Discovering Buddhism - The Spiritual Teacher (19 November 2009)

0:01 I have never solved that. I don't know anything else yet. She gave me a lot of support for the system. Revenge. My son was sick for a week. The part when you're a kid. You always catch it, you know? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:46 I did turn on the... You need the heat, yeah, but I think it doesn't go in here, but we're going to be on the end here for the part of the time. We're going to make it through like 40 minutes in here and then we'll move in there. It is cracking a pack. Oh wait, no, I have Geshe-less mug. Oh good, it's broken, that's a good thing. Maybe it's not Geshe-less mug anymore. Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

1:14 I Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

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1:45 just felt like 80 years old. I'm like, I'm going to get you this mic. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

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1:50 Were you looking over your glasses? Yeah! Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

1:58 My mom's never, ever going to believe this. Ever. She's taking a picture and send it. Yeah, she's just going to, like, faint. I'm just making sure when you do a good day and you'll have all sons. I think I'm starting to get all the time for them. Getting is a very good activity for people. Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

2:24 Just as I care. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:42 We're down to teaching. We're so clear. When Report an error in the passage at 2:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42

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4:05 we do the prostration. Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:11 The Buddha Dharma Saṅgha. Yeah! Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

2:09 Bruce? Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

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4:12 Especially the Dharma, that's what's good, Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:18 realizations in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 4:18 Highlight the passage at 4:18

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4:57 The heat is getting higher and higher. Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:07 Yeah, but you did on top of the thingy. You used to just do it. Just keeping me humble. You see me getting a swelled head. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:20 I am freezing, so I'm like breaking the rules by wearing this thing. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

5:27 So I'll talk really quickly. And then we'll go running in there and then we're going to watch Mystic Tibet. It's only 62 degrees in here. No wonder we're freezing. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

5:42 Yeah, so that's the way the class is going to go tonight. I'm going to just finish up a few things. And then we're going to go and watch this film on Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

5:54 And it might go a little bit over and people just feel free to go when you need to go. But otherwise... We'll end with some Reese's. No, I'm kidding. We'll just, we'll dedicate, why don't we dedicate at the end of the class part and then we'll just watch the movie like that and then people can leave when they want to leave. Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:12 I also have a handout. I think I have enough. I have a handout for you guys of just some excerpts from a talk or a discussion that His Holiness had with some Western teachers about. about teacher. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

6:30 And basically saying not to do what I'm going to do, which is to talk about seeing the teacher as the Buddha, which is really kind of an advanced thing. But in our lineage, it's actually kind of fundamental. And so I feel like it's kind of better for you guys to first, for us to have a place to discuss it. Report an error in the passage at 6:30 Highlight the passage at 6:30

6:52 And then if you hear other teachers mentioning it, you'll have some reference point rather than if I just... Ignore it. And then somebody says something and then you're like, whoa, what did he just say? So this is the way I'm doing it as a balanced Libra thing, as I'm giving you some words of His Holiness and then I'm also proceeding right along with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

7:18 Too many cushions going on. So we're going to start with a little motivation. Report an error in the passage at 7:18 Highlight the passage at 7:18

7:29 So just take some nice deep breaths and begin to let go of your day. Report an error in the passage at 7:29 Highlight the passage at 7:29

7:36 Begin to whatever things you've just been talking about and whatever your plans are coming up, any excitement or drowsiness or any other afflicted states of mind. Maybe you're holding on to, just imagine breathing them out and dissolving them. And Report an error in the passage at 7:36 Highlight the passage at 7:36

8:10 imagine breathing in whatever you need. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

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8:58 So knowing, as we've been talking about, knowing that one of the jobs of a teacher is to... Push our buttons to show us our own mind, show us where we need work, show us where we're holding on maybe to things that aren't so helpful to us anymore. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:18 And also knowing that that's not always easy. Sometimes it's uncomfortable. Report an error in the passage at 9:18 Highlight the passage at 9:18

9:28 Sometimes it's even uncomfortable for them to show us the good things in our minds, where we excel, where we might not be able to see that we excel. Pushing us to do what we don't think we're capable of but actually are. Report an error in the passage at 9:28 Highlight the passage at 9:28

9:54 They definitely show us where we're holding on to pride or where we're self-centered or fearful or willful or angry or anxious because Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

10:14 we can't get enlightened if we're fearful or willful or angry or anxious or prideful. Report an error in the passage at 10:14 Highlight the passage at 10:14

10:31 So we motivate. going to activate. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

