BP: Mind and Cognition (1 December 2014)

0:17 Can you hear me okay now that I'm talking? Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:32 How is everybody? Good? Yes. Is that good? Report an error in the passage at 0:32 Highlight the passage at 0:32

0:51 I haven't spoken with her this week. No. Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

1:04 She seemed, when I spoke with her last, she seemed pretty good. But you're right. Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

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

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:03 Was he married? Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

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

2:30 It was good of you to go to the funeral. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

2:58 So we get Report an error in the passage at 2:58 Highlight the passage at 2:58

3:06 to some of our central values. Our values are what are important to us, but more than just important, what we care about, what we're vulnerable with regard to. Report an error in the passage at 3:06 Highlight the passage at 3:06

3:27 I read that passage, or not a passage, but a quote from Rachel Raymond last week regarding what it is that we go for refuge not only to, but perhaps also from. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

3:47 Essentially, we go for refuge from... Our suffering. And we kind of are Report an error in the passage at 3:47 Highlight the passage at 3:47

4:02 suffering in the nature of our problems in terms of what are we going to look to solve our problems when things go wrong for us, when bad feelings arise in one way or another. Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:25 How do we habitually react? know Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:33 Various levels of problems, various types of problems, and therefore there's various appropriate refrages which accord with the nature of how we frame our difficulties. But there are some which are perhaps almost fundamental of what it means to be an ordinary human being, Report an error in the passage at 4:33 Highlight the passage at 4:33

5:03 which most Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:08 of our usual refrages aren't able to address, Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:14 which only a change of our mind can really solve. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:21 So essentially Buddhism comes down to seeing the nature of the human dilemma and the necessity to change our minds appropriate to the nature of our problem to the most fundamental level in terms of unskillful Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:46 ways of relating to the world about us and our own minds and our own difficulties. We Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

5:58 learn from our mistakes to change. So this requires some sustained effort over time and some training that requires us to keep coming back to the necessity to keep working with our minds. Report an error in the passage at 5:58 Highlight the passage at 5:58

6:28 Maybe it's the court of last resort. Where we go to when nothing else works, we think, well, maybe I'm going to have to actually change my mind. So hopefully we can bring to bear our intelligence. Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:44 We've all had the lessons, but we keep missing. We've all had the experiences, but we keep missing the lessons. Or we dismiss the lessons once learned, or we forget them. Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

6:57 Sometimes it seems as if we still have to start all over again, or relearn what we suppose we had learned in the past. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:10 So it's an ongoing project of going for refuge. So if you'd like to recite the verse of refuge together. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:22 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity in the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity in the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

7:51 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. Through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings of happiness send the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:14 May all sentient beings be inseparable from the joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment to some and aversion toward others. Report an error in the passage at 8:14 Highlight the passage at 8:14

8:39 Previously, I began introducing a particular meditation, which I think is extremely useful, the practice of taking and giving. Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

8:58 And it's the fifth of a five-part series of meditations leading to an awakening of our heart. Within the tradition of equalizing and exchanging self for others. And so I thought I'd maybe talk a little bit more about that and then we're going to meditate again on the practice of taking and giving. Last time, if you remember, I used the first, it's necessary to Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:39 develop a willingness to be with our problems, our suffering. This might sound... Simple-minded or an intellectual exercise, but in fact, I think if we look at how we actually habitually react to our suffering, it's not the case that we generally, in some way, we seek to avoid it or distract ourselves from it in some way or another. Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

10:06 And we use the parable of the second arrow, in which the first arrow is being struck by... The fact of being an ordinary human being and all that this entails. That is to say, Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:27 okay, so that's what Report an error in the passage at 10:27 Highlight the passage at 10:27

10:35 we have to, Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:40 as it were, confront in our life, the actual lived experience. But there's a learn how to be with, perhaps, in some more skillful way. But this parable of the two arrows and the second arrow had to do with our... Our reaction to the first era was to say when we deny, condemn, judge, resist, criticize, Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

11:11 condemn, hate, the second era. Then we simply compound our problems, both in the present but also into the future. So the emphasis being gotten out here was the second era is optional. Report an error in the passage at 11:11 Highlight the passage at 11:11

11:29 we can do the Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:35 The thinking behind this practice is if shit is inevitable, how can we make it into some kind of fertilizer? How can we make use of it? You know, this is one of the primary, the premises of mind training or transformation of our minds, being able to use problems to help extend ourselves, to become a better person in some way, to develop our minds, which is kind of the... Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

12:05 The fundamental notion behind Buddhism is to change for the better. So rather than shooting ourselves with the second arrow, how can we begin to work with the first arrow in some more skillful fashion? And we talked about this system of meditation called equalizing and exchanging self for others, where first we develop a sense of equality of self in others. Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

12:33 that Moses in his spirit. It's presented from different perspectives, different points of view, but most essentially the bottom line is, and again, I think one of the great challenges of our practice is how do we own the practice? How do we integrate it? It may sound good out there, and it may sound quite reasonable and intellectually appealing and so forth, but how do we actually make an experience for ourselves? Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

13:05 And so we can use, you know, sometimes we can agree and we can sort of mull over these ideas in our mind, but they more than not kind of float on the surface of our minds like oil and water. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:23 They're not integrated in bringing about the kinds of changes that we might want for ourselves. So it's really, I think, quite a challenge. I, you know, to, to... Take what the words of somebody else, no matter how Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

13:45 valid, Report an error in the passage at 13:45 Highlight the passage at 13:45

13:52 accurately they may describe how we think the way things are, but to go beyond the words and actually, you know, like the finger pointing to the moon, experience the moon, to take that in. Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

14:11 So, beginning with the equality of self and others, it all means whosoever want to be happy and don't want to suffer. And, you know, we might, I think we would all probably agree with that. Report an error in the passage at 14:11 Highlight the passage at 14:11

14:28 But I remember, you know, Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

14:33 living in India for quite a number of years. And you developed, perhaps out of necessity, but seeming necessity perhaps, you developed sort of a... Report an error in the passage at 14:33 Highlight the passage at 14:33

14:48 A degree of insensitivity to the suffering about you because it's so much in your face. You're confronted with it, I mean, in terms of physical poverty. Report an error in the passage at 14:48 Highlight the passage at 14:48

15:02 People were disfigured and in pain and starving and so forth in one way or another. So, you know, it's hard. You have to almost put out of your mind that this person wants to be happy and doesn't want to suffer. know, it's there. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:21 It's just like myself. When you sit in the teachings on your cushion, okay, these ideas might sound very appealing and we can feel very warm inside of ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 15:21 Highlight the passage at 15:21

