ACI 1 «Основные учения буддизма», занятие 5

ACI I, Class Five: What is Samsara and Renunciation
July 21, 1993
[OM: 11-05: All versions look equally corrupt.]



Student: (unclear)

No I, I know that some people are, and IÕm tired too, and I know, I donÕt
wanna keep you guys too late. We, you can go the, the Buddhism is deep, I
mean, the Buddhism is, you can, you can talk for your lifetime and you wonÕt
finish. And itÕs all meaningful. ItÕs not like stupid talk. So, so liberation means
not having to take a birth like that. ThatÕs what liberation is. ThatÕs what your
goal is supposedly. Your lowest goal. When you meditate on renunciation now
this week, I mean you should be thinking ÒI, I wanna get outta it.Ó Having to
take this kind of a birth again and again you, we barely accept future lives, we
barely accept that this is undesirable. And maybe we donÕt accept it.

ItÕs the answer to the question Òwhat keeps you in samsara?Ó And of course,
again, itÕs like not some big lock on your leg that keeps you in New York City.
ItÕs, itÕs very subtle. What keeps your, what keeps those stream of dirty parts
of a person going? What, what perpetuates your existence in this dirty, mortal
kind of vulnerable body and (laughs) mind?
Okay? ItÕs {laynyumo}, okay? Alright, got it?

Student: The (nyem) was from {nyenmon}?

Sure.

Student: {Nyenmon}.

Yep.

(silence)

Student: In the notes or...

ItÕs in the notes.

Student: It proves emptiness doesnÕt it?
Student: So how to exist in some balanced way in the context of these eight
worldly dharmas?

Class Five: What is Samsara and Renunciation
July 21, 1993




Student: ...some kind of wheel or something?

This is, yeah, the Tibetan word, all the Tibetan sounds for {kore} mean, mean
round, okay? Some famous {Kores) are ...

Student: (Q-kore}

{Chinkore} which means a disk. Which is what mandala is a Tibetan translation
for mandala means a disk. Kormo which means a dollar in Tibetan, means the
round coin. {Korloll} means the wheel on a car. Okay. So thereÕs all these
words with a Korm sound in them mean korm, mean to go around, okay? And,
and this is supposedly what you have renunciation about. A state of korma,
okay? It means to circle. To go around and around, okay? Yes?

Student: ThatÕs the literal translation, right? The definition...

Student: (unclear) means the whole two earths? {Korma}?

Yeah {koreah}. This is what Ramon Rinpoche says. He says to, if you, he says
that the, he says that renunciation is desire to get out of korma. If you donÕt
know what korma is then how are you gonna wanna get out of it. So he says
first you have to know why youÕre in korma and what korma is. So he says,

(silence)

Ah, he makes a noun out a one. (unclear)

Student: (unclear) P.O.Y?

P.O.Y. Yeah, P.O.Y. (unclear)
(silence)

Student: WhatÕs the second letter of the second syllable?

{Cha}. Ugly an ugly {cha}. It should never have like (unclear).

(silence)

(unclear)

Student: {unclear) One of the Tibetans they teach today told me that it, you said
{unclear}

ThereÕs a joke, they say {Jupshe}. They, they bow and say, to foreigners and
they say {jupshe}, which means ÒShut yourself up.Ó (laughter) (unclear) notice
they (unclear) (laughter).

Student: Is that because they never said anything in Tibetan and theyÕre
expected to say something?

Student: (unclear)

Cycle of life, cycle of life, okay. {Yin} means what?

Student: It is.

It is. Okay. So, da,da,da,da,da,da, is what {korwa} is. These two lines is the
definition. {Sumsung}. That what samsara is, itÕs, itÕs amazing, and you can
talk to a lot of people who are, you know, learning Buddhism, a lot of people
and even a lot of people, you know, teaching Buddhism, and they canÕt even
describe to you samsara. And that means they donÕt know what they are
trying to get liberated from. Okay? (laughs) They donÕt know clearly what
they want to get freedom from. Ah, itÕs, what?

Yeah, {stressedhun}, okay,? And weÕre from Sera. And we always say to the
{Dayvouyungno}, well, you know in Tibetan Òwhen the hail comes down it
ruins the rice.Ó Ah, because Sera means hail. You know hail stones... (laughter)
We, weÕre better then they are. The Sera. WeÕre very, we have a competition
with them all the time so Sera is always destroying their hope. So {pune} means
a, you can imagine what that means. It really does mean heave. You wouldnÕt
go to your neighbor and say ÒHey, can I borrow an aggregate of rice?Ó No. It
means pile. And it quite simply means pile. And it was an unusual word fifteen
hundred years ago so (unclear) authority had to explain it as (unclear). Look,
{punbune} means pile and itÕs not strange because, so you should translate it
with an unusual word. It should be translated as pile or heap. Because thatÕs
what it really means and, and, and the ancient authors have to explain why such
a weird word is used for (unclear). {Sataylingpungakun}. You know what
{kunchupay}. Extreme (unclear). So {kun} means extreme. {Kun} means
extreme, extreme, a continual.       ItÕs a nice word.       Extreme.    Okay?
{Yungnayungdo} means again and again and again and again...

Student: Over and over again.

Over and over again.

Student: Over and over again?

Yeah.

Student: Over and over again.

ItÕs the same thing, right? Over and over. It just means over and over. Again
and again. Again and again. {Yungneyango}. {Lenba} means to take, take, to
take. {Ne} means thatÕs what, {Ne} means thatÕs what {Korwoyen}, thatÕs
what samsara means. ThatÕs what samsara is. And itÕs very, very, this is the
classical explanation of what samsara is. You see it all, in all the ancient books
this is what they describe as samsara.

Student: What is {Key}?

Up. Okay, so, Bill take a shot at translating it. Take your time. Some people try
to translate half and then they get, they didnÕt get the whole sentence in their
mind first before they started talking about it. {Lungleed} starts from the back.

Student: Right, right.

Having to {zemba}.

Student: What?
Having to {lemba}.

Student: Right. Having to take....

On {yungleon}.

Student: Again and again...

The {sartichypubican} (laughs).
       Í
Student: Impure... heaps of impure, no?

Yeah. The impure heaps which you would have to take on...

Student: How do you take on again and again the impure heaps that you have
taken on?

Yeah. Of the type that youÕve taken on. HeÕll explain that.

Student: Okay.

That stream. That stream of having to do it again and again is korma. The fact
that you have to take birth over and over and over again. That long string. That
constant string of dirty births, okay? Of dirty, of dirty parts. When he says dirty
it, it implies something else, right? What?

You tell me.

Student: Well a lot of people think itÕs a place but actually itÕs a state of mind,
correct?

IÕm gonna tell you. Good question, okay? {Mullyan} most people think itÕs
this world, you know, and thatÕs what samsara is. If I got out of samsara I
would somehow beat this world, okay? Most people think, I mean when you
ask people whatÕs samsara, what is it youÕre trying to avoid by coming to this
stupid class week after week? (laughs) (laughter) No youÕre trying to avoid
samsara. Yeah, sufferings not bad, sufferings not bad. Okay, IÕll give you, IÕll
give you the definition of samsara.
‘•S
Student: Stained, impure.
No, if he, if he takes the point to say Òdirty heaps,Ó it implies what?

Student: That itÕs possible to have clean heaps.

Yeah, yeah. There are pure heaps. And when you achieve Buddhahood, when
you achieve nirvana, your dirty heaps become pure heaps. Your body is not like
this. You have a body is like diamond. You have a body which is fundamentally
different. ItÕs still physical but itÕs nature is totally different. It has no more
satva, okay? Yeah?

