BP: Mind and Cognition (18 August 2014)

0:02 You know, I had been giving a talk, I think, a couple months ago, and I had mentioned that it only occurred, it only struck me or impressed me deeply how much are Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:18 the quality of our experience, both good and bad, is very much dependent upon ourselves, our own minds, as opposed to as we generally, you know, locate. Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:33 The source of our happiness and suffering and so forth outside of ourselves. And how someone took me to task for that and said, well, you know, you've been at least a so-called Buddhist for so many years and are you just realizing that? And, you know, I was thinking about that and I sometimes, sometimes I think we have a notion that even in our practice of Buddhism per se. Report an error in the passage at 0:33 Highlight the passage at 0:33

1:08 There's a path laid out. We're going to march down on this journey along coming to the path and coming to some profound realizations and understandings and develop all these wonderful qualities and become a Buddha. So we have a sense, I think, that, at least for myself, and this is sharing some of my preconceptions with you, that growth. Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:37 Mental development, or however you want to describe it, whatever terms you want to use, is kind of a linear process, just marching straight ahead. But I think, according to my kind of neurotic experience, it's a little more like a spiral. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

2:01 It's not quite a closed circle. That's what we call cyclic existence. These reoccurring... Patterns of dissatisfactory experiences. We just keep coming back to the same place. Through practice, I don't think we come back quite to the same place, but similar places. We're able to view them from perhaps a slightly different perspective. We've built up some skills to work with them. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:33 We have some way to... Handle the problem in ways that perhaps we didn't before. It's not as if, what do you say, shit doesn't happen, it does. But there's a certain, perhaps, a resilience, a degree of resilience that perhaps wasn't there before. The problems and their outcomes, the depression or the agitation or the resentment or whatever the state of mind, perhaps doesn't last as long. Report an error in the passage at 2:33 Highlight the passage at 2:33

3:08 It's not as intense, or maybe simply not as frequent. So, you know, we come back to not quite, and I think that's important to see Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:27 the distinction between, you know, we haven't come back quite to the same place, but it may be similar. It may feel in some ways similar, but it's not quite the same. And this kind of notion that we're actually moving. In some kind of overall direction, though in fact tracing the path more like a spiral than something which is moving straight ahead and as if we've left all our problems, that particular problem or that nature or that type of problem behind. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

4:02 So I think overall we Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:13 don't quite experience the difficulties. Exactly the same way. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:23 We've developed some tools, some way of looking, some perspective, some degree of resilience. Something's different. And I think it's really useful. It's encouraging. If you're willing to take a look and see if you can find some difference between how you're handling a similar type of problem now as you did compared to the past. Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:19 There's been some... Report an error in the passage at 4:19 Highlight the passage at 4:19

4:49 This becomes a source of inspiration because there is a difference. You've made a difference, and that has been through your own initiative and taking responsibility. Otherwise, I think we can't keep coming back to the same place, and not much has changed. We keep falling into the same holes again and again and again, even against our better judgment and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

5:24 Even against our will, Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:35 our attitude. Report an error in the passage at 5:35 Highlight the passage at 5:35

5:47 Okay, so you have a way Report an error in the passage at 5:47 Highlight the passage at 5:47

5:59 to reframe the situation. It's much more workable. It doesn't throw you the way it used to. So there's something that we can do, some skills that we've developed along the way, and it makes a difference. And I think, for me at least, I don't know if this is my own. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:19 Looking at my own experience over the years and just kind of sharing it with you, this is the way I view it, the way I perceive it. Report an error in the passage at 6:19 Highlight the passage at 6:19

6:32 And I think we can relax a little bit. Sometimes we can lapse into a sense of helplessness. Oh, here it comes again. As if we were that same person that we were back then. But we don't notice that we have... That we are able to relate to the situation however it is. Reframing, a different attitude, some skill of mine. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

7:02 But something's different. And we, I think it's terribly useful to bring that difference. A difference which will make a difference. I think that's the way, I think that's really useful. How am I different? This is a similar problem that I had a couple, I remember this came up. For me, just six months ago, or three months ago, a year ago, how am I handling this situation differently? Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:35 Or am I? Maybe you aren't. But at least try to make that kind of distinction. And then I think it Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:50 adds some kind of inspiration because we feel some confidence in what we're doing because we can notice change. At the bottom most, In the basic most, I think Buddhism is about change, direct to change. We're moving in a direction, but the mode of moving, how we're moving in that direction, might be rather than completely linear as we might wish it to be or we might anticipate it to be, but it might be something more like a spiral. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:26 So this direction that we're moving, I think we can encapsulate it into two domains. No, no, no. The affective aspect of ourselves, the feeling, how we relate, the emotions, but also how we view, how we see, how we think about the world and so forth. So we're trying to change the ways that we feel and the ways that we look upon people and situations, things about us and ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

9:03 So we're developing wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:08 And if you like, compassion. Just using that in a very general sense. That quality of kindness. Developing wise hearts and kind minds, if you like. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:24 So the inner focus of this process is, we call it Buddha. So this is kind of a model that we can work toward. A happy, healthy, loving, sane human being. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:42 And we need to... Wishing it were so is not sufficient. Sincerity is not enough. We actually have to do something to help ourselves, to take the responsibility. And that involves working with the methods, the trainings, the techniques and so forth. These teachings, even though they might appear and feel rather abstract at times, they have some bearing on how we're going to... Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:22 Understand the nature of our path and our own minds. And then this occurs within the social context of a spiritual community. Report an error in the passage at 10:22 Highlight the passage at 10:22

10:35 That we aren't alone in this process. That mental health is a social phenomenon. It arises in relationship. And we can learn, we can explore and experiment with other ways of being. Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:56 In this kind of context, I think there's a certain safety. It allows us certain possibilities which maybe otherwise aren't available to ourselves. Maybe we don't have to be quite as defensive. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:14 I'm not okay and you're not okay, but that's okay. That's the human condition. There's nothing unique about any of us. It kind of normalizes the human dilemma. Which we are all involved in. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:37 Our differences amongst ourselves. Differences in gender, differences in ages perhaps. Differences in ages. Economics and maybe education and so forth. Those in a way are rather superficial differences which we aren't particularly attending to. There's something deeper that's more deserving our attention. Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

12:06 The fact that we're all human beings who want to be happy and don't want to suffer. That's our shared commonality amongst ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:19 So we come together to help ourselves, like a group effort. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:27 What do they say? It takes a community. It takes a saṅgha to create a Buddha. How's that? Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:40 And we try to raise the love of our motivation, the why behind and the purpose for. it, it, it, you know, it could. Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

