During meditation I kind of played with the text a little bit, the beginning of the teaching, the support of knowledge. In this text, it's asked over and over again, you know, what's the reason for calling this the storehouse consciousness, or what's the reason for calling this various names that it has, like why do you call it the appropriating consciousness, why do you call it mind, and so on. So this consciousness has a number of names, The names are brought up and the question is raised, why is this consciousness called appropriating consciousness, storehouse consciousness, and mind?

[01:12]

And other names too. So the first question is, why is it called storehouse consciousness? And the response is, because this mind, because in this mind, all defiled states of all living beings are stored as a result. All beings who are born, there's another translation, all beings who are born, all of their defiled, afflicted, active states of consciousness are stored in this consciousness as results. So this consciousness is the result of all the active, afflictive, defiled states of mind of all living beings.

[02:17]

So this, another name for this consciousness is the resultant. It is the storehouse, it is the resultant of all afflictive mental states of all living beings. And also, it is stored in all afflictive states of all living beings. So, every moment of active conscious life, this unconscious storehouse resultant mind is present with us but it's unconscious and it supports our active consciousness. And our active consciousness is simultaneously transforming the unconscious in the present.

[03:21]

So then changing to present and past all the present consciousness' beings are laid down in the past unconscious. And the past unconscious is living in the present consciousness, the present conscious of all living beings. So past, in this case, does not mean something that's gone. It means the results of all things, all active states that are gone. And it's also the result of the present state gone. So our past in this case, is the result of all past actions, but it's also the result of this present action.

[04:33]

So this huge past holding all past action is being transformed right now by our present consciousness. And that virtually inexhaustible past which the inexhaustible results of action are present right now, unconsciously supporting our conscious life. And the last sentence in Section 3 of the first chapter says, It is called the storehouse consciousness inasmuch as all sentient beings clinging to an image of the Hollywood are themselves contained within it.

[05:44]

So you heard the first discussion about why it's called storehouse consciousness. Now here's another reason why it's called storehouse consciousness. Because all living beings, inasmuch as they cling to an image of self, the place that they are contained or that they live is this consciousness. If we think in terms of self, then this is where we live. We live in this consciousness. Now, if we didn't think in terms, if we weren't clinging, not just think in terms of images of self, but think and cling to images of self, if we didn't do that, we wouldn't be living in the alaya. we wouldn't be living in the storehouse consciousness. But inasmuch as we do, this consciousness contains us.

[06:54]

And it contains us partly by result of all past moments of clinging to self. Another translation kind of turns it around and says, It is a storehouse consciousness because beings who are lodged in it take it as if it were their self. So if we are clinging to an idea of self, we are contained by that thought. We are enclosed by that thought. If we hold on to the idea of self, or I should say, if we're enclosed by that idea, by that mind, we see that mind as though it were our self.

[08:04]

We don't see it as though it were the self in the active, conscious way of seeing a self. This is an unconscious... We unconsciously take this as a self. So oftentimes we say, me and mine. The mine we can see. And the me we might think we can see, but actually the me in the me is this consciousness, which we take to be ourselves. So the me part is actually unconscious, and the mind part is conscious. And the mind part or actually the mind part or your part, all the things which belong to or don't belong to the self, dealing with them is active, defiled, afflictive consciousness.

[09:12]

And the past I am's, the current I am and the past I am's are unconsciously hidden in this mind. Now, you can turn around and say, no, no, that's me. You can do that. But at the time you're doing that, that active sense of that's me, it's unconscious, resultant, I am. Now, again, after doing this exercise, if we look now at section four, and maybe it looks a little different. Section four is quoting the scripture, elucidating the underlying meaning, the Sandhya Nirmala.

[10:20]

It says, the appropriating consciousness, adhanavijñāna, is deep and subtle. Now appropriating consciousness is just another name for the storehouse consciousness. It's constantly flowing along with all the seeds of thought, all the seeds of defiled mental states. And I've taught this, I have not taught this in worldlings because they would reify it and cling to it as a self. So in a sense this is a little contradictory because He is teaching this to people who do reify things and make them into selves.

[11:29]

All sentient beings do that. All those who are born, if they're clinging, they do reify this thing. They do take it to be a self. Among those who are born and in whom this storehouse consciousness lives unconsciously, some might have a chance to hear this teaching and be careful and be warned not to take it as another self. While simultaneously they live within the thing that they're being warned not to take as a self, and they're taking this thing as a self.

[12:44]

So he says common worldly, so in some sense he's teaching this to uncommon worldlings. He's teaching it to worldlings who are willing to try to accept that they are living within this consciousness because they are clinging to a self. And now could they receive this teaching the antidote to this clinging and not make the teaching into another self. This would be an uncommon worldling. This would be an uncommon living being. And so it's up to us whether we want to try to be an uncommon ordinary person. As I mentioned last week, great bodhisattvas are uncommon in that they are wholeheartedly common, wholeheartedly ordinary.