Student: The state of... (unclear)

Yeah, yeah, yeah I will. {Satya} means impure. {Nearlin} is a very special word,
it means to Òtake on.Ó But it implies parts of you which you were forced to take
on. You had no choice. And often times you see inserted here the two words
life force of your ÒkarmaÓ and your Òbad thoughts.Ó You were forced to take
on, you didnÕt say ÒOh hey, I, IÕd like to be born into a world like this, you
know.Ó You were forced. What does that eliminate, by the way? What does
that exclude, if we add {Nulyea}, and you were forced to take on by your karma
and (unclear).

The b. Arbidharmia explained it the second way (unclear).

Student: The second way.

Yeah. Certain people have control. TheyÕre not born...

Student: In one sense there is no control. Buddhas have to be Buddhas. ItÕs not
like they become extinct or something like that. Just the difference is who can
control it and who...

CanÕt. And theyÕre {pulmols} are not {satchay}.

Student: (unclear) translation (unclear)

Yeah, itÕs a little bit tricky, okay. The condition of having to take over and over
again a stream of impure parts, which you were forced to take on, is samsara.
ItÕs what samsara is.           So the goal of Buddhism, I mean the object of
renunciation, is not, you know, feeling not feeling too good sometimes. Not
having peace of mind sometimes. Or, thatÕs all worldly goals. The, itÕs worldly
goals to want to be peaceful in this life. ItÕs a worldly goal to wanna have some
contentment with your {synks}. You know? The goal, the lowest goal is to want
to stop the continued existence of a body like this and a mind like this, okay? To,
to want to purify the very parts that are you.            ThatÕs the lowest goal.
Permanently.

No, no. That was only there because... itÕs a long story. That also comes in the,
comes in the first chapter of the b. {unclear} which weÕll study. But basically you
have to describe pleasure and (unclear) so, so therefore to, to sustain itÕs called
dirty (unclear). ItÕs a good point. Okay? So what, Thelma, what would escape
from samsara be? What would escape, whatÕs the point, liberation means
escape from samsara, what does it mean? What will happen when you escape?

Student: It means that you donÕt have the suffering. It means that youÕre not
forced to...
       _-
Student: I thought it was the first one was that you would get to so that you
didnÕt, you didnÕt wanna go to lower realms you wanted to be reborn...

Yeah, weÕre actually already assuming the second level of practice.

Student: Which also means that youÕre not interested in taking rebirth in the
heavens.

Right. Because thatÕs this, they still have...

Student: ItÕs just bad. ItÕs worse (unclear) (laughter)

ItÕs kind-a nice actually. (laughter)

Student: What to go and frighten people?
       Ê_
ItÕs like your youth, you know?

Student: No thatÕs for demigods (unclear)

Student: Yeah, but theyÕre in the god realms. I mean the contrast between the
pain and the pleasure is so much more extreme in some ways it would be much
more. But theyÕre about to die, theyÕre about to (unclear). You know they just
crash eventually.

So why, so you have to not want that to, to escape. ThatÕs, renunciation is not
wanting that. And thatÕs what you have to meditate on. I mean itÕs difficult
because we hardly believe in future lives. We still think thereÕs a lotta nice
things is this life. We donÕt accept that ever single part of our being is, is
impure. And that is un, undesirable. We donÕt, we donÕt like to think that. He
says, he says ÒWhen I, what keeps you chained to that samsara is when you...Ó
&Û
(Silence)

Student: So the good news is until you free yourself from samsara you will
always exist. The bad news is it ever rarely gets even nearly as good as this,
right? (laughter) ThatÕs the way it is. Which is for Westerners pretty strange
because theyÕre more concerned with do you exist afterwards or not. We
should be worried about that.

(silence)

What keeps you in samsara? By the way what does it mean now Òin samsara?Ó

Student: No but the, further down the road (unclear) the result.

Oh sure, thatÕs karma. WeÕre going to talk about this (unclear). Tomorrow or
the next day.

Student: Is that only kind of movement that occurs in the mind or a type of
movement the occurs in the mind?

I will say any movement of the mind is {unclear}.

Student: Okay, then the next question is, if itÕs any movement, do BuddhaÕs
minds move or not?

Yes.

So Karma can be subside or not subside.

ItÕs a point. I mean they donÕt call it {baysangva} but it does have {samba}.
And {samba) is a {lay}. Because {sinba}...

Student: Because BuddhaÕs mind movement produces results in the future?

Of course. Good or bad karma. Clean...

Nice stuff. Okay. Can you say the whole sentence again, karma is the
movement of the mind and...
{Naymesybolnodaychey} and what it motivates meaning your speech and your,
and your bodily actions. Okay? So thatÕs what karma is. Karma means just
any kind-a {Gok keek), anytime your (unclear), alright? (laughs) (laughter) No
really. Okay. People struggle with that word, itÕs a mentation, you know? Or...

Student: Karma. Bad karma.

No. I mean what keeps you in this stream of continued existence in a body
thatÕs gotta rot eventually? Okay? What keeps you there? These two things.
Your karma and your bad thoughts. Okay? What keeps you in samsara, your
karma and your bad thoughts.

Student: So how does that tie into ignorance?

Very, very difficult question. Okay? And not something IÕll do tonight. Then
the different schools have different views.

Student: So is this just another way to put it rather then influences that keeps you
in samsara? Or what would be more accurate, ignorance keeps you in samsara
or bad karma?

No ignorance motivates these two. Ignorance is behind these two. In the wheel
of life itÕs the, itÕs the

Student: {Nypugtojegula).

ItÕs the pig whoÕs got the snake and the chicken coming out of (unclear).
•u
Student: So theoretically if youÕve achieved wisdom you havenÕt got that.

Well, weÕll explain it and itÕs the purpose of this class to show how
understanding emptiness can remove your bad thoughts forever. That is a big
leap. That right? Nirvana is the end of these bad thoughts. How does
understanding emptiness have anything to do with not getting angry? We have
to discuss that. And a lot of people donÕt draw the clear link between the two.
They teach you emptiness and they teach you not to get angry but they donÕt
show you clearly how understanding emptiness in a practical, real live situation
tomorrow at work can prevent you from getting angry. Okay?
”
Student: IsnÕt, to be mathematical about, it isnÕt (unclear) some sort of {lea}.
He asked that in a way, yes, sort of but now exactly and weÕll talk... You wanna
know [mushimusha etc.).        And we donÕt have time.         YouÕll get that.
Everything we ever learn in five years weÕll come back to what youÕre
learning in this six weeks.

Student: So youÕre equating ignorance with the bad books, the {nearyin} that
ignorance is (unclear).

Depends on what school youÕre with.

Student: Well in the school that you just wrote on the board...

No, IÕll say these are results of ignorance.

Student: So the nearness is thoughts produced by ignorance, is that what youÕre
saying?

Bad thoughts (unclear). Yes?

Student: Is a chain by karma and our bad thoughts or a chain by...

ItÕs karma and bad thoughts.

Student: The action of our bad thoughts?

No, itÕs not that. ItÕs karma and bad thoughts. (Laydong etc).

student: So this phrase is just hanging here. How does it relate to everything
else?.

Now. Ah, so why is, what use is renunciation making? What, whatÕs the object
of renunciation? What is renunciation tired of? Renunciation means to be tired
of them.

Student: The heaps? The impure heaps?

Yeah. Your body and your mind as they exist today. If you are what you seem
to be. And I donÕt know. Okay? (laughs) Alright? You canÕt know. Alright,
and the famous, famous thing is that if you donÕt understand what samsara is
youÕll never be able to have compassion. It will never come. People come to
me like one of these seventy-two hour teaching things, they say you gotta have
bodhichitta, they talked about bodhichitta, but if they donÕt teach you what
samsara is then you donÕt know what youÕre trying to get out of, and you
canÕt have, itÕs impossible to have any concern for other people because you
donÕt know what to be concerned about. You, what youÕre supposed to
worry about is their samsara. And if you donÕt know what your samsara is
then, then itÕs useless. You, you canÕt have compassion because you donÕt
have, you donÕt what youÕre being compassionate about. And then thereÕs
this wrong idea that, you know, ÒOh, how, how, I wish I could give him some
peace of mind in this life or, you know, I wish I could teach him to feed himself.Ó
Things like that. ItÕs not, itÕs not that. The lowest level of motivation is to want
him get out of his dirty heart. To want him to change his very being.
-Ø’Ü
Student: When you say itÕs wrong motivation IÕm not sure if (unclear).