12:46 I think if we're honest and realistic, most of our efforts are in terms of our self-interest. That's the reality most of us are concerned with at present. And that's fine. I think that's understandable and I think that's a good place to begin to acknowledge that. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

13:07 But we don't have to necessarily leave it at that. We can begin to understand that the more I am, the more I have to give. Report an error in the passage at 13:07 Highlight the passage at 13:07

13:17 Otherwise our contribution to the world might be simply further chaos, even with the best of intentions. So we can come here together and try to learn and develop. And the more I am, the more I'm in it, even if it's limited to, and I'm not, I think it's significant a lot to say just to my family, just to someone outside of my own ego boundaries, my own self-centeredness that I'd like to be for there, be for there, be for. Report an error in the passage at 13:17 Highlight the passage at 13:17

13:49 In such a way that maybe a little more understanding, a little more kinder, a little more patient. In some way I wasn't able to be there for them in the past, but I'd like to be there for them in a more significant way in the future. Maybe it's your partner, maybe it's your parent or child. I'm doing this in part for you, that other person. And maybe we can make, you know, once we become accustomed to that sense, that feeling, then we can begin to... Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:20 Broaden it. We can add maybe another person and another person. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

14:30 There's no reason why we can't. Everything becomes easier upon accustoming the mind. There's no reason why we can't. Report an error in the passage at 14:30 Highlight the passage at 14:30

14:44 Then I think our life has, even if we, our life has meaning, great purpose, it's valuable, it's worth the hassle. Otherwise, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 14:44 Highlight the passage at 14:44

15:04 So, okay, shall we formalize this notion of going for refuge and adjusting our motivation? Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:18 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:47 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. Report an error in the passage at 15:47 Highlight the passage at 15:47

16:15 May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:26 So if you'd like to stand up and stretch and we'll sit together. So Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

17:21 taking a comfortable but firm posture. And Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:34 we'll begin by getting in touch with our bodies, relaxing, Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

17:42 bringing our awareness to the crown of our head. First, imagining or actually feeling the wrinkles in our brow, in our forehead, smoothing out. Report an error in the passage at 17:42 Highlight the passage at 17:42

17:58 The pressure in and around our eyes diminishing. The Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:10 muscles of the face softening, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:21 Your tongue is soft, jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 18:21 Highlight the passage at 18:21

18:32 Bringing your awareness to the back of your neck and perhaps gently turning your head to each side a few times. Gently loosening, stretching. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:43 The muscles of the back of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 18:43 Highlight the passage at 18:43

18:58 bringing your awareness down to your upper back and shoulders and perhaps drawing your shoulders up toward your ears and circling them to the back and down to the front, just rotating your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 18:58 Highlight the passage at 18:58

19:30 Eventually returning your shoulders back up toward your ears and just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides and with that the feeling of some kind of burden or weight that you may have. Unknowingly been carrying around on your back over the course of the day, moving down and through your body to the ground. A feeling of relief. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

20:09 Your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 20:09 Highlight the passage at 20:09

20:19 Boxing your lower arms. Report an error in the passage at 20:19 Highlight the passage at 20:19

20:36 Your chest is at ease. The Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

20:50 heart area, the central space of the chest and Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:03 of the back. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:18 And releasing the tension we often hold on our stomach muscles. Just allowing your body. Belly to go soft. Report an error in the passage at 21:18 Highlight the passage at 21:18

21:53 And keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscles in Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:22 the pelvic region, your Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

23:08 feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:25 So scanning through the body once again from the crown down through the central portion of the body. And as you move through the body, paying particular attention to any tightnesses, tension with Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:51 your awareness to wherever the tightness is being held. Even if in fact the breath doesn't go there, just imagine it does, suffusing that area with the breath of awareness. And then as if breathing out from that same area, and with that out breath, Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:10 imagining, actually feeling the tightness loosen, the tension diminish, some release, only slightly. So breathing into all those various areas of tightness and tension, breathing out from those areas. Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

· · · silence, 1 minute

25:05 So there's the overall impression, That with each out-breath, the body is sinking deeper and deeper into a state of relaxation, of calm, of ease, of comfort. It's a nice place to be in the body. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

26:28 Extended ease. I Report an error in the passage at 26:28 Highlight the passage at 26:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:43 invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:50 And just now, when you became aware of your breath, when you attended, there was a physical sensation which indicated to you that you were breathing in. Wherever that sensation is most clear and obvious. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:12 And just lightly rest your attention on that sensation. Focus your awareness. And if it's helpful, you can supplement observing the breath by counting the breath. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:28 Now at one and now at two and so forth. And Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

· · · silence, 7 minutes

35:25 we're going to shift the focus of our awareness to an object other than the breath, the sensation of the body, perhaps the pressure of your buttocks on the chair. On the cushion, perhaps your hands in your lap, whatever is predominant, just your attention to a sensation of the body other than the sensation of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

35:56 Sensation, focusing your awareness on sensation. Report an error in the passage at 35:56 Highlight the passage at 35:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

37:00 And again, we'll shift our attention, this time to the sounds around us. So we're going to focus our awareness on sound. We're going to listen. What Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:13 sounds can we Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

38:15 shift in our attention? This time, we're going to turn our awareness inward to the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 38:15 Highlight the passage at 38:15

38:25 The thoughts passing through, but also the states of mind. The mind is restless. Maybe there's a pleasurable feeling, an unpleasurable feeling, some type of emotion. Report an error in the passage at 38:25 Highlight the passage at 38:25

38:43 All the objects and states of mind. We're going to watch the mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:43 Highlight the passage at 38:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

39:52 And then finally we're going to allow the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends toward. Maybe it naturally tends toward the sensation of the breath or some physical sensation, maybe a sound, maybe thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:08 In a very gentle and relaxed manner, see if you can maintain a degree of awareness, a sense of watchfulness. Report an error in the passage at 40:08 Highlight the passage at 40:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

41:32 Bring your mind back to the breath, the easy, gentle, in that flow of the natural. What Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

· · · silence, 2 minutes

43:49 I like to do is to break up into small discussion groups, maybe Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

43:59 six and six, six, six, I said 13. How about three groups, four, four and... Report an error in the passage at 43:59 Highlight the passage at 43:59

44:15 And just introduce yourself. And what I'd like for you to do is just go over quiz answers one, okay, and see if there's any doubts or questions that come up from going through that. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:30 So I think you all have quiz answer one, Report an error in the passage at 44:30 Highlight the passage at 44:30

44:38 so you can self-select. Report an error in the passage at 44:38 Highlight the passage at 44:38

44:46 Does everybody have quiz answer one? And Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

44:55 maybe you can test each other just to make sure. Report an error in the passage at 44:55 Highlight the passage at 44:55

