Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 16)

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0:45 That this subtle continuum of mind that lingers even in deep sleep, near comatose, under general anesthesia, you've fainted, you've achieved shamatha, or also it manifests when you die. That's the last lingering, continuum of consciousness when you die, in the dead zone, before you move into the bardo. Report an error in the passage at 0:45 Highlight the passage at 0:45

1:09 This dimension of consciousness is called the bhavaṅga in Pāli. It means the ground of becoming. it's when again all the activities Activities of the mind, including while dreaming, have all subsided. So again, as metaphor, all the kinetic energy, all the activity, the buzz of the mind has all subsided. Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:27 It's like a snow globe. You shake it up, so there's a lot of kinetic energy of those little snowflakes, and then everything settles down, and then it's all gone into potential. Well, that's what the bhavaṅga is. All the activities, it's called javana, all the activities of the mind have subsided. And you're just in this flow. And the Buddha referred to this as Babasajitta, the brightly shining mind. Brightly shining mind. He said it's by nature luminous, it never becomes unluminous, but although its luminosity is constant, it is veiled by obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 1:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27

1:59 It's luminous, it's by nature pure, adventitially covered, obscured by afflictions and obscurations of the mind. Also indicated that this... This dimension of awareness is kind of the source for our aspiring for something better and eventually, sooner or later, hopefully finding a spiritual path, a Dharma, that's satisfied. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:24 But it's coming from this deeper level. It's way beyond survival and procreation instinct. It's much deeper than that. It's also said to be of the very nature of loving kindness. There are references to that in the Pāli Canon. So it's something quite pure, luminous, loving, transparent. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:43 And it's always there. It's always there. But then we can ask if it's always there, and if when you access that by way of shamatha, that is you bring the clarity to it, as you approach it, it doesn't get obscured by dullness or falling asleep, you lose consciousness. But if you approach it with ever-increasing consciousness, which is exactly the trajectory of practicing shamatha, Deeper relaxation, greater stability and then pristine clarity. When you access it that way, then it has these three qualities, bliss, luminosity and non-conceptuality. Report an error in the passage at 2:43 Highlight the passage at 2:43

3:17 If that's the nature of this subtle continuum of consciousness, then we can quite rightly ask, well then, if that's our inheritance, so to speak, you don't get it from anybody else, it's your own continuum, then why aren't we experiencing this at all times? Why aren't we just walking around blissful, luminous and non-conceptual? And the very simple answer is... Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:36 The answer to that question is because it's obscured. It's there, but it's obscured. And then we ask, well, it's obscured by what? And the Buddha has a very fast answer for that. Five obscurations. Five obscurations are often translated as five hindrances. But the Tibetan term dipa doesn't mean hindrance. It means obscuration. So I'll stick with that translation. Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

3:56 So let's run through these briefly. Because it's something not very often discussed, at least in detail, in the Tibetan tradition, whereas in the Pāli canon, the Theravāda looms very large and I think extremely practical and true. And so five objurations, and there's a certain sequence to them, and the first of these is what obscures this natural purity, luminosity, clarity of our own awareness that is blissful by nature and serene and utterly relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:22 And the first one is fixation on hedonic pleasure. Fixation on the allures, the attractions of the desire realm, that's what it's called in Buddhism. The allures, and that's not only the objects of the five senses, it's not just sensual craving. It can be much subtler than that. The craving for reputation, for esteem, for the recognition and approval of others, those are some of the allures of the desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:48 There can be intellectual grasping, intellectual stimulation, aesthetic. But all the allures, all the attractions of the desire realm that draw us to go hither and yon in the pursuit of hedonic pleasure, well, insofar as we're fixated on that, whatever it may be, whether it's another person, whether it's a status, a job, a possession, insofar as that's where the attention is directed, that directing of the attention there will obscure what's here. Report an error in the passage at 4:48 Highlight the passage at 4:48

5:16 It's very simple. If I'm attending to you, I'm not attending here. It's so simple. And so that obscures it, just because we're focusing fixated elsewhere. Looking for the sources of happiness outside. Or she will make me happy, that will make me happy, that will make me happy. And then we scurry after that and thereby completely obscure the natural source of bliss that is the wellspring of our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 5:16 Highlight the passage at 5:16

5:38 So that's the first one. The second one's really obvious. And this is ill will, malice, enmity, malevolence. That is the intention, the desire to harm. And that totally obscures. This natural purity, again, of the nature of love and kindness, completely obscures it. The third one is laxity and dullness. Of course, that's obvious. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

6:01 And the fourth one is excitation. That is the turbulence of the mind driven by desire, by definition. The turbulence of the mind, the peripheral, centrifugal force of the mind spewing outwards because of desire. That and anxiety. So excitation and anxiety, they will obscure. So the fourth one and the fifth one is afflictive uncertainty. Afflictive uncertainty. Where we just can't get it together to make a firm decision and carry through because we're waffling. Report an error in the passage at 6:01 Highlight the passage at 6:01

