BP: Mind and Cognition (17 November 2014)

0:09 Okay. Pretty good? Okay. Good. Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:18 How is everybody? Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:26 Okay. Okay. And this side of the room? How Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:35 do you do it? I don't know. Tell me your secret. So I... All the time. Report an error in the passage at 0:35 Highlight the passage at 0:35

0:47 Consistently. Report an error in the passage at 0:47 Highlight the passage at 0:47

0:52 Shuyen. Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

0:56 Okay. Hasn't been? What Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:25 did you meditate on? Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

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2:02 Snuck up on you. Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

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2:34 Really strong, wasn't it? Report an error in the passage at 2:34 Highlight the passage at 2:34

2:52 So, what is... By Report an error in the passage at 2:52 Highlight the passage at 2:52

3:17 silence, you mean just removing yourself away from... Why Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:35 would Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:50 you want to do that? Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

4:11 She doesn't seem to be doing a very good job. You better tell her, lift her game. Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:37 that for yourself? Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

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5:26 So what do you suppose is under the anger? Fear. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:36 Tolerate fear. Can you learn little by little to be with that fear? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

5:52 Really? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 5:52 Highlight the passage at 5:52

6:01 Things would fall apart. Report an error in the passage at 6:01 Highlight the passage at 6:01

6:16 That's scary, isn't it? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 6:16 Highlight the passage at 6:16

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7:51 I don't know if you need to learn anything. You seem to be doing very well. I'm sorry you didn't sleep well, though. That's really a nuisance. But I think you have to be gentle with yourself. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:04 But I think that's a big, I think it's one of the big skills that we can develop is to be willing to tolerate. We don't want to be with these difficult emotions, but developing the ability to be with them, I think it's really helpful. Report an error in the passage at 8:04 Highlight the passage at 8:04

8:23 But then we don't react. I mean, what you say is quite right, but we do have to take responsibility for our reactions and how it affects us, whatever she's doing from her side. We have very little control. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:38 Yeah, that's right. But when you're scared and vulnerable and you feel like things could fall apart, it's not a very good place to come from, is it? Report an error in the passage at 8:38 Highlight the passage at 8:38

8:50 No. Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

8:54 To clean your mirror? Report an error in the passage at 8:54 Highlight the passage at 8:54

9:06 What was helpful? Report an error in the passage at 9:06 Highlight the passage at 9:06

9:17 So there's a chain reaction that goes on. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:23 Well, yeah, yeah, Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:29 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 9:29 Highlight the passage at 9:29

9:44 Yeah, there's a story. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

9:51 I was doing the mind training teachings and it was on equanimity and developing the ability. I mean, the woman presented the baby to the monk and said, this is your baby. I said, okay, he took care of the baby. And then after some time she felt very remorseful about... You know, because in fact it wasn't his. He says, please forgive me, please forgive me. He said, okay. So, I mean, that's a pretty high practice, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 9:51 Highlight the passage at 9:51

10:22 Yeah. So we have to be honest with ourselves, don't we, and start where we're at. It'd be nice if we were someone other than we are, but we can't quite fake it, can we? So, huh? Fake it till you make it. Report an error in the passage at 10:22 Highlight the passage at 10:22

10:44 There's some truth to that. Report an error in the passage at 10:44 Highlight the passage at 10:44

11:12 Yeah, sure. Report an error in the passage at 11:12 Highlight the passage at 11:12

11:21 Oh, no, that sounds like a good strategy as well. Yeah, for sure. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

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12:37 It's Report an error in the passage at 12:37 Highlight the passage at 12:37

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13:15 great. You handled that very skillfully, I think. Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:21 So I think the main thing is don't, you know, be honest and try to be with it and see what's underneath it and try to, you know, to understand yourself and to gain some insight. Use that opportunity. I think that's important. So maybe the next time the reaction won't quite be the same. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:58 You have a nice, I mean I'm sure at the time not sleeping and so forth and ruminating was quite painful, but you have a nice light attitude toward it, at least at present you do, which is nice to see. You aren't kicking yourself. Report an error in the passage at 13:58 Highlight the passage at 13:58

14:32 wave out of the sides. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:37 Send her a gift. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

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15:15 What was that? Report an error in the passage at 15:15 Highlight the passage at 15:15

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15:54 She's doing very well. She was hanging up wash today and she said she almost thought she'd come. She's trying to get together to go to a retreat up in the Blue Mountains over next weekend. she Report an error in the passage at 15:54 Highlight the passage at 15:54

16:18 And they didn't have to remove the lymph nodes, which is a good sign. But she's just waiting for the pathology report to see what needs to be done further. But she's doing very well. But it was said it was very small, but they still have to examine whether it was cancerous or not. Report an error in the passage at 16:18 Highlight the passage at 16:18

16:44 So, yeah, she appreciated your card very much. She was listening to a recording of the Gyuto monks chanting, Omani Pemium, and that card, when she opened it, and the card said, Omani Pemium. So, a few tears came to her eyes, and she was very appreciative. So, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

17:17 Omami. Report an error in the passage at 17:17 Highlight the passage at 17:17

17:28 So, I think it's great. don't mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:28 Highlight the passage at 17:28

17:31 know that this Bringing up these issues and really being sincere and trying to do something to use our resources and to respond in more skillful ways. That's really going for refuge, isn't it? I think that's what the spiritual path of Buddhism is all about in Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

18:04 practice. Report an error in the passage at 18:04 Highlight the passage at 18:04

18:28 So if you'd like to recite the verse of refuge together. So we keep going for refuge until we're awakened, right? So this might take a while. Be patient. 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. Report an error in the passage at 18:28 Highlight the passage at 18:28

18:53 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. 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. Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:21 May I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:52 So if you'd like to stand and stretch and then we'll sit together. So Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

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20:48 taking a comfortable, firm posture or you could lay on the floor. Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

20:58 We'll begin by getting in touch with our bodies, relaxing our body. So I invite you to bring your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:08 And we'll start by... Imagining or actually feeling the wrinkles between your brow and your forehead, smoothing out the Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:26 pressure in and around your eyes, diminishing the Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:36 muscles of the face, softening, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:50 Your tongue is soft and jaw relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

21:59 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 Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:27 and bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders and perhaps drawing your shoulders up toward your ears and circling them to the back and down to the front. Report an error in the passage at 22:27 Highlight the passage at 22:27

22:45 Rotating your shoulders a few times and Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

22:54 eventually returning your shoulders back up toward your ears and then just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides and with that the feeling of... Report an error in the passage at 22:54 Highlight the passage at 22:54

