← Tenzin Chogkyi

Meditation for Everyone - Methods for starting or reigniting your meditation practice (2 April 2010)

Tenzin Chogkyi · 2 April 2010 · 1 h 41 min · Tse Chen Ling via Internet Archive

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  • 38:38

    And one is called single-pointed concentration. So the point is to develop that focus. Okay, so develop that ability to focus on an object for hours without wavering. We talk about fixation, clarity and intensity, the three qualities of that single point of concentration. So fixation, clarity, intensity, we'll talk more about that later.

  • 41:22

    And we suffer a lot because of not having a realization of that. So in this meditation we actually check, we analyze, are things impermanent or not? So we check various things, our own body. We check to see, is it changing moment by moment? Seems so solid, seems so static, seems so unchanging.

  • 1:12:52

    And this is the main way that we purify our obstacles and accumulate merit. So the first limb is prostration. And what this means, prostration is one of those weird things. It's a weird Asian custom. We don't do a lot of it, right, in the West. In fact, we don't really do it at all. And it might seem really weird. I come in the room, I bow down, and everybody who's not Asian is like, whoa, what's that?

  • 1:25:59

    Now we're ready for the main meditation. Now, I put a prayer in here, a review meditation. And that's the third kind of meditation that we talk about. A review or glance meditation. And that's a meditation that we do on all of the stages of the path just to remind us. So sometimes we'll do this and sometimes we won't.

  • 1:30:01

    And then we seal it by dedicating the merits. So that's the last thing that we do on page 6. We dedicate the merits and we say, due to the merits of all that I've done, this whole meditation with all those preliminaries, may I quickly attain the state of the Guru Buddha. May I... Become that being that I've just visualized myself becoming. We did it in our imagination and we liberated all beings.

0:01 recorded. I just want a couple of guidelines. Welcome very much to the Center for this. I know some of you, this might be your first weekend workshop with us. And we are really, really excited. She's a good friend of mine, but she's also just a great teacher. A couple of guidelines. We record and then we upload it to a website so you can listen to it later. Report an error

0:23 But that's why we get kind of fascist around everybody trying to talk into the mic. So if people can talk into the mic when they ask a question, it makes it a lot easier when you listen at home to find out what the question is that the person is asking, especially during the Q &A. It's not so important during the check-in. She often does a check-in. We don't necessarily have to record your life. But when you're asking a question, it's useful. Report an error

0:50 So just wait and the mic will make its way back to you. And if you guys could all help me also do that, that would be great. Tomorrow lunch is included. For those of you that are coming for the whole weekend, we will have lunch. So what will happen is we'll break and then it will probably just be a little bit of lag time for those of us who are also attending to run back and get it all out. Report an error

1:14 But there will be a nice vegetarian lunch that will be here tomorrow. And I will probably just make... Announcements through the weekend of upcoming stuff that might be of interest to you. Tenzin Chogky, a little bit about her, since I haven't heard her foot on the stair yet. Report an error

1:32 She has spent probably, I would say at least seven or eight years in retreat, all told. She did a three-year retreat altogether, and then she, right after that ended, went down and did another like four and a half years. down at Shunae Land. And then she was one of the resident teachers at Landa Medicine Buddha. And then she now is the resident teacher at Vajrapani, a couple of hours south of us in San Francisco. Report an error

2:06 But then half the year, so when it's winter here, she goes and is the resident teacher at Vajrayana Institute in New Zealand. So she is rarely without anything to do. And then last time she was here, we asked her if we could just, every time she was in town, if we could just get her for a few weekends, and she agreed. So we just warmly welcome her back. Report an error

2:28 We haven't seen her since last year, and we welcome you guys to such a link. If you have any questions during the weekend, I'm going to be around all weekend attending. There are a few of us that know. Carla probably knows, and so with her hand raised. Anna's been around a long time, and even though she's not on duty this weekend, she might know the answer to your question. Report an error

2:50 I think Kara's not attending the weekend, the woman on the desk, but tonight she can answer your question. Katya. Katya. There she is. Katya is doing work study all weekend and so she also has been around a while. She can answer questions. And also, both Karla and Katya, do you guys know how to use the pedigree machine and things like that? Report an error

3:12 Okay. So maybe you show her your first. So if people have bookstore items that they want to get or whatever, find Karla first and then eventually I think it'll be Katya during the weekend. And Sandra knows. Sandra is also going to be around all weekend now, in the chair in the back, and she also knows that. So anyway, I'll just go and find it. Report an error

3:42 Isn't that something? And we've been friends for 30 years. I know, I got mine first. I'm Lo-Song-Chu-Ki, so it's like chuh, like fleur, like fleur-de-li. there a difference in the pronunciation Motsenberg and Report an error

3:55 And she's Tenzin Chogkyi, you know, and it's a totally different word. The key is the same, joy, but hers is supreme joy or supreme bliss, and mine is dharma joy. So, similar, but not really. I know, isn't that funny? Good question. Good ears. Report an error

· · ·

12:20 This class is going to be really different, hopefully very practical. that aren't so hard to grasp intellectually, but hopefully something that we can actually put into practice that will enhance realizations of all those mind-blowing concepts, right? Because in order to really get it, when we do things like study the heart suture, which I think we did a lot of times that I was here. Report an error

12:45 The part of really getting it is being able to meditate But a lot of times people have no idea what to do when they sit down on their cushion. Like, how do I make that transition from, know, the theory to actually meditation? So that's what we're going to talk about Report an error

13:07 so hard to understand. Hopefully, it'll be quite a lot. So we're going to Report an error

13:19 talk about different types of meditation, how to set up a daily practice, some of the obstacles that we might face. in our meditation and antidotes to those obstacles. going to talk about preliminary practices that we can do in the way to actually set up meditation session. And then if we have time, we'll talk a little bit about Some qualities of a good place to do, for example, a longer term retreat. Even a weekend all the way through years. Report an error

14:08 Same kind of qualities that you look for. Because it's really nice at a certain point, you know, there's a certain amount that we can do and we should do with our daily meditation practice, but there's also, it's also really nice, you know, from time to time to take some time to just devote, to your practice. And it's quite amazing, even if you can just take a weekend or a week is great. Once or twice a year, if at all longer possible. Report an error

14:41 you find if you can just kind of get away from your daily routine and just devote yourself to practice for even, you know, a brief amount of time, even a long weekend is, you know, amazing. So what are some of the conditions that you set up for that? So we're going to try to cover all of this. We'll see about some of the last bits we might have to rush through a little bit in the discussion this Report an error

15:10 weekend. And actually we'll start with talking about what meditation is and what it isn't. It's always good to talk about what we're not going to be covering to make that clear before we get into the subject of meditation. So that's our little agenda. There are a lot of old friends in the room, but there's some new friends too. And as you know, those of you who've been with me before, I like to go around. Report an error

15:34 And start by having everybody just introduce themselves and especially just say whether you're a brand new meditator, whether you're more experienced, what your experience is with meditation. And we'll go around and see who everybody is, starting with, what's your name? Report an error

16:01 So I've been around for a while, but my... Cheek! Report an error

16:05 My meditation practice needs a little kick in the pants. So I'm here for the whole weekend because I need that kick in the pants. I'm really happy to be able to attend this time. Instead of cooking lunch. Well, I'll still probably be cooking a little bit. Report an error

16:28 Because I have a lot of distractions and I need to learn how to do it correctly. I'm very happy to be here. My Report an error

16:43 name is Jordan. I'm totally new to meditation. Report an error

16:52 before and I've been told that basically background is more in violin. Report an error

17:00 um, a few more of Report an error

17:06 never been willing to the learning or meditation part of it. Report an error

17:14 I'm Roger and this is my first time brand new to meditation. I want to learn more about Buddhism as well as meditation and practices and processes. Report an error

17:32 I'm Jen. what it's been out of it. Report an error

17:33 And I'm relatively engaged in meditation, so I've had a little bit of instruction, but I don't want much. Report an error

17:44 And we need to go back into my daily practice, so let's do things for refreshing your life. I'll be in my best class. Report an error

