The Mind of Enlightenment 

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huh
we have been meditating on
the rotten the relative or conventional mind of enlightenment and
right near by the conventional mind of enlightenment
inseparable from the conventional mind of enlightenment is the ultimate mind of enlightenment
enlightenment itself
we've been emphasizing so far
a focusing on the focus on the conventional
but i'm saying now just remind us that day
the ultimate might of enlightenment which is enlightenment itself
is inseparable from the conventional mind of enlightenment
again the congressional lot mine and enlightenment has many layers of meaning but the basic one is
the resolution
clear resolution to realize buddhahood for the welfare of all beings
so it's a conventional phenomena it's a thought
have this kind
and this thought accompanies the bodhisattva
on the whole course of practice
and can all the way up to and never leaving the ultimate goal or buddhahood
and perfect enlightenment is thought this conventional thought goes comes along all the time
it's never gone
and it's an impermanent thing
can one can forget it
one can get distracted from it because of lack of concentration or one can get distracted from it by various afflictions various some conflicts or contradictory resolutions
like the resolution to not benefit everybody could arise
in a sentient beings mine and that contradicts the resolution to benefit everybody that can arise
and it can arise so strongly that it can do rail or cause us to lose the body chipped it for a while
but it can be found again
now let's say we haven't lost atlas they were taking care of it now
frequently throughout the day remembering
that we do have this resolution
and
in order to care for the conventional and the ultimate
spirit and actuality of awakening in order to care for both of them
but now mentioning the the relative the first practice religion and eminase the first body sought this practice
six basic precepts are six basic
trainings
they train and giving ethical discipline patience enthusiasm concentration and wisdom
so the last class and the spring we emphasize the the methods of giving patients are ethical discipline and patience these first three trainings are trainings basically
to care for central banks
ticket it's a basic their basic trainings and caring for all sentient beings their basic trainings and caring for and benefiting yourself

