LN Refuge& Bodhichitta (4 May 2013)

0:14 Okay, Chucky's going to read it. Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:22 usually read it to myself, so I'm... Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:26 is everybody done? So Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:25 we're still imagining that the Buddha is in the space in front of us, golden shining Buddha, who is the embodiment of all past, present and future Buddhas. There's not just one Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:41 And we're still imagining our father on our right and our mother on our left and all sentient beings around us, all our past lives around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41

2:08 And then we'll Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:14 take a moment to establish the posture again by breathing into your belly. Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

2:23 Remember what we did last night, we had a hollow body. And Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

2:31 you breathe into the belly first Report an error in the passage at 2:31 Highlight the passage at 2:31

2:37 and then you slowly go up through your body by breathing into your lower back, your kidney area. Go right up your spine and as you allow the breath to go in, you're imagining that your spine is sort of lengthening and your body is actually kind of expanding and growing. Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

3:00 But you can actually do that with the breathing. You use your breath to open your body, expand Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

3:11 your lungs, breathe into the place behind your shoulder blades, your Report an error in the passage at 3:11 Highlight the passage at 3:11

3:25 very upper back. Allow that to straighten up so you're going right up your spine. And then into your neck, and you notice your neck slightly straightening and your chin comes down a little bit. And it almost feels like your skull is going to float a little bit more on the top of your head. So you can actually move your head around and kind of make it feel more comfortable there. So there's actually space between your vertebra, your Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:56 head, and maybe move your pelvis around a little bit so you find a comfortable place that allows your belly to relax. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:12 And as you breathe into the belly, you can also feel, take your awareness right down to the base of your spine. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:25 And something that we didn't do last night, which can be really helpful, particularly if your mind is agitated, and I'm sure you've learned this before anywhere, but you can imagine that, you know, what we were doing last night is you breathe into your belly, you allow that to expand the body, and then the breath, you also have the breath go go up the front of your body as well, your chin. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:52 And as Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

4:58 you Report an error in the passage at 4:58 Highlight the passage at 4:58

5:25 exhale Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:31 you imagine that you feel your arms and legs and hands and feet also becoming hollow and the exhale goes down the arms and legs. it's almost like you're breathing right up into your collarbones and into your armpits. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:41 legs at top of the head. And if your Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

5:57 mind is quite agitated, then it's helpful to still have this hollow body experience, but also imagine, take every time you breathe in, you go right down to the base of your spine and focus a little bit more on the energy going down into the earth and that brings the energy out of your head. Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:16 And you can also think about the soles of your feet. So you can experiment with that. Report an error in the passage at 6:16 Highlight the passage at 6:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:20 And the opposite, if you are very sleepy, then part of your mind is focusing on the whole body and the breath. But when you breathe in, or as you exhale, you focus at the crown of your head with a bright light. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:45 And it brings the energy up and Report an error in the passage at 7:45 Highlight the passage at 7:45

7:50 makes you less drowsy. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:00 You can do both at the same time. Just sit for a minute and just play around with these things and see what works for you. Remember Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:18 to the tongue touches the roof of the mouth right behind the teeth and the chin is tucked a little bit in to open up the back of the neck. The eyes just look straight down your nose with no particular gaze or you can just close your eyes too. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

· · · silence, 2 minutes

10:56 So it happens when you use your mind to be in your body. It kind of takes energy away from discursive thinking, is Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:17 the idea, because there's kind of already a lot going on for the mind to do. You have to be aware of your breathing, that's the first focus, keep your mind on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:35 But another part of the awareness is the body, noticing using the breath to open that body. Imagining the hollow body and the breath in all the places, opening all the tight spots in your body and Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

11:54 feeling the energy going down your arms and out the palms and down your feet and out the soles of your feet and out the crop of your head. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:06 And so there's awareness there as well. And Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:20 then what you can also do is also use your awareness to touch your ears, your nose, your eyes, even your mouth. Just gently and allow those to kind of open and relax. Report an error in the passage at 12:20 Highlight the passage at 12:20

