Lama Tsong Khapa Guru Yoga (part 1)

0:00 Culture, we have no equivalent. We have nothing which can close to what guru yoga is. So it's actually for us, it's kind of a quantum leap into a world that we have nothing to relate to. We don't know how to tackle this idea of a guru first. What's a guru? What's a spiritual master? Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:29 Why do I need a spiritual master? And then on top of that, to imagine that guy as a Buddha. What's a Buddha? Gosh! And then unifying oneself with that, what does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 0:29 Highlight the passage at 0:29

0:47 So I think it is a lot. And then who's Lama Tsongkhapa, by the way? Report an error in the passage at 0:47 Highlight the passage at 0:47

1:01 Can't you take somebody a bit closer to me? A 14th century Tibetan guy? You know? Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:08 I don't see the point really. So Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:18 I think if we forget what the aim is, you see, you have to understand that one Buddhist concept is that one's own mind is fundamentally pure. Your own mind is already Buddha, is already enlightened. You own the true nature of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18

1:47 The true nature of each one of oneself, each one of one's own mind has this omniscient state, this pure state. So Buddha, enlightenment, the spiritual path is not to be found outside. You don't find it outside, you don't find it in a book, you don't find it in a practice, in a text, you don't find it in another person. Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

2:12 The only place where you will reach enlightenment You know, it's in your own mind. It's by understanding your own mind. That's all. So Buddha is not to be found outside. Enlightenment is not to be found outside. The only place we will find it is within ourselves. You don't hear? Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

2:35 So come closer. Just come frontward. Please come frontward, people, you know, which cannot hear. Just put the chair in the middle. There's nobody to pass. Come. Report an error in the passage at 2:35 Highlight the passage at 2:35

2:52 Make yourself causally comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 2:52 Highlight the passage at 2:52

3:08 So then it Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:21 comes to the point to try to understand what is mind. It becomes very important to understand what is consciousness, what is mind, what is awareness, what makes me to say that I exist. What is it to exist? Why do I say I exist? Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:44 What is that thing that is conscious, that is aware? Report an error in the passage at 3:44 Highlight the passage at 3:44

3:51 You see, unless you experience that, there is no spiritual path. The thing that will awaken is that thing that is aware, that thing that is conscious, that knows. So what is the thing in you that is aware of thought, that is aware of emotion? What is that thing in which thoughts arise? Abide and disappear. If you understand that thing, that thing is your inner guru. Report an error in the passage at 3:51 Highlight the passage at 3:51

4:34 So to touch, to intimately know that thing that is aware, not what that thing is aware of, because that we know. We know the thoughts, the emotions, the mental images, the sense objects that we contact. But what is awareness itself? What kind of phenomena is that? Report an error in the passage at 4:34 Highlight the passage at 4:34

5:07 So if you discover that, if you experience that, then that's your inner guru. You realize that it's a space that is aware in which all our thoughts, mental images, emotions arise from. You see, if you ask yourself, where does my thought come from? Do they enter into one ear? You know, stay in my brain and go out the other ear, you know? Or is there a well in the mind on which, you know, the emotions arise from, color the mind, and then dissolve back into that well? Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:57 So when you visualize, you see a limousine, a limo, so suddenly your mind becomes huge, and then when you visualize a strawberry, your mind becomes slow. Now, how does it work? Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:13 You know, and Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:20 does a thought have a substance? You know, if you visualize a red strawberry, you know, so is the strawberry two-dimensional, three-dimensional? Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

6:36 Does it have smell? Does it have taste? And Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

6:48 where does awareness come from? Report an error in the passage at 6:48 Highlight the passage at 6:48

7:10 So if you experience that, if you find the answer to those questions, then you discover your inner guru, your inner master. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:28 And if you want to discover the secret guru or the ultimate guru, you have to understand, experience the ultimate nature of that mind. And Report an error in the passage at 7:28 Highlight the passage at 7:28

7:47 then, once you discover the ultimate nature of your mind, you are Buddha, you are enlightened. You will never suffer again. And you will see all things as they really are, on the ultimate point of view and conventionally. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:10 So those of you... Whichever experience of the ultimate guru, the ultimate inner master, the true nature of reality, you don't need an outer teacher. So Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:49 the whole aim of the spiritual path is to experience that. That's all. There Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:05 is nothing more important than to understand one's mind. Why do I have those thoughts, those emotions? Where does this sense of I abide? Where is this I? Report an error in the passage at 9:05 Highlight the passage at 9:05

9:26 You see, each one of us has a certain image of himself. Even I am such a such person, I have such a such name, I know such and such things, I have this and that skill, I have this and that memory, I like this, I don't like that, I want this. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:49 There is a guy in us which has all these hopes and fears. But if you check within the space of your awareness, Where is that guy that has all these hopes and fear? Can you find it? Can you pinpoint somewhere in your body, mind, where this I is? Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:10 We take it for granted that it exists. He has a self-image, he has an image, an opinion about almost everything. But if you inquire, where is that person which has all these opinions and point of view? Report an error in the passage at 10:10 Highlight the passage at 10:10

10:32 You have a hard time actually founding him. Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

10:38 Yet we are under the illusion that that is our most precious thing. That's who we really are. But if you inquire, it's like a mirage. There's nowhere that you can really pinpoint it. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

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11:29 See, no matter how many concepts you have about the mind, your concepts might be correct, but the concepts are not the experience. You're not seeing, you're not experiencing, you're knowing the words. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

12:08 So if you want to understand what the guru is, what the spiritual master is, you have to understand and experience your mind, your awareness. Report an error in the passage at 12:08 Highlight the passage at 12:08

12:24 And for doing that you have to look inside, there's no other way. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:35 What is awareness? And Report an error in the passage at 12:35 Highlight the passage at 12:35

12:44 the point when you ask yourself this question, you shouldn't come with a conceptual answer. Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

12:55 You don't want a definition of what mind is. You want to taste it. You don't want to know the definition of how to make chocolate. You want to taste the chocolate. Our Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:18 mind, awareness, consciousness is the most intimate thing in us that pervades all our thoughts, all our emotions, all our mental images, our body, our feelings, our world. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:39 What is that thing? If Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:07 you experience that, you experience something that is immaterial, that is beyond birth, that is beyond death. Report an error in the passage at 14:07 Highlight the passage at 14:07

14:19 You experience your own eternity. And Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:27 if you experience that, you have no more fear. You Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:40 touch something in you that is unborn and undying. And Report an error in the passage at 14:40 Highlight the passage at 14:40

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15:16 if you discover that, you discover your inner spiritual master, your inner guru. Report an error in the passage at 15:16 Highlight the passage at 15:16

15:49 You see, in reality it's so simple. You don't need to travel anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 15:49 Highlight the passage at 15:49

16:00 You don't even need to know how to read. Report an error in the passage at 16:00 Highlight the passage at 16:00

16:08 There are many illiterate people through time that reached enlightenment. They Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:23 just understood the nature of their mind. The Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

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17:19 problem for us, we are not able even to see our mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:27 To experience the mind for us is very difficult because we are not familiarized with it. We train to look through our sense consciousness to perceive the world out there, so we are very uncomfortable to look at the mind. And if we try to look, what do we see is an endless stream of thought and emotion and mental image. There is nothing pleasant to be seen in there, just agitation, restlessness, so it's not pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 17:27 Highlight the passage at 17:27