23:07 Some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around on your shoulders over the course of the day, moving down and through your body into the ground. Report an error in the passage at 23:07 Highlight the passage at 23:07

23:17 A feeling of relief. A burden that's been lifted from your back. Report an error in the passage at 23:17 Highlight the passage at 23:17

23:35 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 23:35 Highlight the passage at 23:35

23:46 Relaxing your lower and Report an error in the passage at 23:46 Highlight the passage at 23:46

23:57 your upper arms. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:08 Your chest is at ease. Report an error in the passage at 24:08 Highlight the passage at 24:08

24:23 Relaxing throughout the heart area, the central space of the chest. Report an error in the passage at 24:23 Highlight the passage at 24:23

24:39 The middle portion of the bag, Report an error in the passage at 24:39 Highlight the passage at 24:39

24:52 releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles. Just allow your belly to go soft Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:08 throughout the abdominal cavity, Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:24 keeping your trunk erect, relax your lower back muscle. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:47 And throughout the pelvic region, the Report an error in the passage at 25:47 Highlight the passage at 25:47

26:01 buttocks, Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:15 the upper legs, Report an error in the passage at 26:15 Highlight the passage at 26:15

26:39 finding your feet soft, Report an error in the passage at 26:39 Highlight the passage at 26:39

26:54 bending through the body once again from the crown down through the central portion of the body. Paying particular attention to any tightnesses and tension. And breathing into those various areas of tightness and tension. Breathing out from those areas. And with the out-breath, the release, the tightness loosens, the tension diminishes. Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:23 So again and again breathe into those areas of tightness and tension. And again and again experience a sense of release. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

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29:17 Staying with your body for a while. Report an error in the passage at 29:17 Highlight the passage at 29:17

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30:24 So I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing. And to lightly rest your attention to that sensation of the body, wherever it's most clear and obvious to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:37 That indicates to you that you're breathing in, that you're breathing out. Report an error in the passage at 30:37 Highlight the passage at 30:37

30:45 Just focus your awareness on that sensation. And if it's helpful, you might want to combine this with counting the breaths, breathing in, breathing out, one, and out, two, and so forth. We're Report an error in the passage at 30:45 Highlight the passage at 30:45

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40:42 going to shift our attention to a sensation of the body other than that of the breath. The pressure of your buttocks on the chair, hands in your lap, your feet on the floor, whatever is predominant. Focusing your awareness on a sensation of the body other than that of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

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42:11 And again, let's shift our attention. This time we're going to listen to the sounds around us. Listening to sound. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

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43:57 Now we're going to turn our attention inward to the mind itself, Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:06 the words, pictures, images passing through our mind, but also the states of mind. Whether the mind is sleepy or restless, experiencing pleasure, displeasure, emotions, Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:26 itself, watching the mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:26 Highlight the passage at 44:26

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45:25 And we're just going to allow the mind to become involved in any object that naturally tends toward, but in a relaxed and gentle manner, maintaining a degree of watchfulness, awareness. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

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46:38 And then we'll bring the mind back to the breath. Easy. Gentle in and out flow of the natural breath. Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

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51:18 So we're looking at minds and mental factors. We're looking at the first of six groupings of mental factors, a grouping into the five omnipresent mental factors. So we began this last week looking at Quiz 8. The answer is to Quiz 8, and we can also look at it begins Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:53 on page 15. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

51:59 Last week we just mentioned the fact that there are 51 mental factors. I was thinking, quite often they describe them as a king and the retinue and so forth. I was thinking, in keeping with the season, we could say Santa and his little helpers. They're all running around doing these little jobs, preparing, making sure that everybody's been good, good or bad. Report an error in the passage at 51:59 Highlight the passage at 51:59

52:32 So the 51 mental factors, sometimes they're referred to as secondary mental factors, divided into six groups, the first of which is omnipresent mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

52:47 So what it meant by omnipresent means that they're always present. Every state of mind necessarily has these five mental factors present. They're present in every state of mind. So they're not omnipotent, by the way. A bit of confusion around omnipotent and omnipresent. Report an error in the passage at 52:47 Highlight the passage at 52:47

53:13 They're not all powerful. They're always present. Report an error in the passage at 53:13 Highlight the passage at 53:13

53:19 Any thoughts or questions that came up to this point? Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:33 So the question three was just trying to give you... Okay. Report an error in the passage at 53:33 Highlight the passage at 53:33

53:40 It was just a listing of a very brief meaning or definition for each of them and just being able to list which of the mental factors corresponds to which. So we won't go through that question, answer three, but we will go through the five on the present mental factors. So in the text, the first one of which is feeling. And if we look on... Report an error in the passage at 53:40 Highlight the passage at 53:40

54:10 Answer number four. It says, I explained it. So, feeling. I guess the first thing to say about feelings is that in Abhidharma, or Tibetan, not Tibetan, Buddhist psychology, the word feeling is very much narrower in meaning than it is in English language. It only means what's called a hedonic tone. That is to say, It's either pleasurable, unpleasurable or neutral. In English, we quite often include emotions when we say feelings. Report an error in the passage at 54:10 Highlight the passage at 54:10

54:47 I have a strange feeling. Fear would be a terrible feeling. Or anger would be an agitated feeling. So we quite often include emotions and feelings in our common language. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

55:07 In Tibetan usage, I don't mean Tibetan, Abhidharma usage or the Buddhist psychological usage, feelings are completely, emotions are completely set aside. We only mean either one or three types of feelings and these are listed here on question number four. Pleasant, suffering or neutral feelings. So we have an internal barometer and it's always somewhere along this continuum. Report an error in the passage at 55:07 Highlight the passage at 55:07

55:37 From bliss on the one hand to excruciating pain on the other. And generally it's somewhere in the middle. But we're always feeling some degree of pleasure or pain somewhere or not. Report an error in the passage at 55:37 Highlight the passage at 55:37

55:59 Then we can define, it's not a very good definition really, but anyway, we'll make use of it. What do we mean by a pleasant feeling or a suffering feeling or a neutral feeling? So pleasant feelings is a feeling which, when it ceases, we desire to meet with it again. How's that? So a type of feeling that we would like to repeat. Report an error in the passage at 55:59 Highlight the passage at 55:59

56:21 That's what we mean by pleasant feeling. It really doesn't tell us all. It tells us a little bit, but not a great deal does it. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:33 And then on the contrary, suffering feelings are feelings when they arise, we wish to be separated from them. Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