15:33 Maybe develop some kind of a sense of some emotionality around it. But when you get off your cushion and you go outside and you see this person who's, you know, you're eating your ice cream cone and they're begging for, you know, a few scents. And you just want to enjoy your ice cream cone. Let me enjoy my screaming cone in peace. That it's hard to keep in mind within the context of finding your own happiness that other people want happiness just as much as you. Report an error in the passage at 15:33 Highlight the passage at 15:33

16:08 We have a sense that the beggars on the street, the people in prisons and whosoever, that maybe they get used to suffering. That they don't suffer quite like I do. They're different in some way. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:26 I think we kind of had that rationale. But it's not the truth, I don't think. But it's an inconvenient truth to begin to see that maybe others want to be happy and don't want to suffer just like ourselves, the people in Iraq and so forth, or in the refugee camps, out of sight, out of mind. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:54 It's difficult, isn't it, if we're honest with ourselves? So there's some resistance, what I'm saying, to actually feeling a lot of these truths, to integrate them. Because we might have to do something different in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:17 That's kind of a fearful, this kind of anxiety provoking. Where it might lead us, we can't be quite sure. Report an error in the passage at 17:17 Highlight the passage at 17:17

17:30 Though it sounds rather simple-minded, I don't think it is to say that all beings want to be happy and don't want to suffer just like ourselves. I think if we spent the rest of our life just fathoming that one single notion and integrating that, I think our life would have been served well. Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

17:54 Then we go on to look at the disadvantages of self-centeredness, the advantages of other-centeredness. How far has this me first, I'm number one, center of the universe approach to the living of our life gotten us? You know, it goes unquestioned, doesn't it, in a way? Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:15 We're just not very skillful at finding our happiness. If we could only develop more skill around it, then everything would be okay. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:26 But maybe our whole premise is kind of flawed in a way. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:34 Finding happiness for ourselves alone at the exclusion and oftentimes at the expense of others. It's by its very nature flawed. There's something wrong in the very basic logic of that way of trying to live our life in order to find happiness and meaning and fulfillment and wholeness and integration and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 18:34 Highlight the passage at 18:34

18:59 What it is that we value most, what's important to us at some level. And then we go on to the actual exchange of self for others. And this involved the development of empathy. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:17 And in order to develop empathy, empathy is most basically being able to identify with it. Not identify. I once used that word, and I used the word wrongly. To imagine a parallel experience for yourself, which you imagine in some way is similar to what this person might be going through. Say, I know it. I've been there myself. Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:51 I can have some feeling for what you're going through. Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

19:59 And maybe not the same, similar. The ability to step into another person's subjective experience to some degree. To walk in their shoes. How might they be looking and feeling? And we use the example of a young man who walked into a pool room and had his leather jacket stolen. Report an error in the passage at 19:59 Highlight the passage at 19:59

20:28 And it was a humiliating and a feeling of helplessness that he experienced. But rather than distracting himself, becoming lost in some drama about how a possible revenge he's going to get against the person who stole his brand new leather jacket. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

20:58 Or falling into some kind of narrative around self-pity or a story of victimhood or numbing himself out in some way or another, distracting him from the difficult, painful feeling of humiliation and helplessness. He was willing to be with that, but not become lost in that and being able to be with that and then expand to other people at this very present moment. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:28 We're undergoing probably similar experiences to himself, feelings of humiliation and helplessness. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:39 So rather than shooting himself with a second arrow in the various ways that we do, the willingness to feel the first arrow and to make use of it in order to be able to open his heart, take off the armor, the protection, and be with those in some way, sharing the difficulties of others, how they might be feeling. Report an error in the passage at 21:39 Highlight the passage at 21:39

22:08 But there's the fifth part of this meditation and beyond the fourth part of actually exchanging self with others. The development of empathy is to be able to the practice of Tong Lin, the taking and giving. And that's what I'd like to kind of expand on. Report an error in the passage at 22:08 Highlight the passage at 22:08

22:34 So there's a teacher in America by the name of... Stephen Levine, who works in the hospice movement with death and dying and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:58 And this is, I Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:04 think I read this, did I? It's about Hazel in the hospital? No, I don't think. No, okay. So this is from Stephen Levine and his work with the dying relates an incident of a deep healing. That can take place in acknowledging in the possibility of expanding one's perspective beyond the isolating and losing ourselves in our own difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 23:04 Highlight the passage at 23:04

23:44 So we have to go into our own difficulties with the practical necessity of dealing with our own problems. But here it's asking us not to. Having once done that, not to leave it at that, but to use that experience as a means of connecting with others and bringing about not only an immediate healing of our own difficulties, but a greater healing of opening our hearts to others. Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

24:17 So this is from a book by Stephen Devine. We were working with Hazel, a woman who had come into the hospital in a very contracted state. She was a very difficult patient. The nurses called her a real bitch on wheels. Few wished to spend time with her. Hazel's physicians and attendants said that whenever she rang the bell, they were greeted with nasty comments and considerable verbal abuse. Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:53 And so, of course, every time she rang the bell, it took a bit longer to be answered. All her life had been a struggle for control. Seldom had she let life be. All that she didn't want or could not have was judged and pushed away from her heart. All that she could get was grasped at feverishly. And so she found herself dying alone in a great deal of pain. Report an error in the passage at 24:53 Highlight the passage at 24:53

25:23 She had judged so many so often that even her grown children would not visit. She was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of anger and despair. Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:37 For six weeks her isolation and pain increased until one night something changed. She came to a point where she could no longer stand the suffering in her back and legs or the pain of her unlived life. At 4 a.m., feeling like jumping out of her skin, she began to review her life amidst the pulsation of her pain. Report an error in the passage at 25:37 Highlight the passage at 25:37

26:03 Never had it been so clear how her intense holding Had created such intense pain, such a sense of desolation and aloneness. She saw how the considerable suffering she had caused during her lifetime had come back to her at death time. She had nowhere to turn. She had never felt more alone or helpless. Feeling death approach, she remembered herself as a youngster, open and hungry for the world. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:35 She saw how she had closed down over the years. With a deep sigh, she let the helplessness wash over her, and, exhausted, unable to fight, another moment she surrendered. She let go and died into her life, into the moment. Letting go into the pain in her spine and legs, she began to sense, quite beyond reason, that she was somehow not alone in her suffering. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

27:04 She felt what she later called the 10,000 in pain. She began to experience all the other beings who at that very moment were lying in the same bed of agony. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:18 At first, there arose the experience of herself as a brown-skinned woman, breasts slack from malnutrition, lying on her side, a starving child sucking at her empty breast, spine and legs twisted in pain. The musculature contracted from starvation and disease. For an instance she became this Ethiopian woman with the same pain in the back, legs and hips, lying on her side, dying in the mud. Report an error in the passage at 27:18 Highlight the passage at 27:18

