Vasubandhu

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SF-04017
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Summer intensive

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i mentioned some things and what could they possibly have been
just like that and i just turned it on i had it and now it's gone
yeah i mean
amazing the thoroughness of it is what is astounding amendment it so completely gone
like a blank slate
it was had something to do with them a kind of an attitude that scene could it have been oh well maybe it'll come back used to come back all that i can count on it coming back but now you know and so sure
where's josh
you must tell me some day but how the mind works and if we have billions if we have billions and billions of you know neurons and stuff like they're going on out there why is it with this chemical change that's happening that the amount of seems to be the amount of
neurons or whatever it is that i'm dropping i mean the speed at which in november
how can that be if there's so many up there that i would lose that many so quickly
there can hear
well with that attitude
we different theater today
who screen
not that bad
well what are they do we had do we take all those kind of chemicals instead of the hormones they would
not all
but somebody tell me if you if you'd take some stuff than your brain thinks that it doesn't need to develop its own because it's that's not what happened you'll tabulated
now when
well you know that's the most interesting part of it that i think i told you guys the other day that this is really it really puts you in touch with life because you put you in touch with the last you know that the leaving of they like energy it's fascinating really got me
awesome knowing true meaning
and it's so clear that you are not your body your body is going on all by itself you would take you along for the ride
somebody i read somewhere somebody tell me to remember the day were in as they were dying in the very last thing that they said before they were dying was something like and this is gonna be really interesting and equipment than a great thing die with that attitude
okay where could we have been oh i want to am
i actually wanted to start with whatever it was it i forgot but in lieu of that minister with this i wanted to just go but you know we're going to talk about twenty twenty one and two thousand and two today per capita per tank and partners a and
hopefully we can just clarify that would clarify than just the definitions of those three if we get into their relationship that'll be no know something else
but i did want to say that
oh
when to go back to nineteen what i wanted to say was that
the point in this case i think that is being made is to is the fundamental basic practice which is that the mind
when the way it transforms brings with it a kind of tendency to grasp at grasping and it manifests itself in

ultimately and suffering and that if we if we watch simply watched the grasping and and settle be able to settle their that's one of the ways of cutting the wheel i said this i told you this before
i actually forgot what i was gonna say to start a fire

well maybe we'll come to me by vat from something

right then i'm just gonna start on just read you a million connect healing
when i bought to read tea and days from the city nepeta and buddha again
and it's about ignorance the basis of suffering ignorance in grasping through
assuming a kind of solidity
or we can say substance or inherent in existence or redefining something all of those words
for me anyway the way i'm talking about mean basically the same thing that we are confirming a kind of separation and
solidity who are inherent existence where there is none
so
does have i heard this is a little ah short thing on the origin of of suffering resignation of certainly does have i heard once the boo
uda was staying in the eastern park of megara might choose estate in seventy one evening on a full moon day he was sitting in the open air with all the monks gathered around him he saw that they were silent and so he spoke to them monks he said it sometimes happens in this world that things are said concerning so
skillful states distinguished and liberating statements that are made to lead to full awakening
now monks why should you bother to listen to those statements

people may ask you this same question and if they do you should answer them like this it is for the purpose of knowing two things as they have come to be the first insight is this this is suffering and this is what causes it the second inside is this that is were suffering stops
there
one insight is that grasping is the basis of all suffering the other insight is that by the complete cooling and cessation of all this grasping there is no more arising suffering
there are many kinds of suffering in this world and all of them grow from the same source grasping when a person knows no better she gives way to this grasping and slowed and dog she goes through one misery after another
do not create it for yourselves use your knowledge to see how suffering begins and develops in attachment
one insight is that ignorance is the basis of all suffering the other is that by the complete cooling and cessation of ignorance no more suffering is produced

