Discovering Buddhism - Wisdom of Emptiness (11 September 2008)

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0:41 set up in the big chair. actually quite comfy. So I'm Shuki. Hey. I'm subbing for Venable Munlum. Hey, thank you. Yeah, that's all right. That's fine. This is a bigger table, so there's room for everything. Certainly not this. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:07 So I'm subbing for Venable Munlum while he's in Indiana with Keshila. Report an error in the passage at 1:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07

1:15 And so hopefully I'll be Hopefully, we're going to talk a little bit more about, he said he had started the fourfold analysis to try to get emptiness a little bit more. So we're going to work on that. That's what we're going to look at tonight is a fourfold analysis. Report an error in the passage at 1:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15

1:40 Let's just start with a little meditation on the breath because you guys can humor me. That allows me to calm down. Maybe you guys are already completely calm and serene and together and present, but I always like to start with meditation on the breath just to bring my body and my mind into the same place. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

2:01 I hit it, yeah. I'm used to having to do it to myself. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:09 So I'm assuming that you guys have started meditating if you haven't already been meditating before this class. And so just start with just doing a meditation on your breath. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:24 And every time your mind wanders, just keep bringing it gently but firmly back to the breath. And we'll just do that for a few minutes. And Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

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4:05 then we'll just start with a motivation for being here tonight. Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:15 I think emptiness has this mystery that it doesn't have to have. Report an error in the passage at 4:15 Highlight the passage at 4:15

4:26 Emptiness is just getting us closer to the truth, reality, that we constantly misunderstand. And our misunderstanding of it, our misperceiving of it is what causes us pain because it causes mental afflictions to arise and then we follow those afflictions and we create, we do actions that create karma and that karma follows us from lifetime to lifetime and causes us pain. Report an error in the passage at 4:26 Highlight the passage at 4:26

5:02 So if we can actually see reality as the Buddha saw it, if we can directly perceive emptiness, we can cut that. We can cut our own suffering and then we'll know how to show other people because it'll be in our body. We'll experience it. We'll know it. We'll know how to do it. Report an error in the passage at 5:02 Highlight the passage at 5:02

5:33 So that's why we're in this class. So I motivate to do this class so that we can cut our own suffering and ultimately help others do the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 5:33 Highlight the passage at 5:33

5:57 You can end your meditation. We're going to start with some opening prayers, except Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:07 I don't have a prayer book. Can you hand me that one, Rose? Thank you. No, it's okay. You're still meditating. That's all right. That's a good sign. Report an error in the passage at 6:07 Highlight the passage at 6:07

6:20 I think you guys have been reading the Heart Sūtra, right? Yes. Let's start with the Heart Sūtra. I think it's somewhere Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

6:32 around like 80 or something. 79. Oh, that was close. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:44 There it is. Well, 77. We're not going to do the Tibetan bit. So we'll start on 79. Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

6:57 I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time the Bhagavan was dwelling on Massive Vultures Mountain in Rashgriya, together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas. At that time the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya Avalokadishvara, looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:25 And we held those five aggregates also empty of inherent nature. Then through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Sharapudra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara. How should a nisan of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? He said that and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara said this to the Venerable Sharadavaputra. Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:52 Sharaputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also is empty of inherent nature. Form is empty, emptiness is form, emptiness is not other than form, form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:21 Sharaputra, likewise all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. I shall approve you. Report an error in the passage at 8:21 Highlight the passage at 8:21

8:35 Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch and no phenomena. There is no eye element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

9:00 There is no ignorance and no extinction of ignorance and so on up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Sharaputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Report an error in the passage at 9:00 Highlight the passage at 9:00

9:26 Having completely passed beyond error, they reached the end point of nirvāṇa. All the Buddhists who dwell in the three times also manifestly completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment and reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:43 The mantra of great knowledge. The unsurpassed mantra. The mantra equal to the unequaled. The mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering should be known as the truth since it is not false. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Thayata om gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhisoha. Sharputra the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

10:10 Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Arya, Avalok, Kedishvara, saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage, it is like that, it is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom, just as you have indicated, even the Tathagatas rejoice. Report an error in the passage at 10:10 Highlight the passage at 10:10

10:28 The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the Venerable Shardraviputra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Ari Avalok, Kideshvara, those surrounding in their entirety along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and Gandharvas, were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 10:28 Highlight the passage at 10:28

10:46 And then go to page 229. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

10:53 And anyone who's ever done a class with me knows this is my favorite prayer to do at the beginning of a class. To generate bodhicitta. We've got to have the compassion along with the wisdom. So we'll do it one time. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 10:53 Highlight the passage at 10:53

11:15 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. So thank you. Report an error in the passage at 11:15 Highlight the passage at 11:15

11:44 So I should say something about who I am, in case you wonder who the heck this person is. I don't know if my mom told you anything. I have been the spiritual program coordinator for the last maybe four and a half years maybe. Before that I was the director of the center. And now we're splitting my job. So now I'm spiritual care coordinator and then we have a program coordinator. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

12:13 So I'm sort of now responsible more for the spiritual aspects of the program. Like, I don't know, like how do you divide them, right? Meditation, pujas, counseling students, you know, going to be with people when they die and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:32 But, you know, I'm also still setting up classes. I'm not above setting up classes. And I've been at the center for nine years. I've been working for the center for eight. And I've been a Buddhist for about 12 years. It sort of gives it to you in numbers. I also teach the Discovering Buddhism program. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

12:55 And usually, actually, probably most in the last few years, I've been teaching. So... Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:01 I've been the only teacher of the Discovering Buddhism program, and now we're sort of alternating, so people get a taste of different teachers. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:12 Emptiness is especially important to me. It was probably, I think it was the second thing that I studied. It was the very first teaching that I ever received from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, which I think is very interesting when I look back at that. That was my main teacher. I didn't have a clue what he was saying. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:31 That was in 1992. But I had the counsel of a very, very intelligent and dear friend of mine, Tenzin Chokyi, at that point, Petra, who just simply said, have no expectations and don't leave. Report an error in the passage at 13:31 Highlight the passage at 13:31

13:45 So then it just became an interesting thing. I didn't know what he was talking about, and in retrospect, I think it was just great that I received those seeds and I didn't have any expectations. But the first... The second really in-depth course that I took was on the Diamond Cutter Sūtra, sometimes called the Vajra Cutter Sūtra, which is all about emptiness and piqued my interest. Report an error in the passage at 13:45 Highlight the passage at 13:45

14:14 Emptiness is actually, when you start studying emptiness and especially how emptiness and karma work together, it completely changes your life. It completely changes your life. So I think it's actually... One of the juiciest of all of the Buddhist teachings. But we get in our own way a lot of times when we study emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:39 And so one of my messages is just to kind of cool out a little bit. Because I think what gets in our way is our conceptual thinking. We have to get at emptiness conceptually, but ultimately it's a non-conceptual experience that we have to have with it. So... So just, you know, it's like remembering, you know, in Nepal they always say slowly, slowly, you know, so it's just like we keep going back to slowly, slowly, you know, let it sleep in, let it sleep in. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

15:14 When I teach I like to... Just teach and then I make some time for questions after and that's just because I have absolutely no retention anymore. So I'll forget what I'm saying. So I just request that if I'm listing like something three of this or four of that, which of course there always is in Galugpa teachings, right? Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:36 And there will be tonight. Then that's cool. Then just say I missed number three or something like that. That's okay. But I would prefer to just wait until I say, how about if we take some questions on that. Whether I can answer your questions, that will be another story. I'm a student of this too. I've just been studying it for a little bit. Anyway, I can't even say longer because I don't know what your levels of understanding of emptiness are. Report an error in the passage at 15:36 Highlight the passage at 15:36

16:08 Hopefully you're all just Buddhas and you're just posing as interested students so that I have to study and prepare and help me understand it all more. For that, I appreciate you guys. So the first aspect of emptiness that I wanted to just mention is that emptiness is actually just like a characteristic or a quality of all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:37 It doesn't exist apart from... Report an error in the passage at 16:37 Highlight the passage at 16:37

16:42 And that quality is a mere absence of a false way of existing. So emptiness isn't, you know, when we say something like we're going to study emptiness, it actually doesn't even make sense, logically. Emptiness isn't something that isn't a positive phenomena that's existing out there somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

17:07 It's not like I can go get emptiness. It's like I can pick up emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:15 Emptiness is simply an absence of existing the way we think things exist. So you always have to say, it's empty of what? Empty of what? Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:26 But we don't. We get caught on the word emptiness, and I think that's what blocks us a lot of times. It becomes much more dense and mysterious. And inherent than we even want it to be. So emptiness is simply empty of what? Empty of inherently existing. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:45 Emptiness can't exist without the form that it's sort of one with. And the form can't exist without emptiness. We'll talk about that. So every object has its emptiness. There's the emptiness of the cup, the emptiness of the microphone, the emptiness of Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 17:45 Highlight the passage at 17:45

18:06 The emptiness of the class, the emptiness of emptiness. And the emptiness of all those things has the same nature, but the basis or the object which is empty differs. So you can see the sort of difference there. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:29 So often you use the same terminology if something is empty of inherent existence. Sometimes people say empty of existing from its own side. You'll hear that one. Through its own nature. Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:48 They all mean the same thing. The way that we perceive things is out there, separate from me. Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

19:02 Arising on its own independently of everything else. That's the way it appears. And what the Buddha experienced when he directly perceived emptiness and then perfected it to gain enlightenment is that things cannot exist in that way. And in fact, they never have. And our seeing it that way is simply, that's what ignorance is. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:29 That's really what ignorance is, is seeing things as existing independently out there from its own side in any way other than a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:45 Have you guys talked about dependent arising at all in here? You have talked about it a little bit. We'll talk about it a little bit too because they're two flip sides of the same coin. Report an error in the passage at 19:45 Highlight the passage at 19:45

19:57 So, you know, we talk a lot about having a direct perception of emptiness. How do you... Realize an absence of something. You know, like sometimes people, one of my teachers said that you could always tell if somebody hadn't actually had a direct perception of emptiness but they thought they had because they would be describing something. Report an error in the passage at 19:57 Highlight the passage at 19:57

20:20 They would be describing seeing something and what you're actually perceiving is the absence of something that you always thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:32 So think about it in this terms. Think about it. Think about how you're driving around all day or like all week or all month thinking that you have your dream job. Thinking that you've gotten your dream job. And you know all the ins and outs of your dream job. And then it turns out that not only did you not get it, it never existed. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