18:02 So let's distract ourselves and do something outside. It's more fun. Yet, if we want to find peace, enlightenment, to resolve the problem of suffering forever, there's nowhere else than within our mind. Nowhere else. We can postpone it infinitely, but one day we will have to look inside and find the solution. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:34 Unless we do that, will go on and on and on forever. Report an error in the passage at 18:34 Highlight the passage at 18:34

18:48 the mind, you see, you don't need to travel to India or to Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

18:56 don't even need to go downstairs, know, to the chai shop or to, you Report an error in the passage at 18:56 Highlight the passage at 18:56

19:06 It's always with us. Our mind is always with us. we just need to understand that mind of ours. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:29 We need somebody to help us, to show us the way, to show us how. For those which can see directly the nature of their own mind, they don't need an outer teacher. Those which can look inside and figure it out by themselves, goodbye, goodnight. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:53 Or you can sit here, I'm going away. We don't need. Direct experience of the nature of your mind, you have it. We need how to teach it because we have not that experience. So we need somebody to point it out to us, to show us how to look at it, how to experience it. So like Report an error in the passage at 19:53 Highlight the passage at 19:53

20:28 for any craft, we try to find the best craftsman to teach us. So same thing in our spiritual journey, we try to find... A person which has more experience than us, which has traveled that path of inquiry into the nature of the mind, and can pinpoint to us the pitfalls, and show us, look this way, look that way, here you will find this, there you will find that, just go, just follow that. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

21:07 So, and then, you know, you give your feedback, oh, I see things, I experience like that. Okay, that's fine, but look there, you know. So it's just that person has more experience than oneself. So, like, somebody asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama, you know, do we need a spiritual teacher? You know, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama answered, no, actually you don't need a spiritual teacher, but it can save you a lot of time. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:36 So that's the point, you know. If we want to reinvent the wheel, we can. But it's much easier if we use the experience of other people. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

22:02 So, of course, that's already a difficult point, is to find somebody that we feel comfortable with, somebody that has certain qualities. So in the teachings, it doesn't say that the person has to be eloquent, that the person has to be... nice-looking, know, that the person has to be from a certain nationality. All this is irrelevant, you know, whether he's young or whether he's aged. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:34 It doesn't matter at all, the person has character. What you look, the certain characteristic that that person is supposed to have. So first of all, the person has to have a tamed mind, has to understand the nature of his own mind. If he doesn't understand the nature of his own mind, how can he give that to you? Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:56 No way. It's like a blind person guiding another blind person. So one has to look for a person. So in the text they say certain qualities that a person should have, like a certain ethical discipline, training in a certain behavior and a certain level of... Concentration, samādhi, meditation, a certain level of perception of ultimate reality, understanding, seeing the nature of his own mind. Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:27 That person should be more knowledgeable than the student. That person should have a good heart, compassionate towards his student. student and, how to say, and Enthusiastic perseverance in helping the student, not being upset when they don't make any progress or when they walk away. So no matter what the student does, that person has that compassion, that endurance to help that student through its ups and downs, through the life. Report an error in the passage at 23:27 Highlight the passage at 23:27

24:01 And that has this genuine interest not to get the money from his student, not to get fame or praise. Thank you for your attention. Students reach enlightenment, that's the only purpose. So a person which teaches, that should be his motivation, is to share his experience with the students. Report an error in the passage at 24:01 Highlight the passage at 24:01

24:53 So these are some of the qualities that you should look for if you look for a spiritual teacher. So of course in this day and age it's very difficult to find such a person with all those qualities, qualities but at least they should approach that you know they should be close to that or at least you know aim So Report an error in the passage at 24:53 Highlight the passage at 24:53

25:30 it's good to go around and to go to many different teachers, many different... Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

26:10 one's progress to have many different teachers. Report an error in the passage at 26:10 Highlight the passage at 26:10

26:23 You have always to have that in mind. The purpose why you have a teacher is for that person to show you your own enlightenment, to guide you to your own enlightenment. The purpose of a relationship with a spiritual teacher is that that person helps you to reveal you your nature of your mind, your own enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:43 That's the aim. It's not to enter into a fascinating relationship with another person. We know pretty well how to do that in our everyday life. We don't need a spiritual teacher for that. Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

26:59 So we have to keep in mind that the aim of our relationship with a spiritual teacher is that through that relationship I discover the nature of my own mind, that I discover my own enlightenment, that I discover my own eternity, that Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:21 I become free from problems forever. I can realize the mirage-like nature of everything. Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:31 Realize means that I can see, that I can experience, not from a hearsay, but that within my mind I can see the thought as transparent, as a senseless, the mental images, the emotions as a senseless, this body as a senseless, this room as a senseless. Report an error in the passage at 27:31 Highlight the passage at 27:31

27:56 Not with a conceptual image of it, but through direct perception. Report an error in the passage at 27:56 Highlight the passage at 27:56

28:04 Instead of seeing quantum physics through theory, through concept, you are actually seeing it with your mind's eye. So Report an error in the passage at 28:04 Highlight the passage at 28:04

28:19 that's what we want. We want to experience what is beyond, that Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:34 experience which we never had. Because if we had had that experience in the past, would have never fallen from it Report an error in the passage at 28:34 Highlight the passage at 28:34

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29:30 .org community we have never experienced. Report an error in the passage at 29:30 Highlight the passage at 29:30

29:19 there's nothing more important, nothing which will bring us more happiness. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

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29:56 Oh, that person might be a bit more enlightened than I am. That person might know maybe a little bit more about the nature of his mind than I do. Report an error in the passage at 29:56 Highlight the passage at 29:56

30:07 How can I say that? Because that person seems to be content, because that person seems to have a good heart and kind and seems to be happy. Report an error in the passage at 30:07 Highlight the passage at 30:07

30:20 So how do we judge an enlightened person? He's not flying around. He's taking the plane like everybody else. He's eating food like I do. How can I say? So I think that, yeah, there's a joy, a peace around that person, a well-being. Each one of us, we emanate a certain energy by our presence. When we're angry, we have this kind of energy. Report an error in the passage at 30:20 Highlight the passage at 30:20

30:49 So each one of us emanates a certain energy. When you're in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, there's a certain energy around. Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:01 Like that, each one of us has our own energy. So we can say, we can have certain... All our perceptions of people are not completely wrong. We can... Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:20 Intuitively feel, you know, who's who, you know, a little bit. We don't need, you know, to know that person's name, language, you know. Just by the presence of the person, you can feel that everybody, every one of us has a certain vibration. Report an error in the passage at 31:20 Highlight the passage at 31:20

31:50 Then how it works? You see, whether that person is 100 % enlightened or half-baked enlightened. Only 10 % it just was put into the oven yet. 10 % enlightenment, right? So you don't know. Basically, there's no way you can say. That person looks, you know, be nice. How to say? We judge people. How do we say somebody is beautiful? So how do we say somebody is beautiful? Because we have an average amongst all the people we have seen. Report an error in the passage at 31:50 Highlight the passage at 31:50

32:32 You know, we have a middle way, right? So that person goes above the middle way. That's how we say a person is beautiful, right? So there's no other way. It's not that the person is beautiful by itself. It's just, you know, we make that kind of conception about. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:54 So how can we judge the enlightenment level of a person? No way. So all we can say... Compared to the average human being, that person is a bit more enlightened than the average level. That's all what we can say. Basically, it's true. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:15 When we see some of our teachers, like His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, they seem to be above average. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:26 Let's be honest. How can we say? If I say, such and such a person is enlightened, Average, you know? Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:34 What do I mean? I have not a clue. I just project that. I have no way to check. There's no test you can make on the person, no scale, no measurement. How do you say? It's just based on faith. I say, oh, the Dalai Lama is a Buddha. How do I know? What does it mean to be a Buddha? I haven't a clue. The only thing I know is that... Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

