Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (25 September 2007)

0:00 That's what IBMs do anyway. Probably why I like them. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:11 Yeah, but that's sometimes all it takes. Somebody willing to shoot. All right, so let's just start with setting our motivation. We'll just take a few minutes to calm our minds, or at least allow me to calm my mind. You guys can just humor me. Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

0:34 So I'll just start with watching our breath for a few rounds of tens. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:40 Park your attention on either at the level of your belly or the level of your chest or the level of your nostrils and just keep your attention on that breath for two rounds of ten. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

0:52 Every time you get distracted, just pull it back. So Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:11 we've been studying the spiritual teacher and one of the points that I was trying to make last week is that one of the roles of a spiritual teacher is actually to push your buttons. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:25 They're there to help you eliminate Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:31 The afflicted minds that won't get us enlightened, like stubbornness, willfulness, pride, self-centeredness, fear, impatience. Report an error in the passage at 2:31 Highlight the passage at 2:31

2:46 So that's what they're going to point out so that you can work on them. Because otherwise we tend to ignore them. And Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

2:57 having somebody point that out in you is not always comfortable. But that's their role. Because they aren't an ordinary person. This isn't an ordinary relationship. This relationship is going to get us to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:22 So we motivate that whatever we might learn tonight, any insights or ideas or thoughts or understandings that we gain tonight, either just in our own minds or through the talk or through the movie or through each other, that that become the seed for us being able to, in this lifetime, recognize and find our spiritual teacher or teachers. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:56 Those beings who will get us enlightened so Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:06 that we can perfectly benefit every living being. And Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:15 we'll start with the opening prayers. So Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:24 in the back of the prayer book, page 8, we'll Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

4:31 just do it once, but with meaning. 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 4:31 Highlight the passage at 4:31

4:57 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 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:10 So tonight we're going to talk a little bit more. about the tradition of seeing the spiritual master as a fully enlightened being, which is a big leap for most of us, even those of us who have been studying for a while. And then we're going to watch the movie. So I had intended to talk for like about a half an hour and so we'll just sort of see how things go. Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:33 I was going to actually, originally I was thinking I was going to lead you in a meditation. I'm not. I'm going to give you a meditation that you can alternate with what you already have been doing and try it out. It's a meditation that Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote, or rather was written based on his teachings about... Report an error in the passage at 5:33 Highlight the passage at 5:33

5:53 I remember at the end of the class last week where I was telling you the way that if you begin to see faults that you can kind of turn it into a practice, a positive practice. And so it's basically that teaching done as a meditation. So it tells you, since it's an FPMT one, it has the little like pause, reflect. Report an error in the passage at 5:53 Highlight the passage at 5:53

6:14 So it tells you, all you have to do is read it and you just kind of think. It's more of a contemplation I suppose in that way. So you're just reading it and then you just stop. Think for a little bit and then move on. And then actually it does say single-pointedly focus on this. So when the point comes, something comes up that's real strong, then you just take a moment and really focus on it for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:34 So it's a little more reflective than just sitting and reading the newspaper in the morning or something, which can become a contemplation in Dharma, actually. Reading the newspaper is actually a really great way to think about the Dharma. But this isn't like that. You want to take a little bit more focus and a little bit more thought. Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:51 This idea Report an error in the passage at 6:51 Highlight the passage at 6:51

7:22 or this system of Okay. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

7:26 Looking at the teacher, the spiritual master, again the fully qualified spiritual master as a fully enlightened being comes through the tantric tradition. But in Tibetan Buddhism it's kind of taught early on even before we've entered tantra and we'll talk about that in a minute. there Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

7:49 There's actually two vehicles. When you talk about the three vehicles, there's actually two main vehicles. And we've kind of talked about it a little bit. The individual vehicle, or sometimes called the Hinayana, which is a little offensive for those who are on it. And a better term hasn't come up yet. But it's basically the vehicle where you're trying to attain nirvāṇa, individual liberation. Report an error in the passage at 7:49 Highlight the passage at 7:49

