Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 100-minute commentary, Khensur Rinpoche anchors the session on a six-part well analogy — a bucket on a rope dropping and rising without choice — to show why all beings trapped in cyclic existence deserve compassion whether or not their suffering is visible. He resumes the “taking” practice from the previous session, insisting that authentic compassion must reach the depth of a mother wishing to bear her only child’s illness in the child’s place. Candrakīrti’s verse from the Supplement to the Middle Way is then unpacked, tracing compassion as seed, nourishing water, and final harvest across the entire path to Buddhahood. Three levels of compassion are distinguished — observing sentient beings, observing impermanence, and the supreme level conjoined with the realization of emptiness. The session ends with a visualization: taking others’ suffering as dark smoke, snakes, or weapons, and dissolving it into self-centeredness at one’s heart.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 LMT 1997 07 28.mp3
UUID: 5c842bcf-5d8c-4346-819e-6b6bda24445a
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lojong Mind Training (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-07-28
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.6 minutes
Words: ~5,573
So we’ll begin by adjusting our motivation, developing as our motivation for the listening to this teaching that of the awakened heart. And we’ll spend a few minutes cultivating that attitude. We begin by cultivating compassion, and that is expressed in the thoughts, It would be wonderful if myself and all living beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering. May they be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I myself will free them from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Cultivating love which is expressed in the thoughts. Would be wonderful if myself and all living beings had happiness in the causes of happiness. May they have happiness in the causes of happiness. I myself will bring them happiness in the causes of happiness. I myself will lead all living beings to a state where they’re free of suffering and they experience complete happiness.
In order to achieve that end, I’m going to listen to this present teaching on the essence of the universal vehicle, the means of developing the awakened heart. Having listened to this teaching, I will reflect upon it. Having reflected upon it, I will meditate it and put it into best practice for the sake of all living beings. So in our last teaching session together, it was explained the method whereby to lovingly give over our body, our possessions, and our roots of virtue. And this was in accordance with the line in the root text where it says, to train in alternately giving and taking.
So today we’re going to continue that and we’re going to it will be explained on how to compassionately take upon the sufferings of other beings and the dissatisfactoriness of the environment. So, we are first to contemplate the great sufferings of others and to reflect upon all of their troubles and not only their present sufferings, but they possess the causes of suffering within them. Out of this, again and again bringing this to mind, developing a great compassion for them, that we are trying to transform the entity of our mind into compassion itself. And it is in this state that we compassionately take upon ourselves all of their unwanted suffering, all of it that is undesirable in life. Taking upon ourselves, it is necessary as a prerequisite for this practice of taking that we make a great effort in actually developing a compassion which wishes to take upon ourselves this suffering.
So, you know, we’ve all experienced this. We can understand what is being gotten at here. And that even when we do see others going through great difficulties and they’re going great suffering and some degree of compassion might arise in our mind. But it’s simply expressed in perhaps the simple giving of food or medicine and that we leave it at that. And we would not even begin to consider taking upon that person’s suffering upon ourselves.
And why is that? Because in fact, there’s no real compassion present in our mind. We can understand that from our own experience, can’t We should take as our model what is being gotten at here in terms of the development of compassion, the quality of compassion that a mother would have for her only child, that quality of caring, that when her sole child, her only child, is sick, she thinks to herself, may I bear that sickness in the place of my child? If her child was to die, she would think from the depth of her heart appealing, may I die in the place of my child? It’s just not a matter of words or a superficial thought, but it’s something coming from deep within her heart.
So where does such an emotion come from? It comes, arises from the tremendous compassion that she has towards her only child. Likewise, the bodhisattva has not just that same caring as a mother for a sole child directed towards all living beings, but a caring many times multiplied in that same caring of a mother toward her sole child. From where does such caring arise, this tremendous compassion of the bodhisattva? It comes from use of meditation again and again, observing sentient beings and developing the attitude of wanting to take upon him or herself the suffering.
