BP: Mind and Cognition (1 September 2014)

0:18 How are we doing? Is that good? How are your feet? Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:29 I thought about you a number of times over the course of the week. Report an error in the passage at 0:29 Highlight the passage at 0:29

0:36 No. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

1:05 Did you ask tonight? Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

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

1:19 It's a nuisance, isn't it? You went home barefooted. Report an error in the passage at 1:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19

1:34 I'm just assuming. was... Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

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1:31 I, I, I... Report an error in the passage at 1:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31

1:36 One of these types of consciousnesses is called correct assumption. I don't know if it's correct. Somebody just took them home by accident, but I'm curious that they didn't realize the accident. Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

1:57 How's your Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:02 week been? Anybody have anything you'd like to share? Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

2:12 Please. know, I don't, that's even, yeah, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

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3:42 That's great. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

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5:21 Able to step back and get some perspective. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:41 Yeah, that's pretty easy to do, isn't it? To fall into self Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

5:49 -righteous indignation. You were going to say something? Oh, Report an error in the passage at 5:49 Highlight the passage at 5:49

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6:29 yeah, yeah, yeah. an achievement, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 6:29 Highlight the passage at 6:29

3:51 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 3:51 Highlight the passage at 3:51

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6:32 Oh, really? Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

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7:04 What were some of the feelings that came up for you? Report an error in the passage at 7:04 Highlight the passage at 7:04

7:31 Those are difficult feelings, aren't they? Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

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8:13 Infusing, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 8:13 Highlight the passage at 8:13

8:34 That's quite a pointed remark. I mean, we can be touched easily, can't we? This veneer of solidity that we hang on to isn't all that solid, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:52 It can be quite fragile in a certain way. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

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10:08 Did you draw any, I don't want to say conclusions, but where Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:21 did that lead you to personalize that? Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:35 Gratitude. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

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11:16 it's kind of something of a blessing in a way. Brings you back to some reality, a deeper reality. Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:31 Thank you. This side of the room, you guys can't get off this easy. Any thoughts? Your shoes? Don't drive. It was raining. I was thinking about your cold feet. Report an error in the passage at 11:31 Highlight the passage at 11:31

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13:18 I was quite impressed how you handled your shoe problem. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:26 You were quite good about it, I thought. At least from the outside. There's Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:42 a lot of other things you could have done. Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

13:48 Things shouldn't be like this. The world should be other than the way it is. Lots of other options. It could be worse. Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:19 So, Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:25 yeah, I think, you know, our world can, there is an underlying anxiety or uneasiness about our lives, I think, if we're willing to get in touch with that and feel it, that we don't have the degree of control that we would like to feel that we do. And I think there's, and this was, you know, the Buddha taught. Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

14:55 His very first teaching was on the Four Noble Truths. And the first of these was the truth of, and generally it's translated as suffering, but the original was dukkha, Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:14 which in the Sanskrit, or in the Pāli as well, is a wheel that grinds on its axle. It's kind of a misfit. And so I think the Buddha was trying to get it. Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:33 Breaking a leg or something like that. This underlying current of angst or anxiety or uneasiness, if you like. Sometimes it's translated as uneasiness or even maybe unsatisfactoriness. There's a bit of friction or a wearing away. Report an error in the passage at 15:33 Highlight the passage at 15:33

15:58 Things don't quite, I mean there are times, we're not talking about all the time perhaps, when there's a... There are times when we experience an absence, I think, of dukkha, if you like, a spontaneity. I guess we might call it when we're in the flow. I don't know. It seems like things go effortlessly and we're able to accomplish and fulfill whatever it is that we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 15:58 Highlight the passage at 15:58

16:32 It happens all by itself and so forth. So I think this points to another way of being. Not a possible approach to the way we could live our life. I don't think the Buddha was talking about when he talked about awakening or enlightenment or nirvāṇa or whatever. We're not going to go somewhere else. I don't think there is anywhere else to go but here. But how we approach our lives can be quite radically altered. Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

17:05 And I think that it all comes down to our own minds. We simply don't have control. If you would have been five minutes later and driving home, who knows what would happen. We don't know. Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:23 But the only area that we can begin, if we take that option, it's not necessarily so, but if we assume responsibility, is for our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:37 The mind is in its own place and its way can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:47 I read you that. I always like to read this. It's a verse by Shakespeare, and it's coming from Macbeth. Macbeth asks the doctor, Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:01 Canst thou minister to a mind diseased, raise out the written troubles of the brain, pluck from the memory of rooted sorrow, and with some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuffed bosom of the perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart? And the doctor answers, therein the patient must minister to himself. It is only we, ourselves, who can root, pluck from this brain or this mind or whatever, a rooted sorrow which can lighten the weight which weighs so heavily upon our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:49 No one else can do it for us. I think a parent must... Let's go through a great deal of agony at times when they look, when they see their child making bad decisions and so forth, wrong choices. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

19:08 But what do you do? You can't, you know, we can't. There's another verse by the, it's not by the Shakespeare, it's by the Buddha. But I think Shakespeare was quite an awakened fellow. But nonetheless, the Buddhas did not wash away sins with water. Nor do they pluck out suffering by the hand, nor do they transfer their realizations to the minds of others. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:40 But it is by the showing of the truth that all will be made free. It's the truth which makes us free. Coming in contact, reconciling our misconceptions. We're talking about the nature of our epistemology, the way we have come to understand the world. We understand our world. We see our world through a glass darkly. We have some misconceptions. And they manifest in all the various ways. But the end result is some kind of dukkha, some kind of misfit. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

20:16 We are either not sufficient to the world or the world isn't sufficient to us. They don't fit together very well sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 20:16 Highlight the passage at 20:16

20:26 So we're trying to bring our minds into harmony. I think that's one of the overall themes or motifs of Buddhism. Bringing ourselves into harmony with the world about us, with our environment and humanity, all of life. Bringing harmony within our own minds and bringing our harmony between our views of the world and how the world actually exists. Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

