Discovering Buddhism - Intro to Tantra (part 1)

0:18 The prostrations always get to remember what it is that you are prostrating to. Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:25 I guess I gave a nice little talk about how to hold your hands and put your hands, palms together. Whether you're doing prostrations or whether you're just honoring somebody, it's good to put your thumbs in the middle and kind of curve them adhesive like a budded lotus, like a lotus about to flower. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:41 So kind of more like that. It's a good reminder. Some of us have sort of gotten a little sloppy. But a prostration is basically you're just honoring something. In this case, we can honor the teachings of the Buddha, the enlightened qualities of the Buddha. You might even think about a quality while you're prostrating. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:08 And then it also helps cut our pride so we can actually learn something tonight. And then it also, there's this element of it that we aspire to attain those same qualities ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:25 Now do this little mantra. If you know it, you can say it along, otherwise you can just, also you don't have to prostrate, so just do what you will. Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:35 Namo Manjur Shri E Namo, Su Shri E Namo, Bhutmama Shri E So. Om Namo Manju Shriye Namah Su Shriye Namah Uttama Shriye Om namo manju sriye namo, su namo, muthamma sriye Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

2:10 If Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:44 I sing it up, I'm moving into all the various rooms in the center, the roving class. I think this is probably where I'm going to stay, because Ghoshala had left for India this morning, and so I won't be doing his typical West Night class. But that can always change if Joanna books something that's bigger than us. I'll keep coming so that we keep the class this way. Did anybody not sign the roster? Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:11 Hey, Charlotte, you come back. You're okay? I was thinking about you today with the meditation on the eye, actually. I was going to contact you and see if you were still going to talk about that. So I'm going to send this back to you just so you can put your name on the roster. I bet Jane does. Report an error in the passage at 3:11 Highlight the passage at 3:11

3:33 Does anybody ask me to sign this? I do. You did sign it? I think you did. Oh, just the one time. Oh, no. You know, we used to do that, actually, and it's just too much. There's no reason for that. I think it was with the basic program rather than discovering Buddhism where your attendance actually was kind of more noted. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:57 No, that roster is actually more just if I need to reach you guys all in a hurry. Or Jane does. Like if I keel over or something like that, or if I have to take some emergency call or something like that, then she can find all your info in one place, which is useful and has happened. So just make it a regular practice note at a class that I teach to make a roster like that. And also like right before the practice day, I'll send out reminders and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:28 Never assume. So the books came in. She did a rush order. Yay, Chloe. So she does have it in the cafe, the bookstore tonight, if people would like to order it. It is $18.39 including tax. Members get a discount or not anymore? I don't remember. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

4:52 Yeah, I think it's 10%. 10%. We'll work that out if you are a member. Just say you're a member. Otherwise it is $18.39 including tax. And it really is a great, very readable, very helpful book. Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:08 I'm going to buy one if there's an extra one. I'm still using, I think, the edition before this. It's this really ancient version that used to be in our library. I've probably read it three times. I'll probably keep reading it once a year until I die. It's just very, very useful. Once you enter Tantra, it's also very useful. So once you're supposed to be doing this stuff every day, it's a really good reminder in a really accessible way. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:36 Some of the teachings on Tantra are very, very high and advanced and a little hard to grasp, Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:43 so accessible. I also have your binder readings, which are not quite as accessible, but I did go ahead and make copies of them for you guys, and you can take those tonight. I think I have enough. That's the general announcement. So let's go ahead and just start the meditation. I'm going to do some of you guys. Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

6:11 Might be familiar with this one. This is a meditation on the clarity of the mind. It's useful to remember. It doesn't feel very clear. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:25 So we're just going to start adjusting your posture. Report an error in the passage at 6:25 Highlight the passage at 6:25

6:34 We're going to check in a little bit about meditation practice tonight. Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:42 But the main aspect of your posture to be aware of any time you meditate, sit, to do any kind of a practice is just to keep your spine extended. Just sort of lengthen your spine and kind of imagine that you're a marionette puppet. I Report an error in the passage at 6:42 Highlight the passage at 6:42

7:05 also think a really, really important one is to roll your shoulders back. I was thinking about you, Chris, in retreat, too. The things that come to you when you're in an isolated cabin in the mountain. Report an error in the passage at 7:05 Highlight the passage at 7:05

7:19 Chris is back. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:23 Alright, maybe I'm going to take my job a little too serious. Fortunately, I didn't have an email. don't know. Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

7:32 No, but that one's a really good one because I think we hold a lot of tension in our back, and I think what pulls us down is sort of gravity, and so we start sort of hunching our shoulders, and there can be a lot of stress. We Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:47 do nothing else but those two. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

7:56 Take some nice deep breaths. I'm like, oh, you're doing homework, Report an error in the passage at 7:56 Highlight the passage at 7:56

8:03 and then driving around the block, you can put deep Report an error in the passage at 8:03 Highlight the passage at 8:03

8:13 belly breaths, and just like wash away all the distractions, sleepiness, Report an error in the passage at 8:13 Highlight the passage at 8:13

8:25 fresh, and learn. One of my teachers always says, bright-eyed and bushy-tired. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:58 Just as a way of bringing a mind to neutral. So either at the level of your belly, or your lungs, your chest, or a little patch of skin inside your nostril. Just find a location and then park your mind there and squash the breath going out. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

· · · silence, 6 minutes

15:10 It should have a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Keep sort of looking through until you find this man. Stop. Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:31 the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha until I reach full 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 distill the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

16:02 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 mysteries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:33 With the wish of real 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 mysteries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 16:33 Highlight the passage at 16:33

17:17 remembered, I was reviewing my notes for tonight's class, I emailed some of you Rubina's Lumb Rim. So I sent it to the printer and then maybe on the break, you can like stick it in and see if we can finish those. That printer is really fast. So I'll give that to you after class. Any questions about anything that we talked about last week or those of you that might have started reading Venorobina's lamrim? Report an error in the passage at 17:17 Highlight the passage at 17:17

17:56 Any questions about the entire long room? Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:01 You're on! Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:06 You might have some tonight. Tonight we're actually going to talk about a few of the preliminary topics in the long room that's useful for us to make sure that we sort of have some grounding in before we talk about some of the ways that tantra works, because they have to do with how tantra works. One of them is how mind works, according to Buddha, which of course is the topic of the entire... Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:30 It's a six-week course that I'm going to start next week. But we'll discuss in the brief overview. Then we're going to talk about refuge a little bit. Because of course, traditionally, before you would start studying tantra, you would definitely take refuge. So we're just going to talk about that a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

18:52 And then in the next few classes, we'll talk about those three principal paths. Definitely. Report an error in the passage at 18:52 Highlight the passage at 18:52

19:03 So let's just see what comes up. If nobody has any questions to start, people might have questions as we go. Jane, did you hear from everybody? Did you have anything you wanted to say about registration? If anybody has not registered and would like to register, talk to Jane on the break. Or next week? Yes, please. Tonight or next week. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:32 I can't remember all these special announcements. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:37 There's a number of things that I didn't cover last week that I wanted to make sure I said. One is that... When the Buddha got enlightened, he didn't teach every single thing he knew. One of the aspects of enlightenment, which we're actually going to define what that means, is omniscient. It's an omniscient mind, which means he knows everything. But he didn't choose to teach everything he knew because he didn't think it was so useful. Report an error in the passage at 19:37 Highlight the passage at 19:37

20:09 In fact, there's that list of, what is it, 14 questions? Tezen Shoki brought up in one of her recent teachings here, there's like 14 questions that he refused to answer because they wouldn't help your mind to know. Either way that you would go with it, you were there, she was talking about that too. Either way that your mind would go with it until you had enough understanding would send you off into a wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 20:09 Highlight the passage at 20:09

20:33 They're mostly like those kind of theoretical questions and people have way too much time on their hands. So... With that in mind, everything that I'm trying to present here, and everything, of course, that the Buddha taught, not that I compare myself with the Buddha, I'm trying to use his words and Lama Yeshi's words, is to get you enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

21:00 So if it feels like we're just sort of going off on some theoretical discussion that isn't really going to be so helpful, I might kind of try to rein you in. But yes, definitely take it into the cafe, that's cool, and I would love for you to. Or you could, if something, if you want to discuss with more time than we have, then let's make an appointment and get them lined up. Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:21 And that's fine, too, because I definitely don't want it to block your mind so you can't receive any other instruction until you get that one sorted out. But sometimes it just sort of doesn't add to the class. So that's kind of my point. One of my teachers actually used to call it people becoming Dharma monsters. Report an error in the passage at 21:21 Highlight the passage at 21:21

21:40 Where they just have a lot of Dharma information, but they aren't actually trying to apply it to make themselves happier or to work with their mind. And we don't want, I don't want any of you guys to become, then I'll be worrying about that on my next retreat. Oh no, make a Dharma monster. So if I kind of try to rein you in, that's kind of what I'm trying to do is just try to keep this all very applicable, practical, so that you can transform your lives. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

