I figured out that we have almost reached half of this. So that's the good news. And the bad news? No, that's good news. Okay. Please let's read this one time together, the eight novel auspicious ones, okay? Aum Sosti, Aum Ishti Buddha, Dharma, and Noble Sangha, all that dwell in the auspicious realms of the Ten Directions, where all appearance and existence is completely pure, its nature spontaneously perfect. May all be auspicious for us. Dronme Gyalpo, Tselten, Dron Rukong, Champay Gimpel, Gerta, Paldampa, Kunla Gongpa, Gyachar, Trapachen, Dumbho, tarpa, charta, pen and knee, loving all sentient beings.

[01:07]

Satsang with Mooji powerful wheel, by the creators of delight, making offerings to the goodness of all directions and times. So now tonight our topic will be the nature of refuge and in the mundo practice.

[04:15]

And also we have We haven't really gone through in much detail about the practice of four thoughts, the training of the four thoughts. There's the preciousness of the human body and impermanence, the law of karma, cause and effect, and and the pitfall of being in samsara, the nature of samsara, which is pretty much pervaded with some kind of fear and suffering. Those are a very important element which is called the training of the four thoughts, which gives the inspiration for clarity.

[05:21]

When a person has well developed the four thoughts, the person has a powerful inclination developed inside to progress further on the path. So it's called the fundamental training of the four thoughts which is very important and when we do not really emphasize on that particular four thoughts, somehow, sometimes we can become a little lazy on the path. So the laziness is overcome by the four mental trainings, reminding ourselves how fortunate we are to have this precious human body, to reminding ourselves, letting ourselves know that how fortunate we are now that we have this human body.

[06:23]

And at the same time, even we have this, but it's very impermanent. Anything can happen to this body anytime. To really know that this fact, this truth, the fact that it cannot be same all the time. it could be very shocking for us to, we do have that shocking experience, I guess, maybe each after five, six years, or sometimes tremendous situation, which is very powerful to you, maybe it could be some kind of experience you went through, and afterwards you find out that Wow, I spent all these years and just look at me right now, where am I? Kind of like that kind of experience. You get shocked to yourself to see what you have been doing and everything has been so fast. All you can catch at this moment is just this moment, that's it.

[07:28]

Nothing more than this moment. What have I been doing all this time? Where have I been? Really, is that last 20 years has been past or not? You know, kind of like that we get a shocking experience. Nothing we have accomplished, which we can show that this is the result of all those years' work, that now I'm on this perfection state. Everything seems like a waste of some time. It's like a waste of energy and a waste of time. So we feel very sad. We get very depressed. We get depressed. So that kind of situation, at the same time, it teaches us the nature of the samsara. Exactly that's what the samsara is. That it keeps you in a state of mind, keeps you in an experience that you really do not exactly know what's happening to you.

[08:37]

You don't really get what you're really getting into. But somehow we are so intoxicated at that time, we are so addicted. It's something like when you take a cigarette, some kind of cocaine or whatever, I believe that that could be the experience that you get kind of out of your mind or you get so high that at that moment it seems like something really, you're doing something, but later on you find that you haven't been doing anything, especially after 10 years or 20 years. You'll find a very shocking experience. That's the kind of what we are talking about, the nature of samsara, the kind of we have been functioning in that organization, in that civilization of samsara, or in that body of the samsara. We have been functioning like that, fighting to each other, screaming on each other, and

[09:43]

and trying to see what we can do next, scheme our next fight, scheme our next scheming, or whatever. So constantly on a scheming, constantly on a scheming, and endless scheming we go through. And after many years passed away, you still find that you still have those depressions, even you scheme all those things. It didn't help. So your whole scheme seems to be a racist scheme. And it's very personal, insulted. It's a very personal invasion in yourself. and it's a very personal depressing experience in oneself that this is terrible, that all my scheme has been wasted. So actually that's called a confused experience. So, even though it happens like that, and even though we have encountered many of those experiences, but yet we have a pretty thick head.

[11:04]

We don't learn. It's true, we haven't learned that much. We kind of repeat the same thing again. We kind of do the same scheming and we go back to the same kind of organization system. And we again do the whole thing again. And finally again after the next 20 years, again you find yourself very big shocking and very big depression. then you get more confused. So this is how, that's why the reason why four fundamental thoughts, mental trainings are important so we could prevent that kind of very Big depression, we can prevent that kind of depression, we can prevent that kind of situation before it ripens because all situations are a result of some kind of seed, result of some kind of cultivation, how you cultivate.

[12:07]

And if you do not cultivate a confusion, a confusion will not be there. That's a simple thing. To put it simply, if you do not cultivate, to put it in a simple language, then one may not experience that kind of result. And if we cultivate a positive or some kind of wisdom, some kind of knowledge, then we may experience that nature, that element. So, four mental thoughts lets you understand it's a mirror for yourself. It's like a mirror, exactly, it's a mirror to yourself. When you stand in front of the mirror, you see your whole appearance, your face, your ears, your hairs. And whatever, however you are, it shows you the whole thing. Same thing, the four thoughts makes you see how precious human body you have.

[13:10]

And this precious human body is not going to last long because I'm changing. You know, I changed since last year and I'm changing since the last month and I'm changing now in the last couple of days I have a diarrhea and I look much thinner now. Or I eat a little bit more Chinese food and look a little heavier now, whatever. So kind of that changes you see constantly. So it's called impermanence. That nothing can be relied upon completely. That everything is changing. Nothing you can trust as the absolute way. And to have the notion of trust is not wise. To have a trust on impermanent nature by seeing it as a permanent is something unwise thing to do. So you kind of learn yourself. It's a very practical, powerful experience, the four thoughts. So you see that even you have a precious human body, that you are completely well, you can hear well, you can talk well, you have your whole limbs, that you're not missing any of your limbs, but it is changing.

[14:23]

That means it's not going to last forever. It's a very clear sign of that. So that's the nature of impermanence. And there are many ways of looking to that nature so that we could progress. The whole point is that we would not waste our time. Actually, it's a very... It's kind of a mentality we know pretty well, what we say, I don't want to waste my time. So actually that's exactly that kind of mentality where it reminds you to see yourself so you do not waste your time in doing unnecessary things. That's the main thing. The main thing is you don't do unnecessary things. So you're presented to the whole teaching. You're presented to understand that life on an essential point, how we can make progress in our life from the essential point so we don't get lost in some kind of unnecessary

[15:28]

unnecessary thing happening in our life. So little details perhaps are not important of life, but to make a major leap, to make a major quest in our life, to have that realization is the most important thing. So impermanence. And then the impermanence When we have a very good understanding of impermanence, traditionally, many practitioners, students, they practice on impermanence. Now, it doesn't seem very much on a very first level for a student to hear on impermanence. We kind of just get a vague notion of impermanence. Okay, it's impermanent. Things are different. But it wasn't the same thing this morning. and now I'm different. Of course, it's impermanence. You're not the same person as in the morning. You're a different person now.

