Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising

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Pratitya Samutpada, Teaching Retreat

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clarify. One is that when we talk about dependent origination, that dependent on this, that arises, or this is a condition for the arising of that. It's not necessarily a cause. A condition is not necessarily a cause. It may be a distant cause. or we can make it into a cause, but it's not necessarily a direct cause. So we have various conditions that may lead to causes or condition a cause. For instance, if you call me a jackass and I get angry and hit you, you're calling me a jackass is not the cause of my hitting you, it's a condition for a cause which is my decision to hit you.

[01:13]

So my anger is the cause of my hitting you, not your insult. Your insult is a condition for creating a cause or for allowing a cause to arise. We have to be so careful in our language, and we're so sloppy in our language. When we think about how things arise, it's hard to think through exactly how to express how something arises. And so we tend to lump things together and not really distinguish them. We have to be careful. We say, you caused me to hit you, which is, you know, no, not right. And we get angrier because you deny it. So there are events which set up conditions for something to arise.

[02:21]

We can say that because the condition which you set up by insulting me, my anger arose with that condition. So that's co-conditioning. Nevertheless, it's not the cause of my retaliation. I can decide to just turn around and go the other way. So we have to distinguish between causes and conditions for arising. The other thing is that I want to clarify about the five skandhas. Five skandhas are form skanda, which is rupa, which is the body, because we can talk about all kinds of forms, but the main thing in Buddhadharma is to talk about the person.

[03:34]

not so much cats and dogs or buildings and phenomena, but about the person. So the form of the person, eyes, ear, nose, tongue, body, organs, all this is form, form skanda. Feelings, which are both mental and tactile, So if I put my hand here, that's a feeling, it's a tactile feeling. But when you insult me, something comes up for me, that's an angry feeling. So it's both mental and physical feelings. So forms, forms, feelings, and perceptions is recognition. to see, hear, feel. I mean, see, hear, feel, touch, smell, and so forth.

[04:39]

That's perception through the sense doors. Formations is karmic formations, samskaras, which will be the subject of what I'm going to talk about, but I want to present the whole thing first. And then there's consciousness. Consciousness arises through contact, feeling, and all the rest, and mental formations. So contact, I mean, consciousness is discrimination, basically discrimination. So there's the form, and the rest are mental, except for feeling, which is kind of both mental and tactile.

[05:45]

So, what are the formations? We used to say impulses, that was the old translation. Form, feelings. perceptions, impulses in consciousness. Impulse is like the flash, something coming up, something appearing, which is like a thought, right? So, formations are like thoughts, but specifically, they're, they're like, There are 51 karma formations which are called samskaras, and then there are other formations as well, mental formations, which are identified in the lists of dharmas, which are mentals.

[06:51]

So I'm going to present what these subscars are. And you'll recognize all of them because, yes? Before you go to that question, because this is always puzzling, could you say, you began talking about conditions rather than causes. Well, I wouldn't say it, skandhas are like, you know, skandha means heap, literally, but that's not what they are. They're five streams, or five streams which are coordinated or co-organized around each other,

[08:07]

woven, right, they weave with each other to make a configuration called me. So, what is your question exactly? Well, so, feeling, in order to feel forms through perceptions, so you have to, feeling is seeing, you see feeling as the condition for perception, perception as the condition for, you know, and so forth. Well, they all condition each other. Absolutely, yeah, each one is a condition for all of the rest. And it's somewhat parallel with what we were talking about yesterday, kind of the evolution of, again, the creation itself, kind of in the belief in nature. Heart Sutra, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing Prajnaparamita, saw, perceived, that all five skandhas in their own being are empty.

[09:13]

So, being empty, they only exist in cooperation with each other. That's their reason, that's their function, is to cooperate with each other, and by cooperating with each other, their result is identified as a self, but the self that they're identified with is not exactly real, it's a confection, meaning a putting together. So of these elements, and there's no self to be found there, even though we identify it as a self. But when we take it apart, we see that there's no self there. So then the question is, well, what is it? And then it goes on to say that all dharmas are also empty.