· · · silence, 2 minutes

46:53 There's probably a great deal of similarities, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:06 Middle grade school? No. Maybe we can talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 47:06 Highlight the passage at 47:06

47:16 Okay. Yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:22 We'll talk about that. Report an error in the passage at 47:22 Highlight the passage at 47:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:16 That's Report an error in the passage at 48:16 Highlight the passage at 48:16

48:20 good. Report an error in the passage at 48:20 Highlight the passage at 48:20

· · · silence, 7 minutes

55:39 So take a couple more minutes. If you round out your conversation, Report an error in the passage at 55:39 Highlight the passage at 55:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

56:34 it wouldn't be quite... Ask the question. It wouldn't be quite accurate. There's a little bit of flaw there. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

56:48 Let's get together and talk. Let's talk about it. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

57:28 So with regard to the first of the homework questions about which of the tenets. So we said a tenet was like a philosophic school. The Buddha didn't teach tenets, but his subsequent yogis and scholars and so forth organized his teachings Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:49 Systematize them according to similarities. And these became later known as either schools or we call them tenants. And generally it's the entire collection of the Buddhist teachings can be organized into four philosophic schools. And these are the four tenants mentioned here. So there was some question around... Report an error in the passage at 57:49 Highlight the passage at 57:49

58:20 Are there questions around that? Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:32 There's nothing clean about Buddhism. The tenets, you can divide Mahāyāna and what we call it. Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

58:44 I guess we have to, the terms, you know, there's the term Mahāyāna and Henayana, which means great vehicle and lesser vehicle. And I know the Dalai Lama has suggested that rather than using the word lesser vehicle, we use the word like hearer vehicle or bodhicitta vehicle and hearer vehicle. The reason we say that is because historically the notion, this kind of distinction was something, Hinayana was something of a perjogative. Report an error in the passage at 58:44 Highlight the passage at 58:44

59:18 It was kind of a put down because the Mahāyāna thought, Of themselves as rather superior in some way, or some individuals did at least, to those who were, you know, I had this great aspiration to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 59:18 Highlight the passage at 59:18

59:41 As opposed to you guys, who are just in it for your own good, for your own sake. So this notion of solitary realization, achieving one's own passive peace. For oneself alone, became associated with particular schools, groupings of practitioners. And they became, they were called, as a way of a put down, panayana. So it's not a very useful term. Report an error in the passage at 59:41 Highlight the passage at 59:41

1:00:18 It doesn't really have all that much meaning in a way. It's not a very... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:23 The Dalai Lama said maybe it's better to say the bodhisattva vehicle than the hearer vehicle. Okay, hearer vehicle. A hearer is the type of practitioner who hears the teachings on the means of achieving complete Buddhahood. We're getting into a very kind of theoretic doctrine here. but that's all I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:52 It might be of interest, I don't know, but it's just doctrine. A hero would hear the teachings on how to achieve highest Buddhahood, but would not put them into practice. They would simply hear them. They would put into practice the teachings which would lead to solitary liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:15 So there's a distinction between theoretically achieving full, Awakening of a Buddha and achieving what is called an arhat, a photo story, achieving personal liberation. There's a distinction between those two achievements, those two states. Some people might achieve, so the Mahāyāna was associated with the aspiration to achieve complete Buddhahood. Just as Shakyamuna Buddha, we can achieve that same state. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:50 No difference whatsoever. There are others who would say, That's too hard. I just want to achieve personal liberation. I want to end my suffering. Theoretically there are these different motivations and the means of achieving those two different ends and there are two distinct achievements or states. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:15 One is generally called Mahāyāna and the other is called Hinayana. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:22 I don't think it makes... because, you know, it... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:22 Highlight the passage at 1:02:22

1:02:30 No, but that's the problem. It became associated with Theravāda. But see, within the Theravāda, the Theravāda also teaches a Bodhisattva path. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:30 Highlight the passage at 1:02:30

1:02:44 I mean, within the, for example, the birth stories of the Buddha, which are accepted within the Theravadan tradition, the Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, was a Bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:44 Highlight the passage at 1:02:44

1:03:00 Practice over an extensive period of time and achieve complete awakening. They say that path exists, but they say that path, the individual who can achieve that path, is extremely rare. And for an ordinary individual, the goal is to achieve solitary liberation. So there is the bodhicitta path, but it's generally not talked about a great deal, even within Theravāda. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

1:03:31 Really, practically speaking, it doesn't have all that much meaning. Because I spent, in my own personal experience, I spent a year in Thailand as a monk. And these Theravāda masters were as compassionate, if not many more compassionate than many of the people who say, well, I'm a Mahayanist. I'm trying to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:31 Highlight the passage at 1:03:31

1:04:01 not too... I wouldn't be told to put too much weight in these names that have been developed over time. They might have had historical significance, but in practicality they don't have all that much meaning. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:18 Okay, having said that, then the question was, so what can be a Mahayanist or a Hinayanist, a lesser vehicle, from the point of view of either tenets or practice? So in terms of practice, what is the goal of your practice? As I just mentioned, the goal of your practice can be achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, or your goal of your practice can be to achieve solitary liberation for oneself alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:47 So that's by way of practice. By way of tenet, generally the Hinayana would assume... Practice either the tenet of the Great Exposition School or the Sūtra School, the two lower tenets. Whereas the Mahāyāna was associated with the two higher tenets. Well, what they call higher tenets, at least. Mind-only school and middle-way school. That's in general, roughly speaking. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:47 Highlight the passage at 1:04:47

1:05:21 There are technical exceptions to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:21 Highlight the passage at 1:05:21

1:05:33 Personal. In solitary literature, same thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33 Highlight the passage at 1:05:33

1:05:48 Depends on who you're talking to. No, see, I mean, there's a difference in tenets and different ways. You know, when we come next year, we're going to study tenets. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:48 Highlight the passage at 1:05:48

1:06:02 According to Heniana tenets, a person who achieves arhat, what's called a photostoy, personal liberation, at the time of their death, their continuum ceases. They go out of existence just like a candle flame blown out. That's according to their tenets. So according to Mahāyāna, our continuum never ceases. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:02 Highlight the passage at 1:06:02

1:06:28 It will never go out of existence. Even the Buddha's continuum continues to exist, even after death. So there's a difference in ten... Yeah, I mean, the Dalai Lama said... If he thought the end of the spiritual path was cosmic suicide, he'd rather not get involved in it. But these are just theoretics. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:28 Highlight the passage at 1:06:28

1:06:53 They really don't have a great deal of practical application for us. So let's not get too hung up in them. Okay, so I don't know if that helps a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:53 Highlight the passage at 1:06:53

1:07:14 Mind-only school? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:14 Highlight the passage at 1:07:14

