The topic will be the same practice, the same teaching, and we have to kind of, most importantly, we have to kind of have a clear point of what we are really doing practice, and what really practice is about, what's really the teaching is about, and what's really the practice is about. And it seems to be that when we get to the point, the whole thing we are dealing is, we are dealing with a deception. Particularly, the notion of deception is something specifically a working situation in the Vajrayana. So, the whole Jnanas from the level of the Theravada,

[01:18]

Hinayana level, to the Mahayana level, to all kinds of levels, actually the whole spiritual tradition is supposed to deal with this particular one thing which is called deception. That's the whole point of the whole spiritual approach, and we could call it a self-deception. And the way of making our way through, we could say a breakthrough, making a breakthrough from this particular deception, each personal deception, which is very personal to each person, is something how we look at it, and what we work at it, into the practice of Vajrayana. So, and it's very interesting when we set the path on making our way through this deception,

[02:28]

all kinds of things happen. We go to India sometimes, we go to Nepal, and we take all kinds of vows, we could even put some ropes, try to change, try to do so many things, particularly it's done on the Vajrayana. Takes all kinds of vows, and wears all kinds of, sometimes you could wear different kinds of dresses, or we could say the whole thing, the whole thing in all tradition, our whole life seems to be actually directed towards how we can gain a clarity, how we can gain a way of working,

[03:45]

how we can break through this particular problem of this particular situation, our whole life. So, the deception is something, the main point of work, working through in this spiritual practice, it's the main thing, but we are really letting our whole energy and our whole focus of how we can break through that particular deception. And as a way of working, from the Vajrayana point of view, the whole thing, or from the Dzogchen point of view, the whole thing, it seems to be sometimes, whatever we do is just a deception.

[04:48]

Our whole expression becomes a deception. There's hardly nothing you can do without deception, because nothing is really happening. So the whole thing we are trying to do something, even we are trying to do our practices, we are trying to do chanting, we are trying to wear different clothes, we are trying to sit on the Zafu, we are trying to meditate on the Zafu, the whole thing seems to be a pure deception.

[05:53]

Because they are not happening, the whole thing seems to be a deception. You know what I mean? Like just two days ago, we don't know who we are doing prayers for, we are so serious that we try to go to a temple, go to a church, and we are not sure whether we are doing a prayer to make, oh please help me, make me strong, make me good, improve me, constant struggle, and where there is no sense of liberation.

[07:03]

It looks like almost we just left it, the whole thing is so clear. So we are not sure who we are doing for whom, sometimes. So on one level the whole thing seems to be a pure deception, and it looks like, seems to be that we have actually put ourselves so down, so down, because nothing is actually happening. And we put ourselves so down that we put ourselves sitting on a Zafu and trying to do a meditation, whatsoever, we could almost call that there is like a terrible thing happening. It's almost like what we would call in English, that's really a sacrilege, the worst thing, a terrible thing to do, some kind of fabrication.

[08:24]

But, but, [...] something, we experience some kind of imprisonment, which is a deception. And trying to make our way out seems to be also a deception.

[09:44]

So what we really do, actually there is nothing to do. Because whatever you try to do is a deception. And how does that particular deception arise? It's because as long as that particular deception, the notion of survival, which holds the image of that particular deception, as long as that particular notion of survival, we could say, is not dissolved or not liberated, the deception always keeps on functioning. Deception always keeps on functioning.

[10:52]

And how we can use that particular deception, using the deception itself, to make a way out of that, seems to be the scrutiny of wisdom. That's the only material we can work upon. There is no other material than itself. So that seems to be our zafu, and that seems to be our way of sitting, and that seems to be what we try to bring about, the wisdom put into action, which seems to be the scrutiny and wisdom put into action. In that way, as it is explained, after some time, even the thinker has deserted too.

[12:02]

The one who is trying to do the whole thing, the whole game of survival, the whole game that I need to get enlightened, the whole game that I have to become free, there is something very important underneath all of them, that me has to get enlightened. That particular deception, me, that particular deception, notion of survival, has to gain the enlightenment, which itself is a notion of a game, which is a gimmick, actually. Which itself is something quite humor, trying to be that serious, and trying to do the whole discipline of sitting so tightly and so uptight, at a particular level, seems to be some kind of humor.

[13:03]

But, it's important to, until the chain, until the chain of deception, until that very game, until the game, or until the chain of that game, that particular deception, is not loosened up, somehow, very strangely, things always maintain that particular image of the deception. We could laugh at it. We could laugh at it, that we did a bad job, of not being able to cut that chain, which is so simple, that nothing actually is happening at all. And, also laugh at it, that we are trying to sit and do some meditation, from that point of view.

[14:20]

But, we can't laugh at it, in a most, with the imprisonment, most imprisoned notion, that we can't do it in some kind of theoretical way. It has to be, it has to be some sense of understanding, some sense of opening, taking place at the same time. That laughing takes place naturally, that humor comes naturally. And, also, definitely, the humor comes by understanding, and at the time of opening, the humor seems to be much more, much more expanse, and infinitely, than the previous humor. I think this seems to be the main thing of the Vajrayana practice.

[15:30]

The whole thing which has been introduced to you, the visualization, the practice of mantra, the sitting, the whole thing is a way of working out how far you can take that particular deception, and how you can work with that deception, is something that, which actually, the whole thing, you are giving into yourself. And, usually, that something, that particular deception, that particular notion of survival, underneath, lying in all the business we do, in all kinds of life situations, in our life situations of work, in our life situations of practice, in our life situations of everything we do, there seems to be something very big deal, and something very serious and important. And, that very nature of the serious, that very nature of that very big deal, that seems to be quite funny.