20:57 So I think it was Krishnamurti who said, for the intelligent person there are few choices. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:10 This is kind of the work that we have to do. It's kind of hard to stop once you start. You never can quite go back to sleep again. It's sort of a burden being laid upon yourself, even though you might find it discouraging at times when you, after all these years, look at this garbage mind of mine. Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:38 Or you might feel like you've gotten really nowhere or you might think, well, this is all too hard. Whatever. You don't have to pay too much attention to those critics, those negative thoughts. You're still going to do what you're going to do. There's kind of something which is like there might be two forces at work. There's one suffering which pushes us from behind, but there's another which is drawing us forward. Report an error in the passage at 21:38 Highlight the passage at 21:38

22:14 The possibility of a radically more fulfilling, A richer, meaningful way of being in this world. Whether it brings me joy or not, that's beside the point. I just have to fulfill this destiny that we're all involved in. So I think it becomes easier if you get with the program and quit fighting it in a way and quit putting so many obstacles in your way and quit listening to the voices which are kind of trying to drag you back. Report an error in the passage at 22:14 Highlight the passage at 22:14

22:54 To that person you once were, which never was enough for you. So we go for refuge in that possibility. Report an error in the passage at 22:54 Highlight the passage at 22:54

23:15 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 23:15 Highlight the passage at 23:15

23:45 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 causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. Report an error in the passage at 23:45 Highlight the passage at 23:45

24:14 May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:28 Sit and meditate together. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:45 How do you feel about the meditation? Would you like to have other types of meditation as well? Or do you feel like this is a good... Report an error in the passage at 24:45 Highlight the passage at 24:45

24:59 Basic meditation to keep coming back to. Any feedback you want to give me? Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:09 Seems fine. We've got a fine over there. We have got two fines. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:16 That's not good enough. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:22 I could Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:32 do it all the time if you like. Report an error in the passage at 25:32 Highlight the passage at 25:32

25:41 Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you like to? Well, we could do a loving kindness meditation. Part of it, but we've got two fines and a loving kindness meditation. Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

25:58 Okay. It's good to do. It's useful to do. It changes retraining our attitudes, our cognitions, and begin to see the world slightly different, in a different way, relate with it in a different way. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:25 Okay. I'll keep that in mind, okay? Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:37 I would just like to, you know, I'm not an expert, so I'm relying upon what works for us as a group. And I don't have any clairvoyances, so I rely upon your feedback. So if something's working, I'd be happy to know that. If something's not working, I'd be equally happy to make adjustments. Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

27:03 I think it's nice if we work together. So taking a comfortable, firm posture. Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:15 And we'll begin with getting in touch, relaxing the body, bringing your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp, beginning with feeling or simply imagining the wrinkles in your brow, in your forehead, smoothing out the Report an error in the passage at 27:15 Highlight the passage at 27:15

27:46 pressure in and around your eyes, diminishing. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46

28:12 Tongue is soft and jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 28:12 Highlight the passage at 28:12

28:21 And bringing your awareness to the back of your neck and perhaps... Gently turning your head to each side a few times, very gently loosening, stretching the muscles of the back of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 28:21 Highlight the passage at 28:21

28:46 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 and just rotating your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 28:46 Highlight the passage at 28:46

29:19 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 into the ground, as if some weight's been lifted from your shoulders, a feeling of relief. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:49 It's nice to get that off my back. Report an error in the passage at 29:49 Highlight the passage at 29:49

30:05 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:36 Your chest is at ease, Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

30:50 the heart area, the central space of the chest, portion Report an error in the passage at 30:50 Highlight the passage at 30:50

31:07 of the back, Report an error in the passage at 31:07 Highlight the passage at 31:07

31:29 and releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, just allowing the belly to go soft, Report an error in the passage at 31:29 Highlight the passage at 31:29

31:51 and keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscle, Report an error in the passage at 31:51 Highlight the passage at 31:51

32:16 and throughout the pelvic area, Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

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33:24 scanning through the body once again, from the crown down through the central portion of the body. Paying particular attention to any tightnesses and tension, Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:36 getting into those various areas of tightness and tension, breathing out from those areas and with that out breath, imagining or perhaps even feeling some release. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

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34:32 There's an overall impression that with each out breath, the body is sinking deeper and deeper into just a pleasant... Relaxing state. Comfortable and at ease. Report an error in the passage at 34:32 Highlight the passage at 34:32

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35:42 Comfortable and at ease. Try too hard. Just lightly rest your attention with the body. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

36:18 And I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing. So Report an error in the passage at 36:18 Highlight the passage at 36:18

36:25 it's natural breath. And Report an error in the passage at 36:25 Highlight the passage at 36:25

36:32 what sensation of the body indicates to you that you're breathing in and out. Wherever it's most clear and obvious. Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

36:42 Focus your awareness on that sensation. Don't try too hard. Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

36:52 If it's helpful you can supplement the focus. On the breath with the counting of the breaths. Breathing in, breathing out, counting one and out two and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:08 Just do everything in a gentle and easy manner. Don't try too hard. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

· · · silence, 7 minutes

44:40 When you shift the focus to Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

44:46 a sensation of the body other than that of the breath, whatever is predominant in the body, just lightly rest your attention on the sensation of the body. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

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45:58 Attention this time to the sounds around us. Focus your awareness on sound. So it's very quiet to listen very closely, listening to sound. Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

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47:29 And again, shifting our attention, we're going to turn our attention inward to Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:41 your images, states of mind, noticing the sleepy or restless, feeling happy or unhappy, emotion, tricks and states of mind, watching the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

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49:17 And finally, we're just going to allow the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends to. Report an error in the passage at 49:17 Highlight the passage at 49:17

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52:55 For a few minutes, we're going to meditate on it. And we're going to begin with ourselves. So this is just developing a kind word oneself, being friendly word oneself and wishing ourselves well. Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:18 Simply develop or generate things Report an error in the passage at 53:18 Highlight the passage at 53:18

53:30 of a good life. Come to me. Become your best friend. Be kind to yourself and wish yourself well. It's okay. Report an error in the passage at 53:30 Highlight the passage at 53:30

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54:15 Whatever you wish for, whatever you want, whatever you need, be generous to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 54:15 Highlight the passage at 54:15