the last three of these trainings
ah the enthusiasm the concentration and the wisdom those
work on some they work on something that the first three and a sense don't so much work on they work on actually removing affliction
not a little bit complicated because the the fourth training method of enthusiasm are heroic effort it is applied
based on practicing the first three you can practice this fourth his fourth then fuel taste can refuel of the first three
but it also
that enthusiasm this continued effort to practice will eventually not just help people but it will overcome affliction
and concentration which we've been working on so far
concentrating on relative bodhicitta actually does suppress the afflictions and wisdom
eliminates the tendency towards them
so the last two particularly eliminate all the causes for suffering the first three take care of people beings who are suffering and get them ready
to do those practices to
but the move on to the practices which
overcome affliction
so i'm saying this because a couple things one is i think viera said something about
i've taken care of ourselves how do we take care of ourselves how can we how can we do these concentration practices if we don't not take care of ourselves we should he should be practicing his first three
methods of bodhisattvas a long wet or before you try to do the concentration on bodhicitta so concentration on body her
requires that actually we do develop the ability to be concentrated that we develop the ability to not be distracted from something we'd like to pay attention to consistently
but it's not just that we're trying to get concentrated and be undistracted although that is part of it
we're trying to be undistracted so we can pay attention to what's really important
it's wonderful mind this wonderful intention
so now if we were concentrated we could pay attention to this intention this resolution
to live for the welfare of all beings and to realize all the skills
which would then at which would help us realize the welfare of all pigs
so once again it's not just to get concentrated and then that's the point is ticket concentrated so you can take care of this body mind
and then in the in the concentration we will try we were trying to make this intention which we've been taking care of all along hopefully now make this tent make this intention pure because it's possible
two for example practice giving towards beings for their welfare but they're still be some affliction in the caring
some afflictions i'm cause of suffering while you're caring for beings
why you're practicing giving which take care of the body chipped a boy chipped it doesn't get killed when you're practicing giving it lives but it isn't necessarily pure and what can defile it well one basic when they can defile it the basic thing is the sense that you're actually
not
the beings that you devoted to get there other than you really not you
so the first part of the meditation
the meditation on by chapter is too
realize that we're that we're the same as all beings not just the same as son but the famous
all suffering bags
and and then it i also want to say that
hi
suggest to you that you meditate
that you be mindful
that the got the word i which we do you sometimes which i use sometimes
can appropriately in this context can be applied to all suffering gangs
and so it it is possible to actually think and sincerely think
they they all suffering beings are myself
to think that again think it think it thinking
and
until
when you see somebody
you see yourself without telling yourself that this person's yourself you see yourself
and
is it one of our ancestors of the chinese zen ancestor dumb schon leon j
when he left his teacher
ha
fifteen he asked his teacher if he had a neat
you know what's what's the essence of his teaching and his teacher said
i think literally one teacher said was
just this is it but
some people feel this it could be understood that that's an abbreviation for just this person is it
that was his teachers final instruction to him
wasn't the final but the essential instruction to him after this enlightened disciple
is leaving his teacher
but not completely enlightened
yet quite enlightened read allowed to law allowed to go off on his own now after training many years
and he was quiet and as teacher said you must be thorough
about this instruction so he laughed and he walked and he walked
i think maybe he walked a long ways
ah thinking about just this person just this person is get and then when he was crossing a river he saw his reflection and he had a much deeper understanding of this teaching
and he composed a poem
which got something like
everywhere i go i need him
to seek outside is not wouldn't get lost now
he is myself
no now he is not me
now he is not me
in truth he is myself
this was his palm of his great awakening
this is like after meditating on all beings as yourself
you come to see that they are
maybe you can see they are without the meditation but still the for most of us is recommended that we didn't do this meditation
so that we will actually see that itself
that it will make that that's the way we will understand our life that our life really is all sentient beings that is our actual life
