Тим Ловенхопт — Книга 1: Совершенство мудрости, занятие 31

[Speaker 2]
Hi, Christian. Belen, nice to see you. Oh my gosh, I'd like, Luca, hi.

Tim. Kat. All right.

All right, everyone, good morning.

[Speaker 1]
Good afternoon. Good evening. Thank you, Marina, for running the Zoom.

Don't forget to rejoice. Years of service turns into really cool stuff.

[Speaker 2]
All right, this is all for you guys.

[Speaker 1]
As you guys know, I can talk forever. So, I'm not gonna start talking. I'm just gonna wait for you guys to ask questions.

Hi, Chloe. Trinity misses you.

[Speaker 2]
I'm coming today.

[Speaker 1]
Nice, okay. So there's a question here from Elva. And I think someone asked this the other day.

As well, and I think it's important to understand what we're trying to do. The question that Elva asks is, the other day, Geshe-la said that in Vajrayana, everything is the teacher. And how are you supposed to understand that?

[Speaker 2]
And I was thinking, actually, I was thinking about this yesterday. So the first answer to the question is, right, is this. Right.

[Speaker 1]
What's this, everybody? Cat's like, oh, it's a holy object. Right, by the way, you are allowed to turn on your microphones and talk.

For all of you who are not mixed nuts people, like you're not actually, you know, you're not an official translator, don't be afraid to turn on your microphone during class and just say whatever comes out of your mouth. That's how we learn. So this is a pen, right?

It might be a pen. Oh, I like that, Christian. That's it, it might be a pen, right?

Or it might be a chew toy, right? So it really depends on your seeds. It really depends on what seeds do you have to see this object, this thing, right?

You know, it's not anything until you perceive it, right? So when we're asking about, when we're asking a question about in Tantra, right? You know, and even in Sutra, like let's say we don't have to make a distinction.

You know, in Sutra we're supposed to see our teacher as the Buddha, right? They're the Buddha who has come for us, right? They've come for us.

They've come to help us specifically. Right, and we can't, you know, they need to come to us in a way that we can understand at our capacity. You know, I've always, you know, I've, you know, when I'm younger, I'm like, oh God, I just wish that like, you know, like not, it's not a wish so much, but if they came in a form we couldn't understand, it could trigger afflictions, right?

It could trigger like, you know, imagine a big ball of white light coming in through your door, right? And it goes, Tim, now you need to change your life, right? You know, like I might, I don't know how I would react to it.

I mean, I want to say that I would be like, oh God, hi, you know, but I don't know. But you know, the Buddhas come in ways that we can understand in our capacity, right? So just like the pen, the teacher appears, has emptiness as well, right?

The teach, you know, some people might look at a, at the person that I see as my teacher and be like, what do you see in them? What do you, like, they're just as normal, normal idiots, right? And I'm like, no, they're super holy and they help me with everything.

Like, who's correct?

[Speaker 2]
Okay, simpler example. Like, you know, I'm not going to go there.

[Speaker 1]
Well, I mean, you can, like, you know, there's always every, there's always someone for somebody, okay? Like, you know, someone that, your friend finds someone attractive and you're like, oh my God, they're hideous, right? Right?

Like, good, we don't have to fight over that person. Like, okay, you go and go on a date with them. I'm not interested, right?

Like, who's right? Are they, you know, the most amazing, attractive, hot person you've ever seen or they're just kind of a whatever, right? My 10 might be a five for somebody else.

So, and it's because of the seeds we have, right? So let me get to your question, right?

[Speaker 2]
I was thinking about this last night.

[Speaker 1]
How do we see every, what is the value? How about I ask a different question? What is the value of seeing everything or everyone as already enlightened?

What Geshe-la even said today in today's class, right? What's the value, like, right?

[Speaker 2]
What kind of seeds are being planted by you if you have that conception? Are they really a Buddha?

[Speaker 1]
Like, I'm looking at Kat right now, right? You know, and Kat is an amazing, she brings people together and she's so excited to help people. She's always excited, you know?

She's like, let's do it, right? And she just like jumps up and goes and you're just like, Kat, how do you have this energy? Like, where does that come from, right?

And I'd look at Kat and I'm like, huh, what is the Buddha teaching me, right? Is it Kat, the venerable Kat at Diamond Mountain, right? Or is it Buddha Kat at Diamond Mountain?