34:02 And that person Report an error in the passage at 34:02 Highlight the passage at 34:02

34:16 seems to have some contentment, some kind of control over his or her mind to concentration You know, in other Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

35:08 traditions they don't have guru yoga. You don't find guru yoga in any other spiritual tradition but Tibetan Buddhism. Watch that trip. that's good enough to start with. Report an error in the passage at 35:08 Highlight the passage at 35:08

35:04 how come that in Tibetan Buzis we made such a Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:23 In Christianity, you don't have guru yoga. In Hinduism, you have some guru yoga. But in our Western culture, we have nothing equivalent. Report an error in the passage at 35:23 Highlight the passage at 35:23

35:41 And that's why, for most of us, it's something so foreign that we don't know how to tackle it. Report an error in the passage at 35:41 Highlight the passage at 35:41

35:55 So it comes again to the understanding of the nature of the mind, as you will see as we proceed. If you understand the nature of your mind, you understand guru yoga. Report an error in the passage at 35:55 Highlight the passage at 35:55

36:10 If you don't understand the nature of your mind, guru yoga is something very difficult actually to grasp. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:20 Let's say, for example, in Buddhism one speaks about three types of faith. So we have admiring faith. So I remember myself as a teenager, I used to admire certain musicians. So I had this kind of admiring faith. I had admiration. Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:47 Faith in Zen, I thought these musicians were great. They were my fans, my heroes. So there were certain sportsmen and certain musicians. Report an error in the passage at 36:47 Highlight the passage at 36:47

37:01 I remember in Switzerland there's a person called Geiger, which he invented to put ski under airplanes. So he put ski... I went to school to train to become pilot. Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:38 Because of him, because of having read his book. So he was kind of my hero. So I had what is called admiring faith. I had admiration for that person. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

37:50 So that person became an ideal in my head. A meaningful... I just thought those persons were great in whatever field. Report an error in the passage at 37:50 Highlight the passage at 37:50

38:09 So each one of us, we have that type of admiration for certain person, right? Or we have had, you know, when we grew up out of childhood and we have to think about what we're going to do with our life, you know, so we have certain kind of admiration, you know, how do we choose this and that or like, you know, we have certain kind of admiration. Report an error in the passage at 38:09 Highlight the passage at 38:09

38:34 So in the spiritual field is exactly the same thing, right? So you try to see certain quality in other people. Right? In spiritual teacher, you try to have this kind of admiring faith, you know, to admire the quality of that person. Whether that person is alive or was a historical figure doesn't matter. Right? So, is that that person is... Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:01 Through hearing the description of the quality of that person, how he was flying here and there and walking on the water and this and that and how he inspired people and lead people to enlightenment, you kind of admire admiration arising for that person. If it's a historical figure and if it's a living figure, to what you hear from that person or to your own contact. Report an error in the passage at 39:01 Highlight the passage at 39:01

39:31 So with the spiritual teacher, First you start with that, you see, you have this admiration for his or her quality, right? And then, the next stage, you have the aspiring faith, you want to become like that, you know? You're not satisfied to be around that person, but you would like to become the same, right? So, for example, you know, many of us, you know, we had a musician we liked very much and we start crumbling our guitar ourselves, you know? Report an error in the passage at 39:31 Highlight the passage at 39:31

40:04 hoping you know to one day play like that person you know and often you know after a few months or years Report an error in the passage at 40:04 Highlight the passage at 40:04

40:20 buy the CD, you know? So Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:30 same thing with sport, you know, we might have had admiration for certain sportsmen and we start training ourselves, you know, hoping, you know, to become like that, right? So this is the aspiration to become like that. So that person is a kind of ideal that we want to emulate. Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:50 So Report an error in the passage at 40:50 Highlight the passage at 40:50

40:55 the same thing on the spiritual path. So you're not satisfied for that person to have those qualities. You would like to develop those qualities yourself. You want to embody those qualities yourself. So this is the aspiration. Aspiring faith. You aspire to gain the same quality that that person has. This is a very important point. Report an error in the passage at 40:55 Highlight the passage at 40:55

41:20 You have to have this aspiration that you yourself have the potential and the capacity to reach the same level of experience than that person. For example, we might have this aspiring but do we want to become Report an error in the passage at 41:20 Highlight the passage at 41:20

41:43 Like the Dalai Lama? I mean, do you want to have a 70-year-old body? You want to wear glasses? Do you want to have a Tibetan body? Do you want to wear those robes? You Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

42:04 see, do you want to be Tibetan? You see, none of those things we actually want. What we want is his enlightened qualities, not the quality of his mind. We don't want, you know, I mean, I don't want to become Tibetan. No way. Report an error in the passage at 42:04 Highlight the passage at 42:04

42:26 I'm very happy with what I am. I don't want to become Tibetan. And I would rather be 20 than 70. If I can be enlightened at 20, I would rather do that than at 70. Report an error in the passage at 42:26 Highlight the passage at 42:26

42:43 So, you see, becoming enlightened is an inner quality that we want. So, you Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

43:02 see, when we have admiration for somebody, an enlightened being, you see, for example, You might have a Hindu master, but he comes with all his Indian cultural trappings. You don't want his Indian cultural trappings. I don't want Tibetan cultural trappings. I don't need that. The Tibetan rituals, Tibetan this and that, that's not for that. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:30 They can keep that. I have my Swiss trappings. Each one of us, we have our own trappings. So again, you see, you have to make the distinction of what is cultural, what is worldly, what is mundane and what is spiritual. You see, for me, if a sweeper from Iran would be here, you know years old you know with cramped body you know completely broken you know that person is Thank you so much. She's my teacher. So it's the quality of the mind that matters. Report an error in the passage at 43:30 Highlight the passage at 43:30

44:29 It's not the outer appearance, the outer cultural thing. So Report an error in the passage at 44:29 Highlight the passage at 44:29

44:40 it's more difficult to have this type of admiration for spiritual qualities because... For us, it's mixed with all these trappings of the body appearance, the culture. All these trappings for us is kind of mixed with these spiritual qualities and it's difficult to tell them apart. You Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

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45:51 see, on the base of that person that you think is half-baked enlightenment or 10 % baked enlightenment, on that person then you make a mental game. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:04 You transfer, you project on that person all what you think is enlightenment. On that person you project enlightenment. So basically on that person you try to see all the enlightenment qualities. So whatever for you is enlightenment, you project onto that person. So Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:32 you project morality, concentration, wisdom, love, compassion, omniscience, bliss, peace. Non-duality, whatever for you is enlightenment, you project onto that person. Why Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:55 you do that? Why is it easier to transfer that on another person than yourself? Because the ego is so strong, our personality is so strong. If you have low self-esteem try to see yourself as Buddha, how hard it is. You have this heavy concept of who we are. We are not able to see ourselves as Buddha. It's easier actually to see somebody else as Buddha than oneself because the ego has such a strong image of who he or she is. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:36 So it's easier to project that at the start on another person and Report an error in the passage at 47:36 Highlight the passage at 47:36

