How to Meditate - Weekend Course with Jonathan Landaw (part 8)

0:00 of the space shuttle. He has his camera on the launch site and you hear the engine going off, you hear the roar, nothing is happening here. He's filming the wrong launch site and we're getting another one. By the time he gets over, it's like, oops. Maybe you shouldn't have been filming, maybe you should have been watching with your eyes. That's sad. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:31 Are all those people gone? They're just not here. It was Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:51 delicious. It was so good. Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

0:59 Well, it was gluten-free and vegan. It was spicy. Yeah. It was amazing. I mean, that's really tasty. It's hard to find something gluten-free and vegan. Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

1:19 Well, I knew that at least four people were planning on not coming this evening. You didn't know half the class was working now, huh? good. Sounds good. Report an error in the passage at 1:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:28 But this is a lot less than that. But I have a feeling that this is it. I think some of them thought it started at 7.30. Can't they read? Report an error in the passage at 1:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28

1:46 Compassion, right? So much. I'll see if there's anybody down there. Oh, that'd be nice. Opportunity for compassion. don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

2:01 I'm sorry that you're so sorry. I'm sorry that you can't read. Wait a minute, that's not right. That's not right. I'm not. That was wrong. I should know that. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:20 But we didn't get there until, it was after six. Oh my God. It was a little bit tight, but we managed to eat pretty quick. I had two balls. Did you hear some of that soup? It's delicious. Very nice. So impressed. Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:15 Nobody there? Now you can give us the special enlightenment meditation. Make sure everybody tells the other people, boy, did you miss. Should have been there on the sand. Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:43 Actually, I'm Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

3:55 open to suggestions. Is there anything particularly you'd like to explore? ya. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

3:39 there's... Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

4:03 Why don't you give us the real lowdown in the next minute? Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:12 Any secret handshakes we need to know? Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:17 I'm curious about those bowls. Is there a story? I was here earlier and they were all upside down and empty and then I come back and I'm full. Report an error in the passage at 4:17 Highlight the passage at 4:17

4:27 I'd like to hear the story. Okay, I could turn that into a class. I'm just curious. No problem. Report an error in the passage at 4:27 Highlight the passage at 4:27

4:37 Do they do it every day? A couple. Yes. Actually. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:56 I'm going to take that as an in to something that I could teach about, that I could talk about. The answer to the question will be embedded in it, but it's embedded in something a bit more, something I think a bit more profound than what are those water bowls. Report an error in the passage at 4:56 Highlight the passage at 4:56

5:23 But it's related to it, so we can do that. Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

5:40 The room is tilting this way to me because we've got like five or six people over there and nobody over there. That's the dark side. Could you, would you mind shifting a little bit over to there? Just so you feel more about it. Yeah, because otherwise my head goes like this. Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

6:09 Yeah, and the fellows in there? Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:15 That person too? Yeah, we're all here. Are we okay here? We're okay. You're okay there. She's perfect. That's right. She is well-centered. See, but we were all on the left side. Report an error in the passage at 6:15 Highlight the passage at 6:15

6:34 Right. I have a question. Yes, please. Just to understand the last meditation with the enemy, stranger and loved one. What is that? Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:54 I don't think it was listed. It certainly wasn't listed in the material I put together. a separate meditation, Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:11 Yes, I just want to check to see if it's on this longer syllabus, it might be. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:26 No, it's not there. It's sometimes called the equilibrium meditation and it's sometimes simply referred to as the friend-enemy-stranger meditation. Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

7:44 And it is significant. It forms one part of the cultivation of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 7:44 Highlight the passage at 7:44

7:55 And so it's just one in a series of graded meditations which eventually lead to the ability to cultivate great compassion for a wide variety of people. And it starts by kind of evening the ground. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:18 An example that they sometimes use is if you want to make a sand painting, like Tibetans do and the Indians do and so forth, first you have to have the ground level or else the painting won't come out right, it'll be lopsided. So here what you're leveling out is getting to a certain basic fundamental evenness in the way you look at people. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:48 Seeing them all in a similar light. Report an error in the passage at 8:48 Highlight the passage at 8:48

8:53 That doesn't mean that you're absolutely friends with everybody. It doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean watering down your feelings. But just discovering what is the same for all people, which allows you to eventually open your heart to all people. So it has a very prominent place in the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion for that reason. Report an error in the passage at 8:53 Highlight the passage at 8:53

9:24 Equilibrium meditation. Sometimes I've heard it called equanimity meditation. And then sometimes, as an abbreviation, you just call it friends, enemy and strangers. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:39 Did you find anything about that kind of that moved your mind a little one direction or another? Was it hard to get into? Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

10:02 I've been told that. I put people to sleep. I guess it's good that it was about compassion because when I went to the break I lied down for a few minutes and I was being compassionate enough to myself to let myself take a nap. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:20 I didn't get up for the second part. I wanted to make sure. But one of the other ladies who couldn't stay for the session told me that you guys... okay okay Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:31 Kept going with that meditation and then also practice. Is it called the nine-part breathing? The nine-round breathing, yeah. Okay. I'm familiar with that through yoga, too. Okay. But that's called the nine-round breathing? Yeah. Okay. That's the general name for it. Okay. And that's right. Before the nine-round breathing, then we took off from where we had left the equanimity meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

10:57 Because what we did in the first part was just... right. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:00 Kind of almost like just an intro to it. And in the second part, we got into manipulating our views of the three. Not just keeping them as they were, but seeing how they can shift and how they do shift. And that helps loosen the concrete vision we have that this person is inherently good, that person is inherently bad, and this person I don't care about. Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:27 know thought was the hardest to choose because of the stranger because it like it's my loved one who's considered like how you describe should be the enemy and then but the stranger seemed to me like a little bit more could be all these different potential people Hard to choose? Yeah. Too many. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

12:02 for me... Sometimes if I do a meditation like this, I just think of who is it that I see in my normal round of existence. Like when I go down to Knob Hill or something to do shopping. There are people that I meet there and pleasant enough contact with them, but I have no idea what their life is like. Report an error in the passage at 12:02 Highlight the passage at 12:02

12:28 I have no idea what a tiny bit... The idea of their personality, but not very much. So in a sense, they're kind of like strangers to me. I recognize them, but I don't know enough about them to form an opinion one way or another. Report an error in the passage at 12:28 Highlight the passage at 12:28

