Discovering Buddhism - Intro to Tantra (12 November 2008)

0:04 Alright, so we're going to start with three frustrations. If you know what to do, do it. If not, stand back and watch the fun. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:14 Om Namo Manjushriye, Namo Sushriye, Namo Uttaman Shriye, Soha. Namo Maju Shriye, Namah Su Namah Uttama Shriye, Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:38 Namo Manchu Shriye, Namo Su Shriye, Namo Uttama Shriye, So... A Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:21 wee bit of tea. Report an error in the passage at 1:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21

1:33 So, somebody has to remind me on the break that I have a present for you. And Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:42 I won't tell you what it is until the break. Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

1:48 Hey, stranger, how you been? Report an error in the passage at 1:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48

1:53 Okay, so he gets the pop quiz. Report an error in the passage at 1:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53

1:57 He's going to do a two-hour presentation on how he spent his summer vacation. All right. Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:09 So we're just going to do a short motivation. We have a lot to talk about tonight. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:25 We have a lot to cover tonight because we're going to talk about emptiness and how it relates to Tantra. And so I'm going to just do a short... All right. right. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:36 Opening meditation and then very brief on the questions and then we're just going to launch into it and of course there'll be time for questions later about what I go into about emptiness. Clearly when we study emptiness it takes thousands of hours of class time. Contemplation time and meditation time and that would be thousands of each one before we gain this correct view of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:36 Highlight the passage at 2:36

3:10 But we can begin understanding it, you know, simply put. And some of you have done the Discovering Buddhism class on emptiness as well as studied on your own in other classes on emptiness. But I cannot do a class on Tantra without talking about emptiness. So we have to get into it a little bit. So we'll just start. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:31 Make yourself comfy. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:35 Roll your shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:44 Take some nice deep breaths and let go of your day and transition from being wherever you have been to being in this classroom. And this amazing opportunity that we have now to talk about emptiness and Tantra. We are probably... About 12 of the only people in this city that are doing this tonight, so it's pretty amazing. We should recognize that and really rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 3:44 Highlight the passage at 3:44

4:14 And Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:27 then just allow each in-breath for you to become more and more present, more alert, more curious, more open, more relaxed, spacious. Report an error in the passage at 4:27 Highlight the passage at 4:27

4:46 It's like we have this tiny, precious little window of opportunity, and so we're going to take it. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:10 The fact that we can hear all these people on the streets and people driving by in their cars and on the buses, some coming home from work, some heading out to the evening shift, Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:27 probably hear people in the building. And all of these sounds that we hear are connected to people who just want to be happy, just like us, and just want to get away from any kind of pain, just like us. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

5:46 And in that way we can connect with all these living beings surrounding us right now. Not just in this neighborhood, not just in this city, not just in this country, but in the whole planet. It's Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

6:08 like the baseline motivation usually for everything that we do from the moment we wake up until we fall in bed again at night. Just trying to get happy, just trying to be free of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:25 But the Buddha said the problem is that we tend to... Grasp after things that cause us unhappiness. We create more problems for ourselves. We create more harm in our attempt to be happy just out of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 6:25 Highlight the passage at 6:25

6:45 So tonight we have this great opportunity to listen to the Buddhist teachings, especially the Buddhist teachings on emptiness and Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

6:59 And may whatever we gain from this class... Whatever tiny little insights we understand, may they plant seeds in our minds that then fully develop so that each one of us in this room has the direct perception of emptiness, Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:25 attains nirvāṇa and is able to attain full enlightenment in Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:37 this very life. Report an error in the passage at 7:37 Highlight the passage at 7:37

7:46 And if not, as His Holiness always laughs, then at least that we gain the imprints and we can't. And use it in the next life. So this is our motivation for this class. So Report an error in the passage at 7:46 Highlight the passage at 7:46

8:08 we'll start with the prayer by His Holiness based on Shantideva's guide to the bodhisattva's way of life, which is, yeah, just find the picture of His Holiness. Where's Waldo? Keep turning until you find His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:40 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. Report an error in the passage at 8:40 Highlight the passage at 8:40

9:07 Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:19 Okay, so last week we talked a lot about bodhicitta and we did Tonglen, right? Report an error in the passage at 9:19 Highlight the passage at 9:19

9:35 And I wonder if anybody had any questions about doing the Tonglen meditation on your own at home. Oh, you know what I wanted to start with? No, let's back up, back up, back up, back up. I wanted to mention, let's see, one, two, I guess in this class actually there's only two of you that did the retreat. Report an error in the passage at 9:35 Highlight the passage at 9:35

9:59 I was thinking there were more. I wanted to just say something to Cedric and have Brian and Cedric just say something about, they just got back from their, from a 10 day, your first 10 day retreat, right? It was the first one of that size. So I just wanted you guys, I'm putting you on the spot. Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:15 Because I happen to know that it was a positive experience. I suppose if you had gone totally insane, then I wouldn't ask you to speak. I think it's always really positive to hear, especially because it was a bit of a leap, wasn't it? Especially, I know for Cedric, it was a big thing to go down there for 10 days. It's a long retreat, too, 10 days. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:13 Excellent. Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:20 Yeah, yeah. Excellent, excellent. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:40 Could you pass in the mic, because I know somebody at home right now will be going. Report an error in the passage at 11:40 Highlight the passage at 11:40

11:49 Can you tell the class what the setup of the day was? I'm assuming it was based on the Copan experience. This is at Vajrapani Institute, and it's in the Santa Cruz Mountains, not far from Big Basin State Park. Close, borders, yeah. Well, actually, it's closer to Castle Rock. You can actually walk right into Castle Rock from Vajrapani. And so the day would basically start at 7 and you'd go in for... Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:23 Leisurely. It wasn't too bad. And then you'd have like a morning... What did you call it, Brian? Because in the morning we do more of a single-pointed concentration to start the day. Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:43 Right, we'd start with a visualization of bodhicitta community and we'd do single point of concentration on that first. And then there was a little bit of teaching and then we'd go into breakfast at 8 and then we'd be back at 9 for two periods of meditation and teaching that would take you all the way up to lunch. Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

13:10 And then after lunch there were discussion groups and then... You'd meet back and sort of debrief from the discussion groups, and then there'd be more periods of meditation and teaching until what? What did we do at five? Yeah, until dinner. So I think that was probably like five or six. I don't know, five or six. Report an error in the passage at 13:10 Highlight the passage at 13:10

13:38 I think probably six, I think. Yeah, sorry. starting to. The point is that I want people to know that when you do retreat, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, it's full. Yeah, I was thinking there would be time to sit around. No, it's usually pretty packed. You're busy all the time. Well, only the first couple days and then after that it was mostly silent. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:04 And then the last two days were all silent and meditation. It was a venerable Tenzin Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:17 Maybe Brian wants to say something. Yeah, Tenzin Chokyi was really enjoyable. She has a lot of enthusiasm and like kind of gets her very kind of enthusiastic about the Dharma. Like the ultimate cheerleader. Yeah, exactly. There was some element of that that I was trying to figure out. It's like you guys can all do it. Yeah. Yeah. She's totally like that. Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:45 Yeah. I don't know. Is that it? I had heard 35, but people always back out the last minute. Report an error in the passage at 14:45 Highlight the passage at 14:45

14:59 How many people are in this room? Four, seven, yeah. Actually, 15 tonight, yeah. Because we've got Dean. I think there were more than 27. Charlotte's got a question for you. There were about twice as many people. She's patiently got her hand up. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:27 How much guidance did you have throughout the thing, retreat? and Were there any points where you were like, oh, I don't know what to do right now? And like, was it hard being silent? And you have to both simultaneously answer that. And you have only two and a half seconds. Well, I think we did have some periods where there wasn't like any kind of official activity. Like after lunch, we had a break. Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:55 And I guess after dinner, there was like maybe half an hour break. You know, I think in the beginning when we weren't in silence, you know, everybody was kind of talking with each other and getting to know each other and supporting kind of, you know, the people's Dharma aspirations. And when we were in silence, I think I spent most of my time reading. They have a really good collection of books, the library and bookstore there. Report an error in the passage at 15:55 Highlight the passage at 15:55

16:28 and it's nice to be able to kind of Read through several books when you have the option to really spend some time to get to know them and decide if you want to take some of them home. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:48 So I spent a lot of time reading, but there wasn't that much free time. I mean, I think the day was quite structured. Did you guys do precepts at all? Did you take precepts? No. or Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:06 It was it was there was a lot of this this particular retreat I think was very kind of there was a lot of interaction. There was a lot of, you know, discussion and question answer. And so, yeah, I guess interactive. Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:29 You had also asked if they had had enough guidance. So you felt. It was full. There was a lot of explanation of various dharma topics, both as a precursor to the lamrim and lamrim meditations and discussion. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:56 Then we had discussion groups. After lunch that were kind of with a specific topic, how closely we stayed on the particular topic is maybe a little bit in question, but people had a very good time, I think. Cedric, did you have anything else? Yeah, I felt there was a lot of guidance because everything was well explained before you went into meditation and then there was always the question and answer afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 17:56 Highlight the passage at 17:56