20:57 We do that kind of stuff all the time actually. And Tessa Chokyi told this story actually. She was teaching on emptiness. of, of, um... You know, all day at work thinking about the pizza that you left in the box in the fridge, but actually your roommate ate it the night before. So actually it wasn't in that box all day. And you could see it, you could smell it, you could taste it. You know, you had this really vivid experience of that pizza that didn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:26 But that one falls short a little bit because it did exist the night before. So you did see something that triggered it. So that one's not such a great example, except for the stories that arise. And that part is true. That's why we suffer, because we create all these stories based on things that don't exist the way we think that they do. Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:50 So this isn't saying that things don't exist at all. And that's really, really, really important, because a lot of times people immediately go into nihilism. And the more that you study this stuff and the more that you begin meditating on it and working with it, it's easy to slip into that unless you keep sort of reminding yourself that absence of existing inherently or independently doesn't mean absence of existing at all. Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

22:22 He's just simply saying things don't exist in this way that you see them. He's not saying... You know, you're existing in a huge vacuum. That's not what the Buddha was saying at all. And people that go that direction and stop seeing the relationship with how we act towards each other. In other words, things don't matter, right? Because it's all empty. You hear people saying this and that's extreme wrong view. Things ultimately matter only because things are empty. Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:54 How we treat each other, the kind of goodness that we... Have towards each other. It's ultimately all there is. Because that's what changes our reality. Because things are empty of existing solidly, independently, permanently, concretely, absolutely, the way they seem like they do. Report an error in the passage at 22:54 Highlight the passage at 22:54

23:16 So when we were just reading the Heart Sūtra, when we go through that middle part where you start going through form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:30 It's also not other than emptiness. This gets into the fourfold analysis. And you can actually take that and apply it to any other phenomena that exists. So it's useful. This is a really large cup. Thank you very much. So it's a very cool thing to meditate on and then stick in something for form. You know, form just sounds kind of... Report an error in the passage at 23:30 Highlight the passage at 23:30

24:04 What does it even mean? But you can stick in something like my hand. So you can say, my hand is emptiness or empty. Emptiness is my hand. Emptiness is not other than my hand. My hand, too, is not other than emptiness. And then we'll look at what each of those statements is getting at. Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:28 And you can apply it for every single thing. We're not so attached. attached to To all forms of form. But we can start with looking at form. And then we can also then get in, by the end of the class, we'll be talking about the I, the emptiness of the I. And that's really, when we have a direct perception of emptiness, we have a direct perception of the emptiness of this I. The I that, we'll talk about which I, because there are several I's. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:57 There's a valid I, and then there's this I that gets us into trouble. Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:08 So it's kind of like when we say empty, it's kind of like saying this cup is empty. It's not empty, but will be empty as soon as I finish it. This cup is empty of water. You know, it doesn't mean that the cup doesn't exist at all, right? So you can see the difference in that. It's the same thing. We're using the word empty in the same way. If we say a room is empty of darkness. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:31 Or a room is empty, you know, when you're moving out, a room is empty of things. That's what we're talking about. It's empty of something. So that's what you have to ask. What's it empty of? If I said that room is empty, you wouldn't go, oh, that room doesn't exist anymore, you know, and just kind of get all weird and woo-woo about it. So just think about the meaning of the word empty and don't just accept that it means space. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

25:56 Often... When we meditate on emptiness, we meditate on what they call space-like emptiness. And part of that is for us to let go of these solid, concrete ways that we see things, and ourselves especially. But it doesn't mean that we... Emptiness and space are not the same thing. It's a way to get us closer to it, but it's not the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:22 And there are lots of different metaphors and analogies that we look at when we're talking about emptiness. Like a dream, for example. It doesn't mean that if I walk out on that street and walk in front of a cab, I'm not going to get hit. It's not like a dream like that. You know what I mean? So we have to be careful that we don't get too weird and woo-woo about it. It's not like that. These are really practical. Report an error in the passage at 26:22 Highlight the passage at 26:22

26:50 Experiences that the Buddha had and perceptions that the Buddha had and he's trying then to take those experiences and help us understand it. At first though he didn't feel like any ordinary being could understand it. That's why he actually refused to teach. It's specifically for these teachings because they're so profound. But then he began. And fortunately lots of other beings. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:19 Since then have had this direct perception of emptiness and we can too. It's something that we can do. This one is actually one that we can do. Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:31 They actually say that it's harder to have a direct realization of bodhicitta than it is of emptiness, which I think is quite interesting. Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:42 But they're both necessary. We're never going to get enlightened. So dependent arising. Dependent arising just simply means that things arise independence or originate independence upon other things or conditions coming together. Things don't just come out of nowhere. And again, dependent arising can seem really mysterious and cool too. Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

28:14 But it's not. It's just simply a description of the Buddha was simply saying that things don't just pop into being. Things arise only in dependence upon other things. So think about a year, for example. Years. Depend upon months, which depend upon weeks, which depend upon days, which depend upon hours, which depend upon minutes, which depend upon seconds. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:40 All of those are actually concepts. Not that we want to get into that one too much. But this is how a year arises dependently. So a year doesn't just exist somewhere out there. So that's all he's saying. He's just saying that it arises dependently. Not independently. But what happens is that we grasp onto things. I mean, our body arises the same way, right? Our body arises independent upon the substances provided by our parents and then all the food that they ate and all the food that we've eaten. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

29:17 The kind of conditions that nurtured our body when we were being formed, but also since. Because, right, our body's changed over the years. Report an error in the passage at 29:17 Highlight the passage at 29:17

29:29 And not just the food, but other conditions too, you know, medications that they might have taken while, you know, the mother was pregnant and so forth. There's actually a great meditation, if Malam hasn't led you in it, written by Venerable Urbina in Spiritual Friends. There's a book of different meditations by monks and nuns in the IMI. I don't know if you guys have read it. Are any of you familiar with that meditation? Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:58 It's hysterical, but it's also perfect. It's so perfect for how your body is nothing other than the pile of carrots or whatever that your parents have eaten and things like that. She had this experience once where Geshe Jampa Tekchok, who's now Kenshi Rinpoche, Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:17 said to her something along the lines of everything in existence that came into being before Rubina was a cause for Rubina to exist. And so then she just took that and ran with it. And it's true when we think about it. And it does sound absurd, but the reality is that everything is interdependent. And that's what the point of it is. Things are interdependent. Dependent and rising and interdependent really mean the same thing. It's just synonyms for the same concept, the same idea. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:57 Dependent arising also just talks about how things sort of relate to each other. Things are only considered large in relationship to small things. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:07 Something is considered high only in relationship to something that's low. A person's called a mother in relationship to a child and things like that. So that relationship, that interdependence, that's also part of dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 31:07 Highlight the passage at 31:07

31:26 And without dependent arising, dependent arising and emptiness are two sort of flip sides of the same coin. Dependent arising is how things do exist, whereas emptiness is how they don't. So it's the same object will have its dependent arising as well as its lack of inherent existence. So that's its emptiness, its ultimate nature. Report an error in the passage at 31:26 Highlight the passage at 31:26

32:04 So if we say again, more synonyms, if we say something is empty, I mean you can't really say it's a synonym, but yet it does mean the same thing. If we say something is empty, that means that it dependently arises. And that means that... That is the middle way. You know when we talk about this term, the middle way, a lot of times people use it for a lot of different aspects within Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 32:04 Highlight the passage at 32:04

32:31 But the middle way really came about when talking about this sort of middle way between nihilism, thinking that nothing exists at all, you know, this big sort of void that we sort of fall into quite easily. Report an error in the passage at 32:31 Highlight the passage at 32:31

32:49 And so therefore nothing matters and we might as well just, I don't know what it is that people think when they have to actually. The other extreme is what's called eternalism or materialism. Our whole culture is really based on that one. And that's pretty much what we think right now. Report an error in the passage at 32:49 Highlight the passage at 32:49

33:09 Thinking that things exist solidly and concretely and absolutely and exactly the way my senses tell me that they exist. And that I see them all perfectly, you know. And the Buddha's like, well no, actually you don't. You don't actually. And you're not seeing it, the fact of you're not seeing it perfectly is what's causing your pain. So the middle way is something between these two. Report an error in the passage at 33:09 Highlight the passage at 33:09

33:41 When we experience a pleasurable feeling like happiness. We tend to see that feeling as self-existent. We don't think about where it came from karmically. We don't think about the fact that it arises independence upon other things. We don't think about the fact that we experience it because we have created the causes, which comes from having created positive karma. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:11 And then if we go to the other extreme, we just think, well then... It doesn't exist at all. And so the Buddha is trying to tell us that we're all supposed to be aloof and not have pleasure. And that's not it either. If you look at Buddhas, they're always blissed out. So it's not either. It's not either of those things. It's simply a pleasurable, wonderful feeling. But we've created the causes. And if we want to keep creating the causes, that's how we're going to always be in bliss. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:35 It's like that. So it's not like saying it's all or nothing. And it's not like saying, you know, It's exactly the way we see it. When we experience either sadness or happiness, when we experience an object or a person, we tend to grasp and concretize, and ourself included, and that's seeing it as inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 34:35 Highlight the passage at 34:35

35:03 That's really what inherently existent is getting at. So we talk a lot about... Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:13 The aggregates. Has Malam talked to you guys about what the five aggregates are? Yeah, so form, feelings, discrimination or discernment is kind of a nicer way of putting that. Compositional factors and consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 35:13 Highlight the passage at 35:13

35:32 And did he talk about how, well, we don't even need to get into that. Feelings and discernment or discrimination are two mental factors on their own. Did he talk about that? Mental factors are these different states of mind. If you're studying the mind at all, the mind has 50 or 51, depending on how you count them, mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 35:32 Highlight the passage at 35:32

35:57 And feelings and discernment are two of those. And the Buddha separated them out and made them aggregates in and of themselves because they're the biggest troublemakers. Because every Everything we come into contact with, we decide that we like it, we dislike it. We have those feelings arise. We discern between them. We discriminate between them. And then these feelings arise. And then based on those feelings, we act. And then based on that action, we create karma. And so these guys are the biggest troublemakers. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:31 The compositional factors is all the rest. So all the other mental factors get dumped into compositional factors. So that's what compositional factors is. It's a funny title, so I always like to find out exactly what it is. When you're meditating on compositional factors, it's like, you know, what the heck does that mean? So you've got to get into what these things really mean. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:52 Otherwise you're missing a lot of the depth of meditating on the Heart Sūtra. So if we go into this four-fold analysis, and I don't know... Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:07 So he basically just sort of told me what I was supposed to teach in the kitchen one night. And I said, you're going to email this to me, right? He said, oh yeah, and then he never did. So I don't know what he's taught you, so that's why I'm kind of trying to fill you guys out a little bit. I also don't know how, you know, there's different translations about things, so I don't know exactly how he translated. Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:28 So we'll see. So the fourfold analysis. The way that I have studied it, if you look at liberation in our hands, this is the translation from liberation in our hands, determining the object to be refuted is the first. What does that mean? That just basically means what is the thing that doesn't exist in the way we think it does. So if we're looking at a person, then it's determining the person that is misperceived by emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

