Someone asked me a couple of days ago, I had some practical instructions, and I asked the person if he had anything in mind, some hint about the type of practical instructions he was wondering about. And he said something like, well, I think I've heard some instructions like pay attention to sounds. If you hear a sound, pay attention to the sound. If you hear, or if you see a color, pay attention to the color. If you have a physical sensation, pay attention to that. And then by paying attention to these things, it sort of makes

[01:07]

you come and be present. And I said, yes, that sounds like a practical instruction. So by repeating what this person told me, I'm giving you some practical instruction. You've probably all heard that Zen is about being present, being present in the moment, being present where you are, and also where you are is like where you are in time, in space, and also how you are. Zen is also about being how you are. So that's familiar, right? And I

[02:12]

said to that person, well, you have some practical instructions, so maybe you can practice like that. What the wisdom teachings are about are not so much instructions about ... well, to some extent they're about those kinds of practical instructions in the sense that perhaps you've heard of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, I would see them as introductory wisdom instructions, introductory wisdom meditation. They're not so much about developing concentration, and they're indirectly, of course, about compassion, but there's no mention of concern for the welfare of the world or anything,

[03:13]

it's just basically being mindful of body, that's the first foundation, feelings, second, states of consciousness, third, and the fourth is called the Dharma, the teachings, but in particular the Dharma teachings start out by teaching analysis of the previous three cases, previous three foundations. So under the fourth category of mindfulness are being aware of the five aggregates, the twelve sense bases, the eighteen elements, and so on. I mentioned them in earlier classes, the eighteen elements are those things that Vasubandhu taught his students are empty of inherent persistence. Also under the foundation of mindfulness of Dharma are the

[04:20]

four noble truths are taught, various kinds of hindrances to meditation are taught, and so on. But also the entire ocean of Dharma could be taught under that heading, so that fourth foundation of mindfulness can be applied to the previous foundations. So, for example, mindfulness of body, it says in the sutra, when the monk walks, the monk is aware I'm walking, when the monk stands, the monk is aware I'm standing, when the monk is sitting, the monk is aware I'm sitting, when the monk is reclining, the monk is aware I'm reclining, but also you can just say the monk is aware of reclining. So mindfulness is being present, but also it's being aware of what seems

[05:28]

to be happening. So that's mindfulness of body, mindfulness of posture, the monk is aware of breath, when exhaling the monk is aware of exhalation, when inhaling the monk is aware of inhalation, when the exhale is long, the monk is aware the exhale is long, and when the exhale is short, the monk is aware the exhale is short, and so on. And then under the Dharma, the foundation of mindfulness of Dharma, for example, when you learn about the five aggregates, you learn about the first aggregate, and the first aggregate teaches you that there's, well, different schools, but anyway, basically ten, the aggregate of materiality, the first aggregate has basically ten types, ten categories, so it's analyzed for you, and then you

[06:29]

can use that analysis to refine your awareness of the body. So you're aware of your posture, you're mindful of your posture, you're present with your posture, you're aware of your breathing, you're mindful of your breathing, you're present with your breathing, you're aware of what kind of posture it is, what kind of breathing it is, and now you can apply the analysis of the first aggregate from this teaching about materiality to refine your awareness of what materiality is. And materiality is basically the five sense organs, so that's the subtle materiality, and the five sense fields, the fields of the organs, electromagnetic radiation, mechanical waves, gases, chemicals, and physical

[07:37]

physical tangibility, or colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles. So then you can see that that's actually the mode that the body comes in. The idea of a body of arms and legs and so on, that's actually kind of a gross and imaginary version of your body, your body actually is. It doesn't say, you know, when it analyzes materiality that it's these sense organs and these sense fields, and then a body. The body is actually an imaginary thing that we create out of these more basic elements. So again, this brings you intimately into... this mindfulness brings you into intimate contact with your body, for example. However, this teaching by itself, without applying further

[08:41]

Dharma teachings, a person who is not enlightened might not become enlightened. In other words, they might still think that there was an individual who independently exists. They might think that things produce themselves. They might think that things have essences. And such a person, by imagining these things and superimposing these imaginations onto body and mental events, would come to be afflicted by delusion and suffering. So the teachings in this Sutra are not so much describing how to bring yourself

[09:43]

present with and aware of a particular phenomena. The teachings are assuming that you're doing that work, not assuming, but the teachings will need you to do that kind of work. And then once you're aware of a phenomena, once you're dealing with and aware of what you're aware of, then these teachings are to educate you as to the nature of the experience that you're having, re-educate you. You've already been educated by many forces, but the education has not been complete. It has not brought you to enlightenment, it has brought you to delusion, more or less. And your education has brought you somewhat to

[10:46]

hear of ways of understanding your experience that are different from the way you naturally perceive things. Also, I mentioned earlier, and I'll mention again, that for people who are unenlightened, as they become aware of their experience, they might also become aware of their suffering, and they might become aware of their thinking, and they might notice that their minds are racing around, and a great deal of their suffering has to do with basically

[11:48]

unhealthy, painful emotions, and they might wish that they actually weren't aware of what they were aware of, and try to take some medication to become less aware. In one sense, the basic medication that we recommend in the practice is to practice compassion, and also in particular to practice compassion in the form of practicing tranquility meditation. So, if you have a mind which isn't enlightened, and therefore is more or less in misery, it's a good idea to practice tranquility, which a number of you are practicing more or less successfully. And when you practice tranquility,

[12:53]

you get a break from misery, you get a break from affliction, you can actually be calm and at ease in the midst of the afflictions which arise from a lack of enlightenment. And I really feel okay about, I really feel good about a person who comes to Green Gorge and practices tranquility, and experiences some relief from affliction by being able to be skillful at practicing tranquility. And also, this practice of tranquility not only brings relief from affliction, but it sets up the possibility later of studying wisdom.

