Samsara and Nirvana - How we got into this mess and how to get out! (18 March 2008)

0:17 We start with the prostrations, with this idea of... Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

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1:20 I Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:48 still Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

2:04 owe you the first class. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:11 I knew I'd remember it as soon as I saw you. I have the second class notes. Was anybody not here for the second class that needs the second class notes? Because that I can actually hand you. Now everybody's here. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:28 I know I handed them right to somebody. Yeah, yeah. No, it's okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

2:37 Oh, okay. Yeah, and Amy probably would have remembered that, except both of us worked Saturday, Sunday, and so we both tried to take today off. It was a little harder for me than her, I'm sure. But, so she's not here, so she probably just... Oh, you have it? Have you finished reading it? You can always hit me up tomorrow at Pooja. Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

3:02 Sure, why don't you give those to Alonzo, and then he can read them, and then I can give you a nice set. Thank you, Mary. Because Mary lives here, so she can find me quicker. She can just keep being annoying. She can withhold my tea. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Okay, so let's start with a nice meditation. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:23 This one's from Sangye Kaudro, who is the author of How to Meditate, which I think is a great resource. Meditations of all kinds. Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:38 And we just start the way we always do by just allowing ourselves to take some nice deep cleansing breaths and coming more and more into this room and letting go more and more of whatever might keep us from being in this room. Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

4:00 Come here, whatever else you were working on today, any conversations you've just been having, any plans, thoughts, Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:13 just imagine them sort of dissolving. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:21 Like smoke from a chimney. They Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

4:29 just go more and more into your body, into this room. Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:57 Watching as your breath begins to calm down, if leaving becomes more regular, you just observe it from whatever level works best for you. They say that watching at the level of the abdomen is really good for those of us who kind of live in our minds a lot. It's the most grounding of the three. But you can watch at the level of your belly, the level of your chest, or the level of your nostril. Just the sensation of the air entering your body and exiting. Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:37 Stay with that breath without being distracted by sounds or thoughts, ideas. Be Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

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8:44 clear and free of clouds, Report an error in the passage at 8:44 Highlight the passage at 8:44

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11:10 delusions. Understand how common delusions work so that we can ultimately benefit ourselves and others. And lasting is Report an error in the passage at 11:10 Highlight the passage at 11:10

11:49 prayer with Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

11:55 meaning. It goes on page 8 in the white book. Report an error in the passage at 11:55 Highlight the passage at 11:55

12:09 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:49 did. I have it in my notes, dear. First, let's start out with if anybody had any questions about the homework assignment, the meditation, the reading, anything. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:03 you pass Report an error in the passage at 13:03 Highlight the passage at 13:03

13:11 have the notes from the first week. Oh, okay, so you're another one. Yeah, and I have a register. Okay. So on the break, I'm not sure if I have forms. That's the only problem is those come from Amy. But I can, what I don't have from you is any way to contact you. I don't have an email address from you. You, Alonzo, I have. But what I could just do is make a note to myself on the break and get your email address. Yeah, because I didn't even bring down the roster. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:40 But I'll just add you to the roster and I can send that to you. And what we were contemplating the last two weeks were the different kinds of suffering and saṃsāra. So, can anybody name any of them? This will be a pop quiz. Any of them, anything at all. It's on. I was going to say Dukkha Dukkha. They said it. Report an error in the passage at 13:40 Highlight the passage at 13:40

14:05 Is it not showing up? Yeah, you talk light. Oh, okay. All right. So I think we had it, must have had it turned down for a little bit now. I wonder why that would be. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:26 Anyway, enthusiastic. Report an error in the passage at 14:26 Highlight the passage at 14:26

14:33 Yep, Cedric's got one. Cedric's got a suffering. Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

14:39 Oh, he's got a question. Yeah, wait, I need a suffering. I want at least a couple of sufferings for examples for him. Okay, this is a term of the contaminated Whoa, you picked by far it is one. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

14:55 That's what your question's about. Yeah, so he wants to hang on to the mic. Okay, okay, go ahead. Yeah, I just wanted to give Anne a couple of ideas, and she wasn't here for the first one, and she didn't have no homework. Does anybody have any other suffering? there's Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:12 Yeah, a good one. We all can relate to that one. Anybody else? I guess attachment qualifies as such? Yeah, I think it does. Report an error in the passage at 15:12 Highlight the passage at 15:12

15:27 I took notes. Birth, aging, sickness, death, separation of what you like, inquiring what you dislike, not obtaining what you want, aggregates and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:45 I think the last one was actually what Sadek was just saying. Okay, that's good. It just gives you an idea of what we're talking about when we're saying it. Sometimes the word suffering always sounds like... broken leg or, you know, like that kind of growth suffering. And so it's all these other little things that qualify as suffering. Sandy, you want to pass the mic back to Sutterkin and you can ask this question. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:08 about all compounded stuff. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:14 well, it's more basic. I'm still not clear on the aggregates because I've heard a lot of discussion on that and I'm not clear on that. What are aggregates? It's a weird word, isn't it? I guess that refers to the five skandas. Yeah, but what the heck does that mean, too, right? Right. I think for our purposes, we get into it in more detail in the wisdom class, actually, and you get into it because it's definitely... Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:48 Talked about in the Heart Sūtra. It gets into a lot of the details of body and mind, but I think for our purposes we could just say our body and our mind. In Buddhism, body is just one and then the other four are all mind. Shows you kind of where the Buddha's interest is. Our body is form, that's one of them, and then everything else falls under mind. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:13 So feelings, discrimination, compositional factors. What am I missing? Feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and... Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:29 Consciousness. Consciousness, yeah, there you go. All done. You get two A's. Yeah, but it all falls under consciousness. Like what we would probably think consciousness and mind are synonyms, right? And within the Buddhist context, it actually gets into all these different levels of what... really. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:46 What the various aspects of mind are. And all of those are considered our five aggregates or our five heaps. We sometimes see it, skandhas or heaps. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

17:57 But I think for our purposes, it's just the body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:04 Anybody else? Okay. down, down. Report an error in the passage at 18:04 Highlight the passage at 18:04

18:08 Alright, so now I have to fess up. So I have to start with my fessing up. Last week when we were talking, and I'm doing this on purpose, I'm saying it into the mic because I didn't want anybody who heard the first class to hear my error and carry on and think that this little animal is existing in the middle of the Wheel of Life. Report an error in the passage at 18:08 Highlight the passage at 18:08

18:31 So, Mary's the one who brought it up to me, but Taryn also knows. So when we were discussing in the middle of the Wheel of Life that we were talking about last week, we had the three animals that represented the three main delusions. We're going to start talking about them a little bit tonight after we talk about karma. And the three animals are the snake represents aversion or anger or hatred. Report an error in the passage at 18:31 Highlight the passage at 18:31

18:57 The pigeon or the rooster, traditionally I think it's the rooster, represents attachment. I said the rat. It's a pig. I'm so sorry. I don't really know it's a pig. I think I just had a rat on the brain. It's burned in my head as a rat. I know. And when you look at the picture, it actually looks like a rat, too, which doesn't make it easier. Jantan actually found a rat out in the alley out back earlier in the afternoon, and I am going to blame him for my permanently having rat in the brain. Report an error in the passage at 18:57 Highlight the passage at 18:57

19:31 I know it's a pig. Anyway. I mean, both rats and pigs are actually pretty intelligent animals. But in that time period in India, the pig was considered stupid, and so that's why I think it's being used. So it is a pig. Pig, not rat. Still three syllables. I mean, three letters, but pig. Okay, so for those of you listening at home, it is a pig, not a rat. Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:58 Delete that from your notes. am It's already been deleted. It just self-deleted maybe. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:08 So where we ended last week was just beginning to talk a little bit about, at least where I ended, where I think we ended last week, was just beginning to talk a little bit about karma because the two main causes of it was the Seth King. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:25 This mess that we call psychic existence or saṃsāra are karma and delusion. Most of the next three classes are going to be spent on the delusions, because that's actually considered to be the root cause. These mucky minds of ours, all the things that arise in our minds that we follow. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:47 But karma is a really, really... Um. Report an error in the passage at 20:47 Highlight the passage at 20:47

20:52 Pivotal reason why we're here. And actually, I think it's one of the basic tenets of Buddhism, especially within this tradition. We definitely talk about karma a lot. And I think karma is one of those words, it's a Sanskrit word, but I think it sort of gets bandied about a lot, and I think there can be misunderstandings of karma. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:13 And some of those misunderstandings would be that karma means fate, or that karma means destiny. It's her karma. It's my karma to be like this. It sounds much more solid. The Buddha saw karma as a working of the mind, and mind is completely impermanent, just like everything else. So karma is completely impermanent. Karma ripens and abides and exhausts, so nothing is permanent. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:47 So it's good to understand some of the basic elements or the basic aspects of karma, just so that you guys all have a little bit of working knowledge, because I think it's so important, even if we just have baby knowledge of karma, and then a little bit about emptiness as well. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:06 So karma is also, karma means action in Sanskrit. It's actually more like Kanban. When Sujatha says it, it's great. I feel like we should have Sujatha, this Indian woman who comes and volunteers. She's a lawyer for LPP. And she pronounces all of these words that I just totally destroy with my American accent. She pronounces them all so beautifully. Report an error in the passage at 22:06 Highlight the passage at 22:06

22:34 I feel like I'd love to get lessons from her and pronounce them correctly. There's that different guttural. or I should say labial, I think I should. Anyway, karma means action, but the definition of karma for our purposes is an action of thinking and what those actions of thinking inspire with your body and your speech. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

23:00 So it really starts with that workings of the mind. It's the workings of the mind first, the action of the mind, and then what those actions inspire with your body and your speech. It gets a little bit confusing because even though it means action in Sanskrit, and so that means it actually refers to the cause of, you know, in the term cause and effect, it actually is referring to the cause. Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:30 In general usage, it actually refers to the actions that we do that are motivated by our delusions, the imprints. That are left upon the mind by those actions and the results of those actions. So that's where it can get kind of confusing. The whole thing is kind of considered karma. Report an error in the passage at 23:30 Highlight the passage at 23:30

