Discovering Buddhism - Transforming Problems (19 June 2008)

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0:30 So this Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

0:37 is class two, and I only made, I think I only made binders for the people that were here last week, so what I might do, I might on the break actually make, it's not that many people, Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:55 I made one for you because you had told me you were not sure if I made one for you, so I think I only made six, so we have seven, so I think I only need to make one more. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:06 I'll make it on the break. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:10 It's easier to make the home. Report an error in the passage at 1:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10

1:23 So let's just start with a little meditation. Meditation motivation. Take Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:33 some nice deep breaths and let ourselves actually get here. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

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2:16 All dissolve away. Report an error in the passage at 2:16 Highlight the passage at 2:16

2:21 Alertness. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:36 So visualize breathing out. These are all the obscurations, the things that keep you from being here. Distractions in the form of black smoke. And breathing in clear, bright, white light. Imagining that light just going through, Report an error in the passage at 2:36 Highlight the passage at 2:36

3:00 dissolving away. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

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3:33 Thinking about these teachings that have been passed down to us. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:38 eleventh, twelfth. 13th centuries. Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

4:01 allow us to develop attitudes that... Report an error in the passage at 4:01 Highlight the passage at 4:01

4:06 change the kind that we have in everyday life. to turn them into stronger mind, a bigger a more loving mind. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

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5:35 we just want to help people we already know. Report an error in the passage at 5:35 Highlight the passage at 5:35

6:00 each of us being able to develop this mind. I Report an error in the passage at 6:00 Highlight the passage at 6:00

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6:48 handed them out so I forgot myself. Report an error in the passage at 6:48 Highlight the passage at 6:48

6:54 So we go to page 8. I don't have anyone to blame. That's the rule of the night, right? So we talk about karma. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:07 So we'll do His Holiness' prayer three times just as a way of generating. They say at first it's just like contrived bodhicitta, so that's what we're aiming for first, it's just contrived bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 7:07 Highlight the passage at 7:07

7:20 But prayers like this are great because they just kind of allow us to get our minds around. With the wish to free all beings. I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:46 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 a 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, bless you, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:46 Highlight the passage at 7:46

8:16 As long as space remains, as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 8:16 Highlight the passage at 8:16

8:46 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain. And dispel the miseries of the world. There's some Kleenex right there. Oh, I thought you were looking around for a box. Report an error in the passage at 8:46 Highlight the passage at 8:46

9:06 Yeah, I noticed a lot of them. Actually, I think the weird weather and probably a lot of watering to make up for the weird weather to come around. Report an error in the passage at 9:06 Highlight the passage at 9:06

9:20 So welcome. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:24 Actually, I guess, Cedric, you're the only one. It's nice to see you again. We had a very busy day yesterday with Sakadawa, which is the... Anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment as well as birth and passing into Paranirvana. So it's sort of like Christmas, Easter and New Year's Day all rolled into one. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:47 So a bunch of us, including Jane, made it for the whole day. I think it hit the ground at about 4.30 in the morning and kept going until about 9.30 last night. So if I seem subdued, I am. Report an error in the passage at 9:47 Highlight the passage at 9:47

10:04 Just trying to kind of emerge again. But it was great. I wanted to just make a couple of quick announcements because I tend to forget them if I leave them to the end. So for those who don't know, we do a Saturday morning meditation that we've done for years, which is an introductory guided meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:24 Well, it's an introduction to meditation and you have a guided as well as a silent meditation. And we just recently started a Tuesday night one. Report an error in the passage at 10:24 Highlight the passage at 10:24

10:34 And so that's going to also just be the same format. Pretty much, it seems a bit more relaxed. There's something that, I think because it's, you know, it's only 7 to 8, and so it just seemed really nice. It was just kind of, oh, okay. You know, it just kind of just be relaxed. So that'll be just on a drop-in basis on Tuesday night. And also we're doing this thing called a Sunday service on Sundays that... Report an error in the passage at 10:34 Highlight the passage at 10:34

11:02 Geshe-Lah still teaches for an hour, but I sort of warm up the crowd and bring it home afterwards. So I sort of lead in with a little meditation, a little motivation, and then we just sort of spend a little bit more time going through the opening prayers and doing a little bit, like last time we did, a little rejoicing and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:10 know. Report an error in the passage at 11:10 Highlight the passage at 11:10

11:30 And then he comes down and gives us a little talk. And then we have a little coffee hour. We all chat. And then we're going to do something afterwards for a half hour. Last time we just did a Dharma slam. You know, whatever questions you've had, just ask. And so that was kind of fun. It kind of was coffee hour, Dharma slam, all in one. Report an error in the passage at 11:30 Highlight the passage at 11:30

11:48 But sometimes we might learn how to do a purification practice and do that. Something in a half hour, something short. So we're going to be doing that now on Sunday mornings. Usually it would be the team of Geshe-la and I, but sometimes Geshe-la will be gone and we'll have a different teacher and sometimes I'll be gone and we'll have a different whatever. Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

12:09 Or sometimes I'll be the teacher and someone else will be the warm-up. Something. So that's what we're trying out on Sundays. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:20 Also, Venerable Urbina will give a day long on Saturday the 28th on Introduction to Tantra. And it's totally open for all levels. She's just going to talk about the ideas behind Tantra. And so she's going to make it totally approachable. If you've just started studying Buddhism, it's totally fine because of the way she'll teach it. And I think it'll be a great class. So that's on Saturday the 28th. Report an error in the passage at 12:20 Highlight the passage at 12:20

12:48 I think it's 10.30. I would say 10.30 to 4. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

12:54 And that's that. That's all I know. So any questions or anything that came up for you during the week with your meditations this week or just thinking about some of the stuff that we're Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:13 driving? Dinner. Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:18 We are an urban center. Anyone order Chinese? Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:26 You know what's worse though, Saki actually is when in the middle of a meditation, Roland used to bring in things. And I was kind of like, you know, that's too much. I think that's just too much. Here's your cappuccino, you know, while you're meditating. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:42 Yes, that's right. So everybody can see the wonderful food that Tsaki now has. In fact, can watch him hungrily while he devours it. That's great. Then he'll get all the attention off me. Thanks. I'll pay you later. How to transform your problems in Lama. That's perfect. You look like, did you have a little bit, or is it, you have a problem right now? Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

14:07 Oh wait, can you use the mic yourself? Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:12 My question was, I was just confused about the order with which to imagine things. Because there seemed to be either two or four little scenarios and I wasn't sure if the point was to do all of them or my piece of paper with me. Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:33 Because it has the description of the bodhisattvas and I wasn't sure if that was part of it. And then I had the second part about multiplying the good feeling by a thousand or whatever. Right, yeah, yeah. So I was confused like which was the actual thing. I think the whole thing, you're sort of contemplating. These are just sort of to get your mind around this mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

15:02 So it's just sort of like little tidbits of information. But if you were really like studying bodhicitta carefully, then there would be... It would be months and years of study. So it's just sort of little blips of like these ideas of like, wow, this is what this mind of bodhicitta is capable of. How would that feel to have that kind of mind? That's kind of where I wanted you to go with it. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:29 Clearly I didn't succeed in that, but yeah, that was kind of it. It was just sort of like, just imagine if I woke up with that kind of mind and I was able to simultaneously see the minds of all beings and, you know. Be able to have this direct communion with all beings and also know for the rest of my life what I was going to do, that I would always know. I would just leap out of bed in the morning with this mind of just wanting to help all beings in whatever way I helped them. Report an error in the passage at 15:29 Highlight the passage at 15:29

15:57 Just imagine how that would feel like. So kind of like that, like trying that hat on for size and how that might make, you know, your ride to work and you're going, you know, you're sitting in your whatever it is that you do. You know what I mean? Like how that might change that to have, playing dress up with one. Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:19 Anyone else have that same problem who was trying to... Who was trying to... He looks very sheepish. You want to dress... Yes, I think dressing up like bodhicitta is great. We could have a big box of all the various characteristics of... Actually, it sounds like something that Dreamy would come up with. She's so much more playful with her glasses. Have this big box and everyone grabs something as some part of the bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

16:48 You get to put it on for a day. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

16:54 Did anybody else, Cindy, did you try the meditations or contemplation? Did you just try it on for size in terms of, did you run into the same problems? Was it confusing? Not to put you on the spot. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:11 it's something that I've been doing in this real life. Oh, pass through the mic. Report an error in the passage at 17:11 Highlight the passage at 17:11

