Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (20 September 2007)

0:19 Olivier got the hot seat tonight. I Report an error in the passage at 0:19 Highlight the passage at 0:19

0:29 promise I won't pick on you. Report an error in the passage at 0:29 Highlight the passage at 0:29

0:53 It's a good thing Geshe-la has a throne there I can use as my work table. I figure it's all Dharma. It's okay. All right. So let's start with a little meditation. We'll start with a little one on the breath and then center ourselves a little bit or at least allow me to center myself. You guys can just play along. Report an error in the passage at 0:53 Highlight the passage at 0:53

1:20 And then we'll set our motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:25 So with any meditation, your first rule of thumb is just to find your comfort on your cushion or in your chair. If you're sitting in a chair, move away from the back of the chair so you're not quite too comfortable. Your feet firmly on the floor. Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:45 But in all positions, whether you're in a chair or on a cushion, you want to extend your spine. Imagining a cord going through your spine and out the top of your head, the crown of your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

2:04 And I'll just review the posture and allow your shoulders to be level, back a little ways. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:15 In this tradition we usually have our hands in our lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly. Or you can have your hands on your knees. Report an error in the passage at 2:15 Highlight the passage at 2:15

2:30 Your legs can be crossed in any position. Ultimately it's good to get... into Vajra position, especially for deeper meditations. But usually that requires us to do quite a bit of yoga, definitely to practice it. So for this purpose, and for your meditations at home, it's fine to just have your legs crossed in any position that feels comfortable and you feel stable. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

3:00 I usually sit in what's called Tara posture, so one leg is in front of the other, so there's nothing actually crossing, which kind of keeps things from falling asleep. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

3:15 Your chin is just a little bit tucked down, that opens up the back of your neck. Your eyes can either be open and unfocused, gazing off the length of your nose, or you can have your eyes closed. Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:35 Your tongue on the roof of your mouth, behind your front teeth, jaw. Relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:48 And the final point is your breath. Just let your breathing be normal. We'll start with just some nice deep cleansing breaths, allowing each in-breath to bring you more and more into this room, into this class. Report an error in the passage at 3:48 Highlight the passage at 3:48

4:07 And each out-breath, just let go of everything that might be distracting you from being here tonight. So anything you might have been doing just before class, your day. Anything that might be worrying you, even just conversations you might have just been having, just leave them. You can pick them up on your way out. Report an error in the passage at 4:07 Highlight the passage at 4:07

4:37 We'll just start with a few rounds of watching our breath. So you do this just by placing your attention at either the level of your abdomen, the level of your chest, your lungs, or the level of your nostril. And in all three of those cases, you're just basically observing the breath. So you don't need to make it deeper or more regular than you're normally breathing. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

5:08 You're just observing either the inhalation in terms of the expansion of your belly or your lungs and then the contraction with each breath. Or in your nostril, you're just observing the sensation of the air passing over the skin. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:30 Just remember that each breath is completely unique and try to be as present as you can with each breath. And if you lose your attention, you just bring it back to the breath as soon as you become aware that you've lost it. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:48 And try to count several sets of ten, in-breath and out-breath being one. We're Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

· · · silence, 2 minutes

8:17 just imagining that all living beings are around you. You can try to visualize them with your mind's eye, just spreading out. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:31 For this purpose, just think of them all as humans. And Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

8:42 just take a moment to think about the kind of suffering that we can see just with our own eyes in our own life. Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

8:52 The kind of suffering that we see in our friends and our family members. Sickness, worry, anxiety, depression, Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:05 grief or loss, addiction. And Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:13 then also the people we see on the streets, people in our workplace, people in the news. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:35 Think about how unbearable it is. To live with this pain, to see this pain in our friends, our family, even in strangers, day after day. To hear about the struggles of the people in Iraq, for example. Day after day. Report an error in the passage at 9:35 Highlight the passage at 9:35

9:55 And how much we'd like to be able to relieve it. And even more than that, how much we'd like to bring happiness to these people. To all of the people that we come into contact with. Report an error in the passage at 9:55 Highlight the passage at 9:55

10:18 And just for a moment, imagine this wish to relieve this suffering and bring happiness. Growing stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:30 Imagine it in the form of white light at your heart and imagine it glowing out from your heart and filling you up. This wish to remove the suffering of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 10:30 Highlight the passage at 10:30

10:46 Even if you can't really imagine having this wish, just do it for this meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

10:56 Or try to imagine the aspiration for this wish. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:03 And imagine this glowing white light of bodhicitta starting to fill you at your heart center and then glowing out until it fills your whole body. And then comes through your pores out to all the beings around you, filling all of them up. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:28 Imagine it spreading out as far as your mind's eye can see until every being that's surrounding you is filled with everything they need and all their suffering is relieved and they have complete and lasting bliss. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:56 And just imagine this connection with all other living beings and rest in this space for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

12:17 And then as it starts to fade, just feel yourself back in your own body, in this class, on your cushion. And we take a moment to motivate. Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:33 May whatever we learn tonight, discuss, think about, Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

12:42 help us overcome whatever obstacles we ourselves may face right now so that we're able to reach our total and true potential, which Report an error in the passage at 12:42 Highlight the passage at 12:42

12:56 the Buddha said is full enlightenment, that each of us have that. Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:05 So that we can perfectly benefit ourselves and every other living being. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:23 And then when you're ready, you can end your meditation. And we'll start with the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

13:35 So it's on page. It smells like something's burning, doesn't it? I don't know what it is. I'm just laughing because Michelle woke up a few days ago. She had this fear that something was on fire, so she at 2 a.m. began running through all the entire center looking for the fire. Anyway, there's probably something in the kitchen. Report an error in the passage at 13:35 Highlight the passage at 13:35

13:59 We'll just stay aware. So page 8, where His Holiness' picture is, and we'll say this 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 Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:30 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. 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 to full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 14:30 Highlight the passage at 14:30

15:02 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. 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. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:36 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 15:36 Highlight the passage at 15:36

15:56 So welcome. Report an error in the passage at 15:56 Highlight the passage at 15:56

16:00 Every time there's a slightly different change of personnel. So welcome. I'm glad you could make it, Deborah. Report an error in the passage at 16:00 Highlight the passage at 16:00

16:10 So I wanted to check in, see if anybody had any questions about either Lassert's class or the meditation or anything. The many homeworks and notes that come at you through the email and things like that. Just anything? Meditation we just did? Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:32 Anything? Okay, well, we'll take advantage of it. We have a lot to cover tonight, so I'll just, I'll start. But if something comes to you or you remembered you wanted to ask and you forgot, just bring it up. It still smells like something. Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

16:50 Maybe. Could be. There's so many people around right now, I'm not quite as concerned. If we were the only ones in the building, I'd be a little more. So I wanted to make a couple of announcements. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:01 On the Tuesday night class, the spiritual teacher, next week is our last class. And one of the things that we thought, well, that I thought, and everybody else just had to agree, that I thought I would do is show, there's a film that's called Words of My Perfect Teacher. Has anyone seen it? Zhang Tsarkenshi Rinpoche, who's the Lama who made The Cup and Traveler's a Magician. Report an error in the passage at 17:01 Highlight the passage at 17:01

17:26 He's a filmmaker as well as being a Rinpoche. Um. It's made by one of his students and in the film she's trying to figure out exactly what the heck's going on in her relationship with him. So I thought it was particularly apt to end this particular class where we're just trying to figure out what the heck is a relationship with a spiritual teacher like. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:49 In the 21st century. So we're watching that. We're going to start class at 6.30, but the film itself will probably start maybe about 7.15 or something like that. It's about an hour and 45 minutes. So anybody who would like to is welcome to come. That's next Tuesday. Sure. I'm not putting it out big time because, you know, I don't know about the copyright things and we're not doing it like a present. Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

18:14 You know, it's not like a big event or anything like that. But I just thought you guys could all come if you'd like. Especially such a tiny little class. Then I wanted to just mention a couple of other classes that are coming up and I may have already mentioned these and that's okay. I'm just underscore. Venerable Renee Foussi is teaching next weekend on Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. Report an error in the passage at 18:14 Highlight the passage at 18:14

18:42 So it'll be, I think we're going to do dinner Friday night at 5.30 and then one session. He'll probably just introduce it on Friday night at 7. And then Saturday, I'm not sure exactly how it's all going to go, but I think it's pretty much like 9 to 5 or something like that. And he'll probably just break that up into little sessions and we'll have lunch in the middle. But he's a wonderful, wonderful teacher. So even if you feel like this might be something that's too advanced for you, he'll make it accessible. Report an error in the passage at 18:42 Highlight the passage at 18:42

19:13 He's just a... A wonderful teacher and a wonderful meditator. And it's just, we hardly ever get him up here. I try repeatedly to beg him to come. But he's really stationed at Vajrapani and he just led a couple of retreats that I'm hearing all these wonderful rave reviews. I wanted to go, but I couldn't go. And he's also leading a three-week lamrim retreat. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:40 He does tend to mostly lead retreats down there. So it's really rare for us to get him up here. So even if you can only come for a little bit, just come. Make the connection. At least find out what he's all about and then you might be able to attend something of his down at Bajrapani as well. And of course we do tend to at least get him once or twice a year up here. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

20:01 So you'll have another chance hopefully. But do try to come if you can. There's a nun named Ninje, Venerable Ninje, and she is going to be leading all day in October, Saturday, on the 13th of October on the 21 Taras. So if anyone's interested in that, she's going to use notes that she took when she received this teaching from Lama Yeshe, probably. Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:28 30 something years ago. So I think that's going to be a great workshop. She's not just going to talk about green Tara, but also all the 21 manifestations of Tara. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

20:41 Green Tara is in the middle there and then she's surrounded by the different manifestations and they all have different energy. All of these are just enlightened energy and embodied in different ways for us to be able to think about it. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

20:54 So Tara's energy, green Tara's energy is all about action. But there's all these different forms of her energy. So that's on the 13th. Are you the plant? Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

21:09 Saturday the 13th. And then Emily, one of our teachers here, Emily Sue, H-S-U, not S-U-E, is going to start a new class on Friday nights. She's just ending one now, but she's going to start next month a class on the Heart Sūtra. And she'll probably take about... She never really knows. Probably about three months, I think, safely. It'll be probably about three months. So she'll probably do two months before Christmas and then, you know, a month after, like that. Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

21:41 And in December, we're actually really honored to have Kensuru Rinpoche Geshe-chapa Tekchok. Who is the former abbot of Saraje Monastery in South India, he's going to come up and do an intensive on the Heart Sūtra. So Emily's class will sort of lead into that, help us prepare our minds for it, and then be the follow-up afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 21:41 Highlight the passage at 21:41

22:07 So it's a really great opportunity. And she is somebody who studied... In the FPMT master's program in Italy. So she studied for eight to nine years, you know, these texts. But she, you know, is American. So she has the real, it's a really nice blend of having studied very, very deeply. But she was PowerPoint, you know. Report an error in the passage at 22:07 Highlight the passage at 22:07

