Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 39)

0:13 So before we move on, I'd like to give just a very brief recap, especially this second out of the seven points, the cultivation of ultimate and relative bodhicitta, highlighting just very, very briefly, again, the unusualness of it, in the sense that almost everywhere else you'll find the relative bodhicitta comes first and then the ultimate, but for very gifted students, very dedicated ones who are intent on achieving enlightenment, I think, in this lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:44 Then Atisha put the ultimate first. And I'm not quite sure that I, well, I'd like to act like we have now very concise commentary on each of the aphorisms, because we've done the meditation, but really nothing to add in that regard. But understanding the words is important too. So this can be very short. Second point, cultivating ultimate relative bodhicitta, the outline heading. Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

1:06 So once stability has been achieved, let the mystery be revealed. And the ultimate mystery really is, I think, the very nature of consciousness itself. In which we are so profoundly in the dark in the modern world, scientifically. But it's the great mystery. Fathom that, what is the Ratna Megha Sūtra? Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:23 You have the quote, if the mind is comprehended, all things are comprehended. It's in your outline. If the mind is comprehended, all things are comprehended. I think it's literally true. And then examine the character of view. Then we have view all phenomena as if they were dreams. Clear? Nothing more to add on that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:43 Examine the character of unborn awareness. Unborn awareness. So just to alight there briefly, all of the activities of our minds, of the psyche, or if you studied the foundational teachings of the Buddha, the five skandhas, the five skandhas, right? Well, there's form, that's the physical aspect. There's feelings, there's discernment, there's a wide array of mental formations or activities, and then there's consciousness itself. Report an error in the passage at 1:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43

2:10 All of these are born, they're conditioned. Very central point. They're conditioned, all the six modes of consciousness, the five sensory and the mental, all conditioned to arising independence upon causes and conditions. So there's no way to say that any of those are unborn, because they're all born, they're created, arising independence upon causes and conditions, right? And the same is true, of course, also of the substrate consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:34 It too is conditioned, it arises independence upon causes and conditions. And so... So when speaking of unborn awareness, the character of unborn awareness, well, there really is only one option. And I said, it's so much easier for me to interpret this, to view, understand this in terms of Dzogchen, because I just take everything literally. Report an error in the passage at 2:34 Highlight the passage at 2:34

2:57 If you don't take Dzogchen, you might have to start saying, well, it didn't quite mean this or what have you. But in Dzogchen, Ritpa is unborn. Ritpa is unborn. And so it's beyond time. In the fourth time. So in this regard, this has very deep implications. This business of being in fourth time, which transcends the three times and yet pervades the three times. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:23 So it's not just off in some never-never land, but actually permeates the three. Let me give you an analogy which I find very useful. I've given it quite a number of times. Because as we are seeking to ascertain, to identify our own face, to recognize our own awareness as pristine awareness, Which is Dharmakaya, right? Not other than Dharmakaya. One image that I like, which may be helpful, you can decide, is, everybody know what a forklift is? Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:49 It's just a flat platform you use in farming and it just goes up and down to put bales of hay and so forth. And so imagine a barn, now try to imagine this, a barn in which there's just no windows, it's all dark. But right at the very, so at the top of the barn, right along that raft, right along the beam in the center of the roof, imagine there's a very, very narrow crack. Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

4:13 So you can just see sunlight coming through that crack. The rest of the barn is completely in the dark. So now imagine you position a forklift right under that, under that little line of light, that very narrow line of light. And then you lie on the forklift. And so when you're lying there in the Shavasana, That you look straight up and then right where the line of your two eyes, right above you, is that thin, thin line of sunlight beaming through. Report an error in the passage at 4:13 Highlight the passage at 4:13

4:43 You can see the sky, but very thin, pencil thin. So imagine that. It's easy. But it's a forklift. So now you're lying there, totally relaxed and gazing right there at that narrow band. And now somebody turns on the forklift and then you just start to elevate, be elevated. And your eyes then, of course, they're coming closer and closer and closer and closer. That very, very narrow bandwidth, that sliver of light in the darkness. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:18 You see, that sliver is getting a little bit fatter, a little bit thicker, because you're getting closer to it, a bit closer and closer. And then you come right to it. And then there's no barn, it's only light. Image. So, I simply admit, what's that about? And that is when we do this practice. of resting in awareness, resting in the present moment, releasing all thoughts of the future and past. It sounds, it feels like, it sounds like, that's a very narrow bandwidth because the future is right there. Report an error in the passage at 5:18 Highlight the passage at 5:18