17:23 I need to Thank you. Yeah, I get a very peaceful sense of, you know, inside, and I feel the joyful feeling in the chess area. Yeah. You know, you also just did the class with Malum, right? Yeah. Yeah, so that made a difference, too, I think, for those people who just completed that class. You did a few of that class, just a few of them, yeah. Yeah, I know. And Jane, yeah. So I think that made a difference, probably. You had a starting-off point on what bodhicitta was. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:58 Yes, I think so. Definitely it helped. Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:03 Anybody else? It doesn't have to be about the homework. It can just be anything that we talked about last week that you thought about. It would be nice if it was related to the class. But it had to be. Well, you'll have more time later. I mean, more time will come up. I thought what we could do is just talk a little bit more about this genre of teachings called Lojong, because I think Lojong, mind training, thought transformation, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:00 Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:30 It's really a genre of teachings. It's a type of teaching meant to develop this mind of bodhicitta. So there are a lot of different kinds of lojongs. We're going to study one in depth, this lojong in eight verses. And we're going to sort of touch on another one that was a commentary to that, the seven-point mind training, which is the one that Chita Rinpoche taught last year, I think. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

19:02 And it's actually quite vast. The seven point mind training is really like, I mean, part of the seven point mind training is developing the mind of bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:12 You're not coming in here, right? Okay, good. I would be totally mortified to teach. She's been a nun for about 30 years. I'd just be like, we get you to teach. I'd have to put a stop to that. That's how I transfer my problems. So it's really a type of teaching. Report an error in the passage at 19:12 Highlight the passage at 19:12

19:37 And it all has the same point or the same goal to radically shift our mind from this point of view of self-cherishing, the term that we started talking about a little bit, self-cherishing mind, self-absorbed mind, selfish mind. I'm trying to think of the way in English that we would say it. Self-cherishing is kind of nice. Self-cherishing is the term that was coined by the Tibetans, and it's not really a term that we would use, but it really focuses on this sort of taking care of ourselves first. Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

20:17 That sort of is the root of all of our problems, according to the Buddha. And so the Lojang teachings are saying that all of our problems are really coming from this mind, and that's the enemy, and so we have to slay this mind. Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

20:36 And so it's this radical shift in our thinking from that mind of thinking of myself first to beginning to have the same tenderness and care and sweetness toward all other beings. And it's sort of like one of my teachers said, it's sort of like you realize you're on this plane that's about to go down and suddenly all those people that you got on the plane with seem really sweet to you. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:00 And you love them all because you just know you guys are all into the thing together. And it's getting that because in that sense we sort of are like that. We're all in this same boat of saṃsāra together. We've all created all of our problems in the same way we create it through our negative acts and the delusions that lead to them. Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:25 The crazy states of mind like anger, jealousy that lead us to act in negative ways and then those negative ways create karma and then that karma ripens and then we suffer. Report an error in the passage at 21:25 Highlight the passage at 21:25

21:37 When we begin to take our blinders off and we begin to realize that all the other people and beings and animals and insects around us are doing the same thing, completely ignorant of it, this tenderness pops up. We begin to realize that it's not just our problems. All beings have the same problem. What's worse, they keep creating more. Report an error in the passage at 21:37 Highlight the passage at 21:37

22:00 It's like watching babies that keep poking themselves in the eye and they don't realize that they're causing their own suffering. They're kind of like, and I think Buddhas probably see us the same way. You know, like for us, it's like the biggest problem in the universe and it's kind of like seeing little kids on the playground and how... Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:17 You're like, it's okay, honey. You just hit yourself in the nose. And I think that that's probably what they see when they look at us. There's that caring, that kindness, that compassion. So these teachings on Lojong aren't really trying to help us make our everyday mundane life more tolerable. The Buddha was teaching all these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 22:17 Highlight the passage at 22:17

23:04 What he chose to teach us is what got him enlightened. So it's actually going for gold. It's not just... yes. Settling for life in saṃsāra as we know it. It's like, no wait, you guys, if you shift your minds completely, you can blast out of here. And the Lojang teachings are designed for that, actually, to literally shift our mind around and blast out of here. They are meant to develop this mind of bodhicitta and strengthen it to the point where it gets us enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:39 So they're meant to work very, very quickly. But they take practice. And that's what the training part is. It's very hard to shift this mind around and stop thinking so much about ourselves. Even if we don't think we do think about ourselves, there's always that element that we are caring for ourselves more than anyone else. Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:03 So it becomes this major shift in how you interrelate with other people, how you interrelate with the things that we label problems. What we label problems. And yeah, so it's just sort of this recognition that we've tried this selfish approach for lifetime after lifetime and we haven't gotten anywhere, so we're shifting the way we're thinking in order to change our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 24:03 Highlight the passage at 24:03

24:36 So it's really about that. So the lineage of these teachings, they came from the Buddha. And they were passed by him to Manjushri, who directly taught them to Master Shantideva. Master Shantideva was a great scholar and monk at Nalanda Monastery. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

25:05 And he actually is the one that wrote The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, which I think is more like one. The greatest books ever written. That's definitely, if you have that, you know, if I had to be trapped in the... I always used to think, what book would I take with me to prison? I'm not sure why. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:20 I mean, even as a kid, I would always think, maybe this is the one I would take, you know. So I must have had some previous life imprint of having to be taken away to prison. But now I would totally take The Guide to the Body's Office Way of Life. I think that would definitely be one. I think if that's all you studied in this lifetime, it's just this amazing... Report an error in the passage at 25:20 Highlight the passage at 25:20

25:40 It's an amazing masterpiece. Geshe-la taught it to us in like, it took him like four and a half years, I think, to go through it line by line. He didn't leave anything out, which is just so incredibly rare. And I don't think I'll ever have another teaching like that again. In fact, I don't think he'll ever teach it to us that way again. Report an error in the passage at 25:40 Highlight the passage at 25:40

26:02 But we're going to try to get him to teach at least a chapter at a time again. Report an error in the passage at 26:02 Highlight the passage at 26:02

26:09 So... Then he, Shantideva taught this to his disciples and his disciples, it passed through a couple of masters until it reached a great master named Sir Linkpa. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:23 And Atisha, Sir Linkpa is the, he lived actually in what's now Indonesia. And Atisha actually traveled for some amazing, remember by boat, like he heard about these teachings and he like... I mean, this is, like, we get lazy, you know, we hear about, you know, somebody's teaching Atlanta Medicine Buddha, and we're like, it's an hour and a half away. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:49 Atisha traveled for, like, 13 months by boat, and then he, like, when he arrived, after he arrived, he checked out Sir Lingpa, according to the way we're supposed to, with all of his students, talking to him, like, sort of danced around him for a number of years before he approached him. He asked for teachings and this is the main teaching that he received from Sri Lanka. Master Atisha is the one who brought what's called the second flourishing of the Dharma to Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 26:49 Highlight the passage at 26:49

27:25 Originally the Dharma or Buddha Dharma came to Tibet in the 8th century with Padmasambhava and then it sort of degenerated due to a number of really anti-Dharma kings who tried to wipe it out and then Atisha was invited. And it flourished again and that was in the 10th century. So then his students really took these teachings to heart and that was what's called the Kadampas or the Kadam masters. Report an error in the passage at 27:25 Highlight the passage at 27:25

27:54 So then that whole tradition was in effect that we talked about last time where it was just going from master's mouth to student's ear and they would just pick one student. I can't even imagine. They would just pick one student, and these people's students were all amazing. So it was like one student who they would really pour these teachings into, and they would pick that student really carefully, and that would be the student who they thought had the really most developed bodhicitta and all that. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:25 So really, really precious. And then that student would pick one of their students. Out of maybe 50 students, they would choose one. Report an error in the passage at 28:25 Highlight the passage at 28:25

28:36 And so in that way, Atisha's, he taught these students, these teachings, these precious teachings that he traveled to Indonesia and got. He gave them to his student, John Tompa. And John Tompa gave them to Geshe Potowa. They were called Geshe's, they're just sort of master, just meant master at that point. Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

28:58 Geshe John Tompa, sometimes called the Great Drum. And then he gave them to Geshe Potowa. And the Geshe Potowa taught them to the master who wrote this, what's going to be our root text for this class, the Lojong in eight verses, and his name is Geshe Langri Tangpa. Report an error in the passage at 28:58 Highlight the passage at 28:58