22:08 That's kind of my goal. I don't know what you guys are here for. So I did want to mention that. I usually try to mention that every time. I remember Karen Villanueva one time sharing with me like eight classes into it that she never could quite get what I meant by Dharma monsters. But it's just basically people who, there are quite a number of people, especially Western students, who just like to learn lots of new facts. Report an error in the passage at 22:08 Highlight the passage at 22:08

22:33 And so they sometimes attend teachings with that goal. And it's not so useful for their minds. So that's kind of what I mean by a Dharma monster. Just, you know, lots of facts and figures, lots of lists. You can get them all memorized and they aren't actually trying to be nicer. Or, you know, trying to have a more peaceful mind or trying to deal with problems in a good and positive way. It's not really actually changing your life in any way. Actually, there's probably quite a few professors that are reading that description. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

23:07 But we won't mention any by name. Report an error in the passage at 23:07 Highlight the passage at 23:07

23:13 So who here, I had meant to ask this last week, and this isn't to embarrass anyone. No, don't worry, I'm not going to ask for the homework. Lama's terrified I'm going to ask who did the homework. No, no, no, sorry. I wanted to ask how many people already are doing some kind of meditation practice. It doesn't have to be, don't worry, it won't go inside your mind. Maybe I should say how many people are not. That might be better. How many people are not currently doing? Report an error in the passage at 23:13 Highlight the passage at 23:13

23:41 Some form. Just sometimes, but not necessarily daily. Yeah. That's you too. Is that anybody else who's not? But you kind of have some groundwork on how to meditate. Is that true? I mean, I'm not saying this to embarrass you, because believe me, I am not the queen meditator of all time. But it's quite useful, and I just kind of want to make sure if you are coming from another tradition or another lineage or something, that you would kind of know what we're talking about when I say meditation. Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

24:11 Because a lot of the homework that I give, most of the homework that I give is meditation assignments. So it's just kind of useful if you have some idea. And you've done other classes with me, so I think you're all right. And you've been doing the drop-in. If anybody has any, if you don't want to embarrass yourself, you don't want to raise your hand, you just want to privately take it up with me, that's fine. On the break, you can, or you can shoot me an email and just say, I'm not entirely sure what you made in my meditation, but I was too embarrassed to say anything. Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:46 That's okay, too. I'll protect your identity. And I can talk to you a little bit about setting up a meditation practice, but it seems like most of you are pretty advanced, you know, students, but you probably already got it down. Report an error in the passage at 24:46 Highlight the passage at 24:46

25:02 Okay, so the... Actually, the traditional lamrim, as it was originally taught by the great masters before us, between the Buddha and us in Tibetan Buddhism, Laetitia, Jason Kapa, and so forth, didn't include the subject of the mind because they were actually all on the same page. They had no doubt, actually, that the mind was beginningless and endless. They had no doubt about reincarnation. Report an error in the passage at 25:02 Highlight the passage at 25:02

25:34 Coming to the West, it's a different story. We have a complete idea about what happens after we die. We have a different idea about whether mind and brain are the same thing. So we have all sorts of all these different ideas. So when it started coming to the West, we started including this topic of mind. What is mind? Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

25:53 How does it function? According to the Buddha, because that's what we're looking at right now. So we're going to just talk a little bit about the mind. Report an error in the passage at 25:53 Highlight the passage at 25:53

26:06 And the main aspect of the mind, other than the fact that it's, according to the Buddha, it is beginningless and endless. And I like to compare it to a number line, because I think that's a little easier to get. Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

26:20 In that same way that it has no beginning and it has no end, the mind is like this. And often in Western religions, in Christianity and Judaism, Report an error in the passage at 26:20 Highlight the passage at 26:20

26:36 God is like this. This idea or the traditional idea of God, a creator God is like that. We usually don't have any problem with that idea if it's God, but with us it's a slightly different story. Report an error in the passage at 26:36 Highlight the passage at 26:36

26:51 So mind itself, you can think of it as just the mirror process of reflecting and engaging with everything it comes into contact with. Um. Report an error in the passage at 26:51 Highlight the passage at 26:51

27:05 Mind is defined as, how do they say, mind is awareness, is clarity and knowing, or clarity and cognizant. It has those functions and also that's what they describe it as. And we'll talk about what those two parts mean. Because nothing in Buddhist definitions are, there's no extra words, you know, like everything always means something. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:34 And often, let me say this too, whenever we define terms, Go with that definition. Don't go with some idea that you might have of clarity or perception or conception, because we'll talk about different terms like that. And it might be slightly different than we're used to hearing. Mindfulness is another one. There are certain terms that are used in a certain way, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, and that's really the only way that we want to use them in this class. Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

28:03 So don't confuse yourself by thinking, So I'm sure some Western psychology view, like really listen to that, how it's being used here, because it may be slightly different. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:18 So mind isn't physical matter, which of course we all know, but it has to be said. Mind doesn't have any shape or color, smell, you know. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:33 It's not like the body. It wasn't created by the body. It wasn't created by your parents' egg and sperm. Your body is, but your mind was not. Your mind is colorless, formless, shapeless, has no dimensions. It's not physical stuff at all. That's the way one of my teachers actually puts it. Physical stuff. I like that. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

29:02 It actually is very much like just process. It is the process of how we know, how we connect with the things around us. But from the Buddhist perspective, mind is constantly changing, but it's permanent. And here's another one of these terms. Permanent means that it lasts forever. It doesn't end. Permanent in Buddhism doesn't mean that it's unchanging. Report an error in the passage at 29:02 Highlight the passage at 29:02

29:34 Two separate things. And you can really confuse yourself if you don't get that one. So mind is permanent in that it never ends. When we die, our mind moves on into a different body. Or, you know, yeah, mostly body. Some form of body. Moth, cat, human, deva. Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

30:03 And so the mind just continues. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:10 But it's constantly changing, right? Didn't you notice that when you're trying to count to ten? A few things were coming up. That's a really useful way to try to understand what your mind does on a regular basis is just try to count 10 in breaths and out breaths. Just trying to do meditation on the breath is a way for us to figure out what it is that mind does. And if our mind does it, it's actually very, very, very possible that all mind does it. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:40 We're not insane just because we can't keep our mind on the breath. Hey, Nancy, come on in. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

30:49 So, Buddhism is very good at saying, you know, everything has to have a cause. So what is the cause of mind? According to the Buddha, each Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:05 moment of mind comes from the previous moment of mind, which comes from the previous moment of mind, which comes from the previous moment of mind, which comes from the previous moment of mind. And there was never, ever any start. And it's hard to grasp that one. I mean actually to me it kind of made sense, but I know a lot of people have a lot of problem with that one. But there was never a first thought. Report an error in the passage at 31:05 Highlight the passage at 31:05

31:36 So the first, the very, very first moment of mind within this life was preceded by another moment of mind, and that moment of mind was the final moment. one likes me, I don't think new pet. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

31:53 the previous life. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:00 It's the same mind, different body. And the body, we'll get into that a little bit, is the creation of our action. Report an error in the passage at 32:00 Highlight the passage at 32:00

32:12 So mind is just this, that's what they call it, a mind stream. It's very much like a stream. It's like a stream in a couple of ways. It's like a stream in that there are all these different mental moments mixing up into a great soup. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:28 And it's very much like a river or a stream in that, you know, when you go to a river day after day and you look at the river and you think, well, you know, I come here every day, I always am looking at this river. Well, it's not ever the same river. It's never the same river, you know. And that's the way our mind is. It's never the same day after day, moment after moment. Report an error in the passage at 32:28 Highlight the passage at 32:28

32:51 But yet there is something, you know. So there's this element of it that continues. So sometimes it's called the mental continuum. I guess I'll always just say continuum, but most Westerners say mental continuum because we want to make sure we know what it is what we're talking about, thinking about the mental continuum. And they often will say, you know, that mind is very much like a string of beads without the string of beads. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:18 But that's getting into emptiness a little bit too. It's very energetic in a sense, you know, it's just like these blips of... I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 33:18 Highlight the passage at 33:18

33:28 of mental process. And our mind is constantly, you know, our mind gets pulled by one and then we have another thought. I mean, if you ever just daydream, which seems like a billion years ago, I could just sit and daydream. Report an error in the passage at 33:28 Highlight the passage at 33:28

33:45 When we were little kids, you know, you just sit there and then whatever comes into your mind and then whatever comes in, you just follow it. am. thought I did some in my retreat. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

33:53 You just follow it. I mean, sometimes it just goes all over the place. I mean, sometimes we get that meditation, right? We're supposed to be meditating on the breath or whatever, and then all of a sudden we're on the beach. And you're like, oh wait, this isn't right. I think I was supposed to be meditating on the breath. You know, so we still do that thing, and that's just following these mental moments, just almost chaotically, but kind of languidly in that case where you're just not trying to even stop yourself. Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:22 You're just, boop, boop, whatever comes up next. The deluded states of mind or afflicted states of mind, like anger and jealousy and so forth, those are just thoughts. They're just like the thought about mental Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:42 experience. It's just like a memory. It's just like there's all these different types of mental experiences. Feelings, emotions and thoughts are really very identical. They're just things that arise in our mind. But fortunately... They are not an integral part of the mind. The ones that disturb our minds are really what delusions are. Delusions, mental afflictions, is Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

