ACI 12 «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы, часть III», занятие 8

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198a.txt
Course 12, Class 8, 11-11-97
Transcribed from audio tape, by Linda Gatter, no edit.

They say if I don't teach a nice class, they're gonna turn on the electricity!

OK. We have a little bit left over from last week. Everyone was asleep so I
decided to cut it short, and there's one thing we didn't finish.

This is [Gyaltsab Je] when he gets to proving the emptiness of the parts of the
mind. What are the parts of the mind, by the way? If you treat the mind as static,
it's the mental functions, like 46 or 52, depending on what school you're in.
Nobody's been treating them static since the last class, since the last course,
actually. They've been treating them like a rosary. Meaning what? Meaning like a
string of moments of consciousness, like right now you're having a moment of
consciousness. Most of you, okay? [laughter] Alright? And then we, you can
treat them the same as atoms. I mean they don't really exist, okay? They are not
the smallest part of your mind. You could split those into two and its just more
raw data, and you can split each of those into two, and it's just more raw data,
and you will never find anything. okay, what appears to be to you a self-existent
present moment of your awareness is really just another projection onto some
parts. okay, what are the parts? The beginning, the duration and the end of this
moment that you're having right now. okay. And your mind is projecting onto
that, ôMy awareness.ö okay. So it too, is forced on you by your past karma.
okay. When you get to be an arhat, and you destroy your mental afflictions,
your past karma is forcing you to see your mind as totally free of any more
mental afflictions. Really nice. When you get even better karma, that's forcing
you to see all these moments of consciousness as omniscience. okay. It's another
projection as much as the boss. okay. Not different. It's physical, the boss is
easier to deal with. The mind is a little bit harder to be aware of and it's a little
harder to deal with but the principle is exactly the same. The boss is a bunch of
red, oval, square, white, wagging, red thing. Your mind is interpreting it as a
yelling boss, because you collected bad karma in the past. You probably yelled
back at your boss at some point. okay? And it's the same with your mind. You
know if you experience your mind the same way I do, sometimes nice,
sometimes bad, sometimes pure, and sometimes not so pure, is because your
karma of experiencing your own mind, and the projections on your own mind
are coming from a mixed karma, you know negative and positive karma. The
idea is that eventually you clean out all of the negative ones. okay? [Gyaltsab Je]
says you can use that analysis that you find in [Arya Nagarjuna's] classic root
wisdom okay? [Mula Prags Nya] and here it is, it's called [Shingtay chepa]. This is
from last week so I'm gonna go kinda fast on it. You might've noticed that you
couldn't do your homework til you had this.
[whispering, and joking ]

Say [shingtay]

(students: [shingtay])

[chepa]

(students: [chepa]

[dun]

(students: [dun])

[shingtay]

(students: [shingtay])

[chepa]

(students: [chepa]

[dun]

(students: [dun])

[Shingtay] means, [shing] means, "wood, " [tay] means, "horse." Wooden horse is
a wagon, a cart. okay, a wagon, like 4 wheels, and all that. You can say, a car, I
mean, when we, when Buddhism spreads in America, we're gonna be using a
car. Seriously. No reason to use a wagon when you got a car. okay? [Shingtay]
means, "a car." [Chepa] means, "analysis." And [dun] means, "seven step," seven
step analysis of the car. [Arya Nagarjuna], followed by [Master Chandrakirti],
followed by the great commentators from India, followed by [Je Tsongkapa],
followed by the greatest commentators in Tibet who came from Sera Me
Monastery all used the seven part analysis of the car. okay? And I'm gonna give
it to you real fast. [Gyaltsab Je] says at this point, if you want to understand the
emptiness of the parts of your mind, the use the cart, use the wagon, use that
analysis that Nargarjuna gave. [Arya Nagarjuna], okay? Here are the seven
parts. You can just write the first one. I'm sorry I'm in your way, but no matter
where I stand I'll be in your way. I'm not self-existent.

(Student: Can you bring it down?)

Sorry. okay.

Say, [De nyi]

(students: [De nyi])

[dang]

(students: [dang]

[De nyi]

(students: [De nyi]

[dang]

(students: [dang])

[De nyi] means, By the way, the whole examination is, what is the relationship of
the mind to those moments of consciousness? Meaning it's parts. What is the
relationship of the car to the parts of the car? okay? And that's what we're
looking at. That's what we're trying to find. [Gyaltsab Je] doesn't tell you what
the seven are. They're kind of hard to find, actually, unless you have a computer
with lots of pages of stuff on it. And then you can find them in some ancient
commentaries, but the first one, analysis, by the way, this is all premise on self-
existence. Can you find the mind in self-existent moments of consciousness?
How many self-existent moments of consciousness in a finger-snap? Trick
question, okay?

(Student: none)

None! Cause there's no such thing. It's a two-headed, purple, full-sized elephant
hiding somewhere in this room. It never existed anyway. okay? So the whole
analysis is based on things that never existed anyway. Now, got it? okay, here
we go. Is the car its self-existent parts? You know, is the car equal to its parts,
individually? Is the car its wheel? Is the car its hood? Is the car its steering wheel?
Is the car its windshield? No. okay? If it were, there would have to be as many
cars as there are parts. So that one you don't even need to say ôself-existent,ö
right? I mean that one's silly by itself. It's silly whether you say self-existent or
not. Obviously, the car is not its individual parts, individually. okay? If it were,
then there'd be a whole lot of cars, because there's many parts. So that one, we
can cross off. By the way, if we cross out all seven, then the car is not ?

(Student: self-existent)

Self-existent. okay? So, one down, six to go. Alright?

(Student: So, what does [de nyi] mean?

[De nyi] means, ôthat itself,ö meaning the parts, themselves. [Nyi] [De nyi]
means ôit,ö ôthose themselves,ö [de nyi] means, ôthe parts, themselves,ö
alright? And then you understand, ôindividually, individually.ö So, number, by
the way, [de nyi] is, I'm, I'm using the words by Nagarjuna, himself, in his root
text. That's why I'm using these short words. If you glue them all together you
get Nagarjuna's root text. And it's a blessing to hear it, okay? So, [de nyi dang]
means, ôthe parts, themselves, individually,ö okay? And it's not, or else there'd
be like 700 cars there. okay? So, number one is down. Check. [word is unclear]
That's number two. (Sorry.)

Say, [shen nyi]

(students: [shen nyi]

[dang]

(students: [dang])

[shen nyi]



(students: [shen nyi])

[dang]
(students: [dang])

[Shen nyi] means, ôsomething other than the parts.ö okay? Something
independent of the parts. okay? Is there a car that's totally unrelated to the parts?
No. Why? That would be like the idea of a soul. You know, that would be like
the idea that there's some Michael Roach who's not Michael Roach's mind, and
not Michael Roach's body. There's some Michael Roach; somehow they're
driving, or in charge of Michael Roach's body and Michael Roach's mind, okay?
Like, he exists like a diamond crystal, unchanging, eternal soul, outside of the
body and the mind. You know. And this is like this, I grew up with this idea,
when I, when I was taught the word ôsoulö when I was a kid, that was how I
visualized it, and it, and I think that's what, this is what they're addressing. Is
there this car that's independent of the parts? Is there a mind that's somehow
beyond all your moments of consciousness? And the answer is obviously, ôNo.ö
Why? If there was such a mind, it would be unchanging. You see? It wouldn't
have the nature of the parts, at all. It would be divorced from the parts. It would
be out there: ôcar.ö You know? And it wouldn't have to have a flat tire, because
it's not the tire. It's not related to the tire. It doesn't matter if the tire is flat or full.
Car is there. You see what I mean? Take away two wheels, ôcarö is still there.
You know? It's the idea of a soul. And you have to reject it, okay? There is no
mind, separate and somehow beyond, the moments of consciousness. okay?
There's no such thing. Scratch number two. That was easy. It just means that, if
there's a mind that, if the mind is not related to the parts, you have a big
problem, right? Like you couldn't change your mind, okay? Seriously, okay?
That's the whole point. There'd have to be some big mind out there that had a
different address than your mind, you know, because it's not related to all the
parts of your consciousness. It's just not a good idea, okay? [laughs] It's not very
profound. okay. The main problem with number two is that the mind would
have to be unchanging, and it's not.

(Sorry.) Somebody has to find us a really nice place for class, okay? In the
Spring. Seriously. Alright? Go around the East Village, find, I'd, I'd like a big
church with stained glass windows and a big floor, a wooden floor with no pews.
okay? I don't care if it's falling apart, alright? Seriously. Reasonable rent. okay?
Go find one. Alright? I think those white pews just don't make it, you know?
okay.

Say, [ten]
(students: [ten])

[dang]

(students: [dang])

[tenpay]

(students: [tenpay])

[chok dang]

(students: [chok dang])

[ten]

(students: [ten])

[dang]

(students: [dang])

[tenpay]

(students: [tenpay])

[chok dang]

(students: [chok dang])

OK. Here, Arya Nagarjuna covers two more possibilities. Does the car depend
on its parts, okay? Does the car depend on its parts? Here you have to
understand something, that if two objects, this is just plain old Buddhist
philosophy, like the kind a thing you're gonna get in the Spring. okay, these are
just the basic things like every young monk learns when he's twelve years old,
you know. The nature of a relationship, there are two possible relationships in, in
the, in the universe. This one is [ten dang tenpay]. You would have a table, and
on top of the table you'd have a pen. okay? This is called the relationship of a, of
something supported and something supported it. You know, is the car
supported by the parts? Is it resting upon the parts? okay. If I say it that way it's
kind of silly because there'd have to be a car that was separate from the parts.
You see what I mean? You have the same problem that you just had with
number two. okay, if I say, the depends on the parts, or is supported by the
parts, then the car and the parts have to be separate things, because anytime in
philosophy at all that you have a relationship between two things, they have to
be separate. They have to be distinct from each other. And, and here you have
the table and the pen resting on the table. That's a support, that's a relationship of
something supporting something else. okay? ôDependenceö implies the
existence of two separate objects. The car cannot be ôin dependenceö on its
parts, because then the car is separate from the parts. You see what I mean?
When you say the kid depends on the parents for money, the kid must be
separate from the parents to depend. You see if they were one thing you
couldn't speak of dependence. Scratch number three.

(Student: unclear)

We'll talk about it. We'll get there. We're gonna get there. Not the same thing.
The label is not the thing. The thought is not the thing. The little thing that had
the lights coming off of it is not the thing. It was the sum of, it was one of the
parts that had to be there. Right? okay.

OK. [Ten dang] [Tenpay] [Tenpay], number four means, oh we scratched
number three. I'm going through kinda quick 'cause it's easier. okay.

(Student: unclear)

Oh [unclear], I know you're gonna debate me. Come on, what?

(Student: unclear)

Oh. You could say, the mind is not supported by its parts. okay. Number three
is, ôthe mind is not supported by its parts.ö Does the mind support its parts? I
mean, is it, can you reverse it? Let's say this is the parts of the mind, which is the
moments of consciousness, and this is the mind. Is that their relationship? No.
Why? Because they'd be two separate things. We already proved that can't be.
okay. If they were two separate things, then what, what relationship would they
have? You see what I mean? Then, then if you took away the parts would the car
still be there? Yes. Why? They're two separate things. One is depending on the
other. okay. What if you reverse it, okay, put the car under here and put the
parts on here. Is that the nature of the car to its parts? Do the parts depend on
the car? No. Not if, by the way, not if the car is self-existent. okay. You gotta get
that. These are all talking self-existent. That's the trick. You'll understand it more
when we do the other example tonight. Anyway, if the car was supporting the
parts, instead of the parts supporting the car, which is impossible, then that's
impossible for the same reason. That's impossible for the same reason, because
then they would be two separate, unrelated things. okay? They would be two
separate things. When you talk about relationship you're talking about two
separate things. What's the relationship between this guy and his wife? They're
different things. You can't say, ôWhat's the relationship between Skye and his
wife's husband,ö you see? Because they're the same thing. When you talk
relationship you have to talk separate things. okay? And there's no two separate
things between the parts and its car. okay? Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

I know what you mean, but in that case you're using, when you say you're
independent, you know like you're self-supporting, you're using ôyouö in two
different senses at the same time. You see what I mean? You're actually talking
about the ôyouö in the past that sets up causes for the ôyouö in the future to
have enough to eat, and stuff like that. You're talking about different ôyous.ö
okay.

