ACI 11 «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы, часть II», занятие 3

Class Three: Contemplations on the Perfection of Patience, Part Three
July 17, 97
Geshe Michael Roach
transcrbied by: Amber Moore

There are certain things that are like necessities for human beings, I think, and
one is like food, Arizona iced tea [laughter]. Things like that you know. I mean
those are obvious necessities you know, after you go for about a day or two
days without them, then you start to feel the need for them. And then think that
the motivation behind bodhichitta, the motivation behind that kind of human
compassion is sort of a human need, and you know, I've been recently in Russia
and in China, and in Russia, they used to have religion and then it got stomped
out, and then it got replaced by communist morality, which is pretty strict. And
then recently, I was there, in ninety, and I've been going every year since then,
or a couple times a year, and then we have monks working there, and it's very
noticeable that people are starving for something. You know like they have
enough to eat. Like in nineteen ninety, they didn't have enough to eat in St.
Petersburg. Now you can get anything you need to eat, but now people, they,
they have some kind of other hunger and you can really see it. You can really
feel it. You walk around with robes on or something and at least twenty people
stop you, and start asking you because they don't have anything. You know,
like Communist morality is gone. Whatever they had before that is gone. And
people are like starving, and it's very noticeable. In this country there is like
people doing semi spiritual practices or something like that, I mean we have
something.     We have churches and temples and things like that.           In St.
Petersburg there is like nothing to go to, and when they see a monk they like
mob me, and it's like really strange. And like in the subway, everyone is reading
like every kind of imaginable new age spiritual book and people are starving, its
very interesting. And then you go to China and it's the same thing. There are all
these underground presses that we are working with in China. In, in China, not
in Tibet. And they are cranking out like truckloads of Buddhisttexts everyday
and like sneaking them around. I don't know, there is like six of them going.
They produce, I don't know, like five hundred thousand books a month in China
and they just go because people need something. And I think that the capacity to
love people and the capacity to have compassion is a human need and I think
you feel it when you come to this class I think you, you're expressing some kind
of need, I mean it's like hunger, and you need, I mean people... when you hear
about the idea of a bodhisattva and then you heard about it for awhile and then
you heard about bodhisattvas doing incredible things like giving people their
bodies or giving people their lives or just living their whole lives for other
people, there is something very attractive about it. And they say that if you
have certain seeds in your mind, that you'll be very attracted by that idea and
that you would even get goose bumps or chills up your spine when you hear
that. [b: Madhyumika Avatara] says that in the opening chapter. And there is
some kind of attraction to the idea that you could get compassion, you know
like, you don't have it, like I'll get irritated on the way here. You know, like
people on the street, like stupid people on the street. Like I was on the street,
there's like stupid people on the bus and the last thing I was thinking about was
to be good to them or to be nice to them. But there is some kind of human need
that there is to do it. And you know it and you feel it and you sense it. That you
would like to be like that and you are attracted to the idea, but you can't do it
right now, but you're very, if your, in the back of your heart you would really
like to be like that you know you would like to be so compassionate that if
someone asked you for your eyeball you could just reach into the socket and
without hesitating, I mean you could just take it out and hand it to them, or
something. I mean you are very much attracted by if... you know, you saw
Braveheart, you know, the guy at the end. You know h is, someone who is able
to just overcome all the hesitations and just give their body or just give their life
to somebody. I mean there's really something wonderful about it . And you
sense it and you would like to have that kind of compassion. I mean, you hear
about there's this bodhisattva in the eight thousand verses called Takte Muland,
he's crying all the time. Why he is crying we will talk about tonight. It's not
what you think, but t anyway you hear the name, just the name, the bodhisattva
who couldn't stop crying and it's just attractive. It's just something like you 're
kinda like, gee, I'd like to learn to be that. It's like seeing some great dancer or
seeing some great singer and thinking, wow, I'd like to learn to be able to do
that, you know. And I think everybody in this room, you get the smell of it, you
get the sense of it and it's attractive, there's something very attractive about it.
But there's no, like school for compassion. There's no like, you can sign up at
NYU or FIT and you can, "Compassion 101", you know and you can go and you
know they will start you off and then you get a Masters in it and then you get a
Ph.D. in it. [laughter] There's no school like that. There's nobody teaching it like
that. And, and you're kind of wondering, I would like to learn to be like that, I
would like to learn to, to love another person as much as I love myself. And
that's like some kind of holy grail, that's like some kind of goal that would be
really nice, if you could care about other people as much as you care about
yourself. I mean, theoretically, there is no reason why you shouldn't. They just
have.... they just have a different body that you have. I mean theoretically,
there is no logic to taking care of yourself any more than you take care of others,
but we all do it. But is there any way to stop that, I mean is there any way where
you could reach the opposite where you could just care about other people as
much as you care about yourself? I mean it would be some kind of liberaion, I
think. It would be some kind of moksha you know. It would be some kind of
great release, or somehow, some kind of great liberation to, to escape the desire
to take care of yourself than to take care of other people, I mean it's some kind
of illness. And I think we all sense that. And then I think we are all wondering
how, how you could do it. You know, how could you pull that off? And that is
the subject that we are starting tonight. So that the benefit of the idea is that by
the end of this process, you could care about other people as much as you care
about yourself and that that would be some kind of great incredible, liberating
experience. And, and something very beautiful, And I think you know it, I think
you have some hunger for, for being like that. And it is very frustrating not to
be able to do it. You know, it's very frustrating to encounter your own
selfishness, from time to time, or just your lack of compassion for people, you
know. I think it is, I don't know about you , but I think, for me it is very
depressing, you know,. So I'II, Shantideva, Master Shantideva, he has a plan, and
he has a suggestion about how to get this compassion. And, and we're gonna
start this process tonight, so that's the goal, that's the idea. And maybe two or
three people in this room if you haven't got it already, will get it. Maybe a
couple people will get it. But the bottom line is that you have to follow the plan,
you know, you have to study it you know, then you have to put it into practice.