and i don't know if you've been practicing this week walking around thinking
they are myself
but i i i am
i would encourage just to keep practicing that or something like that just
until that's the way you see things
when you see things that way then you don't have to be mindful of you know like it on just keep saying it's this is berkeley this is berkeley this is berkeley you can think of that without reminding yourself most of us can do that and actually if you can't remember that is berkeley it probably won't help much to remind yourself
if you just ask other people where it is and they'll tell you
if you're in berkeley this at berkeley if you're in oakland they'll say open
but this other thing is if if you ask people who am i they might not say you're all sentient beings so you probably to do this when yourself
and when you if you really do it a lot everybody will basically be telling you hello
i'm you
your me
maybe you need your me don't you understand your me
what i'm your life
we're all your life
but we have to train ourselves in order to peer the definitely by saying to us all the time people are so polite you know
i don't want to bother you with this information that you know i am your life
i don't want to impose upon you
you know that for you i'm worried that i'm the point of your life
and your the point of mine
people don't say that to us too much
once in awhile they do and sometimes it's very helpful for them to remind us
hello member me i'm your life number
did you forget did you think i wasn't did you think he had some life besides me in all sentient beings
no you did did you know right i didn't have to remind you of that
but yeah what we have to remind ourselves i think until everybody seems to be reminding us
ah laureate snarky as last week what about people who are like
ah you know really well i think she said really concerned for the welfare of others
almost like overly so
from i think that was part of her her concern with this meditation be good for such people
another another variation of this would be another question can be us what about people who are really sensitive to the suffering of other beings would def be good for them to do this practice
it is possible
to be really devoted to the welfare of all beings
and still think they're separate from you
it's also possible to not be devoted to the welfare of all beings and think they're separate from you
but when you don't think they're separate from you when you realize that yourself you will be devoted to all of them
now be good if you knew how to how to take care of the beings you devoted to well that's the first three practices
and meditation you're doing now is have you take care of them
so those people who are wonderfully devoted to the welfare of others i say great that's good please keep it up but also remind yourself
that they are yourself
we doesn't it remind yourself of that that will actually protect you
from being overwhelmed by this
devotion
he will purify your devotion
the friction of duality
where least he'll start the process
so i i
i kind of her
don't want to put in by the spots i'm just this is kind of up
a general question which i don't mean to put anybody in a spot but have you been practicing have you remembered to think they are they are all sentient beings they all sentient beings all sentient beings are myself have you remembered to do that that's my question and if you remember
a little bit i say great
if you remembered it all it's a it's a wonderful thing to remember in a lifetime
is a rare thing
even here the suggestion to think it is a rare thing
so ah i
i request that we keep being mindful of this simple thought
they dash all living beings all suffering bags are my true self that's what i really am is all sentient beings
again this is meditation on this is focusing on this is concentrating on the relative bodhicitta
ah which can have a relative or conventional contradictions
like other kinds of thoughts which contradicted you don't have to have knock you don't have to have no contradictory thoughts to develop this conventional body chipped you don't have to have no contradictory thoughts to purify this conventional body of jetta so i'm talking now about
the the body checked of purification of the affliction
of thinking that were separate from the beings that we're devoted to
it causes a suffering
when we think we're separate from a beings that we're devoted to it causes of suffering for example when we're devoted to others and we think our separate when we think we own our suffering and they owned there's
that's the one that that hurts us
so actually we want we can we can't very well stop probably the tendency right now to think that are suffering as our own
this so why we had that problem will be good for us now to develop the problem of thinking if we're going to possess something presents other people's suffering too so that will also be difficult for us
and then you practice patience to take care of yourself with all this suffering
all along trying to cure yourself
i'm thinking that they're separate and when you do that this will alleviate the possessiveness with regard to the suffering