1:07:33 So they would say, yeah, so they would accept most of what we're talking about, but the mind-owning school is just as its name suggests. They would say everything is in the nature of mind. This flower is in the nature of mind. It arises as an appearance from a disposition, a karmic seed in the mind. The middle-way school knows that it exists external to the mind. So it's a matter of whether you accept external phenomena or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:33 Highlight the passage at 1:07:33

1:08:02 So the Minority School doesn't accept external phenomena. Everything's like a dream. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:02 Highlight the passage at 1:08:02

1:08:18 To say they're external doesn't mean they're independent. They depend upon mind, but they're external to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:18 Highlight the passage at 1:08:18

1:08:32 How does it happen? But they're dependent upon the mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:32 Highlight the passage at 1:08:32

1:08:44 Yeah, they're dependent upon like a flower grows from a seed. uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:44 Highlight the passage at 1:08:44

1:08:51 And the existence of that seed is not dependent upon my mind. So it arises from its own causes and conditions. The fact that it Report an error in the passage at 1:08:51 Highlight the passage at 1:08:51

1:09:12 is not in the nature of the mind. It exists as matter, not mind. So at that kind of analysis, we accept a certain dualism between... Consciousness and matter. Whereas in mind-only schools, it's ammonism. There's only consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:42 How can things be external yet dependent upon the mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:42 Highlight the passage at 1:09:42

1:09:56 Everything is dependent upon the mind. This is in the middle-way school. That's kind of... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:56 Highlight the passage at 1:09:56

1:10:08 Yeah, I'll just answer your question and we'll go ahead. Everything is dependent on the mind because everything is dependent upon language and conceptuality, on language and conceptuality. Without language and conceptuality, nothing exists. But that's not to say that it is language and conceptuality. It's one of the necessary, one thing that's necessary. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:08 Highlight the passage at 1:10:08

1:10:34 For example, you know, a baby is, A baby is born. And the parents say, well, let's call the baby John. And so subsequently it's known as John. So John is a human being. It has a body and mind. But the existence of John is dependent upon the language, the term John, and being thought of as John. So John's existence depends upon being... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:34 Highlight the passage at 1:10:34

1:11:08 Thought of as John and the term John. So it's dependent upon language and conceptuality, but it is not, it's not, it exists external to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:08 Highlight the passage at 1:11:08

1:11:21 Yeah, we're going to go into that a lot. That's very important. That's very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:21 Highlight the passage at 1:11:21

1:11:44 It doesn't exist apart from our thinking of it as a flower. Yeah, exactly, yeah, from its own side. It's from its own side. There's no flower by the way of its very nature itself. It rises independent upon its causes, conditions, its parts, but most importantly on language and conceptuality. But that's the middle way school. We're not dealing with that now. Here at the Satantraga school, the Sūtra school, things exist out there independent of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:44 Highlight the passage at 1:11:44

1:12:25 Our minds are like a mirror, simply a passive observer. The mind is like a mirror and objects cast their image and we reflect that image. That's what we call knowing. In the middle way school, it's a participatory universe. The things co-emerge with our consciousness. just Report an error in the passage at 1:12:25 Highlight the passage at 1:12:25

1:12:52 The process of knowing brings forth objects into existence. So there's an element of mind involved. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:03 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03 Highlight the passage at 1:13:03

1:13:10 So you've got a reflection of a mirror. Yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:10 Highlight the passage at 1:13:10

1:13:22 So we're working with the Sūtra School. The Sūtra School, things exist independent of mind. They're out there. They truly exist, inherently exist from their own side. And we simply are. We're very much, you know, this way of viewing reality is such that we are passive observers and things are casting their image and we come to know them. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:22 Highlight the passage at 1:13:22

1:13:46 We aren't involved in, our minds are not involved in their creation. This is kind of a platform we're using to further develop our understanding. You know, remember I said like rungs on a ladder? So first we try to understand this rung of the ladder. Anybody? Any questions? The second question? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:14:14 Objects. Okay. Yeah, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:26 Okay. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:26 Highlight the passage at 1:14:26

1:14:35 Okay. It's necessarily an appearing object. Okay. Why? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:35 Highlight the passage at 1:14:35

1:14:45 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:45 Highlight the passage at 1:14:45

1:14:58 Okay. Good. Well, star. So everything which exists... We're gonna, we're gonna, we're not going. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:15:05 Is an appearing object either to a direct perceiver or a thought consciousness? So what is the appearing object for a direct perceiver in general? The appearing object, question number three, appearing object, just number four, appearing object of a direct perceiver is necessarily Report an error in the passage at 1:15:05 Highlight the passage at 1:15:05

1:15:42 The appearing object of a direct receiver is synonymous with? Question number four, impermanence. Whatever is an impermanent phenomena is necessarily the appearing object of a direct receiver. Whatever is the appearing object of a direct receiver is necessarily impermanent. Flowers, tables, sound, tastes, all these various impermanent phenomena are the appearing object of a direct receiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:16:17 They are not the appearing object of a thought consciousness. Why? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:27 The appearing object of a thought consciousness isn't necessarily permanent. This flower is not the appearing object of a thought consciousness. What is the appearing object of a thought consciousness apprehending flower? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:27 Highlight the passage at 1:16:27

1:16:39 The mental image of the flower. And that's permanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:16:46 It doesn't disintegrate from moment to moment. This is the meaning of permanence within Buddhists. Logic will say. It doesn't mean it has a beginning or end. It means whether it changes momentarily. Okay? So it's like an idea of a triangle. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:46 Highlight the passage at 1:16:46

1:17:12 Or the idea of your, yeah, it doesn't change. Or the idea of the sound, it doesn't degenerate. It doesn't need to be, you know, like the mental image of your mother doesn't need lots of food. I go, you know, it's, it's. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:12 Highlight the passage at 1:17:12

1:17:26 Water and clothing and things. It's fixed. It's permanent. It's static. It's unchanging. You could drop it. You could get more information or change your mental image of your mother, which happens a lot. And you drop that and you have another one. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:49 Fading memory. So Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:17:55 it's your ability to go back to your data bank. And draw out those mental images deteriorates. But that mental image is still permanent. But your ability to go back and bring it out to consciousness is being lost, is deteriorating. The mental image is permanent, but your ability to draw it out of consciousness is not permanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:55 Highlight the passage at 1:17:55

1:18:28 Yeah, the mental image of your childhood. When you were, you know, and so forth. That's permanent. It's unchanging. It's static. It's fixed. But your ability to recall it, that is to say, to go back into your unconscious and to bring it to awareness, that could deteriorate. That could be lost. That ability is impermanent. But what's being drawn out, the mental image, is permanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:26 But we, we, we. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