[laughs] okay. Let's go on.

(Student: unclear)

Yeah, now by the way, remember here we're talking about a self-existent ôyou.ö
Now what does that mean? We'll talk about it. okay. I means, a pen, which could
be a pen from its own side. We went through it many times, okay? A pen which
could be a pen from its own side, without you thinking of it as a pen. But all you
really see is colors and shapes. All I'm really holding up is blue, white cylinder.
okay. If it's a pen, it's because you're a human, who's used one before, and your
karma is forcing you to see this as a pen. If you're a dog walks in here and sees
the same blue, white cylinder, they see what? Something to chew. A chewable
object. Who's right?

(Student: unclear)

They're both right. It just depends on what frame of mind you're approaching
this cylinder with. okay. But what about the cylinder itself? Same story. We
talked about it. okay. Same story. This is all assuming, this is the debate of, of
Nagarjuna, here, Arya Nagarjuna, is talking about a pen, that was a pen, from its
own side. Is there such a pen? Is there a two-headed, purple, full-sized elephant
rampaging in this room? [laughter] No. okay. It never was; it never will be, I
mean, hopefully. okay, so, [laughs] okay. It can't be, you know. He's examining
the existence of a car that exists from its own side. You see what I mean? That
kind of car can't depend on its parts, and that kind of car can't support its parts,
because that kind of car never existed anyway. okay? And you have to get used
to that. You have to get, we'll, we'll do it in more detail with the lesson tonight.
Anyway, Nagarjuna says, Arya Nagarjuna says, the car does not depend on its
parts because a self-existent car that depended on its parts would be separate
from its parts. And the car doesn't., and the parts don't depend on the car
because parts that depended upon a self-existent car would also be totally
separate from its car, in the way that Skye is separate from his wife, because to
enjoy a relationship, two things have to be separate. Two separate things. If the
whole were totally separate from the parts, it'd be weird. You could take the
parts away and the whole would still be there. You see what I mean? The wheel,
and the chassis, and the windshield away, the whole would be there. If the whole
depended upon the parts, then they would have to be separate guys. And when
you took away all the parts, the whole would be just sitting there, but that's not
possible, okay? Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

[unclear]? I'm gonna get to that just after this. okay? If I don't, then get back to
me. okay. The thing to remember there is, For two things to have a relationship,
they have to be separate things. okay? Alright.

(Student: unclear)

Oh, the second example there was, Do the parts depend on the car? Number 3
was, Does the car depend upon its parts? Self-existently, please. Number 4 was,
Do the parts depend on the car? Self-existently, please. okay? What does the
"self-existently" mean? We're gonna get more into it tonight. Number 5. By the
way, I'll do it one more time. I was trying to get away with doing it fast, but let's
not do that. okay, here we go. Look at, look at this cylinder of blue and white.
Now think, "pen" about it. I mean, first pretend you're not a human, you're like
some neutral being who only sees a blue and white cylinder. okay. Now pretend
you're a human and you see it as a pen. Think of it as a pen. But you can turn off
the thought of it as a pen. Turn it off now and think of it as a blue and white
cylinder. Now turn on seeing it as a pen. Now turn off seeing it as a pen. Now
turn off seeing it as a pen, just see it as a blue and white cylinder, and I'm gonna
ask you a question. Is the pen the blue, or is the pen the white? [laughter] It's a
stupid question. Cross out number one. That was number one. okay? That was
[de nyi dang], that was number one. okay? Ready for number 2? Ready for
number 2? okay. Don't think of this as a pen. It's just a bunch of parts. It's just a
blue and white cylinder. Ready? Where's the pen? [laughter] Where's the pen
before you thought of it as a pen? Where's the pen? Is it something else than the
parts? I mean if I took all the parts away, if I threw this out in the street,
Rutherford Place, you know, and said, "Where's the pen?" You'd say, "Well, what
are you talking about? There wasn't a pen to start with yet, because I didn't think
of it as a pen yet, because for all I know it was a chewable thing." okay? I didn't
think of it as a pen. Independent of my projections, it's neither its parts,
individually, nor something divorced from its parts, okay? You get the flavor of
it? okay? Alright. Let's go to number 5. You know the rest.

Say [tenpay chok]

(students: [tenpay chok])

[tenpay chok]

(students: [tenpay chok])

[Tenpay] means, [tenpay chok] means, by the way, this is root text, [tenpay
chok] means, Does the pen possess its parts? Does the self-existent pen possess
its parts? [Tenpay] means "possess." Does a self-existent car possess its parts? I,
let's do it again. Look at it as a blue and white cylinder. Do not think "pen."
Pretend you're like a neutral being. You're not a dog and you're not a human.
Dog is vehemently saying it's a chewable thing, self-existently. Human is saying,
vehemently, "No, no, you're all wrong, it's a pen." And probably they'll have a
World War III over it, okay? That's what humans do, okay? [laughs] Alright?
Pretend you're like neutral, third party, you know? Geneva, something. And you
see it's just a bunch of parts, okay? Does the pen possess those parts? It's a stupid
question, there's no pen yet. You're saying self-existent pen. You're siding with
the humans. I thought you were neutral. okay? [laughing] Alright? Got it? There
is no self-existent pen that has any parts. Scratch number 5.

(Student: unclear, but asking Geshela to move the overhead transparency up, so
the projected Tibetan and transliteration can be seen.)
Sorry. We'll go back to number one, okay? Say [dupa tsam]

(students: [dupa tsam])

OK. Back to number one. Look at a blue and white cylinder. Focus on the blue
and the white as two separate things. You're not looking at it as a pen, yet.
You're neutral. You're not siding with the humans or the dogs. okay? You're just
looking at colors. Is the pen the blue? No. There's nothing pen there yet, until I
go over to the human side. okay? Is the pen the white? No, 'cause you're already
saying "pen." Whose side are you on, anyway? You gotta be fair to animals.
Alright? It's not a pen until you think of it as a pen. There's something missing,
which is your thinking of it as a pen. If you strip away thinking of it as a pen,
there's nothing pen about it. okay. And when I ask you, "Is the white, by itself,
the pen?" You say, "Huh, what pen?" And if I say, "Is the blue itself the pen?" You
say, "Huh, what pen?" And if I say, [dupa tsam], number six, "Are the blue and
white together that pen?" You're supposed to say, "What pen?" 'Cause we didn't
think of it as a pen, yet. I'm saying, before you think of it as a pen. Before you
decide to be on the dog's side or the human side. If you're just coming in and
you're from Mars, and you can see that it's a blue and white cylinder, but you
don't know what its for, you wouldn't think of it as "pen." Independent of your
thinking of it as pen, are the blue and the white, together, the pen? No. Why? It's
a stupid question. All it is so far is colors. It's just raw data. I didn't think of it as
anything yet. okay? A self-existent pen would be "pen" from its own side, and it
wouldn't have to wait for me to think of it as a pen. And then every critter that
came in here, dog, horse, roach, would see "pen, Magic Marker, great, I can use
that." But they don't, okay? There's an element missing. So, if I say, "Is the
collection of the parts, [du pe tsam], the pen?" You're supposed to say, "No way."
And I say, "Why?" And you say, "What pen?" And I say, "The pen I see here in
my hand." And you say, "Oh, you're pretty, you're already being prejudiced.
You're already on the human side. You're already thinking of it as a pen." We're
talking, independent of your projections, independent of thinking of it as a pen,
are, is the sum of the parts, the pen? And I say, "No." okay. Why? There's one
part missing. What? Thinking of it as a pen. okay. As long as thinking of it as a
pen is not there, you cannot say the sum of the remaining parts is the whole.
okay? It's not. okay? Stop thinking of it as a pen. You're being prejudiced. okay?

(Student: unclear)

I'm sorry, again, am I?
(Student: unclear)

I think you're saying, "But, you started out calling it a pen, so you're kind of
begging the question, like that? You mean because I started out calling it, "We're
examining the pen?"

(Student: unclear)

No, I'll tell you why. Because the other school, the non-Buddhists are saying that,
"Whether or not you think of it as a pen, it's a pen." That's who we're fighting
with in Chapter 9. We're fighting with non-Buddhist schools, and even some
Buddhist schools who would say, "It has a nature of being 'pen', from it's own
side. Before I think of it as a pen, it's a pen. It is a pen." okay? They say that. And
it's not true. What's it got to do with my life? Who cares if it's a pen from its own
side or not? I can still write with it. That's true. But this pen will run out, and the
hand holding it will die, because of certain projections I'm having. I can change
those projections. If that pen existed from its own side, and if the arm holding it
existed from its own side, I have to die, and there's, there's no point to studying
Buddhism. okay? If the pen is not self-existent, if the pen is a projection, and if
the arm, this arm, is a projection, then I can change things, then I can become a
tantric deity, if I collect the right kind of karma, okay? The, the whole thing is in
the potential. Emptiness creates the potential for anything. If it was a pen from
its own side, then I'm in trouble. That's why we're going through this apparently
silly analysis. It's, it's deadly important, deadly serious; life and death for each of
us. okay? It really is. If you can establish that the pen doesn't exist from its own
side, then we have a chance. If it, if it is a pen from its own side, you might as
well go to drink some beers, you know. You have only one life to live; live it up!
Seriously, you know. It's an option. okay. So, [dupa tsam] means, "Is it the
collection of its parts?" Is the pen the collection of its parts? Which pen? The pen,
out there, that exists on its own, independent of my thinking of it as a pen. But
there is no such pen. Yeah, I know, I'm just asking you a trick question. Is the
pen that doesn't exist a collection of its parts? No, stupid. okay. Scratch Six. [Dupa
tsam] means "the sum of its parts, independent of my projections." okay. We're
always assuming independence. okay. We'll get it better when I go to the class
for tonight. [Nyu kyi nam pa, nyu kyi nam pa]. I'm gonna cut it here, okay? Cut
it right here. You know what? Cut it right here. Sorry. I'll make it, [laughter] no,
I'll just make it easier for you. The rest just belongs with the whole and not the
parts. okay? Just [yip], okay? [Yip, yip], sorry [yip]. By the way, those of you
who are, want to know how to pronounce Tibetan, this is, it is a high tone,
strong [unclear Tibetan] [yip!] okay. Yipee. [Yip] means, [laughter] [yip] means
the outline. There was Buddhist, there was a non-Buddhist school that said the
outline is the pen, you know. That the pen has a special configuration, that the
sum of the parts has a certain look to it, which is the pen. okay? What is, is, is the
pen that, that configuration, you know, that car? Is the car the, you know if you
have a Corvette, you know, if you have a Porche, you know, what's his name's
Saab. Who is that? Chilton, you know. [laughter] You know, I mean, is it the, is it
the configuration? Is it the general outline? There was a non-Buddhist school that
said that. And Number Seven, Nagarjuna takes the time to say, "Come on. You
know, like, sorry. [laughs] It works well, I know. [laughter] Is it, is the pen its
general outline? You know, is it some special configuration or outline of the
thing. [Yip] means "outline" in this case. And it's not, okay, not before I think of it
as a pen, okay. And that's all. Those are the seven. You'll never find them in
scripture. They mention them all the time, and I just thought it'd be cool to go
through them. The bottom line is, if the pen, if you treat the pen without your
conception of a pen, if you think there's some pen out there, on its own, from its
own side, before your karma forces you to see it as a pen, then all kinds of crazy
things can happen. The fact is, there is no such thing. The fact is that the only
thing there, if you want to call it that, is "raw data," is some blue and white
cylinder. okay? And then what you see depends on who you are. You know. If
you're a dog, you come in and see some blue and white, chewable object. If
you're a human, you come in and see a blue and white writing instrument. If
you're a tantric deity, you come in and see a blue and white ecstasy stick. You
know? I mean, it just creates ecstasy in you, you don't even care what it's used
for. You see what I mean? Seriously. Magic wand, if you want. And, and each of
those beings would, validly, reasonably, see one of those things. No problem.
Which would you rather be? You see? That's all. okay. You examined the pen in
seven ways to assure yourself that if there was a pen out there, everything
would be screwy. All those things are impossible. It could not be the sum of its
parts. It could not be the individual parts. It could not have its parts. It could not
depend on its parts. Its parts couldn't depend on it. Nothing could go right if the
pen existed out there on its own. okay? And you have to get used to it. That's the
examination, the, the, the examination of the, they sometimes, they call it the
examination of the chariot or the wagon, like that. Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

