Matthieu Ricard 2014 (part 1)

0:05 Good morning everyone. It gives me great pleasure on behalf of Vajrayana Institute to invite you all here today to the Why Meditate workshop. And it gives me very extra special pleasure to be welcoming Matthieu Ricard. A very inspiring human being. He's been a monk for almost 40 years, has lived in the Himalaya region for over 45 years where he is the director of an organisation that runs 130 humanitarian projects. Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:41 He's an author, he's a meditator, he's a wonderful photographer and the other day we've had the pleasure of having him at our Happiness and Its Causes Conference for the past. I think that's my phone. Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:01 Sorry about that. Would you mind all turning off your phones? So for the last four days, Matthieu's been at our Happiness and Its Causes conference and he said to me yesterday, oh, overdose of Matthieu. I am sure there is no such thing as an overdose of Matthieu. So welcome very much to VI and please enjoy. Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:24 Thank you. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:30 you so much, Beth, and thank you everyone for kindly Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:37 Asking me to come to join you at the Vajrayana Center. Happy memories here also. We had a wonderful of course week with a lot of very rich presentation, a lot of new knowledge so that we can all together contribute, make a good contribution to society and possibly to a better world. So this morning we are... Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

2:08 Quietly gathered to explore some topics. I heard this about answering the question, why meditate? So I'll try to do that together and practice a little bit. So in the afternoon I will show you maybe some scientific data that will convince the hardest people who just think it's all nonsense that even neuroscientists now become quite clearly. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:37 Convinced that some change is happening somewhere. But I think for this morning, we'll sort of try to explore this idea of why meditate and then do some practice together. Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

2:53 After all, meditation is about silence. So we could remain silent the whole day. Of course, I don't have to come either. We can be silent anywhere. We don't have to gather. And since we gather, maybe it's nice to exchange a few words. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:11 So why meditate? Yes, it's not, especially in the modern world and in culture where meditation has not been sort of at the forefront or has been or maybe forgotten or has been approached in different ways. It's not necessarily obvious. There are quite a number of people who said, well, you know, Report an error in the passage at 3:11 Highlight the passage at 3:11

3:42 This is something a little bit new to human beings. We don't know if a chimpanzee meditates, maybe. But life is so rich already. It shows us so much and we learn so much from being thrown into the experience of life, sometimes the soft way, sometimes the hard way. And this is almost more than enough to teach us how to... Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

4:13 Go along in life, sometimes even overwhelming how much the output from the outer world sort of fashioned the way we are and then challenged our inner balance. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:28 So why doing that on top of that? Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

4:37 So that's, people say, basically it's not very necessary, it's even a bit strange to sort of try to look within. Some people even feel threatened by this idea. I remember someone saying, oh, I don't want to look within myself. I'm afraid of what I'm going to find. And another person I heard saying almost the same thing, saying it takes a great deal of courage to look within oneself. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

5:08 So once I mentioned that to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, he says, oh, it's so interesting. Much more interesting than going to movie. So many things happen. So, Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:22 but, and also there are the other extremes, you know, some school of, within Buddhism, who are of course in favor of meditation, but not meditation in the terms of cultivating some qualities. I remember I went with the about of my monastery. To Korea. And we had a wonderful encounter with some monks and abbots. And one of them, basically, it's a very sort of pure form of Zen Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 5:22 Highlight the passage at 5:22

6:03 And their main point is to basically break all concepts. Which, of course, is part of some very profound Buddhist teachings. They do it in quite extreme ways, sometimes doing long seminars for two weeks, even hardly without sleeping. One of the monks confided to Ramza Rinpoche that he was so exhausted at one time that he, at the end of one of the, I mean, while he was not sleeping, basically, he was so tired he was outside and he sort of lied down in the snow thinking it was his bed. Report an error in the passage at 6:03 Highlight the passage at 6:03

6:40 So it shows the rate of exhaustion. And then one of the abbots said something interesting because we were speaking a little bit of compassion. He said, you know, in our world, people are so busy already. If you are on top of them, you ask them to cultivate compassion, you know, that's going to increase their stress because there's already so much to do. Report an error in the passage at 6:40 Highlight the passage at 6:40

7:03 He said, what we need is to just empty the mind of all concepts and break to all those mental processes. I just mentioned very humbly that if... Compassion turned out to be one of the best ways to reduce this kind of stress, the difficult relation with others, and basically have a much more fulfilled and balanced life. Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:30 Maybe that was not too bad. Maybe it was not increased the stress, but he thought it was one of those artificial added things. So you see, whether it's from within or with outside Buddhism, The fact that we need to cultivate something is not always seen as something necessary. Because, in fact, if you think of the meaning of meditation, of course, there's many, many kinds of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

8:00 Why? Because meditation means to cultivate. The Sanskrit word bhavana means to cultivate. The Tibetan word gom is more like the same thing, but it's... It more literally means to become familiar with something, to familiarize yourself with something. Report an error in the passage at 8:00 Highlight the passage at 8:00

8:20 So, in a way, for instance, some modern forms of mindfulness, which are, of course, extremely fantastic contributions to humanity in the clinical world and all the wonderful work of John Capatine, this idea of just non-judgmental sort of experiencing things as they are, is, of course, part of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:44 As John himself said, it's not an effortful effort to cultivate something. So, different aspects as much as there are meditation. But basically, fundamentally, familiarizing yourself with something covers, I think, well the whole scope of meditation. Because, of course, it is familiarizing yourself with a quality like compassion or loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 8:44 Highlight the passage at 8:44

9:13 Mindfulness or open presence or focused attention or emotional balance, any skill. But it's also familiarizing yourself, not with the skill, but with knowing better your mind. So just first at the superficial level, the obvious level of how thoughts work, all these movements and chain reactions of thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:45 To become knowledgeable about how the process, how one thought sparks somewhere, and then that spark gives rise to a second thought, a third thought, and many, many thoughts multiply, invade your mind, and suddenly the spark has become like a forest fire. And of course at that time, if you only become aware, because you are not familiar with just... Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:15 Being aware of what's going on in your mind, then it's a bit late. And even more late when it is translated into words that might not always be positive or constructive and action. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:30 So I remember someone who was at the time of the Bosnian war, he says, all this meditation thing, what can you do? Look, are you going to go in Kosovo and teach meditation to those people who are killing each other? Well, You know, of course not. And once the Dalai Lama was asked by someone, why don't you go to Iraq and help to make peace? And of course he has a very, very good common sense and he said, well, most likely I'll be shot at, he said. Report an error in the passage at 10:30 Highlight the passage at 10:30

10:57 So I'm not going to go there. But, so it's too late when it's that kind of thing. But how did it start? It did start with some thoughts of hatred, of alienation, of resentment in some people's mind. Spreading their own mind and spreading to others' mind. So how else it could start? There's no war or conflict or massacre or genocide that didn't start with some thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:28 Oh, others are dangerous. Others are just, you know, impure. The world would be better without them and things like that. So these kind of thoughts multiply, spread and then becomes what they are. So it did start with that. And if we were more aware of the wholesomeness and unwholesomeness aspect of our mind and how to notice when such unwholesome thoughts arise and deal with the spark, it's so much easier. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

12:04 So it does come in the end to some kind of mind sort of process. And then familiar with the way the mind works can even go deeper. It can go to become familiar with this, you know, beneath the screen of thoughts and all the whirlpool, this constant movement of thoughts. What's there at the foundation of that? So are we able to look within and realize that behind that curtain or that sort of movement, there is something that is always there. Report an error in the passage at 12:04 Highlight the passage at 12:04

12:45 Because this is the thing that allows all that to happen, this kind of basic cognitive faculty. You know, when the sky is, there's a swarm of birds, and then we look at the birds, so many, and they pass, and they, like, turn into the sky, and then somehow we forget the sky itself, because so many birds are attracting our attention. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:09 The sky is always there. So, familiarization. It can also be just first have a glimpse of that, then being able to recognize that more clearly, the more vaster recognition of that, to be able to rest in that, to be able to keep the recognition of that basic cognitive faculty or basic awareness. And then when thoughts come, then we just see the birds passing and we don't lose that. So that's also a process of familiarization. Because for most... Report an error in the passage at 13:09 Highlight the passage at 13:09

13:44 Very even educated people. I remember once one of my publishers was a very, very literate person when the book on meditation came out and she was reading it. She says, what do you mean nature of mind? What does that mean? It's something that may not even evoke something if you are not familiar with this notion that beneath the screen of thought there's a kind of basic awareness. Report an error in the passage at 13:44 Highlight the passage at 13:44