1:19:41 I think that might be how tightly you're holding on to that particular image. Because as we learn about those things, we're going to talk about how these mental images are established. As we gather information, we refine the mental image. So the mental image that we're using isn't going to be fixed forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:41 Highlight the passage at 1:19:41

1:20:09 And how do we form? It's quite an interesting process. So how tightly we hold to that. I mean, you might fixate that this is the way I am and really hold tightly to that. But that's just a matter of how tightly you're holding to that particular mental image. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:09 Highlight the passage at 1:20:09

1:20:43 Oh, but just that, yeah. But Jampa isn't, but yeah. But a mental image is, yeah. A mental image is quite, it's much more, it's very complex. It has. Feelings and associations and so forth. Jampa is just not, I mean, what do you mean by Jampa? Jampa is this person with his qualities and he does this. So it's a very complex set of characteristics that you're holding to. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:43 Highlight the passage at 1:20:43

1:21:14 But I see what you mean. That's a good point. It's an interesting subject, how we form these images. It makes a difference, I guess is what we're saying. Does that help any? What's the direct receiver apprehending the smell of a flower? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:46 The direct receiver apprehending the smell of the flower. What is the appearing object? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:46 Highlight the passage at 1:21:46

1:21:55 What is the object of engagement? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:55 Highlight the passage at 1:21:55

1:22:02 What is the determined object? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:02 Highlight the passage at 1:22:02

1:22:12 The nose consciousness apprehending the smell of a flower. What is the determined object? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:23 Anybody? Do you agree? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:41 So there's no determined object. Determined object is, just as the name implies, there's some kind of judgment or distinction being made. And sense consciousness is like eye consciousness, no consciousness. They don't make this kind of distinction. They aren't making distinctions or judgments. Only conceptual thought consciousness do that. So there's no determined object. What is the appearing object of the thought consciousness apprehending sound? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:41 Highlight the passage at 1:22:41

1:23:12 The appearing object of the thought consciousness apprehending sound. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:12 Highlight the passage at 1:23:12

1:23:21 It's like when you remember a song. You hear a song in your head. You're using mental images of sound or mental images of smell. People become very refined and make these kinds of distinctions. What is the object of engagement of a thought conscious and apprehending sound of falling water? Report an error in the passage at 1:23:21 Highlight the passage at 1:23:21

1:23:55 What's the determined object? Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:55 Highlight the passage at 1:23:55

1:24:05 The determined object and the object of engagement are what the mind is actually involving itself in. What it's actually getting at. So thought consciousness is apprehending flower. What's it really understanding? What's it getting at? It's understanding a flower. How's it doing that? By way of the mental image of a flower. So it's not a direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:05 Highlight the passage at 1:24:05

1:24:30 It's understanding the object by way of its idea about the object, its mental image of the object. Okay? I know we're getting there. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:30 Highlight the passage at 1:24:30

1:24:43 Any questions before we go on to the new material? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:43 Highlight the passage at 1:24:43

1:25:01 I would say, you know, these terms aren't nailed down too tightly. I would say it's the same. We can use concept, idea, mental image. The technical term, if you literally translate to Tibetan, which is dunci, is generic, meaning generality. Meaning generality. Okay? Another word, representation, a mental representation. So these are all a mental construct. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:37 You could possibly use that, mental representation. Something which is similar to the object, appears similar, but is not the object. But we're using that to understand the object. So something for us, a symbol, a representation, a model, a mental image, lots of possibilities. By means of which we're able to understand an object. Okay? So if we look on page 10, so we're going to move, we're just moving right along here. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:37 Highlight the passage at 1:25:37

1:26:15 So we said objects in all of existences can be divided into two. There are objects and object possessors. Okay? So we can divide existences in a variety of ways. This is just one particular way because we... Are interested in the study of mind. So we looked at objects from the point of view of mind, consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:15 Highlight the passage at 1:26:15

1:26:40 We could understand objects from many, many different points of view. We could divide it according to what usage we're going to make out of this division. Here, since we're studying mind, we're looking at objects from the point of view of mind or consciousness. So we talk about appearing objects. We talk about... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:40 Highlight the passage at 1:26:40

1:26:59 The object of engagement, and we talk about the determined object, simply because we're really interested in mind at this point. It's just a way of organizing all things for the sake of understanding how our minds are operating better. So here we say, well, there are objects, and then there are object possessors, subjects. And here it says a thing that possesses its respective object. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:59 Highlight the passage at 1:26:59

1:27:27 So that's the idea. A thing that possesses its respective object. And it's divided into three. Persons, awarenesses and expressive sounds. So all of these three are things that possess their respective objects. They're all object possessors. I see the flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:27:48 Okay, I'm a subject. The object that I'm perceiving is a flower. I can make that kind of statement. so we're just a very I don't know how much meaning we can put into it, but it's just a way of dividing object possessors. And we can define persons, awarenesses and expressive sounds. So we're mainly interested in awarenesses. So the vast majority, 99 % of what we're going to talk about is in terms of awarenesses, but it's mentioning two other possibilities in terms of... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:48 Highlight the passage at 1:27:48

1:28:28 Object possessors. We can talk about persons being object possessors because they are subjects and they have objects. I can think about what I did yesterday and so forth. And expressive sounds. Sound refers to some object, a term. The term dog refers to something that wags its tail and barks and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28:28

1:28:52 You can actually find its object. So it's an object possessor. But we will look at that. But 99 % of what we're concerned with is really concerned with this second division. But it does give the definition of a person. It's not a great definition, but it's a definition. A being imputed independence upon any of the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:16 A being imputed independence upon any of the five aggregates. The notion or the tool of the five aggregates is extremely important in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:16 Highlight the passage at 1:29:16

1:29:27 It's one way of dividing our experience. We talked about the five aggregates in stages of the past last term. We probably talked about it very briefly. We'll go into it in great detail. What are the five aggregates? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:54 Forms. We can just say the body. Just roughly speaking. The body. Ain't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:30:02 They say form, feelings. There are lots of different terms for this third one, different perceptions. Some people call it perceptions. Some people call it discriminations. Some people call it perceptions. I use the word discriminations. This is this. This is good. This is bad. This type of thought process. This is a flower. This is such and such. That kind of thought process which discriminates. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:02 Highlight the passage at 1:30:02

1:30:31 In other words, recognition. Recognition, perception, discrimination. That's the third aggregate. The fourth aggregate is this also has different possibilities. Generally in the tradition, in Theravāda they would use the word volition or volitional formations. We generally use the term compositional factors. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:31 Highlight the passage at 1:30:31

