Latest / Lama Lena Teachings / [2/3] Live from Amsterdam — How to Put the Meaning of Dzogchen into Practice (Aug 2025, Lama Lena)

Transcript

[2/3] Live from Amsterdam — How to Put the Meaning of Dzogchen into Practice (Aug 2025, Lama Lena) · Lama Lena Teachings

• 0:24
  Chukku kunduzongbo gombo yi Durji sempa gyarab durji dang Shire
• 0:33
  singe bardu shin
• 0:34
  labdi Dedham abdantata tusum chi Dzogchen jupay lamala sol
• 0:42
  wadib Urgin pema junele
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: sol wadib
• 0:54
  Dorjichang Cittalo Narodang Marpa Milagompo Tsatsapa Na
• 1:01
  Pupadang Palden Drupasok
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Kargyul Lama Namla Solohadev Ochen Lama Namla Solohadev
• 1:23
  Drudchen Lama Namla Sol Vahadeb Kaginwari Lama Namla Sol
• 1:34
  Vahadeb Syakya Lama Namla
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sol Vahadeb Nyandudang Yundran Lama Namla
• 1:51
  Solvahadeb Pa khandu zhang dang yer me pa Gangareb do ajijin
• 2:03
  tragpa Jeti dang misu
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: me pai Pa ramanam che ten te he Cheong
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: in the fourth time,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: beyond the boundaries of the time-space continuum,
• 2:31
  where all beings of the three realms arise as all Buddhas of
• 2:37
  the three times,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: and the moving and the stillness are conjoined,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: and all concepts of singularity and multiplicity become irrelevant.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: The real Bodhicitta Bodhi,
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: thus gone,
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: gone beyond,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: gone beyond concept Sita,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: consciousness,
• 3:03
  mind Gone beyond Bodhicitta Gone beyond your little individual
• 3:13
  stories Grabbing at
• 3:15
  this or that that you want Gone beyond hope and fear Hope of
• 3:23
  getting what you want
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hope of not getting what you fear.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Fear of losing what you have.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Fear of having what you fear catch you.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: We live in this, bouncing like a ping pong ball.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: From desire to aversion and desire to aversion.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then have a rest from that, just for a moment.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just to relax.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just briefly.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Deep breath in through the nose, out through the mouth.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Mind, mind looking.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Use the tricks of body that I've taught you.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: just to make it easier of body and speech, of gaze.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Let go.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do not try to stop the thinking.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do not pay any attention to the thinking.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Leave it be.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: just as it is, without stirring it, suppressing it, justifying it.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Leave it be.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Relax.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Your point of focus
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let it naturally ease open without forcing and without tension on it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Mind.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Big mind.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Little Mind Sem Little Mind Sees Big Mind Recognizes Itself And Lets Go
• 6:37
  Practice needs to be free and non-conceptual,
• 6:42
  unconstrained by introspection and concentration.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: You don't do Zogchen.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: YAR and always have been.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Vast, unoriginated, self-luminous wisdom space.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is the ground of being.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Who you are.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: the beginning and the end of confusion.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Do not grab at wisdom and reject your confusion.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Embrace the dance of the dichotomy while seeing that nothing happens.
• 8:04
  The presence of awareness in the primordial state has no bias
• 8:10
  towards enlightenment
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: or non-enlightenment.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is real Dzogchen here.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like the Cuckoo song, give up the malaise of trying and striving.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: However,
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Until this sounds easy and of course to you, keep walking.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: If you abandon striving too soon, nothing happens.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: If you abandon striving too late,
• 9:11
  but if you abandon striving in exactly the right moment when
• 9:14
  you're right ripe for
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: this,
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: nothing happens.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Dharma,
• 9:39
  originally meant to refer to the natural laws of the universe
• 9:43
  and how to work with
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: them,
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: the user manual that you never received when you became a homo sapien,
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: how to be human.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't you ever as a kid wish you could find the user manual?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's like how do I do this?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm supposed to be a human being, right?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: What are humans supposed to do?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: How's it work?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: Where the fuck's the user manual?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Cars come with them, why don't I?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: That may be an autistic way of seeing things.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not quite sure if that's normie or not.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: But Dharma is supposed to be that.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, because the word in Sanskrit and Pali
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: also means rules, law, natural law, man-made law.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: You both call them laws, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Fortunately, it's the same in Sanskrit.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: So a confusion has arisen.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: And instead of describing how the natural laws work,
• 10:55
  like what's gravity and why you should not step off high places
• 11:01
  because you will go
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: down at a certain speed.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: which is a good reason not to step off a high place,
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: the push-pull of karma,
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: the web of the interconnectivity of the fourth time.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: Instead of describing that as it is, people were given rules to follow.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: It got codified.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, all those are excellent rubber buggy bumpers.
• 11:38
  you know have you ever gone bowling as a kid to a bowling alley
• 11:44
  you know on the
• 11:44
  sides of the lanes there's these raised things that are kind of
• 11:48
  rubber and soft so
• 11:49
  if you're a little kid and you just sort of throw throw it that
• 11:52
  away it doesn't go
• 11:54
  bouncing all across hopefully keep it in the lane rubber buggy
• 12:00
  bumpers well
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Probably useful if you come to it as crazy as I did.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Stop killing people now.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's not good.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get yourself in even more trouble.
• 12:21
  You know,
• 12:21
  probably needed shit like that when I was,
• 12:24
  I don't know,
• 12:26
  20,
• 12:26
  20,
• 12:26
  21.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Since that was my hobby.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Homicidal maniac.
• 12:36
  you know teenagers they go weird but when you come and I didn't
• 12:46
  I did I came to
• 12:47
  Long Rim first which is right where I needed to be for several
• 12:50
  years lots of very
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: clear rubber buggy bumpers when you come to Zogchen
• 13:01
  which is usually not when you're 21 unless you've been doing it
• 13:05
  before for a rather long time.
• 13:08
  Few of you are lucky and you've encountered it early but you're
• 13:13
  probably not going
• 13:14
  to hang with it entirely because you got too much energy and
• 13:20
  you got to go get some
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: entertainments.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you're going to do some add-ins for a while and that's fine.
• 13:32
  Zogchens for when you get tired of chasing your tail and don't
• 13:51
  need it for
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: entertainment purposes.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right now, a lot of you use your Dharma as an entertainment purpose.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: You go do this entertaining retreat and that entertaining yidim.
• 14:06
  And then you go check out this entertaining llama and that
• 14:09
  entertaining llama.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: When you're done with that, relax.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: Gently let go.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Don't shove away.
• 14:31
  Don't take your hopes and fears and try to throw them as far as
• 14:34
  you can or stick
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: them in a box and sit on them.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: They'll squeak if you do that.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to hear the sound of a hope and fear squeaking.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to hear the sound?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I might have a demonstration in here somewhere.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine that feeling inside yourself.
• 15:17
  That really is the squeak of something going through a channel
• 15:21
  that it's not been
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: through before.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: As you're relaxing your channels and the chi starts to find new pathways.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's the sound that sometimes make.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: How many of you have experienced that in a retreat?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's more an emotion than an actual sound when you hear it that way.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: When you think you might be ready.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, past lives count in becoming ready.
• 16:01
  And if you don't remember them well,
• 16:03
  who the hell knows what you've been doing there?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: You might have been doing this.
• 16:09
  There's a really clear sign as to whether you're ready for
• 16:11
  Dzogchen or not.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like it?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: People who aren't ready don't like it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: They sort of look at it and go, and then what?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what am I supposed to do with this?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: This is boring.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: What do you mean just sit there?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: or they're scared shitless of it.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: They get a glimpse of the vastness,
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: the emptiness,
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: the multiplicity of the vitality and all it creates,
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: the totality of it,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: and it's so fucking big.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: If you haven't had either of those reactions, you're ready.
• 17:11
  If you have had either of those reactions,
• 17:16
  practice Tantra for a while and try again.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: Tantra is not a step down.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's a shortcut.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: You could go do Lam Rim for, oh, 50 lives.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It says 400 lives for Lam Rim from the beginning to the end.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a pretty path.
• 17:40
  And there's little fountains and springs and waterfalls along
• 17:44
  the way and fruit trees.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with that path just because it takes a long time.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's very pretty.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to not forget what you were doing.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: which is a problem for people like me.
• 18:00
  I was on my way from Bandiamir where the statues are out to the
• 18:06
  high mountains to
• 18:11
  see if those wise men had something interesting to say because
• 18:15
  I wasn't finding
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: portals in the white spaces.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: 19, 20 year old kid, right?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting reality.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: So that was all well and good.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: But when I got finally to Pakistan and rested up,
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: I got sidetracked by the opium dens,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: which make you forget a lot of stuff.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then I got to India and I stopped in Panjim,
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: because that's where I got a ride to from the Golden Temple.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I won this sailboat in a craps game.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: That was my next distraction.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to sail down the coast of the Indian Ocean to the tip of India.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a single-hander.
• 19:08
  You know,
• 19:09
  it doesn't have Loran or any of the stuff you have in a proper
• 19:12
  ocean-going boat.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a little fishing boat, but you know, coast hopping.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not as good a sailor as I thought.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, after some weeks, maybe a month,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: I misjudged a storm coming in, thought I could make it to the next cove.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Broke up in the surf.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Was wearing a sarong.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can't friggin' swim in a sarong.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Ditched it, because it's big surf, you know.
• 19:45
  It's a big storm and,
• 19:46
  you know,
• 19:47
  waves like this,
• 19:47
  enough to break the boat in half.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I have to swim in in that, so I ditched the sarong.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wash up in the storm.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Start naked on a beach somewhere in South India.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay then.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Then there were some more distractions that happened after that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like,
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: I needed a hat,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: so I found some leaves and I plated a hat,
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: a sun hat,
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: because it gets pretty hot in the daytime.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And besides,
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: if I wanted to go inside or be among people,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: you just take it off your head and hold it here.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: It'll do.
