a famous student, Professor Leon Herwitz, out in Seattle, who was inquiring about the Madhumita view, and how whenever he would tell him that it was absolutely, you know, just like we've been, you know, it's insubstantial and it's really nothing to it and stuff like that, he would always think that within it's not existent, it is just, you know, it's just You know, it's non-existent. But he would say, no, no, no, you have to see that even though it is non-existent... I mean, you can't really say it's non-existent or existent, but you have to see that these are just concepts of the human mind, that none of them really correspond to what it's really like. You're looking for the real thing, what it really is like, away from all these constructions of the human mind. So try to see it like that. And that's what we did, what this particular perception we're talking about now, trying in conventional ways to say that it is quite, it is beyond that this experience, this perception is just not an object of thought or of expression.

[01:15]

Yes. And then you shouldn't waver in your mind either. You should have the mind very steady in this lucid realization. You're really seeing this, you see. All right. And this is... This stage. It is... It is just like... I don't know what I said there. All right. That... Just as Maitreya-anatta, the great bodhisattvas, Maitreya-anatta and Arya Nagarjuna both have said, here, and by here it means in this state of realization, this state of meditation, here there is nothing whatsoever to They said, here, there is nothing whatsoever to get rid of. there's not even the slightest bit of meditation to perform, not even the slightest bit of practice to perform, okay?

[02:51]

That here there is only the right perception of the real. And if you perceive the real rightly, you're free. And Sakyapandita also said, the great Sakyapandita also wrote about that same experience. He says, here in this state of the real, There is no existence nor non-existence, no meditator nor any meditation, nor any meditation which should be purported.

[04:03]

That if here No nature of mind at all is obtained. Then how can there be here any recognition of mind, any recognition of the nature of mind? So because it transcends, because it is not an object of expression, not an object of words. What are objects of words? It is not an object which can be described in words. It is not something which can be

[05:04]

It is not something which can be told. No, it is. Because it is not an object of words, there is here nothing at all to tell. Okay, so we'll conclude tonight's lesson with this poem. That is, that they are in their true nature, free of their, in their true nature, devoid of any real nature of their own. And finally, upon the conclusion of our lesson this evening, let us be mindful, sincerely from the heart, with sincere prayer to offer whatever merit, however small it may be,

[06:12]

which we have acquired through our efforts to come this evening to study, to listen to teachings of the Dharma. Let us sincerely from the heart dedicate and turn over all that merit through prayer to the true happiness and benefit of all other beings. Yes. Consider the significance of our... efforts to learn the Dharma here this evening, let us consider the significance of this situation. As the great Bodhisattva Shantideva wrote in his famous work, the Bodhicaryavatara, that the purpose of human existence is the attainment of the opportunity, of this rare opportunity to realize, to attain and realize the holy teachings of enlightenment.

[07:22]

And if this opportunity, if having been obtained, this opportunity of humanity is wasted, then how, in what way will it ever be regained? When we have been so fortunate as to obtain human birth, the opportunity to come in contact with the teachings of enlightenment and further have the good fortune to meet spiritual friends and teachers who are willing and able to explain those teachings and to guide us in their practice and realization. And finally, when we are so fortunate as to have the opportunity and the leisure to put those teachings, those instructions into practice and experience for ourselves the attainment of the great way and the perfection of Buddhahood,

[08:39]

then it is the height of self-deception if we, having attained such an opportunity, squander it through carelessness, laziness, distraction, or a lack of appreciation for of its true value and if having lost such an opportunity as we now have where is our guarantee where is the guarantee that we will ever regain such an opportunity as this when in which lifetime and which place from Which source are we going to have this auspicious conjuncture of our human existence, sufficient merit to find the teachings and teachers and leisure to practice?

[09:53]

If having all these opportunities and requisites available to us now, yet choose to squander them, What is it that makes us think that we will ever regain such an opportunity as this in the future? The gods who inhabit the realms of the devas are endowed with long lives. They may dwell at ease for what seemed to us incalculable periods of time.

[10:58]

Even those humans who were born in the world system, the northern world system of Utara Kuru, the continent of Utara Kuru, have fixed lifespans of one thousand years. And there are other species of beings who who lived for what seemed to us very long periods of time. But human beings are not like that. The lifespan of human beings by way of contrast to these species is very brief. And even

[12:01]

A so-called long human life is only rarely achieved in this world. People die at all stages of growth, of life. And those who attain even the maximum human lifespan of 17 decades, the number of those beings is quite small. So we humans haven't any guaranteed span of life, nor even a guarantee of reaching old age.