23:55 So in Buddhism there is no external creator God period. Our entire view according to the Buddha and what he observed when he got enlightened. Is that everything arises independent upon causes and conditions and the main cause is karma. So we are the creator of that karma, so we are in effect our own creator gods. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:25 There's nobody else doing it to us or for us in a positive or a negative way. And this includes every aspect of our life, including... Our skandhas, including our body and our mind, our environment, the people around us, the people in this class, the building, our feelings about everything in this room, whether I like the color of the cup or the carpet or the timber of your voice, you know, all of those things are also affected by karma. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

25:02 My own birth and death are affected by my karma. They all come about by karma. So there's nothing that I experience that's not coming from my own karma. If I have created positive karma, then I receive a pleasant or pleasurable result. If I've created negative karma, then I receive an unpleasant or a suffering result, which is what's getting us around to those sufferings again. Report an error in the passage at 25:02 Highlight the passage at 25:02

25:39 And most of us, of course, receive both because we've created everything because we've been going at this for a while and we just keep cycling through. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

25:49 So we have to create the causes to get the results that we want. They don't just happen. We can't just make prayers for some external being to do the work for us. Report an error in the passage at 25:49 Highlight the passage at 25:49

26:03 And by it. It takes a little effort for us to because it actually becomes more of a habit for us to create negative karma. It's a little easier in some ways because we follow our delusions and we create negative karma and that becomes more of a habit. And that's how we keep ourselves going through the cycle. In fact, that is the cycle. That is saṃsāra. And when I use terms like positive and negative or good or bad, it's not some external, internal judge that's um labeling something as a good or bad thing um An affliction is anything that disturbs our mind. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:58 So if I follow anything that disturbs our mind, whatever it produces, Will bring suffering. So any karma that comes from that is a negative karma. And that's how we're labeling a positive and a negative thing. And the result of that karma ripening will be suffering. The same is true if I follow a virtuous state of mind like compassion. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:27 The result has to be a pleasant result. That's what makes it positive because the mind that created it was not afflicted or afflicted. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

27:42 So whenever we follow a positive state of mind, that produces pleasure or pleasurable result and that's labeled positive. So it's not about blame or it being anybody's fault. And I think that people can use it that way and it shows a gross misunderstanding of karma. When they do, like, you know, that whatever is happening to the Tibetans is just their karma, and so there's nothing we should do about it. Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

28:14 You know, like, they're just receiving the results of their own karma. Now, a Tibetan might say, it's our karma, with an understanding of how it may be the result of their karma. But there's nothing about karma that implies that we shouldn't act to change it. And that's, I think, where we get into the danger zone by saying, oh, it's just my karma, or it's just her karma, or it's just their karma, and then act as though it's permanent and unchangeable and somebody's fault. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:47 Because that also implies a lack of compassion, which is the root of the Buddhist teachings, is compassion. So it's completely ignoring that entire aspect, and of course showing a lack of wisdom as well. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:04 So every single moment, one of the other misperceptions of karma that I think is out there, and of course I still have as well, even though I hear this a billion times, especially when I'm saying it, we sort of think that the big stuff we do causes karma, but all the little crap doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:25 And actually the Buddha said that we are creating karma at the rate of... 65 moments per finger snap. So I've just created that much more karma. It's like happening all the time. And it's usually mental, you know, because we can't really keep, well maybe, most of us don't move at that kind of pace to be creating that much physical karma. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:47 So most of what we're creating is mental. And clearly, by degrees, our minds are, you know, we're not doing huge. vast horrible things at all the moments of the day and night but it is popping they are rising and passing away in our minds and when we have a negative you know like god i wish you'd shut up know in an instant we've just created a negative karma and that's just the uncontrolled mind which is why these delusions are so dangerous for us dangerous for our own minds Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:22 And they say too that... Negative karma is created mostly when we're just unmindful or unaware, which is another reason, of course, to develop mindfulness, which is the same mindfulness that we use in meditation. We develop mindfulness and introspection and meditation to keep an eye on whether our mind is on the object and then to announce it to. Report an error in the passage at 30:22 Highlight the passage at 30:22

30:51 The mind when it's gone off, you know, there's all these aspects of mind that have to be working while we're meditating. It's that same mindfulness that we bring into our daily life, right? That like, whoa, why did I just think that? That was weird. I don't know anything about him. Why do I think he's annoying? You know, like, so we're keeping an eye on ourselves. That's really what mindfulness is about. Report an error in the passage at 30:51 Highlight the passage at 30:51

31:11 It's not just watching ourselves moving slowly or something. You know, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is fond of saying that thieves develop mindfulness. It's not in and of itself a virtue. It's what we apply it to. And becoming more aware of what our mind is doing and how we're using it and how we're judging or not judging somebody or whether anger is arising, whether attachment is arising and that sort of thing. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:41 Just becoming aware of what our mind is doing. Mindfulness is our step towards being able to do something with it. It's just a tool really. Mindfulness is just a tool. It's a useful tool. It's a really important tool. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

31:55 So one of the biggest problems with karma, when we understand these teachings on karma, is that there's this lag time between when we do something, or say something, or even think something, and when that karmic seed ripens. And usually it's at least a lifetime. It doesn't usually happen within this life. Report an error in the passage at 31:55 Highlight the passage at 31:55

32:14 There are exceptions to that, and we talk about this in a lot of detail in the karma class, ways that you can increase or speed up when karma ripens, and it's usually based on the object of who you're doing the negative or the positive karma for, and clearly if you want it to speed up, then it would be positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 32:14 Highlight the passage at 32:14

32:35 If you want to just understand karma and why this one's ripening now, it's usually just about negative karma. But it has to do with the object, it has to do with the intensity of the delusion. Like if I do an act with extreme hatred, it's going to be a much stronger karma than if I do the same act, for example, killing a bug with complete just obliviousness. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

33:05 You know, I'm not even ignorant, I'm not even aware. I still have a motivating factor that's an affliction, I still have ignorance, but it's just... Complete unawareness is just going through life basically self-centered. I'm just not noticing that I have my hand on an ant or something like that. That's much less negative karma than, you know, oh my god, you know, that kind of like total aversion in my heart. Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:28 Or of course, shooting somebody, you know. And there is a leap there, but there's not that much of a leap in terms of what our minds do. Report an error in the passage at 33:28 Highlight the passage at 33:28

33:42 So that lag time, Master Nargajuna said that it's actually too bad that we don't experience immediately the results of our negative actions because we would figure out karma so much faster. If we were stepping on a roach and immediately this large foot came down and began to step on us, we'd get it. We wouldn't have that kind of confusion. Report an error in the passage at 33:42 Highlight the passage at 33:42

34:06 We wouldn't have the kind of misunderstandings that we have. We'd never kill again. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:14 So, but that lag time is there. And you can play with that. You can increase the, you know when you're doing, you know how we always set a motivation and we end with a dedication? What we're trying to do is to cultivate a larger motivation and dedication, a larger mind than ourselves. Even though we might just be here out of our own interest, we're trying to cultivate this mind that we would use whatever we learn here for the benefit of others. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:44 And ultimately for the benefit of all. It's kind of like stretching our little baby minds that want to be like, well I just kind of want to learn some things and go home. And what we're doing is we're kind of growing into this bodhicitta mind. And so what that does is it sort of gives some power to what we're doing. Because this is a positive thing that we're doing. We're actually studying the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:05 It may not seem like a positive thing, but it actually is a very positive thing. So I want to give you the four main principles of karma just because they are, I think they're really clear, but they're also pretty tasty. Karma is definite. If you do something positive, you get a positive result. If you do something negative, you get a negative result. This sounds really obvious, but we don't remember it. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:36 If we cheat on our taxes and get $500 back, we think it's because we cheated on our taxes. The Buddha is saying, no, if you cheat on your taxes and you get $500 back, the $500 came from being generous. You haven't gotten the karmic result from the cheating yet. That's coming. That's that foot coming down under your head. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

36:00 The same is true if you have to lie to make a deal at work. We think that makes the company get, you know, a $100,000 deal. But the $100,000 deal comes from generosity, according to the Buddha. It doesn't come from that lie. That lie still has yet to ripen. It's just formed in your mindstream and you're going to carry it for a while, unless you purify it, and you can purify it. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:24 That's the good news. So, a lemon seed in the natural world, a lemon seed creates a lemon. A lemon seed cannot create an apple. And we get it in that one, but this is the same theory. And so the Buddha is saying basically, if we do something negative, even if nobody sees us, even if it's tiny, something negative will ripen for us. Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:54 At some point, maybe many lifetimes ahead, but when the conditions come together, that seed will ripen and it will be a suffering. If we do something tiny positive, Report an error in the passage at 36:54 Highlight the passage at 36:54

37:08 It will also ripen as a pleasure at some point. It won't be lost. That's another one. Karma is never lost. That's the fourth, actually. I've jumped ahead. It can never disappear. I'm not going to write it down. She's not going to write it down. Okay, she wants them in order. All right, so karma is definite. Karma increases is number two. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:28 The results are always bigger than the cause. And again, we get this in the natural world. An acorn is much, much smaller than an oak tree. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

37:40 An apple seed is much, much smaller than an apple tree or an apple. So a tiny moment of anger or hatred, even more sort of like the strongest manifestations of a reversion, can cause us vast suffering later. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

37:59 Especially if it stays in our mind stream for lifetime after lifetime without us trying to do anything about it. And there are a lot of things that can change our karma. Karma is actually very, very complex. We can purify any negative act they say that we've ever done, we can purify. But we have to take that step. Like it won't just be done on it for us. Nobody else will step in. There's no creator God, remember? So there's nobody else to do the work for us. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:30 So karma increases. If you didn't create the karma, You won't experience the result. Nobody else can cause your suffering for you. Nobody else can cause your pleasure for you. Report an error in the passage at 38:30 Highlight the passage at 38:30