8:14 And then there's the Mahāyāna. Which is, you know, Maha just means great. So it's greater, meaning the scope is greater, meaning that you're trying to get fully enlightenment for all beings. But the third vehicle is not actually a separate vehicle. It's actually part of the Mahāyāna and that's called the Vajrayana. And that's the tantric path. It's sort of like a subset of the Mahāyāna, but it's not really a separate tradition. Report an error in the passage at 8:14 Highlight the passage at 8:14

8:41 It's just teachings within the Mahāyāna vehicle. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

8:47 The teachings are different on each of these vehicles as to how to see the teacher. On the Hinayana or the individual vehicle, the teacher is seen as the emissary or representative of the Buddha, so that's why you respect them, which makes sense. In the Mahāyāna vehicle, the teacher is said to be the conduit or expression of the Dharmakaya or the wisdom mind of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:18 So it's sort of like the teacher allows enlightened mind to be expressed in a form that we can connect with. You may not get any of this, Jeff, but just drink it in. Okay, cool. You missed the first six classes. But you have taken other classes, so maybe it'll go in all right. Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:42 Oh, here comes Bodhi. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

9:47 Yeah, well, it's all right. It's hot tonight. It's a little hot, so it's a little stuffy. It's all right. She's all right. She'll realize that not much is happening and she'll be quiet, in theory. Report an error in the passage at 9:47 Highlight the passage at 9:47

10:02 So the teacher is the expression of Dharmakaya, of the Dharmakaya, which is the Buddha's wisdom mind. And that allows that wisdom mind to be in a form that we can connect with. But that doesn't mean that our teachers are considered to be fully realized Buddhas in the Mahāyāna tradition. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:22 But rather an expression of enlightened mind. So it's close, but it's not exactly the same. So in the Mahāyāna tradition, you aren't actually required to see your teachers as, even your gurus as Buddhas. But then within Tantrayana, once you enter Tantra, and some say this only refers to highest yoga Tantra, there's four classes of Tantra and the highest is... Report an error in the passage at 10:22 Highlight the passage at 10:22

10:54 Fittingly called highest yoga tantra. At that level you have to see the initiating master, your Vajra master as a guru, period. And once you've entered that relationship, you can't un-enter it. You can't hand that back. It's actually for lifetimes. It's not even just for this lifetime. She's going to try everyone in the room. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:25 So clearly you got to check up. Like this is a really big one. You definitely should check up. People do enter Tantra a little easily. And so this is like a really, really important one to check up because not only do you take on commitments and often people are only thinking of the commitments, you know. Report an error in the passage at 11:25 Highlight the passage at 11:25

11:44 But this is your number one commitment. This is the very first commitment is to see that initiating master as a fully realized Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

11:57 And actually this is from the Tantras which were spoken by the Buddha. So it's not like it's just like some crazy way to see, you know, to follow their advice no matter what if we see them as a Buddha. But it goes back to that idea of trying to, well the whole basis of Tantra is actually developing pure view. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:19 We start actually with ourselves, right? We have to actually see ourselves as Buddhists. So, I mean, that's in some ways the hardest. And then basically we have to start seeing each other. We have to see the whole world around us. So this is, it makes sense in that context that of course the one who initiates you into the mandala of the deity is also a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:45 And remember that for thousands of years, literally thousands of years, only very highly realized beings would enter Tantra. It's very, this degenerate age where we are right now, it's very rare. This is a rare time in Buddhist history where sort of everyday schmoes like us can just kind of show up and, you know, take an empowerment. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:10 Normally, if anybody has read the stories of like Miller Rape and stuff, you had to ask repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly and show some sign that you were ready for it. Report an error in the passage at 13:10 Highlight the passage at 13:10

