

1:25:32 These things I'll suggest when to do them so it's not like you have to go out tonight and figure out all this stuff because I'll hand out all of this in some form or else I'll just tell you, read this week or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:25:47 Strongly suggested reading is if you're trying to do this class for credit. You know, we just talked about that where you're doing like the whole discovering Buddhism and you want signing off and all that stuff. Now, clearly, if you want to get even more out of it and you're really gung-ho, I highly recommend doing this reading, but I'm not pushing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:47 Highlight the passage at 1:25:47

1:26:07 One of the readings is this book that's called The Awakened One. It's the life story of the Buddha. It's a really good read. It's totally readable. But what I did, assuming that not everyone's going to want to do that, I just copied this little bit out of it because it gives you the whole gist of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:07 Highlight the passage at 1:26:07

1:26:25 This is like the introduction, kind of. So this is what this is. So if you like this, you can get this. That's okay. But I'm not forcing everyone to read this one. But it is really, it's quite nice actually. I read it, you know, it doesn't take that long to read it. It's quite readable. He's actually a Western monk who wrote it. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:25 Highlight the passage at 1:26:25

1:26:47 It's quite good. And then... What we just talked about, liberation, this commentary on the lamrim that is in a couple of different forms. Every one of the Discovering Buddhism classes has some requirement from this text. But it can be a bit dense for beginning students. So I just encourage, or how did I say it? Strongly suggested. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:27:14 It's days one, two and three. So you're right at the beginning. of this teaching. But again, I'm not requiring it. I'm just suggesting it if you'd like to. Then there's a book called Wisdom Energy by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which is also strongly suggested, and the program requires you to read it. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:14 Highlight the passage at 1:27:14

1:27:36 Then, as I was just talking about with Charlie on the break, this one I really encourage. It's a really... Great little book. I mean, it's it's like one of my favorite books. It's actually a commentary on the three principle paths. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:27:55 But it's it's really readable. It's quite it's not like it's so simple that it's, you know, superficial. It's actually quite a great little book. in fact I One of my deepest experiences with the Three Principle Paths was just having this book. It was one of those kind of things where you went away for a retreat and you forgot to pack all your favorite books and so you ended up with one. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:55 Highlight the passage at 1:27:55

1:28:18 And I just kept reading it and it's just, it's really a great little book and it's really inexpensive. I think it's like $6.50 for the book. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:27 And it's so small, you know, sticking your pack and stuff. So I put this one on as encouraged just because it's just a nice covering of the same material that we're going to spend time on in this class. So just whatever, you know, you want to do with that information. And I forgot to send this around. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:27 Highlight the passage at 1:28:27

1:28:47 I like to send around a roster to have all of your names, those of you who decide to do the class. All your names and your contact information are one place. And this is so, mostly the reason for this is so that if something should happen suddenly and we should have to cancel class or something, either I or Amy can, Amy's our office manager who was wearing her exciting gym clothes tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:47 Highlight the passage at 1:28:47

1:29:11 But that went into the mic, of course. They were nice gym clothes, of course. If one of us has to reach all of you, even though of course we have your information in other ways, it just has it all in one place. And this has come up, you know, we've had sudden deaths happen in people's lives or illnesses or things like that where we have to reach all of you guys suddenly. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:11 Highlight the passage at 1:29:11

1:29:32 It doesn't happen very much. I think it's happened twice. I think it's really only happened twice, actually. It's kind of amazing. But that's the purpose for it. And so now I'm really trying to get all of the classes to do this. Guest's classes and Emily's classes and just because I'm often the one who has to reach everybody really fast. And it's quite, you know, when you're in that kind of situation, you're trying to reach people at work and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:29:56 So just the best way to reach you. If you are not an email person, just put down your phone and that's fine. You know, like, so don't give me an email address that you never check because I'll tend to go for email. And then if it turns out that you're one of those people that just never checks it. You know, don't do that. Just give me your phone and that's fine. We'll make sure we get called. So I wanted to ask one of the requirements or one of the things that we do in the homework every week is, oh, oh, oh, there you go. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:30 Your book has arrived. I guess you're going to do that thing. This happens sometimes. This is Michelle, our beautiful, wonderful director. Woo-hoo! Report an error in the passage at 1:30:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30:30