38:51 So if you're experiencing pleasure, that means you created the causes for it. If you're experiencing suffering, whether it's a bout of the flu, or whether it's an annoying co-worker, or whether it's losing the job altogether. That is a karmic result, and there's nobody you can blame. It doesn't mean you can't act to make changes within the conventional world. Report an error in the passage at 38:51 Highlight the passage at 38:51

39:20 You can still try to get your job back, you know. You could try to position your chair in a different way so the annoying coworker doesn't get through to you, but most likely it's best to work with a mind, actually. Report an error in the passage at 39:20 Highlight the passage at 39:20

39:36 So, as one... Um. Report an error in the passage at 39:36 Highlight the passage at 39:36

39:39 A nun used to say, if you want to get a cup of tea, you have to boil the water. If we want to attain a positive rebirth, we have to create the causes. If we want to attain enlightenment, we have to create the causes. We can't just be a generally nice person, show up for church and go home. It takes us some time to work with our minds, and that's kind of all the time. Report an error in the passage at 39:39 Highlight the passage at 39:39

40:03 So we have to create the causes for positive as well as... Stop creating the causes for negative. And then the final one is karma is never lost. It can never just disappear. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:18 So the tidiest acts will produce a result. And we can purify, but then what happens? It actually ripens in some lesser form. So we can purify things that we've done. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:38 And we go into this in much, like I said, in much more detail. In the Karma class and also a little bit in other classes. And I do at times, we teach different purification techniques. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

40:56 The most important one is applying any understanding that you have of emptiness. So since we're going to get a little bit into emptiness, you'll have that tool before you leave here. Even if it's a tiny, tiny bit. I've heard, and I don't remember which. A great master said it, but Geshe-la always repeats it, and all of my teachers have always repeated it, that even the tiniest understanding of emptiness, if we apply it to our lives, can crack this sort of solidity of saṃsāra that we find ourselves in. Report an error in the passage at 40:56 Highlight the passage at 40:56

41:29 It's the beginning of the end of saṃsāra, even the tiniest little bit, as long as it's not a misunderstanding. As long as you're not thinking that nothing exists. So don't go that way. Don't go towards nihilism. Things definitely exist. So those are those four. Did you get them all, Karen? Did anybody else miss one? Karma is definite. Karma increases. If you didn't create the karma, you won't experience the result. Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

42:00 And karma is never lost. Report an error in the passage at 42:00 Highlight the passage at 42:00

42:05 So this also means that things don't happen to us randomly. There's no such thing as luck in Buddhism. Just like there's no such thing as some creator God doing things to us or for us. That idea doesn't exist. Which is sort of the main three possibilities that are out there, I think, in terms of different philosophies for why things happen. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:33 And karma is the third. We created our own reality and therefore we... Have both the responsibility and the power to turn it around. Report an error in the passage at 42:33 Highlight the passage at 42:33

42:46 So the two kinds, when we were talking about the wheel of life last week, when we were talking about the various realms of existence according to what the Buddha observed when he attained enlightenment, I think I mentioned that there are two specific kinds of karmas that come into play at the time, at the moment of your death, that sort of shoot you into. Report an error in the passage at 42:46 Highlight the passage at 42:46

43:11 This is how we keep kind of going around and around. The first is what's called projecting or throwing karma, and this comes up when we were talking about the 12 links, which don't look at your syllabus anymore because I'm just making massive changes to it. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:31 Basically, same idea, but I decided just to cover the whole 12 links in, I think it's in class 6, it's near to the end. Throwing or projecting karma is one of the links. That's one of the links, and it's usually called karmic formation. So this sort of shoots us into the next life. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

43:54 And it determines the realm or the type of rebirth that we take. So whether we're an animal, for example, or whether we're human, is determined by our throwing karma. What that is, is usually the final moments or the strongest karma at the final moments of your life, of this life, as this life is ending. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:19 And that's why they say it's really, really important to be careful if you're working with somebody who's dying, if you're with somebody who's dying, to try to keep their mind as happy and comfortable and so forth as you can. Report an error in the passage at 44:19 Highlight the passage at 44:19

44:33 And it's also why we... We have the responsibility to work on our mind now so that we can keep ourselves comfortable and happy if nobody else is there because we don't know what the conditions will be for our death. Of course, we all hope for one of those really lovely deaths that they always show in movies, but the reality is that we don't have that much control over what our situation would be like at that moment. Report an error in the passage at 44:33 Highlight the passage at 44:33

44:56 So the stronger and the more stable our mind is and the more we've worked with it, The more positive this throwing karma will be. And they say, for example, that throwing karma is like the artist sketches the sort of overview of what your life will be like. The finishing or completing karma is the second of these two types. And that's all the details. So that's like the assistants come in and they fill in all the details of the painting. Report an error in the passage at 44:56 Highlight the passage at 44:56

45:06 Um. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:31 And that's everything. Everything from whether you're rich or poor or whether you have the chance for a good education or whether you live in Beverly Hills or whether you live in Arkansas or whether you, you know, so it's like all the details. So you can see that there are a lot of permeations of possibility that you could have, which is one of the reasons why karma is so complex because this is just one aspect of karma. Report an error in the passage at 45:31 Highlight the passage at 45:31

45:59 This is what happens at the moment of death. But you could have really, really wonderful projecting karma and then really, really lousy finishing karma, such as being born a human with a really strong body but being shot to some place that, you know, so all the conditions of your life are that your parents... Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:26 They have no money, they have no way of making money, they live in a land that has famine, you know, you have war all around you. So all those finishing conditions are really horrible. So even though you ended up with this great body, there's not a lot you can do with that. And we can all think of examples of that. You could have a lousy projecting karma and a really great finishing karma, like one of Lamyashi's dogs. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:54 So you got a dog body. In fact, he always had Lhasa Apsa. So you have this little tiny dog body. But you ended up with Lama Yeshi for your entire life. So it's pretty amazing, actually. Or I always think of the cats, you know. But he really wanted to come down. She had a lot to say tonight, but I put my foot down. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:15 So, and then, or you could have both good. Like, you know, great conditions. A human who happens to be born with really... Great conditions to be able to study and practice and meet great teachers and so forth. Or both really horrible. Report an error in the passage at 47:15 Highlight the passage at 47:15

47:33 A horse born in India to really mean farmer. So it's like everything about your conditions could be bad too. And then of course everything in between. So those are just like the four main possibilities. But you can also have lots of variations. Because of course we can have really great conditions at the beginning of our life and then lose those conditions, right? Things happen. Suddenly other karma ripens and that's part of what makes karma so confusing and so difficult to get a grasp on. Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

48:09 And they say actually that of all of the teachings of the Buddha that karma is actually the most difficult to understand, even beyond. All the teachings on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:26 But understanding even just a little bit of karma means trying to begin to apply that understanding. So if we begin to understand how karma works, it's best to try to start applying that understanding. Because if we begin understanding that if I do a negative thing, I'm going to get a negative result and then I just keep doing negative things. Report an error in the passage at 48:26 Highlight the passage at 48:26

48:52 It's not going to really change our situation. And they actually say this is really what Buddhist practice is, is simply trying to apply the teachings on cause and effect or karma. And he's just trying to put them into some sort of action. Even if that begins just by becoming aware as you're screaming at somebody, whoa, I'm doing it again. Report an error in the passage at 48:52 Highlight the passage at 48:52

49:17 I'm just creating more negative karma for myself. But at least I'm noticing it. And that's often how it starts. It's almost like it feels like I'm talking really loud. But anyway. Report an error in the passage at 49:17 Highlight the passage at 49:17

49:30 Okay, it feels really loud. But anyway. That's often how it starts. It's like you begin to see it almost like a third person where you're seeing yourself doing the negative act, but you still can't stop yourself from doing the negative act. But at least you're starting to have some awareness of... anyway, um... Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:49 Man, I'm doing it again. Look. And then you're like, you know. Or as one teacher used to say, you yell back and then, you know, by the end of the day you think, oh, drat, I shouldn't have yelled back today. That's what we were talking about in class last night, you know. And or then you, and then it begins to short and then you, excuse me, then you yell back and then you, you know, walk into the bathroom and realize, oh, I shouldn't have yelled back. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:19 And so then you begin to have regret a little bit earlier. And then you yell back and then you sit down again at your desk and you're like, oh no, I shouldn't yell back. So you're shortening the time and then you're yelling back and you're catching yourself as you're yelling back. And you stop and you're like, oh, I shouldn't anymore. And so it begins to shorten like that and finally you catch it before you yell. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:42 I mean, that's the goal, right? Is to catch it before you yell. But that takes... A huge amount of time and awareness. And that's kind of what we're going to start working with with these antidotes. You have to be able to catch the anger before it turns into anger, actually. And that takes knowing your mind and watching your mind. And they say, actually, Shantideva, who wrote The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, has an entire chapter on patience. Report an error in the passage at 50:42 Highlight the passage at 50:42

51:12 And he talks about the root. I don't know if he uses that word, the actual direct cause of anger being this feeling of upset. And it's translated as upset in one version. I actually kind of like that, where it's just you're off kilter. And the quicker, the sooner, meaning within years, the more able you are to see, I'm off kilter right now. Report an error in the passage at 51:12 Highlight the passage at 51:12

51:41 I need to... Pull myself out of the situation before it actually turns into anger. Because that's actually how it first manifests in your body and your mind, is this kind of, like something's tweaked. Report an error in the passage at 51:41 Highlight the passage at 51:41

51:54 And often we just ignore it, we just push on through until then we get angry. But the goal is to be able to kind of go, hmm, the mind's starting to get a little upset here. And then either to pull yourself out of the situation so you can work on it, or to... Actually work on it at that moment, which is much harder. Yeah? I have lots of karma questions. Can we start? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. I'm getting on to questions and I didn't want to. Report an error in the passage at 51:54 Highlight the passage at 51:54

52:23 Before I ask my karma questions, do you think that upset is like you're disappointed that things didn't turn? No, upset meaning off kilter. Just off kilter, not like unmet expectations. No, that's beginning to turn into anger already. Already. Yeah, that's like a lesser karma. That's like an aversion. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:44 I wrote my questions down. Oh, good. While I was talking, you did? Yeah, because, you know, I know karma. So completing karma, is it ever called catching? Report an error in the passage at 52:44 Highlight the passage at 52:44

