How to cultivate Joyful Perseverance on our Spiritual Path

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3:43 Can I have your attention just for a minute, please? I know everybody's coming in. Thank you so much for coming tonight. It's really going to be wonderful. Venerable Rene is always wonderful. But if it's your first time to say Chenling, I just wanted to explain a few things. The restroom is located through the kitchen. Report an error in the passage at 3:43 Highlight the passage at 3:43

4:02 Feel free to go in there. We've tried to make an aisle on that side so you don't have to walk right by. Venerable Rene, so if you can do that, that's great. If you have trouble walking or something, it's fine. Just try to go quickly by. He totally understands. In fact, in that vein, since some of us are getting up in the years, we're just going to bow instead of prostrating tonight. So no need to, plus it's hard when people are in rows of seats and all of that sort of thing. Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:30 So there's hot water and teas back there. Help yourself, make yourself comfortable. It's fine to bring it to your seat. We have a handout that we'll be giving for the second half of the program. The first half will be more a short talk and then some meditation. So thank you and Venerable Rene will be coming in a little bit. We're just waiting for the last few people. I hear the parking's pretty bad tonight. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

5:00 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 5:00 Highlight the passage at 5:00

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6:31 I also forgot to mention that... There are some books that go with tonight's talk that are available here and if you happen to buy your book tonight or if you brought your book, Venerable Rene may be signing some books after if there's time. Thanks. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

· · · silence, 6 minutes

12:23 So again welcome to everyone and this is a wonderful event and if you've probably many of you know Venerable Rene already and for those who don't I'm sure you read over the brief bio in our little Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:44 flyer but what wasn't in there are a few more important things like Venerable Rene was born in Switzerland and he first encountered Buddhism at the age of 20. He attended the November course at Koh Phangan Monastery in Nepal and a few years later he took his ordination vows in Dharamsala. Venerable Rene is actually a living example of joyous perseverance, which is what he's going to talk about today. And that's evidenced by the fact that in 1988 he entered Nalanda Monastery in France. Report an error in the passage at 12:44 Highlight the passage at 12:44

13:19 And he studied with Geshe Techug there for four years. And during that time, he also completed his Noondro practice or the 900,000 preliminary practices. So he went on in the 90s to complete a two and a half year retreat, a solitary retreat in Spain. And fortunately for us, since that time, he's been working to teach and guide students and continued his own studies and to help us. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:49 Meditation and retreats all over the world. Thank you so much. Can Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:02 you hear me? Do I need to put the microphone closer? I'm Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:19 happy to meet you. Some old faces, new faces. Welcome. Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:29 You Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:50 see when one speaks about spirituality, it's almost like When you listen to a talk or a meditation, it's almost like you have to read what is behind the words, what is not expressed, what the words try to convey, but the words are inappropriate to convey. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:20 So it's not like learning a language where you have lesson one, lesson two, lesson three, and that you learn and you master the thing as it says. Spirituality is a completely different domain. That's what makes it difficult to share because the word I employ or a teacher employs, the students understand this word with their own concept, their own ideas of this word. Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

15:53 So often students understand their teacher better over the years because they start understanding what he means or she means. by this and that word or this or that expression. So Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

16:17 one often hears in Dharma and the bodhispiritual path that the reality, the experience is beyond word or beyond concept. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:30 Yet, as beginners, it's the only tool we have to share. We only have the limited use of language. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:47 Also, one speaks about Wanting to reach enlightenment. It's a word, right? So what does that word try to convey? It's that there is darkness and the mind becomes more light, more light, more light, with more light. What does that mean? It's that we see more clearly. If a room is dark, you don't see anything in it. The more you put light, the more you see. Report an error in the passage at 16:47 Highlight the passage at 16:47

17:33 That image conveys that there is some obscuration in our mind, some darkness. We don't see reality as it is. We don't see the past, we don't see the future, and even our understanding of the present is actually not clear. Report an error in the passage at 17:33 Highlight the passage at 17:33

17:53 We have a lot of confusion, a lot of doubt, a lot of fear. Simply why? Because of the state of not knowing and not seeing clearly. Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:09 So it is not that one day one is in darkness and the next moment one is enlightened. So the spiritual journey is a graduate state of becoming more light, seeing more clearly, from going from a state of darkness to a state of light. Report an error in the passage at 18:09 Highlight the passage at 18:09

18:40 Another image that is used often is that one calls enlightened beings the awakened one. So there is awake, which is the opposite of sleep. Sleep of not knowing, sleep of being unconscious. So gradually one goes from that sleep of not knowing to become awake, to see reality clearly. So it's a gradual process that unfolds within one's mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

19:26 So most of us which are on a spiritual journey We are a little bit more awake than some years ago, or we are a little bit more enlightened about reality, about ourselves than some years ago. And Report an error in the passage at 19:26 Highlight the passage at 19:26

19:52 why is that possible? Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

19:57 Why is it possible to become more enlightened or more awake? Because Report an error in the passage at 19:57 Highlight the passage at 19:57

20:16 fundamentally our mind is pure, our mind is awake, our mind is enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 20:16 Highlight the passage at 20:16

20:32 So it's not like you try to produce something that doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 20:32 Highlight the passage at 20:32

20:41 Let's say there's no car and you build a car from nothing. The spiritual journey is the opposite. There is the enlightened seed or the enlightened potential or the experience of enlightenment is buried within ourselves. So it is there already. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

21:08 But it is covered by, like Lama Yeshe used to say, heavy blanket, different layers of blanket. Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:23 So it's not like you try to produce an enlightenment that is not there. It's more that one has to take away a layer of obscuration gradually, layer by layer, so that the pure nature of our mind can be discovered, that it can reveal itself to you. Report an error in the passage at 21:23 Highlight the passage at 21:23

22:02 Another thing that one has to become aware of is that we have two minds. We Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:15 have the intellect of the head which uses thoughts, which has rational thinking, which uses logic, uses memory. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:32 And then you have another mind which is in the heart, which Report an error in the passage at 22:32 Highlight the passage at 22:32

22:44 feels, which has intuition. which knows from a different place so Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

22:58 in Buddhist logic you call the mind in the head the secondary mind and the mind in the heart the primordial mind so the mind that reaches enlightenment is the mind that is in your heart so where you experience enlightenment is in your heart so Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:28 you use thought use the secondary mind the intellect the thought it's it's a A form of knowledge that is dualistic. You use the tool of the thought, and this thought creates a concept, an image of reality, but there is always a subject, a thought and an object. So a thinker, a thought and something that is thought about. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:57 Whereas when you experience things with the heart, there is not this duality subject-object. It's almost your heart embraces the thing. Your heart expands and becomes one with things. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:25 So when we speak about the heart, we have a gross mind, which is the ordinary mind. Then you have a subtle mind, which is hidden behind the gross mind. And behind the subtle mind, you have the very subtle mind, the very subtle mind of clear light. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:51 So when one speaks about enlightenment, it is this most subtle mind of clear light that reveals itself to you and experiences enlightenment. And Report an error in the passage at 24:51 Highlight the passage at 24:51

25:11 that most subtle mind of clear light pervades even the grossest level of consciousness that one is not able to recognize. So Report an error in the passage at 25:11 Highlight the passage at 25:11

25:35 there are different veils or different blankets that cover this pure nature of our own consciousness. consciousness resides in our house So Report an error in the passage at 25:35 Highlight the passage at 25:35

25:51 the first level of a blanket is a blanket of duality subject and object and Report an error in the passage at 25:51 Highlight the passage at 25:51

26:02 that arise because we are a little bit bound within our body and we perceive the world through our senses so I feel I'm here and I see the world through the sense door however Report an error in the passage at 26:02 Highlight the passage at 26:02

26:25 the subtle mind of clear light pervades all phenomena So it doesn't have this duality subject and object. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:38 Then the second veil that arises within our mind is the veil of inherent existent self and inherent existent other beings and object. So once the duality subject and object has arisen, if there is a subject, there must be somebody there that experiences this world. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

27:03 And that's me. And that me is to be found somewhere within this body and mind. And if me exists, then the other people exist too, in the same isolated, self-sufficient or inherent, existent way. If I point to somebody, if I say, where is Takeko? I can point my finger and Takeko is there, sitting on her chair. Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:35 So I feel that... Because I am here, she is there. And Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:47 because I exist in this kind of self-sufficient way, I experience the world. And whatever our sense consciousness enters into contact with, there is one mental factor that accompanies every mind. So whenever you are conscious, wherever you are aware, When you have mind, there is always an accompanying thing that is sensation or feeling. Report an error in the passage at 27:47 Highlight the passage at 27:47

28:26 Whenever you are aware, your mind is either experiencing something as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. There is always an accompanying feeling. Even for the Buddha, whenever there is mind, there is feeling or sensation. Report an error in the passage at 28:26 Highlight the passage at 28:26

28:50 When we have this ego grasping or this sense of me, so me, I experience the world as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. And Report an error in the passage at 28:50 Highlight the passage at 28:50

29:04 because me, I want to be happy, so I'm attached or long for the pleasant experience and I have aversion to the unpleasant and want to move away from it. And Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:25 that produces all our various emotions and thoughts and make plans. How to get this and that or avoid this and that. And based on that we act. And that then becomes the veil of duality, then the veil of inherent subject and object, then is the veil of emotion, and then is the veil of karma. So that's how it goes downwards, how this different level of obscuration happens in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