1:30:58 Compositional factors. It's a grab bag full of all kinds of stuff. Anything which isn't in the others is in the aggregate. An aggregate is lots of bits of stuff bundled together into a category. And then the fifth is consciousness. It's just a way of breaking down our experience. All of our experience can be explained in terms of these five aggregates. We're either experiencing forms or experiencing feelings or discriminations. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:58 Highlight the passage at 1:30:58

1:31:29 Something within these compositional factors like various mental factors of love and anger and so forth are included in there or consciousness. The being imputed to any of these five advocates. So we just talked about what we just gave an example. You know, a baby is born. So impute simply means to designate. So independence upon the form. You know, when you see, when I see somebody coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:29 Highlight the passage at 1:31:29

1:31:59 Independence upon their form, I say, oh, here comes John. So I'm imputing John to that form. My consciousness does not apprehend John. It only apprehends colors and shapes. That's all it can apprehend. John is not color and shape. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:59 Highlight the passage at 1:31:59

1:32:22 But independence upon John's body, I can think, oh, here comes John. The being that's imputed and depends upon any of the five aggregates. It depends upon the aggregative form. I can impute. I can think. Here comes John. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:22 Highlight the passage at 1:32:22

1:32:44 Self, I, person, and being are synonymous. So this is self, I, person, I am a person, self, you, I, being are synonymous terms. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:44 Highlight the passage at 1:32:44

1:33:02 Any question about that? This is kind of a... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:02 Highlight the passage at 1:33:02

1:33:16 Okay, now we come to actually the crux of where we're in the area that we're really trying to study is awarenesses. First, there is a definition of awareness, which is a knower, which isn't, you know, that doesn't really tell us all that much in a way. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:16 Highlight the passage at 1:33:16

1:33:36 But it does, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:36 Highlight the passage at 1:33:36

1:33:43 you know, awareness, knower and consciousness are synonymous terms. awarenesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:33:48 I don't like the translation of awareness, but anyway, that's not important. Awareness, knower, consciousness are synonymous. So it does give the definition of consciousness. That's why I'd like to talk a little bit about that, about that which is clear in knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:48 Highlight the passage at 1:33:48

1:34:10 I think it's really – we talked about this last week, didn't we? What do we mean by knowing? What do we mean by consciousness? It's really, I think – You know, that's... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:21 For me, it's really tough to wrap my minds around it when I try to really understand. It's so close that we aren't able to see it in a way. We're always conscious, aren't we? But to say, well, what do I mean when I say I'm conscious? So clear and knowing. So there's two primary characteristics or two properties. So there are various, as always, there are various interpretations of what the word clear means here. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:21 Highlight the passage at 1:34:21

1:34:52 And I'll just give you some ideas of what this word clear means. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:52 Highlight the passage at 1:34:52

1:35:01 So clear or clarity refers to the mental activity of producing a mental object. Mental activity always involves an object. Without an object, there's no subject, is there? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:01 Highlight the passage at 1:35:01

1:35:24 So mental activity always involves an object. Consciousness is an object possessor. It necessarily has an object. So we don't just see, but we see a sight. We just don't smell, we smell an odor. So there's always an object involved in any mental activity. It's always an object possessor. So when we feel, we feel a feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:24 Highlight the passage at 1:35:24

1:36:01 It might be a pleasant feeling. It might be an unpleasant feeling. It might be a neutral feeling. But when we think a thought, you know, when we think, we think a thought. That's the object of our thinking. That is the object of that mental activity. So each moment of our experience entails the arising of the appearing of an object. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:01 Highlight the passage at 1:36:01

1:36:26 There's always something which is appearing. There's always an object. With regard to our minds as a subject. So mental objects include sights and sounds and smells and tastes and tactile sensations. It might be a dream, it might be a thought, feelings, emotions. So these are all objects, mental objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:53 So when we see a sight, what's actually happening? We see an image on our retina. The light hits that flower and is reflected and activates the rods and cones on the back of our eye. Certain cells are sensitive to certain frequencies of light. They're activated by certain frequencies of light. And when they're activated, they send an impulse to the brain. So we don't see the object itself, do we? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:53 Highlight the passage at 1:36:53

1:37:35 I mean, it sounds strange to talk that way. And it looks like we're seeing something out there. But we're seeing the activation of impulses upon our retina, patterns. So our consciousness gives rise only to the sight. It doesn't give rise to the object that it's seeing. It gives rise to the sight. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:35 Highlight the passage at 1:37:35

1:38:08 Okay? did it. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:08 Highlight the passage at 1:38:08

1:38:10 My conscious doesn't cause the arising of that flower. But in dependence upon my eye conscious, it gives rise. My eye conscious is able to give rise to sight of the flower. So there are three things operating here. This is going to come a little bit later. I'm just going to mention in passing. When three elements come together, or three factors come together, there's... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:10 Highlight the passage at 1:38:10

1:38:41 There's a moment of consciousness. There's an object. And there's a sense faculty. Like, for example, the eye organ or the retina of the eye. So there's an object. We'll say the flower. There's a moment of consciousness. And there's what we call a sense media or a sense faculty, sometimes called sense power. When these three factors come together, There arises a sense consciousness apprehending flower. There's it. Okay. Each moment of our experience entails the arising of the appearance of an object. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:39:31 In reliance upon these three conditions, coming together, an eye conscious apprehending a flower is generated. If any of those are not present, if the flower is not present, an eye conscious apprehending a flower cannot arise. If there's no previous moment of consciousness, an eye consciousness apprehending a flower cannot arise. If you close your eyes, if you damaged your eyes, an eye consciousness apprehending a flower cannot arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:31 Highlight the passage at 1:39:31

1:40:01 So it's independent upon these three conditions, specifically, that an eye consciousness apprehending a flower can arise. So what we're seeing is an image on our retina. We are... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:30 Our consciousness does not produce the object. It produces the sight of the object, for example, the eye consciousness. Sight only exists in the context of being seen by consciousness, whereas objects exist whether or not they're seen or not. Just because if I look in the mirror and there's a pimple in my nose and I cover it with cream, the pimple doesn't go away. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:30 Highlight the passage at 1:40:30

1:41:01 But my experience, my consciousness seeing the pimple goes away. The only thing that's vanished is my experience of seeing the pimple on my nose. The pimple hasn't vanished. That pimple doesn't depend upon. My seeing of the pimple depends upon my consciousness. But that pimple doesn't depend upon the high consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:01 Highlight the passage at 1:41:01

1:41:28 I don't know if that's a very good example or not. Anyway. So here, this is what we mean. Here in the sūtra school, this tennis system, objects are casting. There's something out there, and it's casting its image toward my consciousness. And that consciousness is like a mirror. It merely reflects an aspect. It arises in the aspect of the image which is being cast at it. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:28 Highlight the passage at 1:41:28