[13:10]

Not only is human life limited by by its nature of impermanence, that human life is brief, that the causes of death are many, the causes of life are few, and so forth, that we have always to deal with human impermanence. Not only do we have this, factor to consider, but also that human existence is again conditioned by karma, by the operation of the law of cause and effect.

[14:20]

The very fact, the very fact of our being here, of our presence here as human beings, says, should show us that we are, that it is our karmic actions of body, voice, and mind which have brought us this far. And if we are honest about our, most of our actions, about our actions committed by body, voice, and mind, we will recognize that for the most part our thoughts, our deeds of body, voice, and mind are not really motivated by virtue, or do not really produce virtue. That for the most part they are rooted in the defiled states of mind, they spring from defiled states of mind, from selfish desire, ignorance, and anger.

[15:33]

And that as a result, our karmic actions and their results are only going to be negative, are only going to be the further accumulation of unwholesome karma. And it is this very theme that has brought us here. It is this very theme that binds us here. It is that very, it is the same, the same negative mental states that has kept us wandering about in worldly existence, in the round of samsara, birth and death, from beginningless time. And it is still the same, the same pattern, the same... pattern of action and result is still going on. So if we're really honest with ourselves, we will see that very few of our actions could really be called virtuous. For the most part, they're not. So, when we take stock of our present situation,

[16:43]

we have also to consider our karmic destiny as well in the light of our present opportunity to practice dharana. Could we really bear to experience pain in the animal realm, in the hell realms, Therefore, could we stand even for a moment any small part of the intense pains and tortures that those beings who fall into hell or the intense darkness, mental darkness, confusion, ignorance and fear that are experienced by the animal realms and the various other manifested kinds of pain which make existence, samsaric existence, painful by nature for all beings.

[17:58]

Even if we manage even if we have managed so far, to avoid those terrible, intense pains of the lower realms. Even here, in the so-called happy states of existence of the humans, the gods, we are not free from the experience of suffering. even if we obtain the most fortunate kind of human existence, we are still subject by nature to experience the pains of birth, of disease, of old age, of death, of meeting with what we dislike, of parting from that which we like, of separation

[19:11]

and of being forced to do what we would not. These are the kinds of suffering which are the normal lot of ordinary human beings, even in the so-called happy states of existence. Even the long-lived gods are subject to the terrible mental agony of separating from the... of falling from those states of leisure and happiness into lower realms of existence since they too are... are... since their existence too is limited by the law of karma.

[20:21]

So they suffer unbearably through the through the change, through having to undergo against their will, this sudden transformation, this sudden downfall from this state, this loss of happiness, and this fall into lower realms. And so, even in the happier, even in these happy realms, the human life, and in the God realm, there are those three kinds of generalized suffering, which no one is going to avoid, the suffering of just pain per se, the kinds we have just described, mental and physical pain of one kind or another, birth, death, and so forth. The pain of change, of a change in one's fortune, of circumstances, of change in one's physical, mental well-being,

[21:28]

and of being forced to part with what you love and to encounter what you dislike, so forth, then there is just the suffering inherent in conditioned existence. That human existence arises from causes of ignorance, desire, and aversion. and through a misapprehension of reality. So rooted as it is in these basically erroneous causes, these causes which themselves are erroneous and which lead to erroneous perception and to erroneous experience of reality, All of this, by its very nature then, by its very nature of being so conditioned, human life is caught up in the suffering of conditioned existence.

[22:40]

Having taken stock then of our situation, Our next logical consideration should be what to do about it. This has been succinctly answered in the Abhidharma Kosha, in two lines of the Abhidharma Kosha written by the great Indian sage Vasubandhu, which he wrote that... Abiding in moral conduct... Abiding in moral conduct... No, no.

[23:57]

One who abides in moral conduct and applies himself to study and reflection should then... should then become assiduous in the practice of meditation. Now, Let us take that then as guidelines for the answer to our question.

[25:06]

What does one do about this problem of being a human being beset with both problems and opportunities, opportunities for liberation? One, it has been taught by the enlightened one and by all of the authentic great teachers of teachers throughout the centuries that one should... that to be a follower, a genuine follower of the great way of Mahayana Buddhism, one should awaken within oneself an enlightened attitude, that is, through love and compassion for all living beings, one develops an unshakable sincere resolve to strive for

[26:24]

the highest good of all living beings, and knowing that that highest good can only be achieved through one's own attainment of Buddhahood, this then, this resolved then, shapes and guides one's efforts on the spiritual path. So the path then begins with the... one's efforts then begins with this resolve to win in Buddhahood for the sake of beings. Now, one who has this intent at heart will not... wish to deceive beings by failing to help them through right practice.

