Discovering Buddhism - Wisdom of Emptiness (18 September 2008)

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1:22 else? you okay? I... I won't Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:33 be here, but Janet, who's... I've been a student of Geshe has agreed to lead a discussion, facilitate a discussion. So I'll leave you with some questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

2:04 Anyway, sorry. In the end I didn't go to Portland last week because I had planned. I had to go to Indiana for the Dalai Lama's brother passed away. So Geshe was asked to go to the fire puja, to do the fire puja. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:27 Which was quite an intense experience. Yeah, powerful prayers. And then they build this kind of stupa-like thing that they put the body in. Then they seal it up and then they burn. Kind of crematorium thing and they make offerings. So during the puja they're offering different things. They'll put wood and a lot of butter. Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

2:57 Sticks of wood that are cut to a certain size and different grains and puffed rice and sesame seeds and different things like that, that they just have little spouts that go into the side of this thing and a lot of oil and stuff. Some grass, different kinds of grass, so that the body is pretty much, it's pretty intense heat, so it pretty much burns up. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:28 Okay. They did this on site in Indiana at the center where his brother was staying and living, started. Report an error in the passage at 3:28 Highlight the passage at 3:28

3:43 That's quite interesting. Very, I don't know, I felt like really a little bit discombobulated. It was really pretty intense, but anyway. So how's everyone else? Had a hurricane, we have an election, all kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:08 I have a problem? Let's do the Art Sūtra. And that is page 90, Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:20 maybe, no, sorry, Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:26 79. Report an error in the passage at 4:26 Highlight the passage at 4:26

4:33 Thus did I hear at one time, The Bhagavan was dwelling on massive vultures mountain in Roshkriya, 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 and ma sattva, our ava kichisvara, looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of entire nature. Report an error in the passage at 4:33 Highlight the passage at 4:33

5:01 Then, through the power of Buddha, the venerable Sharaputra said this to the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Avakichasvara. How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? He said that, and the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Avakichasvara said this to the venerable Shavadada Putra. Sharaputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity... Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:28 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 and compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shere Putra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 5:28 Highlight the passage at 5:28

5:53 Shere Putra, 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 including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance and so on up to including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Report an error in the passage at 5:53 Highlight the passage at 5:53

6:21 Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Shere Pudra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhicattvas rely and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration, without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:41 All the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly completely awakened to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment, reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, 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 truth, since it is not false. Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

7:01 The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Thay, Thay, Thay, Om Gathe, Gathe, Paragathe, Parasam, Gathe, Bodhishoha. Sheputra, the Bodhisattva and Mahasattva should train the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva and Mahasattva, saying, Well said, well said, sound of the lineage, it is like that. Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:23 One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated. Even the tath of God does rejoice. The Bhagavan, having now spoken the venerable Shabbat Adaputra, the Bodhisattva and Mahasadva, those surrounding in their entirety, along with the world of gods, humans, assurers, and godavars, were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 7:23 Highlight the passage at 7:23

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8:15 So, let's review what we've covered a little bit before. Then we'll go into meditation. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

8:32 Self, person, our term, self, person, I. are used synonymously. What do we mean empty of inherent existence? Someone give me an idea what we mean by that? Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

8:56 Independent. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:01 Anyone remember the four-point analysis? Point number one? Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:12 Okay. Two? Report an error in the passage at 9:12 Highlight the passage at 9:12

9:33 Those are the only two alternatives. Okay. And the third? Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

9:44 And the fourth? Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

9:52 Okay. Good. Dependent arising? Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

10:00 Dependent origination? What do these terms mean? Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:16 Designation, conceptual. Okay. Okay. There is two... With regards to space, there's what we call compounded space and uncompounded space. Uncompounded space is permanent. Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:47 Well, it's interesting. And then uncompounded space has... I mean, compounded space obviously has parts because it's compounded. And this is the lack of unobstruction. And this can only be this uncompounded space, the space that you can perceive with your senses. Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

11:17 Compounded is. So uncompounded is only really conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:32 It appears as if, like for the eye and sense consciousness, it appears that that... That statue is at a distance, so you're saying the unobstruction, the space between which is unobstructed between you, your eye-sense consciousness and that statue is space, uncompounded space. It's unobstructed, but it has parts. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

12:02 It's what they call directional parts. Report an error in the passage at 12:02 Highlight the passage at 12:02

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12:48 Well, I think when they talk about, at least when they talk about the Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

12:57 Vaibhashika school, when they talk about particles down to where they're directionless, meaning they're so small that they no longer have direction, you can't have an east, north, south and whatever. And so I think that's similar to the same thing here, that there is a... There is a place where you have a north, east, south and west and up and down from between you and that object. Report an error in the passage at 12:57 Highlight the passage at 12:57

13:26 So there is that space, okay, and then there's a space that's a little bit north of that and a little bit north of that and da-da-da. So it always has this part, these directions to it. So that's just kind of defining that particular space of space because it has... by direction only. It's still unobstructed. You couldn't see parts. You wouldn't see anything. But it's just a way of referring I suppose, and direction. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

14:02 that make sense? really still conceptual, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:27 Can you tell me what I gave you for homework? Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:35 What? Last time. What did I give you for homework? You gave us two meditations. One is the four-point analysis and the other one is the one that we did. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

14:52 About looking for the eyes. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:00 How do we do? How do we do with it? Are we convinced there's no eye? Has anyone found it? Report an error in the passage at 15:00 Highlight the passage at 15:00

15:14 Do you have time to even look for it? Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

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15:48 There's an eye that wants to react. It's hard to find it, isn't it? What are you referring to at that moment? Do people get why we're doing all this mental exercise about emptiness in the eye and not finding the eye? Is there a point? Are we wasting our time? Are we just curious? Does it have any implications in our life? Report an error in the passage at 15:48 Highlight the passage at 15:48

16:19 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 16:19 Highlight the passage at 16:19

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16:54 Good. Good. Very good. Because if we look at the nature of our suffering, there's always an eye involved, isn't there? Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:08 And that is really the point, to get past this suffering. It's not just a mental conceptual game we're playing here. It's really to look very hard at that which we have created for our experience. And we'll spend a lot of time tonight on dependent origination or dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:35 But it's Report an error in the passage at 17:35 Highlight the passage at 17:35

17:41 very, I mean, no matter what happens, it's... It's like a movie. It doesn't appear that way though. It depends very, very strongly sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:57 It's not that it's non-existent. It's just that it doesn't exist the way it appears to exist. Chris, are you okay with that? Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:16 You have a busy mind tonight. So should we work on calming that down or should we try to find that mind? Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:26 Okay, let's do some meditation here. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:44 So we'll start just with focusing on our breath. know. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

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18:48 Let the mind relax, let the body relax, back is straight, Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

18:56 neck and shoulders relaxed, chin tucked in slightly, eyes directed to the ground about three feet in front of you, tongue is on the upper palate behind the front teeth, right hand placed in the palm of the left, thumbs touching you, resting gently in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:29 And just begin with the breath, keeping the attention focused on the rising and falling of your abdomen as you breathe in and out. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:39 Letting go of all of today's activity, just being present in the moment. Report an error in the passage at 19:39 Highlight the passage at 19:39

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22:04 Now let's bring our awareness to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:10 Notice it following a sensation, a sound, analyzing that sound, Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

