Discovering Buddhism - Presenting the Path (2 February 2012)

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0:51 Pretend that those loud people are not going to be loud. Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

0:58 So Jenna, you're just going to, maybe after like 10 minutes, maybe we lock the door. Because otherwise we're going to close both of these doors. Nobody can watch that door. Because we will have to close this because of the bells. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:12 Conch and drum and a cymbal, but all the same. We're toning it down on our behalf. Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:20 They will be chanting too. Alright, so we're just going to start with a little quiet meditation on the breath. So just take some nice, deep breaths and let go of your day, Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:37 whether you were running around getting event food like me, or whether you had different issues come up that you just need to let go of before you can be truly present, like conversations maybe, work, study, different things that you were doing today. Just let it go. Take some breaths and just let it go. You can pick it up on your way back out. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

2:19 And just let yourself settle into your cushion, into your chair, and Report an error in the passage at 2:19 Highlight the passage at 2:19

2:32 then place your attention on your breath. So if you're new to meditating, then focus on your belly as it expands and contracts with each breath. And Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:50 if you've been meditating for a while, you can move to a more subtle level, a little patch of skin inside the tip of your nostril, just focusing on the sensation on that patch of skin as the air goes over it, coming in and going out. Report an error in the passage at 2:50 Highlight the passage at 2:50

3:07 And trying to keep your mind as much as you can on that object. And every time the mind wanders off, noticing it and just placing it back on the object. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:21 And we'll do this for a couple of minutes. And Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

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6:44 as the mind begins to calm down and we'll set our motivation for tonight's class Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

7:06 or any insights we might gain on Report an error in the passage at 7:06 Highlight the passage at 7:06

7:14 the cause for each of us to reach our full potential in this lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 7:14 Highlight the passage at 7:14

7:25 Our highest purpose so Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:31 that we can not only become a source of happiness for ourselves, but for those around us Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

7:42 in whatever way might be possible. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

7:57 We can end your meditation and we'll start with the opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:12 On page 8, Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:22 we lost Jenna. She feels like she has to have the door closed so she can't sit in here. Can you open the door a little bit and tell her she can come in? Jenna, you can come in. Here she is. You can come in. Did you lock it again? Yeah. I looked up and I'm like, Jenna's gone. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:46 Yeah, okay. It's inevitable. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence. I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 8:46 Highlight the passage at 8:46

9:33 So we're going to continue to talk a little bit about renunciation that we started talking about last week. We're going to start going through the root text. Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

9:46 Is Theo here? No, Theo's not here. Okay. Anyway. Any questions about the homework or the class last week? Anybody wants to... Oh, do we have the mic? Report an error in the passage at 9:46 Highlight the passage at 9:46

10:05 Not a job for the weak of heart. Any questions at all about meditation homework or any of the reading that you might be doing or just any insights that you want to share? Report an error in the passage at 10:05 Highlight the passage at 10:05

10:26 Apparently not. Oh, wait, Daniel. Wait, here it comes. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:39 Somebody used to call that the center purring. When a big truck goes by like that. I have a conundrum, so perhaps you could provide some insight. I think it's tangentially related to the readings, but I think I've at least come to understand how important it is to study Dharma. And I think I'm starting to internalize it as well, at least baby steps. But at the same time, so for example, I would like to come to the karma teaching this weekend, but at the same time I have a wife and children that don't see me all week. Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

11:26 So I don't think that's unique to me. I think a lot of people have this situation. So I don't think it's right for me to... Report an error in the passage at 11:26 Highlight the passage at 11:26

11:36 For my benefit and obviously it would be eventually for the benefit of everyone to come and study but at the same time leave my family to their own devices. Sometimes it's not either or. Sometimes you can just come for example the first night or you know like Saturday morning and not you know and that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

11:57 And then the other people I know who are in that same situation, they just sort of choose their battles. You know, you pick out something that feels like you really don't want to miss it. And then you just say, okay, I'll do this. And, you know, then I'll give you, then I'll skip class that week, for example. So I'll give you all my weeknights or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:18 So you just kind of work out compromise situations. But, yeah, you don't, it's not like you have to attend every single. I am the program coordinator, too, and a lot of people are like, boy, you're having so many classes. Well, the idea is so that some class will hit somebody's heart. Not that everyone that comes here has to go to every single class that's offered or we'd all just be exhausted. But the idea is to have different levels of classes and so forth so that everybody can find something on the schedule. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:51 So you just sort of pick and choose. You know and And especially test the waters. If there's a little resentment growing, then give it a rest. Skip a week. So you just kind of play it by ear. All situations are different. Some people are in situations where the other person is just 100 % supportive. Some people are in situations where the person is like 1 % supportive. Report an error in the passage at 12:51 Highlight the passage at 12:51

13:17 And you've just got to figure out kind of where you are. Most people are more in the middle. Usually, if the person is 100 % supportive, they're also a Dharma student. Not always the same lineage. I mean, I've known some long-term marriages where both are students of the Dharma, but different traditions. Report an error in the passage at 13:17 Highlight the passage at 13:17

13:37 And so they sort of trade off what they go to. And they sometimes go together to various things and sometimes go separately. So, yeah, like that. Just kind of play it. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

13:48 Especially, know it's going to be a long-term thing, and so, yeah, you don't have to. That's when we do that, His Holiness' idea of taking the long view as well as the immediate. Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:01 Do the best you can, yeah. That's it, yeah, that's it. So if you can only come to a little bit this weekend, then definitely come, because I think you'll get a lot out of it. But that's also why we record everything, and you can download it. So it's all available unless the volunteer forgets to record it, which happens sometimes. But usually everything that's taught here is recorded and then uploaded, and it's downloadable for free on archive.org. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

14:28 So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

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15:05 Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 15:05 Highlight the passage at 15:05

15:13 Right, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

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15:44 Well, of course, you don't know how long she's going to have either. There are some Buddhist books on death and dying that we could talk about, you know, online probably, but offline here, that could help you to prepare your mind so that you could just be there for her, even if you're here there for her. Report an error in the passage at 15:44 Highlight the passage at 15:44

16:07 But you Report an error in the passage at 16:07 Highlight the passage at 16:07

16:31 can totally do stuff for her. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And you can... I probably would, since that's not really the focus of this class, I will more in the other class, but I can talk to you about it. And that's always an option. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:49 And, you know, it's just like with birthing, it's her death. We can have many tools, but we can't have an agenda. And so that's, you know, that's kind of, I was a labor coach for many years, and it is very similar, actually. Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:07 The other thing that's like it is they may have one idea going into it and completely change their mind, and that's okay. So they may decide they don't want any drugs, for example, and then they want the best and the most right now, whether it's birth or death, and that's totally their choice. So we can have opinions about what we would do and also know that those would change and be flexible and kind to ourselves when that does happen. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:33 Helping somebody else die is a completely different thing and you're just trying to help them with tools if they're open to it and she may at different points be open to it and kind of the more in communication you are with her the more likely you'll catch one of those moments when she's open but there are plenty of practices you can do for her now during the whole process and even when she's in the active dying process and even after she's died. Report an error in the passage at 17:33 Highlight the passage at 17:33

18:04 Absolutely. Because we're working with mind, and mind has no constrictions the way body does. Report an error in the passage at 18:04 Highlight the passage at 18:04

18:16 Hard stuff, though. Definitely hard stuff. But that's one of the cool things about Buddhism, actually. That's one of the things that pulled me in, was working with a friend's death. And so I think it's one of... so, yeah, yeah, sure. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:31 The best things. I mean, it sort of gives you something to do at a time that we don't have anything to do. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 18:31 Highlight the passage at 18:31

18:43 Yep, it's working. Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

19:00 Right. Yeah. Unless you had a mind like that. Then that'd be pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:10 Yeah. Well, the way they usually describe enlightened mind is it's a mind through practice that has become yeah, Report an error in the passage at 19:10 Highlight the passage at 19:10

19:19 Perfect in that slowly we've removed, let's use it in the we, slowly we've removed all of our negative aspects one by one, and actually all at once, and I'll talk about that when we get to the emptiness section too. And then we have developed all of the positive aspects so that, do you mind? Report an error in the passage at 19:19 Highlight the passage at 19:19

19:49 Dorji is going to go, I think Jenna is going to go, anyway. We've slowly developed all of the positive aspects like love and wisdom and patience and kindness and skillful means like the ability to know exactly what might help in a given situation. And so that we've eliminated, when I say negative aspects, I mean those aspects that bring suffering. So whether that's depression, which brings suffering, of course, for ourselves and probably those who love us too. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:24 And anger and hatred and like all of those aspects of the mind are just completely eliminated. And no longer, there's not even the imprints that cause that to arise. So it's just completely, because the imprints that cause that to arise are karmic imprints, which we're going to talk a little bit about karma tonight. And then also this huge cause of all of our suffering, which is this ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 20:24 Highlight the passage at 20:24

20:53 They say the word ignorance, but it's basically misconceiving how reality actually is, how things actually exist. And that huge cause... Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:04 It continues to cause us suffering over and over and over. But when that's gone, it's sort of like if you've weeded the garden and also ripped out all the roots, then you don't have the weeds continuing to grow. Then you just have the roses. So it's like that. The Buddha has rose minds. I happen to like roses. Sunflower, it could be whatever. Report an error in the passage at 21:04 Highlight the passage at 21:04

21:26 But what's ripening in the Buddha's mind is exactly because of the seeds that he or she has planted. Versus what's ripening in ours, which is sort of pick of the draw, right? It's kind of like whatever. It's sometimes bad, sometimes weeds, and sometimes roses, and sometimes the weeds and the roses are growing up together, and you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:47 So we don't really, and sometimes it's like we don't even know what we planted. Actually, most of the time. It's like we don't even know what we planted. We might get a hot pepper in there, too. You know, it's just completely mishmash. And sometimes it's, like I said, sometimes it is a rose. Sometimes it is something sweet, a strawberry, you know, something like that. But it's almost like chance, you know. It's almost a surprise, rather than if we'd spent the time really weeding well and planting exactly what we want, then there'd be no surprise when we had roses all the time. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:20 And that's all that a Buddha is. Because a Buddha keeps creating karma. It's a different type of karma. It's completely pure karma, untainted karma. So all it can produce is bliss. So it's like, oh, poor him or her. All they can experience is bliss. Because they're just constantly creating more and more causes. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:42 Because they're so... Skillfully helping others, that's all they do. They're just helping others and creating more and more causes for more bliss. We kind of run around creating the causes for a lot of different things. And so then, it shouldn't surprise us that we then experience a lot of different things. Sometimes we have great days and sometimes we have really hard days like that. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

