BP: Mind and Cognition (8 September 2014)

0:11 How are we doing for sound? Okay? You all seem, you all appear so far away. I Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

0:22 think it's okay. I don't know. Maybe you're not telling me something I should know. Do Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:42 you have anything you'd like to share? Something that happened? You're Report an error in the passage at 0:42 Highlight the passage at 0:42

0:51 just saying hello. Okay. Anybody? It doesn't have to be particularly dramatic. Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

0:59 Please. Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

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1:34 You're fairly certain they're your issues. Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

2:01 Hullabaloo, eh? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:09 Where did you pick that up? Oh, I've heard that. I haven't heard that in a long time. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:28 Thank you for sharing that. Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

2:54 No one told him. Report an error in the passage at 2:54 Highlight the passage at 2:54

2:59 Okay. Yeah. So by all means, as we go along, if you've got some past, let's talk about terminology. Let's try to make it relevant. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:14 See if we get past the terminology. It can be very off-putting. Yeah? Make things very inaccessible. And I'm sorry. I find it a bit discouraging myself, to be honest. Report an error in the passage at 3:14 Highlight the passage at 3:14

3:31 But thank you for the feedback. That's very kind. So let's talk about that later. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:43 Anybody else have anything you'd like to share? Please. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:01 Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 4:01 Highlight the passage at 4:01

4:13 Dzogchen? Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:36 No. As you mentioned, there are three different terms which are used in different contexts in Tibetan. So I don't take responsibility for it, but I'm not apologizing. Report an error in the passage at 4:36 Highlight the passage at 4:36

4:54 The translators have to come up with some words. So I don't necessarily agree with the words they've come up with, but nonetheless. So we use three different words. and we Report an error in the passage at 4:54 Highlight the passage at 4:54

4:52 we had Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:07 I wouldn't get too hung up on... Consciousness is a very general term. I think it's a very useful term. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:20 Awareness. I don't like that use for Rikpa. I don't think it's a very... I think they should have saved that somewhere else. Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

5:33 They could ask me, well, what do you want, Jampa? the term, the awareness. Report an error in the passage at 5:33 Highlight the passage at 5:33

5:40 So, yeah, Rikpa. So, yeah, don't hang on too much. As you said, in Dzogchen, Dzogchen means the great completion. And it's a practice which is very significant, especially in the Kargyu and Nyingma traditions. Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

6:00 The tradition which is mainly followed here at Valjana is called Gelu. There are four main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingma. Kargyu, Gelu, and Shakya. And these are just emphasis. They've emphasized certain practices and they all have a common basis. They all share. There's very few significant differences amongst them. It's just they follow different teachers who founded the particular lineages and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 6:00 Highlight the passage at 6:00

6:35 Here the lineage is mainly stemming from Jai Tsongkhapa and all these. These paintings, these prints framed along the top of the wall there are incidents in the life of J. Tsongkhapa. It's like a pictorial biography. So someone who had a great familiarity with Tsongkhapa could explain each of those. He is what is more or less the founder of this particular lineage or tradition, of Gaylu tradition. Gay means... Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

6:54 in the Pacific Defensive Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:11 Virtue, and Lou means tradition, the virtuous tradition, something like that. He was about 14th century. So, I'm getting off on something else altogether, aren't I? Yeah, we have to, you know, words like cognition. I'm not sure what cognition, you know. You know, the neurobiologist, they're not quite sure what they mean by that term. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:40 So some of the terms are very technical and they're very precise. Some of them are very, we've just, it's not in the very exact science at the moment. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

8:12 Yeah, yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:35 In the Nyingma Kagyu tradition, when they use the word rikpa, they're probably talking about something very different than the rikpa, which we're using here, translating as awareness. Yeah, so, yeah, I'm sorry. It's this kind of confusion. No, no, no, no. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

8:57 I think it's fairly early days in the transmission of Buddhism, as far as the Tibetan tradition is concerned, to the West. I was part of a project to try to standardize translation terms, which is still going on by the FPMT, the Foundation for the Preservation of Maya Tradition. no, it's, you know, it's. Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:21 So there's an ongoing project. They want to come up with standard, you know, it's like, which is almost, you get two translators in the same room and you get two different opinions, generally. Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:35 But anyway, we're trying to come up with some standardization of terms. But, so just, we're talking about consciousness, knowing, awareness. Report an error in the passage at 9:35 Highlight the passage at 9:35

9:49 It's actually, it's very difficult to understand what... What those terms mean, if you really think about it. Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

9:58 I mean, we are conscious at all times, more or less. But what that means to be conscious, what it means to know, I find quite difficult. So it is something very experiential, but we're trying to put it into words. Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:25 Lucid. Lucid. So what rikpa is, a type of consciousness. So I don't know about the word lucid because it's lucid. That's a quality of consciousness. I don't know if it's a consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:49 Lucid, I say lucidity. Lucidity. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:01 He's a very good translator as well as a very qualified practitioner. So by all means, if he suggests something, I put more weight to that than myself. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:18 Okay. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:19 Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Yeah, I must admit the last couple of weeks have been a bit discouraging for me in certain ways. I think I was a bit discouraged with the text. I think the text is inaccessible. It doesn't really help us understand. Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

11:46 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's why I, I mean, I... I tried to contribute some notes to help. Report an error in the passage at 11:46 Highlight the passage at 11:46

12:04 But I wish we would have. In the recommended reading, I suggested reading this, there was a book called Modern in Tibetan Buddhism. And I wish, in retrospect, that we had used this as a basis for our studies. But I think it's okay. I think we're learning. We're doing well. Report an error in the passage at 12:04 Highlight the passage at 12:04

12:35 I also have to, I guess, having said all that I've said, there is a certain ambitious quality that we bring to these understandings, to our studies. You know, it's like someone who's, maybe I've never studied it, but someone who studies quantum physics. You know, maybe they hear all these new ways of thinking and so forth, and it just... Report an error in the passage at 12:35 Highlight the passage at 12:35

13:06 I've been told this, at least, it just doesn't make sense. But after some time, if you persevere, then something begins to click. Report an error in the passage at 13:06 Highlight the passage at 13:06

13:19 And I think we expect to understand everything quite readily. And so, rightly or wrongly, I don't think we can. I mean, I've had the same teachings on the same subject. Sometimes even by the same teacher a number of times. And there's a certain quality of accumulated understanding that builds up. And then now I know what he was talking about before, which I thought was off the planet. Now it's beginning to make sense. The penny drops. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