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55:03 Think of someone that you... That you naturally like, that you love, that you're close. Imagine that person in front of you. If you can't see them, it's not so important. But just understand that whatever feelings you're generating are being directed toward this person. And remember, bring to mind why it is that you care so much for them. Report an error in the passage at 55:03 Highlight the passage at 55:03

55:28 The kindnesses, the intimacy. Report an error in the passage at 55:28 Highlight the passage at 55:28

56:00 Radiate out, direct out toward this person the kind, caring feelings which naturally arise when you think of them in this way. Report an error in the passage at 56:00 Highlight the passage at 56:00

56:09 Wishing them happiness. Wishing them all the good things of life. May you be happy. Report an error in the passage at 56:09 Highlight the passage at 56:09

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57:26 Now think of someone that you don't have a particularly close relationship. Maybe you really don't know them all that well. Somebody that you see maybe at work or in a shop sometimes or on a bus. A stranger more or less. Being such a person to mind. Just if it's only vaguely. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:51 And though you don't know this person's story. And the one thing that you do know about them is that they want to be happy and that they don't want to suffer. That much you do know about them. They're just like you. And simply as a generosity of heart, it won't cost you anything. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:18 Just wish them well. Reaching out to a fellow human being just like yourself won't cost you anything to wish them well. Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18

58:30 There's enough happiness to go around. May you be happy. Whatever it is that you need, you want, you wish for, It may be yours. Wish them well. Wish them happiness. Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

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59:30 Now bring to mind somebody you're having, Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

59:35 somebody you don't like, Report an error in the passage at 59:35 Highlight the passage at 59:35

59:40 a person there. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

59:45 Perhaps this person's method of going about finding their happiness and solving their problems has come in conflict with your methods of finding your own happiness and solving your own problems. That's just a conflict of self-interest, Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

1:00:02 just as we have to begin to forgive ourselves for some of the mistakes that we've made along the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:02 Highlight the passage at 1:00:02

1:00:11 Maybe we can begin in some small way to forgive this person. So just for this moment, and you can take it back up later, but just for this moment, set aside your hurt, your grudge, your hard feelings, and try to see someone very much like yourself who's doing the best they can to get some happiness out of life and making lots of mistakes along the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:46 Just for this moment, if you ever hope to be free, We have to learn how to forgive. Just for this moment, forgive. And wish them well. Wish them well. And Report an error in the passage at 1:00:46 Highlight the passage at 1:00:46

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1:02:00 that's ourselves. All of us here gathered together. So radiating out a wish of happiness and well-being to everyone in the room. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:00 Highlight the passage at 1:02:00

1:02:11 Just finding whatever it is they're searching for, whatever it is they're looking for. May you have it. May it be yours. May you be happy. May you be at peace. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:11 Highlight the passage at 1:02:11

1:02:26 Just radiate out and direct out to everyone in the room. A wish of happiness and well-being. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:26 Highlight the passage at 1:02:26

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1:03:17 And then bring your mind back to the prayer. I Report an error in the passage at 1:03:17 Highlight the passage at 1:03:17

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1:04:55 had planned that we were going to break up into small discussion groups, but maybe we'll, I hope that was okay. We went to quite a long time in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:18 If we went over, very briefly, looked at quiz two. And we can just see if we can come up with some mistakes that I've made. And my biggest mistake is I can't find quiz two. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:40 it is, yeah, and As we go along, let's try to, you know, these are the essential points. I think it would be good if we came to some clarity around these essential points. Okay, so we're all reading from the same page. We're just going to very quickly go over quiz two as a way of reviewing what we've covered thus far. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:40 Highlight the passage at 1:05:40

1:06:14 So it talks about the three divisions of object possessors, and the first one is persons. So it gives the definition of a person. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:31 So you have a sense of what, and this will come up again and again in our studies. We went to the notion of what it means to be imputed, what it means designated, labeled. Lots of different terms we could use. But this is a very important concept in Buddhism. The nature of the I, the nature of phenomena. So here we just kind of, maybe it's the first time that you've been introduced to this notion of being imputed in dependence upon the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:31 Highlight the passage at 1:06:31

1:07:01 So we can subsume all the five aggregates. You know, there's five aggregates. This is a way of categorizing our mental and physical experience. We can divide it up. And there's various reasons why it's divided up in these five. But there's the body, feelings, discriminations. There's different terms that are used, but these are terms I normally use, compositional factors and consciousnesses. These are kind of categories, but we can divide these latter four. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:01 Highlight the passage at 1:07:01

1:07:32 We can subsume them into mind, so body and mind. So independence upon body and mind, we label, we name, we designate, we impute. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:45 Jampa, person, I, you, okay? And that's the way that I, that's the way Jampa exists. Jampa is not the body. He's not the mind. He's designated independence upon body and mind. So this is a big topic. It's an important topic. We're going to come back to this quite often now and in the future. Is that okay? If it's okay, then you know more than I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:45 Highlight the passage at 1:07:45

1:08:21 okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:21 Highlight the passage at 1:08:21

1:08:24 The definition of, okay, these are just terms. By that is, I don't necessarily, I used to be a translator or interpreter, and so I have my own ego biases about terms and so forth. Most translators do. They always think they're coming up with the best translation. Anyway, we have to say something, so we have these Tibetan terms, so we come up with words. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:24 Highlight the passage at 1:08:24

1:08:53 They're more or less. So the second of the three divisions of object possessors is awareness. And the definition of awareness is knower. It doesn't tell us all that much, does it? But then the definition of consciousness, that which is clear and knowing. So we went through this, didn't we? The different interpretations of what... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:53 Highlight the passage at 1:08:53

1:09:19 I'm answering all these questions. You should be answering. I meant to ask you to answer these questions. What does it mean, clear? Clear and knowing. What does that mean? This isn't a spectator sport. You have to participate. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:19 Highlight the passage at 1:09:19

1:09:41 What does clear mean? The definition of consciousness is that which is clear and knowing. What is clear? Clarity. Can you tease that a little bit more for me? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:09:41 Highlight the passage at 1:09:41

1:10:00 that's good. at that. That's good. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:15 So loudly, I Report an error in the passage at 1:10:15 Highlight the passage at 1:10:15