but even know you are not getting we be suffering anymore because of being possessive of your suffering you will still be motivated to help others who are suffering because they are yourself
and you do want to take care of them
so we do need to be concentrated otherwise we'll get distracted
and would only be patient when we are distracted
and we need to be kind to ourselves when we are distracted we need to be patient when we have contradictory
her emotions and and
and i'm impulses and again i would suggest for myself and you that when i have contradictory intentions
i practice i take care of them to i live for them to i i'm devoted to the welfare of my caught my contradictory intentions
and other people's contradictory intentions
and the people who have gathered a dream to it does all these is all are suffering beings
a contradictory intention is it is a suffering bag
he doesn't need arms and legs it's it's in itself has suffered
to contradict his body shift is painful
so people and emotions that people have
are objects of compassion and were devoted to their welfare and all of them on myself
ivan i say that to myself
and more i do
the more i think about it and i do think about it
the more it seems reasonable to me
you don't think about it much he might slip back into thinking that it's not reasonable which so but if you think about it a lot fewer reason about it a lot
if you debate with yourself and others a a lot
i think you'll find yourself moving towards being really logically convinced that this is this is the way to go
rather than just believing that it's so that you can have it makes sense to you that itself and it feels good to you though itself and you feel fearless that itself and you feel inspired to continue to practice it
however if you have any doubts about this i really welcome you to give me feedback on that
doubts of how to practice and it's good thing to practice
this focused on the not on the body checked and on this way of dealing with it that purifies it of the self other difference or in he could put a pause to the endows it
with confidence that we are in the same boat
oh one more thing i want to mention yeah
again he sat there
there this for methods a bodhisattva training or for methods
which bodhisattvas practice to embrace and sustain beings
but the chinese character that jews and i don't know what can be done with the sanskrit but the chinese character has used its the for methods of embracing sustaining can also that character which means to embrace of sustain or nurture or care for or color
elect
beings it also can be
read and a passageway
so it can be read an active way for ways to embrace a sustained beings can also be read as for ways to be embraced and sustained by beings
so the for ways are giving kind speech beneficial action and
identity action or cooperation
and this fourth method is very much like the purified is this purifying meditation a body kit to so we're concentrating on how to benefit others
and worth remembering that the others that were benefiting are in the same boat with us it's not like run and we're in a nice boat and other people are lousy boat
and we're sending them throwing care packages over from our our boat onto their boat
which that's a nice thing to do if you ever in a nice boat and some people are having trouble and export it's fine to toss stuff over that's one of the that's one of the methods that the first method throws up to other boats
people are another boats but the fourth method is realized that actually you're in the same boat
and that year
and you and your practice the your cooperating with these people and
you're in years this year near nourishing them by making donations to them you're sustaining them you're embracing them by being generous with them
there the more you practice that the more you realize they're embracing you there sustaining you there nurturing you there nurturing your body mind
and when you practice kind speech to people
had encourages them that nurtures them that protects them that
then sustains them
that helps them
the present with their suffering but it also embraces you
so i am
usually the it's hard to translate it both ways simultaneously so usually if you look in indian mahayana instructions for bodhisattvas and the list is for methods usually they emphasize their message for the bodhisattvas to help people to help beings they don't usually mentioned
in that same time it's ways these are methods for beings to help the body suffers but that's exactly what boys out are they are helped the boy sought that has helped by their devotion to others that's the way they help themselves that's what matures them is by be is been been concerned for the welfare of others
so and so dogan the zen teacher dogan has one of his fast causes on these for methods and
can see him they're working on developing this relative body chapter through these for methods
particularly the last one is connected to
concentration on boy agenda the first ones are load more like the earlier methods of giving ethics and patience
funny in a feedback on this so far as you like to offer
the say and christiane

