← Lobsang Chokyi

Discovering Buddhism - Intro to Tantra (17 December 2008)

Lobsang Chokyi · 17 December 2008 · 2 h 2 min · Tse Chen Ling via Internet Archive

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  • 7:16

    All of the teachings of the Buddha are incredibly precious and completely priceless compared to what they can do for our minds and where they can take us. But especially any teachings on Tantra. They say that there will be a time and there has been times where nobody is teaching Tantra and there will be dark ages.

  • 7:48

    Not all the Buddhas teach and not all the Buddhas teach Tantra. So we live in an incredibly fortunate time and in a fortunate place where these teachings are available and we still have amazing masters in the world able to give us empowerments within these lineages. And there are still tantric practitioners doing retreat now, right now, even in the state of California, trying to gain enlightenment through these methods. So it's an incredibly fortunate time.

  • 8:52

    Underlying motivation for any of these teachings, but especially for Tantra, has to be seeing the suffering of our mother sentient beings and finding that suffering unbearable, wanting to end that suffering, wanting to take it away and being willing for that reason to engage in these teachings and in these methods to gain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

  • 26:55

    And as Geshe-la said, of course, the chances of it actually being our route to enlightenment are completely nil if we haven't done anything. If we haven't developed all the conditions within this life. So it's not like we suddenly are going to develop all the conditions on our deathbed. So we definitely have to be able to have done the work. But still for most of us to be able to transform that whole experience into a positive one still makes it that much more attractive than the current options for ordinary being.

  • 38:31

    It's the Dharmakaya of the Buddha itself. And this is who I am. You know, this is who I am. So when we're in generation stage, we're going to talk about the fact that there are two stages of Tantra. In generation stage, constantly identifying with the Buddha is part of the practice. This is the main part of the practice. This is how we transform our minds. So we constantly are saying, this is who I am. Or as Lama Yeshe always says, I am this, this is me.

0:09 No, they can go on that break, it's fine. Just somebody help me remember. Report an error

0:34 it like patting it like like staring at Report an error

0:58 I'm sorry for any confusion that my email might have caused. I just suddenly thought maybe it would be easier, but I'm going to go ahead and keep it on the third. There was much stronger Report an error

1:15 Feeling about that, and actually most of the people who couldn't come on the 3rd either never responded, which makes me think that they probably weren't going to come on the 7th either. I mean, that that wasn't really, it wasn't to do with the holidays or anything. And I just was waiting for her. I was looking for her. She disappeared. Report an error

1:35 Sorry. Well, we'll see how she does, but if she's annoying, we're going to have to put her up there. We won't be able to meditate, and it'll be very important, believe me. She's a little Dickens when I'm trying to do my own meditation. Yeah, so we're just going to keep it on the third. But I was just kind of waiting for everybody to get back to me, and I still haven't heard from everybody, so I'm just going with those who do. So hopefully that works. Report an error

2:04 Could I just get a show of hands for those people who can come on the third? Report an error

2:19 Sorry, Olivier. I think he was the only one who was better off with it. So, um, Report an error

2:16 ha, ha. Report an error

2:28 That's true, yeah, yeah, that's right, ears just kind of a maybe, possibly, potentially. Well, anyway, okay, so let's go ahead and just start with an opening meditation and then move into the opening prayers. So just get comfortable on your cushion. Take some nice deep belly breaths and just let go of your day. Just imagine your breath moving through your mind and body and dissolving. Report an error

2:58 Any obstacles or obstructions, blocks that it finds. Report an error

3:08 You can imagine it dissolving away all your Report an error

3:15 distractions, sluggishness, sleepiness, Report an error

3:25 any plans that you might have. Report an error

3:32 And imagine with any out-breath that you just send those off into the night. And with every in-breath you just bring yourself more and more into this room, into this precious opportunity we have together. Report an error

4:02 And imagine each in-breath just bringing you more alertness, more curiosity, more ability to concentrate, focus, whatever you personally need to be really present tonight. Report an error

4:37 And we'll just do a short meditation on the breath. So just place your awareness either at the level of your belly or the level of your nostril, tip of your nostril. And just focus on a few rounds of breathing in and breathing out. Report an error

4:56 And just allow your mind to, concentration to get stronger. And Report an error

· · ·

7:02 as your mind just begins to calm down, start formulating your motivation for being here tonight. Report an error

7:16 All of the teachings of the Buddha are incredibly precious and completely priceless compared to what they can do for our minds and where they can take us. But especially any teachings on Tantra. Report an error

7:37 They say that there will be a time and there has been times where nobody is teaching Tantra and there will be dark ages. Report an error

7:48 Not all the Buddhas teach and not all the Buddhas teach Tantra. So we live in an incredibly fortunate time and in a fortunate place where these teachings are available and we still have amazing masters in the world able to give us empowerments within these lineages. Report an error

8:16 And there are still tantric practitioners doing retreat now, right now, even in the state of California, trying to gain enlightenment through these methods. Report an error

8:30 So it's an incredibly fortunate time. Report an error

8:37 And for us to even come together to learn something about these teachings in a more general way is still incredibly precious. Report an error

8:48 So we just remember again that our... Underlying motivation for any of these teachings, but especially for Tantra, has to be Report an error

9:00 seeing the suffering of our mother sentient beings and finding that suffering unbearable, wanting to end that suffering, wanting to take it away and being willing for that reason to engage in these teachings and in these methods to Report an error

9:26 gain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Report an error

9:42 So we listen to these teachings tonight with the hope that it plants the seed in each one of our minds to be able to connect with these teachings in a vital, real, authentic way and be able to begin putting them into practice in this life and if we do, Report an error

10:06 being able to progress quickly on the path for that same reason. So may whatever we gain from tonight's talk... Our discussions and the meditation, whatever we gain at all from this class and the course itself, may it lead only to our enlightenment for the benefit of every living. If Report an error

10:42 you're ready, we can start with the opening prayer by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the White Prayer Book. Report an error

11:09 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Until I reach full enlightenment inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error

11:49 I apologize. I apologize for those of you who are waiting for email responses from me. I'm way behind on my email, but I am determined to get caught up. Report an error

12:02 So I know, for example, I still owe you. I think I owe you, Lynn, some notes from the last class. Yeah, so they're coming. Luckily, over the holidays, not much is happening here. I certainly don't have much in the way of Christmas plans, so I think I can get caught up a little bit. We have a new program coordinator, as you met last week, Elizabeth, so we have a number of meetings going on. Report an error

12:25 We're trying to help her pull into it. Hey, Carla, do you want to come in? You're welcome to come in. Yeah, no, you can come in if you want. Although I heard you sidetracking Bodhi, so that could be a good role, but you're welcome to join us. Report an error

12:42 Anyway, so I know we have a number of meetings over the next week, so things will just stay behind for a little bit longer and then we'll get caught up. Report an error

12:54 I thought I would just review a little bit about this, what we were talking about last week, how tantra and in specific the three kaya meditation transforms ordinary death, bardo and rebirth. Into the three bodies of a Buddha. Then I just go through sort of the main focus again. Can we turn on that middle light again? That's okay. I have enough problem with sluggish mind. Report an error

13:23 Oh, much better. It's okay when Peter's in the class and it's not good for his eyes, but otherwise. I like it. I'm one of those people that especially in the winter you need those special lights, you know, just like aimed at your head at all times to make you feel like it's sunlight. Report an error

13:42 So we were talking about last week. like, um, Report an error

13:46 For ordinary people, when we go through the process of death, everything that we go through is uncontrolled. I'm talking about non-yogis, non-practitioners, or practitioners that are more deeply trained than I am currently at this moment. For most ordinary beings, what we want to do is get to the point where we have more control. Report an error

14:16 But normally the death process is uncontrolled in that we are at the mercy of our karma. We're at the mercy of the karma that we've already created. And as our body and our gross mind and our subtle mind begins dissolving, we could be thrown into a number of hallucinations and sort of chaotic. Tumbling of the mind and things that are happening. And when that happens, especially if we haven't prepared at all for it, different states of confusion can arise because we haven't really prepared ourselves for it. Report an error

15:07 If we at least have prepared ourselves for it... And we experience it. We might be able to just ride it out knowing what it is. That's kind of what I'm hoping for. I may not be able to decide, I think I'll be reborn in Cincinnati. But I at least want to be able to recognize it for what it is. It's like the aspect, sort of surfing it out, navigating that process. Report an error