You know, you have to bring it about. And, and that part I can't do, you know, I
can repeat what Shantideva says is the method. And then I have met people
who seem to have accomplished this goal and then I have met other people who
seem that they haven't accomplished it. And maybe they have been studying or
doing dharma for the same amount of time and you just wonder, what
happened to the one person and what didn't happen to the other person. And it
seems, I think it is just doing it , it's just trying it It's just trying to do it,
something like that. And the second person is just not really serious. They don't
really want to do it, you know. So, so we're gonna start that strategy and there
are certain steps and you have to do them. And so you can do the Tibetan and
do the outline and get one hundred on your homework and ace the quiz, but
that is not the point. The point is that you have to try it and you probably won't
get another chance. I mean these classes will go on or maybe they won't and
things will happen. But it is safe to say that most likely you won't hear this
whole outline again, very soon. And you really have to do it now. You really
have to start tonight and you have to start doing it, okay. [unclear] If it's hard
to see or you can't hear just make noise okay? And if anybody can find us a nice
beautiful, big free place to have class we are open to suggestions. [laughter]
Say,
{gyelken}, [repeat], {gyelken}, [repeat]. It's good, or maybe it's the room, I don't
know, [laughter]. Say, {tunkyen}, [repeat], {tunkyen}, [repeat]. Okay, we have
to get rid of the {gyelkens}, and we have to collect all the {tunkyens}. {Gyel},
{gyel}, means something that works against something. And {ken}, means a
condition. So, {gyelken}, means something, I don't know what you want to
translate that as. I mean it's like you want to make enchiladas but you don't have
any cheese. That's a {gyelken}, it's something that works against what you want
to pull off. It's a factor or a condition which is against what you want. I don't
know, it's not really an obstacle, there is another word for them. {Gyel}, means
works against. Contradictory, I don't know. Anyway, you know. You can just
put the Tibetan, okay Sykes? {Tunkyen}, means the opposite, {tunkyen} means
"a conducive condition", like, you want to cook a nice meal and they stick you in
the cafeteria of the Quaker Church. Is there and any [unclear]? [laughter]
Anyway, and that's a {tunkyen}, so those are two things. We are going to study,
we re studying the second chapter of the [b: Bodhisattvacharavatara], the first
chapter was the sales pitch you know, "This is what compassion is like, you can
get it if you want." And this is how it would feel, I mean you have some kind of
hunger. I mean, you maybe you recognize it, or you didn't recognize it yet, but
you will not be happy until you get bodhichitta. You will not be contented or full
until you get bodhichitta, you need it. You want it. And that's the whole, the
first chapter was describing what it feels like when you get it. To love other
people as much as you love yourself. That is a totally liberating experience, that's
a totally different way to walk through Manhattan, if you have that. So first you
have to study {gyelkens}, what it is that prevents us from reaching that stage
where we care about other people as much as we care about ourselves. What is
it that blocks us? You know, there are certain things that block you, and there
are certain conducive conditions that you've to get together. But first you have
to study the things that block you. We have what we call spiritual obstacles.
You have inner obstacles that you are not even aware of. I mean it's not like a
tumor or the inability to digest or something. I mean it is inside you and you
have it and it's holding you back and you don't even know about it and no one
has even talked to you about it. And even if you believed it you wouldn't have
and clue about how to get rid of it. And that is a {gyelken}, those are inner
obstacles that prevent you from reaching your inner goals and you must study
them and learn how to remove them. You must figure out what they are and
then you must remove them and then like half the battle is over, you know if
you learn how to identify, the internal obstacles, or blinders that we have and
then if you learn how to eliminate them, then without any trouble at all you
would be half way to the goal of reaching bodhichitta, or being able to have
bodhichitta. So Master Shantideva describes how, i the opening part of your
reading tonight, first you have to get that intention. I mean I think you all
realize how sexy it would be to have compassion. You know, how nice it would
be and how different you would feel if you really cared about other people as
mush as you care about yourself. I mean, you understand that. So, I mean, in a
way you've got [munsem}, you've got the wish. You feel the wish, within you.
And then you have {juksem}. {Juksem}, means you have the intention to do
something about it, you are coming to class. You, you do have those two
intentions. They are not real bodhichitta yet, but they are kinds of a form of, of
bodhichitta. You have those, next you have to study the {gyelkens}. You have to
study what it is that's inside you that holds you back, that you don't even know
about yet, you know, it's inside you, it has been inside you your whole life and
you have to identify it and learn how to get rid of it and that's the whole thing
we have to talk about tonight. The second chapter is the area of {dikpa shakpa}.
Say, {dikpa}, [repeat], {shakpa}, [repeat]. {Dikpa}, [repeat], {shakpa}, [repeat].
{Dikpa}, means bad deeds and it comes from a Tibetan word when you {dik},
somebody. Hey you, it means, wise people would say you, bad. {Dikpa}, means
"bad deeds". {Shakpa}, means, Tibetan word means to split your self open.
Meaning, "just admit it". Just open up your heart and say, "I did it". And this is a
purification process. We're gonna get to that next class, because even {dikpa
shakpa}, you have to do three other things first, okay. We are not even good
enough to start the purification process. There has to be some mini purification
to start the major purification. Okay? Or some mini good karma collection,
okay. And there are certain actions that are very good for collecting the
necessary good karma to get to the point where you can do the purification. So
this is like the bridge to purification. The subject of the second chapter, the name
of the second chapter is how to urify your heart, but there are certain
preliminaries that you have to do even before that. You can't do a proper
purification without these preliminaries. You must do a proper purification of
the {gyelkens} if you want to get bodhichitta. you will never be able to love
other people as much as you love yourself if you can't do the purification. You
will never be able to do the purification if you don't do three other things first.
So we are going to study those three tonight. Yeah. student: In the homework
it said that the wish for enlightenment, bodhichitta destroys your old bad deeds
and the reading wasn't clear to me. Are you saying that just getting bodhichitta
destroys negative karma or do you have to do purification in conjunction with
that or what is that? There were allot of questions about that question on the
homework and it wasn't very fair and I'm sorry and we won't be too tough on
you, Basically, if you ever got to he point where you had real bodhichitta, it
would be extremely difficult to collect any bad deeds and whatever bad deeds
you had already done would be short circuited or their energy would be
lowered. There's a point that you reach before you see emptiness directly called
{jorlam supa}. The third stage of the lower path, once you get there you cannot
take birth in a lower realm. Period, impossible. And certain bad deeds, in fact,
that's the first kind of cessation. If you ever get a cessation, you get a cessation
for ever having to take a birth in a lower realm. You cannot, after that point.
Bodhichitta is so powerful, true bodhichitta. Not, thinking about it and not the
intention, like some kind of intention.         The real emotion, reaching real
bodhichitta, which is what we are studying now. We are studying how to get to
the real thing, it is so powerful that it would destroy your bad deeds. Would
it.... Yeah? student: [unclear] Yeah, yeah, there's a technical term called ultimate
bodhichitta which is seeing emptiness directly, it doesn't really have anything to
do with bodhichitta. It is the direct perception of emptiness and that is the real
antidote to bad deeds, and that's another story. yeah? student: Michael, does
bodhichitta not prevent the negative karma from flowering or does it destroy
them? They say both. Prevents the old one from... they say burns it up.
student: So without the four opponent powers? By doing the four powers.
student: So you have to have those? Yeah. Okay, first one, we are going to go
through three activities which are for what? We have to get you to the point
where you can do purification.         student: So the three activities to destroy
{gyelkens}? Purification is the real expelling of the {gyelkens}, these are just to
get that far. These are preliminaries to getting rid of your {gyelkens}, it's like
creating some positive energy so that you can get rid of your, your, {gyelkens}.
[laughter] We are gonna have a patience meditation, we are gonna have to
shrink this room smaller and smaller and make it more and more lousy and
we're gone reach the forth chapter? Which chapter is that? I don't know.