[27:36]

So the sincere Mahayanaist will next train himself in the six paramitas, or the six transcendent virtues. Not because they are nice, but because they are their accomplishment is a natural outflow, a natural expression of this resolve known as the bodhicitta, this resolve to win enlightenment for the sake of beings. So, therefore, since the bodhisattva or follower of this Mahayana's path understands that he in order to fulfill his resolve, he needs both merit and wisdom or insight.

[28:54]

He requires merit and insight in order to attain Buddhahood, merit in order to purify the former accumulations of unwholesome karma and to attune the mind to the various stages of holiness. He needs insight in order to see things as they really are and not to become not to become caught up in them, and therefore be forced to remain in one or another form of bondage. So these six perfections, or six paramitas, are a natural expression of the bodhisattva's resolve.

[29:57]

The first three, his training, his or her training in giving, and the parameter of giving, the parameter of patience, and the parameter of moral conduct, and the parameter of patience. These three are an expression of his skill and means, or his methods. The methods whereby merit is to be accumulated. According to most teachers, the fifth parameter, that of meditation, is also included in this first category of methods, that is, the accumulation of merit

[31:06]

And the final, the sixth parameter of wisdom or insight is said to constitute the accumulation, the bodhisattva's accumulation of wisdom or insight. Now, what about the fourth parameter, that of diligence or vigor? That is, since vigor is, diligence is required in the development of both merit and wisdom. It is ambivalent. It belongs to both categories. Yes, it belongs to both categories. It is... it is through diligence alone that one succeeds in accumulating merit through the four paramitas, or it is through diligence alone that one develops the insight whereby one acquires the transcendent gnosis.

[32:26]

So, as the as the sutras all agree in telling us, that it is through the Bodhisattva's training in the six paramitas that he achieves, that he acquires, accumulates these two essentials, these two essential elements which constitute enlightenment, that is merit, and transcendent merit and transcendent wisdom. Now wisdom is, as we have said, paramount because it is wisdom which guides. It is what is called technically objectless, the wisdom of objectlessness, which guides the training a person in his training in these other parameters of giving, patience, morality, diligence and so forth, so that he doesn't get caught up in them and treats them as real or ends in themselves.

[33:34]

Through this wisdom of objectlessness, those merits truly become meritorious, they truly become transcendent, they go beyond merely producing worldly results of good fortune, happiness, and so forth, as ordinary virtues do. They become transcendent and result only in the attainment of total enlightenment and liberation. Therefore, they are indeed called transcendent virtues, and it is transcendent wisdom alone which enables them to transcend, to get beyond the ambits of worldly virtue. the limitations of worldly virtue. So just as in the example, the great bird flying through space requires two wings to remain unlocked. So the bodhisattva requires these two factors of enlightenment, of merit and wisdom, to keep him spiritually

[34:40]

aloft, that is, without falling, without experiencing bondage in samsara, and without abandoning his compassion for beings through entering into nirvana. So through this, the bodhisattva sails, remains spiritually alive and active through the through his accumulation of these two transcendent virtues, these two transcendent factors, merit and wisdom. And the direct result, the direct product of his accumulation of these two factors are, as the sutras tell us, the attainment of the two bodies of Buddha Buddha, that is, the form body, the nirmanakaya, sorry, the rupakaya. This includes both form bodies, the nirmanakaya illusory body, and the sambhogakaya, communication body.

[35:48]

And the second kind of body, the dharmakaya, or the body of reality, body of transcendent gnosis. The dharmakaya is the result of the bodhisattva's accumulation of insight. The form body, the first two aspects of Buddhahood, are the direct result of his accumulation of transcendent merit. After one trains in these six paramitas, one further with the same spirit of resolve to attain Buddhahood and with the intent to devote oneself to the practice of meditation,

[37:02]

one also should seek out learned teachers of the Dharma, to receive from them the explanation of the stages, the doctrines of the path. the instructions for the practice of the path and if one also receives from qualified teachers tantric empowerments and thereby receives the direct blessings of the bodhisattvas and the various Buddhist deities and the lineage of enlightened masters and so forth, all of these influences also help to strengthen us in our own practice, our own efforts to steady us in the face of distractions, defilements and obstacles within and without, and enable us to attain our own experience of the path and of the result much more quickly, because we do rely upon these spiritual trends and spiritual factors.

