The Psychology Of Tantra By Ven Robina 2013 (part 2)

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0:30 Where's everyone? Gone home or coming back? Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

0:38 Drive them all off. Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

0:43 Did you ring a bell or something? So any questions, folks? Any questions about what we've discussed so far? Okay. No questions? Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

1:11 and a job and you do it well you know you're it well while it's happening Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:27 Obviously, what am I saying to you? Me. Report an error in the passage at 1:27 Highlight the passage at 1:27

1:33 internally, I yeah, there were a few changes I would have made, basically it all went well. then I was thanked, and then I was asked, would I come back time? Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:46 yes, I felt happy, is that attachment when you've worked to get it happening as you were required to? So is that attachment, or is that just, hey, I did a good job, therefore I'm happy that I don't know the job? Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

2:04 First of all, Everything we do until we realise emptiness is polluted by attachment. It just goes without saying. It's just the way it is. It's impossible to do anything at the moment without delusions involved. It's impossible. You can't have a pure moment of total realisation of perfect compassion and perfect wisdom without any attachment because we're still in saṃsāra. So it just goes without saying, broadly speaking, everything we do right now, of course it's motivated by attachment. Report an error in the passage at 2:04 Highlight the passage at 2:04

2:30 But it's a question of degree and that's what practice is. That's what practice is. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

2:38 The sign, a broad general sign that attachment was there in the mix would be if you did a good job but they insulted you and said don't come back and then you got hurt and upset and thought about it and not fair and poor me, which is anger and offended, that proves there was attachment. If there was, okay, that's the way life is, I didn't make them happy, I tried my best and then you didn't think about it again, that proves it wasn't much attachment. So it's often only when you don't get what attachment wants that we even realise there's attachment there. Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

3:09 And when the response is hurt, anger, lonely, depressed, jealous, not fair, blah, blah, that proves there was attachment. And it's all a question of degree, according to our level of capacity. It's just inevitable. It's inexorable. We can't help it. And you don't really get rid of attachment until we finally realise emptiness. And even then it's not finished. The delusions are still there until we get various more stages. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:29 So it's just gradual, constant, ongoing, looking at our minds. And that's just why it's enormously difficult. Because in an ordinary situation like that, it just... It just looks like and feels like I'm doing a good job, which is true. You got the thing. You weren't mean to other people. You were accommodating. You were kind to others. You accepted their advice. A reasonable, kind person. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:49 But when we look at the mind much more deeply, the Buddha would say it's completely riddled by attachment. Of course it is. It's totally defined by it. It's motivated by that. The biggest attachment being the wish to make others like us, which is half the reason we do things nicely. So it sort of seems cruel. This is why we have to really look more deeply into the mind to really... Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

4:09 See the difference between attachment and kindness. It's very hard to see. It's just very hard to see. And we shouldn't be disappointed by that. It's very subtle. And all we can do is do our best every day. And this is why the more we Report an error in the passage at 4:09 Highlight the passage at 4:09

4:27 can understand, listen to Buddha's teachings about the mind, which are quite specific. Meaning exactly what is attachment and what it's not. What is a virtue and what it is not. Then you have a basis for identifying in your mind. Because it's too general just to think it's attachment and not sure what attachment is. Report an error in the passage at 4:27 Highlight the passage at 4:27

4:41 We have to be able to distinguish the characteristics of attachment. Which is it's eye-based and it exaggerates and embellishes. And it's driving us every millisecond. Do you see what I mean? It's very subtle. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

5:13 Yes, it is. Of course it is. Of course it is. Attachment is a non-virtue by definition. Not of course. Some parents hate their children and they kill them. Report an error in the passage at 5:13 Highlight the passage at 5:13

5:23 It's a fact. Some parents hate their children and wish they didn't have them and leave them and go drink, you know, and kill them. It's very simple. So it's not always a follow. It's not biology. The Buddha say it's not biology. It's just karma. A strong, calming history between you and the child. And if it's virtuous karma between you, then you'll love your child and your child will love you. Report an error in the passage at 5:23 Highlight the passage at 5:23

5:43 Do you understand? That's the result of past virtue between the two of you. And then, of course, because we have attachment in our mind until we've highly realised, then that attachment embellishes, exaggerates the beauty and deliciousness of your child. Doesn't it? I mean, your child is definitely the best child in the universe, isn't it? And you won't mistake it for another child. Oh, where's my child? Oh, that'll do. No, there's no way. You don't just... Completely, your child stands out like when you're in love with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

6:12 You don't mistake your Fred for anybody else. It could be a million people there and you'll see your Fred immediately and you'll run like a magnet because his attachment does that. It causes your object of attachment. It's not horrible. It's just the way Buddha talks. You just have to understand it. So even in the parent relationship, of course you have to give up attachment. Look at the suffering of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

6:34 Possessive, especially in the West because you assume you made that child. That's what they tell you, isn't it? You made it. It's yours. Extension of you. Report an error in the passage at 6:34 Highlight the passage at 6:34

6:43 So enormous expectation that they do what you want every second. I mean, it's just natural. It's what attachment does, you know. Thinking about them all the time, which is also love. But I'm sorry, it's not only love, it's attachment. Love polluted by attachment. So the love is there. It's amazing. It's incredible. My mother, for sure because of attachment, she thought of me day and night. Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

7:03 Because one of the signs of attachment is you think of the object when it's not there. But a mother would call it worry and would call it natural and would call it love, you know. But love is in wanting a person to be happy. It's delighting in their happiness. So strictly speaking, let's imagine if you didn't have much attachment for your child but you did an incredibly good job taking care of them and then they left the house and they're doing their life, you delight in them, you think about them, you want them to be happy but you're not worried about them all the time, you're not thinking about them every minute, you're not sad because they don't ring you and obsessed because they don't and think, you understand all the other dramas. Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:32 If there's jealousy, possessiveness, anxiety, worry, anger, that's the proof there's attachment. If there's no anger, jealousy, possessiveness, depression, there's no attachment. That's the sign of attachment. All the other delusions are the sign of attachment. You don't have depression because you love somebody. You don't get lonely because you love somebody. You don't get angry because you love somebody. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:52 You do all those things because you've got attachment. So it's a really pervasive, primordial, deeply instinctive state of mind. And the more we understand this, the more we don't get overwhelmed by it and think, oh, I'm so naughty, I've got attachment. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:05 It's kind of pretty deeply ingrained. And it's what runs all of our relationships. And I'm glad my mother was attached to me. She would have killed me otherwise. Are you seeing my point? Report an error in the passage at 8:05 Highlight the passage at 8:05

8:18 So our job as a Buddhist, whether you're a nun or a mother of ten children or having ten boyfriends, is to give up attachment. And it's hard to see because the word we use is such a different way like the woman last night. We use it in a good way. We actually say the things that attachment are is good. So it really needs some processing in our minds to see it freshly. And then to begin to comprehend it because it's just running us normally every day. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:40 But we don't notice. And like I said, the sign that you had attachment doing that job was whether somebody insulted you or offended you or didn't thank you. Do you understand? The sign you're attached to your child is when they stop doing what you want and you don't mind. You see what I'm saying? But as long as the object of attachment, as long as the attachment gets what it wants, praise, they do what you want, we call it happiness. Report an error in the passage at 8:40 Highlight the passage at 8:40

9:10 Do you see what I'm saying? It's just why it's so tricky and it seems so cruel of Buddha. It just seems like normal life. Do you understand? It's ever so subtle. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:24 Who answers Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:41 your own kids? Oh, okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 9:41 Highlight the passage at 9:41

10:02 That's different. That's different and you have to be clear. It's different. That's a different, because you have a different relationship with them. It's your job to educate them. It's your job. To get them to behave nicely. But in your own mind you have to distinguish the difference between doing your job of education and your own personal hurt. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:21 And often we can't distinguish. So we often say this is for your good but we're really coming from our own upset. So we have to see the difference in our own mind and that's very brave. Do you see what I'm saying? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:39 What? Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

10:46 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

10:52 Good. Good. Perfect. Yeah. Okay, so that's fine. Okay, now this is where wisdom comes in. This is where wisdom comes in. Your job as a parent, you know, if it was a next door neighbour, your job is not to tell the parent, not to tell them off. Your job then is to accept it and just accept the blame. But your children, it's a different discussion because you have a responsibility. Are they teenagers or grown-ups? Report an error in the passage at 10:52 Highlight the passage at 10:52

11:17 So like still under your care. They live with you. They live with you? How old are they? How old are they? How old are they? Okay, they're not your job anymore, baby, so back off and take it. I'm sort of being funny here, but I'm being serious as well. In a way, your job of mother is over. When it suits the children, they will use you as a mother and they'll play on your attachment. And when it suits mothers, we will play the role of mother. But actually, they're grown-ups now. Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:46 They've left home and they're responsible for their own lives. Is that right? Okay, so then actually they're grown-ups. Stop, stop, stop. They're grown-ups. Okay, please let me just answer. They're grown-ups. So that means even though technically you are their mother, your role actually really is no longer their mother. Would you agree with that? It's like you've resigned from that job. Report an error in the passage at 11:46 Highlight the passage at 11:46

12:07 A mother is a person who takes care and nurtures and educates a person. At some point you have to, they've got to graduate and you've got to stop playing that role. That's half our problem in our relationships. Do you see what I'm saying? If you really, what darling? Forgive me, but what? Report an error in the passage at 12:07 Highlight the passage at 12:07

12:30 So what are you telling me? Okay, listen to me. I'm sorry I'm being so rude to you. Let me ask you a question. Is it still, are they still your responsibility? Are you still seeing them as children who need educating and you are in charge of their life? No. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:54 Of you. Of you. Well then, okay, so then? But that's their problem, that's not your business. If they've resigned from the job of being child, it's no longer your job. It's no longer your job to be their mother. They haven't given you that job. So it's okay if they are. Okay, so that's one point. That's one point. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:16 Another point is this. We are perfectly allowed to give anybody some advice. That's our job, to be genuine friends to somebody. But listen, you have to have confidence that that advice will be beneficial to them and they will hear it. So if you know these people who happen to be your children will respect your opinion and will listen to that advice and say thank you for that advice Mama, we will see about it. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:44 But if they're just going to hear it as Mama telling them what to do as usual and they won't take the advice, it's just wasting your breath. So you have to decide. You can tell anybody some advice but it's up to whether they're going to listen to it. And if they won't listen to it, even if you're right, you're wasting your time. Report an error in the passage at 13:44 Highlight the passage at 13:44

14:04 You're just venting your own unhappiness. So it's a tough one. So make a decision, you know. You understand? Of course people are rude. Children are so rude to their parents. It's terrible what children do to their parents. I agree with you. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:29 Sorry, what do you mean? What's this? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:35 but we just described that they're no longer her children. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

14:53 That's just exactly what we're talking about. That it's not valid to say it. That's what I'm saying. do not want to be spoken into this tone of voice. Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

14:57 No, that's my point. I think we've got to check carefully. That's just expressing her own unhappiness. They won't hear that. They won't listen. There'll be water off a duck's back. They won't take that advice at all. So what wisdom is, is the ability to know that what you will say to me, I will hear it. I'm ready for it. Report an error in the passage at 14:57 Highlight the passage at 14:57

15:14 Otherwise, you're just expressing your own unhappiness. And that's just what we spend our lives doing. Do you see what I'm saying? It's quite intense, really. Most of the words we say is just expressing our own unhappiness. And we have the right to say to our children that. They hear it and they'll crack a joke and they won't take any notice of mum. They'll just say, there she goes again. Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:31 It'll be meaningless words. But if there's a deal where they're your children and they're living in your house, then they've got to live by your rules. Then you have the right. Like if you misbehave in that house, the boss of the house has the right to sell you to go. So you have a right to exercise your power if they're under your power. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

15:50 But that's why I asked you first. They're not under your power. It's a tough one. And mothers do this until we're 90. This is why children try to squirm out of their mother's hands because mother keeps being mother until, you know, this is how we are because we just think we're self-existent. I'm their mother. You understand? It's a tough one. Are you sort of hearing what I'm saying? But the real point is this. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:15 If you have the wisdom to really know that they will listen to your words. Then why speak if they won't? It's just like talking into the air. And that's what wisdom is. Being kind is the wish to help somebody. That's compassion. But compassion needs wisdom. You've got to know that they'll listen to those words. And that's often, especially if it's children, they won't. Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:37 Unless they really respect you. That's very hard. Isn't it? I think you're very brave being parents, honestly. I really do. It's the most intense job. So, okay. So let's continue then, shall we, about emptiness. This is the third prerequisite in order to be qualified to go to the more advanced teachings and do one of these practices and use these psychological tools to help us become a Buddha as quickly as possible so we can benefit sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 16:37 Highlight the passage at 16:37

17:07 So the first one, as I said, is to have renunciation, a minimum requirement. Which is to say a proper, an understanding of it, which means understanding the first noble truth that there is suffering, the three levels of it, and understanding the causes of suffering, which is karma and delusions, and then applying this in your daily life. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:26 Attempting to apply this in your daily life because you are sick of suffering. They are the components of renunciation. And it's not just intellectual, it's got to be experiential to the best of your ability. Then you've got the prerequisite of bodhicitta, which is an astonishing level. The wish to never stop benefiting sentient beings for whom you have immense compassion, who are suffering unbearably and you understand suffering because you've understood it for yourself, which includes all the perps, all the terrorists, all the rapists, all the pedophiles, but just the little cute animals and children. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:57 It includes all sentient beings because of karma, understanding this and wishing. To benefit them continuously as much as you can according to your ability. And the other component of bodhicitta, never giving up becoming a Buddha because then eventually you'll be fully qualified to really know how to help them. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:13 So these two components of bodhicitta based on huge compassion. And the third one is emptiness. And this is vital because if we are stuck in who we think we are, which is a simple way of expressing This philosophical view that Buddha calls the samsaric view, which he is arguing with directly, which is the view that this is who I am, I'm born this way and nothing I can do about it, I'm stuck, which is how we feel experientially. Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:49 I'm stuck with this, I'm just angry, I'm jealous, I'm depressed, this is who I am, bye bye. If that is true, that means you can't change very much. So all this tantric psychology, which is meaning you can transform yourself into an enlightened being, is a complete joke. The whole of Buddhism is a joke. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

19:06 If your mind doesn't have this capacity to change, to turn into a Buddha's mind. If that isn't possible, then it's a load of rubbish. And the thing that makes it possible for our minds to change, and not only that, but to become a Buddha's mind, is the fact that it is empty of existing from its own side as this or that. Report an error in the passage at 19:06 Highlight the passage at 19:06

19:30 So this is the meaning of emptiness, a simple way. So there's lots of ways of describing it. But the general point, what Buddha is saying about, you know, that's expressed by this concept of emptiness, which I want to unpack and go into, is that things aren't set in stone. Things that we're not stuck, specifically this I, we're not stuck in who we think we are, you know. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

19:56 So, you know, when we think, even we just think Buddha's view about reincarnation. If the materialist view is actually a manifestation of the philosophy of self-existence, which is exactly what Buddha is arguing with, which is expressed as this is who you are. You're born as a human, you are a human in your bones, that anger is in your bones, that jealousy is in your bones. You can change a little bit, you can learn football and music, but emotionally we're stuck with who we are. Report an error in the passage at 19:56 Highlight the passage at 19:56

20:25 This is our view and all our materialist models pretty much assert this way. This is who we are. This is a manifestation of that philosophy, that you're stuck with who you are, that it's self-existent, that it's inherent. This is you, inherent, intrinsic, real, findable, definitely that. So when we have that view, then of course when you hear that you could have been a rabbit past life, it's like completely hysterical to us. So forget about turning into an enlightened being, just turn into a rabbit. Report an error in the passage at 20:25 Highlight the passage at 20:25

20:52 If that's ridiculous, then turning into an enlightened being is equally ridiculous. Because if you're not an enlightened being now, you think, don't be ridiculous, how can I become an enlightened being? It's equally saying, don't be ridiculous, I'm a human, how can I be a rabbit? So emptiness is vital to understand any of this idea of the Buddhas. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:07 It's absolutely crucial to understand emptiness, to help us understand Buddha's basic teaching, which is consciousness is not physical, doesn't come from mummy, daddy or God and goes back and back and back and back and that whatever the mind does from moment to moment produces the experiences in that mind in the future. Report an error in the passage at 21:07 Highlight the passage at 21:07