[laughter]. Say {chaksel wa}, [repeat]. {Chaksel wa}, [repeat]. {Chaksel wa}
mean to prostrate or to bow down, prostration. {Chak}, mean "head", it's the
honorrific word for "head". I mean, you talk about the Dalai Lama's {chak}, and
you call your own head a {lakpa}. So it's the honnorific word for head. {Selwa}
means, "to look for something". Those of you who were in Philadelphia this
weekend, we said, {tong nyi dakpay.... selway tse na ma nyi}. {Selwa}, means to
look for something. So what does it mean to look for the head? It means that
the Lama has something in His or Her head and when you do a prostration you
are asking then to grant you that. And that is the etymology of it. Of the
Tibetan translation for {chaksel}, {chaksel wa}. I, it's not my intention, and the
main thrust of the reading is not to go into {chaksel wa}. You know, but I'll just
say a few words about it. You have to do it. I'll, I'll tell you my experience with
{chaksel wa}. I, I went to India to study Buddhism. I looked all over for a
Buddhist. They told me, "You're
s, every one is gonna know what is going on except me, and I'm gonna feel
really stupid, you know. I don't know what I'm doing, you know. And I, and I
remember, the bus got into Dharamsala and I got up, I got into Dharamsala, you
know, I tried to find a place to sleep and then next day, I go to Buddhism class,
and you know there is a class like this, and there is a really great Lama there.
And some great translators, Tibetan monks. And then every body get up and
starts doing this thing, and I said, "Yeah, see, they all know what they are doing
and I don't know what I am doing." [laughs] You know, and they are all
prostrating, you know. And I grew up a Christian, and I was a good Christian,
and I did all that stuff and it was very good and I had a very fine time and there
was this commitment about not bowing down to graven images and I was like, I
had waited my whole life to see, [laughter] To get a chance not to do it you
know. [laughter] And you know I'm waiting for the [unclear], to show some
image and say et down, you know. I mean, these guys have red robes and the
whole thing seemed like , yeah, here it is you know. They are asking me to get
down of the ground, and I refused. I refused for weeks, you know. And, just, I
couldn't get into it, it seemed to be wrong to bet bowing down, especially to a
person, I just couldn't get into it. It didn't seem right to me, you know, to get
down on the ground. And I wasn't just gonna go along with what everybody
else was doing if I didn't think it was right. If I didn't understand it, I wasn't
gonna do it. Cause I went through that. So I didn't do it and then I think, I think
you have to talk about prostration. Some people think it's some Asian custom,
you know, I've heard this story too. You know, people say, "Oh, you know,
that's just an Asian thing, we don't have to do that. That's just something we do
in you know East of the [unclear], somewhere. You know, whatever, you know,
that's just something people do there. You now, you don't have thatkind of
eyes, you don't have to do that, You know, you don't have to get down and do
that, that's just an Asian thing you know. And you can think that, I mean I
thought that for a long time and I mean, I'll tell you the whole story of
prostration in one sentence, you know. In a few sentences. And that's all I have
to say about prostration, really. Is that on the day that you see emptiness
directly, on the day that that happens to you, you meet the Dharma kaya, I
mean that is the body of the Buddha. You , you perceive directly, the body of
the Buddha and the immediate, as you come down out of it, your immediate
reaction is to get down on the floor with your face down on the floor. And that's
the real prostration, I mean that's the source of all prostration. The real thing
that's happening in prostration is that a presence is before you with which you
must get down with your face in the dirt, period, and it's the natural, it's the most
natural thing in the world, you, you couldn't imagine., there's no thought like
"how do I look?", you know. There's no thought about anything, the most
natural reaction and it will happen is that you get down and you get your face in
the in the ground and you do not look up. I'm not saying that you see the
Dharmakaya, the Dharmakaya you saw two minutes before, when you are in
the direct perception of emptiness. But when you come out and you realize
what happened you just get down with your face down in the floor and, you
know, I can't say more about it. You know, if a Buddha or some similar being
really walked into this room and you really realized who they were, which you
would probably wouldn't which you are probably not capable of you would get
down in the dirt, you would get your face down in the dirt. And you would wait
until they said "get up", or something, you know. And that's a real prostration.
You know if you ever met one of those beings, which you know, we don't have
the {kelwa}, we don't have the goodness to meet a being like that, that we are
aware of. Bt if that ever happens to you if you ever meet one of these beings,
there is no other reaction possible, you just get down and you put your face in
the floor. And you wait. And that's a real prostration, now what are we doing,
you know what are we doing when we do prostration. What I'm saying, is try
to get that frame of mind in your mind. In, in the monastery if you sneak out
and you see a movie, the {giku}, the debate master, he'd be also the
disciplinarian, he'd get up in front of a thousand people and say, "Jampa, so and
so has been identified, he snuck out to a movie in Balakuppe, and Jampa come
up here." And they have to come up and they have to hold a movie poster up
like that. [laughter] For like an hour you know, and they have to do like a
hundred thousand prostrations or something. And I remember the Gikus
always screaming at them and saying, you know, don't waste you time.
Meaning, you know, prostration is a wonderful opportunity to waste your time,
I'm just normally thinking, almost always thinking about something else. You
know, I'm not thinking, "I'm in the presence of the Dharmakaya and I must get
my face on the floor". I, I never think like that. I'm just thinking like, "Oh yeah
we're gonna start class and I wonder what page he is on. You know I mean it
rarely comes into my thoughts that I am bowing down to the Dharmakaya or
something, I mean it just doesn't come into my mind. And then when you do
that you've wasted a good opportunity and it will not act like it is supposed to
act. And then you know ten years later you will be one of these pitiful middle
aged dharma students who didn't get it. And they are like . "Gee, I do all these
things every morning and you know, I'm not very happy, I'm sort of you know
tired of getting older, and you know, nothing is happening n my life. I don't feel
much happier then I did ten years ago, you know I know some more Tibetan
words or something. You know, or something like that you know, it's a failure
and it comes from failing to use th time when you are doing things like
prostration. It comes from wasting the time. Prostration is a sacred, it's a it's a
chance to do something totally different than going to work. It's a chance to do
something totally sacred. You know it's a chance to assert your spiritual life right
there. You know you get one minute to do something that every one thinks is
crazy. You know you get to do one thing that you are not getting paid for and
you're not getting you know, any social pressure to do it. Especially for
Buddhists in America. And it's one, it's one opportunity in your life to say I'm,
I'm following a spiritual path, you know. And I, I want to reach those goals, you
now, it's like some opportunity to do something which is not commercial and
does not have any connection to your worldly life. "It's crazy to prostrate, it
doesn't produce any wealth." You know, it doesn't pay you and nobody will
admire you, much. [laughter] You know there's no. especially if you are doing
this alone there is just no possible non-spiritual motivation. It's just, it's a chance
to state, I'm on a spiritual path and it's a chance to, to make a gesture in which
you are say ing that "I believe that the Dharmakaya exists and I believe that the
Dharmakaya is in this room", you know. And you are stating that when you do
a prostration. So I believe the Buddha is here, and I believe that the Buddha
exists and I want to reach that thing, and that's a statement.               And, and
prostration is that. And the day that you see that you will be down in the floor,
you'll be down on the floor. Charleston Heston in the "Ten Commandments",
when he meets the burning bush, If you ever get s chance, check it out. He's
like down on his knees. You know it's really like that, it really is like that. They
did it pretty good. He's doesn't get all the way down. He should get all the way
down. He's like a foot off the ground or something. But, but like it really is like
that. So it's a chance. I I'll go through the mechanics, but that's not the point if
you do waste the time you will never get to Bodhichitta. You know and you will
be one of those very sad people who tried and never did it. I mean so the
Buddhist is supposed to not... these are all supposed to, alright? When you do
your {Tumo Jawa}, when you bring your hand to your chest you are supposed
to put the fingers, the thumbs inside, okay?. This [thumbs out], is said to be not
a Buddhist gesture, although you see it in some countries. So we're talking
Tibetan custom, Indian custom, Buddhist custom. You put your thumbs up here
[touches crown], this is supposed to be a cause for the special a parts of a Buddha
later. In the eighth chapter of the [b: Abbhisamayalankara], the whole chapter,
the Buddha has a special way that he or she looks in what we call the classic
Nirmanakaya. In the classic Buddha form. Why, why do I say classic? I mean
don't, don't discount, we say, "{kurndepa}", you know, don't put down the
Buddhas you know. I
he hermitage, [unclear] in Russia, to see the wall painting from Kopan. And this
is before Buddhism entered Tibet and all the Buddhas, Vadjrapani, he looks like
[unclear], [laughs], they look western they all look like Americans actually.
