In this episode, Lama John continues discussing the first topic, “The Five Aggregates,” from the classic text “A Manual of Key Buddhist Terms: Categorization of Buddhist Terminologies With Commentary” by Kawa Paltsek. (Click here for an overview of the text.)

First he talks about his recent two-week retreat, where he discovered the new approach that he will take moving forward with his teaching. He then talks about the fourth aggregate, that of Compositional Factors, also known as mental formations (sankharas), that are considered willful mental actions, triggered by some object, that produce karma.

There are 51 psychic factors, which are further delineated into omnipresent factors, determining factors, virtuous factors, six root afflictions, secondary afflictions, and changeable factors (the first two are discussed in this episode). We all experience these factors differently, based on our karma, and the nature of our belief system makes it so that we see only what we believe. He then describes how mindfulness can be for good or bad and similarly our knowledge can be correct or incorrect.

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