21:24 This is the meaning of karma. It's done by your mind. Buddha says we, every microsecond of thinking and doing and saying and feeling things, in every microsecond of each of those moments, sows a seed in the mind that programs my mind and will ripen in the future. Those seeds will ripen either as my happiness or as my suffering. Simply speaking, that negative actions ripen as suffering, positive actions ripen as happiness. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:48 It's not a complicated law. It's a law, he says. It's how it is. He didn't make it up. He didn't invent it. There's no one up there pulling the strings. There's no one making it happen. It happens naturally, he says. It's what minds do. This is his view. So in order to hear this even, you've got to have some sense of emptiness, that there's nothing, that I am not stuck in stone. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:08 But if we look at who we think we are, this is what we think. I am Robina, you know, fat Australian, this, that, anger, this, this, this. This is me. And we reaffirm that view every single day. Everyone sees us this way. I see myself this way. We reaffirm it and we increase that concreteness every microsecond. Report an error in the passage at 22:08 Highlight the passage at 22:08

22:30 The very fact that we think we can't change proves we reinforce our own instinctive sense of self. We concretize everything. We reinforce it as permanent and eternal and forever this. So of course it's like a joke. Especially if you have that philosophical view which is taught in the materialist world, it's a complete joke to think that you could be a rabbit. It just seems hilarious. Report an error in the passage at 22:30 Highlight the passage at 22:30

22:55 You try to think of Robina squeezing into a rabbit body. It just doesn't work for our minds because you're so determined you're Robina. And that's why I think it's ridiculous to become a Buddha, just as absurd. I'm Robina. That's because we grasp at self-existence. We grasp at things as inherent because we don't have the view of interdependence which is the view of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 22:55 Highlight the passage at 22:55

23:19 This is what Buddha is saying. So the implication, the simplest implication of the idea that things don't have an inherent nature as this or that is that they can change. It's very clear. Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:59 We're talking about the mind, darling. I'm talking about the mind. No, no, no. I'm talking about your mind. I'm not talking about physical evolution. That's just little extra. That's just houses. No, no. Which is the evolution of the mind? go. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

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24:13 No, you can't. No, no, no, no, no. You can't. No, you can't. No, you can't because the meaning of thinking something isn't empty is that it's set in stone, that it is inherently existent, is not either dependent on causes or isn't dependent upon parts or is not dependent upon the mind labelling it. They're the three levels of dependent arising asserted by Lord Buddha. The opposite of that is it will be set in stone. It will be either completely permanent, which means it doesn't change, or there is something inherent existing from its own side there. Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:45 That's Buddha's entire teaching. So if there were something inherent, it means it's not empty, which means it can't even exist. Forget about not change. So I would suggest you've got the wrong understanding of emptiness, my dear. Report an error in the passage at 24:45 Highlight the passage at 24:45

25:00 Oh, are they? According to whom? Explain them to me, please. Which ones are you? You're so convinced that you don't have to understand this and then not understand change. What are you saying? Please explain your point. Report an error in the passage at 25:00 Highlight the passage at 25:00

25:14 Never mind tantra. I'm talking about rabbits right now. Don't worry about tantra. Go on. Tell me your point. Tell me your point, sweetheart, about change. Report an error in the passage at 25:14 Highlight the passage at 25:14

25:33 I didn't ask you to believe in it. No, hey, you're missing the point fundamentally. What's your name, please? May I know? Sorry. Thank you, Ron. You just made the perfect point. We're not discussing believing in emptiness or even knowing about emptiness. This is the point now. This is the point. You don't have to know a single word about emptiness. You don't have to believe in anything. But if you have this instinctive... Report an error in the passage at 25:33 Highlight the passage at 25:33

25:56 What I'm saying is that the fact that things do change is because they are empty. And if they were not empty, they couldn't change. We're not asking what people think about it. That's another discussion. That's the point I'm making. So what point were you making? What's your point you're making then, Ron? Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:28 Okay, so can you become a Buddha without understanding emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 26:28 Highlight the passage at 26:28

26:34 Would you agree that the materialist view, the one I'm suggesting, which is the samsaric view, reaffirms self-existence? It's a philosophy that reaffirms self-existence, which is exactly why we can't change, which is exactly why we think it's a joke to be a rabbit. So this is because we do believe in the opposite of emptiness. We don't know the words, but we totally believe in and reaffirm every day a self-existent I and a self-existent reality. Report an error in the passage at 26:34 Highlight the passage at 26:34

27:01 Would you agree with that? So then you do need to understand emptiness to really get the hell out of it. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:12 So what was your issue? Report an error in the passage at 27:12 Highlight the passage at 27:12

27:17 So what's your issue regarding tantra? Report an error in the passage at 27:17 Highlight the passage at 27:17

27:28 A Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

27:34 Excuse me, belief? I never use that word. I don't know why you do. I'm not assuming you're believing in emptiness. So what are you suggesting then? What's your point? Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

27:50 Become a Buddha. You just said before it is. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

27:59 Into a Buddha. You said tantra. You can't do what? Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:08 Sorry, what? First of all you said you have a problem with tantra and emptiness and you said in order to become a deity you don't need to realise emptiness or believe in emptiness. You said that point. So then I said deity means Buddha. So again, may I suggest, so you're saying you don't need to work with and understand and by, a deity is a Buddha, sweetie pie, a deity is another word for a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 28:08 Highlight the passage at 28:08

28:35 So then again you're saying in order to turn your mind into an enlightened mind which by definition is a mind that sees reality as it is and has infinite compassion. That is what a Buddha's mind is. Then it implies you have to know emptiness. So then maybe you've got a different definition of the deity you're talking about. It's not the Buddhist one. Because a Buddha is a being who's got wisdom which sees emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

28:59 So then you have to realise emptiness to become a Buddha. And deity is just another word for Buddha. So what's your point there, sweetheart? Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:10 Good, okay, what's your point then? Which is? Report an error in the passage at 29:10 Highlight the passage at 29:10

29:23 I never said that word. I did not say that. Change. Well, I said, without an understanding of emptiness, we can't, without an understanding of emptiness, without understanding emptiness at all, Report an error in the passage at 29:23 Highlight the passage at 29:23

29:37 Intellectually, we can change because there must be some imprints in the mind from the past where you've got some reasonableness in your mind, you've got some intelligence and some ability to see a bit of interdependence. But that's from the past because you've already got the imprints. But to move further and turn yourself into a Buddha or a deity, you need to realise emptiness. So what's your argument again? Report an error in the passage at 29:37 Highlight the passage at 29:37

29:57 You're agreeing with me every time. So where's the argument? I can't hear it. You keep agreeing with me. So what's your argument? Of course it's what I was saying. Maybe I said it badly and I'm sorry. What did I say earlier? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:15 Good, okay. So you're saying we don't need to realize emptiness in order to do what? Report an error in the passage at 30:15 Highlight the passage at 30:15

30:22 From what to what? Report an error in the passage at 30:22 Highlight the passage at 30:22

30:33 So what are you saying? Report an error in the passage at 30:33 Highlight the passage at 30:33

30:59 What's the evolution? Is this what you're talking about? I'm hearing your point. So what's this evolution you're saying? So who would assert the view? Report an error in the passage at 30:59 Highlight the passage at 30:59

31:11 So you mean a person? Okay, so a person. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:16 Okay, let's go further. What's the point of you saying this? Why is it something so urgent for you to say it? Why is it important for your saying? Because surely the best is to understand, but the best is to understand emptiness, surely. So then why are you saying you don't need to? Why are you saying you don't need to? Report an error in the passage at 31:16 Highlight the passage at 31:16

31:31 What's the point? What are you trying to get from that? No, it's not. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is not. Bodhicitta is a lot more difficult. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:44 So what's your point here though? Why are you saying this so strongly? I'm strong because I scream. That's what I do. But why are you bringing this up here? What's the point for you here? Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

31:56 Yes. Yes. Why do you want to... Well, if you just... You don't want faith in it. You just want to hear the logic of it, darling. You say you've done studied it. Report an error in the passage at 31:56 Highlight the passage at 31:56

32:14 Well, you didn't let me finish. You just butted in the middle and then you argue with me. But that's okay. You're allowed to. I don't mind arguments. But you seem something quite fervent. You're saying it like you've got some philosophy here that says you don't need emptiness, Robina. I'm trying to work out why you're saying this. Why is it so important to you? Report an error in the passage at 32:14 Highlight the passage at 32:14

32:32 But why are you so concerned that you think you don't need it? Surely you should be dying to get emptiness because it is necessary. Or because you think it's not necessary. I mean, so it's obviously got a big history for you. Report an error in the passage at 32:32 Highlight the passage at 32:32

32:50 Good, okay then, we'll leave it there and stop the other rubbish then. Good, keep going in that direction. Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

32:58 Why is it, what do you mean concern? This is very fascinating information. I really like this. Come out with more. Come on, where's your concern? What do you do, what? Okay, well done, good. Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:11 Okay, good. And you can't see it. Good, you can't see it. Okay, what is it? We go back to the very beginning, the first point you're making. Good, this is a great discussion. What is a deity? You said you're Ron, Ron. What's a deity, sweetheart? What is a deity? Please give me a definition. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:34 Oh, is it? Who told you this? Excuse me. I mean, that's another word for it. But what is the meaning in Buddhism of a deity? What are the qualities of a deity? Thank you. It is a Buddha. Good. What's a Buddha? I don't care what visualizer, who cares? A Buddha is a Buddha is a Buddha. What's a Buddha? Okay, what is a Buddha? What are the characteristics of a Buddha? Please tell me the characteristics of a Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

34:01 Omniscient means what? And what causes you to finally get omniscience? What's the main cause? Thank you. So that's one characteristic of a deity or a Buddha. Another characteristic is, Report an error in the passage at 34:01 Highlight the passage at 34:01

34:20 well that's all part of that first one. So the other characteristic is compassion, bodhicitta, yeah? Does that make sense? So that's a Buddha. And what's the method of becoming a Buddha, the essential characteristics you have to cultivate in your mind to become that? What do you have to accumulate in your mind to become that Buddha? Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:35 What are the main things you have to do? Right, and wisdom is realizing emptiness. So then, okay, you've accepted that to become a Buddha, you, Ron, have to realize emptiness. You accept that. You said it. You said that, yes? And add bodhicitta to it. Would you agree? And you turn into a Buddha. You accept that. Report an error in the passage at 34:35 Highlight the passage at 34:35

34:56 Okay, but you just said before you can't see the relationship between seeing yourself as a Buddha and realising emptiness. But you've just argued with that by proving that you really agree that a deity is a Buddha and one of the main causes is emptiness. So where's your problem? How come you can't connect these two contradictory statements you're making? Because you just said it perfectly. You do see the development. Report an error in the passage at 34:56 Highlight the passage at 34:56

35:19 Maybe you haven't thought of it this way before. So where's your problem? You've just stated you accept it. That's what a Buddha is and the cause of it is to realize emptiness. You, Ron, to realize emptiness. So where's your problem then? I don't see you have a problem, Ron. You're not something, some connection you're not making yourself because you just proved the point that you do see. You just proved it. You said it. You answered perfectly. Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:39 So where's your problem? What's missing in your mind about it? Because you just said you accept that emptiness is a crucial component, you to become a deity. So why do you say you don't need emptiness to become a deity? Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

35:52 How come you can't connect these two contradictory statements, please? Or do you need to think about it? Report an error in the passage at 35:52 Highlight the passage at 35:52

36:06 Okay, good. Let's get to it. This is a wonderful discussion. What's your problem? Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:23 Good. So what's the problem with that? Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:35 Yes, you are. You must. That's part of what deity practice is. It's got the two main components. You have the one of the method, which is seeing yourself as the deity, and then you have the absolutely vital one, which is the component of generation stage, where you absorb the guru Buddha into you and you merge with that on the basis of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 36:35 Highlight the passage at 36:35

36:52 So clearly you haven't know how to do it darling. Maybe we'll sit down later and I can give you my little simple version of it. It might make me feel better. I don't know very much but I can put it in simple words for you. It's absolutely vital sweetheart. Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:04 That's what you're doing as you're doing guru deity. You're absorbing it and on the basis of the fact that there is no run from his own side. You do the eight stages of dissolution and you merge with the Buddha and then you fake it until you make it that you become the Buddha. That's how you become the Dharmakaya petal. And the Dharmakaya is wisdom mind which realises emptiness combined with the visualisation of the deity which is the method side. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:31 Why don't we have a gossip later? Shall we do that? Do you hear me? Good darling. Then go on. Go on, what else? There's something niggling you. I think you haven't got to the problem yet. What's annoying you? What's pissing you off, Ron? Speak it out. It's a good conversation. What is it? You haven't said enough yet. Be more rude. What is it that's at you? What you're getting mad at? Report an error in the passage at 37:31 Highlight the passage at 37:31

37:59 I'm trying very hard to give it to you. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:05 It isn't complicated. We make it complicated. It is not complicated. No, we make it complicated. I think bodhicitta is far higher. Emptiness is falling off a log. It's a question of getting our words right. And that's half the battle. So let's talk about that, shall we, Ron? Shall we get some new, look at a different approach to emptiness? Report an error in the passage at 38:05 Highlight the passage at 38:05

38:27 Let's see what we mean by this. Shall we do this? Sweetheart? Thank you very much. Have we met before? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 38:27 Highlight the passage at 38:27

38:42 No, no, because it's not part of your practice, so you have no right to. Yes? Roshan. She wants to give another lecture. She likes giving lectures. Report an error in the passage at 38:42 Highlight the passage at 38:42

38:53 Oh, now, Roshan, say what you want to say, darling. I want to hear it. What do you want to say? Keep it brief. If it's a question, Roshan, is it a question or is it... Okay, okay. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

39:05 Okay, no, no, that's not the question. No, it's okay. I understood his question. Thank you, Roshan. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:13 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 39:13 Highlight the passage at 39:13

39:33 Okay, darling, that's okay. It's all right, darling. Go on. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:46 Tell me why is that. Report an error in the passage at 39:46 Highlight the passage at 39:46

40:03 Right, so then maybe you can... Okay, okay. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:10 I understand. -hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I understand. But maybe that's okay too. If you have already some confidence in the first stages and you've proven to yourself that the things that you do do are reasonable tools and you've got some confidence, let's say a person like the Dalai Lama who might teach this stuff and you've checked him out and you think he's valid and he's a valid exposer, a person who teaches Buddhism, you tick, tick, tick. Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:31 Then he starts teaching this more esoteric stuff. You go, oh God, I don't know that. But if he told me this and this and this is okay and he's cool on that one, then maybe I can give him the benefit of the doubt here. So that's perfectly reasonable. That's not wrong. That's not wrong. That's okay. Yeah, but that's a different discussion. That's another discussion. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:48 I don't think so. Don't tell Ron what he thinks. He's doing fine. He's doing okay. He's telling exactly what he thinks. It's all right. You don't need to bat for him. I know that. And so was Roshan. We all try to bat for each other, but don't have to. Bat for yourself in this room. It's okay. He doesn't need anybody to bat for him. Report an error in the passage at 40:48 Highlight the passage at 40:48

41:07 He's doing all right, in my opinion. Deadly serious. Report an error in the passage at 41:07 Highlight the passage at 41:07

41:26 Okay, so let's say you've never learned piano before and then you go to a teacher and you want to become like Mozart, yeah? Well, isn't it a process of listening to the teacher's views, doing what they say, taking the instructions and practicing? Well then you have to fake it till you make it. You have to sort of project into the future and try to be like Mozart and you're going to stumble and make ridiculous mistakes. But eventually by aiming at that goal you'll become that, won't you? Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:52 That makes sense, doesn't it? Doesn't that make sense? Of course you are. Of course you're relying upon the teachers, aren't you, when you're learning music, when you're learning football, when you're learning mathematics, when you learn absolutely anything. Because it's a system we're very familiar with and we call it learning, we don't think of it in esoteric terms. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:10 So, of course you rely. I mean, what's your expertise? Do you have any? Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:17 Okay, well, have you learned anything before? Like what? Give an example. What have you learned? French when you were at school. You learned a few maths, you know, multiplications and pluses and things. Okay, then you didn't know it until you started, did you? Then you had to rely on the teacher and then you believed what she told you and then you went home and then you did your homework and you made it your own experience, didn't you? Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:39 Well, you're always doing that. That's what learning is. And you go one step at a time. But you've got to look at the big system, the big picture. You've got to have a sense that that system of mathematics is valid, that system of football is valid. That's part of our problem with spiritual. We tend to think of it as this random kind of mystical things that no one knows about and it's all just kind of hooky-pooky and strange. Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

