Seeking Refuge: Discovering Buddhism (part 1)

0:02 Yeah, sometimes it just does that. If it sits, Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:10 it gets impatient. The impatient computer. All right, so let's start with meditation. We'll just go briefly over what you all, of course, have been doing every day, religiously, since I last saw you, right? Oh, no, I thought we'd just go over it really briefly in here, and then we'll just start with some new stuff. Report an error in the passage at 0:10 Highlight the passage at 0:10

0:34 And I'll also open it up to questions if people have any questions from the week. No, you guys haven't gotten the reading yet from life. So we'll just start with checking your posture. That's always the best way to start. If you're sitting in a chair, just remember to come away from the back of the chair so you don't get too comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:57 If you're on a cushion, your main concerns are that your spine is extended, Report an error in the passage at 0:57 Highlight the passage at 0:57

1:08 your shoulders back and level. Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:21 Your hands are either in your lap. Right over left, thumbs touching, or you can have them on your knees if that feels more comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21

1:42 Your legs can be in any kind of cross position that feels comfortable for you and that you can hold. Ultimately, they say that full lotus position is the best with the feet on the thighs, but most of us who haven't grown up in that culture find this, we have to work into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

2:06 So any way that... It feels comfortable to you to sit for, you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:15 You might find if you're just starting a meditation practice that you need to give more support under your knees, even just a folded cloth or something like that. So just experiment with that. Sometimes it takes a while for our muscles and our tendons and ligaments to kind of get into position and Report an error in the passage at 2:15 Highlight the passage at 2:15

2:41 you want to be comfortable. You want to have your... Chin just slightly tucked under, not back so much that you're prone to excitement or under so much that you're prone to drowsiness, especially this time of day. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

3:09 Your tongue on the roof of your mouth, behind your front teeth, not touching your front teeth. That keeps your mouth and your throat moist without having to swallow so much. Report an error in the passage at 3:09 Highlight the passage at 3:09

3:35 And your eyes can be either open and unfocused or gently closed. His Holiness says that, the Dalai Lama says that having a little bit of light coming in is very good. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:52 But I know personally that meditating in a group, I need to have my eyes closed. So you can just experiment. Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:03 And then we'll just start with watching our breath for a few rounds of ten. So you focus on either point. That works for you, either that little patch of skin inside your nostrils, that sensation of your breath flowing over it, out and in is one. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:24 And try to count to ten. Or you can focus on your abdomen falling and rising. And Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

4:37 we'll just do a couple minutes of that. Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

· · · silence, 2 minutes

7:07 So Lama Yesha used to say that taking refuge is nothing new. We take refuge in things all the time. And we have for our whole life, Report an error in the passage at 7:07 Highlight the passage at 7:07

7:18 beginning with our mothers. Report an error in the passage at 7:18 Highlight the passage at 7:18

7:25 Through everything we've tried, Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

7:34 when we're sick we take refuge in a doctor, when Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

7:41 we're depressed we take refuge in friends, TV, movies, chocolate, tea, People magazine. Report an error in the passage at 7:41 Highlight the passage at 7:41

8:02 But obviously all of these things can only give us some sort of temporary relief from whatever it is we're suffering from. Report an error in the passage at 8:02 Highlight the passage at 8:02

8:22 None of them have the power that the Buddha has to help us transform our minds. And get out of suffering completely, which is what we're really looking for. We may not know that we're looking for some sort of lasting happiness, but we're always disappointed when our happiness ends. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:49 So just take a few moments to think about maybe what you've taken refuge in this week. Maybe not your whole life this time, but just think about just this week. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:01 What have you turned to when you felt sad or lonely or scared, Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:08 tired? Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:15 And has that given you? Lasting happiness. Report an error in the passage at 9:15 Highlight the passage at 9:15

9:36 Sometimes we're totally aware when we turn to things like these temporary refuges that they won't give us any kind of lasting happiness or remove our suffering. We sort of do it with our eyes wide open. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

9:53 Sometimes we really believe that they will, Report an error in the passage at 9:53 Highlight the passage at 9:53

10:00 so it's good to check up. What Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:09 do I normally turn to when I'm afraid or Report an error in the passage at 10:09 Highlight the passage at 10:09

10:18 depressed? Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:33 Most of the things that we turn to are imperfect themselves, so it's... Impossible for them to lead us to perfection. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

10:57 And actually our attachment to these things, to our friends, our partners, our chocolate, can actually cause us more problems. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:21 If we're going to learn to work with our minds, if we truly can see that the cause of our happiness and the causes of our suffering is within our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:35 We need to find somebody that not only knows how to work with their minds but has perfected their minds so they know all the methods and they can show us all the methods. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

11:54 Otherwise it's just a case of a bunch of us following each other and not really knowing, none of us really knowing the way out. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:23 So the definition of a Buddha is perfect mind. One who's perfected every possible mental quality and eliminated every negative aspect of mind or delusion. Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:48 Remember that refuge isn't something that we just say. It's not the words of the refuge prayer. It's also not necessarily the formal refuge ceremony. It's something that we do moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:08 It's a mind, a mental state that we cultivate. Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:15 And it takes a while to do that. Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:22 It's a continual process that begins to infuse our minds so we know what to do and how to act when things happen to us. Report an error in the passage at 13:22 Highlight the passage at 13:22

13:40 And how we act with a mind of refuge is what really protects us. Report an error in the passage at 13:40 Highlight the passage at 13:40

13:56 So let's motivate this class to each one of us being able to explore our minds, get to know our minds, work with our minds, and cultivate this mind of refuge slowly, slowly, so that we can become more and more beneficial to those around us. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:22 And to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:35 You can open your eyes and we'll do the refuge prayer. Oh, I didn't get a book again. Singala, I need one of these when you set up. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

14:55 Preferably a new one. I need tabs. So it's the third section from the rear, page 18. Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:13 The prayer to generate bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:19 With the wish to free all beings. I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

15:49 And dispel the miseries of the world. With a wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 15:49 Highlight the passage at 15:49

16:14 As long as space remains. As long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:45 For the benefit of all sentient beings, as long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. Report an error in the passage at 16:45 Highlight the passage at 16:45

17:06 So greetings. Who is that? You're throwing your voice again. It's the queen. Or is it the church lady? Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:25 So I just got back from New York, hopefully the last of my trips in the last month and a half. But it was actually really, really good because not only did I get to see His Holiness, which is an amazing text. It's like one of my favorite texts, next to Shantideva, I think, The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which is about basically... Report an error in the passage at 17:25 Highlight the passage at 17:25

17:49 If you have this problem, this is the karmic cause. If you have this problem, this is the karmic cause. And you can't blame anything but your own self-cherishing. That's the short and condensed version. Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

18:01 So it's just a really, really powerful but very easy to understand text. And of course he managed somehow to finish the entire thing. Report an error in the passage at 18:01 Highlight the passage at 18:01

18:13 But also to get to see... And Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:17 Lama Zopa Rinpoche again, which we did. The FEMT is now, they had a center in Flushing, which never really got off the ground that much, and it just moved into Soho. So somebody is taking it on, and so Rinpoche had us all do Guru Puja there yesterday. So here we were, like 50 people he invited. Gyume Rinpoche, the ex-abbot of Gyume, Tantric College, and like all the Geshe's of all the centers that were there, so Geshe-la, Geshe-tsolga, the Geshe from Kadampa Center, I forgot what his name is, and a couple other Geshe's, so they were all Geshe's, and George Turnoff, who might as well be a Geshe. Report an error in the passage at 18:17 Highlight the passage at 18:17

19:05 And then all the Saṅgha who could were invited, and then a few. Lay people as well. So it was probably about 50 of us smashed into this woman's living room in this tiny New York apartment. But it was tiny but on the 20th floor so it had this great view. So it was great. It was just a really, really special thing to be a part of. Report an error in the passage at 19:05 Highlight the passage at 19:05

19:31 So let's hope that that center takes off. It's certainly in a great city to take off, I think. But also getting to see all my best Dharma friends. You only see them at these teachings, actually. All of them do. Report an error in the passage at 19:31 Highlight the passage at 19:31

19:52 It's very, very rare to have a center. It's sort of like if you build it, they will come. It always starts out in somebody's home. All of them do, yeah, yeah, they all do. Report an error in the passage at 19:52 Highlight the passage at 19:52

20:05 Real estate is like in New York, so definitely if you build it, they will come. It has to get a really firm group of people, and at this point it doesn't really have anybody. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:16 Anyway, he was supposed to teach. I think he's going to teach tomorrow night there at the center, so let's see who shows up. So I wanted to know if people had questions or if anything came up when they were thinking about... Could you get the microphone? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 20:16 Highlight the passage at 20:16

20:35 Anything that came up during the week thinking about refuge or doing the meditation on refuge? Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

20:44 No. Break the ice. I started out this week the way I start out a lot of the classes, being really discouraged by the amount of delusions that I seem to have even after practicing for a while. And I was really spending the week trying to look at all the different... I'll bring Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

21:03 Things I take refuge in. And boy, do I take refuge in some silly stuff. It's pretty amazing. But that's great, though. You've got to look at it before you can get rid of it. Exactly. I started getting really down about it. And then I asked, when I did my seven-limb prayer, I asked His Holiness to give me a sign, and may I recognize it as a teaching. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:24 And I, right afterwards, heard this unbelievable Buddhist quote, which is, through tribulation, We begin to see ourselves. Let me get it exactly right. Through tribulation, we first begin to see ourselves. And you know who that was? Marie Antoinette. At the end of her life, when she was going through about as much tribulation as a human being could go through, she found herself and she found inner strength and she went through her trial. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:46 Oh, really? Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:00 To her death with unbelievable dignity so that even people who were enemies remarked on how amazing she was. And I thought, okay, if somebody who spent their whole life in frivolity can go to their death, you know, basically like a true, almost like a holy being because people remarked on how amazing she was as she went to this. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:21 I can certainly begin to look at my little karmic delusions that I take refuge in and try to make something out of them. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:29 Yeah. Milarepa killed people. Exactly. And still became a Buddha in one lifetime. I mean, yeah, I mean, I think we can get really caught up on our faults, but just, you know, the only thing is, is to just get up every day and face it. Exactly. Because otherwise, it's just self-cherishing again. It's true. And, you know, the tribulations are what help us to recognize who we are. Otherwise, it's just we're living in our personas, our delusions, our addictions, all the things we take refuge in that aren't us at all. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:59 And it's sometimes when things get tough, that's when we really find out who we are. And I just thought that was amazing. It's actually really true. Yeah, it's very, very true. I think most of us came here because we were struggling with something that we probably didn't want to face, you know, whether it was the death of a friend or difficulties in our working lives or relationships or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