22:38 She's very accessible. She's a very, very great person. And she teaches in a way that new students can relate to. So it's not like she teaches at this really high academic level. So anyway, just wanted to tell you. And in terms of discovering Buddhism classes, the next two that are coming up are the Tuesday night class will be Death and Rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 22:38 Highlight the passage at 22:38

23:02 And that starts the 23rd of October. I'll be teaching these two as well. Death and Rebirth will be on the 23rd of October on Tuesday nights. And then All About Karma. Will be the next Thursday night class after this one ends. And that one starts November 1st. So just a little preview of things to come. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:24 So last week at the end, I sort of ran out of time. So I wanted to tell you just a little bit of the story of sort of how the Lamrim came to be, really. Report an error in the passage at 23:24 Highlight the passage at 23:24

23:39 There's like a little story involved in how Lama... Atisha was invited to Tibet, came to Tibet, and then gathered these teachings into this really methodical approach to how you get enlightened, basically, which is what the lamrim is. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

23:57 Graduated lam being path and rim being the gradual stages of or the graduated path. So it's kind of like little steps. That's what it really is referring to. So a little something about Lama Atisha. He's an Indian Pandit and his dates, in case you want to know these things, his dates are 982 to 1054. I think it's important to kind of get an idea where these things fit with the rest of our knowledge of the world. So I try to throw them in wherever I know. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:34 So actually he's right around the time of Milarepa as well, I believe. I think Milarepa is right around 1000 too. But he was also born into a royal family, which this happens. You'll hear this coming up. But from very early on, he just began saying how he had come to help the Dharma flourish. He just made these little statements as this little kid. And his family didn't pay much attention to it, but he just kept stating it. They say that Tara herself appeared to him when he was 11 and reminded him he had this great purpose in life and don't get distracted by, you know, He took off when he was quite young, like a teenager, and began meeting his various gurus. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:27 He actually had, I think, a total of 157 gurus in his life, and started receiving empowerments and teachings and things like that. But because of his age, they always sent him home. They always sent him back to the kingdom. And so he just kept begging his parents to let him go and study and practice. And, you know, they didn't want him to. So he ran away. And he met up with some kind of wild yogis. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:55 And he practiced with them for a while. And then he brought them all back home to meet his family. And because they were all so wild and, you know, I'm imagining they were sort of like the Indian sadhus. Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

26:08 With the long dreads and not very much clothes and ashes on the head and things like that. So his family basically let him take off after that. They're just kind of like, you know, get out of here. So he went off and for most of his 20s he studied with his main guru. And apparently he was quite brilliant, of course. And whenever he would get really full of himself, they say the Dakinis would appear to him and check him on his pride, you know. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

26:37 You've got to watch those Dakinis. And then at 29, apparently all these holy beings, including Maitreya and Haruka, appeared to him and told him to get ordained. So he got ordained. And then he went to a great monastery at that time. I actually thought it was Nalanda, but it was Vikramashila Monastery. Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

27:01 And that's where he... Gained this huge reputation as this great master. And he was there then for the bulk of the prime of his life. And that's where the emissaries from Tibet came and found him and begged him to come. So in the Tibet side there's a story too. There was a king in a small kingdom in western Tibet named Yeshe Wu. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:28 It's interesting to say. Yeshe Bu. Yeshe, of course, means wisdom for those like Lama Yeshe. And he was very intent on bringing a master from Tibet back to retranslate and to clarify the teachings of Buddhism that had kind of degenerated into black magic and things like that. And so he kept trying. And he actually sent... Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

27:58 Quite a few people into India to try to either get masters or to learn enough to be able to translate the great text into Tibetan. And they just kept dying. I mean, because you're going from, I guess you'll actually just talk about this recently too. You're going from the climate and the altitude of Tibet down basically into the plains of India. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:27 Their bodies weren't used to the heat and they weren't used to the different germs and things like that that they found. The same thing happened, of course, after the fall of Tibet in 59 as well. So quite a few of the monks and exiled Tibetans died when they got to India or just got things like Lama Zopa got tuberculosis. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:47 It was quite common to get these diseases and things because the heat was so intense and the food, of course, was all different and things like that. So the same thing happened when they were trying to bring the Dharma into Tibet. So at one point they say that he actually sent 21 young Tibetans into India just to learn the language enough to translate and all but two died. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:13 And then of those two, I mean those two came back and they came back with these reports of this great master called Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:24 So the king sent people to meet Atisha specifically at this point because now he knew about him with gold but they were killed for the gold or else they died. At any rate the team failed. I don't know exactly what happened to him. And so he decided to gather up all the gold that he could and while he was going from kingdom to kingdom in his area, Report an error in the passage at 29:24 Highlight the passage at 29:24

29:55 He ran into this rival king who was really opposed to the whole idea and threw him into prison. So he put poor Yeshe Wu into prison. So meanwhile, his nephew, Zhang Shipwu, went to the king to get him released. And the king said, no, basically, you can either give up trying to get Atisha or bring enough gold to equal the weight of Yeshe Wu. Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:23 So of course he tried and he gathered up all the gold that he could and he went and said, this is all I have. Can we release my father? And the king said no. And so then he went to his father and his father said, look, I'm an old man, let me die. Take the gold to Atisha, bring him to Tibet. So he was willing to give up his life for this purpose. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:46 And as one of my teachers says, it's at this point that most Tibetans will burst into tears as they tell this story, because it's quite moving. The faith that he had, even though he had never met Atisha himself, but the belief that this was the better thing to do. So they went and they started begging Atisha to come. Well, Atisha was the most popular teacher at this monastery, so it wasn't so simple. Report an error in the passage at 30:46 Highlight the passage at 30:46

31:14 to get him but they you know then what they did is Atisha actually did a check, and he realized that if he went, it would actually shorten his life to go to Tibet, but that it was far more beneficial. So he was all in favor of it, but everyone else at the monastery didn't want to lose him. And so he said, well, he was just going to go and do three years of pilgrimage in Tibet, which was quite common, just as it is now for Tibetans to come to India to do pilgrimage. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:45 And in fact he never returned to India. He spent a total of 17 years in India. But he didn't lie because he tried to come back at one point when his three years was up and then there was a big war and so he couldn't get across it so then he gave up and at least that way he didn't lie to them. Report an error in the passage at 31:45 Highlight the passage at 31:45

32:06 So that's it. And when he arrived to the small kingdom where Jang Chokwu was reigning, He was really impressed with the sincerity of the Tibetans and he composed this text called The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment, which was the first of the Lamrims and that drew together these various topics such as relying on the spiritual teacher, karma, death and impermanence, things like that, into a way that they could be meditated on so that basically we can get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 32:06 Highlight the passage at 32:06

32:40 This same text is sort of like the grandfather of all the other lamrims. And there have been a number of lamrims. And this class is based on one of the smallest of the lamrim texts, which is a text called The Three Principle Paths. But it's still a lamrim text. So his heart disciple was Lama Jantupa, which you might have heard of him. Report an error in the passage at 32:40 Highlight the passage at 32:40

33:07 He actually began... After Atisha passed, he began a sort of period or lineage of masters that were called the Gadampas that I mentioned in the first class, who were the really sincere, devoted, but also a little like... Kind of wackily devoted, you know, like really just, they just go all out. They saw everything the Buddha taught as personal instruction for them and they would just practice, you know, with their whole heart, with their whole being. Report an error in the passage at 33:07 Highlight the passage at 33:07

33:45 And those were called the old Kadampas and through them, Jason Kappa. That's how he received his teachings and he's the founder of the Galukpa lineage and then his teachings came down to Vavanka Rinpoche and then his teachings came down to Trijang Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Riba Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche to us and so this is the lineage that we have. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

34:14 So it all comes down from Jason Kappa and then the Kadampas and then Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:24 You could say Atisha. So tonight we're going to actually start the three principal paths and you guys will get a copy of what I'm calling the root text. It's actually a very small one page text. But it's sort of like with all the Buddhist texts. You could actually spend a year on this text. I mean it's actually kind of amazing when you receive really high teachings on this text. Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:52 It's like they'll just, they go, there's so much there that you can actually just unlayer it, unlayer it, unlayer it. Often we'll request a high Lama like Chodron Rinpoche or Lama Zopa Rinpoche to teach on the three principle paths and they can just go. For hours and hours and hours on these paths. So I'm giving you an overview and I'm using the three principle paths as sort of the basis of the class. Report an error in the passage at 34:52 Highlight the passage at 34:52

35:19 But just know that you're not getting it all. You can keep studying this for the rest of your life and you get enough. Actually, if all you did is really try to study and practice the three principle paths, you'd not only have enough for life, but you'd also get enlightened. So this is a great little text. So don't be fooled by its brevity. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:40 At the end of the last class we kind of began to talk about how the lamrim topics are divided up into the three scopes. So we were talking about the three scopes of practice, the lesser scope, the middling scope and the greater scope. And so, you know, one of the ways I thought to try to... How do these three principal paths relate to those three scopes? In actuality, the three scopes are referring to the level of capacity of the practitioner, whereas the three paths are actually talking about these realizations in the minds or developing these mental states themselves. Report an error in the passage at 35:40 Highlight the passage at 35:40

36:28 So path here isn't talking about a path that we're following. In as much as it's actually talking about developing these minds. So the mind of renunciation, the mind of bodhicitta and the mind understanding emptiness. So that's what it's really talking about. The same is true when you're talking about the... Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

36:50 Five paths of practice. Path of accumulation, path of preparation. And we'll talk about that a little bit more too. It's not talking about path in the way of following the yellow brick road. It's talking about, they're actually using this word to mean actual mental states that we have to achieve. So it's not enough just to understand what they mean, but we have to realize them. And my understanding of how The word realize or realization is more like where you contemplate something, meditate on something, work with something so much that, you know how sometimes when you're meditating on something in an analytical meditation like death and impermanence and you have this moment where you're like, oh, like a little, I call it an aha moment or a... Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:46 Like a little zap where you're like, oh wow, I'm going to die. You know, I mean, it's like, of course I knew I was going to die. Like, I'm not stupid, you know. But actually getting that moment, now that's what I would call an insight. Now that's just like a little insight. Because the minute your meditation ends, you're like, that's done, you know. Report an error in the passage at 37:46 Highlight the passage at 37:46

38:08 I don't have to think about that again, you know. It's gone again. We forget, like instantly. A realization is where that happens so repeatedly that it becomes part of you. And as a result, you start acting on it. So the realization is so deep that it shifts your whole worldview. So that kind of thing happens a lot, and I'll get to you in a second if you don't mind me. So that kind of thing happens a lot where you're meditating, where you have these little insights, and then our whole goal of realization is to keep building those insights until they become realizations, and then they don't reverse back. Report an error in the passage at 38:08 Highlight the passage at 38:08

38:49 So they say actually when you have your first realizations of, for example, bodhicitta, also reverse back. You know they call it actually with... Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:02 I think it's with bodhicitta, they call it candy cane in bodhicitta, where you'll have, or you'll have this compassion that comes because something big has happened, like your mom dies or something like that, where your whole life changes, but then it shifts back. You know, like you make the changes, it seems really big, it seems genuine, and then you get sucked back into work and it all kind of covers over. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:30 It's not true bodhicitta yet, but it's a touch. It's the beginning. It can make a shift. And often many of us actually begin following a spiritual path because of those little blips. It's like, wait a second, you know. I mean, I know I did, right? Because I lost friends, you know, through death or, you know, I know early on I lost my dad and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 39:30 Highlight the passage at 39:30