12:53 Because it doesn't really matter which one you use. Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:02 try to to the point where... Whether they're the stranger or your loved ones, that there's an equalness between them and their inherent goodness? Yes, well, it's on the road to that. Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

13:19 But let Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:33 me think for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:43 Okay, in response to questions about the equanimity meditation, I want to share an image that I heard from... Actually, one of my teacher's teachers when I had an occasion to be with him. And he was addressing a large group of people. And he was using the example of the sun rising and the different states of that sunrise. Report an error in the passage at 13:43 Highlight the passage at 13:43

14:21 And also, as he was telling the story, I was thinking, not knowing for sure, but because he was Tibetan, that he must have seen sunrises. Over great, great plateaus, you know, because there's great, huge vistas in Tibet, because in addition to the high Himalayas, there's huge, huge plateaus that go on forever. Report an error in the passage at 14:21 Highlight the passage at 14:21

14:46 And so he was saying in the beginning, when the sun rises, it doesn't give much or hardly anything in the way of warmth, but it does illuminate. What's ever on the plane, you know, what's ever on the plateau or on the plane in front of it, the rising sun illuminates it and it illuminates it evenly. Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

15:14 Then as it rises, the sun rises higher in the sky, it brings with it warmth. And he was making an analogy how in the process of opening your heart and cultivating loving compassion for others, Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:35 In the beginning, when starting with this equanimity meditation, what we're trying to cultivate is the sense of our attention spreading evenly to all beings. Not as if they themselves are equal, you know, there's no differences between them, but that our regard is like the sun kind of spreading its gentle illuminating light. Report an error in the passage at 15:35 Highlight the passage at 15:35

16:04 over the entire play, not leaving anything. And so equanimity meditation is a way of being able to open up our view so that we're taking everyone in without the prejudice of being particularly close to these people, particularly distant from those people and completely indifferent to everyone else. as that Meditation and all the things that are part of it, not all of which I went into. As that progresses, we kind of build up an idea of how we can regard people equally, despite their many differences and despite the fact that we are close to some and distant from others. Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:48 But still there is a way of regarding them equally. And the key to that is largely recognizing that like ourselves, and this was repeated a number of times, all of us, Fundamentally want the same thing. Not the same items, but whatever makes up happiness or is emblematic of peace and well-being, everyone wants that. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:13 And nobody wants pain and suffering and disappointment. So if we can recognize that the friends feel that way, the enemies feel that way, the strangers feel that way, then we don't view them as so different. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:29 Because there's a tendency... as, you Those that we regard as dear and friendly are more deserving of our attention. But when we realize that everyone is equal in the sense that they all want to be happy and no one wants to suffer, then we realize, well, there's no reason why one group should be the ones who are cherished and cared for. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

18:02 Why would we leave out anyone else? If they all have that same basic aspiration. Now remember, this isn't to say that all people are equal. Some are a lot smarter than others, some are a lot dumber, some are a lot sweeter, some are a lot crueler, you know. There's all those differences manifesting itself. But despite that, they each have the same aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:33 And there's nothing that disqualifies anybody. From our regard, it's like they're not worth it. And sure, people make mistakes, and though they want to be happy, they engage in actions repeatedly that make them more and more unhappy, kind of like someone who's addicted to some very powerful drug, which in the beginning gave them some measure of high or some kind of pleasurable experience, but now is just... Report an error in the passage at 18:33 Highlight the passage at 18:33

19:08 Causing more and more suffering to them, but they're addicted to it. So, in the beginning, on the basis of the equanimity meditation, we can even out our regard, you know, not leave anyone out. Be like the newly rising sun which casts its rays over the entire plane without leaving any part out. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:33 Then, as the sun rises higher, Then that's analogous to shifting into a more active phase of the loving-kindness and compassion series of meditations, of which there is a series. This is a graded series of meditations. And in those, we're recognizing the qualities that engender compassion. Report an error in the passage at 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

20:08 We're kind of recognizing the sufferings or the unhappiness or the limitations of beings and developing a warm-hearted feeling for them to be rid of that suffering. And also, together with it, the flip side, cultivating a sense of loving kindness, of actually wanting them to be happy and fulfilled. So that's like... Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:35 Now the sun has risen higher in the sky, and it's not just regarding these with this kind of even light, but it's sending out the warmth of loving kindness and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

20:47 So, in a situation like this, with a limited amount of time, and we're sort of cherry-picking different meditations, we have to understand that in the larger scope of the meditation practice, all of these fit. into some kind of progressive order. And we don't just go through it once, you know, in our life, even in our And then also the idea, like you said, of having the muscle. Report an error in the passage at 20:47 Highlight the passage at 20:47

21:34 The mind as a muscle and having a thought memory in your mind or your muscle memory in your mind to be able to train that certain way too. I think that's a really powerful analogy. Good. Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

21:52 All right. Any follow-up to that before I avoid answering about the water bowls? To Report an error in the passage at 21:52 Highlight the passage at 21:52

22:22 us about love, compassion. And you mentioned that there are some people who can, it seems to them that... It's become more natural for them to show love and I wrote down that it's because they meditate, it brings to them much more clarity and love and compassion are much more available to them more quickly than the people that don't. Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:55 Could it be that somebody who's born this way without the practice of meditation? Report an error in the passage at 22:55 Highlight the passage at 22:55

23:12 From the point of view of the traditional Buddhist teachings, the life that we lead is one in a succession of lives. So that's the idea of beginnings, lifetimes, rebirth, reincarnation, like that. My teacher used to refer to it as the continuity of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 23:12 Highlight the passage at 23:12

23:41 Consciousness didn't start from nothing at our conception or our birth, and it doesn't disappear into nothing at our death, but it's a continuity. It's a line. Now, I have to say, immediately, I was a very serious student, an extremely serious student, for three years, and I heard all these teachings many times, and I didn't believe a single word of that. Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

24:04 My mind had no place in it for the idea of rebirth or reincarnation. I was totally... Into the idea that you're born, you live your life, and when you die, that's the end. So there's no... Yes? I'm just curious, what kept you in it for three years with the doubt? All the rest. The loving kindness, the compassion, the wisdom. What changed your mind about that? That's a big story. And also, it's changing my mind about it. Report an error in the passage at 24:04 Highlight the passage at 24:04