47:46 by imagining that person having those qualities, since that projection happens within your own mind. You see, those qualities start awakening your own mind by projecting it on somebody else. Because who's making the projection? It's yourself. And where do you project it? It's again within the space of your own mind. So those qualities start, how to say, you start trying Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:23 to tame or have a feel of what those qualities could be like, what patience could be like. You know, what love could be like. So Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:37 you project that and the more you understand the process of seeing that process as an enlightened being, the more you can do that, the more your own inner quality will grow. But that's not what Guru Yoga is yet. Guru Yoga, Yoga means to yoke, to unify, to become one. So you project those qualities onto another person and then that person that you have visualized you absorb into yourself and your own mind becomes one with those qualities that you have projected out there. Report an error in the passage at 48:37 Highlight the passage at 48:37

49:22 So you visualize the guru coming on the crown of your head and then absorbing into you and your mind and his mind become inseparable. That's what guru yoga is. So you project those enlightened qualities first out there on an outer person and then you absorb them into yourself and that helps to dissolve the ego which is in the way. Report an error in the passage at 49:22 Highlight the passage at 49:22

49:46 So you absorb that enlightened energy in yourself and you try to see your mind as inseparable, as one with those enlightened qualities. Report an error in the passage at 49:46 Highlight the passage at 49:46

49:58 So you think that they come from outside, but it's just a trick that you play to your ego so that you can see through the ego to recognize or to experience the nature of your mind that was always there. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:14 It's just a skillful mean. You use this outer projection to bring that inside, to see through your ego to experience the true nature of your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:38 So it's a method. To discover your own enlightenment. It's a swift path. If Report an error in the passage at 50:38 Highlight the passage at 50:38

50:51 you understand a little bit the psychology of it, you project whatever ideal enlightenment qualities out there onto a visualized being or an actual being. And then you absorb those qualities into you. So at first you think that the qualities come from out there, that you bring them in. you know that you become closer to them because you bring them in and you try to see them as inseparable from you so Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

51:25 that it's a trick to try to experience your own inner quality your own inner enlightenment that's all that's all really that it is and Report an error in the passage at 51:25 Highlight the passage at 51:25

51:43 it's very powerful very effective if one you see if one has this admiring faith and then this aspiration to become likewise and then You see, you project these enlightened qualities there and then you absorb them and then you merge your mind in a non-dualistic way, without subject-object. It's not like the guru comes in you and you and the guru are two different things. Your awareness and his awareness completely merge. Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

52:19 But when you have that experience, you're still on the path. You come to a stage. Where you realize there has never been any separation to start with, that the whole thing was just a trick. The mind has never been separate from the mind of the enlightened mind. There was no being out there separate from your mind. The whole thing was just a trick to help you to experience the true nature of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:51 And if you experience the true nature of your mind, you experience the true nature of everybody else. Your guru included, all the Buddhas included. Report an error in the passage at 52:51 Highlight the passage at 52:51

53:06 You see, sense consciousness are very cheating. Our sense consciousness, I am here and I see the world out there through my senses. But when you go into the nature of the mind, this kind of subject, object starts disappearing. Within mind, it's not like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:30 The mind is nowhere, it's everywhere. There is no in, there is no out, there is no left, no right, there is no front, no back. The way you experience things within the mind, even if you say, I am an other, what is I an other within the space of mind? Report an error in the passage at 53:30 Highlight the passage at 53:30

53:53 You see, all our relative way of seeing, of speaking, completely changes within the sphere of the experience of your mind. So Report an error in the passage at 53:53 Highlight the passage at 53:53

54:15 where are the Buddhas? Where are the enlightened beings? Report an error in the passage at 54:15 Highlight the passage at 54:15

54:33 Are they outside your mind? Are they inside your mind? Is there anywhere that can be outside your mind? Is there such a thing as outside of the mind? And if there's no outside, how can there be an inside? You can speak of inside only as opposite of outside. Report an error in the passage at 54:33 Highlight the passage at 54:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:34 Nama Yeshe used to say, language is always dualistic. Language is very limited. To describe experience, there's no word actually to describe this kind of thing. Like, you see, conventionally, how do you describe the taste of sugar? Yeah, you can write a lot of sentences about the taste of sugar, but it will never give you the taste of sugar. So I think here it's exactly the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 55:34 Highlight the passage at 55:34

56:11 You try, you attempt through poetry, through music, through philosophy, you try to describe something, but it's only the words, it's never the taste itself. Report an error in the passage at 56:11 Highlight the passage at 56:11

56:26 So there are just things that point to that direction, that aim at, but it's never the experience. But there are helpful tools because they point towards that. Report an error in the passage at 56:26 Highlight the passage at 56:26

· · · silence, 2 minutes

58:17 So there are people, you know, which know a lot of words to describe the taste of sugar. And there might be some people which are illiterate and don't know how to describe the taste of sugar. Report an error in the passage at 58:17 Highlight the passage at 58:17

58:35 Yet both in exactly the same way can taste sugar. Report an error in the passage at 58:35 Highlight the passage at 58:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

59:34 So this is the heart, you see. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:40 The shortcut in Tibetan Buddhism for reaching enlightenment is through the practice of guru yoga. And that's... A little bit how it works. You project those qualities out there and then you invite those qualities inside and you merge them with your own mind and it helps you to reveal the nature of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

1:00:04 You see, it's very direct because you don't need any concept. It's direct experience. You imagine those qualities, you bring them into you and you experience them. You merge your mind with those qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:04 Highlight the passage at 1:00:04

1:00:28 It's a question of experience, it's not a question of words. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:28 Highlight the passage at 1:00:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:01:09 You see, there's so many things there. There's so many things. Now, if you visualize a Buddha, is that Buddha outside yourself or inside? If Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09 Highlight the passage at 1:01:09

1:01:35 you visualize a limousine, is that inside or outside? It Report an error in the passage at 1:01:35 Highlight the passage at 1:01:35

1:01:48 seems quite a trivial question, but actually it's very, very deep. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48 Highlight the passage at 1:01:48

1:02:03 Because the whole tantra is based on this idea. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:09 If you say on each atom there's a Buddha, Surrounded by countless bodhisattvas? If you imagine that, where are those Buddhas? Within your mind or outside? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:49 You see, what is important is not the answer. What's important is the question mark. You see, you might not find an answer with concept, but the question mark brings you to a certain experience. And that's what matters. It's a little bit the principle of Zen Korn. There's no rational answer to that thing, but it brings you to a certain space. And that's what you want. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:22 So those questions, they bring you to a certain space. Same thing if you use Madhyamaka reasoning, it's like a Zen con. It brings you to a certain space, to a certain absence, what Report an error in the passage at 1:03:22 Highlight the passage at 1:03:22

1:03:59 we take for granted that is there. You discover that it's not there in such a way. You experience an absence. And Report an error in the passage at 1:03:59 Highlight the passage at 1:03:59

1:04:16 that absence reveals to yourself how things really are. In that space, in that absence, things as it is can appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:16 Highlight the passage at 1:04:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:05:00 Now our problem, why it doesn't work for us, is Report an error in the passage at 1:05:00 Highlight the passage at 1:05:00

1:05:17 that our inner space is suffocating with stuff. There is no space. to enter or to reveal itself because we're so full. full of thoughts, full of emotion, full of mental image. There's no space at all in there to reveal anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:39 not that it's not there, it's simply... And I said, look at the purity of your mind. Where? Come on, what are you speaking about? I see you just, you know, look with, you know. Look at the space like nature of the mind. I don't see any space. Look at the gap between thoughts. There's no gap between my thoughts. Where does the emotion come from? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:39 Highlight the passage at 1:05:39

1:06:07 I haven't a clue. They're just there. They take the whole space. So Report an error in the passage at 1:06:07 Highlight the passage at 1:06:07