27:52 Then there arose the experience of an Eskimo woman, lying on her side, dying during childbirth. Tremendous pain in her back, hips, legs and dying the same death. Report an error in the passage at 27:52 Highlight the passage at 27:52

28:05 Experience became that of a body of a woman in a twisted car wreckage, her back and legs broken, slowly dying alone by the side of a deserted road. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:16 Image after image arose of the 10,000 in pain. She experienced the 10,000 sufferings simultaneously. In the hour of her greatest agony, something in her connected with the enormity of the suffering she was sharing at that moment. The pain was beyond my bearing. I couldn't stand it any longer and something broke. Maybe it was my heart. But I saw it wasn't just my pain. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:47 It was the pain. It wasn't just my life. It was all life. It was life itself. As the days unfolded after this extraordinary experience, Hazel's heart opened more and more to all the others in pain in the hospital. She constantly asked, After them. As the weeks went by, she continued to get a deep sense of what she had participated in. She went beyond herself, and the room became a place where the nurses would come on their break because it was a room of love. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:23 Soon her children came to visit because of the warmth and surrender of her phone calls, responding to her plea for forgiveness. Her grandchildren sitting on the edge of her bed, the grandchildren she had never met. The hearts she had rejected before they were born. Her room became a place of healing, a finished business of universal care. Report an error in the passage at 29:23 Highlight the passage at 29:23

29:48 Hazel's teaching to us was that the deepest healing cannot be done solely in the separate. It needs to be done for the whole, for the pain we share. At the very root of healing is a sense of the universal within the separate, the personal. Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:09 So in the throes of our pain, whether it's something that we might be experiencing even now in the course of our daily life at present, or something that we recall from the past, even all the way back to when we were a child, or maybe some anticipated pain, maybe something's going to occur in the future which you have fear and dread around, foreboding. Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:39 We can use that pain. As a means of joining the community of pain, a feeling of connectedness, a feeling of kinship with others. We can use it as a means of fearlessly opening our hearts to the pain of the 10,000, to move beyond the personal to the universal. So our pain and our own problems can become a powerful reminder of... Report an error in the passage at 30:39 Highlight the passage at 30:39

31:14 The nature of the human dilemma, the nature of the human condition in which all sentient beings share, whosoever. You know what the Buddha meant when he first taught in his very first teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, the truth of the pain of what it means to be an ordinary human being. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:45 Whatever pain we might be experiencing, We can, we, you know... We can be certain that there are thousands or tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, who are experiencing an identical pain to ourselves at this very moment. Beyond our speculation, beyond our theorizing, the very practical fact of the matter is there are hundreds of thousands of other living, feeling beings who are experiencing the same exact feeling as we are. Report an error in the passage at 31:45 Highlight the passage at 31:45

32:21 Experiencing at this very moment. We're not alone. We're not unique in what we're going through. Whether it be some mild headache or whether it be some tragic loss in our beloved one. Whatever we may be feeling, we may be feeling that there are others out there who we will never know personally. But we can enter into their immediate subjective experience as if we were almost them. Report an error in the passage at 32:21 Highlight the passage at 32:21

32:57 We can walk in their shoes for a moment and know what they're feeling. We are all like brothers and sisters born from the same womb of pain. Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:11 But we embrace our own pain. This requires some degree. It requires that we're willing first to see the value of it Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:25 and then developing the ability to tolerate a certain degree of pain. But in a gentle way. You know, this isn't a samurai warrior project. Otherwise, perhaps we could do more harm to ourselves than benefit. But how can we begin to expand our ability to be with what to tolerate? Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:54 To the same degree we'll be able to develop that much compassion, that much love. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:03 So this is the taking part. Report an error in the passage at 34:03 Highlight the passage at 34:03

34:10 Let me feel it, so no one else has to feel it. And then it becomes, you know, it's a heroic attitude. I mean, it's illogical. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:23 But, you know, who wants to lead a life based on a banker's mentality or an accountant's mentality, where it's just sums added up and having to always come out to an exact figure of one sort or another? In that way? Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:44 Life is lived more than not in our imagination. This is where we find the richness and the vitality of our life, the aliveness of our life. Not in the intellect or the rational capabilities of our minds, but in our feeling quality. Okay, I'm depressed. I'm going through this difficulty. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this was enough for all of us? Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:11 We expand from our particular to the universal, to all those. The 10,000 are experiencing exactly what I'm experiencing right now. Wouldn't it be enough for us all? May it be enough for us all? That kind of willingness. So it starts to awaken your heart because you have the aspiration. This pain can be beneficial because I'm courageous enough to feel it fully so no one else has to. Report an error in the passage at 35:11 Highlight the passage at 35:11

35:45 So, you know, we... Report an error in the passage at 35:45 Highlight the passage at 35:45

35:51 If I have to go through this, I might as well give it some meaning, some purpose, a greater purpose, a service in the service of connecting with others and opening my hearts to them. Report an error in the passage at 35:51 Highlight the passage at 35:51

36:10 So we compassionately take up on. So first we embrace our own difficulty. We allow ourselves to be with it. you know, not questioning, you know, you know. Falling into the stories that we built around it, how unfair it is, how this person is treating me and whatever. Okay, you can come back to that, but just for this present moment, for this present purpose. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:40 Not the why of why it happened, but it's happened. It's your lived experience and being willing to be with that. And then going beyond that, Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

36:55 The separateness and the uniqueness of your experience, expanding to those others who are experiencing the same pain as yourself. It's not like we're distracting ourselves. That's not the purpose. We put our pain in some kind of perspective. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:17 It's part of the pain. It's just as real, but it's not to Report an error in the passage at 37:17 Highlight the passage at 37:17

37:32 ourselves. Nonetheless, it's a real pain and a suffering that nobody wants. So we imagine taking the suffering of all those, and this is with the, you know, okay, may this be enough for us all, Report an error in the passage at 37:32 Highlight the passage at 37:32

37:55 and breathing it into your heart again and again until it's completely gone. So that's the taking part. Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:18 Yeah, please do. In pain. Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:26 It's on the, Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

39:05 okay, Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:14 what a little bit's like. Report an error in the passage at 39:14 Highlight the passage at 39:14

39:29 So if you, okay, but let's, We can continue in the future with this explanation. If you'd like to stand up for a second then we'll meditate together. Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

39:49 Do you want to turn the air? Report an error in the passage at 39:49 Highlight the passage at 39:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

40:24 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 40:24 Highlight the passage at 40:24

40:31 So taking a comfortable, firm posture. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:39 We'll go through a process of relaxing our body and then we'll meditate on the breath for a short while and then we'll meditate on taking and giving practice. It's the, it's the, um... Report an error in the passage at 40:39 Highlight the passage at 40:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