Oh. Why did we even talk about it? It was because [Gyaltsab Je] dismissed the
whole idea of the mind, itself, being self-existent. Remember we finished
examining the self-existence of Michael Roach. Now we're discussing the self-
existence of his parts, which are body and mind. And we rejected body, easily,
and then we went on to mind. And [Gyaltsab Je], all he did was leave you
hanging. He said, "Use those seven examinations for the mind." And he never
mentions what they are. If you, you'll see in the reading tonight. So, I thought if
you might like to see them. This is from, straight from Arya Nagarjuna.
Apparently, in 1402, everybody knew, okay, but we don't. And and thought it
was, you always hear this analysis of the, of the wagon or the chariot, and you
never get to see it. And that's it. And, and you have to understand that they're
talking about, if you just get that, they're talking about a pen that was a pen
from its own side. And there ain't no such thing. So none of those things can be
possible. By the way, one of them is true. Which one? Maybe a couple of them
actually. Which ones are true, conventionally, if we're talking about projection?
Well, it is the sum of its parts. If you include the part called "projection." It does
depend on its parts, if you include as one of the parts, the "projection." It does
possess its parts, if you include, among its parts, the projection. Some of them
are okay, if you're not talking about a pen that exists out there from its own side.
okay? You gotta get used to that. You cannot even imagine what I mean when I
say, "A pen that exists from its own side," 'cause you've been assuming that the
pen was that way all along. And that's why humans and dogs have fights. And
that's why you fight with your friends about what's good music and what's not
good music. okay? 'Cause to you, it seems like self-existently good music from
its own side, and you believe it, and then you collect bad karma. And then you
have to listen to the bad music. [laughter] okay? Not Neil Young's first album.
okay. We'll go on. Seriously. I mean, that creates all your suffering: believing in
self-existence. okay. Now we can actually get to the class.

[Master Shantideva], at this point, now we're onto today's class, starts to discuss,
there are five beautiful proofs of emptiness. okay? They appear in
[Madhyamika] literature. Their roots are found in [Nagarjuna, Arya Nagarjuna],
and they're carried on by [Chandrakirti]. Yeah?

(Student: Did we do all four, unclear)

No, we have not. okay? We have not done them all yet. Yeah, yeah. It's a very
good question. okay.

So, there are five very beautiful proofs found in [Madhyamika] literature, for
proving emptiness. And when they get to this they always say, "Is that all there
is?" And they say, "No, they're endless. There are countless ways to prove
emptiness.," but these are the big five. okay, these are the big five. And, they
start out with a proof called,

Sorry.

(Student: unclear, asking Geshe Michael to do something with the transparency)

John says this will be easier on your eyes. Is it?

(students: unclear, discussion)

Not self-existently? [laughter] Only for some people? [laughs] Oh, I don't mind.

Say [dorje]

(students: [dorje])

[sekmay]

(side one of tape runs out. Note: The transliterated Tibetan term on the
transparency was, [Dorje sekmay tentsik].)



TAPE 1 / SIDE 2

(recording begins mid-sentence) Diamond, okay, neatest thing. [Dor] means
"stone," [je] means "king" or "lord," like [Je Tsongkapa]. okay? So [dorje] is the
king of stones, or the diamond. okay? [Sekmay] means, it's a very hard word to
translate. I translate it as "a sliver" of diamond, a tiny piece of diamond, like there
is not any other object in the universe which can scratch a diamond, period.
There's nothing. Nothing in the universe can scratch a diamond. But you can put
a diamond on the ground and hit it a certain way and it'll shatter, into thousands
of pieces. okay? If you've ever been a diamond cutter, you know this from
experience, you know like, [laughs] you go to your client and say, "You know
that 20 carat piece of rough you gave me?" You know. [laughing] "It's a [dorje
sekmay]", you know. [laughing] And sometimes you hit a, sometimes you hit a,
a knot in, a pressure point, and it just shatters, inside. When the diamond is being
cut, which it can only be cut by another diamond, it gets red-hot, it's actually
glowing, red, and, and then it, it just hits a flaw and it just blows up, just like that.
And then you have to go explain to the client. Anyway, [dorje sekmay] means "a
sliver of diamond," like that, a tiny slice of diamond. For example it's used in:
froth, of the ocean wave, when it blows up, hits the shore, and there's these
splatters of froth; those are each called [sekmay]. So [sekmay] means like that.
It's a rare word. [Tentsik] means, "the proof." The proof, of emptiness, here.
[Tentsik] means a proof, a logical proof, a syllogism. okay. A proof. [Ma] just
makes it feminine, which is always "wisdom," okay, the feminine side. okay.
[Sekmay] means, "a sliver," but there's this sense of feminine and wisdom. okay?
So, [dorje sekmay tentsik] means, "the proof of emptiness called 'the sliver of
diamond.'" Why is diamond so important in Buddhism? Why does it come so
often? Why, for example, is The Diamond Cutter called The Diamond Cutter,
although the word "diamond" doesn't ever appear in it? okay. The day that you
see emptiness, directly, which we said at the beginning of this class, if as a result
of this class, you could see emptiness, directly, for 20 minutes, you're, you would
be on your way out of suffering. Within a limited time-span, you would become
enlightened. And, and you cannot say that of anyone until they have seen
emptiness, directly. If someone has not, yet, seen emptiness, directly, and they,
and you ask a Buddha, "How long's it gonna be?" He has to say, "I don't know,
we don't know yet." But the minute you see emptiness, directly, the nature of
ultimate truth is that it begins to change your being, drastically. And now you
have the ability to become enlightened. And you will be. And you see your
future enlightenment. After you come down out of the direct perception of
emptiness, you see your future enlightenment. That's the whole goal of this class.
The whole goal of all of these courses. If one person, of all the people who ever
come here, or who ever take these correspondence courses, and things like, if
one person could see it directly, it would be worth all the effort of everyone
here. If one person could see it. Hearing about it over and over again, seeing it
proven many, many different ways, is, is the beginning of seeing it directly.
Along with that, you must be meditating, deeply, practicing meditation every
day, one or two hours a day, every day. And along with that you must be
collecting very, very heavy-duty good karma. For example by helping other
people understand emptiness, okay. You're doing all those things, and serving
the Dharma like that, but all those things have to come together for you to see
emptiness. The day you see it, you see that it is very similar to a diamond. okay?
Or I should say, that a diamond is similar to it. Why? In the physical world, in
your reality as it stands now, there are no ultimates. You can't say, this person is
ultimately nice. You can't say, this is the tallest thing in the universe. You can't
say, this is the smallest thing in the universe. You can't say, this is the hardest
thing in the, hart, hottest thing in the universe. But there is a hardest thing in the
universe, and that's a diamond. There is nothing in the universe which can
scratch a diamond, except another diamond. Diamonds have soft grains and
hard grains, like pieces of wood. Along its hard grain there is no substance in the
universe which can scratch a diamond. It is close to the idea of ultimate. And
there is no other object in your reality, if a Buddha was try, or if a person, if an
Arya was trying to explain to you emptiness, what they had just seen, all they
could say is, "Think about diamond. Just think about diamond." It's an experience
of all Aryas, when they come down out of that, that they are obsessed with
diamonds. okay? It's, it's an experience. And that's why you see diamonds
throughout Buddhist literature. [Dorje] here means "diamond," in the sense of
the closest thing an Arya could talk to you about, to describe emptiness as an
ultimate. It is an ultimate. It is a higher reality. It's way beyond this reality. It's so
ultimate that if you saw it, directly, for twenty minutes, it could eventually stop
every kind of suffering you have. That's why you're here. okay? That's its
quality, and that's the closest that an Arya could come to telling you about it.
And a new Arya, a baby Arya, would want to be around diamonds all the time.
To remember, what they saw. You know? They would purposely set up some
kind of way to be near diamonds. okay? That's the meaning of diamond.
[Sekmay] means every object in this room has its own emptiness. Every person
here, has their own emptiness. Every, every part of every thing here has its own
emptiness. The emptiness of every thing in this room is totally equal. okay? It's
total, pure, 100%, unadulterated ultimate reality. okay. It's attached to a different
basis, but its quality is pure, total, 100%, unadulterated lack of self-existence. And
in that sense, every emptiness in this room, and there are as many emptinesses
in this room, as there are objects in this room, and pieces of objects in this room,
each one of them is pure, 100% emptiness. And when you see emptiness,
directly, for the first time, you are seeing exactly the same emptiness that an
enlightened being sees, all the time. The, the emptiness that you are aware of,
and your experience of that emptiness, directly, is exactly the same as an
enlightened being sees all the time, and your awareness of it is total. It's not like
you have half of their realization of emptiness, or three-quarters, or something
like that. Your understanding, I shouldn't say, "understanding," your direct
communion with emptiness is as pure and as ultimate as that of an enlightened
being. So, in that sense, all the emptinesses in this room are totally the same. If
you take a diamond and smash it, each [sekmay], each tiny piece, is absolute,
pure, total diamond. And so, [dorje sekmay] is a very important meaning in
Buddhism. okay? It means, each emptiness in the universe is total, pure, absolute
reality. In the same way that if you smash the diamond, each piece, diamond is,
by the way, chemically, perfect, perfect carbon. It's the same carbon as in a pencil
lead, but the one in a pencil lead is, is not arranged well along this axis, so when
you write, it shaves off, pieces break off. When you write with a pencil, it's just
lousy atomic structure along this plane. And so they slice off like slate, pieces of
slate falling off. But diamond, every possible configuration is a perfect bonding.
There's no more perfect bonding. Every molecule of diamond is absolutely pure
diamond. Pure, absolutely pure diamond. Absolutely perfect configuration.
Cannot be split by any other object in the universe, and emptiness is the same.
So [dorje sekmay] is, is a really, really important word. It's not a mistake that
they named this proof of emptiness [dorje sekmay], okay? It relates very
importantly to your first perception of, of emptiness, okay? Direct perception.
okay, anyway, what is the [dorje sekmay tentsik]? Mmmm, let me see. That's it,
and this is, again, from [Nagarjuna], and I'm gonna teach it to you from his
words. I just think it's a blessing if you can get the straight, the story straight
from the, what they called the second Buddha, okay? These are [Nagarjuna's]
own words. We'll do it line by line, how's that? Then you won't get indigestion.

