Exploring the Heart Sutra: the Essence of Wisdom (23 October 2009)

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0:44 I see, that's really kind of you. Okay, why don't we put on the seats? The seats are in a full place. right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we're okay. And then once it fills, then we actually have a plan B that will open those doors. But we always want to encourage people to sit in here first. That's very kind of you. Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

1:09 I want to make an announcement. We're going to go ahead and start if people want to find their seats. Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:20 Hello. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:29 Hello. Yeah, that's better. Can you whisper into hers and make sure that... Hello. It's so easy Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:38 That was good. So welcome everybody. This is Tenzin Chogkyi's weekend on the Heart Sūtra, which we've been very excited about. She will probably go through the schedule with you, but tonight should end at 9 o 'clock and then tomorrow morning starts at 9.30. Usually the way she does it is three hours with a break in the middle and then we have lunch for an hour and a half and then three hours with a break in the middle. Report an error in the passage at 1:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38

2:05 And then we'll do the same thing Sunday morning and then Sunday afternoon will end a little earlier. If anyone asks questions, and she will have time for a question asking, we just request that you speak into the mic so that we can record it. We record the whole thing and it will be downloadable from archive.org, which is brilliant. So, but we request the question because, oh yeah, so we just request the questioner to use the mic. Report an error in the passage at 2:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05

2:36 It doesn't have to be the most profound question, but just so that we record it so that the people at home can hear it and it makes much more sense. Also, it helps to amplify for those of us sitting in the back, too. Report an error in the passage at 2:36 Highlight the passage at 2:36

2:49 One of our bathrooms just went out. The little one on the landing. Yeah, it's leaking. It wasn't an overflow yet. We haven't purified that much. but, um, so. If you are a regular here and you probably know who you are, then you guys can use the downstairs bathroom. If you know where the downstairs bathroom is, then you can use that. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:16 Otherwise, you can still use the one that's in the corner there. That'll kind of break it up. We'll hopefully have it fixed by tomorrow. What else? We are going to start with offering Tenzin Chogky the representative of the Body Speech United. Body. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 3:16 Highlight the passage at 3:16

3:35 Representative of the Buddha's Body, Speech and Mind and a mandala requesting the teaching. It's sort of a symbolic thing and some of you have seen it before. I'm sure we'll make a jumble of it. I'm going to be the requester and Michelle's going to hand me the things and Gina, I think, is going to receive for me. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:58 just, I think what page is it in? I think it's page 86. Maybe look at page 86 of the Gold Prairie book. And I think it's in there. Yeah? Okay, good. It's the one thing I have a memory for is numbers. So it should be Saji Pugi and then right after this one, requesting on the bottom of that page, requesting to turn the wheel. Report an error in the passage at 3:58 Highlight the passage at 3:58

4:23 We'll sing that one too, but somebody who knows it has to sing it really loud because I don't have that one memorized. I can fake it, but... It's probably best I don't. Anything else? We'll have more announcements for the weekend. We have calendars for November that are coming, and Maria is picking them up, and she's not here yet, so hopefully she hasn't run into a problem. Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:42 But we will have brand new November calendars. What else? Report an error in the passage at 4:42 Highlight the passage at 4:42

4:51 Let's go get her. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 4:51 Highlight the passage at 4:51

5:09 so people are like bothered, they're like intense, if you lean over there it's like... if you see a nun go down, then I should open a window. Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:20 I hate to open them because of the noise, but it starts bothering us. So this one's available? Yeah. We can share. Sandra and I can share. Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

5:51 Very front. Report an error in the passage at 5:51 Highlight the passage at 5:51

6:02 Go for it. It's easier for you to take it than it will be somebody coming in late. Oh, look who's here. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:29 If anyone still has their cell phone on, can you come now? Turn it on. I totally forgot. Report an error in the passage at 6:29 Highlight the passage at 6:29

6:47 Okay, so for anybody who's comfortable with an illustration, we can do them together if there's room. Might be a little bit challenging. Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

6:59 namo maju shriye, namo shriye, namo uttana shriye, soha. Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:15 Namo Uttama Shri Report an error in the passage at 7:15 Highlight the passage at 7:15

7:25 Namo Shri Namo Shri Namo Shri Namo Shri Namo Shri. Thank Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

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10:31 you very much. The American Mandala offering always involves lots of giggling, apparently. That's the real offering, the offering of happiness. Great, great. Thank you all for coming. Welcome. We're going to start with just a couple of minutes of sitting to settle our minds, watching our breath just to sort of settle our minds. Report an error in the passage at 10:31 Highlight the passage at 10:31

10:53 It's been a long week for everybody and just getting ourselves here and our bodies in this room. And then we'll set our motivation. And then right after we set our motivation, we'll read the Heart Sūtra, which is the topic of our teachings, and it's on page 79 of this gold prayer book. I've got an extra copy here if anybody doesn't have one. Does anybody need a copy? Report an error in the passage at 10:53 Highlight the passage at 10:53

11:22 Everybody has? Okay, great. So we'll read that after we set the motivation. But first let's just sit for a couple of minutes just watching our breath, settling our minds, getting ourselves here in this room, in our bodies. Report an error in the passage at 11:22 Highlight the passage at 11:22

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12:48 And now let's take a minute to set our motivation and we're going to be studying a Mahāyāna Sūtra. So in the Mahāyāna, the highest level of motivation is to become fully enlightened with all the qualities of a Buddha in order to benefit infinite sentient beings. This is called bodhicitta, this beautiful, noble intention. And since we're studying a Mahāyāna Sūtra this weekend, let's try to generate this wish, Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:27 The full wish, at least an admiration, a sense of admiration for this noble intention that our spiritual practice is all about, developing qualities that will be of benefit ultimately to others. So take just a minute to set this motivation. And Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

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14:31 now let's read the Heart Sūtra together, page 79. I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. Thus did I hear it 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. Report an error in the passage at 14:31 Highlight the passage at 14:31

15:03 Also at that time, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara looked upon the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom 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 Avalokitesvara, 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 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:32 He said that, and the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara said this to the venerable Saridvatiputra. Sariputra, 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 is empty of inherent nature. Report an error in the passage at 15:32 Highlight the passage at 15:32

15:56 Warm 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 15:56 Highlight the passage at 15:56

16:23 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 phenomena. 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 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:51 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. nation, 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 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:21 Having completely passed beyond error, they reached 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 unprocessed 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 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:53 The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared. Ayata, Gathe, Gathe, Paragathe, Parasam Gathe, Bodhi Soha. Shariputra, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that. Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration, commended the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Arya Avalokitesvara, saying, Well said, well said, son of the lineage, it is like that, it is like that. Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:23 One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom, just as you have indicated. Even the Tathagathas rejoice. The Bhagavan, having thus spoken, the Venerable Sarindvati Putra, the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, Avalokitesvara, 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 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:51 Okay, so that's the complete Heart Sūtra. That is often recited before teachings. You may have recited this many, many times. I know, for example, when Chodan Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach, this is a sūtra that's recited before the teaching. And I had a student last year at Land of Medicine Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:13 Who approached me and said, you know, we read this thing all the time and I don't have a clue what on earth it means. You know, we read it and it says no ear, no eye. And it's like, what are they talking about? Of course I've got ears and eyes. Could you please explain? So I said, love to. Great. So I developed the course to explain because it's wonderful to... Report an error in the passage at 19:13 Highlight the passage at 19:13

19:32 Understand what it's talking about when you read this sūtra. Often it's recited in the Tibetan tradition as almost sort of like this magical formula to dispel obstacles like voodoo or something, to get rid of obstacles before teaching. But what it is, what the Heart Sūtra really is, is meditation instructions. It's a conversation between two of Lord Buddha's students. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

19:57 Not really, as we shall see. It's a little bit more subtle than that. And it's meditation instructions showing us how to meditate on emptiness and get that realization that's so important on the past. So I think we miss a lot of the Report an error in the passage at 19:57 Highlight the passage at 19:57

20:12 When we don't really understand the meditation instruction aspect of the sūtra and we just kind of think, oh it's really mystical, it's so esoteric, you know, no ear, no, you know, what are they talking about? No exalted wisdom, no attainment, you know, none of this stuff exists, what's going on here? So often we just recite it and we kind of don't want to think about it because it sort of doesn't make sense, it's either confusing so we're a little bit, you know, we just kind of put it aside. Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:41 And just dutifully recite it. But there's so much benefit that can be gained because it's actual instructions. This sūtra is one of the most beloved in all of the Mahāyāna countries and is recited very often at the beginning of teachings in not only the Tibetan tradition, which we're probably most familiar with, but the Chinese Mahāyāna tradition that extends to Korea, to Japan, to parts of Vietnam. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

21:09 And so forth. So this sūtra is probably the most, you know, the most recited. If somebody was keeping track, some omniscient being of how many times every sūtra had been recited, the heart sūtra would win, hands down. And I heard actually it's the only sūtra that's been printed on neckties in Japan. I haven't seen this for myself, but I heard that the whole heart sūtra actually appears on a necktie. Report an error in the passage at 21:09 Highlight the passage at 21:09