What I mean is... I mean the very lowest motivation that compassion can have is
to look at another person and say, Òlike me, he has dirty heaps.Ó And they will,
thereÕs nothing about those five parts to him that are not suffering. ThereÕs
not one atom among those five parts of him which is not suffering. All the time.

Student: And then the motivation to act, engaging bodhichitta, is doing
something which you just said was wrong motivation.

Well what I mean is, no thereÕs...

Student: ThatÕs not a point, thatÕs not a motivation, thatÕs a realization, how
do you...



The definition of {changsen} is {Zobey etc). The definition of {chungsen), which
you will learn, okay? And itÕs, itÕs looking at enlightenment to help those
people get out of their samsara. Not, not to give them some temporary contort
or, you know, I mean...

Student: (unclear) sattva vows and all the things that youÕre saying for
bodhisattva it does state all those kind of ordinary what we think of as
compassion, is things that you should, you must do, itÕs important to do, why
is that...
Student: (unclear) as a (unclear)?

I, I donÕt know? I donÕt think so. But I, I donÕt get into it. ItÕs not the same
{lam} as the {lam} we studied, okay? Obviously. ItÕs just stages to the path.
Steps on the path. Steps of the path! ItÕs just like an instruction manuel. Do this
first, do this second, do this third... ThatÕs all the {rim} means. So thereÕs lots
of {rimbas}. ThereÕs a lot of them. And these are two. Two of the more
famous ones. These are two that weÕre gonna talk about tonight, okay? The
first are call {Delnjaw} and the second is called {Chewamcdogwa}.              Say
{downjaw) (repeat), {downjaw} {repeat}, {chiwa} {repeat}, and {midogwa}
{repeat}, {chiwa} {repeat}. {midogwa}.

Student: These are two {rimbas}?

These are two {rims}, {rimbas}, yeah. These are two of the {rimbas}. To the path,
{lung}. And a lot of people get it mixed up, they donÕt understand it, {rimba}
means a (unclear) and that thereÕs many {rimbas} and theyÕre all part of the
{lung}. And they mis-translate {lung}, really. ThereÕs many, many {rimbas}.

Student: WhatÕs the meaning of a bad word?

This one here? {Lam} means path and {rimba} means step. Step number one,
step number, first you have to this, second you have to do this, third you have to
do this... So it means steps on the path. Each step you have to take.
-¤
Student: Now these are two, these not the first two?

These are the two most famous steps. Well you can say {Shenan etc). WeÕre
just talking about renunciation right now. Okay? {Del} literally means flow in
Tibetan. {Del} means flow. {Delwootaywoot} means slow, go slow. Slow
(laughs), you know? Okay. ItÕs translated as leisure which is not a bad
translation because thatÕs, when things are slow at work you have more leisure.
(laughs)

Student: Leisurely?

Leisure, okay? Leisure {delwa} and {jorpa}. {Jorpa} means, they translate it as
fortune, which is not a bad translation. ItÕs a good translation. So you say
leisure and fortune. Leisure and fortune. ThatÕs one kind of meditation.
Student: They know Richard Geere?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no you are one in a million. I mean you are one in a half,
what, one in a two hundred fifty, one in, more than one in a million. YouÕre
more, youÕre like one in two million, or something. Alright? Here, itÕs
extremely rare. You have a rare opportunity. {Neh} means to find. To find.
And {gah} means difficult. Difficult. So this is a meditation that you do. This
meditation is one of the two {larims}, one of the two steps on the path which is
supposed to remove half of your desire. What, what are the two kinds of desire
you can have?

Student: (unclear)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. That is by the way the definition by the first Dali
Lama of the desire realm. I mean thatÕs mainly why weÕre here and what
weÕre interested in. I mean why weÕre at this level. If you remove that, if
youÕre able to make it less, your mind can reach a different level. Your bodyÕs
still here. And in fact the day that you perceive emptiness directly your mind
will not be (unclear). During that meditation your mind will be on that first level
of (unclear). And it takes that concentration and it takes that distance from
physical desires to, to perceive it. You never will be able to if you donÕt.
Directly. So {downjawnaka). Leisure and fortune are very hard to find. ThatÕs
the very first meditation that removes desire for this life. He divides, Katchay
Pervorka and all the Lamas, they divide your desire into two kinds. One is
where you want the good things in this life. One is where you want the good
things in your next life. People donÕt normally get the second one until theyÕre
about seventy-years old and all their friends have died and then you, I live in a
temple for the last twenty years, thatÕs when you see them come to temple.
You know, on the eighth and on the fifteenth when we do the prayers. ThatÕs
when, thatÕs the people who are coming. They gave up on this life. Not by
renunciation but by force, you know? ThereÕs nothing left. Now theyÕre
starting to get the second one. TheyÕre actually starting to get a new form of
desire which is the hope of something good will happen after they die. TheyÕre,
theyÕre just continuing the desire they had for this life while they have the
energy and the youth to do it, now theyÕre, now theyÕre projecting it onto the
next life. But the attitude is the same. ItÕs the same as wanting food and sex in
this lives and the good things, fame, position, things, okay? TheyÕre just
projecting it now. So you can divide all kinds of desires that we have into those
that are focused on this life and those that are focused on the next life. Kaltchay
Pervoka even says those, those religious old people who walk around in, in
{doksalarak}, walk around the temple there and pray to, to be born in a Buddha
field are, are, theyÕre the same as someone who is trying to become the
president of City Bank, you know? The same. Exactly the same. ItÕs the same
desire. The same motivation. And have the same result.

Student: The first time you said that on this meditation eliminates the half of the
desires and the second time you said it eliminates half of the attachments and...

What I mean is same thing, same thing. I mean...

Student: Is it attachment or desire?    ÔCause canÕt you have desire without
attachment?

Ah, yeah and we can talk about it. But the Tibetan word is desire-attachment.
ItÕs one word, {Duachok}. Ding-ding, the same thing. (laughs)
Okay? It means that, okay? So {downjamayka}, contemplating basically how
precious the time you have is, is the first antidote, and you must meditate on it.
You have to think about how lucky you are, right now. You have all the
circumstances. You, you have a Buddhist class to go to, you, youÕre healthy,
you can think, itÕs not against the law to come here, even the other religions in
this country are tolerant, they say Òokay, you can go.Ó I mean most of them,
nobodies outside, you know, picketing.
›
Student: Not yet.

(laughs) (laughter) (unclear) YouÕre in a very, very rare opportunity. ItÕs very
rare. And, and it will collapse at some point, you know? And the big things that
Lamas always say is that when we studied the {konyur} and {tenyur} which is
like forty-five hundred classics of Buddhism, thereÕs a couple of them which are
only half finished, because the author died. (laughs) And they say Òlook at the
{Konyor},Ó you know? Why does this, it, it ends, I mean the people who carved
the (konyor} were very, very good practitioners. They ended it. They ended the
work halfway through the sentence. ThatÕs when the guy stopped writing. He
died. HeÕs a great Buddhist saint. He wrote a book, a book in the (konyor).
And he died. They leave it like that and they carve it after that point. They leave
it. They say look ÒitÕs the way of all people.Ó So contemplating how lucky you
are. The specific meditation is in the book. Let me see. Do you know which
one?
(silence)

Student: Michael. CanÕt you add just one on to that (unclear).

