Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (4 October 2007)

0:15 Welcome. Let's get my Madonna mic on. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:25 Except it's fit for Geshe Lizzie or anything. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:34 I don't know. It doesn't seem to want to come anywhere near my mouth. But you can hear it now. It's still like it's like. Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:46 There we go. Can you guys hear me? Okay, good. It's just like this thing there, but I think I'll get used to it. Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

0:58 So let's just start with a silent meditation and we can set our motivation. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:22 So just take a moment to find your posture, especially maybe taking some nice deep cleansing breaths to let go of your day, Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:38 let go of the commute, let go of any conversations you've been having, any thoughts, worries, problems, plans and just leave them outside the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38

1:59 Now with each out breath you can let go of whatever might keep you from being here and each in breath. Let yourself come more and more into this space. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:17 Just take a moment to review the posture so your legs can be in whatever position feels comfortable for you. If you're sitting on a chair, you want to move away from the back of the chair and just have your feet firmly on the ground. If you're on the floor, then just find a position, either cross-legged, one leg in front of the other, whatever position you can hold for a few moments. Report an error in the passage at 2:17 Highlight the passage at 2:17

2:47 That feels stable. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

2:52 And then the most important part, no matter where you're sitting, is that your spine is extended. You just imagine there's a channel that runs right in front of the spine, and just imagine it just going right out the top of your head. Report an error in the passage at 2:52 Highlight the passage at 2:52

3:15 You can have your shoulders back a little bit and level, and Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:24 your hands can be in your lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly, just below your navel, or you can have them on your knees. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

3:42 Your chin is just a little tucked in and that opens up the back of your neck a little. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

3:52 Your eyes are either open and unfocused, gazing off the end of your nose about two feet in front of you. Or if you're like me, meditating in a group, it's difficult so you can keep your eyes lightly closed. Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:14 Your tongue is on the roof of your mouth, behind your front teeth. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:28 And your final point is your breath. So let your breath be natural and unforced. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

4:46 We're just going to start with a short meditation on the breath. So you can have your attention at the level of your abdomen as it fills and empties, or your chest, or your nostrils as the air passes in and passes back out. And Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:11 we're going to try to count to ten breaths and then start over and do this for a few times, remembering that each breath is completely unique. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:23 And just trying to be present with each breath as much as you can. And as you get distracted, just patiently starting over. It Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

· · · silence, 4 minutes

9:05 calms down a little. We can start thinking about our motivation for coming here tonight. Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:22 Think about that this class might become the cause for us learning how to really use our lives to its full potential. Finding out what our full potential is and then going for it. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:43 we use that potential benefit others. I'm Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

9:57 just going to read a prayer by His Holiness the Dalai Lama that I use as a daily meditation on motivation and so I thought we could use it as the motivation for tonight's class. Report an error in the passage at 9:57 Highlight the passage at 9:57

10:13 He says, Every day think as you wake up. Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive. I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. Report an error in the passage at 10:13 Highlight the passage at 10:13

10:26 I'm going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:36 I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. And I am going to benefit others as much as I can. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

11:02 We'll start with the opening prayer of His Holiness. In the White Prayer book on page 8, Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:20 we'll do it three times. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:51 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 11:51 Highlight the passage at 11:51

12:14 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. Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:44 For the benefit of all sentient beings As long as space remains As long as sentient beings remain Until then may I too remain And dispel the miseries of the So Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

13:04 welcome back and thanks again for your patience and understanding about all the events of the last week. It's been a difficult week here. Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:20 And I sent out an email and probably got about half response on that to try to do a makeup class for the class that we missed. And I was wondering if we could just start with that. It looks like the most popular days are Friday the 19th of October and Saturday the 20th in the morning of October. And I was wondering if we could just get a show of hands of who can make which. And we'll just go with majority, I think. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

13:50 So, Friday? Report an error in the passage at 13:50 Highlight the passage at 13:50

13:56 This side of the room. Okay, Saturday? Yeah, it looks like. Put it back up. You guys can't come at all on those dates. Yeah, of course. Yeah. I don't know what to do. You were Sunday? You can't come in. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Well, they will be recorded. So, I think we'll go with Saturday, then the 20th, 1030. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:24 So if that's okay, so maybe if anything changes in people's lives. Yeah, I just didn't have any more weeknights available, so and I think, you know, anyway, we'll just have to do this. These things happen, unfortunately. So how did it go over the last couple weeks in terms of things that you've been reading, if I haven't already heard from you, and just thinking about the eight worldly concerns? Report an error in the passage at 14:24 Highlight the passage at 14:24

14:54 If you have any questions or comments. Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:00 Did I get back to you? I did. Okay, good. When I see the faces, I remember the emails. Report an error in the passage at 15:00 Highlight the passage at 15:00

15:10 Okay, good. All right. Well, if anything comes up, just tell me. We're going to continue tonight with renunciation. We're going to talk a little bit about the suffering of saṃsāra, which I think is very apt considering the past week here. Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:32 So actually renunciation, the word renunciation in Tibetan translates literally as definite emergence, which I think is an interesting term. I think renunciation has a lot of baggage for it. I think a lot of times people immediately think you're giving up, as we began to talk about last time, you're giving up all the fun things in life. Report an error in the passage at 15:32 Highlight the passage at 15:32

15:54 So a lot of Westerners especially get turned off by the term enunciation. But definite emergence is talking about a mind that lets go of something, but what we're giving up is the grasping at external things for happiness. We're that grasping that we do a lot. Report an error in the passage at 15:54 Highlight the passage at 15:54

16:17 And we keep thinking that, and I'm speaking for myself as well, we keep thinking that if we grasp onto things of this life, that we'll find happiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:30 And so part of it is this idea that this is really our only life. You know, you only get one chance, that kind of idea. And so it's hard to have a longer view, which is holiness. The Dalai Lama is always saying, you know, we have to have this long view. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:50 It's not like we want to have a long view so that we can procrastinate, but more that we have a long view so that we know that this might take us several lifetimes to get there and that that's okay, that it takes us several lifetimes to get there. So that takes a fair amount of faith on its own. But if we have this sort of grasping mind, it's really hard to develop. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:14 It's like we're simultaneously... Keeping things tight and also wanting to expand. And we can't do it at the same time because it really, renunciation is a state of mind. It's not, you know, it's not necessarily putting on a separate outfit or cutting your hair in a certain way or going to live in a cave. Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

17:36 You can be very non-renounced in living in a cave. So we can't look at somebody externally and know whether they're renounced. And we can't look at somebody who's very wealthy and think that they're not renounced. So you just have to be careful. It's a state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

17:55 So part of it is understanding how karma works and really starting to try to work with karma a little bit. So I thought one thing that I would do is talk a little bit about karma tonight. As you know, or hopefully as you know, the next series on Thursday nights will be all about karma. Report an error in the passage at 17:55 Highlight the passage at 17:55

18:17 Charles' head going up and down. He's looking forward for that. Yeah, it's a good class. I think it's pivotal in understanding Buddhism. It's one of the nuts and bolts of Buddhist thought. But we can get into it a little bit tonight and start thinking about it. Report an error in the passage at 18:17 Highlight the passage at 18:17

18:37 But one thing I thought we would start with that I thought we would get to at the end of the last class, and we didn't, is in your root text. Which hopefully you guys all have, the three principal paths, and I have extra ones. So if anybody doesn't have, you may not bring their root text. Oh, John, you weren't here at the last class, right? Right. Okay, yeah, so I don't know if somebody wants to... John's coming down the aisle. Report an error in the passage at 18:37 Highlight the passage at 18:37

19:10 And right behind you came with that too, yeah. Does anybody else need one that doesn't... Oh, Chad, maybe it wasn't Chad on that side. Is there an extra one? Oh, no, okay, here I got one for you. Report an error in the passage at 19:10 Highlight the passage at 19:10

19:21 Last one. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:28 So this is what I'm calling our root text. And actually, no, I don't have one. I was so prepared. Can you guys share? Would you guys mind sharing? Thank you. And then I'll give it back to you. Oh, look at you. You already made comments and everything. Does somebody not want to make comments on their text? I want you to be able to make comments. You're okay. Okay, good. So you look on with her. Report an error in the passage at 19:28 Highlight the passage at 19:28

19:55 So right now, I should have numbered the verses, but we're going to go through the first four verses, which we talked about last week. And I'll kind of, you know, comment a little bit on them. And then this week, we're actually just spending on number five by itself. So we'll do all the first. Five by the end of the class. But right now we're just going to do verses one through four. So I bow to all the high and holy lamas. Report an error in the passage at 19:55 Highlight the passage at 19:55

20:25 This is basically he's starting out by honoring his teachers, any teacher that led him to where he is at the time that he writes this. This is actually, it's a really small lamrim, which it covers the whole, the essence of the entire graduated state to enlightenment. The big one is this huge, as a translated thing, it's like three volumes. It's a huge work. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:51 This is everything but shorthand. So if you memorize this or if you look at it every day or something like that, you're actually going through the entire lamrim. So my teachers all say that this is a really good thing to do. Of course, it's great to spend time. Meditating on parts of it so you get to know it very well. But this gives you the whole overview. So it kind of gives you the seed to attain enlightenment every day. Report an error in the passage at 20:51 Highlight the passage at 20:51

21:19 So he starts with honoring his own teachers, which is actually the first step on the graduated path. It's actually Guru Devotion, which was the topic that we just finished on the Tuesday night class, the spiritual teacher. So he starts with just honoring his teachers. And he's honoring the teachers and all the lineage all the way back to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:46 So it's sort of like depicted in this image with all these lamas all kind of going off into space because they didn't really have foreshortening. They didn't do much. They don't have the same spatial thing, but it's supposed to be filling the universe with all of these. All these lamas. In the center of that is Lama Tsongkhapa, who's the writer of this text. But sometimes you see it where it's Buddha in the middle. And it's basically all of the teachers that are leading down to us, or at least to our teachers. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:15 And when we visualize it, we visualize our teachers as part of it, because it's all coming down in an unbroken lineage. So here in that one little line, he's basically paying homage to all of those teachers. And reminding us of how important those teachers are. Like without them, you know, we wouldn't have this. And then he says, as far as I am able, I'll explain. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:42 So here he's both being humble, as far as I am able. This is a great, great, great master. But he's like, you know, I'll just do as well as I can. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

22:52 I'll explain. And here he's making this pledge to actually, they call this the pledge to complete the text. At the beginning of any... They would always start basically saying, I'm going to do this and I promise that I will do this. And sometimes they die in the act. I mean, they were half-finished texts found, but they usually start with that and then they kind of do a conclusion at the end. It's sort of like they have a basic way of doing these texts. Report an error in the passage at 22:52 Highlight the passage at 22:52

23:21 The essence of all high teachings of the victors. He's referring to the Buddhas. Victors are the Buddhas. Anyone that attained victory over... The suffering of, you know, psychic existence is a victor. So the essence of the lamrim is the essence of all the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:44 And indeed, in this really brief text, it's all here. It's all included. So he's just saying this is like the cream. I'll put it all here and then you'll have it here. He actually wrote this as an actual letter to one of his disciples. So he is giving the entire lamrim to this one disciple in the form of a letter. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