6:31 Maybe, maybe not, maybe, maybe not. And it just kind of like grinds to a halt because we can't get any traction. So those are five obscurations. Those are the five. The Buddha emphasizes these very strongly. So that's the bad news. Five of them, not just one. The good news is that simply by practicing shamatha, with no discursive meditation, no reflecting on impermanence or nature of suffering and so forth and so on, just by practicing shamatha and moving towards the achievement of the first jhāna, or at least access to the first jhāna, then five jhāna factors arise spontaneously, naturally from your mind stream. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

7:08 And it turns out, and I've read this only in Theravāda tradition, but to me it makes immensely good sense. It resonates. With the ring of truth. And that is, as we do this simple practice, these five jhāna factors emerge and it turns out that each of the five jhāna factors turns out to be a natural antibody for each of the five obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:29 So we come with the problems, the obscurations, but we also come with all of these kind of dormant or latent five jhāna factors which manifest as we're practicing shaman. Just, you know, following your breath. Or resting in awareness. Any kind of shamatha will do. And these five jnana factors come into their own. And so how do they pair up? Report an error in the passage at 7:29 Highlight the passage at 7:29

7:50 Well, one of the jnana factors is utterly just single-pointed attention. You're just focused. You're in the groove. Boom. Like nail it. Boom. Single-pointed. That's one of them. When you're single-pointed, when you're in that kind of flow of single-pointed attention, then it's kind of just kind of obvious. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:10 That you're not then, while you're there, then you're not thinking, oh, that would make me happy. Oh, maybe that would make me happy. Oh, I wish I were more famous. Oh, I wish I was better looking. Or whatever. You're not there because you're here. So that solves the problem. You're not going all over the place rummaging around like a dog in a garbage dump looking for something tasty. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:31 If you're just, boom, spot on, let's say the breath. So there's one. It's a match. The second one, malevolence. Millennials, of course, enmity, ill will and so forth, always comes, always comes because we're unhappy. I'm unhappy with you, therefore I want you to suffer. I'm unhappy with this country, this political power, this political party or whatever. It always comes, enmity always comes because first we're dissatisfied, right? Report an error in the passage at 8:31 Highlight the passage at 8:31

8:57 Well, the second of the jnana factors is, it's called sukha, well-being. It's genuine well-being, authentic well-being. And that arises right out of the practice. And if you have that sense of just, it's a beautiful translation, well-being, there's nothing more to add, well-being, then while you're resting in a field of well-being, enmity is not going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:23 Because you have to have a sense of ill-being, ill it is, dissatisfied, disgruntled and so forth, and then maybe you can find a target, someone to blame it on, and then maybe you would wish them some injury. But if you're resting in a field of well-being, enmity won't happen. It naturally remedies it. It's a natural antibody. Report an error in the passage at 9:23 Highlight the passage at 9:23

9:42 And then there's a third one, and this is called, it has two translations, they're both right, but they're very different. And one of these is Applied Thought. It's not a great translation, but Applied Thought, that's a standard one from Theravāda. Or from the Indo-Tibetan tradition of the Sanskrit and Tibetan, it's course examination. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:03 But the metaphor works very well for this. There's a metaphor, and that is when you sound a bell, you strike it. That initial striking of the bell with the gong, that initial striking, that's applied thought. You hit the target, bong, like that. And so that's called course investigation. It's the analogy for it. Or applied thought, it's when your attention is clearly striking the object. It's like engaged. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:31 Engaged. Okay, like that. So that's applied thought or course investigation, course examination. And when you are... Engage in that way with your meditative object, the sensations of the breath, or simply being aware of awareness itself, whatever it may be. In that moment, when you're fully engaged, like looking at somebody, boom, then right now as I'm attending to your face, there's just no laxity or dullness, because I'm fully engaged. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

11:09 So that's that. It just naturally bumps it off. You cannot be engaged in any kind of spacey and dull at the same time. Natural antibody. And then the fourth one is bliss, or to use a milder term, just enjoyment. Bliss is a big term, and sometimes appropriate, but enjoying. When you're in the practice, and it's a shamatha practice, so it's simply a stabilizing practice, just shamatha, focusing on the breath, awareness of awareness, whatever it may be, and you're in the flow and you're enjoying it. Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:41 And maybe you would call it blissful. When it's quite strong, then bliss is the right word. It's called prtti in Sanskrit. But it's joy. You know what the word joy is? And when you're enjoying the practice, you're in the flow, you don't want to stop. Like, oh, a bit more. I've got to continue. I want to continue. When you're in a flow of joy or bliss, then this is an interesting one. Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

12:03 Excitation and anxiety don't arise. Because by definition, this term... It's called gopa in Tibetan. Excitation is always driven by desire. But if you're, say, just take a very simple example. If you're really enjoying a meal, you go into your favorite restaurant and you're just enjoying it so much. While you're enjoying the meal, you don't think about other restaurants. Why would I think about that? This is the meal I want to eat. Hush, I'm busy. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:31 Because you're enjoying the meal. Just like that. Something very prosaic. But then excitation and anxiety don't arise when you're in a flow of joy. Or simply enjoying the practice. So that's the fourth one. And then the fifth one is, instead of course examination, it's subtle. Subtle examination or investigation. Or it's also called sustained thought. The first was applied thought. This is sustained thought coming from the Theravāda tradition. Report an error in the passage at 12:31 Highlight the passage at 12:31