13:22 And usually they were very, very tiny empowerments too with just one or two students or something like that. Now it can be halls filled or like Kalachakras, fields filled, hundreds of thousands of people go to Kalachakras sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:39 And part of the reasoning of that was because our minds weren't necessarily ready, as ready as we might think that they are. But the logic of... Seeing the guru as a fully realized Buddha is partly just to protect our own minds from that constant critical mind of always seeing faults, always complaining, always not just seeing faults in the person but seeing faults in the advice, seeing faults in the way that they speak, seeing faults in the way that they teach, seeing faults in the way that they act. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:14 which is what we basically do for everyone around us and so of course we do apply it to our teacher if we don't see them in a different way and so part of it is as protection for our own minds And then they say, actually, If we're able to do that, we're more likely also to follow the advice because otherwise we do find fault with it. And if we stop finding fault with it, it becomes quite easy, as Rinpoche said in that one teaching I was referring to, it becomes very easy to follow their advice because then it's like you have this respect, you have this sense of awe around them. Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:53 So that's actually a really big... The reason for this is that it actually protects our own minds from this constant state of criticism. And they say actually then we can get enlightened faster. Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:09 But of course we have to be incredibly careful about who we connect with in this way. So within tantra, as I said, it's actually, tantra is called, and I'm just going to touch on this for a minute, tantra is called the resultant path because we take the result into the path right now. Sūtra is called the causal path. Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

15:29 This is distracting for anyone else, is it? Okay. I think she's just going to make the rounds repeatedly until we do something. Report an error in the passage at 15:29 Highlight the passage at 15:29

15:42 So being the resultant path, it means that we're taking on the results now. We're starting to apply them now. We take elements of our enlightened state on now. We visualize ourselves as a Buddha now as being our fully realized. Buddha nature. We visualize our surroundings already as celestial mansions and pure lands. As I just said, we start seeing each other, the people around us, the other students and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:10 And people on the 22, you know, I mean, Bodhi, you know, I mean, there's no reason that that isn't. And the reality is, of course, that we, until we have clairvoyance, until we have like really high attainments, we have no idea what I highly realize being. how they might manifest in order to help us. So there's no reason that a highly realized being wouldn't manifest in the form of a cat if it might get me enlightened faster, for example, or Tim enlightened faster or something. Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:42 There's no reason that somebody on the 22 who's going off and, you know... Screaming or something and causing you to really look at your mind and your ability to tolerate or love somebody despite everything or have patience with somebody or help somebody if somebody's being harmed or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

16:59 There's no reason that they couldn't manifest in that way. So this is just kind of like reminding ourselves of that all the time. Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:11 So it is really, really hard to do this. It is really, really hard. The tantric path is really, really hard. Just doing this, I mean this isn't the whole path of course, there's a lot of teachings that are quite secret and I can't say, but this is definitely one of the things that one does along with visualizing themselves arising as the deity. Report an error in the passage at 17:11 Highlight the passage at 17:11

17:37 But remember, does anybody remember what the main common prerequisites are for tantra, for entering tantra? Actually this is one that Jeff should know. Because it's the whole theme of the Thursday night class. Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:56 Do you want to go for it? Yeah, yeah. So those are? Yeah, bodhicitta and? Yeah, emptiness. Yeah, so not necessarily having the total and complete realization of renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness, but at least having some taste of them and some experience of them and having that affect your life in some way before you enter tantra. Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:22 So that's... That's your basic prerequisite. Of course, you also have to find and check up on a qualified master and then have that master agree to give you an empowerment and then enter the empowerment. And as Geshe-la always says, and then you actually have to keep your commandments. Oh, yeah. Anyway, so all of those are also. Report an error in the passage at 18:22 Highlight the passage at 18:22

18:43 But it's very important to remember that it's a big step to enter Tantra and to take this. To enter this view where we're trying to actually see everything with pure view. So this word that I keep sort of mentioning, awe, which I actually liked. I saw a transcript that Venerable Connie Miller did when she was teaching this class and she talked about the word awe. And it's not a word that we use for, I don't think I use it for anyone else in my life. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:15 I don't think. It's kind of like contempt, right? Or what was that? Scorn, yeah. There's something a little old-fashioned-y about it, but it's also very accurate for the position that the spiritual teacher is in in our lives because it's a little bit bigger than respect. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:36 There's a little bit of separation there with awe. There's something like, you know, it's almost like when you're a little kid and you see the first movie. I remember when my niece was one and a half, we took her to see Fantasia and just, Of course, she's 17 now. She'd be embarrassed that I'm telling this story. But she just, it was like a kid, I mean, it was just like her mouth and her eyes dropped open and she was just literally in awe because it was like color and sound and light and she'd never seen anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