21:32 And one of the reasons it's so popular, not that people understand what it means, it's so short, right? Less than 10 minutes. In most languages, a lot shorter in languages like Chinese, you know, and English even, which is a very unwieldy. Language, it's very easy to recite. And some of us have recited other sutras that Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended, like, you know, the Golden Light Sūtra takes hours. Report an error in the passage at 21:32 Highlight the passage at 21:32

21:56 You know, even the Diamond Cutter Sūtra takes a good hour at least, even if you're really fast. 45 minutes if you're super fast. The Sangata Sūtra, forget it, three hours, you know. So you can recite that. It's like, oh my God. So you can recite the Heart Sūtra in a very brief amount of time. And this is also one of the reasons that it's quite beloved in the Mahāyāna countries. Report an error in the passage at 21:56 Highlight the passage at 21:56

22:18 But it's really wonderful to study it and see the meaning in it. And there's a couple of different levels of meaning. Instructions on how to meditate, as I said. It's telling us how to meditate at the different parts of the path. And that's sort of the hidden meaning of the Heart Sūtra. The sort of explicit meaning is it's a teaching on different kinds of emptiness. And then the more sort of implicit or hidden meaning is that it's showing how to meditate on the different stages of the path. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:52 And we'll talk about both. Levels of meaning. Because I think it's really interesting to talk about how it's instructions to meditate on different parts of the path. We talk about the five paths, meaning five stages that you go through in the progression towards enlightenment. And it's very cool to figure out what, you know, it's like previews of coming attractions. What's going to happen as you... Report an error in the passage at 22:52 Highlight the passage at 22:52

23:16 You know, evolve towards Buddhahood and exactly how you meditate on emptiness at all those different stages. So we're going to look at that. It's going to be kind of intense. We've only got a weekend, but we're going to look at a lot of stuff and we're going to go over that. And I've prepared a diagram. Luckily, I'm Western. In Tibet, no books have diagrams, you know, but we can have charts, we can have diagrams, we can have flip charts. Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:40 It makes it all a lot easier. It's not all these syllables run together. There's not even spaces between the words in Tibetan. Forget about charts and diagrams. So, you know, we've tried to make it easy for you. So we're going to talk about both levels. We're going to talk about the teaching on emptiness. Well, all three levels. How it's a teaching on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 23:40 Highlight the passage at 23:40

23:58 How it's meditation instructions and how it shows us how to progress through the five paths. So we've got kind of a big agenda ahead of us, okay? So one of the things, those of you who've been at my teachings, one of the things I like to do at the very beginning is go around and have everybody say their name and a little bit about their background. Report an error in the passage at 23:58 Highlight the passage at 23:58

24:19 There's lots of old friends in the room and some new friends too, so if everybody could just go around and just briefly introduce yourself, say a little bit about your background. Because that will also be helpful for me to kind of know how much background you have and how in detail to go into things. Okay, so let's start with Keith over in the corner. Report an error in the passage at 24:19 Highlight the passage at 24:19

24:40 Hi, Keith. My name is Keith Enriquez and I've been with Te Shingling I think for five years now. I converted to Mahāyāna Buddhism from Theravadan Buddhism after I returned from working in Thailand. I found Te Shingling. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

25:01 I'm Henny. My background is Theravadan Buddhism and I've studied Tibetan Buddhism for 13 years. I'm still new at it. I'm Tamara. I've been coming to Sitchin Ling for I guess 13 years. Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:35 I was like a baby, so I didn't study yet, but I really like coming here and listening to teachings. I'm Lynn, and I actually chanted some mantras with Henny when she was in utero tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 25:35 Highlight the passage at 25:35

25:52 So I took refuge at Copan in 1993, but I recited the Zen Center's Heart Sūtra at Green Gulch. Fascinated with it and loved it and it's still my favorite. Report an error in the passage at 25:52 Highlight the passage at 25:52

26:09 I'm Jessica and have been here to one retreat before with you. It's really nice to be here again. And love it here. And my primary place of practice, well home and then also up in Point Richmond with Anam Thupten. And I'm in training to be a teacher actually. Report an error in the passage at 26:09 Highlight the passage at 26:09

26:34 I'm John and I've been coming here to Qiqin Ling for a little over a month or so, maybe not even that. And I was here the last time that you taught on the Four Noble Truths and back for more. Great. I'm Carla and definitely the Heart Sūtra is one of my favorite texts. so is Very good experience for me. Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 26:34 Highlight the passage at 26:34

27:21 My name is Maria. I'm a beginner and I'm exploring so I'm taking all the classes that I can. I was with you with the tree and the Four Noble Truths. So here I am again. Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:40 a bad experience, isn't it? you. My name is Adrienne. I had known Heart Sūtra for 15 years, but every time when I listened to it, I had different thoughts about it. So it's always good to keep coming and listen to lectures. I'm Cindy. I started taking Dharma classes here since 2008. I've taken a few classes of the Lamrim classes. And I've gone on, this is my third retreat. Actually, this is home retreat for me. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

28:10 but yeah so and the host sūtra um i've wrapped the prasana parmitas scriptures and went to india and passed them out so it's very and i want the future peaks My name is Janet, and I've been studying Tibetan Buddhism about ten years. I usually say nine, but it actually, I think, is beginning to be ten. Once I get a number in my head, it doesn't change much. Kind of like my age. Report an error in the passage at 28:10 Highlight the passage at 28:10

28:43 24, right? Somewhere, I don't know. I lost it. Anyway, but I'm really anxious to hear this again. I've heard it from different teachers and you always get a new little bit of wisdom and a new little way to think about it with every time that you hear it. So it's very, very good to have this opportunity. Thank you. Hello, my name is Anna and I've been a member here of Sei Chen Ling now going on for four years and I have taken... Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

29:14 Other teachings with Venerable Chogky and I've always enjoyed them very much, gotten a lot out of it. And I was just remembering, I was fortunate enough to go see His Holiness in Long Beach and there they recited, they sang the Heart Sūtra in different languages. And I remember when they did it in Vietnamese, I just started crying. It was just so beautiful. But yeah, it's a beautiful sūtra and I love studying it. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:40 It's quite fascinating. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

29:44 I'm Gina. I've been coming here for about three years, taking Discovering Buddhism and drop-in meditation classes, and I really don't have any experience with the Heart Sūtra, but I'm very interested and curious about all the different teachings on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 29:44 Highlight the passage at 29:44

30:01 My name's Catherine, and I've been a member of Seichen Ling for probably 13 years or so, but there's been years when I've barely come, and then this year I've been here quite a bit more. so I'm sort of the prodigal member or something and I studied this sūtra with Cho Tak many years ago when it was over in Glen Park and when it was months and months and months of studying you know once a week for several months My name is Chris and I've been practicing Buddhism for just over three years. Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:41 It took me a while to find my home tradition. I was in Vacaville and there wasn't very many things open so I was just kind of being eclectic and learning as much as I could. So I spent some time in Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition and we recited the sūtra a lot there. When I moved back to, I was also corresponding with FPMT centers throughout that time but when I moved back to San Francisco I immediately came here and found my home. Report an error in the passage at 30:41 Highlight the passage at 30:41

31:12 However, The Heart Sūtra, even though I've recited it so many times, for me it's one of the most confusing. Even if it's short, it's one of the most, just the whole emptiness thing. I can kind of get it intellectually, but I'm not really understanding it, so I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Great, good. Hopefully I won't confuse you even worse, Chris. Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:33 Hi, my name's Matt, and I started taking classes here. At Sage Henling about two years ago and prior to that I was in the Zen tradition and we did do a study period at the San Francisco Zen Center on the Heart Sūtra but I'm really excited to learn more about it. Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

31:56 I remember the first time I read it I thought there's something really, I'm just getting like the tip of the iceberg. I sensed that it was like this really Dense thing that needed to be unpacked, and I still feel that way, and I'm excited to learn more about it. Report an error in the passage at 31:56 Highlight the passage at 31:56

32:13 Hi, my name's Morgan. I've been coming here for about three years, kind of on and off. I actually first studied this with Emily, where she taught a class on the Heart Sūtra, and I've been delving into the Lamrim, but I think there's some analytical understanding, but there's no realizations, and I think from a meditation side, that's the confusing part to me. Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:34 It's like outside of the analytical side, how do you apply it to like a daily meditation practice? Good, good. Hi, my name is Brian. Report an error in the passage at 32:34 Highlight the passage at 32:34

32:46 I've been coming here maybe a year and studying Buddhism for maybe four or five years. I took the emptiness retreat with Venerable Renee and also Emily and a class here with Venerable Monlon. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