29:20 So he's kind of our main one that we're going to focus on. Geshe Langri Tangpa, Langri is just a place. This happens a lot where people will get named after the place where they're from. Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:34 In Tibetan, his name is Dorji Senge or Diamond Lion and he lived from 1054 to 1123. I like to give these dates, it's like school, you know, but it kind of gives us an idea of when these people lived because we kind of know what else is happening in the Western world during that time period. Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

29:57 1054 to 1123. So it really wasn't that old when he passed. Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:08 He was... So he was meant to be a highly realized bodhisattva. So he wrote these verses about this practice, and they actually became very well known, which was unusual for these teachings at the time when he was alive. Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:32 I mean, it's very funny, the things that became quite popular in Tibet, it shows you what the culture was like. These eight verses became popular when... Report an error in the passage at 30:32 Highlight the passage at 30:32

30:41 Pabanka Rinpoche's book, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, was published in his lifetime. It became like a bestseller, which is on the lamrim. It's a 24-day teaching on the entire lamrim, and his student, Trijang Rinpoche, transcribed it, and it was published in his lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 30:41 Highlight the passage at 30:41

31:04 It really shows you what it was like in Tibet in 1921. um um he he Although it was a popular teaching at the time that he lived, he also just transmitted the deeper meaning to one student, and that one student was Geshe Sharawa. These people's names you hear all the time when you study any of the Lojongs, when you study a lot of these great teachings, you'll hear these names. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:34 Geshe Sharawa, Geshe Potawa, they're very, very famous masters even now. And the story goes that there was this great master, Geshe Chekawa, who became the next vessel for these teachings, that he overheard these eight verses and he couldn't figure out what one of them meant. It was verse 5. And so he went in search of Geshe Langritampa and he wanted to, you know, everybody told him where he lived and so he followed the advice and he wanted to get direct teachings. Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

32:09 He wanted to become his student. When he arrived there, Geshe Langritampa had already died. And so he approached Geshe Sharawa and he begged him to take him as disciple. And so he's the one who then wrote the Seven Point Mind Training, which is basically a commentary on these eight verses, but like hugely, I think incredibly broadly drawn out. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:37 The eight verses are like a lot of... A lot of teachings, I think, in Tibetan Buddhism where you can read them and you can gain some meaning without any help, but you might not get the deepest meaning on the first read. They can be slightly cryptic, so they're really good to study. And a lot of times people think if it's a short text like The Three Principles of the Path, for example, we're always asking visiting teachers to teach the same text over and over, right? Report an error in the passage at 32:37 Highlight the passage at 32:37

33:09 You know, let's have him teach on the three principal paths. And people are like, well, we already heard that last year or something. It's like that with the eight verses. Until you really realize it, like you really, you know, every time somebody teaches on it, you'll get something else out of it because they'll pick different things that they've had personal realizations on or at least personal experience with. Report an error in the passage at 33:09 Highlight the passage at 33:09

33:31 And these eight verses are like that too. His Holiness is taught on them and his book is going to be one of our... Readings for this course. But we've also had Rubina teach on them for a day long, which is really great because she'll pull a whole different meaning out of it. Report an error in the passage at 33:31 Highlight the passage at 33:31

33:52 Geshe-la will teach on them, Shodin Rinpoche, and you just gain different things every time you hear them. So in the seven-point mind training, Chakawa's book, he... Said that it's really great for us to prepare our minds to study these eight verses or to study Lojong period. And so he gave us a list of four preliminary practices, what he called preliminaries. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:26 And that's what we're going to meditate on. We're going to talk about them and then we're going to meditate on them this week. And there are also four points on the lamrim, four points on the path to enlightenment. The first one being Precious Human Rebirth. Good night. The second one being impermanence and death, the third one being taking refuge, and the fourth one being karma. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:58 And he felt that it was really important for us to really firmly get these four out of the whole lamrim at least, even if we didn't have the whole rest, before we even began to study the Lojong. And I think it's to get, well maybe we'll talk about... Maybe next week we'll talk about what people think, why people think we should study these, we should contemplate these. So maybe think about that when you're contemplating. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:29 So the first one is what's called Precious Human Rebirth or Leisure and Fortune. And when you do this meditation, traditionally within the Lamrim, Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:43 We contemplate the various things that we have and the various things that we're free of that make our lives really conducive to practicing the path. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

35:57 So part of it is just becoming familiar with what these qualities are and how rare this rebirth is according to the teachings and what it is that we have but also contemplating what it is that we fortunately don't have this time around. Because it's... You know, like, for example, we think how fortunate it is that I'm not that mosquito. You think about the fact that most beings in the world are probably insects. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:26 When you think about just the number of insects that there are, even just in this space, we just don't see them all, but even in the space of one square foot of ground, the amount of insects that there are, or worms, those kind of animals. But also being born as a... As an animal, even a domestic animal that might be well fed or taken care of like the cats upstairs, still their minds are just like ours. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

37:03 But according to the Buddha, their minds are exactly like ours. They have the same potential for enlightenment. It's just that this time around they have certain karmic obscurations that make it really, really difficult to ever study or to ever meet a teacher. Or to ever practice, they can't, they can't attend pujas, you know, they can't understand, they can't pronounce mantras. Report an error in the passage at 37:03 Highlight the passage at 37:03

37:30 They might have mantras said to them and then develop a warmness towards that sound of that voice, which is what we try to do, but they can't prostrate, you know. It kind of looks like they are sometimes. So even the best of animal rebirths is still really difficult to do anything with that will, in a wider view, be able to change their situation. Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

38:01 Whereas with, and even with, I mean, even with humans. You know, most humans don't have the same kind of situation that we have, that each of us have right now, even if we have various problems or various obstacles to being able to practice the way the Kadampa Geshe's, for example, practice. We might have jobs, we might have responsibilities, we might have illness or injury or something like that, because I don't know what everybody's situation is. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:31 We don't live in an area of war. We don't live in an area of... We aren't so extremely poor that we don't have enough to eat, things like that. So we do have certain things in place that allow us to look beyond the day-to-day survival that most humans, to be honest, and animals have to deal with that don't allow them to be able to develop a spiritual path or spiritual life, much less to shoot for enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 38:31 Highlight the passage at 38:31

39:04 invent. So... And also, of course, we're not being controlled by others, which most animals, work animals are, you know, whether they're being raised for meat or whether they're just being used in farming or to carry things. Much of Nepal animals are still used to carry things. So we're free of that. And so you kind of like gradually you're going through these various states of rebirth that you could have had, which if you haven't studied these different realms, at least you know. Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:37 There are many, many difficult human lives that you don't have. So you can just focus on that. You can focus on the animals that you have seen. And even if it's like a fluffy cat on the bed, it still doesn't have any control about what it eats and when. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

39:54 Usually it's sort of hit or miss. Even the most pampered domestic animals don't get to decide whether or not they go outside, when they go outside. What they get to play with. You know, they don't have any choices, really. And I actually think after the first day, we'd be horrified and bored. Like, sometimes, no, it likes Jane. The mosquito gathering around. Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:26 Yeah, I mean, and this poor mosquito. Like, all of us just running from it in horror, you know, and I basically just want some dinner, you know. And it would probably take a pinbrick amount of blood, you know. But we're all like, ah! I do the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 40:26 Highlight the passage at 40:26

40:43 So when we contemplate precious human rebirth, we're thinking about the qualities that we do have in our lives and the qualities that we don't have that might bar us from any kind of spiritual practice. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

40:58 And also just gaining this sort of excitement or appreciation for this opportunity that we do have because it doesn't last forever. Precious human rebirth... It's good to know that not all humans have a precious human rebirth. Like we just talked about, some people who are born in incredible poverty or illness from day one or in areas of war or famine or Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:30 oppression don't have a precious human rebirth and never had one and in many cases never get one. But it can shift also. Somebody could be born in that kind of an area and then get out and then develop conditions and then they have a precious human rebirth. Or we might have a precious human rebirth and then we lose it. Whether we lose our life or whether we just get ill or have to take care of somebody who's ill and then we no longer can come to class. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

42:01 Or we go blind or something like that. We could have things that happen within our conditions that... No longer allow us to come to class or to study or to meditate or to discuss with other students or something. So it's recognizing what our opportunity is and then also getting this desire to run with it. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:23 So you're sort of gaining some enthusiasm for what you have. Because we do spend a lot of our time, and I do the same thing, thinking that somehow they'll come this time that everything will fall into place and be perfect. And the reality is that... We don't know that it will ever happen, and most likely it won't. And so to just recognize that what we have right now is pretty darn close to perfect and to just grab it and use it. Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