12:57 What comes then is then there is kind of hopefully some space between your thinking process because your mind is engaged in this, the mind is not engaged in words. Report an error in the passage at 12:57 Highlight the passage at 12:57

13:12 And then again if your mind is wanting to use words then you can use those very simple words like I was saying that Thich Nhat Hanh uses, you know, like I breathe in. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:26 I relax, I breathe out, and I feel safe. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:36 Because the idea is we just want to become familiar with the mind and the body in a very natural, neutral state. I'm used to call it zero, coming to zero, where there's not really any thoughts going on. And if that's difficult for you, there is a gap, there will be a gap between your thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

14:05 And the more you can focus, be in the body and be on the breathing, hopefully the mind relaxes and you can just sit in a place where there aren't any thoughts coming. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:18 Or when they do come, you just bring your mind back to the body. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:28 So you're just sort of in a state of being rather than thinking. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:06 And then, I hope this isn't too much, but then there's one more thing you can add to help to this beingness, is the recollection, knowing, you don't have to think about it. You just have to know and remember that the Buddha is in front of you, shining loving lights on you. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:28 And there's also a felt sense of love in this breathing. It's like breathing in a sense of love or compassion and joy. And so you think about something that brings that to you. Maybe you think about You know, an event with your guru, maybe you think about an event with a lover or a son or a daughter or a dog or a cat or, you know, somebody that when you think of them it makes you feel warm inside and happy and Report an error in the passage at 15:28 Highlight the passage at 15:28

16:16 that adds to the experience of just being with your body and your mind in its natural state. Report an error in the passage at 16:16 Highlight the passage at 16:16

· · · silence, 3 minutes

19:29 Sometimes another technique is, you know, if you breathe in, when you breathe out you just breathe your thought out, it just goes out into space. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:43 It's almost like if you think your thought's in your head, when you breathe in it's like you just vacuum that thought down into your belly and then you just breathe it out and it dissolves in space. Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

21:07 Sometimes it's helpful to see that it feels like the thoughts are arising out of this neutral space. And if you look at the nature of thought, you see that the thought itself has no, doesn't... It doesn't really, it's just a, it's like an illusion. And if you look right into it, it sort of dissolves into the space where it came. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:49 Because, you know, when we get teachings on the nature of mind, they say that mind is like the water and thoughts are like the waves on the water. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

22:01 So what we're trying to do in an experience like this with being in the body so much is that it allows the mind to relax enough to realize, That thoughts are in the nature of mind, but thoughts aren't the mind. Thoughts are appearing on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:24 Like when you stick your finger in some water and stir it up, you can see the ripples you've made in the water, but the ripples and the stirring are in the nature of the water. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:39 So in Buddhism what we're working to see is the nature of those thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

22:47 And then the context, you know, the substance, substrate in which that stirring is occurring, you know, which is those thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 22:47 Highlight the passage at 22:47

22:59 There's sort of like a ground that it comes from. And in the beginning, you know, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but the more you do these kind of simple breathing meditations, the more you begin to experience what mind is, you know, that mind isn't thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:21 You know, thoughts are mind. You know, thoughts come out of the mind, thoughts of the nature of mind, but that's not all mind is, you know. Mind is much bigger than our thoughts. Mind penetrates the entire body, as you can tell. You know, when we do this meditation, you can feel your mind in your hands and your feet, you know. I mean, science doesn't really know where the mind is. Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:43 They keep looking for it, they can't find it either. Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

23:49 And we're not even talking about the I at this point, we're just talking about thoughts arising, you know. I mean, I is one of the thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

23:57 It's the most powerful thought, the most emotionally charged thought. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:09 But another metaphor they use is, I'm sure you guys have all been studying a lot, so the one I think works the best for me is, I like the reflections in the mirror. Report an error in the passage at 24:09 Highlight the passage at 24:09

24:23 The mind is the mirror and the thoughts are the reflection in the mirror. And we know every time we look in a mirror that what you see in the mirror is the nature of the mirror, it's not that thing in the mirror, you know. Report an error in the passage at 24:23 Highlight the passage at 24:23