33:09 I'm Lynn, and I've been studying Tibetan Buddhism for about three years, and it took me about a year to get over here. It's been almost two years, and I think the first thing that I came to here was a teaching on the arts. I was like, what is this about? Hi, I'm Liza. I've been studying Tibetan Buddhism, I guess, pretty informally for like three years. Most interested in... Report an error in the passage at 33:09 Highlight the passage at 33:09

33:39 in Vajrayana, and... I haven't studied this, so I'm looking forward to it. Hi, my name is Sarah, and I've been studying Tibetan Buddhism since 1998, and now I work at a Theravadan Center, and I love the Heart Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

34:02 Hi, I'm Ben. I guess I've been meditating, and I live at Spirit Rock now. I've been kind of in that tradition for... Probably six or seven years and in the last couple of years been more interested in Mahāyāna teachings and Vajrayana teachings. I first started reciting the Heart Sūtra at Anam Tupton's place with Jessica as well and it had just a real profound effect on me doing it together with everybody and I've been studying it more and more and so I was interested to come to these teachings. Report an error in the passage at 34:02 Highlight the passage at 34:02

34:40 Thank you. Good, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

34:45 Hi, I'm Viela and I recently took refuge and I've been coming to Seycheling for about a year and a half. So I'm looking forward to this. Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

34:57 Hi again, it's good to see you. Good to see you too. I'm Teresa Mia and I've been a Mahayanist for several years and I can never hear the Heart Sūtra too many times. And I think of all those lamas who are in their 70s and they say things like, oh yes, we pray it several times every day and I still am just beginning to understand it. Report an error in the passage at 34:57 Highlight the passage at 34:57

35:20 So I'm a beginner. Report an error in the passage at 35:20 Highlight the passage at 35:20

35:34 Hi, I'm Sandra. I've been practicing Buddhism for 20 years. I started out in Soda Zen and then I've been volunteering and working for FPMT for about 10 years. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

35:48 Including you, FPMT has a lot of great teachers, Tibetan and American, a wonderful education department. I know I'm sounding like I'm plugging FPMT, but it really is great. Since I stopped working up in Portland, I've really come to appreciate the dedication of Rinpoche and of course Lama Yeshe and all the teachers. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:12 Thank you. I see Maria was somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:18 Oh, there she is. She snuck in. Oh, did you do yours? I totally missed that. What happened? You were back there and then you moved here. I'm losing it. Okay. Are we done? Okay. Oh, and one thing that you'll have to help me remember is that we passed the mic around for questions so it all gets on the recording. Report an error in the passage at 36:18 Highlight the passage at 36:18

36:42 And I always forget, so people are good. Gina's the one, right? Aren't you the one to remember the mic? Janet and Janet. Okay, great. So we'll rely on Gina and Janet because don't trust me on that. I always forget. Okay, great. Great. So in terms of practice, Morgan and a couple of other people said, you know, we've studied this a little bit sort of... Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

37:06 And intellectually, but how does it relate to practice? And I'm definitely going to try and talk about that aspect as well. I remember when I was in this long meditation retreat and I got, you know, the kind of traditional preliminary practices and then a bunch of extra ones, because of course I was talking to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and so he kind of makes up preliminary practices. Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:28 One of the ones I got was 200 recitations of the Heart Sūtra with meditation on the five... Heaps are the five skandhas. And that ended up, it took a couple of weeks to do it. I was doing it really, really slowly. And of all the years that I was in solitary meditation retreat, I think the weeks that I spent on that practice were some of the most profound, just amazing, really, really. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

37:56 So he sort of instructed me how to do that meditation, so I'm going to try and share that with you, because as we shall see, that's the main meditation for the path of accumulation, the path of preparation. If you don't know what those words mean yet, you will by tomorrow at about 3 o 'clock. But for the people who do know, that's kind of the main meditations for beginners. Report an error in the passage at 37:56 Highlight the passage at 37:56

38:19 And so we'll go through that, because for me personally, I found it one of the most, you know, I don't know, there's just something about it that just kind of takes you to this place. It really cuts down this sense of self and this ego grasping and it's just very, very simple to do. You know, not very complicated. You just go through the five heaps, then you relate those to the sense of self you have, go back and forth. So we'll do that. Report an error in the passage at 38:19 Highlight the passage at 38:19

38:45 So we'll definitely get into practice. It is going to be quite intellectual at times, but we'll always... trying to relate it to practice and marcella just came in we've been doing introductions so you could introduce yourself Thank you, sorry I'm late. My name is Marcela. I know some people. I'm coming to practice meditation for two months and a half. Report an error in the passage at 38:45 Highlight the passage at 38:45

39:11 I'm trying to practice every day. I have very good experiences. I'm very happy I'm here. My bad karma was pushing me to go, but I couldn't make it. I'm very happy to participate. I was thinking I couldn't come, but I'm here. I'm happy. Great. Thank you. Great. Good. Thank you. Yeah, somebody else just walked in. Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:49 I'm Chokky, not Chokky, Chokky, more like Cookie. And I have been, I can't even see you anymore. I just was playing a parking lot for Marcella. Anyway, I've been here at the center almost 10 years. I've been ordained almost 10 years. Been a Buddhist for more, probably 14 years. um and Report an error in the passage at 39:49 Highlight the passage at 39:49

40:21 I am really excited. You had originally mentioned the possibility of coming back and teaching us more on emptiness last year when you taught on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:31 So the idea was born. And we have seen it through. Yeah, so that's all I have to say. Thank you and welcome, welcome, welcome back. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:43 All right. All right. So the teachings on the Heart Sūtra that I've received, one of the things I do when I'm asked to teach something. You know, I pull out all my notes from teachings that I've gotten and I pull out all the books that have been published and I kind of spread them all out on my bed and kind of... Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:01 Read each section. It's so much fun preparing for a class because it's such a great review. You get to just review everything. So I wanted to just mention the sources that I used for this particular teaching that some of you may be familiar with. Some of them are just teachings that I've received from texts that have not been translated into English yet. And one of the main teachings I got on the Heart Sūtra was from a commentary by a Tibetan Lama named Chuni Drakpa Shedrup who lived from 1675 to 1775. Report an error in the passage at 41:01 Highlight the passage at 41:01

41:32 It's a word-for-word commentary called The Sun Whose Rays Illuminate the Profound Thusness. I love these titles. They all sound the same. It's always the sun illuminating something or the whatever, the profound whatever. But it was a great commentary because those of you that know me know that I'm really into words and language and etymology. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:52 So since we just have a weekend, I'll spare you most of it, but I'm going to have to... Put it in there from time to time, especially about the title. We're going to be going into the title word for word because I just love that kind of stuff. I think it's cool. So this was a great text, just word for word, breaking down every word. And then also His Holiness, and some of you may have been there, taught on the Heart Sūtra in San Jose in 2001. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:18 And I wasn't there. I was in a long meditation retreat, but somebody sent me the tapes. It was back in the days of cassette tapes right afterwards and I listened to them over and over and over again and pretty much transcribed the whole thing. So that was one of the sources that I used. Also I've received teachings from Yangtze Rinpoche on the Heart Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:38 From Geshe Losang Tarchin, from Geshe Tsultram Geltsin, those are some of the other sources that I used. There's a great book by Donald Lopez called The Heart Sūtra Explained that's for people like me that love words because he goes really into the meaning of all the words, not only in, you know, mostly in Sanskrit. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

42:59 He's mostly using Sanskrit commentaries in Sanskrit sources for his commentary. And by the way, the... Those teachings in San Jose in 2001 have been published in a book called The Essence of the Heart Sūtra. I think it's Wisdom, no, Wisdom? Yeah, I think it is Wisdom Publications and that's a great resource too. Report an error in the passage at 42:59 Highlight the passage at 42:59

43:18 So some references, there we go. You know, I don't pay them to do this, it's just spontaneous. That's what the hardback looks like and obviously that's what the... Report an error in the passage at 43:18 Highlight the passage at 43:18

43:31 Yeah, and that's a great one. That's a really, really good one. Anybody who'd like to get into it more, the Donald Lopez one, you know, is for people like Morgan. Morgan by the Donald Lopez one for people who are really into getting into like every excruciating detail. And he compares, you know, Hari Badra's commentary, all these ancient Indian masters commentaries. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

43:53 So that's very cool. But the one by His Holiness is very accessible as His Holiness teachings always are. So that's a wonderful one that you can read. Now the point of the Heart Sūtra and the point of these Mahāyāna Sutras that teach about emptiness is because understanding emptiness is a completely necessary prerequisite for being able to meditate on emptiness and meditating on emptiness is what gets you to the direct realization of emptiness and the direct realization of emptiness is what cuts through. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:28 Ignorance that's the root of saṃsāra and gets you both liberated and enlightened. So without having that realization it's completely, what's the word, non-negotiable. If you want to become liberated from saṃsāra and beyond that you want to become a fully enlightened Buddha, you've got to have a direct realization of emptiness at some point. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:50 No way to get that realization unless you know how to meditate on emptiness. No way to know how to meditate unless you've studied. So that's the importance of meditating on emptiness. Emptiness, that's the importance of studying emptiness. It's not just an intellectual trip, even though sometimes it seems that way. It's not just to give Jeffrey Hopkins a job, you know, writing all those books. Report an error in the passage at 44:50 Highlight the passage at 44:50