39:54 So it just shifts you enough where you think, well, maybe it's not the way it seems like it's going to be. And then you get pulled into school or, you know, whatever else and things change. Why don't we pass the mic to Matt and now we all have to actively take part since nobody's around to be the mic manager. Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:21 Careful of that little chord too, the little one that has the iMic on it. Come Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:30 on down. Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:34 I know, it happens. Even when I try to straighten it all out, it's still... There you go. My question was about the aha moment that you were talking about. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

40:48 From your description, it sounds like something that I'd heard of referred to as... know. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

40:55 Experiential knowledge, would you say that's the same thing? Yeah, yeah. And that's what meditation is trying to get us to. But then we have to just keep doing it. Like we can't think that's enough. And I know personally I had this experience when I just did retreat this summer. I went down and did some retreat at Vajrapani on Lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 40:55 Highlight the passage at 40:55

41:16 And I was amazed because I haven't had a chance to do retreat for a number of years, actually, which is kind of bad. But, you know, life happens, you get busy. And I had also family stuff that I was dealing with. I was amazed at how much I had forgotten. And I felt like I kind of got the long rim and I kind of knew that I hadn't realized it yet. So often you'll hear this where we keep asking teachers to come and teach on the three principal paths or on some of these other texts, karma or whatever, and people will be like, we already heard that. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:48 It's like, yeah, but have you realized it yet? Has it changed your life so much that you aren't getting angry at anybody anymore because you know you're going to die and you could die tonight? Because really, if we got death and impermanence, if that's all I got in this lifetime, I wouldn't have the same delusions that I have now because I would use that understanding to eliminate that. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:12 I wouldn't hold on to being angry at you for four weeks or whatever. You know the way we do, we get irritated people for stupid stuff. And if I really thought I was going to die tonight, I wouldn't, you know. And if I thought you were going to die tonight, I wouldn't because who would want to live with that? Report an error in the passage at 42:12 Highlight the passage at 42:12

42:28 I wouldn't want to live with being mad at you for, you know, having used the last of the toilet paper or something. You know what I mean? Just the stuff we hold on to, the irritations and stuff. So it would shift your mind so much that your whole life would change if it was a realization. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:45 Matt, behind you? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 42:45 Highlight the passage at 42:45

42:50 But be careful you don't get decapitated. I'm glad you brought up the blip. Yeah. Because I've been having a lot of blips. Oh, good. Yeah, no, I'm very pleased for the blips. But every time I have like a moment. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:03 I get a lot of crap thrown at me. And to me, I'm feeling like, well, that's the test. You know, how will I react to that, to what's being thrown at me this time? Right. And it was really interesting because I walked into work Monday morning and I had a really crappy thing thrown at me by two people. And I just tried to stay present, which is not what... Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:31 We normally do. We get real defensive. I just stayed with it because I was kind of blissed out. Anyway, I was listening and I was just trying to stay present with how I was feeling. And both of the people that talked to me about this said, are you okay? Is something wrong? No, because it was all over my face because I was really feeling it. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

43:57 And it was very hurtful. And I was just showing it, which I guess we don't normally do in a work situation. We kind of just suck it up and say, oh yeah, I'll handle it. But I was really feeling it. And I thought, do I tell them? And I said, no, I think I just need to stay with this. And that kind of stuff just keeps happening. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:19 And I'm just trying to stay present because I think, for me, that's the test. Right. Can I stay present even when all of this is happening? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you had just been meditating on this, is that? And so that's what the, what were the blip moments leading up to that? Well, I mean, I've been thinking about it. Report an error in the passage at 44:19 Highlight the passage at 44:19

44:39 I've been reading. I've been really trying to think of it. For me, I... I think of this as a philosophy because I've studied philosophy. So I really am trying to come back into that way of thinking. And I was really trying to be conscious of all of my actions and to see if I could really just stay, like you said, what if we die tomorrow? Report an error in the passage at 44:39 Highlight the passage at 44:39

45:02 Right. You know, just stay open. And I, it was over the weekend and I felt like, wow. And people who saw me were saying, oh, you just, something's different. Which was great. So I walked in Monday morning thinking, I teach, so I can look at all of this differently. And then it was like... Now let's see. Yeah, let's see if you really can. And so I've been really staying with it. Report an error in the passage at 45:02 Highlight the passage at 45:02

45:32 And don't, you know, don't be discouraged if you slide back a little. Because that's the thing with blip moments, is that we do still slide back because we haven't fully realized them yet. And to have a little patience with ourselves, this is lifetimes of habits that we're kind of mucking through at this point. Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

45:56 so, yeah, yeah, But just so that, yeah, so that if that does happen, that you're patient with yourself in the whole process of it. I'm trying. I'm trying not to kill ants. It's been a challenge. Yeah, yeah. No, whatever it is, we're shifting lifetimes of behavior, mental or physical. So, yeah, yeah. I figured the ants were a good start. Report an error in the passage at 45:56 Highlight the passage at 45:56

46:18 Yeah, it's a great start. As Pam and children would say, start where you are. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:27 Okay, so. We're talking about these mental states, these three, these actual shifts in our minds that we need to do in order to get enlightened. We need to have these actual shifts in our minds. And so these are the three principal paths. Report an error in the passage at 46:27 Highlight the passage at 46:27

46:46 So, okay, so I mentioned them really briefly. Renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness. And like I said, this is what we're going to talk about for the whole remainder of the course. So it's not like... If you don't understand all three of them by the time you leave here tonight, first of all, join the club. But secondly, just be patient. Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:07 Renunciation is first. Actually, I should say, too, they build on each other. Renunciation is first, is the first path. And really, you could say, Lama Zopa Rinpoche actually really defines it as disgust. For this life, which is heavy, right? You know, sort of like, I wouldn't even say some of the stuff he says. He sometimes calls it, you know, this suffering life is like a cesspool, is actually what he says. Report an error in the passage at 47:07 Highlight the passage at 47:07

47:41 So it's like kind of intense. So renunciation is really getting it that this condition of saṃsāra, and we'll talk about what that means, saṃsāra or cyclic existence, is suffering. That there's suffering involved in it. And that there's another choice. That part gets left out sometimes. Sometimes it's like we're giving up all the fun stuff. Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

48:07 And it's like, no, no, no, that's not what's being said here. What you're giving up is this illusion of what you're seeing as being the source of all your happiness. And it's like one teacher put it, you're giving up the small ice cream cone in order to get the great big sundae. So you've got the bigger view. So that part gets forgotten sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:36 So renunciation is disgust for this life or getting at that this life is suffering, being fed up and understanding that there's something else. Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word and bodhi actually just means Buddha and chitta means mind. Um. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

48:54 So, um... Is it the mind of a Buddha? No, not yet, but it's what's going to get us there. It's really more like Buddhahood mind. It's this mind aspiring to wanting. Actually, it's beyond aspiring and it's beyond wanting. It's actually the mind that will become a Buddha as the means to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 48:54 Highlight the passage at 48:54

49:19 So at the beginning when we did that meditation, it was like to have the beginning of this feeling of what would this mind be like. To really want the happiness and to end all suffering for all beings. I mean, it's this amazingly vast mind. It's bigger than any mind we can even imagine. But the Buddha says, we know it's possible for us because we can have it for one person. And especially, I think, parents in the room have had this for kids. Report an error in the passage at 49:19 Highlight the passage at 49:19

49:50 You see the kid suffering. You want to remove that suffering. You would do anything to remove that suffering. And you can't remove that suffering. And so this step with bodhicitta is we want to remove that suffering and the only way we can think of to remove that suffering is actually to become a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

50:12 That's just the method. It's like the tool. That's going to get us to this point where we actually have the capacity to remove the suffering of all beings. So people get hung up on the enlightenment part, but as far as the Buddha was concerned, that was just the means. The end is compassion, is removing the suffering of all beings. The third path, so it's renunciation, bodhicitta, and then the correct view of reality, basically. Report an error in the passage at 50:12 Highlight the passage at 50:12

50:43 It's emptiness. The Buddha's observation that things don't exist the way we think they do. And this is big. I mean, this is, for people who haven't studied it before, this takes a little bit of time. The entire Heart Sūtra is on this, so if you want more, it's coming. And, of course, there's Discovering Buddhism classes on all of these. Report an error in the passage at 50:43 Highlight the passage at 50:43

51:04 Renunciation is covered again in other classes. Bodhicitta is covered in two modules, both the class on bodhicitta and then the... The Lojong, the Transforming Problems class is also all bodhicitta. And emptiness, definitely. There's plenty of classes. And there's one Discovering Buddhism class on emptiness, but there's plenty of classes on emptiness. Emptiness sometimes sounds very, very mystical and magical. Report an error in the passage at 51:04 Highlight the passage at 51:04

51:36 Or as Venerable Buhner would say, airy-fairy. But it actually just is referring to the fact that things... Don't exist the way they appear to us, that they exist, and that they're empty of existing in that way. So that's what they're empty of. It's not like they're empty, you know, empty vessels or something like that. It's not like that at all. And sometimes people get caught up with this whole idea like things are like a dream. Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

52:05 Things are like a dream. It's not saying, the Buddha never said, the Buddha never said things are a dream. You know, if you walk out there and a yellow cab hits you, it's not a dream. Like, it's going to hurt and your leg will actually be broken, you know. But what the Buddha is saying or what emptiness is referring to is that things appear to us as separate from us. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:32 And so he's talking about interdependence as concrete, as unchanging, as permanent. And we can see that just in the way we look at our own minds, right? I'm a depressed person. I've always been a depressed person. I'm a sad person. I'm an angry person. I am what I am, right? Popeye? Saint Popeye? Master Lama Popeye? I mean, we do this. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

53:01 We can laugh at it in a Popeye, but we do it for ourselves. We limit ourselves because we think we're always a certain way and we can't ever change. That's just our mind, you know, and then we're shocked. And our mind changes and we wake up the next day and we're in a good mood, you know. We think, you know, this table, I love this table, this table's wonderful, and then it breaks and we're just shocked. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:23 You know, we're shocked by impermanence. And impermanence isn't emptiness, it's not the same thing, but understanding impermanence is a step towards understanding emptiness. Even Western science says... That the ground is not as solid as it appears to us. That things are not as solid as they appear. That I'm not as solid as I appear. Report an error in the passage at 53:23 Highlight the passage at 53:23

53:48 So every little bit that we can do of breaking that down helps us break down reality. And the Buddha basically said the same thing that they're discovering in science is that things are far more fluid and spacious and changing than we say or think or act like they are. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:08 So correct view has to do with all of this. But it also has to do with this interrelationship between karma and emptiness. So we'll talk a little bit more about karma, although not in tonight's class. But one of the things is that we look at something like an act that we think will bring us a certain result, and we see the act and the result as being connected. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:33 And the example that I always give is, say that I work for a job. Like a high powered job and I'm required or I think that I need to lie in order to make a lot of money for the firm. So in my mind I'm thinking, especially if I succeed and the firm gets a lot of money, then I'm thinking that it has to do with my lie. Report an error in the passage at 54:33 Highlight the passage at 54:33