42:49 So that's kind of the first of the preliminaries, really gaining the value and the usefulness of what we have right now so that we don't want to waste it and that we want to do something meaningful with it. There's also this underlying thought that you already... decided by this point or that you've already bought into the idea of reincarnation. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:13 But I do think sometimes Westerners take that and think, well, this isn't the only one. I'll have another human rebirth next time because I'm basically a pretty nice person. And most Tibetan teachers usually try to say, you know, you have to create the causes of a precious human rebirth. So you can't just assume Just because you're a fairly nice person this time around that you're going to get another precious human rebirth. So they really stress during these teachings that we recognize what we have and then we really make this desire, this determination to use it. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:53 And then through that process we can create the causes for another precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:01 So the next one is impermanence and death. And this, even though it's called death and impermanence, it usually is really... You get into it by thinking about the impermanence of all things, but the impermanence of all things, while it might surprise us if we really contemplate it, it might be a little bit interesting or jarring to meditate on, but it's not going to really wake us up to think about the table breaking a leg. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:31 That's not really going to... shock us into doing anything differently, whereas death does. Death is shocking, and especially my death. That's usually a first step. If you're with somebody who dies, if a loved one dies, a parent, a child, a friend, a brother, sister, that's a really big wake up. But us facing our death. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

45:03 Is of course a huge wake up because we're the number one show in town and everything in our reality is filtered through this view of me, myself and I. So the thought of that ending is just shocking. Even though honestly, realistically, most of us, I hope in this room, get it that at some point we will die. Report an error in the passage at 45:03 Highlight the passage at 45:03

45:29 But that at some point we're going to... Stretch out there to 100 years from now if possible. So it's not death and impermanence of all of the points on the lamrim that we have to contemplate. It's actually the easiest to understand because we already know it, but we haven't realized it yet. We haven't deeply realized it yet because if we did, we would totally be going for it. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:58 All night practice, no problem. I mean, you can see that in people if you've ever known anyone who got a diagnosis of cancer and they, you know, given six months to six to 12 months or something like that. You just go for it. You just do what you can in that amount of time and you just go for it. I finally saw the bucket list. Two ways that you could go for it. Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

46:28 Neither of which would be what I would do, but it was great for discussion purposes. We watched it here, and Mary and I discussed what we would do. If you had a six-month diagnosis, what would you do? So understanding that things don't last forever, understanding that I won't last forever is one thing intellectually, but really contemplating on not just... Report an error in the passage at 46:28 Highlight the passage at 46:28

46:59 The fact that things are impermanent, but that I am going to die. And even using, actually after Keisha saw the bucket list, she said, actually, I always leave off that part of the meditation where I imagine the doctor coming into the room and telling me that, that conversation, which is much more shocking for your mind, I think. Report an error in the passage at 46:59 Highlight the passage at 46:59

47:19 You were there, right, when we did the day long, the death, the one on, wasn't, I thought that was you. Oh, no, I know who it was. So Lenny and Tenzin Chokyi came up and did, and Lenny actually led a meditation like that where she's a hospice nurse and she had us imagine this situation where somebody was telling us that we had inoperable cancer and that there's nothing. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:46 And that part of the meditation is really quite shocking to your mind. To really get into it and to imagine it. So it was quite helpful that it was a weekend workshop and we all had time so it wasn't like... And it was in a hurry. Because believe me, everything looks better. Cleaning out the closet is better than having to look at that kind of a meditation. So you just relaxed into it. Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:06 She even had us lie down, you know, so that we were in the hospital when the doctor came in and talked to us and stuff. And you have to sort of repeatedly go to that state. And you do these meditations like that. And that's another one that will cut your procrastination. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:25 That, you know, because if you really thought this was it, you would go for it. You would definitely go for it. One of my teachers said, if you were trying to walk really carefully with a bowl of oil on your head and not spill it, you wouldn't succeed. But if somebody came up behind you with a gun. You would walk really, really carefully and it's that same sort of awareness and that same sort of thought that this could all end at any second that's going to make you try harder. Report an error in the passage at 48:25 Highlight the passage at 48:25

49:01 He said the same thing was true. If you were trying to visualize, if you knew that it was really important to visualize the details of a really profound meditation and then you realized that you were dying and that your amount of time left to meditate was limited. You would be able to visualize it. There's always this part in us that lets go of it and thinks, well, I'll do better next time. Because we're always thinking that there'll be a next time. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:31 So the meditation on impairments and death, I think, is the most profound. At least that's been my personal experience. And that was one I was told to meditate on quite a bit at the very beginning. And I think it was just to kick my butt. I think it was totally to kick my butt, and I think that's what it does. I think it's all about kicking our butts. Because then you're just like, okay, you know, I mean, look what happened to me. Report an error in the passage at 49:31 Highlight the passage at 49:31

49:56 And the reality, and it's totally, like, Western science totally agrees with that. Not one of us knows how long we have. We all think we have a ton more time. It's possible none of us could be here next week. We just have no idea. We have no idea. Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:13 So it's really you just contemplate over and over and over again, not to freak yourself out, but simply to get it that our time is limited and we need to go for it. And that's really what that one's all about. So those two together really give you that sense of urgency, I think. They really make you just sort of want to go for it. Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:36 Taking refuge. A lot of times we think of taking refuge as... The little refuge prayer that we say at the very beginning. You know, we just sort of chant these words over. I go, Refuge to the Guru. I go, Refuge to the Buddha. It's sort of like, what does it really mean? We just finished a class on refuge. Report an error in the passage at 50:36 Highlight the passage at 50:36

51:01 That was eight weeks, actually. Maybe six weeks. Going deeply into what it really means to rely on. The Buddha Dharma Saṅgha and how it actually, how it saves you because there's this, there's a teaching out there that says if you take refuge in the triple gem, you'll never go to the lower realms. Well what does that mean? Do they like fly in, you know, like Superman whenever you're in trouble and they save you and then they put you someplace, you know. I mean that's the idea and I actually hear people when they describe it sometimes it sounds like that. Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:39 It sounds like they have this idea in their mind of this sort of The triple gem is like the mighty mouse and these little guys with their capes on that are going to fly in. It's kind of odd to me to think of it that way because Dharma is not a person anyway. Dharma is the teachings and the realizations. Report an error in the passage at 51:39 Highlight the passage at 51:39

52:00 And how does that save us? That's the true refuge is Dharma. It can sometimes seem like it's this outer thing where we're... We're praying to this outer being, this big golden guy like this. And we're like, you know, come save me, you know. But that's not what it's about at all. It's not passive like that. It has to do with saying, okay, you were once like me. You had a crazy monkey mind. Report an error in the passage at 52:00 Highlight the passage at 52:00

52:28 You had all these afflicted thoughts. You, you know, punched people in the mouth. You got angry. You were jealous of people. And you figured out. A way to transcend it. And you became fully enlightened and I want to get like that too. And so the method are your teachings, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha are those serious practitioners who are putting them into practice to the point where they are gaining realizations, which there are around us. Report an error in the passage at 52:28 Highlight the passage at 52:28

53:00 Is in retreat for the rest of her life. She just comes out for some teachings now and then and she just goes back. She's just in. I met this nun who sat next to me in Crestone. In Colorado, who's been a nun for 37 years, and she's just looking for a place that she can just go into retreat until she passes. She's like, I'm done. Done with the outside world. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:20 I'm just going to go in until I gain realizations or die one or the other. So they're around us, you know, those are Saṅgha. Not this. This is the relative Saṅgha. But those practitioners that really are putting the Dharma into effect and transforming their minds in the same way that the Buddha did. Report an error in the passage at 53:20 Highlight the passage at 53:20

53:41 So relying on that means we have to actually practice it. That's how we keep from going to the lower realms, is actually going, oh yeah, okay, you did it. I'm going to take refuge in you and I'm going to actually follow your advice. Ah, there's the catch. That's the catch. So we have to actually put into practice the Buddhist teachings in order to save ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

54:08 So they don't fly out like Mighty Mouse. The teachings themselves are what save us, and us practicing the teachings is really what saves us. So that's really what taking refuge is. So Lama Yeshe always says taking refuge is doing refuge all the time. In your mind, you're doing refuge. It's like you're living this state, this mental state of refuge all the time. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:37 And dying with this state of refuge, what was it? Mary was telling me a story the other day where she almost got hit by a car. Report an error in the passage at 54:37 Highlight the passage at 54:37