[14:00]

So, unenlightened people naturally are afflicted by their lack of enlightenment, by their misunderstanding of things, and they can get temporary, you know, big-time temporary relief from the afflictions which arise from their misconceptions by basically taking a break from their conceptions. That's basically what tranquility meditation is, is basically give up the discursive thinking which emanates on the basis of misunderstanding, giving up the discursive thought, one calms down and becomes in good shape, comes to be in good shape, good condition. However, it does not by itself reverse and eliminate the belief in misconceptions. So it's just a temporary relief,

[15:08]

it's a temporary relief. But once again, this concentration practice will be useful in the process of revolutionizing our view of our life. But in order to actually get permanent relief and help others most fully get permanent, or I should say not so much permanent but stable in the sense that it itself, what do you call it, it has continuity and it has stability even though it's changing all the time. So there's a release or a relief that it's an impermanent thing and yet it has a continuity of producing another state of liberation. So the liberation becomes irreversible and stable even though it's the liberation and the enlightenment are impermanent, they're also

[16:18]

stably realized, the realization becomes stable. So this text is to educate us about the nature of our experience to help us attain enlightenment. However, again, when you enter into mindfulness you may be upset, so upset that you can't practice mindfulness, can't even practice mindfulness of your body or your breath. So you may need to practice tranquility before you can practice mindfulness. And, for example, in the Abhidharma Kosha, in the chapter on the path,

[17:21]

they first teach precepts briefly and then they teach tranquility, and then Vasubandhu teaches mindfulness, and he first teaches four foundations of mindfulness, and then he gets into the types of teachings which we're dealing with in the scripture. So, to some extent, each of you has this person to take care of. One of the elderly people in our group told me recently that that standard phrase about old age sucks, old age is difficult, and I thought it seemed funny when she said that, it seemed funny because it was kind of like meeting somebody who works in an elderly

[18:22]

hostel or an old folks home who says, you know, these old people are really difficult to take care of. That's your job though, right? You work here, right? These are the people you take care of. Some of the elderly people are having trouble taking care of the elderly person. This person I'm taking care of can't hear very well anymore, doesn't walk very well, etc., etc. Yeah, but this is the person you have to take care of. So, you know, just think of yourself as a caregiver. You're taking care of this elderly person, and not only that, but not only that, but you also are, you're in this what we call meditation center, and in this meditation center you're taking care of this meditator who's also kind of, kind of, kind of sucks too sometimes,

[19:25]

because this meditator is like, you know, you're not doing very well, you kind of don't know how to meditate. So, you're supposed to take care of this meditator who doesn't know how to meditate, like try to find out yourself, try to find out how to teach him how to meditate. And they're, you know, and they're wandering around having problems in the environment of the old folks meditation center. The young people don't usually say being young sucks, but obviously it does. They just don't blame it on being young. They blame it on greed, hate and delusion. Greed, hate and delusion sucks, you know. It sucks to have all this like passion, all this lust for all these people, and all this hate for these people who don't lust back,

[20:29]

and all this confusion about what to do about it all. So, they, so, you know, but sometimes I don't laugh at them and say, oh it's funny, it's kind of like you work in a, you work in a crisis clinic, you know, and you're taking care of this young, this young person, and this is your job. Plus, these old people and young people, they, both of them are trying to meditate, and they're getting these instructions from left and right, and, you know, in the meantime they're trying to like take care of these young people, and these crazy people, and these meditators. So, it's kind of, well, it's hard, yeah, right, but it's normal that it's hard. It's hard to take care of human being generally, whether they're young or old, and it's hard to take care of them when they're trying to learn how to meditate. But actually, each of you has to take care of at least, not has to, but I would like you to take care of at least one of the meditators here. And you'll notice, and then try to help that meditator.

[21:49]

But it won't necessarily be easy, because this person's like, this person's suffering, and then in addition to suffering, they're trying to know, on top of the suffering, and dealing with, you know, tooth brushing, and mental health, and physical health, they're also trying to learn meditation, which actually makes it harder in a way. But the idea is that this is going to make it a lot easier after a while. It's going to make it go more smoothly and be a lot more fun. That there's going to be a joy if you can learn this practice. The old age part still, you know, may be a little bit difficult and painful, but there will be the joy of learning this excellent trick called practice. So the Buddha actually had some problems and some pain at the end of his life, but he was still the Buddha, and he was like totally cool, and still emanating all this wisdom and compassion

[22:52]

in 10 directions without stop. So he was happy, but he had a body, and his body was falling apart very intensely. So it may be necessary, when you're caring for a meditator, to make sure the meditator is calm enough to get through the next period of meditation. So you have to sort of like, not have to, but it's a good idea for you to help this person, these meditators that you're caring for, help them be calm. Help them realize the calm potential of a human body and mind, of a living creature, can be calm, can be calm and flexible and awake. So, and basically the way to help the person be calm is help the person relax with whatever

[23:57]

happens, help the person give up discursive thought. This is calming. And once they're calm enough, then you might see if they'd like to learn about the nature of reality. You might see if they would like to become wise with respect to mind, thought and consciousness. They might become, if they'd like to become wise with respect to the character of phenomena and the character of the dharma. And if so, then you can start teaching them these things, help them study these things and learn about these things. But as you do that, keep in touch with them about whether they're getting out of touch with what's happening with them, and or somewhat too excited, so that they can't really hear the teachings anyway,

