Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 37)

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0:31 So this is the meditation. In this section on relative bodhicitta there's the meditation and then we'll see momentarily there's the post-meditative practice. Just like for the meditation of ultima bodhicitta and then post-meditative act and illusory being. Well there'll be other post-meditative practices for this meditative practice. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:50 But before going there I thought I should fill in the gaps a little bit here. Because there's loving kindness and in Buddhism we speak of four immeasurables. Four immeasurables. And so immeasurable loving kindness is, it simply means that wherever you're attending, that there are no barriers. That if you attend to a person who's a great evildoer, a terrible evildoer, another person very virtuous, another very attractive, very unattractive and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 0:50 Highlight the passage at 0:50

1:16 And it's just like an alluvial plane that is the flow of loving kindness just flows out evenly with no barriers. That's called immeasurable. That is not just here in this direction, but then cordoning off that. You know, that's immeasurable loving kindness. So this is common to all schools of Buddhism. And of course this virtue, the Christians call it unconditional love. Wonderful, exactly what it is. That is not predicated on how are you today? Report an error in the passage at 1:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16

1:41 Are you still behaving? Are you still attractive? Are you still virtuous? It's not kind of taking the pulse, are you worthy of love today? It's unconditional. And of course that's a noble Christian ideal. And we find it not only in religion, and we find it in multiple religions. So that's immeasurable loving kindness and immeasurable compassion is the same. And that is compassion for the most terrible evildoers in history. Report an error in the passage at 1:41 Highlight the passage at 1:41

2:04 In history and in today, the most vicious things that we read about, almost sometimes seems like unconceivable that people consume those things. And instead of condemning or having hatred or contempt and so forth, just feeling compassion. As we do for everybody equally, equally. So that's immeasurable. But that's not bodhicitta. That's not bodhicitta. It's wonderful. It's a virtue. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:26 And one lovely thing about teaching, practicing, discussing the four immeasurables is whether you're religious or not, theist or non-theist, whatever, these are virtues that everybody recognizes. And they're simply virtues from any standpoint. If there are sentient beings in other galaxies, and I'm quite sure there are, these are virtues there too. I think we can be sure of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26

2:46 But that's not bodhicitta. I mean, it's certainly laying the foundation work. The roots of bodhicitta are certainly there. But as we're moving into this Mahāyāna, so here's a little lesson on Mahāyāna Buddhism and the Bodhisattva way and actual bodhicitta. It's not simply such splendid, sublime, unconditional loving kindness and compassion and then wishing to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

3:08 There's something in between that would be good to know about. And it's called great compassion. So it sounds like maybe that's less than immeasurable, but no, by definition, it turns out to be even better. Something bigger, something more awesome. So here's great compassion. Are you ready? This one's really, this gives you a whiplash. The immeasurable of compassion, I said, is an aspiration. It's an aspiration, right? Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:31 Whereas great compassion certainly includes an aspiration, but it's more, it's a resolve. It's a promise. It's a pledge. That's very different than just simply wishing. It's promising. And so, there's a liturgy that just wraps it up very beautifully for great compassion. Why couldn't we all, or why couldn't all sentry beings, why couldn't we all be free of suffering and the causes of suffering? Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:57 Now that's a really juicy question. Why couldn't we be? And of course, now this is totally couched within the Buddhist worldview, which embraces the affirmation that all sentry beings, however they're appearing, all have Buddha nature. That that's their core. Everyone has that. Everyone. So in light of that, in light of the fact that delusion, craving, hostility are not hardwired, indelibly, intrinsically part of our very identity, and since our core is primordially pure, why couldn't all sentient beings be free of suffering? Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:30 And the answer is, no good reason. That's the answer to that question. Why couldn't? And when that becomes apparent, this is just, I'm just running through the literature here. But I find it very, very meaningful. There comes, why couldn't? Well, it could be. It could be. It's in the realm of possibility. There's actuality here. There's possibility here. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