18:29 So by the time you got to the last day and a half when it was pretty much all meditation, you had a pretty good idea of what you were doing. And the reason I take this time is because I definitely, I want to encourage all of you guys, if you haven't already, to do some retreat. And Vajrapani, I mean, it's such a jewel for us to have. Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:54 Right in the family, not so far away. It's even possible to get there through public. I have done that many times myself. And they have agreed to host this retreat every year. So this is going to be the Discovering Buddhism. It'll be somewhere between 10 days and two weeks every year. And it'll be different people leading it, depending. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:15 Although I'm sure they'll probably invite Tenzin Chokyi back. We'll see what her schedule is. But whoever it is is going to be well qualified. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:23 Oh, that's right. It's Geshe Tashi from the Jamyang Center in London. Yeah, next year. So that one's going to be amazing. So just to keep it kind of in the back of your mind and let it be like a little seed and just think, you know, that maybe I could do that. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

19:40 It's definitely, I think it can be a life-changing event. Even as short as 10 days, it can definitely be a life-changing event. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

19:49 So... A month is definitely even more life-changing if you can get up enough courage to go to Copan. But this gets you closer, actually, because it's the same format at Copan. You just sort of add even more stuff. And I think the silence actually gives you more space. And even when you end up doing precepts, which means you're not going to eat in the evenings, you end up having even more space because you don't realize how much time we waste talking and how much time we waste, not necessarily waste, but definitely fill. Report an error in the passage at 19:49 Highlight the passage at 19:49

20:20 Fill space with talking and fill space with eating, preparing to eat, eating, cleaning up from eating. And when you don't have that, it's like, wow, I have like all this time. I could study like you were saying. I could just walk and stare at the sky. Like there's a lot of options that we can do that allows it to settle. So I think it's a really useful thing. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:40 So thanks, you guys. Yeah, I just wanted to check in. I know in the house, Mary and Sengal also went. So that's what I was thinking. There's more people from this class, but they're just in. In my sphere. I think somebody else went down. Carla. Yeah, Carla Jamassi. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So a former, one of the DP students. Anyway, thank you. So if anybody has questions on the break, they can bring them to these two. Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

21:07 We'll set up a little like Vajrapani retreat table. Um... Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:15 Anybody else have a question or anything that came up about the homework or the meditation this week on Tong Lin? Do you want to pass Lin the... Jane, can you pass her the... I had a question. I read everything you... I wasn't here, but I went through everything. And this is before the homework. When I was reading, I prayed to have this view. I prayed to... Report an error in the passage at 21:15 Highlight the passage at 21:15

21:43 To meet these teachings, I prayed for it. There was a list of prayers in it. I found myself reflecting on it and a little puzzled about it because praying sort of implies that there's some kind of God. No, it doesn't. How can you pray? To you it does. Well, that's what I'm asking. Prayer basically means plugging in. Report an error in the passage at 21:43 Highlight the passage at 21:43

22:11 At times we're praying to our teacher for help. At times we're praying to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to assist us. At times we're praying to our own, you know, ultimately to our own wisdom. Before I get on this seat, I always pray. I always ask my teacher to be with me and to speak through me. Ultimately, it's our own wisdom and to begin it, it's a bridge. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:35 And we have talked about this, you know, ultimately we have... Outer teachers and there's outer sources of wisdom as in texts and talks, blah, blah, somebody talking. And you take it in and cook it, you know, digest it. And ultimately it becomes you. There's somebody at the door. Let's hope it's not the same visitor. No, you explained it to me. Report an error in the passage at 22:35 Highlight the passage at 22:35

23:04 It's something I I really... Yeah, so prayer, no, prayer I think sometimes we do come with baggage about, but it's just like with everything else. It's like the definition of the word compassion and things like that. We always have to find out what is meant by it in this context, because it's not always the same thing. Nancy, this one's here. Yeah, yeah, that means I get to call on you. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:28 Use you as an example all the time. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:37 Did that help at all? Yeah, I mean it is, it's a charged, that one is a charged meditation. I sort of purposely put it in there. It is under the understanding, when you, the way that it's written is from the point of view that, I mean precious human rebirth anyway has some underlying implications that you first of all get that there's. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

24:00 Different types of rebirth. And then secondly, that you have some understanding of karma, that you created this particular rebirth for yourself. Because otherwise you won't see it so much as an opportunity. So it's already kind of a little bit loaded, you know? And I like the way she wrote it. This is Kendall, I think, right? Report an error in the passage at 24:00 Highlight the passage at 24:00

24:19 I think it's Kendall Magnuson's one. I like the way she wrote it where it's like that, where it's like, wow, I created this. You know, I prayed for this. And just to think of myself as another being in another form, like wanting these conditions that I now have and getting them, that makes it even more precious. Report an error in the passage at 24:19 Highlight the passage at 24:19

24:39 So even just to imagine the whole thing. It's interesting. That answers. And I really got it for the first time how lucky we had exposure to the Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 24:39 Highlight the passage at 24:39

24:54 I got that, but I was like, I can't. Like, what's this prayer saying? I know. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On Sundays, actually, that's kind of my main role is to try to explain prayer in a way. I still am working with it. I'm still not entirely sure how to do this, but I look at Olivier because he's usually my right-hand man on Sundays these days. But just to make it more approachable, because to me, prayer is like everything else. Report an error in the passage at 24:54 Highlight the passage at 24:54

25:24 it's like the um the word the words that um trigger some sort of mental or mental experience We read the words, but what we really want is to trigger that experience. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:46 So we have to, you know, it takes having some, reading the words repeatedly, having some experience to be able to trigger it. The first time you read it, you might not. It doesn't trigger any experience. The same is true for all of the prayers, I think, you know, for all of our practices. You know, many of us that have been in Buddhism for a long time have many daily practices that we read every day. Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:11 Ultimately, we let go of the words. You know, we're just having the experience of that connection with the deity in some form. Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:30 It's not a god. It's not even a deity. It's a Buddha, you know. It's enlightened, enlightened energy, yeah. Yeah, we talked about that at the Tuesday night drop-in this week, the use of that word deity and definitely God. It's not, you know, it's a whole different meaning. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

27:00 Yeah, it's different, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:00 Highlight the passage at 27:00

27:07 Yeah, it's just as a guide, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:07 Highlight the passage at 27:07

27:14 Just to give you the pace, just to give you the pace. You don't have to actually go. You know, it's just more so that you know that it's not like, okay, that's done, took that in, you know, and then because that's kind of the pace. I mean, I'm speaking for myself. That's the pace that we live at. So it's sort of just to slow us down. So just do it. I mean, you know, I mean, they say even that's true for when we're watching our breath, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:14 Highlight the passage at 27:14

27:40 It's sometimes useful to count our breaths, but sometimes that becomes conceptual. And then distracts us from the actual breath, the experience of the breath itself. So, but it's just to give you a pace. It's just to slow us down a little bit. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

27:57 Good question. So you're paying attention. Somebody else? Oh, I thought you had one. Joe. Just a general question. I'm through, in the book, through the Opening the Heart chapter and in true Western fashion, skipped ahead. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 27:57 Highlight the passage at 27:57

28:19 You read the final two page just to see what ended. So there's a lot of description about what it is and what the attainment would look like or what different things would look like. And it might to assume that in order to get there, you really need the constant guidance of a yogi to help you get there. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:42 Because just to say, you know, we visualize ourselves as the Magyarani deity. As what? I can't, I'm still dying with the pronunciations. Maggioreni? Oh, Maggioreni. Thanks. I'm like, macaroni? Macaroni, you know, little guy. Don't visualize that. Be careful what you wish for. Report an error in the passage at 28:42 Highlight the passage at 28:42

29:06 That would be my karma. Yeah, he is orange. It's true. That was good. Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

29:16 Yes, definitely. And I can't remember actually if... How much? I think Lama Yashi does mention the teacher a lot. That's a basic, basic, basic aspect of Tantra is that you absolutely need a qualified teacher. And that's, you know, before you even take the empowerment, you need to check up and find the teacher who's going to give that to you. Someone who provides the how. Along with the one who's going to guide you through it. Report an error in the passage at 29:16 Highlight the passage at 29:16

29:43 And how often would you meet with a person like this? Um, totally depends. You know, there's never, you know, there's never one answer for anything in Buddhism. Depends on the student, depends on the teacher, depends on your karma, you know. Some people will listen to one teaching of Kalachakra by His Holiness and be fine and work with that then for, you know, 20 years. You know, it totally depends on what kind of imprints you have from the last life, you know. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:13 So yeah, it's just, it's gonna, most of us would require working, traditionally it was, it was like one Lama and just a few students working together over time. Report an error in the passage at 30:13 Highlight the passage at 30:13

30:25 And that's still possible. You know, Geshele gives direct advice and commentary. Has to many of the students, just private lessons about, you know, okay, you're going into retreat, this is what you should think about, these are the, you know, this is how you do the mudras, you know, this is how your altar should look like. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:44 So those kind of things, you know, lamas still guide us in that way, that really one-on-one way. And then sometimes you have like a teacher like Lama Zopa or His Holiness that'll give these big instructions. That we'll all write copious notes for. And then we'll take those notes to somebody like Geshe-Allah and ask for more detailed commentary. But either way, you need qualified teachers. Report an error in the passage at 30:44 Highlight the passage at 30:44