1:10:31 think that's quite right. So the afflictions aren't in the actual fabric of the mind itself. Hatred and attachment and so forth are what we call adventitious. They arise from time to time. They aren't in the nature of the mind itself. Whereas, on the other hand, you know, if... Heat is in the nature of fire. Or fire is in the nature of heat. If you say, well, I want to get rid of that heat. I don't like hot fires. You'd have a problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:11:06 Because heat is in the nature of the fire. So in order to remove that heat, you'd have to remove the fire. But that's not the case with the mind in terms of these various... We are not the problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06 Highlight the passage at 1:11:06

1:11:20 The mind is not in the nature of the problem. So the problem can be removed and the mind will remain. Okay. that's not in that, we are in Report an error in the passage at 1:11:20 Highlight the passage at 1:11:20

1:11:27 Other possibility for clear? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27 Highlight the passage at 1:11:27

1:11:33 Clear of conceptuality. Yeah, you could say that. Minds are not always conceptual, are they? Yeah, that's a good one. So again, independence upon certain causes and conditions, certain aberrations of mind arise, conceptions, ideas and so forth arise. Good. Any other word, meanings? Clear comprehending. Clear. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:33 Highlight the passage at 1:11:33

1:12:05 Clear comprehension. Yeah, I think so. I don't have much body. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:05 Highlight the passage at 1:12:05

1:12:13 Okay. Okay. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:13 Highlight the passage at 1:12:13

1:12:20 Clear comprehending. Okay. So I think that's also right, John. I agree. Also the nature of being non-physical. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

1:12:37 So, yeah. Okay. Are you making a distinction between afflictions and delusions? Yeah, we're, we're, we're, It would be good for me to know that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:37 Highlight the passage at 1:12:37

1:12:49 Okay, yeah, sure, that's important. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49 Highlight the passage at 1:12:49

1:13:02 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:07 good. I think you're on the right track. So all these various notions. If we take this to the, and it's not necessarily intended here, but one of the basic notions is that the mind by its very nature is pure. pure. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:07 Highlight the passage at 1:13:07

1:13:31 If we had a glass of muddied water or polluted water, that H2O is H2O. No matter how many molecules of pollution might surround that molecule of H2O, if we can find some method to remove those impurities, we're left with crystal clear water. The pollution does not alter the nature of water. And the same with our mind. Sometimes this can be a useful notion. This isn't in the sense when you really get confused and you're really in an overwhelmed state and you feel pretty down on yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:14:14 These are just some pollutants of the mind, but essentially you're pure. It might not feel like that, but maybe that kind of notion can help you to come back to that sense of... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:30 It's pure knowingness and clarity. Knowing is quite difficult, I think, what it means to know. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:30 Highlight the passage at 1:14:30

1:14:43 I find the mind rather mystifying, to be honest with you, what it means to know. So this word knowing. Do you have any ideas around it? Clear and knowing. What does it mean to know? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:43 Highlight the passage at 1:14:43

1:15:14 Mindful, mindful, mindful. Can you, can you? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:14 Highlight the passage at 1:15:14

1:15:21 Can you know and not be mindful? I mean, yeah. So whether we're mindful or not, we're still knowing. Is ignorance knowing? Is ignorance knowing? No. So ignorance is not a consciousness. Ignorance is not consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:21 Highlight the passage at 1:15:21

1:15:51 You can know something wrongly. So knowing about something wrong, you still know it, don't you? You just know it wrongly. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:04 It's to know, just the fact of knowing that the mind is registering. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:04 Highlight the passage at 1:16:04

1:16:13 It's a difficult one to, I mean, you know, we don't have any, even, we, our mind is so close to us that it's hard to step back and say, oh, what do I, and we use these, we use these ways of talking. I know what you're doing. I know. But what that really means. It's pretty difficult. I think one meaning it has is, and this is hard to come up with, I think, that the object, this flower, beautiful flowers, by the way, Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:17:01 its aspect, like the color and shape, for example. And I have a subjective aspect that arises in my mind. You know, it's like in neurobiology. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:18 Cognitive psychology, you know, is the certain brain maps are developed within the mind. And that's what knowing, that comes to be knowing, that certain areas of the mind are actually activated. And that's knowing. It's hard to wrap our minds around that, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:17:44 my, my... I think in Buddhist psychology, you say, well, my mind is arising in the aspect of that flower. And it compares very well with cognitive psychology in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:44 Highlight the passage at 1:17:44

1:17:59 That's what I mean by knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:59 Highlight the passage at 1:17:59

1:18:03 Anyway, I think that's a hard area. The two divisions of awareness, valid cognizer and non-valid cognizers. So we can take all of awarenesses, all of consciousness, and we can divide them into two. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:19 Valid and non-valid. This word valid is not a very good translation. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:28 I'll talk more about that later. But let's look at what it means to be a valid cognizer. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:38 A new incontrovertible knower. So what does this word new here mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:38 Highlight the passage at 1:18:38

1:18:49 The very first moment. didn't mean to, I wanted to. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:49 Highlight the passage at 1:18:49

1:18:51 first moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:51 Highlight the passage at 1:18:51

1:18:54 For some reason, I'm drawn to turn my mind, my attention to the flower, and an eye consciousness arises. And as I stare at it, there's a continuum of moments of seeing the flower. Only that very first moment of seeing the flower is fresh, is new. So that's a valid cognizer. There's a sense here that this is a very powerful, a better word for valid, cognizer, really is authoritative. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:54 Highlight the passage at 1:18:54

1:19:36 It's a model consciousness. It hasn't been corrupted by conceptual associations coming in. We start thinking about the flower. Even as we see the flower, associations, memories come in, ideas about the flower. The flower reminds me of a flower that I gave my first girlfriend. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:20:07 I use the word corrupt or pollute or in some way influence that eye consciousness seeing the flower. But it's beneath the threshold of our awareness. So it doesn't have the same potency, authority or power. and you know to Report an error in the passage at 1:20:07 Highlight the passage at 1:20:07