43:00 Whereas if you look at something like Buddhism, my feeling... You know, if I can look at the system I'm part of, which is the Tibetan one, then the more I think about it, even intellectually, the more I learn it, every time I hear a bit more, if it's a valid system, and that's my point, if it's a valid system, everything I hear, before I even practice it, everything I hear theoretically has to fit into place, has to be like another piece of the puzzle. Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:25 So if it's a decent system, even intellectually, it has to be coherent. This is a huge point that we don't think about spiritual. We think it's just airy-fairy, anything goes. You can have a vision, write a book about it. But it's actually an entire world view and that's the way it's taught in these big monastic university systems in Tibet coming from the great monastic university system in India. Report an error in the passage at 43:25 Highlight the passage at 43:25

43:47 It's an entire world view. They've got the five sciences. They talk about astrology, grammar, detailed descriptions of the universe, detailed descriptions of the mind to the most sophisticated degree. Unbelievable, huge, massive literature for centuries. It's a massive big system. Tantra, a massive system. If you did it even the 35 years, the Geshe's up like stairs that they study, that's like a drop of the ocean. Report an error in the passage at 43:47 Highlight the passage at 43:47

44:11 It's massive and it's all there, all laid down in the lineages, all there for us to think about and listen to and study and internalise if we so choose. And if it's valid, it all has to fit into place and you have to prove it's valid by your own experience. So then if you're part of a big system and they've got something called the Dalai Lama, having checked up that he's a valid exponent of this stuff, then maybe, yes, you go to one class where he teaches you junior school and you can get it, but then he teaches you some university or even postgraduate. Report an error in the passage at 44:11 Highlight the passage at 44:11

44:44 Because you've checked the system and you know that's coming from the same place, then you're prepared to think, okay, this is interesting, I'll think about this, it's too high for me right now, but it's part of this system. So it's something very consoling and reasonable when you think of it this way. Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

44:57 Just like any system of architecture, building, music, anything at all, if it's a valid system. Do you see what I'm getting at? So it's not just cross your eyes or cross your legs or whatever and hope for the best, you know. It is huge. And one step at a time is all we can do, you know. Does that make sense a bit? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 44:57 Highlight the passage at 44:57

45:23 So, okay. What are we trying to do, quotes, in practicing tantra, unquote? Keeping it simple, okay? Just keep it really simple. Because if it is a valid part of Buddha's teachings, it is therefore about the mind. It's about psychology. It's about the mind. And if tantra is part of Buddha's psychology and it's about the mind, then we have to go back to high school where we learn about the mind, which is based upon learning about karma in junior school. Report an error in the passage at 45:23 Highlight the passage at 45:23

45:51 Which is Buddha's view that consciousness is a beginningless continuity of mental moments, does not come from anyone else, but necessarily impermanent, millisecond by millisecond changing and millisecond by millisecond turning into something else depending on what we do in that mind of ours. And Buddha's fundamental starting point, which is the meaning, which is implying emptiness, this is the Mahāyāna one, is that every single mind possesses Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 45:51 Highlight the passage at 45:51

46:14 This is what they say, okay? So what does that mean? It means, actually, ultimate Buddha nature, this is how they use the words, means the fact that your mind is empty of inherent existence. I'm not going to go into these words. The fact that your mind lacks... An independent character. It completely lacks anything inherent. It completely lacks any intrinsic nature. It does not exist from its own side as this or that. Report an error in the passage at 46:14 Highlight the passage at 46:14

46:48 It does not exist in this way or that from its own side in and of itself, self-existently, inherently, intrinsically. All these words are synonymous. The meaning of ultimate Buddha nature is the fact that your mind is this that's empty of inherent existence and it's beginningless and endless is the proof that it can turn into a Buddha's mind. Report an error in the passage at 46:48 Highlight the passage at 46:48

47:08 Without its being empty, it is impossible to turn into an enlightened mind. And even more simple what this means is, what Buddha is saying is that the character of the virtuous qualities, this is speaking conventionally now, conventional Buddha nature, the character of the virtuous qualities is Report an error in the passage at 47:08 Highlight the passage at 47:08

47:32 that they're in the core of our being. They're indestructible. And the character of the negative states. Because they are delusions, because they are misconceptions, because they're liars, because they're not valid statements of truth, because they have no basis in reality, because they're total fantasy inventions by the mind, therefore they can be removed by the mind. Report an error in the passage at 47:32 Highlight the passage at 47:32

47:58 And so the utter removing of all the pollution, the delusions from the mind and the absolute development of all the goodness in the mind, that is the meaning of Buddha. Sangye in Tibetan, sang, bud, bud, implies the complete eradication to even the subtlest degree of any negativity which is what comes when you've perfected your insight into emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 47:58 Highlight the passage at 47:58

48:22 When you've stopped buying into those lies, perfected that. That's the achievement of wisdom and that's the implication of the first syllable sung in the Tibetan word for Buddha, Sangye. And then the second characteristic is the complete development beyond which it can't be developed further of all the positive qualities, all the wisdom, all the joy, all the love, all the compassion, which are at the core of our being, Buddha says. Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:49 And in the literature, this is deeply gone into, not just a belief thing. It's deeply explained logically how this is so. Logically. So the Sangye is the full development of all this goodness. This is the Mahāyāna view of what a Buddha is and that Buddha says is the potential of every living being. There are trillions of living beings, minds pervading all universes, all in the different realms of existence, all experiencing the fruits of their own past actions, all in saṃsāra caught up in the belief. Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

49:21 In an inherent me, who is done to by others, who is produced by others and sent to hell by others and sent to heaven by others, made by others. This entire dualistic view is based upon the belief in the exact opposite of emptiness that I am self-existent, poor me. As Lama Yeshi calls ego, it's the self-pity me. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:40 Speaking even just colloquially, the ego is the one that thinks I'm a victim, that God made me, mummy made me, daddy made me, someone else put me here, it's not my fault. Everyone else is to blame. So being in hell, which Buddha would assert as a mental existence, as Lama Yeshi says, you're not sent there by some devil saying, ha ha, I'm waiting for Lama Yeshi. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

50:00 No. Hell is the manifestation of your own, your own manifestation psychologically and experientially of your own negative energy from the past based upon self-existence, based upon rage and attachment and the nonsense, which are the voices of the ego grasping. Report an error in the passage at 50:00 Highlight the passage at 50:00

50:18 So every microsecond, Buddha says, every single sentient being in all the realms of existence, a microsecond, millisecond by millisecond, experiencing the fruits of their past actions, just naturally. It's just the way the world is. It's how minds are, Buddha says. It's the law that runs minds. And as long as those minds are in saṃsāra, quote unquote, you can be in the peak of saṃsāra, which is the creative religion view. Report an error in the passage at 50:18 Highlight the passage at 50:18

50:42 Or the Buddhist view of God realms where you're in bliss from enormous virtue. You're born as a blissful being with subtle light bodies and living in bliss. But you haven't realized emptiness yet. The petrol tank will run out and you're back to the intensity of the suffering of saṃsāra. Then you're born as a human, the result of virtue with a bit of suffering. Then you're born as an animal. Report an error in the passage at 50:42 Highlight the passage at 50:42

51:01 They're all psychological states. Everyone is a psychological state coming along with a certain level of physicality. And the tantric system is based upon this model. Which is the same as the Tibetan medical system where the physical world is made of the four elements. These marvellous explanations of the physical world, the four elements and how the mind is inexplicably linked with its own set of four elements. Report an error in the passage at 51:01 Highlight the passage at 51:01

51:22 And as Lama Yeshe says, or Lama Zopa says in the Kala Chakra Tantra for example, there's detailed descriptions of the intimate relationship between the internal and external worlds. Which is the internal world of the mind and the external world of the elements. And the four elements is what makes up this physical universe. Galileo on that mob talked about that back then. Now they've got all these other bunch of different elements, isn't it? Millions of them. So the Buddha would say the physical world, it too is beginningless. Report an error in the passage at 51:22 Highlight the passage at 51:22

51:47 The elements are beginningless. What do you want a beginning for? It's coming from, again, coming from self-existent view. All the elements exist and our minds are conjoined with these elements, all according to what your mind does. So when your mind is conjoined with elements, when it's due to anger and violence, it's called hell. Report an error in the passage at 51:47 Highlight the passage at 51:47

52:03 A karmic appearance of intense suffering created by your mind, created by your mind because you don't realise emptiness. The spirit realm created by the mind, intense suffering of unbearable attachment with karmic appearances of nightmares, intense suffering of animal birth, all mental states conjoined with a certain level of physical energy, created by whom? Report an error in the passage at 52:03 Highlight the passage at 52:03

52:26 Those sentient beings because of not having emptiness. Because of not seeing that they are the cause of their own suffering and therefore are just in this dualistic world of this total profound ignorance and fear and paranoia and continuing on the basis of this to harm others. This is being in saṃsāra, what Buddha says. And why? Because we don't realise emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 52:26 Highlight the passage at 52:26

52:48 Because we haven't seen that we are the creators of our own universe. That's the real meaning of emptiness. The subtlest meaning of emptiness is that everything is made by our mind. Everything exists. There's nothing that does exist, the Buddha says, this subtlest view. There is nothing that exists that isn't the product of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 52:48 Highlight the passage at 52:48

53:06 It's an insane view if you think about it. This is what Buddha is saying. This is the subtlest level of emptiness. That everything is empty. There's nothing independent of mind labeling. Merely labelled, as they say. It means everything, the experience is made by our mind. The physical elements are there, but they manifest in this shape and that size and that thing, fire or bliss or light or love or violence or stinky or revolting or hairy due to past karma created by me. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:33 It's my karmic appearance. Everything we experience, Buddha says, as Lama Zopa put it, is our own karmic appearance. And we don't think it is. And that's because we don't realise emptiness. We haven't seen. But things don't exist inherently. And we haven't seen that we have created our own universes, our own realities. And so therefore we can create our Buddhahood. It's like a joke, you know. Report an error in the passage at 53:33 Highlight the passage at 53:33

53:54 We created a rabbit, we can become a Buddha. And the answer to it, the why, is emptiness. Without it, it's a joke. You can change a little bit. Of course you can. Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:05 You can believe in God and he can send you to hell. But that's a view of self-existence. There's some change there. You turn from Robina to hell. It's true, that's change. You don't need emptiness for that. You're right. But you can't get out of it. It's forever and permanent, eternal. That's because of no emptiness. We in the materialist world, this is who I am, big fat lump of garbage, you know, born this way and will die this way. Report an error in the passage at 54:05 Highlight the passage at 54:05

54:28 That's because of no emptiness. Fear and paranoia and suffering and intensity and mania, that's because of no emptiness. When we realise emptiness, Lama Zopa says, there is no fear. When you realise emptiness, you can walk through walls and jump in the sky and manifest in millions of bodies. The lowest level bodhisattva, who's got some semblance of no ego, of emptiness and immense bodhicitta, has gone beyond, is no longer in the thrall of all the ridiculous laws of cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 54:28 Highlight the passage at 54:28

54:56 They can manifest in a hundred forms simultaneously. That's the lowest level and there are ten levels because of emptiness. The bodhisattva can feed their body to an animal and as one Lama said, Lama Kirti Senchab. For that bodhicitta feeding their hand, cutting their hand off and feeding it to a starving animal is as inconsequential as a leaf falling off a tree. That's not just bodhicitta, that's because of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 54:56 Highlight the passage at 54:56

55:21 No longer grasping at inherent eye, no longer grasping at things as self-existent. It's massive. So Ron's right, of course it's difficult, but it's absolutely underpinning every single word in Buddha's teachings. Every single board in the lamrim from A to Z, it's all taught and it's all leading us to emptiness. The sixth perfection of the six perfections of the bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 55:21 Highlight the passage at 55:21

55:41 Everything is leading you to emptiness because emptiness is the final key to success. You can be a bodhisattva until the cows come home. You won't be out of saṃsāra yet. You can be as blissful in the gods for a billion eons. You're still in saṃsāra because of emptiness. You have to realise emptiness. You can change and you better wiggle if there's no emptiness but not much. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

56:04 This big wiggle room when you've got emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 56:04 Highlight the passage at 56:04

56:10 Huh? Yes. Oh, calm down now. What time is it? Oh, we've still got time to go. Okay. Yes, darling. Report an error in the passage at 56:10 Highlight the passage at 56:10

56:30 I haven't begun to describe it yet. I'm just raving on. Okay, good. Report an error in the passage at 56:30 Highlight the passage at 56:30

56:41 Yep. Report an error in the passage at 56:41 Highlight the passage at 56:41

56:45 Okay, go on. I haven't described emptiness. If you want to try and work out what emptiness is, I haven't yet started. So let me wait till I describe it. Then you can ask the question. Are you trying to work out what you think emptiness is? Yes. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:07 That's right, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:12 Because things are empty, they can therefore change. Yes, that's right. So then, question? Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:26 Yes. No, wouldn't use the word inherit because it has a certain meaning in Buddhism. The Buddha would say the virtues are, my way of saying it is this, the virtues at the core of our, Buddha says the virtues at the core of our being, but why? It's because they're linked to reality. Because they're linked to reality. They're not fully linked to reality until you realise emptiness. Like I said before, Roshan and me talking. When we're virtuous, there's a sense of interconnectedness. Report an error in the passage at 57:26 Highlight the passage at 57:26

57:55 Would you agree? So that interconnectedness is an indicator of interdependence, which is just how things are. And when you're in the delusions, you're the opposite. It's me and you and how dare and panic and fear, which is the expression of all the lies. Do you see? Okay, good. I'm very pleased. Okay, now let's talk about the meaning of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:15 How to unpack it. Report an error in the passage at 58:15 Highlight the passage at 58:15

58:20 It's so confusing. Ron's right in what he's saying because the way they talk is not how we talk. So we kind of then mystify because we can't get our head around the concepts. So what does it mean? Realise emptiness. It's so annoying, isn't it? You've got to see emptiness. We get so confused. Well, let's unpack it. Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:38 I do the same example every time. If you've heard it before, I'm sorry to bore you. Listen. Ron. Report an error in the passage at 58:38 Highlight the passage at 58:38

58:47 Ron, darling, can you see that that's not red? Can you see that's not red? Listen, Ron. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

58:52 You accept that, don't you? And people can see it's vaguely blue, yeah? Okay, so we're talking, Buddha talks about conventional reality, the nuts and bolts of a this and that and a cock and a cup and a two and a knife and a good and a bad, all the bits and pieces of the universe, right? All the bits and pieces, the conventional reality. And then he talks about ultimate reality, the two truths, okay? So, first of all, you can accept that's not red, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:19 So, let's turn that... It's being not read. Let's turn it into a noun. You'd say absence of read. Would you agree with that? Absence of read. It's a bit pedantic and talky. So then, okay, this is the first point. Now the next point to put this into context is this. Right back before when I mentioned that in Buddhist philosophy, you learn there are various... Report an error in the passage at 59:19 Highlight the passage at 59:19

59:44 There are terms referring to that which exists and this is a massive point for Buddha because he says right now being in saṃsāra, being caught up in the nonsense, we're in la-la land in relation to how things exist. We don't see things properly. We don't see the cake. We all agree there's a chocolate cake there. We can get it right to that extent but then you see a delicious one, I see an ugly one and then all right there. Report an error in the passage at 59:44 Highlight the passage at 59:44

1:00:06 That's enough to prove emptiness but we don't get it. We don't connect the dots. We do see a cake, but each of us brings our own story to that cake, don't we? We kind of know that. You know, we all say beauty's in the eye of the beholder. It's very profound. If I'm in love with Ron, we all know he'll appear divine to my eyes, but if you're his ex-wife, believe me, you won't appear divine to his eyes. We all know this, but we should get the point of this, which means my delusions in my mind, or my virtues for that matter, colour how Ron appears to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:35 And this is taking us to the point the Buddha's making, that actually... Everything exists that way. And finally, to the most radical degree, Buddha says in this teaching on emptiness, the subtlest view, that everything is projected by our mind. But it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And that's the tricky part, to get it really properly grounded. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:35 Highlight the passage at 1:00:35