30:08 Now an enlightened being, because he doesn't have this duality, subject-object, he doesn't have this grasping at inner non-existent self, inner non-existent other, he Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:27 doesn't have the feelings we have. His feelings, everything is bliss, everything is of one taste. There is no pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling or neutral feeling. Everything is just one taste of great bliss. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:49 And because of that, there is no wanting. An enlightened being has no fear, has no attraction, no aversion. Everything is just a taste of great bliss. Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:00 So he is not moved to get away from unpleasant things and he is not attracted to pleasant things because everything is great bliss. There is nothing better, nothing worse. Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:17 So he's not motivated to move at all, out of any self-fulfilling aim. His only movement is out of compassion to help others. There's nothing that he needs. There's nothing he can do to make him more happy than he already is. So all the game, all what we do in life, a Buddha doesn't do. Report an error in the passage at 31:17 Highlight the passage at 31:17

31:47 Not because how to say. bored or because know he doesn't know how nice it is to have this and that no his mind is utter bliss utterly content and there's nothing that he can do to make him more happy totally satisfied Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:11 his actions are only done out of compassion. So when you Report an error in the passage at 32:11 Highlight the passage at 32:11

32:29 see that, you realize that one of the key It's to understand the reality, to understand non-duality, to understand the absence of self, grasping and grasping at other. Because those are the causes that produce our disturbing emotions. Why are they called disturbing? Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

32:57 Why are they called delusion? It's because they are a distorted reality, they don't see things as they are. They exaggerate in one way or the other. So part of it, what our mind sees, is true. But on top of that truth, there's a whole layer of superimposition that is simply not there. Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:45 Why? If you think about it, you see, why do we want this and that? Why do we act to make our life better, this and that? Because there's something missing. Because we think if I get this and that, I will be a little bit more happy. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

34:11 But the problem with this approach is that by nature phenomena are impermanent, so the satisfaction that they can bring is just momentary. And Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:29 that momentariness always leaves a bitter taste in your experience. Afterward it has finished. So there was a level of excitement, a level of joy. And then it fades. So Report an error in the passage at 34:29 Highlight the passage at 34:29

34:51 that leads to an addiction. You want again to experience this height. So again you engage into this and that to be a little bit more happy. And again it doesn't last and it passes. And Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:07 all the while we do that, the result is we go further away from our inner peace and inner joy. Because the more we do that, the more we agitate the mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:26 The stronger we put imprints, habits of looking outside, whereas Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:43 if we learn to let go, at the beginning it's difficult because our addictions are strong and someone is like a heroin addict that gives up his doses, then there's the withdrawal stage and it's painful. So it's the same thing for the mind. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

36:07 are addicted to this and that and at the beginning it's hard to let go. then you discover, while you go to that effort of letting go, you discover a peace in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:24 Lama Zopa Rinpoche Chant. You see, Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:35 our mind is... have the thought of no need oh i don't need this i don't need that Report an error in the passage at 36:35 Highlight the passage at 36:35

36:37 Like the surface of water that is agitated by wind is always fragmented. You see, our mind has many thoughts, emotions and is always shaken up by all these movements of the mind. If you let go and you let the mind still, if you are able to relax your mind and let go and be peace, that Report an error in the passage at 36:37 Highlight the passage at 36:37

37:08 peace becomes like a mirror. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:13 Let's use the example of the surface of the lake. So when it's agitated by wind, you see, it doesn't reflect reality clearly. So the countryside, the trees, the other side of the lake, that is completely broken up in pieces. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:34 When there's no wind, the lake becomes like a mirror, and everything is seen very clearly, is reflected very clearly in it. Report an error in the passage at 37:34 Highlight the passage at 37:34

37:46 It's the same thing for our heart and our mind. If you still your mind, the mind is not more agitated by those thoughts and emotions and concepts. The mind is completely still. That stillness, the accompanying sensation is joy and bliss. So the more still your mind is, the more blissful and the more joyous. Report an error in the passage at 37:46 Highlight the passage at 37:46

38:22 And not only bliss and joy, but insight, intuition arise. You start knowing with another... It's intuition, but intuition purified, not anymore shaken up or agitated. So we all have intuitions, but they are not very clear. Whereas the more your mind becomes calm, Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:58 settled, more clear, the clearer your intuition becomes. Report an error in the passage at 38:58 Highlight the passage at 38:58

39:09 You might use the thoughts that you learn of the Dharma in your head, the logic, the reasoning, the analytical meditation in your head. So your heart uses your thoughts from your head, but it uses it from this point of view of the stillness of the heart. Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:38 And because the heart doesn't experience things in a dualistic way, the thoughts you have, you experience them. Report an error in the passage at 39:38 Highlight the passage at 39:38

39:51 It's the same thing, let's say, the head describes the taste of sugar and the heart experiences the taste of sugar. That's the difference. So the head describes how chocolate tastes and the heart actually eats the chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 39:51 Highlight the passage at 39:51

40:15 experience the chocolate the Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

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40:47 questions come see how do we steal our mind and as a substitute questions how do you open your heart why Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

41:03 do you steal your mind because you want the mind to be like a mirror and reflect reality clearly and why do you want to open your heart because the most subtle mind of clear light resides in your heart Report an error in the passage at 41:03 Highlight the passage at 41:03

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41:51 So the stillness arises from letting go. You see, we cannot have sensory pleasure, we cannot chase after this and that, we cannot agitate our mind and at the same time want the stillness. It's not possible. Once you are enlightened, you can. Once you are an advanced yogi, you can. Why? Report an error in the passage at 41:51 Highlight the passage at 41:51

42:25 Because the world doesn't appear to you anymore like it appears to us. You Report an error in the passage at 42:25 Highlight the passage at 42:25

42:33 see, we have solid pleasure, solid object, solid people, solid me. So the interaction bounces each other, is very solid and it agitates the mind. Report an error in the passage at 42:33 Highlight the passage at 42:33

42:49 An enlightened being is his transparent object of pleasure, transparent people, transparent I. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:10 Everything is one. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:32 are very partial, each object is a part Each person is isolated from the other. There is nothing that binds the whole experience into one. An enlightened being or a more enlightened being than us, he has something that unifies all these states of mind and all these experiences. That's non-duality or emptiness. So everything has something in common, that everything is empty, Report an error in the passage at 43:32 Highlight the passage at 43:32

44:08 everything is non-dual. So the more your mind is soaked in that experience, even sensory pleasure, even other people, everything has something in common, everything is in this one taste of being empty and bliss. Report an error in the passage at 44:08 Highlight the passage at 44:08

44:27 And the more you see it from that perspective, the more your mental affliction or disturbed state of mind decreases. So Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:52 to let go and to develop calm abiding. To develop inner stillness is very important. You can become a great Dharma scholar but without calming your mind you won't be able to see intuitively reality. You will only rely on concepts and ideas in your head. Unless you still your mind you won't be able to see what you learn with the head. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:29 You won't be able to see it and experience it with your heart. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:41 To develop calm abiding, the prerequisite is to live with a certain level of ethic, of morality. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

45:53 An ethical life is the base for calm abiding. And in that ethical life, one ingredient is to let go of the things that agitate your mind. Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:12 How do Report an error in the passage at 46:12 Highlight the passage at 46:12

46:25 you gradually open your heart to experience what is inside? inside. when we speak about the heart, we don't speak about the organ, speak about the heart chakra, center of your being, warmth that you experience when you are in love or when you have strong emotion, is in the center of your chest. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:57 now scientists says that They think these emotions are produced by the various veins and around the heart, the physical heart. It seems there's a lot of stuff happening there even physiologically. Report an error in the passage at 46:57 Highlight the passage at 46:57

47:16 So what in spiritual practice opens your heart? Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:24 It's almost like what Report an error in the passage at 47:24 Highlight the passage at 47:24

47:34 opens the heart. So Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

47:40 the quickest, there's many practices that open the heart gradually. But the quickest, the most powerful is devotion. You Report an error in the passage at 47:40 Highlight the passage at 47:40

47:53 see, one thing in common that you find in all the spiritual tradition, whether the Christian mystic, the Sufi, Muslim, the Hindu, is incredible devotion. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:08 Devotion towards what? To whatever state of perfection that tradition has the image of, right? Whether God, whether personal God. or an impersonal god or the state of enlightenment like described by the buddhas you Report an error in the passage at 48:08 Highlight the passage at 48:08

48:31 see what is it you try to do you try to oh you see what you try to do is to go inside your heart but in order to get inside your heart you have to open your heart of the how to say what constructs what's construct constricted Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:56 So it's almost like it's Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:05 difficult to communicate directly to your heart, it's difficult to ask directly to your heart to open, or it's difficult at our stage to, how to say, to experience the bliss and enlightenment and the qualities that are in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

49:28 Later on it's possible. At the beginning it's difficult. Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

49:41 Lama Yeshe used to say, the outer guru can only lead you so far. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

