Discovering Buddhism - Transforming Problems (12 June 2008)

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0:37 Hi, are you Claire? Hi Claire. Welcome. Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:49 So can you, if I put it like that, Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

0:57 can you hear me okay? And are you getting any kind of reading on there? Is it like, kind of, is it moving like this? Report an error in the passage at 0:57 Highlight the passage at 0:57

1:08 Okay. Alright, there you go. Because there will be a lot of that. Alright, so we just do a little meditation on our breath just to bring our minds to neutral and then set a motivation. So Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:27 just take some nice deep cleansing breaths and let go of your day. Report an error in the passage at 1:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27

1:40 Imagine this. Just sort of sweeping away all the things that might keep you from being fully present tonight, so any sluggishness or distracted thoughts, plans. Just imagine them just dissolving and dissipating like clouds in the sky. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

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2:32 Gradually let your awareness focus on your breath at either the level of your belly as it expands and contracts or the level of your lungs, your chest. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:51 Or the level of your nostril. The sensation of the breath coming in, the air coming in, and the breath going out. And just focus on your breath for a few minutes. Every time your mind gets distracted, just simply place it back on the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 2:51 Highlight the passage at 2:51

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4:42 the building and those. Report an error in the passage at 4:42 Highlight the passage at 4:42

4:48 And just become aware how each one of them is attached to a human being or a sentient being. And that sentient being is, in some way, Report an error in the passage at 4:48 Highlight the passage at 4:48

5:10 trying to find ways to be. Be happy, trying to find ways to avoid suffering just like we're exactly the same in that way. Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:30 Just open your awareness to realize that everyone in the city is the same, everyone in this area is the same, the state, Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:44 the whole world. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

5:48 We're looking for ways to be happy. We're all looking for ways to not feel pain. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

6:06 Buddha taught that there's nothing wrong with this. It's just that we tend to go about it in the wrong way. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:22 We tend to look for happiness in ways that actually cause us not only create more suffering for ourselves but cause harm for others. Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:44 It has to do with the mind of bodhicitta, strengthening this mind of bodhicitta through some practices that are called thought training, mind training, lojang. And Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

7:00 this mind of bodhicitta is the most amazing mind we can even imagine. It's Report an error in the passage at 7:00 Highlight the passage at 7:00

7:10 a mind that encompasses all beings exactly with the same awareness and the same interest and the same concern as we currently focus on our own needs. Our own wants, our own happiness. We Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:33 can motivate tonight's class and the classes that follow that we are able to generate such a mind. That we can accumulate the karma to generate such a mind and strengthen that mind until it becomes the cause for our own enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 7:33 Highlight the passage at 7:33

8:10 And in the meantime, as Shantideva says, may the path to bliss also be blissful. Our path to happiness bring us happiness. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:25 Our capacity more and more to help others around us find happiness too. And Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:41 when you're ready, you can end your meditation and open your eyes and we'll do an opening prayer. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

9:00 In the white prayer book on page 8, we'll do Generating the Mind of Enlightenment, which is talking about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 9:00 Highlight the passage at 9:00

9:14 And we'll do it three times. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. until I reach full enlightenment inspired by wisdom and compassion 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 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:54 To Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind to full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. 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 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:19 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 10:19 Highlight the passage at 10:19

10:58 Welcome back to some of you and welcome to Claire. This is your first class here, right? Have you ever come to anything else like the meditation on Saturdays or anything like that? Great. Well, welcome. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:12 So this is a class on what's called Lojong. Report an error in the passage at 11:12 Highlight the passage at 11:12

11:19 You did Malam's class on bodhicitta, right? And so did you, Cindy? Did you also, right? Okay. But you've taken a few. Oh, you did a few of them? Yeah. Well, and you've done other classes with me. I've mentioned bodhicitta before. Are you familiar with the term bodhicitta? We'll have a moment where we'll kind of go around and just introduce ourselves and a little bit about our background because I think it helps to know where we all are in terms of Buddhism and our study and stuff so that we don't assume. Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

11:57 Lojang or mind training teachings come... Out of the same group of teachings as bodhicitta. This class is sometimes translated as mind transformation, thought transformation, mind training. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:13 Lo is mind and Zhang is training or to develop. We'll talk about that a little bit more. It's sort of like you're developing and strengthening this mind of bodhicitta. you're, they're, it's, generally they are, Generally, there's this assumption that you've actually already generated some form of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:39 It used to be that they were completely secret teachings, almost like Tantra, because the great masters, the people who had actually mastered these teachings, were afraid that people wouldn't understand the teachings because they're really radical, very radical teachings. They go sort of 180, completely opposite to what our culture teaches, which is probably why I love them so much. Report an error in the passage at 12:39 Highlight the passage at 12:39

13:14 But gradually, some of the masters decided to start teaching them more openly. And so we'll talk a little bit about the history of the teachings as well. But one of the things that's really great about the Lojang teachings is that they are, You can practice them all the time. You can practice them with everything that happens in your life. You can practice them at your job and with your housemates and in relationships and with your parents. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:53 You can practice them with every little thing that arises in your life. So they're very practical in that sense. And there's never a time that you can't practice them. They're really, really useful and really, really practical and very down to earth in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 13:53 Highlight the passage at 13:53

14:14 So we do spend most of the time, most of the time we spend a lot of time thinking about what's important to us and what we're attached to and what's most important to us and sort of looking out for number one. I mean, it's kind of a... Underlying theme in American culture especially, I think in Western culture period. And this is an idea of sort of, it sort of grows out of, in the bodhicitta class, did you guys do the meditation on exchange of self for others? Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:56 Yeah. So we'll talk about that one. This grows out of those teachings a lot. So you're basically beginning to train your mind in this mind of, Report an error in the passage at 14:56 Highlight the passage at 14:56

15:09 Caring as much for others as you currently do for yourself. So that's why it's called training because we can hear these teachings and we might even be able to understand them, but it takes work to really do that shift because it's a shift of attitude really. It's not like a shift of... Report an error in the passage at 15:09 Highlight the passage at 15:09

15:34 It's not like you're shifting bodies or anything like that. You're just simply shifting your attitude so that you begin to care as much about other people in your life as you do for yourself, which sounds much easier than it really is. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:51 So mind training is you learning the steps of it and then contemplating what it really means to do that. And it's quite courageous. Bodhicitta. I think bodhicitta often gets sort of reduced to a little bit more wimpy than I think it really is. I think bodhicitta is the bravest, vastest state of mind that we could possibly ever generate. Because what you're doing is you're not just... Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:31 I'm not just saying I'm going to work for my own happiness or my kids' happiness or my loved one's happiness or my friend's happiness or everyone in the center's happiness or everyone in the city's happiness or everyone in this world's happiness. I'm saying I'm going to work for every sentient being with no exceptions. Animal, spirit, insect, human. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:59 It covers... Everything with mind, which is what sentient being means, just everything with a mind. So it's almost like ridiculous. It's almost, as Rubina always says, it's almost like it's insane. It's almost like it's just, it's like we can't even get our mind around how big that is. Because we're not just saying that you generate for a blip of an instant. Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:22 Like you generate it and you develop it and strengthen it so that it never reverses. So Buddhas have this mind. It's such a huge shift in consciousness that it literally transforms their bodies as well. It's this enormous shift of love, love and compassion beyond anything we can even imagine. So that's bodhicitta. And in order to get that, it's like you have to do these baby steps of these meditations where you start. Report an error in the passage at 17:22 Highlight the passage at 17:22

17:57 It's like the... Exercises that you do at a gym to become a world class athlete. It's like you got to build up to it. And so we do these baby steps of these meditations and contemplations and thinking about this shift and then trying it out in our lives and going, whoa, what was that like? Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:20 And doing it when problems arise, because problems come anyway. So what we're doing is we're taking the things that normally will arise in our lives and we're... Practicing with them so that every single thing that arises in your life becomes fodder for your practice. So it's actually pretty cool. Report an error in the passage at 18:20 Highlight the passage at 18:20

18:44 But it takes a lot of practice and it takes a lot of courage. And so you sort of start with baby steps and you just play with it and then you try it out and then you come back and you talk about it. It's sort of like that. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:00 But it's very, very cool practice. I would say that along with karma and emptiness, the Lojong teachings are my absolute favorite in all of Buddhism. It's what makes, especially Tibetan Buddhism, so radical and so attractive to me because it's so completely different than the way I was ever raised. Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:24 But, you know, the reality is the way that we've been living hasn't worked. So why not try something really, really radical? And so that's what the focus of this class is, is this crazy wisdom of the Buddha, that radical compassion, taking it to the next level. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:51 So generating bodhicitta, this mind of bodhicitta, which you develop slowly over time doing these meditations that... We'll talk about it a little bit more. Basically, they're stretching your mind. You're beginning to see all beings as your mother, for example. Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

20:15 You're realizing that this skin that I see, that I contain myself and my needs and my concerns is completely arbitrary and actually I can extend it and I can include all of you in my heart. It's just that I don't. or your Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:34 That you actually can expand your heart bigger and bigger. And so bodhicitta is this really radical mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

20:49 And we generate it in little blips and starts and then we have to just keep strengthening it and expanding it because otherwise it degenerates. Report an error in the passage at 20:49 Highlight the passage at 20:49

21:02 It's not like the direct perception of emptiness. When you have a direct perception of emptiness, it... Bodhicitta is irreversible. You have this direct perception of emptiness, which is the wisdom teachings. You have this direct realization of how reality is, and that just permanently shifts your consciousness from that point. Report an error in the passage at 21:02 Highlight the passage at 21:02

21:24 Bodhicitta is more like you have insights, and those insights get stronger, and then you have more experience of it in the daytime. You're out of formal session and then you have more meditative experiences and then that mind gets stronger and stronger. But it can still be reversed up to a certain point. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:45 But when you generate bodhicitta you actually become what's called a bodhisattva. But there are all these levels of being a bodhisattva. And I think all the way up until the eighth level it can still be lost. I remember Riba Rinpoche, one of my teachers who passed away a couple of years ago, he used to say, Don't let the fires of bodhicitta go out. Just feed that fire every day. It gives you this idea that you generate this little fire in your heart and you just have to keep watching it and keep protecting it because nobody else is going to do that. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