14:12 All that, we are unfamiliar with that. Okay, so it seems that the better knowledge of the mind, the way it works, the consequences of just giving free reign to all the thoughts, is something useful. Because in the end, from morning till evening, this is our mind. That's basically experiencing everything. Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:38 It can be our best friend, it can be our worst enemy, depending the... The sort of configuration it takes. But then the question is, fine, but maybe, okay, we know the mind can eclipse the outer circumstances. We can be miserable in wonderful circumstances, in a little paradise. We can still retain some kind of balance and joy even as adverse circumstances fall upon us. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

15:15 But maybe that's given. Some people are like that, some not. And it's kind of true that there are dispositions, mental traits that have been formed. First, we're born with some predisposition, although maybe not as strong as might have been said. And then our early childhood, of course, and whatever we meet in the past years of our life influenced that, but still. Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

15:46 Okay, so is it completely sort of written in stone? That's just, okay, that's how I am, you know, take it or leave it. I'm sorry if it's not all good. But, you know, we have to make it with that. Make up with that. And myself, I just have to not develop some kind of self-aggressivity against myself because I am not this, I am not that. Report an error in the passage at 15:46 Highlight the passage at 15:46

16:11 I have to accept myself, things like that. So that would be, of course, a better attitude than hating oneself or whatever, if we could not change it, because then what's the point of being sort of upset about something that cannot be changed? But if it can be changed, then it's also lack of wisdom to just be content with the way things are. Report an error in the passage at 16:11 Highlight the passage at 16:11

16:45 And in fact, if we look carefully, can we think of any skill that we have now that has not been cultivated in some way? We were not born knowing how to read and write and all the other things we know. We had the potential for it. And this potential may be more or less from one person to another. But no matter what is our baseline, Did cultivate a great number of skills and thanks to that we do a certain number of things relatively well or at least better than a newborn. Report an error in the passage at 16:45 Highlight the passage at 16:45

17:27 So that all was a process of learning, of training. It may be a passive training by being exposed to the world. It may be a deliberate training when we decide to learn and train in something. Report an error in the passage at 17:27 Highlight the passage at 17:27

17:41 So the great mystery is why should it be different for the mind? It would be the kind of only exception in all that, especially thinking that other trainings also involve the mind, of course. I mean, read and write and mathematics and play chess and even skill in sport involve paying attention, developing motor skills by perseverance. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

18:05 So how can you get perseverance if not to the mind's sort of decision to do that? And how can you learn anything without attention? Report an error in the passage at 18:05 Highlight the passage at 18:05

18:16 was a The founder of modern psychology, William James, said that an education that will help to enhance attention will be education per excellence. And again, I think Michal, the psychologist who came with the beautiful notion of flow, said basically, he says, our life... It's what we attend to moment after moment. What you attend to is your experience. What you are not attending to is just out of your field of experience. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:59 And contrary to what we think, attention is quite selective. You think we are seeing everything, but it's not true. I'll tell you a small story. I was in Bhutan recently with a young Kinserimoshi, and sometimes it's a little bit mischievous. So he had eaten my shoes. So I found one quite quickly and at the door of his room there are two sort of bronze lions. So I was looking for my shoes everywhere, including beneath and on the back of that lion. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:32 It's not a big lion. And they were all laughing like crazy because they had put the shoes on the head of the lion and I was so intent on looking at the floor level that I could not see it. And it lasted two minutes. And then I moved back, sort of giving up. And of course, when I had given up, I had this more panoramic view and I immediately saw the shoes. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:59 And that happened after I told him the story of, I was at a Google conference where there was a neuroscientist who used to be a pickpocket. He converted into studying attention. And he demonstrated to us how his art, So there was a kind of event, a little bit like our conference, a bit smaller. So he called someone on stage and there happened to be the person sitting next to me to whom I had been talking and I knew he wasn't an accomplice. Report an error in the passage at 19:59 Highlight the passage at 19:59

20:33 He was a French kind of manager of something. So he put him on stage and then he started talking to him and pointing hair and touching him on the shoulder and doing all kinds of things. And while doing that, attracting his attention here or there or looking or something, he took his purse and he was showing from the back, you know, above his head. Report an error in the passage at 20:33 Highlight the passage at 20:33

20:55 He took his glasses and he removed his watch, the watch of the guy, and put it on his own wrist, all that in three minutes. At the end he said, okay, here is your purse, here is your glasses and here is your watch. The guy was totally mystified. And he explained to us that once he tapping on the shoulder, Attention goes there, not here. And if you don't scratch and pinch and hurt him when removing the watch, if you are skillful with your hands, your attention is there. Report an error in the passage at 20:55 Highlight the passage at 20:55

21:28 If he looks somewhere and the guy looks with you, his attention is definitely not there. So, like that. So, what we pay attention to is obviously crucial. So now, one of the basic tools of meditation is, of course, Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:45 Using our attention at will, not like a boat that is drifting wherever the ocean goes. In the teaching, it says about grass at the mountaintop that swears wherever the wind blows. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

22:01 There's an interesting study done by Daniel Gilbert at Harvard. He asked people, you know, to hold those cell phones and all that, ten times a day, about a thousand people, what are you doing? Is your mind on what you are doing? And how do you feel? Good, medium, bad, so forth. From 1 to 10 or whatever. It turns out that 45 % of the time, people's minds were not on what they were doing. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:33 And those times were felt as feeling less good than when... Their mind was what they were doing. So that means 45 % of the time, at least for North American, let's hope it's not our case, of course, they are distracted practically half of the time. I think it was even 47%. Half of the time, our mind is somewhere else. So, of course, if we are doing something boring and we think of something fantastic, like praying to our rude teacher, it's kind of okay not to pay attention to, I don't know, the stock market on the TV and think of His Holiness. Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

23:08 Probably fine. Of course it is fine. But in our daily life, when we're supposed to be attentive, and if that's what's happened, of course half of the time it's sort of dilapidated in scattering minds. Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:24 So a tool that will first hone our attention is indispensable for any other skill. Like if you want to cultivate compassion, and again... All the time your mind is somewhere else, you are not going to cultivate anything. Report an error in the passage at 23:24 Highlight the passage at 23:24

23:41 So that's why we need to, that's why we find in all the teachings that the teaching on shamatha, of calming the mind, of being a mind that is more clear, that is more stable, that is more calm, is not just a goal, an absolute ultimate goal in itself, but an indispensable foundation for anything else. Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

24:08 And whether it's to cultivate compassion or to see the nature of mind, I mean, if it's constantly like a restless monkey or whatever, then nothing will happen. So that's why we need to do that. And there are so many methods, of course. There are some which are specific to different schools of Buddhism, some which we find everywhere, as you know, like the breathing meditation is one of the oldest and shortest sutras on watching the bread. Report an error in the passage at 24:08 Highlight the passage at 24:08

24:39 Even in the very early Pāli tradition, that's why you can find it in all traditions. So maybe we can do a little bit, but there's something that comes before. I mean, any practice would have sort of three main parts. First, how do we prepare ourselves? Then practice itself. And then there's a conclusion, sort of, again, renewing our dedication, our commitment. Report an error in the passage at 24:39 Highlight the passage at 24:39

25:08 That something continues. So the prerequisite is also not why meditate, but why we are doing that. What is our motivation? Ramblin Moshe used to tell that his grandfather, Dilko Kensei de Moshe, when he was young, Ramblin Moshe said, well, each time Kensei de Moshe will give teaching, even for a relatively short time. Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:39 You know, sometimes he would... Teach several times a day to different groups of people and have a text. And he will teach maybe 15-20 minutes every day to a group and then another group. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

25:54 And they will come until the text was finished, sometimes for a week, sometimes for more. Once Raman Moshe and myself, I mean he was teaching to Raman Moshe, but I was lucky to be there. For a whole year he taught a text, every day for 20 minutes, wherever we were. Here and there. But no matter, even not quite brief, his teaching would be that day. He would spend a good few minutes to remind of the motivation. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:29 And so Raman Moshe thought, why again and again, you know, sometimes five times a day. And Raman Moshe knows almost, because Raman Moshe would have a small variation, but basically it was following the same thing. Like saying that although we all want to avoid suffering, but it seems we are running toward it. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:51 Although we want happiness, it seems we are turning our back to happiness because of our lack of discrimination about what is suitable to accomplish, what is suitable to avoid if we don't want to suffer. So because of that confusion, we are... Wandering in saṃsāra. But so are all sentient beings who in a similar way contradict their aspirations to be free from suffering with their actions that perpetuate suffering. Report an error in the passage at 26:51 Highlight the passage at 26:51

