Discovering Buddhism - The Spiritual Teacher (8 October 2009)

0:04 does look really fast. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:11 it, that sounds great. It sounds a little different from the others. Oh no, look how many cushions she put. I love it. It's like the princess and the bee. Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

0:31 It's easier probably than lugging that thing over. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:46 Very Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:31 comfy, I'll never get up again. Report an error in the passage at 1:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31

1:45 It's gotten rather chilly. So if anyone is cold, there's a pile of little shawls out there, kind of. No, I'm cool. I mean, I'm fine. If anybody else is cold, you know where they are, right? The mic kept falling over, so I... Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

2:14 Like that? Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

2:21 It's like a giraffe trying to drink. There we go. I don't know. Is the recording on? Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:35 The person at home is like... Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:41 Give him a blankie. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

2:47 Anybody need a shawl? Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

2:56 You can keep it because they might change their mind after half an hour sitting here. All right. Report an error in the passage at 2:56 Highlight the passage at 2:56

3:14 Oh, I forgot to put her away. I may not put her away. Report an error in the passage at 3:14 Highlight the passage at 3:14

3:24 Do you feel up to lifting? Yeah, getting her up there because she knows you. Whoa, maybe not. I think Kara is like chasing her through the house now. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

3:36 Christine can put her up, Kara. Thank you. Christine had to do that a few times when I was gone, so I figured. Oh, yeah? Does she make them back down? Well, let's just see because she might, you know. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

4:00 All the kiddies egg and pie. Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:06 I know, the hidden side of Chokyi. All right, so we're going to start with a meditation. You Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:20 just find your posture, whatever works for you in terms of, you know, the position of your legs especially or the position of your hands. The most important element is just keeping your spine extended. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:43 Just allowing yourself to kind of breathe yourself into this room. So we all have busy lives and we've all had a busy day and various things that might distract us from being fully present tonight. So just allow your breath to wash away all those distractions. So Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:25 you can visualize breathing in pure white, clear light. And imagine that it contains all the qualities that you need tonight, whether that's the ability to focus or be present or your mind to be curious. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:55 And imagine as it enters you, it just dissolves everything in its path. So any obstacles, any blocks, Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:06 any way that you might not understand something or have resistance or even just bodily sluggishness. Mental sluggishness. And imagine as it dissolves that, then you just breathe that right back out into the night. You can imagine in the form of black smoke, like a chimney, just dissolving into the night. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:35 So just do that meditation a few times, just imagining the light entering and dissolving and washing away and then breathing out. And Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

· · · silence, 2 minutes

8:27 then think about your own motivation for being here tonight. Report an error in the passage at 8:27 Highlight the passage at 8:27

8:35 That motivation is just continually progressing on your own path, Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

8:46 building your understanding of the Dharma and the teachings of the Buddha. Or whether it's a specific wish on your part to understand the role of the spiritual teacher and maybe that role in your own life. Report an error in the passage at 8:46 Highlight the passage at 8:46

9:13 Whatever insights or understandings we gain tonight, any of us or all of us, Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:25 may it become the direct... The cause of us meeting and recognizing and being able to serve a spiritual teacher in this life, a qualified spiritual teacher, somebody who knows the mind as well as we need them to know it, Report an error in the passage at 9:25 Highlight the passage at 9:25

9:50 somebody who can show us their own wisdom, Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

9:56 somebody who can lead us all the way to enlightenment so Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:05 that we can perfectly help all other beings. Report an error in the passage at 10:05 Highlight the passage at 10:05

10:29 We'll start with Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:37 I want to Samantha, you're here. Do you know where, I don't know if we have enough copies, but maybe we can share. The black, they're like kind of black books like this, and there's not that many. There might only be like six of them, so, Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

10:55 and I need one. Thank Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:03 you. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:08 We're going to do the source of all my good out of that one, and that's the second, well, it's like the third page, but the second. Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

11:19 So we have enough? People can see? Good. So we'll start with the one by His Holiness and then we'll do the source of all my good. Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

11:35 With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, As long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

12:12 So this is just a different translation of the one that we read last week, The Foundation of All Good Qualities. Sometimes different translations are nice because you get kind of a different take on, you know, certain things. I absolutely love this translation. I started trying to memorize it one time in a retreat and then I... Report an error in the passage at 12:12 Highlight the passage at 12:12

12:32 I left the retreat and that was the end of that, but at some point I will memorize this one. The source of all my good is my kind Lama, my Lord. Bless me first to see that taking myself to him in the proper way is the very root of the path, and grant me then to serve and follow him with all my strength and reverence. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:54 Bless me first to realize that the excellent life of leisure I found just this once. Is ever so hard to find and ever so valuable. Grant me then to wish and never stop to wish that I could take its essence night and day. My body and the life in it are fleeting as the bubbles in the sea froth of a wave. Bless me first thus to recall the death that will destroy me soon. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:21 And help me find sure knowledge that after I have died, the things I've done, the white or black, And what these deeds will bring to me follow always close behind as certain as my shadow. Grant me then ever to be careful to stop the slightest wrongs of the many wrongs we do and try to carry out instead each and every good of the many that we may. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:49 Bless me to perceive all that's wrong with the seemingly good things of this life. I can never get enough of them. They cannot be trusted. They are the door to every pain I have. Grant me then to strive instead for the happiness of freedom. Grant that these pure thoughts may lead me to be watchful and to recall what I should be doing. Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:11 Grant me to give the greatest care to make the vows of morality the essence of my practice. They are the root of the Buddhist teaching. I have slipped and fallen into the sea of this suffering life. Bless me to see that every living being, every one my own mother, has fallen into. Grant me then to practice this highest wish for enlightenment, to take upon myself the task of freeing them all. Report an error in the passage at 14:11 Highlight the passage at 14:11

14:38 Bless me to see clearly that the wish itself is not enough, for if I'm not well trained in the three moralities, I cannot become a Buddha. Grant me then a fierce resolve to master the vows for the children of the victors. Grant that I may quickly gain the path where quietude and insight join together, one which quiets my mind from being distracted to wrong objects, the other which analyzes the perfect meaning in the correct way. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

15:06 Grant that once I've practiced well the path shared and become a vessel that is worthy. I enter with perfect ease the way of the diamond, highest of all ways, holiest door to come inside for the fortunate and good. Bless me to know with genuine certainty that when I've entered thus, the cause that gives me both the attainments is keeping my pledges and vows most pure. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:30 Grant me then to always keep them, even if it costs my life. Bless me next to realize precisely the crucial points of both the stages, the essence of the secret ways. Grant me then to practice as the Holy One has spoken, putting all my effort in and never leaving off. The practice of the four times highest that there is. Bless me, grant me that the spiritual guide who shows me this good road and all my true companions in this quest live long and fruitful lives. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

16:03 Bless and grant me that the reign of obstacles, things within me or outside of me that could stop me now, stop and end forever. In all my lives may I never live apart from my perfect Lammas. May I bask in the glory of the Dharma. May I fulfill perfectly every good quality of every level and path and reach then quickly the place where I become myself, the keeper of the diamond. Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:35 It's just so stirring. Nice. Keeper of the diamond is a code for Vajradhara, who is the, that's how the other one ended, who is the tantric version of the Buddha, Vajradhara. Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

16:50 And diamond is also a code for Vajra. So you see Vajra and Dorji. Vajra Sanskrit. So I did not get finished with the benefits or advantages and disadvantages of properly relying on a teacher or properly serving a teacher. So we're going to start with that, but I thought I'd just check in quickly and see if anybody had any questions about anything that we discussed last week. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:23 And then I... Probably I'm not going to be able to take quite as many questions this time and see if we can finish it. And then we can take all the questions that we need at the end. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:35 So does anybody have any questions about anything? Anything at all? It's Report an error in the passage at 17:35 Highlight the passage at 17:35

17:49 the blue one. Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

18:03 When we're meditating about a spiritual teacher, we were practicing remembering all the teachers that we have during our life. Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:19 we have the... The feeling that somebody in some way, of course, was before our spiritual teacher. Do we have to talk to the person? Oh, actually, we're going to talk about that tonight. Oh, good. Yeah, that's a good one. You mean, in other words, if you feel like this particular person is a spiritual teacher and you want to formalize that, do you talk to them directly about it or do you just in your mind? Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

18:48 At this time, yes, in my mind. Yeah, no, I mean, that's the question, right? Yes, that's the question. Yeah, okay, yeah, we are going to talk about that tonight, so that's good. You're the plant. Thank you. Yeah, that's a good question, and it does come up, and yeah, there's different answers that you'll get for sure, but I'll discuss a couple possible scenarios. Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

19:11 Yeah, anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 19:11 Highlight the passage at 19:11

19:17 Courtney, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:23 So I was a little behind on my reading and I finished the chapter, the Burzin chapters through chapter four. And one of the themes that kept coming up was this idea about the necessity of an understanding of rebirth and feeling like that was sort of a key component before finding a spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

19:43 And he did talk about how in the West that's more difficult and that was helpful. But I wondered if there were suggestions about because. I'm from the West and it's difficult for me, so I don't know if there are suggestions or readings that would be helpful to get a better understanding or be... I wish there were more books on karma. I actually just got, because I was really excited to see that the way that Geshe Sopa, Lundrup Sopa, who's Lama Tsongkhapa's teacher... Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

20:16 He is, he's the one who's the older one who's close to 90 if he's not already 90 and he's trying to do five volume commentary on the Lamrim Chen Mo and he's completed three and the final two are simultaneously being produced and hopefully will come out in the next year. So his, the second of those volumes was just entitled Karma. So I actually just got it literally today or last night. Report an error in the passage at 20:16 Highlight the passage at 20:16

20:43 So I'm excited just to see what all he covers. Of course, he's doing commentary on the lamrim, so it won't be different material, but something about, I like the way he writes, something about the way he writes that just really works for my mind, and maybe then I will also have something to tell people when they say, what can I read? Report an error in the passage at 20:43 Highlight the passage at 20:43

21:05 And you're welcome to look at it. Maybe after class you usually have to go pretty fast, but maybe you can today. Okay, so maybe I could run up and we can look at it. Yeah, yeah. It's not so super expensive, but it's still hardbound at this point because it's fairly newly released. And I think it's like $29.95 or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 21:05 Highlight the passage at 21:05

21:25 But we can order it for sure. If there are other people interested, for sure. But yeah, I just literally got it, and I'm excited to kind of look at it and just see. People were referring to it at the teachings that I was just at in North Carolina, and I was excited to see that he just called it Volume 2 Karma, and I'm like, cool. Report an error in the passage at 21:25 Highlight the passage at 21:25

21:44 And also, I think probably... Geshe Tashi Sering, the one who's coming here in November, who's the resident teacher at Jamyang in London. I think some of his books, some of which are out there for sale now, and I got them too. I'm just like so excited by just getting different input on this stuff. I'm thinking he's probably going to be dealing with karma in some of these too. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:11 So I need to look at those too. But as soon as I have those. I mean, there are teachings by His Holiness. There's one, and there's one, a couple of, there's a couple of teachings that include the, you know, the 12 links. Actually, I think Tenzin Chokyi's teaching on the 12 links is just, like, I find it the best of any that I've ever heard. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:37 And she's taught it a couple times, but she did teach it last weekend, and it was recorded, and it will. It will be available and I can give you that chart that she gave us. Actually, we have some extra of those handouts for some people that are, yeah, so I don't know if we have enough for everybody, but we can try. Report an error in the passage at 22:37 Highlight the passage at 22:37

22:57 But that's in that too and that will also go through karma. But, you know, I don't know, I just keep listening to his teachings and just trying to get... I'm clear on it myself, and if I find out, I'll definitely pass on the information to you guys as soon as I know. But it's kind of like we just keep trying to chip away at the blocks against it. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:21 I mean, trying to figure out sort of why. Why I have a hard time with it and what is that? Is it just a subjective? Is it like this really intense view that I'm going to last forever? Which often it is, even though I'm not putting that label onto it. So then I can chip away at that. There's lots of reasons why rebirth, why we have locks. Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:44 Not even getting to karma. Karma for me totally makes sense. But yeah, why? You know, that's, I don't know. I haven't gotten too much beyond that. But anyway, yeah. Yeah, it's a place to start. Yeah. And if anybody ever bumps into, you know, good articles or good teachings or whatever on karma, definitely share them with me and I'll share them with everybody, you know. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