5:50 I mean, it's just right there and the past is right there and it's gone and the future hasn't quite happened yet and the past just went by. And so it seems like a very narrow sliver of resting in the present moment and you can see yourself. Like that kestrel facing into the wind, that you can see yourself sometimes pulled into the future. Suddenly there's a lull and you start gliding forward. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:11 Or the wind buffets you and it kind of pulls back. So as you're very delicately resting there, hovering stationary with respect to the ground, it feels, and it's very delicate, very delicate, and very easily drawn into the forward or backward. And likewise when you're hovering without grasping. There's nothing to hold on to when you're simply resting in the awareness of awareness. Of course, in the present moment, where else would it be? It feels like a very narrow sliver of this is the present moment, tightly squeezed between the future that has not yet happened and the past that is already gone. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:49 So it seems quite like very slender. And then you should relax more and more and more and more deeply, and your awareness is immersed more and more deeply in that immediacy of the present moment. Then you may just slip through the crack and slip through the three times, through that narrow bandwidth, that narrow sliver of the present moment, and then just slip into the fourth time. Report an error in the passage at 6:49 Highlight the passage at 6:49

7:15 And that's when you cut through born awareness, awareness that arises independent upon causes and conditions in the present moment, which is very, very narrow. It's like, they say, oh, like three milliseconds. That's a single burst of awareness. It arises in staccato bursts. So very, very narrow, very short. Report an error in the passage at 7:15 Highlight the passage at 7:15

7:34 But you slip through that, and then you cut through, you cut through, that momentary awareness is arising by moment, by moment, by moment, and then you release, and you cut through to unborn awareness. And that's just timeless. It's simply beyond time. Now how is that significant? I'm sure this sounds very esoteric, maybe very mystical. It also happens to be just true. Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

7:58 But why is it significant? And this is really Dzogchen, this is deep Dzogchen, but profound implications for Vajrayana, whether or not one ever touches Dzogchen. And that is, when you're viewing reality from the perspective of Ritma, then you're viewing it from a perspective that's outside of time, transcending the whole framework, the sequence, past, present, future, from outside of that. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:23 So, from that perspective then, the past, the present and the future are all simultaneous. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:32 Which means you've always had, in the past, since beginning this time, you've always had bodhicitta, you've always had the potential, every essential being does. You've always had that. And then, sooner or later, we get onto the path, and now we're moving towards awakening. And then eventually... There will be a time, if we point to any person, let's say Chukira, at one point, there's good reason to believe, strong dedication, Annan, that's a very strong commitment to Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

9:03 So you have every reason to have confidence, have prayers, that you'll continue practicing. You're not going to stop, you're not going to fizzle out and become a disco girl. laughter laughter I'm pretty confident. I'm very confident this lifetime, but I'm actually quite confident. That's not where you're headed in the future lifetime either. You know, past the other. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:28 Been there, done that. And so for a person like Chukila, or others who are very dedicated to the path, then there's every reason to believe, every reason for confidence that you'll continue, and there will be a twine in the future. There will be a point in the future. Now, whether it's three years from now or three lifetimes from now, three thousand lifetimes, tomatoes, tomatoes, you know. But the point that there will be a time when Juhila, for example, is a perfectly enlightened Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 9:28 Highlight the passage at 9:28

9:56 That time's coming, right? Why not? Otherwise, what's the point? You know, you have the Dalai Lama as your guru, and it doesn't get better than that. And all the other Lamas you're training under. Why shouldn't you, really? And so if we kind of assume, well, okay, that's, yeah, yes. So then we have the past before you ever encounter Dharma, just wandering around. And then there's this present phase when you're in the Dharma but on the path. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:23 And then there'll be a point in the future when there's nothing more to practice. Perfect awakening. Like a Buddha. Why not? That's the whole point, right? So that's all good, all laid out very neatly. It makes a lot of sense. And then we just slip out of time and we see there is a perspective from which all of these are simultaneous. Report an error in the passage at 10:23 Highlight the passage at 10:23

10:42 That is, there is a perspective. From which they're all right now. But in this fourth now. From that perspective, your Buddhahood is not in the future. Report an error in the passage at 10:42 Highlight the passage at 10:42