14:02 So I think we have to be patient. Even in the best of circumstances. We don't quite have the best of circumstances. We have to be even more patient. Both with ourselves but also with the material and hopefully with me. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:26 Okay. But thank you for that. And we'll try to work with this terminology. It's hullabaloo. I like that hullabaloo. It's a good terminology. I'm not quite sure what it means. so that I can use it. Any other? Report an error in the passage at 14:26 Highlight the passage at 14:26

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15:30 address that, yeah, yeah, let's clear that up. Thank you for the feedback. Any other thoughts or any other experiences? No, Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

16:02 no, Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:12 no, no. Report an error in the passage at 16:12 Highlight the passage at 16:12

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16:46 A little yellow light went off in my head. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

16:56 Let's come to that. Okay. No, no, no. These are good. Yeah. We don't have to follow any particular format. And I think it's good if we clear some of these doubts and misunderstandings and some of these terminologies up before. Otherwise, it just kind of accumulates over time. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:18 I want to address what you said. Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:23 Any good news? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:32 No more questions? Report an error in the passage at 17:32 Highlight the passage at 17:32

17:37 Yeah? Yeah, okay. Well, that's a lot. Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:45 Okay, so let's, so we can, I appreciate your interest and your efforts. I really do. I think it's very inspiring for me. Okay, I'm going to dress with you. Report an error in the passage at 17:45 Highlight the passage at 17:45

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18:03 So I try to live up, Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:08 try to meet you there. But sometimes I feel a bit inadequate to the task. But anyway, I'm sharing what I do now. And hopefully that can be of use. I think it's useful what we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 18:08 Highlight the passage at 18:08

18:30 Just coming to Buddhism, as I emphasize, I think is very much about the mind. This is what it means to go for refuge, I think, most essentially, is the reorientation. I don't mean, maybe this has to be nuanced, it has to be talked about, but it's the beginning to shift from seeing our problems and therefore the solutions outside of ourselves to within our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

19:13 You know, I was talking about, on Saturday, I was talking about anger, hatred. I really like to talk about emotions. I like to feel them. I like to talk about them. And, you know, there's an event. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:35 You know, somebody says something. You know, there's this more or less I want and I can't have kind of situation arises. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

19:45 I come home from a hard day's work and I just want some peace and quiet. And you kids are the obstacle to what I want. Report an error in the passage at 19:45 Highlight the passage at 19:45

19:59 So there's a mental reaction, a particular strategy, a way to remedy this situation, which we call anger. There's no moral judgment being made. It's just a particular pattern of behavior. Get away. Get out. Go to bed. However, maybe you want to express it, but you don't want to. So the point is that we generally associate the object. Report an error in the passage at 19:59 Highlight the passage at 19:59

20:35 That's why we're studying in this way, to begin to break down what is really a... Something perhaps we've never analyzed or looked at to deconstruct the experience. There's an object in that. There's these kids. Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

20:53 And we assign a causal quality to them. They're the source of my suffering. And I shouldn't blame it on the kids. Let's think of somebody else. You know what I mean? We take the object of our anger as the cause of our anger. Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:14 And because we see the object of our anger as a source of our suffering, we want to get it, we want to remove it. So the point that I'm trying to make is what Buddhism is trying to suggest in its analysis is, sure there was a trigger, but what is the primary cause of my anger is the way I'm interpreting that situation. Report an error in the passage at 21:14 Highlight the passage at 21:14

21:40 Someone else could interpret it, or on a good day I might interpret it completely different. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

21:47 So. So the causative factor is within my own mind, the way I'm perceiving the situation, the way I'm taking the situation to be, the way I'm interpreting it, not the kids. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:04 They're the object of my anger, but they aren't the source of my suffering. The source of my suffering is in my own mind. So that's the whole reorientation that Buddhism is trying to... Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:19 Every week we come together and I go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 22:19 Highlight the passage at 22:19

22:29 What does that mean? There are probably as many levels of meaning as there are individuals, but I think one way is that there begins to be a shift in how you approach what it means to be an ordinary human being, a problematic way of life. know, we're hot. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:48 From seeing the problems external to oneself in a person, a situation, a thing and so forth, to one's own perception, his own interpretations, the way that you're taking the things to be. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:03 And I think that's when, I think that's going for refuge, really. I think that's significant in practice, how you work with that in terms of the situation, the problem, in terms of your own mind. Sure, if you can say, you know, kids. I've had a hard day. Would you give me 15 minutes or something like that? That's a very adult and intelligent way to go about working with the situation. Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:33 But angry doesn't think like that, does it? And that's the kind of reactions that we're trying to deal with. Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

23:43 So I think our studies begin to break down. Not the energy. Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

23:51 What has never really been analyzed, what's never really been looked into, intelligent and realistic and accessible and workable, some way we can actually make changes. The Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:10 situation is workable because we've analyzed it into certain components and we have a degree of control over some of these areas. We don't have control over the outside world to a large degree. Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

24:25 But we do have a large degree of control over our own minds. So I think that's why we study, that's what it means to go for refuge. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:37 Anyway, shall we do that and then we'll meditate and then we'll talk about all this. Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

24:48 I go for refuge until I'm 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 in the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 24:48 Highlight the passage at 24:48

25:16 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 in 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. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:38 May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. So Report an error in the passage at 25:38 Highlight the passage at 25:38

25:55 if you'd like to stand and stretch and then we'll sit down together. Report an error in the passage at 25:55 Highlight the passage at 25:55

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26:44 So taking a comfortable and firm posture. Report an error in the passage at 26:44 Highlight the passage at 26:44

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27:18 Bringing your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp. Report an error in the passage at 27:18 Highlight the passage at 27:18

27:30 And we'll begin by imagining or actually feeling the wrinkles in your brow and your forehead smoothing out. The Report an error in the passage at 27:30 Highlight the passage at 27:30

27:42 pressure in and around your eyes diminishing. So Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

27:54 the face softening, relaxing. Your Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:11 tongue is soft and jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:27 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 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:51 bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders and perhaps drawing your shoulders up toward your ears, circling them to the back, down to the front, just rotating your shoulders a few times and Report an error in the passage at 28:51 Highlight the passage at 28:51

29:25 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. The feeling of relief. The weight's been lifted from your shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

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

30:31 Your upper arms Report an error in the passage at 30:31 Highlight the passage at 30:31

30:54 relaxing throughout the central space of the chest, the heart area, Report an error in the passage at 30:54 Highlight the passage at 30:54

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31:35 and releasing the tension that we have. Oftentimes hold on our stomach muscles. Just allow your belly to go soft. Report an error in the passage at 31:35 Highlight the passage at 31:35