And is Diamond Mountain a paradise or is Diamond Mountain a desert, rocky desert with spines everywhere, right? You know, which one is it? Okay, so I see Kat as a human being, two arms, two legs, one head, okay, two eyes, you know?

But what if I conceived of her differently? You know, what seeds would be planted, right? I'm helping Kat with a task.

Am I helping a normal person or am I helping a Buddha? Which seeds are different? Oh, well, which one is Kat?

Is Kat normal Kat or is Kat an amazing Kat, super blissful angel Kat, right? Which one is it? Don't listen to anybody else.

If you have a conception of someone as special, and in fact, I would even recommend, maybe you don't need to share with other people who you see are special, right? But if you have some, don't listen to other people's opinions. Now, that doesn't mean don't analyze what people do, don't check them, make sure they're moral, all of those things are true, right?

But if you're really, if you can change that conception, even just as an imagination, as a practice, all right, I see all these people hanging out. I see all of you all. You all look like you have one head, two arms.

I can't see your legs, two eyes, right? Nobody show me your legs right now. Are you listening to me right now or are you enlightened beings?

And what if I change my conception, right? You're just asking me a question to help me understand something. And if I'm serving a Buddha, oh my gosh, like that's a total different kind of seed.

All right, so don't think of Tantra as a super weird esoteric thing that's very difficult to access. It's not, it's if you have the seeds, it just appears to you. And then you start, the way you see the world starts changing.

It's not this thing where you finish the 18 courses and you get a certificate and then all of a sudden the secret world opens up to you. It doesn't work like that. You can do the 18 courses and totally see the world as normal and boring and not interesting and not helpful.

You could do zero ACI courses and be having magical experiences with enlightened beings all day long and see every single being as an opportunity for you to learn something more that they're there helping you everywhere. And it comes out automatically without any effort at all. Why are we talking about this?

This is fascinating way to start a Q and A. This is great. This is why we're, this is what we're doing guys.

This is what we're doing. We're trying to get our minds to change every hour, every minute, every second that you're listening to the mixed nuts. I'm sorry, translators.

Every moment that you're listening to these ideas, you're changing your capacity to see the world in an extraordinary way.

[Speaker 2]
Every second, every moment you struggle and then let go of the struggle.

[Speaker 1]
Let go of the struggle and just enjoy it. Sometimes there's a time for teaching. Sometimes there's a time for struggle and sometimes there's a time for just, just go, just stop.

[Speaker 2]
Hi Sivan. I have a project for you.

[Speaker 1]
So yeah, that's what we're talking about here. That's what we're really talking about. That's why we do this hard work.

[Speaker 2]
Next question. And study your 18 courses. I didn't say don't study your 18 courses.

This is a great question. I like this.

[Speaker 1]
Ian says, what is the seed to anticipate what the teacher is about to say in parentheses so I can translate better? This is a good question.

[Speaker 2]
Last year I started training.

[Speaker 1]
It's a slightly different thing. I started training people at the tech table during our events to push the buttons, push the images up on the screen, put the Tibetan up, all these things, right?

[Speaker 2]
And I was sitting there watching and I was like, why are they so slow to react? Right?

[Speaker 1]
Like, what's taking, like, what's the thought? I was just watching, like, what's the thought process? You know, like, and then I was also thinking, like, what is the way to get those people more connected with the teacher so that they are putting the image up right when the teacher asks for it or actually knows that the, okay, now it's time.

To put the image up, anticipate, right? And I think there's a kind of conventional answer and a seed answer to this, right? You know, when I first went on tour with Geshe Michael on the DCI tours, I had just moved to Sedona, you know, totally changed my life.

And Geshe was like, yeah, we're gonna go traveling for nine months out of the year. I'm like, what? This is, it was exciting and exhausting.

And I remember it was in Vietnam, actually. And I was sitting there and Scott Vasek gave me the 800 slide PowerPoint of DCI, which has everything in it, right? From level one up, I think we were on level eight at that point or something like that, right?

Every single slide, every single video. And I had this stuff, like, I'm like, holy. And then we had this like cheat sheet, right?

And had a way of searching for things. And it's like, God dang, how am I gonna learn all of this? And, you know, and I studied the PowerPoint and I worked pretty hard at it to memorize what was in it.

And then on the second day, Geshe-la came up to me, you know, and it was one of those moments of a men knock. What's a men knock, you translators? It's a men knock.

I'll even put it in the chat for you. We had it last night and yesterday morning. It's in my text too.