[24:59]

plus they're feeling unhappy and confused and upset. So keep them in a good state. Check their blood sugar level occasionally, and stuff like that. Don't go too long between taking them to the bathroom. Get them some exercise, keep checking their posture, make sure that they're not twisting into strange postures. Strange postures are okay if they want to be in those postures, but sort of help them not get unconsciously stuck in certain positions for long periods of time. I'm not sure I understand the difference between mindfulness of body and mindfulness of posture, that kind of thing, as common. Mindfulness is not, basically mindfulness is not common. Mindfulness practices are not common. Yes? So what is the difference between

[26:01]

the common practices that come before mindfulness that are relaxing with body? I'm not sure. Well, one of the differences is that, for example, one of the complex, one of the little bit confusing things about the way Buddhist teachings are often given, is that like in the Abhidharmakosha, when they're teaching tranquility meditation or calming meditation, they use meditations on the breath as an example of how to give up discursive thought. And then after you develop calm, and you move to mindfulness practice, one of the first things to be mindful of is the thing you were using as a way to develop tranquility, but now you're doing it to develop wisdom. So the object is the same. It's not, no, it looks like the object

[27:02]

is the same. So when you're meditating on the breath, sometimes people say that the object for calming is breath, but really the object for calming is not being discursive with the breath. So you look at the breath, or you look at your posture, and if you look at your posture and then give up discursive thought as you're looking at your posture, it's giving up the discursive thought that calms you. You look at your breath and you give up discursive thought, that's giving up the discursive thought while being aware of your breath. Look at the sun, look at the moon, look at somebody's face, look at a tree, look at a tree and give up discursive thought, you become calm while you're looking at the tree. Feel the pain in your toe, give up discursive thought about that pain in your toe. The giving up the discursive thought calms you. But we also sometimes see the structure where people say, meditate on the breath, follow the breath, but it's following the breath while giving up discursive thought that calms you. When you move into mindfulness practice,

[28:04]

then what you do is you actually start getting discursive about the breath. Then you say, this is a long breath or a short breath. When you're doing concentration practice, you don't say this is a long breath or a short breath, you don't say this is an inhalation or exhalation, you don't say, I shouldn't say you don't say, but the instruction for calming is not to talk about and be discursive about the breathing. So you don't say this is a long exhalation as a tranquility practice. Now you might be saying this is a long exhalation, but relaxing and giving up discursive thought about the long exhalation is what calms you. Whereas in insight, you're actually going to use discursive thought and apply it to the breath, to the posture, to the mind. So you're using discursive thought to learn a new way to think. In the other case, you're giving up discursive thought, you're not learning a new way to think really, you're learning a way to stop

[29:09]

thinking for a while and become calm by giving up discursive thought. But it's sometimes confusing because they sometimes pick something like breath in both cases, so it sounds like, but notice that the instructions in the vipassana, in the insight work, is you're talking about the stuff, you're noting, you're describing, the other case you're giving up talk about the stuff. We need to learn to give up talking about what's happening, we need to learn how to give up thinking about what's happening. Things are happening all day long, we're seeing things, we're hearing things, but we're not really aware too much of what we're seeing and hearing, because as soon as we see and hear something, we barely notice that experience, and then pretty soon we start thinking about it. That's what we notice, that's really our conscious life.

[30:09]

And that part, giving up that part calms us, and teaching that part and educating that part is what makes us wise. So again, this meditator thing you're taking care of, you need to have this meditator be calm enough so that they're basically a calm, happy person, temporarily have some relief from the intense affliction of being deluded, and then when you feel calm enough, start listening to these teachings, let them in, start studying them, start studying them, and as you start studying them, if you start losing track of where you are, and what time of day it is, and what your body is doing, and what your breath is doing, and you're starting to get really upset again, it's probably a good idea to drop the insight work, drop the meditations on the wisdom teachings for a while, and take care

[31:14]

of this person, you know, excuse me, but anyway, it's kind of like, who should I use? Sometimes the people I want to use as examples for crazy people look so crazy, I don't want to use them. So here you're taking care of this person, you know, and you're teaching this person, you know, where's the meditation, you know, and he starts getting upset, sometimes the person's not capable of wisdom teachings, you have to sort of get him to just

[32:27]

relax and have a cup of tea, that is necessary when you're taking care of these meditators, because they like, well, you know, is this mind, consciousness, or intellect, which one is this? Is this a laya, or is this a manas? Am I, am I, am I strongly adhering to the other determinant? You know, are glitches arising now? You know, in a comic, and you say, did you ever hear that there's Buddha taught that there's three characteristics? And the person says, yeah, I did hear that the other day, and I remember I got kind of excited about that. Maceo came to visit me at Tassajara, and around noon one day, we were walking down Tassajara Avenue, and he said, I want my mommy, I want my mommy, and he really got into

[33:31]

it. And then later that day, he said, remember when I was talking about wanting my mommy, wasn't that silly? I was saying, I want my mommy, wasn't that funny? So we get, we get caught up in our thinking, and you can, and you get kind of, you need to calm down. So some of you get caught up, and you're thinking about your mommy. Some of you get caught thinking about your boyfriend, or your girlfriend, or Zen Center administration. So basically, most of that stuff, just let go of that. So you let go of that, and then you calm, because you let go of it, you stop thinking about it. Then you hear the wisdom teachings, and you start thinking about them, and you start getting just

[34:34]

as upset about the wisdom teachings as you used to get about Zen Center administration. The U.S. administration. Well, we shouldn't be upset about the U.S. administration. We shouldn't be upset about Zen Center administration. We should, because it's really harder. Just like if you were in the old folks' home at meditation, and the people are getting upset, you know, and they're starting getting ready to start break the windows and stuff. You got to help them relax a little bit. So you have somebody like that to take care of, right? Somebody who gets silly sometimes about thinking about Buddhist meditation. Some people are wrought up about Buddhist meditation, and some other people are about the world situation. And part of what I laughed about also was at Tassajara one time we had a