in the world substance is seen and what is insubstantial they are tied to their psycho physical beings and so they think that there is some substance some reality to them but whatever be the phenomena through which they think of seeking their self identity
it turns out to be transitory it becomes false for what last for a moment is deceptive
whatever there is which is said to be existant the delightful enticing and pleasant forms sounds tastes odors tactile sensations and thoughts these are all agreed upon by
the world to be happiness in your world these things are thought of as pleasures and yet when they cease they are thought of as sufferings
it is dark where where they are trapped in his pitch dark for the blind and crystal clear with a wholesome
did you get that
it is dark where they are trapped it is pitch dark for the blind and crystal clear for the wholesome for those who can see it there is light but if you are blind to the teachings of the way things are if you know nothing of the path then you will not be able to make out anything though you may be right on top of it
this teaching about the way things are does not become a force of full enlightenment for someone who is infected with desire
fit for who else can justifiably reach this state of full understanding except for those beings of distinction who else has come from a who has come to understand this state and dispersed all the forces of confusion this is what the buddha said on that occasion the monks were full of gladness and joy when they heard these
things indeed some sixty monks let go of all clinging and grasping right away
during this bag and they were free

so am
so it in my opinion the text that were reading here is pointing to these things pointing to specifically how it is that we create naturally the illusion of self and other in separation how our mind naturally grasps on to the to the projection of externality
and in that grasping realize substantial ises solidifies that dichotomy and in that grasping comes a version yes

yeah you can say that
the i kind of try to make a canvas simple saying here based on settled attention this is kind of necessary this is necessary the first thing that we have to pay attention to and i've said this you know before and class but i just want to i wanna say it again because until
will we really are able to settle and still the mind there's no sense bothering with any of the rest of this is no sense even looking at self or habitants is stays or anything else because what actually happens is when you begin to get close to this self that is trying so hard
hard to help us really when you begin to get close to an to seeing how it really works if your mind is not really sell it will just toss you into whatever deluded event it's running at that time that you're trying to watch
so i am i really want to emphasize before you do pay any kind of investigate and meditative investigation or meditative anything
the might have to first make sure that the mind is present and and settled
now i also want to say there is nothing that i've read in soto zen instructions about meditation that say anything about steps and stages investigating looking at this that or the other thing it's all always about simply letting go of any
kind of grasping total
be non dualistic being of life that's our way i've never read anything that severe she said effort that says anything else so i just want to say that okay
because
i love that way
anyway so the mine has to be settled and attentive first com open relaxed body and i put down still lightness and happiness i don't know maybe for some people that could be know that can arise certainly that is written
that with that kind of settled attention there is a light and nelson a kind of happiness that can arise
we must note here's my note
that sinking does not make our life better and i've been trying during class to make a distinction between the kind of thinking that our mind as at it's good at
recipes mathematics buying plane tickets certain kind of analysis logic that kind of stuff building things you know it's good at that it is not good about understanding
directly really deeply understanding what life is about and in terms of relationships in your life even making decisions i would suggest that you really pay attention and find out whether or not the constant round and round and round and round of thinking and trying to make it better and analyzing she did this and he did
that and i should be this and then all of that stuff is not helpful and and it doesn't work and and when are we gonna get it to rely on the mind and that kind of wage simply doesn't work and to sit there hour after hour after hour and here this stuff going on around and ran around basically a maybe you have vet
creation of maybe five different tapes that you're listening to that's it it's not creative it's redundant and boring and when it gets boring that's a step in the right direction when you finally are sick and tired of hearing it
you will you will not know keep it going by yeah

but you know if you really present you will see exactly that
cause because right before they happen you'll write be right there for the one right invented it
him and developing that kind of you know being present enough to catch it before and before him for you will know it in a different way too much deeper knowing it then figuring it out in a certain kind of way that's what psychology is great you know to unpeeled in that way but living it differently its much
much deeper that kind of transformation happens in a different way
we need to have a clear view on how grabbing i just used a different word thinking that some of you would respond better to a different word than the word i've been using
but anyway we have they have a clear view on how holding on causes suffering
and you can see that you and your meditation and sometimes we don't want to let go of that's fine if you don't want to let go at least know that's what you're doing and enjoy the misery
living under

yeah or even or even in the mind because the next one is awareness is always still it's always spacious and still even in the midst of dualistic thinking right there clear mind of awareness is right there

make fun
you can't every thinking and body
section one
that
so where do you see where is it where what he added i don't understand them