31:10 Definitely. I mean, you're talking about not just messing with your mind, which is sūtra, but literally messing with your bodily energies. You know what I mean? Like we're transforming this body into a... Report an error in the passage at 31:10 Highlight the passage at 31:10

31:27 We don't want to do it wrong. It's not like we can afford to plug something into the wrong place. We definitely have to have checked out very, very well. That's where all the teachings of Guru Devotion come from, originally is from Tantra. And that's why. That's really, really important. You definitely want somebody good. Report an error in the passage at 31:27 Highlight the passage at 31:27

31:49 Okay, quick though, because we haven't even begun the class. We're already at 737. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

31:57 It's gotten to me in the thing of not expecting too much of anything, being really not one thing good and another thing bad. And there seems to be a contradiction. You know how he talks about we hold unrealistic expectations. What about the guru? Aren't we doing that with the guru? Not necessarily expectations. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:24 I think you have to check up and you have to check. Checking up means checking their qualities and seeing what their qualities are and seeing what their students are like. It doesn't necessarily mean setting huge expectations. You can fall in love with somebody without having huge expectations. So expectations are separate from checking somebody out before you enter into some sort of relationship with them. Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:51 And I'm not saying you're going to fall in love with them. I'm just saying that's another place we always have huge expectations, but we don't have to. It's not one and the same of checking out. Do you see what I'm saying? I'm comparing the two. I'm not saying you're going to fall in love with your guru. I'm just comparing the two because you're entering into a relationship. It is like that in a way. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:15 It's actually heavier than that because you're entering into a relationship for not just this life, but all lies. And they're just not really. divorce Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:25 Divorce. But my point is that you don't have to have expectations. And we have to see where we create them. They're just storylines. They're part of our hallucination. But we don't have to have them in every relationship that we're in. I'm Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:43 going to sneak on into emptiness. And then we'll just see how far we get. And we can always carry it into next week. And also we will have more time for questions. Time for questions. Report an error in the passage at 33:43 Highlight the passage at 33:43

34:00 So Lama Yeshe calls emptiness dissolving self-created limitations, which I love. I think that's great. Dissolving self-created limitations. So we're getting into, this is the final of the three principle paths. Again, just climbing up. Why do we need the three principle paths before we enter Tantra? The three principle paths, again, are, okay, pop quiz. Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

34:33 Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? All right, you are in the seat. You don't have to move to the back of the room. But I can still pick on you. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

34:45 Great. So renunciation and what is, okay, here's another question. Does anybody remember what Lama Yeshe calls renunciation? Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

34:58 Emerging from dissatisfaction. Yeah, yeah. But that's good. Emerging. You got it? All right. A little gold star for Paul. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:06 So if you don't have renunciation, and if we're thinking about renunciation, getting fed up with getting it that this life is not so great and that there's something beyond it, then if we don't have that, if we aren't... pushing for the next, if we aren't pushing for the overall view, we're going to still be too attached with, you know, what movies are on, what job can I get, my house, you know, my, you know, it's like all the things that kind of engross us and keep us from wanting to take a 10-day retreat or 10-year retreat or whatever it might take for us to really progress on the path. Report an error in the passage at 35:06 Highlight the passage at 35:06

35:48 So, So, um... Renunciation is... Where we begin to take bigger leaps, you know, take bigger leaps on what we can do in this life. So without it, we don't, we won't do that. We'll just stay with sort of this life and all the ups and downs of this life and caring what people think of us and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:13 If we don't have bodhicitta... We won't have that baseline motivation that I was talking about last week that we absolutely have where we find the suffering of others so unbearable that we are willing to do anything, which means, of course, getting enlightened in order to remove that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 36:13 Highlight the passage at 36:13

36:34 So our motivation could be skewed without bodhicitta. you know, it could be one. Wow, you know, the orange is really cool. I'm going to carry that kind of sword, you know. I'm going to be able to do all the neat things of a Buddha, forgetting that our whole reason, this is simply a tool. Like our whole reason is to help others. So we need that baseline bodhicitta. And I was saying too last week that I think it's the fuel. Report an error in the passage at 36:34 Highlight the passage at 36:34

37:02 It's sort of what keeps us doing endless work. Finding the happiness in endless work. I think it's bodhicitta, actually. I think it's bodhicitta. Maybe I will have her do that. I think I'm going to have Venom Rubina do a workshop called Finding Happiness in Endless Work. And that would be all about bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 37:02 Highlight the passage at 37:02

37:28 It'll be like a secret hidden thing. So the third thing is emptiness. If we don't have not just, well, we need an intellectual understanding of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

37:42 But we also need an experiential understanding of emptiness. If we don't have that, the basic principles of Tantra won't mean anything to us. We won't be able to do any of the visualizations of Tantra. And we won't actually be able to attain the final results of Tantra because everything is based on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:42 Highlight the passage at 37:42

38:04 Everything, the entire way that Tantra works is based on emptiness. Um... Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:11 And karma, of course, which is married to emptiness. So we really have to spend a lot of time studying and meditating on these things. Report an error in the passage at 38:11 Highlight the passage at 38:11

38:22 And they say that as long as we are still burdened by this, the misconceptions that we have about how things actually exist, including ourselves, especially ourselves. And it makes sense, right? If I think I am this way forever, And I can't change. How could I possibly? I mean, how could I even enter tantra, much less become enlightened? There's no space for it. Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:50 You know, there's no space for me to even change my mind, much less actually transform, you know, my body, you know, actually work with the energies that are there. The only way to break this cycle... Is through an understanding of emptiness, a direct perception of emptiness. And that's true actually on the sūtra path too. That's what gets us out of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 38:50 Highlight the passage at 38:50

39:17 That is what leads us to nirvāṇa even on the sūtra path. So there's a... I guess you could say a poem. There is a quote that's called Parting from the Four Attachments some of you might be familiar with. And I think it touches really nicely on these. It adds another one. If you have attachment to this life, you're not a religious person. If you have attachment to the world of existence, you do not have renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 39:17 Highlight the passage at 39:17

39:48 If you have attachment to your own purpose, you do not have the enlightenment thought, which is bodhicitta. If grasping arises, you do not have the view of emptiness. So the only way we're going to cut that grasping is with developing the right view of emptiness. So first of all, what emptiness is and what it isn't. And some of you have sort of heard my spiel because I do this every class that I teach just about. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:16 So some of this stuff will be familiar to you. It's a simplified way of looking, beginning to look at emptiness in a way that's practical so that we can begin to understand it. I think emptiness, the translation emptiness, I think makes it sound much more esoteric. and woo-woo. It just sounds like this big sort of mysterious smoke-filled hole or something. What is empty and what is it empty of? Report an error in the passage at 40:16 Highlight the passage at 40:16

40:48 Those are the questions that we have to ask. It's incredibly practical, actually, of all the teachings of the Buddha. First of all, it was like the one that he felt was the most important. Every other teaching leads to this understanding of emptiness. Every other teaching that he gave. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:10 Without understanding emptiness or without emptiness, period, without things being empty of inherent existence, nothing else can exist. Nothing else can happen. The workings of karma are completely dependent upon emptiness. Saṃsāra is dependent upon emptiness. Nirvāṇa is dependent upon emptiness. Buddhahood is dependent upon emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:37 And Tantra can only work because of emptiness. So it's fairly key. So Nargajuna said, anyone who knows not emptiness has no hope of freedom at all. Left in darkness, they will circle in the prison the six realms of pain. Report an error in the passage at 41:37 Highlight the passage at 41:37

41:59 One of the easiest ways in to the teachings of emptiness, and all of you have different levels of understanding of emptiness, some of them probably far. Beyond my own. But the way that I like to start with understanding emptiness is just getting it that things are changing all the time. Just starting to get impermanence. First gross impermanence and then subtle impermanence. Because we're actually in deep denial about that. Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:28 So we have to start out there. That's why we're shocked when we look at ourselves in the mirror, at least a certain group within here, within this room. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:38 That's why we are shocked when people die. That's why we're shocked when clocks break. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

42:47 Things look, according to our senses, like they are solid, permanent, unchanging. Cities look that way. Rivers look that way. Mountains look that way. People look that way. I look that way. My mind looks that way. And absolutely none of that is true. So this isn't even anything new, according to Western science. You know, the Buddha is simply pointing this out. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

43:15 But it's the way in because it begins to make us doubt what our senses tell us, which is actually one of Lama Yeshe's, I think, one of his best quotes, to not believe what your senses tell you. It doesn't mean to freak you out. It simply means to just, you know, develop a sort of healthy, you know, skepticism. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:44 You know, like you were buying a car and the used car salesman was... Really, really trying to talk you into it and you're like, oh wait, let me just look at it. You know, let me just look it over. Because what we normally do is we're like, great! You know, like we just don't think that it could be something other than our eyes or our attachment telling us something. Report an error in the passage at 43:44 Highlight the passage at 43:44

44:06 So just beginning to look at impermanence begins to sort of chop that down a little bit. And actually nothing has ever existed in that way that it looks to us. So it's not like the Buddha is saying, it's not like he's pulling the rug out from under us. It's more like he's shining the flashlight on the fact that there is no rug. You know, so it's what, you know, our experience when we're meditating on it and we have that sort of like, whoa, it's simply noticing what has never been there, but we're just noticing it. Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:44 You know, it's not like he's taking away something that was there, which is a really different thing. I'm not sure if I said that right, but, you know, I think you know what I mean. So reality has never been solid and unchanging. You know, it's always constantly changing. It's constantly changing. I mean, first for us to get it on a gross level and really get it on a gross level is one thing, but the fact that on a subtle level, Every single thing surrounding us right now is changing, you know, including our bodies, you know, constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