1:30:41 Sometimes people from the cafe will come in with like lattes and things in the middle of meditation classes. It's kind of bizarre, you know, when you're the one who's leading it. So I thought that's what she was doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:41 Highlight the passage at 1:30:41

1:30:52 How many people do some kind, or actually I should say the opposite. How many people do not, have never meditated before and don't do any kind of meditation practice on a regular basis? Yeah, so some of you, so it looks like quite a bit of you are somewhat familiar with meditation. Is that correct? Yeah, I did a little document that's sort of like how to develop a meditation practice for those who would like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:52 Highlight the passage at 1:30:52

1:31:21 So can I get a show of hands over those who would like a copy of that? One, two, three, oh, more than I made. I made five. Okay, so why don't we, let's see. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:35 Okay, if you're okay with me emailing you that. Just put a little star next to your name on the roster and then I'll email it. I have five tonight that are live. So anyway, I did a little document. It's just my document. And it's some of the material that I was going to cover now. And I will go a little bit into it, but you'll have it so you don't have to take notes or anything on what I'm going to say. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:35 Highlight the passage at 1:31:35

1:32:00 But it's basically why you would meditate and what we mean by meditation in this tradition, which could be different in other traditions. and kind of what you might think. Think about if you were going to set up a little daily practice, which I encourage you to do. And then there's a sheet that in this tradition, this is sort of a cheat sheet on how to do your, the preliminary practices before you actually sit down to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:00 Highlight the passage at 1:32:00

1:32:30 And so there are certain things to think about, and I've sort of condensed it all to like three quarters of a sheet. So beginning with, you know, doing like that little meditation we did at the beginning of the class on the breath to just calm your mind. And then when I say like taking refuge, you'll kind of know what I mean if you look at this cheat sheet. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:30 Highlight the passage at 1:32:30

1:32:53 And again, I can also email this to you. So if you indicate that I can do that, then those people who don't do email that often can get a hard copy tonight. So that's cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:33:07 the main reason that... We do any kind of meditation. Like I was saying, it definitely brings, as one of my friends says, it takes it from the head to below the neck. It takes it into the heart. It takes it into, you know, whether you say the heart or the gut. It takes these teachings a bit lower than and deeper than without meditating on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:07 Highlight the passage at 1:33:07

1:33:29 But the basic reason that we meditate is really to... To transform our mind, it's to become happier. And the only way we can become happier, which the teachings of Buddhism are all in favor of getting happier, but the Buddha noticed that we were just kind of going about it wrong. And so his point is to look deeper at the causes of our suffering, which are... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:29 Highlight the passage at 1:33:29

1:33:57 From his observations in our mind and without looking at our mind, we can't really find that. So when we meditate, we're actually, as Lama Yeshe, who is the sort of founder of the FPMT, as he put it, we create like this little laboratory. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:14 In our minds and we look at all the various elements that are coming up, we're not trying to stop thinking when we meditate. We're actually trying to look deeply what's going on in there, no matter how distasteful it may be. So we're trying to just get a deeper and deeper analysis of the Buddhist teachings and then our relationship with those teachings and what's already going on in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:39 Some of us... Have never looked at our minds before. So the first times you sit and meditate, it's almost like you're crazier than before you meditated. But what's actually happening is it's the first time you're just sitting and trying to create this kind of space or quiet in your mind. And the mind isn't always all that excited about that. The mind is, I keep using the phrase monkey mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:39 Highlight the passage at 1:34:39

1:35:06 And it's often, Tipton Children I think actually had a book that was called Taming the Monkey Mind. I think it's really apt. And if you spend any time in India and you watch monkeys, you really see where that came from. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:06 Highlight the passage at 1:35:06

1:35:20 They just are jumping around all the time and they're like, you know, fighting with each other and then all of a sudden happy and then eating and da-da-da. It's sort of, I mean, we do that, right? But our thoughts are doing that. And that's really what it's referring to is just this popcorn-like energy that happens in our mind all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:20 Highlight the passage at 1:35:20