49:55 The one that will lead you to enlightenment is your inner guru. At the beginning of the path, the outer teacher is the role model. He inspires you, he embodies the quality you want to achieve. He transmits you the knowledge of the path, how he... Practice how he went there, how the lamas of his lineage went there. So you get all these things, this instruction, and then gradually that opens your heart. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:30 And then you have access to the teacher in your heart, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:42 So Lama Yeshe Jesus said, the outer guru can only help you so far. Report an error in the passage at 50:42 Highlight the passage at 50:42

50:50 At some point you have to internalize, you have to experience and see from your own wisdom, from your own experience, what works for you and how does it work. You see, the Report an error in the passage at 50:50 Highlight the passage at 50:50

51:07 Buddha cannot transfer his realization into you. He cannot enlighten you. We have to enlighten ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 51:07 Highlight the passage at 51:07

51:30 So now when we practice guru yoga or guru devotion, what we are actually trying to do? What is happening? When we do that, why are these methods there? What's their purpose? Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

51:50 You see, so in front of you, you imagine enlightenment, or you imagine enlightened beings, people which embody these qualities. Report an error in the passage at 51:50 Highlight the passage at 51:50

52:01 So you open your heart towards these enlightened qualities. So you imagine, oh, these beings have developed an ethical life, they never harm anybody. They have tamed their mind to their ethic, and then they have tamed their mind to calm abiding. The abiding is completely still. There is never any agitation there. Completely still. So they have completely tamed their mind. They don't have any disturbed emotion. Report an error in the passage at 52:01 Highlight the passage at 52:01

52:34 The lake is completely calm and clear forever. And then they have further tamed their mind by the insight that sees reality as it is. Report an error in the passage at 52:34 Highlight the passage at 52:34

52:49 They don't see things in this dualistic way like we do. Their heart-mind pervades everything. They see everything from within. And Report an error in the passage at 52:49 Highlight the passage at 52:49

53:02 not only do they see it from within, they see it in an essenceless way. Things exist like a rainbow. It's there, yet it's not there. It's there very precisely with each Particle aspect with each color very precisely defined, yet at the same time it's essenceless. So your teachers or the Buddha or whatever form of enlightenment that you imagine, you imagine them having these qualities, right? Report an error in the passage at 53:02 Highlight the passage at 53:02

53:44 The mind is pacified through ethic, through calm abiding and through the wisdom that sees reality as it is. On the ultimate level and then on the conventional level, because they see each aspect of reality as it is, they see all the cause and condition that brings about an experience and what the present cause and condition, what they will produce as a result. Report an error in the passage at 53:44 Highlight the passage at 53:44

54:10 And Report an error in the passage at 54:10 Highlight the passage at 54:10

54:16 because they see everything as it is, they experience everything in the taste of great bliss. There is not one experience better than another. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:29 For example, in the scripture they give the example of Shakyamuni Buddha. If somebody on one side would praise him and make offerings of flour and a nice cup of tea, and on the other side somebody would harm him, criticize him and chop his body up into pieces, his mind would be completely blissed out with both experiences, completely unaffected. Report an error in the passage at 54:29 Highlight the passage at 54:29

54:55 He wouldn't distinguish one as better than the other. And because of that, you would have exactly the same compassion for each one. One experience is not better than the other from his point of view. Report an error in the passage at 54:55 Highlight the passage at 54:55

55:21 So then the Buddha, from your training in love, compassion and bodhicitta, he has developed infinite love, infinite compassion for all beings in a completely impartial way. So there's not a single being that he loves more than the other. He doesn't love the one that serve him, praise him, make offering better than the other ones. Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:50 Total equanimity, infinite love and compassion for all beings. That's what the state of enlightenment is, right? Total joy, bliss and there's no fear. In the sense that that experience cannot degenerate. There is no fear that it lasts such and such a long time or I need to do this and that in order to maintain it. Report an error in the passage at 55:50 Highlight the passage at 55:50

56:22 So there is no grasping or no attachment to that experience. It's everlasting, forever. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:39 So you see, psychologically what happens to you when you imagine this experience is not the experience we have now. But that's the experience that I described what enlightenment is. So you imagine this quality in front of you, whether just in space or you can put a historical figure like Shakyamuni Buddha or Maitreya or Manjushri, whoever. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

57:10 Or you can visualize or imagine an embodiment. For you, reflect those qualities, let's say His Holiness Dalai Lama or His Holiness Kamapa or whoever. So that's your focus object. Then you imagine these qualities. So while imagining these qualities, what happens to your heart? Report an error in the passage at 57:10 Highlight the passage at 57:10

57:36 By imagining these qualities, because you imagine these qualities, Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

58:00 Awakening or you recognize this quality within you How to say, you cannot imagine qualities in front of you if they are not qualities that are already new. You cannot imagine that's something that you don't experience in a small way. In a small, limited way, we have to be imagined. If I imagine the taste of sugar, I must have some idea, some association that makes me imagine what it could be like. Report an error in the passage at 58:00 Highlight the passage at 58:00

58:29 So here, same. We have a little bit amount of compassion and we... Imagine that's demultiplied. We have a little bit understanding what is love, and we imagine that demultiplied. We have a little bit experience of pleasure, and we demultiply that. Report an error in the passage at 58:29 Highlight the passage at 58:29

58:47 So all these qualities, we imagine them. They multiply. And what it does, it awakens those qualities even more in your heart. There's an attunement. You see, between what you imagine and what's happening in your heart, there's a resonance. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:10 And then the more you do that and then the more you aspire to experience this quality, to become like the Buddha or like Chenrezig or like His Holiness or whoever, the more you are... Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:35 So usually Buddhists want to speak about three types of faith. There's the faith of belief. So it's the faith that this quality exists. So we imagine these qualities. And then there's the faith, Report an error in the passage at 59:35 Highlight the passage at 59:35

1:00:17 relating to this quality. The more you do that, the more it opens the heart. The more you focus on these qualities, on your teacher, on your teacher's plural, or on an enlightened being from the past, or just the Dharmakaya, the omniscient mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:42 So you imagine these qualities and then you inhale these qualities. heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:00:48 So you open your heart and you inhale this quality either from the space of Dharmakaya or from the heart of the enlightenment being that you have imagined having this quality and you inhale that. And what that does, it opens further your heart. You see, it awakens your heart or it enlightens your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:48 Highlight the passage at 1:00:48

1:01:16 It opens your heart and as this process unfolds your consciousness becomes more and more subtle and Report an error in the passage at 1:01:16 Highlight the passage at 1:01:16

1:01:28 as it becomes more subtle you have the duality subject and object decreases and you experience this inner peace inner joy inner bliss inner warmth inner love Report an error in the passage at 1:01:28 Highlight the passage at 1:01:28

1:01:50 And then in some practice one, even imagine that the Buddhas enter into your heart. You see that this quality that you have visualized in front, you bring them into your heart and they become completely one with your consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:06 They totally open your heart, they awaken your heart and lighten your heart and you become one. So there is no more inside-outside. The Buddha is not anymore outside, he is in your heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:43 I don't know where I went. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:43 Highlight the passage at 1:02:43

1:02:51 I just watched the time and actually I had 15 minutes for the introduction. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:51 Highlight the passage at 1:02:51

1:03:04 Anyway, that would be the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:09 Because I thought to do a meditation on it but I think that's good enough. You see, this is very important to understand. You see, you can get caught in the method. in the prayers the rituals the studies you see and you might forget where it leads what's the purpose of all these things right what you try to do experientially you know where does it lead to so whatever method you use whatever form shape color it takes where it leads to is to that to these two things that your mind becomes like a mirror and that your heart opens up Report an error in the passage at 1:03:09 Highlight the passage at 1:03:09

1:03:58 That's what spiritual tradition lead to. So whether you're a Christian mystic or a Sufi master, they all have that in common. Or a Hindu, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda or a Hindu, what they have in common is those kind of experiences. Then the way they describe it is dependent on the culture, their spiritual tradition, then the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:58 Highlight the passage at 1:03:58

1:04:48 That's it, you Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

1:04:59 Now there are all these different techniques, all these different meditations. So there is a supermarket of techniques. It is overwhelming, the number of methods. So you have to find personally what works for you, what resonates, what makes vibrate the thing in your heart, what teachers inspire you that. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:59 Highlight the passage at 1:04:59

1:05:28 You see what resonates, what awakens this thing in you, whether in terms of teacher, whether in terms of method, whether in terms of approach. And the only way to know basically is to try it, this and that and that and that, and suddenly you find, oh this fits me, this fits me, and slowly you find your way. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:51 I Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51 Highlight the passage at 1:05:51

1:05:58 think this is very important because one can really... You can practice spirituality for many, many years and you realize after many years I'm as dissatisfied as before. Something went wrong. Maybe the method is not working. So there's nothing wrong with the method. The problem is maybe the method wasn't suited for me or I didn't really understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:58 Highlight the passage at 1:05:58

1:06:29 You see, I got stuck at the word. You see, it's like the finger pointing to the moon. Instead of looking at the moon, I looked at the finger. So I got stuck in the word, in the method, and I didn't look where the method was leading me to. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:29 Highlight the passage at 1:06:29

1:06:53 Okay, let's do five, ten minutes breaks. We can shake our body. Move a bit around. Then the next part is the topic of tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:53 Highlight the passage at 1:06:53