• 20:30
  and then I needed money so I found a clay deposit in the rocks
• 20:36
  and I dug the clay
• 20:37
  and I prepared it properly wedged it and all and made beautiful
• 20:42
  it wasn't a big
• 20:43
  deposit but I got enough clay to make a whole bunch of
• 20:45
  beautiful beads sculpted in
• 20:47
  the shapes of little demon heads and fishes and snails and
• 20:52
  things and dug a kiln
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: and fired them and then I sold them to the tourists and I got some money
• 21:00
  and then I could buy another sarong and you know get on with
• 21:04
  things but you see I
• 21:06
  distract easy sure when go get find a crap game just for
• 21:11
  entertainment what a craps
• 21:13
  game dice just for entertainment one night next thing I know
• 21:16
  I've changed my whole
• 21:17
  course I'm not heading for the mountains I'm headed for the
• 21:19
  south in the boat I
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: just won
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't distract easy,
• 21:29
  you can probably keep at it for lam rim for enough lives to get
• 21:34
  somewhere.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: However,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: if you distract anywhere near as easily as I do,
• 21:42
  you're going to go off in some tangent in the 27th life to do
• 21:47
  something totally
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: different and forget all about practicing and everything you learned.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you might try Tantra.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: You only have to remember it for one life.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's risky.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: You have to have a teacher.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's cliff climbing straight up the cliff.
• 22:10
  You have to be roped together with the teacher and the other
• 22:13
  students of your generation.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Don't yank the teacher off the cliff if you fall off.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the rule of guru yoga and tantra.
• 22:26
  if you fall off the cliff don't flail the team will pull you
• 22:30
  back on but if you
• 22:33
  flail you can yank the rest of them off to both the other
• 22:35
  students and the teacher
• 22:37
  I've seen it happen metaphorically so unless you think you can
• 22:43
  trust yourself be
• 22:46
  careful of Tantra cliff climbing is dicey anybody here do any
• 22:53
  rock climbing as a
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: hobby ever
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I used to be pretty good at it when I was young.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was my favorite sport was climbing up things.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't do it with ropes much because I'm stupid.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: I just went up.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: Be careful with Tantra.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's worth it.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: You can go all the way in a single life.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: But
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: Do it carefully.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: Do you understand that?
• 23:30
  Are there any questions on,
• 23:32
  like,
• 23:32
  what I mean by Tantra you have to be careful with?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not easy or safe?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I don't understand.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: Which part?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Extremely.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Who ever told you Dharma was safe?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: So lam rim is pretty safe.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're not going to mess yourself up with it.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tantra is quite dangerous.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 24:05
  Because you will have strong mental and physical sensations
• 24:12
  while practicing it.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: Some of which it is easy to misinterpret.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: And by misinterpreting them
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: You can, it's the misinterpretation that is falling off the cliff.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: If you flail in your misinterpretation,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: try to get everybody to agree with it,
• 24:40
  you're going to yank all your co-students off the cliff and
• 24:44
  probably the teacher as
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: well.
• 24:49
  let's say you have a whole bunch of experiences sensations and
• 24:54
  you interpret it as
• 24:55
  the teacher is possessed by a demon you've seen it hovering
• 25:00
  over their head that's
• 25:03
  not unusual to get into some weird twist like this in tantra
• 25:09
  because of the
• 25:10
  intensity of the practices and the intensity of the
• 25:14
  purification so stuff comes out
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: and if you've got weird stuff stuck in there
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of weird stuff stuck.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not stuck now.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: It just floats around.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it didn't become less weird.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: You got any?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, I was just... Do you have any weird stuff in there, in you?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, and that comes out with Tantra.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 25:43
  like you're doing vajrasattva purification practice and all
• 25:48
  those creepy crawlies
• 25:49
  come out and run around and you got to look at them sometimes
• 25:53
  you freak out in
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: yinam practice it's even stronger than nundro
• 26:05
  you'll hopefully have gotten through your basic freakouts with
• 26:08
  Nundro so that when
• 26:10
  they start happening again with Yidim practice in a three year
• 26:13
  retreat where you're
• 26:14
  all by yourself for three years you're like oh yeah it's that
• 26:19
  crap again instead of
• 26:22
  falling for it coming out of retreat and yelling help help
• 26:26
  there's demons in my
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: cabin or whatever story you make up
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: What might not be demons, you might make up something quite different.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't the same happen when you practice Dzogchen?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Did I say Dzogchen was safer than Tantra?
• 26:53
  Problem in Dzogchen is you don't knock your teacher off,
• 26:56
  you become a demon.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Rahula, the whole story of Rahula, Dzogchen accident.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: Rahula, the Buddha's son.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Also a symbol of Zogchen accident.
• 27:19
  Rahula and his friend had a teacher who taught them what I
• 27:24
  taught you last night,
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: the spontaneous acceptance of whatever occurred both inside and outside.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: However, they took it both ways.
• 27:36
  Rahula's friend took it as simply observing the spontaneous
• 27:41
  occurrence of whatever
• 27:42
  happened inside in relation to whatever happened outside
• 27:45
  without steering.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Rahula took it as following whatever happened inside,
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: bringing it into the outside spontaneously and seeing what that did.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: So the difference was subtle,
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: but down the road,
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: the friend whose name I keep forgetting,
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: but it's in the texts,
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: is sort of sitting there watching it all go by beside the road.
• 28:25
  and Rahula has this has been like has gotten the gang together
• 28:30
  and they've
• 28:30
  kidnapped a bunch of women and young men and they've started
• 28:33
  all these whorehouses
• 28:34
  they've gotten really rich they're getting into gang warfare
• 28:38
  he's having a
• 28:38
  wonderful time acting out of all his impulses spontaneously so
• 28:44
  they're both having
• 28:45
  fun one's just like what's coming next you ever see the Dalai
• 28:53
  Lama do that
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, oh, look at my channel pattern when I mimic his.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's what he does when he's not like in public with any stimulus.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway,
• 29:16
  so the two friends got together again and they were both aghast
• 29:21
  at how each other
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: had done it.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: thinking they were both,
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: each one thought the other one had done it wrong,
• 29:28
  had misunderstood the teacher so they went off to find the
• 29:30
  teacher together and
• 29:33
  they asked the teacher who was right and who was wrong and they
• 29:36
  both put like 20
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: years of extreme effort into this,
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: to working on that.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the teacher said that Rahula's friend was right and Rahula was wrong.
• 29:50
  Rahula was so upset about the wasted effort and how much he'd
• 29:53
  put into this
• 29:54
  thinking he was following instructions that he killed both of
• 29:57
  them and so he was
• 30:01
  reborn Rahula was reborn as a demon a number of times because
• 30:06
  you see by doing it
• 30:08
  wrong he'd gotten power without wisdom the intensity of his
• 30:17
  practice had created a
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: lot of power
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Power has to go somewhere once you've accumulated it.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's a Zogchen mistake.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Easy to make.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:39
  That's why in the old days it was kept secret from the side of
• 30:43
  the teachers,
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_03: saying that society wasn't ready.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: But there's no time left now.
• 30:50
  You gotta give it to everybody and scatter guard and figure
• 30:54
  that ones who aren't
• 30:54
  ready will wander off into other entertainments because there's
• 30:58
  no time left to
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: pick and choose.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Kali Yuga.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: There really isn't a lot of time left.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the way the world's going.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps we shall all become cockroaches.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a bad life.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: They like to be hugged.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now really,
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: if you have a pet cockroach and you sort of pet it and hug it,
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: it makes them really happy.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be still for you to do that.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: New Yorker, what do you want?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: Other questions at this point?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: Mic?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: No, don't give the mic back to her.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: You only got one?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: One for the audience.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: OK, so keep that around the audience and pass it.
• 32:15
  I'm wondering,
• 32:17
  I'm now in a stage of my practice that I really,
• 32:23
  really like it.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Is that also a big distraction?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's a really good sign.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: That means you really, really will do it.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you do it, it works.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, okay.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: No, don't worry about that.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: You're starting to, on an old, that's an old pattern.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's, am I doing it right?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: Most common question I get asked as a teacher, am I doing it right?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: Second most common, are we there yet?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, you are doing it right.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you really like your practice, great.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best sign.
• 33:15
  Whatever your practice currently is,
• 33:17
  your liking of it means it's working.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: It means you're going in the right direction.
• 33:25
  make sure that you don't deviate from your teachers
• 33:29
  instructions not in how to live
• 33:34
  in how to practice sometimes you know you get a tantric
• 33:43
  practice where she rides a
• 33:45
  goose and then somebody decides it must be a swan because they
• 33:51
  have a thing for
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_03: swans
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: No, the swan is a completely different symbol than goose.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have guard swans.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: We have watch geese.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: They're vicious.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Swans can be vicious, but they don't attack in clumps.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: They attack one by one, and geese will go for you all together.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: So the symbolism is real different.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: Stick to what was in the sadhana.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a nine-headed sow, don't make it a nine-headed boar.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking of a couple of sadhanas that have gone by.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: Any other questions out there?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Pass the mic to them.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hi, Lama Lena.
• 34:49
  How do you differentiate between mental health issues and the
• 34:53
  issues that one come
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: across with the practice?
• 34:57
  And how should we deal with these difficulties that come with
• 35:00
  the practice?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Pay them no, never mind.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're called nyams.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're come-and-go experiences.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Japanese call them come-and-go's in Zen.
• 35:15
  and you just pay them,
• 35:17
  no,
• 35:17
  never mind,
• 35:18
  or there are methods of popping one if it gets stuck.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: Different from Mahamudra and Mahati.
• 35:29
  Mental health problems is stuff you had before you started
• 35:34
  practicing,
• 35:35
  I guess.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: How are you defining a mental health problem?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: I have issues with lung, lung, so it kind of makes...
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: So, lung can be controlled through diet.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Don't be vegan, first of all.
• 35:57
  And also in practice,
• 35:59
  lung is caused by holding your...
• 36:03
  Well,
• 36:03
  depending on tantra or...
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: Zogchen.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: In Zogchen,
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: it's caused by holding your orifice of attention too tightly,
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: by staring too intently,
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: by forcing things.
• 36:20
  In Tantra,
• 36:21
  it's caused by holding your visualization too concretely,
• 36:27
  again,
• 36:28
  by forcing things.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Some people are prone to holding their channels tightly.
• 36:37
  What we mean by lung is just the squeak of the Qi moving
• 36:42
  through the channels.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: We call it lung as a sensation.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: Usually it means the Qi is moving too fast in an upward direction.
• 36:55
  so a couple of practices you don't do such as holding your guru
• 36:58
  on top of your head
• 37:00
  you always hold them down here in your heart or solar plexus if
• 37:05
  you do a lot of
• 37:06
  tantra with the visualization up here you make sure that you do
• 37:11
  the higher tantras
• 37:13
  yoga tantra and above where you become the visualization rather
• 37:17
  than keeping it up
• 37:18
  here because if it's up here your lung is going to go towards
• 37:21
  it your chi is going
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: to go towards it
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of different things you can do for a tendency to loom.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to, you can be a vegetarian, you just can't be vegan.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: You need greasy cheese.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: Greasy food.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: I was told not to practice POA example.
