So, that is why he has, thinking that there is benefit, he has expounded this at a considerable length and in details perhaps more than he should. If he has erred in this, he will recite the 100-syllable mantra. Alright, so, because thinking that there might nonetheless be benefit for some of you, that's why he wants you to Just do it, just do it. Go, sit down. You may remember from last week's lesson the words of... You may remember from last week's lesson the words of Sakyapandita on the ultimate nature, the nature of ultimate reality.

[01:08]

I said that there, there was nothing to attain, because by virtue of realizing the emptiness of all things that one could not expect, could not rightly expect, the level of enlightenment to find anything that was there to be attained by virtue of emptiness. They are things. And Ramanachaya says that even though these concepts, these words, may be difficult to understand, Nonetheless, one should try to understand them, to consider them, to keep them in mind and consider them again and again, and that eventually, when one does undertake to practice them through one's own insight,

[02:18]

And by virtue of one's having made the effort to understand them, and that because they are the words of the enlightened ones, that there is some benefit, some blessing involved merely in trying to make the effort that one should apply one's mind to. gaining the right understanding of these, that is why we have to repeat these teachings again and again, and why you have to repeat the effort to study and learn them again and again until it pays off in that right understanding, right experience and realization. All right. But to conclude our lesson this evening, we want to talk more about the nature of this ultimate reality as it is described in various Buddhist scriptures. For example, in the sutra, the meeting between the father and sons, that is the father being the Buddha and the sons being the Bodhisattvas, the Lord Buddha

[03:33]

tells him, tells his sons that the, that in ultimate reality there is no, there is no, there is no dharma whatsoever which is which is perceived. Therefore, there is a... There is a... Therefore, in ultimate reality, there is no ascription whatsoever. Now, by ascription, I mean that it's the nature of the mind.

[04:37]

First, it has the raw impression of an appearance, some external object or an object. In the first instance, there's an immediate perception, right? And then in the second instance of Second is that the mind goes to work and starts saying, I recognize them from before, and it's called so and so, and then you go out and treat it permittedly. That's the way the mind ordinarily works. But this won't work on the level of ultimate reality, because there, there's nothing that can be an object. Remember, as Saikyamananda said, there's nothing to be attained there, nothing to be grasped and seized upon. There are no objects there. Nothing that could be called an object, therefore there's nothing to call it, there's no ascription. Everything else, now that's the nature of the ultimate reality of dharmas and things. Everything else, no matter what it is, is merely nominality.

[05:42]

You're involved in merely mental elaborations. Just samsaric mental elaborations. Yes, there is an object. Yes, it's called so and so. And yes, everybody agrees with me and so forth. You know, you talk about it, write books about it, and it goes on and on and on. Yes, it's called elaboration, samsara. The word, the psychotechnical word for the ultimate is just the elaborationlessness. And elaboration, meaning carrying on and on and on about something, you take off, you take a starting point, a premise, you know, that you're real and that the object is real, and that goes on from there, from the premise, and you elaborate, construct a whole samsara out of it, that goes on for a few years. Anyhow, so everything else, other than this ultimate reality of things as they are,

[06:50]

is mere nominality, mere words, mere conventions, mere... more like communication, chit-chat. It is merely a scription, nothing more. But in ultimate reality, whereas in the ultimate reality all, everything, is unperceived. These are the words of the Buddha, the nature of ultimate reality. And again in the Bodhisattva Pitaka, Sutra, that is the Sutra of the collection of the Bodhisattva's doctrines.

[07:59]

It's written there that... When one neither apprehends all dharmas nor relinquishes all dharmas, then indeed one does not abide one does not abide in dharmas, one does not embalm, caught up in, one does not dwell in dharmas. To explain this, which I couldn't understand very well, I would just say, for example, I think when one is still unenlightened, one feels that one has to attain Buddhahood.

[09:07]

Buddhahood and liberation and enlightenment, all of these things are to be attained, right? got to make efforts to attain it, and they can only be acquired by making strenuous right efforts. Okay. Now, that makes a lot of sense on the, on the, from the viewpoint of the practitioner. Until he attains his goal, until you attain enlightenment, then there, there's absolutely nothing to attain. There's no who is going to attain it. There is no one there, who has attained. There's nothing to be attained. There's no such thing as Buddhahood as an attainable. And one no longer perceives oneself to exist in the way that one originally thought one existed and so forth. So therefore there is no attainer and nothing attained.

[10:07]

And this is a, we're talking about that level, a verified level of enlightenment. So at that stage, we can, this line makes sense. When one doesn't try to apprehend darkness, one is not seeking anything, trying to attain, for example, Buddhahood or any other thing. One no longer perceives it as an object or an attainable, nor does one try to relinquish For example, wrong views, samsara, suffering, and so forth. One no longer tries to relinquish anything. Why? Because one's realization of the true nature of the phenomenon. One sees the things and really remembers. thought constructions, ascriptions and so forth. One is no longer caught up in the network, the concatenation of mental construction where one sees true reality.