15:36 So if we train and we are able to... Keep a clear awareness about what's going on, even some of what's going on during this process. And a little bit about what's coming next. So if we have the different visualizations that we meditated on last week, that's a very... Very good meditation for you to try to remember to do periodically. So even though you're no longer under my control in terms of homework, that's your homework for the rest of your life. Report an error

16:18 It's up to you, but it is definitely a good one to return to again and again. Last week we did the meditation. we Report an error

16:29 Dissolving the dissolution of the different eight stages of the dying process for those of you that weren't here. And I will email that to you so that you can meditate on it. It comes up also in the death and impermanence class. But this is slightly different because we want to figure out how to use this towards our own enlightenment. Report an error

16:53 That's how this exact process is used within the tantric methods. And even though we haven't, not all of us have entered Tantra yet, we can still know that much. So if we at least know the different visions and we at least have some idea about what will happen and we, this is a big one, we can remember emptiness. Report an error

17:20 We can remember that things aren't, you know, they... If they lack some sort of independent self-existence that everything feels like it has but actually is empty of, then we can have a lot less fear. So if nothing else, we can have a lot less fear as we go through the dying process ourselves. Tenzin Chokyi gave a great workshop here on the, I forgot what the title of the, it was an emptiness one. Report an error

17:54 Who was here? Were you here for that? Did she come to that? I can't remember. Probably none of you guys were here. Do you remember? It was a weekend, right? It was a Friday night and a Saturday. Yeah. I was listening to it again in retreat, and she was talking about how important it was to really focus on the... Report an error

18:18 You came, didn't you, Brian? Were you here? Yeah, you were. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, on the Saturday, yeah. And she was talking about how much easier it would make the dying process. And if you think about it, it's just logical to, if you can really gain even an intellectual understanding that the I is not this body going through this thing. Report an error

18:43 Because if we are really stuck with the I being the body, right, and the body's dying, that means, you know, it's like this whole fear of... The ego disappearing, and that's what causes so much of the fear. Could you pick her up, Jane? Thank you. I've turned on the little heater. She can, like, lie next to it and bliss out. It's okay. She's got enough imprints for right now. Thanks, Jane. She knew I was going to, so she disappeared right before class and didn't show herself to me. Report an error

19:21 Something about the way she said it just sort of stuck with me, and I can't remember the exact quote, but it's definitely a great class to download. I'll try to remember the title of the class, but anyway, anything that Tenzin Chokyi taught. Her name is spelled Tenzin, like Tenzin Gyatso, and then C-H-O-G-K-Y-I. It's a different word. Report an error

19:43 I'm on a one-woman mission to explain that it is actually a different name than Chokyi. Chokyi. Supreme Bliss is what that one means. Mine means Dharma joy or Dharma bliss. Anyway, anything that she's taught that's on archive.org is wonderful, but especially if it says emptiness in the title, go for that one for this purpose. Report an error

20:08 It's really, really useful for us to get our minds around. So during this process, if we are able to, if we are trained, If we're a trained meditator and we are going through the ordinary process of death or just visualizing it for the means of developing these methods, when we reach the point where the clear light nature of our mind dawns and we're focusing on that, which is what we did in the last meditation. Report an error

20:52 In the class for the last week, in meditation for the last week, then we are able to focus on that very, very, very, very subtle mind and the arising of bliss and emptiness all simultaneously. And it allows, if nothing else, it allows for an incredibly blissful experience. Report an error

21:23 It also allows for the possibility of a direct perception of emptiness or another direct perception of emptiness if you've already had one, a deepening of that wisdom. Report an error

21:37 And in the right people and the people who have of course done the legwork in this life, it allows for the possibility to actually get enlightened at that moment. Report an error

21:51 for, um, For the sort of regular Tantrika practitioner, this is the point when you focus on that clear light nature of the mind, that's transforming that ordinary death into the Dharmakaya experience. So that's the first of the three kayas. The Dharmakaya experience is the clear light. And then after the clear light ends, Report an error

22:21 The mind actually goes through in reverse order the different stages that we went through, the eight stages. And then one's mind arises in the bardo body, the intermediate state, the in-between state between this life and the next life. And normally this can be the most chaotic, depending on our karma. You know, it totally depends upon our karma, just like this life depends on our karma. Report an error

22:50 So it could be chaotic, which doesn't necessarily mean terrifying. It could be terrifying. And it could also just be kind of confusing. Our mind is sort of pulling us all around trying to find a body. And so if we're able to experience that in a more clear, aware and focused way, then... We can transform that into Sambhogakaya by assuming a radiant body of light rather than a bardo body, which is that subtle body in the intermediate state for an ordinary being, an ordinary rebirth. Report an error

23:35 And then finally, the next thing that would happen for an ordinary being is that due to our karma, we would take on the next body. We would enter the next body of the next rebirth that we would be taking, which is at this point for most of us, if you are who you assume to be, who I assume you to be, then we are at the mercy of our karma and we take our next rebirth dependent upon the karmic causes that we've already created, the seeds and the imprints that we've already created, which, you know, of course, are the product of our mental afflictions. Report an error

24:19 Caused by our mental afflictions, we act with our body and with our speech and with our thoughts and then those create karmic seeds and then those seeds ripen. So those kick into gear at that point and they create our entire, not just our body of the next birth, but where we're born, all the details of our environment and so forth. Report an error

24:44 A yogi could take that same experience and transform it into what's called the nirmanakaya experience, which is nirmanakaya being the emanation body, the third body, or rather all the bodies of the Buddha that the Buddha is able to send out in whatever form we need, mostly as our teachers, mostly in those forms that we recognize as the high masters, the guru. Report an error

25:15 But, you know, no reason it couldn't be that lady next to you on the bus. So, and lesser or just deciding bodhisattvas, you know, high-level bodhisattvas who aren't necessarily even Buddhas, but are beings who decide where would be the most beneficial place for women to continue to work for sentient beings. Report an error

25:37 They can decide at that point also based on... but based on really positive karma. I think it would be great for me to be born in the U.S. because Tibet's getting a little out of hand. So let me shoot myself into these people's lives, as Lama Yeshi did, deciding to be born to two of his students in Spain rather than being born in Tibet, which was quite unusual at that time. Report an error

26:10 So again, navigating that whole experience with awareness, with focus and not getting caught up in all the sort of chaos of the mind that ensues during the ordinary death, intermediate state and rebirth. Report an error

26:31 So Tantra can actually transform this sort of chaos into either Positive, in other words, having a positive result time or even a blissful time. It could even transform it into actual enlightenment. Report an error

26:55 And as Geshe-la said, of course, the chances of it actually being our route to enlightenment are completely nil if we haven't done anything. If we haven't developed all the conditions within this life. So it's not like we suddenly are going to develop all the conditions on our deathbed. So we definitely have to be able to have done the work. Report an error

27:19 But still for most of us to be able to transform that whole experience into a positive one still makes it that much more attractive than the current options for ordinary being. So this is a really brief... Report an error

27:36 But this is the whole way that Tantra uses ordinary reality to transform it into not just positive, but like this supreme experience of reality. Report an error

27:57 And when it's said, again, when it's said that Tantra cuts rebirth, it's talking about cutting uncontrolled rebirth. We can still control our rebirth and decide to take rebirth for the benefit of others. And we can set up, the more control we have over our mind, we can set up the conditions so they can be more beneficial for others. Report an error

28:20 And we can decide to do that. And in fact, a lot of high-level bodhisattvas as well as fully enlightened beings do decide. To benefit us, thankfully for us, and do show up and keep coming back, which is a different approach. I think a lot of people in the Theravadan tradition, there's this idea that when you attain nirvāṇa, you Report an error

28:55 just, you leave, like you don't stay in the world. Why would you stay in the world? It's kind of like that. But the Mahāyāna approach is the bodhicitta is so strong that you are doing it for the benefit of sentient beings. And in fact, we often do these prayers where we imagine being willing to go into the deepest hells and the most horrible conditions if it would benefit even one single sentient being. Report an error

29:22 Although Mary and I are always saying, but not if it hurts too much. Because usually you get done with those great prayers and where everybody's like all holy. And then, you know, if you have to do like one other person's job for a day, then you all get, you know, all the whining starts. Report an error

29:38 So the whining mind is a good segue. The self-pity mind. Lama actually talks a lot about self-pity mind. He sort of coined this term. I think it's such a great word. Self-pity mind is this mind that's sort of the opposite of enlightenment, actually. But it's the mind that keeps us uncontrolled. I mean, it keeps us completely from being able to reach our potential to not just get enlightened, but just to turn our minds around and to actually progress on the path. Report an error

