BP: Mind and Cognition (3 November 2014)

0:05 Okay, how are we doing? Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:13 You Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:24 had a good trip? Yes? Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:36 Is that too loud? Maybe it's too loud, strangely enough. I don't think it's ever been too loud. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

0:53 Is that better? Yeah, I think that's better. Report an error in the passage at 0:53 Highlight the passage at 0:53

1:04 You just moved house. Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

1:10 So you did the Alice Wallace. How was that? Pretty amazing. Report an error in the passage at 1:10 Highlight the passage at 1:10

1:23 it was quite good. Anything that you'd like to share? Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:56 Great, great. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:00 Did you have any particular insights or some different way of thinking that came out of that? Report an error in the passage at 2:00 Highlight the passage at 2:00

2:20 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

2:24 intrusive. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:43 Sure, yeah. That's good. Yeah, it's processing. I can appreciate that. That sounds great. Report an error in the passage at 2:43 Highlight the passage at 2:43

2:58 Anybody Report an error in the passage at 2:58 Highlight the passage at 2:58

3:04 else have anything? How Report an error in the passage at 3:04 Highlight the passage at 3:04

3:10 was that? Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:26 Oh, yeah? Oh, good. Report an error in the passage at 3:26 Highlight the passage at 3:26

3:31 The whole thing. Skim across. Fantastic. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:48 Do you have any take-home that you'd like to share with us? Report an error in the passage at 3:48 Highlight the passage at 3:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:55 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

6:14 She's such a feminist. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:45 That takeaway that you mentioned about coming to... It's just a coming to oneself from time to time over the course of the day. It reminds me of what, and you mentioned Thich Nhat Hanh, in Plum Village they have a bell that goes off, I think on the hour, and everyone stops and just becomes aware of the state of their being. Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

7:14 What am I about? Report an error in the passage at 7:14 Highlight the passage at 7:14

7:30 It's just a coming to oneself. And recognizing the condition, you know, where am I? There's also, there's a practice that I've talked about on Tuesday. It's called the three-minute breathing space. And it just takes the first minute to just, what is the condition of my body and mind? Well, I have got this ache here. And I've been thinking, my mind's really restless. I've been thinking about what I have. And just, you know, looking at the state and reviewing what you're all about in terms. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

8:01 Of your physical and mental experience. What's going on for you? Just so you come back to yourself from time to time rather than losing yourself into externals and so forth. So it's just a matter of becoming aware of the state of your being, physical and mental. Report an error in the passage at 8:01 Highlight the passage at 8:01

8:37 They probably do have an app for that. And you just stop whatever you're doing. So you don't necessarily have to adjust to anything, but you just simply become aware. Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

· · · silence, 4 minutes

13:20 Life asks us the same thing we have been asked in every class. Stay awake, pay attention. Maybe that high. Maybe that's what we're... Stay awake and pay attention. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

13:55 I think when we come here, I think, and walk into the room, I think there is some shift in our Report an error in the passage at 13:55 Highlight the passage at 13:55

14:12 awareness and what we're about. Somehow maybe the transition from walking from that door to here and so forth is becoming more perhaps grounded in the moment and considering why I'm here and what I would like my life to be about. Big Report an error in the passage at 14:12 Highlight the passage at 14:12

14:39 possibilities even in the course of a short time. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

14:54 Let me stop speeding, stop acting and pause. Begin to pay attention to the state of our being and where have we been expending our energy and time and space in our mind over the course of the day. Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:14 They say that saying, Chinese saying, if you keep the Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:27 same direction, you're likely to end up where you're headed and in what direction have I been moving over the course of my day in terms of my thinking, in terms of... Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:43 How I've been using my energies and so forth. So Report an error in the passage at 15:43 Highlight the passage at 15:43

15:49 I'm not saying that we have to prescribe something specific for ourselves. I think more than not, we just have to pay attention and be aware. I think life can be our teacher in a way, especially suffering. It's a difficult subject to talk about, I think, intelligently, in the sense that it can become... Report an error in the passage at 15:49 Highlight the passage at 15:49

16:34 Something which really doesn't have all that much connection in the sense that we don't see how the connection between our suffering and perhaps some of the overall ways of our thinking, patterns of the kinds of actions that we create. And I think quite often there's a disconnect between those two. We don't see how one leads to the other. Report an error in the passage at 16:34 Highlight the passage at 16:34

17:02 Sometimes there's quite a... We try to, as best we can, Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:10 assure that things go well for ourselves, that we protect ourselves from difficulty and discomfort and try to make life as pleasurable as possible. But even in spite of all our efforts and the ways that we do, nonetheless, every day, in one way or another, there's... There's some struggle or some difficulty, some degree of anxiety or things don't go the way that we had wanted them, the way that we planned them and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:44 And so I think a lot of our orientation is struggling to manipulate the outside world and the people and if only I had done this and then that wouldn't have happened and if I only had made better plans, if I had more control and so forth. And it never comes down to the fact that maybe part of our problem is the human condition, what it means to be an ordinary human being. Report an error in the passage at 17:44 Highlight the passage at 17:44

18:13 I think it's quite difficult to accept that as Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:21 long as we have anger and attachment and pride and jealousy and ignorance within our minds, whatever else we may do, we're going to... We experience difficulties in our life. We're going to suffer in various ways. We can't become a master of saṃsāra. That's not an element within this set of possibilities, the kind of freedom and fulfillment that we're looking for. Report an error in the passage at 18:21 Highlight the passage at 18:21

18:55 So I think there's a movement toward wholeness, toward meaning and fulfillment. I think there's a reason that we're here. that's just that. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:07 That we're behind what we're doing. And sometimes maybe it's not so obvious to ourselves. Sometimes it's hard to connect what we're doing with our aspirations for wholeness and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 19:07 Highlight the passage at 19:07