[16:35]

Seems funny, and at the same time, yet, we get back. That seems to be even more funny. It's like a double humor, you know. And, the more funny it is, then you could hate it after that, it's even more funny. You could hate yourself, you know. And, it seems to be quite a humor for the Buddhas and Devas. So, there has to be a way of working out,

[17:48]

which is the main practice of the Vajrayana, of the Dzogchen. The whole teaching in Buddhism is entirely based on how we work it out, how we make major breakthrough. You know, there was this lama in Tibet, and he was very serious about his enlightenment, very serious. And, he could never laugh, he could never see the... And, it's not that one is blaming about him that you don't laugh or whatsoever, but simply, as long as that chain, that deception is not seen properly,

[18:53]

things doesn't seem to be opened. Things always seem to be chained up, locked up. Things always seem to be tight and uptight and deadly, and no cherishing, no celebration, all the time. Everything is very closed, everything is very narrow, everything is very limited, everything has like 24-hour deadline, all the time. Lots of deadline, all the time. So, then this lama, he was practicing, he was so serious in his practice. This is in Kunzang Lame Shelo, in the text. So serious all the time in his practice, that he was in his cabin, maybe a little room or whatever.

[19:54]

Mostly in Tibet, they have little room, but there is only one bed here, and you know, it's very comfortable in a retreat room. Here is your bed, here is your altar, here is your stove, here is your pots. So, all you have to do is, you know, like here, here is your bed, and then there is a pot, you know, and here, underneath the table, there are vegetables and everything. So, it's very easy, very maneuverable, very practical, actually. So, it must be a little room, and there was his altar, like the altar is always faced towards oneself. And then, as he was doing his practice, he was so serious in the whole visualization, into the whole practice, that he could hardly see, everything was a very important notion.

[21:02]

The whole notion seems to be absolutely some kind of spiritual materialism. Some kind of spiritual materialism. What we call spiritual materialism, as long as the spiritual is taken as a chain, as a category, it's called spiritual materialism. So, he could hardly laugh at all. And people would come. Suicide is deadly, very serious thing, I have to get out of suicide. No ordinary thought. No ordinary thoughts. Pure thoughts. Pure thoughts. Absolutely pure thoughts. Someone said, Mercedes Benz, terrible.

[22:11]

Only the name of all the pure ones. Whatever. So then, he was so serious. And then, one day as he was meditating, he saw on his altar, there was a turquoise, you know, on his altar. Maybe someone gave it to him or whatever. And as he was doing his practice, he hardly had a smile on his face usually. Because he was absolutely, he wanted to get enlightenment. Absolutely. And his expectation of that enlightenment was so strong, that he couldn't see his own nature. It seems to be what we call spiritual. And then, as he was doing his practice, he saw this mouse coming up and trying to take the turquoise.

[23:20]

The mouse came out of the hole and tried to take the turquoise. And of course, mouse is small, you know. Is it mouse or rat? Mouse. Mouse is small. Rats too in India. Oh, Indian rats are this big. In Ladakh, the military, because we never have rats in India. So, the rats came with Indian military food supplies to Ladakh. So, I heard at the military camp, there was one army, you know, his nose was cut off by a rat. So, six, seven of them can chase a cat. That big, very big. So, it was a rat. In Tibet, at that time, there was no Indians. So, there was a mouse. In Tibet, there are small mouses. And this mouse was coming and trying to pick up the turquoise and take it.

[24:25]

That's the play of the samsara. So, the mouse came and tried to pick up that turquoise. And actually, the turquoise was a little too heavy for the little mouse. And the mouse went to its den and called another mouse. So, another mouse came and now they both tried to help and tried to take away. And they couldn't do it too. So, they went back and they called a bunch of them now. Six, seven of them. So, six, seven of the mouse came and tried to drag the turquoise. And then this practitioner, for the first time, you know, it's so funny. He thought, what the mouse is going to do with the turquoise? It was, the whole thing was such a funny. And so, there was something, a very powerful experience at that moment in his mind.

[25:29]

The seriousness, the play, the game of it. And it burst into a laugh at that time. And that's like beginning a very powerful experience in his enlightenment. So, naturally, we can see similar to that kind of experience in ourselves. Lots of deadlines. Lots of seriousness. Which seems to be sometimes some kind of obstacles. So... So, the point is, the point is that...

[26:35]

To begin with, fundamentally, we could really say that the world is cheerful through devotion. There is something... Delights naturally. Because nothing is really happening. From the essence level. When the chain is broke. When the deception is cut. The whole notion of seriousness. The whole big deal. The whole geography you create. You create your own geography. You create your own ego. You create your own territory.

[27:41]

No one else told you to do it. So... And once we have created that particular deception, something we have done a bad job on ourselves. And then there is a skillfully, which arises from the space of wisdom. And... We can see that and we can cut the chain and we can work it out. How we can work it out seems to be the main point.

[28:49]

And... And how we can work it out, I would say, you know, tie you up with your zafu. And also... And make you crazy. You know, I told a long time ago, the yogis, the practitioners, when they are in the retreats, since there is no people around,

[29:51]

in order to completely bring the patience, to learn the patience, they bring a monkey. Because monkey never stays. The monkey jumps here. You have a monkey in your house, you don't know what it will do. Jump from here and jump from there, jump on your head. And you are doing your practice and that's how you bring your patience. That's how you see your patience. I guess sometimes your Vajra Master will create that kind of situation. I don't know. They come in many different ways.

