Transform Your Mind & Change Your Life Retreat - 7-Point Mind Training from Atisha (part 55)

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0:39 That meditation sequence I call meditation to die by. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

0:47 It's quite nice, isn't it? Very pleasant, very gentle, in the shallow end, not difficult, gets a bit more subtle, more subtle. That you actually can do on your deathbed as you're dying. That is, for a while, certainly when you begin dying, you're breathing. And it's much better to focus on that than be clinging to and worried about things of the past or worried about the future for that matter. Report an error in the passage at 0:47 Highlight the passage at 0:47

1:12 Just settle into that flow of clarity. And breathing in, breathing out. Then after some time though, you are dying after all, the breathing will stop. You'll breathe in, you'll breathe out, and then there will not be an in-breath. At that point, there will still be mental events taking place. The mind doesn't shut down immediately with the last out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:37 So then you switch tracks and you shift over. Since there's no more mindfulness of breathing, it's stopped. Then you shift the direction of your mindfulness to... A performance that's still going on, a show that's still going on. It hasn't run out yet. And that is the space of mind is still there and there's still events taking place in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

1:55 It'll be quite interesting actually. But it's very important that you are not just immersed in them. That you're not identifying with them. That you're cultivating this ability. And it gets better and better as you cultivate it. But cultivating that ability to remain still, relaxed, loose, without identifying and simply observe. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:15 Observe the activities of the mind. Observe them coming and going and then going and going because you'll observe your mind shutting down. You're dying. And so you'll observe the senses shutting down. They're just going, turning off. You'll not be able to see and hear, so forth. They're shutting off. And you'll observe the activities of the mind, memory, discernment, imagination and so forth shutting down because these are activities of the coarse mind that arise in dependence upon the brain. Report an error in the passage at 2:15 Highlight the passage at 2:15

2:41 And if the brain is damaged or it's dying, They will be impaired or they stop. And neuroscientists are shedding great light on the correlations. But of course, by and large, they have no idea what is the actual source of or what's the nature for the relationship between the neural activities and the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

2:58 And this actually sheds a very bright light on that point. So, practicing meditation may give you really no information about the roles of the hippocampus, the amygdala and so forth, but it actually can shed a very bright light on awareness. Which you don't get by looking at the brain. Because they're obviously not the same thing. So then you do settling the mind in its natural state. And now it's really going to settle in its natural state whether you like it or not. Report an error in the passage at 2:58 Highlight the passage at 2:58

3:22 That is, your mind is going to settle into its natural state. All the configurations, the activities, the memories and so forth, the functions of your coarse mind, your psyche, are shutting down. You're dying. And so you're now watching very rapidly. You may have not made a whole lot of progress in Shantideva before, but now you're going to have very rapid practice. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:42 If you can stay present. If you can't, then you'll just slip into it and then you'll have cognitive fusion and you'll die. And when you're dead you won't even know it, which I think is unfortunate. You should see the whole story. See it to the end. And so as much as you can, here's an ability to be cultivated while you're in good health. Young if possible, give you more practice time. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

4:03 And rest in that stillness, clear, relaxed, luminous, still. And observe the mind gradually shutting down. Observe the type of appearances that arise. There are some that are quite predictable. And you'll see all of that happening. But also, as we did just lightly, we touched on a very important topic. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:22 And that is, in this practice, the object of mindfulness is the space of the mind and whatever arises within it. Right? And usually there's stuff arising within it. Thoughts, memories, some things going on. Desires, emotions. But of course, as your brain is shutting down, there's going to be less and less content. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

4:39 Along the same trajectory as achieving shamatha. But that usually takes many, many hours. But it's shutting down. And deliberately. That is, you're letting it happen by not identifying with what's coming up. And so there will be many intervals. You already experience many of them. When you're attending to the space of the mind and its contents, except that there aren't any contents that you can identify. Report an error in the passage at 4:39 Highlight the passage at 4:39

5:02 In which case, it's very easy just to space out. Say, well, I'm looking. There's not anything. There's all weight. I'll just wait until something comes up. But this means you're not doing the practice. Because you're just sitting there, waiting. There's never a point of waiting. Because waiting is not a posture, it is a mental stance of unfulfilled desire. Report an error in the passage at 5:02 Highlight the passage at 5:02