[13:58]

They wholeheartedly study the teachings about how their mind is an enclosure which supports the arrival of defiled states. And then the next section, number five, which we had some difficulty with, starts out, why does the verse speak of this consciousness, this consciousness, the storehouse consciousness, why does it speak of the storehouse consciousness as the appropriating consciousness. So, in terms of what we've been talking about, we have this thing called birth and death.

[15:10]

It's also called samsara. Samsara means going around and around. We have this phenomena of death. And birth and death lives in this consciousness. And once again, living beings, that they cling to a self, they live in the place where there's birth and death. But birth and death exists in a consciousness. It doesn't have some life outside this consciousness. birth and death is a conscious. It is a phenomena set up by the consciousness, which is the result of all past action. So the consciousness in which birth and death exists is the consciousness which supports our active life, and our active life

[16:19]

transforms and contributes to the consciousness which carries and holds the story of birth and death. So I'm thinking of Charlie asking for evidence And I'm happy to discuss evidence, but the evidence that we're going to come up for birth and death is the evidence which will occur inside of a consciousness, which is the result of defiled consciousness. We're going to have evidence for birth and death, which is evidence about reality. We're going to have evidence about stuff that goes on in the results of deluded consciousness. And the results of deluded consciousness support the arising of deluded consciousness, which is also aware of birth and death.

[17:24]

But the deluded consciousnesses themselves aren't exactly birth and death. The results of active consciousnesses are birth and death. The results of active consciousness live in birth and death. And birth and death is hidden in all active states of consciousness. The actuality Birth and death actually is in the realm of delusion. It's not reality, but the way it actually is is unconsciously hidden in all conscious defiled states, which is part of the reason conscious states are afflicted and defiled because birth and death is always infused. They're always afflicted by this birth-death thing. And even though we don't always think of birth and death,

[18:28]

it's always unconsciously there. And when we think of it, we're actually thinking, when we think of birth and death, when we think of birth and we think of death, we're thinking, especially if we think about both of them at the same time, we're thinking about our unconscious. Because that's where birth and death, that's where it actually lives and functions. Birth and death, again, are the results of our thinking. They are an elaboration of reality. It's not that they have no reality.

[19:30]

Their reality is that they are elaborations of reality. And intentionally make up birth and death is just that as a result of the things we intentionally do, this elaboration of wife in terms of birth and death is set up. And that is the storehouse consciousness. Now the discussion of the appropriating consciousness, again, when we talk about it, I think it's helpful to remember we're talking about a function of this consciousness. We're talking about the way the consciousness functions within itself, because itself is birth and death. So within birth and death, there's an appropriating activity within birth and death.

[20:33]

But it's a function within consciousness. So it says, so why is it called the, why is the storehouse consciousness, which is birth and death, called the appropriating consciousness? because it appropriates and upholds the physical sense organs of sentient beings, and because it is the support for the taking up of all experiences of rebirth. So someone might say, well, what is the evidence for the experience of rebirth? I would say right now the evidence for the experience of rebirth is the experience of rebirth. When one experiences rebirth, that's as much evidence as you're probably going to get. But it's the experience of rebirth.

[21:36]

Real birth isn't real. Life is not actually birth and death. Life is not birth and death, ultimately, really, it's not. But life allows deluded consciousness, and deluded consciousness has the result of a state of mind called the storehouse mind, and the storehouse mind is birth and death. Life is not the result of its deluded activity. However, life does have deluded activity, and the result of the deluded activity of living beings is birth and death. Birth and death is the result of active, deluded, afflictive, karmic consciousness, which is supported by the mind, which is birth and death.

[22:54]

and contributes to the maintenance of birth and death. So these teachings are coming into this process where our active conscious life is contributing to the maintenance and the ongoing consciousness calls the storehouse, which is birth and death, and how birth supports our active consciousness, whether we're thinking about it or not. And whether we think about it or not, what we do think about gives life to birth and death. But birth and death is an illusion. It is an elaboration of true reality. It obscures true reality. But the way to get in touch with true reality, unobscured by birth and death, is not by avoiding birth and death.

[23:57]

It's not by avoiding our unconscious, avoiding how our conscious makes birth and death and how birth and death supports our conscious. It's not that way. The way is to plunge into this process. And these teachings are some among innumerable teachings that help beings enter into the process of self-delusion. so that the process of self-delusion can be opened up and reveal reality of life. That life is not being born, dying, and being reborn. That is a constricted, deluded, way of understanding, but this deluded way of understanding cannot be stopped because it's the result. We don't intentionally dream up birth and death.

[24:59]

But as the Buddha said, we delight in it. And again, to try to stop ourselves from, oh, by the way, in delighting, I didn't say exactly, I don't know if the Buddha is saying, probably the Buddha did, living beings delight in birth and death. They certainly seem to delight in birth sometimes. But the real birth of birth and death is unconscious. The real birth, the one that's actually hidden in our conscious stories about birth. That's the one that we actually delight in. The Buddha says, living beings delight in the stars. They delight in their unconscious. They cling to their unconscious. So we cling to samsara.