56:47 With neutral feelings, when they arise, we're kind of indifferent. We could care less whether they stay or go. So boredom is not a neutral feeling. It's a painful feeling. I should tell you that. We don't like to be bored. So it's not a neutral feeling. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:14 I think one interesting, I don't think this isn't brought out. In the bottom of page 15, Foritional Results of Virtuous and Non-Virtuous Actions. We've talked about karma. We've talked about it in the Lamrim, the graduated path. And we talked about it in mind training and so forth. And it's a very complex and detailed subject. Report an error in the passage at 57:14 Highlight the passage at 57:14

57:41 But one simple feature of karma is the end result of karma is a feeling. Either a pleasurable feeling, a neutral feeling, or a suffering feeling. That's the end. We create actions and they have various reactions. There's a sequence of cause and effect. The very culmination of that action will be a particular type of feeling in the agent of that action. Report an error in the passage at 57:41 Highlight the passage at 57:41

58:17 That's the culmination of that process, is the experience of a feeling. It could be a feeling as a hell being, not a very nice feeling, or it could be that of a god or whatever, but it's going to be some type of feeling. So that's when that particular sequence of process of cause and effect has come to a culmination, come to an end. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:44 So it's a foritional result, the ripening result of a virtuous and non-virtuous actions is experienced as feelings. So we might... It could be feelings of various contexts, but nonetheless it's a type of feeling. Report an error in the passage at 58:44 Highlight the passage at 58:44

59:10 Feelings in contact? Okay, yeah. Okay, yeah, that's a good point. I don't think we... Okay, when we come to contact, we'll make that distinction. But just for now, we can say that feeling, that contact is the cause of feeling. Okay, but you're right. But there is a cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:39 Where is this? Contact comes the fifth, Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

59:47 fourth? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 59:47 Highlight the passage at 59:47

59:54 Okay, let's look at contact, okay? So that's on page, because it's not listed in the homework quiz. I don't think there's a question on contact. So contact. Report an error in the passage at 59:54 Highlight the passage at 59:54

1:00:08 We didn't, okay. So contact, when we, previously we talked about a mind arises independence. Upon three factors, three conditions that are necessary. Remember what those are? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:08 Highlight the passage at 1:00:08

1:00:33 Okay, so the immediately preceding consciousness, that's the immediately preceding condition. Okay. And then? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:33 Highlight the passage at 1:00:33

1:00:44 So you're hearing this airplane. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:00:54 So there's an ear consciousness apprehending sound. What does that arise in dependence upon? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:54 Highlight the passage at 1:00:54

1:01:07 It depends upon the hearing sense consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:07 Highlight the passage at 1:01:07

1:01:13 So we have to have a sound, right? Okay. An objective condition, and then a medium of transmission of the stimulus, sense power, the eye sense power, and then a previous moment of consciousness. When these come together, in this case there arises an ear conscious apprehending sound. So let's look at this. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:13 Highlight the passage at 1:01:13

1:01:41 It distinguishes the transformation of the sense power upon the aggregation of the three, the aggregation of these three. The objective condition, the immediately preceding condition, and the empowering condition as a support for feeling. So all this is not a very good... Some of these, it's really hard to get at the meaning. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:02:06 But what contact is the primary, is Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:15 the initial objective determination of the... Is it initial determination of the objective condition? In terms of, it's going to evaluate. Is it attractive? Is it unattractive? Is it neutral? Other synonyms are, is it agreeable, disagreeable? Is it appealing, unappealing? Okay? So contact is that initial evaluation. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15 Highlight the passage at 1:02:15

1:02:51 of the objective condition. You walk in the room and say, oh, that's a pretty picture. Why do we say that? Because in dependence upon contact, evaluating the object as being attractive, you will go on to have a pleasurable feeling. So the pleasurable feeling arrives, which is the subjective reaction. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:22 Objective evaluation. And then we have a subjective, what follows immediately upon that is our initial subjective reaction, pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:22 Highlight the passage at 1:03:22

1:03:33 So I see this beautiful piece of cloth. There's a cloth. So these three factors come together. And there's an evaluation of it being attractive. It has the function of acting as a support for feelings. The sense power, it transforms. It distinguishes the transformation of the sense power upon the object. That doesn't really say much. I agree. It's not really telling as much. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:33 Highlight the passage at 1:03:33

1:04:07 What we can say is that contact is the initial meeting with an object. And there's always, in this context, an evaluation of the object, this piece of cloth, as either being attractive, unattractive. Or neither. And then it acts as a support for feeling. Independence upon that initial objective reaction with regard to the object, then I have my initial subjective. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:42 I have a pleasurable feeling. When you meet an appealing, agreeable object, you have a pleasurable feeling. When you meet with an unattractive object, you have an unpleasurable feeling, a suffering feeling arises. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:05:03 So it's an initial, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:03 Highlight the passage at 1:05:03

1:05:08 so the feeling, yeah. So the like and dislike are not feelings. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:08 Highlight the passage at 1:05:08

1:05:20 No, you don't want to go too far with what we say attractive. It's the initial reaction of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:20 Highlight the passage at 1:05:20

1:05:44 So it's just, when I say attractive, I mean, we're getting into higher processing. This is just that initial reaction that's attractive, appealing, agreeable. It's a very simplistic evaluation. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:44 Highlight the passage at 1:05:44

1:06:10 Yeah, okay, okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah, you're right, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:10 Highlight the passage at 1:06:10

1:06:21 Okay, yeah, yeah, that's right, you're right. So here at this level we're just saying, Independence upon attractive contact, you would generate a pleasurable feeling. Independence upon an unattractive, unappealing contact, a smell, that would be a suffering feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:51 No, no, no, no, this is higher processing. No, this is going on beneath your threshold of your awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:03 Yeah, it's unconscious. it's, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:06 Evaluation of, we're always, whatever, we have contact. That's the initial meeting with an object. The mind is reacting. There's something there. And it's going to evaluate it. And the primitive evaluation is a very simplistic, attractive, unattractive, neutral, agreeable, disagreeable. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:06 Highlight the passage at 1:07:06

1:07:35 Good or bad is getting a bit judgmental. I don't want to go there. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:35 Highlight the passage at 1:07:35

1:07:42 No, this is the point. Remember I just said that the end point of karma is a feeling. Now, why is the mind, this is quite interesting, why is the mind evaluating in the way it is? Why, you meet with something and it appears to you. It's as if the object from its side. is attractive. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:42 Highlight the passage at 1:07:42