45:13 I read this book called Maps of the Profound. It's like 1,600 pages of excruciating, I think there's like 1,100 footnotes or something, you know, and these excruciating, hair-splitting arguments. What I actually realized after reading that book I was never going to understand emptiness by reading a book like that. I just had to get my butt in direct contact with the meditation cushion. That was how I was going to meditate on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 45:13 Highlight the passage at 45:13

45:41 It's unbelievable. It doesn't have to be as complicated as that. Emptiness is not that hard intellectually to understand. We talk about different levels of knowing things in Buddhism. And there's something that's phenomena that are directly experienced, like the cup on the table. I can just experience that with my sense consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:04 That's an obvious phenomena. And then there are phenomena called hidden phenomena that are accessible through inference or logic. And emptiness is one of these kind of phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:17 One example of a deeply hidden phenomenon that can only be known through the words of an enlightened being is the mechanism of karma, exactly how karma works. So that's a lot harder to understand. And in fact, unless you're a Buddha, you can't ever really get it, how karma works. But we can understand how emptiness works through logic, through analysis like that. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:43 So it's not that hard. It's not really that hard. I heard one time recently His Holiness the Dalai Lama was teaching, and you know how he gets the questions, you know, Tipton Jimper reads out this pile of questions that gets passed up, and somebody said, how do I get a direct realization of emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 46:43 Highlight the passage at 46:43

47:01 And His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, study, study, study. That was his answer. So we definitely need to study, but then that's no substitute for... Meditation. We can't only study. We just have to study enough to know how to meditate. That's the main thing. We don't have to read maps of the profound. Report an error in the passage at 47:01 Highlight the passage at 47:01

47:21 It's just forget it. I shouldn't say that, but it's wonderful, but it's not necessary. But a certain amount of study to understand how to meditate is really necessary. So that's what I'm going to try and focus on this weekend. We only have two days, but I'm really going to try and focus as much as possible on the practical. Report an error in the passage at 47:21 Highlight the passage at 47:21

47:42 So let's get into the sūtra itself. And there's a couple of things missing from the translation in the gold book. And if you'll turn back to page 77. It has the name in Sanskrit and we're going to look at that, look at these words a little bit. And one of the things that's missing that's in the Tibetan, it says before the title in Sanskrit, it says in the language of India. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

48:09 And then the title in Sanskrit is the little words in italics underneath the Tibetan, Arya Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sūtra. So before that, it says, in the language of India. And this is always put in Tibetan translations of the three baskets of teachings, the main teachings of the Buddha that came from India to show that it's a valid source, right? Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:36 It's not something made up by the Tibetans. So in the language of India, and then the title is always given. The main sources in the Tibetan canon are the Sanskrit sources. So generally speaking, I think maybe just a handful of exceptions, it'll say in the language of India and then the actual title is in Sanskrit because those were the sources that were brought to India. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

49:01 So it always says that to show that it's a valid source and that it is a teaching of one of the three baskets that's just been translated. So the Tibetans didn't just make up the Heart Sūtra. It was something that came from the Indian sources. And then the title, Arya Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sūtra, which we translate here as the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:30 So let's look at the words of the title a little bit first before we get into the actual sūtra itself. First we have the word Arya. That I think most of you, if not all of you, are familiar with. Carla, what's an aria? Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:51 Oh, we should get the microphone for the answers. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:02 That's a very good question. Because an aria is not an arhat. Aria bodhsaffa, we usually say an aria bodhsaffa, right? Right. Is that the same as a bodhsaffa or aria bodhsaffa is different? You tell me. I have the answers Report an error in the passage at 50:02 Highlight the passage at 50:02

50:21 I think it's that stage that comes right before you become a bodhisattva. It's on the path to enlightenment. Before you're a bodhisattva, you know, you become an aria. That's what I remember. Okay. Lynn, what's an aria? Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:41 Lynn. No, I'm asking for this. Very clever, very smart. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

50:52 I don't know how it is in this. smart. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

50:55 I don't know, I don't know how, I don't know how to, to, I parsed this out with Chodok a long time ago but I don't remember what he said. But just the word Arya, the way we usually use it, what's that? I think it's a being that's, that's directly realized emptiness. Okay. Right. Is that a good note? That's exactly what it is. Okay, so an Arya, we have a couple of these Sanskrit words that sound similar. We've got Arya and Arhat, and they're two different things. Report an error in the passage at 50:55 Highlight the passage at 50:55

51:24 Okay, an Arya is a being who's had a direct realization of emptiness. Okay, they're not liberated yet. They're not enlightened yet. If they were liberated, they would be what's called an Arhat. And a lot of times these words are mixed up. Or people think... Once you get a direct realization of emptiness, then you're liberated. That means you're an arhat. Like the first direct realization of emptiness, you're out of here. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

51:51 You're free. And unfortunately, it's not like that. There's a progression. But it's an amazing, incredible thing. It's like a huge, huge step in the path to get that direct realization of emptiness. And as Carla pointed out, you can be an Arya bodhisattva too. If you're heading on the track going towards full enlightenment, If you've had the direct realization of emptiness conjoined with bodhicitta, so it's actually a little bit different. You can become a bodhisattva before you're an Arya bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:22 You get the title bodhisattva the minute you've generated what they call uncontrived bodhicitta, which means it's the baseline of all of your motivation for everything. They call it in philosophy it's a main mind, meaning it's there all the time. It's not like the way it is with a lot of us. I mean, I'm sorry, I'm being a little presumptuous. Like you have a really good, you know, Tonglin meditation and then you're all excited and afterwards you're like, I'm going to do it. Report an error in the passage at 52:22 Highlight the passage at 52:22

52:52 I'm going to get enlightened for the benefit of all beings. And then 10 minutes later you're like, let's order a pizza. Come on, let's like watch a movie. You know, and it fades out. It like arises after a good meditation, then it fades away. But if you get the title bodhisattva, it's not like that. It just means it's completely consistent. They call it uncontrived or unfabricated, meaning it doesn't just arise after a good meditation. Report an error in the passage at 52:52 Highlight the passage at 52:52

53:18 It's what's called a main mind, meaning that's it. You know, that's where your mind... And that can happen before the direct realization of emptiness. And we'll look at how that works. But an Arya is just a being who's had a direct realization of emptiness, but they're not liberated yet. They're not a Buddha yet. They could be a bodhisattva if they're on that track, or they could not, depending. Report an error in the passage at 53:18 Highlight the passage at 53:18

53:46 Whether their direct realization of emptiness is what we call conjoined with bodhicitta or not. So that's what that word Arya means. Are you puzzled, Matt? You're looking quizzical. Oh, Mike. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

54:09 So an arhat is a liberated being who has realized. Emptiness. But where does the bodhicitta come in before? Doesn't come in for an arhat. We don't talk about arhats in the bodhisattva track, right? So we've got two tracks. We've got one track going to liberation and one track going to enlightenment. And often there's a misunderstanding that it's sequential. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:39 Which is another big misunderstanding, like you become liberated first and then after that you become an Arhad and then later you become a Buddha. You can, but it's really, really hard. The way it's usually taught is, from some point pretty early on in the path, it doesn't have to be your first weekend teaching, but at least a little bit early on, you kind of choose which direction you're going to move in, either towards liberation or towards enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

55:05 So when we use the word arhat, we're talking about a being who's liberated, not a being who's a bodhisattva on the way to enlightenment. So you can be an arya on both tracks. Because both of those beings need a direct realization of emptiness. So you can be an Arya on both tracks after you've had that direct realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:30 Does that help? Yes, that does. Okay, good. Okay, so Arya. Then we have this word Bhagavati. And you're probably used to the word Bhagavan. This shows up, right, in a lot of our recitations, in a lot of our prayers, this word Bhagavan. So, bhaga, the first part of this word, bhaga, has two meanings. It means destroying or conquering or overcoming. Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:58 You know, sometimes the word Bhagavan is translated as conqueror, right? I was just teaching in Colombia, in South America, and the translator, when we got to this point, she kept calling it conquistador. And I go, wait a minute, let's not call the Buddha a conquistador. I think that's got like a slightly, not quite the connotation that we want, but that's the word, right? Report an error in the passage at 55:58 Highlight the passage at 55:58

56:22 It's like the, you know, el Buddha, la conquistador. Report an error in the passage at 56:22 Highlight the passage at 56:22

56:29 But it's got this meaning of conquering, destroying. That's one of the meanings of bhaga. And it also has a connotation of possessing. Report an error in the passage at 56:29 Highlight the passage at 56:29