[30:54]

Yes. If I tell you, then you will be on guard. You know how to deal with it. It will be always unexpected. The thing is... As they say, if you want to make a mad man insane, you have a monkey. Right. Yeah, that sounds very good. Yeah. Right. It's like, you know, it's so decadent, it ceases to be decadent. Like the mad man is absolutely insane, and now the monkey is even more insane. He has become sane. So, there has to be some kind of, as I said, fundamentally,

[31:57]

in our approach to the practice, there has to be some sense of openness. Yes. And at the same time, that openness comes with the scruple, which is called discipline. Already everyone is very serious. How did you hear the word discipline? There has to be some sense of discipline, which is the practice of the Bodhisattva Yatha, scruple path, Bodhisattva means the wisdom of the scruple path, which in Sanskrit, it is called Shila.

[33:02]

And the whole teaching of Bodhisattva means the scruple path and the wisdom. How we can put together is the teaching of Shantideva. I think that book has come out. There is one Gilogeshe translated that book. I just saw one time, and I haven't seen the second time. It looks very good book. It's Shantideva's teaching translated. It's completely on wisdom mind and scruple meaning of wisdom. You should read that. It's a very, very good book. Very good book. Shantideva is one of the greatest teachers of the Bodhisattva, who has founded the greatest teaching of Bodhisattva. And the whole teaching is based on how to work with those particular situations or chaos, neurosis, the whole discipline which comes about here. And as it goes, you come to the ninth chapter, then it becomes open and open.

[34:04]

It's one of the main approach to the greater vision of Mahayana. Greater vision, greater celebration, greater understanding and open mind of the Mahayana is a very important study and practice of the Shantideva's teaching, Bodhisattva Avatara. The text is called Bodhisattva Avatara. Shantideva has his own history. Shantideva has been a prince in India to a southern king of India. And then as he was about to be enthroned, tomorrow morning, Manjushri was his personal connection. And Manjushri appeared in his dream and was sitting on the throne

[35:12]

which he was about to be enthroned the next day. And then Manjushri asked him, Oh son, do you want to sit on the same seat of your teacher? And at that time it was a teaching message for Shantideva to find his liberation. So then, the moment he woke up, he realized, Oh, he meant not to take the role of the king, because if I took the role of the king, the only problem, there's nothing wrong with being a king, but the problem is the circle of deception, which one wouldn't have the chance to be free from the deception. It seems to be the main thing. And there was nothing wrong with the appearance. Naropa said, Oh son, there is nothing wrong with the appearance, but you wouldn't be caught by appearance, you would be caught by claiming the deception. So, once the deception is liberated, nothing matters. That's the practice.

[36:14]

Naturally, the sun shines. Wherever the sun shines, the darkness is lightened up. Same thing, wherever the wisdom shines, the neurosis is liberated. The deception is liberated. So then Shantideva, he appeared in the dream, Manjushri appeared in the dream, and Shantideva, it was a very important message for Shantideva. And then Shantideva, the moment he woke up, he thought, that's a sign that I should completely find my liberation, otherwise I would be distracted with the role of a king. So then, immediately he left the palace, ran away. And he went to Nalanda University, where he met his teacher, and he has a very unusual stage behavior in the whole university.

[37:18]

While everyone is going to study every day, he was actually doing his meditation. But his way of meditation was not based like we were sitting on a zafu. His way of meditation was sleeping all day. And eating more than anyone else. So they give him the nickname, everyone thought he is the dismay to the whole university, because Nalanda University was the greatest Buddhist monastery, university in India. And someone who comes to the Nalanda University, someone like going to Harvard University here, and the worst student at the Harvard University, they think he is like a dismay, like a disregard to the whole university. Disgrace. Disgrace to the whole university.

[38:22]

So then, they called him, the nickname called him, Eating, Sleeping and Shitting. Busuku. How do you say that in Sanskrit? Busuku. And, you know, in those days, where the examinations are given, the way the school education functions, it's not like today where we go and sit in an examination room and, you know, pick up the paper. I guess it's very much verbal and seen on their qualification than on a paper. That's one of the major difference, even in Tibet,

[39:25]

when it's not just in the paper, when it's not regarded, when one has to give the whole test to see their ability into their practice or into their intellectual, whatever, whether it's intellectual or whether it's a realization, whatever, in front of the teacher. So, that could be any unexpected situation which will come. And it is based, the whole credit, let's say, on an earthly level, the whole credit is given on that base of their direct personal understanding. So... So, they used to do that each day, one of these great panditas, all the great panditas in the university, one by one, they have to sit on the main big throne, which they make, and they have to give teaching. Because in Buddhist tradition,

[40:26]

when someone's doing dharma teaching, one has to make the throne because of the truth of dharma, one has to respect that. So then, it came now, Busuku's turn, Shantideva's turn. And when it came to Shantideva's turn, then, now, all the, many of them, they want to disgrace him this time, and they want to kick him out of the university once and for all. That's the only way you can do it. Otherwise, by law, you can't do it on earth. And of course, many of them were naturally, they're just scholars, but they were not enlightened, so they couldn't see his mind too. So then, when his turn came, they all gathered, and they all talked together, OK, let's make a little higher throne than usual. Let's make his throne a little bit higher than usual.

