BP: Mind and Cognition (22 December 2014)

0:28 And then there was three. Wow. Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

0:37 So welcome to the secret teaching, which is only heard by the fortunate few. You Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:57 can stay if you like. So Report an error in the passage at 0:57 Highlight the passage at 0:57

1:17 we'll just take a minute to adjust. How is everybody? Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17

1:34 To adjust our motivation. So Report an error in the passage at 1:34 Highlight the passage at 1:34

1:41 it's a busy time. Report an error in the passage at 1:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41

1:49 It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of the season. But still, what was that? Not really? Okay. We'll start over. Report an error in the passage at 1:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49

2:30 What do you think? Are times getting worse or are they just better reported? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

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3:10 I'm not a historian, but probably if you check back, probably every age has said the same thing, that things are getting worse. But maybe we just know more about the worst than we used to. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:36 So whatever happens on the outside, we have to... Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

3:48 Still concern ourselves with our own minds and how they affect us and how we're going to respond. And this very much depends upon our own attitudes, our own skill or lack of skill and how we relate to what's happening. Report an error in the passage at 3:48 Highlight the passage at 3:48

4:16 A majority of five, you know, finding some kind of, creating some kind of island of peace in a world of chaos. Anyway, it's very much a matter of ourselves and how we... We do live in relationship to others, but we have to take responsibility for our own minds. No one else can do that for us. Report an error in the passage at 4:16 Highlight the passage at 4:16

4:39 And in doing that, maybe it Report an error in the passage at 4:39 Highlight the passage at 4:39

4:44 might be at least one way, and probably a significant way to make some kind of impact for the better in the world at large. Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:03 So if you'd like to recite the verse of Refuge together. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:11 Can you find a seat? There's one up here. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:40 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

5:44 On time for me. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

5:56 I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I am awakened to the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha through the collections of merit and wisdom created out of generosity and the other practices may I become a Buddha for the sake. Report an error in the passage at 5:56 Highlight the passage at 5:56

6:22 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 and the other practices. May I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 6:22 Highlight the passage at 6:22

6:44 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 it. I Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

7:04 like to stand and we'll sit together. Report an error in the passage at 7:04 Highlight the passage at 7:04

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7:43 So taking a comfortable, firm posture. Begin with a relaxation, getting in touch with our bodies. Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

7:55 Bringing our awareness to the crown of our head and start by feeling or simply imagining the wrinkles between our brow and our forehead smoothing out. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:15 Pressure in and around our eyes diminishing, Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

8:26 the muscles of the face softening. Relaxing, getting Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

8:42 soft Report an error in the passage at 8:42 Highlight the passage at 8:42

8:52 and bringing your awareness to the back of your neck and turning your head to each side a few times, gently loosening, stretching the muscles of the back of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:11 bringing your awareness down to your upper back and shoulders and drawing the shoulders up toward the ears, circling them toward the back and down to the front, just rotating your shoulders a few times. Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:37 And eventually returning them back up towards your ears and just allowing them to drop comfortably to the sides. And with that, the feeling of some kind of weight or burden 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, a feeling of relief, Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

10:03 a burden that's been lifted from your back. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:16 And bringing your awareness all the way down to your hands. Your hands are soft and loose, Report an error in the passage at 10:16 Highlight the passage at 10:16

10:25 relaxing. Your lower arms Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:35 and your upper arms Report an error in the passage at 10:35 Highlight the passage at 10:35

10:47 is at ease. Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

10:58 Relaxing throughout the heart area, central space of the chest, Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:11 motion of the back, Report an error in the passage at 11:11 Highlight the passage at 11:11

11:25 and releasing the tension that we often hold in our stomach muscles, just allowing the belly to go soft about Report an error in the passage at 11:25 Highlight the passage at 11:25

11:41 the abdominal cavity and Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

11:48 keeping the trunk erect. Relax your lower back muscles throughout Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

12:15 the pelvic region. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

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13:17 So once again scanning through the body from the crown down through the central portion of the body and paying particular attention to tightnesses and tension within the body and breathing into those various areas again and again, breathing out from those areas. Report an error in the passage at 13:17 Highlight the passage at 13:17

13:36 And with that out-breath just imagine some kind of loosening, diminishing of the tension. Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

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14:25 With each out-breath the body becoming a Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

14:37 pleasant place to be. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

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15:18 Just stay with your body for one, relaxed and at ease. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

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15:55 So I invite you to become aware of the fact that you're breathing and to note the sensation of the body which indicates to you that you're breathing out, that you're breathing in. Just lightly rest your attention on that sensation. Focus your awareness there. And you might combine this with counting the breaths. Report an error in the passage at 15:55 Highlight the passage at 15:55

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21:44 So bring your mind back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

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23:16 Now we're going to shift our attention to our breath. Sensation of the body other than the sensation of the breath. Whatever is most predominant is focusing on that sensation. Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

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24:54 And again shifting our attention, this time listening to the sounds about us. Focusing your awareness on sound, both near and far. Report an error in the passage at 24:54 Highlight the passage at 24:54

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26:06 Listening to sound. Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

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27:52 Again shifting our attention, this time turning it inward to the mind itself. Thoughts and words passing through our mind, pictures and images, states of mind, noticing whether your mind is sleepy or restless, or maybe it's experiencing pleasure or displeasure, maybe there's an emotion, Report an error in the passage at 27:52 Highlight the passage at 27:52

28:20 watching the mind itself. Report an error in the passage at 28:20 Highlight the passage at 28:20

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29:34 And then finally, just allowing the mind to become involved in any object that it naturally tends towards, whether it's the breath or sensation of the body or sound. Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

29:50 Whatever it might be. But in a gentle and relaxed manner, just maintain a degree of awareness, a feeling, a sense of watchfulness, observing. Report an error in the passage at 29:50 Highlight the passage at 29:50

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31:12 And then bring the mind back with the breath, the easy, gentle, in and outflow of the natural breath. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

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34:13 In our text, we'll begin looking at page 60. And we'll also look at note 4 and quizzes. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:34 11 and 12 answers. Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

34:50 So we've been looking at a categorization of mental factors, the root afflictions, and there were six of these. Report an error in the passage at 34:50 Highlight the passage at 34:50

35:02 The first five are grouped together in what are called non-views, and the sixth is views. So we've looked at the first five of these six root afflictions, and we're going to begin to look at the afflicted views. Report an error in the passage at 35:02 Highlight the passage at 35:02

35:19 Of which there are five types. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:25 So a view just means the way you see things. It's like your ideas, a very complex system of Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

35:38 ideas that you have about different subjects. It's your view on things. People have all kinds of views, don't they? These are particular categorizations of views. And moreover, they're afflicted. They're distorted in various ways. Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

35:59 So the first of these is the view of the transitory collection. So on our quiz answering 11, number 6, begin by understanding, well, what do we mean when we say transitory collection? Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:24 It's another name that we give to the aggregates. And by aggregates, there are the five aggregates, which can be... Which can be reduced down to body and mind, most essentially. So the body is one aggregate or the physical aggregate, what's called the aggregate of forms. And then we have the mental side and that's divided up into four aggregates or piles, skandhas. So just lots of little bits. Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:55 So what are the four mental aggregates? Okay, there's form, first aggregate. Good. Feelings. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:12 Positional factors? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 37:12 Highlight the passage at 37:12

37:21 One in between. Report an error in the passage at 37:21 Highlight the passage at 37:21

37:26 Good. Okay. Discrimination, sometimes called recognition or perception. So these two feelings and discriminations are also mental factors. They're separated out given individual treatment. And the remaining 49 of the Torah, 51 mental factors are all put in this. bundle called compositional factors. Report an error in the passage at 37:26 Highlight the passage at 37:26

37:57 A mental factor that observes, so we're talking about the transitory, what do we mean by transitory and collections? Mental factors that observe the aggregates of forms, feelings and so forth and conceives of them to be a real I or mine. So since the aggregates are transitory and collections, so the body is constantly changing, Report an error in the passage at 37:57 Highlight the passage at 37:57