40:59 So bringing your awareness to the crown of your head, your scalp, Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:06 and start by feeling or simply imagining the wrinkles between your brow and your forehead, smoothing out the Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:30 pressure in and around your eyes, diminishing the Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:40 muscles of the face, softening, Report an error in the passage at 41:40 Highlight the passage at 41:40

41:46 relaxing. Bang Report an error in the passage at 41:46 Highlight the passage at 41:46

41:59 is soft, Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:06 jaw relaxed, Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:18 back of your neck, and turning your head to each side a few times, just very gently loosening. Stretching the muscles of the back of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:39 bringing your awareness to your upper back and shoulders and drawing your shoulders up toward your ears, circling to the back and Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

43:02 just rotating your shoulders a few times and Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:13 eventually returning your shoulders back up toward your ears and just allowing it to drop to the sides and with that then have some kind of burden or weight that you may have unknowingly been carrying around on your head. Your back over the course of the day, moving down and through your body into the ground, a feeling of relief. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:51 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 43:51 Highlight the passage at 43:51

44:07 Relaxing your lower arms, Report an error in the passage at 44:07 Highlight the passage at 44:07

44:17 your upper arms, Report an error in the passage at 44:17 Highlight the passage at 44:17

44:36 about the heart area, the central space in the chest, Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:47 middle portion of the back. Report an error in the passage at 44:47 Highlight the passage at 44:47

45:05 And releasing the tension we often hold on our stomach muscles. Just allowing your belly to go soft and Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:41 keeping your trunk erect. Relax your lower back muscles, Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:06 pelvic region, Report an error in the passage at 46:06 Highlight the passage at 46:06

46:34 upper legs, Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

46:53 feel your feet soft and loose. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:17 Again, scanning from the ground downward, paying particular attention to any tightness or tensions in the body, and breathing into those various areas, again and again, and breathing out from those areas, Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:39 and emphasizing with each out-breath, Report an error in the passage at 47:39 Highlight the passage at 47:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:38 body becoming comfortable at ease, Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

49:39 and then becoming aware of your breath. And the sensation which indicates to you that you're breathing in and out, wherever it's most clear and obvious. Report an error in the passage at 49:39 Highlight the passage at 49:39

49:58 Just lightly resting your attention, focusing your awareness on that sensation. And if it's helpful, you can combine this with counting the breaths. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

· · · silence, 6 minutes

56:38 Now we're going to meditate on gaining and giving. And we're going to begin with ourselves in the process of taking. So this initially involves getting in touch with some... Sort of difficult feelings. Some problems that you might be having in the present or in the past, all the way back to your childhood. Report an error in the passage at 56:38 Highlight the passage at 56:38

57:02 But also the possibility of some anticipated suffering in the future. And being willing to drop beneath the stories that we usually build around our difficult feelings and distractions and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:22 And simply... Allow yourself, to some degree, experience how that really feels. Report an error in the passage at 57:22 Highlight the passage at 57:22

· · · silence, 2 minutes

59:00 And notice that there's somebody there who's actually feeling those feelings. Though in this case, it's yourself. Still, it's a sentient being, a feeling being, just like everyone else who doesn't want to suffer and wants to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 59:00 Highlight the passage at 59:00

59:33 That person doesn't want that suffering. Report an error in the passage at 59:33 Highlight the passage at 59:33

59:48 So as a way of connecting with this person to open our hearts to this person, ourselves in this case, We're simply going to take on that suffering. Just imagine, feel, as if you're breathing in whatever difficulties, anxieties, fears, Report an error in the passage at 59:48 Highlight the passage at 59:48

1:00:15 again and again taking this person's suffering on yourself, connecting with this person, embracing. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15 Highlight the passage at 1:00:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:01:12 And then we're going to expand. We're going to bring to mind the thousands and the tens of thousands of others who... Feel very much the same way, going through very much the same experience as this person. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:37 Unique. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:37 Highlight the passage at 1:01:37

1:02:03 So if somebody's got to feel this difficulty, this pain, Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:10 wouldn't it be wonderful if I could do it for all of us, this community? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:10 Highlight the passage at 1:02:10

1:02:22 My pain could be of some benefit. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:22 Highlight the passage at 1:02:22

1:02:36 Just imagine that you're opening your heart to this community of pain and being willing to take it on yourself. Breathing in the pain of the 10,000. You're suffering the same way as yourself. It Report an error in the passage at 1:02:36 Highlight the passage at 1:02:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:03:42 becomes the giving part. You can ask yourself, well, what do I really need? This person there, myself, is undergoing some difficulties, some problems. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:42 Highlight the passage at 1:03:42

1:04:01 We would bring about relief or healing. What Report an error in the passage at 1:04:01 Highlight the passage at 1:04:01

1:04:07 do you really need? This person really needs. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:25 I'm going to send that out, whatever it might be, whether it's something material, emotional, a person, a situation, whatever it would take. To alleviate, to heal. Send that out to this person, yourself, again and again. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:25 Highlight the passage at 1:04:25

1:04:48 Give yourself what you need. And Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:05:28 expanding our perspective to include the 10,000 who are in the same difficulty. They probably need the exact same things that we need. And send that out to them as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:45 Just keep breathing it out to them. Whatever it was. Person, material, situation. Emotional comfort and Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:06:29 just get in touch with a general feeling of well-being. Some feeling that doesn't depend upon a particular circumstance, a particular situation, just the goodness of being alive, just a delight in the world, the goodness, the beauty, the joy. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:29 Highlight the passage at 1:06:29

1:06:54 Just gladden your heart for a moment and Report an error in the passage at 1:06:54 Highlight the passage at 1:06:54

1:07:02 breathe that out to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:02 Highlight the passage at 1:07:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:07:38 Mindful of the 10,000. Breathe out that same sense of delight, wholeness, of goodness to them as well. Again and again, just giving, sharing. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:08:35 And then finally, just rest. Simply abiding open-heartedly in a community of well-being. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:35 Highlight the passage at 1:08:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:09:16 And then bring your mind back to the breath. Easy, gentle in that flow of the natural breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:16 Highlight the passage at 1:09:16

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:11:23 Just stand up. Please do. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:12:01 So we're Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:13 going to continue on in terms of quiz 10 and page 35 in our text, looking at the 11 virtuous mental factors. And we began last week with faith. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:13 Highlight the passage at 1:12:13

1:12:42 Faith acting as a support of our aspiration and our aspiration supporting our efforts. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:12:57 And then if you look at... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:57 Highlight the passage at 1:12:57