12:59 And the analogy here again, which is helpful, is once you've struck the bell, the striking of course is the applied thought. But then you have the reverberation that can go on for seconds and seconds. The reverberation is like the sustained thought or like subtle analysis or examination. It's fine-tuned, it's subtler and it's sustained. Report an error in the passage at 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:21 So it's very sharp, it's very discerning and it's sustained. And these five, single-pointed attention, well-being, course examination, enjoyment or bliss and then finally subtle. Subtle analysis, investigation. Those are the five jhāna factors. And the subtle examination, we're able to really focus on something with discerning intelligence and really examine it closely. Report an error in the passage at 13:21 Highlight the passage at 13:21

13:47 That comes naturally. This ability is like a muscle that comes out. It's an ability that comes out simply by stabilizing and practicing shamatha. And that acts as a natural remedy for afflictive uncertainty. Afflictive uncertainty. Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:01 And so I find that very interesting. And just to conclude this quickly, there are five metaphors I've seen in the Theravāda tradition that are very helpful just to bring images to mind. So more just imagery. Artists can be used to relate to this very strongly. And so as an image, imagine a pool of crystal clear water, just radiantly clear water, bright light, transparent, luminous, clear, just like an artesian well flowing up through the sand. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

14:30 Imagine a pool of water like that. And so that would be our metaphor for this brightly shining mind, Pabhasacitta, or actually it translates as clear light mind. That's also the same term, Pabhasacitta, or Lusakisem, clear light mind. But it's not referring to Buddha Nature, not here in the Pāli camp, not referring, it's just Babamga, or substrate consciousness or subtle continuance within saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 14:30 Highlight the passage at 14:30

14:55 But let's take that as a metaphor. Of this brightly shining mind, this substrate consciousness, pure, clear, radiant. And so there it is. But then when this mind becomes obscured by fixation on hedonic pleasure, sensual and so forth and so on, then it's said to be like throwing dye, like a big handful of red dye into that pool. Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:22 And the dye then just saturates. And what do you see when you look into the pool? Red. That's all you see. And when your mind is completely absorbed in or obsessed with any hedonic pleasure, money, whatever it may be, then that's what you see. Oh, I've had more money, a bigger house, a nicer car, etc., etc. That's all you see. You don't see the pure radiance of your own awareness because you've cast this dye of attachment into it and you don't see it. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:52 And then malice is likened to water that's boiling. If suddenly that pool of water is just boiling, then all you see is the bubbles and the steam coming out. But you can't see. You can't see into it. You just see all the bubbles and steam. So when your mind is enraged, when it's malevolent, enmity and so forth, that's all you see. Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:09 It's just all the bubbling and turbulence of the enmity or ill will. And then we have laxity and dullness. Laxity and dullness. And this is said to be like that pool of crystal clear water covered with moss. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:23 So it may be crystal clear, but you can't see it. All you can see is the scum on the surface. And then we have excitation and anxiety. And this is said to be that same pool of water, but now that water is, the surface of the water is whipped by a wind. So all you see is the splashing the waves on the surface, but you can't see into its depths. And exactly that, I think we all know that. When the mind is very agitated, all we're aware of is the agitation. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:50 Relaxation, stillness, clarity, you can't see them at all. We're just caught up in, oh, I hope this doesn't happen, rumination and so forth. And then finally, afflictive uncertainty. Afflictive uncertainty. There's nothing wrong with being uncertain. There's nothing wrong with skepticism. That can be very healthy. But there's a mindset that's afflictive. That is, it just doesn't let us rest. It doesn't let us make a decision because we're waffling this way, waffling that way. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:15 And where the mind is obscured by afflictive uncertainty or doubt, then it's said to be like turbid water. There's just silt and muck throughout the water. So all you see is the turbidity. So those are the five analogies. And so the Buddha said of this, of these five obscurations, he said, that for a person whose mind is still dominated, one whose mind is still dominated by these five obscurations, in that sequence, ill will, etc., no, Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:47 hedonic fixation, etc., he said, such a person whose mind is still dominated by these should consider himself First of all, in debt. So this is, again, imagery coming out. It's pretty intense imagery. It gets worse. In debt, but not having $1,000 in the bank and having a $20 debt, but having $1,000 debt and $20 in the bank, or $10 million debt and $50,000 in the bank. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:12 Debt that you can't pay off. And in the old days, you could just go to debtor's prison and rot, right? That wasn't too long ago. And so it's being in debt, but the kind of debt you can't pay off. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:24 And insofar as we're invested in hedonically, my happiness is outside, and now let's go scurry around and try to catch it and hold on to it, you're always in debt. Because there's never a point you're secure. If you're seeking it, there's no guarantee you'll get it. And once you've got it, how long you can hold on to it is entirely uncertain. Report an error in the passage at 18:24 Highlight the passage at 18:24

18:46 So you're always in debt. You're always ill at ease, hedonically. At least you should be, unless you're not paying attention. And so that's the first one. You should consider yourself in debt, the type of debt you can't pay off. That's the first one. Secondly, he said you should worry about yourself as sick. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