Come on. You're not paying attention. I'm just kidding.

It's personal advices. Like the advices you get from your teacher. Not the ones that come in class, but those are kind of personal advices too.

But it's, you know, when your teacher walks by you and whispers something in your ear, right? And like changes you because of it. When he came up to me and he said, just to me, he put his arm around me and he said, I want you when you're sitting here to only pay attention to me.

Focus only on what I'm saying. Do not listen to anyone else. Do not get distracted by anyone else.

Just focus on me. And he walked away and it was very, it was like, it was really like, you know, a little shocking. And I was like, oh, that's interesting.

And I was thinking, well, what does he mean by focus? Like, should I focus my eyes on him? Should I focus my ears on him?

You know, what should I be focusing on? And then I realized it wasn't, I mean, all of those senses are important, of course. Listen to what the teacher is saying.

Once you've listened for a long, long time, you start to be able to anticipate what's going to happen next. You know, you just begin to know the Dharma really well. So that's the first thing, like you just experience with it.

But for me, it turned, it was, he was asking something deeper. He was asking something more like, connect with me.

[Speaker 2]
Like, feel me.

[Speaker 1]
Like, feel the prana that's moving before it becomes a thought. Where is the prana going? Where am I going, right?

And then it's not intellectual. Then it becomes experiential, right? It's not like the logic is going to happen.

I, like before this class, like I was listening to Seiji's class and I was washing my face and brushing my teeth because I need to brush my teeth to talk on Zoom, right? Because someday we'll be able to smell through Zoom, right? No, but, and all, and the thing is in the background, I was listening to the class and I was hearing things and I was feeling what was going on and I was actually translating.

Like, I was actually in the flow of the translation while I was brushing my teeth, right? And it's kind of cool you asked the question. I was like, huh, that's, because I was kind of surprised it was happening.

Like, I'm not even in the same room as Geshe Michael and I'm feeling it. You know, it becomes experiential. It becomes lived, right?

You live the Dharma. You live the teachings. You live your practice, right?

So as a translator, functionally I would suggest, can you connect with the teacher? Like feel them, feel the words in your body, feel the, let it, I mean, go watch Star Wars, okay? Go watch The Empire Strikes Back, okay?

When Yoda's teaching Luke, okay? And he's in there and Luke's trying to like move a rock with the force, you know, and Yoda's like, he says something like, feel the force, feel this, feel it around you, feel it within you, feel it outside of you, right? I can't remember all the language he uses.

And I feel like that's an example of what I'm suggesting. Like feel the teacher because guess what? They're coming from you anyway.

The fact that you have a teacher who's teaching you something is coming from you anyway. So it's already from you. You're just experiencing it outside of you, right?

And so another way to begin to anticipate what the teacher is going to say is also to develop a really, as a good meditation practice, right? And of course there's seeds to having a good meditation practice too, right? You know, so listen, listen to others, bring people to a place of calm, help them be less anxious.

All of those things, that's a different question. But having a good meditation practice and then being able to watch your mind and watch the movement of your mind, being able to feel your mind moving, being able to feel your prana moving, being able to feel the movement of the mind before it becomes an idea, before it pops out of the water, right? Before the seed pops out completely.

Then you begin to anticipate things a lot better, a lot more because you're seeing the movement of things before they happen. They're already happening, you just don't perceive it. That's the thing.

I would argue, I don't know if this is in the text, but I'm gonna argue, I would debate on the debate ground that once you perceive something that there's a lot more going on before you actually become aware of something. I would argue there's a lot more going on before something becomes something.

[Speaker 2]
Like the blue of the sky.

[Speaker 1]
Someone said to me just recently that they saw the blue of the sky for the first time in their life. I was like, that's an interesting statement, right? But yeah, with all of those things together, then you start moving in the world in a very different way.

You start moving differently with your own afflictions, the afflictions of others, and then in service of the teacher, in service of others. And the thing with translation is the way to have this successfully translate is that it's not about you. It's never about you.

It's always about others. Of course we get nervous. Of course we're like, you wanna perform well.

Of course you wanna say the right thing. And you're not sure if you're going to say the right thing. Or if the teacher goes too fast and you can't catch up and you have no idea what they're gonna say and you can't actually do the translation because he's talking too fast.

[Speaker 2]
Right? Then you gotta make a choice, right?