[10:22]

Well, because by investigation, when you remove all the pieces, you see that there's nothing, no center. How do you remove all the pieces? Well, you investigate them. You say, oh, what is form? And then you investigate, what is form? What is this body? This body you can see is a collection of elements. Body is a collection of elements. If you practice medicine, you practice understanding that the body is a collection of elements. It's a configuration of elements that are all working together to establish a body. But when the breath is gone and all of the nutrients are no longer combining, then we say, it's dead.

[11:36]

So it arises and then we say, it's alive. And then it ceases and we say, it's dead. Well, what was it? Or better yet, what is it? We kind of know what it was, but when it's gone, what was it, or what is it? So that's the investigation. And the same is true of feelings, well what are they? How do they arise? The same with perceptions, what are they, how do they arise? So that's the study, that's what we're studying. And then they feed the tree, they continue to feed the tree. But that's what it is. That's what what is? The leaves, the tree, the compost, that's what it says, it's not nothing.

[12:44]

I never said it was nothing. There's nothing, no substantial substance, there's no substance. Substance is that which is a first cause. Well, you can say you perceive something through feeling. It's true, if you're blind and deaf and so forth, and you put your hand on something, then that's contact.

[13:53]

And so contact gives rise to feeling and so forth. Feeling gives rise to But this is a category, but if you start taking it all too rigidly, then you can argue about, well, is this a mental or is this a physical? Mental and physical are inseparable, so sure. But strictly speaking, when we talk about perception, we don't so much think about perception as a body thing, we think about it as a mental thing. But sure, it's also connected with the body. Yeah, well I'm not making him up. It's mixed, yeah, body-mind are mixed, but if you want to talk about body, you talk about body as separate from mental.

[14:56]

If you want to talk about mental, you talk about, you know, if you want to talk about the arm, you're not talking about the leg. So, but they're all connected. I have a question too, and I wondered if part of the reason that actually are the ones that we have Yeah, yeah, I think that's right.

[16:02]

So, there are various ways to think about it, but this is the model that we're using. This is the model that's always been used, is that form is form and the rest are mostly aligned with the mind. I was just going to say, it helps me to think about this in terms of the actual brain chemistry of this. I'm no expert on this, but you have a part of your brain that sees light and dark, and then a part of your Well, you know, I don't want to prolong this, but...

[17:12]

I want to get on with this. I'll be very careful that we don't go off too much on tangents. But as you know, someone who's been blind all their life and who, through operation of some kind, is able to see, has no idea what's going on. because we have learned how to do that. We've learned how to see, and we've agreed on what we see and how we do it. We don't always agree, but there is general agreement on perspective. I mean, a person who's never seen before has no idea of perspective. It's just like they don't know how to operate. It's just like... It was as if you'd become blind after learning to see. It just doesn't, the meaning, everything has to be learned, like we've learned it since birth. When a baby comes into the world, we think, well, I don't know what we think, but they don't see the same way we see.

[18:22]

They have to learn perspective, and they have to learn differentiation. And since they can't talk or think in concepts, We don't know what it's like, but everything that we perceive, for the most part, is learned. And that's why it's difficult to see reality, because what we see is representation. We see mostly through our representation. our ideas and what we've learned and how we've learned to see things, and the covering of all that. So, Buddhist training is to learn how to unsee so that we can see.

[19:32]

Do you think it's time for us to stand up? I wonder why you're raising that thing. Okay. Okay. Let's, well, before I start, let's stand up and we can do a little stretching if you like. Actually, this Heart Sutra says all dharmas are marked emptiness. are empty, and the same is true of feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness. So, yes, all dharmas are empty and so are in their own being, which means they have no inherent existence and only arise through combination. So, this is what it means by formations.