Seriously. this is before Buddhism went to China or Tibet and they all look like
nice normal Greek guys. And what I'm trying to say is that there is no, the
Nirmanakaya can show any way it want's no, no problem. But anyway, if you
want to get the {chukyi trulku}, the clssic Nirmanakaya, the first one is up here at
the top of your head, there's also some significance in the secret teachings which
are secret, okay. Then you, you put it here. This one here is called {minsam}.
This right here is called your {minsam}, that's your {minsam}. And then later it
acts as a cause for the {sulku} of the Buddha which is a special mark of the
Buddha. And then once at the throat, which means once at the mouth here.
Which means that one day you will be able to speak like a Buddha and say the
things that a Buddha says . And then once at your heart which means that you
will learn to think like a Buddha you will gain the mind of a Buddha. And those
are the, it's four, it's four points like that. Then the, the custom is that you get
down slowly. Okay, and that has a symbolic meaning, you're like saying that, "I
do not want to go to the lower realms. If you're in Philadelphia this weekend,
we discussed the possibility of going to lower realms. Which, since it's only a
shift in your mind is much easier than getting on a bus and going to a lower
realm. You know, in other words, you could be in a lower realm thirty seconds
from now. If lower realms were self existent, if they didn't have emptiness, it
would be kinda hard to get there. Since they are empty and they are projections,
basically, you can get there in about thirty seconds. There is no guarantee that
anyone of us wouldn't be in a lower realm in thirty seconds, Okay, and so you
get down slow,, It's a statement, I don't want to get there. [laughter], okay, and
you get down slow. When you reach the ground your palms should be flat and
you should not have the thumbs inside. Then the custom is that you touch your
two knees, you touch your two hands and then you touch your forehead on the
floor. That's a symbol, that's a short, {chak}. A short prostration. {Gyang chak},
is your whole body out, okay. And on the day that you see the Dharmakaya, it
will be whole body out face down flat and you will be rubbing your face in the
flor. Really, natural reaction to meeting one of those beings, Really, natural
reaction. And then you will understand prostration. But in the meantime, try to
visualize certain objects in front of you. What are the objects? I'm gonna go
over that quickly and then we'll take a break. Yeah? student: When you do
prostration, I think I've seen some people put their hands together again. Yeah, I
think I've seen that. It seems to be a good custom. I don't know. [unclear], I
believe that's a custom. student: Could you pull that down a little? Yeah, sorry.
Say, {konchok}, [repeat], {sum}. For those of you who know Tibetan, it's not
{kun}, it looks like {kun}, and it's just one of those words that has a different
pronunciation. Okay, {konchok}, [repeat], {sum}, [repeat]. {konchok}, repeat],
{sum}, [repeat]. {Kon, kon}, means very rare, very hard to find. {Chok}, means,
"highest", or "supreme", highest one. {Sum}, means the "Three jewels". In
Sanskrit, Three {Ratnas}. {Konchok}, supreme, hard to find was the only
translation, the only Tibetan translation for the Three Jewels. So you could say,
"the Three Jewels" And this is the most important object of the prostration,
okay. And this is gonna be true of offering which we are going to cover and also
it's going to be true of refuge. We are covering the object, the preliminary
object, the ultimate object of all three preliminary activities. Before you get to
purificatio, you have to do all three preliminary activities. All of them are aimed
at {konchok sum}. And that's Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, okay? {Konchok},
means "jewel" and there's a difference between Buddha and Buddha Jewel. They
are not exactly the same thing. We're gonna talk about Buddha Jewel. Like
when you do prostration, who are you doing the prostration to? Like when you
make offerings, who are you making the offerings to? When you go for refuge,
who are you going to refuge to? There are two kinds of {sangye konchok}, one
is called, "The one that's not real", and the other one is called "the one that is
real" . Okay, so {kuntak}, and {dundam}, You know, so called "Buddha Jewel"
and the real Buddha Jewel. The so called Buddha Jewel is those pictures and
statues, that are, that are sitting on those altars. That is the so called Buddha
Jewel, that is not the real Buddha Jewel, okay? I mean, we don't prostrate this
way, we prostrate that way. Why? Because there is more Buddha over here
than over there? You know. No. There is a picture of a Buddha here. There is
just a representation of a Buddha over here. Anotherthing that happens to you
on the day that you see emptiness directly, when you come down and when you
are looking around the temple and you see a picture of a Buddha, you see
someone that you saw. You see what I mean? It's not a picture anymore, it's a
photograph. I mean you didn't see that particular Nirmanakaya, okay, that's not
the point, but you met the Dharmakaya, you saw the Dharmakaya directly. You
met the essence of the Buddha, and oh, here's a picture of what I saw. Here's the
outer expression of what I saw. And so your relationship towards those pictures
takes on a totally different face. Absolutely, completely different. They are not
pictures anymore. They, they... I mean you look at it and you say, "Somebody
saw what I saw." And they taught somebody to paint it. And they taught it to
somebody else and they taught it to somebody else and then suddenly there's
this painting here. And it's some kind of, your relationship with these pictures
change, alright, you're looking at a picture of someone you know. And, and it's
totally different and your relationship to the pictures changes. So we prostrate
to these pictures but they are not the main Buddha Jewel. The main Buddha
Jewel is the Dharmakaya. The main thing in which you are taking refuge, the
main thing to which you are prostrating, the main thing to which you make
offerings is the Buddha Jewel, is the Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya, roughly, is
the emptiness of the other three bodies of the Buddha. And we'll talk about it
sometime. But the Dharmakaya is basically the emptiness of the Buddha. The
main point here, the main refuge, the main object which is worthy of getting
your offerings, the main thing which is worthy of being prostrated to and the
thing to which you will get your face down in the ground when you see it, is
Dharmakaya. Is the Dharma body of the Buddha, is the emptiness of the
Buddha, that's the real Buddha. That's the real Buddha Jewel. And then about
one second after you achieve the real Buddha Jewel, the Dharmabody, you are
able to send out all these pictures of yourself. You know, "hey, I'd like to look
like Helen McHail tonight". You know, "sent out Helen McHail in Manhattan",
you know. Something like that. you know, after that you have a choice to like
anything, But at the first instant of Enlightenment you become the Dharmakaya
and you've achieved also the, the ultimate, the Sambogakaya. We won't get into
that, basically, you're physical form could be anything, the main essence of you is
your emptiness. And that's what you're prostrating to that's what you're making
offerings to and we'll talk about that. I mean what's that point of doing that?