54:48 And right before she almost got hit by the car, she had this thought of how wonderful it would be if this beautiful building she was looking at could be the Shera Plaza that Venerable Bena is trying to build. And then she almost got hit and she goes, wouldn't that have been great? I actually had this really virtuous thought in my mind. Because we were talking about how usually the thought in your mind at the moment of death, unless you've trained your mind, again that training, that developing, that constant practice, usually they say when they listen to the black boxes when planes go down, it's always like, oh shit. Report an error in the passage at 54:48 Highlight the passage at 54:48

55:27 One pilot after another. Oh, shit. And how many times have we gotten almost into a car accident? What comes out of our mouth? It's not like, wow, help me, Buddha. It's, oh, shit. So it's just like you just have to keep training. What I like to do is if I'm on a plane and we get really bad turbulence, that's when I like, it's like, okay, what would I do if I was dying right now? Report an error in the passage at 55:27 Highlight the passage at 55:27

55:51 And then I would just go into this whole dialogue with my teacher, with the Buddhas. Help me have a calm mind. Help me be able to be clear-minded for the people around me. If I die now, let my family be all right with it. And let me have a great rebirth and meet you immediately and not waste any time. And all of that, I just go into that. Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:12 And it's like training my mind for when it really happens. Because otherwise, how are we going to remember? We're not going to remember. We're just going to, oh, shit. Report an error in the passage at 56:12 Highlight the passage at 56:12

56:21 Sorry for whoever's tuning in and listening to this teaching. But you wouldn't whitewash it if it was your moment. Actually, I did whitewash it. They say that it's actually the other word that you say, most commonly said by airline pilots as they go down. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:41 Yeah, so it's not just this thought where we get it that the situation that we're in isn't very great. But it's always this idea that there's something better. You have to have both and that the Buddha figured out what that something better is. And so we're entrusting ourselves to this particular method because it worked for him and we're assuming that it can work for us. Report an error in the passage at 56:41 Highlight the passage at 56:41

57:10 So that's really what protects you and that's really what refuge is. So you start acting on it means what? It means that you start being aware of... Trying to reduce the number of things you do that harm others, trying to watch your speech, trying to watch your mind, which is harder than watching your body and your speech. Report an error in the passage at 57:10 Highlight the passage at 57:10

57:37 So really, practicing just means that. Practicing just means changing the way that we currently use our body, our speech and our mind so that we stop harming ourselves and others. That's really what it means. That's really what, that's the main. Some of them are fancier than others, but that's really what it means. And then the last one is karma. We talked a little bit about karma yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

58:04 We did a practice for purifying karma. We did fire purification, which I really enjoy that particular practice a lot. But basically the idea behind karma is that... Report an error in the passage at 58:04 Highlight the passage at 58:04

58:25 Everything that we experience is the result of our karma and understanding how karma works means applying that understanding and living our life, which is really hard because right now we live our lives, if you yell at me I yell back. Report an error in the passage at 58:25 Highlight the passage at 58:25

58:48 But gradually I at least try to remember it that night. Oh yeah, Marianne yelled at me because I must have created the karma. And so my yelling back just creates more negative karma that will ripen in my face again sometime. So it's that same idea. So the good thing about karma, fortunately, is that we can purify. Report an error in the passage at 58:48 Highlight the passage at 58:48

59:10 We can change it. It's not destiny. It's not fate. And so karma is actually quite changeable and quite shiftable. And the good news about it is it can not only be purified, but we can start creating the causes for whatever it is that we do want. So if we want another precious human rebirth, we can create the causes. If we want to become enlightened, we can create the causes. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:36 So it's just a matter of understanding how it works and applying that understanding. Just a matter of... It's working with every way that you use your body, speech and mind all the time. And it doesn't mean that we have to become perfect immediately. It just simply means that we become aware. Like I had this grumpiness today. I noticed I had this grumpiness today. And I think it was just being really tired from yesterday. But I, you know, it's like I had to shift it because it could, it has, that's like what I call sort of dangerous territory. Report an error in the passage at 59:36 Highlight the passage at 59:36

1:00:12 If you're feeling slightly grumpy, someone moves into your field of vision and then that person becomes, right? Then it becomes that person's fault, something, whatever it is that's happening becomes that person's fault. So I just tried to lay low. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:12 Highlight the passage at 1:00:12

1:00:27 But it's becoming aware of how your mind is working is the first step because otherwise I wouldn't have seen that. You know, ten years ago I wouldn't have seen that and I just would have blasted somebody. So it's just becoming aware of how your mind is working and trying to tune into your mind all the time. It doesn't mean you have to become perfect because we can't immediately. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:47 That's not what it's about. We can't immediately become perfect. The point is just to start applying the teachings as well as you can. And turning those minds around and turning the speech around and practicing it and playing with it and asking questions. So karma, according to the teachings, is created at a rate of 65 moments per finger snap. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:47 Highlight the passage at 1:00:47

1:01:14 So just in one finger snap, there's actually 65 separate moments of karma being created. And it's karma of speech, of mind, probably mostly mind. Because our mind is shifting that. Often, within our mind, there are that many moments being created of karma. Much of it is not hugely virtuous or hugely non-virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:14 Highlight the passage at 1:01:14

1:01:39 I mean, most of it's more like, hmm, that was a good sandwich from the cafe. She's looking at me again. So it might be like that, kind of. So it's not like major, major karma. It's kind of what one of my teachers called background. Background static, you know, it's kind of like just, but still you're creating karma. You're still creating karma in your mind. You're creating the karma to have sort of blah. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:39 Highlight the passage at 1:01:39

1:02:09 But on the other hand, if we aren't really making the effort to create, one of the things we were talking about yesterday, right, is that when you do a virtuous act, it's like we really have to think about it. You know, we plan for Sakodawa, we do all the preparations, we... We take the day off. We really think about it. We try to think about our motivation before each act. Like all through the day, we're really making all this effort. Well, the other 365 days of the year, 364 days of the year, we're just kind of acting according to whatever comes in front of us and how we feel at the moment and like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:42 So we aren't necessarily spending much time thinking about creating either positive or negative karma. And they say actually creating negative karma is just really easy for us. We just have the habits, and so they just happen. The yelling back, somebody's criticizing you and criticizing back, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:42 Highlight the passage at 1:02:42

1:03:02 We just respond to what's in front of us. And so that's how we just keep creating a lot. We just aren't even aware of that, and we aren't really doing anything to sort of shift it. But the point is, if we begin understanding it, we can shift it. It's totally shiftable, and it's totally possible for us to create what we want to create, which is also incredibly powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:02 Highlight the passage at 1:03:02

1:03:26 Teaching of all of Buddhism is karma because it puts the responsibility right in our hands. It's also kind of a drag because you can't blame anybody anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:26 Highlight the passage at 1:03:26

1:03:40 And it also means we have to work with our minds every minute of every day. And it also means that we don't have any more Mighty Mouses out there like ready to fly in at a moment's notice. We have to take these teachings and we have to actually practice them and work with them. So we become our own savior. You know, so when I see those words, like sometimes in old translations of these prayers and things, you're like calling the Buddhists our savior. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:04:07 Well, in a sense, because they taught us this, they are. But karma means that we have to do the work. We have to create. We have to create all the causes for us to have. We're the ones who created the mess we're in, and we're the ones who create the way out. And there's no exceptions, and there's no shortcuts. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:27 But it's through understanding karma and applying it, that's the real Buddhist practice. So these four are what Geshe Chokyi felt, we should really contemplate deeply before we even get into the beginning of the first Lojong teaching. And so these four are what you guys are going to contemplate this week in your meditation assignment, just contemplating what they mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:27 Highlight the passage at 1:04:27

1:04:55 And if you've had other classes on them, you'll have a little bit more information. But I think none of you have studied that long that you're going to have that much more than anyone else here. So some of you will have a little bit more and a little bit more. And of course, we have different life experiences too, right? And so we're actually, right after the break, I'm going to ask you guys to split up into pairs and just talk a little bit about, because these four are also sometimes spur to our practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:28 Why did you come to the Dharma? Often it's death, I have to say. For me it was definitely, my dad died when I was really young, well not really young, but now it seems like I was really young. Now that I'm really old, I was 22. So for me and my grandma died right afterwards and she helped raise us too. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:50 So it definitely was a spur to... As a 22-year-old, I definitely got it that life wasn't just all kind of fooling around. I felt like, why is everyone just so stupid and going to parties and getting drunk? There's clearly far more serious things we need to do. I didn't know what it was. I didn't meet the Dharma until much later. But I definitely felt like spiritual and political work were really, really important to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:16 It was quite serious. And the same has been true for various other... Deaths that I've gone through with friends, many friends. So for me, impermanence and death, definitely really, really big spur. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:16 Highlight the passage at 1:06:16