22:21 The realities of our world are such that our mental habits are so strong that it's really, really easy to lose bodhicitta. And all of us, I think, can get insights into how it feels to have bodhicitta, even if we can't maintain those. You know, like we have this great blissful experience and then we go out and yell at somebody on the street or something. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:44 And that happens all the time. Sometimes you meditate on it for a month and you just like, yes, and then like you immediately come down and like scream at somebody, you know, because our mental habits are lifetimes thick, you know, they're dense. That's why it's called training. We're going against lifetimes of not even knowing what's going on in our minds, not even looking. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:11 So problems come to us due to our karma. Just a little bit. We'll talk a lot about these various tenets of Buddhist thought. Karma is a big one. Karma comes... Report an error in the passage at 23:11 Highlight the passage at 23:11

23:30 Karma, I think, is one of the most pivotal of all the Buddhist teachings because you both get where your reality comes from and your experience of reality comes from and ultimately you have to take responsibility. Like if you get it on any level, you have to stop blaming everyone else for all your problems and looking outside of yourself for any resolution of this problem. Report an error in the passage at 23:30 Highlight the passage at 23:30

23:56 So problems come to us. We're going to still, you know, like just because we... Find a new path to try out doesn't mean all of our problems are going to go away. So transforming problems doesn't mean getting rid of them. It simply means, great, I can use this to strengthen this mind of bodhicitta. I can use this on my path. So nothing that ever happens in our life is an obstacle ever again. Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:27 And that's really true. It doesn't matter what it is. Every single thing that arises, large and small, and it's so hard to remember that, but it's true. It's totally true. For the rest of your life, you have the best conditions in the world to practice. It doesn't matter what happens to you. So in that sense, it's like a friend of mine said once, once you meet Tibetan Buddhism, you're never bored again. Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:57 There's always something that you could be doing with what's happening in your life. um our karma you know how we've acted in the past and the kinds of deeds that we've done and negative and positive creates what's happening for us right now so you know new problems arise every day we don't have to look for them don't have to search But with this Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:29 practice, we can stop thinking that... Oh, you know, I'm going to wait for my life to calm down a little bit before I seriously practice, or I'm going to wait until I move, or I'm going to wait until I get in a different relationship, or I'm going to wait until I have more time, or I'm going to wait until, you know, which we all do, right? Report an error in the passage at 25:29 Highlight the passage at 25:29

25:46 We all are thinking that somehow, somewhere, sometime, life's going to be better for practice. The point of this particular mind training is that actually, first of all, that could never, that might never happen. And secondly, this is the greatest. You've got everything you need right now to practice. Just use it. It's a shift in how you look at your life and your mind and everything that's happening in your life. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:14 So it all becomes raw material for your practice. It all becomes raw material for your own enlightenment. So it's even bigger than just your practice. It's just like it all becomes the fuel for you to become a Buddha. you know? Report an error in the passage at 26:14 Highlight the passage at 26:14

26:31 Which sounds so huge, doesn't it? But the Buddha started out exactly like us and all he did is follow these exact ways of changing his mind and he just taught us these same things. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:50 So when Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

26:56 we say transforming problems into happiness, it's really talking about ultimate happiness. It's not saying that you're going to have cancer today and you're going to be blissful tomorrow. It's not like that. It's not like that sort of simplistic view. It's, hey, Saki, come on in. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:19 It's talking about taking these teachings and actually using them to do a 180 on your mind and how you view reality and that ultimately just... Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:35 Doing this shift of attitude will bring you happiness now and will bring you happiness in the long term. Because you'll begin to realize that the way you're looking at your problems now actually isn't accurate. It's this really limited misconception. So you do become happier in the short term, but then you also become happier in the long term. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:58 So one of the reasons that these teachings were kept secret for so long, traditionally, is that... Masters would hand-pick the disciples they felt really had this, generated this mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:18 And not just that, but they picked the ones that they felt could handle these teachings. And so often they would have, you know, a hundred disciples and they would pass it on to only one. It's pretty amazing, actually. And these were, I mean, these were great disciples, you know what I mean? Some of them were quite famous disciples and they didn't get taught it. There would just be one disciple that would get it, all of their disciples. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:47 And that was the way they did it. They would say mouth to ear. The Lama only would choose one disciple and just teach that disciple privately these teachings. And so this happened for hundreds of years. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:07 And then the one who turned it around was Master Chakawa, Geshe Chakawa, who was one of what's called the Kadampa Geshe's. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:19 And he actually realized, he began to see, there were two things that happened for him. One, his brother, there's this story where Master Chakawa was this very amazing... Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:36 And he had this brother who was sort of a layabout, you know, he was kind of a lazy, good for nothing, whose name isn't even like recorded in the text, you know, this poor brother. But apparently this brother began listening in, like he would be teaching his students these teachings, or his student these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

30:01 And the brother began listening in and practicing them. And the brother began shifting his own, the way he viewed the world and the way he practiced. And Master Chokyi saw the difference and asked him, you know, how did, what's going on with you? Like, why are you taking care of these people? Why are you being so kind? Why are you having such concern? And he said, oh, you know, I've been listening to what you were saying. So then he thought, you know, who am I to decide? Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:26 So then he thought, you know, How can we tell, until we're totally clairvoyant, how can we tell whose minds are going to be most benefited by these teachings? And so he actually began teaching them to huge groups. I mean, it was rather shocking compared to the way they had been done. But he just felt like he didn't have this ability to decide who could or couldn't benefit anymore after seeing this. Report an error in the passage at 30:26 Highlight the passage at 30:26

30:52 But the other thing he did is he began teaching them to this particular teachings to... There were a number of groups of lepers and they had massive miraculous changes in their lives and so he just decided that there was no way that he could just decide that one high-ranking disciple only got these teachings and so they actually began to be written down in his lifetime and it's really thanks to him that Those of us who are not amazing masters get to learn these teachings because otherwise the masters who followed him were also concerned that they would be lost and so they began writing them down more and more too. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:47 There's a book that is, oh gosh I didn't print the syllabus. Anyway, I'll give you the syllabus next week. Next week we'll have binders. With some readings, there'll be some readings and there'll be meditation assignments each week and things like that. But there's also one, I think there's two texts that are suggested or required or whatever, however you want to, whatever the right word is. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:11 One of them is transforming problems into happiness, which is a book by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who's my main teacher. And then the other is a book. And by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, that's basically a commentary on the eight verses of thought transformation, which is what we're going to use as our root text. Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

32:33 And I think that one's called Transforming the Mind. So I've asked Karina to order those, and I think we will have them in the bookstore. And if people don't want to buy them, then we can figure out a way to loan them or something like that, or you can read them here or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 32:33 Highlight the passage at 32:33

32:51 But in Transforming Problems into Happiness, Lama Zopa says, the practice of thought transformation is not intended to eliminate problems, but rather to enable you to use the problems you experience to train your mind to move step by step along the path to enlightenment and ultimate happiness. It's not that you will no longer receive harm from other people or circumstances or disease or old age. You'll simply not be disturbed by anything that happens. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:20 Amazing. Watching him, you get an idea that actually could work. The events that the untrained mind perceives as problems cannot in and of themselves disturb your practice of Dharma. They cannot prevent your attainment of the realizations on the path to enlightenment. In fact, when you practice thought transformation, not only do problems not disturb you, they actually help you to develop your mind and continue your Dharma practice. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:49 This is still him. When we habitually identify everything as a problem, even something so small as being given food that is a little cold causes great discomfort to our mind. Being given tea that's a little cold. If we hear a noise during the night that wakes us up, we become incredibly angry. Report an error in the passage at 33:49 Highlight the passage at 33:49

34:11 It's the nature of the mind to become addicted to certain ways of seeing things. By habitually seeing as a problem every tiny thing that does not accord exactly with our self-cherishing wishes, we exaggerate small things into huge problems. Everything appears threatening. Everything we hear, see, taste, smell or touch makes us unhappy. Our life is filled with irritation, depression, paranoia. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:38 This state is called In the Buddhist teachings, all appearances arising as the enemy. For skillful meditators with well-trained minds, instead of all appearances arising as the enemy, they actually appear as the opposite, as a friend and a teacher. Instead of disturbing us, everything appears as beneficial and supportive. To skilled meditators, everything appears as bliss. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

35:07 So hard to imagine. Happiness, this is another quote, that's the last of the Lama Zopa quotes, but this is another one from a teacher, an Italian monk, Venerable Antonio, who came and gave us a talk at the end of a retreat that I did in India in 98. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:27 And he said, you know, before you go out back to your lives. He was assuming we were in a blissful state. It was a bodhicitta retreat actually. I'm not sure how blissful any of us were. I wrote down everything he said because I found it so powerful and I've since used it a lot in my life. Sometimes I'll just use this quote and I'll just plaster it on the wall, especially if I'm having a hard time. Happiness is not synonymous with having no problems. Report an error in the passage at 35:27 Highlight the passage at 35:27

35:59 That in and of itself is such a radical thought, right? We think happiness means no problems. Problems means unhappiness. He's immediately blasting that one out of the water. Happiness comes from within. What a radical thought. The problems themselves do not cause happiness or unhappiness. It's how we see them. We must change our attitude towards them. We must first see the benefits of problems. We need problems to learn. Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:32 We learn by experience. The more problems, suffering, sickness and so on, we learn to put up with pain. We learn the patience of suffering. You must view problems as friends so there's no more fear. You experience them with welcome, with happiness. So this is insane. Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