38:26 The mind is constantly changing, so it's transitory. And there are collections, so the body is made up of lots of different parts, head, the torso, arms and legs and so forth. The mind, we just listed some of the parts of the mind, the feelings and discriminations and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:48 So the body and mind are constantly changing and made up of many parts. They are termed transitory collections. And to conceive of them as being permanent, that is a non-transitory or fixed, unchanging, and to be a unitary I, a singular I, they cannot serve as a conception of a singular and permanent I, or unchanging and unitary I. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:24 the The view of the transit collection is extremely important. Report an error in the passage at 39:24 Highlight the passage at 39:24

39:33 As we're going to see, it is in the upper schools of the Abhidharma. And just in general, we could almost say, when we talk about ignorance, this is what we're talking about. And ignorance as the basis of the various afflictive emotions, the basis of the twelve links that depends on origination, the basis of suffering, in other words, is ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:59 If we were to be a little more specific, we could define it in terms of the view of the transitory collection. So it's conceiving the body and mind or the five aggregates to be an unchanging, solid, concrete, unitary I, self, I or mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

40:25 So, Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:33 okay, so this is one particular view. It's the basis of saṃsāra, of cycling existence. The view of the transitory collection. It's viewing, it's looking at the transitory collection. The transitory collection refers to the five aggrits, or the mind and body. It sees that it views the mind and body as an unchanging, singular, Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

41:10 Solid, concrete, I or self, I or mine. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:17 We'll talk more about that. Report an error in the passage at 41:17 Highlight the passage at 41:17

41:25 Okay? Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:44 So, yeah, if we view one of the aggregates of the controlling entity, the self, one of the, you know, we can, when we begin to talk more about ignorance, we'll begin to talk about how the self, how the characteristics of this misconceived self. It's characterized by, for example, being, as it says here, unitary, singular, without parts, let's say partless, unchanging, permanent, fixed, independently existent, but also it's seen as a controller. Report an error in the passage at 41:44 Highlight the passage at 41:44

42:23 There's somebody running the show, a decision. I mean, there are decisions being made. There's mental factors which are discriminating and so forth, but there's no overall controller. There's a light on, but nobody's home. We have a sense that there's a central command, a headquarters, which is running the shell. Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

42:54 But in fact, that's a misconception. There are the factors which are making determinations and independence upon various causes and conditions are different. Report an error in the passage at 42:54 Highlight the passage at 42:54

43:11 Mental states arise. But there's nobody overseeing the show. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:24 I mean, it's not completely. If we say, I mean, it becomes a very difficult area of discussion because if we say, well, is it all deterministic? Is it just like one ball hits another, you know, billiard ball hits another and there's no, it becomes, I mean, are we, do we, are values coming to play? Do we actually have choice? Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

43:46 So is it all karma? Karma has the idea of cause and effect. So karma is a very important aspect of this process. For many it's a determining. We're almost like on an automatic pilot. But the more we become aware, maybe we can begin to influence what is actually coming, the process, by choice, intention. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:18 Yeah, so it's a difficult subject, but you're right. So there's lots of influences that bring about any particular state of mind. And one of those influences is our past karmas, our habits, the momentum of what we've done in the past. That's one of the influences. Report an error in the passage at 44:18 Highlight the passage at 44:18

44:42 Yeah, it's not easy. Okay, I don't know if that... So the second of these five views, these are all afflicted views. And this is on page 63. A view holding to an extreme. Holding to extreme. It's like another word for extreme is like a dead end. It goes nowhere. Something like that. So this is also mentioned in our quiz answers. Report an error in the passage at 44:42 Highlight the passage at 44:42

45:16 On question Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:22 number seven, explain the view of holding to an extreme. These definitions are pretty difficult. Report an error in the passage at 45:22 Highlight the passage at 45:22

45:32 Some of the definitions require definitions, I think. Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

45:39 So it's a mental factor. So I'm reading from the quiz answer, 11, question 7. A mental factor that observes the self as conceived of by the view of the transferi collection. So how is the self being conceived of by the view of the transferi collection? Report an error in the passage at 45:39 Highlight the passage at 45:39

46:08 So what we're going to, what the view of the extreme is, yeah, holding to an extreme is, it's looking at the self as it's being held, as it's being seen by the view of the transfer recollection. Report an error in the passage at 46:08 Highlight the passage at 46:08

46:22 In terms of the view of the transfer recollection, it's singular and unchanging, okay? So then the view of holding to an extreme looks at that self and says, and comes to some, Conclusions around it. It sees it as if it were, here it says, one of the extremes is permanent, but it's something more than permanent. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:50 I mean, it is permanent, but the sense is that there's some unchanging essence, that this self is an unchanging, you know, this was a view held in some... Report an error in the passage at 46:50 Highlight the passage at 46:50

47:06 religions, you know. In Eastern religions, we could almost say a soul of some sort, an unchanged essence to our being which is permanent. Report an error in the passage at 47:06 Highlight the passage at 47:06

47:19 That's holding the self. Or that's one extreme. That's going to one extreme. The other extreme is saying, well, it's just there's no essence. There's just a very kind of a mechanistic. which is, that's, that's, that's. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:37 A materialistic sense of who we are. That it's just a brain and a body. And when that ceases, then the mind ceases like a rainbow. It just fades away. And at the end of this life, we're finished. We're annihilated. Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

48:01 These are seen as two extremes. One of them is there's an unchanging essence to our being, permanent, which goes on and on eternally. Report an error in the passage at 48:01 Highlight the passage at 48:01

48:12 That's one extreme. The other extreme is what we call the extreme of materialism. We're just physical processes which will cease and then the self no longer exists. So these are seen as two possible extremes. Report an error in the passage at 48:12 Highlight the passage at 48:12

48:39 Makes sense. So, I mean, different schools of thought would hold these views. There are in the Vendanta and so forth, probably some Hindu schools. I don't know, you know, I don't know what the Christianity would, I don't know how, you know, I've never heard a definition of a soul. But, you know, this goes on and it's the essence of our being. Report an error in the passage at 48:39 Highlight the passage at 48:39

49:03 There's something there. I don't know if they would say it as permanent or not, so I can't really say, but some schools or some religious views would hold that there's an unchanging essence to it. And this is who, in fact, we are. This is eternal. That's what materialists would say. Well, when the organism dies, it's finished. Report an error in the passage at 49:03 Highlight the passage at 49:03

49:26 There's nothing that goes forward. So it's two possible extremes. Report an error in the passage at 49:26 Highlight the passage at 49:26

49:40 page, these are also. If we look at note 4, it might be also useful to look at page 2 while we're going through this. So a view of the transitory, we've sort of just used different words to describe these five afflicted views. Beginning with the view of the transitory collection is an afflicted wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

50:08 So, you know, usually we think of wisdom as being really holy almost. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:17 Wisdom is just a translation for, I mean, normally it is, but it's just a translation, you know, it's just that we could, yeah, and wisdom isn't always positive. So it's kind of, it's kind of like we could call it intelligence. You know, we can misuse our intelligence. We can use it for positive or negative. Report an error in the passage at 50:17 Highlight the passage at 50:17

50:41 So we can use our wisdom to become a better bank robber. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

50:48 That sounds strange to say that, but it would be more a translation. In general, we talk about wisdom as part of the path and so forth. But here in kind of Abhidharma, we could talk about it simply as intelligence, as intelligences, which can be used for better or worse. know, what? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 50:48 Highlight the passage at 50:48

51:11 So here, this is an afflictive intelligence, okay? So it's like the ability to make, to distinguish, to discern, to analyze, to break down and see. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:30 So that afflicted wisdom, afflicted intelligence, so the view of the trans-duric collection is afflicted wisdom that, based upon observing the appropriate aggregates, grasp as a... An independently existent I and mine. So essentially it's just the conception of an independently existent I and mine, or another way of saying that. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:55 Here it says in our text, it says permanent and singular. Report an error in the passage at 51:55 Highlight the passage at 51:55

52:04 But in general there would be more usefulness to see it in those terms as the independent self and I. So the I exists, the self exists, but it does not exist independently. Report an error in the passage at 52:04 Highlight the passage at 52:04

52:17 It depends. Everything depends. It all depends. That's what we mean by dependent arising. In the case of the self, the I, it depends upon the body and mind, or the five actions. Whatever my body does, my body is sitting here, I can say I'm sitting here. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:41 My mind might be happy, I can say I'm happy. So that whatever the base is experiencing, Whatever is dependent upon that base, we can say, I, I. Report an error in the passage at 52:41 Highlight the passage at 52:41