35:13 really whatever disturbs our mind. So the good news is those aren't really part of our mind. It's like our mind is almost like the medium. It's like the medium that these things sort of float in. It's like the fish tank. That clear water in the fish tank. It's like that clear sky that we visualize at the beginning of class. That's the mind itself. That's what holds all these things. The negative states of mind that disturb us and cause us to do all these sort of harmful actions to ourself and to others, they can be removed like pollution in that water. Report an error in the passage at 35:13 Highlight the passage at 35:13

35:54 So they aren't part of us. And the things that we do are not us. And all this stuff becomes very important in Tantra because we really cling to the fact that I am the negative things I do, especially in the West, I think. We really identify with the negative stuff that we do. Actually, I suppose I'll submit, we also probably identify a little too much with the positive stuff we do. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:20 But I think, like in a sense of pride, I mean, but I think more often the low self-esteem thing wins out, where it's like, if I do one thing wrong, then I'm a horrible person. beat myself up, and I'm going to become Buddha, and I'm going to speak with doesn't meditate, and I don't know. I mean, I've done that, you know? Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:42 So the good news is all those things can be removed. And removing all those mental afflictions is what Nirvāṇa is. Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

36:53 Nirvāṇa or liberation, you can call it. And we're liberated from all those. That is not enlightenment. But it's almost. and then it was a herd of nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:03 If you could attain that this year, it would be really super. I'm not going to tell you that it's not a great goal. On the Mahāyāna path, we actually sort of pass over nirvāṇa, but we have to obviously attain nirvāṇa in order to attain full enlightenment. To attain full enlightenment, we actually have to remove even the subtle, most afflicted states of mind. And they say it's a little bit like when you... Report an error in the passage at 37:03 Highlight the passage at 37:03

37:32 You have a jar with garlic in it and you get rid of the garlic and there's still that scent. It's like that. And the worst afflicted state of mind that there is is this one that grasps with this truly existing mind. And we'll get into that when we get to the emptiness section. But that's the most, and that's the last one to go. Report an error in the passage at 37:32 Highlight the passage at 37:32

37:58 It's the most ingrained. It's the deepest of our polluted states of mind and the most dangerous. It's the cause for everything else that happens. It's creating this I and then believing in it and then thinking that we have to protect it. It's like all the things that come from that. Most of the mental afflictions arise from this, if not all, arise from this mistaken view. Report an error in the passage at 37:58 Highlight the passage at 37:58

38:25 So what is enlightenment? Enlightenment is... Simply put, perfected mind. It's when we're able to remove all of these afflicted states of mind completely. I mean, completely. Report an error in the passage at 38:25 Highlight the passage at 38:25

38:42 I mean, imagine just removing one completely. We're actually, we're kind of doing this now in the dropping meditation on Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 38:42 Highlight the passage at 38:42

38:53 We're going through some of the afflictions, yeah, the mental afflictions and the antidotes to them. days. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

38:59 And just imagining like ridding yourself forever of depression. Just one. Just like pick depression. This week we're actually going to do low self-esteem. I'm doing some of the popular ones in Western country. Just imagine that one gone forever. Like no matter what happens, it never arises anymore in your mind. You never ever have it. Report an error in the passage at 38:59 Highlight the passage at 38:59

39:20 They say when we have a direct perception of emptiness, which is a direct perception of how the Buddha... experiences reality that things don't exist the way we think we can do Once we actually have that direct perception, the one mental affliction that we lose in that, it literally can only, it can actually only take like 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 39:20 Highlight the passage at 39:20

39:43 It can be incredibly quick. You know, you've done like thousands of hours of meditation, studying all that stuff before lifetimes. But... When the actual moment occurs, it can be as quick as 20 minutes. And at the end of that time, all these realizations happen. But one of them is that forever you are done with doubt. Report an error in the passage at 39:43 Highlight the passage at 39:43

40:05 Doubt is gone. Just imagine how different your life would be with just that one mental affection being gone. And Buddhas have eliminated all of them. There's no negative state of mind at all, no matter what happens. happens them at all, on any daily basis. And, always more, And all their positive states in mind are completely perfected, so that they cannot be perfected any further. They cannot be further developed. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:37 So their compassion is at its peak. Their love is completely developed. Their patience, like all those positive states in mind, their wisdom, there's nothing... That's why they actually call it the path of no more learning. You're done. You have to finish school. You know, like your mind completely blossomed in its bullets. Report an error in the passage at 40:37 Highlight the passage at 40:37

41:02 And the end result, you know, when you attain nirvāṇa and you remove all these afflictions, or you attain enlightenment and you remove all these afflictions, it's not like you become comatose, you know, or kind of dead, you know, like dull-minded. I mean, sometimes we imagine if we didn't have like... Report an error in the passage at 41:02 Highlight the passage at 41:02

41:19 If we didn't have passion in our lives, if we didn't have anger, if we didn't, all that stuff, we would just be kind of like brain dead or something. It's not at all like that. If you look at some of the names of the Buddhist pure lands, like Satan and Light, and then it's like land of bliss. Bliss is in there somewhere. Like in every single one, it's like the land of bliss. So they're very, very happy. Report an error in the passage at 41:19 Highlight the passage at 41:19

41:46 They're very, very calm. They're very, very clear. They're very, very content. And then from that space, of course, they have the ability to help others. So it's an amazing state of mind. And that is just basically the same mind we have, but perfected. Report an error in the passage at 41:46 Highlight the passage at 41:46

42:04 So mind just carries us forward, you know, moment by moment, thought by thought, mental moment by mental moment. And there's no gap. There's never a gap. Like sometimes we'll think, we can see a gap in the breath, right? There's not really a gap in the thinking. Like it sort of dies down a little bit at times and then like sort of flares up again. You know, somebody pokes you and you're sitting there trying to maintain. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:30 Someone sits down suddenly and hits you. There might be sort of a flare up of your thought. There's actually no gap to the mind. There's never a gap in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:41 Death is just the next moment of mind, you know. And rebirth is just the next moment of mind. It's not like there's this moment that... It just makes sort of a hole in your mind until you figure out where to go next. It just keeps sort of rolling along. It just sort of keeps rolling along. Report an error in the passage at 42:41 Highlight the passage at 42:41

43:05 And so it's really, really important to know that this mind is incredibly malleable and transformable and changeable because this is the whole element of Tantra, that we can transform this mind. We all have the capacity to perfect our mind. It's not beyond any of us. All of us have this thing that's called Buddha Nature, which I'll explain a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 43:05 Highlight the passage at 43:05

43:34 One of our biggest blocks to this is what Lama Eshi calls tiny mind. Little mind. It's a baby mind. It's like a keep very, very limited. We wear blinders, you know, we're really interested in whether the newspaper's here. Rather than, you know, this, Seeing the mind that we were trying to visualize as being in our class, this vast, spacious, clear, pure mind that we have, that we have the capacity to access and work from, we tend to just use a tiny, tiny bit of it and we just kind of stay in that safe area. Report an error in the passage at 43:34 Highlight the passage at 43:34

44:12 And so Lama actually always calls that tiny mind and he's like, no, you need big mind, dear, big mind. So he's always like, open, open this mind. We limit ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:23 And part of that is identifying really strongly with this truly existent me, I. It keeps us very tiny. I am when I am, you know? I can't change. I can't become a Buddha. That's somebody else's thing. So he's just like, you know, go for it. You actually can. You know, the Buddha's that way too. You guys actually all have the capacity for this huge, vast mind. You already have it. It's just seeing it. Report an error in the passage at 44:23 Highlight the passage at 44:23

44:55 It's just recognizing it. So the mind works in two main ways, through perception and conception. Report an error in the passage at 44:55 Highlight the passage at 44:55

45:09 So perception is actually non-conceptual, so it's mostly like sense cognition, or an example of it is sense cognition. It can also be, it's any form of a direct perceiver, but for us, for most... of us at this point, at this level, if you all are ordinary beings, as you seem to be, it is talking about a sense consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 45:09 Highlight the passage at 45:09

45:40 It's the moment that our mind first makes contact with an object. That's perception in this case. And conception is any conceptual state of mind. And I think we kind of know what that is. The conceptual state of mind doesn't... It directly access its objects through perception. We'll talk about it a little bit, but it uses a mental image to access its objects. Report an error in the passage at 45:40 Highlight the passage at 45:40

46:10 So, for example, perception is like the first mind moment where your mind makes contact with an object. In Sanskrit it's called a kamana, a first taste of an object. Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:25 And a lot of times we think that's a really objective thing. It's not really objective. We'll get to that. So then the very next moment, you know, so if we're talking about how this sort of stream of different mental moments is just constantly rolling on. My promenade, I have this promenade of Chris coming towards me. And then the very next second, I have this whole conception. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:49 Either great, I'm going to ask him to do additional volunteering at St. Chen Lake, or oh my god, I was supposed to call him, you know, like this whole thing, and then I'll go into this thing about how horrible he is and I don't want to see him, or I'm going to go hide in the kitchen until he leaves the building. Report an error in the passage at 46:49 Highlight the passage at 46:49