19:02 And I think my interpretation is referring exactly to the second of the obscurations. If insofar as your mind, if your mind is dominated by ill will, malevolence and so forth, there's just no way to, excuse me, call that a healthy mind. This is a sick mind. This is a diseased mind. So yes, think of yourself sick because you are sick. Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:21 And then the third quality, remember laxity and dullness. This is like being enslaved. Enslaved. Like you've been purchased, you know, like the slave market. You've been enslaved. And that is, of course, we all know when the mind is dull, it's lethargic, it's lacking clarity, then you're not free. You're not free. You're enslaved by that dullness. You're just heavy and so forth. So that's the third one. And then the fourth one, you recall, is excitation and anxiety. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:48 He said that's like being in bombs, like handcuffs and leg irons. And of course we know you can't even get a good night's sleep if your mind is really agitated, caught up in anxiety, excitation. You can't sleep. You can't focus. You can't enjoy a good meal. You can't enjoy much of anything because the mind is just so caught up in rumination and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:09 It's, well, you may as well be in Lega. You are shackled by this obscuration of your own mind. And then the fifth one he gives, and I think this corresponds to afflictive uncertainty. It certainly sounds like it. He says, you should consider yourself to be lost on a desert track. Lost on a desert track. And I often comment my experience of this, because I have been lost on a desert track. Report an error in the passage at 20:09 Highlight the passage at 20:09

20:32 When I went out with a couple of friends deep into the Gopi Desert some years back. And we're heading out to a gear camp, a gear camp way out in the desert. And we're coming out from the nearest town where we got off the train. And we're heading out in a four-wheel drive out into this desert that's like Mars. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

20:48 I mean, there's kind of nothing there except for some tire tracks here and some tire tracks there. But the problem is they're not all tire tracks in the same way. One's going this way and that way. And if a car's driven by, that's kind of a road, you know, where one car has gone. So we're going out there into the desert, this vast open. Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:07 Very, very austere desert. And we're heading off like two hours away and there's a gear camp someplace out there as the sun is setting. And our taxi driver says, who's never been there before, he says, I think I know where it is. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:22 And so, of course, I'm here, we made it. But it did have that kind of unsettling effect that we don't know where we're going because if you follow this track, maybe that's a person who died of starvation. And then you'll find his carcass there. So being lost on a desert track has happened many times and it's very unsettling. So that's what the Buddha said. Report an error in the passage at 21:22 Highlight the passage at 21:22

21:42 He's just raised the bar on sanity. And now I just invite you to visualize this. Imagine yourself that you're in unbearable debt. Not that one? Like juggling five balls at the same time. Imagine you're under an oppressive burden of debt. You'll never be able to pay off. Oh, by the way, you also have terminal cancer. Report an error in the passage at 21:42 Highlight the passage at 21:42

22:04 Somebody just bought you, so you're a slave, but they also put handcuffs and leg irons on you. And then they dumped you in the desert and said, good luck, have a nice day. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:20 That's the mind that has not been trained in Shant. And so taking a mind that is in debt, etc., etc., and trying to apply this to Vipassanā, it's a joke. You'll be able to peck at it a little bit, give some insights here and there. But the chances of such a mind being purified from the root and irreversibly by Vipassanā, it never happens. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:45 And so the fact that there are so many Vipassanā centers and hardly any Samatha centers shows that we're all looking for the quick fix. Everywhere looking for quick fix. Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

22:55 Forget about Samatha, that could be hard work. Let's just go for insight practice. Let's just go for Dzogchen or Mahamudra. Who needs Samatha? That sounds like work. Report an error in the passage at 22:55 Highlight the passage at 22:55

23:06 That's how the Buddha raised the level, pointing out this is indispensable if you really want to set out on the path. So you're here as we close for the afternoon. Atisha commented on this, but in his other great text. Oh, and you don't have this, but I do. So it's added in a new version. But in Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, he's gone through the cultivation of her initiation, developing authentic motivation. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:35 Through bodhicitta, generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiasm. And then he comes to samādhi, the fifth of the six perfections. So now he's really coming to the culmination. This is the big culmination of the lamrim. By every account. Doesn't matter who it is. You're coming to the culmination. It's shamadevipassana. Everything was for the sake of that. And Shantideva himself says, having covered shamadev in the eighth chapter, then he said everything that preceded the first eight chapters of the text. Report an error in the passage at 23:35 Highlight the passage at 23:35

24:03 With ten chapters altogether, everything preceded this, he says at the beginning of the ninth chapter, is for the sake of wisdom. Right? Everything. And so similarly, everything in the lamrim, all the discussions of different types of suffering and so forth and so on, all of the detailed discussions for developing renunciation bodhicitta and the different perfections, it's all about finally getting to Samadhem Vipassanā and developing the union of Samadhem Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 24:03 Highlight the passage at 24:03

24:29 And that's what gets you on the path. Without that, it's all preparation. It's foreplay without the union of shamatha vipassanā. So that's really what it's all about. So Atisha is in this point in his very short, very pithy text, Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. And he gives this analogy when this comes to shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 24:29 Highlight the passage at 24:29