52:56 But the view of the Translory Collection says, no, no, no, there's something else which is I, which does not depend upon body and mind. So this becomes very important in coming to the wisdom, the positive intelligence, understanding, selflessness. Report an error in the passage at 52:56 Highlight the passage at 52:56

53:18 Then the view of the holding two extremes, the view that we just looked at is, again, that afflicted wisdom. Conflictive intelligence observing that self that we just described, talked about, and seeing either as permanent or as something that will not take future rebirth. So as far as from the point of view of Buddhism, that would be an extreme of annihilation. Report an error in the passage at 53:18 Highlight the passage at 53:18

53:48 Permanence on the one hand, something, an unchanging essence, or simply going out of existence at the end of this life. Nothing continues on. From the point of view of Buddhism, those are two extremes. Scientific science, materialists would say, well, no. The materialists would say, well, no. We're just the brain. We're just atoms, molecules, organic molecules constructed in a particular fashion. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:17 At a certain point, these break down and we just return to the earth and it's all over. That would be seen as an extreme annihilation from the point of view of generally accepted in Buddhism. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 54:17 Highlight the passage at 54:17

54:36 The view of, on page 64 of our text, conception of bad views as supreme. So, you know, this is, we're saying bad views. Anyway, we won't. So here on the note on page 2, note 4, page 2, esteeming unworthy views. Report an error in the passage at 54:36 Highlight the passage at 54:36

54:58 A different way of saying the same thing is the afflicted wisdom. So again, it's a negative intelligence, an afflictive intelligence that observes either this first view, the view of the transverse collection, or the second view, the view holding to extreme, or the fifth view, which we will talk about, the wrong view, and say, well, these are really the best views. Report an error in the passage at 54:58 Highlight the passage at 54:58

55:26 These are great. Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:33 And holds them to be unmistaken and superior. Excellent. They're right views. So sometimes we talk about the Eightfold Path, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the first of the Noble Eightfold Path is called right view. Report an error in the passage at 55:33 Highlight the passage at 55:33

55:48 And some schools of thought would say, well, the right view is the view of the transfer of recollection, view hold into extreme, and wrong views. Those are right views. But Buddhism would say, well, no, that's right. Those are bad views, but you hold them as supreme. That's a wrong, that's an afflicted view. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:14 Okay, so it's just a way of, you know, I mean, we're talking about the way this material is being presented, these 51 mental factors and so forth, is what is going to be of facilitate or assist you along the path? What are some obstacles? whatever, whatever, an obstruction. Obstructions. Those obstructions are afflictions. I mean, it's a particular point of view. Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:49 So one of those obstructions would be in a view of the transitory collection, that's obvious, but also a view of transitory, view holding to extremes, but also holding certain distorted views as supreme would prevent you from, at least from the point of view of Buddhism, Moving along in your spiritual development, it would hold you back the way we see certain things, the views that we hold. Report an error in the passage at 56:49 Highlight the passage at 56:49

57:21 The fourth of these five views is the conception of, and here it has, bad ethics and modes of conduct as supreme. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

57:34 And in terms of, on page two of their notes, esteeming mistaken morality and asceticisms. All right, same thing. So again, it's that afflicted wisdom that holds various misguided religious practices are superior and leads toward emancipation. For example, practices such as animal sacrifices and asceticism, especially within, I don't know, especially. Report an error in the passage at 57:34 Highlight the passage at 57:34

58:04 No, it's not quite especially, maybe. But it's still practiced today in many Hindu sects, self-mortification. They would see that as a way of purifying the body, sitting in the hot sun with four fires, a fire in each direction, or standing on one leg, holding your arm up, and it calcifies, it can't lower it. Report an error in the passage at 58:04 Highlight the passage at 58:04

58:37 So these practices of asceticism, self-mortification, these are called bad ethics. Or modes of conduct. And some religious traditions would hold these. Well, these are the way to go. And so practiced. You still see it in India. People wearing chains around themselves and so forth. The Buddha experimented with these and he saw that they didn't work. Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

59:12 That asceticism wasn't the way to go. So he developed what he called a middle way between indulgence on the one hand and abuse of one's body and mind on the other. Somewhere between those two. Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:45 Why Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45

1:00:12 do Report an error in the passage at 1:00:12 Highlight the passage at 1:00:12

1:00:19 you Report an error in the passage at 1:00:19 Highlight the passage at 1:00:19

1:00:27 say that? What is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:40 So everything occurs within an awareness. okay. What's your question? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

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1:00:44 I mean the definition of existence is that which is known by a valid cognizer. So everything exists within that context. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:00:55 If it's not known, it doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:02 So where are we going to go with this? What's your thinking behind this? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:02 Highlight the passage at 1:01:02

1:01:17 In what? So it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:17 Highlight the passage at 1:01:17

1:01:23 space. You guys ask the most difficult questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

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

1:01:41 mean, the curse, this is all, space and are, wow. No, it's video. We can say that everything occurs within space and time. But that's just a view. It's only a view. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:02:09 But it permeates our way of thinking. We accept it as it existed independent of our views. It's so fundamental. But it is just a way of thinking. we don't... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:32 It's a way of seeing things. I'm not answering your question. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:32 Highlight the passage at 1:02:32

1:02:41 I don't. So everything exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:41 Highlight the passage at 1:02:41

1:02:50 So Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:03:24 what is the question? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24 Highlight the passage at 1:03:24

1:03:29 That's like saying within what does... So awareness is... I mean, with input, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:04:09 there is, know, we're... So these are metaphors, analogies, ways of talking. If you press them too far, they won't work. So the awareness only arises in dependence upon, a container is only a container if it has a content. They're mutually dependent. So the awareness only arises in dependence upon. An object of its being aware of something. It could be aware of space. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:09 Highlight the passage at 1:04:09

1:04:46 I don't think it could be aware of itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:46 Highlight the passage at 1:04:46

1:04:56 It's like a hand touching itself. Can a hand touch itself? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:56 Highlight the passage at 1:04:56

1:05:11 Yeah, but then we're talking about awareness as a particular factor of mind. so it could be Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:04:54 I mean, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:54 Highlight the passage at 1:04:54

1:05:17 You know, we can be aware of our, part of our meditation, we look at our own mind. So what is in fact happening is a part of our mind is looking at the rest of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:29 Okay, but the awareness is not, awareness, a mirror cannot reflect itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:29 Highlight the passage at 1:05:29

1:05:45 The subject would have to have its, would be its own subject. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

1:05:52 So anyway, yeah, okay, good. Somewhere I slipped in there maybe. It's a very difficult question. I can't answer that. Because there's a certain, actually it comes here, there's a certain assumption that you're making which maybe aren't valid. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:52 Highlight the passage at 1:05:52

1:06:14 Sneak out of that. So, these various modes of practice. I could say, you know, here it's interesting, to be honest with you, not to be honest with you, just to give you something to think about. Conception, you notice the word bad is in parentheses. It says conception of bad ethics. What happens if he left out the... So that's kind of annotated. That's kind of... You know, it's not really there. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:42 What happens if he just said the conception of ethics and modes of conduct as supreme? I think there's some... You know, I'm not saying that this is wrong, but I'm saying there's also another meaning that some people, just by proper conduct, they think as if that were the way to go. That were... As if that could liberate you in and of itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:07:04 Ethics by itself, however supreme, cannot liberate you. So the conceptions that ethics as supreme, there are some interpretations which you could take it that way, that simply following the rules is not going to liberate you. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04 Highlight the passage at 1:07:04

1:07:25 But I'm getting off, I'm probably misleading you somewhere. So, yeah, just holding on to... Our views of moralities and ethics, though they're really important as a foundation, they are not the ultimate means of liberating the mind. They're supports. Then finally, okay, I don't want to dig my hole any deeper there. The fifth of the afflicted views is that of wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

1:07:55 So this is what's, you know, when we talked about in the first term when we were going through the karma. We went through the ten non-virtuous or ten unwholesome, unskillful actions. And there were, do you remember, there were three of mind, three unskillful actions of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:22 So there's body, speech and mind. There were three of body, four of speech and three of mind. Remember the three non-virtuous actions? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:58 Wrong view. good. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:58 Highlight the passage at 1:08:58