27:27 So when we realize that, then we feel extremely sorry. But just to be sorry is not enough. And now that I have the wonderful opportunity... To have this human existence which is endowed with freedoms and with different kinds of endowments that allows me to have crossed the door of the Dharma, of the great vehicle in particular, of the Vajrayal vehicle even more in particular, to have made a qualified teacher and to be able to have engaged on the practice of the path, I should think with my own capacity alone, I will go up all the way to enlightenment so that with the capacity achieved through Buddhahood, I will become able to benefit certain beings since today I see that, but there's not much I can do. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

28:28 So therefore, I will achieve Buddhahood not just for the very sake of achieving Buddhahood, but for the intention of achieving that in order to free being from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:40 He will say that, he will add something about the attitude that we should have, that our mind should be present, and he gave different examples that we find in the teaching, that we should avoid different defects of the vessel and so forth, like being a vessel turned upside down, if you pour something it all goes wrong, or a vessel mixed with poison, even you put the nectar of the Dharma, if there are some very negative emotions then it's all spoiled. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

29:08 Or a vessel that is pierced and the more you pour in it, it all goes to the drain, etc., etc. And then the defect of not retaining the teachings at all or retaining them in the wrong way or the wrong words or the wrong meaning or the inverted meaning, etc., etc. He will also then incite us to adopt the pure vision of seeing all of us. Report an error in the passage at 29:08 Highlight the passage at 29:08

29:34 The teacher as the Buddha himself, we as the bodhisattva's disciple, the place as the Buddha filled, the time as the perfect time, and the teaching as the perfect teaching and all that. So depending on what teaching, to be the turning of the wheel of the Mahāyāna or turning of the wheel of the Vajrayana, so whichever. So it will take time. Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

29:55 And he will do that five times a day if necessary. So Rabbi Moshe was thinking when he was young, why again and again so much? And then the reason is that this is what sets the whole direction. Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:13 Like when you get up, whether I walk this way or that way, that will determine where I'm going, definitely, north, south, east. So the first step is the direction, and that's the motivation. Report an error in the passage at 30:13 Highlight the passage at 30:13

30:30 His Holiness often says, what I am doing, is it just for myself or for the sake of all sentient beings, or for others? Is it for a small number or the greater number? Is it for the short term or for the long term? So we should think and think and think, he says. And in addition, of course, Kastamushche will say, oh, but those sentient beings, not only they suffer, but they also have been, from the Buddhist perspective, they have been all kind mothers, kind parents. Report an error in the passage at 30:30 Highlight the passage at 30:30

31:04 To many, many lifetimes. And the same way I have this gratitude to my mother, this time I should have all the sentient beings. So all this he would explain in great detail. So then, when we have this motivation, it says, if the motivation is pure, then the part of the fruit will be pure. So that's a very important point. That conditions everything we are going to do, that colors everything. Another example that is given, if I put a crystal, On the red cloud, then the crystal looks red. If I put it on the blue cloud, it looks blue. So the motivation is what colors everything else that we do, our actions, our practice, our words. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:48 And it's quite not easy to... We cannot really fully predict the outcome of our actions because so many things are unpredictable. But we can always check our motivation if we... So that, if we do again and again, we are really responsible for that. That's the best we can do, but we should do it repeatedly. Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

32:15 So let's spend a few moments to generate this kind of action, motivation, according to the vast view of the bodhicitta view and also the pure vision. And so because it is really worth getting this inspiration so that we are determined from now until I may achieve enlightenment that all I will do will be dedicated to those beings. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:46 What greater commitment can we do? It's quite uplifting even just to think like that. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

· · · silence, 2 minutes

34:59 So in some of the teaching it goes to the extent that saying that Something that is not done for others is not worth doing. So, of course, if we say that today, they say, well, what about me? But ultimately, yes. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:14 And it also reflects the fact that we are so interconnected. So how can we... It's even impossible to do something just for me. In fact, when we say that... Of course, there are legitimate aspirations to live, to be happy, to breathe, to be healthy. That's all fine. But it's also intimately connected with others. Report an error in the passage at 35:14 Highlight the passage at 35:14

35:37 There's no way that we can be alive, happy, breathing, healthy without others. Just a glass of water. If you have to write, there's no label on this one, but if you have to write something here... To reflect the nature of this glass of water, it will be others, others, others, others. We could write it a thousand times. Imagine how many people involved in making this glass and getting this water and all that. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

36:07 Thousands and thousands. So that's to recognize that and to recognize that as much as we value the fact that we don't want to suffer and we have consideration for that, how can we not value that same aspiration in others and do what we can? It's not just like thinking we are going to save the world all at once, but at least have the attitude that whatever comes in the field of attention is illicit or benevolent. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:37 And that already will be so extraordinary. So then how we proceed about cultivating attention. So, as I mentioned, one of the most widespread and fundamental ways of Cultivating that is focusing our attention to begin with. And so why is focusing on the breath a very skillful mean? Report an error in the passage at 36:37 Highlight the passage at 36:37

37:11 Because you see, we breathe all the time and except when we are gasping for breath because we go uphill or we run or we try to hold our breath and then it becomes clearly urgent, the idea of having to breathe again. But usually we don't pay attention to the breath. It's always there. And it's good because as long as we're alive, we're sure that this tool is with us. But we don't pay attention. Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:40 So now we are going to pay attention to something which is kind of automatic, to which we don't pay attention, but it is always there. And why is it a good tool? Because imagine we take as object of focus either something that we did before our eyes. This glass or something. But even more, I say, okay, now here's a big flashing red light which we put right in front of your eyes and please look at it without distraction. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

38:10 So, of course, there's no way not to see it anyway. So whether you're distracted or not, you probably don't know because it takes a great deal of not seeing that to be distracted to the extent that you won't see that flashing red light in front of your eyes. So you have no way to know. Basic easily whether you are distracted or not. But the breath is, of course, invisible. It's a very tiny sensation. Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

38:35 Usually, say, if we can breathe through the nose, then it could be just a warm or cool or tickling sensation. The level of the nostrils are a little bit higher or maybe our abdomen or the lungs. But we can visualize. Imagine, of course, we can feel first the air that's coming through the nostril or through the mouth if we have problems breathing by the nose. And we can imagine the breath coming out and a short moment of suspension of the movement, stillness, and then the breath comes in and we can sort of visualize the air coming in and out. Report an error in the passage at 38:35 Highlight the passage at 38:35

39:18 But now, if you're distracted, there's nothing left. Because already in the beginning you hardly need to see or to feel. Therefore, somehow, if suddenly you see you have been distracted, then it's a clear reminder because if you don't pay attention to the bread, it's gone. It's not just still flashing under your eyes in such an obvious way. So it is subtle enough to be a good sort of reference point whether we are distracted or not. Report an error in the passage at 39:18 Highlight the passage at 39:18

39:55 So then we just watch the breath coming in and out. Our posture should be just balanced, if possible. Of course, if we can sit cross-legged, it's one way of doing, because it's, again, sort of symmetrical and balanced. Sometimes it's not easy, if you have not been used to that from childhood. Report an error in the passage at 39:55 Highlight the passage at 39:55

40:19 But something balanced, not crooked here and there, front and right or sideways. And we usually keep our eyes open or half open, but without focusing on anything special, just kind of panoramic sort of looking. Report an error in the passage at 40:19 Highlight the passage at 40:19

40:35 And then usually look straight in prolongation of the nose. And there are variants. As you say, the mind is too busy. We maybe look a bit more down. If it's sort of tendance to... A bit drosy, we can look up more, but usually it's just in front. And then, you know, so the shoulders should be a little bit like slightly toward the front. Report an error in the passage at 40:35 Highlight the passage at 40:35

41:04 And the spine should be straight as one of the main things. So things like that. It is described in the teaching. We speak of the seven, the viral kana, seven point posture, which we can see. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:21 But basically a comfortable, balanced posture. Then we start watching the bread. And of course, after a while, we see that we have been distracted. When that happens, oh, I've been distracted. What does that mean? Well, your mindfulness is back. So that's it. No need to make more complication by thinking, oh, I cannot meditate, it's so terrible. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:51 Again, only after three seconds I was distracted. That's another further distraction. So you are adding distraction upon distraction. So if mindfulness, attention is back, that's all you need. So leave the complaints and the commentary. And sometimes it seems there's no reason, but that's it. You know, your mind went a little bit like a butterfly. It's so... Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