[26:14]

We cling to birth and death. The more real birth and death is the unconscious mind which obscures reality, the reality of life. Life is not birth and death. Life is beyond birth and death. That's the spiritual possibility of this teaching. It's a life that's beyond birth and death. But we can only be realized by plunging into the creative process of how birth and death gives rise to active consciousnesses for birth and death. So again, this is the experience of rebirth. It's not that there's a real, just a plain old rebirth. There's only experiences of rebirth.

[27:16]

And the experiences of rebirth are primarily unconscious. As most of us probably think at this time, I don't know, actually, but probably, Probably, I would guess, I'm guessing that most of you probably guess that at the moment of conception of a human embryo, that human embryo is not conscious. Rebirth. Birth. Is that right? How many of you think that embryo is conscious at the first moment of consciousness in the womb? How many of you think that they're conscious that birth has occurred? One, two. Actually, according to the Buddha, some beings are conscious at that time.

[28:17]

And then some beings are conscious during the delivery, and some beings are conscious after the delivery. But most beings are unconscious through the whole process. But conscious means that you'd be somehow aware of the unconscious because the unconscious is what is born and dies. Okay, so I'm going over earlier material and now we come to another big section. And I could stop here and we could discuss We've just talked about how we go on to the next section, which is talking about this two types of thinking.

[29:31]

Do you want to stop and discuss what we've talked about so far? You have a question? Yes. Conscious present is the unconscious past. Our conscious present is supported by the unconscious. And the unconscious is what I would call the past. The past which actually supports our present conscious life. It's the results of the past. The present conscious life is the results of the past. It is the results of past action, but it actually carries all the past actions. So in that sense, it's the living past. The unconscious is the living past.

[30:35]

How does that relate to the present consciousness? It supports it. And the present consciousness is unaware of it, by and large. It seems to imply that our present consciousness is unconscious-made conscious. That's how I took it. She took it to mean that our present conscious is the unconscious-made conscious. No, unconscious of the past becoming conscious in the present. Unconscious of the past becoming conscious in the present. Is that what you said? I thought that's what you said. It's not so much the unconscious of the past. Our past is unconscious.

[31:42]

It's too, it's much too big for us to be conscious of. We cannot be conscious of all the past actions of ourself from beginningless time, but also this container consciousness, not just my past actions, it's your past actions too. So we're not going to become conscious of those past actions, but our conscious state is supported by all those past actions. But they're not going to become conscious in the sense that we'll know what they are. They become conscious in the sense by our conscious life. But it's not that our conscious life is a conscious of them, it's just that our conscious life is them in the sense that well they're manifested but they're they're them in a hidden way because they're the past actions all the past actions are hidden present action all my own past actions in this life being called reb the results of all those are present in what I'm saying to you right now that I'm what I'm consciously aware of saying to you right now all the results are hidden in my present conscious

[33:00]

But I don't know all these past moments. Yeah, well, you know, let's just say yes. Now, I can have my past actions are, but my stories about my past actions might be right, but the past is not my story about my past actions, and it's not even the past actions that I have a story of. They are the results of those past actions which I have. The results of my past actions are not my past actions. They're my past actions as a result. Past actions are gone, but the results are here. So in a sense, I know the results of my past action because the results of my past action are my present active consciousness.

[34:05]

They're the results of my past action because my past action is the cause of my present consciousness. So my present consciousness is a result of my past action. And the thing that delivers my past action to me is the result of my present consciousness and other present consciousnesses. So this present consciousness will have a result, and its result will be stored in this storehouse consciousness as a seed which can support another active consciousness, along with all the other past actions which support this present consciousness. Yes? And it's not just your own, no.

[35:10]

That's right. It's not just your own past. Right. And as I think in one or more previous classes, in the end of this chapter, there's a question is put, what are the characteristics, how many kinds of permeation are there? in the storehouse consciousness. And the first answer is three and the second answer is four. And when it says four, permeation is the permeation of character of the storehouse consciousness. And under character it is mentioned that there's two characteristics of this storehouse consciousness. that the results of all of our past active karma has two characteristics.

[36:19]

One is a common characteristic and one is a specific characteristic. So the specific characteristic is the appropriation of a particular set of sense organs in a particular body. That characteristic connects back to the appropriating consciousness, which we're just talking about. Storehouse consciousness has the characteristic of being an appropriating consciousness because it can appropriate or associate for a whole lifetime with a set of sense organs. But then there's a common characteristic of this storehouse consciousness. And the common characteristic is the physical world. So the physical world that I live in has something to do with the physical world you live in because The common characteristic of this consciousness is the physical world which we share. The uncommon aspect is the way the results of all past action of all beings, it apprehends individual sense organs and in that sense makes individual living beings.