23:23 Something spurs us to find something meaningful in our lives. Usually it's not always a comfortable thing. And it almost always works that way that there is this flip side of tragedy or suffering or tribulation or whatever of actually gaining deeper meaning. But we never want to go through it. We still don't learn, you know, even if we have this really positive outcome. Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

23:53 You know, who wants to be told they have cancer? Who wants to be told their best friend has cancer? You know, whatever the difficulty. Who wants to be told they've lost their job or whatever? Unless they didn't want their job. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:05 You know, it's just, we're just, we're so ingrained with not wanting to face any difficulty. But actually it's in the difficulty that really the meaningful stuff happens, you know? You know, that's a good point. And then it's just like you just get up and you get back on the horse. Yeah, thanks, Peter. Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 24:05 Highlight the passage at 24:05

24:34 We had an interesting one. I've always been a big list maker, and it's been sort of a foundation of how I've structured my life. And finally this past year, I actually completed everything on my list. And it was an epiphany because there wasn't any satisfaction in doing that. And I have, you know, pretty much. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:01 I thought that was the end goal, is to just get everything done on the list. But it was extremely empty. And in the meditation last week, I realized that I had taken refuge in my lists. And I've been fortunate enough to actually finish them and realize there's nothing there. So no one could have told me that, but to actually feel the hollowness of it when you do get there is profound. Report an error in the passage at 25:01 Highlight the passage at 25:01

25:26 Yeah, that's so great. I'm a total list maker, too. That's great. I actually read this story. It was in a New York Times obituary. I think it was New York Times. I might have been crying. I think it was New York Times. This woman apparently was a habitual list maker her whole life, and she lived to be like in the 90s or 100 or something. Report an error in the passage at 25:26 Highlight the passage at 25:26

25:45 And her daughter wanted to put a pad of paper and a pencil in her coffin. And I thought, oh my God, the poor thing. She's buried with her list. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

25:58 And she just thought, you know, because it was like this thing that she did her whole life, you know, it was like, I think from her side, a loving thing, but from my side, I just thought, oh, this is how they follow us from life to life, you know. The King Tut phenomena. Oh, yeah, no, I thought, so there are a lot of list makers out there, I think, a lot of us taking refuge in lists. But that's actually good, because who, I certainly have never reached the end of my list, so it's good to know. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:26 Right? Yeah, I mean, I still have to do lists for work, I think, just to make sure I hit everything. Did you have your hand up or are you just... She runs screaming from the room. I thought I saw your hand move. Anybody else? Anyone? Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

26:50 Everyone nervously looks through their papers. Okay. So tonight we're going to talk about the two, traditionally, the two causes for taking refuge. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:03 Amongst other things and give a little bit of context for refuge and also how it protects you, which I've already sort of alluded to. Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:16 So they say actually that there are these two main causes for taking refuge. One is the fear of suffering and one is the confidence that these objects of refuge, which in this case is the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, but we're going to start out talking more about the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:32 That they can protect us from suffering. That they have the power to protect us from suffering. So a lot of Westerners have problems with using fear as one of the causes of refuge. I thought we'd start with that one. I actually heard a teaching by Sanghi Kadro, who's coming in November, when she was talking about refuge, actually. Report an error in the passage at 27:32 Highlight the passage at 27:32

27:55 We had her here a couple of years ago, and she did an all-day Saturday on refuge, and it was called Ultimate Chocolate. Seeking refuge. I know that was really good. I don't think I can take credit for it, though. I think it was Chosong. But anyway, she said it's really important to think about other times that we use fear as a cause for doing something virtuous or doing something well. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:21 And her example was learning how to drive, really learning the impact of how this 2,000 or 3,000, if you have a Hummer. Pound machinery can go wrong, like horribly wrong, if you are either under the influence of something or you're really tired or you aren't paying attention or you're not checking your blind spots and all the things that we're supposed to be doing all the time when we're driving. Report an error in the passage at 28:21 Highlight the passage at 28:21

28:46 A lot of times in driver's ed, they use fear. I remember my particular teacher, Mr. Janeski, always did. Sometimes rather neurotically. Report an error in the passage at 28:46 Highlight the passage at 28:46

29:00 But yeah, so I mean I think that that's a really good example because it's kind of like realistic fear. It's not like anyone's trying to make people wake up in a cold sweat kind of fear and that's why you take refuge. It's more just like you have some understanding of how your actions have consequences and those consequences will actually affect what your life, this life is like and also what your future lives are like. Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:28 This, of course, presupposes an understanding of karma and how it works and an understanding of the possible destinations that our mind can have after this life ends. So we'll talk a little bit about that tonight. But I think it's really important to mention that because I think sometimes it sort of just said fear and then it's just left out there hanging and so all the Westerners are like... Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:57 I don't want to use fear as a motivation, because we all aspire to have these really lofty motivations, but most of the Buddha's teachings are taught in a way that we get there. We have to start where we are, and then we move towards the loftier motivations. So in that respect, the base level of refuge, sort of the first level of refuge, is... Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:25 Understanding that we can take negative rebirths based on what we've done in this life, our actions of body, speech and mind, and not wanting those suffering rebirths, not wanting to suffer ourselves. We haven't even gone beyond ourselves at this point. Not wanting to experience any kind of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:48 Wanting to take refuge in something that will protect us from that kind of suffering. That's the first level of refuge. A larger motivation for taking refuge is understanding that even if we take refuge in a good sense, either in a positive, what they call a precious human rebirth, which is having all the opportunities to... Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:18 You have basically healthy mind and body and are open to the Dharma and have met the Dharma. There's a number of different qualifications that make it a precious human rebirth and not just a human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 31:18 Highlight the passage at 31:18

31:32 But still it's considered a human rebirth of any kind is still considered what they call a higher realm rebirth because there is some chance that it could become a precious human rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 31:32 Highlight the passage at 31:32

31:46 Or what's called the gods or the demigods or the suras or asuras. So there's three higher realms. And so even knowing that in those lifetimes, even if we have a lot of pleasure, those of us that are human in the room know that we also have a lot of suffering. So it's not without suffering to have a human rebirth. It may be a good place to study the Dharma, but we still suffer. Report an error in the passage at 31:46 Highlight the passage at 31:46

32:15 All the things like headaches and illnesses and jet lag and, you know, colds and arthritis and aging, cancer. I mean, big and small illnesses and big and small injuries. And, of course, death. We will ultimately give up this life. And the gods and demigods also go through an aging and a death, although it's quite short compared to ours. Report an error in the passage at 32:15 Highlight the passage at 32:15

32:46 They have just burned up all of their really, really good karma because they basically live this incredible life of pleasure. And then suddenly they are dying and everyone kind of leaves them behind. Report an error in the passage at 32:46 Highlight the passage at 32:46

33:01 So it's still part of saṃsāra. It's not good enough because you still have the suffering of... Report an error in the passage at 33:01 Highlight the passage at 33:01

33:11 The three main types of suffering, which is the first was the one I just talked about, the gross suffering, what they call the gross suffering, and then the suffering of change, which is basically that every good thing that we have, we lose, ultimately. It can't last in this realm, whether it's somebody that we love, or whether it's this body, or whether it's the cup of tea, or whether it's the piece of chocolate. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:35 Everything from very small to very large. Ultimately our life itself, our identity itself can't last. It's just part of the nature of saṃsāra, this realm, because it's the product of causes and conditions from our karma and kleshas, our delusions. This realm itself, this body itself is caused by karma and delusions. So that actually is the third one. Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

34:08 All pervasive suffering is just a nature of this realm that we will ultimately lose things when the karma runs out. When the fuel in our tank runs dry for this particular lifetime, we stop having whatever pleasure we do have, whatever small pleasure we do have. Report an error in the passage at 34:08 Highlight the passage at 34:08

34:30 There's a lot more I could say about that, but that's not the main point of this class. I just wanted to say a little bit about that. Report an error in the passage at 34:30 Highlight the passage at 34:30

34:40 Even having a good rebirth isn't enough. And so that's a higher motivation or a greater motivation for taking refuge is starting to think that we want to be free of all suffering, which is liberation from saṃsāra altogether, which is nirvāṇa, which is called nirvāṇa. So that means taking refuge in something that we think will... Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

35:07 Help us get there, you know, getting to this next level. And the highest kind of refuge is what's called Mahāyāna refuge where we take refuge not just to be free from our own suffering but to be able to develop the qualities that enable us to help other beings also be free of their suffering and experience the highest form of happiness. Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:34 But in order to generate that form of refuge, we have to develop the middle form of refuge. And in order to do that, we have to develop the base form of refuge. So that's what I mean about it being almost, it's like steps. A lot of times we want to leap to the best one. We want to be Mahayanas from day one, you know. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

35:54 But the reality is, first we have to understand our own suffering. We have to understand our own suffering in order to even... We get it that we are suffering because sometimes people think that, you know, my life is pretty good. Why all this emphasis on suffering in Buddhism? And the Buddha was just pointing out what he observed to be true after he attained enlightenment. That was the first of the noble truths, that there is suffering. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:26 And so it's really important not to skip over that, thinking, I want to have this vast mind of bodhicitta from day one. First we have to recognize the fact that we are suffering and that even the things that we think are pleasurable are suffering. Coming together with good friends always ends in separating from them. Any coming together always ends in separation. Any collecting ends in dispersal. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

36:55 And any of us that have had to clean out somebody's home after they've died know that one. The collection, the collection of all the cards and all the keepsakes and little gifts and everything. It goes out again because it's not necessarily treasured by everyone that's cleaning out the place. Or if you've even just had to move. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:19 Every move. Why did I say that? Why did I say this through 17 moves? Why did I think I needed this particular thing? Always ends that way. This class, we come together. We're a specific, unique group of people and will last as long as this particular class. And then some will continue and some will move on to something else. Report an error in the passage at 37:19 Highlight the passage at 37:19

37:44 Some we may not see again. It's the same. So those are just elements of the kind of sufferings that we have, even in a really good life. Even if we're able to use our life really meaningfully and make really good connections with others and all, there are certain elements that are just inherently suffering because of the realm that we're in and because of the fact that everything we experience is created by tainted karma and our deluded minds. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:18 Which is the true creator in Buddhism. So actually what His Holiness and what the Buddha has taught and what His Holiness also was talking about is just the true refuge is really understanding how karma works like this, understanding the basic teachings of the Buddha and then trying to apply them in your life. Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:47 And that ultimately, obviously, It helps us stop creating the causes for suffering, and it also helps us create more causes for happiness. So there's nothing really magical in it. It's not like when we take refuge in the Buddha, the Buddha swoops down and stands in front of us and protects us at all times. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