[38:27]

So, if one has the opportunity, one should also seek out teachings and tantric empowerments. Along with our efforts in study, We should also make efforts in thinking over again and again what we have learnt from these teachers and what we have learnt of instructions, not to forget them but to employ them into our own, to apply them to our own spiritual efforts, our own practice in daily life and in meditative sessions. And if on top of making the best efforts we can in study, in reflection and meditation, We also are mindful to observe the vows, the precepts which we have taken upon ourselves, whatever they may be.

[39:32]

starting from the first taking of the refuge vow. That is where it all begins, when one takes the refuge vow to become a Buddhist and observe the precepts of the refuge. And then, as one takes the... as one takes... undertakes the... to follow the Mahayana's path of training in the paramitas, one takes on the Bodhisattva's vows. And then, as one undertakes to... undertakes tantric meditation, the tantric level of meditation, one takes upon oneself tantric vows. So, one should be mindful of one's vows, one's pledges to remain within the ambits of the path by not neglecting those vows. If we do observe to the best of our ability the precepts and vows we have taken upon ourselves, and do to the best of our abilities train ourselves in the paramitas and in the development of tantric meditations, then we can

[41:01]

we can feel some surety about attaining the results of our efforts because just as suffering is the result of error, erroneous views and unwholesome actions, so the attainment of the experience of happiness all the way up to the attainment of total liberation, that is Buddhahood, is nothing more nor less than the result of right actions guided by right vision. Yes.

[42:17]

All these factors mentioned as essential to the attainment of enlightenment elucidated in the lamdre system of meditation, the system of practice which is in English called the path and the result. Everything that one needs to know from the beginning, from the point when one takes refuge, through faith in the teachings of the Buddha and the Buddha and the concept of enlightenment, right up to the attainment of Buddhahood oneself, then all the information, all the instructions that one needs to know are contained, are found in this system known as the lamdre.

[43:27]

And it is this lamdre which constitutes the very heart of the sakya, tradition to which we belong. At the heart of the Landry literature are several texts, such as the Dorje Tsikung of Wiruba, the Yes. Oh, I see. Oh, see. Yes. No. system.

[44:36]

I got that all wrong. This lamdre system is the direct communication of the Buddha, the enlightened one, in his tantric aspect of Vajradhara, in which in which aspect he expounded the Tak Niba, that is the Hevajra Tantra. Now the two tantric and as in the process of unfoldment from this original That is a transmission or a teaching of the Vajradhara Buddha, of the Hey Vajra. They evolved these two secondary tantras, which are called tantras of explanation or explication.

[45:47]

through, it was based upon these, it was based upon these tantras that the great Indian Mahasiddha, the great sage Virupa, expounded in the form of a commentary his, the Lambre system of meditation as we have it today. That is, he codified sort of the essential elements in the form of aphorisms in his text called the Dorje Tikkun. And it was through his transmission of this teaching of the Lam Dre to his own disciples, who then, after attaining enlightenment, transmitted it to their successors through a series of enlightened masters down to the great sage Gayadara, who brought it to

[47:19]

that transmitted it directly to the first patriarch in Sakyatwada, that we have received this, the uninterrupted transmission of this lambray teaching. And through the spiritual work also of great teachers such as, uh, Sarchin Losogato and others, that these, uh, this slander literature has been, uh, has been enhanced, enriched, and, uh, uh, added to, through the, uh, commentaries and, uh, works of instruction by, uh, uh, series of, by centuries, of Tibetan masters who belong to the Sakya order. Correct. In short, we have this laundry system of meditation, and for the practice, for the purpose of the ordinary practical Saikyapa meditator, everything that he needs to know can be found in two texts, that they are the Namsung and the Dulsung.

[48:35]

Now, the Namsun is the text which we are studying, as you know, the three visions or the three levels of spiritual perception. Now, we have discussed in past lessons almost the whole of this text, and we are now discussing the topic of insight, or wisdom. We have discussed that topic also in the past few weeks and have a little bit more to add this evening. Preceding lessons, we talked internally about the nature of insight or transcendent wisdom, that is, the realization of the two kinds of selflessness, the recognition of the true nature of one's mind and its essential nature of being, one that is one of non-dual boldness and

[49:56]

cognition. We said all that. Now, let us tonight talk about the... be a bit more practical, less theoretical, and talk about the way that we should proceed in undertaking this meditation of insight. Now, we have said that this lamdre system is the special system of the Sakya order, the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. And the heart, the quintessence of that system is also quite special. It is just this view known as the salton sunju, which means the non-duality of voidness and cognition, or it is known in other words as the korte yermet, the non-distinction between the non-differentiation of samsara and nirvana.