22:27 a memory of an earlier vent today. Report an error in the passage at 22:27 Highlight the passage at 22:27

22:38 Just pay attention to this passing, convocative thoughts, one after the other. Report an error in the passage at 22:38 Highlight the passage at 22:38

23:00 Don't attach any particular significance to them, just notice them. Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:11 Notice how the mind moves from one thing to the next and then on to the next. Report an error in the passage at 23:11 Highlight the passage at 23:11

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25:50 Pay attention to this ongoing stream of thoughts, Report an error in the passage at 25:50 Highlight the passage at 25:50

26:09 one after the other. Is this the I? Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:17 Is it the memory? Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:37 Is it the thought of irritation? Attachment? Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

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

26:54 Bliss? Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

26:57 Which one? Report an error in the passage at 26:57 Highlight the passage at 26:57

27:10 Even the part of the eye, the mind that's watching, Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:17 is that staying the same from one moment to the next? Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:34 Is its object, the part of the mind that is observing, staying the same? Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

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28:40 Which thought is the eye? Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

28:45 Which one? Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

28:58 This one? Report an error in the passage at 28:58 Highlight the passage at 28:58

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29:42 Observe how your mind engages one object, sound, smell, taste. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

29:54 One moment after the other. One thought after the other. Report an error in the passage at 29:54 Highlight the passage at 29:54

· · · silence, 2 minutes

31:41 Which thought defines who you are? Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

31:47 The memory? The sensation? The feeling? Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:17 Continuous dream. Report an error in the passage at 32:17 Highlight the passage at 32:17

32:21 One thought after the other. Report an error in the passage at 32:21 Highlight the passage at 32:21

32:46 Let's relax. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

32:56 So even our mind, which seems a little bit like something to hang on to, Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:08 It's nothing more than a munch of moments. And there's really no I amongst all of it except maybe if you want to refer to the stream. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:22 But that depends on one moment or the next. So there's not truly existing I there. Even the witness is made up of moments. Report an error in the passage at 33:22 Highlight the passage at 33:22

33:35 That stream has an identity maybe that we refer to as the I. doesn't have an... Well, we would... Could really find its inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

33:54 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

33:59 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 33:59 Highlight the passage at 33:59

34:05 Indeed. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:29 But if something is truly existing, we're saying that it has inherent existence or it has independent existence. So it can have independent existence and be dependent as well. Those will be contradictory. Report an error in the passage at 34:29 Highlight the passage at 34:29

34:50 So what we mean by inherent or truly existing is it has independent existence. It's separate out there. It doesn't depend upon anything else for its existence. Report an error in the passage at 34:50 Highlight the passage at 34:50

35:05 So by depending upon even parts or moments or a stream of thoughts, it contradicts this. What we come to identify as I is this stream of body-mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:35 It's just that it does not exist the way it appears to exist. It does not have inherent existence. It does not have independent existence. But it exists conventionally. You're here in this room. We're all having a similar but not exactly the same experience. Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

35:55 And we have this continuity one moment after the next. and there's a particular identity with yours that goes back to when you, you know, that goes... Well, the moment before that even, but still in this lifetime that you have memories of. But that's a stream of thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 35:55 Highlight the passage at 35:55

36:17 That's not an independent existing I. Are we okay with that? Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:32 So tonight we want to focus really on dependent arising and emptiness. We've already said that Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

36:51 emptiness is the lack of inherent existence. The lack of independent existence. So dependent arising is emptiness and emptiness is dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 36:51 Highlight the passage at 36:51

37:08 And it was really Lama Tsongkhapa that kind of really argued these points that when something arises, it is empty. So dependent arising and emptiness should be... It should be, in our minds, seen as one and the same. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:41 Phenomena exist dependently. Their existence depends upon certain causes and conditions, which we've kind of gone over. So we say everything is dependently arising. Report an error in the passage at 37:41 Highlight the passage at 37:41

37:57 So this principle of dependent arising eliminates the extreme of permanence, or eternalism. Report an error in the passage at 37:57 Highlight the passage at 37:57

38:13 Because things appear to our perceptions as Report an error in the passage at 38:13 Highlight the passage at 38:13

38:24 existing nominally or conventionally, their true or independent existence is eliminated. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:41 It also, the dependent arising, eliminates the extreme of nihilism. Report an error in the passage at 38:41 Highlight the passage at 38:41

38:49 So when you understand emptiness, you also eliminate the idea of complete non-existence. Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:11 Now this is all we're going to spend tonight's class talking about. He's trying to understand this, trying to make sure. Because our two extremes, really, in Buddhism and all the philosophical arguments are to ensure that we don't fall into one of these two extremes. And this is why even the Prasangika Majamika is called the middle way. It's because it's the middle of these two extremes. Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:40 It eliminates the extreme of permanence or eternalism. And it eliminates the extreme of nihilism or non-existence. Both have dangers. We're more likely, when we start to investigate emptiness and seeing things as kind of not existing the way they appear to exist, we might tend to fall more into the nihilist camp. Report an error in the passage at 39:40 Highlight the passage at 39:40

40:16 We might think that things don't exist at all. But they do exist. We have... Conventional existence. We're not negating conventional existence here. But what we are saying is that what appears is dependently arisen. Report an error in the passage at 40:16 Highlight the passage at 40:16

40:35 It depends on what? Causes and conditions. Depends on parts. It depends on concept designation. Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

40:53 So it's not non-existence. It's very interesting because when you really get this, I think you really understand karma. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:10 Although it's appearing to be a movie, it doesn't have that solidity that it seems to be out there when you start to kind of grasp this. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:24 It's also not just any movie. It's our particular movie. Report an error in the passage at 41:24 Highlight the passage at 41:24

41:34 We have a particular experience, unique to us, in this body, in this life, with our parents, in San Francisco, all these other... Elements that have come together to shape our particular experience. This is dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 41:34 Highlight the passage at 41:34

41:58 The fact that we label it San Francisco is a dependent arising. We have conventional reality here where we all nominally agree that this is called San Francisco, this place. Report an error in the passage at 41:58 Highlight the passage at 41:58

42:16 And we share this kind of nominal experience of San Francisco. But it is a dependent arising. And it's unique to us at this particular time. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:34 And this is where karma really comes into play. Although it's appearing to be like a movie, if you take it apart, you don't really find a truly existing I independently existing out there separate from all of this. You don't even find a truly existing table, truly existing statue, truly existing floor, wall, house, anything. Report an error in the passage at 42:34 Highlight the passage at 42:34

43:01 And if you think about it in terms of atoms and buzzing about, you know, particles down to the minutia of particles, I mean, your whole concept of reality is really just designation, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 43:01 Highlight the passage at 43:01

43:20 Designate this and that. But the fact that you designate something this instead of that is a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:32 The fact that we have a particular body, the fact that we have a body at all, The fact that humans over time have evolved to eat coarse foods as opposed to eons ago when they didn't have to eat coarse foods, supposedly. Report an error in the passage at 43:32 Highlight the passage at 43:32

44:08 Yes, are you agreeing with me? Are you thinking about it? Does it make sense? Report an error in the passage at 44:08 Highlight the passage at 44:08

44:16 Are you getting the implications here? Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