23:04 So does that help a little bit more? So it's not like perfect in that... He or she came into the world like that. And I always think that's really important for us to remember too. Anyone who is a Buddha, anyone who is enlightened started out exactly like us. They had a human form and a human mind. Like us, they were born in every single realm of existence over and over and over again until they finally were able to work on their mind and then began weeding it basically. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:33 I like the garden analogy a lot because I think it's quite useful. Because that idea of seeds again is very similar in the natural world just like it is in our mind. And it wouldn't surprise us at all if we got apple trees, if we actually planted apple seeds. So why would it surprise us to suddenly be able to be patient when somebody is screaming at us or to be kind? Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

24:04 If we actually are planting the seeds for that. Or one teacher often says, it wouldn't surprise us at all to be able to play a beautiful piano concerto if we had been practicing it for a while. And it's the same. We often have this idea that somehow it's different with spiritual work. Like somehow we either have it or we don't. Like you were either born Mother Teresa or you were done. Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:28 Well probably Mother Teresa actually worked on her mind too. But I think... There's this idea somehow that you either have it or you don't. But in Buddhism, the idea is nobody has 100 % until you've worked on it. And that's how we get perfect. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:47 And then we actually do have to start the class. And then we actually do have to start the class. Report an error in the passage at 24:47 Highlight the passage at 24:47

25:08 Awakened. You know, sometimes they say awakened. I mean, Buddha, I think, just translates to awakened mind. And so there are all different ways that it's defined in, I think, the different traditions, the different Buddhist traditions. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:23 But yeah, so I mean in some traditions I think people say something, you know, like there's this idea that you sort of attain enlightenment when you're doing the dishes or something. Like it's not that whole huge enlightenment that we think of as enlightenment. It's more like an insight almost. Like you can have an insight when you're doing the dishes or something like that. In our tradition you wouldn't attain enlightenment during the dishes. Like you'd have to actually be going for it and you would have set up all the causes and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:48 And you'd have to be in deep meditation like the Buddha himself was. But... No, but I'll think about some other words that I've seen. Yeah, we don't use it so much for anything else, right? So it's one of those enlightenment we don't really use for much anything else besides that. But anyway, I'll think about some other monikers. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

26:17 Okay, so I'm going to talk a little bit more about renunciation and then we're going to start going through the root text. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:24 And I have an extra root text tonight if there's somebody here. And I know Lori hasn't been here, but I know Kara also hasn't been here. Probably people are going to have to share, and then we'll make copies for afterwards. Okay. Oh, there you go. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:47 Well done. Just taking a refresher, are we? All right. Probably. Report an error in the passage at 26:47 Highlight the passage at 26:47

26:59 And then maybe Lori, you look on with Christine. Yeah, and then everybody else has one, right? No, I don't have another one. I only have one, so that's the thing. Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:12 You have yours, right, Christine? Okay, good, good. And then afterwards we'll make copies if Lori's going to come back. Are you going to join the class, do you think? Okay, good. Okay, good, good. Yes. Oh, you have an extra. Okay, so we do have one more. Winnie? Report an error in the passage at 27:12 Highlight the passage at 27:12

27:30 It's the one that... It's just a one-sheeter and it says three principal paths. Was that last week? Yeah. I was thinking it was the week before, but maybe it was last week. Report an error in the passage at 27:30 Highlight the passage at 27:30

27:43 Okay, yeah. Let me pass it back. And then afterwards we'll do a hand count and then we'll just make some extra copies. Because we'll be reading it each time, so it's a good one to bring. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:58 So don't read it yet. We haven't gotten to that point. Sorry, I just was doing the logistics of making sure that people had it to refer to. In Tibetan, the word for renunciation literally means definite emergence. Definite emergence. Because last week we were talking about kind of this idea sometimes that renunciation in Tibetan Buddhism or in Buddhism is similar to that idea of putting on the hair shirt. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:30 Self-flagellating or something in some of the old traditions of Christianity. And it's not. It has to do. It's a mental condition or a mental insight that allows us to want to leave this condition known as saṃsāra. And so last week I gave you a definition of this thing called saṃsāra or sometimes called cyclic existence. Cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:59 Saṃsāra is just the Sanskrit. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:04 Let me see, do I have, do I still have that? I think I do. It's that where we're forced to, let me find it because I don't remember, Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:18 I have it right here. Does anybody have it from last week? Anybody write it down? It's useful. It's the condition of being forced to take on the collection of heats, which is really the body and the mind due to our... Report an error in the passage at 29:18 Highlight the passage at 29:18

29:39 I think that's good enough, probably. I know I have it in here somewhere, but I can't remember where exactly I have it. Report an error in the passage at 29:39 Highlight the passage at 29:39

29:52 Stream, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 29:52 Highlight the passage at 29:52

29:56 Very good. Over and over again. I left out a key phrase, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 29:56 Highlight the passage at 29:56

30:03 So, we're having a lot of sound effects tonight. But they're all external to the building. I'm not hearing those guys at all, actually. Yeah, so... This is talking about over and over again taking on a body and all the aspects of mind, especially gross mind. We're not taking on a subtle mind, but gross mind. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:24 With each rebirth, we're taking on a different body. It could be human. It could be other types of bodies. And all the conditions and so forth are all dependent upon karma and kleshas. So karma is this thing that we'll talk about tonight, this energy. of action of our body, speech, and mind. Klesias are simply these negative states of mind that cause us to create the karma. So the negative states of mind are just like those ones that I was just referring to, depression, anger, hatred, boredom. Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:59 I mean, they don't have to be huge, you know, like hatred. Boredom is one. Anything, Klesia is actually defined as anything that disturbs the mind. So it could be somebody, I always use the example of just somebody not liking the pattern on the carpet. It doesn't have to be huge, like it can just be just enough to kind of slightly irritate the mind. Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:20 That's a klesha too. Because it causes some disturbance in the mind. All the way up to like that kind of huge rage that would cause you to kill somebody or so forth. Klesha. Yeah, I actually like, that's the Sanskrit, but delusion. People use words like delusion, mental affliction, afflictive emotion, like that. Report an error in the passage at 31:20 Highlight the passage at 31:20

31:45 So afflictive emotion versus emotion is because it's not the happy emotions, right? But some happy emotions seem happy and then they actually turn to suffering. So we'll talk about that a little bit tonight too. That's one of the aspects of saṃsāra. So definite emergence is the way that, Renunciation is literally described and Lama Yeshe calls it emerging from dissatisfaction, emerging from dissatisfaction. Report an error in the passage at 31:45 Highlight the passage at 31:45

32:18 It's almost like we're getting out from beneath like layers and layers and layers of this dissatisfied mind and everything that it's caused, like all of the karma and delusions that we've had for limitless time. We're sort of digging our way out when we develop this state of mind called renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:41 So I'm sort of defining my terms as part of what I'm doing tonight. So this state of suffering, or dukkha, which is the Sanskrit word, it's often translated as suffering, but more basically it's really this dissatisfaction. It's this mind that's constantly dissatisfied. And they say that's one of the trademarks of saṃsāra. Those of us in saṃsāra, and remember saṃsāra is a condition, not a place. If there's a Buddha in the room, and I don't know who you are, one of you guys might be a Buddha, your experience of this class, this situation, is like complete bliss. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:20 But for the rest of us, there's... There's some suffering, some dissatisfaction going on. Maybe the knee hurts a little. Maybe you're a little hungry. Maybe you're still preoccupied with the argument you had with somebody. So there's something going on in your mind that's always there. Kind of is at this base level of dissatisfaction that's going on in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:43 So even when we find things that we love or like or want and we get them, Which is a huge part of our existence. That little mind starts up again. Oh yeah, but maybe if I had her sister. Or maybe if I had a blue one of those. And then it's really hard for us to ever enjoy the thing that we actually wanted so much. And that's dukkha. That's this mind of dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 33:43 Highlight the passage at 33:43

34:10 Sukha, interestingly, is bliss. But we don't get to that so far in this class. We're going to spend a little more time with dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:21 has Dukes sister, sister bliss. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:26 So when we emerge from that state... of dissatisfaction, of constantly suffering in this way. Because we're going to talk about what suffering means. The Buddha saw suffering in these very subtle ways that we don't always consider suffering. So a lot of times people kind of deny the fact that we're even suffering. It's like, well, I have a pretty good life. Nothing really major has ever happened. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:53 I've had good things in my life. I actually had a nice family, blah, blah. But that's not necessarily what the Buddha is talking about when he's talking about suffering. He's talking about this sense of dukkha, this mind of dissatisfaction. Report an error in the passage at 34:53 Highlight the passage at 34:53

35:07 So renunciation also is described as letting go of not all the, remember, not all the nice ice cream cones, not all the delightful things, but the mind that grasps onto those things, those external things or experiences or people as being the source of all my happiness. So if I'm still looking out there and thinking, oh, if I just had that, that's a form of dissatisfied mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:39 And as long as we still have that, we can't really practice very well because we're just so distracted by everything. Oh, if I could just get that, then I could start meditating. If I could just get that cushion. If I could just afford to go to Vajrapani for a week. If I could just take that class. Then I could do it. If I could just make enough time to download those classes that I missed, then I will. Then I definitely will start practicing. Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

36:08 So we kind of keep postponing the real work of perfecting our mind because our mind is still out there, reaching out there and grasping on. So it's not so much even just seeing that things out there might cause my happiness. It's that grasping onto it and not even questioning it. Report an error in the passage at 36:08 Highlight the passage at 36:08

36:29 Definitely if I had that, I'd be happy. So that's a little overview. So we're going to start going through this text. The first four verses are about, well there's like an opening verse and then the first one, two, three, four real verses. But I think we're only going to get through the first four including the opening verse tonight. Report an error in the passage at 36:29 Highlight the passage at 36:29

36:56 So we'll start with, actually it's almost like a pre-verse, I bow to all the high and holy lamas. This is actually the root of the lamrim, it's considered the spiritual teacher, even though it doesn't mean that we run right out and get a spiritual teacher. A lot of times people think that because that's really the first step on the lamrim, although in the Discovering Buddhism class we don't get to it until like the fifth class. Report an error in the passage at 36:56 Highlight the passage at 36:56

37:22 Because I think in the West people are too weirded out by the whole Guru Devotion thing, so we have to wait a little bit and give you something else to chew on. But it just means that the root of all of our qualities, the root of that perfect mind, the root of our spiritual path, the root of all of our attainment of everything, our ability to meditate, our ability to understand all the teachings, that is the spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 37:22 Highlight the passage at 37:22

37:49 And so that's what he's nodding to. I bow to all the high and holy lamas. His own, as well as just the lineage lamas going all the way back to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 37:49 Highlight the passage at 37:49

38:00 So it's just that kind of nodding to not just the individual specific teachers that he has come into contact with, but also to this idea that the root of all of our qualities. qualities and all of our best characteristics and all of our attainments on the path go back to the spiritual teacher. So that's why it's considered the first step on the spiritual path. It doesn't mean it's the first step chronologically. Report an error in the passage at 38:00 Highlight the passage at 38:00