[51:10]

The other schools have their own particular names for their view of the ultimate, their perception of the ultimate. That is, the Great Perfection or the Dzogpa Chambwa or the Nyingma Paas, the Chagya Chambwa or the Khaju Paas, and the Uma Chambwa or the Gelug Paas. Now, the Sakya view and the Sakya methods for attaining that view are slightly different. I mean, they are, in essence, the Madhyamika view of ultimate reality is the same in all of these. The instructions for the attainment of that view no matter what it's called, what that view may be called. Slightly varies from school to school.

[52:14]

One of the ways in which the Sakya order differs from the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three schools of Tibetan Buddhism, is in its insistence that one must first recognize that all appearances, all phenomenal appearances, are projections of mind itself. This is essential for Sākhi meditation. Once one has, through investigation, come to recognize that all all that appears to be external and real, and externally real, are really not real in themselves, but are only manifestations of the mind.

[53:22]

Just as the phenomena which one sees in dreams are only manifestations of the mind and not really themselves, then one can proceed to the next stage of examining the nature of mind itself. So the first stage, as you say, is this doctrine or this recognition of appearances to be mind. It's called nong-sense. in Tibetan. Nangwa is appearance, sam is mind. All right. Now, it's easy for us to approach this rather new concept by way of examples which are familiar to us.

[54:26]

Just as when the great Indian Pandit Atisha was on his way to Tibet and he was considering how he would teach the Dharma to the Tibetans who were not familiar with Indian Buddhist literature. He inquired, when he wanted to teach this doctrine of Namsam, about this mind-only doctrine, he inquired whether Tibetans believed in magic. And he was told that no Tibetans have no magic, in the sense that Tibetans in India, they have a lot of these people in there. magic shows, magicians who go from town to town, village to village, and set up a show and put on magic tricks, you know, sleight of hand tricks and so forth. What's your name? Yes. Those. They have... They have these...

[55:29]

magicians who set up magical shows and show illusions. And the Buddhists in India always relied upon examples. In order to teach Buddhist concepts, Buddhists always try to communicate to ordinary worldlings in terms and by way of examples that are common in both examples that are common in both spheres or that are similar. For example, by explaining to Indians, Indian lay people, townspeople, that things are empty by nature, that have no that appearances have no reality in themselves, just like a magic show, or just like what you see in a magic magician shows you a lady being sawn in half or whatever, then it seems what you see is not the reality, but it's only through a misperception of mind or thinking it to be real, and so forth.

[56:49]

So Indians could grasp that example very easily. But when he learned that Tibetans really don't have traveling magicians going around and using tricks in this way. His next question was, well, do Tibetans dream? And from learning that, yes, Tibetans do dream, he said, then I'll use, for Tibetans, I will use the simile of dreams, that of magic. Because everybody can understand, everyone who has had a dream can understand how during the dream state, one is conscious of the appearance of many things, of things that during that state of dreaming seem to be quite real, so much so that we react to them with all kinds of emotions and we treat them as quite real, as if they really were external, that our own existence were somehow...

[57:55]

depending upon our interaction with what we see, like we dream of a tiger coming after us, and then we respond emotionally with fear in the dream and a desire to escape and so forth. But when we awaken from a dream, then we realize that all of that tiger, that all of those things that we saw in the dreams never had even so much as a speck of true reality, that they were nothing more than projections of mind, and that our our responses to those appearances had been altogether erroneous because they didn't relate, they didn't recognize their true nature, their true reality of being. For example, merely a dream tiger, merely a tiger projected by one's own mind, so forth. So, one who meditates I must learn to see all of these appearances as being very much like those dream appearances, although they appear external and real to the unenlightened, non-meditated mind.

[59:06]

To the meditator's mind, that's all. They have no more reality than dreams. They recognize them as projections, manifestations of his own mind. And once this has been well understood, recognized, then one proceeds to the next stage. One is left then with what? One is left with just the mind as the source of all one's conscious experience of everything. So one has to understand the mind. So we proceed to the stage of recognizing the true nature of mind. And when we examine it, when we examine it, we... I'm not sure whether we got that right. All right. Now, we said then that the three stages, progressive stages of this process known as insight meditation, according to the Landre system, are this.

