Understanding the Buddhist View of Emptiness (8 August 2008)

0:05 What do you think? Oh, that's true. It'll get noisy. So yeah, maybe closed is good. Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:15 Just a cup is fine. Yeah, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:25 Yeah, let's leave it over for a little bit. I'll close it. Yeah, okay. Okay, so welcome everybody. Since the last time I was here, there's a new... Classroom has been created upstairs, which is an exciting improvement. So now we've got kind of double shifts at Seichenling, which is great. I was thinking maybe nobody would show up and we could all just go sit in the back upstairs, but it didn't happen. Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:52 So what I'd like to do, this is teaching on emptiness tonight, an introduction to emptiness, and then tomorrow we're going to do an all-day class. So we'll kind of give the broad overview. Tonight, and if any of you feel inspired, you can come back tomorrow for more details. Thank you so much. So, as it is a class on emptiness, what I thought would be appropriate to do after setting our motivation is to recite the Heart Sūtra, which is, if you've got the green book, it's on page 9. Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

1:24 So, what we'll do is just sit for a minute or two, just watching our breath, just to quiet our minds. Get ourselves into the room, into our bodies. Friday night, there's been a lot going on for all of us during the week. Maybe you rushed to get here after work, so just take a couple of minutes to focus on your breath and just settle here in the moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

1:57 And Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

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2:31 then let's just take a minute to set our motivation, thinking we may have come just out of curiosity. We've heard this word emptiness. Some curiosity to find out what this means in the Buddhist context. Report an error in the passage at 2:31 Highlight the passage at 2:31

2:51 Or it may be that we have some understanding of the nature of our unenlightened existence and wish to free ourselves, meditate on the ultimate nature of reality to get free. Report an error in the passage at 2:51 Highlight the passage at 2:51

3:08 And the highest level of motivation according to the Mahāyāna is not to just attain liberation for our own sake but to attain full enlightenment. With all the qualities necessary to benefit all living beings, to lead them to liberation. So just reflect for a minute on your motivation for coming here tonight for engaging in your Buddhist study. Report an error in the passage at 3:08 Highlight the passage at 3:08

3:38 Set your motivation for tonight's session. And Report an error in the passage at 3:38 Highlight the passage at 3:38

3:59 now let's recite together the Heart Sūtra on page 9. Report an error in the passage at 3:59 Highlight the passage at 3:59

4:05 I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavan was dwelling on Massive Vultures Mountain in Rajagriha, together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas. At that time, the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avakateshvara looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 4:05 Highlight the passage at 4:05

4:37 And beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Then through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Shariputra said this to the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokiteshvara. How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom? Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

4:57 He said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avakateshvara said this to the Venerable Charivati Putra. Chariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom, should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:19 Form is empty. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shariputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:46 Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. No visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch and no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so on, up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. Report an error in the passage at 5:46 Highlight the passage at 5:46

6:14 There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance and so on, up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation and path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:43 Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end point of nirvāṇa. All the Buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly, completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering, should be known as truth since it is not false. Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

7:14 The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. dayatā gātē gātē pāra gātē pāra-sām gātē bodhi-sohā Shari Putra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Auryul Avalokiteshvara saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage, it is like that, it is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom, just as you have indicated. Report an error in the passage at 7:14 Highlight the passage at 7:14

7:47 Even the Tathagatas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the Venerable Saridvati Putra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avukateshvara. Those surrounding in their entirety, along with the world of gods, humans, asuras and Gandharvas, were overjoyed and highly praised that spoken by the Bhagavan. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:12 The room fills up the minute you start chanting the Heart Sūtra. It's magic. Okay, what I thought we could do first is if everybody just goes around and introduces themselves and maybe just mention what your background is in Buddhist studies, specifically with emptiness, I can get kind of an idea of what background people have. Report an error in the passage at 8:12 Highlight the passage at 8:12

8:35 And I'll start first. My name is Tenzin Chogky. It's always nice to be. Back here at Se Chin Ling teaching. I've been based at Land of Medicine Buddha down in Soquel for the last two years and I've just embarked on a year-long teaching tour and this is about my fourth stop. I've been on the East Coast and then in Colorado teaching a retreat in a prison last weekend which was really great and I'm here in California for a week and then off to New Zealand Thursday. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

9:03 My God. It's winter there. I need to repack desperately. Yeah, so. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:17 Do you want to, we can, yeah. Everybody knows you, but go ahead. Oh my God. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:50 1983. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

9:54 Was it 1982? and I go back, literally, 1983. Report an error in the passage at 9:54 Highlight the passage at 9:54

9:57 When we were not Buddhist nuns, by the way. Report an error in the passage at 9:57 Highlight the passage at 9:57

10:01 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:08 shucks, oh shucks. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

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11:17 where, how easy it is to Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:29 Good. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:43 don't get that often and people a lot of times will mention it in another class but Report an error in the passage at 11:43 Highlight the passage at 11:43

11:49 And I was reading some translation of the Heart Sūtra, and the commentator kind of said, you know, Avila Kiteshvara, like contemplating ease, it has the power to just remove all your obstacles, basically. What more could you want indeed? Okay, Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:15 I'll do my best. Hopefully I won't just confuse you utterly. Thanks for coming, Chris. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:24 We kind Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

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12:58 of did a skipping thing. a little bit. Just a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

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13:01 Sorry, we started with Carla and then skipped, so we could maybe go in from the back to the front. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:25 you're not alone. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:31 Okay, great, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 13:31 Highlight the passage at 13:31

13:59 Great, Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:20 stuck there. And that dependent rising with His Holiness was your very first teaching, right? Yeah. Morgan's mom is a good friend of mine, so I remember meeting him at His Holiness. Very auspicious beginning, Morgan. Great. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

15:01 Art Sūtra, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 15:01 Highlight the passage at 15:01

15:23 Thank you, Rose. Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

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16:04 I go into it, the more I realize how ingrained my are of identifying and seeing things. And so I'm really looking forward to just, you know, dending that ignorance a little bit more and getting a different perspective on life. So I'm very appreciative. Good. Great. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:26 Jenkins. also learned a lot from August 18th. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:32 forget how I actually ended up here. Why we actually decided to go. Because I bonked you on the head with Shakyamuni Buddhist relics, that's why. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

16:46 know what my background intelligence is. taking classes, read books. It's hard to tell if I understand it or not. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Okay, great. And do you want, we skipped, yeah. It's really totally okay. Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:25 Okay, great. Thank you so much. It's always kind of nice to see, you know, what people's understanding is or how, you know, much of a beginner people consider themselves. And of course, people are always really modest. And so, you know, you find out that they really know a whole lot more than they let on. But that's always the case. Okay, so what I thought I would do tonight is just an overview of the concept of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 17:25 Highlight the passage at 17:25

17:48 For those of you who can join us tomorrow, I'm advertising already about tomorrow. What is helpful often in understanding emptiness more deeply is to go into selflessness according to the four main philosophical schools of Buddhism. And so that's what we're going to be doing tomorrow for the people who have a little bit more time. Tonight what we're going to do is just talk about emptiness according to the highest philosophical school generally accepted by Tibetan Buddhists. Report an error in the passage at 17:48 Highlight the passage at 17:48

18:19 And I qualify that because there is no kind of definitive view. You have to specify which school you're coming from. But this is the school that's accepted and the perspective that's taught by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Shantideva and so on. So we're going to be kind of leaping ahead to that highest view and then for people who can come tomorrow we'll just kind of go up the different schools kind of like rungs of ladders often the way that it's explained that you can really understand the higher view much more Kind of in depth and also really understand how the views build on each other by studying the different philosophical schools. So that's what we're going to be doing tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

19:03 Now emptiness is something that is very much emphasized and you hear this word thrown around a lot and you're told that it's such an important concept. But as several people have mentioned, it's hard to get teachings just on emptiness. And I sort of do this myself. I'll be giving a class in the Four Noble Truths and I'll throw around phrases like the ultimate nature of reality without really explaining. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:27 What it is and one of the reasons that teachers do that is because it's a concept that's so easily misunderstood and unless you have a fair amount of time to present it, it's... Easy for people to get quite confused about it and it's almost better left alone unless you really have the proper time. If you just give it ten minutes, it just sort of pulls the rug out from under people's understanding of reality and it can completely freak them out. Report an error in the passage at 19:27 Highlight the passage at 19:27

19:51 In fact, there's all kinds of vows that we take about not explaining it to people unless you have the time to do it properly and you feel that the people are ready to hear it and so forth and so on. So for some of you that said you've been studying for a while and have never really been able to get teachers. Report an error in the passage at 19:51 Highlight the passage at 19:51

20:07 Teachings on it, that's one of the reasons why. It's something that we hesitate to delve into if we can't spend a proper amount of time on it. But I trust that none of you are going to go running off and never be seen from again after two hours tonight, so I'll just do my best to introduce the concept a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 20:07 Highlight the passage at 20:07

20:27 So the word emptiness comes up, for example, in the lamrim, we talk about the three principal aspects of the path, the realizations of renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. So it's seen as very essential all the way through the path. We're also told that in order to get both liberation and enlightenment, we need to have a direct realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

20:53 So we're often taught that emptiness is something that's non-negotiable. In the path, right? Like we have to have an understanding, not only intellectually, but we have to have a direct realization of emptiness in order to get liberated, in order to get enlightened, you know, in order to become an Arya Bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:15 So this is something that we absolutely have to directly realize and the direct realization of emptiness depends on first understanding intellectually the concept. So that's why we talk about it. That's why we explain it intellectually first. And we're going to get into the five paths a little bit tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 21:15 Highlight the passage at 21:15

21:39 Some schools of Buddhism emphasize not studying much, not kind of cluttering one's head with a bunch of concepts. And in the Tibetan Buddhist kind of position on that, we may err a bit on the side of cluttering our minds with too many concepts. The point is, in order to be able to meditate properly on emptiness or anything else, you need to understand how to do it. You need to understand how to aim. Report an error in the passage at 21:39 Highlight the passage at 21:39

22:07 And usually what they do is they say, like, for example, for a bullseye, you need to be able to see the middle of the bullseye to aim at it. In order to do the meditation properly. So we need to understand what emptiness means intellectually, at least theoretically and conceptually, in order to do a proper meditation on it. Report an error in the passage at 22:07 Highlight the passage at 22:07