54:55 And then of course I have to keep lying. But the reality is that every time I lie the firm doesn't make a lot of money. And that every time the firm makes a lot of money people didn't have to lie. So there's actually not a relationship between the two. The reality from the Buddha's point of view is that the money is coming from generosity. Simply put, giving creates abundance. Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:21 And that the lie is actually going to create an environment of deceit around me so that people will be lying to me. So that's kind of what goes around comes around version of karma. But there's a lag time. Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:39 And so I don't necessarily see, I'm seeing the result of positive karma when the firm makes money, or the firm is actually receiving the results of positive karma, and the results of my lie haven't come to me yet. So I've said the lie, I've created the negative karma, I have the seed of the negative karma, but it hasn't ripened yet. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:04 We'll talk about this more. Much more. Because karma is really, really big to try to understand, even if all we do is get a blip. And once you start getting blips, it actually is just like with emptiness. It can start shifting your life in little ways early, even before you have major realizations. But karma and emptiness work amazingly well together. Report an error in the passage at 56:04 Highlight the passage at 56:04

56:33 And that actually is what allows us to get enlightened. And so we'll spend more time talking about them. These three minds, the three principle paths, they say are the basis of our practice that we need before we enter the advanced studies, especially tantric studies. That's always what's given as the prerequisite before you enter tantra. And so it's kind of interesting to think about why. Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

57:04 What makes these three minds so special? Well, they say that, they call Tantra the result vehicle. And these three paths are actually the cause. You have to have the actual experience, actually, is what you were saying. You have to have the actual experience of these three paths. It's best to have the realization of these paths. But at this point, as they say, in this degenerate age, at least to have... Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04

57:35 To have worked with them before you enter the tantric path. And they say that you have to have some understanding of all three. Report an error in the passage at 57:35 Highlight the passage at 57:35

57:48 And again, remembering that renunciation is the prerequisite for developing the mind of bodhicitta. Because we have to look at our own situation and have compassion for ourselves and want to see our suffering first and then want to end our suffering, which is really what renunciation is all about. Compassion is then turning that outward. So once we see that we're in this situation, then we can turn our eyes towards the rest of the, you know, not even planet realm and want to remove the suffering of others. Report an error in the passage at 57:48 Highlight the passage at 57:48

58:27 Compassion has to start with us first. So renunciation is first. Then we can develop bodhicitta. And we can't get enlightened without bodhicitta. It's not possible, actually. The correct view of emptiness is it is possible to have a direct perception of emptiness and to actually attain nirvāṇa without bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 58:27 Highlight the passage at 58:27

58:52 And that's what the so-called Hinayana traditions. But it's not possible to attain full enlightenment without bodhicitta. So they actually build on each other. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:13 The two main causes for Buddhahood are these two wings of the bird, the method or bodhicitta and wisdom or the correct view of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 59:13 Highlight the passage at 59:13

59:27 Method or bodhicitta is why you want to become a Buddha. As I said, this is like the tool. And wisdom is actually seeing how things actually exist and how things are actually interdependent. Without that wisdom, you can't actually attain enlightenment. So you do need both wings. You do need wisdom and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

59:55 Many times we're drawn to wanting to help before we have the wisdom. And sometimes what happens is we just kind of muck it up. You know, we want to help, but we don't really know. And they actually say until you attain the total clairvoyance of a Buddha, it's very difficult to know how to help. Like we'll try, and even the high-level bodhisattvas, they tell stories of... Report an error in the passage at 59:55 Highlight the passage at 59:55

1:00:17 They just don't have quite enough. They couldn't see life number 32 behind them or something, and so they can't see this one aspect of the person's karma, and so they can make an incorrect or an inappropriate decision. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:34 And we definitely, I mean, I certainly can't read mine, so I don't necessarily know your individual reasons for coming to class, and I can sort of... I try to help, but I don't have wisdom. And that often can cause more difficulties. And I think we all have tried that, right? We've tried to help somebody or even ourselves. We don't necessarily, our minds are deluded still. We don't necessarily, we're working with our heart, but we don't necessarily know. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:34 Highlight the passage at 1:00:34

1:01:03 What's the best thing? For example, you might counsel somebody to break up with somebody because you don't like that person, not because you necessarily know what's most beneficial for the two of them or even just for your friend and things like that. So compassion without wisdom doesn't work and wisdom without compassion doesn't work either because you can tend to just become insular and just be Report an error in the passage at 1:01:03 Highlight the passage at 1:01:03

1:01:32 Focused on removing your own suffering and forgetting about all beings suffering, you know, all the beings that we imagined in our opening meditation. So that's why they're called the two wings of the bird and you need both wings to fly. Venera Mavina is actually going to teach on these two Tuesdays coming up on the 9th and the 16th. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:32 Highlight the passage at 1:01:32

1:01:53 She's going to spend some time on compassion and wisdom. So, you know, if you want more information, it'll be coming. So let's focus for a moment on what cyclic existence or saṃsāra actually is. Because you hear these words bandied about a little bit. Saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. So saṃsāra is cyclic existence. Nirvāṇa is the opposite. And neither is a place. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:53 Highlight the passage at 1:01:53

1:02:24 So saṃsāra isn't this place. Saṃsāra isn't out there. And this is not saṃsāra. It's not like that. Saṃsāra is actually a condition where we are forced by our karma and delusions to take rebirth over and over in suffering, basically. Now, it's various amounts of suffering. The suffering of an insect, for example, could be much greater than the suffering of... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:24 Highlight the passage at 1:02:24

1:02:55 Richard Gere or something, you know what I mean? So it's really different amounts of suffering. However, Richard Gere still has to suffer. He still has to die. He still has to lose people to death. He still has worries about what's happened to his investments. He has various things that he has to worry about. And I'm not putting down Richard Gere, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:13 I think he's done a lot for, you know. The Dalai Lama and for Buddhism, I'm just using him as an example. Sometimes we tend to look at people who have a lot or who have celebrity or something like that and we think that they don't have suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:28 And it's true that suffering is relative, but when I think in my life of the suffering that I faced, yeah, I didn't have to have like an arm lost to, you know, leprosy or something. And I didn't have to live on the streets or anything, but you know. Our suffering is our suffering and it still hurts, you know, whatever it is. So suffering is still suffering, you know, whether that suffering, whether you have medicine for your suffering and you don't, you know, it's still suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:28 Highlight the passage at 1:03:28

1:03:56 My loss of, you know, loved ones is still suffering, you know, even if it's not that they didn't die in a bomb last night, you know, it's just still suffering. So saṃsāra is the condition of... So we don't have a choice, according to what the Buddha observed. At this point, we don't have a choice as to where we're being born. Our karma and delusions are forcing us to take rebirth in these different realms of suffering, including this one, which is considered a positive rebirth, to have a human rebirth, because at least you have a chance to meet the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:56 Highlight the passage at 1:03:56

1:04:32 At least you have a chance to change your situation. Actually, it's one of the best. They say it's actually even better than... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:32 Highlight the passage at 1:04:32

1:04:40 Then some of the so-called blissful states because we have the great mix of suffering and happiness here. So we can see both here. We can see suffering, but we also can experience happiness. If we have too much happiness, it's easy not to want to practice. If we have too much suffering, we don't have any choice. We're just too caught up with our suffering. So actually they say the human realm, especially what's called a precious human rebirth, is the best. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:40 Highlight the passage at 1:04:40

1:05:11 situation to But we don't have a choice at this point. Our situation is forced upon us because, or this condition is forced upon us because we create negative karma because our deluded states of mind force us to, basically. I get irritated and I punch you. I create negative karma based on that. That negative karma ripens and I have suffering. I give you this clock and I create positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:46 It's just normal positive karma. So at some point somebody gives me something. But I'm not thinking it through. I'm just following. Maybe I'll give them a clock. I'm not thinking, how am I going to get enlightened? I haven't thought it all through because I haven't ever learned. Most of us are just operating out of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:46 Highlight the passage at 1:05:46

1:06:03 We don't really know. The minute we get angry, we punch or we yell or whatever. We rarely respond. Most of the things that happen to us during the day create negative karma because we're just following negative states of mind without really analyzing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03 Highlight the passage at 1:06:03

1:06:21 So renunciation is beginning to recognize that this situation that we're in, this condition of saṃsāra that we're in, Psychic existence and saṃsāra are synonymous. That it's dissatisfactory. That it's not what I want and that there's something better. That there's a way that I can actually break this cycle of suffering and break this cyclic existence. But at this point, most of us, and I think actually you can even include most Buddhists, haven't fully accepted. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:07:00 Gesundheit. Something going around in here. Haven't really fully accepted that life is suffering. And so part of developing renunciation is starting to analyze whether or not it is. Because the Buddha said, don't just buy it because I said so. You've got to look. You've got to check up. You've got to figure out what do I mean by suffering. And he's talking about the Sanskrit word that we translate often as suffering is called dukkha, which is really... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:00 Highlight the passage at 1:07:00

1:07:33 Probably more accurately translated as dissatisfaction. It's this mind of dissatisfaction that just underscores everything that we do. So all the positive things that we have, you know, I'm really excited. I save up for and I get this clock and then I get it home and I start being kind of irritated by the way it ticks, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33 Highlight the passage at 1:07:33

1:07:51 It's that mind that just immediately finds fault, you know. You really want to go out with somebody and then like the first date you notice that they... Eat funny or something, you know. I mean, our mind does this all the time. It's like we want something or we grasp at something and then we get it and we can never really just appreciate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51 Highlight the passage at 1:07:51

1:08:13 And they say it's actually, it's almost like a disease. The Buddha says it's almost like a disease of our mind, this dukkha. And it's just there all the time. And it's true about ourselves too. It's not always just that other people, you know. You lose 10 pounds, you feel great and then you start noticing you have this mole. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:30 And so then you've got to fix that. And then you're like, well, actually, I should probably fix them all. And so then it just is always like that. I mean, this is what we are. This is what we do. And the Buddha says, actually, it's not just us, which is actually a relief in some ways. It's not just one or two of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:47 It's like this is not just human condition. This is actually the condition of mind. It's a condition of mind in saṃsāra. It is samsaric mind. So you are saṃsāra. Saṃsāra isn't a place. Saṃsāra is this condition of karma and kleshas and what it causes for us. So when we try to get out of saṃsāra, when you hear about this phrase of escaping from saṃsāra, it's not like leaving San Francisco. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:47 Highlight the passage at 1:08:47

1:09:16 It's like we just hop on some vehicle and get out of here. We have to change our minds. That's really the only thing that's going to end our saṃsāra, my personal saṃsāra. It has to be a shift in the way I think, in the way I understand reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