1:41:57 So here, clarity, one interpretation of this word clear. It means the mirror-like quality of the consciousness. That is its ability to reflect an object. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:57 Highlight the passage at 1:41:57

1:42:13 What clear here has a sense of it's non-obstructive. It's the ability for the consciousness to arise in a mental aspect of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:41 It's like if we had a piece of... here, I don't know if this will work. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:42:51 If we had a piece of glass, a clear piece of glass, we laid it on this red cloth. That clearness of the glass would allow that glass to take on the aspect of redness, wouldn't it? It would appear red. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:51 Highlight the passage at 1:42:51

1:43:15 This is what the word clarity is trying to get at here, or clear. That it facilitates or allows... that's, that, that, that, uh, that, uh... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:15 Highlight the passage at 1:43:15

1:43:22 The consciousness to take on the aspect of the object which is being cast toward it. It's non-obstructive, like space. Pardon? Yeah, it allows for that. Yeah, that's right. It allows for that aspect to arise in our consciousness. Just like, yeah. Okay? So that's one interpretation of the word clarity. I don't know. Does that make a bit of sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:22 Highlight the passage at 1:43:22

1:43:53 Clarity. You know, it's like... It's a container which allows, like smoke can arise, like the space. Like you go outside or something. Yeah, you go outside. The space allows for the rain to fall through it. It facilitates that. Or birds to fly through or smoke within that container. So we have that property of clarity facilitates the ability. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:27 Of an image to arise within it, within consciousness. So the second meaning of clarity is that the mind is non-physical. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:27 Highlight the passage at 1:44:27

1:44:40 There's a lot of discussion or I guess debate in neuroscience and so forth around whether the brain, the nervous system is equal to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:40 Highlight the passage at 1:44:40

1:44:57 Generally in science, You know, and this is a big, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:57 Highlight the passage at 1:44:57

1:45:00 tries to, it is... The project of science, to a large degree, is trying to seize everything in material terms. Everything can be reduced to materiality, including consciousness. Buddhism would say, no, there's a category of what we call consciousness and there's a category of what we call matter. And they are not equivalent. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:00 Highlight the passage at 1:45:00

1:45:26 The mind is not equivalent to the brain. Or the nervous system. It is non-material. It's not composed of matter. But when we say that the mind is not composed of matter or consciousness is not composed of matter, it doesn't mean to say that it exists independent of matter. Our consciousness, the body and mind, are mutually dependent upon one and the other. If your eye is injured, Or, you know, if... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:26 Highlight the passage at 1:45:26

1:46:02 If a part of your brain is injured, then certain conscious states cannot arise. Or even if you're just sick, you've got a flu, you can't think very clearly. So the mind is definitely dependent upon the body. And likewise, the body is dependent upon the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:02 Highlight the passage at 1:46:02

1:46:26 If you cite certain psychosomatic illnesses, certain allergies. And skin diseases, for example, can be traced back to stress within the mind itself or certain mental properties. So the mind and body are mutually dependent on one another. So they don't exist independent of one another. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:26 Highlight the passage at 1:46:26

1:46:55 So here we're just saying this word clear. And this particular interpretation simply means... That consciousness is not matter. It is not physical. It is not equivalent to the brain or the nervous system, even though it's dependent upon the brain or the nervous system. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:55 Highlight the passage at 1:46:55

1:47:23 Okay, another possibility of explaining this word clear is that the various afflictive emotions, for example, By afflictive emotions or negative emotions such as hatred or jealousy or attachment and so forth, they are not inherent to the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:23 Highlight the passage at 1:47:23

1:47:49 The nature of mind is pure. But it's not to say that there are what we call adventitious properties. If qualities such as anger or jealousy and so forth, if they were in the very nature of the mind, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:49 Highlight the passage at 1:47:49

1:48:12 Then we would always be angry. But we are, most of us at least, not always angry. Anger arises from time to time, only occasionally. So there are times when anger is not present. So anger is adventitious, or it is a temporary property that the mind has taken, that it's expressing. It is not in the very nature of the mind. So that's another, that the mind by its very nature is pure. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:12 Highlight the passage at 1:48:12

1:48:43 This relates to the notion of Buddha nature, that whatever disfunctions we have in mind, they're not within the very nature of the mind itself. And therefore, they are susceptible to being eliminated or diminished. So that's another possibility for the word clear. Okay, just some of the ideas that are around this. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:49:15 Knowing. So clear and knowing. This is a hard one, I think. The Report an error in the passage at 1:49:15 Highlight the passage at 1:49:15

1:49:26 second property of consciousness. The mental activity. So of engaging in their appearance. Taking on a mental aspect in some way or another. Experiencing. So what we mean by knowing here is experiencing that mental aspect which the mind has taken on. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:26 Highlight the passage at 1:49:26

1:49:53 Experiencing something necessarily entails seeing or hearing or smelling or tasting. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:53 Highlight the passage at 1:49:53

1:50:06 Whether we engage in the object with clarity or comprehension or mistakenly, that's beside the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:06 Highlight the passage at 1:50:06

1:50:17 It's like the Report an error in the passage at 1:50:17 Highlight the passage at 1:50:17

1:50:26 aspect of the flower is cast toward the consciousness due to the fact of clarity. There arises that aspect, a mental aspect of that flower. Then there's the experiencing of that aspect. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:26 Highlight the passage at 1:50:26

1:50:47 We know the aspect, therefore we know the sound. It occurs simultaneously with the arising of the aspect, the knowing, the experiencing of that aspect. this is... Report an error in the passage at 1:50:47 Highlight the passage at 1:50:47

1:51:05 The arising of a thought and the thought and the thinking of the thought are the same event. It's not as if a thought arises and then we think it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:05 Highlight the passage at 1:51:05

1:51:20 It's not a matter of a feeling rises and then we feel it. The arising of a feeling and that experience of the feeling are the same mental event. The arising of a thought and the thinking of the thought are the same mental event. The taking on the aspect of the object and its experiencing are the same event. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:20 Highlight the passage at 1:51:20

1:52:00 I don't know a great deal about, I know very little, to be honest, about neurobiology. But there arises an image upon the retina of our... It's... I don't know if any of that may... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:00 Highlight the passage at 1:52:00

1:52:02 trying, you know, in, in. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:02 Highlight the passage at 1:52:02

1:52:24 There arises an image on the retina of our eye. This then sends impulses to the brain and different neurons begin to fire. There is what develops a mental map of that image. This is what the brain is actually knowing. This is what we know. This complex network Report an error in the passage at 1:52:24 Highlight the passage at 1:52:24