1:35:36 The Buddha didn't really teach meditation for us to just relax and then basically roll over and die. You know, I mean, his idea is actually to learn about our minds and be able to work with our minds and transform our minds and eliminate the things that cause us suffering so that we don't have to suffer anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:35:59 And his teachings actually boldly say... That we can actually transcend death itself. I mean, it's quite radical, his teachings. It's not about being really relaxed. Now, it's kind of become that a lot in the West, and it's a really different view. This particular teaching of meditation is really different than what's often taught in the West. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:59 Highlight the passage at 1:35:59

1:36:22 It's it's but it's what. My understanding of the Buddhist teachings are that he taught us that lasting happiness is totally possible. We have the seeds of it in our own mind. And it requires us learning how to work with our mind and understanding the things that he came to observe as an enlightened being. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:22 Highlight the passage at 1:36:22

1:36:45 And so he taught these things, including about the law of karma, which is the law of cause and effect that I just touched on a little bit, the nature of reality, which is getting into the emptiness, so that we could also transform our minds and become Buddhists too. Like there's nothing standing in our way except our own effort or lack thereof. Except you guys haven't learned at all, so you still have some time. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:45 Highlight the passage at 1:36:45

1:37:12 There's nothing standing in my way because I've learned so much and I still haven't gotten enlightened, but it doesn't mean I won't. It's totally possible. So he taught what he observed as an enlightened being in order for us to get enlightened too. That's his whole point. So we meditate in order to look at, understand and apply his teachings, which are based on his observation of his own experience as somebody who got enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:12 Highlight the passage at 1:37:12

1:37:44 And so, you know, what does that mean? What does it mean to get enlightened? I could call on somebody who's taken my other classes, but I won't, Chad. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:44 Highlight the passage at 1:37:44

1:37:59 Enlightenment basically means two elements. It means he's completely eliminated every negative state of mind that there is, and that's everything from being slightly irritated at the color of the carpet to, you know, He's gotten rid of all of those negative states of mind, jealousy, anger, depression, self-pity mind, all of those different states of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:31 It's like all the forms of mind pride that cause any kind of agitation in our mind. A delusion is actually defined as something that causes agitation in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:31 Highlight the passage at 1:38:31

1:38:45 And the good news is they aren't inherently part of our minds. They can be removed. And the Buddha's teachings actually help us remove those negative states of mind. So a fully enlightened being is somebody who's completely removed all of those negative states of mind and perfected all of the positive states of mind so that they can't be developed any further, which is an amazing thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:45 Highlight the passage at 1:38:45

1:39:11 So it's not just that he has compassion. He has like... The most amazing compassion. It's not just like he has wisdom. He has wisdom that cannot be any more wise. So he has like the most perfected form of all of the positive qualities and he's eliminated all of the negative qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:28 So that's really what it means. Enlightenment is talking about enlightened mind. and we're going to... Definitely through this class, this course and all of the other Discovering Buddhism classes, you talk more about all the different powers of a Buddha and things like that. I mean, they do have powers. My understanding and the way I was taught was that they are omniscient beings because they fully develop their mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:28 Highlight the passage at 1:39:28

1:39:58 And they actually say, you know, before we attain enlightenment, when you're studying the mind with scholars like Geshe-la, And you're, you know, like the study of, for example, the upper states of meditation and there's like all these different levels of clairvoyance and all this stuff. And the way they describe it, you just realize that actually all these beings are, you know, it is possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:58 Highlight the passage at 1:39:58

1:40:26 They don't even consider, you know, the Tibetans don't even consider that to be a big deal. Like they're like, you don't want to get caught up thinking it's so wonderful that you can levitate or that you can, you know, fly or that you can. read somebody's mind like that's not the point you're just you're trying to get enlightened and it's just like we're all like wow really and they have all these different levels of clairvoyance and so forth none of that stuff is the reason you get enlightened again remember So they say the Buddha is omniscient but not omnipotent in the way that the god of Christianity or Judaism is, where they can do it all for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:26 Highlight the passage at 1:40:26

1:41:09 They can't fix our minds. They can't take away our negative karma. Or they would have. Because why? Their compassion is already fully developed, right? They would do it if they could. But the Buddha said, basically, I can't do it for you. I can teach you. And then it's up to you. So their main activity as an enlightened being is trying. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:09 Highlight the passage at 1:41:09