24:38 It's not as if... One day I didn't believe and the next day I believed. It was an evolved, an evolved thing. I could go into that. That would be more interesting in the bowls, actually. Yeah. Is that what you want? Okay. Okay. You light up. It's show and tell time. John, just light up. Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

25:10 Okay, then you're in for some stories. Sure. Because it's all within the context of, My connection with my main teachers, specifically Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Now, I've mentioned their names quite a few times, and behind me, flanking His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on the left side as you look is Lama Yeshe, and on the right side is Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 25:10 Highlight the passage at 25:10

25:39 Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was his very, very close associate. Heart, Son, Disciple. And Lama Yeshe founded the organization, the FPMT, which is made up of 160 or so worldwide meditation centers like this one. And when he passed away, then Lama Zopa Rinpoche became the head, the spiritual head of this organization. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

26:09 And, you know, that's carried on until the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:16 that's In a nutshell, who these beings were and are in a very abbreviated manner. And when I went over to India, I was one of the few people who went over specifically to study with the Tibetans. There were a lot of other people studying with the Tibetans, but most of them were there. Because they were looking for drugs, you know, or they were just traveling through Asia. And one circumstance led to another and they ended up studying with the Tibetans. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:53 But for me, a very close childhood friend from the time I was 12, 13 years old, he got to go over to India and study because he went to different universities. And eventually met someone who said, well, if you really want to study this material, you should go to Indy because that's where the people who really know about this are living, you know, the Tibetans. Report an error in the passage at 26:53 Highlight the passage at 26:53

27:26 And then he, at that time, I was back in the States after having spent three years in the Peace Corps in the Middle East. And I was, I had no... Culture shock, living in the Middle East, but coming back to the United States afterwards, big culture shock. So after a while, I didn't want to stay anymore. Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:48 I wanted to travel, go abroad again. And by this time, my friend was writing me about what it was like to be together with the Tibetans, and specifically what it was like when he had his first interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a truly life-changing event. And he wrote me this letter right after that interview. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:19 And he said, you know, you could read about Buddhism in books. You can study it in university. You can go to the museums where they have artwork collected. He says, but... Then it's as if Buddhism is some kind of dead thing that you're studying, as if you were an archaeologist, something like that. But in fact, the Buddhist traditions of cultivating and passing on insights is still alive. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:53 It's still a living tradition. It hasn't died yet. And the Tibetans feel that now that they've lost their country, it's their job to bring... That tradition which they've kept alive for centuries, bring it back to the outside world. First to India, the place where these teachings grew, and then by extension to the rest of the world. Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:22 So my friend was studying with them and was very inspired by the Dalai Lama and the other teachers he studied with to help in the process of... And translating and presenting these teachings to a Western audience. And so he said to me, he said, if you have some interest in studying this, then come out to India. Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:52 Here's where it's still alive. Here's where you can actually find people who relate to it because it's living for them. It's not a dead subject that's being taught in a university. Because he had a lot of experience of that. You know, experts in a certain field taking a profound text and then that text in one hand and a dictionary in the other and then translating it and then producing absolute crap as a result because there's no connection with any living oral tradition which tells what those teachings actually mean. Report an error in the passage at 29:52 Highlight the passage at 29:52

30:28 Whereas among the Tibetans, they're keeping alive the oral tradition. So he said, if you're really interested in this, go to where it's still alive. And, he added, the Tibetans are very much appreciative of anyone who helps them in the process of transmitting it. Whether that's translating, whether it's editing, whether it's sprucing up the English, whether it's anything that helps get it. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

31:03 from one medium to the other, they would be very happy to support. And by support, they don't mean monetary support. It didn't cost much to live So, but helping through the Indian government to get visas and so forth, then they can help you that way. And make it so that the teachings are available to you, so that you can actually go over and study. Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:31 So as soon as I received that letter, I knew, well, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to leave the States. I wanted to get deeper into Buddhism. At that point, I'd never received any teachings, but I used to do some reading. There wasn't that much, we're talking about 1969, 70, there wasn't that much available in English. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:53 Mostly it was kind of, I read like Alan Watts in Zen, almost nothing in Tibetan Buddhism. one um So I made the decision to go. Now that was the summertime and it took six months for me to get everything together to actually go to India. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:12 And then I went and my friend met me in Delhi, where the main airport was in those days. And where he had been studying... A great teacher named Geshe Darge was up in the north, not terribly far from Kashmir. And it was the kind of place in India where if you didn't have to spend the winter there, you didn't, because the winter was a bit rough. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:44 The rest of the year was quite lovely, but the winter could be kind of rough. And also the winter was the best time to go to pilgrimage to major sites in India. Because those places are usually too hot the rest of the year, but in the winter they're quite pleasant. So a lot of people, the Tibetans and many others, use that time to leave wherever they're living and go on pilgrimage to these sites. Report an error in the passage at 32:44 Highlight the passage at 32:44

33:12 Or maybe mix it with a trip to Goa, which is kind of like a hippie hangout with beautiful beaches and the like. So, when I went over to Delhi, we landed, and then the next day got on a train, got on a long train journey, heading to Bodh Gaya. Now, does the term the Bodhi tree mean anything to you? Yes. In Buddha's life story, that was the tree under which he achieved enlightenment and became known as the Buddha, the Awakened One. Report an error in the passage at 33:12 Highlight the passage at 33:12

33:55 And Bodh Gaya is the place where the original Bodhi tree was and where successive Bodhi trees were planted on that same site. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:06 And so I arrived in India and immediately went out to Bodh Gaya because the idea was to meet, my friend met me in Delhi as I mentioned, but he had in the meantime made friends of two, a British couple. And the three of them decided they were going to travel around South India and then go back when the weather got a little bit warmer. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:35 And he would head back north and continue taking teachings. But for the first few months, they were going to travel around South India. It was a good time to do that. And so I arrived in Bodh Gaya and I was with Alex and his... His two new friends became my friends. And we were there for a while. And then we started a journey around South India for about a month and a half or two months. Report an error in the passage at 34:35 Highlight the passage at 34:35