1:20:23 To transform the mind. We're always working toward the notion of how can we change the mind. This is what Buddhism is about. This is what these studies are about. You know, what kinds of consciousness actually bring about change. So, essentially most, it's valid cognizers. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:43 And they're saying here, well, one of the first qualities about it is that it's also conceptual. You know, like when you have the aha moment. Aha. That first moment. It's very powerful. After that, it becomes a memory. You're kind of relying upon what you already realized. There's still some force to it, but that first moment is very potent, very powerful, very authoritative. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:43 Highlight the passage at 1:20:43

1:21:10 Ah, now I get it. That aha moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:10 Highlight the passage at 1:21:10

1:21:18 It depends upon, cognizer would be, cognition Report an error in the passage at 1:21:18 Highlight the passage at 1:21:18

1:21:28 would be, cognizer is an agent. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:28 Highlight the passage at 1:21:28

1:21:34 So it cognizes the cognition. So it depends upon this. It becomes a matter of grammar, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:34 Highlight the passage at 1:21:34

1:21:48 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:48 Highlight the passage at 1:21:48

1:21:56 okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:21:59 Yeah, yeah, that's understandable. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:59 Highlight the passage at 1:21:59

1:22:23 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:23 Highlight the passage at 1:22:23

1:22:32 Okay, yeah, no, I agree. I think some of the language tends to get us off track a little bit. I mean, this is still early days. In translating some of this material, many of the terms haven't been settled on. There's a number of projects. And if you try to get three translators to agree upon the same term, you have three. You're going to have quite a time. But you're right. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:32 Highlight the passage at 1:22:32

1:23:03 Cognizer can be misleading. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:14 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:14 Highlight the passage at 1:23:14

1:23:26 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:26 Highlight the passage at 1:23:26

1:23:32 So a cognizer. Knower, awareness. These are more or less synonymous terms. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:32 Highlight the passage at 1:23:32

1:24:01 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:01 Highlight the passage at 1:24:01

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:24:49 Yeah, no, I can appreciate that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:49 Highlight the passage at 1:24:49

1:24:54 I would agree with John. I agree with everything that's being said. The terms can become misleading, and I think we're struggling. I do mention that on page two of note one. We're talking about the mental activity. there's it's Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:09 And sometimes our language can talk about as if there was an agent. There's no consciousness which is doing – consciousness is not a tool. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:09 Highlight the passage at 1:25:09

1:25:20 It denotes the activity itself. So cognition as opposed to cognizer. We perceive her as opposed to perception. We're going to have to – this could be a problem. Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:20 Highlight the passage at 1:25:20

1:25:41 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:41 Highlight the passage at 1:25:41

1:25:56 A knower, awareness and consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:56 Highlight the passage at 1:25:56

1:26:03 Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, no, you're probably right, John. We could probably alleviate some of the, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:03 Highlight the passage at 1:26:03

1:26:19 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:19 Highlight the passage at 1:26:19

1:26:24 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:24 Highlight the passage at 1:26:24

1:26:28 okay. So a valid knower. How's that? Oh, it's an agent. It denotes an agent. Yeah. So the valid knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:28 Highlight the passage at 1:26:28

1:26:48 Okay, cognition. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:48 Highlight the passage at 1:26:48

1:27:05 more accessible. So what would be more accessible to you as opposed to cognizer? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:15 Well, I don't like the word awareness, to be honest with you. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:15 Highlight the passage at 1:27:15

1:27:21 But that's what they use. Yeah, consciousness, knower and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:21 Highlight the passage at 1:27:21

1:27:31 That's the translations. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't want to get too hung up on. But, I mean, you have a valid point. I mean, we all have a valid point. So we're going to have to be a bit charitable in looking at this. It's not going to be perfect, for sure. And you can call it into question as we go along. So, new. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:31 Highlight the passage at 1:27:31

1:28:06 We can all agree about it. Incontrovertible. Tough word. I appreciate that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:06 Highlight the passage at 1:28:06

1:28:18 So there's some debate about this. That's a good point. So there's different schools of thought. The school of thought which is being brought out here is that each continuum of that particular consciousness, eye consciousness, apprehending a flower, that first moment. Some would say, if I've seen a flower once, I can never have a valid cognition Report an error in the passage at 1:28:18 Highlight the passage at 1:28:18

1:28:47 of it again. There's one school of thought that says that. Okay, but I think a more useful way to interpret it, and I think most majority would agree, it's each continuum or each occasion, that first moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:47 Highlight the passage at 1:28:47

1:29:13 No, you can realize the same. I can realize that flower again and again. Well, it's not quite the same flower. Or I can have the same realization over and over again. In fact, you have to. You familiarize yourself with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:13 Highlight the passage at 1:29:13

1:29:27 No, but that's the point. It's getting at it anew for the first time on that occasion. The penny drops again and again and again and again. You're not using the same penny and digging it out of change. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:42 But that's a good point. There are different schools of thought on that. Incontrovertible? Okay. Incontrovertible means it can't be supplanted. It can't be contradicted by another. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:42 Highlight the passage at 1:29:42

1:29:59 Can I use the word bodhic? What should I say? Valid consciousness. Okay, it can't be contradicted by another valid consciousness. If two people, it's like we see we're out in the field together and we see, I say, let's get out. We're walking across a farmer's field. And I say, let's get out of this field. There's a farmer coming. There's a farmer over there. And my friend next to me says, no, that's a scarecrow. That's a scarecrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:28 So we have contradictory. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:28 Highlight the passage at 1:30:28

1:30:33 Consciousness. This is going to be tough for me. I have an eye-conscious apprehending a farmer. He has an eye-conscious apprehending a scarecrow. They both can't be right. They contradict each other. They both can't be valid. So let's creep up closer. And finally, wow, you're right. It is a scarecrow. I had a wrong consciousness. He had a valid consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

1:31:01 It's incontrovertible. We cannot have the same valid consciousnesses with regard to the same object. But how do we do that? By eliminating superimposition, another big word. So we tend to impose, project on. We project on things as if they were permanent. So it's like wearing sunglasses and you see a white snow mount, but you see it as green. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:01 Highlight the passage at 1:31:01

1:31:31 Okay? And that's the way you relate with it on the basis of being green. And then you take off the sunglasses and you see it for what it really is. That would be eliminating superimposition. So I thought I was permanent until I got sick. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31:31