24:08 But for our purposes, it's just this really great brief little map. And that's the way we can use it and look at it. The path that all their holy sons commend. So you could say children there, but basically when you say the children are the Buddha, they're referring to bodhisattvas. So these are people who have generated the actual mind of bodhicitta that we'll start covering next week, which is this great, vast, courageous mind that I've made some reference to that wants to attain Buddhahood in order to help all beings be happy, basically. Report an error in the passage at 24:08 Highlight the passage at 24:08

24:49 Leave suffering behind. So the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom, this verse is actually referring to the entire three principle paths that we're covering in this class. So it's renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness. And the entry point is referring to specifically the correct view of emptiness, which is the... Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:22 The direct perception of emptiness, which is actually one really brief moment that has a huge amount of buildup, but literally only lasts about 20 minutes. But you have to understand intellectually, you have to understand emptiness and you have to be able to deeply, deeply, deeply meditate without distraction. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:44 And you have to, you know what it is that you're looking for. So basically there's a huge amount of lead up because you have to have a huge amount of merit to be able to do that as well. But that one moment where you directly perceive emptiness puts you on the path, like the shortcut path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 25:44 Highlight the passage at 25:44

26:02 You actually usually attain enlightenment within seven lifetimes, which is fast considering how long we've been floundering here. So it's actually, you become what's called an Arya being, if people have heard of that term, an Arya being. Arya, A-R-Y-A, which actually means a supreme being. So it's actually somebody whose mental continuum is forever changed. And we'll talk about this more when we talk about emptiness. There's like two types of beings, basically. Report an error in the passage at 26:02 Highlight the passage at 26:02

26:36 Ordinary beings, which I'm assuming is true for all of us. Unless one of you guys is an Aria and you're just not telling us. I can tell you I'm not. There's ordinary beings, Sosargewa in Tibetan, and then there's Aria beings, those who have had this direct perception of emptiness. And forevermore, Aria beings are no longer fooled into thinking that things are the way they appear to us. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

27:02 I sort of touched on it a little bit last time, where things look solid and even my emotions feel solid and unchangeable and my problems definitely feel solid and unchangeable. I feel solid and unchangeable. This feels solid and unchangeable. But we begin to explore what the Buddha observed when he got enlightened and he says actually reality is not like this at all. Report an error in the passage at 27:02 Highlight the passage at 27:02

27:31 And an Arya being is somebody who actually not just understands that, but somebody who directly perceives it. So it forever changes their mental consciousness in a way that's non-conceptual. But we have to talk about it with concepts because that's all we have. Do you want to pass the mic to Matt? Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:54 Gesundheit. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

27:59 The level of... The level of deep meditation that you're referring to for a person to become an Arya being, I was reading that in the other summary, Lamrim, about calm abiding. Is that the level of meditation you're referring to? Yeah, so it's like, I think I mentioned in one of the classes, and correct me if I didn't, Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:27 Usually we talk about two types of meditation. One where your mind stays put, where you leave it, hopefully, which we were just doing on the breath, right? Trying, some of us, for a second. Anyway, to hold your mind there on the breath, no matter what sounds you might hear in the building or in the street or whatever, and just keeping it there. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:48 And that's concentration meditation. And then there's what's called analytical meditation. And that's where your mind is actually moving until you've hit a moment of insight. And that would be like either I'm getting to know what that Buddha looks like and I'm memorizing it and then I'm boom, just trying to hold the whole image. Report an error in the passage at 28:48 Highlight the passage at 28:48

29:09 Then I apply concentration. Or I'm thinking about the inevitability of my own death. You know, just some other concept of what bodhicitta is or whatever. And I get a moment of like, and then I hold concentration on that moment of insight. So that's what analytical. So concentration meditation, of course, has all these different levels. Sometimes you're repeatedly placing, for example, your mind, like we probably most of us were in the room when we started the class. Report an error in the passage at 29:09 Highlight the passage at 29:09

29:41 Sometimes you're able to hold for a little bit and then you lose it like that. There's actually nine stages of the development of calm abiding. The final level of calm abiding, you actually are able to place your mind on any object for as long as you want without effort. And you are in mental and physical bliss. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

30:01 It's amazing to even think about. And they say that the sign of having attained calm abiding is being able to hold. I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. It just seems so difficult. I can't even imagine. But you are able to place your mind on the object of your choice for four hours without it wavering, with complete stability. Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:23 And the level then of having attained calm abiding is you also get this level of bliss that arises, both physical and mental bliss. So it becomes enjoyable as well. But at first it's effortful. Venable Rene talked about this in the weekend workshop and he was saying that at first it's quite effortful. Report an error in the passage at 30:23 Highlight the passage at 30:23

30:41 You really have to, you know, be the watchdog. But that's exactly the mind that you're going to need to have this direct perception of emptiness. It's a good question. Report an error in the passage at 30:41 Highlight the passage at 30:41

30:59 Anyway, okay, so listen with a pure mind fortunate ones who have no craving for the pleasures of life and who to make leisure and fortune meaningful strive to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors. So actually I can give this back because I wrote it in my notes. Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:20 So with this verse, Lama Tsongkhapa is encouraging us to actually take some time to study this text well and study the whole lamrim well. Report an error in the passage at 31:20 Highlight the passage at 31:20

31:30 And so this we can actually think about whether or not we ourselves are good students. You know, we can actually, a lot of times, as we talked about in the Tuesday night class, a lot of times people are really focused on finding a teacher, but we haven't checked up yet whether or not we're even decent students. Report an error in the passage at 31:30 Highlight the passage at 31:30

31:47 And it's actually one of the causes, karmically speaking, of getting a good teacher is becoming a good student. So Arya Deva actually gave three main attributes of being a good student. One is that we are impartial or unbiased, so we keep an open mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:07 So partly it's keeping an open mind and partly it's not letting any of our preconceived ideas block us. So if we don't, I think I mentioned this actually in that one email to you, it's kind of like if something comes up that you... Can't grasp, rather than just shoving it away, you shelve it or put it on the back burner until maybe you either gain some additional information or understanding or it just becomes clear to you. Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:36 Or you're able to have other teachers who make it clearer to you. Because it's interesting, our minds do change over time. And most of us, I think, have seen this in other contexts. Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

32:50 But also being unbiased and impartial has to do with maybe not being able to see the qualities of a teacher. So maybe you first go to see a teacher and you can't really see, like, what's the big deal? And I've had this happen before. Or you even have a negative experience with a teacher because, you know, why do we have a negative experience? Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:12 We might have a certain block with that teacher or we might be in a really negative space. You know, just our own mind is really... He budges off as moving. Report an error in the passage at 33:12 Highlight the passage at 33:12

33:28 Now hold that moment with all that effort. He's dancing on your head. That's good. So just rather than just, you know, throwing the baby out with the bathwater, just discarding that whole teacher, maybe don't go for a while and then go back and try it. I actually had this experience with Venable Rubina. Report an error in the passage at 33:28 Highlight the passage at 33:28

33:50 The first time I saw Vendora Rubina, I actually had a really intense experience. I, of course, dove in and did an entire retreat. And it was really intense, and it was kind of too much for me. And so I had to just pull back. I actually pulled back for a year. And now I really consider her one of my teachers. But it took a while. And my mind had to change. Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

34:08 I think she didn't change. I think she's still doing whatever she's been doing. But I was able to, you know, my mind was softer, and I was able to open up to different ways of teaching. Report an error in the passage at 34:08 Highlight the passage at 34:08

34:18 So that's one way. And the second of the attributes is intelligence. And he doesn't mean that we all have to be smart, but he means that we have to have this level of intelligence that we can discern what's right and what's wrong. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:34 And diligence. And here he says, tirelessly working to put the teachings into effect. I don't know how much of us are actually at that point, but even just having some level of diligence, you know, rather than just, you know, coming for teachings. I mean, if you're taking the level of you're trying to find a teacher, this is especially important, then you have to be willing to put their teachings and their instructions into effect. Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

35:03 Otherwise, why would they spend the time? Why would they decide to work with you? Because it's from their side as well. It's not like we just get to choose and they don't have any choice in the matter. Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:17 So there's another way to read this verse. This is instruction to us, but then the other way to read this verse is that the first two lines, listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones who have no cravings for the pleasure of this life, refer to renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 35:17 Highlight the passage at 35:17

35:35 then the third line, who may, who, And who, to make leisure and fortune meaningful, strive, is referring actually to bodhicitta. And the final line is actually referring again to emptiness, to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors. So again, he's introducing all three paths. And then he says, 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 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

36:05 It's because of their hankering life as well that beings are fettered. So seek renunciation first. So this is especially true for humans, but it's really true for all beings, that we're bound by this grasping at things as real and thinking, that's what's going to bring me happiness. And he's making the point that without seeing that it's not these external things, but our own minds that will bring us happiness, we actually are causing ourselves more and more suffering because we're just grasping for more and more outside of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 36:05 Highlight the passage at 36:05

36:39 Again, it's not the things, it's the grasping. Because if we have renunciation, we could have anything. We could have 17 mansions and the most incredible, and we just wouldn't think that they were the source of my happiness. So it wouldn't matter how much we have. And an example of that would be the Dalai Lama, who I think probably owns quite a bit, but also is quite happy to give it away. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

37:06 And actually Lama Tsongkhapa, they're the same. It comes and goes within a single day with any of those. Sometimes within minutes somebody could give and then they could give it to another project that's a pleasing project because they aren't attached to it. So it's not the amount of money somebody has with another renounced. So again, remembering what the definition of saṃsāra is, that it's this condition that we are in that's caused. Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:37 By our karma and our delusions, these deluded or afflicted states of mind, that as a result of that we keep taking rebirth in this suffering state of existence. We still take rebirth in this body that suffers. And we're still at the mercy of our karma. We don't really have any control where we reincarnate. Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

38:04 So renunciation is actually the wish to escape this cycle altogether. And here, as in the commentary that if, I don't know if you guys have started reading it, that both Charles and Kimatha are starting to read, or at least prominently displaying, and I think we did get them in if people are interested, Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:30 Geshe Lobsang Tartan actually talks about I think he's the one who translated anyway, Lama Tsongkhapa's work there. Here we need fierce renunciation, he says. So it's not enough to just get renunciation, but we have to have fierce renunciation. We really have to develop this strong bodhicitta and wish to attain Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 38:30 Highlight the passage at 38:30

38:55 So without bodhicitta we won't attain Buddhahood, and without renunciation we won't attain bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:04 And then I have a quote from this Sakyamaster who said, if you are attached to this life and if your spiritual life is still based on worldly attainments, then you are not a spiritual person. It's all delusion and it won't liberate anyone. So it's just kind of a reminder. Sometimes we can think that we're living a spiritual life. Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:25 For example, I live in a Buddhist center. Do some individual and group practice. I set up for pujas. I even teach the Dharma. But if I'm still attached to this life, it's all just a sham. None of it's a spiritual thing. So it's all the mind. Meanwhile, one of you guys could be working a 9-to-5 job and you could be totally renounced. Report an error in the passage at 39:25 Highlight the passage at 39:25