says

a projection
started practicing
did you start pricing with what
i thought oh you step back to like this is not
and i should not have more
was a farmer
what they searched
that's why not
and look at those reasons
he kind for the film i i felt like the other whales for me
yeah

ah so so focusing on this is not me help you in a different way did in it but a kind of work did did focusing on this is not may make it make you more convinced that it was you
make more clear about their work in is it was another that it was not not yet
very good please continue to play
christiane
yes the third practice
no the fourth one is identity action
the various translations of the fourth one our identity action cooperation
what's what's the other one
hmm
together action acting together klopp yeah
the third one is beneficial action
which you might say well aren't the first to beneficial yes so it's just sang in addition to those first two all kinds of beneficial action
but yes but the the fourth one is more like
focusing on the body checked itself
and
and also focusing on it in such a way as to purify the sense that ah those your devoted to those you care about those who you feel empathy for to cure you of thinking that there's that they're not you
it seems like a thought it while it's the action of think it's the action of thinking of that thought it's the you know the basic definition and in buddha dharma
of action he's thinking
the basic conventional action he's thinking
is thought far in the sense of thinking
we're all we're thinking all the time were thinking we're at a class
you know we're thinking where with our friends were thinking this were thinking that this is our basic action and then and then now i'm talking about what i'm thinking and i'm making gestures physical gestures which are expressing that i think i'm in the yogurt rather than a tango class or you
or an awesome the class
so my postures are expressing the way i'm thinking about what's happening here in my voices but even my sitting quietly i'm thinking that been quiet as appropriate because with quiet sitting time i think all were sitting quietly so i should be quiet
the and as an action
thinking that it's appropriate to be quiet and then being is is an action and then being quiet is an action which emerges from an action so thinking
that others all especially now or thing all others or yourself that is an action
it's a karmic a conventional comic action just like can you believe some people
think they go around thinking actually make the effort to think that person's not me
people think that they think that person's welfare is not my welfare
that person you know it is a bad person they're not me
these that the people who are you know
who the people who are running british patrol protium they're not me
i think may be easier but we usually we really feel like all the poor people that live in depend on the gulf of mexico for their life i feel empathy for them but still you know and i'd like to help them but still they're not me
people think that that's an action and it has consequences consequences are
suffering
that's an affliction to think that somebody's not us
that the cause of suffering
i mean you can think that and not believe it if you think it as a joke and you already believe it that it's not an affliction