45:24 It's like we're all just basically sort of energy in a way. And that's a little freaky. But, you know, it's also liberating because if things are constantly changing like that, it means I don't have to. Who am I angry at? If Paul and I got in an argument. The Paul that I got in an argument with has completely changed. I've completely changed. You know, so who's holding on to what? I mean, it liberates us in a lot of ways. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:52 It can kind of like we can kind of loosen up again. It's that, you know, he's always saying, Lama Yeshe is always saying, just it's like relaxing the way you see reality, being more easygoing. And part of that is understanding reality, understanding impermanence and understanding emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:10 But the problem is, is over lifetimes after lifetimes, we've built up this habit of seeking solidity, security, you know, permanence, even though they don't exist in anything that surrounds us. We sort of, we create, you know, as our body and mind come together, we create this whole illusion of who we are and then we try to make it all permanent. Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:39 I'll live forever. Even though we see people falling down all around us, we're just kind of like, you know, it's just ignoring it. What's happening? Because it's almost like too much. But this misperceiving of reality is what saṃsāra is. That is what saṃsāra is. And it completely keeps us like this little tiny limited mind, ordinary view and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

47:11 Because, of course, nothing is. So when everything starts breaking or dying or leaving us or, you know, making us sick, you know, as the 17th piece of cake, we're always shocked by it. We're always surprised by it. And it always causes us so much pain, you know, because we are still trying to see everything around us and including ourselves as permanent, solid. Report an error in the passage at 47:11 Highlight the passage at 47:11

47:41 know, secure, forever, you know. And we try to put that into every relationship that we have, and we try to put it in every job that we have, and we try to put it in every you know. We're like depressed at the end of a movie. It's actually, it would be laughable. The reality is that nothing in our lives... Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

48:07 Can change without understanding emptiness. And at this point, we still see things in terms of all these absolutes. We still see, you know, if I'm mad at somebody, then I think that person's bad. And if I like somebody, then I think that person's good. I see things like forever good, you know. That person did something nice to me once, so then that person is a good person, you know. Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:33 And that person could have done, I mean, who knows what they're doing at home, right? To me, they are a good person, you know, and the same thing is true for if they, you know, told you off one day or something when you were trying to buy coffee from them. Then we're like, she's always a bitch, you know, without allowing anything else to enter our, you know, our field of vision. Report an error in the passage at 48:33 Highlight the passage at 48:33

48:57 It's just like everything is solidly this, that or the other thing and always will be. Which is why we get into fights with people. It's why we suffer. It's why we leave people and why we have these expectations that can't be met about people. Report an error in the passage at 48:57 Highlight the passage at 48:57

49:14 So, again, don't believe what your senses tell you because our senses... Don't go deep enough. We begin to break this down in meditation. Our eyes see things in a certain way. And it is a very interesting meditation to think about how I see something and what's really going on. Just that meditation is an interesting one. Even without getting into emptiness, just thinking about impermanence. What's really going on? Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:45 Looking at something that, especially something, maybe this table isn't so important to you. Thinking about like a piece of clothing that you love or a favorite mug or something like that and just really getting it that it's impermanent and that it won't always be with you. And what's happening, it's actually deteriorating right now before your eyes or even just like your own hand, you know. We're so shocked. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

50:10 know, we. Report an error in the passage at 50:10 Highlight the passage at 50:10

50:15 When things happen, you know, we're so shocked. I think earthquakes are actually really, really powerful ways to get it that things are not permanent because the ground literally turns to liquid. And then the next day you go out and you look at the ground and you're like, wow, like it looks solid again. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:35 What's really going on? I think it's actually incredibly powerful. It's scary, but it's scary in a wide-open eyes way. It's scary like getting it that our bodies are dying, you know. But we have to get that. Like as grown-ups, we have to get that, even if you're not Buddhist, you know, even if you don't buy into that. Because we keep being really shocked. Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

50:58 We keep having the feeling, and you hear this a lot. I remember with Katrina, they were interviewing people, and people were like, It, you know, it shouldn't flood, you know, people, and it's not to say that there weren't wrongs done and the way that the whole thing was handled, but people are shocked when there is a natural catastrophe and there's always a thought, this shouldn't happen. Report an error in the passage at 50:58 Highlight the passage at 50:58

51:23 Or you'll hear this a lot in the news, he shouldn't have died. Even if the person's like 89, he shouldn't have died. And sometimes it's nobody's fault. It's somebody who's just died, you know. And I mean, I do it too. But we have to look at it. We have to look at that underlying assumption that nobody's supposed to die. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:45 Because that's what it's really coming from, is this wrong view, basically, that things actually are incredibly impermanent and never have been anything else. It's completely illogical, and yet we just exist in that realm of illogic. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

52:06 So we have to uproot it. So the basic simplified meaning of shunyata, as Dean referred to it, which is just a Sanskrit word that often gets translated as emptiness or voidness, which I hate. I hate voidness. I don't even know what voidness means. At least emptiness makes more sense to me because we can use the verb, which I think makes the most sense in this case. Report an error in the passage at 52:06 Highlight the passage at 52:06

52:37 This basic simplified meaning is that things don't exist the way they appear to exist. They don't exist out there, independent of me and my mind, absolutely, I won't use that word, inherently, concretely, permanently. Report an error in the passage at 52:37 Highlight the passage at 52:37

52:54 They are empty of that kind of existence. That's all emptiness means. They're empty of existing in that solid, unchanging, permanent way. And everything has this quality. So emptiness is a quality of all things. All things have this quality of being empty of this way that everything appears to exist but doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 52:54 Highlight the passage at 52:54

53:23 So, for example, there's no inherently delightful cup of tea separate from me. My ability to see this as a really good cup of tea... And it is a delightful cup of tea. It's based on my good karma. I created, there's raw shape and color and taste, of course. Report an error in the passage at 53:23 Highlight the passage at 53:23

53:49 But the color is really important in a good cup of tea, actually. For anyone who has a tea addict, it has to be. Maybe smell would be also important. But I'm going to collect that data in my... Karma forces me to organize it in a certain way. If I have positive karma, I'm going to taste this cup of tea and it's going to be a really delightful cup of tea. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:13 If I have negative karma ripening or maybe even my good karma wears out suddenly mid-cup of tea and my negative karma kicks in, then this cup of tea can start tasting really bad. Report an error in the passage at 54:13 Highlight the passage at 54:13

54:28 But some people have the karma to actually hate tea completely. Like it never is good, no matter what you do to it. And I'm related to some of them. Report an error in the passage at 54:28 Highlight the passage at 54:28

54:39 But that comes, it doesn't mean, so they have a negative karma ripening when it comes to that cup of tea. It doesn't mean that that lasts forever either. Like one of those people at some point may... um um Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

54:55 Their karma for enjoying a cup of tea could change and then they could actually enjoy tea. And whereas I could suddenly stop liking it, which is feeling close at this point. I think I'm having too much of it. And the same is true for if I enjoy somebody's company. I have the karma to put together all the data that is labeled Olivier. Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:20 And I... See him as a delightful person and I enjoy his company. That's based on my positive karma with the being who's now in this form as Olivier. If I saw him as a pain in the butt, that would be a negative karma because I would be suffering. If I'm suffering, it's a negative karma ripening. If I'm having any kind of a pleasure, it's a positive karma ripening. Report an error in the passage at 55:20 Highlight the passage at 55:20

55:47 He doesn't exist in any one way. so. Report an error in the passage at 55:47 Highlight the passage at 55:47

55:53 Paul could see him as a pain in the butt. I could see him as a wonderful person. You could see him as kind of boring, like just kind of neutral. Boring sounds negative. Neutral. Neither interesting or horrible. And that's all based on our karma. He is empty of being inherently any of those things, meaning merely only those things. Report an error in the passage at 55:53 Highlight the passage at 55:53

56:16 And yet, in some way, he's all of those things. So that's emptiness of the person. Does somebody have a pen? Report an error in the passage at 56:16 Highlight the passage at 56:16

56:28 It works the same with objects too. Report an error in the passage at 56:28 Highlight the passage at 56:28

56:35 So if I'm looking at this pen, it's not a pen until I see it as a pen. It's a cylinder. It has certain colors and shapes. It has ink inside of it. It has blue stuff inside of it. Let's not even label that. It's got a point. I can use it in a certain way. It functions that way. And I call it a pen. Report an error in the passage at 56:35 Highlight the passage at 56:35

56:59 Bodhi upstairs would probably see it as some sort of fun toy. She'd bat it around the room and it would be quite useful for her in that way. And she wouldn't be able to use it as a pen. She doesn't have opposable digits and she wouldn't be able to hold it. An ant might see it as an obstacle to climb over to get to the food on the counter or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:23 And none of us would be wrong. We would be seeing it according to our karma, how we would see it. And there's a story actually from the scriptures of three beings looking at a cylinder of liquid. The human being seeing the liquid as, I think it's pure water, is what the human being sees. The Deva sees it as... Report an error in the passage at 57:23 Highlight the passage at 57:23