44:22 It's not just random that you have this particular experience at this particular time, although it's like a dream. It's changing from moment to moment. People come in and people come out. It's not just random either. It is a dependent arising. It depends on certain causes and conditions to come into place for you to have that particular experience. And this is where karma comes in. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:54 Because our actions have results, Report an error in the passage at 44:54 Highlight the passage at 44:54

45:01 that's why we experience something in a particular way or see something in a particular way. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:11 To me, I mean, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 45:11 Highlight the passage at 45:11

45:29 Well, you can shift it, yeah. You have complete power over shifting your experience. I mean, karma really does basically say that, I mean, this is kind of a unique thing. We don't have to worry about anybody else because we just have to worry about our own karma. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

46:03 Yes, I know what you're saying, but I mean, in some ways, yeah. I mean... yeah. Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:11 There is no their karma anyway, truly existing. But still. Report an error in the passage at 46:11 Highlight the passage at 46:11

46:24 Yeah, you should be able to, I mean, you should start to see, certainly in Buddhism we have karma. And karma is not really much more than cause and effect. It has a few more implications than that, but it's pretty much cause and effect. So it's not really so difficult for us to comprehend. Report an error in the passage at 46:24 Highlight the passage at 46:24

46:46 Because in some ways we already kind of do follow cause and effect. Our whole society, our science is based on cause and effect, isn't it? You take a particular medicine, it cures the illness, that's cause and effect, right? Report an error in the passage at 46:46 Highlight the passage at 46:46

47:09 That's dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 47:09 Highlight the passage at 47:09

47:19 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:48 That's what we would call it. The Buddha taught it's a more hidden phenomenon, linking the direct cause with the result in that respect. But in terms of some of the factors, we can certainly acknowledge the dependent arising. The fact that we have, we label something and we come to label something car and something pavement and something walking and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 47:48 Highlight the passage at 47:48

48:16 We have all these kind of actions, okay, to be in a particular place in a particular time. And to have a particular result is a little bit tricky to see where the cause of that particular result is. And we're not trying to necessarily understand because that is very, very hidden. I mean, it would take us quite a lot of practice to get to the level of realizations where we could see the direct cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 48:16 Highlight the passage at 48:16

48:52 But we can certainly understand some of it. you know, to We're not spending so much time here talking about karma, but I think it's important to introduce it in terms of dependent arising, because that which you experience is your karmic appearance. Report an error in the passage at 48:52 Highlight the passage at 48:52

49:20 And some of it's just habit. A lot of what we experience is just based on habit. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:32 We call certain things a certain way. We see things a certain way. In our minds, we've come to Report an error in the passage at 49:32 Highlight the passage at 49:32

49:49 judge, maybe, shall we say, things in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

49:58 If I were to say Sarah Palin, you all would have some kind of something in your mind would arise when you think of Sarah Palin, right? Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:13 That's a dependent arising, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:20 A month, two months ago, if I'd said Sarah Powell, nothing had much arise with it. But now just imagine what's arising in your mind. One way or another, I don't really care, but there is a dependent arising, isn't it? And that's been reinforced in many. Your particular dependent arising has been reinforced through a certain way in which you view the information that's been given to you since Sarah Powell was introduced to you. Report an error in the passage at 50:20 Highlight the passage at 50:20

50:51 Less than a month ago. Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

50:56 So, it is a dependent arising, isn't it? And the interesting thing is, at the same time, it does not exist independently, separately, out there. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:12 That view of it being independently, existing, separate, out there. You have to, I mean, in the same moment. You have to see these two coming together, this dependent arising and lack of inherent existence or empty inherent existence. They see them at the same time. It's tricky. It is really tricky. Most of us are going to go along, including myself, believing kind of innately that everything has true existence, that that tanka is a tanka and exists separate. Report an error in the passage at 51:12 Highlight the passage at 51:12

51:53 Tankas are these paintings around the world. That's a Tibetan word for these paintings. So I'm going to look and I'm going to see that as existing from its own son. I don't see dependent arising. I mean, think about it, if I stopped to analyze it, but quite naturally that's not what's coming to my mind. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:17 So we just keep training ourselves. When you analyze, well, that tanga is made up of parts. Where amongst all of those parts does tanga arise? It only arises in the coming together of all those parts. And in the designation of some term that I've come to acknowledge we commonly agree upon is called tanga. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:46 And then all the causes and conditions, the fabric and the sewer and the painter and all the other beings that were involved in creating that tanga. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

52:58 All of which wouldn't, if all of those things weren't part of that tanga, then I would have no experience of tanga. So the dependent arising in emptiness are one and the same. Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

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53:55 Good. Report an error in the passage at 53:55 Highlight the passage at 53:55

54:06 In some ways it's not so difficult here. I think what's difficult is really is the habit that's kind of, we have to see things as inherently existent, independently existent. It's the habit. Report an error in the passage at 54:06 Highlight the passage at 54:06

54:40 The Buddha is a dependent arising. that one more clearly Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

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54:44 There's no independently existing Buddha. Can't be. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

55:06 Probably the Buddha you're thinking to as a Buddha in your mind is nothing more than a designation of concepts. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:18 It does not have inherent existence. It is a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 55:18 Highlight the passage at 55:18

55:25 That's key. It is a dependent arising. And that's very, you know, I mean, it's very interesting here because there's no Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 55:25 Highlight the passage at 55:25

55:37 But if I believed there was no Buddha, then why would it make sense for me to be a Buddhist? Report an error in the passage at 55:37 Highlight the passage at 55:37

55:51 Because of dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:01 Because of dependent arising. There's no other reason to label myself Buddhist or put any, you know, I mean, it would be nihilism, really, if there was no, it's not that there's non-existence of Buddha, it's just there's no inherent existence, no truly existing Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:19 But nominally, yes, we've got a statue there. We say that statue has power in and of itself. The Buddha resides in that statue, all those kind of things. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:30 It helps. It helps us along the path. These are all ways to get to realizing emptiness. But in the end, there's no truly existing Buddha. It's only dependent arising. It depends on what? It depends on causes and conditions. It depends on concepts, all those things. Report an error in the passage at 56:30 Highlight the passage at 56:30

56:54 Depends on the Buddha actually having lived 2,500, 2,600 years ago. Report an error in the passage at 56:54 Highlight the passage at 56:54

57:04 It's just that in our minds we're so kind of habituated to kind of think of this Buddha as existing out there separate from us or God and that's impossible or table or monlam. Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04

57:30 Or Tango or House or San Francisco. We really see all these things as existing independently, separate. We don't see them as dependent arisings. Report an error in the passage at 57:30 Highlight the passage at 57:30

58:07 And even within us, we've already been going trying to find the us here. We haven't found it, did we? Not a truly existing I, did we find one? Because there's no within I, within us, that's what you're referring to. Report an error in the passage at 58:07 Highlight the passage at 58:07

58:36 But when you're talking about within us, that's what I'm questioning. I know what you mean, because I know what you're trying to get at, but you have to also be careful about that within us, because we've already determined we can't find that us. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

59:07 no, no, no, no, I know exactly where you're going, and it's okay. It's good, because yes, these are tools in our mind, you know, when I think of Buddha, Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:23 there is some... There is something conceptually or whatever from all my previous lives or whatever that I'm attracted to, I'm drawn to, Report an error in the passage at 59:23 Highlight the passage at 59:23