38:26 Right, you know, you see the difference. So it doesn't mean that we run right out and get a teacher. And until we have a teacher, right, this is another postponing idea. Well, I don't have a teacher yet, so that means I don't have to start. Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:38 There's lots, and we'll talk about this in the teacher class, but there's lots of levels of teacher. You have instructors, you know, you have people that show you how to meditate. You have students that are just a little bit further beyond on the path than you. And so forth. So it doesn't mean that you have to run right out and find a guru or a llama, something big and mystical and scary and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

39:04 You can just come to a class like this and just have somebody like me. I consider myself more like a Dharma instructor. Somebody who's been practicing for a while and has some things to share, but I'm not a capital T teacher. Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:18 I keep saying that over and over. People try to make me one and I'm like, nope. Not yet. Next life, maybe. So he starts right out there. So it's kind of like a little lesson to us. This particular text, Lama Tsongkhapa actually wrote this text answering a request from one of his students whose name, interestingly, was Nawang Takpa, who's the same name as our resident teacher here, who was one of his students that was very far away from him. Report an error in the passage at 39:18 Highlight the passage at 39:18

39:52 And he said, please, can you compose something for me so I'll remember all that you've taught me. And he did. And so this is really for him. So at the very end, by the way, when he says, then go into isolation, my son, he is actually referring to a male student, specific male student. Sometimes you see it translated and it's like my son or daughter, my child or something. But he was actually writing it to a specific student. That being said, we get to take it all as a teaching. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:21 So we can actually study it as a teaching because it's a complete teaching. It contains all of the lamrim within these verses. So that's the way we're looking at it. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:35 The essence of all high teaching, as far as I'm able, so he starts out very humbly, as far as I'm able, like, you know, I may not be able to do this very well, you know. I mean, this is like... The top dog in our particular lineage, the Kalukpa lineage. An amazing scholar in his lifetime, quite popular, would draw thousands and thousands of students, both lay students and monastics, mostly monastics. Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

41:02 But still, to start out humbly, as far as I'm able. I'll explain. He's also, I'll explain, he doesn't say I'll try to explain, right? He starts out humbly as far as I'm able, but then I'll explain is like this is my commitment to do this and I'm going to finish the text. So there's kind of a little bit of superstition when you start a text like this because you could die before you finish it, right? So when you start out with something firm like that, I will explain, then it's like this commitment to get all the way through. Report an error in the passage at 41:02 Highlight the passage at 41:02

41:33 Before I die. So then once they write that, then they have to keep going. And of course all of this was longhand and so forth. The essence of all high teachings of the victors. The victors is referring to the Buddhas. That's always a code word for Buddhas. Like fully ordained, fully enlightened beings. Report an error in the passage at 41:33 Highlight the passage at 41:33

41:56 There's a lot of code words that are used. And once you start sort of knowing what the code words mean, for example, sons of the Buddhas. Sons and daughters of the Buddhas always means bodhisattva too. So it's sort of a little bit of code words that go on there. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:16 The essence of all high teachings of the victors, this is actually containing the essence. This complete text that we can see right here that covers only one page is all included in this one little short text. So all of the teachings that the Buddha ever gave. For all levels of student is contained in this text, which is pretty amazing. The path that all their holy sons commend, so there's the sons, talking about bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:50 It's also referring to all the lineage masters since the Buddha. So remember, he's writing this in the 1400s, because Lama Tsongkhapa passed away around 1450s, something like that. So he's writing this in the early 1400s, and the Buddha lived quite a bit before that. And there had been many, many people, according to the Tibetan tradition, there were many, many people who had huge, high realizations as well as full enlightenment in that amount of time. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:26 So he's talking about all of them as well. And the fact that they commend this path is talking about there's no contradictions at all within the Buddha's words. The Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 43:26 Highlight the passage at 43:26

43:42 That's one of the things that the whole debate, system of debate in Tibetan Buddhism is about. It's like testing out like these teachings. What do they really mean? And also what does, if I'm thinking in a certain way, what is the consequence of my thinking in that way? So that I'm testing every single teaching, you know, they say like a gold, somebody purchasing gold. Report an error in the passage at 43:42 Highlight the passage at 43:42

44:03 Would test it with their teeth, you know? We're supposed to test all these teachings. You're not supposed to just say, oh, that's great and believe it because either I say so, or somebody who likes says so, or somebody really exciting says so, or somebody really beautiful says so, somebody really famous says so, like Richard Gere. Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:24 Who is probably an amazing practitioner. Actually, he strikes me as such. But we shouldn't believe what he says without testing it first. And the same is true for Geshe-la. Just because Geshe-la tells us something doesn't mean that we should take it at face value and not test it. All of these teachings we're supposed to test. The entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom. Report an error in the passage at 44:24 Highlight the passage at 44:24

44:47 So this whole first verse actually can be seen as laying out the three principle paths. The essence of all the high teachings here refers to renunciation because it leads to bodhicitta and then that leads to having the direct perception of emptiness as a bodhisattva. The path that all their holy sons command refers to bodhicitta and the bodhisattva path. And the entering point for the fortunate seeking freedom refers to the correct view of emptiness because it's the direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 44:47 Highlight the passage at 44:47

45:27 That allows us to gain liberation from saṃsāra. That's really what's going to do it. We can try to remove all of our negative habits bit by bit. That's what I was talking about. There's the slow way, which is kind of all we can do now, trying to undo eons of negative habits like impatience and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 45:27 Highlight the passage at 45:27

45:51 But what's really going to slice it, like as demonstrated with Manjushri and his sword, the sword is wisdom. What's really going to get rid of all those negative states of mind, not really in an instant, but definitely it's sort of like throwing the weed killer on. Like enormous amounts of weed killer is having this direct perception of emptiness. And we'll get to that with the correct view. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:21 So this first verse contains all three of the three principal paths. So he's sort of laying it out for us immediately. It's sort of like that idea, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to teach you, and then I'm going to teach you, and then I'm going to tell you what I taught you. So Lama Tsongkhapa is employing that. He does it again in a couple of other places. So the next verse, listen with pure mind, fortunate ones who have no craving for the pleasures of this life, or pleasures of life. Report an error in the passage at 46:21 Highlight the passage at 46:21

46:49 And who to make leisure and fortune meaningful strive to turn their minds to the path which pleases the victors. So in this verse, he's really encouraging us to study the lamrim really, really well. Report an error in the passage at 46:49 Highlight the passage at 46:49

47:04 And at least this text really, really well. Because again, if this text is the whole lamrim, then all we really have to study is this. This is like the crib notes for the whole lamrim. We don't need to study anything else. Of course when you attend teachings on the lamrim, you can flesh it out more. So each verse becomes more, because each verse as you can tell, even though I'm just going through it fairly quickly here, but you can really spend quite a bit of time just going through verse by verse by verse by verse and thinking about all the stories, the traditional stories that are taught with each of these three principal paths. Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

47:47 So he's imploring us to study this really, really well. And one of the things that it's important for us to know, and this is something we also talk about in the spiritual teacher classes, are we good students? Because there's a lot of... Emphasis on finding a teacher, but we can't really find a teacher until we've created the causes to have a teacher, which is to be a really good student. And we usually skip that part, right? Report an error in the passage at 47:47 Highlight the passage at 47:47

48:14 It's sort of like we're so used to shopping online, we want to just be able to look and pick out what we want, but we forget that that teacher gets to choose us, too. If they don't think we're ready, they aren't going to give us the teachings. And there's all these stories, if anyone's ever read the biographies of Milarepa and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:32 Milarepa had to work hard to get his teachings and his empowerment, and he kept showing up willingly, and he would get thrown out of the room in front of everybody else and stuff. Part of it was purification of all of the, he actually had killed people. Fortunately, hopefully none of the rest of us have done that, but he had to purify quite a bit of all the negative karma from his years of black magic too. Report an error in the passage at 48:32 Highlight the passage at 48:32

48:53 But also his teacher didn't feel he was ready for those, and he had to realize that and accept that. And not get pissed off at the teacher. And that's one of the things that we also have to test ourselves. If we want to have a really good teacher, of course, one of the things that happens when you find a good teacher is then you have to actually follow their advice. Report an error in the passage at 48:53 Highlight the passage at 48:53

49:15 So be careful what you wish for. It's a lot easier, actually, before you find that. But then, of course, if you want to get enlightened, it's quite useful to find a good teacher. Report an error in the passage at 49:15 Highlight the passage at 49:15

49:25 So the three main qualities that Master Arya Deva Mention for whether or not one is a good student are being impartial or unbiased is the first one, which also which means basically not letting our preconceived ideas get in the way. But it also refers to that kind of pride that I have mentioned last week. Report an error in the passage at 49:25 Highlight the passage at 49:25

49:54 They actually think the mental affliction of pride is like the biggest obstacle to being able to study well. Because it's that idea of like, oh, she doesn't know anything. I can tell. She's just stumbling over words. And then your mind just sort of shuts down. And then you actually miss something that could have been really useful to you because your mind got in the way. Report an error in the passage at 49:54 Highlight the passage at 49:54

50:16 At the time of the Buddha, and actually in the early years of Buddhism, there were also so many different philosophies. Well, we usually come from a philosophy that we were raised in. Whether we accept it or not, it might still be there, and it's often important for us to examine whether it's blocking us from learning something, you know, just because that was... Report an error in the passage at 50:16 Highlight the passage at 50:16

50:37 The way we were raised. One of my teachers used to say it was really important too, not even from a religious standpoint, but to examine all the things that our culture has taught us. He had the name of his third grade teacher and he'd always be like, whatever Mrs. Marsh taught you, go back and think about what you learned in the second and third grades and you just still believe 100%. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

51:00 You've never really tested it out. It's kind of interesting to think about. So part of what we do in Buddhism is to really examine what it is that we do believe. And those of you who are able to come this weekend, that's one of the things I found refreshing the last time Venerable Steve was up here when he was talking about emptiness actually at that point. Report an error in the passage at 51:00 Highlight the passage at 51:00

51:26 But he would test kind of... Our different ideas, you know, because we all have things that we've heard in class and we sort of, because we know them or can remember them, when somebody says, what's the definition of, you know, what I just did, what's the definition of saṃsāra? Report an error in the passage at 51:26 Highlight the passage at 51:26

51:41 Because we can remember it, we sort of think we actually believe it, but he would test that. He would be like, you know, he would ask something and somebody would yell it out and he'd be like, what does that really mean? What do you believe? You know, what is, what's your relationship then with that cup in front of you? How do you think it exists? You know, and then you're like, Report an error in the passage at 51:41 Highlight the passage at 51:41