32:05 Erect. Relax your lower back muscles. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:22 The pelvic region. Report an error in the passage at 32:22 Highlight the passage at 32:22

32:47 The upper legs. Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

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33:33 And we're going to scan through the body. Once again, from the crown down through the central portion of the body. Moving down with your awareness. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:50 There's some kind of tightness or tension. Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

33:55 Breathing in and following that breath with awareness. To wherever the tension, the tightness is being held and suffusing that area, the breath of awareness. And as if breathing out from that same area, Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:16 imagining or actually feeling some kind of release. Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

34:22 As if only slightly. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:28 As if softening. Report an error in the passage at 34:28 Highlight the passage at 34:28

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35:38 As if sinking deeper and deeper into a pleasant state of relaxation. Stay Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

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36:23 with your body for a while. Comfortable and at ease. Thoughts will come. That's okay. Just allow them to be. And gently return. To an overall impression of the body. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

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37:50 I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing and note where that sensation is most obvious and clear to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 37:50 Highlight the passage at 37:50

38:05 Attention, focus your awareness. Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

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45:38 And to shift our attention to sensation other than the sensation of the breath, Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

45:46 the pressure of your buttocks on the chair, Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

45:58 focusing your awareness on the sensation of the body. Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

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47:02 Listening to sound. Focusing your awareness on sound. And Report an error in the passage at 47:02 Highlight the passage at 47:02

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48:37 this time, Turning off itself, Report an error in the passage at 48:37 Highlight the passage at 48:37

48:49 choose images, states of mind, maybe your mind's sleep, Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

48:59 maybe it's agitated, pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings. Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

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50:26 Allow your mind involved in any object that it naturally tends toward. Put it in a relaxed and easy manner. Maintain a degree of awareness, watchfulness, observing, whether the hearing, thinking, Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

50:56 sensing, watching the mind. and what it becomes involved in. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

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52:30 So Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

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55:22 let's have one Report an error in the passage at 55:22 Highlight the passage at 55:22

55:38 point. Just kind of covering some of the things that we came up in that we want to look at. So we have these three terms. I'm looking at page two. Note one, I think it's called. Page two. We have these three terms, consciousness, awareness and knower. Report an error in the passage at 55:38 Highlight the passage at 55:38

56:12 These terms are used in different contexts. Report an error in the passage at 56:12 Highlight the passage at 56:12

56:20 We were presented with a definition of consciousness, that which is clear and knowing. Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:29 We can't hold too tightly to these terms. Conscious awareness in nowhere. Report an error in the passage at 56:29 Highlight the passage at 56:29

56:15 Texts. Report an error in the passage at 56:15 Highlight the passage at 56:15

56:39 They haven't. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

56:48 In different contexts, we can use different terms. In Tibetan, it works fine, but when we translate them into English, it's not to say that we can overlook, but we've assigned certain English terms to certain Tibetan terms. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

57:09 There's really no exact science at the moment to this. So just trying to get across that these are more or less synonymous, that they're interchangeable. Whatever is a knower is a consciousness and whatever is an awareness is a knower and so forth. Then there was a question about, you were talking about, well, you had some ideas around what consciousness is. Report an error in the passage at 57:09 Highlight the passage at 57:09

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58:13 I think when you were, one thing in this note here on page two, I tried to get across. I mean, there's a certain, Report an error in the passage at 58:13 Highlight the passage at 58:13

58:26 actually I was thinking about this last week, just to give you some insight into the strange things I think about. Report an error in the passage at 58:26 Highlight the passage at 58:26

58:36 There's a certain ambiguity, I must admit. We have a tendency to make, especially in the English language, but I think this maybe is in general with the nature of the way our consciousness works. you know Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

58:54 To make processes into things. To make verbs into nouns. And this is okay as long as we don't grab too tightly to what's being gotten at here. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:14 And I tried to get across here in this paragraph that the word consciousness... So, you know, that way. Report an error in the passage at 59:14 Highlight the passage at 59:14

59:24 Does not refer to an agent. There's no thing which is doing the knowing. Report an error in the passage at 59:24 Highlight the passage at 59:24

59:37 There is knowing. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

59:45 There is knowing. But we have a tendency where there's some agent who's doing the knowing. We assign that. And as long as we, in our general parlance of talking, There's no, it's like the, uh, the... Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

59:57 That seems to work okay. It's like we talk about, well, somebody, we can say that that which kicks is a kicker or that which walks is a walker. That which knows is a knower. But there, so we, there is no, here, I think it's best if you try to say that there is this process of knowing, but there's no, there's no one, there's no thing, a consciousness which is doing the knowing. Report an error in the passage at 59:57 Highlight the passage at 59:57

1:00:30 That process that we call consciousness, I don't know if that – it is the mental activity. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:30 Highlight the passage at 1:00:30

1:00:43 When in – we didn't – let's see if I can find it. On page three of note one, there are – one of the basic premises, I think, or one of the fundamental notions of Buddhism is Dependent arising. Everything is a dependent arising. Everything is an expression of coming together of particular causes and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:43 Highlight the passage at 1:00:43

1:01:18 In here, it's broken down into three particular conditions. The observed object condition, for example, a flower. So, we're… Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:34 The uncommon empowering condition in this particular case would be what's called the eye-sense power. From traditional Buddhism it's said that there is a subtle matter inside the eyeball which acts as a medium or the interface between the mind and the internal and external. That medium of exchange is a subtle medium. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:34 Highlight the passage at 1:01:34

1:02:04 Which we call, in this case, an eye sense power or eye sense faculty. Maybe in science we might call it the retina of the eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:04 Highlight the passage at 1:02:04

1:02:15 The light hits that retina and it sends messages to the brain. So it's like an interface between the outside world and the inside world. So we have a medium, we have an object, and we also have a previous consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:33 The immediately preceding consciousness condition. So independence upon these three conditions, the observed object condition, the uncommon empowering condition, in this case it's the I sense power or I sense faculty, and a preceding moment of consciousness, the immediately preceding condition. These three conditions, they're coming together. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:03:02 It gives rise to an eye consciousness apprehending a flower. So we call that an eye consciousness apprehending a flower. The meeting, the coming together of these three conditions, we call that an eye consciousness apprehending a flower. There's no thing there in a way, but we can talk about it in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:02 Highlight the passage at 1:03:02

1:03:26 But we shouldn't grasp it too tightly. But there's no agent which is doing the apprehending. And we have a sense that there's a ghost in the machine or there's a knower and then that knower comes to know things. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:26 Highlight the passage at 1:03:26