22:26 So that's the reason that we study emptiness, but it's no substitute for meditation. And we're going to do a little bit of meditation tonight and even more tomorrow. Intellectual understanding of something is not the same as a direct realization. We need to put in the hours with our rear ends in direct contact with the meditation cushion or we'll never get the direct. Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:49 No way. We need the concepts to go below the neck. You know, it's like they need to actually change our lives. And a lot of times we err, especially in the West, on thinking that the intellectual understanding is it. Oh, I get it. You know, an emptiness is no big deal to understand really. You know, conceptually it's not that difficult. Report an error in the passage at 22:49 Highlight the passage at 22:49

23:10 You know, it's not nuclear physics. It's not the hardest thing in the world to understand. But to actually get the realization is very difficult. It's very difficult and takes many hours of meditation. So let's not sort of fool ourselves into thinking that just by understanding the concept we've got the realization because it doesn't work like that. Report an error in the passage at 23:10 Highlight the passage at 23:10

23:31 What I want to do is start by explaining what emptiness is not, because there are a lot of misconceptions about what emptiness is. Some of these come from these early translators of the sutras. I mean, bless their hearts, you know, they did the best they could. But often they would translate and do things like, say, The Void, capital V. Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

23:55 You know, emptiness, capital E, you know, nothingness, capital N, as if it's some thing kind of hanging out there, right? Some like black hole. And this is supposed to be the goal of the path to like somehow merge with this black hole. Well, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound very appealing to me at all. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:13 You know, like it's some kind of thing and you merge with the void, capital V, and then, you know, you're extinguished and, you know. That's not very appealing as the goal of the path. And you see a lot of people in Buddhist countries have this misunderstanding. And I have a good friend who practices in the Thai tradition. Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:33 He's a monk in the Thai forest tradition. And he talks about lay people in Thailand have this idea, you know, that nirvāṇa is like merging with the black hole and becoming extinguished. And they're like, hey man, no, that doesn't sound like... Much fun. I would just rather have one of those Deva realms, like thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

24:52 So it's sort of the first level of the scope of the Lamrim. Oh, higher rebirth sounds a whole lot better than merging with that black hole. I don't blame them. I mean, if that's really what the goal of the path is, it sounds a little too scary. It's very like Carl Sagan, you know, and not much fun at all. So that's a complete wrong concept of what emptiness is that I think comes from some of those early translators. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:18 Also, when Buddhism moved through, China, it picked up a lot of the flavor of Taoism. And so often you get this idea that emptiness is sort of like the Tao or like Brahmin, you know, some existing sort of permanent thing that exists out there, you know, that's like this ground of being, some sort of permanent ground of being out there from which everything arises like the Tao, like Brahmin. Report an error in the passage at 25:18 Highlight the passage at 25:18

25:47 So there's a positive idea that emptiness is something out there from which everything arises. But it's not like that either. You know, it's not like that either. And that's a view that sometimes you'll get in reading that comes from sort of the Taoist strains that emerge in some Chinese, Japanese, Korean schools of Buddhism, combined with the bad translations. Report an error in the passage at 25:47 Highlight the passage at 25:47

26:09 So we get this idea, you know, the black hole ground of being that everything kind of springs out of that's eternal and so forth. And Buddhism says there's no such thing. So what is this emptiness thing? If it's not any of those things, you know, if it's not the black hole thing, if it's not the Tao ground of being thing, what is it? Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:27 What is it anyway? And why is it so important to realize it? Like if it's not any of these positive things that we're meant to somehow merge with, what's going on? Emptiness is just a characteristic of every phenomena. Okay? Just a characteristic of every phenomena. It doesn't exist apart from the phenomena of which it is the characteristic of. Sorry, I don't know about the syntax there, but every phenomena has its emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 26:27 Highlight the passage at 26:27

26:59 There's no emptiness apart from phenomena. So there's no such void black hole out there. Emptiness is not a positive object. It's just the characteristic of... Every phenomena. So it does not exist apart from phenomena. Which is why in the Heart Sūtra that we just read, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:26 Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form. That's what it's saying in that most famous stanza of the Heart Sūtra. It's saying emptiness does not exist without form. And form can't exist without emptiness. And we'll go into what that means. Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:44 Emptiness is just a characteristic or a quality of phenomena. And that quality is a mere absence of a certain way of existing. So that quality called emptiness is, philosophically they call it a non-affirming negation, which means it's an absence, it's a mere absence of a certain way of existing. And we're going to talk about what that certain way of existing that things are absent of means. So just to dispel at the very outset this idea of emptiness as some... Report an error in the passage at 27:44 Highlight the passage at 27:44

28:28 Kind of positive, existing, permanent ground of being. Because I think a lot of us in our reading, we just get confused and we think that's what it is. Okay, so it's a characteristic of phenomena and it's a mere absence of a certain way of being. The characteristic is an absence, a mere absence, a non-affirming negation. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:52 And we're going to talk more about what all of these things mean. So every phenomena has its characteristic emptiness. A piece of paper has its emptiness. The prayer book has its emptiness. The glass has its emptiness. The clock has its emptiness. I have my emptiness. Every phenomena has its emptiness. Now, that emptiness is the same in nature. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:23 The same absence of a certain way of existing. But each emptiness is on the basis of the object that's empty. So what is that absence? What is that mere absence? First we need to talk about how we falsely view phenomena. How we falsely think that phenomena exist. And according to that highest school of Buddhism they say things are empty of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 29:23 Highlight the passage at 29:23

30:03 So that's what the emptiness means. It's absence of being what's called inherently existent. And that means existing from its own side. There are a lot of synonyms for this. Existing from its own side. You know, existing through its own nature, things like this. Basically, it's lack of being anything other than a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:29 And dependent arising and emptiness are closely merged. Okay, and we'll talk about how that works too. We'll talk about how that works too. But just to give you an idea that this emptiness we're going to be talking about is a quality of every phenomena. And it's a mere absence of a false way of existing. An absence of a false way of existing. And that quality of emptiness is the same for each object even though the basis is different. Report an error in the passage at 30:29 Highlight the passage at 30:29

31:04 So when you have a direct realization of emptiness, you're having a realization of something that's not there. Of a mere absence. It's very interesting. A direct realization of emptiness is a realization of an absence of a quality that you always thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:23 So how do you have a realization of an absence of something? This is where it gets interesting. And I'll steal an analogy that a friend of mine who's a Buddhist teacher had this great analogy that some of you may have heard me use. And I apologize if you have. So how do you see an absence? How do we see a mere absence? My friend had this great analogy. He said, okay, let's say that you're really tired and you come home from work and you and your roommate decide the Netflix delivery just came in and you're just going to sit around and watch a couple of DVDs and get carryout pizza from Domino's because you're just... Report an error in the passage at 31:23 Highlight the passage at 31:23

32:06 It's Friday night and instead of going to the Dharma teaching you're just going to watch videos because you're exhausted. So you get the extra large veggie supreme Domino's pizza and you're sitting there and you're watching whatever the video is and you're eating the pizza and there's two or three pieces left. Report an error in the passage at 32:06 Highlight the passage at 32:06

32:23 So you put them in the refrigerator and then the next day you go to work. Oh no, it can't be Friday night because the next day you go to work. Let's say it was Tuesday night. So Wednesday you go to work and you work really hard and you have to skip lunch. You just have one of those horrible cup of noodle things with the hot water in it. And so you're driving home and you're really hungry because you just had this horrible cup of noodles thing for lunch from Trader Joe's, those awful things. Report an error in the passage at 32:23 Highlight the passage at 32:23

32:45 And so you walk in the house and you're fantasizing. Like the whole way home about the three pieces of pizza that are left in the box, right? You're like, oh, I can't wait because what's better than cold pizza when you're really hungry and you just come home from work? So you come home and you see the box on the kitchen counter and you're stoked. You go up and you open the box. What do you see? Report an error in the passage at 32:45 Highlight the passage at 32:45

33:11 A mere absence of pizza, okay? In that moment, that first moment, You're perceiving a mere absence. You're not seeing the tissue paper with the tomato smears on it and you're not seeing the little plastic thingy that keeps the pizza from smashing. You're not seeing the little stray green pepper that flew off to this. You're only seeing absence of pizza, right? Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:38 Your roommate came home early and like left the box out to just... So that's how you see a mere absence, right? Because in that first moment, you're not seeing the positive phenomena. You're not seeing the tissue paper. You're not seeing the box. You're not seeing the green pepper. You're just seeing no pizza left. And it's the same when we have a direct realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 33:38 Highlight the passage at 33:38

34:02 Okay? Same way that we're perceiving the thing that I always thought existed does not exist at all. It's just absent, completely absent. So that's what's happening when we have a direct realization of emptiness. Gabriel, do you have a question? Report an error in the passage at 34:02 Highlight the passage at 34:02

34:26 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:32 I felt a little blip of energy back there. Just wanted to check in. Report an error in the passage at 34:32 Highlight the passage at 34:32

34:43 It doesn't exist or it has stopped existing? The emptiness exists. The false way that we... On our right, sorry, just because the people at home Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

34:51 Thought the object exists does not exist. Okay, so you're seeing the lack of the false way of existing, the absence of the false way of existing. And we'll talk a little bit more about what that false way is in a minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a way that phenomena, how do I put it to make it less confusing? Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:16 We think... Since beginning of this time, we've thought that phenomena have existed in a certain way. And emptiness is phenomena's lack of existing in that way. So we're seeing that for the first time. It's lack of existing in the way that we always thought it existed. Yeah, Jacob, let's grab the mic. Report an error in the passage at 35:16 Highlight the passage at 35:16

35:43 So in your example, the false view would be your imagination of the pizza in the box the whole way home. Yeah, exactly. And then when you get there, you see that that was a false view the whole time. Yeah, exactly. So when you have a direct realization of emptiness, it's something that you always thought was there, and that you actually thought you were perceiving, right? Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

36:06 We do believe it. Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:10 Exactly, yeah, yeah. And then you see, it's not there. And of course, the difference between the pizza and the false sense of the way phenomena exist is, It never existed in the first place. Like we've been fooled by it all along. At least the pizza used to be there, and that's where the analogy breaks down a little bit. It's only an analogy for how you can perceive a mere absence. Report an error in the passage at 36:10 Highlight the passage at 36:10

36:33 And that's really what you're perceiving, not what is there, the white cardboard box and the little thingy. Yeah, okay. Okay, so there is another philosophical term. For the way that we think that things exist, especially the self. And we'll talk a little bit about the self tonight and more about the self tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 36:33 Highlight the passage at 36:33