1:31:52 I don't know. Anyway, I would... We're always operating with a lot of superimpositions or projections. Like two people, they fall in love. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:52 Highlight the passage at 1:31:52

1:32:07 And after six months, one turns to the other and says, you're not the person I thought you were. But they never were. There's this huge amount of projection going on. After a while, the reality of who they are breaks through. They're projections. And they see them for what they really are. That's the elimination of superimposition. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:07 Highlight the passage at 1:32:07

1:32:26 Okay? So it's incontrovertible. It means a very stable concept. Once you know something, you know it. And I know that's a flower. You know, you would have a hard time saying, well, no, you're hallucinating. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:26 Highlight the passage at 1:32:26

1:32:38 That's really not a flower. That's an apple. You know, I think, well, I'm sorry. I know what I know. I think, you know, that kind of, because once you've, you've come to it, you've gotten at the object for yourself. And it's really important to come to that. So we're talking about valid consciousnesses have a stability and a power. They're not easily overturned. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:33:06 Whereas other types of consciousness that we're going to study, they're much weaker in their nature. Even if they're correct, like a correct assumption. If a master walked in here and said, no, that's not right. Oh, he must know what he's talking about. Who am I? You can throw your correct assumption out the window, and he might be completely wrong, but you'll follow along. It's not very stable. You haven't come to it for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:06 Highlight the passage at 1:33:06

1:33:33 So that's what we're getting at here. Okay, it's nowhere. A valid consciousness is necessarily, is what? Incontrovertible? Yes or no? Why is it incontrovertible? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:33:56 The definition is, oh, come on. Give me a break. Take it on the game. You've eliminated, okay. It's new? Okay. Is it necessarily not mistaken? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:56 Highlight the passage at 1:33:56

1:34:18 Is a valid consciousness necessarily not mistaken? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:18 Highlight the passage at 1:34:18

1:34:42 So, that's a good point. I mean, it sounds odd to say something can be valid, but mistaken, yeah? All conceptual consciousnesses are mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:42 Highlight the passage at 1:34:42

1:35:01 We haven't, we've talked about that. No, we really haven't touched on that, haven't we? We were going to touch on it tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:01 Highlight the passage at 1:35:01

1:35:12 Let's do an experiment. Let me do an experiment. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:12 Highlight the passage at 1:35:12

1:35:19 Okay, well, it's a thought experiment. If you close your eyes for a moment, don't get scared. It's just going to take a minute. Close your eyes. And imagine that you're at your kitchen counter and that you have a bowl of fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:19 Highlight the passage at 1:35:19

1:35:35 And in the bowl is a lemon. And in front of you is a chopping block and a knife. So I invite you to pick up the lemon. And notice the dimpled peel, the yellowness. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35:35

1:35:55 You can bring it up to your nose and smell the lemony scent. And then place the lemon on the chopping block. And pick up the knife. And begin to cut through that lemon. As you begin to cut through the peel, the juices begin to squirt out and kind of drip all over the chopping block. And you've cut the lemon in half. And taking half a lemon and putting it in the palm of your hand and leaning your head back and squeezing the lemon. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:55 Highlight the passage at 1:35:55

1:36:33 Squeeze the lemon, all that juice of the lemon dripping down onto your tongue, sliding to the back of your mouth and down your throat. Keep squeezing that lemon. More juice flowing onto your tongue, swallowing the juice. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:33 Highlight the passage at 1:36:33

1:36:54 Okay, how many people's mouths watered in the course of that thought experiment? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:54 Highlight the passage at 1:36:54

1:37:06 Okay, what can we draw from that? What does that tell us? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:37:06 Highlight the passage at 1:37:06

1:37:29 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:33 So part of our mind, I mean, rationally we realize, oh, that was just a mind experiment. I was just imagining a limit. Part of my mind believed there was an actual limit there. How do we know that? Because physiologically you reacted as if there were an actual limit. So part of my mind believes in that appearance as being, in fact, a real limit. All conceptual consciousnesses are mistaken in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:33 Highlight the passage at 1:37:33

1:38:04 We take the appearing object, remember we studied the appearing object, as if it were the actual object itself. We can reflect, we can step back, oh, there's no element there. But our reaction tells us, well, something in us believed there was. It's like when you go into a movie, there's these colored lights on the screen, but you suspend this rationality, this perspective, and you enter into the story. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:34 That's why you go to movies. You enter into this. And you cry. But it's just colored lights. There's no real people getting killed. But we react as if there were. So all conceptuality, all conceptuality, using images, ideas, representations from our mind, they can be valid. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:39:00 Just like a photograph can give us accurate information about... The shape of something. That's what my house looks like. It's got two floors. It's got two stories. Oh, I see. Yeah, I can see. It's giving us that. But we wouldn't want to take that photograph to be the actual thing. If we take that for the actual thing, it's mistaken. We take our mental images as if they were actual. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:00 Highlight the passage at 1:39:00

1:39:25 We, by we, some part of our mind takes that mental image as if it were the actual thing itself, though it can be valid. Okay, so that's an important element. So a direct perceiver. Valid consciousnesses are necessarily a direct perceiver. No. Why? Because there are valid conceptual consciousnesses. We're going to talk about inferential valid cognizers. Oops, he said naughty word. Valid inferential consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:40:05 Okay. There are two types of valid cognizers. And a valid cognizer is necessarily non-conceptual. No, there are conceptual valid cognizers. For example, an inferential valid consciousness, which we're going to look at tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:05 Highlight the passage at 1:40:05

1:40:36 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:36 Highlight the passage at 1:40:36

1:40:40 Any questions about... Some of the material that we've covered in this quiz. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40:40

1:40:53 What? You had some? No, no, no. Please, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:53 Highlight the passage at 1:40:53

1:41:07 What I'd like to... So last week we were, if you remember, we went through, we were going through the four types of direct perceivers. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:22 In our textbook, this was on page Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:33 13. And we went through and... perceivers. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:33 Highlight the passage at 1:41:33