1:03:46 There's a consciousness and then the consciousness comes to know flowers and it comes to know smells as if a consciousness could exist independent of its object. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:46 Highlight the passage at 1:03:46

1:04:00 What's trying to come across here, there's nothing there but the coming together of these conditions. And they're expressed in a knowing. In this case, the knowing of a flower. So there's no, I don't know if they're making any sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:00 Highlight the passage at 1:04:00

1:04:20 Okay. So we have to be very careful when we start to talk because in this way, because it's a good question. It's a good question. We can in conventional terms. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:20 Highlight the passage at 1:04:20

1:04:35 What did we say? What was the definition of a person? Do you remember? Not the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:04:48 The being imputed to the five aggregates. We can say the being imputed to the mind and body. That's simple. So if the mind, whatever the mind is doing, we can say, I'm doing. Whatever my body is doing, I'm imputed to this mind and body. If my body is sitting... Because the I is being imputed or the person is being imputed to that particular body, I can say I'm sitting. So there is somebody who is sitting. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

1:05:21 But there is somebody who sees the flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:21 Highlight the passage at 1:05:21

1:05:30 But there's no one behind the seeing of the flower, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:30 Highlight the passage at 1:05:30

1:05:55 the immediate preceding. So all that's saying is, That we need a preceding consciousness for a consciousness to arrive. That every consciousness is preceded by another moment of consciousness. That consciousness is never newly created. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:55 Highlight the passage at 1:05:55

1:06:17 All consciousness has antecedent, has a previous moment of consciousness, which acts as one of its necessary conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:17 Highlight the passage at 1:06:17

1:06:31 It does not arise from matter. It doesn't arise from nothing. It necessarily arises from a cause which is similar in type to itself. And that is only a preceding moment of consciousness. This is said to be one of the proofs of rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:31 Highlight the passage at 1:06:31

1:07:08 first thought, you can have a, you know, like. You can have a first moment of a particular consciousness that sees this flower. But that continuum of consciousness, that consciousness which arose, which sees the flower, it was dependent upon a previous moment of consciousness in the same continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:08 Highlight the passage at 1:07:08

1:07:32 So there's always a preceding moment of consciousness. Okay, it might Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:36 But any particular instant of seeing the flower, there can be a first moment. But that rose in dependence upon a preceding moment. It's just like you have a present consciousness as you sit here now. If we were to trace that back, there would be an uninterrupted continuum of mind moments, one giving rise to another, to the mind that came in through that door, to the mind which woke up this morning, to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:36 Highlight the passage at 1:07:36

1:08:06 Went to sleep last night. It wasn't as if there were newly arisen mind. It was always dependent upon a previous moment of mind. Just like there is no first moment of matter, there is no first moment of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:34 So what was a Report an error in the passage at 1:08:34 Highlight the passage at 1:08:34

1:08:38 previous moment of consciousness? Yeah, so, okay. It didn't start. It's beginningless. That's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:38 Highlight the passage at 1:08:38

1:08:52 It's counterintuitive to our Western logic. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:52 Highlight the passage at 1:08:52

1:09:00 Where did the first atom come from? Report an error in the passage at 1:09:00 Highlight the passage at 1:09:00

1:09:11 Your grand lady. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:29 Yeah, for sure. Any particular consciousness, first moment, that's a valid cognition. Yeah, but that valid cognition, that first moment of that particular mind arose independent upon a previous moment of consciousness within that same continuum. It's like a candle flame. One moment passing the candle flame on. Each moment of the flame arose in dependence upon a previous moment of the flame. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

1:10:08 There's no knower. There's no agent. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:08 Highlight the passage at 1:10:08

1:10:18 There's recognition, but no one recognizing. There's a feeling, but there's no feeler. There's thoughts, but no thinker. upon the previous moment of flame. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:18 Highlight the passage at 1:10:18

1:10:31 Now we're getting into the area of the ultimate nature of the I, the self. We innately grasp that there's a thinker thinking my thoughts, that there's a feeler feeling my feelings. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:31 Highlight the passage at 1:10:31

1:10:52 But now this is why I went back. I said, because you're thinking, I can say I'm thinking thoughts. But we don't mean that normally when we say, When we have a sense that there's something, there's an I which is thinking my thoughts, that there's a thinker of my thoughts, that there's a thinker and sometimes that thinker thinks thoughts and sometimes it doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:18 That's what we believe very deeply, that there's something there which is an agent, which is in control, which is independent of the processes, but that doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:18 Highlight the passage at 1:11:18

1:11:41 Yeah, I think we're really getting far off the field here. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:41 Highlight the passage at 1:11:41

1:12:06 That's just a thought consciousness which thinks I. It's a conceptual conscious thinking I. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:06 Highlight the passage at 1:12:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:12:56 No, it's just I can think flower. I can think I. So that conceptual consciousness imputes or designates. You know, if a baby is born, there's a body of mind. Let's call it John. Let's call it you. From its side, it calls it I. It's just that's the conceptual consciousness. That's not, no, that's not really what we're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:23 Just the very fact of knowing. The very nature of mind is clear in knowing. Whether it's conceptual or non-conceptual or it's eye consciousness or an ear consciousness. It's just, it's that very factor of knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:23 Highlight the passage at 1:13:23

1:13:53 probably have caused confusion, but we can work on some more. We were talking about some terminology. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:53 Highlight the passage at 1:13:53

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:15:03 that's very good thinking. That's very good thinking. we're deconstructing, and we don't find something which we normally conceive of as existing there, some knower, some feeler, some thinker. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:23 Consciousness is an experience. We could say that. A thought is a consciousness. An experience is a consciousness. Yeah, no, this is very difficult to talk about. The Report an error in the passage at 1:15:23 Highlight the passage at 1:15:23

1:15:53 experience of consciousness is very different to the concept of consciousness. That Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53 Highlight the passage at 1:15:53

1:16:04 sounds, yeah, that's quite good, I think. Yeah, our concepts veil the actual experience. Yeah, now that's Report an error in the passage at 1:16:04 Highlight the passage at 1:16:04

1:16:44 the immediately preceding condition. There's three necessary conditions which give rise to consciousness. Any particular moment of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:44 Highlight the passage at 1:16:44

1:17:19 So in Buddhist logic, the word permanent, let's say impermanent. Impermanent means momentary, changing from moment to moment. It has no meaning which applies to how long it lasts. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:39 Anything Report an error in the passage at 1:17:39 Highlight the passage at 1:17:39