20:08 And the whole room was filled and it was like sent around or something, you know, so it was like this entire experience. And in a way, there's a sense of that with this. Teacher who you have checked up on, who you know can take you all the way to enlightenment, or at least you are developing this sense of faith that they can. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:31 Otherwise, if we don't have this, it's really easy to begin seeing that person as like an ordinary person. And I think it's one thing if, like with me, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is so different from me. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

20:47 Just, you know, the way he speaks, his language is different, the way he looks, the way he acts. But what if your teacher is an American or a Westerner or a non-monk or nun or, you know, somebody who's not even that much older than you? And this is something that comes up in the film, which is why I think this is a good film. He's actually Bhutanese, but he's definitely very modern, you know. Report an error in the passage at 20:47 Highlight the passage at 20:47

21:14 I mean, he's a filmmaker. He's worked with some of the greatest in film, so it's quite comfortable for him to hop on a bus, for example, which of course it would be very odd for Lama Zopa Rinpoche to get on a bus. So it's something that we need to be thinking about as Buddhism comes to the West because our gurus are going to be... Report an error in the passage at 21:14 Highlight the passage at 21:14

21:38 Looking like us more and more, you know, and they're going to be acting more and more like us. And so it's something that we kind of have to remember still, even so, that we have to step back and kind of remember, wait, if I really see this person as my root guru, I need to constantly keep this little sense of awe and keep remembering that this isn't just, this isn't my therapist, you know, this isn't my best friend, this isn't my mommy or my daddy. Report an error in the passage at 21:38 Highlight the passage at 21:38

22:05 This is somebody who is going to get me enlightened. And so everything that they're going to be able to point out to me about myself is for that purpose, even when it's really difficult. They have one goal, basically. That's their only goal in life, is to get you enlightened. And whatever it takes, they don't care. Report an error in the passage at 22:05 Highlight the passage at 22:05

22:30 Again, they don't care if you like them. They don't care. care, you know. Report an error in the passage at 22:30 Highlight the passage at 22:30

22:37 They don't care if you don't want to have them over for dinner. It's not like any kind of normal relationship. It's not like you can use any of the ways that we might have already used to make people like us or make people not like us. If we think that they are who they are, if we've checked up really well, they have the ability to know not just our mind, which is an eerie feeling and a rather naked feeling, to feel exposed that way. Report an error in the passage at 22:37 Highlight the passage at 22:37

23:06 But they also know our karma. So they know what we've already been and they know what our potential is. And they're usually working with that potential. So, I mean, you know, case in point, naming me director of the center when I have no ability. You know, it's like clearly, as Ravina said, you have the karma to be the director of the center. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:28 It doesn't mean you're going to be a good one. But it was just simply, I think, hugely, I mean, it was the center's karma too, but I think it also had a huge way of, I have this sort of timid nature, this sort of fearful nature. You can't be a Buddha and be timid and fearful. You can't. I would never be teaching if I hadn't gone through that first, you know. So, you know, they do stuff like that where they see what you're capable of and they push you. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:59 And so if they are all of that, they can't be all of that one day and your pal the next. It doesn't mean that you can't. And you'll see some of the relationships with the students in the film where they are a little bit palsy, but then you also see moments where the same students are trying to figure out what the heck's going on. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:15 So they're kind of like... And it's interesting, she caught all that on film. It's like these moments where they're looking at him and like exactly what's happening. Or when they go to Bhutan with him and they see how revered he is. And how there he's like a proper Rinpoche, you know, and he does like everything according to the way, you know, that we see like Shun Rinpoche or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:38 You know, in moments before he was hopping on the double-decker bus in London or wearing the funny big hat and running through the airport or whatever, you know, like all this stuff that he does. So it's very interesting and it's something that, it's actually like a form of mind training that we have to, is the door locked? Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

24:58 It's that child again. Report an error in the passage at 24:58 Highlight the passage at 24:58

25:03 So it's not like, it's not like, it's like a form of mind training in a way that you have to actually continually train your mind to be able to see him like that, him or her like that. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:18 So there's actually four, we're going to talk about really quick, the four reasons why your Lama is your, now this is again, you're fully checked up on qualified guru. So we're not just talking about a teacher who's teaching you discovering Buddhism. We're not talking about somebody who you are going to a public talk once with or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 25:18 Highlight the passage at 25:18