24:15 So I'm just as excited. I think we're at this point where not all... By a long shot, not all the texts have been translated, number one. And then certainly not all the commentators have been translated. And so, you know, give us a couple hundred years. Report an error in the passage at 24:15 Highlight the passage at 24:15

24:33 And that's the problem. I think it took, they say that when the Sanskrit teachings came to Tibet, it took 500 years, you know, of study and translation. Because then you translate and then you're like, no, that's not quite right. And then your students... Take it and they're like, well, no, that wasn't quite right. We didn't know that then. And then it really takes a while before we get it. Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:57 So I know we're in an exciting place, but we're also at a place where kind of it would be nice to have like another extra hundred years behind us of masters. But, you know, we are the ones. It's in our hands. We have to at least realize karma and impermanence, right? Anybody else? Okay. Do you need a blanket? Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:25 Okay. I know, yeah. No, I had, I know it's chilly, and so it's going to kind of be like this, I think, for a while, so we handed them out. As you can see, Chris is wearing one. We handed them out at the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:38 Anyway, okay, so we're going to start with, oh, I want to give you, so tonight we actually have some really good quotes, too, that'll be sprinkled through, and then that's actually going to be one of your contemplations, just thinking about these quotes. There's some really brilliant quotes. And so I'm sort of tossing them in. But Pavanka Rinpoche actually said that this is the most difficult realization on the path, the one of genuine guru devotion, genuine relying on the spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 25:38 Highlight the passage at 25:38

26:16 Harder than almost anything else that we can imagine, even understanding emptiness and even understanding karma. And so, of course, this is, and this keeps coming up too, the moral of the story is, this is why it becomes so important for us to really take time to check up, to choose our teachers well, to Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:41 really look at their attributes before you enter into any kind of relationship with them, and before you receive any deeper teachings other than those that you might hear at a public teaching or so forth. He said, if you have any hope of reaching up to the high spiritual qualities of the various levels and paths, then from the outset you must absolutely find and follow a Lama who can show you how to do so. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

27:09 And the Lama we are describing here isn't just anyone you might happen to come across. It's not just anyone they call a Lama. I like the way he said that. It sounds so modern in a way, you know, it sounds like... Because we, I mean, it's like Geshe-la sometimes we refer, he'll say, he told a story I think in Shantideva a couple weeks ago and he said, he was referring to, he said, this one's always advertised in those Buddhist magazines. Report an error in the passage at 27:09 Highlight the passage at 27:09

27:40 This one, this one here. He was referring to this particular Lama and I knew who he met. I was like, oh yeah, I've seen it. So I'm sure he sees, you know, it's like just, it's... Such a different world in the West, you know, we like advertise our teachings in a magazine and stuff. It's very odd. I mean, we do it too. For Churn Rinpoche, we actually put ads in. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

28:01 Anyway, so this is one of those traditional lists. We have a few lists tonight, and I apologize. There they are. I'll read through them a couple times, so don't worry. Don't panic if you miss something. But this is the benefits or the advantages and the disadvantages. advantages. The advantages of serving a teacher well, and the disadvantages of finding a teacher, deciding this is your Lama, and then just like... Report an error in the passage at 28:01 Highlight the passage at 28:01

28:29 I do want to state that, actually. The reason why... We even teach a class like this and the reason why I even teach a class like this and I remember Lama Zopa actually saying this many times he said it again in Asheville and he said it the very first teaching when he hooked me that I heard him teach on Guru Devotion in 98 he said the only reason I'm teaching you this is to protect you so you know what you're looking for and you know how it all works. Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

29:14 So you have the tools and then it's up to you. But he said, I'm not teaching you this stuff so you see me as a Buddha. He's like, I'm not saying it for that reason. I'm trying to give you the information. So let me say the same thing. This isn't to freak you out. It's simply so that you have more tools to understand how this whole system works, just like with karma, so we can make it work for us. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:40 If we know how it works and it works for us, then we can all get enlightened. But otherwise, we just end up with that guy that advertises in the other magazine. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

29:52 Yeah, really. Report an error in the passage at 29:52 Highlight the passage at 29:52

29:57 Okay. So this particular translation of the advantages and disadvantages comes from a friend of mine, Venerable Brian Smith, also known as Lama Marut, who... it, you know? Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:11 I just like the translation. It sounds kind of like more normal English. But this comes directly from the Lama room. So the first, of course, is that we will be closer to Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:25 They always give you the advantages and the disadvantages because this is your advertisement. This is what's going to sell you on doing it right. They do this for all of it. They do this for bodhicitta. They do this for the... You know, generating common biting and single point of concentration. So this is your advantages and disadvantages. I don't know if it works with the Western mind in the same way, but what works well is, I think it is good to have this information. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:55 So we get closer to Buddhahood. Why do we get closer to Buddhahood? We get closer... There's a couple of reasons. One is because we actually practice the instructions that they tell us to do. I mean, it's just common sense. Some of this stuff is common sense. It's not like, again, we get closer to Buddhahood because they sprinkle us with fairy dust. It's not like that. We get closer because as we're relying on them, we're actually doing what they say to do. Report an error in the passage at 30:55 Highlight the passage at 30:55

31:24 But we also gain the merit from honoring them, from serving them. In order to progress on the path, so this is all part of number one, we get closer to Buddhahood because we accumulate merit, because we serve them, or we take care of them, or we honor them, or whatever. For us, for those who did the karma class, a really powerful object helps us accumulate more karma. Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:53 Than a less powerful object. And the most powerful object that we could possibly even imagine is actually the guru. It's actually a qualified spiritual teacher. It's more powerful than even if we had the Karmanisi, Manjushri or Shakyamuni. It's more powerful even than that. Because that guru is... Taking us to enlightenment, me personally, not just all sentient beings. Me personally, I have the karma to work with that teacher. So that teacher becomes very, very powerful in my life, karmically speaking. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:26 So just through properly serving that teacher, he or she, I will get closer to Buddha because I'll accumulate that merit and I'll do what they say. Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:42 We'll be closer to Buddhahood is number one. Number two, you'll please the Buddhas or you'll please the conquerors. You sometimes see these code words. The conquerors is just anyone that's conquered the, you know, conquered saṃsāra, conquered the mind, conquered afflictions, you know, conqueror, like conquistadora. Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

33:05 That's the way they translated it in Mexico. Conquistadora. I was like, oh, that's great. That makes sense. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 33:05 Highlight the passage at 33:05

33:14 Yeah, you might have saw when we read the lamrim poem at the beginning, there was also a line that said, son of the Buddhas, or children of the victors, I think, or something like that. That's talking about bodhisattvas. That's the code word for bodhisattvas. It doesn't mean that they're physical sons or daughters. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:36 So you please the Buddhas. Why do we please the Buddhas? So he gives two points here too. We fulfill their aim, which is to get all sentient beings enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

33:46 If we're collecting the causes for ourselves to get enlightened, we're on the way. So it's kind of like if the parent sees the one kid doing their homework, then they're like, great, okay, that one at least tonight is okay. I don't know the other one that snuck out the window. We're worried about her, but that one's okay. Report an error in the passage at 33:46 Highlight the passage at 33:46

34:07 So, you know, so that pleases them. They also say that we please the Buddhas who abide in our Guru. This is interesting. Report an error in the passage at 34:07 Highlight the passage at 34:07

34:23 No matter what kind of offerings you give, if you're not serving properly, the Buddhas aren't pleased, but just by serving your Lama, they come into your Guru even if you don't invite them. In other words, they're all there. So this is starting to get into, and we're going to get into this more deeply in later classes, really starting to get that there's not a lot of separation between your guru, whoever that is that you've checked up thoroughly, thoroughly, for a long time. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:55 You then begin to see there's not a lot of separation between them and all these Buddhists because they have the power to get you personally enlightened. It doesn't mean that they even really actually are a Buddha from their own side. It just means for you they are. For you they are. And for you, you know, you begin seeing that there's not a lot of separation. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:16 Rather than treating them kind of one way and then being like, you know, it's not like that. Like we have to remember, you know, to honor them too instead of focusing so much on their faults. So number one, we'll be closer to Buddhahood. Number two, you please the Buddhas or the conquerors. Number three, demons will not be able to harm us. Report an error in the passage at 35:16 Highlight the passage at 35:16

35:45 Kara, you like this one. He actually says demons and evil companions. What does a demon look like? A demon is not necessarily somebody with funny little horns and a red tail and all that. A demon could just be... Report an error in the passage at 35:45 Highlight the passage at 35:45

36:02 Big problems that we can't figure out. You know, it could be a broken car or a missing car. It could be huge doubt, like a big block, some sort of a big karmic obstacle in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 36:02 Highlight the passage at 36:02

36:18 It could be, you know, huge discouragement. Or some friend who's trying to discourage you. That's ridiculous. I can't believe you're going to spend your whole vacation meditating in the woods. That is so boring. Just somebody who's just not helping you progress on your path. They aren't encouraging you. They're actively discouraging you. Report an error in the passage at 36:18 Highlight the passage at 36:18

36:41 Could be a mom. I mean, you know what I mean? It doesn't have to be some friend that you just want to blow off. It could be somebody that just, or a husband. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

36:50 Our wife or partner or whatever. You know, it doesn't have to be, you know, when we think about this word demon, often we're like, you know, great, I don't have any demons in my life, but I usually produce the best demons in my own life, you know. Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:04 So, yeah, sometimes it's interesting just to look at who are the biggest demons in your own life right now. I'm pretty good at creating my own, even as somebody who's taken the celibate lifestyle. I don't need a partner or whatever. I have enough activity going on in my own mind. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:23 Amy Miller, who's actually one of the founders of this center, and she's now the director of the Miller-Rapist Center in Vermont. We used to make jokes about all the billions of beings inside of our own minds and how they'd be having all these different arguments. Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

37:37 So if you're properly serving a guru, then they aren't able to harm us. That doesn't necessarily mean physical harm will never happen to you if you have the karma for it to happen. It just means that this power of these negative forces in your life becomes meaningless. Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

38:03 Our mental afflictions and bad seeds automatically come to an end. Mental afflictions... Who wants to describe what a mental affliction is? Anybody remember the actual definition of a mental affliction? She actually restated it again this weekend. A delusion. But keep going. That's just also another way that it's described. That's an example, but the definition. Report an error in the passage at 38:03 Highlight the passage at 38:03

38:34 Anything? Yep. You got it. Yep. Say it again. Say it into the mic. Any thought that disturbs your peace of mind? Yep. That's it. And I love how simple that is because it can literally be anything from slight, you know, irritation with the timbre of somebody's voice all the way up to like road rage and, you know, murderous, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:03 I mean, it can be huge or it can be tiny and they all disturb our mind. And it doesn't have to be anger. It can be grasping attachment to the ice cream in the fridge. It doesn't have to be something really, really huge that's harmed somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:19 It's just anything that disturbs your peace of mind. So our mental afflictions and our bad deeds automatically come to an end. Again, this is common sense because if we're following the Guru's instruction, if we're following the spiritual teacher, then we know how to avoid the bad deeds. We understand karma. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:37 And we know how to collect good karma. So we begin making those changes in our life just because we're putting these teachings into effect. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

39:48 Number five, all of our realizations of the paths and their levels will develop further. So this is referring to the paths and their levels is referring to the five paths, which is the stages that our mind goes through as we're getting enlightened from the sutric point of view over many, many lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 39:48 Highlight the passage at 39:48

40:11 So the path of accumulation, accumulation of merit, path of preparation, path of seeing, which is the shortest one, path of meditation, and path of no more learning. Report an error in the passage at 40:11 Highlight the passage at 40:11