Say [Dak le]

(students: [Dak le])

[ma yin]

(students: [ma yin])

[shen le]

(students: [shen le])

[min]

(students: [min])

OK. You may not have noticed it, but we finished proving the emptiness of your
body and the emptiness of your mind. okay? Those are easy, okay? The
emptiness of your body is easy. Why? It's standing still. okay? Like, we can think
of its parts like they have those charts in the butcher's shop. You know, rump
roast, loin, ribs. [laughter] You know what I mean? It's not like it's moving, like a
cow. It's like you gotta, it's up there on the wall and it's stationary. It's staying
there, okay? But, the emptiness of the parts of your body is easy, because the
parts are so easy. You know, "arm" is not that difficult, "hand" is not that difficult.
"Mind" is a little more subtle, but you are aware (he snaps his fingers) of this
present moment. There is a (snap) moment of awareness right now, and it's not
so hard to imagine that what we call your mind is the sum total of all those
moments (snap) that (snap) have (snap) ever (snap) occurred in your life. We call
those, "Leon." We call those "Leon's mind." The sum total (snap) of all the present
moments of consciousness. Like what? Like the one you is havin' right now.
okay? So it's not so hard to imagine that as a part, and to imagine your mind as
being made up of those parts, over the length of your life. That's, that's harder
than your body 'cause it's kinda, invisible. But, it's, it's not so hard if you're
having a present moment of awareness, which I hope most people are. okay? It's
not that hard, okay? Now, we're getting into tricky territory. okay. [Nagarjuna]
is about to prove, by the way, well, he's gonna prove the emptiness of causation,
itself. Why does one thing make another thing happen? Why does one thing
make another thing happen? What's the emptiness of things making other things
happen? When you hit a nail with a hammer, what's the emptiness of the nail
going into the wood? okay. What's the emptiness of the hammer blow causing
the nail to go into the wood? What's the emptiness of going to work, and getting
money, and then using it to buy food? okay. Causation of itself. Causing things
to work. What's the emptiness of a taxi cab that takes you across town? The
cause of getting across town is the cab. okay. What is the emptiness of that? Is
that also empty the way your mind and your body are empty? okay. That's
more tricky, and it's much more important, in my mind. Why do things work,
okay? You can call tonight's class, "Why Do Things Work," okay? Why is it, when
you present the guy this green paper, they give you a Michael and Zoe's
strawberry, protein shake? okay? [laughter] Why? okay. Why is it, when you
spend eight hours there, the guy gives you another paper with these zeros on it,
and a number in front of that, you know. Why is it that when you put a certain
number of parts together this thing turns and, and goes across town, called a
car? You know, why? Why is it that the sun comes up in the morning? okay.
Why? What's making it happen? okay? And, and [Arya Nagarjuna] gives us four
choices. Sometimes this is called a [mu shi], the reasoning based on four possible
choices. The first choice is that [dak, dak le]. okay, choice number one. Things
happen because they happen. Who made a pea round? This is a big debate in the
non-Buddhist schools of great, of India, the great (unclear). Who made thorns
sharp? Nobody, they made, they're sharp from themselves. Come on, you
know. Who made the sky blue? Nobody. Come on, the sky's blue. But that's the
big one, you know: Who made thorns sharp? Who made needles sharp? Who,
who made peas round? Peas is round, they're round, themselves, okay?
[laughter] It sounds stupid, right? It's like saying, why did, who was it yesterday,
you know, why did, why were two people in a car accident and one of them died
and one of them didn't? Oh, it just happened, Johnny, don't ask anymore. You
know what I mean? That's science's answer. Science is saying [dak le yin], things
come from them, just random; it just happened. okay? What caused it? Nothing
caused it, it just happened. If you ask why he died, I can tell you. You know,
there's a certain conchoidal fracture to the left template of the third part of the
brain, you know, due to the windshield cutting in at that angle, and like that.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that's why the windshield smashed his head, but why was
he sitting on that side, and why did the car hit him on that side?" And science
says, "[dak le yin]." [Dak le yin], it just happened from itself. There's no
explanation for that. I can tell you why his skull was crushed. There's no answer
to the question, "Why was he sitting on the left?" okay? I mean, science would
say, it comes, because it comes to that question. That question doesn't have an
answer. We're very scientific 'til we get to that question. okay? Everything has an
answer; everything has a cause, except for the stuff we can't figure out what its
cause is. okay? You see what I mean? We choose to ignore, that one. okay. That,
"Is it an event?" "Yes." "Do all events have causes?" "Probably." "Does that event
have a cause?" "No, it just happened." okay. "Well, why do you restrict yourself
to explaining why half the stuff has causes, and the other stuff you don't bother
to explain?" "'Cause we can't figure it out, okay? Stop asking." okay? [laughs] We
can't figure out why that guy was sitting on the left. We can't figure out why you
were born into this crummy life. We can tell you how you're gonna die. We can
tell you which virus is gonna kill you, but we can't tell you why, that virus, you
got it that day. We can't tell you that. It just happens, [dak le yin], okay? [Dak le
yin], it comes from itself. It happens by itself. It's like the roundness of peas, in
ancient India. It's like the sharpness of a rose's thorn. Nobody made it that way,
that's just the way they are. okay? And [Nagarjuna] says, "No thanks. I don't like
it." okay. It's not true. Everything has a cause, come on. Everything has a cause.
You can't say some things, events, have causes and some don't. You can't explain
how the AIDS virus kills you and not explain why this guy got the AIDS virus,
and not somebody else. okay? It doesn't make any sense. okay. Things don't
come from themselves. Things don't just happen. okay? He rejects Number One.
Things don't just come from themselves. And in a way that's the most important
one for us to, to discuss. We have to fill it in. I claim that western civilization's
viewpoint is incomplete and dysfunctional. okay, incomplete, in that it doesn't
answer those questions; dysfunctional, in that the questions it does answer, don't
help us. You know? We still die. It doesn't explain why I'm here and why I'm
dying. okay? It explains, like a little stuff about my viruses and my proteins, you
know, but it doesn't keep me from dying, and it doesn't even talk about that.
okay? [Dak le ma yin]. So, [Arya Nagarjuna] rejects that. He says, "Come on,
things don't come from themselves." okay? For one thing to cause another thing,
they must be separate. okay. For one thing to cause another thing, they must be
separate things. Come on. Things don't just happen on their own. Something
else has caused it to happen. okay? And, and if you think about it, even though it
sounds silly to say that an oak tree caused an oak tree, or that a full-grown corn
sprout caused a full-grown corn sprout, that's what science is saying when they
say, "It just happens." okay. It's exactly what they're saying. How about Number
2? [Shen le min]. By the way, that [ma yin], there, is "no way." [Nagarjuna] says,
"No way." [Dak le] means, "it just happened." It just came by itself. [Ma yin]
means, [Arya Nagarjuna] is saying, "No, things don't just happen by
themselves." Something else comes along and makes them happen. Even the
question of, why did Mr. A died but Mr. B didn't die. okay. There's a cause.
There's a reason.

Say [shen le min]

(students: [shen le min])

[shen le min]

(students: [shen le min])

[Shen] means "something else." [Le] means, "it comes from something else."
okay? When a nail sinks into a piece of wood, is it because of the action of some
other thing? Of course! [laughs] Called what? A hammer! okay. When a hammer
crosses empty space and hits the head of the nail, is that caused by something
else? Yes, your arm. Ask Andy Graves. okay? When the arm moves from Point
A to Point B, is that caused by something else? Yes. What? Movement, here,
something like that. Is that caused by something else? Yes, motivation. Is that
caused by something else? Yes, yesterday's mind. Is that caused by some,
everything is caused by something else. Of course, everything is caused by
something else. Everything that does something, does that because something
else happened before that. That's the way things work. No problem, right? What
causes a Michael and Zoe's strawberry, protein shake to appear in your hand?
You pay, okay? What causes the money to appear in your pocket? You "woik,"
you go to "woik." okay. What makes you go to work? Your Mom and Dad
create your body. You know, what caused your Mom and Dad to create your
body? Etc. okay? Everything is caused by something else, and [Nagarjuna] says,
[min].

Say, [shen le min].

(students: [shen le min])

[Min] means "no way." It's not. [Arya Nagarjuna] is hallucinating. He's saying,
they don't, things are not caused by other things. Things don't cause other things
to happen. Donald Trump, were you in the class, Friday? We re-did the New
York Times front page, according to karma, okay? [laughs] No, we're fighting a
world view. We're fighting a thing called western civilization's idea of the way
things "woik," because it's incomplete and it doesn't help us. okay. You can find a
complete one that will make you enter a permanent bliss, and that's a lot better.
okay? So, what's the difference? [Shen le min] means, it's not the money that got
you the Michael and Zoe's strawberry, protein shake. It's not. That was not the
cause of the shake, to Buddhism, period. It's not the cause of the shake. There's
lots of people with money who can't get a shake. [laughter] okay? So, it's not the
cause of the shake. Most of the time you can get a shake if you have money.
Right? If you go into Michael and Zoe's and you have enough money, you can
usually get a shake. But, I have to say "usually." Why? Sometimes they'll be out
of, you know, strawberries; sometimes they'll be out of protein stuff. Sometimes
there'll be a long line, and you don't have time before class to get one. okay? Get
it, okay? This is profound. This overthrows all of western civilization's
viewpoints, and it also happens to get you to a Buddha paradise. A shake is not
caused by money. Why? Hey stupid, did you notice? It doesn't always cause a
shake. If money was the cause of a shake, you would always get a shake if you
had enough money. Seriously. I'm not kidding. It's so obvious, you missed it, for
what, thirty, forty years. You continue to miss it and you continue to suffer and
you will die unless you get what I'm saying right now. A shake ain't caused by
the money, and it's not why you get the shake. okay? It's not why you get the
shake. You're talking about self-existent money causing a self-existent shake, and
there ain't no such thing. Why do you get a shake?

(Student: unclear)

Karma. You're forced to see yourself getting a shake because you provided one
to someone else, period. "Oh, come on, it's too easy, it's too simple. How can we
live like that? We'd have to go around giving shakes to everybody." [laughter]
Yeah, right! And what would happen? You'd be in a Buddha paradise with all the
strawberry shakes you want. [laughter] Seriously. [laughter] Seriously. If it was
money that created a strawberry, protein shake at Michael and Zoe's then
anyone who walked in there with enough money would get one. That's not the
cause. Get it! Get it! You know, you have to get it. Your life depends on it. Your
life depends on it. You can become a tantric deity. You can enter a Buddha
paradise. You have to give up that wrong view. Self-existent money doesn't
cause self-existent shakes. okay? A shake is a projection onto some red, cold,
wet. And if you want one, you'd better setup that projection. How? Give
somebody something to drink! okay? It always works. Get it? It always works.
It's better than money. Money is defective. Money doesn't always work. Money's
not the cause. Why? Because it doesn't always work, stupid! okay? If it was the
cause of the shake, you'd always get the shake when you had money. That's not
why you get the shake. okay. But if you walk into Michael and Zoe's without the
money, are you gonna get a shake?

(students: [laughter] Maybe.)