25:46 We're talking about somebody that you have entered into this relationship after spending a good amount of time seeing that they have as much of these qualities as you can find in somebody and that you've already decided to enter this sort of apprenticeship with them. So Pabongka Rinpoche actually gives a list of these reasons why your Lama is actually the Buddha. So using scriptural authority and using reasoning, because they say actually ultimately we will be able to see it. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:17 Ultimately as our karma is purified, we're actually able to see that being in front of us actually is the Buddha. But right now we just have to rely on these different points given in the scriptures. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:34 So the first one is the scriptural authority is basically that Shakyamuni Buddha in the form of Vajradhara, who was the tantric aspect of Shakyamuni Buddha, actually said in the scriptures that he would return to us in the form of teachers. So at least, as Venerable Sarah says in the lamrim outlines that she did for Rinpoche's teachings on the lamrim, she said, at least some of our teachers then. Report an error in the passage at 26:34 Highlight the passage at 26:34

27:02 be Buddhist. So we might as well learn to see all of them as, you know. So basically, Report an error in the passage at 27:02 Highlight the passage at 27:02

27:13 Vajradhara said so. Inferentially, we can reason that if the guru is the agent for all the Buddha's activities in the world, our Lama is the arm for all the Buddha's, that they act through our teacher. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:33 And Pabongka Rinpoche and actually many others, Pabongka Rinpoche said that the principal activity of the Buddhas in the world is teaching. That's actually the biggest way actually that they can help us. They can't actually remove our negative karma or purify it for us. They can't work on our minds for us. They can't get us enlightened. They can't make us have, you know, realizations. Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

28:04 The only real way that they can help us is to teach us over and over and over again how they did it, and especially how Shakyamuni Buddha did it, the method, over and over and over again, patiently. And so it makes sense that they would come in the form of a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 28:04 Highlight the passage at 28:04

28:30 The second point... is that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas pledged to benefit all beings and have never stopped working for us. So they became Buddhas and they became Bodhisattvas because they had this wish to benefit all sentient beings. So they never stopped doing that. And so who benefits sentient beings the most? That's the qualified teacher. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:55 So the chances are great. If you don't want to say he actually is, then at least you can say chances are very high. That he or she is one of these holy beings, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And then the fourth point is actually my favorite point. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:16 Our perceptions are unreliable. I mean, when we think about karma and emptiness a little bit, right now, just like I said, I can't know that all of you aren't actually Buddhas. I have no idea. Which of you are bodhisattvas or buddhas, like just posing as students, you know, trying to look like you're taking notes and things like that to make me, you know, to help me prepare and help me learn the material really well so that I'll get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 29:16 Highlight the passage at 29:16

29:43 I have no idea because I don't have clairvoyance and I don't have the ability to see really who you are. So that being said, it's sort of like we don't see, I can't even see the impermanence of this table. I can't even really see the impermanence of me. I don't know who any of you are, so how on earth do I know who a teacher is? I have no real idea. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:08 I can look at the things that I can see, but it's also dependent upon my karma to see things in a certain way. As we talked about with the Dalai Lama, some people have the karma to see him as a friendly old man, some people see him as a threat to the state, some people see him as a Buddha. And some people see him as maybe a good teacher. You know, there's some gray area there too. And some people in one lifetime will see him as all of those, you know, because karma shifts. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:38 And karma purifies, thankfully. So the way that we see the world is forced upon us by our karma. So just because we don't see our teacher as a Buddha doesn't mean he isn't necessarily a Buddha, he or she. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:00 Actually, we can't truly, you know, Lama Yeshe, actually one of my favorite quotes from him was, don't believe what your senses tell you. Our senses at this point aren't such a trustworthy means of seeing reality because we believe that things are solid and concrete. This house looks pretty darn concrete until you have a big earthquake and it falls down, you know. I feel pretty concrete, you know. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:28 I've been around for a while. I feel like the thought of the fact that I may not make it through till morning, it's bizarre to me. And think how that feels for yourself, you know. And we're basing that basically on absolutely invalid evidence. You know, just because I feel pretty good, I'm healthy, I think. Report an error in the passage at 31:28 Highlight the passage at 31:28