Should I open up my closet and prostrate to that emptiness in there? Or my
wallet? Or something like that. [laughter] You know what I mean. Does it have
to be that to see emptiness or you know, what's the point? What's the point to
prostrate to something if it seems like it doesn't even actually exist, you know?
Alright, we have to study that, but that's the essence of the first jewel. Say, {chu},
[repeat}, {Konchok}, [repeat]. {Chu}, [repeat], {konchok}, [repeat]. {Chu}, is
Dharma. And {konchok} means? students: Jewel. Jewel. And this is the
Dharma Jewel. Not the same as the Dharma. The Dharma basically you could, it
has many different meanings, one meaning basically is the teachings. One
meaning is any existing thing and as, the Jewel of the Dharma is something
different. The Jewel of the Dharma is the one that you are prostrating to. The
Jewel of the Dharma is the one that you are making offerings to. The Jewel of
the Dharma is the thing that you are taking refuge in. If you do it well you will
be ready to purif
y yourself. If you don't do it well, you won't. If you do it well, you'll get the kind
of love which is as great as the kind of love that you have for yourself. If you
don't do it well, you'll end up just the same as you are now. Probably worse.
People seem to degenerate as they go through life, spiritually. Or you can do it
half assed and you'll get a half assed spiritual result and you will die. And, and
you'll go to some half assed place. [laughter]. I'm serious, dead serious. We will
die and we will be a bunch of corpses. A few people will go to some sweet place
and the rest of us will say, "Wow, what did I do wrong?". You know, [laughter],
And this is what you did wrong and you have to know what you are bowing
down to. This is {kunchok}, the Dharma Jewel. What is the Dharma Jewel? The,
the Dharma Jewel which is not really the Dharma Jewel, okay? The {kuntak}, is
the books, all those nice books, and the teachings themselves. When His
Holiness gives a lecture. That's not the real Dharma Jewel. Okay, it's Buddhist
Dharma, not the Jewel. What is the Dharma Jewel? student: Realizations. Two
things, okay? Realizations, the five paths that we talked about are all real
Dharma. The real Dharma Jewel. And seeing emptiness directly is the ultimate
Dharma Jewel, the real Dharma Jewel. When you bow down and get your face
in the floor, you are bowing down to the perception emptiness. The direct
perception of emptiness. When you make offerings, you are making offerings
to the direct perception of emptiness. When you make offerings, you are
making offerings to the direct perception of emptiness. We'll talk about it.
Cessations, I'll give you two examples, which is at the third level, {sopa}, which is
at the second path, {jorlam}. You can never take birth in the lower realms again.
Impossible. That's called a cessation. Which means that you just can't do it
anymore, never, ever. when you see emptiness directly and when you come out
of it. Two things won't happen ever again. You will never doubt Buddhism
again. Totally perfectly, purely impossible to doubt Buddhism again, it won't
happen. Somebody could shoot you, burn you , threaten you try to talk you out
of it. It doesn't matter, You saw emptiness directly, you know the Buddha exists,
you saw your future lives directly, tell me anything. Tell that person anything.
You saw their future lives. They saw the day that you're gonna become a
Buddha, so what are you gonna tell them? It's like somebody who knows all the
lottery numbers like three days in advance, seriously. So what are you gonna
tell them? Are you gonna give them a moneymaking scheme? Who wants to
hear it? You can't talk them out of it, you get a cessation for the emotion of
doubt That's an example of cessation, those two things, for example, seeing the
direct perception of emptiness, and for example, never doubting again, cause
you saw it directly, yourself. Those are the Dharma Jewel. When you bow
down, when you put the bowls out in the morning. These are the things that
you're presenting them. Can the absence of doubt in your mind drink water.
It's like puttig out cookies for Santa Claus. Who is not even a person. You
know, I mean, can they drink the water? It's not even them, I mean can the
absence of doubt in your mind drink water? [laughter] I mean, can the direct
perception of emptiness drink water? Eat cookies on tsok. You know. Lose
Schoolboys, eat the cake? You know. And can the Dharmakaya, which is the
sheer emptiness of the Buddhas other three bodies drink water? It can't it's a
changing thing. It can't change from not drinking to drinking, it's unchanging. It
cannot drink water it cannot be aware of the offering either. I mean can the lack
of doubt in your mind be aware that you've offered water today?                  No.
[cut] ...making offerings. [silence] Say {gendun}, [repeat], {gendun}, [repeat].
{Gendun}, means "{sangha}", in Sanskrit {sangha}, jewel. The {Sangha}, Jewel
which is not the {Sangha}, jewel, {kuntaks}, is all those dudes and dudesses are all
those people running around in red robes, or you know, people who have taken
one of the five higher pratimoksha vows. And then they are called, nominal
Sangha Jewel. The so called Sangha Jewel. The real Sangha Jewel to which you
prostrate, to which you make offerings and to which you take refuge is anyone
who has seen emptiness directly, that's a {pakpa}, that's an Arya, that's a {pakpa},
that's {gendun konchok}. On the day that you see emptiness directly, you
become one of the Three Jewels, you could open a stare called, "The Three
Jewels", and you could sit there, because you are now worth of the prostrations,
and offerings and refuge, of the entire world, okay. [laughter] You could sit
there in a chair. Because when people make offerings when people take refuge,
when people prostrate, they are prostrating to you. You are the Three Jewels.
You are what people are seeking refuge in, you are two of the Three Jewels. It's
very interesting, at that moment you become two of them. You have the
Dharma Jewel in your mind, you have the Dharma Jewel in your mind, and you
are the Sangha Jewe at that moment. Try to come back in about ten minutes and
we'll try to finish remotely in time. I think we will finish on time, probably.
[cut], [unclear] for those of you who care is done in a prenasal, and a {nga},
which is a {ngo}, which is esablished as {kyamdro}. student: Oh, okay. No
Tibetan says, "{kyabdro}". Okay, it's {kyamdro}, and not {kyabdro}, okay? This is
taking refuge, going for refuge okay? And you take refuge in the three Jewels.
And speaking of the Three Jewels... [laughter] student: That's smooth man. Ani
Pelma: I am none of the Three Jewels. That is what we are learning today, but
anyway, I'm here to make a short announcement, okay. I'm here to make a
short announcement...[cut] ...taking refuge. I mean everybody talks about...
everybody talks about Buddhist refuge, you know. And this was one of another
things I was told in Dharamsala, you know, you got to take refuge, you know.
And you'll get a name. You know, and that's about it. I have to take refuge and
I'll get a name. How do I take refuge? In the Buddha the Dharma and the
Sangha, {Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya}. And you learn
this little thing and you get a name. But what does it mean? And I think, I think,
I think it's very possible that we never learn what refuge means. You know, it's
supposed to be the thing that differentiates a person who is a Buddhist from the
person that is not a Buddhist. You take refuge, you know, you're a Buddhist.