10:35 To learn whatever we can in tonight's class and then going forward, may some seeds have been planted in this course and in this class tonight that grow into our own connection with a spiritual teacher. May Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:57 we become more and more open to whatever they can show us, wherever they can take us, Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:09 so that we can quickly progress on the path and get enlightened for the benefit of all. Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:29 When you're ready, we can do the opening prayer, except I need a copy of the book. Give me the book. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:44 I can have it memorized all I want, but when I'm sitting up here, I don't have it memorized anymore. So page 8, one more time with feeling. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

11:59 We'll just do it once through. I'd also like to, on the following page, there's Refuge and Generating Bodhicitta, and the very top one. And we'll do that one in English three times. Actually, we'll do it twice in Tibetan and once in English, get you used to that one. Oh, do you have it? Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:23 On the very opposite page of that, the Sunday morning prayers. Uh-oh, we have a special... You have the gimpy kabe? You must have the gimpy kabe. It's a special... Ha-ha-ha, it's twice. No, it's not. Samantha, you're back. twice. Yeah. I'm going to do it twice. Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:40 Samantha! Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

12:45 We're going to do prayers. You want to look on Christine's? Christine, can you? All right, you look on Chris's. There you go. Chris and Christine. Is everything fine now, Kara? Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:04 All right, 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 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:37 So when we do this in Tibetan, usually what happens is you have like a, it's kind of like the umze or the leader. Does the first two syllables and then you guys all join in. A lot of Westerners don't get that one. I'm going to train you guys really well so you don't embarrass me. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

14:01 So it kind of goes like this. Sangye Chodan Sokhi Chonam La Jan Shubhar Du Dagni Kapsu Chi Daghi Chunyengi Pesonam Ki Drolapanchir Sangye Druparsok Sangye Chodansokyi Chonamla Jangshubbardhudagni Kapsuchi Dagi Chunyengi Pesonamki Drolapanchir Sangye Druparsok I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

15:05 Exciting. Report an error in the passage at 15:05 Highlight the passage at 15:05

15:10 All right. So I wanted to cover just a couple of final things. And this is kind of it's like a big topic. I feel. Up higher than the table, it's kind of an odd thing. No, it's okay. Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:31 It's an odd, it feels odd to be so high. Anyway, so this is kind of an odd thing and it definitely comes from the tantric tradition, but there are different ways that the different vehicles... I'm like, I'm. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

15:51 Talk about this particular subject, about seeing the spiritual master as fully enlightened. In the individual liberation vehicle, some say the Theravadan, some say the Hinayana vehicle, the teacher is seen as a representative or an emissary of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:13 really do I just feel like I'm like I'm to sit up better um But in the Mahāyāna, or what's called the universal vehicle, the teacher is seen as an expression of Buddhahood or Dharmakaya. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:35 And they allow our enlightened mind to be expressed, sort of like that. So we're connecting, our Dharmakaya is connecting with their Dharmakaya kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

16:49 In that tradition, in the Mahāyāna tradition, it doesn't mean that the teachers are already considered to be realized Buddhas, but rather that they express enlightened mind. So that's different. However, in Tantrayana, Vajrayana, which all of Tibetan Buddhism is kind of based on, you know, there's kind of this sub... Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:15 stream of Vajrayana that kind of goes through even the Sūtra teachings, even the Lamrim teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Then it's where you begin, at least you train your mind to see the Buddha, your guru as the Buddha. This is talking about the perfectly qualified Buddha, you know, the one with those ten qualities and all that, and this is of course, this isn't talking about every teacher that you have, it's talking about... Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:44 Once you decide this person is your guru, then you begin sort of training your mind to see them as already enlightened. And again, you check up, you take time to check up. But it's definitely coming from this tantric tradition. When you take a tantric empowerment, this is what you have to do. So I always caution, because even, I mean, especially true for highest yoga tantra. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

18:15 During the empowerment, you are instructed to see the master as the deity that you're being empowered into. But a lot of people actually start taking empowerments really early. They'll be like, well, it's just Tara or it's just Medicine Buddha or whatever. And I just always caution them because even if maybe in the lower classes of Tantra it isn't seen as strictly this way, you are still making a connection with that Lama until you get enlightened you have this connection. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:50 It's not even just this lifetime. So it's a very serious connection that you're making. You should know a lot about them. You should know who their teachers are. You should just know something about them. Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