38:02 So it's the one that doesn't exist. That's what we're trying to find so that we can prove that it doesn't exist to ourselves. Basically, the four-fold analysis is like we're having this debate with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:15 Debate isn't like you're trying to prove the other guy wrong, usually. At least not in the Tibetan system. That's why they have so much fun. You both are trying to get to the truth. You are... Report an error in the passage at 38:15 Highlight the passage at 38:15

38:31 You're both trying to see where the holes or the faults in one person's logic is so that you can both get there. But you're doing it in this really kind of playful, they're quite loud actually when they do it too, but they're laughing. There's a lot of laughter when you hear monks or nuns debate. Report an error in the passage at 38:31 Highlight the passage at 38:31

38:55 They're trying to trip you up, but not in a mean way. It's more like when Yale goes against Harvard kind of thing. There's kind of a sportsmanship about it, but in a good way, not in a... You're not going to trip them or jump on them in the boys' room or something. So it's kind of like you're trying to... So we're doing this with ourselves now. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:19 If we take this fourfold analysis, we're trying to find this... A thing that's existing in the way we think it does so that we can prove to ourself that it doesn't exist that way. So the first aspect is finding that object to be refuted. In Tibetan it's called the Gakcha. Gakcha, which is such a great word. Because if you don't find the right object, you'll confuse yourself. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:41 And one of my teachers has talked about how he spent like a year meditating on the wrong thing. So that's why, at least in the Galupa tradition, We really need to study this stuff a lot before we start meditating on it. I mean, at least if you're going to go into a long retreat where you don't have access to teachers or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

40:03 You guys are definitely going to get some meditation assignments this week so that you can start getting into this, but you can still come back and ask questions, you know, and somebody can go, ha, you know, you got the wrong, gotcha. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:20 Because otherwise you just work yourself into a hole. So the first one is determining the gaksha, the object to be refuted. The second is determining that, in this case, we're going to talk about the object to be refuted in terms of a self. Because that's the main one that we have to find, is how this self exists or doesn't exist. So determining that a truly existent self has to be one with the aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:50 Which really just means body-mind or separate from them. It has to be either one with them, has to be in the body-mind or it has to be separate from them, you know, that owner who owns the body-mind. And when we say, I have a headache, I have a thought, you know, there's that sort of manager. It feels like there's a manager in there. Report an error in the passage at 40:50 Highlight the passage at 40:50

41:13 When I look for it, it always feels like it's somewhere back in there and looking through the little eye holes, you know, so it feels like it's like... Something that rides around in me, but then if I get really upset, it comes outside of the body. It can't be anything other than those two. It has to be either one with the aggregates or separate from them. So that's what you're trying to find in the second point analysis. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:40 The third is, once you've decided that it's either one with them or separate from them, Then you try to prove it to yourself that a truly existent self cannot be one with the aggregates. And then you try to prove it to yourself that a truly existent self cannot be separate from the aggregates. So then you're basically disproving your two possible choices. Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

42:09 So then we go to the Heart Sūtra. So we go back to the Heart Sūtra and we start with form is emptiness. Um, and here, Here we're actually saying, we're getting to that idea that it's sort of a quality, that emptiness is a quality. Report an error in the passage at 42:09 Highlight the passage at 42:09

42:28 We're saying that the nature of that form is empty. It's not self-existent because it's a dependent arising. So that one sort of makes the most sense, first off, I think. Report an error in the passage at 42:28 Highlight the passage at 42:28

42:47 It dependently arises because it doesn't inherently exist. The two sides of that. Emptiness exists on the basis of that form. It's a quality of that form. It's a quality of all form. It's a quality of all phenomena. It's a quality of all people as well. A quality of all form here is just standing for whatever the object is. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

43:11 So this can be applied for all phenomena. So you can take each one and really think about it. Right now I'm just giving you words, but you have to go deep with them and you have to really sit there and think. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:23 This is really what you do. You sit there and think. And then you look at each thing. It's kind of like the thinker. With each thing, you're just like, this is what you do in retreat. This is what I intend to do for the next month, probably. Report an error in the passage at 43:23 Highlight the passage at 43:23

43:38 Emptiness is form is the second one. Emptiness is form. On the basis of that emptiness, form can arise. So this is talking about dependent arising. Form arises on the basis of emptiness, and it's because of emptiness that form can arise. So this also can be applied to all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

44:00 The emptiness of the cup is its, you know, the lack of its... Independent existence or inherent existence from its own side. It has no self-existence. That's what it's empty of. Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:18 So when we talk about the cup being empty, it's just empty of inherent existence. But how does that cup arise? That cup arises in dependence upon all the conditions that went into that cup, the people that made that cup. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:36 The soil of the land where this porcelain was made. All the people who made the factory where it was made. The people who marketed it. The people who brought it to Ikea. The people who built Ikea. The people who designed Ikea. It goes on and on. You can just keep going. Those are all the causes and conditions that go into this cup and that cause it to arise. Independence upon all of those causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

45:07 And that's the only way it arises. It doesn't just spring into being without any causes. So those one and two, the first and second of these points are like the two sides of the same coin. Report an error in the passage at 45:07 Highlight the passage at 45:07

45:25 The fact that something is empty means that it dependently arises because one is talking about how it doesn't exist and one is talking about how it does exist. One is talking about the positive aspect of its existence while the other is saying how it doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

45:48 So the final nature of all phenomena is that it is both empty and a dependent arising. No matter what it is, no matter what the object is, it's always both. Report an error in the passage at 45:48 Highlight the passage at 45:48

46:06 But we don't see this. We can understand it, but we don't... See it. That's not the way we see it. We see it as inherently existent and then we're shocked when it gets broken or we're shocked when somebody leaves us or we're shocked when somebody dies or we're shocked when we break an arm or hurt a finger, which I did yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 46:06 Highlight the passage at 46:06

46:32 We have this way of not just seeing, Lama Zopa Rinpoche always says, it's bad enough that we see things. As inherently existent. But then we believe it too. We add that extra layer of belief. And that's what gets us into trouble. We don't even question that it inherently exists. We just dive into reality that way. This is just beginning to put a crack in the way we see reality by just thinking about this. Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

47:08 Whether it's in class or reading or contemplating, thinking about looking at the clock. However it is that we begin contemplating this, I think it was Nargajuna who said, just contemplating this begins to sort of tear apart this solid, painful, psychic existence that we find ourselves in. Because it starts us on the trail of... Report an error in the passage at 47:08 Highlight the passage at 47:08

47:37 Oh, maybe things don't exist this way. Just even having that much of a thought, maybe we don't get it yet, but just having this much of a thought, they say puts a rent in that fabric of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

47:54 So the root of cyclic existence is this mistaken view. This is the ignorance that we talk about as being the root of cyclic existence. It's not... Any other kind of ignorance. It's very, very specific. It's very, very specifically this misperception of reality. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54

48:21 Not being able to see that things are empty of inherent nature and then seeing them in this really solid, independent way. Not relating to anything around them or to us. And because of this, all these mental afflictions start arising based on attachment or aversion. We discriminate. we discriminate with With our, you know, that mental factor of discrimination, we start, you know, these feelings arise where we think this is a really beautiful cup and then we get attached to the cup and then I start fighting with you because I want the cup and then, you know, the cup gets broken and then I'm heartbroken, you know, so all of this is just, this is just the way we live our lives. Report an error in the passage at 48:21 Highlight the passage at 48:21

49:10 I mean, I'm doing it for a cup and most likely we wouldn't, but we do it for other objects, right? I mean, people kill for objects, right? Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:19 Thinking of objects in that really strong, solid way isn't so unknown in our culture. But when you start getting into people, that's when it really gets dangerous. And the Buddha said that's really the type, that's the true root of psychic existence is when we start doing it for especially ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 49:19 Highlight the passage at 49:19

49:41 you know um seeing ourselves as um in this really sort of solid um Absolute way. So in the case of a person, we have this same idea where we still have all this attachment. You know, you hear about people who have such attachment for one person that they decide that if they can't have that person, then they kill that person, or then they kill anyone else that wants that person. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

50:14 I mean, people do insane things. This is just what mind does. It's just, it all begins with a mental affliction that just goes unsubdued, you know. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:25 Most of us don't get to that level, but according to the Buddha, we all have at some point. So we aren't above that. And if you ever get to the point where you have any kind of, if you are aware of any kind of mental affliction, you can see how any mental affliction can turn into that. It's just a matter of conditions, you know. I mean, fortunately for most of us, we have people around us and we hopefully have some amount of awareness of our mind that we stop ourselves before we get to that point. Report an error in the passage at 50:25 Highlight the passage at 50:25

50:58 A lot of those people either don't or, like Hitler, they had fan clubs, people cheering them on to take that mental affliction and have it get gigantic. It's all rooted in this mistaken view. And then it's just fanned. It goes out of control. Report an error in the passage at 50:58 Highlight the passage at 50:58

51:22 The good thing is that this ignorance is not part of our mind. It's not intrinsically part of our mind. It can be removed from our mind. And what cuts it from our mind is the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. So up until that point, there are a lot of meditations that you can do where you're looking at anger arising and you're seeing what anger looks like and you're applying antidotes and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 51:22 Highlight the passage at 51:22

51:54 And that definitely can help you subdue your mind for sure. But the only thing that's ever going to cut all those things is the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. Perceiving emptiness. And what it ends up doing is it just sort of, it's like you realize that, you know, it's sort of like when you're all fantasizing about the job that you're going to get and then you realize that not only did you not get the job but there was no job. Report an error in the passage at 51:54 Highlight the passage at 51:54

52:20 It's like all the stories just stop because there's no basis, right? There's no basis anymore for them. And that's exactly what happens with the direct perception of emptiness. All the fantasies and stories just stop because there's... You realize that you were basing all of those stories and fantasies and everything that go crazy in your mind on things that don't exist in that way. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

52:44 So it's almost like it just blows the, it just knocks it out of you and knocks that wind out of your sail. You can kind of see it a little bit when you have, we've talked about this a little bit I think in the drop-in meditation maybe on Tuesday nights. Report an error in the passage at 52:44 Highlight the passage at 52:44

53:02 Where we're talking about sometimes when you catch yourself starting to go into a hissy fit and you realize that you don't have to. You catch yourself and you're kind of like, you know, there's things that don't actually, I'm all caught up with this view of this story, but in reality it is just a story, you know, that things don't exist in this way and that I can clip it. Report an error in the passage at 53:02 Highlight the passage at 53:02