1:08:12 It is by its very nature. So we are organizing our reality due to our past conditioning of our mind. We take that as being unappealing, and therefore I generate a displeasurable feeling, an unpleasurable, suffering feeling. That's the end of the karma. It is my karma, my conditioning of my mind, which is... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:41 Which conditions me to see that in a negative fashion. We could use the word negative positive. I generate a negative feeling, suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:41 Highlight the passage at 1:08:41

1:08:54 Why do some people enjoy, like if you give them a piece of chocolate cake, some people would see it as delicious, some people would see it as not. That's their karma. That's the conditioning of their mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:10 So their initial reaction due to the condition of the mind would be to see that object in a negative light. And independence upon that, that would be negative contact, and that they would go on to develop a displeasurable feeling. Oh, I don't like that cake. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:10 Highlight the passage at 1:09:10

1:09:31 Okay, so it's the primitive evaluation of the object in terms of it. I have a positive and negative. And this is the way our karma conditions are in mind. And then we go on to have feelings about it. Oh, that feels good. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:31 Highlight the passage at 1:09:31

1:09:53 Then we go on to discrimination. Ah, I like that. I want more of that. We develop attachment. So it's a chain reaction. So there's higher orders of processing going on. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:53 Highlight the passage at 1:09:53

1:10:07 don't know. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:10:13 Not the 12 links. There's an order in what are called the five aggregates. Well, you're right. Part of the 12 links, there's contact, feeling, but then there's craving and grasping, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

1:10:27 Yeah. So the craving, grasping, craving, feeling. So upon craving, there's always feeling. One follows the next. I mean, what did I say? Contact, feeling. Contact is the cause of feeling. That's Report an error in the passage at 1:10:27 Highlight the passage at 1:10:27

1:10:52 right. We're just contacting. And there's a primitive evaluation of the object in terms of its positive or negative. And then we, depending upon that, we generate a feeling, a corresponding feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:52 Highlight the passage at 1:10:52

1:11:16 Yeah, the contact is coming together with these three conditions. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:16 Highlight the passage at 1:11:16

1:11:23 So these three conditions come together. Their mind arises and there's an evaluation in terms of its... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

1:11:33 So it distinguishes an object in accordance with whatever subsequent feeling. I mean, it's, yeah, anyway, it's rather strange the way they put it. You know, if the subsequent feeling is pleasurable, then the contact was attractive. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:33 Highlight the passage at 1:11:33

1:11:58 By changing your conditioning of your mind, yeah. For sure. You can learn to like different things. I remember when I, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:09 yeah, yeah, for sure. So you learn, you know, like babies. They have, you acquire taste. You acquire, yeah, your mind becomes conditioned, you can become reconditioned. Why was that, where was that coming from? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:09 Highlight the passage at 1:12:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:13:20 Yeah, so it's pretty, yeah, so that's the initial subjective experience of the object is in terms of it feels good, feels bad, it feels neutral. And that's really, then we go on to higher processing. If it feels good, you say, oh, I like that. And if you like it a lot, I want more of it. I'm going to get more. I'm going to, and then various planning strategies. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

1:14:04 Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. I mean, you might know more about it. In the Theravadan tradition, when we were talking about the 12 links, they say, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:04 Highlight the passage at 1:14:04

1:14:18 you know, through this. The 12 links are the chain by which we go on to take rebirth. And there's a contact and feeling, and then in the 12 links at least there's what's called craving. And what they try to, some methods of teaching would try to become aware such that craving, that feeling, It doesn't necessarily lead to craving. There's usually a habitual reaction that if you have something pleasurable, you'll crave it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:18 Highlight the passage at 1:14:18

1:14:58 That's usually our habitual reaction. But with awareness, you can feel a pleasurable feeling and not go on to involve yourself in a habitual reaction of having to have it. It can stop there. The 12 links can be broken there. Some could say maybe you could break it between contact and feeling, that you have contact, you have attractive object, but you don't have to, maybe that's not possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:33 According to, I mean, yeah, so that's, according to, you know, the Tibetan Buddhists, they place greatest emphasis on the initial link of the 12 links is ignorance. By removing the very basic ignorance, then the twelve links just falls apart. The very basis of the twelve links is ignorance, which leads to actions. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:33 Highlight the passage at 1:15:33

1:16:01 That's right. So that cuts the whole cycle. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:01 Highlight the passage at 1:16:01

1:16:11 So I don't know if that helped a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:11 Highlight the passage at 1:16:11

1:16:17 So in question number five on page two of our quiz eight. So remember that feeling is very much more narrowly defined in Buddhist psychology. It only means there are only three types of feelings, pleasurable, suffering and neutral, whereas in English language we use feelings very broadly. It includes lots of different emotions, which it doesn't here. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:49 Explain the difference between physical feelings and mental feelings. So physical feelings are feelings which arise in the retinue of physical sense consciousnesses. Like I see a beautiful sight. I have a pleasurable feeling. So that pleasurable feeling is a bodily feeling or a physical feeling. Why? Because it's in the retinue. It's associated with. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:49 Highlight the passage at 1:16:49

1:17:18 A physical sense power. It's in the retinue of physical sense consciousness. Okay? Whereas I can think about my teacher and I get a very pleasant feeling. That feeling is a mental feeling. Why? Because it's in the retinue or it's associated with a mental consciousness. Okay? So that's all we mean by Physical feelings and mental feelings, whether in the retinue of one of the five sense consciousnesses or in the retinue of the mental consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:18:01 Okay, so then the second of the Report an error in the passage at 1:18:01 Highlight the passage at 1:18:01

1:18:19 five omnipresent mental factors is discrimination. And that's on page, in the text it's on page 19. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:19 Highlight the passage at 1:18:19

1:18:31 Okay, so other words. So, you know, we're working with some translation terms here. And we don't have a dictator who has said how things are to be translated. So there's different terms. This term has been translated through English in different ways. Other translations. And so it's helpful to use to get a sense by knowing these other translations. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:31 Highlight the passage at 1:18:31

1:18:59 So discrimination is one. But also recognition. And perception. Some authors translate this word duché as recognition and some use the word perception. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:59 Highlight the passage at 1:18:59

1:19:19 So in our chart here, we can look at the actual definition. What is the defining characteristic of discrimination? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19:19

1:19:32 Duché. It has the characteristic of knowing upon the aggregation. It has the entity of apprehending the sign and apprehending the mark. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:32 Highlight the passage at 1:19:32

1:19:41 So all this means is that I think sometimes it might be useful just to use the word recognition. We recognize something. Ah, that's a book. That's a table. This is good. This is bad. Why? Because there's a certain sign or mark. That is to say a feature about it which triggers us to think with regard to it. Ah, that's a book. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:41 Highlight the passage at 1:19:41