17:59 My name is Sandra. I'm not moved to meditation, but I think I've been going wrong, so I'm going to do it that way. Report an error

18:12 I'm not new to meditation, I've been doing it for a while, but I thought this was a great opportunity to not just do self-meditation, and to maybe, if possible, take a few days to have a morning retreat. Report an error

18:33 Hi, my name's Ian, I'm fairly new to meditation, but I've already experienced some benefits from the Lama Tsongkhapa offering classes here. And I'm looking to commit to my own practice and looking to get a good start this weekend. Report an error

18:55 Hi, my name is Jocelyn and I'm just here for this evening. And I have been practicing for a long time. But I'm really looking forward to hearing teachings and looking forward to learning. Report an error

19:22 My name is Donna, and I knew Petra many years ago. I'm very excited. Well, I used to be Petra, which is a long time ago. Report an error

19:33 And I do need that gentleman but swift kick in the pants to reignite my practice for the whole weekend. I'm here to assist anybody, and if there's anything I can do, get help. I'm Report an error

19:56 Ben, and I... I was so inspired by the Heart Sūtra teachings, and I've heard a lot of meditation instructions from a lot of different teachers and lineages, and I trust your teachings, so I wanted to hear what, and I also can't hear all weekend, but I just wanted to come. Report an error

20:29 I'm Katya and I'm here in the last retreat with Lama Heart Sūtra and I have come to drop-in meditation since July but have tried and failed to start failing my vision practice several times and was very either distracted or were sleepy or just so I wanted to figure out how to do it. The details you might have seen from that one. Report an error

20:59 I'm Report an error

21:05 Sarah, and I've been there for a little while, but I've never heard your instructions, so I'm looking forward to talking. Report an error

21:19 I'm Anna, and I've been coming to Si Chin Lin for about maybe four years right now, and it's been really wonderful for me, and I want to thank everyone who's supported the centers all the years before I came, because they were, you know, keeping it up just for... I guess for me to come someday in Germany. I'm very grateful. And I'm very happy that you're here because all of my teachings, all of the teachings that I've taken from you have been a great benefit for me, so I'm looking forward to this. Report an error

21:53 Basically, I'm just so lazy in terms of meditating and doing it and getting it right, but I'm just so surprised at how my mind oftentimes is just so out of my control. you know, and I realized, wow, this is a real challenge, you know, and yeah, I just realized I just, I must be like The Report an error

22:22 first thing to determine really is what's the benefit of meditation? Why do we meditate in the first place? What's the point of meditation? So what do you think? Why do we bother? Report an error

22:40 Okay, what do you, oh, sorry. As I was just saying, it just seems that our minds are so out of control and of course all the things that come with it, like the anger that we have, the attachments that we have, basically they're all just thoughts. Report an error

23:05 But our minds are so powerful and controlling one's mind. And, you know... Report an error

23:12 It's just so important to be able to do it. So to get control over the mind, so that the mind is in control of us, but we're controlling the mind, or that delusions aren't controlling us, so those disturbing emotions don't just take charge, but we're actually going to do it. What else? Here's some of the other reasons that we meditate. Maybe too Report an error

23:47 technical, but there's increasing research showing that. There are amazing changes in the brain. They've studied with fMRI for meditation. A researcher, Davidson, Report an error

24:02 has done a whole bunch of studies in which he's looked at long-time meditators and Llamas, and they've actually shown that part of the brain that is more active, where people are feeling good, is actually more present. in these all-time meditators than in a normal sample. So, to add to that, more and more psychologists and clinicians, practitioners, are bringing meditation into the work they're doing because the results are so impressive. Report an error

24:39 So, in terms of just more of a subjective feeling of peacefulness? or a good that the left part of the brain is like... It's more active in people who are quite positive and I'm always too That's just personal. Report an error

25:03 I think it's also an opportunity to absorb the teachings that happen in life and events that happen as classes sit there. Report an error

25:17 and try to understand what they mean, what certain life events are. Okay, so to kind of process and become aware of what's actually going on in our lives, get some meaning out of it. Yes, an opportunity could be seen just as safe to a deeper place, the process then. Yeah, okay, good. Report an error

25:41 So learn how to focus your mind so that you can focus it on things that you would like. What kind of things might this be? Just a plan. 15 minutes. Report an error

26:02 Okay. Or any other, like, analytical, any other, you know, state-learning meditations that allow you to do analytical meditations that increase positive. His promotion's done in the wrong way. like them. Report an error

26:16 Okay, okay. So good. Yeah, Lama. I believe that the meditation is helping us to open not only our minds, our hearts to live more in peace with everybody. Like the idea would be to live like a bodhicitta, you know, to bring our love and understanding not only here. your, my heart's, okay, good, good, good about this part of food, else? Report an error

26:59 Great, all good answers. So we've talked about developing focus, being able to control the mind and get some kind of control over those disturbing emotions. We've talked about developing concentration. For the purpose of gaining the realizations of the path. And then we talked about being able to develop certain qualities that we're looking to develop, these qualities like loving kindness and compassion. Report an error

27:33 And these are all the goals of meditation. You know, we talk about meditation in terms of these goals, developing qualities that we feel that we don't have completely developed. And so in the Tibetan tradition especially, and for those of you that might have practiced in other traditions and been new to the Tibetan tradition, one of the things that attracted me initially to the Tibetan tradition was all the practices that had to do with developing love and compassion. Report an error

28:01 Instead of just kind of sitting there going, oh, I wish I were more loving. Wow, wouldn't it be nice to be like Mother Teresa? But hey, I guess I missed out this life because I'm selfish and self-absorbed and all this stuff. There's actually techniques For developing these qualities that we're looking to develop, right? So we'll look at some of those techniques, we'll practice some of those techniques, which is extremely promising. Report an error

28:24 It's not like you're either born Mother Teresa or you're hopeless. Thank God, or somebody. You know, thank goodness that there's actual techniques for developing some of these qualities. There are techniques, like Anna said, of subduing an out of control, disturbed mind. Right? Which kind of relates a little bit to what Ian was saying. Analysis of the situations in your life to try and get some kind of insight. Report an error

28:51 We have a lot of meditations that have to do with dealing with these disturbing emotions. And our approach in Buddhism to these disturbing emotions or disturbing situations in our life that might lead to some kind of disturbing emotion is neither repression, like suppressing, The negative emotion, nor is it acting it out. Some schools of Western psychology, they're like, no, if you feel a strong emotion, let it out, or else you're going to get cancer and heart attacks. Report an error

29:23 You know, you have to explode with anger, and if you don't, you're suppressing it and you're going to get cancer. And Buddhism says, uh, no. You know, it's not like that. Those aren't the two choices. And Buddhism, our approach is awareness and transformation. We become very aware of what it is that's going on in our life. And sitting with it is a great way to become aware. Report an error

29:47 Especially, I advise people to sit when they're feeling a disturbing emotion. They have some incident in their life, they're feeling like it's triggering of some emotion. Sit and try and become aware of what's happening. And then that's where we can apply our knowledge of Buddhism to transform. Report an error

30:06 So that's another thing that we do in meditation. And then ultimately meditation is for getting an insight into the ultimate nature of reality or emptiness, which is what Katya was talking about. Buddhism says reality does not exist the way it appears. The way we're perceiving everything is an illusion. Report an error

30:30 It doesn't exist in that way. It exists in a different way. So the kind of, in a way, the final goal of meditation or maybe the deepest goal or the deepest transformation comes from being able to actually see reality the way it really exists, which cuts through all of that false view of reality that's what gives rise to those disturbing emotions. Report an error

30:56 It's what gives rise to all of our suffering. So being able to see in that very, very deep level. The ultimate nature of reality. So we say that that cuts saṃsāra at the root, an antidote to that root ignorance that's the real troublemaker that gives rise to all of our disturbing emotions, gives rise to all of our suffering. Report an error