ItÕs one-o-four and one-o-five, okay? Note, note number one-o-four and note
number one-o-five. In the notes you can find the eight, you donÕt have to
know them for your (unclear). ItÕs just that you should be, you should study
them. And those are the, you get the eight {galwas} and the eight {unclear}. And
one other, one, note one-o-four tells it to you in a negative sense. Okay? So that
the four, the eight {delwas} would be, just to give you an example, Ònot to be
born with a wrong view,Ó such as Ònot believing in morality.Ó I, I can do what
I want, it wonÕt come back to me. YouÕre not born as an animal, youÕre not
born as a spirit, youÕre not born in the hells, youÕre not born in a country
where thereÕs no Buddhism. YouÕre no born in a place which is uncivilized.
The word is {kokal}; barbarian land. Some people leave it at that. But the text,
the text technically say thatÕs where no one is keeping morality. Okay?
•
Student: I heard that thatÕs from (unclear).

Yeah, no, itÕs not, itÕs not, itÕs incorrect. The Tibetan word is Òbarbaric
lands.Ó But what it, but what itÕs always explained

(cut)

Student: ...along with being a pleasure with a (unclear).

Right, right. ThatÕs actually a (unclear).

Student: A vanity. Yeah.

To be born that way. Not to be born as retarded or otherwise handicapped.
And not to be born in a, in a, in a temporary period. Those are the eight
{dowars}.. So you can study them one on (unclear).

Student: Now those are common to everybody in the United States who, you
know, is healthy and so forth, right? Or does that mean that, could you be, if
you didnÕt see dharma, even though my next-door neighbor, itÕs, heard of
(unclear) but doesnÕt even see the value in it or something, could they sort-a,
theyÕre minds sort-a be in that barbarian land or something like that?
No. Barbarian as I said means a land where morality is not considered beneficial.
You might say in this country, although we donÕt always practice morality to
the level that we like, I think this country generally has a pretty high level of
moral sense. We donÕt think that killing is good. We do it but we donÕt think,
weÕre not proud of it, we donÕt think itÕs (unclear). We donÕt think that
adultery is good. We donÕt think that stealing is good. We, we canÕt control
ourselves and we do these things but we, we live in a country where they under,
understand correctly that those things are wrong. Okay. Yeah?

Student: This includes the ten commandments and the (unclear).

Yeah, sure. ThereÕs a teaching which says that those, that activity, teaching the
ten commandments is the activity of Buddhahood. {Sangaygeto}. WeÕll study
it. Okay? WeÕll study it. Okay? Okay, the second thought that prevents
attachment to this life, by the way how would being aware of how lucky you are
prevent you from being attached to this life?

Student: Does it just keep you from wasting time?

Yeah. ThatÕs the main thing. Okay?

(cut)

ars are very short and I donÕt know how long this, ah, classes will last ?Ó
Maybe the guy will die. Maybe the apartment will blow up (laughs), you know
stuff like that. No itÕs very fragile, everything is very fragile. You have to grab
it while you can. And then that, that will lead you not to be attached to other
things. YouÕll just have some other things, and it wonÕt be like a big struggle.
If you meditate on it with a clear mind, very clean, nice, healthy thoughts you
say, Òokay, look, I got a chance to get rid of this, dirty heaps and thatÕs whatÕs
going to do it for me. And so I just choose to do that.Ó And, and the desired
result is yeah, okay, maybe I, youÕre not quite as successful as you could of
been, okay? Ah, itÕs a, itÕs, it is a side result. But you donÕt, you just donÕt
think about it. And itÕs not like you go and you know, Rinpoche, my Lama, is
always saying ÒHere are these foolish students who after they have heard this
teaching they sold everything, they went out in the forest and after two weeks
they got hungry and called their (unclear) (laughter) to try to get their job back,
you know? (laughs) (laughter) No, have a job, have a decent job, you know,
spend what you have to spend, time there, but keep your distance, you know,
and, and be aware that your time is very, very precious. DonÕt waste it on the
magazine. DonÕt waste it on the New York Times. (laughs) DonÕt waste it on
the tv, okay? The, the, the healthy, clear, youthful energy time is, is very, very
brief.




Student: After cookies. (laughter)

Sounds like a good meditation. (laughter)

Student: Is there some design behind this or is it a bad (unclear), like, you know,
do you take refuge before you take the class or youÕre not supposed to do that?

No. Urah. I just get coy. Please, have some.

(unclear)

(cut)

Yeah. And the last one is to think that things have their own nature when they
donÕt. You assume, itÕs, itÕs inherent in your very being that you assume that
things have their own nature. A chair is a chair. A chair could only be a chair.
And thatÕs not true.              And weÕll get into that.           Okay. So
{cheweymitakanetinose}, John you did pretty good on why the first one
prevented attachment to this life, why does the second one?          How does
{chewymitakva} prevent attachment to this life?
3
Student: Because there is no self existent pleasure or...

No. This one is the meditation on death.

Student: Oh. If youÕre gonna die and you donÕt know when...

Yes. (laughs) I mean, I mean itÕs just, itÕs almost, you know when you
meditate a lot, and then youÕll get, one day youÕll just get up and youÕll say,
ÒUh, itÕs crazy what people do. ItÕs totally crazy.Ó Everyone dies, everyone
dies. You know every, everyone dies. And, and my boss at work is, you know,
ÒAre you crazy. You donÕt want this position?Ó You know ÒWhat, whatÕs
wrong with you?Ó You know, and I look at him and him and say ÒWhatÕs
wrong with you?Ó you know? (laughter) I didnÕt say that. I didnÕt say that.
ÒBut are you crazy?Ó you know? ÒYouÕre gonna die.Ó This whole thing, the
minute you die it will have absolutely, positively, a thousand percent not one
sliver of meaning to you. You know? ItÕs, itÕll be like a dream that you woke
up from and itÕll have no meaning at all to you. Be no benefit to you, no
nothing to you. And, and you could die this afternoon. I, I often have this desire
to hold his nose for (laughter), just hold this nose and not let him not breath for a
few seconds. Then it would let him think I was going to kill him. And then let
go and say, you know thatÕs, itÕs like a minutes breath that prevents you, itÕs
just those, itÕs two or three minutes of breathing that keeps you from that.
ÒAre you crazy?Ó You know youÕre making these plans, a quarter a billion
dollars here, you know, ÒYou, youÕre crazy!Ó You know? So, yeah, the, you
wonÕt, and it doesnÕt mean again, it does not mean that you quite you job and
you donÕt do anything and, you know, the Dali Lama had his {pathalthalus} and
he had thousand of servants but he didnÕt, but he had perfect meditation at
those things.
r sisters and your brother they each have a leg and theyÕre crying and theyÕre
holding onto your arm and holding onto your leg... you go.Ó

Student: And nobody wants to go with you either. (laughs) (laughter)

As much as they worry or something, you go by yourself

Student: (unclear) suicide (unclear).

Student: I guess. But even that, they donÕt go by themselves they think that...

Only the goodness of your (unclear). And weÕll talk about why thatÕs true.
ItÕs an understanding of emptiness. Ah, really allows you to understand why
only goodness can help you after that. ItÕs all tied up with the emptiness.

Student: So are both these meditations on death and difficulty of this good
fortune? These are both for the first half of the desires?

Yeah, yeah. They prevent desires for these lives. You didnÕt even, next week
when we talk about desires for future lives, which we didnÕt even get to yet. I
mean we donÕt have desire for future lives. If you happen to reach that stage
(laughs) of believing in a future life at some point...

Student: Why would you have the desire for one?
Yes...

Student: You know, Michael, you mentioned before about the old people going
to the temple, praying for a good future life. It would be sanity to go to the
temple to pray for these good leisure and fortune conditions in a future life to
continue your studies. Would it not? That wouldnÕt be desire...

ThereÕs a famous joke (unclear). ThereÕs a famous joke like that. I forget what
it is. ItÕs in scripture, but ah... ItÕs an (unclear), I forget how it goes.