1:13:02 In terms of the quiz, question number four asks, what is the difference between shame and embarrassment? So this is rather unusual, I think, for Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:19 our culture to talk about shame and embarrassment being wholesome qualities or virtuous qualities. We try to stay away from shame and embarrassment as much as possible. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:56 So that's on page 35. So, um... Another, you know, we could as well perhaps, and I've seen it translated, shame as self-respect. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:56 Highlight the passage at 1:13:56

1:14:11 So in this question on Quiz 10, page question number four, it tries to bring out the distinction between what is being meant here by shame and embarrassment. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:29 So they're similar, but... In one case, we avoid some kind of misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:29 Highlight the passage at 1:14:29

1:14:39 Shame does it for personal reasons. For example, that one would lose one's own self-respect. I wouldn't feel so good about myself if I did that. I would feel ashamed of myself. So it's self-shame. One would lose a sense of self-respect. Whereas embarrassment is... Restraining ourselves or avoiding types of conduct where it might, others we feel might be disappointed in ourselves. We might lose the respect of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:39 Highlight the passage at 1:14:39

1:15:18 So it's that kind of distinction from which points of view. So they both have, they both support some kind of restraint from what we conceive as misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:18 Highlight the passage at 1:15:18

1:15:37 But from one's own point of view, we call it shame, and that which holds us back from misconduct in terms of, from the point of view of how others see us, we call embarrassment. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:15:55 The question that comes up, how do we, you know, we have shame and embarrassment. We also have this, and it's quite a problem, it's very common. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:55 Highlight the passage at 1:15:55

1:16:12 In the West, the feeling of guilt. How can we distinguish guilt? Or is it pretty much the same as what might be meant here by shame or embarrassment? How do we distinguish guilt from amongst these various emotions to Report an error in the passage at 1:16:12 Highlight the passage at 1:16:12

1:16:35 feel guilty about something? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:16:39 Pardon? Post-teeth. So after the fact, you feel guilty. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:16:56 Pardon? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:17:28 Okay, so feel Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:36 ashamed of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:36 Highlight the passage at 1:17:36

1:17:43 Yeah, it's interesting the use of words because you're just using that word embarrassment. That's not how we're using it. That's not how it was meant here. You haven't done anything. It's not misconduct. it's like if you know before, wouldn't Wouldn't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:43 Highlight the passage at 1:17:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:18:09 I was just curious of how we, where guilt plays into this, or maybe it doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:32 Isn't it true that, I mean, just getting back to shame and embarrassment, we don't look upon these as positive emotions, do we? In general, in the West. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:18:44 Unpleasant. So generally, unpleasant emotions aren't very positive, are they? I mean, that's our criteria. That's one of our... Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:44 Highlight the passage at 1:18:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:19:25 You should be ashamed of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:25 Highlight the passage at 1:19:25

1:19:52 To shame someone. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:52 Highlight the passage at 1:19:52

1:20:10 I don't think they are. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:40 don't think have done the reading and the audio from last week Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:20:47 kind of suspect that what the text and what positive aspects of Shane's birth could be referred to development of self or recognition Report an error in the passage at 1:20:47 Highlight the passage at 1:20:47

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:23:03 Okay. That sounds pretty good. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:33 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33 Highlight the passage at 1:23:33

1:23:40 Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:40 Highlight the passage at 1:23:40

1:23:48 Okay. It's utterly unfamiliar, you know, it's self-respect consideration for Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:48 Highlight the passage at 1:23:48

1:23:44 don't respect the same as the shame. It's very hard to kind Report an error in the passage at 1:23:44 Highlight the passage at 1:23:44

1:23:51 So it gives you an alternative flavor of these terms. For shame, it could be self-respect. So Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:16 that would diminish your self-respect. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:16 Highlight the passage at 1:24:16

1:24:23 So it's meant to be a positive attribute that helps us to avoid doing things which would... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:23 Highlight the passage at 1:24:23

1:24:39 Wouldn't make us not feel so good about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:39 Highlight the passage at 1:24:39

1:24:46 So from our own point of view and from the point of view of others. Consideration for others. Out of consideration for that. So they're difficult. Even the words are difficult, aren't they? But just getting that sense of feeling. We do exercise this emotion, I would think. If somebody were quite generous to us in the past, then... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:13 One day they were in need and we said, you know, we just neglected them. We wouldn't feel, probably wouldn't feel, kind of be a bit of unease in your mind. You wouldn't feel so good about yourself. That would be, I think that's kind of shame, what they're calling shame or lack of self-respect. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:45 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess shame and embarrassment are difficult enough without throwing in guilt. I mean, this is, and also in positive psychology, they have different, they use these words and they have a different spin on these words. But the reason I have this notion, I use, I bring into question what the meaning of guilt is because, you know, when we, like purifying of negativity. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:45 Highlight the passage at 1:25:45

1:26:23 And we develop a healthy sense of regret. You know, like you did something wrong. You feel like you really did something wrong. And some people feel guilt. And guilt, I think, is a very destructive quality. And in guilt, for example, with regret or shame, I think, even, the focus is upon what was done, the action. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:23 Highlight the passage at 1:26:23

1:26:51 And with guilt, the focus is upon ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51 Highlight the passage at 1:26:51

1:26:57 We're a flawed self. There's something basically wrong with ourselves. We would like to be good, but there's something which comes out even against our better will, our better judgment and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:57 Highlight the passage at 1:26:57

1:27:14 So the judgment is against oneself as opposed to what we did. The focus is upon the self as opposed to the action, the activity. that we don't feel Report an error in the passage at 1:27:14 Highlight the passage at 1:27:14

1:27:29 Yeah, so just bringing out the distinction between, so shame and embarrassment both act as a support for restraint from misconduct, but they're coming from two different perspectives. One from our own perspective in terms of maintaining a sense of self-respect and from other centered focus. In terms of their respect for ourselves, they might feel disappointed in us. I don't want to let them down. That's a sense of embarrassment. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:28:09 They aren't very good words, are they? Embarrassment is not a very good word. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:09 Highlight the passage at 1:28:09

1:28:19 I don't think we could retranslate. Anyway, these translations are still a work in progress. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:19 Highlight the passage at 1:28:19

1:28:31 It's a shame. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:31 Highlight the passage at 1:28:31

1:28:37 Don't you feel ashamed? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:28:43 Oh, that's even good on you. Bye-bye. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:43 Highlight the passage at 1:28:43

1:28:52 And then there's a list of three virtuous mental factors kind of grouped together, non-attachment, non-hatred and non-ignorance. And just to bring out a point with regard to these is that this word non does not... It just doesn't denote an absence, like the absence of attachment or the absence of hatred or the absence of ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:28 In the Tibetan, we're just using a negative particle. And this negative particle means, here it means the converse, not just the absence or lack of, but the converse of attachment. it doesn't it doesn't it Report an error in the passage at 1:29:28 Highlight the passage at 1:29:28