oh well that's okay you don't have to believe this
i want people to find out for themselves
ha
so awareness again is always still even when dualistic thinking is happening with
point
one
of my
yeah
totally and totally
oh what
to fine i do not have a problem with it and thank you for
you know patience is totally an underrated this is one of the parliament is
patience and loving kindness
now it's true that for a walk and time the fact of the matter is that we believe the thoughts and feelings that come up our us that my thoughts my feelings and it's true how i'm feeling

well that my go in for ah
and it's true we believe the emotion thought initially of course we believe all that stuff that's that's the suffering it's brought us here in the first place so of course we're going to be caught by it over and over and over again so from my what
from my my my experiences is that when we're going through that kind of suffering and we're doing this practice that somewhere in there at first we don't even have this you know cause we got totally caught by it but there might be maybe a glimmer just a teeny weeny glimmer that the person who was suffering
especially if you understand dependent arising which is a great thinker study even intellectually you have some sense that the suffering of this person was dependently chrism you can have a teeny glimmer of just feeling enormously
tender toward the person ne right who's going through all of this misery
there there is that possibility and there's a possibility to if you will allow yourself the space to go ahead and do that well you're caught just to even know you caught is a teeny aid and then you just lie back i used to think of it as kind of leg
if after why you know your particular tendencies of where you're getting caught and what your particular demon is what it says to u k and i would be caught by failure it was a real big one for me and it was a huge the and i saw it as a demon and in tibetan way they actually some of these psychological states
are drawn as gaiman's and we have to respect them cutting in an intimate area and the beginning their huge their way stronger than all the mind that we're trying to keep present that habit tendency is were developing and then the beginning is quite p say of this really kini habit element of trying to be president
in this wide space of awareness haha right and you'll have this enormous damon and so on i would get caught by this think i would picture my particular demon where which had failure written all over it and i would picture me as just you know
like just like they do in tibet and thing lie that let lie down laid down on the you know lying down on the floor and having my demons smashing all walk trampling all over me and for some reason it was kind of helpful because
because i can because i kind of gave up trying to fight with i i i i ike you know you win
i surrender okay beat me up which it did you know over and over again
to me that was kind enough to be able to admit to myself that i had just lost that and gotten caught again and felt the pain of at all but being and it was an it's also painful in the body some of those thoughts to me they actually felt painful it was like whipping mice
so painfully so i just let i let that be there does it make sense
well sometimes when i was you know when i was
we on the other hand the nice thing about our practice is is that when the bell rings you have to go somewhere and particularly in the kitchen that's why the kid i'd so you appreciate the kitchen because i could only hold on to my you know being a failure for not making this l addressing which i still am not very good
know very well at once the salad has gone and i was told to go bake cookies away which are better at thinking given go bake cookies i couldn't it was hard for me in the kitchen to keep remembering that i was really a failure at salad dressing
an and for me therefore at life the i didn't stop and failure and salad dressing that wasn't that wasn't true from me then i wasn't just a failure it's elegance and i was a failure at a life
well
yeah
with was fun
anything
sounds like
one thought
but
that ah
it makes you unable to function okay class or do any of you are in struck by certain demons and what do you guys do let's have some exceptional skill here paul
what
more
good

he has an excellent point when when you practice with the smaller ones that you can note that you can stay still with like gum
hmm not there if you'd like in are sitting you know what the idea is to be not grasp not push away and we can do that with the smaller ones like i can like failure at salad dressing i could maybe hold still for and if you get if your mind begins to have some strength with that then little by little you can have more strength with the law
zhuge that's very true anybody else