If you had the karma, and I'm not kidding, and I'm not exaggerating, you could
walk into a restaurant in the East Village. The waitress would come up to you
after the meal. You'd say, "Please give me the check." And she'd say, "I would
never think of charging Vajrayogini for a meal," you know. "It's not, it's not my
right, and it's, and it would be presumptuous for me to charge Vajrayogini. If
you'd like to pay, you can pay, and if not, it's alright." It's not impossible. It
happens. It happens. It's not impossible. You must collect the causes to have that
projection. It's a really cool projection. It does wonders for your credit card. You
know? [laughter] okay? Seriously, not possible, not IMpossible! Why? Because
the food, and the waitress, and the restaurant, and the bill are all empty. okay?
They're just raw data. They can be chewable objects, or pens, or, or a Buddha
paradise. And it will happen to you if you, if you do it. If you collect the right
causes. If you act smart, and if you have the right world-view. Hopefully, this
world view, we, we really, if you get it tonight, what I'm saying, you get what
the world would be like if we lived like that. You know. You get what would
happen. No one would hurt anybody, ever. Because it's stupid, because you can't
get anything that way. okay. It doesn't work. It's dysfunctional, and people
would just start, that'd be weird, you know being compassionate towards each
other all the time, and helping each other all the time, and giving each other
shakes all the time. I mean, aside from being the way to get to Buddha paradise,
societally it's the best way, right? Even if there's no such thing as karma, it's be
the sweetest way to live. But, in fact, it does cause you to reach a Buddha
paradise. [Master Shantideva] calls it, "a blissful path to bliss." It's more fun, and
it's, it makes you a Buddha. And it's correct view. And that's the only correct
view. You have to help others. You have to give to others. And that's what
creates shakes. That's why [Nagarjuna] said, [shen le min], things are not caused
by the things you think. You're wrong. You don't get across town because you
got a taxi. Got it? You don't get across town because you got a taxi. Prove it. Lots
of people get into a taxi and never make it across town. okay? [laughter] I'm not,
I'm not kidding. I'm really not kidding. Your, your ignorance grasps to a taxi as
self-existent. Your ignorance thinks that that's the way you got across town. It
ain't the way you got across town. You got across town, if you wanted to get
across town, because you helped someone in the past get somewhere. okay. Is it
some kind of magic? No. It's an imprint planted in your mind. When? When you
saw yourself help somebody get somewhere. And what's the nature of a taxi
going across town, in your perception, in your projections? It's your karma
ripening, as a taxi ride across town. okay. How do you want to make sure you
get across town? Help other people get somewhere. okay. Well, how can you
prove that getting across town is not because I got a taxi? Because lots of people
die before they get across town. okay? If getting a taxi were how you got across
town, you would always get across town, when you got a taxi. Even science says
that. If something is the cause of something else, given the same conditions, it
should always work. And it doesn't. So stop doing that. Stop thinking that. Stop
fighting someone else for the taxi. Seriously. What would the world be like?
What would America be like? You know. It'd be cool. And everyone would get a
taxi. You know. It's really profound. It's deep. It's very deep. [Shen le min], these
three words; very profound. That's correct view. You have to change your life to
live that way. If you don't do it before you die, you will die. You have to change
it now. It doesn't work. Did you notice? How long have you been alive? Are you
happy? Did you get the things you want? That world view sucks! It doesn't
work! [laughs] I mean, get it. It doesn't work. It's dysfunctional. It's amazing
people still hang on to it. okay? Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

Ahh, difficult. You study emptiness in the ninth chapter of [Master Shantideva]'s
book. Seriously. You start with something like a pen, and you explain it clearly to
someone, and, and you explain the theory, you know, that if you did certain
things, you would be seeing this blue and white cylinder as a pen. And then what
you should do is say, "Prove it." And then I'd say, "Here's a list of exercises called
The Six Perfections. You practice them, and, or Bodhisattva vows, 64 Bodhisattva
vows. You take anyone of them, and you practice it seriously, for a year or
something, or six months, and see if you get a result or not." And then there's
that famous guy that came up to [Master Shantideva] in the patience chapter and
said, [Geshela uses a whinny voice], "Oh, I gave away five dollars and nothing
happened," you know! [laughter] And he says, Come on, I'm talking an
extended, serious practice of one of the perfections. Pick any one you want. If
you are sick of irritating people in your life, take the perfection of patience and
make it perfect. Really, seriously, practice it for a year, and, and you will see that
irritating, there will be fewer irritating people in New York. okay? Really. It
works. It really does work. The thing I described about the waitress is not a
story. It, it happens. okay? "I never saw it happen." Right! Get it? [laughs] You
come out to lunch with that person; you're not gonna see anything. The, the
waitress will probably add some more things on the bill that you didn't even eat.
[laughter] You now? I'm not kidding. This is how reality really works. The rest is
a mistake. How do you know? You're suffering. It doesn't work. okay? Your life
is not working. okay? You're getting old, and, and, and, and things fall apart.
Every time you get something nice, something screws it up. That's wrong view.
okay? Believing that the money caused the shake, or believing that the taxi's
what got you across town, is, is based in the belief that things are self-existent.
It's based in a basic, mistaken idea of every detail of your world. okay. Thinking
that that's why things work, is a huge mistake, because it's based on a
misperception of reality. okay?

(Student: unclear)

No, I'm saying you can try it. That's a different thing. I say, try it, it works. Just
try it. Oh, by the way, I can stand up here and say anything I want. You know. I
can say the waitress said that to me two weeks ago, you know? And that's not
gonna prove jack-shit for you. okay? You wanna know if it works, and you
shouldn't accept it, and if you're a good Buddhist, you won't accept it, until
you've confirmed it yourself. And once you've confirmed it yourself, you don't
need Michael Roach up here to tell it to you. And that's the bottom line, isn't it? I
mean, the proof is in the pudding. Try it. Try it. Take any one of the perfections
and do them seriously. Take some Bodhisattva vows and follow them, strictly.
Keep your book. And see what happens. If you don't keep your book, and your
practice is halfhearted, and if you're not learning about things properly so you
can do them the right way, don't blame Buddhism. You're just not doing it,
okay? And there are many people who fit into that category. You know, they
heard this all, and they say, "I'll. I'll, I'll start my book tomorrow, or next week,"
you know. Or, "I, I, I, I didn't have time to meditate today," or "I didn't have time
to check my vows today." And, of course, you're gonna get any result. And
believe me, you won't get any result. You will live exactly the way you did in the
past. You will suffer exactly the way you did in the past. No change, okay? That,
I can say for sure. I can prove that. [laughter] They'll probably call me to your
funeral, you know. "Could you do some things for this guy?" [small laughter] It's
too late. [long pause] Hmm,mm you got a lot to go tonight. You have getting-
home-late karma, I think.

Say, [Nyi le]
(students: [nyi le])

[ma yin]

(students: [ma yin])

[gyu me]

(students: [gyu me])

[min]

(students: [min])

[Nyi le ma], [nyi] means, "two, both." [le] means, "comes from them." [Ma yin],
"it's not." I'll say it in plain English, okay? If things don't come for no reason at all,
just from themselves, and if things don't come self-existently from something
else, then how could they ever come from both of those things at once? okay?
So, the third thing, the third possibility, is that the things that happen to you
either cause themselves, I'm sorry, both cause themselves, and were caused by
something else, at the same time. But we just proved both of those wrong,
separately, so there's no way they could be true together. okay? Things don't
come from themselves, and things are not caused by something else, so how
could they be from both? And that's number three. They can't be from both.
They can't come from both. okay? Number four is [gyu me min]. [Gyu me min]
means, "And they don't come from nothing at all." Don't give me that. They don't
come from nothing at all. So, I'll give you the four possibilities in plain English,
okay? This is the diamond, the sliver of diamond, okay? This is the first of the
five famous proofs of emptiness. okay? Everything inside you, and everything
outside of you that does anything, that works, okay? This is the, when you're
debating, this is the [cho chen], okay? What are we talking about? We're talking
about everything in the world that does something. okay? That has to be the
first part of your proof. "Lets talk about everything in the world that does
anything." Taxi cab, money, hammers, bosses, anything. They're empty. Why?
Because they don't come from themselves (1), and they don't come from
something else (2), and they don't come from both (3), three is they don't come
from both, themselves and something else, and (4) is, they don't come from
nothing at all, come on. okay? Now, generally, if I said to you, consider a
watermelon: It doesn't come from itself; it doesn't come from something other
than itself; it doesn't come from both; and it doesn't come without a cause. You
should say to me, "You're crazy," because number ? Something is true.

(Student: two)

Two is true. It does come from something else. What?

(Student: a seed)

A watermelon seed. okay? I'll say it again. If I come up to you and say, [Geshela
uses a big voice] "I am a great Madhyamika philosopher. Consider a
watermelon. It does not come from itself. It does not come from something else.
It does not come from both. It does not come from neither." You say, "You're
crazy." Why? "Number two. Come on, it does come from a seed." But, does a
watermelon come from a seed? You see? If, if you have a watermelon that fills
your belly, is it because it came from a watermelon seed? No. What really
happened? You fed someone else. Why? Seeds don't always produce
watermelons. If the seed were the ultimate cause of the watermelon, and you're
filling your belly with the watermelon, it would always have to work. But there's
lots of farmers, I have paid, thousands, tens of thousands of dollars of debt of
Sera Me Monastery that had lots of corn seed, that didn't work. okay. [laughs] It
didn't work, okay? It did not produce corn. It failed. okay. Corn seed doesn't
produce corn, independently. There has to be your karma. okay. It has to be, but
when we deny that it comes from something else, we're talking about, we deny
that it comes from a self-existent seed. A seed that's gonna behave the same way,
whether I have good karma in my pocket or bad karma in my pocket. okay?
That's a self-existent seed. I'll say it again. Things do not come from self-existent
seeds. What's a self-existent seed like? It be, always behaves the same, whether I,
Michael Roach, have good karma or bad karma. It always makes corn. It's not
true. If you don't have the karma, it won't make the corn. If you do have the
karma, you'll get a corn crop and Europeans will be very interested in your
sacred dance, and the monks will come back with $80,000. [laughter] okay?
[laughter] On top of the corn. You see what I mean? It's not the corn seed, it's the
karma. okay. You have to think like that. You have to start thinking like that. If
the seed works, it's because of your karma. If the seed doesn't work, it's because
of your karma. It's not coming from the seed. okay. If you want a good corn
crop, take care of other people. okay? We'll stop there for about five, ten
minutes, okay?



*********** break here **************
Number two, two, okay? Because we're running a little short on time and I don't
want to blow, blow you out. Number two. Why is it more difficult to understand
the emptiness of causation than the general emptiness of ourselves and our parts
which was already presented in the text, okay? And the answer is, it would
require us to understand that the very way in which things work in the world is
completely different than what we have always thought. You know, you always
thought that if you wanted a milkshake, you should go make enough money for
it or grub it off your friends. But in reality, the real cause of a milkshake is, is
taking care of someone else who needs a milkshake. Why? Because it's infallible.
It always works. You always get a milkshake if you take care of what other
people need to drink, okay? Period. It's not like money. Money works half the
time and doesn't work some of the time. Work works half the time and work
don't work half the time and you know that. Lots of hard working people are
poor and lots of lazy bums are rich, okay? That's why. It doesn't depend on that.
But, but understanding that is very difficult because you're not used to it. So
that's the 'all events and objects are caused only by a shift in our projections, and
not by some external, self existent causes like what you call money'. okay? Yeah?

(Student: Sounds a bit like the way it works (unclear words).

Sounds like what?

(Student: Unclear words.)

Oh. He says the way it sounds like it does work sounds like self-existent. Self-
existent, don't forget self-existent means not a projection. In fact, now that you
brought it up, we're going to get to it right now. The famous [gakja]. You've
been waiting for [gakja]. Most wanted man after Mr. Karma. Say [gakja].

(Students: [Gakja].)

[Gakja].

(Students: [Gakja].)

Don't forget that emptiness means a lack of something. Never forget that, you
know. There are schools of Tibetan Buddhism which say emptiness means some
kind of glowing light in your mind. Master Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti, His
Holiness the First Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Je Tsong
Khapa, Khen Rinpoche, Pabongka Rinpoche - they all say 'bullshit'. Why?
Emptiness is a lack of something. It's an absence of something. It's not some
golden light in your brain that you're trying to identify, okay? That's a positive
thing. Emptiness is a negative thing. Emptiness is the fact that something is not
there, okay? What is the something that's not there? [Gakja], okay? [Gakja].
[Gakja] means the thing that we deny. The thing that all Madhyamika, and all, all
studies of emptiness say does not exist. [Gakja] is the thing which we deny. With
Madhyamika. Yeah.

(Student: Unclear words, ôand it's not nothingnessö).

Right.

(Student: ôAnd a direct perception of emptiness isn't a direct perception ofö,
unclear words).