1:06:26 there. Then you come to the practice. You see? So you project those qualities out there. And then through those qualities you start reducing. You start taming this wild mind. How? By first taking refuge in those qualities, having this admiration, this aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:26 Highlight the passage at 1:06:26

1:06:53 And then you bow down to those qualities. So it makes the ego which is inflated to pride in whatever qualities he might have. So you come down a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:53 Highlight the passage at 1:06:53

1:07:13 Just bow down a little bit. Just bow down, pay respect to these enlightened qualities. So this inflated ego, you kind of subdue it a little bit to bowing down by showing respect, being humble. So it kind of softens the ego, that pride, that puffing up. We all have qualities and if you look from those qualities, of course, compared to average, We can say, you know, I have a little bit this and that quality, you know. So, of course, and then the ego, you know, becomes, you know, I'm average, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:55 The ego puffs up, right? Yet, you know, compared to the enlightened qualities that we really want, you know, we're baby, you know, we're down there, you know. We're below the carpet in terms of enlightened qualities. average, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:10 So to remind ourselves like that, to those Enlightenment qualities, we bow down. Can you hear, Judith? So that's Report an error in the passage at 1:08:10 Highlight the passage at 1:08:10

1:08:25 the idea of bowing down. It's an antidote to pride. So you see, again, if you do 100,000 prostrations to make bodybuilding, you miss the point. point, know, you know. You say, I'm a bit fat, let's do some prostration. Let's keep healthy, let's do prostration. So again, the idea is supposed to be an antidote to pride. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:25 Highlight the passage at 1:08:25

1:08:56 So you have to keep that in mind. It's not to feel strong, to be healthy, to be fit. If it comes by the way, why not? But that's not the main motivation. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:12 When I try to do prostration, I say, look, I'm going to grow old, sick and dead. I haven't a clue what's going to happen after. But if my mind continues with all these beautiful thoughts and so on, all these habits I have, I'm not sure where I'm going to end up. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:40 So I'm not so proud of my state of being. I have no clairvoyance to see where I'm going to rebirth. I have no control. I don't see pure land. I don't see my reservation in that inn, in that pure land. Rene, you're welcome. We're waiting for you. I don't see anything like that. For me, death is just a big black hole. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:40 Highlight the passage at 1:09:40

1:10:04 I'm not sure. I don't have any great confidence. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:04 Highlight the passage at 1:10:04

1:10:18 I have a certain faith that my mind is something immaterial, I have a certain experience, a certain taste of the nature of the mind, and I can see something immaterial, and that it comes from the previous moment, so I can infer that that mind existed before birth, that will go on after death, that level of faith I have. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:18 Highlight the passage at 1:10:18

1:10:42 But enlightenment I have never experienced. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:42 Highlight the passage at 1:10:42

1:10:48 That state, I don't experience it now. And since I don't experience it now, I can infer that I never experienced it. So there's something missing in me. It's my enlightenment. I really can see that because I'm suffering. So I can infer that I'm not enlightened because enlightenment is a state without suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:48 Highlight the passage at 1:10:48

1:11:11 So when I bow down, you see, what I bow down to is to that enlightened state that I have never reached. I bow down my ego. I put down my ego in front of that state I have never reached. And I make thumbs up to all the guys that got it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11:11

1:11:31 Because we are as old as they are. We are beginning less as them. And those guys and girls, they reached enlightenment. I'm still what I am. So I bow down to those guys who made it. Despite my feeling I'm smart, I haven't got it yet. They got it. They might be shepherds, but they're enlightened. And I'm a Western 21st century guy, born in the West, I'm not enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:31 Highlight the passage at 1:11:31

1:12:00 And that guy doesn't know how to read or write, he's enlightened. I bow down. So you see, that's the idea of bowing down, is bowing down either to your future state of enlightenment that you want to, you know, you put your ego down in front of that state, or to any beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:00 Highlight the passage at 1:12:00

1:12:34 to that enlightened state and who's bowing down is the ego we know Report an error in the passage at 1:12:34 Highlight the passage at 1:12:34

1:12:48 It feels good. The ego which always wants to be the best, the smartest, fighting in the middle of people. So, slow down a bit. Come down. Suddenly you experience a softness. Oh, okay. I don't need to be the best all the time. I can be average. And actually it's comfortable to be average. You don't need this puffing up, this... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:48 Highlight the passage at 1:12:48

1:13:19 actually to bow down with the it makes you feel whole, it makes you feel wholesome, it makes you feel, you know, to say, it's such a beautiful thing to be able to... Thank you so much. Or to your own future enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:19 Highlight the passage at 1:13:19

1:13:44 So it's very healing for the mind to bow down. And that, you see, that healing of the mind that reduces the ego. So the more you reduce the ego, the more you have chance then to recognize through the ego the nature of your mind. You see, the more the ego gets subdued, gets tamed, gets out of the way, the more you can see through. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:44 Highlight the passage at 1:13:44

1:14:11 true, see. You see, for us, why we cannot experience the nature of the mind is because the ego takes the whole space. He has taken so much space that the nature of the mind we cannot see. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:27 So prostration, bowing down, can subduce that, tames that, especially the aspect of pride. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:41 You see, if you understand the psychology of it, you start to understand. You see, often... How to say, the Tibetan way of doing things, you do a hundred thousand and you see how it works. They tell you, do that for a few years and you'll figure out how it works. They don't try to explain you psychologically how it works. We are in Western culture, so if we have some kind of psychological explanation, it might help some of us to understand how it works. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:41 Highlight the passage at 1:14:41

1:15:27 Then the second obstacle. obstacle. This is a funny thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:27 Highlight the passage at 1:15:27

1:15:51 Yeah, I don't need the clip pattern. Yeah, I think it's good. It's OK. Thank you. Now, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:05 there's another obstacle to recognize the nature of your mind. It's a tightness, a stinkiness, a retraction of the mind, the ego, kind of me and mine. This is me and this is mine and I have to protect it at all costs. And it's very stiff. How do you release that? It's by generosity, by giving, by loosening up, by opening up, by giving. So that's why the second practice you do after bowing down to reduce the pride, you kind of do giving. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:05 Highlight the passage at 1:16:05

1:16:53 You give, you make offerings, you be generous, you share, you open up. So of course at the beginning, because one is too attached to things, Buddhism is very skillful. You just imagine giving. So it doesn't cost too much. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:15 I can visualize giving. It's no big deal. I can do it. you very much. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:15 Highlight the passage at 1:17:15

1:17:22 Yet it trains the mind, you see, it trains the mind in that attitude of giving, of opening up, of releasing, you know. So it's very important because psychologically, whether you actually give physically or not doesn't matter. See, psychologically is the state of mind, of giving, of opening up, of releasing, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:17:22 Highlight the passage at 1:17:22

1:17:47 And that loosens up the ego again a little bit more, you see. You see, because the tightness, you see the ego is very stingy, very protective, very me and mine and I don't want to let go anything, you know. I don't even want to give you a truffle. All these truffles are mine. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:18 Yet, if one gives the truffle away, it feels good, isn't it? You know, one feels, oh, so happy, you know, because the person makes a smile. Thank you. It feels good to give. So why does it feel good? It's because there's an opening, a releasing of the ego, of the tightness, the me, the mind. Kind of like that. So again, the more you give, the more you open up, the more the tightness of the ego gets released and the more there is space to recognize the nature of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18:18

1:18:55 The ego takes less space. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:55 Highlight the passage at 1:18:55