[20:41]

And in the Hundred Dharma Doors, the Hundred Dharmas, which was composed by Vasu Bandhu, by Osho, Supposedly, anyway, his collection of dharmas are 100, but for our purposes, we're only going to talk about wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, the 51, and I'm just going to go through it. So, in the categories, there are five universally interactive dharmas. there are five particular states, there are 11 wholesome, and six fundamental afflictions, and 20 derivative afflictions, and four unfixed, and so forth. So, I'm just giving you the categories.

[21:46]

But there are dharmas that arise in every mental activity. That's attention, contact, feeling, conceptualization, and deliberation. And I don't want to explain those. Don't ask. And then there are particular states and so forth. And then there are 11 wholesome dharmas. The 11 wholesome dharmas are dharmas that are not ego builders. And they're not ego referent. Although, if they are perverted, they could be. But strictly speaking, they're wholesome. And they are faith, vigor,

[22:49]

or effort, shame, or conscience, remorse, or sometimes called integrity, absence of greed, which is usually called generosity, absence of anger, which is called goodwill, absence of stupidity, which is called understanding, Light ease, which is called non-rigidity. Rigidity. And non-laxness, which is called vigilance. Renunciation, which is called no clinging. I'm saying called, these are alternative terms. Renunciation, which means not clinging to one side. and non-harming, ahimsa. So these are wholesome dharmas that are relevant to practice.

[23:57]

The six fundamental afflictions are greed, anger, stupidity, which is related to delusion, arrogance, which is related to conceit, doubt, which is skepticism, and improper views. And then there are 20 derivative afflictions, which are bad karma, need the bad karma, wrath, hatred, rage, covering, deceit, flattery, conceit, harming, jealousy, stinginess. No, I said harming. Harming. Harming need. So then there are two intermediate grade afflictions, which are lack of shame and lack of remorse.

[25:03]

And then there are eight major grade afflictions. lack of faith, laziness, laxness, torpor, restlessness, distraction, improper knowledge, and scatteredness. And the four unfixed are sleep, regret, examination, and investigation. These are unfixed. They're not good or bad. They're simply dharmas. And then there are the formed dharmas. which are eye, ears, nose, tongue, body, forms, sounds, smells, flavors, objects of touch, dharmas pertaining to form. And then there are dharmas which are not interactive with the mind. And so there are a lot of other dharmas, but mainly the dharmas that we're concerned with are the 51. Samskaras, yes.

[26:06]

I did, but I will again. Faith, vigor, shame, remorse. It's interesting that they use absence of, instead of the positive side, absence of greed. These three are conditions for nirvana. Absence of greed, absence of anger, and absence of stupidity, which is also called delusion. We usually say delusion. So greed, anger, and delusion. The absence of those, because greed, anger, and delusion are the three roots of ignorance or unwholesome states. The absence of those is nirvana. So that's where they use the term absence of.

[27:14]

They don't name something positive. When you take the cover off, there's the stew. So greed, anger, and delusion are the covers. Yeah, it's the hub. Right, the hub of the wheel on which the whole wheel of samsara turns. Greed, anger, and delusion. So when those are eliminated, We have a different president. Hopefully. So, absence of greed, of course, is generosity, and absence of anger is goodwill, and absence delusion is understanding. So then light ease, not being rigid, non-laxness, which is vigilance, renunciation, and non-harming.

[28:28]

So these are the wholesome dharmas. And all of these are chronic formations? Each one, they all, when used volitionally, when expressed volitionally, create karma. So when we talk about volition, we're talking about volitionally, like greed is a volition. you do something on purpose. And vigor is volitional, you do something on purpose. And so vigor or diligence leads to, it's called good karma, right? And greed is called bad karma.

[29:33]

one side, I think I did that. Yes, I did say that. Elimination, not clinging to one side. In other words, not being dualistic. Not being attached to one side. That's interesting when we talk about what is renunciation, right? I think that's really, I don't know where I got that. That's my comment. not clinging to one side is renunciation. Giving up means giving up dualistic thinking or acting in a dualistic way. Not holding to fixed views, yeah. Well, non-ego is not something you can cling to.