24:52 Just as a bird with undeveloped wings cannot fly in the sky, those without the power of extrasensory perception cannot work for the good of living beings. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:04 He really raised the bar very high, didn't he? And we see the Buddha's doing something similar when he said, if your mind has those five obscurations, I mean, consider yourself in debt and so forth. And it sounds very grim, but it's also normal. I mean, you could have those five pretty significantly and not be diagnosed as having any mental disorder at all, which is to say you're no less neurotic than your therapist. Report an error in the passage at 25:04 Highlight the passage at 25:04

25:30 And your therapist would say, well, put her there, we're on an equal plane now, and he's just sent you home. Sick, in debt, enslaved, in bondage and lost in a desert track. So you're no unhappier than I am, so I think we're finished here. I don't mean to be cynical, I think it's actually true. And so the Buddha raised the bar, but now Atisha is raising the bar. Cannot work for the good of living beings. Well, let's rein back a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:56 Can you not be a good dentist if you haven't achieved extrasensory perception? Of course you can. Can you be a good doctor? Can you be a good therapist? To help people with very severe anxiety or severe depression, of course you can. One thing that teaches him is not stupid. So he knows, of course, you can raise crops for people and many, many things you can do. Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:16 But when he says work for the good of, I think what he's really getting at is, number one, without shamatha or exocentric perception, you can do enormous good hedonically for people. That's enormously important. Food, clothing, shelter, education, mental health care. Enormously important. Nobody needs extra-century perception for that. Never have. So hedonically, there's all types of good. But when it comes to eudaimonic, helping people really cultivate, deepen, explore and unveil their full potential for eudaimonia, or all the more important, they get really to the point, are you capable of leading people on the path to enlightenment? Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:52 Now we've really raised the bar. To reach the Mayana path of accumulation, to become a bodhisattva, set out confidently, irreversibly on the bodhisattva path, Are you able to work with the good of loving beings in that way, on that level, without extrasensory perception? Like being able to know others' thoughts and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:10 And he's saying, no, extrasensory perception is something you must have. Otherwise you're a bird that can't fly. So he's raised the bar very high. He continues here, the merit gained in a single day by someone with extrasensory perception cannot be gained even in a hundred lifetimes by one without extrasensory perception. Report an error in the passage at 27:10 Highlight the passage at 27:10

27:34 Bear in mind, it's not just having ESP. This is ESP, extrasensory perception of knowing other people's minds, recalling your past lives, and just having a heightened awareness of multiple ways that we would call extrasensory. Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

27:48 He's referring here, he's referring, making this reference within the context of all that preceded in the text. That is, you've already developed renunciation, very pure motivation, and bodhicitta. So your motivation is pristine, utterly benevolent, profoundly compassionate. And with that basis, now if you add extra-central perception, now the merit gained in one day is greater than in a hundred lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:14 I did the math, it's like order of three million to one. So it's just like incomparable now. If you've been cultivating bodhicitta, maybe it's not spontaneously arising, but you have a truly authentic benevolent motivation with sound ethics and all of that. And then you develop extra-central perception on that basis. You've just gone, you know, you've gone ballistic. It's just orders of magnitude, many orders of magnitude. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:40 Your practice is so empowered there's simply no comparison to the practice, to your engagement without extra-central perception. So he's really highlighting this. And then he cuts to the chase. He said, without the achievement of shamatha, extra-central perception will not arise. Therefore make repeated effort to accomplish shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

29:00 Well, once again, he knows, I think, more about this than I do. And I know that people like Russell Targ, physicist, done lots and lots of research on remote viewing and precognition, done very good research. He's on a lot of data, a lot of data. And I don't think any of his subjects had achieved shamatha. There's no reason to believe any of them had. But degree of accuracy in remote viewing, up to like 60%. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:22 So quite significant, statistically. So can you have some degree of extrasensory perception? Without having fully achieved shamatha. And it's perfectly obvious the answer is yes. And the teacher had to know that. I mean they were so much more sophisticated in this regard than we are. But is your exocentric perception, is it very profoundly, consistently, homogenously reliable? Or does what you feel to be exocentric perception, does that get filtered, mixed up with expectation, with noise, with just perturbations from your mind? Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:59 So you're getting mixed signals. You're getting maybe some very deep intuition, but also desire, expectation, memory, the clutter of the mind, the signal-to-noise ratio. The noise maybe sometimes overwhelms the signal. And so what he's saying here, I think, I think he has to be saying this, is that yes, you can have some varying degrees of exocentric perception without ever achieving shamatha, but it'll always be mixed, and it won't always be reliable. Report an error in the passage at 29:59 Highlight the passage at 29:59

30:27 Whereas... Settle your mind right down to its ground, its relative ground. And then out of that emerges spontaneously extracensory perception. And it won't be 60%. It'll be like 99%. The accuracy will be really spot on. And that's what he's talking about. So he's saying shamatha is indispensable for this. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:48 And therefore make repeated effort to accomplish shamatha. But then there are causal conditions that must come together for shamatha to manifest. It's not magic, it's not just simply a blessing from God. It is a discipline. And he comments here, as long as the conditions for shamatha are incomplete, there are external conditions of meditating in a suitable environment, because the environment can really drag you down. Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:10 So having a suitable environment, conducive, suitable companions, a reliable guide, an authentic guide who can really carry you on through, guide you like you're heading out on a wagon train. Does the guide know how to get from here to there? Having a compassionate, wise, experienced guide, good companions, conducive environment, that's the external. And then internal, are you really ready for this? Report an error in the passage at 31:10 Highlight the passage at 31:10