1:19:01 And also, the more you give, actually, the more the heart opens. You see, now, in tantra, physiologically, where the mind truly resides is in the heart chakra. So the primordial mind or the most subtle level of the mind is not in the brain, it's in the heart. So the more you give, the more you love, the more you open up your heart. You see, the more your mind becomes vast and open, and when you plunge into it, instead of plunging into a tiny little hole, if your heart is more open, you plunge into something more spacious, kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:44 So you see, the more you give, the more your heart opens up, and the more when you merge into the nature of the mind, your mind is vast and spacious. So that's why in Tantra or in Buddha there's so much giving because giving opens the heart, makes your mind very spacious, very broad, very vast. And then when you meditate on its nature, instead of meditating on a tiny little mind, you meditate on a huge mind. So giving is very, very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:20 Really this tightness of the heart. You see, even in tantra and completion stage, when you try to meditate on the channel, winds and drop, things like that, if you don't do a lot of generosity, the chakras are tight, the central channel is tight, you cannot enter. So that's why you have to do a lot of offering, a lot of visualized offering, actual offering. It's this attitude of giving that opens up. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20:20

1:20:50 you know that's why you know why Many masters ask us to serve others. It's to remove that tightness. You serve in center, you serve as teacher, you serve as taking care of others. Serving is being there for others. Whether it's physically, whether it's through speech, or through mind, through imagination, it doesn't matter, but it's break open, break free, loosen up. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:50 Highlight the passage at 1:20:50

1:21:28 And actually, the more you do that, You start discovering the joy of actually that space when you give, when you're there for others. Because you see, the ego is self-centered, me, me, me. But the ego is an illusion. So if you start serving others, being there for others, the ego disappears. It's not there. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:28 Highlight the passage at 1:21:28

1:21:55 That's why we experience that well-being when we're there for others. right while you you care Report an error in the passage at 1:21:55 Highlight the passage at 1:21:55

1:22:00 Because the ego is not there, or less there. And the mind is spacious and there is peace, there is well-being, because the ego is not this tightness. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:00 Highlight the passage at 1:22:00

1:22:24 You see, by giving you discover the joy of non-attachment, the peace there is in not being attached to things. It doesn't matter whether you have things or not, but as soon as you have attachment to things, your mind is tight. You have fear of losing. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:24 Highlight the passage at 1:22:24

1:22:42 This and that. Your mind is tight. There's fear there. There's tension there. As soon as there's attachment, there's tension in the mind. The mind is not open, spacious. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:42 Highlight the passage at 1:22:42

1:23:03 So that's why people which have not much attachment, you see, the less attachment you have, the more peace and joy you actually have. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:15 And it doesn't matter how much you own. What matters is the state of mind, whether you attach to it or not. You can have only one cup, but if you attach to it, you suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:15 Highlight the passage at 1:23:15

1:23:31 You can own a big mansion and two, three limousines. If you're not attached to it, your mind is at peace. So it's the attachment that is the problem, the holding. And to remove that, the best way is to giving. Giving is the opposite of being attached to things. So there's a spiritual practice, you see, amongst Tibetans, whenever people noticed that they were attached to something, they would give it away, to stay in that mind of being non-attached. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:31 Highlight the passage at 1:23:31

1:24:07 So as soon as they discover, oh, I'm attached to that, oh, that's for you. And they would buy things only... Below, you see, there's the average, again, I like the average level, so there's the average level of what is beautiful, so they will always buy something below average level, so that the mind of attachment for them not to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:07 Highlight the passage at 1:24:07

1:24:29 So instead of buying the most beautiful clothes, they would buy second-hand clothes, so that the mind of attachment could arise. Even though they might have the money to buy the best, but they wouldn't buy it so that the mind of attachment could not arise. So instead of buying an Apple computer, we take a Toshiba. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:25:00 Not to arise, right? And that you can see in our everyday life. You know how we are, we want always the best. But if you take the second best, you see that there's not that height of attachment arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:00 Highlight the passage at 1:25:00

1:25:24 And again, if you do that, you have more peace of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:24 Highlight the passage at 1:25:24

1:25:47 And I think we all know, you know, when we are parents, often when we have the joy of giving presents, we experience more joy than the person, the child that actually receives it. So the joy of giving is actually, we notice that that state of mind is actually more pleasant than actually receiving a gift. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:47 Highlight the passage at 1:25:47

1:26:09 So the joy is... You know, in the person who is giving. So actually a spiritual master, you know, when somebody makes a present to them, they take joy in that state of mind of that other person, not in the actual gift. They rejoice in the state of mind of that person of giving. So they take joy in their state of mind, not on the present themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:39 So I think myself, you see, I have done 100,000 mandala offerings and I found nothing more stupid. than offering 100,000 times Mount Meru and the Four Continents. Nothing more stupid I have ever done. I don't believe at all that the Mount Meru and the Four Continents ever existed. I don't believe that it ever existed, that it exists now and that it will ever exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:39 Highlight the passage at 1:26:39

1:27:10 Yet I offered it 100,000 times. Can you believe that? Report an error in the passage at 1:27:10 Highlight the passage at 1:27:10

1:27:23 It's amazing, you know, you need a lot of faith to do that, right? But Report an error in the passage at 1:27:23 Highlight the passage at 1:27:23

1:27:37 what I notice, what I experience is the fact of a hundred thousand times you offer, you know, that you generally from the heart, you offer, you know, so you visualize the enlightenment state in front and you offer to that enlightenment all what you are, all what exists, all what there is, you see, and so you offer that. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:28:00 To that enlightenment state. Imagine that that enlightenment state or that enlightenment being experiences the joy of you having offered, you see. And then you receive the blessing. His enlightenment quality gets transferred into you. Right? So it doesn't matter at all whether you are for a chewing gum or Mount Meru. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:00 Highlight the passage at 1:28:00

1:28:24 It doesn't matter at all. What matters is the state of mind that you go through. So basically what you offer is the whole universe, whatever you are, with your friend, enemy, stranger, your body, mind, it doesn't matter. It's the fact of giving. So you give all what you are, with your attachment, with your anger, with your husband, children, car, job, worries, all that you give, all what you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:59 You give all that to the enlightened state. You see, your ego is completely given away. So this tightness in the heart... What happens experientially is that your heart opens up. Your heart becomes very soft, full of light and open, spacious. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:59 Highlight the passage at 1:28:59

1:29:27 You start experiencing a well-being of this giving, giving, giving, giving endlessly. And you do that for months on end. So, for example, Lama Tsongkhapa, I said, I don't know, one million, three million, how many mandalas did he offer? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:27 Highlight the passage at 1:29:27

1:29:46 Anyway, some millions. We are not in numbers, right? You see, the importance is the state of mind. So, for example, another example is that Atisha had a disciple which had deep samādhi experience. It was great yogi, deep samādhi. And Dromtonpa came to visit him and he saw his mandala set was covered with dust. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:30:14 And then Dromtonpa asked him, Oh, you're not offering mandala anymore? He said, No, no, I'm having deep samādhi, I'm in deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:14 Highlight the passage at 1:30:14

1:30:25 I don't have time to offer a mandala. I'm just, you know, wherever I am. And then Dronpa said, Oh, you know, Atisha still offers mandala and his meditation must be much better than yours. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:25 Highlight the passage at 1:30:25

1:30:43 So let's try. So he started offering a few mandalas every day again, you know, and he noticed that his meditation became much deeper. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:43 Highlight the passage at 1:30:43