[16:28]

And you're not the same person five minutes ago. You're a different person now. Because your whole... you're closer to a next planet somehow, each moment, and you're closer to every situation that's been changing every minute to minute. So you cannot say that you're the same person as yesterday, though you hold that particular personality, but you cannot say that you are that yesterday person, because yesterday, at this time, you're doing something else, but today you are not doing that. So the situation has changed, the time has changed, everything has changed, the whole element has changed. You may not have the same experience at this time yesterday, today, than what you have yesterday. So the whole thing shows that how impermanent it is. And our problem seems to be that we kind of feel that things are not changing. That's our notion, you see. When we have this notion that things are always the same, that things are not changing, then we get very strongly into our neurosis.

[17:39]

we get hang-ups into the same patterns all the time because we don't kind of see that my life, we don't see the reality of the life. We don't see the reality. When we have this notion of everything is permanent, then when we are drunk in that kind of notion, we don't see the reality of the life that now in order to heal myself or help myself, I need to do something better. I need to do something awakening within myself. We don't get that message very clearly when we have this very strong notion of some kind of thing is very permanent. So somehow, you know, people even become like a, like a, you know, people just become, people don't learn it. Even you may be on the bed where one could be dying, but people still planning the whole thing, you know.

[18:45]

People still keep on planning the whole thing. So, because the whole situation is not, we do not learn from the situation that easy. So from that point we would say we do, sometimes we get pretty heavy. We don't learn things lightly. We have to be reminded or we have to be pushed or we need to be disciplined. So actually on a student level, what the student does is very important student create the situation for the practice. where you create a situation for the whole thing to see your life clearly and to work it further, progressing on that level. And that's the main thing, how a student creates this situation and the student is able to learn within itself when the student is not with the teacher. The teacher offers the knowledge, the teacher

[19:46]

way of working with the life, but the student also has to work, it's a mutual work. Student also has to create the situation. So they create situation means disciplining in practicing every day and seeing your life, how the life is functioning, observing the life, observing the life, how it is changing, observing the life, is that what you're really doing, is it really in your way of thinking, or you need to make some changes in your approach in your life. So those kind of things one learns and one creates the situation. So basically the powerful manifestation of your post-practice time, once you're out of, once you stand up from your zafu, once you are out in the street, that post-practice time post-practice time experience will be dependent on your practice time.

[20:53]

If you discipline and if you do a well practice while you're on a practice time, then you will learn from the whole life. You will learn from while you're talking, while you're reading, while you go to work, you will learn about life automatically. Because there is some kind of, the mirror is very clear at that level. But we are not able to learn when we do not create that situation that we could maintain our practice every day. Unless, for you, there is no difference between a practice and a post-practice time. If you're that level, then it doesn't matter. You're always clear, you're never confused, and you're always perfect. But if you didn't reach that level of where you find yourself being very distracted in post-practice, practice time, it is very important to create the situation of a practice time.

[21:55]

So when you create that kind of situation, then you become very clear. It gives you the inspiration and it makes like a clear way, that's the very basic way of approaching by a student. So the four thoughts become very important and if you look into that nature, you may find a big difference in your life. You may be able to forgive yourself. Your forgiveness will come with a vision inside yourself that certain patterns of way of thinking has developed certain way of life. The way that life develops is a certain pattern of way of thinking. And due to this kind of way of thinking, I have developed this kind of life and that is originally that kind of pattern has created this kind of life which may not be very healthy, which could be very tormenting or very depressing or some kind of inconvenient situation it has produced.

[23:02]

So then you kind of see what is the antidote to that. There's a natural wisdom there. When you're able to see there, there's a natural wisdom because we all have a wisdom mind fundamentally within ourselves. So it's not that you have to go out and get your wisdom and fix it in your brain. You don't need to do that. That's the good news I have that you have inside yourself. So your wisdom becomes functionable at that level that when you just watch it, there is something happening. You are able to see something clearly, what's really happening in your life. What way of thinking creates what way of lifestyle. And that kind of lifestyle, is that healthy for the time being or for the later on, for a long period? So you get the whole sense of picture very clearly by when you just watch your mind. Therefore we say watching the mind is very important.

[24:05]

So then we also find out that we also find out that certain patterns of way of thinking develops a wonderful experience, develops a very inspirational experience, develops a very harmonious situation, it develops clarity in your relationship, with the world, clarity in yourself. You also come to know that very clearly with certain patterns of your thinking. And you also come to learn certain patterns of your thinking brings tremendous depression, even at that time you were thinking it's going to bring you something good. Because now that is like when we do something terrible, bad thing.

[25:10]

Most people, when they first attempt to do something bad, they don't have any idea that that's going to lead them to a stage which could be very depressing. They have no idea. When a person go and rob a bank, or rob somebody or do something bad or hurt somebody, they don't think that there's going to be suffering for them. They think it's going to bring them some kind of happiness. That's the idea why the person is attempting such an action. Because there is always an intention, idea behind this whole process that finally you could get what you want. You could get. Our whole life is based on that. What I do, I will get what I want. And all what we want is always wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. That's all. want to have a cup of tea, wonderful.

[26:17]

You want to, you know, go to, you know, take a ride, wonderful. You want to go to a movie, wonderful. You know, everything, including going to the bathroom and taking a bath and washing your faces and then putting your clothes, everything is expectation. The reaction is have a wonderful experience all the time. But it doesn't turn out that way. Most of the time it turns out the other way than with the wonderful thing. Most of the time we find that things are not fixed. You break things by that kind of intentions. So therefore, many situations like that are happening in our life. It's a true thing which is happening every day. It has happened for a long time and it's happening now. And if we do not see ourself, it will continue in the future.

[27:19]

And it's like a stream of mind. It's called the mind stream that which continues all the time. The mind stream never ends. It's like a river flow. You just keep on flowing and flowing and flowing and there is no end to that continuation of the mind stream. You could only end sees that kind of pattern when you see it and when you stop it, what has really fundamentally caused that kind of pattern. So that could only happen when you wash the mind. It cannot happen if you do not wash the mind. So that's a very important element, that the learning of the life, you see. So when a person, the whole teaching of the Dharma is explaining our life and how the life is happening. So when you really see that very clearly, you identify yourself with the teaching. The teaching is not talking something different language.

[28:21]

Teaching is basically just showing how we are going, what we are going through, what kind of experience we are going through. That's the whole thing of the teaching. And it didn't say that, you know, it didn't start with someone will be there to save you. It just said that you can do it. It said you can do it. It didn't say that you cannot do it. It said you can do it. All you have to do is to know it. You know it, you can do it. That's what it's explaining. And you can do that too. Many past, many realized beings like 80 maha great siddhas, many great teachers in this world, in Tibet and all over the world, different planets, beings, realized beings, many Buddhas, they have all done it. And we are also the same. We can do that too. So you can do it. But you need to watch it. If you watch it, you can do it.