36:58 The thing that we need to see the emptiness of most that will cut through the root of saṃsāra is the false view of how I exist, how you exist, how the self exists. And all other phenomena are equally selfless. We talk about selflessness of persons, selflessness of phenomena. Everything is equally empty. But the main emptiness that we're looking to see directly is the emptiness of the self, the emptiness of how we exist. Report an error in the passage at 36:58 Highlight the passage at 36:58

37:37 Now, Buddhism does not say that we don't exist. Buddhism doesn't say, you know, we're not all sitting here in this room on our cushions, that it's all just one big mass hallucination. We're not saying that in Buddhism, but the way that we think that we exist is wrong. The way that we have perceived ourselves to exist since beginningless time is a false one, is false. Report an error in the passage at 37:37 Highlight the passage at 37:37

38:03 And that's what we're seeing the emptiness of. We don't disappear. You don't get a direct realization of emptiness and suddenly, poof, no more me because there's no self. There's a certain conventional way of existing that is valid. We're going to talk about conventional reality and ultimate reality. And Buddhism does say, yes, there's conventional reality. It does work. Report an error in the passage at 38:03 Highlight the passage at 38:03

38:27 That pizza did make me full. You know, I drove a car here this afternoon from Santa Cruz. It all works. It all functions. There's no problem. It's just, on top of that, we have another layer. That's false. You know, on top of the way that things do validly conventionally exist, we slap on another layer. Report an error in the passage at 38:27 Highlight the passage at 38:27

38:48 That's false, that we believe, which by the way is the cause of all of our suffering since beginningless time. You know, I don't know about you guys, I'm a little fed up. I want to get rid of that false, like peel away that one false layer of how we see things existing and we're free, we're liberated. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:08 I mean, sounds so easy, doesn't it? You know, and we can still enjoy pizza, watch the DVD, drive the car. All of that stuff still exists. It's not that when we get a direct realization of emptiness suddenly we can't function anymore and we're kind of like frozen in, you know, like a sci-fi movie or something. Report an error in the passage at 39:08 Highlight the passage at 39:08

39:28 No, everything still works. It still functions. It still exists conventionally. So, there are three levels at which things are dependently arising. Dependently arising. And let's talk about this because that will give us insight into emptiness. So we're going to switch gears a little bit to dependent origination because that's the key to getting this direct realization of emptiness that I keep talking about. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

40:00 Okay, so there are three levels of subtlety of dependent origination. The first level says things are dependent on causes and conditions. Things dependently arise. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:13 Independence on causes and conditions. And in Buddhism, there's a category of things called functioning things, produced things, which covers almost everything. There are just about three exceptions. Me, the book, the table, you, the universe, you know, Buddhas, by the way, also... are a result of causes and conditions. Buddhas are not inherently existent either. Enlightenment, you know, all these realizations are also dependently arisen. Report an error in the passage at 40:13 Highlight the passage at 40:13

40:44 So functioning things depend on causes and conditions, meaning a cause produces a result. They change moment to moment to moment. You know, they're characterized by both gross and subtle impermanence, changing moment to moment to moment, you know. Both physical things and mental things are produced. So the previous moment of body and mind of us, to just give an example, produces the very next moment of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:44 Highlight the passage at 40:44

41:15 So things are produced like that as a result of causes and conditions. So that's one level. Then the next level says things are dependent on parts. Things are dependent on parts. Report an error in the passage at 41:15 Highlight the passage at 41:15

41:31 Myself as a human being, my body is dependent on having a torso, arms, legs, head, face. How much could be missing and could I still validly be labeled a human being? Report an error in the passage at 41:31 Highlight the passage at 41:31

41:46 How much could be missing? If I were just a head, if my head were just sitting there, you wouldn't say human being. Maybe the arms and legs could be missing because there's those thalidomide babies from, you know, and then they're missing limbs, but they're still considered human. But you can see how things are dependent on parts. This is a book in dependence on the pages, the cover, the spiral binding, you know. Report an error in the passage at 41:46 Highlight the passage at 41:46

42:12 Just one page of it is called a page of a book. It's not called a book. So things exist in dependence on their parts that make them up. And now, the subtlest level of dependent arising, which is the key to having the direct realization of emptiness. This is the big key, so pay attention, write it down, and I'm going to bludgeon you with this for the next ten minutes or so, so you'll get it right. Things are also dependent on conceptual imputation, on designation. Report an error in the passage at 42:12 Highlight the passage at 42:12

42:44 For things to exist, The subtlest level, which is only accepted by the middle way consequence school, which is that school that the Tibetan Buddhists buy into, says things are what they are, independence not only on causes and conditions, the paper, the pulp, the book, you know, FPMT, education department, making this book. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

43:11 On the parts, all the pages, the covers and the spiral binding. But this is a book also because I have the concept book in my mind. I lay my trip on this poor innocent little bundle of paper bound together. So how does that work? I have a mental image, a concept in my mind, book. It's very generic. It's very generic. Pages, cover, some sort of binding. That's all it is. Some very, very general idea in my mind of book. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:52 Then when I see some raw data out there that matches with enough features that match my generic image, what do I do? Project that label. Conceptual imputation. Impute that. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:13 That idea, that concept onto this basis of pages, cover, binding. So far, so good. No problem at all with that, right? Then there's one more step that happens and this is the cause of all of our trouble. I think there's a book there from its own side that I didn't create with my concepts, right? I think there's a book there. Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:40 I walk into this room, I see this sitting on the table. I think there's a book there that's been sitting there all along. I don't get that I created that book with my concepts, that I laid this trip book on this poor little innocent valid basis of designation is the philosophical term. And that's what we do. I'm going to go through it again. And I'll do it with a couple of objects so we get what we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

45:08 All the time, by the way, with every single object that we encounter, including ourselves. And then we'll stop for questions because I know I'm laying a lot of levels of stuff on you. Okay, so what happens? I'm carrying around mental images, you know, little generic images. The Tibetan word is dunci, often translated generic image, meaning generality. Report an error in the passage at 45:08 Highlight the passage at 45:08

45:33 You'll hear a different... So I've got these concepts in my head. Then I'm going around in my life, I see what we call a valid basis of imputation. Something with characteristics that enough match my mental image, that it triggers my concept. It triggers a concept book, which I then label onto this. Bundle of paper with covers. Like I said, so far so good, no problem. Then I think there's a book there, independent of my concepts, independent of my mental labeling. Report an error in the passage at 45:33 Highlight the passage at 45:33

46:20 Instead of seeing that I am labeling onto everything, all these valid bases of imputation, I think that there's a book there. Same with The Glass of Water. Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:35 I think there's a glass of water there. Now let's look at this glass of water in relation to the three levels of dependent origination. So, you know, I don't know, Ikea or like whoever, wherever they bought these glasses. Report an error in the passage at 46:35 Highlight the passage at 46:35

46:56 Like in a case, you know, made somewhere in, I don't know, Beijing most probably. Out of glass. So causes and conditions. There's the material substance that went into making the glass. However they make glass, it's like they melt all these things together and then they cook it at high temperatures and then pour it into a mold. Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:17 And then somebody had to work in the factory that they made the glass. So all of those causes and conditions produce the glass. So that's the first level, causes and conditions. The second level is the parts. What we call a glass has to be a cylinder, right? A glass, a cylinder made of glass of a certain size that I can pick it up in my hand. Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:43 If it were a glass cylinder that was like the size of a 55-gallon drum, we wouldn't call it a glass of water. You know, we wouldn't call it. It needs to have a bottom to hold the liquid. Right? Because what we label glass of water is a cylinder with a certain size with a bottom that holds liquid. Then the top needs to be open so I can drink it. Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

48:06 If the top were closed, we'd call it a bottle. Right? If it were closed and had a little lid, then it would no longer be a valid basis for the label glass. It would be maybe a valid basis of the label bottle. Right? So all of these parts, cylinder, bottom, open top, You know, small enough to hold in my hand. All these parts are necessary for me to be able to label it glass of water. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:34 And then the final thing is I have an idea of what a glass of water is. Any given cylinder of a certain size with a bottom and an open top, I have this generic image in my head and when I see this innocent little cylinder out there on my table, I lay my trip on it, glass of water. And I think I have a right to drink out of it because there it is for me to use, you know. So I think the glass of water is there instead of in my mind, you know, as my label. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

49:07 Okay? And emptiness is, here's the punchline, emptiness means this glass of water existing as anything other than my... Conceptual designation on a valid basis of imputation. It doesn't exist as anything other than a dependent origination in that subtlest sense. Me laying a concept on a valid basis of imputation. That's what emptiness is. That it's nothing other than a dependent arising, especially at that subtlest level. Report an error in the passage at 49:07 Highlight the passage at 49:07

49:49 So it's devoid of existing from its own side as a glass of water there, independent of my concept labeling it. Okay, so that's the punchline. And this is how dependent arising and emptiness are like two sides of a coin. They're two ways of looking at the same kind of characteristic. Okay, dependent arising says there's this basis of imputation on that. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:18 And I say valid because it has to function. I can't call this a glass of water because I can't drink out of it, right? It needs to be something valid and we'll talk about what makes it valid in a minute. You know, but I can't label anything, anything. Just because things are, just because I label with my concepts doesn't mean I can just go around labeling everything, you know, anything I want, okay? Report an error in the passage at 50:18 Highlight the passage at 50:18

50:43 There is a certain amount of consensus involved and function. That what validly exists as a glass of water is a cylinder with a bottom and an open top that I can drink out of. But there's no glass of water there. Report an error in the passage at 50:43 Highlight the passage at 50:43

51:02 There's a glass of water in my head that I impute onto this functioning object. But then it comes at me. So I think that there's a glass there. I think that there's a book there. I walk into this room and the way I perceive things is coming at me, inherently existent, from their own side. And that's the problem. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:27 Okay, that last level. Now, I think everybody's utterly confused. Let's have some questions so that I can clear up confusion. Yeah, Carla. Oh, and yeah, let's get the microphone so we can... Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:50 So is the... What is preventing me from understanding emptiness? Is it the labeling? And if so, how can I understand emptiness being in a conventional world, you know, being within the conventional world which everything is related to labeling? You mean how can you have that direct perception or how can you understand? Because those are two different things. It seems that to have a... Report an error in the passage at 51:50 Highlight the passage at 51:50