[35:36]

fire. We really had a fire! And it was coming like right down to Tassajara, you know? And we had fire crews, and we had people who were in charge of the fire crews. And we had a policy which we learned from people who experienced this, is that we had a kind of like a timeout area. A little cordoned off area. I think it was cordoned off with yellow tape or something. It's like the rest area. And anybody who you saw who was getting so freaked out about the problems, who was like not calm enough to like deal with this fire, you could say, yellow line. I think we said yellow line. It wasn't timeout, but it was yellow line. You had to go sit behind that yellow tape for a while, and you could do it to your supervisor. And some supervisors were yellow lined, because they were like freaking out in the fire, and they were like they were getting too upset. They were becoming not skillful, and they were supposed to lead the

[36:39]

other people. And the other people, even if they weren't skillful, they could yellow line your whole crew. But nobody complained when they got yellow lined. Usually when they went over, they said, thanks. And then people would come and get you out eventually and go back to fighting the fire. So we do have things happening. We have a raging situation here, but we need to calm down so we can take care of it. If somebody can take care of the meditator in your area, have them take good care of this person, and then they get exposed to these wisdom teachings. But don't study these things if you're too upset. You're not going to be effective. You probably won't be. Now sometimes you can be upset and study the wisdom teachings until you become more calm. That can happen too. You can be fairly calm, calm enough to hear the wisdom teachings, and then you get calmer. That happens sometimes,

[37:41]

which is okay. And then you say, wow, that was cool, and you study some more, and you get calmer. But sometimes you get a little agitated. Often you get a little agitated, and that's okay, a little agitated is okay, because you're starting to activate your... If you're really, really, really deeply calm and you start thinking about the wisdom teachings, you get a little agitated, you get a little perky. That's okay, but if you start getting really distraught and depressed, like, I don't understand this stuff, this is really hard, what are they teaching me? That kind of talk, it's time to yellow line yourself. Just go sit in the basic tranquility section of the meditation camp. When you're calm, somebody will come and get you eventually and take you back to the wisdom section. So does that make sense?

[38:43]

So this is like, you've got to manage the course, and each person has a different course. Some of you are going to be mostly doing tranquility and hearing the wisdom teachings when they're being spoken and chanted, but that may be mostly the way it's going to be, is that you're going to be just hearing and chanting the wisdom teachings and thinking about them just maybe a little bit in class, and that's fine. Most of the time you're going to be concentrating on letting go of discursive thought and being calm and present. That's the best way to take care of some meditators. Not to mention, you're giving up discursive thought about all the stuff that's going on in your head, about what's going on in this world and how these people are not being nice to you, about how people are insulting you and defiling you and attacking you, right? Like somebody said to me in the Dhammapada, at the beginning of the Dhammapada, where it says, he did this to me, she did that to me, he did that to me, and I did that to her!

[39:46]

This is... and you start hating people, so you need to let go of such thinking. And also, to get into like, well she was really nice to me, boy was she nice to me, gosh she was awful nice to me! You're constantly thinking about how nice she is, and you can't think of anything else about the next time she's going to be nice to you. But also, let go of that. So anyway, we need to take care of the meditators, and each of you needs to do that, and then we have a calm person who's aware of what's happening, and these teachings should be applied to what is happening when you're ready. But when you're first learning them, in the learning phase, you're not necessarily immediately applying them, you have to understand them first. Once you understand them, then the next phase is to think about them and think about how they apply to your actual experience. And then you're practicing mindfulness of your experience, so you're mindful and aware, and then you're also mindful of the

[40:53]

teaching, and you bring the two kinds of mindfulness together, teaching together with the phenomena that's happening, and test the teaching on what's happening. Okay? So, I don't know, I'm not sure, I depend on hearing from you, sometimes, as I do interviews with you, I understand that it may be that the group needs to be reminded of this, and then how each person is going to do this is different. Okay? Shall I go on? Okay. So, can you guys hear me? Any other ones? Anybody else have a window open where they are?

[42:08]

You guys don't want a window open back there? It's open. Do it. Well, anyway, this is something. So, do you want to close the window? I don't know. How's that? Is that okay for you guys over there? It's okay? So, close it whenever you want.

[43:13]

And also, maybe Diana could sit over there. Okay. So, Vasubandhu wrote this teaching called Thirty Verses, and in the first verse he says something like, whatever appears as ideas of self and elements does so within the context of the three transformations of consciousness. And these three transformations of consciousness are called, or these three up here, in English we say mind, thought and consciousness, or mind and cognitive activity and consciousness. Now, it says here, whatever variety of ideas

[44:28]

of self and elements. It doesn't say, actually, whatever arises in these three transformations of consciousness, because in a sense, Vasubandhu might say that in terms of the kind of consciousness where there's just awareness of, for example, a color. Okay? A direct perception of a color. That's not the idea of a color, that's the actual sense awareness of the color. And you wouldn't necessarily have to talk about the transformations of the three transformations of consciousness, right? You could just speak of what? This is a test. Consciousness. It's just consciousness. So, this third one,

[45:29]

this is consciousness, but it could also be called sense consciousness. And sense consciousness actually pretty well accounts for sense consciousness. Okay, so, there's two modes of knowing. One is called perception, sometimes, and the other one is called conception, or perceptual cognition and conceptual cognition. Perceptual cognition is to know an object, when a consciousness is aware of an object, without any conceptual mediation, without mediating the awareness via images.