[11:11]

And that's the liberation we're talking about. All right. It goes on. It says, when one does not One does not come into being, one does not... literally, one doesn't arise. We're talking here about one does not perish. In other words, we're talking about the idea, the usual idea of things, that things arise, they abide for a while, and then they perish, right? Just as humans, you know, they come, they stay a while, then they go. said that things arise out of seed and then it disappears and so forth and so the idea but for a person who has this view he doesn't perceive any dharmas undergoing this process and he himself therefore he doesn't abide in dharmas he doesn't become involved in dharmas because he doesn't perceive any therefore and if he doesn't perceive any dharmas he doesn't

[12:26]

dwell in dharmas he doesn't depend upon dharmas or is caught up by them and therefore he doesn't undergo the process of arising and perishing or passing on and when he doesn't arise and he doesn't arise or pass away perish then then he is totally liberated from going down or he's caught up and therefore he doesn't undergo the process of arising and perishing or passing on. And when he doesn't arise and he doesn't arise or pass away, perish, then... then he is totally liberated from birth, old age, disease, death, sorrow, minga, meaning the, minga, Paramahansa Yogi?

[13:42]

nyāṁ edaṁ, me ngaṁ taṁ, na bhakti. You said, outch, outch. Oh, outch, outch. I was saying, outch, outch. He's totally liberated. He's totally liberated from grief and outcries. Very good. And weeping and pain and mental unhappiness and mental agitation, anger and so forth. He's totally liberated from all of those. Because... I'm not going to go back further if you understood it. All right. Is he happy?

[14:44]

That's right. Tathagatagarbha theory, the Buddha nature doctrine, that within all beings there is, all beings contain, whether they know it or not, this Buddha nature. You know about that. Yes. [...] All of the color have changed. A lot of neurolized students now. They're good in nature. Well, what I'm telling you this evening, Guruji says, about this quintessential non-duality of the mind's clarity and boredness.

[16:03]

That is nothing more nor less than this doctrine of Buddha nature. Everybody downtown does the same. He said, did you know that there is no Vajrapāṇi? Did you know that Vajrapāṇi is nothing more than the nature of your mind? No Vajrapāṇi. Days and nights. in a retreat on Vajrapani. He was reciting the mantra, Umban Saptaratha, et cetera, all that time. He was, in short, just using a technique for acquiring the recognition, for coming to recognize this

[17:06]

this non-duality of clarity and oneness of his own mind. With that recognition, what is achieved is the attainment of Vajrapani. It is Vajrapani. That is the Vajrapani that you are meditating upon. And when Tinsin Dolma here does her Vajrayogini retreats and recites the mantra, then the She is not meditating devotedly upon some wonderful deity, but she is meditating just for the recognition of Vajrayogini within. And who is that Vajrayogini within? Just nothing more nor less than this non-dual clarity and oneness of her own mind. So this Buddha nature.

[18:13]

Actually, all it is, all it is, is that the translator uses the word Buddha nature and that's where he recognizes it. He was asking me this, I could say this, Tathagatagarbha, but he says the author of this one uses the word, Matthew. No, no, I mean, just for... We're talking about this concept of Tathagatagarbha, which is a doctrine that, you know, all beings contain sort of the potential for Buddhahood, that within all beings there's like, you know, in Christianity you have the idea of the crystals within all of them. And then, you know, some people... No, not a great deal. But anyhow... All right, now let's, you've heard of the dharmakaya. Come on, get with it, you guys.

[19:19]

Now there's the dharmakaya, and it can be seen in three aspects. Causal, and the dharmakaya of the path, and the result of dharmakaya, that is, you know, cause, path, result, three stages. the whole idea of progression. You start out with the cause until you attain the result. What leads you from causal stage to the result stage is the path, for example, from the time you decide to become a Buddha until you attain that result. It's the path that gets you there. Okay. Now, on the causal stage, there you have already, you already have the Dharma diet. Your own mind, if you but knew it, is dharmakaya. But it is dharmakaya there, it's your own consciousness, your own mind. That is the... And then on the path, which is the lam... So the dharmakaya is more...

[20:34]

than your own mind that consists of this non-duality, of clarity, of wholeness, if only it be recognized. It is, even in its raw state, meaning even in the stage of deepest delusion, it is still on the causal state of, at least on the causal stage of, it is the causal dharmakaya, meaning that if it were only recognized, even then it would be seen as dharmakaya, that is the transcendent gnosis of the enlightened ones. On the path also, as it is undergoing purification and training and so forth, it is still, maybe it is what is called the path dharmakaya, even though it may or may not be recognized at that time. It is when one does actually, through meditation and making efforts on the path, attain enlightenment, one sees it, one sees very clearly that one's Buddha nature, one recognizes this ultimate nature of mind and therefore becomes Buddha.