56:42 Possessing. So conquering, destroying and possessing. What do you think is being conquered by the Bhagavan? What do you think is being conquered or destroyed? Anna. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:00 I do this, so you guys have to be quick on the drawing. The defilements. Okay, defilements, okay. And so we say in a Buddha, it's defilements, we've got two sets of obstacles that are destroyed. We have the obstacles, and we'll get into this more, obstacles of, you know, karma and delusions, and then we also have obstacles to omniscience, or something we call knowledge obscuration. Report an error in the passage at 57:00 Highlight the passage at 57:00

57:24 So for a Buddha, all of these are destroyed. Okay, they're all purified. So he's the conqueror or the destroyer or the subduer. Sometimes it's translated subduer, meaning all of these defilements are completely destroyed. And then what is possessed by a Buddha? What is the Buddha endowed with? Report an error in the passage at 57:24 Highlight the passage at 57:24

57:49 Yeah, Chris, Mike. Luckily there's nobody named Mike in this room, so I can just say Mike. The Buddha possesses... All the enlightened qualities? Yeah, yeah. So possessing, wisdom, compassion, loving kindness, power, okay? Report an error in the passage at 57:49 Highlight the passage at 57:49

58:11 And this comes up in a couple of other words that we have that are related. In Tibetan we have the word sangge, which is the word for Buddha. And sang means purified, right? And ge means endowed. We also have the word in Tibetan, jangchup, which means enlightenment. And the same thing, the jang means purified of negativities and then the chup means endowed with the good stuff. Report an error in the passage at 58:11 Highlight the passage at 58:11

58:37 So it keeps showing up, you know, this idea. And even when we do our meditations, often we'll have like the white light coming from the Buddha, flushing out all the bad stuff and then it switches to golden light, filling us up with all the good stuff. So this often happens in our meditation. We have this dual thing, right, of not only being purified of the obstacles, purified of mental afflictions, purified of karma, but it's not just that, because we'd just be an arhat if that was all that was happening, right? Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

59:08 If we were just being purified of that level of defilements, we'd just be an arhat. But on top of that, we have all of these qualities that we're endowed with as a Buddha, you know. All the qualities, loving kindness, the wisdom, you know, the omniscient mind and so forth. So we have these two things, which is why Lama Zopa Rinpoche emphasizes over and over and over and over again purification and accumulation of merit. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:35 Because that's the cause for this sanghe, you know, that's the cause for the bhaga, that's the cause for this kind of dual thing of the purification of the negativities and then the, you know, endowment. Transcendent of all of the qualities. And then we've got in the word that we usually use for Buddha Bhagavan, or here it's vati, it's a word that means transcendent. Report an error in the passage at 59:35 Highlight the passage at 59:35

1:00:01 Okay, transcendent. And it's the same word that shows up in the word nirvāṇa, the same van. And here it's the feminine, vati. So van, vati, means to transcend. So it's very cool. So often... This Bhagavan or Bhagavati is translated as endowed transcendent destroyer, right? And we've read that sometimes in the prayers, the endowed transcendent destroyer. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:01 Highlight the passage at 1:00:01

1:00:27 So when that shows up in the English, that's just Bhagavan that they're translating with all the etymology, like all of these very subtle meanings. So that's just a synonym for the Buddha. You know, he's often called the Bhagavan. That's sort of a respectful... Way of addressing the Buddha, oh Bhagavan, you know, sometimes when you're in India, people will, I remember once this friend of mine. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:52 Raised all of this money and gave to a leper so that this leper could get treatment for his leprosy. He was just a leper on the streets of Dharamsala. Whenever my friend would pass by this leper, afterwards the leper would go, Oh, Bhagavan! Bhagavan! So sometimes you'll hear this in India meaning, Oh, you're the greatest. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:13 It's kind of like you're the ultimate. So there's Bhagavan we often hear referred to as the Buddha referred to Bhagavan and then Bhagavati is the feminine ending. So it's the endowed transcendent destroyeress, right? It's the woman conqueror, the woman transcendent one. It's very interesting. There's a couple of reasons for this. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:13 Highlight the passage at 1:01:13

1:01:36 One is that in Buddhism wisdom is considered feminine. The feminine quality and compassion is considered the masculine quality, right? So this, since this is a sūtra that, because remember this is the title of the sūtra, this is saying it's about the feminine side, you know, the wisdom side, which is seen as feminine in Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:36 Highlight the passage at 1:01:36

1:02:02 And also there's another reason because The wisdom is said to be the mother of all the arias, the mother of all the four kinds of arias. So why would that be? Why is it called the mother of the arias? Anybody know? Catherine, do you have an idea? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02:02

1:02:23 Oh, great. Perhaps the ultimate being, the head of everything, the one who sort of gave birth to wisdom, perhaps? Yeah, yeah, okay. Earth mother? Yeah. great. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:23 Highlight the passage at 1:02:23

1:02:38 Yeah, it's a little more, it's not quite as esoteric as that, right? So thinking of the mother as synonymous with wisdom, the mother of all the Buddhas, or the mother of all the Aryas, sometimes it says. Anybody, what do you think, Keith? Why do you think it's called the mother of all the Aryas? They say sometimes the mother of the four kinds of Aryas. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:38 Highlight the passage at 1:02:38

1:03:01 I think the source is what comes to my mind. Okay. And one of the things is, yeah, Ana, do you have something to, your mic's coming. Somebody just had a direct realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:21 I thought it was because of that, because once you realize emptiness, then you are born to a higher state. Yeah. And you can't have a higher state until you do realize the emptiness. And one of the things, it's the realization in common no matter what track you're on. So there's the idea that it's the mother of all the arias, meaning whether you're headed towards liberation, whether you're one of those kind of arias, which is called a shravaka or a hearer, or whether you're a solitary realizer on that track, or whether you're on the bodhisattva track, that direct realization of emptiness is the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:21 Highlight the passage at 1:03:21

1:04:07 So every aria. That exists, no matter what track they're on, that realization of emptiness is exactly the same. So it sort of gives birth to every aria on all the different tracks. And there's a bit of a connotation that comes from ancient Indian culture, in fact, modern Indian culture. You can have a woman of a certain caste, and if she has children by different fathers, the children are the caste of the father, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:07 Highlight the passage at 1:04:07

1:04:36 Like, for example... Asanga and Vasubandhu were half-brothers, and their mother, I think, was from the warrior caste, and one of their fathers was a Brahmin, and one was a warrior caste. So the sons, even though the mother was the same, one was a Brahmin, one was a warrior. So they say that whether the method determines the lineage, so whether or not you have bodhicitta or not determines the lineage, but then the mother is in common. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:36 Highlight the passage at 1:04:36

1:05:04 So it goes a little bit back to... Indian culture in the caste system, but it's basically saying it gives birth to all Aryas because no matter what track you're on, that realization is the same. So that's one of the reasons that it's also called Bhagavati, the woman endowed transcendent destroyer. And then we've got Prajna Paramita. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:28 So Prajna means wisdom. Okay, wisdom, prajna. There are a couple of Sanskrit words for wisdom. Prajna is one of the words for wisdom or knowledge. And then we've got paramita, paramita, which sometimes is translated as perfection. Literally it means, paramita means gone beyond or gone to the other side. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:28 Highlight the passage at 1:05:28

1:05:55 Okay, gone to the other side. Or going to the other side. We'll see that in a minute. So paramita, sometimes perfection, gone to the other side. The other side of what, do you imagine? What do you think? Yeah, the other side of saṃsāra. You've gone to the other shore. You know, you're not on the side of saṃsāra anymore. You're on the other side. Right? So gone beyond, sometimes gone to the other side. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:55 Highlight the passage at 1:05:55

1:06:27 The wisdom gone beyond, sometimes we translate Prajnaparamita. And then Hridaya, and that means the essence or the heart. Because this is the heart of the perfection of wisdom sutras. Prajnaparamita, we often call that perfection of wisdom. So the heart of the perfection of wisdom, the woman endowed transcendent destroyer who also just happens to be an Arya. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:06:56 That's the title of this sūtra. So there's a lot of meaning packed into that, kind of showing us the significance of this sūtra. And when we talk about perfection of wisdom, we have a couple of different kinds of perfection of wisdom. And so let's talk about that for a minute too. First, are there any questions about the title, any of these words? I know it's a lot of detail and it's not super important, but it's kind of interesting to just look at the detail of all the words. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:28 Could you say it again? Just the title? Read it again? Translation. Oh, okay. What did I say? I just said the heart of the perfection of wisdom, the woman endowed transcendent destroyer. You know, Arya, Endowed, Transcendent, Destroyer, something like that. Okay? So that's what all the words mean. Any other? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:28 Highlight the passage at 1:07:28

1:07:55 Yeah. Tell me, remind me your name. Ben. Ben, that's right. That's easy. I just had a question again. What part was the part that said it came from? Is it Indian or Sanskrit? You know, it's not in this translation. In the Tibetan, before the Sanskrit title, it says, in the language of India. It'll say that. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:14 It'll say that. Like in Tibetan, it says, in the language of India, Arya Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sūtra. So that's the part that indicates that it came from an original Sanskrit source. Cool. Any other questions before we carry on? All right. Yeah. We've got Adrian, is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:14 Highlight the passage at 1:08:14