39:12 It's not like that. And there's actually a story of at the time of the Buddha, there was a lot of warring in... Between his clan and other clans and people once they recognized, after his enlightenment, once they recognized his strength would literally run to him for physical protection and there was nothing he could do. Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:34 He couldn't stop, he couldn't change their karma so they actually were killed. near him, standing right next to him, asking for refuge. That's not the kind of refuge that we're talking about. The kind of refuge that we're talking about is how you act and what you, what kind of karma you create based on understanding your actions and how your actions have impact on where you're born and how you, what you experience. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

40:00 So it's taking the Buddhist teachings and actually applying them. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:12 I did want to say also that this first level of suffering, which is actually in Sanskrit, it's the term dukkha, which actually can be more accurately translated as dissatisfaction. And that is what's sort of running base level through our lives in whatever realm we're born, anywhere in any of the six realms of saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:43 The Buddha observed these six realms within the desire realm, which is the realm that we're in. And so this dissatisfaction is kind of the root cause of all of our suffering because even when we do find the perfect department or the perfect job or the perfect person, within sometimes incredibly small amounts of time, we become dissatisfied with them. Report an error in the passage at 40:43 Highlight the passage at 40:43

41:12 We become dissatisfied. We realize that the perfect job is kind of annoying and the people in the next... The next cubicle, you know, are really loud when they're on the phone. And just so it could begin seeing, or as Rubina always does, she always does that one story where she always says that, you know, you begin seeing, you begin hating the way he eats his eggs when you fall madly in love and he's just divine from his own side. Report an error in the passage at 41:12 Highlight the passage at 41:12

41:39 And then the next morning you begin to realize that he eats his eggs with his mouth open, you know, right? You start seeing that. And it's that. It's that dissatisfaction that just begins to infect everything that we do. It's an undercurrent of our existence in this desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 41:39 Highlight the passage at 41:39

42:02 So the only method actually to be free of this kind of suffering, to actually get out of these realms completely, is following the teachings of a being who has done that. And in this case, we're talking about the Buddha. If you can find another being who has done that, then that's fine. I'm teaching from the point of view of the Buddha just because that's the method that I have learned about. But that's the reason is simply to find somebody who has been able to get past all the suffering of this realm and has a method and is willing to teach that method. Report an error in the passage at 42:02 Highlight the passage at 42:02

42:43 And so that's one of the reasons why the Buddha is a worthy refuge. Report an error in the passage at 42:43 Highlight the passage at 42:43

42:50 So, um, So this gets into a lot of how karma works and the basis of how karma works. We spent last term studying, but really the basic points of it are that if you do a negative action, you'll receive suffering in your next life. Most likely. If it's incredibly powerful negative action toward a really powerful object or with a really powerful motivation, you might receive the results of this life. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:31 The same is true for if you do a positive act, you will receive pleasure. And again, if it's a really powerful motivation or a really powerful object, then you may receive that in this life, which is, of course, how tantra works. Tantra is a really powerful method for basically using the laws of karma to our benefit once you decide that you can't bear the suffering of all the beings around you and you want to relieve that suffering and the fastest way is to become a Buddha and so you are willing to jump into Tantra. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

44:12 That's sort of the whole way that Tantra works. It's like using atomic power, nuclear power or something to get the job done. So it can be dangerous as well. So they caution not to jump in too soon. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:31 But that's the way that it works is because it's such a powerful, because the objects are so powerful and because your motivation is so powerful with this bodhicitta motivation, which they say is the most powerful motivation, that you actually begin to see the results in this life. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:50 So understanding how karma works, starting to work with that understanding and getting it that the The Buddha himself taught that this is the creator of our universe and our experiences and that it's not set, it's not predestined. Whatever situation we find ourselves in can always be changed. Karma can always be changed. And even horribly negative acts can be purified. Report an error in the passage at 44:50 Highlight the passage at 44:50

45:26 According to what the Buddha taught in the sūtra. So that is sort of how refuge protects us or how refuge in the Buddha protects us. So, um... Report an error in the passage at 45:26 Highlight the passage at 45:26

45:50 Confidence in these objects, which is the second point, the fear of suffering was the first, and then the confidence that these objects of refuge can protect us from suffering. That actually comes from studying more of the qualities, which we're going to do over the next couple of weeks. Studying more of the qualities of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 45:50 Highlight the passage at 45:50

46:12 And the Buddha jewel, really, the Dharma jewel and the Saṅgha jewel and why they are worthy or why they are reliable objects of refuge. So you don't just take, Lama Yeshe always was really big on saying, you know, you don't just accept, actually the Buddha was really big on saying, you don't just accept what I'm saying without questioning it with some sort of blind faith. Report an error in the passage at 46:12 Highlight the passage at 46:12

46:39 He actually really prohibited it. And Lama Yeshe was always the one who always was saying, you've got to check up, you've got to experiment with this stuff and you've got to see if it makes sense to you. So these teachings on why the Buddha and Dharma and Saṅgha are reliable and worthy to be objects of refuge, these are the traditional teachings and then you have to explore them. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

47:05 You have to kind of think about, does this make sense to me? Does this make sense that this would be a really worthy object of refuge? Report an error in the passage at 47:05 Highlight the passage at 47:05

47:14 But these two causes of refuge actually work together because the more we understand suffering and fear it, in other words, don't want it, the more we look for a proper refuge, not just all those surface ones that we've been realizing. that take. The more we understand how valid our objects of refuge are, the stronger our refuge becomes. So they actually work in tandem and they actually strengthen each other. Report an error in the passage at 47:14 Highlight the passage at 47:14

47:50 So if we think about the qualities, one of the qualities of the Buddha in this sense of being perfect mind. The enlightened mind being free of every fault and having every quality. If it's free of every fault, it can't bring any harm in any way. Report an error in the passage at 47:50 Highlight the passage at 47:50

48:11 If it possesses every quality, then it can only benefit. Report an error in the passage at 48:11 Highlight the passage at 48:11

48:22 A worthy form of refuge is something that would never harm and would only benefit. That in and of itself is positive. um... Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:32 We can also think about the fact that knowing that the Buddha has taught these methods and that they're proven methods and they're methods that he himself used to get out of suffering can all be wonderful. But if we can't actually see a Buddha, if we don't have the karma to actually see the Buddha, that's where the Dharma comes in because his teachings are actually still alive. Report an error in the passage at 48:32 Highlight the passage at 48:32

48:56 They're still not just the texts, which is the relative Dharma. But in realizations embodied in holy beings that are still on the earth right now. I was just in the presence of many of them and it's awe-inspiring. Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:14 And true refuge in the Buddhist teachings is actually, like I said, actually taking them and applying them in our own lives until we attain some level of realization of them. So we take these teachings on karma, we work with them. Gain some experience of them and gain some faith in them and that strengthens our refuge. But the same is true as we gain more, we start cultivating these minds of bodhicitta, understanding what bodhicitta is, developing that mind, it gets stronger and stronger. Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:49 That becomes the Dharma in our own mind stream. We become more and more, we embody. The teachings themselves. And that's why it's so inspiring when you're in the presence of so-called people, like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, manifesting as an ordinary being, or he keeps calling himself a simple monk, a simple Buddhist monk. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:14 But he has qualities that are, that, I mean, you know, who am I to say, because I can't see his mind, but I have received a lot of teachings from him over the years, and I've seen him in a lot of different situations. And it's amazing. Amazing just how he is in the world. And I think that I also see a lot of those same qualities in some of my other teachers, like Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who is just constantly working for sentient beings, rarely resting, just constantly always thinking of bigger and bigger things to do that would help. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:54 Sometimes really specific groups like making sure that the monks at Sarah Jay have enough for lunch every day and how to fund that so that it always will have enough money so that they can have something to eat every day. Or that the nuns in this center will be able to do long retreat and how to make that happen. His mind is just always, you know, and all of a sudden we'll get like an email and it's like Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 50:54 Highlight the passage at 50:54

51:23 Has just, you know, decided that this will happen and this will happen. We all have to read, like, this sūtra to block all, you know, to clear all obstacles. And, you know, he wants to suddenly, he thinks it would be really great to, you know, start a hospice in blah blah or a school in, you know, Bihar or whatever, you know, and now this 500-foot, you know, statue that's going to have the school and the hospice and all the, I mean, the hospital and the clinic all. Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:51 You know, there and be like a sort of a Dharma Disneyland for people to be able to create merit and all this stuff, you know. I mean, it's just, his mind is just so vast. It's like, I can't even, you know, Venerable Amy used to always say, you know, she would think, I'll do a light offering and she'd light, like, you know, Rinpoche would say, let's do light offerings and she'd come out with like three or four candles and he would be like. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:15 You know, like cover the tables, cover like all the balconies, cover, you know, cover, you know, fill the room with light, you know, his, his mind is just fast. And I really feel like that's, they're giving us, if we're open to it, they're giving us like a hint of what this Buddha mind is like without like totally blowing us away. Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:36 And sometimes they do. I mean, His Holiness does the same thing. His Holiness is non-stop. I mean, every day he's still. He always takes like four or five hours of practice. He gets up at 3.30 every day, no matter where he is in the world, no matter who he has to see that day. Report an error in the passage at 52:36 Highlight the passage at 52:36

52:53 Always does his practice. And then sees people or teaches, has interviews with people all day. And then... You know, starts over the next day. Never a break until he basically collapses, in which case then a doctor will step in and say, well, cancel this one and this one and this one, you know, and then he'll get rested and then he'll start in again. Report an error in the passage at 52:53 Highlight the passage at 52:53

53:17 And every person gets the same attention and gets the same happiness and gets the same wisdom. You know as if you know There's no difference between him seeing Lisa, who he's just met, and seeing Louis, who he's met 17 times over the years, and his old friends like Bob Thurman. He did tease Bob Thurman, because of course he's known him for 30 years, but at one point he was actually late coming back, and everyone was seated on the stage, and he said, where is Professor Thurman? Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:51 And all of a sudden, you're He's like pointing at him. So he does tease him a little bit differently. But still, I mean, there's no difference. He manifests this equanimity in a way that's so inspiring. With total happiness and curiosity for every project and idea that's presented to them. There's never the thought of like... Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:19 Oh my God, I'm just too tired. How many of us have felt that? Even if you have a really happy, curious mind, you come to a meeting at work and somebody wants to present something that seven people have already tried and it's failed. It's so hard to just go, that's great, let's do it. Your immediate thought is... Report an error in the passage at 54:19 Highlight the passage at 54:19