[21:50]

To give this, to make this a little bit more meaningful through an example, we have one We have one, which is offered by Rinpoche, a great teacher of Gautama, not Rinpoche, which is, for example, you have some metal, say, a chunk of brass, and you can use this metal to make What did she call it? Pistons. What did they call it? Chamber pots. Chamber pots, yes. What did she say? Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt? Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt. Then you take... All right, you can make it into a wooden piece. chamber pots and people will just, people will think it is very unclean and they will just, you know, they will use it in the john and that's about it.

[23:15]

I think that they will always think of it as being very filthy and untouchable. You can take that, but you can take that chamber pot, smelt it down and refashion the same metal into, say, a very nice offering bowl very nice, shiny, and so forth. The same people will say, what a lovely bow, but we can't use this in the kitchen. Let's use it on the shrine to make offerings to the deities, and so forth. And then they'll be very pleased to have this ornament on their shrine. Or you can take that same metal again down and smelt it again and turn it into a an image of the Buddha, and the people will be on their faces, you know, prostrating. They'll say that it is, you know, it represents the highest possible, you know, good, this ideal, this, you know, they'll be, show great devotion, all with regard to this very same piece of material.

[24:22]

Okay, now, you take the ordinary human mind, I mean, even... what really do... What really do the Buddhas have in common with the wretched people, you might say? you know, staggering in the gutters and so forth, or in great wretchedness. But what really could be more dissimilar? Where is the Buddha nature within those beings? It is just as in the example we've given. I mean, these are beings where the Buddha nature is not is not recognized, just as it was not recognized in the chamber pot, the brass or the material, the potential for that, for Buddhahood is not recognized in this rich chamber pot.

[25:25]

This example, you take this worldly, this worldly wretch who has, who may be in the most pitiful plight and yet he's, he has, whether it be recognized in him by himself or any other person, he still has buddha nature. He is just like the first example. But you take that same branch, teach him Dharma, show him how to meditate, how to avoid non-virtue and to accumulate virtues, and after a while, he turns into a Bodhisattva. I mean, he keeps trying to act like a Bodhisattva, and eventually he succeeds. He will become. a bodhisattva. This is like the metal which is now being turned into this ornamental vessel, you see, that is worthy of being used in worship and so forth.

[26:46]

Or, and that bodhisattva, if he perseveres, will eventually become a fully enlightened one, a Buddha. Again, this corresponds to the third stage example. when the metal was turned into a Buddha. And it is the same material. It's all this nature of mind, this basic nature of mind that is Buddha nature. It is this which links the glorious Buddhas with the loneliest of unenlightened beings all the way down to insects. They all have this Buddha nature within. It is only a matter of recognition and purification. Buddha beings are Buddhas if only they knew it. It is just their minds are obscured by adventitious defilements. That is by the glaciers, the negative emotional states, desire, hatred and delusion.

[27:53]

And that includes this basic ignorance, this obscuration of ignorance about the nature of mind, the nature of reality, belief in the Self. That's the only difference between Buddhas and beings, that the Buddhas have purified those adventitious... Does anybody know what an adventitious means? It's the opposite of advantageous. What? It is not advantageous. What is adventitious? If beings, if all of us were not endowed with this inherent Buddha nature, this potentiality to become Buddhas, there would be no point in meditating or in practicing, training oneself in the Dharma, because it wouldn't happen. But by virtue of the existence of this Buddha nature within each each being's mind, no matter how wretched, there is the potential, the possibility for the attainment of Buddhahood.

[29:05]

So that is the meaning of Buddha nature. Okay, let me finish up. They do have Buddha nature. We said all the way down to the lowliest insects and I'm like, they're included. What was that word you asked us for? Adventitious. Adventitious what? Adventitious, yes. And what was the violence? Adventitious is violence. For example, like smoke obscures the sky so that your vision is blocked. It's adventitious. It's not a part of the nature of sky. Smoke is not inherent in the sky, this smokiness, this haziness. It is, it is just appeared extraneously, suddenly, and it is imposed, it is obscures the clarity of sky, and so forth, and your vision is blocked. However, it can pass, it can be purified, I mean, and one sees the real nature of sky, that it is, you know, it is not obscured in its own nature.

[30:12]

In the same way, these negative defilements that obscure the pure nature of mind, the clarity of mind, so that we don't recognize that in the same way these don't really, do not inherently belong to mind and therefore it can be purified. If they couldn't, there's no point in practicing to get rid of them because you couldn't. All right. Now, so then the point we've made is then that this Buddha nature is nothing more than this, this non-dual clarity and voidness of your own mind that the deities, whether it be from Shakyamuni Buddha or the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or any of the others, when we talk about Saikyapanidha, all of these, what do we mean by these? We mean nothing more than the nature of your own mind. You realize that and you will have attained Buddhahood, you'll know who the Buddha is, you'll know Saikyapanidha and Avalokiteshvara and so forth.