• 37:44
  You can practice POA but in a proper retreat guided by someone
• 37:50
  who knows what
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: they're doing and can keep an eye on you.
• 37:54
  in POA you're supposed to have lung but they'll also tell you
• 38:00
  how to put it back
• 38:01
  the way it's supposed to be when you leave but you'll know how
• 38:04
  to make that happen
• 38:05
  when you want to POA as a daily practice probably would not be
• 38:10
  recommended for you
• 38:14
  probably something else a nice grounding Yidim who's a good
• 38:20
  grounding Yidim any of
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: the seated ones
• 38:25
  Dorit,
• 38:26
  which Yidim would be nice and grounding,
• 38:28
  do you think,
• 38:28
  of all of them?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Purba.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: You think Purba's most grounding?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: You could do Purba.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty grounding.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think Green Tara is pretty grounding, too.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 38:45
  The way she's seated,
• 38:46
  even though she's ready to get up,
• 38:48
  she's not doing stuff right now.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, who else?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: and you sure you'll make it go upwards.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Things like that.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: We all are here because of mental health issues.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, yes.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: If you didn't feel crazy, you wouldn't be in here trying to fix it.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: If you didn't think there was something malfunctioning about your mind,
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: you wouldn't have come to a method for fixing the malfunction.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: You would have been completely satisfied with how you were.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're here, it's probably because some of your quirks bother you.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: And you thought maybe Dharma would fix it.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in a way they do.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: It stops bothering you.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like your quirks go away.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's the bothered by them that goes away.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Other questions?
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: I have one follow-up question.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's regarding refuge,
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: specifically about the secret refuge,
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: which is the refuge in the channels,
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: the chi,
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: and the life force drops.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: Especially this mix between the lung problems and this refuge,
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: how does that correlate with the channels?
• 40:32
  You see,
• 40:32
  in the secret refuge,
• 40:34
  the channels are infinite,
• 40:37
  infinitely wide,
• 40:40
  infinitely open.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: So there's no irritation as the chi moves through them.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Ta lung tigli.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: The Qi is simply the life force of Bodhisitta,
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Buddha Consciousness,
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Buddha Mind,
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: the inevitable life force of that,
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: which moves through the channels with ease.
• 41:13
  And the Tigli is simply the creativity of that,
• 41:18
  creating the multiplicity of form
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: none of which has its own inherent reality.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it really hasn't got anything to do with the lung illness.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: However,
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: if you hold your channels small,
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: stiffly and tightly,
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: the Qi,
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: which is very powerful,
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: will irritate the walls of them,
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: squeaks.
• 41:53
  because remember with this balloon what I did was make the
• 41:56
  channel small.
• 42:03
  Not squeak because I'm not just a little towards the end
• 42:06
  because I wasn't constricting it.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Constriction, you see how I'm squeezing it?
• 42:24
  The squeak is what you call chi,
• 42:27
  or lung,
• 42:28
  what you call the sensation of lung.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's because you're constricting your channels.
• 42:34
  Practice unconstricting your channels to resolve the issue on a
• 42:41
  very basic level.
• 42:43
  Now,
• 42:43
  there are medications that will help you with that in Tibetan
• 42:47
  medicine.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: You can access them.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: You can order them online from Dharam Sala.
• 42:59
  it's good to see a practitioner before you choose people don't
• 43:03
  I mean because the
• 43:04
  knowledge is much deeper than just what it says in the blurb
• 43:07
  this is good for your
• 43:08
  stomach this is good for long so check in with a practitioner
• 43:13
  of Tibetan medicine
• 43:15
  we have among the saga just put it out that you're looking for
• 43:20
  one somebody will
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: tell you who it is and that could also help
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: What are your main practices?
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: Tantra?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: Zogchen?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'm into Zogchen.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: You're into Zogchen.
• 43:36
  And I can't practice Tantra in a sort of regular way because of
• 43:42
  issues in the past.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's Red Tata and Cherenzi that you told me to do.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: How are you at Vajrasattva?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm new to it.
• 44:00
  you might consider giving it a try as you have issues in the
• 44:05
  past and Vajrasattva
• 44:08
  is very good for allowing those to be flushed so it's like you
• 44:19
  know if you don't
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: ever flush your toilet what's going to happen
• 44:26
  you gotta flush occasionally the tradition is you do Vajrasatva
• 44:30
  every most Tibetans
• 44:32
  will do a few Vajrasatva mantra with visualization every night
• 44:36
  the way you'll take
• 44:37
  a shower in the evening to get the day off you especially if
• 44:41
  you were working you
• 44:42
  got sweaty this and this a lot of people like an evening shower
• 44:46
  it's not a deep
• 44:47
  shower you don't usually wash your hair before sleep but it's
• 44:50
  just you know get the
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: fucking day off me I sweated
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Vajrasattva is really good in the evening for that.
• 44:59
  But you have to do a bit more of it than just a bit in the
• 45:02
  evening if you've got
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: something you know,
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: like a past issue on something.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: Those are a bugger to get out.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: Other questions?
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Would you pass her the microphone?
• 45:31
  My question was I was diagnosed with autism last year and going
• 45:38
  through menopause
• 45:39
  I'm experiencing lots of sensory issues Oh yeah Do you as a
• 45:47
  initially I thought
• 45:48
  that meant I didn't have my precious human rebirth but then I
• 45:53
  discovered you and I
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: thought this this isn't true
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, it isn't true.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're not too crazy to practice dharma.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're just too crazy to live in midtown.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_03: Take your apartment outside of the middle of town.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's too fucking noisy.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: So that's your advice to a younger autistic?
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: You've got to know what sets you off, right?
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know what sets you off.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, there's a couple of things you can do with that.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: You can either push it or pull it.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: That is,
• 46:39
  you can avoid what sets you off most of the time because you
• 46:43
  will not be functional
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: if you push it.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: But once in a while, take yourself into full frizz by pushing it.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_03: because generally if you run from something, they chase you.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to chase it once in a while so it'll back off.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise your life gets really tight with the things you can't do.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Last time I chased a full frizz was Mardi Gras.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_03: Party every day, party every night, constantly social.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: In costumes, weird costumes, everything.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_03: Managed about a week of it.
• 47:30
  and then I started smelling like burning insulation I could
• 47:35
  smell it everybody
• 47:37
  could smell it didn't matter how many showers I had I smelled
• 47:40
  like burning
• 47:41
  insulation for 10 days and of course I just closed the doors
• 47:45
  like right if I push
• 47:48
  this further I'm going to burst into flame leave it alone that
• 47:52
  was an interesting
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: experience
• 47:56
  feel free to try it under safe circumstances Mardi Gras in New
• 48:01
  Orleans is a very
• 48:03
  safe circumstance because everybody's nuts and drunk and stoned
• 48:09
  and on mushrooms
• 48:10
  and had acid and in costume wearing masks so like there's no
• 48:18
  way you can embarrass
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_03: yourself no matter what you do
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a very safe time to push it.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: I suspect you have festivals here in Amsterdam that are like that.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Other questions?
• 48:46
  so um the story about Rahula and his friend I think the whole
• 48:55
  you watch things you
• 48:57
  observe what happens what you experience thoughts feelings
• 49:00
  emotions it all passes
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: and moves and shifts and changes um
• 49:07
  and you find a middle way between reactivity and passivity
• 49:11
  because passivity is the
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: other extreme.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's called responsiveness.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: That middle way.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just in case you want a name for it.
• 49:21
  So what guides the responsiveness where you move into action
• 49:27
  and where you rest back?
• 49:29
  Certainly not anything I could tell you because what I am
• 49:33
  telling you is words
• 49:35
  which are by nature thoughts and you mustn't let thoughts guide
• 49:40
  that or you will
• 49:43
  definitely have an oops and would that be the way then to more
• 49:47
  distinguish between
• 49:48
  what is more like an ego pattern because it's based on thoughts
• 49:52
  and stories you are
• 50:05
  twenty degrees off close but not the banana it only happens
• 50:17
  when you relax into a
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_03: state of open awareness while thinking
• 50:28
  then this can occur from its own side you're still trying to
• 50:33
  figure out how to get
• 50:35
  it to occur that won't work practice relaxing into that state
• 50:46
  of open awareness
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: while thinking without
• 50:55
  a cat by a mouse hole waiting to pounce on the flow if it
• 50:59
  happens because the
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: moment you grab it you're going to squish it.
• 51:05
  Just relax and sit there in open awareness without suppressing
• 51:12
  your thinking but
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: without following it into complex stories of who for and why is this.
• 51:23
  for many it helps to use the body positions the eye gaze and
• 51:28
  the special breathings
• 51:30
  and the way you hold your mouth all of these little physical
• 51:33
  tricks they are not
• 51:35
  necessary they simply make it easier but there is no reason why
• 51:47
  you would not make
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: it easier for yourself in a given moment so use what
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_03: seems to be appropriate there.
• 51:54
  You know,
• 51:56
  if you can't sit down cross-legged,
• 51:59
  then do the Maitreya position.
• 52:02
  If there's no suitable chairs,
• 52:04
  then,
• 52:05
  well,
• 52:05
  you're going to do it in a different position.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: Does that answer your question?
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think so, yeah.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you can't get at this by thinking at it.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: The instructions are too simple, guys.
• 52:23
  that's what's bothering everyone it's like sit do whatever
• 52:28
  alignments you find help
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: you having tried them enough that you know what works for you and what is
• 52:33
  unnecessary for you relax the sphincter of your attention which
• 52:45
  is usually in point
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: focus you look at this or that or that
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, this is the long distance side.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's close up.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: I can't see anything through it.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: Just the text.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: So you look there and you look there.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_03: This is the way you normally keep your orifice of attention.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like a little tube.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: You pay attention to this or that or this.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's the key that you have to open.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's the orifice that you're holding stiffly causing lung.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to work on relaxing the orifice.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just like when you do the gaze,
• 53:29
  you relax the muscles of the lens that give the lens focus like
• 53:34
  close-up focus,
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: distance focus.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same kind of relaxation.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a muscle you're used to using much intentionally.