31:23 That's a long story. We've been there, haven't we? So we won't go there this time. But that's really one of the goals of meditation. And we can only actually have those realizations, whether it's the realization of emptiness or other aspects of reality, things like impermanence. Especially for the ultimate nature of reality, we have to have developed perfect single point of concentration. That realization is so elusive that we need this sort of laser beam, our mind trained to that level. Report an error

31:58 A perfect single point of concentration. And the texts talk about being able to meditate on an object of our choosing without wavering, without the slightest distraction and with focus and intensity and clarity for, oh, say four hours at a time in one sitting. Can you imagine? You know, anybody, if you try to sit and meditate on your breath for like 15 minutes. Report an error

32:26 How often does your mind wander and you get distracted? One technique we use is counting the breaths and we count in these cycles of one to ten as a way to focus our mind. A lot of people in the beginning can't get past two. They can't even get to one. Fifteen minutes later, they're wondering, why are they sitting on the floor cross-legged? You know, their mind went off to some fantasy about who knows well, and then, what am I doing to the, oh, right, I'm supposed to be. Report an error

32:56 So can you imagine four hours without wavering, with clarity at mind, with the same intensity as you read the seventh Harry Potter novel, or with the same intensity that I read the seventh Harry Potter novel. Report an error

33:12 Right? On something as stupid as the breath. Wow. That's a focus mind. That's amazing. So, that's our goal too. But we only use that focus mind as a tool to actually get those realizations of the past. Can you imagine if you meditated on loving kindness with that kind of focus? Whoa. Well, gee, you turn into the Dalai Lama. Wouldn't that be cool? You know, we've seen... Report an error

33:39 The result of people with that kind of focus and that kind of mind. So really I think one of the things, and we'll talk more about what inspires us to practice, but when you see these beings, like Lynn was talking about these studies that they've done. On these highly developed meditators, and even if you haven't shoved them into an MRI, all you need to do is be around His Holiness in Lama Zopa Rinpoche and you know something's going on. Report an error

34:08 You don't really know their left frontal lobe is saturated with electromagnetic activity, but you can, something's happening, right? So I think that that's what inspires us. Wow, if through practice you can actually have a mind and a heart like that, wow, I want to do it. So these are the goals of meditation. Has anybody ever heard, or maybe you might have thought, that the goal of meditation is to become calm and peaceful? Report an error

34:40 Or to have 45 minutes respite from your crazy life every morning. 45 minutes of calm before the storm and the chaos and making the kids lunches and taking them to school. And has anybody heard, maybe you might have heard that the goal of meditation is to empty your mind of thoughts. Has anybody heard this? Report an error

35:05 This is not a goal of meditation, to empty your mind of thoughts. Because then as the Tibetan Lamas scathingly say, being in a coma would be great. That would be the goal of meditation. Or being a dog asleep on the floor that's not dreaming about the rabbits, right? That would be the goal of just like blank, to somehow blank your mind. Report an error

35:31 Okay, so that's not the goal of meditation. And there was a big debate in Tibet in What was it, the 9th century, called the Great Samye Debate. And they debated this idea that the goal of meditation was to empty your mind of thought. And so they invited this great Indian master named Kamala Sheila to debate this Chinese master called Hua Shang, Hua Shang Mahāyāna. Report an error

36:00 So they had a debate between, you know, Using conceptual thought to gain these realizations versus the goal of meditation being emptying your mind of thought. Kamalashila won. And so that's the style of meditation that's been done in Tibet since then. And it's said that there was a misunderstanding. They gave rise to this idea that the goal of meditation is to empty your mind of thoughts. And I think it's interesting enough to mention, because we sometimes hear this rumor. Report an error

36:32 I have new students ask me that all the time. How come you're filling my mind with concepts? I thought the idea of meditation was to empty my mind of thoughts. And you've got the flip chart and the words and the thing. I thought I was supposed to go blank. And you're just giving me a whole bunch of other ideas. Report an error

36:52 So I think it's worth mentioning, having the direct realization of the ultimate nature of reality, seeing emptiness directly is what we call it, is a non-conceptual state of mind. So in that absorption on the ultimate nature of reality, there's no subject and object awareness, there's no thoughts, right? Report an error

37:17 It's just an actual direct perception. So because that's a non-conceptual state of mind, there was an idea that if you got somehow a mind free of concepts, you'd have that realization. So that's where that wrong idea came from. But not every non-conceptual mental state is a direct realization. So the way to get about it isn't somehow erasing your mind of thoughts. Report an error

37:44 The way to go about it is using... Concepts and a rational thought process to try to get to that realization. Then when you're in that realization, it's non-conceptual. So that's how that wrong idea about meditation came up. Trying to kind of get at it through the back door. Oh, if it can somehow free my mind of thoughts, then that's a direct realization of the ultimate nature of reality. Report an error

38:12 But it's not, actually. But that's how that wrong idea came up. So if you hear anybody say that is the goal of Buddhist meditation, you know, whatever, leave it alone. But that's not what you're going to hear from me, and that's not what we're going to be practicing this weekend. So we're going to talk about three main types of meditation that we practice in the Tibetan tradition. Report an error

38:38 And one is called single-pointed concentration. So the point is to develop that focus. Okay, so develop that ability to focus on an object for hours without wavering. We talk about fixation, clarity and intensity, the three qualities of that single point of concentration. So fixation, clarity, intensity, we'll talk more about that later. Report an error

39:07 So we choose an object. One object that we're going to be experimenting with a little bit is the breath. It's done in all Buddhist traditions, universal, to do awareness of the breath as an object. And in our tradition we use it as the focus of our single point of concentration. Another object that we use a lot is a visualized image of an enlightened being. For example, Shakyamuni Buddha and the way he appears right up here. Report an error

39:41 A visualized image of the Buddha in front, and we're going to be experimenting with this too. So we visualize him in this space in front, but you're not staring at a picture of him or staring at a statue. It's an image in your mind's eye, right? So just like if you close your eyes right now, you can have a visualized image of the room and everybody that's in the room. Report an error

40:05 It may not be, you know, a lot of detail, but you know where everybody is spatially. You can probably visualize me, the Buddha, the other throne, right like that. So in your mind's eye you have that visualization. So that's a preferred object in the Tibetan tradition because then you're focusing on some kind of a virtuous object. It's not just something neutral like the breath. Report an error

40:31 You're actually focusing on an enlightened being so you get the extra positive imprints from that. And then there are other objects that you can use. also. But those are two of the ones that are the most common, the breath and the visualized We also are going to be experimenting with one of the other major types of meditation, which is called analytical meditation. Report an error

40:58 And in this kind of meditation we use our logical mind, we use thought process to come to some kind of conclusion. One that we're going to be doing, I think we'll do it tomorrow morning, first thing, is a meditation on impermanence. Buddhism says that impermanence is characteristic of reality. And we suffer a lot because of not having a realization of that. So in this meditation we actually check, we analyze, are things impermanent or not? Report an error

41:35 So we check various things, our own body. We check to see, is it changing moment by moment? Seems so solid, seems so static, seems so unchanging. But actually, and we'll investigate, and we'll do this tomorrow morning. We'll think, wow, but actually I'm breathing every moment, new air going into my lungs, circulating the blood, circulating through my body. Report an error

42:01 We'll go to cellular and cellular levels. Just checking and really investigating. The cellular level, cells being born, dying, you know, molecular level, atomic level, subatomic level, constant transformation. And then we'll look at the things around us, even something like this table that seems so solid, permanent, right? Report an error

42:28 Molecules just whizzing around, you know, all of this motion changing, disintegrating moment by moment by moment. So by doing this meditation repeatedly, our solid fixation to things existing in a permanent way, which is a false appearance, they don't, which causes us a lot of suffering, doesn't it? We kind of think things are going to last forever, and then when they fall apart, we're shocked, right? We kind of think, there's a kind of a graph that goes like this, I'll just draw it in midair. Report an error

43:04 Things come into existence, and then it seems like they stay completely static for a certain period of time, and then they go out of existence. And if you're an American, you think this is your fault, right? This part right here. But as it is, things are changing moment by moment by moment. Something like a flower. It seems like there's a bud, and then the plant sprouts or whatever. Report an error