59:40 dependent arising. It has come to symbolize something that I'm attracted to. It doesn't mean it exists inherently. It doesn't mean it exists within me. But there is a dependent arising for me. I personally, this non-inherently existing me, to have the experience of being drawn to it. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

1:00:15 And these teachers, they do, and I would say, it's the same thing, and I think this is really... Christianity really, and some Christianity actually might go in this direction, but if they really looked at this as being symbolic, like Christ as being something symbolized in loving kindness and compassion and not truly existing, that would really put a whole new face on Christianity. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15 Highlight the passage at 1:00:15

1:00:49 No, I know, because there's a real... know there's a real The thing about a God existing out there, separate from us, and Buddhists can't really buy into that, because nothing really truly exists out there for us. It can't be independent, because there's no God. If God were there, it would, existing independently, it'd have no influence on anything else, because then it would have a dependent relationship. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:49 Highlight the passage at 1:00:49

1:01:25 And as soon as you have the dependent relationship, then you lose the permanence, you lose this independently existing God. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:36 That's all the Buddhists say in terms of creation. In terms of a creation, this is all our own creation. Right here, right now, at this very moment, this is all our creation. This is our creation. We have created it. There's no internal, external God that's created this. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:01:57 And the fact that we see this as a wall and this as a floor and this as a ceiling and those as lights, that's a dependent arising. It's not as if lights and floor and wall call themselves lights and floor and wall from their own side. It's just that somehow we kind of have a conventional arrangement here for all of us to see it and label it in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:57 Highlight the passage at 1:01:57

1:02:27 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:27 Highlight the passage at 1:02:27

1:02:40 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:40 Highlight the passage at 1:02:40

1:02:43 Well, I would be careful to say the body is conventional eye because I would probably say, personally, I don't see my body as so much as my eye. I think of all my memories. There's something that I refer to as my eye, that I think of as eye. But it's nothing more than this, shall we say, combination of this mind-body complex, these moments. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:02:58 of, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58 Highlight the passage at 1:02:58

1:03:16 Because even this body, if I call this body I, it's changed considerably since I was a child and it's changed since I walked into the room. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:16 Highlight the passage at 1:03:16

1:03:26 So there's no, you know, there's no in that part of it. But yes, we refer on a conventional level, there is an I, there is a monam that's coming here as a teacher to talk to you about emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:26 Highlight the passage at 1:03:26

1:03:55 More positively. I think one of the things you should get to when you start to really think of the implications of emptiness and dependent arising is a true understanding of how we are creating our own experience and how karma then has such a powerful impact into the creation of what we experience. And although we may not particularly see the particular cause of something that we're experiencing now, but we will have no doubt in our mind that we have created the cause, because there could be no other way. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:55 Highlight the passage at 1:03:55

1:04:40 And then we accept the responsibility for being able to change our experience, because there's ever a possibility of changing our experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:40 Highlight the passage at 1:04:40

1:04:49 We can be a Buddha, all of us. We all have the potential to be Buddha. There's no doubt in our minds. We just have to create the causes. We Report an error in the passage at 1:04:49 Highlight the passage at 1:04:49

1:05:02 all have it. Food and nature, we're all there. But it's dependent arising. Is this making sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02 Highlight the passage at 1:05:02

1:05:18 Since I started reading Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:26 inside of me, my actions, I can see the effectiveness because I can see that my habitual patterns of going to the same direction or going to do the same thing day by day is a little bit changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:43 I can see that when I see somebody else, strangers, I can extend my compassion to them, which is I never done seven months ago. So something is changing inside of me and I can see that there is definitely effectiveness in those teachings or understanding of the evidence, which I haven't realized at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:12 However... Somehow intellectually thinking about it or meditating is going to put some effect on it. And I already see the result. Something else which I haven't done before. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:33 Yeah, I think, you know, I actually think, you know, coming from a Western point of view, teachings on emptiness are not so difficult. To understand at a conceptual or intellectual level. I think we have a very good education system that really kind of, this stuff clicks fairly fast. I think what's difficult is not just making it intellectual or conceptual and realizing the implications it has on every moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:07:12 And that's tricky. And it's not going to end overnight, I mean, or anything like this. But I think one of the things you really do, do, when kind of starting to think about this, is you start to really crack a little bit of a, make a crack in that belief in a solidly existing, independently existing I. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:12 Highlight the passage at 1:07:12

1:07:41 You really start to question, you know, it's... And once you open it, crack it open a little bit, it's kind of hard to ever see it any, you know, ever go back to seeing it as existing so concrete. You might still have the habit, but in some ways when you start to really kind of put this in, you're going to, your way of seeing things will shift. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:41 Highlight the passage at 1:07:41

1:08:13 And generally I would say, although it's not easy, it should change your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:24 It really should change your life and the lives of all those who you come in contact with. It takes time, it really does. And believe me, it's because we've created karma from countless eons. So, of course, what is arising for us in particular is not always easy. And this habit to grasp at a self-existent I is there. It's beneath everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:24 Highlight the passage at 1:08:24

1:08:54 So it's only by reflecting on it over and over again that you're going to get rid of the habit. I mean, you can come here and study this stuff and think about this stuff and then go home and then forget about it. And it's not going to change your habit too much. But if you think about this stuff over and over and over again, it will slowly, slowly shift. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:20 And you can get into meditation experiences where it's just... It can blow your socks off, actually, to where it really is like a dream. I mean, I think actually, you know, once you kind of, I think it's just a valuable exercise to see it as a dream. To wake up in the morning and just call it a dream. Call it a movie. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20

1:09:51 And you're the director. So, start directing. You know, like how a director, a movie director, has to know exactly what happens when. Well now your job is to figure out how do I create the causes to have this particular thing happen if I want it to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:16 Yeah, a dreamer usually does it. But in this case we want you to, we want, I think one of the things to just remembering that it's a dream is to really start to let go of this concreteness that we kind of hang on to about everything in our lives. Because you will see a difference. In the way you relate to people, in the way you relate to your job and things like this, if you start to apply this. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:16 Highlight the passage at 1:10:16

1:10:49 It doesn't mean you still don't go to work, you still don't function, because that's not what we're talking about. But if something changes, you don't get all bent out of shape, because of course it's going to change. And if all the causes and conditions... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:09 If it doesn't go the way you expected it to, well, it's not all about you. It's about all the causes and conditions. Usually in a work setting, there's a lot of other people who are involved in all those causes and conditions. So you just take responsibility for what the causes and conditions you have responsibility for. And so then you let go of the other ones. Because, of course, you can only affect. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:09 Highlight the passage at 1:11:09

1:11:32 You can do what you can do. Then it's up to everyone else. And as long as you did what you took responsibility for, what you had responsibility for, then of course you've done it. And then the rest, well, it may not turn out the way you want it to, but you're also the one who has the ability to look at your own expectations around what should be. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:32 Highlight the passage at 1:11:32

1:11:58 You're also the one who determines, you know, at the end of the day, that paycheck has a certain amount of value. And you're the one that's determining. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:08 That level of value is Report an error in the passage at 1:12:08 Highlight the passage at 1:12:08