• 53:54
  so just relax the orifice of your attention and don't bother
• 54:05
  the thinking neither
• 54:09
  suppressing it nor following it don't poke at just let it do
• 54:14
  what it's going to do
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: don't give it your attention not more attention than anything else
• 54:22
  see when you put your attention on what you're thinking you go
• 54:25
  to a point focus on
• 54:26
  your thoughts this is what you don't want to do your thoughts
• 54:30
  have some of your
• 54:31
  attention but they only have a small percentage of this you
• 54:41
  know yes I can see you
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: and you and you and you because my gaze is open
• 54:49
  I can see the whole range here from about here to about here
• 54:55
  yeah equally clearly
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: so no one of you have my full attention and yet everyone has attention
• 55:17
  When you speak,
• 55:18
  I'll narrow it down to try to figure out what you are trying to
• 55:22
  say.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: But make a habit of keeping it open like that.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you can do Sudoku with it open like that, you're getting it.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's your test.
• 55:50
  so if he's trying to do that you'll first flick back and forth
• 55:53
  open pointed open
• 55:54
  pointed after a while your flicker gets tired and you will
• 56:02
  accidentally find the
• 56:03
  setting in your mind of thinking while your attention is open
• 56:14
  to all phenomena it's
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: a setting a way of holding yourself
• 56:20
  only it's really relaxed it's a way of relaxing yourself and I
• 56:24
  can't describe it to
• 56:25
  you I can only tell you which practices will lead towards that
• 56:30
  experience and the
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: best one is to just relax into the open awareness
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: without doing anything whatsoever to the thoughts.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: And doing this often, but not fighting to maintain it.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_03: When you're on the cushion,
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: it's easy to drift into this and it may maintain itself for a long time.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: But when you are active,
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_03: such as at dinner or out and about doing things,
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_03: it is very difficult to maintain it.
• 57:31
  Rather,
• 57:32
  what you're going to do is flick back and forth until the
• 57:39
  flickers merge.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: Don't try to get them to do that.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_01: Make no attempt to get them to do that.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't have even told you that they do that.
• 57:50
  because now you're going to try to do that and you can't flick
• 57:55
  your attention open
• 57:59
  get so good on the seat at opening your attention that you can
• 58:02
  do it super fast
• 58:04
  super easy and then as you go about in life flick it open relax
• 58:12
  let go leave it be
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: leave it what it is
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_03: When something catches your attention, allow it to do so.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_03: Go along with that a bit and then flick it open again.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like when you come to crossing the street or a bicycle lane,
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: well,
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 58:48
  you're going to stop for a minute and bring your attention into
• 58:52
  point focus.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's a bike lane, you point focus on bicycles.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: What's coming this way?
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay to do.
• 59:01
  Please don't try to cross the street with open awareness unless
• 59:04
  you're really,
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: really,
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: really good at it.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: Other questions?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody pass them a mic.
• 59:25
  my question is you kind of touched a little bit about it but
• 59:29
  could you teach kids
• 59:30
  this and is it a good idea to yes you don't teach them this in
• 59:37
  the usual way though
• 59:39
  if you will go to the center of Lama Candice O'Denver you will
• 59:45
  find a number of
• 59:46
  Dzogchen teaching picture books for children that are excellent
• 59:52
  that can be ordered
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_01: online
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_03: They're for the little ones, like two, three, four, and five.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: More about nine, ten, eleven.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_03: See what she's got.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm mostly familiar with what she did for toddlers,
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_03: but that toddler should be older now,
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_03: so maybe.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: That toddler should be getting on for eight,
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: nine that she was writing,
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: that they were writing,
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: the people there were writing the books for.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_01: So quite possibly there's more.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_01: Go check it out.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Tell her I sent you.
• 1:00:33
  She's a very close friend and a fellow student of Wangdo
• 1:00:36
  Rinpoche,
• 1:00:36
  my teacher.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_02: I met her with you in Tsopema.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she has a very different way, different teaching style than I have.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_03: because our personalities are vastly different.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_03: She was raised as a aristocrat in the Raj.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_03: aristocrat living on an island somewhere with servants and,
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_03: that's her background.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: Very aristocratic.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm a street kid from New York.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, grew up on the streets of Hell's Kitchen.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_03: So, we have very different ways of presentation.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: Don't try to mimic the finger, look where it's pointing.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Trungpa Rinpoche.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: Kargu line, mahamudra rather than maha-ati, but same stuff.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_03: Used to drink like a fish,
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_03: fuck like a rabbit,
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_03: and get into weird jams like nine-fingered top gel.
• 1:01:46
  so all his students began drinking like fishes oh and he was a
• 1:01:54
  real fancy dresser
• 1:01:55
  so he was really liked his clothes so all his students wore
• 1:01:59
  suits and ties drank
• 1:02:01
  like fishes and fucked like rabbits except for he had this one
• 1:02:06
  student who happened
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_03: to be a nun so she couldn't do any of those things
• 1:02:13
  she couldn't be distracted by the personality all she could do
• 1:02:18
  was look where he's
• 1:02:19
  pointing that was Pema Chuddin you may have read some of her
• 1:02:23
  book she's good let
• 1:02:27
  that be a lesson to you it's not my personality my personality
• 1:02:32
  is irrelevant Lama
• 1:02:33
  Candice's personality is irrelevant all her students try to be
• 1:02:37
  refined like her and
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_01: it's like
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my students get funky like me and it's like, be who you are.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever you are, that's it, that's fine.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_03: Ever see a Lama without a personality?
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_03: Anybody?
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: Ever see two Lamas with the same personality,
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: not counting if they did that thing that Lama Zopa and Lama Yeshi did,
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_01: which you're not supposed to do,
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_01: but people do anyway?
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_03: So guess what, guys?
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_03: No matter how far you go, you get to keep your personality.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_03: And it may still bother other people.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_01: The thing is, it's going to stop bothering you.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_01: I bother lots of people.
• 1:03:35
  I get emails from them too especially after an intense retreat
• 1:03:45
  I quite enjoy those
• 1:03:46
  actually you always need a good laugh next question we got one
• 1:03:58
  back there pass it
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_01: back
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yesterday you asked, I'm understandable, it's working now?
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:04:09
  Yesterday you said you can go outside and accept everything
• 1:04:14
  that's coming and I did
• 1:04:17
  and I had a very good evening till I started to sleep because
• 1:04:21
  there was one
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_02: mosquito
• 1:04:24
  and so i stopped with accepting everything i hate it i hate
• 1:04:29
  mosquito but if you
• 1:04:31
  could say something good about it there's always something
• 1:04:37
  bigger than your
• 1:04:38
  practice but nonetheless that it's like okay bite me just don't
• 1:04:47
  talk about it
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_03: Don't talk about it all night.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_03: Just go ahead and have a sip and go away.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_03: So for you,
• 1:04:59
  what you happened to meet in that moment that was bigger than
• 1:05:02
  your practice was a
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_03: mosquito.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I didn't understand.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_03: What you met in that moment that was bigger than your practice,
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_01: more intense than your practice was able to practice through,
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_01: was a mosquito.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_01: Cool,
• 1:05:16
  there's a lot worse shit you could run into to find out that
• 1:05:19
  there's always
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_01: something bigger than your practice.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_01: told you the story about the Lama captured by the Chinese,
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_01: who discovered that that was bigger than his practice.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: That was hard for him.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_00: I hope he's all right now.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_00: Other questions?
• 1:05:49
  Earlier you said that it's a bit more difficult for teenagers
• 1:05:53
  to catch this option
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_02: because of their energy.
• 1:05:57
  So this means that when you become older it should become a
• 1:06:04
  little bit more automatic to
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_02: and learn how to let go.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a simple example.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_02: I have a grandma who will be 100 next week,
• 1:06:17
  and I see that her approach to life is very different compared
• 1:06:22
  to my approach or
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: the approach of my cousins,
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_02: for example,
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_02: or even my mom.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's true,
• 1:06:30
  and that's why we traditionally give different kinds of
• 1:06:34
  practices to different age
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_03: groups.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's in the tradition.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_03: For instance, you always give teenagers a nundro, or two or three.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_01: It tires them out.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's too much energy running around there.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_03: They need to do something with it, and nundro has a lot of doing.
• 1:06:59
  People in their 20s before they have kids,
• 1:07:04
  it's usually yidim practice very strongly.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_01: Once they have a family, that yidim practice can carry on.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: They've already done it intensely in retreat.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_01: They've got it strong enough.
• 1:07:16
  It can carry through the distractions of raising a family and
• 1:07:20
  having your parents get old.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_01: It can even carry through menopause,
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_03: which,
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_03: depending on which teacher you listen to,
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_03: is either a hindrance or an opportunity for doing salong practice.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_03: Once you pass,
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_03: fully pass that and you're into the older age,
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_03: it is much easier to have the perspective.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_03: However, you can get the perspective younger through certain practices.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_01: Certain tantras,
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: different things that we do that are tools,
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_01: nundros,
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_01: zogchen nundros,
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: like all the rushens,
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_03: like working with thoughts,
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_03: working with feelings,
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_03: working with perceptions,
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_03: this set of retreats,
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_03: these are rushens.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_03: Rushen actually means separating.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_03: But because it's kept silence,
• 1:08:31
  you separate it to see what it is and then you put it back
• 1:08:34
  together again.
• 1:08:38
  So most Zogchen rushens include yoga of dancing stillness
• 1:08:44
  somewhere in them.
• 1:08:47
  you separate it and then at some point the next piece there's
• 1:08:51
  always a next piece
• 1:08:52
  is where you allow it to come back together again naturally
• 1:08:57
  that makes sense to
• 1:08:58
  anybody if you've done some of the rushens it probably does
• 1:09:06
  rushens are just made
• 1:09:08
  methods they're not real full zogchen which is this which is
• 1:09:12
  what was requested
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_01: this weekend full-on straight zogchen
• 1:09:18
  They are methods to ripen you so that you can do this if by
• 1:09:26
  chance when you first
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_01: encounter this you don't quite get it.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_01: Then you go do that and try again.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then you go do this other one and try again.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_03: Questions on how that works?
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_00: Will you take also questions online?
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: I will if they're good ones.
• 1:09:57
  There are a few that relate to the daily practice and
• 1:10:00
  especially the jobs.
• 1:10:03
  For example,
• 1:10:04
  can you speak about how to bring the practice of radical
• 1:10:08
  acceptance and not poking
• 1:10:10
  when it comes to a daily job that one absolutely is not
• 1:10:13
  interested to doing but has to do.
• 1:10:16
  And there are few like this in relation to the jobs one doesn't
• 1:10:19
  want to do.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_03: Why would you do a job that you found nothing interesting about doing?
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_03: Switch jobs.
• 1:10:33
  I mean,
• 1:10:33
  I've always been able to find something interesting about most
• 1:10:36
  everything I've done.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Security guards?