19:02 I feel comfortable with having some relationship with that being, whatever that means. Maybe you'll never receive another teaching in this life, but they become a guru. So I would just hazard. I always sort of err on the side of caution. Partly because I didn't, but I just think it's really, really wise. Now that you know, you can't go back to not knowing now. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:30 Now that you know, to tread very softly and to move very cautiously. But also to try to listen to your own inner wisdom, because you have wisdom. And I guess Itashi was talking a lot about common sense, and I really think common sense and our inner wisdom are kind of similar. So just really listen to that voice. And sometimes you do have to take leaps. But don't take them stupidly. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

19:57 Take them wisely. Make sure you have at least some bodhicitta motivation. It's not just because it would be really cool to have a Tara empowerment. Tantra and teachers are really, really important things and you don't want to just mess around with them. Report an error in the passage at 19:57 Highlight the passage at 19:57

20:12 But mostly this tradition is coming from this idea of, and that's because it's coming from this tantric tradition, it's coming from this idea of trying to protect our minds from this constant critical mind that we generate towards everyone and everything that we see because of this underlying dukkha, you know, this dukkha that we've all got because we have some sarag mind and we just begin finding fault in each other and in... Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:39 Eventually in our teachers. So it's kind of to protect us from doing that. And they say, interestingly, they say too that it helps us keep our mind pure and we get enlightened faster because of it. So it's sort of like we develop pure faith. It doesn't mean that we turn the other way if our Lama starts doing something that feels either against Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 20:39 Highlight the passage at 20:39

21:13 Or against the law. Or just against some moral standard that you feel is something you are uncomfortable with. But if they're just doing something that you don't understand, just to be aware that you don't know the whole story. Or at least, as Tenzin Chokyi said that one, I think it was in the first weekend when somebody raised some questions about their teacher, to at least keep open that. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:42 Possibility that you might not know everything. That they might not be what they seem. The situation might not be what it seems. We did turn the heat on. Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

21:55 Each time I look back, there's like an additional piece of clothing. I know. Somebody run up and get her a comforter. her. She's got like a hard pop on her. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:11 It's to kind of get you in the mood from the movie about Tibet. We're already there. Anyway, so just to keep the mind open that perhaps you don't know everything and you don't see everything. Just with that idea of karma and emptiness that unless you are clairvoyant, which of course then you would have a little more insight. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:33 But if we don't really know the other person's mind, whether that person is our teacher or another student or... Even our partner. We don't know what they're really doing and why. We just can't know. And that's actually one of the first of the Buddhist teachings. One of the strongest of his teachings was not to judge others until we were fully enlightened. So we have to be careful of that. So there are some logical reasons, of course, in another list of why we can see our guru as a fully realized Buddha and how we can... Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

23:09 Think about this logically. These teachings, of course, come from the tantric path, which is also called the resultant path. Report an error in the passage at 23:09 Highlight the passage at 23:09

23:20 Sūtra is called the causal path. And in tantra, what we're doing is basically, as Vinrovina says, behaving as if. You know, we're already fake it till you make it, right? So we're taking elements of what we will become and we're living that now. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:37 We are beginning to see ourselves as the deity. We're seeing, which we get into in the Discovering Buddhism class on Tantra too. There's an introduction to Tantra class. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

23:49 But we see our environment, well we try to see our environment as pure. We try to see ourselves as pure, which is even harder. We try to see each other as pure, which is just as hard, I think, probably not harder. So it's coming from that. Tradition where we are already starting to live and practice reacting and practice experiencing life with a completely pure mind and a completely pure, you know, completely pure interactions, completely pure speech and hearing and experiencing life in a way to become that. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:31 And there are other things, of course, with Tantra, it's not just all that you're pretending to be a Buddha. You are actually doing practices that help you become a Buddha, high-level practices. But part of the early stages is just almost like getting, as one of my friends says, getting ready to get ready. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

24:52 You're getting ready to get ready to be a Buddha. So you're learning to stop finding fault and to start seeing things purely. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:03 So working with a guru, of course, comes from that. And so if we're seeing everything and everyone, including ourselves, as pure, then of course we see the teacher who's taking us to enlightenment as pure. And we begin seeing everything they do as a teaching for us, and every word that they say is a teaching for us. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:24 So it's not just wasted words. There's some reason that they're saying that or that they're doing that, and so we try to get the meaning from it. And it's also part of this... Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:40 Especially with the teacher, it's part of this whole development of, I like to use this word, awe. It's like this awe that we begin to hold our teacher in, not in the sense of separating them from us, although there is some of that in some way, but not seeing them as just one of the guys. And not seeing them as ordinary. Report an error in the passage at 25:40 Highlight the passage at 25:40