1:00:58 So in this thing of what does exist, several synonyms, that which exists, an existent, a phenomenon, an object of knowledge, these terms. So what Buddha is wanting us to do is learn to cognise that which exists. He wants us to cognise that which exists and stop believing in what doesn't exist. That's what Buddhahood is. You get my point? So we have to work out what does exist. That means an object of knowledge. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:21 Object is not meaning a physical thing. An object of knowledge, because the function of mind, okay, there's two parts of a definition. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:31 The mind is defined in, first it tells you its conventional characteristics. For the Buddha, it means its clarity or luminosity, which just means it's not physical. Don't get all fancy. And the other part tells you its job. Its job is to cognise or is to know or is... To be aware. These three verbs are synonymous. So to cognise what, mummy? That which exists, darling. So Buddha wants us to cognise that which exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:31 Highlight the passage at 1:01:31

1:01:59 Can you hear me? And we all know in the world there are trillions of phenomena existing, aren't there? Conventionally speaking. Yeah? You agree? You agree? Okay, so a phenomenon is the thing that exists. Okay, now, do you agree that blue exists here? Yeah? Well, blue is a phenomenon. It's an object of knowledge, isn't it? Of our mind. You agree that cup exists here? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:59 Highlight the passage at 1:01:59

1:02:19 We label it cup, we'll go into why we do that, but we agree a cup exists, so that's an object of knowledge, isn't it? Now, do you agree that it's not red? So turn that into a noun, turn that into an object of knowledge, which is like a noun. It's called absence of red. So putting it the Buddhist way, would you agree, Ron, that on this cup there does exist blue? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

1:02:42 You agree with that, don't you? On this cup... There does exist the absence of red. Do you agree with that? So absence of red is a phenomenon that your mind can cognise, isn't it? Just saying it's not red doesn't help. You've got to turn it into a noun. I like to say it that way. So that's why they use the term emptiness as a noun. So obviously emptiness of what? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:42 Highlight the passage at 1:02:42

1:03:04 Or absence. Absence, emptiness, same meaning. So Buddha would say on this cup there does exist the emptiness of red. It's kind of a quaint way to talk but we can see it's true, can't we? So now why would he point that out to you? Why would he say, hey Ron, I want you to see the absence of red here. What person would he say that to? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:04 Highlight the passage at 1:03:04

1:03:27 A person who thinks it's red. If you make a mistake and you're colour blind and you see red every time you see this, you're making a mistake, aren't you? You're cognising a phenomenon that doesn't exist. Do you agree? Do you agree? Well that's what Buddha says we're doing all the time. We see things and we see things that don't exist there. As Lama Zopa says, all these delusions, what they're doing is decorating on top of what does exist, layers upon layers upon layers of characteristics that don't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:27 Highlight the passage at 1:03:27

1:03:51 That's what Buddha's saying. You understand my point? So he wants us to see what does exist and to stop believing in what doesn't exist. So you right now are colour blind and you see what doesn't exist here. You see red every time. So obviously he points out to you that it's not red. He says therefore he wants you to cognise the absence of red here. And it seems abstract but it's got a very tasty meaning. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:51 Highlight the passage at 1:03:51

1:04:11 You listen. Another example I use. You're running late, Ron, and your keys are in the key drawer. They always stay there. Just before the front door you've got your key drawer. And you're running late and you open the drawer and you go, oh my God. What did you think you saw in that drawer? Yeah, but what did you see? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:11 Highlight the passage at 1:04:11

1:04:31 No, what did you see? Be precise. Thank you. Thank you, Ron. It's a really important point. And why did you see absence of keys? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:04:44 Because you expected keys. Because in your mind was a massive expectation, yeah? Massive, absolute assumption of truth. My keys are in that drawer. You believed in a lie. And you will get a big shock when you see the truth, which is there's an absence. But first you'll see the absence of keys, won't you? That's a big shock. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:44 Highlight the passage at 1:04:44

1:05:02 Well, look at this one. You believe it's red. Buddha doesn't bully you into seeing the truth. It's blue. Come on, Ron. Slap, slap. It's blue. Not like that. He would know there's something mistaken going on in your cognition. So we have to find out what that mistake is. We've got to discover all the dependent arisings that are involved here to see where the mistake is, why you're making that mistake, why you're seeing something that's not true. You accept my point? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02 Highlight the passage at 1:05:02

1:05:26 So in this case, we'd check your glasses. We'd check the lighting. We'd check your understanding of the English language. We'd check your eyes. You with me? And we'd fix all those dependent arisings and you would look again and what will you see first? What will you see Ron when we fix everything? There you go and that's seeing emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:45 The first moment of your insight into the absence of the inherent I is a result of the years and years and years of identifying all the wrong views, identifying all the dependent arisings and squeezing your brain mightily and arguing at a deep level in your mind every day using logic to prove. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

1:06:06 That they're all lies. And then one day you'll go, oh my God. And that'll be your first moment of non-conceptual insight into emptiness. And from that second on, you're out of saṃsāra, into nirvāṇa and won't fall back. A lot of work until then. Clear, logical analysis. Looking carefully at all the dependent arisings that are like eons old, Buddha says. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06:06

1:06:26 These huge, massive conceptual construction of lies. Each built on another lie. On another, on another, on another, on another, on another. All the way down to the ego grasping. So it takes time to unpack all our masses of assumptions, not just squeeze our brains and go emptiness, emptiness, emptiness, but to unpack. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:26 Highlight the passage at 1:06:26

1:06:44 And this is in the sūtra practice, okay? Until eventually one day, oh my God, there is no I there. That's the seeing of the emptiness of the I. A massive paradigm shift will occur in your mind. And then you perfect that with your realizations of emptiness. And they say when you've finally seen the absence of red, then you'll see the truth, which is blue. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:44 Highlight the passage at 1:06:44

1:07:05 Or in this case, then you'll see the truth which is subtle dependent arising. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:05 Highlight the passage at 1:07:05

1:07:13 That's the sūtra approach to it. And we've got to do this. But now let's look at how we do it in Tantra. It's very interesting. And there's a different method. It's a different approach into it based upon this one. Based upon this. On deep knowledge of this one. Based upon this. You know? So what we do in Tantra is... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:32 Okay, I'll go there in a minute. I'll go there in a minute. So then, okay. Are we communicating here, people? So what Buddha wants us to do is cognise that things that do exist, conventional and ultimate, because any phenomena that does exist is to be cognised by our mind. And that includes conventional phenomena and it includes ultimate, which is called emptiness. Emptiness, absence of red does definitely exist here. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:57 You agree? It's a real phenomena that does exist, isn't it? But only for the person who thinks it's blue. When you find, I don't need to tell you, there's an absence of elephants here as well, isn't there? But who cares about that? We don't see elephants. You see my point? It's not just an abstract idea. There's an absence of elephants, there's an absence of elephants here as well. But if you don't see elephants, who cares? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

1:08:22 It's not relevant. So what Buddha's saying is, everything we see, this is the subtlest one, we see it as inherent. We see it as not dependent on anything. We see it as independent, especially of my mind projecting. We really believe it's out there in itself, set in stone. This is all of saṃsāra, Buddha says, including the highest peak of saṃsāra, to the lowest. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22

1:08:49 As Ron pointed out, there's many levels of understanding in Buddhism, the understanding of emptiness. The first one, which Buddha directly argues with the Hindus, is that there cannot be found an eye, or anything else for that matter, but an eye, let's say, That doesn't depend upon causes and conditions. And that's for sure the Christian teaching of a soul and the Christian teaching of a creator. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:49 Highlight the passage at 1:08:49

1:09:14 That's the reifying, you know, extreme, eternalistic. And indeed the Hindu one of Atma. And then the next one, more subtle, is that there's no I that exists without depending on the aggregates, the parts. Whereas they teach that there is. And then the subtlest one, which they say is the Prasanghika Majamika view, is that there's no I independent of the mind calling it that, which means everything comes from the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:53 This is the subtlest one, the most subtle, the most hard to see. But our minds make up everything, which doesn't mean therefore anything goes. Because the point of this subtle dependent arising, which is the ultimate meaning of emptiness, is that it sits hand in hand with dependent arising, which is the conventional truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:53 Highlight the passage at 1:09:53

1:10:13 Okay, so we're going to talk tomorrow of the Heart Sūtra. And in the Heart Sūtra it says, form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Form is nothing other than emptiness. And emptiness is nothing other than form. Well, technically that's not correct, as the teachings say. I'm not being clever here. I'm just quoting the Lamas. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

1:10:32 What it actually is meaning is that you can't possibly find the absence of red anywhere but on a cup that does exist. So you have to first posit what does exist, which is a blue cup, right? You've got to first posit a conventional truth called a cup. Then you proceed to investigate how it exists and you have to find the absence of red on that very cup. So emptiness is not some abstract like nothingness in the sky, which is the commonest way we hear this word. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:32 Highlight the passage at 1:10:32

1:11:04 In other words, if I go to your drawer and I don't expect in Ron's drawer and I don't expect keys there, I'll open it and I'll go, boring old drawer there, nothing in there. That's what we think of emptiness. It's like, oh, it's nothing. You annihilate everything and there's nothing left. Rubbish. It's the absence of a very specific thing that you thought was there. It's super focused. It's super intense. It's super tasty. It's the absence of a thing you thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:04 Highlight the passage at 1:11:04

1:11:30 Can you hear that? Like if you walk into the room and you believe totally that someone is in there, you get a big shock when you see the absence of that person in the room. It's a vivid thing, the absence of something. Look when your husband just left you for another version. And you come home, you're in despair. All you see in that house is the absence of Fred, isn't it? I walk in your house, I just see you. Do you see what I'm saying here? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:55 Because in your mind you want Fred to be there. All you see is no Fred. So it's not just seeing nothing. It's seeing the absence of something you thought was there but is not there. That's the point of it. So it's very focused and specific. Can you hear that? Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:15 These are the intellectual words for it. As Lama Zopa says in the piece I've got in here for you, the teaching, that's the word, you've got to have the words, you've got to have the words right, otherwise you'll always be confused. You've got to get the words right and then slowly from experience the penny drops, you know. But as Rinpoche says, the two signs that you've got the meaning here, not just intellectual, is either incredible fear or complete bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:15 Highlight the passage at 1:12:15

1:12:42 So having any response would be great, wouldn't it? You just go, I can be a clever bugger saying all these words, but I don't have any fear or any joy. I just like talking about it, you know. Do you understand? So the insight into it is, oh my God, like that. But a million times more intense than that. Because you're seeing, absolutely focused, the absence of that thing you always thought was there. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:42 Highlight the passage at 1:12:42

1:13:03 It's a super shock to the mind. And all the Buddha is saying is, red could exist here, because we know red does exist. But hey. The inherent I has never existed, ever and never could. So to see the absence of it, which is what we believe in since the beginning of this time, is pretty stupendous. And that's the beginning of the end of your suffering. And until we've got that moment, a direct non-conceptual insight into that, we're never out of saṃsāra, Buddha says. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03 Highlight the passage at 1:13:03

1:13:37 So it's a tough one to do. Of course it is. Ron is right. But we can do it. This is the thing in our culture. We are super educated. We are super intelligent. And this is the thing I think when we mistake, Ron, when I argue and say it's not complicated. It is. But listen, we are super intelligent and we can learn the most incredible sciences, the most amazing engineering and architecture and graphic design and computers and mathematics. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37 Highlight the passage at 1:13:37

1:14:04 Can we not? We can fill our heads with the most incredible amount of concepts and we're so precise with those concepts, aren't we? Are you seeing what I'm saying? So we really insult ourselves when we think we can't understand emptiness intellectually. We must understand intellectually first. How in the name of God can you play the piano if you don't learn the theory first? How can you even make a cake without learning the theory first? How can you make a computer without knowing the theory? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:04 Highlight the passage at 1:14:04

1:14:27 But this is the trouble. We mystify this stuff, you know. It's so wrong. Squeeze your brain, please. Learn the words. Learn the concepts. Rip them to pieces. Think about them. Analyze them. Get them right. Then you've got the basis of proper meditation where you can now get an experience of it. It's all there, but we mystify it. Don't. Bodhicitta, for my opinion, I'm sorry, is much harder. Putting yourself, other people first before you, thanks a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:27 Highlight the passage at 1:14:27

1:14:56 You see my point? Sacrificing yourself for others, giving the blame to others, accepting, taking responsibility for something you didn't do wrong. This is just enormously more difficult. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:56 Highlight the passage at 1:14:56

1:15:09 Emptiness. We're all so clever. Of course we can get it. Of course don't confuse it with realising it. That's fine. But you've got to have the thoughts first. Don't underestimate, you know. Do not underestimate. Of course there are so many meditations where you actually don't go here. Like I'm editing a moment, a book of Lama Yeshe on Mahamudra. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:30 Like Tsongkheng, you know, completely blissful. A real yogi's teaching. Don't go anywhere near the intellect. You know, the intellect will say this, go away, don't do this. You're dealing directly with the nature of your own mind. You're getting right into the taste of the emptiness of your own mind. Blissful. Nothing to do with intellect. Taste the true nature of your mind. Wonderful meditations doing like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:30 Highlight the passage at 1:15:30

1:15:51 So there's many doorways in. We need all of them. And then tantra, yet another one. So the real one, what you're doing in tantra, in a way it's a lot easier. It's based on emptiness, completely. But what you're doing, you're actually having courage to lift your view of yourself from I'm a creep to I'm a sublime being. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:13 Okay, this is not living in a fantasy world, okay? If you are, you're in big trouble. But it's faking it till you make it, which is exactly what we need to have, which is immense confidence that I can do it. So everything we learn, I think it's faking it till you make it. When you climb on that bike, you know, you've got your poster of Lance Armstrong. I know he's naughty now, but I still use him as my example. You've got your poster of Lance Armstrong. Every day you look at it and yearn, I'm going to be like Lance. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:38 You do that, don't you? You look up to Lance. Well, this is exactly what Tantra is. Don't mystify it. If you think I'm a creep and I'm only two and I can't ride a bike and you see everybody else, two-year-olds all falling off their bikes, you'll get very depressed. But look at Lance. Wow, you get courage, don't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:38 Highlight the passage at 1:16:38

1:16:55 I can do that, you say. And you sit there and you get on your bike and you pretend you're Lance. Believe me, you'll stay on your bike longer than the other guys because you've got confidence and you're bringing the end result, you being Lance, into the present. And that gives you this immense energy to do it. And then guess what? You lift yourself up to that level. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:55 Highlight the passage at 1:16:55

1:17:13 It's all psychology. It is just your mind doing it, you know. So you're imagining a blissful being, a Buddha, taking the form of this gorgeous red naked lady. Oh, she's not red, she's green, isn't she? Yeah, green lady, okay. Looking gorgeous. It's meant to energize you. And you're identifying with that. I want to become the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:13 Highlight the passage at 1:17:13

1:17:33 Based on motivation of emptiness, of bodhicitta. Based on emptiness, based on renunciation. All that's underneath you. It's all there informing your experience. And then you have a guru, okay, that too. And you mix that with there. There's Tara, my guru in front of me. And you're blissful. And then you do all these various purification things. You bring it and then you visualize, dissolves into you. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:33 Highlight the passage at 1:17:33

1:17:54 Me and Tara become one. And you're pretending. Of course you're pretending. Everything's pretending until you've got it. And you can't get it until you pretend. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:54 Highlight the passage at 1:17:54

1:18:05 So you keep doing that. Based on emptiness, you see and you dissolve through the eight stages. If you've done the practices, you know what you're doing. You go through the stages of dissolution and you completely then visualize I'm the Dharmakaya. Completely blissed out. Entire universe, completely clear, blissful, omniscient mind in the nature of emptiness, in the nature of bliss and you do a bit of analysis and then you absorb in that vast, blissful, empty space. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:05 Highlight the passage at 1:18:05

1:18:30 Practicing, letting go of the garbage dump that you think you are, you know, and turning into the Buddha's mind. You do this every single day. Well, guess what it'll cause you to become, baby? Hardly rocket science. Ron will turn into some green lady one day. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:30 Highlight the passage at 1:18:30