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:10:42
  you know that's such an easy job to get when you have nothing
• 1:10:46
  yeah because you know
• 1:10:47
  no matter what society is doing somebody's always scared and
• 1:10:50
  wants to hire security
• 1:10:51
  so easy job to get prop up a wall in a factory what's good
• 1:10:55
  about it bring a book I
• 1:11:00
  can't imagine a job that didn't have some interesting aspect
• 1:11:04
  although most of them
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_03: get old after a while
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Pickle factory?
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was interesting.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was my first time in Europe, my first time out of the States.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_01: 19-year-old kid.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 1:11:18
  I'll get a job in a pickle factory in Amsterdam and live on
• 1:11:22
  what they throw away
• 1:11:23
  from the farmer's market and in somebody's attic or on a
• 1:11:29
  houseboat or whatever you
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_01: can get with a bunch of kids.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Fascinating.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Never seen a pickle factory before.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Steel pickles.
• 1:11:40
  they don't care it goes well with the cheese rind you found
• 1:11:49
  security at the airport
• 1:11:51
  sure interesting what people bring through in their suitcases
• 1:11:57
  fascinating and
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_01: occasionally you have to disarm somebody
• 1:12:09
  I used to have a trick to it I dyed my hair bright green I
• 1:12:13
  looked like a very
• 1:12:14
  straight cop you know with a cap on and if somebody started to
• 1:12:18
  get obstreperous I'd
• 1:12:19
  take my hat off at which point these curls of bright green
• 1:12:22
  would cascade down and
• 1:12:24
  they go because nobody this is way back nobody had ever seen a
• 1:12:30
  green-haired cop
• 1:12:33
  this was before people did a lot of colors in their hair and
• 1:12:36
  then you can just take
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_03: all the weapons off them while they go
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_03: So I found something interesting about that job.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_03: Corporate, sure.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Normally it's boring, but you can make it interesting.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_01: The actual work isn't that interesting,
• 1:12:59
  SPEAKER_01: but the interpersonal shit you can pull off and,
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_01: the mergers with other companies and the weird way it goes.
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can do flowcharts on that.
• 1:13:09
  that's the hardest one that I found to make interesting but I
• 1:13:12
  managed for a couple
• 1:13:13
  of years and then got a golden parachute after three mergers in
• 1:13:19
  two years I came
• 1:13:23
  after that swamp ranger paramedic Chinese medical doctor EKG
• 1:13:34
  tech in a hospital
• 1:13:37
  SPEAKER_03: I've had a lot of weird jobs.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_03: And this isn't even mentioning the weird ones I did while traveling.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Some of which were quite a porn film worker.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_03: That was I ran.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Journalists, that was I ran.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_03: Errands for the company, that was I ran.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was chasing money in Iran.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because that was after the first time in Afghanistan.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then I ended up across the border with Zilch.
• 1:14:10
  So I'm not sure I get why you haven't found something
• 1:14:14
  interesting in your job to
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_03: amuse you with.
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe you want to switch jobs.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_03: Or maybe you just want to look deeper.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe because the job is really boring,
• 1:14:28
  it's a great place to relax your orifice of attention and
• 1:14:33
  practice Dzogchen.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the interesting thing.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_03: You get a security post where all you do is,
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_03: ding a thing that you're still alive three times a night and,
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_03: walk around a factory that's closed.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody's bugging you.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_01: In those days,
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would read science fiction,
• 1:14:53
  but now I would probably just sit there and watch nothing
• 1:14:59
  happen unless maybe it
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_01: did.
• 1:15:06
  that could be interesting I've actually had posts like that you
• 1:15:11
  know really boring
• 1:15:12
  stakeouts and things oh yeah private detective that's right
• 1:15:16
  that didn't last very
• 1:15:17
  long so really I don't understand why you can't find something
• 1:15:25
  interesting about
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_01: your job or if you really can't pick another one even in this economy
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_03: where jobs may be harder to find.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_03: There's always something.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, out in the Himalayas, a baker.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_01: I made bagels.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_01: and cream cheese.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_01: I walked through the forest with a stick of,
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I built the oven out of mud and tin,
• 1:16:03
  walked through the forest with a stick of bagels and a pot of
• 1:16:06
  cream cheese going,
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_01: bagley,
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_01: bagley,
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_01: bagley,
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_01: and earned a living.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to find something to do everywhere.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, forgeries, what country?
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Switzerland.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay, Statue of Limitations, that's long ago.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, two more, more relevant, because there are many.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:16:32
  So one is,
• 1:16:33
  yesterday you talked about Jogchen,
• 1:16:34
  and it's older than Buddhist.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_02: I was curious, so searched online, but didn't find much information.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_03: Check out Bond Lineage.
• 1:16:44
  SPEAKER_02: That was quick, and the last one.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_02: When resting in the nature of mind,
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_02: there is often a subtle sense of someone still doing the resting.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_02: How can we truly let go of the meditator so that practice...
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_03: Just keep resting until it wears off.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's called practice.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_03: Don't fight it.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_03: The moment you try to get rid of it, it's going to try to stick.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_03: You ever do Tai Chi push hands?
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like that.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_03: So don't push on that subtle self to make it go away.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Try to get a look at what it is.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_03: See if you can see it, but don't shove.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Don't try to get rid of it.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Relax and leave it be.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Look right at it at times.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, what are you?
• 1:17:49
  with that open curiosity that you look at everything,
• 1:17:53
  like the Dalai Lama's channel pattern.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_03: Other questions out there?
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_02: I have many more.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going back to the text for a little while.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say this about jobs that you don't like.
• 1:18:25
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing keeping you there is fear.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_01: The more Dzogchen you practice, the less your fear will bother you.
• 1:18:41
  SPEAKER_03: When your fear doesn't bother you,
• 1:18:43
  you can do anything you want because it doesn't matter if
• 1:18:48
  you're afraid or not.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean to abandon common sense.
• 1:18:58
  Just because you're not afraid of the bicycle lane anymore
• 1:19:02
  doesn't mean you should
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_01: loiter in the bicycle lane.
• 1:19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_00: This ground of being
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_01: which is known as pure,
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_01: or original mind,
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_01: or big mind,
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_01: or semni,
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: is the source from which all phenomena arise.
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_00: This mind is the union of the three jewels.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_01: This mind is Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya as a singular
• 1:19:52
  not multiple we only divide them up to get a good look at them
• 1:19:57
  from different
• 1:19:57
  angles they don't really divide we just pretend they do it's
• 1:20:07
  the same thing
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_00: infinite open empty alive manifesting phenomena
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_03: See that?
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm describing a singularity.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm describing semni.
• 1:20:23
  SPEAKER_03: Big mind.
• 1:20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Your mind.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_01: The mind.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_01: That isn't divided into parts.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And yet all parts arise within it.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_03: It is known as the Great Mother.
• 1:20:46
  as the womb of potentiality in which all things arise and
• 1:20:50
  dissolve in natural
• 1:20:52
  SPEAKER_03: self-perfectedness and absolute spontaneity.
• 1:20:58
  It is known as the Great Mother,
• 1:21:00
  Great Mother Ocean of Dharmakaya,
• 1:21:02
  we sometimes say.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_01: The womb of potentiality.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_03: This mind in which all perceptions
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_03: which is what there is.
• 1:21:18
  SPEAKER_01: We say all things,
• 1:21:20
  SPEAKER_01: but the things are not separate from the perception of the things for the
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_01: perceiver.
• 1:21:29
  SPEAKER_01: All perceptions arise and dissolve in natural self-perfectedness.
• 1:21:37
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean perfect as you think of perfect.
• 1:21:43
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody thinks
• 1:21:45
  To be perfect,
• 1:21:46
  it has to be smooth,
• 1:21:48
  not bumpy,
• 1:21:48
  and not give you splinters.
• 1:21:51
  SPEAKER_03: If you stroke the wood and it gives you a splinter, it wasn't perfect.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Do you see that belief system?
• 1:22:00
  SPEAKER_03: May I point out that that's a belief system?
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect does not mean smooth.
• 1:22:12
  In this case it means absolutely fits the pattern of the fourth
• 1:22:17
  time Indra's Web.
• 1:22:23
  SPEAKER_03: Fits exactly into the slot for it.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_03: It is a perfect fit.
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's also absolutely spontaneous.
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_03: You don't need to learn how to be spontaneous.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_03: See,
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_01: You think you are a somebody or other who is striving to be spontaneous.
• 1:22:57
  SPEAKER_03: But in reality,
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_03: in the infinite emptiness,
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_03: the vitality,
• 1:23:04
  the clear light vitality sparkles as all the arisings in their
• 1:23:12
  absolute perfection
• 1:23:15
  and those arisings are spontaneous and it's only the illusion
• 1:23:22
  you suffer from that
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_03: makes you feel like a lump in that that has to decide what to do.
• 1:23:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's not real.
• 1:23:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a belief system.
• 1:23:47
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to strive for spontaneity.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go back to thoughts.
• 1:23:59
  SPEAKER_03: How do you make yourself think?
• 1:24:06
  SPEAKER_03: They happen, right?
• 1:24:08
  SPEAKER_03: You don't choose them.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_03: You might choose a topic.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'll think about pizza.
• 1:24:18
  if that wasn't what it wanted to think about it's going to
• 1:24:21
  stray off that and go on
• 1:24:22
  to teapots or something else or Zogchen or the sex fantasy or
• 1:24:30
  you know whatever the
• 1:24:30
  hell is happening to spontaneously arise there when you come to
• 1:24:37
  realize by your own
• 1:24:40
  experience these have to be experiential realizations they
• 1:24:44
  can't be from somebody
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_03: told you
• 1:24:47
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta experience it often enough to be sure.
• 1:24:51
  When you realize from your own experience that every one of
• 1:24:56
  your thoughts,
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_01: you didn't put them there,
• 1:25:02
  they arise spontaneously according to the pattern of your
• 1:25:08
  channel pattern.
• 1:25:10
  SPEAKER_01: They are caused by the chi moving through your channels.
• 1:25:14
  SPEAKER_01: The thoughts ride the chi.
• 1:25:16
  The feelings ride the thoughts and perceptions is just a clump
• 1:25:20
  of all of that.
• 1:25:24
  SPEAKER_01: They are arising spontaneously.
• 1:25:27
  SPEAKER_01: They totally lack substance and duration, and they vanish spontaneously.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_03: And there is nothing you have to do to make them do that.
• 1:25:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you come to believe this by your own experience,
• 1:25:47
  SPEAKER_00: What could bother you in your thoughts?