1:08:42 And I'm sorry, you can't see the board, so that's... Okay. I might be asking this question too early, but in all the sutras that I have seen, it always begins with, thus did I hear at one time? Is there a reason for that? You're a little early. We're getting there. Because we're going to go through every section. So yeah, there's a lot of meaning in just that one little sentence. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:11 So we'll get there in a second. Yeah, good, good. All right. So the perfection of wisdom. This refers to a couple of different things. In this case, it's referring to the scriptural, what we call the scriptural perfection of wisdom. Which is talking about Mahāyāna Sutras, meaning words of the Buddha. We're going to talk about the different kinds of sutras that there are. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:11 Highlight the passage at 1:09:11

1:09:39 The words of the Buddha, any Mahāyāna Sūtra, dealing primarily with the subject of emptiness. That's the scriptural perfection of wisdom. So these teachings teach you how to achieve the path and result perfection of wisdom. So any teaching... Words, sutras, you know, Mahāyāna sutras, the words of the Buddha, giving teachings on emptiness that enable you to achieve both the path and the resultant perfection of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:39 Highlight the passage at 1:09:39

1:10:12 Now we talk about the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma. How many people are familiar with this idea of the three turnings of the wheel? Okay, a couple of people. So we talk about three kind of groups of teachings that the Buddha gave, like three ways of categorizing the teachings of the Buddha. The first turning of the wheel, an example of that would be the first sūtra that the Buddha taught to his first five disciples. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:42 You probably all remember the story. They were his friends. And then the minute he started to eat food again, they dissed him and walked off to Sarnath, to the deer park. And decided when he came after his enlightenment that they were going to ignore him, but they couldn't because he was so glorious. They were overwhelmed by devotion and prepared a seat and said, what the heck happened to you? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:42 Highlight the passage at 1:10:42

1:11:04 And then he told them. And the first thing that he decided to talk about was the Four Noble Truths. So the teachings basically on things like the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, belong to... What we call the first turning of the wheel. So, for example, teachings given at Sarnath, so with those as the primary subject. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:04 Highlight the passage at 1:11:04

1:11:29 Okay, so that's the first turning. And then we've got the second turning of the wheel. After talking about stuff like the Four Noble Truths for a while, the Buddha upped the ante. You know, he said, okay, you guys are ready for the next level. And then on Vulture's Peak, which a lot of us have been to, he taught the Heart Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:29 Highlight the passage at 1:11:29

1:11:48 Okay? To people who are ready for that level of teachings. And as we've seen, he said things like there's no eyes, no ears, no nose, no phenomenon, no nothing. And some people freaked out. Right? So he taught the ultimate view of, you know, the ultimate nature of reality in the second turning of the wheel. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:48 Highlight the passage at 1:11:48

1:12:08 And the Heart Sūtra is an example of that one. So we say that the Heart Sūtra is... The second turning of the wheel. So in terms of the scriptural perfection of wisdom, these belong to the second turning of the wheel. Then, because people were flipping out, he taught the third turning. And he said, you know that thing I said on Vulture's Peak? I was just kind of being metaphorical. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:08 Highlight the passage at 1:12:08

1:12:31 I was exaggerating. And then he kind of backtracked and taught. Teachings call on the three natures, which are one of the sort of philosophical ideas of primarily the mind-only school of Buddhism. So he differentiated. He said, you know, the kind of things that I was talking about that don't exist, there's only certain things that fit into that category. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:31 Highlight the passage at 1:12:31

1:12:56 And then the other things do exist. So he kind of backtracked a little bit. You know, according to the second turning people, not because it was literally true, but just to lead people up, you know, because they were just freaking out and they were going to the extreme of nihilism. Oh, nothing exists. That means nothing matters. Doesn't matter what I do. And this is super, super important. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:20 And they say when you're studying emptiness, if you get to a point where you start to, the law of cause and effect starts to get shaky, back off. Backtrack to a lower view. We talk about different philosophical schools because it's so much more important to have faith in cause and effect than it is to understand emptiness in its most ultimate way that it's explained. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

1:13:45 So you work your way up gradually. But if your study of emptiness makes you start thinking that you can do whatever you want and nothing matters, you got it wrong. Clear it up quick. Because that's the worst kind of wrong view that you can have, is really thinking, oh, because it's empty. There's this great story, Joanna Macy, this Buddhist teacher, was at this, some Buddhist conference and there were a bunch of people checking out of the hotel. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

1:14:12 I think it was back in the days where you had an actual physical key rather than the thing and you had to check out. And so some woman at this Buddhist conference, like her suitcase dropped open and opened up and all the hotel towels were in the suitcase. And she goes, oh, it doesn't matter, it's empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:12 Highlight the passage at 1:14:12

1:14:27 No. That's not what emptiness means. So that's why the Buddha taught the third turning of the wheel. The main sūtra, and I've got to look it up because I can't remember on the top of my head, the sūtra unraveling the thought of the Buddha is the main sūtra that explains these three natures. It's a whole teaching explaining what is empty and then there's some things that do exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:57 Ultimately, so the Buddha differentiated. But in the Tibetan system, we take the second turning of the wheel as what is called definitive. It doesn't require interpretation. The Buddha really meant what he said when he said the Heart Sūtra. It's not just a metaphor. It's actually explaining literally the way things are. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:57 Highlight the passage at 1:14:57

1:15:18 So that's the scriptural perfection of wisdom, the second turning. So any questions on those three? Yeah. First Chris and then Morgan. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:18 Highlight the passage at 1:15:18

1:15:32 Can you repeat the sūtra unraveling thought of the Buddha explains what again? It's called the three natures. It's called the three natures. And it's teaching that the mind only system. What we call in Tibetan Buddhism, the mind-only system, is based on those sutras. So the sūtra unraveling the thought of the Buddha. There's some other sutras that also belong in that third turning of the wheel that explain Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:32 Highlight the passage at 1:15:32

1:16:01 So there's a group of sutras, specifically that sūtra unraveling the thought that explains the three natures. And then there's, for example, the Tathagatagarbha sūtra that explains Buddha nature. And those are all considered in the third turning of the wheel. So you mentioned earlier, and I always struggle with this, is that you mentioned that no matter what path you're on, let's say, and you have a, you know, you've reached calm abiding and you have a realization of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:01 Highlight the passage at 1:16:01

1:16:29 Right. And I keep hearing this, that like all the schools, it doesn't matter, you get the same perception. Yeah. Then how is it with Mahāyāna tradition, they say like the mind only school doesn't truly get the ultimate nature. I'm not saying, so is emptiness... More based off of dependent arising and phenomenon because it seems like some people got it wrong and some people got it right. Right, right. And that's a huge debate because, you know, according to the Middle Way Consequence School, every aria has the same direct realization of the same emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:17:03 But then you go, well, how could they have that if they're not trained in that? Like if they haven't been taught that. And that's a huge debate between like the Middle Way Consequence School and then the Middle Way Indus. The independent school that says there are different emptinesses or selflessnesses realized by the different, you know, the hearers realize one and the solitary realizers realize something different and the bodhisattvas realize something different and according to the highest school, they all realize the same emptiness, but then it becomes how. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:03 Highlight the passage at 1:17:03

1:17:35 How could that be? You know, somehow their virtue just sort of kicks in, like they're starting to meditate because of their intellectual understanding, the way they've been trained, and then somehow because of their virtue they just kick into the real thing and it's a big debate. Yeah, it's a big debate. Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense to say how can they have the same realization if that's not what's taught in their... Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:17:57 Tenet system, you know, how could they get that realization? So that's one of the things that they spent 20 years shouting at each other on the debate ground about, you know, these hair-splitting arguments. But it is hard to imagine how that could be unless by meditating on selflessness in the school they were taught and then somehow like their virtue just kind of pushes them to that ultimate view. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:57 Highlight the passage at 1:17:57

1:18:21 When they've accumulated enough virtue in that last moment, they actually just sort of transcend the view that they were taught and are able to see the ultimate nature of reality as it's explained, but it's hard to explain. Yeah, Gina. Follow up to Morgan's question. If that's true, then if their virtue pushed them that extra step, wouldn't they relabel themselves if they are having that same direct realization? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:21 Highlight the passage at 1:18:21

1:18:52 See themselves as mindly or autonomy anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it may still be useful to consider themselves that for the student's sake. And that's really interesting because you get into this whole thing of Theravāda, Mahāyāna. Often I think it's very false kind of separation, you know, because if it's beneficial, you'll call yourself a Christian. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:52 Highlight the passage at 1:18:52

1:19:15 And you'll still be having a direct realization of emptiness, you know. So I think it's like that's the difference between what's really going on in terms of the realization and something we call skillful means. Or sometimes, I mean, I have a theory that I tried to investigate when I was in this long retreat. I got writings of mystics of different traditions to try and read between the lines. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:15 Highlight the passage at 1:19:15