26:08 Which for me with somebody like Lama Zopa Rinpoche is not too difficult. I don't think there's, no matter what you think of him as a teacher or as a person, nobody really just thinks he's one of the guys. I think this must be harder if you have a Western teacher, which I think you guys probably, many of you will have more and more of. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

26:32 And also if you just have younger Tibetan lamas who might just be hanging out and going to the movies with you. Like we saw a little bit, those of us that watched Words of My Perfect Teacher. You know, like what is that like? And how do you maintain this feeling for this person while still having this interaction? Report an error in the passage at 26:32 Highlight the passage at 26:32

26:52 It's just something to think about and to be aware of. It will come up for you. So I call it awe. And it's actually kind of a reverence in a way and definitely a respect. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:06 But it's slightly different than both of them. It's a little bit like, who is this? And not forgetting to keep asking yourself, who is this? Who is that really? Report an error in the passage at 27:06 Highlight the passage at 27:06

27:19 So not forgetting, just not forgetting, not taking him for granted or him or her for granted, not seeing them as ordinary like that. Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:33 So Pabanka Rinpoche gives us this list of reasons why we... you know. Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

27:38 See ourselves, or Lama, sorry, as the Buddha. The first one being from scriptural authority. And then the other three are ways that we can kind of work on our minds and think about this. So the first one from scriptural authority is, of course, from the tantras. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:00 Vajradhara, who is the tantric version of Shakyamuni Buddha, who looks very much like Vajrasattva, except blue. Like more of a deep blue color. But a solitary Vajradhara also is holding Vajrambell, but he's holding them in the embracing mudrā rather than Vajrasattva's kind of rakishly, you know, he's got like the upturned bell and the Vajra. Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:30 So Vajradhara actually said in the tantras many times that he would come back to us in the form of our teachers. So he said that, you know, that he would come back, he wouldn't leave us flailing around here, but that he would come back in the form of lamas. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:52 The inferential reasoning that Pabanka Rinpoche states is the first one. So these are four points, and the first was that Vajradar said he would return to us in the form of a teacher, our teacher, our teacher, not just a teacher. Um. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:13 The second is the first of these three that are connected with inferential reasoning. The guru is the agent for all the Buddha's activities in the world. And this is where we start to see the teacher or the Lama as almost like the Buddha's hands, the Buddha's agent, the Buddha's arms in the world. Hey, Courtney, come on in. That's okay. Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:42 When you start studying the different activities of the Buddha, or enlightened activities they're called, the main activity that enlightened mind takes in the world is teaching. You know, Buddhas can't remove our bad karma. They can't change our mind. They can't do the work for us. They can't enlighten us, unfortunately, you know. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

30:10 But they can teach us. And they can teach us indirectly through those people on the bus and things like that, or one of you guys could be enlightened, and I honestly say that, I really wouldn't know. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:22 But most likely they take the form of somebody giving formal teachings, or a guru, a qualified spiritual master. Report an error in the passage at 30:22 Highlight the passage at 30:22

30:35 The second of these three points for inferential reasoning is that Buddhas and bodhisattvas pledged to never stop. Working for sentient beings. And so they still are. They're still working for us. Report an error in the passage at 30:35 Highlight the passage at 30:35

30:56 And the way that they do it is through the actions of the teacher. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:05 And the fourth, I think, is actually the most powerful. For me, for thinking about it, it sounds funny, but our perceptions are completely unreliable. Report an error in the passage at 31:05 Highlight the passage at 31:05

31:17 Our perceptions about everything are completely unreliable, if you know anything about karma and emptiness. Our perceptions, even just knowing anything about subtle impermanence, are completely unreliable. It feels like this building will be here forever and that it will always be Sechen Ling. And I know darn well that it wasn't always and that it could very well not be as soon as, you know, several months from now. Report an error in the passage at 31:17 Highlight the passage at 31:17

31:48 And having lived through the quake in 89, I also know that it's not as solid as it appears to be. It looks really solid. It feels really solid. It could be gone tonight. Hey, come on in. Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