51:58 You have to kind of really think about what do I believe? I sort of have this assumption of my belief, especially having been a Buddhist for a long time, but what do I really believe? And if I really believe that, like I kind of know the proper belief, but do I really ascribe to that belief? Have I really gotten there yet? The answer is no. I still have a lot of... Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:24 Beliefs that have just come into my mind through growing up in this particular culture and so forth. So it's really good for us to examine our beliefs and to try to be as impartial and unbiased as we can. Which you could also just say is open. Just being open-minded. I went to teach last Sunday on karma at the Gay Buddhist Saṅgha over in the Castro at Hartford Street Zen Center. Report an error in the passage at 52:24 Highlight the passage at 52:24

52:50 And I had a conversation with a woman afterwards and she said after many, many years of... I now consider myself more of a question mark. And I said, I bet it's taken a long time to get to be a question mark. You know, it's no longer, she said, I would always be the one who had both arms crossed and would be glaring at the teacher and just, you know, because she would just shut down. Report an error in the passage at 52:50 Highlight the passage at 52:50

53:13 You know, she just, she wasn't able to be open. So then gradually she became a question mark. So then it's kind of like, maybe. Maybe it's okay. You know, maybe it's okay. We don't have to have. A hundred percent belief. We're not supposed to yet, but at least to be maybe. At least to be maybe. The second quality of a good student is intelligence, and that doesn't mean like no stupid students allowed. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:44 It's basically talking about whether or not we have the discrimination or discernment to be able to choose between right and wrong ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 53:44 Highlight the passage at 53:44

53:54 Which requires us to use our own wisdom. I've often heard Lama Zopa Rinpoche say, use your wisdom. He'll often say, use your wisdom. Like we have a fair amount of wisdom on our own, you know. And so we want to get to the point where we have a lot of wisdom on our own. And the only way we're going to do it is to try using it. To try to take the teachings that we know and to do our best to work with them. Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:20 Reach some, you know, make some sort of decision about what's right and what's wrong in the situation. It's a lot like growing up, right? There's a certain point when we're a little kid, right? And we have to use our wisdom, you know? We get in a relationship with a so-called bad friend who maybe has an idea that we have to decide. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:40 Actually, that sounds like a really stupid idea. I don't think I want to steal that car tonight, you know? So it's like that. It's very much like that, except this time we're kind of working with our mind rather than taking drugs or stealing a car. But it's that kind of wisdom, that intelligence. And then the last quality is diligence. So there's a certain amount of study involved in the Galukpa tradition. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:08 Quite a bit of study involved in the Galukpa tradition. But this diligence is really working to bring that... Those teachings into our path, into our personal life. It's not so much attending the classes, which is great, but it's then what we do in between the classes when stuff happens. Are we really working to bring these teachings and these understandings that we're gaining in the study situation into our lives? Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:39 We're the only judge of that. They often say energetically and tirelessly. I mean, often you'll see in Tibetan scripture, day and night, right? Practicing day and night, you know, they don't really give us off for good behavior. Geshe-la often will make... Jokes about how we just think deep sleep is so important in the West. He's like, deep sleep isn't that important, really. You miss out on a lot of good practice time. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:08 We're like, really? We're supposed to get like eight or nine hours, guess you that? He's like, no. You can actually get by on less and do more. They do things like debate all night and stuff. I'm like, whoa, I don't know if I could do that. Meditate all night? I'm like, oh, wow. Yeah, so. Diligence. Diligence is another good quality to have. There's another way to read this verse again. The first two lines, listen with a pure mind, fortunate ones who have no craving for the pleasures of this life, refer to renunciation, right? Report an error in the passage at 56:08 Highlight the passage at 56:08

56:44 The third line, sorry, and who to make leisure and fortunate, meaningful, strive to turn their minds. That's referring to the... Bodhisattva path or bodhicitta. And the final line, the path which pleases the victors is referring to correct view. The victors again are talking about the Buddhas. The path pleasing them is the path that's going to allow us to have this direct perception of emptiness that's going to get us out of here. Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:16 So the next verse, there's no way to end without pure renunciation, this striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life. It's because of their hankering life as well that beings are fettered. So seek renunciation first. So it's talking about all living beings, really, but especially humans, are bound to saṃsāra by this grasping. Report an error in the passage at 57:16 Highlight the passage at 57:16

57:43 So it's not just us. I hate to be the one to tell you, it's not just us. All living beings are thinking that something out there is going to bring me happiness. What we think of as happiness is different between the various types of beings and obviously between the different humans. All of us in the room could raise our hands and say, no, this is happiness, no, this is happiness, no, this is happiness. Report an error in the passage at 57:43 Highlight the passage at 57:43

58:05 We'd all be different, but we still think it's all out there. Whether it's a class or... A lot of time to knit or whatever it is, that grasping is what fetters us or ties us or shackles us to a cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 58:05 Highlight the passage at 58:05

58:27 So this grasping is what keeps us here. And if we want to be free of it, we have to first understand exactly what suffering is. So we have to get into the details of suffering. Oh, here it is. Saṃsāra is the condition. I was like, I knew it was in there. So here it is again, this condition that we call saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 58:27 Highlight the passage at 58:27

58:52 If we don't understand what it is, then we'll never be able to get free of it. If we don't understand exactly what the sufferings of this are, and we're going to talk about this tonight, then we won't ever really want to get free of it. We keep trying to, and this happens a lot even once you become a Buddhist and once you sort of ascribe to these views, we keep trying to make saṃsāra perfect. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:16 We keep trying to fix saṃsāra. And according to the Buddha, we can't fix saṃsāra. The idea is to get out of it. We keep trying to make saṃsāra work. It's sort of like making, imagining that we have like an entire... Report an error in the passage at 59:16 Highlight the passage at 59:16

59:34 You know, dollhouse that's broken. Like everything's broken and we keep trying to like just kind of balance things like that chair. Like that chair that the legs fell off and it keeps showing up back in the gompha and I keep rolling it out of here and it keeps showing it back up. It's like, no, it doesn't work anymore. It says, I'm sorry, chair. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:59 The only way that we're going to get out of saṃsāra, the only way we're going to emerge from saṃsāra is by understanding how we create saṃsāra and then stopping creating that, emerging from that condition of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:00:16 There is a sakya master who said, if you are attached to this life and if your spiritual life is still based on worldly attainments, you are not a spiritual person. It's all delusion and it won't liberate anyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:16 Highlight the passage at 1:00:16

1:00:31 So often there is this, especially if you get a copy of the little booklet that I was suggesting to people to get on the three principle paths outside, he repeats this quite a bit in the renunciation section, stop desire for this life. And this is what we begin talking about in the beginning of verse 4. Leisure and fortune are hard to find. Life's not long. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:31 Highlight the passage at 1:00:31

1:00:56 Think it constantly. Stop desire for this life. This life, of course, is implying that there's more than one, right? I think that's one of our biggest obstacles, especially in the West, is because we don't come from a tradition. Most of us don't come from a tradition that even brings up the idea that there's more than this one life. Leisure and fortune are hard to find is referring to the meditation that we talked about last week on precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:56 Highlight the passage at 1:00:56

1:01:29 It's hard to find the conditions as good as we got it now. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:01:36 Life's not long. That's referring to death and impermanence, right? Death can happen at any moment, and we don't know when. So we know it's a given, and we actually have to kind of train ourselves to know it's a given, because it's easy to distract ourselves and not think about the fact that it's a given. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:01:53 But on top of that, we don't know when. So it's both of those things we have to contemplate. Think it constantly. Stop desire for this life. There is a story about Lama Atisha's main disciple, John Tumpa, who came upon this monk who, and some of you may have heard this story, this monk during circumambulations around a stupa very fervently. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:53 Highlight the passage at 1:01:53

1:02:21 And he said, this is really wonderful. But it would be better if you actually did something spiritual. So then the monk stopped and he started doing prostrations. And he said, this is really, really wonderful, but it would be much better if you actually did something spiritual. So then he just kept doing things. He would read the sutras and he would go, oh, this is really wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:21 Highlight the passage at 1:02:21

1:02:45 It would be much better if you actually did something spiritual. So he's finally like, well, what should I do? I mean, I'm trying everything. I'm doing everything. And then he just said three times, stop, give up this life, give up this life, give up this life. And it doesn't mean, you know, That you have to give up your wife and child. It doesn't mean that everybody has to get ordained. This comes up a lot. Actually, I think as Tibetan Buddhism comes to the West, and it's already been true for a lot of the other traditions, I don't think all the monasticism has to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:45 Highlight the passage at 1:02:45

1:03:21 Actually, the Buddha said that we have to keep some monks and nuns or else we aren't keeping the tradition. But I think it won't ever again be like... Tibet was, where such a huge percentage of the population was ordained. And it was acceptable for every single family to send a child, if not two, but never the first, to the monasteries and nunneries. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:21 Highlight the passage at 1:03:21

1:03:48 But renunciation, so if saṃsāra is a condition of the mind, then renunciation is too, right? So if renunciation is in our mind, we could have all the money in the world. We could have a job for, you know, DuPont. There are certain jobs that we could have and nobody would necessarily know what the condition of our mind is. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:48 Highlight the passage at 1:03:48

1:04:10 And that's the case for renunciation. It is simply a condition or a state of mind of not being so attached to out there giving me happiness. That's what we're trying to develop. It doesn't mean we have to go somewhere or give up something or wear funny clothes or cut our hair off. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

1:04:31 If we have a strong desire, I mean His Holiness is always counseling actually people not even to become Buddhist. If they come from a tradition that they feel close to, they should explore that tradition first. And he says finally, if you feel very, very strongly that you have some connection, then become Buddhist. The same is true for becoming a monk or a nun too. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:04:56 Only if you have very, very strong karma. You know, so many in the West don't stay in the robes once they get in because they sort of have this idea of what it's going to be like. It's simply another way to practice. It's not like, you know, everybody has to run out and get ordained. It'll never happen in the West, unfortunately. Or fortunately, it just is. I mean, there's part of me that just wonders what it would have been like in Tibet before. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:56 Highlight the passage at 1:04:56

1:05:26 But so stopping desire for this life isn't talking about giving up your wife and kids and giving up your job and giving up, you know, giving up, giving up, giving up. It's not even talking about that. It's talking about giving up this grasping at this life. You might have to give up some TB. You might have to give up some time in order to meditate and some time in order to go to class. But there's always a compromise. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:51 You can find a way to do a certain amount of each. And actually nobody needs to know that you're a Buddhist unless it's useful for them to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51 Highlight the passage at 1:05:51

1:06:01 And I know that comes up a lot when he was talking about that idea because there are so many great tools in Buddhism and you just kind of want everybody to have those tools. Honestly, if you are happier, that's the better advertisement. Because your friends and your family just see that you're okay and that you're alright. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:20 I mean, it's a little harder when you put on the ropes and your family's kind of like, whoa, what's going on? But if they can see that you actually are a happier person and that you have tools to get through hard stuff and maybe even tools that help other people, then they'd be more interested in hearing about Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:20 Highlight the passage at 1:06:20