53:00 I've never heard it called catching, but it might be. But I used it wrong. No, that's okay. I never heard it called catching. Well, it didn't come from you. You're my teacher. Okay. That was wrong. Okay. Not catching. I've never heard catching. I have. I think because you say throwing. Right. No, it's more like, it's like you're shooting an arrow. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:22 Yeah, it's more like you're, yeah, I think it's like you're shooting an arrow with projecting and then, yeah, you're completing it. I like completing the best, finishing I've heard as well. Yeah, I like completing the best. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Catching. Catching, yeah, it's just, and nobody caught it. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:46 Anyway, I'll fix that. What about consequences for our actions? You know, you talk about karma is experienced in future lifetimes, but isn't there karma that's experienced from what we do now at all? We are right now experiencing the karma that we created in our past life, for the most part. Once you start expanding, Your object, in other words, who you're doing your acts for, trying to expand your motivation to be more like a bodhicitta motivation, or say you are serving your Lama or serving the teachings themselves, trying to save the teachings, for example. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

54:31 They say that's like the power of the object and it gets stronger. With Tantra, the whole reason that Tantra works... It's because we aren't even supposed to be doing Tantra unless we have bodhicitta motivation. So that immediately makes it all work faster. So it becomes sort of like the neutron bomb or whatever. It speeds up the whole process and empowers it because you've got this amazing bodhicitta motivation, which I'm not sure if everybody in this day and age does. Report an error in the passage at 54:31 Highlight the passage at 54:31

55:05 But that's supposed to be the only reason you would enter Tantra. You find the suffering of other beings so unbearable, you absolutely have to get enlightened as quickly as possible. And so you enter tantra, but that's why it's so powerful, because you've got this bodhicitta motivation. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:23 My last question is kind of complex. In the past I've described karma as faith, because to me it's a belief in kind of what goes around comes around. Really, which is what I was raised with, you know, kind of the mother wit of my youth. What goes around comes around, don't do that. So, but I think of it as kind of a belief in punishment and reward. Report an error in the passage at 55:23 Highlight the passage at 55:23

55:55 I think you get into really dangerous territory with terms like punishment and reward. So my question is, is there a better word to use than faith? But do you know what I mean when I say faith? I actually do think you have to, at some point, once you've studied karma and meditated on it, work with it a little bit, you have to actually develop some faith in it. Report an error in the passage at 55:55 Highlight the passage at 55:55

56:21 Which I think of, rather than the word faith, which I think is hugely loaded in our culture. I like trust. But I think you are trusting how karma works, rather than trust being... What karma is. Can you see the difference? It's like karma, there are mechanics of karma, that karma is referring to actions. The Buddha says actually it's a working of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:49 So it's like our mind creates it, our body and speech act on it, and our thought, I think, our thoughts also act on it. And then we create these seeds that we carry in our subtle most mind from life to life, and then they write them. Report an error in the passage at 56:49 Highlight the passage at 56:49

57:04 So it's this whole kind of mechanics. So I think you have to gain a trust in it so that we want to act on it, but I think there's something else there. Does that work better for you? Yeah, I like that. I lied. I said it was my last question. Can you recommend a good book? You know, there's a lot of negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04

57:26 Yeah. But saying I'm lying. Okay, so I was recommended to read Obeyus. I like that. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:31 I'm fine. Everything might not just happen, doesn't it? Report an error in the passage at 57:31 Highlight the passage at 57:31

57:37 Gary about karma? Do you know Elias Gary? I'm saying his name for an Hindu scholar. Do you know a good karma book? Actually, there are a couple of books. There is one that is the required reading for this course that is on the 12 links that I took a hand count and I have to place an order for those books. Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

58:09 How karma works. How karma works. Yeah. That's from the aspect of the 12 links, but it goes into karma quite a bit. And I have it, actually, if you want to peek at it first. But yeah, I'm going to place an order for that one. I got permission to go ahead and do that, so I better do it before we get another book story manager in there. Report an error in the passage at 58:09 Highlight the passage at 58:09

58:31 They retract the offer. But yeah, that one seems good. And then there's also, I think there's another one. Is that, I think, is there one on there? Does it mention, I think Geshe Rapton, I don't have it in front of me. I think Geshe Rapton does one on, or Geshe Dorge? On? On Karma? Is it on there? Let me see if this all is. No, it's all right. Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

59:03 Oh, that is him. That's Geshe Sonam Rinchen who did How Karma Works. And then I Report an error in the passage at 59:03 Highlight the passage at 59:03

59:12 think that's the best. I mean, I think there's probably a lot out there, so I can't say that's the best. That's what I know of. But most of, I have to admit, most of what I've learned about karma I've learned in classes, not from reading. So I don't know all the books. I was really excited about Geshe Sonam Rinchen's book. But I, you know, and so I ran out and like... Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:37 But I don't know of a whole lot of other books on Lama. Yeah, me neither. I just had a question. If you were, say you killed somebody and you were caught and you went to jail, so you did your debt to society, you'd still have the karma. Yeah, because what really matters is what's going on in your mind. So if you killed somebody, if you killed somebody, so there's all these different possibilities. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

1:00:08 If you killed somebody accidentally, you were driving, for example, and you just didn't see them because they were crossing against, let's make the whole story. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:08 Highlight the passage at 1:00:08

1:00:18 They were at fault, it was night and they were crossing against the light and they were, yeah, all these different things that were happening. They were wearing black and they darted out and, you know, there's all these things. So you actually weren't at fault and you didn't even notice. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:34 Would you collect a negative karma? Venerabhina always says it's almost like you wouldn't collect a negative karma. Probably in this state they'd find you. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:34 Highlight the passage at 1:00:34

1:00:45 But the minute you found out, say, they find you, you had deep remorse and regret. You'd never meant to hit that person. And then now that you found out you did, you do everything. You know how to apply. What's called these four opponent powers, the first one being this really sincere regret for having done his negative action. So that could be a situation where you created, you killed, you took a life, but never intended to, never even noticed that you did it, and when it was brought to your attention you had huge regret and then purified it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:23 So it's almost like... It almost doesn't even matter what the state does at that point because in your mind, you never intended to, you didn't have any kind of afflictive emotion about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

1:01:36 You know, you didn't set out to, you didn't have this whole, there's this whole package that you can do that you just make it really strong where you really wanted to and you practiced and you rejoiced afterwards and you didn't do any of that stuff. You were just driving home and you didn't even notice that you hit this person. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:01:54 So that's one possibility. Now say you did that other really horrible, like the other extreme. You hated your boss. You thought about it day and night, you know, and fed that negative mind and went out and practiced so that you could get them all in one shot. You know, I mean, just the whole worst package. Go and shoot them. Then you rejoiced, you know, went out for drinks afterwards. I mean, everything, like totally made it the strongest horrible act you could. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:54 Highlight the passage at 1:01:54

1:02:22 He's like a really kind guy who's caring for his aging mother. I mean, let's just make it completely worse. But then you suddenly see the error of your ways. If you still are able to have really profound regret and do these four opponent powers, which is basically, we haven't gotten to in this class, I wasn't going to get to them, but basically it's a purification technique for any negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:22 Highlight the passage at 1:02:22

1:02:50 One of them being never to do it again for at least as long as you can. So it's not like it's an easy out. So if you profoundly regret the act and you do the work on your mind and you do the purification practices and so forth, again, it almost doesn't even matter whether you've gone to prison and paid your debt to society. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:10 That's a completely different issue, you know. That's the culture that you're in. So whether you go to jail or whether you serve your time or whether you're let out on parole or whether you don't get caught but you do this work on your mind and you determine never ever to kill again, you know, that's what's really going to get rid of that negative karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:10 Highlight the passage at 1:03:10

1:03:34 Now remember, one thing that we said is that karma is never lost. So you do that kind of a purification, you're going to still have that karma ripen, but in a lesser form. So if it's that huge a negative karma, it's going to ripen in some way that you're going to still experience suffering, but it's just going to be some lesser suffering like... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:34 Highlight the passage at 1:03:34

1:03:54 Depression? I've usually heard it being related, if it's a killing like that, it would be more related to the body. You know, like terminal cancer or something like that. You're going to get some sort of negative result of that. So it's not an easy thing to answer, actually. It's almost like two separate issues, whether or not the culture that you're in imprisons you and you pay that debt off. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54 Highlight the passage at 1:03:54

1:04:28 But if you see and think of the opposites, what if I had done that killing and I had all those, Elements in place that made it a complete karma. And I was like, you know, totally happy about it, but I never regretted it. I never even owned it, you know, I never even saw that it was a negative thing. In fact, I was still happy about it. I went, served my 15 years or whatever, got off on parole, and I was just, I mean, I never changed my mind about it at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:28 Highlight the passage at 1:04:28

1:04:56 So even though I've served my debt to society, I haven't done a thing with my mind in all that time. It's just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and it's just waiting to ripen. So, yeah, in that case I still have that karma and it's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. My other thought was when you were telling the story, you know, the scenario. The boss. The boss. You're immediately there. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:56 Highlight the passage at 1:04:56

1:05:23 My thoughts are there. I'm in this. I'm having this. So am I creating negative karma by just even... No, because you're just contemplating it. And actually you're contemplating it in this scenario of trying to understand karma. So actually it's in a positive scenario. But like watching horror movies or watching... Yeah, no, they do say, actually it's a very good point, actually. They do say that we have to really protect our minds because we do, if we have, if we watch movies where we're rooting for... Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:53 Somebody to kill somebody. That creates a small negative karma in our minds, yeah. And it also just creates that habit of wanting to take care of our problems in that way, you know. And a lot of movies are like that. A lot of action flicks are like that. It's like the bad guy, you know, especially those kind of future ones where they're killing entire, like, you know, everyone in the building, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:13 And it's like, ooh, you know, it really, we have to watch what we put into our minds because it does create little seeds, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13 Highlight the passage at 1:06:13