40:30 I'll say those again. Path of accumulation, or merit sometimes, you see. Path of preparation, path of seeing, Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:45 code word. That's where you directly perceive emptiness is on the path of seeing. That's why it's the shortest one. It's exactly that moment when you directly perceive emptiness for the first time. So it can be as short as, they say, 20 minutes. And the path of meditation kicks in and that's a lot longer. Sometimes called the path of habituation. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

41:07 Path of meditation is sometimes called the path of habituation, which I actually like because you're habituating your mind with this experience of having directly perceived emptiness through deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 41:07 Highlight the passage at 41:07

41:19 And the path of no more learning is actually what? Report an error in the passage at 41:19 Highlight the passage at 41:19

41:25 No more learning. It's called no more learning. Buddhahood. Got no more else to learn. You're omniscient. So these are not talking about paths that our feet walk on. They are literally these experiences within our own minds, and our minds being, of course, these vast, the subtle aspect of which goes from life to life to life to life to life. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:55 It's like the long spaghetti noodle of our entire existence. Report an error in the passage at 41:55 Highlight the passage at 41:55

42:04 The title of that? Yeah. All of our realizations of the paths. I'll just say that. We'll develop further. He actually says, and their levels, especially when you get into the path of habituation. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:21 It has all these little levels. Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

42:29 Number six, we'll never lack a spiritual teacher in our future lives. And this is talking about karma. By serving our teacher correctly in this life, no matter who that person actually is, quote unquote, as though there were an absolute reality out there, we have to keep remembering karma and emptiness, karma and emptiness, you know. Report an error in the passage at 42:29 Highlight the passage at 42:29

42:51 But if we serve that teacher correctly with our mind, we get the karma for it, no matter who that teacher actually is, if there were an actual. Reality. So, you know, we get the goods no matter what. So as long as you have checked up thoroughly and this person becomes your teacher or this being becomes your teacher and you serve them correctly, then you create the cause to have good teachers in all your lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 42:51 Highlight the passage at 42:51

43:25 That's kind of what works, how karma works. Report an error in the passage at 43:25 Highlight the passage at 43:25

43:30 And that one's called the experience similar to the cause. Those of you that have studied. The four results of a karmic action, the results similar to the cause, which is the tendency to do it over and over and over again, which in this case is a good one. It's good to remember that that karma actually is positive sometimes too and not always negative. And then Pabaka Rinpoche actually said, even if our spiritual teacher is only an ordinary person, according to whom? Report an error in the passage at 43:30 Highlight the passage at 43:30

44:02 We must regard him as a Buddha. And we're going to get into this because this is kind of a huge subject. This is why a lot of people run in fear of teaching this subject. This enables us to, this is still continuing the quote, even if our spiritual teacher is only an ordinary person, we must regard him as a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:21 This enables us to receive direct Dharma teachings in the future from Maitreya or Manjushri. So there are stories about Lama Tsongkhapa. Actually receiving teachings directly from Manjushri, first via his teacher and then directly. I think he did his first long retreat on Manjushri when he was really, really young. Report an error in the passage at 44:21 Highlight the passage at 44:21

44:46 I want to say like seven. Yeah, he received an empowerment when he was like seven and then went into like this long retreat on Manjushri and then developed this really, really close connection and just began receiving teachings directly from him and Maitreya actually as well. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:03 Number seven, we will not fall into lower realms, even if we don't fully believe in them yet. Report an error in the passage at 45:03 Highlight the passage at 45:03

45:13 Some of the ways that I try to figure out, like the whole thing with the realms, you know, we were talking about that today at lunch. It's so hard when you, especially if you're having an okay time, if you have a pretty okay life, it's so hard to imagine the utter chaos that's happening just on the planet somewhere else, just down the block somewhere else, you know. Report an error in the passage at 45:13 Highlight the passage at 45:13

45:36 Like the complete hell that's going on in some house nearby that we just don't know because it's quiet here, you know. It's quiet, pretty quiet in my mind even right now, you know. Or just the complete chaos, for example, in Indonesia having just gone through like this amazing natural disaster. Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

45:59 Sally, who used to be the director at Jamyang in London, I get their e-news, and she talked about a couple of things out of the quake that just struck her as just so horrible and such horrible teachings and how quickly things can change. And she said that there was something, there was a party, a wedding party. 400 people gathered for a wedding party and the earth just opened it up and the whole thing disappeared. Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:27 The entire building and all the people. I mean, it's like something out of the Bible. It's just so beyond the scope of my imagining. But just because I can't imagine it doesn't mean it's not happening. That's what's so, that's where I get that, okay, something. As so horrible as they describe the lower realms could actually be. Just because my mind can't imagine it. My mind can't even imagine what it must have been like in Serbia. Report an error in the passage at 46:27 Highlight the passage at 46:27

46:56 You know what I mean? Just because my mind can't imagine. I can't even really imagine what it was like in South Central. Just because I haven't had those experiences in this life. So it doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist. Just because my mind can't get around it. Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:13 Anyway, that was a tangent, but it's sort of like, it's kind of hard for us to get our mind around the different lower realms too, I think. The early disciples of the Buddha were fortunate in some ways because he would take them and show them, this is what it looks like, this is how beings are suffering right now. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:31 And if you saw it, man, with your own eyes like that, with your teacher showing you, you'd... You definitely would study really hard when you got home. You know what I mean? Like it would be so much more real. We just don't have the karma for that one. At least I haven't yet. I'll let you know if that one happens to me. That'll be in the next class. Report an error in the passage at 47:31 Highlight the passage at 47:31

47:54 Yeah, so just serving the Lama correctly, how will it keep us from falling? Again, if we are following their advice. Um. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:05 Then we know how to practice karma. We know how to accumulate merit. We know how to purify. Those teachings will come to us and we will practice them. That's how we keep from falling into the lower realm. Again, it's not like they just give us fairy dust and then we don't suffer anymore. Number eight, we will achieve all temporary and ultimate aims effortlessly. Report an error in the passage at 48:05 Highlight the passage at 48:05

48:36 And so this is where the first verse of the poem that we just read. The source of all my good is my kind Lama, my Lord. Bless me first to see that taking myself to him in the proper way is the very root of the path. And grant me then to serve and follow him with all my strength and reverence. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

49:03 So the reason that they say it's the very root of the path means simply it's the root. Path, again, often is used for this term. It's like our mind. So all the best qualities of our mind. They come, are rooted in serving a teacher well, following their advice. If they are a proper Dharma teacher and we've checked up, then we will attain all those qualities because we can actually attain enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:31 So even if we just begin practicing in this life, we should attain certain qualities in this life. I mean, if we're doing what they say and we are practicing the Dharma, we should have changes in how we treat other people and how we think about other people. Report an error in the passage at 49:31 Highlight the passage at 49:31

49:48 How kind we are or not. And how courageous we get. And all those things that we want, all those qualities, we should begin developing. Or something's not quite right. Report an error in the passage at 49:48 Highlight the passage at 49:48

50:02 So those are the eight advantages. Pretty good. The disadvantages are basically the inverse of these, which I'll say. But then there's also kind of eight more. Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02

50:19 Yes, yes, actually let me read, yeah, all eight. Why don't I read all eight, actually. So we will be closer to Buddhahood. We'll please the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:30 Demons will be unable to harm us. Our mental afflictions and bad deeds come to an end. Our realizations of the path will develop further. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:44 We'll never lack a spiritual teacher in all our future lives. We will not fall to the lower realms. And will achieve all temporary and ultimate aims effortlessly. Will achieve all temporary and ultimate aims effortlessly. Can Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:05 I see your pen? Report an error in the passage at 51:05 Highlight the passage at 51:05

51:09 For some reason Word decided to add A, B, C, D. I love it when it decides it's going to help you organize things. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:19 So the disadvantage is the inverse of these eight would be, I think I got this right, I will not get closer to Buddhahood. We won't please the Buddhas. Demons will be able to harm us. We'll keep our mental afflictions. Our spiritual path won't develop. We'll lack spiritual teachers in all our future lives. We will be able to fall to the lower realms and we won't achieve any of our aims, temporary or ultimate. Report an error in the passage at 51:19 Highlight the passage at 51:19

51:49 I'll say that again. Exact opposite, yeah. We won't get closer to Buddhahood. We won't please the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:02 Demons can harm us. Remembering what demons are. Can't fix that car. Nobody can fix that car. So you can't go to the teaching because your car doesn't work. I mean, honestly, it does work that way, you know. You'll keep your mental afflictions. Your spiritual path won't develop. Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:23 You'll lack spiritual teachers in all your future lives. That one horrifies me, actually. You will be able to fall to the lower realms. Um... Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:32 You won't achieve any of your aims, temporary or ultimate aims. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:40 In addition, improperly serving a Lama or letting your devotion lapse, which means you've already found a Lama and you've entered into this relationship and then you just sort of get bored with it or whatever, or worse, get angry. Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

52:58 There's another eight. scorning There's that word that we don't use very often. We talked about this. The last time I taught this, we talked about that word for a while. By scorning our guru, we scorn all the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

53:13 And so then when I looked it up, scorning means disparaging or disrespecting. Because scorning sounds like something I don't do very often. It's like one of those words from the Scarlet Letter or something that time period. But then when you say disrespecting, that's a lot easier. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:32 Or disparaging actually sounds like you're verbally saying, like maybe, you know, maybe sitting around with your friends. He doesn't know so much. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:42 If the guru is, and of course this is a big if, and the remaining weeks of this class we're going to be discussing this, if the guru is a physical embodiment of all the Buddhas as their representative for us, if we scorn them, then we scorn all of them. You know, if we scorn him or her. That specific one for us, then we scorn all of them. And all of these are big, big ones. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:15 Gay Men Saṅgha just contacted me and asked me if I want to come and give a talk for them again, which I've done a couple of times. And of course you're always kind of, you're kind of hoping that they'll ask you to do like a specific one that's easy for you to do. No. They decided to do Trust. It's like Trust, huh? Report an error in the passage at 54:15 Highlight the passage at 54:15

54:38 So I actually think I'm going to do it on this scary thing that we call faith. I'm going to do it on faith because I fear nobody else. It's got to be the Tibetan Buddhist right that's going to do it on faith. And also I feel like that's good for me to investigate what is this thing called faith. So I think that's what I'm going to do it on. Report an error in the passage at 54:38 Highlight the passage at 54:38

54:55 I don't know what day it is yet. It's going to be in November. Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:01 Yeah, I like them. They're very nice. They do. Of course, I'm saying all this, you know. Hi. Hi, guys. Report an error in the passage at 55:01 Highlight the passage at 55:01

55:10 It's like a, what do you call it, with the different denominations, non-denominational from the Buddhist point of view. So, you know, some people in there are Zenis and some are Tibetans and, you know, some people are just interested in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 55:10 Highlight the passage at 55:10

55:24 So they try to have teachers from different groups. So that's number one. And Lama Zopa goes into this one quite a bit, and I will give you more of his teachings on this in the next few weeks. But he said, the way that he teaches this is, we need to learn to protect our own mind from being hypercritical of anyone, especially somebody who is in the position of, we've entered willingly into this situation of... Report an error in the passage at 55:24 Highlight the passage at 55:24

56:03 Of this person trying to teach us and lead us to enlightenment. And for us then to be criticizing them constantly, it's not good for our minds. So part of these teachings are just to protect us. Number two, if we become angry with our guru, of course he spent a long time on this one in Asheville. If we become angry with our guru, we remain in the hells for as many eons as moments of anger. Report an error in the passage at 56:03 Highlight the passage at 56:03