5:21 I think it's the definition of waiting. That you'd like something to happen, it's not. So you're waiting for something to happen. Or unfilled expectation. You could be waiting for something really bad to happen. You don't want to happen, but expectation. So you're poised, future-oriented, but then you're not really in the present and you're not in the future either because it hasn't happened yet. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:44 And so, in general, in meditation, don't wait for anything. So if there are no thoughts arising, then attend to what's left in the absence of thoughts. And that is the space of the mind. And it does have qualities. And I will suggest that it's not flat, it's three-dimensional, it has no color, it's transparent. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:03 It's not inside your head or outside your head because it's not physical, so it's not located in physical space. It doesn't have a center or a periphery. It has no shape or size. It's boundless, open. So it's not, even though it's individual. So your substrate, your substrate, even though it's individual, that doesn't mean it's small. Report an error in the passage at 6:03 Highlight the passage at 6:03

6:21 It actually has no boundaries. So we can say, when you look up at the constellations, what's the hemisphere? Southern hemisphere, right? So Southern Cross, right? I'm not sure I've ever seen it. Maybe somebody can point it out before I go. So we have the Big Dipper up north, but you have your constellations. But then people see also the signs of the zodiac. Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:41 So they see the constellations. And then, of course, what the mind does is it connects the dots. It makes a drawing. And so you actually see a design up there. You maybe see in the Northern Hemisphere, you see the Big Dipper, you see the Sun and Cross, you maybe see a scorpion or a bear or fishes or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

6:59 And people see that. They've been seeing it for a long time, right? You've all seen the diagrams. You connect the dots. Well, if you look up there and you see either a Southern Cross or a Big Dipper, of course, it's not there. Because there's just dots. There aren't any connecting lines, of course. There's stars and one may be, you know. Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:19 One hundred light years away, or let's say 1,000 light years away, another one could be 10,000 light years away, and another one a million light years, maybe it's a galaxy and not a star. So they're actually not in any design at all. It's just the appearances, but then we connect the dots. So if you're seeing a big dip of our Southern Cross, if you're seeing something that really has a shape and a design and you're connecting the dots, you're seeing that with mental awareness. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:42 I mean, you're not physically seeing the design, because you're... Visual perception, just picking up dots, points of light. But you're mentally seeing, oh, there's that constellation, there's that constellation, there's that sign of the zodiac. And you're seeing it. You're seeing it with mental awareness, of course. So where is that image? Where is that cross or that whatever it may be, that image that you're seeing up there? Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

8:06 Where is that? And it's in space. I mean, if you're getting it out of a camera lens, it's going to be way deep space, right? But of course it's not in deep space. It's in the space of your mind. And where is it? Right where the stars are. So just illustrate the space of the mind is not a small space. Because all those constellations, all the designs, or people, Tibetans look at the moon and they see a rabbit. Report an error in the passage at 8:06 Highlight the passage at 8:06

8:32 We see a man on the moon, they see a rabbit. And if you're with it, Tibetans, they can show you how to point out how it's crouching, it's got ears and so forth. They see a rabbit. So where's the rabbit? Report an error in the passage at 8:32 Highlight the passage at 8:32

8:43 Clearly it's not on the moon. It's not inside their head. There's no rabbit inside your head. It'd fill your head. You have no brain. No rabbits in it. So where's the rabbit? Where's the image of the rabbit? Because that's all it is, is an image. It's the base of your mind. And where is it? 237,000 miles away. That's where the image is. But then not really, because if you go up there, you're not going to see any rabbit. Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

9:08 Not little ones that, you know, they haven't Australianized it yet. No rabbits on the moon. And so there it is. It's just to suggest, you know, it's a big space. yet. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:17 And so become familiar with it. Because when you're dying, after a while, that's all you'll be seeing. The content, the events, the appearance and so forth, they'll all dissolve. And your mind will dissolve. And the space will be less and less populated until it's empty. And if you can still remain lucid, the easiest thing to do is just black out. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:37 As if you're just very similar, basically identical to falling into stage four non-REM sleep. Non-lucid. So you completely pass out and you're not aware of anything. Not even the fact that you passed out. And that's what death is like. You're going into the dark and you're taming. You pass out. That's what normal people do. As normal people fall asleep non-lucidly, they're in deep sleep non-lucidly, they dream non-lucidly. Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