47:04 You know, so we do this all the time, like we'll, our mind or eye actually, our sense, our eye sense consciousness actually perceives a person, and then we're either like, you know, we build up this whole story about how wonderful that person is. How we've always loved that person, they're always wonderful, this whole story. Or how horrible they are, they've always been horrible, you know, like we concretize. Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

47:29 And that's all conception. That's all story. The first moment is simply just getting the sort of data. Then that gets shot to the rest of the mind and then this mind starts creating this la la la story about whatever. I mean it can also be the cup of tea or... Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:49 And that's where we get into trouble. It's that story. Because then we believe that story. And we actually believe it's totally true. We actually feel like somehow that was an effective experience. And then we may go to other people and go, have you seen Chris? Isn't he horrible? You know, and we try to get like some feedback. We try to get like a whole group of us to all think how horrible Chris is. Report an error in the passage at 47:49 Highlight the passage at 47:49

48:09 Or how wonderful Chris is. You know, it's always like, sorry Chris, who's that in the QC? So, and we base a lot of those stories just on past life experience, which of course we don't remember. We don't know where this is coming from. Or this life experience, right? He looks like somebody, so then I have this whole thing about how horrible he is because, you know, this guy Bob in third grade looked like him or something. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:34 You know, and that's what we do. We have no idea that we're even doing it. We totally think it's absolute, total truth. And this is how we get into trouble. We completely believe our misconceptions. It's about whatever, you know. Some people walk into Seaton Lane so they have that first promenade, right? And then past life stuff comes forward or, you know, whatever this life, they're an artist or something. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

48:59 They love the color, whatever, so they're making this most wonderful place on the planet, which of course karma is coming into too. And some people come in and they're like, you know, what's that place? Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:12 Strange people kind of, you know, like weird, rough things going on in there. It must be demons. And it's all, and it's just coming from mental images that we have sort of stored up. So it's almost like it's hitting like this computer and like we're like bringing it up and it's like either a positive or a negative thing just depending on your karma. Report an error in the passage at 49:12 Highlight the passage at 49:12

49:32 So this happens a lot of time. If you've ever been at a party or a huge gathering where you sort of create mental, you have like images of every single, you haven't met a single person. You're just sitting there categorizing every one of them. It's sort of like, and you haven't even talked to anyone yet. Report an error in the passage at 49:32 Highlight the passage at 49:32

49:52 And then you just kind of leave the party and you feel like you've interacted. But actually you've just been having this whole thing in yourself. It's sort of like that moment in the Matrix where you take kind of wonders. Actually one teacher was when he was teaching, he was teaching about the mind and he was like, I wonder actually, he stopped in the middle, it was kind of all Neil. Report an error in the passage at 49:52 Highlight the passage at 49:52

50:12 He stops in the middle and goes, actually, I wonder if we ever actually leave, if we ever actually leave our house, or if we're having this entire story that we make up that's just all playing in our mind, and it's true, you know? Report an error in the passage at 50:12 Highlight the passage at 50:12

50:24 So these projections just come from, you know, past life, past experience in this life, old karmic projections that we haven't cleared up, and it keeps us from experiencing people, places, things with a fresh mind, a fresh awareness. We've got all this crap. kind of, um, sorry, no, I'm not the most traditional teacher, sorry. Report an error in the passage at 50:24 Highlight the passage at 50:24

50:48 But it's just all in there and unfortunately it acts as a filter to every single thing that we see and do. And this is how we create what's called saṃsāra, you know, the opposite of nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 50:48 Highlight the passage at 50:48

51:01 People actually, there was like a perfume named saṃsāra, right? It's just the saṃsāra, why on earth would I do that? Saṃsāra is the cycle of existence, it's sometimes called. It's the cycle of repeated suffering. Great! But that's how we create it. We create it. We create it with our minds. It's all based on this misperception and then these fantasies based on our misperceptions, fueled by our delusions. Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:31 We create more karma. That karma then ripens as our suffering. And then we create more images. Mental karma is created as well as physical. and speech-carmic. So much of our life actually just happens in our mind. And that's actually, the idea of psychic existence is just repeatedly cycling through rebirth after rebirth in this way, you know, fueling it with these misperceptions. Report an error in the passage at 51:31 Highlight the passage at 51:31

51:58 And it all begins in our mind. We create psychic existence. Saṃsāra isn't something outside of us, like a place. It's not like we can get out of saṃsāra in that sense. We don't leave saṃsāra and then move to San Francisco. We are saṃsāra beings. We have saṃsāra mind. So wherever we go, we tell you when you go to retreat, you realize, if I could leave my mind, that would be great. But unfortunately, you have to take it with you into retreat. Report an error in the passage at 51:58 Highlight the passage at 51:58

52:26 And our minds are saṃsāra. And that's what we have to transform. And our minds become nirvāṇa. Our minds become enlightened. So you can have a Buddha in San Francisco. story, sister. Report an error in the passage at 52:26 Highlight the passage at 52:26

52:38 You can have an Arhat or somebody who's attained nirvāṇa in San Francisco and their experience in San Francisco or it's Asian Link or of this class would be completely different than those of us who still have samsaric mind, you know, who are still restless and our mind is going elsewhere and we're kind of distracted and we don't work or thinking about, you know, a partner or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 52:38 Highlight the passage at 52:38

53:01 So this is all samsaric mind. It doesn't allow us to ever be content or focused. Report an error in the passage at 53:01 Highlight the passage at 53:01

53:12 So, Buddha nature, which we touched on last week and then we'll take a break. Buddha nature, as I said, it doesn't mean everybody in this room, everything in this room, every being in this room, including that moth, has the potential of fully awakening. Buddha just means fully awakened. Report an error in the passage at 53:12 Highlight the passage at 53:12

53:38 So because we all have this, it's said that we all have Buddha nature. It doesn't mean that we have little Buddhas inside. It doesn't mean that we are already enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 53:38 Highlight the passage at 53:38

53:48 It means that we have the potential to perfect our mind. Our mind is imminently changeable, transformable, perfectable. It can be done. So Buddha is always like, I'll teach you the method and then what you do with that method is up to you. I can't do it for you. You have to do the work. But it's totally possible for you to do it. His mind was exactly like ours. He had this totally insane, crazy, wacky mind. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:21 And he was able to transcend that ordinary mind and reach perfected mind. And he said it's completely possible for each of us to do. So sometimes you'll see that there are two types of Buddha nature mentioned. Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:39 One of them is this one that I think most of us think of when we start learning about Buddha nature, which is kind of like evolving Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

54:51 This is kind of talking about the conventional nature of our minds, which allows us to become enlightened. So it's the fact that our mind is clear awareness, mere clarity and awareness, and that our delusions are removable, just like I described. which is Report an error in the passage at 54:51 Highlight the passage at 54:51

55:09 And that our positive thoughts are, it's possible for them to be developed fully. And so this is sort of this sense of potentiality of our mind. The other form of Buddha nature is called natural Buddha nature. This is really just talking about the quality of our mind, which is getting into the ultimate nature of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 55:09 Highlight the passage at 55:09

55:39 Which we'll get into a little bit more when we talk about emptiness, but it's the way our minds actually exist. So a lot of times in these classes we'll talk about things from this point of view of both perspectives, the ultimate and the conventional nature. Our mind doesn't exist, just like everything else, our mind doesn't exist the way we think it does. Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

56:05 So this aspect of our mind is actually a negation. It's free of existing in the way we think it does. It's free of existing in this hallucinated way that it's unchanging and independently exist. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:20 I know I'm losing some of you. So our mind is free of that which makes it a negation. The other is more than affirmative. It has these elements, these qualities, this potential. But the reality about the ultimate nature of our mind is that it's never existed that way. So when we get into the emptiness teachings, it's not like the Buddha is taking away things that actually existed. He's simply pointing out, it's like the emperor's new clothes. Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:47 He's simply pointing out that actually they never existed that way and that's limiting us to think that they do. So he's trying to do us a good turn here. He's like, oh wait a second, things don't exist the way that you're holding on to them so solidly and you're holding to them that way is actually keeping you in tiny mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:07 It's keeping you locked up that way. So this form of Buddha nature, the emptiness of our minds, can never be stained by any kind of negative thoughts. Nothing can destroy it. Nothing can take it away from us. And that's sort of a, there's some sort of confidence that we can gain in that, actually. The emptiness of anything, emptiness itself, which sounds far more mysterious than it actually is, Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:39 everything It allows everything to change. It allows everything to be possible. Because if things were as concrete as we make them, nothing could change. Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