1:20:08 That's a table. That's good. That's bad. That's my car over there. So discrimination is that which is recognizing or discriminating, perception. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:08 Highlight the passage at 1:20:08

1:20:23 On top of page 20, it mentions the apprehension of a sign. So by sign, it just means a feature, a feature, a characteristic of the object. And here it can be some... It says uncommon sign. Some characteristic which is peculiar to this, this object. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:23 Highlight the passage at 1:20:23

1:20:56 I can discriminate between, my eye consciousness can discriminate between these two objects. There's a certain peculiar characteristic that this possesses and there's a peculiar sign or characteristic that this possesses. You know, like, you know, this... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:56 Highlight the passage at 1:20:56

1:21:14 When my ayah consciousness apprehends that peculiar characteristic, it triggers a recognition. Ah, that's a stick. That's a bowl. So my ayah consciousness can make those kinds of distinctions, discriminations. I can recognize. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:14 Highlight the passage at 1:21:14

1:21:43 So that's in terms, I can also do that with my mental consciousness. That's my car over there. That's not my car over there. There's something special about my car, some special feature, which triggers me to think, that's my car. I can recognize my car. I can recognize my dog. There's something special. That's what it means by uncommon sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:43 Highlight the passage at 1:21:43

1:22:06 There's a special feature about it, a characteristic about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:06 Highlight the passage at 1:22:06

1:22:15 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:15 Highlight the passage at 1:22:15

1:22:21 If they're blind? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:21 Highlight the passage at 1:22:21

1:22:25 Would they recognize the sound? Report an error in the passage at 1:22:25 Highlight the passage at 1:22:25

1:22:33 Maybe if they'd been told previously, they wouldn't know how it looked like. But they would say, oh, I hear a bell, or I hear an airplane. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:33 Highlight the passage at 1:22:33

1:22:48 But you could discriminate the sound of a bell in an airplane, but you might not be able to label it properly. You might not be able to think, oh, that's a bell. would... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:22:46 they wouldn't... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:46 Highlight the passage at 1:22:46

1:23:02 But you say, well, those are obviously different sounds. Even a blind person could tell that. So it's just this ability of the mind. So the ability of the mind to distinguish, to recognize uncommon or special features of objects. And that ability is what we call discrimination or recognition. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:02 Highlight the passage at 1:23:02

1:23:39 yeah, I mean, so, I mean. German Shepherds have a particular sign. My German Shepherd has not only that sign, that uncommon sign, but an additional uncommon sign. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:39 Highlight the passage at 1:23:39

1:23:54 So the uncommon sign would be more and more refined according to more and more specific objects. you were able but if I just Report an error in the passage at 1:23:54 Highlight the passage at 1:23:54

1:24:22 not necessarily physical, it could be... Could be qualities of mental and my teacher's kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:22 Highlight the passage at 1:24:22

1:24:35 That would be the first of these two types of discrimination. It comes through the ability to distinguish, sense consciousness, able to distinguish between objects. I don't sit on a table, I sit on a chair. And my eye consciousness can make that distinction. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:35 Highlight the passage at 1:24:35

1:25:01 This is just words. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:01 Highlight the passage at 1:25:01

1:25:15 Signs and marks. All we're talking about is a feature, a characteristic. That's all it means. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:15 Highlight the passage at 1:25:15

1:25:30 They're apprehended by the mental consciousness. So my teacher is kind. That's something which apprehended by my mental consciousness. That characteristic, that feature. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:30 Highlight the passage at 1:25:30

1:25:44 That's Report an error in the passage at 1:25:44 Highlight the passage at 1:25:44

1:25:48 right. Yeah, that's right. signs and marks, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:48 Highlight the passage at 1:25:48

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1:25:49 right. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:49 Highlight the passage at 1:25:49

1:25:59 Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's the only way I can get that. Well, let's say clairvoyance. Yeah, you're right. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:59 Highlight the passage at 1:25:59

1:26:10 How's that? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:10 Highlight the passage at 1:26:10

1:26:15 This is somebody else's mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:15 Highlight the passage at 1:26:15

1:26:21 Yeah, I mean, you would have – so the ability to be able to identify would be – I mean, that would be – there would be no standard – there would be arbitrary criteria. This is my mind. This is my eye. Maybe we're getting into another – I mean, I don't Supposedly, you could broaden your sense of I. You could include other signs, other features, which would trigger the sense of I with Report an error in the passage at 1:26:21 Highlight the passage at 1:26:21

1:27:06 regard to, wouldn't necessarily, you know, like you hear somebody's voice. You say, oh, here comes John. Just independence upon that, you recognize their voice. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:06 Highlight the passage at 1:27:06

1:27:30 So what determines it would be is very individual. What is an uncommon feature for you might not be for somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:30 Highlight the passage at 1:27:30

1:27:46 So it would be pretty subjective. This is my mind, this is not my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:46 Highlight the passage at 1:27:46

1:28:11 eye of us would perceive a Report an error in the passage at 1:28:11 Highlight the passage at 1:28:11

1:28:17 What about good looking? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:17 Highlight the passage at 1:28:17

1:28:24 Okay. That's universal. Yeah, yeah. You're right. You're right. You're right. That's our karma, isn't it? Because, you know, we use this standard example of a glass of liquid. Yeah? So a god would see it as... Nectar? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:52 A human being would see it as water. A hungry ghost would see it as pus and blood. A hell being would see it as molten lead. A mosquito would see it as a place to lay its eggs. A fish would see it as a complete habitat. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:11 So they're all due to their karmic... We're kind of getting away from... a... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:11 Highlight the passage at 1:29:11

1:29:19 What determines their recognition is by what is appearing as an uncommon characteristic for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:30 So it's going to be quite different. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:30 Highlight the passage at 1:29:30

1:29:40 Some people like the same difference. It Report an error in the passage at 1:29:40 Highlight the passage at 1:29:40

1:29:55 determines whether they're kind or not. I think that would very much be your opinion, how they affect you, if they're helpful to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:55 Highlight the passage at 1:29:55

1:30:08 What would you think? And where's the question coming from? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:08 Highlight the passage at 1:30:08

1:30:22 Oh, okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:26 Oh, for me, from my point of view. Oh, this, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:26 Highlight the passage at 1:30:26

1:30:33 I mean, they're very loving. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

1:30:43 Good night. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43 Highlight the passage at 1:30:43