1:06:21 Or like, you know, different kinds of music. What's being said, what's going into our mind. You know, I remember one time, I was like, this is a course before I began, but I was like on the dance floor saying these words, and I was like, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:38 it was like, because you just didn't even hear the words, you're just like saying them, and it's just like this really catchy rhythm, and it was like some horrible thing, you know, it's like, usually anti-female or something like that. I'm like, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:38 Highlight the passage at 1:06:38

1:06:50 My final question. Is it kind of family karma? Collective. That would be collective karma. And it can be an entire nation that can share karma. And there can be an entire family, of course. It can be karma that's shared. But if you look at karma within a family, it can also be incredibly different. And I actually find that a really... Report an error in the passage at 1:06:50 Highlight the passage at 1:06:50

1:06:55 I'm trying Report an error in the passage at 1:06:55 Highlight the passage at 1:06:55

1:07:18 Like a way that I gain trust in karma when I look at, for example, my family where everyone just turned out so utterly different even though we had the same parents and pretty much the same conditions all the way along and we had just such utterly different personalities. It was clear that these minds all came into this family with various backgrounds. We didn't come in, we weren't all clean slates that the parents nicely drew on all making us exactly in their image. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:18 Highlight the passage at 1:07:18

1:07:43 It didn't work like that at all. So in that aspect you can look at a family and see all the differences, but you can also see some similarities, which would be a collective karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:07:57 And how do we create collective karma? Right now we're creating collective karma. All of us are in this situation at one time doing something similar. We have a ripening of positive karma, but we're also creating it collectively. We're doing a virtuous act together. And at some point in some future lifetime we may link up again. So like that. Or we could be soldiers together and do a negative act together and then we create that negative act all together. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

1:08:26 And we have a ripen all together. Or be in a gang and create a negative act together or something like that. So the same souls can come back together? Yeah, they aren't souls. It's mind. Yeah, it's like subtle, very subtle mind. But yeah. For sure, why not? If we come back endlessly, if mind is beginningless and endless, and we just keep taking these rebirths, bound to bump into each other again, especially if we have some sort of strong karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:56 I guess because I grew up in Ireland, and it's like families have lived in one area for a hundred years, my family, and they all say, you know, they call it bad luck, but it's the same thing as karma. Somebody did something in the distant past and it's followed on generation after generation. The same thing, the men will usually die by the time they're 50 and it happens every time. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:20 Well, yeah, in Mongolia they actually say that, they actually do believe in karma, but they actually feel that people come back within the same family. And they'll prove it by, like, somebody, you know, single. who works with us sometimes and she'll sometimes sit in the classes. She's told these stories about like someone fell into a fire. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20

1:09:42 And then, or they were in a bad car accident or something, and they had some telling scar, and then the baby's born with that scar, that kind of thing. And so they'll be like, oh yeah, I won't even try to say the name. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:09:54 Mongolian, I think, is one of the largest languages in the world, because it just kills me when she puts things on the people on the prayer list. I have to read it out loud at the prayer channel. But it's like they recognize, this is so-and-so coming back. You know, like this is our sister coming back, or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:13 How do I know? I don't know. It makes sense. So it's like, why not? You might have really strong attachment to that particular family. And actually, that's what they say, and I'm going to get too far off, but that's what they say is happening with spirits who stay around houses or whatever. Like, some people have seen spirits here. And some other people have said, Yeah, but they're harmless, and it's just, you know, that this particular person had really strong attachment to this place. You know, she was married here, and, you know, her family lived here, and so she's not ready to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

1:10:52 So she doesn't mean any harm, you know, so it's like that. It's kind of like that. But you sit there around us all the time. Yeah, exactly. I don't have the charm to see this one. Roland sees it all the time because I freaked out. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:05 But, and how do I know it's not true? I mean, I don't know. I just don't have the karma to see it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:05 Highlight the passage at 1:11:05

1:11:14 Okay, real quick and then I'm going to give you guys a break. Actually, do you want to take a break right now? This might be a good place. Why don't we just take a break? that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:14 Highlight the passage at 1:11:14

1:11:27 another thing to say, but then I didn't want to lie twice. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:33 it's okay. Should I close you? Oh, yeah. Only if we remember. Did I turn it back on? well just don't say anything I'm going to say something really important. I'm going to pause it. It'll be funky for the people that download it. I'll take responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:33 Highlight the passage at 1:11:33

1:11:54 Okay, karma, karma, karma, and now Klesha. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:54 Highlight the passage at 1:11:54

1:12:01 I'll start anyway. I sent somebody's email address and it included that line and then Michelle proceeded to sing it for the rest of the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:11 Anyway, working with Kleshas. So, again, afflictions, delusions, Kleshas. One of the reasons I started the class with this meditation on the clarity of the mind is to try to underscore this thought that although these things arise in our minds and they agitate our minds and they cloud our minds and they obscure our minds, they aren't actually part of our minds, which is the good news. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:11 Highlight the passage at 1:12:11

1:12:41 So they can be removed from our minds. But they do cause a lot of troubles for us. They do cause a lot of pain. While we have them in our minds. And it feels like we are under their control. It feels like they are controlling us. And the point is to start looking at them differently so that we begin controlling them. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:41 Highlight the passage at 1:12:41

1:13:11 Oh, that one? That's a good reason. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:11 Highlight the passage at 1:13:11

1:13:17 So, and the analogy that they always use is that our mind is like pure, clear water and that these afflictions or afflicted states of minds are like pollution and that the pollution is not the water and that the pollution can actually be removed from the water, although it may take a long time to neutralize it, but that the water is not the same as the pollution that's in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:17 Highlight the passage at 1:13:17

1:13:47 the three... I think actually, okay, so we were talking about those three main delusions, what they often call the three poisonous minds, actually, the three poisonous minds, ignorance, aversion and attachment. And I actually like saying aversion rather than anger or hatred because aversion is the first signs of it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:13 Aversion is like... The first thing you think when you see a carpet that you don't like or something like that, it's just that slight kind of like, it can be anything from a slight irritation to frustration to getting slightly annoyed to all the way up to, I mean, aversion covers everything. Everything else is a subset of aversion. So anger and hatred are just... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:13 Highlight the passage at 1:14:13

1:14:43 More extreme forms of aversion. So the first one, the pig, represented by the pig, is ignorance. And there are a lot of different kinds of ignorance in the world. Ignorance can just mean not knowing something. You can mean ignorance in that sense. Like, I don't know. I am ignorant of Farsi. I am ignorant of... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:43 Highlight the passage at 1:14:43

1:15:14 Really high forms of math. I'm ignorant about most things on a computer. There are a lot of ways that I'm ignorant in that sense. In this particular context, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about actually misknowing something or misperceiving something or misapprehending something. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:35 And the something that we are misunderstanding is how the Buddha... Ultimately saw the nature of reality. So that's what we're misunderstanding and that, he is saying, is the root cause of all of our trouble. Because we don't only, it's not like we don't see it, we see it in the wrong way and then we base everything else on this misunderstanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:35 Highlight the passage at 1:15:35

1:16:00 So that's the kind of ignorance that's represented by the pig, not the rat. So, just a really... Brief understanding of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:00 Highlight the passage at 1:16:00

1:16:17 Emptiness, which in Sanskrit is shunyata, sometimes people call it voidness, which I don't relate to at all. The problem with emptiness is that people often think that it means nihilism. That things don't... Exist at all. When you're referring to something about emptiness, when we say something is empty, we have to finish the sentence. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:45 And that's where it gets all vague. Because a lot of times people are like, it's just empty. It's empty of what? You have to finish that. Because otherwise we really fall into nihilism. It's like it's really easy to just be like, well it's all empty isn't it? You know, and what does that mean? It doesn't mean anything. And if a new student hears you say that, then they could just think that it's totally getting into things don't exist, so what does anything matter? And that's really dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:45 Highlight the passage at 1:16:45

1:17:14 That's an extreme. That's one of the two extremes, actually. The other one being where we are now, thinking everything is solid and permanent and absolute and, you know, why don't you all just like my favorite song? We'll get to that in a second. So the main understanding of emptiness, the basic gist, is that things don't exist the way they appear to. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:14 Highlight the passage at 1:17:14

1:17:37 They are empty of that kind of existence. That's what they're empty of. That's what emptiness is referring to. So when I say that this table is empty, I mean it is an empty of this inherent, absolute, concrete, permanent, solid table-ness. That I impute onto it. The same is, which is not such a big deal with the table. It's a pretty big deal when I'm talking about me. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:37 Highlight the passage at 1:17:37

1:18:05 It's definitely a big deal when I'm talking about you. And that's how everything else arises, right? Because if I think Alfonso is a certain, solid, permanent, concrete, unchanging way, because he was for one second once, then I can throw all this other crap onto him. I can get pissed at him. I can hold on to that anger for 35 years. I could fall madly in love with him and then be confused when he doesn't turn out the same way the next morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:05 Highlight the passage at 1:18:05

1:18:34 You know, all of that stuff. Don't worry. I won't. I promise you. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:34 Highlight the passage at 1:18:34

1:18:43 But that's how we get all the other delusions to arise because we are misperceiving each and every one. thought you were going to get some wine for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:43 Highlight the passage at 1:18:43

1:18:51 Everyone, you know, so inanimate objects as well as people, as well as animals, as well as ourselves. And the base one, of course, is ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:19:03 And so they'll use terms like, you know, things don't exist out there, separate from me and my mind and my karma. And it doesn't mean that things don't exist at all. And that's where it gets really dangerous. And in fact, if it does begin to feel like that to you, that's actually what makes the difference in Buddhist philosophy between all these different schools. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:03 Highlight the passage at 1:19:03

1:19:31 The lower schools never could quite get that that was what was being said. That it's not saying that things don't exist at all. Otherwise karma wouldn't work. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:31 Highlight the passage at 1:19:31