4:47 And then this is in that domain of reality. It's not outside of reality. This is in the domain of reality. It could happen. Every single sense of being could happen. So that's real. It's a possibility. All right. If that's the case, then may it be so. May all sentient beings. Then the aspiration arises. We're familiar with that. May it be so. May all sentient beings be free indeed of suffering and all the causes of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:14 That's an aspiration. No surprise that that sounds so far so good, yeah? The next one is the showstopper. And that is Daki Jo in Tibetan. I will do it. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:29 And it means exactly that. It means I will do it. All sentient beings. Hello. Announcing all sentient beings here. I'm making a public announcement throughout all the galaxies, 100 billion galaxies. Listen up, we have a great AP system here. I shall liberate you all. Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

5:48 I shall free you all from suffering and the causes of suffering. So if this announcement, this pledge, this resolve, if this is made from the perspective, everything's matter for perspective, right? If this is made from the perspective of a sentient being, like a California guy. You just have to write me off as, you know, hit me, send me off to the loony bin. Megalomania, messianic complex, you're loopy, I mean, you're totally out of your gourd. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

6:17 Hello, little 66-year-old man, it ain't gonna happen. You're crazy, right? I mean, that really would be a very realistic response. That's just flat-out silly. So let's not do it from there, because that makes no sense at all, that's ridiculous. So it's not from that perspective. But it's actually meanness. Report an error in the passage at 6:17 Highlight the passage at 6:17

6:34 I shall do it. You're announcing, pledging, I shall do it. But if it's a person, then forget it. It's ridiculous. So you have to go deeper than that. You have to shift your perspective. How about from the perspective of my substrate consciousness? This little worm of consciousness slithering through space and time like that, that little consciousness worm, I shall liberate you all. Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:57 It's still wildly, ridiculously unrealistic. Because there are how many? A hundred billion galaxies. Each one has a hundred billion to a trillion stars. It looks like there's a planet for every star on the average. Is this a promise that you'd, you know, does that really mean anything? Is it? It's unrealistic, right? It's kind of still silly. It's too small. You're not up to it, frankly. Nice try, though. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:20 Your heart's in the right place. But you're crazy. But now let's imagine you drop right down to the very ground. At least with the power of imagination. If you can realize Rigpa, all the better. But if you haven't realized it yet, if you intuitively, profoundly affirm it, embrace it, and it's from that depth, from your Dharmakaya, from your pristine awareness, from that depth, which is non-local, atemporal, beginningless and endless, all-pervasive, if this pledge is coming from that domain, that's actually realistic. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:56 So this is the arousal of great compassion. But it makes sense only from that perspective. Up here, it's just like crazy. Report an error in the passage at 7:56 Highlight the passage at 7:56

8:05 So when you arouse that, if you can actually arouse that, actually mean it sincerely and not just do some lip service to it, the very expression of that tends to have the locus of your brain plummet. Because you know it's just silly up here, it's just a joke up where you live in that surface level. Your psyche, your body, it's a joke. So it just has to cut right through that and it cuts right through the substrate consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:29 It kind of plunges your awareness down to the depth where this actually makes sense. And then from that, then you arouse great compassion, and that's great compassion. I shall do it. And then the end of the liturgy, the liturgy is, May my guru, my spiritual mentor, and the divine, the Buddha, the Buddha's Tara, Avalokiteshvara, whoever comes to mind, may you bless me that I may do so. Report an error in the passage at 8:29 Highlight the passage at 8:29

8:55 So you're calling on the help of all the enlightened ones, and your guru, gurus, however many there may be, that I've just made this promise, now I need a lot of help. A lot of help from my spiritual friends. From the Buddhas, the Gurus and so forth. And then you get on with it. That's great compassion. And then you couple that with great loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 8:55 Highlight the passage at 8:55

9:13 Well then that's the same. Why couldn't all sentient beings find happiness and the causes of happiness? Sublime happiness, enduring happiness, the happiness of awakening itself. Why couldn't they? They've got a Buddha nature, so why not? May it be so. I shall do it. I shall bring all sentient beings to happiness and causes of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:32 And then ask for help. Pray for blessings. Pray for blessings. You can imagine the Buddhas really must be quite eager to help you. I mean, what else do they have to do? They're not too busy. And if you're calling for blessings for that, I mean, you're not asking for a Cadillac or even a Porsche. You're not asking for anything that's anything less than utterly sublime and noble. So there must be blessings for that. Otherwise, what are the Buddhas good for? So that's great loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 9:32 Highlight the passage at 9:32