1:17:46 which arises depends upon cause and conditions is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:46 Highlight the passage at 1:17:46

1:17:54 Space, unconditioned space. It's a negation. It's an absence of destructive contact. So that's permanent. It doesn't rise in dependence upon cause and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:54 Highlight the passage at 1:17:54

1:18:16 It's not a result. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:16 Highlight the passage at 1:18:16

1:18:22 Everything Report an error in the passage at 1:18:22 Highlight the passage at 1:18:22

1:18:28 is Report an error in the passage at 1:18:28 Highlight the passage at 1:18:28

1:18:40 dependent, but it doesn't have to depend upon cause and condition. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:40 Highlight the passage at 1:18:40

1:18:59 Well, now we're getting into... now we're getting it is Report an error in the passage at 1:18:59 Highlight the passage at 1:18:59

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:04 The space is dependent upon its upper space and lower space and right-hand space and left-hand space. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:25 Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah. Then we're going to bring it back. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead if you find it useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:25 Highlight the passage at 1:19:25

1:19:45 Consciousness is in the space of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:45 Highlight the passage at 1:19:45

1:19:54 I'm not quite sure what... Report an error in the passage at 1:19:54 Highlight the passage at 1:19:54

1:20:03 Maybe Report an error in the passage at 1:20:03 Highlight the passage at 1:20:03

1:20:11 that... Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:40 No, no, no, no. That's good to really play around with these ideas. And I can't answer your questions very well, I'm afraid. I'm very limited. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:20:53 So this idea of cognition, I don't know why they use the word cognition, to be honest with you. They say there's three consciousnesses, consciousness, awareness, and nowhere. And then they come up with this word cognition. Okay, where did that come from? Valid cognition. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:53 Highlight the passage at 1:20:53

1:21:39 There's no word. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:39 Highlight the passage at 1:21:39

1:21:45 I don't know what it means in Western neurobiology. But it's not in the Tibetan. So it's been kind of forced into that. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:45 Highlight the passage at 1:21:45

1:22:03 Sure, yeah. Okay. Thinking process. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:03 Highlight the passage at 1:22:03

1:22:16 Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:22:58 I appreciate what you're saying because as John points out, the term is a bit ambiguous. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:58 Highlight the passage at 1:22:58

1:23:22 There is conceptual consciousness and non-conceptual consciousness. An eye consciousness apprehended flower doesn't think as we normally think of it. So that's a knowing, but it's not a thinking. not thinking, it's not thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:22 Highlight the passage at 1:23:22

1:23:41 And this word, this word, I just, one point that I'd like to, this word we call valley cognizer. You brought a valley cognizer. I don't know why they used the word cognizer, but they did. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:41 Highlight the passage at 1:23:41

1:23:59 Okay, yeah. So, I mean, we're already introducing some complications because what is, we have the word perceiver and we have perception. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:10 Perceiver is the agent of perception. So it begins to already complicate the issue because I'm not sure if there is a perceiver, but we can talk about it as if there were. The difference between perception, the word perception is used three different ways. It's used, there is perception and conception in Western logic, in Western psychology, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:40 There's perception and conception. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:24:45 There is perception in terms of my interpretations. That's your perception. We're using your point of view. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:45 Highlight the passage at 1:24:45

1:25:04 So these terms aren't being used very exactly. So your question with the difference between perception and conception. And then there's a hell there. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:04 Highlight the passage at 1:25:04

1:25:27 Inception. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:27 Highlight the passage at 1:25:27

1:25:36 So, yeah, perceivers. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:36 Highlight the passage at 1:25:36

1:25:43 Yeah, I don't think we've used the word perception here, have we? Okay, okay, perceivers. So perceivers, they're using it in the sense of non-conceptual consciousnesses. Non-conceptual is a perceiver, a perception. And they're using the word perceiver. As an agent. Okay, so I think there's conceivers and perceivers. They don't use the word conceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:26:15 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:26:15 Highlight the passage at 1:26:15

1:26:21 conceiver, yeah. A thinking consciousness. Whereas a perceiver is a non-conceptual consciousness, non-thinking consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:21 Highlight the passage at 1:26:21

1:26:36 Not necessarily. There could be. Okay. So you can have a continuum. You can continue to look at the flower. You can have a first moment, second moment, third moment, fourth moment. So there's a second, and we're going to study this, one of the next consciousnesses is called subsequent cognizers. That is the second moment of perceiving the flower, third moment, fourth moment, within that same continuum. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:36 Highlight the passage at 1:26:36

1:27:18 That's right, that's right. It could lead to thinking about it. But there's first, second, third, fourth moment, all that continuum of the eye consciousness perceiving the flower. Those are all perceptions. And then you might stop. Oh, that was a pretty flower I saw. It might lead to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:18 Highlight the passage at 1:27:18

1:27:52 Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:52 Highlight the passage at 1:27:52

1:28:10 Conceptual. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:10 Highlight the passage at 1:28:10

1:28:13 No, yeah. So I can, you know, somebody walks in the room. I have an eye conscious apprehending their form. And then that will lead me, you know, like a first, second, third. Oh, here comes John. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:13 Highlight the passage at 1:28:13

1:28:33 It induces a conceptual consciousness. But there were the first moments of eye consciousness apprehending their form, their body. They could be first, second, third. Those are all perceptions. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:33 Highlight the passage at 1:28:33

1:28:51 Now the thing about, we talked about direct perceiver, valid cognizers. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:51 Highlight the passage at 1:28:51

1:29:08 It's not very good. What they're trying to get at in talking about valid cognizance, the word in Sanskrit is pramana. In Tibetan, it's tsema. It means to measure, believe it or not. Pra is a prefix. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:08 Highlight the passage at 1:29:08

1:29:32 It has various meanings. It means like one meaning is the best. The best. Mana can mean consciousness, but it can also mean to measure, which it does in Tibetan. So we're talking about the best measure. What we're talking about when we talk about a valid cognizer, what we're really talking about and what they really are getting at is this is the model consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:30:01 This is the standard. This is the prime measure, the best measure of understanding this object. it is what we're... Essentially, it means authoritative. That's what the word really is trying to get at. It means this is the authoritative consciousness. That very first moment when you apprehend an object, that's authoritative. After that, we're understanding it's very fresh and we're understanding the object for the first moment by the power of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:01 Highlight the passage at 1:30:01

1:30:42 It's like when you have an insight. When a penny drops, there's an aha moment. That first moment is a very powerful moment. That's an authoritative moment. We really know something. What they're trying to get at is that these moments of consciousness are what really bring about transformation of the mind, change the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:42 Highlight the passage at 1:30:42