52:27 Direct perception of emptiness. I have to stop creating the labels. How can I stop creating the labels if in the conventional level everything is about labels? Yeah, great question. And I live here. Right, right, right. So how do you deal with it? Yeah, exactly. Great question. Okay, this is what happens. Report an error in the passage at 52:27 Highlight the passage at 52:27

52:52 Okay, this is what happens in practice. And this relates to the different levels. There are five, what they call the five paths between, you know, deluded ordinary sentient being and Buddha. And at a certain level, well, what happens first is... You get an intellectual understanding of emptiness and you start meditating using your conceptual thoughts. So you're not having a direct perception at all yet. Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:19 Everything still conventionally appears the way it always did. And you start to analyze. You start to use analysis and intellectual understanding on the basis of your study, right? So then as you progress along the path, after you have developed perfect single point of concentration, You start to have deeper and deeper intellectual meditations and understandings of emptiness. But it's still using conceptual thought. Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:47 It's still not a direct perception. You haven't seen the lack of the pizza yet, right? You're still using analysis. Then at a certain point you have... A direct perception of emptiness. And this is a huge big deal in Buddhism. You're now called an Arya Bodhisattva if you're on the Mahāyāna path. You're an Arya. This word, the Four Noble Truths, the word noble, is a translation of the word Arya. Because anyone who's had that direct perception gets that label Arya or superior. Report an error in the passage at 53:47 Highlight the passage at 53:47

54:24 Because their perception of everything is... Far superior to ordinary beings. Now it's very interesting. In meditative absorption, when you're in Arya and you have a direct realization of emptiness, so you see the mere absence, just like the person that opened the box of pizza, right? You see that mere absence in meditative absorption and you don't see conventional reality at all. You don't see glass, book, clock, self. Report an error in the passage at 54:24 Highlight the passage at 54:24

54:51 You're just seeing the mere absence, just like the pizza example. You come out of that meditation and everything looks the way it always did, but you know that your perception is wrong. So they say that you have the appearance but not the apprehension of things as inherently existent. Everything still looks the way it always did, but you don't believe it anymore. Report an error in the passage at 54:51 Highlight the passage at 54:51

55:20 those... Flip-flop all the way to Buddhahood. Then as you progress along the path, you keep going into the meditative absorption. In your meditation, sitting cross-legged in your meditation, you see the mere absence, you come out, everything looks the way it always did, but you don't believe it anymore. Report an error in the passage at 55:20 Highlight the passage at 55:20

55:41 Only a Buddha can see both simultaneously. Both conventional and ultimate reality simultaneously. So there's no problem in functioning in the world, you know, because you're not in that meditative absorption when you're driving your car, when you're eating your lunch, when you're at work. You're only in that meditative absorption seeing the mere absence and not seeing conventional reality when you're in actual formal deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

56:13 So when you come out of meditation, like I said, you see everything the way it always seemed, but you don't believe it anymore that it exists that way. And that starts to work at your mental afflictions, because the whole point of having the direct realization of emptiness is it's the antidote to saṃsāra, especially seeing the emptiness of the way the self exists. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:34 Total antidote to delusions and karma, because you can no longer have such strong feelings of, Attachment, aversion, you know, all of the mental afflictions, all of the 20 derivative mental afflictions, when you have that direct realization, especially of the selflessness of you. You know, there's no me the way I always thought. That me that you cling on to that makes you like push away the things that seem to threaten it, grab on to the stuff that you think makes it happy. Report an error in the passage at 56:34 Highlight the passage at 56:34

57:08 You know, all of the, in the 12 links, ignorance is the first link of the 12 links and that's the ignorance of the way that things really exist, the ignorance of the ultimate nature of reality. But along the path, you know, you're not, it's not like a direct realization of emptiness makes you dysfunctional. Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:29 You know and you can no longer operate in the world and you're no longer seeing things conventionally. I mean the goal of the path is not to create a bunch of like dysfunctional sort of paralyzed catatonic people who can't function. We're supposed to be great bodhisattvas liberating all beings. You know you can't do that if you're just sort of paralyzed in this like oh my god it's all so weird now and nothing is like what I thought. Report an error in the passage at 57:29 Highlight the passage at 57:29

57:50 You know so it's not like that. And then for a Buddha they can see ultimate reality and conventional reality simultaneously. And then there's a huge debate. How do Buddhas see things? There's this great text by Chandrakirti called Madhyamika Avatara and he goes in great detail into all of the ten levels of the Bodhisattva and then he gets to the final chapter, the chapter on Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:15 And the first stanza says, Oh, Buddha, you know, the way a Buddha perceives things is ineffable, you know, inconceivable, indescribable. And then this one, this one American professor was commenting and he said, oh, but the Golupas will try and explain it anyway. You know, it's like here in Madhyamika Avatar, there's like no way to explain how a Buddha perceives. How do you see the two simultaneously? But boy, the Golupas will sure try anyway. Report an error in the passage at 58:15 Highlight the passage at 58:15

58:42 Right, great. So that's the only being who's able to see ultimate and conventional simultaneously is a fully enlightened being. For the rest of us, after the direct perception of emptiness, we're flip-flopping. It's a little schizophrenic. You come out and you see everything looks the same, but you don't believe it anymore, which is amazing. That really cuts through your afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 58:42 Highlight the passage at 58:42

59:06 Even though you see, you're like, I know that that's not... Coming from its own side, you know, it's just my concept, especially in terms of the self, especially in terms of the way the self exists. So does that help? Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:21 Exactly. But then I go to the next level, which is then it's not to get to the direct realization of emptiness, it's not to start lifting labels of things, you know, just... Taking labels are part of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just to see that whole process. Yeah, and seeing that process. And like I said, there's no problem labeling it a glass. It's that last step that we don't realize that's what we've done. No problem going around labeling book, clock, glass, Tenzin Chogky, you know, Losong Chogky, computer, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 59:21 Highlight the passage at 59:21

1:00:06 No problem. But that's that last step that we don't get that it's what we've done this way, we think it's coming at us that way, and it exists from its own side. So validly labeling a valid basis of imputation, you know, according to your generic image, no sweat, no sweat. But we don't stop there. You know, we think that it's coming back at us from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:32 And then that's where the problem, and then we believe it and we act on it and that's what gives rise to all affliction. And let me just talk about the emptiness of this I for a minute. Because like I said, that's the big one that we have to realize. And it's seeing, feeling that there's some self that exists independent of our labeling process, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:32 Highlight the passage at 1:00:32

1:00:57 So in the same way that we... Falsely believe that the glass exists from there, independent of this whole back and forth labeling process. We think there's some self. We have this innate concept of the self. That we feel there's something in there. There's a couple of levels that it exists. There's one level of self that's called independent, unitary, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:57 Highlight the passage at 1:00:57

1:01:26 Partless self. And this is one that they say is philosophically learned. Like you learn that in church. The Christian idea of soul is like that. The Hindu idea of Ātman. Like there's some kind of thing in there that's permanent, unchanging, partless. It's like the Casper the Ghost thing, you know, and then you die and that thing kind of comes out of you, just rises up. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:50 Like there's some self there that's the real you that's like your soul. So that's one level of a wrong idea of self. And Buddhism says there is no such thing. There is no such thing according to Buddhism. Then there's another level of self that's more innate. You know, the first one we learn through a religion, like the Christian idea of soul. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:12 The second one is more innate. And that is the self, they say it's self-sufficient and substantially existent. Well, what does that mean? It means independent of the The body and mind. And they say sometimes it's like the driver or the controller. And you can think of like a crane operator on a construction site and there's this crane and it's got the big bucket thing and it's like doing these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:12 Highlight the passage at 1:02:12

1:02:38 And then there's some little person inside the cab like running the show. And we think there's some such thing. To me I always thought it was here and it's like looking through my eyes like the windows. And it's like... You know, running the show, like, you know, moving me around, making me talk. It's looking like, you know, it lives here for most of us in the West. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:38 Highlight the passage at 1:02:38

1:03:01 You know, in other places maybe it's here. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this big lecture once about how he thought, he'd heard once that in Japan the eye was like lifting the nose, you know, but for us it's mostly here because we're so cerebral and it's kind of looking and, you know, doing its thing. Independent of body and mind. It's sort of the controller of your body and mind. And then at that subtlest level, we think that there's just something independent of us labeling self onto a collection of parts. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:35 We have this body and mind. We're going to talk tomorrow about the five skandhas, the five aggregates, the five heaps. Some of you may have studied this. But to simplify, we have a body and a mind and then our mental concept lays the label self. Independence on a functioning human body and mind. Just like we did with the glass. Independence on the functioning cylinder with the bottom and the open top. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:35 Highlight the passage at 1:03:35

1:04:06 Independence on a functioning human body and mind. We lay a label and a concept. Me. That's all. And that's fine, but we don't think that that's all it is, do we? Tenzin Chogky is not just a label on an especially tall body with this kind of crazy mind going through whatever. I don't think like that. I think there's some real Tenzin Chogky there that I need to protect. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:06 Highlight the passage at 1:04:06

1:04:33 You know, and somebody disses me and I get upset and, you know, I'm going to defend myself because I have a terrible case of pride and then it creates all kinds of afflictions that way or I get attached to what I think makes me happy mostly because it's feeding my ego and all of that comes from that false sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:33 Highlight the passage at 1:04:33

1:04:52 So in meditation, we analyze to see that that's not there. That that self that we falsely believed was there, that thing, You know, that one doesn't exist. That we're only just a self, you know, on the basis of a concept laid on top of a functioning body and mind. And there is no self apart from that. And if we get that, it really cuts through our delusions. Because so much of our delusions, we talk about the three poisons. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:52 Highlight the passage at 1:04:52

1:05:29 Ignorance, the root ignorance, which is this false... Idea of how the self exists, which then gives rise to aversion and attachment are the main three poisons. And then from them, there's a whole list in the literature of derivative delusions, and it's sort of like two parts of attachment with one part of aversion. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:29 Highlight the passage at 1:05:29

1:05:50 Gives rise to jealousy. You know, there's all these lists and they're actually a recipe of the three root delusions. You know, two parts of ignorance and one part of attachment and, you know, sprinkling of aversion gives rise to pride, you know, or whatever it is. And they actually are charts with the recipes for the different delusions, but they're all based on those three main... Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:12 Which all spring out of ignorance, the basic ignorance about the way that we exist. So you want to get liberated from saṃsāra? You have to finish your karma. You want to finish your karma? You've got to stop the delusions that lead you to engage in those karmic actions. You want to get rid of your delusions? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12 Highlight the passage at 1:06:12