[Speaker 1]
But if you feel the idea, if you feel the teacher, if you feel connected with them, the translation will happen because you're translating an idea. You're not translating words. You're doing it for other people.

It's not about you. It's never about you anyway.

[Speaker 2]
Olga, you always have the coolest questions. Okay, all right. This is how I'm gonna answer this.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, Olga asks that emptiness as an absence, right? We're talking about the emptiness we talked about in Buddhism. Emptiness, it's question number four translators, seems to be only logical indirect perceptions because we're trying to imply an absence of something that we're already seeing.

We have to think about it, right? We have to logically deduce it. So for always in this process of logical deduction, how can we actually perceive emptiness itself directly if we have to think of it as an absence of something that's not there?

Right, we have to do this mental gymnastics, right? The point of logic first is to be able to give us the capacity to see things that have to be perceivable that we can't perceive yet, okay?

[Speaker 2]
So things that we know have to be there through an illogical analysis.

[Speaker 1]
That's what dialectical analysis is about. Like finding things that are there that don't seem to be there, okay? And through logic, then we establish those objects, right?

That has to be there. You know, we use the example of, you know, here's my pen. You know, I do something like this.

You don't hear it hit the floor. Your mind goes, it must still be in Tim's hand, right? It must still be there, right?

You didn't hear it hit the floor, right? That's like one level.

[Speaker 2]
You know, so emptiness is the absence of something not coming from seeds, right?

[Speaker 1]
And so Olga's question is, if I'm always doing this like analysis because I'm only able to perceive things that are not absences, right? Like how do you perceive an absence, right? So it's like this chocolate, right?

This delicious chocolate, you know, chocolate, right? You know, it has, why do I see this chocolate ball sitting here, right? You know, and I know it's going to be delicious and my mouth has been watering because I want to eat it, but I'm talking too much, right?

And why is it delicious, right? Like, it's just not sitting here on its own, right? Oh, well, where did you get it, Tim?

Well, it's in the refrigerator. Well, why is it in the refrigerator, Tim? Well, because I put it there because I bought them back in April when I went into retreat and I bought a bunch of them as offerings, right?

And I gave them to people during the retreat, to the people who cooked the food and, you know, people who delivered. There you are, Gary, cat. The people who delivered, you know, the propane and all this other stuff, right?

Oh, why is it in the fridge? Well, Tim, it's actually kind of hot outside and I don't have my air conditioner on. So I put the chocolate in the fridge so it wouldn't melt, right?

So now it's sitting here defrosting so I can enjoy its milk chocolately deliciousness bliss after the class, right? And my mouth is watering. Now, that's not why it's there, right?

Because I could look at it and just think it's an ugly brown ball of poop, my cat poop. Okay, I'm just making a joke, okay, right? But I could hate chocolate, right?

I could not, why am I having this blissful, like even just thinking about the chocolate is like bringing me joy, right? Why is it bringing me joy? Well, how many of, Flavia is like, Tim, you gave me diabetes during the retreat because I gave her like 500 of them, right?

Because I was grateful for everything she was doing. So the reason it's there is because of the seeds I planted. The reason I'm enjoying it, the reason I'm enjoying just looking at it, the reason my eyes are like, this is blissful just to my senses without even the taste of it is because I gave it to others and I gave it to others with incredible motivation.

You know, during a retreat you're at a completely different space, right? But there's no chocolate that's there that didn't come from the offering I made to other people. Okay, but Olga's question is how do I see that?

Like, how do I have the direct perception of emptiness if all I'm doing is like just imagining and going through the logical loop of how I got to that conclusion, right?

[Speaker 2]
I would say two things. One is you have to cook it. The perception of emptiness is still a perception.

So there's some kind of seed that opens up in your mind after all of your other sense powers stop, withdraw and a special seed opens up, a special seed that opens up that is perceiving the lack of something that's not coming from seeds, the absence of something not coming from its seeds.

[Speaker 1]
All one word, put little hyphens between them. You know, if it were Sanskrit, there would be no spaces anyway, okay? The absence, it's an absence, it's like a, yeah, an absence of something that's not coming from seeds, right?

It's hard, you can't use words to describe it. It's an inconceivable, it's impossible. Something beyond all words to imagine, all thoughts to describe.

That's from the Lama Tripa, if you've ever done that. That's from Lama Tripa. So that's one thing, like, we need to do the illogical analysis and keep pushing our minds into that seed.