[29:22]

If you don't watch it, you can never do it. Never. You're going to be in the same situation as ever for the next one billion year, or whether you believe in the next one billion year or not, but at least, you know, you can think that for the rest of your life. So their life doesn't end after this life. Life continues. Life continues, you see. And we have seen that very clearly today. Because we should have a, you know, a human being should have a high intelligence. Human beings are not stupid like animals. Human beings are a little bit higher intelligent beings. So even if we cannot see something, there is logic. Human beings have a higher capacity of logic than the animals really. Animals don't have a high logic. Animals can only just think what it's really doing at that moment, but they cannot think clearly as a human being can. So if the human being does not bring out that logic, then it completely devaluates the human nature.

[30:28]

It's like the dollars go down, the human nature goes down at that time. So that's kind of, then there's a way of projecting down. So that's a very sad thing. It affects your whole life. Because sometimes people say, oh, I don't see the next life. I don't believe in next life. But that's not true. We all have. We all have life. And we all have been kind of coming back. And there has been life. And there will be life. And you have to use the deductive logic. In logic, there is two kinds of logic we have seen. There is the immediate logic and there is the deductive logic. The difference of a human being and an animal, a human being can understand through logic there is something else, you know. If you see a smoke on the top of the mountain, you know there is a fire. Without fire, there cannot be any smoke. So by noticing today's smoke, you know there is a fire.

[31:29]

That's called deductive logic. So similarly, there has been many inner proof that there is a life. We have seen many scientists have proved that too. Scientists have, the way they call testing the laboratories, the way many people have recalled about their lives. We are not talking about the new age system, we are talking about true, from ancient times, Without being in new age, many people have just recollected very clearly. I'm talking about that situation. I'm not talking about today's new age, everyone saying I came from Atlantis. I don't believe in that. So we're not talking about that. We are talking about in a very basic level, there has been many... recollection, many articles where people have spoken about their life before, even they're not Tibetan reincarnated lamas, just spoken about their life.

[32:35]

Very simple, ordinary person just giving birth and they have said, and they're not connected with new Asians. anything, and they've proven it. And at the same time, we have seen many haunted houses, for instance. We've seen our grandparents still being somewhere into our house. Our grandmother still hanging out, you know, and doing her simple little nitty things, whatever she's doing. know that President Lincoln is in the White House. Still, President Lincoln, we heard that he's and Ronald Reagan's son-in-law has seen it. And so there are many, many things, many things like this happening. So from there, it proves that there is a life. The life continues. Life doesn't end. And if he kind of say that it's no life, why? Because I don't see it. It's the most stupid thing to say. If you don't see it, if there is nothing, then many people who have never seen Tibet, there is no Tibet because I haven't seen Tibet.

[33:39]

And that's a strange way of saying it. So sometimes we go with that kind of nihilistic view, very small intelligence way. So we should have a larger scope to know what's really there. So there is a continuation of the life. What I'm saying is even when you don't think of the next life, but even in this life, this is a kind of life what you're going through now. And for this life, how you can bring a sense of openness, how you can bring an understanding in your soul depends on your understanding and watching your mind. And the next life will be automatically, will be there. But when you make a good preparation, when you work with this present situation, you are creating the situation for your whole life. You are creating all the way to enlightenment. Not only a better life, what we would say, but we are also creating that enlightenment.

[34:43]

So there is a whole process involved there. Not only a better life, but also enlightenment. That's a very long way. life means our entire experience as long as we're in samsara, a person does have a positive experience. You create that phenomena to yourself because our whole life is a projection and we can learn that from our dreams too. Like just see the kind of personality who you hold in your dream that you hold in your life projects in your dream. If you are a wonderful person, you have that wonderful experience in your dream. Now that's how your whole life you experience is the question of life. Even there's not an enlightened experience, but there's an experience. It's a powerful experience. And that experience projects your state of mind. And you can see that projection doesn't stay all the time same. There's some kind of changing, fluctuation in that experience.

[35:45]

depends on your motivation when your motivation started to decrease and become negative you started to experience a tremendous violent and nightmares in your dream as well as the nightmare without questioning in our life in our day life you know the night life with our with our family with our friends you know some people have nightmares with their mother and you know, with their father and with their whatever, and some people have not, the kind of basic life relationship so powerful they can't handle anymore. Or they can't handle their nightmare with their boss in the office. You just want to, you know, just want to completely, you know, beat him up and just kind of crush him, but you can't do it. You just have to smile when you come, but inside you want to do that, you know, something like feeling like that. Or things like that. So many, that kind of experience are basically, that pattern has been maintained by our mind, attitude.

[36:48]

We maintain the life experience by attitude. So when we keep that habit, attitude ongoing, it's become very powerful. It's become very, very powerful. Whether it's good or whether it's bad, it's become very powerful. So then it started to project out of our state of mind. It's like a movie, a roll of film. Once the roll of film, you take picture, then it's been developed. So now it's ready to function and it's ready to show on the screen. Exactly when you maintain that kind of particular attitude for a long time, then that kind of particular attitude reflects in your life, whether it's good or whether it's bad. So what we're talking here, maintain a good positive thought and positive mind. In that way, you may be able to have a positive experience. That's one thing. But now second thing is not only, you're not doing the whole thing just to have a positive experience.

[37:49]

though you're definitely on the way to experience the positive, but you need to transcend that too. So that's called enlightenment. Transcending from the whole trip of positive and negative is called enlightenment, the whole trip. But while we are on a trip, definitely one is on a trip, one is on a positive trip. So you can have that trip, you can experience that trip. We talk about, oh, I don't want any trip, but of course, It's just an empty word. You're on a trip. Constantly you have expectation. You have hope. You have fear. They're all trips. Hope, fear, expectation are all trips. It's not called you're free from it yet. So you have to know, true, okay, I'm Shreya. All right, it's better to have a better trip. Why not? You know? So that's the kind. It's a compassionate way of knowing. But once you have that both in mind now, difference on the Vajrayana path, difference entering the Dharma, now you see that it is a trip.

[38:50]

Before you don't see even that it's a trip too. You don't even realize it is, you're going through a trip. Now you see that you are going through a trip. The moment you see that you are going through a trip, your whole version of that positive expectation changes. There is a big difference. Now you may be going through it, but at the same time there is some liberation, there is some opening, there is some space which is cleansing the whole thing up. So that's a big difference, what we call the step to enlightenment. If a person doesn't have that observation of knowing it, there is no step to enlightenment. One is simply on a pure trip, whether it's a positive trip or whether it's a negative trip. One is on a pure trip. One is on a pure trip. Now having a glimpse of that, though you are going through a trip, but now you have an idea that you are going through and there is something different start taking place in that region. So that's... That's how the difference of a samsaric life and a life of essence.