42:20 For one small butterfly, the big flower, it could stay for hours, it won't exhaust the nectar, but somehow a butterfly flies away and it goes nowhere. That seems very useful and comes back. We don't know why, but it does that. So the mind does that all the time, this kind of habit. Let it come back, bring it back, and then try to, more and more, to improve that skill. Report an error in the passage at 42:20 Highlight the passage at 42:20

42:46 And of course, people often say, oh, I'm just... I try, I can't do that. There's more doors than usual. Well, usually it's not that there are more doors. It's that we become aware of the full catastrophe of how many doors are running without even noticing. There is a saying that it's like when there is running water under the grass. You don't see it running, but it's running all the time. Report an error in the passage at 42:46 Highlight the passage at 42:46

43:15 So there's this kind of what Minguru Moshe called the neuron chatter, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, he says. It's happening all the time. We don't even notice. So now we notice and we say, wow, so many thoughts, incredible. But then slowly this waterfall will become like a mountain stream, mountain stream like a river, river like a very still ocean or lake. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:39 So it will take time, but why not? What doesn't take time, which is worth doing, which is a real change. All these things that happen instantly, it's very, Suspicious. Of course. I mean, it takes so long to acquire any skills. So suddenly you find yourself being able to do something right away. It's probably not a skill. It just happened for different reasons or it's just something that's not going to bring any change because change is a process of transformation. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

44:15 So we should be patient and then slowly, slowly... A bit like the arms of a big clock. You know, when you stare at it, it's not moving. But if you look from time to time, oh, it moved. But so the real change is the change that we noticed after a few weeks, after a few months, why not, after a few years, throughout the life. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:38 You know, why should we be so impatient? Once His Holiness was meeting a group of people who had done three years' retreat in France. And he said, you know, Don't get a big head. It's just the beginning of your practice. Don't think, oh, I've done three years, I'm such a big shot. It's just the beginning. It's just a way to keep you quiet for a while. Report an error in the passage at 44:38 Highlight the passage at 44:38

45:02 But, you know, don't think that's it, you only have to do. And Milarepa said, you should practice till your head falls. It means, you know, when you're meditating, and if you happen to die, when you're meditating, then your head will fall. So that's it. That's the end of your practice. And Shabkar said, may the duration of the practice be that of your life. So what better thing you can do? So be perseverant, but not impatient. Report an error in the passage at 45:02 Highlight the passage at 45:02

45:32 So let's do that for a while. Just do the breathing. And there are many variants to that. We can count the breath, one, one, one, two, two, two, things like that. But just make it simple to start with. Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

45:49 So for the hands, we speak of balance. So the hands. It could be balanced, symmetrical by putting on the knees, or often, just like that, the right hand on top of the left, the two thumbs sort of joining each other and resting in the lap. Again, this is a sort of balanced way, or just resting on the knees, whatever, you feel more comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 45:49 Highlight the passage at 45:49

· · · silence, 4 minutes

50:14 And then to that, we can also add now different... Kinds of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body for instance, body sensation. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:28 So that could be becoming more aware of our posture, of sensation, how we are seated, what is the point of contact with the ground, with the seat, how is our posture, relaxed or tense, are they points of tension, points of... Report an error in the passage at 50:28 Highlight the passage at 50:28

50:52 In comfort, points of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

50:58 So just develop a kind of awareness of general and specific body sensation for a while. Report an error in the passage at 50:58 Highlight the passage at 50:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

52:34 Then we can extend that to the perception of different phenomena that we hear without looking at something particular, but still we see a patch of lights and colors in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 52:34 Highlight the passage at 52:34

52:52 And then we hear different sounds, sometimes the birds, sometimes the aeroplanes, sometimes nothing special, just a sort of slight background sort of sound. Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:08 And if we are fully aware of the sound, then sounds are not a distraction. If all our mind is on something else, then of course... Report an error in the passage at 53:08 Highlight the passage at 53:08

53:21 A aeroplane can be a distraction, but if our awareness is on the sound, then it's not a distraction. That's the object of our awareness. So then we stop saying, oh, this is a beautiful verse, so melodious, of course. But, you know, aeroplane is another sound. So if we just look with awareness, there's nothing intrinsically unpleasant or intrinsically beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 53:21 Highlight the passage at 53:21

53:51 It's just different. It's just that awareness itself is unperturbed, sort of its own clarity, its own sort of inner quality of serenity. It's not disturbed by the different characteristics of the sound. So let's try to just have this global awareness. Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:26 Related to the different phenomena of feeling, sound, of seeing, if we have any taste or if there is any smell around, similarly, whatever comes, just let it come within the sphere of that awareness, not as an outside perturbation. Report an error in the passage at 54:26 Highlight the passage at 54:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:41 Then if we do so, everything happens within the sphere of that meditation. And then we don't... Lose it because it's included. I remember once we were going up to a group of friends to the Targaryenest, an extraordinary pilgrimage place in Bhutan where Kuruppanmasambhava went in the past. And when we came in one of the small temples, there was one of our friends that had gone ahead and he was absorbed in deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

56:17 And we were just, as we entered the temple, some of us were talking and someone said, oh no, no, no, don't talk, he's meditating, it will disturb him. So I thought, well, if he's really meditating, nothing will disturb. I mean, not that he won't hear, but that it's part of his meditation. So I think this is the kind of thing we like to sort of achieve as a skill. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:42 The fact that, yes, it's all included within our awareness of phenomena, mindfulness of phenomena. So let's try to do it for a while. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:18 And even further, in the Vajrayana teaching, we say all sounds are the resonance of mantras. So this is more like the deeper and pure vision aspect of that. But it proceeds from the same thing. In pure awareness, any sound, it just happens within that pure awareness. Or same for form, same for touch, same for taste, same for fragrances. Report an error in the passage at 57:18 Highlight the passage at 57:18

57:59 I think sometimes even... People who never meditated can come to that conclusion. I remember someone who was an adventurer, not the kind of people meditated at all. And he told me once there's no bad smells, there are only characteristic smells. Report an error in the passage at 57:59 Highlight the passage at 57:59

58:13 So likewise, we should, within the sphere of awareness, no bad, good smell, all that, sort of, not so relevant. Report an error in the passage at 58:13 Highlight the passage at 58:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

59:34 So it's not a very active process. I mean, you don't focus on the sound, focus on the... You just let your awareness rest on it or you let your awareness rest and it happens within awareness, whatever you can, different ways of formulating it. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

1:00:00 So because it's some kind of a resting state, it's also a state that is imbued with some kind of calm and serenity and maybe some elements of clarity. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00:00

1:00:15 Some element of bliss as well, and without grasping to those, we can just acknowledge them with the same awareness. Then Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15 Highlight the passage at 1:00:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:01:23 we can move to the awareness of thoughts and mind. So while we are listening to the sound or seeing forms, or even without any of those, some thoughts pop up. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

1:01:39 Seemingly out of nowhere sometimes, something we remember. Someone comes in the mind or a sensation triggers something more, different thoughts. Just come and be aware of them instead of being surprised. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:39 Highlight the passage at 1:01:39

1:02:00 Just as if you stare, I don't know, a flower bed, suddenly one flower opens, someone's thought pops up or a bubble comes at the surface of water. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:00 Highlight the passage at 1:02:00

1:02:16 You see it coming up, it stays for a while, then it disappears. So just watch coming, dwelling, vanishing of thoughts. Or just like the sound of a bell seems to come from nowhere, from this empty space of sound, that bell resounds and then the sound goes continuous and continuous. At some point there's a vanishing point, again silence. So it's like that with thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:16 Highlight the passage at 1:02:16

1:02:58 If you think of it, so... It's not very different in nature when they rise, when they stay, when they disappear. The basic awareness does not change for that much. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58 Highlight the passage at 1:02:58

1:03:18 So let's just gaze at the thoughts. Sometimes it is like a shepherd looking at the sheep. An old shepherd just looks at the sheep going up and down. No big deal unless there's a danger. Just let them move left, right, just watching. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:18 Highlight the passage at 1:03:18