30:14 He said, it's the mind that thinks I am by nature impure and I can't ever get pure. I have always been greedy or ignorant or critical and I can't change and now I'm going to hell. Or it thinks I am the victim of everything that happens to me and then blames everyone else. And so this is a big one, right? Report an error

30:33 If anything bad is happening to me, our entire culture is built on this. We sue, right? This is like America, the land of litigation. Report an error

30:43 This is the poor me self-pity mind, the victim mind. So currently we don't even recognize that we're doing it until we begin to read these words over and over and over and over again. We just fall into habits of becoming resentful and blaming others for the problems that we come up with. The more we study... Report an error

31:13 Emptiness and the more we study karma, we start breaking that cycle. But tantra flips it. It points it out to us and it uses these really wild techniques to help you break it. Because the three kaya meditation itself is the one that cuts this. This self-pity mind arising as the deity is what cuts self-pity mind. How can you be a Buddha and have self-pity mind? Report an error

31:48 Like it's the complete opposite of enlightened mind. So we're going to actually, I'm going to sort of describe to you. An abbreviated form of the Thrikaya meditation, even though at this point we can't, if we haven't entered Hayash Yoga Tantra, we can't arise as the deity. But I can show you sort of how it fits together. And then the meditation that we're going to do in the class and then this week is going to be a deity practice. Report an error

32:19 with Tara, but... Tara, but of course we won't be able to arise as her, but we can still go through the focus of unifying our mind and her mind as one and identifying and accessing our own good qualities, our own enlightened qualities and our own inner wisdom. Report an error

32:41 So here we start with... A few weeks ago we talked about the practice of Guru Yoga and all of the sadhanas that we do in Tantra begin with this practice of Guru Yoga where we envision our own teacher as one with the deity. So we envision the deity in front of us, in this case it would be Tara, and we see them as one with the deity. Report an error

33:19 One with our guru. It's completely one and the same. And there's a whole lot of different reasons which we're not getting into for that. But part of it is just simply making it juicier. It's just sort of making it something that you relate to more intimately. Because if it's your teacher, you have like the sweetness, you know. If it's the Buddha, it's a little bit removed, you know. Report an error

33:48 It's like some image. Unless you have a direct experience of Manjushri as your teacher, you know, which Jason Kappa did. Most of us, we might have a karmic connection with certain deities, but we don't have that kind of sweetness as we would with, say, getting Geshe-la his tea in the morning. You know, that kind of like that little extra touch of intimacy that we have with our teachers. Report an error

34:17 Or even seeing, you know, His Holiness the Dalai Lama giggling. You know, there's just a difference that we have with our teachers than we do with the Buddha. So we begin seeing them as one and the same, partly for that level of intimacy. It kind of makes us sit up and take notice a little bit more than if we're doing a deity yoga practice without the guru. Report an error

34:43 It's a little drier. Are you cold? Should we turn it? Do we need to turn on the heat? I sort of purposefully turned it off because last night I just about died. It was so hot in here. But if people do get cold, just maybe mimic it to me or something. We can always turn it back on another break. Report an error

35:05 So we start with the Guru Yoga that we did, where we imagine the Guru. or something. Report an error

35:15 And teacher in front of us. It's all one and the same. And remembering that this being that we're visualizing is embodying all those enlightened qualities that we ourselves want. So it's that we have to remember to have that little form of aspiration just like we did when we did the prostrations. We aren't just naming. Report an error

35:40 You know, these qualities, if we don't want them ourselves, we have to kind of remember not just that we want them, but that we can get them. We have every potential to develop these qualities. And so part of this practice is for us to remind ourselves time and time again that we can develop these qualities. Report an error

36:00 We have every possibility of it. Or maybe even thinking we will develop these qualities. And thinking about... Some of those qualities in detail also is helpful. So we do spend a little bit of time when the guru slash Buddha dissolves into our mind. We do spend a little bit of time focusing on that unified experience of our mind, guru's mind and Buddha's mind all one. Report an error

36:32 Like really melding as Lama Yashi says so beautifully I think like water into water. So there's no separation. And you can just use that phrase. I mean, I just think that's the most incredibly beautiful phrase. Report an error

36:50 Because we always try to make it to be more like oil into water, I think. We have to keep separate a little bit. So then, the next thing that happens, we spend a little time in that state. And then we end up dissolving. Venom Rubina really describes this very, very perfectly. We end up dissolving the physical universe around us in an instant, just like it will happen in death. So we have that moment where we think, just for a moment, all the things that I believe in so strongly exist out there. Report an error

37:31 Concretely, I get so involved in where things are in the house, how my room looks, what's happening in the city of San Francisco. Report an error

37:43 What movies are on? All that stuff is all part of our universe, right? So think of some specifics when you do it. And then it's just in a moment. It's just gone. And then we begin dissolving our own body and our mind by means of the meditation that we did last week. Report an error

38:04 There are ways in Tantra you can also do it faster, but it's actually more powerful to always use the... Dissolution stage meditation like that. Dissolving and then finally arising in the clear light nature of our own minds and really taking a moment to believe that this clear light nature of mind is the Dharmakaya. Report an error

38:31 It's the Dharmakaya of the Buddha itself. And this is who I am. You know, this is who I am. So when we're in generation stage, we're going to talk about the fact that there are two stages of Tantra. In generation stage, constantly identifying with the Buddha is part of the practice. This is the main part of the practice. This is how we transform our minds. So we constantly are saying, this is who I am. Or as Lama Yeshe always says, I am this, this is me. Report an error

39:03 I am this, this is me. We're cutting through literally eons of ignorance about what we think we are, what we're capable of, our limited low self-esteem, our overblown high self-esteem. It's like all of that gets in the way. In reality, what we are is so incredible. And so most of generation stage practices are about cutting through. Report an error

39:34 Our identification with our self-pity mind, our little mind, as Lama Yeshe calls it, and getting in touch with our big mind. So this is, we meditate a little bit, we actually stay in that state for a little while and at the same time we experience the emptiness of it. Which I'm not going to get into too much. But anything we know about emptiness, we bring into play at that moment. And then we just go into a non-conceptual meditation on emptiness. Report an error

40:07 I mean on the Dharmakaya. Report an error

40:14 And all that means in a way is just letting go and just allowing your mind to... Exist in this non-dual state for a few moments, which again could be less than 30 seconds, depending on our level of concentration and whatever else we have to do that day. Report an error

40:38 But the idea is to allow yourself all the time to keep doing these practices where you let go of conceptual thinking even just for 30 seconds and we allow ourselves to just relax into that Dharmakaya. Really believing that it's me, that this is my mind. And Lama Yeshe also is really firm on stating he's really fully aware that emptiness is not space. Report an error

41:11 It's not the same thing. But thinking about space is a way of us letting go of our conceptual thinking and our conceptual garbage. and so Report an error

41:22 At this point, we aren't going into a heavy philosophical meditation on what emptiness is. This is not your time to do the four-point analysis or any of the other meditations on emptiness that you might learn in some of your academic classes. This is simply trying to get a taste of how emptiness is. Report an error

41:49 So the idea of space is a really powerful image for us to be able to let go into. So when we dissolve everything to space, it sort of allows us to stop grasping at all the things we know, all the thoughts, you know, the way we see ourselves, everything. Report an error

42:12 There's no, you know, nothing for our senses to take in. None of the things that we get so caught up on, the sounds and colors and tastes and touch that we experience all the time, everything just dissolves and we can let go. That phrase, let go, also just comes up time and time again. But... Remember, as we've been talking all along, we have to stay alert and we have to stay focused. So we say let go, but it doesn't mean bliss out. Report an error

42:51 It doesn't mean, you know, veg brain. It doesn't mean baby to the breast. You know, remember the image of the baby on the breast. Baby on the breast can bliss out. But we can't bliss out at this point. We're trying to also stay. Report an error

43:12 So we have to also have our wisdom about us. So yeah, we let go of all the grasping and dualistic appearances and self-pity mind and all that stuff can cease to exist, but our clarity and our awareness has to stay present. So this is part of why this takes a while. You know, the methods are fairly straightforward, but our mind has to get to the point where it can actually do them. Report an error

43:48 And we don't just bliss out and get off the cushion and be like, oh, that was great, you know, because that's not the point. Tenzin Palmo was talking about when she was talking about deep states of calm abiding meditation should leave us really sharp, clear and super aware. Not just blissed out. And if we're just blissing out, then we're missing the point, you know. And so we have to be developing this calm abiding meditation at the same time that we're doing these practices of tantra. Report an error