It's kind of pushing the seed into, you're planting that special seed, okay? You're planting that special seed every time you're doing that logical analysis. Every time you're sitting in mixed nuts class, every time you serve other people, every time you give a beautiful chocolate to the people who are serving you in retreat, every time you're doing the three spheres when you're doing it, every time that you're understanding that everything that I'm perceiving is coming from a seed and everything that I do is coming from a seed and the things that happen afterwards are coming from seeds, right? Even the thought that things are coming from seeds is coming from a seed, because you could be having a thought of things not coming from seeds. Right?

And so your thought has emptiness, right? So every time you do that, you're shoving that special seed into your kunshi or your mind only people, which we know kunshi is not a thing, but it's a thing. Get it?

So that's my first answer. Do the analysis, but do your bodhicitta. Bring your analysis to your actions, bring your analysis to your thoughts, bring your analysis to your words.

[Speaker 2]
And then one day cool things will start happening to you.

[Speaker 1]
It's not like you can flip a switch and be like, yay, I see emptiness directly, right? It's a thing that happens, right? And along the way, there will be little, tiny, little, there will be tiny little realizations that will point you in the correct direction.

Things will just happen that you're like, oh, that's what they were talking about. You'll have like, you know, the lower middle way talks about all these different levels of emptiness, right? Which aren't emptiness, but they make this big deal about it.

And this is Tim's opinion right now. Okay, just FYI. Tim's opinion based on some experience and some thinking.

As I do think that there are types of realizations that happen before seeing emptiness directly that confirm that you're on the right path. Like little things about dependent origination. If you've ever, I do this meditation a lot.

Like one day I was walking through the forest down here by the river, the Verde Valley, the Verde River. And we came across a field and we're walking down, we're walking across the field and there's a tree in the middle of the field, like one tree, it was a really nice tree. It's a cottonwood tree.

And I looked at it and I looked at the tree and I'm like, oh, that's a beautiful tree. It's kind of nice, it's in the grass, the sun is shining. You know, it was kind of a nice tree.

I didn't think much about the tree. I just was like, that's a nice tree. And I kept walking, I walked beyond the tree.

I walked to the river, crossed the river. I did, you know, I played in the river, you know, et cetera. I had breakfast, I had lunch, had sandwiches.

And then we decided to come back. So, you know, turn around, come back the other way. So now I'm coming back the other way and I look at the tree and I was like, oh, hey, I know that tree.

Right, I saw the tree before, right? And then something weird happened. It was like, bam.

But all of a sudden I was like, I know that tree, but I never saw that tree. Because now I'm on the other side of the tree, walking the other direction and I'm looking at it and I'm having a memory of that side of the tree that I never saw. I never saw the backside of the tree from the front side.

I never saw it. Where did I see it? I didn't walk behind the tree and then turn around and look up and be like, oh, hey, now I know you tree.

Now I know the backside of the tree. I didn't do that. I saw the backside of the tree in my mind.

I saw the perfect tree, the image of tree in my mind from the other side. I didn't see that when I saw the tree the first time, but on the return, I looked at the backside of the tree and I was like, I know you. And then it was like this, oh my God, I saw you as an image in my mind.

I didn't see you. I never saw the backside of the tree. I never had perceived the backside of the tree.

But I, so no, that's not emptiness. I know that wasn't dependent origination, but it sounds pretty damn close to me. And I'm saying it to you guys not to, I'm saying it to inspire you guys because it inspired me.

I was like, it was, for me, it was a confirmation. It was like, oh, okay, okay. I was like, okay.

And no one can take that away from me. No one can take that away from me. I don't care what anyone thinks or says or said, or it's like a, it's a realization.

I cannot take that away, right? Was I trying? Was I analyzing the emptiness of the tree that I saw when I first walked by it?

And then when I came back in the other direction, was I analyzing the fact that it had come from? No, none of that was happening. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

But the seeds have been planted because of all the analysis, of all the service, of all the care, of all the beautiful, blissful chocolates, right? And the fact that I can experience this as a blissful piece of chocolate is not because there's a blissful piece of chocolate sitting in front of me. It's because I did something in the past.

And doing that, whatever I did in the past that helped me see that I saw the image of tree in my mind as a memory, and I never saw the backside of the tree, was because I put that seed in over and over and over again.

[Speaker 2]
And then you just let it go, right? And then you just let it go.

[Speaker 1]
I know 10 was great. No. So you should rejoice every single time you think about it.