36:52 I mean, it's totally different than anyone in your life. I mean, if you even just gave that quote to somebody tonight. They would probably just be like, totally bizarre. Whatever this woman is talking about, you guys, you got to check out of this. But the reality is when you see somebody like His Holiness the Dalai Lama or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or Venable Antonio and you watch them over a course of time, you realize it's possible and what a huge difference it would make. Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:27 And it all comes from changing your mind. That's all it is. It's changing your mind. Can you do it overnight? No. Can we do it just by understanding it intellectually? No. It's going to take time. That's what it's called training for. But we start with the smaller things that arise for us, and then we just gradually build up to bigger and bigger things. Report an error in the passage at 37:27 Highlight the passage at 37:27

37:52 Everything that currently upsets us in any way is a tool to achieving this state of mind. And actually the more things that arise for us, the more we can practice it. So Lama Zopa actually even says, I mean it's totally insane, he says you come to this point where you begin to see problems the way you would see ice cream. Report an error in the passage at 37:52 Highlight the passage at 37:52

38:23 Totally insane, I'll admit. Does this mean that we become masochists and go seeking problems? No, because we have tons of problems. We have plenty right now. We don't have to get any more. We just figure out how to work with them. That's all. We all have plenty. I mean, we could, you know, each of us could begin listing all of our problems. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:44 So it's not that we enjoy having pain. It's simply that we begin looking at the different things that causes pain and causes problems and rethink the way we see them and rethink how we might use them. Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

38:59 So this is what mind training is about. We use these things to get stronger and stronger in our minds, to get more courageous and more Report an error in the passage at 38:59 Highlight the passage at 38:59

39:09 caring about other people. And Lama Yeshe always says, you know, Lama Yeshe was one of the founders of this particular lineage of Buddhist teachings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, who passed away in 84, I think. He always talked about the difference between big mind and small mind. And the way to get big mind is just like, how do you get big muscles? Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:36 Training, training. And we're always stuck in small mind. And he's like, you know, you're just that small mind, dear. You have to get big mind, big mind, you know. And so this is what big mind is. Big mind is bodhicitta. So we use our problems to get big mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:36 Highlight the passage at 39:36

39:59 Lama Zopa spends a lot of time in his book, and we're going to spend a lot of time also talking about how... Just the idea that something is a problem is simply a label. It's the way we're labeling something as a problem. And you can begin experience, you can begin experimenting with this now, just, you know, why do we immediately call this a problem? Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

40:25 You know, just to think about that a little bit, put a crack in that idea. The more things that we label as a problem, it's like Rinpoche was saying in his quote, Tiny things begin to add up and then everything becomes this problem. And we know people like that, even if we don't feel like we're that way ourselves, where every little thing becomes, it's almost like, what's that saying? Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:53 Another nail in the coffin. It's like everything just gets added on, you know, and somebody takes their, you know, cushion in the meditation hall or, you know, the tea is a little bit cold tonight or the, you know, the... Their ride is a little bit late and it all just begins to add up and it just feels like the world's against them, which is what the paranoia thing is. It actually weakens our mind rather than strengthening it. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:25 So the root of that paranoia or that mind of seeing everything as the enemy, everything arising as the enemy, isn't everything that's happening to us. It's how we're seeing it. It's our mind. The root is within our own mind. So changing our mind is the only way to really change what's happening. Because the problems themselves, even problems, I mean some people would not even notice that they were problems. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:53 And I think we've all had the experience where we've seen a couple of, you know, two different people facing the same issues and completely different attitudes. So we know that it's not necessarily, you know, the tea being cold or the... Cushion being taken or even cancer, even huge things, cancer, stolen car, girlfriend leaving you. Report an error in the passage at 41:53 Highlight the passage at 41:53

42:17 Big things don't have to send you into a spiral. You don't have to label them as a problem. It's simply how you choose to work with them. And so these teachings are really about changing. Or exchanging that mind, the weak mind with the larger mind, the selfish mind, the self-absorbed mind with this mind of cherishing others, the bodhicitta mind. Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:56 So technically, a little bit about bodhicitta. This mind of bodhicitta, technically, Maitreya actually, Buddha Maitreya, defined it as the mind that aspires to become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. So it's simply that, you know, but what that means is that it's a mind that has this enormous compassion for not just Jane's suffering, you know, not just Cindy's suffering, but the suffering of all beings and wants to remove that suffering and the tool to do that is getting enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 42:56 Highlight the passage at 42:56

43:38 So the goal is compassion and the tool is... Becoming a Buddha. That took me like a couple years to figure that one out, so I always have to announce that one. It's like Buddhahood is really just the tool. It's just the most practical way to achieve my goal, which is to help all beings end their own suffering. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

44:04 And so when you're doing those meditations to attain this mind of bodhicitta, you basically are trying to generate this... Recognition that all beings are suffering and that their suffering is just as important as your suffering and that you want to remove that suffering at all costs, meaning you do anything no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, no matter how many obstacles you have, no matter what they do to you, because it's not just your friends, right? Report an error in the passage at 44:04 Highlight the passage at 44:04

44:34 It's not just the people that you like. It's all beings without exception. Wanting to remove their suffering and wanting them to have happiness. And I am willing then to do whatever is necessary to do that. And the best tool is for me to be a fully enlightened being. Because then I have the ability to, I have all these amazing powers that a Buddha has. Report an error in the passage at 44:34 Highlight the passage at 44:34

44:59 I have the ability to know their minds. I know what would work for them. I know what they've tried in the past. Not just in the past of this life, but in the past of all their lives. I know what their karma is. I know how to work with that karma. I can manifest as the annoying woman at the drugstore. Report an error in the passage at 44:59 Highlight the passage at 44:59

45:14 I can manifest as the teacher. I can manifest in all these different ways because I'm a Buddha, right? So I have all these great powers that I can use. So that's why I become a Buddha. So that I can personally help every single being in exactly the way that works for them. So it's actually just this incredible... Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:33 It's like the Swiss Army knife or the Leatherman of enlightened mind. It's like the way that we can help in every possible way. So why wouldn't I want that tool? That just makes the most sense. Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word in Tibetan. It's called, it's jangshub semkye. And literally that translates as, Report an error in the passage at 45:33 Highlight the passage at 45:33

46:04 Jang Shub is enlightenment. Jang is free of all mistakes and Shub is enriched in all knowledge. In other words, it has this perfected mind and it's also free of all imperfections and has all perfections. So they mention both in Jang Shub. So that means enlightenment. And Semke means to develop. So bodhicitta literally means to develop this mind of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:38 And bodhicitta is a complete revolution from a mind of self-absorption and selfishness, which is its biggest obstacle. And we'll talk about that. And those of you that have been studying bodhicitta, I'm sure have spent some time on that. And it's this enormous leap from ordinary compassion, but we have to... Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

47:04 We have to look at what ordinary compassion is in order to generate it because the direct cause of bodhicitta is great compassion. Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

47:14 Compassion just meaning wishing to remove the suffering of others. So defined simply as wanting to remove the suffering of others. Great compassion is wanting to remove the suffering of all others. Report an error in the passage at 47:14 Highlight the passage at 47:14

47:27 So that's the direct cause. So when you're doing those meditations on the path, And you are generating this mind, first of all, of compassion. Then you expand it out to all beings. And then the very next thing is like, oh, if I really do see them all as suffering, I want to remove that suffering. How am I going to remove that suffering? And then generating this mind of bodhicitta is this natural result to that mind of great compassion. So bodhicitta is based on compassion, but it's like light years beyond the compassion that we can at this point. Report an error in the passage at 47:27 Highlight the passage at 47:27

48:02 feel if you guys are ordinary beings i don't know maybe you guys are all bodhisattvas already Enlightenment is, I like to define things because I think sometimes we think we know what things mean and Buddhism is really precise. It's like science, you know, and it's a little tricky when... When Buddhism comes into the West, because like with karma, we all think we have some understanding and then it's slightly different. So I just think it's really important to define terms. Report an error in the passage at 48:02 Highlight the passage at 48:02

48:38 Enlightenment, just like we were talking about with Zhang Shub, is a mind that's completely free of all negative and has completely perfected all positive qualities. So it's completely eliminated everything that's harmful, everything that disturbs the mind. Everything that causes any kind of harm to anyone else. So any kind of states of mind like anger, jealousy, depression, that critical mind, anything, sadness. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

49:14 It just doesn't even exist in enlightened mind. No negative qualities whatsoever. It's completely free of them. And it's completely perfected all the states of mind that are positive. Compassion, love, wisdom, kindness, patience, generosity. So not just that it has those, but that they're in this form that cannot be perfected any further. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:41 So it's not just generosity, it's generosity. It's like this willingness to give all, you know, which is, of course, if you become a Buddha, you are giving up a lot and you're getting everything. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

49:55 So the positive states of mind are these completely perfected states of mind and the negative states of mind are just completely eliminated. So bodhicitta is the wish to attain this state of mind so that I can use this as the tool to help all beings. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:14 Because Buddhists have limitless compassion, limitless wisdom. They have all these different powers of being able to show up effortlessly and spontaneously and without any conceptual thought at all in any form. That might be needed by any being at all, anywhere, simultaneously, which is pretty amazing. And so it can become this amazing tool to be able to help all beings. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:40 If that's my goal, then that's the best way to attain my goal. Report an error in the passage at 50:40 Highlight the passage at 50:40

50:50 But we are going against lifetimes of mostly thinking about our own needs and occasionally thinking about the needs of people we care about. And sometimes thinking about the needs of people we don't care about. And we've spent lifetimes doing this. And so for us to begin to do this 180 shift of trying to begin thinking of other people's needs first, not in a martyr kind of way, but simply out of care, out of concern. Report an error in the passage at 50:50 Highlight the passage at 50:50

51:24 Like shifting that really does take training. It really does take patience with ourselves. Figuring out the methods and also figuring out like it's not about negating your own needs. It's not like becoming a martyr and we're going to talk a little bit about that. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

51:45 It's simply caring as much for all beings as you do for yourself. So you're training your mind to just begin to think about the needs of others. In the same way, I think that... I mean, some people have that experience of, and that's actually what we're going to talk about a little bit after the break, having that experience of just sort of putting all of your own needs aside for somebody in some way at some point. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