44:19 And in fact, some of the practices of tantra are designed to help us gain calm abiding. Report an error

44:29 And of course, we need calm abiding or we'll never have a direct experience of emptiness either. So we have to stay alert. And we have to stay aware and we have to stay clear. And we have to keep as long as we can recognizing this as the Dharmakaya experience. Report an error

44:50 So, you know, after a few seconds or minutes, that dualistic mind kicks in again and we start thinking and we start, you know, conceptualizing the experience. And then... You move into what's called the Sambhogakaya experience. And you're the one that knows when this happens. You guys aren't going to be doing this actual meditation, but if you were, you're given sort of guidelines, but you have to decide when to take this step where you're going to arise. Report an error

45:11 Um, it's, um... Report an error

45:31 As Vena Rubina always says, the only reason that we take on a body at all is to be able to benefit others. So here it's like this whole reasoning process has to happen in your mind that, as Vena Rubina also says, It's all well and good for me to just stay here in the Dharmakaya, but I have to help all sentient beings. So I have to take on the body of a Buddha in order to be able to help all sentient beings. Report an error

45:59 And so we have this thought that that's why I'm taking on this Sambhogakaya, the enjoyment body of a Buddha. And then out of that we would arise in that form. And actually that's often described not so much as arising in some state of a Buddha that we recognize, but it's often described in forms of light or seed syllables or so forth that we visualize ourselves. Report an error

46:24 We visualize ourselves. We don't see it dualistically out there. We ourselves arise in that form. Report an error

46:36 Again, we have to go through that same process, recognizing this is a Sambhogakaya and then also, as Lama Yeshi says, realizing that I am this, this is me. Sort of sealing it, sealing that experience and recognizing that it is me arising in this form. Really, really believing it. All of this is really important to the process. Report an error

47:02 And this is what's called divine pride, actually, when we begin to really believe that we are arising in the form of the deity. So then, of course, we do the same thing. We try to hold awareness. We try to cultivate clear appearance of this Sambhogakaya and then let go into that experience. And then again, the dualistic mind arises. And again, we go into the third state, which is where we think, you know, only high level bodhisattvas actually can see this form of a Buddha. Report an error

47:43 Most ordinary beings can't. We can only see the emanation body of a Buddha, which is called the nirmanakaya. So then with that in mind, if I really want to help all sentient beings, then I need to arise in the nirmanakaya. I need to arise in the body of a Buddha that can actually help sentient beings, either through teaching or through them. Report an error

48:07 You know, visualizing me or whatever way that they connect with me. And so then again, you arise in that form. So that's where you arise in the body of the deity that we think of as the deity, you know, Mandushri or Chenrezig or any of the other, or Tara in this case. Report an error

48:28 And again, you take a moment to really think, I am this, this is me, you know, this is Sambhogakaya and I am this, this is who I really am. Report an error

48:39 And once you've entered Tantra and you are rising as a deity, it can't just be a game. It can't be like, this is Chokyi pretending to be Tara, but really it's just Chokyi and she's still a mess. Like you can't hang on to some aspect of yourself thinking, I'm still... We have to actually believe that we are an emanation of the deity. Report an error

49:14 And this isn't a trip and it isn't a game and it isn't to make us have supersized egos. It's truly to identify with enlightened energy and to actually Connect with those qualities within us right now and to access the seeds of those qualities right now. So it can't just be tentatively trying it on. You really have to literally throw yourself into the practice. It's hard enough trying to stay in that state with it being half-hearted. Report an error

49:53 And just like with anything else in Buddhism, if we do it half-hearted, it'll end up being a half-hearted result. And it's hugely difficult. This is a difficult thing, actually, trying to stay in this state of the deity, day in and day out, trying to see everyone as enlightened beings and so forth. Report an error

50:22 Really, really, really difficult. Probably more difficult than having to do all the practices to actually transform our body, which is getting into completion stage. At this point, we're just trying to cut through the ignorance of our mind, and that's hard enough. And probably more difficult to see ourselves as the deity than it is to see other people as the deity. Report an error

50:46 But we just arise in that state, and then we just... you know. We try to develop some sort of conviction that we are that state, we are Tara, if that's who it is that we're rising as. And then we just continue to build mindfulness to remember that that's who we're supposed to be all day when we screw up and we forget who it is that we're supposed to be. Report an error

51:19 let me, she also says that during the, um, um, During the process of arising as a deity, even during the sadhana, so you haven't even gotten up yet from the cushion, he said instead of fighting all the delusions that come up about how I'm not really the deity or all these delusions are starting to cloud my mind while I'm doing this visualization, he said instead of fighting this, just stay in your form of Tara. Report an error

51:50 And develop a deep awareness of great love and compassion. Just be Tara and let go. So again, let go. He's always saying let go. Because always we're fighting our best qualities. We fight our best experiences, you know. And we limit ourselves. And that's when he says also... To begin reciting the mantra of whatever deity we're practicing. So in this practice this week that we're going to do as sort of our baby tantrica practice, we're going to do Tara. Report an error

52:27 So we're going to spend some time with her mantra as well. Again, having too many expectations is another form of distracting ourselves. Report an error

52:39 We can just practice accepting whatever happens, whatever our own experiences are and, you know, not hoping for some better experience than we get and just being happy with whatever experience we have. Report an error

52:56 So Lama actually compares it to, he said that actually, you know, a lot of times people expect all these high experiences when they enter Tantra and he said actually... That expectation creates a sort of tightness and high expectations and dissatisfaction, another form of dissatisfaction to arise in our minds. Report an error

53:20 And he compares it to new drivers. And he said new drivers are constantly trying to remember, if you can remember what it was like, constantly trying to remember everything. That you've learned and so you're all anxious and tense all the time and you can't relax and you're constantly trying to... I remember actually when I first was trying to drive and I thought, how on earth could you check behind you in the rear view mirror and take your eyes off the road and look? Report an error

53:47 That just seemed like, how could you do that and drive? It was so terrifying. And then just think now, like when you're driving, how relaxed you are and that's the difference. So once you kind of, once you gain more experience and you... Have done these practices, then it's like, then it's like the, it feels like the car is just driving along on its own, you know, it's just, it's like a pleasurable experience and you can really take off. Report an error

54:11 So it's a lot about just relaxing when you're doing the visualizations and letting go. Report an error

54:19 So there are these two aspects of the two stages of Tantra, divine pride and clear appearance. There are two stages. We've alluded to generation stage, which I just described to you as a sort of a brief overview of generation stage. In generation stage, the main training is divine pride. That's what's helping us cut our old mental habits. That's helping us cut ignorance about ourselves and everyone around us. Report an error

54:47 That's the total. Antidote to this sort of self-criticism and critical mind about everything that we have. And self-pity mind. That's like the one thing that's going to cut that. Report an error

55:04 And that whole process is just learning to arise as the deity and learning to really... Um, so Report an error

55:14 To identify yourself as the deity, to actually experience yourself as the deity. And the more that you are able, the more concentration you have, clearly the stronger the practice you'll have. But the more intensely you can concentrate on this divine pride, the more deeply you can experience a freedom from this mind of dissatisfaction and criticism and self-pity mind and all that. Report an error

55:42 Those forms of self-limiting states of mind that we keep ourselves tiny with. And there should be three aspects of this practice. The first is this generation stage. The first part is divine pride where we see ourselves as a deity. We feel very, very certain of that. And just gaining that certainty takes years and years. Report an error

56:11 So I'm saying it simply. None of this is simple. And then secondly, we have to remember emptiness. So we have to remember that seeing all appearances as illusory, that everything that we are experiencing lacks a sort of concreteness, that independent existence that we place on everything. All those labels. Report an error

56:43 And every experience should be of great bliss, which at first is just contrived. We just try to contrive this feeling of great bliss. And then it does begin to arise naturally due to these practices, but at first it is contrived. Some of the practices of Hatha Yoga... Report an error

57:08 Increase the experience of bliss in our bodies. And there are, in completion stage practices, some of these exercises are used because they help us access our channels and winds in a certain way that allow us to experience bliss. Report an error

57:28 But at first, with generation stage, we simply imagine bliss, using whatever our most blissful experiences have been to try to remind us of that feeling as it arises. Eventually, through the completion stage practices, we're actually able to gain more and more control over the energies in our bodies. Report an error

57:51 the same way that hatha yoga practices allow us more flexibility and control with our Our gross bodies. This allows us more access and control of our subtle bodies and our subtle minds. So neither the body or the mind is more important actually in Tantra. We need both of them to be healthy and to be flexible and to be pliant. And that's part of why. Report an error