54:41 And it's terrible. He never does that. He's always like, let's see this happen. What do you need to have it? He's got that curiosity and he inspires you to do it. Same with Rinpoche. People bring up amazing ideas and he's always, he always is just like, how can we make this happen? This is so inspiring. That's great. I was just reading an article by... Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

55:03 Venomal Ninje in Mandala this time about how she had this idea to sit on the mall for every day of the month of October, the mall in Washington, D.C., and read the Sūtra of Golden Light in order to bring wise leadership to the country in time for the election. So she went to Rinpoche and he thought it was a wonderful idea. This is great. And then he also gave her advice on what else they should read. So she's going to Washington to do that. Report an error in the passage at 55:03 Highlight the passage at 55:03

55:30 I mean, these ideas that are just like... And he's excited when our minds are like that. I actually feel like this is, although they say that we access Buddha Mind mostly through the Dharma, I think we also access it through our teachers that are so Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:51 inspiring to us because they embody what our minds could become like, even in a small way. All of them, you know, from every level. on up anyone that that we go to for a teaching and Rubina is another one who's just like totally blows me away how she goes around the clock and you And she's always like, sit down, you know. Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:29 She's just, you know, she'll listen to your problems, you know. And she's... It seems like she's not doing anything, but you know in reality what's on the computer is like 2,000 students wanting advice and this entire Cheryl Plaza thing happening and like somebody in South America wanting this and somebody, you know, I mean it's all this and she has the same kind of like, you know, Milo. Report an error in the passage at 56:29 Highlight the passage at 56:29

56:56 Yeah, you know, whatever my whiny little problem is. She just, like, listens to it, you know, and then she'll, like, she'll challenge you, you know. Not saying that. Give me the point. Yeah, give me the point, Pedal. But, you know, she, like, makes herself available. And I think, and Kesula's the same, you know. Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:15 You know, you tell him, you know, this, this, and this, and then he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, and then, you know. So. Anyway, that was a huge tangent to just be saying that it's a form of, I think, I haven't seen this anywhere, but I actually do think that seeing the Buddha embodied in our teachers and gaining faith in that and gaining respect for that is actually a form of taking refuge in the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 57:15 Highlight the passage at 57:15

57:52 So, um... Lama Yeshe is the one who actually said, you know, we say, we phrase it, I go for refuge or I take refuge. And he said actually it's more like I do refuge. Refuge, he said, is something that we do. It's something we live moment by moment by moment every day. And that has to do, again, with this applying. Report an error in the passage at 57:52 Highlight the passage at 57:52

58:21 What we understand of the Buddhist teachings and the most important of those teachings really has to do with the law of cause and effect. How what we do, what we think, how we speak has a consequence. It has a result and we will experience that result in tiny ways on up to really big ways. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:49 So understanding the law of cause and effect, karma, how karma works, and applying that, looking at our mind moment by moment by moment, and applying it. This is how we do refuge. This is the process of developing our mind of refuge. And then they talk about these two forms of outer refuge and inner refuge. Report an error in the passage at 58:49 Highlight the passage at 58:49

59:17 And so taking refuge. Our developing outer refuge is sort of taking refuge in the Buddhist teachings. But then it begins to help us develop this sort of inner, what they call an inner guru or an inner wisdom where we begin to take refuge in our own basic goodness. Report an error in the passage at 59:17 Highlight the passage at 59:17

59:41 Being able to rely on our own wisdom more and more and more as we have... As we ourselves begin to embody the teachings more and more. So now we can look at these amazing outer beings like Lama, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Gashala, Venema Rubina, and want to be like them and sort of act like them. Report an error in the passage at 59:41 Highlight the passage at 59:41

1:00:05 We kind of look out there and we see them with our minds the way our minds are. We see them as separate from us. We see them as out there. In a good way, we're respectful of them, but we still see them as out there separate. In reality, gradually, we will develop our own inner wisdom and we'll be able to rely on that more and more and it will be authentic. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:05 Highlight the passage at 1:00:05

1:00:27 It's not just saying I can rely on my instinct and basically my instinct. It happens to be my self-cherishing mind, you know, so I'm like relying on that, you know. Because a lot of times, and myself included, you know, it's like we follow what we think this inner voice is that's really wise and that inner voice sometimes is really what's gotten us into trouble for lifetime after lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:52 So we have to be really careful how quickly we begin to rely on that inner guru. But again, it's just to underscore that it's not something magical. Taking refuge isn't something magical. It's developing this understanding of the qualities of the Buddha and the Dharma and the Saṅgha and then also this understanding of how karma works and applying that, you know, first day by day and then ultimately you get to the point where you're really watching your mind moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:52 Highlight the passage at 1:00:52

1:01:24 That's really what mindfulness is in this tradition. Where that comes from is that idea of really being able to look at your actions and recognize it as that verse of the eight verses, I think it's the third verse of the eight verses, the eight verses of thought transformation, like the moment anger rises in my mind, may I avert it without a second's delay, which presupposes that you are watching. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:24 Highlight the passage at 1:01:24

1:01:56 Your mind to the point where you even notice. Rubina always says that one too. She goes, this is already a huge leap that you even notice it when you get angry. She said most of the time we realize that we're angry when the words are vomiting out our mouth, as she says. Or we're shaking or we're stomping around the house or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:56 Highlight the passage at 1:01:56

1:02:17 Usually we physically or verbally are manifesting it. The teachings of the Buddha are saying we should be looking at our minds so often that the minute we reach the direct cause of anger, which is that upset feeling where kind of our equilibrium is off, we can notice it right then and go, wait a second and analyze it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:39 What am I angry about? Blah, blah. You know, grist for another mill how you actually work with the anger as it arises. So That's actually true refuge. That's how refuge works. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:39 Highlight the passage at 1:02:39

1:02:58 And it's also taught that going for refuge or doing refuge, as Lama Eshi says, at the time of death will protect you from the lower realms. And Venerable Rita, I thought, pointed out in a really clear way that, again, it's not like, well, first of all, it's not saying the words. You know, I go for refuge, I go to Buddha or Nama Gurbya, Nama Buddha. At the time, that's not really going to do anything if it's just rote, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58 Highlight the passage at 1:02:58

1:03:30 It's like, okay, that's done, I'm safe, you know, I can relax. But her point, and I think that that's a really, it was a really good point, is that... Generating this mind of refuge at that moment is simply, this is the way mind works, it's a virtuous state of mind and a negative state of mind can't arise simultaneously with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:30 Highlight the passage at 1:03:30

1:03:54 So actually any virtuous state of mind at the time of death is useful. It doesn't have to be refuge. But the good thing about refuge is that it's simpler to... to generate especially if you've been doing it your whole life and and It's impossible then for a negative state of mind to arise. The one huge virtuous mind can be in your mind at that point. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54 Highlight the passage at 1:03:54

1:04:25 It's going to keep your mind protected in that way. The same thing would be true if you thought of a teacher that you're really inspired. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:25 Highlight the passage at 1:04:25

1:04:35 At the moment of my death, if I thought of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, if I thought of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with admiration and respect, that would also be a virtuous mind that would pervade your mind at the time of death. That's how it protects. It's not so much like a sort of magical recipe for not going to the lower realms. It's just, if you die with a virtuous state of mind, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:35 Highlight the passage at 1:04:35

1:05:02 That is what shoots you into your next rebirth, which is why it's really good not to die with a negative state of mind, which is why it's a really good idea to work with our mind, because we never know when that moment will happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02 Highlight the passage at 1:05:02

1:05:18 So the objects of refuge, they teach it in a, traditionally it's taught, That the Buddha is like, well first of all we have to recognize with this idea that the conditions of our life are created by our negative karma, or our karma, I should say karma and delusions, both negative and positive, which ultimately come from our ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:53 All of our delusions are sort of rooted in this. Basic ignorance about our reality. And then our delusions cause us to create the karma that then causes us to create, you know, to experience the suffering that we experience and the happiness. But usually ignorant happiness. Grasping for more chocolate cake. Or people in magazines. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:19 So that actually is the condition that we're in and they say that's like our disease. So we realize that we have this disease which brings us suffering and we keep sort of being reborn into this what they call psychic existence. We keep being reborn into this state because we haven't figured out a way to break through it. We haven't learned the method for nirvāṇa. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:19 Highlight the passage at 1:06:19

1:06:46 To liberate ourselves from karma and delusions. So we turn to the best of all possible doctors and that would be the Buddha. So they compare the Buddha to a doctor who's already been able to free himself from this particular disease. So he knows the methods. The Dharma is compared to the medicine, which of course is no good to us if we just put it on the shelf. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:46 Highlight the passage at 1:06:46

1:07:12 If we think it's really beautiful and then we just never apply it. It's no good to us. And it's true for medicine as well. And the saṅgha jewel are those beings actually who have attained realizations in their mind streams. So I should say, actually I should back up a little bit, the Buddha jewel. How that differs from the Buddha, the Buddha jewel is the actual Buddha, the actual enlightened, any enlightened being, any being that has actually attained enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:12 Highlight the passage at 1:07:12

1:07:52 The relative Buddha, what we actually see mostly and what we should treat as though it were the same as the Buddha jewel, are representations of the Buddha, like the tankas that we see here in the room or statues of the Buddha or... Um, um, Satsas or any other representations of the Buddha. The Dharma jewel refers to his actual teachings, but the realizations in the actually realizations in minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:52 Highlight the passage at 1:07:52

1:08:26 So it's it's not just the spoken words or somebody's like, if I'm saying how karma works. It's not that act. It's actually me realizing it that comes from practice and from meditating on it and practicing it over and over and over until I actually get it deeply where it can't be reversed and I have no doubt about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:50 I have that realization in my mind stream. That's the actual Dharma. And that's like the medicine. And the Saṅgha jewel, they compare it to the nurses or the... Assistance on the path because they are other beings who are on the path who have attained these high levels of realizations. So the Saṅgha Jewel actually are what they call Arya beings, those beings who have had the direct perception of emptiness specifically. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:50 Highlight the passage at 1:08:50