[31:18]

This is This is the goal. So, you know what that means. In the mother also, the mother here means the reverse to the Pragyaparamita text. It says also, along these lines that, Tenzin Dorma and Vijen Sangho, Thank you. It's very nice to have a tzok offering. Now tzok is different from what we usually get. We always get tea and biscuits, you know, Ritz crackers and stuff. That isn't tzok. That isn't tzok. When it's tzok, hey, cut it off. Talk is where you offer it to the deities, you know, Makal and the rest, and invoke their blessings, and then you can take up it in a religious context, and it becomes sacramental.

[32:26]

So... Also in the Pragya Paramita, it is through thought constructs. I'm telling you. It is through thought constructs that one rolls about in the realms of desire, the realms of form and formlessness. And it is through non-thought construction. It is through non-thought construction. But that is the thing, yeah. It's like turning it fast, you're practicing it fast. ...of existence, that's right.

[33:28]

You know, it's said before that it is through thought construction, through letting the mind run on their own, becomes involved, mixes up in these three realms of existence, realm of desire, our realm. the realms of form, which is the realms the gods have formed, and the realms of formlessness, where the gods have no form. That is thought construction that causes one to get involved in these. Without thought construction, one does not get involved. That's just making the same point, isn't it? All right. And it says, because the bodhisattva perceives no object, because the bodhisattva perceives no object. A bodhisattva, a so-called bodhisattva, is just a word.

[34:28]

You have to think about these things. It says that because a bodhisattva perceives no object, therefore the so-called bodhisattva is just a word. Bodhisattva is just a word. Because the Buddha perceives no object, a Buddha is simply a word. The omniscient, all-knowing, perfectly enlightened, enlightened Buddha, has no nature. That which has no nature is inexpressible. Then how is one going to achieve the welfare of living beings if, as we've just said,

[35:38]

Bodhisattva and Buddha, etc., are mere names. But... Yeah. The... In the ultimate reality, if beings do not exist, Then how much, what then is there to say of being's welfare and, let's see, what is there to say then of being's welfare to be achieved? of benefactors and of anyone being their benefactors.

[36:45]

In other words, and it's difficult to translate these texts literally, but here's, this is just to get across the point, is that you have to get beyond thought constructions, no longer think in ordinary, in worldly terms of beings and Buddhas and so forth as independent entities. In their ultimate reality, you can't use all these concepts and constructs. These are only good for conventional reality, but they're very useful, and the Buddhists make full use of them on that level. But in the stage of awakening, it's... then they no longer are appropriate. So there you can't talk of still achieving the welfare beings because the bodhisattva or the person who is enlightened no longer perceives beings nor has a concept of himself as a benefactor being, even though a bodhisattva along the way or a beginner might actually think in those terms.

[37:46]

So that's basically the idea of this, these quotations. And again we have from the Gongba, which is a sutra of questions asked by an Arhat named Gombo. I don't know who that is. And in that day, the Buddha replied to the Arhat and replied to the Buddha's question. In reply to the Arhat's question, the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha replied to him. Having seated myself in the heart of enlightenment that is having the Buddha was describing his uh experience in the under the Bodhi tree when he sat down and finally attained ultimate enlightenment he said having seated myself in the heart of enlightenment I uh I attained um I was awakened I was perfectly awakened to the uh to the

[38:52]

incomparable, full and perfect, total enlightenment. And at that time, I did not perceive any beings. Once more, I did not perceive even the name of beings. In other words, there was not even any thought construction of beings. And again, According from the Pragya Paramita, the Buddha speaks to Subhuti, the Bodhisattva Subhuti, and he says, Subhuti, I did not perceive any beings. But... Oh, thank you, thank you very much. Very tight. But beings, beings perceive.

[40:01]

But beings form the conceptualization of an existing entity where there is no existing entity. But that construction of theirs is merely a worldly convention. In ultimate reality, it does not exist. This, with the word, of the great extremelessness, the great extremelessness of mind itself.

[41:10]

All right, now in, in the, in between, in your off periods also, that is when you're not engaged in formal meditation. You should be diligent in perceiving all phenomena as being devoid of any substantial existence of their own, but rather as having an illusory appearance, similar to What do you call those things that a magician shows?