53:28 And when I clip it and when I just decide, wait, I'm not going to react to this in the same way that I have for lifetime after lifetime. I'm not going to get angry just because I can. Just because I always have. Just because what, you know, Rose said is, you know, blah, blah, blah. And that normally makes me angry and I normally get really angry. But I'm just going to go, oh, wait a second. She's saying that because I karmically created the causes. Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:57 I don't have to go down this trail. And it's almost like at that point, I had this experience when I was walking down, it was actually in New York City, I was walking down Broadway and I was all preparing to get upset about something. You know, all the forces were coming out in my mind and it was just, everything was going into the big tailspin and I caught it and I was like, no, I don't want to do this. Report an error in the passage at 53:57 Highlight the passage at 53:57

54:22 And it's almost like, it's almost like, They're stunned. All these middle afflictions that were ready to go into a three-day tailspin were like, what do you mean? We're not going to go that way. This is what we always do. And it almost becomes humorous. And you realize how much energy we waste with these stories. Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:45 And none of these stories are based on any kind of reality. They're simply based on perceptions and on mistaken states of mind. It's very interesting that way. So that's where it can be incredibly practical, even at our level, even if we haven't directly yet directly seen perceived emptiness. I like to say perceived rather than seen because I think people get confused and think they're going to see something. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

55:14 So this grasping at inherent existence is just a mistaken state of mind. This is what ignorance is. And grasping at the inherent existence of the self is what's called self-grasping. And that's the worst. That's the root. That's what makes it impossible for us to... It blocks us from becoming a Buddha. It blocks us from taking this path, this self-grasping mind. Report an error in the passage at 55:14 Highlight the passage at 55:14

55:49 But we can remove it. They say it's a lot like removing pollution from water. Our mind is inherently quite pure and clear. And these things that arise simply arise because of previous moments of similar thought. And this is how it's been doing from lifetime after lifetime. So it just takes us seeing it and deciding even once. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:16 If we can do it even once, then we realize that it can be done. This much I can say. Not being a huge meditator or a great scholar, I cut myself once. No, actually many times. You can catch yourself and even if it seems really tiny in the larger scheme of things, that's what gives you faith that it can happen, that you can do it, that it is possible and you don't really know when it's going to happen, but you can get emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 56:16 Highlight the passage at 56:16

56:48 Because if you even get it for a blip, Even, you know, walking down Broadway, if you can get it for a blip, then you can get it permanently. Permanently, of course, just means that the state of mind of Buddhas is just so positive because everything they're doing, it's like they keep sort of feeding the same state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

57:12 So it's not like they have some static, hard, inherently existent state of mind because they are empty of inherent existence also. Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:26 So Jason Kapa said actually using dependent arising and our understanding of how things dependently arise to look at emptiness as the king of reasonings. He called it the king of reasonings. He said it's the very best way to get to emptiness. And most of his teachings, he's the founder of the Galupa tradition, most of his teachings get at it from that standpoint. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:51 Going into emptiness through understanding dependent arising. So since this tradition follows that, a lot of our teachings on emptiness, we also try to get at it through the teachings of dependent arising and contemplating how things dependently arise. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:11 So then the third line in the Heart Sūtra is emptiness is not other than form. And then the fourth is form is not other than emptiness. And then we'll have a break. Well, then we'll have questions and then we'll have a break. Emptiness is not other than form is getting at the nature of that form and its emptiness are the same. Report an error in the passage at 58:11 Highlight the passage at 58:11

58:36 Emptiness is also empty. This work starts getting tricky. Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

58:46 So emptiness... The nature of that form or the cup or the self or the book or the clock or the center, you know, or rose. You sat in the key position where I always use that person in this way. Report an error in the passage at 58:46 Highlight the passage at 58:46

59:03 The nature of that form and its emptiness are the same. Report an error in the passage at 59:03 Highlight the passage at 59:03

59:12 And this one's talking a little bit about the two truths. What's called relative truth or conventional truth, or I've also heard it called deceptive truth. Has he talked about the two truths with you guys? Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:30 Yeah, maybe. Some nods and some puzzled looks. Okay, deceptive truth. I like deceptive truth because most people call it conventional truth. But deceptive truth is just like what seems true to this misperceiving mind, the ignorant mind. So that's everything the way we see it, right? That things, you know, this sort of mistaken way of seeing things. Ultimate truth is the way things actually exist. Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

1:00:01 And these two truths exist for every single thing, every single object. Which one's really true? Ultimate. But deceptive truth feels true until we have this direct perception of emptiness. That's why I like deceptive. I think it makes more sense in the translation. I think relative doesn't make any sense at all. Conventional is okay. Relative sounds like, relative is more like emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:01 Highlight the passage at 1:00:01

1:00:28 You know, that things exist only in relation to other things. That makes, so relative, that one just goes off in some whole different direction. It's important for us, especially at this level of Buddhism coming to the West, to really think about the words used. Because I don't think they're perfect yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:28 Highlight the passage at 1:00:28

1:00:45 I think until more of us have these direct perceptions, when more of us have had the direct perception of emptiness, we will come up with the words to describe it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:00:55 But right now, we're living in the hands of scholars and they don't necessarily know what it feels like. But more and more scholars and our practitioners, you know, so then I think it'll become... Clear what it is that they're trying to say. Right now there's a little disconnect, I think. So it's up to us, I think, to examine why certain words are used and to really think about why they're used, what it is that they're trying to get at, rather than just accepting it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:24 Because we can confuse ourselves even more. So the emptiness of any one phenomena is the same nature as the emptiness of any other phenomena. That's just saying emptiness is emptiness. Emptiness is always of the same nature. The objects are different. The basis of that emptiness differs, but the emptiness of the cup is the same as the emptiness of my hand. It's talking about they don't inherently exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:24 Highlight the passage at 1:01:24

1:01:52 They're empty of inherent existence. In that way, they are the same. So that's what it's talking about here. That's ultimate reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:06 So you can't really talk about... A cup and the emptiness of that cup being two separate things. They're really connected. They aren't separate. That's why you have to think of emptiness as a characteristic of phenomena. It's a characteristic of that cup. That cup is empty of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:41 When you think of it in that term, it loses a lot of that sort of woo-woo-ness. The cup and its lack of inherent existence are all the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:41 Highlight the passage at 1:02:41

1:02:54 You know what I mean, you can't separate the two. You can talk about them as two separate things, but as long as that cup exists in the world, it has its emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:54 Highlight the passage at 1:02:54

1:03:06 I'm sure I'm just thoroughly confusing it, but that's okay. Then we can open it up a little bit. So form is not other than emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:06 Highlight the passage at 1:03:06

1:03:16 It's saying it's getting to the... You get stuck because you have to keep using this word empty. I think it gets even more confused. That nature is also empty of its self-existence. So emptiness itself is empty of self-existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:16 Highlight the passage at 1:03:16

1:03:37 A lot of times when you start studying emptiness, or even after you've been studying it for many years, you can start solidifying and making absolute or concrete emptiness itself. You can start reifying it. It's simply a description of, it's like a characteristic of this object. That's all. It's not bigger than that. But if we directly perceive it, it's like to take it out of here. So it is big for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:37 Highlight the passage at 1:03:37

1:04:08 That perception of it, that understanding of it, that direct perception of it is really important. But emptiness is not something solid or independently existent either. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:08 Highlight the passage at 1:04:08

1:04:29 So the emptiness of that form. Is talking about the nature, the nature of that form. The nature of that form is that it's empty of inherent existence. So that's why we say form is not other than that emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:29 Highlight the passage at 1:04:29

1:04:51 So, yeah, so why don't we, why don't we, why don't you guys ask some questions and then we're going to take a break and then we'll come back and we'll talk a little bit about this idea of the I, the self. And then we'll do a meditation looking for the I, looking for that self. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:51 Highlight the passage at 1:04:51

1:05:09 So does anyone have any questions or are you all just so thoroughly confused that I might as well just end early and go home? Do you want to pass him the mic? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:09 Highlight the passage at 1:05:09

1:05:21 Brian, right? No, are you Brian also? Yeah. Yeah, I've got several Brians. Okay. So the fourfold analysis, I got a number one is determine the object to be refuted. Two, determining that a truly existent self has to be one with or separate from the aggregates. You lost me there. So what's number three? So number three then is then taking that apart. So first in number two you're deciding that it has to be one or the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:21 Highlight the passage at 1:05:21

1:05:49 If it exists, it has to be one with the body-mind, the aggregates, or separate from the body-mind. So then number three is determining that it cannot be one with the aggregates and number four is determining that it cannot be separate from the aggregates. So then there's no place for it to be and then you... Report an error in the passage at 1:05:49 Highlight the passage at 1:05:49

1:06:09 Then you directly realize I'm doing it. Sort of like that. The unfindability of it, yeah. The unfindability of it is what you're trying to get to. Because a lot of times I think what we do in these... classes and in these meditations it's like it makes sense maybe we have the seeds for it from previous lives you know so it makes sense it did to me i didn't have a big huge problem with emptiness the way it was described to me so i was just trying to convince myself of it what i wasn't do is i wasn't doing is seeing that i couldn't there was no place for this self that i believed in to exist that That unfindability is what gets you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:09 Highlight the passage at 1:06:09

1:06:58 And you can really only experience it in meditation. Reading about it, you're kind of like, oh, wow, that sounds cool. Or in class or something. But it's actually sitting and you're like, oh, okay, it has to be here. Well, then if it's not, and then you're like, whoa, because that's when you realize. And you really can have that experience of it not being there where you thought it was. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:20 It's sort of like you're looking for your hat where you thought you left it. And you're like... You know, there's that kind of jar, jarringness, you know. So my question is, just, is there something more to it? Or, like, if I just think that, like, that cup, for example, depends on causes and conditions, it seems like, you know, and I don't think that somehow it's permanent, or if I think of myself or another person that, Report an error in the passage at 1:07:20 Highlight the passage at 1:07:20

1:07:59 And think of all the causes and conditions that necessitate my existence or that precede the existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:59 Highlight the passage at 1:07:59

1:08:11 Is that all there is to it? Well, to some degree, but then it's sort of like it's easy to do for the cop. It's not so easy when your boss is screaming at you or your wife left you for your best friend or something like that. You know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:27 Getting it intellectually precedes getting it at a gut level, which precedes having insight, which precedes having a realization of it. And having the realization is when you can have one of those things happen and be able to experience it with the same awareness and the same sort of wisdom, which is why I think we keep using that word wisdom, of understanding how it all came about so that afflictions don't arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:08:56 That's huge, you know. So actually when we're, so we'll talk a little bit in this last half, I think we are, maybe we aren't, a little bit about the five paths because they're described in the Heart Sūtra and the direct perception of emptiness, you know, it's sort of like Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:27 Eons in the sūtra path, you know, it's a little faster in the tantra path, but eons are spent just trying to have this direct perception of emptiness, which can last as little as 20 minutes and permanently shift your mental continuum into an Arya being. You're never the same. You know, there's either those that have had this experience or those that haven't. And the final two paths are simply just getting used to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:27 Highlight the passage at 1:09:27