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:05:06 Sometimes we just rest in that. awareness like you know a traveler has been Walking in the mountains with a big load and then put down that load and sit there with relief, sort of putting down the load of all these mental fabrications, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:06 Highlight the passage at 1:05:06

1:05:27 unnecessary sort of scattering hope and fear, rumination about the past, ceaseless anticipation about the future, just heavy Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27 Highlight the passage at 1:05:27

1:05:43 burden of cogitation and mental fabrication. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:06:28 And see that that inner calm is also a quality of transparency, of lucidity. Like when you stop stirring the water and the mud in a pond, then slowly the water becomes crystal clear. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:08:54 And then, maybe later we'll go through the different aspects of loving kindness and compassion meditation. But just for now, can we just let from within that expense of awareness, What comes naturally within that? Isn't it that of unconditional benevolence? What else could arise from a state of clarity, of awareness, of not being carried away by wild sort of mental constructs? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:34 So what else but benevolence could come out of that? How could hatred come from pristine, vivid... Transparent, pure awareness doesn't make sense. It doesn't correspond to our experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:34 Highlight the passage at 1:09:34

1:09:55 So within that space of awareness, just like a sound vibrating to space, or like a rainbow appearing in the sky, from within that awareness, let's see how unconditional compassion, kindness, that is not specifically addressed to anyone, but... Anyone that will come in the field of our attention will immediately benefit from it. So let's try to see how that could arise from within the space of awareness and let our mental landscape be filled with this altruistic love and compassion and benevolence. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:41 And just remain in that. And Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:11:34 we can do that anywhere. In his book, Mindfulness in Plain English, The Bhante Gunaratna Helepola tells a very beautiful experience he had once he was sitting in the airport, just sitting there, full of compassion. He said that every atom of every person was filled with atom of loving and kindness and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:34 Highlight the passage at 1:11:34

1:12:01 And as he was doing that, the small girl who was passing by sort of must have been inspired by the... Kindness, he was radiating that sort of jump in his arm and sat in his lap. And she would not want to live with her mother, wanted to take care of the aeroplane. So he said maybe because of this unconditional feeling of love that somehow that little girl felt that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:29 But the image that every atom of the other person, every atom of suffering is replaced and filled with atom of love. Give this idea of unconditional loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:29 Highlight the passage at 1:12:29

· · · silence, 3 minutes

1:15:45 So you see, if we were doing that regularly, every day, a little bit or a little bit more, how much this could definitely bring a change. How could it not bring a change? It's not what we usually do in our daily life, but if we do it, definitely our way of being will change. Our mind will be fashioned in a different way. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:45 Highlight the passage at 1:15:45

1:16:14 Traits will slowly sort of become different. So even we don't want it will change. So continue that. So now any questions that you might have? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:14 Highlight the passage at 1:16:14

1:16:37 And at the end we'll dedicate, we'll do the third part together before breaking. So any questions please? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:16:51 I get home from work and I have a Report an error in the passage at 1:16:51 Highlight the passage at 1:16:51

1:16:56 meditation during the day also, but that was sucked into this work, managing people and projects and other kinds of things. Coming home and really go is... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:12 Suggestions of your practice in the Report an error in the passage at 1:17:12 Highlight the passage at 1:17:12

1:17:23 Yes, well all well I don't know if letting go is an art or a relief. It depends upon, of course, persons, how much the preoccupation of what is still to be done lingers in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:23 Highlight the passage at 1:17:23

1:17:49 I think it depends on every individual situation. Personally, you know, I do a few things, but I know that when I go up to my hermitage in Nepal, when I first reach there, take a cold shower, there's only cold water anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:09 Just to get rid of all the samsaric dust. And then I sit on the balcony and it's all gone. Maybe because I know the kind of break of distance of situation. And it's true that if I knew that tomorrow we have to start again, maybe it doesn't go as easily. So maybe to sometime, we do have time of leisure. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:33 To choose one of those time of leisure to spend a day or two or three. Just really letting go, that will help to acquire the facility of letting go, even for a shorter period of time. But again, it depends on the level of responsibility and the fact how much your action will impact. But then, if just the mere fact of ruminating once you're back, it's just like the machine is still running even when you turn off. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:33 Highlight the passage at 1:18:33

1:19:07 And that doesn't really help. Then you, I mean, if it's indispensable for the good continuation of your work that you keep on thinking and doing things, maybe that's, you know, a shallot or overburdened by the workload. But if it's simply that you can't stop, but it would be okay to get a break for a few hours, then I think cultivating the fact that, you know, like a peasant who was a farmer who has done everything he could. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:07 Highlight the passage at 1:19:07

1:19:40 We're not in the reproach if we do the best we can. Nobody can demand that we do more than the best we can. So if we don't have any regret that we were neglectful or messy or whatever, but we did that to the level of our capacity. So then, you know, the crops have to grow. Maybe some rain, maybe this, maybe that, but, you know, it's basically not that much within our control. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:40 Highlight the passage at 1:19:40

1:20:07 So the best thing is to step back a little bit and... Let things be. So unless we have this kind of regret, and I guess there's such an urgent work that it really can't wait for the next morning because it will affect others and things like that. But otherwise, if it's just the wheel that is just freewheeling because we have been running so much that it doesn't stop, I think that we can find a way of deciding, okay, I've done what I could, not take a shower or everything, and then... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:39 Feeling, okay, I did the best I can now. Let it sort of, this idea of sort of no regret, you've done, the satisfaction of having accomplished what we can do and then not the idea that just by thinking more will be a service to the purpose that we have because sometimes it just actually tires up this kind of emotional exhaustion. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:21:09 That is not even healthy for what you are trying to achieve. So in a way, I guess it's not that we think those things are not important anymore, but maybe to put them in a bigger space. Because you see like a storm in a glass of water is when we are really involved into something absolutely in the action. So everything that happens is no. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:09 Highlight the passage at 1:21:09

1:21:34 But then if we, the same thing is there. Your work is still there, but you have basically a bigger space of awareness, or like a big lake that is your practice, that is just like, after all, this biggest dimension in life. So it's like if you put a handful of salt in this glass of water, it makes a huge difference. If now it's become a big lake, a handful of salt doesn't make much. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:34 Highlight the passage at 1:21:34

1:21:58 So you're trying to get this spaciousness. Sometimes the Dalai Lama says, when you look at the stars, and of course we can all do that. You know, this whole thing about what the Prime Minister is going to say or do, you know, it's like compared to the galaxies, you know, it's like no big deal, really. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:58 Highlight the passage at 1:21:58

1:22:16 So just put things in perspective. First, within the longer scope of your life and your aspiration to flourish, I mean, okay, it's not the end of the world, all these things, especially if you have no regret, you know, because we did our best. So then it's fine that if we... Just drop it for a while. It's not neglecting. And then just have a space of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:45 Try to see it in a bigger space. Sometimes looking at nature is good. You look at the big forest or something or the sea. You're not so far from the sea. What's the matter after all? It's not that you're not going to care the next day, but at some point in life, I mean, if you consider the vast, you know, The scope of a human existence and further, you know, still, it's not that immensely so important. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:45 Highlight the passage at 1:22:45

1:23:17 So if you put it in perspective and look at the sea or look at the space or just look at your inner space, okay, just let it drop. It's not that much, you know. No big deal. What can worse can happen, basically, you know. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:17 Highlight the passage at 1:23:17

1:23:42 So, Anything else? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:42 Highlight the passage at 1:23:42

1:23:59 Yes. Really? No, but I'm going to show it this afternoon. You know, I, you know, sometimes I spoke of it, but it's not only me, first of all, you know, all these things. There's a lot of other practitioners that have done it. But now I just, there was a paper published and I got the images. So I can show you. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:23:57 gunshot went off or a pistol went off or something? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:57 Highlight the passage at 1:23:57

1:24:23 A little video this afternoon will be the science part. Okay, it's kind of fun. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:23 Highlight the passage at 1:24:23

1:24:43 To what? My part. Oh, well, I think one of the good things I think is give me a kind of inclination for some kind of rigor, not a kind of hope, not stubbornness. But rigor in the sense that no nonsense, something that, I mean, the same in Buddhism, you know, it's only said something that, I mean, all the Buddhist teaching says, you know, there are Report an error in the passage at 1:24:43 Highlight the passage at 1:24:43

1:25:20 two ways why something, a perception, a cognition, or a reason it could be invalid, is that it goes against logic, and it goes against reality and common sense, provided it's not a deluded common sense, yes. So, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:20 Highlight the passage at 1:25:20