[60:07]

One, the recognition of the the recognition of mind's nature, or literally recognition of the clarity of mind. Secondly, placing the mind in a state of extremelessness, which all these will be explained. And finally, And then, finally, the attaining certainty about the nature of the ineffable, the ineffable state of enlightenment.

[61:22]

All right. Now, how do you go about this practically? All right. Sit down. I put you in the proper state of meditation, proper posture of meditation. Your back should be very straight. It should be a pleasant, quiet place away from distractions and so forth. You should precede, as always, precede your session of meditation. Yes, you should begin your session of meditation with the taking of refuge, awakening the enlightenment thought and so forth. And then you should consider, you should undertake the main practice, which is first stage, recognition of the clarity of mind. This begins with the first consideration that are things external, are external things real and so forth?

[62:23]

Or are they projections of mind? Now, What we want you to do is to recognize that they are not as they appear, external and real, but are like images and dreams, merely projections of mind. If you abide by that one, then you should proceed to the next consideration, that There is nothing but mind that all of your experience at the centre and the sum total of your experience as an individual being, wherever you are at this stage, is just mind. But is mind then the sole reality? Is it real? in itself. So the second step, again in this first stage of recognition of the mind's clarity, is to examine the mind.

[63:25]

All right. Mind as the source of all appearances should be examined. Is it real? Does it have a location? Does it have size, shape, color? One focuses the mind upon mind itself, put aside all distractions, all external distractions, all thought process about anything else. Just after you have trained your mind in the first stage of meditation, what was that? Concentration, right? In concentration, attained steadiness. and clarity through sustained practice of concentration. Then you are able to really to meditate, to focus upon mind, and undisturbed by unruly thought processes and emotional obscurations, you are able to focus upon the mind itself.

[64:28]

And what you should be looking to see there is the true nature of mind, that it is not really a thing. Mind is nothing, no thing rather. It is because it has no size, shape, location, any of those qualities that or attributes that would constitute it as being something that has existence, that is real in itself. It doesn't have any of these things. It is not something that comes from anywhere or stays anywhere or goes anywhere. It is simply, it is void of all of these. attributes of existence. Therefore we call it empty. Mind is empty by its nature. But does that mean it's empty like space, which is just, not only is, I mean, space is just the absence of substance or form or whatever. It's just the absence of anything. Therefore it's just nothing. So we mean that mind is just nothingness? No. Because mind, even though it is empty, nonetheless is endowed with

[65:32]

with cognizance, with cognition, it is consciousness. So when we say that it is not anything that can be isolated and called an entity that exists independently or by itself as a thing, we say it is empty. But when we say that nonetheless, in spite of its emptiness, it nonetheless has the nature of cognition, by this we mean that the parity of mind, When one sees the mind unobscured by thought processes, by emotional states, desire, hatred, delusion, the unusual defilements, and when seen with an unwavering mind, with the unwavering in a state of unwavering meditative, concentrated meditation, then the mind appears or is seen to be as it really is.

[66:42]

It is pure by its nature. It is luminous. It is that is a word, that's a Tibetan colloquial word. It is, that means Very, very, very bright, very clear. Luminous? As bright as it can be. It's there. It's very radiant, very luminous by its nature. Clear. All right, clear. Yes, now that is the... That is what one will see, that it is empty. But at the same time, it also has this nature of luminosity, of clarity. That is just its nature, just as one can't separate its voidness, its emptiness, from its nature of clarity,

[67:50]

of luminous, luminosity, any more than one could separate fire from its heat. It is, and you can't say that a that the mind's clarity is established through its emptiness or that the mind's clarity is, how do you say, is made invalid or, how do you say, is negated through its emptiness. or that it is through the clarity of mind that mind is also empty, or so forth. You can't say that. It is just that is the nature of mind. It is non-dual emptiness and clarity. That is what you have to recognize at the first stage, and then you go on. Second stage is that you see that this state of mind is... that the true nature of mind is not

[68:58]

It can no longer be understood adequately or properly, correctly, accurately in human concepts such as it is or it is not, it exists, the ultimate nature of mind exists or it doesn't exist or it neither exists nor… both exist and doesn't exist, or any possible combination, that this nature of mind is absolutely away from all extremes, it is not something that can be conceptualized, you can't glom onto it, seize onto it and say, this is the ultimate nature of mind. You see it very, very clearly, no mistake about it, it is not something that eludes you, but you just see that human concepts are not adequate to the job, of describing this acupoint. You cannot come down and say that it either is or it isn't, or something like that. So, through meditating on this state of mind, which is also called the