1:52:56 of neurons which are firing. Which it said corresponds to something out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:56 Highlight the passage at 1:52:56

1:53:09 It has taken on, we could almost say, an aspect of something out there. But it's simply a complex of neurons firing in our brain. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:21 This is the experience of the flower. This is what we know. This mental, a mental map of the flower. This is what we call knowing the flower. Does that make any sense? I don't know if this is helping any. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:21 Highlight the passage at 1:53:21

1:53:46 The experience of what is cast. What are we actually experiencing? What is actually going on in terms of neurobiology? There's a mental map. That is to say, a complex of nerves are activated. That is what we mean by knowing the flower. That is what Buddhism may be calling The mental image of the flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:46 Highlight the passage at 1:53:46

1:54:17 Yeah? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:17 Highlight the passage at 1:54:17

1:54:29 I'd just like to bring out one, just Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:37 one point and then we're going to have to stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:37 Highlight the passage at 1:54:37

1:54:46 Consciousness Report an error in the passage at 1:54:46 Highlight the passage at 1:54:46

1:54:50 refers, I brought this, I mentioned it at the very beginning, refers to the mental activity, both conscious and unconscious. So all living beings by definition have consciousness. Let me get through. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:50 Highlight the passage at 1:54:50

1:55:06 From the lowliest insect up to Buddhas, whosoever. The term consciousness does not refer to an agent. It refers to the mental activity. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:06 Highlight the passage at 1:55:06

1:55:24 Sometimes we talk in ways which we understand, but it can be misleading in some ways. The consciousness is... It does not refer to a tool that we use to understand objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:24 Highlight the passage at 1:55:24

1:55:44 The consciousness is not a tool that we use to apprehend sights or sounds or to think thoughts and so forth. It is just the mental activity itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:44 Highlight the passage at 1:55:44

1:56:03 It is not something that we feel with. It is the feeling itself. It is not something that we use to think about. It is the thinking itself. know, it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:56:14 In other words, consciousness is not a thing. It's a process. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:14 Highlight the passage at 1:56:14

1:56:22 It thinks. It is a very act of seeing, a very act of thinking. There's nothing which is doing the thinking. It is the thinking. I don't know if that makes sense. Okay. I'm sorry. We'll have to stop there. What I'd like for you to do, if you would, is to look at pages. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:22 Highlight the passage at 1:56:22

1:56:51 14, 15 and 16. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:51 Highlight the passage at 1:56:51

1:56:56 And look at your quiz two, okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56:56

1:57:05 So I hope that wasn't too confusing. It's a bit much. We're going to look at, we're going to look at, we're going to divide consciousness into several ways of dividing it. One of them is into seven, one is into three, and then one is into two. So hopefully we can begin that process. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:05 Highlight the passage at 1:57:05

1:57:42 So we can dedicate the positive energy we created together. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:57:55 Yeah, that's right. I think that's right. 14, 15 and 16. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:55 Highlight the passage at 1:57:55

1:58:05 Are we getting hung up on some details here? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:05 Highlight the passage at 1:58:05

1:58:17 Okay. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:17 Highlight the passage at 1:58:17

1:58:40 Oh, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:40 Highlight the passage at 1:58:40

1:59:05 That's written by a neurobiologist who's comparing. Some of the research in neurobiology and Tibetan presentation in mind. I think some terms I think are quite useful to know. I don't think we have to – what I would like to be able to do is present what I think is useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:05 Highlight the passage at 1:59:05

1:59:38 But I think even in doing – Without going into some of the unnecessary detail, I think some terms are useful in understanding how your mind is operating. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:38 Highlight the passage at 1:59:38

1:59:59 I don't think we can avoid learning some new vocabulary. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59:59

2:00:24 What are you thinking? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:24 Highlight the passage at 2:00:24

2:00:48 That's quite helpful. So the idea of mental images, what is appearing objects, it makes a big difference. I think these are necessary tools for understanding things further down the line. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:48 Highlight the passage at 2:00:48

2:01:12 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:12 Highlight the passage at 2:01:12

2:01:19 I probably tried to go into too much detail tonight. I apologize for that. Yeah? Okay, so what we'll do is, I won't dumb it down, but I will just try to select what is most useful and present it in a way which is more accessible. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 2:01:19 Highlight the passage at 2:01:19

2:02:00 yeah, yeah. No, I can appreciate what you're saying. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:00 Highlight the passage at 2:02:00

2:02:15 Okay, so please give me... So I appreciate that feedback, and if you can even be more, I appreciate that general feedback, and if you can be even more specific, you know, well that, if you don't, if what actually you're not understanding, and I'll try from my side to present, as I just said, maybe not a useful overview. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:15 Highlight the passage at 2:02:15

2:02:50 But having said that, there is a certain amount of new material, new ideas and terminology which can be useful for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:50 Highlight the passage at 2:02:50

2:03:20 I think Report an error in the passage at 2:03:20 Highlight the passage at 2:03:20

2:03:30 we're kind of building up a foundation for understanding more subtle, these rungs of the ladder with more subtle ideas. Later on, Report an error in the passage at 2:03:30 Highlight the passage at 2:03:30

2:03:47 I think it's quite useful. I don't know about necessary, but it's quite useful. Some of the details, some of the subtleties probably aren't necessary. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:47 Highlight the passage at 2:03:47

2:04:01 So I'll just have to be a little more discriminating, I guess, in that. I'll try to do that. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:01 Highlight the passage at 2:04:01

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:04:36 I sometimes, to be honest, some things I'm just kind of interested in myself. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:36 Highlight the passage at 2:04:36

2:04:46 kind of... Report an error in the passage at 2:04:46 Highlight the passage at 2:04:46

2:04:49 I probably go into areas which probably aren't all that interesting to others. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:49 Highlight the passage at 2:04:49

2:05:13 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:13 Highlight the passage at 2:05:13

2:05:18 Really? Oh, that's probably my fault. I'll take it. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:18 Highlight the passage at 2:05:18

2:05:27 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:27 Highlight the passage at 2:05:27

2:05:54 May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May new living creatures suffer, commit evil, or fall ill. may no one be afraid or belittled with the mind weighed down by depression. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow, find joy. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:54 Highlight the passage at 2:05:54

2:06:28 May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity. May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:28 Highlight the passage at 2:06:28

2:06:57 For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Through these skillful actions, may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each and every living being to that awakened realm. May the supreme jewels of the awakened heart and mind that have not arisen arise and grow, and may those that have arisen never diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:57 Highlight the passage at 2:06:57

2:07:25 In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrezig Tenzin Gyatso, please remain to the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:25 Highlight the passage at 2:07:25