19:24 Direct perceivers and eye consciousnesses apprehending flowers. It's hard to assure that there's some relevancy. something. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:36 that it is. Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

19:43 Supporting our project, even if we're not so sure what that project may be. Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

19:54 So I think, you know, ultimately I think, you know, we're going, there's something in us that we go for refuge to, that we can go for refuge to. Report an error in the passage at 19:54 Highlight the passage at 19:54

20:04 You know, some capacity, some potential to be awake and to bring our compassion and wisdom to bear on how our everyday life plays out. And just almost seemingly in insignificant ways. Report an error in the passage at 20:04 Highlight the passage at 20:04

20:35 So, you know, we adjust our motivation and go for refuge. And I think, you know, what this might be is something with inside of ourselves. And Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

20:54 I think we're creating the causes, creating the conditions which allow this potential to find its fulfillment in the everydayness of our life. And I don't know if any light bulbs are going to To flash in our minds tonight, could be some aha moments when profound insight or the skies open up and a choir of angels comes floating down. Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

21:33 That may not happen, but in the mundane everydayness of our life, I think we can begin to cheer up and things can... The edges begin to become a little more rounded, a little less cutting. Report an error in the passage at 21:33 Highlight the passage at 21:33

21:56 We have a certain degree of resiliency even when things go bad for us. Somehow this potential finds these very Report an error in the passage at 21:56 Highlight the passage at 21:56

22:13 ordinary ways of finding expression in our life. It reminds me of a... When I lived in Dharamsala in India, I remember my very first year living high up in the mountains and living during the monsoon period and living and not seeing in the valley for being surrounded by clouds for months at a time. Well, at least it felt like that or it seemed like that. Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

22:52 And it wouldn't necessarily rain all the time, but you were completely enveloped in clouds. And you'd walk around and imperceptibly, as it were, your clothes would absorb the moisture in the air. And imperceptibly, without even you noticing it at any one particular moment, there would be this accumulation of moisture in your clothing. Report an error in the passage at 22:52 Highlight the passage at 22:52

23:19 And you'd come home in the evening and there would be... And I think for me that's very much what my practice, my journey has been about, just becoming imperceptibly more damp, Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:38 absorbing almost by osmosis what these ideas and these different ways of being and maybe a little bit of wisdom and compassion, a little more personal power and skill. Report an error in the passage at 23:38 Highlight the passage at 23:38

23:58 A little more confidence in myself that I can change for the better and maybe even noticing from time to time that life is better in many ways and I can be of greater service not only to myself but to others. Report an error in the passage at 23:58 Highlight the passage at 23:58

24:25 So maybe there's a little Buddha inside of us just waiting for us to be true to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:36 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collection of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and 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 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

25:06 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 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 25:06 Highlight the passage at 25:06

25:35 May all sentient beings abide in equanimity. Free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. I Report an error in the passage at 25:35 Highlight the passage at 25:35

25:48 like to stand and then we'll sit. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

26:35 Taking a comfortable but firm posture. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:16 So I invite you to bring your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp, and begin with feeling or simply imagining the wrinkles in your brow and your forehead, smoothing out. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:31 The pressure in and around your eyes, diminishing the Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:42 muscles of the face, softening, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

28:02 Tongue is soft, jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 28:02 Highlight the passage at 28:02

28:10 And bringing your awareness to the back of your neck and perhaps gently turning your head to each side a few times, loosening, stretching the muscles of the back of the neck. Your Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:33 awareness to your upper back and shoulders and Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:38 your shoulders up toward your ears and circling them to the back and rotating Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:53 your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:03 Returning your shoulders back up toward your ears and just allowing them to drop. Report an error in the passage at 29:03 Highlight the passage at 29:03

29:11 To the sides and with that the feeling of some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around over the course of the day, moving down and through your body to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:25 A feeling of relief, Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:30 a burden that's been lifted from your shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 29:30 Highlight the passage at 29:30

29:43 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands, your hands are soft and loose, and Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:05 your upper arms, Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:14 the chest is at ease, Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:29 relaxing throughout the heart area, the central space of the chest. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

30:57 Releasing the tension that we often hold on our stomach muscles, just allowing the belly to go soft. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:24 And keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscles. Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:44 Pelvic region, Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

32:11 upper legs, Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

32:30 your feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 32:30 Highlight the passage at 32:30

32:46 Scanning from the crown through the central portion of the body, just moving through and paying particular attention to any tightnesses and tensions which might remain in the body. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

33:02 Breathing in and suffusing that area of tension, of tightness with the breath of awareness and as if breathing out from that same area. And with that out-breath Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:19 experiencing a sense of release and letting go of the tension, the tightness, the relaxation and easing into Report an error in the passage at 33:19 Highlight the passage at 33:19

33:52 those areas of tightness and tension and again and again breathing out from those same areas. Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:05 With each out-breath the body becoming Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:11 Quiet, ease, relax. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

· · · silence, 2 minutes

36:26 I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing and to note where it is in your body that your mind went to that indicated to you that you're breathing. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

36:41 Where was the physical sensation located? Wherever it's most clear and obvious. And to lightly rest your attention, focus your awareness on that sensation. And if it's helpful, you can associate this with the counting of the breaths. Breathing in, breathing out, counting in. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

37:06 We're Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

· · · silence, 8 minutes

45:28 going to shift our attention through a sensation of the body other than that of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 45:28 Highlight the passage at 45:28

45:40 Focusing your awareness on a sensation of the body and Report an error in the passage at 45:40 Highlight the passage at 45:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

46:45 again shifting our attention. This time with regard to the sounds around us. Simply opening up a receptive, Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:15 shifting our attention, turning the mind inward, focusing our awareness. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:25 On the objects of mind, the thoughts and words, pictures, images, but also the state of the mind, whether it's sleepy or restless, experiencing pleasure, experiencing suffering, neutral emotion, Report an error in the passage at 48:25 Highlight the passage at 48:25