31:34 Going off for months or even possibly years of full-time, single-pointed practice to achieve shamatha. There must be the inner requisites. You must be inwardly, completely prepared for this. And externally, because the two are necessary, you need to bring them together, the outer and the inner. When those are all there, then you can achieve shamatha quite efficiently. Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

31:54 But when the outer and inner conditions are incomplete, samādhi will not be accomplished even if you meditate diligently for a thousand years. If you could live that long, you still wouldn't achieve it. Because outer and inner conditions have to be there. You can't more strongly emphasize this. The inner conditions really are brought about by those four thoughts that radically reverse your attention. Report an error in the passage at 31:54 Highlight the passage at 31:54

32:16 So you come out of those, if all four of those four revolutions take place, then you just have nothing else in your mind. Other than to devote yourself to single-pointed practice. And this is a phase. To achieve shamatha, it's a phase. It's a phase unlike anything before or after. It's unique. That is, before you set off into a shamatha retreat, to actually achieve shamatha, not just for one month or six months, but to achieve it before then, you don't have to be in retreat. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

32:41 You can do the whole of the lojong, you can practice lamrim, bodhicitta, you can do many practices in the midst of a very active way of life. It's good. Lajoma is designed to implement in an active way of life. But if you would like the practice to be fully efficient, actually achieve bodhicitta, ultimate and relative, head out on the path irreversibly, then you have to have shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:03 And unless you're extraordinarily gifted, you have to find the conducive environment, you have to come well prepared, have the companions and the guide, and for that period, a shamatha retreat. The conducive environment is crucially important. And their inner prerequisite. And then you go in and you stay there until you finish. Like the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree and said, I'm sitting here until I've achieved enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

33:26 Because he was confident he could. So you don't want to go into a shamatha retreat with the intention to achieve it unless you believe you can. You go in there with confidence that you see the environment and you see this is a conducive environment. Yeah, I can stay here until I achieve shamatha. The guide is one I trust. There may be more than one. The companions are all in the same boat. The environment itself is really good. It's refreshing. It's inviting, invigorating. Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:54 And I'm prepared. It's all I want to do. And then you go in and then the outer inner condition finish and then you can get the job done. And then once you've achieved shamatha, then you can enter into it at will, effortlessly. It's something you take home with you. So then you can go back and live in Manhattan if you like. You could be living on a busy street corner. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:14 But as soon as you go into shamatha, your whole world around you vanishes anyway. So whether you're in Manhattan or out in the middle of the Gobi, I mean, it's equally quiet when you go into samādhi. So after you've achieved shamatha, you're a free agent. Live in a city, live in a country, go back and live with your family. One of my very sincere students is in a very happy marriage. Been married for years, he has a wonderful husband. Report an error in the passage at 34:14 Highlight the passage at 34:14

34:34 And she's also really devoted to Dharma and would like to achieve shamatha. And I've known her for now, almost 10 years. But her husband is so fine and he's so supportive of her. They really love each other. And he's not a meditator, but he's completely supporting her. And so I know she would really like to achieve shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

34:51 We're seeking to create a really conducive environment. In Tuscany, in Italy, we found the property. And so I'm going to be telling her, she may listen to this, so she knows what's coming. She'll listen to the recording. You have such a wonderful marriage with such a fine man. That before you go to Tuscany with the intention to achieve shamatha, prepare really, really well. Because this is going to be a time away from your husband. He's not going to come along. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:17 He can't be going back and forth and messing up your meditation with, you know, how are you, hubby, how are you, oh, how are you, and getting caught up in all the samsaric trips. So if you go there, and if I'm going to guide you, I want you to make quick work of it. Go really prepared. We'll do everything we can. Go in there, finish the job, and then go back with your husband again. Because those kind of husbands don't grow on trees. Report an error in the passage at 35:17 Highlight the passage at 35:17

35:38 He's really quite exceptional. So I want to, I'm kind of protective of her marriage and his marriage, because it's such a good marriage. But this will have to take on some time, but don't let it be years, for heaven's sakes. That can strain anybody's patience. Go for his months, get it finished, and then come back. And now go into Vipassanā, Dzogchen, and achieve enlightenment at home. You can do that if you've achieved shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

36:01 If you haven't, really difficult. So if you have not, the outer and inner brickwork, because you meditate for a thousand years, you still won't get there. When a contemplative has achieved shamatha, extra-century perception will also be realized. It's a natural perk. It just comes out of it. You're tapping into this underlying ground. Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:19 But if one does not cultivate the perfection of wisdom, one's obscurations will not come to an end. So it's just showing the indispensability of shamatha, but it's inadequate unless you couple it with and unify it with vipassanā and the realization of perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:36 So it makes it really clear. That's Atisha again. And I want to close with one final, very brief quote from somebody else. And that is William James. Because when we hear about this, and we hear nowadays it seems relatively few people are actually achieving Janata for the very simple reason there are very few conducive environments, very few people really applying themselves to it, and very few people really teaching it. Report an error in the passage at 36:36 Highlight the passage at 36:36