[41:27]

Because in that way, he would be so ashamed that he would completely leave the university. And he doesn't know anything. How he can know? He sleeps all the time. So then when his teacher asked him, Can you do that? They're all asking, And are you sure you want to do that? Don't you want to resign, saying that I don't want to do it? He said, No. And his teacher was really shocked. His teacher kind of knew who he was. But then there was a pressure. But now one also has to work with the earthly level. One also has to work with other people, trying to make that kind of game. One has to work between himself and others. So that's what happens, whatever.

[42:29]

There's that level taking place also sometimes. And then, when it came to his turn, then somehow the throne was so high that many people didn't see how he sat on the throne. And somehow he put his hand right like that, and he climbed on it. Well, he sat on the throne. And then all the monks and all the preceptors were gathered there. The whole conference, the whole thing. And he asked them, Should I give a teaching, something which you heard before, or should I give a teaching which you never heard before? And they said, Yeah, say something which we never heard before.

[43:33]

And then he started giving the Bodhisattva Upanishad teaching. He said, There is nothing new here also, nothing new than the essence of the Dharma. And there is nothing particularly great in my own way of putting it. But I'm going to give this message to those who are interested. To those who are serious like me. And to myself, to help myself, I'm writing. I'm giving this teaching. Ten chapters of Bodhisattva Upanishad. One of the greatest teachings of the modern teaching. Incredible. When you read that, you can cry. How he loses the basic sanity. You can pray that you will lose your sanity. Tremendous book. It is a very powerful teaching. And when he came to the ninth chapter, then he raced into the space from the throne.

[44:46]

And the whole nine and ten chapters was basically given to the space. And at that time, all the predators got shocked. And we missed such an opportunity. In the middle of all of us, there was this jewel. And we didn't realize. And there is a saying in Tibetan. When you have the jewel, you don't realize. And when it goes, then there is a heartache. It's too late. So then, he flew. And in that chapter, Shantideva explained all this. And wisdom. How to put it together. How to put it into practice. The whole practice of the six paramitas. Very, very clearly how to practice it. So the thing seems to be, going back to our own thing, it seems to be the notion of the discipline, which is called Sheila, which is called the skilful meaning.

[45:50]

Working with those particular situations. Discipline doesn't mean that you have to sit tight and salute or whatever. That doesn't mean discipline. That's a very narrow way of watching to the ordinary way of discipline. But once you truly understand a discipline, it's not like the hassle discipline. Usually we have that kind of very heavy-handed, heavy approach to a discipline. And the whole discipline doesn't seem to work. You could have taken some kind of particular vow. And the whole thing seems to be some kind of big deal. You seem to have taken some kind of discipline or whatever you've been told to do. And instead of just working that out, we just think of that word called discipline. And that's where we get stuck sometimes. We feel like some kind of pressure.

[46:54]

We feel like something that if we don't do it, we're not going to get it. Or either you get it or you don't get it. Something like that. And that kind of notion seems to be one of the big problems that we still have. It's actually a lack of understanding of that discipline. It's none of the people's mind. Discipline is not something of a neurosis being imposed upon your tight grip of the deception. The whole neurosis and the tight grip of deception. It's a whole messy world. There's nothing to do with that. It is absolutely just the mind itself. There's no difference between the mind and the discipline. It's just the discipline which is yourself. There's no other thing than yourself.

[47:55]

And that seems to be something your practice will make it more open. Make it more clear. So therefore, in that way, the discipline seems to be functioning. The discipline seems more reasonable. The discipline seems more reasonable in functioning in all kinds of life situations. It's become reasonable. When we say reasonable, it becomes more light. The discipline doesn't seem to be a big hassle. Either you get it or you don't get it. There's no such thing as the big deal, confused condemnation at all. As I said, at that particular level, the discipline itself gives experience to the student mind.

[49:01]

And so, there is a natural discipline. It's not some kind of a discipline you usually think. It is basically unfolding. It is basically the nature of that which is the mind. It's something which gives us some sense of coolness at the beginning until one has reached the Dzogchen level. And within that coolness, there is deep opening which is the Dzogchen method. So, it gives some kind of coolness with that particular skilful meaning. That discipline, imposing on neurosis, gives a coolness on the heated aggression, neurosis, passion of samsara mind.

[50:06]

Which seems to be a very big deal. It seems to be that we are caught in that particular chain, that particular imprisonment. Instead of feeling ourselves all the time caught in that imprisonment, we can freely, openly put that discipline into practice and then work it out. No one told you to be caught in that. It's your free choice. You can do that. So, the practice of paramitas seems to be one of the major, major wisdom and skill in working our way out of deception. And as I said, the more, when you put that into action, that skillful meaning,

[51:11]

the student experiences more possibilities and then naturally that discipline doesn't become a hassle anymore because it's become very reasonable. It's become part of your life. It's become part of you. It's become part of your sanity. It doesn't become something foreign to you. It doesn't become something, something only came out of text to you. It doesn't become the doctrine of Vajrayana. It doesn't become the doctrine of the Shantideva or whatever. It's part of your own self. You identify yourself with the teaching at that time. And the teaching and practice put together, you identify with the teaching. So at that time, the teaching doesn't seem to be sacred, because you're simply a part of it.

