This is introducing you to these three characters, which will be used in the next chapter and in the next chapter. But it is, I think, well agreed upon in the Buddhist tradition that in order to approach the thoroughly established character, you first of all have to be based in understanding and meditation on the other dependent character. So meditating on the other dependent character, which is infused with this projection of conception, so that you can access it. Otherwise it's hard to meditate on it when you can't know it. So the way we know transient phenomena is by projecting these images on them. So everything you experience, all the people you meet and all the feelings you have and all the objects you work with, these are actually basically dependent core arisings, and you know them by taking them as your image of them. But then, you meditate on how their dependent core arises first.

[01:04]

As you meditate on the dependent core arising of everything you're experiencing, as you keep listening to the teaching, this, whatever I'm doing, is a dependent core arising and has this other dependent character. And I also recognize that I'm linguistically confusing it and projecting on it, so my mind defiles it, but still I hear the teaching that it's a dependent co-arising. And once again, I hear the teaching that it's a dependent co-arising, I hear the teaching that it's a dependent co-arising, I work on that. Because my mind basically says, no, it's not a dependent co-arising, it's not a dependent co-arising, it's independent, it's independent, it's independent. That's how you know it. as independent. I know it's independent, but I hear the teaching that it's not independent. So you don't have to work at thinking it's independent. That's quite automatic. And based on thinking it's independent, you do non-virtuous things. Right? Familiar with that, right?

[02:06]

People think things are not independent, think things have self, and based on that vision we do unwholesome things. We hate people because we think they actually are what we think they are. We hate situations because we think they're actually the way we imagine them. So that's well established. Now we're supposed to listen to this teaching. And as you listen to this teaching more and more, and also not only understand that things are dependent co-arisings, but understand that they do not produce themselves, they are lacks or emptinesses of self-production. They are produced, but not by themselves. You meditate on those two teachings and then you start to spontaneously give wrong action. You start to wean yourself, even while you still see things as independently existing, you wean yourself of that belief little by little.

[03:11]

You start to believe more and more that things are dependent co-risings. You start to believe more and more that they're not permanent the way they appear, that they're impermanent, that they're not stable the way they appear. And you start doing virtue. And based on that virtue practice, then you're getting ready to move on to study the profound teachings, the more profound teachings, which are the other two kinds of emptiness. related to these other two types of character. But now we have to recognize we're still involved in the conventional world, but we are bringing this teaching to our conventional experience, and this teaching is saying the way things appear is actually not the way the Dharma says they are, but we also recognize the Dharma says they do appear this way to us. If we go directly to practicing the try to practice the ultimate without this basis we will not be effective in our practice of the ultimate or study of the ultimate.

[04:16]

Lots of trouble we can get into that way. So we need to be grounded in this. So although they're introduced in order of imputational, other-dependent, thoroughly established. The order of study is really other-dependent, imputational, thoroughly established. That's the order of meditation. So, let's see. Pam, I think, was next. In the Hymn to the Perfection of Wisdom, it says that something can always seem backwards. The clear knowledge of the own being of all dharmas? Yeah. Yeah. So the Prajnaparamita understands, has a clear vision of the own being of all dharmas. Prajnaparamita can see that there isn't an own. Prajnaparamita has a clear vision of the lack of own being. That's what it sees. It says, own being? Yeah, we don't have one here. But part of Prajnaparamita also is to see own being does get projected.

[05:20]

You have to see how it's projected and how it appears to find out that it's not there. So, it does seem funny that way, but... So she's not saying that she actually sees a substantial own being, but she also does see how we see an own being. In order to see the absence of own being, you have to understand what own being is, and see how you do imagine it. So that is not impossible. You can actually see how you project substance and essences on things. You can actually see that, and you can also see how mean you get when you do that. You can see that. That's not impossible. That's not so far. You see, the absence of it, that takes more work. Is that the meditation of the dependent? What? No, but that seeing that should be based, always be meditating on the other dependent. And then based on that, you move on to see how you're projecting and how that works, and how also what things evolve, even while still projecting on how things evolve, how things do evolve by meditating on the other dependent.

[06:31]

And by the way, I also want to mention that we're talking about wisdom here, but you need to be collaterally practicing compassion, because while you're still believing that what you think of things is what they are, you get quite irritated. And you start to really get hateful when you're irritated by these things that you think are making themselves be the way that they're irritating. You think it's a conspiracy against you and stuff like that. So you have to practice patience with the pain of this vision which is so irritating. Otherwise it's pretty hard to go directly to the wisdom meditations if you're really, really, really, really enraged and angry. So you might not be able to actually apply this teaching if you're in a fury. So you maybe have to calm down and practice tranquility, practice in patience for a while. And then when you're calm, then you can hear the teaching. This is a dependent goal arising and it's not producing itself.