[39:59]

One is the life of duality and one is the life of essence. Now once we talk about enlightenment, we are getting to our basic ground, our basic essence, which later on, you know, even to have the very notion of enlightenment is also liberated. Because the very last thing for a Bodhisattva, the very last obscuration, the very last hindrance for a Bodhisattva to become completely enlightened is the expectation to get completely enlightened. Very subtle expectation. It's not like this expectation at all right now. It's so subtle that it's hard to notice. Very, very light. There's a slight notion of getting enlightened, and that is the hindrance to that enlightenment. So one has to liberate that. At that level, then Bodhisattva becomes completely enlightened. But at this moment, for most people,

[41:00]

one needs the inspiration. So if you're going to say at this level, I'm not going to need anything, then perhaps you would not even reach the... A better life. And if you do not reach a better life, then to reach the bodhisattva life and the enlightened mind is out of question. So therefore, we have to be very skillful in creating a situation for ourselves which could be very positive. Once you're with a positive friend, once you're with the right understanding of the situation, you're already working there. You may not have any clear idea, but the impact is so strong that by the time when you're doing it, it could be very little, but after when you see the result, it could be very powerful. The result can be very powerful, which is usually the case all the time. When we work, we kind of work, you know, we don't see the result of the whole year in one day, so we just kind doing little by little one day, little by little tomorrow and then suddenly one day you see the whole big house for instance for a carpenter the person who built the house you know they started with one brick and then suddenly after one year you see this whole big house there you know this is what that is what is brought to you know same thing in practice at the beginning it is very less you're kind of doing it doing it doing then one day you find

[42:31]

The whole thing, the tremendous power and tremendous realization is just like that. So therefore I'm saying continuation of the practice, patience is very important. It's like if you don't have the patience, a person who is building a house cannot ever achieve to build a house. Because if you start thinking, oh, I have to build this two-story building, you know, And you just think of it when you only have three bricks on the ground. You completely lose your... You're so discouraged. You can never have the building completely. So you need to have a strength inside. Okay, I'm not asking for it should happen today or tomorrow, but I'm just keeping doing it. So when you just keep on doing it, then finally one day you see that there is a complete two-story house and you could just get amazed to yourself. Wow, I did it, you know. This is... You feel satisfaction in yourself. So even the practice goes like that. You don't see the result in one or two days in a huge way, though we would very much like it, very, very much like it, but sorry to say that it doesn't happen like that.

[43:36]

I wish that we could change our faculty completely just like that. But this faculty is very complicated. So it doesn't happen. But it happens. It definitely happens in perseverance. It happens in time. You don't have to do much, but you just do a little. We know every day your one-hour practice or two-hour practice, whatever, and observing your life, gradually then it will develop. And particularly the Vajrayana path has a tremendous force behind which leads a person to see this whole situation in a very short way, in a very quick way. But you have to create the situation. Even if it's Vajrayana, you have to create the situation. If you don't create the situation, Vajrayana is not going to make the work for you. Vajrayana is your self. Your self is Vajrayana. Your self is the situation. If you don't create the situation, it cannot just do something else from outside. It needs to be done within oneself. So now...

[44:39]

in relating with this practice, in relating with this practice, now many people, you know, have, when we, in Buddhist teaching, only, whether it's approaching the Hinayana level, or whether it's approaching the Mahayana level, or whether one is approaching the Vajrayana level, fundamental thing in all of this thing is to first to take refuge. Now the notion of taking refuge is not like being baptized. It's different. It's not like that you dip yourself into water and now you're baptized. It's a very different thing. The notion of taking refuge is an introduction. It's simply an introduction in the Buddhist path. It's an introduction to your wisdom mind. It's like a ceremony where the teacher creates the situation for you to know your state of mind. That's called refuge. So one should not have the idea that it's like, now from that day on you become this so-called Buddhist.

[45:49]

Buddhism is simply a word. There has to be some word. Without word we cannot communicate. Without word, you know, you would not be here. Without word, we would not know what to eat today and what not to eat today. Our boss would not have any communication and our works or, you know, whether you have to tell to somebody, whether you're friends or whatever, you would have no communication if there is no word. So as the word, this word called Buddhism, that 2,500 years ago, more than that, Buddha Shakyamuni, first he was just like us, and then Buddha Shakyamuni, after all his practice, became enlightened. And Buddha being enlightened, then he named this word called Buddha. And so therefore, when we say taking refuge, I'm taking Buddhist refuge. Actually, the whole notion of Buddhism is not like the notion we projected. It's something more indescribable.

[46:49]

It's not something a label. It's not something a label as Buddhism. Someone who is a tremendous, powerful realization can transmit an energy to you. And to put it in a very simple version, like our very close friend. You have some very close friend, they transmit energy to you. They transmit a, either they transmit a very powerful romantic energy to you, or they transmit a something terrible energy to you, to which you can make it drive you crazy, or something of that is transmitting. blessing, but on a spiritual level, working with our essence is called blessing. Because it's called blessing, it's healing. It is the energy of healing. It is called the energy Buddha means our wisdom mind. So it's really inside opening.

[47:51]

That's what it is. It's the beginning to the open path, taking refuge. It's the beginning to the open path, it's the beginning to know ourselves, it's the beginning to the door of enlightenment. That's what the refuge means. So when you take the refuge, it's not that you become different, you are the same person outside. You will be the same person. Now that you are able to recognize by creating the situation. Even just simply taking refuge, you would not experience the Buddha mind all the time. You know, the Buddha mind, your enlightened mind, takes a long time. It's the same as anybody else. You may still have your whole hang-ups. You may still be the same old person. You may still have those whole experiences, what you usually do. You can still drink the coffee in the morning. You would not skip to a tea if you're a coffee drinker, you know. So you should not think that I'm going to be changed completely. not just taking a refuge. You are just going to be the same person as what you are just before you took the refuge.

[48:56]

Now the only difference is, now you are able, very powerful thing is happening in your life. And that is something that to know your essence. What we talk about the essence. the nature of essence. That has been a difference now. So now when you are about to discover the nature of your essence, then there is a change happening in your life. There is a change happening in your life that you are able to see your emotional part of your personality and you are able to see the essence part of yourself. So that's a big difference. which you have not seen the essence part of yourself before. You've only seen the emotional part of yourself. So now that's a very big difference. The emotional one is very conflicting, high and low all the time. The essence part is always there, that which you see yourself always as it is. That's called the enlightened state. The basic clarity.

[49:57]

It has like a power tremendously which develops on the path like a sunshine power, but even at a beginning level, one is able to experience the essence in a tremendous openness and tremendous balance, a total balance and a total sanity within oneself, that you think for the first time you get a dignity in yourself and you get a tremendous joy in yourself, wow, I really possess such a thing, or I really inherit the fundamentally that I am such a sanity, that kind of joy opens in oneself because of seeing one's enlightened partner. And which we don't see that usually. Usually what we see is the emotional personality, the changing of that personality from time to time, what we think about when we're a teenage, and then we grow up, then we become able, so on, keep going like that. So very unbalanced, you know. We never know what balanced life means. We never know what sanity means. That's the emotional personality.