[70:03]

The ultimate view of the Madhya Mita school, it is this, called this, tathel, is this great extremelessness, meaning this realization that the ultimate nature of mind is away from all extremes. You see, philosophically we've progressed from the conventional level where we accepted mind only as really existent. That was one lower school of Buddhism. doctrine. Now we've gone in the second stage to the Madhya-mikha school, which says that it's away from all extremes of mind itself, cannot be clung to as a really existent thing. We've graduated to the Madhya-mikha. Now, through meditating on this, I repeatedly Developing this meditation, one's mind becomes purer and purer, one's insight into this true nature becomes deeper, more profound, more certain. And in this way one develops this great certitude that this is truly the realization

[71:13]

that had to be attained. This is truly the realization of the nature of the ultimate nature of mind. It is the realization of the ultimate nature of reality. And therefore one attained Buddhahood through this. And yet it can't be communicated in words. It is something that is so exalted and so beyond the limits of ordinary human consciousness that it cannot be communicated. in terms, in words, in signs, to those who don't experience it directly and immediately for themselves. It is just as if a dumb person, somebody who was deaf and dumb, had never learned words and never learned to use words to describe his experiences, would have a taste of sugar cane and would know that he was tasting, he was experiencing a new taste He tastes it for the first time and he is very sure that he's experiencing this experience of a new flavor and so forth.

[72:26]

And yet he has no way of communicating to somebody else that it tastes sweet and so forth. It's sweet and sugary and all of that. He can't communicate it. And yet his experience is very real for him. He just doesn't have the vocabulary or the means of communicating. So one who is who enters into this state of meditative absorption, realizes, just accepts it, that this is so far beyond the concepts, the limits of human concepts, that there is no way for someone who doesn't experience it to communicate this directly to him, that he will really know what you're talking about. And so that's why the teachings of the ultimate reality are brought down and taught on the level of conventional reality by way of similes and examples and using worldly examples and symbols that ordinary humans can understand so that they will get some approximate idea of what Buddhas mean, of what Buddhas are talking about when they say there's a state, an ineffable state of enlightenment or that people will understand when Sakyapa masters say that

[73:43]

there is a state which is away from all extremes and that this is the true nature of mind. For these are only words that refer to, that point to a real experience, a direct experience of this ultimate perception of reality, which is, as we said, the real essence, which is the real Sakyam tradition. It is at the heart of the Sakyam tradition. if one has not meditated enough so that one has at least some glimpse, not only a philosophical understanding of this concept of this ineffable, extremist state of mind, but also some warmth of experience, some glimpse of experience.

[74:44]

for himself, then he is really not a sakipa yet. If he has attained through meditation at least some personal insight, some glimpse of this clarity of mind, this inexpressible nature of mind, then he is a true sakipa. He is a sakipa. Okay? Sok this evening is blessed and offered to the deities. He says actually it's quite appropriate when one gets into this profound doctrine of the psyche. system known as the non-differentiation of samsara and nirvana, that that, if anything, calls for a thok celebration now. Thok celebration. So, thank you very much. You can't refuse thok, even if you're on a diet.

[75:48]

It's a great revival to refuse thok. Now you want to eat? No, no, you don't want to eat. Send it on that food. [...] I ask you to go home and look at your minds and see what you can see. Did you? Mine's green. Mine's orange. Thank you. Yes. [...] Guruji says that

[77:03]

Actually, all the many months, weeks, months, and years of study in this text that had brought us up to this point, to this lesson, were all taught with just this lesson in mind, this doctrine of the recognition, the nature of life, that it is this This is, it is this view, this lesson which is at the heart of all other lessons, all other instructions and practices, that he would be very pleased if you really would now at this point, really would learn to see the, learn to recognize the nature of your own mind. Again he urges you to look at the mind. In fashion, we have really, we have managed to get this far in our studies that after fashion, the Landry, these teachings that brought us up to this idea of an ultimate nature of reality have been taught.

[78:54]

and that after a fashion that those ideas, those teachings have been heard and grasped, so that after a fashion we can call ourselves succubus. With this much, we can conclude our explanation of the explanation of the insight meditation, which, as we have seen now, leads to the realization of the ultimate nature of mind and thereby directly to the attainment of Buddhahood, our goal. So, just a few words about concluding this climax, so to speak, of our past three years of study, Rinpoche wonders whether any good will come out of all of this.