1:31:08 That's why they're seen as the model consciousness or prime or valid. Valid cognizer doesn't get across that notion, that idea. I don't know if that helps. You know, it's like if we think of it, you know, you have these pathways in your mind as you do in your brain. And there's a tendency for our thinking patterns and our ways of understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:08 Highlight the passage at 1:31:08

1:31:41 To follow upon these ingrained, just like in the mind. In order to begin to bring about change to the mind, we have to, as it were, be able to create new pathways in the brain. You have to create new pathways of understanding and new connections. It has to be powerful enough to resist the movement toward our pathways of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:41 Highlight the passage at 1:31:41

1:32:15 know, you know. I don't know if I'm making any sense. So it has to be powerful enough on its own to create, to not follow the same old channels, the ingrained patterns, to make new connections. Aha, aha, now I understand. Or when you first see something. And this is what the notion of pramana or tzama. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:15 Highlight the passage at 1:32:15

1:32:43 What they're calling valid cognizers, trying to get across here. That very first moment is authoritative. It's the model consciousness. It is that which brings about transformation and change. We're trying to bring our mind to those states of mind. Overcoming wrong consciousness, overcoming doubt, even correct assumption, which we're going to look at next. Correct assumption is correct. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:43 Highlight the passage at 1:32:43

1:33:14 But you haven't realized the object. You haven't relied upon experience or reasoning. Somebody, you know, a great person says, you know, the moon is made of blue cheese. Oh, that's not correct. Give me another one. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:33 Pardon? Okay, good one, yeah. So somebody said, you know, when Copernicus said, you know, that the earth revolves around the sun, everybody laughed at her. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33:33

1:33:47 They thought that was ridiculous. That was their ingrained ways of thinking about it. He had this aha moment. Though it appears this way, I don't think the sun revolves around it. I think the earth revolves around the sun. So we hear that, but I don't know if we've proved it for ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:14 Most of our knowledge is... Correct assumptions. We assume it. And that is useful, but it doesn't have the power to really transform the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:30 Correct assumption is neither we haven't experienced it for ourselves or we haven't really been able to work through in a very decisive fashion the reasoning involved. we have to. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:30 Highlight the passage at 1:34:30

1:34:43 We're just assuming that it's the case. And it works. We can operate in the world quite well on the basis of assumptions. But in order to really think about transformations, we have to first rely upon lines of reasoning, inferential cognizers, and then come to actually have direct experience. And direct experience is what really transforms the mind. Once you've seen it for yourself, it overcomes doubt. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:43 Highlight the passage at 1:34:43

1:35:12 It overcomes any wrong consciousness. It's incontrovertible. No matter who comes along and says, no, it's this way. You say, no, I'm sorry. I saw it for myself. It's my experience. So it's very stable. It's very authoritative. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:12 Highlight the passage at 1:35:12

1:35:34 It's the quality of mind that we're trying to arrive at. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:34 Highlight the passage at 1:35:34

1:35:43 Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:43 Highlight the passage at 1:35:43

1:35:53 Any other thoughts? it's very Report an error in the passage at 1:35:53 Highlight the passage at 1:35:53

1:35:56 So what I was planning on doing is going through quiz number three answers. If I can find my copy of quiz number three answers. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:56 Highlight the passage at 1:35:56

1:36:19 Or we could – let's take a – let me try to find it. I don't know if I can find my copy. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:19 Highlight the passage at 1:36:19

1:36:30 Yeah, here it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:30 Highlight the passage at 1:36:30

1:36:35 So the four divisions of direct perceiver and give an example. So what are the four – you've got the answers, don't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:35 Highlight the passage at 1:36:35

1:36:50 Okay, sense direct perceivers. For example, an ear conscious is apprehending a sound. Can you give me another example of a sense direct perceiver? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:50 Highlight the passage at 1:36:50

1:37:08 So the sense direct perceivers. How many sense direct perceivers are there? How many different types? What are the five? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:08 Highlight the passage at 1:37:08

1:37:33 Okay, the five sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:33 Highlight the passage at 1:37:33

1:37:47 There's different ways of... Different terms are used, tactile sense or body sense. Mental direct perceiver is a clairvoyance that knows another's minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:47 Highlight the passage at 1:37:47

1:38:04 So mental direct perceiver. This is a non-conceptual consciousness. It's not using our ideas, but it is not one of the senses. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:18 This is just an example, for example. And it knows. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:18 Highlight the passage at 1:38:18

1:38:21 It knows other people's minds. So the mental direct perceiver can know objects other than the Report an error in the passage at 1:38:21 Highlight the passage at 1:38:21

1:38:35 objects of the physical sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:35 Highlight the passage at 1:38:35

1:38:41 It's like you know your own thinking, don't you? What is it that's knowing your own thinking? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:50 You can directly know your own thinking. You can directly know your own mind. A self-knower, and I think there was a lot of discussion around this, just said, you know, this is just, you know, a... It allows for us to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:50 Highlight the passage at 1:38:50

1:39:14 It allows for memory, for example. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:14 Highlight the passage at 1:39:14

1:39:22 Simultaneously with an eye consciousness apprehending a flower, there is a self-knower which is apprehending my eye consciousness, which knows the flower. You know, I, an, at the, at the, at the Report an error in the passage at 1:39:22 Highlight the passage at 1:39:22

1:39:37 And I could say, oh, I saw a flower. I saw a flower. And then there was yogic direct perceivers. So this is a type of cultivated consciousness. And this was in your notes one. It arises in dependence upon cultivating calm Report an error in the passage at 1:39:37 Highlight the passage at 1:39:37

1:40:05 abiding and insight. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:05 Highlight the passage at 1:40:05

1:40:12 It understands extremely subtle, not extremely subtle. Objects such as subtle impermanence, selflessness. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:12 Highlight the passage at 1:40:12

1:40:29 So direct perceivers are necessarily new. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:29 Highlight the passage at 1:40:29

1:40:37 What do you think? Why? Why is a direct perceiver not necessarily new? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:37 Highlight the passage at 1:40:37

1:40:50 What does it mean new? Report an error in the passage at 1:40:50 Highlight the passage at 1:40:50

1:40:55 First moment within the continuum. So what would be an example of a direct perceiver which isn't new? we can have... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:55 Highlight the passage at 1:40:55

1:41:12 Which is not new. What would be an example? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:12 Highlight the passage at 1:41:12