[50:59]

So taking refuge, it means now able to know oneself, so the word is called taking refuge. Now why this word is used, taking refuge, is because someone never experienced that essence, even we all have that essence, one is going through the experience emotional, so it's been introduction to that, it's like, okay, now you have that essence and that's it actually, that's the whole point of what taking refuge means. It doesn't mean that now you have been completely stamped and, you know, the whole world can see that you are somebody different, you're going to be the same person. And if you do not integrate that essence, again, there is the whole thing happening inside. But now there is something powerful happening, which is like we could call an opening, as they say. So Buddha is the mind, is the basic sanity, is our total balanced mind, the essence mind, is called the Buddha. The essence of the mind is called the Buddha nature. The essence of the mind is not contaminated.

[52:03]

The essence of the mind is always pure and clear and powerful. That's called the enlightened Buddha nature. And then the Dharma. The Dharma is the teaching, the vision, that the whole clarity which you are able to understand and see and learn from this phenomena, that's called the Dharma. And the Sangha is relating to your mind is the activity of the mind. The openness have an activity and that activity is compassion. That activity is compassion without hesitation which will shine in every situation. It will shine in good situation and it will shine in bad situation. So to speak, for instance, it will shine in a situation to know that you are going through a positive tree. It will shine in a situation to know for beginners that you are going through a negative tree. And it will just shine and purify. Both of them. It will just shine and cleanse up.

[53:05]

It will just shine and liberate. And that's called the activity of that open mind. And that's called the Sangha, inner spiritual soul. Externally, now we can relate the whole Buddha, Dharma and Sangha on an external level and we can relate the whole Buddha, Dharma and Sangha on an internal level. On an external level, yes. 2,500 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha came. That's the Buddha, which we always project. That he became enlightened. And we are something very stupid people. We are something very... We see ourselves... We don't... see ourselves as actually stupid, we see ourselves as we know a lot of things. Yes, we know a lot of things, we have many great brilliant ideas, we have many excellent ideas, but we are always kind of insane at the same time. We really don't know what we are doing on one level, and at one level we seem to be very bright. So it's very unbalanced. So on an external level, there's the kind of Buddha which we see, or enlightened beings, or what we would refer as Buddha.

[54:11]

So that's the kind of what we see as Buddha. The Dharma is the teaching. There are many Dharma texts. published by Shambhala Publication and by Dharma Press and by many places they published. Those are the Dharma. Dharma translated into English. Dharma means every positive teaching is called Dharma. Especially Dharma means liberation is called Dharma. The profound Dharma means liberation teaching. And then in Tibet there is the Kanjur text, the Tenjur text, thousands of texts, they are all called Dharma. What we can see, we can go and see very easily in the library. They are all there. The whole Dharma is there. And that's the kind of outside notion of Dharma. And the Sangha is, you see, all the monks and nuns or... Now on a Vajrayana level, you see the whole Dharma brother and sisters. And that's the notion of Sangha. But when you relate to insight, Buddha is your...

[55:12]

basic openness, the basic purity, essence of their mind. And the dharma is the clarity. The basic openness is a clarity. The basic openness is not something empty. It has a fullness. It shines all the time. It just shines without discrimination in a tremendous power. That's the dharma. And sangha is the activity of the mind. The activity of that basic sanity, wisdom mind has a tremendous activity in healing. in assembling, in benefiting in endless, endless way. It just discriminates, shines through our neuroses, liberates them, heals them, one is able to find one's balance. So that whole thing is called the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha inside. So we have to kind of understand that that is ultimately what Buddha, Dharma and Sangha mean. And that's what taking refuge means. It's not something new you're getting. Taking refuge means it's been introduction. It's a ceremony of introduction to you.

[56:14]

So if you're enlightened, you don't even have to go through this whole thing. You don't even have to take it. You don't have to take refuge vows. You don't have to take bodhisattva vows. You don't have to take Vajrayana vows. If you are already into that ultimate level, then there is no need to take it. But when we are not on that stage, we kind of go through that on that whole way as a skillful means. So therefore, the wisdom and skillfulness takes a very important role in our life. Every day we use a lot of skill. Every day we kind of figure out how we are using our skill, not for essence, but we are using our skill for neurosis actions. We use, we think, how I can present my identity, the kind of fear, ego, which we never have. We're putting so much energy, so therefore when we find, after 20 years, we find, what have I done? Don't see anything. Because we have done, we've been doing something which is really never existed there.

[57:19]

But it is a very powerful experience at the same time. our skill to the other side and we kind of put our skill and strategy, how to fight, how to sleep, in a kind of cunning way, in a very cunning way. And the whole cunning nature element has something very neurotic and something very confusing there. So therefore the experience is very depressing. The experience is of fear and suffering because of such an element. Now, once we have wisdom, then we use our whole skill on another perspective. We use our whole skill on a very open ground, and we use our whole skill how we can clean and liberate those kind of hang-ups and those kind of situations. which brings that suffering. So it is basically you. It's basically you. You have to kind of get the idea that you are witnessing the whole situation. Sometimes you can look at that way. Actually, it's not that there is a dualistic.

[58:21]

It should not be a dualistic approach, but it should be like, you know, you are essence. Basically you are. And then there is a play of the ego and then the wisdom activity. The wisdom activity, when it shines, when the wisdom activity manifests, then your whole being becomes that essence and you are able to relate to the world from the essence point of view. But when you relate the whole world from the ego's point of view, then the whole experience becomes very unstable and the whole experience becomes very neurotic at the same time. Because ego has a fear. The fear is like the last weapon of the ego, and it's like the most powerful weapon of the ego. Without the fear, the ego would not survive. So once you start generating that kind of projection, of ego, then naturally you get very afraid, because the ego is something which is not there, and being not there it doesn't trust itself, so the fear is the only one which can hold that projection, to hold the projection of the ego, to hold the projection of that me.

[59:34]

So, and each time when you find yourself, you're about to experience a wonderful experience, your sanity, you're about to experience your tremendous openness, then immediately there's the invasion by the fear and start telling you, where are you? Where are you? Come on, get hold of yourself. Come on, get hold of yourself. of yourself and immediately you start looking around and try to find where am I where am I you know just that little bewildered being and and then you kind of hope okay here am I and then you create some kind of emotion you create some really there so you lose your whole perspective that moment could be very powerful opening to you but you didn't see your essence again you get caught in that projection again to the the play of the fear the play of the feeling that's how we get caught in the play of the fear So our practice is like that we come and we liberate the play of the field.

[60:38]

That's a very important thing. So there are many stages of practice. How it's done step by step was first of all to begin with our sitting practice. particularly on the Vajrayana, the Mundo practice becomes very powerful in working with those situations. So in order to have the experience of essence, one has to kind of know the nature of the of the mind, the essence of the mind, and then, now you need to be, you just need to understand yourself, acknowledge yourself. It's very simple. It's very simple. Because your being is there anyway, you see. Let's think it this way. We have a being anyway. We have a being. And you don't have to kind of fabricate that being.