48:50 objects and states of mind, watching the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 48:50 Highlight the passage at 48:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

50:14 Finally, just allow your mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends toward, whether it's the breath, the bodily sensation, the Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:28 mind itself. or a sound, whatever it might be. Report an error in the passage at 50:28 Highlight the passage at 50:28

50:37 easy-going manner, stay awake, stay aware, watch. Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:41 in and outflow the natural breath. I'd Report an error in the passage at 51:41 Highlight the passage at 51:41

· · · silence, 3 minutes

54:27 like to begin tonight with looking at, finish looking at note three. Okay, we're going to finish off Awareness and Knowers. Report an error in the passage at 54:27 Highlight the passage at 54:27

54:45 By looking at conceptual consciousness, there's just a little bit left. We've looked at a division of knowers and awarenesses in terms of seven, and then there's a division into three. Report an error in the passage at 54:45 Highlight the passage at 54:45

55:05 And this mainly takes into consideration the conceptual consciousnesses. So I think conceptual consciousnesses, I think, are quite difficult to understand, really. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:18 And there's a definition which is given. I don't know if it helps us all that much, but we can look at it and work with it a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 55:18 Highlight the passage at 55:18

55:31 On page one of note three, it says conceptual consciousness, a determinative knower that apprehends a sound generality and a meaning generality as suitable to be mixed. So I don't know if that tells us all that much, but that's the definition that's been given to us. So a determinative knower is just a type of knower. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

55:57 Which thinks this is this, that is that. So it makes some kind of determination, some kind of distinction. So it's one of the characteristics of a determinative knowledge. But here we've been talking about conceptual consciousness in the fact that they make use of a mental image in order to get at their object. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:22 So they're understanding their object. They're a valid way of understanding. But they understand their object not by the power of the object itself, but by our idea, our mental image, our conception about the object. And here we're going to refine that a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:59 I've been saying to David that I was going to quote something. We've been talking about mental images a lot, haven't we? might Report an error in the passage at 56:59 Highlight the passage at 56:59

57:08 And David, I think, brought up a good point, talking about the fact that these mental images were permanent, unchanging. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:23 And just to kind of, not to resolve that question, but just to reinforce it's a good question. this Report an error in the passage at 57:23 Highlight the passage at 57:23

57:37 I just want to read something from, this is a book by, I think I mentioned this last week, Anne Klein. It's called Knowledge and Liberation. And here she's talking about mental images and whether they are permanent or not. Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

57:59 So I'll just read you what she says and give you some kind of perspective on the question. Maybe we won't resolve the question. Report an error in the passage at 57:59 Highlight the passage at 57:59

58:10 The assertion that mental images are permanent is consistent with the overall galukpa presentation of Satantrika. So Satantrika is, we've talked about the various tenet systems or schools of philosophy which were organized in terms of the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha didn't teach these tenets or these systems, but he addressed different individuals at different... Report an error in the passage at 58:10 Highlight the passage at 58:10

58:39 Places and stages in their understanding with regard to various subjects. And later scholars, they systematize the teachings of the Buddha into the Abhidharma and so forth. And they can overall fit into four systems of thought or tenets. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

59:02 We're looking at the mind, awareness and knowledge from a... A particular tenet system that's called Satantraga, the sūtra system. And even more than that, we're looking at it in terms of the galupa presentation. The galupa presentation, there are four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism, Kargyu, Nigma, Shakya and Gelu. Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02

59:30 And here at Vajjana Institute. Institute, we are in There's not all that much difference in them. The main points are the same, but certain practices are emphasized and so forth, and certain ways of explaining certain details are emphasized. But here at the Vajrayana Institute, it follows the tradition of the Gelu tradition, which is founded by J. Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

59:58 Tsongkhapa. Just to give you a bit of background. So the overall Galu presentation of Santantraga, but it's not without problems of credibility. Report an error in the passage at 59:58 Highlight the passage at 59:58

1:00:10 It is a matter of experience that mental images appear to undergo rapid changes. Moreover, so are we following here? I have an idea about something. It could be your partner. Your car, President Obama, condition, whatever. Our mental images, our ideas, our concepts, they seem to change. I don't think we can deny that. Moreover, taking to mind certain images can have an effect, such as stabilizing or heightening the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:10 Highlight the passage at 1:00:10

1:00:57 And having an effect is supposed to be a property of impermanent phenomena only. So one of the... One of the synonyms of impermanence is functional. It's able to, and by function, functional phenomena is able to act as a cause. It's able to bring about a result. Permanent phenomena are non-functional things and they should not be able to bring about a result. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:57 Highlight the passage at 1:00:57

1:01:26 But here it's saying, well, if I, if I, you know, my images in my mind, they have an effect on my mind. If nothing else, I can use them as a point of concentration and I can stabilize my mind using a mental image, which is quite often the case, you know, visualization practices and so forth. But even just, you know, if you have had trauma, certain images arise in your mind, unwanted images, and they can re-evoke the same, very similar experiences. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:02:05 So these images, they seem like they have a real effect, but they shouldn't if they're permanent. Which, okay, beyond this, the image does not appear to thought by its own power. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:05 Highlight the passage at 1:02:05

