HHDL teachings day 2

How you know you've been in India too long: you feel more comfortable blogging on your phone because the real internet overwhelms you.

I feel like I did a terrible job explaining what the teachings are actually like, so I apologize. Only seven pages of notes today, but then again it was only a half day teaching. Above is my super official badge to access the upper level. It cost ten rupees. Excellent.

I thought that HHDL's teachings today would just be a continuation of yesterday (I.e. Pick up at nature of the mind and such). Instead he began by talking about the difference between material wealth and mental wealth/happiness. It emphasized why Buddhist thought is important and I think it would resonate with a lot of people. It kind of confirmed why it is awesome to listen to him even when Buddhist philosophy is hard to accept and apply generally.

He then went on to discuss the nature of the self and emptiness, but the part that I got the most out of (looking back on my notes...I feel really nerdy) was his explanation of the nature of mind.

For Buddhists, the mind is a compassionate and loving entity,and delusions and ignorance cause our hatred and suffering. They have good explanations for how this happens, but I had not been satisfied with any answer as to why the nature of mind is loving. It seems to me that mind could just as easily be evil, since we have to train it to be positive.

HHDL tried to answer the question "how does one live an honest or honorable life when the world is so full of evil?" By talking about the news. The news focuses on distasted and destruction and downfall because, according to Buddhism, compassionate people are taken for granted. This much is obvious in our daily lives. HHDL said we take compassion for granted because we realize it is natural. This struck me as really good reasoning both for why we take things for granted and also for the loving nature of the mind.

Also, Liz and I got there really early and got seats where we could both see the tv and have a view of HHDL's profile in the temple. That made the teachings much more enjoyable, and it was still super fun to see him walk by so close. It is impossible to describe the lightness he exudes and the reaction of all the people, especially the Tibetans, when he is around.

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