Student: You donÕt have it in the computer? (laughter)

(unclear)

Student: Under joke. Under wit.

But itÕs like...

Student: Who wrote the joke and maybe that will...

It like you go to the Jewel Islands, itÕs a famous story, you know Jewel Island
was probably Sri Lanka (unclear) we know it really is a jewel island. We, every
kind of jewel comes there. It just, geo, geologically something else. ThereÕs
jewels all over the place. And they used to take ships across the straights and it,
dangerous. And they would get the jewels and come back. So, they say itÕs like
going to the Jewel Island, you get there, thereÕs jewels laying all over the
ground and you say, ÒGod, I hope that next time I get here IÕll take the
jewels,Ó you know? ÒI really hope that next time I come IÕll take jewels,Ó you
know. (laughter) And theyÕre stepping on and theyÕre all over the place and
theyÕre thinking about ÒOh, next time I hope I pick them up,Ó you know. Ah,
they say itÕs crazy. Okay.

Student: No, I meant for people who were practicing already that would want to
continue that. Not for people who were putting it off.

You have to know the...

(silence)
Okay please say it. {Neydun} {repeat}, {manyea} {repeat}. {Daydun} {repeat},
{Medae} {repeat}. (Nyendun} {repeat}, {minyen} {repeat}, {durmae} {repeat}.
{Minyen}, I donÕt know whatÕs wrong (unclear).

(silence)

You, you must know whatÕs on this board, okay? Very, very good karma.
Very, very important. Say {jigden} {repeat}, {tilyea} {repeat}, {jigden} {repeat},
{tilyea} {repeat}. (Jigden tilyea} {repeat}. {Jigden tilyea} {repeat}. Very, very
famous, okay? {jigden} means the world. The world. {Jigden} means the world.
{Chau} means dharma, {gay} means eight. Eight.

Student: Eight worldly dharmas.

The eight worldly dharmas, okay? I prefer to call them Òthe eight worldly
thoughts.Ó You know sometimes {chau} doesnÕt mean obviously dharma
teaching. These are bad things. And, and normally {chau}, dharma just means
thing. Ah, (unclear), you know one of those eight things that youÕre not
supposed to think about. The eight worldly thoughts. (unclear)

Student: Which one is the eight? {Dekay}?

Yeah. And you should know that, okay? {Jeekden} is world. {Chau} is, IÕm
translating itÕs thought, itÕs dharma, okay? And (gay} means eight. And you
should know that. The first {jigdenchiga} is {nyen}. Getting something. Getting,
getting what you hope to get... a job. I had a lady call me up last night for two
hours or something, what kind of prayers like can you get great charm.
(laughter) (laughs) {Ney} okay, getting something. Getting. {Manyea}, maÕs
negitive right? So what does {manyea} mean?

Student: Getting and not getting it.

Getting and not getting.

Student: WhatÕs the (donwee}?

{Don} means Òand.Ó Okay, so getting and not getting. By the way these eight,
IÕm quoting directly from a verse by {Rigargena}, okay? He lived seventeen-
hundred years ago. And this is his advice to a king. {Rigargena}.
Student: HeÕs not quoting the eight worldly dharmas that the Buddhas spoke
of?

Of course. But this verse is common the denominator.

Student: The way itÕs explained?

Yeah. Okay? (Da-ay}. {Day} means to feel good.          {Dung} means Òand.Ó
(Meedae} means what? Not feeling good. Feeling bad. Okay? (laughs) Feeling
good and feeling bad. Getting something and not getting it. Feeling good and,
um, feeling bad. {Nyen} means being well known, getting well known. Lots of
people know you. Well known, {nyen}. Famous, well known. I donÕt think it
has to be as strong as fame, you know? I mean, you and I, I donÕt think we
hope for fame, itÕs too late right? (laughter) MadonnaÕs got fame and weÕre
not gonna get that. But-a, you know, just that you know, that people know
ÒOh, Meakyo, oh man, yeah.Ó (laughs) (laughter) Ever hear that guy sold that
painting for forty-thousand dollars at that show on thirty-ninth street? Okay.
{Nyen-da-meenyen}. {Meenyen} means not getting pain. Not having people,
not being well known. You go to the Port Authority and no one recognizes you.
(laughs) (laughter) (unclear)

Student: DanteÕs Inferno.

(silence)

{Da} means having people say nice things to you. Okay. ÒAh, youÕre so smart
(unclear).Ó (laughter)

Student: Hearing flattery is that what you mean?

ItÕs not just, itÕs not the word for flattery. Okay? ThereÕs a different word for
flattery.

Student: Hearing good sounds or good words or...

Having people say nice things about you. People praising you, ÒGood job, Tom
Karlen.Ó

Student: Getting praise...
ÒYou really did a good job on that computer network...Ó And {MaeÕs} the
opposite. ÒYou stupid head, I told you two weeks ago you were supposed to
have that done. Still hasnÕt been done.Ó Saying, saying something bad to you,
{Mae}. {Mae} means to say something bad to you. {Du} means to say something
good to you. {Mae} means to say something bad to you. Okay.
      §
Student: Is this also from a letter to a friend?

This is the verse from... I mean this... I talked about it...

Student: It is the verse thatÕs, yeah... but itÕs not from the, itÕs not a footnote,
just continues, says the next verse is from (unclear).

(silence)

YouÕre suppose to avoid these eight. Like the plague. They are... attachment to
this life. If you did not have attachment to this life these eight wouldnÕt happen
to you. Did I just say a true statement?

Student: Wait a minute. Avoid them or just...

Wait, wait, let somebody else talk about them. Ah, Laura... What-a you think?
Can you observe these eight? And would that make you a good person?

Student: Can you avoid them?

And would it stop your attachment to this life? Could, can you avoid these
eight? Can you avoid getting things and not getting things? Can you avoid
feeling good or feeling bad? Can you avoid having people, you know, having,
being well known and not being well known.

Student: If you get something without attachment to it I guess itÕs okay, Ôcause
you have to stay alive.

Right. The point is that you canÕt avoid this eight conditions. That the point is
not to avoid these eight conditions. They occur. They will happen to you. You
never will be able to avoid them. I mean, until you practice this really good,
okay? (laughs) Ah, they will happen to you. They do, they will happen to you.
Either youÕll get what you hope for or you wonÕt get it. Either youÕll be
feeling good or you wonÕt be feeling good. Either people will, youÕll get well
know around your office say, or you wonÕt be well known, lets say. And either
youÕll be, people will say nice few things to you all day or your boss Ôill yell at
you, which it happened to ÿ

Student: Equanimity.

It is a sign of attachment for this life that you get upset or happy about, upset by
the second pair, second member of every pair and happy at the first member of
every pair. And as long as you are, if you want to know the litmus test, you
know, what is the point at which you donÕt have renunciation yet, itÕs where
you care about any of this. Okay? And theyÕre hard. When you donÕt feel
well. When youÕre sick. I, I had a really bad headache Saturday, I was throwing
up, I mean, tell me not to feel bad about throwing up? (laughs) Tell me not to
feel bad about having a splitting headache, you know? ItÕs very difficult. Ah,
not too get upset when you donÕt feel well. And not to get too high when
youÕre feeling really great. Okay? ItÕs just attachment to this life.
“Ø
Student: But walt a minute it doesnÕt seem to me thatÕs necessarily equivalent
to renunciation.