1:02:23 It is imputed by thought. So these images that we use to think about the world, that we use to understand our world, and it's extremely necessary and useful. It's what makes us almost human that we're able to do this. Are simply creations of thought. They are reputed by thought. Because it is in this sense created, it would seem logical to consider it a product and therefore impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:51 Despite these difficulties, the galukpas may have pedagogical reasons in terms of some teaching, a skillful method or a skillful way of teaching. Reason for emphasizing that the image is permanent. In terms of the Buddhist path to liberating knowledge, the final purpose of practice involving mental imagery or visualization is not to create a certain type of image but to generate a specific type of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:29 By asserting that the image is permanent, the system emphasizes that the purpose of effort is to change the mind, not create mental pictures. For example, one seeks finally to cultivate direct realization of subtle impermanence rather than just generating a clear image of it. Nevertheless, the generation of that image, which of course does involve effort, is an integral part of the process of gaining realizations. Even if one concedes that in terms of the wider picture of Buddhist practice, it is suitable to emphasize the cultivation of certain consciousnesses rather than mental images. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

1:04:09 It still seems strange to insist that such images are permanent, that is, non-disintegrating. After all, as mentioned, experience is strongly and easily contradicts the viewpoint of mental images being a functional thing created by the mind. It is permanent, and from the viewpoint that an image represents the elimination of what it is not, we're going to talk about this. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:09 Highlight the passage at 1:04:09

1:04:38 From the viewpoint that an image represents an elimination of what it is not, that object, for example, the appearance as opposite from non-pot is permanent. So there's a reason that they're calling them permanent, but in terms of our actual experience, it would seem more that they're impermanent. So your doubt or your question had a very good basis, and it's not going to be resolved. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38 Highlight the passage at 1:04:38

1:05:06 Yeah, that is. Sharing that with you, as I said, I wasn't going to be resolved. I think it points out the fact that we shouldn't dismiss our own doubts or our own experience, even if a teacher or a system of thought puts forth a particular position. It was, well, I question, you're welcome to question. So I just wanted to reinforce that. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:06 Highlight the passage at 1:05:06

1:05:38 Okay, I hope that wasn't too way out there in left field. So these images, these ideas, they may in fact be impermanent. They're constantly in flux, dynamic, changing. But there's other reasons. We will approach them, which seems to have a sense, well, maybe they are permanent. They're permanent from one point of view and impermanent from another point of view. Conceptual consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:06:08 A determinative knower that apprehends a sound generality and a meaning generality is suitable to be mixed. That's the definition of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:18 So I realize this is probably fairly abstract, but let's just try to get a handle on it and then have some sense about what they're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:30 So we have to understand, well, what is a sound generality and what is a meaning generality? so I just Report an error in the passage at 1:06:30 Highlight the passage at 1:06:30

1:06:37 And here I've given, again from Anne Klein, I've quoted her definition of, or her explanation of what a sound generality is first, and then what a meaning generality. And so if we can, perhaps it might be useful to go through these. It's also trying to get some understanding of how our mind actually works. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:37 Highlight the passage at 1:06:37

1:07:03 It isn't completely an abstraction. It has some practical function. Two types of generalities, so I'm reading from the notes at the bottom of page one. Two types of generalities can be appearing objects of thought. Because we have the appearing objects of thought are mental images. And we can talk about them. There are two types. We haven't talked about them to this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:27 Two types of generalities can be appearing objects of thought. One, and she calls it the term generality. And our text here is calling it sound generality. So it's just a difference of translation. Same word, just different translation. Term generality, sound generality. Which appears to a thought consciousness when, for example, a person who has never been to India hears the word India. Okay, so someone who's never been to India. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:27 Highlight the passage at 1:07:27

1:07:58 Someone who hasn't experienced it. And you hear about someone who hasn't been to Chicago, Illinois. You just haven't experienced it, but you've heard about it. You hear it in Chicago. So that name, when somebody says, I'm from Chicago, oh, I've heard of that, it makes sense to you in a way, but you've never experienced it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:58 Highlight the passage at 1:07:58

1:08:23 So that sense, that idea you have of India is simply generated out of language or sound, terms. It's not generated out of a sense of actually being there, having seen and smelled it, tasted it. So term generality or sound generality. So we're making use of both of these all the time. The second type of generality is a meaning generality that appears when someone who has visited India hears the same word. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23 Highlight the passage at 1:08:23

1:08:59 When the meaning generality appears to that person's thought, In such a case, these two generalities are not only suitable to be mixed, they are mixed. So in our definition it says suitable to be mixed. It means it could be mixed. It could be associated with one to another. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:24 Yeah, let's keep reading. I'll give you some examples. Now we can work with it a little bit. The person who has neither seen India... Nor realize what India is through some other means cannot have an appearance of the meaning generality of India. So somebody who has never experienced, never been there, they can have a verbal description, have an idea about what India, from what they've heard about India. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:55 So they have what's called a sound generality. But they don't have a meaning generality, which is... Derived from actually experiencing it. They could even, here it goes on to say, therefore, for this person, a person who landed there without knowing, maybe your ship docked in India, but you didn't know you were India. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:20 You walked around Mumbai for a couple of hours, and you looked around, and then you got back on the ship. And they have an idea where they were. Through their experience. But they have no idea it was India. So you can have a meaning generality, which is an idea, a mental image, which is derived from your experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:20 Highlight the passage at 1:10:20

1:10:49 And you can have an idea, a sound generality, which is derived from just hearing about it. And they can be completely separate. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:00 We don't necessarily associate them. That is, they... so they haven't just, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:03 They're suitable to be mixed. They're suitable to be associated. But we might not. We could have one or the other, or we could have both, and we don't know they connect with one another. And that's another case. For example, I don't know if this example works, but anyway, we'll give it a go. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:25 I'm talking to my friend, and I said, well, I went to this party last night. And I met this really interesting fellow. He was about, I don't know, he was maybe in his 50s. He was a professor. We had a fascinating conversation. And my friend says, well, that's Professor, that's Dr. George Herbert. I told you about him. Oh, that's who George Herbert is. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:25 Highlight the passage at 1:11:25