52:17 I think all of us have probably had that experience. I think parents often have that experience once they give birth for the rest of that child's life or even beyond, really. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:31 And so it isn't something that we haven't tasted. So it's not that radical. It's just simply what makes it radical is that then what our goal is, is to have that mind for every single being without exception. So it's not just the child that we gave birth to or it's not just our best friend who's dying or, you know, our parent or something that we're caring for when they're ill. Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:59 It's actually beginning to have that mind for all beings. So why don't we take a moment to just go around and just say a little bit about who you are and why you're in this class and, you know, just kind of like why, where you are in your, you know, spiritual path. I mean, but five minutes or less. You don't need to go into serious. Report an error in the passage at 52:59 Highlight the passage at 52:59

53:27 serious. Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:30 I mean, you could because we have a small group. So that's the joy of a small group. But yeah, just kind of go around a little bit and then we'll take a break and then we'll talk more about sort of some of the logistics since this is the first night of the class. Would you like to go first? Oh, maybe we should. Do you want to do the mic? You can always disguise your voice. Report an error in the passage at 53:30 Highlight the passage at 53:30

54:09 So I'm Jane. Feels like I've been here for eons already. In a good way, of course. Yeah, in a really good way. I started coming to Thursday night classes maybe four or five months ago. I don't even remember. I know, it seems like years ago. Yeah, it seems like forever, and it's probably the best thing that ever happened to me. So, yeah, and Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:44 I'm just practicing, practicing as much as I can. To use whatever I learned here. I'm Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:05 Cindy. I think I started coming to daytime meditations since March. I've decided to come out and join others in the practice because I've been doing it by myself in the past years. But anyway, I actually wanted to get into Dharma after I came back from India. This January, I attended a monglum as a volunteer, the nigma monglum. And I really want to get into the Dharma. And I want to have the teaching other than, you know, reading things on my own. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:43 I think I need a formal teaching. That's what I was after. I'm glad I did. So here I am, my second class here. Yeah, the first one was cultivating bodhicitta, developing bodhicitta. And that was Jane and Ray. yeah, and Saki. Report an error in the passage at 55:43 Highlight the passage at 55:43

56:05 My name is Ray and I've attended a few of these classes and what I'm getting is that learning seems so relevant to everybody's lives that it's just incredible that it's just incredible teaching. So I guess I'm a novice so I'm just learning slowly and I'm trying to get to the point where like meditation. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:39 Is something that I set aside time to do. So I think that's one of my goals right now. And you started with the Saturday morning meditation. That's right. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

56:56 I feel like I'm an A. I'm Saki and I'm a Dharma-holic. Hi, Saki! And yeah, it is true. It's a good addiction, I think. I am Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:13 The Dharma is definitely something that I've been into direct off and on for seven years. My mom actually in a really dark depression that I was in about seven or eight years ago. She bought me the book The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and that just really hit home for me in a good way. Report an error in the passage at 57:13 Highlight the passage at 57:13

57:42 Ever since then, it's been like this flirtation and then coming back to San Francisco in like February, well actually in December, coming back to San Francisco to live and kind of find my home, re-find my home again here. I started looking for work in non-profits and this place came up in the cafe. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:07 It was kind of really auspicious in my life to have it kind of all solidify back and come back together for me here. And it just really just ignited and sparked, I think, back into my life to just and it just really happened for me coming back to the center. This is my third class. So I worked for a while in the cafe and now I'm working with as a mental health clinician. Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:33 I'm working with people who. I deal with co-occurring disorders, substance abuse and mental health. And I almost feel like it's like a necessity to come to the Dharma Center to really be able to kind of mirror that, what I do during the daytime. And it's really challenging, I mean, working with people and working with myself to have the patience. So everyone's been really great here. Report an error in the passage at 58:33 Highlight the passage at 58:33

59:03 Fenerable Rubina has been amazing. Even though I've only seen her a couple times and had a couple talks with her, for some reason she's really just put it on me. I feel like a couple times it's been harsh, but man, it's been really useful. It sticks, and usually I'm not that way. If someone's like this or that, I'm like... Report an error in the passage at 59:03 Highlight the passage at 59:03

59:28 Screw that. Maybe a couple of times I was like that with her, but then it's like just like really stuck in my mind. And everything that comes to me here, it just really sticks in my mind. And I think coming to classes has been important because it's like, even though I might think, oh, yeah, I know that I've learned that I've read that, you know, which I have. Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

59:49 It's like, man, it's like for some reason, just keep coming back, keep getting it into your mind over and over and over again. It's so important for me. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

59:58 So yeah, I'm glad to keep on trucking. That's what Rubina keeps saying back to me. Report an error in the passage at 59:58 Highlight the passage at 59:58

1:00:08 Hi, my name is Claire. This is my first time here, actually. I found this on Google. Well done. I also was in India for a while. I was there for four months. I did a Buddhist studies program through Antioch. And that was in Bode Gaia and that was really cool. And I came back to the States and I go to school in Connecticut and sort of had an understandably interesting transition back into the States. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:08 Highlight the passage at 1:00:08

1:00:48 Not really sure like what my practice was anymore at all. And then so I'm here for the summer and my mom is very involved in like spirit rock and stuff and I've always been very involved with that. I went there and I can't go there anymore was the reaction I had being there this time. Just something like it wasn't right anymore for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:48 Highlight the passage at 1:00:48

1:01:13 So we're just looking for community and teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:13 Highlight the passage at 1:01:13

1:01:22 And you're just back for the summer? Yeah. Excellent. You found us early. Just leave it there because if somebody has a question later. So why don't we take a break? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:34 And then we'll just talk a little bit about class logistics and then like what your homework's going to be. Check Report an error in the passage at 1:01:34 Highlight the passage at 1:01:34

1:01:47 you out. Look at you. She's already like learning how to test. She's handling that new job very, very well. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:47 Highlight the passage at 1:01:47

1:01:57 You'd be surprised. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:57 Highlight the passage at 1:01:57

1:02:08 It's all right. You're not alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:13 So just really quick a little bit on logistics. This is an eight-week class. I think there's one. One week that we don't have a class, and I'm sorry I didn't do the syllabus. I'll have the syllabus next week. I like to be really formal in terms of giving you a sort of preview of what's happening. Oh, it's Chloe working tonight. I said Pima before. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:13 Highlight the passage at 1:02:13

1:02:41 I like to give you guys, I like to treat it sort of like a college class, even though it's not a college class. And don't... If you don't want to do any of the homework or any of the meditations or anything, just show up, just come, because you'll get a lot out of just absorbing what we do in class. And we always try to do some meditation. I usually try to do some meditation in a class for those people who don't do it at home. And for those of you who do do it at home, it'll just be more familiar, have that experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:41 Highlight the passage at 1:02:41

1:03:13 I sort of try to teach to the level of the person who wants to get the most out of it. So I'm trying to figure out a way to help you get the most out of it and then you can just decide how much you can do. So usually there's some reading. There won't be this week because I didn't get it together. So there's usually some reading and there's always some meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13 Highlight the passage at 1:03:13

1:03:39 And the reason I do that, for me the classes, the ongoing classes, the weekly classes that I've gotten the most out of. Have been the ones that I've had meditation assignments and the ones that I've had to do a little extra work for. I have one teacher who treated it exactly like the Western classes that we're all used to. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:39 Highlight the passage at 1:03:39

1:04:01 Gave homework, he gave quizzes. You came in the first ten minutes of the class, you had quiz on the last class. I mean, really hardcore. And nightly meditation assignments that you had to write down the times and the dates and hand it in. And I'm not doing that. But what I found, his classes I think I got the most out. I took a lot of his classes at the very beginning when I first started studying the Lamrim. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:26 And I got so much out of it because I had to do it. And so that's kind of the model that I like to use because I think you can take these classes as just informational or you can actually dive in. So I'm going to assume that you want to dive in and don't panic if you don't want to dive in. Just ignore everything and then just show up next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:26 Highlight the passage at 1:04:26

1:04:57 So that's my spiel. This is the 11th out of 14 modules of the Discovering Buddhism program. So like I was just saying while you were getting your cappuccino. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57 Highlight the passage at 1:04:57

1:05:17 Oh, it's a chai, sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:32 Joking, joking. Joking, joking. So, as I was saying, they do build on each other, but they also stand alone. You can just take a bodhicitta class or a karma class or something like that and still get something out of it, even if you haven't taken anything else. At this point I don't think we have any prerequisites for any of them, so you can take any of them. I still think it would be really nice to say for the Wisdom of Emptiness class and for the Tantra class that it would be great if you've taken one other class, but at this point I don't think we even say that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:06:12 There's 13 classes and their 14th module is integration experiences where you actually do things like take on a practice like 100,000 Vajrasapha, 100,000 Prostrations. Do a two-week retreat, I think I'm going to do a nunye. So these classes are developed not to just get information about Buddhism and the Buddhist teachings, but to actually change your mind and your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:44 Like that's really what the goal is. So it's a taste, but it's actually a really deep taste. I mean, clearly, if you're going to do 100,000 Prostrations. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:44 Highlight the passage at 1:06:44

1:06:58 But those are for people who are taking it for credit. I think it's great to take them for credit. And I, again, I just do this assumption that people are taking it for credit, even though I know perfectly well that not everyone is taking it for credit. But that's kind of the way that I teach them is like that, you know. So at the end of the eight weeks, we have a practice day. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:23 It's like a... A day long, 10.30, like 3.30 or something. And we get together and we do a lot of meditation together. And then we watch, there's like a little DB video that we watch together. And then people do presentations about something that jumped out at them. Ten minute presentation. You don't have to stand. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:23 Highlight the passage at 1:07:23

1:07:46 There's no PowerPoint. It's okay. You don't have to do anything to do with glitter. Although some people do. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:46 Highlight the passage at 1:07:46

1:07:56 But it's just a way of sort of bringing together everything and having it, you know, like as one of my teachers said, it's a way of you understanding the material enough to be able to help somebody else with it. So if you think about it in that way, it's like already that bodhicitta motivation. You know, like how am I going to take these teachings and be able to not just help change my mind, but help somebody else who might need it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:56 Highlight the passage at 1:07:56