10:00 So most people die non-lucidly. So when the lights are out, when the show's over, and your senses have completely withdrawn, and all the activities of the mind have subsided, and all you're left with is an empty space, and all you're left with subjectively is a substrate consciousness. Well, if you've never ascertained it, never identified it, never known it, then basically no signal. No signal. And you just passed out. And then you die unconsciously. Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:24 Which is not a tragedy, but you did miss the last page of the novel. Which any good novel that's worth reading, before it says the end, you read it all the way. This is the end. So read the last chapter. Be conscious. Be lucid. When you're seeing the last page of your life. Why not? And you all know the whole story. Report an error in the passage at 10:24 Highlight the passage at 10:24

10:43 But for that, really, shamatha is crucial. You don't need Vipassanā, Dzogchen, Poha, all of that. Shamatha is sufficient to die lucidly. Get to this collapse, this disillusion of your mind into the substrate consciousness. The disillusion of the appearances now in six domains. They all collapse into one domain, and that domain goes empty. And if you can still be lucid, and that's what we were practicing right there for those three or four minutes. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

11:09 Now just attend to the space of the mind and be lucid. Don't just space out. Don't just sit there waiting or blank mind, but actually ascertaining. Know the space of the mind. Then you're preparing. You're preparing. But then, after a while, that collapses. And that is, you may be resting in the substrate, aware of nothing other than, excuse me, resting in the substrate consciousness, aware of nothing other than the substrate, because it's a blank three-dimensional screen, right? Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:38 And you're dead. But that only lasts for a very finite period. One of my favorite self-made mottos is the only problem with death is it doesn't last. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

11:48 Maybe as long as to drink a cup of tea. Maybe if you're really lucky, three days. But the notion of rest in peace is like three days maximum. Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

11:58 So don't want to carve anything. It's not going to last that long. By the time you're carving, they're already gone and there's nobody there resting in peace. It's kind of a silly idea. But it indicates that being dead is just a very short interval. And then if you've had some experience through meditation, then that also dissolves. Report an error in the passage at 11:58 Highlight the passage at 11:58

12:19 And when that dissolves, you're not just immediately slipping off into the bardo and having a lot of appearances and buzzing around as a bardo being, but you have that natural, spontaneous, effortless dawning of the clear light of death, which is pristine awareness. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:35 It eclipses, I don't know quite the words, best yours, it eclipses the substrate consciousness. One metaphor, it's not really true. The substrate consciousness dissolves into it. That's pretty good. But the substrate consciousness was there with the substrate, and now it's dissolved, it's melted into its ground, and instead of it being the substrate consciousness, it's the clear light of death, which is Ritpa. Report an error in the passage at 12:35 Highlight the passage at 12:35

12:58 And what are you aware of? Dharmadhatu. Not the substrate. So it's a pair, substrate-substrate consciousness, Dharmakaya, Dharmadhatu, Rigpa, and Dharmata, ultimate reality, emptiness, Dharmadhatu. So if you're lucid this far and you've had some experience, whether it's from Vajrayana practice, whether it's from Mahamudra, Dzogchen, or perhaps other ways, you've had some taste of Rigpa, then you may be able to remain lucid all the way through the dying process to the point that you're dead. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:31 That's resting in the substrate. And then beyond that, which as I said before, is kind of very strange because outwardly your body there is neither dead nor alive. Dead bodies decompose, alive bodies breathe, and you can be there for days. And there doesn't seem to be any upper limit, but usually two or three weeks is about as long as a yogi will remain and then figure out enough and go. Report an error in the passage at 13:31 Highlight the passage at 13:31

13:55 So as long as we can remain lucid, it's to our advantage. That's the simple point. And this is an ability to cultivate while you're healthy and not think you'll just freshly develop it when you're dying, probably a bit too late. So we move on a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 13:55 Highlight the passage at 13:55

14:11 So now we come to something very practical. We're on the fifth of the seven points. We're making good progress here. So here you are practicing Lojong. Lojong, learning how to train, to reverse, to cultivate, to refine your ways of viewing reality. Attitude, Lo means attitude. So shifting fundamentally your attitude about kind of everything. Report an error in the passage at 14:11 Highlight the passage at 14:11