[30:45]

You can't cling to a non-thing. It's a kind of sophistry because in Indian philosophy, when you get to philosophizing in a certain kind of logical way, you end up with, is there such a thing as a non-cow? And that was like the epitome of sophistry. Or a square circle. Or a square circle. So anyway, what I wanted to do was give us an understanding of the meaning of the word formations.

[31:48]

These are karmic formations. samskaras are the karmic formations which create karma. And those formations which create karma, good karma or bad karma, the afflictions, they're called afflictions, that's pretty much a Chinese term. we call it bad karma, are what cause suffering. And the good, the wholesome dharmas alleviate suffering. The afflictions or the unwholesome dharmas are conditions for creating suffering. or, you know, whatever you want to call it, unsatisfactoriness, delusion, so forth.

[33:03]

Yes? When they arise, at that point you have a choice. If you have mindfulness, when mindfulness is present, then mindfulness presents the alternative to unwholesome dharmas. Well, mindfulness, depending on your ability, recognizes when an unwholesome dharma arises. Mindfulness says, this is an unwholesome dharma that has arisen. And then you can decide what to do.

[34:06]

Do you follow the dharma or do you follow the ego? So you have a choice there. So the dharma is the outer circle. Following the Dharma is the outer circle, following the ego is the inner circle. Did you read the handout? Yeah, remember the inner circle and the outer circle. We talked about that yesterday, you weren't here, but if you look at your paper you'll see what that means. But I'm going to get into it. The reason I'm discussing this now is when we get to that, you'll know what we're talking about. I could, yes.

[35:07]

When our decisions are based on dharma, they're based on the eleven wholesome dharmas, as an example. And so this is following the dharma. Following the ego is greed, ill will, and so forth. Not necessarily, but it's being caught, but when you're following that which gives rise to a self, is a derivative or conditioned by ignorance. Well, she does have a choice, actually, because... Well, that's new.

[36:24]

We didn't hear about that yet. No, you didn't. Because she chose to respond in that way. I don't understand that she chooses to respond that way. It just happens. Yes. That's right. So, then she has a choice of what to do. So, she's caught by Her mind is gone, and she doesn't have a choice anymore. That's right, so that's because she hasn't been following the Dharma. It's with either reactivity or responsive.

[37:35]

If it's reactivity, then you're choosing, you say I'm not choosing, but the choice is there because it's not somebody else's. and to react or to respond. To respond would be to take a step back, even though there may be emotional uprising at that moment, there's a choice to react or to step back and coolly think about it. That's where the choice is. No, because something just comes up, right? Anger comes up. You have a choice to react or to step back. No, that's right. The choice is reflection after the event. If you were totally free of ego, you might say, I hope she's having a wonderful time.

[38:41]

You may think that's funny. That's right. That's right. And both things, I've experienced both of those. I've experienced torment through jealousy and I've also experienced freedom, release through letting go. And the release was so wonderful through ... I really hope they were enjoying themselves. Isn't that wonderful? Because I wasn't in it. I was out of it. I let go of that. And for a period of time it was pure bliss to have let go of that. But then it creeps back, you know. But still, I totally agree with you. If you let go of that, and have the sympathetic joy, which we'll get to, that's a terrific release, that's enlightenment.

[40:00]

You're talking about first being grasped by ego and then letting go of ego. That's right. If there's no ego there, you don't even have to go through all that. Well, that's true. I agree. More Zazen. More Zazen. You ask somebody else. You want me to answer your question the way you want me to answer it. You want me to answer your question for you? I won't do that. I want you to give me some direction. I did. No, you didn't. Well, I learned, so, you have a painful encounter like that, where the boiling happens, and then, and then, so that, so you realize that it rises up, and then it goes away.