1:07:07 Thank you. Joyous perseverance. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:08:26 So I cannot avoid, we still have to make a little meditation. Short. So Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:55 when one meditates, there Report an error in the passage at 1:08:55 Highlight the passage at 1:08:55

1:09:02 are a few things that take a while to learn. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:02 Highlight the passage at 1:09:02

1:09:12 When we meditate, we are like a farmer trying to make a very subtle, very refined, surgical... Meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:09:25 operation. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:32 we are very clumsy. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:32 Highlight the passage at 1:09:32

1:09:35 we bring our clumsiness in our meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:09:41 that's why our meditation makes Report an error in the passage at 1:09:41 Highlight the passage at 1:09:41

1:10:09 concepts are heavy. Our emotions we create are heavy. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:19 Unless you let go, unless you completely relax, it's from a state of relaxation and from a state of stillness that your thoughts, emotions become more subtle. From a state of stillness you can use thoughts and emotions without much agitating the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:57 So it's very important when you sit down to meditate, first you focus on the breath to bring your mind home, to start looking inside. The bridge between inside and outside is the breath. So you casually focus on the movement of the breath. But Report an error in the passage at 1:10:57 Highlight the passage at 1:10:57

1:11:30 again, not heavy duty, you know, altering your breath, driving... breathing deeper or larger or bigger or quicker or whatever. No, you live your breathing exactly as it is and with a part of your mind you pay attention to Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:57 don't concentrate on the breath. just watch in the direction of the breath Report an error in the passage at 1:11:57 Highlight the passage at 1:11:57

1:12:24 then while sitting erected Report an error in the passage at 1:12:24 Highlight the passage at 1:12:24

1:12:29 completely relax your body. So you go muscle after muscle from the crown of your head downwards and you relax the muscle of your face, of your shoulder, your arm, your hand, your finger, go Report an error in the passage at 1:12:29 Highlight the passage at 1:12:29

1:12:49 down your trunk, your hip, your knees, ankle and toes. Spend some time completely relaxing your body while your back is straight and comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49 Highlight the passage at 1:12:49

1:13:05 You check that there's no tension in your muscle to keep you back in the straight. It's like a pile of coin. So there must be no tension. And it doesn't need to be erected like a stick. It's just straight what is straight for you. So it's still the S, the vertebra, just whatever is comfortable and straight for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:05 Highlight the passage at 1:13:05

1:13:33 Good enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:33 Highlight the passage at 1:13:33

1:13:37 And then you relax the muscle around it and Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37 Highlight the passage at 1:13:37

1:13:45 try to see that that relaxation is like a good massage. It produces a state of well-being, of ease. It's Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:14:35 like when you hold a fist very tightly and then you relax. Relax the fist, relax all the muscle and there's a sense of ease. So imagine you relax. The body, the tendon, the sinus, your body and it produces a sense of ease. And then you focus on that sense of ease. Your mind becomes one with that sense of ease. And Report an error in the passage at 1:14:35 Highlight the passage at 1:14:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:15:43 imagine that that sense of ease becomes brighter and brighter. So Report an error in the passage at 1:15:43 Highlight the passage at 1:15:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:16:22 that sense of ease, that brightness, that luminosity is experienced by your mind. consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:22 Highlight the passage at 1:16:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:17:32 You become Report an error in the passage at 1:17:32 Highlight the passage at 1:17:32

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:18:13 the Report an error in the passage at 1:18:13 Highlight the passage at 1:18:13

1:18:37 experience, there is no more subject controlling creating the experience. pleasant the experience becomes. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:37 Highlight the passage at 1:18:37

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:18:47 You become this space of awareness that is pervaded by light and by a pleasant sensation. And Report an error in the passage at 1:18:47 Highlight the passage at 1:18:47

1:19:08 you let go. And you rest there effortlessly without doing anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:21 Yet be fully aware. Anyway, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:21 Highlight the passage at 1:19:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:20:51 those which have time and have the interest, Saturday we're going to do more into that direction at the retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:51 Highlight the passage at 1:20:51

1:21:26 Who here doesn't know Shantideva's text? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:26 Highlight the passage at 1:21:26

1:21:33 No, have read it or heard teaching about it, things like that. Some people don't know the text at all? Not many, okay. So in Report an error in the passage at 1:21:33 Highlight the passage at 1:21:33

1:21:56 a brief way I want to explain a little bit the structure of Shantideva's text. For you to understand how the topic of joyous perseverance enters into the path to enlightenment. How does it fit? Because it's not just joyous perseverance in general. The topic is actually more precise. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:22 So in the Bodhisattva way of life or the Bodhicaryavatara, like it's called in Sanskrit, Shantideva starts in his first chapter to praise bodhicitta. To say how amazing that state of mind is. There is nothing more beautiful, nothing more powerful, nothing more virtuous to generate bodhicitta. So many people have heard this word bodhicitta, which is Sanskrit for body means enlightened, awakened, and citta means mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22:22

1:22:59 So there is nothing more precious than to generate the awakened mind. mind, the enlightened mind. So this enlightened mind has two aspects. It has its conventional nature and its ultimate nature. So the conventional nature of the bodhicitta is this aspiration to bring all beings to enlightenment, to recognize that we all have this pure Buddha nature inside each being, even how crooked and how disturbed they are at the moment, each one of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:59 Highlight the passage at 1:22:59

1:23:55 of potential to the higher level of awakening. So that state of mind It's the most beautiful or far-reaching goal that you can ever generate in your mind. You see, what is the purpose of my life? Maybe to have children, maybe to have a happy life, maybe to have a house, maybe to have some savings for my old age. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:55 Highlight the passage at 1:23:55

1:24:23 So for us, as ordinary beings, often the scope of our benefit For ourselves and our family, things like that. And then if one is a little bit more awakened, for our community or for our state or for our country, we wish the well-being for those people, and a little bit more for the whole planet, for all the human beings, and a little bit more even including the animals and other forms of life. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:23 Highlight the passage at 1:24:23

1:24:54 So we wish them to have ordinary happiness and be free. of ordinary suffering. So a little bit higher than that you want to free them from all the problems forever and bring them to a state of everlasting happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:13 And then higher than that you want to bring them to the state of fully awakening, the state of full omniscient mind. So that state of mind that your aspiration, your long-term goal happiness Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:27 Why you live? What's your purpose of your life? It's to bring all beings to enlightenment. Wow! I don't even know how to take care of myself and you ask me to bring all beings to enlightenment? Are you crazy? It doesn't make sense. So we start from there and we are asked to have this far-reaching aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:27 Highlight the passage at 1:25:27

1:25:51 It's not really mind-blowing. Even to have the thought, the aspiration, wow, that could be something. There are beings that have that state of mind. There are people which feel that even that thought exists somewhere in the universe is crazy. I never thought even that before hearing about the bodhicitta, I didn't even know it could exist, to have that state of mind. As a Christian, I never heard about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:51 Highlight the passage at 1:25:51

1:26:20 And we heard that you can have this aspiration to lead all beings to enlightenment. It's just mind-blowing. So Shantideva in his first shabbi says that state of mind is so crazy that even a moment of that, it purifies, it removes the veil of your consciousness in such a swift way. So there's no more, how to say, More powerful state of mind to purify, to clean this obscuration in your mind and to generate this far-reaching state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:20 Highlight the passage at 1:26:20

1:26:56 There's nothing that creates more positive potential, good luck that attracts realization, that attracts good experience, than to generate that state of mind. So he praises in his first chapter that there's nothing better, there's no state of mind that is more virtuous, more powerful. There is no state of mind that can reach you quicker to enlightenment and he even says that without that state of mind it is impossible to reach enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:56 Highlight the passage at 1:26:56

1:27:27 All the other yogis that might have other realizations, as long as they don't have that, they won't have the omniscient mind. Because you see what produces the omniscient mind, one aspect of the omniscient mind is that your mind becomes one with all phenomena. So if you have no interest in all phenomena and all beings, how can you ever be omniscient? So a part that expands your mind, that makes you become one with everything, is that you wish to, you have this love and compassion, you see, that expands. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27:27

1:28:09 So in the first chapter he speaks about the benefit, the beauty of this state of mind. And then he says, wow! Report an error in the passage at 1:28:09 Highlight the passage at 1:28:09

1:28:22 I'm here in that state of mind, you know, said. I have so little merit, I have so little potential, so little goodness. He goes into making these countless offerings to all these enlightened beings so that they, please, please help me, you know, please, you know, think about me, you know, I give you everything, you know, imagine everything I give you. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:22 Highlight the passage at 1:28:22

1:29:05 And then, you know, please, please, you know, my faults, my mistakes, you know, I regret, you know, may this stop obscuring me, you know, kind of like that. And then rejoice in all the qualities that... The universe has that other beings have and the potential that he has. And then he aspires to receive teachings and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:29 And then once his mind has been purified, cleared of obstacles, through that he asks the Buddha to give him the bodhisattva vows. Please now accept me as a bodhisattva. Accept me to enter into the path that leads to enlightenment. I want to travel that journey. Please bless me that I'm able to enter that journey. So then he explains to you how to take the bodhisattva vows. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29:29