1:08:59 Okay, so there's three unskillful actions or non-virtuous paths of action of the mind. And as was brilliantly covetousness, malice and wrong view. So this is the factor which is amongst the three non-virtuous of mind, wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:59 Highlight the passage at 1:08:59

1:09:27 And if we look at just essentially what it means is In general, on page two of the notes, in general wrong view is a nihilistic view that denies the existence of, there's various, a long list, but here it just mentions previous and future lives, cause and effect and so forth. So by nihilism, nihilism is that which sees what in fact exists as non-existing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:27 Highlight the passage at 1:09:27

1:10:02 So it holds that which in fact exists as non-existent. So that's what we mean by nihilism. And so here it would be a view, a way of seeing things which says, you know, karma doesn't exist. So coming to a very, so it's just not a doubt. It's coming to a firm conclusion. Karma doesn't exist, past and future. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:02 Highlight the passage at 1:10:02

1:10:25 You know, there's nothing afflictive or unethical or wrong with questioning. And doubting, by all means, I think that's healthy. But here, we're talking about, well, what would obstruct your path if you came to a firm conclusion? I mean, a firm conclusion, you know, you come through maybe some wrong types of reasoning and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:25 Highlight the passage at 1:10:25

1:10:51 You say, well, you know, karma doesn't exist. Liberation doesn't exist. Buddhas don't exist. That firm kind of conclusion. The Dalai Lama himself has said, We have to be skeptical in the question. So here we're talking about coming to... We can say, I don't know. I'm not sure. I think that could be a healthy place to come from. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:51 Highlight the passage at 1:10:51

1:11:23 That would not necessarily obstruct you. But coming to some firm conclusion that what exists doesn't exist. That would be a... That would present problems. So that's why it's mentioned those types of wrong views are mentioned here as afflicted views. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

1:11:47 Okay, what Report an error in the passage at 1:11:47 Highlight the passage at 1:11:47

1:11:55 I'd like to do, is there any questions about those? So those are the five what I call afflicted views and the division of the sixth of these root afflictions called afflicted view. What I'd like to do is go over, I think it's quite useful to go over the paragraph on Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:17 Page two of note four. I don't know, maybe I don't have it, some of you. It's showing how this view of the transfer of collection is the root of all the various other afflictions. You Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:42 know, this can be helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:12:55 So, you know, as I just mentioned here in the notes, it says that, you know, according to the... There are many Abhidharma texts. Abhidharma is one of the three categorizations of Buddhist canon or the collection of texts. There's texts, the categorization of the sutras or the discourses of the Buddha. There's one on Vinaya or the discipline, the rules of monks and nuns and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:28 That's one category of texts or we call them baskets. And the third is the Abhidharma, or sometimes called manifest knowledge. So cosmology, the nature of the universe, the mind, psychology, that's what we're going through now. So all these various areas. So these were developed by, they looked at the discourses of the Buddha and later scholars, they developed these ideas. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:28 Highlight the passage at 1:13:28

1:13:57 They drew them out and systematized them. Into this basket or this categorization called Abhidharma. And two of the main texts which are studied, one is by Vasubandhu, one is by Asanga, and they were brothers. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:57 Highlight the passage at 1:13:57

1:14:14 And so they had their particular way in which they interpreted the Buddhist teachings on these various subjects and set them out. And later masters... Interpreted maybe slightly different. So the only reason I'm saying this is that there's a difference between, you know, here in our text, in terms of the six root afflictions, there was the affliction of ignorance and then there was the affliction of view of the transfer collection. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14:14

1:14:49 They were seen as two different afflictions. They were defined differently. Ignorance was like a... A darkness of the mind, an obscuration of the mind, whereas the view of the transcendent, just that quality of the mind. But here in the view of the transcendent collection was seen as an actual misknowing of the nature of the self. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:13 So they were distinct. Here in later masters such as Dharmakirti and a school of, you know, one of the four tenant systems of what's called Madhyamika or the middle way school, which is... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

1:15:28 Held at least by Tibetan Buddhism to be the final view of the Buddha on the nature of reality. So we'll study a lot about Madhyamika. They said that these are the same thing, ignorance in the view of the trans-story collection, same thing. So for them, they don't make a distinction. So just mentioning that because most of the time when you hear a teacher talk about ignorance, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28 Highlight the passage at 1:15:28

1:15:54 He's not making that kind of distinction. He's talking about the view of the trans-story collection or this unknowing, misknowing of the mind, the darkness of the mind, dullness of the mind and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:54 Highlight the passage at 1:15:54

1:16:08 So the view of the trans-story collection is taken as the root of the various afflictions. Some of you have this, some of you don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:19 So we'll just take a look at this on page two of our notes. So we're looking at the body and mind. Whenever we talk about the aggregates, maybe sometimes it's easier, less complicated, just the body and mind. So we're looking at that. Once we hold the aggregates, the body and mind, to be an independently existent self or possess an independently existent self, so that's a misconception. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:19 Highlight the passage at 1:16:19

1:16:52 That serves as the basis. For self-attachment. So we make a distinction between self and others. We're going to talk a lot about this in the future. I mean, there is a distinction between self and others. You're not me and I'm not you. If you eat lunch, it doesn't fill my stomach. Definite distinction. So we're not saying that we're not separate. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:52 Highlight the passage at 1:16:52

1:17:16 We're not saying that we're not different or distinct. But the way that we sense that. Distinction or how we conceive of the distinction is very much more solid than it actually is. It's only a relative distinction. It's not an absolute distinction. You're not independently over there. It's like a distinction between high and low. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

1:17:46 High and low depend upon one another. Self and other, they only exist relative to one another. If there were no self, there would be no other. If there were no other, there'd be no self. If there were no high, there'd be no low. If there were no short, there'd be no long. So they only have what we call relative existence, not absolute existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:46 Highlight the passage at 1:17:46

1:18:08 Nothing is absolutely long. Nothing is absolutely near. If something were, nothing is absolutely far. If things were absolutely far, no matter how close I drove to it, it would always be far. That's its absolute nature. So I'm just trying to get across the point. There is a distinction between yourself and others. But the nature of that distinction, we overestimate. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:08 Highlight the passage at 1:18:08

1:18:37 We absolutize. It's much more solid and concrete than we normally conceive it to be. I mean, it's less so. It's very flimsy. It almost could get scary. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

1:18:58 It's not as solid. You're over there and I'm over here, but we make that distinction very much more solid than it actually is. That's separation. So once we make that separation, in terms of ignorance, we absolutize that separation. It's very solid and concrete. Once we make that distinction, there develops attachment and feeling beneficially inclined toward everything on my side. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:58 Highlight the passage at 1:18:58

1:19:31 And anger, hostility and so forth emerge toward everything we see on that side. So whatever is not mine, I and mine is over here. And we develop attachment and feel very beneficially inclined to anything we conceive over here as I and mine. It could be my family over here. It could be my country over here. And then it's over there. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:31 Highlight the passage at 1:19:31

1:19:59 And so the distinction is very solid. So out of that distinction between I and mind and other, which is only a relative distinction, we absolutize it due to ignorance. We use tranchory collection, attachment and hostility or hatred will arise from that. Pride will arise, develops out of grasping and feeling that what is I and what is mine is superior to what is not mine, what is other. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:59 Highlight the passage at 1:19:59

1:20:28 It's better than what is other. So we develop a sense of superiority or pride. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:28 Highlight the passage at 1:20:28

1:20:35 So we have this root of the trans-historic collection and all these various other afflictions are beginning to arise out of that premise, that assumption, that basis, attachment, hatred, pride. And then we observe that self. We come to either see it as eternal, having indestructible essence, or we see it as nothing more than materialist, you know, just atoms, organic molecules and so forth, which will be extinguished at the time of death. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:35 Highlight the passage at 1:20:35

1:21:19 So this is the view of the two extremes, the view of holding to an extreme. Arises independence upon that. Then we go on to say, well, you know, we Report an error in the passage at 1:21:19 Highlight the passage at 1:21:19

1:21:42 hold that view of the trans-story collection. We hold the view of the extremes or we hold wrong views as being supreme. And we go on to involve ourselves in various practices with regard to this self in order to liberate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:42 Highlight the passage at 1:21:42