1:09:55 So it's like eons are spent getting ready for this direct perception of emptiness by trying to understand emptiness intellectually, in contemplation, in class, in discussions, in debate, going deeper with it, trying to get it, and then all of a sudden you have this direct perception of emptiness and it's like, whoa, and it's not like what you thought because everything you're thinking right is conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:23 But we've got to get there because we're conceptual beings. And so that's what you're getting is this conceptual. That's what you're trying to get right now is this conceptual understanding. And then after that moment, you come out of that meditation and it's like, you know, I still see Chris, you know, is out there separate from me. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:43 I still see this cup, but I don't believe it anymore. Because I've tasted it. It's like me describing sugar to you. I can say all this stuff. That's what they traditionally say. It's like me describing the taste of sugar. I can say it's sweet. I can say this, this, and this. But until you taste it directly, you have no real experience of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43 Highlight the passage at 1:10:43

1:11:09 You're getting closer to it, but you're not. And then once you have that, then it shifts everything. But then you've got to get used to it. Then the following two paths, you're like spending a long time going back into that state and actively using it to cut your afflictions one by one and just eliminate them from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:09 Highlight the passage at 1:11:09

1:11:29 You're getting used to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:29 Highlight the passage at 1:11:29

1:11:35 Yeah, so you're on the path for sure of understanding dependent arising. Dependent arising and emptiness aren't the same, but that's how you get at emptiness is by understanding dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:48 And actually thinking about the two simultaneously is often... Really useful. You know, that cup, like you were saying, that cup exists in dependence upon all of these different conditions that created it. It doesn't exist the way it looks like to me. Completely separate from everything else in the room, separate from me and my perception of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:48 Highlight the passage at 1:11:48

1:12:12 It doesn't exist that way, even though it looks that way to my senses. So just almost like you're thinking about, you're reminding yourself that. Because it looks like it does. It feels like when someone's running at me, it feels like my life happens at me. You know, like I'm this sort of innocent, poor victim of it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12:12

1:12:32 But the whole teachings on karma and emptiness are that we co-created this entire thing. And most of it is happening in our minds, our perception of everything and the stories that come out of it based on misperceiving reality. So getting at it. By constantly contemplating all these things, how does this exist and how doesn't it exist for each thing? I mean, you're in a kind of position in your life that you could actually do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:32 Highlight the passage at 1:12:32

1:12:59 Most of us, we still got to go to work and all this stuff. But actually, Venerable Steve came up, Steve Carlier came up and did a workshop on the three principle paths, which are... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:59 Highlight the passage at 1:12:59

1:13:14 Renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. All he did was emptiness. It was very interesting. He taught three times and it was always emptiness. So if you actually download those, they're great. They're really great classes. They're completely unlike anything I had ever done before because what he was doing was you could say that, like you said that, like sort of, if this is dependent arising, you know, is that all there is? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:14 Highlight the passage at 1:13:14

1:13:40 And then he would test you. Like, what do you really see when you see this cup? Not just what you heard somebody else say. Like, what are you really seeing? And so then he would, like, test you and he would test, like, all your various belief systems, you know. And it was very interesting because that's what they do, of course, in the monasteries. That's what debate is. It's looking for the whole so that your understanding is really solid. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:14:09 It's really built on solid reasoning, not just, you know, Geshe-la said so, or I read it in a book by His Holiness and it sounded really good and I believed it because it was His Holiness, you know, like that. Because we do that. A lot of our understanding comes that way. So the way he was teaching is very much like with debate and with this fourfold reasoning, which you'll have a meditation on that this week, where you're really trying to get, you know, a deeper. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:09 Highlight the passage at 1:14:09

1:14:39 That's why they call it teachings of the profound, right? It's deep. It's a deeper understanding of that. Like a below the head kind of understanding of that cup. Or yourself. Does that help? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:14:59 Do you have a question? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:59 Highlight the passage at 1:14:59

1:15:08 When I was reading this book here, it says something about nihilism. And then I found, wow, I think most of the things... Time when I think I can have an idea about emptiness, it's actually a nihilistic view. But I have the impression that it's so subtle, it can be very subtle. For example, a person upsets me and then I just think, wow, it's only five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:08 Highlight the passage at 1:15:08

1:15:51 Then I'm not so affected anymore. So I can be quite cool in this way. And I think it's very difficult to see, is it the higher state? Right. Is it accurate or is there another misperception? I think, I mean the thing is with Buddhas and highly realized beings who have directly perceived emptiness, Because Buddhas are Arya beings too, superior beings, beings who have directly perceived emptiness. They become more loving. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:39 They become more compassionate. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:16:44 And if you look at your teachers, I remember this coming up one time when somebody was saying, how do you know if your teacher has had this direct perception of emptiness? Meaning at like a guru level, for example, a Lama level, a higher level of teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:44 Highlight the passage at 1:16:44

1:17:01 And the teacher said, well, how do they live? How are they with their students? How do they believe in the workings of karma? Do they live ethically? If they do, they should do more of that with a direct perception of emptiness. So they should be more compassionate and kind. They should work harder for others. They should live more ethically with a direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:31 Rather than making us cold and aloof or not caring, it should make us tenderly care, you know, ultimately. And that's hard to get right now, but that's really the end result is that we should care deeply. That direct perception of emptiness, because it's sort of like... I always liken it to, you know, I think the Buddhism buddy self and our teachers see us like this. You know if you're watching kids on a playground and how they get so caught up, little kids, especially little kids. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:31 Highlight the passage at 1:17:31

1:18:10 I mean, or, you know. People on Wall Street do. I mean, adults do it too. But I think it's easier. Somehow we feel more removed when we're grown up. So we're watching kids and you see them like fighting over this one toy, you know, and it's so real or they get so worked up when the ice cream man's coming and they don't have that quarter. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:10 Highlight the passage at 1:18:10

1:18:28 And, you know, like, and that's the way I think they see us. I think because we get so upset about every little thing. We, everything. We have all these stories and these fantasies all based on this misperception of reality. And so they deeply care about us. They don't buy into the stories, just like we don't buy into the story when Timmy doesn't have enough money for the ice cream man. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:53 We know that he'll live. We know that it's okay if he doesn't get the popsicle today. But we just love him through it. And we just care even more about him. So that's what I think it's like. I think it's like that. I think it just brings out more compassion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anybody else? Or we can take a break. You guys want a break? Some caffeine? Before you meditate? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:24 Why don't you take like a, what do you think? Is it five minutes or ten minutes? We can do a ten minute break. Ten minute break. And contemplate the emptiness of your hot drink. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:24 Highlight the passage at 1:19:24

1:19:37 No, I'm kidding. I'm not going to make you do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:37 Highlight the passage at 1:19:37

1:19:50 No, that's all right. Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:50 Highlight the passage at 1:19:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:20:27 Good. I know it has been on there. Dry spell. Yeah, it happens. It happens for the best of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:27 Highlight the passage at 1:20:27

1:20:42 What class is this of this class? Is it four? Okay, good. That's what I said. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:42 Highlight the passage at 1:20:42

1:20:55 So last week, we're putting up your numbers to take us through. the meditation on emptiness. Which one did you do? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:06 The I? Did you do the I? No, it's only my day. Oh, okay, so I'm giving I think it's Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:51 to realise what it is that's afraid. It's sort of... They say that it's sort of like ego knowing that it's going to be, that it's off ever, you know? So that's what's freaked out. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:51 Highlight the passage at 1:21:51

1:22:05 Fear is basically a symptom of fear. So I found that quite interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:05 Highlight the passage at 1:22:05

1:22:18 So if you can really have any kind of trust that this is going to get you through the fear, this is going to end your fear forever, it's worth doing it again. Because actually what ultimately happens is it becomes blue. Because you realize that the fear is simply based on... It's just another form of not understanding how things exist. And so that's what's causing that fear to arise. It's sort of like when I was walking down Broadway when I was talking about that experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:18 Highlight the passage at 1:22:18

1:22:52 And you realize that none of those stories had anything to rest on. That fear. And once you actually have this actual direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:52 Highlight the passage at 1:22:52

1:23:11 And people who have even just meditated on it in a previous lifetime and come back to it sometimes have that first. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:11 Highlight the passage at 1:23:11

1:23:22 And sometimes people, it takes a while to even get to the fear. I remember hearing, but I didn't have the experience of the fear. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:22 Highlight the passage at 1:23:22

1:23:33 So it was kind of exciting when I had the fear. It's like, oh cool, I had that one. Finally. But I think it's just ignorance. And so ignorance is what's keeping you, it's what's kept you here all along. And so you just kind of have to be like, Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33 Highlight the passage at 1:23:33

1:23:55 and just try it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:55 Highlight the passage at 1:23:55

1:23:59 I mean, I don't, at least try it once more. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:08 Yeah. No, it's like an earthquake. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:08 Highlight the passage at 1:24:08

1:24:17 It probably means that you meditated on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:25 So Report an error in the passage at 1:24:25 Highlight the passage at 1:24:25

1:24:29 examine, you know, the mind that puts up resistance, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:57 Yeah, I think it's because you realize that people create their own suffering. You know, the way little kids do. That's why I used the example of little kids on the playground. Because we can see with little kids how they create their own suffering a lot of times. But it's... It's harder to believe that we do, especially when you look at huge, huge suffering of this world, you know, with war and things. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:57 Highlight the passage at 1:24:57

1:25:23 But everything comes from this mistaken reality that just goes crazy if unchecked. And so, I mean, like, everything comes from it. So if you then are looking at watching people struggling in their lives without, you know, seeing things through this filter of thinking that everything is so solid and real and so... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:23 Highlight the passage at 1:25:23

1:25:50 You know, the way they say truly existing. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:25:55 And you realize it and you know it's not. It's not even that you just realize it or you understand it. You know that it's not because you have this direct taste of it. You've, you've, you know, it's kind of like you, it's like when you go underwater, it's like that. It's like you've been in it. So you know. That's the one mental affliction that's completely removed when you have the direct perception of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:55 Highlight the passage at 1:25:55

1:26:19 You have no doubt anymore. And then, but yet you still see. You know, this craziness. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:19 Highlight the passage at 1:26:19

1:26:29 I don't think it's possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:29 Highlight the passage at 1:26:29

1:26:44 It's not just misunderstanding, but it's what that misunderstanding of reality does to you. Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:44 Highlight the passage at 1:26:44

1:27:07 that gets into the big subject, the big division between the two main schools. One is you meditate on it and you try to attain nirvāṇa. So you basically just... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:07 Highlight the passage at 1:27:07