14:32 Adversity, felicity, your life, the nature of mind, consciousness. This is a radical shift Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:45 in just your whole way of viewing reality. This is just one revolution type stacked upon another. But now, when you're practicing lojong, whether this one or other ones, then how do you know whether it's working? And the same thing with shamatha. If you're practicing shamatha, are you wasting your time? Is it detrimental to you? Or is it helpful? Report an error in the passage at 14:45 Highlight the passage at 14:45

15:06 There should be nothing mysterious about Shantideva at all. And that is if, as a result of practicing it, you're finding overall, not only on the cushion but between sessions, that your overall there's a greater sense of ease, stillness and clarity than is working. And if any of those things isn't happening, especially the relaxation, that's not working. You may be bearing down and being really macho about developing intention skills, but if you're not relaxed, then it's not sustainable. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:34 I've mentioned that many times. So as there are very clear criteria, nothing mysterious, you don't have to consult someone with great authority or find the right book. There's nothing mysterious about practicing shamatha. That is the criteria for it's really being effective, completely transparent. And now likewise then Atisha is going to give us the criteria for having jonged your lo, and that is trained your mind, that it's worked. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:59 And so we have, first of all, Here's the aphorism. The whole Dharma is synthesized in one aim. In one aim. That's the aphorism. And that one aim is what? Namely, subduing, self-grasping. So that's a fundamental criterion. As a result of practicing Samatha, is your sense of I Am as something inherent, real, ego, is that softening, loosening, fading? Report an error in the passage at 15:59 Highlight the passage at 15:59

16:27 Is it fading out? Is it getting softer and softer? And if it's not, your lojongism practice isn't working. And I know you can be trained in a monastery, in the debate, the philosophy and all of that, and be very good at it, and get the highest marks and so forth, and become very erudite, be a very sharp debater, all of that. Report an error in the passage at 16:27 Highlight the passage at 16:27

16:55 There's no guarantee whatsoever that it's actually going to have any impact of subduing your ego, especially if you're very good at it. And there's a lot of competition and debate in Galupa monasteries. If you're very good at it, and you have a very bright mind, you're good at memorizing, good at debating, good at analysis, maybe you're very articulately good at that too, then of course all of that can be fuel for I am, I am, I am better than you. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:19 In which case then one can ask, you know, what's the point? I heard of one Geshe, he'll have no way of knowing which one, but it was a Geshe. And he was apparently, I knew a student of his, I never met him. But he was just really outstanding. I mean, knowledgeable and sharp and clear, outstanding debater. He was a clear teacher, very, very clear, very, very good. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:40 And just overall, just a really good teacher and a really good geshe. And then somebody, some patron gave a large sum of money, I think it was $400,000, to his monastery to provide some habitation for monks because they had no place to live. So he gave a big, big donation. And this geshe took that. Report an error in the passage at 17:40 Highlight the passage at 17:40

18:00 Bought himself a nice car and gave some money to his relatives. He ripped them off completely. And then he told the patron, I'm sorry I invested it, because I wanted to see it grow a little bit. And then the investment went sour and lost all. I'm sorry. In fact, he just spent it all on himself and his family. It's a true story. And so I'm saying that, and I have no interest in saying the name, but it does happen. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:22 It did happen. And this person is still teaching. Got kicked out of one country, now he's teaching in another one. Because he looks like he's a real knowledgeable person, and he is. Little thing was missing with ethics. And of course, none of that had been applied to his mind. So the ego was there, the greed was there, and he didn't mind blasting to smithereens his fundamental monastic vows of not stealing. Report an error in the passage at 18:22 Highlight the passage at 18:22

18:45 You break that one, you're finished. It's like suicide as a monk. But he didn't mind, because he'd get away with it. So it is something Tibetans have known. And we see this in the Roman Catholic Church and so forth and so on. So it's not picking on Buddhism or Christianity. It's just that the mere fact that one is following a religious tradition. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