[37:33]

But the apprehension of individual sense organs making individual sense beings is the functioning of a consciousness which also has a common characteristic, which is the physical world in which all the living beings live. So we're all, and in that way, I contribute to your physical world, you contribute to mine. And the way I contribute to your physical world is by the active consciousnesses that arise in association with these sense organs, which has been specifically grasped by this storehouse consciousness. So I make my individual contribution to the creation of a physical world, which I share with you, individual contribution to it, we share it. It's our common characteristic. It's the common characteristic of this consciousness. And the appropriating consciousness appropriates sense organs, in a sense appropriates an awareness of the physical world.

[38:46]

And it also appropriates a predisposition. I think it says it, doesn't it? It also appropriates a predisposition. It doesn't say so here. I'm telling you. It'll come up later. And it was in the sutra. It also appropriates towards making conventional designations. So this is about human being. He didn't say, but this is human beings appropriating consciousness that I'm talking about. Human beings appropriating consciousness, appropriate sense organs, but non-human beings also appropriate sense organs. But human beings appropriate the predisposition towards making conventional designations, so we share that karma.

[39:48]

And by sharing that karma we make similar karma, and by making similar karma we create a shared world that we can understand. And beings who do not have that appropriation have a different or quite different material world. But they all apprehend, all living beings apprehend sense organs. Yes? As long as the being I didn't say that, but that's right. That's another way to say it. As long as a being thinks of themselves as separate, they'll live within this consciousness. And living within this consciousness, you will think that this consciousness... Yes. Yes.

[40:50]

Yes. And then the next moment. And what happens in the next moment? The results of past actions. An active consciousness again. Next moment, the results of past actions, which are called the storehouse consciousness, which are also called birth and death. So birth and death dash the storehouse consciousness arises. Because a moment of insight, a moment of not living within this consciousness, a moment of not seeing this consciousness as yourself, a moment of not seeing your unconscious as yourself, a moment of not unconsciously believing in a self. At that moment you're not in this consciousness. This consciousness is, and you're not taking this consciousness as a self.

[42:05]

Next moment, you can rise again, and there could be another moment of insight. The arising of samsara, the arising of birth and death again. Another moment of insight could occur. And that moment of insight does not live in this consciousness and does not believe this consciousness is a self and is not enclosed by this consciousness. This consciousness doesn't really enclose us. If it really enclosed us, I don't know what we should do. But I would kind of encourage myself to experiment with remembering that I live in this place because remembering I live in this place sets up the possibility of not taking it as a self. Being ready to not take it as a self sets up the possibility of me not living within it.

[43:16]

simultaneous with not living with it. Simultaneous with this enclosure is freedom from it. But it seems to me that you have to be wholeheartedly stuck in samsara in order to realize what simultaneously lives with it. And as you know, it's hard to be wholeheartedly stuck in samsara. And samsara is being stuck. Samsara is being stuck in samsara. A samsara where you're not stuck, that's sort of like a designer samsara or something. And the realm where you don't take this consciousness as a self, and this consciousness where you don't take a self, you're not in the consciousness, that realm of freedom, there's no birth and death there.

[44:33]

But there is the life of wisdom there. There's no stealing, but there is the life of wisdom. How can one cheerfully remember that one is living in this enclosure of this doorhouse consciousness? How can one cheerfully and good-heartedly remember that one lives in the realm that supports all defiled states?

[45:38]

Yes? so just sort of like to talk through an example or something i've just been thinking so i can see our perceptions action so like i can i can see how like my experience of you right now or anybody in this world is is based on a whole bunch of other past experiences that I unconsciously am lining up in one way or another with people who wear white or all the other times I've seen you or other men I know or other teachers, you know, like so various unconscious things that I somehow... That makes sense to you. Yeah. At this moment of seeing you is also adding to that Yes. But how that is, you cannot see. You can't see how all your past experiences of men and women in white is supporting you to have this experience of this person in white now.

[46:45]

You can't see that. You can have idea of it, but that's not it. It's much more complex than that. So, I mentioned before, I'll mention again, the brain which supports us to have conscious life ...result of a long evolution of other past conscious experiences. The brain is continuing to evolve in this lifetime and for many lifetimes before the brain has evolved. the physical world and it supports the way the brain supports conscious life today is not the way the brain supported conscious life two million years ago. So the results of all human action back to the dawns of what you call human and before, all those conscious states create an apprehension now of sense organs such that we have this kind of thinking.

[47:54]

But we cannot actually, we have other things to do than try to figure out the history human and non-human life leading up to this moment. But even if we thought about it, it doesn't comprehend it. It's unconscious. But although it's unconscious, it's totally delivering itself right into us right now, making this possible. All of our extremely complex things we do is because this thing is and we cannot, you know, we cannot plummet. We are supported by it and we are transforming it. And it confines us. Human brains operate in one way, other brains operate in another way. We have to... And different human brains operate differently. Yeah. Yes. Because this consciousness apprehends specific sense organs, which means it apprehends specific brains.