1:19:43 Otherwise I could walk out front and that taxi running right at me wouldn't hurt me. But the taxi is going to run me down. Things exist. They just don't exist in this really huge puffed up way that we tend to interpret them. So everything is empty of that. They're empty of this inherent absolute or intrinsic existence. And that's the nature of reality the way the Buddha is. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:43 Highlight the passage at 1:19:43

1:20:13 So things tend to be more spacious, more fluid, more easygoing is the way Lama Yeshe always says it, he's like with any understanding of emptiness your attitude should become basically more easygoing because we tend to see things as really concrete and solid and unchanging and in fact beginning to look at impermanence in any level. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:13 Highlight the passage at 1:20:13

1:20:44 Is a really good way into starting to understand emptiness. It's not emptiness, but it's a way in. Just like a little bit later when we're talking about the 12 lengths of interdependence or dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:44 Highlight the passage at 1:20:44

1:21:02 I just look at Sandy because I know she's really into talking about interdependence. But that's also a way in understanding dependent arising, which is one of the Buddhist teachings, is a way in beginning to understand emptiness, but it's not yet emptiness. And so it begins to get more and more subtle. But it's the way that in this school, in the Galupa school, We are taught to study dependent and rising, and that's our main way in. So we'll get to that in the second class. So just simply, from the Buddhist point of view, I might think that that cup of tea that Mary brought me was inherently delightful. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:02 Highlight the passage at 1:21:02

1:21:46 But from the Buddhist point of view, there's no inherently delightful cup of tea there. Actually, there's not anymore. There's now a delightful cup of hot water. It's not separate from me. My ability to see it as this delightful cup of hot water is based on my particular karma. Somebody else might not see a cup of hot water as anything like delightful. In fact, Mary's probably would have done. I can tell you that the cats upstairs would not see it as delightful if the water was boiling hot. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:22:21 There is basic raw data that my karma is forcing me because I have a certain... A certain karma is now ripening as a pleasant thing and I'm having this pleasurable experience of this hot water. I'm taking it as really wonderful. If I were to serve it to my brother, who also wouldn't think it was a delightful thing, he'd think I was totally weird in California. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:42 But, I wish he often does. So our karma is what sort of takes all the data and puts it into a certain configuration that we then experience in a certain way based on our... but, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:22:58 Past actions. So if I hear a song and I think it's like an incredibly wonderful song, it's based on my particular karma. If I let Mary listen to it and I say, isn't this the best song you've ever heard? And she's like, ugh, I hate that guy. It's horrible. Everything about it is horrible. That's her karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:17 The song itself is simply decibels and tones and this sort of raw data that we are each hearing. If I played it for the cats, they would just walk on by. It would be completely neutral. Well, they might be scared when you first turn it on. But they would probably just have absolutely no experience of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:17 Highlight the passage at 1:23:17

1:23:37 It would just be a neutral experience or slightly negative. So where this gets interesting is... When we have an experience where somebody's a total pain in the butt, and we think that they are inherently a total pain in the butt, and we build that up into this huge aversion to this person, the Buddha is saying, this person is not inherently anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:37 Highlight the passage at 1:23:37

1:24:02 His wife sees him as just fine. In fact, he's provided for the family for 45 years. He's not an inherently anything. But I, my karma for this particular person is so strong that I am seeing, it just seems like he's just oozing horridness. It's just coming out of the pores of his skin. But then you can really test this if you, if I take my best friend and my worst enemy and put them on either side of me and say, look, isn't it obvious? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:02 Highlight the passage at 1:24:02

1:24:31 You just wouldn't tell. You couldn't tell at all. I'm a hint, you know. But it's not like it's so... Concrete, the way we see it. We tend to see it that way. These are kind of some of the stories, and we're going to talk about this a little bit in a second. These are the stories that we create about things when we have strong aversion or strong attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:31 Highlight the passage at 1:24:31

1:24:55 It's all stories. It's just stories that our minds make up. So, ultimately, if we can understand this marriage of karma and emptiness, then this is actually. What helps us overcome all of the mental afflictions completely. This is what gets us to Nirvāṇa. This is it. This is the ultimate antidote. Everything else that I'm going to give you in the next couple of weeks are all sort of the ones to help us get there. They're what we can apply in the moment when that really annoying guy is drinking that really annoying drink in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:55 Highlight the passage at 1:24:55

1:25:35 To help us in the meantime because we can't always apply the same antidote and have it work every single time. It's best to have sort of a tool kit because sometimes something will work and sometimes it won't and you just kind of have to try it into different things. Some things will work with your mind a little bit better than others. But this understanding emptiness which takes... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:35 Highlight the passage at 1:25:35

1:25:58 Thousands of hours of study and really meditating on it deeply. I'm just giving you this basic touch. Karma and emptiness are going to come up for the rest of the class, so don't worry about that. Don't be like, I didn't directly perceive emptiness tonight. It's definitely an incredibly profound and subtle teaching and it comes up a lot, but it's also... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:58 Highlight the passage at 1:25:58

1:26:14 Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:14 Highlight the passage at 1:26:14

1:26:25 It's eminently practical too. It also is something that the minute we understand anything, like I said at the beginning, we can begin to loosen that grip of whatever the delusion is that we're feeling. This is one you can apply to every single delusion. Because am I, is this, whatever this is that I'm attached to, angry at, you know, proud about, jealous of. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:25 Highlight the passage at 1:26:25

1:26:52 Does it exist the way I actually think it is right now? Or how much of this is my karma? How much of this is, you know, if I brought in some other person, would that person see this thing in the same way? If I brought in the cat, would the cat perceive this in the same way? It just loosens it just a little. And that's really what emptiness is all about. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:52 Highlight the passage at 1:26:52

1:27:13 I mean, it really loosens our entire... Grasping. I mean, that's the word, actually, and that will come up in the wheel of life, too. That grasping that we have in the way we think things exist. But the way we think things exist don't exist that way. And that was the Buddha's main teaching. It's like, no, you've gotten it wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:13 Highlight the passage at 1:27:13

1:27:37 And that ignorance of how you think it's existing and acting on that ignorance is what's gotten us into trouble. That's the root of all of our suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:27:48 So I'm not going to go into the pen. I'll go into the pen next week. Oh, I'll go into the pen. So the pen, so this, for an example, this is basically a cylinder. It's a purple cylinder with some white stuff on it and a little bit of teal and a point. And when I hold this up, we think, what is this? I mean, basically, what would we think? It's a pen, right? It's a pen. We would see a pen. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:48 Highlight the passage at 1:27:48

1:28:19 We actually would see it as a complete cylinder, even though our eye isn't even able to see the back of the cylinder. We would fill in what we can't see. Some of us might even be able to see it, but we just know because I'm talking about it that I'm holding up a pen. If I were to show it to a dog, they would see it as a chewy toy. If I were to lay it in front of an ant who was trying to get to the honey, they would see it as an obstacle, basically, that they had to climb over. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:19 Highlight the passage at 1:28:19

1:28:47 Get to the honey on the other side. And all of those are valid perceptions based on the karma of that particular being. If there was a human who lived in a culture that did not have a pen, which I don't even know if one exists anymore, but if that were true, they might see it as a particular tool. And it might be quite worthwhile as that particular tool that they could use to dig or to carve things. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:47 Highlight the passage at 1:28:47

1:29:14 And that would be a valid perception based on their particular karma. So that's the way, it's not inherently any one of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:14 Highlight the passage at 1:29:14

1:29:24 So that's just the beginning of how you might change the way you start looking at things. It's a little easier with a pen because we don't have a huge attachment to a pen. Although I like this one actually. This one's kind of been with me for a while. But we don't usually have a huge attachment to a pen. I certainly wouldn't kill for this pen. So that kind of rage doesn't usually come up regarding a pen. So in some ways it's a little easier to look at. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:24 Highlight the passage at 1:29:24

1:29:48 The question then is to start looking at it in terms of everything else, that we do have those delusions or afflictions arise. So why don't I take some questions and then I'm going to give you a little bit more on the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:30:05 Does anybody have any questions about emptiness or anything that I just said about emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:05 Highlight the passage at 1:30:05

1:30:19 Rising is not a part of emptiness. It's its own concept. It's its own concept, although it's the flip side. It's the positive way. So it's the positive way that things do exist. If things are empty of existing in that other way, how do they exist? They exist. They arise in dependence upon other things. They arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:19 Highlight the passage at 1:30:19

1:30:42 Based on other things, or they arise in dependence upon causes and conditions or connections to what my karma is perceiving and all those things. This arises based on the fact that somebody in probably China, unfortunately, but anyway, there was this whole plant and then there was all these workers and those workers all came to work and one particular one... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:42 Highlight the passage at 1:30:42

1:31:12 One built it and then another one inspected it and another one packaged it. All of these people and things and planes and everything went into the making of this particular clock. And then there's like a battery and its whole, all of that arose. So everything, there's so much interdependence involved in this clock. And that's what it means, that it doesn't exist in any way except that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:36 We tend to see things as just being completely independent. Just arising out of nowhere almost. We forget all the ways that they are connected. The way I think of it is like self and other. Like I'm constantly othering or that certain people aren't as important as other people because some people are closer and some are further away. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:36 Highlight the passage at 1:31:36

1:32:02 I consider that part of emptiness. It is part, yeah. You're on to something there because... We tend to see people only in how they affect me and how they don't affect me. And all of that is misperception if you think that everyone exists interdependently. Everyone affects you and everyone is affected by you. But we tend to see things with blinders on. So we do tend to see I label, you know, this person is a friend because, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02

1:32:33 They got me a cup of hot water. This person's an enemy because they broke my hot water glass or something. And we just live this little tiny baby mind and the Buddha was kind of pointing out, wait a second, open. Like everything is far more spacious and open than our little maze that we live in, our little lives in. He's just kind of like open, open, open. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:33 Highlight the passage at 1:32:33

1:32:57 And when we begin seeing that, then we can't hate each other. We can't kill each other. We can't not have compassion for each other because we're all completely joined. So it is really connected. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:57 Highlight the passage at 1:32:57