1:29:48 Or the converse of hatred, the converse of ignorance. So there's a whole family of qualities which are Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:30:03 moving in a different direction than attachment. For example, renunciation, or in the case of hatred, non-hatred, patience would be a type of non-hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:21 So it's not... So it's just not the absence of hatred. It's those qualities, those attributes of mind which are the converse of hatred. For example, kindness would be a quality of non-hatred. Patience would be a quality of non-hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:21 Highlight the passage at 1:30:21

1:30:44 So in each of these, I'm just trying to emphasize the fact that it doesn't mean simply the absence of hatred or the absence of attachment. That's not really an emotion, but the converse emotional attributes. Yeah, that's right. But maybe not a direct antidote, but in the family of antidotes. Like patience would be an antidote to non-hatred, whereas the direct antidote would be love. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:44 Highlight the passage at 1:30:44

1:31:13 But patience is moving in that direction. Yeah, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:13 Highlight the passage at 1:31:13

1:31:22 Non-ignorance, clarity of mind, you know, sharpness of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:31:30 That would be in the family of non-ignorance, whereas ignorance is generally qualified by dullness and darkness. So anything in the family which is moving in the opposite direction of that. Other words for non-ignorance, like non-bewilderment. Actually, the word here is not ignorance. It's mukpa. If you notice, it says Timug Megpa. So Megpa means not or non. Timug is more like bewilderment or confusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:30 Highlight the passage at 1:31:30

1:32:08 So it's more like those areas, the family of emotions, which are moving in the direction of moving away from confusion, bewilderment. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:08 Highlight the passage at 1:32:08

1:32:27 So what is the common function of non-attachment, non-hatred and non-ignorance? So there's this family of emotions. So all three function as supports for effective restraints from misconduct. So patience would help us to move away from misconduct and kindness would help us to move away from misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:27 Highlight the passage at 1:32:27

1:32:50 And clarity of mind would help us to move away from misconduct. from Misconduct and so forth. So those attributes of mind, those emotions and so forth, which are in the family of moving away from these three qualities and moving us away from, help us to restrain from misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:50 Highlight the passage at 1:32:50

1:33:25 So there Report an error in the passage at 1:33:25 Highlight the passage at 1:33:25

1:33:32 is a, so Report an error in the passage at 1:33:32 Highlight the passage at 1:33:32

1:33:44 here on page 40 is the mental factor of effort. So this effort is one of the six perfections, the six transcendent practices. So again, it's not what we properly think of as effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:44 Highlight the passage at 1:33:44

1:34:15 Here it's the effort which is being indicated here. It's probably more, as it mentions in the answer to question number six. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:15 Highlight the passage at 1:34:15

1:34:27 Enthusiasm regarding virtue. So, you know, effort, you know, you could make effort at robbing a bank. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:27 Highlight the passage at 1:34:27

1:34:39 That wouldn't be one of the six perfections. So it's qualified by a delight, kind of a joyous quality, but also directed toward what is positive or what is virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:39 Highlight the passage at 1:34:39

1:35:03 If you did that, if you studied Dharma with enthusiasm, that would be effort. So these mental factors are being spoken of in a particular context. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:17 And the effort is an antidote to, amongst other things, laziness. And this question I will, there are three types of laziness. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:17 Highlight the passage at 1:35:17

1:35:34 The first two types of laziness, maybe we don't even identify these normally as being laziness, the laziness of procrastination. Maybe that one's pretty straightforward. There's still plenty of time. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:34 Highlight the passage at 1:35:34

1:35:54 I'll get around to it tomorrow. So that's a form of laziness. But these other two aren't... You know, I'll... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:54 Highlight the passage at 1:35:54

1:36:02 We don't normally think of as laziness, laziness of attachment to what is not wholesome. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:02 Highlight the passage at 1:36:02

1:36:10 And then I think the third one is a bit humiliating actually, the laziness of inferiority, thinking how could someone like me ever achieve anything like that? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:10 Highlight the passage at 1:36:10

1:36:28 It could be, yeah. But to describe that in a sense of being lazy, that's... You know, if you think, well, I can't do that, then you never have to really make any effort, do you? It just kind of keeps you paralyzed. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:28 Highlight the passage at 1:36:28

1:36:52 So it's interesting, that perspective, to see that as a type of laziness. I can't do, I could never do that, I could never do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:52 Highlight the passage at 1:36:52

1:37:03 It saves you from failure for one thing, possible failure, but it also saves you from having to... Making any effort. It's interesting, isn't it? Some people are almost aware of their sense of inferiority as a badge of honor or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:03 Highlight the passage at 1:37:03

1:37:29 It's like an excuse, not having to make any effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:47 So hopefully you are kind of reading through. I mean, if you have any questions or any comments as we go along, I'm just kind of... reading. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:47 Highlight the passage at 1:37:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:37:57 Yeah, please. Yeah, so, Report an error in the passage at 1:37:57 Highlight the passage at 1:37:57

1:38:09 you mean personally or intellectually? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:09 Highlight the passage at 1:38:09

1:38:18 Pardon? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:18 Highlight the passage at 1:38:18

1:38:22 So, yeah, there's a lot of, in Buddhism, there seems to be a lot of military images. So, you know, it's like putting, donning on the armor to go into battle. Yeah, so you've got this, you've got this task that you have to do. It's wholesome activity. And it's like putting on the armor of enthusiasm, which will protect you from defeat or discouragement, giving up, that you're willing to go into the deepest hells to help others. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:39:04 So I think it's that kind of imagery that your enthusiasm, I think enthusiasm might be a better word. It protects you from discouragement. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:04 Highlight the passage at 1:39:04

1:39:16 From these types of laziness, procrastination, or especially inferiority, giving up, I think it's a type of protection. Your enthusiasm is a type of protection. I think that's the image of armor. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:16 Highlight the passage at 1:39:16

1:39:40 Armor is meant to convey some kind of protection. Does anybody else have any? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:40 Highlight the passage at 1:39:40

1:39:55 Here it says, the effort of armoring is the dawning of the great armor of preceding attitude, mental enthusiasm prior to embarking on a virtuous activity. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:55 Highlight the passage at 1:39:55

1:40:13 So sometimes they talk about the bodhisattva dawning the armor of effort or enthusiasm and being willing to go into hells that has saved to work with others. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:13 Highlight the passage at 1:40:13

1:40:38 Yeah, that's a good point. So willing to go into battle with your own afflictions, having that kind of enthusiasm for virtue, delighting. A happy mind will help you through a lot of difficulties if you can maintain that enthusiasm. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