[07:31]

Just like I said before, this teaching is not necessary for people who are in hell. It's for humans. And a lot of humans are not in the human realm some of the times when they're really hating things. So you have to also keep practicing. Remember, take care of this meditator who's freaking out. And then when you get him calmed down, then you can bring this teaching of dependent core rising to the situation. And then things will evolve. You can be calm and still be involved in wrongdoing, but when you're calm and you start listening to this teaching and hear this teaching more and more, you actually... wrongdoing will be dropped in the meditation on this pinnacle rising. And that will be the basis then for the teachings of chapter 7 and 8. I think all of it's next. You mentioned the non-duality of delusion and awakening. You mean when you're just seeing this process and so you're not fooled by it, although you're still doing this thing, the intuitional thing is still happening, but you kind of don't believe it anymore.

[08:45]

Is that what you mean? No, but that's also true what you said. For example, I've talked to Tassajara and also this morning somebody brought up this expression, may we exist in muddy water with purity like a lotus. The mind is pure and goes beyond. So the way I think about that recently is, may we exist in the muddy water of our imputations upon life. outattaching or believing these imputations that are actually applying to the situation. And then this beautiful lotus emerges from this sea of imputations on the world, all these distortions of the world, this thing. And the mind is pure even though it's in the midst of all this delusion. So enlightenment is really just about delusion. There's nothing non-delusional that enlightenment knows about. When you aren't fooled by delusion anymore, then you have this wonderful enlightenment occurring in the middle of it.

[09:45]

But that's one way to see the non-duality. But another way to see the non-duality is not so much that it manifests that way in this non-dual way, but the actual vision of how to look at that and see how they're dependent on each other. is another view of nonduality. So the view of the way things are that way, that's nonduality, but also the manifestation of the enlightened mind in the midst of delusion. Buddha's not... Like, I don't know what... You know, in the Vimalakirti Siddhara talks, you know, Buddha's grow on unenlightened people. The lifeblood of Buddha is sentient beings. And like in Florida, you know, they... They come into this nice, flat, warm ground, and then they basically bleach it, blanch it, you know? They wash all the nutrients out of it, and they plant the orange trees, and then they pump petrochemical fertilizer into it, and then they, you know?

[10:47]

The Buddha doesn't grow in this bleached, clean stuff. You don't eliminate all the sentient beings and grow a Buddha. You grow a Buddha either in nice, rich, pesticide-infested dirt, or in even worse, polluted, petrochemical earth. That's where Buddhas grow. In the worst situation, Buddha grows. And the worse the situation, the bigger the Buddha. Right. Yes. The other dependence should be viewed as like manifestations of clouded vision. Yeah? The other dependence should be viewed as like manifestations of clouded vision. Because it seems to me that, um, in other, in other, uh, in, in, that only co-originated phenomena, uh, can only, really, um, only really exist to us or, like, uh, manifest or appears to us through the invitation of, in essence, of that thing.

[12:03]

Right. So why is the other dependent, the... I'm having a hard time understanding how the other dependent character should be seen as the manifestation where it seems that all we see is the imputation and not actually the other dependent character isn't really apprehendable. I understand your question. I don't know if anybody else did. Did some other people get it? So it's like the imputation of an essence onto nothing You don't see anything. You've got essences available. You've got the seed for an essence available. That's not a problem. It's when you put it onto a nice little fleeting phenomena that we have the problem. But when you put it over the phenomena, then you have a manifestation. It doesn't manifest before it connects with something. So just thinking of an essence, but when you look at a lamp or a person, then

[13:05]

There is a plant there and there is a person there. There are these dependently co-arisen phenomena, but we don't know them until we put this thing on them. When we put a thing on them, each thing is different. Putting the essence on you is different than putting the essence on Wendy or putting the essence on Jeremy, because you are independently co-arisen phenomena. But I don't know you except by infusing this image, and I take you as my image, but the image dependently co-arises and is based on you, so you don't look the same. even though I put the same self on each one of you. That lends itself towards the recognition of names and symbols rather than the recognition of... Well, actually, part of the assignment of the names and the symbols is through dependent colorizing too, not through the essence. But I have to put an essence on you in order to assign to meaning. It doesn't make any sense to put a name on you if I think it has nothing to do with you. So I have to think that there's something about you that the name has to do with. That there's some referentiality in you that justifies me calling you Daniel.

[14:10]

Otherwise it would be silly to call you Daniel. So I go along with that kind of like stupid thing. But still, there's a dependent co-arising of you and there's a dependent co-arising of me making that assignment, but the assignment's not based on your character of justifying the assignment. Yes, Stephen? Can a Buddha see co-arising without using repetition? No. But Buddha understands dependent co-arising. And you understand dependent core arising by understanding the thoroughly established and understanding dependent core arising. And when you understand dependent core arising as it is in this chapter, then what? When you understand dependent core arising as it is, what do you understand? When you understand dependent core arising as it really is in this chapter, what do you understand?