39:52 So it doesn't matter what it looks like from the outside. Sometimes people look very, very holy. Our minds are a mess. So the fourth verse, leisure and fortune are hard to find. Life's not long. Think it constantly. Stop desire for this life. So what's desire for this life? Basically thinking if I could just get that job or that house or that girlfriend, I'd be happy. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:21 If I could just go on that trip or get that raise, you know, whatever it is, then I'll be happy. And actually I won't be happy until then, so it's kind of a double whammy. And then of course you get that thing and you begin to see its faults. And we're actually going to talk about some of the different kinds of suffering and saṃsāra, that it's almost like there's this fault in our mind that doesn't even allow us to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:50 And there's a way out. So the good news is there's a way out. Um, but basically Basically having this kind of thought of if I just got that job or that girlfriend or that house or that husband or whatever, then I would be happy. It actually keeps you from deeply practicing. So that's where it becomes a real issue on your path if you are on the path or if you want to be on the path to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 40:50 Highlight the passage at 40:50

41:17 So there is a story actually. And this kind of underscores what I was just saying. There's a story about one of Atisha. Remember Lama Atisha is the one who they went to such great effort to bring from India to reestablish Buddhism in Tibet. And his main disciple was someone named Jumtompa, who later on was wandering along and he found this monk doing circumambulations. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:46 And he just sort of watched him for a while. And then said, you know, basically this would be great, but it would be much better if you actually did something spiritual. So then he would, you know, do prostrations for a while, and then he would say, well, this is really wonderful, but it would be even better if you did something spiritual. Report an error in the passage at 41:46 Highlight the passage at 41:46

42:04 And so then he did prayers, and then he said, oh, this is just really wonderful, but it would be even better if you did something. And so finally he got so exasperated, he said, well, what can I do? And he said, you know, give up this life, and he just repeated it three times. Give up this life, give up this life. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:18 Give up this life. So clearly he knew what was going on in that monk's mind. So basically, and I think we've all had moments of this where we're doing our meditation and our mind is thinking about what's in the fridge or something bigger. Our mind is thinking about going away. Our mind is thinking about getting something you just saw in a catalog over dinner or something. So it eats up. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:44 That desire for this life, what he's saying here is basically thinking about getting our happiness outside of our own minds is eating up the opportunity that we have right now. So what cuts that kind of thinking? Meditating on precious human life, like even the motivation that His Holiness wrote that I read. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

43:10 It really does remind you that, you know, wow, I have this great opportunity today. And it won't come every day. There are a lot of people that didn't wake up today. And so it's actually in a really positive way, the way he wrote it, where he's like, you know, I'm just going to use all my energies to develop myself. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:27 You know, you're like reaffirming. It's like a kind of reaffirming, I'm not going to. And you hear your own voice later when you get angry at somebody. and you're like, oh, that's right, I said I'm not going to get angry today. Or think badly about others when you're starting to diss somebody. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

43:45 So, yeah, meditating on precious human rebirth or thinking about death. And this one kind of does both, where it's like giving you the fact that you could have died and you didn't and that you have this great opportunity, but also starting to think about the things that... Report an error in the passage at 43:45 Highlight the passage at 43:45

44:02 What you're going to do with that, basically. When you realize you have an opportunity, the point is, what are you going to do with it? Not to just be happy and keep creating non-virtue. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:15 So meditating on precious human rebirth, meditating on death, thinking about those eight worldly concerns, like we did. But Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:27 It has to be strengthened because, again, it's not just understanding it once and then moving on. It's like you have to develop this mind of renunciation over and over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:40 So one of my teachers, Venerable Neil, also called Thubten Dundrup, who taught the Lamrim course both times I went to Nepal, so clearly I have a strong armor with him. Both times I went to the November course, he was the teacher. He said, renunciation is letting go of what we are neurotically obsessed with. Renunciation isn't just letting go of grasping to the things of this world, but also involves a recognition that there is something better. Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

45:09 This involves a basic change in attitude. The grasping keeps the mind small, while developing renunciation gives the mind space and begins to open it up. So I think that's a really nice way of thinking about how our normal grasping mind that we think is going to bring us happiness actually limits us. Report an error in the passage at 45:09 Highlight the passage at 45:09

45:30 It actually is like, you know, we're like grasping after all these things and people and experiences and renunciation actually allows you to just let it go. So it's the opposite in a way of what we think renunciation is going to be like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 45:30 Highlight the passage at 45:30

45:55 The second half of verse 4 is, think over and over how deeds and their fruits never fail, and the cycle suffering stop desire for the future. So this is referring to karma, which is where we're going to start tonight. And as you know, the next Thursday night class is going to be all about karma, so I'm not going to... Report an error in the passage at 45:55 Highlight the passage at 45:55

46:18 I'm not going to teach you all about karma. I'm just going to teach you a little bit about karma. And I'm sure this will open it up. Okay, so there might be more questions from you, Cedric. I thought I was just going to touch on a little bit on Tuesday night, the Tuesday night class, and it ended up going on for a while. So this may open up a can of worms. Karma, I think, is really exciting because it's one of, like I said, it's sort of one of the foundational thoughts of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:44 Even if you don't... Believe in karma. If you can get a taste of karma, it opens up this huge possibility for basically owning your own life. Because I think we have a huge victim mentality, especially in the West. Anytime anything goes wrong, and I think we all buy into this to some degree, it's somebody's fault. Report an error in the passage at 46:44 Highlight the passage at 46:44

47:07 Like somehow, somebody did this to me. Even if you're the only one in the room and have been the only one in the room for like two years, you probably still would blame somebody else for something. I think maybe after a while. That's probably why you do solitary retreat, actually. You stop blaming people. But the reality in terms of Buddhist thought is that we created the existence that we have. Report an error in the passage at 47:07 Highlight the passage at 47:07

47:31 There's actually no other creator god in Buddhism. There's nothing external. In terms of an external being that made this reality. Every experience, from whether or not we like this carpet or whether or not we think it's really gaudy and hate the colors, all the way up to whatever we're experiencing, whatever our body is like, the different things that happen to us in this body, the different people in our lives, the different... Report an error in the passage at 47:31 Highlight the passage at 47:31

48:04 Our experiences with those people in our lives and so forth is all karmically produced according to what the Buddha observed. Can you hold your questions? Because I think you're going to have a lot of them. So let me just talk for a little bit and then you can ask some questions. So it just started out, karma actually in Sanskrit means action. And it's referring specifically to the action of thinking and then what comes from those thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 48:04 Highlight the passage at 48:04

48:29 So the actions of your body and mind that come from your thoughts because everything is motivated by a mental action first. And it gets a little bit confusing because karma is referring both to the action and the energy that you create. So I'll create a karma but then it'll ripen into a later karma. So there's actually, karma is both of those things. Report an error in the passage at 48:29 Highlight the passage at 48:29

48:56 And karma is considered to be a working of the mind. So in the very first class of the series of the Discovering Buddhism program is a class on mind and its potential. And it gets into karma a little bit as well because it's considered to be a working of the mind. And it's considered, it's sometimes called the law, the law of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:20 It's sort of almost like the law of gravity. It's not seen as blame. Or anything like that. It's sort of just the way the mind works. So it's not like you've done wrong if you are experiencing pain in your foot or something like that. It's simply that you look at it almost analytically and just think, what could have caused this and what can I do then? Because it's not like it's destiny. What can I then do to change that karma? Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:49 At the time that you're experiencing the ripening of it, it's difficult to change the effect, but you can change any future effect. So they say that most of what we experience in this life was actually created in prior life. So what we're creating in this life is going to be experienced in a future life. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:10 So if you want to have future happiness, basically, then what we're doing in this life has to be creating that. You have to actually actively... Report an error in the passage at 50:10 Highlight the passage at 50:10

50:19 Attempt to create positive karma. And it also is really, really important to know that about 95 % of karma is your motivation. So I think I've mentioned before that like four of us could do the same exact act, but we could have all different motivations and we would have a different karma from it. Even if something as huge as killing, because sometimes it's ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:49 Sometimes it's completely not even noticing the bug. And so, Charles, and I don't even realize I'm smashing this bug. And sometimes I'm trying to help the bug because it seems to be injured and so I'm trying to put it out of its misery. And sometimes I'm like, I hate these things. They're so disgusting. It's completely different mental activity that's happening with that act. Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49

51:11 But somebody could see that act, all those people doing that, and they would think they would get the same karma and they don't. So we just have no idea what's going on, unless we can read people's minds, which is something that actually they say with deep meditation, with calm abiding, that's one of the perks. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:31 You actually develop that clairvoyance that allows you to read people's minds. So, karma works really well with emptiness, so we'll get back into karma a little bit when we're talking about emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 51:31 Highlight the passage at 51:31

51:47 Emptiness is what allows karma to work, and karma is what allows emptiness. to work this sort of they there's like The Dalai Lama actually wrote a book called The Marriage of, or The Union of, anyway, I can't remember what it is, but anyway, he talks about the marriage of emptiness and karma a lot because they really do work together. Report an error in the passage at 51:47 Highlight the passage at 51:47

52:09 Because basically, one of the explanations that I've heard of karma is that Karma and emptiness working together is that everything that we perceive and experience is due to the karma that we've already created based on the actions that we've done with our body, speech and mind. So physical actions, you know, smashing that bug or speech, you know, whether I've said, whether I spent an entire lifetime gossiping, for example, or dissing people or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:41 And mind, and that's the heavy one, because a lot of times people think it's only the big stuff that makes karma. But actually they say, and this is one that you had pointed out, That you're creating karma at this rate of 65 moments per finger snap. And so you've already created a bunch of karma just sitting there. Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

53:00 Whether or not you're tuned in and going, well, she seems to know what she's talking about. Or whether or not you're just neutral and thinking, I wonder what's in the fridge. Maybe I'll go home and make some dinner. Or whether you're like, God, she's just going on and on. I wish we'd have a break. All of those are forms of karma. You're creating mental karma in your mind. So that karma will at some point ripen. So it's not like it's just, you know, just because you haven't gotten up and hit me that you haven't created karma. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:27 You're still creating karma. It's just not very powerful karma at this point because you haven't, I mean, I don't know unless you're like thinking about killing me or something. Most likely you've created pretty... It's not mundane karma at this point, but you have created karma and I think it's really important because we do think that only really big acts, like if we're just sitting in our room being irritated at somebody, it's somehow not creating negative karma and it still is. Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:52 Sometimes it's creating a lot of negative karma if we're obsessing. This is the reason why I really like Neil's quote about what we are neurotically obsessed with because we do waste a lot of our time being neurotically obsessed with either wanting something or hating someone or being irritated or not liking our job or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 53:52 Highlight the passage at 53:52

54:11 We're just like, work it to death. So that all creates karma. Report an error in the passage at 54:11 Highlight the passage at 54:11

54:20 And it's actually easier for us at this point, unfortunately, because we've lived limitless lifetimes and few of those lifetimes have we had the opportunity to really understand how karma works and the Buddhist teachings or any kind of teachings on truth and how to benefit others. And so it's really quite easy for us to habitually fall into negative mind and to follow that negative mind. And that's just what we've been doing lifetime after lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:49 And so to actually change that is where the effort comes in to actually learn about what is a positive act and why is it a positive act and actually think, wait a second, I can actually create the kind of life that I want by doing a positive act and then remembering it when somebody comes and starts screaming at you or hits you or whatever, like how to respond to that particular action rather than just lapsing into punching back. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

55:19 But one of the problems with karma, or one of the difficulties with karma, is that there's a lag time. So there's always this lag time between when we have the annoying thoughts of the teacher and then when those thoughts ripen, or that karma that you've created ripens into somebody thinking negatively of you while you're teaching, so it comes back. Report an error in the passage at 55:19 Highlight the passage at 55:19