[80:13]

He says that he has, after three years... After all these years of weekly study, he has a confession to make that he is not particularly fond of teaching, but he really doesn't care for teaching simply for the sake of teaching. What he likes, what he would what interest in our benefits if through these instructions that we've received and if leading up to this introduction to the goal of our meditation, these introductory comments, if his students become inspired to apply themselves to meditation.

[81:18]

And if they gain one degree or another of insight, some real direct immediate personal insight into the nature of the mind, if they can see the clarity of mind, the non-dual, internecine clarity of mind, the extremelessness and the tapability of mind, If they can attain that experience, he is sure they will have benefited, that this has all been worthwhile. If it is left as so much work, so much time spent, so much work for the sake of work, then the benefit is hard to see. And yet, out of all of this, maybe some of you will receive benefit.

[82:24]

For example, he just received a letter from a monk who lives out in Darjeeling by name. who's from Degi, a very good monk, who many years ago, when Rinpoche first escaped from India, from Tibet, and was briefly in exile up in Perjuli, that this monk, who was then quite young, approached him and said, would you explain to me the Sakya doctrine of Sultan Sunjit, this idea of the non-dual, the nature of mind, the nondual clarity and voidness of mind. I've never understood that. So Rinpoche taught it to him, just according to this depth. And he sat down, and while Rinpoche was in India for these months, he taught it to that young man. And he never heard anything from me. It's been 20 years since he heard from him. And he'd forgotten all of it. Well, not forgotten, that he just hadn't heard about it.

[83:26]

Heard from him and all this time. Then recently, just very recently, he got a letter from that mom thanking him for those few months of teaching. He said that that had had such... But that crucial teaching, that crucial period when he had himself as an exile, had just fled for his life from his homeland and could have gone, could have left off religious practices and so forth, could have easily given it up like so many monks did at that time, decided to remain a monk because he could see the benefit of this line of practice, that he did remain a monk, did persevere in meditations. Recently, when His Holiness Chogyati Rinpoche established a meditation retreat up in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, he went and went into several years of meditation.

[84:27]

And as he meditates, and he wrote from there, that as he meditates now that Rinpoche's teachings from 20 years ago stay with him still they come back and they help him so that he is experiencing something in his meditation and that he is so grateful to Rinpoche after all these years for that teaching on the nature of mind those years ago so Rinpoche thinks maybe in that case there was a benefit in teaching Though we have given you the instructions for practice, there's still a bit more in the text, which sort of wraps up this section, which you might care to hear. It says that

[85:32]

All right. After you've meditated, as we've just described, and been developing this recognition of the nature of mind in these three stages, after having first developed your mind adequately through study and reflection and cutting off all doubts, confusion and misunderstandings of the doctrine and of the practice, Then, at the time of meditation, when you enter into the state of meditative absorption on this highest stage, you will notice that that even though the clear cognition of your mind is not negated in any way, nonetheless the nature of that mind itself

[86:52]

completely away, quite away from all extremes of existence or non-existence. And also, you won't be able to say that it is this, or that, or my experience is this, or one thing or the other. So you can't say even about the mind, about that state of meditative absorption or that state of mind is that it's affable or it's even ineffable. You can't even say that much about it, that this is... Even the word ineffable isn't adequate to describe how really inadequate concepts are for this state of experience. And at this point, on this level of meditation, there is quite nothing to express, there is nothing to negate.

[88:01]

There is no negation of anything to be negated. There is no relinquishing of anything to be relinquished. There is no reliance upon antidotes at this stage. There is no renunciation of worldly existence. There is no... There are no hopes of receiving help from the Buddha. There is no fear of Mara's tricks. You see then very clearly that these ideas of of relinquishing or of negating reality or establishing or of achieving true reality, that these hopes, these aspirations for liberation and these fears of bondage and the life, and so forth,

[89:19]

these concepts of existent and non-existent, real, unreal, so forth, that these concepts even of emptiness and non-empty, that all of these are just so much. They're just merely concepts, merely thoughts, thought constructions. They're merely words, merely conventions. They're just and that in themselves they are really quite insubstantial, they are without substance, they are substanceless, they are from the beginning, from the very beginning, that they are absolutely pure, absolutely empty, absolutely That they are really, that from the beginning they're just really, there's nothing to them at all.

[90:35]

But they are really completely away. They really are completely not objects of any form of expression or conception or communication. They are just not objects of conceptualization or communication. They're just really Nothing to it. This, you become very sure about that.

[91:11]

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