[15:15]

What? Absence of. No, you understand the afflicted character. When you understand dependent co-arising as it is, you understand afflicted character. In other words, you understand that in order to know dependent co-arisons, there has to be the basis for affliction. Namely, this confusion of non-existent essences with things. That's part of the afflicted nature of the whole process. It's part of the deal. And you have to understand the afflicted character. And when you understand the afflicted character as it really is, then what do you understand? Huh? What? You understand the purified character. And when you understand the purified character as it really is, then what happens? Yeah, one abandons the afflicted character. And when one abandons the afflicted character, then what happens? Then one realizes the purified character. So the dependent core rising, the way it actually is, is part of the deal of dependent core risings, is that for us, when they become experiences, they get defiled in a certain way, they get afflicted in a certain way, and they become then opportunities for affliction.

[16:37]

And when we understand that, that's good that we understand that. And also we need to understand the characterlessness which is to understand the imputational. So this chapter introduces these three characters, but it also introduces, in a sense, three more characters, which we come to understand when we study the first three characters. We understand that by the very nature of the imputational character, it is characterless. And by the nature of the imputational character in our life, it's afflicted character. By the nature of the Thoroughly established, it's purified and purifying, and by understanding each one of these, we become liberated from this process of existence. No more questions, it looks like. Yes? About direct perception? Yes?

[17:38]

Okay. So, if there's direct perception, there's a mental direct perception also, right? Mano vijnana takes place. Does that happen without... Can that happen without bringing in wellness and alliance? In other words, can one's awareness be just in the direct perception without mixing up with the other aspects of the mind? No. You don't have just one of these operating by itself. You lose connection with your body. You wouldn't have a body... The alaya is connecting consciousness with sense organs. And the connection with sense organs is what makes possible the arising of sense consciousnesses.

[18:44]

So you have alaya there too. And manas is actually... just to see sense consciousness. So that's there too. Now it may not be activated in direct perception the way it's activated in conceptual cognitions, but it's there operating. It's actually manas, as you look and see, manas coordinates the sense consciousnesses. Manas is influencing which sense consciousnesses are operating. So it may be direct perception, but somebody's in charge of which thing you happen to look at. Why are you looking at this rose rather than that goya? So that is happening, but there's still a state of direct perception that you're... There's plenty of direct perception going on, don't worry about it. But try not to eliminate these other aspects of mind in the process and try to clean things up, because they're in there.

[19:45]

What, you're in for a Buddha? Huh? You're in for a Buddha? You wouldn't have just direct reception? Well, for the Buddha, this alaya has been flipped over into a wisdom, and manas has been flipped over into a wisdom. and the direct perceptions have been flipped over into wisdoms. So if you have direct perception, which isn't a wisdom, then you could have the other thing for the Buddha. So the Buddha can simultaneously have direct perception, manas and alaya going on, simultaneously have these wisdoms which are the flipped aside of all these things. The non-duality of the wisdom and the delusion is happening in the Buddha fully realized, and the Buddha can be on both sides of the duality, of the non-duality at the same time. Because in fact, that is the nature of the universe, is that we have these sentient beings and Buddhas who are not dual, and in a Buddha it's realized, and a sentient being is sort of emphasized in the unenlightened side, you know, and the non-realization of the non-duality.

[20:46]

So they're like into this setup of these three transformations of consciousness where they're generating all these metaphors for the other dependent beings. All these ideas of independence are being generated by these transformations. That's a normal sentient being. In fact, the sentient being is non-dual with the enlightened being, and the enlightened being understands that, and the enlightened being can be simultaneous, the fully enlightened being can be simultaneously on the junk side and the liberate and the wisdom side simultaneously. And those of us with less attainment have the unfortunate job of having to switch from wisdom back to delusion. You know how that is in the terrible. Some of us are like not switching very often, but anyway. Less developed being switched back and forth. The Buddhas are simultaneously on both sides because in fact that's reality. Both sides are fully manifested in this life sphere.

[21:50]

In Mahayana anyway. And that's part of what is also alluded to to some extent in Chapter 7, is talking about the different wheels. The first wheel is kind of like, let's get over on the side of the wisdom. Second wheel is like, you know, don't get into sides at all. Third wheel is, let's get the first teaching back and connect it to the one where there's, you know, no way to analyze delusion and enlightenment as separate. Buddhism was very successful and produced people with great attainment, but then it seemed like the tradition kind of got world-hating after a while. And it still echoes of the world-hating implications of realization of selflessness. And the Mahayana is like somehow world-loving, at the same time world-giving up. What is it like? He so cared for the world that he gave his only begotten son. So we so care for the world that we give up our precious delusions about the way things are, and then we can really help the world.