1:12:13 kind of interesting because there's quite extremes in terms of financial value that we place on things. Some people think two houses and two cars is just getting by. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:13 Highlight the passage at 1:12:13

1:12:28 Some people are working for a minimum wage and sending half their salary to their family back in some other country. So there are ways in which you can change your reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:28 Highlight the passage at 1:12:28

1:12:45 Your perception of reality. Dependent arising is emptiness. Emptiness is dependent arising. Do you guys want to take a break? Now that Singles here, we can all take a break. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:45 Highlight the passage at 1:12:45

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1:13:53 again? I don't know. mean you see the bridge? You see the bridge? it's kind of like, you also don't see the Taiwan, there's no bridge. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:53 Highlight the passage at 1:13:53

1:14:14 all built on it. see that at one Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:24 I mean, what would create that kind of, not vision, that's not a vision, that's something. Well, it's maybe being, you might not be having some kind of, yeah, I would say that realization of seeing in the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24 Highlight the passage at 1:14:24

1:14:51 It could also just be a kind of a realization of causing the concept to come together. I Report an error in the passage at 1:14:51 Highlight the passage at 1:14:51

1:15:03 mean, you can't think, I mean, I do think we evolved. Let's say you said at one time we didn't have to eat gross or coarse food, which, you know, we've evolved. We've become lazier. We could, I think at one time we were telepathic. We didn't have to commit verbally. But because, you know, people trust many to change. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:27 You know, we Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:34 rely on, and now we're going back. We're trying to go back. Buddhism is back to that time. But we do have, you know, personal thought. You know, and so we, that's why I'm saying it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:34 Highlight the passage at 1:15:34

1:15:59 that's the hard part, too, because we have I mean, you know, that pressure. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:59 Highlight the passage at 1:15:59

1:16:08 that's reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:18 You Report an error in the passage at 1:16:18 Highlight the passage at 1:16:18

1:16:29 have Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:35 to remember that you're defining what beauty is. Not beauty, but something that was not spoiled. Yeah, but there's still an eye there that's defined what that Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:16:53 I agree with you that there's still an eye there. There's still an eye interpreting and designating. But I did not interpret. That's what I saw. It was just seeing. No thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:11 No thought. But right now I'm saying it to explain it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:11 Highlight the passage at 1:17:11

1:17:20 Yeah, you have to be careful about that though. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:20 Highlight the passage at 1:17:20

1:17:28 But as it might come, I don't know. I mean, it's not as if you couldn't have an experience, and this is why I'm not really sure, because I don't have the answer in your mind, but you can't have an experience of an image of something that wasn't a path, and you're just seeing it the way it was at one time. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:49 Because Buddha had this. Buddha had this as well. You could see past and future. You could see past and future. I don't know if that's the case either. I'm not sure. Maybe it's a judgment thing. Maybe it is a judgment. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:17 Have judgment somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:17 Highlight the passage at 1:18:17

1:18:23 To you too, if it dawns on you. Well, I just don't know. I mean, it's hard to say. What I was thinking, what you were saying originally, is that you don't see the bridge meeting that. that was concretely existing that there was just this... Report an error in the passage at 1:18:23 Highlight the passage at 1:18:23

1:18:49 You know what I thought too? It's the thought that put it there. It's the powerful, powerful thoughts that put the bridge there too. A desire, thought, need, want, whatever, creativity, ingenuity, that really... Yeah, I mean, in some ways, that's what I was thinking, too. It's like, going back to your random ride session, it's like, okay, well, then all of this came into being a musician group. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:49 Highlight the passage at 1:18:49

1:19:22 That's all part of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:22 Highlight the passage at 1:19:22

1:19:29 You're confused, Chris? Is that what you said? I'm sorry? Did you say you're confused? Yes, the confusion didn't appear, but I'm mostly confused all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:40 And we were talking about it. You're talking about the Heart Sūtra? Yeah, I was talking about the classes there are, just Report an error in the passage at 1:19:40 Highlight the passage at 1:19:40

1:19:53 telling Cedric that eventually I would get around to reading the text, like the Heart Sūtra translation, not a commentary about the Report an error in the passage at 1:19:53 Highlight the passage at 1:19:53

1:20:08 original disciples of the world of Lama, or the Heart Sūtra itself, as well as all the other sutras. Well, actually, that would be kind of hard, wouldn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:08 Highlight the passage at 1:20:08

1:20:23 The Heart Sūtra wasn't actually written down in the Buddha's lifetime. Right. I heard that. None of the Buddha's teachings were written down in the Buddha's lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:38 That was part of my problem. It was so vast. This is the question. Does it even matter? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:38 Highlight the passage at 1:20:38

1:20:48 Yeah. It does. Why? Well, I wanted to have a shortcut, not waste time. tired. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:48 Highlight the passage at 1:20:48

1:20:59 I mean, with the explosion of multimedia in terms of what you can download from the internet, the radio, TV, as well as a written publication these days, it's just like religion just threw up all over the place with self-proclaiming prophets, you just pick your flavor of the month, Christianity, Muslim. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:59 Highlight the passage at 1:20:59

1:21:24 Buddhism, you got people studying Tibetan Buddhism for three months and then going out and calling themselves, you know, gurus. Well, I'm not a mama, but I am sort of like a guru. Thank you. And if you don't know anything, you're going to listen to him, because a lot of the things he'll just be said from, you know, a lot straight from psychotherapy books, which are not all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:24 Highlight the passage at 1:21:24

1:21:51 would just try to survive and never think of that stuff. My experience with Christian, I think, has led me to just a lot more cynical. Yeah. It's really bad. Cynical is very good, actually, I think. I was very cynical about Buddhism. Although... That's why I asked you the question about the Buddha, because I respect all the teachers, but as soon as I get the encounter, I think you talked about this yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:51 Highlight the passage at 1:21:51

1:22:29 Physical representations, frustrations, obligations, any type of religious connotation kind of, as John Lando would say, I'm not averse, you know, I'm not a real aversion towards it, but I just kind of take one step backwards. And so when I try to meditate on it, Report an error in the passage at 1:22:29 Highlight the passage at 1:22:29

1:23:00 I find the beginning point of how to meditate on it, you know, as soon as, like, the... I tried to release that thought because now I'm just conceptualizing an entity. And whether it's one entity or it's diffused throughout the universe as like this all-encompassing entity, that in and of itself is a concept for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:00 Highlight the passage at 1:23:00

1:23:26 So my head just gets... But I think the one thing that you're doing though is that you're kind of denying that concepts aren't helpful. Yeah, I'm kind of torn because the more I read it... Because concepts are helpful. Concepts help you get up in the morning. Concepts help you brush your teeth and take a shower and put food in your mouth. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:26 Highlight the passage at 1:23:26

1:23:47 You're having concepts all the time. And the concept of Buddha is just another tool to help you get to where there's no concepts. Right. But you need the concepts. You need the concepts to get them. You need the analysis. You need the tools. And even frustrations, I mean, and all these other things. I mean, I wouldn't say you have to doubt all of those now, for sure, because I think you just take your time. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:47 Highlight the passage at 1:23:47