1:41:33 Trying to show us how to do it ourselves. So they do this in many ways, especially through teachers teaching us the methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:33 Highlight the passage at 1:41:33

1:41:43 So meditation, getting back to meditation. Meditation in Tibetan, the word is gom, G-O-M. That's why this is called a gompa. Sometimes you hear people call this meditation room a gompa. It's a room where you meditate. Gom is to habituate or familiarize yourself with something. Sometimes when we think of meditation, which is why when I got that email from Rinpoche inviting me to be a part of the compassion training, and I thought, well, I can't meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:43 Highlight the passage at 1:41:43

1:42:14 Why would I be a part of this? Because I'm thinking meditation means you can sit really, really still and you stop thinking. This is what I thought. This is what meditation is, right? It's not. In this tradition, meditation, you do try to not give energy to the thoughts, but you never are able to stop thinking altogether. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:38 Mind thinks. That's what mind does. It just continues to pop out these thoughts. But what we begin to realize and understand is that those thoughts don't have any more energy or power than we give them. So they stop being the focal point. We choose an object. Sometimes the breath, for example. And all these things may swirl around, but we just keep bringing it back until your concentration gets so strong eventually that you aren't so swayed by all those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:38 Highlight the passage at 1:42:38

1:43:07 You haven't stopped doing them. You still have all the thoughts kind of arising, but they no longer are pulling you. with everyone the way they are now now it's sort of like maybe i should go to spain i don't know why did he say that you know i mean that's kind of what's happening in all of our minds right now because we haven't trained it not to do that so a lot of meditation is simply training our mind and strengthening our concentration then in this tradition we also apply that concentration to a specific So either the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:07 Highlight the passage at 1:43:07

1:43:39 Or what we'll do mostly in this class will be what's called analytical meditation, where you'll look at something like the qualities of a Buddha or the steps to bodhicitta or something like that, and you'll meditate on them. So first you familiarize them, and then while you're meditating, you actually have little notes and you'll kind of peek down. And that was kind of why I thought I couldn't meditate, because I was still peeking, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:44:06 And that's actually what you have to do because we aren't familiar with them yet. And also we can't necessarily memorize entire texts the way the Tibetans can too. So we work with what we have. So there's two main types of meditation. One is concentration or stabilization. And that's just placing your mind on an object, any kind, and then trying to sustain that concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:06 Highlight the passage at 1:44:06

1:44:29 It could be a clock. It can be breath. It can be compassion. You know, I mean, people choose all kinds of objects. The highest form of that is what's called calm abiding. So if you've heard people talk about shine or calm abiding meditation, that form of concentration meditation is where you basically can place your mind on any object of your choice for as long as you want without any effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:29 Highlight the passage at 1:44:29

1:44:57 And they say, actually, it's completely blissful to your body and mind once you've attained calm abiding. And people stay in that state for not just hours, but for days, can weeks, can months. It's hard for us to even imagine. And the thing that's even more amazing is that they're in bliss. There's no knee pain, there's no back pain, there's no shoulder pain, there's none of the stuff that we experience going into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:57 Highlight the passage at 1:44:57

1:45:26 So at this point, all we're trying to do is just keep it on the breath. We start where we are, right? And the second form of meditation is some form of analytical, what I'll call analytical. And that's basically if the one is where your mind stays still, analytical is where your mind is actually moving. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:26 Highlight the passage at 1:45:26

1:45:47 And it could be about trying to understand, like I said, the steps to develop bodhicitta. You would meditate on certain specific steps and then you would ultimately generate this mind of bodhicitta. You could also think about the fact that death is uncertain but its time is uncertain and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:47 Highlight the passage at 1:45:47

1:46:13 So there's different sort of analytical meditations. And the difference is that your mind is moving, but once you reach what I call an aha moment, sort of a moment where something kind of hits you, then you apply concentration meditation. So you would be thinking, you know, the time of death is uncertain. Like it's easier for us to get the death is certain. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:13 Highlight the passage at 1:46:13