1:41:19 Okay, that's one interpretation. There's another interpretation which is probably more generally used, but there are those who would say what you said. What about when I'm looking at the flower and I see the second moment of seeing the flower. The second moment of seeing the flower. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:19 Highlight the passage at 1:41:19

1:41:43 So it's a direct perception, but it's not new. It's not new, is it? The first moment is new. The second moment is not new. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:43 Highlight the passage at 1:41:43

1:41:55 Are they necessarily non-mistaken? Why is that? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:55 Highlight the passage at 1:41:55

1:42:05 Okay. There's some good thinking there. Your answer would have to be a little more exact than that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:05 Highlight the passage at 1:42:05

1:42:18 We could have wrong consciousnesses, which don't rely upon mental images. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:18 Highlight the passage at 1:42:18

1:42:27 I mean, you could just say, well, they're not mistaken. that's... Report an error in the passage at 1:42:27 Highlight the passage at 1:42:27

1:42:34 I mean, it's in the definition of direct perceiver, for one thing. And they're not mistaken with respect to the appearing object. The eye consciousness is apprehending a flower. What is the appearing object? So that consciousness is not mistaken with regard to the flower. Therefore, it's not mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:34 Highlight the passage at 1:42:34

1:42:58 It's not conceptual? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:58 Highlight the passage at 1:42:58

1:43:02 Pardon? It's perceptual. Okay. It's a direct perceiver. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:02 Highlight the passage at 1:43:02

1:43:13 So the three conditions necessary for, what would be the three conditions for an ear conscious apprehending sound? The three conditions for an ear conscious apprehending sound. What is the uncommon empowering condition? Uncommon empowering condition? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:13 Highlight the passage at 1:43:13

1:43:34 Ear sense power. So the difference between the ear, ear is the organ, and it's said that the sense power is a subtle matter inside the organ. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:45 That's whether that's correct. Is that correct or not? I don't know. But anyway, that's what's stated traditionally. What is the immediate preceding condition for an ear-sense consciousness apprehending a sound? What's the immediately preceding condition? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:45 Highlight the passage at 1:43:45

1:44:22 So it's in any consciousness which arises immediately preceding. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:22 Highlight the passage at 1:44:22

1:44:31 That's not the immediately preceding condition. The immediately preceding condition is always an immediately preceding consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:31 Highlight the passage at 1:44:31

1:44:40 Could be any consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:40 Highlight the passage at 1:44:40

1:44:52 Not me, but you Report an error in the passage at 1:44:52 Highlight the passage at 1:44:52

1:44:57 heard what I said. So that consciousness would be the immediate preceding consciousness to the ear conscious apprehending. Yeah, that's right. All that's getting at is we have to have knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:57 Highlight the passage at 1:44:57

1:45:23 There must be a factor of knowing preceding any moment of consciousness in order for knowing to arise. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:23 Highlight the passage at 1:45:23

1:45:39 But Report an error in the passage at 1:45:39 Highlight the passage at 1:45:39

1:45:48 how do you know you have silence? How do you know this? You might have a consciousness apprehending silence. And then your consciousness is apprehending silence. know there must be Report an error in the passage at 1:45:48 Highlight the passage at 1:45:48

1:46:03 And then inner consciousness is apprehending sound. So whatever that consciousness is apprehending, there has to be an experiential knowing. There has to be that factor of knowing preceding any moment of knowing. Knowing only arises from knowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:03 Highlight the passage at 1:46:03

1:46:26 It doesn't arise from that which is not knowing. That's all that's getting at. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:26 Highlight the passage at 1:46:26

1:46:38 Matter arises from matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:38 Highlight the passage at 1:46:38

1:46:43 It doesn't arise from that which is not matter or from nothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:43 Highlight the passage at 1:46:43

1:46:52 The observed object condition for a near-conscious apprehending sound? Observed object condition? Sound. Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:52 Highlight the passage at 1:46:52

1:47:12 So knowing is the experience of consciousness. Knowing and consciousness are the same event. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:12 Highlight the passage at 1:47:12

1:47:23 So you couldn't know consciousness, but thoughts Report an error in the passage at 1:47:23 Highlight the passage at 1:47:23

1:47:44 are the objects of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:44 Highlight the passage at 1:47:44

1:47:50 Ideas, concepts. Images, representations are the objects of a conceptual consciousness, a thought consciousness. I hope Report an error in the passage at 1:47:50 Highlight the passage at 1:47:50

1:48:14 I'm not – okay. Yeah, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:14 Highlight the passage at 1:48:14

1:48:22 Consciousness, knowing, and awareness. So those three? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:22 Highlight the passage at 1:48:22

1:48:28 They're synonymous, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:33 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:33 Highlight the passage at 1:48:33

1:48:48 Consciousness, awareness, and knowing. Knower, I think they use the word knower. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:48 Highlight the passage at 1:48:48

1:49:00 I might have Report an error in the passage at 1:49:00 Highlight the passage at 1:49:00

1:49:05 misled you somewhere along the line. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:05 Highlight the passage at 1:49:05

1:49:13 So direct valid cognizers are necessarily new? So Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:30 the valid cognizer is necessarily new by definition. They're new and incontrovertible. Are necessarily not mistaken? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:51 uh, I'd. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:51 Highlight the passage at 1:49:51

1:49:58 a... Report an error in the passage at 1:49:58 Highlight the passage at 1:49:58

1:50:05 I hope we're not becoming too technical. For something to be not mistaken, it means it's not mistaken with respect to its appearing object. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:05 Highlight the passage at 1:50:05

1:50:18 So you have an eye consciousness apprehending a flower. What is the appearing object? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:32 So is that eye consciousness mistaken or not mistaken with respect to the flower? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:32 Highlight the passage at 1:50:32

1:50:39 What about eye consciousness? Which sees a snake as a rope. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:39 Highlight the passage at 1:50:39

1:51:04 Maybe I shouldn't have brought that up. We're going to study that when we come. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:04 Highlight the passage at 1:51:04

1:51:10 That's a good one. Facsimile of a direct receiver. We're going to come to that when we come to wrong consciousnesses. It appears to be a direct receiver, but it is mistaken with respect to its... period object. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:10 Highlight the passage at 1:51:10

1:51:33 Its appearing object is a rope, which appears to be a snake. So it's mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:50 We're going to come to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:50 Highlight the passage at 1:51:50

1:51:57 So look at, yeah, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:57 Highlight the passage at 1:51:57