1:06:42 Or not. But they're happy for you then. And that's fine. That's okay. This path is really only for the one who finds it. And we find it due to our karma. And we find it due to our karma with people around us who happen to find it too. If the person doesn't have karma with Buddhism, then none of it will make sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:07:03 They might even create a version in their mind. So that's not so great. so, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:09 One of my teachers, the teacher that I had for both of the lamrim courses, the one-month courses at Copan, said renunciation is letting go of what we are neurotically obsessed with. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:21 Renunciation isn't just letting go of grasping to things of this world, but also involves the recognition that there is something better. 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. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:21 Highlight the passage at 1:07:21

1:07:41 I'll read that again. I think I was supposed to send you some quotes last week. Sorry. Oh, Lord. There's just so much to do. This is why I think Lamas have attendants and second attendants and third attendants. Firstly, just to help you get dressed in the morning. That's a good start. Okay, so he said, renunciation is letting go of what we are neurotically obsessed with. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:41 Highlight the passage at 1:07:41

1:08:04 I love that, actually. Renunciation isn't just letting go of grasping to things of this world. But also involves the recognition that there is something better. 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. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:04 Highlight the passage at 1:08:04

1:08:29 So this week one of the things you're going to do is to kind of look at how close you are to developing renunciation in a couple of specific ways like every day and how far apart you are from that mind. And there's no wrong answer. You don't have to show it to anybody. This is simply you examining your mind. It's always that fear that you have to hand something in. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:29 Highlight the passage at 1:08:29

1:08:56 Something that gives you away. I hate to say it, but we all have mind. And mind does these things. So nobody has the worst mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:07 But yeah, we'll look at that when we get the homework. So the second part of verse 4 is think over and over again how deeds and their fruits never fail and the cycle suffering stop desire for the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:07 Highlight the passage at 1:09:07

1:09:25 So this is talking about karma and I'm going to just talk a little bit about karma. There is a full class on karma. Karma is what I talked about on Sunday with the Gay Buddhist Fellowship. They only give you... About 45 minutes to talk. Which, you know, after being based on the two-hour system, I'm kind of like, really? You know, the rest of the time is schmoozing or meditation on the breath for like 25 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:54 I was like, yeah, actually, let's have more time. They had so many questions, they won't have me come back and just do questions. I was like, if I could just have more time to teach, then you wouldn't have the questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:09 Anyway, so karma. Again, defining your terms. Karma means action in Sanskrit. And the short definition of karma is an action of thinking, an action of the mind, and what those actions of thinking inspire with your body and your speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:30 Say it again. An action of thinking and what those actions of thinking inspire with your body and your speech. So as you can see, it gets a little bit confusing because both the action and the energy you create are all called karma. So there's a lot of different ways of talking about this thing called karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:10:52 But I think it's one of the most exciting aspects of Buddhism because karma is not fate or destiny, so it's not something we're stuck with. As much as our mind has changed, even since we've just been here tonight, our karma is changing. So it's not like we get stuck with a certain karma. Unless we want it. Or unless we're really, really ignorant, which is unfortunately the case. But we're changing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:19 We're developing wisdom just by being here tonight. So it's really important to understand how the mind works in order to understand karma, because karma is a working of the mind. It's considered a working of the mind. And that mind is the driver of karma. Mind provides the motivation. For the body and the speech to do whatever it does. And to determine the karma, the mind or the motivation behind the action is what determines about 95 % of the karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:55 I often will talk about the three, you know, like you guys could see three of us sitting up here doing the same action. And because our mind, our motivation is different, then it's three different karmas. Even though from the external, it might be the same action, like killing a bug. So it could be that Jenna and John and I are up here and we're all smashing a bug. Probably you could tell from our face maybe that there might be a slightly different look, but just say you couldn't see the face, so you could only see the hand reaching out. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:24 I could be just doing it because I hate bugs, which I don't, but I'm using this as an example. John could be doing it because he didn't even see it. He's just getting up and he just didn't see the bug, you know, completely just oblivious. And then Jenna could be doing it because the bug has two or three broken legs and so she feels really badly for it. And so she has this really compassionate mind to take it out and make its suffering stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:24 Highlight the passage at 1:12:24

1:12:47 So it's compassion. It's a compassionate motivation. So her karma would be really different, obviously, than my hatred of bugs karma. And so the action itself, of course, there are some actions like killing that are... Like really negative actions. But they can also be mitigated, and it is very much like law. They can be mitigated by the motivation that the person had, even if it was an ignorant kind of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:47 Highlight the passage at 1:12:47

1:13:14 Like it wasn't a very wise compassion to smash that bug or to kill that cat or whatever. So everything that we perceive... Is based upon the karma that we have created. Everything that we perceive, everything we experience, every condition of our lives right now, every condition of our future life, every condition of our past lives is all created by actions of our mind and then the inspiration in our body and our speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:14 Highlight the passage at 1:13:14

1:13:46 So actions of our body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:13:51 So what could be a neutral situation to one person could be a very negative situation to another person and could be a very positive situation to somebody else, dependent upon karma. You actually kind of see some example of this if you've ever gone out to dinner with anyone, especially in a large group, or if you've ever traveled with a bunch of people. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:51 Highlight the passage at 1:13:51

1:14:11 One person could think it's just the best place you've ever been. One person just thinks it's horrible. One person just is neutral, completely bored by it. And that kind of thing happens all the time. That's simply karma at work. And they say that we're creating karma at the rate of... According to the lower schools, 65 moments per finger snap. And according to the upper schools, it's more like 365 moments per finger snap. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:39 So we're just constantly creating more and more and more karma. So it behooves us to understand how it works because we're still creating it even if we don't understand how it works. That's why they call it the law of cause and effect. It's sort of like gravity. It's sort of like whether we believe in gravity or not, we're still subject to it, according to the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:14:57 So it really helps to understand it. Unfortunately, there's always a lag time between the time that we create the karma and the experience of the result of the karma. Sometimes lifetimes, you know. So sometimes eons, actually. Nargajuna said it's too bad that there's that lag time because if we could see the result instantly, for example, when I go to step on that cockroach. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:26 A big foot came out of the sky and started to smash my head. Not only would I get it really fast, but you guys would get it too. You wouldn't even have to do it yourself. You'd be like, no, I saw her try and this thing came. No, I'm not going to do that. It would just save a lot of time. But that's not how it works. It happens with a delayed reaction over time. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:26 Highlight the passage at 1:15:26

1:15:47 This is the subject of the weekend workshop this weekend, which is why it's such a juicy... It gets into so many aspects and there are so many questions that are raised when you start talking about it. You can see why the guys want to have me come back and just answer questions. So I'm going to give you the four principles of karma because that's really important and that's about all that we can get into on karma. But they're important. You can start with the interesting aspect of karma is that it's quite complex. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:47 Highlight the passage at 1:15:47

1:16:13 They actually say of all the teachings, even emptiness, that karma is the most difficult to understand fully. But we can understand at a level that we can start working with it and that's what makes it kind of cool too. There are things like karma quizzes that we'll do in the karma class. You can look at situations that are in your life that you don't like and you want to get rid of and then you start doing the actions to create different causes. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:40 Or you can look at environments, for example, that you have in your life. People, the kind of people you seem to attract or whatever, people that don't help you, which is a particular karmic cause. There are particular karmic causes, most of which sort of make sense. For example, if people lie to you all the time, even if you are scrupulous in your honesty, that's just an old karmic result wearing off. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:40 Highlight the passage at 1:16:40

1:17:05 And eventually it will just wear off. That's the good thing about karma is it's impermanent also. For example, if people just give you money. If you're just really easy to give you money, that's actually a karmic cause of having been generous. If they don't, then you might want to try being generous. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:05 Highlight the passage at 1:17:05

1:17:26 The rest of us who don't get that result, then they say even, because it doesn't matter how much you give, you can give $2, but with this really open heart and dedicate it really, really well, and you can still get a really positive karma, create a really positive karma. So these four principles. Karma is definite. And I know some of you have heard this many times. But you can remember it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:52 I won't ask you to name the four. Karma is definite in that if you do something positive, you'll have a positive result. If you do something negative, you'll get a negative result. No positive action will ever net. A negative result. And no negative action will ever net a positive result, despite what it looks like. And this is why it's important to know the lag time thing, because then you get all the people, especially it's one of the things I do to support myself as a nun is working in a tax office. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:28 It's just very interesting, I think, for anyone who comes for a tax appointment and is met at the door by a nun, because I wear my robes. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:37 Very honest place. But there's that idea that if you just tweak the tax return a little bit, you make a little extra refund. According to the Buddha, that's not what causes the refund. The refund is simply abundance from being generous in a past life. When you lie on the tax return, that's still to be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:19:01 So that's just another form of deceit, right? And so you'll experience the result of lying in a future life. Which will probably be people lying to you or being dishonest with you. So even though it might look like the lying on the tax return nets me the extra $500, it's two separate things. That's what makes it tricky. In the same way, in a physical, if we're talking about physical seeds, if I want an apple tree, I can't plant a lemon seed. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:34 If I want a lemon seed, that's when I plant the lemon seed. So it's like the same thing. I have to think about, especially once we understand karma and we're trying to make it work for us, it's like I have to think about what it is I really want. If I want people to scream at me, then I can scream back all I want. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:34 Highlight the passage at 1:19:34

1:19:51 If I don't want people to scream at me anymore, then I have to stop screaming back when they're screaming at me. I have to remember this is karma arising, and I have to remember that's wisdom. I have to understand how karma works and then stop it. Somebody has to stop it at some point. Otherwise, we just keep getting it back at us. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:51 Highlight the passage at 1:19:51

1:20:10 We just keep creating more and more of it. So karma is definite. Karma increases. This is the bad news, too. Of course, it works with positive as well as negative. We often think of these karmic teachings for negative only. But karma increases is important for us to know with positive as well. So a little tiny action of negative action like, you know, stealing this pen and going upstairs, you know, that will create a huge result if left unchecked, if we haven't, if we don't purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:49 And we can purify, which we won't get into in this class. Fortunately, we can do purification practices. In the same way, just a simple, small kindness to somebody can net a really huge result if that karma is left alone. And again, with the natural world, we accept that an acorn leads to a really huge tree. Apple tree, think how big the apple tree is compared to the little tiny seed. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:17 It's the same thing. It starts out small but then it's conditioned with all these different conditions. Negative karma is mostly conditioned with ignorance. Positive karma, likewise, is mostly conditioned with wisdom, with using our wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:17 Highlight the passage at 1:21:17

1:21:33 The third one is always done as a double negative. If you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. If you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:33 Highlight the passage at 1:21:33

1:21:47 This just means that nobody else can cause your suffering ultimately. That was a hard one. It's really much better to feel like you're a victim, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:47 Highlight the passage at 1:21:47