1:27:29 You try to use this understanding of emptiness to eliminate all your own suffering. You attain this state where there is no longer any mental affliction, no karma causing your suffering, and that's nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:27:44 And then the other way is, wait a second, I can't just leave everybody. I've got to become enlightened. I've got to be able to help all of them. So that's kind of the two different ways of approaching. The direct perception of emptiness. Since this is a Mahāyāna tradition, we usually, so that we spend the time at the beginning and the end motivating and dedicating. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:44 Highlight the passage at 1:27:44

1:28:05 We try to have some understanding of doing this for others all the way along so that it's always flavored with this bodhicitta, even if we don't really get bodhicitta either, right? So that's kind of fabricated at this point too. But at least it colors it so we don't get too pulled into just going off into this blissful state of nirvāṇa for eons and eons. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:25 Because they say that ultimately everybody who's in nirvāṇa is also going to get, you know, woken up by some Buddha going, hey, come on, look, you've been in this state for eons and eons, it's enough, give it up, like go become a Buddha, everybody needs you, you know. So in the short term, yeah, you would teach, you could teach, you know, and I think some of our high lamas have had this realization. And like I was saying, I think at the beginning in the motivation, that's how you teach well. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:25 Highlight the passage at 1:28:25

1:28:54 If you've had some taste of it, you can teach from a much more profound place than if you haven't. And you can feel it when people have. Were you there when Tazin Chokyi was teaching? Yeah. Was anybody in this room there? You were there? You can feel the difference, I feel. You can feel the difference with Venable Renee. You can feel the difference with Venable Steve. And I'm not even saying that any of those people have had this direct perception of emptiness, but they've definitely spent a really long time And with it, tasting it, you know. And somebody who's directly perceived emptiness, it's sort of like, you know, deciding I want to learn how to build a cabinet from somebody who's either built a cabinet or somebody who's just really read a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:54 Highlight the passage at 1:28:54

1:29:38 It's going to be a different class, you know, it's going to be a different mentorship. And so that's what you can bring to others while you're still on the path, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:38 Highlight the passage at 1:29:38

1:29:49 And remember that you're like doubt free at that point too. So that comes forth really strong, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:49 Highlight the passage at 1:29:49

1:30:00 I just realized it's September 11th. Interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:00 Highlight the passage at 1:30:00

1:30:21 So, you know, this is all well and good when we talk about cups, you know. But now we're going to get into the emptiness of the I, the emptiness of the self. Because that's really what, when we have a direct perception of emptiness, it's based on the self. And that's also where we get into much more trouble. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:21 Highlight the passage at 1:30:21

1:30:43 If I believe that I inherently exist and therefore my needs are far more important than yours and therefore I do this, this and this and this, that's what causes problems. It's not so much me guarding and protecting this cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43 Highlight the passage at 1:30:43

1:31:03 So the different views of how the self exists or the I exists. you know um Report an error in the passage at 1:31:03 Highlight the passage at 1:31:03

1:31:12 It differs according to the different philosophical schools. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:19 The highest school believes basically that this person, this I that doesn't exist, the one that seems to be running the show, the one that seems to be possessing this body and mind, the man inside this machine, is... This is the mere I, and I'll talk about what the mere I is, all five aggregates, and then slapping on that, this label of I, or Chokyi, or whatever the label is. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:19 Highlight the passage at 1:31:19

1:31:58 So it's all those three things, the mere I, all five aggregates, and the label. So the aggregates, sometimes we get caught up with that, so maybe just think body-mind. Body-mind instead of aggregates, such a weird word. Okay, so the mere I, the body, mind and then slapping on it this label of person or self or I. And this, the Report an error in the passage at 1:31:58 Highlight the passage at 1:31:58

1:32:29 one that experiences, okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:29 Highlight the passage at 1:32:29

1:32:36 so I should say, so the Report an error in the passage at 1:32:36 Highlight the passage at 1:32:36

1:32:43 one who is born and who dies and who is reborn is the person. And so we're trying to figure out who that person is. And that's because this is going to help us find our gacha, you know. The object to be refuted. So who is it that goes through all these experiences? And so the different schools present this differently. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:43 Highlight the passage at 1:32:43

1:33:05 The lowest school, the Sultranikas, say that it's the aggregate of consciousness. So when we're talking about the five aggregates, it's just that one of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:05 Highlight the passage at 1:33:05

1:33:18 And I find I can really relate to that. Right? I mean, sometimes I think the I in my mind, it makes sense. Like when you're talking about these lower schools, it's really easy to just go, well, why do we even have to study them? Why don't we just start with the highest one and then just ignore all the other ones? But it's because most of us at some level still believe in some of these lower schools. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:18 Highlight the passage at 1:33:18

1:33:40 So we have to dispute them. We have to refute them in our own minds. We have to figure out why they can't exist in that way. The Vaivashikas, which is next level up, say that it's all the aggregates. So all, you know, all of the aspects of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:40 Highlight the passage at 1:33:40

1:33:57 Mind-only school, chitta mantrans, say that it is this thing that they call the fundamental mind, or the mind basis of all. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:11 They're the ones who have this, that's the mind that carries the karma, according to them. The highest school disproved that. It says there is no fundamental mind or mind basis of all. So the highest goals say that it's the subtlest form of this mental consciousness. And how do they all differ? We're not going to get so much into them. We don't have time to get into them. But we just did the death dissolution meditation in both the drop-in meditations, the Tuesday night and the Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:11 Highlight the passage at 1:34:11

1:34:47 And in that meditation you go through this experience of the dissolution of your gross body and then your gross mind and then what's left is your subtle mind. They say that it's what happens at the time of death. You go through the dissolution of all your aggregates and what's left is the subtle most form of your mental continuum or your mental consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:35:17 That is changing moment by moment. And that continuum is what moves in at that next moment into your next rebirth and also carries the imprints, karmic imprints. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:17 Highlight the passage at 1:35:17

1:35:34 So if Report an error in the passage at 1:35:34 Highlight the passage at 1:35:34

1:35:41 we start understanding this mental continuum almost like a river, when you look at a river and it seems solid and inherently existent, right? It's like I go to that river. And I go to that river every day and I think of it as the same river, but actually no part of it is the same. There's no aspect of that river that's the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:41 Highlight the passage at 1:35:41

1:36:01 It's constantly changing, yet I can call it... The river, you know, I can call it whatever. I was thinking Shenandoah. I'm not sure why I suddenly zoomed back to Virginia, but let's go there. So assuming that it's the Shenandoah River and I'm seeing the Shenandoah River and I go every day and I think I'm every day seeing the exact same water. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:24 So much change is happening that I'm not seeing the same waters. Our mind is like that. So our mind is not a solid thing. Our mind is not form. It's a different... substance than form. Our mind is constantly changing and that subtle most mind is like this. It's very much like a river. It's constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:24 Highlight the passage at 1:36:24

1:36:49 So, I mean, even if you think about it in this life, this, you know, all the changes within our mind, just in this class, all the changes within our mind, then that mind, our consciousness, Report an error in the passage at 1:36:49 Highlight the passage at 1:36:49

1:37:07 Because of our karma, this continuum takes these different forms. Different forms manifest based upon our karma. Different shapes of bodies, different types of lives, different types of rebirths, different types of conditions of rebirths. And even in this lifetime, we have this continuum from baby me to me of the present. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:07 Highlight the passage at 1:37:07

1:37:34 But I've certainly had all sorts of bodies. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:34 Highlight the passage at 1:37:34

1:37:39 I've had all sorts of bodies and I've definitely had all sorts of minds. And it's very much like that river thing. So you can definitely, if you just sit and contemplate that, you begin to see how this subtle most mind that goes from life to life isn't inherently existent either. So this mental continuum just flows into these different types of rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:39 Highlight the passage at 1:37:39

1:38:05 And what the continuity of that person's mental consciousness is what's called this mere I. So that mental continuum is like the mere I. So when we talk about I did this or I did this 10 years ago or I was born, that's the mere I. That's usually not the one that gets us into trouble. The mere I isn't usually the one that gets us into trouble. That's not the Gakcha. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:05 Highlight the passage at 1:38:05

1:38:33 The one that gets us into trouble, usually what we try to do when we meditate on this I, we try to bring up a time that that I is sort of kind of almost like roaring up, like you've almost gotten hit by a car. I had this experience one time. I was out in front of General Hospital. San Francisco General Hospital and it came so close to hitting me and this kind of flew up. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:33 Highlight the passage at 1:38:33

1:39:07 They say actually if you can't find it you can have a friend start to push you off a building. But don't go too crazy on that one. But it was amazing. I just remember thinking, oh that's the eye. It was interesting because I was a Buddhist. So I remember thinking, I got to the side of the road and I was like, wow, that was, oh, that was the eye, you know, and I thought of that. And so it's like if you can think of what, if you have this experience, I mean, don't go out and like stand in traffic and try to bring it on. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:07 Highlight the passage at 1:39:07

1:39:31 But the other time is like if somebody says, well, I saw that report. It was on Rose's desk. I think she took it. Somebody's like accusing you of something that you didn't do. It's like, how dare you? You know, like this kind of like huge eye pops up. I mean, that's when I was talking about how sometimes it feels like it's in the body, like clearly when it's in the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:39:58 And sometimes it feels like it's so big there's not room for any of you in here. Like this eye, you know, like this kind of like, how dare you? It's usually that defensiveness. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:58 Highlight the passage at 1:39:58

1:40:11 Or fear. Sometimes fear can bring it up. If you've ever had an experience, I was on a bus once. I was traveling and I was on a bus and I was with my friends. It was two women and there was a bus driver. It was on the Isle of Wight, actually, of all places. So it was like this very kind of deserted end of the road of this guy and he turned off the lights on the bus. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:40 Both of us just went sheep cold. Like we just... It was like, okay, this is it. He's like bringing us here to kill us. When he had turned off, he had turned off the lights to back up. You know, it's of course hysterical afterwards, right? There's nothing funnier than fear, like the moment after you realize you have nothing to be afraid of. So a moment like that, like that's when the eye, like it's like so huge because you think you're going to die, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40:40

1:41:11 That I is desperately holding on to this life. It doesn't mean it's a bad thing. We're just looking. That's the I you're looking for. So to think back on experiences like that is really good when you're doing this meditation, just looking for the I meditation, which seems like you've already had, but we're going to end with it tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:11 Highlight the passage at 1:41:11

1:41:32 So we talked about the five paths. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:32 Highlight the passage at 1:41:32

1:41:38 Okay, so... This mere I. So the difference between the mere I. The mere I is the one that experiences the karma and creates the karma. That's the mere I. That's the continuum, the mental continuum, the continuum of mental consciousness at the very subtle level. So it's not all the identity. It's not all the ego. It's not all the stuff that we put onto it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:42:07 The false I the one... On top of all that, you know, plus the labels that we put onto it. So the mere eye validly does exist. The false eye is that and the aggregates and this label that we slap onto it. That's what's called the person. But that's the false eye. That's the self. That's what we're looking to figure out whether or not it exists. Well, we kind of know that it doesn't. We're trying to prove to ourselves that it doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:07 Highlight the passage at 1:42:07