35:04 But what happened was, during the few days that we were in Bodhgaya, before we started this trip, we heard that a Lama who spoke some English was going to be coming. And he would be going to the Gompa there. There was a temple with a Gompa kind. Kind of like this. And anyone who's interested is welcome to come and listen to him. So I said, well, I've come over here to study and here's a chance to listen to an English-speaking Lama. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:39 So, yeah, I'd be interested. So I went along. And I deeply regret that I didn't have some kind of recording device or a camera. Because the people who were sitting in the gompa waiting for this Tibetan teacher to come was the most mixed group of world travelers that you could imagine. Hippies, flower children of every color, every description of all different complexions and types. Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

36:16 There were tall, stately, beautiful Danish. Hippie flower children and grungy Australian and French flower hippies, you know, and the whole range. And it was really a kind of a menagerie. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:34 Very, very interesting mix of people. And then, as we were waiting, then this teacher, this Lama, came into the room, flanked by... An American couple who I think had driven him maybe from Nepal to Bodhgai. I'm not sure where that started, but they were traveling together. And they walked into the gompa there. And the minute I saw him, a lot of the... Report an error in the passage at 36:34 Highlight the passage at 36:34

37:32 He brought with him a presence which was inspiring and relatable. At the same time, he was someone who was obviously, on one hand, a very ordinary human being, very engaged, very warm, very funny, incredible laugh, but Report an error in the passage at 37:32 Highlight the passage at 37:32

38:01 also very, very concentrated, very present. And he sat for a while, recited a mantra a couple of times, And sat in meditation. And the whole atmosphere in the room got very, very still and very deep. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:27 And then he, in a sense, woke up from that meditation. Not that he was asleep, but he rose from that state and started speaking. Report an error in the passage at 38:27 Highlight the passage at 38:27

38:40 And to say that his English was bad would be very generous. His English was horrible. But I had never before that... Been in the presence of anyone who communicated as much as he did. Because he communicated with his entire being. Report an error in the passage at 38:40 Highlight the passage at 38:40

39:02 And he communicated beyond the words he was using. Report an error in the passage at 39:02 Highlight the passage at 39:02

39:13 I didn't know it at the time, but the Tibetan alphabet lacks the sound for F or V. So whenever they try to pronounce a word, you know, a foreign word that has an F or a V in it, They usually use a P or a B in place of it. It's a natural result of not having it in their own language. So I remember sitting there and being very deeply absorbed into being in the presence of this person, a person who I intuitively felt, this is somebody I could trust, someone who's relatable, someone inspiring. Report an error in the passage at 39:13 Highlight the passage at 39:13

39:53 I could trust him. Then he started speaking. I remember he said, And then, dear, then, dear, Report an error in the passage at 39:53 Highlight the passage at 39:53

40:07 we open up our heart. Then we develop this warm peeling. Report an error in the passage at 40:07 Highlight the passage at 40:07

40:20 And I'm thinking to myself, warm peeling? What the hell does that mean? And by the way, what's this warm feeling that's coming up in my heart? Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:34 Because as he was describing it, there was something happening. In my heart, which was obviously related to his presence. Report an error in the passage at 40:34 Highlight the passage at 40:34

40:47 When I was a high school student, I saw a demonstration of magnetism which had a really big effect on me. This was so beautiful. The teacher had a large piece of cardboard, something like this, and he sprinkled a bunch of iron filings randomly on the top like that. And they took a very powerful magnet and put it underneath. And you know what happens then? They all take on, they rearrange themselves automatically without having to do anything. Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

41:21 They rearrange themselves into this beautiful pattern of wave design like that. And that always impressed me, just seeing that like that. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:31 Much more impressive than just seeing a picture in a physics book, to see it rearrange itself like that. And when Lama Yeshe came into that room and he just was what he was and I was so affected by it, the only imagery that came to mind was as if there had been some, you know, invisible iron filings in my heart and an electromagnet just walked into the room because everything rearranged themselves inside. Report an error in the passage at 41:31 Highlight the passage at 41:31

42:05 Unbelievably powerful experience. And then he's talking about this warm feeling, which I didn't understand verbally, but my experience was a warm feeling coming up in my heart. So I felt this very, very strong connection. Now, I didn't know anything, really, at all. A little bit about Buddhism, nothing to speak of about Tibetan Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:32 I'd never met a Tibetan before. Report an error in the passage at 42:32 Highlight the passage at 42:32

42:37 I'm not good at remembering names, and especially foreign names. So afterwards, I kept asking my friend, what was the name of that Lama? And he would say, his name is Lama Tuptin Yeshe. So, Lama Yeshe. Is that the same as Geshe? Geshe Yeshe? Geshe Tuptin? Tuptin Yeshe? You know, it's like, I couldn't get the name straight. So over the next months, I kept asking him to remind me. Report an error in the passage at 42:37 Highlight the passage at 42:37

43:05 of who that Lama was because I felt such a strong connection. Now, afterwards, after traveling around South India and going back to North India and then leaving India for a while to go back to the States briefly and then returning, then the rest of my study largely took place in Northern India, whereas Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Center was largely, not completely, but largely in Nepal. Report an error in the passage at 43:05 Highlight the passage at 43:05

43:36 Well, in this way, About two and a half years passed, during which I was studying with this other great Lama in India, but had not seen or heard of Lama Yeshe again. Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

44:02 Until one day I heard that he was going to visit Dharamsala, where I was living at the time. That's the place where His Holiness the Dalai Lama's main center is. And also where Lama Yeshe, even though He and Lama Zopa's main focus was in Nepal. It's where they had had a meditation center. It still exists there, a greatly expanded Tushita meditation center in upper Dharamsala. Report an error in the passage at 44:02 Highlight the passage at 44:02

44:32 So I heard that he was coming. So I had waited for... Two and a half years to see this fellow again, because even though the teacher I was studying was very, very good and I received the vast majority of my teachings from him, no one had ever connected into my heart the way that Lama Yeshe did. Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