10:54 From that perspective. Because it's all seen in one moment. It's all simultaneous. The ground, the path and the fruition are all simultaneous. From this perspective. Not from the perspective of the path. Not from the perspective of a sentient being. But from this perspective. Yes. So in this regard, then we come back to Vajrayana, setting aside Dzogchen, which many people are not attracted to. Then when we have this notion from Vajrayana, take the fruit as the path, we're not just pretending. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:26 We're not just pretending. We're actually plucking a reality that is already real. And we know it's real. And here's a real clincher. We know it's real when you develop bodhicitta. You know it's real when bodhicitta is aroused. Then bodhicitta is going to continue. And you have that commitment. But your bodhicitta will continue until it comes to fruition. That's the bodhisattva precept, therefore. I'm not going to give up. Then from that moment, and you can say, OK, now it's done. Report an error in the passage at 11:26 Highlight the passage at 11:26

11:54 It's only a matter of time. But then from out of time, it's already happened. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:01 That's unborn awareness. A little bit longer than I expected. But that's unborn awareness. But then if it's out of time, who cares how long it takes. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:13 So examine the character of unborn awareness. And then even the remedy itself is free right where it is. That's quite clear. And that is you never purify pristine awareness. You never improve it, it never decreases, it's never afflicted, never toxified. It's simply beyond the realm of possibility of it ever being anything than what it is. And that's primordially pure, out of time. Report an error in the passage at 12:13 Highlight the passage at 12:13

12:35 The essential nature... So, I've changed the next, slightly changed the next translation. And that is... Rest in the substrate, the essential nature of the path. Now you'll recall that the substrate, now we're not talking about simply the relative substrate, but this ultimate foundation of all, the ground of all, the ground of everything. Report an error in the passage at 12:35 Highlight the passage at 12:35

12:58 This is that primordial unity of Dharmadhatu, the absolute space of phenomena, emptiness, and Dharmakaya, Buddha mind. So rest in that. Rest in the substrate. Kama, the essential nature of the path. It's very interesting phrasing, and that's why I wanted to just make sure I've got it as exactly accurate as I can. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:22 Lam Ging Mo, Gu Jing Lama, Shant Lam Ging Mo means the essential nature of the path. So resting there, you come to the essential nature of the path. The relative nature might be rolling up your sleeves and getting a lot done. Let's purify this and let's accomplish that and perfect this and so forth. That would be the manifest nature. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:40 The manifest nature of the path is it plays out over time, you purify your mind of obscurations, you develop the perfections, the six perfections, and eventually you achieve. Now that would be the manifest nature, but the essential nature is simply resting there in the substrate is the essential nature of the path, which is to say that it's the ground, the path and the fruition. Report an error in the passage at 13:40 Highlight the passage at 13:40

14:02 Simply the substrate is already there from the beginning. It doesn't happen sometime, sometime later. Ultimate relative bodhicitta, they're not something that's freshly concocted. So it's always there. It's the essential nature of the path as you're practicing, and it's the essential nature of the fruition. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:20 And once again, all three of these are simultaneous. So I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Then between sessions, act as an illusory being. That's quite clear. And that is act as an illusory person. Illusory person, illusory being, doesn't make a difference. Illusory being, a little bit better. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

14:39 And then, That point, what it means also, is not taking yourself very seriously as a sentient being. Because you're not inherently such. Any more than I'm inherently a grandfather. I am by relation to a little boy. I'm certainly not inherently a Lama. I am relative to some people. Relative to most people. I'm not a Lama at all. Just an American guy, whatever. A client, and so forth and so on. A passenger. And so, Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

15:13 We are not even inherently sentient beings, and yet we're manifesting as such. And so consider that manifestation of yourself as a sentient being, like as an illusion. And to the best of your ability, view yourself as a person with your body, speech and mind as an illusion, viewing it from the perspective, viewing yourself from the perspective of Rigpa. Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:37 So you know who you are, and then you see how you're manifesting. As the old yogi Dwanamaji said, I imagine I appear to be human to you. And that's your illusion. He said, that's your illusion. But he has the inside scoop. And he said, insight is very different. So I will not try to comment on what he said. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:01 So ultimately, practice giving and taking, or sending and taking, that's clear. And then as you become a little bit accustomed to it, then mount them both on your breath. So this is like supercharged mindfulness of breathing. Imbued with loving kindness as you breathe out, compassion as you breathe in. Three objects, three poisons, three roots of virtue. I explained yesterday, and then in everything you do, practice with words. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:24 Not all the time, of course, but you season. You don't want to be talking all the time, of course, that would be boring. But in everything you do, practice with words, and that is season the day. Season the day with just reminders to articulate and at the core of your practice. So, those, that is... The second point, enormously important. And now to, as we segue into the meditation, I can comment in the classic teachings, I've learned Donglen a number of times from multiple teachers. Report an error in the passage at 16:24 Highlight the passage at 16:24