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_03: All aspects of phenomena are completely clear and lucid.
• 1:26:13
  SPEAKER_03: They never were opaque.
• 1:26:16
  SPEAKER_03: or dead.
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Lucid refers to that ability to see, think, feel, luminous lucidity.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Clear means transparent.
• 1:26:40
  SPEAKER_00: The whole universe is open and unobstructed.
• 1:26:45
  SPEAKER_03: There is no other way it can be.
• 1:26:48
  If you can't even set a glass of water down on a thought,
• 1:26:55
  how could it be in your way?
• 1:26:59
  It's utterly insubstantial,
• 1:27:02
  doesn't have any duration,
• 1:27:04
  it's gone the moment you think it.
• 1:27:07
  SPEAKER_03: What the fuck is there to be bothered by?
• 1:27:10
  SPEAKER_03: And yet your thoughts are what bother you, your belief systems.
• 1:27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Your ego is simply a belief system.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_00: You think you are this or that.
• 1:27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let go, relax.
• 1:27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Open awareness.
• 1:27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Dancing with shape, color, form, feeling.
• 1:27:50
  SPEAKER_00: in which there's no thing there, just the sparkle of colored lights.
• 1:27:58
  SPEAKER_00: That was an analogy.
• 1:28:06
  SPEAKER_03: Everything is mutually interpenetrating, interconnected, interwoven.
• 1:28:13
  SPEAKER_01: You are not an individual.
• 1:28:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you look inside, you're a biome.
• 1:28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the decisions may be made in your brain,
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_01: but some of the decisions are made by the other occupants of your gut.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Read the latest science on that.
• 1:28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Half of what you do is what your critters want.
• 1:28:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, if a poor man has a yeast overgrowth causing sugar craving
• 1:28:49
  and he steals a doughnut,
• 1:28:52
  who gets the karma of the theft,
• 1:28:54
  him or the yeast?
• 1:28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Who suffers as a pretend next life for stealing, him or his yeasties?
• 1:29:11
  SPEAKER_01: You see, you aren't.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_01: That mindstream that they tell you in Lam Rim is you?
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not real.
• 1:29:30
  SPEAKER_00: It really isn't.
• 1:29:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't store your karma just in your channel patterns.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's stored in everybody else's channel patterns as well.
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Interactive, interpenetrating.
• 1:29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And each little nexus of
• 1:29:46
  Indra's webs lines through the fourth dimension each little
• 1:29:53
  lump of where the lines
• 1:29:55
  all cross of the internet interweb interpenetrating across time
• 1:30:01
  each one of those
• 1:30:02
  thinks it's you a you and yet they are totally impermanent
• 1:30:11
  slipping and sliding
• 1:30:12
  SPEAKER_03: changing constantly
• 1:30:15
  we call it a mind stream but it's constantly separating and
• 1:30:20
  joining other mind
• 1:30:21
  streams and coming back together again changed by the other
• 1:30:23
  mind streams and in and
• 1:30:25
  out and all over the place there's nothing to maintain nothing
• 1:30:37
  to protect relax
• 1:30:50
  SPEAKER_03: Seeing all things as naked,
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_03: clear,
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_03: and free from obstructions,
• 1:30:55
  SPEAKER_03: there is nothing to attain or realize it's always been like that.
• 1:31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just relax about it all.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_01: The nature of phenomena appears naturally and is naturally present
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_01: in time-transcending awareness.
• 1:31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is naturally perfect just as it is.
• 1:31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean smooth.
• 1:31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Doesn't mean what you think would be perfect.
• 1:31:34
  SPEAKER_03: What would be a perfect world for you?
• 1:31:37
  SPEAKER_01: I would hate it.
• 1:31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And man, none of you want to come into my perfect world.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's weird.
• 1:31:53
  All of our different ideas of what we like and want and what
• 1:31:57
  would be perfect,
• 1:32:02
  SPEAKER_03: they're just thoughts.
• 1:32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Let them go.
• 1:32:20
  everything is naturally perfect for what it is just as it is
• 1:32:28
  all phenomena appear
• 1:32:29
  in their uniqueness as part of a continually changing pattern
• 1:32:34
  he's looking at it
• 1:32:35
  from the fourth time these patterns are vibrant with meaning
• 1:32:40
  and significance at
• 1:32:41
  SPEAKER_01: every moment
• 1:32:43
  and yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings
• 1:32:49
  beyond the moment in
• 1:32:50
  SPEAKER_01: which they present themselves.
• 1:32:52
  SPEAKER_03: This is important.
• 1:32:54
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing to take home.
• 1:32:57
  SPEAKER_03: Each moment, unique as it is, you can't keep it, don't try.
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_03: You get a bliss state, don't grab it.
• 1:33:07
  SPEAKER_03: You get clarity, don't grab it.
• 1:33:12
  you can't keep anything first because there is no one to keep
• 1:33:19
  it second because
• 1:33:22
  there's no thing to keep so the profoundity and the totality
• 1:33:27
  and perfection of each
• 1:33:28
  moment is just as it is and you can't keep any of it so stop
• 1:33:33
  trying to keep
• 1:33:36
  SPEAKER_00: something and make it hold still and stand on it
• 1:33:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's why they're called Sky Dancers, the Dakas and Dakinis.
• 1:33:53
  All phenomena appear in their uniqueness as part of a
• 1:33:56
  continually changing pattern.
• 1:33:59
  SPEAKER_01: These patterns are vibrant with meaning and significance at every moment.
• 1:34:04
  Yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings beyond
• 1:34:10
  the moment in which
• 1:34:11
  SPEAKER_01: they present themselves.
• 1:34:14
  This is the dance of the five elements in which matter is a
• 1:34:18
  symbol of energy and
• 1:34:21
  SPEAKER_01: energy is a symbol of emptiness.
• 1:34:25
  SPEAKER_00: We ourselves are symbols of our own enlightenment.
• 1:34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Mind, mind looking.
• 1:34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let it be as it is.
• 1:34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to get it to be the way you want it to be.
• 1:34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or the way you fear it might be.
• 1:34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hope it will be.
• 1:34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let the natterer natter on.
• 1:35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know the word natter?
• 1:35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody say it in Dutch.
• 1:35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Kletzen.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody say it in German.
• 1:35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Louder.
• 1:35:23
  SPEAKER_03: Let that just natter on as it will.
• 1:35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be invested in what it says.
• 1:35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be invested in who you are in this moment.
• 1:35:56
  You will be someone else in the next moment and the next moment
• 1:35:59
  and the next moment.
• 1:36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Resistance is futile.
• 1:36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Impermanence is constant.
• 1:36:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that stuff is impermanent slowly.
• 1:36:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's that you are impermanent quickly.
• 1:36:18
  SPEAKER_00: As in moment to moment.
• 1:36:30
  I believe the teaching up north has to do with the bardo bardo
• 1:36:38
  teaching this is
• 1:36:42
  brought to a head in the bardo of becoming where because you
• 1:36:49
  have no real body just
• 1:36:52
  SPEAKER_01: a dream body
• 1:36:57
  with nothing holding your channel pattern still boy does it
• 1:37:04
  change fast entire
• 1:37:07
  personalities species everything changes several times in the
• 1:37:12
  weeks you're in the
• 1:37:13
  bardo of becoming just an extreme state of right here you feel
• 1:37:22
  yourself changing
• 1:37:25
  SPEAKER_01: over the course of
• 1:37:27
  SPEAKER_03: Years Gaining Abilities Losing Abilities Who Changes
• 1:37:58
  SPEAKER_01: while you sit there in whatever way makes it easy for yourself.
• 1:38:18
  Looking through the thoughts at the infinite open awareness of
• 1:38:23
  ground of mind
• 1:38:28
  SPEAKER_00: See if you can find the looker Subject Object With a verb in the middle
• 1:38:57
  SPEAKER_01: or in some languages a verb at the end.
• 1:39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Don't separate them.
• 1:39:11
  SPEAKER_01: The shape of the looker is created by what it looks at.
• 1:39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do not attempt to hold anything still.
• 1:39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let it move.
• 1:39:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is the free flow.
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_00: It will move.
• 1:39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your resistance to the movement is futile.
• 1:39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Relax.
• 1:40:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are there questions?
• 1:40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody pass some mics.
• 1:40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Do not put your hands down before you receive the mic.
• 1:40:35
  SPEAKER_02: I have a question about not hanging on to things.
• 1:40:43
  SPEAKER_02: In my practice when I do bodhicitta or other things then I sometimes
• 1:40:50
  SPEAKER_02: pray to teachers to become the quality, to gain the quality they have.
• 1:40:57
  SPEAKER_02: So you are one of the teachers,
• 1:40:59
  SPEAKER_02: so as I say,
• 1:41:01
  SPEAKER_02: I want to have bodhicitta like Lama Lena,
• 1:41:03
  SPEAKER_02: outrageousness,
• 1:41:06
  SPEAKER_02: mind opening.
• 1:41:08
  So I use all the things in my mind that I think to know about
• 1:41:17
  you for my practice.
• 1:41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Is that clatching on or is that it helps me?
• 1:41:26
  SPEAKER_02: If I want to have bodhicitta I want to...
• 1:41:30
  You do better to simply look at the real bodhicitta frequently
• 1:41:35
  rather than try to
• 1:41:36
  SPEAKER_01: figure out how mine works.
• 1:41:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to figure it out.
• 1:41:41
  SPEAKER_02: You are representing a way of bodhicitta for me.
• 1:41:49
  SPEAKER_02: Guru Rinpoche is representing a way of Bodhichitta to me.
• 1:41:53
  SPEAKER_02: The Sixteenth Kamapa is representing a way of Bodhichitta to me.
• 1:41:58
  SPEAKER_02: All kinds of teachers representing that.
• 1:42:05
  SPEAKER_02: In that I see the richness of this Bodhichitta, the endless richness.
• 1:42:11
  SPEAKER_02: I like to touch that via
• 1:42:18
  SPEAKER_02: with the way I think about you,
• 1:42:20
  SPEAKER_02: the way I think about the Sixteenth Kamapa,
• 1:42:22
  SPEAKER_02: the way it's about Guru Rinpoche.
• 1:42:25
  SPEAKER_01: That will work.
• 1:42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:42:30
  SPEAKER_00: For now.
• 1:42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:42:42
  SPEAKER_00: After you, it's the one behind you.
• 1:42:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:42:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, earlier you said something about being ready for Dzogchen.