56:31 I know. Why? It's very, very heavy to get angry with your guru once you have one. You can disagree with what they're asking you to do, and we'll talk about how to do that in a respectful way. You can tell them you can't do something if you can't and why, which I had to do, so I'll tell you that story. It wasn't like anything, you know. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:59 No, but nothing illegal. It was just simply I was not in the right living situation to be able to do frustrations at that time of day. But anyway, but it's very, but remember too the teachings when we're talking about with anger in the karma class, it's taught never to get angry with anyone. It's taught that anger at anybody can destroy all of our merit in a single moment. So anger is huge. Then if we then direct that towards somebody who We at least at one point thought I was a qualified teacher. And just because we don't like what they're telling us now, usually, I can tell you from my personal experience, it usually comes down to something that my ego doesn't like. Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:44 That's usually what's bulking. Yeah, so they're just saying it's very, very heavy. Report an error in the passage at 57:44 Highlight the passage at 57:44

57:55 And again, you can disagree, but to do it without anger. And, you know, ultimately we're trying not to have anger, period. Towards anyone, at any time. This is like my new motivation every morning. I will not get angry today. There's a great quote from Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life that is just like getting angry. Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:20 It doesn't allow me to attain any of my goals. I mean, I'm not saying it correctly, and I actually will give it. If anybody's interested, I'll send it to you. It's just the most beautiful thing. It's that same one that His Holiness will do. Why, if there's nothing that can be done about it, why get angry if you can't, you know. Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:37 Anyway, I'm going to mess it up if I try to say it now. But anger doesn't help anything. You can decide you want to change a situation. You can counter somebody and stop them. You know, in a way that's forceful. But the anger itself doesn't help. And in fact, often hurts the situation because the person can't hear you anymore. Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

59:02 Or you can't hear them, which is even more important. Like that anger clouds our ability to be clear, you know, or compassionate. Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02

59:12 Though we practice tantra, we'll never attain the goal. In other words, it just won't work. So that's number three. Even if you practice really diligently, following all the fine print, and there's lots of fine print in tantra and mantra, if we're disrespecting our teacher and we're scorning them to somebody else, we can't make progress. Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:42 Our path is our mind, so if our mind's messed up and angry, it's not going to work. I mean, again, it's not rocket science. Report an error in the passage at 59:42 Highlight the passage at 59:42

59:54 It's common sense. And then this one, the wording on this one, even if we try to practice Tantra diligently, it's like we're putting all our efforts into trying to be reborn in the hells. Report an error in the passage at 59:54 Highlight the passage at 59:54

1:00:11 Ooh, I know. So much of, I mean, Tantra can only work if you have a good relationship with a spiritual teacher. It's not going to work otherwise. They have to show us. And if we aren't, if we're following them but we're disrespecting them, that's not good. If we feel, if we're acting in one way outwardly but our mind is disrespectful, that's not good either. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:39 Like we'll never be able to really, you know, follow their advice. Or follow it sort of outwardly in front of all of our Dharma brothers and sisters but we won't, you know, inwardly be doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:39 Highlight the passage at 1:00:39

1:00:54 If we disrespect our guru, we'll generate no new knowledge, and whatever we have will degenerate. That one's also scary to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:54 Highlight the passage at 1:00:54

1:01:04 And this one comes from just this element of arrogance, because disrespecting usually has this element of arrogance. And arrogance, they say, is the biggest block in the teachings on our path. This mind of arrogance or pride, this mind of thinking, I already know how to do that. You know, don't tell me. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:47 That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, imagine that. I mean, if he was already, like, having visions of Manjusha when he was seven, you know. But that one comes up with some of the other ones, too, like Atisha. got to a point where he thought that Report an error in the passage at 1:01:47 Highlight the passage at 1:01:47

1:01:44 feature, you know, I know it all. And then the key is aiming. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:44 Highlight the passage at 1:01:44

1:02:01 And a saṅgha, you know, because they already had these brilliant, really fully developed minds early on. And they often say, like, the tulkus are often really these, you know, it's like, that's actually one of the signs sometimes when they're like two-year-olds and stuff, that they're really, really kind of arrogant. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:01 Highlight the passage at 1:02:01

1:02:17 You got a little of that in Kunda, remember? He's like, no, you can't, you know, he's this little kid, he's like, that's my seat, you know. And they're all kind of like, yeah, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:28 But, you know, they figure it out later in life. Luckily, in his case, the Dakinis came and told him, in our case, we just have to rely on, you guys have me, sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:28 Highlight the passage at 1:02:28

1:02:39 But, yeah, I mean, that element of arrogance is what we're trying to cut there. If we, you know, it blocks us, we'll never be able to progress. We'll never be able to. And what does progress mean? Progress just, when we say these terms like progress on the path, it's just really talking about in our mind, gaining realizations, really understanding karma, really understanding emptiness, really understanding impermanence so that we can act on it in our lives and make changes. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:39 Highlight the passage at 1:02:39

1:03:06 That's what progression on the path really means. It doesn't really mean getting somewhere, figuratively getting somewhere. We'll be afflicted by diseases and other adversities. And these are karmically created. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:06 Highlight the passage at 1:03:06

1:03:29 And we can't even purify them or accumulate merit if we aren't properly relying on our teacher. So we're just sort of digging ourselves deeper. We can kind of see where these are going. We're just digging ourselves deeper. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

1:03:45 In future lives we'll wander endlessly in the lower realms. And this is actually what Report an error in the passage at 1:03:45 Highlight the passage at 1:03:45

1:03:55 we said before. It falls to the lower realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:55 Highlight the passage at 1:03:55

1:04:02 And again, number eight is we'll be without spiritual teacher in all our future lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:02 Highlight the passage at 1:04:02

1:04:13 You know, just because we have all the causes and conditions together in this life, even at this moment, doesn't mean that it will last forever. It doesn't mean we'll have it again anytime soon. Which is something that I have to remind myself of, because I feel like I have pretty great conditions right now, and it won't last forever. Keep reminding yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:13 Highlight the passage at 1:04:13

1:04:33 Just because you have it right now doesn't mean you'll even have it next year. And it doesn't mean it has to end with your death. It means that, you know, I could get brain damage or I could, you know, like anything could happen to my health or, you know, the center could close or anything could happen where I no longer have these conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:04:49 So that's what, like, it behooves us to get going just because we meet spiritual teachers in this life. So again, the moral of the story is spend a really long time preparing and, you know. Figuring out what it is that you want, and then once you find somebody, really check up. And then just kick in, you know, and just do your best to serve them. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:05:16 So the next part of the class, I wanted to talk about the ten qualities, or actually the qualities of the spiritual teacher that are traditionally taught. And then there's a lesser list and a lesser list for those of us in these degenerate times who can't find somebody with all ten. Which I thought was so kind of them to come up with that. But I thought one thing that we could do, who writes really fast? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:16 Highlight the passage at 1:05:16

1:05:43 Who's a fast writer? Barry is. Are you a fast writer? No, who's a fast writer? It's okay, can you read it? Okay, so you write it down. So people can call out what would be a really good quality of a teacher. Let's see what we come up with. See if we can come up with. With a few before I cheat and give you the 10. This is important. This one's really important. And this is one that especially once you're trying to figure out if the teacher that you found is the teacher that you want to work with. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:22 I've spent a long time meditating on this with my particular teacher, but also with other teachers. I think it's a good one to see. Any ideas on what would you want? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:39 Patience. I'll repeat so that way we don't have to pass the mic around. Patience. Yeah, that's a good one. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:06:48 Kindness. Yeah. Because you're scared. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:48 Highlight the passage at 1:06:48

1:06:58 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:03 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:07 You want this person to take you to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07:07

1:07:16 Yes. I like that. Yeah. Like sort of steadfastness or something like that. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:16 Highlight the passage at 1:07:16

1:07:25 Is enlightened. Why not go for it? Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

1:07:38 He's scared too. doing this. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:07:44 love you. So she says you already had to do that. That was good, yeah. Understanding. So understanding like in that sense, kind of like kindness actually. Yeah. Forgiveness or, yeah. Yeah. I know. Smells like hot cocoa or something. Anybody else? Any other? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:44 Highlight the passage at 1:07:44

1:08:18 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's specifically for you. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:18 Highlight the passage at 1:08:18

1:08:38 Yeah. I don't know how you'd say that, but quick thinker will put for now. Yeah. Yeah. It's like with all the changes in our minds constantly from minute to minute to minute, but also from life to life to life and also year to year to year. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:38 Highlight the passage at 1:08:38

1:08:57 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:57 Highlight the passage at 1:08:57

1:09:01 I know for me one was somebody with, it's kind of like that steadfastness, but like subdued mind. That was a really big one for me, just trying to find somebody because my mind is subdued. Yeah, but even more than calm, because they could be outwardly really charismatic, but inwardly it is kind of like that, just that steadfastness kind of, but I think through meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:50 That's it. You do sometimes, yeah, for sure. Yeah. So what is that? What do we call that? For me, wise. Yeah. Hopefully they're wise. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:50 Highlight the passage at 1:09:50

1:10:06 Yeah. Like they have some bigger view. Actually, kindness can sometimes look like that. Yeah. If you need it to look like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:06 Highlight the passage at 1:10:06

1:10:22 Anybody else? You've been quiet just because you're writing them down. You still get to have an opinion. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22 Highlight the passage at 1:10:22

1:10:31 Yeah. Totally. Got to know the stuff. Yeah. Yeah. How about you? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:41 Humility is a good one. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's see. Let's see what Lama Tsongkhapa said. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:10:53 The first three, so he gives ten, and some of the ones that we've mentioned are in here. But it doesn't mean that we can't personally kind of think about what we would look for and how some of these things may manifest in some of the things that we said, too, in just a different way. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:17 I wasn't cheating, but the first one's subdued. But in this case, it's actually talking about ethically subdued. And that one was also very, very important for me. I remember that one. I remember feeling that with Lama Zopa. I felt like just completely and utterly safe in his presence. And I don't even know why. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:17 Highlight the passage at 1:11:17

1:11:35 Like that one, I don't even, like there's no intellectual or conceptual thing. It was just like the feeling. But this one's talking about specifically ethically subdued, having the higher training in ethics. So there's three higher trainings that are traditionally taught as the way that we attain nirvāṇa, actually. So they're from the Theravadan teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:56 And they build on each other. There's the higher training of ethics. There's a higher training of meditation or concentration. Then the higher training of wisdom. And so those are the first three, basically. Somebody who has accomplished these three. So the first one is subdued, ethically subdued. How do we see that? We just have to watch them. Are they observing ethical discipline or not? And that's a hard one to see because they could be in front of their students and then behind the scene, but hopefully if you spend enough time watching them, you'll kind of get an idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:56 Highlight the passage at 1:11:56

1:12:35 Peaceful is the second one, and that just is talking about that they have the higher training in meditation. They're good meditators. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:35 Highlight the passage at 1:12:35

1:12:45 And in this case, they're actually specifically saying that they have attained calm abiding. Calm abiding or shamatha in Sanskrit or shine, which is spelled like shine. Sorry. With a little thing over the E. Shine. Calm abiding is like the zenith of single pointed meditation. Calm abiding is actually where you can keep your mind on an object for as long as, at least as long as four hours. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:45 Highlight the passage at 1:12:45

1:13:19 Doesn't joke you mentioned that one this weekend too. Keeping your mind on an object without any wavering with full intensity and clarity of the object for four hours, at least, minimum four hours. Which means that when you've attained this, which is the zenith, and you've gone through, there are nine stages, you've been practicing for some time, many lifetimes in some cases, you actually attain clairvoyance along the path of gaining. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:49 So with calm abiding comes this idea that they can actually read your mind. It's freaky. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:49 Highlight the passage at 1:13:49

1:14:02 It's freaky. It's freaky. It's freaky. I have had that experience and you're kind of like, it is freaky though. You feel a little naked. You're like, you know. But you're right. It's useful. It depends again on your goal. And that's why the stronger your bodhicitta is, the better. Like if you really just want to get enlightened, then you're much more willing to kind of have the stern and also have the person that can really tell you what's useful for you to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:02 Highlight the passage at 1:14:02

1:14:33 Very peaceful. So it's subdued, peaceful and very peaceful. I love that. But in this case it's talking about the higher training of wisdom. In this case, and it will come up in one of the later qualities, in this case they're just talking about having a really strong understanding of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:33 Highlight the passage at 1:14:33