55:45 Um, so, um, Nargatuna actually said it's too bad that people don't experience immediately the results of their negative actions. And his example, or at least the teacher that I heard who was teaching on this said, like if you were reaching down to smash a cockroach, you suddenly had this really heavy weight on your head and you're like, oh, I don't want to do that. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

56:11 But it doesn't happen that way. We don't see that link immediately. It seems like... There's absolutely no result of us smashing the roach until we don't get necessarily that a lifetime of some sort of bodily pain could be related to smashing a roach in our last life. Because, and we're going to get into the four principles of karma, karma increases. So even a tiny act of smashing the roach could actually lead us to a lifetime of, for example, rotator cuff pain or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 56:11 Highlight the passage at 56:11

56:45 That could just actually happen and it seems unrelated to anything I've done. So I'm going to give you the four principles of karma because I think they're useful. Karma is definite, which means if you do something positive, you get a positive result. If you do something negative, you get a negative result. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:06 And positive and negative here, basically, when we're talking about karma, what makes something positive is... Basically whether or not a result of that act will be a positive result or pleasurable result. So it's not like there's a thou shalt not kind of a thing. Nobody's judging that act except for the fact that that act is causing a karma that will ripen into a pleasure or a pain. Report an error in the passage at 57:06 Highlight the passage at 57:06

57:33 So that's what makes something positive and negative. So killing, for example, results in a shortened lifetime. time sickness like that pain physical pain So it's negative because you're going to get a negative result. I mean, it's also not so great for the person you killed or the being you killed, but it's not even talking about that here. Report an error in the passage at 57:33 Highlight the passage at 57:33

57:57 It's not even talking about right and wrong from that perspective. It's talking about what it's going to do for you. So, you know, actually speaking badly about somebody, for example, is going to actually net you. Somebody speaking badly about you. So it'll be a negative. So it's a negative act. And that's the only way that these words are defined. Positive would be if I speak really well of somebody. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:26 And not just saying it because I want to... Not just saying really nice things because I want somebody to speak well of me in my next lifetime. But actually trying to... To be honest throughout your life, but you're aware of how these things work. So a positive act of, say, not just not killing somebody if you had the chance, but rather even helping somebody who's sick or helping somebody or protecting a life. Report an error in the passage at 58:26 Highlight the passage at 58:26

58:51 So somebody else is being injured and you're able to help, you know, step in in that fight or call the police or something like that. That's actually protecting a life. So it's a positive karma and then that will ripen into a positive. Result for you. And that's what positive and negative means in this case. So no wrong action you do will ever cause you anything but pain and no good action you do will ever cause you pain. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:16 And we think about this physically when we think if I plant a lemon seed, I'm not going to get an apple tree. Like, you know, I know if I plant a certain kind of seed, I'm going to get a certain kind of result. And it's exactly the same in karma, with karma. Report an error in the passage at 59:16 Highlight the passage at 59:16

59:34 But again, there's a lag time. So it looks like sometimes, and the example that I remember hearing is, if you are asked to lie for your business in order to make a deal, and then you get the deal, it looks like your lie got the firm the deal. But in reality, your lie still hasn't ripened. You just created the karma that's just sitting, waiting to ripen. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

1:00:03 Company got the deal because of generosity. Because there's actually collective karma too, so the company itself could have its own karma, but also you have a part in it and probably the owner of the company has some karma that then ripens. So it looks like if I lie on my taxes, for example, I'm going to get a higher refund. But the reality is I'm getting the refund because I created generosity karma and that's coming back to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:31 And that lie is still waiting to ripen. It hasn't ripened yet. So there's that lag time. But the point that the Buddha is making is if you do a positive act, no matter what everybody else sees, you will net a positive result. If you do a negative act, no matter what anybody sees, and that means an act of your mind as well, it will net negative. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:31 Highlight the passage at 1:00:31

1:00:58 So if you're just sitting in your room feeling angry at somebody, that's creating a negative karma that will ripen, unless it's purified. We'll talk about that. The second of the principles of the four principles of karma is that karma increases. And again, the results are bigger than the cause. We can look in nature and see the same thing. Most plants are much huger than their seeds. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:22 So, I mean, like an acorn is really small, but then an oak tree is really, really big. And they say that karma is the same, that this tiny moment of anger actually could be huge. On the other hand, this could have huge results, but on the other hand, like this tiny moment of kindness can also net these really enormous results. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:47 And we experience, like once you start understanding karma, You experience certain things like, well, like shoulder pain. Using myself as an example. And you think it's some really big thing that you must have done. But it could have just been something that you didn't purify and it just got bigger and bigger over several lifetimes. Some, you know, mean thing that I did several lifetimes ago as a little kid, like pulling off the arm of a bug or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:47 Highlight the passage at 1:01:47

1:02:15 And then I just... It just got bigger and bigger waiting to ripen and then it began to ripen an entire, you know, several years of shoulder pain or something. I'm hoping that's not it. So it increases. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:30 And in the same way, the things that cause it to ripen... It could just stay unripened for several lifetimes until the conditions come together for it to ripen. It's the same with a seed that you need certain conditions. You can actually store some seeds for years before you plant them, and then once you add moisture and warmth and sunshine and all those other things, then they'll ripen, but otherwise they just sort of stay dormant, and karma is considered to be very much like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:03:05 The third of the four principles is if you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. They always like these double negatives. So that's the sort of anti-victim mentality idea. If you are experiencing a result, who created the karma? And it's not me now, it's my mental continuum in my past life. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:05 Highlight the passage at 1:03:05

1:03:33 Some other being who I was in my past life. So the good thing about this idea is that I can't really blame anybody else. I can just work with it. I can work with whatever I'm experiencing and try to turn it around. And on the other hand, if I want to experience a certain result, I can look into how to get that result through what acts I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:33 Highlight the passage at 1:03:33

1:03:57 How to think, how to act, how to speak. If I want to have a virtuous life, if I want to have pleasure, if I want to have happiness, there are ways to actually karmically create it. The laws of karma or the law of cause and effect is actually sort of like a blueprint for how you can attain happiness. And even how you can attain another human rebirth. Like you find out what the causes are and then you do them and then you experience that result. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:57 Highlight the passage at 1:03:57

1:04:30 So one of the things I was saying that came up for me on my retreat this summer, I was meditating on the lamrim and I was rereading some of the notes that I had from a teaching that Venerable Riber Rinpoche did on karma a couple of years ago or a few years ago because he passed away a couple of years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:30 Highlight the passage at 1:04:30

1:04:50 He said something like, or at least Venerable Sarah's notes were something like, If you want to have a cup of tea, you've got to boil the water. So it's sort of like if you want to get enlightened, you're going to have to do the work. You have to do something. She's like, you have to do something, underline. And that was like, it was really good. It was like, oh yeah, like you can't just think, I can just be a generally good person and I'm going to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

1:05:16 Like there's definite steps you have to take and you have to move toward it. So this is coming from this particular principle of karma. If we want a certain result, we have to actually create the karma to get that result. If we're experiencing a certain result that we don't want, we have to change our actions to create the karma that we do want. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:16 Highlight the passage at 1:05:16

1:05:41 And the very last point is that karma is never lost. And every tiny act that we do nets a result. So we can purify, which is really good. They actually say that every single act, even the most heinous crimes, can be purified, and there are actual steps for that, one of which is determining never to do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:41 Highlight the passage at 1:05:41

1:06:05 So it's not like the morning after pill or something. You have to actually, in your mind, make this determination for as long as you can, at least, not to do that act again and to keep trying to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:05 Highlight the passage at 1:06:05

1:06:22 But even in that case, it's not lost. It's just diminished so that you actually have it ripen in a form that's easier to deal with. So instead of, for example, having a horrible rebirth, you experience shoulder pain for a couple of years, which is a form of purifying so that you don't have it ripen in a worse way. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:47 What was it? Oh, we were talking with Geshe-la about... Something we were talking about, somebody wasn't getting disharmonious, somebody was not getting along and other people were kind of like this blah, blah, blah. And of course he always laughs and just, you know, this is saṃsāra, what do we expect? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:47 Highlight the passage at 1:06:47

1:07:04 But he said, you know, when someone was upset and saying, you know, there was criticism, he said, oh, best to get it. This is good. Get it out of the way in this life. That's good. You know, it's really good. And it changes your own perspective. You're like, oh, a shoulder plane? This is great. Get it out of the way. It totally changes your perspective on things. But basically, no matter how tiny the act is, it's never going to be totally lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04 Highlight the passage at 1:07:04

1:07:37 And no matter how tiny the negative act is or the positive act, it's never going to be lost. It's always going to ripen. And so it just sort of is a reminder that just because it hasn't ripened yet, it doesn't mean you're off the hook. Because sometimes I think we can think, well, in my 20s I was pretty horrible, but, you know, no one's going to know about that now. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:37 Highlight the passage at 1:07:37

1:08:01 You know, so I mean the point is, just because it hasn't ripened yet, one of my teachers compared it to karma, your karmic, you know, potential is almost like planes on a runway. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:01 Highlight the passage at 1:08:01

1:08:13 And you don't know which one's going to take off next. And this is why all these teachings about what to do at the time of death are so important because a really important thing if our mind is really agitated at the time of death, that one of those negative... Planes can take off basically and that can become our throwing karma for our next life. So it's really important they say that if you're with somebody at the time of death to try to keep their mind and your mind in the room as calm as possible because you want to give them as much opportunity as you can for a positive karma and also to remind them of the virtue that they've done in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:55 Um, um, And if you're the one who's dying to have somebody else do that for you, remind you of the good things that you've done and your goals, whatever, if you have spiritual goals, especially if they're talking about with Buddhists, but even if not, if they're particularly close to Christ or whatever, to just remind them of that virtue, of that compassion, so that at that moment the positive things are coming to the surface. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:55 Highlight the passage at 1:08:55

1:09:26 That'll throw them into the next life. Because the two biggest things are the karma that you've produced kind of on a regular basis. Like, you know, a lot of times teachers will say, you know, what was he like or what was she like? You know, kind of, I remember actually with my mom, Geshe was saying, you know, you know, was she nice? Was she kind to people? And I was like, yeah, yeah, she was very kind and stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:26 Highlight the passage at 1:09:26

1:09:51 And then, so like, that's like a big, that's probably, you know, 90. 90 % of what's going to determine the next life. But then there's also the, at the time of death and some, you know, stuff comes up at the time of death where you're like really angry or you're really. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:11 I don't know, you know, irritable, you know, the nurses come into the room and people, you know, you're like. And that negative mind could override so that plane moves. quicker onto the runway and takes So it's quite important to try to keep the person as happy as you can. So why don't I take your question now, Matt, if you still have it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:11 Highlight the passage at 1:10:11

1:10:40 So my question was in regard again to this. Oh, the lamrim, yeah. Yes. And actually I could give you, I have an extra one of those if you want. Does everyone have the lamrim, the summary of the lamrim, the stages of the path? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:40 Highlight the passage at 1:10:40