32:05 So our perceptions aren't necessarily what's true. It just feels true. And we want to believe that it's true. But it's not necessarily true. We do that with ourselves, too. I mean, our views of ourselves, right? I am this kind of a person. I'm not. I'm definitely not that kind of a person. And then fast forward a few years. You know, if I actually even thought, in some ways when I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a nun. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:41 But if I had thought, especially in my 20s, that I was going to be a nun. No way. No way. So we just don't have an idea of ourselves. We don't realize what we are. We tend to solidify ourselves as well. We definitely solidify each other. We see each other in some certain way. We see each other incorrectly. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:04 Misapprehending reality is the source of all of our suffering, according to the Buddha. So just whether it's in terms of impermanence or whether it's in terms of... The ultimate nature of things, you know, seeing things as concrete, seeing things as unchangeable, seeing things as solid, physical things as well as the nature of things, you know. Report an error in the passage at 33:04 Highlight the passage at 33:04

33:24 So with our gurus, it's the same thing. We have the karma to see things in a certain way and we see our gurus in a certain way. Does that mean that they actually exist that way? Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:40 Not if you have any faith in the law of cause and effect and emptiness. We don't really know who those beings are. If we've figured out, and this of course gets back to what you were talking about on the practice day. How do we know? I don't know. It's kind of a catch-22. That's why I think they caution us to take so long. Report an error in the passage at 33:40 Highlight the passage at 33:40

33:59 To try to really spend time with that teacher and with their students and really get a good, comfortable feel for them, their teaching style, who they are, how they handle problems. Report an error in the passage at 33:59 Highlight the passage at 33:59

34:13 You know, I mean, they say 12 years, which is a really long time for Westerners. Westerners don't want to take that long. But it behooves us to take a long time, as long as we can take. I have to admit, I made a decision quicker than that from the time that I first met Rinpoche to the time that I really felt that he was my guru. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:40 Six years had gone by, but probably only four of them had I received many teachings from him. And I think that was actually too fast. I was fortunate. I think I've had good karma with teachers despite my stupidity. So I'm cautioning you guys to take more time. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

34:59 I think I was incredibly fortunate. I mean, when I think of how quickly I took on, within the first couple of years, I probably took on nine gurus. It just happens, believe me. So just be really careful, taking empowerments, taking vows, like that. So you just be careful. And every one of us has turned out to be a really wonderful being, but not through my own wisdom, just through the karma of whoever it was last life. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:31 So if we have the karma to see our guru as an amazing teacher, we're really fortunate. But if we have the karma to see our guru screw up or do something... You know, not know a text or something like that, you know, not remember a text correctly. We have to be careful. It actually serves us better to see that as a teaching, you know, rather than thinking, well, he's stupid. Why doesn't he know that? Report an error in the passage at 35:31 Highlight the passage at 35:31

36:07 I know that, you know, or something like that. Just don't even go down that path. Maybe there's a reason, you know, that that teacher is trying to show you. Your pride or your judgment or your own wisdom, that you know it. I mean, who knows what they're doing? It actually is better for our mind to think that way. And how do we know? Our perceptions about everything else are so skewed. How do we really know who they are? Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:38 So I find that actually a more helpful reasoning process to go through than the rest of them. Report an error in the passage at 36:38 Highlight the passage at 36:38

36:50 Except for Vajidar saying that they would come back in the form. That works pretty well for me. So anyway, then Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:05 one of the other things that we are taught to really consider is the kindness of the guru. And one of the ways that we think about the kindness of the guru, they say that our guru, our particular guru, as Lama Zopa says, not any guru. but um Report an error in the passage at 37:05 Highlight the passage at 37:05

37:20 Your guru. Not just any guru. But thinking about your guru, if you think that your guru is enlightened or you think that your guru is a Buddha and then you think you realize that this person has taken a human form to help you, there's this huge sense of gratitude. And some of my teachers, when I've watched them, Report an error in the passage at 37:20 Highlight the passage at 37:20

37:49 I do get the sense that they are not, I seem to be. And I don't think that I'm all that amazing a practitioner, but I feel like I've really been in the company of some amazing holy beings. Report an error in the passage at 37:49 Highlight the passage at 37:49

38:08 But there's some aspect about them that doesn't quite seem human in some ways, and this has come up a number of times where I don't quite... Um... Report an error in the passage at 38:08 Highlight the passage at 38:08