1:22:09 We develop conceptions of bad views. Bad ethics and modes of conduct are supreme. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:09 Highlight the passage at 1:22:09

1:22:19 Anyway, I thought the point is that seeing the necessity, even though it's quite difficult, I think, and then there's the view of any Report an error in the passage at 1:22:19 Highlight the passage at 1:22:19

1:22:39 type of action, any type of action which arises independently upon an affliction, and therefore we can say, Which ultimately is dependent upon ignorance. Any action, any movement of the mind, ways of speaking and acting, which can be sourced back to ignorance is called contaminated action. The only reason it's called contaminated action is because it serves to perpetuate cycling existence. Even virtuous actions, if they're sourced back to ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:39 Highlight the passage at 1:22:39

1:23:22 You know, even... Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:22 Highlight the passage at 1:23:22

1:23:27 Even though they're quite virtuous, positive, they still serve to keep this karmic and afflictive process moving, continuing. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:27 Highlight the passage at 1:23:27

1:23:47 So the basis of cyclic existence is ignorance. So contaminated actions are those actions which are under the control of karma and afflictive emotions. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:47 Highlight the passage at 1:23:47

1:24:08 So this is simply trying to bring out the necessity to, even though it's quite a challenging area, and we're going to look at it a great deal in the future, but it's not a matter of philosophy or abstract theory, this notion of emptiness and selflessness and so forth, but it's an important part of the path. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:08 Highlight the passage at 1:24:08

1:24:35 I'm not saying it's all the path. Ultimately, it's necessary to come to that understanding. But, you know, I think it might be misdirected to completely focus on it and to the exclusion of the rest of your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:35 Highlight the passage at 1:24:35

1:24:52 You know, how you're treating your partner and things like that. In practice, we... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:52 Highlight the passage at 1:24:52

1:25:02 Okay, so then looking at page 68 in our text, this begins... The 20 secondary afflictions. So they're actually, the word secondary, they're near or they're associated with the afflictions. So they all arise or are associated with either of the three primary afflictions of either ignorance, attachment or hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:02 Highlight the passage at 1:25:02

1:25:32 So they're like families, like cousins, but part of the family. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:25:44 So beginning with belligerence. So there's some, you know, I think pretty good definitions for these. What is belligerence? It is a malice when the cause of harm abides nearby and is involved with anger. It functions as acting as a support for taking up weapons, punishing and so forth. So actually, I guess, you know, I guess what is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:44 Highlight the passage at 1:25:44

1:26:17 Tony Abbott calls it shirt-fronting, where you actually make some kind of physical, it's in the family of hostility or hatred, but it's that excessive basis, but when you actually punch somebody in the face or you do something physical to act out that hatred, that quality of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:17 Highlight the passage at 1:26:17

1:26:47 So it's looking Report an error in the passage at 1:26:47 Highlight the passage at 1:26:47

1:26:57 for, yeah, here it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:57 Highlight the passage at 1:26:57

1:27:11 Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:27:11 Highlight the passage at 1:27:11

1:27:17 good. I hope it was useful. Thank you for your probing questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:17 Highlight the passage at 1:27:17

1:27:27 No, no, no. No, it's good. I'm being quite honest. I mean, I can't answer them adequately, but I don't care so much that I can't do that because the questions are so good. The questions are more important than the answers. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:27:49 Good, good. See you next year, okay? Great. Have a good holiday. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:49 Highlight the passage at 1:27:49

1:28:07 Okay. In quiz answer 12, quiz 12 answers, and the second question is, what is the difference between belligerence and anger? So belligerence is an extreme disturbed state of mind upon intensifying of anger. So we're angry, and that anger develops even further, and we wish... To strike physically. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:37 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:37 Highlight the passage at 1:28:37

1:28:41 Resentment. Page 69. So here it says, what is resentment? Refusal to let go of a thought of harm. Following that, that is belligerence and is involved with anger. So resentment Report an error in the passage at 1:28:41 Highlight the passage at 1:28:41

1:29:08 is a pretty, it's like a twisting, it's a pretty painful experience. So we see. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:08 Highlight the passage at 1:29:08

1:29:13 You can't let go of our anger. In Shantideva, I think also the Buddha, I think Shantideva was sighting the Buddha, and I've mentioned this before, he sees resentment as like holding a hot coal and waiting to throw it at your enemy. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:13 Highlight the passage at 1:29:13

1:29:34 So you only burn yourself. But it's very painful. You see a lot of resentment. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:34 Highlight the passage at 1:29:34

1:29:47 Closure, they have to have closure. You know, sometimes when the judge is sentencing, they say, oh, he got me now. I feel better now. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:47 Highlight the passage at 1:29:47

1:29:59 Anyway, it's quite complicated. The resentment I think some people carry does a lot of self-harm. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:12 Concealment, this is on page 70. So this is the mental factor, which is in the family of ignorance. And it tries to hide one's negative qualities, hiding the misdeeds, hiding the misdeeds. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:12 Highlight the passage at 1:30:12

1:30:34 So even though one is justly accused, so that attitude of mind, that mental, we call it mental factor, no, not me, that mental factor Report an error in the passage at 1:30:34 Highlight the passage at 1:30:34

1:30:57 tries to hide one's faults and misdeeds, Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:02 spite. So this is related to, Report an error in the passage at 1:31:02 Highlight the passage at 1:31:02

1:31:12 Belligerence, which we do, you know, belligerence is an intensifying of anger to where you actually physically act it out. Here it's intensifying of anger again, and it's being acted out, but here it's acted out through speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:12 Highlight the passage at 1:31:12

1:31:28 So what is spite? Malicious mind that is preceded by belligerence and resentment. It functions as an act in support of rough, violent speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:39 So we say spiteful. Spiteful words, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

1:31:52 Jealousy. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:52 Highlight the passage at 1:31:52

1:32:00 Definition cannot tolerate another's marvelous attributes and it's in the family of hatred, connected with hatred, associated with hatred. So one distinction we can make is the distinction between jealousy and covetousness. What is the distinction between covetousness and jealousy? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:00 Highlight the passage at 1:32:00

1:32:28 Covetousness and jealousy, I think. Yeah, oh yeah. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:28 Highlight the passage at 1:32:28

1:32:40 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:40 Highlight the passage at 1:32:40

1:32:49 Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So you notice we just talked about the ten unskillful actions, paths of action. And the first one of mind is covetousness. So it's not jealousy. It's covetousness. So it's in the family of attachment, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:49 Highlight the passage at 1:32:49

1:33:09 Covetousness is in the family of attachment. Jealousy is in the family of... So if you look at the question and answer 5, quiz 12, it says, jealousy is classified as a form of hostility. It focuses on the person who possesses an advantage and resents them for it. So, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:09 Highlight the passage at 1:33:09

1:33:39 resentment or hostility because someone is beautiful or has lots of money. Whereas covetousness, so you're resenting, the focus is on the person who has this. And covetousness is a type of attachment that focuses on what the person possesses and wants to have it for oneself. So it's a different focus of attention. So one is a hostility for the person who possesses, who has this good quality, has money. And covetousness says, I wish I had that money. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:39 Highlight the passage at 1:33:39

1:34:16 Miserliness. So sixth, a thorough holding of the mind. So anyway, essentially tightly holding on that is unable to let go of possessions. Tightly holding on to not being able to let go. So the opposite of generosity, which is the ability to let go. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:49 Deceit. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:49 Highlight the passage at 1:34:49

1:34:54 Here it is a display of what is not one's good qualities. What is not one's good qualities. So it's a pretense. Trying Report an error in the passage at 1:34:54 Highlight the passage at 1:34:54

1:35:15 to show off that you have some kind of qualities which you don't have. And it's associated with wrong livelihood. And I thought, I go through the five types of wrong livelihood. It's on quiz 12 and question number three. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:15 Highlight the passage at 1:35:15

1:35:50 So the list is very much the same as in our text, but a little bit different sometimes. So the first type of wrong livelihood here is mentioned as pretension. You could call it another possibility of hypocrisy. So a matter of feigning good qualities for the sake of gain and being well thought of. For example, acting as if you were a great teacher in order to... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:50 Highlight the passage at 1:35:50