1:08:22 I need to understand them well enough to do that. And the way I understand it well enough is meditating on it, you know, reading about it, asking questions, we'll have time in class for discussion and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:35 So all of these teachings come from the Buddha, this little historical context. All of these teachings come from the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:35 Highlight the passage at 1:08:35

1:08:46 All of them, all of the teachings that come from, all of the Discovering Buddhism classes come from the Buddha. They all come from the observations that he made to become fully enlightened or that he had after he became. He didn't sit down and make up a doctrine called Buddhism that came about after he lived. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:46 Highlight the passage at 1:08:46

1:09:12 He simply taught what he observed and what he thought would help us get enlightened too. So he didn't say everything he knew. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:23 He just gave us a load of information. He just taught what he felt was necessary. And so we still can receive his teachings in that same way, that they become sort of like personal, practical instructions for us, which I think is the freshest way to look at these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:46 That being said, if somebody brings up... Questions that just feel completely irrelevant to the course material, then I may just kind of go, you know, let's kind of like stay with what we're doing because there's a lot of information out there that won't necessarily help us in this quest. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:46 Highlight the passage at 1:09:46

1:10:06 So sometimes there's a term called Dharma monsters that I like to use, that one of my teachers used, which is basically people who kind of collect Dharma information and call it practice. And it's basically just keeping it at a really intellectual level and not really getting it to the heart. And so my goal is for us all to get it to the heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:06 Highlight the passage at 1:10:06

1:10:29 And so if it just feels like we're going off on some tangent that has nothing to do with it, I might just kind of rope you in. It doesn't mean that we can't talk after class or on the break or something or even make a date to have a cup of chai. Because I don't do coffee. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:29 Highlight the passage at 1:10:29

1:10:50 Although I wouldn't say never, especially not in this lineage. I just came from a weekend of teaching Lama Zopa and it was quite normal to be up at 2, 3 in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:50 Highlight the passage at 1:10:50

1:11:04 So yeah, these classes are really meant to change your life if you'd like them to and so that's kind of the emphasis that I take. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:04 Highlight the passage at 1:11:04

1:11:16 A little bit about this lineage and then... My lineage, too. Whenever you go to a teaching by the Dalai Lama or Lama Zopa and they give you a teaching on something, they'll say, I received these teachings from Ling Rinpoche, blah, blah, blah, Trijang Rinpoche, blah, blah, blah. I always write that down, assuming at some point I'll be like one of those people that'll be like, I got this teaching from the Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:47 So I got these teachings from... I took most of my lamrim teachings. I mean, I'm still taking lamrim teachings. Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught a lot on lamrim this weekend, actually, and I went to Crestone, Colorado, to receive some teachings. It was billed as Mahamudra. He's one of those teachings, like Venerobina, where you say he's going to teach on this, and then you just don't know what he's really going to teach on. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:47 Highlight the passage at 1:11:47

1:12:16 It'll always include emptiness, I can guarantee you. You don't really know where he's going to go with it. He actually did talk about Mahamudra teachings. It was a surprise. But he often will just teach lamrim. I did a retreat with him earlier this year where it was billed as a lamrim retreat and it was almost all emptiness. But he's my main teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:16 Highlight the passage at 1:12:16

1:12:42 I received a lot of lamrim teachings from a teacher named Geshe Michael Roach, an American Geshe. Riba Rinpoche, who I mentioned earlier, who just passed away a couple of years ago, was also one of my main teachers for the Lojang teachings and for the Lamrim period. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:05 I met the Dharma, I mean I engaged with the Dharma, I took refuge in 96, so that's 12 years ago in 2000. And I've been working in a Dharma center since 2000, I've been working here. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:05 Highlight the passage at 1:13:05

1:13:25 Part of what attracted me was this really methodical approach that Tibetan Buddhism has about you do this, you meditate on this, you contemplate this, and then you generate this mind. It's like a recipe. It's like a cookbook. I've been involved in other spiritual paths before, and they just never have been quite that methodical. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:25 Highlight the passage at 1:13:25

1:13:50 Christianity, I really admire Christ. I really admire a lot of the saints. And I could never find kind of a workbook that said, if you want this mind like St. Francis, here's what you do. You know, you meditate on this and this and this and this, you know. And Buddhism did that. So I thought that was really great. I still think it's really great. And I wouldn't still be doing it if I didn't see that it had some effect on my, if I didn't have some sort of breakthroughs, which is not to say that a master in any way. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:24 But I've definitely struggled with it. So for me, meditation is really, really key to taking it from above the neck to below the neck. As a friend of mine says, making it an experiential teaching for yourself. And so I really do push meditation. It's not to say that I... I consider myself a yogi or even a good meditator. I think I'm actually a crappy meditator. But I see the point of meditation. And I have had amazing experiences with meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24 Highlight the passage at 1:14:24

1:15:06 And we're going to actually talk a little bit about that right now. Because I'd like to know if people all, I kind of want to know where people are in terms of having some sort of a meditative practice or a meditation, a daily meditation practice. And this is not to put you on the spot, thinking that you have to be an amazing meditator. When I say meditation, there's actually two main kinds of meditation, and I think it's really important to stress that, because people come from all different traditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:06 Highlight the passage at 1:15:06

1:15:37 There's what's called concentration meditation, where you just place your mind in an object. You place your mind in an object, like we did on the breath at the beginning of the class, and you try to keep it there. That's the goal. Try to keep it there. I have one friend who said, yeah, if you can get to three breaths, that's a great day. Which is great. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:03 You know, we are where we are. Keeping the mind there. The ultimate form of that is what's called calm abiding meditation, which is where you effortlessly and spontaneously and blissfully are able to keep your mind on any object of your choice for as long as you want. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:03 Highlight the passage at 1:16:03

1:16:23 Without any effort on your part at all. Minimum of four hours. Without moving, without anything. That's calm abiding. For our point, it's like keeping our mind on some object for a couple seconds. One second. One breath. So that's concentration. That's keeping the mind still, keeping the mind focused. And what's called analytical meditation, which is where the mind moves. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:53 Where we analyze something. So we are able to go deeper into these teachings, analyzing maybe the mind of bodhicitta, maybe analyzing death and impermanence, maybe analyzing karma and how we're contemplating it. So it's really thinking. Analytical meditation is thinking, but it's thinking in a really methodical way. And then when you hit what I call an aha moment, like a moment of some sort of insight, like, whoa, I'm going to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:30 Everything just kind of goes like you have that kind of moment where you're just like and that's when you apply. So it's really, really important at those moments to stop everything and apply whatever concentration you have, which could be two and a half seconds. You know, I'm not talking about like holding it for four hours, but just simply apply whatever you have. And then the minute the mind gets distracted, like, you know, whoa, I'm going to die. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:30 Highlight the passage at 1:17:30

1:17:57 And then I wonder what's in the fridge because our mind does that. Our mind immediately is like, let's distract. This is difficult. I don't want to go here. So then you begin to analyze again. And that's what you do with analytical meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:11 You can also say that it's analytical meditation if you are doing a visualization meditation and you're getting to know the details of the particular deity, like Medicine Buddha or Tara. And he's got this, he wears his hair like this, he's got this going on, he's sitting like this, his hands are like this, he's holding this. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:30 And then you hold the concentration on the whole thing as much as you can do. Blue blob, you know, that's okay, that's blue blob. And then the mind gets distracted and then you kind of let it go around again and study it all and then blob. You know, you just do the best you can. That's also called an analytical mind. So those are the two main kinds. So how many people here do some kind of meditation on a regular basis, even if it's not every day? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30 Highlight the passage at 1:18:30

1:18:56 Thank you for being honest. But you have before. You've meditated before. I know that because you used to come to Saturday morning meditation. And you've done the classes. That's great. I think probably, I have a little document. Probably, how long have you been meditating, Claire? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:56 Highlight the passage at 1:18:56

1:19:24 If your mom's been involved in Spirit Rock. Some influence. Yeah, yeah. On a regular basis, pretty much. No off and on, kind of. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:24 Highlight the passage at 1:19:24

1:19:43 Right, right. Well, what I might do is I have a little like starting a daily meditation practice document that I'm happy to send if people want it. Some of you probably have it already from other classes. But what I want to do, I wanted to send around a roster and just get all your names and contact information while I remember it because just in case anything should happen and anything should shift with the schedule, which we have had happen because of an emergency or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:43 Highlight the passage at 1:19:43

1:20:13 And just put a star next to your name if you'd like me to send you the document. It's just a simple little document about starting a meditation practice. And where it might be useful is if you've meditated in other traditions. So it might be slightly different than in this particular one. So I'll send that around. If you want me to, I can email that document to you in the next couple of days. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:13 Highlight the passage at 1:20:13

1:20:36 And I'm happy at any time for you guys to email me. Which, of course, since I didn't give you the... Syllabus. You don't have my email address. That was good. It's basically, it's my name at sachinling.org. So it's Chokyi, C-H-O-K-Y-A. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:36 Highlight the passage at 1:20:36

1:20:57 But you'll get it next week. About anything. So if anything comes up in class that you have a question about, just be patient. I do. If you want to set up a time to talk to me outside of class, I'm totally happy to do that. About anything, whether it's your meditation or whether it's homework or whether, I say something in class that totally weirds you out and you just need some clarification and you're afraid to mention it because everyone else is nodding and you feel like the only person that doesn't understand it or is disturbed by it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:57 Highlight the passage at 1:20:57

1:21:30 I actually had a student that that was the case for and it took them weeks before they came and talked to me about it. So I really would prefer just like talk to me because it's possible, true, that it might be something that goes against, you know. You know, you might run into a wall with your existing spiritual systems or whatever, but it also might be that you just misunderstood something that I said or that I said it really unskillfully or something, you know, so there might be some clarification that's needed and that could be really useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:30 Highlight the passage at 1:21:30