1:33:14 So the other delusions, and then we'll wrap up, the other two delusions are aversion and attachment. And like I was saying, these are totally created and strengthened by these little stories. We make up all these little stories in our mind. We aren't... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:33 It's not like we're thinking I'm going to create a story about Bill today, but it's just the habit that our mind has of strengthening a delusion and then increasing it. I always call it spiraling down. It has nothing to do with Buddhism, but it's kind of what your mind does with something sometimes if you get upset, for example, and you just... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:33:52 spiraling down. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:01 Chew it like a dog does a bone. Just chew it and chew it and chew it and chew it. And there may be absolutely no basis in reality for even being upset. You may have misheard the insult that started that whole cycle, you know? And it's kind of like the Emily Lutella thing. It's like, after you've been angry at this person for four days, it turns out they actually didn't even say the thing that Bill told you that they said. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:01 Highlight the passage at 1:34:01

1:34:28 And you've meanwhile created so much negative karma based on misunderstanding. And this kind of stuff happens all the time. And wars start this way. And actually the thing was never even said. Or the land never even existed in that way or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:28 Highlight the passage at 1:34:28

1:34:47 And that's actually conventional misperception. It's not even getting to the level that the Buddhists are saying that we misunderstand reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:34:56 So, um, When we talk about attachment, aversion tends to exaggerate the negative aspects of the object, whereas attachment tends to exaggerate the positive. So we can see this all in, well I mean just about anything, falling in love. You don't necessarily notice that the person is balding or that the person is fat or that the person is... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:56 Highlight the passage at 1:34:56

1:35:28 speaks harshly or that the person snores or any of that when you're first falling in love all you see is this It doesn't have to be a person. Everything seems wonderful about this new mp3 player or whatever. And that's just attachment. Attachment is taking qualities of the thing and only seeing them and exaggerating them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:28 Highlight the passage at 1:35:28

1:36:06 That's how we pump it up, you know. And we do it to different degrees, clearly. Addiction clearly takes this and makes that almost an obsession. It does make an obsession. That thing is going to bring me happiness, you know, and really starts believing it. But we don't wait. We buy a new cup. We do it with just about everything. We try to set the cup down in the light in exactly the right way. We notice it. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:06 Highlight the passage at 1:36:06

1:36:33 And we do it with inversion. Two days later, you start seeing. My favorite example is Ravina when she's teaching about this and she's like, you suddenly notice the way they're eating their eggs. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:33 Highlight the passage at 1:36:33

1:36:45 It's just priceless. Suddenly, that beautiful tempered voice begins to sound shrill. Or something about the way that person laughed that you thought was so delightful two days ago now begins to grate on your nerves. Just anything that you once saw is incredibly wonderful. Aversion takes it the other extreme. And usually something's happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:45 Highlight the passage at 1:36:45

1:37:12 Not always, but usually something's happened. You thought this person was completely a god on earth until you found out they were sleeping with your best friend. Then suddenly it's just all of that ugliness and horridness is just oozing out of them. And it seems to be, I could point them out to Karen and she would see it all too, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:12 Highlight the passage at 1:37:12

1:37:34 But she wouldn't, but I feed it in her as well. I'm like, look at him, he's just, you know, and that's just what we do. We exaggerate all the negativity of this object that we think we're perceiving. We think it's just objective. We don't realize that we're doing all these crazy stories. We just are feeding these stories and we're building them and they're getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:34 Highlight the passage at 1:37:34

1:37:59 And people, like I said, people can start feuds, family feuds. We were just talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years of... Anger over something that may not have ever even happened. Even if it did, everyone's dead. And the thing has been lost. You know, whatever the thing was that was taken. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:17 Even sometimes the land or the house is gone already. But the anger is still there. I mean, look at Northern Ireland and the Brits, I think it's a little more recent. But when you look at some of the stuff in the Middle East, it's just like centuries and centuries and centuries old. Sometimes not, sometimes it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:17 Highlight the passage at 1:38:17

1:38:37 Usually the things that have happened more recently are based on those things. They're still based on somebody's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's action or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:37 Highlight the passage at 1:38:37

1:38:49 So they say that of these three, now we all know that ignorance is the root cause, but they actually say that the worst of them is said to be anger or hatred, aversion. And the reason is... And I think we can feel it when it rises up in us. They say that it's like a fire. And here I am talking about it being to the point of not just slight annoyance, but actually rising up in a form of anger and hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:49 Highlight the passage at 1:38:49

1:39:22 They say it can actually destroy your virtue. So the positive acts, the positive thoughts can be destroyed by anger and hatred. and just kind of Report an error in the passage at 1:39:22 Highlight the passage at 1:39:22

1:39:35 And the reason is because if you direct that towards a bodhisattva, it's huge, like it's huge repercussions to that. And our main problem is how can we tell who's a bodhisattva? They're like sneaking around all the time. So we have to get control over this, not for that reason alone, but it is, if we have no control over this mind and... Report an error in the passage at 1:39:35 Highlight the passage at 1:39:35

1:40:03 It sort of swoops through us. And you know the way it feels. I definitely know how it feels when that anger kind of, it does feel like a forest fire. It's like, it kind of just like comes from nowhere and you just feel all of a sudden this amazingly huge anger. Sometimes it's some stupid thing. Like, the internet's down. I can get angry at the stupidest things. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:03 Highlight the passage at 1:40:03

1:40:26 And it can just be like, and it's just like, the internet's down. You know, I mean really in the scheme of things. So when we're, this week, when the meditation that I'm handing out is, I'm handing out this meditation that actually has a bunch of different things you can try or you can test out and you need to look at them in meditation before you're even going to halfway remember to apply them when the internet goes down or when somebody cuts you off in traffic or when the screaming boss comes in or whatever it is that's going to get you going. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:26 Highlight the passage at 1:40:26

1:40:59 You have to kind of look at stuff in meditation because it has to become familiar, right, for you to even halfway have a chance of remembering it. But different things will work at different times, and one of the things that works when it's something stupid like that, like the internet going down, is, is this going to matter if I die tonight? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:59 Highlight the passage at 1:40:59

1:41:21 I mean, impermanence and death is a good one, actually, for cutting it, because it's usually that kind of stupid... That's where I tend to get really, really angry with machinery. Especially machinery I can't fix, which is anything related to computers. And there's this, I think there's also that feeling of feeling stupid. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:21 Highlight the passage at 1:41:21

1:41:39 So there's like the two things. So, but in the end, you know, really, if I were to die tonight, would this matter so much? And then that can kind of sometimes, if I can remember, that can kind of loosen. So that I just have a minute to think, okay, what would actually be a useful thing? Maybe I'll go turn the router off and on. You know, so that you just stop for a minute instead of just going into the, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:39 Highlight the passage at 1:41:39

1:42:02 Or, I had this one teacher who would say, he would do this, actually I didn't put this on the homework, but he would do this thing in his office. If somebody was screaming at him and he was afraid he was going to yell back, he'd knock his coffee cup on the floor. And that would... He diffused the anger in himself as well as in the, because everybody would kind of jump on the floor and start cleaning it up. He said by the time he left that company, they must have thought he was like the biggest klutz in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:02 Highlight the passage at 1:42:02

1:42:30 But he used that a lot. And sometimes he would also do the thing of just going to the bathroom. He said again, they must have thought he had some serious problems. But nobody's going to stop you from going to the bathroom. So that's just like a little tool. It's not an antidote, but it's just like a way that you can sometimes get space to kind of think about this. You know, pull out your antidote list and you're like, okay, you know, let's see, let's try this one, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:30 Highlight the passage at 1:42:30

1:42:53 Because right now, until we have them really down, it's going to take a lot for them to suddenly come up in our minds. You can still take what happens during the day, that night on the cushion and think about it. But for it to come up in that exact moment, it's going to take us a while. It's going to take us some practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:53 Highlight the passage at 1:42:53

1:43:11 I mean, it's just like with any other skills. It's like starting to learn to play the piano or something like that. We have to practice it and practice it and practice it before we can sit in front of a group of people and actually remember to play it right, you know. So this is very much the same thing. So I'm going to hand this out. And then, and I'm sorry, David, it's another long one. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:35 Did they have a complaint? Yeah, David's a long time ago. I'm never going to let him forget it. Mary, you're so helpful. I tried to get it onto two pages, but to do that I had to reduce the font. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:35 Highlight the passage at 1:43:35

1:43:53 It's psychologically lifeless. But what I did is... We're going to be blind just to make David happy. That's right. Thank you. So now you can work on your anger towards David as part of your meditation. Feeling aversion. Have you hit that moment of upset yet? It's passing that, it's moving on to deep frustration and now serious anger. So thinking about some of the different things that we talked about tonight as some of your antidotes. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:27 So as you're thinking about it, so you're... Ignorance is a harder one, actually, to be honest. Start with attachment or aversion first, and then move to ignorance, because that's a little odder, because it's like, actually, we're operating out of ignorance all the time. But still, you can start reflecting on it. You can still start reflecting on it. Anger, of course, we're operating out of anger and attachment a lot of the time, too, but they're a little easier to see them pop up. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:44:59 So you're just starting to kind of look at and only look at one at a time. I put them all together for you, but just look at one at a time so you don't get overwhelmed and really reflect on it a little bit, you know, how I might, you know, and using an actual incident. So if you had an incident where you got really pissed at the printer going down or, you know, not getting a parking space or just something that even if it's not like rage, even if you didn't reach the point of like wanting to kill the boss. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:59 Highlight the passage at 1:44:59

1:45:29 As long as you're aware that anger arose, that's a perfect thing to work on. It doesn't matter what the object is. And even if you know darn well that it was stupid, that's okay. It's still a place to start. It doesn't matter if you already regret the anger. It's still a place for you to begin dissecting it, because that's really all we're doing. That's all this kind of analytical meditation does. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:29 Highlight the passage at 1:45:29

1:45:51 It dissects the delusion so you begin to see that it has no power before we start following it into negative actions. That's what our goal is, is to begin to disempower it. Because it really has no power. Actually, it's just thoughts arising in our mind. And we've created this whole storyline, and we follow that storyline for hours and days and months and years. And it's amazing when you can actually not. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:51 Highlight the passage at 1:45:51