1:46:37 It's harder for us to get the fact that basically none of us can say that we will live through tonight. We can't say that. We don't know for sure. And when it hits you in meditation, you're kind of like, that's an aha moment. And instead of quickly distracting yourself, maybe I will go to Spain. No, it's like you try to hold your concentration for as long as you can, which could be 30 seconds. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:37 Highlight the passage at 1:46:37

1:47:04 I mean, we're not talking four hours here. We're just talking about trying to hold that aha moment. For as long as you can. And then when the little voices all pop in again, then you move on to the next point of whatever it is that you're meditating on. So that's the difference between the two. So analytical is truly analyzing something. And concentration is much more like place, hold, for as long as you can. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:04 Highlight the passage at 1:47:04

1:47:28 Place, hold. Repeatedly place, hold, actually, at our level. If you are all ordinary beings, which I'm going to assume that you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:28 Highlight the passage at 1:47:28

1:47:37 So for our purposes, we're mostly working with analytical meditation in this class, but we'll always start with a little bit of meditation on the breath. And I'm suggesting to all of you when you do your meditations at home to just start. It's a good way for transitioning out of your day or from your sleep if you're doing it in the morning, which is suggested. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:37 Highlight the passage at 1:47:37

1:47:57 I'll always review the posture in class so you'll kind of get used to it. And until then, you know, it's really good in your own mind to review it. As you learn it, it's good as much as we can to meditate at the same time every day so that it becomes like a habit because that's what you're trying to do at this point is to create a habit just like your regular time of brushing your teeth or taking a shower or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:57 Highlight the passage at 1:47:57

1:48:23 It's the same. It's kind of like you're creating a habit right now. We're not assuming and nobody's assuming that it's going to be the most profound thing at this point. It's like you're working on your scales. You're a musician and you've got to get that part down and then the blissful states will come later. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:40 They promise. Kishla promises us that they will. So we will trust him on that. But at this point we have to learn scales. We can't perform yet at Carnegie Hall. We have some work to do. So meditating on the mind isn't always blissful, but they say that the most are the meditating on the breath. Any kind of concentration meditation. It may not be blissful at this point and it may be blissful. You may actually have a blissful experience. They say what's more important is to just do a little bit every day and you decide how many. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:40 Highlight the passage at 1:48:40

1:49:12 I think I'm only asking you guys to do. I'm asking you total to do like 15 minutes. Concentration meditation probably, you know, it can just be a little bit before you start your main meditation. So five minutes, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:28 Peter, I think he always used to say two and a half minutes. So do what you can do. Or do two and a half, then stretch, and then do two and a half. It's just to build that habit. Of working with your mind. So it's kind of like you're deciding to do a workout program. And so you're just going to decide, I'm going to do this many repetitions every day, no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:28 Highlight the passage at 1:49:28

1:49:50 Sometimes it'll be happy. Sometimes my body will hurt. Sometimes I'll be tired. But I'm just going to do five minutes every day or whatever it is, you know, for this amount of time. Then you don't have to decide every day. Then you're just going to sit. So in the little handout that I'll give you guys who don't already have a practice, it'll talk a little bit about the importance of sort of setting up an area in your home, setting up an altar, which doesn't have to be an altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:50 Highlight the passage at 1:49:50

1:50:18 It can be like, you know, a picture of the Dalai Lama or somebody and a candle. You know, it can be like that simple. I've had it be totally simple or it can be, you know, as elaborate as the Tibetan Buddhists are known for. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:32 But it is really good to set up a regular time and it is really good to set up a regular space that you can be uninterrupted for whatever your amount of time is, you know, where you're not going to have the kids all running through and things like that. And I have found that actually what really makes a big difference when you're ready is to just go, all right, I'm going to do this for 15 minutes a day no matter what happens for six months or whatever, you know, like just choose an amount of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:32 Highlight the passage at 1:50:32

1:51:00 And then it's sort of like, you know, life happens, you might have to do it at, you know, 11 o 'clock at night because you forgot to do it before you left or you got, you know, you're sick or whatever. You're just going to do it. It becomes like you would brush your teeth, right? So it just becomes like that. You just, you just know you're going to do it. You don't have to debate it every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:19 That just wastes energy, mental energy. And I have found that that's actually, it's like starting a diet or deciding to go to a gym. It's very much like that. You're just making the decision and you're just going to go for it and you just try it and then see if there's some change. Again, the Buddha said, you know, like check up. Don't just take Chokyi's word for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:19 Highlight the passage at 1:51:19