1:18:52 This is where Lama Yeshi was so sweet in the way he would bring this philosophy and psychology into daily life. He met all these hippies in the 70s and all us hippies and everything and all looking so self-piteous and sorry for ourselves and he just tried to drag us up to have fun and enjoy and have a happy mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:52 Highlight the passage at 1:18:52

1:19:07 But you have Lama Zopa for three weeks telling you about the hell realms. You want to kill yourself. And then you have Lama Yeshi coming on trying to perk you up. And he used to bring this idea, which is one of the tantra, of... Based upon renunciation, based upon emptiness, based upon bodhicitta, instead of this miserable sense we have of ourselves. Someone says, hello, how are you, Rabin? You blurt out all your misery. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:07 Highlight the passage at 1:19:07

1:19:30 I'm so pathetic, I'm this, I'm that, I'm depressed, I want to kill myself. Instead of this, you pretend, you have this, you know, and it's like, okay, Grace Kelly said, I love this, she said, of course I have to look beautiful. People have to look at me. So the whole one here in the deity yoga, this one, this practice, is imagining yourself as beautiful, having enough self-respect, because you live on this earth, to look nice, to present yourself nicely to people. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:30 Highlight the passage at 1:19:30

1:19:56 And as soon as you present yourself nicely, guess who feels better? I mean, it's such a simple psychology. If you're feeling pathetic, you're dirty, you don't wash yourself, you look ugly, your clothes stink. If you're on the lowest level of practice, live in the mountains with stinky clothes, no probs. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:56 Highlight the passage at 1:19:56

1:20:12 But if you live on this earth with other people, you've got to go to work and do things, look nice. This is part of tantra. I promise you it is. Because obviously it's got to come from egolessness. You have to do it for vanity. You do it because you're in this universe of benefiting others. And because you don't buy into this, I'm such a beautiful person. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:12 Highlight the passage at 1:20:12

1:20:29 You do it, it's like light as a feather. You're not grasping at it. So you look nice. You are nice to other people. It lifts everybody. You know? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:29 Highlight the passage at 1:20:29

1:20:39 This is the psychology of tantra. In the practices they call it divine pride. You consciously, actively identify with being the Buddha. It's a commitment you have when you take initiation to practice lifting your view of yourself. And of course it's private, totally private. Your view of yourself as sublime. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:20:59 So then you will act sublime. You will speak sublime. If you look like an old junkyard, rubbish, smelly and stinky, you'll act miserable. It's hardly rocket science. There's something very profoundly tasty about this, psychologically speaking. Are you understanding my point, people? I remember we did these few cocktail party auctions in 2009. Some of you might have come to them. And I noticed when we first did our first one, we called it a cocktail party. So you get dressed up, don't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:20:59 Highlight the passage at 1:20:59

1:21:26 When you come to a cocktail party, then someone offers you a nice drink and a canapé, you already have this sense of, oh, wow. Isn't it? Instead of like all slumming and lucky yucky and there's something very practical about this. Of course we've got renunciation, you don't care less about how you appear, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:26 Highlight the passage at 1:21:26

1:21:44 But to use this in your daily life and be nice to others and appear nice and please people, the whole thing in the Bodhisattva path and in the Tantric path is to please sentient beings, to make them blissful, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:21:56 And guess what? It makes you blissful. Does it make sense what I'm saying? I'm just really extrapolating here, but does it make sense? The first level you've got to give up sex, drugs and rock and roll because you're completely a junkie for it and back off from sentient beings, go to the mountains, get some realizations, then you can realize emptiness, then you can come down and get some bodhicitta and now you exist for others and the way to quickly become a Buddha is by doing these practices, lifting your game, seeing yourself as transcendental, seeing sound as transcendental, seeing lift because in any way they say in tantra things are in the nature of bliss, we just don't see it because our minds are like sewers. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:56 Highlight the passage at 1:21:56

1:22:32 So we're lifting our mind, and emptiness is crucial to this, and bliss. Emptiness and bliss, how they talk, you know. When the mind is naturally blissful, there's no grasping at ego, which is emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:32 Highlight the passage at 1:22:32

1:22:51 Are we communicating a bit? Ron? Good, darling. Any questions? Time for Report an error in the passage at 1:22:51 Highlight the passage at 1:22:51

1:23:07 tea. Not tea time? I think tea time. Come back with some questions. 20 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:07 Highlight the passage at 1:23:07

1:23:33 So I think we do a meditation, okay? Just relax. Be very simple, normal. And we're going to use our minds like we're doing all day and night. Now before I do this meditation, let me just say something. Before we do this meditation, we actually know about concentration. We know about visualizing really well. We do it all day. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33 Highlight the passage at 1:23:33

1:23:56 Whenever you're using your mind and you're thinking about a person you like, especially if you're attached to them or you're thinking about a thing that you're attached to or you're thinking about a person you don't like, what we're doing is visualisation. Very good visualisation. Very focused visualisation. No one can disturb you when you're really mad at somebody. You don't say, be quiet, I'm trying to be angry with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:56 Highlight the passage at 1:23:56

1:24:15 You don't get disturbed. Everyone can be shouting around you and you can't get your mind out of it, can you? That's called concentration and that's called visualisation. So don't say we can't do it, it's just that we don't call it visualisation, you know. We do it all the time. We're spending all our day thinking about unhappy things, usually we're in the centre of it, delusions and we're focusing on it and looking at it from all points of view. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:15 Highlight the passage at 1:24:15

1:24:37 We're doing it all the time. So all we're trying to do is use the same skill that we've already developed but to practice virtue, to sow virtuous seeds, to practice new habits in the mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:37 Highlight the passage at 1:24:37

1:24:49 Okay, so just close your eyes and relax. Keep your body upright. It's helpful to not slump into the chair. If you can, sit up straight. That's good. Don't lean again and have your feet firmly planted on the ground. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:49 Highlight the passage at 1:24:49

1:25:03 So we're just going to do a meditation on this Buddha called Tara. She's one of the many examples of the energy or the quality, if you could call it, the quality of power. There are three essential qualities of an enlightened mind. Compassion. Which is often, as we know in Tibetan, the Buddha Avalokitesvara, Chen Resig, represents that energy, that quality, compassion, love. Then we have wisdom, which is often represented by Manjushri, Manju, gentle voice. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:03 Highlight the passage at 1:25:03

1:25:31 And then we have this third characteristic of a Buddha. It's the compassion to want to benefit others, the wisdom to know how and then the power to do so, action energy. So we all need all these three. You've got to have wisdom. You've got to want to help people. You've got to know how, which is wisdom, and you've got to be able to do it. That's action energy. She represents that. So, you know, it's the opposite to sort of feeling hopeless. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:25:54 I can't do it. I'm no good. Misery. No confidence. Her energy is the exact opposite of that, and we all need this badly. So, if you're not familiar with this image, don't worry. Just, you know, think about it. If you are, that's fine. So, imagine outside us. Enlightened mind, which does exist, manifesting in this form, representing this quality. So she takes the form of this green female form. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:54 Highlight the passage at 1:25:54

1:26:23 Everything's made of light, radiant green light. She's sitting on a lotus, on a multicolored lotus. You think this, just visualize this, imagine this. And she's, everything's made of light. She's totally gorgeous, you know, should energize you, make you happy. Lighten your mind, loosen the heaviness. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:23 Highlight the passage at 1:26:23

1:26:41 Very beautiful. Sweet, beautiful face. Very blissful. Very sweet red mouth. And then her hair, like in this Indian style, you know. She's in the aristocratic style, royal style. She's dressed in sort of silken clothing, the lower part of her body mostly. Her left leg is drawn in, like as if in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:41 Highlight the passage at 1:26:41

1:27:00 But her right leg is resting out, sitting on another little multicolored lotus. And this is the action pose, like she's, you know, willing to hop up, eager to hop up to help others, to act. It's not a meditative pose. It's action energy. So you imagine this in this rainbow-coloured kind of silken clothes you see in the pictures that she's wearing. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:00 Highlight the passage at 1:27:00

1:27:20 Her top part of her body is usually naked. She's usually just beautiful, gorgeous-looking breasts. Everything's beautiful. Maybe a little shawl. You see it in the pictures. If you're familiar, it's okay. Everything's radiant, blissful, light, that eye level. If you have a teacher, a spiritual teacher, a Lama, a Guru, a spiritual teacher, you think it's their mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:20 Highlight the passage at 1:27:20

1:27:41 Manifesting in this form for your benefit. Think like that. It makes it very personal. Her face, like I said, very beautiful. Her hair is partially held up in a top knot like you see in the pictures. And that's decorated in sort of jewels and the rest of the hair is down her back. Very long, crystal clear, black hair. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:41 Highlight the passage at 1:27:41

1:28:05 She's got these, you know, decorated in the Indian style. Her ears, her throat, upper arms, wrists, ankles. Everything is radiant, light, so beautiful, so light, blissful, light. And she represents, she has all the qualities of an enlightened being, the wisdom, the compassion, all this perfection, but the aspect that she's showing is this action energy, the ability to get up and benefit others, courage, you know, fearless, fearlessness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:05 Highlight the passage at 1:28:05

1:28:33 We need this badly. So we imagine from her brow, we imagine she sends this very powerful... Beams of white laser light, so strong, that enter our brow, penetrating very strongly, instantly filling us with this radiant white light. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:33 Highlight the passage at 1:28:33

1:28:58 And you imagine what it does first, it completely purifies all the misery of our bodies, the heaviness, the sickness, the need to sleep all the time, the laziness, the can't be bothered, the inertia of our bodies, which holds us back hugely. This massive obstacle actually, this body. So imagine purifying all this laziness and the heaviness and the inability to do what we want and the sickness of this body. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:58 Highlight the passage at 1:28:58

1:29:28 Totally purifying all that. But also purifying, imagine, all the harm we've ever done with our bodies since beginningless time. That's how Buddha says, since beginningless time we've used our bodies, animals, as humans, to harm others. So we think of all the karmic imprints, of all this harm we've ever done since the beginning of this time with our bodies instantly annihilated, instantly by this radiant, blissful laser light, white light, filling us. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:28 Highlight the passage at 1:29:28

1:30:22 And again Lama Tara, Buddha Tara very happily sends these powerful beams of white light from her brow into our brow, instantly filling us. And this time with our potential to have this radiant, light, blissful body, just imagine it, you know. That can only benefit others. Impossible to do anything else. Only benefit others. Which of course means when we become a Buddha, this means the capacity to manifest in countless bodies throughout space effortlessly to benefit sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:57 Feel the body light and blissful and capable and radiant and only capable of benefiting others. Imagine this. Full of this marvellous potential. My potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:36 And then now from her throat, Buddha Tara very happily sends very powerful laser beams of red light that enter our throat, instantly filling us. And this time, instantly annihilating, purifying all the hopelessness of our speech, you know, the feeling of not being able to express clearly what we really think, all the rubbish speech, the confused speech. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:36 Highlight the passage at 1:31:36

1:32:02 And all the harm we've ever done since the beginning of this time with this part of us, which we do so much as humans. All the harsh speech, all the lying, all the speculating, all the talking about people behind their backs creating disharmony, and all the rabbiting on about nothing, all this exhaustion of our energy with our speech, completely purifying all of this since the beginning of this time, Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02

1:32:26 full of this blissful red light. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:26 Highlight the passage at 1:32:26

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:33:04 And again, Buddha Tara sends this radiant beams of red laser light from her throat that enter our throat and fill us instantly, this time with what else but our potential. So can you imagine, as they call it, the power of speech, which is the most important offering of the Buddha, of ours to other beings, is the benefit of our speech, advice. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:25 It's our most precious gift. So you imagine full of this marvelous potential, such that any sound we utter, Good morning, whatever it is, whoever hears it will benefit, will hear perfectly what they need. To have such amazing speech, to be able to explain, to help people understand things, to benefit sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:25 Highlight the passage at 1:33:25

1:33:49 So whoever hears us, the animals, the birds, the creatures, the humans, that they benefit from hearing our speech, full of this amazing potential, the power of speech, our own potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:49 Highlight the passage at 1:33:49

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:34:37 And now from her heart chakra in the centre of her chest, Buddha Tara sends powerful laser beams of blue light, blue like the sky, that enter our heart, fill us instantly. And this time removing all the delusions, which of course are the source of our own pain and the cause of why we harm others. The ego grasping that clings to the self-existent me, which gives rise to this bottomless pit of attachment to get what that I wants. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:37 Highlight the passage at 1:34:37

1:35:09 Then the aversion and panic and depression and despair and anger when it doesn't. Then all the other nonsense, the jealousy, the aggression, the arrogance, the low self-esteem, the guilt, all of these things that cause unbelievable fear and pain. They're in the nature of fear and they only cause pain and they cause me to harm others. The root of the problem. All of this since the beginning of this time annihilated instantly from my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:09 Highlight the passage at 1:35:09

1:35:38 Full of this blissful blue light. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:38 Highlight the passage at 1:35:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:36:18 And again, Buddha Tara sends these radiant beams of laser light, this blue light entering my heart, filling me instantly. This time with my potential. The qualities that are at the core of my being, that actually, if you like, are almost like the substance of my mind. When it's finally unencumbered by all the junk, the goodness, the wisdom, all the good qualities, just naturally there and in the nature of bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:18 Highlight the passage at 1:36:18

1:36:42 Mind unencumbered by junk. Is in the nature of bliss. That's just what it does. This is our natural state. Absolutely full of this. Blissful. Blissful. Loving. Compassionate. Wise. Kind. All these qualities. Fully developed. My own nature. Manifest. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:42 Highlight the passage at 1:36:42

1:37:04 Radiant blue light. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:04 Highlight the passage at 1:37:04

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:37:46 And now we imagine that having done this, we've removed all the obstacles to our own liberation. But now we do one more time. Where we remove even the subtlest imprints, which are the obstacles to our omniscience, as they call it. So this time Lama Tara sends these three lights simultaneously. The white from her brow, red from her throat, blue from her heart, that enter our three places simultaneously. Instantly this rainbow light filling us and removing even these subtlest imprints, the obstacles to all the realizations. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:46 Highlight the passage at 1:37:46

1:38:22 So that our own Buddhahood manifests. Just imagine this. Full of this blissful, radiant light. Our own potential. Fully manifest. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:22 Highlight the passage at 1:38:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:39:03 And now you imagine the lotus that Lama Buddha is sitting on and the one she's resting her right foot on. Just both these multicolored lotuses, they both just dissolve into light, into her body. Right away. Just right then. Right there. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:03 Highlight the passage at 1:39:03

1:39:24 And then you imagine she comes and sits above your head, facing the same way as you. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:24 Highlight the passage at 1:39:24

1:39:43 And now you imagine. Lama Tara, your Lama as Tara, happily wanting to be oneness with your body, your speech and your mind. Happily wanting to merge with you. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:43 Highlight the passage at 1:39:43

1:39:56 So you imagine this blissful enlightened energy dissolving into green light, coming through your crown and completely filling you. So your body, speech, mind, Tara's body, speech, mind, Lama's body, speech, mind, same thing. As Lama Yeshi would put it, union, oneness. So just imagine, full of this blissful, omniscient energy. And then just let go of all thoughts and just imagine limitless, you know, this is not just stuck in this little body, but imagine limitless, vast, blissful, radiant, clear, wise, perfect, enlightened energy pervading the universe in the nature of bliss and clarity. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:56 Highlight the passage at 1:39:56

1:40:38 No thoughts. Huge, spacious, clear. This is me. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:38 Highlight the passage at 1:40:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:41:45 And now we think this is already fine for me, being the Buddha, but what about sentient beings? I've worked so hard for countless lives based on my immense compassion, developing this wisdom that's cut the delusions and has caused me to achieve my own omniscience, to achieve my own Tara nature. So what am I going to do about it? I need to benefit others. That's why I've done it. So I must manifest in a body. So you just instantly think of yourself in your own body. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:45 Highlight the passage at 1:41:45

1:42:08 If you've taken initiation, you think of yourself as Tara. And then you imagine all beings in front of us. So you imagine right in front all the enemies, right in front, one or two. And then think of the others there as well, the mean people, the ones who are harmful to us, right in front of us. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:08 Highlight the passage at 1:42:08