[46:33]

Direct perception, or just perception. The other type of consciousness or cognition is cognition which is mediated by a mental image. Those are the two types. Those are the two ways of knowing. Is the direct perception you just mentioned different from the field of the five sense organs? Is it different from the field? If you have the five sense organs, and actually we have six sense organs, we have a mind sense organ too, but anyway, if you have the five sense organs, the field, like the color, for example, the color is the field of the organ and it's the object of consciousness. So a color is where the organ plays. When the eye organ plays with the colors,

[47:45]

then based on that interaction, an eye consciousness can arise. An eye consciousness takes the color, the consciousness is named after the organ and takes the field as its object. So the field is the object of the consciousness and the playground of the organ. And in perception, this awareness of the color is unmediated by, for example, the concept color or the concept blue. Blue is the predominant example used in Buddhism. That's perception. Conception is that based on a sense perception of, for example, the color blue, conceptual cognition would be, it's blue or quotes blue. In other words, you'd be aware of the blue.

[48:50]

And by the way, this type of conception I'm using right now is called, in a sentence, it's correct conception. Because based on the direct perception of blue, when you see that blue and you say it's blue, that's correct, you are seeing blue, but you're seeing it via the media of the mental image blue and the word blue. So one's mediated by concept, the other isn't. And I see lots of hands which are responding to the hand I called on Rob, and now there's going to be other hands, but Rob raises his hand while I was explaining something else, so if I go off around until all the other hands are up now, I'm not going to finish what I was starting to say. Okay, so if you have questions, maybe you can remember them,

[49:56]

but I was just explaining there's two types of cognition. All day long, sense cognitions are going on. However, most people are barely aware of them. If you talk to the person, you find out that they're not actually very aware of it. There's ways of seeing it, there's ways of testing to see that they are perceiving colors or whatever, but the person actually is not so aware of it. What the person's aware of, however, most of the time, what most people are aware of is conceptual cognitions. Namely, it's blue, it's Bernard, it's Grace, it's two. Conceptual cognitions, however, are always mistaken

[50:58]

because what the cognition is seeing is the mental image, which is superimposed on the direct perception. The direct perception is there, but the mental image is there too, and the mental image gets mixed with the direct object, I mean the actual object, and when it gets mixed, we can't see the original object anymore. And we think that the original object, which is actually there, and which we're actually perceiving, and actually perceived, I should say, actually perceived, we think that the image of it is it. We think the image of it is more accurate to it than it is.

[52:05]

So, I've used this example before, but I had this wonderful friend who was actually a Zen student and a famous ophthalmologist, and he was examining my eyes and he said, you know, actually the world's a lot clearer out there than it is to your eyes. Because when you put glasses on, the world looks sharper. Images are sharper than direct perceptions, and part of the reason why they're sharper is because they eliminate all the individuality of the direct perception. Can you elaborate on that? Every time I look at you, you're different.

[53:08]

You know, as a visual image. Anyway, every time I look at you, you're different. You're always different. However, when I see you conceptually, you're always just the same. Namely, you're everything that's not. You are just all the things that you're not. Why is that sharper? Did you say the images are sharper than the actual object? Yeah, very sharp. Because all the uniqueness of the present, actual, dependently co-arising person, all the conditions that make you happen are eliminated, because what I'm seeing you as, is just all those, as being just not all those things. Well, then, wouldn't be limited more accurate and sharper? She said, wouldn't limited be more accurate than sharper?

[54:12]

And you might feel that limited is more accurate than sharper, and the reason why you feel that way is because limited for you is sharper than what I say. But anyway, limited, impoverished, and so on, might be more accurate than sharper, okay? Please watch this. In a sense, it's more accurate than sharper, but sharper emphasizes the point why we like images, because they're sharp. We don't care, we do care, but we're willing to buy into the sharpness, for the sake of the sharpness, we're willing to forget about the richness. So when you look at a hillside, it's all blurry, a very rich experience, you don't want that, you want trees and hills. Glasses give you trees and hills. When you look at a person, you want it to be astered, rather than the entire causal situation. So we blind ourselves to the causal, forward causal situation,

[55:20]

and we impoverish our experience in order to make things graspable. So that's another fundamental thing about conception, is that it's twofold. One side is, it's the way we get a hold of things, and the other side is the way we push things away. So the actual complex event called aster is very blurry. So by making her into this conceptual package that I can grasp, it's very tidy. She's impoverished, it's an impoverished version of you, but you're graspable. So I get the graspable version, but then I separate myself from the ungrasped, the pre-grasped version of you. So every time you meet a person, you're meeting a person who, people do not come packaged according to your head. Some people actually try to do that for you, because they say,

[56:21]

I'm not just like you think I am, I'm just like what you want me to be, really. Just imagine what you want me to be, I'm that way. Or they sort of guess what you want to be, and they try to get over into that, because then, you know, you'll be nice to them, right? Because you like that way, they kind of, that way, I'm going to be that way. So you betray yourself. But when you meet people, your mind naturally like says, forget this like whatever this thing is, I'm going to make it graspable. That's the conceptual version of the person. We package them, our mind packages everybody. Everybody actually is like really an immensely complex event for us, and we package it. And what we use, what we, our mind actually like pushes away all the conditions, and those are the way that we define the person very sharply,

[57:24]

because the person is sharply defined as being just, all those things, being just not all those things. And it's not that you're just not some of the things you are. It's not that you're just, it's not that you're just not some of your conditions, you're just not each and every one of your conditions, pretty much. We make a little bit of leeway, but basically we don't say that Danny is like, he's Danny if he's like got a beard, and he's got eyes, you know, and he's 63. That 63 is not part of what he's not. Actually it's part of what he's not. So, but if I would say that he is 63, then that's not part of what he's not, and that's not this Danny.