1:36:22 To get offerings and devotion of others would be a wrong livelihood. Pretension, flattery, Report an error in the passage at 1:36:22 Highlight the passage at 1:36:22

1:36:34 politicians, okay. Speaking in complementary terms out of attachment for gain, you know, praising to get something, praising someone in order to get something. So you have ulterior motives, yeah, behind what you're saying. Hinting, first. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:34 Highlight the passage at 1:36:34

1:37:00 Flattering and then praising another for the many possessions they have. Like for example, you are so incredibly successful and wealthy and have always been so kind and generous to me. So you're hinting that they should continue to be generous to you. But you don't come out and say it clearly. The fourth type of online livelihood is extortion and other possible ways that you could express that same idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:00 Highlight the passage at 1:37:00

1:37:31 Is it pressuring or artful? Acquisition. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:31 Highlight the passage at 1:37:31

1:37:37 To speak about the many faults of miserliness and the lack for the sake of gain. For example, insulting someone about their miserliness and lack of caring for the desperate plight of such deserving people as yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37:37

1:37:53 And I think the fifth one, I think, is quite common. And it's not so clear. There's one type of explanation that's given in our text, but there's another explanation which I've mentioned here. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:53 Highlight the passage at 1:37:53

1:38:09 Seeking gain from gain or another way of talking about this is calculated generosity. So our text says to seek gain by praising in the presence of another what you have previously obtained. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:09 Highlight the passage at 1:38:09

1:38:22 But here, this is another alternative way of interpreting that. This wrong library is to give something of small value with the aim of receiving something of far greater value in return. I think that's done a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

1:38:41 Especially if you're giving a little something to a rich person, expecting a lot in return. So that would be a calculated generosity. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:55 And then there's dissimulation. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:55 Highlight the passage at 1:38:55

1:39:02 So to commit a fault due to excessive attachment to gain and honor. So it's hiding that fault. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:02 Highlight the passage at 1:39:02

1:39:15 And this is brought out in answer four. four. The distinction between deceit and dissimulation. So these are just English words which have been assigned to these mental factors. So we're getting as close as possible. So both deceit and dissimulation are alike in that both arise due to excessive attachment to gain and honor. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:15 Highlight the passage at 1:39:15

1:39:49 So as a means of achieving that desired gain and honor, deceit. Pretends to have positive qualities that in fact we don't have. Where on the other hand, dissimulation tries to gain that honor and so forth by means of hiding the negative qualities. So one puts on qualities that we don't have, the other one hides negative qualities that we do have. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:49 Highlight the passage at 1:39:49

1:40:27 Then there's page 74, Hottiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:27 Highlight the passage at 1:40:27

1:40:36 We don't use that word very often, do we? Hottiness. us Report an error in the passage at 1:40:36 Highlight the passage at 1:40:36

1:40:44 So the puffing up of the mind due to joy and material happiness, the mental happiness upon observing one's good health, prosperity and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:44 Highlight the passage at 1:40:44

1:41:16 I wish that you have good health. Maybe you wouldn't get puffed up about it. Look at me, I'm so healthy and I have so much money. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:34 It borders on pride, but I was thinking about how do you have a distinction between pride? Pride doesn't, you know, it's not like comparing, like I have more money than you. It's just here I think, I mean, pride would think I have more money than you, taking pride in that. But maybe haughtiness would say, wow, look how rich I am. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:34 Highlight the passage at 1:41:34

1:41:57 Pardon? Report an error in the passage at 1:41:57 Highlight the passage at 1:41:57

1:42:03 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

1:42:07 Yeah, look at, you know, I got all this money. I have this beautiful body. And wouldn't necessarily have to compare it to somebody else, which would be more like pride, I think. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:07 Highlight the passage at 1:42:07

1:42:28 Then there's the mental factor, the tenth mental factor of harmfulness. This is a violent mind involved with anger, non-benevolence, non-compassion, non-mercy. So it's a, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:28 Highlight the passage at 1:42:28

1:43:05 So it's the opposite of, you know, these positive qualities of compassion and so forth. Mercy, quite violent, a very violent mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:05 Highlight the passage at 1:43:05

1:43:19 And non-shame and non-embarrassment. We've talked about, you know, in terms of the 2011 virtuous mental factors, which virtuous factors were the opposite of these, shame and embarrassment. So these are the... The opposite of those in terms of non-shame is when you don't avoid negative actions out of self-respect. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:19 Highlight the passage at 1:43:19

1:43:56 Shame was a sense of self-rebuke where you say, oh, I can't do that. you don't, you don't, mean, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:56 Highlight the passage at 1:43:56

1:44:07 Out of one's own conscientiousness or self-respect, it wouldn't feel right to do that from one's own side. And so non-shame would not have that kind of conscientiousness or that sense of caring about from your own side, how you appear to yourself. And the same would hold true with embarrassment. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:07 Highlight the passage at 1:44:07

1:44:40 It's in terms of how it might appear to others. You know, I can't do that. You know, the embarrassment was like, you know, caring about how, in a very healthy sense, how others might, how you might appear to others. You know, they might be disappointed in me or I might cause them to lose faith, lose respect for the Dharma or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:40 Highlight the passage at 1:44:40

1:45:06 So not avoiding faults out of consideration of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:06 Highlight the passage at 1:45:06

1:45:16 So that's discussed. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:16 Highlight the passage at 1:45:16

1:45:21 It was discussed in Quiz 10 when the opposite of those was shame and embarrassment. And then there's the 13th of these 20, lethargy. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:38 Lethargy. So an unserviceability, but also the body. So sometimes this is, you know, in Theravāda they talk about sloth and torpor. We don't use those words very much. Like a heaviness of body. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:38 Highlight the passage at 1:45:38

1:45:58 the end, in the, uh, or, uh... Heaven is a pot put over your head in this kind of dullness of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:58 Highlight the passage at 1:45:58

1:46:12 There's not much you can do with that kind of body and mind. It's heavy. As opposed to what we call pliancy or serviceability of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:12 Highlight the passage at 1:46:12

1:46:29 You can use your mind if you want to. you can't. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:29 Highlight the passage at 1:46:29

1:46:32 If you want to focus upon some subject, you can place your mind there. Or there's a sense of lightness of the body and agility of the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:32 Highlight the passage at 1:46:32

1:46:47 So the body and mind, they don't serve you very well. It's a lethargy and quality of unserviceability. And then the fourteenth is excitement. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:47:08 Important factor in coming to this discussed in development of calm abiding, shamatha. One of the two main Report an error in the passage at 1:47:08 Highlight the passage at 1:47:08

1:47:25 obstacles to the development of concentration is excitement. And there are different levels of excitement. So here it says, what is excitement? It is an unpeacefulness of mind. So like a restlessness of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:25 Highlight the passage at 1:47:25

1:47:46 Or it's a mental scattering. So the mind is scattered outwardly due to attachment or craving. So, you know, why can't we focus our mind? Why can't we concentrate? It's most basically due to attachment. And that attachment serves as the basis for this excitement of the mind. The mind simply scatters. We crave thinking, we crave thoughts, we crave... Report an error in the passage at 1:47:46 Highlight the passage at 1:47:46

1:48:17 Sounds or foods or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:17 Highlight the passage at 1:48:17

1:48:25 So it talks about the difference. There are scatterings of the mind which are not, that don't involve attachment. It could involve anger and ignorance as well. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:25 Highlight the passage at 1:48:25

1:48:44 So this is brought out on the quiz answer six, excitement, difference between excitement and distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:44 Highlight the passage at 1:48:44

1:48:54 Excitement is a scattering to an attractive object previously familiarized with, whereas distraction is a scattering to an object associated with, it could be due to attachment or anger or ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:13 This comes out later on. It can be distracted to a virtuous object and so forth. It Report an error in the passage at 1:49:13 Highlight the passage at 1:49:13

1:49:30 doesn't necessarily have to be out of attachment. Then there's non-faith. And we discussed faith and the three types of faith. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:30 Highlight the passage at 1:49:30

1:49:46 Clear faith, trusting faith, and aspiring faith. It's a different possible... Here they call it non-conviction, non-clarity, and non-wishing. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:46 Highlight the passage at 1:49:46