57:50 And we need our minds to be able to change in order to become this, you know? So, I always actually think this every morning after we do the frustrations. I always take a moment to think, you know, the mind that I was trying to purify doesn't exist the way it seems to. The karma doesn't. The negative karma I created doesn't. The action that created it doesn't exist. Nothing exists in that way, and that allows everything to happen. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:17 That's why everything's possible. Emptiness makes everything possible. And don't worry, we'll spend some time on emptiness, but I'm just giving you a quick touch on it. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:28 So, Yangtze Rinpoche, right as we're ending on the mind, Yangtze Rinpoche had a great quote in his book, Practicing the Path, which is that... His commentary on the long rim, which is quite readable actually, quite accessible, practicing the path. He said, please remember that there is no path to enlightenment that lies outside of your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:49 Whatever good qualities there are to be cultivated must be cultivated within our own mind. Whatever negativities there are to be eliminated must also be eliminated within your own mind. In fact, the main objective to Dharma practice... is to limitlessly develop the positive potential of your own mind. Your mind can be limitlessly developed because its mental continuum is beginningless and without end, and because you have Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 58:49 Highlight the passage at 58:49

59:16 Because the delusions, which are the causes of suffering, do not exist in the nature of your mind, suffering can be extinguished by eliminating the ignorance that is at its root. Report an error in the passage at 59:16 Highlight the passage at 59:16

59:28 I'm sure it culminates the entire reason we really don't want to discuss behind, and also why we want to meditate. Because we want to take the stuff in deep. We want it to become part of our mind because our mind is what's going to go forward when we die. It's not going to be whether we found parking tonight. Report an error in the passage at 59:28 Highlight the passage at 59:28

59:45 It's not going to be whether I, actually I may bring my love of tea into the next life, but it's not going to be a lot of the little things that we focus on a lot in our lives. It's what we do with our mind. So what we do with our mind becomes hugely important, because that's really all that's going to go with us at the moment that the karma for this life ends and our mind goes into the next body. Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

1:00:12 So think about that. No tripping. Yeah, and then we'll take some questions after the break, so maybe think about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:12 Highlight the passage at 1:00:12

1:00:26 Just in case. Thank you, Jane. I always just leave it on because it's easier. Then they get all these private conversations. don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:26 Highlight the passage at 1:00:26

1:00:39 they're like we upload the teachings and they go on archive so people can hear Okay, so my first question was, when you were talking about mind, is that synonymous with the four mental skandhas? Okay, so it's not synonymous to just consciousness, for example. Good question. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:01:07 Yeah, in this context, it's synonymous with the four skandhas. The four skandhas are? Perception, volition, feelings, and consciousness. Yeah, or feelings, discrimination, compositional factors, ridiculousness, and consciousness. Yeah, so in the heart suture, he's referring to, well, in many places when we're studying body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:07 Highlight the passage at 1:01:07

1:01:34 But in the Heart Sūtra, they're listed quite clearly when we're beginning to meditate on emptiness. Who did the emptiness class? Did you guys go through the Heart Sūtra a little bit? You know, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. And then you go into the same with feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:34 Highlight the passage at 1:01:34

1:01:53 So that's just mind. But you could also say awareness. And that's where it gets into tricky. Sometimes that's used synonymously with mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:53 Highlight the passage at 1:01:53

1:02:04 But in our culture, awareness kind of means something else, doesn't it? So it just gets a little tricky. That's a good question. And then my other question, oh yeah, when you were mentioning some of the various afflictions that a person could hopefully get rid of, what were the conditions under which you mentioned doubt being done away with? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:04 Highlight the passage at 1:02:04

1:02:31 Oh, the rest of them are all done in the path of meditation, a path of habituation to, their two transitions to the same path. I like habituation because after you have this amazing direct perception of emptiness, that little moment of time that you are in the direct, you know, deep meditative echo voice on emptiness, there's nothing else that appears to your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:31 Highlight the passage at 1:02:31

1:02:57 You're having this direct communion with that. That is the path of seeing. That's it. It's done. And then from then on, and that path is like one of the longest paths. It's called path of habituation where you're just getting used to this. And you're constantly going back into that meditative state, but then in between meditation sessions you're getting used to that idea. So I'm still seeing you as concrete and self-existent, but I don't believe it anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:57 Highlight the passage at 1:02:57

1:03:25 And I'm not going to buy into it. So it's like I have the schizophrenic existence on the path of habituation where I'm constantly going in and out of metatative states and working with it in between. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:37 Then I'm just using that understanding about just to eliminate one by one all the mental afflictions permanently. And the first to go is doubt? Is doubt. That happens actually during that. And that's just any sort of doubt. That's not just doubt about metaphysical phenomena. I've heard that it's any sort, but the main one is the doubt about the Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:37 Highlight the passage at 1:03:37

1:03:58 So, you know, like we're all like sort of pretending like we really are believing in it, but we all have this kind of like, you know, like there's always, you know, like we were just talking about, we were just having a discussion in the coffee room about this amazing aspect of perfected, enlightened mind where a Buddha can show up wherever he or she is needed. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:58 Highlight the passage at 1:03:58

1:04:20 In whatever form is needed without any, to anyone who's needed, so simultaneously without any thought or effort. Like it's just more than I can even grasp. So I don't even have space for the doubt, but there's some aspect of whether or not I could do that for sure. You know, maybe get to that. So definitely that form of doubt. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:20 Highlight the passage at 1:04:20

1:04:41 I would have to ask. I'd have to find out for sure if it was all forms of doubt. But that would be a huge one in terms of my spiritual path. Because I think you directly connect with the Dharmakaya. It's like you see the Buddha's mind. So then you're like, okay, I guess it's not real. Well, no, that definitely answers my question. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:05:05 I mean, I guess... All of the types of doubt that can relate to the Buddhist teachings. I mean, that's huge. I just thought for a moment that maybe it would just be one specific type of doubt within that. Right. No, I think it's all of the ones. I'm trying to think of what else you would have doubt about. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05:05

1:05:25 Maybe the one of self-doubt. Because that's still tied, right, to that misperception of yourself. So you probably would still have that. Because you still are trying to get rid of that subtle... Report an error in the passage at 1:05:25 Highlight the passage at 1:05:25

1:05:38 First of all, now you're using that direct perception to get rid of anger, jealousy, all that stuff. But then there's all that subtle one that you get rid of at the very end where you're still holding on to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:05:52 And I know that for those of you who studied emptiness, this is making some sense. And for those of you who haven't, that's okay and we'll get to it. But yeah, I think that will probably hang on to it a little bit. Because that was based in me thinking that I exist in this concrete, absolute, unchangeable way. Because that's the thing that will block me from thinking that I can do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:52 Highlight the passage at 1:05:52

1:06:18 Right. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Other questions? Just stretching. Okay. Do you have a question or are you just stretching? No, that's okay. Any questions? How can we talk about refuge? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:40 Great, it was crystal clear. Well, you can always shoot me questions or you can always ask me questions at the end. We'll just talk a little bit about this mind of refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:40 Highlight the passage at 1:06:40

1:06:53 Refuge is basically when we go for refuge formally, like when we have a refuge ceremony, it's this form of sort of publicly stating, it's actually talking about a state of mind. We cultivate this mind of refuge. So we have this... It's a ceremony to sort of celebrate that mind, but that ceremony isn't your refuge. You know, the state of your refuge is this constant, everyday thing that you're working on. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:53 Highlight the passage at 1:06:53

1:07:24 Lama actually says it's doing. We do refuge. We don't take refuge. We don't go for refuge. We don't generate refuge. We do refuge. It's this constant thing that we're kind of creating moment to moment, day to day, year to year, life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:24 Highlight the passage at 1:07:24

1:07:43 So we just kind of keep working with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:07:48 And so when we generate refuge at the beginning of any teaching or when you sit down to meditate or something like that, we're trying to cultivate a mind at refuge. When you say the words, we get caught up a lot with just saying the words and thinking that we've actually taken refuge. But you have to actually think about what it is that you're saying. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:09 Dang, you know how that happens? Ravina's always saying that whenever we offered mandalas, right? She's always like, don't just say the words, you know? Like, think, think, think of what you're saying. So this is true for refuge, too. I go for refuge to the river, I go for refuge to the jungle. You know, it's just like we just say things by rote. So going for refuge is actually recognizing this basic situation that we're in, which hopefully by the time that we are studying tantra, we have some understanding of that our mind... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:09 Highlight the passage at 1:08:09

1:08:42 know is is actually So that we create our own suffering by these afflicted states of mind arising rather uncontrollably, unfortunately, in our minds and then we follow them, you know, we follow these minds about attachment, anger, jealousy and so forth and then based on these minds then we act, punch, steal, whatever Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:12 the act is that then we create karma. And then that karma ripens as our suffering, or if we've done a positive action as our pleasure, as our happiness. And we just keep doing that life after life in ignorance. If we don't realize that's what's caused our happiness, we think it's because, you know, we lied on our tax return, and so we got $500 back, and so we think that's really wonderful, and then we get away with something. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:35 In reality, the Buddha would say, no, you got that $500 because you were generous in your past life. It's yet to come. what's going to happen because you just lied at your time to return. So we just So this is kind of the mess we're in. Refuge is like taking stock of that and going, wow. That's really a drag. I want to end that. Like, I don't want to keep doing this anymore. And as soon as we have some awareness of this, we, you know, we have to have some idea that there's something beyond this that's possible, and then we take refuge in somebody who can get us there, basically, or something that can get us there. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:10:36 Lama Yusha used to always say taking refuge isn't something new. It's not something... It's not necessarily Buddhist. It's not anything that we haven't all been doing. Not just since the beginning of this lifetime, since the beginning of this life. Since the beginning of today, probably, we've been taking refuge in quite a number of things. Whether it's taking refuge in pleasure to distract us from our pain, or taking refuge in painkillers to distract us from our pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:36 Highlight the passage at 1:10:36