1:10:59 Yeah. Did you? Should you pass it back to Chad? And I'll pass you one, too. I didn't get page eight. That's your karma then, Jeff, isn't it? You know what? You're right. I don't think any of them got page eight. I was going to say, did you? Yeah. It's been shot. No, I think it was Keisha's copying. I'll pass it back. But it's okay. I'll get people page eight. I'll find out what was on. It must have been something really exciting. So go ahead, Matt. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:59 Highlight the passage at 1:10:59

1:11:29 um... You referred to mind as a continuum, so you have your present mind and then mind from previous lives, and there's this karma that's a continuum as I see it, or I think. Keep going, yeah, keep going. So there's karma from, there's things from past lives and that. There's karma from those previous lives and it's this continuum that goes forward to this present life. What I was wondering is, let's say you generate a lot of negative karma in this life and you have a rebirth as a lower form, like a flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:29 Highlight the passage at 1:11:29

1:12:15 Actually, in Buddhism, they wouldn't consider a flower a sentient being, but you could be an insect. That was what my question was. So what makes a sentient being? Well, can your karma cause you to be reborn, not sentient? No. Okay. Yeah. Sentient actually means with mind. So something with a mind. Now it can be a really, really tiny mind, you know, sort of like an insect. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:15 Highlight the passage at 1:12:15

1:12:47 Or even a form that we can't even see, like a spirit. They actually say that's a sentient being. And there's even non-form. So they actually, there's a realm called the formless realm, which you actually reach from really, really deep meditation, but for no purpose. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:47 Highlight the passage at 1:12:47

1:13:06 So it's actually kind of a blissful rebirth. But it's just eons in this sort of spaced out state and then it burns off and then you just have a lower rebirth afterwards because the other plane takes off. Your negative karma comes. And you don't even have a body. It's just a formless body, formless. But in all of those cases, it's said that you have mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:06 Highlight the passage at 1:13:06

1:13:29 And mind, it's not physical. So it's not like it's a thing. It's not like it's something with form or with shape or with color or something like that. But it does continue and it's continue in not that it's like a physical thing that continues. Like, I don't know, I'm trying to think. It's not like, you know, sometimes they compare it to like a string of mala beads. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:56 But without the string and without the beads. Because if you think about it, if you ever spend any time meditating on your mind, and who did the class on the mind? Either this time or the last time. Cedric, you did it. And you did it with Amy. Yeah, yeah. And Chad, did you do it with me? Like, have you done that one yet? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:17 Or did you? Yeah, way back. It's one of the best meditations on this is to just first think of, you know, Moments of mind going back just like when you first arrived at class and then going back and then going back and you're just following your mind a little bit and they're actually just moments of mind but there's not anything holding them together. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:39 It's like mental process and the subtle most version of that is what goes from life to life. So you can actually go back. Through the years, I mean, sometimes you can take a while, the older we are, and go back and without getting caught up in all the stories of that time period, you can keep going back to how your mind has changed during all that time and keep going back and keep going back to your infancy. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:15:04 And sometimes people have, you know, memories within the womb and things like that and going back and going back. And they say, actually, as you're doing that, it's really cool to actually spend a while doing that, like spend a good... You know, half an hour, an hour, just letting your mind go back to just certain points and you can see how you've had this continuum, but of course your physical body hasn't looked at all the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:04 Highlight the passage at 1:15:04

1:15:24 But there's something there that you say is I, right? And that's, you're following that mind back. And they would say that it didn't just start in the womb, that actually it was preceded by another moment of mind and that was your past life's last moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:24 Highlight the passage at 1:15:24

1:15:42 And so then if you could see back, and some people can, some people have past life memories, you could follow that mind back and the same would happen and you'd have all these different minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:15:56 Is that the question? Were you finished with it? Yes. Okay. I have a lot of questions. I'm sure. This is a hard one, but I'll start with one. So karma, if there are that... That you might need to do an order for your own self-preservation. Say you're a vegetarian, but you have a health problem that requires you to later eat meat. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:26 Therefore, you're participating in killing. Are you supposed to say, well, I would rather become unhealthy myself because I don't want to break this law of karma? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:26 Highlight the passage at 1:16:26

1:16:41 It sounds like there are different shades of this, like you were talking about the bug. Some are ignorance, but some, you know, when you were talking I was thinking about like the child soldiers in Africa. They're being forced to kill. It's not their choice. They're doing it just to survive themselves. Same with animals, right? Animals, if you're born as a tiger. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:41 Highlight the passage at 1:16:41

1:17:06 You know, it's like you can't even, even if you wanted to survive on leaves, like it just wouldn't work for your body. I think the word supposed to, when you said, are we supposed to, I think that let's pull back from that one a little bit, because I think a lot of times people ask rules as though there's some absolute list somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:06 Highlight the passage at 1:17:06

1:17:24 And I think the thing is, is that it's always going to be different depending on the person. It's going to be different with slightly different motivation. It's going to be different with slightly different karma. So in the first example where you said, you know, somebody who's vegetarian and then because of health reasons eats meat, and how are they supposed to think? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:24 Highlight the passage at 1:17:24

1:17:47 I think it's really different because I've known of cases where somebody actually chooses to get continually iller, more ill, but... They don't want to do that. They don't want to eat the meat. And so they're actually making, I actually know of llamas, for example, who know that they have parasites in them but refuse to kill the parasites, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:12 That takes an enormous amount of bodhicitta to do. And I think it's admirable we aren't all there. And then there are people who decide, okay, I'll be more beneficial. Or, you know, with the limited wisdom that I have to actually eat the meat, but then pray for those animals who have given their body to me that I can lead them to enlightenment, basically. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:12 Highlight the passage at 1:18:12

1:18:38 Trying to make that karmic connection, because you're making a karmic connection with every one of those beings. So some people do it different ways. So it's not like an absolute rule. But I've known of all of those cases. And so there's also mantras that you do and you blow in the flesh. Before you eat it and you think about that animal and they become your responsibility, karmically speaking. You also do create a negative karma by eating the meat because you are, as you said, part of that negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:38 Highlight the passage at 1:18:38

1:19:12 And then in terms of those who are in a situation where they're forced to kill or... so Report an error in the passage at 1:19:12 Highlight the passage at 1:19:12

1:19:21 Forced to commit any kind of negativity, you know, and you think about actually some of the nuns and monks in Tibet who were forced to do negative acts against their will. Remember again, going back to the very beginning, I said like 95 % of karma is motivation. So if that motivation is not there, then you are still going to get some negative act, but it's hugely different. You don't have any, like so for a tiger who... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:21 Highlight the passage at 1:19:21

1:19:48 It has to kill and doesn't even think, just ignorantly. It actually does have some intention of probably attachment to food. There's probably a little bit of negative there. But it's not like it knows better and is ignoring it and deciding to go get a gazelle or something. It's not like that. It's just ignorantly. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:48 Highlight the passage at 1:19:48

1:20:07 It does create negative karma, but it doesn't create it to the same extent as like a human who does have some intelligence and just ignores it and decides, well, I want that pelt and I want to put it on my wall or something. That's far more negative than the tiger. What about mental illness? And that's another case. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:28 I mean, it's like if somebody is completely unable to reason. Then, yeah, they aren't creating at all the same negative karma as somebody who actually is able to reason and just ignores the reason at that moment. Which, you can be under heavy, heavy delusions, and you're still going to get negative karma. But it's different if you, for example, are schizophrenic or something like that, because you're unable to... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:28 Highlight the passage at 1:20:28

1:21:04 To have a clear mind. However, not knowing that something is non-virtuous and later finding out that it's virtuous, that's actually true for probably all of us. I mean, we don't necessarily always know. I think there are certain things like killing that I think are pretty standardly not positive acts. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:04 Highlight the passage at 1:21:04

1:21:24 I think in just about any culture and just about any, but not necessarily all, just about any religion. But Some stuff in Buddhism you discover that certain things are considered quite negative that you might not have thought. For example, gossip, which doesn't sound like a really huge one, but they say that it basically, because we do it so habitually, it can actually be more negative than a bigger act because we do it, you know, 20 hours out of 24 hours or something because we just waste. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:24 Highlight the passage at 1:21:24

1:21:57 And gossip here meaning meaningless speech, just wasting. Our precious life, wasting our words, wasting somebody else's time, all that stuff. Just blah, blah, blah. So that's something that we learn and we may not have that otherwise, but we still do it and we still have created the negative karma. The good thing is that we can purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:21 Yeah, Charles? I'm not sure how to answer this. It sort of has to do with Buddhist cosmology. That something follows you from this life into the next life. Your karmic inheritance is from the actions of your past lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:42 How does karma know to follow you? There are different views in different schools. Some of the lower schools actually see them as like seeds. actual seeds but of course they're not physical and they actually have like that what's called a storehouse consciousness and this part of the mind The higher schools say basically with the higher teachings on emptiness that that doesn't even need to exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:23:08 Is part of your subtle most mind. So it's not so much like it's a thing that's following you around like, Charles, you might want to check behind you. It's not like that, but it is just, yeah, it's again, it's just a completely, it's non-physical, so it's a mental process, really. It's just like a mental process. So you have to get more into the teachings of the mind and more into the teachings of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:08 Highlight the passage at 1:23:08

1:23:38 And they say too, of all of the teachings of the Buddha, that actually karma is the most complex, even more complex than emptiness, which I think is interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:38 Highlight the passage at 1:23:38

1:23:49 And sometimes as you learn the way that certain things correlate and a certain result that you might have... It's from a certain action and it makes sense and sometimes it doesn't make sense at all. And they say that only a fully enlightened mind totally understands how karma works and how it all fits together. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:49 Highlight the passage at 1:23:49

1:24:10 For example, you know, sometimes something like if you have poverty, they say that's the result of being stingy, basically of not giving. Generosity is the cause for abundance in your life or having enough even. And so even though you feel poor to actually practice giving, It's the way to break that cycle, which is hard to do because you're like, wait, I don't have anything. But sometimes it's not so clear. I was just talking about this one with Venerable Rabina. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:40 Lama Zopa Rinpoche said that if you wake up one morning and you feel really depressed and you don't have any actual cause, That it's actually the result, or no visible cause or no logical cause, that it's actually the karmic result of sexual misconduct, and in this case meaning adultery, where you've made someone suffer mentally, and now you're suffering mentally. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:25:06 So that's not so clear, you know, it wouldn't be like what would immediately spring to mind. So some of karma is more clear than others, and sometimes it's sort of like just... Trusting the teachers and going on that a little bit until you gain some experience. I know one student, Karen, who has taken quite a few classes, she likes to do karma experiments for like 6 to 12 months, practice generosity and see if she starts seeing changes in her life and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:06 Highlight the passage at 1:25:06

1:25:37 There are ways actually, because even though traditionally, I mean even though normally we don't see the results. Within this life, there are ways to speed it up. And that's, of course, how tantra works. And part of that is the object of your karma. So if you're doing something for the benefit of all sentient beings, for example, it's huge, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:37 Highlight the passage at 1:25:37

1:25:58 If I'm doing it for just two people, it expands on normally doing it for me. So starting to have this mind of bodhicitta, bodhicitta actually really expands karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:09 And if you're doing things, say, for somebody who has incredibly benefited you, like your teacher, or like if you happen to know any Bodhisattvas or Buddhas, if you do any actions on their benefit, that's supposed to expand it quite a bit. And even your parents of this life, because they gave you this human body without which you cannot practice Tantra, or Buddhism for that matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:32 um so um just Just doing any good act or kind act towards them is supposed to be more powerful than just doing it for either myself or another person or something like that. So there are ways to kind of multiply the merit. And there are points on your path that you need to multiply the merit. For example, to be able to directly perceive emptiness, you need a huge amount of merit. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32 Highlight the passage at 1:26:32