1:09:32 Because what's keeping me here are my karma and kleshas. Kleshas meaning delusion. I like the kleshas. I like that term. It's Sanskrit. But you can also say delusion. You can say mental affliction. I like that one too, actually. It sounds afflicted, you know. Basically, it's bad thoughts. It's the thoughts like anger, jealousy, but also sadness, the critical mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:32 Highlight the passage at 1:09:32

1:10:00 So it's like any kind of, any amount of that. So it's not just the big stuff of like actually punching. It's not like that. It's like just being slightly irritated at the tick once I get the clock home. That's enough to be called a kletia. One of my teachers calls it a kletia attack when your delusions kind of act up. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:24 When you have a really big kletia attack, you're aware of it. It really feels like it's like a MAC attack. It's like this really big, it just fills your entire body. It's like, wow, you know, because they can do that. All it is is a thought, but we give it an enormous amount of power, and then we act on it. And sometimes we keep acting on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:43 So it's not enough that I got irritated at you once. But then I go and stew about it, you know, for three or four weeks sometimes. It's just every time I see you, I'm like thinking about how irritated I was that you gave me this clock that ticks funny, you know. It's just, we do that. I mean, it's stupid, stupid things. Again, if we really got it that we were going to die tonight or that you might die tonight, then I wouldn't carry it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:05 But that's the way our mind works. That's what keeps us chained here. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:05 Highlight the passage at 1:11:05

1:11:11 Klesias cause us to create actions. Klesia is basically these thoughts that we don't have any control over right now because we don't have control over our minds at all. If we got anything out of the breathing meditation right at the beginning of class, you can see that we don't have control yet over our mind unless all of you are not as you appear to be, ordinary beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11:11

1:11:34 You might all just be enlightened beings trying to help me get there, and I really appreciate it if that's what you are. So just keep working with me here. That's okay. But if you're not, then you probably saw that your mind is still thinking. It's like everything's coming up. Things are flashing. You're following that. Well, in our everyday life, we're not just sitting, watching all that. We're actually out, usually reacting to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:34 Highlight the passage at 1:11:34

1:11:58 That's why they call it monkey mind, which I think is great if you've ever seen monkeys. They do act a lot like our minds. So Kaleishas are the ones that they pop up in our mind uncontrolled and then as a result of them we act with our body or speech or our mind. So I either punch Olivier or I scream back. You know, that's really common. Somebody screams at me, I scream back. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:29 Which we think is natural, but actually what it's doing is just creating the causes for somebody to be screaming at me in lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:29 Highlight the passage at 1:12:29

1:12:39 And every time I create karma, and so then this karma has to have a place to ripen, and it ripens in another lifetime. Often far beyond when I did the act. So there's that lag time again with karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:12:55 um, Do you have a question? Or are you just shaking? Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, we're going to spend more time with Karma and Calatius, but just one second. So if we don't understand the situation that we're in or this condition of saṃsāra and why we want to get out of it, then we can never see the true suffering of other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:18 We can see the gross suffering. Just like we can see the gross suffering in ourselves, right? I think we could all admit that if we lost an arm, it was gross suffering. But it's harder for us to admit that that little level of dissatisfaction is actually suffering as well. It keeps us from ever truly being happy. So it's a more subtle form of suffering. Once we start understanding, the Buddha observed all these different forms of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:18 Highlight the passage at 1:13:18

1:13:46 Which is kind of hard to look at. But the reality is if we can't look at it, if we definitely can't look at it in ourselves, which is a good place to start, we can't look at it in other beings. And then we can't remove it in other beings. So the Buddhist point is that we have to start with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:14:07 Yes, so why don't we, go ahead, yeah. Can you pass the mic to him? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:07 Highlight the passage at 1:14:07

1:14:16 This may be something that you want to cover more in karma. But I have a problem understanding the relationship between the essence in me as related to sentient beings, as related to the cause and effect of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:16 Highlight the passage at 1:14:16

1:14:37 If what we are is within us in our form of deepest sleep, for example, as a sentient being, that into what other kinds of being? What do you define as sentience? Sentient means being with mind. SEMS is a being having a mind. So it's a mind-bearing being, basically. So that's how it's described, sentient being. So what I don't understand is how a human being can then in another life be something, let's say, like a cockroach, which I don't think of as being a sentient being. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:37 Highlight the passage at 1:14:37

1:15:23 Yeah, the Buddha actually said insects have mind, animals have mind, spirits have mind, so beings that we can't even see, the Buddha said actually exist, although sometimes that's a bit woo-woo to start with, so I usually start with animals and insects and people. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:43 But yeah, he actually said that all of those beings had minds and that there's also hell realms in Buddhism and there's also god realms and that all of those beings have minds. And there's actually a realm called, there's actually two realms called form and formless realm. And in formless realm, there's not even any physical form at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:43 Highlight the passage at 1:15:43

1:16:04 It's just mind. But in all of those beings, there is mind. And the Buddha actually says that even in those cockroaches, They have this potential that we talked about a little bit, that Buddha nature, the ability to, at some point, once this karma ends, for having the body and delusions, thick obscurations of a cockroach, because they say that in the animal realm, and insects are considered part of the animal realm, that the delusions are just so thick, and that's what the primary... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:04 Highlight the passage at 1:16:04

1:16:41 Mental affliction is ignorance in those realms. So that even in the situation like with Bodhi and Shanti, the cats that are here at the center, I could talk to them all I want about Buddhism, but they just can't get it, you know. And sometimes they do look like they're trying. And you've seen it like with animals, right, with dogs. Sometimes they really are trying. And Shanti, especially Bodhi, just goes to sleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:41 Highlight the passage at 1:16:41

1:17:04 But Shanti really does look like she's trying to understand exactly what it is I'm saying. She just... Can't grasp it. And so they say that it's due to, the Buddha said that it's due to delusions, thick obscurations in the mind. But that they do still have mind. Because those delusions aren't part of our minds. They aren't an innate form of our minds. They can be removed, just like pollution can be removed from water. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:04 Highlight the passage at 1:17:04

1:17:30 So it's just the karma of having the cockroach body wears out. And then whatever karma hits at the time of death. Throws you into the next one. But it's all from your karmic stores. It's not like somebody else's karma is going to suddenly ripen on you. So the next life could be human, the next life could be God realm even. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:30 Highlight the passage at 1:17:30

1:17:52 It's just what ripens, what planes are on the runway. It's a lot. I'm listening to it and I can't say it. It's like a theory that you see but you don't understand. That's totally, that's where you should be. It's a lot. Karma's a lot. That's Cedric. He's been working on it for a while. He's been cooking it for a while. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:20 Yeah, we started talking about this a few weeks ago in the teacher's class. But it's big and it's going to take a long time. And it takes a certain level. They say it's a hidden phenomena and that it's not something that we... Can directly experience right away. But ultimately we can. And so it's sort of like we just have to learn what we can learn and we have to try to understand how it all works and ask people that we trust in terms of teachers and try to get some understanding of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:20 Highlight the passage at 1:18:20

1:18:55 But also give it time. Because it's a completely different world view. It's a completely different world view than anything we have. Different cosmology, but also different, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:55 Highlight the passage at 1:18:55

1:19:08 And the thing I think that makes it even trickier with karma is there's this idea in the West that we do get it. Because it's been talked about for 40 years. But it's all these variations from Hinduism and from other traditions that don't necessarily relate to what the Buddha taught. Do I see a hand in the... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:26 Yeah, okay. Morgan, right? How did I remember that? You talked a lot about what karma is, is the intentions behind it. And what I'm kind of curious is, You talked in terms of an animal where they would have their own intentions or would have a lack of intentions, I would guess, with many of their actions. Well, not necessarily. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

1:19:47 They still could have an intention to get food, which would be attachment. They could still have an intention or motivation of fear or a motivation of self-preservation. Their motivations wouldn't necessarily be conceptual and they wouldn't be well thought out, but ours aren't. Sometimes either. I mean, actually, when you think about it, ours are kind of, we would say, instinctual in some ways. But I think it's actually just almost on autopilot, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:47 Highlight the passage at 1:19:47

1:20:17 That's my other part of the question is, is I actually have a friend. So it's actually, they say, actually, let me just make one quick point. They actually say that's why it's so much easier actually for us to create negative karma. Because we do it without much thought. It takes a lot more thought and mindfulness, presence. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:17 Highlight the passage at 1:20:17

1:20:36 Being aware and actually understanding what makes something positive to actually do something positive. Now some people come into the world and have sort of a natural disposition to do something positive. But the Buddha would say that's just a karmic imprint. That they have learned it. You know like little kids who start out being generous at an early age and like giving. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:36 Highlight the passage at 1:20:36

1:20:58 But most little kids. That's not necessarily what you see. So some... And actually some kids then could actually have an incredibly negative disposition. And you find out about them later when they become serial killers and all their neighbors are like, yeah, they stole all the cats in the neighborhood and killed them. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:58 Highlight the passage at 1:20:58

1:21:16 And you're thinking, how could this have happened? But little kids do come in with their own karmic imprints. They aren't necessarily based on their parents. So just on that question, from kind of a Western... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:16 Highlight the passage at 1:21:16

1:21:32 And they sometimes have this view of what a sin is, is not listening to that inner voice or God's order or whatever it might be. But my question on the other side is I have some friends and one friend particularly who's in the military and is solely convinced that if he doesn't do what he does, the outcome is harm for others. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:32 Highlight the passage at 1:21:32

1:21:53 And my question is, is obviously I don't have that belief, but. But that is really what he internally believes. And what I'm curious is his intentions from his name is Mark. Mark's intentions from Mark are he believes what he's doing. But is there an underlying kind of in our minds intentions that kind of governs this where there's something that says maybe I shouldn't be doing this path? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:53 Highlight the passage at 1:21:53

1:22:19 I think we can have a good motivation based on a wrong view. I think that's possible. And I think sometimes we have that as a young person and then we kind of learn how the world is, for example. You can have a good motivation. Or, hey, you know, I mean, there's this whole idea of, and this might open up again, but I'm going to go there anyway, that I will kill that cockroach because it's suffering and it's lost a leg. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:53 So I decide I'm going to kill that suffering out of compassion. I want to save it from suffering because it's kind of flailing around. But I'm doing this act of compassion without real wisdom because I don't know where it's going to go next. This could actually be positive for it to be sitting in my little Buddhist home flailing around while I try to comfort it in some way and try to help it during its dying process. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:53 Highlight the passage at 1:22:53

1:23:18 It could actually be a positive thing. for it compared to where its karma may send it next, which could be horrible. So I'm doing this act of compassion, but I don't really know what's going So often we can have a positive intention and they actually say that then my karma for killing it wouldn't be so great. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:18 Highlight the passage at 1:23:18

1:23:44 It's still not good to kill and I'll still receive a killing karma, but because my intention was to save its suffering, Then my karma isn't going to be so intense. I still get a karma. You always get a karma. But it's not so intense as if I'm just like, I hate these things, which we do too. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:44 Highlight the passage at 1:23:44

1:24:04 And that's doing a negative with a negative. It's sort of like, not only do we not have the wisdom, we didn't even have any compassion in that state. So we have both. It's always like this with karma. The minute you mention karma, it's... More, Marlon. More and more and more. My question is... I should always just have an extra class for karma, I think. My question is regarding to what you explained to Sansara. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:04 Highlight the passage at 1:24:04