38:18 Who they are. And then I just, and especially I think too when you enter Tantra there's something interesting that happens where somebody who seems so sort of friendly and small, quite a few Tibetan Lamas are so tiny, and then they come in and they do, suddenly they manifest as this being and it's really kind of startling. Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:45 I'm thinking right now of Kurti Sincha Rinpoche, who was the Lama that I went to. He actually was the Lama who was, when I did Vajrasafra retreat in 98, he was the Lama in Dharamsala who came and gave us the permission to practice and then also was available for us to go and talk to. I had no idea how great of a Lama he was. I just thought he was kind of the Lama down the road. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:13 You know, so I When I think about it in retrospect, I'm just floored that he just made himself so available for us. We were all just like these beginning students. There was only 17 people on the retreat and we all went and visited him. I went like probably three times and talked to him about stuff and talked to him about wanting to get ordained. He was the first Lama that I talked about getting ordained. Report an error in the passage at 39:13 Highlight the passage at 39:13

39:36 But then when I received an empowerment from him, He was this little, little guy, very feminine in some ways, very tiny, very feminine. And then all of a sudden, for this empowerment, he just kind of walked in, he's like smiling at everybody, and then he got on the throne and it's like, and everyone was, I just felt kind of floored at how he just suddenly filled the room. Report an error in the passage at 39:36 Highlight the passage at 39:36

39:56 And just having had that experience myself, not with my own karma, I was just kind of like, well, you know, who are these people? I don't know who these people are, you know. But I was sold. I was just like, okay, this guy's not, you know, he's not an ordinary being. He passed away a few years ago. He manifested liver cancer. And he proceeded to show us all the way along how to work with something like that with your mind, how to work with receiving the results. Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:38 His doctors were floored. He received the results in Israel. He was on tour. He'd just gone there to teach, had some pain, went to the doctors, and it ended up being very advanced stage liver cancer. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

40:51 And the doctor said he's the only person he's ever given news like that to who had the exact same reaction with that heavy and negative news as he would have. If he had said, it's nothing, you're fine. He was completely sweet, friendly, asked after his family, you know, like exactly the same as if he had said, you don't have anything, you're fine, you can go. Report an error in the passage at 40:51 Highlight the passage at 40:51

41:17 He was just like, you know, exactly the same, just very relaxed and sweet and friendly about it. So all the way along he just kept giving these little teachings that then his interpreter and... Sort of his whole entourage would send back these emails, you know, and we would all just be floored and just learn from that. And I feel like all the way along he was just using that whole existence in a human body to show us how we work with our mind when we face really big problems and how we leave life, you know. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:51 It was quite profound. So, I don't know. I mean, it's just so inspiring. Teachers show us all sorts of amazing things and they show them in ways that we least expect. And they can show us more if we're open to it. You know, if we really open up our hearts and minds to it, they can show us a lot. I also want to say too that if we have the karma to be really close to a Lama and to serve them, It doesn't mean that we become best friends with them. It doesn't mean that they become our therapist. Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

42:39 It doesn't mean that we even have a good time with them. It may not be like that. That part, how it manifests is due to our karma. Why it manifests, we have to get down to our number one reason for getting enlightened. Sharpest. Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

42:57 And that's to benefit all sentient beings. So the why has to be bodhicitta. It has to be getting us enlightened. That is their number one. Actually their only purpose is getting us enlightened. How they do it is totally dependent upon our karma. You know, if they have to be really, yeah, tough. I think actually one of the nights that we were talking about the different, and I mentioned this on the practice day too. Report an error in the passage at 42:57 Highlight the passage at 42:57

43:27 We were talking about the different qualities that we would look for and Carol was all like sweet and kind and compassionate and you were like I just need somebody to be tough with me sometimes you know and that's good to remember you know I do too and you know sometimes being sweet and kind is really helpful because some I also have this really like fearful you know nervous side and all that but then sometimes I just need a kick in the butt and I really need a kick in the butt and I need somebody to do that and Then I have to, now that I've said that, no, I need somebody to do that. And sometimes I have to manifest wrath. And there's nothing that will make me kick to quicker than, I have only had Rinpoche manifest wrath a few times with me, but it was just like, oh, and I got it. Report an error in the passage at 43:27 Highlight the passage at 43:27

44:14 Yeah, it was scary. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:18 I was like, okay. Okay. Anyway, so it's really important to remember that we would only, you know, it's just like if we want to become a master carpenter, then we become an apprentice of a carpenter. Otherwise, we just don't. There's no purpose to. So if we want to get enlightened, we want to enter this relationship. And then once we do, then we have to know that it's sometimes difficult and it may not look like the storybook pictures that we think of. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:48 So I did want to mention just before we... Watch the film. What to do if things go wrong. In other words, if your teacher starts doing something that feels kind of confusing to you or just, for example, if they're doing something that doesn't feel like you want to follow it or if you just don't feel the same karmic pull. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:15 Karmic intensity to be with that teacher that maybe you did at the beginning. Maybe at the beginning you were really pulled and then now you're kind of pulled to do something with another teacher or you just feel like for whatever reason you don't want to work with that teacher even just right now. Just thinking right now. Number one, step back. Report an error in the passage at 45:15 Highlight the passage at 45:15