1:19:36 Oh, are they really having a direct realization of emptiness? They're really calling it union with God. I mean, there's all these Sufi. Mystic poets sounds really suspicious to me what's going on there. You know and they're using different language and a whole different kind of conceptual framework and maybe they're having the same kind of realization too. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:19:55 Yeah I wonder I've been thinking about this not constantly but periodically since you taught last year on emptiness and that I wonder if we're so limited by language I mean especially English but maybe even in Sanskrit or Tibetan that they are in a way describing similar things but different aspects. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:12 Or different levels of subtlety kind of leading to the same or trying to describe the same phenomena that is so, at least from my perspective, difficult to describe. I totally believe that. And this is just my own personal opinion. It's always important to say this is just my own idea. But, you know, I think the way these different sets... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:12 Highlight the passage at 1:20:12

1:20:32 What originate is the followers of an enlightened being that had a realization and tried to describe it in language that was completely inadequate to the task, took their description really literally and it differed from somebody else's description. Then they decided that they didn't agree and then they were some other lineage and some other... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:32 Highlight the passage at 1:20:32

1:20:52 And I think if you got all the original founders of those lineages together, they wouldn't be arguing at all. But they had to kind of write it down somehow, or like you say, from a different aspect. And then it was taken sort of reified and sort of taken as, oh, but it's really different because they didn't say it exactly the same way. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:52 Highlight the passage at 1:20:52

1:21:12 And I think all those really hair-splitting arguments, I'm just not sure how much is really valid. Analysis and how much is just kind of taking too literally or too solidly a realized being's attempt to describe what happened to them. In a way, that helps me learn because I can say to myself, well, it's okay if I'm not picking up on some of these subtleties or if I see potential contradictions or even similarities in how they're describing it because I say, well, even people that have, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:12 Highlight the passage at 1:21:12

1:21:44 a million years ago devoted their lives to this kind of exploration are seeing, you know, either different paths or kind of conversations that fold over each other. Yeah, exactly. And it's impossible to describe what it's really like to have that realization. So no wonder it creates confusion when anybody even tries. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:03 But I think the more you study, the more you realize, you open up to the potential of... different people in different traditions having. And when you think of past life imprints, I think it's totally possible. Yeah, I don't see, you know, it seems impossible to think it would never happen. Right? Yeah. But that's just my own opinion. I've never heard a Tibetan Lama say anything, but just from my own investigation. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:03 Highlight the passage at 1:22:03

1:22:48 Keith, you had a question. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:22:54 I had it in my mind, I don't know if it's correct, that the first term of the will was not interpretable, and that the second and the third were interpretations. No, that's according to the Vaibashaka in the South Trantaka schools. Okay. That the first is literal. According to the middle way school, the second is definitive and the first and third are interpretable. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:54 Highlight the passage at 1:22:54

1:23:20 According to the mind only school, the third is definitive and the first and second are interpretable. So it depends whose standpoint, you know, where you're standing. Yeah. Okay. Anything else about the different perfections of wisdom? Do we have? Oh. I don't want to keep you guys too late. Let's just get in just for auspiciousness. Let's start the sūtra just a little bit. Now another thing missing from your English translation, in Tibetan they always added an homage. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:20 Highlight the passage at 1:23:20

1:23:57 And this was something added to the original sūtra. So in the Tibetan version, there's a translator's homage that says, I prostrate to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And now this is something that was decreed by one of the Tibetan kings, and it may have been Trisang Detsin, it's possible, when the sutras were first starting to be translated into Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:57 Highlight the passage at 1:23:57

1:24:20 And he said, Let's put an homage before the translation showing which basket of the teachings it belongs to. It's sort of a clue to show you, is it a sūtra teaching, is it a Vinaya teaching, or is it an Abhidharma teaching? We talk about the three baskets of the Buddha's earth, the three collections. The reason it was called baskets is because originally... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:20 Highlight the passage at 1:24:20

1:24:46 When the sutras and when the teachings were first written down, which was several hundred years after the Buddha's time, they were written on these palm leaves. There was no book binding and they were just kept in baskets. So that's why it's called the Three Baskets because people just carried around the collections of these individual palm leaves. And some of them you can see in museums. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:46 Highlight the passage at 1:24:46

1:25:07 It's really amazing, these ancient, ancient, ancient. Usually they've got holes in them, but that's the way that they were carried around because there was no book binding. There wasn't enough extra cloth to wrap them like they do in Tibet. In Tibet there's not book binding, I mean traditionally, but they would wrap everything. But in ancient India they'd just kind of carry them around in these baskets. So that's why we talk about the three baskets. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:07 Highlight the passage at 1:25:07

1:25:32 And if the sūtra that was being translated was from the... Sūtra basket, it would say, I prostrate to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If it was a Vinaya teaching, all the teaching on vowed morality, on ethics, the homage would say, I prostrate to the great omniscient one. So that's the clue saying, hey folks, this is from the Vinaya basket. And if it was Abhidharma or teachings on manifest knowledge, the homage would say, I prostrate to Manjushri. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:26:05 Okay, I prostrate to Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, showing that it was the teachings on manifest knowledge. So it's kind of cool. And the king said, let's do that to just give a little shorthand clue as to which basket it belonged to. So that was in the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:05 Highlight the passage at 1:26:05

1:26:25 So actually in the gold book it says, I prostrate to the Arya Triple Gem. On page 79. Yeah, and that's not, that's interesting because it should be to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not the Arya Triple Jim. So I'm not sure how they, how, where they got that. Yeah, yeah, because according to the commentaries in the original, in the Tibetan it was, you know, I prostrate to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the, for the, yeah, it does say that in this Tibetan version. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:25 Highlight the passage at 1:26:25

1:26:55 But in the other Tibetan versions and in the commentaries they talk about I prostrate to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And the actual sūtra starts with, thus did I hear at one time. Yeah, so I'm not sure where that comes in, but the other commentaries say, I prostrate to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:55 Highlight the passage at 1:26:55

1:27:12 Okay, so thus did I hear at one time. And this will be the last thing we talk about because it's a cool little story. So I'll leave you with a bedtime story. Okay, so thus did I hear at one time. Who's talking? Henny. Yeah, Ananda, okay? The Buddha's attendant for something like over 30 years, who also happened to be his cousin, Ananda. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:12 Highlight the passage at 1:27:12

1:27:36 And Ananda was the one that recited all of the sutras. And there's a cool little story about Ananda. So Ananda was the Buddha's cousin. And the Buddha is kind of a little bit like Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He kept burning through attendance. You know, it's really hard to keep up with an enlightened being. You know, it's really hard to keep up with all their bodhisattva activities. So the Buddha had all these attendants and they weren't that good and they kept, you know, burning out. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:36 Highlight the passage at 1:27:36

1:28:02 And then finally his cousin Ananda, who loved him so much, said, oh, Lord Buddha, can I be your attendant? And Buddha goes, yeah, sure, let's try it out. And Ananda said, I have some conditions, right? So the Buddha's like, okay, like what? And Ananda goes, I want to be there whenever you talk to anybody or teach anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:02 Highlight the passage at 1:28:02

1:28:23 I want to be there. And then the Buddha goes, okay, that's cool. Ananda happened to have perfect recall. So he was there every time for 30 years. Every time the Buddha taught, or every time the Buddha had a conversation with anybody, he was sitting there. Thank God for us. Because otherwise we wouldn't have the sūtra basket. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:23 Highlight the passage at 1:28:23

1:28:46 Because this is something, there was a council after the Buddha's death where they all came together, 500 arhats came together to decide what did the Buddha teach, to kind of compile the teachings of the Buddha. It was a couple of months after his death. Well, even though Ananda was with the Buddha for 30 years, he never became an Arhat during the Buddha's life, right? Everybody else is becoming Arhats right and left. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:46 Highlight the passage at 1:28:46

1:29:12 Shariputra became an Arhat hearing one four stanza verse from one of the Buddha's disciples, not even the Buddha. I mean, you read about these things and you're like, dang, man, I try so hard. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:12 Highlight the passage at 1:29:12

1:29:23 And in the time of the Buddha, it was like Arhats just... Like popcorn popping up, you know, all over the place. Except for poor Ananda, you know, never became an Arhat. And there's this scene when you read the story of the Buddha's life when he was getting ready to pass away and he... Lay down under two sal trees in North India at Kushinagar. It's such a beautiful place. It was one of my favorite. I did this pilgrimage to all the eight places and I just left Kushinagar and you see this sal forest as you're driving through. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:23 Highlight the passage at 1:29:23

1:29:55 The Buddha lay down and he goes, okay, you know, I'm getting ready to pass away. And Ananda just broke down, you know, and there's this thing that he walked over and he's just... Crying, like standing next to this tree, just losing it. And all the other disciples who were all arhats were like, Ananda, like pull yourself together. But he was just, and then the Buddha had to say, oh Ananda, please don't weep, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:55 Highlight the passage at 1:29:55