So this is a culmination of our practice of Dharma, real essence of the training of the mind, the great compassion which wishes to take upon ourselves the suffering of others. Initially, if we understand the great benefits to be derived from, to be gained from developing compassion, we will gladly cultivate it. And out of that, we will develop a great compassion, and our compassion will increase higher and higher. In talking about the great benefits to be gained through compassion, Candrakīrti, in his supplement to the Middle Way, says that because this alone is the excellent crop of the conquerors, the propagated seed in the water that sustains it, and the fully ripened fruit at the time of harvest, I first pay tribute to great compassion. So, Candrakīrti, in order for us to fathom the real benefit of compassion, is seeking to assist us in that understanding by presenting an analogy for compassion.
So, there is the analogy. He is analogizing compassion, and then the meaning will be explained. So in helping us to understand the qualities of compassion, Candrakīrti makes three analogies. First, compassion is likened to a seed. It is a faultless seed, a potent seed from which all things will eventually arise.
Then he goes on to say, but the compassion Initially, compassion is important in the beginning. It is like a seed. But in the intermediate, it is compassion which nourishes the seed and causes it to grow into a sprout. The development of this quality is constantly being nourished in the intermediate by compassion. And then finally, it is the fruit — this great crop itself.
It’s like a great harvest which can sustain both ourselves and others and lasts for a great period of time and brings great joy and happiness to all. So it is analogized as necessary in the beginning, intermediate, and finally in the end. So now we’re going to explain the meaning of this analogy that’s been presented. And first, in terms of the result, the fruit, which we are seeking to attain. The fruit is that of Buddhahood.
It is the results in all the unexcelled qualities that a Buddha possesses, by means of which they can bring about not only their own welfare, but the welfare of others, their great caring and realizations and powers which are equal to space. All of these magnificent results, this fruit, depends upon a cause. And in terms of the cause, it is the bodhisattva’s vast practice of the six perfections, the perfections of ethics and generosity, tolerance, joyous effort, meditative concentrations, and wisdom whereby he or she brings about the benefits of both themselves and others. And that vast practice of these six perfections is rooted in the awakened heart, bodhicitta. And we can trace back the generation of the awakened heart to its cause.
This cause is like the seed of the crop, and the initial cause of the awakened heart and all that this magnificence which proceeds there from this great compassion. The seed of the awakened heart from which all the excellent qualities of the universal vehicle arise is analogized to the seed of a crop from which the great harvest is reaped. And that seed is great compassion. Without the seed, great compassion, there’s no way to develop the awakened heart, and therefore the root of all of the excellent there is no root or foundation for the development of all the excellent qualities of the universal vehicle. So it is the seed of the awakened heart from which all of the qualities of the universal vehicle arise.
In the beginning, the great compassion is like the seed from which arises the awakened heart. But also, in the intermediate, the practice of the bodhisattva, such vast practices of the six perfections, generosity and ethics, etcetera, that they involve themselves in these practices continually without interruption. And the force which impels their uninterrupted practice of the six perfections is none other than great compassion. Without great compassion, there would not be this continuity of their practice, these six perfections. So here, even in the intermediate, great compassion is needed.
It is like the watering of the growing sprout. Without watering the growing crop, the sprouts would die. Without this intermediate, the cultivation of compassion, great compassion, again and again, then there would not be this continuity, this uninterrupted involvement in the practices of the six perfections. Therefore, in intermediate, great compassion is analogous to the watering of the crop. So again and again, cultivating great compassion and involving ourselves in continued practice.
And the consummation of our practice is Buddhahood itself. And then finally, even in the state of a Buddha, without great compassion, there would be no inspiration to teach the Dharma. That a Buddha communicates the Dharma to their disciples by the force of their great compassion, and moreover, this Dharma is taught in accordance with each of the various dispositions of the disciples to be taught. It is that the Buddha teaches the Dharma by the power of the great compassion within their hearts. Śākyamūni Buddha who displayed his attainment of Buddhahood at Bodh Gaya in India, and there turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time at Varanasi, and then went on to turn the wheel for the second time at Rajgirha, and then for the third turning of the wheel at Vaishali.
Subsequent to that, gave innumerable teachings. And by means of these innumerable teachings, multitudes of sentient beings attained happiness. Others went on to attain great bliss. Others to attain the awakened heart, to develop the will to awaken, to develop the level of a foe destroyer. And multitudes actually achieved Buddhahood.