[22:59]

And also we use those teachings of those creeps that hated the world, because they have an excellent philosophical system about the nature of phenomena. And so in this phase of Buddhism, we're redeeming the early teaching, which went a little sour and got a little nasty because people were actually quite successful in getting liberated and they started to not, as I said, they started to say, yucky, unenlightened people. Some of them, like, get them out of here. But the Buddha wasn't that way. The Buddha loved all the unenlightened people. In his kind of cool way. Where did you hear that teaching? Did your question get addressed? Addressed, but there's more of it. Maybe I should wait for another time. That might be nice. Meg? You talk about these three aspects of mind as always functioning, and then you also talked about no perception.

[24:07]

When you're having experience... When, you know, these three transformations are working together. But they're not always functioning, because always functioning, you know, starts to sound like they're eternal. But they're, when an experience, whenever there's a kind of like idea of something happening, these three transformations are producing it. Are they fascinating at all when you talk about such a no-perception and seeing such new from no-perception? Yes, they are. That's what I'm saying. The dependent core arising of this process is the basis for the bodhisattva's realization, which is described in Chapter 5, which is they don't see the alaya, They don't see the apprehending consciousness, they don't see the apprehension, they don't see the storehouse, they don't see the storing, they don't see the eye consciousness, they don't see the color, they don't see the eye, they don't see any of that stuff, but this is based on, this wouldn't have any meaning if nothing was happening. It's in the midst of this stuff happening they don't see it.

[25:10]

They don't see the suffering? They don't see it as separate, right? They don't see it as re... Because they have separate things going on? Just one thing going on? Well, you could say that, but then you've got them seeing one thing. So like it says in the middle of the... sort of the latter part of the... the discourse on the self-perceiving samadhi of the Buddhas, which gives you the touchstone of Zen meditation, is in that state all this stuff isn't reached by perception. Because what can be reached by perception is not realization itself. Mind and object merge in realization. But then you don't have an object called merged realization, or, you know, that they're one. You don't make that into an object. So what's out there as an object, then you're back in this realm of these true transformations of consciousness where all this stuff is working.

[26:16]

Okay? But when that's going on, right in that situation, there's this samadhi, right? Which doesn't fall for this as being, like, actually an apprehendable process. So there's no perception of it, right while it's going on. But that no perception, of course, is not reached by perception. Susan? I was thinking earlier when Fu was asking about how one would know if this experience had happened, and... I'm wondering if it somehow then affects Alaya, that this experience, because then the previous experience would be a seed in Alaya, therefore... Yes, it affects Alaya. It could then come up again because it's now part of the repertoire. Right, right. I used to go swimming in this lake.

[27:17]

My wife and I used to go swimming in this lake, sort of in Northern California, around Clear Lake. There's two little lakes next to Clear Lake. They're called Blue Lakes. And several years ago, we had a really cold winter. It got down to 10 at Tau Sahara. And it got really cold at Green Gulch and killed $5,000 worth of lettuce here. It was really cold. It got down to 22 or something at Green Gulch. And I don't know what the temperature was up at Clear Lake, but anyway, those two little lakes froze. And then they flipped over. They froze and the ice flipped. The lakes flipped over. The bottom of the lake was on the top, so the lakes kind of smelled funny the next summer. Because the bottom of the lake got pulled up and put on the top of the lake, so then the bottom of the lake was like melting through the ice. So it changed the lake quite a bit.

[28:18]

Something like that happens to your mind when you meditate. It kind of freezes through this process and flips from delusion. It smells funny, and then you think, yikes, there must be something wrong here. But, you know, it's like I often like that story that in the mountains, in the Japanese mountains, when they see fresh fish, they think it's a robin. because they're used to seeing rotten fish, or old fish, because usually it would take several days for the fish to get from the coast up to the mountains. So they're used to seeing some number of days old fish, which people on the coast think is virtually rotten, or anyway, salted, right? So maybe they didn't take them up, maybe they salted them. And so people in the mountains were used to seeing salted fish. Then they go out on the coast and they see a fresh fish and they go, yikes, it looks rotten.

[29:19]

So it's kind of like going, you know. So when you start to see life as it actually is, absent of your imputations, it's kind of like at first, it's kind of like, yikes, yucko, looks like delusion. Whereas before you were deluded and thinking, geez, this is truth, and I know what I'm doing. And then when you start seeing truth, it kind of looks like delusion. Or you've been guilty for so long of all this unskillful action and misconception, and when you start to become free of your delusion and become really innocent again, innocent of believing these false ideas, if you start feeling guilty, like, geez, am I still, maybe I'm not human anymore, now that I don't, like, obsess about people the way I used to. I don't hate people anymore. Maybe I'm, like, not really human. So that's another little difficulty along the path of wisdom, is getting used to being wise. It may at first seem a little obnoxious and frightening. Speaking of which, yes? Liz? Transformations of mind, does that refer to...