Every single time that you encapsulate a moment of, of every time that you think differently, every time you think about what you're doing and why you're doing it and how you're doing it has the potential to change everything, to change the whole world, to help other people. So the analysis you're doing is not some boring, illogical, like internal dialogue, right? It has a potential.

And again, that analysis is like the pen. What potential does an analysis have?

[Speaker 2]
Next question. I need more questions. Oh, come on.

I know you have questions. Okay. Chloe, your question is amazing.

[Speaker 1]
The way to complete, the way to create, the way to create the perception of completion is to complete things. So if you're not having the perception of completion, in what ways are you not completing things in your own life? Not finishing things that you promised to finish.

That's what I would say. Or you finish, but finish late or something like that. Or just leave hanging.

But I would also say, Chloe asked, what are the seeds to have to bring on the perception of the completion of the 18 courses? And well, I would also ask the question, why would you wanna complete the 18 courses? What's the result of completing the 18 courses?

What's the result of having the foundation in Sutra, having a deep foundation in Sutra?

[Speaker 2]
Was that, what would that bring on? That's what I would say. Oh, that's a good question, but I'm gonna give a question to someone else.

[Speaker 1]
I'm gonna mix up a few of these questions. The answer to your question, Olga, is think about one and many. You can perceive many as one and one as many at the same time.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
All right, I was debating this with someone. So let's go here. And I'm gonna answer two questions in one.

The question is, from class this morning, there was an idea that said something about the great wall, right? Even if I'm no longer alive, the great wall still exists, right? So the idea is, if this pen gets put, we use the pen story, put the pen on the table, right?

All the humans, all the cats, all the dogs, every existing being, every sentient, right?

[Speaker 2]
Leaves the room. Is that thing still there?

[Speaker 1]
Right? Like, when I walk out of my house, does my refrigerator disappear because I'm not perceiving it anymore? Right?

Do my cats disappear? Does my, you know, do those things disappear when I'm not there? Right?

And then even more interesting, I was having this debate with Maria, I think. Like, you know, if I die, does the pen still exist? Does my refrigerator still exist?

Does my inheritance for my children still exist after I die? Right? And I think it's a touchy question because we're using this idea that if no one's there to perceive it, what is it?

Right? If there's no human and there's no pen, excuse me, if there's no human and there's no dog, you know, what's there? And is it there waiting to be there for me when I show up when I'm checking something?

[Speaker 2]
I think it's a good question. So I'm not gonna answer this question, but I'm gonna ask you a question that then you can think about it. When you die and you have, you leave your inheritance for your kids, okay?

[Speaker 1]
Right? There's no guarantee that after you die, there's gonna be a being that shows up, that can see that basis upon which to put the label inheritance.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, I'll say it again.

[Speaker 1]
After you die, there's no way to guarantee that a being will come along that will look at the thing that could be inheritance and it will become an inheritance.

[Speaker 2]
Then you have to think about that. Does that mean don't leave an inheritance for your children? No, I didn't say that.

And I wanna answer this one question before we're done. And I think it's really important.

[Speaker 1]
I'm gonna answer two questions in one. All right. A lot of people have asked and asked me a lot about how do you enter into the advanced teachings?

And they've asked that question. Like, how do I do it? There's a bit of a, here's a director of the Asian Classics Institute telling you that the 18 courses are not the cause to get into the second 18 courses.

Just because you have a certificate does not mean that you can go in, okay? But here's a director who's also saying, do your courses at the same time, Chloe. Which I know you're doing your courses.

I know you're working really, really hard.

[Speaker 2]
Asking for a friend.

[Speaker 1]
That is right. I ask for a friend all the time when I'm asking for myself. So how do I enter in?

And I'm gonna tie this answer to Belen's question. What's your favorite way to start to generate bodhichitta?

[Speaker 2]
Please give your tips. I like that. So first of all, you need a teacher.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, hands down, you need a personal teacher. You need someone who can teach it to you. And you need someone that you trust, that you have a personal relationship with, because it doesn't work otherwise.

All right, so, oh, where do I find that teacher, Tim?

[Speaker 2]
How do you find a teacher, Tim? You don't find a teacher. You have seeds to have a teacher.

Right, so because the teacher, you need it.

[Speaker 1]
You just, okay, the first step of the lam rim, first of all, okay. But you need someone who can guide you.

[Speaker 2]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
But the second thing, so how do I get these amazing teachings? You don't get the teachings. Okay, I wanna tell you guys something.