1:42:35 And then to the left in front of us, our beloveds, the objects of our attachment. You know, put one or two there and imagine all the others, the ones we're attached to, close to, whom we love, our dear ones. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:42:58 And then to the right and above and below and behind and to the sides as far as you can imagine, pervading space. The third category of sentient beings, who are those who have neither harmed us nor helped us, and that's the strangers, the whole of the spaceful. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:58 Highlight the passage at 1:42:58

1:43:15 They would say that you visualize all the realms of existence, all the animals, all the humans, all the pretters, all the hell beings, all the gods, but all in human form, which is the form they can get enlightened in, pervading space, pervading space, all with their own sufferings, pervading space, all sentient beings, friends, enemies, strangers. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:15 Highlight the passage at 1:43:15

1:43:35 Above, below, behind, to the sides, everywhere you think. They say, Buddha says, there's not an atom of space, you won't find sentient beings anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:35 Highlight the passage at 1:43:35

1:43:52 And so now, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:52 Highlight the passage at 1:43:52

1:43:56 these three groups, you know, completely different from our mind, deluded mind side, they're different, but from their side, the same. Wanting to be happy, wanting not to suffer, having Buddha nature. No difference. So now that I'm a Buddha, we imagine, no choice must benefit them. So from our hearts, we imagine, emanating out. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:56 Highlight the passage at 1:43:56

1:44:15 Trillions and trillions of little tiny green Taras, like out the front, the back, the sides, as far as we can imagine, entering into the hearts first of the strangers, of the enemies, of the enemies, seeing them receive or be relieved of their suffering, receive everything they need and then become their own Tara. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:15 Highlight the passage at 1:44:15

1:44:34 And the enemies and the friends, the strangers, same. Just imagine this. Want this. Trillions of green Taras going out, transforming every one of these sentient beings into their own Tara. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:34 Highlight the passage at 1:44:34

1:44:59 As we keep visualizing this, just for about a minute, we sing her mantra. So really the mantra, each of these Buddhas has their own mantra, just Sanskrit sounds, which is an audio representation, really, of the same qualities, that's all. So we can imagine this mantra, the sound going out as it goes out. You imagine also kind of green light raining down from all the sounds going out, blessing all these beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:59 Highlight the passage at 1:44:59

1:45:25 Continue to visualize, we're transforming everyone. Om Tare Tu Tare Tu Re Soha. Om Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha Report an error in the passage at 1:45:25 Highlight the passage at 1:45:25

1:45:59 Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha. Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha Tare, Tu Tare, Tu Re Soha. Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha Tare Tu Tare Tu Re Soha, Om Tare Tu Tare Tu Soha. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:59 Highlight the passage at 1:45:59

1:46:47 All these sentient beings transformed into Tara, all their suffering gone, all their happiness received and all their manifesting. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:47:02 Now imagine they all dissolve into green light from all directions and all absorb into me, enhancing even more brilliantly my Tara nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:02 Highlight the passage at 1:47:02

1:47:36 Okay, relax. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:36 Highlight the passage at 1:47:36

1:47:46 This is a really rough, rough example of this type of practice. But the key to success, and it's far more complex and much more subtle, as Ron was pointing out, and all the instructions are there and one needs to take all the initiations and receive all the teachings and learn all the techniques. But the essence of it is that the more you have concentration, the more subtle your mind becomes. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:46 Highlight the passage at 1:47:46

1:48:10 And when you do these practices, you go into... Your mind would go to a subtle level when you've gone, you've done that meditation on emptiness and it goes much more detailed. Then there you would, with your subtle mind, you're practicing, imagining you've become the Buddha's mind, you've become the Dharmakaya. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:25 And at some point, that's what you'll achieve. That's the point. See, the real key to success here too is when we understand karma. Forget emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:25 Highlight the passage at 1:48:25

1:48:35 The simple point that Buddha's making about karma, which is so outrageous, it's not just that our mind plays a role. It's that whatever your mind does is the factor that determines your future experiences. It's not the outside world at all. It's not a creator. It's not your mummy. It's not your daddy. It's not your brain. It's not your DNA. It's not anything outside. They're not the main cause at all. They're the fruit. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:35 Highlight the passage at 1:48:35

1:49:01 They're the result of what your mind has done. The meaning of karma is intention. The meaning of karma is intention. Action, mental action, yeah, action, intention. Every microsecond of what your mind does sows a seed in your mind based on that thing. And it's all just the way it is, you know. That is what creates our reality. So if every thought that you ever have sows seeds in your mind, then don't be surprised. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:01 Highlight the passage at 1:49:01

1:49:27 What do you think negative thoughts are going to cause? What do you think suffering is? All the realms of existence are the fruit of negative actions. Not in a moralistic, dualistic sense of punishment, which is how we think of this stuff, but as a natural organic law that simply occurs in minds, done by minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:27 Highlight the passage at 1:49:27

1:49:47 This is what karma is. It's so outrageous of you. And the ignorance we have that we really believe I'm this self-existent lump of something plonked on this earth by someone else unfairly. It's just beyond bizarre when you think of this view. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:47 Highlight the passage at 1:49:47

1:50:10 And to realize this is beyond empowering. It takes time. Therefore every microsecond of what my mind does, sows a seed. So obviously sitting there imagining your Buddha, we think that's just fantasy. Of course it's fantasy. But it leaves seeds in your mind, baby. Then guess what it'll ripen as? Precisely what you put in. And actually it's how you learn anything. What do you think you're doing when you play piano? You've thought of music that often that now it's spontaneous. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:10 Highlight the passage at 1:50:10

1:50:37 Now you can actually play piano. Guess why? Because your mind had those music thoughts. So this is karma. It's just habituation. So you better choose what you want to be habitual with, what you want to get you habituated with, whatever the verb is. I can't say it. You have to just decide what you want to learn to have your mind thinking. You want to be more miserable? Think angry thoughts. Think jealousy. Think depression. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:37 Highlight the passage at 1:50:37

1:51:00 Think depression. Think blame. Think not fair. Think poor me. Blame everybody. If you want to be miserable, that's an easy way. We've been doing it for countless eons, Buddha says. Just keep doing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:09 You want to be happy, start having positive thoughts. It's not complicated. So okay, first junior school practice is just control your body and speech. Don't go near your mind yet. Just control yourself. Don't harm others because everything you do to harm others will cause you suffering. So back off, leave others alone. Now you have the luxury of learning to meditate and get into your mind where you can begin to understand your mind and unpack the nonsense and see how these deluded thoughts work and how they cause you suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:09 Highlight the passage at 1:51:09

1:51:35 This is your main job there. You can say in the compassion wing, you're continuing to do this, but you're adding bucket loads of virtuous thoughts on top. So the first level of practice in relation to the food is back off and eat one or two mouthfuls and think it's caca. That's a good practice. They say think of it as revolting. It's the only way to give up attachment at the first level. The next one is understand your mind more and don't get caught up in the lie that cake will make you happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:35 Highlight the passage at 1:51:35

1:52:03 So then you're watching the negative thoughts. You're trying to lessen them so you don't poison your mind. Now with the Mahāyāna view, you add on top of those dumb thoughts some virtuous thoughts. It's so easy to have virtuous thoughts. So there you are dying to stuff the cake in the mouth. But before you do, you have thoughts like, it's completely empty. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:03 Highlight the passage at 1:52:03

1:52:26 That's already incredible. It smashes the grasping. It puts powerful virtuous seeds in your mind, just thinking it doesn't exist from its own side. Then you can even think, you know, it's delicious nectar, and I'm going to imagine offering it to all the beings in the universe. That is just so mind-boggling, you can't even believe it. That virtuous thought takes like half a second. Then you can think, you know, I'm going to eat this, I'm going to be healthier, I'm going to be better for sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:26 Highlight the passage at 1:52:26

1:52:49 Just those few positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. You put on top of the attachment thoughts, which are still going to be there. But you just made it a virtuous action because of the power of those positive thoughts. It's so simple to do this. But we don't get it, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:49 Highlight the passage at 1:52:49

1:53:08 This is the Mahāyāna, the bodhisattva path, not even the tantric one. So powerful. So every thought we have sows a seed that will necessarily ripen as our own experiences. We literally, you could say, are our own creators. This is what Buddha is saying about karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:08 Highlight the passage at 1:53:08

1:53:29 So when we begin to get this, the empowerment of this is beyond belief. It's up to me. I'm the boss. Can't be self-pity, which is ego. Lama Yeshi calls ego the self-pity me, which is the victim. I didn't ask yet born. Not my fault. It's all their fault. His fault. Her fault. Everybody else's fault but mine. Everything but take responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:29 Highlight the passage at 1:53:29

1:53:49 We can't bear it. It's painful. It's like a nightmare. That's ego. It's kind of tragic. No ownership, which is no emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:49 Highlight the passage at 1:53:49

1:54:00 No interdependence, self-existence, self-pity me. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:00 Highlight the passage at 1:54:00

1:54:11 You're having positive thoughts. That's all you're doing in Tantra. You're having positive thoughts. Imagining I'm a Buddha. Imagining I purify. Imagining become the Buddha. Imagining benevolent or sentient beings. Good Lord, what seeds do you think you just planted in your mind that little 15 minutes? Stupendous. You should be blissed out just by doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:11 Highlight the passage at 1:54:11

1:54:29 Because every thought counts. Every thought sows a seed. Every thought is a karma. This is what produces you. This is what's produced the entire universe. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:29 Highlight the passage at 1:54:29

1:54:48 Minds create everything. This is the essence of emptiness. There's nothing out there anywhere that is what it is from its own side. It can't be. There's nothing that exists independently of mind labeling it, mind calling it that. And the point is, by calling it that, it functions as that. And therefore is that. So it is that, but we make it that. It's not that from its own side, which we think. As soon as we hear the mind makes it up, we think it's all rubbish. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:48 Highlight the passage at 1:54:48

1:55:24 Oh, it's all just fantasy. No. Mind makes everything up. And to that extent it's real. Hell realms are real, insofar as a mind has made that. Buddhahood is real, insofar as a mind has created that Buddhahood. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:24 Highlight the passage at 1:55:24

1:55:43 They exist because we call them that. Even the way you'd establish a conventional thing existing. You say, what is that? It's a cup, you know. What's a cup, Mum? Well, it's a flat-bottomed container that holds tea. That's the definition of cup. So who made that up? We did. We all buy into that. We all sit here in agreement, shaking hands. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:43 Highlight the passage at 1:55:43

1:56:02 We agree conventionally that's a cup. But you can't just, oh, well, anything's a cup. This is a cup too. No, it's a lid. Because you've got to prove that it fulfills its definition. You can't just say anything's anything. That's crap. I never use that word. Why did I say it then? I hate that word. I never use that word. It's funny, isn't it? So anyway, here we go. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:02 Highlight the passage at 1:56:02

1:56:23 We can say that's a cup. Why is it a cup? Why is it a cup? Why is that a cup? What's the qualities of a cup? Okay, and who gave it that quality? Who told us that? Who said it was that? How do we know it's that? Prove it. Prove it. Put the tea in. So first you establish it. You say, a flat bottom container that holds tea. We agree on that? Shake hands. It's not enough to prove it's a cup yet. Get your tea and pour it and if it fulfills the definition, then we can see it's a cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:23 Highlight the passage at 1:56:23

1:57:00 You've got to do a bit more. You then check there's no other contradictory cognition that's valid, that contradicts that. Then we can say it's a cup conventionally. Now, when we see this already, it's telling a subtle dependent arising. Because that cup, we decided, It is that. We decided it's that. We made it even. And we decided it. And we all agree it's that. And it does function as that. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:00 Highlight the passage at 1:57:00

1:57:28 But the Buddha says you can't find anything outside of that scenario. You can't find anything the mind didn't make. There's nothing in that cup that didn't come from the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:28 Highlight the passage at 1:57:28

1:57:38 The elements are there. That's the basis of matter. Elements exist and have existed since the beginning of this time. It's just the basis of matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:38 Highlight the passage at 1:57:38

1:57:51 But cup, flat bottom container. It holds tea. That is a cup. It functions as a cup. It works very nicely, thank you. But all the Buddha says is, we'd say it's like smoke and mirrors. It's a great statement in the West. Smoke and mirrors is like an illusion. It does exist. It does function. But not a single atom of it from its own side. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:51 Highlight the passage at 1:57:51

1:58:15 There's not a single atom of it that doesn't come from the mind of cup. It's merely labelled. Everything is this way. Prison. You say, I am going to prison. That's a statement. I. What's I? We made up that sound in English. I. Or Australian. I. You know? We know if it comes out of this sound, it refers to this one. Because we all know the definition. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:15 Highlight the passage at 1:58:15

1:58:43 Am. We know that verb. Going. We know that verb. To. We know that. And prison. You go, oh no, Robina, this is terrible. I'm so sorry. You know instantly what it means. Not from its own side because you've been to English school, you've learned to know, you've lived in countries, you've heard of prisons, you've read about it and you know that a prison is an ugly place with barbed wire where you're sent because you're naughty. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:43 Highlight the passage at 1:58:43

1:59:03 So immediately you feel sorry for Robina or you keep away from it. Oh my God, no. Because we know the meaning of the word. So what is prison? Now believe me, you go to prison, it is an ugly place with barbed wire and you have been seen naughty and it's not pleasant. Believe me. If you see an advertisement in the paper for a cheap room in a prison, you won't go in. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:03 Highlight the passage at 1:59:03

1:59:21 You won't buy it. You won't go rent it. You won't care if it's free, you won't go there. Because we all know, oh no, prison's terrible. So conventionally, it's a truth. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:21 Highlight the passage at 1:59:21

1:59:33 But, so then all these friends of ours in prison, Lama Zopa, you know, they'd write to Lama Zopa and he'd write back to them and he would say, more often than not, in his 18 pages of advice, you know, he would say, it's just how you label it. Prison is nothing. It's just how you label it. And so many of our friends in prison understand this. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:33 Highlight the passage at 1:59:33

1:59:54 So they are in prison conventionally. They do have a sentence. They are seen as garbage. They were naughty. But they don't label it that. He said you can label it any way you like. So they've changed the label. They've called it home. They've called it their meditation place. They've called it good. Why? Because they get their food. The taxpayers pay for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:54 Highlight the passage at 1:59:54

2:00:15 Yeah, pretty horrible food. They get food. They don't have to pay rent. Some of them work maybe. They live in their little place and they use this opportunity to study and practice. So they call it good. Now who says they can't? It functions. You can't just say that's a knife because you feel like it. It's got to function as a knife. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:15 Highlight the passage at 2:00:15

2:00:34 That's the proof. So prison can function. That's a good place to be to help you study. That's true. So therefore you can change the name. So where's the innate prison? Where's the inherent prison? Conventionally it is that. You can't argue with it. But ultimately, if you can change the name, if you can call it different, if you can see it different, then it is different. Therefore it can't exist inherently as an ugly prison. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:34 Highlight the passage at 2:00:34

2:00:56 There's proof right there. Right there, proof. You can label it whatever you like. And that's the more advanced level in the Mahāyāna, in the Bodhisattva path, where they teach about... Report an error in the passage at 2:00:56 Highlight the passage at 2:00:56

2:01:08 It's applying emptiness, the most advanced level of giving up attachment, giving up all the eight worldly dharmas as they call it, transforming problems into happiness. This is based on understanding karma but based on emptiness. Because if a problem were inherently a problem, which means it can't change, which means you can't call it something different, which means it is that in and of itself. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:08 Highlight the passage at 2:01:08

2:01:36 Then you could never transform it into happiness. But that's how we think. We think a problem is absolutely, definitely existing out there from its own side. Without any doubt we think that. We believe it one million percent. And our attachment and aversion support this view every second. So the millisecond we don't get what attachment wants. That's what we label a problem. So when someone comes along and punches you in the nose and you're completely convinced of the cause of your suffering, And you've never heard of such a thing as transforming problems or emptiness. You're completely righteous in believing they're wrong and they were wrong conventionally. It's not good to punch people. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:36 Highlight the passage at 2:01:36

2:02:15 That's a fact. And you're 100 % buying into your right to sue them and punch them back and you're right and anger's right, all the normal worldly view. And they hear somebody say, well, you know, Robina, you could change your mind. They would think you were insane. They would think you're mad. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:15 Highlight the passage at 2:02:15