1:14:52 Emptiness meaning the nature of reality as the Buddha taught it or observed it to be. Higher training in ethics, higher training in concentration, higher training in wisdom are the first three. And I like number four. They should have spiritual qualities superior to yours. That keeps it a little more doable. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:15:17 Sometimes people say they should just know more than you. I like that one too. They should have spiritual qualities superior to yours. I like number five too. They should be energetic about practice. In other words, when we study the six perfections, the fourth. Self-perfection is the perfection of joyful effort or joyous effort, which is defined as just simply delighting in virtue. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:17 Highlight the passage at 1:15:17

1:15:48 And boy, if you ever see Rinpoche, he gets these ideas in his head and you're on a retreat and he's like, let's do offerings. Again, Amy Miller, a quote. She'll come out with a pack of lights. He'll be like... No, thousands. We need thousands. We need to cover all these tables. Let's pull all the tables down to the stupa because his mind is just so vast. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:48 Highlight the passage at 1:15:48

1:16:13 And he's so energetic. He's just leading the pack. He's running down there. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:20 So somebody who has fun doing virtue, it totally transforms your experience of it. and all, you know, we're all just like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:20 Highlight the passage at 1:16:20

1:16:27 Then you're just like, oh wow, this is a great way to spend time. Let's make tons of offerings, you know, instead of going in and watching TV or something. As somebody who's energetic with their practice, they themselves should enthusiastically practice. And then here's yours, learn it in scripture, which just means they have knowledge, they know their stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:27 Highlight the passage at 1:16:27

1:16:57 Number seven is slightly different than number three in that they have... directly realized emptiness. It makes it a little hard, right? How can you tell? Nobody in our tradition advertises it. How can you tell? Watch them. How do they live? How are they engaging with reality? How ethical are they? Again, are they watching the law of karma? Do they believe in karma? The more you understand emptiness, the more karma makes sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:57 Highlight the passage at 1:16:57

1:17:33 A direct perception of emptiness actually increases your faith in karma, which is probably what we need to do. I think maybe once we have our direct perception of emptiness, then we'll totally get karma. It'll all make sense. So are they living according to the laws of karma? That's something that you can watch. How often are they trying to accumulate karma or purify karma or help us to do that and so forth? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:33 Highlight the passage at 1:17:33

1:17:58 Do they believe in it? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:58 Highlight the passage at 1:17:58

1:18:07 Number eight is endowed with eloquence. In other words, they're a skillful teacher. They can teach to all different levels of us, sometimes simultaneously. Think about His Holiness. Those two old geshes in the front row get the highest level, and then somebody who just happened to get the ticket on the way in. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:07 Highlight the passage at 1:18:07

1:18:30 And they all get something. They all walk out of there with something really great. And they may not understand it conceptually, but they definitely all come out of there with something. He's teaching to all his different levels simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30 Highlight the passage at 1:18:30

1:18:42 And that one I think might fit yours, Courtney, actually. Because all the changes that are going on, they're able to be right there with you. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:42 Highlight the passage at 1:18:42

1:18:53 Compassion. Compassionate nature. And they say what this one really means, and sometimes it's translated as love. They're motivated by love and concern for their students, genuine love and concern for the students. They shouldn't be motivated by anything else. They shouldn't be motivated by money, by honor, by reputation, like all those other things. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:17 Genuine love and concern. Of course, how can that look? That can be wrathful. Sorry. You know, think about the moms in the room. You know, sometimes genuine love and compassion is wrathful, you know. So it doesn't mean Santa Claus, sorry. Never tire of teaching. They never get disappointed or discouraged. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:17 Highlight the passage at 1:19:17

1:19:44 They ignore their own weariness. I remember one time Geshele said, you don't understand, if I'm asked, I will go. He just said, if I'm asked, I will go. If I'm asked to teach, I'll go. Just like that. It doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter about his own health or how busy he is or whatever. That's the Bodhisattva mentality. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:10 But you see it in him when these really wacky questions will come up in class. And he'll just answer them very nicely. Just answer them. No attitude. It's not like, you know, or, you know, I just told you, you know. Which would be me. You know, um Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:29 None of that. And he'll always find an answer that that person is happy with. Except a couple times I have heard him say, let me think about this and I'll answer next week. And then he'll come back with an answer. And that person is always very happy. So I'll repeat those. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:52 I don't know how to do it in the short way. I can do subdued, which is, or I'll just say it like this. Higher training in ethics, subdued, ethically subdued. Higher training in meditation, Report an error in the passage at 1:20:52 Highlight the passage at 1:20:52

1:21:06 which is, the code word was peaceful. I like that. Higher training in wisdom, which is very peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:19 More spiritual, or no, spiritual qualities superior to yours. So not just more, but superior. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:19 Highlight the passage at 1:21:19

1:21:29 Energetic about their practice. Which means that they have the perfection of joyful effort. They're learned in scripture. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:29 Highlight the passage at 1:21:29

1:21:43 They've realized emptiness. Most of the time I see this one as that they have had the direct perception of emptiness. But sometimes they say at least someone who's analyzed it in deep meditation. They've had some direct experience of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:43 Highlight the passage at 1:21:43

1:22:04 Endowed with eloquence. Which sounds so eloquent actually. Which means basically they're a skillful teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:04 Highlight the passage at 1:22:04

1:22:13 Compassion, motivated by love and compassion and genuine concern for their student. And they never tire of teaching, never discouraged. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:13 Highlight the passage at 1:22:13

1:22:26 And then kindly they said, in this degenerate age, it's hard to find somebody with all ten. So at least look for five. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:26 Highlight the passage at 1:22:26

1:22:37 I was going to have you guys guess which five, but let's just go for it. The first three, subdued, peaceful, very peaceful. In other words. You know, they've achieved the three higher trainings and compassionate nature. It's like we're on a game show. And they say the realization of suchness. I know. The realization of suchness is number five. So that one's really important. In other words, realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:37 Highlight the passage at 1:22:37

1:23:13 Sorry, there's that funky word for emptiness, suchness. Thusness, sometimes they say too. Voidness. Just think nature of reality. And at the very least, you should have three. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:13 Highlight the passage at 1:23:13

1:23:32 I know, yeah. Think about it, because, I mean, we're fortunate. They say that we're in the degenerate age, but we must be at the beginning of the degenerate age, because there are people who have these actual realizations in their mind's dreams, and that's one of the signs that we're... When that stops happening and all of our Dharma is in books, that's really the degenerate age. In other words, people are no longer actually gaining realizations of these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:32 Highlight the passage at 1:23:32

1:23:58 But it is good to know at that time period, who do you trust? So it's good to have this stuff written down. At the very least, you have to have three. More virtues than faults. More virtues than faults. According to who? Right? You. According to you. You check up, you decide. Give more importance to future lives than this present life. Giving more importance to future lives than this present life. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:58 Highlight the passage at 1:23:58

1:24:32 Which would of course mean that they're living virtuously. They're living according to the laws of karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:44 You're not even a Buddhist if you're not concerned with future lives. I mean that's one of the things that happens when we take refuge. They're more concerned about others than themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:24:58 And again, according to who? According to you. Unless you're clairvoyant. Of course, it would be great now if we could be clairvoyant too, because then we could check up on their mind in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:58 Highlight the passage at 1:24:58

1:25:13 And then, of course, when you thought maybe you could just make do with that little list of three, then Pabanka Rinpoche added two more. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:21 Never careless about, he says he, but think he or she. She or he is never careless about what he or she does, says, or thinks. Everything that they do and say, even in passing, is a teaching. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is wasted. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:43 That's why watching them can sometimes be a bigger teaching than a formal teaching. Nothing is lost. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:25:56 Geshe-la's been doing that one with me sometimes. Trying to figure it out, you know. That's what it all becomes, this huge, like, puzzle. What does this all mean? You're never bored again. I remember when a friend of mine said, once you meet Tibetan Buddhism, you're never bored again. You have other afflicted states. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:56 Highlight the passage at 1:25:56

1:26:19 And then finally, never leads his or her disciples along a path that is mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:19 Highlight the passage at 1:26:19

1:26:28 So that's something, I mean, when you look at this last list of five, basically, these are easier ones to check up on, right? This person has more virtues than faults, at least according to your mind. More virtues than faults. And then you think about what's virtuous and what you see. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:26:48 They're not so much living for this life, but they're living with this longer view. And you can usually tell by the way they talk and the way they act. They're more concerned about others than themselves. That you can see through actions. They're not careless. They're giving teachings in lots of different ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:48 Highlight the passage at 1:26:48

1:27:07 They aren't just... You know, sitting around, you know, blah, blah, blahing for no purpose. And then you check out what is the path that they're teaching. Is it mistaken? Does it match with the Buddhist path? You know, is it making sense that way? So these are ones that we can check out more than we might be able to check out, you know, whether that person's had a direct perception of emptiness, which is a hard one. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:07 Highlight the passage at 1:27:07

1:27:35 And then, just really quickly, I'll give you the teachings in the tantric teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:35 Highlight the passage at 1:27:35

1:27:43 In these degenerate times, they give a ton. A ton. In these degenerate times, the qualities of a tantric teacher should be, they should have intelligence. This goes on and on. So if you want this, I can shoot it. I mean, it's a short paragraph and it's all qualities. So if you want it, I can send it to you. Just so you can kind of keep it in your pocket when you're looking. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:43 Highlight the passage at 1:27:43

1:28:10 They should have intelligence. Good appearance, great purity, be a reputable lineage. That's not talking about like, you know, family. That means, you know, that their teachers are also reputable, you know. And His Holiness and Lama Zopa always, whenever they're teaching, they always say, I got this from, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:10 Highlight the passage at 1:28:10

1:28:32 Who did I learn? Who did I receive the teachings on this text from? You know, Trishan Rinpoche and before him, blah, blah, blah, you know. Pabanka Rinpoche sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:32 Highlight the passage at 1:28:32

1:28:43 Be of reputable lineage and incline towards the teachings. Well, that one would be good. Have great confidence, perseverance. There's that one. I think Samantha said that one. And have disciplined the senses. They should speak pleasantly, be generous and compassionate, forbear hunger, thirst and the afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:43 Highlight the passage at 1:28:43

1:29:15 They should be focused, adept. Grateful to their teachers and have faith in the three jewels. And since those who have all such qualities are very rare in this age of degeneration, mantra practitioners should rely on those with one half, one quarter or at least one eighth of these qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:15 Highlight the passage at 1:29:15

1:29:42 So if anybody would like that, tell me on the break and I'll write down your name and I can email that to you. That's a great quote, actually. That's from the Tantra requested by Subahu, by the way. And so why bother? Why are we learning all these qualities? So, number one, we know what we're looking for. Number two, we know what we need to develop for our karmic perception of our Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:42 Highlight the passage at 1:29:42

1:30:08 Remember, we will only see what we have the karma to see. So the more developed our qualities are, the more likely we can see the qualities in another. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:08 Highlight the passage at 1:30:08

1:30:25 Oh, I confused number two and number three. So number two is we know what we need to develop in our karmic perception of our Lama. And number three is so we can develop these qualities in ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:25 Highlight the passage at 1:30:25

1:30:44 And so this is interesting. Playing with karma. You can work backwards. With good karma, you could find somebody with three qualities, right? With better karma, then you begin to see somebody with... Five qualities with better qualities, with better karma than you begin to see somebody with ten qualities. So if somebody, you know, like those two Geshes in the front row who are gaining the realizations, and I'm just using an example, I don't know if there really were two Geshes in the front row, but I always think it's like the oldest ones who are like kind of leaning over and, you know, laughing and totally alert the whole time. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:44 Highlight the passage at 1:30:44

1:31:21 Who are they seeing? Who do they see when His Holiness teaches? Like we see, you know, if... I feel really fortunate to see a kindly, very, very wise Buddhist monk, you know. Some people see kind of a grandpa. You know, the ones who come for the public talk alone, they think he's really maybe funny, but, you know, they wouldn't necessarily see his qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:48 Who do they see, those guys in the front row? They could see, you know, Chin Razek, you know. Who does he see when he looks in the mirror, you know? That's something else. And it's all due to karma. Is there any absolute being there? It definitely changes according to our karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:48 Highlight the passage at 1:31:48