[52:11]

And the teaching ceases to be that following. And our doubts and our deception, when the deception begins to open up, begins to, we could say, cut through, or we could say liberated, or we could say, when it begins to kind of, when the deception begins to dissolve, or cut through, whatever, whatever you might say, at that time, that whole situation seems to be precise and clear, and celebration in your life. That's exactly the essence of knowing yourself. So the whole heavy-handed business, the whole thing, the whole dharma doesn't seem to be something foreign to you anymore. That is the deftness of the wisdom and skill, deftness.

[53:17]

If you don't have the deftness, if you don't bring the wisdom and skill together, naturally you will be caught like in the, then like in the, like in the church, like Catholic church, where you're always condemned. That seems to be different. Where the wisdom and skill is not brought together. Either you get it, or you don't get it. Either you believe to God, or you don't believe to God. It's like black and white. That doesn't seem to be how things are. So in that way, you feel very conflict. You feel conflict with that world. You feel pressure. You feel alienated, and you feel resistant, you feel resentment. Now, you know, it doesn't make reason to me. So therefore, discipline, that puts it in mind.

[54:18]

It's skillfully, skillfully how to, skillfully how to, how to break through that deception. And once the deception is broken, then there is nothing, there is no, then there is no discipline imposed, because discipline itself, it takes the discipline itself at that level. The whole notion, the whole discipline which is taught to you in the teaching, the whole discipline which is emphasized to you in the practice, the whole way of working through has been liberated at that time. So, it's just that you give it to yourself, and you open up yourself. So, the skillful mean of that integrating, working with our life situation is

[55:39]

by imposing the discipline, which is the skillful mean of our mind, into our life situation, then there will be an enlargement. There will be humor, there will be some sense of openness, some sense of reason that will be taking place all the time. All the time there will be a celebration. All the time. In your practice, in your world, everywhere there is some kind of celebration. But if you don't understand how to do that, then there is always a conflict. Basically, that's where we experience so many conflicts, so many disappointments, because lack of, you know, you say, I have a problem because you are not able to deal with the situation properly. And how that happens, because of some kind of deception, and some kind of lack of wisdom, and lack of skill, which actually is the most unreasonable thing.

[56:42]

We could say that. Or we could now, instead of always going towards doing, repeating the same kind of confusion, repeating the same kind of situation, we could just, we could just relate precisely with that situation, with the wisdom. And for that, the Bodhisattva practice seems to be one of the most important, one of the most important, in order to open up our mind, we could say, in order to liberate the deception, in order to, as I said, the wisdom we bring about is by the practice of sitting meditation, and the skillfulness is how we deal with the world situation. In bringing those together, then there is some kind of celebration of enlightenment taking place.

[57:49]

So, after this retreat, I'm going to tie you up with your zafu. Or create a psychological zafu. You will see zafu everywhere. We can even get some mushrooms, a particular mushroom invented to sing zafus. So, the practice of the second parameter, which is called the disciplined shila, is one of the main things which a person knows how to work with,

[59:07]

work with the life situations, work with all kinds of situations. In the Bodhisattva Avatara text, there are many reference points, many reference points on that bodhisattva mind, and on that discipline, the arising of the discipline. In many Mahayana teachings, the arising of the discipline, the arising of the state, is called like the beginning of the moon, and then the development of the moon, and then there is the full moon, which is the emphasized reference on the three kinds of moon in the Mahayana sutras.

[60:10]

Beginning of the moon. What do you say, beginning of the moon? New moon. New moon. When the moon rises. When the moon rises. What is called when the moon rises? Waxing. Moon waxing. No, waxing is when it's... Down of the moon is... Waning. Waning is small and waxing is big. No, when it's just beginning to arise, it's the arising of the moon, the arising of the discipline. That particular notion of the arising of the moon is like the skilful means, the wisdom, seeing the situation, which is taking the celebration of awakening, which a student sees some kind of possibility at that time. A student sees a possibility at that time,

[61:20]

the arising of the moon, which is the cool bodhisattva mind. Cool. Cooling where? Cooling the aggression of the mind. Cooling the... The cool is opposite to the hot, opposite to the heat. The heated aggression of the mind, because there is, you know, all neuroses, all deceptions, all kinds of worse, simsaric situations, are like a heated situation. They are not like a cool situation. They are not called cool passions. They are heated passions. It's like heated, our minds are heated, and our bodies are heated, and completely, all the time, living in that chaos, and dwelling in that chaos,

[62:21]

and the whole thing seems to be the expression of the deception, the expression of the heated situation. So, the first level, at that second level, the student begins to work with the shila, when you integrate that particular deception, impose that particular skillful deception, skillful discipline, impose this particular skillful discipline to that working situation, you begin to see the rise of the moon, the cool moon, in the end of the summer time. During the end of the summer, it's very hot in autumn. So, that end of summer is the example of the simsaric mind. You begin to see the rising of the cool moon, and you begin to experience, which is like seeing possibilities, and at that time, the discipline becomes reasonable. The discipline doesn't seem to be a hassle. It's just, it's become part of your mind, and it's very reasonable,

[63:22]

and it's very open, and it's very literally cooling. It's like literally on the heated, tempered simsaric mind and body, literally the cool, cool discipline of mind, entering into your mind stream. And that's what happens after that time, which is called the booster mind. And then, at that time, there is also an experience of that darkness, the darkness of the heated, of that darkness, that confusion, seems to be waning away, seems to be disappearing away, and the whole, there is a, there is a confusion, and there is a promise, there is a promise, there is a possibility, that the world is something cool, you can do something, something better,