37:04 Apart from, you know, do it 20 minutes a day or maybe do a one-month retreat once in a while, which is kind of namby-pamby. But hardly anybody is really guiding people to go all the way there, use that as your base camp, now to do everything else. It's like climbing halfway up Everest, and now that's your base. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:18 You don't go below that, and then you go from there up to the summit. Then you go from there to Vipassanā, to Dzogchen, but you don't fall back into in debt, sick, and so forth and so on. So you bring that superb balance and clarity of mind, and that's your new base camp, which is like three million times more potent. Report an error in the passage at 37:18 Highlight the passage at 37:18

37:38 than an ordinary cluttered mind. And so we hear this, we hear this from, we read this from Atisha, and there are many, many sources like this. And then, of course, a qualm can rise. Well, the degeneration of Dharma, right? The point that Mark raised last night. Yeah, but that was fine, but that was Atisha a thousand years ago. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

37:58 You know, Nalanda was still up and running back then. And 500 years ago, I mean, Dharma was pretty flourishing in Tibet. So many monks and nuns and yogis and great, great masters all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 37:58 Highlight the passage at 37:58

38:11 But it's now, now when things have degenerated so much in the 20th century, we're living in this kind of quasi-crazy society. And is it people who have been so, were such damaged goods in a way, just by living in this milieu? Report an error in the passage at 38:11 Highlight the passage at 38:11

38:26 With all the hedonism, the materialism, the ADHD, the multitasking, who needs to describe it? So the calm may arise, the afflictive uncertainty may arise. Can people like us, if we made the necessary sacrifices, set aside, carved out the time, developed the motivation, found the conducive environment, find the authentic teacher, guide who can really carry us there, then we say, yeah, but what am I, do I really have a chance here? Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:54 Or would I be cutting back from all the useful things I'm already doing in a life I'm pretty much enjoying, and I'm cutting back on all of that for some time, we don't know how long, do I really have a chance? Or would I just look back and fail and wish I hadn't started in the first place? Not achieving it, not making any really significant progress. Might I just be a loser? Report an error in the passage at 38:54 Highlight the passage at 38:54

39:14 Try and try and get nowhere at all and say, well, why did I even go in the first place? Maybe I'm wasting my time. On the other hand, maybe I'm not. Maybe I could. Maybe I could, but probably not. But I might, but I doubt it, but I could. Afflictive uncertainty, right? For very good reason. Because we don't have, as far as I know, we don't have dozens of Westerners we can point to and say, oh yes, she did and he did. If they're there, they're hard to see. Report an error in the passage at 39:14 Highlight the passage at 39:14

39:43 And they may not be there much. For the simple reason, where they can do the environments, who's teaching it, and who's really devoting themselves to it. Simple practice. If you don't have the environment, the teacher, and you don't have the will to do it, then don't expect it to drop out of the sky. And so here William James comes and gives us friendly advice, and we'll stop for the evening. Report an error in the passage at 39:43 Highlight the passage at 39:43

40:03 He writes where preferences are powerless to modify or produce things. Faith is totally inappropriate. That is, your faith, when it comes to the laws of gravity, laws of electromagnetism, the structure of DNA, etc., etc., And frankly, what happens at death? Is there a continuity of consciousness or did it get obliterated? It just doesn't matter what you believe. It doesn't matter. Believe whatever you like. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:30 Something's true and your beliefs don't matter. Something's true no matter what you believe. And that's true for physics, for chemistry, biology. There are so many laws of nature. You just don't have any preferences or faith here. Something's true. Find out what that is. And to my mind, it's absolutely clear that this is true with respect to what happens at death. Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:49 You can be a materialist and be absolutely certain that you're not getting caught up in all the mumbo-jumbo of religion, that you're a realist. That's fine. Your consciousness is still going to continue. Tough luck. Because it doesn't matter what you believe. And you can be a Christian thinking you're going to go straight to heaven, maybe, but what is certain is your continuity will continue. Report an error in the passage at 40:49 Highlight the passage at 40:49

41:12 That's certain. That's just the way it is. You don't have to believe it. I'm not saying believe it because I said so, but to my mind this is black and white. It's perfectly straightforward. And so that's one of those things. It doesn't matter what you believe. But then he says, but for the class of facts that depend on personal preference, trust or loyalty for actualization, he says, and I quote, faith is not only licit and pertinent, but essential and indispensable. Report an error in the passage at 41:12 Highlight the passage at 41:12

41:42 He summarizes, the truths cannot become true till our faith has made them so. So there's that whole That whole field of reality, where if you believe it's impossible, you're right for you, because you believe it's impossible. Whereas if you think it's possible, then it is possible. And because you believe it, that truth may manifest. Report an error in the passage at 41:42 Highlight the passage at 41:42