[30:23]

Well, I think it means... I take it as... Another word for... Instead of transformation, sometimes they say evolving or revolving. Moment by moment, but also, I think, on each other. So it's like these three are changing moment by moment, but they're also evolving, because you see... The middle one, the manas, accesses the potentials which are given by the alaya. And then that activity then comes, goes around and gets put back into the next, is then incorporated as a condition for the next available storehouse consciousness, this moment. So, they're arising and ceasing, but they're evolving too on each other. So, they're all affecting each other and transforming each other. So that's why working in the conceptual realm is where we cause most of our trouble, but it's also where we get information about how to reverse the process of these unhealthy processes where we believe misconceptions.

[31:38]

So that same place, we can evolve more and more towards deeper, deeper entrenchment, or we can reverse the process, and then reverse the process in the realm of confection. That conception, reversing the process there, doing something different there, has a different effect which is contributed to a lie. In the next moment we have new possibilities from the last moment, which is where we did something different from our usual going forward thing. We did this turning around thing and studying thing. That creates a different impression or footprint in the alaya when we get our next thing. So they're evolving by going up and down or appearing and disappearing, but also they're mutually affecting each other and enhancing or degenerating each other. So it's a very dynamic situation, pictured here. And that's one of the advantages of this new system, but this new system has the disadvantage or the danger of bringing a self back into the process, whereas the other one, people didn't get so much into seeing a self.

[32:46]

They still did to some extent, but they didn't so much see the self there in this old process. So the new process is actually to even take more self out, but it is the danger that you put more self in. It's actually to eliminate certain kinds of self which in the older tradition could still be there. I'm calling on people that I haven't called on yet. So, Rob, Vernon, and Sarah. Is there some other new people? And Nancy. I mean, Linda. Yes? I'm thinking about this process in the waking up to Omd. Yes? And I was seeing... Well... And the question is, is it piecemeal or is it thorough? We see what we're speaking about as if it's a gradual process, and the literature seems to talk about it that way, that you can analyze individual dharma to see their imputes, to see their sustenance, to see their own being like that.

[33:52]

Did you say, is it piecemeal, or what was the alternative to piecemeal? Well, it seems mostly that it doesn't happen piecemeal. It does. You're not really perceiving the own being of something. Yeah, well, I think somebody else, maybe Stephen said something about all or nothing. Did you know what you said the other day? Something kind of all or nothing. So, in a sense, seeing suchness is kind of all or nothing. If you still think there's a little bit of possibility that you can set, that there's a little bit of, still a little tiny bit of self, you know, even though you kind of like, kind of don't really believe in it, there's still a little part of you who does, but you still haven't seen it. So the vision of suchness, in a sense, is sudden, in the sense that you're either ready or you're not. And if you're not ready, then you're not ready. And you can be a lot more ready than you used to be, and a lot more ready than a lot of other people you know. But still, you're not quite completely ready. And then when you're ready, then time comes when you actually do actually access it and it's like straight on full realization at that time however then from then so before that there was like a piecemeal getting ready and when you're ready then there was a sudden full vision however then there's another piecemeal that happens is that of the cultivation of that pure correct vision over a long period of time

[35:18]

So the way the Buddhist path is built is that the center of it, the path of vision, is very quick and sudden. But leading up to the path of vision, where you actually transform your vision and first see selflessness, that's a long process, but the actual seeing of selflessness is very quick. And then there's a long process after that, too, of cultivating and integrating that view of selflessness into many dimensions of your existence and relationships. It's a single dharma. Well, the reason why it's not all dharmas at once is because it's conceptual at first. It's not... Now, I don't think it's all dharmas at first, but I'll study more and let you know if I find out differently.

[36:24]

You might be right. And then, was Sarah next, or was it Vernon? Vernon? Vernon? Um, existence again. Is space an existent imputational and an existent otherdependent? Whereas Meg is an existent imputational... Say the thing about space. Is space what? Is space both an existent imputational and an existent otherdependent? Mm-hmm. Well, yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. Whereas Meg is an existent imputational but not an existent otherdependent. Mm-hmm. Meg is non-existent, other-dependent? Can you say that? Yeah, I was... No, gee, Meg's inexistent, other-dependent. Okay. Oh, okay. So if you're existent in one sense, you're existent in the other. You said Meg was also an existent imputational. No, she is an existent imputational. She has an imputational side that's existent, but she also has a non-existent imputational side, which is her self.

[37:32]

It's part of Meg. So they both come together. If you're an existent imputational, you're an existent of a dependent. Yes. Okay. Thank you. And also, non-existent imputational gets superimposed on existent other dependents. And that's the one the sutra's focusing on, is that non-existent imputational. That's the one that's a generation of affliction, which is just briefly mentioned in this chapter and go into more detail in chapter 7 about how the confusion of the imputational with the with the other dependent generates affliction. And also then goes into meditation on how meditating on how the lack of adhering to the imputational as being the other dependent reveals the thoroughly established. And as you meditate on that, that reverses the process of this affliction. Sarah? I was wondering if you would say something else about the meditation connection yesterday, that in the class, in the garden book, you were trying to connect with the process.