That this this process of pacifying the sufferings of sentient beings and leading them to consummate happiness is empowered by the force of the great compassion within the Buddha’s heart. So, Śākyamūni Buddha communicated within this world out of the force of his compassion. That is to say, his teaching was that his communication was the teaching of the Dharma. That is to say, how to practice the Dharma. And without the practice of Dharma, without these teachings, there would be no practice of the Buddha Dharma.
Without this, then there would be we would have lost the methods and the means whereby to attain high status, the status of of a human or that of a celestial being, and to go on to achieve that of liberation, development of the awakened heart, and finally, to achieve Buddhahood. That it is by the force of the great compassion within the Buddha’s heart that he communicates the Dharma to others. In the case of a worldly crop where we planted seeds in the field and they’ve grown and we’ve cultivated a bountiful harvest, we can go on to make use of that harvest in various means. We can use it to supply all our needs with whatever they might be. We can buy bread or cake.
We can buy beer. You know, what whatever we like, we can make use of it. So that’s the fruit of having planted the seeds. And for us, even for ourselves, happiness that we’re able to get out of meditating and through our practice of Dharma has as its original cause compassion. Compassion is extremely beneficial, isn’t it?
If we should try to appreciate the tremendous results that arise and the benefits from cultivating compassion. Even if we were to meditate for even five minutes, that the creative potential or merit is as vast as space. Now, when we talk about great compassion, we’re not talking about compassion directed simply at one person. It’s not great compassion if it’s only directed at one person. Great compassion is the attitude of wishing that others be free from suffering directed towards all sentient beings.
But even in terms of not great compassion, just compassion, a compassion directed toward a single person would accrue a single skillful action. If it was directed toward five people, it would accrue five skillful actions. If it was directed toward a hundred, a hundred skillful actions, a thousand, a thousand skillful actions. What to say of the unimaginable benefit and creative potential or merit that could be derived from great compassion, takes into this object numberless or all sentient beings without exception. So this is really a skillful means whereby to accumulate creative potential.
It is we can do this through our meditation, the meditation most specifically on love, compassion, the awakened heart. If we take other objects as the subject of our meditation, it’s not sure what the results may be. Maybe we’re going to drive some benefit, maybe we’re not. Maybe it’s simply going to be a neutral result. In fact, if we meditated with a negative motivation, there’s a danger that our meditation will simply bring about some type of negative result.
So, but it is assured that if we take as a subject of our meditation the cultivation of love, the awakened heart, that it can only be positive and that we will accrue a vast accumulation of skillful actions as a result. So, are three types of compassion or three levels of compassion. There is the supreme level of the compassion which observes the unapprehendable. There is the middling level of compassion which observes dharmas, maybe phenomena. And there is the minimal level of compassion which observes mere sentient beings.
So, the first of these three compassions is that compassion observing the unapprehendable. This is the supreme compassion. And it’s spoken of in a verse of praise to Avalokiteśvara where it says, great store of objectless compassion. It says objectless compassion. It could be translated as unapprehendable compassion.
So in the term unapprehendable compassion, is the term unapprehendable? What is unapprehendable is true existence. So here, it is what is being indicated here is a wisdom which realizes non true existence of sentient beings. That the true existent sentient beings are unapprehendable. So the wisdom which realizes the non true existence of sentient beings is directly conjoined with the compassion.
So this is the supreme of compassion. That great compassion which is directly conjoined with the wisdom realizing the unapprehendability of the true existence of sentient beings. So this is the conjoining of emptiness and compassion, a compassion which has coupled with it the realization of emptiness. Or another way of saying that is that it’s the union of method and wisdom. Then the second type of compassion was the compassion which observes phenomena.
What is meant by compassion observing phenomena is a compassion which is coupled with the wisdom directly realizing the impermanence of sentient beings. It’s directly coupled with, conjoined with, the wisdom realizing the impermanence of sentient beings. That is, by impermanence here means the momentary arising disintegration of a phenomena under the power of karma. That’s the second. And then the third level of compassion was the compassion observing near sentient beings.
And here, the compassion is not conjoined with either the wisdom realizing emptiness nor the wisdom realizing impermanence. But it is observing sentient beings troubled by suffering. And is a longing that they be free from that suffering. It’s not assisted by any other force in itself, but it is more than a wish that they be be thinking how wonderful it would be that they’re free of suffering, but the actual longing that they in fact be free, may they be free of that suffering. This is compassion observing mere sentient beings.