43:33 It is, and then the bud comes up, and then boom, flower. And then it seems like the flower lasts for a certain amount of time, and then it goes out of existence. But the flower was decaying moment by moment by moment. It's just, we can only see gross impermanence, but all of that continuum of subtle impermanence adds up to gross impermanence that we can perceive. Report an error

44:00 So we meditate on this. It's easy enough to understand intellectually, but that doesn't really change your visceral reaction when the things that you love change. But the more we meditate, then we actually get a realization of that. That becomes our default way of thinking about reality. And the more we meditate and gain that realization, which only happens through meditation, then we'll suffer less. Report an error

44:30 Which happens to be the goal of Buddhism, because things change and you don't freak out the way you do when you think that it's like this and then this part's a disaster. Oh, why did this happen? It shouldn't be like that. It's all wrong. Well, come on, it's reality. It's just the way things are. So it's heartfelt, only through meditation. Report an error

44:58 Only through meditation. I always say it goes from, you know, below the neck. There was this Buddhist scholar once, I was telling this story because I loved the way he was describing this. And he was one of these people that translates these texts, you know, from Sanskrit and Tibetan and Pāli. And he sits around doing these translations all day long. Report an error

45:15 And he was talking about reading some sūtra. And he said, you know, today I was translating the Avatamsaka Sūtra and suddenly something went below the neck. But he got it, you know, like what, he was just, it was all up here and then boom, wow. And that like, that thing only happens on the meditation cushion. Report an error

45:41 It happens rarely other times, but it happens a lot more frequently on the meditation cushion. Because frankly, none of this stuff about Buddhism, even emptiness, isn't that hard to understand intellectually. wow. Report an error

45:54 But for it to become a life-changing realization, it needs to go below the net. And that's the point of our analytical meditation. Another sort of a related word in Tibetan for meditation, it comes from the same root as the word habituation. Getting used to a different way of seeing things. So that that becomes your default way of seeing things. And this takes hours and hours and hours on the meditation cushion. Report an error

46:22 I find Western people, you know, we have such a cerebral way of sort of, you know, there was this Cartesian mind-body split thing that happened a couple of hundred years ago. And it's like, we think that if we understand things intellectually that we've got it. Because that's the way our education system works. Report an error

46:43 We just are sort of divorced from experience. You know, it's all cerebral. It's all kind of in our head. So part of meditation practice is really getting a deep kind of in the body realization. But then that's transformative. So I always tell people, if you don't want your life to change, you want to just go about your business the way that you always have been, God forbid, don't sit down on the meditation machine. Report an error

47:15 Right? Like if you really kind of want it's all capacetic and you just want it to stay the same, Please avoid meditation because it could change your life. I'm here to prove it to you. I wasn't always bald and dressed like a marshal. This is a direct result of a lot of meditation. So don't blame me. I'm giving you warning Friday night at 8 o 'clock. You can leave right now, no questions asked. Because it will and it can and it should change your life. Report an error

47:47 Those kind of things. Realization should happen and they will change your life. And it ain't always comfortable. So I'm warning you right now. You're free to leave. Okay, I'll close my eyes. And that's the point of meditation. That's the point of meditation. Because it's not just an intellectual thing. Report an error

48:07 The Buddha was really interested in us suffering less. That was the only thing he was interested in. And it's the only thing that he taught. All right. Report an error

48:16 And if our meditation practice doesn't go below the neck, we're never going to suffer less. It's just going to be some intellectual trip, right? It's going to be no different from a Buddhist scholar studying at some university who never practices and it's just all a bunch of words. And that wasn't why the Buddha taught what he taught, right? He spent 45 years walking around barefoot in like one of the hottest, most inhospitable parts of the planet so that we would suffer less. Report an error

48:45 And I think we have to respect that and do our best to try. So that's my little rap about the purpose of meditation. Any questions? If you dare. Just kidding. Questions to clarify. Oops, any of what I've said. Report an error

49:06 talk to a stick. No, microphone. The, the default to, I actually wrote habitual and scratched it out and put primary, but I think I was right in the first place. It means to become habitual. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Report an error

49:27 Do we see things as permanent habitually and then we panic or we freak out or we think something's wrong when they change or do we expect it? and to recognize, yeah. Somebody was asking me last weekend at Vondropani Institute, we did a weekend course on the four immeasurables, which was really beautiful. Report an error

49:50 We did a lot of practice. It was really just all, you know, getting deeply into love, compassion, rejoicing. And a woman we were talking about, how did it come up? We were talking about wisdom and compassion being conjoined, you know, and how your practices have to be balanced with wisdom. Report an error

50:10 Seeing reality the way it really is. And she said, she was a new student, and she said, so how does that help me when my father dies and I feel a lot of grief, for example. And that was her example. She goes, how does wisdom about the nature of reality help me? And I said, of course you're going to feel grief. Report an error

50:31 Of course you're going to feel lost. Buddhism isn't saying don't feel grief and loss. But then there's this extra thing. It's unfair. It shouldn't have happened. Why did it happen? Right? There's this thing that we have because we've never really examined it. Somehow we think that it's a mistake when someone dies and it shouldn't happen and why did this happen to me and it's also unfair. It adds such an extra level onto the grief if we don't realize that it's just a natural process. Report an error

51:03 Everyone has to die. Right? And there's some acceptance of that. Even though, of course, you feel the loss of that person, you feel the grief and the absence of that person in your life, but then there isn't that extra thing of shock. Why did it happen? It shouldn't have happened. So that's kind of the point of seeing, and if you have a realization, for example, of impermanence, there's more of an acceptance of the vicissitudes of life, right? Report an error

51:33 That the good stuff isn't going to last forever. The bad stuff isn't either. There's a flip side to it that's quite nice. Especially when you're stuck in that depression because of the way that your life is going and it doesn't feel like it's ever going to change and oh my god, that's going to change too. Report an error

51:51 It's all going to change. And getting used to that and really habituated to that, for me, the little bit of experience I have helps me roll with the punches. There's ups and downs. I don't expect anything different from psychic existence. That's its nature. And so you're able to just be more flexible and bounce back. Report an error

52:13 So that habituation that only happens when your rear end is in direct contact with the meditation cushion, that's when that habituation happens. Report an error

52:29 Try to be the microphone please. I've been having a struggle, I really think about impermanence and I don't want to have a limitation that I keep having a problem with really accepting reincarnation because it seems like it's an effort to outrun impermanence in a sense. If a beloved llama dies, then everyone is waiting for reincarnated llama. Report an error

52:58 It's as if that Lama will continue. Right. So I'm struggling with that. Well, that's a really wrong view, right? What goes from life to life to life is so unbelievably subtle. I have a friend who's a Tibetan nun, and we were actually talking about Lama Osal. We can't call Lama Osal anymore. We have to call Lama Osal. Anyway, I was calling Lama Osal. Anyway, we're talking about him, you know. Report an error

53:22 And she was going, you Westerners. Like she's a Tibetan nun, you know, grew up in Kathmandu in this exile family. Actually her father and Lama Yeshi were like best friends and so she grew up around. She goes, you Westerners think that it's this whole thing that's like their personality and everything just kind of get shoved into the new little kid's body and you're waiting for him to just be Lama Yeshi in this little kid's body. Report an error

53:49 And she goes, It's not like that at all. You know, I think we're brainwashed by our Judeo-Christian idea that it's like the soul. Like Casper the Ghost rises up and is shoved into the new little kid's body and then we're like waiting. And it's so much more subtle than that. So I think it's a wrong view when people have that. Like they're waiting for the new one to be just like the old one and treat them just like the old one. Report an error

54:14 You know, just wait around for that to happen. You're going to be waiting for a long time, don't hold your breath. I think it's the wrong view. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jordan, right? Yes. In a recent conversation with the member Choggyi as well, I just brought it up, like, I had problems with the Toku system as well. Report an error