and
yeah
good suggestions
okay
so let's just quickly did the so i can get to the text
so you should just know that this kind of agitation of grasping an aversion family you know can't bit is based on ignorance and the rest of it is just dumb as you keep doing it in the habit tendencies little by little as you're able to go with the bigger and bigger
ones they eventually
dissipate and we can live hundred percent an activity with things just to live you be with such i keep it hating views that word is such a you know shaking word but just to live is just to live with whatever arises you just one hundred percent the airport
game and i just wanted to mention to that insights as we are able to have some kind of stillness of mind and presence in our meditation and oftentimes not in meditation or almost more often than not
inside small and science major inside not major insights become like her
yeah happen and then you
embody them and put them immediately into your practice and then just continue on prep mainly with the attitude of practicing you know for itself not for any goal but already because we are ready are already enough
merely deluded or natalie
it's really okay to be who we are so let's go to the text
number twenty
whatever thought through which an object is thought of as a substance that indeed is fabrication and i brought many definitions just in case
ah we don't understand so let me start with the dalai lama
and also you know everybody can say how they approach this if you want to you know it can have that discussion
let's actually went away i do all of them for it so park halpert it is
imagined
whatever in the mud whatever get let's just say imagined substance or it's a mental activity images in the mind that are not they don't have characteristics they're not shown to exist we can't in any way find them
it is
one of the one of the characteristics of what everything is we can say that than the other two are also everything has the characteristic our nature of time show which is that it's dependently car isn't it depends on something else for its arising and also everything is all
ultimately just as it is
which is such ness or in this case part in a spawner so i'm going to read a number of definitions that i think will be ah
helpful
also you know there are definitions in the vocabulary that i passed out a long time with us i hope you looked at that as well
so here's one definition party calcutta k with a k
call put it is established in the mind it is imagined it is purely subjective without self self existence without existing from its own side
empirically experienced is truth
parra tantra with the t the t one is dependent on other things it's resulting from causality which arises and is recognized as the subject object dichotomy
i just want you guys to remember that dependent arising can be seen in two ways in one way it is in the conventional sense but in another way it's it looks at emptiness so the characteristic of these things
part time job it'll be is is i will get it at it tomorrow actually
never mind will get you into my
absolute truth stands beyond every subject and object is is
ah party spawner and is therefore subject list an object lesson emptiness and then part listen to this okay para tantra is the overlapping of pari nice bona by an infecting per capita
okay this i really want you to understand because this is how it was originally presented to me and this is my understanding
of it

there are dependently dependently co arisen apparent
hmm
oh so
oh okay dependently co arisen
a parent
apparent things

you know we see that are here do arise do arrive
okay
what happens is we
view of these things but not as they actually are which is in their essence empty of inherent existence we imbues them with this quality of solidity
which is part competence so we view this i'm gonna put parrikar put it right over it

we've users
as such as solid solid separate sept palm read
i know unchanging how we can do that is amazing to me
but we do this is how we behave we think that their graspable so we think that they don't think bay
we overlay these apparent totally fluid unsurprised changing processes we cut them out and we paste on them a solidity that they don't have
in a spawner is simply
dependently color isn't apparent things
and that's it without
without para caputo are actually knowing that this is what we do
okay
and the way it was originally taught to me was
like this
why go big
heart kind of like knowing that these that this dependently arisen things you know do arise and knowing that we do impute substance to them but knowing the difference
is the accomplished is is a
is such as actually is it's clearer in the end over there and what it says is is at the mind reverses or revert back to earth its original clarity and is able to view things just as they are which includes viewing them you know as
ah
knowing that we all we see them also with the imputation of solidity
without being bothered by it
so let me read you some more definitions
eugene
oh
the dalai lama
is the dalai lama
all things and events possess three principal nature's
dependent nature which ones that
that is the interplay of various specific causes and conditions is said to be the basis of a phenomena as existence upon the basis of this dependent nature we project an independent
in reality on to the phenomena which one is that
this imputed nature is what appears to us as real
cadet
some people don't have this that's okay not a problem just don't grab
finally the ultimate nature of a phenomena which one is it
is the negation of this imputation namely the phenomena as emptiness this is from the the book that you were just reading exact that's what it is dalai lama
could you hold on ebook