Actually, you know, really we don’t. When we see somebody in difficulties, we might develop a compassion attitude toward them. If we saw someone in pain, we might develop a compassion attitude toward them. But when we see somebody who’s neither troubled nor in difficulty nor in pain, we cannot develop a compassion attitude toward them. Great compassion shows no partiality in terms of its attitude.
It is not an attitude which is directed only toward a few, or some and not others. It is, in fact, directed toward all sentient beings whosoever, whether they be humans or celestial beings, whether their suffering be manifest or non manifest. It is an attitude directed at all sentient beings without exclusion. For us, our caring is usually directed toward perhaps a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a partner or our children or a brother or sister, somebody that we like. And if that’s the basis for our caring, it’s not really caring.
It’s probably more of a factor of attachment. The West, people usually do not distinguish between desire and attachment. Desire here meaning, for example, the desire that others be free from suffering. That desire and attachment, there’s no they’re not distinguished. There’s no these two are not there’s no distinguishment made between these two.
So if what is the way of developing compassion? The method set out by Candrakīrti here in this verse is very, very good. So how are we to cultivate compassion? It is we can make use of six analogies. So, Candrakīrti speaks of a means of cultivating compassion by means of a six-part analogy, which concerns a well.
So in English we use the word well; in India, they use the word sochu. So, in making use of a well, in order to draw the water, they drop a bucket attached to a rope down the well. The rope is attached. Then, the rope is attached to a post outside of the well so it doesn’t completely fall in and be lost. Yes.
God. So the bucket is very heavy. The bucket’s very heavy. So, the bucket is tied to a rope. That’s the first part of this analogy.
Then the second is that the bucket, being heavy, drops quite readily to the bottom. We don’t have to make any effort for the bucket to drop to the bottom of the well. That’s the second part. So, and then having dropped to the bottom of the well and filling with water, we have to expend a great amount of effort to draw the bucket back up. Not this much.
That’s the third. And in order that the bucket be drawn up out of the bottom of the well, it’s necessary that there be a person drawing the bucket. And so that draw of the water is the fourth part. So this bucket which is fixed by a rope inside this well, it has no place to go but up and down. All it does is go up and down the well.
And there’s no certainty about when it’s going to be put in use. Sometimes it’s used in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes in the evening. So that’s six, isn’t it? So, in explaining the meaning of each of these parts of this analogy, first, the bucket was attached to a rope. And this rope is, we as the bucket, all sentient beings, are tied by the rope of karma and afflictive emotions. We’re not free to do as we will.
We are controlled. We are bound by the robes of karma and afflictive emotions. So it’s necessary for us to cultivate this, appreciate this fact with regard to all sentient beings. That all sentient beings, whosoever who are abiding in cyclic existence, are bound by karma and affliction, therefore are worthy of our compassion. That whoever they may be, whether they appear to have manifest troubles or not, whether they are celestial beings or gods, celestial beings or humans down to the lowliest insect, whosoever are all bound by the rope of karma and afflictions.
And therefore, all sentient beings within cyclic existence are worthy of being objects of our compassion. Take all of us present in listening to this teaching, except for the fact that there were some foe destroyers, some arhats amongst us who are not bound by karma and affliction. All of us abide within cyclic existence and therefore are worthy of compassion. So, then continuing this analogy, we said that due to the heaviness of the bucket, it readily falls to the bottom of the well without any difficulty, needing no effort. Likewise, with ourselves, that we have from the beginning of this time been accumulating negative actions.
And we continue even at present to continue to accumulate negative actions. And therefore there is no problem whatsoever for us to fall to an unfortunate rebirth in the future. It will be done effortlessly without difficulty. So once having fallen into an unfortunate state, having taken rebirth there, it is only with tremendous effort and difficulty that we will eventually achieve a happy migration in future rebirth, hence that of a human or celestial being. It is to rise up from rebirth in an unfortunate migration to taking rebirth in a happy migration, is even more difficult than for us as humans to attain Buddhahood.