1:11:59 So all of a sudden, I'm putting my idea of... Which I've generated from my sound generality. This friend has told me about Dr. George Herbert in the past, that he's doing such and such research. I have a sound generality. And then I had an experience of him last night, but I didn't know who he was. So I had a meaning generality. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:23 And then by him saying, oh, I'm able to put those two together. Oh, so that's who Dr. Herbert is. Now I know. So now those two, and I know any suitable to be associated, are mixed, but they are mixed. So I know who I've experienced and I know how to apply that description to that experience in terms of who I met last night, Dr. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:23 Highlight the passage at 1:12:23

1:12:48 George Herbert. Because I hope that makes a bit of sense. So our mind is doing this all the time. Let's look at another example on page two. So this is just another example. For example, when a person who has never seen a magnolia, everybody knows, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:19 hears the term magnolia, that person's thought has only a term generality, a sound generality. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:32 What would be an example of something? Do you know what a dorje is? A dorje, a dorje. So they did this. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:32 Highlight the passage at 1:13:32

1:13:40 Dorje. Okay. A Dorje. I'm going to give you a sound generality. A Dorje is a tantric ritual instrument that has these prongs. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:40 Highlight the passage at 1:13:40

1:13:56 Somebody missed one. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:05 That's a double Dorje. Okay. So I can give you, but if I had one with me, I could show you. Then you'd say, oh, you'd be able to apply that. Uh-oh. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:05 Highlight the passage at 1:14:05

1:14:28 Okay, it's the same thing with magnolia. So a person who just hears the term magnolia, that person thought that has only a term generality as an appearing object. So somebody says, you know, I'm going to go buy some magnolias. Oh, okay. They have an image which corresponds to merely... To what they've heard about magnolias. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:28 Highlight the passage at 1:14:28

1:14:58 But no sense of its meaning. They really don't know what a magnolia looks like. On the other hand, when someone who does know what a magnolia is and who does not know what a magnolia is and thus who cannot identify it by name happens to remember a magnolia. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:20 I saw this tree coming here today. And they had these beautiful flowers, huge flowers in bloom. I can remember a magnolia, but I don't remember it as a magnolia. So I have a mean generality of a magnolia. I experienced it, but I cannot associate it, I can't mix it with a sound generality of magnolia. I don't know that it is a magnolia. That person does not remember it as a magnolia, but only recalls its shape, its color and other features. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:20 Highlight the passage at 1:15:20

1:15:53 The image of the flower that appears to such a person's thought consciousness is only a meaning generality. Finally, when a person who knows what a magnolia is remembers one seen previously, that person's thought consciousness has a mixture of the term generality and the meaning generalities. Thus, in terms of the appearing object, thought consciousnesses are of three types, those which there appears only at the term generality or sound generality, A meaning geometry or a mixture of the two. So we have most of our, many of our images are of sound generalities. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53 Highlight the passage at 1:15:53

1:16:36 You know, if I said, oh, I was born in Ohio. We have some idea of Ohio. I would imagine, okay, no idea. It's in the United States. Now you have a bit of an idea. But now you have a little bit of an idea. Not much of an idea, but it's a little bit of an idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:36 Highlight the passage at 1:16:36

1:17:01 Most of you haven't experienced Ohio. So when somebody says, I'm from Ohio, you're making use of a sound general. There's some verbal description, some idea, which has been derived simply from hearing from terms and language and so forth. If you went there, then you would have... So... Report an error in the passage at 1:17:01 Highlight the passage at 1:17:01

1:17:21 Additionally, a meaning generality, and you put these two together. This becomes important in the process of how we apply names, how we come to distinguish objects and things. Does that make sense so far? Karen? Yeah, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:21 Highlight the passage at 1:17:21

1:17:45 I wouldn't take it to, I think term is almost, but I think you could read a description of Ohio. It doesn't have to be in words. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:45 Highlight the passage at 1:17:45

1:18:03 Yeah, that would be. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:03 Highlight the passage at 1:18:03

1:18:13 So you have a meaning generality. So you can't affix a name to it. Yeah. Okay. Well, we're going to give you a term generality. What is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:13 Highlight the passage at 1:18:13

1:18:30 Does it bite? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30 Highlight the passage at 1:18:30

1:18:37 Okay. So you'd have to go to a botanist or somebody and get a meaning. Could you give me a term? I don't know what that is. Some kind of flower bud. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:18:54 So the point here is that we can develop ideas of things simply through communication, through language, through reading, so forth. Or we can develop those through experiencing. I have a sense, an image of that, but I don't know what it is. But I've experienced it from seeing it and feeling it and touching it and so forth. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:54 Highlight the passage at 1:18:54

1:19:33 I do have a conceptual – yeah. It's red. It's – yeah. I'm using my ideas. I have an idea it's red in color. I have an idea it's got a yellow stamen. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:33 Highlight the passage at 1:19:33

1:19:52 Yeah, I don't know the name of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:52 Highlight the passage at 1:19:52

1:20:11 So the question – so I just want to – It becomes interesting or useful because I want to extend this a little bit further because we can see how it actually applies maybe in our practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:11 Highlight the passage at 1:20:11

1:20:32 How we develop, how we arrive at these meaning generalities, how we are able to identify, how we come to know the world. And how this occurs in the course of coming to understandings in our Dharma practice and so forth. So I'd like to, if Report an error in the passage at 1:20:32 Highlight the passage at 1:20:32

1:21:03 we can drop down further on page two. And this is going to become a little bit, I guess a lot of this has already been abstract, but hopefully we can ground it in some examples and so forth. Meaning generalities. So meaning generalities is... Is the translation of the, in Tibetan it's Chidun, which we have been translating, and I think it's quite a legitimate translation, as mental image. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:03 Highlight the passage at 1:21:03