1:30:17 Impermanence is just the nature of things. But you know, this sort of poignant story of the Buddha's death was showing, oh Ananda wasn't really an arhat yet, he's still completely overcome by grief and sorrow. So then... You know, the Buddha passes away and they decide to have this council. And Mahakashyapa is the senior disciple of the Buddha at this point because the Buddha's two main disciples, Shariputra and Mokdayayana, died before the Buddha did. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:17 Highlight the passage at 1:30:17

1:30:46 You know, which is very sad. The Buddha kept saying, without them here, it just feels empty. You know, because they were just not in that way, in the mundane way. But they passed away before the Buddha. So Mahakashyapa, this one senior monk, was the senior most monastic. And so he said, okay, we're going to have this council. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:31:06 But only arhats are allowed to attend. So Ananda, you know, he's kind of heavy with Ananda. He's like, okay, Ananda, you got to get it together. Like, come on. You know, it's been a long time and you're still not an arhat. What's the problem? So the night before this council, Ananda decides he's going to... Report an error in the passage at 1:31:06 Highlight the passage at 1:31:06

1:31:24 Get liberation tonight. Have we ever had these meditations? I'm going to do it now. So he stays up all night meditating. And he's just completely striving and pushing. And so the sun starts to come up and he hears a cock crow. And then he's just like, oh, it didn't happen. And he completely lets go. And in that minute, he attains liberation. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:24 Highlight the passage at 1:31:24

1:31:48 So to show off that he had detained liberation, he flies into the gathering. They had already convened and Ananda just flies in. And all his friends, can you imagine how happy they are? Like they've known him for his whole life and they're like, go Ananda, you made it. So thank goodness because if it weren't for that, we would only have two baskets instead of three because it was Ananda that recited. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:48 Highlight the passage at 1:31:48

1:32:14 So what happened was... This monk called Upāya recited all the Vinaya teachings and then Mahakasyapa recited all the Abhidharma teachings and then Ananda, because of the deal he made with the Buddha 30 years before, he was able to say, Oh, one time when I was hanging out with the Bhagavan, he had a conversation with so-and-so and he said this, because a lot of the sutras, some of them are teachings to the whole assembly. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:14 Highlight the passage at 1:32:14

1:32:42 A lot of them are just conversations. Some Brahmin comes up and challenges the Buddha, some... You know, Jain comes up and then they have a debate. And a lot of the sutras are just these conversations that the Buddha had with these, you know, opponents that would come up. And Ananda was there because he had that arrangement. So it's extremely cool and he committed everything to memory. So he sat there for however long it took and said, oh yeah, I remember one time I heard this and then another time the Buddha said that and then another time. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:42 Highlight the passage at 1:32:42

1:33:14 So that's what the thus did I hear. So it means he just heard it once, right? It was a real incident that happened that he was there and he heard it. And it also shows he has incredible spiritual powers of recall, complete, perfect, total recall. But back, you know, even now in Tibetan monasteries, In Indian culture they're used to memorizing incredible volumes like the whole of the Vedas and the whole of the Upanishads and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:14 Highlight the passage at 1:33:14

1:33:47 I mean I can barely remember a four line prayer in Tibetan. And they could memorize like vast volumes. So their minds were trained in this, you know, from youth. And even now, a lot of times these Tibetan lamas and Tibetan monks, incredible powers of memorization. So luckily Ananda had that and we have the sūtra basket. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:10 But I think it's really cool. Good old Ananda. He's also the one that really urged the Buddha to start an order of nuns. And so he's our big hero. And I've heard in Chinese Mahāyāna monasteries they have these big celebrations on Ananda Day. Because Ananda was our big advocate. Because the Buddha refused initially to ordain women. And then Ananda went and had a debate with the Buddha and he said, can women get enlightened? The Buddha goes, well sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:10 Highlight the passage at 1:34:10

1:34:38 And then Ananda goes, so... Why deny them the possibility of living the holy life? And he had a debate with the Buddha and the Buddha finally... Sort of agreed. So Ananda is our big hero. And I think it's really sweet that he was with the Buddha for so long and everybody else is becoming an arhat right and left and he just sticks with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:34:58 So it's kind of an example for us. Sometimes we don't feel like much is happening, but then all of a sudden all the causes and conditions come together and boom, liberation. So that's the story of Ananda. Thus did I hear at one time. Okay, so I don't want to keep you too late. It's 8.30 and I want you to be fresh for the morning. Are there any other questions before we adjourn for the evening? Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:25 Okay, so we'll kind of go along like this, explaining every kind of piece of the sūtra, what it means, and really unpacking it and all the different levels of meaning. Oh, I should talk about the schedule a little bit. So tomorrow... We've got two three-hour sessions with the tea break in between. So we've got 9.30 to 12.30, and I'll give you like a 15 or 20-minute break halfway through. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:25 Highlight the passage at 1:35:25

1:35:52 And then, what is it, 2 to 5 in the afternoon. So about an hour and a half for lunch, and you have lunch here. And then Sunday will be the same schedule in the morning, 9.30 to 12.30, and then we finish at 4. So then we'll have an afternoon session from 2 to 4. And we'll probably have a little break in between because it's kind of hard to sit for two hours without a break. So that's going to be the schedule. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:52 Highlight the passage at 1:35:52

1:36:21 And we'll try and do some meditation at least every day a little bit, you know, maybe kind of short sessions. But especially when we get into the main meditation that, you know, Lama Zopa taught me, then we'll definitely stop and do some practice too. Okay? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:21 Highlight the passage at 1:36:21

1:36:42 So the path... Oh, thank you. Carla said, was there anything else about the path or the resultant perfection of wisdom? Thank you so much. I got all caught up in the scriptural. So the path perfection of wisdom refers to the direct realization of emptiness in the mind of a bodhisattva. The direct realization of emptiness in the mind of a bodhisattva. That's the path perfection of wisdom, meaning that wisdom that will take you beyond. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:42 Highlight the passage at 1:36:42

1:37:15 And then the resultant perfection of wisdom is the omniscient mind of a Buddha, right? The omniscient mind of a fully enlightened being. So when we talk about, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:37:15 Highlight the passage at 1:37:15

1:37:29 When we say the wisdom, you know, or paramita, we talk about that being, you know, going beyond or going to the other shore. It both refers to what takes us there and then it refers to gone to the other shore. So it's both going to the other shore, which would be the path and perfection of wisdom, right? So going to enlightenment and resultant enlightenment, gone there, you know, reached there. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:56 So paramita refers both to that which takes you there and then the result of getting there. So this is the result, the omniscient mind of a Buddha and then the path perfection of wisdom is the direct realization of emptiness in the mind of a bodhisattva, right? Because we're talking about the perfection of wisdom. So it wouldn't be the direct realization of emptiness in the mind of somebody heading towards liberation alone. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:56 Highlight the passage at 1:37:56

1:38:23 It's the direct realization of emptiness conjoined with bodhicitta is this one, leading to enlightenment. Yeah, Sandra. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:23 Highlight the passage at 1:38:23

1:38:38 Ananda sounded more like maybe an aria bodhisattva than an arhat. Right, right. And so, like, you know, what was really going on? And this is the way that the story is told that he... And he achieved liberation. And that actually is a story kind of belonging to the Pāli canon. Like a lot of the stories of the life of the Buddha belong to that first turning of the wheel. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38:38

1:39:00 So definitely probably from a Mahāyāna perspective, you know, maybe he would be a bodhisattva. So that's, you know, kind of talking about liberation because the story comes from that, those teachings. But yeah, what was really going on in Ananda's mind? Yeah. Great. Do you have something? Report an error in the passage at 1:39:00 Highlight the passage at 1:39:00

1:39:20 Okay, so let's take a minute just to dedicate the merits. So just thinking about the positive energy, Arya Deva, a great master in his text, The 400 Stanzas, says that even doubting that things exist in the way that they seem, tears saṃsāra to shreds. So even generating a moment of doubt. So starting to study this text that explains the ultimate nature of reality, we've already started to tear saṃsāra to shreds. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:40:01 Let's dedicate the merit that we'll be able to complete our studies, be able to use what we've gained from this class to attain that realization for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40:57 Thank you. So we'll start at 9.30 and try and be on time just because we've got a lot to cover and the more time we have the better. Thank you. I Report an error in the passage at 1:40:57 Highlight the passage at 1:40:57

1:41:16 think so. Go inside. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:16 Highlight the passage at 1:41:16

1:41:23 Oh, it's inside? Yeah. Okay. Oh, I talked to him on the phone. The reporter. Great. All good. Thank you. I never got the article. We're Report an error in the passage at 1:41:23 Highlight the passage at 1:41:23

1:41:47 leaving it all up. We're leaving it all up. Good. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:47 Highlight the passage at 1:41:47