1:11:07 We are constantly taking refuge in something to make us happy. Because the basic Buddhist tenet, just about, is that all beings want to be happy and avoid suffering. And we are those beings too. We're those beings too. So since the beginning of our lives, we've been taking refuge in the beginning with our mommies. If our mommies were nice people, mommies or daddies or grandmas or aunties, you know, like every time we go down and hurt ourselves, we turn to somebody and be like, please, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:07 Highlight the passage at 1:11:07

1:11:40 Mommy, mommy, mommy, take the pain away. Many of us probably did that for a little too long. And then we started thinking, like, wait a second, she actually isn't able to take the pain away. And so then we started turning to other things, sex, drugs, rock and roll, you know, like whoever, jazz, whatever, chocolate cake, you know, whatever it is that's going to, relationships, work, you know, anything that's going to either we think might bring us happy or we think might take away our pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:40 Highlight the passage at 1:11:40

1:12:11 These are all forms of refuge. They aren't very good forms of refuge. They aren't so effective for getting us out of the suffering. They might be temporary relief. Often they lead us into more suffering. Whether it's too much chocolate or whether it's something worse. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:11 Highlight the passage at 1:12:11

1:12:35 Even when we take refuge in less harmful things. We're still sort of distracting our minds. You know, we aren't really getting at the source. We aren't really ending the pain. We aren't really pulling ourselves out of the situation where we keep creating more and more suffering for ourselves. So part of your homework assignment actually will be to kind of contemplate the different things that you've taken refuge in over your lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:35 Highlight the passage at 1:12:35

1:13:02 I find this a very interesting thing to look at. Because we've all taken, and it's kind of interesting, every time you sit down, you might want to think about different periods of your life. Maybe you could spend a whole session just on your childhood, the things that we did. And it was so important. It was very, very important to us. And then the things we took refuge in in our teens, so Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:28 the older we could keep growing up. I remember really taking refuge in Friends. That was like a big one, probably for 15 years, until I got so busy here that I lost my friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:28 Highlight the passage at 1:13:28

1:13:42 Ravina asked me that one time, she said something about a friend, and I said, no worries. She started laughing. But it's true in a way. But for many, many years, I really put more stock. I always put more stock in friends than I ever did in relationships. I explained why I'm a nun. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:14:02 So look, just look. Without any judgment, we're just kind of looking at our lives and thinking about the things that we do. And then looking at what we do now. There's going to change. And I think actually for most of us, there will be many changes. The things that we took refuge in were six. Maybe not, compared to the things that we take refuge in now. And also, why is it not really giving me refuge? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:02 Highlight the passage at 1:14:02

1:14:25 Why isn't it working? And the main thing that I think comes from the teachings as to why it's not working is that these things are imperfect too. Chocolate is as imperfect as my mind. It's not going to really give me lasting refuge. Or... If my main thought is I want to find a way out of this mess, how can feeding the afflicted mind of desire do it? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:25 Highlight the passage at 1:14:25

1:14:56 I mean, when you think about it serologically, not to be a killjoy, because I'm still sticking by Chuck. But just to look and to think, like, why wouldn't this give me any kind of... So if the Buddha said that the actually root cause of all of our suffering is actually in our mind, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:23 But our mind is actually whether or not, you know, if we always say, like, you know, you made me angry. Well, clearly, like, the next day you can do the same thing and I don't get angry. So the action, the external action, sometimes triggers it and sometimes doesn't. So it's not the external action, it's our mind. It's the state of our mind at that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:42 You know, like, we can be incredibly happy and calm and everything can come wrong to us and we're just totally fine. And then the next day, you know, I break. One mug or something and I'm just off. It's just the whole day is ruined, you know, and it has nothing to do with the external action in that sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:16:00 It has little to do with the external action. The key is actually in Lama. So, you know, we spend all this time looking outside of ourselves to try to find some sort of happiness and try to find some sort of lasting refuge, some safety, some comfort. And it's always outside of ourselves. It's not developing. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:00 Highlight the passage at 1:16:00

1:16:21 our mind at all in a way that's actually going to bring us those Report an error in the passage at 1:16:21 Highlight the passage at 1:16:21

1:16:33 Refuge begins with this recognition of what our situation is, the situation that we have found ourselves in, and understanding that we are creating a lot of suffering for ourselves and for others through having these afflicted states of mind that sort of arise uncontrollably. We haven't subdued our mind at all, and then acting on those. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:33 Highlight the passage at 1:16:33

1:16:59 Lifetime after lifetime, so not even just within this lifetime. And then once we get it, once we get this, that this is where we are, once we recognize that this is where we are, we experience what they say, you know, they say actually with the mind of refuge, there's these two states of mind that come with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:20 One is fear, which a lot of Westerners have a lot of problem with. Fear. And then the other is this aspect of developing trust in the objects of refuge. So this mind of fear is sort of like realizing, you know, we realize the situation that we're in, it's sort of like realizing that we're in a car that's sort of careening out of control. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:40 It's okay to have fear at that moment. It's actually a very logical state of mind considering the situation you're in. And the Buddha is saying, actually, we're not in the greatest situation right now. Like, it actually makes sense for us to have some fear. It's very much like when you're learning how to drive. We can use the mind of fear to help us drive better. It doesn't mean that we have to constantly live in a state of wide-eyed panic. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:40 Highlight the passage at 1:17:40

1:18:05 It just means that we use that awareness of the seriousness of the situation to push us on. So it's that aspect of fear. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:05 Highlight the passage at 1:18:05

1:18:16 And then the second aspect of refuge is developing trust. And so that's where you spend a lot of time checking up on... What makes the Buddha and then his teachings, the Dharma, technically the realizations of his teachings in the mind of practitioners, especially the direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:16 Highlight the passage at 1:18:16

1:18:39 And those practitioners, the Saṅgha, serious practitioners who have started having attainments. So you begin checking up on those qualities and what makes them trustworthy objects in the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:39 Highlight the passage at 1:18:39

1:18:56 If we want to perfect our mind, we need to find somebody who has. So then we start checking up and trying to find somebody who has perfected their mind, which is why we rely on enlightened mind, Buddha. So we figure out, okay, if he's gotten out and he's used certain methods, let me try those methods. That's what really refuge is about. It doesn't have to be this really holy thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:56 Highlight the passage at 1:18:56

1:19:21 It's simply recognizing the situation. That's what I usually say. It's sort of like waking up suddenly and realizing you're in a really, really bad neighborhood or Mongolia. I started hearing all these really horrifying stories about how horrible Mongolia is right now. Sarah. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:21 Highlight the passage at 1:19:21

1:19:40 It's like waking up suddenly and you realize that you're in Mongolia. It's 56 degrees below zero and people are trying to steal your shoes. You know, and so you're kind of like, wow, I need to get out of here. So I need to find somebody who's gotten out. And so that's what it's like to take refuge. It's going, oh wow, this is really a rough situation. I don't want to be in this situation. And that's why we rely on the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:40 Highlight the passage at 1:19:40

1:20:06 We often don't, we often aren't, we don't have the karma right now to actually connect with the Buddha. So we connect with our teachers in his stead. And the Saṅgha, I mean technically the Saṅgha are those, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:06 Highlight the passage at 1:20:06

1:20:24 Practitioners who have actually taken these teachings and perfected their minds to the point where they've had a direct perception of emptiness, they say as an example, but any direct, any realization, like a realization of bodhicitta or something like that, so that they can, so we see them and we get inspired by them and we're like, oh, it is possible, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:24 Highlight the passage at 1:20:24

1:20:44 Prima Rubina actually gave me this article, or it was actually a letter that she had used to somebody. I think Rinpoche had passed it on to her to use in a book or a mandala article. And it was from somebody that I actually know, who just looking at this letter, you realize that this person is really highly realized. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:44 Highlight the passage at 1:20:44

1:21:06 And you're like, wow, I had no idea. Because we have in our mind what a realized person would look like, right? They'd be all kind of golden and glowing and halos. Be perfect in their speech and not be dragging a bunch of bags along or something like that. So we have this idea, and then here is this person who actually is really highly realized. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:30 And it kind of blows your mind, but it's also really inspiring. Because you're like, wow, if I really apply myself using Buddhist methods, I could do this. I could do this with my mind. So the Saṅgha can be incredibly, I think in some ways the Saṅgha is more inspiring for us than the Buddha. Because the Buddha tends to be, it seems so far removed, even though of course all of you guys could be Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:30 Highlight the passage at 1:21:30