i know that

in the close category
in the close category
yeah

it

which

no

he was like

yeah your mind put him in and in a different category from some of the other people who are walking around with their stuff reminded that
and
and you also know also the thought of being a practicing giving towards him arose in your mind
he thought of practicing giving towards him i think like can i help you you're going to offer 'em can i help you
however i would say that you could you could you can actually see that as a gift already
as a gift
when you think
when you think about people everybody you think about everybody you look at
you can see that that attention is a gift you can see it that way if you don't see it that way
i think you just missed an opportunity to protect the bodhicitta
every time you look at somebody you don't realize that's a gift you do you missed a chance to practice giving
but you actually thought of giving but i don't think you noticed that that was a gift
but i think it was
i think that you're that you kind of wanted to help him out was a gift but what's more difficult to understand is when you don't want to help people out that that's a gift
but when you don't want to help people out
if there's anything wrong with that thought
make it you can make it worse by not making it a gift
so you can say oh i don't want to help betsy and then you can say and i'm not going to practice giving now either rather than i don't want to help betsy and i want to make that a gift
and i might even tell her i this data had is really weird thought
you know i'd thought he didn't want to help you he i was amazed that i thought that but i want to share that with you and give you the gift that i thought i didn't want to help you
so you know
is it is there some when back when you know when suffering beings are so are beings who are thinking in ways that are causing suffering suffering beings are afflicted and they're afflicted because of the way they think
so now that they're afflicted
how about practicing giving towards them and how about them practicing giving towards themselves and if you're afflicted have a practice giving toward yourself
why wait until you're not afflicted
before you start practicing one i practice now with your afflictions why not practice now with suffering people suffering beings around waiting for them to not be afflicted and then helped them know
no not not necessary you can start right now and again you all started by having categories
the mind the mind naturally mix categories
but when you have a cat when categories arise in your mind you can practice giving it that's a moment
so what i thought when you said categories i thought
one time i was at tassajara
i believe this was the summer i either summer of sixty nine or seventy and says girl she gave a talk
and during the talk he said my students something
and when he said that i've got no inherent say my students he said my disciples something or other
but when he said my disciples i thought oh who are his disciples
i was wondering if i might be one of them
because i was actually kind of seeing my i kind of sort while i'm at zen center
to be with the community to practice meditation and so on
i find that living with these these meditators encourages me to be consistent in my practice but i'm also to be with a teacher and this is the teacher than i'm with
but i thought but that doesn't mean i'm his disciple
so i kind of wondering who is disciples worse i said to him
how roshi who are your disciples i didn't say am i one
i said well who are your disciples just checking to see if you know what he said maybe i would be
if you say well my disciples are people from minnesota
well that's that includes me
they didn't say that he said
he says something like i think the one with the first thing he said was my mind makes categories
and i don't like it but it does
so the zen teacher his mighty when i asked him about who his disciples were i actually asked me when bought a question about categories disciples and not disciples
the whose which ones in which so i asked about that insult and then he told me that his mind has categories
but as you might have category
separate from me asking me categorical question
you know maybe who said you just made my mind f categories i was i was here going along with en categories and you ask me questions so now i got categories i don't like
i think he was saying now that you're asking megaton now that you asked me this question
i now remember that i have categories in my mind
so he told me what the categories where the categories are
not my disciples and my disciples he had that category
but the whole conversation
is a gift giving conversation i go to him and give him a gift
i give him a student may mean who wants to know who the disciples i give him that student who has their interest i give him the question i let him be a teacher you know i shan't hey i want to teach your will you be my teacher here's the question for you and so he then he gives me
the gift of my mind has these categories and i kind of don't like it
and then he gives me another gift he says
some of the students that the her or this kind some of the students or another time some of the students that tells a how are here to help themselves
some of the students i hear it costs a hard to help others the ones who are here to help others are my disciples
the want to are here
got themselves are allowed to be here and i love he didn't say this but he loved everybody pretty much was like adele
but some people when i was disciples because they were just there you know
the sponge off the buddha
and they're allowed to sponge off me
so he gave me that gift
i'd so i thought he gave me a gift now did he think i'm giving him this get i really thought that but i think he kind of felt that i think he kind of enjoyed i think he enjoyed
did i asked them these questions and he got to give me these answers i think he liked that
he acted like he like the hidden cause they well going on don't bother me i'm too busy he seemed to he seem to thrive on my questions
not just mine
he seemed to thrive and people coming to him and asking him about kind of like what was kind of the most important thing is their life at the moment often not everybody did some people who just wanted to fool around with them but a lot of people said hey man i want to talk to you by the most important thing in my life now
and i think he liked being with people that way
he looked like he was enjoying giving me these answers and i resort definitely enjoying giving them and now i know how didn't know at the time i'm going to be telling people about this story forty years from now
forty or forty one years from now i'll be telling people the story or be telling kept by the gif you gave me i didn't see hiroshi guess what i'm going to tell people this story over and over again for for decades or five decades if i can remember
so he was giving i felt like he was giving but now i'm also saying you're always giving
so don't miss out
don't miss out on a moment of doing this practice
and if you do miss out
the gracious towards yourself be patient for yourself oh i forgot to see my life as a gift
so i feel when you tell my story i feel like very you are you are generous towards that person just just to pay attention to him just to feel that he was fetching just to want to help him i think those were three different gifts the look at him to appreciate him and to want to help him three gifts
but in your story i didn't feel like you enjoy and you're giving
yeah now now next time you can enjoy you can know it's giving but part of the way you know it's giving his to think it's giving his to want it to be giving
now if i'm right next to you i can say
nice gift mirror i skipped her as get go
he had to be mindful of giving all the time when you're driving around berkeley remember to practice giving and don't wait till the next moment to practice it
practice it with this moment that's the that's the way to take care of the body kit the boy chipped if you don't practice giving the boy checked the wilts
if you don't try to give me you miss your not noticing the body chip days but for kitty is i want to help people
i want to attain a wakening to help people so if you forget giving you forgot body kit a little bit
so but if you remember giving you you don't forget body kit and you protected
so get practice giving all the time make every moment a gift every moment a gift now now in addition to that practice in the precepts and patients now also practice
purifying the gift of
separation from you the giver and receiver
remember that those are giving to our yourself
and this young man when you call him near or far the near our yourself the far or yourself
with the fetching or yourself the unfettering or yourself everybody is yourself doesn't mean you have to sort of say everybody's fetching
it just means whatever you say about people that's a gift to them and
i have to remember that it's a gift otherwise i'll miss it
when you remember you don't miss
and then again purify it by the additional practice out this person who i'm practicing giving towards who's also practicing giving towards me is myself
can everybody else why can't pay attention to right now because i'm focused on this person everybody else is also myself and then i'm given to them and they're given to me
so giving and then purify the giving with this meditation on bridget
and equality and yourself and others
okay
yes jury