[64:23]

you can heal it, you can plant that rising moon, that kind of cool bodhisattva mind, and you can share something with the world, and it gives a new vision, a new experience, and a reason for working with this cool discipline. You don't always have to heat yourself up, you don't always have to scream, you don't always have to complain, you don't always have to, like, you know, in Tibetan, they have said, when a person does meditation, he cannot sit for a long time, they say, what's the problem? Do you have warm, you know, all over your body? You know, scratching, what's the problem? Like, you know, you're not, you're no longer, you're no longer at that time being caught in that heated temperate of aggression,

[65:25]

and, and be cooled by that coolness. So then, there's the experience of rising of the moon, which is called the first level of working with that particular situation, of the discipline, which is the discipline, the discipline, bodhisattva discipline. And then, as it begins to rise and rise, there is more celebration, there is more, more opening, there is more joy, there is more, there is more, naturally, there is tremendous energy, and tremendous joy in working, a tremendous, natural, it's not a neurosis kind of joy, a natural sense of cooling, which you are able to radiate to this whole world, to the whole life situations. In that way, bodhisattva takes some kind of, some kind of celebration in working with the chaos of the world.

[66:29]

With that experience, we call it bodhisattva, because now the whole thing seems reasonable, the whole thing seems to be open, but there isn't anything, you have been put by some kind of text, or some kind of idea, or something which only came from the teaching of Buddhism, that that's how it is. No, it seems to be part of your own life, part of your own business, part of your own school. Then things seem to be more reasonable. And when it's more reasonable, then you begin to have the first trust. Then you begin to, it's the beginning, it's the rising of your opening mind at the same time. That is one of the main practices, one of the main practices, we call, we call, we call, is many, all the great masters, all the great teachers in the past practiced on that path of bodhisattva.

[67:34]

So now we will do some meditation here. So here we will do meditation, and we will do the breathing meditation this morning. We, on occasion, we use deception to cut deception. Like somebody who throws a dog a bone to keep the dog quiet while they steal the laundry off the line. We could say that. Yeah, we could say that. It's like two sticks rubbing together, and they catch a fire, and then they both dissolve. Sometimes it's permissible. Yes, yes. As I said, the whole thing is a deception. And how, how we can, how we can work it out, that's what is called Sukhumit,

[68:36]

putting the wisdom and Sukhumit together. And you could say that, like, to, the analogy is put, like two, two harsh firewoods rubbed together makes a fire, and, and both dissolve. On the meditation about what is your mind, I find myself beginning to look at it more like, what is the self? What is itself? What is, what is myself? Exactly, right. Is that the same? Yes. Well, what is myself, what is myself is slightly different than what is the mind. Though they're similar, but you could make a sometimes mistake. The mistake is, what is myself,

[69:39]

you're going to say, where is Susan? But you still have a very strong grip to that particular name, to that particular identity, your personality, you see. So you start to look, where is Susan? Which, it, it could be the right way sometimes. It could be the right way to begin. So you start to find first of all where you are, and you don't find yourself. Something. And if you don't find yourself, then the second thing, naturally you're going to get connected with that particular personality. So then, you know, that's mean to say you get connected with your mind. And then you begin to see where is your mind, and how is your mind. Yes, so that's the right way. You can do that. That's the right way. But still, there's some kind of pattern you could hold to it, you could frame to it. You frame the space. So the thing is, that very notion of myself, which arises, you have, that very projective,

[70:41]

the whole projective, the whole drama, which creates the whole geography, you have to see to the very basic, basic projective. Okay, so, can I ask a question? Yes. So, if you see that yourself is the grasping, and a survival, so, then you go farther and say, what is mind beside that? What is there else beside grasping? Now there's also, you know, now the grasping mind becomes, takes another form. The deception takes, extends its empire now. It's become more subtle, more, a little bit like empty. But yet, there's some kind of presentation coming out. So, but it's the grasping mind that's asking the question in the first place, isn't it?

[71:43]

Well, it's, yeah. You know, that particular deception, it's not necessarily because it's the grasping mind asking the question. There's some sense of clarity. There's some sense of clarity. But the whole clarity seems to be focused absolutely on that particular deception right now. Whatever you think is some kind of deception. All your expression becomes a deception. But that doesn't mean that you are deceptive. Your nature is deceptive. Your fundamental nature is deceptive. That doesn't mean at all. It is more like a confused, confused expression. It's a confused experience. That notion of whole deception.

[72:43]

And when you experience that openness, there is a clarity. It doesn't become empty. It doesn't become blind. It doesn't become blank. There's a clarity. You could say a total clarity, a total sanity. But how we don't experience that is that deception which comes in so many forms trying to preserve its image. So let's say you overcome the image of your particular image which you have at this point something hard, whatever you feel. That's something which hurts. Whatever. So let's say you come in contact with that particular image. So now you think, Aha! I've seen the deception. Now I'm free. So you take some kind of... You take some kind of...

[73:46]

There's some kind of insight At the same time, it is not the fundamental sanity. Because now it shifts to another side much more slippery. As I said, it's very slippery. It shifts to another side. So then you think, Ah! I attained something. But again after some time you find yourself in chaos. So you keep on having to keep on. And then until the whole thing becomes absolutely like a stainless sky. How upsetting. Well... It makes me sort of nuts because... It's just ceaseless. It's like this machine. Well, that you have to... That you have to do it. You have to have this space.