1:22:04 So I would love, I totally invite you guys to contact me at any time. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:04 Highlight the passage at 1:22:04

1:22:16 One thing I wanted to do before we end the class, other than... Clearly, I would like to, if you guys have questions, why don't we take questions, if you have any questions about anything that I've said so far. I think what I was just going to do is kind of talk about where these teachings fall in the graduated path to enlightenment, so the lamrim itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:40 Just a little bit of context, especially if, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:40 Highlight the passage at 1:22:40

1:22:48 you know, because none of you have taken, like have been following DB all along. The Discovering Buddhism program all along, you've just sort of jumped in at various places. So I think it's really useful to kind of know. I think a lot of times bodhicitta teachings are considered open, like anybody can get them kind of teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:23:10 And in reality, they're actually pretty far along the path. I'm always the one in the room that's like, actually, they're kind of more advanced than that. So I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about context of where they fall in the teachings. And also, because in the next couple of weeks, we're going to look at some of these other teachings that it's assumed that you've already had before you start studying this, you know, so that we all have that same basis. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:10 Highlight the passage at 1:23:10

1:23:40 They're actually considered preliminaries to contemplate things like karma and so forth, preliminaries to studying and practicing Lojong, which I think is very interesting. So do people have questions so far about what I've already said? I mean, not like big questions like, what is bodhicitta? Actually, we just started a Tuesday night drop-in meditation for anybody that's interested. It was really fun. We had eight people this week. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:24:12 Seven of them are new, brand new. And so at the very, very end, somebody said, I just have a question. I just have a little question. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:12 Highlight the passage at 1:24:12

1:24:21 You've mentioned emptiness. What is emptiness? And that actually happened once with me in a DV class. It was in the last two and a half minutes of class, and somebody raised their hand and said, could you just tell me really quickly what this is? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:21 Highlight the passage at 1:24:21

1:24:37 I think I did a really basic thing. The way we see reality is not, the Buddha said, is not the way it really is, or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:37 Highlight the passage at 1:24:37

1:24:50 Emptiness or Shunyana is that things don't exist the way we think they do. The way they appear to our senses. I think I did something like that. I skirted it a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:50 Highlight the passage at 1:24:50

1:25:04 But other than that question, does anybody have any other questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:04 Highlight the passage at 1:25:04

1:25:15 Sorry? How old? If he knows that if he gets antsy that he can go and sit in a cafe, then that would be great. That's fine. You could just bring something for him to do or coloring or something. That would be fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:42 Do you want to use that mic? Sorry. That is one thing, and actually I should have mentioned that in terms of logistic, just to always speak into the mic because we record everything and we put it on the website and then people download. I was late to class, so I was just wondering, is the entirety of this course going to be all on Lojong? Yeah. What was your definition of Lojong? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:26:11 Transforming, learning to, I don't think I gave a precise, you're right, I don't think I gave a precise teaching. Lo is mind, jang is training or development and it's basically training the mind in bodhicitta is what it's really, what you're really doing. You're training the mind away from the sort of... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:11 Highlight the passage at 1:26:11

1:26:39 Self-absorbed, selfish mind, self-cherishing mind that we tend to exist within and doing this 180 of caring for others with that same amount reserved for ourselves. So I don't know. There probably is a really precise definition, and I'll try to do that next week. Because I've heard Lojong referred to before as what it lists on the calendar, which is transforming our problems into. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:39 Highlight the passage at 1:26:39

1:27:13 Into happiness. Yeah, and so I did talk a little bit about, yeah, we talked a lot about at the beginning of the class about Report an error in the passage at 1:27:13 Highlight the passage at 1:27:13

1:27:21 why, you know, how we can, what it, what it'll end up meaning is that it's a very practical practice that you can use whatever is already going to happen, whatever problems or whatever things that you see currently as problems, what you're doing is shifting your perception of them so that you then can transform them into your path, into your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:44 Gaining short-term happiness but also ultimately gaining Buddhahood, which is like forever happiness. So that's kind of the two ways that you're gaining happiness. It has to do with shifting. You're not transforming the problems. You're transforming your mind and how you view the problems. And the training is that it takes a while to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:44 Highlight the passage at 1:27:44

1:28:09 It's like that's the work. That's the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:09 Highlight the passage at 1:28:09

1:28:15 And it's like you have to just keep remembering that it takes a while to do that. I think we give ourselves such a hard time, and I'm the queen of that. Understanding something intellectually and perfecting it are two different things. So it's the first step to understand it, and then the second step is to remember to apply it and to be able to apply it and to not kill yourself if you don't remember to apply it, to just start over again and just do the best you can. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:15 Highlight the passage at 1:28:15

1:28:45 The training is the nitty-gritty day-to-day stuff. So that part of it is the training. Mind is shifting our perspective. So yeah, you're definitely what this class will give you are tools and methods to change the way you currently think so that whatever comes to you due to your own karma, you can shift into your own path to bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:45 Highlight the passage at 1:28:45

1:29:18 Buddhists experience bliss all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:18 Highlight the passage at 1:29:18

1:29:24 I remember somebody actually asked that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:24 Highlight the passage at 1:29:24

1:29:30 Where this fits in terms of the teachings in the Lamrim, this is actually almost at the end of the Lamrim. There's this assumption. I sort of look at the main topics within the path to enlightenment, and I came up with about nine of them. You can break them out in all different ways. And this is like eight. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:30 Highlight the passage at 1:29:30

1:30:03 On that list. So there's this idea that you've already, I mean, you know, originally when these teachings, you know, after the Buddha lived, during the Buddha's lifetime, after his enlightenment, when he was teaching, he taught for many, many years of his life. And then after he passed into Paranirvana and... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:29 And His disciples practiced and then, you know, through the time of Buddhism leaving India and going into the neighboring countries, including Tibet in the 8th century. And then, you know, the time of the Kadampa Geshes, of which Geshe Chaka was. And, you know, going through like all the centuries since, normally you would... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:29 Highlight the passage at 1:30:29

1:30:59 You would master the levels of the lamrim prior to this. So you'd actually gain realizations in those. We started to go through it really fast. Sure, I know all about karma. Okay, ready to move on. They would meditate for years on the things prior to this before they would study bodhicitta. So it's really different. We are now doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:34 But now I think what is really important to know is that when you are studying the Lamrim or beginning to take classes in the Lamrim or reading books in the Lamrim is that I see it much more as a spiral. Like you just keep contemplating it all and contemplating it all. So we see it kind of as a linear thing, you know. Class 1 is this, class 2 is this, this is class 11 and this is class 12, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:01 It's not like that. It's like you just, every time the Lamrim is taught, every time you receive teachings on the Lamrim, you just go deeper and deeper and deeper into it. Because every time you take it, what changes is your mind, right? Your mind has had experiences from one class to the next, and so your mind is different. So even though, even if the teaching were the same, Vena Rubina is always saying, I always say the same things. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:01 Highlight the passage at 1:32:01

1:32:25 Why do you keep asking me to come back? You know? But every time you hear her... She says something that affects you differently because your life experience has changed, right? So your mind has changed and you hear things differently, even if she actually did say the same thing, which she doesn't. But often, you know, teachers like His Holiness will say almost exactly the same thing. I've actually sat there with a book by His Holiness and he's teaching on something and he's saying almost the same thing exactly and you're like, wow, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:25 Highlight the passage at 1:32:25

1:32:57 But it doesn't matter because my mind has changed. So it's very much like a spiral. The main lamrim topics are relying on a spiritual teacher. They usually start with that. It doesn't mean that we run out and get a guru. It just means that once you do get a guru, once you are ready for that, that's the basis of all of your attainments in Tibetan Buddhism, in Tantra specifically. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:26 But in Tibetan Buddhism, they actually say this is the root of the path. The nature of mind, which actually is something that isn't taught so much in traditional teachings on the Lamrim, but within the West, our view of the mind is so different. The fact that the Buddha observed mind to be beginningless and endless is so different than the way we see the mind that it becomes a topic for us because it's the basis of getting reincarnation. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:59 It's the basis of understanding karma. It's the basis of a lot of things. It's the basis of us actually getting that Buddhahood is possible. Understanding the mind is like the basis of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:59 Highlight the passage at 1:33:59

1:34:15 Understanding how our mind works is the basis of us getting that it's possible to perform. So studying the mind is important. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:15 Highlight the passage at 1:34:15

1:34:25 Precious human rebirth. And some of these we're actually going to talk about next week as our preliminaries to Lojang. And you'll see how they sort of fit into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:25 Highlight the passage at 1:34:25

1:34:37 So precious human rebirth is not just any human rebirth, but it's actually having certain concerns. in place that allow us to have a spiritual So not all humans have precious human rebirth. It's important to note. Impermanence and death. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:34:57 Suffering and saṃsāra, which is the class that I last taught, which as you can imagine was not too popular. But really important, if we don't get that we're suffering, we can't develop compassion for other beings because we aren't willing to look at their suffering. So we have to be able to see suffering in order to want to eliminate suffering. It's an important step. Karma is the next one. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:57 Highlight the passage at 1:34:57

1:35:29 The Report an error in the passage at 1:35:29 Highlight the passage at 1:35:29

1:35:33 causes of suffering and the cessation of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:33 Highlight the passage at 1:35:33

1:35:38 And we'll talk about all of these a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:38 Highlight the passage at 1:35:38

1:35:46 The root of the causes of suffering and the root of the cessation is all in our minds. It's all possible within our minds. Assuming, of course, that karma is a working of the mind. Karma is included in that. the cause is all being Report an error in the passage at 1:35:46 Highlight the passage at 1:35:46

1:36:01 Bodhicitta is the next and that's eight. And the last is wisdom realizing emptiness. Sorry? Wisdom realizing emptiness. So the nature, getting the nature of reality that things don't exist the way we think that they do, which is quite profound. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:27 So I'll just really quick talk a little bit about the nature of the mind and then we'll just end. The nature of the mind and also the... Causes of suffering and cessation of suffering because it's related. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:27 Highlight the passage at 1:36:27