[58:25]

So he can't be 63. Right? He can't be 63, you weren't allowed it, that wouldn't be the actual Danny. He is actually not 63, he's not 64, but also, how old are you? He's also, he is, Danny is not 33, he's 33, but 33 is part of what he isn't. So his usual, his age is part of what he isn't, it's part of what you'd say, used to make him be, that's not him. Your hair color, you didn't get that. Your hair color, okay, is not you. Your hair color is not you. But also, Foo's hair color is not you.

[59:28]

So, okay. But they're different kinds of loving, are they the same? They're part of the way we define you, as an image. Anyway, you'll figure it, you'll get this. So there's two, there's two kinds of conception. There are two kinds of, there's many kinds of perception, but there's two basic kinds of knowing, these are the two. And the direct perception is represented by this. The source of the images comes from alaya. The activation of them comes through cognitive activity. The combination of the three gives rise to all of our concepts of what's happening. The source, or the, you know, the repertoire,

[60:41]

or the storehouse for all the potential images is given to you in each moment. You know, part of your conceptual conscious activity is that you have a storehouse of images to use to interpret what's happening. So what's happening, you have direct perception going on, that's the third aspect of, the third transformation of consciousness. But then also you're given, each moment, a huge storehouse of possible images to use to interpret this direct perception. So you see a color, but you have things that aren't colors, which you could use to interpret this, right? You can see a color, but you could interpret it as Thursday. Like, what is it, Rambo said, it was a blue summer night.

[61:42]

You know, and he got big, a lot of credit for that. You know, all of France went, wow. He said, a blue summer night, what's he talking about there? In other words, you could interpret a summer night as blue, green, fine, hot. You have a lot of, when you start interpreting the world, you have a huge repertoire of things to use to interpret what's happening, even a sensory experience like a summer night. But a summer night, you have summer to characterize a night. You have night to characterize a night. So there you are, it's nighttime, and you're experiencing a darkness or a blackness, and you can call that summer. Because you have a seed for summer, you have a seed for night, and you have a seed for blue. When you see blue, you can say, when you see blue, you can say, a fine summer day.

[62:53]

The actual cognitive activity is this, is what we call Manas. Now, what else can Manas do? Well, Manas can imagine, it has a seed, as it says in this chapter, Manas can access the seeds of this consciousness, and it says here in Chapter 5 of the Sutra, that sentient beings, whatever sentient beings there may be in this cyclic existence, those sentient beings manifest and are born in these various ways. Once they're born, in dependence on two types of apprehension, the apprehension of physical sense powers,

[64:00]

and the support, with the support and appropriation of the predispositions to proliferate conventional designations with respect to signs, names, and concepts, the mind, which is all the seeds, develops, increases, expands in its operations. So, when a living being is born, a consciousness somehow apprehends physical senses, and it also apprehends, and when it apprehends, it connects to some tissue, it accesses the body, and the consciousness gets sense capacities, but it also accesses in this tissue, in this body, it accesses, or it activates,

[65:08]

the ability to get in touch with predispositions towards conventional designations, names, signs, and concepts, and then it expands its operations, and its operations are Manas. So, in this ocean of seeds, of images, for what's happening, there's a seed which can mature as the idea of things being separate, and that concept can be applied to each thing. So, and this predisposition is connected to the body. For example, we have an organ which can register patterns of light,

[66:11]

you know, we have a retina in the back of our eye that can register patterns of light, so it makes two-dimensional versions, it makes two-dimensional patterns in response to light coming in, and it then does the same thing in the other eye, and these two different pictures, two different pictures, two different patterns in response to the light coming into two different eyes, those two different patterns go into and get put together, and they're different, two different patterns because the light went in different ways into the two different eyes. So, they made two different pictures, two different two-dimensional pictures. Putting the two different two-dimensional pictures together, the discrepancy between the two different pictures is interpreted as space. The space is not in the data which the body has absorbed, the space is in the data of

[67:28]

the body having two eyes. The space is then consciously constructed in the system even though the data it took in didn't have that in it. It's two eyes made the space and then if you could dispend your belief in space or even just hold it right here that you believe that space is there now rather than you construct it in your mind, then you can move in space to verify that that's an illusion. Space is an illusion, the space you see is an illusion. But how does moving in space verify that it's an illusion? That's one way. Pardon me, but I would think that...

[68:30]

I think there's a space between you and me, I think we're separated. Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. There's ways to verify that separation is an illusion. Separation is for a space between yourself and something, even though the space is in your own head, the space is in your own head, the space that you're experiencing is not the space that's out there if there was one, the space you're experiencing is built between, is conjured up out of the discrepancy between two images you have and what's happening. And you can do the same thing for smells, tastes and thoughts. So our concepts don't come from nowhere, they come up out of our body. Just like, again, basically another pacing pattern is organ is a tissue, the playground of the organ are not tissues, they're so-called inanimate physical things. When these two types of physicality interact, there's gross and subtle forms of physicality.

[69:33]

We call the non-living material gross, we call the material subtle. Now you can say, well, I think the non-material is very subtle too, but the reason why it's called gross is because it can hit things, and the other one is called subtle because it can be hit. Actually, the other one can be hit too. What are the hits referring to? The two types of materiality, organs, which are tissue, tissue-based anyway, and objects. You cannot see, you can see a light but you can't see a sense organ. You can deduce a sense organ but you can't see it. You can't see the eye organ, you can see where the eye organ lives, it lives around the eyeball, but the eye organ is actually the responsiveness to the light. So it's very subtle, you can't actually see the eye organ, that ability, it's actually

[70:43]

a capacity, it's a power. But anyway, in that difference there, in that duality, is again a physical basis for duality. So the concept of duality and separation and discrepancy is built into the body and arises out of the body. And then we have these concepts which arise from the mind connecting to a body which provides it with sense organs, but as soon as it provides it with sense organs, the sense organs provide it with concepts of duality and other kinds of concepts. So when something happens, when a sensory event happens for us, we interpret it using the material that consciousness gets by connecting to a body. And we interpret what's happening in this way. So we interpret what's happening based on our body.