24:46 So when you begin to kind of look more that way, then thoughts don't really, you know, have the power that they, you know, you give them it now, you know. Report an error in the passage at 24:46 Highlight the passage at 24:46

25:00 Because it's like you're discovering something bigger than that, the place where they come from. Report an error in the passage at 25:00 Highlight the passage at 25:00

25:10 And in its nature, when the mind is allowed to just kind of relax into its natural state, it's actually naturally blissful. You know, there's a kind of, that comes just from being not involved in the thought processes. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:27 is supported by this hollow body, body breathing experience. Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

26:40 And you know too, sitting here for a while, so if your mind gets tired you can just relax for a minute and then pick it up again. You don't have to keep concentrating. Lama Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:11 Yeshe once described non-duality as the state where there is an appearance Like in our case there's an appearance of a thought or a feeling but when we don't buy into it existing from its own side that's the experience of non-duality. Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:35 So in this kind of exercise where we're being in our bodies, watching our breath and as best as we can allowing thoughts to just like go back into where they came from. Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

28:53 It's kind of a step towards that because you see that, you know, thoughts are not truly existent. You know, thoughts aren't, you know, they're just sort of these waves floating on the water. Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:07 And so as they appear, they can also disappear, just like clouds in the sky. If you ever lay on your back and watch the clouds just dissolve in the sky. So it's like mind is like the sky. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:26 And the thoughts are the clouds, you know, and the clouds are in the sky, but they're not the true nature of the sky, and they have the capacity to come and dissolve. Report an error in the passage at 29:26 Highlight the passage at 29:26

29:37 So, you know, when you're sitting here being the sky, which is having your body open and you're breathing and you're feeling love in your heart, these qualities are there, and a thought comes, because you have this background experience of body and breathing, It can be bigger or more expansive than the thought and so then the thought can just dissolve in the sky like a cloud. Report an error in the passage at 29:37 Highlight the passage at 29:37

· · · silence, 2 minutes

31:50 So when you can develop this capacity, this is actual refuge. You can see how this is refuge because it's the only place where you can go to get away from saṃsāra is when you can be at peace in your own body-mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:50 Highlight the passage at 31:50

32:20 We need help. It sounds very simple, but it's something that takes practice. So that's why we have these rituals and visualizations. So going back to where we were before we sat down, we still have the Buddha in front of us. And we'll do this and then see how it feels afterwards. See what happens after we bless our minds with the Buddha's blessings. See if there's a change in the... Report an error in the passage at 32:20 Highlight the passage at 32:20

32:51 in attempting this experience. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

32:55 So, still maintaining some kind of awareness of your breathing and your breath, not so much paying attention to your thoughts now because we're going to be using our mind, not settling the mind anymore. Report an error in the passage at 32:55 Highlight the passage at 32:55

33:08 And sometimes the best way to settle the mind is to use the mind. So, as best as you can you have a real experience of Buddha and if it's more powerful to have Your guru there, the Dalai Lama or Geshe-la or Lama Zopa or whoever is a teacher that you feel a lot of, to whom you feel a lot of devotion. Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:41 It's all, they're all Buddha anyway, you know. So we'll sit there and then again recollect where we were with the 35 Buddhas, which is our aspirations for purification and accumulation. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:01 So we go to the Buddha, you know. And pray to the Buddha, please, you know, we can recite the refuge formula, or I can just recite it, because later on, you know, Lama Yeshe said he thinks for Westerners the best way to take refuge is without any words at all. Report an error in the passage at 34:01 Highlight the passage at 34:01

34:24 So it's just got to be really heartfelt, you know, like I want to be safe, I want to be away from this torment of my body and my mind. Please help me. I can see it's possible. It's really like a refugee. It's like the people who are running from a war-torn country and looking for safety. We're running from a war-torn existence and looking for safety. Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:58 We can recite it together, just however you want to do it, but we'll say it once. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened. To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. And just really think about what that means. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:19 For all sentient beings, I'm going to attain the state of a Buddha. And if you really believe that, how is your life going to change? What am I going to do to become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings? You think climbing Everest is a big deal. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:43 So Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