1:09:25 But you can also say that they are those who have attained really high levels of realizations like... Generating bodhicitta in their mind stream to the point where it's not reversible anymore. They tell stories about yogis who develop, who generate bodhicitta and then before it's stabilized in their mind stream they lose it because one sentient being pisses them off basically. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:52 Because bodhicitta includes all beings, if you lose it for one being you've lost it completely. So it's like Riba Rinpoche used to tell it in this really precious way. He said it's like this little tiny fire and every day you have to keep that fire going and you have to strengthen that fire and you have to feed that fire and it's like you can't ever let that fire go out. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:52 Highlight the passage at 1:09:52

1:10:19 So generating bodhicitta to the point where it's irreversible and stable is also... Somebody who has that in their mind stream is also an example of the Saṅgha jewel. And I'm sure that there are others, but those are usually the ones that are given. The relative Saṅgha are those of us that are wearing the red uniforms, the monastics, who are not because of who we are as people, but as who we're representing, how we're representing the qualities of the Buddha in the world now. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:19 Highlight the passage at 1:10:19

1:10:55 And the Buddha actually taught that. Neither Dulkara or I are fully ordained, but that it's necessary to have fully ordained Saṅgha in order for the Buddhist teachings to remain in the world. So we honor the monastics as representations of the Saṅgha jewel. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55 Highlight the passage at 1:10:55

1:11:20 You don't want to go to either extreme necessarily, thinking that... not Report an error in the passage at 1:11:20 Highlight the passage at 1:11:20

1:11:24 That everyone who suddenly puts on the uniform has directly perceived emptiness or generated bodhicitta, which is often done, people often think that we are much better people than we are, although we have something that we immediately have to live up to. But on the other hand, I think a lot of Westerners, it's quite difficult if you see somebody that you know really well and they get ordained, to see them as ordinary. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24 Highlight the passage at 1:11:24

1:11:52 It's not so good either. To see all their faults is not so good either. So to respect what they're doing, even if as a person maybe you don't think they're so wonderful or whatever, to try to realize that, okay, the method that they're choosing is one that was given by the Buddha himself. You can respect the robes and the vows even if you have problems with the individual wearing them. So I say that not to gain respect myself, but to say it for... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:52 Highlight the passage at 1:11:52

1:12:33 I think monasticism is a growing thing in the West. Actually, it's not growing as well as it could be. I think part of it is just it's such a bizarro thing. We aren't used to seeing these people walking around with shaved heads and interesting outfits. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:33 Highlight the passage at 1:12:33

1:12:52 It's just to kind of give you an idea of how you could train your mind to see, okay, I can't see. You know, so people, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:52 Highlight the passage at 1:12:52

1:13:02 To be honest, none of us, we don't know who in this room has attained the direct perception of emptiness because it wouldn't be obvious to us. Any of you all could have. And we don't know who's generated bodhicitta and so forth. But we do see the outfits. So that becomes like a symbol of the Buddha Dharma Saṅgha in the world. And so we can respect it based on that. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:02 Highlight the passage at 1:13:02

1:13:30 So then just to end, I wanted to end, and this will end up being your meditation this week, the four reasons why the Buddha is a reliable refuge. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:30 Highlight the passage at 1:13:30

1:13:43 And if the Buddha is, if you can gain some trust that the Buddha is a reliable refuge, then it would follow that the Dharma and the Saṅgha are also reliable refuges because the Buddha actually, His Holiness was saying, the Buddha actually... In one sense, it's the ultimate refuge because the Buddha embodies the other two. Clearly, the Dharma are his teachings and the Saṅgha are those who have realized his teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:43 Highlight the passage at 1:13:43

1:14:11 So if the Buddha wasn't worthy of respect, it kind of already knocks out the other two. You have to start with the Buddha. So the first one that they teach is that the Buddha is fearless. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:23 And what they mean by that isn't some sort of like... Indiana Jones or something. But more that Buddha has completely been able to overcome all of his fears through mastering and subduing his mind. So it comes down to the fact that he has completely worked with his mind until he's been able to perfect all the qualities and remove all the faults. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:23 Highlight the passage at 1:14:23

1:14:53 And because of this, he's able to protect us from fear. Which makes sense just in a conventional sense. If somebody is subject to fear of themselves, it's really hard for them to become fearless, to help others to become fearless if somebody is wracked with a lot of fear of themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:53 Highlight the passage at 1:14:53

1:15:16 And so they give four points on... That the Buddha is fearless in proclaiming what he has observed. And this gets to the point of the lion's roar, which some people may have heard of this analogy of the Buddha with the lion's roar. It doesn't mean he's arrogant. It means he's confident, really. I think this fearlessness is actually, in a way, it's confidence with what he has already been able to attain. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:51 And how he can then tell us with total confidence that this is what I observed on my way to getting enlightened. So the first is that the Buddha, this is all part of the Buddha being fearless. This is one of the Galukpa set of lists again. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:13 It's a subset of number one. One A is that the Buddha can proclaim his own realizations of possessing all qualities and skills. So basically, this is due to the fact that he has attained complete omniscience. So he knows what he knows without any mistake. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:37 It isn't based on ego. He's not just telling us what to do to be arrogant or... bossy um it's it's he knows um mean once Omniscience means basically that you can know everything. Our minds, every mind has the capacity to know everything and right now we're only blocked by delusions and karma. So he's removed those. So he has the capacity to know everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:16:54 you can mind Report an error in the passage at 1:16:54 Highlight the passage at 1:16:54

1:17:09 What he knows is unmistaken and he can state it clearly and confidently. And 1B, or the second point of why he's fearless in proclaiming what he's observed is that he can proclaim the cessation of mental obscurations, that every single mental obscuration or affliction and even their tiniest, most subtle imprints are completely gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:09 Highlight the passage at 1:17:09

1:17:35 They've been ceased completely. The Buddha can proclaim what others need to be free of. He knows without any mistake all the delusions that we have. He taught, actually, that there are 84,000 types of delusions. The ten non-virtues are just the top ten. um um and they all are you know There are subsets. There are those related to anger, those that are related to attachment, those that are related to ones that we might recognize, pride and so on. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:18:12 But there are all sorts of gradations of them. Irritation is a form of anger. Frustration is a form of anger. But they're slightly different. He knows this. He knows all the different types of delusions that we can have and he can say why even in their tiniest form they can be damaging to our minds and they can cause us huge amounts of suffering if we don't do anything about it because he knows how karma works. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:12 Highlight the passage at 1:18:12

1:18:42 We might think desire attachment is a good thing and in fact in our culture it's considered a really good thing and it's actually encouraged. Walking down Broadway, I can say. New York is like, I mean, New York, I guess Paris and London and some of the other big cities are like that too, but it's just so many incredible restaurants and shops and, you know, in every block. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:42 Highlight the passage at 1:18:42

1:19:09 I mean, and every one of them is good. You know, it's kind of amazing. You go into a sandwich shop and it's like, oh, it's all organic meat and it's da-da-da-da, and you're just like. You're amazing. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:09 Highlight the passage at 1:19:09

1:19:18 Really? For $5.95? It's amazing, actually. It's kind of like... So we might not know without, you know, just on the surface. We might actually just think that all that increasing our desire and our attachment actually might be what makes life juicy and exciting, you know, without any desire and attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:18 Highlight the passage at 1:19:18

1:19:44 It might seem like that life would be kind of boring. And the Buddha actually said that basically, no, this is a delusion in our mind. It actually causes us pain. It actually causes us suffering. And actually feeding it isn't a good idea. And he's saying that not as somebody who just has a lot of opinions, but somebody who actually can see the result of those deluded. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:08 And the same is true with anger, and of course in our culture too, there are differing schools of thought of how much anger we should, maybe it's good to release anger, or maybe sometimes anger is good if it's against Bush, you know, or something, like if our object is... If somebody annoying like Bush, then anger is a good thing. Basically the Buddha said, no, anger is never good. It's never a good motivating force of any kind of action. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:08 Highlight the passage at 1:20:08

1:20:40 In fact, it causes all of our actions to become less effective. He was not saying that we shouldn't act when somebody does really harmful actions in the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:40 Highlight the passage at 1:20:40

1:20:54 Actually, we need to act. But we need to act out of a motivation of compassion, wanting to change the world to help beings, to help sentient beings. And also understanding that people in power. I mean, now every teaching that I go to with Rinpoche and even a non-teaching like the group last night, he always ends it praying for all the leaders of the world to gain bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:54 Highlight the passage at 1:20:54

1:21:27 He always does like sort of three sets, you know, it's sort of like first, first, first, and then being so happy and all that sort of, his sort of normal one. And then he goes into all the leaders of the world generate bodhicitta within their mind stream like right away. And then all of those who are merely labeled terrorists, all of those who might be labeled terrorists, that they also generate bodhicitta in their mind stream like immediately without a second's delay. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:57 So it's sort of like you can care what these people in politics are doing and you can pray for them, but you can't hate them and there's never a license to hate them as long as you're in Buddhism. I know, sorry Peter. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:57 Highlight the passage at 1:21:57

1:22:13 I know you have, I'm sure, I'm sure. Um, so, um, Anyway, so he says that he speaks this way. He can speak with this fearlessness because it's actually like this incredible confidence because it's due to his realizations. And that's why it's compared to this lion's roar. It's like, you know, it's not arrogance. It's like when His Holiness teaches, he teaches with this total confidence. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:13 Highlight the passage at 1:22:13

1:22:49 I don't think anyone could ever call him arrogant, actually. Really, he's quite loud and he's quite confident. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:49 Highlight the passage at 1:22:49

1:23:00 He fills the room, whether it's a small room or a large room. In this case, it was a 3,000-person theater. mean, um. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:00 Highlight the passage at 1:23:00

1:23:07 There's no question of who's on the stage. His voice, the sound of his voice, everything, I think totally compares to this lion's roar idea. He's teaching with total clarity, with precision, with confidence. And then while it's being translated, because he always teaches the teachings. The public talks he'll often do in English still, but the teachings he always does in Tibetan. It's always translated. While it's being translated, he's interacting with all the gaches on the stage and smiling and pointing. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:07 Highlight the passage at 1:23:07

1:23:39 Then he comes right back to where he was in the text without even missing a beat. But he's very, very humble. He always says, what little I know from my little practice of... Bodhicitta, or what little I know from working with my mind, I don't get as irritated. He's very, very humble, but there's no doubt that he has this wisdom based on this clarity and this insight and these actual realizations in his mind, which is, for us, very confidence-building. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:39 Highlight the passage at 1:23:39

1:24:12 We see him and we can kind of go, oh, wow, that's the kind of mind I want. And he's not like pushing anything on us. He's always saying, you check up, you know, you check up. Don't just take what I'm saying. He often will end, especially public talks, he'll often say, if you find anything of use, great, apply it. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:12 Highlight the passage at 1:24:12