45:01 And so when I heard he was coming, then I decided, you know, I'd go up. To Shida Meditation Center and visit him. As it happened, the day that I was going up, because I lived in lower Dharamsala and that was in upper Dharamsala, and it was quite a bit of a trek to get up there. And just as I was about halfway up, Lama Yeshe and a bunch of his students and friends were on their way back down. Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:34 And the reason they were going down is because there was a visiting... A Western teacher that he wanted to hear, who was going to give a lecture at the library. And the library was the main place where I studied. Report an error in the passage at 45:34 Highlight the passage at 45:34

45:49 So I reversed my direction and went back down to the library to listen to this person. Very lovely person. He's since passed away. John Blofeld. He's written quite a number of books. Very, very lovely. Very sweet person. Report an error in the passage at 45:49 Highlight the passage at 45:49

46:09 And so I didn't have a chance to really contact Lama Yeshe. But one of the people traveling with him said, well, if you come back tomorrow, he'll be back up at Tushita and you can visit him then. So the next day I went from Lower Dharamsala all the way up to Upper Dharamsala again. And this whole time I was thinking, you know, maybe what happened to me in... Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:39 Bodh Gaya, you know, maybe that was infatuation. Maybe I just kind of fell in love with him or something, you know. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

46:50 Maybe it was something I just built up in my mind out of some kind of anticipation or surprise or whatever. And maybe when I see Lama Yeshe again, it'll be nothing special. Report an error in the passage at 46:50 Highlight the passage at 46:50

47:05 So I went up and when I arrived, know, Report an error in the passage at 47:05 Highlight the passage at 47:05

47:09 He was taking a nap. He used to take an afternoon nap. And he was in this small room on the side of the meditation place. And eventually, and I just waited outside. And eventually he got up and he sensed that I was there. So he invited me in. And so this was actually just my first real interview with him. Report an error in the passage at 47:09 Highlight the passage at 47:09

47:41 And only the second time I'd ever seen him. And he said, oh, what have you been doing here in Dharamsala? And I said, oh, I've been studying with Geshe Dharga. He said, oh, he's a very, very good teacher. And I said, and I'm thinking of coming and taking the meditation course in Nepal in November. He said, oh, that's good. That's a very good idea. And then he said to me, you know, when you come, Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

48:12 uh, uh... No, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is something he's told later. No, but he very strongly encouraged me to come in November. And then at the end of this interview, he raised himself up on his bed. And it's one of these Indian-type beds where there's a wooden frame and then rope in place of springs or a mattress. Report an error in the passage at 48:12 Highlight the passage at 48:12

48:39 And that's what makes the bed. And he was on that. And then he raised himself up and he put his hands on my head and his face transformed into the Buddha image that was on the wall in the area where I slept. His face was very asymmetrical. If you look at pictures in closely, you'll see one eye is a lot higher than the other. It's a very asymmetrical face. But sitting there or raising himself up on the bed, all of his features became perfectly even. Report an error in the passage at 48:39 Highlight the passage at 48:39

49:21 And he looked just like a Buddha image. And then all of this energy started pouring in to me through the top of my head. And that was it. And I left. And from there, all the way down to Lower Dharma Sala, my feet never really touched the ground. I was transported in this different place. So I realized, you know, what had happened to me in Bhagaya was not a fluke. It wasn't just an infatuation. There was something there, something really meaningful there. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

50:01 So then later in November, it was time for me to go and attend this course. Lama Zopa was going to teach and Lama Yeshi was going to be at as well in Copan, their main monastery there. And by the time that happened, these Australian, actually New Zealand friends of mine, had moved in and become neighbors. Report an error in the passage at 50:01 Highlight the passage at 50:01

50:31 And they had attended the previous course in Copan about a half a year before and very strongly encouraged me to go. So I was very happy to do that. And meanwhile, the husband, Brian, who had worked as a translator from Tibetan into English, he gave me a manuscript that he had been working on, on a teaching that was given by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa's own teacher, a great teacher named Geshe Rabten. Report an error in the passage at 50:31 Highlight the passage at 50:31

51:03 And he had received these teachings and had worked on them. And he gave them to me and said, here, present this to Lama Yeshe. Teachings from his teachers, so he'll want to see it. So, later in November, I went over to Kathmandu, my first visit there, and made my way up the Kopan Hill, just on the edge of Kathmandu, where the course was going to be held in a few days. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:30 And I was able to go and see him, because I told his attendants and so forth that I had something for Lama Yeshe. This manuscript from his teacher. And so he invited me into his room and I presented the book and he was very pleased with it. And he said, you know, when we teach this course in Copan, I usually tell my monks and nuns to stay in the background, you know, because a lot of new people come to this course. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

52:08 You know, in those days about 200, 250 people came to these. courses, you know, all the people, you know. Western travelers coming through Kathmandu, they would hear about it, they would go and attend this course, and most of them had no background in any of this. And so Lama Yesha was saying, you know, when they see people with shaved heads, like my monks and nuns, you know, they tend to preak out. Report an error in the passage at 52:08 Highlight the passage at 52:08

52:40 That's the way he said, preak out. They preak out. Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

52:45 So I think it's better for them to keep a low profile in the beginning, because otherwise people might think, oh, to become a Buddhist you have to shave your head and so forth. I don't want to give them that impression. So I'm asking some of my lay students to help lead discussion groups for these people. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:10 We have four people. We can divide the people. And he said, Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:22 and I'd like you to be one of them. And I thought, me? You know, I'd never, up to that point, I'd never taught a day in my life. I'd only been a student, you know, receiving these teachings. I had little, almost nothing in the way of practical meditation experience. And I told him that. can serve as a bridge and answer questions that these people might have. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:44 And he said, yeah, it's true. He says, but you've been studying with Geshe Darge for over two years. So you definitely know more than the people who are going to be coming. You'll be able to be helpful. And remember at that moment, you asked for this story. It's a long story. And I haven't even reached the main part of the story yet. Report an error in the passage at 53:44 Highlight the passage at 53:44

54:11 At that moment, it was as if I experienced this split in my whole being. Because on one side, I had come to Copan specifically because I had spent most of the previous two years just receiving teachings, reading the teachings, writing up the teachings and so forth, and doing very, very little in the way of meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 54:11 Highlight the passage at 54:11