1:26:58 So there are ways that you need to, and it sounds sort of like collecting browning points, but remembering that your final goal is enlightenment for all beings. It's not just that you want to be happy yourself and wear cool clothing and crowns. be golden it's not like that's your goal your goal is to be able to benefit all beings and so if that is your goal then you really are doing this whole method quite um know to get to that goal so that you can benefit others so there's nothing wrong with applying it try to get Why don't we take a break actually before we talk about suffering? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:58 Highlight the passage at 1:26:58

1:27:44 Nothing to, like, luring you back with some juicy suffering after the break. Could you, could you, do you know how to, could you peek at it and just kind of, all you have to do is hit pause if you. Oh, you want to, okay, yeah. Yeah, do you want to show him, Chad? And then that way you don't always have to run down the aisle. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:44 Highlight the passage at 1:27:44

1:28:11 It's just like a tape recorder. Is it going? Are the little numbers going? Yes. Well done. sorry. sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:11 Highlight the passage at 1:28:11

1:28:24 All right, so let's quickly cover some suffering here before we go home. So we know why it is that we have to leave, not leave class, but leave saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:42 Karma will keep coming up, so don't worry. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:42 Highlight the passage at 1:28:42

1:28:48 So suffering, suffering, suffering. Suffering is actually, in this case, it's the translation of... Sanskrit word that's dukkha, which is actually more literally translated as dissatisfaction. So it's a sort of baseline dissatisfaction that's in our mind all the time, actually. So it's kind of like it's this... Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:20 Flaw in the way that we're made at this point. And of course, it's a karmic flaw at this point. And so it can be corrected. So even if we're grasping at something and we really want this great clock, then the minute we get it, we start finding fault with it, whether it's the clock or whether it's the person or whether it's the car or whether it's the house or whether it's, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:20 Highlight the passage at 1:29:20

1:29:41 The nose job or whatever it is that there's this level of dissatisfaction. We have this moment that we think that we're happy because we just have the relief from all that neurotic grasping that we are doing as we're like researching the car or the person or the job or the clock and then we get it and we're like and so there's this moment of not wanting and so then that's what we think is happiness and then the dissatisfaction starts again and if we really like the clock then we want five of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:41 Highlight the passage at 1:29:41

1:30:09 And so then we should start, you know, really wanting more and more and more. And we do that, you know, with food or alcohol or sex or whatever, too. It's just like if we do find happiness there, then we start wanting more and more and more of it. So it's either one or the other. And that's dukkha. And that, of course, causes a lot of our problems in saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:09 Highlight the passage at 1:30:09

1:30:32 So, so, Suffering is described in three ways and it's actually this is sort of a definition of suffering that includes three levels of suffering. The first is what's called the suffering of suffering or gross suffering and that's the kind of suffering that I think all of us realize is suffering. The shoulder pain, which sounds much worse than I'm painting it out. It just happens to be the current suffering that I'm going through. Migraines, you know, I mean, it can be all the way up to, you know, terminal cancer. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:32 Highlight the passage at 1:30:32

1:31:06 It can be anything from as minor as, you know, an annoying smell to World War III. That's gross suffering, whatever that gross suffering is. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:19 And remember, it's mental suffering as well, so it's not just physical pain or physical sensation at all. It can also be mental suffering, which could be extreme mental illness, like you were talking about with schizophrenia or something like that, or it could just be sadness. It could just be waking up with the blues one day or something like that. That's suffering of suffering. The second one, the second level, is what's called the suffering of change. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:19 Highlight the passage at 1:31:19

1:31:48 And this is the one that we often think of as happiness. And so this is describing what I just was saying, that basically every pleasurable experience that we have eventually changes into some sort of suffering or some sort of pain. Either it ends, we eat all the chocolate cake, you know, which also turns into a different kind of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:48 Highlight the passage at 1:31:48

1:32:12 Um, or, um, And we get dissatisfied with it. You know, it really wasn't that great, a chocolate cake. I remember one time, actually one time here, we had tour months. This shows you how our minds are. We had an offering, you know, we did some sort of a poudre or something, and it looked really good. It was like chocolate cream pie. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:12 Highlight the passage at 1:32:12

1:32:34 And so we were all excited. We all sat down and had the chocolate cream pie. And not one of us admitted until we had eaten every last bit that it really was bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:32:44 It wasn't good. And we're all like just eating it. And then at the end we're kind of like, that was actually really bad, chocolate cream pie. And I actually remember that all the time. It's like, remember the chocolate cream pie? And we're all like, yeah, chocolate cream pie. It was just Safeway chocolate cream pie or something. I'll have to edit that out, sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:33:01 but But it's that same idea and one example that you hear is like say you're outside on a sunny day and it's a really nice sunny day and you're like oh it's so nice to be outside and then it starts getting really hot and you're just like it's really hot actually you know and so then you go into the shade and you're like you know now you're really happy because you're in the shade and it's really nice and then it starts getting really cold you know like if you're at Golden Gate Park and it's like freezing and then the fog comes in and you're like I wish it was just sunny again you know and we do this all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:01 Highlight the passage at 1:33:01

1:33:33 The Buddha is just like saying, this is just what we do. You know, you're really excited to get next to your best friend on the bus and then she's just going on and on and on and on. So it's the suffering of change. Pervasive compounding suffering is the third one and that's the hardest one to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:33:51 That's also the most subtle form of suffering. This is where just the fact that our body and our mind and our lifespan Our environment, everything about it is created from our karma and our afflicted minds at this point. It's all the product of karma and affliction, so it's in the suffering, the nature of this kind of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:51 Highlight the passage at 1:33:51

1:34:16 And this one's harder to understand, it's very, very subtle. But basically, because it's all a product of our karma and afflicted mind, there's this sort of fault in it. It's like it's broken. We keep trying to fix it. We keep trying to make it a perfect life. The Buddha is saying, actually, nothing in saṃsāra can be perfect. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:39 But the good news is that saṃsāra isn't all there is despite what we think right now, that there's something beyond saṃsāra. It's sort of like you're seeing this fish swimming around and around in cesspool and you're like, no, honey, we can get you out of there. And that's really what the Buddhas are saying. They're like, you guys, there's something else besides the toilet. You can get out of there. And they often do describe saṃsāra as like a cesspool. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:39 Highlight the passage at 1:34:39

1:35:05 And why do we spend time even looking at suffering? Like, what's the point? Why do we, you know, why are we, I mean, there's actually, I'm going to give you a couple more lists of suffering, so it's a good Galupa class. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:18 Basically, what we're trying to do is to see, well, first of all, the Buddha started teaching when the Buddha, The very first teachings that the Buddha gave were on the Four Noble Truths. And the very first of those Four Noble Truths were that life is suffering, right? Part of that is, is it something that we can relate to? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:18 Highlight the passage at 1:35:18

1:35:39 I think by the time you've hit 20, you know that life has some suffering. At least this first one, the suffering of suffering, you've experienced some amount of mental and physical pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:39 Highlight the passage at 1:35:39

1:35:52 But it's also, he went on then to say that there is a cause. In this case it is karma and delusions or karma and afflictions, afflicted thoughts. And then he also said there's a cessation, there's a way to end that suffering and that there's a path. So we have to realize that right now we're looking at the first noble truth and that there's a way out. And it's really important to keep reminding yourself so you don't just get depressed by thinking about different types of suffering, you know, the list of the different types of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:26 Right now it's basically he's just trying to raise awareness. It's like, look, let's look. Don't pull back, because we have this habitual tendency to not want to look at suffering. We don't want to spend too long looking at our own suffering, and we don't really want to see suffering around us. We don't really want to see the guy in the street who's suffering. If the friend is going on a little too long about the divorce, it's just kind of like, maybe show you the door. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:51 So suffering is not something that we're all that comfortable with, and he's basically saying, just open to it. Just look. It's there. Let's just look at it a little bit. And the reason is so that we can get past it. So the six sufferings of saṃsāra and six sufferings of saṃsāra. So. . Report an error in the passage at 1:36:51 Highlight the passage at 1:36:51

1:37:13 I never realized it when we should have, what's his name, Sylvester say, the six sufferings of saṃsāra in general. Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:13 Highlight the passage at 1:37:13

1:37:23 And I think these are all ones, these are interesting because of course we can all relate to them. The first is that nothing is certain, which we might not even see as a problem. But the Buddha is actually pointing it out that... This is a suffering. It's a source of suffering for us. Nothing is certain. We try to pretend that because something turned out a certain way once, that it will always turn out that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:23 Highlight the passage at 1:37:23

1:37:51 Because I had this great relationship or this crappy relationship once, every other one will be that way. Because the last time I put on a blue shirt, I had this happen. People have their lucky shirt or their lucky thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:51 Highlight the passage at 1:37:51

1:38:06 Nothing is certain. I mean, we don't know what will happen tonight. We think our day is over, but some amazing thing or some horrible thing could happen. The reality is that we have no idea when we get up in the morning what's going to happen. And so it can become a source of suffering for us, or, of course, it can just be this new way of seeing what already is. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:06 Highlight the passage at 1:38:06

1:38:31 Because he's not making this up. This is just something he's pointing out. um um So the second one is the problem that we're never satisfied. So this is getting into dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:31 Highlight the passage at 1:38:31

1:38:46 And you can think about these things, you know, just actually looking over your own life, thinking the times that you thought that things were certain or that things would turn out a certain way or the times that you tried to gain satisfaction and couldn't gain it through whatever means you were trying. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:46 Highlight the passage at 1:38:46

1:39:03 Just thinking back. At all the times that you've tried to find fulfillment. And that something always changed. Something always, that dukkha, that seed of dukkha is there, sort of bubbling. The third one is the problem that you have to discard your body over and over again. And this one requires us to have some feeling that we do reincarnate and that this mental continuum has gone from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:03 Highlight the passage at 1:39:03

1:39:31 And that basically... That we have to die each time, which is of course an enormous suffering. And that we've been everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:44 The Buddha said it's not so much, we haven't necessarily always been people. We've been that tiger cub. We've been those child soldiers. We've had really, really difficult lives. And every time we've had to give up the body and start over again. So then that's the fourth one, we have to be born over and over again. And each time that we're born, we start out with a new family and a new culture and we have to learn the alphabet. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:44 Highlight the passage at 1:39:44

1:40:12 And this is mom, okay, I have to memorize her face. I mean, it sounds funny because we have this idea that we are it, that it's only me and I've never been anything different. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:12 Highlight the passage at 1:40:12

1:40:25 But the Buddha is actually saying that... That we have had many, many lifetimes. We've been everything before and each time we have to start all over and we have to learn everything all over and we have to go through all the struggles of learning how to walk and all that stuff all over again. And it's not easy and that's actually a source of our suffering. The fifth is the problem that we go up and down in life. So, you know, you have a really high position and then you lose it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:25 Highlight the passage at 1:40:25