Nothing. Right, it's not. We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. We'll distinguish
between dependent origination and emptiness and that will help you. okay?
okay, so [gakja] is the thing that we are trying to prove doesn't exist. Never did
exist, never will exist, never could exist, it's not there. If you want a perfect
example, and your homework asks you for one, you can put a two headed,
purple, full size elephant rampaging through the cafeteria of the Quaker House,
okay? Why? It never could exist. It never will exist. It doesn't exist now. Don't
forget, emptiness is the absence of a thing that never existed in the first place. So
why are we talking about something that never existed, never could exist, never
will exist? Because you spend your life chasing after that thing, and you die
because of it, and you suffer because of it. What is it? It's a taxicab that could get
you across town. It's money that could buy you a milkshake. It does not exist.
Things don't work that way. You want a [gakja]? Money. You want a [gakja]?
Taxicab. Are they there? Of course they're there. Do they cause a milkshake? No
way. You gotta get used to that. If you can identify the thing that was never
there, and never will be there, it's money that always gets you a strawberry-
protein shake from Michael and Zoe's. That's a self existent thing, and you live in
that world, don't you? You know, you spend your life suffering 'cos it doesn't
work. okay? Forget this 'God' idea that doesn't work, that's cruel enough, to tell
somebody, pray to this guy that doesn't exist and he'll give you help that never
existed, okay? That's bad enough. But you have a worse one. It's called
'capitalism'. It's called 'science'. You work hard, you spend your life sweating for
this green paper, and if you take it to Michael and Zoe's, you'll always get a
milkshake. But it don't work that way. And you suffer, and you die. Maybe you
die on the way with money in your pocket, you know. Really. Seriously. It
doesn't work, okay, [laughs] it doesn't work. That's a self existent object. You
know, people think that they have to think real hard to think of a self existent
object. When you want to think of a self existent thing, the [gakja], the two
headed, purple, full-sized elephant that never could have rampaged through the
cafeteria of the Quaker House, you think of the money that you think you're
using to get the milkshake with, 'cos that ain't where the milkshake came from.
There's no such money as that. Is there green paper in your pocket? Yes. Does it
function to get a milkshake? Yes, but only if you have the karma for it. okay.
Money without the karma to get you a milkshake don't get you a milkshake,
and you know that. Lots of people with money in their pocket die, or they get to
Michael and Zoe's five minutes after they close, and they don't get a milkshake.
Seriously, I'm not kidding, and that's why you suffer. That's why you suffer. You
want milkshakes on time? Give them to other people on time. okay? You don't
need money. You might get one anyway [general laughter as Geshe Michael
pulls a milkshake out from beneath the overhead projector]. okay. That's [gakja].
You don't have to go so far. [Gakja] is a thing which could exist without being a
group of parts that we are forced by our past karma to see in a certain way.
okay? That's [gakja]. A group of parts, a group of parts - I'm going to go slow - a
group of parts, you can call it the change in your pocket, okay? A group of parts
like the coins in your pocket that you and the guy from Michael and Zoe's both
conceptualize as the money to get the thing. okay? Why? Because they're forced
by their past karma to see it as enough money to pay for a milkshake. And
you're forced by your past karma to see it as enough money to pay for a
milkshake. And since you both agree, it works to get you a milkshake. But is it
because of the money? No. It's because of the conception in their mind, and the
conception in your mind, and where did they come from? You gave somebody
help in the past, okay? What, so what's a self, what's a [gakja]? Anything that
could exist without being our projection, forced on us by our past karma. okay?
I'll give you the Tibetan for that. That's a two headed, purple, elephant that never
existed, and if you chase after it you will die first, and doesn't everybody, so far?
okay.

(Student: Unclear words).

Sorry.

(Student: Unclear words).

I'm gonna, this is the, this is it. I didn't set this up [Geshe Michael indicates his
milkshake], okay, it just... came [general laughter]. No joke, okay?

(Student: Unclear words).

Sorry?

(Student: Unclear words).

This [dokpa] means a, a conception, and the other [dokpa] means a realization,
and when you debate in the monasteries and somebody says ô[Dokpa]ö, you
say ôWhich one?ö You know, you draw the sun in the palm of your hand, and if
the guy doesn't ask you can really catch him.

(Student: Unclear words).

If you spell that [tso], the [dok], with a secondary suffix, it means a totally
different word. 'Realize' as opposed to 'think'. Big difference. okay, say [tsok
pay].

(Students: [tsok pay]).

[Tengdu]

(Students: [tengdu]).

[Tokpe]



(Students: [tokpe]).

[taktsam]

(Students: [taktsam]).

[mayinpa].

(Students: [mayinpa]).

OK. [Tsok pay] means, "the collection of the parts," all the parts together. [Tsok
pay]. All the parts together. What parts? Cylinder, white and blue. To make it
simple, okay? Cylinder, white and blue. All the parts together. [Tengdu] means,
"on top of that," onto that, [tokpe], you conceptualize, or you impose, the idea of
what? A pen. If you're human. Ahh, caught you being biased again. You forgot
to remember those dogs. You should have said, ôAhh, which realm are you
talking about, please?ö okay? Animal realm, it's just as naturally a chewable
object. okay? There's nothing inherently 'pen' about this, don't be so biased,
okay? [Tengdu tokpe taktsam, taktsam] means, "just conceived of in that way,"
just conceived of in that way, nothing more. What do we have so far? I'll put it
into plain English. 'Inguish'. This is a collection of parts, which I'm thinking of in a
certain way. Forced to do so by my past karma. okay, I'll say it again. This is a
collection of parts, and I'm thinking of them in a certain way, forced to do so by
my past karma. If my past karma was medium, rare, I'm seeing, I'm, I'm
imposing the idea of 'pen' on this thing. If my past karma was lousy, I'm thinking
of it as a chewable object, and I've got four legs instead of two. Because I'm
thinking of those things as legs, okay? Forced to by my past karma. Now, you
find me something in the world that's not that way. I'll give you a, an
assignment. It's after your meditation assignment, okay? You find me something
in the world that's not that way. You find me any object in the world that's not
just a bunch of parts which I'm forced to see in a certain way because of my past
karma. You find me something like that. If you do, you just found the [gakja].
'Cos there ain't no such thing. Never was, never will be, never could be.
[Mayinpa]. [Mayinpa] means, "not like that." Not like what? It's not just me
thinking of these parts in a certain way. Is there such a thing? No. Can you
imagine such a thing? Yes. Is your imagination the real thing? No. Can you
imagine a two headed, purple, full-size elephant rampaging through this room?
Yeah. Could it? No. Don't, don't forget to distinguish between, you could
imagine a self existent thing, but in reality there's no such thing, okay? What
would a self existent pen be like? It is a pen. From it's own side. Any being that
walked in this room, on four legs or two, would see it as a pen. But that's not the
way it is. Find me any object in the world, that's not just a bunch of raw data,
that you're thinking of in a certain way, because of your past karma, and you've
found me a self existent object. Thanks. I've been waiting for one, okay? There is
no such thing. The fact that there is no such thing is called - emptiness, please!
okay? [laughs] okay? The fact that there's no such thing like that is emptiness.
Not some glowing, beautiful, pink light in your mind, okay? That doesn't do
anything for you, okay? The fact that there's nothing in the world which is
anything until I think of it in a certain way, forced by my karma to do so, has
profound implications. I can get free, Michael and Zoe's protein shakes for the
rest of eternity. Seriously. And, and ain't that what we want, you see? I mean, I'm
not talking shakes, but, they can be there too. But Cheerios has gotta be there
[laughs]. okay, anyway, you get the point. Seeing your mind as a pink light
doesn't do you anything. If everything in the world is only my projection of my
mind, forced on me by my sweet past karma or my lousy past karma, then
there's profound implications. Then I can enter a tantric paradise in this life. I
don't have to die. Seriously. That's why you came to this class, you want to learn
that, you can do that. Could I do it without getting rid of my mental afflictions?
Could you, like, give me a, an exemption or something? Sorry [laughs]. Could I
do it without keeping my vows properly? Sorry. Keeping your vows properly is
what does it. Who said so? Lord Buddha, okay? Well, how do I keep them?
Watch them all throughout the day. Every two hours, stop your ass wherever
you are and check them. How many? Do one, okay? That's hard enough, okay?.
If you keep that up over each day, six times, you could call it, well, [tundruk] or
something like that, you know? And you might even require people who
wanted to get enlightened in this lifetime to do it. Let's make it a requirement.
Called [tundruk]. For people who want to get enlightened in this lifetime, okay?
And it works, it really works, okay? [Tundruk] don't do anything unless it's [tun
druk], okay? If you don't check six times a day, nothing happens, okay? Yeah?

(Student: ôSo [gakja] is the thing you asked us, you challenge us to find?)

Yeah.

(Student: ôSo if it's not a collection of.)

Right, right, And the fact that thing don't exist, anywhere, is, the meaning of
emptiness. That's emptiness. By the way, how many [gakjas] in your life? The
money in you pocket. The way you think of the money in your pocket is wrong.
It does not bring you the things you want, okay? Why? Incomplete and
dysfunctional, okay? It doesn't work all the time and it doesn't make you happy.
It just doesn't work. It's a, it's an illusion. It's not true, okay? Money is not what
gets you the things you want, it doesn't work. I know some of the wealthiest
people in the world. They're profoundly unhappy. It doesn't work, you know
[laughs]. Yeah?

(Student: Unclear words).

I'm sorry, say again?

(Student: Unclear words).
What is ultimate reality? Yeah, it's, it is emptiness. Same thing. Ultimate reality
and emptiness are absolutely synonyms. Yep. Absolutely the same thing. The
fact that there isn't anything in the world that is not a projection caused by your
past karma is emptiness, and that's ultimate reality. Now, you, you got me an
easy way to get into my next subject easily, okay? It's Master Shantideva who
brings up the idea of the [gakja]. He brings up the idea of a two headed, purple
elephant that never could have existed anyway. Why? It's very interesting. When
I understand, people in this room, just now, during the last hour, you perceived
emptiness. You did perceive emptiness. Everyone in this room, if you weren't
asleep, okay, you got some deeper appreciation of the meaning of emptiness. In
a way, you perceived emptiness during the last hour. You really did, honestly
you did. Did you see emptiness directly, in a deep state of meditation? No. Did
you perceive it intellectually in a, like a normal, everyday state of mind? Yes.
When you were focussing on what I said, when I said imagine something that's
not a projection, and you were trying to imagine it, and you came up with zero,
did you perceive emptiness in a way. Yes. Not directly but you did perceive it in
a way, okay? Got it? At that moment, was the emptiness you were perceiving,
were you thinking of it as self existent or not?

(Student: ôYes.ö)

You had to be. That's very interesting. Got it? You actually were understanding
emptiness, but while you were focussing on it you were misunderstanding its
reality completely. You were thinking it was self-existent. You were thinking that
was not a projection. Got it? The human mind, until you see emptiness directly,
can not see emptiness without thinking it's self-existent. So in a way, you're
making a mistake while you're perceiving the truth. You're understanding the
truth and you're misperceiving it at the same time. You understand what I meant
when I talked about emptiness, but while you were thinking about it, again you
were making your same old mistake of thinking it was self existent. okay? And
the non-Buddhists come up to Master Shantideva in a very sneaky way and say
ôSo I guess emptiness doesn't exist?ö And he says ôWhy do you say that?ö And
they say ôWell, this [gakja] thing, when you, when you see there's no such thing
in the world, you think you see some kind of emptiness, right? And Master
Shantideva says ôRight, you do.ö ôBut even while you're perceiving it you're
thinking it's self existent, right?ö ôYes, that's trueö. ôSo really you're not
perceiving anything?ö ôWrong.ö okay? Got it? I'll say it again. You are
misunderstanding emptiness while you're thinking about it. While you're
thinking about emptiness you're actually thinking that it's self existent. So it's true
you're mistaken about emptiness, but it's not true that emptiness itself is self
existent. It looks to be self existent to you at that moment, but it's not true that it
is.

(Student: Unclear words).