[42:26]

Fantasmas? What does a magician show? Illusions? Right, magical illusions. So, and you should think of these, you should think of them as all having that kind of magical, I mean, that kind of illusory nature, maintaining that that perception, you should strive diligently to accomplish the spiritual good of living beings. This concludes our lesson for this evening. We conclude by reciting this dedication beings' welfare and, let's see, what is there to say then of beings' welfare to be achieved and

[43:33]

of benefactors and of anyone being their benefactors. In other words, and it's difficult to translate these texts literally, but here's, this is just to get across the point, is that you have to get beyond thought constructions, no longer think in ordinary, in worldly terms of beings and Buddhas and so forth as independent entities. In their ultimate reality, you can't use all these concepts and constructs. These are only good for conventional reality, but they're very useful. and the Buddhists make full use of them on that level, but on the stage of awakening they no longer are appropriate. So there you can't talk of still achieving the welfare beings because the Bodhisattva or the person who is enlightened no longer perceives beings nor has a concept of himself as the benefactor of being, even though a Bodhisattva along the way or a beginner might actually think in those terms.

[44:40]

So that's basically the idea of this quotation. And again we have from the Gombe, Gombe's Jupiter, which is a sutra of questions asked by an Arhat named Gombe. I don't know who that is. And in that the Buddha replied to the Arhat and replied to the Buddha's question. In reply to the Arhat's question, the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha replied to him. Having... let's see... Having seated myself... in the heart of enlightenment, that is, the Buddha was describing his experience under the Bodhi tree when he sat down and finally attained ultimate enlightenment.

[45:47]

He said, having seated myself in the heart of enlightenment, I attained, I was awakened, I was perfectly awakened to the incomparable, full and perfect, total enlightenment. And at that time, I did not perceive any beings. What's more, I did not perceive even the name of beings. In other words, there was not even any thought construction of beings. And again, According from the Pragya Paramita, the Buddha speaks to Subhuti, the Bodhisattva Subhuti, and he says, Subhuti, I did not perceive any beings.

[46:50]

...who are interested. All who share an interest in the teachings of enlightenment should make firm their minds in their purpose of being here this evening and develop a sense of devotion respect for these teachings which are the source of present and future joys as well as ultimate liberation. Further, one should listen to these teachings in accordance with the instructions of the

[48:07]

Mahayanist path which enjoins that one should, one should at the time on occasions of study, relinquish all attachment to oneself and to ordinary conceptual conceptualizations of oneself and the present moment, that is, in practical terms, you should not think of this as an ordinary situation, but rather that the event is taking place that a dharmic event is taking place on a dharmic level.

[49:10]

Here is no, here we are not surrounded by an ordinary house with ordinary walls and furnishings, but by a celestial mansion in the center of which is seated not once a human teacher, but One's teacher in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha, you should think of him as being not in any way different from the Buddha, that he is but the Buddha. And that as he teaches, you should visualize the rays of light shining forth from his heart. and touch all the beings in the present, all beings that are in space, remove their obscurations of ignorance and emotional developments, and that awakens great compassion inside people, in their minds as well as on their own.

[50:17]

Whether you should think of yourself, not as an ordinary person, but as being none other than the great Bodhisattva, wisdom, and Sri, who will seek out the most profound dharmas for the benefit of all living beings. So, and further, beyond this visualization, you should keep in mind the nature of ultimate reality, that is, you should think of appearances, one's own form or the presence of forms apparent, to be, to have a delusion-like nature, not substantial, solid nature as we want to think of it, but rather like the

[51:21]

images, the forms which appear to one's mind in a dream. These many appearances have no inherent, substantial, independent nature of their own, but are merely projections of the mind. And that too, that these appearances also are simply illusion-like in their nature. Further, The mind that projects there also has its ultimate nature of non-dual emptiness and clarity. That is of its nature, its ultimate nature is one that consists of the non-duality of awareness and cognition.

[52:25]

So when one through recollection approximates in this manner, at least through remembering the ultimate nature of the present moment, then the efficacy of the effort which you have made in coming together this evening to listen to a teaching becomes more forceful, more, how do you say, more authentic by because in these through these visualizations recollections and so forth you have uh at least come into some simulation of uh of the true reality of the present moment there's a puppy

[53:53]

This is a very strong message. And there's some tea that might be better. Yes, something. It's a bit strong for your throat. Don't push me. I'm doing it gently. I'm doing it gently. Concentrate. Yeah, I won't. Yes. Now, after you have in this way prepared yourself, after you have in this way prepared yourself for the teachings, then you should, before undertaking the study, know something about the teaching which you are to receive.

[55:22]

you should be assured that it is indeed an authentic teaching and not a waste of time. Now, our course of study is a series of descriptions of the Landry system of meditation. which originated with the Buddha Vajradhara and was transmitted by the Goddess Naradamaya to the great Indian sage Merupa. After he had attained enlightenment through his own practice, And he then transmitted it to his foremost disciples.