2:02:35 When you begin to think about karma, then know how come, why you punch in the first place, your own punch coming back, already egg on your face, already ridiculous, already dependent arising, you caused it, already loosening the grip of grasping at that problem and now you have the courage to actually think it's good. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:02:55 Now, what's the logic? Why is it good to be punched? Total logic. A punch is the fruit of your negative karma. Every time you experience the fruit of a negative karma, that's one less debt to be repaid, as this Kabbalah rabbi joked one time in a conference I did with him, because they have the view of karma. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:55 Highlight the passage at 2:02:55

2:03:16 Every time something bad happens, he said, we think great, one less debt to repay. So you can call it good, and why are you glad? Because you've just finished that karma, but more than that, because every time attachment doesn't get what it wants, and then you greet that thing, You just purified attachment. Every time you buy into the story, this is bad, you shouldn't punch me. You just increase attachment, increase anger, increase the karmic chain. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:16 Highlight the passage at 2:03:16

2:03:43 The millisecond you call it good, you completely transform the entire process. Talk about emptiness. And this is the quickest way to get rid of ego. The quickest, but the most brave. This is advanced. No wonder they teach it at the Mahāyāna level. You know, absolutely outrageous. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:43 Highlight the passage at 2:03:43

2:04:06 Needs enormous courage. First of all based on karma and then based on emptiness. Because if it were inherent, if it were in itself wrong to rape, kill, murder, excuse me, I'm being extreme here, but hear the point. If it were in its nature, this is the point, inherently wrong, then it is right to blame. It is right to say they are wrong and they must be punished, which is the view we have. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:06 Highlight the passage at 2:04:06

2:04:40 Absolute truth. But negativity is also empty. It cannot exist from its own sight. It can't. Nothing can, Buddha says. It's a dependent arising. Dependent arising means in terms of causes and conditions, in terms of parts and most subtly the highest one, the best, the most meaningful one. Completely not existing from its outside of mind calling it that. So it's for eons, saṃsāra is buying into all these views of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:40 Highlight the passage at 2:04:40

2:05:15 We all collectively buy into them and all believe the views of saṃsāra. We all uphold the lies. That's why we think they're inherent. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:15 Highlight the passage at 2:05:15

2:05:31 We can change the way we see them. We can change our mind. We can call it something different. This is how we get enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:31 Highlight the passage at 2:05:31

2:05:41 Pomonga Rinpoche says, even you're not sure the meaning of the word emptiness, but just to think, maybe things don't exist the way they appear to my mind. Just to doubt that. It like pulls the carpet under your saṃsāra, you know. Just to doubt. As Lama Zopa says, we have to stop believing in our karmic appearances. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:41 Highlight the passage at 2:05:41

2:06:07 And Report an error in the passage at 2:06:07 Highlight the passage at 2:06:07

2:06:11 this is the problem with saṃsāra, with all the setup of karma and habit. It's all perfectly caught up and it's all described in the 12 links. We're just locked into this pattern, locked into this habitual series of steps. So you know, for example, the little boy, the son of my friend who was a fisherman, the boy who was a fisherman. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:11 Highlight the passage at 2:06:11

2:06:28 From the moment he saw fishing, little boy, five years old or something, he saw fishing. What it did was it triggered the memory, if you like, or you didn't call it a memory, of the habit in his mind from having passed killed. It rose in his mind. The seed was there, the habit. It ripened it. He saw it. He recognized fishing. It also triggered attachment, which caused fishing to look delicious. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:28 Highlight the passage at 2:06:28

2:07:01 Then whatever triggers the attachment, which will look delicious, then triggers a good feeling because attachment's function is to trigger good feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:01 Highlight the passage at 2:07:01

2:07:13 So the logic we have in saṃsāra is, oh, Fishing makes me feel good, therefore fishing must be good. So you want the more good feeling, so you keep fishing. This is the way we run life. Whatever makes us feel good, we assume it must be good, so we keep doing it. So fine, fishing in our world is considered not bad, so we can get away with it. But if he had attachment to killing poodles, he would have been in big trouble, isn't it? Would have been freak out, you know? Report an error in the passage at 2:07:13 Highlight the passage at 2:07:13

2:07:39 This is why torturers and pedophiles have big problems, because people don't approve of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:39 Highlight the passage at 2:07:39

2:07:47 So this is the one with karma and when we understand the way the mind works, you know, in the five links, the 12 links as well as in the five aggregates, the way Lord Buddha breaks us down into our component parts, he points out each time one that's a crucial player in this. It's called feeling. It's also one of the five always present mental factors as they call states of mind in Buddhist psychology. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:47 Highlight the passage at 2:07:47

2:08:13 There's this group called the always present states of mind. Every second you're functioning, they're all working hand in hand to have a proper experience. So feeling is one that's always there. Every millisecond of the day, every millisecond of your day is made up of series of moments of either pleasant, unpleasant or indifferent feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:13 Highlight the passage at 2:08:13

2:08:35 It's not like emotions, the way we think. It's a technical term for a pleasant feeling, an unpleasant feeling or an indifferent feeling. And they say there are 64 moments in a finger snap. So there's an awful lot of moments in a day. And every one of those moments is the ripening of one of those three. So if you tracked your day, not in external terms, but internal terms. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:35 Highlight the passage at 2:08:35

2:08:55 Well, five minutes of good feelings and then went crashing down to bad feelings for four hours and then it was indifferent feelings and then three minutes of good feelings. Do you understand my point? And you usually define it in terms of the outside because that's all we're seeing. We're addicted to the outside. Nice cake, ugly this, good this, bad that and then it triggers certain feelings. So we don't track it internally, we track it externally. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:55 Highlight the passage at 2:08:55

2:09:18 But these feelings, every millisecond of them, every millisecond of every feeling, 64 snaps in a moment, 64 moments in a finger snap, is itself one fruit of one virtuous seed you planted in the past. One fruit of one virtuous seed. Each moment is the ripening of a fruit of a virtuous seed you planted in the past. And every millisecond of every unpleasant feeling is the fruit of a negative action you did in the past. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:18 Highlight the passage at 2:09:18

2:09:49 So the actual cause of your happy feelings is not the fishing, is not the cake, is not Fred, is your past virtue. Technically, that's what Buddha's saying. Technically. You've got a little bank of virtuous seeds in there and unfortunate in the tragedy in saṃsāra is that fishing, because you've got a habit to fish, will trigger a good feeling, which is really unfortunate, which makes us lie to us and think that fishing is the cause of the good feeling. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:49 Highlight the passage at 2:09:49

2:10:13 It's not. Our past virtue is. So if there was no bank of virtuous seeds there, the person could see fishing and just be bored. Like I said, they're sick every day. All they have is unpleasant feelings. They might like to go and kill, but there's no pleasant feelings there because they can't get themselves to fishing because they're always sick. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:13 Highlight the passage at 2:10:13

2:10:30 Because all they're doing is experiencing negative, unhappy feelings. So every millisecond of everything is either pleasant or unpleasant or indifferent feeling. And every one is the fruit of a seed we planted in our mind. The external thing is merely a catalyst. Even just understanding this technically can help us transform the way we interpret life. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:30 Highlight the passage at 2:10:30

2:10:56 So we have this whole way of interpreting which is just completely a lie. Scientifically wrong, Buddha says. Because we're junkies for feelings, good feelings. We're junkies for good feelings. This is a desire realm. We're made, our body is constructed for good feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:56 Highlight the passage at 2:10:56

2:11:16 So we're desperate like junkies to get good feelings. When we learn about the eight worldly dharmas in the more advanced stages of practice, this is the one we are utterly... Addicted every microsecond to have a good feeling and can't bear the unpleasant feelings. We're completely addicted to getting nice things and can't bear not getting. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:16 Highlight the passage at 2:11:16

2:11:33 We're addicted to hearing nice words with our name in it and can't bear getting the opposite. And we are addicted to being seen as a good person, good reputation, every second by whoever's around. This is what runs our minds right now at a subtle level, deeper level. So giving up this is insane. This is a profound level of giving up attachment. And this is why transforming problems is a brilliant method. It just smashes the delusions in the face. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:33 Highlight the passage at 2:11:33

2:12:04 So you're learning to see bad things as good. They say bodhisattvas are exactly like that. The way we feel when we're given something is how they feel when they give something. They feel nervous when good things happen because they're using up their merit. They'd much rather have bad things happen. They'd rather live with a creep than a nice person. Not because they're tortured and miserable. They're blissful. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:04 Highlight the passage at 2:12:04

2:12:28 This is the quickest method to smash delusions. To smash saṃsāra in the face. And it's completely based on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:28 Highlight the passage at 2:12:28

2:12:47 Any questions before we finish? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:47 Highlight the passage at 2:12:47

2:12:55 We're supposed to be talking about emptiness tomorrow, aren't we? Report an error in the passage at 2:12:55 Highlight the passage at 2:12:55

2:13:25 Sweetheart, whatever your mind does, you're sowing seeds, good or bad. It's just the way karma is. Every microsecond of whatever you think and do and say sows a seed in your mind that will ripen in the future as experiences similar to that. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:25 Highlight the passage at 2:13:25

2:13:43 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:43 Highlight the passage at 2:13:43

2:13:46 What, darling? Report an error in the passage at 2:13:46 Highlight the passage at 2:13:46

2:13:51 Lives in our mind, yeah, are ripening as our present experiences. did that. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:51 Highlight the passage at 2:13:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:13:55 Ripen as our present experiences. All the things we label suffering is the fruit of our past negative actions. All the things we label happiness is the fruit of our past positive actions. Because it's not punishment and reward, it's a natural law, but it says. So it takes time to hear it this way. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:55 Highlight the passage at 2:13:55

2:14:17 And good feelings, which is every millisecond of feeling good, is the fruit of a past virtue. You understand? It's a series of moments ripening as pleasure. And then unpleasant. And then indifferent. And then pleasure again. Up and down like yo-yos, you know. And because I'm convinced the cake causes it, I have to put the cake in again. I don't realise it's my own bank of virtuous seeds from the past that are ripening as my pleasant feelings. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:17 Highlight the passage at 2:14:17

2:14:43 In fact, it's so tragic in saṃsāra, this is the point here now. Do you get that so far? Okay, so the tragedy is the only way we know how to trigger this little bank of good seeds, the only way we know how to get a good feeling... Is to have an external object, isn't it? Unless we have a very vivid fantasy world, but we know that only goes so far. You want the real object in the end. Do you understand what I'm saying? Report an error in the passage at 2:14:43 Highlight the passage at 2:14:43

2:15:10 So let's say we've got a bank of virtuous seeds in our mind from all the past virtue. Amazing. And the only way we know how to access it, the only way we know how to make them ripen as a pleasant feeling is to get a nice cake or a nice bread based upon this ridiculous body. You see what I'm saying? So we are truly junkies. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:10 Highlight the passage at 2:15:10

2:15:28 So the Buddha is saying, sweeties, don't waste your beautiful virtuous seeds here. I want you to have so much bliss you can't believe it. So he gives us these methods to activate these virtuous seeds to be insane bliss without relying on an external object. So he says, do go some meditation, please. Listen, you know, all Buddha is saying is when you even just forget tantra, forget being nice, just think of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:28 Highlight the passage at 2:15:28

2:15:57 Which can be a big trap if we're a bit greedy. But hear it, you know. The Buddha's saying, and he's got this technique from the Hindus, learn single-pointed concentration, which means you can go to subtler levels of your own mind, which don't depend upon this bag of bones, this walking heap of sewer. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:57 Highlight the passage at 2:15:57

2:16:19 Please hear the point. Our mind is naturally existing at a subtler level. But it's asleep. We are asleep to it. When we can access even a slightly subtler level of our own mind, Report an error in the passage at 2:16:19 Highlight the passage at 2:16:19

2:16:37 already you're tasting your own bliss. Right now, because we're living in this junky body, we have to trigger the body to trigger a good feeling, don't we? Nice sight, nice taste, nice touch. The only way, we're junkies. We don't know how to have good feelings unless we get an external object. So all he says is, hey, sweetie pies, I've got this navi technique here. The Hindus told me I'm using it. Go get some single point of concentration. Go to even the slightly subtler level. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:37 Highlight the passage at 2:16:37

2:17:04 They describe it in terms of nine stages. A friend of mine, this wonderful Swiss monk who's a holy being, I'm sure, I don't know, but nothing seems like. He told me years ago, 15, 17 years ago. When I edited Mandela 18 years ago and we interviewed him in the magazine about one of his many retreats. He's been a serious retreater for years. And he told me about one of his main retreats, 18-month retreat in Spain. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:04 Highlight the passage at 2:17:04

2:17:27 And he said maybe in that retreat he just touched upon the fifth of the nine stages of single-pointed concentration. Okay? It's described in terms of nine stages very precisely. And he said, Robina, no question. The bliss or the joy I experienced was infinitely superior. To any bliss or joy I'd ever experienced through my senses. Can you hear that point technically? So in other words, our mind, when we can access it at a more subtle level, it is just naturally blissful. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:27 Highlight the passage at 2:17:27

2:17:58 Naturally. It's just the way it is. But we believe utterly that bliss is out in the cake. It's in Fred and I've got to get him and shove him in whichever hole is appropriate to get some pleasure. And it lasts about one minute. In other words, we do get some bliss and pleasure, but Buddha says it's so gross, it's like the pleasure of a pig, those wild pigs who wait for the hot shit, you know. I remember somewhere I saw that, somewhere where I went, there's big slats of wood, you sit on the thing and there's the wild pig down there with his mouth open, waiting. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:58 Highlight the passage at 2:17:58

2:18:28 Oh, so that's how we get our pleasure now. Forgive me, get the point. We don't know how else to access all our delicious virtuous seats and we're completely tipping them down the toilet. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:28 Highlight the passage at 2:18:28

2:18:43 We're turning jewels into... Shit. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:43 Highlight the passage at 2:18:43

2:18:49 I know I'm extreme. I've got a bit berserk today. It's all Ron's fault. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:49 Highlight the passage at 2:18:49

2:18:57 What? Can Report an error in the passage at 2:18:57 Highlight the passage at 2:18:57

2:19:05 you hear me, people? So it's a big ask to actually even contemplate the possibility of bliss that's so refined and so radiant and so marvellous because we think it's holy. And who wants holy bliss? No thanks. You see what I'm saying? When a junkie... Thinks of a person who isn't any longer an alcoholic. They look completely boring to them, don't they? Do you understand? It looks boring to have that kind of pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:05 Highlight the passage at 2:19:05

2:19:33 But that's what pleasure is, Buddha says. It's the freedom from neurosis. The freedom from the junkie mind. That itself. So the tantric methods are even more amazing, more outrageous, more potent. They're methods that enable us to go to deeper, ever more subtle levels. It can enable us to realise emptiness and get all the realisations. But to enhance even this already. So it's technical. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:33 Highlight the passage at 2:19:33

2:20:00 It's actually technical. But because we're such junkies for good feelings and have a completely wrong misunderstanding about the causes of it, this is what being in saṃsāra means. Buddha says we've just got it wrong. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:00 Highlight the passage at 2:20:00

2:20:15 We've got a misunderstanding of how things exist. And we've been doing this for eons, he says. So it's a big habit to change. Slowly, slowly. Please. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:15 Highlight the passage at 2:20:15

2:20:26 If you understand technically these things, it's really helpful. Because Buddha's been technical. It's a highly technical, amazing world view. Not just some hippy, trippy, watch your breath and you'll get somewhere, you know. Buddha's outrageous. All of you, it's been practiced and studied over the centuries in the various monastic systems and everything, all this. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:26 Highlight the passage at 2:20:26

2:20:47 So we've got to be careful. Some are rubbish. We've got to look out and make sure the sources we have are valid sources. And this is the point. As Tsongkhapa says in one of his many lamrim texts, he says, all the teachings are to be taken as sound advice because there's no contradiction between scripture and practice. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:47 Highlight the passage at 2:20:47

2:21:12 Well, that's like saying all the teachings at cooking school are to be taken as sound advice, which is pretty reasonable. You'd expect nothing less. If you hear a bunch of teachings in cooking school that can't help you make a cake, you demand your money back. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:12 Highlight the passage at 2:21:12