58:25 They say that the human form is so precious. We need a healthy human body in order to do any of these practices. Not just, you know, generally speaking, but specifically we need to be of right mind. We need to have a strong mind and a strong body to be able to do long meditation retreats and so forth. So that's another reason why this human body is so precious. Report an error

58:55 And Lama Yashi says actually any bliss that we've ever had in our lives is proof that we can experience even deeper bliss. So if we can imagine whatever our most blissful experience was and then quadruple, you know, a hundredfold, actually the high teachers often laugh. At what we think of as bliss because their concept of bliss is just so much huger than ours. I mean, ours is so limited. But Lama Yeshe actually says anyone who's ever had or who's open to, who's never had it, but even if you're just open to experiencing bliss, he says you have a good tantric personality. Report an error

59:41 If you're always miserable, then you're going to have a much harder time. So we have to... We have to break the habit of constantly relating to all of our experiences with a miserable mind. And this is another one that Venerable Rubina is always talking about. Always going through life with this moping mind, this whining mind, and starting to develop this sort of blissful mind of a tantrica. Report an error

1:00:14 So, um... It is important to know that everything we need for this form of blissful practice is already in our minds and bodies right now. It's just a matter of learning to control it and to access it. Again, it's not like we have to create something that our body has to fit into. It's already all in our bodies and minds. We just have to get it. Report an error

1:00:41 Um, so Report an error

1:00:47 The whole purpose of these kind of methods is clearly to get enlightened, but it's also initially, before we can do that, it's to smash this sort of ordinary view and self-pity mind. The ordinary view is the same thing as seeing things with this critical mind. I mean, that's how Geshe-la described it one time. Report an error

1:01:11 He said, if you're still finding fault with people, And things, then you have ordinary view. And it was one of those moments in class where I was just kind of like, oh. So as long as we're still fault-finding all the time, we are still stuck in our ordinary view. And of course, usually that starts with us. You know, self-pity mind is how that shows up. Report an error

1:01:42 So generating as a deity, of course, is the... direct antidote to that kind of mind because we're we're completely out of that realm we're completely experiencing ourselves as divine beings Report an error

1:01:56 The other aspect that's really important to remember is that we have to combine these two minds of emptiness and bliss into the same. So that's what Tantra does differently than Sūtra. Report an error

1:02:17 Trying to experience these two minds simultaneously, bliss and emptiness, everything is bliss and emptiness, in one experience. And with that experience, we can penetrate reality as the Buddha observed it to be. And so the only way to do that is to keep... Um, um. Report an error

1:02:42 You know, training our mind to not go completely out of control whenever we have pleasure, which is, you know, what we were talking about, the baby on the breast. Usually we just kind of lull ourselves with any pleasure that we have. So this is part of developing, trying to keep awareness. I was thinking about that actually today in yoga, you know, when you go into the corpse pose and how easy it is just to fall asleep or to just like, you know, and they almost encourage it. Report an error

1:03:12 And it actually, we should stay aware at that time. Like we're supposed to really be just allowing our body to relax, but there's no reason that our mind can't stay fully present. So it's a really good time for those of us that are practicing tantra or wannabe to... To practice, just trying to stay fully aware. So if you have a blissful experience, you can begin practicing. And probably best to go with something like that than a really, really blissful experience. Report an error

1:03:42 So maybe just a nice hot bath. Try to stay really, really aware and clear-minded instead of just lulling yourself out. Report an error

1:03:54 Because ordinarily when we have a pleasurable experience of any kind, we just try to grasp onto it. We try to own it. We try to make it ours. We try to hoard it. We try to lose ourselves in it. And none of those things are going to help us in this, with this particular methodology. We have to stay very alert and clear-minded and aware. Report an error

1:04:14 And we just enjoy it without owning it. That's the other thing. That's what the let go is all about too, is just... Dropping all of that possessiveness and grasping. It's like they often compare it to seeing a rainbow or a sunset. You can't own those, but you can totally enjoy them. And it's very much the same. So why don't I take some questions and then you guys can have a break. Report an error

1:04:43 Are there any questions about anything that I've said so far? Are you guys just all blissed out? you next Well, you can try, but if it's outside the scope, then I'll talk to you outside of the class. Report an error

1:05:12 So I've tried to be present during pleasurable experiences, for example, eating a chocolate cake. And I try to create in my humble mind a sort of thought process during that time and thinking this is delicious, but at the same time it's coming from... Report an error

1:05:37 My own karmic experience and so forth. So I was wondering if you had some sort of thought process that we could use at that time. I'm just making things up. And I was wondering if it had a more elaborate thought process during the pleasurable experience. No, I think, I mean, you can remind yourself of emptiness too. Report an error

1:05:57 So knowing that it's your own karma that brought it, there's nothing wrong with that. That's just... Wisdom about how it exists for you, your karmic appearance, that's okay. But I think in that particular time, you know, Lama Yeshi was saying not so much to do strong analytical meditation at that point, just to let go. Report an error

1:06:23 So maybe it's like a juggling act between letting go and blissing out. So it's like you're letting go into the experience but without... Losing your clarity and without losing your wisdom. So actually, usually, for example, when Venerable Bina is leading us in these meditations, she'll say, you know, take a moment to remember that it's karma and emptiness. Report an error

1:06:50 You know, take a moment and then let go of that kind of conceptual thinking. Like just go into a non-conceptual meditation at that point. Or you don't need to go into meditation if you're eating cake. But you know what I mean? Report an error

1:07:00 Use it to a certain point, but then let go of it, rather than doing too many thoughts. Yeah, so maybe that's more useful. Report an error

1:07:15 Anybody else? Report an error

1:07:27 Yeah, Report an error

1:07:38 no. I can only say that, you know, to was something so wonderful encouraging about them. I found myself wondering what your experience Report an error

1:07:38 no. Report an error

1:07:47 It's the most difficult thing for me is fighting this, the self-pity mind and the mind that tries to keep myself small. And then it is really, really hard and it takes real effort to do. So my best experiences have actually been not at work but in retreat. And it's not, and I am not. I am not a tantrica in terms of I'm not a great meditator, but my best and my strongest experiences have been when I sort of got myself out of the way, you know, and just let go. Report an error

1:08:25 So that's part of why I keep sort of mentioning that phrase, let go. I remember my sister once saying way before I became a Buddhist, you can analyze your way through any feeling. And I think it's just kind of, you know, a certain... It's probably partly what brought me to Tibetan Buddhism too, I'm sure, because I do have an analytical kind of mind. Report an error

1:08:51 But it does get in the way. And so the experiences in meditation and in practice are, for me, have been the most freeing because I have a chance to let go. And those moments can come in a practice, you know, in our morning practice of Guru Pooja as well. It doesn't have to be a day-long meditation to have some experience. But I think first it's like you have to lay some groundwork with some retreat. Report an error

1:09:21 And then you can retouch those experiences more easily in daily practice. But it's really powerful stuff. It's really, really powerful. Report an error

1:09:43 Yeah. I'm going to look at that and see if there are some aspects of it that we might show on our practice day. It'll sort of depend upon time. Report an error

1:09:59 Yeah. For me, that's always been my experience too. It's a little bit, I think it's useful for you guys to actually hear him directly. There's some power to that. And we are so blessed, right, to have these kind of, because of course in the old days they didn't have DVDs. Report an error

1:10:18 And I think he, when he was teaching, was sort of the beginning of those kind of like, you know, not the beginning of movies, but certainly the beginning where people had the access as easily, you know, in the 70s, where people were able to get so much of him recorded. So we're really, you know, we benefit by that. But I think, yeah, it is a little difficult sometimes to understand his English. Report an error

1:10:45 Be able to focus on it. But maybe we'll just pick a few key phrases or something and show them on the practice day just so that you guys can connect. I can't remember if he's in the DB video. So I'll have to re-watch that on the holidays and remember what's in there. But yeah, we might look at the introduction to Tantra too. Jane has a copy of it too. Report an error

1:11:08 We were talking about picking out something. Maybe hearing him say one of these sentences will keep it with us, keep it in our minds more. Report an error

1:11:20 It is. No, it's definitely mind-blowing. And I find this, I think I'll probably reread this book every year until I die, you know, and then pray that it, you know, comes through the bardos and somebody gives it to me as a baby, you know, because it's just really great. And it just constantly reminds you of the mind, you know, that we're trying to cultivate in Tantra. Report an error