1:30:54 So, you see, these are kind of... Things that true experience that you see, that the more you give, if every day you give, you see if you take the habit every day of giving, of giving, you see that when you stop doing it, that your mind starts retracting, your heart becomes tight again, and if you go again to that state of mind of giving, your heart opens up again. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:54 Highlight the passage at 1:30:54

1:31:25 So you see, for it to be true giving, You must not have any expectation in return because that's not true giving, this is business, right? So, you know, amongst partner, with children, you know, so often our giving is mixed with some kind of expectation in return, you know. Be just for the child to be peaceful for five minutes, you know, there's already an expectation there, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:25 Highlight the passage at 1:31:25

1:31:54 So through giving, it doesn't have any string attached to it. You see, the heart opens up without any strings. So that's why one needs to train on it a lot for it to work, for us to understand how it works. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54 Highlight the passage at 1:31:54

1:32:23 And actually, that's why true giving is difficult. There's a story of Shakyamuni Buddha. Somebody was so stingy that he couldn't... Apart from anything, he couldn't give anything to anybody. So the Buddha told him that your right hand offers it to the left hand. You start like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:23 Highlight the passage at 1:32:23

1:32:56 Buddha was a great psychologist. He cannot give away, so start there. Start there. So it's a kind of giving. And then later you start giving a little bit further away. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:56 Highlight the passage at 1:32:56

1:33:14 You Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:20 see, giving without any string attached is actually very, very difficult. And if we are honest. away, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:20 Highlight the passage at 1:33:20

1:33:30 Even in our spiritual practice, we want enlightenment, we want realization, we want experience. There is a string attached to give selflessly. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:45 That's why bodhicitta is such an amazing thing, if you really think about it. You don't want anything, you want just the enlightenment of the other person. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:45 Highlight the passage at 1:33:45

1:33:57 Yet I cannot part from anything physically. Physically, right? So you see this. If we check experientially how much contradiction we have, it's so interesting. So I think unless you experience the nature of your mind, that eternity in you, unless you experience some level of experience of emptiness, I think it's impossible to give selflessly. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:28 It's only once you experience that which is beyond the ego that you can be truly selfless. So we have to start where we are. To start, the right hand gives to the left hand. We give to our child, we give to the people we like. So let's start from where we are. And then gradually, but knowing that this can improve in quality and in quantity. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:28 Highlight the passage at 1:34:28

1:34:55 But you see, the benefit is for our own mind. It's not the person that receives it. That gets the most benefit. It's really ourself, by giving, by letting go. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:55 Highlight the passage at 1:34:55

1:35:14 So that's why, you see, in a Tibetan tradition you have this ritual of offering water bowls, of making visualized offerings, of offering to the teachers. It's just different occasions where you release that, where you offer that to the enlightened state. That's all. And Report an error in the passage at 1:35:14 Highlight the passage at 1:35:14

1:35:39 then offering the food. You know, kind of like that. And then in Tantra, you see, we offer everything to the deity. So, you see, we visualize ourselves as the deity, as a Buddha, and all the food, all the things, the clothes, everything we enjoy, we offer. We offer to that enlightened state. So there, you see, in Tantra... Report an error in the passage at 1:35:39 Highlight the passage at 1:35:39

1:36:04 It's like with the nature of the mind, there's no outside-inside. You can visualize the Buddha in another person and offer to the outer Buddha, but you yourself are also Buddha, so you can also offer to the enlightened state here. So that's how tantra generosity is even to oneself. Not to the ego, but to the enlightened state that is here also. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:04 Highlight the passage at 1:36:04

1:36:29 The enlightened state is everywhere, also here. So you offer it to that. to your own divine inner divinity. So Report an error in the passage at 1:36:29 Highlight the passage at 1:36:29

1:36:45 then the third practice, which Report an error in the passage at 1:36:45 Highlight the passage at 1:36:45

1:36:52 is as important, is confession. You see, confession is psychologically one of the most important practices that we can do. I Report an error in the passage at 1:36:52 Highlight the passage at 1:36:52

1:37:11 think if we would have more confession, we would have less cancer. You Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:20 see, we would have less depression. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:20 Highlight the passage at 1:37:20

1:37:30 Because, again, if you understand the nature of the mind, you understand how it works. You see, all the thoughts, the emotions, the habits we have, they leave an imprint in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:30 Highlight the passage at 1:37:30

1:37:50 They color the mind. So they canker the mind. How to say? The mind of a child is pure. In a sense, it's clear, it's innocent, it's open, it's very direct, very spontaneous. As we grow older, our mind is heavier and heavier with memory, with experience, with conception, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:50 Highlight the passage at 1:37:50

1:38:23 So we are not fresh anymore in front of our experience. We see our experience through the filter of our memories, our habits, our conception. Our reality is gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:23 Highlight the passage at 1:38:23

1:38:41 our self-image is colored by all that. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:50 this negative thought, this negative speech behavior, you know, They kind of eat us up inside. In the mind, they create a heaviness. Our Report an error in the passage at 1:38:50 Highlight the passage at 1:38:50

1:39:13 mind is bored, lacks enthusiasm, lacks joy. You wake up in the morning. Oh, another day again. Oh, I have to get out of bed. I have another day in front of me. You know, you look out the window, foggy again. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:13 Highlight the passage at 1:39:13

1:39:34 Some Report an error in the passage at 1:39:34 Highlight the passage at 1:39:34

1:39:37 days we wake up like that, you know. Nothing has changed in our life. Yet we're completely bored, you know. No joy, no enthusiasm for anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:37 Highlight the passage at 1:39:37

1:39:50 So our mind is clouded, it's heavy. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

1:39:59 And often it's not... The huge negative action we have done is the accumulation of the small little thing, the small little thought that gets accumulated day after day after day, and that makes our mind heavy. So Report an error in the passage at 1:39:59 Highlight the passage at 1:39:59

1:40:23 confession is the psychology of releasing, of bringing to the open, of bringing it out, of expulsing it from the mind, bringing it out. So you release it, you offer it, you lay bare open. You imagine an enlightened being or your own future enlightenment and you disclose whatever mistake you have done. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:23 Highlight the passage at 1:40:23

1:40:49 By disclosing it, you bring it out instead of being repressed and hidden within your mind. Nobody is going to see it, put it behind me. No, I'm not going to show it, I will hide it. I will pretend I'm good and beautiful and nice and things like that. And yes, I hide all these little things in my psyche and I hope nobody is going to ever discover all my little things. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:49 Highlight the passage at 1:40:49

1:41:18 And that psychologically makes the mind uncomfortable somewhat. So if you release that, if you bring it out, you say, look, this is not who I really am. I want to be this enlightened state, this purity of the mind. So let's bring that out. So you regret, you bring that out. So that's which makes the mind joyous. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:18 Highlight the passage at 1:41:18

1:41:52 You see, you release that. So the more you confess, the more you purify the mind, you know, you clear it. So then, you know, often you see kind enlightened masters, they are a little bit like child. You know, they have a childish quality, an innocence, a purity, a simplicity. Why? Because the mind is pure, it's joy. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:52 Highlight the passage at 1:41:52

1:42:14 There's not a lot of stuff in there. The mind is, you know, very clean. And that comes to purification. Unless you know the true nature of your mind and that mind never gets stained, but unless you have that level of realization, the mind, the ego, the dualistic mind naturally collects stains. There's always me and the other and I'm more important than the other. So my self-interest is always in the... And that, of course, then the ego game arises and then the mind gets polluted. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:14 Highlight the passage at 1:42:14