1:06:32 But, you know, understanding karma also, a definite, for me, one of the very first classes that I studied, getting it my responsibility and getting it that I could do something about it and getting it that I couldn't just sit in my room and wait for enlightenment to be handed to me. Dang it. But that it was just, I could work in little tiny increments every single moment of every single day, which also seemed a little bit more doable. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:06:57 Because sometimes you just imagine the great practitioners to just already be holy. And I knew I wasn't. So I was like, wait, disconnect. But if I thought, oh, I can just work with this a little bit and every day, you know, then it seems, and that's totally how karma works. That's totally how karma works. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:19 Refuge, if you know of anyone that has taken the formal refuge, that's often, for me, that was definitely an engaging point where I, when I decided to take refuge, that's when I jumped into Buddhism and it got really, it became my life, was at the moment that I took refuge. So whenever I think about how long I've been a Buddhist, I always date it from that day that I took refuge, although I had studied it before. And getting your precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:19 Highlight the passage at 1:07:19

1:07:48 Just recognizing what we have can also be a spur of just like, wow. Especially if you, I have a friend who works with people in oncology every day, day in and day out. Actually two people that are part of our community. One is an oncology nurse and one is a transplant nurse. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:11 And just the stories that come home from, I mean, when they come home from work. They've already had this entire experience, and both of them are hospice nurses as well in their spare time. So just getting that precious human rebirth is, I mean, they get it, they both get it on really, really deep levels, like what they don't have and what they do have. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:39 Also, if you just have been in a really horrible, like you grew up in a domestic violence situation or you have come out of that kind of a situation. Whether or not you've ever been to an area that is like incredible, like a former war area or a place like in India where people are just like, you know, people have leprosy and they're missing and need your help and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39 Highlight the passage at 1:08:39

1:09:02 If you've traveled very much, you really gain a respect and a recognition of your precious humor and your birth. So these four are really, really key to getting our current situation so that we can then dive into the Lojang teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:02 Highlight the passage at 1:09:02

1:09:21 So, do we have any questions? And then if not, then we'll take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21 Highlight the passage at 1:09:21

1:09:29 Let me do Gina. Well, actually, since Saki has the mic closest to him, let's let him. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

1:09:37 My first question was, well, I'll just start with one, is where does Lama Tsongkhapa and Padmasambhava come into the lineage? Okay, let me start with that one. Padmasambhava is about 800. He, an Indian pandit who came and brought the Dharma to Tibet in about 800. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:37 Highlight the passage at 1:09:37

1:10:02 And I think he was said to have lived a really long time. I don't know his dates. So it flourished after him for I think about 100 years. But then there was a couple of really anti-Dharma kings. This one was Langri Dharma or something like that. but, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:02 Highlight the passage at 1:10:02

1:10:23 I can't remember his name, but anyway, who did exactly what the Chinese government is doing. Destroyed temples, destroyed monasteries, destroyed statues. The teachings went underground and degenerated and things like that, so that's why they brought Atisha. Lama Tsongkhapa had this lineage of all the Kadampa masters. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:48 He followed them, and so he came from... His teachings, his teachers were all from this Kadapa lineage and he then, and in fact the Galupa school that he founded, so he founded this school that this center is a part of, the Galupa school, and it was based on these teachings of Atisha. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

1:11:16 He was about 14, he was 14, I want to say, I used to have his dates memorized. 13, I think it was 1358 to 14 something or other. So Padmasambhava came before Atisha? Oh, much, much before. Yeah, and then Lama Tsongkhapa was after the Kadampa master. Yeah, yeah, it's about 200 years between Padmasambhava and Atisha, and then the Kadampas followed Atisha for about 300 years, and then Lama Tsongkhapa came, and he was like their baby. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:50 Is there such thing as a lineage tree? No, but you can create one as your presentation. There probably is, actually. I'm sure there probably is. There might even be one online. Gina, did you have a question? I was wondering how long the early students... Mugs, the Lamas, etc. were encouraged to follow those four parts of the lamrim before they started the lojong training? That's a good question. I don't know. Not like a week and a half like we're going to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:50 Highlight the passage at 1:11:50

1:12:24 Yeah, exactly. Probably they would have been given it, you know, I mean, originally with the lamrim teachings, we were supposed to meditate on it until we gain some sort of sign of realization, which could be a year or more. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:24 Highlight the passage at 1:12:24

1:12:45 Day in and day out, you know. And there's one student, I think it was Kendall, I think it was in daily practice. Did anybody in here do the daily practice class? No. I think it was in that video she was talking about how, she's like one of my heroes actually, and I don't care who hears it, I'll have it uploaded on the website. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:45 Highlight the passage at 1:12:45

1:13:09 She was talking about how she would do the thing of just meditating for, you know, X number of weeks or even months and then moving on to the next one, you know, just kind of do this, do this. And it suddenly dawned on her that it was probably, it's probably better to just meditate on it for a year. And so she did, and that's when she started really getting things at a really deep level. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:34 One topic for a year. And so it's really hard because our mind gets bored with our breath, right? Our mind definitely gets bored. And you have to think of different ways to go into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:34 Highlight the passage at 1:13:34

1:13:47 I haven't done it that way, but I definitely have done it before my very first retreat, which wasn't a retreat on the Lamrim, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:13:56 My very first solitary retreat, I should say. Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche told me to meditate on impermanence and death. Every day. And there's this thought, my God, I'm a little bored. You don't. I think in impermanence and death especially, I think there's so many different ways you can think about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:17 I mean, just thinking about all, with impermanence, I would think about impermanence every night before I went to sleep and I would think about death every morning. That's the way I did it. And so in impermanence, you just, I know one session, I would just think about all the rooms I've ever lived in. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:33 You know, and how each one seemed like your home, right? You thought you were always going to be there. Like some aspect of you thought you would always be there. I can still picture the room I grew up in, you know, how many billions of years ago. And so like that, you can think about, you can just think about all the dogs you ever had, you know, or something like that. There are like ways to think about impermanence where it's really every time it's something completely different and they're all. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:14:58 And with death, of course, the more people you know who have died. Thinking about the fact that each one of them didn't know they were going to die necessarily, especially if it was a sudden death or an unexpected death. And even with people who know, you don't think it's going to be today. Believe me, you never think it's going to be today. You just never do. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:23 So contemplating that also livens it up because you're thinking about, oh my God, what was my friend thinking? I had this one friend who was really my biggest spur to getting into the Dharma, or leaping into the Dharma, I should say. And I thank her for this all the time. She was a friend of mine who was killed in a car accident. And she was a student midwife, which is what I was studying to be before. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:54 And she was headed to El Paso. There's like a sort of boot camp. For student midwives where you work in these birthing centers where people have no natal care at all. And so you get every possible type of birth. And so it's sort of like you really jump into all these kinds of births. So she was really excited about it. She was probably on the zenith in terms of excitement about where she was going, what she was going to do. She was a great, great person. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:29 Probably responsible for at least a thousand births, helping really great births happen. And she had gotten as far as, almost gotten there, stopped for the night, called, found out that she was so close that she decided to check out of the hotel, get into her car, head to El Paso, had just pulled off the freeway, probably right at sunset, and somebody rear-ended her and killed her, just instantly. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:59 she was just thinking about her final moments and how she had. No idea, no idea, was so powerful for me to think about that and to think, you just don't know. Like that guy that just died, what's his name, Russ, Russ, the news guy, Tim, yeah, I mean, he just like worked that day, you know, we had no idea, you know, you just, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and a good friend of ours, Kim, Kim Hollingshead, who just died, he worked. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:31 Worked in the international office up in Portland. A good friend of ours also worked at LPP for a while as a member of our center. Worked his full day, went at 5 o 'clock, walked out the front door, dropped out on the sidewalk. Just like that. So contemplating those things are so powerful. They're so powerful. So you can really do it for a year. Because there's always people dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:31 Highlight the passage at 1:17:31

1:17:53 Even if you don't know them, thinking about that guy. I didn't know that guy. But something about his death really meant. I didn't even watch him. But something about him, he seemed so everyman, you know, he seemed very approachable and stuff. Or thinking about the people in the World Trade Center, you know. I mean, that was, that's, they're all just like us, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:53 Highlight the passage at 1:17:53