35:49 then we do the practice of the purification coming. So you can remember what we were regretting. Again, illness you have, bad habits, things we've done that we really wish we hadn't. And we can imagine that from the Buddha's three places. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

36:18 There are different ways you can do this. We'll do it this way. You can also do it by just... Concentrating first on the body, then the speech, then the mind. But I think we'll do it this way where we have just the white light rays and nectars coming from the Buddha into our crown, throat and heart chakra and filling us up with the purification of these things. Report an error in the passage at 36:18 Highlight the passage at 36:18

36:44 I think particularly as Western people we need to purify our lack of confidence in ourselves and the deep. Not everybody, but a lot of us have a deep kind of sense of shame about who we are, that we're not good enough. Or just, you know, it's kind of like an original sense of I don't measure up, you know, I'm not good enough. Report an error in the passage at 36:44 Highlight the passage at 36:44

37:13 Because in our culture it's like either one or the other, you know, you're either like totally terrible or you're totally egotistical. But there's got to be a space of a healthy sense of I'm a good person, I can do this, I'm confident. I'm going to get enlightened, you know, believing in yourself. So just imagine that, you know, as the light rays are pouring into you, all the obstacles to experiencing that are being washed away, not only for you but for all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:47 So we're still going back. I haven't forgotten that we have a body. We have our feet, our hands, our head, our pelvis, our spine, our genitals, our breasts. Report an error in the passage at 37:47 Highlight the passage at 37:47

38:34 The body's becoming full of white light that is like the nectar that's full of love and the realization of emptiness and compassion and power. And that pours into us and as we breathe out, it's going out our pores and filling the whole world with this power of Buddha's purification. Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:00 And, you know, if this is just kind of weird, just play with it, you know, just try it. Report an error in the passage at 39:00 Highlight the passage at 39:00

39:10 you have a particular organ that needs healing, then can put particular emphasis on the white light going there. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:23 if there's a person that you know, that's really in trouble And just believe Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:55 and have faith. That you are safe and whole and well and under the guidance of the Buddha who's provided you with the perfect teacher and the perfect friends and the perfect place. And Report an error in the passage at 39:55 Highlight the passage at 39:55

· · · silence, 2 minutes

42:06 then when your mind's kind of wandering, you can't do too much, then you go back again and you say the refuge formula another time. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly by my practice of giving and other perfections. I attain the state of a Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings. And again, recollect the shortcomings of saṃsāra and say it with real, you know, really mean it. Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:35 And again, we'll do the white light rays coming from the Buddha, filling up the body, going out to all sentient beings. And you can use your mind to, you know, go through specific people. Report an error in the passage at 42:35 Highlight the passage at 42:35

42:55 But the main thing is just kind of sit in a sort of relaxed and grounded space, not thinking too much. And just allow yourself to feel protected and safe and have faith that the blessings of the Buddha are actually pouring into you. This Report an error in the passage at 42:55 Highlight the passage at 42:55

43:29 is the taking refuge without words. Report an error in the passage at 43:29 Highlight the passage at 43:29

43:45 So for the amount of time that you can sit without thoughts coming and you're just feeling the light coming in, the light going out, concentrating, you know, the experience, the feeling, the blessings, this is how you can like alternate analytical. And focus meditation. So for as long as you can do that, you do that. But when the thoughts start coming, rather than allowing yourself to go into mundane thoughts, you can use it to think about a person. Report an error in the passage at 43:45 Highlight the passage at 43:45

44:16 You can start listing the people in your lives that need help with this purification. So it's like you use that analytical thought just a little bit and then you go back to the placing on the experience of the lights coming in. So that way... You know, when your mind needs to move a little bit, just like when your body needs to move a little bit, you can move your body, but you can also let the mind move. But rather than starting to think about lunch, you think about other sentient beings and include them in the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