[71:48]

And part of the way we interpret what's happening based on our body is really, simply, totally imaginary, like that we're actually separate, that what we're aware of and our awareness are separate, and that things exist out there on their own, this is projected on them. So manas, although the sutra doesn't say it, manas or thought or cognitive activity, this is kind of like, just briefly now, for now anyway, briefly indicating that this is the source of the imputational character, this is the source of the conceptual claim which is superimposed on the dependently co-arisen experience. So that's why this is the focus, in a sense, of the problem of delusion.

[72:50]

And so, as we move into the next chapter, if we ever get to talk about that next chapter, as we start to study the imputational character of all of our experience, maybe you can see how this chapter 5 sets up the psychological basis for the epistemological presentation. So this is the psychological section, the next chapter is the epistemological section, and the next chapter is, in some sense, the ontological section. And the next chapter is how to apply these psychologies and philosophies to your experience in such a way as to reverse the misconceptions which you come by honestly. Your body naturally gives rise, becomes the source of concepts which are very useful to it, which are misconceptions. A lot of the concepts are fine, like blue works just fine for that raksu, no problem. But the idea that the raksu exists separate

[74:00]

from the cognition of it, that's also powerful, but affliction-generating. So again, there are certain meditations you can do before you even get to chapter 6, this chapter. And this chapter points out those meditations, because it says, the bodhisattvas are wise with respect to the psychology, basically, of Buddhism. They're wise with respect to these secrets or the mysteries of mind, consciousness and intellect, or mind, consciousness and cognitive activity. And they learn this system, they understand this system about how alaya works together with the manas and the sense consciousnesses, they understand how this all works. So this is part of what bodhisattvas learn about according to the sutra. And I think

[75:09]

all the bodhisattvas I've run into know about this stuff. They're like really well-versed in how this mind, cognitive activity and sense consciousness work. But, in addition to, or not just because they understand the mechanics of this, but also because they do not perceive as really existing the appropriations or the appropriating consciousness. Because they do not perceive these other elements in this process, that's the reason that they're considered to be wise with respect to the mysteries in all ways. And how you go from meditating on the mechanics of this process to understanding that these processes are really not, well I would say,

[76:22]

not dual, ultimately. That's another meditation education which is available. But it's almost 10.30, so I'll probably not have time to introduce it, but I'm just telling you that there's a way, there's instruction about how to, first of all there's further instruction about the mechanics, which you might want to know about, and then there's instructions about, based on that understanding of mechanics, how to meditate on that process, on this mind source. This is the mind source, right? How to turn the light back on this mind source in such a way as to actually see if this stuff isn't really happening. That's one way to put it. Or another way to put it is, the way it's happening and the way it's evolving and expanding its operations and being the source for affliction itself is

[77:23]

the dharma nature, that they're non-dual. That's another way to put it. So not really happening means not really generating a world of misery, because it actually is non-dual with the world of truth and liberation. And so there's questions now. If you want to, there's two ways to go from here, besides all the questions. One way to go is to spend more time clarifying these three transformations of consciousness, getting more aware of how that works, and then go to chapter six, or not do that,

[78:24]

go directly to chapter six, or do that and then do these meditations by which you move to the second part of chapter six is where the bodhisattvas complete their course of wisdom on these matters. Is that clear? Who isn't that clear with? In the first part of the chapter they teach you the mechanics, and then they say, after that they say, but it's not just based on this that I designate bodhisattvas as wise with respect to the mysteries of mind, thought and intellect. And then he tells you the next phase of their realization, which is that they don't perceive these processes which they've just learned about. That's the next part. And you don't just go directly from one to the other, there's a little bit of additional assistance which most people need. So one possibility is to spend quite a bit of time on chapter five. The other is to just leave chapter five now and go to chapter six and then sort of resonate back to chapter five. So I kind of leave that for you to let me know if you have any preference about

[79:32]

what you go. In other words, should we try to finish the whole sutra during this practice or just do chapter five the whole time? Okay, now I'll take a few questions. What's your name? David. David. I had a question. Okay. And your name, don't tell me, is Joe, right? Some people call me Joe. What do other people call you? I don't know, you'd have to ask them. Joseph, yes. I was hoping you'd clarify what you said, that direct perception is equivalent to consciousness. Is that right? In this presentation here. And then you said conceptual cognition is equivalent to mind? I lost you right there. I also should say that the Buddhist presentation of the way mind works is always evolving and we do not have like,

[80:43]

we don't have like a legal system by which we make everybody agree on all these terms. So there's a lot of fluidity about what these terms mean, but the Sanskrit words chitta, manas and vijnana. Vijnana tends to be the conscious awareness, tends to be associated with sense consciousnesses. Direct perception. And so, yeah, and manas, usually most people agree manas is actually originally mind, it's the mind organ, it's the mind organ and it's conscious activity and in the Yogacara system that developed from the Sutra, manas becomes the place, the part of mind which conjures up and activates images which come from the storehouse consciousness. Images, for example, of duality. So we have images of duality but the actual activation of them and imagination of them.