31:51 I mean, just think about, you know, Princess Diana was feeling pretty darn healthy when she got in that car. And probably was pretty healthy. Actually, she probably spent quite a bit of money on keeping her body very healthy and toned and fit. And she didn't make it through the night. So we base a lot of our understanding of reality on invalid logic. Report an error in the passage at 31:51 Highlight the passage at 31:51

32:13 And so this is just simply reminding us of that. It's like, wait a second. You can't always trust your senses. Just because you see in front of you a little old man who's mumbling, Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:27 who might not look like your idea of a Buddha could very well be a Buddha you better just like be aware of that you know so it's just kind of a reminder of what we should already They say that once we are able to start seeing our even just Report an error in the passage at 32:27 Highlight the passage at 32:27

32:51 Stay open to the idea that this guru that we have chosen and has chosen us has committed to us and we've committed to them. If we can at least even just be open to the idea that they may be a Buddha, because how else actually would they get us enlightened, then we can throw ourselves into the path and we're more likely to throw ourselves into the path at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:16 It's like a way to purify our own mind by seeing things as pure, which is what they say is one of the steps in tantra. By purifying, by seeing things as pure, by seeing ourselves as pure, by seeing our mind as pure, by seeing our reality as pure, by seeing our teacher as pure, we actually begin to purify our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

33:36 It's like this blessing to our own mind. And, of course, it does develop faith. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

33:45 But it takes training, actually. It's not something that, I mean sometimes you might be, it's sort of like falling in love, sometimes you might have this really strong devotion that comes up from the moment you connect with a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

33:59 But it's kind of like what Tenzin Lama was talking the other night to the teen group and he was talking about how he grew up with an understanding of karma because he was raised in a Buddhist family, you know. And he had a very strong faith in it, like a pure faith, he said, it was like a very pure faith. Report an error in the passage at 33:59 Highlight the passage at 33:59

34:16 But when he reached his teens, he questioned everything, like we do in our teens. We're not questioning anything as cool as karma usually. It's kind of like, are we going to be like our parents kind of thing. But it's the same difference. In his family, his father was a former monk, and they both were very, very strong, had a lot of strong faith. Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

34:40 And so he had to sort of test it out on his own. So he had to test out his understanding of karma and all and come to his own faith again, but a clear faith, like a faith based on valid logic and reasoning that he had checked up on. And as a result, then he decided to go to the monastery. But he had to go through that period of questioning and all. So it's the same way. You might actually have a really strong connection with a guru like the Dalai Lama where you have all this emotion kind of, and then you have to... Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

35:10 They have to be able to do these meditations and contemplations and think about it. Is this enough? Is this a strong enough foundation for me to work with this teacher for the rest of my life? I mean, this is big, right? So it's like falling in love. You really fall in love with this person, but is it enough? Can I still work with this person every day when this person's hair is dirty and they haven't brushed their teeth? Report an error in the passage at 35:10 Highlight the passage at 35:10

35:35 They've been working really hard, so they're really... you know not so much fun to be around and things like that so it's the same thing it's like in injecting you might have a little bit of of devotion or something but you need to inject logic and reasoning into it too and really think about it and see the good points you know able to communicate not able So they say that... Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

36:06 One of the ways that we do that is to just contemplate the kindness of the guru, not just in taking us on, which is a big one, actually, because not all the Buddhas have. Some of them have gone on without us. Or if we think about it, if we've taken many, many rebirths, many Buddhas have come and have taught and we still are not enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:28 They call us kind of the unruly bunch. We're still here. 2,500 years after the Buddha first taught. if reincarnation is accurate, we were actually there in some form, and we didn't manage to get enlightened in that amount of time. So they're kind for that purpose, but also if they are a Buddha, and they are manifesting in a form, a human form to teach us, they're purposefully Purposefully not not on. Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