1:32:12 Actually, Tenzin Chokyi was talking about that too. When you see the faults in somebody else, it's usually stuff you need to work on yourself, which is also, you know, other groups come up with that same idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:12 Highlight the passage at 1:32:12

1:32:27 The same is true for qualities. If we start developing these qualities for ourself, we're more likely to see them in another. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:27 Highlight the passage at 1:32:27

1:32:35 Um, yeah. So why don't you guys take a break? I think we're at a really good place for a break and then bring back your questions and we'll start with some questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:35 Highlight the passage at 1:32:35

1:32:53 Who wants that quote, the qualities, the tantric qualities sent? You do? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:33:06 Who else do you want? I need a pen. This is like a highlighter. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:06 Highlight the passage at 1:33:06

1:33:15 Oh, really? Thank you. That's very nice of you. Who else? You said you wanted it, right? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:15 Highlight the passage at 1:33:15

1:33:30 I don't know. I'm going to announce it because other people might want it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:38 What is she making? I told Betty, you know, this is that kind of topic that people need to go out and eat a bunch of cookies. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:33:52 Oh, wow. Thank you. That's very nice. Thank you. Did you want a copy of that quote too? You got it? See, you're the one that should have written it down. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:12 He is. Two months. Yeah. Page 18. I know, it feels odd. I mean, it's like you really feel the absence of him. Even though there's how many people living here now, you know? Like we have, we actually have like, I think with him in Manlam we have 11. So it's like we got nine other people here. Why does it feel so empty? It's so weird. It's like this kind of non... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:12 Highlight the passage at 1:34:12

1:34:46 or intangible reason. That's weird. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:46 Highlight the passage at 1:34:46

1:35:03 yeah, I have to remember to cover it because Marcela asked about when you find a teacher, do you approach them? For a Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:20 spiritual teacher class, we need to have fresh cookies. A big mound of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:20 Highlight the passage at 1:35:20

1:35:51 Sorry? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:51 Highlight the passage at 1:35:51

1:35:55 Yeah. The first time was four. I think the second time was four. Yeah. I think now we're at ten. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:55 Highlight the passage at 1:35:55

1:36:08 No, wait. We must be, because there's two people sitting in the chairs right now, right? Oh, no one there. Okay, yeah. Because Gina's missing. She's the only. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:08 Highlight the passage at 1:36:08

1:36:20 I don't. I send you the electronic readings. If you'd like a hard copy, we can make them. Oh, we might have. Maybe I should check and see. I thought I made eight binders and then we had ten people, so we should actually have... Did you get a binder? No. But you're okay with the electronics, so I emailed that out to you. Why don't you look at it? I can't remember how many pages it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:20 Highlight the passage at 1:36:20

1:36:51 I don't think it's that. Does anybody have their binder tonight? Of course they do. How many pages is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:51 Highlight the passage at 1:36:51

1:37:04 I don't think it's a lot. Oh, sure. You can leave that and just... Top it off, yeah, because then it'll be warm. Thank you. Oh, yeah, so it's not that many. If you prefer, though, I can make you a hard copy. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:04 Highlight the passage at 1:37:04

1:37:20 I did, yeah, yeah. So you can look at it and just see, like, oh, I can't handle this. Like, send it to me. That's fine, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:20 Highlight the passage at 1:37:20

1:37:31 Well done. Betty made the dough, so it's really Betty still gets the credit, even though she forces her daughter to cook them, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:37:43 Oh, okay. I know. If you burn the tip, no. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:43 Highlight the passage at 1:37:43

1:37:52 No, I'm totally teasing. I am not the guru. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:52 Highlight the passage at 1:37:52

1:38:00 No, it's perfect, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:00 Highlight the passage at 1:38:00

1:38:20 It's in the Bears in somewhere, and I can't remember. Wait, you said, you were in the back last time. No, was it Samantha, Christine? Was it you? Have you read the Bears in? down the word Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:32 I think it was Samantha, because I think she was saying it was in Chapter 3, I think. Yeah. Samantha, are you still there? I'm here. You were the one who was saying that the etymology was in Chapter 3 of Berezin, was that correct? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:38:49 I was so impressed. You knew it off the top of your head. I know. But it was useful. Had I read it a couple days prior? And clearly, you have since, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:49 Highlight the passage at 1:38:49

1:39:05 I think it was too. That's the thing I have memory for is numbers. That's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:05 Highlight the passage at 1:39:05

1:39:29 Yes, yeah, yeah. They were up all night, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:29 Highlight the passage at 1:39:29

1:39:43 She felt like, yeah, she felt like really strongly like he was just helping her create the merit to get into that retreat. He was like coming up with all these things to just like help her create the merit. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:43 Highlight the passage at 1:39:43

1:39:54 40,000, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:54 Highlight the passage at 1:39:54

1:40:09 How was your little trip? Where'd you go? Oh, that's fun, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:22 That's good, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. Happy anniversary. It's funny that we had to really ask so many people. Finally, Lenny covered you. That was so funny. I just was asking Barry if he would train and be another. We might actually have. Him do the alternate Saturday shift. If that works for you, then I think we might do that because I think Donna's ready to go. I think she's going to step out of the... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:51 But even just to have subs, more subs, it's like we always need subs because people have lives, you know, and they are always available. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:01 It's a perfect example. Having just seen all those emails flying around back and forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:01 Highlight the passage at 1:41:01

1:41:12 Yep. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:12 Highlight the passage at 1:41:12

1:41:16 Yep. It is, it is. Yeah, once or twice a month. And sometimes more often, it seems like, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:29 And then actually Rose just kind of suddenly will say, I'm coming Friday, and there's like no class, and I'm just like, okay, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:29 Highlight the passage at 1:41:29

1:41:41 I think she's kind of a sub that doesn't... It doesn't wait to be subbed, it doesn't wait to be called, but it kind of is good because if, like this week, Emily's canceling because her mom's having surgery, so everybody who's in that class isn't going to bother to come. So I'm like, great, you can just sit and watch the door. Sponge off tables, you know, that sort of thing. Empty trash. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41:41

1:42:05 What's that? That's right, yeah, what's that, like the, what's the, the shopper, what do they call that one? Secret shopper. Somebody could be the secret shopper and test her on her knowledge. She might recognize, she would probably recognize you. It would have to be like Barry and you probably don't know her actually so that might work, yeah. Get having Maria maybe. You guys come in and be like, what do you have by His Holiness the Dalai Lama? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:05 Highlight the passage at 1:42:05

1:42:34 Oh wait, I forgot to tell you. I get this special discount. That didn't sound good. Um... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:34 Highlight the passage at 1:42:34

1:42:47 Actually, I'm going to continue a little bit and then I'm going to do questions just because I know that the questions are going to come. So what I'm going to do is a little bit more because I want to make sure we cover what Marcella had talked about at the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:47 Highlight the passage at 1:42:47

1:43:03 So if we found somebody who fits at least those last few, the little tiny list, at least one-eighth of the long list or whatever, if we found somebody and we know, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:03 Highlight the passage at 1:43:03

1:43:19 You know, we have this really gut feeling this person is it. You know, and again, I said one of the ways that we check up is watching them and how they are outside of those formal teachings if you can. Over time, talk to their students, try to get a feel for whether, you know, how those students are with their teachers and also how those teachers are with their teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:19 Highlight the passage at 1:43:19

1:43:41 How are they serving their teachers? Lama Zopa often will... Like, for example, when Chodron Rinpoche teaches the lamrim, Lama Zopa will go down there and take notes in a little notebook. I mean, he doesn't need to take notes in a little notebook. He's trying to get us to, like, pay attention and, like, realize how important this is. He's taking little notes. He always, you know, he's, like, sitting there, you know, and then he'll, you know, write it all down. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:07 It's very cute because I just can't really imagine that. You know, like, what's he doing there? Or he'll be like, if Chodron Rinpoche needs something, he'll often be the one that jumps up. And then, of course, everyone's like, you know, because Lama Zopa's jumped up. And Chodron Rinpoche, I mean, Geshe-la will do that too. When Chodron Rinpoche arrives, Chodron Rinpoche is Geshe-la's guru, his main guru. And Geshe-la is, you know what? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:32 Mid-70s, right? Moves kind of slowly, usually, kind of like this. The minute he sees Chodron Rinpoche, he runs. He's like a two-year-old or five-year-old. He, like, runs. He throws himself at the airport onto the linoleum and prostrates. And it's like, we're all just kind of like, you know, because this is like, yes, you're like, why is he? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:32 Highlight the passage at 1:44:32

1:44:52 I think he's showing us. You know, this is what you do. This is what you do. This is the one who will take you to enlightenment. So he's showing us. So how are they with their teachers? I think that's really good to watch. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:52 Highlight the passage at 1:44:52

1:45:06 So when we find somebody that fits all these and we really think they're the ones, do we just make this decision in our own hearts or do we go to them and talk to them? There are a couple of schools. A couple of schools of thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:06 Highlight the passage at 1:45:06

1:45:22 Some people really do say that you go and request them, formally request them. Will you be my guru? Will you be my teacher? And of course, make an offering. Make an offering of something. It could be an offering of something representative. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:22 Highlight the passage at 1:45:22

1:45:45 I remember actually when... We had a nun who was, well, she was a lay practitioner and she became a nun while she was here, Tiziana, and she's now doing the master's program in Italy. And Vena Rubina helped her gather the things to offer a mandala to request Lama Tsongkhapa to be her guru. I was like watching all this because I didn't do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45:45

1:46:09 I didn't know when, you know, when it came up for me. I did, in fact, it's interesting, in my heart. I got that Rinpoche was my guru, but I didn't say a word to anyone else. And I did not say it even to him out loud or in writing, nothing. I still asked him certain things. Like if I had a chance, I would ask him about my life and should I do this or whatever. But I would never use those words, Lama or Guru, except of course his name is Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:09 Highlight the passage at 1:46:09

1:46:40 but and then I remember the exact moment that I actually wrote it in a letter and I actually said, I addressed it to my precious root girl. And I had it on the table and he didn't even open it. He put his hand like this and then it totally shifted. It totally shifted our relationship. It was really bizarre. But at that moment I really felt like I became a disciple. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:40 Highlight the passage at 1:46:40

1:47:12 And that was two years after. In my mind, that shift had happened. And I formally hadn't made any offerings. I mean, you know, I made offerings and teachings and things like that. And I had made an offering at the time I wrote him the initial letter to see him of something that was very dear to me, but probably not on the open market. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:12 Highlight the passage at 1:47:12

1:47:34 I didn't have a little Australian nun showing me to build a mandala and all that stuff. I didn't know all that stuff. And I feel like the... Their relationship is there. So I feel like it's what happens in your mind more than anything else. But of course, if you can do that, if you can actually request them, I think it's probably even better. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:34 Highlight the passage at 1:47:34

1:47:59 I always think probably, you know, the stories like, for example, of Milarepa when he met Marpa and he offered the big vessel and the vessel was empty. Does anybody remember the story of Melarepa? That came back to haunt him. So I actually think when I get enlightened on my tanka, there'll be like the little image of the thing which I gave. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:59 Highlight the passage at 1:47:59

1:48:24 It was like a pendant, a moonstone pendant. That'll be on there. And they'll say, what is that? Oh, that's what she gave him because she didn't know, you know. Did you remember that story? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:24 Highlight the passage at 1:48:24

1:48:40 So you guys better know. So I think it's what happens in your mind. I think when that shift happens in the mind and you know, oh my gosh, this is the one. And even if you do what I did, which was like protect it and make sure, you know, I think that's where it happens. I think that's where it happens. It's in your mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:40 Highlight the passage at 1:48:40