54:40 It's kind of like, to me, it's not like an exact science. I mean, you go through the different steps to find out if it's a reincarnation of someone. So it's something that I need to, I guess, understand a little bit more. But talking about reality, it just seems like in terms of meditation, for someone who's living in, for lack of a better term, the real world and stuff like that, obviously it's... Report an error

55:16 Much more difficult, like Buddha had to leave his own family to achieve what he wanted. Is it kind of easier to do it in a monastic kind of, you know, as opposed to, because I can't imagine like even through meditation and stuff like that, there's so much going on, attachment to family and everything that's going on. Report an error

55:41 I guess it takes discipline, but hopefully during this weekend I can find out a little bit more, how that can be achieved in a sense, because to me it's so far reached there. Report an error

55:56 The monastic life, the way it was set up by Lord Buddha, was sort of the perfect, really easy way to devote yourself to a spiritual life. You cut out a lot of distractions. It was a way to kind of focus your life in a certain way. Western monastics, living in the West, live all kinds of ways. And we don't live very different from lame people a lot of the times. Sometimes we work a lot harder. You talk about having a 9-to-5 job. Report an error

56:28 God, if it were only a 9-to-5. 24-7, 365. Anyway, so I don't think it's so much. I mean, yes. Living in the vows is a certain kind of simplicity and simplifies your life. But in the West, it's not like we live in contemplative communities. We're out there too. Out there at even more of a level often than lay people are. I can't walk down the street anonymous. I have every schizophrenic street person come up and one interact with me. Report an error

56:59 So it's quite intense actually being a monastic in the West. I think the thing it needs, whether you're a quote-unquote householder or a monastic, It's just about effort and focus and it needs effort in daily life. You really need a daily, you know, to make progress and get the realizations I'm talking about. Report an error

57:20 I think it needs definitely effort in daily life. I think it does need periodic parts of going away into a retreat. I'm not talking years, you know, just... Weekends or one week, twice a year, something like that where you actually go up and deepen your practice. I've heard really being able to progress in your meditation likened to the effort that it takes to learn how to play a musical instrument really well. Report an error

57:50 That's doable. It just takes a shift of priority. The time sitting in front of the television has to reduce, it just has to, folks. You know, certain other things, it's about finding balance, but I don't think it's sort of like saying only monastics can really progress and then for lay people we might as well forget about it. Report an error

58:12 But it definitely is a shift of priorities. I have a student who's a professional musician and he had this great analogy because he plays in an orchestra and he has to practice. A lot, every day. And that's his priority. He's married, you know, he's leaving his wife and he has his life, but that's a big priority for him is his practice. Report an error

58:33 And he was talking once, he plays the bass, the big kind, you know, not this kind, but that kind. And he was talking about coming to Bajrapani for a weekend course, and he was saying, it's really a dilemma, because if I come for a weekend retreat at Bajrapani, what do I do? Because he goes, if I don't play for one day, I can tell the difference. If I don't play for two days, the person sitting next to me in the orchestra can tell the difference. If I don't play for three days, the conductor can tell the difference. Report an error

59:03 And if I don't play for four days, the audience can tell the difference. And I think it's the same with our meditation practice. We don't meditate one day, we can tell the difference. We don't meditate for two days, our spouse can tell the difference. Three days, our co-workers can tell the difference. Report an error

59:20 So it's like that. And I think it's the same amount of effort and just a shift of priorities. Because think about all the time we wasted on stupid things. And if we really understand the importance of meditation, there's no reason that we can't progress well, even as, you know, life as a householder. Report an error

59:40 It just means cutting out some of those other things. The Tibetan lambs are always, people always say, oh, I don't have time to meditate. They're like, You watch the 6 o 'clock news. Do you really have to stay up and watch the 11 o 'clock news? Do you really think that anything happened between 6 and 11? Go to bed earlier and wake up early and do it in the morning before things get really busy. Report an error

1:00:03 I mean, there's ways that we can shift things in our life. Yeah, good question. Anything else? Report an error

1:00:18 Now, one of the things that makes a meditation session go really well... is preparation. So that's what I wanted to talk about in the time that we have left tonight. I'm not going to keep it too late because everybody's going to have a heartbeat. So we're going to talk about preparation and for that let's look at the structure of our meditation sessions that we're going to be doing. Report an error

1:00:51 This weekend, and this is also a great structure for those of you that are interested in developing a personal practice. This is a great structure for your practice. Report an error

1:01:09 And we talk about preliminary to our main meditation session, and we'll talk about these right now. And the reason that we do this... We do a lot of preliminary practices before we do our main meditation sessions. And the reason that we do that is to get our mind ready for the main practice. And the analogy that's always given is, if you're going to plant the community garden in a vacant lot in the city, do you go out there and on top of the broken glass and the rocks and the weeds, do you throw your broccoli seeds? Report an error

1:01:46 No. What's going to happen? Nothing. You go in there and you clean up the broken glass and the rocks and you take out all the weeds. And then you build up the soil, don't you? You add the compost and you add the fertilizer and you build up the soil. And then if you plant your seeds, something's going to happen. And it's the same way with our minds. Report an error

1:02:10 And so we talk about purification and accumulation of mass. Purification is... Purifying negativities, purifying obstacles, purifying hindrances to our meditation and then accumulating merit, which means accumulating positive potential, positive spiritual energy, that then when we actually do our meditation, the realizations will come. Report an error

1:02:38 And so these preliminary practices that we do before our main meditation session are a way of doing that, of setting ourselves up, getting all of the right conditions together, that then when we launch into our main practice, whether it's breath awareness, whether it's visualizing the Buddha in front, whether it's an analytical meditation on impermanence, whether it's one of the practices to develop compassion, whatever it may be. Report an error

1:03:07 We'll have some success because our mind is ready. Just like that field has been prepared for the planting of the seeds, our mind in the same way has been prepared for the meditation to actually take root. So that's why we do these preliminary practices. So this that I've handed out to you is a shorter version. There's a longer version in the gold FPMT prayer book, that volume one of the prayer book. Report an error

1:03:34 It's called Daily Shakyamuni Buddha Meditation Practice. That's a longer version and what I've done is take the essence of it here and reproduce it in this little booklet. That version is really nice to look at and I encourage you at some point, in fact we'll put the paragraph books out tomorrow and I'll tell you what page it's on to look through that more elaborate version. Report an error

1:03:58 It's got... An elaborate motivation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, some things to be thinking about throughout, but this is kind of the essence of that daily practice. So we start our practice by visualizing Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, sitting in the space in front, about two meters in front, in midair, on this beautiful golden throne, looking exactly like this. Report an error

1:04:23 It's great that we're doing this. Of course in this room, because here he is, right here, that's exactly what he looks like, sitting in this posture with his right hand in what's called the earth-touching mudrā, and then his left hand held in his lap like this, holding a begging bowl filled with nectar, just like that, just like the statue. Report an error

1:04:45 So we visualize that being in front, and the reason for this is to inspire and uplift our mind. Shakyamuni Buddha. Embodies all of these qualities that we're trying to develop in ourselves. Ultimate compassion, kindness, wisdom, power to benefit beings, courage, all these enlightened qualities. So we visualize him in front as just sort of a role model. We're in a way projecting the qualities that we're looking to develop outside and then we're engaging in a relationship with that being. Report an error

1:05:24 Who's our example in our role model. Now, when we visualize the Buddha in front, we visualize him in this aspect. And then they say, if you have a spiritual teacher, you visualize the energy of your teacher in the aspect of Shakyamuni Buddha. So, for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. You have some sort of feeling of admiration for him if you consider him one of your teachers. Report an error

1:05:52 Instead of just thinking, oh, Shakyamuni Buddha, let's see, lived like 2,600 years ago and I didn't really know him, you know, and I don't know what he felt like. Well, if you see His Holiness the Dalai Lama, you know what he feels like, right? So you take that energy of your own teacher, whoever it may be, or your teachers, if there's more than one, and then they take that aspect. Report an error