What is it that brings about our rebirth and fortunate migrations? It is the skillful actions that we have accumulated. Beings within unfortunate migrations are not able to accumulate these skillful actions, and it is only due to the kindness of our previously skillful actions that we will ever be able to rise up with great difficulty to again achieve our fortunate rebirth. What it means is That’s the third analogy, third part of the analogy. You know, if Rinpoche is portraying another analogy to give us, you know, this bowl is like a mountain.
At the peak of the mountain is Buddhahood. And at the bottom of the mountain are the unfortunate realms of rebirth. And halfway up where we’ve climbed to is human level of rebirth. So we’re halfway up the side of the mountain. So we’ve gone a great deal of difficulty to get halfway up this mountain, and now we’re just going to slide back down.
While we’re near the peak, we should make great effort to not have wasted the past but to achieve our goal. And then the fourth part of this analogy is just as in the case of drawing the water up and down, it’s necessary that there be a person, the drawer of the water. Likewise, in our cycling through these various levels of existence, it is the mind which brings us up and down. in dependence upon positive states of mind, we are drawn upward. in dependence upon negative states of mind, we fall back down.
So we we need to make effort in avoiding the negative states of mind, which are simply going to cause us to fall down once again. But on the contrary, try to cultivate positive states of mind, will act to draw us up. And the most positive states of mind are those of love and compassion in the awakened heart. By means of these, we accumulate skillful action. So then the fifth part of this analogy was the upward and downward movement of the bucket that it had nowhere to go but up and down.
Likewise, with ourselves, we are continually cycling through the various levels of existence. First, we dwell within unfortunate levels, and then we rise up to the fortunate levels, those of human and celestial beings. And then we fall back down to the unfortunate levels, and then we rise up again to the fortunate levels, up and down. And then, finally, the sixth part of this analogy was that the time in which the bucket is going to be made use of, when it’s going to move up and down within the well, is uncertain. Sometimes it’s used in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes in the evening.
It’s not sure. It’s indefinite. And the meaning of this part of the analogy in reference to ourselves is that are so it’s unsure with regards to ourselves when we’re going to be moving on in terms of these levels of cyclic existence. When some people die as children, some people move on when they’re middle age, some people last out to old age. The time of our death is indefinite.
Therefore, when we are going to be moving up through these levels of cyclic existence is indefinite. So, if we can make use of this six part analogy in the cultivation of compassion, if we develop compassion in such a way we can be assured that it will be pure compassion, it will be an authentic type of compassion. So initially when we cultivate compassion, it will not be stable, it will not be workable if we try to develop it toward all sentient beings. Then we may think, may all sentient beings be free of suffering? Then when we look at each person, we think, well, I really don’t have an attitude toward this person.
I really don’t have it toward that person, but I have it for all sentient beings. So it’s necessary if our compassion is to be authentic, we initially develop it, taking as our object a few sentient beings. Those who are close to us, those who are dear to ourselves, our parents or our brothers or sisters, etc. Then having developed such an attitude with regards to them, moving on to our friends, having developed with regards to our friends, moving on to strangers, and then finally to enemies until we include all sentient beings as objects of our compassion without any partiality. That’s this great compassion.
So if we proceed in this fashion, we will develop great compassion. That’s for sure. Having developed great compassion, we will go on to develop the awakened heart. Having developed the awakened heart, we will be a bodhisattva, and as a bodhisattva, carry on the best practices of the bodhisattva and finally attain Buddhahood, bringing about the fulfillment of our own welfare as well as that of others. This is just like Śākyamūni Buddha himself did. So this is to be incorporated into our practice of taking and giving. We are to compassionately take upon ourselves the sufferings of others. If we have great compassion, we can take upon ourselves the sufferings of others gladly.
And we will experience no fear, will have no reservation, and there will be no suffering. The root text of the seven point training of the mind says at this point that we are, It says to begin the sequence by taking from your own side. What this means is that we are to begin our training in the practice of taking and giving by using ourselves as our object of practice, that we are to take ourselves, our own suffering, upon ourselves as an initial form of practice. We begin with our future sufferings, taking on the sufferings that we will experience far in the future, that we will take on the sufferings that we might experience, we are going to experience one year from now, one month from now, the sufferings that we might be going to experience tomorrow, taking those sufferings upon oneself. It is only ourselves who must experience our own suffering.