1:24:17 Take your time. But don't throw it all out because it's concepts, because it's, of course it's concepts. You're not going to get away from concepts. That's what I think. You know, I mean... That's what I think. I think after I read half the books and half the other books I read, say, it's beyond concept. Well, of course, eventually it's beyond concept, but, you know, eventually, yeah, it has to be beyond concept. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:46 I'm sorry, but, you know, we're at where we're at. And you're just trying to be farther along than you are. So just accept the fact that you have where you're at. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:01 Are we recording again? Oh, it's been recorded the whole time. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:10 It's a good thing I haven't been talking about single again. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:10 Highlight the passage at 1:25:10

1:25:18 Yes, Chris, actually you should have, what I always tell people when they come with a lot, new to Buddhism. to When there are certain parts and aspects of Buddhism that you don't quite understand and you're not really ready to buy into because of our cultural connotations around religion, what I would say is to put them up on the shelf for the time being. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:18 Highlight the passage at 1:25:18

1:25:48 And maybe at some future time they'll have a little bit more relevance. And maybe not. But don't... Outright reject them because you just don't necessarily know, you don't have necessarily the wisdom yet to know how they are appropriate. And when I talk about the Buddha being not inherently existent, for some people, seeing a statue and having the concept, the faith in something that they don't understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:48 Highlight the passage at 1:25:48

1:26:26 It's important for their capacity, for their level. We're talking about emptiness here. And so for them, they're creating causes and conditions for them to have a connection in the future with the Buddhist teachings. So even if they don't understand them now. And I'm sure that I must have done that in my previous lives because otherwise Buddhism would not have, I wouldn't have no connection today. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:26 Highlight the passage at 1:26:26

1:26:56 In this life, if I hadn't built connections from previous lives. Because I know when I went and saw Buddhist statues and sat down in a gompa and stuff, I felt at home. It was right for me. That doesn't come without causes and conditions. And yet at the same time, I came from a background where I did have Catholicism, where I had rejected religion. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:56 Highlight the passage at 1:26:56

1:27:26 Because of just not enough answers. So I wasn't readily just jumping in and I still don't accept anything just because. I mean I would say maybe I do on some level because I've learned to trust through my experience that there's some things I don't understand but I'm willing to accept because of the trust I place in my teachers and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:26 Highlight the passage at 1:27:26

1:27:58 But put them up on the shelf. Put them up on the shelf. It'll be interesting to see a hundred years from now, and most of us won't be alive to see it, but still. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:58 Highlight the passage at 1:27:58

1:28:13 I'm very curious to see how Buddhism will have synthesized out, having come from so many different directions at the same time. Because what's clear to me is that there are certain cultural... Report an error in the passage at 1:28:13 Highlight the passage at 1:28:13

1:28:29 Aspects to Buddhism in all of the cultures, it's kind of natural that over time, over many generations when you're passing down these teachings, that certain cultural aspects are going to kind of grow into that. And you can't, I don't think you'd be wrong to think that you could isolate yourself from that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:29 Highlight the passage at 1:28:29

1:28:56 But what I think will be interesting to see is how, and you already do see it, how some of the cultural aspects that have come now with Buddhism to the West, how in some ways the Western approach is shifting some of those cultural aspects are no longer as important. Or being defined with a different kind of aspect. Certainly in regards to, there's two things I think that are very clear to me that are coming from our culture, as Buddhism comes from our culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:56 Highlight the passage at 1:28:56

1:29:38 One is gender. The role typically of Buddhism in the East has been very male oriented pretty much. And you'll see here that it's... I think it's being reflected very differently because we just don't buy into all of that stuff and the way we're going to practice this is not with all of that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:38 Highlight the passage at 1:29:38

1:30:01 The other aspect I think is also respect for other traditions. I think sometimes there was quite a bit of sectarianism and I think there still could be a tendency for that but I think generally I don't think so. I think we come from a culture that tends to be open to understanding things in different ways and accepting, which is also the reason why in some ways it gets a little bit confusing out there because you have so many things coming in and we're accepting and stuff like that, so you don't know which is the true path that's going to get you to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:01 Highlight the passage at 1:30:01

1:30:43 But you have to kind of check up and you have to make practice so that you have... Like I said, it's karma. It's dependent arising. You have to keep doing the work over and over and seeing the results. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43 Highlight the passage at 1:30:43

1:31:00 Dependent arising. Any other questions coming out of people's discussion? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:00 Highlight the passage at 1:31:00

1:31:12 People make the connection between karma and dependent arising and emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:21 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:28 They're pretty synonymous, aren't they? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:41 Yeah, very related. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:41 Highlight the passage at 1:31:41

1:32:09 It doesn't truly ripen, only nominally, conventionally. It's only from that dependent arising conventional point of view. There's no truly existing karmic ripening. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:09 Highlight the passage at 1:32:09

1:32:36 Yeah, well, no aging, no sickness, no death. That's, you know, that's there. No cessation. That's there. There's no truly existing aging, no truly existing cessation. I think one of the things is maybe, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:36 Highlight the passage at 1:32:36

1:32:58 The beginning is to practice when we talk about non-existent, not saying just non-existent. Train yourself to think not truly existent or not inherently existent or not independently existing. Because that will help to shape your recognition a little bit more and make some clarity in your mind. Do you understand what I'm saying here? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:58 Highlight the passage at 1:32:58

1:33:21 Just by habit, try to introduce, when we say it's non-existent, it's not non-existent, it means not truly existent or not independently existent. So label your concepts with that not truly existent. There's this thing, it's like when Report an error in the passage at 1:33:21 Highlight the passage at 1:33:21

1:33:50 we dedicate the merit, there's... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:50 Highlight the passage at 1:33:50

1:33:57 The I that's dedicating, the merit which is being dedicated and the action of dedicating are all empty from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:07 But they're all dependent arisings. And the act of dedicating doesn't happen without those three together. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:07 Highlight the passage at 1:34:07

1:34:18 Do we get that? You need the object, you need the subject and you need the action. None of which have existence from their own side. So that's why in some ways it's very... Sometimes it's nice to really start to take our actions apart and say that in any one moment there's no truly existing I, there's no truly existing eating and there's no truly existing chocolate cake. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:53 To separate those things out in that one simple act of eating chocolate cake. Do you understand what I'm saying here? That's just an example. Do you understand what I'm saying? Because when you analyze the not truly existing I, that truly existing chocolate cake, chocolate cake doesn't exist out there independently. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:53 Highlight the passage at 1:34:53

1:35:19 It's just eggs and flour and all those causes and conditions coming together. It's all those parts and it's all those designations. And the action of eating is also designated. If you start to do these kinds of exercises in your, you know, it will shift things. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:19 Highlight the passage at 1:35:19

1:35:44 And it's good to use no independently, no inherently or no truly existing. Not just say no existing. I think that's a danger we all fall into, I think. Because we do have conventional existence. We do have, I mean, this is the basis of our experience. We're not denying. Any of that. We're just questioning that it does not exist the way it appears to exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:44 Highlight the passage at 1:35:44

1:36:15 There's a lot more that goes on. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:15 Highlight the passage at 1:36:15

1:36:24 And habits change slowly. And it is good to see the Buddha as existing. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:24 Highlight the passage at 1:36:24

1:36:37 Not truly existing, but existing. Because, I mean, and this is really where I find, Report an error in the passage at 1:36:37 Highlight the passage at 1:36:37