45:39 Give yourself space to think about that. A lot of times we get all caught up with our whole mental afflictions about it and we make it a much bigger deal than it has to be. Karma shifts all the time. Think about karma in relationships, right? Karma shifts in relationships and then sometimes, actually sometimes it's really clear to both people in a relationship. Report an error in the passage at 45:39 Highlight the passage at 45:39

45:59 The relationship should be over, but we have to drag it out over four years in therapy and involve everyone we've ever known and the children too. And actually nobody even really wants to be in a relationship anymore, but it's like all of our afflicted states of mind have to come into it and we have to blame and all this other stuff. Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:16 Sometimes karma has just shifted and that one teacher maybe was the perfect one to get you to where you are right now, but maybe that teacher isn't the one to take you the next step. That's okay. Number two is to remember to keep respecting that teacher, no matter what, especially if you consider that teacher a guru. Report an error in the passage at 46:16 Highlight the passage at 46:16

46:37 If you think of that teacher as a guru, you maintain that respect until the day you die. No matter what they're doing, remember to keep that mind open that maybe I don't know what it is that they're doing, but I respect them, you know. And don't... Just get into trashing them with all your friends if all your friends are trashing them or everyone at the center or everyone whatever is trashing them. Keeping that mind of respect for them. Report an error in the passage at 46:37 Highlight the passage at 46:37

47:07 Give yourself some space. Step back. Think about what you're going to do and do it with respect. That's totally fine to do. There's nothing that says that once you sign on with a teacher that you can't respectfully. Pull out of the relationship if it just doesn't feel right to you anymore. We have that option. But always to keep that mind of respect. Report an error in the passage at 47:07 Highlight the passage at 47:07

47:32 And always for your own sake to remember emptiness and remember your own deluded mind. That one serves me really well. And I actually have had this come up a couple of times for teachers for me. Report an error in the passage at 47:32 Highlight the passage at 47:32

47:45 I know that I have a very deluded mind and that I can't see things very clearly, even in just ordinary beings. So how on earth can I see it in high teachers? I don't know. I don't know where they're doing something. I just know that for me at this time, maybe not so useful to be practicing in that way. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

48:04 So that's kind of my way. And then I just, if I walk into a room and people are talking about that teacher, I'm just like, that's one of my teachers, so I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to. Backstab, I'm not going to blah, blah, blah, because that just creates negative karma for me, much less them, engages them in that conversation too. So I kind of make it pretty obvious to the people that I know, and I have had that happen where conversations stop many times when I enter the room, and I don't care, that's cool, I'll take the bullet. Report an error in the passage at 48:04 Highlight the passage at 48:04

48:35 But for me it helps to know that really things are... Empty of inherent existence. I have the karma to see this person a certain way and I don't necessarily trust my perceptions 100 % yet because I'm not enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 48:35 Highlight the passage at 48:35

48:52 And so just to keep things safe and to keep things right and also to really remember what that teacher has given to you because there was some reason you were drawn to that teacher to begin with. By and large, in the cases I'm thinking about for me, those people are just, I feel such huge gratitude to them. And I also know that right now I don't want to study with them. Report an error in the passage at 48:52 Highlight the passage at 48:52

49:18 But that I could again in this lifetime. I'm quite open to that. You know, I know things change. So just kind of thinking about that. Use your own wisdom. Be respectful. Take the space you need. Don't make a big deal out of it. Use it to work on your mind. Use it to get enlightened. Remember all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:42 You know, those are kind of like go down those steps, you know, which is, of course, true for any relationship. Anytime you have a falling out with anybody. Use your own wisdom. Remember emptiness. Take some space. Keep the possibility open that you're not seeing things the way they actually are. And then, you know, keep respect for that person. So, I mean, it's really the same. It's the same for all. Report an error in the passage at 49:42 Highlight the passage at 49:42

50:14 So I think, actually, we could take some questions. We're running a little bit late. It's about exactly the time that I would like to be starting the film. Do people have some quick questions? And then we can talk more after the film if people have more questions. Because I'm sure it hasn't questions after the film. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:40 You're holding one, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 50:40 Highlight the passage at 50:40