[61:38]

You don't have to tell what that being is. You just have a being without grasping. You don't have to grasp. You don't have to have the fear that if I don't grasp, my being is going to get lost. Your being will never get lost. In fact, what I said in meditation, the less you expect, the more you gain. Because the less you expect, the more open it becomes, the more able to, the wisdom shines at that time. The wisdom is a fearless mind. Wisdom is not a grasping mind. And someone who thinks that I can only have a wisdom by having so uptightness, by holding to myself, that's a, for beginners, it's not a fault because when you, when someone is doing for the first time meditation, or when one is a beginner, one will have that kind of experience. Even you try to kind of open up, but then automatically, again, the fear will start to play. Okay, now you open up, you open up, you know. And there's another trick there, you see. It's kind of complicated, it would say. And when you say, open up, open up, there's grasping, you know.

[62:39]

There's a kind of another grasping. So that kind of trick will come. There's the play of the fear at that moment. So your ego is interpreting your spiritual practice. But anyway, you keep on doing, you keep on doing, and then finally it will break. So you bring that deception. go with the deception will depend on the mutual, tremendous mutual relationship with the Vajra Master, and the Vajra Master will cut that deception at a particular time. Without the Vajra Master, then it becomes very insecure sometimes. You may not be able to have that whole fearless nature. particular time but that's how it comes see that's how it comes that's how the fear fear goes all the way even on your spiritual path and then sometimes you may do something

[63:53]

some people may start some kind of thing and then suddenly they started to see they started to you know have some kind of experience and then they start to say oh now i have realized and i can do something while the whole fear is preventing you so it's really really it's called the main confused mind. The confused mind, if there is such a demonic thing, is the confused mind. Outside demonic force, we can just go away. Close the door and it cannot come inside. That's it. But this inside goes wherever you are. Constantly, constantly, we are kind of really very overwhelming, depressing, overwhelming experience. So it's a terrible thing. So that's why the whole point is why it is said, open mind, relax, you know. So you have to, you really have to trust the situation and you really have to

[65:00]

have a tremendous understanding at that time. And we have that understanding because we're intelligent. Human beings have a particular intelligence. Therefore, only human beings can understand the Dharma. Otherwise, animals cannot understand the Dharma. That's why it's so precious that we have this capacity, this high capacity of understanding. And if you cannot understand then, then too bad. Then it's really too bad. Then that person needs the prayers of the whole world. Something like that. So we can understand it's not like that. But then again there seems to be many hindrances on the path. There will be laziness. There will be drowsiness. There will be all kinds of things. But what I'm really saying, do it every day. Do it every day. And that will give you the strength. That will show you the inspiration. That will open up itself. And then the teacher, Vajra Master, also provides you a situation how far your ego comes forward to that Vajra Master and Vajra Master will cut through that ego's interpretation.

[66:16]

you see that's what is called the whole mandala of initiation the mandala of the vajra master there's a complete like the whole barrier there's the barrier the boundary will be cut through but how far one can go with the deception without that creation or the mutual creation it would not happen because again inside you will kind of hold it you know so he may scream and In that way, then finally, the whole facade, the whole deception started to drop down. But until then, the deception would not drop down. But to drop down, one has to make an effort. So then, it's called you. completely get free. It's like taking off your whole clothes and taking off your whole hat and everything. It's a good sign, actually, in the officer academy, when they completely become officer, they take their whole hat and throw it up in the air, you know.

[67:19]

That's a good sign, actually, you know, like free. So kind of that experience. celebrate their day. So like that, that's exactly how the Vajra Master and the Vajra student do it on the path. Both, you know, the Vajra Master open his heart and the student also do very powerful. It has to be a brave student, you know. A person who is so afraid and who has lots of laziness cannot succeed. It's not easy. But who has strength will succeed. Who is brave will succeed. It's not worthy. So that's how the whole trick remains in that part that how the fear started to play and tie the whole of oneself even at the last, even when you come on the spiritual path. Now it will start taking another form, you see. Disgusting in another form. While in the ordinary world, it is very strong. Don't have to say, it's like the boss. Now, at that level, it doesn't come and say like a boss, but it's very skillful, you know.

[68:24]

It's also very skillful saying, okay, now kind of, yes, now open up, my dear, open up. Very good, yeah. The Lama is saying, open up, yeah, you should open up. He will even tell you that. It's that trick, you know. So, and then you sit down and, yes, yes, open up, open up, open up. And then you become very serious, it's not opening up. So then, that's how, it's very deceiving, you know, very deception. But then when you keep on, then there are certain points when they, you know, at certain points, like when we're doing meditation sometimes, I introduce in the middle, you know, that creating the situation. Then suddenly, sometimes the whole thing will fall down. and then there's a glimpse. But then it wouldn't last long at the beginning, then again the whole thing starts to form back pretty soon, because again one has been used to that habit for so long time, so it just doesn't disintegrate very easily, the whole deception again starts to form.

[69:32]

Then time by time, then it becomes lighter and lighter. So however, there is a long, If we start it, then there is a very good result on the short way within the Vajrayana practice. Because the whole situation is very different, it's not like in the Hinayana path. In the Hinayana path the situation is created on a very mild way, and while here the situation is created in a very powerful way, that as I said, once that Vajra Master opens his heart and you come and study with him, Once he completely sees your faculty and starts to work with you, then there is no way of escaping for the fear. Whether you run on the back side, he's there. Whether you run on the front, he's there. When you become his victim, then there's no way you can run away from him.

[70:32]

Whether in this life or that life or whatever, you're just there. So kind of that, that's called the compassionate activity. level so so we should think on we should think on the precious human body we should think on how precious we are how fortunate we are that we can understand we have this high capacity you know and we can take a rejoice now you see good part of yours at some time you know so and then uh not not this is not gonna last forever so i have to use it you may never know when we die you We know many people like those who are perfectly well and suddenly we found they are terrible at sickness. And especially today with all these chemicals and all kinds of contaminations in our water and with our space and environment, the things doesn't look that favorable in one way.

[71:33]

But so we never know that we could be one of them. So when we are well, we should use it. We should integrate our wisdom soon. So then one can be out of those things. But if we do not do it, then it could be dangerous. It could be very unwise. the great Shantideva said, one of the greatest teachers. Shantideva is the, I hope to translate the text in the future, is a text about, when you read the text, you can, you will cry, you know, no one can stop it. Because we see that how much sanity one lacks and how much compassion mind one lacks. And when a person reads that text, it completely opens up your compassion mind, which means your whole mind is kind of, it's a very powerful text. And Shantideva, the history of Shantideva, Shantideva was a prince in South India. And then his teacher was Mandushui, you know, the wisdom lady.

[72:39]

And the day he was about to be coronated as the king, Manjushri appeared in his dream and Manjushri was sitting on the throne where he was supposed to be sitting next day. And then Manjushri asked him, oh son, do you want to sit on the same throne where I'm sitting? Naturally, you know, you don't sit on the same throne as your teacher on the Vajrayana level. And then he said, and immediately he recognized that there's a time for him to not to be a king and find his own realization. So he immediately got the answer that very next early morning he ran away and left the palace. And then he went to Nalanda, the great university of Nalanda. In those days there were two great Buddhist universities. One is called the Nalanda University and one is called the Bikramashila University. So the Nalanda University has many great scholars, many great panikas, and he went and he was practicing inside, while all the other monks, all the great scholars, they were debating, studying, and he was doing none of them.