1:06:32 You have to have a direct realization of emptiness. That's why I say it's non-negotiable. We can work on these different levels. We work on the karmic actions. I have a flip chart and I didn't bring it so I'm going to have to do it in mid-air. Ignorance and then the next thing on the flow chart is mental afflictions, particularly attachment and aversion, which then gives rise to karmic actions, the ten non-virtues, body, speech and mind, which then gives rise to suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:07:02 And that's how the truth of the cause of suffering and the truth of suffering relate. Okay, so the root of all of it is ignorance. Now in our Buddhist practice, we work at all levels. We work with vowed morality at the level of karmic actions, right? We take vows, you know, the five lay vows, not killing, not stealing. So we cut things there. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:02 Highlight the passage at 1:07:02

1:07:23 You know, so they don't give rise to suffering. Then we work at the level of delusions by all these wonderful thought transformation techniques. You know, Chukky, I think, just did a Lojong course, thought transformation. So we work with our delusions. But then to really get at the root, we have to have that direct realization, especially of the selflessness of how we don't exist in that way we always thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:23 Highlight the passage at 1:07:23

1:07:49 And then we cut the chain reaction between the second noble truth and the first noble truth at the very root, at ignorance. But that's hard. So first we start at the bottom. You know, we work on all these levels. We work on watching the ten non-virtues not engaging in those actions. Then we work on working with the delusions skillfully. And then we work with the root ignorance. Okay? Yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:08:17 Yeah, I come from sort of a... Like a Western psychological background and a lot of... The modern ideas of neuroscience sort of correlate with Buddhism and they say they talk about the self-existent eye is called the homunculus like the man inside the machine watching and a lot of people are saying that's not possible and so they're thinking that there's like an emergent property happening with the neurons firing in the brain and one's senses, somatic and it's all being interpreted and the whole emergence is creating our sense of reality but I think the major gap is that modern That, to me, is still very untenable, unreal. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:17 Highlight the passage at 1:08:17

1:09:21 Right, right. And I think, you know, it's very interesting because His Holiness the Dalai Lama is so involved in these mind and life conferences and in these meetings and he's actually trying to get the neuroscientists to design some sort of an experiment to actually quantify that, you know, mind is not just an epiphenomena of brain function, which is what Western scientific materialism believes. And they're still really working on that because... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21 Highlight the passage at 1:09:21

1:09:49 According to Buddhism, the proof for the continuity of consciousness is just that mind is completely different than physical substance and that each moment of mind gives rise to the next moment of mind so it doesn't... Cease when physical function and brain function ceases because it's a whole different entity. But according to Western science, they have yet to actually devise some sort of experimental. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:49 Highlight the passage at 1:09:49

1:10:22 Proof for that. His Holiness says things like, well, you know, there's no absolute proof for reincarnation, but there's a whole lot of pretty hard evidence for rebirth. And what goes from life to life isn't anything physical. Therefore, there must be some mental stream of consciousness that exists separate from the body that then goes from life to life. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22 Highlight the passage at 1:10:22

1:10:47 Now, certain gross consciousnesses are dependent on brain function. But the very, very subtlest level of consciousness that goes from life to life to life is not dependent on brain function and does not cease when neural function ceases. But that's one thing that they're working on, actually coming up with some sort of experiments to prove that. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:47 Highlight the passage at 1:10:47

1:11:23 It carries those. Yeah, it definitely carries those karmic potentials. That's what's called karmic seeds or karmic potentials. And those are carried in the stream of consciousness, which is why from life to life to life, you know, your karma doesn't finish at the end of one lifetime. You carry it into the next life. So we can be experiencing things that we've created causes for in past lives because that potential energy. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:23 Highlight the passage at 1:11:23

1:11:47 It transmits, it flops from one moment of consciousness to the next. It carries over and replicates, if you will, from one moment to the next. Yeah, Chris. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:47 Highlight the passage at 1:11:47

1:12:02 Sorry to ask this question because I asked it many times to joke before, so I'm a slow learner. When you talk about the continuity, why wouldn't you label that subtlest consciousness going from life to life to life as a packet unit of subtle consciousness and label it? Well, we don't. We don't. In the middleweight consequence school, we don't say that's the self. Some of the lower schools, and we're going to get into this in a lot of detail tomorrow, some of the other philosophical lower tenet systems of Buddhism say... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:02 Highlight the passage at 1:12:02

1:12:39 Yes, self is mental consciousness. You know, some say the self is the five aggregates. But in the middle way consequence school, we say, no, the self is not even that subtle consciousness that goes from life to life. It is just the mere imputation on all five aggregates, on all five heaps. You know, a mere imputation on top of that. That is what's called, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:13:08 This probably Tupton Jimpa says, the mere I, or the illustration of the person. Each different, and this is jumping ahead a little bit, all the different philosophical schools have what they call the illustration of the person, meaning, you know, the basis that self is labeled on. And according to the Middle Way Consequence School, it's just the all five aggregates and then the label that's placed on that. Some of the lower schools think that that subtlest consciousness is, What the self really is. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:08 Highlight the passage at 1:13:08

1:13:39 In fact for everyone but the middle way consequence school they say that the self is findable somewhere within the body and mind and several schools say that it's that subtle mental consciousness is what you know will the real self stand up you know and the other the other schools say it's that subtle mental consciousness but the highest school say says no the mere I is just that concept labeled onto The five aggregates. And that's the only way that the self exists. It's not even that mere subtle consciousness that goes from life to life. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:39 Highlight the passage at 1:13:39

1:14:16 It's tricky. It's hard. And we're going to get into that whole realm a lot more tomorrow if people aren't completely maxed out at the end of tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:16 Highlight the passage at 1:14:16

1:14:30 So I'm just listening to you talk and I'm thinking that maybe when you start really to realize that What is the ego and start to realize the ultimate reality? You develop a fearlessness because why? We're afraid only because we try to protect ourselves. So I think the moment you realize there is nothing to protect and nobody is attacking you, it's just I think it's a very... Report an error in the passage at 1:14:30 Highlight the passage at 1:14:30

1:15:03 Very unique place where you develop this fairness, at least just I thought of it when I was listening to you talk. That's great. You've got great karmic imprints. If that's what came up for you, right on. That's awesome. That's great. Yeah. I actually had a question. I wanted to ask you, what is the ultimate reality? Well, it's that, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:28 Ultimate reality is that mere absence, is the fact that things do not exist in that way. It's that mere absence of that false way of existing. The ultimate truth is emptiness. So the ultimate truth, in a way, is that things are not how we project and how we think they are. They're just... Devoid of that false way of existing that we always thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28 Highlight the passage at 1:15:28

1:15:55 And just to comment on the first thing that you said, there was this Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1999 gave... Three months of teachings at Land of Medicine Buddha in California. It was allegedly a Vajrasattva retreat, but when he taught, it was really all about the lamrim, the stages of the path. And I remember he was talking about the direct realization of emptiness in this amazing way. Of course, later he goes, oh, but I don't want anybody to think I've had it or anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:55 Highlight the passage at 1:15:55

1:16:23 You know, I don't want to create the cause for the lower realms. And you're like, how could he have ever spoken like this if it hadn't? You know, anyway, that was my projection. But he went on and on and he talked about the two ways that you react when you actually have that direct perception. You know, he said some people, you know, when they start to have that direct perception of emptiness, when they finally see that thing that they thought existed since beginningless time, you know, the way the self, the way they thought existed since beginningless time doesn't exist at all. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:56 They feel exactly the way they thought, just completely liberated, like overjoyed, like tears running down their face, completely blissed out, like free, you know, now I'm free, just incredible. And then he said, then there's other people who when the rug starts to get pulled out. Freak out, you know, they're completely terrified and they panic. And he says, then they start to back off, like they're starting to go into that realization and they start to back off. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:24 And then he said this beautiful thing, he said, then, he goes, at that moment, this may be your one chance to cut through. You know, the root of cyclic existence. You have to push through. He goes like wading through a river. You know, and you just get this vision of wading through a flooding river. And he goes, just be brave and push through because this may be your one chance. And he goes, the fear comes because it has to come. You know, because the rug is being pulled out from under this way that we always thought we existed. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:24 Highlight the passage at 1:17:24

1:17:54 And he says, the fear comes because it has to come. But you have to just... Wade through, like wading through a river, you know, I think that's so cool because that's come up for me, not like I have any, you know, but that's sort of like, oh my God, it's not like, you know, it all starts to get kind of sketchy and groundless and that's when you need to just press on. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:54 Highlight the passage at 1:17:54

1:18:13 Because that's when you're getting the, like that's a good sign, actually that fear. And then if you have a lot of virtue, it's like what you said, which is why I said right on. You know, it's just this great, like you think, wow, this is amazing, I'm free. You know, that incredible feeling of freedom comes. Yeah, yeah, so that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:13 Highlight the passage at 1:18:13

1:18:32 Was there something, was there somebody over here? How are you doing, Morgan? Do you want the microphone for a minute? Yeah. I'm I actually have some different questions. You brought up one point that happens on a meditation from dependent arising where I have kind of challenges. So using the cup and kind of looking at the parts and the conditions. And it's really interesting. She talked about, you know, the labels that we always do. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:19:04 But when you find kind of that non-existence and then. It kind of reverses to the self somehow. And it is that what you just kind of said. It's like a feeling of vertigo that happens and it happens just over and over. And it's really, it's not kind of scary. It's kind of like a little kind of shock for a second. And it just kind of continues. It goes away and then kind of continues. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:29 But what happened, the question I have is you mentioned that where the labels and with that concept, it seems like there's a, A separation from that moment from the human Morgan and maybe a small concept of a mind beyond what I've known. But it also is, are you focusing on the aggregates versus, you know, it's hard to figure out, well, what is the mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:29 Highlight the passage at 1:19:29

1:19:58 I mean, you're saying that, you know, it's beginningless and endless. But it's also kind of everything's a dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:58 Highlight the passage at 1:19:58

1:20:09 And it's hard to kind of grasp. There's like a distance between like the cup, the body and the mind, you know, this body, this physical conventional mind, and then the mind. Yeah. Almost like three layers. Right, right. So where are you going in a meditation in that perspective when it's, yeah, I got dependent arising, but where is the emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:09 Highlight the passage at 1:20:09