50:44 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I meant to check in with you guys about that. Sorry about that. Like you talked about a qualified disciple. It's interesting how you talked about a center that most people don't believe in. I forgot to put her away, sorry. Believe in. past and future lives basically and i just wanted to ask like in what sense is he talking about and future lives because there's a sense that like you know the elements just kind of recombine from life and then and then there's another sense i guess that there's like you know an indestructible Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:20 That's probably a really big question and more covered in other classes but according to Buddhism It's the subtlest level of mind that goes from life to life. However, that subtlest level of mind is thoroughly impermanent and it is not a physical thing. So it's not like a seed or a river or something like that. Well, it's a little more like a river, actually, in the sense of a river being not ever the same water moving past you day in and day out. Report an error in the passage at 51:20 Highlight the passage at 51:20

51:54 It's like that. So it's almost like sometimes... Like with all things emptiness, it's, you know, the more you think about it, the more it slips out of your grasp. But mind is very much like, almost like an energetic process of thought. And it's like this, they say it's like these individual moments of thought. Report an error in the passage at 51:54 Highlight the passage at 51:54

52:22 It's almost like a necklace without the... Without the string and without the beads. As Rinpoche says, it's almost like it doesn't exist, but it exists. So it's so subtle, he'll say, so subtle. Report an error in the passage at 52:22 Highlight the passage at 52:22

52:44 But something does move from life to life. And that something carries our karmic imprints and carries our... Sort of the imprints of our good actions and our bad actions and all those things. And that does move from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 52:44 Highlight the passage at 52:44

53:16 Yeah. You don't... To experience your most subtle level of consciousness would take quite a bit of work, actually. We do, in deep states of consciousness, we do experience our subtle level, which we also experience in the dream state. Most subtle level, we only really experience at the time of... Unless you get into really high tantric practices. And definitely for any tantric practices you need a Lama. Report an error in the passage at 53:16 Highlight the passage at 53:16

53:48 It's just a given. They actually have a lot of the instructions cryptically written so that it'll say like, you know, something, some plain sentence and then if Geshe was giving you commentary and it's like four paragraphs in your notes, you know, and you're like, and he says it's like purposefully written that way so you have to do it with a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:09 But yeah, there is a bit of a catch-22, but you shouldn't be entering those stages until you've worked with a teacher on renunciation, learning impermanence, understanding the suffering of the different realms, developing bodhicitta. Before we even get to those high level of practices, we should be working with a teacher. So by the time you get there, it's sort of like you start out touring Kansas before you go to Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:35 So it's kind of like we kind of work up to it. Nothing against Kansas. I was trying to pick a safe place. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:49 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because then you see them. You see them on the streets. You see them how they are. Yeah, you watch them in kind of everyday life. You get more of a sense of who they are. Before, you're relying on them because you're falling off a mountain or something. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 54:49 Highlight the passage at 54:49

55:10 Gosh, I thought you were going to ask me a much harder one. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 55:10 Highlight the passage at 55:10

55:15 Because he definitely got into some stuff there. Anybody else? Any other questions? Okay, let's go watch a movie. But we have to dedicate in case somebody has to leave early, Courtney, because it may go over. And I assume that might be you. Or anyone with little kids, actually. Sorry. All the moms have to leave quickly. So let's dedicate really quickly to anything that we gained from... Report an error in the passage at 55:15 Highlight the passage at 55:15

55:44 This session, but also all of the sessions to each one of us being able to meet the perfect teacher for us, whatever that looks like to everybody else, and also being able then to serve that teacher so that we can follow them all the way to enlightenment, so that we can, all of us, become Buddhas. We can become fully awakened beings and perfectly know how to benefit others. Perfectly. Perfectly meaning to their minds. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

56:15 Right? Not perfectly to some external mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:15 Highlight the passage at 56:15

56:21 Gay Wadi. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:25 Let's go watch a movie. Carrie, you want to put the popcorn on? Okay. Very broad. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:41 No low-fat one for him. Report an error in the passage at 56:41 Highlight the passage at 56:41

56:45 Actually, I'm going to be a bad teacher. I'm going to put on a sweater, too. I know. I know. It's horrible. See? This is the kind of karma that you created. You had a teacher. You created this karma. Thank you. I fired? Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:03 Now that I've said that. Now that I've said that it's gone out, I'll get the call. Were you teaching in a sweater the other day? Report an error in the passage at 57:03 Highlight the passage at 57:03