1:29:56 So in front of the Buddha he says, please give me the vows. And then that blessing enters into the heart and you feel, wow, this precious jewel. Of wishing to reach enlightenment, of wishing to lead all beings to enlightenment has awakened in my heart. I have created that amazing state. Even for a split of a second, I was sincerely myself, I sincerely wished myself, I wished to bring all beings to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:56 Highlight the passage at 1:29:56

1:30:24 For a fraction of a second, I had that thought. Sincerely, I wished me, me, crazy me, stupid me, deluded me. I wanted to bring all beings to enlightenment. I created that thought. Wow. And then he praises that state of mind. How wonderful, how beautiful that state of mind is. How wonderful that I was able to have that glimpse of that wonderful state of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:24 Highlight the passage at 1:30:24

1:30:57 So he praises it in countless ways. How beautiful, how wonderful. And then in the next... The next chapter he said, wow, this precious state of my heart is generating. How can I keep it? How can I prevent it from degenerating? How can I prevent it to forget that I wish to bring all beings to enlightenment? While I go to wash the dishes, while I go for a walk, how can I do that my mind doesn't forget that my ultimate aim is to bring all beings to enlightenment? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:32 How can I live in the world while keeping deep in my heart Far reaching goal, my ultimate aim is to bring all beings to enlightenment. Not the Buddha, not my neighbor, me, I want to bring all beings to enlightenment. Not the Dalai Lama, not the Karmapa, me. I want to bring all beings to enlightenment. And I will never stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:32 Highlight the passage at 1:31:32

1:31:57 Until one single being is still suffering, I will never give up thinking of how can I bring all beings to enlightenment. Till the last being is out of suffering, out of problem, I will never give up. Till the end of time, I will work, I will take rebirth again and again till all beings have reached enlightenment, till I have led all beings to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:57 Highlight the passage at 1:31:57

1:32:23 It's an amazing commitment. It's an amazing state of mind. So he prays it like that to encourage himself. And then in the next chapter he says, what have I done? What commitment have I taken? My goodness! Was I crazy? And then he tries to encourage himself. He says, how can I ever renounce it? For a moment I had that feeling. I create this far-reaching state of mind. You see, I promise to leave all beings to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:23 Highlight the passage at 1:32:23

1:32:55 What can happen if now I renounce that? All these beings, the countless things, they count on me to bring them to enlightenment and suddenly I give them up. I think about me. I forget them. So he said, there's nothing worse once that you have promised something like that to give it up. So you encourage him in countless ways, countless ways of thinking. You see, now I want to do that. How to keep the mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:24 You see, to never forget that I have taken that commitment to lead all beings. Me, with my delusion, with my problem, with my self-cherishing, with my selfishness, with all my problems, my tax to pay and my car that breaks down and my sickness, with all my problems, my far-reaching goal, how can I never forget that? Report an error in the passage at 1:33:24 Highlight the passage at 1:33:24

1:33:48 So on that basis, how do you practice that path? So the first stage, I encourage you to start controlling your behavior. Start in a small way. Stop harming others with your actions of body, with your speech and your thought. Stop harming others at the level you can. At least you reduce. You cannot from one day to another stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:48 Highlight the passage at 1:33:48

1:34:14 It's a gradual process of being less negative and more positive. So it's a cultivation of ethics. So he used you in many methods, a way of thinking that you make progress in your ethic of stop harming others and benefiting them. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:14 Highlight the passage at 1:34:14

1:34:37 Then in the next chapter he says, okay, but I have all these obstacles. I get sick, I have the neighbor that hates me. I lose my job, my car breaks down, there's a mosquito that bites me, and it's too hot and it's too cold. There's all these obstacles. How can I ever succeed? I get irritated, I get angry, I get upset, and I want to reach all beings tonight, and I get always upset. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:35:05 There's a slight little hindrance I face. I get upset. So then he gives you many methods to see how to develop patience. How to be patient in the face of other people harming you, how to be patient with nature that produces difficulty to you, how to be patient with sickness, how to be patient with the lack of spiritual progress, how to be patient with your anger, how to think to pacify your mind so that nothing can affect you anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:05 Highlight the passage at 1:35:05

1:35:42 You reach a point with the cultivation of patience that you see things want to harm you, want to bother you, but they don't affect you anymore. You have that patience. You reach a point even where problems are positive. You say, thank you very much. Oh, it's nice to have problems. Actually, you realize that without problems you wouldn't make spiritual progress, that you need problems to make progress. Otherwise you would become lazy. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:42 Highlight the passage at 1:35:42

1:36:11 Otherwise, you know, you forget. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:11 Highlight the passage at 1:36:11

1:36:40 Because only they know what actually you have to face, what it feels like to go through that problem. The ex-alcoholic, the ex-drug addict. You see, all these people which have heavy suffering or ex-army veteran, they help other people because they know what it feels like and they know the best what helped them, how to help others. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:40 Highlight the passage at 1:36:40

1:37:03 So at some point in your spiritual development, adversity... It becomes very useful and you realize that without problem you cannot make much progress. The stronger a problem you have, actually the stronger the energy and the power of your mind to resolve the problem. And you realize that once you know how to solve your own problem, you actually know how to help other people to solve their problem. For example, there are monks, many geishas. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:03 Highlight the passage at 1:37:03

1:37:36 In France there was... He came first time to the West. So, and then people would go to ask the question, right? And the people would come, and in France, the people, the most important question they came to ask is relationship problem. You know, I have problem with my husband, my girlfriend, and the monks, and Geshe Tenge is a monk, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:37:36 Highlight the passage at 1:37:36

1:38:04 I don't know what to answer. I was never in a relationship. I don't know what to say. Have a good heart, be kind. So Report an error in the passage at 1:38:04 Highlight the passage at 1:38:04

1:38:25 it's a bit the same, right? So if we don't know a problem, if we have never experienced it, how can we help others? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:25 Highlight the passage at 1:38:25

1:38:34 So there you start seeing that the problems we face actually teach you something. That's why in many cultures the ancient, the wise old men or the wise old women are praised because they have the wisdom of aging, of having passed through all these experiences. So they can help the young ones not make all the mistakes, right? So in many, how to say, I don't like the word primitive, but all traditional culture, you know, the old time, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:39:12 So the ancient, the elder. We are praised, right? In our modern societies we praise the youth and the beautiful and the smart and we are upside down, right? But there is a wisdom there, you know, we can appreciate in the elders, some people that grow in age and wisdom, there is there a knowledge, an experience that we can tap into. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:12 Highlight the passage at 1:39:12

1:39:36 So there is the same thing with patience. You see, you learn from the mistake, you learn from the thing and... And it gives you a form of wisdom, very important patience, right? And then patience makes you, that your mind is not shaken up, right? If each time you get beaten by a mosquito and you get upset, you know, it's a problem. Right here, mosquito is not a big problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:36 Highlight the passage at 1:39:36

1:40:01 I think that example from India, where you have a lot of mosquito during monsoon, you know, it's a big problem there. Here, not so much. But each time we are bothered by something. You know, our mind gets shaken up, we get upset, irritable. What is that state of mind of being upset, irritable? It's an unhappy state of mind. And then whatever we think or say under that upset, we create further problems. So to be in a state of mind where you're never upset, thumbs up, very good. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:35 So that's what you realize through this training. In patience, you reach a point, you're never upset again. And when you have a problem, instead of saying bad, you say, oh, it's good, it's nice, I like this problem, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:35 Highlight the passage at 1:40:35

1:40:51 A mosquito comes by, oh, thank you, mosquito. You want a little bit more blood? Please have it. I want to lead you to enlightenment. So a little bit of blood, I can start with that. So not only you reach a point... Where you're not upset anymore that your mind is calm, but you're joyous about the problem. You see them as something beneficial, as something good. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:17 Very, very important. I started working on this Bodhi Charita because of that. I went to Bodh Gaya to do retreat where the Buddha reached enlightenment. Bodh Gaya, most beautiful place. I was imagining sitting on the Bodhi tree where the Buddha reached enlightenment. That must be so nice. So from Switzerland I rented a cabin in Bodh Gaya in a retreat center. I said, oh, retreat center, I bought my own individual little mud cabin. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:17 Highlight the passage at 1:41:17

1:41:46 I said, wow, it's fantastic. I'll go there and I will meditate. I read this life story of the Buddha. It was very inspiring. So I went there. I got my cabin. And then the experience was that they were building a second cabin just in front of mine. From morning 7 o 'clock to 7 at night, you know, you had 20 Indian... So when finally they went home at night, then you had the big loudspeaker blaring Indian music because it was the wedding season, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:46 Highlight the passage at 1:41:46

1:42:26 And it's not beautiful music, it's not beautiful speaker that's much too loud. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:35 It's not even pleasant, you know, from an ordinary point of view. And it goes on and on and on. And when it wasn't wedding, it was pujas, you know, because it was a puja season. So all the different, you know, they use the same speaker and the whole night, you know, puja, puja. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:42:55 So my image of the retreat, and I became, instead of more, more irritable, you know. What time do you stop, you know? Oh, not another wedding coming up! I became like that, you know. I wanted to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:55 Highlight the passage at 1:42:55