· · · silence, 2 minutes

46:51 And then the third time, this time we're going to see the yellow nectars and rays. The white ones are purifying parts of ourselves and past lives that we would like to let go of. But for the last time... We think of, it's increasing, yellow is increasing, so we want to think of the things that we would like to come into our lives. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:20 Qualities, definitely all the qualities of the Buddha, you know. Report an error in the passage at 47:20 Highlight the passage at 47:20

47:37 So now the yellow light rays are coming and bringing us, you know, and if you, say if you were doing this as an extended meditation, you could like go through the whole lamrim, you know, like when you're doing your refuge nundro and you're reciting over and over again refuge. And you do this visualization as you recite the mantra. What Lama says, sometimes you stop, you don't say mantra, you just do the experience. Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

48:03 But you can go through all the steps of the lamrim, the whole outline of the lamrim. Now you can think about the realization of guru devotion pouring into you. Next the realization of death and impermanence. You can go through each one and imagine each one of these realizations is pouring into you. Report an error in the passage at 48:03 Highlight the passage at 48:03

48:24 From the body, speech and mind of the Buddha into your body, speech and mind and then out to all sentient beings. But for now we're just going to put it all in one because we don't do this much longer. So we're just going to put the whole, you know, not just the lamrim but from guru devotion up to the unified state of Vajradhara hood as Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, just pouring into us. Report an error in the passage at 48:24 Highlight the passage at 48:24

48:50 And while you do this it's important to always check on your body, you know, you're still keeping your body open. If you're sleepy, do you need to bring the energy up? If you're agitated, do you bring the energy down? So when you're meditating, you're always being aware of what's going on. Report an error in the passage at 48:50 Highlight the passage at 48:50

49:07 And you're always keeping this energy body open and alive. That's how you don't get lung in these practices. There Report an error in the passage at 49:07 Highlight the passage at 49:07

49:23 has to be another part of your mind, Lama used to call it the mindfulness fish, that's floating around in the back of your mind, like a fish in a fishbowl, watching, you know. Am I breathing in my belly? You know, is my head, am I going to sleep? You know, the little part of you is always paying attention to what's going on. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:57 There's a prayer from the Mahamudra, Lama Tsongkhapa's Mahamudra lineage prayer that I love to say. It goes, because to me it's like the ultimate prayer, you know, may I cut the continuum of self-grasping, train in love, compassion and the mind of enlightenment. And reach the unsurpassable Mahamudra union, that's the realization of bliss and emptiness, swiftly through the paths. So we make that request and then we just imagine that all these beautiful nectars and rays and try to imagine that it just feels like this amazing golden shower of love and wisdom and emptiness just pouring into you, like the Dalai Lama is giving you a huge hug. Report an error in the passage at 49:57 Highlight the passage at 49:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:23 So then you take a moment to just focus on the light rays going out to all sentient beings throughout infinite space. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:34 So that we're just a vessel, you know, for the Buddha's blessing to come through us and out to all beings. So, you know, if you wanted to work with the meditation in another way, you can think, you know, as you breathe in, you're breathing in the blessing of the Buddha, and as you breathe out, you give it to all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

51:53 It feels really nice. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:08 Imagine if you could just have that awareness 25 hours a day, breathing in, blessing the Buddha, breathing out, giving it to all sentient beings. And Report an error in the passage at 52:08 Highlight the passage at 52:08

· · · silence, 2 minutes

54:06 then we can imagine that the Buddha in the space in front of us, Dissolves, because he's in the nature also of golden light. He dissolves from the top down and the bottom up into, if you have the guru at the heart, the guru at the heart. Report an error in the passage at 54:06 Highlight the passage at 54:06

54:25 And that very, very heart is a seed syllable. And in this case, we'll just visualize a hum. Or if you don't know what that is, you can just see it, like I said last night, a bright... Like the sun, you know, about the size of a sesame seed, but so, so bright, like nuclear energy power, you know. Report an error in the passage at 54:25 Highlight the passage at 54:25