[41:17]

And then you're back into a moment of calm peace. Because I live right on the Carthaginian Strait. You know, the river, and these ships go by. Big ocean liners. They go by my window, and then they're gone. That's right. So that's why I learned, oh, the momentary peace things come, and then they're gone. It's like a cloud, you know, and you watch the cloud and the cloud has this form and then it changes and then something else. It's called non-clinging. That's right. So what he has on the outer circle, that feeling, is simply a mindfulness of feeling.

[42:28]

So that unpleasant, that painful feeling that is We can't not have a self entirely, but we can be mindful of that and not die into it. that the person who you love is turning toward another person with what you feel should be turned toward you, and then the jealousy comes up or the reaction comes up.

[43:31]

But actually, it's not the other person we're concerned about, it's ourself. We're only concerned about our own feeling. So whatever it is that makes something happen is simply our own feeling. That the woman was, that the lover was doing something with somebody else is simply a condition for causing something to come up in me, but not the cause. shining the light, that's right, is mindfulness. So when you take the perspective, when something comes up like anger, it's just a feeling, and then it's not an emotion. The emotion is the movement after the feeling.

[44:32]

That's why it's called e-motion. E-motion means movement. So the reaction comes up, but it hasn't moved any, gone anywhere. And then emotion comes up, which is this second act and causes your mind to move in a certain direction. So, And to say we have no choice, we may feel we have no choice, but after the initial arising, we do have a choice. And we base our choices on either ego or dharma. that on the sixth consciousness you can have just an observation, a clear-eyed perception of something as it really is.

[45:49]

But then we also have a store of consciousness which could take the vision of a man and a woman seeing with mindfulness and seeing through all of these little seeds of all of our stored resentments, stored anger, stored, all of those things have to somehow be cleansed before we can see without any kind of anger or jealousy arising. Well, there's a quick, they're very complex. there's a question of whether you need to go through each one of those individually or if you can just wipe them out all at once.

[46:57]

You know, psychologically you would go through all of them, each one individually. The Zen attitude would be to wipe them all out at once. presumption that you can, and this is the way the Buddha is characterized, that you can wipe them out all at once, once and for all, for good. No, I never said that. No, you didn't say that. You didn't say that at any point. But I think that there is a value, a sort of valorization of egolessness as if, and I don't think you're saying Well, yes, but this is called transformation.

[48:24]

So, you don't get rid of ego, you don't get rid of anything, you don't get rid of anger, you act in such a way, you base your understanding in such a way that they become transformed. But they may keep arising, it's not like you get rid of them. and these things grow out of the positive. It's better now. I don't have any feelings. There's something convincing about that. It's not that you have no feelings. Again, what I'm talking about is having no ego to defend. So when you encounter people who are madly in love with each other, you're delighted. Yes. I know that it is possible to be in that state, but I think it isn't common in life.

[50:04]

It isn't common in life. Well, that would presuppose that the person that you related to, like your boyfriend in your case, or girlfriend, your love for that person would be totally for their benefit and not necessarily yours. In other words, you would not have an attachment to that person, you would only be related to that person in order to benefit them, and then whatever happened to them would be a benefit. Yeah, I know, but you don't do it for that reason. Of course, when you let go of that, you're benefited automatically. I was talking about the impermanence of ego, and I agree that it's a great source of misery, and I'm not finding any way to get rid of it from this conversation.

[51:06]

I hear a lot of talk about how to you know, kind of step aside and kind of act on it, and all this kind of stuff, which is certainly better than jumping right in and acting on it, you know, because you cause yourself less misery. Well, let me say something. It's nothing like getting rid of it. No, we never said get rid of anything. But you have all the information, now it's up to you to figure it out, how to deal with it. Yeah. It would be so nice if...

[52:29]

So, that was the seed, and the book said that there were 55 ripening stations, and I thought, Let me say this, thank you. We're not talking about formulas, we're talking about attitude.