1:24:29 If not, toss it away. Okay, you know, bye-bye. He's always like, you know, he has nothing invested. I mean, he has everything invested because he cares for each of us, but he's not, he doesn't want any of us to change religions. He's very strong on that. He doesn't want us to go out and change our religion. He doesn't want to force anything down our throat. He's simply saying, look, this is what the Buddha taught. Maybe give it a try. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:53 See. He's very light about it. He's not like, except maybe to Bob Thurman. And the final of the four ways that he's fearless in proclaiming what he's observed is that he's able to fearlessly proclaim all the antidotes that we rely on in order to remove all the faults of our mind. Because he knows that they work. He's used them. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:25:19 he's, um, um, He can teach them with confidence. I teach you based on what I have learned and faith, but I haven't removed all the faults in my mind and I haven't perfected all the states. I hate to let you down here, Peter, but I am not a Buddha. I'm not even a Saṅgha, except in the relative sense. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:19 Highlight the passage at 1:25:19

1:25:43 But he can teach with total confidence because he's gone through the steps and he's done it. It's the same. Rubina is always using the example of somebody who really knows how to bake a cake. They've baked a cake so many times that they can do it in their sleep and then they show Lisa how to bake a cake. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:43 Highlight the passage at 1:25:43

1:26:03 I can tell you with total confidence how to bake a cake because I've done it so many times. I've embodied the baking of the cake. Same is true for any other thing that I might teach you like playing the piano. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:03 Highlight the passage at 1:26:03

1:26:16 You know, building a house or something like that. If I know how to do it, I can be confident telling you how to do it, which is, of course, why it falls on all of us to actually attain these realizations so that we can teach others with confidence how to do them. It's the same exact thing. Geshe Michael was always saying, you know, once you directly perceive emptiness, you can totally speak with confidence and without doubt in your mind because then... Report an error in the passage at 1:26:16 Highlight the passage at 1:26:16

1:26:46 Actually, that's one of the things that directly perceiving emptiness does is it just takes that doubt out of your mind completely. And so you have this amazing confidence to do whatever you feel is beneficial in teaching the Dharma. So it makes sense that once we've taken these steps, we also can roar. We can also speak really confidently and fearlessly and help others attain those same states. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:46 Highlight the passage at 1:26:46

1:27:16 Until then, we can say what we know based on these teachers that we admire, but we're going to make mistakes too. I'm going to leave things out when I'm telling you everything I know, and then I go back and I go, oh, I missed that one, and then I miss that one, and then I miss that one. Or I'll just forget something. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:16 Highlight the passage at 1:27:16

1:27:37 Pray to Rinpoche before I teach any class. If I'm going to say something that's actually wrong, stop me. If I've forgotten something, have it just come out of my mouth. And often it does, actually. Thankfully, somebody's watching out for you guys. Until we actually attain those states, we can't teach with the same level of confidence. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:37 Highlight the passage at 1:27:37

1:28:00 It just makes sense. So the first is the Buddha is fearless. The second of these four reasons why the Buddha is reliable refuge is that the Buddha is skillful in freeing others from fear. Because of this, having this omniscient mind, he's actually developed what's called skillful means. He's actually able to teach what's suitable to individual people's minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:00 Highlight the passage at 1:28:00

1:28:29 this is actually one of the best qualities of Buddhism is that it's not fixed in the same way that people often bring to Kopan and to a lot of beginning courses sort of like, well, what does Buddhism say about this? What does Buddhism say about this? What does Buddhism say about euthanasia? What does Buddhism say about abortion? What does Buddhism say about homosexuality? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:29 Highlight the passage at 1:28:29

1:28:54 What does Buddhism say about blah, blah, blah? Like there's a dogma. It always comes down to the individual mind, what's in the mind of the person doing this certain thing. Like the example I think I've given already in this class where Lisa and I could be doing the exact same action. She could be creating a positive karma and I could be creating a negative karma totally based on what's going on in our minds. It's not necessarily, like in the case of euthanasia, it's not necessarily based on the act. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:54 Highlight the passage at 1:28:54

1:29:32 It's what's going on in our minds. And from the way he taught, the Buddha taught all of the different schools of Buddhism, all of the schools of Buddhism and all of their... Tenets all came from the Buddhist teachings. So the different levels are the different teachings on emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:32 Highlight the passage at 1:29:32

1:29:54 Sometimes when you study them for any great length, because when Geshe-la teaches on emptiness in some of the advanced, more advanced courses, you go through the different philosophical schools of, you know, the vibastrakas and the... So tantricas and all this, and you're studying at first, you're just like, well, why can't we just start with the correct view? Like, why do we have to go through all these other schools? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:22 Peter's like, yeah, I'm with you. And they say that it's because... Yeah, well, it's not even that it helps your mind. It's that most of us couldn't really understand it at the highest level right away. Now, there are some people, because of past life imprint, they do get it right away. All of us would like to think that we were those people. But most of us have to get it in sort of grosser forms, and then it gets more and more and more subtle, and we begin to understand it more. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:22 Highlight the passage at 1:30:22

1:30:49 It's kind of similar to how you might explain the solar system to a two-year-old. Versus a 6-year-old, versus a 15-year-old, versus a 25-year-old, versus a 45-year-old. It's not like you're lying to the 2-year-old, but you might state it in more simple to understand language. So he has that kind of skillful means to know what I tell you in this short term will actually help you understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:49 Highlight the passage at 1:30:49

1:31:21 The fuller meaning in the long term, whereas we might, in our lack of wisdom, tell somebody something in the short term that actually messes them up, and then they leave altogether. They get freaked out. In fact, one of the higher vows, I think, bodhisattva vows, is not to explain emptiness to someone whose mind is not mentally prepared. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:45 So if you state it in such a way that they think that nothing exists, Basically nihilism. Then they could get totally freaked out and leave. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:45 Highlight the passage at 1:31:45

1:31:58 That's an unskillful application of the teachings because we don't have omniscient mind. We aren't able to see what's going to happen. Actually, we're not really supposed to be teaching the Dharma until we have omniscient mind. Until I can see what's going to help Lisa particularly. leave. Um, and, and so, um, um, Report an error in the passage at 1:31:58 Highlight the passage at 1:31:58

1:32:20 With this teaching, by looking at your past karma and your past lives and looking at this life and what possibly can happen, what you have the potential to do in this life, then I can help you with your practice with a total mind of omniscience. Until then, I'm going to make mistakes. And that's why I send you to people like Geshe-la who have far more wisdom. But the Buddha has that ability. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:20 Highlight the passage at 1:32:20

1:32:46 The Buddha has the ability to actually... Teach from an omniscient mind. The third one is that the Buddha has compassion for all living beings with complete equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:46 Highlight the passage at 1:32:46

1:33:02 This actually means that the Buddha loves us more than we love ourselves. I was staying with a friend of mine in New York, a Dharma student, and I told her that I was just getting to this point this weekend. which is, um... Report an error in the passage at 1:33:02 Highlight the passage at 1:33:02

1:33:18 We were sort of contemplating what that even means, like how hard that is to even imagine. And you see it sort of embodied in the teachers and when you're trying to work with... Guru Devotion in that way, they love us more than we love ourselves too and we try to get their attention in the way that we do ordinary beings, you know, give them gifts, you know, try to show up on their radar screen, you know, do all the things that you would do with an ordinary being. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:18 Highlight the passage at 1:33:18

1:33:47 But their main concern is, are you applying the teachings in your life and, you know, getting rid of your negative states of mind? Developing positive states of mind, basically subduing your mind so that you can not only benefit yourself and be really happy, not just happy with your chocolate and your magazine, but happy, happy with all causes for happiness forever, but also you can help everyone else become happy too. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:16 So that's what they want for you, which is what Buddhists want for you too. So it's like huge, hugely different than what... friend might want for us or even our mother or our loved ones might want for us because there's always that element of imperfection in humans. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:16 Highlight the passage at 1:34:16

1:34:38 The Buddha has compassion for us no matter what we do, no matter how many forms of refuge we take. that are imperfect no matter how negative we are, you know, no matter how grumpy we are, no matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:38 Highlight the passage at 1:34:38

1:35:01 interesting Senghor can get it Senghor can get it Report an error in the passage at 1:35:01 Highlight the passage at 1:35:01

1:35:11 The Buddha doesn't ever have any judgment, you know, because the Buddha isn't here, the Buddha isn't like a god. From this sort of biblical sense of judgment, the Buddha has this complete compassion for each one of us. Is it just ghosts? Yeah. It's the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:11 Highlight the passage at 1:35:11

1:35:33 Come and have a seat. I mean, it's an amazing thing. They compare this to the moon shining equally in every single body of water that there is, no matter how. Clear the water is, no matter how muddy the water is, no matter how tiny, like the tiniest little puddle versus this huge ocean, the moon reflects equally in the same way with all of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:33 Highlight the passage at 1:35:33

1:36:03 The moon has no picking and choosing the better bodies of water versus the sort of tiny bodies of water or yucky bodies of water. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:17 So in the same way the Buddha is just there guiding us, helping us, inspiring us no matter who we are or what we've done. Which also leads to the question of like if that's true, if the Buddhas are always amongst us trying to help us no matter what we've done, then why aren't we enlightened right now? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:17 Highlight the passage at 1:36:17

1:36:38 And the answer is really that it goes back to the whole idea of karma. Buddhas aren't omnipotent, they are omniscient. But they are not omnipotent. There's no idea that they are. They have amazing powers and capacities, but ultimately they can help us only to the extent of our own karma. So if we... Report an error in the passage at 1:36:38 Highlight the passage at 1:36:38

1:37:01 are hard-hearted and shut them out there's only so much they can do and they keep trying they'll show up as the you know lady on the bus and they'll show up you know the minute you get off the bus they'll show up as somebody else you know they'll keep trying in all these amazing If our mind is so tight and resistant... Report an error in the passage at 1:37:01 Highlight the passage at 1:37:01

1:37:19 Then we aren't able to let them in. In the same way, teachers keep doing that too. If you've ever noticed, teachers can kind of come up with these really skillful ways to try to soften your heart a little bit. And the more that you're able to open, the more you're actually able to receive the teachings until the point. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:19 Highlight the passage at 1:37:19

1:37:38 Where it's sort of like every teaching you go to feels like a direct instruction. Every book that you open feels like a direct instruction and so on. Because you start clearing away those karmic obscurations. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:38 Highlight the passage at 1:37:38