[48:58]

and then it rides the evolution of the sense organs in the brain through a lifetime. But the lifetime that it rides is twofold. It rides a lifetime of birth and death, and it rides a lifetime of a life which is not birth and death. Those lives are going along together. So the trick is to learn how to ride the birth and death process in such a way that you start riding the non-birth-and-death process, which is going on simultaneously. Life is not the birth-and-death type of life, which again is related to the common characteristic of this consciousness. Because the common characteristic of this consciousness doesn't get dented if this particular person stops being someone for whom these sense organs are being apprehended by the specific qualities of this consciousness.

[50:08]

So when this person gets turned off and there's no apprehension of this person's sense organs, the world goes on. You know, it doesn't get dented. another moment of alaya will be produced, and every time there's an alaya, there's a physical world. So birth and death will go on beyond me. Alaya will go on beyond my death. And freedom from birth and death a life which is not the life of birth and death, that doesn't go on. That's also free of the elaboration of going on and not going on. So reality, results of past action are a mind which deals in terms of going on and not going on, existence and non-existence, birth and death, right and wrong.

[51:09]

That's Alaya supports that kind of life and is actually the unconscious result of that kind of life, that version of reality, that version of life. Right alongside with that is this other kind of life, which is like right there wishing that the beings who are enclosed in Alaya and take Alaya to be itself would listen to the messages that are being sent Because these messages actually can open up this enclosure and allow this other kind of life, which is called nirvana, to be realized simultaneous with ... Or, if that's too advanced, just realize nirvana. And then later do both at the same time.

[52:11]

We already know how to do samsara without nirvana, so the next step will be to nirvana without samsara, and then both at the same time, which is what Buddhas do. What I heard from what you said to me is that the alaya vijnana is all stored to fight mental space. It's not exactly... It's not... It's all defiled states stored as results.

[53:20]

Because they're not active defiled states in alaya. Yeah. They're the results of actions. They're all stored there. Maybe that leads to the answer of the question, because I felt like you said, like, okay, as long as deluded beings living in alaya vijnana... are supported while if, yeah, moments of, let's say, enlightenment means awareness not in alaya vijnana. Yeah. Or it's alaya vijnana is still alive and well, but that it's not the self. Right. Or that there's no self can be found. At that moment, the living being who has this insight isn't in alaya at that time. And they never were. We're only enclosed in a liar if we believe in a self. And we usually do in a liar.

[54:21]

But even if we don't believe in him, we're free of it for the moment. Next moment, there's a liar again. Go ahead. I just wonder why we use all the term defiled for a liar because... Thank you. A liar is not defiled. A liar is not defiled. We don't, we over here do not use the term defiled for a liar. Results of defiled things are not defiled. Well, they're usually uncomfortable, more or less. Result? Well, there's six results. One of them is human suffering.

[55:24]

Then there's animal suffering, hungry ghost suffering, infernal suffering, even divine suffering and fighting spirit, those kinds of suffering. Suffering, being in hell, is not a defilement. Pain is not a defiled state. Pain is just pain. So the results, all these destinies that a liar supports, for example, a human destiny, they are not in themselves defiled. And a liar is not defiled. That's why a liar can support all defiled states. Wholesome defiled states, unwholesome defiled states. Wholesome states... can still be defiled if there's belief in a self. You can be in a wholesome state and extremely uncomfortable. And you can be, of course, everybody knows you can be in unwholesome states and have self-clinging and be miserable.

[56:28]

And you can be in neutral states. But a laya is karmically neutral and undefiled. It is through defiled minds the results are not defiled. Results are not defiled. If you drive a car unskillfully and run into a tree and hurt your nose, ...is not a defiled state. It's just pain. But it's the result of dry... If you say, my nose hurts, you're already in... Yeah, well, I did... Did I say my nose? I said your nose hurts. Anyway, if you say my nose hurts... That active state is based on the unconscious idea that I own this nose. I live in a world where there's many noses and I got a self here.

[57:37]

And those noses are mine or not mine. But that's very important that Timo said that because a lie is not defiled. It is the result of defiled states, and all defiled states depend on this thing which isn't defiled. And the fact that it isn't defiled and that it is also karmically neutral makes possible for it to support all states and even support an undefiled state. It isn't mentioned here. It supports all defiled states, and defiled states can be skillful, unskillful, and indeterminate. It is... not skillful, not unskillful. It is indeterminate. It's indeterminate. It can support any kind of karmic activity. And it supports all defiled states. But it itself is undefiled and indeterminate karmically. But it can also support an undefiled state.

[58:39]

It can also support... It is the access to nirvana. Nirvana. So thanks for that point. A lie is not defiled. Yes? How does this discussion, how does that distinguish from dependent core arising? You are hearing a story of dependent core arising, and... It seems like this discussion is another way to describe dependent core arising. You could say it's another way. Yeah, it's another way. Or it's a way. The 19th... section of this first chapter says that in the great vehicle — this book's about, this teaching is about embracing the great vehicle — in the great vehicle there is a very subtle and profound teaching of dependent co-arising.