1:43:17 I said, this doesn't work. I'm going to leave. But I was so hard to say. miserly I already had paid for two months I didn't have anything to go you know I had booked my fight for the in two months what I'm gonna do right Then I remembered that I had only two books with me and one text was Shantideva's text. And there was this chapter on patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:17 Highlight the passage at 1:43:17

1:43:49 You know, let's try patience after all. It might be helpful given my state of mind. So I read that chapter and I found it amazing, his logic, his stream of thought. It was so powerful for my mind. So I spent the next, you know, my retreat, I wanted to do shamatha and this other type of practice. I gave up, I just meditated on patience for the whole two months. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:49 Highlight the passage at 1:43:49

1:44:19 And definitely after two months I was happy, I was thanking the guys outside, and thank you, you know, you already finished, no? And so the noise was still there, but my mind wasn't upset anymore, you know, I was okay, you know, it didn't disturb me anymore. I thought, wow, this is amazing, you know, and that's how I started. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:19 Highlight the passage at 1:44:19

1:44:46 Then I, because the logic... You see, he's a little bit buried in the middle of the poetic, the poesy. So I'm trying to extract what's the essence of what he tries to say. So verse after verse, I start working on that. So it was a very beautiful exercise to do. If you want to go deeper in a text, you try to do some work with the text. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:46 Highlight the passage at 1:44:46

1:45:44 You see how you don't become complacent. You see how you have this joyous perseverance to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. You need that in order to have this sustained energy to bring you to enlightenment. So that's the chapter we're going to read now. I'm going to explain a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:44 Highlight the passage at 1:45:44

1:46:10 After that, so how it fits in. Once you have developed this joyous perseverance, this joy in doing good, this joy in wishing to reach enlightenment, then you develop calm abiding. Then you stabilize your mind. You become, develop shamatha, calm abiding, this blissful, serene state of mind. And then after that, the next chapter, is how you use this serene, blissful state of mind to... Report an error in the passage at 1:46:10 Highlight the passage at 1:46:10

1:46:39 Get insight into reality, how you develop wisdom, the wisdom that sees reality as it is. So that's the ninth chapter. And then in the last chapter, he dedicates the merit, the positive energy for the welfare of all beings. So that's a little bit the structure of the text. And the thing we're going to read is the one on joyous perseverance. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:05 perseverance. So How much time do we have? It depends how many words I say. Okay, to read through, just to read without me saying any commentary takes 10 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:05 Highlight the passage at 1:47:05

1:47:25 So let's say a little bit commentary and we have 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:25 Highlight the passage at 1:47:25

1:47:31 Anyway, those which have to leave, they can leave, right? No problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:31 Highlight the passage at 1:47:31

1:47:44 So it starts with patience. Meaning that you have developed a certain level of patience or you have developed a certain acquaintance on how to deal with obstacles in your spiritual journey, how you don't get always upset. And once your mind has been familiarized with this method, then say, with patience I should cultivate perseverance. So once I have patience, I should cultivate perseverance. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:44 Highlight the passage at 1:47:44

1:48:10 For without it, enlightenment is impossible. If we don't have any perseverance... No progress. Joyous perseverance is finding joy in good. So good could have been said virtue, finding in goodness, in virtue, in positivity. Now it's all the same. So now he says what's the obstacle to that joyous perseverance? Why we don't have joyous perseverance or what undermines our joyous perseverance? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:43 What hinders it? Its laziness? Entertainment and discouragement are its obstacles. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:43 Highlight the passage at 1:48:43

1:48:54 Then he explains the antidote to these three states of mind. The source and fuel of laziness are attachment to pleasure and disregard for some sort of suffering. So if you see why we don't... You see, what hinders us from wanting to reach enlightenment, from being active to wanting to reach enlightenment, from being active to wishing to benefit others, what it is, is either we're lazy, you know, lazy, you know, why are we lazy? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:54 Highlight the passage at 1:48:54

1:49:37 Why are we lazy? Right? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:37 Highlight the passage at 1:49:37

1:49:44 So he says it's because we are attached to pleasure. You see, the pleasure that distracts us. We want to benefit others, but we are distracted by the pleasure of this life, right? And we don't understand that we are in a deep mess. We don't realize that we have a big problem. You see, if we compare ourselves to poor beggars, sick persons, we think we are quite well off. It's true. But if we compare ourselves to Buddhas or higher bodhisattvas, we have big problems. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:44 Highlight the passage at 1:49:44

1:50:19 So it depends who you compare yourself to. So he says, you see, we have a big problem because we're still caught into cause and condition, we're caught in karma and delusions, you see, we're caught. So now he tries to make you understand how to think to remove that laziness, how to remove that... attachment to pleasure and discard for some suffering, how to think about to remove your laziness. By the power of my delusions, I'm caught in the cycle of rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:19 Highlight the passage at 1:50:19

1:50:56 Why don't I realize I'm going to die? Oblivious to my companions dying one by one, like a buffalo sleeping soundly beside its butcher. You know, that example is very speaking to me, because in India, Actually, it was in Nepal. There's a place called Namo Buddha where Buddha offered his body to the tigeress in a previous life. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:56 Highlight the passage at 1:50:56

1:51:26 So there's a monastery there and there's eight stupa there. And I went there to do a retreat. I did 100,000 refuge and 100,000 mandala offering there. And on a festival day, it was the Nepali people coming and they... They brought a buffalo to be killed there, and they had the good thought of thinking, we will butcher the buffalo in front of the stupa so that, you know, it creates some virtue or that he has a good rebirth, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:26 Highlight the passage at 1:51:26

1:51:56 So I was watching that, so they brought the buffalo, and they brought him some food, some grass in front of him. So while the buffalo was, you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:56 Highlight the passage at 1:51:56

1:52:38 Realize he's going to die, right? And yet he's dying. So we are a little bit like that. We don't realize that we're going to. We know intellectually that we're going to die someday. But not today. Not today. Someday. And that, you see, we think we have plenty of time between now and I'm going to die. And that makes us lazy. That makes us... Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

1:53:06 We are just wasting our time on the way. For me, it's very clear, I see a big difference. If I start my meditation, Oh, this could be my last meditation. Today could be my last day. This meditation is maybe my last meditation. It completely changed the flavor of the practice. You see, if you think I'm going to this prayer today and tomorrow I'm going to do the prayer and after today I'm going to pray, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I don't need it, you know, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:54:04 If you think it's the last time that you do this meditation, meditation, the sincerity the The way you do it, the quality changes. It's very interesting, the power of thinking, this could be my last time. You see your partner, you see your child, it's maybe the last time I see them. The quality of the interaction changes. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:04 Highlight the passage at 1:54:04

1:54:30 You see instead, you know, superficially, no, you put more heart. You see how to say your presence, your mindfulness, your interaction. It completely changes quality. Because it might be the last time. You don't want to be the last time to be a bad memory. You want to be a good experience. So you put more heart into it. It's very, very powerful. For me, my spiritual path completely changes when I'm thinking this is maybe the last time I do this meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:30 Highlight the passage at 1:54:30

1:55:01 This is maybe the last time I do this prayer. Very, very powerful, that sincerity that rings. So that's what he tries to convey. You see, that sincerity that comes, even though you might, thankfully you might not die, right? But to think sincerely that it could happen, right? It could happen because stroke happened, because building collapsed, because car accident happened. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:01 Highlight the passage at 1:55:01

1:55:29 It happened, we read in newspaper all the time, no? And it could happen to me. Why not? How do I know? There is no guarantee. So that state of mind is so precious. It is not at all depressing. I found it actually incredibly awakening. You become much more awake, much more sincere, much more there. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:29 Highlight the passage at 1:55:29

1:55:56 Life becomes much more precious, even some kind of magic there. Wow, I meet that person again. Wow, my precious partner is still there with me. It's beautiful. So you don't want to hurt. You don't want to speak gibberish and just blah blah blah. No, let's go from the heart because it might be the last time. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:56 Highlight the passage at 1:55:56

1:56:25 Let's make it precious, enriching. It's beautiful. Cornered by death with no escape, Report an error in the passage at 1:56:25 Highlight the passage at 1:56:25

1:56:59 of the unbearable agony to come, how can I lay back carefree? Going closer to death with each passing breath, what a fool I am to think I'm immortal and to dream of the fruit without effort. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:59 Highlight the passage at 1:56:59

1:57:17 With this raft of human birth, I should cross the river of pain. This is no time for sleep. So this is, you see, one of the main antidotes for laziness is to remember that death can happen soon and that we don't have... eternity in front of us you know to make the work that actually it can happen that today might be my last day right and that is you know in in the bible in the new testament it says you see you know you should be always ready you know with the lamp because the guests could come and die right a beautiful image that also right you should be ready all the time because you never know when it's when that's gonna happen so you should always be ready And then the next verse, he speaks about entertainment, the obstacle of entertainment. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:17 Highlight the passage at 1:57:17

1:58:16 How can I reject the exquisite joy of Dharma for entertainment that only results in suffering? You see, the Dharma brings you an exquisite joy of everlasting happiness. It never betrays you, whereas ordinary pleasure, entertainment, distraction, For me, what I notice is that I get excited when I watch a movie or this and do this and that, but after it always has a little bitter taste. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:16 Highlight the passage at 1:58:16