1:30:49 Yeah, I mean, I think they're kind, they're beneficial. so forth, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:30:58 So this fits in with number six, explain the divisions of discrimination between the two, the apprehension of a sign, which is the apprehension of an uncommon feature of an object by a non-conceptual consciousness. For example, an eye consciousness, the distinguishing between a color of red and the color of blue. And then the apprehension of a mark, which is the apprehension of an uncommon feature of an object by a conceptual consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:58 Highlight the passage at 1:30:58

1:31:22 For example, the thought consciousness distinguishing, that's my car over there. there is a... Okay. Is that discrimination? So, feelings and discriminations. These are said, you know, we've talked about the five aggregates, five bundles, five khandas or skhandas. These are, you know, these two mental factors are separated out and given special attention. They're said to be the basis for disputes. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:32:03 It said that feelings and discriminations are presented as separate aggregates because they are the roots of arguments and the causes of psychic existence. Due to feelings, we generate desire, attachment, craving. And due to discriminations, we develop various views. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:03 Highlight the passage at 1:32:03

1:32:34 Ideological views, political views, which cause conflict and so forth. That's one of the generally said with regard to these two mental factors of feeling and discrimination, that they're singled out. Of the 51 mental factors, these two are singled out in terms of the five aggregates. This prominent position because of the part that they play in perpetuating cyclic existence. Then the feeling discrimination, intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:33:20 Intention, you know, one of the most, you know, I guess one of the most important of the mental factors. It is, we've talked about this before when we talked about the graduated path. Mind training when we talked about the subject of karma. Karma is intention. So intention is, well we can read the definition Report an error in the passage at 1:33:20 Highlight the passage at 1:33:20

1:33:54 here. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:54 Highlight the passage at 1:33:54

1:34:01 So it's a mental action of the mind. It has the function of engaging the mind. So intention is an impulse, an urge, Report an error in the passage at 1:34:01 Highlight the passage at 1:34:01

1:34:14 It gives the directionality to our mind, an orientation to our mind. It provokes our mind. It moves our mind to become engaged and become involved. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:29 So it's that quality of mind which gives the mind impetus, moves the mind toward an object, toward the way of thinking and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:29 Highlight the passage at 1:34:29

1:34:47 It arouses the mind and directs the mind. Just like iron filings being involuntarily led by a magnet, the rest of the mind is moved by this factor of intentionality, intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:35:10 This is what karma comes down to. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:10 Highlight the passage at 1:35:10

1:35:19 Conditioning the mind, that impulse, that urge, that movement, engagement, involvement toward a way of acting, a way of speaking, involvement in an object and so forth. So as it says here, engaging the mind in virtue, non-virtue, or unspecified. Unspecified simply means a type of action which is more or less neutral. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:19 Highlight the passage at 1:35:19

1:35:44 It's not, you know, my lifting my arm like that is... It's probably neutral. It's neither virtuous nor non-virtuous. Okay, so there's some explanation of, in question, beginning looking at question seven, two types of actions in relation to the mental factor of intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:44 Highlight the passage at 1:35:44

1:36:11 The first of these are actions that are intentions, are mental actions. is. I probably have. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:11 Highlight the passage at 1:36:11

1:36:18 The mental factor of intention is mental action, mental karma, which is like a motivating force which initiates us to think in particular ways, to speak in particular ways, to physically act out in particular ways, which are intended actions. Intended actions are actions of body and speech which are produced, that is, immediately motivated by... Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:50 The mental factor of intention. So due to our intention, this orientation of mind, this provocation of mind, we will go on to think, to speak and physically act out in particular ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:50 Highlight the passage at 1:36:50

1:37:11 There's a note here. It's quite a lengthy note. We talked about, well, to some degree we talked about this last year when we talked about the graduated path. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:27 There's some distinction between what's called the higher Abhidharma and lower Abhidharma. And in the higher Abhidharma, all actions, all karma is intention. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:27 Highlight the passage at 1:37:27

1:37:42 There is the initiation or the provoking of activity of body and speech. But even when we... Let's say I get angry and I intend to, out of the anger, which is the wish to harm, that will provoke, that acts as the motivating force for an intention to hit them. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:38:16 I'm going to hurt that person. The wish to harm, anger, the intention to hit. even so, and this X moves the... But even in the physical activity of the arm, there are intentions which, intention to make a fist, intention to raise my arm, intention to, so there's always, even along with this initial motivating intention, there's accompanying intentions during the process of the actual physical action. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:16 Highlight the passage at 1:38:16

1:38:55 So those are all karma. Those are all factors of intention. The lower Abhidharma schools say, well, just that hitting, the activity of hitting, that's karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:10 You can read that. It's just a different interpretation. Okay, so there's action of intention, which is the initial provocation of the mind, the urge. just Report an error in the passage at 1:39:10 Highlight the passage at 1:39:10

1:39:30 To act out in some way. And then there's the intended action, the acting out, whether physically or verbally and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:30 Highlight the passage at 1:39:30

1:39:50 There's on page 23, I'm just picking out a few things as we go along, where it says merit. In the middle of the page, actions are also of three types, meritorious, non-meritorious and immovable. I just thought I would comment the fact that by immovable. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

1:40:11 It means that in general our actions are, the results of our actions are movable. Okay, so I'll just leave that there. Now by movable it means that the results of an action could be experienced in another realm, another level of existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:40 that the, that... The results of an action, which some types of results of actions can be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40:40

1:40:55 For example, if you create a positive action, that positive action could be experienced even in the hell realm as a cool breeze. Even in the hell realm there might be a cool breeze. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:55 Highlight the passage at 1:40:55

1:41:16 There's a result of a positive action even in the hell realm. So that even though it's a positive action, it's able to be experienced in a lower realm. By immovable, it simply means that this is a type of karma which is created out of mental concentrations. It's only created through the power of samādhi, through concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:47 And the result is only experienced in a concentration, in the form realm or formless realm. It doesn't move. It's not able to be experienced in another realm. I don't know if that was... How was that for a piece of information? So the result... So this type of karma is called the immovable karma. Why? Because its result cannot be shifted to another realm. It cannot be experienced in another realm. It can only be experienced... Report an error in the passage at 1:41:47 Highlight the passage at 1:41:47

1:42:22 In a realm of concentration, a form realm or a formless realm, there is the desire realm, form realm and form realm. This constitutes cyclic existence. And then the form and formless realm are achieved through meditative concentrations as opposed to the realm that we more or less exist in, which is called the desire realm, which has where Sydney is. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:22 Highlight the passage at 1:42:22