• 1:42:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 1:42:56
  SPEAKER_02: And,
• 1:42:57
  SPEAKER_02: like,
• 1:42:58
  SPEAKER_02: I practiced Dzogchen for a couple of years,
• 1:43:00
  SPEAKER_02: and then I,
• 1:43:01
  SPEAKER_02: like,
• 1:43:01
  SPEAKER_02: I enjoyed it very much,
• 1:43:02
  SPEAKER_02: and then at some point I got a very scary experience.
• 1:43:07
  SPEAKER_02: And now I'm kind of like, how to say, I'm not enjoying it as much.
• 1:43:12
  Would you say I should...
• 1:43:12
  What was your scary experience,
• 1:43:14
  if you wished to share it?
• 1:43:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um...
• 1:43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well,
• 1:43:20
  it was actually together with someone that I fell in love with
• 1:43:28
  and I had a very
• 1:43:29
  intense experience of this great openness and like
• 1:43:34
  limitlessness and I felt like I
• 1:43:40
  SPEAKER_02: got hurt by that person and I'm kind of scared for the experience.
• 1:43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, first of all, that experience was not Zogchen.
• 1:43:49
  SPEAKER_00: That experience was romance.
• 1:43:53
  The openness you felt was not fully open because it was aimed
• 1:43:59
  at an individual.
• 1:44:03
  SPEAKER_01: You weren't feeling a wide openness to everything.
• 1:44:05
  SPEAKER_03: You were feeling openness to an individual you were in love with.
• 1:44:09
  SPEAKER_03: The openness of romance is not the same openness.
• 1:44:15
  As Bodhisitta and Zogchen,
• 1:44:17
  it is unfortunate that you associated the two.
• 1:44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because for me it felt very similar.
• 1:44:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's not.
• 1:44:28
  SPEAKER_02: Meditation experience,
• 1:44:29
  SPEAKER_02: it's like at least what I experienced then,
• 1:44:33
  SPEAKER_02: which was not related to this person at all.
• 1:44:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then later on having a kind of similar experience with this person,
• 1:44:42
  SPEAKER_02: I felt it was very similar.
• 1:44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Vajrasattva Retreat.
• 1:44:48
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:44:49
  You might wash out the connection you made between the two
• 1:44:55
  experiences because that
• 1:44:56
  SPEAKER_01: connection was not really there,
• 1:44:58
  SPEAKER_01: you made it up.
• 1:45:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is a problem I've seen with a number of women,
• 1:45:03
  SPEAKER_01: both in real life and in my email,
• 1:45:06
  SPEAKER_03: is they mix sexual escapades with practice.
• 1:45:15
  so they fall in love with some guy and then half the time
• 1:45:20
  because they like it so
• 1:45:21
  much they decide he's their guru I've watched it happen or I
• 1:45:34
  don't know it just
• 1:45:34
  think they make a weird sticky thing I watch this mostly with
• 1:45:38
  women I don't see
• 1:45:39
  SPEAKER_03: this much with the guys
• 1:45:42
  But even between each other when they're gay,
• 1:45:45
  I don't see this sticky thing much.
• 1:45:55
  Tunnel vision to a lover can feel really open but it isn't
• 1:46:03
  because it's only them.
• 1:46:10
  Sure being in love you're happy and everybody around you must
• 1:46:13
  be wonderful.
• 1:46:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's a nyam.
• 1:46:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's nothing to do with Zogchen.
• 1:46:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's just a nyam.
• 1:46:25
  SPEAKER_00: Don't confuse a trick with a keeper.
• 1:46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Don't confuse a lover with a teacher.
• 1:46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Not the same thing.
• 1:46:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now there is such a thing as tantric practice.
• 1:46:42
  Someone who is not doing it with you will usually teach you and
• 1:46:52
  someone else it and
• 1:46:53
  SPEAKER_03: stick you together.
• 1:46:56
  But it's not usually you find someone and they say they're a
• 1:47:00
  tantric master and they teach you.
• 1:47:07
  SPEAKER_01: That can get a little funny.
• 1:47:10
  It sometimes works if it's a guy finding an older woman who
• 1:47:14
  actually is a tantric master.
• 1:47:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen that work out to some extent.
• 1:47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Worked great for her anyway.
• 1:47:32
  SPEAKER_03: He always, for the rest of his life, tried to find that again.
• 1:47:37
  SPEAKER_03: But he's not young and pretty anymore.
• 1:47:42
  And he's always chasing the female llamas and things because of
• 1:47:46
  what he had with a female llama.
• 1:47:49
  SPEAKER_01: He went for the person instead of the teaching.
• 1:47:55
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, go read Mandareva's autobiography
• 1:48:00
  especially her relationship with Guru Rinpoche completely
• 1:48:05
  different from yeshi
• 1:48:06
  sojal yeshi sojal married him mandareva was a tantric consort
• 1:48:18
  when he went to live
• 1:48:19
  in the palace she didn't like living in the palace she did not
• 1:48:22
  go with him she
• 1:48:24
  would occasionally visit for a few days until she couldn't
• 1:48:27
  stand it anymore
• 1:48:29
  SPEAKER_01: and then go back and was wild in the forests.
• 1:48:33
  SPEAKER_01: He would occasionally come out and join her in the forests.
• 1:48:38
  SPEAKER_01: His wife was Yesi Sojal.
• 1:48:43
  SPEAKER_00: His consort was Mandareva.
• 1:48:46
  SPEAKER_00: Come to understand the difference there.
• 1:48:52
  SPEAKER_00: And be very, very careful about marrying a Lama.
• 1:48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do it.
• 1:48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Not unless you want the wife role.
• 1:49:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's very different from the consort role.
• 1:49:06
  SPEAKER_03: I probably have gone astray trying to answer that question about romance.
• 1:49:12
  SPEAKER_03: Did I manage to answer it?
• 1:49:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:49:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:49:16
  SPEAKER_03: Romance is fine.
• 1:49:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's great.
• 1:49:18
  SPEAKER_03: You just got to recognize it for what it is.
• 1:49:23
  which sometimes it's just a trick that means it's just a sexual
• 1:49:26
  relationship that's
• 1:49:28
  really good you got the chemistry but you're not life partners
• 1:49:31
  in any direction or
• 1:49:32
  possibility because you want different things other than in bed
• 1:49:36
  where you want the
• 1:49:37
  same thing which is why it works tricks are great but you don't
• 1:49:42
  marry them and then
• 1:49:44
  you get a lover that's where sometimes you decide that you're
• 1:49:49
  going to pull a cart
• 1:49:50
  SPEAKER_03: together
• 1:49:52
  but you can't confuse those and you can't confuse them with
• 1:49:55
  teacher or Dharma
• 1:50:02
  they're part of the sparkly stuff of the manifestation the
• 1:50:06
  sparkle of the clear
• 1:50:07
  light all that's real is your own innate Buddha nature and it's
• 1:50:20
  in no way different
• 1:50:21
  SPEAKER_03: than mine
• 1:50:23
  At the end of teachings where you offer a white scarf,
• 1:50:28
  the name of the white scarf is katha.
• 1:50:31
  SPEAKER_01: It means primordial purity.
• 1:50:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is your innate Buddha nature which has never been damaged by samsara.
• 1:50:42
  SPEAKER_01: All your hangups can't touch it.
• 1:50:46
  SPEAKER_03: You're offering that, the best part of you, to the teacher.
• 1:50:50
  The teacher receives it from you gratefully and gives to you it
• 1:50:59
  because they're
• 1:50:59
  SPEAKER_03: signifying that that best part of you is the same as theirs,
• 1:51:05
  SPEAKER_03: not different,
• 1:51:07
  SPEAKER_03: which is why the white scarf is offered and returned.
• 1:51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Symbol.
• 1:51:15
  SPEAKER_00: You want to pass the mic behind you?
• 1:51:20
  How the idea or the concept that we have of Pure Land such as
• 1:51:24
  Amitabha Pure Land in
• 1:51:25
  SPEAKER_02: relation to the teachings you're giving it to us?
• 1:51:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a nice holding spot.
• 1:51:35
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about perfection.
• 1:51:36
  SPEAKER_03: It is really perfect.
• 1:51:38
  Amitabha's description of the Pure Land is absolutely perfect
• 1:51:44
  for a Tibetan,
• 1:51:46
  a young monk.
• 1:51:48
  SPEAKER_01: who's lost their family,
• 1:51:50
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:51:50
  and given to the monastery at four or five years old and raised
• 1:51:54
  up in a pile of
• 1:51:54
  SPEAKER_01: monks.
• 1:51:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's perfect for that.
• 1:51:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's their idea of what will be perfect.
• 1:52:02
  SPEAKER_03: And it was designed for that.
• 1:52:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's only one gender.
• 1:52:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's no sex.
• 1:52:11
  SPEAKER_03: There's a net over the top, so it's very safe.
• 1:52:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can't fall out.
• 1:52:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's warm.
• 1:52:19
  it's protected it's made of jewels and silver and gold if I
• 1:52:29
  were designing a pure
• 1:52:30
  land it would be much closer to what Guru Rinpoche put up there
• 1:52:40
  certain personal
• 1:52:41
  SPEAKER_01: personality similarities there
• 1:52:52
  We both have very strong personality of a 14-year-old boy on
• 1:52:59
  top of whatever
• 1:52:59
  SPEAKER_01: maturity came after.
• 1:53:03
  You know the story of how Guru Rinpoche got to be Guru Rinpoche
• 1:53:08
  at the great stupa in Nepal.
• 1:53:12
  SPEAKER_03: You want that story?
• 1:53:15
  SPEAKER_03: So once there was a chicken seller, a chicken farmer.