10:01 And then you move beyond. And then it crystallizes to something called in Tibetan hlak sam, hlakbe samba, which means the extraordinary resolve. Not just a thought, not just an aspiration, it's a resolve and it's hlakbe, extraordinary, exceptional. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:17 And that is, I shall liberate all sentient beings from all suffering and bring each one to the state of enlightenment. I shall free them all from suffering, from the whole of saṃsāra, and I'll bring all of them to the state of perfect enlightenment. That's an extraordinary resolve. Report an error in the passage at 10:17 Highlight the passage at 10:17

10:38 So you make that in the presence of the Buddhas. You call the Buddhas as your witness. The Bodhisattva is your teacher. It's all sent you being as your witness. And you make this, I shall free you all. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

10:49 Of course, that can only come from one place. But then be practical, because if you make a promise, you have to have some strategy for fulfilling the promise. Empty promises are just big disappointment. We never want empty promises. And so if that's your promise, good. How are you going to do it? I mean, that would be the question. Okay, you've made an incredible, extraordinary result. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:08 How are you going to do it? And then you reflect, yeah, how am I going to do it? I say, ah, I know the strategy. I know the one strategy for which that could actually be realistic. I have to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. Then I could. Then I could. Then, as the Dalai Lama so often quotes Shantideva, then for as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, so long shall I remain to alleviate the suffering of the world. Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

11:35 Okay, then it's realistic. And that's bodhicitta. But it comes out of that groundswell. Of immeasurable loving-kindness and compassion, great loving-kindness and compassion. The extraordinary is all. And then the bodhicitta rises and it's got deep roots and it's practical, it's realistic. It's not just some nice idea because that has a strategy. And then you think, okay, now I know what to do. I must achieve enlightenment as swiftly as possible for the sake of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

12:06 If we just for a moment drop down into the 21st century, into 2016, I don't think there's ever been a more urgent time in any recorded history for there to be more Buddhas. We really need as many as possible, and not just one. If we had one, let everybody worship him, and maybe probably kill him afterwards, because that's what we kind of do. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:25 But if there are 20 of them or 40 of them, man, that really shakes things up. Because then people would say, oh, it's not just one, it's not just Jesus, it's not just Buddha, it's not just Dalai Lama. It's not just some exceptional being all by himself or herself, all in class by himself. Now this is the potential of all of us, and so if there are multiple people achieving such perfection, that would inspire. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

12:50 So that's what we can do. That's bodhicitta. And Donglen flows into that. And Donglen is something you can do when you're watching the news. When you're walking down the street, when you're having a conversation, you can apply that throughout the day, many, many occasions. And you can mount them on your breath. So this is now vitamin-enriched mindfulness of breathing. And that is enriched not only mindfully breathing in and out, but mindfully breathing in and out, breathing out loving kindness, breathing in compassion. Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:22 So then it's a very powerful form of mindfulness of breathing. So that's the practice. That's the meditative practice of relative bodhicitta. And then, during the remaining minutes here, we have the post-meditative practice. It's quintessentially simple, but it's very powerful. But it's very cryptic also. Three objects, three poisons, three roots of virtue. There are three types of objects, and these are people, places, activities, things, all kinds, just objects of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:49 They tend to fall into one of three categories. They're pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, or whatever. A city, a country, a political party, a person, anything. We either find it pleasing, we find it unpleasant, or we find it whatever, neutral. When we find something that appears to us as pleasing, attractive, then the natural response of the ordinary mind is, I want it. So craving, that makes me happy. Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:18 Hold on, hold on. And then we try to hunt and gather. We cling to, attach, you know, and whether it's a person, a thing, a car, whatever it may be, oh, that makes me happy, I want it. And we try to get it. So craving and attachment arises. Something, a person, place, anything arises and we feel displeasure. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:35 It's unpleasant, unappealing, unattractive. Then we want it to go away. I want to distance myself, go away, change it, obliterate it. But aversion arises. Aversion may be hatred, may be aggression, may be hatred arises to that which is unpleasant. And then there's all the rest of the people, places, activities and so forth that do not appear to us as either pleasant or unpleasant. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