37:00 staying in this blissful dharmakaya of the... enlightened mind, which is basically this kind of state of blissfully being in meditative equipoise on the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:15 And they're taking on this human body so they can reach us, they can reach students in some form that we can relate to. And so even though they may not suffer, they still have a form that has to pass away and has to Manifest some form of suffering, which they often will just use as an example, like Kirti Sancho Rinpoche during his whole process of finding liver cancer and passing away. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:43 Every single moment became a teaching, waiting for a lab test. He would say these things and somebody would send them out of an email. Just these profound ways of using every single moment as a teaching all the way through. The end, like even through his actual dying process, which is incredibly kind. And actually Lama Yeshe was the same way, used his whole dying process as a teaching all the way through, always caring about everyone around him more than himself. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

38:18 So I think there's an example you can think about if you were drowning. And somebody jumped in to save you, how much gratitude you'd feel. And then especially imagine if the waters were really, really deep or really, really rough and so they risked their own life. Imagine how that would feel. And then in this case to think this is even bigger because they're not only risking, you know, it's not just this one life, they're actually... Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:57 They're trying to get you enlightened so that you aren't forced to keep undergoing this cyclic existence any longer. You can actually, not just you break out of this chain of suffering lifetimes, but that you can then help others. So that's, I mean, it's like huger than trying to just like pull us out of the water and saving this one life. They're actually trying to save us from all of our, future suffering lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 38:57 Highlight the passage at 38:57

39:30 So Report an error in the passage at 39:30 Highlight the passage at 39:30

39:34 I think we talked a little bit about what to do if your karma with the teacher changes or you begin to feel like what they're doing doesn't suit you anymore or doesn't work for your mind anymore or even if it feels like what they're doing might be harmful. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

40:21 and so we think it's going to look like a certain thing. So it's really important to give yourself some space to move back from. to be able to kind of wisely what's my next step. Because it's possible, too, that, I said, they're just testing you in some way, and they're waiting for you to figure out that this is, like, you know, not such a good idea that everybody all go out and rob the liquor store tonight. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:49 And they're waiting for Tim to step forward and say, um, no. I don't know. Part of that stepping back and giving yourself space is so that you know that you're not just agreeing to do it because you're trying to please them in some way that we normally would please people in everyday life. But a lot of times we do make this decision-making process harder than it has to be. It usually has to do just with a shift of karma. Report an error in the passage at 40:49 Highlight the passage at 40:49

41:18 Like your karma, maybe you... One way to look at it is sometimes you take a train 20 stops and then it's time to get on a different one. And that's really all it is. And it doesn't mean that you have to diss that train that you just got off of. It doesn't mean that you have to feed your own spiraling mind or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:43 You can just... disembark you know it's just kind of like that we tend to bring all of our other neuroses into it because that's just kind of the way we go through life but it doesn't have to be like that karma Karma ignites, karma ripens and then it exhausts. And then when karma shifts or karma ends, it's just like, you know, if we don't have any reasoning, you know, you've sometimes been friends with somebody and there's no real reason, you never had a fight with them. Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

42:14 You just suddenly have nothing in common with them. And so it ends, and it's mutual. It's not even like anybody's hurt by that. That's really just a karmic state exhausting. That's all it is. So it happens like that with teachers too, where it plays itself out and then it's no longer there. So not to get freaked out by that, if that should happen with a teacher, and not to feed it, like you're totally flipping out about it or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 42:14 Highlight the passage at 42:14

42:45 But take the space to use your own wisdom about it with respect, trying to keep respect, trying to be aware that my senses don't always give me the best information so I may not understand. If this person is a Bodhisattva or a Buddha, they might have some reason that I don't understand for this and that's fine. You know, just kind of like stepping back like that. Report an error in the passage at 42:45 Highlight the passage at 42:45

43:13 Okay, so I think that was it. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:19 Yeah, I think that's it. I was actually going to read, yeah, maybe I'll really quick read from Zongsun Kenji Rinpoche, who is the Lama in this film. He was talking about guru yoga, which is what you guys hopefully have been doing every morning. This idea of seeing the Buddha. Seeing the guru and the Buddha as one, as of the same nature. He says that usually we think, I like him because he's a decent human being. Report an error in the passage at 43:19 Highlight the passage at 43:19