yeah
yeah
the catholic church is myself
the catholic church is part of my job security
i'm here to to to help all the catholics
find a new meaning of purity
understanding
when
yeah or now
yeah yeah
yeah right
yeah right
well actually the
the the medication i'm talking by now is not yet quite wisdom it's a warm up to it wisdom the measures are talking about now will actually pretty much
when you're doing it it will suppress this activity affliction the won't be able to function in the midst of this concentration if you're concentrating this it should actually basically remove your affliction for the moment
but the tendency to go back to it is still there so we need actually wisdom to actually remove even our tendency to go back to this thing of
thinking that way thinking of people separate from us

that's so you have this thing this story that are being has arisen called you yeah
and then you had the thought that they're separate yeah
excuse me i'm can i see something here remind me to say at this very point about a tendency okay come back to the yes ground
oh he like second there she said it so i got do it
if you have a if the thought arises if the thought arises of being a being in the thought arises that your separate
it you know if you don't believe that
it's not a problem is just like the thought of marshmallows
flying to mars or something is just a thought
but have a tendency to think that is a problem so you
you can you can think certain thoughts and not believe them at the moment and then there's no problem of them but he still made at the tendency to think them the tendency has to be removed to however if that is it once the tenancies removed the thought can arise again but when it's not a rising because the a tendency that not only
you don't need to believe it but you need to worry about the tendency is gonna come up again
so that your example i was gonna say because when it when it just arises because of causes and conditions it's not necessarily a problem unless you're predisposed to think that way
so we need to not only like take care of the are diluted thoughts so they don't hurt us and others but we need also to work with the tendency to have these thoughts
but when they arise it doesn't necessarily mean that we have a tendency for them they could arise like a buddha can think the buddha buddha can talk about all the problems of people have but would it has no tendency towards any of these problems know predisposition or inclination towards them the buddha only has the increase
mission to bring up what helps people
but it's not really inclination because it's just what is help with the moment
whereas we not only have these deluded thoughts which we believe in and they hurt us but we have in addition to that the tendency to thank them
rather than just they come up
so again did the the concentration on the relative bodhicitta
com's the affliction itself at the moment the wisdom practice is geared towards even removing the tendency towards these thoughts and once again he thought can rise to a wisdom person without there being any tendency towards them
you can think oh
things are external to me without without that coming from a predisposition just like you can be born in this world of suffering without being born by predisposition or you can say by obsession by obsessions and compulsions
so
yes yes charlie
the past weekend
herself
starting to wonder
sentient beings
all games
well strictly speaking buddhas are not sentient beings so it's it's destruction is presented beings not you know this isn't this isn't the practice of deliberate different practice from thinking buddhas or myself
so you think all suffering beings and myself which we can include boys somebody surface
so all suffering bags all all all living beings not the buddha's i want to also not the buddhist but it's it's not it's not focusing on the buddha's it's focusing on those that you're devoted to help
which is all living beings who are not fully realized buddhists
what about rocks
yeah i i it's as if rocks need any perfect for protection protect them but i don't usually think of rocks as suffering beings
if i think plants are suffering beings and i would
i would i would
well it's even i don't think rocks are suffering beings i still i still can meditate on they are myself
but that can be look confusing because i might think that i don't have feelings like rockstar but really my it's my whole environment as myself
so i'm not really devoted to save rock because i don't feel you're suffering but still my whole environment is myself the whole is not just everything in the universe is really myself
what would you know you don't you don't need to tell
i don't need to not tell i just don't like i just can't tell their suffering but it does like i do not worry about telling i i just seem to get the information that people are suffering the they tell me that they are and i don't usually i don't usually feel like they're lying
it's one of the times that see motor pretty close to the truth when they tell me that they're suffering
but i can't exactly tell that the i just sort of
i kind of believe him that they are

yeah
really challenging
can barely do that
so when dealing with suffering beings that i'm actually meeting it's hard to remember giving giving giving giving giving ethics patients every meeting to remember those every time that's hard then to also remember
they are myself she is myself he is myself to remember that too it's hard so i
i have plenty to work on
and i'm not yeah i'm i'm happy to to get more consistent and to expand it but i have plenty plenty to work on in people tell me about whatever be able to tell me about and i welcome whatever it is
they want to extend it in some way beyond who is in a room that's fine
yes stephen ah yes david
i use your stephen
at stephen and as david david

here
you're trying to make connections between what you do here
yes
yes
yeah yeah me too

tonight

the show i know
because
as
i know
really sad
yeah
oh my work
why not

a try
for them to be alive
it actually
me
i'm on i'm not completely with you when you said it doesn't matter i have a a little what caught a little scruple on that point but you can go on
hey
if they
this effort to prove
the than
yeah
i'm with you on that
i try to stay said you know
yeah
i guess my question is no

strengthen his day
the
okay i'll respond that i just want to go back to it doesn't matter and i think what you meant i'm guessing what you meant by doesn't matter is you meant even though they're doing that i'll still work with them
what paul