You take refuge, you know, you're not a Buddhist. There's a joke in the
monastery that there was an abbot of a major monastery that was up on a
throne, you know, teaching thousands of monks and he was not a Buddhist and
he was not a Buddhist because he was not a Buddhist. So you have to take
refuge, you have to know what refuge is, okay? And it's one of the three
preliminaries before you can do purification. If you don't take refuge correctly, if
you don't know what refuge is, the worst thing is that you wont get it. And
refuge is protection. So you won't get any protection. So what do you take
refuge in? Why do you take refuge in the Three Jewels and the question is,
"How can they protect you?". You know, and we talked about it in Philadelphia
the other night. And his other name is Shakyamuni, right? Lord of the Shakyas,
not to be confused with Sakyas. Sakyas are Tibetan Buddhists, Shakyas were the
tribe of which the Buddha was the head. He was the head of the whole Shakya
tribe. And there was a point where his village was attacked and all the Shakyas
were attacked by these people. And people ran into the Buddha, and ran into
the Buddhas house and actually physically hid behind him and touched him and
grabbed his and said. "Protect me." You know and oldiers came in and chopped
them down with swords. Standing next to a fully enlightened being, holding on
to a fully enlightened beings robes, in his house they were cut down and
murdered. Right next to him. And, and, so what's protection? So I mean, you
have to get that in mind. If you came from the same background that I came
from. It's kind of a Judeo Christian thing, there's a thing called God, he likes you,
he'll take of you. [laughter], You know, seriously, I'm not making fun of it or I'm
not putting it down, you come from that background and you believe,
subconsciously, in the gut that there's this thing and if you want it bad enough,
they'll take care of you. So what's the sense of having somebody to take care of
you when you could stand next to him and get murdered? You know and he
can't help you, you know, what's the point? What does refuge mean? And, and
that's, that's the whole point, we're on to the second... we finished prostration,
right? But basically it's all to the same beings, or the same one, I don't know. I
mean The Dharmakaya as not a being. The Dharmakaya is the absence of a self
existent thing that never existed in the first place. Okay, and the Dharma Jewel is
some thought in some guys mind and the Sangha Jewel is some guy who's
seeing something that we maybe, haven't. So how are they gonna help you, I
mean what's the point? What's refuge mean? It's supposed to be the most basic
central Buddhist refuge. What's it mean? How can they protect you? And you
have to stud
y that. It takes a long time. In the monastery it's like we do a twelve year course
in [b: Abbhisamayalankara]. It's like one of the first subjects. The basic thing is
this. You can't really get protection until you understand emptiness, period.
Okay. Buddhism will not help you much, I mean you will not have any assured
protection until you can understand emptiness pretty well. Yeah? student:
[unclear] If you see it directly, you are cool. Absolutely cool, I mean on your
way out, in you know how many lifetimes. You've seen your future lifetimes
you've seen your own Enlightenment, you've seen all of these things directly and
you will never have a bad time in any life, major, again. So what does that feel
like? What does that feel like to know that your rent is always going to be paid?
You know, what's that feel like? That's protection. You know what's that feel
like to know that you will never die and go somewhere strange, never, ever. It
just won't happen. And you see it. And to know that you will be this eternally
compassionate, perfect being in this certain amount of time, and you know it.
That's protection, that's real protection, and you have to get that. And that's why
all these three jewel are linked up with what? There's this one word that keeps
happening in all the three Jewels?         student: Emptiness.     Emptiness. The
Dharmakaya of the Buddha, emptiness. The Dharma Jewel, seeing emptiness
directly. And what happens to you after it. And then Sangha Jewel, becoming a
person who has seen emptiness directly, this is the real protection. Okay, that
picture cannot help you, okay? Trust me, come up here, let me drill your teeth,
we'll ask him, you know. [laughs] An image of the Buddha some statue, you
know, cannot protect you, it can't. The Buddha himself cannot protect you. It's
the understanding Dharma that can protect you. That's the refuge. That is the
refuge, that is taking refuge. you know. You have to have that or else these
pictures won't help you, you know, people have been slaughtered next to the
pictures. You know, people have died on altars, you know. It's not protection,
you have to understand Dharma. You have to understand karma, for example,
and that's great protection.          Understanding karma is great protection.
Understanding karma is great protection. Okay, and those are all kinds of taking
refuge, so you have to study refuge, you have to learn about refuge. Mainly,
when you bow down in the future, you have to be thinking about emptiness,
and you have to be thinking about people who have seen it directly. Like if
there is one person isn't this world who has seen emptiness directly, I am bowing
down to that person right now. And if you're not thinking that you are not
doing prostration, you are not doing it, you are just not doing it. It's not some
picture on the table. It's a being who has seen emptiness directly or a being who
has reached enlightenment, those two things, and Master Shantideva has thrown
in Bodhisattvas. Okay? That's okay, we'll throw in Bodhisattvas too. So those
are the objects of, of your, when you bow down, when you bow down you
must think of those Three Jewels. The real meaning of the Three Jewels. And
then you have to take refuge in the sense of respect the pictures bow down to all
the pictures. Bow down to them because they represent all those thngs. Respect
Sangha, you know. Sangha, we are, you know, plain old people, but you just
need to respect the robes. It doesn't matter who the robes are on, it really
doesn't matter all it .    You must respect the robe. Buddha said, "This is my
representative in the world, people who have those vows, who wear those
robes", And you have to remember that they are representing the Buddha. And
it's not at all the point to think of their personal failings or, or what's wrong with
them personally, and no respect the robes, you must respect the robes, at all
costs, you must. And that's taking refuge in the nominal Sangha. And you must
respect the books and care for the books, take care of them. And that's, that's a
reflection that you are really going for refuge in the understanding of emptiness
and in compassion. Those are all symbolic actions that you are doing to show
that you know what's, what's going on. We are representing people who have
seen emptiness directly. And that's taking refuge. Okay, fourth thing, we have
four minutes to cover the entire homework. [laughter] [silence] Say, {chupa},
[repeat], {chupa}, [repeat]. Chupa means making offerings, making offerings.
Again it's a statement. Allot of American Buddhists, me included, I mean, like the
philosophy, I like the meditation, I like thinking. I'm not particularly into going
out , buying a cake, taking it and putting it on some table in front of a picture.