1:49:09 So, for the same thing, when I go to receive teachings, for example, from, you know, a visiting Lama like a Tsongkhapa Rinpoche or something like that, in my mind, I will think, I'm just receiving this teaching. This teacher is not my teacher. This teacher is not my guru. I'm just receiving this teaching. And I just say that out loud in my mind because that's where it happens, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:09 Highlight the passage at 1:49:09

1:49:32 And I have a lot of gurus right now, so I have to try to work on just serving them. So I try to be really up front. The same way that, you know, when we talk about taking the vows, if you are present in the room and you're, you know, You aren't even aware that the vows are being given. You didn't receive them. It doesn't matter if your body's there. If your mind isn't aware that you took them, then you didn't take them. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:32 Highlight the passage at 1:49:32

1:49:58 So just take them again. Because a lot of times people will be like, I don't know if I took it. And you're like, this is a problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:58 Highlight the passage at 1:49:58

1:50:09 So that's where it happens is in your mind. So if you feel like somebody is, problem. Yeah. Um. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:09 Highlight the passage at 1:50:09

1:50:19 And you are ready for that step, then in your mind is where it all happens. And it can become more external as time goes on. But at first it is kind of really, it's very private. And it's very sweet. And you just kind of just keep it and guard it. Like, you know, there's that one line. I'm not a big Bible reader, but there's this one great line from the Bible. And Mary took those things and pondered them in her heart. I always love that line, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:19 Highlight the passage at 1:50:19

1:50:47 She took all those things and pondered them in her heart. So now you guys take all these things and ponder them in your hearts. It's the same. It's very much like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:47 Highlight the passage at 1:50:47

1:50:58 So why do we ask our teachers, if we're trying to develop this wisdom, our own wisdom, why do we ask them the big questions? Where should I go and study? What should I do with my life? Should I get ordained? Like the big ones, not necessarily like which room in the house should I live in or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:58 Highlight the passage at 1:50:58

1:51:18 But more like the stuff that's really going to have impact on my life. I ask them, is the karma still there for me to be here? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:18 Highlight the passage at 1:51:18

1:51:29 People ask them, should I go and do the master's program in Italy or something like that? I mean, for me, most of the stuff that I ask them isn't really going to be like, should I get a job on Wall Street? You know, it's not so much, should I go and open up a bookstore in Bolinas? You know, it's not like that. It's usually all Dharma activities, so they're all virtuous, and I can't choose which. I don't know which is the best, because I'm still operating out of attachment, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:29 Highlight the passage at 1:51:29

1:51:59 Pilgrimage sounds great, because I can just kind of wander around, you know? I mean, I could be operating with a sort of faulty motivation, you know? Or mixed motivation. If I really do trust that he's got that wisdom, why not? If I've made that connection and I really do trust that his wisdom is far reaching, why not get the goods? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:59 Highlight the passage at 1:51:59

1:52:23 You know, why not? I mean, it's going to be hard. It's not necessarily going to be an answer that you necessarily want. When you're just deciding for yourself, but if I really want to get enlightened and I want to know what's the most beneficial thing I could be doing, it's not necessarily going to be working in a Dharma center for 20 years, which might be what my particular karma is. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:23 Highlight the passage at 1:52:23

1:52:44 But I can see, having been here for 10, the effect on my mind. So, I mean, I've got to hand it to him. He knows. He knows my mind. He knows how I... I, know. I understand how I gain realizations as to serve. I do serving. That's my way. But on the other hand, if you are not ready to hear the answer, don't ask. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:44 Highlight the passage at 1:52:44

1:53:10 This came up. Somebody asked the other night in Shantideva. Was there anybody here that was in that class? Geshe-la was talking about the bodhisattva vows, actually, and he was talking about... Somebody asked, is it okay to just go out? I like to party. Is it okay to go out singing, dancing and all that stuff? And I said, I called out, be careful what you're asking for. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:10 Highlight the passage at 1:53:10

1:53:38 So this is a really important thing to know. If you go to a teacher and you ask advice of any kind, it's very good form to follow that advice. If you're going to ask, try following it. It's also very, very bad form to keep going to teachers until you get the answer you want. Westerners do that. So I have to say that I've actually seen it done and it's like it's really not cool. If you go to a teacher and they give you advice, if you can do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:54:13 If it's not something that feels like it's beyond what you can do or whatever. If that's the case, and this is really important to know, and this is where I tell you the story that happened to me. I remember I went to my refuge Lama, Geshe Seppel, and I was facing obstacles to getting ordained, and so I went to him when he was teaching at Vajrapani, and I said, you know, I have these obstacles to getting ordained. What does Geshe-la advise? And he said, I know. He had this little twinkle in his eyes, all lit up. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:13 Highlight the passage at 1:54:13

1:54:50 And I go, oh, what? 100,000 prostrations to Vajrasapha. And my heart just broke because I was living in this little sublet. It was a non-Buddhist environment. I didn't know the people very well. And the only time I could sneak out my little 35 Buddhist prostrations, I think I was doing it. The only time I could sneak out my frustrations was really early in the morning. I'd go in the kitchen and run back into my room. So having to add like a hundred more every day, I was just like, there's just no way. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:50 Highlight the passage at 1:54:50

1:55:22 And I burst into tears and he goes, oh. He's like looking at me and he goes, no commitment. No commitment. I'm so kind of him. Then from then on he's manifested not remembering my name. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:22 Highlight the passage at 1:55:22

1:55:37 So in my mind, I always felt like I would do those 100,000 at some point after I finished the 100,000. And now my knee, I don't think I will ever be able to. So I think in this lifetime, he'll probably manifest not remembering my name for the rest of my life, but hopefully I'll burn it off by then. No. So it's totally fine for you to say, I can't do that at that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:37 Highlight the passage at 1:55:37

1:56:01 Just go ahead and speak up. I can't do that for whatever reason. I can't do that I've got a three-year-old. I can't do that, you know, I've got this job. I can't do that, whatever. You know, watch your reasoning. It shouldn't just be laziness. But if there's some valid reason why you can't follow that advice, go ahead and speak up. That's totally fine. That's not disrespectful. That's just giving them information that they well might have, but you can still offer that information to them. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:01 Highlight the passage at 1:56:01

1:56:30 If they still said, You know, if you said, I can't do that because I have a three-year-old and they said, and then, you know, or like a lousy excuse, then you can kind of go, okay, I'll try, you know. But, you know, it's fine to bring up your reasons for why you feel like you can't do something. That's totally fine. That's not being disrespectful. What's worse is if you say, yes, I'll do them, and then you just don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:30 Highlight the passage at 1:56:30

1:56:57 That's worse. If you say that you're going to do something, if you ask advice, expect advice, you know, expect that they'll give you advice and try to do it. If you say you're going to do something, definitely try to do it. You know, if you just say, well, we'll see, you know, or something, you keep it kind of light, then maybe not. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:57 Highlight the passage at 1:56:57

1:57:16 But if you say, absolutely, I'll go do that right now, and then you don't do it, it's really bad. So why don't I open it up for questions? Again, I have like tons that I didn't get to follow. We're getting there. I actually will end for our final meditation. I'll just do these quotes because I have the quotes in your contemplation assignment. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:16 Highlight the passage at 1:57:16

1:57:40 And it's also a nice meditation. They're just really nice, powerful quotes. So that's what I'll end with. Because I know Chris is just dying to ask a question. Really? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:40 Highlight the passage at 1:57:40

1:57:52 Who else has a question about anything that we've talked about tonight? Do you want to pass that to Christine? Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:57:52 Highlight the passage at 1:57:52

1:58:04 so it's kind of all caught up in around here. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:04 Highlight the passage at 1:58:04

1:58:13 In this tradition, there's like an admonition against bragging about attainments. Right. So if you were to meet someone who bragged about having attained those ten qualities, would that automatically disqualify them? Pretty much, yeah. Now, if they were doing it in a boastful way, for sure, I would say. If, however, they simply, you know, for example, You were in a small teacher or something and they said something that indicated a certain level of attainment, but it was just a factual thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:13 Highlight the passage at 1:58:13

1:58:48 And they have, I actually have had teachers do this. And actually Lama Zopa was telling some stories about certain Lamas that he knew that gave these sort of code ways of saying that they had had a direct perception of bodhicitta or a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:48 Highlight the passage at 1:58:48

1:59:03 You know, and if you... If you hear that, then that's fine. You can just sort of ponder those things in your heart. It also might be true that as you're checking out a certain teacher, you begin friendships with their students and their students are like, oh yeah, I saw this happen or whatever. And there's somebody that's trustworthy. I've had that happen too, or a student that I trusted told me about something that they witnessed with their own eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:03 Highlight the passage at 1:59:03

1:59:30 And then you're like, oh yeah, really? And that kind of builds your faith in that Lama. But yeah, if they are advertising it in some way that's kind of boastful, like literally on an ad, probably not a good sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:30 Highlight the passage at 1:59:30

1:59:47 Or in just some way, like during the teaching, they're like, well, I, you know, like they're kind of in an arrogant way, then I would be turned off, I think, that would immediately. But there's nothing wrong with them. Stating something that's true, if it's actually true, it's just very much, this is the problem in the Tibetan tradition especially, to actually say, because of this whole emphasis on humility, to say, I have this attainment, this attainment, this attainment, is not done. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:47 Highlight the passage at 1:59:47

2:00:20 But there will be code ways that they can get that across. And they actually can show miracles. They can show things, display things for their students, if it would help. If it would be beneficial, then they might. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:20 Highlight the passage at 2:00:20

2:00:36 Yeah, I was going to say something and it just slipped my mind. But yeah, this has come up before and I think, I can't remember now who it was. It was some Western teacher was saying, you know, this is really hard as this comes in America. you know, um, If somebody thinks you've been practicing for 35 years and you have no qualities at all, because they'll always say that, you know, like, His Holiness, I am a simple Buddhist monk, no qualities, and you're kind of like, well, you know, then some of the students will get up and leave, find somebody who's advertising that they have qualities, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:36 Highlight the passage at 2:00:36

2:01:11 So it'll remain to be seen, like, how that changes with Westerners. But it's definitely tread, you know, warily because... It's almost like you just have to figure it out by watching how they are. How are they in the world? That's how you figure it out, rather than them stating it. But sometimes they will state it, but in kind of coded or cautious language. Because their idea of stating it is simply to build faith in those two cachets in the front row. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:11 Highlight the passage at 2:01:11

2:01:46 And just like whoever is at that point in their practice where they need to, that's the last thing. Between them choosing that teacher and not, is going, oh wow. That faith, that suddenly this faith grows and you're like, oh my gosh, this is the one. Whereas if they didn't give that little code, and of course everybody else in the room could be asleep too. That's happened too, where everybody in the room is asleep and then all of a sudden they'll say something and you'll be like, did you guys hear that? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:46 Highlight the passage at 2:01:46

2:02:12 And everybody's like, you know. And they'll do that too, where it's just like they'll just wait. They'll kind of wear everybody else down and then finally they'll kind of... You know, sneak it to that one student who's still awake. So stay awake. Moral of that story is stay awake. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:12 Highlight the passage at 2:02:12

2:02:33 When we find the spiritual teacher or the possible spiritual teacher and we feel that it's the person, do we have to ask more than once? Oh, good question. Yeah, traditionally in the Tibetan tradition, you have to request a teaching three times. And they have to know how sincere you are. So often you'll see, like, when we request a teaching at the end, well, for example, when Tensichoki was just here this weekend, and we mentioned how next time at the end of the weekend we're going to request her to come back. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:33 Highlight the passage at 2:02:33

2:03:13 We'll have a formal letter, and we'll have a formal request, and we'll do it like that. Sometimes we'll just say it three times, to be the three times. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:13 Highlight the passage at 2:03:13

2:03:22 But really it should be three separate times that you make the request. But the main thing is the reason that they say that is so that it's sincere. So you're not just saying, you know, we just need somebody in May because it's kind of a boring month and not much is happening. You know, like you want to make sure. Or, you know, Mahmoud is really cool, so that might attract a lot of people. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:22 Highlight the passage at 2:03:22