1:21:57 Poor me. I didn't do anything to cause this. According to the Buddha, if I'm experiencing some form of suffering, then not I necessarily, but my mind somehow created this karma. It doesn't mean that I did because it's in a past life, so it wouldn't be Chokyi necessarily, but it's the mental continuum that became Chokyi in this life and will become somebody else next life, created this. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:24 So I can't really blame anybody else. The same is also true for pleasure, but we don't usually feel too much a victim of pleasure. We don't usually question if I win the lottery. I just sort of feel like somehow I deserve it, right? But if, you know, somebody hits me with a car or something, then I definitely feel like the victim, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:24 Highlight the passage at 1:22:24

1:22:45 The same thing is true, then, if we want to experience something, we have to create the cause for that, and we will never experience that result. So if we want to get enlightened, we have to actually plant specific seeds. We can't just assume being a basically good person is enough. That might net us a good rebirth, you know, just from the plain conditions, for example, what we have in this life. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:45 Highlight the passage at 1:22:45

1:23:11 Fairly good health, fairly decent education, fairly decent job, and so forth, if we're just fairly decent. If we wanted to be more than fairly decent, if we're going for perfection, then we have to actually plant the seeds for perfection. It won't just come to us automatically. I remember actually seeing, there was a series of photographs, and there was one that just cracked my friend and I up so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:34 This person, it was a guy, it was actually in the Tenderloin, and this guy was like sitting. By the open door and it says something like, Mark waiting for the money to come. He's just sort of sitting there and the door's open and he's just waiting for the money to come. And I think that's the way a lot of us are with our spiritual practice. It's like we sort of do a fair amount and then think that's enough and that's not enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:34 Highlight the passage at 1:23:34

1:24:00 I mean, I think that comes from the whole Protestant theory, mostly Protestant theory of going to church on Sunday and being basically a decent human being, right? But this is a little bit more. We actually have to do a lot of work in our mind to get it to be perfect. So if we don't create the karma, we won't experience the result. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:00 Highlight the passage at 1:24:00

1:24:19 Another meaning of that is if you have this wisdom and you catch yourself from doing a negative action, you won't have to experience that suffering. So you can also cut a cycle yourself. By simply bringing wisdom to it. That's like when you have the person screaming at you and you go, wait a second, Chokyi, don't yell back. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:44 It's karma ripening. Don't do it. Don't. I know you want to. Don't do it. That's bringing wisdom to a situation that stops a cycle. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:24:54 And when you get in and it's hard to do and it takes a lot of practice. I've often made jokes about how you, you know, at first you scream back and you go into the bathroom five minutes later and you're like, oh, shoot. That's what we were just talking about last night. And then, you know, it gets closer and closer and closer until you go, and then you just, you know, you take it. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:15 It doesn't mean you can't explain yourself later, but don't do it in the same way that it's being handed to you. Because it doesn't mean you have to lay down and, you know, just be a doormat either. I think a lot of times people will misunderstand these teachings. It just means you don't keep screaming if it's coming at you in a screaming way, if it's causing you suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:34 If you're from an Italian family and everybody screams, then maybe it's not a suffering. That's important to remember too. I remember actually that happened to me with a friend I was traveling with to a midwifery conference and I was having a migraine and we were setting up a tent. I just wanted to knock out. I had driven and I had the migraine and I just wanted to lay down and there were people drumming and all this stuff and she was just like completely distracted by everything and I was just trying to be really firm with her. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:34 Highlight the passage at 1:25:34

1:26:04 Like I just need the tent up. And then I will lie down. And then afterwards I said, you know, I'm really sorry I got angry. She was from an Italian family. She was like, when? Completely didn't even catch the anger. You know, her idea of anger is like, you know, punching and screaming and all this stuff. Anyway, karma is never lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:24 It can never just disappear. So every tiny act produces a result, even if nobody sees you doing it. Because who's keeping track? The mind. It's not some guy with a clipboard. He's not going to whistle when you do something wrong, thankfully, actually. But your mind, as long as your mind is present when you do the action, then that's how it's recorded. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:24 Highlight the passage at 1:26:24

1:26:51 Only simply recorded, and it's all a mental imprint. So it's not like seeds are planted that are physical seeds, but it's just that imprint is collected on your consciousness. So every tiny act. Yes, we can purify negative karma, but we still have to experience some version of the result. It's usually a much lesser version. It's a more manageable version. But when you're doing a lot of purification, like working in a Dharma center, a lot of things happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51 Highlight the passage at 1:26:51

1:27:23 And it's hard to tell the... Like when it starts getting good, you're like, wow, I've been purifying a lot and kind of a lot of things are going wrong. But it's really purification of old stuff that could have resulted in, according to the Buddha, eons of negative rebirth. And you're getting it in the form of migraines or a lot of different flus or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:23 Highlight the passage at 1:27:23

1:27:49 So you're like, oh, Judy's been sick ever since she moved in here. So you're getting it in some lesser form. Yeah, I know, really. Kara's like, I'm sneaking out now. I did have, there was one student who actually used to volunteer with us and she just stopped coming and she was like, uh-uh, I don't want to do that anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:49 Highlight the passage at 1:27:49

1:28:07 And I'm like, well, you know, it's not necessarily the Buddhist center's fault. It actually helps if we can purify it in this life when we have all these great conditions to experience it than it is if we don't have, you know, we just experience it as negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:23 So I'll just repeat those four principles. Karma is definite. Karma increases. If you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. And karma is never lost. It can never just disappear. Why do we care about this? Because the same thing that we were talking about with death and impermanence, it's not like our mind stops when we die. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:23 Highlight the passage at 1:28:23

1:28:51 The mind, the subtle mind goes on and based upon our karma and our state of mind at the time of death, it's thrust into a new rebirth. All the conditions of that rebirth are also caused by our karma. So if we have just a bunch of negative karma and we haven't done anything to clean it up, we're going to have a negative rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:51 Highlight the passage at 1:28:51

1:29:12 I mean, it's kind of hard not to. Most of us instead will have some sort of mixed thing, which is what most of us experience. And unless you're really trying to apply the teachings on karma, that's like the basic level for even being considered a practitioner. You can study all you want, but if you're not really trying to actively work with your mind with these teachings on karma, then you're still just this intellectual Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:40 This is sort of what... What is it? Hitting the metal? I can already think of what the right word is. Pedal to the metal. There you go. Bringing the pedal to the metal. the foot? What is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:40 Highlight the passage at 1:29:40

1:29:50 what is that Report an error in the passage at 1:29:50 Highlight the passage at 1:29:50

1:30:02 I think right now we should probably take a break because I wanted to talk about just a couple of things about saṃsāra. There's a couple of lists and I know that they are lists and it's getting late, but I just wanted to toss these out so you can kind of contemplate some renunciation a little bit this week as your homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:20 So why don't we take a five minute break and then come back and I'll finish it. We won't do the meditation, but we'll do, yeah, go ahead and take a break and then we'll just cut it closed. That's okay. We'll toss this part out. I'll start dinging the bell. If you want to get tea, if anybody wants to get tea, since they're using that one, maybe you want to show them the kitchen and they can use the one in there. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:20 Highlight the passage at 1:30:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:31:16 Russ, did I send you the binder reading, the PDF? I don't think I did. Can I send that to you electronically? Is that okay? Yes. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:16 Highlight the passage at 1:31:16

1:31:28 And I can't remember, I don't think, I think I just sent you notes and homework for the first two classes. Okay, so I can send you some other handouts electronically too? Okay, good. Okay, good. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:50 I forgot too. I know there's at least a couple. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:50 Highlight the passage at 1:31:50

1:31:57 Is there anybody in here who doesn't have the three principal pass handout? We'll need one for her. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:57 Highlight the passage at 1:31:57

1:32:10 So let's do like four. You want to use this one? I mean, because it's okay if somebody drops in, then I can just give it to him and use it next time if there's an extra one. And I always forget to bring my own. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:10 Highlight the passage at 1:32:10

1:32:34 Oh, really? I think Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:32:43 I've done it where it's eight weeks and seven weeks. I think this time I'm doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:43 Highlight the passage at 1:32:43

1:32:55 I may always do it seven. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:19 Seven, yeah. Maybe I always do seven. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:19 Highlight the passage at 1:33:19

1:33:38 don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:33:42 You mean if you're helping the baby to be born or helping the woman to give birth? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:42 Highlight the passage at 1:33:42

1:33:53 Helping the woman probably. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:53 Highlight the passage at 1:33:53

1:33:59 Yeah, I mean it totally depends on the woman. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I mean, I think encouraging her and letting her make her own decisions for the woman. But the baby, I mean, there are probably practices that you can do for the baby, like, you know what I mean, like Tonglen and different practices that you could probably do for the baby, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:59 Highlight the passage at 1:33:59

1:34:29 Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:29 Highlight the passage at 1:34:29

1:34:52 Right, yeah. I know. Tricky. Yeah, no, I thought about that too. Like, for example, 911, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:52 Highlight the passage at 1:34:52

1:35:08 But of course, it's also unclear, because I'm not clairvoyant, how much of that was even mixed with some sort of wanting to be seen in a certain way. In other words, reputation, one of the eight worldly concerns. So it wasn't simply feeling like it was the best thing to do to become one with God. There is also mixed with wanting to be seen as a martyr, wanting to have this reputation, wanting their family to be, you know what I mean? So there's all that kind of mixed, there's mixed motivation even in those cases, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:08 Highlight the passage at 1:35:08

1:35:43 I think if it was completely pure, actually it would be kind of hard to see. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's negative action. Done with this hugely courageous motivation, yeah, but negative action. I mean, it's a form of killing. You're killing yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:43 Highlight the passage at 1:35:43

1:36:08 It's not so cut and dry. Yeah, often people will say, you know, what does Buddhism think about blah, blah, blah. It's like, you know, totally mitigated by motivation, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:08 Highlight the passage at 1:36:08

1:36:22 And never, it's not like the Pope, you know. It's not like this. This is what we say, you know. It's like, well, you know, and people will ask His Holiness the Dalai Lama and he'll be like, hmm, you know. What was your thinking then when you did that? I guess they would do that too. What was your motivation? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:22 Highlight the passage at 1:36:22

1:36:45 Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Forever. Yeah, there's no way out. I know, at least our hells, you can get a way out. Karma ends. I know. Who else needed? Oh, wait, no, this is mine back. I can't have it. This is what I always do. Come on in, kids. Don't get excited by the soak people. We're getting out now. I want to talk about some sufferings of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:45 Highlight the passage at 1:36:45

1:37:12 Quick like a bunny. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:12 Highlight the passage at 1:37:12

1:37:17 Careful, careful. You don't want to purify anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:17 Highlight the passage at 1:37:17

1:37:32 That is renunciation to get to that view. I know, it's so extreme. It's like, whoa. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we were talking about that. I'm doing the Foundation for Buddhist Thought program. It's an online lamrim course. I'm on the last course, but I'm doing it slightly out of order because I had to drop out of the course last summer. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:32 Highlight the passage at 1:37:32