[73:50]

But inside, no one knows that he was such a great practitioner. What he was doing, I would say, eating more than anybody else, and sleeping, and going to the toilet, you know. So his name was called Eating, Sleeping, and Shitting. So he was called Busuku. Busu Kuk, Eating, Sleeping, and Shrieking, that's his name. So everyone thought this is a disgrace to the university, this is a disgrace to the monastery. You know, such a great monastery and university, and there we have a guy and doing things. And then, the custom in the Nalanda University, after certain years, each monk or pandita, they have to sit on a throne and give teaching to everyone. So then, when his turn came, when Shantideva's turn came, Then they all want to kind of tease him up, so they make his throne a little bit higher. And then they all kind of sit and kind of mumbling inside, they say, now tomorrow he's going to show his real quality, and then we can send him out of this place, you know.

[75:07]

Then we can throw him out of the university. So we will disgrace him because he won't know what to say and we will disgrace him. So they were all kind of waiting. And then Shantideva, he kind of sat on the, when his turn came, so his teacher, his usual teacher, he said, Can you do it? You know, it's your turn coming. You better have something to do. And he said, don't worry, I will do it. And his teacher kind of got shocked. How can they do it? This man is always eating and sleeping and now how can they do it? He kind of got worried. But he said, don't worry, I will do it. So then the next day he sat on the throne. Nobody really knew first of all how he sat on the throne. The throne was very high. Somehow he put his hand and then he was on the throne. And then he started and he said, should I give a teaching which was given before or should I give a teaching which was not given before? Then everyone kind of got shocked, you know. They say, oh, yeah, yeah.

[76:09]

Give a teaching which wasn't given before. They won't look kind of even. And then he said, there is nothing new here I'm going to say beside it. Then he gave the whole Bodhisattva teaching, the ten chapters, the ten chapters. And when he came to the ninth chapter, then he floated from the throne. They regretted not seeing what a great enlightened being in the midst of them. And usually they were making fun of him. And now there was this. And then he became higher and higher and higher. And then the whole teaching, the 9th chapter and the 10th chapter, was given from the space, which was what he was floating. And then everyone was completely shocked. And then later it split into two sections. One group said there was only nine chapters and one group said there was only ten chapters in the text.

[77:14]

And they kind of got the debate confused. And then later they found Shantideva was somewhere in South India. And then two great panditas went there and asked him, is there a ninth chapter or a tenth chapter which you give teaching? And he said there is a tenth chapter. So there is a tenth chapter in the Shantideva's teaching. And in that he says that the human body is like the perfect boat. With the human body as a boat, we can cross this great ocean of suffering. This boat, this human body-like boat will not be easy to get in the future, so do not sleep. he gave the advice, don't sleep, don't be ignorant, wake up, wake up from this stage, because it would be extremely hard to get this kind of vessel. It's a creation of tremendous positive karma.

[78:16]

Without a tremendous positive karma, we would not have this kind of body, because everything happens with a cause, and this is a cause of tremendous high senses, high faculty, high knowledge, high being. It's come from a tremendous power, you know. It's not something just came out of, like, without nothing from the sky. It has its own many causes and very difficult causes to be here. But in human beings, there are many kinds of human beings, particularly who can relate to the essence and who can study, hear the practice, hear the teaching and do the practices, even more rare. Because mostly, many people do not even have the notion that whether they are in a state of sanity or insanity, they do not even have the notion. Many people in this world. So to go and look deeper inside is out of question. So those who have the opportunity to look deeply inside, are very, very fortunate. And when we have this great fortunate, we have to use this wealth very wisely. Otherwise, with this body capacity, we can make it very powerful.

[79:20]

We can be an enlightened one, or we can be a total worse, like someone who destroyed the world, like a Hitler, you know, or like those who just, like... Certain people destroyed Tibet, certain people destroyed the whole world, brought disgrace to the world, to the humanity, a disgrace. And exactly we are one of those candidates. If we are not careful with this mind, we can be one of them. It's not that we are somebody different. We can be one of those candidates for enlightenment, and we can be one of those candidates for the worst thing to happen. So the mind is very powerful. Sometimes we may not have any idea what this mind can do. When a certain state reaches, when the whole thing matures, it becomes so powerful that it can, you know, even in our life we can see that, you know, we can go to the last end of suicidal and we can go to the last end of being most depressed and we can find tremendous joy and tremendous enlightenment. So we have the whole thing and it's just the way how we know to do it the right way.

[80:22]

That's a very important thing. So to watching the mind, thinking of the precious human body, impermanence, the cause and effect, the cause and effect is so true, you know. If you do something, it's called action and reaction. When you know the action, it has a particular reaction. Every action has a particular reaction. No matter if the sound has a particular, the action of the sound has a reaction, the action of the thought has a reaction, and the action of the body has a reaction. So if you know that clearly, Then you only cultivate the right action, positive action, in order to experience the positive reaction. And you plant a negative action and then you expect a positive reaction. which is mostly, many times we are doing like that, we find ourselves in depression because of like that. So therefore, the whole experience will depend on that clear knowledge of the cause and effect, the law of cause and effect. What kind of particular cause originates, creates, what kind of result afterwards, that's called the karma.

[81:29]

The word called karma, actually in English we call cause and effect, Sanskrit is called karma, and there would be some other name in Mars and Jupiter for the same thing. So, actually, if you get the point, that's the main thing. The names are not very important. The great Jew, Mipham, said, names are not important. If you get the point, you can call it anyway. You can call anything, you know, he says. It's the same thing. Sometimes we get so much caught in names and, you know, things like that, and we lose the essence. And that's a really sad thing, you know, a very, very sad thing. People kind of go, oh. Who you are? Where do you belong? What is it? Completely get caught in name and never really understood the essential point. That's very sad thing. So most important thing is to understand the essence and once you understand the essence, then names you can create the way you like. And particularly or one respect the name where it comes from the lineage so that it can be passed to other people. So then, now in this case, the whole lineage, in lineage, there are three types of lineage in the world of practice.

[82:40]

One is called the lineage of the mind, and one is called the lineage of the symbol, and one is called the lineage of the hearing. So today, what you are going through, and what I've gone through, is what we call the lineage of the hearing. Now from the lineage of the mind is from the Samantabuddha Buddha, the primordial Buddha, to the Vajrasattva, Vajra, Sattva. Vajra means indestructible, Sattva means holder. What is indestructible? pure, indestructible. Sattva means that nature, that being. So, Samantabhadra Buddha transmitted the wisdom, transmitted that knowledge to Vajrasattva, and Vajrasattva, that is called the mind lineage, mind-to-mind transpiration. You know, there is no hearing. One just sits and one just transfers. So it's a non-dual mandala.