[74:49]

And you have to create the situation. And as I said, both the teacher and the student work together on that. So we will do it. Yes? Like what she was saying, I had that experience of a ceaseless machine. And then I would become aware of my reaction to that. Angry at it for... You know, feeling like it's destruction. Like wanting to destroy something. Yes. And just watching that. Because that just comes from grasping. Yes. It's insecurity. Insecurity. That notion of survival. Notion of survival naturally spring that heated neurosis. That heated... Heated, unstable ground of samsara. The whole thing is a deception. The whole thing really doesn't exist at all. The whole thing is a deception. Yet at the same time it appears.

[75:53]

That's called illusion. Now, when that happened, I thought of you talking about the cooling of bodhichitta mind. Yes. Exactly. And I love that. It seems to open. And it seems to give relief. But is that a light use of that? Yes. That's the right one. You impose the skillful men of the discipline when situation arises. If you don't impose the skillful men discipline when situation arises, they're never going to work. You're never going to experience the experience of the dharma. It simply becomes like a theory. This doesn't help. It's like you have all the clothes and it's so cold and you don't wear the clothes. It's not going to help you. So that's where we have to bring the meditation into action in dealing with those situations, life situations. Does that work very well? Oh, definitely. That's the nature.

[76:53]

As I said, the discipline no longer becomes some kind of asshole. It's become more reasonable. It gives the student the experience of many possibilities. And naturally, it just doesn't become some kind of pressure. That's the core Buddhist. How might one do that? How might one draw in the Buddhist into mindfulness? Excuse me? I was wondering how one might do that at that type of a moment, draw upon the Bodhisattva mind. When the situation arises. And what specifically is the practice that we have to do that? Well, the Bodhisattva, like, before we, in one draw, we do the Bodhisattva mind, and it's really knowing the whole. Bodhisattva mind is the whole meditation

[77:55]

of the Bodhisattva mind. And then, as I mentioned this morning, please try to read the book about it, Bodhisattva Avatar Teaching, and into those texts, the Bodhisattva nature is very clearly mentioned. So you will have a better vision, and you will have a better knowledge of the Buddha in those situations. Yes? Yesterday, when we were talking about this meditation, you spoke, first we looked at the mind, the place, its power, but I didn't understand what we do the second, third thing. Could you repeat that? I think that we will go through, right now it's a little too early, because if we think too early, because before what we have to do, then also it becomes, sometimes it's better to go one by one. So main thing, as I said,

[78:59]

we have to deal with those situations, as the particular difference in Buddhism is we are the center of that mandala. You are the main thing. So you have to, if there is a problem in your space, that's your problem, to put it straight, you have to deal with that problem. And how you deal with that problem, you have to bring the skilful means and wisdom together. And the whole Sangha, let's say, the Lama, the three, you know, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or whatever, the Lama creates the situation, and you create the situation, but there has to be some kind of willingness to work with the situation, seems to be the main, that wisdom, wisdom, which is ready to go into it and work with the situation,

[80:01]

is the wisdom. And how you work with the situation is the skilfulness. If you don't have the wisdom strength, you are not going to go into it and face it, you are always going to slip up, you are always playing seek and hide, which is the samsaric game. So, you need that wisdom, that kind of taking risk, or kind of taking that kind of gut, that bravery, you need to bring that bravery, where you go and see and face it. And after meeting, you work with the particular situation, which is called the skilful way. That's very important. That relates within ourselves, that relates in our whole world. All kinds of situations. Yes. There is a situation in my life where I feel that someone without meaning to particularly,

[81:02]

because of his own difficulties, I feel he will cause me and my children harm. And I want to stay open to him, because he is a person that is not well. But, yet, I find my heart closing a lot, because I am afraid, and I don't really know how to work with it, so that I can feel safe. And also open. Something, basically, this kind of situation, the both sides need to have some kind of understanding, some kind of basic principle understanding, to have that willingness

[82:05]

to work together. Now, both have to create the situation. You alone cannot create, and the other person alone cannot create. The both have to create the situation. There has to be some fundamental mutual creation. There has to be a mutual creation of the situation. One cannot, like, for instance, a teacher may give this teaching, but if the student doesn't work, there is nothing one can do. Buddha said, I have shown you the path of liberation, now it's up to you whether you get enlightened or not. So, mutual, mutual creation. So, it depends on his part, but his part will also depend on your part. Because, how you express the situation, there is also that. So, I guess, basically, many of the situations, what we really need to bring is that transplant the core

[83:06]

bodhicitta mind into our heart. And, things really change. Things seem to be working properly at that time. But, if we lose that bodhicitta mind, we lose the bodhicitta mind from an absolute level, which is the very basic nature of our mind, the very basic sanity. Then, that is the source of the whole confusion for all sides. Because that creates, naturally, there is a fear, there is insecurity, and one wants to be very careful, you want to protect your area, absolutely. So, in that way, it becomes part of your problem, and naturally it's also part of the other person's problem. So, someone has to develop stronger and whichever the best thing both work, if it's not, one side has to do something and try to heal it in any way. And not to, perhaps,

[84:10]

it doesn't mean that one has to just absolutely, like, you know, you have to see how you feel, but at the same time, there is, it is also a fear of trying to close it, to lose what you said about your heart. So, you need to work out in your space, in your space you have to work out. At the same time, when you work in your space, there is some kind of shining out of your space, which will be a skippable situation, in working, in situation which you're going to meet in that situation. In meeting with that situation, that skippableness is going to lead to that particular situation. So, I would say, please, transcribe what you said. Is it clear?