1:41:22 Okay, yeah, that sounds good. So it would be specifically with regard to, I mean, in this context, something positive, something wholesome, virtuous, if you like. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:37 But it would be that sense of entering into it with some kind of positive attitude, with some enthusiasm toward the virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:37 Highlight the passage at 1:41:37

1:42:05 On the question number seven, the three types of equanimity, and this is... It's mentioned on page 46 of the text. The word economity, these words can be used in different contexts and they take on different meanings. But in the present context, some of these terms are being explained in terms of facilitating our progress along the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:05 Highlight the passage at 1:42:05

1:42:43 And here, The use of equanimity is being one of the three types of the use of the word equanimity is called the equanimity of application. And this has to do with the development of calm abiding. One of the antidotes is non-application, equanimity. When your meditation, you know, if you're really doing well in your meditation on calm abiding, that is, say, developing a very deep concentration, single point of concentration, and things in your mind, it's going well, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:43 Highlight the passage at 1:42:43

1:43:28 But you're kind of, you're overly concerned, you know, that maybe something is going wrong, when in fact it's not. And you might think, well, I should apply, maybe I should make more effort, or maybe I should... Maybe my mind is dull. I should uplift my mind. Or maybe my mind is too excited. Maybe I should bring my mind down. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:28 Highlight the passage at 1:43:28

1:43:53 So here they would suggest that you apply a sense of equanimity. That is to say, here it mentions keeping the mind balanced and calm without letting it fall to either excitement or dullness. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:13 The equanimity would be when no antidote is needed to just abide in equanimity, non-application of any antidote. If there's no problem, don't fix it, in other words. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:13 Highlight the passage at 1:44:13

1:44:33 Sometimes people have a sense, well, there must be a problem somewhere. So this is saying that we also should have a sense that things are going well, that they're going as they should be, and just to... Rest to settle back and abide with that in a sense of balanced mind, which would be called equanimity of application. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:33 Highlight the passage at 1:44:33

1:44:53 We don't apply any antidote. Just allow things to continue since nothing is wrong. There's no problem. But there are two other ways in which the word equanimity could also, or not the word, but meanings of the word equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:53 Highlight the passage at 1:44:53

1:45:08 We have three types of feelings, pleasurable feelings. Unpleasurable feelings and neutral feelings. I'm using the word neutral, but at times it might be translated as equanimity, a feeling which is equally balanced between pleasure and pain. We would call it neutral, but sometimes it's also called equanimity, that is a feeling. And then immeasurable equanimity, which we're familiar with when we... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:08 Highlight the passage at 1:45:08

1:45:43 Recite the four immeasurables. May all beings abide in equanimity and not having attachment for those we hold close and aversion toward that we hold near, aversion toward the enemies. So a sense of a balanced mind which doesn't grasp to some or push others away. But this doesn't mean a sense of indifference. It's simply... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:43 Highlight the passage at 1:45:43

1:46:16 A balance between aversion and attachment, following to neither of those two extremes. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:16 Highlight the passage at 1:46:16

1:46:30 An even-mindedness, free of attachment for some and aversion toward others. So amongst these three types of equanimities, what is being pointed out here is this equanimity is the equanimity of application, which is specifically mentioned in terms of the development of common body. One of the antidotes, not applying the non-application of an antidote when it's not necessary. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:30 Highlight the passage at 1:46:30

1:47:02 Quite often on page 47, non-harmfulness. Sometimes this is the area of, again, the word non. It doesn't mean simply the lack of harmfulness, but it means... In the family of moving to the converse of removing harm. So it's more in the family of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:02 Highlight the passage at 1:47:02

1:47:40 So they're virtuous. They're just not absences. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:40 Highlight the passage at 1:47:40

1:47:47 Otherwise, when you were asleep, you would have the quality of non-harmfulness. But that's not the case. Non-harmfulness is a positive emotion. And it has a connotation of the sense of compassion. even, you know, when Report an error in the passage at 1:47:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47:47

1:48:03 They wish that someone who's being harmed, that they're not harmed. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:03 Highlight the passage at 1:48:03

1:48:20 Do you have any comments about any of these? We haven't even gone through each of them. We can take a look on page 1 of Quiz 10. We've looked at effort and shame. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:20 Highlight the passage at 1:48:20

1:48:41 Then there's the pliancy. The word pliancy... Sometimes it's translated as serviceability. Here it says, a serviceability of mind and body, such that the mind can be set on a virtuous object of observation as long as one likes. So in the course of development of calm abiding, again, one develops a certain physical and mental bliss, if you like, or pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:49:12 And this facilitates a... A serviceability of the mind and body, that the body can remain comfortably at rest for long periods of time without any tension, without any discomfort. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:35 It's a very pleasant state, but also with regard to the mind. The mind can be placed upon any object that one wishes. You set the mind there and it remains there because it's experiencing pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:35 Highlight the passage at 1:49:35

1:49:49 So the mind becomes very serviceful. We can make use of our mind and body as we wish it. It's not a struggle as we normally experience our minds and bodies, especially my mind and body. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49:49

1:50:04 We've talked about faith and we've talked about embarrassment. So the family of the emotions of non-attachment, non-hatred, non-ignorance, and then we mentioned non-harmfulness as being in the family of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:04 Highlight the passage at 1:50:04

1:50:21 Conscientiousness, cultivation of virtuous qualities within abiding in non-attachment, non-hatred, non-ignorance, as well as effort, and guard the mind against contamination. So, you know, we are careful. Conscientiousness is a sense of being careful with our mind, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:21 Highlight the passage at 1:50:21

1:50:52 a guarding of the mind against what we see as negative. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:52 Highlight the passage at 1:50:52

1:51:06 And then we mentioned equanimity. The equanimity and evenness of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:06 Highlight the passage at 1:51:06

1:51:33 If we can, any comments or anything you'd like to go into around these 11 virtuous mental factors? I realize we went through them very quickly. We're going through them very quickly. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:52:04 At the time of, Report an error in the passage at 1:52:04 Highlight the passage at 1:52:04

1:52:11 so you want to read these? So this is from a book. A book on minds and mental factors by Geshe Rapton. Geshe Rapton was quite an experienced master, I think, and he did a lot of work with Westerners. He lived in, His Holiness the Dalai Lama asked him to be the abbot of a monastery in Switzerland, which not only had a number of Tibetan monks, Had a number of Western monks. And there's Report an error in the passage at 1:52:11 Highlight the passage at 1:52:11

1:52:59 really an excellent book written about Geshe Repton. I can't even remember the name of it. Maybe it's mentioned in here. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:59 Highlight the passage at 1:52:59