[56:25]

And... Thank you, Judy. That's right. That's just right. And these disciples in turn transmitted it down through the centuries until finally it was introduced to the founders of the Sakya Order, the great Indian yogi, Gayadhara. And as a result of the spiritual activity of the Five Jets and the Five Great Founders of the Sankhya Tradition. There has ensued in Tibet, there has ensued an unbroken lineage and an unbroken transmission of this

[57:46]

precious teaching the Lamdre. Through their work there have been a vast number of commentaries, guides, other words of exegesis provided for the various tantras, tantras, empowerments, and sub-empowerments, and root texts, which make up the lamdre system proper. So through their kindness, the system The teaching in its entirety has been successfully transmitted down to the present time for our benefit.

[58:57]

Now, the Lamdre system has, for the convenience of the meditator, been expounded in a number of ways. most conveniently by a division into two easy texts, that is, two texts which correspond to the meditator's experience of the beginning stages of the path in which he is first embarked upon the nondual system, and then finally to the two a second set of instructions which correspond to his experiences on more advanced stages in Tantra practice. In other words, we're talking about the two books, the Three Visions and the Three Lives, and also the Jutsu.

[60:01]

Now, at present we are, as you know, studying the first of these two texts, Now, we have told you again, and [...] again, that the, that the non-sum consists of instructions which correspond to three levels of spiritual perception. That is, the impure vision of whirlings, the vision or the perception of the experience, the experiential perception, of the meditator and the finally the pure vision of the pure perception of enlightenment. Now in these in past lessons we have completed the discussion of the first vision

[61:14]

We have completed all the topics of the second vision, right down through the most recent topics of the two stages of meditation, concentration and insight. Last week we left off with a discussion of the ultimate nature of mind, that is the doctrine of the non-dual nonduality of clarity and voidness. And since this doctrine, this concept of the ultimate nature of one's own mind is, as we said, dead at the very heart, it constitutes the very quintessence, the very heart of the satya, of the entire psychic traditions as a spiritual lineage. Therefore, we have a few things further to say tonight on this topic of the nature, of the ultimate nature of one's mind.

[62:27]

Yes. The sutras agree that put in its most simplistic terms the doctrine of the two levels, or the two kinds of reality, conventional and ultimate, may be said to um, consist of appearance and emptiness. That is, that on the level of conventional reality, things are, are, are, uh, said to, uh, things are treated as they appear.

[63:32]

And on the, um, level of ultimate reality, the emptiness of those appearances is treated. All right? So that you will find the words of the Buddha, in the words of the Buddha and in the sutras, that when things are are discussed on a conventional level of reality, they are accepted as apparent, existent, just what they appear to be. Here there is virtue and vice, beings and so forth, saints and all of the rest, but level of ultimate reality, discussion does not include an acceptance of those, of the real existence of those very same things.

[64:56]

so that, as we say, we're talking about it very simplistically too, the adoption of the two truths or the two levels of reality. Here, we are trying to relate them to these two aspects of the ultimate nature of the mind, the non-duality of clarity and fullness, so that keeping in mind that conventional reality can be said, in the light of this particular discussion tonight, can be said to relate to the clear aspect of mind, whereas the emptiness aspect of mind is indicated by the teachings of the Buddha. So, again, we'll listen. You recall when we began our discussion on the two types of meditation, concentration and insight, that we

[66:19]

It's said that in the beginning one trains the mind in techniques of concentration. That has been mastered when one undertakes to develop insight into the nature, the real nature of things, including ones own mind. And we said then also, There is a third stage in which both these two meditations are brought together in non-duality. That is, when it's not practicing just a jine or a concentration meditation, whereas when practicing simply an insight meditation, when it combines the two in non-duality, And the insight that is attained there, at this stage, this third stage, is the attainment of this very insight, which we have just described as the heart of the Sankhya tradition.

[67:42]

Now, if you are acting, Why all of this is necessary? Why is it necessary to go through all of this? Let us remind you again that the nature of unenlightened existence is one of suffering. And what is at the root of that? of all that suffering and delusion. What is the source, the cause of all that pain? Underneath all of that, at the very center, the source of all of that pain and endless unhappiness is just the erroneous belief

[68:46]

this basic error of believing itself to be real, which causes all beings, ourselves included, to quarrel about a little rounder birth and death. That, in order to become liberated, in order to to free the mind from this erroneous perception, it is necessary to realize emptiness, the infinite of all phenomena, including that of the mind, which holds to this directness of belief.

[69:57]

It is only through the realization of emptiness that the false belief in itself can be eradicated. practice of all other kinds of meditation, such as concentration, various stages of concentration in life, are successful in purifying the mind to one degree or another of emotional negativity. And they will even subdue, that is, they will subdue the force They will subdue the manifestations of egocentricity so that the mind alone seems to operate under the delusion of the self.