1:21:56 Everybody in here could be a Buddha and I would have no idea. Because I'm still expecting you guys to be glowing with gold and halos and flower petals at your feet and stuff like that. And you all could just be Buddhas manifesting. He's like, Paul's checking out, maybe they do. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:12 So, again, I think that's our little mind limiting us. But taking refuge in Saṅgha, I think, in some ways is more powerful because we look around us and we see the qualities, especially over time, as you're studying with your Dharma friends and you begin to see changes in each other. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:31 It's pretty cool. Or in the teen group, when I was telling you the things that these kids would come out with, where I'd be like, oh my god, who is this kid? Like, maybe you should be teaching this. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:31 Highlight the passage at 1:22:31

1:22:43 So that's taking refuge. Refuge often is either considered kind of boring, like we just sort of rush over the beginning of class and, God, I wish you wouldn't make us say this thing three times, you know, or just not even noticed at all. Like we forget to even take refuge. I do this one a lot, right? I sit down and meditate and, oh, oops, you know, and I forgot, you know. So refuge is really, really important because it's the state of mind we're remembering. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:43 Highlight the passage at 1:22:43

1:23:11 I'm in this mess and I'm turning to you to get out. I need to get out of this. So you're just constantly kind of like opening up to that possibility of getting out of this mess. So this is what's called outer refuge. Lama splits refuge into three. I mean this is in the teachings but in his book he does this as well where he talks about outer, inner and secret refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:36 Outer refuge is this kind of form of seeing something external to ourselves. Please Buddha, or Lama, or Lama Zopa or His Holiness, help me get out of this mess, help me perfect my mind. Like, you help me, you know, like you're outside of me. Inner refuge, I think is one of the coolest ones. That's where you take refuge in the Buddha that you are going to become. And this is where you start getting into Tantra, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:36 Highlight the passage at 1:23:36

1:24:10 Or even in your own direct perception of emptiness, your own generation of bodhicitta. It's like acting as if, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:22 It's like why I said something like, if the conference is a success, and Chokyi said, when it is a success. So it's acting as if, you know. Taking refuge in your own future Buddhahood. Taking refuge in your own direct perception of emptiness. Making refuge in the kind of mind that you will have further on down the line. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:22 Highlight the passage at 1:24:22

1:24:51 It builds your faith as well. So technically, the inner Buddha refuge is your own future attainments, your own future Buddhahoods. The inner Dharma refuge is, this one gets a little tricky, the wisdom of that future Buddha. So the wisdom that your mind will have once you have those attainments or once you become a Buddha. And then, once you become... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:51 Highlight the passage at 1:24:51

1:25:25 Saṅgha is technically those who have already attained Arya-hood or those who have the direct perception of emptiness. So once you have direct perception of emptiness, you become Saṅgha. So in that 20 minute time period where you have the direct perception of emptiness, you actually become... Two aspects of refuge, Dharma refuge and Saṅgha refuge. Pretty cool, isn't it? So that's inner, that's inner Saṅgha refuge and inner Dharma refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25:25

1:25:56 You yourself actually become Saṅgha with a capital S. They often do that for, we're actually supposed to be small s. We're just the representatives. That doesn't mean we'll all attain the direct perception of emptiness, believe you and me. Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:56 Highlight the passage at 1:25:56

1:26:13 So you are no longer taking refuge in something outside of yourself. You're taking refuge in your own mind, your own Buddha nature, your own potential to become enlightened or your own future enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:26:33 So when you take inner refuge in Tantra, your mind becomes this sort of transcendent omniscient wisdom. And this transforms into the deity and then you take refuge in that. You're actually taking refuge in yourself as the deity. You guys aren't yet. This is a method of Tantra where you are remembering your own divinity, your own deity, that you are, not just your own potential as a deity, but seeing yourself in that aspect now and taking refuge in that. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:33 Highlight the passage at 1:26:33

1:27:10 It's pretty wild. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:10 Highlight the passage at 1:27:10

1:27:20 Secret Refuge I think is a little tricky so I'm just going to rely completely on Lama Yeshi. This one actually came from Becoming Brajya Sapa, which is another book of his. It used to be called The Tantric Path of Purification. It's talking about a particular practice. There's a white Buddha in the back who is purification. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:20 Highlight the passage at 1:27:20

1:27:41 We often teach this method of purification, relying on Brajya Sapa. And he explains secret refuge there. He says, you have to recognize that your nervous system is pervaded by blissful dhaka dakini energy instead of the usual ridiculous energy of gravitational attachment to sense pleasures and you take refuge in that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:41 Highlight the passage at 1:27:41

1:28:05 Here you are utilizing your nervous system's energy resources to generate simultaneously born great bliss which you unify with the wisdom of non-duality. Taking it as the blissful path to liberation. This experience is really what liberates you from dissatisfaction and dualistic thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:26 So here you're taking refuge in the potential that lies in your most subtle body. And we're going to spend some time talking about what we mean by the most subtle body, the system of channels and winds that is taught in Tantra and used in Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:26 Highlight the passage at 1:28:26

1:28:48 In the first level of Tantra, in generation stage Tantra, we are visualizing it all. In completion stage, we are actualizing it all. And that's actually how we become Buddha. So it's very important to know how Tantra works. So this secret refuge is taking refuge in this whole system of winds and channels. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:14 And he always calls it this kundalini energy. Blissful energy that goes through. The bliss in Tantra, we're going to spend more time on this whole concept of bliss. The whole reason that we want our mind to experience bliss is because it becomes more subtle in that state and that's how we directly perceive emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:14 Highlight the passage at 1:29:14

1:29:34 That's the mind that directly perceives emptiness. A lot of people get really caught up in the bliss and it's like, no, that's just the tool. Like our whole goal is to actually be able to directly perceive emptiness and then from that to move on. But we need our mind to get that really subtle state. And it becomes subtle in the state of bliss. So that's why bliss is brought up all the time. And they often talk about the union of bliss and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:34 Highlight the passage at 1:29:34

1:30:03 So whatever kind of refuge that we're taking, it's just this constant active process of creating this constructive state of mind, this powerful state of mind, this positive state of mind. And it's moment by moment. It's not something that we attain once and then we're done with. Check. Got refuge, you know, it's not like that. We're just constantly working with it. And so that's why he uses that phrase, doing refuge. And that's also when we die. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:36 They say if we die with our mind in the state of refuge, if we die taking refuge, I think is the way they say it, but they really mean if we die with our mind in the state of refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:36 Highlight the passage at 1:30:36

1:30:50 If we die with our mind in that state of refuge. It protects us from negative rebirth. It's not necessarily, I take refuge, I take refuge, you know, screaming and as we're on our way out and our mind is actually in this kind of disturbed state. It's not like that. It's more like really trying to, again, remember, which of course we're only going to be able to do if we've done it throughout our lives, right? We're not going to learn how to do it on your deathbed. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:50 Highlight the passage at 1:30:50

1:31:19 Constantly. It's like regenerating that mind of rebirth. It's become so familiar that you're just kind of going there. good. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:19 Highlight the passage at 1:31:19

1:31:25 And the only way you can do that is practicing it. The only way is if it's already been learned. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:34 Really quickly, I was going to give you a couple of terms that are often used for Tantra, or within Tantra, sometimes synonyms for Tantra. We talked a little bit about Tantra meaning continuity or thread, which is referring to this mind. Sometimes people say secret mantra or matrayana. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:31:59 Mantra actually means mind protection, which I think is interesting. It doesn't so much protect your mind if you do it the way I do my mantras, unfortunately, sometimes, or you just absent-mindedly, Lama Tsongkhapa. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:59 Highlight the passage at 1:31:59

1:32:15 It does protect you if you were going to get angry and you decided to do Lama Tsongkhapa first. So I always feel like I would get a little bit for that. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:26 But the real protection is that it protects us from ordinary appearances. If we're doing it with the visualization. Mantra yana, or secret mantra, means protecting the mind from ordinary perceptions or ordinary appearances. And this is going to come up class after class. This is what the Buddha taught is actually our biggest enemy, is this kind of ordinary appearance. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:26 Highlight the passage at 1:32:26

1:32:51 Seeing things, people, ourselves, situations, everything around us is completely ordinary. We're going to get into what that means, but... It's interesting because it's not necessarily what, for me, it's not what I would have thought of caused my problems until I began sort of studying Tantra. And Geshe-la says you could sort of define ordinary appearances as finding faults. So if you think you're actually dwelling in not seeing things as ordinary, but yet you're still finding fault with yourself and everyone around you. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:51 Highlight the passage at 1:32:51

1:33:30 and your life situation and everything. Not in a constructive way that might be useful, but just . That's the same thing to When he said that in class, we all kind of gasped So . So we'll talk about that, but that is really in terms of Tantra what our major obstacle is to getting enlightened. is seeing things And you And we've had this from lifetime after lifetime, so it's going to take a long time to shift. It's very, very, very hard. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:34:08 And it starts us trying to see ourselves, and that's why we realize it's a date. And that's why we visualize ourselves constantly, dissolving all the ordinary appearances, and then arising in this light body, and then dissolving it, and then doing it again, and then dissolving it, and then doing it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:08 Highlight the passage at 1:34:08