19:03 And practicing and studying, maybe even meditating a lot. There's just no guarantee that the arrow is striking the target. And you have to see for yourself. You have to see for yourself. Is that sense of I am, I am, is that diminishing or is it remaining constant? Or might it be getting stronger? And especially when people, whoever they may be, receive a lot of adulation, respect, worship, devotion, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:33 And Zongza Kintsudomuji wrote a very, very sharp, but very well-informed critique just recently. I saw it. Maybe some of you did as well. That was tough, eh? Really tough. On the way, Tibetans are training their tukus. And he's saying we're training a generation of spoiled brats. That was his term. That there's these five-year-old kids that are calling him His Holiness. And it's a kid, you know, a kid, and calling him His Holiness. And pampering them and getting everybody to worship them and give all kinds of donations. Report an error in the passage at 19:33 Highlight the passage at 19:33

20:04 And they're just turning into little, you know, spoiled brats. And so he's very critical of this, but in a very constructive way. He's inside tradition, so he's like family. It's like when I criticize America. I figure I can criticize as much as I want. I'm an American. It's my home. I can criticize America. I'll be a bit gentler with Australia. Report an error in the passage at 20:04 Highlight the passage at 20:04

20:21 You and your rabbits. Be softer there. But he's a tulku. He's a Buddhist. There's just no question. He really is representing, carrying on the tradition. So he has every right, more so than I do, to criticize his own tradition. And to say, we have to really take a look at this. Because we are not... They are not treating these tukus well. They need to have another kind of training and not this. Because even though they may be incarnations of somebody really great, we can be really screwing them up here by just enhancing their egos. Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:52 I am a tuku. I am a tuku. I am important. I am better than other monks. Like that. So one of the finest young tukus we have, I think in this modern era, is the tuku, the youngster, the incarnation of Dujung Rinpoche. Dujung Rinpoche. I have not met him. But he's now a young man. He's teaching, giving empowerments. And a number of my students have met him. They stand in awe of him. He's really, really an outstanding young Lama with old, old wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:19 So he's turning out really, really well. And he's had some of the finest teachers available. And one of them, who's now passed away, was Chajar Rinpoche. And I heard this, and I heard it from people who heard him say it, so this is not a rumor. But Chajar Rinpoche, addressing this young Chukwu in his 20s, he said, you have a great name. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:37 You are the incarnation of Dujung Rinpoche. That's a big deal. In Yigma, that's kind of like as high as it gets. You have a big name, but you have to practice from the ground up. You have to do preliminary practices. You have to practice from the ground up. Don't get carried away by your big name. That's about the most compassionate thing that Lama can tell him. Report an error in the passage at 21:37 Highlight the passage at 21:37

21:59 It's wise counsel. And he's followed it, and apparently he's just turning out splendidly. So there's a lot of hope. There's the Dujung Yangsit, they call him, there's the incarnation of Lingrabhache, turning out splendidly, Zongrabhache, splendidly, Ajavakamapa, splendidly, the incarnation. So there are some who are really being treated well, even though they have a lot of respect, they have really good teachers. And the other ones, already, this one I keep anonymous again, but I know one of his disciples, a Tibetan disciple of a very renowned Lama, and he said of his own Lama of the incarnation, he said, well, He's lost his way, because he had all that adulation, but he had a really, I think, quite difficult upbringing as a tulku, a big famous one. And this, again, if you're guessing, there's no reason to believe you're guessing correctly. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:48 But there's very devoted students, his Lama had his own right. He said, well, the incarnation of my Lama, he's lost his way. And disappointing, and really kind of challenged the faith of many of his disciples, who expected the incarnation to be just as great as the last one, or greater. And he's not. He's clearly not, you know. Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:06 And so this comes right back to the point, rely not on the individual, rely on the Dharma. So you see, well, that Lama has gone astray, but nevertheless the Dharma is the Dharma, and that's my refuge. And if that Lama has gone astray, well, you know, hopefully you'll get back. I asked, I think it was a young Tanabuja. Yeah, I did. Great, great Lama. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:25 I was translating for him in Sikkim last fall. And we're talking, somehow the issue of tukus came up. And I said, if you're a tuku, if you become a tuku, can you become an untuku? Report an error in the passage at 23:25 Highlight the passage at 23:25

23:36 Good question, okay, right? You're a big tuku in this lifetime and then you take rebirth and then next lifetime, you know, could you become an untuku? Report an error in the passage at 23:36 Highlight the passage at 23:36