[71:12]

But the seeds of this wrong view and the seeds of future attachment to self, to existence, to work, and to the attachment to things, which are the outcome of this... the outcome of this deluded view. All of these can only be eradicated once and for all through the realization of intimacy. So, that is why it is necessary to go through with these various stages of meditation and to After realizing, after seeing how things are emptying, how even the mind is emptying, maybe an independent reality of its own, it is necessary to go finally to the, to proceed finally to the, to an authentic perception of things as they really are, as the mind as it really is.

[72:39]

That brings us to this exalted view, the sort of ultimate view of the psychic tradition, which we call the non-differentiation between samsara and nirvana. That is, that all beings are, that the ultimate nature of the mind is away from all extremes. We call them extremes and so forth. This highest view of the psychic tradition has its own Among the other four Tibetan orators and the other three Tibetan orators called the Dzogchen and the Great Perfection are the Nyingmapa's, the Mahamudra, the great symbol of the Kajipa's, the Nyingchungpa, and the Great Middle Way are the

[73:41]

Yes, the Middle Way Guruji. Now the, originally in early Tibetan history, philosophical, in the early history of the development of philosophical schools in Tibet, it was These, the names which the various sats gave for this ultimate view were three. There was the Dzogpa chamber, the Great Perfection, the Jagya chamber, the Great Samadhi, the Uma chamber, and the Great Middle Way. Now, the Sakya view is the You said it. That's why there's so much.

[74:46]

Too much. Too much. In Sankhya view, really, it partakes of all of these, that it is, it has, it is identical to the Dzogpa temple, the Chakya temple. Historically, at least, it is most identified with the third, the Uma-Chopra, the Patya-Veda view. It is the middle way view, mostly. The first expression, it depends on this particular philosophical school. So, if we... Technically, it can be said to be an expression of the early aspect of the Madhyamika. Even though it is within the sceptre itself, the doctrine is called that of the non-differentiation of our dharma, samsara and nirvana.

[75:59]

Not much for the theory. What is required of you in this exalted perception of the ultimate is that you will have to realize this view if you are a succubi. you will have to attain this perception of the ultimate in order to become truly a Sakyabah, or the one that's at your school. Anything less might earn you the name Sakyabah. but it would be merely a nominal achievement, nothing that relates to the fact.

[77:08]

A sacrifice is one who has achieved this, this view of the ultimate. And until that, one is merely sacrificing in name and not in fact. It behooves you then to undertake the task of obtaining this quintessential view of the Sakyamuni by doing just what you are doing. First, listening, learning, studying, questioning what is What is this doctrine of the nature of the mind? What is the clear aspect of mind?

[78:09]

What the empty? What are the stages of meditation? What is this and what is that? Questioning, learning these, rehearsing it, repeating what you have learned in your mind, and understanding it correctly, getting a clear understanding of the doctrine and of the instructions for practice. This is the first step which you are now taking. The second stage is experience. Then you begin to practice. You start meditating. You undertake daily sessions of practice. You undertake regular sessions of retreat. And then you practice this meditation from there. At that time, you progress from mere understanding, intellectual understanding, to personal experience.

[79:12]

You experience, this is the first stage of meditation, this is the cycle, this is what is meant by the clear aspect of mind, this is what is meant by the empty aspect of one's own mind, and so forth. when one recognizes it within one's own experience that what these instructions and sutras and teachings and so forth are expressing in so many words actually refer to these particular insights which are experienced in one's own private practice. The third stage in which you will undergo is that of realization through one's experience of various stages, insights that make up the... You will gain a direct perception of

[80:21]

of these various states in meditation, including the highest one, which is away from all extremes, that is the ultimate, the perception of the ultimate. This will be your own direct, immediate, non-dual, inevitable experience of ultimate reality, and that constitutes the third stage of your own personal path, that is realization. So, through this process of understanding, experience, and realization, you will become a genuine Sakyapa.

[81:35]

The... The... What is most required on your part, is sincerity and diligence, that having determined to practice, that you undertake to see it through with regularity, diligence, mindfulness, recollection, and bring to bear own your practice, all those factors which are favorable to a successful meditation. That is, to know what are the factors, the

[82:39]

that help you most in your own personal practice and will further your insights, further your understanding and realization and to act accordingly and to know what are the factors which hinder you most and to act so that they will be avoided and in this way to be your own best friend of your meditation This is essentially what is required on your part as a meditator who is going to undergo these three stages. Lotus. Are you looking at your minds, as Rinpoche asked you today?

[83:46]

Are you really sitting and looking at your minds? Are you? Honestly, are you sitting and looking at your minds? Raise your hands. It's got to be a different scale. You should see it when there are no problems. Rinpoche has been saying some very heavy things. I should translate them before I begin. He said, he's been stressing to you these past few nights that this view is exalted, it is quintessential, and it is necessary.