1:58:49 The mind goes up, but then it has to go back down. And the more excited, the more distracted I was, actually the more I fall back a little bit. So I notice that. So not only that, but then how to say we develop attachment. You see, we develop more desire and that actually creates more mental affliction and that produce suffering as a result, you know, due to karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:49 Highlight the passage at 1:58:49

1:59:23 Then the next verses he speaks about the discouragement, how to think about the obstacle of discouragement. Without giving in to discouragement, I should master myself, then equalize and exchange self for others. So here I should master myself. This means an exchange of self is the next chapter that he's going to speak about. In the eighth chapter he explains how to master oneself due to the development of calm abiding. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:23 Highlight the passage at 1:59:23

1:59:54 Then based on that calm abiding, how to equalize and exchange oneself for others, how to develop genuine bodhicitta. Why be discouraged when the Buddha explained that with effort even insects can reach enlightenment? Shouldn't I, a human discerning right from wrong, be able to reach enlightenment? So when he said, you know, an insect can reach enlightenment, it doesn't mean in that life, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:54 Highlight the passage at 1:59:54

2:00:24 But the insect will create merit, you see, it will die and then be born in a battery bus and gradually even an insect one day will reach enlightenment, you know? It doesn't mean that the insect right now, you know, become Buddha, you know? If it is for fear, Of having to give up this body, then I'm confused about what's hard and what's easy. What is terrible is to suffer eons without awakening, whereas hardship on the path to enlightenment is limited. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:24 Highlight the passage at 2:00:24

2:01:02 You see, what he wants to convey is that, you see, in cyclic existence, there's never any end to the suffering, but the effort, the hardship you... Report an error in the passage at 2:01:02 Highlight the passage at 2:01:02

2:01:16 experience well on the path to an end, that has an end. Once you reach enlightenment, you are never going to have any problem again, forever. It's mind-blowing to imagine that such a state exists, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:16 Highlight the passage at 2:01:16

2:01:43 Somehow we don't have the faith that that state exists and we don't have the faith that I can reach it. And that's why we don't put so much effort. We think, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, maybe a nice fairy tale, I like it. Oh, maybe in the past, or maybe His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but me, no. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:43 Highlight the passage at 2:01:43

2:02:08 So, you see, he said, even... The hardship of doing newness, of doing prostrations, of all these, how to say, fasting, all these things that people do to purify their mind. So this hardship has a limit. This hardship will end. Whereas the hardship you put in cyclic existence, that has no end. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:08 Highlight the passage at 2:02:08

2:02:35 Even doctors cause a little suffering to remove greater pain. By comparison, the Buddhas give gentle treatment to cure boundless suffering. Training is gradual. First give a little food until eventually you will be able to give your body away. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:02:55 With virtue, there would be no pain. With wisdom, no mental affliction. Those who take rebirth out of compassion, what would make them suffer? Report an error in the passage at 2:02:55 Highlight the passage at 2:02:55

2:03:11 For through the power of bodhicitta past negativities are destroyed and infinite merit created. With bodhicitta I would go from happiness to happiness. So how could I be discouraged? You see, that's an important point. We get discouraged thinking, oh, how can I take rebirth again and again and again and again? Report an error in the passage at 2:03:11 Highlight the passage at 2:03:11

2:03:39 But we imagine this taking rebirth again and again as a life like we have, and not having to repeat that again. I remember to my mom, she's Christian, so I tell her, you know, oh, implicitly we live in rebirth. And my mom, ah, no, once is enough. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:39 Highlight the passage at 2:03:39

2:04:03 But Report an error in the passage at 2:04:03 Highlight the passage at 2:04:03

2:04:10 you see, it's not like that. So because the mind... That's enough! Report an error in the passage at 2:04:10 Highlight the passage at 2:04:10

2:04:16 He says, because with wisdom there is no mental affliction. So with the wisdom that sees reality, you don't have any mental affliction in your mind. So your mind is not disturbed. Your mind is not agitated. And because you have compassion, you don't create negative karma. So basically, yes, you take rebirth, but you take rebirth from better and better life with less and less problem. You see, your life is actually a nice life. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:16 Highlight the passage at 2:04:16

2:04:45 You have wealth, you have good health, you have long life, you have many friends, everybody likes you. It's fun. It's not bad. Why? Because you create good karma and because you have no mental affliction, because you see reality. So for bodhisattva it's not difficult to take rebirth. It goes better and better. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:45 Highlight the passage at 2:04:45

2:05:04 So he says you shouldn't be discouraged because actually there are nice lives coming ahead. To work for the benefit... To work for the benefit of all, I should cultivate the support to my perseverance, the power of aspiration, self-confidence, joy and rest. So you see, to make your joyous perseverance stronger, you have to rely on these things to cultivate aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:04 Highlight the passage at 2:05:04

2:05:34 I aspire to destroy the countless delusions of all beings, even though each one may take eons to conquer. Though I don't have even a tiny bit of energy to do this, suffering awaits, so I must wake up. The time has come to develop many good qualities, no matter how long it takes. So far I have failed to develop any of them, and thus for nothing have I gained this precious life. I haven't made offerings to the Buddhas, the Dharma or the poor, nor have I offered protection or happiness to anyone. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:34 Highlight the passage at 2:05:34

2:06:13 So far, my only accomplishment has been my mother's labor pains. In past life, I didn't aspire to the Dharma, which is why I'm in this pitiful state now. Buddha said that aspiration is the root of all virtue and comes from constant awareness of karma. So this is important. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:13 Highlight the passage at 2:06:13

2:06:37 Happiness doesn't come by chance, it comes from causes. So if you create the cause for happiness, even if you don't want to be happy, the result will come. If you stop creating the cause of suffering, even if you are a masochist, you won't suffer. If you don't create the cause, you won't experience the result. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:37 Highlight the passage at 2:06:37

2:07:00 And if you create the cause of something, the result will come, even if you don't want. It is very important to understand cause and effect of karma. Non-virtuous state of mind causes physical and mental pain, while virtuous ones bring happiness. So however much I strive for happiness, if I do wrong, only suffering will result. Through virtue I will be born close to the Buddhas, but if I behave unethically, only the suffering of lower rebirth awaits. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:00 Highlight the passage at 2:07:00

2:07:35 And so I will develop aspiration for virtuous actions and on this basis develop self-confidence. Self-confidence is important. Many of us in the West have low self-esteem, have a problem of we have difficulty to love ourselves. And there I think there is something important to develop there. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:35 Highlight the passage at 2:07:35

2:08:00 In the West we need to meditate on self-love and self-respect and realize the Buddha potential. You see that we fundamentally are good human beings, that we are beautiful beings. To come in touch with our inner beauty is very very important. But first let me inspect the task, for it is better not to begin than to give up once started. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:00 Highlight the passage at 2:08:00

2:08:31 Otherwise this habit will strengthen and I will achieve nothing and waste my time. So you see, before engaging in action, think about it. Can I actually bring it to completion or not? Maybe the task is too big for my ability now. So it's better to have a smaller goal and able to bring it to completion because then you have the satisfaction of success. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:31 Highlight the passage at 2:08:31

2:08:57 So you go from success to success and you have this self-esteem, this joy of having accomplished what you... It's very important. Whereas if you make too big an aim and then you fail, you fail, fail, so you lose confidence, you lose, you know, oh, I cannot do, I'm a failure, blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:57 Highlight the passage at 2:08:57

2:09:17 Self-confidence should be applied to three things. Action. The affliction and abilities. So actually wishing to benefit others, the affliction, yes I can destroy them, I can have the diamond and I'm capable, I have the ability to do that. When others so deluded are unable to find happiness, I will be there to help them. May I do the lowest job without a trace of pride. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:17 Highlight the passage at 2:09:17

2:09:44 If I'm weak, even the slightest setback will impair me. The discourage... are easily defeated. So with confidence and perseverance I will succeed. wish to save the world is ridiculous if I succumb to discouragement. Vanquishing all and be defeated by nothing, this is the wholesome pride I should have. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:44 Highlight the passage at 2:09:44

2:10:10 Self-respect, self-confidence, you know, things like that. But self-important destructive pride is the enemy. It prevents all joy and leads to unfortunate rebirth. Wholesome pride comes from vanquishing destructive pride. When overwhelmed by the afflictions, fight them in a thousand ways. Do not surrender. Despite hardship, bodhisattva never fall under the power of the afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10:10

2:10:43 So come what may, I will never bow. to my mental affliction if playing, whatever action I do, I will do with joy. work hard to gain happiness, though success is uncertain. But those whose joy is in the I think this is a very important point, you see, to have joy in what spiritual practice you do. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:43 Highlight the passage at 2:10:43

2:11:19 To have joy in the positive things you do, to like it. When you help other people, be joyous to do it. And don't mind if people don't appreciate, don't expect any reward. Find the joy in doing the right thing. It's very very good. And that comes from discovering your inner peace. Your joy doesn't come from how other people react. The joy comes from inside. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:19 Highlight the passage at 2:11:19

2:11:50 The joy is in doing good. The joy is in helping others. The joy is in your inner peace that you gain by being a giving person, an altruistic person. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:50 Highlight the passage at 2:11:50

2:12:06 Insatiably chasing sensory pleasure like honeys on a razor's edge. Why not chasing merit which leads to endless goodness? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:06 Highlight the passage at 2:12:06