[85:15]

Yes? Yes. Rinpoche, aren't there some situations that I can tell of in life, relationships that can be so dangerous to you, emotionally or whatever, that you just have to cut them, or that person will, you know, it's going to pull you down, it's going to drown you too. Or is that just a lack of compassion and you're just putting off the karma to deal with it another time? That's, I can't give you a precise answer for that. It could be both. It is, it's a very individual situation, you know, there could be, someone could never understand there are that situations. And if you are not strong, if you are not strong, it could be some kind of problem for you.

[86:19]

Your problem, I mean. Yeah, yeah. You know, it could be a problem for you. But that doesn't mean that your bodhicitta mind has to be that you don't, you don't care about that being, that doesn't mean. If you don't care about that being, that's simply you're, simply you're reaffirming your deception, you're reaffirming your fear. At that time, there will be a very strong bodhicitta mind, even you kind of, your heart is open absolutely, even you are not together. Your heart is absolutely open and you create all kinds of bad situations for that person. That is the real approach to Buddhism. It doesn't have the neurosis of rejection and then kind of hurt you. It's hard to say what kind of form it will take, but it is

[87:19]

inside absolutely embracing it, absolutely. There's cool bodhicitta, there's not that hot heated aggression at all. And if you have that, then you need to work it out, then it's simply your deception, you're losing it, basically. Thank you. In this situation, I think this has been mentioned several times, where one is thinking about the actions that one is performing, or the thoughts that one is having, and begins to wonder what the motivation behind them is, whether it is a positive or a virtuous motivation, or what the final result of those actions might be.

[88:21]

And then there may be a dialogue which starts with, am I doing this right? Should I be doing that? And in a situation like that, if one was able to, or think to, stop that internal dialogue, and stop wondering whether it's right, whether it's wrong, is to stop that conversation going on inside one's mind, and just proceed with the actions, but to essentially try to stop that debate, stop that dialogue inside. Would that be interpreted to be the developing of the bodhicitta mind? Excuse me, could you say that again? For example, if one is thinking about performing an action, doing something, and then one starts to wonder

[89:24]

whether I should be doing this, or whether I should not be doing this. Is my motivation correct in doing this? What is going to be the result? All these different questions, examining what one is doing. When that happens, what usually arises is an internal dialogue, a conversation you're having with yourself. Should I be doing this? Should I not be doing this? Back and forth. In a situation like that, if you're able to, or if you think of stopping that internal dialogue, stop talking to yourself, stop questioning, stop wondering, just proceed with an action and try and do that action correctly. Without all this internal dialogue, can anyone say that that is the development of the bodhicitta mind? And that it is what is stopping the dialogue and it's just allowing the action to occur? There is two ways

[90:26]

for that. One, it could be there is an approach to a situation like that which is called taking both good and bad situations and working together on the path. So, you're not particular about the situation because you see that if you're particular about the situation, it's simply that your whole particular, the notion of that particular itself is some kind of some kind of manifestation of a fear. It's an expression of deception. So, a person does, there is a practice which is yogic approach, one takes both good and bad on the path.

[91:26]

But at the same time, before a person does something like that, one does have some kind of understanding how to work with that. It doesn't mean that, okay, there is this good, good, you go and you know, you get terrible angry with somebody and you beat that person. That's not, that's not the case. You have a sense of, that already at that time the person has the cool bodhicitta in their mind, transplanted already and once that takes place, then there is a clear way of working in both kind of situations. But until that, when you have an action, it is important to see to do something good, seems to be important. It's a level of network. In being able to see the result of my

[92:33]

potential action and judge it to be good or bad, it's hard for me to know ahead of time, to have the clarity to know whether the result is going to be good for me or good for the person I'm dealing with. Yes. Well, you have to take the chance. The wisdom comes out of chance. You're sitting and your brain develops your wisdom. In your work, your situation relates with the situation. So then bringing it together, then you can know the situation much clearer. Perfect.

[93:54]

I seem to not have an expectation that there will ever be an end to the machine in a way. But if I take sort of a live and let live attitude, it seems that space opens somehow around each little scattered thought. What almost breaks this kind of goes. I don't know if it's wrong to not have hope that that situation would change, if it would be part of the stimulus. It's like I don't really have an expectation that my mind would stop having thoughts, but somehow the thoughts and the space seem interconnected. You say you don't have expectations?

[94:56]

It seems like maybe I should have some hope that my thoughts would stop. And yet I really don't. They seem closely connected with the space. I just, I don't know. I think it sounds quite complicated. I think you do have an expectation, you know. Because of your expectation, because of your expectation, that you want to stop your thoughts whatsoever. All kinds of situations take place. Expectation, what we call, expectation and expectation and expectation seems to be one of the

[96:06]

expressions of the deception. Expectation and it's not that you don't have expectation, I guess there is some kind of expectation involved. But the thing is, of course, you need inspiration, of course. You need inspiration to work at all. And it's called skippermen. And you have to work, and you have to work. You just have to, you have to sit more and and then you have to work the situation. And I wouldn't call it just to have an expectation of wanting to get out of that situation. It's wrong. It's not wrong. It is right to have some sense of expectation. Sometimes it is important. It's like, you know, you want to go and have a cup of tea. It's not exactly called expectation. It's just like there is a notion

[97:08]

of looking into the situation. So, I guess that's fine as long as we don't have that kind of deadly approach.

[97:22]

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