1:37:52 And some of the ways they do that actually, like Lama Zopa Rinpoche will often... They used to say, actually, I think it was in Taiwan, Ven. Roger, his attendant, would try to get him to do more exercise so he would take the stairs in these tall buildings rather than... But it would take so long because Rinpoche would see so many insects and every insect who had died or alive he would do mantras for and he would take them and put them around the relics and things like that because he wanted them to get some imprint of the Dharma for their next life and then he would go to the next one and so he would be like, Roger, I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:52 Highlight the passage at 1:37:52

1:38:32 And you see that actually, he does that quite a bit. People will bring their dogs to him and things like that, other beings in other realms. It's difficult when you're in the realm, animals and insects are considered in the animal realm. It's difficult to get dharmic imprints. It's difficult to be able to make any kind of connection to the Dharma. And so these are ways to bless the animals and do these mantras. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:39:02 He'll spend sometimes a really long time with dogs and things. If you've ever seen him at teachings, people will bring the dog, like Ruby Bodhicitta actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:02 Highlight the passage at 1:39:02

1:39:12 That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:12 Highlight the passage at 1:39:12

1:39:16 Precious jewels, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:16 Highlight the passage at 1:39:16

1:39:20 Yeah, go around and do the mantras over it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you think about it, that's probably how each of us actually made a connection. You know, we'd like to think that we were like, you know, something high and my parents were really into this idea of reincarnation, but it was sort of like all their past rebirths were all like kings and queens and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:39:41 It's like, hmm, you know, what about the dock worker, you know? Or the pig, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:41 Highlight the passage at 1:39:41

1:39:50 Right, exactly. So anyway, the main point is that the Buddhas are working in our lives all the time and they're manifesting in ways that we are just unable to see because we have these resistances. Everyone Report an error in the passage at 1:39:50 Highlight the passage at 1:39:50

1:40:09 One of the things that Peter and I were talking about with Sean's death, and I was talking about it in terms of my friend Laurel's death, we don't really know that these beings who come into our lives and then die young aren't Buddhas trying to teach us about death and impermanence. They have all the time in the world and all the patience in the world and can emanate in limitless ways. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:09 Highlight the passage at 1:40:09

1:40:36 There are ways that it's going to get Lewis closer to enlightenment. There's no problem getting Lewis closer to enlightenment if that means let's just be a really annoying boss for a while and see if we can get him to make the connection with his own mind or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:36 Highlight the passage at 1:40:36

1:40:58 And the final point, the final of these four. The Buddha works for the sake of all living beings without bias, whether they help or harm him. They traditionally teach that picture of the Buddha caring equally for two beings, one praising him and anointing his feet with oil and massaging him and giving him gifts and everything, and the other screaming at him and hating him. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:58 Highlight the passage at 1:40:58

1:41:32 You know, trying to attack his person, insulting him. Totally no difference in his compassion for them. They're both sentient beings and they both need help and that's the reason that he would help us. Shantideva gives that as the reason actually that. We should help too. There's no higher reason that they're exactly like us and that they need help. And so the Buddha is the same. The Buddha sees these two beings and sees that they both need his help and so he has compassion for them equally. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:32 Highlight the passage at 1:41:32

1:42:10 So do people have questions? And then actually I think we're basically... I think we're out of time. I think what I would rather do, rather than going through this, I think I'll just give it to you. I think you guys are grown up enough. You can kind of review it on your own as a meditation. What I'd rather do is to hand out the binders and the syllabus. So actually, if you want to do that. Peter had a question. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:10 Highlight the passage at 1:42:10

1:42:41 Yeah, you need to talk. No, no, it's good. Everybody gets one of each and one binder. Elisa, do you want to help her, actually? Yeah. So maybe Elisa can do the binders and you do the two pages. How's that? I was just going to say, my mom just saw His Holiness. Are you still talking? You take, yeah. Sorry. That's all right. I can't see. Yeah, no, we just were, you know, it takes a village to hand out. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:41 Highlight the passage at 1:42:41

1:43:12 Go ahead. I was just going to say, my mom just saw His Holiness in Los Angeles. She actually saw Geshevah. He was too shy to go say hi to him. He was talking to another Lama, but anyway, she didn't want to interrupt. Oh no, but she should just stand there. I know, that's what I told her, but she's shy. But anyway, she said out in front there were fundamentalist Christians picketing. And my mom's friend was like, picketing what? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:12 Highlight the passage at 1:43:12

1:43:38 Compassion? But nobody was yelling at them. Compassion? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:38 Highlight the passage at 1:43:38

1:43:41 Because it was a group of Buddhists, like there was nobody, when they were picketing up here during the gay marriages, you know, there were people screaming and yelling and really getting angry with them. And they were just sort of smiling at them and some people would stop and talk to them and try to, you know, and they're sitting there with signs saying, you're all going to hell. Right, right, right. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:00 And it was just sort of like they had compassion because... Clearly, in their delusion, they somehow see His Holiness as a threat. Right, right. And I don't think His Holiness would have cared that they were there. Oh, he probably would have gone up and chatted with them and smiled and wanted to know where they were from, how their mother was, all those things that kind of break it all down, all the differences. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:00 Highlight the passage at 1:44:00

1:44:21 But I thought it was so interesting that because it was a group of Buddhists, there was none of that sort of hostility you would have typically seen. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:21 Highlight the passage at 1:44:21

1:44:36 Oh, I thought you were grabbing it. It's just the Lisa and Peter show tonight. I do have a question. Something that came up when Venerable Rita was here, and she mentioned a number of times, no, I'm not clairvoyant. But I had the sense that clairvoyance exists, and I don't know. What is the thought on that? Report an error in the passage at 1:44:36 Highlight the passage at 1:44:36

1:45:03 What do you mean that clairvoyance exists? Yes, it does exist. It's a high realization that comes from developing calm abiding, which is like a really strong single-pointed meditation, ability to meditate single-pointedly on an object. Calm abiding itself or shamatha is actually being able to place your mind on an object for as long as you want it without any limit. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:32 Comfortably, without any force. Without any effort, you just place it and you can stay in that meditative state for months or longer. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:32 Highlight the passage at 1:45:32

1:45:42 As you go on the path toward developing calm abiding and these other high states of meditation, they say, by the way, as Lama Tsongkhapa says, and by the way, you do attain states of clairvoyance. But those are just like byproducts. That's not why you're doing it. You're doing it to develop this mind of calm abiding, which then you apply towards the nature of reality and directly perceive emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:42 Highlight the passage at 1:45:42

1:46:12 That's the point. And so you actually then you would become an Arya being and go on the grounds and pass all the way up to Buddhahood. By the way, you will attain these high levels of realization. In fact, they have many forms of clairvoyance. when Emily, who... She has been teaching classes on the mind, low rig, and now she's going to start another one next month, mind and mental factors. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:12 Highlight the passage at 1:46:12

1:46:41 She was teaching, there's some crazy amount of clairvoyances that are states of mind. So they have names for these different clairvoyances and what you can see with them and what you can perceive and stuff like that. So it is... Well documented that people do have clairvoyance. I think what Rita was saying is that she didn't. So she doesn't consider herself on that basis to be a true teacher with a big T, capital T, spiritual teacher. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:41 Highlight the passage at 1:46:41

1:47:12 Which in the class on the spiritual teacher we talked about there are a number of different kinds of teachers and they're all quite useful to us all the way along the paths. One of them is a Dharma instructor which is what I would consider myself. I would actually consider Rita above that but she from her side is saying that she's basically a Dharma instructor too. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:12 Highlight the passage at 1:47:12

1:47:32 And then there's people who can teach you techniques like meditation techniques. Rituals, how to do rituals. And then there are people who can actually give, I forgot all the levels now off the top of my head, but it's like there's 10 and it goes all the way up to root guru. But the higher level ones are tantric masters and like that. And each of them have to have certain qualities to be considered those. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:32 Highlight the passage at 1:47:32

1:48:00 So I think from her side what she was saying is that she didn't consider herself a spiritual teacher, capital S, capital T, because she wasn't clairvoyant. And so she couldn't really know. She could only teach you with what she has learned, her own experience and her faith and what she's, you know, over her years of practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:00 Highlight the passage at 1:48:00

1:48:20 But she doesn't really know what's in your mind. She doesn't really know what's in your future and in your past, you know. In the way of somebody who has clairvoyance. That's my understanding of what you're saying. Like Lama Yesher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, even Geshe-la or His Holiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:20 Highlight the passage at 1:48:20

1:48:41 Yeah, I know. See, from our side, we can see her qualities. From her side, she has to be humble. And then you've got to figure it out, watching somebody over a length of time, how much of it is humility and how much of it is accurate. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:41 Highlight the passage at 1:48:41

1:48:58 Yeah, well, in my case, I'm true. In my case, I'm being very honest here. There's no humility there. You'd be the first to know. Guess what? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:58 Highlight the passage at 1:48:58

1:49:18 Hopefully not. Sorry, did you want to say half that way? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:18 Highlight the passage at 1:49:18

1:49:25 Oh, yeah, he always says he's Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse Lama, not Mickey Mouse Lama. He says, yeah. He says, yeah. He says, not real Lama, Mickey Mouse Lama, he says, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, all of them do. None of them will really own up to it, but you just watch how they are in the world and how they are with people and how they, if they seem to put, this is, I actually heard somebody ask Rinpoche once, how do you know if somebody's had a direct perception of emptiness if they'll never admit it? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:25 Highlight the passage at 1:49:25

1:49:59 And he said, are they living basically according to the laws of karma? Because if you've had a direct perception of emptiness, then you should be applying the laws of karma all the time, however you are in the world. And are they really, really moral? All of these things, because things are not inherently existent, doesn't mean that karma doesn't work, as you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:59 Highlight the passage at 1:49:59

1:50:27 Peter. And as Lewis knows, because he came in at the very beginning, he took the wisdom class. Yeah, so you kind of watch how they are. And that's why His Holiness actually advises that people spend up to 12 years looking at their potential guru before they choose a guru. And actually the guru is checking you out too, so don't be thinking it's all your decision. Because they're trying to see if you're a proper vessel, what they call a proper vessel. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:27 Highlight the passage at 1:50:27

1:51:02 I know, that was always my fear, yeah. They're 80 years old. Yeah, I know, I know. But remember, it's not just this life, you know. You make connections, and if it's a true connection and you have the karma, they keep teaching you, even after they pass, you know. Yeah, yeah. Don't reject them for that reason. Well, he's totally perfect except the fact he's 82. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:02 Highlight the passage at 1:51:02