1:46:21 You get it. That you don't have to do that anymore. It's almost like everything in your mind and body is ready to go to war and then all of a sudden you realize that you don't have to. And you're just kind of like, it's almost, what do you call it? Well, anticlimactic. It's like you're all ready to, and you're like, oh, oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:21 Highlight the passage at 1:46:21

1:46:43 And you realize how much time we waste on delusions. We just waste so much time and energy on delusions. It's amazing. And we don't even know it. Until we start doing this kind of thing, it's very interesting, so have fun. Any last questions and then we'll just have Karen and Anne sit next to her. I know! Report an error in the passage at 1:46:43 Highlight the passage at 1:46:43

1:47:15 You said there's a lot of bodhisattvas around. Yeah. Bodhisattvas are simply people. no, no. I don't like questions, okay? No. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:15 Highlight the passage at 1:47:15

1:47:24 Beings who have generated bodhicitta, which is this vast mind that Lama is teaching about on Thursday nights that has transcended, you know, it sees the suffering of beings and it develops based on that suffering this enormous... Great compassion and great love. And based on that, this feeling of I myself will do something to change their situation, to end their suffering and to bring them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:57 And that something is to become a Buddha. So that mind wanting to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings is bodhicitta. That's huge. Once you generate that mind so that it's stable, then you become a bodhisattva. And so then actually generating that mind, genuinely that mind, not just like hearing and understanding and going home, but actually having that mind so that it infuses everything you do. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:57 Highlight the passage at 1:47:57

1:48:29 So you're working because of others. Every meditation you do is really truly to benefit others. I mean, we fake it until we make it now, but we haven't generated that mind yet. If I did, I would definitely have a heck of a lot more energy. Sorry. I always make this joke with the morning puja people that if we had bodhicitta, no problem. We would just be like, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:29 Highlight the passage at 1:48:29

1:48:53 You'd literally jump out of bed with this incredible happiness to be able to help others. That's really the kind of mind you have. So those beings become very holy beings because they're working for our benefit. They're working for everybody's benefit. Everything they're doing. It's for the happiness of other beings. They're just like their whole life from the moment they get up in the morning, the moment they go to sleep at night, is to try to train their mind and strengthen their mind and to generate whatever attainments are necessary to become a Buddha and that is for the benefit of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:53 Highlight the passage at 1:48:53

1:49:31 And so it just becomes, they become these really... Amazing beings. And by the way, as Lama Tsongkhapa would say, they also attain these levels of clairvoyance we were talking about, and these abilities to emanate in different forms to help us and things like that. Like they sort of develop these other powers on their way to attaining Buddhahood. And so they actually have all these powers and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:31 Highlight the passage at 1:49:31

1:49:58 So they're running around? Do they have a few here? They might. None of them would admit it, so that's the problem. So it could be anybody. It could be anyone, yeah. But you're saying that in a Buddhist sense, I mean, is it people that are not conscious, that have still got the mindset? They would know who they are, probably. They would know who they are, yeah. We just don't know who they are. I mean, you could be very well, a bodhisattva, just posing as this student. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:58 Highlight the passage at 1:49:58

1:50:25 Exactly. I mean, that's true. Anybody in here could. They would be, why not, if it might help us, you know, by asking certain questions and things like that. They could pose as the cat, if it might help us develop compassion or something like that. Especially when she barks in the middle of the bed, you know. Things like that, you know. Or even posing as the cat if she were dying, so that I would have to care for her until the last breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:51 You know, like, so they can manifest in any form. Buddhas, of course, can manifest limitlessly. Bodhisattvas have more limited amounts of Bodies that they can emanate, but they can still emanate. So they're emanating on an ongoing basis or they're just emanating for an hour or a second or whatever? It would depend. It would depend on the karma of the person and how they were trying to help a certain person or certain people in a collective karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:51 Highlight the passage at 1:50:51

1:51:19 If they were trying to help just those of us in class, they might just show up once. You know, like the one guy that comes in and is really... Testing our patients. Often when somebody comes in like that, I'll be like, okay, there's Lama Yeshe. It's emanating in this form to kind of help me out tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:19 Highlight the passage at 1:51:19

1:51:40 Or they could emanate for 50 years as your husband. I mean, why not? Or as her husband. Like that. Which might not be as a really sweet, holy person. That might mean they're really testing your practice. So it could be like that. Because a lot of times we think, oh yeah, well he's not a bodhisattva because he's so annoying. Well, precisely. That could be the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:40 Highlight the passage at 1:51:40

1:52:11 So yeah. And they take human form because we can't. Right, we can't even see him as bodhisattvas. We just see him as an annoying guy next to me at work. And then I change jobs and somehow I get the same guy next to me. And the last question was about eating, you know, because we're talking about animals. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:11 Highlight the passage at 1:52:11

1:52:33 So, am I creating bad karma by eating meat? Well, the last question. This is like that one person who said, I just have one final question. What is this emptiness that everyone is talking about? I actually think, you know there's so many different theories out on it and interpretations and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:52:56 I actually think, and I actually do eat meat, I didn't. I haven't for, you know, there have been many, many years of my life that I haven't eaten meat and right now I am. And I actually think that there is a negative karma in eating meat. And I think that there could not be. Even though I try to transform it, I try to do mantras, I try to think about the being, I try to make the determination to work for their benefit. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:56 Highlight the passage at 1:52:56

1:53:23 I try, you know, all this stuff. I try to do all those things. They're not always successful. But I can't see how there wouldn't be some. Now, strictly speaking, I didn't run out and shoot it, so I don't necessarily have that killing karma, but he didn't give his body to me willingly. So I at least have something. I have some sort of, I think, this is just me, and some other teachers I've read, but not across the board. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:23 Highlight the passage at 1:53:23

1:53:55 I think that there must be some negative karma that I get from it. But, strictly speaking, they say, you know, I didn't kill it and I didn't ask you to kill it for me. So I don't, strictly speaking, get the killing karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:55 Highlight the passage at 1:53:55

1:54:12 But I do feel like that animal didn't willingly give his body away. And especially with the meat industry in this country, I think it's especially for the way things are raised. You know, so, I love that. Yeah, I think it's a very complicated answer. I, personally speaking, would prefer and hope to become again a vegetarian. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:12 Highlight the passage at 1:54:12

1:54:38 I am not now, though, and so I'm aware of this. And, you know, it's something that definitely is on my mind. You know, it's definitely something I think about a lot. And killing plants? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:38 Highlight the passage at 1:54:38

1:54:53 From the Buddhist point of view, they don't have minds. But yeah, this comes up a lot too, like a finhorn, right? They have all these beings and things like that. The Buddha actually, sentient being is a translation of this word in Tibetan that means things with mind. So, strictly speaking, technically speaking from the Buddhist point of view, plants don't have mind in that same way. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:53 Highlight the passage at 1:54:53

1:55:23 They might have life energy and things like that, but they don't have mind. And so from that standpoint, it's not the same. However, what some teachers are quick to point out, and we forget a lot, is even with a vegetarian diet, so much of what we eat has come with the cost of life of all those bugs. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:45 And so we have to remember them when we eat as well, you know, because just farming. If you've ever farmed or if you've ever spent any time on a farm, which I think is a worthwhile thing to do, to see what it's like, not just for the farmers, I think it's one of the hardest jobs out there, but for all the beans that just, you put seeds in the earth and they get killed, you definitely plow and they get killed, you know, then the harvest, they get killed, you know, and the washing, they get killed, they just get killed by the billions. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:45 Highlight the passage at 1:55:45

1:56:21 So, and actually Lama Zopa Rinpoche says we do this and we kill beings, we harm beings. You know, they're just everywhere. So it's really difficult to live in this earth and not kill them. But the difference is that we can try to not have the intention to kill them. We can try really hard to not intend to kill them. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:21 Highlight the passage at 1:56:21

1:56:43 Especially when we're in the situation where we could kill them. And we know that we could kill them. So, you know, like, when they're annoyingly in our kitchen, for example. And that's hard. That's when it's like we're taking these teachings and having to think about them in a really real way. It's really difficult. Like all the little miceies. Yeah. We have mice here. We alternate. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they go down. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:43 Highlight the passage at 1:56:43

1:57:10 But, yeah. I still have an immersion to them, too. I'm trying to. Anyway. Yeah, it's not a complete answer. A lot of times... When we ask questions, it simply opens up more and more questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:10 Highlight the passage at 1:57:10

1:57:31 So let's take a moment and really think about when we came in here a couple of hours ago, or a little bit longer, sorry about that, we were completely different beings in terms of subtle impermanence. We've changed all the cells, we've been changing all the cells and all of our minds have changed and whatever we were so obsessed with when we first walked in. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:31 Highlight the passage at 1:57:31

1:57:59 All the things we were thinking about then have completely changed, our minds have changed. We've also collected all these great karmic seeds, just discussing the Dharma, thinking about it, contemplating it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:59 Highlight the passage at 1:57:59

1:58:14 So we want to dedicate these seeds to being able to make use of these teachings, apply them to be able to transform our minds so that we can, you know, become more stable, less angry. Less attached, less grasping, more wise individuals so that we can benefit those around us. Ultimately all beings, but beginning with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:14 Highlight the passage at 1:58:14

1:58:56 Alonzo, Report an error in the passage at 1:58:56 Highlight the passage at 1:58:56

1:59:04 class one notes. No wait, Alonzo has class one notes. Mary, okay. Mary means class one notes. Alonzo Report an error in the passage at 1:59:04 Highlight the passage at 1:59:04

1:59:25 both made registration forms. I have you down, yeah. You and Mary are working across all notes. Does Report an error in the passage at 1:59:25 Highlight the passage at 1:59:25

1:59:40 anyone else need a registration form? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:40 Highlight the passage at 1:59:40

1:59:45 Bye, you guys. Did anybody turn me off? I'm about to turn you off. I'm turning you off. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:45 Highlight the passage at 1:59:45