1:11:49 Yeah. So why don't you guys take a break? Report an error

1:12:06 Yeah, could I get a little bit more? Yeah. Oh, thank you. Yeah, that'd be great. Do you need help? Report an error

1:12:16 We're going to go take a break. Report an error

1:12:22 Yeah, we're going to do the one on Tara. I'm sorry. I'm purposefully trying to make class so interesting that you can't even go to bed when you're sick. Report an error

1:12:37 Cedric's there, too, actually. Cedric's our new bookstore manager, so he can sell you a book. Report an error

1:13:01 That what? Report an error

1:13:14 Oh, good. Yeah, Report an error

1:13:27 I know. Well, I think the whole book actually is just incredible. Report an error

1:13:36 Well, the good thing is, is that there's still quite a few of his talks that haven't been transcribed and published yet, which is actually amazing. So, yeah, thank you. Report an error

1:13:47 Stay warm without getting too warm. Report an error

1:14:01 Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm not going to tell too much. Actually, I should actually say that when I first started, the very first retreat I did, I was woefully unprepared, underprepared. Is this still on, by the way? And then, to find out how it ends, you have to read the book. Report an error

1:14:24 No, actually what I ended up doing during that retreat is just meditating on the lamrim. So during the parts of the daily practice that I felt like I didn't know what the hell I was doing, I just... Report an error

1:14:40 And I had no idea that that was actually the correct thing to do. It was years later that... Lama Zopa Rinpoche was giving a teaching and he said, if you're ever, and he described the whole situation, and it was just like there is this other nun who was there, it was Munso, actually. We both just turned to each other and went, that's what we did! And I had never really discussed it with anybody else. It was very interesting, but they say that, actually that's the perfect thing. Report an error

1:15:07 They say some of us enter Tantra and... Then it leads us to the Lamrim and some people go through the whole Lamrim and spend a long time there and it leads you to the Tantra. And neither is wrong, it's just karma. Report an error

1:15:29 Oh, that's your Coke. I'm like, what is that noise? Did you hear it? I was like, is it a speaker or is it your Coke? And I heard it starting to fizz. Report an error

1:15:40 Okay. I think I owe it to Denise and Jeannie too. Report an error

1:15:50 Oh, you didn't? Oh, that's odd. Okay. But the third you're still okay with? Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah. Well, it was going to be Saturday. I was just deciding between the third and the tenth. Report an error

1:16:04 But then it doesn't seem to be... We're going to keep it on the third. Yeah. So does that work for you too, Nancy? It doesn't work for you at all. Report an error

1:16:15 Yeah, it's a drag, actually. Brian is the same. The other Brian, Brian Houston, works on Saturdays too. But... Oh, good. Are you? Report an error

1:16:33 No, I would too, actually. I wish there had been a class like this when I was, you know, just entering. I think it's great. I mean, I'm not saying that from, I'm just saying it from the fact that it's Lami Eshi stuff. I'm just blah, blah, blah-ing it. But I think it's useful to really understand it, to just get a really, at least some idea of what it is that you're entering before you just go leaping into the deep end of the pool. Report an error

1:16:57 Oh, well. Report an error

1:17:20 I'm not that clear What you're supposed to do with that What I kind of about I would focus Report an error

1:17:46 less on the object than the experience and to be aware. Of its emptiness and then to experience it as just in a non-conceptual but yet focused way. And you might try to begin with to do that with, as Carla was saying, like a piece of chocolate cake or a nice hot bath or something like that rather than... Report an error

1:18:19 Something where your mind is otherwise occupied. Because it might be difficult at that point. It's just like saying, you know, when we prepare for our own deaths and we start by when we have a bad headache. It's easier to sort of try to meditate on the different processes of death and things like that with... Report an error

1:18:48 A headache than it will be a death. So we start small and we sort of build up. When we have a really, really bad flu, then we try it then. Because we're basically preparing for a time that everything around us is pretty uncontrolled and uncontrollable. So if we've started meditating when we're slightly ill and kind of worked our way up, it's a little bit better. So when you're slightly happy, you begin trying to do these practices a little bit. Report an error

1:19:14 And just to try to... Not get sucked into that wanting to lose yourself in the experience. Just try to stay alert and aware during that experience. It's not so much using the experience itself as the object of a meditation yet. That's not really so much. It's just more staying alert and aware and clear-minded and not that kind of baby-at-the-breast suckling kind of, you know, that where we just like zone out on it. Report an error

1:19:44 So it's more like, Report an error

1:19:49 So Report an error

1:19:53 just try it with something. Food is a good example. Just trying it with food. I mean, I don't know what your relationship with food is. I suppose it might not be. But for most of us, I think we could probably use a really good meal and just trying to stay awake and alert and clear and not just falling into a bliss, which some people... Report an error

1:20:22 I remember, actually. We are turned off, right? That Report an error

1:20:30 was just recorded. What did I just say? I think all of that was all right. You guys weren't here last week. It's a little tiny black earring. For some reason, I have a feeling. Do you remember? Somebody just turned it in. Was that it? Report an error

1:20:50 So it might not have even been this class. It could have been somebody in before the class. But it was the next day, right? I Report an error

1:21:08 think who was here last week. Report an error

1:21:14 Okay, well we're going again, so I might as well start. I guess everyone else will just come in. So completion stage is totally beyond what we can talk about in this class, but we can just touch on it briefly. The generation stage practices are just a rehearsal for the completion stage practices. So the practices that we were just talking about where we imagine... Report an error

1:21:42 Basically visualization just means imagine arising ourself as a deity. The completion stage practices actually transform our body into that of a deity by manipulating the different energies in our body. So the generation stage practices are designed to help us loosen all the concrete. It's the conceptualization that we do all the time. Because if we didn't do that first, we wouldn't be able to do the deeper transformative practices of completion stage. Report an error

1:22:26 So with the completion stage practices, it's sort of like... and then Report an error

1:22:35 Which I have to admit, I have not entered completion stage practices. You have to have been practicing for a very long time and have a lot of control of your mind before you can enter the completion stage. Or rather, before you can practice them successfully. I suppose you can enter them at any time. But with the completion stage practices, we actually begin to control. Report an error

1:23:01 The winds and how they move in our body through, it's sort of like what we do with Hatha Yoga, like what I was just explaining with the different asanas in yoga, where you can actually breathe in certain ways and that breathing, or not breathing actually, as you know some yogis can actually not breathe, you know they can actually... Report an error

1:23:29 Discontinue breathing. Do not try this at home. So they can actually control their internal energies. And I've heard many stories, you know, of course there are all these different stories about great masters, but there are even masters. At this time period, and I've heard stories of people who have genuinely observed these things, people who I trust have told me stories about lamas who can actually control the weather and actually can make physical form, you know, objects invisible and things like that. Report an error

1:24:05 And if we really, I mean, it totally makes sense that if somebody can control internal energies and internal, internal, um, um, uh, Winds and channels and nadis and drops that they can actually affect the outer world as well. Report an error

1:24:27 And again, we have to just keep reminding ourselves that's not the point of entering Tantra. We don't enter Tantra to be able to change the weather. Report an error

1:24:39 However, it's useful if one is doing a fire puja. Which is when one story I heard happened and the fire puja couldn't happen because it was pouring down rain. Suddenly it wasn't on that particular beach. So we have to keep remembering that our whole purpose for entering tantra and our whole practice for doing these different methods, different stages of tantra, is so that we can be able to... Report an error

1:25:14 Benefit all living beings without exception. So it's got to be that bodhicitta motivation. So we can never get so caught up with all the things that we're learning how to do, you know, that we forget our baseline motivation. Report an error

1:25:31 And once we start developing the strength of our mind, I mean this happens in sūtra too, where we begin to develop the... Ability to keep our mind undisturbed no matter what else is happening. But with Tantra, it's possible to just experience everything that our senses come into contact with, with just bliss. Report an error

1:26:05 Just to experience it with bliss. You know, whether it's chocolate or music like we were just talking about, just to have an experience without falling into that dull attachment. That we often will just want to let go of, you know, just getting sort of that blissed out stage that I'm talking about, which is not, which is more like a dullness that we sort of allow, or stupefaction I think as Tenzin Palmo called it. Report an error

1:26:38 Instead we can use what normally arises for our normal, you know. Sense experiences to just increase our bliss without any attachment, just to enjoy whatever, just like seeing a rainbow. Report an error

1:26:59 So all of this takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of discipline. It takes many, many years. It takes a lot of retreat time. But it's also a practice that it's possible to make a lot of headway. Report an error