1:41:38 So direct perceivers, they get at their object by way of the power of the object itself, as opposed to conceptual consciousness, get at their object, understand their object by way of their idea about the object, the mental image of the object. So there are four types, and we went through the first three. Sense direct perceivers. So what would be an example of a sense direct perceiver? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:38 Highlight the passage at 1:41:38

1:42:12 I what? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:12 Highlight the passage at 1:42:12

1:42:16 Okay. Eye consciousness. Good. So there are how many sense direct perceivers? Good. What are they? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:16 Highlight the passage at 1:42:16

1:42:38 Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:38 Highlight the passage at 1:42:38

1:42:48 Then there is, we talked about mental direct perceivers. So mental... A mental consciousness isn't necessarily conceptual. There are non-conceptual mental consciousnesses. I don't know if you, there are two ways to talk about them. Well, one of them is that, I don't know if you believe in it, but the mind has the ability to realize or to apprehend objects directly. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:48 Highlight the passage at 1:42:48

1:43:27 For example, objects which aren't dealt with by the senses. For example, we can know our own minds. When we turn inward, we know our own minds. We're having a mental direct perceiver of our own minds. But we can also do that with other people's minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:27 Highlight the passage at 1:43:27

1:43:48 So clairvoyance and being able to read other people's minds would be an example of a mental direct perceiver. Self-knowing direct perceiver. We said that this is the ability of the mind to know itself in the sense that I think there was some question around it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:48 Highlight the passage at 1:43:48

1:44:15 It accounts for memory. I'm looking at the flower. I turn away. I can remember that I just saw a flower. How do I know that I just saw a flower? The way that that's accounted for is, Report an error in the passage at 1:44:15 Highlight the passage at 1:44:15

1:44:36 A self-knowing, direct perceiver. There was an eye consciousness apprehending the flower, and there was another consciousness, a self-knowing, a consciousness which knew, which was apprehending the eye consciousness, apprehending the flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:36 Highlight the passage at 1:44:36

1:44:58 So it's this. Okay? There was another consciousness called a self-knower, which was aware that there was an eye consciousness. Apprehending a flower. And that's the way that I can, that accounts for the possibility of memory. I can remember it. I can remember that I had sun in a flower. And then the last one is a yogic direct perceiver. And in your notes, note one, on the last page four, a yogic direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:42 So these are direct perception, direct perceiver. I'm going to become rather self-conscious about my terminology. But especially through training, we developed through Report an error in the passage at 1:45:42 Highlight the passage at 1:45:42

1:46:15 meditative training, we can develop two different areas of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:15 Highlight the passage at 1:46:15

1:46:23 Broad categorization of meditation, one of them is shamatha, which is calm abiding or tranquil abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:23 Highlight the passage at 1:46:23

1:46:36 That is the mind, we develop the mind's ability to remain calm, very stable, vivid, precise ability of the mind. The mind can be placed upon an object and it remains there without fear. it through Report an error in the passage at 1:46:36 Highlight the passage at 1:46:36

1:46:53 Being distracted easily. So that ability of the mind, that's called calm abiding or shamatha, single pointed concentration if you like. And then on the other hand, there is vipassanā or insight meditation where we try to penetrate, we analyze, we try to go beneath the surface of the nature of the object and try to understand its deeper nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:53 Highlight the passage at 1:46:53

1:47:24 So one just holds the object and the other one tries to penetrate into its nature. We're trying to eventually develop the ability to join these two together, a very stable penetrative insight mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:44 This, when it's fully developed, is a yogic direct perceiver. What is it mainly trying to understand, get at and realize? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:44 Highlight the passage at 1:47:44

1:47:57 Phenomena such as subtle impermanence, but importantly selflessness, emptiness. These are what we're ultimately trying to come to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:57 Highlight the passage at 1:47:57

1:48:10 Selflessness, for example. So that's a yogic direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:20 Okay, I'd Report an error in the passage at 1:48:20 Highlight the passage at 1:48:20

1:48:28 like to move on a little bit if we can. Are there any questions about anything we've covered thus far? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:45 I'd like to talk about what's called the... On page 17, what's called a facsimile. Facsimiles of a direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:45 Highlight the passage at 1:48:45

1:48:59 And there's a definition, a knower that is mistaken with regard to its appearing object. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:59 Highlight the passage at 1:48:59

1:49:11 So this isn't all that, I mean, it sounds pretty strange, I have to admit, when you first come across it, but it's not all that strange. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:11 Highlight the passage at 1:49:11

1:49:30 There's so-called, so these facsimiles of a direct perceiver. Our so-called, because while they're not actual direct perceivers, they appear like it. They appear like it. And we just had this experiment that we just did with a lemon. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:49 Part of our mind was assuming Report an error in the passage at 1:49:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49:49

1:50:00 that we were actually having a direct experience of a lemon. It appeared like that. But it really didn't happen that way. But it appeared like that. So the facsimile means like a fake. It appeared like I was actually tasting. My tongue consciousness was apprehending a lemon. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:00 Highlight the passage at 1:50:00

1:50:25 But it wasn't really. It was a fake. It was a facsimile of that. It appeared like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:25 Highlight the passage at 1:50:25

1:50:38 Okay, good. A fax. Okay. We had a fax of a lemon. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:38 Highlight the passage at 1:50:38

1:50:49 So that was a – and it's interesting. I mean, one example that I give here in the notes, and this happens to me all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:49 Highlight the passage at 1:50:49

1:51:00 You know, when you, you know, I usually, you know, I take a lot of public transport and I ride you on a train and you pull in the station. You probably can identify with this. And there's a train maybe next to you. And you think, oh, and you look over and you see the train starting to, it's as if that train's pulling out of the station. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:23 Then you realize, oh, it's not them that's moving. It's me that's moving. So there's an eye consciousness which is apprehending, A moving train, that train next to you. That eye consciousness apprehending that moving train is a facsimile of a direct perceiver. It's not really. It's a fake. But it feels, I mean, it's quite convincing, you know, for a while until you realize that everything, the stations remain, the stations also moving. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:23 Highlight the passage at 1:51:23