1:20:35 Right, right, right. They all seem like just like. Well, there are a couple of ways that you can meditate on emptiness. And one of the ways that I found really effective, and at Land of Medicine Buddha, we just did this class on the Heart Sūtra. And one of the ways that you can approach the Heart Sūtra is instructions for your meditation at different levels of the path. And for the path of accumulation and the path of preparation, the main meditation is the emptiness of the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:35 Highlight the passage at 1:20:35

1:21:06 And in the Heart Sūtra, just to reference exactly where that is, and there's a hint for the Heart Sūtra. Every time Avalokiteshvara says Shariputra's name, Bump up to a different path. So every time he says Shariputra, path of accumulation to path of preparation, path of seeing, path like that. So he said, where are we? Option or request of Lama? Oh, this is that book that's like all confusing. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:39 Okay, so he says at the very bottom of the first page, where he's saying, Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness. Okay, those are the five aggregates. And so when I was in this long meditation retreat, one of the things Lama Zopa told me to do was do a meditation on, meditate on the Heart Sūtra, pausing to do meditation on the emptiness of the self and the five aggregates at that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:39 Highlight the passage at 1:21:39

1:22:12 So recite the Heart Sūtra. He had me do it 200 times, stopping to meditate at that point. And I found this a very, very powerful meditation that may help you. And what you do, you go through the meditation on the emptiness of all five aggregates. So you see how all five aggregates are empty of inherent existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:34 And then you flip over to the eye, seeing how it's just composed of these five aggregates, what we call self. It's nothing other than a concept laid on top of those five aggregates. So consciousness is no more significant than anything else. In this philosophical school, we don't say that the self is the consciousness. We say the self is just a label laid on top of the five aggregates. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:34 Highlight the passage at 1:22:34

1:23:00 So you flip to that level and look at all of them together. And by then, because you've meditated on the selflessness of the five aggregates, it's pretty sketchy. You know, the rug's been pulled out pretty significantly, right? And then you meditate on that and then you flip back and... You reanalyze the five aggregates again and then you see how the self is just a label on the basis of those five aggregates and you go like that back and forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:00 Highlight the passage at 1:23:00

1:23:28 And that may help for where you are right now because I'm hearing that you're not quite sure how to break down. The idea of self and you're also kind of prioritizing that consciousness is a little bit more significant right now. So if you do it on the basis of the five aggregates and actually when you read a commentary on the Heart Sūtra, they say the reason that this is in here like this is because this is instructions on how to meditate at that. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:28 Highlight the passage at 1:23:28

1:23:57 Level of realization. Then after you have the direct realization of emptiness, you meditate on what's called the 18 Datus and the 12 Ayatanas, which is like, then everything else. You know, then everything else. So that's a long story. And maybe we'll do a Heart Sūtra class, you know, but that's a long story. You meditate. But the first thing that you're getting, and that's because the direct realization of emptiness that you get when you're in Arya, that first, Meditative absorption is the emptiness of the I. You know, the emptiness of the cup is not what you become an Arya Bodhisattva on the basis of. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:57 Highlight the passage at 1:23:57

1:24:36 Later, yes, you know, but in that first breakthrough, direct realization of emptiness, it's the emptiness of the self that you get the direct realization of, which is why... We're given the instructions in the Heart Sūtra of how to do that meditation on the basis of the emptiness of the five aggregates. And we're going to do that tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:36 Highlight the passage at 1:24:36

1:24:57 See, I'm teasing you all. Come back tomorrow for the real thing. Come back tomorrow for all the meditation. But does that help a little bit now? Yeah, it's very helpful. Just one simple question. This is maybe the question you're not supposed to ask. It's beginningless and endless minds. Yes. And it's all due to ignorance. How did it all begin? Yeah, from the aggregate perspective, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:57 Highlight the passage at 1:24:57

1:25:25 So what caused that? And so when you get in that meditation, you're like, well, what is this, a giant lake that goes on forever? Right, right, right. What caused the aggregate? The first moment of ignorance that caused the aggregates? That caused the label, obviously. Something caused the label. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25:25

1:25:44 Opposite of what it is. Yeah. There were this famous list of 14 questions that Lord Buddha refused to answer, and that was one of them. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama refuses to answer the question, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, because basically the reason that they refused to answer those questions is because any answer would lead you to a wrong view. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:44 Highlight the passage at 1:25:44

1:26:09 Like people ask that question because they have a wrong view, either eternalism or nihilism. So to answer that question would just, you know, tip you off the razor's edge into a view of eternalism or nihilism. And also there's a second level of the reason why Lord Buddha didn't answer these 14 questions. And he had this one... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:09 Highlight the passage at 1:26:09

1:26:34 A disciple, Vashugoda, who was always pestering him with these cosmological questions, right? He was always like tagging along next to Lord Buddha going, how did the universe begin? How did the, you know, will the universe have an end? How did the universe begin? You know, what happens to the Tathāgata after he dies? And at one point, you know, I think Lord Buddha is a little bit fed up with Vashugoda and they're walking through, and this is in a sūtra, they're walking through this Sal forest in North India where I drove through last year on my... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:34 Highlight the passage at 1:26:34

1:27:03 Pilgrimage and I'm like, this is it, this is the forest. So Lord Buddha reaches down and he grabs this handful of leaves from the forest and he asks everybody around, so are there more leaves on the trees in the forest or more leaves in my hand? They're all like, duh. You know, more leaves in the forest. And he says, what I know is equal to the amount of leaves on the trees in this forest. What I teach is equal to the amount of leaves in my hand. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:03 Highlight the passage at 1:27:03

1:27:29 I teach, you know, the cause of suffering, you know, the end of suffering, you know, the nature of suffering, the path that leads to the end of it. The Four Noble Truths, basically. He goes, it doesn't matter how it all started. The fact is... I don't know about you, but I'm in it. You know, right now it's like I want to know how to stop it. The key to how to stop it doesn't depend on knowing how it started in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:29 Highlight the passage at 1:27:29

1:27:56 Like the fact is we have this wrong view. of the nature of reality. And we're taught how to stop it, you know, and that's all that matters. And then he gave another analogy at that point, walking through the forest, you know, and poor Vashagoda slunk off, you know, completely subdued. He said, somebody shoots you in the arm. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:56 Highlight the passage at 1:27:56

1:28:17 Before you let the doctor take the arrow out, do you go, I got to know what the guy's name was and what village he came from and what caste he's from and what he did for a living and how many kids he has? Before you take the arrow out, he's like, it's hurting. Take the arrow out. I almost said a bad word. Take the arrow out. Just get rid of your suffering and we know how to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:17 Highlight the passage at 1:28:17

1:28:39 But I think it's really because any answer would lead us to a wrong view. I had this incident, you know, which I'll never forget with one of my first teachers, Kirti Sanchab Rinpoche, it was like 1991 in India. And this guy was asking about time. It was sort of a Vashugoda question. He just goes, you know, is this German guy? And he's really intense about this time thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:39 Highlight the passage at 1:28:39

1:29:04 And he goes, I just want to know because I know it's not like past, present and future. And I know time exists in this other way and yada, yada, yada. And Kirti Sanchab Rinpoche just looks at him with this like beautiful smile and he goes, You know, even if I explained it to you, you just really couldn't get it. So for now, just work with past, present and future. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:04 Highlight the passage at 1:29:04

1:29:25 Like it's really, you know, that'll work for you. And then when you can see it differently, you'll be able to get it. But for now, you know, like I could explain to you until the cows come home and like you just couldn't get it. So I think it's like that with these questions. Like I don't think at our level of... Report an error in the passage at 1:29:25 Highlight the passage at 1:29:25

1:29:41 You know, lack of realization. I mean, sorry, Morgan. You know, I don't mean to... Whoever, you know, maybe... I mean, I don't... I think we just misunderstand and it would lead to wrong view. I think that's why. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, Jacob. You were speaking of the middleweight consequence school of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:41 Highlight the passage at 1:29:41

1:30:04 Yeah, yeah. And that in that view, there is no inherent self. And the other views do have an inherent self on the subtlest level of consciousness. But maybe I'm misunderstanding it, but the Middle Way Consequence School still talks about being in this rebirth and things like that. So is that... Subtle consciousness going on from life to life, still just a mere imputation. Yes. So the entire thing is a mere imputation. Yeah, that's not inherently existent either. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:04 Highlight the passage at 1:30:04

1:30:36 Just because it goes from life to life, right, just because it continues, doesn't mean that it's inherently existent. You know, it doesn't mean, because remember what inherently existent means, independent of, you know, causes and conditions, parts, conceptual imputation. So what's going from life to life, even if it lasts forever, doesn't mean it's inherently existent. Because each moment of consciousness gives rise to the next moment of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:36 Highlight the passage at 1:30:36

1:31:06 That's the way in which it exists as a dependent arising at that initial level. Each mind moment of consciousness causes the next moment of consciousness. And then each moment of consciousness has a duration. So you can say it has parts. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. And then each moment of consciousness, what we call moment of consciousness, is just some phenomena that we label moment of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:34 You know, just the fact that we differentiate between the five aggregates is concepts and imputations that we create with our mind. So even perceiving... Subtle consciousness going from life to life is something that's imputed onto that energy. We think of it, we conceive of it as consciousness. We conceive of it as going from life to life. All of that is created with our concepts. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:34 Highlight the passage at 1:31:34

1:32:05 On the basis of some functioning energy that we label consciousness. So on all of those levels, it's not existent from its own side. Including the subtlest level. But it can go on forever and that's no problem. Buddhas are lacking inherent existence. Once a being attains Buddhahood, each moment of Buddhahood creates the next moment. It's also just the idea we have of Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:05 Highlight the passage at 1:32:05

1:32:38 It's a concept that we lay on certain qualities that a being has, certain realizations that a being has, dependent on causes and conditions. We have an idea, Buddhahood, and we label that onto that being with those realizations. I remember when I started, I thought, oh, I want Buddhists to be inherently existent. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:38 Highlight the passage at 1:32:38

1:33:00 And the thing is, just because things don't inherently exist doesn't mean they don't exist. You know, and that's where we get into trouble in the beginning. We think it's all so shaky and somehow it's just a hallucination. No, things validly exist as merely imputed on a valid basis of designation. And that's the only way that anything ever has existed. But it takes some getting used to. Because now the rug's pulled out a little bit and you start thinking, oh, that means things don't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:00 Highlight the passage at 1:33:00