1:37:55 But I'm doing the two truths and we're talking about the four seals and one of them is that seeing everything in saṃsāra as suffering. And it's hard to do because I mean like really sweet moments of life, it's hard to see them as suffering. But we're going to talk about that actually right now, what the different levels of suffering are that makes it a little easier to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:55 Highlight the passage at 1:37:55

1:38:20 But when you're actually having the experience of... Sun on your skin or hugging a good friend or, you know, eating a really, really amazing meal. It's hard to believe that that's suffering. And actually it's quite useful every once in a while to try to remind yourself. Not in a negative, like, you know, like killing joy kind of a way, but just like, this is suffering too. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:43 Like sometimes I'll remember. The thing about how all things that come together have to come apart, which is the teaching of Buddhism. And it's like, you know, when I go home and visit my family and we're just getting together, I have to remember, this is going to end too. You know, like this class. We came together a few weeks ago. It's not a constant, right? Some people come, some people disappear. But it is a class. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:43 Highlight the passage at 1:38:43

1:39:08 And then in a few weeks, we'll separate. All things do that, according to the Buddha. So it's useful to actually remember it sometimes, even though when we get together with an old friend, we don't want to think about the fact that he or she is going to leave. But it kind of helps to remind ourselves because then it's not so shocking to the system. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:08 Highlight the passage at 1:39:08

1:39:27 It's like, oh yeah, that's one of those. What's that? Right. That's right. Or a wedding, right? How long do people plan weddings? And it's like, it's one day. How about the marriage? Let's put a little tension there. Yeah, Russ, are you going to say something? Oh, why don't we start using the mic? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:27 Highlight the passage at 1:39:27

1:39:51 But only for Russ. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:51 Highlight the passage at 1:39:51

1:39:57 I don't even know if it's on. Just tap the top. Nope. You have to push the bottom slowly. There's like a little button. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:57 Highlight the passage at 1:39:57

1:40:09 Well, what you were saying was, you know, the sun on your skin is suffering. I mean, is it the sun on your skin that's suffering or is it the attachment? To the sun of your skin that's suffering. But we're going to talk about it in a second, how the sun on your skin becomes suffering, right? If you stay too long, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:28 When does it become suffering? If we think that sun on the skin is happiness and then I keep wanting to stay in the sun, then eventually it does become suffering. Eventually everything becomes suffering. So the good meal is great, but if I have another one exactly as big, I'm going to just get sick, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:28 Highlight the passage at 1:40:28

1:40:48 So it's like that. So then, okay, so let's talk about that for a second. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:48 Highlight the passage at 1:40:48

1:40:54 Hold on one second. Suffering of, so we're going to talk about the levels of suffering that this idea of dukkha. So there's three levels of suffering. And one is the suffering that we think of as suffering. Gross suffering. They call it suffering of suffering. Which is basically, you know, sunburn or a headache or a broken leg or... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:54 Highlight the passage at 1:40:54

1:41:20 You know, terminal cancer or mental illness or, you know what I mean? So it's like what we think of as suffering. It's anything that we think of as suffering. Whether it's tiny, you know, a splinter in the finger, or whether it's gigantic and the leg falls off. You know, I mean, it's all levels of that, but it's gross suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:20 Highlight the passage at 1:41:20

1:41:38 Suffering that we can actually see. Suffering that animals can see in themselves and in others, too. So it doesn't take a whole lot of subtlety to be able to see that form of suffering. The second one is the one that I want to get to and that's the suffering of change. This is actually what we normally think of as pleasure. So this is where Buddhists get the bad rep actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:41:59 We don't just focus on suffering but we get to know it really well because we're trying to understand how to end it. The teachings of the Buddha are so radical that there is the teaching that we can actually end not just suffering but death. I mean, they're hugely radical teachings. They aren't just like, come to a Buddhist center and meditate and feel good. It's like, no, we're trying to end suffering and death. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:59 Highlight the passage at 1:41:59

1:42:25 I mean, it's enormous. So suffering of change is, for example, if you go out in the sun because you're cold, right, and you want to warm up, and then you're there for a while and it starts getting really, really hot, so then you go back in the shade. And then that starts getting really, really cold, so then you go back into the sun. And then that starts getting really, really hot, so you go back in the shade. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:25 Highlight the passage at 1:42:25

1:42:46 That's the suffering of change. I mean, you're seeking this happiness in that external thing, and if you keep getting more and more of it, it becomes suffering. At some point, it always becomes suffering. Again, with a really good meal at a restaurant, if you have a really great meal and you end it there, that's okay, but what happens if we keep... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:46 Highlight the passage at 1:42:46

1:43:09 Having another good meal, deliver it in another good meal. Or you can think of it in smaller terms. You have one cookie and it's great. You eat the whole box and you're sick. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:09 Highlight the passage at 1:43:09

1:43:18 And we've tried that at some point in our lives. We actually thought if the happiness is in that cookie and I have more cookies, I should have more happiness, right? Exponentially so. It should actually attain... But it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work. It's more like cookie saṃsāra, cookie suffering. So it's like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:18 Highlight the passage at 1:43:18

1:43:42 We experience this temporary relief from the suffering, and so we label that happiness, but then that just becomes suffering. It's this endless cycle. And apparently we've been doing this for life after life. So don't feel bad and think it's just you. We all do this. This is what saṃsāra is. Anyway, all-pervasive suffering is the last one. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:42 Highlight the passage at 1:43:42

1:44:07 This is the most subtle one. It's a little difficult to understand, and the more we understand about how things actually exist, we can understand it. But basically, because our body and our lifespan and all the conditions of our life and our gross mind and so forth, our environment and so forth, are all created. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:26 By karma and delusions, then everything is pervaded with this suffering, this all-pervasive suffering. It's the nature of dukkha. It's the nature of saṃsāra. And that's why when I was saying that we keep trying to fix saṃsāra, but it's faulty at its very nature. It's like getting a lemon. We got a lemon. They say that sometimes, like it's a bad year for car. Everything that came out of that factory. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:26 Highlight the passage at 1:44:26

1:44:56 It has this faultiness. The same is true for what we've created with our karma and delusion. It's possible to create with positive karma, which is called merit basically, it's possible to create the body of a Buddha that doesn't get sick and die and suffer in that same way. But we've created these bodies, through ignorance we've created these bodies that do get sick and die and age and all that. So all pervasive suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:56 Highlight the passage at 1:44:56

1:45:25 It pertains to all of us that are living in this saṃsāra realm. So all of us have this to a degree. And the reason that we have to understand these different levels of suffering, that it's not just all headaches and club feet and stuff like that. It's all of these very subtle ways of suffering. It's because the very first thing that the Buddha taught is there is suffering. But he didn't end it there. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:25 Highlight the passage at 1:45:25

1:45:52 He said... There is a cause for this suffering. There is an end to this suffering. And there is a path to end this suffering. Those were the four noble truths. So if he had stopped with suffering, we could all just go out and just jump off something right now. I mean, there wouldn't be any reason to keep going. But fortunately, he kept going and said that there is a way to end this suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:46:13 And if we can take him at his word, even if we can't take him at his word yet, it's kind of interesting, don't you think? Wouldn't you want to if you could end the suffering? So, I mean, that's why we need to understand even what the suffering is. It's like all of us are in some form of a prison and we don't even know it. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:13 Highlight the passage at 1:46:13

1:46:33 And the Buddha is saying, not only are you in a prison, but here's the key. You already have the key. So it's kind of exciting, actually. I think it's exciting. So the Four Noble Truths. There is suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:33 Highlight the passage at 1:46:33

1:46:50 I like that there is rather than you have or, you know. There is. It's more objective. It's our Margaret Mead kind of look. There is suffering. There is a cause of this suffering. There is an end or cessation of this suffering. And there is a path to this cessation. I don't use that word cessation. That's why I kind of like end ceases. It ends. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:50 Highlight the passage at 1:46:50

1:47:17 But it's kind of, yeah. I kind of like sensation, too. It is a good word, yeah. For all time. So six sufferings. Here's a couple lists just to see you out the door on. The six sufferings of saṃsāra in general. Six sufferings of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:17 Highlight the passage at 1:47:17

1:47:35 And these are all really easy to understand. They aren't complex theories. Because you've had them all. You've had them all. The problem that nothing, we just think that they're life, right? We just think it's just life. We don't realize that if we categorize this and understand that we can actually end it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:35 Highlight the passage at 1:47:35

1:47:54 Like, you know what I mean? The problem that nothing is certain. Nothing is certain. Absolutely nothing is certain. We try to pretend like things are certain. We plan our lives. We plan our whole retirement on it. But nothing is certain. Absolutely nothing is certain in this life. For any of us, much less all of us. Except death, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:54 Highlight the passage at 1:47:54

1:48:23 Not even that. At some point he won't. At some point he won't. And that'll shock you. Nothing is certain. I mean, and we often think, just because I get up every day, I do this, I go to bed. That's why we're surprised, right? When romance happens, it's like something out of the ordinary. The person you're sitting next to on the plane suddenly becomes your husband or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:48 I don't know how that ever happens because I just ignore the people on the plane. And then you hear about these people that meet amazingly wonderful people and go into my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48:48

1:49:00 But that thought that just because I do the same thing, I walk the same way, that's what... I'm like, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:00 Highlight the passage at 1:49:00

1:49:06 That's what the really good novels are about, like so-and-so was exactly the same until suddenly this day something changed, you know, and that happens for all of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:06 Highlight the passage at 1:49:06

1:49:17 Even tonight, something different can happen. On our way home, something different can happen. But we keep acting like it's always the same. We keep acting that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:17 Highlight the passage at 1:49:17

1:49:30 You're meditating on these different things, and I'm not giving you this assignment per se, but if one of you decides that you would like to kind of contemplate these different things, then you can email me and I'll send it to you. But you just are thinking about this. Think about how we act like things are certain in our lives. Think about how we assume that things will be the same day in and day out. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:52 Just because they were once, we assume that they always will be. Or even because they were 20 times. At some point it changes. The problem that you're never satisfied. This is dukkha. We get what we want and then we lose interest. We find something else. We create all these huge expectations about a job, a person, a place to live. And we're never, ever satisfied. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:52 Highlight the passage at 1:49:52

1:50:24 The problem that we have to discard this body over and over and over again, according to the Buddha. So we repeatedly have to go through death. I mean, it's one thing, at least in the Christian belief, you only have to go through it once. In our philosophy, we've done it over and over again. So we have this thought like, you know, I have this thought of it sort of being, I have test anxiety. That's the ultimate test. But it's like, no, Chokyi, actually, you've already done it over and over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:24 Highlight the passage at 1:50:24