23:46 Because it certainly looks like it. You know, they just kind of lose their way, lose interest in Dharma, are not doing any of the things that you would expect of a good Lama, nothing of that sort. Some of them are very hedonistic and having no interest in Dharma, so isn't that kind of like a non-tuku or an untuku? And he said, well, It can happen for a while. But if there really were tukus, then the seeds of Dharma are sown very deeply. And even if they go straight for a while, the Dharma will pick them up again. Report an error in the passage at 23:46 Highlight the passage at 23:46

24:16 You have to be patient. I thought that was fun. So overall, of course, a really good theme is don't be judgmental. Mind your own business. So the whole Dharma is synthesized in one aim. It is subduing the ego, subduing the self-grasping, the I am, the reification of self. All the hearing, thinking, meditation aimed at that. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:38 And so, and then we have, so we have, so then we have, here it is, this is from the old commentary, examine, do your physical, verbal and mental activities, do they enhance or diminish self-grasping? As you're practicing, you're studying, maybe you're teaching, maybe you're doing rituals and meditation, maybe you're doing social work, you know, some monks like TL, serving wonderfully as a psychotherapist, and he's a monk, and others are working in prisons, like Chukila, sometimes help people in prisons, that's a wonderful service. Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

25:05 And then many others, some starting schools, many monks and nuns are school teachers in Tibetan schools in India. So many forms of service. But the question, if you're really practicing Dharma and you're engaging in these various types of activities, body, speech and mind, is your practice enhancing, diminishing or having no impact on that degree of self-grasping? Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:25 If they reinforce self-grasping, then all your spiritual practice, your so-called spiritual practice, is heading for the eight mundane concerns. It's hedonia. And your self-aggrandizement in this life, in that case your whole practice, even if it's very diligent, effortful, intelligent and so forth, is all misguided. However, if your practice, your activity of body, speech and mind attenuates self-grasping, then that's the whole point. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:49 And so, and I'm just reading, once we release self-grasping with the opportunity, oh, that's true, good notes, we have the opportunity to realize our true nature, primordial awareness or pristine awareness. So as long as we're grasping onto self, I am, I am, that obscures the deeper reality. So as we identify ourselves as this person, this person by name, our personal history and so forth, it's true that Rhonda is a person of this age, this background and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 25:49 Highlight the passage at 25:49

26:16 That's true. That is true. It's called a relative truth. Or in Tibetan, Gunzob Demba, it is a truth that fully obscures. Gunzob means totally obscures. And Demba is truth. So it's a reality. Rhonda is a person. Mel is a person. Everybody is a person. Her too. And that is a truth, but it's a reality, but it obscures a deeper reality. Report an error in the passage at 26:16 Highlight the passage at 26:16

26:44 And that's the nature of conventional reality as a whole. Everything we know about the cosmos, fantastic science, wonderful science. It's revealing the nature of relative truth or conventional reality. And they are true. Science is brilliant. So much knowledge. A lot of it is so helpful. But it's obscuring a deeper reality. Report an error in the passage at 26:44 Highlight the passage at 26:44

27:03 Emptiness. Shunita Dharmadhatu. Emptiness. So the mind is real, but it obscures a deeper reality, pristine awareness. The external world is real, but it obscures a deeper reality. And so, as long as we are grasping onto, identifying with the superficial reality, that will obscure the deeper reality. As long as you're locking onto, really taking seriously, identifying yourself as this person, really, truly, as the whole truth and nothing but the truth, this is who I am. Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:35 Well, it is who you are, but it's not everything you are, and it's obscuring a deeper reality. So, in this way, as we can loosen the tentacles of grasping, then we can open up the possibility of realizing a deeper truth, and that, of course, is Buddha nature. The strong analogy here is within a dream, and you don't know it's a dream, so we'll call it from the outside a non-lucid dream. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

28:01 So a person outside says, oh, you're dreaming. Within that context, As long as you're identifying with the persona in the dream, the person you are with in the dream, taking that seriously, saying, this is who I am, this is who I am. Well, by that very identification, you will not become lucid. Because it's not who you are. It's a figment of your imagination. And as long as in the dream, you're thinking, this person will make me happy, but I really want to avoid this person. Report an error in the passage at 28:01 Highlight the passage at 28:01