1:18:12 Every one of them had something they were going to do that day or that night, you know. So contemplating this stuff means using examples from your life and using examples from the news and using examples from your friend's life or your, you know, friend of a friend, somebody you heard about in the neighborhood. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:12 Highlight the passage at 1:18:12

1:18:29 So that it becomes really real and doing it for as long as you need to do it. So you're right, it's definitely much more than we're going to have a week. But it's a start. And during that week you become familiar with it and then you know where to take it to the next step. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:29 Highlight the passage at 1:18:29

1:18:53 Meditating on it for longer. So all of these are actually classes. You can take a whole class on precious human rebirth. You can take a whole class on karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:04 Or again, take it again. You can take a whole class on death and impermanence, you know, or twice. Sandy's taken it several times, I think. She keeps coming back for more death and impermanence on a whole class on refuge. So we can always go deeper and deeper and deeper into this stuff. You can read more about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:30 Anybody else? Grab the mic. I just want to say, sometimes I really experience this urgency, but sometimes I feel like I'm a chicken with its head cut off. They'll panic, you mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:51 Thoughts have been coming to me about impermanence and death, and there has been death in my life. Young people, older people, sudden caring for people as they're dying. And so I do experience a sense of urgency to study the Dharma, but yet at the same time, I think I have, I keep... I think I keep desiring this experience to be linear and it's not, so sometimes I feel very frustrated as well because I feel like maybe there is some intellectual understanding, some deepening because this urgency has arisen, but yet at the same time, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:51 Highlight the passage at 1:19:51

1:20:34 I'd explain it, but then this thought of being scattered has come up. Yeah, I think the only way around that is just to... Just decide either I'm going to be more methodical in my practice or more methodical in my study or both. So I'm just going to do a Thursday night class for the next year no matter what. So I just come and I'm always at least getting that and working with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:21:06 Rather than, you know, because we do it a lot in the West. Take a class and drop off the planet. Take a class and then life happens. And then take a class, you know, so there's not, and they aren't necessarily connected or even at the same center. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:18 So, you know, like that. Yeah, so it's like just making that decision. I'm going to, Thursday's going to be my night and I'm just going to, you know, whatever it is. It doesn't have to be Thursday. I'm just using it. And the other thing is just deciding I'm going to sit and have a regular daily practice no matter what happens. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:18 Highlight the passage at 1:21:18

1:21:37 And there's always chaos. Just to do that. And if you can't be so strict as to say it's always going to be at 5 a.m. or 4 a.m. or 7 a.m. or whatever, then just say it's going to be sometime every day. So then if life gets crazy in the morning, it doesn't matter how late it is, I'm going to sit and do my half hour. Think about this, you know, think about like one lamrim topic or whatever you decide to make your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:37 Highlight the passage at 1:21:37

1:22:04 And it can be very individual. You can just decide what it is. But just making that determination to do it. In some ways I think, and I'm going way off topic here, but in some ways I think, you know, the Lama sort of trick us sometimes, I think, into doing that by giving us commitments. And I think at first you're like, you know, we just found out the Jainang, the Jainangs that Rinpoche gave us turned out, for those of us that took them as Jainangs and not as blessings, to have a commitment. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:04 Highlight the passage at 1:22:04

1:22:37 And it's just shocking sometimes you're like... It's like they trick us or something, and what they're trying to get us to do is to sit down and practice, you know? And I don't think I would have become nearly as disciplined as I have had to do if I hadn't been tricked into it. I got tricked into it, and that's my karma. And for me it worked. Ajaynang is, it translates into subsequent permission to practice, but it basically is like... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:37 Highlight the passage at 1:22:37

1:23:06 You have highest yoga tantra empowerment and then afterwards there are these Jainons, various Jainons. They're sort of like practices but you already have to have. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:06 Highlight the passage at 1:23:06

1:23:17 So when Chodron Rinpoche gave the ones he gave, he allowed people to receive them as a blessing if they hadn't had. And for those people, no problem. But for those of us that took it in the other way, Report an error in the passage at 1:23:17 Highlight the passage at 1:23:17

1:23:31 There was a surprise. There was a commitment. It wasn't a huge commitment, but he did that once before, too, as a bodhicitta. And I remember still the look on Venerable Ange's face. We were all sitting there, and then all of a sudden, at the very end, it said, and now you have a commitment to do 21 of the long mantra every day. And we both looked at each other, and we're like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:31 Highlight the passage at 1:23:31

1:23:50 And it's like, thank goodness he did. He's just trying to get us to purify every day. You know, I mean, actually, oh, poor me. I have to purify my negative karma every day. you know, which is kind of. It just shows you how skewed our point of view is. But that's what I would suggest. Because it really is easy, especially right now in the West, to have our minds be scattered. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:50 Highlight the passage at 1:23:50

1:24:15 So come up with your own way of, and discipline usually is it, and determination. Just pull all those elements into one and have it be either a short daily practice where you just make a commitment for a year, I'm going to try this, half hour. It's going to happen. It's going to be like brushing my teeth. I'm going to do it even if I'm really tired. Or and or decide I'm going to just take one class a week. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:15 Highlight the passage at 1:24:15

1:24:41 It doesn't matter which class. You could try it that way too if you can't always give the same night a week. Just to keep it coming in and keep some sort of anchor. Because I hear this from a lot of students who leave and then they're kind of like, wow, I want to come back. I'm realizing that I really need to come to the center. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:41 Highlight the passage at 1:24:41

1:24:59 It almost doesn't even matter what you're teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:59 Highlight the passage at 1:24:59

1:25:13 together. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:21 It's really important to all of us. I feel so fortunate that all I have to do is roll down the stairs. Of course you can't really get away from it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:32 But you sure have it. Anyway, why don't you guys get a break before so Chloe can go home. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:25:50 of the homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:25:54 Marian can wait on the homework. Don't give a copy of the homework to Marian. I'll make one right after class and you can have one. But that means that my original, somebody else will have to wait. I'll give you two Saturdays. I can give you everything on Saturday. Is this the article? Yes. I said article, but it's not really an article. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:54 Highlight the passage at 1:25:54

1:26:16 It's actually from this book. Peacock and the Poison Grove. which is Geshe Sokha, Tzantzak Lama Sokha, Tibetan word, different translations. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:28 And it's on mind training, but he talks about exactly what we do tonight, training the mind in these preliminary practices. So I was thinking that in the last maybe 10 minutes that you guys can split into pairs and think about, well, we'll take a vote. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:26:48 I like to be democratic. We could either do a meditation, the same meditation that you guys will do this week. Or we can do this dyad thing. It's going to have to be majority rules. And I'll be a timer here. So we can either do a guided meditation or you guys can split into pairs and just talk about if one of these things has already resonated with you and has already been a reason that you're here, a reason that you have begun exploring. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:48 Highlight the passage at 1:26:48

1:27:17 She's got asthma. I thought you had it. No, a lot of times people think that. I'm not trying to. Calm nerves. Nothing will come up. No, believe it or not, we actually just are starting a kitty inhaler this week. They actually make kitty inhalers. It's not a pretty picture. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:17 Highlight the passage at 1:27:17

1:27:39 Thank you, Mary. So, yeah, just to talk a little bit about which of these two sort of has already played a role in your deciding to investigate the dharma or... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:39 Highlight the passage at 1:27:39

1:27:59 a spiritual life or whatever you want to call it whether already decided that you're Buddhist whether it's death, death and impermanence, or whether it's karma, understanding Report an error in the passage at 1:27:59 Highlight the passage at 1:27:59

1:28:12 I said, for me, taking refuge was jumping off Report an error in the passage at 1:28:12 Highlight the passage at 1:28:12

1:28:19 So, what do people want to do? Discussion? All in favor of discussion, raise your hand. Whoa, 100%. Okay. What? Discussion? Meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:19 Highlight the passage at 1:28:19

1:28:38 You've already lost a second, sorry. Although we can stay and talk if you want afterwards. Wow, really? I love discussion. Nobody else likes discussion. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:38 Highlight the passage at 1:28:38

1:28:53 All right, so we'll do a little meditation. So let's everybody just... Oh, you're going to have to put your tea away. That's what you wanted to spend. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:53 Highlight the passage at 1:28:53

1:29:10 He is simply making use of the fine items that we have currently for sale in the Buddhist Book Cafe, which he formerly was manager of and now is a volunteer for Comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:10 Highlight the passage at 1:29:10