1:53:09 Tells his life story. There's a story about him that he was extremely poor and he couldn't afford to feed himself adequately. And he was trying to overcome his sense of attachment and desire for food. And so he got together a small amount of money and he went and bought a great deal of fat. And, you know, really kind of the type of, the parts of the animal that most of us would never eat. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:09 Highlight the passage at 1:53:09

1:53:50 And he did this in order to make himself sick. So he would develop an aversion associated with eating so he wouldn't feel so hungry all the time and have attachment toward food. That sounds like a rather an ascetic practice, doesn't it? But he had a great way with Westerners. I was fortunate enough to have teachings from him when I lived in Dharamsala. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:50 Highlight the passage at 1:53:50

1:54:22 And one of his students was Stephen Batchelor. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:22 Highlight the passage at 1:54:22

1:54:30 He's written quite a number of books that you might be familiar with. The Confessions of a Buddhist, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:54:46 not agnostic, what's it? Report an error in the passage at 1:54:46 Highlight the passage at 1:54:46

1:54:56 Atheist, the Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, The Faith to Doubt. He's a very good author. I like him very much. Anyway. He translated this book by Geshe Raptor on Minds and Mental Factors. That was his whole lead up to this. And here it says, at the time of having belief, faith occurs. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:56 Highlight the passage at 1:54:56

1:55:21 At the time of turning away from evil, self-respect and consideration for others occur. So at the time of turning away from evil, shame and embarrassment occur. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:21 Highlight the passage at 1:55:21

1:55:36 At the time of engaging in virtue, Non-attachment, non-hatred, non-ignorance and effort occur. At the time of freeing oneself from attachment, by worldly means, suppleness occurs. So suppleness is another word for pliancy. So at Report an error in the passage at 1:55:36 Highlight the passage at 1:55:36

1:56:06 the time of freeing oneself from attachment, by worldly means. by worldly means, means there The methods that are made use of in the development of calm abiding. One goes beyond attachment to the desire realm as opposed to, so that's worldly means, as opposed to freeing oneself from attachment by means of wisdom, understanding selflessness. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:06 Highlight the passage at 1:56:06

1:56:40 So one is a practice of concentration and the other is a practice of wisdom. We can free ourselves from attachment. Temporarily by means of concentrations, but that ultimately will degenerate, that will deteriorate. Ultimately it's necessary to develop wisdom in order to free oneself from attachment. And then it says, at the time of freeing oneself from attachment by non-worldly means, conscientiousness and equanimity occur. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:40 Highlight the passage at 1:56:40

1:57:15 And at the time of benefiting others, non-violence. is a Report an error in the passage at 1:57:15 Highlight the passage at 1:57:15

1:57:26 What was it? Non-Harm from the Secure. Thank you. That's good information. I was hoping I would finish the six root afflictions tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:26 Highlight the passage at 1:57:26

1:57:50 I didn't get very far, did I? I shouldn't have gone into that meditation. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:50 Highlight the passage at 1:57:50

1:58:01 If I can take a minute of your time, a couple of things I'd like to bring up. One of them was that, and I haven't checked this with the director or the spiritual coordinator, but we aren't going to finish. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:01 Highlight the passage at 1:58:01

1:58:25 According to our schedule, we have two more weeks left. And I was wondering if, and it may not be possible, but... If we had another third class on December 22nd, if you might consider that, how do people feel about that? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:25 Highlight the passage at 1:58:25

1:58:45 December 22nd. That's pretty close to Christmas. Monday night. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:45 Highlight the passage at 1:58:45

1:58:58 If we can have a class on December 22nd, would that be okay? Yeah, I'm sorry about my... I think we spent a bit too long on the... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58:58

1:59:12 The first awareness and knowledge, and we could have spent more time on minds and mental factors. It might have been more beneficially spent, but that's my fault. So, okay, I'll check up and I'll let you know next week. The second thing that I'd like to ask is, and this is looking ahead to next year, the first part of the program, the first semester, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:12 Highlight the passage at 1:59:12

1:59:42 We take up the Shantidevas engaging in the Bodhisattva's conduct. His text is divided into two parts. The first semester we'll take up the first seven chapters. There are ten chapters altogether in the text, engaging in the Bodhisattva's way of life or conduct. And we're going to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:42 Highlight the passage at 1:59:42

2:00:10 It will take up the first seven chapters. And I thought, you know, I was thinking ahead. There are a number of commentaries by Tibetan teachers that we can make use of in conjunction with our class. And so I did some investigating. There's one text, a book which has been published by Wisdom Publications. It's called The Way of Awakening. And it is a commentary by Geshe Yeshe Tupin. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:10 Highlight the passage at 2:00:10

2:00:52 I've never read the book, to be honest with you. But I did meet Geshe Yeshe Tupin when I was in Italy. He was the resident teacher at Tsongkhapa Institute in Italy. And I was fortunate enough to... We see some teachings. He died in 1999. I think this would be a good book for us to supplement our studies with. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:52 Highlight the passage at 2:00:52

2:01:20 And moreover, it's only $8. So what I'm asking is if this book, as far as I know, I checked and hopefully they have enough. It costs $8. It's called The Way of... The Way of Awakening by Geshe Yeshe Tukton. If I were to order this, and I've checked, the center would be happy to order it for us. If you might, if people are interested in buying the book. Okay, the reason I'm asking you now is I'd like to have it, I'd like to give it to you before the Christmas break. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:20 Highlight the passage at 2:01:20

2:01:58 And then you could read it over Christmas, or parts of it. Okay? So I'll just order a bunch. I'll ask them to order a bunch of the text. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:58 Highlight the passage at 2:01:58

2:02:10 And then finally, if you want to read the rest of the text, by all means do that. So we're going to finish our text. We've got quite a few pages to go in over two weeks plus one. So three sessions together. Thank you for your patience. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:10 Highlight the passage at 2:02:10

2:02:44 So look at the quiz. The six root afflictions for next week. And also there's the 20 non-virtuous mental factors, the four changeable mental factors which we'll try to go. We'll try to get to those so Report an error in the passage at 2:02:44 Highlight the passage at 2:02:44

2:03:10 we can dedicate the positive energy we've created together. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:10 Highlight the passage at 2:03:10

2:03:16 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 creature suffer, commit evil, or fall ill. 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 May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:16 Highlight the passage at 2:03:16

2:04:07 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 2:04:07 Highlight the passage at 2:04:07

2:04:29 Through these skillful actions may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each and every living being to that awakened realm. May the supreme jewels of the awakened heart and mind that have not risen arise and grow, and may those that have risen never diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:29 Highlight the passage at 2:04:29

2:04:49 In the land encircled by the snow mountains, you are the source of our happiness and well-being. Powerful Chenrizi, Tenzin Gyatso, please remain for the end of cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:49 Highlight the passage at 2:04:49