57:57 Nectar of ambrosia or something like that, you know, like the long life nectar. And the pretta or the hungry ghost sees it as pus because that's what they have the karma to see all liquid as in their realm. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:15 And none of them are wrong and they're seeing the same, you know, sort of basic raw data, but their karma is forcing them basically to see things in a different way. Report an error in the passage at 58:15 Highlight the passage at 58:15

58:27 So, you know, what does this mean for us and like how do we work with it? It gets back again to how karma works. If we have created this experience in our past life, like if I've created the situation where Olivia is screaming at me. No, I'm picking on you because I promised her I wouldn't pick on her. But you can take it. Report an error in the passage at 58:27 Highlight the passage at 58:27

58:52 I like it. So if I've created the negative karma where Olivier is screaming at me week after week whenever he comes in to help me out on Sunday mornings, the movie's made so I can't change the fact that he's screaming at me, but I can change how I react to it. I can change how I react to it. And that's going to either perpetuate it by me screaming back, so it becomes the endless cycle that we're in. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:25 Or I can change it with an understanding of how I created the situation. So if I get that or if I even remotely get that I created the karma from my actions and that karma is now ripening for me, how I respond to it is going to either determine whether he's going to stay in my life in this abusive relationship of greeter on Sunday mornings or whether or not it's going to shift. Report an error in the passage at 59:25 Highlight the passage at 59:25

59:53 And whether or not that karma is going to end. And it may not be quick, but it ends. It definitely ends. And understanding how karma and emptiness work together actually allows us to change the habitual way that we constantly deal with things like this. I mean, the usual story isn't the greeter on Sunday mornings. The usual story is like the screaming boss. And we come into work every Monday and the boss screams at us. How we respond to that screaming boss is going to... Report an error in the passage at 59:53 Highlight the passage at 59:53

1:00:22 Actually determine how our life is going to change because we're going to remember, oh yeah, this is what Chokyi was talking about. I created this karma. What am I going to do in this situation? And it doesn't mean you just lay down and let him scream at you. It just means that you enter the whole situation with wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:22 Highlight the passage at 1:00:22

1:00:41 Wisdom here just means understanding how karma and emptiness works. He may be screaming at me, but he is not inherently evil despite the way it feels right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:41 Highlight the passage at 1:00:41

1:00:53 Because Lynn is actually thrilled because she's been waiting for me to get screamed at for months and she's finally getting her due. So for her, this whole situation is delightful. Brian is completely bored because he's just trying to figure out what he's going to do that week. So he's just making his agenda for the week. And I'm having this horribly suffering experience that not only is suffering in that moment, but it's definitely like this is like an ongoing thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:53 Highlight the passage at 1:00:53

1:01:04 Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:21 with this boss screaming at me. No one of us is wrong. We just have the karma to see that boss and that whole situation every Monday morning in a different way because we've created the karma to see it in that different way. So understanding karma, understanding our habitual view of how things happen is going to shift our whole reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:46 And if we just keep screaming back, Every Monday, screaming back. It's just going to keep screaming bosses in our lives. Have you ever noticed whenever you leave a job or an apartment or a relationship and you end up with the same person in a different body in your cubicle or in your bedroom and it's the same as the one you've just gotten out of a relationship with? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:46 Highlight the passage at 1:01:46

1:02:14 It's karma. It's because we haven't. We haven't exhausted that karma. We haven't examined that karma. And it just keeps coming back to us until we do. I mean, it's that whole Groundhog Day idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:14 Highlight the passage at 1:02:14

1:02:29 So one of the ways that the founder of this particular tradition or lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, Jai Tsongkhapa, in the middle, With the yellow hat on. Said that it's the easiest for us to understand emptiness by way of dependent arising or dependent origination. I like dependent arising, that term. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:29 Highlight the passage at 1:02:29

1:02:51 I think that's the one in Venerable Rubina. I was trying to remember when Venerable Steve taught on emptiness last year. Venerable Rubina kept correcting him and I think he kept saying dependent origination and she really likes dependent arising too. Because of that way that when we talk about the mind, we talk about things arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:09 In the mind, I think it makes more sense that way. Things arise to us dependently. So then this term, dependent arising, makes sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:09 Highlight the passage at 1:03:09

1:03:20 Or interdependently, you see that in other, we don't use that term so much, but it's the same word, means the same thing. Things arise or things come up for us in dependence upon other things. So there's three levels of dependent origination, going from gross to fine. Most subtle. Things arise due to causes and conditions. The biggest cause being karma. Geshe says the biggest cause, whenever we say causes and conditions, and you hear that all the time, causes and conditions, causes and conditions, causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:54 It's basically karma. But conditions are everything else. So, for example, if there's a car accident, one person lives and one person doesn't live, the condition, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54 Highlight the passage at 1:03:54

1:04:10 The conditions are everything to do with the road conditions, whether somebody had slept that night and whether they were tired, whether or not anybody was drinking, whether or not there were seatbelts that were worn or not worn. Those are all conditions. That's describing how it happened. The why is karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:10 Highlight the passage at 1:04:10

1:04:33 So the causes or karma is explaining why, whereas the conditions explain all the sort of myriad ways of how that happened, how it came to pass. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:04:47 And in that situation, it's not always the most obvious. Sometimes the person that dies were strapped in, they were well rested, they might have even been driving. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47 Highlight the passage at 1:04:47

1:05:02 And they die, whereas the other one didn't. And then, but yet there, if you look at the car, it's like most of the damage is on that side. It doesn't make sense always logically. And in sense in the, from the standpoint of karma, it's because that person had the karma to die. That other person didn't, you know, so when you have a plane crash with 250 people on it and one person lives or, you know, they're always like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02 Highlight the passage at 1:05:02

1:05:30 So somebody, then they have that survivor guilt. For a billion years. If you have the understanding of karma, you don't have that. Because it makes sense, karmically speaking. I just simply did not have the karma to die this time. Doesn't mean I won't tomorrow, you know. But it explains a lot. So the why is karma and the how is the conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:05:53 And basically everything that we experience. Is a product and anything that's a product arises in this way. So not just, you know, our bodies are products. Our bodies are the products of the substances of our parents and everything they ate and everything that went into the creation of this body. The many medicines that they took, any medicines I've taken, you know, all the myriad things that have gone into. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:27 The creation of this body, but also everything that we use, you know, this clock arises due to causes and conditions, not just, I mean, it's, you know, like the casing of it was created by somebody, it was designed by somebody. And there are all these... There's a myriad of conditions that went into the creation of this clock, even though it seems like an incredibly simple clock. You know, there's a factory, there are workers in the factory, there's the lounge of the factory, there's the training of the workers, there's, you know, the heat that went into the factory, there's the design of the factory, there's the design of the clock, there's all the different colors of the clock, there's the battery within the clock and where that was created. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:07:09 So there's a lot of different things that go into this. It does not arise just out there. On its own, like, you know, separately from me. So it is, it arises independence upon causes and conditions. So this is what is meant by something arising in terms of independence on causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:36 And everything that's a product, this is true for. So if we're talking about a mountain, that's a product too. Think of all the various things that went into the creation of a mountain. If we're talking about something that's man-made, it's more obvious, but anything, rivers, they also arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:07:58 And everything that arises in dependence upon causes and conditions is also impermanent for obvious reasons. If it was created, it can uncreate, it can disappear. The second level of dependent arising, or the second aspect of dependent arising, because it had to be created, it had to be investigated, because not everything does arise in dependence upon causes and conditions, and one example of that is space. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:28 It doesn't arise in dependence upon causes and conditions, so they keep looking, and they say, okay, everything arises in dependence upon parts. You can look at everything that exists and see that it's made up of all these different parts. And if you go deeper inside of every single thing that exists, you can see that you can go subtler and subtler. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:28 Highlight the passage at 1:08:28

1:08:51 It's like the onion skin. You can never really find the thing itself. It's always like you're going deeper and deeper into, you know. The parts, the casing and then the parts that make up the casing. If you start going down to a cellular and a subatomic level and all that, you're going down deeper and deeper and there's infinite number of parts deeper and deeper and deeper that cause this. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:09:14 Same true for my body, right? I keep going deeper and deeper and deeper and trying to find where it all begins or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:25 So if we, you know, you can take a... And you can actually meditate on this. You don't have to actually rip the flower apart. But I think it is sometimes useful to do. I had one teacher who did that, who grabbed a flower off the altar and started ripping it apart, trying to find where flower was within this thing, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:45 So you're ripping off the petals, ripping off the stamen, ripping off the leaves and the stem and trying to find where the flower was in that thing, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:45 Highlight the passage at 1:09:45

1:09:56 And where does it start? So this is dependent arising in terms of the parts. If we're honest about it, our eye sort of begins, is looking all over. If we're looking on a flower, for example, our eye is moving all over, gathering the data, it's assembling it, organizing that data into these various objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:56 Highlight the passage at 1:09:56

1:10:21 And our eyes are constantly sort of moving. If you ever are really aware of what your eyes are doing when you're looking around, it's synthesizing things into whole, sometimes not entirely honestly. It's not always giving you the correct information. Especially in low light situations, sometimes our eyes create things that aren't actually there. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:21 Highlight the passage at 1:10:21