1:42:56 Okay, just a little bit of information if you were wondering about that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:56 Highlight the passage at 1:42:56

1:43:07 Intention. Okay, one point I think I'd like to bring out is, and this is on question eight of this quiz. Yeah, question eight, quiz eight. We've looked at contact and then we look at attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:07 Highlight the passage at 1:43:07

1:43:33 What is the difference between intention and attention? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:33 Highlight the passage at 1:43:33

1:43:43 It's quite interesting. Intention, as I've tried to emphasize, simply moves the mind to the general field. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43:43

1:43:57 Why do we do anything? Why don't we just bliss out, just be? so... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:57 Highlight the passage at 1:43:57

1:43:53 It involves, it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:11 We habitually become involved. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:11 Highlight the passage at 1:44:11

1:44:19 Normally we don't become involved, engage out of choice. It is the propensity of our mind, the conditioning of our mind, that when something, some stimulus and we get involved, something stimulus and our mind moves to it. We, we, we, you know, we, we, we. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:19 Highlight the passage at 1:44:19

1:44:45 That factor of the mind, that force, that characteristic of the mind moving toward is the intention. And it simply moves to, it's moved to become involved. Something's happened in the environment. Something stimulated our mind. And the mind just doesn't, you know, I could care less. The mind. is and seeks to become it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:45 Highlight the passage at 1:44:45

1:45:29 It's almost as forced, just like that magnet, the iron filings being drawn, due to the factor of intention to engage in that object. Now, within that engagement with the object, the factor of intention determines which aspect of that object we're going to focus on. And this makes a difference. I mentioned this before. There's a very profound notion. Attention is reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:29 Highlight the passage at 1:45:29

1:46:01 Most of what we pay attention to is by the force of unconscious habit. Why do we pay attention to that and not to this? What I mean by that is, for example, if you have a glass of liquid, Report an error in the passage at 1:46:01 Highlight the passage at 1:46:01

1:46:23 That's half full or half empty. So your mind engages in the glass. You intend. You involve yourself. Your mind is moved toward that glass. And what feature of that glass are we going to pay attention to? Attention is going to determine whether we focus on that the glass is half full or half empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:23 Highlight the passage at 1:46:23

1:46:52 Some people will pay attention to the Some people are going to pay attention to the half-full part of that glass. And you say, well, what difference does that make? Well, it does make a difference, doesn't it? Some people, where do you habitually focus on determines the quality of your experience. If you see life, some people are quite negatively orientated. They pay attention to. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:52 Highlight the passage at 1:46:52

1:47:24 The negative aspects of whatever is presented to them. Some people are more positively orientated. They naturally tend toward paying greater attention to focusing on what's positive about the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:24 Highlight the passage at 1:47:24

1:47:40 This happens a great deal, doesn't it? We could have the same general experience. Not the general experience. We could go through the same... We can involve ourselves in the same general activity and have a quite varied experience of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:40 Highlight the passage at 1:47:40

1:48:05 We might both go to a concert, and your attention was drawn to the guy talking to you next door, and my attention was how good the music was. And we said, what a lousy evening. I had a great evening. It was determined by, to a large degree, what you paid attention to. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:05 Highlight the passage at 1:48:05

1:48:28 It does make a difference. So I'm just bringing out the distinction between intention, which is we're intending to this field, the rock concert, and what you pay attention to and what I pay attention to might be quite different, what we actually focus on. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:49 Does it make any sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:49 Highlight the passage at 1:48:49

1:48:55 Yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:55 Highlight the passage at 1:48:55

1:49:19 So I think it's just a matter of habit. Habit. That can be changed. We can change what we pay attention to. And that seems to be quite important. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:19 Highlight the passage at 1:49:19

1:49:37 Okay. Yeah. That's right. That's quite true. So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:37 Highlight the passage at 1:49:37

1:49:52 So we're paying, what we're reacting to, what we're paying attention to would be quite different characteristics perhaps and how we're interpreting them. But, I mean, for example, you know, that the tradition in the graduated path, lamrim, that you would cultivate the kindness of seeing your teacher as kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:52 Highlight the passage at 1:49:52

1:50:16 And you can do that. I mean, if you, you know, some people could live next door to a Buddha and they would find fault with their next door neighbor. You know, that other people, you know, they can, it's just. If you're willing to cultivate, if you're willing to consciously and systematically focus on what's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:16 Highlight the passage at 1:50:16

1:50:43 It's like counting your blessings. For example, that could be a one. If you consciously and consistently and habitually try to bring to mind, we're not brainwashing ourselves. I'm not saying that. But it is focusing on and developing the appreciation for what's right. And I think you will begin to pay more attention, quite naturally, to what's right in your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:43 Highlight the passage at 1:50:43

1:51:14 Quite naturally. Because you're reconditioning your mind. You're forming a different habit. I Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

1:51:30 did too. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:30 Highlight the passage at 1:51:30

1:51:37 Yeah, I mean, it's like, yeah, if you... Gratitude. Contentment, gratitude, yeah. You have your partner, you know, you could find, I could find fault with, you know, if I really look for him, I could find fault. But if I could also, I'm not saying that, you know, which is more, this is very pragmatic. It's much more useful to the quality of our life. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:37 Highlight the passage at 1:51:37

1:52:09 It's not, so. To be able to simply consciously focus upon what's right, what's positive, what's useful, what's beneficial, then the mind, I think, gets into the habit of paying attention to these characteristics of anything that you're focusing on. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:09 Highlight the passage at 1:52:09

1:52:54 One thing, yeah, that's a good point. This reminds me that it's easier... To pay attention to pleasure. So that's why if you can, like cultivating, like in meditation, if you can find pleasure in your meditation, then it's easier to focus. If you're giving yourself a hard time, if you're getting uptight, it's very difficult to focus the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:54 Highlight the passage at 1:52:54

1:53:33 So pay attention. It's easier to pay attention to when the mind is experiencing pleasure. To the point that a calm abiding, a very blissful state, you can just place the mind there. It just pays attention to that object. It's quite content to be there. Why should it go somewhere else? So if you took pleasure in what I was saying, is what I was saying, you would pay attention to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:33 Highlight the passage at 1:53:33

1:54:21 Contact. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:21 Highlight the passage at 1:54:21

1:54:30 Yeah, yeah, so they're all present, but the feeling which is present along with contact isn't the result of contact. That feeling will give rise to a contact, and contact will give rise to a feeling. So there's cause and results amongst them. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:54:59 They exist at the same time. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:59 Highlight the passage at 1:54:59