1:36:45 So the mind in Buddhism is taught to be clear and aware or knowing. It's completely non-physical. It's a completely different stuff than physical matter. It's colorless. It's formless. It's beginningless. Endless. These are all words, but you can contemplate what they mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:45 Highlight the passage at 1:36:45

1:37:12 Tuesday night we actually did a meditation where you really try to figure out if you're going back, you know, through various mental moments all the way back to your birth, really seeing what makes, what is that mind stream, you know, where does that mind stream, how does it relate, how do those different mental moments relate, what's holding them together and then what, you know, before you were conceived. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:12 Highlight the passage at 1:37:12

1:37:44 Where was that mind stream? And after you pass, where does that mind stream go? You know, really starting to contemplate that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:44 Highlight the passage at 1:37:44

1:37:56 So it's not physical matter. It's not a thing. It's like, you know, you can imagine it like a string of pearls without the string. The pearls being the mental moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:56 Highlight the passage at 1:37:56

1:38:08 What is it, you know? I think in the West we're really used to this idea of a soul and a self. And Buddha said, no, that's not part of Buddhist thought at all. But something goes on to the next life. So just examining, just beginning to examine what is it that continues. The Buddha taught that it's very, very subtle, the subtle most aspect of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:08 Highlight the passage at 1:38:08

1:38:40 That just like the body, the body actually has a gross and a subtle aspect, and the mind also has a very gross aspect and a very subtle aspect. And that's the subtle most aspect, and that carries our karmic imprints, not in a physical way, but in this mental way. Actually, when we begin to study the mind at all, it gets us into this idea of impermanence, and it also gets us into the idea of emptiness, because things don't exist the way we... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:40 Highlight the passage at 1:38:40

1:39:14 It's actually easier to sort of imagine our... Minds being more like Casper the Friendly Ghost or something, like something that moves forward and I pop up and I have this other life and it's still me somehow. You have to really begin to analyze what it is I'm really believing because there's some aspect that Chokyi doesn't die, that Chokyi just takes on a new body, but still somehow Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:14 Highlight the passage at 1:39:14

1:39:39 And it's not. That's not what the Buddha was teaching at all. So the Buddha taught that the nature of mind, That it's just a stream of mental experiences arising and the passing away and that each moment of mind begets the next moment. So that's the direct cause for the next moment is the previous moment. And that's why there's no beginning and that's why there's no end. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39:39

1:40:12 And we actually, in many other faiths, we would believe that in a god. But the Buddha is saying, no, actually it's true for all of us. I think in Christianity and Judaism and possibly in Islam as well, there's this idea that there's a beginningless and endless God, and we accept that. But the thought that we, our minds can be beginningless and endless is a huge leap and requires some thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:12 Highlight the passage at 1:40:12

1:40:39 So when I spell out these things, these are just like brief, they're in entire classes about the mind. This is just simply to begin this awareness of checking it all out. You know, because the Buddha said very, very clearly, don't accept what I'm saying because I'm saying it. Even if you really, I mean, Buddha's pretty amazing. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:41:04 I'm simply saying what my teachers have said. I'm simply speaking from whatever limited experience I have. But the point is not to just accept it, but to use it as a jumping point to start checking up and thinking about these things a little bit more deeply in your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:04 Highlight the passage at 1:41:04

1:41:22 So you can experiment with this one. The meditation we did on Tuesday night is just starting to just think back. You can just, using the present moment as you're jumping off the place, thinking back to the mind that you had when you first came to class, when you first arrived, and the kind of thoughts you were having and what was going on in your mind at that point, and then going back to wherever you were before this, maybe work. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:51 And then going back to, you know, going back to this morning when you first woke up and that mind. So you're just kind of looking at the different mental moments that you've had and how they fed into the moments that you have now and how they often feel like the biggest thing in the world, but then they just pass. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:09 And then before you woke up, you were having a dream. So what was that? And then looking at how those minds connect, how are their stream of mental thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:09 Highlight the passage at 1:42:09

1:42:22 And then where you were yesterday and where you were five days ago and where you were, you know, so you're not getting caught up in the stories, you're not getting caught up in the dramas or where you were at 14 or anything like that. You're simply looking, observing the mental moments going back in time. So, you know, starting with today, yesterday, last week, last month, last year, five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, in your childhood. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:22 Highlight the passage at 1:42:22

1:42:51 In your babyhood, if you have memories of that, you're just following that mind back, trying to see how that mind connects. How is that a stream with where I am now? How does that relate to that? Following that back. All those beings were you, but they aren't you now. How are they connecting? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:51 Highlight the passage at 1:42:51

1:43:11 So just checking up. And then, you know, going back and thinking before that moment of conception within my mother's womb, where was that mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:26 And just the thought that maybe, just being open, maybe it existed in another body, another being that had a final breath and you following that mind back. And the same then going forward of thinking about your own, all the various parts of your life that are still to come and your own passing away and what happens. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:26 Highlight the passage at 1:43:26

1:43:57 Does that mind end or does it continue moving forward the way it has? It's an interesting thing to meditate on actually. We're going to do a class on the nature of mind because the whole Discovering Buddhism program will start over again in the fall and I think it will be a class on the mind. Just studying, just meditating on the mind, it's very liberating actually. It's just constant change. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:57 Highlight the passage at 1:43:57

1:44:26 And even just doing meditation on your breath, you see how much your mind changes within. Two minutes, you know, five minutes. We are the ones who concretize it all. In reality, our mind is just constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:26 Highlight the passage at 1:44:26

1:44:45 So the Buddha taught that the causes of all of our suffering and the actual root of our cessation of suffering lie in this mind. It's all within our mind. And the root cause are these things like, they're called mental afflictions or disturbing emotions. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:45 Highlight the passage at 1:44:45

1:45:09 In Sanskrit, it's klesha. And they're basically anything that's described, anything that disturbs the mind, whether it's slight irritation at the pattern on the rug or the timbre of my voice, all the way up to road rage and World War III. So it's like the tiniest disturbance all the way up to when you're completely engrossed in the heaviest klesha attack. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:09 Highlight the passage at 1:45:09

1:45:40 You can imagine, you know, like, this weekend actually, this weekend actually, this friend of mine who's a nun, we just, we decided we would go get a cup of tea just in Crestone, we were in Crestone, Colorado, and we went and we were just going to get a cup of tea and suddenly we were having ice cream with this. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:40 Highlight the passage at 1:45:40

1:46:03 This woman just kept adding more things onto it and we just got both really ill. It's just like suddenly this little tiny cup of tea became this enormous bowl of ice cream with sauce and whipped cream and cake underneath it. It was like this whole thing. We kept referring to it as like this glacier attack. It's just like... And afterwards we were just kind of like, what just happened? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:03 Highlight the passage at 1:46:03

1:46:27 And it's like that kind of like the way glacias can just rise up out of nowhere and just... cause you to do all these things secondary cause The problem with kleshas, they disturb our mind but they cause us to act. And that action of either shoving the ice cream in or saying something or hitting someone or stealing something or whatever causes us to create karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:27 Highlight the passage at 1:46:27

1:46:56 So it's kleshas, these mental afflictions and karma that... The Buddha observed to be the root cause of all of our suffering. So the cessation is also rooted within our minds, and that's because these states of minds aren't an integral part of our minds. They're simply these things arise in our mind. The problem is we give them all this power and we act on them. But the reality is that they just arise and then fall away. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:56 Highlight the passage at 1:46:56

1:47:27 And so the Buddha, this idea to meditate on... You know, to meditate, even just to meditate on your breath, you begin to see how many different states of mind arise and fall away, arise and fall away. And we don't have to give them any power because they don't have any power in their own size. They simply just arise and fall away. But we haven't done that lifetime after lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:27 Highlight the passage at 1:47:27

1:47:52 We follow each one with such, you know, enthusiasm. And then... We act on them and then we create karma and then that karma ripens. It ripens into our suffering. And so that's karma and delusions or mental afflictions are what ultimately cause all of our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:52 Highlight the passage at 1:47:52

1:48:18 But it's like pollution and water. These mental afflictions are not a part of our mind that can be removed. And our mind is by nature pure. So it's important to start with this understanding of what the nature of our mind is. It is that it's clear and knowing and pure and these stream of mental moments and that these afflictions sort of arise like clouds in the sky or like waves on the water, but they aren't an integral part of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:18 Highlight the passage at 1:48:18

1:48:53 So they aren't permanent, they can be removed, and the only way that we can remove them is through working with them day by day. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:53 Highlight the passage at 1:48:53

1:49:02 And so those are two just sort of... Jumping off places for beginning to work with Lojong because it's really important. Lo is mind. It's really important for us to know how our mind works. And it's also really important for us to know that it's possible to have a perfect mind. That it is possible to have a perfect mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:02 Highlight the passage at 1:49:02

1:49:24 And it's simply true. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:24 Highlight the passage at 1:49:24

1:49:28 So that's where we start. That's where we start and that's where we end. Do people have any questions about anything that I just said? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:28 Highlight the passage at 1:49:28

1:49:45 I don't know if it's a question. It's kind of a comment. It might lead into a question. But the Kleisha, the disturbing thoughts like that really struck home. Because, I mean, in the field of work that I'm in, it comes up a lot. But it's really important that when dealing with clients, especially in a group setting, that we don't make it obvious that we're experiencing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:45 Highlight the passage at 1:49:45

1:50:09 So if things aren't synchronized or like... A group starts late, and it's obviously the cause of clients that have caused the group to be late. So as a counselor where I have to keep a regimen, and the reason behind that is in their own mind training and getting control of their disorders, their substance abuse disorders, by keeping a schedule and stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:09 Highlight the passage at 1:50:09

1:50:39 My annoyance comes... It's like I have to gauge whether or not I'm watching, if this is a control issue that I'm having, or if this is an actual, I'm actually upholding this. So just the thought of having that disturbing thought, like I want to lash out in a way, but it's like controlling that, like keeping a smile on my face even though it's not like... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:39 Highlight the passage at 1:50:39