Well no, IÕm saying that when you have reached renunciation you wonÕt have
these, the eight attitudes about those eight things. And itÕs a test of your
renunciation. You know, and, and you see it, you know, you see the, my Lalam
likes to watch the New york Mets, on tv. (laughter) And (laughs) this guy starts
out, you know, the guy strikes out and you see his face heÕs walking down to
his seat (laughter) (unclear). And then the next time he gets up he hits a home
run, you know, and heÕs like (laughter). And, itÕs crazy, itÕs stupid, you know,
itÕs insane. Okay, sometimes you hit a home run and sometimes you wonÕt,
you know? And to get all, the look in the face tells you, in ClintonÕs face, in
BushÕs face, on, on the night of the election. After the results were out. ThatÕs
{chigtin}, I mean Lamas sit around and they see those on tv and they say
{Jiktenchigay, Jikenchigay}, you know, {Jiktenjemay), eight dharmas. Look,
look, hereÕs the eight dharmas on these two guysÕ face, you know. On these
two faces. ClintonÕs is just as bad as BushÕs. You know? To be that happy
about meaningless thing of this life and to be that sad about a meaningless thing
of this life is just, itÕs not, you donÕt have renunciation.

Student: If you become unattached but it means a point you gain a lot of
freedom like this, no? (unclear) feelings and many things, values that youÕll
carry out.
Well I think, yeah, that it, that it, you would be very happy. YouÕd be much
happier, you know? And then you canÕt avoid them and they, it, and how old
do you have to be before you finally figure it out? You know? With forty, IÕm
forty, I still get upset when someone yells at me, you know? And I still get
happy when the boss is ÒOh, youÕre so smart,Ó you know? And I go tell
people ÒOh, heÕs so (unclear).Ó And then the next day (laughs) he says
ÒYouÕre so stupid.Ó And IÕm sorry but I run and tell everybody ÒOh he,
heÕs crazy. He thinks IÕm stupid,Ó you know? And I get upset. I still do. And
how many years have to go by, you know? How many decades have to go by
before you figure out this, itÕs gonna keep being like that. And, itÕll always be
like that. And...

ItÕs to be aware. We call (shaeshe). {Shaeshe} means, you know you heard
them tonight, so the process starts. Already you heard them before. But now
you start meditating on them. You start watching them. You say ÒSo what
does it mean that I shouldnÕt feel good about feeling good?Ó IsnÕt that sort of
contradictory? Ah, you know? And by the way itÕs not, I mean I, my, I tell you
that ah, the goal of Buddhum is to feel, Buddhism is to feel (laughs) good. But in
a, in a totally high ecstasy that will never change. And this is not that.

Student: So is the idea is that this is the essence of duality and weÕre always
trying to be aware of the...

Not like that. No. ThatÕs not, the duality that means, the absence of which is
emptiness is not, not, not like that. ThatÕs not what the {duarmy) means and
weÕll get there. b. Pavidalogica, fourth year, end of the first chapter (laughs)...
Yeah?

Student: Is this that idea of the Òmiddle way?Ó

Student: (unclear)

(Korwalk}. Yeah. ItÕs precisely the meaning of {korwalk}. The natural reaction,
these four, eight, six, four and two...

Student: When you consider the vows, like the bodhisattva vows, there is the
first precept that takes care of the fact that (unclear).

Yeah. So these four, the natural reaction to the four negative ones, is to, to hurt
the person back. ThatÕs exactly what will hurt him back. When you donÕt,
when you donÕt get what you want, you go after, you fight for it. When you
donÕt feel well youÕre irritable and cross and you, you say bad things to
people. When you didnÕt get enough sleep for example. When, when the girl
at the reception desk (laughs) doesnÕt know you. You, you make sure she finds
out. And when youÕre, when youÕre friend at work says something bad about
you, you make sure everyone knows how bad he is. And those are exactly the
causes that will make him occur again in your future. So thatÕs what, thatÕs
what generates a circle. The natural reaction is exactly what causes it to occur
again and then what will happen? Then what will happen?
        _¤
Student: (unclear) (laughter)

No, I mean it will happen again and then what will you do? You do it again and
what happens? You know what i mean. ThatÕs a {korwalk}. ThatÕs exactly...

Student: You could-a just given her your (laughter), quietly put your business
card in front of her, Michael, you know?

Student: But you donÕt mean to say to avoid these things by losing the
distinction between good and bad, you still see them as good and bad but you
just donÕt react in a bad way. Right?
        œ-
WeÕre getting there. WeÕre getting there. WeÕre getting there. Now, how do
you react to the first four? How do you react to the first four? You get what
youÕre, you get, attraction. And youÕre happy. Okay? And you feel good and
you say ÒOh, finally IÕve found the perfect balance of diet and exercise, you
know? (laughter) Which and, which is this thing that doesnÕt really exist but
everyoneÕs trying to get it, you know? And {yehn}, you know, finally people
figured out who I am, I saw my name in the newspaper today. And then {tuh},
you know, finally my boss said ÒYou know really, youÕre really the best
worker here.Ó So well finally he realized it, you know, ah, whatÕs the natural
reaction there? One you get attached to it. You get attached to it.
-¹
+'
Student: But your motive should be not to be too excited about it, just to keep
cool...

Yeah, all your doing is youÕre just getting a natural result of something you did
good before. Probably not related to what heÕs praising you for. You know?
You, you got him some profit because he did something good before and
because you did something good before has nothing to do with the great lie that
you told and the contract you struck that screwed the other guy. Ah, and then
youÕll go and do it again and, and youÕll just get a bad result. You wonÕt,
wonÕt, wonÕt get it again. And thatÕs the principle. Okay? Eight worldly
dharmas. If you meditate on them, you think about, especially the hardest one
to me is a, when IÕm not feeling well I really think I have some special rights,
you know? Or, or that I have a reason to not be happy. But as you begin to
understand emptiness more, even when your bodyÕs hurting, and even when
youÕre very tired, if you understand that something is morally correct youÕll
do it. Despite the body. YouÕll be able to avoid them. Yeah?

Start the fight. Start the struggle. Okay, ah, IÕm going to hand out some
homework. And then weÕll do a dedication, alright?

(silence)

Yes?

Student: These are natural but the typical reaction to them is wrong. Not that
they are wrong. If it happened to the Buddha, i mean people hated the Buddha,
wanted to kill him, right?

I didnÕt say that the position (unclear) dharma is feeling about (unclear).

Student: No you said these are wrong, what do you mean is the typical reaction
to them is wrong. They, theyÕre just natural, they happen all the time.

Does it happen to you?

Student: What do you mean when you say these are wrong?                 You mean all
eight?

ThatÕs in another list of, thatÕs in a list of suffering. That Ôill come...

(unclear)
I didnÕt say that. The Mongolians they (unclear) more coverage.

Student: (unclear)

No. DonÕt learn all the bad words. People only, always learn the profanity first.
(laughter) You know you meet...

Student: Is it really profanity or it just...

No, itÕs just a little bit in...

Student: ItÕs the opposite of what people expect, right?

ItÕs like a joke.

Student: ÒShut your trap,Ó or something like that?

Naw, itÕs not that. Not, not a good thing to learn. Now youÕll all remember it.
Okay, please say {sachay} {repeat}, {nyenady} {repeat}, {kundor} {repeat}, {gyen}
{repeat}, {yanyey} {repeat}, {yangdo} {repeat}, {nenbandie} {repeat}, {korewa}
{repeat}, {nyen} {repeat}, okay. Ah, {kora} means what?

Student: I thought it was the three types of suffering?

Not defined them right, okay? WeÕll define it right now, okay? Ah, {sachtay}
means impure. Impure. {Sach} means literally a stain, you know, an impurity.
{Sachay} means impure. {Nearlin} is a very difficult word. It means taking on.
Taking on which you took on.

(silence)

{Nierleykepoulbo}. {Poulbo} means heaps. YouÕve heard of the five heaps.
TheyÕre five parts of you. There are five parts to your being. They, they range
from your physical parts, fingers, head, up to your mental part, your very
awareness. These are the five parts of the person. They are called heaves
because {Hungma etc.), first chapter of the b. {Avaldonakrishna}. TheyÕre called
heaves because theyÕre piles of stuff. You know like your, your physical body
is got your ears, eyes, nose, thatÕs why theyÕre called heaves. ÔCause in
Tibetan it sounds as strange as it does in English to call the parts of a person Òhis
heaves.Ó Each part is called a heave in the sense of a big bunch of stuff. So like
your, your mental, your awareness heave, the last one, the {ditvan} is called a
heave because you have six consciousness. Six different kinds of consciousness.