2:21:29 We're so used to thinking knowledge this way. It's got to be intellectual that turns into experiential. Cakes, music. But our trouble is when it comes to psychology and philosophy, we just live in la-la land. We think it's in the realm of ideas and we think that's wonderful. We just wank on, you know. There's no experiential application of it, which is tragic. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:29 Highlight the passage at 2:21:29

2:21:51 So there is no contradiction between scripture and practice means there is no contradiction between the recipe and the cake. Meaning a recipe must lead you to a cake. It's bizarre to call it a recipe if it doesn't help you get a cake, right? Well, that's the teachings. Every word has to be turned into experience. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:51 Highlight the passage at 2:21:51

2:22:15 And if it can't be, it's a load of rubbish, it's a ritual, it's meaningless, it's superstition. Tear it up and throw it right back. That's a fact. You have to have that kind of rigor. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:15 Highlight the passage at 2:22:15

2:22:31 It's so important to hear it this way. And of course, when you look at Tibetan Buddhism, it sounds hilarious. It's like completely the opposite to that, you know. So that's why we've got to be so careful and so cautious looking into it to try to find the logic of it, how it works logically, at least in theory, the logic of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:31 Highlight the passage at 2:22:31

2:22:49 Because like I said before, any system, if it's valid, it has to be first theoretically valid. Before you even start sticking needles into people, you better be confident acupuncture is a valid system. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:49 Highlight the passage at 2:22:49

2:23:02 Keep your needles to yourself until you've got some confidence that theoretically it's a valid system. Do you understand my point? Report an error in the passage at 2:23:02 Highlight the passage at 2:23:02

2:23:12 So that's up to us to find out. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:12 Highlight the passage at 2:23:12

2:23:19 I think we should stop. Enough ranting. Okay. Any questions before we finish? Any questions of any kind to conclude with? You've got some food for thought here. Understanding of tantra a little bit? A little bit? Just kind of the approach? Report an error in the passage at 2:23:19 Highlight the passage at 2:23:19

2:23:45 Yes, we have. Buddha, yeah, Buddha, Tara. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:45 Highlight the passage at 2:23:45

2:23:55 It's different. It's interesting when they talk about... many things to Report an error in the passage at 2:23:55 Highlight the passage at 2:23:55

2:23:58 There are two stages in tantrum. They're talking about generation stage and completion stage. And when you've accomplished generation stage, it's when you can have absolutely powerful concentration for hours on end and can visualise the deity and the entire merit field as big as a pin drop sort of thing, big as a pin head. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:58 Highlight the passage at 2:23:58

2:24:15 It's the way to go. But they say normally when you meditate, it's sort of in front of you so your eyes don't have to look like this and like this or like squint, you know, so you can visualise it sort of comfortable in front of you. But it depends on your mind. You can do smaller. That's excellent. It's part of the technique. With a single point of concentration, you can do absolutely precise. You could. You can absolutely, yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:15 Highlight the passage at 2:24:15

2:24:38 Yes, precisely. Good. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:38 Highlight the passage at 2:24:38

2:24:44 Yes. I understand. Well, you know, I think they talk about you have to have two things. You have to have clarity and you have to have... What's the other one they say? What do they say, Ron? What are those two things they talk about? I forget. Do you remember? Report an error in the passage at 2:24:44 Highlight the passage at 2:24:44

2:25:02 You've got to have clarity of it and you've got to have stability. Oh yeah, clarity and stability. Stable, it's like concentration but you're using the visualisation instead. But I think unless you've got some decent concentration, most people won't do a very precise, clear. You just get a general idea of the presence. And my feeling is if between, some people can be very good at it from maybe past karma, but they can be very attached to that and actually it can be quite non-virtuous because they haven't got much virtue in there and there's not much devotion that is clever and they generate bliss in everything. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:02 Highlight the passage at 2:25:02

2:25:34 That could be dangerous. So it's much better, I would suggest it's much better if you've got more of a feeling of the presence of the Buddha and some devotion and some softness than clarity and cleverness, you know. But of course in the end you've got to have focus, stability, clarity and then as your mind gets subtler it gets more and more real. Do you understand? So don't stress out because you can't visualize. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:34 Highlight the passage at 2:25:34

2:25:56 That's very common. Some people can vividly. Some people can't. Don't worry. It really is important just to have the general confidence that the energy of the Buddha is there and you have some faith, confidence. That's really important. It opens up the heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:56 Highlight the passage at 2:25:56

2:26:12 I have to say, I'm going to keep you late now. Sorry. The role of devotion in all this, we didn't touch on it at all. And again, if you read the Lamrim, it feels like hellfire and brimstone, doesn't it? All the way they talk, guru devotion, you're shaking your shoes, it's so nerve wracking. But the feeling I have, when you think about devotion, it's a great word. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:12 Highlight the passage at 2:26:12

2:26:36 You know yourself if you love somebody, whether it's your child or your boyfriend. The heart is open, isn't it? There's a softness there, don't you feel? It can be very vulnerable and you can be berserk if it's too much attachment, but there's an openness there and there's a feeling of real connection. Look when you're in love, it's like you are union oneness, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 2:26:36 Highlight the passage at 2:26:36

2:26:52 It's so blissful. Do you understand my point? So that's devotion. Devotion means the heart is open, as we call it. That's incredible. That's so special. And that, I remember I was thinking about... Like St. Teresa of Avila, all these Catholic saints, she like would levitate and have complete bliss and ecstasy, thinking of Jesus and God and everything, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:52 Highlight the passage at 2:26:52

2:27:15 Well, you could say, I bet she didn't know anything, or she might have had some teachings wrong on emptiness, but she had an incredible, open, devoted heart. Then she literally experienced bliss, you know, and it was complete bliss in Jesus. Someone else could get bliss when they're torturing. That's a kind of revolting bliss. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:15 Highlight the passage at 2:27:15

2:27:31 Which can be true, like the poor fisherman, due to his habit of killing, he got real pleasure killing fish. And that meant he couldn't see the harm he was doing, which is a tragic way to have pleasure. You get my point. So there was St. Teresa. She'd experience this ecstasy. She'd just go into ecstasy. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:31 Highlight the passage at 2:27:31

2:27:50 Well, how fortunate. And it wasn't ecstasy from torturing. sister, what do you call it? Saint Teresa. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:50 Highlight the passage at 2:27:50

2:27:53 Luckily it was ecstasy for devotion in God, oneness, union. They talk exactly the same in Tantra about when you have subtle concentration and you've got complete devotion to the Guru, the Buddha and you experience bliss, they experience bliss. It's a very similar way of talking. So my feeling is, just my way of saying it, the advantage, the point of having a teacher, first of all bare bones obvious reason to have a teacher is because they're a person who's accomplished what you want to accomplish. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:53 Highlight the passage at 2:27:53

2:28:23 Instead of reinventing the wheel. That's the first obvious one, isn't it? So then when you've developed the relationship with that teacher, then as you know in Tantra, they talk especially in Tantra, the main practice, they call it developing the pure view that that person is the Buddha. So let's analyse what that means. What that means is, if they're the Buddha, then whatever they tell you, whatever they do is perfect for you. So you have a heart that's completely open to all their advice. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:23 Highlight the passage at 2:28:23

2:28:51 So who's going to be the beneficiary of that? Hey, you. Right there. And then having devotion when you do these meditation practices and you visualize Tara is your Lama manifesting. It can only trigger incredible devotion. If you read all the wonderful stories of Talopa and Mapra and Milarepa talking about their gurus, you know, or you read any of the other Lamas, you see Lama Zopa in the presence of his gurus. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:51 Highlight the passage at 2:28:51

2:29:14 It's almost embarrassing to us Westerners because they look so kind of, they want to be on the ground, prone and blissful with devotion. It's really serious, genuine for them because they're truly seeing the Buddha. Well, I mean, who's the beneficiary of this? It's the quickest way to cut down a separate sense of eye, isn't it? Do you see what I'm saying? Report an error in the passage at 2:29:14 Highlight the passage at 2:29:14

2:29:34 Are you hearing me people? But you've got to have it in the right person. For me it's a practical function. When the heart is open and it's devoted, it's a quick way to cut ego if you've got it combined with all the right teachings and the right person. This is my way of saying it. Does it make sense what I'm saying? There's a great advantage. Because we're very intellectual. And until you open your heart, nothing really moves, does it? Report an error in the passage at 2:29:34 Highlight the passage at 2:29:34

2:30:01 Nothing changes. And if you do have some bliss in your meditation, It can just be attachment to it. So we've really got to really see the benefit. And of course it's highly developed in this tantric tradition, the Buddhist tradition, the Mahāyāna tradition. It's all there, laid out in the teachings. You know? Anyway, just talking. Yes. Yes, darling. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:01 Highlight the passage at 2:30:01

2:30:33 I understand, yeah, of course. Of course you can think. Whatever works for your mind. In the end, if you think, if you understand the meaning of Buddha mind, which they call Dharmakaya. There is only one of those. There's Buddha mind. And all it is, all one's own lamas and all the deities, all the buddhas are just manifestations of the same energy. So whatever works for your mind, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:33 Highlight the passage at 2:30:33

2:30:54 But maybe it just gets complicated to think that it's both because you've got to sort of think separate people. Whereas you just think, you know, I mean, Lama Zopa, Lama Yeshi, my main lamas, okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:54 Highlight the passage at 2:30:54

2:31:04 So when I think Lama Yeshi, sometimes I think Lama Yeshi, I chat away to Lama. I sort of also think Rinpoche, but I don't say him obviously. Sometimes I say Rinpoche but I mean Lama. So if I think they're the same, whichever one touches me at the moment, or if I have other Lamas, other teachers, I either think of them or I think they're the manifestation of my root Lama. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:04 Highlight the passage at 2:31:04

2:31:24 It's just tricks for your mind because we're talking in conventional things here. Whatever works for your mind, sweetheart. Because literally they are the same if you think of the Dhammakaya. Once you've got a teacher, you see them as a manifestation of the Buddha. Therefore, they're equal in that way. So whatever works for your mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:24 Highlight the passage at 2:31:24

2:31:42 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:42 Highlight the passage at 2:31:42

2:31:46 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:46 Highlight the passage at 2:31:46

2:31:56 Uh-huh. Uh-huh. If you did that. Well, listen. If you have realizations, if you actually have realizations, okay, first of all, when you take initiation, one of the commitments, because of this whole view of seeing things as transcendental and not mundane, we have a commitment to see ourself as a deity. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:56 Highlight the passage at 2:31:56

2:32:20 We have a commitment. To see others as deity. We have a commitment to see or hear or sound as mantra. We have a commitment to see that the whole world is a pure land. So we're trying to lift our game. And of course to pretend. So it's just a tool. It's just a technique to help your mind not believe in your karmic appearance as a garbage dump horrible person. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:20 Highlight the passage at 2:32:20

2:32:38 So if there's a horrible person out there being mean to you, you just remember, okay, that's Russell Buddha. Thank you very much for showing me my junky mind. It's just tricks for your mind, you know. You're using just this toolkit and whatever one you want, you can use compassion, you can use forgiveness, you can use karma, you can use impermanence, you can use emptiness, you can use bodhicitta, you can use tantra. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:38 Highlight the passage at 2:32:38

2:32:59 It's just this toolkit of ways of interpreting your life to help your mind stop believing your karmic appearances and become a Buddha. Do you see? And the more you realise that, the more it's really that. You won't get ever entrapped in saṃsāra then. You know, they say like the great yogis, the most advanced meditator. This is how they talk in tantra, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 2:32:59 Highlight the passage at 2:32:59

2:33:22 They talk about learning to see everything as illusory. Or for me, I like the term smoke and mirrors. We use that in the West, you know, those magicians using smoke and mirrors. Seeing everything as illusory. Meaning, they say, okay, they say until you are enlightened, omniscient, it's in your meditation, you're seeing emptiness and no appearances. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:22 Highlight the passage at 2:33:22

2:33:45 And in your daily life, you're seeing all the nuts and bolts of appearances. But when you've got the realisation of emptiness, you don't believe in the appearances. It's only when you become a Buddha that you see appearances and emptiness simultaneously. You're not tricked at all. So they say we've got to be like a yogi or like a magician, isn't it? They use that example, don't they? Report an error in the passage at 2:33:45 Highlight the passage at 2:33:45

2:34:04 Who is on the stage and due to their magic powers is conjuring a horse. There's the audience who sees the horse and believe it's a horse. The magician also sees a horse, but he knows it's not a horse. He knows it's an illusion. We've got to act like that. It's the most powerful one, which means stopping believing in real ugly person, real unkindness, real not for that, not fair that, all the karmic appearances of our ordinary daily life. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:04 Highlight the passage at 2:34:04

2:34:31 And that indeed means stop seeing. Like, you know, you hear stories in Tibet, of course. You know, I remember one story Ramesha was telling about this crazy butcher who was at the foot of the Potala in Tibet. Who, you know... He'd kill the animals and look like a mad person. But he was Yamantaka. I mean, who knows these things? Report an error in the passage at 2:34:31 Highlight the passage at 2:34:31

2:34:56 So if we have the view, especially from Tantra, and you hear about maniacs, for your own mind, think. That's the wrathful deities. For your own mind. You don't go around saying this. Oh, it's all right about Iraq. It's okay. They're all wrathful deities. No, you don't talk like that. That would be stupid. But in your own mind, it's a way of reinterpreting. And all the Tibetans, they have this saying, you don't know who anybody is, so don't judge. It's a very powerful, and it's based on the body sūtra teachings and on emptiness, you know, of course. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:56 Highlight the passage at 2:34:56

2:35:26 Do you understand? Yes, someone else? That's it? So see everything is illusory. It's a great way to say it. That's why they say it's good to see your dreams as dreams. When you go to sleep, you go to sleep into emptiness. And you make a decision. You will see your dreams as dreams. So that when you're dreaming, you go, uh-uh, it's just a dream. Don't get caught up in it. It's very tasty. Because then you practice that in your daily life. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:26 Highlight the passage at 2:35:26

2:35:52 This is how they talk in tantrum. All of it's to do with view. Everything comes down to view. How we see things. How we see things. How we interpret it. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:52 Highlight the passage at 2:35:52

2:36:04 And according to how we interpret is how we feel. That's a fact. This is outrageous view. But this is Buddha's view. This is the meaning of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:04 Highlight the passage at 2:36:04

2:36:16 Everything comes to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:16 Highlight the passage at 2:36:16

2:36:25 So, okay, let's finish. Dedicate, thinking if there's anything useful at all, any seeds have been planted. If we have a practice already, maybe we enhance it and grow and keep our vows purely and keep our practices and have devotion in the Lamas and want to become a Buddha just like them as quickly as possible. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:25 Highlight the passage at 2:36:25

2:36:39 If we haven't got these practices yet, we think maybe we'll look into it and see if we're ready to receive these initiations and do these practices. And if we're not ready for that, we do some renunciation and think about karma, think about our mind, look at our level and go according to that level, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:39 Highlight the passage at 2:36:39

2:36:53 And take one step at a time, use our common sense, have confidence and never give up. His Holiness says bodhisattvas think in terms of eons. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:53 Highlight the passage at 2:36:53

2:37:07 So we think like that. And we dedicate with great happiness all this hard work all day, listening, thinking, analysing. Me too, listening to my own ranting. All these seeds planted in my mind, listening to this stuff, trying to get clear so that we can never give up. Becoming our own amazing Buddha so we can be of benefit to countless suffering sentient beings. Because if I don't do it, who will? Report an error in the passage at 2:37:07 Highlight the passage at 2:37:07

2:37:31 That's the courage of the Bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:31 Highlight the passage at 2:37:31

2:37:37 wa din yu du dag Lama sang ge Drup yur ne Report an error in the passage at 2:37:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37:37

2:38:12 chub sem chog rin po che ma kye pa nam kye gyo che pa nyam pa me pa yang And may we Report an error in the passage at 2:38:12 Highlight the passage at 2:38:12

2:38:35 never develop, even for a moment, wrong views towards the deeds of our most precious gurus. With faith and respect gained from seeing their goodness, may their full inspiration flow into our hearts. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:35 Highlight the passage at 2:38:35

2:38:49 Alrighty. Amazing. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:49 Highlight the passage at 2:38:49