1:10:43 But it's trying to. It's trying to make sense of everything that's around it and trying to gather it. Into holes, into something that makes sense. But our karma, which is based on the actions that we've done, forces us then to see those things as positive and negative. It's not inherently a flower, in the same way that that was inherently a pen I was holding up. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:13 It's not inherently a really good cup of tea. It's not even inherently a cup of tea because I don't think Bodhi would necessarily see it as a cup of tea. I think she would just see it as hot liquid that was uninteresting. And she wouldn't be wrong to see it that way. She might see it as interesting if it had milk in it. Like when she was stalking Bo's steamed milk thing the other night. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:13 Highlight the passage at 1:11:13

1:11:39 um um So it's not inherently one thing or another. She has the karma to see it as not a very interesting, lukewarm cup of something or other. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:11:52 So then the third aspect of dependent arising is that things don't exist except, it's sort of using all of those together, except through causes and conditions, and parts actually, and a mere label. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:52 Highlight the passage at 1:11:52

1:12:10 And so this is the third level. This is the most subtle level. But this is where it starts getting down to the fact that we label things in a certain way due to our karma, but also due to our ignorance. And things function, so they still work. But if we start looking beneath that label, they begin to look like it's like we label, I label this a clock. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:10 Highlight the passage at 1:12:10

1:12:42 The first time I see it, I don't even know what it is, so then I ask you, what is that? And he says, oh, it's a clock. And then it just seems like it exudes clockness. Like it's just bubbling over with clockness of its own, you know. But if I try to take it apart, I can't find that clockness. It's simply a label put on this collection that's arisen through all these various means of its being, you know, put together. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:08 The problem isn't so much of how we do it, it's the fact that we do it and then we believe that we didn't do it. We believe that it inherently exists in a whole different way. And that's the problem. So it's like Lama Zopa says, it's bad enough that we do it, but then we believe that it exists in a completely different way. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:08 Highlight the passage at 1:13:08

1:13:31 We ignore the fact that we've just done all this. So this is what Lama actually refers to as hallucinating or hallucinatory experience. This is what he's talking about. These are the stories that we place on things. This is what makes us suffer. This is what makes us suffer, is all these different stories that we place on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:54 And then it seems like it's... from that data or it seems like it's coming from that person it seems like any other person in the world And so we always try to get right. We try to find people who are going to agree with our point of view. And we always do that. To see him as inherently evil. And, you know, he just like had a rough day or something and yelled at us. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:54 Highlight the passage at 1:13:54

1:14:21 And so then we fixate. We make him evil. And then we fixate, we keep it there and we think, oh, anybody else on the planet would see him as inherently evil. And this is what the Buddha says keeps us here and understanding how it all works is what liberates us. And this is why we have to understand how emptiness and karma work together. And we have to understand, we have to actually intellectually get that and we have to have a direct experience of emptiness, which we can only do in deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

1:14:54 Only in very, very deep meditation. So we have to understand it all first so we know what it is we're meditating on. But we have to get below the surface of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:54 Highlight the passage at 1:14:54

1:15:07 And it's easy to see in terms of a flower or a table. But it's much harder when we're thinking about ourself. And yet, this is the basis of becoming a tantric deity. Like we have to be able to see it in terms of ourself. We have to be able to begin to see how we are nothing more than a collection of parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:07 Highlight the passage at 1:15:07

1:15:36 We've arisen through causes and conditions and we've labeled ourself me, you know. Again, we function, you know. I function in the world. It's not to say that I like, you know, turning into like smoke and steam and mirrors. It's not like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:36 Highlight the passage at 1:15:36

1:15:56 But having this fixed, limited view of ourself is what, in the end, causes our worst suffering. And they say it's also the very last of all of our forms of ignorance to be eradicated. It's the most subtle. There's something that holds on to that belief in a truly existent self to the bitter end. That's the very last one to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:26 But it's really, really, really important. So your meditation actually this time is going to be looking at this I and what it is and where it is and thinking about it, which some of you I think have probably done this meditation before. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:26 Highlight the passage at 1:16:26

1:16:41 And we have to do it over and over and over again. And sorry, I think this is the one that you... I just remembered that. I think this is the one that you had the rough experience with. Here it is again. I guess you're not done with that karma, huh? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:41 Highlight the passage at 1:16:41

1:16:56 Somebody else was talking about that last night in the drop-in meditation, and they say actually that it's really good if you do have an experience of fear arise because you're getting close to sort of... Removing the veil of the thing that's keeping you. And it's sort of like it knows that it's being found out. It knows, the self knows that it really is just this composite that we've thrown together with all of these misconceptions. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:28 And it's sort of like the Wizard of Oz. It's very much like the Wizard of Oz. I just thought of that, you know, pay no attention to that little man behind the screen or behind the curtain. It's very much like that. And so it does get, Nervous when you kind of begin getting a little too close. But the reality is that it's never existed in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:52 It never has existed in that way. We have firmly believed that I exist in this very permanent, inherently existent way. And we begin meditating going beyond that. Label and that image and that mask and all the different ways that we sort of keep ourselves bound. And we realize actually it's completely changeable, fluid. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:23 All the people in this room could look at each one of us and see something completely different. And even conventionally speaking, we can get that. And so that's a little bit like trying to remember the positive aspects. I actually find this very liberating, but I have had the experience where it can be like, Oh, a little jolting. But just think of the earthquake, right? The earthquake is jolting only because we had some permanent fixed view of what the ground really is. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:23 Highlight the passage at 1:18:23

1:18:51 And that's what it's coming up against, you know? So it's our own earthquake. We're having our own earthquake in a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:19:02 So this is all the beginning of some understanding of dependent arising. Dependent arising is how things do exist. They arise in the basis upon causes and conditions, the biggest one being karma, parts and this mere label that we then slap on something and believe then to somehow come from that thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:02 Highlight the passage at 1:19:02

1:19:30 Like after we've just labeled it, we believe then that it is inherently existent in that way. So that's how it does exist, and emptiness is how it doesn't exist. So that's why they're called two sides of the same coin. Emptiness is the way that it doesn't exist, and it's lack of that kind of existence, whereas dependent arising is how it actually does arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:55 So they completely are supporting each other. They say once you understand the secret of dependent origination, the meaning of emptiness can come in a flash. So it could come in one of these flashes of like the meaning of, it doesn't mean the direct perception of. You have to do a lot of preparation to have the direct perception of emptiness because remember again, I think I mentioned already in this class, in order to have a direct perception of emptiness, we have to be able to sit in meditative equipoise, in deep meditative equipoise for a couple of hours. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:27 So we have to be able to go very, very deeply, even though the direct perception of emptiness could be less than a half hour once it actually comes. And of course, you have to create a lot of merit, which is why we do all those other things. The endless activities that also create our happiness is creating the merit so that we can have that direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:27 Highlight the passage at 1:20:27

1:20:54 So, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:54 Highlight the passage at 1:20:54

1:21:01 Hmm. I think we're going to skip that. So I think we're going to actually, I think we should take a break and then we're going to come back and try to finish up a little bit and talk about how this relates to Tantra and also of course answer questions. I think why don't we do that? We'll take a break first. I notice, are you in the bookstore? Are you covering for Chloe or who's covering for? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:01 Highlight the passage at 1:21:01

1:21:23 You're covering for Chloe? Okay, so Jane is covering for Chloe. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:23 Highlight the passage at 1:21:23

1:21:29 Mary just looks at me blankly. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:29 Highlight the passage at 1:21:29

1:21:33 You know what I would love is just some water. Yeah, thanks. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:33 Highlight the passage at 1:21:33

1:21:41 Hey, once again, that, and you have to keep saying it over and over and over again, this is not to say that these things don't exist. I don't exist. We're not saying that. Nobody's saying that. I guess that keeps coming back to this whenever we're talking about emptiness in any of his classes. It's always like... Report an error in the passage at 1:21:41 Highlight the passage at 1:21:41

1:22:00 If you get into the tenant systems and the different levels, the different philosophical schools of tenants, it's always like they still didn't understand that just because things don't inherently exist doesn't mean they don't exist. Nobody's saying there's no cup here. Nobody's saying that I don't exist, that I'm not sitting here talking to you and you're not sitting there listening to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:00 Highlight the passage at 1:22:00

1:22:30 But what we are saying is that none of this exists the way we think it does. So hang on. So if somebody calls your name, Joe, and you respond, that's the validly existent I. You know, you've got this certain identity that's based on certain, you know, conventional facts about your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:22:56 The I that doesn't exist, and this is going to be the I that you're looking for, because you first have to think about what it is and then you have to seek it out. The I that doesn't exist the way we always think it is. If I then say, wait a second, he's a thief. And then he's like, I'm not a thief, you know, so it's like that I that gets really, really like incensed and defensive. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:23 That's the I that doesn't exist the way we think it does. And that's the I that we try to protect at all costs. That's the I that gets us into trouble in arguments. That's why we get defensive at work. That's why, you know, like, it's the source, that misconception of this self, this I, is what gets us into trouble right and left. But go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:41 Why don't you ask your question, Joe? Because I see the puzzled, holding the chin look. The international sign of... Now, every time I've contemplated this... And I've done it a lot over the past. For countless gradients. Right, that's what it feels like. I end up with a profound sense of loneliness. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:41 Highlight the passage at 1:23:41