1:27:15 Without giving up your home, you know, without giving up any of the, I mean, it was actually the first people, the first students who requested these teachings from the Buddha were actually kings who didn't want to give up their life and power and many wives and, you know, kingdoms and all that stuff. Report an error

1:27:36 And the Buddha taught these practices to sort of... Quickly be able to attain enlightenment without having to become a yogi in the mountainside. So we can definitely use these while we're working. Report an error

1:27:54 So it is important to know that it's possible and to develop a really some sort of whatever that means to you, but some sort of confidence in them. And usually I think that comes from the more time we spend with Report an error

1:28:13 Teachers that we admire, we start gaining confidence that these things are possible by watching them and seeing what they are like. And I think Tantra is the same way, whether it's Tantra or Sūtra, I think it's true for that. But just seeing how they are in the world and seeing what this kind of mind training has done for them. Lamyashi gives four different qualities that we need. Report an error

1:28:40 to succeed in tantric practice. The very first one of these is indestructible devotion, which he defines as really having a clear understanding of this path and seeing it as reliable and worthwhile. In other words, developing this confidence about what it is that we're doing. It's easier when we're all together in a group like this or when we're sitting in class or when we're even on a group. Report an error

1:29:11 It's a little harder when we're on our own and we're in a solitary retreat or we're just doing our own practice. And so we need to constantly bolster that confidence. And we do that actually through our own practice, you know, by practicing ourselves and seeing what it does, what that experience does for us. Report an error

1:29:36 That's actually the... The biggest way and the best way to increase our confidence in Tantra. Freedom from doubt is the second one. Report an error

1:29:50 And this he defines as the indecisiveness coming from having an unclear mind, which I think we've all experienced. And doubt can... Not only can doubt make us suffer, but doubt can keep us from actually progressing at all. And so this, the way that we develop this decisiveness, is he describes it as developing a wisdom that understands the different elements of practice and their purpose and how to do them and so forth. Report an error

1:30:38 And so really gaining this kind of wisdom, knowing what it is we're doing. So the more that we study and the more that we know what it is that we're doing and we know how to handle the different things that arise, it's just from practice. It's just from doing. The third one is single point in concentration. We actually need single point in concentration to do tantric practice. Report an error

1:31:09 We can begin to experience them now, but definitely they will become more stable and more profound the more we have concentration. But we can work on developing it now. And then the final one is keeping our practices hidden or secret. And this is where he's talking about mostly... Nobody needs to know that you're practicing Tantra. This can just be something that's inside. From the external, you look the same. Nothing changes outwardly. Report an error

1:31:45 And we talked about this a little bit, but I think it's really important just to mention that nobody needs to know that it can be... Some of the best yogis, I mean you hear these amazing stories about, for example, Geshe Lama Konchok. Report an error

1:32:04 Who passed away a few years ago and sort of manifested as this gruff old lama who showed the nuns how to dance at Kopan and was quite stern. And my experience of him was I was totally terrified of him. And then he passed away and it turned out that he was just like this amazing yogi. And all these stories came out where he literally meditated. Report an error

1:32:31 Not even in a cave in the snow, but under a tree for years, you know, just with nothing, just keeping himself alive with chulan pills, these essence pills and tumo to keep himself warm. I mean, he literally is like a modern day yogi and Venomovina is actually working on a biography about him that just sounds incredible. Report an error

1:32:55 And I met this person and I was scared of him. At least I had the sense to be in awe of him, but I had no idea. And apparently so many people had no idea of his greatness. He was just completely humble and literally just a simple monk in terms of what he gave off in the appearance in the world. Report an error

1:33:20 So we can be like that, you know. um, And they say that if we cultivate these four qualities, and we practice really steadily and really, you know, we know what it is that we're practicing, so we connect with a good guru and all that. We do those other prerequisites, the common and uncommon prerequisites that we went through, that it's totally possible for us to attain great realizations. Report an error

1:33:52 And even to have the direct perception of emptiness and to attain enlightenment through these methods. And they say actually, I mean, Tantra is the only methodology that we can use that allows us to attain enlightenment within, they say, three years if one is completely disciplined. And I think it's possible to say, and I think it's necessary to say there that... Report an error

1:34:17 If you're going to attain enlightenment within three years, you're not doing anything else. You're throwing yourself totally into it. But it is possible to attain it in one lifetime, which is not possible to do with sūtra. And even they say, if all we did, if we didn't do any of the practices, but we just kept our vows, which is... Report an error

1:34:41 A huge if, because remember that most of the vows are about us remembering what to do with our mind at all times, then we attain enlightenment within 16 lifetimes. So even that's a drop in the bucket comparatively. So we're going to do a little Tara practice. Not seeing ourselves as Tara, but just... Report an error

1:35:06 Practicing some of the elements of Tantra, including especially this imagining of mixing our mind with enlightened mind and really feeling one with that. And so allowing that experience. And then also, even though we can't arise as the deity, we can still... Report an error

1:35:28 Practice some of these methodologies. So we're going to do it with Green Tara. Green Tara is this Tara. Are everyone pretty familiar with Green Tara? She's sort of the most popular of all of the Buddhas, I think. I remember once I was at Vajrapani and there was a nun there who used to be the spiritual program coordinator of Venerable Dream Bay and she was saying, I think we should have just named all the cabins Tara because everyone wants Tara cabin. Report an error

1:35:59 We could have Tara 1, Tara 2, Tara 3. So we were talking about that here, actually, naming all the upstairs rooms, you know, Tara 1, Tara 2, Tara 3. So Tara is very, very popular. She's actually very popular in Tibet as well, probably the most popular. Either her or Guru Rinpoche, I think, are probably the most too popular Buddhas in all of the Tibetan Buddhist world. Report an error

1:36:28 So her main energy is action. Her main dominant energy is active compassion. She's big on removing obstacles. She's the only one of all the Buddhas. Maitreya actually sits upright. And there are some Buddhas that are standing, but she's the only one who's seated on a cushion who's not sitting in full Vajra posture. She's actually seated with one leg in front of the other, ready to jump up. Report an error

1:37:00 And that's why on the back, yeah, that's her also. And on the practice day, we'll get her down. How's that? We'll get her down. Report an error

1:37:12 Yeah, so she's definitely about moving energy. She's also really good about moving energy in the world, political, social action and things like that. So we're going to start with, again, just like you would do at home, you're going to just take some nice deep cleansing breaths and go ahead and get into your position for meditation. Report an error

1:37:34 And at home I would also just suggest that you always not only start with the cleansing breaths to transition from whatever it was you were doing, but also to do a short meditation on your breath just to bring your mind to neutral. But we won't do that now just because of lack of time. But just let yourself take a few nice deep cleansing breaths. Report an error

1:38:14 Imagine right above your head is green Tara. So she's brilliant green in color. They say that it's like the forest. It's that color green. She has long black hair and she has it down. It's not up. Report an error

1:38:37 And she's wearing all the ornaments of a princess. So crown, armbands, bracelets, necklace, anklets. But she's completely made of green light. Report an error

1:38:58 She's holding a blue Utpala flower in her right hand. And they say this flower blooms at night, so this symbolizes her ability to protect us at times of greatest fear, literally, and darkness at night, but also times of the darkness of our lives, darkness of the soul, darkness of our hearts and minds. Report an error

1:39:27 The lotus that she's seated on also grows out of the mud, and they say that that symbolizes how each of us, no matter what we've done, Has the potential to become perfect, like her, without staying. Report an error

1:39:49 Her left hand is in the mudrā of, or the gesture of giving. Report an error

1:39:57 We call it the boon-granting mudrā. And her entire life is devoted to giving to others. Report an error

1:40:10 She's sitting in this position with her right leg in front of the other as though she's about to jump up to help. Report an error

1:40:21 Her face is calm and radiantly happy. Report an error

1:40:28 And if you can't picture her clearly yet, And just become aware of this green light and know that it embodies this amazing action energy. That's fine for now. Report an error

1:40:52 And then try to see her as completely one with your teacher's energy if you have a teacher. And if you don't have a teacher, you can imagine that she's completely one with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Report an error

1:41:09 So you can imagine his mind, her mind, his energy, her energy completely one. Report an error

1:41:24 They say, in essence, the same, and in aspect, Tara. Report an error

1:41:35 Sometimes, for me, when I do this visualization, I sort of imagine almost like a hologram, sort of dissolving into and out of each other, just sharing the same eyes or the same smile. Report an error

1:42:05 And then ask for her blessings on your mind as you do your practice, as you meditate. Work on your mind every day. Report an error