And I mean, it just doesn't, I don't get that urge. It's just not something that I'm
driven to do. Like I'm driven to study or meditate or something like that. Like
I'm not... it just doesn't do it in the way that the other things do it. But, but you
have... You have to understand offerings, You will not reach the state we are
talking about, you will not see emptiness directly, you won't develop that love
for others that is greater than or equal to the love for yourself. You will never
do it if you don't make offerings, you must make offerings. You have to learn
the art of makin offerings and you have to make offerings. And if it's some kind
of obligation, like prostrating is an obligation, or meditating in the morning is an
obligation, then {tre mare}, they say in Tibetan. They say, you know the {giku},
says, "Stupid head, prostrating is not an obligation, it's an honor". It's some kind
of thing that geniuses do. And you have to understand what's going on when
you make an offering. So we're gonna talk about offering for the next three
minutes. It's, first of all it's an action that's totally useless. Who cares if you make
offerings? I mean we don't live in a Buddhas Paradise because people are not
gonna say, "Oh, Tasha, you should see what Tasha put out yesterday. Man, she's
got moola." [laughter] You know, she's a real, she's pretty impressive, that she
would spend all that money, you know. I mean, if you go to Thailand you know
people are competing to see who can make the biggest offering, or something
like that, okay. But nobody would do it in this country. Nobody cares. Okay,
[unclear], it's a selfless act, it should be purely, totally uninterested. I mean, do
not buy the kind of rolls that you like to eat, two days later, after you take them
off the altar. Seriously. If you want to destroy the power of the offering, make
sure the offering is totally wasted, turn it into something horrible, buy
something that you like to eat, or think about how its gonna look to other
people, and you'll just destroy it. It won't be an act of offering, it will be some
worldly thing. A pure act of offering should be unknown, I mean ideally, people
wouldn't even know about it.         You know, I mean, go sell your car, buy a
diamond and go put it in some corner of the altar where no one will ever find it,
or throw it in the ocean, or something like that, and that's an offering, that's a
real offering. And it should be something meaningful. I mean, it should be
something, give it your best, you know. Because what you're doing when you
are making an offering is that you are statin that these beings exist. You know
you are making a statement, that I believe that there is something beyond this
world. Everything else you do is worldly. When you get up , brush your teeth,
brush your hair, go to work, walk home, watch TV read the newspapers, do the
magazines, you know, eat, sleep, the whole day is spent wasted, I mean, the
whole day is something wasted and it will only cause one thing and it's called
death. You know, I mean, it's only an activity that will lead to one thing, and
that's death, you know, there's no other result of that activity, it's just wasted
time. You know you want to make it something... offering should be something
that's not like that, you know, no ones gonna eat it, no ones gonna see it. The
lack of self existence, in the Buddhas three bodies does not need your cake. The
direct perception of emptiness cannot eat your cake and the beings who are
perceiving emptiness directly are not in the room and they can't eat it either.
Okay. like when you are offering. Like you tend to offer things as worldly
objects but you have to imagine how that being is taking that think. They do get
something, they suck something out of it. Something happens. It does make
contact with those beings, they see it, they experience it. Now, what happens to
them?" Yeah. How do they experience it? They experience it exactly the same
as they experience their thumbnails, as they experience the tip of their shoes, as
they experience, you know, Pluto. For them it's all the same. For them it's total
bliss. And you can't offer them anything that they don't experience as total bliss.
And if you didn't offer anything they will still experience it as total bliss.
[laughter] That's the way they are, that's all they know. That's all they are
capable of experiencing. So what's the point of offering something to someone
who's not even a person and who wouldn't experience it any differently then if
you didn't offer it.        They don't need your cake. You are working up to
purification. Y
u are trying to set up the purification. You're trying to, you're trying to make
yourself ready to try to get compassion. So if you don't do it you won't. So it's
all just for you, really. And when you read Shantidevas verses you will see, he's
begging the Three Jewels to accept his offering for Him. "Please help me out,
please, would you take my cake, please, " And you know, he's begging the three
jewels to take his cake. You know and they will and they can. But the main part
is that something changes inside of you, something changes inside of you. If
you want to be a Dharma idiot, you know, if you want to be Dharmically
retarded, then don't make offerings, you know, just put it in the category of
devotional, peripheral stuff that Tibetans do because their mother and father did
it. You know, if you want to stay where you are, then don't make offerings.
You know, because making an offering requires spiritual genius. You have a
high spiritual IQ, to make an offering, to want to make an offering. And to
understand why you should make and offering. To spend good money in
something that is going to rot on a table inside of your room is an act of genius.
And as you get better at it and you will go out and you will spend everything
that you have. If it feels like and obligation, and prostrating feels like a pain in
the but, you know, just some stupid custom that Buddhist do before they do a
teaching or something, then you did not get it at all, and you will not purify.
And you will never find those things and you will never quit, or you will be one
of those boring and bored Dharma students, ten years later, who didn't get it,
you know. And you have to make offerings and you have to study it and
make nice sweet offerings. And you'll start to get the results, something will
change in you, so do it. Once you do offer, very briefly, Yeah? student: Just a
quick question, if everything is a blissful experience and your understanding of
what you're offering is empty, why does it matter if you offer more and more
expensive offerings? It's just an act of giving everything you have. It's like
saying, "I will not choose to be in this mortal world, I will not just go quietly to
that, [laughs], black space, or whatever that is. No I'm not going to do that. I'm
gonna be different, you know, I'm not just going to die like a sheep." I'm going
to use the resources that I have in something that has real meaning, not just on a
car or a wife or a family or something that has real meaning. You know, "I'm
gonna use it for offering, it's gonna sit there on the altar and rot, or I'm gonna
throw it in the ocean. And then you've really used your money meaningfully.
Okay, because you've stated, I believe in the three jewels. And I want to get that.
And that's statement of that, and that's powerful, that's very powerful and you
have to do it. Okay, three kinds of offerings. Really quick. The first one we call,
the offering of the things that nobody owns, okay. The offering of things that
nobody owns. By the way, I don't mean to put down family life and things like
that, that's not the point. What I am trying to say is that, offer your family
something meaningful. You know, if you love your family and your wife and
your kids and your husband and whatever, offer them Enlightenment. Because
to offer them food or a car or a new place to stay, I mean, those will all die. They
will all go away, then the effort is wasted. And then the energy of that money is
wasted. Try to do something that will get them out of dying. You know, try to
give them a real gift. It doesn't mean that you don't have to offer them a smaller
gift, you have to. What I'm saying is that if you really care for someone, give
them something that is more lasting then a car or a house or clothes. You know,
give them something that will keep them like for a zillion years or so. An you
can, and you have the capacity to learn to do that. And I'm just saying, use your
energy for that and use your resources for that. Say, {dakpu}, [repeat], {ma
sungway}, [repeat], {dze}. {Dakpu}, [repeat]. {ma sungway}, [repeat], {dze},
[repeat]. What's the kind of offering you do when you imagine the things that
have no owners? Mountains, oceans, flowers, the sky, just anything that you can
imagine. There's a list in Shantidevas, you're gonna get it. In Master Shantidevas
reading, you're gonna get a whole list. But basically all the things in the world
that nobody claims, and you can offer them. Walk through Manhattan and offer
them the sunset. You know, offer the sunset to your Lamas, offer the stars to
the Three Jewels. You know, very inexpensive. Master Shantideva gets into
why would anyone want to make this offering? And he says, "Well, I didn't have
much virtue in my past life and now I don't have much money. I really don't
have that much available cash". I like, Just offer you the stars and the moon and
you know. And they say, "Fine." They would love to have that. I used to go out
surfing and sit on the surfboard and offer Geshe Dhargye the ocean, the sunset
and all that. And that's fine. No problem. You know, offer all those beautiful
things. You know, think of beautiful things and when you see a beautiful thing,
offer it. And once you get into it, it's very, very cool. It's very easy, your
walking down the street in Manhattan, you see a particularly beautiful cloud
with a red hue on it and you just offer it, to your Lama. You know, like just for a
second, close your eyes and think that they can see what you just saw and offer
it to them and it will change your inner being and certain things will start to
change and you will start to get ready for Bodhichitta. And it you don't do it, it
won't happen. It's fun, and it's extremely important to do. So just do it. And
then Shantideva says, "Hey, wait, there is something I own." Even us credit card
bankrupted people. [lughter] Say, {ranggi}, [repeat], {lu}, [repeat], {bulwar},
[repeat],. {Ranggi}, [repeat], {lu}, [repeat], {bulwar}, [repeat]. {Ranggi lu}, means
"your own body". Nobody in here doesn't own their own body. Unless slavery
has been reintroduced, I don't know.           Okay, {ranggi lu}, means, "your own
body", {bulwar}, means, "you offer it". Offer your own body. There is a story of
the bodhisattva who is called Crying All the Time, {unclear}. He heard this
voice in his head and it said, "Go east young man". "Don't go west don't go
south , don't go north." I think is was east. And don't do anything else, just go.