1:36:48 you know, I mean, this is... I think what has really always fascinated me with Tibetan Buddhism, because in some ways they have these deep philosophical teachings, and yet they have all of this, all these different deities, and for them there's no incongruity. They will tell you that there's no truly existent. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:48 Highlight the passage at 1:36:48

1:37:21 And when you study the texts and the practices in some of the, especially the tantras and things like that, it's all about symbolism. It's never been anything other than symbolism. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:21 Highlight the passage at 1:37:21

1:37:39 This deity has this instrument and that instrument symbolizes this and this instrument symbolizes this. It's got six hands and ten legs and five faces and this and that. This color means this and this color means that. It has nothing to do with some truly existing being out there that exists like this. It's all about symbolizing and training our mind to be very, very subtle and very receptive and very aware of the emptiness aspect. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:39 Highlight the passage at 1:37:39

1:38:13 And it Report an error in the passage at 1:38:13 Highlight the passage at 1:38:13

1:38:22 depends on your karmic appearance. It depends on your karmic experience. They would say yes, conventionally yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:38:43 With causes and conditions, I would say, of course, there would be no doubt that they would exist. Just like I'm sitting here in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:43 Highlight the passage at 1:38:43

1:38:56 Conventionally, we can't deny that. And it's the same thing, you know, I mean, it's funny when we talk about the different realms and the Buddhist realms, you've got the hell realms in Buddhism as well. And you've got the god realms and the semi-god and the animal realm and the hungry ghost realms. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:56 Highlight the passage at 1:38:56

1:39:15 And because most of us come from a Christian background, many of us come from a Christian background, when we start talking about hell realms, it's often quite a little bit difficult because we don't want to buy into that necessarily. And the Buddhists believe in them as well. But they don't have inherent existence. But then neither does this realm have inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:45 Think about that one. They're also not permanent. That's the big difference between Christians and Buddhist tales. They're not permanent. Yes? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:45 Highlight the passage at 1:39:45

1:40:11 That's not a question to ask me. I don't know. There certainly are a lot of them, and I've still never come to an end of learning, finding out that there's a new one down the street. You know? I mean, because they all have their retinues, their little... group that they hang out with you know and then they all know someone and then some you know so it's all kind of I mean there's books filled with these things so I don't you know I mean look at how many are just in that one Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:41:01 that's interesting, yeah, doesn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:01 Highlight the passage at 1:41:01

1:41:06 dependent arising and We should try to really try in our minds to see these. To have these arise simultaneously when we think about things. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:06 Highlight the passage at 1:41:06

1:41:25 Really train ourselves. I mean, this is... Because it's easy to talk about emptiness, and I think sometimes it's easy to actually kind of grasp the emptiness concepts, at least intellectually. But we really have to take it one step further and really bring these two together, dependent arising in emptiness. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:25 Highlight the passage at 1:41:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:42:33 It's Report an error in the passage at 1:42:33 Highlight the passage at 1:42:33

1:42:42 not, you're kind of saying destiny versus... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42:42

1:42:56 In any one given moment, in Report an error in the passage at 1:42:56 Highlight the passage at 1:42:56

1:43:08 any one given moment you still have the ability to change the habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:08 Highlight the passage at 1:43:08

1:43:20 They wouldn't consider it without a prior moment. One of the things is a prior moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:20 Highlight the passage at 1:43:20

1:43:34 It doesn't mean you can't change because we certainly don't believe in that. It's not like karma is destiny. That's a really wrong view of karma because it's a very dynamic process because in any given moment, for example, we're all in this room and for any given moment being in this room at this particular time, there's our environmental factors, there's our... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:44:05 Previous moments, all of our history in this life, for example. And then there's all the environmental things, which on some level, subtly, we have created the causes to have those experiences as well, to have those come together at this particular time. But we've karmically all have done this. But in any given moment, you have still a choice. You still have a rising between your feelings of aversion or attachment or neutral. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:05 Highlight the passage at 1:44:05

1:44:36 you know, you still have... And so you still can direct those things. And depending upon how you direct, of course, you're creating different causes for different future experiences. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:36 Highlight the passage at 1:44:36

1:44:55 Habit. Habit. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:55 Highlight the passage at 1:44:55

1:45:12 But do you understand what I'm saying about that dynamic process here? It's not just about, for example, when that person hits you. It's not just about the causes and conditions of that person hitting you that you've created. It's also about, in that moment, how you then, in your mind, relate to that experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:12 Highlight the passage at 1:45:12

1:45:39 And if you relate and anger arises, for example, and then you hit them back, that's one experience. If having trained your mind in a different way, instead of anger, compassion arises for their suffering, then you're going to create the cause for a different experience. And so in any given moment you have that dynamic process. It's not fixed that this person is going to hit you and you're automatically going to act in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:39 Highlight the passage at 1:45:39

1:46:10 It's not so fixed like that. And when we talk about dependent on causes and conditions, we're also talking about dependent upon labels, we're talking about dependent upon parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:10 Highlight the passage at 1:46:10

1:46:23 Long is dependent upon short. Tall is dependent upon short, too. Fat is dependent upon skinny, you know, I mean, big and small, you know. So the dependent arisings aren't just all about causes and conditions in that way. short, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:23 Highlight the passage at 1:46:23

1:46:48 It is, there are all these dependencies arising, but cause and conditions is a very, very important factor because of course over time we have come to, and it's very, very subtle because this is happening so fast and so continuously that we're seeing something in a certain way that we call it over time, we call it male, we call this one female. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:48 Highlight the passage at 1:46:48

1:47:17 We call this one pretty, we call this one ugly, we call this one Chinese, we call this one Norwegian, we call this one Mongolian, we call this one American. Over time, we call this a dollar, we call this a rupee, we call this a euro. It's all happening at the same, very subtly. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:17 Highlight the passage at 1:47:17

1:47:40 But you do still, in any given moment, you still do have a choice. That choice is definitely affected by habits, but Report an error in the passage at 1:47:40 Highlight the passage at 1:47:40

1:48:02 it's not fixed. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:02 Highlight the passage at 1:48:02

1:48:21 Independent, again, we're talking about not, I mean, when you talk about independent, what do you mean by that? That means that if someone asks you that space, something Report an error in the passage at 1:48:21 Highlight the passage at 1:48:21

1:48:35 different than what Report an error in the passage at 1:48:35 Highlight the passage at 1:48:35

1:48:39 you're having, so it implies there's something that... It's not independent, it's still dependent because that, even that... You that you're defining, even if it's a, let's say it's just the mind at this point, it's still dependent upon a previous moment of mind. And it's still dependent upon a designation of all those moments of mind being called a you. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:39 Highlight the passage at 1:48:39

1:49:04 So there's still no independent existent I. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:04 Highlight the passage at 1:49:04

1:49:14 Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:14 Highlight the passage at 1:49:14

1:49:19 I know, I mean, it's good to be thinking what you're thinking, actually, because it's good to investigate and to really reflect. But then check up exactly, you know, you still come to this conclusion that there's this independent. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can't be. Because how do we know emptiness? It's not just karma in terms of causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:41 It's also in terms of designations and parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:41 Highlight the passage at 1:49:41