1:24:31 What is the interpretation in Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, because there is a dozen of Buddhism, regarding to mental illness? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:24:44 You know... Well, there's actually several and it would depend on the person, you know. Let me say something quickly. For instance, the terminology that you use, delusions or stuff like that, you know. Yeah, often in the West, a delusional person is somebody who's mentally ill. Well, the Buddha would actually say that all of us are mentally ill. I mean, from that standpoint, we all have deluded states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:25:08 But I don't think you can actually say there's some sort of blanket thing. And this often comes up, people want to have one answer that's true for all of a question. I think it would depend on the person. And I have actually heard that some, actually some Tibetan lamas, when they see the states of mental illness in the West, they'll often say that it's actually spirit harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:08 Highlight the passage at 1:25:08

1:25:31 It's not necessarily an internal... Or chemical problem in the person's brain. They actually say spirit harm. Of course, they have an understanding of spirits that we don't have. We just think that's a little woo-woo and we're not going to even go there. But I have heard that come up. Now that's not true for all beings. You know, some beings who have a form of mental illness, it could be a karmic result of something. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:25:57 That is ripening in the form of this mental illness. So it's hard to say on every, you couldn't say it across the board. I think there's a lot of different reasons in the Buddhist philosophy of why somebody would be mentally ill. Why does somebody hear voices? You know, just like there's so many different forms of mental illness, I think there's going to be all different forms of reasonings as to why that particular being has this particular problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:57 Highlight the passage at 1:25:57

1:26:24 Just like... Why does any being have cancer? There's all different forms of karmic reasons why different beings have cancer of the different kinds that they have. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:24 Highlight the passage at 1:26:24

1:26:38 I would say probably most of those with cancer, with physical suffering like that, have come from harming physically. So mental suffering come from harming. And this I heard also recently for depression. One of the karmic reasons for depression, especially with depression, I read for if you just sort of wake up and you feel really depressed and there's no reason. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:38 Highlight the passage at 1:26:38

1:27:10 So it's not like grief and it's not like profound depression because your house got bombed or something like that. But they say it's actually the karmic for sexual misconduct where you have created suffering in another by stealing somebody's partner. So it's actually you created mental suffering in somebody else's mind, your mental continuum, it wasn't you. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:10 Highlight the passage at 1:27:10

1:27:34 But in another lifetime, you created this karma and now it's ripening as your own depression, which I think is kind of interesting. So there's all different ways, there's all different karmic reasons why. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:34 Highlight the passage at 1:27:34

1:27:47 What we call mental illness would manifest. So it's not a simple answer, I think. Can we pass the mic to Deborah? I'm running out of time. So is it enough to just change the habitual patterns in your mind or change the imprints? Is that enough to avoid receiving the karmic results of something from your past? Actually, it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:28:17 You have to purify. And there actually are ways to purify negative karma. It doesn't mean that you won't receive the results, because like I said, you always receive the karma. But when you purify, you receive it in a lesser form. And so what might have come about as a cockroach rebirth now becomes, you know, the flu. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:17 Highlight the passage at 1:28:17

1:28:40 It's like something more manageable in this lifetime. Which is why they say that when you first start practicing the Dharma and you start doing purification, there's steps of purification that we won't get into here, but we definitely cover in other classes in a lot of detail. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:40 Highlight the passage at 1:28:40

1:28:58 But as you start doing that more and more, like when you first start studying and practicing the Dharma and you're studying it and you're practicing it like really hard. You start having things go wrong, and so you're kind of like, wait a second, you know, why am I suddenly having all these migraines? Why am I suddenly having, you know, the flu all the time? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:58 Highlight the passage at 1:28:58

1:29:17 Why am I suddenly having all this depression or whatever is coming up? And it's really the purification of a lot of negative karma. I heard it described as like, stir it up, or no, washing your hands, that when you start, there's dirt and starts, the dirt is coming up. Lama Zopa Rinpoche always says, the dirt's got to come out, the dirt's got to come out, the dirt's got to come out, the dirt's got to come out. And it becomes like a mantra, the dirt's got to come out. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:17 Highlight the passage at 1:29:17

1:29:54 He always, yeah, he talks about it being like a shirt. That you're washing. And you know how some of it, it could be like really light dirt and then some of it's like that deep, oily, grimy stuff and you just keep going deeper and deeper and you're still, it keeps coming out, you know, as you're washing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:10 Yeah, Rabina, Venema Rabina always is repeating that one. She's like, whenever we're complaining, you know, about something's gone wrong or something like that, because of course once you start practicing the Dharma, life's supposed to be perfect, right? It's like, no. We're still, we still have samsaric minds. We're still in saṃsāra, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:10 Highlight the passage at 1:30:10

1:30:26 Geshe was just saying that yesterday. We were talking to him about different things and he's just laughing. He actually wipes his eyes. He's laughing so hard. He's just like, what do you expect? Is this saṃsāra? We're still in saṃsāra. So it's like the dirt's got to come out. But yeah, we will talk about it more in other classes. Not in this particular course, but actually... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:26 Highlight the passage at 1:30:26

1:30:53 I'm thinking, I know I'm going to, usually for New Year's I do something related to, because you always want to purify, right? We do, even in Western tradition, we do New Year's resolutions and getting rid of the old and all that stuff. So I usually do something on the four opponent powers, which is the means of purification. And then I was thinking actually on New Year's Day to do four opponent powers. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:53 Highlight the passage at 1:30:53

1:31:15 Their powers, opponent. Yeah, antidote, four antidote powers, let's say it that way. Yeah, I usually do something like that for New Year's. And so on New Year's Day, I think I was thinking maybe to do Dorji Kadro, which is a purification practice that also is fire. It's like a fire puja. So it's like a good way to just get rid of all the stuff from the old year and start the new year fresh. But I'll have to look at the schedule. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:15 Highlight the passage at 1:31:15

1:31:43 I'm kind of putting together the schedule for the next. So if I see it on there, then I'll definitely let you guys know when you can come and find out more about your purification. I can also teach at least the four means so that if you want to do some purification before then, because we could die at any time. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:43 Highlight the passage at 1:31:43

1:32:04 I'm going to give you guys a quick break because we're running out of time, so I'm going to skip some of the stuff I was going to say, but I think it's time you guys need to stretch a little bit, and then we're going to talk about these things called the eight world of concerns that you're going to focus on this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:04 Highlight the passage at 1:32:04

1:32:16 So stretch Report an error in the passage at 1:32:16 Highlight the passage at 1:32:16

1:32:22 and have a potty break and see if somebody, maybe somebody's out there who can give you some caffeine if you'd like. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:22 Highlight the passage at 1:32:22

1:32:38 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true, that's right, Debra. So the next class is all about karma, so we're definitely going to talk about purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:32:51 Well done. I know you are. No, that's great. Oh, I see the connection, okay. Yeah, so you just started coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excellent. No, that's so good. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:51 Highlight the passage at 1:32:51

1:33:10 That's so great. Isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:10 Highlight the passage at 1:33:10

1:33:20 Oh, sure, sure, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:20 Highlight the passage at 1:33:20

1:33:26 Oh. every time you go to anything you put. I know it's true. I can't. I mean, there's just so much on our schedule here. It's just so hard. But he is going to come up and do the Heart Teacher here. I know I would love to get more teachings from him on emptiness, but I've never even received one teaching from him yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:45 No, I've only heard how wonderful he is. But we'd like to start some sort of interdependent relationship that when Geshe-la goes away, that he can come up sometimes because those students, I'm just hearing their connection. That's so cool. That's so great. That's really great. Oh, that's so great. Oh, the Milarepa one. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:45 Highlight the passage at 1:33:45

1:34:09 Oh, great, great, great. Oh, that's so good. that's great. That was so hard. Oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:09 Highlight the passage at 1:34:09

1:34:13 He's my little baby. Yeah, he doesn't look that little anymore. Understanding your suffering. Yeah, it's so hilarious. Well, I really like Hansel Rinpoche because one of the things that he teaches differently than some of the other teachings I've had in the fact that it's almost like he synthesizes much of what he's learned. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:13 Highlight the passage at 1:34:13

1:34:40 So the emptiness teaches. I don't know. He's just very different. His style is different. He teaches Sundays? He teaches Sunday morning, yeah. And he teaches emptiness on Sunday morning. And then, of course, we're doing Shantideva's Bodhisattva. Yeah. But yeah, maybe I can come down for a Sunday or something. They're interesting. They're really interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:40 Highlight the passage at 1:34:40

1:35:09 Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. No, I've heard amazing things about him, actually. Well, we're so fortunate. You guys have Geshe-la. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're so fortunate to have a teacher. Yeah, yeah. No, it totally changes things, doesn't it? Oh, my God, things are so different. Because you can go deeper and deeper and deeper. Yeah. I mean, Geshe-la took like four or five years to teach Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:28 I think five years to teach Shantideva. I know. We're just like a man. Because they go line by line. And it still influences everything that I, every time I hear anything from that, I just feel like it's like the most, I mean, it's such an amazing, most amazing text, I think, ever. And then to have that kind of line by line instruction is so rare in the West. Oh, we're so fortunate. We're so fortunate. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:28 Highlight the passage at 1:35:28

1:35:57 Oh, don't call me Lama Lama. You have to call me Chokyi. Chucky. Okay, Chucky. I respect you with my heart. That is because you record everything. Yes. Yeah. Because I want to say something I don't want to do. Okay. But it's okay. I just want to ask you because I... Oh, well, I have to pause it. I saw Steve. I got a book here from Lama Rinpoche with a CD. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:57 Highlight the passage at 1:35:57

1:36:22 And it's a cool technique that everything you get. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I didn't know he worked with one time he was an employee. Yeah, I never heard that story. And because I am resident in one of the programs because my income is so low. But we have a lot of people dealing with very severe mental illness, addiction, and harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:22 Highlight the passage at 1:36:22

1:36:51 And I've been cleaning the place myself because the case managers are very selfish. So I've brought some books, some information, some things about compassion. Kindness. Now, I mean, I have, like, And I said to him, I sent an email and I gave it to one of the people there, if you could run the place, case manager in housing, if they can make a field trip to the district temple, have a cup of coffee, because they do that since I'm going to the cafeteria. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:51 Highlight the passage at 1:36:51

1:37:24 But I didn't know if you hear about it. Do they call you or they talk about you? I haven't seen anything yet. Do you not have contact with Steve? Steve, this Steve. Our Steve. The bookie. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, yeah, I know him, but he hasn't told me about anything. Oh, okay. No, I just say that because my intention is to bring something. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:24 Highlight the passage at 1:37:24

1:37:45 something well okay but i don't i don't i don't believe no better in anybody yeah yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:37:55 okay Report an error in the passage at 1:37:55 Highlight the passage at 1:37:55

1:38:09 You mean I can't give you my karma and you can't give me your karma like that or what do you mean? What I mean is we live in a video Christian culture that is strongly based on guilt. So in this Buddhism you go to Dharma that is a conversion of karma. Let's say like negative to positive flow of energy. But my belief is that you cannot... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:09 Highlight the passage at 1:38:09