At that moment, intellectual understanding, yeah. I'll say it again. At the moment
that you're understanding emptiness intellectually, you are still believing in its
self existence. Is it self existent at that moment? No, it just looks self existent at
that moment. What's wrong with it being self existent at that moment? Hey,
stupid, two headed, purple elephant, get it? It wouldn't even be there, okay?
Very subtle. So, if on your homework - this is how I get people to pay attention -
this is why the homework exists, actually [laughs], if on your homework it said
ôWhy did Master Shantideva get into the [gakja] at this point?ö He was
answering that question. What was the question? Somebody came up and said,
ôIf you understand emptiness intellectually, aren't you at the same moment
believing that it's self existent? That it's not a projection of your mind?ö And
Master Shantideva says, fearlessly, ôRightö. So they say, ôOh, well - is the
emptiness you're perceiving self existent? Because if it is, doesn't even exist and
you Buddhists are crazy. And Master Shantideva says ôLook, it's true that I'm
not seeing it the right way at that moment, but that doesn't mean it's the way
that I think I see it. Because I also agree that if it was self existent, it wouldn't exist
at all. But it's no problem for me, Master Shantideva to say that when I'm a baby
Buddhist in class number twelve, and I'm trying to understand emptiness, and
I've got some fuzzy idea about it, and at the same time I'm seeing as self existent,
it still works for me. I'm still getting closer to enlightenment. There's no problem
with that. okay. I'm seeing it a little bit wrong. I'm seeing as self existent. But that
doesn't mean it is self existent, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, that doesn't
mean Buddhas are crazy. okay, that's their, that's their attempt to, to defeat the
Buddhists. It boils down to this. Get it. Is emptiness itself empty? Is emptiness
itself a projection? Yes, okay? Why? Hey, everything's a projection. Even
emptiness? Right. okay? Get it? It's, it's the question, if everything's empty, isn't
emptiness empty? He says, ôYou're rightö. And they say, ôWell does everybody
understand emptiness as empty?ö He say, ôNo, when you're just a baby in
Buddhism class and you think it's still self existent.ö Well then doesn't it not exist
like your two headed purple elephant?ö ôNo, it's just the guy's not mature
enough in his thinking yet and he's seeing it as self existent and later on he
won't,ö and ôWell then how can it help him, he's, he's not even understanding it?
ö ôHe is understanding it, with a wrong perception.ö That's no problem. okay?
It's no problem to get across town in a taxi whose existence you totally
misunderstand. okay? Does it work for making yourself into a Buddha in this
life? No. Does it work for getting across town? Well, most of the time. It's a,
incomplete and unfulfilling way to get across town, okay? [laughs] Seriously,
okay, that's the question of the emptiness of emptiness, and luckily you brought
up that question 'cos I wasn't sure how we'd get to that. okay. By the way, that's
why Master Shantideva gets on to the subject of the [gakja] here. Why? Because
[gakja] comes up in the context of understanding emptiness intellectually. okay.
Think about it. Does money cause a Michael and Zoe's shake? No. Is there a kind
of money that I used to think did? Yes. What was it like? Oh, it was like green
paper, you know. But it had this inherent ability to get me a Michael and Zoe's
shake. Well doesn't it? No. Why not? Sometimes they're out of strawberries.
Money didn't change its' nature. If it was self existently potent money, it should
always get me a milkshake, whether or not there's any strawberries there,
because it's the cause of the milkshake. That kind of money does not exist.
Money that could do its schtick without your good karma is useless. You'll die
like Howard Hughes, with your own hospital floor. Thirty, thirty doctors
attending you, you know, and the money doesn't work, because money doesn't
work. Karma works. Money imbued with karma works and money without the
karma don't work. Money doesn't cause happiness, money doesn't cause
prosperity. It, it's like obvious, okay. Yeah, Ilya.

(Student: öYou always talk about the taxi and how it functions, you always talk
about the taxi that functions to crush your legs, so don't we have to say,
functions to crush your legs if you have the karma?ö)

Right, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. It's your karma that crushes your legs
in the form of a taxicab, how's that? Yeah?

(Student: ôSounds like, every time you say karma it sounds like the karma is
self-existent.ö)

Yeah, yeah it's very tricky. It does begin to sound like the karma itself would be
self existent. If it were self existent we could never change our karma. For
example, we could never do purification. You know, every person in this room, I
mean if I started to describe the odds against us you'd get depressed, okay? I
mean, you have about a hundred negative thoughts for each positive thought
during the day. The odds are almost impossible that you could have the waitress
come up and say what she said. So there must be a way to purify that karma,
and there is. That proves the karma's not self existent. You see what I mean? It
can be changed. It can be short circuited, it can be defused, and even though it's
still there, it doesn't work any more. And that's what you want to do with your
old bad karma. okay? Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

Yeah, if the concept of karma itself, if the principle of karma was self existent,
then everybody would be attracted to it equally. You see what I mean? If it were
self existently true, no-one would misunderstand it, and everyone would follow
it. You see what I mean? It's also a projection. If you happen to be having that
projection, you will become a Buddha in this lifetime. okay? [laughs] But that's
not, that's not necessarily the case. It's also empty. okay, we've got to move on a
bit, woo, we're getting into it, okay. I, there's a line in Master Shantideva where
he explains the importance of understanding the [gakja]. What's that? And I
thought you might like to, we, we have to memorize it in the monasteries, it's
like a mantra. It is the most important line of all from the
Bodhisattvacharyavatara, and I thought you should see it. I thought you should
learn it. We'll do the first line, I'll give you the second line. After I have my self
existent shake. okay, back to the first line. Just read it, it's like holy, holy words,
okay? [Takpay]

(Students: [takpay]).

[nyu la].

(Students: [nyu la]).

[Ma rekpar].

(Students: [Ma rekpar]).

[De].

(Students: [De]).

[nyume]

(Students: [nyume]).

[dzin mayin].

(Students: [dzin mayin]).
OK. [Takpay ngu, takpay ngu] means 'the thing you thought was there.' 'The
thing you thought was there.' [Ma rekpar] means 'until you can identify it.' okay?
'Until you can identify it' So this line means, 'until you can identify the thing you
thought was there.' Like what? Like self existent money that always gets you a
Michael and Zoe's shake. Self existent money that's the cause of the shake.
Money that gets you a milkshake. okay? We can say, example, okay, money that
gets you a milkshake. You thought that's what got you the milkshake, right?
Money that gets you a milkshake. What's the ontological status of money that
gets you a milkshake? How, how much does money that gets you a milkshake
exist? Not a bit, okay? Get used to it. Money that gets you a milkshake doesn't
exist. Period. It is a two headed, purple, full sized elephant rampaging through
the Quaker House cafeteria. I'll say it again. Money that gets you a milkshake
and a two headed, full size, purple, elephant rampaging through this cafeteria at
this moment have exactly the same existence, which is zero. Get used to it. You
want to get milkshakes, there's only one currency. It's good karma. It always
works. It's the cause of milkshakes. No milkshake was ever drunk in the world
but that somebody collected some good karma. Who? The drinker, please. okay?
Seriously. It was not caused by money. Get used to it, okay? What Mrs. Melvin
said was wrong. And the New York Times was mistaken. Prove it. It don't work.
You're no happier than people were a thousand years ago thinking the same
thoughts. They don't work, okay. They don't work for human beings. If a
viewpoint doesn't work for human beings, you should just dump it. If there's an
alternative that works all the time. Prove it. No, you prove it. Try it, okay? It, it
really does work. It's really cool. You can live without any money at all, actually.
okay. [De].

(Students: [De]).

[ngume]

(Students: [ngume]).

[dzin mayin].

(Students: [dzin mayin]).

By the way, the existence of money in your pocket and having the karma for
that money to be able to buy a milkshake are closely related, okay? If you have
the karma to have that money be recognized as worth a milkshake, you
probably have the karma to have that money in your pocket. You see what I
mean? It's not a mistake that they seem to cause each other. A person who has
one most often has the other, but not always. You see? They're both caused by
good karma. That's why the world thinks that money causes a milkshake. But
that's a very subtle thing. okay. [De ngume dzin mayin] means, "the fact that it
doesn't even exist," in this case. The fact that is doesn't even exist, [dzin mayin]
you cannot recognize it. What's he saying? I'll put it in simple terms. Until the day
you identify the thing that you thought was there, you will never be able to
realize that it doesn't even exist. What 'it'? Money that causes milkshakes. You
believe it. You really believe it. You walk out of here and you put that money in
your hand and you walk towards Michael and Zoe's and tell me you don't
believe that this is the cause of a milkshake. You do, and it's wrong. You have in
your hand nothing. There's nothing in your hand, okay? What do you mean,
nothing? And use those seven point analysis, please. Why? Why did you bring
up that seven point analysis? I didn't even get what you were talking about
when you were talking about it. [laughs] You check some money in your hand
to see if it self existently will get you a milkshake. You check the money in your
hand and see if without your karma, and without the guy making the milkshake
or selling the milkshake's karma, forcing him to see it as worth a milkshake, and
forcing you to see it as worth a milkshake, you see if that money works
otherwise. You see if the money, independent of anybody thinking of it as worth
a milkshake, will ever get you a milkshake. Which is to say, go take some
wampum to Michael and Zoe's, okay, and offer it for a milkshake, and see if that
guy has the karma to perceive it as worth a milkshake. And he won't. Does that
mean it's impossible to think of that as worth a milkshake? Forget it. The island
on which Michael and Zoe's is sitting was bought with wampum. Seriously.
Because somebody had the karma to see that as worth an island called
Manhattan. Of course it's only in your mind. Of course it's only a projection.
okay? You go find me some money that's not a projection. What? Oh, let's take
wampum. And you go offer it for a Michael and Zoe's milkshake and see if it
works. It doesn't work. Well how do you get a Michael and Zoe's milkshake?
Give some away. okay? Keep giving them away, and you won't be able to stop
the money coming. Your main problem then will be to account for it to your
sponsors, you know, 'cos it's too much, and you don't have time to account for it,
you know, it'll just come, and, and property and stuff like that, if that's what you
want. Yeah?

(Student: Unclear)

Say again, I didn't catch it.
(Student: Unclear words.)

Yeah, yeah. Well the fact that a diamond is so hard, I'll ask you Jay, you tell me
first, does it make you happy or sad, 'cos if you're, if you're talking about what
was it caused by, I need to know good karma, bad karma, you tell me. Was it
caused, does it make you happy or sad or neutral?

(Student: Unclear)

Well it happens to work for you, I mean like they can't make car engines except
for the fact that the diamonds can sharpen the carbide steel that can cut the steel
to make car engines. You can't make car engines without diamonds. okay? So
let's say it works for you, it helps for you. In that case the fact that they're so
hard is a projection that is occurring for you and about three billion other people,

(Student: Unclear)

No, communally, because you helped someone get somewhere, or something,
okay? That's all. okay. That's, this is Master Shantideva's famous lines where he
starts to say look, you have to know why we keep talking about, when we say
emptiness, we mean something isn't there that you thought was there. When
you reach into your pocket at Michael and Zoe's and you forgot your money at
home, you experience the emptiness of money. You know, you're like, you
know, and there's, there's nothing there. Something you expected to be there
was not there, so you said ômy pocket is empty.ö In the same way, you thought
there was a thing called money that bought milkshakes. The day you learn that
that is a two headed purple elephant, you'll be really close to seeing emptiness.
You see what I mean? Because emptiness is the lack of that thing. You know, you
don't have to go, like, a thousand miles to Asia to find a [gakja]. The [gakja] is in
your own pocket. Don't ever forget it. Money, which self existently could get
you a milkshakes, forget it, don't even say self existently, money that causes
your milkshakes, doesn't exist. It's karma that causes your milkshakes. If you
didn't have money in your pocket, could you still get a milkshake? I dunno
(takes a sip from his milkshake). okay, last thing. I'm gonna give you the next,
the next of the five great reasonings for emptiness, okay? It's called the next of
the five great proofs for emptiness. Sorry, what?

(Student: ôThis is number two?ö)
Yeah. You can say number two, I mean there's sometimes different orders.
Yeah?

(Student: ôSecond or third?ö).

Did I have three yet, I think I only had two?