1:49:48 And you still, I mean, the I, you know. You still won't find the eye. You won't find the eye. It's okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:48 Highlight the passage at 1:49:48

1:50:09 Are you feeling okay with this? You're going to think about it? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:09 Highlight the passage at 1:50:09

1:50:38 You would probably not, yeah, you would see all the causes and conditions leading up to the Tanaka. I mean, this is what they say when you've realized this. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:38 Highlight the passage at 1:50:38

1:50:55 Well, let's call a realized person Report an error in the passage at 1:50:55 Highlight the passage at 1:50:55

1:51:08 as causes and conditions. All the causes and conditions. I mean, it baffles me because I can't conceptually understand what that would be because there's no end to the causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:08 Highlight the passage at 1:51:08

1:51:36 I Report an error in the passage at 1:51:36 Highlight the passage at 1:51:36

1:51:47 don't know about that. What I can tell you is that when the meditator sits down, It develops a single point in concentration as what we call a direct realization of emptiness. In that meditation session, once that meditation session is over, they get up and they're still in the conventional world. They're still brushing their teeth, they're still going to the toilet, they're still doing all of these things. The one thing that has changed for them is that they no longer believe in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:47 Highlight the passage at 1:51:47

1:52:38 But they're still existing. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

1:52:45 I mean, I'm not there yet, so I can't quite comprehend what it means to see everything, see a tanka and see all the causes and conditions coming together. Because when I think about it, and there are some exercises we do, like just taking your lunch, for example, and you can try this this week, and try to figure out all the causes and conditions that have to come into place for you to have that lunch. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:45 Highlight the passage at 1:52:45

1:53:10 And what happens? It goes on and fitting ad infinitum, infinitum. There's no end to the causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:10 Highlight the passage at 1:53:10

1:53:27 What do you mean? Why would that be permanent? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:27 Highlight the passage at 1:53:27

1:53:32 I Report an error in the passage at 1:53:32 Highlight the passage at 1:53:32

1:53:37 hadn't thought about it that way. No, because it's still moments by moments. I think we should go, I should make sure that we define permanent for you because there Report an error in the passage at 1:53:37 Highlight the passage at 1:53:37

1:53:54 is a specific way in which Buddhists define permanence. And it's mostly in terms of moments and change, but not, you know, I'll have to look that up for you. But just a simple food, you know, just the rice, shall we say, just the rice alone, you know, all the people who are responsible for getting that rice on your plate from the... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:54 Highlight the passage at 1:53:54

1:54:34 You know, from planting the seed to nurturing that seed. And that also includes the insects and all of those things. And then from the person who's a farmer for that seed, the rice farmer, the person who gets it to the market, the person who packages it, gets it on the supermarket and gets it, you know, the checkout person and all these other beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:34 Highlight the passage at 1:54:34

1:54:57 And then you go to... Their mothers and fathers of all those beings, including the little insects, and the grandfathers and grandmothers, you wouldn't find an end to all the causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:57 Highlight the passage at 1:54:57

1:55:18 You wouldn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:18 Highlight the passage at 1:55:18

1:55:23 So, and I've not realized here at all, but it makes it much easier to see it all as a dream and Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:35 then just watch out when it seems to be very concretely because there's... When it's very concrete there's something that I'm hanging on to that I'm struggling with that I need to think about. I've created the causes to have it appear in this way and it's not pretty and I want to change it and I'm struggling with it but somehow I've got to deal with it and still go back to seeing it as a dream. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:35 Highlight the passage at 1:55:35

1:56:06 It doesn't have that reality that I so much want to hang on to. It will help your lives really. But it's not something that happens overnight, believe me. Did she Report an error in the passage at 1:56:06 Highlight the passage at 1:56:06

1:56:31 do Report an error in the passage at 1:56:31 Highlight the passage at 1:56:31

1:56:39 the different stages of disillusion? The earth element into the water element into the fire element. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:39 Highlight the passage at 1:56:39

1:56:50 I think the one, to me, is the one on impermanence. When you think of your body changing from moment to moment and then you see your mind going from moment to moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:50 Highlight the passage at 1:56:50

1:57:09 Yeah, because it's Report an error in the passage at 1:57:09 Highlight the passage at 1:57:09

1:57:16 just, Report an error in the passage at 1:57:16 Highlight the passage at 1:57:16

1:57:21 it takes away the solid kind of thing that we hang on to. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:21 Highlight the passage at 1:57:21

1:57:38 Good for you. I still see ordinary people, I'm sorry, but that's for me. I mean, I don't really judge as in the same way. I mean, I see it as a stream of people, but... I do see suffering. I still see my own bias into things. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:58:00 But it's real for people. I mean, not inherently real or independently, truly existing real. People do suffer. And for them, that's their karmic... For them, it's very real. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:00 Highlight the passage at 1:58:00

1:58:22 And even we still practice Buddhism, we still suffer. At least, maybe less. No, really I think it is less. I think when you start to apply some of the teachings. And this is really true. That's why I said when dependent arising, when you really get dependent arising in emptiness, karma falls into place. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:22 Highlight the passage at 1:58:22

1:58:44 It really does fall into place. I wouldn't accept karma probably without understanding emptiness and dependent arising. I mean, it wouldn't be, you know, they can tell you. I mean there's other ways in which I approach karma too and psychologically or reflectively how things, you know, when I teach a karma class you'll have to come back and we can talk about that a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:44 Highlight the passage at 1:58:44

1:59:09 But I really do see these kind of together now. And it helps. It helps. Because you can change your experience. Take responsibility for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:09 Highlight the passage at 1:59:09

1:59:33 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:33 Highlight the passage at 1:59:33

1:59:39 Do I want to give you some homework for the discussion group next week? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:39 Highlight the passage at 1:59:39

2:00:02 Single, can you make copies of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of this? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 8 copies. 9 copies for you. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:02 Highlight the passage at 2:00:02

2:00:20 It's a simple one. It's taking a rock, doing meditating on a rock. Simple exercise. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:20 Highlight the passage at 2:00:20

2:00:35 Taking a rock and feeding it and checking up on your perception of the rock. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:35 Highlight the passage at 2:00:35

2:00:46 Not all rocks are cold. Some rocks are hot. Right? Really? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:46 Highlight the passage at 2:00:46

2:00:59 Try one a few hundred thousand feet into the earth. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:59 Highlight the passage at 2:00:59

2:01:05 Volcanoes. Okay. In the meantime, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:05 Highlight the passage at 2:01:05

2:01:17 so next week, Janet will lead you in a minute in discussion and we'll mostly on dependent arising and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:17 Highlight the passage at 2:01:17

2:01:31 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:31 Highlight the passage at 2:01:31

2:01:37 We can take a moment to reflect on just even our own moments tonight, considering and contemplating these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:37 Highlight the passage at 2:01:37

2:01:58 Even just creating the seeds here by thinking about these things has a powerful impact. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:58 Highlight the passage at 2:01:58

2:02:14 So we dedicate the I, which is empty from its own side, dedicates, which is empty from its own side. The merit which is empty from its own side for the benefit of all sentient beings who are empty from their own side. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:14 Highlight the passage at 2:02:14

2:02:40 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:40 Highlight the passage at 2:02:40