1:38:44 Ring the bell if it is otherwise. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:44 Highlight the passage at 1:38:44

1:38:51 Yeah, yes, thank you so much this yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:38:51 Highlight the passage at 1:38:51

1:39:15 I'm going to put it in the string one time. Right. Oh, that's interesting. That's true. Softer. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, we can talk more about it, Marlon, and nudge him and see. But he hasn't mentioned anything to me and I haven't heard anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:45 So, just because we're running out of time tonight, I want to... There's a number of... To develop this mind of renunciation, there's a number of meditations. There's actually three main meditations that you focus on. We're going to focus on one. On what's called the Eight Worldly Concerns or the Eight Worldly Thoughts. I'm sure there's other translations, but there's also Meditating on Death and Impermanence, which we'll deal with in the next class, the next course. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:45 Highlight the passage at 1:39:45

1:40:22 And there's precise ways to look at it so that you really get that death is inevitable. And, and, um, And that you've got to use the time you have. Basically, that's kind of the gist of it. It's not to freak you out. It's just so that you actually get that this is a finite amount of time and that I need to change the way I act. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:48 So it's really about getting that preciousness of the time that you have. And then the other is what's called the precious human rebirth. And it has to do with really getting the fact that you've got these incredible opportunities now because you've gotten a good rebirth this time. You've ended up here anyway, so this is a good step that you have a certain amount of... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:48 Highlight the passage at 1:40:48

1:41:13 Good karma that's ripening for you now. And what we tend to do, unfortunately, even though we may be aware of that, is we keep waiting for something better. We keep waiting for the perfect apartment or the perfect partnership or whatever to get serious about our practice. You know, we keep thinking that my room's not quite big enough to have a good altar in or, you know, whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:13 Highlight the passage at 1:41:13

1:41:33 I'm not going to do retreat until... I retire or something. We have this idea that somehow later it will be better. So the Precious Human Rebirth Meditation really is about getting it that you've got these incredible conditions have all come together and you've got to act. Do it now. It works very well with the death and impermanence recognition because they both are really talking about the fact that you've got this great opportunity and now what are you going to do with it? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:33 Highlight the passage at 1:41:33

1:42:07 That one we talk about more in a class called Establishing a Daily Practice. These both come up in other classes. This one that we are going to spend some time on tonight and you'll focus on this week on the eight worldly concerns, I don't think does come up in any other class. And I think it's something that we can all relate to with absolutely no academic study. We've all had all of these before. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:07 Highlight the passage at 1:42:07

1:42:35 Concerns, eight worldly concerns is meaning that we are really caught up with these different states of mind or these different thoughts and that we base a lot of our actions and the way that we feel about life on these thoughts. They're basically four pairs that are related to each other. And we tend to get super happy about the good ones and super upset about the bad ones or how we think that they are, how we've labeled them good or bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:43:09 And basically the Buddha was saying that these things are going to happen to you due to your karma. You know, like these people presenting you with this stuff on Monday morning. That's coming back to you from karma that you've created. How you react to it. That's your free will. So it's like how you react to what's coming at you because karma you've created even in lifetimes ago is how it's going to shift rather than just screaming back. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:09 Highlight the passage at 1:43:09

1:43:38 You know, somebody screams at you rather than just screaming back. Actually how you change your reaction based on this understanding, based on some little tiny bit of wisdom that we're gaining from these classes. So let me tell you what the eight are. And you also get these on your homework, so it's not like you have to write them down, but you could if you want. And you'll hear different translations of them, and I like this translation because I think it's really accessible. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:38 Highlight the passage at 1:43:38

1:44:06 The first two are getting something and not getting something. It's our gain and loss, right? Getting something, I mean... Constantly we are devoting our lives to this. If we're not thinking about it, we're planning it, we're talking about it with somebody, we're reading up on whatever the best shoe is or the best car is or the best house is or whatever the best clock is, the ones that don't tick too loud. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:06 Highlight the passage at 1:44:06

1:44:38 And then the flip of that is not getting something. We can't get it. We're thwarted from getting it. We lose it as soon as we get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:38 Highlight the passage at 1:44:38

1:44:49 Even if we didn't want it, you know, Olivia gives it to me. I don't even particularly want it, but suddenly it's mine. And then I get obsessed about it. Oh my God, where did I leave it? You know, I mean, we do that too. So it takes up a lot of this mental space. And so these are ways that we basically eat up our precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:49 Highlight the passage at 1:44:49

1:45:10 You know, we spend a lot of our time researching cars or researching, you know. I mean, I'm doing that one because I don't have a car, but we all have something that we obsess about getting and then we get it. And of course, it's never as great as we think it's going to be, whether it's, you know, I just got a pair of walking shoes, you know, the same way you're just like, hmm. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:10 Highlight the passage at 1:45:10

1:45:32 They don't fit right, you know, it's like, and you like research it all and you know, you order them and then they come and they don't fit right, you know, it's just that thing. So I, we got something gained and now it's like, you know, I'll probably just get rid of them, you know, so yeah, so that's the first two and then the second two are feeling good and not feeling good or feeling bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:32 Highlight the passage at 1:45:32

1:45:59 How much of our time is spent on this? Feeling good. The minute we have pain in our knee, we shift. Just here in class, not even talking about in the wider world. The minute I get a headache, I reach for Advil. And I'm just talking about physical pain. What about mental pain? The minute we're depressed, we turn on the TV. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:59 Highlight the passage at 1:45:59

1:46:18 The minute we're sad, we call a friend. It's just like that constant thought of, I have to feel good all the time. Not feeling good, it's like we have, it actually makes us weaker because we can't even stand being alone with negative feelings, with sad feelings or with depressed feelings or with anxious feelings. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:18 Highlight the passage at 1:46:18

1:46:43 And so we try to just like cut them off. And it's this fear actually that makes the suffering much worse. I noticed, I began to notice that, I think I mentioned, Report an error in the passage at 1:46:43 Highlight the passage at 1:46:43

1:46:54 Did I mention to you, I think it was in this class where I was talking about the Vajra Safa retreat, where I was like so ill during the purification. It's a purification retreat. And I was so sick with migraines that I finally just decided instead of focusing on Vajra Safa, I would focus on the migraine. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:54 Highlight the passage at 1:46:54

1:47:14 But I realized that it was so much the fear. Oh my God, here comes another one. That kind of like, oh God, what am I going to do? And it's just like, it's okay. There's no place else to go. I'm stuck on the mountain in India. What are you going to do? And as you begin to relax around it, actually the pain goes away. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:14 Highlight the passage at 1:47:14

1:47:39 You realize that so much of our reaction to not feeling good or to feeling bad is fear, anxiety, aversion in some form. Anger, you know, you wake up and you feel bad and you're like, not this again, you know, I've got a meeting to do, you know, or whatever. That just makes it worse, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:48:04 So we've got getting something and not getting something. Also you could say gain or loss. Feeling good and feeling bad. And then the next two are basically good reputation and bad reputation. It's being well known and not being well known. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:04 Highlight the passage at 1:48:04

1:48:21 And we do, even if you're not thinking about like, you know, being on cover of People magazine, you're just thinking, we so care what people think of us, don't we? I mean, we so care what people think of us. And even our not caring what people think of us is really secretly caring what they think of us. So it's sort of like, sometimes we can be obsessed. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:21 Highlight the passage at 1:48:21

1:48:45 And sometimes we can bend over backwards to have people think well of us. It's not saying that we shouldn't care to the point where, you know, we are like the crazy yogis that a teacher brought home to scare his parents. It's not like that. It's more just like just to look, just to look, look at our minds. You know, it's just like we do this kind of stuff all the time where we really, really we flip out when people don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:45 Highlight the passage at 1:48:45

1:49:13 There could be a room of 50 people and all of them like us and one person doesn't like what we're wearing or something. Well, this one comes up a lot for me. And that's all you can focus on is that one person. And the same is for number six, not being well-known or having a bad reputation. It's just like we can just worry it to death. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:39 Those two. And then the final two is basically people saying, it's praise and blame. So it's people saying good things to you and people saying bad things to you or people not saying good things to you. So you could say praise, but it also includes just sort of people agreeing with you. If we really want people to agree with us, right? If somebody is like annoying at work, we want to talk about that person. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:39 Highlight the passage at 1:49:39

1:50:02 We want everyone to agree that that person's annoying. Like, it's not just, you know, enough for us to think that person's annoying. We want everyone else to agree, too. We always want agreement. We always want praise. Like, if somebody praises us, it's not enough to just say one thing. We want them to keep saying, like, keep praising, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:02 Highlight the passage at 1:50:02

1:50:23 Whenever Ravina does this thing where she's, like, really does, she literally pets you, you know. But then, of course, in the next moment, she could shoot something else at you. So we can also do the flip and that's where we get incredibly depressed for days because somebody has disagreed with us or somebody has criticized us. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:23 Highlight the passage at 1:50:23

1:50:42 This is a big one. People criticize us and we literally die inside. We just are so wounded and upset. Or somebody just says something rude to us. Some of you don't even know. Like you go into the bank and somebody's rude to you and you're like, and then you get all upset and then you cause an accident or whatever. I mean, we do this kind of stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:42 Highlight the passage at 1:50:42

1:51:03 We do. So this isn't, all these eight are like stuff that we really, we do. It's not like we have to look anywhere other than our own minds. So our homework this week is really going to be. Looking at these eight and just starting to get familiar with them, just trying to be aware of them. And sometimes it's easier to just take one pair a day and just kind of be aware of them and just check in like through the day or at least at night and kind of go, wow, how often did that come up? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:03 Highlight the passage at 1:51:03

1:51:33 And really no incident is too tiny to look at. So it could just be, you know, getting something, you wanted to sit on the bus. Well, then you got one and then it's like, you know, Then you ended up with some person next to you who was screaming or something, and so then you lost that seat or whatever. So you could be doing some little tiny thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:56 You haven't even gotten to work yet, and you've already probably covered eight of them. So it definitely covers feeling good and not feeling good, and probably someone saying good things to you and someone saying not good things to you. I suppose if you scream at them, then you might have lost your good reputation, so then you'd lose the five and six, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:56 Highlight the passage at 1:51:56

1:52:15 So the point of looking at these is this is actually a really good test of whether or not we have renunciation because they're really caught in this life. We can spend years and have and probably will just being focused on these eight and having them be like an underlying base level motivating factor in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:15 Highlight the passage at 1:52:15

1:52:40 And actually I think a lot of people do. It's not like... It's not like something's horribly wrong with us, if it's true. If we discover them, we should hate ourselves and whip ourselves. But what they are is a good test of how far we're getting in our renunciation as we begin to learn more about what renunciation is. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:40 Highlight the passage at 1:52:40

1:53:05 So getting super happy about... The good ones, getting something, feeling good, getting a good reputation, having somebody say something nice to me. Like, you know, it's not, it's okay to be happy, it's okay to rejoice, but we don't stop there, right? Like, we just go zooming around the house because we got a good, you know, somebody sent us a happy email. I mean, we just go over the top with our happiness. And the same is true when we get the reverse. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:05 Highlight the passage at 1:53:05