• 1:53:21
  and the chicken farmer raised chickens and she did so well at
• 1:53:27
  it she became very
• 1:53:28
  wealthy and she had three sons and they of course as their
• 1:53:34
  mother had before them
• 1:53:35
  went in she was a dakini you know a full-fledged emanation but
• 1:53:41
  manifesting as a
• 1:53:41
  SPEAKER_03: chicken farmer so her sons the older one bred horses and
• 1:53:51
  the middle one bred pigs and the younger one bred dogs I
• 1:53:56
  believe it was can't
• 1:53:58
  remember which I think the young the middle one was the big
• 1:54:01
  breeder the older one
• 1:54:05
  bred horses and racehorses and he was rather into finery I mean
• 1:54:10
  he liked to dress
• 1:54:13
  so you get a character of these the middle one is very
• 1:54:18
  scholarly he's in his books
• 1:54:20
  SPEAKER_01: all the time
• 1:54:21
  yeah he breeds pigs because it's logical and you can get a lot
• 1:54:24
  of money for them
• 1:54:27
  and the younger one just likes puppies he's a kid he's like 12
• 1:54:34
  13 14 by the end of
• 1:54:35
  the story he's 14 so he starts out even younger raising puppies
• 1:54:39
  and training them
• 1:54:43
  SPEAKER_01: so
• 1:54:44
  One day the chicken farmer has decided that she had enough
• 1:54:48
  money to build a stupa
• 1:54:49
  to do something for sentient beings to give them a place of
• 1:54:53
  focus so she went to
• 1:54:59
  the king and she said please give me some land government land
• 1:55:05
  to build a stupa on
• 1:55:09
  SPEAKER_03: and the king's like okay
• 1:55:13
  but then the advice because it seemed like a good idea at the
• 1:55:16
  time but the advisors
• 1:55:18
  came to the king and said oh don't do that if you let this old
• 1:55:21
  chicken farmer build
• 1:55:22
  a big stupa you're going to look like an idiot because look at
• 1:55:26
  all your wealth
• 1:55:28
  she's just a chicken farmer and look at all your wealth and
• 1:55:30
  what have you done for
• 1:55:31
  the people you know not so much so the king's like okay they've
• 1:55:40
  got a point
• 1:55:41
  so she comes back to receive her land and he says you can have
• 1:55:45
  the land you can
• 1:55:46
  cover with a cow skin and he gives her big cow skin this you
• 1:55:50
  know that's a piece
• 1:55:52
  for a little stupa okay however she takes the cow skin and she
• 1:55:59
  cuts it into thin
• 1:56:00
  strips it wasn't the amount you can cover with a cow skin the
• 1:56:05
  amount you can
• 1:56:06
  SPEAKER_03: encompass with the cow skin thin strips and ties them together
• 1:56:11
  and does it all around the periphery of this big land out by
• 1:56:15
  where she's been
• 1:56:15
  SPEAKER_03: raising chickens and horses and pigs,
• 1:56:18
  SPEAKER_01: which is out,
• 1:56:20
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:56:20
  SPEAKER_01: some distance over where Shwayambu is now.
• 1:56:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, you can't let her have that much land and he's like, I have spoken.
• 1:56:33
  Shwayambu in the language of the place at the time means the
• 1:56:37
  king has spoken.
• 1:56:40
  SPEAKER_03: So it's called The King Has Spoken Stupa.
• 1:56:43
  SPEAKER_01: So she began building it.
• 1:56:45
  Now when you build a thing like that over many years and you
• 1:56:50
  put all your energies
• 1:56:51
  SPEAKER_01: into this creation,
• 1:56:54
  SPEAKER_03: it creates a great deal of Gewa and also a focus of intensity.
• 1:57:00
  SPEAKER_03: When it's finished and concentrated,
• 1:57:03
  SPEAKER_03: all those who worked on it,
• 1:57:05
  SPEAKER_03: whatever wish they make,
• 1:57:08
  SPEAKER_03: comes to pass.
• 1:57:11
  one wish so she dies before it's fully complete but they come
• 1:57:19
  the boys complete it
• 1:57:21
  and it's consecrated and now everybody's got a wish the
• 1:57:24
  elephants that worked on it
• 1:57:25
  and the donkeys that worked on it and the you know plasters
• 1:57:30
  that work they've all
• 1:57:30
  got a wish so there's stories about what different things
• 1:57:36
  wished it wished for and
• 1:57:37
  SPEAKER_03: how it came out but the brothers is what I want to talk about
• 1:57:41
  SPEAKER_03: There were legends in Nepal that some,
• 1:57:44
  SPEAKER_03: because you can see the Himalayas from Kathmandu Valley,
• 1:57:47
  SPEAKER_03: the snowpack peaks,
• 1:57:49
  and so they knew that there was a great land behind the peaks
• 1:57:53
  called Tibet,
• 1:57:54
  SPEAKER_01: the land of the snows it was called in their language.
• 1:57:58
  So the oldest boy made his wish when the Dharma goes to the
• 1:58:02
  land of the snows,
• 1:58:04
  SPEAKER_01: I will be a great king and I will bring it forth to that place.
• 1:58:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so the karma for Trison Detson was born.
• 1:58:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the middle son who's always in his books,
• 1:58:21
  SPEAKER_01: when the Dharma goes to the land of the snows,
• 1:58:26
  SPEAKER_01: I will be a great scholar and I will bring it forth.
• 1:58:31
  SPEAKER_01: Bodhisattva, the scholar who brought much of the Dharma up.
• 1:58:38
  SPEAKER_01: in the first coming.
• 1:58:39
  SPEAKER_01: Milarepa is the second coming.
• 1:58:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first coming.
• 1:58:45
  SPEAKER_03: And there's the little kid who's now maybe about 14.
• 1:58:50
  SPEAKER_03: When the Dharma goes to the land of the snows,
• 1:58:53
  I'm going to be a great sorcerer and slay all the demons and
• 1:58:58
  have all the girls and
• 1:58:59
  SPEAKER_03: the princesses and everything.
• 1:59:04
  SPEAKER_01: Guru Rinpoche.
• 1:59:09
  That story from Wangdo Rinpoche about how Guru Rinpoche came to
• 1:59:13
  pass with that
• 1:59:14
  SPEAKER_01: particular personality that led to those particular stories.
• 1:59:28
  SPEAKER_01: Remember guys, stories aren't real.
• 1:59:36
  SPEAKER_03: There will be stories of how you came to enlightenment.
• 1:59:40
  SPEAKER_03: There are stories of how each Buddha in the past,
• 1:59:44
  SPEAKER_03: the present and the future has come to enlightenment.
• 1:59:47
  SPEAKER_03: Choose your story.
• 1:59:49
  SPEAKER_01: Live it.
• 1:59:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a story.
• 1:59:56
  SPEAKER_01: There are many lovely Mandareva stories in that book of her Namtar,
• 2:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: of her past lives and her last life as Mandareva.
• 2:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: how she went there.
• 2:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: In Juniper Ridge,
• 2:00:10
  there's a beautiful story of Guru Rinpoche and how he went
• 2:00:14
  there in his youth with
• 2:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: his teacher.
• 2:00:21
  SPEAKER_00: How he accomplished the final piece of Zogchen.
• 2:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to believe the stories to enjoy them.
• 2:00:40
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to believe your stories to simply enjoy them.
• 2:00:47
  SPEAKER_03: Play.
• 2:00:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you have a question?
• 2:00:52
  SPEAKER_03: Mic.
• 2:00:53
  SPEAKER_03: Microphone.
• 2:01:01
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you if you weren't finished.
• 2:01:04
  SPEAKER_02: I was.
• 2:01:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:01:06
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 2:01:08
  SPEAKER_02: Regarding your story about Mandurava and Yeshiz Sogyal,
• 2:01:12
  SPEAKER_02: it feels there is some kind of dualism involved.
• 2:01:19
  And I would like to ask you if you have any examples of women
• 2:01:26
  who are both wife,
• 2:01:28
  consort,
• 2:01:30
  SPEAKER_02: all of it, the mother, the whore, the anything.
• 2:01:33
  The key to read is the 84 Siddhas of India called either
• 2:01:38
  Buddha's Lions for the
• 2:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: cheaper copy or Masters of Wisdom for the fancier,
• 2:01:45
  SPEAKER_03: more artistic coffee table book type copy with the really good drawings.
• 2:01:52
  SPEAKER_03: Read that.
• 2:01:53
  SPEAKER_03: There will be stories of such.
• 2:01:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeshi Sojow.
• 2:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: was enlightened as a wife.
• 2:02:04
  She,
• 2:02:05
  in the place she was in,
• 2:02:06
  she was the right personality to support that place.
• 2:02:10
  SPEAKER_03: She was very astute politically.
• 2:02:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was her as much as Tri Son Detson that brought Dharma to Tibet,
• 2:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: especially the stronger Tantras and the Dzogchen,
• 2:02:24
  SPEAKER_01: which is mostly found in texts she's hidden.
• 2:02:29
  SPEAKER_01: and yet she was wife as well as consort and student.
• 2:02:38
  However,
• 2:02:39
  from my experience with looking at most of the Tibetan and
• 2:02:48
  Western pairs with llamas,
• 2:02:58
  Wife is a very specific role which is not the same as student
• 2:03:05
  or consort.
• 2:03:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is often taken that way.
• 2:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: You see, having babies, which is what wives do, is very intense.
• 2:03:24
  SPEAKER_03: Growing them, birthing them, raising them.
• 2:03:29
  SPEAKER_03: does not leave a lot of time for practice.
• 2:03:34
  SPEAKER_03: Did Yeshi Sojel have kids?
• 2:03:36
  SPEAKER_03: Does anybody remember?
• 2:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: Did she?
• 2:03:40
  SPEAKER_03: She was a princess.
• 2:03:41
  SPEAKER_03: She could afford help.
• 2:03:43
  SPEAKER_03: Nannies, you know.
• 2:03:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think you can do it with nannies.
• 2:03:49
  SPEAKER_03: How do kids turn out?
• 2:03:54
  SPEAKER_03: She'll have to look that up at some point.
• 2:03:56
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, it's about time for lunch.
• 2:03:59
  SPEAKER_03: I will see you guys tomorrow, yes?
• 2:04:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ge-wan-di-hi-nyur-du-dah-che-che-sa-la-go-pa-shu
• 2:04:33
  SPEAKER_02: You all...
• 2:04:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:04:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:04:45
  SPEAKER_03: You get to say it.
• 2:04:46
  SPEAKER_03: Here.
• 2:04:48
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, you don't need that.
• 2:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that.
• 2:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure.
• 2:04:56
  SPEAKER_02: Did you tell about the Sunday people who are not here for download?
• 2:04:58
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 2:04:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:05:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to sit here.
• 2:05:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:05:22
  SPEAKER_02: Very nice to meet you too.
• 2:05:26
  Come on.
• 2:05:27
  Here come.
• 2:05:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is the front.
• 2:05:54
  SPEAKER_02: This is the front.
• 2:05:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is the front.
• 2:05:58
  SPEAKER_02: This is the front.
• 2:05:58
  SPEAKER_02: This is the front.
• 2:06:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:06:05
  SPEAKER_02: She gives you the scarf back.
• 2:06:07
  SPEAKER_02: Just go in line.
• 2:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be shy.
• 2:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: Just a bit.
• 2:06:09
  SPEAKER_02: Just a bit.
• 2:06:26
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 2:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the people that by wishing for bodhicitta, they will get