[59:41]

And that teaching of dependent co-arising is the teaching of the storehouse consciousness. in earlier renditions of the teaching of dependent co-arising, this teaching of this Zorha's consciousness was not explicitly articulated. And that transmission of the story of dependent co-arising is not as subtle and profound according to this text. So one way to say it is that in the great vehicle we have this profound, this more subtle and more profound teaching of dependent co-arising using this storehouse consciousness. Another way of saying it is that the dependent co-arising that occurs in the storehouse consciousness is the most subtle and profound. So we are actually, that's what we've been doing tonight. Thank you for that point. We are discussing the dependent co-arising of birth and death. We're discussing how the dependent co-arising of active states of consciousness and how the active states of consciousness have results.

[60:49]

And the results of active states of consciousness are birth and death. So we're talking about the dependent co-arising of cyclic birth and death. And again, the point of this is not just, what you say, it's not just a guided tour of the realm of misery, although it is a guided tour of the realm of misery with instructions about how... The point of it is to help people realize nirvana by this study. Studying dependent core rising of samsara is the door to realization of the dependent core rising of the realization of nirvana. But studying dependent core rising of birth and death is studying the dependent core rising of all kinds of suffering. So it's a difficult study. Yes? John.

[61:51]

Setse. [...] We introduced the who is no longer afflicted with defiled mind, whose mission is, in some sense, to transform the . Where does that transformation take place? I'm just curious if it takes place somewhere between characteristics in the . OK. So can we stop? Because you brought up a lot there. OK. Can you stop? Is that right? Really? So bodhisattvas, this teaching here is for bodhisattvas. We're teaching bodhisattvas how to study alaya so that it will be transformed completely. Alaya is constantly being transformed anyway, but we're talking about transforming it

[62:55]

rather than just making another laya and another laya, we're talking about transforming it into the true body of Buddha. The bodhisattva wants to make a laya into a Buddha. And the Buddhas are sending messages to the bodhisattvas about how to do that. Okay, now what's your question? In that setup, the bodhisattva no longer is afflicted with defiled mind. So are they still in the consciousness of alaya? You could say bodhisattvas are no longer afflicted with, what did you say, defiled mind? Yeah. They're no longer afflicted by defiled mind and manas, okay? I would like to point out also that non-Bodhisattvas called Aryans or sages, also called arhats, they also have become free of the defiled manas.

[63:59]

However, they do not have vows to keep exercising this manas-free consciousness in relationship to alaya until it's completely transformed. They just work on it until it's been transformed enough so that they get to go to nirvana. Yeah? What motivates the bodhisattva then, in that situation, because they no longer have the file mind? What motivates them? Where are they motivated to transform the life? Why aren't they just in our house? Oh, because bodhisattvas are born of the, what do you call it, this mind called, in Sanskrit, bodhicitta. They're born with the thought of enlightenment, and the thought of enlightenment is to wish to become a Buddha for the welfare of all beings. It's not to wish to become an arhat. But they have no sense of self. I mean, where does the wish reside? Is it just in the wisdom understanding that they realize at that point?

[65:04]

Where does the what reside? Where does the realization arise for the wish? Where does the wish arise that they have no sense of self? I would say that the wish to attain Buddhahood, I mean, it arises in the interaction between a sentient being and a Buddha. In that interaction, this thought of wishing to be a Buddha arises. And then after that, people sometimes make a vow to become a Buddha. And then, after training for quite a while, and you become free of this defilement, the power of that vow, of that meeting, and that mind, and that vow, keeps you from giving up in this big transformation process and accepting the little transformation process. The little transformation process, which is really an amazing thing, is nirvana. You give up that one, put that aside, and go back to transforming this totally transforming alaya, which is what makes a Buddha.

[66:12]

And the reason why you do that is because you met a Buddha and promised You met a Buddha to be a Buddha to help beings and you promised that you wouldn't quit short of Buddhahood even though some great opportunities come along. Halfway there. Or not necessarily halfway. We don't know if it's halfway or a third of the way or what. Isn't that the compaction that arises as a result of that my understanding is that they write on a compassion that they feel The freedom that they have, which comes to certain beings, to bring themselves over.

[67:25]

Yes, but your story is a rather advanced story. You're talking about the bodhisattvas who are riding on their compassion that's already been liberated from selfishness. This is like a fully operating bodhisattva. Before that, way before that, you could still have a lot of compassion. So some people have a lot of compassion, and then in their compassionate life, they meet a Buddha. A lot of compassionate people do not think of becoming a Buddha. Matter of fact, a lot of compassionate people say to me, please excuse me, but I do not wish to be a Buddha. I mean, I really want to be compassionate to lots of beings, but I don't want to be a Buddha. People say, I want to be compassionate to all beings, but not that I want to be a Buddha. So some people are walking around saying, I do not want to be a Buddha, but I do want to be compassionate to just about everybody.