1:50:54 You know, you've had really good deaths, you have really bad deaths, you've had all sorts of deaths. Which is an interesting concept to us. But according to the Buddha, we could build a mountain with our bodies. Many bodies that we've already had. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:54 Highlight the passage at 1:50:54

1:51:08 All the different kinds of beings that we've been. And the problem of being reborn over and over and over and over. So there's the problem of repeatedly dying, but then also taking rebirth and having to start all over again. Having to learn the language, having to get used to the different families that we're born into. Having to, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:08 Highlight the passage at 1:51:08

1:51:30 Not always a pretty picture, you know. Over and over again, even just learning how to walk. I mean, it's like you sort of see it when you see these tulkus, you know, that come, they're like ready to go and they're like two and a half. I mean, I've met some that it's just kind of like, whoa, you know, they're kind of like, shh, everyone, he's talking, you know, and they're literally like two and a half. You're like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:30 Highlight the passage at 1:51:30

1:51:53 And they're just kind of held back by this little body, you know, and they're just kind of like, I'm not a kid, you know, like you can see they're just like, you know, don't take my hand just because I'm, you know, it's kind of, but we have to do that too, even though we're more ignorant than them or more obscured than them. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:53 Highlight the passage at 1:51:53

1:52:10 We have to take these bodies over and over again. We go up and down. So this isn't just talking about, but it is talking about, you know, getting a lot or accumulating a lot or getting these high positions and so forth. And then losing it all, right? I mean, in really big ways, like kings of countries who just get overthrown, like they start out the king that morning and then they're overthrown that night and like trying to like get out of the country really quick before somebody kills them. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:10 Highlight the passage at 1:52:10

1:52:38 But also just our minds go up and down, up and down, up and down. Even within a single day, you can be like, wake up completely blissed out and then get horrible news and you just go. And then all of a sudden something turns around and will be like, oh no, that wasn't your sister. You know those horrible stories where everyone's visiting the one person in the car accident and they're like, oh no, she was actually killed. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

1:53:03 This is her best friend. I mean, what an emotional, I can't even imagine. You're like sitting by this person's bed and you think that it's your sister and then it turns out your sister actually died at that funeral you went to three months ago or something like that. I mean, that's the kind of stuff our mind is constantly going through, up and down and up and down and up and down. And that's part of saṃsāra. And the problem, number six, is the problem that you go through life alone and you die alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:03 Highlight the passage at 1:53:03

1:53:33 Standard stuff, right? We know this, but we forget. We surround ourselves with people. We're always busy. This happens a lot in the West. We're always, always busy. But at some point, we have to die. And then it's sort of like nobody really wants to be near you anymore, you know. It's like exactly what they say happens in the God realms. You know, everybody's partying and everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:33 Highlight the passage at 1:53:33

1:53:56 And then in the final seven days of the God's life, they know they're dying and everyone moves away from them. And they stop giving off the really wonderful scent. And everyone sort of pushes them away. It's kind of like that in our culture when people age and die as well and sort of push them away. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:56 Highlight the passage at 1:53:56

1:54:16 That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They often know, yeah. And they're also more comfortable with death, too, where they don't have all the mental hang-ups that we do. So the six sufferings, I'm just going to, because we're over time, and I just want to put these out there. But the problem, I'm just going to repeat them again. The problem that nothing is certain. The problem that you're never satisfied. The problem that you must discard your body over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:16 Highlight the passage at 1:54:16

1:54:40 The problem of having to be born over and over again. The problem that you go up and down in life. The problem that you go through life alone and you die alone. And if you've ever been with somebody as they're dying, it's a very interesting situation that you're with that person 100 % and then they're totally gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:40 Highlight the passage at 1:54:40

1:55:01 They're just gone. Very interesting. Very interesting. No matter how close you are. No matter if you hold that person in your arms, you can't keep them from dying. And the same is true for us. So really quick, I'm just going to go through this and I'll start with reviewing these next week. But the eight sufferings specific to the human life, most of these again we're familiar with. The suffering of birth. They're talking about the act of birth itself, but also just the fact that we have to keep taking rebirth in this body and in these conditions that are created with our karma and our deluded states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:01 Highlight the passage at 1:55:01

1:55:39 And we do that over and over and over and over again. The suffering of aging. I mean, some of us do not need any reminder of this. You know, our body and our gross minds start deteriorating. We start losing our friends. That was one of the things I felt so sad about when my mom was aging. You know, at the very point when you really need your friends, they all are aging too. I mean, what a stupid system. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:56:08 So here they are like all dropping like flies and right at the time when you need them, you know, or they all get taken off to homes or to live with kids in other states and stuff like that and that's so hard. Or you start losing your independence, you start losing your memory, which is of course happening. The simplest things that we do, standing up becomes really hard, you know, walking becomes hard, hearing becomes hard, all those fun things. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:08 Highlight the passage at 1:56:08

1:56:32 Sometimes people get more paranoid and fearful as they age too. And the worst thing is that we do this over and over and over again. So it's not, again, it's not just like we have to do it once and we learn from it or something. But if we're lucky, we do it over and over again. If we have long enough lives, we have to go through that. The suffering of sickness. So birth, aging, sickness, and you can see what's going to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:32 Highlight the passage at 1:56:32

1:56:59 Sickness is everything from the tiniest little cold or little headache all the way up to terminal whatever, you know. Strokes, mental and physical sickness, big and small. And we've had everything. If you can get out of this life without anything major, that's great, but you've had it all before. You've experienced it all before. The heaviest, heaviest forms of illness. And the suffering of death, which even in the best situation, it's always really difficult to die, to lose everything in a single moment the way we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:59 Highlight the passage at 1:56:59

1:57:34 And we've done it over and over and over. The suffering of separation from what you do like, so you finally do meet somebody you like, or a place you like, or a job you like, or a Dharma center you like, or a teacher you like, or whatever, and then you lose them. Or you just love your homeland and you're forced into exile. I mean, there's loads of ways that we can be separated. You just lose your favorite whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:34 Highlight the passage at 1:57:34

1:58:00 That's a way of being separated. Your favorite cup, your favorite... I was going to say... Meditation cushion, but that'd be hard to lose. But you could do it. I actually did it once in an airport in Patna. I forgot to bring it on the plane with me. And the suffering of encountering what you don't like. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:00 Highlight the passage at 1:58:00

1:58:19 That happens all the time, too, whether it's being forced to sit in the front and you didn't want to, or big things. You know, you're in a relationship with somebody who's really horrible to you. So it can be very tiny things you dislike, all the way up to really big things that you dislike. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:19 Highlight the passage at 1:58:19

1:58:37 And then the suffering of not obtaining what you want, which is slightly different. You really think it's your parking place. You really think it's your job. You really think you've got it in the bag and then you don't get it. And that happens all the time. And these things happen all the time in just one life, much less from life to life to life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:37 Highlight the passage at 1:58:37

1:58:59 And then the final one is like that other version of suffering, the suffering of these contaminated aggregates, body and mind, being in the nature of suffering. So it's that same kind of like all-pervasive suffering. So any questions about that? And then we'll start with this next time. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:59 Highlight the passage at 1:58:59

1:59:20 And you'll do your best to contemplate this sort of ideas that we raised about renunciation. And then we'll just start with reviewing it next time, and then we'll keep going into the root text. Any last questions about any of this stuff? Do you need me to repeat the eight sufferings of the human life? You got it? Okay. Birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from what you do like, encountering what you don't like, not obtaining what you want, and then the suffering of these contaminated aggregates being in the nature of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:20 Highlight the passage at 1:59:20

1:59:57 Did you have a question, Taylor? Wait, where's the talking stick, right? Some things we don't forget. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:57 Highlight the passage at 1:59:57

2:00:11 It's better than having the cord though, isn't it? It seems like our lives are ran by our karmic paths all around. How much free will do we do? I was waiting for the free will question. It comes up in every class. Every class about karma. How you react when karma is ripening. That's what the free will is. So if you're just constantly just like the hamster in the wheel. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:11 Highlight the passage at 2:00:11

2:00:41 And you're not questioning it. That's where the wisdom comes in to react in a different way. That's how you start shifting karma. That and planting the seeds of new karmas, of developing new karma. Karma is simply potency or potential. It's not... it's not Fate or destiny. So you're not trapped by your karma forever and it's impermanent too. So there is a lot of room for free will because you have an ability to apply the teachings in the moment that the thing is happening to you. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:41 Highlight the passage at 2:00:41

2:01:11 How do you react when you get the cancer diagnosis? How do you react when you lose the job? How do you react? You know, it's like that. It's like stuff's happening all the time that is just ripening of negative karma and if we can remember... First, this is ripening of my negative karma. I'm not going to freak out. I'm going to react to this. I'm going to make this practice, whatever it is. That's how the free will comes into it. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:11 Highlight the passage at 2:01:11

2:01:37 That's how we can shift it. Yeah. And that's a good, I think, a good place to end. There's always room for free will. All right. So let's motivate to take whatever you got out of this class. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:37 Highlight the passage at 2:01:37

2:01:54 Any understanding or any insight, anything you got at all, even just more stuff to cook, you got to cook it, chew on it. And we dedicate it to each one of us being able to realize our potential in this life to actually gain this understanding, this thing called renunciation, so that we can practice more effectively, deeply, so that we can eventually gain full enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:54 Highlight the passage at 2:01:54

2:02:24 For the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:24 Highlight the passage at 2:02:24

2:02:45 Dylan, you want to hand these out? Let's see if we have enough this time. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

2:02:55 I think there might be. We might have a short one. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:55 Highlight the passage at 2:02:55

2:03:03 Oh, I forgot. So we mentioned Venerable Steve. It starts Friday night at 7. If you can make it to that one, that's great. If not, come Saturday morning at 10.30. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03:03

2:03:16 10.30, yeah, we're waiting for the meditation to be over. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:16 Highlight the passage at 2:03:16

2:03:36 Oh, okay. Is it the same? I know. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:36 Highlight the passage at 2:03:36

2:03:48 In the homework, it'll tell you the readings. So we haven't even gotten to the binder reading yet. Yeah, yeah. So it's just been the handouts and the other stuff. Yeah, yeah. Test tomorrow, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:48 Highlight the passage at 2:03:48

2:04:25 could've just been back on the shelf. Wipe it off. You didn't ride on it or anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:25 Highlight the passage at 2:04:25

2:04:44 There's always somebody that can afford it or something. Great, I have your class notes to complete my collection? I'll figure out where I left dots. I just didn't do the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:44 Highlight the passage at 2:04:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:05:30 you still listening? Okay, nothing's changed. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:30 Highlight the passage at 2:05:30

2:05:38 Thank you, Lobsang Chokyi. Thank you, Georgie. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:38 Highlight the passage at 2:05:38

2:05:48 but do you want to, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:48 Highlight the passage at 2:05:48

2:05:54 I just want to add you to the class list. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:54 Highlight the passage at 2:05:54