1:40:56 And then, you know, you work your way up in a company and then the company crashes. You know, of course, people went through this in the software thing in the dot-com boom of the 90s. But, you know, you see it all the time in political. Well, this guy Craig, you know, I mean, but I mean, I'm from D.C. We used to see this all the time. It was just like weekly. Somebody, you know, what was his name, ended up in the pool with his secretary. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:56 Highlight the passage at 1:40:56

1:41:23 You know, it was all these different, like, there's always a scandal. And sometimes those people had everything, you know, and then they just lost it. Or, you know, kings with enormous power in a single afternoon lose everything, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:23 Highlight the passage at 1:41:23

1:41:38 Just this whole idea that you go up and down. Of course, our minds go up and down repeatedly. And so we go up and down in our individual lives. But this one's especially referring to you move up, you gain prestige, you gain reputation, you gain power, and then you lose it all. And he's also pointing out that we've... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:42:03 Been all those things. You know, we've been the lowest guy on the street. We've also been the king. And it's never actually gained us any happiness. We just keep going for it. This is what we're caught in. We're still caught in swimming around the toilet. The problem in the sixth one is the problem that you go through life alone and you die alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:23 And ultimately... You know, we grasp onto other people, but ultimately we do live our lives. We are really in our head. We're all interdependent, but we don't really realize that. And so it does feel very much like we are. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:23 Highlight the passage at 1:42:23

1:42:40 Completely alone and in many ways our journey is our own journey. The things that happen to us happen only to us and you really do feel this if you're with somebody as they're dying. You can really want the best for them and you can want to help them and you can even really love them but ultimately they have to just pass on into their next life because they have their own karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:40 Highlight the passage at 1:42:40

1:43:06 And then the eight sufferings specific to human life. Some of them are repeated, the suffering of birth. And this is where if you're meditating on these, you're thinking about the number of times that we've gone through this whole process of entering the womb, growing in the womb, which they say is not very comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:06 Highlight the passage at 1:43:06

1:43:27 Um, even, you know, um, And then you're actually going through the birth process itself and being born. And again, you're just doing this just to think about it, how we're just doing it over and over and over again with the idea that it's just this cycle that's just pointless, this constant taking rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:27 Highlight the passage at 1:43:27

1:43:52 The suffering of aging, this is one I think many of us can relate to. Our body and our mind deteriorates. And it starts out slow, and it's just kind of these little annoying things, but anyone that's spent any time with people that are really old, you know, it's like you begin losing all your friends, you lose your power, you lose your titles, you know, people force you to retire a lot of times. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:52 Highlight the passage at 1:43:52

1:44:19 You lose your independence, like a big one is not being able to drive anymore, which I can't even imagine how hard that must be for somebody who's, you know. I'm used to being able to get around on their own. And then, of course, you just begin losing the ability to dress yourself. I mean, what is that like to have somebody have to, you know, help you to the bathroom? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:19 Highlight the passage at 1:44:19

1:44:39 That must be so hard. And you see people who do it quite gracefully, and then they don't do it so gracefully. And, of course, who knows what we'll become, whether we'll be one of the graceful ones or not. But everything just becomes difficult, cooking, hearing. People laugh at old people a lot of times. Kids laugh at people on the street because they're kind of funny. And even our comedy routines a lot of times make fun of old people. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:39 Highlight the passage at 1:44:39

1:45:04 It's sort of like as a culture we don't value the elderly at all. And people get really resentful and paranoid. A lot of the elderly, they can't hear. I know my grandma used to think. My poor grandma used to think that every time my sister and I were giggling, we were laughing at her because she had Alzheimer's too, so we didn't know that at the time. So she just began yelling at us and stuff, and there's all this anger because she just couldn't hear what we were saying, so she assumed it was pointed at her. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:04 Highlight the passage at 1:45:04

1:45:33 And we've gone through this over and over and over again. With all the lifetimes that we've had, we've always gone through this aging process. The suffering of sickness, again, whether it's just getting a cold. And being, not feeling well, waking up with a headache one day. And you know, those little ways, those are annoying too. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:33 Highlight the passage at 1:45:33

1:45:54 It's not like they're even huge, but they just, they affect your ability to work or think or, you know, you're sneezing and everyone kind of stays away from you and all that stuff. All the way up to really, really huge, you know, over and over again in different lifetimes we've been told, you know, sorry, there's really nothing else we can do. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:54 Highlight the passage at 1:45:54

1:46:15 Which I can't even imagine in this lifetime, but to think that it's actually happened in many lifetimes where you go in and they've got the Kleenex box there and you're just like, a friend of mine actually, this happened, a woman who is part of our center, she said the minute she saw the Kleenex box she knew it was bad news, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:15 Highlight the passage at 1:46:15

1:46:33 Because they never know, they feel uncomfortable suffering too. Nobody wants to have that conversation. And over and over and over again we've been told there's nothing... We can do any more. You basically, another friend of mine was just told, you know, you basically just sign up for hospice now. You know, and so there you are with, you know, how many minutes left of this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:33 Highlight the passage at 1:46:33

1:46:57 You know, in her case, she actually has lived another year after that. But over and over and over again, we go through all the ways that illness affects our body and affects our mind, mental illness, of course, as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:11 Suffering of death. Which, you know, even in the best of circumstances is always uncomfortable and always difficult. We're basically not just going through the process of dying and being whatever that might bring up for us of being fearful or being in pain or whatever, but also you're basically in one instant losing everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:11 Highlight the passage at 1:47:11

1:47:34 So just thinking about losing your home in a fire. And when you die, it's like even bigger than that because you lose your identity. You lose all your friends and family in one instant, which is what all of us have already done over and over and over and over again, whether we have memories of it or not, according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:34 Highlight the passage at 1:47:34

1:47:54 And all the regret and all the, you know, that comes up in your final moments, which is, of course, the good reason to purify before you get there. The suffering of separation from what you like. So we found this great clock and then we lose it. And this happens all the time. Anything from like we, you know, we really, really like this certain person and we really, really want that certain car and then we come out again and somebody's like completely totaled the car. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:54 Highlight the passage at 1:47:54

1:48:23 And a friend who just did a three-month retreat and within the first week this friend of hers was watching her car and it was totaled on the street. She, of course, didn't know for three months. She was quite blissful and came out of retreat to find a big old mess, but separation from what you like. I mean, anything, you know, I think of the Tibetans who are all, you know, one by one and millions of them being forced into exile, leaving not just things that they can't carry and can't bring with them, but also just the culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:55 You know, understanding a place that you know the language and you have a comfort level and all your friends and, you know, home place maybe that's been in the family for a gentleman, all of it gone, you know, just having to leave it behind. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:55 Highlight the passage at 1:48:55

1:49:08 So everything from losing your clock or breaking your favorite mug to all of the ways that you get separated from what you like. And then, of course, encountering what you dislike, which is the opposite. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:08 Highlight the passage at 1:49:08

1:49:25 You take a job and you're really excited by it and then it turns out the guy in the next cubicle is just annoying and it's all get out. Or some aspect of your job is really, really annoying and you're just forced to endure it. I mean, what else do you do? You either deal with the annoying guy or you change jobs. So anything like that all the way up to huge situations where really difficult situations where we're in a relationship with somebody who's abusive, for example, that's definitely encountering something that I dislike. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:25 Highlight the passage at 1:49:25

1:49:53 And we've done this in all of our lifetimes over and over and over again. Everything from very, very small annoyances to things that are really, really painful. The suffering of not obtaining what you want is number seven. So that's, again, thinking, you know, that's my parking space. How many of us have done that one? Somebody pulls into it, you know, all the way to thinking, you know, you know you're going to get the job, they've interviewed you for a couple of times, you're really excited, you started telling people, and then of course you don't get it. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:50:28 So thinking any time that we think, you know, or in my apartment, you know, you've gone for the second interview, you like it, you imagine your bed there, and then you don't get it. And then the final one is... The same as the subtle form of suffering, which is the suffering of these contaminated aggravates, meaning our body, our mind, being in the nature of suffering because they are produced by karma and kleshas. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:28 Highlight the passage at 1:50:28

1:50:57 So again, renunciation isn't seeing this and getting depressed. It's basically seeing that there is suffering in this life and then seeing that there's something beyond this. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:57 Highlight the passage at 1:50:57

1:51:09 There is hope, as Geshe-la always says, there is hope, there is hope. So we go back to verse 5 and it says, when you've meditated, the measure of attaining genuine renunciation is, 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 1:51:09 Highlight the passage at 1:51:09

1:51:37 So again, this is the mind of renunciation. It doesn't mean that you have to go off into the mountains and shave your head or anything like that. It's just basically you get that there is a cycle that we've been doing life after life and that the basic nature of this cycle is suffering and that... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:37 Highlight the passage at 1:51:37

1:51:58 That we can go for something better. That there's something much better. And that's coming up in verse 6 and 7. So basically, that's going to be your contemplation this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:58 Highlight the passage at 1:51:58

1:52:11 Actually, I'll do half and half. That way you don't have to stand up. I'm not very good at splitting the back. There you go. So it's just going to be contemplating what... Renunciation is in really practical everyday terms, not so much renunciation being this really big holy thing that you have to do, but rather how do you start looking at it in terms of your own life and how close you are to it now and how far away you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:11 Highlight the passage at 1:52:11

1:52:44 Did you not get one? Karma, sorry. It's coming around. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:52:44 Highlight the passage at 1:52:44

1:52:55 so just to begin really thinking about About how this looks in your own life and thinking about these. You didn't necessarily have to take notes on these different sufferings. It's more just like just letting it sink in and thinking about how dukkha looks. Just think about dukkha this week. If that's all you do, think about dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:55 Highlight the passage at 1:52:55

1:53:17 So if you're really enjoying something, think about it a half hour later and see if you're still either grasping at more of it or if you're sick of it or if your mind has already gotten bored with it. That's a form of dukkha. Or if you're grasping at getting something or you're neurotically obsessed with getting something, think about what form of dukkha that is, what form of suffering that is. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:39 So, anyway. Any final questions? And then we'll just end. Yeah, Morgan. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:53:50 I have two questions back to karma. One is, how does someone purify the karma who hasn't found the Dharma? And it seems like... You talked about the purification as one is kind of an insight or a realization not to do that or kind of what's behind that. It involves that. There's actually four steps that we'll deal mostly with in the karma class. But yeah, this is regret, this recognition that whatever it is is going to cause me suffering, much even less. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:50 Highlight the passage at 1:53:50

1:54:22 It's just not even getting to the point where... Killing that person has caused them suffering. It's just really getting it that me screaming back at my boss is actually going to cause me suffering. So that's the first one is regret. And then the second one is this decision. Oh, first of all, relying upon. So it's like a refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:22 Highlight the passage at 1:54:22

1:54:45 Remembering to take refuge in the Dharma. So it's like recognizing what Dharma is and recognizing the situation that you're in and that you're relying on that. And then also generating bodhicitta. So you're doing this act of purification so that you can benefit all beings. And then the third step is to do some sort of a remedy. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:45 Highlight the passage at 1:54:45

1:55:05 The Buddha actually taught a sūtra on purification. And so one of the things about Vajrasattva, who is just dancing on Paula's head, there's a mantra, a Vajrasattva mantra that you can do. There's also reciting names of the Buddhas. There's like reading a sūtra. There's any form of studying or meditating on emptiness. They say it just cuts through, which is why they call it wisdom, or why they signify it with a knife or a sword. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:05 Highlight the passage at 1:55:05