1:51:38 So that's it. And I mean, that's all I'm going to do tonight. I think I was going to do a meditation, but I'm not. Because we've run out of time, but I will answer questions if people have questions. And I do want to make a couple of announcements about things that are coming up. So do people have questions before we dedicate the class and I do some announcements? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:38 Highlight the passage at 1:51:38

1:51:59 Yeah. Why don't we pass her the talking stick for this one? Could you pass that? See the mic that's right in front of you? Yes, yes, yes. Think of those at home, which may someday be you. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:59 Highlight the passage at 1:51:59

1:52:21 Yes. You say that some of the Lamas or some of the practitioners in Tibet, for instance, can meditate days, months and long term. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:21 Highlight the passage at 1:52:21

1:52:37 What is the concentration when that happens? What part of the body or what is the focus of the concentration? What are they concentrating on or what part is doing the concentration? Yes. The part that's doing. It's the mind. It's the mind and the mind has just been so well trained that it holds on to the object and the object it never wavers from. But what is the object? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:53:00 The object depends. It has to be a connection with the body. No, the object could be anything. You could meditate on, for example, an image of the Buddha. After you get to know that image of the Buddha, you wouldn't be looking at the image. You're not using your physical senses. It is a part of your mind, but you're bringing up that image and then you're holding that concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:00 Highlight the passage at 1:53:00

1:53:24 So it could be something like that. It could be the breath. It could be the mind itself. It could be, like I said, it could be the object almost doesn't matter. What the difference is, is that these people have trained their minds so... You know, diligently over many, many, many, many years under really quiet circumstances. It's quite hard to do in the city to get to that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:24 Highlight the passage at 1:53:24

1:53:48 But they have developed that concentration so strong that they can hold the object without effort. Go ahead. Yeah, my just curiosities are about the source of energy of the body during months or weeks in that state of... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:48 Highlight the passage at 1:53:48

1:54:07 Yeah. They say that you get to this point where you're no longer, like your physical senses are no longer, you don't even have to eat. Your breathing is so reduced. So everything just, it's almost like you go into like a state of hibernation. It's very similar to like when an animal goes into a state of hibernation. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:07 Highlight the passage at 1:54:07

1:54:26 So you can actually just subsist on, you know, what you have. I'm sure they get thin, but, you know, they aren't. It's not like where they have to stop and go get a meal or something. And they say that as you get deeper and deeper into that, and these are hugely advanced practices. We're not going to get into that in this class so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:26 Highlight the passage at 1:54:26

1:54:48 But it is possible. That's my only point in telling it. It's just that these states of very, very deep meditation are possible. And that there are beings that I have met who have these. I mean, like Chin Rinpoche is an incredible meditator. So it is possible, and that's the only reason I mention it. But it's very, very advanced, and it takes years of training ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:48 Highlight the passage at 1:54:48

1:55:08 And as you go deeper into the different absorptions of meditation, You need less and less of the sort of physical things. So food and drink and all these other things, even air, are reduced. So with your experience in Nepal, you being in India and Nepal, you say before. You never have a chance to talk with one of these Lamas. Well, there are interviews and things with them that exist. With this particular experience of days and months of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:08 Highlight the passage at 1:55:08

1:55:40 Oh, no. Yeah, no, I haven't like sat down and chatted with them. No, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:40 Highlight the passage at 1:55:40

1:55:54 Any other questions? Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:54 Highlight the passage at 1:55:54

1:55:59 No? Okay. All right. So the quick announcements I just wanted to make, Venerable Rubina, and again, we aren't having class next week, so just remember that we'll meet again in two weeks. You can start your reading and thinking and setting up your meditation area and all that stuff. And email me questions and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:59 Highlight the passage at 1:55:59

1:56:21 But I did want to announce that next week from Saturday, Venable Rubina will be teaching a day long on karma independent arising, which is basically karma and emptiness. So it'll be a great way if you haven't received any teachings, and even if you have, on these really essential points of the path. She's really accessible. She's a dynamo. She's got an amazing energy. She's also very funny, not always intentionally. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:21 Highlight the passage at 1:56:21