1:42:41 So in the Heart Sūtra, every time the name Sharaputra, Sharaputra is the sort of younger monk who sort of asks all the questions, you know, and then all of his questions are answered. Every time his name is mentioned, it bumps up to the next path. So these five paths that we talked about at the beginning, the emptiness of all the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:43:11 Form, feeling, compositional factor, discrimination and consciousness. That is the instruction for meditation on the path of accumulation. So just the five aggregates. And you know how when he says those five aggregates too or those five aggregates also. That one word is really key and it's left out of some translations. Because the next meditation is Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:41 That is assuming that the self is also empty of existence. So it's not just the form and all those five. The self itself is also empty. And the meditation on the emptiness of the self is the level of the path of preparation. Then we have this direct perception of emptiness and that's the path of seeing. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:02 And then we continue, like I said, you just habituate your mind to that. That's the path of meditation or the path of habituation where you've had this amazing You experience directly no doubt is left in your mind. You know that things don't exist the way you've always thought that they do. You no longer have any doubt about it. But you've got to get used to it. You still see things as inherently existent. You still live in this sort of schizophrenic reality where you're seeing things with your senses, experiencing things with your senses in a way that doesn't accord with anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

1:44:39 Your direct perception. And so you spend all this time continually going deeply into that state and using that experience to cut all those afflictions, all that ignorance in your mind. And the path of no more learning is enlightenment itself. So that's the fifth path. And that's when we get to the mantra. You're like, Gatte, Gatte. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:39 Highlight the passage at 1:44:39

1:45:02 So, um, I just wanted, I have one quote before we do this quick meditation. I'll just do a quickie version of it. I just went to see Zongsar Kenshi Rinpoche, who is an amazing teacher, actually, and also is a director, a film director. He did The Cup and Travelers and Magicians. But he's also an amazing teacher and a very, very, I don't know, you know, like kind of eccentric teacher as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:02 Highlight the passage at 1:45:02

1:45:37 But he put this really nicely and I thought it was great. He said, he ended his talk and he was actually talking about merit. He was talking about creating like what merit is. An entire evening talking about what merit was. I've never even thought about asking a teacher to teach about it. It was really brilliant actually. Merit is simply like positive karma that you are doing to get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:37 Highlight the passage at 1:45:37

1:46:04 So you're creating this positive karma in order, specifically in order to awaken, to become fully awakened, a Buddha. So he said the two biggest challenges of the Buddhist path, especially this study of emptiness, are that the philosophy of reality is difficult to comprehend. So you have to study, read and ask questions. So it's hard to understand, hard to comprehend. But he said actual reality is so simple. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:04 Highlight the passage at 1:46:04

1:46:33 Too simple, so it's difficult to trust. This one's more difficult, he said, because you can't read books to get it. The more questions you ask, the more confused you become. And the solution to this, he said, is merit. With enough merit, even the sound of a baby crying will cause you to think, ah, that's how it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:33 Highlight the passage at 1:46:33

1:46:55 He said the whole world will think you're an idiot, but who cares? That was great. And it's so true. It's because we get caught up in our conceptual mind and we think the answer is going to be found that way. And he's kind of just saying, just let go. Just let go a little bit. And a lot of times in these meditations you actually have that instruction. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:55 Highlight the passage at 1:46:55

1:47:21 Abide in this non-conceptual state as long as you can. So let's do a quick meditation so those who have to leave can go. And then if people have more questions, then you can. Stay. So I guess you guys are familiar with the looking for the eye. So we're going to look for the eye some more. You can never look too much for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:21 Highlight the passage at 1:47:21

1:47:46 So just take some nice deep cleansing breaths and just all this blah, blah, blah we've just been doing. Just kind of imagine just breathing it out. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:46 Highlight the passage at 1:47:46

1:47:58 Imagine breathing out any distractions, any sluggishness and just... Breathing in total awareness, concentration, like liveliness, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:58 Highlight the passage at 1:47:58

1:48:17 And then slowly just try to become aware of this I that we've been talking about. Not the mere I, not the mental continuum itself, but who or what is thinking, who or what is meditating, Report an error in the passage at 1:48:17 Highlight the passage at 1:48:17

1:48:39 and how does it seem like it comes into existence for you? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:39 Highlight the passage at 1:48:39

1:48:52 Is it a creation of your mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:52 Highlight the passage at 1:48:52

1:49:00 How does it appear? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:00 Highlight the passage at 1:49:00

1:49:13 If it's not a creation of your mind, does it seem like it exists independently, on its own side, in its own right, Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:26 inherently? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:26 Highlight the passage at 1:49:26

1:49:46 So this might take some time at home with just this first step, trying to find this eye that you're trying to look at more deeply. So you might have to remember an experience like the ones I talked about. And Report an error in the passage at 1:49:46 Highlight the passage at 1:49:46

1:50:18 if you think you can identify it, Try to find where it might be located. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:27 Where is this eye? Is it in your head the way I was describing, the way it feels looking out your eyes? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:50:40 Maybe it's in your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:40 Highlight the passage at 1:50:40

1:50:47 Maybe it's in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:47 Highlight the passage at 1:50:47

1:50:56 Maybe it's just under the skin. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:56 Highlight the passage at 1:50:56

1:51:07 Maybe it's in your cells. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:07 Highlight the passage at 1:51:07

1:51:17 It might be really tiny or very, very subtle. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:17 Highlight the passage at 1:51:17

1:51:33 Really explore. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:55 And after you take time to search your entire body, your hands, your feet, your organs, Yourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:55 Highlight the passage at 1:51:55

1:52:09 Then ask yourself how you, how that I manifests. Does it seem as strong and as vivid the Report an error in the passage at 1:52:09 Highlight the passage at 1:52:09

1:52:22 way it did at first? Or the way it did when you had that experience that you're just remembering? Now that you've looked for it, does it still seem so independent? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:22 Highlight the passage at 1:52:22

1:52:52 Is your body the I? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52:52

1:53:01 And maybe your mind is the I. That makes a lot of sense. At least it did to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:01 Highlight the passage at 1:53:01

1:53:14 But think about mind the way we were describing it, like a river, a stream, constantly changing thoughts Report an error in the passage at 1:53:14 Highlight the passage at 1:53:14

1:53:27 and feelings, perceptions, experiences, all these mental events, constantly changing. Which one of these would be the eye? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:27 Highlight the passage at 1:53:27

1:53:47 Is it a happy thought? Is it a good memory? Is it anger? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:47 Highlight the passage at 1:53:47

1:53:58 Is it the one meditating? This meditating mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:58 Highlight the passage at 1:53:58

1:54:09 Can you find the I in the mind when you look for it? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:09 Highlight the passage at 1:54:09

1:54:32 And if you decide it's not in your body and mind, is there any other place it could be? Could it exist in some other way beyond your body and mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:32 Highlight the passage at 1:54:32

1:54:48 Where does it feel like it is? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:48 Highlight the passage at 1:54:48

1:55:00 Does it feel like it's inside of you? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:00 Highlight the passage at 1:55:00

1:55:06 Outside of you? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:06 Highlight the passage at 1:55:06

1:55:12 Both? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:32 Look again at the way this I appears to you, especially now that we've done some search for it. Do you see any change? Does it still seem as solid and real? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:32 Highlight the passage at 1:55:32

1:55:55 Does it still seem so independent? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55:55

1:56:13 Imagine mentally disintegrating your body. Imagine all the atoms separating and floating apart, billions and billions of minute particles scattering throughout space. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:13 Highlight the passage at 1:56:13

1:56:28 Imagine that you can actually see this and Report an error in the passage at 1:56:28 Highlight the passage at 1:56:28

1:56:39 then disintegrate your mind. Just let every thought and feeling, perception, sensation float away. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:39 Highlight the passage at 1:56:39

1:56:52 And just stay in this experience of space without distraction. Let Report an error in the passage at 1:56:52 Highlight the passage at 1:56:52

1:57:06 go. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:06 Highlight the passage at 1:57:06

1:57:25 So don't make the mistake of thinking, if I don't exist in my body and I can't find this I in my body, I can't find this I in my mind, then I must not exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:25 Highlight the passage at 1:57:25

1:57:41 You do exist. Just not in this way that we instinctively feel. Not independent. Not inherent. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:41 Highlight the passage at 1:57:41

1:57:54 Your self exists in dependence upon your body and mind and Report an error in the passage at 1:57:54 Highlight the passage at 1:57:54

1:58:01 then you slap this label on Chokyi, Chris, Brian, Charlotte. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:01 Highlight the passage at 1:58:01

1:58:12 This is the you sitting and meditating. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:12 Highlight the passage at 1:58:12

1:58:19 Whatever exists necessarily exists dependent upon causes and conditions, a Report an error in the passage at 1:58:19 Highlight the passage at 1:58:19

1:58:32 function. This is how dependent arising works. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:32 Highlight the passage at 1:58:32

1:58:39 This is conventional reality, conventional truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:39 Highlight the passage at 1:58:39

1:58:53 The conventional nature of something is its dependence upon causes and conditions and its ultimate nature is its emptiness of inherent independent reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:53 Highlight the passage at 1:58:53

1:59:11 So think about how your body exists in this way, conventionally, independence upon the skin and blood and bones and organs. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:11 Highlight the passage at 1:59:11

1:59:21 And each of these exists in dependence upon their parts, cells, atoms. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

1:59:33 And that's the only way it exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:33 Highlight the passage at 1:59:33

1:59:41 And think about your mind, how it exists in dependence upon these thoughts and feelings, perceptions, and how in turn each of these exists in dependence upon the previous moment of each thought or perception. And Report an error in the passage at 1:59:41 Highlight the passage at 1:59:41

2:00:10 then go back to the self or I and think about how you exist conventionally, in dependence upon your mind and your body and your name. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:10 Highlight the passage at 2:00:10

2:00:23 These are the parts of the self. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:23 Highlight the passage at 2:00:23

2:00:32 When the body feels hunger, You think, I'm hungry. When Report an error in the passage at 2:00:32 Highlight the passage at 2:00:32

2:00:40 the mind has an idea, you say, I think. When you're introducing yourself, you say, I am so and so. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:40 Highlight the passage at 2:00:40

2:00:55 And apart from this sense of I that depends upon this ever-flowing, ever-changing stream of body and mind, is there an I that's solid, independent and unchanging? The Report an error in the passage at 2:00:55 Highlight the passage at 2:00:55

2:01:17 mere absence of such an inherently existent I is the emptiness of the self. So Report an error in the passage at 2:01:17 Highlight the passage at 2:01:17