54:38 And I knew that this was a meditation course and that you could do it in total silence if you wanted. And I thought, that's great. I spent a whole month. You know, just receiving the teachings from Lama Zopa and Lama Yeshe when he comes and meditating on it and keeping silence and really getting into it rather than all his words and blah, blah, blah and writing and talking and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 54:38 Highlight the passage at 54:38

55:06 And now I immediately arrive and Lama Yeshe says that I should lead these discussion groups. It was like it was the last thing that was on my mind. Not only did I feel unqualified, but that's not what I wanted to do. That was one half. At exactly the same time on the other half was Lama Yeshe is asking me to do something. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:29 Of course I'm going to do it. Joyfully. You know, this extraordinary being is asking me to do something to help facilitate this course. Of course. It doesn't matter if I'm completely unqualified. If he asks me to do it, I do it. There's no question. Report an error in the passage at 55:29 Highlight the passage at 55:29

55:48 There was no way that my mind could turn down the offer, but my heart was totally connected with it. There was no question. The disappointment of not being able to stay in silence for a month was nothing compared to the joy of being some kind of service to this extraordinary being. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:13 So I went and met with a group during the course occasionally. After a while, the group stopped meeting. But the four of us who were pointed out as people who could start to answer questions, people would come up to us, you know, because they knew us, because we addressed the group. So even though the group stopped meeting, people individually would come up who had been members of the group. And this Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:56 gets into the story which I think I... The only thing preventing me from responding beneficially and clearly to this person was my fear. of being found out, for being a charlatan, you know, of knowing nothing. So it was just a matter of reputation. It was just ego, ego-cherishing. That's all it was, you know, which is, from all the teachings I had received, that's the root source of our suffering and disappointment. Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:49 So, So if I could just get out of that room, put that person out. And just be present with this woman. I could just rely on that, even though I had nothing to say. I had nothing to rely on. And so that was the story I told a day or so ago, was at that course. Report an error in the passage at 57:49 Highlight the passage at 57:49

58:21 Oh yeah. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:27 I skipped over. My train of thought is very easily derailed, by the way. I skipped over. woman... Report an error in the passage at 58:27 Highlight the passage at 58:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

58:36 The part that relates to the question that started all of this was how my view of rebirth and continuity of consciousness went from total rejection of not even wanting to hear a word of it to a more open relationship with it. And remember I told you that when I met Lama... Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

59:06 Yeshe, he was walking down this hill and he was surrounded by some of his students and other people. One of them was the first monk that he ordained. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:18 Champa was his name, a Canadian fellow. And he was the one who said, well, if you come back tomorrow, Lama Yeshe will be up there. Report an error in the passage at 59:18 Highlight the passage at 59:18

59:32 Well, later, when I was... On my way to Nepal, or maybe had even arrived in Nepal, I met Chamba again. He was there. And I mentioned, I said, you know, Lama has asked me to kind of help answer some questions to help new students relate to these teachings. And I'm quite concerned about it. And he said, why? Why are you concerned? He says, well, I know from what I've heard before that Lama Zopa, right from the very beginning of the Course, puts a lot of attention, a lot of energy into bringing up the matter of the continuity of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 59:32 Highlight the passage at 59:32

1:00:29 Whether it's called rebirth or reincarnation, the fact is that consciousness is a beginningless and endless continuity. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:29 Highlight the passage at 1:00:29

1:00:40 The offshot of that is that whatever it is that we are, all its changes and manifestations, continues on like that. So I said, yeah. So I know that form is a very large part of his course, because I had spoken to my New Zealand friends and they were talking about how much Lama Zopa focuses on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:01:08 And so Chamba said, yeah, that's true. He said, so what's the problem? And I said, well, the problem is I don't believe it. How can I answer questions about something that I don't believe in? I mean, I can quote the teachings back, but I'm not interested in doing that. And then it's just empty words. It's just hollow to me if I don't believe in them. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:08 Highlight the passage at 1:01:08

1:01:36 And then he said something which had a really profound effect on my life. Though the full effect of it is... It's still unveiling itself. And this was many years ago that this happened. So he said, so why are you having a problem with this? He said, because I don't believe it. And then he says, then what you have to do is check up what you do believe. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:02:05 Just that simple statement, check up what you do believe. So here's something that people, you know, Tibetans and other Buddhists talk about, and I don't believe in that. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:05 Highlight the passage at 1:02:05

1:02:17 Is there something else that I do believe? Is there another view that I have? So I really started to check up. Well, what do I think happens? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:29 You can start anywhere on that. What do I think happens after death? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:29 Highlight the passage at 1:02:29

1:02:36 Where does life come from? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

1:02:42 How do we explain experiences and so forth? And I realized that I had no clear idea of what I believed. So I had to start. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:42 Highlight the passage at 1:02:42

1:02:53 Digging in deeper and checking up. And I basically felt, like thinking about death, for example, that death was just a deep blackness. Consciousness just disappeared. Awareness just disappeared. It's just the end like that. And what about birth? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:53 Highlight the passage at 1:02:53

1:03:20 What about all of the qualities that infants demonstrate? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:28 Then I say, okay, well, genes and chromosomes and things like that. So I kind of answered from a very scientific, materialistic point of view. And I realized that none of those answers were particularly satisfying. But it wasn't just that, you know, because I had been satisfied with those answers before. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:28 Highlight the passage at 1:03:28

1:03:53 When I wasn't investigating them, it was all right. Yeah, you die and things come to an end. And when you start out, you're basically nothing but whatever your genes and chromosomes determine for you and then some nurturing and things like that. So I kind of accepted those views. I wasn't particularly turned on by them, but, you know, I accepted them. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:53 Highlight the passage at 1:03:53

1:04:17 But what really impressed me more deeply than that was where did I get those views from? Who were the sources of that view? Because I didn't just create those ideas myself. This is what I was exposed to in my upbringing and education and so forth. And then I realized that the people, like, for example, the college professors that I met in the sciences and the social sciences, I Report an error in the passage at 1:04:17 Highlight the passage at 1:04:17

1:05:04 had no reason for believing. That they knew what they were talking about. There was nothing special or transcendent about their being. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:16 They were often very petty-minded. They were often in the corner of their own discipline and not even open to what someone in a neighboring discipline was teaching. That they were very parochial in that sense, very limited. And in their behavior didn't demonstrate any kind of awakening. at all, often quite the opposite, often quite a lot of pettiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:16 Highlight the passage at 1:05:16