54:51 So this is the essence of the Buddha's mind, or Report an error in the passage at 54:51 Highlight the passage at 54:51

54:57 we can also think the essence of the Buddha's body, speech and mind. And then that's going to come to the crown of our head and descend to the opening in our crown, through purifying the body as it goes through the crown, the speech as it goes through the throat, and then settles in the center of the chest. Report an error in the passage at 54:57 Highlight the passage at 54:57

55:18 chest a little lotus. visualize a white lotus in the center of our chest. And then that very, very, very bright light, again, since we've prepared all this, you know, with our hollow body and the light rays pouring out of our pores, you know, like a search light at night, you know, and the sky lights up with a search light, but even brighter than that, it's going out. Report an error in the passage at 55:18 Highlight the passage at 55:18

55:49 A very intense light going out through all the pores of our skin, of our body, to all sentient beings. And then, if you like, you can visualize on the tips of the rays that each of those lights is a little Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:05 And they're going out and touching every single sentient being throughout infinite space. It's just an amazing visualization, especially if you see that there's a bunch of us in this room and it's all happening with all these people in this room and this is a bright light going out from this little place in San Francisco. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:20 And it's just obliterating all the obstacles and all the minds of all the beings throughout infinite space. No more ignorance, no more hatred, no more jealousy, no more wars, no more greed, just Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:37 pure loving kindness on the basis of pure realization of emptiness. Just imagine what that might be like. And Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:59 there's also, Lama Yeshe talks a lot about the power, the power of the Buddha. Because it takes a certain amount of energetic power to cut the self-grasping, to cut the delusions, you know. It's like a ninja warrior, you know. So that kind of clarity and power also needs to be in the meditation. It's relaxed, but it's not so relaxed that it's sloppy. Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:25 It's very relaxed, but it's very strong and very clear. Report an error in the passage at 57:25 Highlight the passage at 57:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

58:11 And then all those sentient beings become Buddhas. And then all those Buddhas, you just imagine the whole limitless sky full of Buddhas, huge ones, small ones, all the ants are Buddhas, all the birds are Buddhas, you know, everything is Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 58:11 Highlight the passage at 58:11

58:28 And then they pour back into us, once more receive the blessings of all the Buddhas and we just relax into that space, receiving the shower of blessings. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:53 And in that blessing we have great faith and confidence that... The things we wish to purify are purified and all the realizations have come and Report an error in the passage at 58:53 Highlight the passage at 58:53

59:07 we can feel joyfulness. We know that we've just made a huge amount of merit that's going to propel us towards enlightenment. Because when you make merit, you can't change it. It's just going to propel you whether you want it to or not. All Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:50 the doubts that we have are just completely cut. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:03 Because when you have really deep refuge, it's like... Whatever comes is the blessing of the Buddha because that's where I put my life every day, you know, so this is it, this is what I have to work with. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:18 And then we can just dedicate how nice we were able to persevere in the hardships of sitting and doing these practices on taking refuge without words. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:42 So let's just relax now, come back to planet Earth. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:00:53 It's just about lunchtime, so that was a long meditation, about an hour I think, less than an hour. So, but I thought I would read a little bit more of Lama, then we'll go have lunch, then we'll come back and do Lama's Sog. Okay? And then we'll do questions. So, like I said, hold on your questions. I think I'll just, yeah, I'll give a big question time. Yeah. Oh, who wants to do the Vajrasattva Sog? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:53 Highlight the passage at 1:00:53

1:01:21 We need copies. Looks like everybody. Oh, you're not coming back? Oh, okay. You can do it another time. It's really fun. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:35 If I had known you weren't coming, we might have done it this morning, but too bad. We'll do it at Chenin Land sometime. Yeah. So did you get that, Carol, as you count? Me too. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:35 Highlight the passage at 1:01:35

1:01:48 So we'll do so, and then we can ask questions. And you can ask me questions about anything. It doesn't have to be about refuge. If you have other Dharma questions, I can't guarantee I can answer them, but we can try. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48 Highlight the passage at 1:01:48