28:30 I find that person very difficult. Oh, there's a nice place I'd like to go. Oh, I'd really like one of those. And so forth and so on. You'll never become lucid. So attachment and aversion, you'll never become lucid. Because you're still scurrying around from here to there in the dream, completely delusion all the way through. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:46 And as long as you're identifying I am this person, you'll never become lucid. Because it's locking you into that framework, which is a delusional framework. And so release all of that. Release, release, release. And then you may cut through and realize the nature of the dream and instantaneously become free. Report an error in the passage at 28:46 Highlight the passage at 28:46

29:06 So that's a big deal. That's the core. This is the criterion, the principle criterion. To note, is your practice working or not? Not just this particular matrix of practices we've been looking at for six days, but the whole. That's it. And then he continues here, maintain the chief of two witnesses. Well, there are two witnesses, broadly speaking. There are other people who are evaluating, attending to you, making sense of you, and evaluating, judging you on occasion. Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

29:35 Bosses judge their employees and so forth and so on. So there are other people, their witness, their appraisal, their sense of who you are, how good a practitioner you are, and so forth and so on. I mean, that happens. In Dharma communities, that happens all the time. Oh, such and such is a really good practitioner. This kind of goof off. This person is really arrogant. This person is very good. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

29:55 So people do that, whether in the marketplace or in monasteries or Dharma centers. It happens. So we have outside witnesses. And one of the outside witnesses, of course, is our teachers. And we may go for a consultation or ask for guidance, and then maybe the teacher will give us some evaluation. Well, you're practically going very well here, but this could be modified there, and so forth and so on. Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:15 All of those are the second witness. Second witness. And then there's the first witness. That's the first person. That's the person who has the insider perspective. It's yourself. So he says, maintain the chief of two witnesses. And that is, others may praise you, as an exemplar, Or an exemplary Dharma practitioner. They may think very highly of you, and maybe you are a very fine practitioner, but they're not the chief witnesses, for they see only a small portion of your overall behavior. Report an error in the passage at 30:15 Highlight the passage at 30:15

30:48 Of course, they probably don't see your mind. Very few people do. They don't see what you're doing in private. They don't see what you're doing secretly. They don't see what you're trying to cover up. They see probably what you want them to see, except for when you slip up. Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:06 And Abraham Lincoln said you can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. But not all of the people all of the time. And if you're fooling yourself, then here's what I would add to Abraham. If you are fooling yourself, you're totally screwed. That's my aphorism. And that is, if you are fooling yourself, then of course you're going to mislead everybody else. Report an error in the passage at 31:06 Highlight the passage at 31:06

31:25 You have no choice. If you've been dishonest or simply mistaken or foolish with respect to appraising, how are you doing in your practice? And you're living in this cognitive hyperactivity disorder, living in your imagination of thinking the kind of practitioner you are without touching base to see actually how are you. Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

31:41 Then you can mislead everybody. And so between the two witnesses, you are to cultivate discerning, mindful, intelligent awareness of your physical behavior, your verbal and your mental. So two are public when you're with other people, but they're private when you're by yourself. And the other one is generally private all the way through, unless you have a clairvoyant Lama or someone like that. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:05 And so you do have contrary to the belief of many people nowadays in academia, and I've met them. You do have privileged access to your own mind and make good use of it. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:18 So final point, we're right on time here. This one I've remembered for a long time. This on C, on the top of page 30. And that is the final, so you have those two. The criteria is you're really, you're cultivating a refined, discerning, intelligent, accurate appraisal of your practice. You know the extent to which you're still prone to self-centeredness. You know the extent to which mental afflictions of different kinds are still really coming up a lot. Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:48 And so forth. You know types of behavior that is inappropriate or unwholesome, that you're still prone to. And so refining that ability. And it's not being judgmental with respect to oneself, it's being wise, being discerning, being intelligent. And if you don't have that first witness, it's really hard. Who are you going to call on that's going to give you a sound or appraisal of yourself? Report an error in the passage at 32:48 Highlight the passage at 32:48

33:16 If you have a clairvoyant, omniscient Lama who's available, well that would be good. But then how do you know whether he's clairvoyant and omniscient or not? Because if you meet the highest ones... Like Chokye Tichen Rinpoche. He passed away several years ago. And he spent 16 days in the clear night of death. I never met him. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

33:35 But he's TL's teacher. And I just saw a video clip of him. Chokye Tichen Rinpoche. Great Sakya Lama. And I just saw a video of him. And I was just so moved. It was only like five minutes. But so moved, just watching the video on YouTube, that there was such purity, such humility there. And I think it might even in that clip, I think he did in that clip, he said, well, I have no realization, but I have such deep faith. Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