[84:49]

And he has been asking you to experience it for yourself. Now, most psyche teachers do not teach this, do not teach, do not go into teaching for the ultimate nature of the mind. They say, they think that, they say that for very later or for only their the most spiritually mature among their disciples, the most favoured and so forth, and for those who were destined to become lamas and so forth and like that. But, and perhaps, perhaps he is mistaken in explaining this to you all in such detail. Perhaps, perhaps it is really just incurring demerit for himself to, to, to talk about such exalted doctrines which are very difficult to understand and with which few people can become interested or inspired to attain.

[85:56]

However, if by chance, if you are interested, that he has gone on, he said, a great length, or a considerable amount of time, thinking that out of this there will come some benefit. He wants to see that benefit. He wants to see you turning within, becoming introspective, studying your own life. giving up distractions and over-involvement in external attachments, but becoming used to the idea of turning within and trying to recognize this nature of your mind because it is there. And this is at the heart of of what we are trying to do. Those of you who are planning to go out to India and receive the Four Long Great Teachings in the thought of Pramasiddha's Psychic Treason, what is at the heart of that full teaching?

[87:02]

What is at the heart of the Hevajra environment that you've had in the teachings? It is just this insight into your own nature of mind. That is why Rinpoche has decided again tonight to to lay it out before you and to hope that you are going to take it to heart and to turn within, focus the mind upon the mind itself and try to see this real non-dual clarity and boredness of your mind. First of all, there are three things that you that you should be trying to experience. Sava Sankirtini. All right. It says that luminosity is the characteristic of mind. That's just words in English, okay? And he was asking, are there words in English that can translate this idea?

[88:07]

I'm afraid not, because at least I can't find any. What does that mean to you, that luminosity? clarity or whatever, something like translucence, clarity, luminosity, is the characteristic, the essential characteristic of mind, of consciousness. Here when we say savanara means, I mean, I don't know, it doesn't shine like a light bulb, but you know what I mean? It is a, that there is apparently some clarity, clear aspect of mind, which is which somehow can be distinguished from its void aspect. That is the second characteristic of life, tumba. The tumba thinking. Yes. And the second line goes that emptiness or voidness is the mind's nature. Clarity or luminosity is the mind's essential characteristic, oneness is its nature.

[89:15]

And the third line, I'll get to in a moment. Now, when you have succeeded, practically speaking, here we're talking about you and your meditation practice and your mind, theoretically here. When you turn your mind, the focused mind of the mind itself, and you try, to recognize, just to see within your own mind this attribute, this quality of clarity, of luminosity, which he uses many adjectives to say the same thing, which means luminous, clear, radiant, light, translucent, all of these things. I don't know, but these are the words that this aspect, this is apparently there to be recognized. It can't be recognized so long as thought processes are going on, as long as you are making efforts in meditation. Apparently it requires a great deal of relaxation, because the third element in these three lines of instruction is that, I think,

[90:24]

And the nature, finally the third line is, the nature of mind is, the true nature of mind is without artifice. That is, that is something that it just is. That is, after you have realized the clarity of mind, and then you see this, when you examine mind, you see that even though it is clear, even though there is this cognitive or radiant, luminous aspect of mind, which is associated with cognition, Still, when you search for the mind, like for its location, size, shape, color, so forth, anything else, you can't find it.

[91:33]

The mind just isn't an entity as we humans like to think of things as being real. They have to have something. They have to be something. The mind isn't. And in this way, in this sense, it is said to be void. Void from the beginning. It's not something that comes from somewhere, it gets here and then goes away, or something like that. It is just something that from the very beginning empty or void by its own nature. And you can't separate these two. You can't separate these two. You can't say, this is the clarity of mind, this is its voidness. Just as if you burn your hand in the fire, you can't say, this is the heat that burned me, and this is the fire. You can't separate the flame and the heat. They are, the flame is heat, and the heat is the flame, and so forth. They are one and the same. In any case, they're non-dual.

[92:36]

And this is the second thing you have to realize, is that even though there is cognition, this luminosity of cognition, yet by its own nature, when you search for it, mind is void of any independent existence as an entity. It isn't anything like that. So, then you Then you enter into the state of meditation, which perceives the real nature of mind, that it is away from all extremes, that it is none of these human concepts of existence, non-existence, both, neither, and so forth, all the possibilities are adequate to describe or to do justice, to correspond to what this real, ultimate nature of mind is, yet it is something that you directly perceive, It is a direct realization, a non-dual realization. And that is why this is absolutely, this view, this perception, is absolutely authentic.

[93:43]

It is just right, something that is either right or it isn't. It is not something that you can grasp and say, this is the view, or this isn't the view, or I've got to make the view. There you can't, it is, as we said, The true nature of mind is without artifice. You can't manufacture it. You can't seize upon it. You can't do anything to bring it about. All you can do is just enter into meditation in a very relaxed way without making efforts of meditation in order to produce this result of this insight. You just have to perceive it. that there is this ultimate nature of your own mind which is there to be perceived. So that is why I

[94:37]

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