[68:33]

And people like that are at risk of meeting a Buddha. So then they're going along. I don't want to be a Buddha. I want to be a Buddha. And they meet a Buddha. And then in that meeting, the Buddha doesn't say, you should actually change your agenda. Then Buddha might say that. But Buddha says, you know, it's OK with me. The Buddha says, it's OK with me that you want to be a Buddha. It's fine. The person sees a little teardrop run down Buddha's cheek. And then they say, OK, OK, I changed my mind. I want to be a Buddha for the welfare of all beings. Then they go to work. and they work, and they become free of this defiled manas. Then they become free of defiled manas, and then they really go to town, or go to the countryside. They go various places from there, and they're really like unleashed now. There's no longer the defiled manas getting in the way. Now they're really like, oh, now this is going to transform.

[69:38]

This is a liar. We're going to... Is it self-propelling? No, it's not self-propelling. It's not self-propelling. It didn't start by itself. It's self-propelling, including freedom from self-propulsion. Everything depends on other things. This great mind which aspires to be Buddha for the welfare of all beings, it did not make itself arise. And Buddha didn't make it arise either. But when Buddha gets together with ascension being, and ascension being's been kind of thinking that compassion's pretty good, even though it only happens occasionally, sometimes when they meet the Buddha they think, you know, I would like compassion to be unstopped, undefiled,

[70:39]

enlightenment. But that thought didn't happen by itself. It happened with the aid of the Buddha, but it didn't happen all by the Buddha, because otherwise Buddha would just zap everybody, and everybody would be on the bodhisattva path. But Buddha can't do that. It can walk alongside of us all the time, think about us all the time, be ready whenever we're ready, and then make a contact. And when that contact happens, sometimes this thought arises. Once it arises, then you have to ... it needs all these practices, otherwise it deteriorates. And who's going to support the practices? Lots of Buddhists are teaching the practices, reminding you of the practices, asking you to practice. And some of those people that are asking you to practice, strictly speaking, they might not be officially bodhisattvas. They might not say, you know, I would like you to be more kind to me even though I don't want to be a Buddha. I would like you to ask me to be a Buddha.

[71:41]

They help us. So this thing is not self-propelled. It's not self-originating. It doesn't keep going by itself. It arises interdependently, and it's protected and cared for by these bodhisattva practices. And the bodhisattva practices are constantly being transmitted by a practitioner, by other Buddhas and bodhisattvas who are also doing the practices that they are practicing with the support of others. We're all helping each other do this, and that's why we're going to finish this job because we are helping each other to do it. But if it's self-propelled, it's just going to go flat all over the place. I think I want to go to the city. I really didn't mean that. Oh, good. What I meant really is that the process grows. It grows. It grows and it is growing. However, even though it's growing, we can get big, big setbacks.

[72:42]

But those setbacks are an overall path of growing. It is growing. We are studying these teachings. We are getting more and more into the Bodhisattva practice. This text, these teachings, the teaching of dependent co-arising and delusion, and dependent co-arising of Buddha. Using this storehouse consciousness to make this teaching of dependent co-arising really subtle and really profound, so we can understand how samsara works, That's not the only way life can be. Life can also be Buddhahood. Yes? Both evolution and development of the deluded mind, and evolution applies to the development of the Buddha mind.

[74:06]

The principles of evolution apply to all states. It's not like Buddha says, okay, the deluded beings process, but the Buddhas don't, no. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas are an evolutionary process, and sentient beings who are not yet on the Buddhist path, they also are basically in the same evolutionary process, it's just that they're in the part where the person is not the process. According to this teaching, the common characteristic of the alaya is the physical world. And according to this teaching, the physical world, which is the common characteristic of the house consciousness, has mechanical activity. The physical world that the Buddhists have also has mechanical activity.

[75:09]

It has biological activity. It has astronomical activity. It has mathematical activity. It has psychological activity. It has philosophical activity. You name it, it's got it. What is that? That is the consciousness. But in this teaching, that's a consciousness. And all the scientists of all the different types and all the musicians and all the artists of all types are all included in this physical world. But we're saying here, this is a mind. And this mind with dancers and doctors and lawyers and scientists in it, that's the result of all past active consciousnesses. Which, of course, even if you're not a Buddhist, of course it is. Of course law schools are the result of the active consciousness of past lawyers and law professors and sheriffs. What? What other side?

[76:11]

There are, in the realm of Buddha, there are law schools. It's just the law schools are separated. But there's law schools in the transformed alaya and there's law schools in the untransformed alaya. In the untransformed alaya, law schools are being born and dying all the time. They're being set up and torn down. They exist and don't exist. In other words, it's the realm of affliction, law school. There's law schools in the Dharmakaya too, it's just that there's no birth and death there. There's no existence or non-existence. The law schools there do not obstruct reality. They're not bound by precedent. They're not bound by precedent. They're totally liberated, law schools. So you and me and law schools are in the Dharmakaya. However, you can't find us in the Dharmakaya because we don't have a self to get a hold of.

[77:17]

And the law schools are illuminating the law schools in samsara, trying to wake the law schools in samsara up. And some of the law schools do occasionally wake up and start studying the mind of law school. Yeah? Is there a difference between the law schools? of and the last row of the Buddhas, that they are looked at with defiled mind in one side and not with defiled mind on the other side. Is there a difference between ? No. That's close. Not. The Buddha can look at the alaya. The transformed law school can look at the untransformed law school and see that it's still untransformed. This law school has not been transformed.