43:52 He's kind, he's compassionate, he's a good man. But according to the teachings, the blessing you receive corresponds to your level of devotion. In this case, that's not much. You will become a tolerant and a good person. But your aim is actually wrong. Your aim is not to become a good person or a tolerant person. It's actually to become fully enlightened. So the stronger your devotion, the more qualities you're able to see in them, the greater the blessing. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:26 If you have a high aim, such as enlightenment, you have to change your attitude. Believing your guru to be an arhat is much better than thinking that he or she is just an ordinary decent human being. If you think of your guru as an arhat, then you receive the blessing of an arhat. If you think your guru is a Maha Bodhisattva on the tenth bumi, which is the highest level, you receive an equivalent blessing. If you think your guru is the Buddha himself, that is, you don't imagine it, but you actually see him as the Buddha in person, then definitely you will receive the Buddha's blessing. Report an error in the passage at 44:26 Highlight the passage at 44:26

45:01 And then he says, Never forget that this guru who is sitting in front of you and whom you are trying to think of as the Buddha is not an ordinary being but is in fact the manifestation of your own Buddha nature. So that's really important to remember too. You are actually, it's the same as that idea where they're the bridge to your own inner wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:26 They are the manifestation of your own Buddha nature. So they're reminding you of what you... The potential that you have right now in your mind. So with that, I think we should watch a movie. Does anybody have any questions on any of that? I mean, I'm sure you do, but any easy questions I can answer in five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 45:26 Highlight the passage at 45:26

45:53 Are you just cooking it? Cooking it. Yeah, Brett. Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:03 How do you spell? Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:07 So it seems to me that the main benefit is achieved by what you think you think. But they do. That's the hard thing. that well they're yeah they're not all liars though you know so or or they're not all pranksters I mean it seems like you have to like imagine some sort of unconventional reality that's where the benefit comes from by training your mind to think in an unconventional sense yeah there's a conventional sense which is If I think about this in a conventional sense, it's all very confusing. But if I think about it in an unconventional sense, then I can see how thinking it might be a benefit. Is that the proper way to think of it? Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:51 It's sort of like that. It's sort of like realizing that there are other planes of existence than we currently live on. Scientists actually even say that we only use a tiny, tiny bit of our mind. And Buddha was in full agreement with that. He was like, actually the mind is incredibly vast and untapped and we haven't even begun to experience it. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:12 Buddhas are basically fully developed mind. That's really all they are. So this is just a step in that direction of realizing that reality exists in this much more huge, vast, spacious way than we currently see it. We basically put on suits and go to work. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:46 for the most part in the West to this whole commercial thing of like spending our whole lives basically working for somebody else and buying things and then dying really I mean there's really nothing So that's the conventional that you're calling it, the conventional reality that we sort of operate in. And then all of a sudden somebody's like, wait a second, if you open these windows, you're going to see that there's actually, there's a different reality that I observed when I attained Buddhahood and I'm trying to tell you guys about. Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:15 It's like they're sort of tapping you on the shoulder and going, wait a second, we can open the doors and windows and you'll see that there's much more out there. And that's kind of what, so part of it is training because we don't see it yet. But part of it is just kind of remembering that it's there. And actually in some ways it's kind of like, that's the blissful part about emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:36 It's like you realize that things aren't solid and hard and concrete and limited and it's like, and that's actually kind of the release in a way. In a huge way, you know, because I mean we aren't either. We see ourselves as really limited. I'm incapable of doing this. I mean, I did it tonight. I have no technical skills. I immediately went into my little rigid view of what I could do and what I couldn't do. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

49:05 And the reality is we all have this capacity. The Buddha said there's not one of us that doesn't. If you have mind, you can perfect it. It's a matter of karma. So it's just purifying that karma, collecting the positive karma, getting rid of the negative karma like that. We can all tap into it. It's all there. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:27 And apparently it's all been there no matter how many lifetimes we've already had. They're all around us and they're trying to show us the stuff in whatever way they can, you know. Report an error in the passage at 49:27 Highlight the passage at 49:27

49:41 I know right now it's kind of at the level of fairy tales, but that's okay. Fairy tales are a start for us, you know. All right, so we'll turn off the sound. So for the viewer at home, we are now going to watch the film about him called Words of My Perfect Teacher. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41