1:24:02 Because how can I have a friendship with Chokyi when Chokyi's constantly changing? And therefore, I know I'm constantly changing, but who am I having a friendship with? All the many myriad versions of Chokyi. So therefore, am I just alone? Actually, think of it this way. It's almost like it becomes more like this sort of dancing. Reality is much more in this sort of dancing spaciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:02 Highlight the passage at 1:24:02

1:24:32 Not spaciousness like the Grand Canyon, but all this sort of movement and electricity and change. It's more like fire, I guess, in that sense, than it is... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:46 Which is the way we see it. It's like robo. And that's the way we see it. We actually have such a limited idea of what relationship is. Actually, it can be so much more. And I think that's the, just to relax a little bit with it. I think usually the resistance is because we're holding so tightly to what feels like reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:12 And emptiness is actually allowing us to kind of... It's never existed that way. But see, that's why we get into trouble with relationships, I think, right? Because we do fix people. We think that they're, and then we're shocked when they change their mind and leave us or, you know, whatever it is. But we thought that because they were some way one time, that they would always be that way. And then we're surprised when they might change and actually have different interests, not even just leaving us, but just suddenly decide, I don't really like my job, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:12 Highlight the passage at 1:25:12

1:25:45 I'd like to move to Montana and farm. And we're surprised by that because we see that people don't change. We are fixed with this idea that people don't change. So actually we never had a relationship with them in a way because we never allowed for all the possibility that they could be. We never opened to that. Or does it broaden the sense of what a relationship is? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:45 Highlight the passage at 1:25:45

1:26:10 I think it does, yeah. And therefore it's still within the, if you can even call it the constraints of a relationship, can that continue on with both entities growing and changing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not saying you can't have a relationship with anything. It's just saying the relationship that we're having now, I mean, just think of the relationship with yourself first before you branch out. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:10 Highlight the passage at 1:26:10

1:26:33 We limit ourselves and if we're still limiting ourselves and only seeing ourselves in these really solid, unchanging, you know, inherently existent terms, then we aren't even giving ourselves the possibility of change and growth and, you know, potential and all that. We aren't even able to see that in ourselves. So if we can't see that in ourselves, then how can I possibly have relationships with all these other people? They're just fantasies. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:33 Highlight the passage at 1:26:33

1:27:03 I mean, I'm sort of just entering these fantasies. I think that it's just different. And so that change is scary. I think that's what it is. I mean, that's what my sense is that you're experiencing, is that if it's not what I thought it was, then what the hell is it? You know, it's kind of that feels like that's where you are right now with that, that it feels more scary because it's an unknown. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:27 But sometimes the unknown is actually really exciting, you know. So just to be like more like this is like this is like a journey. This is like opening this whole realm of of existence that we have. We just we're just on the tip of the iceberg if we're even there, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:27:50 Look how happy like His Holiness and Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa. They've figured something out, you know, so maybe just go with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:07 With no attachment, aren't you miserable? Is that what you said? It's the attachment, Joe, that makes us miserable. I'm sorry. I hate to be the one who break it to you. Because inherent in that attachment is this grasping to seeing this thing as permanent and unchanging and it's a completely wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:34 It never existed that way. It's never going to bring me lasting happiness. This orange cup is never going to bring me lasting happiness. And my thinking that it is, everything's going to be dashed when it breaks. I'm going to have to go to bed. I'll be so upset, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:34 Highlight the passage at 1:28:34

1:28:56 That's based on you thinking that I'm a certain way, which is based on your karma that changes. And when that changes, and I challenge you in front of the entire class and call you by your name so that everybody listening can also tell it to you, then you might get all pissed off. Because that shifted some view that you had of me as like a certain sweet kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:56 Highlight the passage at 1:28:56

1:29:20 So, yeah, you're coming from the idea, if I might be so bold as to try to, I think you're coming from the idea that we need, that life without attachment is boring and passionless and isn't going to, it's just like dry or something. fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:20 Highlight the passage at 1:29:20

1:29:40 And the Buddha is like, no, actually, this attachment that you have is based on wrong view. If you can actually see things as they are, life is only going to be bliss. Getting emptiness is actually blissful. It just may at first be, you know, difficult to swallow. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:40 Highlight the passage at 1:29:40

1:30:04 But it's only difficult for us because we're still coming up against. This is how we see what we're resisting. Any resistance is always because we have some wrong views that we're coming up against. We have to examine them. We have to think about that. Think about the statement that I just made that it's the attachment that causes the suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:04 Highlight the passage at 1:30:04

1:30:26 Work with that this week. Just think about that. Forget about this. Forget about emptiness right now. Just work with that one. Just think about it in little forms for people, for things. What is it like? Just go deeply with that one. Maybe for this year. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:26 Highlight the passage at 1:30:26

1:30:44 Maybe that's your homework for the next five years. Yeah, I would put forth that you will discover that it is possible to be blissfully happy without attachment. And that's what Lama Yeshe is saying, that we don't have to give up attachment for renunciation. We have to give up grasping at things. It's that grasping. I mean, we don't have to give up things themselves. We have to give up that grasping. So we can still enjoy things all over the place. He had friends. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:44 Highlight the passage at 1:30:44

1:31:20 He had friends, yeah. He had good buddies, yeah. He did. Geshe-la laughs. You should see Geshe-la laughs and laughs when he gets together with his buds, you know. His Holiness definitely giggles, you know. Another question. Another question, anybody? Yeah, Paul. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:20 Highlight the passage at 1:31:20

1:31:45 Just, you know, in your discussion of emptiness, so much of it is about, you know, Just looking at these different things and different concepts as being dependent and, you know, empty of any inherent existence. And something I always come across in the texts is the emptiness of emptiness itself, which seems like an important thing to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:45 Highlight the passage at 1:31:45

1:32:08 It's so funny because I took that sentence out. I was like, we don't have time for this. This is just going to complicate issues. I know, I know. I'm sorry. Delete. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:08 Highlight the passage at 1:32:08

1:32:22 It's funny, when you did that, I was like, I wonder if that's the part that she's getting. Because that is, I mean, that's a really heady, philosophical idea, right? That emptiness itself is empty of inheritance. Not so much. No, because I think, again, we get into this idea that if things are empty of existence, it means that they don't exist. We get into this whole, like, woo-woo state that that's not what the Buddha's saying. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:22 Highlight the passage at 1:32:22

1:32:45 And I think that's why. I mean, it's like, emptiness is simply conceptual. Explanation of reality. So of course it doesn't exist in the way we think it does. You know what I mean? Nothing conceptual can exist in the way that we think it does. We have a concept about something and then we think it totally exists the way we conceive it. But it's always off base because it's stuck in our heads in some way. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:45 Highlight the passage at 1:32:45

1:33:11 So if you think of it in that way, then that makes sense. Then it doesn't become all woo-woo. We're not falling into the Grand Canyon and we're not, you know, it's not. Sure, just looking at the world as being empty of inherited existence is dependent upon our mind thinking that concept, right? Right. Is that sort of in line with what? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:11 Highlight the passage at 1:33:11

1:33:28 Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it doesn't have to be so heady and heavy. Right, right. Well, and that's the way that I tend to think of it, but I was just kind of curious how you would formulate it, because it seems like people talk about this in sort of different ways, and I'm always interested. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:28 Highlight the passage at 1:33:28

1:33:43 I see the teachings on emptiness, I think, are so, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:33:52 They're so practical and they're probably the most misunderstood of all the teachings because we hear, I think it's that definition, I mean the use of the term empty. It just sounds like a big old space. And so then it's sort of like we come back to Joe's. Well, if I'm a big old space and I'm talking to a big old space and a bunch of big old spaces are together, then it just gets really kind of weird. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:20 It's like you can't even. I think then it gets really. But that's not what he's saying. You know, he's just saying that things don't exist in this way that we think that they do. And so then we have to figure out, well, then how do they exist? And we just have to investigate. That's what the journey is. That's what the path is, is investigating. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:20 Highlight the passage at 1:34:20

1:34:39 How things do exist because if we have been getting it wrong and it has been the source of our suffering, it behooves us to figure out how they actually do exist and to be open to that and see, just see, you know. See if it's fun once we realize emptiness, you know. See if it like juices up our lives rather than dries it out, you know. I have a feeling it's juicing it up. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:39 Highlight the passage at 1:34:39

1:35:02 I could be wrong. It could be you and I later and you'll go like, I remember when you said. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:02 Highlight the passage at 1:35:02

1:35:09 Somebody else? Anybody else have a question? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:15 So I had some other things that I cut out, so maybe I'll start with those next time. One of them, actually, you can do this yourself, actually. Take the letter A and just look at it in its parts, you know, the line, line, line, and think about the fact that when you first saw that, you didn't know what it was. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:15 Highlight the passage at 1:35:15

1:35:39 And then as soon as you found out it was an A, it seemed inherently an A. And you're always surprised if somebody doesn't know what that is. Like it seems to be just coming out of it somehow. And that's a really good example of the emptiness of something. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:39 Highlight the passage at 1:35:39