No one can experience our suffering for us. So, we, you know, our own future suffering will eventually have to be experienced only by ourselves. So there should be no dislike dislike for experiencing that inevitable suffering now. So having gained some proficiency with yourself as your object in taking upon the various sufferings that you are to experience, then we make use of another object. For a Tibetan, the object which would now be chosen would be one’s own mother, the mother of this life, that we consider the mother as being the person of greatest benefit to ourselves in this life.
And therefore, we’re making use of her and taking upon ourselves, our mother’s suffering and the causes of her suffering. So you can take whoever you feel is has been kindest to yourself, and therefore who you can have the greatest caring toward. If it’s your mother, then fine. Then use your mother as the object for the cultivation of this practice. But if not, it may be your father, or it may be a partner or a friend, a sister or a brother.
You can proceed in the manner of training the mind with regard to any of these individuals who you feel are most kind, and therefore, who you have agreed as caring for. So we’re going to we order all these people. So those who you have the most liking for, that person is placed first, and then the second person is we have liking for, that person is going to be cultivated second. So working through the degrees of liking, come we come to those people who we feel we neither like nor dislike. We feel neutral towards strangers, and then we begin to work with strangers.
When gaining proficiency with regard to strangers, then taking on the sufferings of enemies. So, this is what is meant by training of the mind or transforming our mind. First, we don’t have the attitude perhaps at all or only slightly, but it is by cultivating this attitude again and again progressively that we develop the force of the power of our mind in terms of this training is brought forth. If we don’t proceed in this way, then there’s no training of the mind. If we don’t transform our minds, train our minds in this manner, there would be no development of great compassion nor the awakened heart.
So this is the general way of taking upon the sufferings of sentient beings. And we also train in taking, using specific sentient beings. And we can most readily develop great compassion toward those who are undergoing the greatest of sufferings. And therefore, is it that are undergoing the greatest of suffering? It is the hell beings.
So, them specifically as objects of our taking upon our suffering. And then, who have slightly less suffering are the hungry ghosts. And then, those have slightly less suffering than animals, and we take upon ourselves their suffering. Then, taking upon the sufferings of other humans. And above those, we then take upon ourselves the suffering of the celestial beings.
So, all of those beings that we’ve specifically worked with up to this point are those who have not entered into a path. But there are even the beings who are on a spiritual path, such as hearers and solitary realizers. They have the seeds afflictive emotions in their mind. And we should take upon ourselves these seeds. And with regard to the bodhisattva, they have within their minds obstructions, and most especially the knowledge obstructions or the obstruction to omniscience, and we should take upon ourselves that obstruction.
There’s nothing to take from Buddhism. So in the taking of other suffering, how are we to proceed? You know, we don’t take this suffering and set it someplace else, to the side or over here or over there. We are taking it upon ourselves. And we should imagine that we are taking it upon ourselves and it is dissolving at the self centeredness at our own hearts.
And remembering that self centeredness is the root of all our suffering. It brings about all that is unwanted in our lives. It is remembering all the faults of self centeredness. And in that context, taking upon the suffering of others, then it proceeds to dissolve into the self centeredness at our own hearts. So, in the meditation of taking, the suffering of others that we are taking upon ourselves, there are different ways in which it different aspects in which it can appear to ourselves, ways we can have it looking the way it appears.
So the suffering which we are taking upon ourselves can be just something like very dark, something black or smoke. It can be different ferocious creatures. It can be snakes. It can be weapons. It can be all that is dirty and polluted.
Of any of these aspects can be taken, that the suffering appears in these various aspects and is being taken upon ourselves. So, you know, it is we’re taking the sufferings in these various undesirable aspects. And what is it that doesn’t desire such aspects? What is it that is afraid and doesn’t want to even come near what is being visualized here? It is our own self centeredness, our own selfishness, and our own exaggerated self concern.
This is what is afraid. This is what is disgusted. This is what dislikes, what is happening to it. It is our own self centeredness. So it’s like, you know, if we stained piece of clothing and it was soiled to we would I don’t want to wear it anymore.
That would be out of our own self attachment, that we don’t want anything to do with it anymore. It’s dirty. I want to wear it. And likewise, it is our own self attachment, our own self centeredness, which doesn’t want to have anything to do with what is being taken on. We’re going to stop there and it’s very late so we won’t have any questions this evening.