1:29:35 And I'll just review the elements of the posture just so that you can review them in your mind's eye. For this purpose, your legs can be in any position. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:29:48 But it has to be a position, just ignore her, she'll go. It has to be a position that makes you feel stable and comfortable, so you don't need to shift around a fidget. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:30:04 Your spine should be extended. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:04 Highlight the passage at 1:30:04

1:30:09 Kind of imagine a cord going out of the top of your head. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:09 Highlight the passage at 1:30:09

1:30:15 Chin, just slightly tucked under. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:15 Highlight the passage at 1:30:15

1:30:22 Eyes, usually best to have them open. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:28 But for a guided meditation like this, it might help to Report an error in the passage at 1:30:28 Highlight the passage at 1:30:28

1:30:37 help. Your hands are in your lap, right over left, thumbs touching lightly or are resting on your knees. Your Report an error in the passage at 1:30:37 Highlight the passage at 1:30:37

1:30:52 tongue is on the roof of your mouth, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:52 Highlight the passage at 1:30:52

1:30:59 moist and you don't have to swallow as often. And Report an error in the passage at 1:30:59 Highlight the passage at 1:30:59

1:31:05 then your breathing is just relaxed, forced or unchanged. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:05 Highlight the passage at 1:31:05

1:31:24 I'm not going to do the preliminary practices because we don't have a lot of time, but normally you would also set a motivation for the way we did it at the beginning of class. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:24 Highlight the passage at 1:31:24

1:31:36 It can be a really simple one. You would also go to... For refuge, which we'll talk about refuge in the meditation, so that's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:36 Highlight the passage at 1:31:36

1:31:49 You try to contrive this mind of bodhicitta, thinking of goodness of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:49 Highlight the passage at 1:31:49

1:31:59 And then there's a seven limb practice that we normally do, which I'll walk you through next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:59 Highlight the passage at 1:31:59

1:32:13 So the first thing that we're going to contemplate is precious human rebirth. Think Report an error in the passage at 1:32:13 Highlight the passage at 1:32:13

1:32:22 about some of the opportunities that you know that you have and Report an error in the passage at 1:32:22 Highlight the passage at 1:32:22

1:32:30 things that allow you to study the Dharma. Maybe Report an error in the passage at 1:32:30 Highlight the passage at 1:32:30

1:32:55 it's a partner who's really supportive. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:02 Maybe it's living in an area like San Francisco that has a lot, actually a lot of Dharma happening. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:02 Highlight the passage at 1:33:02

1:33:19 It's your own interest about Report an error in the passage at 1:33:19 Highlight the passage at 1:33:19

1:33:30 how long these different conditions might last. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:40 Having a precious human rebirth doesn't necessarily last your whole life. Sometimes our circumstances change. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:40 Highlight the passage at 1:33:40

1:34:02 You might have read about who had these same conditions, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:02 Highlight the passage at 1:34:02

1:34:09 sometimes even doing loads of spiritual retreat, meditation. And then something changed. Maybe they lost their interest in the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:09 Highlight the passage at 1:34:09

1:34:27 Maybe their health worsened. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:27 Highlight the passage at 1:34:27

1:34:37 Maybe they no longer live in an area that easy to receive teaching. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:34:50 Or maybe they're caring for somebody else, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:50 Highlight the passage at 1:34:50

1:34:56 a sick child, ailing parent, partner, and they no longer have the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:56 Highlight the passage at 1:34:56

1:35:21 Think about having rebirth as an animal, such as a house cat, where Report an error in the passage at 1:35:21 Highlight the passage at 1:35:21

1:35:40 you wouldn't have the conditions to be able to practice. You wouldn't understand when people talk to you, even if you happen to live in a Dharma center. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:40 Highlight the passage at 1:35:40

1:35:52 You wouldn't be able to pronounce mantras, you wouldn't be able to meditate, you wouldn't be able to study or discuss. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:21 Try to feel really happy that you have what you have right now, and think about how you might use it. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:21 Highlight the passage at 1:36:21

1:36:39 It's like, as Benarubina says, you've just won the lottery. You have everything you need right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:39 Highlight the passage at 1:36:39

1:36:59 And then think about impermanence. We always feel like we're going to last forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:59 Highlight the passage at 1:36:59

1:37:11 Think about how it probably felt that way to every being who's ever lived. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:18 Every other person in existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:18 Highlight the passage at 1:37:18

1:37:25 All the people that lived 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 500 years ago, 1500 years ago. All of them had lives like ours with loved ones, work that they liked or didn't like, things to do, things they enjoyed, friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:25 Highlight the passage at 1:37:25

1:37:50 All of them had plans. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:50 Highlight the passage at 1:37:50

1:38:19 Think about people that you know or might have known. Who didn't know that they were going to die the day that they died. Some of them we talked about just now. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:19 Highlight the passage at 1:38:19

1:38:35 Like the people in the World Trade Center. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:35 Highlight the passage at 1:38:35

1:38:40 All of them had plans, dreams, lives like ours. And no idea that it was their last day of life. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:40 Highlight the passage at 1:38:40

1:39:09 What would you do differently if this were your last year on earth? How would you live differently? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:09 Highlight the passage at 1:39:09

1:39:41 Refuge is realizing that there's suffering in this life and that there's also something better. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:41 Highlight the passage at 1:39:41

1:39:50 It's recognizing the situation we're in and knowing that there's a way out and deciding to rely on that method to get out. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

1:40:11 It involves this recognition that we ourselves are Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:25 us believing that whatever it is that we're taking refuge, we have that capacity. We have the capacity to become enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:25 Highlight the passage at 1:40:25

1:40:43 There's one form of refuge that seems external. We're taking refuge in Buddha outside of us. But there's another inner form of refuge too. We're taking refuge in our own future Buddhahood, Report an error in the passage at 1:40:43 Highlight the passage at 1:40:43

1:41:02 what we can become. Our mind is totally capable of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:02 Highlight the passage at 1:41:02

1:41:14 We can totally realize these teachings. We can have a direct perception of emptiness and generate bodhicitta. We Report an error in the passage at 1:41:14 Highlight the passage at 1:41:14

1:41:25 can learn to meditate deeply. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:25 Highlight the passage at 1:41:25

1:41:35 Think about how this understands what saves us. We Report an error in the passage at 1:41:35 Highlight the passage at 1:41:35

1:41:51 take refuge in the Buddha only because he's done it. He's realized this method. He's lived this method. And he's become enlightened. But Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:13 we're the one that has Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:34 to. Taking refuge is, on one level, simply relying on the law of cause and effect, understanding it, studying it, contemplating it, and then practically applying it, Report an error in the passage at 1:42:34 Highlight the passage at 1:42:34

1:42:53 putting it into practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:53 Highlight the passage at 1:42:53

1:43:00 At most, trying to do good, and at least... Morality in Buddhism is really defined. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:00 Highlight the passage at 1:43:00

1:43:23 The best things you've ever done, and the worst things you've ever done. And Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:34 how each one of those, and everything in between... It creates a karma, whether it's a moment of thought, whether it's a moment of speech, whether it's an act, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:53 physical action. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:03 Everything you experience, Report an error in the passage at 1:44:03 Highlight the passage at 1:44:03

1:44:08 everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:08 Highlight the passage at 1:44:08

1:44:12 So think about what you'd like to experience and create it. For example, if you want good teachers, you have to become. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:12 Highlight the passage at 1:44:12

1:44:24 It just means listening respectfully, but mostly if Report an error in the passage at 1:44:24 Highlight the passage at 1:44:24

1:44:38 you want to have money Report an error in the passage at 1:44:38 Highlight the passage at 1:44:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:45:22 to get whatever you want. This is wisdom. So Report an error in the passage at 1:45:22 Highlight the passage at 1:45:22

1:45:52 we dedicate this meditation and this class. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:45:58 To each of us being able to realize these teachings and follow the method, follow the path, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:58 Highlight the passage at 1:45:58

1:46:07 so that we can transform our minds. We can develop this vast mind of bodhicitta, this mind that's constantly caring for others, working for others, and finding great delight in that work in this lifetime so that we can greatly benefit. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:07 Highlight the passage at 1:46:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:47:05 Does anyone have any last-minute questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:16 So that's kind of what I'm thinking that you can do. Just thinking about what they mean. And some of them might mean more to each of you than others, but still just to contemplate all four. Sometimes it's easier to contemplate one per session so you can go more deeply into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:16 Highlight the passage at 1:47:16

1:47:56 Actually, Shane, you have the homework, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:56 Highlight the passage at 1:47:56