[38:42]

Say something more about that meditation? Yes. Well, yeah, so you... One way you start is by turning this light around and looking at the source of mind, looking at the place where this... cognitive activities going on, which you can see the cognitive activities. That's how you're grasping things and you're using the available images of your given mind. You're accessing it according to predispositions and so on and so forth. And those predispositions are part of your cognitive activity and you're choosing By this pattern of habit you're choosing certain things to access as a way of interpreting what's happening. So you can see that. And then you can also see how deep, you know, you're clinging there.

[39:43]

And you can watch this process and as you watch this process you're actually watching the source of the mind, you're watching the source of the cognitive activity you're not so much getting involved in the cognitive activity, you're more looking at the source of it. And the source of it, the meaning of this source, will be revealed to you as you let go of this cognitive activity while it's going on. So you're observing the cognitive activity and you let go of the cognitive activity while you're watching the cognitive activity. learn to see the place where you let go of it there. You can also see the place where you hold on. They're probably quite close together. So you watch the place of clinging. This isn't the source of mind, but this is the beginning of you getting the meaning of the source.

[40:45]

You'll never reach the source. You're turning the light towards the source, and from the source emanates this cognitive activity, which doesn't reach the source, but emanates from it. And as you move through the cognitive activity and let go of it, you start moving towards the source. And the closer you get to the source, the weaker the cognitive activity, because the cognitive activity is not going to make it to the source. So you're moving through this cognitive activity, giving it up, giving it up, letting go of it, letting go of the stories. And this is turning the light around back into the cognitive. The light's actually coming from the source to you as all this cognitive activity. Now you're turning around, looking back through it, And you can see your cognitive activity is coming from this source of mind. So you're just looking at your cognitive activity, very simple. But you're looking at it in a different way. You're looking through it. You're breathing through it. You're letting go of it. You're not like using it as evidence for why you're better than other people anymore or why they're better than you.

[41:51]

You're not using it to push yourself up or push yourself down, even though it's stories about you pushing up and coming down and improving and not improving and doing well and what's going to happen. All this stuff's coming at you or coming out your awareness, which is this, again, it's this monist generating activity based on what's available to you to imagine is going on. Again, you drive your... You're turning the light around and shining back through all this activity. Through all this activity, as you approach the source, you get closer to the meaning of the source, and the closer the meaning of the source comes to you as you start letting go of the emanations of the source, namely the cognitive activity. So you breathe your way You let go, you drop your way back to the source. And the meaning comes to you as you are this way with cognitive activity. Is the source a liar?

[42:52]

Is the source a liar? I don't think... Is the source a liar? I don't know. I don't know what the source is. If we say it's a laya, the problem of that is that I just said that no words reach the source. So I hate to say now what the name, the place where the words don't reach. But, you know, what can I say? Maybe it is a laya, but then that word's not going to reach it, so maybe it... But to say it isn't a laya, then would the word isn't a laya reach it? The meaning of the source comes... when I let go of a lie, grasping it as a lie or not as a lie. So I think that... I guess I would... It's really inconceivable a lie. But can that word... Does that word going to make it? I think forget it is pretty good. Because we don't think... Unless you think forget it's going to get it.

[43:56]

So it's more like let yourself... The meaning of the source will come to you as you approach the source through the emanations of the source, which are most obvious, and the things that are most obvious are the actual activity of the mind of grasping objects and so on. As you approach this and get to this place, which is beyond sort of being able to say where you got to, you will become very calm. And from this calm, You can then watch how this way of being there goes back and starts to illuminate the activity, the mental activity, and then you can go back and notice things. And there's instructions you can take, but basically you can start noticing that the alaya and the cognitive activity which you just breathe yourself right through, and the direct perceptions how they're actually working together, you can start to see this and you can start to see how they're not the same and they're not different.

[44:58]

therefore they're not one and they're not dispersed and they're not dual and actually this way of being sounds like dharma nature so then this whole process of that generates karma and bondage is not different from the from the dharma nature which when meditated upon creates deliberation so this is the that type of meditation the turning the light around type of meditation Now I wouldn't say that the meditation we're entering into now with these three characteristics is not a turning a light around meditation, but particularly this meditation of turning the light around is very, its origins in China are very closely related to meditating on these dimensions of cognition. But now we're looking at, you know, like deep aspects, deeper aspects of the cognitions, a little bit different. That was more psychological. This is going to be more epistemological. So that's a more psychological meditation, and this next section is a more epistemological meditation.

[46:00]

So again, some of you may wish really to concentrate on... Some Germans are talking about, what's epistemological? We should have a simultaneous translation. by which you have body, mind and life and all that stuff, that way of being with it is the way that gives you the meaning or the significance of the source of mind, which is beyond the cognitive activity which generates images and words. Does that make sense? So sometimes when we say, turn the light around, people get dizzy. But I think there's a, you know, the turning light around, you don't have to spin around exactly. You just simply look at your cognitive activity and let go of it. And, or I should say, you see the way that your cognitive activity is let go of.