14:57 In which case, boring. And we respond by ignoring indifference, total indifference. Because, well, you're not helping me, you're not hurting me, so I don't have to worry about you. You don't count. So from this deluded mind, there are three types of objects, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral, in response to which there come three types of mental poisons. Report an error in the passage at 14:57 Highlight the passage at 14:57

15:17 Attachment, hostility, and then just ignorance. So what he's getting at here, just throughout the course of the day, is whenever you see any of these three mental afflictions arising with respect to any of the three objects, Then we have three roots of virtue. So this is a real twist. And that is, let's say something comes up, let's say it's a person, and you find the person very appealing and attachment, desire, craving arises for that person. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:48 And you see it coming up. And you know this is self-centered attachment. That is, I want something from this person. And you see it. And then instead of trying to just beat yourself over the head, I shouldn't be feeling this or what have you, you say, here's the mental affliction of treating another person as an object for my gratification. Report an error in the passage at 15:48 Highlight the passage at 15:48

16:05 And this is a mental affliction. And I experience it. I know what this results in. May we all be free of craving. You say, boy, I'm just one out of seven billion people on this planet. But I just noticed something that is a root of my suffering. Craving, attachment, greed and so forth. And here it is rising towards this person, this place, what have you. Report an error in the passage at 16:05 Highlight the passage at 16:05

16:24 And as it arises, then seeing this is a root of suffering and then just transmuting that, may I and may all sentient beings be free. Then it turns into a root of virtue. Right? Compassion. And then irritation, anger, aggression, hostility arises. Something unpleasant happens. We see that toxin come out, that poise of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 16:24 Highlight the passage at 16:24

16:46 And then again, instead of freaking out or being unhappy about it or just acting on it, say, here, oh, I remember this. This is one more root of suffering. And I'm experiencing, right now, it's disturbing my mind, afflicting my mind. And I don't like it. May all sentient beings be free of this. Because all of us, as sentient beings, we're prone to these. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:05 So instead of it being a little personal thing, may we all be free of this. May I be free, may we all be free. And then likewise for ignorance. Ignorance and delusion. Or just flat out indifference to other people and so on. And we see this coming up, where we're just indifferent, as if they're not even sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:23 And we see this, oh, this is a cause of suffering. A cause of suffering. And other people experience it. I'm not the only one. May we all be free. So that's three roots. Three objects, three poisons, three roots of rushu. You transmute the whole thing into virtue. So you transmute your experience of mental afflictions into something really quite sublime, into compassion. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:46 Final point before we take the break. During all activities, train with phrases. And so, I mean really not all the time, but you can season the day. You can season the day with phrases. Here are some taken from the Tibetan tradition. But you may season the day. It may be... May be a bit softer than this. And that is, you know, is your, one friend of mine, when he's driving in heavy traffic, you know, like, yeah, so big cities with massive traffic, happens to be Seattle, a lot of the traffic. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

18:16 And they just look around at all these people around him, all, you know, with a bumper to bumper. And he looks around them while driving and says, may you swiftly get to your destination. May you happily get to your destination. Be well and happy. Rather than just being pissed off, there's so many people. Just turn that into, and they're just reciting, may you be well and happy. Report an error in the passage at 18:16 Highlight the passage at 18:16

18:37 So find your own phrase. But to season the day with phrases, to season the day with Donglen, which you can do while watching television, engaging with people, just whatever comes up, you can season the day here, not just with relaxation, stillness and clarity. You can season the day by bringing in love and kindness, compassion, and it changes everything, changes the whole life. So that's it. That's relative bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 18:37 Highlight the passage at 18:37

19:03 Not too complicated, but a wonderful compliment to thee. No, not so. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:13 Enjoy this beautiful spring day. Not quite spring, but it looks like it. I'll see you at 7 o'clock. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13