1:50:07 Laziness. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:07 Highlight the passage at 1:50:07

1:50:24 It's too much work. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:24 Highlight the passage at 1:50:24

1:50:28 Laziness is... So it was the opposite of... Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:50:28 Highlight the passage at 1:50:28

1:50:48 so effort was... Like an enthusiasm for a positive object, a virtuous object. Here, laziness is the opposite quality. Non-enthusiasm of the mind, enchanted by comfort of lying down, reclining. So it's a non-enthusiasm of the mind for virtue. We could care less. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:48 Highlight the passage at 1:50:48

1:51:19 Non-conscientiousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:19 Highlight the passage at 1:51:19

1:51:26 So, you know, I think this is a... Here it says, not guarding the mind against the host of afflictions and misdeeds gives in to relaxation. That's a strange wording. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:26 Highlight the passage at 1:51:26

1:51:41 Gives in to relaxation. So not caring about what is non-conscientiousness. Not caring about what is the state of my mind or what I'm doing. It just doesn't matter. I could care less. Not being willing to... To direct one's mind towards whatever your values are, principles are. It's like an apathetic mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:41 Highlight the passage at 1:51:41

1:52:12 It doesn't matter what I do. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:12 Highlight the passage at 1:52:12

1:52:19 So that's not guarding of the mind against the afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:19 Highlight the passage at 1:52:19

1:52:30 Mindfulness, yeah, that would be part of it. It just doesn't matter, not caring. Non-continuous, I mean... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:51 So laziness is the opposite of effort, yeah. Here in 18 is forgetfulness. So here forgetfulness, here it means more than just, it means more, it doesn't mean what we normally mean about, it means something more than forgetting something, you know, the action of not remembering something. Here it's... Afflicted memory. We lose sight of what's wholesome. And when the mind is drawn to the unwholesome, here it says, it is mindfulness as concomitment with afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:51 Highlight the passage at 1:52:51

1:53:39 So it's a type of mindfulness in a way. Here it says also, unclear mind and forgetful with respect to virtue on account of... Mindfulness. Mindfulness simply means memory. So an account of or taking to mind of an object of observation of affliction. So it's like an afflicted memory, afflictive remembering. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:39 Highlight the passage at 1:53:39

1:54:06 An afflicted remembering. We lose, we don't hold on to that. We don't remember or we forget. You know, we... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:06 Highlight the passage at 1:54:06

1:54:15 Same thing in a way is that we forget or we don't remember that which is positive. But our mind comes up, our mind is drawn to remembering that which is negative. So it's an afflictive remembering is what is meant by here. Hayward College, forgetfulness, which doesn't really capture, the word doesn't capture what's being got at here. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:15 Highlight the passage at 1:54:15

1:54:40 it's a, the, don't know if I'm Not just the letting go of holding on to the memory of a positive object and being drawn to remembering a negative object. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:40 Highlight the passage at 1:54:40

1:55:03 Non-introspection. So this is, I think, what you were, David, this kind of inattentiveness, if you like. Non-introspection. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:03 Highlight the passage at 1:55:03

1:55:19 Not being aware of what's going on for oneself. What's going on in your body, what's going on in your mind, what's going on in your speech, and so forth. So the Report an error in the passage at 1:55:19 Highlight the passage at 1:55:19

1:55:34 word inspect, introspect, it doesn't inspect the body and mind, what you're saying, what you're doing, what you're thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:34 Highlight the passage at 1:55:34

1:55:48 So here it says in its afflicted wisdom that it engages unknowingly, or we could say unawaringly, in activities of the three doors. So we're just not a discordant class of introspection. So we're just not inspecting or looking at what we're saying, what we're thinking, what we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:48 Highlight the passage at 1:55:48

1:56:13 Non-introspection, that quality of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:13 Highlight the passage at 1:56:13

1:56:20 Distraction. So we talked a little bit about this. Here it says, scattering of the mind involved with attachment, hatred and ignorance. So unable to keep the mind on. On a positive object. So again, these are all being interpreted in terms of what is going to be helpful on the path. So the inability of the mind to hold to a wholesome object and the mind disperses to another object. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:20 Highlight the passage at 1:56:20

1:56:50 So you're thinking about something positive and you lose it and the next moment you're thinking about a piece of chocolate cake. That's a distraction. That's a distracted mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:50 Highlight the passage at 1:56:50

1:57:15 Last but not least, the four changeable mental factors. So there's a question on the last page of Quiz 12, if I can find it here. So these are four mental factors which are called changeable mental factors. And answer number eight, why are they called changeable? These four mental factors are called changeable because they become either virtuous, non-virtuous or unspecified. So the word unspecified means we could almost say neutral. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:15 Highlight the passage at 1:57:15

1:57:52 But it means they aren't specified as being positive or negative. Therefore, by default, we can say they're neutral. Due to the corresponding ethical quality of the motivating thought. So our sleep can be... It can be virtuous, or it can be non-virtuous, or it can be neutral. As you fall asleep, what are the various thoughts, motivations, the quality of your mind as you fall asleep? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:52 Highlight the passage at 1:57:52

1:58:30 Your sleep, due to that motivating force of these thoughts and so forth, can be positive, negative or neutral. Therefore, it's changeable. due to the... Report an error in the passage at 1:58:30 Highlight the passage at 1:58:30

1:58:43 We can't say that they're either of them. It just depends upon the motivation behind them. What is sleep? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:43 Highlight the passage at 1:58:43

1:58:55 Looking at page 83. Awareness that causes the engagement in objects of the sense consciousness to powerously withdraw inward in dependence upon causes such as heaviness of body, weakness, fatigue, attention to signs of darkness. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:55 Highlight the passage at 1:58:55

1:59:14 I don't know. It's kind of strange to say there's a mental factor called sleep. But anyway, an awareness that causes engagement. So the mind withdraws from Report an error in the passage at 1:59:14 Highlight the passage at 1:59:14

1:59:35 the sense consciousnesses, but Report an error in the passage at 1:59:35 Highlight the passage at 1:59:35

1:59:40 it's not voluntary. It's involuntary. You can't force yourself to sleep. People spend a lot of time trying to. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:40 Highlight the passage at 1:59:40

1:59:53 So it's involuntary or powerlessly. Here it says powerlessly. Another word would be involuntarily, withdraw from this hearing, seeing and so forth. Regret, second of these. So this is, again, this is a changeable mental factor. This is, we can have positive regret, negative regret or neutral regret. We talked about this when we went through the four powers, the means by which we can purify. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:53 Highlight the passage at 1:59:53

2:00:31 Negative actions. The first of the four powers is sometimes called repudiation, but sometimes it's called regret. Developing a sense of regret or remorse around past negative actions, that would be a positive regret. On the other hand, you could develop regret around having given away some money. You know, with a very generous attitude at the time. And later on you say, oh, I wish I hadn't done that. Well, I could use that money now. That would be a negative regret. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:31 Highlight the passage at 2:00:31

2:01:12 Or you could just be regret about not getting enough sleep last night. That would be maybe neutral regret. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:12 Highlight the passage at 2:01:12

2:01:23 So the definition of regret, being, looking on page 84, being remorseful about the activity which one subsequently comes to dislike is called generating regret. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:23 Highlight the passage at 2:01:23

2:01:37 Remorse dependent upon activity. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:37 Highlight the passage at 2:01:37

2:01:43 And then there are two types, not to change among the matter of factors, which are of the same nature but different levels. And these are investigation and analysis. So investigation is a general examination of an object. It's a course of mind, whereas analysis is... Report an error in the passage at 2:01:43 Highlight the passage at 2:01:43

2:02:08 A precise examination. So it's a more detailed, fine mind. So it's a difference in degrees of precision of the mind. There's a certain precision in how we investigate, how we examine. And investigation would be a coarser mind, whereas analysis would be a more subtle, refined examination. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:08 Highlight the passage at 2:02:08

2:02:35 Okay, there's lots. Anyway. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:02:42 One way or another we got through them. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:42 Highlight the passage at 2:02:42

2:02:55 So I'm sorry we've kind of, in some manner, we've kind of rushed through, but maybe I hope, hopefully it was of use going through and thinking about these different functions of mind, mental factors of mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:55 Highlight the passage at 2:02:55