1:35:58 And it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It doesn't mean you have to erase all the A's in your notes or anything like that. But that's a good idea. I mean, a good idea to look at, I think. And you can just actually draw it. It's actually kind of useful to draw it because it literally is just, I think an A too is something, it's so simple, it's just line, line, line, you know, and if you took it apart, where's the A, you know, why does it seem so inherently existent? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:58 Highlight the passage at 1:35:58

1:36:25 So, yeah, so it's just good to keep repeating to yourself, nobody's saying that nothing exists at all, you know, the Buddhist teaching here is that things just... Exist in a way that's really, really subtle and really different than the way we think that they exist, including me. And especially in terms of Tantra, me. You know, how does this relate to Tantra? I think we've said over and over again, we've got to, I mean, Tantra is all about letting go of our ordinary grasping. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:25 Highlight the passage at 1:36:25

1:37:04 Grasping at ordinary appearance. And that's totally based on me seeing this in an actual incorrect way. You know, misperceiving reality. So this is why emptiness is so important for us to understand as we're getting into it. It doesn't mean we have to totally have a direct perception of emptiness before we can enter Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:04 Highlight the passage at 1:37:04

1:37:27 But it is definitely saying that we should have to some, not just understanding of it intellectually, but some experience of it in meditation. We've had some experience of looking at reality in a different way and being open to the fact that things don't exist the way I think that they do. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:27 Highlight the passage at 1:37:27

1:37:43 Like experientially, not just walking out of this class and going, okay, now I'm ready. Like actually you've worked with it, you've chewed it for a while, you've meditated on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:37:53 Because that's the only way we start. things actually do. It begins shifting the way we actually see things. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:53 Highlight the passage at 1:37:53

1:38:04 So Lama actually uses this expression dissolving. And in a lot of the meditations, and some of you have done meditations with me, even in the drop-in meditations, I do this a lot where we dissolve, you know, the guru or the Buddha, whoever it is that we are visualizing in front of us at the end, melts into light, dissolves. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:29 Melts into light and then absorbs into us. And then often we also have some experience, even though, you know, technically we are not supposed to arise yet as the deity unless we have had, sorry, the Buddha, unless we have had an empowerment ourselves. But we can still have this experience of imagining our light, our body filled with light and actually becoming a light body. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:29 Highlight the passage at 1:38:29

1:38:59 Just imagining for a moment what that would be like. That is simply just letting us have this experience of the fact that our body doesn't exist in the solid way that we think it does. It's just sort of a lot of the visualizations are about dissolving ourself, dissolving everything around us, dissolving our body and then dissolving our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:21 And then out of that, you know, something else manifests. You know, Buddha, and then that gets dissolved up. I mean, you do this repeatedly. And what it's all about is none of this exists the way we think it does. And so it's just like, I mean, it's actually practice for death, right? We do that in the death meditations. So those of you that have done the death and impermanence class or have studied death in any detail, like we did with Lenny and Tetson Chokyi a year ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:21 Highlight the passage at 1:39:21

1:39:54 We do a dissolution meditation that we will do in this class that they say that happens to us at the end of our lives, you know, in the final moments of our death, during the actual dying process. This dissolution happens. And so this practicing of it is a way to get used to that, you know. It does when we're dying. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:54 Highlight the passage at 1:39:54

1:40:17 Our entire storyline of the whole world around us does go in an instant. That's not a story. Like that actually happens. So if we can actually visualize it over and over, it actually becomes easier. You know, our body does dissolve in an instant. You know, our mind does become more and more subtle. And then according to the Buddha, then that subtle most mind goes into a different rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:17 Highlight the passage at 1:40:17

1:40:44 So actually doing these various visualizations really, really prepares us for our own death. And it also, at the same time, points out the fact that everything that we see around us, that we see is so solid and real and we believe and we have all these stories around it, just dissolves. It just ends, you know, it's just a story. The same way that we have these whole elaborate dreams, you know, and then in the morning when we look back on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:44 Highlight the passage at 1:40:44

1:41:22 It just fades, you know? It seems so, you know, when you're in it, it actually feels physical sometimes. You can actually remember, like, how it felt to run through the tunnel and all the people that were next to you or whatever the weirdness that our minds create. And then the next morning we wake up and we're like, what happened there? What was that? And then it just begins to dissolve. And they say, actually, our lives are like that as we get older. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:47 If you ever spend time with somebody who's getting very old. It's very much like the passing of one night's dream, they say. They can't remember quite the details of the beginning and it all just begins to pass. And all these stories that we created throughout our 70, 80 years of life just begin to dissolve. So these visualizations that we do in Tantra, they aren't coming out of nowhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:47 Highlight the passage at 1:41:47

1:42:14 They're closer to reality than... Neiman Marcus and Macy's and the jobs that we have and the cars that we buy and the story I create about my favorite cup. This is much less real than these visualizations. Anyway, it's getting late. Actually, let's end with one final quote from Lama Yeshe and then a dedication. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:45 I had to make an announcement too. So Lama Yeshi says, the wisdom of emptiness doesn't destroy the reality of the external world. It destroys the mental fantasy hallucinated by ego and brings you an entirely different experience of reality. When you realize emptiness, all concrete concepts of ego vanish. Automatically, you are liberated and experience everlasting bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:45 Highlight the passage at 1:42:45

1:43:12 Emptiness is the real Dharma. It is what elevates you to Tathagatahood, which just means Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:12 Highlight the passage at 1:43:12

1:43:22 So let's dedicate whatever little pinpricks of insight anyone may have gained tonight. We're dedicated that each one of us in this room is able to take it all the way to the direct perception of emptiness ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:22 Highlight the passage at 1:43:22

1:43:43 First to accumulate all those conditions and then to prepare our minds through all the study and meditation and then ourselves having this direct perception of emptiness and then using that direct perception of emptiness to transform our minds so that we can actually get enlightened quickly so that we can benefit not just ourselves but everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43:43

1:44:11 And may it start here. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:11 Highlight the passage at 1:44:11

1:44:21 Okay, so Chris, could you do me a favor? And give everybody one of these. This is just a little present. This is a book called Virtue and Reality. It's a collection of different teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. And inside is a meditation on looking for the eye, which is done as a walking meditation. So you're looking for the eye while you're walking down the street or, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:21 Highlight the passage at 1:44:21

1:44:56 Walking back and forth if you don't want to go outside. And I find it such a, I found it, it's very short. I can't even remember exactly where it is. Whoever finds it has to announce where they found it because I can't remember. I think in my book I have it marked. But I find it so useful that I take this book with me into retreat almost every time and do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:56 Highlight the passage at 1:44:56

1:45:19 I just like to do this meditation. A bunch of us at Copan went out on the road from Copan, There were 250 people doing this meditation one time and it was really, really quite profound. So it's really different than other forms of walking meditation. And then your meditation homework this time, I don't think I have enough copies of it. So if you can take it, actually, yeah, would you mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:19 Highlight the passage at 1:45:19

1:45:44 So actually Mary's going to make copies. We'll see. I think I just did. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:44 Highlight the passage at 1:45:44

1:45:52 Yeah. I think I just did 10 and I think we have 15. I think one person left. She already got one. I guess make five more. Okay. Do you want to actually just pass those out? And then this is if you're if you're doing this course, are you doing the program, the Discovering Buddhism? Program for credit, meaning for the certificate, doing all the different, you know, the 14 modules, the 13 classes, and then the different experiential things, then they always give all these readings from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:46:30 Not everyone owns that book, so for some of the classes, especially where it's a fairly short assignment of reading, then I just give it to you as a handout, just in case you don't own that book and you don't want to invest in it. I probably should have turned this off. So this is a really short book. I mean, this is your reading from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hands. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:30 Highlight the passage at 1:46:30

1:46:50 It was two pages. So we just did it as a handout. Actually, I should have given her this too. Chris, do you want to run that down and ask her to make five copies of that too? And then let's start passing that around too. Oops, sorry. I think that's up. So, yeah. So your meditation this time is going to be looking for the eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:50 Highlight the passage at 1:46:50

1:47:11 And we'll start with it next time in class, too, so you'll have the experience of having it be guided as well. But you're basically trying to figure out what is this thing that I call I. That's why it's always in quotes, you know, what is it that I call I? And they call it the discovering, what do they call it? Like discovering the object to be refuted. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:11 Highlight the passage at 1:47:11

1:47:31 So it's not the I, you know, it's not... It's like there is a validly existent eye and then there is this invalidly existent eye and you've got to tell the difference between them if you're going to meditate on it. So that's part of the battle is trying to figure out. I've actually heard of people wasting years of retreat time thinking they found the right thing to meditate on and then not. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:31 Highlight the passage at 1:47:31

1:47:53 So it's very important. Spend the time now. So great. Thank you very much. Have a great week. Looking for the eye. Oh, announcement. You're right. You're right. You're right. I am, I'm not going to say desperate. I'm kind of desperate. I'm the volunteer coordinator for the Happiness and Its Causes Conference. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:53 Highlight the passage at 1:47:53

1:48:15 And we are, well, wait, we want this one to go out. No, I'm kidding. You can turn that off. You can turn it off. I think by the time it gets uploaded, then they, it's too late. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:15 Highlight the passage at 1:48:15