1:02:09 Okay, so I was reading a little bit about what Lama said Dharma was, right? So, you know, when Lama says, you know, Dharma is not the prayers, Dharma is not this, well, what is Dharma then? You know, if Dharma isn't going, oh, why don't you pay me home? You know, I think what Lama is talking about is Dharma is just the action of being in the space of non-duality. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:34 You know, that is the real Dharma. And also the unwavering bodhicitta motivation. Because, I mean, even Lama Zopa Rinpoche told me, you know, you can do a three-year retreat and cite a hundred thousand Tara mantras and have never practiced Dharma the whole time. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:34 Highlight the passage at 1:02:34

1:02:54 In fact, he told me, you know, about that. So, you know, because your mind's going other places, you're doing it for the wrong motivation, you know. So, you know, Dharma isn't the stuff. It's not the words. And in our case, since we haven't realized... Bodhicitta, we haven't realized emptiness, it's that aspiring mind, the mind that wishes to cut, to have that awareness, to cut those delusions and to have the, the word comes perspicacity, I don't know why it's a big word, but the awareness, the keen, because Report an error in the passage at 1:02:54 Highlight the passage at 1:02:54

1:03:40 It's really hard to navigate your life. I mean, Carol and I were talking about that, to kind of sort out, you know, in the life, you know, what is Dharma, what is not Dharma, what's garbage, what's not garbage, you know. And that's not that easy. But I think that's what Lama's talking about. So he says, what he's saying is knowing one's own inner nature is Dharma. So that's knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:04:09 As close as you can, you know, emptiness, at least beginning to get this experience of, because what we weren't even, you know, just even what the relative nature of mind is, you know, the mirror or the ocean or the sky, you know, I mean, eventually you can get to the absolute nature of mind, but in the beginning it's just good to even get to the relative nature of mind, you know, just the space between the thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:09 Highlight the passage at 1:04:09

1:04:36 It's very helpful just to find that place. You know, because once you get that, once you have the capacity to calm the thoughts and just be in the spacious quality of mind, then you can actually, that's when the insight comes, that's when you can use the mind's analysis then to meditate on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:36 Highlight the passage at 1:04:36

1:04:59 Like when we were just doing, I was saying, you know, use your analysis if you're doing the placement meditation on feeling the... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:59 Highlight the passage at 1:04:59

1:05:09 and rays pouring in, you know, that's more of a shinai, a shamatha, you know, the placement meditation. But when your mind can no longer do that, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:09 Highlight the passage at 1:05:09

1:05:18 rather than just wander, you know, you're doing a refuge, or you're doing what we're doing, then the analysis goes out to thinking about others, you know, sending it out to others, so then you're doing an analytical meditation. So you have to constantly go back and forth, and know your own capacity for doing that, so that you do the placement, you know, I'm, oh here I am, I'm experiencing this bliss and void coming from the Buddhas, suddenly you can't do that anymore, so then you're doing doing something something active active. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:45 with your mind, sending out all the light rays, you do that for a little while, then you stop, you know. And Lama Yeshe said that, you know, in the most ideal situation, that's also what mantra recitation is for. If you're doing a mantra recitation retreat, you don't spend the whole half hour reciting the mantras. You just, you're Lama Tsongkhapa Just like what we were doing. And when you can't do that anymore, then you recite the mantra to sort of perk the mind back up and then you stop again. In that case, it would take you a year to recite 100,000 mantras. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

1:06:19 But that is actually the way it's supposed to be done. It's not the way it's happened in monasteries. You want to get 100,000 done, so you go and everybody gets lung and that's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:19 Highlight the passage at 1:06:19

1:06:31 That's not practicing Dharma, according to what Lama would say. Practicing Dharma is putting your mind into the experience of bliss and emptiness. And what we are doing in these situations like what we were just working with, that's a facsimile of that. That's the beginning of that. And the more merit you make, the more that becomes reality. And the more you're able to alternate analytical with placement. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:31 Highlight the passage at 1:06:31