oh yeah does matter it doesn't matter how you define with at blame doesn't think
five
right right so
so i think it's i think more to the point is that blaming is not relevant to happiness
and it's not relevant to finding solutions to problem but blaming is blaming his as what is called for bear says at the end of madame bovary
blame his fate
when you blame it's like you haven't you're just you're just have to you know everything's determined you can't do anything you know
so i think
it doesn't matter who is to blame means no matter who you blame you're wasting your time blaming
blaming is a waste of time however if people are blaming
we want to be generous to that we want to be generous to the blame blazers one be generous to people who are putting themselves in prison by blaming
and so if somebody comes up in blame sucks themselves or somebody else that could potentially knock your balance
so we need to pack you need to practice his first three practices
you need to be learned to welcome blame years
not tell him know not on you just you shouldn't be blaming
even though they shouldn't be even though they're hurting themselves by blaming themselves or others
before you start telling them to hurting themselves by that blaming welcome them into the space that you want to create their and practice precepts in this particular case practice the precept are not putting them down to hurting themselves by being by by blaming
and i don't put down people don't put yourself up and put people down who are who are mutilating themselves
realize this person's hurting themselves but i'm not better than them and be patient with them hurting themselves or hurting others by blaming
be patient with this trip on their on so generous
ethical and particularly in this case we're talking about other people's non virtue ethical of not putting them down not not speaking of their fault in any way that would reduce compassion towards them and we call that slander don't speak of people in a way that would make other people less compassionate yourself and others
less compassionate to them and be patient with the this process of their hot hurting themselves and others and then move on to being concentrated on your agenda which is to provide a space with for this opportunity of freedom
and then you have to purify yourself
of the sense do not you
have your cents per year or the appearance that they're not yourself all these things will make you not get knocked off balance in this work you want to do
so part of the time we just have to work on concentrating even more not concentrating on bodhicitta we need to practice some time just concentrating just for developing concentration
like following your breathing are paying attention to your posture
just simply practice being undistracted about anything and when you feel that you're not being distracted by your thinking
then take that concentration and apply it
do this wonderful thought and cultivate this wonderful mind which wants to achieve the best for the welfare of all and then concentrate on purifying this mine of the duality of self and other
i remembering to pay attention to everybody has not only who year devoted to
but who's not other than you
the other thing is is just a non ha
a baseless designation just like stop is a baseless designation
a albert i built
i got there was somebody else was there somebody else now bill

the way you helped the buddha is by doing a buddhist practice that's a way that's the way helping the boot it doesn't need you to help the buddha be free of suffering that's not they just need you to to help them with their work
they're coming the boot is appear to help us what and so we were we have buddhists is by helping ourselves or you know doing the practices which will make us we will make the buddha's coming successful
so helping ourselves and others is the way to help buddha's being a boy sought the is the man way to help a buddha
paul

yeah right
tennis
snow he said me too
tendency yeah
you know that i don't just want to have quite the i don't believe his thoughts variety while
for because when if if you're thinking you might believe in later
listen to me this tendency to
that's right it's it's harder not to believe the thought city have a tendency to think
but that same thought when you learn how to to let go of it explored a tendency but when when tendency towards it is dropped then when the thought arises you're you're very unlikely to believe it
at that point
and so then then it's easy when you don't believe you're thinking is easy to do all kinds of compassionate practices with it you can you can remember the point of everything is practice compassion because you're not caught by anything by these thoughts than in the reason why not caught is because of your pratt
courtesy practice isn't interfered by you're thinking so once again people are really devoted to the welfare of others but they get distracted from that by their thinking
how some people are not devoted by did welfare of others and they're distracted by their thank you to everybody is not devoted for the welfare of others is distracted by their thinking
will we would be if we weren't if we weren't caught fire thinking we would be devoted to the welfare of vote
was there another person over their own ted
he came up this week
in what way is enlightenment
oh because enlightenment isn't
isn't reached by the thinking mind thinking mind can't reach it
however enlightenment is sending messages to the thinking mind all the time
like it's you know this class is a message to the thinking mind from enlightenment
but our thinking is not going to reach enlightenment that's the ultimate bodhicitta are thinking doesn't reach
but it illuminates i thinking
so the the relative bridge is thinking which takes us to what is beyond thinking but not separate from it
enlightenment isn't just thinking it is
or you could say enlightenment is a cool the correct way of thinking
a special correctly with of thinking which totally doesn't abide and thinking
therefore thing he doesn't reach it
it's a it's now passed our usual any time so i i thank you very much and next week i'll try to move into a little bit different realm
so please work on what you what you've heard so far and those of you have
didn't hear about the last class i think maybe you can talk to charlie about how to get resources from the last last class meaning the last series of classes and the first three two classes
will soon be available so right
gay the first two classes are available if any of you missed the previous classes for next week or got into a bit into a new realm
a of working a purification of this of this thought of enlightenment thank you very much