42:11 So I think the question is, people like us, Australians, Europeans, Americans, so forth, can people like us, if we were to be in a conducive environment, And we had good compassion, ethical, motivation pure, shared vision, like setting out on the same ship, setting out across the seas, and a competent navigator, a guide, someone to help us along as a spiritual friend and guide. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:36 If we had that, could people like us, could we actually achieve shamatha? And on that basis, venture into Vipassanā, gain realization of emptiness, realization of Rigpa, and achieve enlightenment in one life. Achieving rainbow, showing off finally, showing off rainbow body when we die. Could Westerners do that? There's so many accounts of Tibetans. I mean, so many, I can't doubt it. Report an error in the passage at 42:36 Highlight the passage at 42:36

43:00 It would be irrational for me to doubt that Tibetans, generation after generation, have achieved rainbow body. The lineage that I've immersed myself in for almost, well, 26 years, the lineage of Dujum Lingba, and through Dujum Rinpoche, and then my teacher, Gyatran Rinpoche, who's a very close disciple and representative for all of North America, for Dujum Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:20 It said that Jujum Lingma, this great 19th century master, that 13 of his disciples achieved rainbow body. And then Sogir Rinpoche, when he wrote the beautiful foreword for this three-volume set of all of the Dzogchen teachings of Jujum Lingma, all the primary teachings, a thousand pages, he wrote the foreword to it, and he cited a prophecy saying that in the future there will be a hundred people, a hundred people will achieve great transference rainbow body. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:48 By following this path revealed by Dujum Limba. Report an error in the passage at 43:48 Highlight the passage at 43:48

43:54 Is that true or not? And might any of those hundred who achieve rainbow body, great transference rainbow body, I won't try to explain that right now, but it's sublime. Could any of those be Westerners? It's prophesied this will happen. But might anybody be Westerners? Will they be all Tibetan Tukus? The answer is we don't know. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:16 But if there are to be any Westerners who achieve such a stage of realization, it will come out of the believing that it could be. And working on that basis. And those who think, no, no, no, people like me, I can never do it. Then you're right. You've just made a self-fulfilling prophecy. You've just torpedoed yourself by thinking, nah, I think, nah, nah, I couldn't do it. So he's saying this is indispensable. And then he concludes, and then we will break. Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

44:45 He summarizes here. In what manner do we espouse and hold fast to visions? Could the Dharma be revitalized? Could it be revival? I mean, just coming back brimming, pulsating with fantastic energy, revolutionizing mind sciences, revolutionizing. What I'd love to see is all these Christian colleges and nunneries and so forth. I'd love to see them filled with Christians. Almost everywhere I go, I've had leading retreats in dead Christian nunneries, monasteries, seminaries and so forth, churches. Report an error in the passage at 44:45 Highlight the passage at 44:45

45:18 I mean, most of the places I've been here in Australia, it's where Christians used to be. I'd love to see them filled with Christians. In Santa Barbara, I believe, retreats for a year. In a dead Franciscan monastery, a dead another monastery, a dead another one, another four. They all used to be thriving Christian, Roman Catholic institutions, and now they're all just general retreat centers. They died. And then they just say, well, anybody who wants to use it will rent it. Report an error in the passage at 45:18 Highlight the passage at 45:18

45:46 I would love to see them filled with Christians. And Hindu ashrams filled with Hindus. And let Buddhists create our own centers, not have to just kind of move in like, you know. Into a dead zone where they all vanished. I'd love to see this filled with Christians. I would rejoice and let them be all contemplatives. Report an error in the passage at 45:46 Highlight the passage at 45:46

46:07 So here's what William James said, closing one. In what manner do we espouse and hold fast to visions? There could be a revitalization of Dharma, a renaissance, a contemplative inquiry throughout all the great traditions of the world, a revolution in the mind sciences. We can rescue humanity. Rather than hitting like lemmings off into the abyss of hedonism, materialism and completely wiping out our planet, which is what we're on right now, there's a vision. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:33 How do we, in what manner do we espouse and hold fast to such lofty visions by thinking a conception might be true somewhere. Somewhere there may be people achieving shamat and proceeding on the path. Might be true somewhere. It may be true even here and now. There may be people in this room that in this lifetime will achieve shamatha, vipassanā, head out on the path. It may be true. It is fit to be true and ought to be true. Report an error in the passage at 46:33 Highlight the passage at 46:33

47:00 It must be true. It shall be true for me. So you'll have that in the new version. That's where your faith makes things become true. But you choose well. You don't find things that are already true like the inverse square of law of gravity and think, no, let it be an inverse cube law. Ain't going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 47:00 Highlight the passage at 47:00

47:21 But things like shamatha, bodhicitta, vipassanā, Could be true. There could be great yogis in the 21st century of all different ethnicities. Could be true. Could be true. What are you saying? Just read it. Could be true. Could be true. It's fit to be true. It ought to be true. It must be true. And it shall be true for me. And let 60 people say me, me, me, me. So now it's, let's say, quarter past. Report an error in the passage at 47:21 Highlight the passage at 47:21

47:54 Have two hours just to practice. See you at 7.15. Report an error in the passage at 47:54 Highlight the passage at 47:54