2:03:12 I hope our Report an error in the passage at 2:03:12 Highlight the passage at 2:03:12

2:03:18 studies of awareness and knowledge has been useful. You know, we talked about ways of knowing. Which we spent quite a bit of time on, all Report an error in the passage at 2:03:18 Highlight the passage at 2:03:18

2:03:36 the way from direct perception to consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:36 Highlight the passage at 2:03:36

2:03:47 And then we went through, in the minds and mental factors, the six primary consciousnesses, I and consciousnesses and so forth, and the 51 mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:47 Highlight the passage at 2:03:47

2:04:00 So I hope this has been useful to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:00 Highlight the passage at 2:04:00

2:04:20 Okay, great. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:20 Highlight the passage at 2:04:20

2:04:25 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:25 Highlight the passage at 2:04:25

2:04:53 What do you want? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:53 Highlight the passage at 2:04:53

2:05:13 I'm glad you're applying your learning. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:13 Highlight the passage at 2:05:13

2:05:23 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, for sure. Thank you for your efforts and coming faithfully in the way that you've done and coming tonight especially. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:23 Highlight the passage at 2:05:23

2:05:34 I appreciate your busy lives. You've got so much time and energy and so forth. And I know it can be quite confusing and maybe I can go on a bit sometimes. So your patience with my confused and my lack of understanding and my non-experience of what I'm talking about. So I appreciate your patience and forgiveness for all of that. Next year, we're going to be looking... Report an error in the passage at 2:05:34 Highlight the passage at 2:05:34

2:06:13 Shantideva's text, Bodhicaryavatara, Engaging the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. The text, I mentioned that we ordered the text, but they won't come before tonight. I'm sorry. But they will come in January. So if you like, you might, if you're interested in studios, not studios, anyway, enthusiastic. Enthusiastic enough. Can't you? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:13 Highlight the passage at 2:06:13

2:06:43 Conscientious? Good words? Report an error in the passage at 2:06:43 Highlight the passage at 2:06:43

2:06:49 I think you might call once in a while to the office and when those books come, they'll come sometime, probably early part of January. If you wanted to stop by and pick one up, get ahead in your reading, you could do that. That would be great. Anyway, I think next year the text will be quite interesting. Back Report an error in the passage at 2:06:49 Highlight the passage at 2:06:49

2:07:19 in February we'll start again. Beginning with Shantideva's text. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:19 Highlight the passage at 2:07:19

2:07:47 Let's see. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:47 Highlight the passage at 2:07:47

2:07:58 That's a good question. What Report an error in the passage at 2:07:58 Highlight the passage at 2:07:58

2:08:08 was that? Report an error in the passage at 2:08:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08:08

2:08:27 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:27 Highlight the passage at 2:08:27

2:08:30 Yeah. That sounds good. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:30 Highlight the passage at 2:08:30

2:08:37 Karen has an idea. I don't know of any single text that kind of... I mean, in our text here, it does mention... Report an error in the passage at 2:08:37 Highlight the passage at 2:08:37

2:08:50 You know, what are the opposites? It does mention some antidotes. I mean, by antidotes, the state of mind which is in Report an error in the passage at 2:08:50 Highlight the passage at 2:08:50

2:09:02 opposition. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:02 Highlight the passage at 2:09:02

2:09:20 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, like, you know, we talked about non-shame. The antidote to non-shame is shame. And the antidote to non-embarrassment is embarrassment. So those are pretty... So things like that. I think... Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:20 Highlight the passage at 2:09:20

2:09:46 Some of it can be worked out from the text. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:46 Highlight the passage at 2:09:46

2:09:57 I mean, for example, each antidote to hatred. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:57 Highlight the passage at 2:09:57

2:10:08 We went through a long list. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:08 Highlight the passage at 2:10:08

2:10:16 I mean, the first primary antidote to any of the afflictions or any type of change that you want to make. I'm sorry, I'll stop. Is that to see the advantages or disadvantages. What are the advantages of hatred and what are the disadvantages of hatred? So we have a particular behavior and that behavior remains a part of our repertoire, our strategies for dealing with the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:16 Highlight the passage at 2:10:16

2:10:56 For some reason, it's there for some reason, it's serving some purpose, whether it's hatred or jealousy or pride. And we see it as a strategy to meet with, for example, hatred. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:56 Highlight the passage at 2:10:56

2:11:16 A strategy to, there's something we want to compensate, something which needs to be changed. There's something going wrong. it. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:16 Highlight the passage at 2:11:16

2:11:28 And we're using that energy of hatred to, we see it as a means of repairing something which is not right. Now, so, I mean, we have a sense that it's serving our purpose. Maybe it's, in fact, outlived its use-by date. Maybe at one point it served, it actually served its purpose, but maybe now it doesn't. Or maybe, in fact, If we looked at it in a deeper sense, maybe the short-term gain was far outweighed by the long-term negative consequences. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:28 Highlight the passage at 2:11:28

2:12:08 So we've never really rationally analyzed. So with any type of change, you first, within your own experience, try to sense, what are the advantages that I experience from this? What Report an error in the passage at 2:12:08 Highlight the passage at 2:12:08

2:12:33 are the disadvantages? And then with regard to those advantages that you see, can I refute those advantages? First you be honest, is hatred? Well, hatred, I get what I want when I get angry. Well, could you do the same thing and perhaps more skillfully and effectively get what you want without anger? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:33 Highlight the passage at 2:12:33

2:12:58 So, do you see what I mean? So, seeing the... What you see as the advantage, why is that being held in place, that strategy? Why do you keep relying upon it? There must be a reason. And making that reason more explicit to yourself. And then seeing if it really is effective. Is it? Or could there be another way of achieving that same end, which would be more skillful? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:58 Highlight the passage at 2:12:58

2:13:28 So that's the platform. Then you can begin to work on that base of the platform of the advantages and disadvantages and refuting the advantages and seeing the disadvantages. The mind will begin to incline itself quite naturally to other ways of relating to those same kinds of situations, knowing that there's a certain intelligence that's at work here. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:28 Highlight the passage at 2:13:28

2:13:56 So we don't have to force the mind. It will begin to change quite naturally. And then we can begin to cultivate specific antidotes. For example, hatred. It's love and so forth. Attachment. Look at the negative aspects, the repulsive aspects of the object. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:56 Highlight the passage at 2:13:56

2:14:31 If I was so great, I still wouldn't be suffering. If I was so wonderful as I imagined myself to be sometimes. Anyway, so each of the afflictions has a... and we can meditate on Report an error in the passage at 2:14:31 Highlight the passage at 2:14:31

2:14:45 But that platform of advantages and disadvantages, I think, is really a necessary basis. Otherwise, it becomes a matter of speculation. It would be nice to be a loving person, but I get what I want when I get angry. So you're going to stick with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:45 Highlight the passage at 2:14:45

2:15:10 You can meditate on love. That probably won't make much difference. But if you see it's in your best interest to change. then Report an error in the passage at 2:15:10 Highlight the passage at 2:15:10

2:15:08 It won't. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:08 Highlight the passage at 2:15:08

2:15:20 Anyway, that's, yeah, I'm sorry. So there's possibilities. That's a good question. And Shantideva will talk a lot about these. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:20 Highlight the passage at 2:15:20

2:15:33 So we haven't seen the end of them. So we can dedicate the positive energy we've created together. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:33 Highlight the passage at 2:15:33

2:15:46 May all beings everywhere, plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. a Report an error in the passage at 2:15:46 Highlight the passage at 2:15:46

2:15:55 May no living creature suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds. May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:55 Highlight the passage at 2:15:55

2:16:17 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 2:16:17 Highlight the passage at 2:16:17

2:16:36 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 misery of the world. Through these skillful actions may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each in the Report an error in the passage at 2:16:36 Highlight the passage at 2:16:36

2:17:09 awakened heart and mind that have not arisen arise and grow. And may those that have arisen never diminish but increase more and more. In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being. Powerful Chen Rizi, Tenzin Gyatso, please remain the end of psychic existence. A Report an error in the passage at 2:17:09 Highlight the passage at 2:17:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:17:59 good break, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:59 Highlight the passage at 2:17:59