1:06:16 And that way makes it more uplifting and inspiring. For a mind, more real. It doesn't need to be a Buddhist who inspires you. It could be any number of people. At a certain point, I have this sort of composite of like, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi and Padmasambhava. You know, go for it, whatever. It's like all that energy of all those beings that you admire the most, taking the aspect of the Buddha. Report an error

1:06:43 And then you think of him as a real living being, sitting there with you, not just... You know, lifeless or flat like a painting, but a real presence there with you because that's inspiring to you. And then the next step is refuge and bodhicitta. Oh, sorry. Then before refuge and bodhicitta, we imagine that we're surrounded by all living beings. So to remind ourselves that we're not just practicing for our own sake, but for the sake of all living beings, we imagine our mother sitting on our left. Report an error

1:07:18 Our father on our right, the rest of our friends and family behind us. And then we visualize our enemies, people we don't get along with, people we find annoying and irritating, sitting in front. Because guess what? We have to practice for their sake as well. Sorry to break it to you, but the bodhicitta ideal we talk about in Mahāyāna, that we have to practice for the benefit of all beings without exception, even your ex-mother-in-law. Report an error

1:07:49 Even all those Xs, you know, all those X whatever they are, they're all right there in front of you. And we have to, you know, we have to practice for their sake as well. So that's why we visualize them in front so that we're not somehow ignoring all of them. And then all living beings in human form around us. Report an error

1:08:11 And then we visualize that we're actually leading them in meditation. We're leading them to enlightenment. And then we take refuge and generate bodhicitta. And most of you are probably familiar with the whole idea of refuge. Refuge is kind of a weird word that we don't use in English very much, right? But we talk about refugees. And what's a refugee? Report an error

1:08:36 It's a person who's going from a situation of danger to a situation of safety, right? And that's what we're doing when we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, the three jewels. We're going from the really dangerous situation of uncontrolled rebirth in cyclic existence, otherwise known as saṃsāra, to liberation from them, to freedom from them. Report an error

1:09:02 So refuge says, look, I understand the thing that the Buddha said about my suffering. I understand the causes. And I understand the path that leads to liberation from that suffering. I'm going to give it a shot. Taking refuge says, instead of trying all of those other ways to get happiness, I'm going to just give this a try. Report an error

1:09:27 I'm going to take refuge in the path the Buddha taught to free me from suffering. I'm going to follow that path to go from that unsafe situation of saṃsāra, that dangerous situation, To freedom. Just like a refugee follows a guide to go from that war-torn country to a country where there's freedom. So in the same way we take refuge in the path, the guide being the Buddha and then the companions on the path being the Saṅgha. Report an error

1:10:02 Nominal Saṅgha are people in the red robes. But what we're really taking refuge in is people with that direct realization of the ultimate nature of reality. We talk about them being the absolute santa. So people who've seen reality the way it really exists, I can trust what they say. They've seen it for themselves. So that's what refuge is. Report an error

1:10:24 It's not like, oh Lord Buddha, please save me. Some of these prayers seem kind of theistic sometimes, and it's not like that at all. Unfortunately, we don't have a savior in Buddhism. Wouldn't it be nice if we did? Sometimes it would be easier. Oh, please just save me. Great. Okay. No. In Buddhism, we have to do all the good work ourselves, right? There's no savior. So some of these prayers that seem kind of theistic, we shouldn't mistake and think that the Buddha is just a substitute for God. Report an error

1:10:58 It's not like that. And sometimes when you give public talks to general audiences, really common. Oh, the Buddha is your God, right? No, it's not like that. It's a role model, it's an example, it's a teacher, it's a guide, but it's not a savior. So sorry, there's no savior. We're the savior in Buddhism. We're the ones who have to do all the hard work. So that's what refuge means. Report an error

1:11:25 And then bodhicitta is this idea that we're not just doing it for our own sake, but we're doing it... To develop all of the qualities necessary to benefit other beings as well. So any questions, especially from the new people about refuge and bodhicitta and anything that we've gotten up to at this point? Report an error

1:11:46 Is that clear? Report an error

1:11:52 Okay. And then the next step, the four immeasurables. So we also recite a verse to remind us of... These qualities that we're looking to develop, which is part of the path. Immeasurable love, defined as the wish for other beings to have happiness. Immeasurable compassion, the wish for beings to be free from suffering. We talk about immeasurable joy, and that's the delight that we take in others' happiness. Report an error

1:12:24 Instead of having a mind of jealousy and envy, we're actually delighted that others are happy. And then immeasurable equanimity. Meaning, overcoming our partiality. You know, that feeling we have a partiality, friend, enemy, stranger, not quite equal. And we're wishing other beings to have that impartiality also. So those are the four miracles. And then the seven limb prayer. Report an error

1:12:52 And this is the main way that we purify our obstacles and accumulate merit. So the first limb is prostration. And what this means, prostration is one of those weird things. It's a weird Asian custom. We don't do a lot of it, right, in the West. In fact, we don't really do it at all. And it might seem really weird. I come in the room, I bow down, and everybody who's not Asian is like, whoa, what's that? Report an error

1:13:20 In Asia, you see this all the time. It's really, really common. You're on the train in India and you'll see some 14-year-old, you know, teenagers with high-top sneakers and they'll be saying goodbye to their grandparents on the train and they'll touch their feet and then touch their forehead and touch their heart and bow down to them. Report an error

1:13:40 And it's so touching as a Westerner because you just never see, you know, 14-year-olds bowing down to their grandparents. You know, there's this whole custom of honor and respect for elders. That's very, very common in Asia. So it's no big deal in Asia if you respect somebody, you bow down. Very, very common. Report an error

1:14:04 So for us, we can think of it as just paying respect in our mind. If we're going to learn anything from anyone, we have to have a respectful, open-minded attitude, thinking, okay, you probably know more than I do about this, so I'm going to listen to you. So we pay respect in our mind to the qualities of that enlightened being in front of us. We don't have to get up off our cushion at this point and go up and down. Report an error

1:14:31 We probably did that before we sat down. But it's just generating that mind of respectfulness and feeling of reverence. And the point for doing that is to subdue our pride and get ourselves listening a little bit to what the Buddha says. If we think we know everything, we're never going to be able to learn. Report an error

1:14:50 From some of these teachers, including the Buddha. So it's just making that shift in our mind from pridefulness to respectfulness and openness. So that's the point to that. And then the next limb is offering. Now the Buddha doesn't need any of our stuff. Report an error

1:15:10 We need to make offerings. And so what we do in this limb, or in this stanza, is we imagine... Anything that we can actually physically offer, like the offerings on the altar, and we'll talk more about what these water bowls signify a little bit later on. And then we imagine the whole sky filled with whatever we can imagine. And this part's really cool. Whenever you see anything beautiful out in nature, offer it. Report an error

1:15:40 You know, at this point, fill the sky full of rainbows, if you like rainbows, or sunsets, or mountains, snow-capped mountains. Fall foliage in Vermont. Whatever it is that's beautiful, you can offer it. So you imagine the whole sky filled with all of these amazing, beautiful things and then offered in your mind to that Buddhist sitting in front. Report an error

1:16:03 This is a way to accumulate a tremendous amount of positive spiritual momentum or potential or merit by making offerings. And then the next limb is confession. So before we can purify our negativities, we need to acknowledge and confess them. So in this one we say we declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginning last time. Report an error

1:16:29 And we don't know what all those are, unless you have clairvoyance and you know all your past rebirth. I think we're saved from that before we can handle it, you know, we just don't know what we did. So at this point it's sometimes helpful to think of... Negativities that you know that you did, maybe there's something big in your life that you're working on purifying, or it could be something habitual, you know, some negative habit that's quite habitual that you're working on purifying, maybe something that you did within the last couple of days, something like that. Report an error

1:17:03 Now, confession and acknowledgement is really different from guilt. It's just an open evaluation of your life and an open acknowledgement of the negativities. But it doesn't mean, oh, I'm a bad person, you know, I'm going to go to hell, I'm filled with sin. All that stuff from those other religions, that has no place in bodhicitta. But it's just acknowledging. And then comes the fun part. Report an error