1:07:02 And eventually that's how you... You know, that's how you realize emptiness. But it's good to, you know, if you're the kind of person that just watching your breath, it doesn't work so well. And you make more merit anyway. You make a lot more merit if you're doing this breathing meditation where you're breathing in the blessing of the Buddha or you're doing Tan Len than just simply watching the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:02 Highlight the passage at 1:07:02

1:07:25 Because the thing is that what we want is merit. So we want to be making merit all the time. Which is why... I think it's really good to spend some time every day doing breathing practice. If it's breathing in refuge or doing Tonlin, I think Tonlin is excellent, excellent, you know. Because then, like I said last night, you're breathing all the time. They say that Lama Tsongkhapa, every breath Lama Tsongkhapa took was Tonlin. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

1:07:53 Can you imagine being that trained, you know? Because, you know, you're driving down the road. We spend a lot of time in our car. We're breathing, you know. We could be making merit all the time. And I really think that in our, I'm not criticizing, but in our FPMT educational tradition, there's not enough just placement meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:53 Highlight the passage at 1:07:53

1:08:21 It's great to learn all this stuff, but it's also great to just do very elementary meditation just to keep you in your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:21 Highlight the passage at 1:08:21

1:08:33 Keep you in awareness. You know, the other traditions talk a lot about awareness, awareness, mindfulness, you know. And my own personal, one minute, I'll go back to Lama later. My own personal feeling is that, and it just came to me one day, I think that, maybe you shouldn't take this. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:33 Highlight the passage at 1:08:33

1:08:57 Sorry, I might get in trouble. But I personally think that Lama Tsongkhapa, hate this. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:57 Highlight the passage at 1:08:57

1:09:04 You know, the Nyingmas and the Kagyus who put a lot more emphasis on awareness and placement meditation and breathing meditation, you know, that was already existing in Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:04 Highlight the passage at 1:09:04

1:09:15 So I think what Lama Tsongkhapa was doing, he was just trying to improve on that, not replace that, you know. And I think what happened in those, in the monasteries then, when we got Sera and Draipung and all that stuff, you know, it's sort of like, because there's, maybe they did that, I don't know, but I just know what, kind of what I feel like what we're getting. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:15 Highlight the passage at 1:09:15

1:09:35 that you know we're not getting that too know and so but I because I think if you look at the history of Tibet you know Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:09:51 you're not practicing sūtra and tantra together. I mean, there was a lot of mistakes. But he wasn't saying throw all that other stuff out. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:00 Because it was, anyway, that's just what I think. Having spent... I spent a lot of time working with all this stuff. I think it's really important to do this very elementary kind of things. And the refuge nundra where you recite the refuge formula 100,000 times, you actually use the Namo Gurubhya, Namo Buddhaya like you do in Lama Tsongkhapa. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:25 It's really a great practice to do that 100,000 times. Because you basically do what we're just doing. know, it And it's a good thing to do. So I'll read a little more of Lama this afternoon. There wasn't much more, but it's time to go to lunch. So let's just dedicate. We can do a longer dedication at the end of the day, but let's just dedicate that whatever merits we created by doing frustrations and purifying and accumulating and meditating, that we can develop very, very powerful refuge, that we can create the atmosphere in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:25 Highlight the passage at 1:10:25

1:11:22 a wonderful tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa to thrive. And for Sitchin Ling to thrive, for them to get all the money they need and for all the Dharma centers to be able to get all the money they need and have the perfect directors and the perfect benefactors and the perfect lawyers and the perfect accountants and the perfect drivers and the perfect flight attendants and the airplanes and just the perfect everything, you know, that the perfect teachers come and that, you know, everything works according to some ideal that we can... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:22 Highlight the passage at 1:11:22

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:13:36 sealing with emptiness Report an error in the passage at 1:13:36 Highlight the passage at 1:13:36

1:13:40 now we get to go make some more merit by eating lunch. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:46 great, you know, if you're with awareness, you can make hours a day. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46