1:51:29 Yeah, I know. But maybe their next reincarnation will be. Go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:29 Highlight the passage at 1:51:29

1:51:42 I just wanted to know a little more about realizing emptiness because it keeps popping out everywhere. It's like we spent 12 Report an error in the passage at 1:51:42 Highlight the passage at 1:51:42

1:51:51 I'm not really sure. Yeah, it's a huge, vast subject. It's even more than a huge class. It's like many, many classes, thousands and thousands of hours of studying it. But the basic idea of emptiness is that things don't exist the way we think that they do and that they are empty of existing in that. Inherent, absolute way that we think that they do. Like, I look at Elisa and I think she exists in a certain way. And I actually base all my actions towards her on that really limited view of her, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51:51

1:52:27 I do the same with myself. I think I am a blank person forever, concretely, from my own side, you know, solidly, never going to change. Like this. I am what I am. And that's seeing the world in this really limited way. And I also think things happen to me during the day. First of all, I'm the center of the universe. And then secondly, things just happen toward me. Because that's what it feels when you're going through life. Things happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:27 Highlight the passage at 1:52:27

1:53:01 This person breaks up with you, this person yells at you on the subway, blah, blah. All these things are happening. In reality, it's far more complicated than that and also far more simple than that. We don't exist in this really solid, concrete way, and all of you don't exist in this really solid, concrete way. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:01 Highlight the passage at 1:53:01

1:53:24 I don't want to get into it too deeply because I think it's going to... I can't do it justice. But the basic idea is just kind of similar to the theory of relativity in that things exist in relationship to each other and because we give them labels, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:24 Highlight the passage at 1:53:24

1:53:52 But things are not as solid as they seem to be. And so you can begin to understand it with this idea of impermanence, the way things are really impermanent. So even though this looks like a really solid table or building or city, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 100 years, it could be gone, definitely. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:54:11 This will be gone. It's already on its way. But we can even see in our lifetime cities, look how quickly New Orleans almost was totally wiped off the map. And the day before, nobody would have believed that was possible. Nobody. So even in our lifetimes, our World Trade Centers. yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:11 Highlight the passage at 1:54:11

1:54:32 Nobody would have believed that was possible two days before. So you can look at subtle impermanence and start to get this idea that things don't exist in that solid, unchanging way that we act like they do. And because of that false or that misperception of reality, we do all of these other things. So that's the basic idea, that things are empty, of existing in that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:32 Highlight the passage at 1:54:32

1:54:55 That's what emptiness means. So the person who realizes emptiness... Is this some sort of just deeper understanding of it? No, you have to study it quite a bit so you really understand what it is you're even going to meditate on. You also have to meditate on it all the way along and all the different schools' ideas. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:55 Highlight the passage at 1:54:55

1:55:15 This school refuted about with this one and all that. So you're really, really clear on what it is that you're going to meditate on. At the same time, you also have to develop this really deep state of meditation. I was just talking about this calm abiding meditation that allows you to place your mind on the object without any interruption in that concentration for as long as you need it to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:15 Highlight the passage at 1:55:15

1:55:38 Then you put those two things together. So you're talking about thousands and thousands of hours of studying. Thousands of hours of practicing your meditation until it gets to that point. At the same time, you're also accumulating enough merit and purifying enough for this to actually happen. And then you have to be able to meditate deeply. And then you meditate on the nature of reality as you have understood it to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:38 Highlight the passage at 1:55:38

1:56:04 And you actually directly what they... It's called the direct perception of emptiness, meaning that there's no concept involved at that moment. The only thing you are perceiving is emptiness. So you're not perceiving, you're not perceiving, you can't at that moment think, Wow, cool, what did I tell Peter? I just perceived emptiness. Because the minute you do, you're having a relative thought. Immediately you're thinking I and Peter and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:04 Highlight the passage at 1:56:04

1:56:34 And, you know, like immediately you're putting concepts on it again, which is, of course, the way our mind is really ingrained to work. It's just everything is conceptual at this point. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:34 Highlight the passage at 1:56:34

1:56:44 Actually, they say it's one of those cases of the Buddha having skillful means that we learn about emptiness through words, but there's nothing conceptual about the experience of emptiness. So we have to understand it in this way, because that's the way our minds work, and then we have to let go of all of that. It's actually very, very vast, very, very profound teaching, and it is sort of the key to everything. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:44 Highlight the passage at 1:56:44

1:57:14 And it's married to karma because it's sort of like how karma works is really, really linked to the fact that things don't exist in the way that we think that they do. But karma still works. I know it's a bit much, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:57:14 Highlight the passage at 1:57:14

1:57:32 Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, it keeps coming up. It's actually really, I mean, that's why Lewis always says he's really happy. He started with the wisdom class because then everything, but that's why. so Report an error in the passage at 1:57:32 Highlight the passage at 1:57:32

1:57:42 With the lamrim, you just keep circling. As you understand emptiness, it infuses your understanding of the nature of mind. It infuses your understanding of karma. It infuses your understanding of death. It infuses your understanding of everything else along the path, bodhicitta. It infuses every other teaching of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:58:03 And with the six perfections, they say, you know, the activities of a bodhisattva. Somebody who has this mind of bodhicitta wanting to benefit all beings. Every one of those, like generosity, morality, which is non-harm, patience, they are perfected by infusing them with this understanding of emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:03 Highlight the passage at 1:58:03

1:58:30 But you still have to do good. People sometimes... They misunderstand emptiness and they think that nothing exists, and so then there's sort of like this idea of, well, why should I, what does it matter what I do? And the Buddhist teaching is, it means, if you understand emptiness, you understand that everything, that's totally how you become a Buddha, is to harness this understanding of the fact that things don't exist the way we think that they do, and therefore karma does work, and therefore you can change your karma, and therefore you can become a Buddha, and each one of us can. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:30 Highlight the passage at 1:58:30

1:59:05 So that's the shortened, condensed version of karma and emptiness. Yeah, I've just had some good teachers. I pray to attain it in my lifetime. Yeah, actually, sorry? Yeah, that's good, good segue. Actually, and the realms of existence, the saṃsāra nirvāṇa, she's going to be teaching that too. But you're a simple Report an error in the passage at 1:59:05 Highlight the passage at 1:59:05

1:59:33 Sanghi Kadro is going to be teaching a class on the Heart Sūtra, which will enable us to, I mean, her point of view will be how to meditate on the Heart Sūtra. That will be Wednesday nights in November, yeah, for the month of November. She's also going to teach saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Saṃsāra is what we were just talking about, which will include a lot of the realms of existence, and nirvāṇa is getting past this world. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:33 Highlight the passage at 1:59:33

2:00:00 And experience that's created by karma and delusions. So that'll be Thursday nights. And then Tuesday nights we'll be developing the mind of bodhicitta. So, I know. Yeah, I know. I know. It's exciting, but they're all short classes. I think she's going to teach them all in five to six weeks. Oh, but I do have a really important announcement to make. I was so disappointed. I just found out yesterday someone told me. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:00 Highlight the passage at 2:00:00

2:00:29 I know that these, whenever, it doesn't matter for New York, we're still having meetings about like programs. So Somo is the spiritual program coordinator at LMB and she told me that Venable Steve can't come on the 28th. I dumped the gun. So I'm not giving up. I'm not, I was quite disappointed. I had to, you know, step aside and gain composure, but I'm not giving up. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:29 Highlight the passage at 2:00:29

2:00:49 So that allows us to decide whether we would like our practice day for this class to be the... For this class and the refuge, and I'll have to just do it by simple majority, whether it should be on the 28th of October or whether it should be on the 4th of November. And I'm going to say that the 5th of November is an all-day practice day with Venerable Ninjay on the Medicine Buddha. So anyone that wants to do that, it would be a really full weekend if it's on the 4th. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:49 Highlight the passage at 2:00:49

2:01:21 And she's amazing for those who did the Tara practice day with her. Oh, is it? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:21 Highlight the passage at 2:01:21

2:01:35 But don't you have class on every Saturday? Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:01:43 So just think about it. We can decide. We can decide next week. Yeah. But be thinking about what your choice is and whether you have a choice if you're open to both, and that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:43 Highlight the passage at 2:01:43

2:01:57 Because if it's a huge conflict, then we'll do it on the one that has the least conflicts for people. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:57 Highlight the passage at 2:01:57

2:02:10 Okay. Yeah. Okay. So we'll bring it up next week and make a decision one way or another in both classes. I'd like to be able to combine the two classes if possible, but, you know, we'll see. Okay. So thank you very much. So let's do just a closing meditation to dedicate this class. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:10 Highlight the passage at 2:02:10

2:02:37 So again, just find your posture and let your breath return to normal. Maybe take some nice deep cleansing breaths. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:37 Highlight the passage at 2:02:37

2:03:12 And then just let your mind go over everything that we talked about and reflect on it this week. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:12 Highlight the passage at 2:03:12

2:03:23 Think about how refuge really protects us and these qualities of fearlessness of the Buddha, why the Buddha can be so confident about what he has actually experienced, whether that makes sense or not. And just use this week to really explore it. And Report an error in the passage at 2:03:23 Highlight the passage at 2:03:23

2:03:53 we dedicate any insights. Our understandings that each one of us have reached or even new questions that we've developed. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:53 Highlight the passage at 2:03:53

2:04:06 We dedicate them to each one of us being able to fully realize these teachings, embody these teachings like these teachers that we see that we get so inspired by so that they actually inspire everything that we say or do. Or think without any effort. I mean that's really when we've embodied the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:06 Highlight the passage at 2:04:06

2:04:38 For the Buddha it's effortless. And Report an error in the passage at 2:04:38 Highlight the passage at 2:04:38

2:04:46 may this class become this course, become the cause of that for each of us. And Report an error in the passage at 2:04:46 Highlight the passage at 2:04:46

2:05:00 we'll just end with the dedication purse. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:00 Highlight the passage at 2:05:00

2:05:09 I think we'll do it in English again and then next week we'll do it in English and Tibet. And I want you to stay late. So page 5, dedication and prayer section, first 2, and then page 15, first 1. Due to the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:09 Highlight the passage at 2:05:09

2:05:35 May the supreme jewel bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:35 Highlight the passage at 2:05:35

2:05:49 In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and good. All powerful Chenrezig, Tenzin Gyatso, please remain until saṃsāra ends. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:49 Highlight the passage at 2:05:49

2:06:09 So those people in this class who, is there anybody in this class who would like to get a copy of, I made a little document. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:09 Highlight the passage at 2:06:09