[47:03]

Because again, generally speaking, generally speaking, the Buddhist practices I like are simply practices of joining what's happening. They're not practices where you're making more stuff for your life. They're more like just tuning in to the way your life is made. So you don't have to do anything in Buddhist meditation. You just have to wake up to what's going on already. And what's going on already is actually that you're letting go of your body and life. Life is actually to let go of body and life. But if you don't check that out and join the letting go of body and life and mind, then it's kind of like it's hearsay. And then it's even like wonderful hearsay, and then you think, oh, well, I should do that. I should make my life that way, but it's already that way. So turning the light around means just turn away, turn the light around means turn it away from looking away from reality. Turn it away from being distracted and just look at what's happening and also let go of what's happening and then you realize the source of what's happening.

[48:07]

you know, psychologically. And then in this case, the source of what's happening epistemologically. The way knowledge is created is more what chapter 6 is about. How we know. Chapter 5 is also about how we know, because chapter 5 talks about conceptual cognitions and direct perception. Okay, is that enough on chapter 6? Are you ready for chapter 7? Wow! No, you're not. We have to have at least one more day on Chapter 6. We'll do the middle part, the examples. I don't want to get into the examples at this time. Now I'm ready to jump to the latter part of Chapter 6 in our next class and look at this thing I talked about. How do you know these things? And then how does knowing these things as it is lead to knowing the characterless, the afflicted, and the purified character?

[49:16]

And then I think maybe that might be enough for Chapter 6. Of course, we can keep referring to it for the rest of the practice period, but that might be enough for us to then jump to Chapter 7 so that Jean will get some new material. But you actually got chapter five this time, which you didn't get last time. Is that enough for today? No? Thanks for your grief. It's not enough for you, I guess. Yes? I'm just wondering if you were saying something about... Like, if someone's in a hell or a land, if they're not really... it's not really appropriate to teach wisdom, to teach them some more tranquility correctly. Yeah. They may not, you know... Again, you know, I was talking to somebody, you know, the Buddha, our historical Buddha, was an excellent tranquility master. He was really good at tranquility meditation.

[50:19]

I mean, really good at it. He got major tranquil states, top of the line, right? But then, and so he did these tranquility meditations and then he did the wisdom meditations based on the tranquility meditations. So he describes his process of going into these states of tranquility and then going into meditating on the Four Noble Truths. And he said, before I understood these Four Noble Truths, I did not understand what I needed to understand. But when I did understand these Four Noble Truths in these 12 ways, I did understand what I needed to understand, and I became the Buddha. So he's saying, I do these meditation practices, I do these tranquility meditations, but I wasn't yet a Buddha until I understood these wisdom teachings. These wisdom teachings, the first one is the truth of suffering. Usually when people are in a hell state, it doesn't work very well to teach them the truth of suffering. So it's more like try to make them more comfortable.

[51:20]

Try to get them to relax and be more tranquil. Sometimes the one way is to... Yes, go ahead. The question is, is there any point in listening to James if you're in this state of hell? There might be, but actually it might not be good because it might make you more angry. You might say, not only am I in hell, but I hear the wisdom teachings and I don't understand them. And God damn it, why are they teaching me these wisdom teachings? Who brought them here? And you might punch the Buddhist monk who brought them to you. And then go deeper into hell. So you don't want to... Somebody who's suffering a lot, you don't necessarily want to provoke them to do something so that they'll get in more trouble. When they're kind of really hateful and really angry, it's probably better to give them some really delicious cookies. You know? Or, you know, and lots of, and maybe money in large denominations. And then maybe they'll get the thought like, how lovely, how sweet, how nice, you know, and they start coming up out of hell.

[52:26]

And then when they get up out of hell and move into the human realm, then you get them into the human realm, get them calm there too in the human realm. And then you can say, life is suffering. And you're deluded. And you're attached to this. Then that kind of teaching, which wisdom teachings are kind of insulting to people. Because wisdom teachings are saying, what you think is really delusion, mostly. I mean, if you want to tell me something you think is not, I'll listen. But basically, I'm just hearing delusion out of you. That's good for somebody who's like really calm and mellow. They go, yeah, you know, you've got a point there. Thank you very much. You know, tell me more about this. Tell me more about this. Rather than Sati who got more and more depressed, even though Buddha wasn't being that mean. So, yeah, I think just be really nice to people that are really irritated and angry. And then also, hell beings actually are not actually angry.