1:33:30 You know, no, they do exist. And in fact, the only way they can exist and function. It is because they're empty. Arya Nagarjuna in one of his texts, I think it's 60 stanzas, says, you know, because of emptiness, everything is possible. If things weren't empty, nothing would be possible. Nothing could change. We could never become Buddhas. Thank God for emptiness, because I don't have to stay stuck, diluted Tenzin Chogky forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:58 I mean, thank Buddha, whoever. Thank emptiness for emptiness, because I have the potential. The way Buddhahood is described in the Galupa tradition is the mind's potential to change. It's described as the mind's emptiness because the mind is empty because the delusions are not inherently part of the nature of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:58 Highlight the passage at 1:33:58

1:34:24 Our mind and bodies have the potential to transform into the Buddha's enlightened mind and body. Thank God, because of emptiness. That potential exists. If it weren't for emptiness, my lunch, my burrito I had today in Santa Cruz would not have made me full. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:24 Highlight the passage at 1:34:24

1:34:44 Nothing would function if it weren't for emptiness. So it gives everything potential. Instead of thinking, oh, because things are empty, they don't exist. If things were inherently existent, they could never exist at all. It allows for existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:44 Highlight the passage at 1:34:44

1:35:02 For all existence, including our spiritual path, including Buddhahood, every realization we ever had. But I know in the beginning you kind of think, oh, it means nothing. And that's a real wrong view of emptiness. There's this famous story of Joanna Macy was at some Buddhist conference and she's in the line to, you know, return the hotel keys and the person in front of her at this Buddhist conference, the suitcase. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:02 Highlight the passage at 1:35:02

1:35:29 You know, falls open and all the hotel towels start spilling out, you know, and then this woman goes, oh, well, it doesn't matter because it's empty. Because it's empty, it totally matters, you know, because we create our reality, you know, as a result of causes and conditions, we create our reality up to Buddhahood, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:29 Highlight the passage at 1:35:29

1:35:51 Padma Sambhava, this great guru of Tibet, said, you know, my view is as vast as the sky and my actions are as fine as flour. Because things are empty, we totally have to watch our morality, you know, and watch our view all the time. Because things are empty, they matter in a way that we never, you know, had a clue how much they mattered before. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:51 Highlight the passage at 1:35:51

1:36:14 So instead of like, oh, I can steal the hotels, towels, Because it's empty, our virtue creates the cause for us to become an enlightened being. So we need to be more virtuous than we ever imagined possible up to that finest level because we're creating our reality moment to moment because it's empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:14 Highlight the passage at 1:36:14

1:36:39 So emptiness, instead of making you lose confidence in the law of cause and effect, makes you, you know, when you really understand the concept of emptiness, you have even more of an investment in creating the causes for your future happiness, because you realize how it's empty and how you can create it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:39 Highlight the passage at 1:36:39

1:37:01 So it makes you really, if studying emptiness doesn't make you more careful about your karma, You don't have the right understanding. You know, the side effect of studying emptiness, instead of making you kind of feel like, oh, I can do anything and nothing really exists and whatever, it's all just a hallucination, should make you really careful about your actions. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:01 Highlight the passage at 1:37:01

1:37:22 And then you're understanding it well. They say when you're working with your view of selflessness and emptiness, push for the highest view that doesn't let you lose. Faith in the law of cause and effect. If your view of emptiness makes you start to lose your confidence in the law of karma, you need to back off and correct your view. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:22 Highlight the passage at 1:37:22

1:37:53 I just want to check this. In my mind I'm getting this vision of reality is sort of pieces made of pieces made of pieces ad infinitum and then there's no valid way to cut it up into a thing. It's like I call a thing this collection of dots over here, and I circle this and say, okay, that's a that and that's a this, but those markings I'm making are not valid. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:53 Highlight the passage at 1:37:53

1:38:18 It's all just pieces into pieces that I've invented to them. That could be one way of looking at it. Yeah, because you're just kind of clustering things and labeling them, but there's nothing about them that makes it necessarily what it is from its own side. I think that's... If I'm getting what you're going through, I think that's, yeah, I think that's valid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:18 Highlight the passage at 1:38:18

1:38:46 Yeah, there's another question. I was just thinking of that and, you know, I just think about a potential situation when somebody says something to you which really upsets you. You know that it upsets, you feel attacked. So at this moment, you know, if you can potentially, Not feel that way, just relax and not feel that way. Maybe potentially you can see why this is coming at you in a way, why that person is doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:46 Highlight the passage at 1:38:46

1:39:23 And I think if you can see that, then you see that really that's something that they're suffering with rather than something that they're wanted personally to attack. So in a way it feels like to be able... To really see what's beyond those labels, what things are attacking you, it's like to relax with it. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:46 At least. Well, this is a way, I'm so glad you brought this up because this is how emptiness helps us cut through our afflictions, right? Because emptiness isn't just some theoretical thing you study in like Nagarjuna's six famous texts. And then you go around getting angry all the time, you know, and it doesn't affect your life at all. By understanding how we create our reality by our conceptual imputation, and I'll give you an example from my life. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:46 Highlight the passage at 1:39:46

1:40:13 This was a big breakthrough for me in understanding how these concepts would help my life. A couple of years ago, I did something. I can't even remember. I wish I could remember what it was that I did, you know. But I did something, you know. One person in my life thought that I was the most self-absorbed jerk on the face of the planet because of doing whatever I did. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:13 Highlight the passage at 1:40:13

1:40:39 Somebody else in my life thought it was like the enlightened activity of an emanation of Vajrayogini. And then I'm somewhere in the middle trying to find happiness, trying to avoid suffering like everybody else, somehow muddled, whatever, doing whatever it was. This person had this extreme negative view. He was completely horrified that I'd done whatever it was. And then this other person is like, enlightened activity of an emanation body. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:39 Highlight the passage at 1:40:39

1:41:07 And I'm like, whatever. But I remember so clearly in that moment going, I'm not going to react and get mad at this guy. He's projecting onto these actions. You know, he's got a conceptual imputation. I did some action. You know, let's say, you know, I wish I could remember what it was, but it was just some neutral action that I did. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:07 Highlight the passage at 1:41:07

1:41:32 He has this concept, self-absorbed, unbelievable, horrible thing, right? Same action. Somebody else perceives as a skillful means of an enlightened being, you know, to show me the nature of my mind. I'm in the middle, bumbling around as usual, trying to find happiness and avoid suffering. So I remember going, how can I get mad at him? Poor guy. He's having a really terrible experience right now because he's really angry at me and thinks I'm horrible. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:32 Highlight the passage at 1:41:32

1:42:10 How can I feel proud? At the person who, you know, I know that's not where I was coming from. I just think, wow, I rejoice. You know, she's going through life seeing everybody as enlightened beings doing all these skillful things. Wow, you know, that's pretty cool. I wish I were there. So it's like you don't react because you see how everybody has these filters, you know, created by their karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:10 Highlight the passage at 1:42:10

1:42:36 That's causing them to perceive things the way they perceive it. And so when somebody gets upset at something you did, instead of getting angry, you feel compassion. Poor thing. You know, because of their karma, they're perceiving a threat, which you probably didn't intend at all. You know, how can you feel anything but compassion when you just see that it's their projection? I work, I teach in prisons, which is like my favorite thing to do, and all my students in Santa Cruz are so sick of hearing stories about the inmates, but I can't help it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:36 Highlight the passage at 1:42:36

1:43:11 So I'm going to tell you guys one too, and then you'll be sick. You know, there are these guys in prison because of all the violence that they've engaged in in their life. Because of all those karmic seeds. And if you study karma, you know. Violence creates the cause for experiencing violence and also having a habit of violence. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:32 So there are these guys in prison and they're completely paranoid. They go through and everything is a threat. And they're in hell. Everything they perceive is a threat. In fact, there's a hell realm where you're constantly being stabbed, you know, and attacked. And these guys in prison are very close. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:32 Highlight the passage at 1:43:32

1:43:51 You know, you look at them cross-eyed and they think that you're, you know, trying to kill them. And they get always so upset and angry. So how can you feel anything but compassion, you know, for somebody whose karma is creating them to perceive reality like that? So this is how understanding that whole idea of projection can help you cut through so much your own afflictions. We project our own reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:51 Highlight the passage at 1:43:51

1:44:21 Other people project onto us through the force of their karma. You want to change your reality and start seeing everything as lovey, lighty hearts and flowers, clean up your morality, clean up your act and it will force you, because it's empty, it will force you to see things. differently, you know? And this is one of the ways, like, you know... Report an error in the passage at 1:44:21 Highlight the passage at 1:44:21

1:44:43 Meditating on emptiness should be really practical and help us decrease our delusions. And if it doesn't, we're not doing it right or it's some theoretical thing, divorced from our reality. But because things are empty, our karma forces us to experience things in a certain way. And we want to change that, we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:43 Highlight the passage at 1:44:43

1:45:06 Did you have another question? And again to what you said, so seems that to have the confidence really to accept this, to accept somebody attacking you and to stay calm. And in the other hand, to accept somebody praising you and to stay calm in the same way. You in a way have to have this very moral, clear mind, which every time. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:06 Highlight the passage at 1:45:06

1:45:34 time makes a decisional step with this high morality so in a way internally you know that whatever you're doing step by step it's done the highest standard of Yeah, and I think when you really understand dependent arising and especially like the 12 links of dependent origination, that's the conclusion you come to is like... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:34 Highlight the passage at 1:45:34

1:45:58 If I want to be happy, you know, if I want to eventually see myself as a Buddha, yeah, even at the very, very subtlest level to really keep your morality and just seeing how that helps you cut through the afflictions. You don't react as much because everybody, whatever they say to you, the whole praise blame thing really falls apart. And then you check yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:58 Highlight the passage at 1:45:58

1:46:20 You know, you become more kind of self-referential in terms of your behavior. And you're less reacting. My whole life, you know, I did this dance. I really needed people to like me, right? So my whole life, you know, I'm doing this dance, trying to do this thing. A, it doesn't work because not the same thing makes everybody happy, even if you could. And B, it's dependent on their karma, what they see anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:20 Highlight the passage at 1:46:20

1:46:48 So you might as well just come from your own integrity. Do whatever you think is the right thing to do in any given situation and just let go of whether people are going to like you or not. You can just spend your whole life doing that dance and trying to play to the crowd and God forbid somebody doesn't like you, that's going to kill you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:48 Highlight the passage at 1:46:48