1:17:29 Next we get to rejoice in virtue. This is really cool. So you think of the virtues that you've done. And it's really important to do this. Sometimes we have this false humility thing that it's really hard for us to acknowledge our own virtues. We sort of second guess our own virtuous intentions. Oh, I did that nice thing for that person, but I'm sure I was doing it so I could get something in return, wasn't I? Report an error

1:17:55 You know, no. It's great that we do virtuous things and we should acknowledge that because then that makes that imprint even deeper of virtue. Rejoice about it. We're happy about the virtues we've done, our spiritual friends, our teachers. When you do this limb with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, you go on and on and on. Report an error

1:18:18 He is super into this. He goes, hey, it's free. You know, there's some algebra that if you rejoice in the virtue of somebody with higher realizations than you, you get 50 % of their virtue. That rocks. Check it out. So it's the Dalai Lama. All you have to do is be happy about all the things he does and you get 50 % of all that he does. Report an error

1:18:42 He does a kalashakra empowerment for 11 days and you're just like, wow, that's cool. Report an error

1:18:50 And then if you rejoice over the virtue of somebody who's equal to you, you get the same amount. right off the bat. Report an error

1:18:57 Check this out. Somebody of lower realizations than you, you get even more than they did. And they did all the hard work. So you'd be an idiot not to rejoice like crazy all the time. And it's a great antidote to jealousy and envy, rejoicing in others' virtues. So somebody else has an appointment with Lama Zopa for four hours. Report an error

1:19:18 Be happy about it. Don't go, I've been talking five years about my family. I had this great opportunity to rejoice the other day and I have to share it with you because it was the coolest thing. It was just so cool. So I was asked to preside over a memorial service. A friend of mine died actually when I was flying back from New Zealand. Report an error

1:19:40 And then his widow asked me to do the memorial service. Because when you wear this kind of outfit, they just expect that you're going to do that kind of thing. Well, I've never done a memorial service in my life, you know, but patched together something. And we had a lot of mutual friends that were musicians. And my friend who passed away really liked music. And so I asked this one friend who's a deacon at this church that's right up the street, the St. Report an error

1:20:06 John Coltrane African Orthodox Church. So they have this jazz band that plays, and he plays in the saxophone. So I asked him to play some John Coltrane music at the memorial service, which he did, and it was amazing. But I was sitting next to him at the reception, and we hadn't seen each other in a while, because I've been off traveling in India, so we're chatting. And, oh, I read a poem by my favorite Sufi mystic, Hafez, at the memorial service. Report an error

1:20:31 And then he said, oh, I really liked it that you read Hafez. I'm getting really into Islam. And I was like, really? That's so cool. And he goes, yeah, actually I just taught myself Arabic and I can read the Quran. And I was like, what? What? Report an error

1:20:47 I couldn't believe it. I was so stoked. You know, I just thought that is so cool. And I just went on and on and on. I was just like, oh my God, oh my God. You did what? And he goes, yeah. He goes, I've been wanting to do it for ages, but I thought, oh my God, that's impossible. I can never do that. What? Report an error

1:21:06 And then a couple of years ago, I just decided that I was going to do it. And I started doing it online. Right? And he taught himself classical Arabic online. And now he can read the Quran. And I was just completely so stoked. And he goes, and then after a while, I was just going on and on about it. And he goes, thank you for getting it. He goes, not that many people really get it. So I was like, I totally get it. Report an error

1:21:35 So that's what rejoicing is, right? I didn't sit there and go, God, I don't even know Tibetan, and I didn't sit there. No, I would have gone to that place, but it was just so wholehearted like that is the coolest thing. And it's so cool to have a mind like that, right? When somebody does something like that, you're just so happy about Their virtue, you know, and the energy that he put into his spiritual path, I just thought that was totally cool. So great, thank you for, you know, because not that many people get it. Report an error

1:22:13 And then the next two limbs, we say to the Buddha in front, please remain until the end of cyclic existence and turn the wheel of Dharma for living beings. So this is all about creating a cause for your teachers to show up in your life and to keep teaching you. Having a teacher like somebody like the Dalai Lama, Lama Tsongkhapa Rinpoche, Shantideva in your life is extremely karmically expensive. Report an error

1:22:41 You need to keep making deposits into the account in order to keep these guys and women around with you. One of the ways that you can make deposits is by requesting. So please keep showing up for me, lifetime after lifetime. Keep teaching me. And we must request. We're not allowed to teach, actually, unless we've been requested three times in Buddhism. We're not allowed to go on the street corner with the, you know, picket sign in the bullhorn, like some of those other people, at all. Report an error

1:23:18 In fact, we have to be requested really sincerely by the students to teach, not once, not twice, but three times, right? So there's this thing that in order to keep getting teachings, and it's really important in this one not to have a mind of sort of complacency, and oh, the teachers are going to be around, and oh, I just can't be bothered going because I've got something else going on, and you know. Report an error

1:23:41 No, like really, really get what we're getting from the teachers that we have. It's just amazing. So part of generating that line of appreciation and really creating a cause for it is by doing these next two limbs. And then we dedicate. We dedicate at the very end. And in fact, this part, the dedication of Barrett, can actually go at the very end, which we do. Report an error

1:24:05 But we put it in here to keep all seven limbs. But that actually goes at the end. Then we do another offering. We offer this visualized representation of the whole universe. And this seems a little cryptic. They're talking about Mount Meru, four continents. What is this? And it's the way the universe was described according to the ancient Vedas, okay? Report an error

1:24:30 Ancient Buddhist cosmology. Is it Halloween? we? Let's go. Let's go to Paris. Let's go to Paris. According to ancient buddhist cosmology, there was this central mountain called Mount Meru and then four continents and then subcontinents and oceans and iron mountains and this whole business. But all we need to do, I really like thinking of that, you know, there's that photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope and it's like a square inch of sky and like all the galaxies that you can see. Report an error

1:25:01 Have you seen that? It was a National Geographic mind line. So just imagine whatever you can, like the entire universe transformed into a Buddha paradise, and then just offer it. So we've offered all this other stuff, now offer the whole universe, no greater offering than that. Now we're ready to meditate. Report an error

1:25:24 So, after all of that, our minds are in this great space. We're inspired by thinking about the Buddha. Sort of made that mid-course correction by taking refuge and generating bodhicitta. Oh right, this is the path that I'm doing, this is why I'm doing it, to benefit all beings. We've purified and accumulated merit like crazy from meditating on the seven limbs. We just made this stupendous offering of the entire universe, just like that vacant lot that's now cleared and fertilized and ready to plant the seeds. Report an error

1:25:59 Now we're ready for the main meditation. Now, I put a prayer in here, a review meditation. And that's the third kind of meditation that we talk about. A review or glance meditation. And that's a meditation that we do on all of the stages of the path just to remind us. So sometimes we'll do this and sometimes we won't. Report an error

1:26:21 Sometimes we'll go to the main meditation. But I put it in there. And that's what some of these prayers that we read in Buddhism are all about. Sometimes you kind of wonder, why do we read these prayers? It's to remind us of the points of the path. And there are several of these review or glance meditation on the stages of the path. Report an error

1:26:42 This is one of them that I happen to like quite a lot. There are a couple of other ones in the gold FPMT prayer book. So you can, in your daily practice, you can kind of rotate among the, you know, different glance meditations. And it's really nice. Even to read through, just remind you of the points of the path, even just briefly. We're not doing a deep meditation here. We're not reading every paragraph and stopping for 15 minutes. Report an error

1:27:08 Then we'll never finish all day. But it's just a way of reading through and going, oh yeah, right, impermanence, right, karma, right, liberation from saṃsāra. Just reminding ourselves of all of the points of the path. So we'll sometimes do that and sometimes not. And then you'll see in the middle of page 5, Main meditation here. So whether we're doing single-pointed concentration on the breath or visualizing into the Buddha or an analytical meditation, same preliminaries that we do for whatever meditation that we do. Report an error