2:01:42 we can dedicate this session. That brings us closer and closer to the nature of reality with some more words by Zansar Kenshi Rinpoche who said, I pray you have the merit to have the right curiosity at the right time on your path to directly perceiving emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:42 Highlight the passage at 2:01:42

2:02:05 And I pray that you have the merit so that all your questions will not be answered because many times once you get one answer you stop seeking. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:05 Highlight the passage at 2:02:05

2:02:17 So we dedicate tonight's class. To continuing to seek meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:17 Highlight the passage at 2:02:17

2:02:45 Sorry, I had to go pretty quick. But you get an idea of how to play with it at home. So you have this one, but I'm giving it to you again. Sorry. There's also meditation using the four-point analysis. So it's listed here and it kind of guides you through it. This is one written by Thuptenpende. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:45 Highlight the passage at 2:02:45

2:03:10 Who lives down in Santa Cruz now. And it was sort of beefed up a little bit by Kendall Magnuson, who's one of my personal heroes. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:10 Highlight the passage at 2:03:10

2:03:22 So give it a try. I'm just suggesting that you kind of alternate between the two. The I, the looking for the I one, and then the sort of more methodical going through the four-point analysis. At least try once each time, each one. So. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:22 Highlight the passage at 2:03:22

2:03:39 But if you have more time, you can do it. Do you mind handing this out to people? Yeah, I probably did more. I never know how many people are in this class. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:39 Highlight the passage at 2:03:39

2:03:50 Does anybody else have any questions? If people need to go, you can go. But if anybody has any questions, I'm happy to stay. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:50 Highlight the passage at 2:03:50

2:04:03 Oh, there's a question in the rear. I Report an error in the passage at 2:04:03 Highlight the passage at 2:04:03

2:04:12 think last week we started talking about the continuum of consciousness. And it's rather hard to talk about... Something that you're not supposed to conceptualize ultimately to realize something. But conceptually, initially, you have to do, shall we say, attacking the issue from different angles. So if you're talking about a physical object, I readily understand the logical flow of dependent arising and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:12 Highlight the passage at 2:04:12

2:04:48 When you're talking about the continuum of consciousness, not composing yourself. Can you elaborate? When you say that last part again, when you're talking about the continuum, mental continuum? The mental continuum, that mind itself is emptiness also. That mind is empty of inherent existence, yeah. So mind also arises dependently. Right, and consciousness slash mind is also empty. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:48 Highlight the passage at 2:04:48

2:05:21 Empty of? Empty of. Because the substance of mind. Empty of inherent existence. I'm forcing you to say that because I can see that you're kind of going off into nihilism there. So that's why I'm forcing, like when I hear empty, it's almost like we have to just fill in the blank all the time. Empty of inherent existence. Empty of inherent. Because that's what we're saying. We're not saying mind doesn't exist. We're not saying that mind is space. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:21 Highlight the passage at 2:05:21

2:05:52 And related to that point, can you elaborate on which process or logical process flow we can at least begin to use in terms of seeing the emptiness of consciousness? Meditation. Yeah, it's meditation really. Looking at the way your own mind works. There's a meditation on the mind that we, the next class that I'm going to teach actually is on the mind, mind and its potential in the fall. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:52 Highlight the passage at 2:05:52

2:06:23 And there's a meditation that you do where you're just looking at the previous moment of mind. You're going back. You're following previous moment of mind, previous moment of mind. You're just kind of looking to see. So you're trying to get this sense of this, you know, we were just talking about the river, this sense of this mind, the mental mind stream they call, you know, mind stream. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:23 Highlight the passage at 2:06:23

2:06:43 They call that because it's like that river. You're trying to get some sense of it in your own mind. So you're taking it from... You're not just staying with the words. You're trying to have a vivid experience of your own mind. And actually the more you meditate, the more you struggle with that, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:43 Highlight the passage at 2:06:43

2:06:58 Because those kind of things arise and kind of mess up your meditation. In this case, it actually is the meditation. You're seeing how that happens, how one thought gives rise to another thought, which gives rise to another thought, which gives rise to another thought. And so you're really seeing this, how... Report an error in the passage at 2:06:58 Highlight the passage at 2:06:58

2:07:18 How mind just keeps arising on the basis of these thoughts. It just keeps arising. It's not like a physical form. It's not like, you know, they say it's like a string of pearls without the string and without the pearls. It's like, it's so subtle that it's difficult to look at. And it's difficult to say in words, but it's more of an experience. You get more of an experience. And it's not the same idea of mind that Western science has. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:18 Highlight the passage at 2:07:18

2:07:51 So it's different, you know, so just staying open to it and just exploring it in meditation. And not freaking out so much either, because that's the other thing, you know, because we do, right? Because we have this idea that my mind is solid, that I am solid, that I have gone from life to life. You know, with this idea of reincarnation of a soul or whatever like that. There's some comfort in that. But, you know, the Buddha is saying that it's much more subtle than that. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:51 Highlight the passage at 2:07:51

2:08:23 That, I think, is actually probably closer to some of the earlier schools in Buddhist thought as well. I don't think it's definitely very close to the Ātman in Hinduism. And I think it's very close to the Christian soul, too. There's some comfort in that. And the Buddha is actually saying it's much, much more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:23 Highlight the passage at 2:08:23

2:08:41 It's much, much more subtle. But we can only get an experience of that. It's again, it's like me talking about sugar. You have to actually taste it. You have to have some experience of it. And just look at it yourself, you know, and see what that, you know, really just looking at your own mind and how it does that thing of like, this other idea pops up and then, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:41 Highlight the passage at 2:08:41

2:09:04 That's not even bringing in karma or anything else. It's just simply look at how mind works and how this idea comes up and then this other thing comes up. Have you ever noticed how sometimes when you're just daydreaming, because daydreaming I think you can do it because in meditation we're supposed to be fighting it, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:09:04 Highlight the passage at 2:09:04

2:09:19 Daydreaming, you can be thinking about a five-year plan for your job. So you're starting with that. And suddenly... You've gotten, you don't know how you've ended up on the beach in Bali, but in your mind you've gotten to the beach in Bali and it's actually followed a thought as arisen and another thought is given and another and another one and another and it's just, it's kind of created this, but we've missed all of that. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:19 Highlight the passage at 2:09:19

2:09:45 We just ended up there. And so the Buddha's kind of like, well watch it, watch it while it's doing that. It's creating this thought and then the next thought gives rise and the next thought and each one of them is. Creating the next one and the one that it's like they follow like a stream like that. And actually it's not that neat usually. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:45 Highlight the passage at 2:09:45

2:10:06 It's more like popcorn actually. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:06 Highlight the passage at 2:10:06

2:10:12 So mind is like that and I think the only way really to get an experience of it is just in meditation. And then once you have that experience, then meditating on the emptiness of that mind, meaning that that mind is also not solid. But. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:12 Highlight the passage at 2:10:12

2:10:27 You know, we start thinking about it in terms of the stream. We start thinking about it in terms of like the string of pearls, the string of mental moments. And then we keep getting finer and finer. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:27 Highlight the passage at 2:10:27

2:10:39 But first we have to have some sense of what it is. You know, before you can go too subtle, like you can't skip the other schools. Just go straight for the top. You know, you've got to start with what is the Buddha actually saying mind is? And what is my experience of mind? You know, you've got to start with that. You've got to have some experience with that. And then when you start getting into the emptiness of it, it sort of makes more sense. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:39 Highlight the passage at 2:10:39

2:11:07 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:07 Highlight the passage at 2:11:07

2:11:19 How does this work with this soul? Are they overlapping or are there gaps? The thoughts? Yeah. I think Report an error in the passage at 2:11:19 Highlight the passage at 2:11:19

2:11:34 they are related, but I don't think it's necessarily that they're right on top of each other. I mean, I think that's where that idea, like a string of pearls without the string, without the... gross, gross. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:34 Highlight the passage at 2:11:34

2:11:44 Because we definitely can see, that's one thing you do in meditation too, you can actually see where there's some space in between your thoughts sometimes, sometimes, rarely, occasionally. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:44 Highlight the passage at 2:11:44

2:11:58 But that doesn't mean that it hasn't had some cause. That this thought is arising due to some cause. And that cause in mind is a previous mental moment. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:58 Highlight the passage at 2:11:58

2:12:09 So it may not be just immediately right before. Or it may be so subtle we're just not seeing it. We might see it as... Is a space between the thoughts, but there may be a more subtle one that's closer. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. I have to go meditate on my mind a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:09 Highlight the passage at 2:12:09

2:12:30 Let's see. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:30 Highlight the passage at 2:12:30

2:12:39 Don't you guys want to go? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:39 Highlight the passage at 2:12:39

2:12:49 So, I'm going to be teaching on the mind and I'm also going to be teaching on Introduction to Tantra in the fall. Introduction to Tantra is going to be Wednesday night because Gashla is going to India. And then Mind and its Potential is going to be on Thursday nights. So, welcome if any of you guys want to explore more. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:49 Highlight the passage at 2:12:49

2:13:11 And Introduction to Tantra, it doesn't have, it sounds like big, but it... As long as you've had the main prerequisite course, if you continue with this course. I always just say, as long as somebody's had any Discovering Buddhism course, I think you're fine for that one. It's a bit much if you just come out of nowhere. But if you've had at least one Discovering Buddhism course, or the equivalent, then I think that's great. What else? Report an error in the passage at 2:13:11 Highlight the passage at 2:13:11

2:13:37 Venom Barbina is going to teach on Dharma in the Workplace on the 20th, as a day long. So she'll talk about those moments when the boss comes in screaming and how to work with that. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:37 Highlight the passage at 2:13:37

2:13:51 I can't think of what else. But anyway, it's all on the website. I think the October one is getting ready to go to print. But a lot of the October dates are on the website. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:51 Highlight the passage at 2:13:51

2:14:03 See, that's how you know I'm the program. I always announce at every class what's coming up. I do. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:03 Highlight the passage at 2:14:03

2:14:14 do. Introduction to Tantra is starting on the 15th, I think, actually, because we thought Geshe was leaving on the 14th or the 15th. And so, unfortunately, I have to, at the same time, he's teaching one, so we'll go upstairs, I think. And then the mind one starts on the 30th, I think, two weeks later. October, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to go and meditate on it for a while. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14:14

2:14:39 I'm leaving on Saturday for a month retreat. And part of my goal in my retreat is to spend more time meditating on all this stuff so that I can have more experiences to share. So, anyway, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:39 Highlight the passage at 2:14:39

2:14:56 The problem with this setup is, like, how do you get out of it? With any kind of grace or dignity? Report an error in the passage at 2:14:56 Highlight the passage at 2:14:56

2:15:06 It's really heavy. But not inherently so. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:06 Highlight the passage at 2:15:06

2:15:14 I think maybe we take the symbols off. Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:14 Highlight the passage at 2:15:14