Student: (unclear) the things that you take on by your

Yeah. Which is {tuklus}. {Tuklus} take on, take on (unclear) theyÕre not forced
to. They donÕt have too. They do it by choice. And those, Rinpoches, those
Dali Lamas, like Dali Lama, he doesnÕt (unclear).

Student: ThatÕs a bit confusing because, do you mean to say that itÕs possible to
be in a state where you cannot be born as it were, whether you want to or not?
Or does that mean that everything has to be, you know, born one way or
another. The difference is, is that either you control it or you have no control.

Student: My next question would be then the nature of the heaps, the impure
condition is that some sort of amorality that they really exist in a pure way and
that temporarily until you get them clean...

No. No, no. ItÕs not like that. ItÕs not like theyÕre pure and they have some
covering over them, you wipe up the covering and your Buddha nature shines
forward. No, not like that.

Student: So then what you mean is thereÕs heaps, thereÕs either pure ones or
impure ones and thatÕs it. But there are always heaps.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You gotta have them. Buddha has a body, Buddha has a
mind, Buddha has all those feelings.

Student: ItÕs impossible to be without heaps. ItÕs either you are with pure ones
or impure ones. ItÕs impossible to be without birth or even with force forms or
choose ones.

A little bit (unclear) on the second one.

Student: What is liberation? I felt there was a way in which things didnÕt work
re-born.
No I, I donÕt quite, I mean I wouldnÕt say re-born the way you said it , I mean
Arbidharmiaists say it close to nothing. But, but it, the way in which you will
take {adumyrikya} at that point, right, a form in which you assure yourself on
birth is totally different thing. I mean, itÕs like and, itÕs like a reflection in a
mirror. The Buddha is his, in his paradise, someone on earth is ready and
suddenly heÕs there. He doesnÕt have to think. He also doesnÕt have to take a
birth there. YouÕll study in the b. Arbidharmia thereÕs four ways to take birth.
One of them is just to show up there. Okay? (unclear) everything. We have it.
We, weÕll discuss it. We will go deep into the five heaps. That Ôill be in the b.
Arbidharmia. Very interesting.

Student: Its political life force like a movie does not seem that is was stronger at
the beginning. It was a big search, right?

According to the Mahayanian, according to the teachings you, we are studying,
and youÕll see both presentations in this five years, it was all a big show.

Student: Rinpoche calls it Òthe movie.Ó

For our benefit.

Student: He calls it Òthe movie movie.Ó The display that Sakymuti put on from
when he was born till he started teaching. That he became a Buddha.

Student: Qualifying pain with impure. Is there pure pain?

You wonÕt be forced after that to take on this kind of body and this kind of
dirty mind. Okay? You wonÕt have to anymore.

Student: Well what does (unclear) mean? Is that just...

ItÕs always inserted here {layumilwalkly}. He just made it shorter. ItÕs always
inserted here.

Student: So itÕs implicit (unclear).

Student: It means that your attention towards, they say this is the desire realm,
right, for food and sex dependence, so you will not reincarnate seeing your
father and mother (unclear).
Yeah, well that the lowest way to, to, to to, take a birth. Which is a long story.
All of these are long stories (laughs).

Student: A state of mind thatÕs...

Student: Occupied for the purpose of impure thoughts.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What keeps you in yourself (laughs). Okay? I mean people
say Òlets escape from samsara.Ó ÒAre you still in samsara?Ó I am samsara!
You see thatÕs the trick. ItÕs not in some place. And, and youÕll always hear
people, very few people understand what it is clearly. ItÕs not like youÕll leave
this, New York City, you know? Escaping from samsara is to chang your very
nature. You are samsara. Your continued existence in this form is, is, is the truth
of suffering. It, it is samsara. ThatÕs what you try to escape from. Try to escape
from yourself, into (unclear). (laughter) {Lhair}, say {lhair} {repeat}, {yin}
{repeat}, {ye} (repeat). {ching} repeat}. What does {lay} mean? IÕll give you the
sanskrit word. karma, okay?

Student: Is that the essence of karma?

It is the definition of karma. Anytime you, you think, itÕs karma. Anytime
your mind moves itÕs karma. {Laymesonmore} (unclear). {Laymesonmore
dondaychen}. {Dongdaychen} means Òand the, and the deeds of speech and
body which can motivate.Ó

Student: DoesnÕt it also include the notion of result, I mean isnÕt it implied
results follow from...

Yeah. ItÕs a different word. Oh yeah, no, furthers the driver and it moves your
mouth and your body. But thought is the main cause.

Student: (unclear)

Mind-ilation or whatever (laughs) (unclear). ItÕs defined as...

Student: Yeah, but, if you can get through (unclear).

{Nyn}, {nyn} stands for {yomo}. {Yomo} means Òbad though.Ó Bad thought.

Student: Which words?
{Nynda}. Bad thought. For example JoeÕs, for example Hank, for example
ignorance. Those are all {nmew}. {Ki} means by. (Ching} means chained.
Chained. WhatÕs the PLA in Tibetan? WhatÕs, what is PLA?

Student: Palestinian Liberation Army?

PeopleÕs liberation Army, okay? ItÕs {chingumya}. okay? They are the people
who free the {cheats}. ThatÕs their name in Tibetan. I mean when you read
propaganda in Tibetan itÕs {chigdumaya}. This {ching} means to be chained.
And the PeopleÕs Liberation Army is a {chingdope} which means break the
chains. Okay? {Laynegeching}. What keeps you in samsara, which means what
keeps you...
 Òcan I have your eyeball,Ó and they, they pull their eyeball out of their head
and give it too you. They, it, the book says ÒdonÕt do, youÕre not ready. Give
vegetables,Ó okay? So itÕs a, itÕs something preparatory, okay? (laughs)

Student: So does a person get tremendous bad karma for causing a bodhisattva
for pulling their eyeball out of their head? Therefore why would the bodhisattva
give somebody somebody such bad karma?

Eye-ya.. Okay!

Student: Or should we be asking everybody for their eyeball?

All right... (laughs) (unclear).

(silence)

Nagargenay gave his head to a young man (unclear).             YouÕre studying...
whatÕs the book youÕre studying?

Student: (unclear)

Oh yeah. In Tibetan you remember it? {Automnosence}, okay. The three
principle paths. The three principle paths. And in that case we made a big deal
about ÒpathÓ meaning what? Meaning what?

Student: Process... More of a result then anything else. A realization, a {dukba}.
A, a, a, a mental attitude. But, and this book is a very, very, is the ultimate
distillation. Is the ultimate essence of those books call {Larim}, Okay? {Larim}.
And {Larim} means steps of the path. {Rim} means steps, {la} means path. Steps
along the path. Okay? So here that path is that concept. It is that way to
Buddhahood. {Larim}. The stages of the path... and itÕs specific steps. Specific
steps. ItÕs just steps on the path. Do this first, do this second, itÕs like an
instruction manuel for a lawn mower... Okay? (laughs)
„
Student: (unclear) slowly, leisurely, (unclear).

It doesnÕt exist anymore. ItÕs neither (unclear). I get in fights with students
about that.

Student: Take your choice, right?

You really take your choice. And you see it both ways in...