1:21:38 But a more literal mental image or a concept, idea, these are all synonymous. And a more literal translation of the term that's used from the Tibetan is a meaning generality. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:38 Highlight the passage at 1:21:38

1:21:54 And you can see, we'll see why this term, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:07 how the use of looking at the actual meaning of this term and how we come to know what does a meaning generality. Meaning generalities are objects of the mind during conceptualization. So we talked about how thought consciousness... The appearing object is a mental image or meaning generality. How do we develop them? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:07 Highlight the passage at 1:22:07

1:22:36 We've never really talked about that. And it's quite an interesting process how they are presented as being mental exclusion objects, double negatives imputed by the mind. Double negatives. Yes. Okay. Is this okay? We're going okay over here? I realized, what might it mean to say that we think by using double-naked objects? This is from a book called Two Views of Mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:23:15 He's a neuroscientist who went to Dharamsala and studied exactly what we're studying now and tried to see if he could somehow correlate it with some of his understandings in brain science. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:31 Talking about it from a more westernized point of view. What might it mean to say that we think by using double negative objects? Here is how I envision it. When I see an image in my mind's eye, the image is not nearly so real as I might at first think. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:31 Highlight the passage at 1:23:31

1:23:54 I would certainly never confuse it with my direct experience. But it also doesn't seem to be wrong about anything. It doesn't seem to suggest anything that is obviously not a part of the object. On the other hand, it does seem to lead out a lot, and it also seems to be quite general. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:19 If this isn't your experience, explore this exercise. Try to form the detailed image of a tiger, and then see if there is anything missing. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:30 If nothing seems to be missing, try to count the stripes, or to see if the tiger blinks. Does your tiger have any unusual marks or is it quite general? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:30 Highlight the passage at 1:24:30

1:24:46 Another term, we use a generic image, a generality of the object. It seems to be quite plausible that when I think of a tiger, I am not creating a tiger in my head. I am just removing whatever things don't apply. So this is... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:11 does a child... Report an error in the passage at 1:25:11 Highlight the passage at 1:25:11

1:25:15 Many of you have a lot more experience in practice than I do around the world. When a child learns to recognize objects, what is the process? Usually there's somebody, for example, maybe rather than using my own examples, is it okay? I realize it's difficult when I read. Is it difficult when I read? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:54 So this is in terms of learning a cat. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:54 Highlight the passage at 1:25:54

1:26:04 How we apply names. How is a child learning? It's quite interesting, isn't it, when there's a cat or there's a dog, and the child begins to recognize that there's something there, and the mother, whomever, says, cat. Now, what is, we're not quite sure. The child has an experience. We're not quite sure what the child is experiencing. It may be experiencing the tail moving back and forth or four legs or it might be the thing next to the object that we're pointing to. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:04 Highlight the passage at 1:26:04

1:26:43 But nonetheless, it's beginning to have an experience of an object and we're going to help it to be able to affix a particular name. And we say cat. Or we say doll. And the next time it sees maybe a dog walk by. And next time maybe a cat. And the child says, dog. You say, not dog, not dog. So there was something different. There was something the same, but there was something different, wasn't there? And the child is trying to be, well, there was... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:43 Highlight the passage at 1:26:43

1:27:25 I'm going to put words in this child's mind, okay? I don't know what the child would actually be thinking. I saw a furry thing moving, and my mom said that was a cat. Now I see a furry thing moving, and she says, not cat. I'm getting that wrong. She said dog, and she's saying not dog. Now she's either trying to confuse me, or there's something wrong with her, or I'm... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:25 Highlight the passage at 1:27:25

1:27:54 There's something different about what I saw before and what I saw this time. So the child is going to learn, begin to hone in on by a process of excluding. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:54 Highlight the passage at 1:27:54

1:28:11 For example, when we see a eucalyptus tree and we see a... How Report an error in the passage at 1:28:11 Highlight the passage at 1:28:11

1:28:28 do we know those are both... They're both trees, aren't they? How does a child learn to know that they're both trees? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28:28

1:28:45 Okay, yeah, good. How would the child do it in a positive fashion? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:45 Highlight the passage at 1:28:45

1:29:17 So there's a furry thing that can jump high. We're going to call that a cat. What about possums for a start? Okay, so we've excluded dogs because they cannot jump high. So anything? Yeah? okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:17 Highlight the passage at 1:29:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:29:44 Okay, so does the cow, does the cow, does the child associate meow meow with that specific object? Say there is a gray cat that's about, you know, a big gray fluffy cat. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:44 Highlight the passage at 1:29:44

1:30:12 Meow meow, big fluffy gray cats go meow meow. Does it associate? Meow meow with that specific object. Okay. What? Not necessarily. What happens when there's a black cat that goes meow meow? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:46 Okay, good. How does he make it? How does he generalize? This is the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:31:15 What happens if he's outside walking along and there's a cat which he's never seen before? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:15 Highlight the passage at 1:31:15

1:31:28 Yeah. So he's... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:37 But how does being able to recognize this cat, how does he generalize to all cats? Report an error in the passage at 1:31:37 Highlight the passage at 1:31:37

1:31:53 And everything left over is what I mean by a cat. Everything that is not cat, when everything that's not cat has been excluded, that's what I'm going to call a cat. And that could be a green cat, could be a three-legged cat, it could be an old cat, it could be any type. It would all be cat. That's a mental general, meaning generality. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:53 Highlight the passage at 1:31:53

1:32:27 It's a generic. It's a generality that we're using. It's not associated with any specific cat. Therefore, whenever I see a tree, it could be a dead tree, it could be a big tree, it could be a small tree, it could be a eucalyptus tree, it could be an oak tree. They're all trees. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:27 Highlight the passage at 1:32:27