[53:29]

They're experiencing the results of anger. So hell is actually, I thought, very interesting according to some teachings. Hell is undefiled neutral state. It's not really defiled. You're just experiencing the consequences of your negative defiled activity when you're in hell. Namely, you feel totally cut off from everything you love. You feel isolated and abandoned and unloved. You feel terrible, but you're not actually fighting back. You just feel totally pinned to pain. And you're just feeling that. When you then start arguing with that and trying to blame somebody for your uncomfortable feelings, your severely uncomfortable feelings, then you're not at hell again. Now you're back in generating karma and then you're going to go right back in hell deeper. So when somebody's in hell, be very gentle with them so they don't generate more hate and then flip themselves deeper in. And what do you think would make them more relaxed and more at ease, and even that they would generate, based on that hell state, that they would generate a positive feeling like, gee, I feel grateful to you for coming to visit me here in hell.

[54:48]

And if you look at the pictures of the three realms, there's bodhisattvas in all these realms, but the way the bodhisattvas teach in hell is different than the way they teach in the animal realm, or hungry ghost realm, or human realm, or deva realm. They have different teachings for the different people. And so wisdom teachings, if you offer wisdom teachings to people in hell, they might not be grateful. And it would be very bad for them, such that you offer them a condition for them to not be grateful, because that lack of gratitude will be a condition for further hell states. Does that make sense? Yeah. I'm just wondering whether that makes sense for me to go to the classes or just sit in there. Well, yeah. It may be that you need to work, as I said, you maybe need to take care of this guy and help him be calm and relaxed. That may be your main effort, is just to help him be calm and relaxed. And if you hear the wisdom teachings and you start feeling like, oh God, I don't understand it, I'm no good about it, well then maybe, well let's not do wisdom teachings for a while, shall we?

[55:57]

Let's do tranquility meditation. And I live at a place where there's wisdom teachings happening, but I really feel like I should work on tranquility. And then after I take care of myself and get myself to be somewhat tranquil, then I might be sort of like more enthusiastic about the wisdom teachings. but I just happen to live in a place where there's a lot of wisdom teachings being discussed in the Wheelwright Center, and I go there. But wisdom teachings, when you hear them, are similar to other kinds of discursive thoughts that are going on in your mind, except that they're potentially more beneficial. So whether it's your old stories like, you know, I'm a this or I'm a that, that are irritating you, or if it's the new stories called wisdom stories that are irritating you, in both cases you've got to learn to relax with and be compassionate to this person who's being irritated by whatever is happening. So wisdom teachings can be irritating but potentially liberating when you understand them.

[56:59]

Our other discursive ramble generally speaking, should just basically be let go of. And that's the main thing to do with it. All your regular stories about your life, generally speaking, it's time to let go of those. And then when you let go of them, you'll be calmer. And then when you're calmer, then you can hear these new stories, which give you new views on your life, which can be liberating. Does that make sense? So yeah, again, this is like a... This is not just a tranquility course here, but I really encourage you to do enough tranquility practice so that you basically feel pretty mellow and relaxed. Because if you feel mellow and relaxed and at ease and flexible, you're going to be much more effective at learning these teachings and listening to these teachings. It isn't that you won't be able to learn anything if you're uptight, tense, and agitated.

[58:01]

You can still learn something, but then you're going to be unhappy. So it's better for you to be happy and be a better learner, I think, than to be miserable and learn a little bit. So please keep working on the tranquility and let me know if you feel, just for yourself, if you feel like you need more time, more meditation periods, We can have less classes and more quiet time. We do have a session coming up though. During that time you'll have more quiet time. But if you feel like there's too many classes and you're getting too much stimulation and you're getting irritated and it's hard for you to relax in the classes, let me know and I will adjust the level of discursive opportunities from the tradition. And then you can just... And then maybe you can, like, okay, that's fine, and you can pass on your own discursive opportunities. But if you're just going to go to Zen and do your own discursive opportunity, you might go to some of the answer stories rather than your own.

[59:06]

That's more Buddhist. Yeah, really. Buddha's stories are much better than mine, you know. I do have some, but I think it's just fine to let them go and learn these new ones. There's not much time left anyway, so learn these stories from the Buddha and let yours go. There'll still be some, don't worry. And letting your stories go will relax you, will calm you. So that's good. and letting go of Buddhist stories will also relax you and calm you. But you have to hear them first. and before you can let them go. And you've been giving your own stories a good hearing for quite a while. Imagine how wonderful it would be if you gave the Buddhist stories as much hearing as you've given your own. Just think about that. All those stories when you're thinking about how you look in the mirror all those times, going to high school, and what you're gonna wear, and who you're gonna ask out, and all that stuff.

[60:08]

Imagine if all that energy had gone this other direction. But don't do it too much, because you might get depressed. See, have you had lunch yet? Not yet? How much time to lunch? 15 minutes? 15 minutes until lunch? People might want to go to the bathroom. Yeah, you could have a little break now before service. Yeah. But please, you know, during your break, have a good time. Now, enjoy the break. Relax and let go of your stories and enter into a deep trance. May I have a picture?

[60:51]

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