And he just dropped everything and went. And he just started walking to the
east, you know. And he keeps hearing this voice, "Go, go, go, go, go." And he's
walking, he's walking, he's walking. Then he starts to hear, he starts to see this
Lama. This is in ancient India, alright? And he starts to see this Lama teaching.
And he's walking and walking, and he starts to hear the Lama, he's teaching
emptiness.      This is the [b: Eight Thousand Verses, Prajna Paramita], very
famous scripture. And he's hear it, he's hearing this Lama and he's getting closer
and closer and he starts to see all the Lama and all these students sitting in his
room, teaching. And he's like entranced you know, he can't believe it. He's
walking, walking, walking. Finally, he gets to this town, and he say's I'm gonna
have to buy some offerings for my Lama. He figured out that he's in such and
such a house and so he stops in the Market place to pick up some offerings, and
he realizes that he's totally broke, he has no money at all. So he's looking around
for something that he can sell. So he decides to sell his arms and his legs, as
meat. Like he just decided to, you know if anyone wants a hamburger, you
know, he will offer some fat part of his arm or some fat part of his leg, or
something like that. And so he actually sits down in the market and he actually
starts to scream out, "Meat for sale!", you know, human haburgers, "Anybody
want meat for sale?". And they say that there's these demons that block the
sound. He's screaming at the top of his voice and these demons are blocking the
sound, no one can hear it. There's a crazy guy sitting there with his mouth, you
know, and no one can hear him. So out of frustration, he starts to cry. You
know, he starts to weep. Out of pure frustration. And that's how he got his
name, He's called "Ever Weeping". A very nice example of a Bodhisattva. And it
has a nice ending, but I won't go into it. This is not, okay, okay. This fair damsel,
the daughter of a rich merchant, sees him from the rooftop, you know, she's like
out on this parapet. And she sees this, guy, you know, [moves mouth silently],
and he's crying you know, and she feels sorry for him and she goes down, you
know, and finds out what, that he needs money for offerings so she goes and
talks Dad into [laughter] paying for offerings, and he get s the offerings, sees
emptiness, meets the Lama, sees emptiness, nice story. This is not that kind of
offering, This just means that, I give up myself to the service of the Three Jewels.
I give up my life to the service of the Three Jewels. And that is the offering of
your self, of your body. I will be a, I put myself at your service, just use me. It's
like that. Last offering, then we'll stop. Say, {lu}, [repeat], {trulway}, [repeat],
{choepa}, [repeat]. {Lu}, [repeat], {trulway}, [repeat], {choepa}, [repeat]. {lu},
means, "by your mind", or "with your mind".
   You are bathing them. You are offering them a bath. And there's a whole
process, you know, you have to dry them the right way and you have to bathe
them the right way and then you have to prostrate. And it's very sweet, and
you do it all in your mind. There's one where you offer them a beautiful palace
to live in. Or you cover their body in beautiful silk. You know, you could do
that, you could sit there and change it you know, make it one way. Dress them
one way and then just dissolve it, dress them in another way, and you could
keep offering all sorts of flowers. Every type of flower that you could imagine.
The point is just that it's this huge fantasized offering, and it has profound effects
on your mental continuum. It has profound effect on your being. It sets you for
purification. It sounds like something worth less, but you know how powerful
fantasies can be. You know how powerful dreams can be. There's something
powerful about visualizing something, and really getting into the fantasy. You
know, don't just do it as an obligation. You know, get onto it. Take a
bodhisattva that you really think is cool, and just go through the whole thing
and go through everything.             Go through all twelve offerings, It's your
meditation for this week, just go through all twelve offerings. And have a good
time, I mean that's {trowa}, that's perfection number four, having a good time
doing a good thing is one of the Six Perfections and just enjoy it, you know. Get
off on it. And what will happen it that it will act itself out, eventually. You'll be
able to make real offerings to these bodhisattvas. And you will find that it starts
to effect your behavior. Just like all the bad offerings that we have about saying
something to someone at work and stuff like that. How you're gonna say it, and
how his face is gonna go like that, [laughter], you know. And what a joy it
would be, you know. And these are like real fantasies that you can, that you can
carry out in your mind. Last note. You will see name of Bodhisattvas in the
reading. Some of them are Manjushri, Avaloketeshvara, Vadjrapani is in there,
Samantabhadra, stuff like that. These are beings that you normally thing of as
Tantric deities of Angels or something like that. Fully Enlightened beings. In the
Sutra teachings, In the teachings which are not secret, they are Bodhisattvas.
Okay, they were Boddhisattvas at the time of the Buddha or later and they were
specialized. They specialized in these offerings. They were like known for their
ability to do these offerings, especially the last one. And you'll find that there's a
form of the last offering which is called the Unsurpassed offering. And you have
to learn to do that. Okay, so don't get confused. In the, in the open teachings
they are bodhisattvas, in the secret teachings, I can't tell you anything. It's kind
of late so I think we'll just go straight to mandala offering, but, but do the
fantasizing at home, you know, twelve offerings, they are, they are listed in
there and what we're talking about is actions that prepare you mind to get
compassion, if you do them, you can learn compassion, if you don't you never
will., and you will be one of those very sad, frustrated, Dharma students who
didn't do it and really didn't change much. And you don't have to be like that,
you know, you have the inclination. And just do it, okay? And this one you
can't say that I didn't have time, you could do it on the way to work, you could
do it in the subway, you could do it while your on the phone at work with your
friends. [laughter] You could do it all the time, right? No problem. Any thing
else? student: Could you tell them to pick up the readings and the homework's
at the door. Please pick up the readings and the homework's on the... well, by
the way, the people doing that, they did two all nighters last week, one all
nighter this week. It's Ora, Elizabeth, and a couple of other people, so you
should thank them if you have the chance. By the door.        [prayer: short
mandala] [prayer: dedication] How many people did not get...................
[cut]
970722-1.aaa
Geshe Michael Roach
ACI Course XI: Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way Of Life, Part Two