[81:51]

Now, manas is also called thinking. So just thinking in terms of like thinking and reflecting. Manas is also called the bifurcator, the splitter. It's the part of mind that makes things seem to be separate and the laya represents the inherited potential for our interpretive alternatives for a given moment of experience. In our interpretive capacities are images or ideas of what's happening. Directly perceiving it is just vijnana but we don't just directly perceive things, we interpret everything to a great part of our life. But again, it's not all we do. Part of what we do, again, is just directly perceive and then a little bit later on,

[82:56]

not too long at all, we interpret and we interpret in terms of past experience. Now, our present interpretations based on past experience make possible interpretations which have never happened before but this moment we have to use what's happened before to interpret. Now, our understanding of what's happening can be liberated from our interpretations. We can become free of believing that our interpretation of what's going on is what's going on. That's what's called not strongly adhering to what's happening as being our interpretation. Not strongly adhering to the other dependent character as being the imputation of character. You come to see the thoroughly established character. The thoroughly established character is not our interpretation of what's happening. It's the absence of our interpretation

[84:00]

of what's happening in what's happening. That is possible for us but our interpretations are based on past activity and we can only use that stuff which is not going on and we're using what's not going on to imagine what is going on. We use what's not going on to be what is going on and sometimes when we imagine what's not going on, when we use what is not going on, in other words, past experiences of blue to imagine present experiences of blue, we're considered to be correct because everyone agrees it's blue so it works. But what we're using is something that happened before and applying it to what's happening now. But sometimes we use what happened before and apply it to what's going on but what happened before actually never happened before and not going on now. But what happened before is we thought before that there was a self

[85:04]

and we use our past thoughts of self to imagine there's a present self. But our interpretation is always caught up in using Alaya as our base. Okay, Michael and then Jane and Catherine and Elena and Sue and Jeff and Grace. When I was reading this fifth chapter I was wondering because it said they also do not perceive the basis, nor do they perceive basis consciousness. Right. Reading this, basis consciousness refers to mind? Basis consciousness refers to Alaya. Yeah, mind, right? See, here it says mind, citta, and over here it says Alaya Vijnana, basis consciousness. So

[86:10]

in this chapter basis consciousness and mind are the same. I don't think I get the difference between basis consciousness and consciousness. Consciousness in this case refers to Vijnana, which means the direct perception of blue. Basis consciousness… It's not blue, it's just… Direct perception is not blue because that's the interpretation. No, it is blue. I mean, it's blue in the sense that if I hold up this material here which has… which we temporarily conventionally call blue and I hold this up and then I hold up a red one and then I hold this up, you can say that's the same one that was there before. So it is actually that kind of thing what did happen for you. So you do have experiences like that. But by meditating on that experience,

[87:10]

okay, it isn't that you will then voice up a meditating experience and then they do not perceive blue. As their meditation deepens they do not perceive blue. But also when you say it's quotes blue, unquote, that image you use for blue is coming from Alaya. So you can have direct perceptions of blue and you can also have conceptual cognitions of blue. Okay, so if you're over in the direct perception area, the Bodhisattvas don't have those. They don't even have the direct perceptions it says here. If you go over here to the place where you have the basis of your conceptual conceptions, you won't have those either. This whole system will be realized in its thoroughly established character. Okay, so now I don't get different blue basis consciousness. There's direct perception and then there's... You arrive in this moment, okay, and you have

[88:21]

available to you a huge number of images and words by which you can interpret what's happening. Okay, that's the other capacity in this moment and in this moment, in this moment. That's the Alaya. It's this great potential you have which has the seeds for all your possible current experiences. The actual choosing of a seed brings it into fruition, makes it active, and that's the Manas. And sometimes in a moment you have this repertoire, this ocean of possible images to use to interpret what's happening, and sometimes you choose one of them and people say, then you say, okay, and you choose another one. You know, the choosing and the expressing and the thinking that it's that way, that kind of thing, that's the Manas activity. And then the being aware that you chose this interpretation

[89:24]

is the sixth sense consciousness, the sixth Vijnana, is that then you're aware that you chose this image. So the source of the images is the Alaya Vijnana. The choosing and expressing and believing that this is really what's happening is the cognitive activity and the awareness is the Vijnana. So is Alaya... Or another way to say it is the discursive activity by which you run around in your mind and choose what's going on to interpret what's happening is Manas, and the cognition of the discursive activity is Vijnana or consciousness. Okay? So is Alaya something personal? I mean, like, you know... That's what we were talking about before, is it personal or is it collective, conscious and unconscious? Alaya is collective in the sense that a human body, generally speaking, a human body

[90:32]

is a place which the tissue of the human body has within it proclivities towards conventional designations. So if consciousness apprehends a human body it gets proclivities towards conventional designations, because human bodies have that. If consciousness apprehends a non-human body it will not get proclivities towards conventional designations. So it doesn't say that here, but it's apprehending a human body you get that proclivity towards conventional designations. Or you could say, no, I think other animals have it too, but they can't realize it. And also you get the sense organs from Alaya. Alaya is the way the consciousness gets a sense. So Alaya facilitates Vijnana because Alaya is the ability of consciousness to hook into

[91:33]

the sense capacities of a body. So Alaya facilitates both the other two. That's why it's called the basis of all. Alaya is the basis of all the other... It's the basis of... Alaya is the basis of direct perception because it accesses the sense organs and sense organs can interact with fields, and when sense organs interact with fields consciousnesses arise. So consciousness gets a body, gets the sense organs, sense organs that interact with the field, fields interact and then the sense consciousnesses arise. See how that works? But then Alaya is also the basis of the conceptual cognitions because Alaya provides the material which the conceptual cognitions use to interpret

[92:34]

the perceptual cognitions. Does that make sense? It doesn't? Maybe you should explain it. If Alaya went away... If Alaya went away, yes. If Alaya goes away, you're dead. Okay. Yeah, then direct perception wouldn't occur. Alaya is... Yeah, then direct perception wouldn't occur. Alaya is...

[92:58]

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