1:42:20 As you do your work in the world every day, Report an error

1:42:28 as you help with the center, you work for peace, whatever it is that you're working on, ask her to help with that. And especially if you have specific blocks right now, obstacles in your life, health obstacles or obstacles in your mind, which is of course where most of them are. Report an error

1:43:02 Or perceived obstacles in the world around you. Whatever it is that you feel like is keeping you from doing whatever your potential is to do. Report an error

1:43:24 And imagine that she's really happy that you even thought to ask. And that she sends all this powerful energy into you, dissolving all your blocks, all your confusion, any negative states of mind like laziness, that self-pity mind that we just talked about. Report an error

1:43:48 Whatever it is that's keeping you from reaching your total potential on this path. And imagine that this light just pours into you from her. This green radiant light, rainbow light, clearing away all the obstacles into your clean, clear light crystal, as Lama Eshi says. Report an error

1:44:17 So spend a couple moments just really imagining that green light purifying you. And Report an error

1:44:36 then continue as much as you can to... Visualize that as we recite her mantra. And as you recite, just imagine her sending this brilliant green light into you and continuing to dissolve all the obstacles and negative states of mind, especially all your delusions of seeing yourself as less than you are, all your habits of criticizing yourself and others, Report an error

1:45:06 all your self-imposed limitations, your ordinary view, your self-pity mind. And imagine all of these negative minds dissolving completely into empty space. Report an error

1:45:28 Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha Report an error

1:45:50 Tha Re Tha Re Thu Re So Ha Om Tare, Tutare, Tutare, Tutare, Tutare, Tutare. re tu re sa Tare Tu Tare Tu Re Soha Tare Tu Tare Tu Re So Report an error

1:46:48 Just Report an error

1:47:10 rest for a moment, letting go in that spaciousness. Report an error

1:47:27 Imagine Tara shrinking to the size of a tiny bird's egg. Report an error

1:47:36 Remembering again that she's completely one with your teacher and all his or her qualities of wisdom and compassion. And imagining too that she's completely made of this shimmering green light. And then she dissolves into light and that light absorbs into you. Report an error

1:48:04 And going down your central channel where it allows the bliss to naturally arise. And then coming into your heart, that heart chakra where your own mind. Abides and it absorbs, becoming completely one with your mind, your mind, the Guru's mind, an enlightened mind, completely one. Report an error

1:48:58 And then imagining your body dissolving and the inner visions we discussed that happen during the ordinary death begin to manifest. Report an error

1:49:13 First you experience a shimmery blue mirage, then smoke like a stick of incense. Report an error

1:49:28 Then within that smoke, sparks appear. Report an error

1:49:36 Then a single flame of a candle about to go out. Report an error

1:49:46 Then a vast clear sky pervaded by white light. Report an error

1:49:53 Then a vast clear sky pervaded by coppery red light. Report an error

1:50:02 Then a vast clear sky pervaded by darkness. Report an error

1:50:10 And then finally you experience a swoon like a faint. And Report an error

1:50:19 your next experience is your own clear light nature of mind. Remembering that it's now merged with the minds of your teacher and Tara, all one. Report an error

1:50:36 And this clear light mind arises or dawns like a clear autumn sky just before dawn. Report an error

1:50:47 And just let go. And Report an error

1:51:10 then as distractions start to arise, figure yourself go back from the clear light experience through the visions, from the clear light into the vision of darkness and into the vision of... The coppery red light, then the vast sky pervaded by white light, Report an error

1:51:39 that flickering candle about to go out, then Report an error

1:51:48 the sparks within smoke, Report an error

1:51:55 and just the smoke, and Report an error

1:52:01 the shimmery blue mirage, and Report an error

1:52:10 then you find yourself back on your cushion, and the body that you're in is now manifest from your own pure wisdom and compassion, out of a wish to help others. Report an error

1:52:25 And you have Tara in your heart, in your mind, in your mind, your teacher's mind, and Tara's mind are all one. Report an error

1:52:48 And think, what would it feel like now to arise as Tara, with all her qualities, her capacity, her wisdom and compassion, and a body completely made of radiant light? Report an error

1:53:07 What would it be like to be able to emanate wherever and whenever sentient beings need you? Report an error

1:53:17 Imagine this state. Report an error

1:53:25 Imagine what this would feel like. And Report an error

1:53:39 we'll dedicate this class and this course to each one of us being able to reach this state as quickly as possible for the benefit of every living being. And Report an error

1:54:05 I'd like to do a special dedication because it's the end of a special class. So in your gold prayer book on page 246, we're going to do... Report an error

1:54:20 The dedication from Master Shantideva's dedication chapter of the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Report an error

1:54:33 May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled. with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. Report an error

1:55:19 May the forlorn find hope. constant happiness and prosperity. there be timely rains and bountiful harvest. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. Report an error

1:55:49 May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error

1:56:11 Thank you. Report an error

1:56:15 So have a great couple of weeks and I'll see you on the practice day. And those who can't come will think about you on the practice day. I'll try to dedicate to you guys on the practice day. Report an error

1:56:28 Yes, there is homework. This is going to be your homework, the Tara one. So while that's being handed out, I also, of course, have presentation topics for the practice day. So a bunch of different ideas. If you can't come to the practice day, we can make a date and you can present something to me over a cup of tea so you don't have to get out of it. Report an error

1:56:57 Just something, five, ten minutes on something and just pick one that... It means something to you. I've never yet had a problem with two people presenting in the same way on the same way. Everybody's going to do it differently, so you don't need to tell me what you're going to do. That's okay. If you decide you want to do something that's not on the list, then I would like you to tell me just to make sure that it actually has something to do with the class. Report an error

1:57:22 Because I would really like it to have something to do with the class. And then a couple of announcements. Next week we have very limited programming. We have Tuesday night drop-in meditation, you know, through the weekend actually I should say. We have, this Sunday we have a lot of things going on because it's Lama Tsongkhapa Day, which is the celebration of the founder of this particular lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Report an error

1:57:57 And it also happens to be solstice. What the traditional approach to Lama Tsongkhapa's celebration is, is light offerings. So it's kind of cool, I think, that it happens to be the darkest night of the year and we do a lot of light offerings. So the Sunday morning talk, I'm actually giving something about his life and then we're going to do some light offerings then and then we'll do some more in the evening. Report an error

1:58:21 At 5.30 and then we're also going to have a soak that night. And then we'll have the Tuesday night drop-in and then that's it until the following Saturday. So we won't have any other programming during the week except the drop-in meditations. And then the following week for New Year's we will have Tara practice on New Year's Eve. Report an error

1:58:44 And then also on New Year's Day we're going to do Fire Puja Dorji Kadro Purification Practice. At 2, I think in the afternoon, we'll meet here and I'll give a talk about how to do it and then we're going to carpool to the beach and do a big fire puja to burn up all of our negativities for the year. So that's on New Year's Day. And then the next round of Discovering Buddhism classes start in January, I think on the 7th, with How to Meditate, a six-week class. Report an error

1:59:18 Presenting the path starts on Thursday, I think the third week in January. I can't remember what date is, 21st or something like that. It'll start and that's an overview of the whole path, including the Buddha's life and how to use that as a blueprint for practice. Report an error

1:59:36 That's that, Report an error

1:59:44 which is actually you guys got last week. So I'll email it to you. Report an error

1:59:53 Yes, I know. I remember you like ran around. We had, yeah, she came running back with it and we're like, oh. Yeah, yeah, I'll just email it. It's probably easier than running upstairs. Does anybody have a pen? And I'll just write that down because I just know. Okay, if you don't get it from me. No, here we go. Could you grab Nancy's and just make it easier? Report an error

2:00:19 Unless you're going to, are you, Lynn, do you want these notes? Okay, well then I won't write it there. Report an error

2:00:30 Okay, so then you're going to have to email me. Give that back to Nancy so I don't compound this class by stealing her pen at the very end. And actually, Lynn, if you don't hear from me by tomorrow, that means I could have forgotten, so remind me. But I'm going to go ahead and try to send you your notes and everything tonight so I remember. Okay. Good. Great. You're welcome. Report an error

· · ·

2:01:27 Yeah, I go into that. Well, it's just my... you know I have hearing aids, but that's quite... So it's great for me to have Report an error

2:01:43 to turn off this mic. Report an error

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Talk by Lobsang Chokyi, recorded 17 December 2008. Original at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/LC_Tantra_200810. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

Recorded at Tse Chen Ling Center, San Francisco, and archived by the center on Internet Archive. More from Tse Chen Ling

Listen on Internet Archive · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US