1:27:43 And then after our main meditation, whatever it is, and we'll do a variety, then we have some concluding activities too. We don't just jump up off the cushion. So we do some kind of an absorption. This is called, in the six preliminaries, requesting blessings, and we call it absorption. So whenever we visualize one of these holy beings, we don't just leave them kind of hanging out there. Report an error

1:28:10 Because the point of our practice is to catalyze those qualities in us. So we always do something to somehow merge their energy into ours. In different practices, we do it different ways. Sometimes that beam melts into light and melts into our heart. Sometimes they melt or they send out beams of light that goes into the middle of our forehead. Report an error

1:28:34 There's different ways it's done. In this practice, that Buddha who's been sitting there meditating with us the whole time, rises up in the air, comes to the crown of our heads, facing the same direction as us, melts into this golden light but then melts into us. So in that way we get the blessings of the Buddhas. Report an error

1:28:53 Holy body, speech and mind. We imagine after that golden light melts into us that we're purified of all obstacles, all remaining negativities, sickness, obstacles and endowed with all in one qualities. So we have the same qualities of the Buddha, purified, perfected. And then we imagine light rays going out from our body in all directions to all of those beings seated around us. Report an error

1:29:23 And we imagine that they, in turn, are also purified. We're able to actually purify and endow them with all and what we call it. So we're visualizing, we become an enlightened being and enlighten all sentient beings, which is the ultimate goal of our path. So in that last visualization, we just visualized our goal, right, in our imagination. Report an error

1:29:50 We visualize that goal as just this quick visualization. So it makes strong, strong imprints for that goal to be actualized. And then we seal it by dedicating the merits. So that's the last thing that we do on page 6. We dedicate the merits and we say, due to the merits of all that I've done, this whole meditation with all those preliminaries, may I quickly attain the state of the Guru Buddha. Report an error

1:30:18 May I... Become that being that I've just visualized myself becoming. We did it in our imagination and we liberated all beings. May all the positive energy from my practice go towards that goal being fulfilled. And lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May we pray for bodhicitta, where that mind wishing to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings to grow. We put some of that... Report an error

1:30:48 positive potential from our practice towards that goal. We say, may the Supreme Joel Bodhicitta that's not arisen arise and grow, may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. So that's finally, and the reason we dedicate the merit, now we have all of this positive energy that we generated from our meditation practice. Report an error

1:31:10 In a way it's sort of aiming it, putting in the karmic bank account of our future enlightenment. So it's not just wasted on more chocolate cake and cute boyfriends and whatever else. Sampsharic pleasures. But it goes towards our future enlightenment. So that's important to do. Anytime we do virtue, dedicate it for that goal so it's not just wasted on just some ordinary pleasure. Report an error

1:31:40 So any questions about? So we'll use this structure with these same preliminary practices and these same completing practices and don't feel like it's a waste of time because it really does prepare your mind. So even if you only have 25 minutes in the morning to do your meditation practice, it's worth it. We'll do these slowly tomorrow morning when we do our first meditation. Report an error

1:32:08 We'll begin our sessions with the meditation. We'll go through it slowly. With familiarity, you can go through it more briefly and that's fine. We'll go through it kind of slowly, meditating on each point of the seven limbs to get quite familiar with it. But it's really worth doing these preliminaries. Even if it means that your main meditation is a little bit briefer, it'll be quality rather than quantity. Report an error

1:32:34 So it is really important to do this. So that's why I thought to take the time to explain the whole structure. Because all of the meditation that we do will have this structure. And you notice those of you who may have done other practices, like practices to do with maybe Chinrezig or Tara or one of the other meditational deities, they all have these points in them. Report an error

1:32:56 Sometimes rearranged a little bit, sometimes the visualization comes in a different place. But now you can see why. Refuge is always there. The four measurables are there, the seven limbs. No matter what dainty practice we do or whatever our other practices, this is why. And then there's always some absorption of that energy at the end, isn't there? Different ones for different practices, but this is why. So any questions? Report an error

1:33:27 Clear? confused? Report an error

1:33:34 follow all the recommendations to do a correct meditation, that means it's going to take about minutes for meditation, daily meditation, or the time. Right, right. You can do the preliminaries in, you know, briefly. The most important things to do, I think, are the visualization of the Buddha, refuge in bodhicitta and the seven-room prayer. Report an error

1:33:50 be longer. Right, right. Report an error

1:34:05 Even if you leave out the four measurables and the Mandala offering, that's all right, but at least those three components ahead of time. And like I said, with familiarity you can do it well. I mean, you don't have to spend a whole lot of time on each one. You can, you know, with familiarity you can do it well, but briefly. Report an error

1:34:26 Yeah, yeah. And in terms of how long, well we'll talk about this a little bit more, about how to set up a daily meditation practice. Out of how long is it good to do it for? The thing to be cautious about, which some students do, is thinking that they have to do it perfectly every morning and then it becomes a burden, right? Report an error

1:34:48 Like, oh, I've got to do this whole big preliminary thing and I should spend about 45 minutes, you know, meditating on the suddenly prayer really well. You know, and then you get to the main meditation and you're just like, oh my god, now I've got to go to work. You know, it becomes a huge burden. So that's, and often that's the main time that students just give up, right? Where they think, oh, I didn't concentrate on that, I'm going to have to go back and really feel the compassion when I'm doing the four immeasurables. Report an error

1:35:17 You know, and then it just becomes so much of a burden that you just let go of it. I was reading the biography once of C.S. Lewis, this Christian theologian, and also he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. He was, you know, a novelist and also... A Christian theologian. And he was writing about when he quit believing in God, and it was as a small boy, he used to have to kneel by his bedside and say his bedtime prayers. Report an error

1:35:43 You know, it was probably that horrible one that he used to say, may I, now I'm in the dead and sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep, what was it? If I should die before I wait. So anyway, he said, and please bless mommy and daddy and Susie and everybody. And he would force himself to have some kind of a subjective experience of the prayer before he'd let himself go to bed. And sometimes, here he is, eight years old. Report an error

1:36:09 And he's on his knees by the bed and at 3 o 'clock in the morning he's like trying to muster something. And then he just gave up because it was too hard. So, cautionary note from C.S. Lewis. We don't need to feel that every morning we have to just bludgeon ourselves with our preliminaries until we stir up all this subjective experience. Report an error

1:36:31 So it's important to keep that in mind. So we'll experiment with how to do it in a more brief way. Tomorrow when we do it for the first time, we will go through it in quite a lot of detail just to kind of get familiar with it. And then we'll talk more about how to do a Dairy Crank. Report an error

1:36:59 We hire these people. Just so we practice patience. Report an error

1:37:11 Compassion. You're welcome. Report an error

1:37:18 All right, so let's, we'll close through the evening and we'll dedicate the merits of our session. So let's just take a minute to think about the positive energy that we generated. And just think about and take a minute to rejoice. Here it is Friday night in San Francisco. And you came here to learn how to meditate. So that's amazing in and of itself. Report an error

1:37:50 Just think of all the things you could be doing, all the distractions, Report an error

1:37:57 and take a minute to rejoice over that, Report an error

1:38:03 and then dedicate all the positive energy from our discussion tonight, looking at the preliminaries so that we'll be able to meditate well, and getting our minds ready. Report an error

1:38:18 Dedicate all that positive energy towards your complete enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. Report an error

· · ·

1:40:13 Also invite people. We actually are still having the drop-in meditation in the morning. I'll be leading it. It's Precious Human Rebirth. So if you need a little jump start, it'll be a slightly short inversion so we can sort of get out of the way. Report an error

1:40:28 But that's at 9 o 'clock. Come to the drop-in and then meditate all the weekend. It's great. Thank you. And you can just leave everything as it is. If you're coming back tomorrow, you can just leave your seat or something to mark your seat. Report an error

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Talk by Tenzin Chogkyi, recorded 2 April 2010. Original at Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/TC_MeditationForEveryone_20100402. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.

Recorded at Tse Chen Ling Center, San Francisco, and archived by the center on Internet Archive. More from Tse Chen Ling

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