1:25:41 that needs... Basically, one of the main goals of the Buddhist perception of reality is to bridge the gap between the way things appear and the way things are. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:41 Highlight the passage at 1:25:41

1:25:55 Science has no other objectives. Of course, scientists could have different worldviews, but in their honest pursuit of investigating reality... Amin Report an error in the passage at 1:25:55 Highlight the passage at 1:25:55

1:26:10 And that should be exactly the same goal, is either see what has not been seen, understand what has not been understood, discover what has remained mysterious or unknown, and if something appears in a certain way but you find out it's not the way it is, to elucidate that. And then to see how the process requires rigor, that you cannot just accept things because... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:10 Highlight the passage at 1:26:10

1:26:40 By hearsay, or because someone said something. In Buddhism we have the same formula. We said, to just cheerily accept something without examining it. So that's basically how confusion, delusion takes place. Oh, it's like that. And without having taken the trouble to investigate whether it's the self or anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:40 Highlight the passage at 1:26:40

1:27:09 So basically, process of any The real process of science is like that. Of course, there are good and bad scientists, good and bad methodology, and somebody just as a practitioner might be stubborn with sticking to a point of view, or ordinary people might be stubborn in thinking that things are permanent, or they have a self that exists as a unitary entity, all that we can think. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:09 Highlight the passage at 1:27:09

1:27:34 But then serious investigation would lead to or recognize. Maybe there's no such thing. So that, I think, that sort of appreciation of a rigorous investigation or whatever we investigate, I think is one, something that I inherited from my scientific past and that I thought been useful not to fall into kind of sidetracks or all kinds of fancy things. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:34 Highlight the passage at 1:27:34

1:28:30 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:30 Highlight the passage at 1:28:30

1:28:37 Okay. Now, what I mean to say, of course, hatred will also arise from somewhere, and it might suddenly, a thought of resentment comes, and then you have to deal with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:28:49 But this is already part of, how to say, well, it depends, of course, of which level of awareness. So within the mental landscape, all kinds of thoughts will arise, and they will be triggered by our tendencies, by our way we perceive the world, by our sort of, of course, dualistic perceptions. Past inclination and also events that we went through. So even a thought of, as I mentioned in the beginning, a thought of hatred, which begins with the first spark for any war, will pop up somehow within the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:49 Highlight the passage at 1:28:49

1:29:23 So maybe I was not very, I didn't say that very appropriately. What I mean to say is that those discursive thoughts somehow are already within a They will come with the mind, but already with the mind which is somehow a little bit confused and deluded. So within that cloud, a lot of things will happen, sparks and lightnings. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:23 Highlight the passage at 1:29:23

1:29:54 But if we can sort of have a glimpse or connect with this quality of freedom that pure awareness has embedded in, Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:12 Thoughts like that will arise, it will immediately sort of disappear in a way, because it will be seen as something unwholesome and instead of multiplying, it will just come and vanish like a spark, not falling on the heap of dry grass, but getting in space, it just vanished before it can set anything in fire. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:39 So even because of past tendency it comes, it just vanishes as it comes. While state of pure awareness is more attuned to reality, I mean state of pure awareness is a state where you will, I mean according to the Buddha's word, this is the state where you're seeing the interdependence of all phenomena, the lack of inherent existence of all phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:39 Highlight the passage at 1:30:39

1:31:10 If those wisdom qualities are present within pure awareness, of course we don't realize pure awareness immediately and ultimately only Buddhahood has this completely unobscured pure awareness. But in that state, there is no anymore gap between the way things appear and the way things are. So if you see things as the voice of intrinsic existence, if you see things as essentially impermanent, if you see things that are empty of solid existence, then how could that powerful separation between me and others, all these things that give rise first to attraction, repulsion, come? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:10 Highlight the passage at 1:31:10

1:31:56 Yes, because within that state there's no such thing as this very... Strong gap between something like me, something being other. We see the complete interdependence of everything, so this gap doesn't exist. So then how could hatred build up without this gap? Because it's first attraction repulsion, but then it becomes strengthened, reinforced, and suddenly there's a solidification of I and others, and if it's something that is... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:56 Highlight the passage at 1:31:56

1:32:33 If it's supposed to be beneficial, then we want it by all means. If it's something that's supposed to be harmful, then we want to get rid by all means. And the further that grows, the further that may lead to obsessive craving and to hatred. But that supports a process of delusion that is a gap between reality and the way things appear. So in the real sort of awareness implies a true perception of the nature of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:33 Highlight the passage at 1:32:33

1:33:01 And all its characteristics of being devoid of intrinsic existence, devoid of permanence, devoid of separatedness and so forth. So within that space, it is said that, for instance, an enlightened Buddha, whatever, he doesn't have to think of benefiting others. Whether Buddha blinks his eye or moves the hand, it can only be beneficial because that wisdom... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:01 Highlight the passage at 1:33:01

1:33:30 It cannot lead to hatred. So that's, of course, a bit too short what I try to express. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:52 Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:52 Highlight the passage at 1:33:52

1:34:02 I think, you know, it's not that they don't exist, of course, but they don't exist as a separate entity. That's what it meant. these objects as non-existent in your book, you say. You take the skin away, you take the Report an error in the passage at 1:34:02 Highlight the passage at 1:34:02

1:34:14 Emptiness is not, for instance, the emptiness of this glass is not the absence of the glass. It's the nature of this glass. It's appearing. Yes, it is void. It is void of what? Not of just a phenomena which is there, but this glass is not a separate entity to start with. And whatever you look at the gross level or the subtle level, You won't find anything that is existing on its own, independently, permanently, separately. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:53 So, again and again, the teachings, and the Shantideva Lama often says that, it's not the absence of phenomena, of form, of sound, it's the fact that they are void of intrinsic, solid, separate existence. So, say the body, we clearly see the body, I mean, even more the self or the mind as a kind of unit. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:53 Highlight the passage at 1:34:53

1:35:22 You see my body and my name. So just to show, you know, the example in the teaching was about the chariot. You know, we say this chariot. Where is the entity chariot? It's just a combination of something, of wheels and this and that. So the idea of... Putting the body into elements is to show that, okay, we say then there's the skin. Okay, I know the body is made of skin, bones, blood, but the body itself may be just a combination of those. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:22 Highlight the passage at 1:35:22

1:35:54 But you know the skin exists. Well, I mean, if you go in the cells and this and that and you go to the DNA and you go to this and that and again you go to atoms and you go to quarks and you go to vacuum, quantum vacuum, so you can go any amount you want. And at the end you come to what? Maybe, I don't know, quantum vacuum if you like, but whatever name you give it, to some kind of phenomena that is there yet is not existing as the skin, as the body, as a molecule, as an atom, as a quark. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:54 Highlight the passage at 1:35:54

1:36:26 At the end it sort of disappeared to be something separate, autonomous, more or less lasting, self-defining and all that. Physicians will tell you that, and this is the Buddhist analysis. So it's not to say that things don't exist, because that's falling into the extreme of nihilism. Of course they exist. I mean, this would be totally mad to say they don't. But how do they exist? As solid entities or as a combination of phenomena that each of them is relationship, not autonomous existence and all that? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:37:03 That's what it means, the example of the vase, of the table, of the chariot, of the body, of the name. People think the name is quite something, but again, John, J-O-N, so the J on its own is not John, but the J is what it is, this kind of shape, if you remove the top and the branch and the curve, again, it's not a J. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:03 Highlight the passage at 1:37:03

1:37:25 And so anyway, anything you want to deconstruct like that, you can do it. So just to counteract, This strong percept we have of solidity of those things. My body, okay, then it's not my body, at least my heart is there. And of course I'm made of cells, that is my cells. But the more you go, the more it escapes the target that you have to define something as a concrete separate entity. So it doesn't diminish anything in the phenomena to recognize that there are dynamic flow and transformation of interdependent events. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:25 Highlight the passage at 1:37:25

1:37:59 In other words, samskara in Sanskrit, which we call it by aggregates, it actually means events. Things happen, phenomena unfold, and they combine in different ways, they relate in certain ways, and things appear. But the way your body appears to you, and it's not the same as your body will appear to a bat or to an ant or to, I don't know, if it was a very, very tiny, suppose there would be a form of sentient beings at the level of atoms, Most of your body is a big empty space with a few particles seen sometimes, provided you even think that particles are also discrete entities, which actually they are not. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:59 Highlight the passage at 1:37:59