There is no sutra, there is no tantra, there are no channels, there are no drops, there is no normal view of the world, there is no extraordinary view of the world. And because there is none of that, that's why you can have all of those things. Okay, you don't get a teacher, you don't get tantra, you don't get to come to Mixed Nuts, you don't get any of those things.

It's not happening that way. And it never could and it never will.

[Speaker 2]
So the way that you get it is by doing all those things we talked about.

[Speaker 1]
You know. So in sutra, the understanding of the teacher is that, oh, you need to see your teacher as a Buddha. See them as the Buddha.

You have to get to a place where you understand that even that view is wrong. You just don't try to see them as a Buddha. You understand that it's your seeds that create the teacher.

It's your seeds that create the perception of a being who can help you. And if you don't understand that, you can't understand Vajrayana. You can't have a successful practice.

It's impossible. Oh, well, Tim, my understanding of emptiness isn't that good. Okay, that's fine.

Just pretend. Just pretend, just try. Try to conceive them that way.

There is no Buddha out there that came to you in the form of your teacher. The Buddhas don't sit in some enlightened paradise out there by themselves on their own and have nothing to do with your seeds and then decide to come to you one day and teach you. It's not how it works.

It's not like there's a Tushita heaven sitting up there in the blue sky with a whole bunch of Buddhas sitting there flying down to come teach you on their own.

[Speaker 2]
It's not like that.

[Speaker 1]
Can a Buddha come flying from Tushita heaven to come teach you? Yes. You have to meditate on how that's possible.

And then the second question is, why do you want it? Do you want it because your friends want it? Do you want it because, oh, I've achieved something because I got 18 certificates?

[Speaker 2]
No, why do you want it?

[Speaker 1]
You want it because it's the only way to help other beings. It's the only way. Why do you want more vows?

Because God damn it, I can't do this on my own. I need someone to help me. I need a guidance to do this.

I know that it's possible and I desire it so much. I wish that I can help people so much.

[Speaker 2]
I wish that I could actually do something for them because the pain of this life is just, it's extraordinary.

[Speaker 1]
The pain that other people experience, the pain that we ourselves experience. We don't have time. We don't have time.

[Speaker 2]
I'm gonna say it again. We don't have time. And when you feel that in your heart and you're like, there is no time.

[Speaker 1]
And you spend 30 days in retreat, basically crying every day about the impermanence of everything, including yourself, and you don't have time. Then that's what creates the time to do the practice. That creates the time, that creates the vows, that creates the teachers and that creates the capacity to do it.

[Speaker 2]
And then it opens up for you. So what's the tip? Go to Lam Rim.

[Speaker 1]
Meditate on all of those things. Meditate on impermanence. Meditate on karma and emptiness.

Meditate on death and the certainty of death. All of those things. Do your analysis of where things come from.

Serve, serve others. Serve, just, even if you don't feel like it, get up and just do something for someone else. And then all of those things together become like a blissful chocolate ball.

And it's like, they come together, they come together, right? And then all of a sudden, it's like, it's like becomes fuel on a rocket ship. And then it like, it gets lit.

And then all of these new methods open up to you. And then all of a sudden, things change very quickly. And then you have to be prepared for it.

You have to be prepared for the purifications and it's cool. It's really cool. And then cool things happen.

Okay. So next time you have chocolate, I want you all, here's your homework. I'd like you all to go to the store and buy the most delicious thing that you like.

It can be chocolate, it could be a cracker, a cookie, I don't care what it is, right? And then just look at it and be like, I'm going to enjoy this because I helped somebody else. And that enjoyment plant, dedicate that seed to your total enlightenment and dedicate that seed as the potential to serve other people.

[Speaker 2]
And then stop thinking and just enjoy the chocolate. And just enjoy it. All right, we're over time now.

Thanks for such good questions. That was fun. Do your homework.

And enjoy it. Who's teaching yoga? Anatole?

Okay, cool. All right. He's a great yoga teacher.

My suggestion in Anatole's class today, do less and feel more.

[Speaker 1]
Don't try to do the poses, feel more.

[Speaker 2]
Cool, thank you guys.

[Speaker 1]
Thanks for asking such cool questions. See you guys this afternoon. I'm skipping yoga.

I'll see you guys this afternoon.

[Speaker 2]
Thanks. Bye. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. You're welcome. It's good to see you.

Good to see you. Thanks so much.