that isn't
yeah so let me read it again because this is exactly
but i think for bundle saying although lots of people who have lots of opinions
you know it really is true there are really lots of opinions for people who are interested in pursuing this it's you can there is there is
on the internet there is just an incredible amount of information and discussion about all of the stuff that happens and that is about yoga your understanding i think it's really interesting just to get in there and kind of look around in it because it helps you know keep keeping going it over and over and over again
helps you know clarifying your understanding
i understand
yeah but there there's one that's really a neat website that is it an actual symposium a year later they have a yearly symposium of yoga chara question and the one i got one of these often was that from the topic of the seminar was external ah
objects yes or no yeah
a and the israel the paper i got office is guy seems such like an arrogant games it because i guess what they do in academia it would be frightening to me
but he ain't he he talks about it like he's making a comment on these other people's papers and then he says john he's talking about hawkins you know he's saying and this is you know any toxins familiar way and basically saying to the guy that will you misunderstand this and this and this you know mr funny
amy
let's see but i printed it out without i copied it to another thing and so i didn't little i didn't them
it's not
yeah i don't have the website but i can easily get the website i had a ton of those pages at home often that very website could you remind me and i'll get me just knock on my door
did i get it from nourishment know you bring it in
so let me read the dalai lama ones again because i think it's really clear
and it anyway this imposing me is really terrific because they have one every year and every year they pick out like one year was the three nature's than they have all these papers written on the three natures and you know i didn't think on they don't agree a pigeon
caitlyn
page one or three
i read it again
he's talking about this sutra unraveling the thought of the buddha this is the somebody near machado surgery gets his from
and it is what he says
all things and events possess all three principal nature's although you know when parness been is there the per capita is on
ah the amputation is not necessarily
seen
although i was just talking to rehab yesterday and he didn't say that he said it's always there so that that's interesting that
no no yeah i put in all this week
all things and events possessed three principal nature's dependent nature that is the interplay of various specific causes and conditions
upon the basis of this dependent nature we project an independent reality on to the phenomena
this projection or this imputed nature is what appears to us as real that is to say we impute you know solidity and separateness and unchangeable nurse and inherent existence that's what we impute that reality we we impute
we reaffirm concept that person is lava i am blah blah blah this is not an intellectual study this is to help us to wake up we do this with all concepts
and we see everything conceptually we know everything conceptually we know that conceptually we know this conceptually we know points of view or concepts idea of self is a concept can you see how fundamental is is okay we rely concepts as well
we do we impute a reality to them when there is none
finally ultimate nature of a phenomena is the negation of this imputation
namely the phenomenon emptiness so the pinnacle rising which is than which is emptiness of apparent things which do arise
without the imputation of
reality where solidity or inherent existence or substance to them his partner spider or such nice things just as they are way

the pinnacle rising part hundred yeah see see

watson
i'm more trustworthy
you know in terms of practice i'm not so sure that i would say trustworthy i mean the body does have feelings it may or may not
ah
can confirm it enough composer is a good word to use with reality you know but but the body does door all of the consequences of the minds misunderstanding cover it of
true nature let's say and the way that
we transform the process of this kind of transformation
happens i think through the body
i'm and the way that i think that happens is because the energy of those of that of those karmic events
when held went grasped is held in the body and when when we we walk through those comic events when the energy of that comes back up and this is all of it a physical event and we sit still in it then that energy that energy
he is released and that grasping is subdued and the mind can release can let go of that holding that's how i experience it

yes right the tendencies or the tennessee to grasp it is i think it's part of the nature of mine and he gets what it says yes

for

oh my while tick hand says that ally is actually in every single cell
how he talks about it so i mean how that you know how to point to it are lots of hands happening okay i saw okay know it or hear it so gem and then julia and gail and andy and the me
ah
can you wait
no she can go ahead
however
i just wanna say and it's falling of the what you're saying he a problem
it was
ah ha
right yeah that does go with anything
so now go wrong
hmm
print

hmm

three

separation of mind and body i'm just trying to point to a certain kind of thinking that is not helpful
k
and
hmm
yes the the not have that the not helpful yeah right
did we get any gale
hmm
yeah
now

that
that
hmm not better
when you ask me
totally exactly
you're making it is
yeah that's exactly right but not a good thing i'm nothing my mind that at some
not that kind of thinking right thinking is minus and minors is what in a note in a in the ultimate your when we get to the other thing it's minus that's going to that that
is trent is where can i say i hate to say this canister is not function not anymore that's all point
did you have hannah