1:38:42 So you see, if a particle can be a wave and a particle, depending on how you look at it, how can you be the stone in the lake and the ripples on the lake? It's either one or the other. Well, they are both, it occurs to be, depending on how you look at them. So, you know, something that is both a stone and both ripples, depending how you look at it, so it's neither a stone nor a ripple. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:42 Highlight the passage at 1:38:42

1:39:07 It's just what it is when you look at it. So that shows that the fact that we are, and it will not matter at all if that didn't have implications. Because if you start thinking that, yes, my name, of course, it would be stupid to cling so much to your name, but... My body, myself, my mind is something really separate. Then, of course, it crystallizes a very strong sort of association with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:07 Highlight the passage at 1:39:07

1:39:40 And then, of course, everything that might threaten that construction will be seen as absolutely, you know, you have to get rid of it or destroy it. And then something that is supposed to be, you know, favorable to that, by all means, we must get it. So this very... Much stronger distortion of reality by craving and attraction repulsion that leads then to jealousy, pride, arrogance, all those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:40 Highlight the passage at 1:39:40

1:40:08 So it starts with this misperception of reality. So the idea that things appear yet avoid of intrinsic existence, all the teachings say why we call middle way because it avoids falling into the two extremes which are not Right views. One is nihilism. Nothing exists at all. Of course, that's nonsense. Or everything exists just solidly, just as it looks, as it is, as separate entities, which is also not true. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:08 Highlight the passage at 1:40:08

1:40:39 So in between, it appears yet is void of intrinsic existence, is the point where honest investigations lead to. And that is not just a pure intellectual curiosity. It has a profound impact on the way we relate to things. For instance, if I think that my body exists, then I also think that this flower is intrinsically beautiful and that some other thing will be intrinsically repulsive, not realizing that it's just this momentary interaction between these kind of events, which I am, with something else, another phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:41:22 It appears to be such a way, but the flower is not in itself beautiful. How can it be? It's beautiful to a poet, to a snail it's like a good lunch, and to a tiger or a whale it means nothing. Which tigers are interested in roses, you know? It just means nothing. It just passes like you see anything. But to a snail it's quite a good salad, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:48 And to a poet or someone in love, you know, the rose, wow, you know, the fragrance of the rose, the beauty of the rose, how many poems have been written about that. And if you were at the level of the atoms, it's just an explosion of particles running all over the place. So where is the rose? So this kind of reasoning to loosen our tight grasp on solid reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:48 Highlight the passage at 1:41:48

1:42:14 And then the reality, the water and ice, the same thing. But one appears solid, one is fluid. So you melt. So with ice you can make tools. I mean, you could break your ice, cut yourself, eat someone with ice, but if you melt it a little bit, if you warm it a little bit, it's water. So what appears to be solid can immediately become fluid if you sort of look at its nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:43 So that's the idea. Because it's not just, again, You know, a big philosophical system, it has strong consequences in the way we relate to the world through grasping and repulsion, which then leads to suffering. Otherwise, what does it matter if your body is ultimately existing or not? If it has no consequences in terms of remaining to the cause of suffering, then there is no point trying to see whether it's devoid of intrinsic existence or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:43 Highlight the passage at 1:42:43

1:43:14 It would be a strange idea, actually. No? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:14 Highlight the passage at 1:43:14

1:43:31 The what? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:31 Highlight the passage at 1:43:31

1:43:41 Did I say that? Podcast? What is that? No, I mean, I don't know. what? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:43:59 excitation the remedies for those during meditation. Okay, well, I don't know, maybe, usually I don't, anyway it doesn't matter. I think when we speak of rumination, I mean I usually don't speak much of releasing energy and stuff like that, but, okay, never mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:59 Highlight the passage at 1:43:59

1:44:22 I think rumination is in itself one of the obstacles to meditation. Basically rumination usually refers to the past. And then anticipation and hopes and fears about what's going to come. And that, of course, when it spins continuously, is an obstacle to practice and also is a source of dissatisfaction. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:22 Highlight the passage at 1:44:22

1:44:51 Even in psychology, it's well known that excessive rumination is one of the symptoms of depression and what also might trigger depression, constantly ruminating, ruminating, what's going on and the fear about what might come and so forth. so that It's this kind of freewheeling mental constructions. Of course, it's something that meditations would let dissolve. And that's one of the goals of meditation, is not to fall into rumination. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:51 Highlight the passage at 1:44:51

1:45:19 So let the past thoughts sort of vanish, not run after the future thoughts, and then stay in the freshness of the present moment, which doesn't mean to be stuck, of course, in the present moment, because there's nothing to be stuck anyway, in any way. But just to be lucid at every moment. And to be lucid means not to be caught in chain reaction of thoughts. So in that sense, just letting those vanish, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:19 Highlight the passage at 1:45:19

1:45:50 that's what you think is called releasing, just letting them vanish and then stay as much as possible, not like by forcibly grasping to some present moment that is nothing to grasp, but Report an error in the passage at 1:45:50 Highlight the passage at 1:45:50

1:46:09 Trying to encourage that process. Rumination is an excessive multiplication of thoughts. When one comes, let it disappear. When two come, let it disappear. So that they cannot grow into what we call rumination. So that's the point, I think, of where it should be dealt with. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:09 Highlight the passage at 1:46:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:47:10 So you mean in terms of mental events or real life situations? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:10 Highlight the passage at 1:47:10

1:47:31 First, ignoring it sometimes is difficult, isn't it? I mean, how can you ignore someone who is stepping on your foot? No, I mean, it's true. Very often they take a big place in your life, whether you want to ignore them or not. But, oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:31 Highlight the passage at 1:47:31

1:47:58 I see. Well, you know, again, I think, I mean, I'm always inspired by the way the Dalai Lama always wants to bring things to... Concrete, embedded situations. The big principles, of course, cannot work because every situation has its own characteristics. So he always says that something can be changed, you should change it. And if it cannot be changed, then what's the point of adding worries by worrying about not being able to change? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:58 Highlight the passage at 1:47:58

1:48:41 So again, it's every situation. So now if... Again, you know, the old possibilities are there. If ignoring it will just let be something that could be remedied, then it's like ignoring a big sickness and then everyone suffers from that. So if there is anything that can be done, of course, who would not want to remedy to any kind of suffering or cause of suffering, wherever it is and however shape it takes, then it's something that should be changed. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:49:13 Of course, nothing can... It's permanent to the extent that it can never be changed. That's nothing such thing in the phenomenal world. But there could be something that, because of many causes and conditions, that temporarily have a seemingly sort of strong presence and cannot be immediately budged up and down. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:33 But of course, they are impermanent. There's no question about that. But maybe not immediately transformable. So it's all a matter of being sort of, I think he always says, realistic. Now, indifference is not an attitude to have in front of suffering or what's caused suffering. Then once this is clear, then it's an evaluation of what, as an individual, as a group, we can do. And if something can be done, of course. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:33 Highlight the passage at 1:49:33

1:50:05 Who would preach just blissful, not blissful actually, painful ignorance? Because there's no such thing as blissful ignorance. And again, it's like someone who is sick but doesn't want to know. Because it's more comfortable for a short time to ignore. But that's not going to solve the issue and suffering is looming and will express itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:05 Highlight the passage at 1:50:05

1:50:32 So as much as we can do. And then if it's beyond temporarily the scope of our activities or our... Group activity. Then just keep somehow watching for an opportunity, but this kind of, again, ruminative obsession that what is now should not be, because it's already there, is also counterproductive. You cannot wish that the present be different. Now, if there's any way to do something that is useful for sentient beings, and not just to make a dogmatic point of view triumph, which is possibly not better than another one, Just out of this sort of very strong dogmatic perspective. But thinking really, as I mentioned what he was saying before, is it good for me or for others, for the small number or bigger number, for the short term or the long term. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:32 Highlight the passage at 1:50:32

1:51:27 So with this, then we should have an unflinching determination to do what we can or to mobilize others to do what they can. And that's exactly what the bodhicitta ideal is. No matter what the immensity of the task, first to think that every big, difficult task can be broken into a small, easier one. And that perseverance, there are many examples of perseverance. Like the idea of someone, this story in Asanga was seeing somebody with a feather on a big iron rock and someone would say, what are you doing? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:27 Highlight the passage at 1:51:27