16:57 It's often stated that when you practice Donglen, and if you're doing it sincerely, really imagine offering from your very heart, offering this whole loving kindness. And imagine actually taking on the suffering, the afflictions of others. And then letting these dissolve into your awareness. Some of the classic teachings, very reminiscent of the Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, is practice Domen, first of all, with respect to yourself. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

17:27 And that is, we objectify ourselves. Many people do it a lot. And that is, if one has low self-esteem, one may think, I'm such a loser. We can have all kinds of commentary, but there's a root text. I'm such a loser. Now when we think that, and that is nobody likes me and if anybody knew me better they wouldn't like me as well and I'm such a disappointment to myself and my parents and everybody else who knows me well. Report an error in the passage at 17:27 Highlight the passage at 17:27

17:52 And so that was a bit of commentary. But I'm such a loser. I'm so disappointed with myself. How's that? Right? You noted that there are two people there. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:04 And there's the person in whom I'm disappointed and the one who's disappointed. And of course the one who's disappointed is standing a little bit higher than the... One's disappointed in. Like, you're such a disappointment to me. You got two people in there. And one's a little bit better than the other. Report an error in the passage at 18:04 Highlight the passage at 18:04

18:24 You know, so exactly what's going on here. And likewise, the narcissist. The same thing. And I don't need to give that person a script. I mean, we can all write it for ourselves. But their sense of arrogance and sense of pride, just the opposite. So exaggerated, high self-esteem. It's once again, kind of two people, you're doing pretty swell there. Report an error in the passage at 18:24 Highlight the passage at 18:24

18:44 Good for you, looking good, looking good. Who's looking good to who? It sounds like there are really two people in there. And so, in a way, that's not ridiculous, because from any moment we can look upon ourselves in the past and recognize, ah, I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I hadn't said that. That was really not skillful. That was really unwise to say that. I'm disappointed in myself for having said that. Well, that is the later one, is looking back on the former one. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:13 And then feeling regret. I wish I hadn't said that. Likewise, we can look to the future. I hope that I aspire, dedicate merits and so forth, that this will be the future. So it can be quite neurotic, as in the case of afflictive, delusional, low self-esteem, afflictive, delusional, high self-esteem. But there's also a way in which it's quite reasonable. The present look into the future self. Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:41 Some tokus can remember their past lives, quite a few can, when they're children. And a number of them say, oh, but then when I hit puberty, then I couldn't remember anymore. Quite a few say that. So then they are remembering in this life who they were in the past life. So there's nothing wrong with that, right? And so, from a deeper level, also, we can go back, we can do this within time, the former looking back upon the past and having an I.U. Report an error in the passage at 19:41 Highlight the passage at 19:41

20:06 relationship with the past self. So that would be vertical, right? Vertical along a timeline going this way. But you can also view yourself vertically, and that is view yourself from the perspective of Rigpa. View yourself from an enlightened perspective, looking upon your body, speech and mind, and yourself as this person, that person, from the perspective of Rigpa. Report an error in the passage at 20:06 Highlight the passage at 20:06

20:30 That's also possible. That's quite reasonable. Or inversely, you can be viewing your Buddha nature from the perspective of yourself as a human being. And then see your Buddha nature as potential. Like, I do have the capacity, the potential. If I strive, I will become a Buddha. So look at it from such a being, Buddha nature as potential. Report an error in the passage at 20:30 Highlight the passage at 20:30

20:50 Look at yourself from the Buddha nature, and you're an illusion. Act as an illusory being. Between sessions, act as an illusory being. But you can't do that in a non-lucid dream. In a non-lucid dream, you don't regard yourself as an illusory being. You say, this is who I am. But if you're lucid, And you're still doing things in the dream. Then you're viewing that dream persona, going here, doing this and so forth, from the perspective of being awake, lucid, in which case you're seeing yourself in the dream as an illusory being, because that's what you are. Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:28 And it's perfectly clear when you're lucid. This little person has a very short lifespan, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 5 minutes, what have you. And that's perfectly clear when you're lucid. So that is a very strong analogy. For viewing your present persona, your embodiment, who you are, from a perspective of Rigpa, at least by the power of imagination. And the power of imagination, as in Vajrayana, then prepares you for actually cutting through and actually seeing yourself from the perspective of Rigpa. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:57 That'd be good, yeah? All right. So what I'd like to do now is kind of just a variation. It's not quite Donglen, but it's a practice I love teaching, practicing. And it's a good primer for the Donglen. So please find a comfortable position. If you can be comfortable sitting, that would be a bit preferable. If not, by all means, any other posture as well. Supine would be a natural. Report an error in the passage at 21:57 Highlight the passage at 21:57