1:32:50 I'll quote again from Anne Klein. It is an observable fact that a specific object has been connected with his name. The person who has learned that name will, in most cases, be able to recognize other objects of the same type as suitable to be designated by the same name. A child who has learned that a specific gray cat is called Cat We'll understand that a black or calico feline is also called a cat. This ability to generalize is taken as a sign that the name cat was learned when the name cat was learned. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:50 Highlight the passage at 1:32:50

1:33:38 It was not understood to apply only to the gray cat present at that time. If it had, the learner later would not be able to identify a cat of different colors or sizes. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:38 Highlight the passage at 1:33:38

1:33:51 suitably called cat. the Buddhist view, such generalization is made possible the fact that the name was initially applied not to the specific gray cat, to the opposite from non-cat. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:51 Highlight the passage at 1:33:51

1:34:08 cats of whatever color or size are similarly opposite from non-cat therefore can be recognized as suitable to Does that make any sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:08 Highlight the passage at 1:34:08

1:34:41 Okay, let's, good. Let's say you're studying Buddhism and the teacher says, you've got to understand emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:41 Highlight the passage at 1:34:41

1:34:55 You hear that, maybe it just kind of rolls around your brain for a while, it comes out the other ear. You say, well, what is that? It must mean nothingness. And so you study for a while and at some point he said, no, emptiness is not nothingness. Okay, I can exclude that. Okay, well then, so... And it's like we begin to have an extremely rough idea and we begin to chip away what emptiness isn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:55 Highlight the passage at 1:34:55

1:35:27 We don't quite know. It's a very rough, vague, fuzzy notion. And we begin to, it's not that, or it's not that, it's not that. And it begins to become almost like a process of chipping away or excluding what it's not. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:27 Highlight the passage at 1:35:27

1:35:46 And then the image that we're left with almost duplicates what emptiness is in fact. So we're honing away this process of learning what selflessness is, what emptiness is. We have all these projections, ideas, and we begin to, well, it's not that, it's not that, it's not that. And then we get some insight to what in fact it is. Everything is going to be left over. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:46 Highlight the passage at 1:35:46

1:36:19 It seems like this is how the mind actually arrives at a clear image of the object. It's by excluding all our associations, fabrications, projections, and we have to learn what it isn't. We keep excluding all of those characteristics. Then we come to an idea of what it actually is. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:19 Highlight the passage at 1:36:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:37:40 Okay, yeah, that's some of the ramifications, that's some of the implications of it. But this is how we come, this is how, I mean, as far as this interpretation is, Report an error in the passage at 1:37:40 Highlight the passage at 1:37:40

1:37:55 this is how the mind is actually formulating concepts through a process of exclusion. And so everything that's left over after I've excluded what it's not is what I mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:55 Highlight the passage at 1:37:55

1:38:14 I'll just read one more paragraph and then maybe we can talk about it some more. How does the mind come to realize truth about something? Again, this is from... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:14 Highlight the passage at 1:38:14

1:38:28 How does the mind come to realize the truth about something? The appearing object of conceptual mind is the mental exclusion. All that the mind conceives as being opposite from not an object. The actual object being realized of mind, however... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:28 Highlight the passage at 1:38:28

1:38:46 Conceptual thought is held to realize its object because through continual reasoning, observation and thought, the mental exclusion becomes more like the objective exclusion until finally an inferential understanding is reached. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:46 Highlight the passage at 1:38:46

1:39:06 Yes, I wish I wouldn't have gone there. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:06 Highlight the passage at 1:39:06

1:39:12 Please. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:12 Highlight the passage at 1:39:12

1:39:25 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:44 That's right. I'll set that one Report an error in the passage at 1:39:44 Highlight the passage at 1:39:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:39:47 Yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:54 But it couldn't be completely from, in a positive fashion, because we could never make a generalization. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:54 Highlight the passage at 1:40:54

1:41:05 Because it's furry, it has a tail, four legs. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:05 Highlight the passage at 1:41:05

1:41:16 it doesn't have. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:41:51 None, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:51 Highlight the passage at 1:41:51

1:42:04 If we went in a positive fashion, you might know this is a flower, this is a book, and this is a book. No. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:04 Highlight the passage at 1:42:04

1:42:15 But I wouldn't be able, I know, I don't want to be stuck with specific objects, but they're not the same. So I wouldn't be able to say, but they're both books. I wouldn't be able to make that connection because I've learned specific objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:15 Highlight the passage at 1:42:15

1:42:35 I can make a generalization. There's something general, there's something common amongst things. That's a meaning generality. That's what we're calling meaning generality. Yeah, that's what they're trying to get at here. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:42:51 does that make any yeah Report an error in the passage at 1:42:51 Highlight the passage at 1:42:51

1:43:08 Yeah, please. Yeah, you make more sense than I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:08 Highlight the passage at 1:43:08

1:43:16 go for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:16 Highlight the passage at 1:43:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:44:22 That's a Report an error in the passage at 1:44:22 Highlight the passage at 1:44:22

1:44:41 good example. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:41 Highlight the passage at 1:44:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:45:35 Yeah, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:35 Highlight the passage at 1:45:35

1:45:49 That's interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:49 Highlight the passage at 1:45:49

1:45:57 No, that's great. That's kind of the practical implications of what we're talking about. I think that's good. Yeah, it's a Report an error in the passage at 1:45:57 Highlight the passage at 1:45:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:46:08 No, I appreciate you sharing that. That's quite interesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:08 Highlight the passage at 1:46:08

1:46:18 You're not being excluded. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:18 Highlight the passage at 1:46:18

1:46:32 Learning to identify a cat also means that one learns what a cat is not. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:32 Highlight the passage at 1:46:32