(silence)

So {dongon} meaning leisure and fortune that you have. TheyÕre listed in the
book. ThereÕs eight of each . But basically you can, you can guess what they
are. You were born as a human being. You have eyes and ears. You can hear
everything. YouÕre intelligent. Buddhism takes intelligence. You have to be
intelligence. You have to be intelligent. You have to have to be able, to have
some way to distinguish between good and bad. You have to have someway to
think. You have to understand emptiness and your raw understanding of
emptiness, your intellectual understanding of emptiness is gonna have to
overcome your, your instincts that you have always had for aeons, okay? And
intellectual understanding eventually, from this class, supposedly, will have to
overcome your instincts. Your instinct to hurt someone bad when they hurt
you. Your instincts to say something bad when they say something to you. The,
the normal instincts that people even accept, which are considered moral and
legal, youÕre gonna have to overcome them through raw intelligence. So you
have to have {dalchaw}, you have you have good brain. You have to be born in
a place where Buddhism exists. You have, thereÕs, this, like, I donÕt know, two
hundred million people in this country never heard much of about (unclear) at
all, and never will. They donÕt have {dalchaw}.



Student: You mean theyÕre doing it without bodhichitta?
TheyÕre just doing it because they, theyÕre, theyÕre the same as somebody
wanting a Jaguar.

Student: If lots done without bodhichitta?

Of course, of course. {Kenjamaka}.

Student: So to have that removes this for this life?

This is one of the two {larims) that removes your attachment to this life. The
stage you want to get to, renunciation, will be a state in which you really,
thereÕs nothing here for you. You really donÕt want anything here, okay? You
just, you know, disgust is a little strong, but you can just, theyÕll, youÕll reach a
stage where you just say thereÕs nothing, if someone gave you all day and a
million dollars in New York you wouldnÕt know what to do with it. ThereÕs
nothing you want here, okay? You know imagine that? If someone gave you a
lot of money and said Òokay, here you got a shopping spree today.Ó The guy
gives, Òanything left at six oÕclock you have to give back to me,Ó and then you
go out in the street and you say ÒthereÕs nothing I want. ThereÕs nothing
beneficial here for me.Ó

Student: (unclear)

Yeah, which brings us to... the last subject tonight.

Student: Well you could be sitting in the cave with absolutely nothing and be
worse then that if you thought this is...

Right and (unclear) says that in the book.       He talks a lot about the most
dangerous desire for possessions of all, of all which is a desire for reputation.
Fame.

Student: So whatÕs important?.

Student: The last thing that you said, when we die, which is inevitable, you
donÕt know when youÕre going to die (unclear).



No. I mean this is a middle way but itÕs not what the Òmiddle wayÓ means.
ThatÕs a different subject. It just means, you know, watch yourself, the attitudes
that you have about these things. And, and the ignorant reaction is, when
someone hurts you, when someone talks, says something bad to you, or when
you walk in the office and the girl in the reception wonÕt let you in because she
never heard of your name and youÕve been working there for twelve years.
(laughter) And, you know, not feeling good, but, that happened to me the other
day. (laughs) Not feeling good, okay, not just, you know, hurting, youÕre not
well you got a headache, youÕre tired, and, and not, you know, not ah, getting
what you want, basically they come from your past deeds. Every, every atom of
your life comes from your past deeds. And, and the natural reaction is what?
You know you, I got the girl on trouble, you know... (laughs). I made her, made
her boss figure out, you know, I told her boss ÒIÕm - vice - president...Ó
{laughter} (unclear). And then {ninyen} means, you know, somebody says
something bad to you and just you go home and you think, you meditate on
what youÕre gonna say tomorrow. You meditate on it. You do. ThatÕs
analytical meditation. ItÕs {jaygung}.

Student: Is that the point of this? I mean what are we, awareness to what end?

Yeah, no, itÕs (unclear) good itÕs there. Yeah, {mea}, somebody says something
bad to you. The point is that later you will, when you understand emptiness and
karma, when you study those two subjects in depth, which we will, karma
comes next week, emptiness comes weeks four and five, ah, you will see why
the natural reaction only perpetuates what you were trying to avoid, okay? The
natural reaction to someone speaking something, saying something bad to you,
ÒyouÕre stupid,Ó is that you go and you tell your friends, you go out to lunch
with your friends, that we do, thatÕs what we do at lunch, you know? ÒAnd
this guy heÕs so stupid, today he was saying bad things about me,Ó you know?
ÒHe doesnÕt understand me,Ó you know. We spend our lunch time together,
you know? What, thatÕs the natural reaction, itÕs the natural reaction...
(unclear) The natural reaction is precisely, karmically, the cause which will make
that thing happen to you again. And thatÕs why samsara is called what?

Student: So is the purpose then of being mindful of the eight worldly dharmas to
break the attachment to (unclear)? Trying to get to what the ultimate purpose
is?

Yeah. Ultimately you must study emptiness to break it. But they present it at
this point just so you start getting in the habit of struggling against them. You
know? You donÕt have the equipment yet to nuclear blast them. Which you
will. You will get. But all you have now is, is the, someone telling you these are
wrong and you have to start the, start the struggle. Start the fight.

Student: Plutonium still low grade here. (laughs) (laughter)

Student: But these are skandas.

Yeah. In sanskrit itÕs skanda. And itÕs a strange word in all three languages, to
say, ÒOh, how your heaps doing today?Ó You know? (laughs).

Student: (unclear) ammagates?

Yeah. They call it ammagates. ThatÕs okay itÕs kind of long word to me. The
word in Tibetan is...

Student: (unclear) constantly in all the books.

Yeah. ItÕs {hunda}, itÕs heave, itÕs pile. {Hun} means, you know the, thereÕs a
famous {hun} in Tibetan, you know? WhatÕs {dayvou}?

Student: (unclear)

Student: And they said while youÕre on that condition fill you [tuper] bag up
and then you can go on retreat after that.

And Lama Yeshe, very wise, very, very wise, he said ÒDoes that mean that you
struggle through rush hour traffic and you get home and you start meditating?Ó
No. It wonÕt work. You know? He said it very beautifully, he said, you know
ÒGo lay down, relax from work for a half hour, and just think about helping
other people.Ó ThatÕs fine. It doesnÕt mean you have to go home and you
bust your brains and you fall asleep meditating, you know? (laughs) Just go
home. DonÕt waste your time. Go home, relax, get the easy chair, get an ice
tea, you know, get some cookies and, ah, just think good thoughts, you know?
Think about how youÕre gonna help people.

(silence)

In colloquial Tibetan it means work. {Chowegakarchega} You know?

Student: Is it like action? Also?
Yeah. It means any... thereÕs a famous line in the, the fourth chapter of the b.
Arbidharmakosha starts out {Laylay etc.}. It means karma, itÕs defined in the b.
Arbidharmakosha, which is where we will study karma when we get to the
fourth year. WeÕll study the fourth chapter of the b. Arbidharmia. This is like a
huge chapter on Karma. Everything you want to know about karma. And it
says {laymesymbol}. {Laymesymbol} means karma is the movement of the
mind.

Student: But these are skandas.

Yeah. In sanskrit itÕs skanda. And itÕs a strange word in all three languages, to
say, ÒOh, how your heaps doing today?Ó You know? (laughs).

Student: (unclear) [ammagates]?

Yeah. They call it [ammagates]. ThatÕs okay itÕs kind of long word to me. The
word in Tibetan is...

Student: (unclear) constantly in all the books.

Yeah. ItÕs {hunda}, itÕs heave, itÕs pile. {Hun} means, you know the, thereÕs a
famous {hun} in Tibetan, you know? WhatÕs {dayvou}?

Student: (unclear)

Student: But these are skandas.

Yeah. In sanskrit itÕs skanda. And itÕs a strange word in all three languages, to
say, ÒOh, how your heaps doing today?Ó You know? (laughs).

Student: (unclear) aggregates?

Yeah. They call it aggregates. ThatÕs okay itÕs kind of long word to me. The
word in Tibetan is...

Student: (unclear) constantly in all the books.

Yeah. ItÕs {hunda}, itÕs heave, itÕs pile. {Hun} means, you know the, thereÕs a
famous {hun} in Tibetan, you know? WhatÕs {dayvou}?
Student: (unclear)
930726-1.aaa

ACI Course I,