1:52:05 Well, slowly, slowly that rock will... Vanish because if I keep on brushing with the feather. So this complete determination. So that is part of it. But again, if something is not realistic right in the moment, to be over-obsessed by it is not going to help anything. So in the bodhicitta avatar, if there is a solution to a problem or a suffering, then why worry? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:05 Highlight the passage at 1:52:05

1:52:33 Just do it. If there is no solution, then worry doesn't help either. So it's all a matter of circumstances, of time, of potential, of keeping our vision and being close to reality, to be honest, to be... And then do the maximum we can. And then beside that, why can't we reproach ourselves? But of course, indifference and ignoring is not an option. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:52:59 Why should you ignore what goes suffering? So what time are we supposed to stop? I'm not against going on, but... I forgot about the schedule. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:59 Highlight the passage at 1:52:59

1:53:17 There's only one minute left, so one question. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:38 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:53:48 So, you know, there are always... question between the balance Report an error in the passage at 1:53:48 Highlight the passage at 1:53:48

1:53:29 and the faith, for example... bulletin tells us to not take things at face value, to make this arm out. There are some subjects like psychic nature of existence that we call. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:29 Highlight the passage at 1:53:29

1:53:51 It says in the teaching that there are three aspects to reality, things that can be fathomed directly, you see a fire, and then you just have to investigate them properly to get valid cognition, not to fall into deluded perspective. Like you see a mirage of water, you can go and see there's just scent, or you can go and see it's water. So there's a way to investigate things. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:51 Highlight the passage at 1:53:51

1:54:20 Then there are things that you can only know through inference. There's smoke, there's fire, all these things. And then again, the valid reasoning should be based on past experience, on whatever modes of investigation you have. And then there's a third category that is based on valid testimony. So what does that mean? So it's a bit different of saying, you know, there's an ultimate mystery and sorry, but you'll never know. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:51 But it's definitely there and it's the most sublime and absolute things. And that's, you have to believe in that because that's the core of our message. So then, of course, then you have a sort of problem because sometimes you say, oh, it must be true, sometimes not. And then you, you know, it's like seeing, telling you, well, you know, behind those clouds there's Mount Everest. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:51 Highlight the passage at 1:54:51

1:55:14 You will never see it, but, you know, it's such a fantastic mountain. And it's worth spending all your time. Sort of cycling around that mountain. So then you may sometimes think, yes, maybe, maybe not, who knows? And you get this sort of belief crisis. Now there's another way, it's like you are at the feet of the Everest, beautiful weather, and you see this towering 8,800 meters mountain. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:14 Highlight the passage at 1:55:14

1:55:42 No question whether it exists or not. But you don't know whether you can climb it or not. And then you start training, doubting maybe of your capacities now, but you don't think whether Everest exists or not. But I think that sort of valid testimony, what does that mean? Well, you see, just in science, actually, I don't know, maybe there are physicists among us, but, you know, we sort of accept that there's quarks or whatever, because we know what? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:42 Highlight the passage at 1:55:42

1:56:17 A number of people who have spent so many years mastering the skills of mathematics, physics, doing experiments, first someone put an hypothesis, verified it, it's what we call a discovery, then 15, 20, hundreds of other scientists either validated or unvalidated that finding, and then gradually other explanations. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:17 Highlight the passage at 1:56:17

1:56:50 Until a new one pops up, it has been eliminated. So they say, well, the result of long-term verified cross-check investigation has led to the notion that, okay, there are different types of quarks. And, you know, now I cannot know, but if I was spending 10 years learning those things, nobody can tell you, oh, you can never know that, by the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:50 Highlight the passage at 1:56:50

1:57:19 No, it's not for you. You just have to believe us. You know that it's not maybe your profession, but if you were to investigate, you will find. So, of course, it's more intangible when we speak of qualities of different steps on the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:19 Highlight the passage at 1:57:19

1:57:38 But if there's a number of testimonies, first of all, those who are on the path and maybe the Buddha himself, About the different levels, and they never say, like the Buddha said, just take it by yourself. It may take some time. You're not immediately, oh, I want to see what enlightenment looks like. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:58:01 Well, you have to travel the path, but please do so. And nobody said it's never inaccessible to you. So then if by other criterias, whatever you can guess, those beings who... From all other criteria, manifest the utmost criteria of honesty, of being attuned with what they are, is attuned with what they say. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:01 Highlight the passage at 1:58:01

1:58:33 And you don't find this kind of hidden sort of aspect that suddenly say, oh, there's a bunch of crooks. But everything you can gather so far, and the more you go, the more it still stands to... Through what you can actually check, then you say, well, until proven wrong, it's more reasonable to accept that at the end of his path, the Buddha and all those who might have gone to enlightenment, who are not like this kind of cold Buddhas, but who have achieved some relation. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

1:59:09 So far, the consistent sort of way they describe reality or other things are coherent among themselves. It's very unlikely that all those who by other standards manifest great virtues will all conspire at some point to tell a big lie about something simply because we can't see it now. It's more likely that they're expressing something that makes sense. So it's called valid testimony until you can recognize it by yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:09 Highlight the passage at 1:59:09

1:59:42 So if you have a mountain guide or an experienced sailor, it's safer to... Trust what the kind of path indicates that you should follow until you have more experience or at least have the same experience than just somebody saying, you know, I think it's just better if you climb this way. I've never been there, but, you know, it looks like it's a good way to go. So it's much better to rely on somebody who says, well, you know, you don't have to do it, but if you do it, you know, there have been that path and I think this is the better way to go. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:42 Highlight the passage at 1:59:42

2:00:15 So like that. So the third one is valid testimony and is temporarily inaccessible, but never ultimately inaccessible. And so far, that's the best information you can guess. But nobody has said, you must believe it because I said it, that's what the Buddha meant. But he said, you know, a map is, those who travel and did the map, you know, there's some useful information there. So that's basically how I think we could see it. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:15 Highlight the passage at 2:00:15

2:00:43 Okay. Okay, now before we stop, we should do the preparation and the main part, which was when we practiced, it was about attention, awareness and compassion and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:43 Highlight the passage at 2:00:43

2:01:02 And then putting the seal to what we do, the purpose of that is to ensure that it continues to be a fruit. Not just like we just drop something, you know, like a fruit, a flower that flourishes and dies, but there, more like a drop put in the ocean. As long as the ocean remains, it will be there. And that is done by what we call dedication, but it's more like, yes, dedicating what we have done so that it continues to be its fruit, it continues to help to progress and to... Report an error in the passage at 2:01:02 Highlight the passage at 2:01:02

2:01:44 Fulfill its goal, which is removing suffering, achieving wisdom and so forth. So let's dedicate whatever we did together this morning to Report an error in the passage at 2:01:44 Highlight the passage at 2:01:44

2:01:57 make this strong aspiration that made us serve directly, indirectly to our activities, to our way of changing ourselves, whatever, to the strength of our aspirations. Good wishes. May that serve in direct or indirect way to remove some of the suffering of others in the present moment, whether it's to conflict, to injustice, to famine, to anything you can imagine, personal, inner, outer difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:57 Highlight the passage at 2:01:57

2:02:31 And may in the long term, it may help to remedy the very causes of suffering, which is ignorance, which is delusion. And so that beings may be free from those, achieve wisdom, so that it's not only remaining to the symptoms and the temporary difficulties, but to the ultimate cause that keeps on bringing them again and again. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:31 Highlight the passage at 2:02:31

2:02:52 So dedicate whatever we could do, sometimes we could call it merit or positive, I don't know, accumulation of something, to that effect as clearly as possible for a few seconds. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:52 Highlight the passage at 2:02:52

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:03 Thank you. Just to come back to the Everest example, I've got another idea. You know, blind faith is, someone tell you there's Everest, nobody has ever seen it, but really you have to believe it. And the valid testimony is, you can see it now, it's still in the clouds, and then there's one person, two person, three person come back and say, you know, I went there and I climbed the Everest and it's there, so after one it's okay, then ten is okay, after fifteen you say, well, it must be true. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:03 Highlight the passage at 2:04:03

2:04:32 And then you come at the feet of the Everest, you see it, and you say, wow, can I climb it or not? So I know the doubt comes, you have to travel the path. The valid testimony is more the repetition of reliable witnesses which have somehow been there. And not just someone saying, you know, there's this thing there somewhere. Sorry you can't see it, but it's there, I promise. Okay, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:32 Highlight the passage at 2:04:32

2:05:22 Have a good lunch. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:22 Highlight the passage at 2:05:22