(Student: ôIs [gakja] separately or).

Oh, [gakja] was just a separate subject that came up because somebody attacked
Master Shantideva and saidö

(Student: ôI thought it was a tangentö)

OK, yeah it was a tangent, yeah, yeah, okay. okay, proof number two, say
[tendrel].

(Students: [tendrel]).

[tendrel].

(Students: [tendrel]).

Dependent origination. I hate that word, it's too long. Dependent origination.
Oh, things happen because things depend on other things, how's that? Things
happen because things depend on other things. That is the second great proof
for the truth of emptiness. To understand this one I think you have to
understand what dependent origination means. So this gets in, this is sort of in
answer to your question, okay? Different schools of Buddhism have different
ideas about what dependent origination means. Say, are you ready? Not quite.
okay, three different ideas about what does dependent origination mean. By the
way, dependent origination is the way that things really happen. You see what I
mean? Dependent origination is the way things really happen. For example,
dependent origination is responsible for you getting a Michael and Zoe's shake.
If you could find a Michael and Zoe's shake that didn't come from dependent
origination, you would have located a [gakja], and it would exist just as much as
a two headed, purple, full size elephant that never did exist, could exist or will
exist, okay? I'll say it again. If you could find anything in the world, that was not
running or not created by dependent origination, then you would find a self
existent thing, a [gakja], okay? And for some reason, believing in that [gakja],
and living by that [gakja], has caused us all our suffering, even the fact that we
have to die, is caused by believing in that [gakja]. So it's very important that we
identify it. It's very important that we see what the opposite of it is, okay? It's a
life and death thing, we're not just having fun here. It's a life and death question.
If you don't get it, in this class, you'll very likely die in a normal way, okay? If
you do get it, your odds are good. Why? Because the correct perception, because
it's true, will always overcome the incorrect perception. You see what I mean?
The truth stands on two legs, a lie stands on one. They used to say that when I
was a kid. You know, dependent origination and emptiness and morality and
compassion, are going to win the world. It's just a matter of time. Why? Every
time they come up against some crappy world view, like science, or voodoo, or
western civilization's idea, so far, they're gonna win. Why? They work. People
try 'em and they work, so they give up the other one, okay? Why didn't it get
here yet? What took it so long? [laughs] Your karma, okay, the karma of our
forefathers, okay? Seriously, all right? We had to go through that voodoo period
called, you know, science and, seriously. And, and those ideas which don't, they
don't work, they didn't make people happy up to now, okay? Anyway, [gyu].

(Students: [gyu]).

[dang].

(Students: [dang]).

[Kyen la].

(Students: [kyen la]).

[tenne].

(Students: [tenne]).

[druppa].

(Students: [druppa]).

[Gyu] means, "causes," for example a seed. [Dang] means, "and." [Kyen] means,
"conditions," for example, fertilizer, sunlight, water. Careful tending of a
gardener. [La] means, "upon." [Tenne] means, "to depend," [tenne drupa] means,
"they exist because they depend." okay. So here's the first idea of what
dependent origination means. Things exist because they depend on their causes
and their conditions. Things exist, things like trees, exist because they depend on
their causes, like seeds, and the other conditions like water, fertilizer, sunlight, a
good gardener, etcetera, okay? Who believes this? When I was growing up they
had 'The Untouchables', Elliot Ness, it's like, sounds like the (unclear). I don't
know if you remember, but we met them at the beginning of this class, and they
were the lower three schools of Buddhism in ancient India. What were those?
First, the Abhidharma schools, secondly the Logic schools, called Sutrists, and
then thirdly, the Mind Only school. All these guys lumped together believe that
this is the ultimate meaning of dependent origination. And this you've heard
over and over again from people teaching Buddhism. They often times never get
past this one. Oh, dependent origination means things come from their causes.
How am I supposed to improve my life? Oh, just understand that it comes from
its causes. Yeah, but, Ahh never mind we'll just go onto the next one. okay. Say
[rang gi].

(Students: [rang gi]).

[Chashe].

(Students: [chashe]).

[la].

(Students: [la]).

[tenne].

(Students: [tenne]).

[druppa].

(Students: [druppa]).

[Rang gi chashe] means, "its parts." And the rest is the same, okay? It exists
because it depends on its parts, okay? Iöll say it again. It exists because it depends
on its parts. I once read a Harvard doctoral thesis on Tibetan Buddhism, and it
explained that if we only understood that things depend on their parts, we could
overcome our mental afflictions. And then it went on to give the example of
desire for a woman, improper desire for a woman, and it said if you could only
see her as a bunch of parts, you would, everything would be alright, you know.
So, I tried it, you know, and I said, "Oh, look, hair, eyes, arms, legs, just a bunch
of parts. It didn't help me at all, okay? [laughter] This is a lower school, okay?
This is the, this is called the independent group. These are ideas of what
dependent origination is. okay? They're supposed to help you get out of
samsara, get out of suffering. But, the lower two don't work very well, by
themselves. Independent Middle Ways, okay? It's the lower half of the middle
way group. [Madhyamika]. By the way, they criticize Number One, and that's on
your homework. Why is Number Two better than Number One? Because there's
lots of stuff in the world that doesn't have any causes. But it's still dependent
origination. okay? The guys who say Number One is what dependent
origination means, the guy who's, the guys who say Number One explains the
world, are leaving out a lot of stuff. What? All the things that don't have causes?
Well, how many things are there like that? Oh, how about emptiness, to start
with? That doesn't explain dependent origination of all those things that don't
have causes. It's a very incomplete explanation of dependent origination.
Number One is incomplete. And the guys who like Number Two complain to
the guys who like Number One, and they say, come on, it doesn't cover
everything. What's Number Three? And then we'll stop. Ooo, that's long. By the
way, I congratulate you that you survived this long. And you might as well just
finish, okay? What's it? Two more classes, okay? So. But, it's really good. It was a
hard one. It was a, it was a hard course. I think that's the hardest one. [pause]
Sorry [referring to the transparency]. Especially if you can't see it, it's hard.

Say, [tsokpay]

(students: [tsokpay])

[tengdu]

(students: [tengdu])

[tokpe]

(students: [tokpe])

[taktsam]

(students: [taktsam])
[la]

(students: [la])

[tenne]

(students: [tenne])

[druppa]

(students: [druppa])

[Tsokpay] means, "all the parts together." All the parts together. The collection of
the parts. [Tengdu] means, "on top of that thing." We already had this, by the
way, tonight. On top of that thing, [tokpe takpa] means, "you think of it a certain
way." What? You take the blue and the white and the cylinder, and you, you lay
on it, you impose on it, "pen." The idea of pen. okay? Forced to do so by ? Your
past karma, okay? You can't, by will power, look at this blue and white cylinder
and say, "This is the magic wand of immortality." Can somebody in the universe
see it that way? Yes. "Who?" Tantric deities. Can you see it that way? Later.
[laughter] "Well, why can't I see it that way now? I'll just think of it that way." No.
It's, it's what, your past karma is calling the shots. Don't forget that, okay? You
must collect the right karma. That's why you have to keep your vows. okay?
(Aside to a Student asking a question: Hang on.) [Taktsam] means, "nothing
more than that." And that's how things exist. They depend on you, thinking of
parts in a certain way. And that's the ultimate meaning of dependent origination.
okay? I'll say it again. The ultimate meaning of dependent origination, is that
things exist, because they depend on you looking at the parts and thinking of
them in a certain way, because your karma's forcing you to do it that way.
You're looking at the parts. You're thinking of them a certain way, because your
karma is forcing you to do so. If you, by the way, that's highest Middle Way
school. That's called the Necessity School. I'll ask you a question. Last thing. If
you're a monk, who's trying to do the right thing with your vows towards
ladies, and, and some guy comes up to you, he's number two school, school
number two, here, and he says, "Just think of her as a bunch of atoms and you'll
be okay." And you, like, try, you know. It doesn't work, you know [laughs]. If
you were in school number three, what would you say to the guy? Think of this
person as ?

(students: unclear)
Yeah. As a projection of your past karma. And that's why you're seeing this
thing as a beautiful, lovely thing. okay? What's that supposed to do for you? I
mean, it's just explaining why it's a beautiful, lovely thing. It's not telling you, it's
not explaining why you should act correctly towards it, or anything like that, or,
or is it?

(Student: unclear, "want to continue seeing it.")

Yeah. If you like to see beauty, then keep your vows. okay? What's the best way
to get good-looking girls? I wish I'd known this in high school. [laughter] When I
could've used it. What's the best way? Keep your morality. okay? Keep your,
strictly avoid adultery. You know. Strictly avoid looking at another person's
spouse or partner. Strictly. And you won't be able to stop them. You know.
Seriously. okay? That's where the projection is coming from. The projection is
coming from keeping your sexual, keeping away from sexual misconduct,
perfectly. And then you'd be seeing them all over the place. okay? Seriously. It's
a secret, it's the big, we should publish that somewhere. [laughter] You know.
okay? Seriously. okay? Seriously. Alright? That's where it's coming from. That's
exactly where it's coming from. okay? Yeah?

(Student: unclear)

Well, you're asking me, do the parts and the projection come from, both come
from

(Student: unclear)

You're asking me, I mean, Jay, what you're saying is, "Ahh, I think the projection
might be dependently origination, but are the parts dependently originating?" I
mean, is the raw data self-existent? Do you want the raw data to be self-existent?
No. It's, nothing's self-existent.

(Student: unclear)

Ahh, good question. He says, if that's the case, then what's wrong with the Mind
Only School? We love what the Mind Only School says about that. okay? Maybe
you didn't hear that part. We love what the Mind Only School says about that.
The only thing they get wrong is that they think there's some seventh part of
your mind where all that stuff is staying, and that's not true. But the rest is
fantastic. okay? Alright. Last question, I'll read it to you, on your homework. I
think this is the whole punch line. Number Eight. What would be a good to
describe the object we deny in the sliver of diamond, Remember the sliver of
diamond? The sliver of diamond said that things aren't caused by what you
thought they were caused by. okay. Things were not caused by what you spent
your whole life thinking they were caused by, and that's why you're suffering.
What's the [gakja] in the sliver of diamond? What's a self, what's a good self-
existent, two-headed, purple elephant, never could exist, never did exist, never
will exist, causes you all of your suffering? One example.

(Student: unclear)

I'll say it again. Give me any self-existent thing that caused another thing.

(Student: there is none)

Good. There ain't any. [Tibetan, unclear, takpay tak singay]. What would it be
like if it did exist?

(students: unclear, it doesn't exist.)

That's a very nice answer. I mean, very, very cool. It's a, it is very cool. I mean, in
Tibetan they joke in the debate ground, they say, "Oh, you wanna know how
long a rabbit's horn is? Ten, twelve inches, probably." [laughter] okay. No, but
imagine that a rabbit did have horns. I mean, you wouldn't say thirty feet, right?
I mean it would have to be about, I mean you can imagine what they would be
like, right? Seriously. But, he's right, you see. I'm asking you to describe
something that never existed; never will exist. When the guy gives that first
attack on our wrong idea about what makes other things happen, what's he
attacking? What's the gakja? It's money that you could take to Michael and Zoe's
and it would always get you a milkshake. It's money that causes a milkshake. I
don't mind if you put that. okay? Because that isn't what causes a milkshake.
Money which causes a Michael and Zoe's milkshake doesn't even exist. Get used
to it. You are living in a world of illusion. You are struggling to fill your pocket
up with something that doesn't even exist. okay? Is there this green paper in
your pocket? Yes. When you take to Michael and Zoe's and flash it at the guy, do
you get a milkshake? Sometimes. Most of the time. Is it the cause of the
milkshake? Not at all. okay. Your pocket is full of nonexistent money that gets
you milkshakes. It does not get you milkshakes. Giving away milkshakes, give
you milkshakes. okay? Got it. Yes. Here, have a milkshake. [laughter] okay, we'll
do a prayer.