1:52:15 So valid cognizer, what's the definition of valid cognizer? Report an error in the passage at 1:52:15 Highlight the passage at 1:52:15

1:52:23 Incontrovertible cognizer, yeah. so everything can't... It definitely cannot be mistaken. It cannot be wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:23 Highlight the passage at 1:52:23

1:52:52 No, it was never a direct valid cognizant. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:52 Highlight the passage at 1:52:52

1:53:03 It's a facsimile. It's a fake one. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:03 Highlight the passage at 1:53:03

1:53:13 Yeah, you believed it was, but it doesn't make it so. it's over. Did you Report an error in the passage at 1:53:13 Highlight the passage at 1:53:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:34 I mean, us thinking it so doesn't make it so. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:34 Highlight the passage at 1:53:34

1:53:46 But then how do we determine what is factual? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:46 Highlight the passage at 1:53:46

1:53:54 A valid cognizer is definitely factual. It's a cause with a fact. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:54 Highlight the passage at 1:53:54

1:54:06 If you have this split second time where you think this flame is not hot. You're still going to get burnt. But you're thinking it's not hot. Does it make it hot? Does it make it cold? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:06 Highlight the passage at 1:54:06

1:54:30 Okay. So that consciousness which apprehends the flame as cold. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:54:42 Okay. Give me an example. Okay. You see, that eye consciousness which sees a snake as a rope as a snake is a wrong consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:42 Highlight the passage at 1:54:42

1:54:57 It was never factual. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:57 Highlight the passage at 1:54:57

1:55:09 We would call it a wrong consciousness or a facsimile or a direct perceiver. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:09 Highlight the passage at 1:55:09

1:55:18 Just because you don't know it's wrong doesn't mean it's not wrong. It can still be wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:18 Highlight the passage at 1:55:18

1:55:39 Even though you believe very strongly, it's right. It doesn't make it right. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:39 Highlight the passage at 1:55:39

1:55:47 And later, even though you found it wrong. Never, it was never... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:47 Highlight the passage at 1:55:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:55:37 even if, exactly, good. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:37 Highlight the passage at 1:55:37

1:55:50 Still, it was wrong to begin with. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:50 Highlight the passage at 1:55:50

1:56:01 For you, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:01 Highlight the passage at 1:56:01

1:56:05 yeah, for something to be in that moment, run that by me again. I got ahead of my thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:05 Highlight the passage at 1:56:05

1:56:29 Oh, yeah, it could be, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:29 Highlight the passage at 1:56:29

1:56:37 Okay, so then through a process, we would have to create. The next step from going from wrong consciousness is doubt. So we'd have to begin to investigate the nature of the object. We'd get a stick and begin to poke around. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:37 Highlight the passage at 1:56:37

1:56:56 And eventually doubt would begin to arise in your mind. And it would first tend toward the non-factual. And then it would be equal doubt. Your mind would waver. I'm not sure whether it's a snake. Maybe it's not a snake. And then it would tend toward the factual. Maybe it's a rope. It could be a rope. and so he began to Report an error in the passage at 1:56:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56:56

1:57:18 And then you would eventually arrive at an understanding that it was a rope. So it's a process of investigation. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:18 Highlight the passage at 1:57:18

1:57:38 So what does it mean to be incontrovertible? You can't have a valid cognizer and a wrong consciousness apprehending the same time simultaneously. It's like hot and cold water. They will cancel each other out. So you couldn't have two valid cognizers apprehending the same object, apprehending the flower as pink and one as black. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:58:16 One would be controverted. One would be contradicted by the other. So the idea of incontrovertible means it cannot be... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:16 Highlight the passage at 1:58:16

1:58:29 Incontrovertible consciousness is one that cannot be contradicted by another valid cognizer. It can't be contradicted. You have to test it. But it's very stable in that way. A wrong consciousness can be contradicted. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:29 Highlight the passage at 1:58:29

1:58:48 A doubting consciousness can be contradicted and so forth. You're Report an error in the passage at 1:58:48 Highlight the passage at 1:58:48

1:58:56 welcome. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:56 Highlight the passage at 1:58:56

1:59:20 So they put you away. That's what they do. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:20 Highlight the passage at 1:59:20

1:59:31 No, I'm joking. No, you're right. You're absolutely... Yeah, no. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:31 Highlight the passage at 1:59:31

1:59:45 No, no, you're getting to a very difficult area. Because, you know, how do we come to determine what is true or not? Do we do it on the basis of... Take a vote. If 200 years ago, 300 years ago, if we took a vote, then we would say that the sun revolves around the earth. That would be truth. That would be fact. Everybody would agree on that. 99 % of the population, if they knew what you were talking about, they would say, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:45 Highlight the passage at 1:59:45

2:00:25 So it's not a matter of majority rules. you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:25 Highlight the passage at 2:00:25

2:00:29 Consensus? It's a difficult problem. That's why we use an authoritative consciousness. This is the standard. That's why we said there were three valid cognizers. One of them was a person. We tried. Anyway. That's a difficult. It's not easy. How do we determine what is factual? What is true? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:29 Highlight the passage at 2:00:29

2:01:03 Is truth just an illusion for Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:24 the average person? So for most of us, it's a correct assumption, isn't it? Maybe for the astronauts, maybe it was a direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:24 Highlight the passage at 2:01:24

2:01:40 No, maybe they guessed they didn't, did they? I don't know. They didn't see the sun revolve around the earth, did they? I don't know if they saw it. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:40 Highlight the passage at 2:01:40

2:01:53 Okay. I hope, what I'd like for you to read in... And your book is pages 31 through 35. It's not all that much because you don't have to read the boxes. So 31 through 35. And look at quiz answer four. I think we'll discuss that next time. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:53 Highlight the passage at 2:01:53

2:02:34 So thank you for hanging in there. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:34 Highlight the passage at 2:02:34

2:02:40 And we can dedicate the positive energy we've created together. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:40 Highlight the passage at 2:02:40

2:02:47 May all beings everywhere. everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil, or fall ill. no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:47 Highlight the passage at 2:02:47

2:03:14 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:30 May the 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:30 Highlight the passage at 2:03:30

2:03:26 the... Report an error in the passage at 2:03:26 Highlight the passage at 2:03:26

2:03:50 May the powers find power and may people think of benefiting each other for as long as space remains. And 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:50 Highlight the passage at 2:03:50

2:04:13 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. In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrizi Tenzin Gyatso, please remain to the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:13 Highlight the passage at 2:04:13

2:04:43 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:43 Highlight the passage at 2:04:43