1:53:32 Somebody says one thing, oh, I can't believe you wore that dress. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:32 Highlight the passage at 1:53:32

1:53:39 It's just we just burn, you know, for like forever or else we're wounded, you know, one or the other. We're just really wounded about it. So the point is, is just to really look at how our mind, this is one of the ways that our mind is a monkey mind, that we're shooting all over the place, that our mind's so crazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:53:56 And often we don't stop there. Often these are the basis for us then creating negative karma, right? Because getting something, well, if I'm obsessed with something and I can't afford it, I could steal it. I could definitely do that, and then I create negative karma. Or I could conveniently borrow it and forget to return it, which is actually a form of stealing, if we think of it as ours afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:56 Highlight the passage at 1:53:56

1:54:21 And we, of course, talk about that in the karma class. Not getting something, you know, we can be so obsessed with it that we, like, you know, lock our things up with key, you know, and, like, protect them, get special insurance and stuff. Feeling good, if I want to feel good all the time, well, gosh, I could actually lead to drugs, too, you know? I want to feel good all the time, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:21 Highlight the passage at 1:54:21

1:54:45 I don't want to have, and I don't mean just the Advil, but, you know, taking it a step further. If I, you know, if I want to not feel pain, that can go to a lot of places, too. Most of the time that we distract ourselves is because we're in pain in some way. Whether it's just simply the blues and we're watching TV or watching a lot of movies or whether it's something more serious and we're just not looking at it because it's painful. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:45 Highlight the passage at 1:54:45

1:55:09 And so then we do more and more things to keep ourselves from not looking at it. Getting a good reputation. Well, we definitely know people have tried doing everything to get a good reputation. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:09 Highlight the passage at 1:55:09

1:55:22 And not, and to avoid having a bad reputation. What's his name? Craig? He's now trying desperately to save what's left of his reputation by saying, you know, none of it ever happened. So, I mean, people do that. All you have to do is watch. I grew up in Washington, so it's just like constantly the good reputation, bad reputation, good reputation, bad reputation. And then sometimes they reemerge, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:22 Highlight the passage at 1:55:22

1:55:49 Ten years later, they suddenly run for office again, and you're like, we all forget. We're like, oh, okay, great. I'm like Mary and Barry. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:49 Highlight the passage at 1:55:49

1:55:58 They just pop back up and run for mayor. We're like, all right. Because that desperation for the good reputation, you know. Or OJ. I mean, here's another one. And then the praise and blame. So yeah, we can use these things to create more and more negative karma if we don't look at them. And so the point is to look at them. And the point is that they represent attachment to this life. So if we don't... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:58 Highlight the passage at 1:55:58

1:56:25 Start thinking about that, then we can't develop renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:25 Highlight the passage at 1:56:25

1:56:32 So I didn't get to where I wanted to get to, as usual, but I'll just end with a couple of quotes from La Miesche. I was going to start with our root text, and I think I'll just hand it to you and you can look it over. Or maybe we'll read it as our dedication, actually. That might be a good idea. Jeff, do you want to hand it out? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:32 Highlight the passage at 1:56:32

1:56:53 Or maybe I'll just head in half to both sides of the room. Actually, there's more people on that side of the room. Deborah, can I have you? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:53 Highlight the passage at 1:56:53

1:57:03 We'll just end with this, sorry, because that's the overview. So that'll end you. But I'll just read you a couple of quotes from Lama Yeshe about renunciation. He teaches a lot about, or taught a lot about renunciation. And I think it helps us cut that idea that renunciation is not just giving up all the... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:03 Highlight the passage at 1:57:03

1:57:22 great things in life and like you know living in a hair shirt and in a cave or something um he Being renounced means becoming more reasonable through knowing the characteristic nature of pleasure and the objects of pleasure. Flexibility is the key. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:22 Highlight the passage at 1:57:22

1:57:40 You're all right if you get pleasure and you're all right if you don't. Being renounced is not giving up pleasure and enjoyment, but it's developing an easygoing nature towards them without attachment. Recognizing them as karmic projections, illusory and impermanent. He also said, proper renunciation requires you to understand the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:40 Highlight the passage at 1:57:40

1:58:02 Without understanding reality, there's no way you can develop renunciation. But once you understand it, renunciation comes. Simply pushing doesn't work. Renunciation means discovering a new basic reality. And then he said, renunciation is not grasping, but you can't make yourself not grasp. It's only by changing your understanding that you stop grasping. So it's like an organic reaction to understanding how things truly exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:02 Highlight the passage at 1:58:02

1:58:31 You must have an intellectual understanding of emptiness in order to develop renunciation. And then finally, renunciation is less craving, less grasping, relaxing your grip on saṃsāra. Renunciation is totally to do with an inner experience of saṃsāra. It's not throwing away all of saṃsāra. Our grasping leads to more and more dissatisfaction, not to happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:31 Highlight the passage at 1:58:31

1:59:00 Pleasure itself is not the cause of our suffering. It's the grasping that causes our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:00 Highlight the passage at 1:59:00

1:59:10 So let's end with reading this together. Oh, I didn't get a copy. Sorry. Thanks for it. Did everybody get a copy? So this is your root text. You have to bring it every week to class. This is our root text. I like that. It makes it sound much more important. It is really important. It could get us enlightened. I bow to all the high and holy Lamas. As far as I am able, I'll explain the essence of all high teachings of the victors, the path that all their holy sons commend, the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:10 Highlight the passage at 1:59:10

1:59:54 We don't have to read the little... This first part is on renunciation. Listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones, who have no craving for the pleasure of life, and who, to make leisure and fortune meaningful, strive to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors. That's the Buddhas. There's no way to end without pure renunciation, this striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:54 Highlight the passage at 1:59:54

2:00:23 It's because of their hankering life as well that beings are fettered, so seek renunciation first. Leisure and fortune are hard to find. Life's not long. Think it constantly. Stop desire for this life. Think over and over how deeds and their fruits never fail, and the cycle suffering stop desire for the future. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:23 Highlight the passage at 2:00:23

2:00:49 When you've meditated thus and feel not even a moment's wish for the good things of cyclic life, and when you begin to think both night and day of achieving freedom, you've found renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:49 Highlight the passage at 2:00:49

2:01:03 Renunciation, though, can never bring the total bliss of matchless Buddhahood unless it's bound by the purest wish, and so the wise seek the highest wish for enlightenment. They're swept along on the four fierce river currents, chained up tight in past deeds, hard to undo, stuffed in a steel cage of grasping self, smothered in the pitch black ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:30 In the limitless round they're born, and in their births are tortured by three sufferings without break. Think how your mothers feel. Think of what's happening to them. Try to develop this highest wish. You may master renunciation and the wish, but unless you have the wisdom perceiving reality, you cannot cut the root of cyclic life. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:30 Highlight the passage at 2:01:30

2:01:54 Make efforts in the ways then to perceive dependent arising. A person's entered the path that pleases the Buddhas, when for all objects in the cycle of beyond, he sees that cause and effect can never fail, and when for him they lose all solid appearance. You've yet to realize the thought of the able as long as two ideas seem to you disparate. Appearance of things, infallible dependent arising, and emptiness beyond taking any position. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:54 Highlight the passage at 2:01:54

2:02:28 At some point, they no longer alternate and come together. Just seeing that dependent arising never fails brings realization that destroys how you hold to objects, and then your analysis with view is complete. In addition, the appearance prevents the existence extreme, emptiness that of non-existence, and if you see how emptiness shows in cause and effect, you'll never be stolen off by extreme views. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:28 Highlight the passage at 2:02:28

2:02:58 When you've grasped as well as I the essential points of each of the three principal paths explained, then go into isolation, my son, make mighty efforts, and quickly win your ultimate wish. So we're going to take this pretty much line by line so we'll get more understanding of it. And when he says my son, he's actually talking to a specific disciple. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:58 Highlight the passage at 2:02:58

2:03:23 So sometimes people change it to my child or whatever so that, you know, the other 50 % of us feel included. But he was actually speaking to a student whose name was Nawang Dakpa, who is the same name as our Geshele. But he was a specific disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa that he was writing this to, so in a letter form. So let's end with a dedication of the merit. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:23 Highlight the passage at 2:03:23

2:03:48 And of course I'll hand out your homework, so don't leave without it. Just that we can dedicate any positive karma that we created just by even discussing these three principle paths. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:48 Highlight the passage at 2:03:48

2:04:03 Because there's not that many people just in this city alone that are doing this tonight. Much less in the state of California or in the whole world. So it's pretty amazing that we are learning how to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:03 Highlight the passage at 2:04:03

2:04:19 So may this actually create the seeds in our own minds to be able to take this to its conclusion. Each of us reaching our highest potential of becoming enlightened beings ourselves so that we can truly benefit all beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:19 Highlight the passage at 2:04:19

2:04:40 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:40 Highlight the passage at 2:04:40

2:04:47 So basically you're just going to be contemplating these. Eight World of Concerns. And also I'm giving you, it's a summary of the Lamrim by Venerable Rubina. It's actually from the introduction that she did to Lama as she's becoming the Compassion Buddha, but it's such a great little concise Lamrim. So if you have already studied the Lamrim, it'll be a great refresher. If you've never studied the Lamrim, it'll give you more exciting input on... Report an error in the passage at 2:04:47 Highlight the passage at 2:04:47

2:05:17 Karma and things like that so that you'll have more to work with. So everybody should get one of each. You want to just hand it out? Yeah, it might be faster. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:17 Highlight the passage at 2:05:17

2:05:28 Oh, Cedric jumped up already to get it. Well done, Cedric. All right. Thank you. And did everybody get the root text? Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:28 Highlight the passage at 2:05:28

2:05:43 We'll start with that next week. I'll try not to babble on as much so we have better use of our time. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:43 Highlight the passage at 2:05:43

2:05:57 Oh, good question. Thank you. She ordered them, but the person at Mahāyāna Sūtra and Tantra Press was away on vacation until Tuesday, so they mailed them Wednesday. So they didn't come today, which would have been amazing if they had, right? I was thinking it was Friday. So I would assume the earliest we'd see them is Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:57 Highlight the passage at 2:05:57

2:06:19 But if you want them before the next class, like if you're going to be at the center or something, then check with us on Monday or Tuesday and we might have them, definitely we'll have them for the next class. Well, as definite as anything can be. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:19 Highlight the passage at 2:06:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:07:24 be going for a while. This is just the third class. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:24 Highlight the passage at 2:07:24

2:07:30 never know. Why don't you back up here? Second interview is another. Well, no, I might interview you. Oh, this is very, different. This is like first time. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:30 Highlight the passage at 2:07:30

2:07:45 So actually, Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:45 Highlight the passage at 2:07:45

2:07:54 something I need to turn off the computer. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:54 Highlight the passage at 2:07:54

2:07:59 all of them just recorded. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:59 Highlight the passage at 2:07:59