1:34:24 It's just, the minute it ends and we get off the cushion, we look in the mirror and we hate ourselves. It's just lifetime after lifetime. So we just have to keep going. Vajrayana is sometimes called... Vajra is another term for diamond. Yana is just vehicle. Matriyana, Vajrayana, Sutriyana, Paramitriyana. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:54 They're all just forms of vehicles to get us enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:54 Highlight the passage at 1:34:54

1:35:02 So... But diamond is used for vajra because it's like the king of stones. They say Report an error in the passage at 1:35:02 Highlight the passage at 1:35:02

1:35:13 the strongest, the brightest. They can cut other stones. You have to use a diamond to cut a diamond and things like that. So diamond is vajra. Vajra sometimes is translated as lightning also. And that's referring to this idea of tantra being the quickest path, lightning path. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:13 Highlight the passage at 1:35:13

1:35:37 And the reason that it's such a fast path, they actually say, If all we do, even if we don't do any of the practices, you know, we don't do any sad events, we don't do anything, but we just take our vows and our commitments and we take them seriously and we keep them, that within 14 lifetimes, no problem, we'll get in life. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:37 Highlight the passage at 1:35:37

1:36:01 Which, considering lifetimes, limitless lifetimes, that's pretty fast. If we diligently do it, in other words, give up basically everything and go to the Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:20 You know, but the fine print is, you gotta go for it. You gotta seriously go for it. So somewhere between that, right? Between 3 and 14 years. I mean, lifetimes, I'm sorry. 3 years and 14 lifetimes. So that's why it's called the Lightning Path. I mean, the Buddha actually attained enlightenment in 3 countless great eons. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:20 Highlight the passage at 1:36:20

1:36:41 And a countless great eon is a really, really long time. I forgot how long it is. A really long time. Like somebody tried to tell me and it was just beyond what I needed to know. You know when your mind just kind of goes, it's like 57th to the 57th power or something like that, and it was just some amazing, billions and billions of lifetimes that he took. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:41 Highlight the passage at 1:36:41

1:37:00 You know all the stories that, what is it, what do you call those tales, that they always make into kids tales? Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. Jakarta. They always make them as a kid's stranger. It's like a country in the air. I thought it was wrong. Yeah, it's like me. I can see the look in your eye. Those are secrets. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:00 Highlight the passage at 1:37:00

1:37:22 Secret deeds of the better way. A lot of times they try to make those tales into kids stories, they're actually all the lifetimes of the Buddha before he came and like, you know, so like when he gave up his body as the little prince, he gave his body to the hungry tiger. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:22 Highlight the passage at 1:37:22

1:37:40 Yeah, so there are all these stories that are just showing all the things that he had to go through before he got enlightened. So it took him many, many, many lifetimes. Tantra is like very fast because it's transforming us at all these different levels from our mind all the way down to our subtleness body. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:40 Highlight the passage at 1:37:40

1:38:01 Secret, they often say secret mantra. Secret is talking about the fact that traditionally, of course, these are all kept very, very secret. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:01 Highlight the passage at 1:38:01

1:38:13 Nothing I'm going to tell you in these classes is in that category, although I think probably at one time it was. Probably at one time, you know, this would never have been published. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:13 Highlight the passage at 1:38:13

1:38:26 As Geshe-la says, in these times. I'm so different in these times. Probably because I've already read this three times and I haven't exactly attained enlightenment yet, so it's sort of like it's planting seeds. But secret, if, you know, like, Once you enter Tantra and you receive instruction or you receive your yidam, which is your main dehi or practice, we're not supposed to talk about it the way people do, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:26 Highlight the passage at 1:38:26

1:38:59 Masters will say, are you going down to Lama Medicine Buddha and taking the Lala Empowerment? Totally not supposed to do that. I've actually had people yell across. A museum that was loud and filled with people, this is my yidam. I was like, oh my god. People do this all the time. I think out of ignorance. People just don't know. So you guys all know now. Now I'm telling you this. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:31 It doesn't mean that if, for example, a couple of you go to an empowerment together and you know that you... You know, you were both there, but you can't talk about it. That's different. It doesn't mean that your course can't talk about it with your teacher. But just a blah, blah, blah about it, what it does is it invites obstacles in your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:52 And this is actually true across the board for any Dharma. So if you're going to, for example, to do like a deep retreat, I remember my friend, cousin Chokyi, when she went to do a long retreat, one of her teachers said not to talk about it so much. And she actually gave me that advice because at the same time she's getting ready to do a retreat, I was getting ready to get ordained. So I didn't really talk about it. I kept it very, very secret except with a couple of friends who kind of did some prayers with me and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:52 Highlight the passage at 1:39:52

1:40:22 Because I didn't want to invite obstacles. So just to have that idea, just to keep it quiet once you start studying it. And even with this class, it's not so important for you to tell all your best friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:36 That you're taking this class. And the reason is, is because unless people have some understanding of all these things that we're going through time, refuge, the mind, emptiness, bodhicitta, renunciation, they don't have this concept of sort of why you would want to perfect your mind or even how you could perfect your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:36 Highlight the passage at 1:40:36

1:40:58 There are lots of ways that these teachings can be misconstrued. And so not only would they confuse people, but they can actually create a version in their mind. So it actually is not so great for them to just give them bits and pieces. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:58 Highlight the passage at 1:40:58

1:41:15 And as well, it can invite obstacles in their own practice. So those are the reasons. That's why it's usually called a secret. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:15 Highlight the passage at 1:41:15

1:41:25 So to leave you with another great quote of Lama Yeshi, he said, he gets into the whole tantric perspective of taking, it's often called the resultant path, and that's because we take the results, the future results, just like we were talking about with inner refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:25 Highlight the passage at 1:41:25

1:41:46 into the present, into our practice right now. So when we begin to see ourselves as a deity, we have to see our minds as a deity, we have to hear all sound as mantra, and we have to see everything around us as the celestial palaces, even when you're screaming at me. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:46 Highlight the passage at 1:41:46

1:42:08 I'm taking my future results into the path right now. And actualizing that now, there's not really a place for sort of negative energy to arise, a negative state of mind to arise. It's sort of like we're permeating our mind with this divine, this sort of divine pure vision, and it's really called pure view. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:08 Highlight the passage at 1:42:08

1:42:39 And there's no room for our ordinary mind to arise, our ordinary critical, diluted state of mind to arise. And actually, there's a great quote. There's a book that is written by a woman named Jan Willis, who has now many, many years been a professor at Wesleyan in the East. And she was actually one of Lamaeas. She was very, very first students in the late 60s. And she wrote a book called Dreaming Me, an American woman. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:39 Highlight the passage at 1:42:39

1:43:14 Anyway, her two choices in the 60s were to become a Black Panther or to... been Buddhist. She was talking about one time when she was just crazy angry and she was just so angry and she was walking down the path near Kopan and she was just all pissed off at one of her friends and Lama and she said, oh, the Buddha is really angry today. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:14 Highlight the passage at 1:43:14

1:43:36 Because she knew that she was supposed to be arising as a deity, right? So it's just like this constant battle of that ordinary view coming in and you're just constantly trying to... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:36 Highlight the passage at 1:43:36

1:43:50 So he said, to put this in other words, the tantric yogi or yogini learns to think, speak and act now as if he or she were already a fully enlightened Buddha. According to tantra, perfection is not something that is waiting for us somewhere in the future. According to tantra, heaven is now. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:50 Highlight the passage at 1:43:50

1:44:25 Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:25 Highlight the passage at 1:44:25

1:44:35 So let's dedicate. And then if anybody has any questions, privately. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:35 Highlight the passage at 1:44:35

1:44:44 So we had a lot of different ideas and different... All these words are coming out. All these words are actually helping us get to know our own minds, what we do to ourselves, how we limit ourselves, and the potential that we all have. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:44 Highlight the passage at 1:44:44

1:45:05 Even if all we do is touch all of those tastes. So let's dedicate that we all planted seeds in this garden of Ramana, those seeds, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:05 Highlight the passage at 1:45:05

1:45:26 quickly, quickly, in this very life, they say. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:26 Highlight the passage at 1:45:26

1:45:45 Homework. Everybody Report an error in the passage at 1:45:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45:45

1:45:56 gets one of these, so you don't have to read anything out of it. The main thing to start reading is Lama Yeshe. you very much. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:56 Highlight the passage at 1:45:56

1:46:06 And Rubina, if you haven't already read Venom Rubina's lamrim. I think we're doing chapters probably one, two and three. They're very short chapters. They pack a punch, you know, so don't just like read them on the bus or something. Or maybe read them even a couple times if you feel like you're not going to take time with them. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:06 Highlight the passage at 1:46:06

1:46:25 There's a lot there. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:46:25 Highlight the passage at 1:46:25

1:46:31 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:31 Highlight the passage at 1:46:31

1:46:39 ready? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39