1:51:56 I'm the only thing that's staying still. But you realize that you're the one that's moving. So there was a moment there when your eye consciousness was apprehending a moving train, but it really wasn't. It appeared that way. So that's the notion. That's what we're getting at by facsimile. So there were two overall types of facsimiles. There were conceptual and non-conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:56 Highlight the passage at 1:51:56

1:52:18 All conceptual consciousnesses are facsimiles, just like we did with the lemon experiment. That was a conceptual consciousness. It was just using mental representations of a lemon. Mental images of a lemon. That's all we were using. But part of our mind dealt with it or related with it as if it were a direct experience apprehending a lemon. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:18 Highlight the passage at 1:52:18

1:52:47 All conceptual consciousness are facsimiles of direct perceivers. They're always mistaken with regard to the appearing object. They take the appearing object to be the actual thing itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:47 Highlight the passage at 1:52:47

1:53:03 They take the map to be the territory. They take what we're using, that representation that we're using, to be the thing itself. We take our idea of it to be the thing itself. But it's only a facsimile. Okay, so it's always mistaken with regard to the appearing object. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:03 Highlight the passage at 1:53:03

1:53:29 Is that fairly... Are we doing okay here? Uh-oh. Tell me. Talk to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:29 Highlight the passage at 1:53:29

1:53:42 I Report an error in the passage at 1:53:42 Highlight the passage at 1:53:42

1:53:53 want to talk about, I'd like for you to take a look at page Report an error in the passage at 1:53:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53:53

1:54:07 19 and 19, inferential valid cognizers, just 19, 19 and a half, okay? So I try to, these notes, I try to, hopefully these notes will be helpful to you. this is it's a it's a It's an interesting but it's not an easy subject. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:07 Highlight the passage at 1:54:07

1:54:37 But I think it can be quite useful. We're going to go into what an inferential valid cognizer or inferential valid not consciousness and Report an error in the passage at 1:54:37 Highlight the passage at 1:54:37

1:54:53 the different types. And I think one thing that we are trying to get across is that we can question everything. We can question, you know. Our teachers, we can question the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:53 Highlight the passage at 1:54:53

1:55:14 It can't be simply a matter of bias, or it's my opinion, but we need to develop some tools, some methodology, whereby we can question in an effective, fruitful manner. I think that's important. but how... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:14 Highlight the passage at 1:55:14

1:55:38 So to help us to go beyond simply our biases and opinions and so forth. So I think one way that we do this is by using inferential understanding. We can infer something. But how we go about arriving at these inferences, how can we go about questioning in an effective manner? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:38 Highlight the passage at 1:55:38

1:56:08 A legitimate manner. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:08 Highlight the passage at 1:56:08

1:56:16 I had one teacher who said, you know, it's like in India. I don't know if you've been to India. You see these water buffalo, really big animals, really strong, powerful animals. But they have a ring through their nose and they can be led along with a string by a little boy. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:16 Highlight the passage at 1:56:16

1:56:40 It's quite easy in that way to be led along through a ring in your nose. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:40 Highlight the passage at 1:56:40

1:56:47 And part of the study is to help us. My teacher was trying to emphasize the fact to me, this isn't very helpful. How to be led by the nose? How do we begin to think for ourselves? The reason I don't like this word, valid awareness, the same word is applied to a Buddha, is authoritative. We have to become authoritative. It's related to the word author. We become the authors of our lives. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:47 Highlight the passage at 1:56:47

1:57:27 We know. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:27 Highlight the passage at 1:57:27

1:57:32 We become a valid cognition. We become something very stable. I know this for myself. I learned this for myself. It's very powerful. We're not easily let alone. Oh, this teacher said that. Oh, that must be right. you know, come to, you know, I understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:32 Highlight the passage at 1:57:32

1:57:49 And they didn't, oh, no, they were, they, And then you don't know, and you're just confused. And you don't quite know what to think. Just pardon. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:49 Highlight the passage at 1:57:49

1:58:06 So we develop independent wisdom. That's a very, in the Pāli, in Theravati, it's talked about a great deal. You become your own authority. And how do we do that? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:06 Highlight the passage at 1:58:06

1:58:26 So a lot of these studies are trying to help us to find out where we might be going wrong and how to begin to develop some means of questioning to come to some real stable understandings for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:26 Highlight the passage at 1:58:26

1:58:43 Okay, so I hope this is proving useful. Hopefully it's not just simply academic or scholarship. It's just not. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:43 Highlight the passage at 1:58:43

1:58:58 or scholarship, or you know, so forth. It's a living tradition, trying to help us, most basically, to help change our minds. So it does have some practical application. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58:58

1:59:13 Okay. Hang in there. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:13 Highlight the passage at 1:59:13

1:59:23 That's very much a part of the process, I think. We don't operate our minds because we don't know how they operate. We don't operate our minds well. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:23 Highlight the passage at 1:59:23

1:59:35 It's like you understood. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:35 Highlight the passage at 1:59:35

1:59:41 Why I became angry. And you begin to see, have some insights into your own mind. And that brings about changes. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:41 Highlight the passage at 1:59:41

1:59:55 So it's hard maybe sometimes to see how it directly applies, direct relevance. But I think it all comes together. Some more immediate than others. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:55 Highlight the passage at 1:59:55

2:00:12 So we can dedicate the positive energy. So look at those pages and look at quiz three, please. I've given you the answers. I Report an error in the passage at 2:00:12 Highlight the passage at 2:00:12

2:00:27 think I take too much responsibility sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:27 Highlight the passage at 2:00:27

2:00:37 May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no loving creature suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:37 Highlight the passage at 2:00:37

2:00:58 May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:58 Highlight the passage at 2:00:58

2:01:26 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. 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:26 Highlight the passage at 2:01:26

2:01:53 Through these skillful actions, may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each and every living being to their awakened realm. May the supreme jewel 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 2:01:53 Highlight the passage at 2:01:53

2:02:14 In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrezig, Tenzin Gyatso. Please remain until the end of psychic existence. Thank Report an error in the passage at 2:02:14 Highlight the passage at 2:02:14

2:02:34 you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:34 Highlight the passage at 2:02:34

2:02:44 I'm doing Saturday. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:44 Highlight the passage at 2:02:44