1:55:23 No, you're right, you're right, you're right. So the mind... The feeling and the, for example, just by way of example, the feeling and the contact which are existing simultaneously, they're not cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:23 Highlight the passage at 1:55:23

1:55:37 But that contact will give result to a next moment of feeling, will give rise to the next moment of feeling. But those two which are, the cause and effect cannot exist simultaneously. So that contact and feeling which are existing simultaneously aren't cause and. That feeling was caused by a previous contact. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:37 Highlight the passage at 1:55:37

1:56:08 Yeah, contact. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So they're not, cause and effect cannot exist simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:08 Highlight the passage at 1:56:08

1:56:20 No, they're at the same time, but they're not related by cause and effect. They're necessarily dependent upon a previous cause. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:20 Highlight the passage at 1:56:20

1:56:36 In intention, attention is similar to contact. So attention will cause you to focus on a particular feature of the object. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:36 Highlight the passage at 1:56:36

1:57:05 That would be a habit. It says here, so attention is what you say, pay attention. So contact is just... It's just that initial coming together of all of these conditions, giving rise to a consciousness, and characterized by apprehending that object as either attractive or unattractive. No, you probably aren't. You probably aren't. Because, I mean, we're always, I mean, most of our contact is probably neutral. I mean, you walk in this room and you see the colors, you see the... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:05 Highlight the passage at 1:57:05

1:57:52 You see the paintings. And there's always contact. You're always making contact. So there's always an evaluation of our environment. It's like a radio. How's it going over here? We're always evaluating our environment. But most of it's beneath the threshold of awareness. And most of it's probably neutral. Only when things stand out. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:52 Highlight the passage at 1:57:52

1:58:19 And then we react feeling awe. I don't feel so good. I don't feel bad. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:19 Highlight the passage at 1:58:19

1:58:38 A pleasurable feeling? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:38 Highlight the passage at 1:58:38

1:58:45 So that's the way they define it. It's not a very good definition in a way, but it's kind of a you want to repeat it. You don't want to break off content. You want to maintain. It feels good. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:45 Highlight the passage at 1:58:45

1:59:03 Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a definition of feeling, experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:03 Highlight the passage at 1:59:03

1:59:14 Yeah, then we're taking a position with regard to the object. In terms of how we're going to relate with it. I want to keep it or I want to push it away. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:14 Highlight the passage at 1:59:14

1:59:38 Yeah, so the final outcome of that feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:38 Highlight the passage at 1:59:38

1:59:48 Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, they're all a product of the conditioning of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:48 Highlight the passage at 1:59:48

2:00:03 Wow, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:03 Highlight the passage at 2:00:03

2:00:11 Those are omnipresent mental factors. So if you could look at Quiz 9 and the answers. If you could also, I don't know if you have, begin to look at pages 32 through 52. It's quite a number of pages, 32 through 52. So next week we'll definitely look at the object ascertaining mental factors, but also we might be able to... Report an error in the passage at 2:00:11 Highlight the passage at 2:00:11

2:00:33 these are the Report an error in the passage at 2:00:33 Highlight the passage at 2:00:33

2:00:44 Begin to look at the 11 virtuous mental factors, which are mentioned in pages 32 through 52. And if I can hold you just one more minute, if I could, this is like a commercial. I thought I would make a, the last few years I've been asked to do a retreat over the New Year's time, New Year's period to help, I co-lead a retreat. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:44 Highlight the passage at 2:00:44

2:01:18 And I just thought I'd mention it this year. It's held between the 27th of December to the 3rd of January. It's in the Blue Mountains in a retreat center called Karuṇā. And it's a particular type. It's sponsored by what is a group called the Sydney Insight Meditators. Sydney Insight Meditators. And they've had a New Year's retreat. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:18 Highlight the passage at 2:01:18

2:01:45 For probably the last 15 years or something like that. And I'll be co-leading it this year. And so it's quite a positive experience in the sense that it has a lot of variety. Every day there's yoga. We do hatha yoga, which is lead. And it's in the Blue Mountains, so there's bushwalk every day. and this year one of the co-teachers He's also an artist. So there will be some sessions on using meditation in art. And we have a great time on New Year's Eve. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:45 Highlight the passage at 2:01:45

2:02:28 But it's a silent retreat. It's a particular type of insight meditation called recollective awareness. And if you're interested, you can look on their site. It's called Sydney Insight Meditators. Sydney Insight Meditators. And it will give you more information. I just thought I'd mention that if you're not doing anything over the New Year's and you'd like to do something. There's great food, by the way. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:28 Highlight the passage at 2:02:28

2:02:53 There's really a good cook. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:53 Highlight the passage at 2:02:53

2:03:01 We have quite Report an error in the passage at 2:03:01 Highlight the passage at 2:03:01

2:03:14 a number of small discussion groups and big discussion groups. And then there's personal interviews. we have quite a... Report an error in the passage at 2:03:14 Highlight the passage at 2:03:14

2:03:26 then Other than that, it's in general silence, except for New Year's Eve. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:26 Highlight the passage at 2:03:26

2:03:40 That comes up in the small groups. Why contain it? I think people really appreciate the opportunity to stay with their experience. A lot of our interaction is simply social niceties. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:40 Highlight the passage at 2:03:40

2:04:04 You can really relax. You can smile, for sure. But really just to be with yourself, whatever you're processing, whatever you're going through, is really a relief. And most people experience it in that way. But there are these times when people are able to... Talk about what they're going through in these kind of controlled groups. So it's just not all over the place. But I would say, and I appreciate what you're saying, I think most people, in my experience, they find it a relief not to talk. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04:04

2:04:49 Yeah, most people do. But there's always an opportunity if it's a pressing need, but also in the discussion groups. So thank you. We can dedicate the... Positive energy we created together. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:49 Highlight the passage at 2:04:49

2:05:16 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 creatures suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:16 Highlight the passage at 2:05:16

2:05:42 May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food, may the thirsty find water and delicious drink, may the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy, may the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity, may there be timely rains and bountiful harvests, may all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit, may all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:42 Highlight the passage at 2:05:42

2:06:09 Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and may people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09

2:06:31 Through these skillful actions may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master. and lead each and every living being to that awakened realm. 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. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:31 Highlight the passage at 2:06:31

2:06:56 Powerful Chenrizi Tenzin Gyatso, please remain at the Thank Report an error in the passage at 2:06:56 Highlight the passage at 2:06:56

2:07:08 you. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:08 Highlight the passage at 2:07:08