1:42:50 So regularly it's important. To bring that out. So confession, regret is very important. If you understand, you benefit of it. The person which benefits from it is yourself. You're just happier. You disclose, you bring it open and you get released. You get free from that stuff. It's like putting off you. It's too hot. Let's put all these clothes away and just go in the swimming suits. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:50 Highlight the passage at 1:42:50

1:43:24 So it's like that. So confession is really, really, you know, it really, it releases your mind, makes your mind peaceful and happy. And Report an error in the passage at 1:43:24 Highlight the passage at 1:43:24

1:43:39 that again is something that you discover through doing it, you know. So some people do hundred thousand Vajrasattva, you know, hundred thousand this and that, or simply regularly on the daily base, you simply, you know, in the evening, you know, you regret, you know, whatever was wrong and you... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:43:58 You disclose in front of whatever is your refuge or your enlightenment state, you really say, you know, regret it, I will try to do better tomorrow, you know, and good enough. And straight you experience peace, you know, straight by regretting and disclosing it, you experience a level of peace. So there's Report an error in the passage at 1:43:58 Highlight the passage at 1:43:58

1:44:28 a few more, right? And then there's rejoicing, requesting teaching. teaching Asking to live long and then dedication. So these four are also very, very important if you understand the psychology of it. But we are running out of time, so we're going to continue tomorrow. But you see, in Buddhist practice, the guru yoga is the heart of the path. If you understand how it works, the psychology of it is so profound, it's amazing. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:28 Highlight the passage at 1:44:28

1:45:03 You see, myself, at some point, I remember, I did once a longer retreat, then I went to work three years in a flower shop. And then, basically, my spiritual practice was, you know, really very below average. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:21 So the only thing I was able to do, the only thing I still had faith in was the seven-limb prayer. It was that. Because this psychologically made sense. Average. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:21 Highlight the passage at 1:45:21

1:45:33 The whole rest belief system, for me, was out of the window. For me, what made sense to me was this seven-beam prayer. And that, I felt, was healing the mind. I understood how it was healing the mind. And that was good enough. So if one just does a simple guru yoga like this Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga, This has the whole path of enlightenment in it. In two pages you have the whole path of enlightenment if you understand it. The whole path is there. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:33 Highlight the passage at 1:45:33

1:46:05 If you have the seven-limb prayer, refuge, bodhicitta, seven-limb prayer, absorbing the guru in your heart, you can reach enlightenment with that. You don't need anything more. Because the whole thing is there if you understand it. So it's very, very powerful. Sometimes I ask Westerners, you know, we are not... Report an error in the passage at 1:46:05 Highlight the passage at 1:46:05

1:46:26 A person for many words or long practice, long things like that. So if you understand the essence of it, you really have... So, you see, Lama Tsongkhapa, Guru Yoga, you have two pages. Then you can make it in 20 pages. You take the Lama Tsongkhapa, the Guru Yoga. It's exactly the same thing. It's just elaborated. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:26 Highlight the passage at 1:46:26

1:46:54 It's putting more words. For saying the same thing. Then you have the George Lama Tsongkhapa. Then you add another 20 pages. But it has nothing more in it than that. It's just elaboration of certain parts. There's nothing more than the Seven Limb Prayer in it. There's nothing more than refuge, bodhicitta, the Seven Limb Prayer and request. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:54 Highlight the passage at 1:46:54

1:47:18 It's the same thing. It's just you put 60 pages instead of two. But there's nothing missing in here. That you find in the other, right? So the essence is there, you know? It's just that the one is more elaborated for people which have more time. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:18 Highlight the passage at 1:47:18

1:47:38 So for me, these simple practices, they are so profound and everything is in there if you understand how it works. And they're simple to memorize. You can do it while driving in your car. Myself, I discovered something very nice. It's a voice recorder, you know? So I recorded my prayer on it and I put it on the CD player, you know, in the car. Now most of them I know by heart now because I'm doing that, but those which I don't know I just put it on the player. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:38 Highlight the passage at 1:47:38

1:48:14 And I taught, you know, with GarageBand, you know, with the Apple computer. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:14 Highlight the passage at 1:48:14

1:48:23 You could even record your prayer and make some music in the background. Isn't it? You know, you could put some nice strings, you know, in the background. It would be fantastic, you know, to make your prayer alive, you know. So each time you listen to your prayer, you listen to some nice music at the same time. I want to work on something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:23 Highlight the passage at 1:48:23

1:48:54 So I think it's important to be creative and to make one's spiritual practice joyous. How to say? If you understand the psychology of it, you see, again, This practice we do, they weren't done like that in India, they were developed in Tibet, in the Tibetan culture. So if you understand the essence of it, gradually we'll be able to adapt it to our culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:23 So you see, if you understand the psychology of it, slowly, gradually, these things will evolve and become our own culture. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:23 Highlight the passage at 1:49:23

1:49:33 So Lama Yeshe used to say, you know, there will be an Italian Buddhism, there will be an American Buddhism, there will be a Spanish Buddhism, you know, because we're a different culture, you know. So, you know, we are not Tibetan, so we are not going to do it the Tibetan way, you know. But for the time being, you know, in order not to throw out the baby with the baby's bath, right, we take the whole package, you know, because we don't know, we're not sure what we can leave aside yet, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:33 Highlight the passage at 1:49:33

1:50:02 So that's... You know, this is how it comes to the West. So by making experience gradually, by discovering in oneself, slowly, slowly, the things will evolve. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:02 Highlight the passage at 1:50:02

1:50:21 Okay, so we have done a lot of blah, blah, blah, which has nothing to do with reality. It was just the words about the sugar. So for two, three minutes, we'll try to sit and try to experience the sugar. So Report an error in the passage at 1:50:21 Highlight the passage at 1:50:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:51:35 try to go to the level of your heart and imagine your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:35 Highlight the passage at 1:51:35

1:51:43 Like a sun radiating in all directions and that your mind, that you are in your heart, you are not in your head, but you are in your heart and you send loving kindness, you send vibration of love, vibration of light in all the directions and Report an error in the passage at 1:51:43 Highlight the passage at 1:51:43

1:52:09 the other people in this room also at the heart, they have a sun and it is the pure nature of their mind. And the pure nature of your own mind touches the pure nature of other people. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:09 Highlight the passage at 1:52:09

1:52:26 See, your heart touches the heart of other people. Your pure mind touches the pure mind of other. And Report an error in the passage at 1:52:26 Highlight the passage at 1:52:26

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:54:09 we imagine that our heart radiates out and touches the heart of all living beings on this planet and that we make the light in the heart brighter so that all beings may discover their enlightened state. We Report an error in the passage at 1:54:09 Highlight the passage at 1:54:09

1:54:34 offer enlightenment so that all beings recognize the true nature of mind and enlightened state. offer that experience to all humanity. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:34 Highlight the passage at 1:54:34

1:54:51 living beings, wherever they are. So those which Report an error in the passage at 1:54:51 Highlight the passage at 1:54:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:55:48 have the interest and the free time tomorrow, what time do we continue? much. night. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:48 Highlight the passage at 1:55:48

1:55:54 What time? Nine o 'clock tomorrow. And Report an error in the passage at 1:55:54 Highlight the passage at 1:55:54

1:56:03 I hope we open the text tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:03 Highlight the passage at 1:56:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:57:13 I thought maybe you were Report an error in the passage at 1:57:13 Highlight the passage at 1:57:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:57:54 it going? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:54 Highlight the passage at 1:57:54

1:57:58 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:58 Highlight the passage at 1:57:58