1:51:10 The most real smile, you know, some mornings. It's like I wonder if that if that even having that disturbing thought but not acting on it, if that causes karma. Yeah, it does. Yeah. In Buddhism, it's it's really important to restrain, but that's not the whole picture. The whole like the first level of morality and morality in Buddhism just simply means non harm, you know, not harming. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:42 As Bena Rubina puts it, you zip your lip and keep your hands to yourself. So the first level of morality is for me not to punch you when I want to. That's the first step. The second level, and it starts getting more into that. The first level is what's called these vows of individual liberation. Lifetime lay vows is a good example. Not stealing, not killing. I've got to start with that, right? Because it's just like with the kindergartners. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:42 Highlight the passage at 1:51:42

1:52:10 You know, you don't steal Saki's toys, like sit quietly, you know. But then the next level is to start looking at our mind. What am I thinking while I'm sitting quietly and not stealing your toy, you know. And that gets harder. You can't really legislate that one, but you can watch it. And so it's like a lot of the bodhisattva vows and the tantric vows are taking it to the next level where I am. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:10 Highlight the passage at 1:52:10

1:52:37 When I get pissed off at you, and I don't hit you anymore, you know, hopefully, and I don't steal your toys, I still have to watch my mind and figure out where this is coming from because ultimately it's going to get to the point of understanding, like all these various things that we just talked about, understanding karma, understanding impermanence, my own and yours, understanding emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:53:03 And developing bodhicitta are all things that will have to play into my analyzing why I'm so pissed off at you. And ultimately I have to let go of it. Not because it's bad, but because it no longer makes sense. There's nothing, you know, once I realize that this doesn't even exist in that same way, there's nothing to build my anger on anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:03 Highlight the passage at 1:53:03

1:53:27 And so then that anger has to dissipate on its own. So that kind of analysis has to go on, and that's an upper level. Yeah, and it's amazing because it's like with meditation practice each morning before I go in to do this check-in with my clients at first, it's like I can see clearly the Klesha happening at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:27 Highlight the passage at 1:53:27

1:53:52 So I'm able at least to get to that point. But, I mean, they're perceptive, you Everyone's perceptive, especially in this setting. So they know that it's like, okay, it comes back to something's going on, what's wrong with him? But it's just the disorder that has to be. Right, right. Like it happens pretty fast, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not every day that it's like this, but when it does, you know, the smile comes back and the reality comes back and everybody, the calmness happens, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:54:24 Yeah, and I think that the smile, I think like keeping it together is a step. I'm just mentioning that it can't be the whole picture, but it definitely, I think it is a step because I don't want to get pissed off publicly. But ultimately, I don't want to get pissed off inside. And that's the training. That's the mind training. Whether it's through meditation, which is the biggest, or just analysis of some way, contemplating something, you know, just getting it, applying the teachings in some way, that's what's going to actually shift it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:24 Highlight the passage at 1:54:24

1:55:01 And you can actually see when you start watching somebody like Lama Zopa or the Dalai Lama or something, when you see... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:01 Highlight the passage at 1:55:01

1:55:11 You know, angry people or aggressive people or whatever in the audience, hecklers or something like that. You see the way they deal with it. Like the kalesha doesn't even arise anymore. They just see things in such a different way. They've done this kind of lojong. They've done this kind of mind training that they just see that person as a suffering person. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:11 Highlight the passage at 1:55:11

1:55:31 And how can I help? It's completely different, you know, because I react with ego. So that's why I get pissed. Because that's usually almost always 99.9. .9 % of the time that's why I get pissed is usually my Right. And yeah, it's really interesting in this setting too because a lot of it isn't ego. It's the fact that there's like, you know, and that's the really tricky part is because, you know, in a setting where you're working with people and it is for their benefit. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:31 Highlight the passage at 1:55:31

1:56:00 But at the same time, like there is that mixture of ego. Like I know what's best for you because I'm paid to know what's best for you. So, you know, and the fact that. Being there voluntarily creates a really interesting dynamic. But I found that humor as well is an amazing antidote for everyone's discomforts of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:00 Highlight the passage at 1:56:00

1:56:29 Does anybody else have anything? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:29 Highlight the passage at 1:56:29

1:56:35 You're going to have a meditation. You're going to have a little meditation about bodhicitta. You guys that have already studied it for a while, we'll have a little heads up. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:35 Highlight the passage at 1:56:35

1:56:48 So just a little outline for what's going to happen. And then in the coming classes, we're going to use a text that's called The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation or The Eight Verses of Mind Training as our root text. And you guys will all get that. So even if you don't do any outside reading, you'll have a copy of that to review. Lojong is like a genre or it's like a group of teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:48 Highlight the passage at 1:56:48

1:57:13 And The Eight Verses is simply one possible teaching. So there's a lot of other teachings within this genre of teachings of mind training. But we're going to use the eight verses. It's a pretty approachable text. And His Holiness says that he reads it every day. So, like, that was enough for me. I was like, okay, it must work. I love the eight verses, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:13 Highlight the passage at 1:57:13

1:57:39 It's a really profound text. I mean, you could just, if that's all you studied in your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:39 Highlight the passage at 1:57:39

1:57:54 let's see. So we're going to talk next week a little bit about this genre of Lojong, like who the main teachers are within it, and the author of this particular text, whose name is Geshe Langri-Tampa. And then we're going to talk about those preliminary reflections of the Lojong teachings, which are... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:54 Highlight the passage at 1:57:54

1:58:21 Basically the ways that we prepare our mind for these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:21 Highlight the passage at 1:58:21

1:58:28 They're basically various points on the path to enlightenment, just sort of an overview of them so you get some foundation. It's sort of like they always talk about you do preliminary practices. These are considered preliminary practices. You do them in order to sort of prepare your mind the way you would prepare earth before you plant seeds, before you... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:28 Highlight the passage at 1:58:28

1:58:25 you know, so. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:25 Highlight the passage at 1:58:25

1:58:52 Put in a garden, you would clear the sort of rocks and roots from your soil and you would, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:58:52 Highlight the passage at 1:58:52

1:59:03 fertilizer and other conditions to help things to grow. So it's the same thing. In the West, a lot of times we just sort of feel like we should just be able to plop down and just do anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:03 Highlight the passage at 1:59:03

1:59:16 But... I think we do it more with things of the mind than we do with things of the body. So I think it makes more sense if you think about if you wanted to become an athlete, you would definitely do warm-up exercises. You would definitely prepare your body for doing something. If you were going to run, you would definitely warm up. If you were going to begin a routine in a gym or something, you would warm up. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:16 Highlight the passage at 1:59:16

1:59:37 And this is very much like that. We have to do warm-up exercises before we meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:37 Highlight the passage at 1:59:37

1:59:44 Then in the remaining classes we'll go through these eight verses point by point and talk about what they really mean. Because a lot of times with these texts they're so cryptic that people can really misunderstand them and they can sound like they're saying something that they aren't. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:44 Highlight the passage at 1:59:44

2:00:02 Which is why so often in Tibetan Buddhism you read... Not just the root text, but a commentary, and then the commentary, and then the commentary, and then the commentary, and then the commentary, and then the commentary, and the commentary. And the point is just that you can, if you just read the Buddha's words, you'd be, it's like the Heart Sūtra, you know, the Diamond Cutter Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:02 Highlight the passage at 2:00:02

2:00:24 It's like, what did that mean, you know? And so it often really helps to have commentary by great minds and lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:24 Highlight the passage at 2:00:24

2:00:36 So let's take a moment to dedicate because at first it's sort of like the two bookends. At the beginning we set a motivation for whatever we're doing, whether it's studying in a class or whether it's beginning a course or whether it's doing meditation or whether it's reading or whether it's, you know, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:36 Highlight the passage at 2:00:36

2:00:55 We set our mind in a certain direction. And then at the end, whatever positive merit we've just created, we dedicate it to... Whatever our goal was, whatever our overall motivation was. So if we were motivated to think about the suffering of others and want to relieve it, then we can dedicate to that same goal. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:55 Highlight the passage at 2:00:55

2:01:21 May this class become the cause for each of us, not only to transform our problems of this life into happiness in this life, but ultimately to be able to increase our capacity. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:21 Highlight the passage at 2:01:21

2:01:47 So I'm going to, did that list go round? Did everybody get that list? Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:47 Highlight the passage at 2:01:47

2:01:54 So here's the homework. The homework is thinking about this mind of bodhicitta and what it would feel like to have this mind, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:54 Highlight the passage at 2:01:54

2:02:11 imagining what it would be like to have this mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:11 Highlight the passage at 2:02:11

2:02:18 Something else, if you've ever had this time in your life that you just sort of set aside your own wishes to help someone else, you know, whether it was like... I was studying to be a midwife when I first met the Dharma. Hello, Pema. I was studying to be a midwife and you have to just sort of leave everything of your own life outside the door when you go in to help somebody, to have a baby. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:18 Highlight the passage at 2:02:18

2:02:53 And the same is true if you ever are with somebody when they're dying. It's totally about them. It has nothing to do with you. And so just all time disappears and you just give up and you just are with that person. through those final moments. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:53 Highlight the passage at 2:02:53

2:03:11 So just thinking about that, it's like we all have that capacity for one other being and then a bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:11 Highlight the passage at 2:03:11

2:03:23 It's just a completely different mindset. So just imagining what that is. And it's not being a martyr. Like how is that different? So you might want to think about that too. It's not being a martyr because there's like this happiness. They gain bliss. Like the thought of helping another person brings them. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:23 Highlight the passage at 2:03:23

2:03:43 If there's some way I can help you in any way, I would do it. And they have that for everyone, like the guy on the street, you know, like whoever it is, cat, you know, like it just brings this happiness. So it's like, what is that? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:43 Highlight the passage at 2:03:43

2:04:09 Sorry I went late and sorry I was late. I was late too. It won't happen again. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:09 Highlight the passage at 2:04:09