1:46:41 So, I mean, as we talked about, one of the implications of this is there is some very abstract idea. Emptiness is very abstract. It's hard to grasp. So no one can point and say, well, this is emptiness. ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:41 Highlight the passage at 1:46:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:46:56 So what we can begin to do is begin to eliminate our misconceptions or our projections and our wrong ideas about what emptiness is through study and so forth until we're actually, by chipping away, we come to a pretty good idea about what emptiness is, what we're left over with. That's what emptiness is or whatever, selflessness, more difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:56 Highlight the passage at 1:46:56

1:47:29 But this is the way that we come to understand, just at least conceptually, any object. Through this chipping away, our idea about what, you know, we have a very rough idea about Chicago, Illinois. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:45 You could study about it and you'd get it. And if you actually went there, you'd really, you know, that would, oh, I thought it was much smaller than this. It's bigger than I imagined. So you had a, you had a, Part of your mental image of Chicago, Illinois, had a projection or a superimposition on it. You got rid of that through experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:48:08 So when you get to know a person, it's like what they say. I'm sure I used this example a hundred times. I bore you with it again. Two people, they fall romantically in love. And then six months later, one person says to the other, you're not the person I thought you were. And they never were. You had an idea about them, but in the course of getting to know them, you begin to chip away at that idea, and then you really get to know who they in fact are. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:08 Highlight the passage at 1:48:08

1:48:40 It was mostly projection, romantic image, ideas in your mind, very little to do with that actual person. So through experience, we chip away at our idea, and we come to something which corresponds to... Accurately with the thing itself. So we're continually chipping away at these mental images that we're making use to think about the world and relate with the world and trying to form more accurate ones, which correspond to more in keeping with the way things actually are. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:40 Highlight the passage at 1:48:40

1:49:23 So this is a process. So the way it's being envisioned here, it's very much a process. It's a process of excluding what it's not all the time. Emptiness is not this, it's not that. That's why in the Heart Sūtra, there's a long list of what is not. There's no ear, no noise, no eye, no taste, no smell. It goes through lots of exclusivity. It's not this, it's not that, it's not that, it's not that. What's your leftover is what I'm talking about. That's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:23 Highlight the passage at 1:49:23

1:50:03 Something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:03 Highlight the passage at 1:50:03

1:50:12 A cookie cutter. Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:12 Highlight the passage at 1:50:12

1:50:27 That sounds good. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:51:06 Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:06 Highlight the passage at 1:51:06

1:51:11 It's quite a terribly complex product. It's a wonder that we're able to do it. You know? The learning that's going on in a child. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:11 Highlight the passage at 1:51:11

1:51:41 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:41 Highlight the passage at 1:51:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:52:33 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

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

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:53:39 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:53:44 It's all very complex, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:44 Highlight the passage at 1:53:44

1:53:49 I think that was... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:49 Highlight the passage at 1:53:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:54:33 Buddhist schools say that a concept introduces itself only through the introduction of mental exclusion. A mental exclusion is the meaning generality of the object which is formed by generating a mental image of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:33 Highlight the passage at 1:54:33

1:54:54 The mental image of that object can only be built by excluding non-characteristics of that object. Unless you have the image of the object, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:54 Highlight the passage at 1:54:54

1:55:06 Unless you mentally exclude those things which are not the object, you can't get at the image of the is-ness of the object, that being of the object. So the characteristics that are not that object, that do not qualify that object, only in this way can you build up an image of the object. This is how you are introduced to an object in your process of thought mechanism. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:06 Highlight the passage at 1:55:06

1:55:32 I think he... He sort of sees that in his understanding of neuroscience. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:32 Highlight the passage at 1:55:32

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:56:13 That's interesting, isn't it? Very Report an error in the passage at 1:56:13 Highlight the passage at 1:56:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:57:01 confusing, couldn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:01 Highlight the passage at 1:57:01

1:57:07 It's Report an error in the passage at 1:57:07 Highlight the passage at 1:57:07

1:57:12 amazing we were able to live through all that. Halfway sane. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:12 Highlight the passage at 1:57:12

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:59:21 So we're going to, I know you hate to leave meaning generalities behind. We're going to begin to look at minds and mental factors. And you have quiz seven, and the answer is to quiz seven, which goes into minds and mental factors. And you also have quiz eight, which goes in. So if you would read, I think previously I asked if you would read. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

2:00:10 Up through 25. I don't know. If you have the time and so forth, you might also read up to page 32. That covers the Report an error in the passage at 2:00:10 Highlight the passage at 2:00:10

2:00:26 omnipresent mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:26 Highlight the passage at 2:00:26

2:00:37 Next week we'll begin to look at minds and mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:37 Highlight the passage at 2:00:37

2:00:56 If you could look at 1 through 25, that would be great. And we're going to discuss those next week, the minds and mental factors. And then the first category, the 51 mental factors are divided into six categories, and the first of which is omnipresent mental factors. And we'll begin to discuss those. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:56 Highlight the passage at 2:00:56

2:01:26 So we can dedicate the positive energy we created. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:26 Highlight the passage at 2:01:26

2:01:37 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 living creature suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed on by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:37 Highlight the passage at 2:01:37

2:02:06 May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope. that's the best news, and prosperity. May all of 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:06 Highlight the passage at 2:02:06

2:02:30 Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:30 Highlight the passage at 2:02:30

2:02:38 May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. May the frightened sea. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:38 Highlight the passage at 2:02:38

2:02:44 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. these skillful actions may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master. May the supreme jewels of the awakened heart and mind that have not arisen arise and grow, and may those that have arisen never diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:44 Highlight the passage at 2:02:44

2:03:13 In the land circled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrizi Tenzin Gyatso, please remain until the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:13 Highlight the passage at 2:03:13