[54:00]

So, you have to understand this on the level of attitude, not on the level of that there's a formula for how to do something, or there's a formula about how to take care of every situation. There's no such thing. So, if you make an effort to avoid basing your actions on delusion and basing them on dharma, then you have a way to go. That's as far as I can take it. I have no formulas. What time? What time? Oh, okay. So, Okay. Do we have a question about the dharmas?

[55:07]

No. No. I just read you the list of dharmas. all those things that I read of items, are dharmas. Dharma means a thing. In a wide, broad sense, a dharma, but really it means elements. Elements of something are dharmas. So, in Buddha dharma, the elements are the psychophysical constituents that make up a person. Okay? And I just read you those. I didn't read all of them, but I read you the wholesome ones and the unwholesome ones. Dharmas that lead to good states, wholesome states, and dharmas that lead to unwholesome states. Like anger is a dharma, jealousy is a dharma, right?

[56:13]

Faith is a dharma, goodwill is a dharma, right? So those are the elements psychophysical elements that lead to either beneficial states or unbeneficial states. But even with the list you read, it seems like you of course can't make a broad statement about this is good or bad, because, for example, shame wasn't there. And certainly for some people, walking around with a huge chunk of shame on their shoulder, they're not free. They're not able to not hinder suffering, in fact they're just, they're sort of aiding and abetting it with their shame. Yes, shame can be a hindrance, or it can be a hindrance. If it's, any perverted dharma can be a hindrance. You know, if you pervert faith, it can be a hindrance. And so again, it seems like just to go back to what you were saying. But we're not talking about perversion, strictly speaking.

[57:15]

But you know, any one of these dharmas can take up your whole lifetime to discuss. Yeah, so it's talking about the one that doesn't have enough, basically. The one who is lacking shame. And so you can do it, you know, you don't feel that you've done any harm to make you feel remorseful, right, or shameful. So that's what the Dharma is talking about. That's what the Dharma is about. But shame, if it's used extensively, it can be a hindrance. If you don't let go of it, it can be a hindrance. It's like when you do something wrong, you can feel shameful, and then you do some repentance or something, and then you go on. You don't linger with it, you don't indulge.

[58:17]

If you indulge in it, then it becomes a hindrance. Yeah? Then that's a different dharma. Dharma with a capital D means the truth, the Buddha's teaching. the way to go, the path, the practice. That's all Buddha's teaching. The dharmas of the small d are the elements. So the dharma with a capital D is the dharma about the dharmas with a small d. The dharmas of the small d are the elements that we're all practicing with. And the study, the working with all that is called the Dharma, with a capital D. There are also other meanings. like connection and co-creative and

[60:05]

Yeah. If you think in terms of confidence, there's an element of faith in that, I will try this out. Just saying, I will try this out, is an act of faith. Doesn't mean you believe in anything, because faith is not necessarily a belief in. It's simply a willingness to take something on. And so you have faith in the fact that you are willing to take this on. And then as you practice and you get more confidence, the faith becomes more stronger and more deeper. And when you have these experiences, then it becomes deeper and deeper. And then when you see how it supports you, and supports everything, then it becomes more deeper. I don't know what it's an experience of, but it's an experience of something.

[61:52]

It's an experience of success, in some way. And I think the experience of selflessness probably comes much later. I mean, who knows when that comes? But it doesn't need to have that big experience before you have faith. For this moment.

[62:54]

Faith comes, it's not something you cultivate. You can't cultivate it. Faith arises out of your experience. It's not something you impose. It gets deeper, but you don't cultivate it to become deeper. that would be going against the meaning of faith. You'd be trying to create a faith. I mean, it's like... Pretend real hard. Pretend real hard. You can't contrive it. It's not something you can try. It's something that appears. It's like something that wells up. Absolutely. That's right, but that which keeps you trying is called faith.