2:12:18 With joyful perseverance I should commit to this work and bring it to completion. And then he says, if tired I should rest for a while. It's just one line. But it's very important. We should know how to rest. How to relax, give yourself, I can watch a movie tonight, I've done good work this week, so I watch a movie, let's go for a walk, let's go to the beach, rest. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:18 Highlight the passage at 2:12:18

2:12:49 And then again you have the energy, your mind is relaxed, and again you can... So often people work too hard, they push too hard, and then they get stressed, and then they get unhappy, and then the whole thing collapses. So you have to pace yourself, you have to know how to rest. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:49 Highlight the passage at 2:12:49

2:13:06 It's very important, but it needs a lot of wisdom and experience to know how you're self-indulging and when you really need rest, when it's genuine and sincere and needed. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:06 Highlight the passage at 2:13:06

2:13:21 Like a warrior, I'll always be on guard against delusions and vigorously counteract them. And if I drop the sword of mindfulness, I will quickly pick it up. So the development of mindfulness and how to guard against the delusion, he explains the previous chapter in detail. He just reminds us here. Just as poison spreads in the blood, faults spread in my mind if I allow them. So I'll be vigilant of disturbing thoughts like a frightened man threatened with death if he let a single drop spill from a full jar. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:21 Highlight the passage at 2:13:21

2:14:04 I learnt as if a snake were nearby, I will watch for sleep and laziness. Each mistake I will confess and think, what can I do so this never happens again? This is very important. You see, we do mistakes and we confess and we purify and we do it again and again and again. We say, oh, I can still purify, you know. But how to say, the most, Lama Zopa often says, You see, you have four consequences from a negative action that you do. One is a lower rebirth, right? One is an environment result, and the other one is a result similar to the cause. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:04 Highlight the passage at 2:14:04

2:14:51 It's actually, if you kill somebody, you create the cause for being killed. But he says the worst is the imprint, the habit you take to do that action again and again. And the only force that counteracts that even though you purify is the determination not to do it again. What counteracts that habit of doing that mistake again is only the determination. No matter how many purifications you do, if you don't have a strong determination not to do it again, you will do it again and again because the habit is there, the momentum. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:51 Highlight the passage at 2:14:51

2:15:23 So it might pass a few days, but the momentum is there to do it again. So when the right condition comes, right circumstance, again you fall. So what force there is the determinant. No, I'm not going to do that again. How can I be vigilant? What are the conditions that make me usually do that mistake? How can I be mindful to avoid those circumstances? And how can I... Report an error in the passage at 2:15:23 Highlight the passage at 2:15:23

2:15:51 Make sure that this doesn't happen again. Each time you make a mistake, think, how can I do, how can I live, how can I behave, where should I avoid to go for a while for that not to happen, or which people triggered that, so which people should I avoid for a time being for that thing not to happen again. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:51 Highlight the passage at 2:15:51

2:16:12 It's very important. I will seek the company of the wise to develop mindfulness in every situation. So he said it's much easier to control your mind if you have virtuous friends, if you have positive friends. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:12 Highlight the passage at 2:16:12

2:16:28 Before doing any action, I will recall this advice on mindfulness and joyfully rise to the challenge. So this advice on mindfulness is not just what is said just above, but is the chapter on mindfulness that was before in the text, where he gives many ways of thinking to be mindful moment to moment, to do virtuous action and avoid non-virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:28 Highlight the passage at 2:16:28

2:16:51 And he ends with a poetic line, you know, As a flower seed carried by the wind, may I be lifted with joyful perseverance and thus attain my goal. So Report an error in the passage at 2:16:51 Highlight the passage at 2:16:51

2:17:06 I think this text from Shantideva is one of the main graduate paths to enlightenment, which actually is one of the root texts that many Tibetan Lama commented on. So for example, the great work of Lama Tsongkhapa, the Lamrim Chemo. The great commentary on the path, he quotes probably most of the texts. Basically it's an elaboration of the Shantideva's texts. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:06 Highlight the passage at 2:17:06

2:17:44 And Patrul Rinpoche, the lamrim from other traditions, many are commentaries on Shantideva's. So this text is really one of the core texts of the Mahāyāna path. Beautiful. And when you think it was written in the 7th or 8th century, and still so relevant nowadays, you see that how to say truth or the reality of human being or human condition hasn't changed very much. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:44 Highlight the passage at 2:17:44

2:18:18 It's still very accurate or describes very much nowadays our present situation and can still be I found this text really amazing, Shantideva's text, because how to say, his logic, the way he expresses it, you know, his stream of thought, you know, he exposes the problem and then he presents solution and things like that, you know, I found it very great. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:18 Highlight the passage at 2:18:18

2:18:51 And also the ninth chapter about wisdom. about how to realize emptiness, how to realize ultimate reality. So he presents it from many different perspectives, and he explains all the different spiritual traditions, how far they go and what mistakes are there, what they miss. So he takes different Hindu schools, he takes the nihilists, those who don't believe in anything after, then he takes the eternalists, those who believe in God, in the Creator, creator so he shows you know where Where the pitfall is there, how far they go and what they miss. And he explains why and how. And then gradually he presents the different Buddhist views because he is the proponder of the highest Buddhist school. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:51 Highlight the passage at 2:18:51

2:19:41 So he shows how far the previous school goes and what's missing there and how to get further. So it's very well elaborated in the ninth chapter. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:41 Highlight the passage at 2:19:41

2:19:53 And then he explains the state of mind when you have realized emptiness, what joy, what peace, you then, wow, you're not disturbed by anything anymore. That state of blissful, nothing can disturb you because you see everything as transparent, as senseless. And you have reached there and suddenly you can relax. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:53 Highlight the passage at 2:19:53

2:20:19 Suddenly nothing can... make you unhappy anymore and forever you know he said wow you know he said and then How can I be skillful? How can I adapt that to each person according to their level of intelligence, according to their culture? How can I express them? Report an error in the passage at 2:20:19 Highlight the passage at 2:20:19

2:20:50 Induce them to wanting to reach that state. He concludes, how can I do that? How wonderful. How can I share that? And then he dedicates in his last chapel to all living beings in a very elaborate way. So it's very, very beautiful. So there are some Tibetans, they memorize the text and they recite it every day. And there are some yogis, they only do that practice. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:50 Highlight the passage at 2:20:50

2:21:20 Some yogis, they memorize that text and they become wandering sadhus in India and they only meditate on that text. That's their spiritual path, it's the Bodhicaryavatara. Everything is in there. And they go around. And there was one Lama called Patrul Rinpoche, which his whole life mostly gave commentary on that text. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:20 Highlight the passage at 2:21:20

2:21:47 He's a Nyingma Lama. you know, uh, uh... He only spoke about that text. Again, memorizing, giving commentary, pith instructions. He would go from village to village and teach the bodhicitta. So it's a really, really very powerful, beautiful text. So gladly now there's many translations of it. In English you have maybe five, six different translators, one from Sanskrit even, the other from Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:47 Highlight the passage at 2:21:47

2:22:20 And there is many commentary by many Geshes, Geshe Dagpa gave commentary on it here, these transcripts are available. And there is many Geshe in many centers which have given commentary, even the Dalai Lama has given commentary a few times, even his books, commentary from His Holiness on it. And there is one of my friend, Lenny, Report an error in the passage at 2:22:20 Highlight the passage at 2:22:20

2:23:02 of available nowadays you see 30 years ago when i was introduced to the text there was only an indian version you know kind of there was nothing available no so now there's a The wealth of... There is a lot of information about texts that we can comment on. It's fantastic. If you have some attraction to that text, you can have the root text. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:02 Highlight the passage at 2:23:02

2:23:30 This is a little bit the pit instruction on it. Also, what we try to do on that work, because here there is Judith, who worked on making this in beautiful English. And so the work we tried to do on that text was actually to take away the gender bias that was there at that time in India, you know, and also the different cultural thing that wasn't relevant to the 21st century, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:30 Highlight the passage at 2:23:30

2:24:01 So the text is much, it's cleaner, easier to read, you know, you don't get upset because he criticized women or things like, you know, because he basically composed the text for monks. So he speaks about attachment to women, as if only men have this problem or only women have inside the body is not so clean, as if men inside, anyway all this cultural thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:01 Highlight the passage at 2:24:01

2:24:31 And that's not the main point of the text and you can very well read it without that. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:31 Highlight the passage at 2:24:31

2:24:42 So I think if you have the root text. One root text and then a commentary and then maybe this pit instruction. Then you have all what you need. Also what I found very helpful and what people do, they take this text like the I Ching. You just open one page and read one verse. Then you think about it. Actually... Report an error in the passage at 2:24:42 Highlight the passage at 2:24:42

2:25:05 know? Each verse, you see, or each little paragraph, you take an idea of Shantideva and you close it and you think about it. It starts your own meditation, you think about it. Because each paragraph has some kind of wisdom. So you open it, you have your cup of tea, and you think, oh, what Shantideva says to me today. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:05 Highlight the passage at 2:25:05

2:25:29 It's very, very nice. I found it very... Report an error in the passage at 2:25:29 Highlight the passage at 2:25:29