1:47:08 So it makes you become much more, you're willing to take risks, you're willing to hold the line. A lot of times people have trouble with morality because they think it's going to make them unpopular if they don't gossip at work or something like that. You know, but if you really understand the nature of reality, it makes you much more able to just hold the line in terms of your actions, I think, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:08 Highlight the passage at 1:47:08

1:47:33 Which is a great, you know, another side effect of really understanding karma and emptiness. Yeah. I heard something about not... The difference between criticism and discernment, you know, because on one level... Let's say everything is a projection, so I cannot be sure, you know, really what's going on in the other person's mind. And I heard especially with high beings, you know, you project all sorts of stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:33 Highlight the passage at 1:47:33

1:48:03 But at the same time, you know, how do you separate that from really, you know, taking a look at someone's actions? Making a certain assessment of what you believe is right or wrong and having some kind of guidelines to live by in terms of morality and being able to discern people. Like, for instance, if I get a funny feeling from that guy, and it's like, oh, it could be my projection, oh, it could be a Buddha, but then at the same time... Report an error in the passage at 1:48:03 Highlight the passage at 1:48:03

1:48:29 Yeah, and I think for me the litmus test is does it increase my delusions or not? Like is the way I'm reacting to a certain person or situation give rise to a delusion in me? The way somebody's treating me, is it making me angry? Is it making me proud? Is it increasing my delusion? Whereas I can think, oh, somebody's doing something unskillful, you know, that's going to create causes of suffering for them in the future. And then you can try and correct it out of compassion for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:29 Highlight the passage at 1:48:29

1:49:03 But I think if you're reacting to how people are behaving, not in a sense of, yeah, just being wise. Is this somebody you want to get close to? Is this somebody who's doing something that you think is, you know, skillful? Or are they doing something dangerous? But not to go that extra step of getting angry at them for it, blaming them for it, or if they're praising you to feel pride. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:03 Highlight the passage at 1:49:03

1:49:27 Just not to invest in your own reaction to it in a way that will give rise to delusions and afflictions for you. But it doesn't mean be stupid and just think that nothing is going on. I mean, you have to use your discernment. But it's just that if that person behaves in a way that's unskillful, it doesn't give rise to a delusion in me. I can choose to be smart and say, oh, stay away from them or try and get them to change their behavior because it's going to cause suffering for them, but not in a way that gives rise to a delusion for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:27 Highlight the passage at 1:49:27

1:50:03 Does that make sense? Report an error in the passage at 1:50:03 Highlight the passage at 1:50:03

1:50:11 Yeah. Yeah. And see if there's a skillful way you could maybe talk to them. I mean, without being like... preachy and self-righteous, you know, is there a skillful way that you could maybe get them to see things a different way? If not, just leave it, but don't let it, I heard a noise over on this side of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:11 Highlight the passage at 1:50:11

1:50:49 This is kind of... I guess connects to what you're saying of you just have to make sure that whatever you're doing or thinking isn't going to create more afflictions for you. So when you have sort of a concept of emptiness but no direct understanding, you're kind of like cognitively aware of the nature of things but you still perceive them as real. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:49 Highlight the passage at 1:50:49

1:51:14 You still have attachment and aversion. When things that you have an attachment to, Come to you, you can say, well, I know this isn't the do all end all. I know that this won't really change me. I know that this in the end isn't going to make me happy. But it's still pleasant. It's still your karma to enjoy it, whether it's like music or cheeseburgers or girlfriends or whatever. Is it, is it, this is like a personal advice question. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:14 Highlight the passage at 1:51:14

1:51:44 If you. If those things come to you and you allow yourself to enjoy them, still trying to realize that they're not what you think they are, but you just automatically enjoy them, does that enjoyment that's part of your affliction kind of, does enjoying that, will that bring you further away from realizing emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:44 Highlight the passage at 1:51:44

1:52:05 Should you avoid those things? Yeah, and this perfect question, and this gets into the 12 links of dependent origination. Are you going to be here tomorrow? Yeah, after tonight I will. Okay, because we can actually go into that in detail tomorrow because this is the key to everything is the 12 links of dependent origination and I think it would be really great. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:05 Highlight the passage at 1:52:05

1:52:28 I just try and do it with every single class no matter what because it's just so great. But to give you the short answer tonight, there is a link in the 12 links called feeling and that's just pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. It follows right after sense contact, right? So we're fooled into thinking that sense contact is what gives us a feeling of pleasure or unhappiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:28 Highlight the passage at 1:52:28

1:52:55 But according to the 12 links, both of those things, the fact that the cheeseburger is in your reality at all and that it makes you happy, are both results of your past karma. And that's the analysis that you do to break down the grasping. Because the next link, and I'll just draw it in midair, you know, contact, feeling, and then the next link is craving and the next link is grasping. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:55 Highlight the passage at 1:52:55

1:53:22 So because we're fooled into thinking the cheeseburger was the cause of our good feeling, we grasp onto, you know, we crave more of it and then we do actions to get it. And then we create more karma. Especially if we engage in some kind of non-virtue to get what we think caused us happiness. But if you understand the only cause of happiness is some virtue you did in the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:22 Highlight the passage at 1:53:22

1:53:48 It's not the cheeseburger. If you like cheeseburgers, for me it's chocolate. The fact that there's cheeseburgers in your reality are also a result of virtue in the past. So what's the best way to guarantee future lives filled with cheeseburgers? It's not to do anything negative to get more of them. You can enjoy them. The goal of Buddhism is to be happy. There's nothing that says you can't enjoy the cheeseburgers, but knowing where they came from. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:48 Highlight the passage at 1:53:48

1:54:20 That delicious cheeseburger that you're enjoying so much is a result of past virtue, not the fact that you took the cheeseburger from your friend or whatever, especially if it's something that creates some non-virtue. So it's that understanding. And then you can enjoy, I mean, by all means, Lama Yeshi, who I didn't meet, but I had a friend who was his attendant, and talked about how, what a blast he had all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:20 Highlight the passage at 1:54:20

1:54:48 I mean, every picture you see of him, right? There's all these pictures of Vajrapani on the rafters. You know, totally blissed out all the time. Like, had a ball. You know, you hear these stories and he just had a blast. But I bet you anything, when he had that feeling from all that fun he was having, he didn't mistake the cause of it and create another samsark rebirth for himself the way that we have since beginningless time. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:48 Highlight the passage at 1:54:48

1:55:15 But we'll get into more of it with the 12 links tomorrow because that's just the essence that shows exactly how we create our unenlightened existence and how that ignorance... Is the root of it that a direct realization of emptiness cuts through? But then there's other ways that we can cut it. And especially just understanding now, and like you said, even before you have the direct realization of emptiness, you can intellectually understand karma and where pleasure and unhappiness come from. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:15 Highlight the passage at 1:55:15

1:55:44 And it's your past karmic seeds, not the direct contact with whatever the object is. And what's the proof of that? Well, the 12th cheeseburger doesn't... Give you the same feeling that the first one did. You know, if that cheeseburger were really the cause of happiness, it would always work. And the 12th one would taste as good as the first one did. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:44 Highlight the passage at 1:55:44

1:56:05 But it doesn't. You know, it doesn't. And the same thing that gave you happiness before doesn't always give you happiness. You get in a relationship, it's so blissful for that first six months and then a year later he leaves the toilet seat up in the middle of the night and I fall in and he's such a jerk and he snores. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:05 Highlight the passage at 1:56:05

1:56:24 Well you didn't see any of that stuff in the beginning because all the good karma was ripening and all you were just seeing was the good stuff. And then it changes, karma wears out. Which is why those objects don't give you lasting happiness. Which is the big insight of the Buddha. Yo guys, it's not out there. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:24 Highlight the passage at 1:56:24

1:56:41 And getting more of that stuff. You know, that's not the cause of lasting happiness. It's just, you know, balancing that house of cards and getting everything set up out there. Externally, the cause of happiness is virtue. And then it doesn't matter where you are. I mean, look at Mother Teresa in the middle of the slums of Calcutta. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:41 Highlight the passage at 1:56:41

1:57:01 Totally blissed out. Why? Because she had unbelievable virtue. You know, and then the external sense contact, she could care less. But that's another story. We'll get into it tomorrow. Stay tuned. Oh, we were going to meditate tonight and I just talked too much. But we will definitely do meditations on these subjects tomorrow if you can come back. If you can't come back, thank you for joining us tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:01 Highlight the passage at 1:57:01

1:57:31 I hope it didn't create more confusion than not. But let's just sit for a minute and dedicate the merit. Aria. it's Report an error in the passage at 1:57:31 Highlight the passage at 1:57:31

1:57:42 Arya Deva in the text 400 stanzas says, even to doubt for a minute that things exist in the way that we always thought that they did, even just raising some flicker of doubt, thinking that things are merely labeled on a valid basis, they don't exist from their own side. Arya Deva said, even just that flicker of doubt tears saṃsāra to shreds. So powerful. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:58:12 Since beginningless time we always believed the way that things appeared to us. We believed that they existed in that way. So tonight we've raised that doubt. We've started to rip saṃsāra to shreds. Incredible virtue just from these two hours we've had together. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:12 Highlight the passage at 1:58:12

1:58:33 So in order that that amazing virtue doesn't get wasted on more cheeseburgers, more samsaric happiness, chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:33 Highlight the passage at 1:58:33

1:58:47 Let's dedicate it, put it in the karmic bank account towards our future enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, enlightenment that will give us all the qualities and capacity to really benefit beings. Let's just take a minute to dedicate towards that goal. Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:58:47 Highlight the passage at 1:58:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:59:38 you so much. I hope I didn't confuse anybody too much, but come back tomorrow. Do you have any notes? Report an error in the passage at 1:59:38 Highlight the passage at 1:59:38

2:00:01 Do you want this one? That's fine. No, it's okay. So I just wanted to say the hours tomorrow are 10.30 to 4, right? Is that right? I think so. I don't do it anymore. I don't plan the programming anymore. I think it's 10.30 to 4 with a break at lunch, and we'll figure out when that is and also how long it is, I guess, dependent upon how things are going, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:01 Highlight the passage at 2:00:01

2:00:21 So, yeah. So just come, yeah. And I promise you, women, I just cheat everybody. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:21 Highlight the passage at 2:00:21

2:00:33 Thank you for talking too much. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:33 Highlight the passage at 2:00:33