[83:42]

It's not a dualistic mandala. It's just been passed through. Just like that. And then from Garabdorji, the great Dzogchen master Garabdorji to Jampal Srinin. Garabdorji, you all know the history. Garabdorji was Garabdorji was the first Dzogchen master, the great Mahā-āti tradition of Nyingma lineage, where there is tremendous wisdom-wild energy and wisdom-liberating energy, which has been deprived in the Mahā-āti tradition. And so it started from Garabdorji, Jambal Sinha was from China, Shri Sinha was from China, but Garab Doji to Jambal Sinha, then Shri Sinha, and then from Shri Sinha to Padmasambhava, that is called the lineage of the symbol. So symbolically they got realized.

[84:45]

They were never given the teaching verbally. They symbolically got realized in this way or that way, you know. And sometimes by sign, sometimes by just kind of creating some kind of situation like moving, having some kind of gesture, making some kind of gesture or making some kind of... some kind of situation that is called the lineage of the symbolic and then the lineage of the hearing the lineage of the hearing started from from After Pema Sambawa, then from one's teacher, from my root teacher, from His Holiness, then from Pema Sambawa to the Ishi Tsogyal, Dakini Ishi Tsogyal, Dakini Ishi Tsogyal to previous Dejom Lingpa, and previous Dejom Lingpa to His Holiness' teacher, who was Gurme Ngayten Mwampo.

[85:51]

and then to his wholeness. So the whole lineage was passed like that. The whole wisdom lineage was passed like that. So that's how the lineage of the hearing, that's called the lineage of the hearing. So the mind lineage, the symbolic lineage, and the lineage of the hearing. That's how the practice of the whole one draw manifest. And then, so when you do the practice, you visualize the whole lineage teachers. You visualize the Samantabhadra Buddha to Vajrasattva, Garbdorji, Jampol, Shinshira Singha, Pema Sambhava, and then from Pema Sambhava to Ishitsogel, and all the teachers. And then in the middle there's Pema Sambhava and on the right side is Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded by the Buddhas, 1,000 Buddhas of the three chants. And then on the left side is the eighth great Bodhisattva and 16 great Arahats and the retinues of great Arahats.

[86:52]

And then in the front is the Vajrakalaya, the embodiment of all the Buddhas in the tremendous wrathful nature, the wrathful nature, the Vajrasattva. On a peaceful level is Vajrasattva, cleansing deity, the most purification, most powerful in purifying one's body, speech and mind. On a wrathful nature, So Vajrasthikalaya and all the deities, all the yidam deities, whoever particular yidam deity you are, you are kind of, whoever is your favorite yidam deities, and all of them in the front, all of them in the front. and then surrounded by Dharmapadas. So that's the whole refuge. It's a refuge tree you create on the Wundra practice level. So that's where you practice and yourself, you visualize like a huge ground

[87:53]

huge plain ground, and on the plain ground there you are sitting, and in the right is your father, and on your left there is mother. We visualize, we do this practice for the enlightenment of all the beings. That's the basic Mahayana approach. And if you do not have that understanding, then it's become a very hynionic practice. So on your right hand is your father, on your left hand is your mother, in the front is all the beings, those who obstruct you. because they also need enlightenment. They are doing something out of confusion, so therefore you visualize the negative forces, demonic forces, whatever, who is trying to obstruct you, they are in the front. And then on your back is your relatives and your friends, and then surrounded by all the beings of the universe, and then they there you are doing the practice in front of the Pema Sambhava and all the lineage teachers and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. A tremendous light, like a thousand glow of a sun and moon, like that, kind of radiates from them.

[88:57]

And then while you're doing the refuge practice here, it's called Nizam Chanchpunyupo Mataupar. From now on, Here it says, From now until attaining the heart of enlightenment, I take refuge in the Lama, the three jewels. So that's what it says. So at that time, the Lama and the refuge tree, tremendous light generates, dissolves into all the beings, so powerful light that it cleanses up all the defilements, all the emotional unbalance and the whole emotional state and then we are able to see our mind. So you do that three times. Three times. So tremendous light generated at that time, and then it dissolved into you. Okay, now the light dissolved into you from all these Buddhas, tremendous light come, Buddha and Bodhisattvas and the whole refuge, and then you've become so cleansed, like crystal clear, like a stainless sky, and you also become into a light.

[90:09]

You become into a light and the whole beings, the whole neurosis, the whole hang-ups, confusion, fear dissolve and the whole being become into a light. And then you also, after becoming a light, you dissolve into the whole refuge thing. you dissolve into those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and finally dissolving into the main athlete, Pema Sambhava, and then, who is inseparable from the Lama, and then that also dissolves into the light, and then at that time, you experience the basic open ground of your basic sanity, completely dissolved and inseparable to non-dual state. And then you should remain in that state of meditation as long as you can. At that time, there's a very powerful experience of the wisdom mind. being in that state. Usually when you sit there, it's slightly different. When you dissolve into the refuge and into the Lama's mind completely at this level, there is a very powerful experience of the wisdom mind, emptiness mind, or the emptiness is not the right word, but you know, the essence into a sanity complete.

[91:21]

so there's something you cannot describe the amount is tremendous opening clear and then you remain in that state for a while and then once you get back again you generate the whole whole uh refuge tree and then you is after that so there i found a ministry photo in nevada city so i hope to find some uh you know i heard there could be some other places we can find and then one day i can have it here and we could take a picture and then everyone can have a picture of the refuge tree it's a very important So that's the kind how you do it, you know, how you do it, the refuge. Ultimately, so the whole refuge, you dissolve and yourself become dissolved into two, so this become completely non-dual state. You see your basic sanity, Buddha nature, emerging into that sanity, and therefore you experience that wisdom mind within yourself.

[92:25]

So then, basically, one does the prostration with the, those who are starting the, completing on the practice, it requires about 100,000 prostration, and reciting that, so you can start in your place doing these two words, visualizing the whole refuge, and doing the prostration 100,000 times. Now, basically, the powerful law of the essence is so mind, and the whole life is the experience of the mind, and actually at this point is the experience of the emotional mind. It's not the experience of the essence mind. But when you do this presentation in front of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, it says in one presentation, going all the way to the bottom of the ground, where there are millions and billions of particles, that much Even in a state of many lifetimes before one becomes enlightened, one becomes a powerful king, a universal monarch. That's the merit of that kind of prostration.

[93:28]

One prostration. The way the endless, endless billions of particles underneath the ground, just one prostration benefits, merits, it's like one becomes a universal monarch for that many lifetimes because of the power of the essence so powerful there. So that's the whole reason there's a tremendous merit and power conserved there. And if we can, in many teachings, you know, it explains, if we can really see that the cries that we have made at this point in taking so many lives, that our whole cry will be bigger than the whole ocean. One person's cry can be bigger than the whole ocean. That many life ones taken up, you know. So, and if you

[94:13]

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