and
all
yes yes yes yeah that's great
so i did want to read from ticknor a little bit although i didn't get to these other definitions but i think i think that the definitions of them maybe are not too hard to understand it's the relationship that that's difficult to understand and i think
tomorrow what we're gonna do as we're going to go over how these three definitions also are
our essence less neff
that's tomorrow so can you study that a little bit before we get to it otherwise you'll be really confusing
s cents less ness says
yes that's good about six s's in it
as ess then e s them
when
the next one
twenty
what twenty one
no not twenty one twenty
when you know
twenty three yeah so we didn't so we have to go a little more today wait a second year
wait a minute women we can't leave yet to think we have to go for it i can't read about meditation it from pick on
dentist today we have to do at least twenty my on
hey can you hold on a little bit more
general okay who take a peek at the to wouldn't we do here
so twenty as per capita with a k twenty one a dependent self nature is a thought that has arisen depending upon conditions so in other words deaths per tantra and then when it says the absence of the one prior to it is always the accomplish that means the
absence of per capita
but on copper to uncheck his partner spawn that's what that sentence is about
are you there are you guys with me
hello

no i wouldn't go there

the next one is a little
chicken ish but let's do it anyway
susan you know this would one is interesting have you been man
the end of the last is can't yeah can it solve it i kind of engagement
i didn't bring matter
oh
there's another barnaby found another did you find it and oh you've handed a book another translation that in this kind of interesting you know all those many translations as we can get upon it so the this translation will be in the back into xerox tomorrow
you can share
and without
good
so this is a little tricky but let's go there let's just do twenty two
twenty two says
thus the accomplished or this fauna should be declared to be neither identical nor different from the dependent for independent co rising like impermanence and so on when the dependent when the pinnacle rising is not perceived this to as not perceived this is what i think it it means it's like
in other words partners bonnet is dependent on ah apparently arisen things in order for us to be able to say that their that things are just the way they are seems like gonna say i mean said kenneth clear so
in the same way there can't be anything called impermanence without there being things that are impermanent know right the word impairments has no meaning unless they are stuff that keeps changing all the time in the same way a spawner doesn't mean anything less there is related to
parent yes
yes right
okay so then we come to twenty three
and that one is
okay that's tomorrow we're not gonna go there so that's the non substantiate city so what i'm gonna go there this is enough for today and
i wanted to read a little bit of from ticknor han about the practice
because the most important thing is whether or not this is useful to us in practicing and i have found it in my practice enormously useful
in of in this particular way first of all to know that the way we know everything is through conceptual allottee
and that when we're caught what we've done is is that we have given substance we have revised the some concept we are either caught in a point of view were caught in an idea of other were caught in an idea of self were caught in an image of who i am or some idea of what somebody else's and when weekend
when we are present enough to know that that has just happened
even when we've pasted you know ourselves or somebody with this box or color whatever or knows substantial being and no longer see the situation is fluid process
to be able to step back from that even for a moment and reconsider what you've just done is enormously liberated for yourself and for everybody else relating with
and then once you do that with the level of emotion thought to be able to then you know go deeper into the able to do it that whenever the idea the concept of self arises or other arises
begins to be really transformative
so to practice doing this at whatever level you are practicing with it doesn't make any difference what level you're practicing with that is whenever they're suffering or where ever you feel contract it and you feel a sense of self and other we renounce that and we watch very carefully where we're grabbing onto the concept where the concert where we how were we
terrifying it and allow your self if if possible to settle in in ma'am
who doesn't be still don't grab onto it don't push it away mostly don't grab onto it and just try it can see if that helps
massage or lubricate how the stickiness of the mind wherever the mind is sticking you would we suffered it's a clue for really clue so whenever that happens
know about this teaching and see if you can put this teaching into your meditation and then into your daily life
like it's enormously transform elements can fundamentally undermines our i'm holding grasping to to delusion
k
right
army
why you know here's the thing to watch yourself to one in not letting go simply means being present
so as soon as you find yourself leaning towards believing whatever you know idea you just had was like for example how do i not grasp okay you just you just i did what i do is i just released my body that's when my by the body is so pricing the by is very important because it begin and to me
so it begins there and it kind of ends there
if you can just relax and release that could have the holding to me is a felt sense the sense of separation is a contraction is kind of painful
so if you can open that contraction and then just settle into one hundred percent what actually is happening right then what is arising that took that long ago
it's not an activity
you know it's just let let the mind do whatever it wants to do this don't be dragged on by it and if you do you know be patient
cause you're gonna get another opportunity
yeah right away
right so maybe i'll read you about how he and it for those of you have the ticknor humble the end of the book is all about the meditation it's really good and useful so tomorrow we'll talk about essence less messes
huh
i read it to my cause it's already eleven
yeah