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The notion of heroism that we discussed, is based on some notion of following the path,
as it has been said by Jamgön Kongtrül.
It might be easy for you to follow your mind according to the dharma,
but it might be difficult for you to follow your mind with the path.
So at the same time the basic notion of dharma,
and basic notion of involvement in the practice situation, is very important,
becomes very necessary in some sense.
There is a question about having had developed some notion of heroism,
how we actually evolve further. Furthering evolvement is based on
some sense of willing to take new elements into your heart.
You could say that "I have this social upbringing, I know the etiquettacy. I know the this that,
"and how to make polite conversation. And making a fool of myself at the same time.
And how to be a generous person. How to be good person. How to be a good driver."
And how to be a good person to keep your records with the bank, and all the rest of it.
But nevertheless there is something else that takes place,
which is the notion of how to learn to transplant. That is to say, when we talk about transplant,
we are talking about familiar world and unfamiliar world to join together.
From that point of view we could talk about Buddhism as being unfamiliar world, cold heart.
And we could talk about our ordinary samsaric world as being hot bodied.
Heated with all kinds of jealous and confusion, aggression, demands of all kinds taking place.
We are heated up so much. We heat. We heat. We heat. Heated. Heated with all kinds of notions,
that we have so tensed up, tight. We are completely heated up.
That our heart and mind, intellect, everything has so much opinion.
And those opinions begin to create eruption, constantly like a
mountain erupting volcanic fire constantly.
We have been so heated up all the time, in passion, aggression, and immense ignorance
which we take pride in. So much of heat is there.
At the moment we begin to take pride in opening our mind towards
the big path of the Mahayanists. That somehow the heat is starting to cold.
But not completely so, because we had no idea what's happening actually, per se.
This heat, intense heat body, mind, intellect; there is such cool from the cooling it will be replaced.
Transplanted. This cold heart, which sounds quite deadly, but actually it is very exciting.
That cold heart is what is known as bodhichitta.
Bodhichitta meaning, bodhi meaning awakening, enlightenment.
Chitta meaning heart, so heart of enlightenment.
For the heat of our speed, and aggression, and everything.
When that particular heart has been transplanted into our system and our body, literally,
we begin to cool down a little bit. We begin to feel slightly lukewarm,
which is rather depressing at that point, at the beginning, to be lukewarm.
Not so good. And content of some kind.
But nevertheless beyond that whole thing becomes much more real! And personal!
There is such hotness of this temperature that we have, in our basic existence.
There is something that is transplanted with such history of coolness, utter coolness,
that it is not so much of the ice that was made out of the originator.
The ice that we inherited from the North Pole through centuries and centuries and centuries.
That you plant this old age ice, it is transplanted in your heat, hot, cold, hot, tense body.
And there is obviously some kind of sizzling that takes place;
temperatures develop, not very comfortable. Some kind of crack obviously.
Nevertheless sense of heat becomes surrounding process.
The bodhichitta, after cool bodhichitta, cool, and cold, utterly cold, waking state of mind begin to
transplant in your heart. Which is not particularly coming from outside world, outside us,
such as outsiders. But it is something that you deserve. If you feel so hot, thirsty,
you deserve cold drink. That is cosmic cold drink that we that we are getting.
And we didn't actually have to drink, but it actually came transplanted in our heart.
And so our thirst could be quenched on the spot, on the right spot.
Interestingly such cold becomes real.
If you could analyze this cooling system called bodhichitta,
that consists of a sense of sympathy, and sense of space, at the same time.
So it is not deadly cold. The analogies we could use quite simply; if you have water in your glass,
put in a piece of ice in it, it floats. The reason why it floats rather than descends right down,
is because it is full of space in it. At the same time it is cold.
So the notion with that is the idea of cool, and cold, sense of enlightened attitude
contains the notion of compassion, which is the icy quality, at the same time the notion
of wakefulness, which is lots of space in it. That's why ice floats, from this point of view.
So we have the notion of iciness, the notion of space at the same time, in our hot water tank.
If you put hot water tank and you pour lots of ice blocks in it, it floats, completely floats.
It has the coldness and also spaciousness in it. Space in it already.
That's precisely bodhichitta. Bodhichitta contains the notion of heroism and depth, and openness.
At the same time it contains gentleness and its domestication at the same time,
which makes the ice not just jump up in the water, but stays in the water.
It is because of its domestication, is because of its willingness to do it.
But at the same time it floats up. So lets us know that there is ice in your glass, at the same time.
The whole thing couldn't exist without the atmosphere.
Without some kind of gravitation, we can't drink iced water in the mid air,
in outer space, because the ice would float here,
the water would be floating there. And you have no relationship at all.
It is useless to have a glass. Your glass would be empty and the water would be floating.
So the reason why we have earth here, an actual some sense of taking place,
that ice can be put in the glass, as well as water could be put in the glass on this earth,
is because that there is some sense of subtle and fundamental neurosis that is taking place.
Which we don't have regard as a problem, but in this case it is a promise at the same time.
And with the glass of neurosis, of ego centeredness,
we pour water of our demand, which is the water, water of the demand,
which is I want to exist. But then you put ice of bodhi in it.
You might call it transplanting, in some sense, which is actually true.
But we are not particularly talking about having a large operation, particularly
or a big project, as transplanting which means tearing land and digging up some useful little plant
and just popping down into it and everything. But we are not talking about the that.
We are talking about general transplanting, like putting ice in a glass of water.
And when that begins happen that notion of heroism is the atmosphere.
There is some kind of celebration takes place.
When you have some sense of putting glass full of water, with ice on it.
Usually if you're too depressed you just take a glass from your faucet, from your tap,
and you just drink that, you couldn't care less if you have ice water or not.
But now that you have a glass ready, and water ready, ice ready, and you take that with a certain
attitude, that having done so, that you are going to thirst your quenched properly, fully.
Which is heroism. (snap)
That takes place in bodhisattva activity and larger vision, and celebration at the same time.