1:55:33 It slices through ignorance. There's a lot of different things, different practices that you can do. But if you're going through your life and you realize that you've just committed, I did this today. I was at Kaiser. And I realized I'd gotten really angry on the way over in the car. So I just sat and did about yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:33 Highlight the passage at 1:55:33

1:55:59 I'm sitting in the waiting room. I already look like a religious weirdo, so it doesn't matter what I'm doing. I don't have to worry about it, you know, it's okay. So I'm like sitting there and trying to do it under my breath when I'm doing the Raja Saffron Mantra because I'm just, with my understanding, it's like I don't want that on my mental continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:59 Highlight the passage at 1:55:59

1:56:14 I don't want, it's like poison. I don't want it in there. I don't want to carry it. I don't want it to take up space in my mind. I don't want it to ripen as something painful. So those are the first three. And then the fourth is this decision. Not to do it again. Now, I can't say I'm never going to get angry again, but I can say I'm not going to get angry at that particular person today. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:14 Highlight the passage at 1:56:14

1:56:37 You know, I limit it in some way that I can do it. I'm not going to, I'm at least not going to get angry at that person for 10 minutes. Like, whatever I can do, honestly, and not compound it by lying to bodhicitta and saying I'm never going to do it again. So there's, so they put it, you can do it in the four R's. It's regret. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:37 Highlight the passage at 1:56:37

1:56:56 reliance. Reliance, remedy and restraint. Like that. So that was a quick version of purification. So a non-Buddhist could do it by relying in a different way. That reliance one would probably be what changed for them. If they were not Buddhist, though, they might not even buy into the whole idea of the karma. So, you know, you'd be already on thin ice there. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56:56

1:57:23 So they may not even be interested in that idea. Although there might be interest anyway, because they might be just open to the idea. Karma crosses over several different religions anyway, so they might be kind of open to that idea that they could purify a negative act. But I think the biggest one is regret. So like if you're working with somebody who's dying and they're lucid, then allowing them to voice regrets and let them go. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:23 Highlight the passage at 1:57:23

1:57:52 It's a really, really useful thing. I mean, Venom Rubino always says, you know, the priest and the last rites and all that stuff, like hearing your final confession, that was actually really, really wise because it gets you off your chest. You can die with an open mind. I mean, in our seven limb prayer, you know, the preliminary practices that we do, the whole, and Renee talked about this one too, that whole idea of confession. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:52 Highlight the passage at 1:57:52

1:58:16 It's really just about getting it off your chest. The Buddhists don't care. They already know what you did, right? If they have calm and biting, they're already able to read your mind. They know what you're thinking upstairs in your room when you're stewing about your boss. But admitting it, owning it, is like a way to just clear your heart and your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:16 Highlight the passage at 1:58:16

1:58:33 So that's probably what I would aim for if somebody's a non-Buddhist. It's just talking about regret from that standpoint, not guilt, which is a really different state of mind. Just a last question in terms of kind of Ruba Rinpoche and kind of his experiences in reading his book, Generating Bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

1:58:55 It seems that someone of his nature would have purified so much of that karma. And then you read about kind of his experience of being in those camps and tortured for so many years. It's kind of confusing when you look at the laws of karma and then also talking about purification. then also he He looks at that as saying, oh, I'm purifying this past karma. Right. Well, the one thing I think about with that, because I have absolutely no problem seeing Rinpoche as an enlightened being, is that he's manifesting that whole thing to teach us about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:55 Highlight the passage at 1:58:55

1:59:32 And he's using it to teach us about compassion. Because everything that he described, I mean, it's so vivid. Rinpoche is this Lama who was caught in Tibet and spent... Many, many years, like 19, 20 years in either camps, you know, being tortured or imprisoned before he was allowed to leave, I think in the mid-80s. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:32 Highlight the passage at 1:59:32

1:59:57 And literally like paraded around town, beaten. But his reaction when you hear these teachings, I mean he's passed now, but he said that he would, because he saw it as, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:57 Highlight the passage at 1:59:57

2:00:13 This way that he could take on this suffering, then he would literally get in his best robes and he'd be waiting for them when they would come to drag him through town, to literally throw shit on him. They would ask different Tibetans, they'd have Tibetans rather than Chinese. They hit him with sticks and things like that, and then they, you know, deliver him to his house, and then he'd go through another night, wash the robes, and he would just, you know, take it on. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:13 Highlight the passage at 2:00:13

2:00:44 And actually I've heard it too that, like, you know, when different, when the Chinese would say, you know, denounce the Dharma or denounce your teacher, and he would be like, this is such a great opportunity. I'll never denounce my teacher. You know, I'll take on this. This for all beings, I'll take this on from my teacher. He totally would show us how to train our minds in that situation. And he, up until the end, had this incredibly special place in his heart for Chinese students, who we had many of, many, many of, mostly from Taiwan rather than mainland China. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:01:19 But because he felt like it was that the Chinese had allowed his bodhicitta to grow so great during this period He totally felt grateful, like honestly grateful for being tortured. I mean, it's almost like so radical that it's hard to get our minds around it. But I think that he manifested all of that so that we could get our minds around it because he's a human telling us this story, or so we think. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:19 Highlight the passage at 2:01:19

2:01:50 I mean, if you even just look into his face, he just, like these two students, Peter and Louis, who never got the chance to meet him. Just looking at his face and reading that little book and hearing stories, it has just touched their hearts. So he's continuing to do it even though he's passed. Yeah, so it's hard to say with those kind of teachers because I don't think they're experiencing karmic results. I think they're teaching us. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:50 Highlight the passage at 2:01:50

2:02:18 So that we can know what to do when we're in those situations of extreme negative karma ripening. How do you shift it? And actually you do hear ordinary Tibetans who were in that state and saying the same thing. Actually amazingly saying the same thing. Like this one Tibetan said to His Holiness, His Holiness asked, what was the hardest moment for you? And he said, I almost lost my compassion. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:18 Highlight the passage at 2:02:18

2:02:46 I almost lost my compassion, but I didn't, you know. But he got so dark, it got so hard. I mean, I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine. But, you know, what's really going on there? I don't know. I think it's hard to say. I think that's sort of the emptiness of that whole situation, that we don't really know what he is. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:46 Highlight the passage at 2:02:46

2:03:08 He's just manifesting in this human body and showing us this and telling us these stories and showing us that there's like this other way to be. And sometimes acting it out to the point where he is being beaten in front of us. It's hard to say. I don't know. It's a good question though. Paula? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:08 Highlight the passage at 2:03:08

2:03:33 I think it's caught in the leg of your little poochie table. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:33 Highlight the passage at 2:03:33

2:03:41 I have a question about suffering and compassion. And it's funny, I was thinking about this on the way over and I wasn't going to share it, but I have a student right now who is extremely overweight. And he's in denial and he's already had two heart attacks. And every time he walks into my class, I'm just praying that something doesn't happen in my class. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:41 Highlight the passage at 2:03:41

2:04:06 But today I had a terrible headache and I kept thinking, oh my God, it could be a stroke. So part of me... And I've been talking to him, but he's really in a very deep state of denial. So part of me is saying, well, you know, I can pray for him, I can wish him well, I can help him and talk to him, but if he doesn't receive it, I mean, how far do I go? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:06 Highlight the passage at 2:04:06

2:04:32 Yeah, I mean, there is a certain point we have to realize that it's sort of like getting somebody to stop drinking, right? There's a certain point where you have to remember that they have their own karma. And you can't take away somebody else's suffering yet. I mean, that's the whole point of getting enlightened, right? I actually remember a good friend of mine saying this when I went back to be with my mom when my mom died. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:32 Highlight the passage at 2:04:32

2:04:57 And she said, right before I got into the car, she said, you've got to remember that no matter what happens, she's going to have her own karma. And you can't take away her pain. You can't. And I had to remember that because it was so hard at one point. And I had to remember. I could be present. I could do everything in my power to give her the best death that I could. But she had her own karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:57 Highlight the passage at 2:04:57

2:05:21 I remember the story of the ant that you were talking about. You know, if I was trying to put the ant out of its misery, am I somehow denying that ant its karma? Right. And so I thought about John and I said, as much as I want to help him, am I denying him? his process. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:21 Highlight the passage at 2:05:21

2:05:44 Yeah, and I think, I mean, even again, if you get back to like the drinking thing, it's got to come from his side, just even conventionally speaking, or else he's not going to make the changes necessary. And he may not make them in this life. He may not make them in this life. And that's, you've got to, if you really do care about him, then you've got to care about him no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:44 Highlight the passage at 2:05:44

2:06:07 It can't be conditional, you know. Yeah, it's a hard one though. It is hard. I mean, but I think even if the parents, if there are parents in the room and you see, you know, a kid suffering and you always keep hoping that kid's going to turn their life around when that kid gets to be 20 or 30 or 40 and they're still, I mean, with this friend who just died. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:07 Highlight the passage at 2:06:07

2:06:28 His whole life had been suffering and his parents had been part of that. And they just kept hoping, you know, and, you know, he wasn't able to in this life, you know. But hopefully he made some connections in this life that will help him in his next life. If you know parents who have kids that are really struggling with substance abuse or mental illness or both or all of the above, and you just keep seeing the best in them and hoping they'll turn around, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:28 Highlight the passage at 2:06:28

2:07:07 And that's their particular karma and there's only so much you can do about it. It is. It's a real difficulty. But that's why, because at this point we have compassion and we don't have the full wisdom to see it all. And we, you know, we aren't Buddhas yet. But that's, I mean, that's it. If we could be, we could be not only helping him by knowing exactly what thing to say that could trigger him to finally get it, but we could be helping. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:07 Highlight the passage at 2:07:07

2:07:39 All limitless beings simultaneously, you know. We'd have all those abilities. You know, the arms are just showing us, you know, the ones like the, there's not one in here, but the thousand arm chenrezig, you know. It's not really that he has a thousand arms, but he has the ability now to touch, to help all those different people. They say effortlessly, you know, so that's what we're shooting for. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:39 Highlight the passage at 2:07:39

2:08:00 Yeah, sure. Anybody else? And they won't just dedicate. Okay, let me just take. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:00 Highlight the passage at 2:08:00

2:08:14 A moment and just sort of let your mind go back over all the different ways that we talked about that suffering manifests from the really gross forms to the more and more subtle forms and the ways that we... Follow this suffering mind, all of our mental afflictions that arise, we follow it into actions and then we create more suffering for ourselves without really understanding how it works. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:14 Highlight the passage at 2:08:14

2:08:42 So this is why the Buddha is trying to show us how it all works, so that we can get out of suffering. It's like showing a little kid that flame burns. The Buddha is really trying to show us how it all works so that we can stop hurting ourselves, stop this pain. So we dedicate. Whatever we may have learned, any kind of insights, any little, even tiny blips of understanding to being able to realize them deeply, embody them, so that we can actually transform our minds and become Buddhas, fully awakened beings, so that we can benefit every living being. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:42 Highlight the passage at 2:08:42

2:09:32 Thank you. Have a great week. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:32 Highlight the passage at 2:09:32

2:09:44 Charles is taking his new job very seriously. Thank you very much. I'm going to get to the bottom of these Report an error in the passage at 2:09:44 Highlight the passage at 2:09:44