1:05:43 So I started thinking, why should I take people like that? People who, instead of inspiring me and giving me a vision of something bigger, just make me feel that they're as petty as anybody else. They may have great degrees and have a certain kind of verbal intelligence. But as far as being intelligent human beings on this planet, you know, I didn't see anyone who filled that view. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:43 Highlight the passage at 1:05:43

1:06:16 And yet, among the Tibetans that I had met, you know, Tibetans who were technologically quite backward and so forth, some of whom still thought the earth was flat and things like that, among them, there was a whole host of beings who were, from the little that I could discern, Extraordinarily evolved. Not just Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Dargi, and quite a number of the other teachings I met. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:16 Highlight the passage at 1:06:16

1:06:50 So why would I intuitively reject what they were saying, what they were presenting, and they weren't presenting as dogma, they were just presenting as a view to be investigated. And except of you from these professors for whom I had no real respect for, except, you know, of their book learning. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:50 Highlight the passage at 1:06:50

1:07:22 So from that, I suddenly, no, no, suddenly is the wrong word. I gradually began to shift my attitude. I didn't immediately reject everything that was from my Western background. And I certainly didn't immediately accept everything from the Eastern. point of view. But I just started opening up to different possibilities and started investigating. And I think one of the original questions is what started to change my mind about all of this? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:22 Highlight the passage at 1:07:22

1:07:58 Well, everything I've described showed me why I had my mind open to change. But what really started to change it was I've always liked children. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:11 It was years and years later. That I got married and had my own children. But even when I was single, I always loved children. My father was a doctor and his office was in the house and he used to bring children into the house. You know, there were the children of his parents all the time. And we had a big extended family and I always really liked kids a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:38 I know a lot of my friends. They didn't show any interest in children until they were kind of verbal, you know, like five and six years old and they can start having conversations with them. But I like kids from the time they were infants. You know, I was fascinated by them. And so I started paying attention to what I was seeing when I was with these little kids. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:38 Highlight the passage at 1:08:38

1:09:06 it became very clear they were not As an early, I think, 19th century psychologist said, they were not tabula rasa. They were not empty slates. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:06 Highlight the passage at 1:09:06

1:09:22 They were bringing something into this life. Something that wasn't easily explainable by the genes and chromosomes. Just certain attitudes, certain approaches, certain states of being. Later, when I was married and my wife was pregnant with her children, three children that we had, she would describe to me what the child felt like in utero. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:22 Highlight the passage at 1:09:22

1:10:00 And it wasn't verbal, it was expression of their being in motion. You know, some of the children were like this, she would say, and she'd make... A motion, kind of like a waving motion. Another child was like this, you know, right? And later, when each of those children were born, as they evolved in their life, they expressed a lot of that same thing that she indicated, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:33 So what she could feel while they were on the inside, and what I could see when they were outside, was that they were... not only different from each other, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:33 Highlight the passage at 1:10:33

1:10:46 that they were already very largely formed as a being. wasn't a matter of them having to be taught to be a certain way. They had a certain, I think for me the best word is a predisposition. They had certain predispositions. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:46 Highlight the passage at 1:10:46

1:11:06 And so the more I was exposed to ideas about the continuity of consciousness, And the more I was exposed to the teachings on karma, that the actions that we do have residual effects that can go, that can manifest themselves within one lifetime and from one lifetime to the next, often in the form of predispositions, it suddenly made sense out of what I was seeing. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06 Highlight the passage at 1:11:06

1:11:37 It still didn't convince me, right? Because for me, Being rather hard-headed to be convinced I have to kind of see something directly. Otherwise I can explain it away, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

1:11:56 But all the evidence was pointing in that direction. On top of that, the result of recognizing continuity of consciousness was to pay attention to the behavior because all the behavior of body, speech and mind are leaving impressions. Which will produce the future. The future in this life and the next life and beyond that. And so it behooves one to pay attention to what one is doing and what one is saying and most especially to what's going on in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:56 Highlight the passage at 1:11:56

1:12:38 Because that's what shapes our life and that's what shapes our future. Whereas if... It's true that life starts from nothing at conception or at birth, and then life ends with nothing at death. Then what's the impetus for any kind of moral behavior? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:38 Highlight the passage at 1:12:38

1:13:01 Why do anything? Why avoid what's negative and engage in something that's positive? You can come up with some reasons. But if we're only going to be living on this planet for 50, 60, 70, 80 years or so, and since it's all going to end in nothing, where's the meaning in life? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:31 So all these different ways kind of surrounded or part of my changing attitude. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:44 But the capper to it hasn't yet come. Eventually, in 19... 1984, Lama Yeshe passed away. And in 1985, his reincarnation was recognized as the son of a Spanish couple who built a meditation center for him in Spain. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:44 Highlight the passage at 1:13:44

1:14:10 And then when he was only about a year and a half old, I saw him. And when I saw him for the first time, this little kid, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:10 Highlight the passage at 1:14:10

1:14:26 He had a way of standing and holding himself, which reminded me very, very much of Lama Yeshe. But, again, being hard-headed, it's like, I can't take that as proof. You know, maybe I just wanted to see him as Lama Yeshe, so I just saw him as Lama Yeshe. That's not proof. I wanted him to come up to me and say, Hi, John, nice to see you again. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:26 Highlight the passage at 1:14:26

1:14:55 Would have made some difference. And he did that kind of thing to others. I have a number of friends who told me stories about meeting young Usel, was his name, and Usel almost like continuing conversations that that person had had with Lama Yeshe some years before. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:55 Highlight the passage at 1:14:55

1:15:20 Some extraordinary stories, but not for me. Never did that with me. For all the resemblance and everything, I never had that. So what is my attitude towards rebirth? Do I believe in it? Yes, I believe in it, but I don't know it. You know, it's like the preponderance of what I've investigated and seen and the benefits of looking at things that way and the things that it explained, the preponderance of that makes me very, very much in favor of it now, as opposed to... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:20 Highlight the passage at 1:15:20

1:15:56 Not even having the time of day for it when I was first a student and for many years thereafter. But I don't have the kind of direct seeing of it in which there's some strong, incontrovertible evidence that's right in front of me. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:56 Highlight the passage at 1:15:56