[78:23]

He can see that and wish to help it. without itself being manifested at all. But it also can manifest and come into the realm of untransformed in order to help. So the transformed law school is the same as transformed Alaya. And transformed Alaya can still be aware that there's beings who lived in untransformed Alaya, untransformed law school. It's still aware of that. But the untransformed alaya, when it comes into consciousness... When it supports active consciousness? Active consciousness without having defiled demands. Yeah. This does not give rise to a defiled state, right? Because there is no defiler there. That's right, that's right. There is no defiler, and so how is that state without a defiler different from transformed alaya with no defiler?

[79:34]

Is there any difference? I thought like, because the alaya is not like... or defile itself, when it doesn't get a defiler while getting out of consciousness, it does not cause any suffering. Right. And then the next moment arises. And what happens the next moment? It arises. And maybe no defiled mind. But maybe defiled mind. Maybe it supports the arising of a defiled mind. It isn't just that when a living being has a moment where they do not believe in a self anymore, the liar will not give rise to any more defiled minds in their neighborhood. OK. Then the other state is that it's transformed a liar and it comes in contact with a defiled mind. What happens then?

[80:35]

What is that then? We get transformed Elias not as a sentient being who doesn't any longer have defiled manas. You could have Elias, this sore house consciousness, which still has tremendous amount of transformative work ahead of it. that has not been realized in association with the being who has now no longer believes in a self. They still have a lot of work to do. It's just that they don't have any more defiled manas, but defiled states arise, which are the result of past defiled states. But they are only cause of suffering, so they are only a problem in a way, if there would be a defiled manas. Well, you say it's only a problem if there's a defiled manas, but this person who no longer has the defiled manas, they're not exactly no longer a problem.

[81:46]

It's just that they have to be taken care of with this not defiled manas. That's how they get transformed completely. So the main problem has been dropped. The defiled manas has been dropped. What problem is that? Lots of defiled states. But they are not defiled if they don't rise next time. Well, again, the word defiled also can be translated as afflicted. afflictive, they're still suffering, they're still birth and death. So birth and death is not completely eliminated from alaya as soon as the manas is dropped. Birth and death is still there. But the belief in it is not there anymore, the suffering is not there anymore. So birth and death is a joke. It's a joke, but you have to laugh at it a rather large number of times before the joke stops even appearing.

[82:49]

again the Arhats it isn't that the Arhats we're going over time but I just want to say the sages who transform Eliah They transform a lie completely for themselves, for their own liberation. But it isn't that in the first moment that they stop believing in self that they're liberated. They're not liberated completely in the first moment. They have to transform a lie over a long period of time, and they have to transform a lie until they're free of birth and death. And you may say, well, it's not a problem anymore, it's a joke. But they have to deal with it and test their insight over and over and over and over and over and over on this birth and death before the joke of it actually transforms it to a point that they're actually completely free of it. Now, this is the people who just liberate themselves. For the bodhisattva, it's a much more extensive purification process.

[83:55]

So it isn't just, this relates also to what I was talking about, it isn't just that you, in the seen there's just a seen, and in the heard there's just a heard, okay? And when it's that way for you, that's the end of suffering. In that moment. That means that you are working with your defiled, in the seen, that means a defiled state of consciousness. The defiled state of consciousness properly, you don't find a self. And in that moment, you're free. But that state, when it arose, it was defiled. It was suffering. And you worked with the suffering in such a way that there's no suffering. And then the next moment. The next moment. And all these defiled states, these afflicted states, keep arising. These birth and death states keep arising. So it isn't just that you have one moment and then you quit. You do it over and over and over and over so that all these defiled states are transformed into the Buddha.

[84:59]

But in a sense, you could say, you could be, like I said, you could be very cheerful and say, all these defiled states are not a problem anymore. I'm really in a good mood about this. I'm happy. Bring them on. But it isn't like bring them on because they don't hurt anymore. It's not pain. I'm going to work with this pain now in a new way. bring it on. I'm going to transform all states of cyclic birth and death into the Buddha body. And some people don't say that. They just say, enough of them so that I'm completely liberated from birth and death, which is a great attainment too. Is that clear now? So I appreciate your questions.

[86:03]

I think some points were brought up that I didn't intend to bring up that you brought up that I think were very good to clarify. This is about dependent core arising. It's a more profound presentation of it according to this text. This is about this storehouse consciousness which is not itself defiled, but which gives rise to defiled states. And if you become free of the defiling, the defiler, the defiler, the manas which defiles, the laya doesn't defile. defiles and the results of the defiled are laid down in a lie so a lie supports the arising as a result of past defiling it supports the arising of defiling and when you take away the defiler the consequences still have to be dealt with with the undefiled mind but that's a long joyful bodhisattva practice thank you ma'am

[87:04]

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