[64:02]

Denise? And if you are aware that you're doubting, which is doubting the Dharma, then you can shift to choosing not to be in that, if you're aware of that. arises, just the dharmas are things arising in the mind and in the body, or this leg hurts, or maybe not only did this leg hurt, but I'm also feeling really a lot of pain and grief around how much trouble it's causing me.

[65:24]

So then I can bring my awareness Well, that's right, it's like you're shining the light on the formations. Is that being said?

[66:30]

That being said, so where I lose consciousness is when there are things that cause me great aversion, such as my brother in great distress. That's a very big problem. And for me a big problem would be seeing him just before a party that we're going to set up for when the condition does not set the party up. So, and the other one is to be, if I find somebody that I'm attracted to, is that you're feeling all nervous and not being able to be relaxed and quote, be myself, which is really not self, right? So, we love you. No? I don't know what you say, but... As an attitude, go back to, I don't know.

[67:38]

When you go back to, I don't know, something will come up, because you let go of everything. And when you let go of everything, something will come up. That's faith. But you want to find yourself. Right. I'm gone. Well, no, you're not. But if you say, I don't know, then you're gone. And then you'll find yourself. The magic word is, I don't know. Magic words. Three words. I don't know. And then you're free. And something will come up. Oh, now I know. Oh, yeah, that's the way to go. It's an attitude, it's not a formula.

[68:40]

I have no formulas. But when we have a problem like this frustration of, why can't I know? That's a really good place to be in. The place that you think is the worst place for you to be in is a really good place for you to be in. That's why you're not getting rid of it. It's not about getting rid of it. Not about getting rid of it, no. Where are we?

[69:41]

What's that mean? I mean... Oh, I see. 1150. That's when we do service. I'm going to start on our main subject, if you don't mind. If you will turn to page 246 and 247. So on the left-hand page, the left-hand page is a vertical rendition of the right-hand page, which is circular.

[71:09]

You see that? So, on the left-hand page, we have, I think there's still one or two of these handouts on the bulletin board. On the left-hand page, we have the 12 links, which are simply a device. Let's make that clear. The 12 links are a model of a, I don't want to say divisive model, a model which is a device for organizing this way of thinking about conditions arising. Andrea wants to ask a question, but she's not asking it. Okay, you look like you have this question about, is that right? Oh, okay. Okay, so the twelve links which are devised are divided here into, on the left side, one conditioned by deluded mind, and on the right side, one conditioned by true mind.

[72:31]

And it's exactly the same on the right-hand page. The inner circle is when conditioned by deluded mind, and the outside circle is when conditioned by true mind. So both are subject to conditioning. So there are causes for or conditions for how a true mind arises in our actions, and there are conditions pertaining to how deluded mind arises and conditions our actions. Now, do you have any question? Is that clear? I have a question about how coming to be is different than birth.

[73:43]

We're going to start at the beginning. That comes like three quarters of the way through. So I don't want you to ask a question in advance of where we are. True mind is the absence of greed, anger, and delusion. That's what it said when I explained the dharmas, the wholesome dharmas, which you asked about. Those three, greed, ill will, and delusion, were dharmas which arise as nirvana, I mean greed, anger, and delusion, the absence of those is true mind or nirvana.

[74:49]

Yeah, I would say that that is so, but not the whole thing. Yeah, it's when we're not self-centered, in other words. Yeah, that's right. So when we're dharma-centered instead of self-centered. Buddha-centric. Yes. I know we're talking about them in senses, two different worlds, but something I really like about the way it looks is it also feels like true mind is always holding, always deluding. Well, yes, that's right. That's why when we bow, this is deluded mind, this is enlightened mind. So, absolutely. We're expressing that every time we bow, put our hands together. So that's very important. It's not like one limit, it's like this is what's called transformation.

[76:20]

It's simply correcting. It's a kind of self-correctingness. So deluded mind is simply being off. You remember when expressing the dharma of renunciation, not being one-sided, not clinging to one side. So true mind is the mind that's not clinging to one side.

[77:09]

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