1:16:19 So, yeah, I believe in the continuity of consciousness. It seems to be a workable, the workable basis for living my life to recognize that there are things in me that were planted earlier and that there's things I'm doing now that are planting things for the future and that it's good if I plant good seeds rather than bad seeds because I see the results in people who have all kinds of... Report an error in the passage at 1:16:19 Highlight the passage at 1:16:19

1:16:52 Mental illnesses and so forth and disastrous life experiences which you can't easily explain as the result of something they did in this life, but which are explained in the teachings as the result of something that was done in previous lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:52 Highlight the passage at 1:16:52

1:17:10 So the theory, if we call it that, for me explains a lot more than other theories, but it's still something which is, A work in progress. And Report an error in the passage at 1:17:10 Highlight the passage at 1:17:10

1:17:29 there's something else related to that, and I don't know how I can express it very easily. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:29 Highlight the passage at 1:17:29

1:17:42 There's a number of things in Buddhism which are hard to wrap the mind around if you come from a materialistic Western background. And this is just one of them, right? But there is a number of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:42 Highlight the passage at 1:17:42

1:18:03 In that general category. And I know that there's people who just have such faith in the Lamas that they'll just repeat the party line. Whether they're talking about rebirth or karma or whatever it is, they're talking to other people, they'll just recite what they have learned. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:32 Well, for me, I feel I can't do that. I know the teachings, I can repeat them, and I do repeat them, but I can't do it in this kind of glib fashion. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:18:49 But I've had to work really hard to open my mind to rebirth, reincarnation, continuity of consciousness. It has not come easy to me at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:49 Highlight the passage at 1:18:49

1:19:04 And I think as a result of that, I can anticipate a lot of the difficulties that other students have when they're encountering it in the first place. So it makes me, if I can say it, a better teacher for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:25 Because I'm not teaching from the point of view, oh, this is self-evident truth, so here it is, I lay it out on the platter. No, this is something... That I've really had to chew on for a long, long time. And these are the obstacles that I've run into. And this is the way I've been approaching it. And a lot of people find that much more comfortable way of coming into contact with unusual ideas, rather than hearing it coming like ex cathedra, you know, from the voice of the Holy One, you know, and I'll tell you the truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:25 Highlight the passage at 1:19:25

1:20:01 I've never reacted very well. To receiving teachings that come from that kind of high and mighty position. And I know a lot of other people don't either. So for me, this isn't something that I can speak about on that level of that confident authority. But it is something that I've been working on for a long time. So I feel I know a lot about the ins and the outs of coming to an understanding of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:01 Highlight the passage at 1:20:01

1:20:31 So even though I would have loved for Lama Yesha or any of the other Lamas who have since passed away and have been reincarnated, I would have loved for any of them to come over and recognize me and say, Hi John or something like that. I am appealing about you. Yeah, exactly. That would be delicious. I would like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:31 Highlight the passage at 1:20:31

1:20:54 I think there has been some benefit in... Me having to grind my way through it rather than any kind of shortcut. Oh, it's true. I see it's true. No, I don't see it's true, but I sense deeply that it's true. So maybe there's been some advantage. But I still have hope because there still are some lamas that I've met who have been incarnated that I have not met yet again. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:54 Highlight the passage at 1:20:54

1:21:27 I have not met since. And so maybe in the future if I... Travel again or if they travel I'll run into them and maybe one of them will say hello John. But then again maybe not. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:44 And that's all about the water balls. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:21:53 Actually I'm not sure, I wasn't sure what I was going to do in the session tomorrow morning when it will be very difficult to do anything in the way of real meditation in the atmosphere that's going to be here. But that might be a good time to approach this water bowl situation because it ties into some very, very deep themes in the Buddhist teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:53 Highlight the passage at 1:21:53

1:22:19 And so maybe that, you know, if I think of it and if it seems appropriate, maybe I'll use the water bowl question to get into all of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:33 So for tomorrow that's a... Stay tuned. So that's a definite maybe for tomorrow. A definite maybe. Yeah, you can count on a definitely maybe tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:33 Highlight the passage at 1:22:33

1:22:50 Okay. Great story. Well, you've asked for it, and now you've got it. And we're happy with it. Thank you very much. Thank you for being patient. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:50 Highlight the passage at 1:22:50

1:23:07 When I have occasion to talk about these... It's, uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:23:07 Highlight the passage at 1:23:07

1:23:16 These very profound encounters that I had in my life, it helps bring them back alive again and remind me of why I've stayed in this area and why I've found it beneficial for myself. And so it's your willing ears and your patience. It was really a great gift for me because... It's something that I don't feel comfortable talking about in general with people, but when people have a great interest and they really want to hear more about things like this, then I feel kind of the freedom and the encouragement to start talking about something which is, for me, a deeper level of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:16 Highlight the passage at 1:23:16

1:24:17 I'm talking about really These changes, these inner changes that went on to me, they were totally unexpected. I never expected any of this to happen when I was growing up. Not at all. Not even slightly. And in fact, when I used to hear talk, people talk about, you know, oh, what a wonderful teacher, and I was so inspired by it, and he was radiating light, and his face changed, and this and that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:17 Highlight the passage at 1:24:17

1:24:45 I always used to dismiss it, you know, wishful thinking. And even when it happens to me, my tendency is also to dismiss it. Oh, it's just none of that really happened. I just wanted it to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:45 Highlight the passage at 1:24:45

1:24:59 But when I start reliving all of that by telling the story, the power of it, the reality of it hits me once again. So thank you very much for allowing me to have that experience. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:59 Highlight the passage at 1:24:59

1:25:22 And if there is... Anything to dedicate from all of that? And we can dedicate that just by even a vicarious connection with that kind of encounter with beings who are vibrating on some very human level, but something also beyond the ordinary human level, that we can dedicate that in all of our futures we'll have the good fortune to meet others from whatever tradition they might be in. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:22 Highlight the passage at 1:25:22

1:25:54 Who can introduce us to this deeper, more profound level of what it means to be a human on this planet. Okay? We can dedicate it to that. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:54 Highlight the passage at 1:25:54