1:56:48 And she's very clear, like just, you know, she's a good bridge for people that are just coming into Buddhism and for those of us who have been around for a while. I always learn something from her. So she'll be teaching all day that day on Karma, Independent, and Rising. I think I called it the ultimate makeover. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:48 Highlight the passage at 1:56:48

1:57:08 Changing your life with Karma, Independent, and Rising. You have to come up with these things. The other thing I wanted to announce, Venerable Renée Foussi. Which I probably pronounced that badly, sorry. He's Swiss actually, but he's Swiss French. He is based at... Vajrapani Institute in the Santa Cruz Mountain. He's going to come up and teach on the weekend of the 28th and 29th. It's a Friday night and Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:08 Highlight the passage at 1:57:08

1:57:36 He's quite a meditator. There's actually a really good article between him and Chudan Rinpoche where he's trying to basically find out where he is in developing calm abiding. And Chudan Rinpoche at one point says, can you sit for four hours and not? And not have your concentration waver. And he said, is it okay to get up and stretch? Rinpoche says, no. You had four hours straight. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:36 Highlight the passage at 1:57:36

1:58:04 And so he's like, no. I think they figured it out. He's like six, seven or something. Still pretty far. Anyway, he's an amazing teacher. He's just very... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:04 Highlight the passage at 1:58:04

1:58:16 Yeah, there's this incredible energy and sweetness about him. And he's going to teach on something that's called Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, which can be an advanced practice, but there's no prerequisite for the class. So he's going to teach it in a way that all of us can do. And we're going to try to do it like a little retreat, even though Amy wants to be really clear, nobody can stay here. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:16 Highlight the passage at 1:58:16

1:58:37 You have to go home. We don't really have rooms. But we're going to have dinner, and then he'll do the first session Friday night, and then the next day. We'll do like a couple of sessions and then a lunch here and stuff like that. So it'll feel a little bit more like a retreat than we usually do. And so that's on the last weekend of September. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:37 Highlight the passage at 1:58:37

1:58:55 So I wanted to mention those things because they're coming up and just like if you have a chance. And with both of them, with both Rubinas and with Venoma Rinneas, Venoma Rubinas and Venoma Rinneas, you can just come for some. So if you can't come for it all, you can't make that commitment, that's okay. Just come for the morning or whatever, you know, on those days. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:55 Highlight the passage at 1:58:55

1:59:17 So let's just take a moment before we all go our separate ways and dedicate any energy, any positive karma that we just created by all of the, you know, any insights, any understandings, any clarifications we might have gained. Just thinking about these thoughts, they say, actually creates a huge amount of positive karma for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:45 Purifies as well, so purifies our negative karma. So we dedicate all that good energy to being able, each one of us, to help others, starting with those closest to us and then rippling out to all the beings that we thought about in the opening meditation. And we send out all that positive karma to them, take away their suffering and bring them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:45 Highlight the passage at 1:59:45

2:00:17 Thank you very much. I'm sorry I went over a little bit. If anybody has any questions, they can ask. And otherwise, if somebody would be so kind as to collect the prayer books and also pile the cushions in the corner, that would be great. And if anybody, I think everybody got a registration form if they're interested. If they didn't, we have, I have some extra ones or you can take one and bring it back next time. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:17 Highlight the passage at 2:00:17

2:00:44 That's okay too. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:00:49 Oh, so who, let's see, let me see. Does anybody want a hard copy of the starting a meditation practice thing? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:49 Highlight the passage at 2:00:49

2:01:03 I see some stars here. Does anybody want a hard copy? Do you want a hard copy? Well, it's okay. You want a hard copy? Does anybody else want a hard copy who's here right now? Yes, there you go. Yeah, yeah. Do you guys want one? Yeah, okay. Anybody else that needs one? We've got one more. Going? Going? Anybody? Yeah, I knew Jeff was going to take it. I saw that lingering look. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:38 Oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:38 Highlight the passage at 2:01:38

2:01:42 Oh, really? Oh, oh. Oh, no. Oh, no. I know we'll have to do like some, we'll have to green the sun. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:42 Highlight the passage at 2:01:42