34:06 And then he died and spent 16 days in the clear light of that. But so just no ego and no claim to any realization at all. But then he showed his hand when he died. He was one of the gurus of the Dalai Lama. So the Dalai Lama asked you to be his guru. You'd probably think he had good reason. And he was one of them. So I've met many such people. Report an error in the passage at 34:06 Highlight the passage at 34:06

34:31 I mean many, many are my teachers, many are not my teachers. But it's the hallmark, the hallmark, it's just the common characteristic of really very mature practitioners. There's just, there's just no ego there. They're never calling attention to themselves, they're never praising themselves, they're never putting themselves above anybody, they're never showing off, even remotely. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

34:51 And Gyatradambuche, he's like the epitome of this, Gyatradambuche. Like he was just like over the top. He would say commonly, as I translated it for him for seven years, he'd say, I'm an empty Lama sitting on an empty box. Nothing. Nothing. And he had, he's Chinese actually, ethnically, and he has teeth through the hole, and he's like, I've got nothing. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:20 And he said, don't be like me. Don't be like me. When I die, I'm going to poop in my pants. That's what I'm going to do. Report an error in the passage at 35:20 Highlight the passage at 35:20

35:30 I've been all lazy, but I've done nothing. Nothing. I have nothing. No knowledge, no realization. Nothing. And then he guided me through the entire Vajra essence. It was the most incredible text I've ever read. He didn't miss a beat. 400 pages of the most difficult material I've ever read in my life. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:48 The whole path of Dzogchen. He just went through it like a hot life through butter. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:00 That's real. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:04 And then the final one, we'll take our break. Constantly resort to a sense of good cheer. you can really you can Here's one beautiful one from Shantideva, very often quoted. Something comes up, something disagreeable. And if there's something you can do about it, then what's the point of being frustrated? Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:20 And if there's nothing you can do about it, what's the point of being frustrated? It's just so simple. And it's so straight and we don't do it. Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:30 But you must ask yourself, something comes up that is wrong, something wrong. If you can do something about it, then good, do it. Don't be frustrated. Don't be unhappy. And if there's nothing whatsoever you can do about it, then what might be unhappy? So that's one of many. There's a lot of notes there. Report an error in the passage at 36:30 Highlight the passage at 36:30

36:48 But this also, one of the great blessings of my life is I've met so many mature, really mature, just to put it mildly, Dharma practitioners, monks, nuns, lay people. And there is that. It's not that they're always laughing and happy and cheerful like that. Not like that. It's not an emotion. They're not always in one emotion. Report an error in the passage at 36:48 Highlight the passage at 36:48

37:09 That would be kind of like a bit weird and mentally impaired. Just going around, what are you on? That's not a sign of mental health. I've seen the Dalai Lama on multiple occasions cry. Cry for compassion, two things. But I've seen him really cry. I mean weep, cover his head in a weep. And for only two reasons. I've been observing him for 45 years. Only two reasons. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:39 One is compassion. And the other is weeping out of reverence and faith. Never for himself. But he has the whole array that is of very wholesome emotions. He's not locked into just being happy all the time. He can be very stern. He can be very tough. He can be very powerful. He can be very gentle. He can be joyful. He can be very calm. He has a big bandwidth. So it's not to think, oh, you're all just happy, happy, happy. Report an error in the passage at 37:39 Highlight the passage at 37:39

38:08 You know, like corresponding to dopamine and serotonin levels. But it's what he's talking to, of course, is you're just maintaining a constant flow of eudaimonia. That's it. A constant flow of well-being. Of well-being. And that's through very difficult times, challenging times, horrendous times. But you're just cruising through it with its well-being and doing what needs to be done without getting flustered, without falling into despair, or freaking out, flipping out and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 38:08 Highlight the passage at 38:08

38:38 Constant. And I've witnessed that so many times. That is the hallmark. a person who's really practiced well. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

38:48 So, that's it. So we have two more. We'll cover those tomorrow. The pledges and the trainings, the pledges and the practices, by and large, they're pretty straightforward. And so I will comment here and there. And I'll see you tomorrow. No, I'll see you tonight at 7. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48