2:03:44 You know, like they want to make sure that your motives aren't mixed. So that's why we request more than once. Usually they won't make you do that. Usually they won't say, you know. But there are stories where they're just kind of like they ignore you. And then you have to ask again. You have to be willing to ask as many times as it takes. So it might be more than three times. Usually it's in person or in person. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:44 Highlight the passage at 2:03:44

2:04:09 And when do you have to do it in writing? The first time or not always in writing? It doesn't always, I mean, it doesn't have to be, if you're right there and you're the only one there, then it can just be in person. But it could be, it could be in writing too, to make it more formal. That could be the second time. Maybe you do that and then you read it and that'd be the second time. Yeah, I mean, it's, I don't think there's a hard and fast rule. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:09 Highlight the passage at 2:04:09

2:04:35 I think that you could say it and then it could also be in writing just to make it sort of more formal almost, you know. And then you might even follow up if they don't right then say yes, okay. It's scary. You're putting yourself on the line. I remember that feeling of like, well, what if I chose this teacher and they didn't want me? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:35 Highlight the passage at 2:04:35

2:04:57 I mean, it's a little, you know, it's kind of a funk, yeah, I'm sure. I actually have heard that if they know that your main teacher is somebody else, because why do they know? If they're clairvoyant, they could know that they aren't your teacher. And I actually have heard stories where somebody was requesting somebody and that person was like, I'm not your teacher. I don't know that they gave them hints as to who was, but that person I think eventually figured it out. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:57 Highlight the passage at 2:04:57

2:05:26 Because they don't want to mess that up. They can see that you have strong karma with somebody else and just back off. So it's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:26 Highlight the passage at 2:05:26

2:05:38 But that would be kind of a weird feeling. You get yourself all worked up and, you know, and then you go in there and you meet with them and then they're like, no. God. I know. The ego, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:38 Highlight the passage at 2:05:38

2:05:55 Am I close? Am I close? Same state, right? Yeah. Getting warm, getting warm. Is the person American? Okay, let me just. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:55 Highlight the passage at 2:05:55

2:06:09 Sounds like, yeah, really. Two syllables, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:17 Yeah, but I mean, if you think about the main, and I just want to say this before I end with these quotes, but the main thing that teachers do, which is not comfortable. They really help you see your ego, see how it's a block, and they really help you destroy your ego. And when I say destroy your ego, I just mean especially that self-cherishing mind, that selfish mind, the arrogant mind, those minds that get in the way of us being able to receive these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:17 Highlight the passage at 2:06:17

2:06:50 Laziness, that's my particular demon. Doubts, I know I've definitely known people who that's their biggest one. Those forms of our ego, it doesn't mean our identity, that form, but it's more like, that's what they're there for. They're there to push our buttons, because that's when the ego kind of, you know, flares up. And it's not always comfortable. So, yeah, it can be, it's not easy work to work with a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:50 Highlight the passage at 2:06:50

2:07:28 And it can take a long time. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:28 Highlight the passage at 2:07:28

2:07:33 anyway. Anyway, so here's some quotes. So let's just take a moment, get into position just to end the class. I'm going to just read these quotes to you and you just kind of let them flow over your mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:33 Highlight the passage at 2:07:33

2:07:48 And you'll have them. This will be in your homework, you know, so you don't have to write them down. Although only Courtney could get every last word anyway. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:48 Highlight the passage at 2:07:48

2:08:02 This one is, I don't know that this one is actually in the homework, but I think this one's really beautiful. Jason Kapa, Lama Tsongkhapa said in a letter, take yourself to the ultimate spiritual guide, one who grasps reality, one who has controlled his senses, who takes your heart away as soon as you lay your eyes upon him. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:02 Highlight the passage at 2:08:02

2:08:21 The one that when you follow what he teaches, the good in you begins to flower and the bad begins to fade. Wow, that's so beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:21 Highlight the passage at 2:08:21

2:08:36 Geshe Potawa, one of the Kadampa Geshe's who followed Atisha said, To reach liberation, there is nothing more important than a Lama. Even in the simple things of this present life, there are things you learn just by watching someone. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:36 Highlight the passage at 2:08:36

2:08:55 You can't get anywhere without a person to show you, so how on earth are you going to get anywhere without a Lama when you want to go somewhere you've never been before and you've only just arrived from a journey of the lower realms? Report an error in the passage at 2:08:55 Highlight the passage at 2:08:55

2:09:14 I'm going to read that twice. To reach liberation, there is nothing more important than a Lama. Even in the simple things of this present life, there are things you learn just by watching someone. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:14 Highlight the passage at 2:09:14

2:09:28 You can't get anywhere without a person to show you. So how on earth are you going to get anywhere without a Lama when you want to go somewhere you've never been before and you've only just arrived from a journey of the lower realms? Report an error in the passage at 2:09:28 Highlight the passage at 2:09:28

2:09:50 From Precious Ornament for Liberation gives three metaphors for a spiritual teacher. Just as a traveler needs a navigator for traversing an unknown route, an escort or guide for making a dangerous journey, and an oarsman for crossing a mighty river, a spiritual seeker needs a mentor for treading the path of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:50 Highlight the passage at 2:09:50

2:10:16 As a navigator, a spiritual master supplies correct information so the disciple knows the way. As an escort, he or she remains close to the journey so the disciple doesn't wander astray. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:16 Highlight the passage at 2:10:16

2:10:32 As an oarsman, he or she provides the energy that drives the disciple on to reach his or her goal. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:32 Highlight the passage at 2:10:32

2:10:47 Sakyapandita compares the Lama to a magnifying glass. Without a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun, the sun itself cannot light a flame. In like manner, unless a student finds and works with a teacher to focus the Buddha's teachings and influence, the latter cannot themselves spark the student's enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:47 Highlight the passage at 2:10:47

2:11:15 Without a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun, the sun itself cannot light a flame. In like manner, unless a student finds and works with a teacher to focus the Buddhist teachings and influence, the latter cannot themselves spark the student's enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:15 Highlight the passage at 2:11:15

2:11:39 And again, it's not just because they explain it to us. We see the Buddhist teachings embodied in the Lama. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:39 Highlight the passage at 2:11:39

2:11:52 And then Pabanka Rinpoche said, Report an error in the passage at 2:11:52 Highlight the passage at 2:11:52

2:12:04 Be careful who you choose as your spiritual guide. Because you will become like them for better or for worse. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:04 Highlight the passage at 2:12:04

2:12:15 Be careful who you choose as your spiritual guide because you will become like them for better or for worse. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:15 Highlight the passage at 2:12:15

2:12:28 And then finally to end, Jaisankapa, the source of all my good is my kind Lama, my Lord. Bless me first to see that taking myself to him in the proper way is the very root of the path. And grant me then to serve and follow him with all my strength and reverence. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:28 Highlight the passage at 2:12:28

2:12:53 So on that note, we dedicate all the merit that we created by just trying to understand the role of the spiritual teacher, how to recognize them, how to think about them in our minds, how to serve them, and how that plays a role in our own enlightenment. We dedicate that to our own enlightenment, the enlightenment of each one of us in this room, so that we can perfectly benefit every living being. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:53 Highlight the passage at 2:12:53

2:13:23 Thank Report an error in the passage at 2:13:23 Highlight the passage at 2:13:23

2:13:34 you. So quick announcements, actually. Tenzin Chokyi is doing another weekend. This one will be on the Heart Sūtra on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of October. So in a couple of weeks. Definitely very, very good. It'll be all on emptiness. And she'll give us tips on how to meditate on it. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:34 Highlight the passage at 2:13:34

2:14:01 Also, I'm wanting to make a change in the class a little bit. Tenzin Chokyi is teaching a weekend up at Mount Shasta, the final weekend of the month, and I want to go. She's offering me a ride up there. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:01 Highlight the passage at 2:14:01

2:14:17 So what I would like to do is that Thursday night, which is the 29th, I'd like to show a film that I was going to show later in the class called Words of My Perfect Teacher. Which is a film about Zongso Kenshi Rinpoche. Has anybody here seen it? It's a great modern guru devotion thing, because all his students are trying to figure him out the entire time. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:17 Highlight the passage at 2:14:17

2:14:45 And then I would very much like, if people are up for it, if we extend the class one week. So we have an extra class at the end. So instead of ending on the 5th, you know, Gishitashi is teaching on the 12th on guru devotion. And then we just meet after that. That way we also can talk about his talk. So if people could do that, extend it. So we'll still keep our practice day the same day. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:45 Highlight the passage at 2:14:45

2:15:12 So it'll be a little confusing, but we'll live. So our practice day, our retreat day will be the 14th, and then we'll come back together again on the 19th. And mostly that last class, we'll talk about some final things, but we'll also watch a film together called Mystic Tibet, which is about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, leading a... Report an error in the passage at 2:15:12 Highlight the passage at 2:15:12

2:15:31 Pilgrimage to Tibet. And also, again, you get to see his students trying to figure him out. So much of it is just trying to figure him out. So anyway, does that work with everyone? Okay. Thank you. That would be great. So I get to follow Tamsin Chokyi up to Mount Shasta. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:31 Highlight the passage at 2:15:31

2:15:58 Yeah, well, there's the idea that there might be a project. We might do a project up there of having some land and some place to do some retreat and stuff. So I would really like to meet some other Tibetan Buddhists, too. So it's kind of exciting that there's a study group up there, not in our tradition, but just to meet other Tibetan Buddhists just to kind of know what it's like up there would be good. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:58 Highlight the passage at 2:15:58

2:16:23 So, yeah. Cool. Thank you, you guys. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:23 Highlight the passage at 2:16:23

2:16:29 So who was not here last week? All right, that would be Kara in the back of the room. So you're the only one that needs two sheets for your homework. Everyone else will just have a single sheet because the advantages and disadvantages you guys got last week. So just rip that one off of that one and add it to this one. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:29 Highlight the passage at 2:16:29

2:16:50 And you can either just contemplate those quotes, which I just gave you, or you can contemplate the advantages and disadvantages. I'll give you a choice. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:50 Highlight the passage at 2:16:50

2:17:06 So Cara, I'll keep yours, because yours is the one weirdo one. That'll be hers. And everybody else gets this. And then, actually, why don't you just, you can keep that straight. That's for Cara. She gets the double set. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:06 Highlight the passage at 2:17:06

2:17:27 And Christine? Report an error in the passage at 2:17:27 Highlight the passage at 2:17:27

2:17:34 Christine? So you can have this, and I just am keeping the last page, but the last page doesn't have anything except those announcements and some of the quotes. What's wrong? What happened? Report an error in the passage at 2:17:34 Highlight the passage at 2:17:34

2:17:51 Oh, I was trying to figure out what was going on over there. I was like, maybe she dropped her pen. Anyway, there you go. So it sort of ends before the end, but it's just because I have this one. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:51 Highlight the passage at 2:17:51

2:18:09 Oh, no, I just meant that I gave her the written class, but I used the back to write down the names of the people that go. So is there anybody who did not tell me that they would like the qualities of the tantric teacher emailed to them? Report an error in the passage at 2:18:09 Highlight the passage at 2:18:09

2:18:24 Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 2:18:24 Highlight the passage at 2:18:24

2:18:29 Yeah, I think I have it on the other list, don't I? But go ahead and... Okay, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:29 Highlight the passage at 2:18:29

2:18:42 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:42 Highlight the passage at 2:18:42

2:18:47 It's probably good because I think I have everybody else. Is there anybody else that wants that that did not say they want it? Okay. okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:47 Highlight the passage at 2:18:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:19:34 do a kutu? Yeah, we can do that. Okay, when would you like to do a Report an error in the passage at 2:19:34 Highlight the passage at 2:19:34

2:19:43 Monday or Wednesday, correct? And it needs to be with them reporting all day. No, it's, you know, we're going to go to the screen. Right there behind the screen is a little video. No, because I know it's Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:43 Highlight the passage at 2:19:43