ACI 12 «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы, часть III», занятие 9

ACI 12, Class 9
11-12-97



[GMR] Last class we did a very important thing. Which was uh, establishing the
uh true nature of a Michael and Zoe’s Strawberry Protein Shake. Michael and
Zoe’s Strawberry Protein shake. Ok. And uh…we found out that I mean it
looks like it’s money right. You can say apparent causes are like this. Ok. We
did this in Central Park last year I think, something like that, uh. So it looks like
the money is causing the milkshake, ok. Uh and then add to that, which we
didn’t get to yet, is uh, when all the milkshake is gone ok, and if you understand
these three parts uh you’ve understood emptiness and we can go on to the tenth
chapter cause we are gonna do the tenth chapter in the last half of the last class
ok. Rinpoche took ten years to teach this book. Uh we did it in like six months.
New record ok.

Last week, last class we went over the emptiness of the causes, which was the
emptiness of the money, ok. The emptiness of the money. Uh and we saw that
you can say that money causes a milkshake. I mean you go to Michael and
Zoe’s and you give them the money and they give you a milkshake. Um but it’s
not a self-existent money. And we talked about it last class. Uh, self-existent
means, uh, for it to be self-existent it would have to exist without your
projections and without the projections of the person who’s taking the money.
So it’d be like, try to imagine money that was money without anyone thinking
of it as money, ok. Seriously, and we talked about wampum and stuff like that.
We talked about trying to go to Michael and Zoe’s and give them wampum, like
uh sea shells. And try to get a milkshake with that. They don’t have the
perception or the projection onto that as money anymore. They used to in
Manhattan when the Dutch were here and they bought the whole island with
this wampum right? Uh people don’t have that anymore, this projection.

So we we decided that money could, you can say that money causes the
milkshake but not until somebody thinks of it as money, ok. Why did people
stop thinking of wampum as money and started thinking of green paper as
money? Uh, that’s karma. It’s a projection of your karma. What’s forcing you
to see it as money is some kind of karma ok. And uh people like you and me
like, why would your credit card change from completely full to complete.. I
mean completely unused to completely over loaded you know what I mean?
That’s a change in your projections ok. Did you send the money self-existently?
No. ok so we’ll get into that.
Today we’re going on to another proof of emptiness. We’ve had two big ones
so far, The Sliver of Diamond and then we had the proof of Dependent
Origination. I think some of you might have tried to do your homework. Uh
there was one question that I didn’t cover. And then I went and hid out today so
nobody could find me, uh. I asked you to state the proof of dependent, based on
dependent origination and that wasn’t in the uh non-existent reading that you
didn’t get. And uh and I didn’t also cover it in class, so I’m just gonna cover that
from the last class ok.

This is the tendrel kyi tendik ok. If you remember the Sliver of Diamond proof
was meant to talk about the emptiness of the causes we were examining the
causes which in the case of the milkshake was the money, ok. Uh when we got
to tendrel kyi tendik that covers all things ok. It’s not like specific. It covers all
objects in the universe, ok. Uh especially if you interpret dependent origination
the way that the highest school does. It covers everything ok. Right? If
dependent origination means I’m projecting on everything and they depend on
that for their existence then it, then that proof covers all objects because all
objects are creations of our projections. Ok. This part, this this uh tensik, like all
Buddhist syllogisms or logical statements, will have three parts ok.

First part you say, (CLAP) chur chin, ok. Chi nang gyi (UNCLEAR TIBETAN)
chur chin (CLAP). Den dapa mey pe (CLAP) Den nigi mey a che (CLAP) That’s
the, how you do it in the debate grounds, and you’re gonna start that in the
spring ok. Uh so first thing you do is you take the example. What is the
example? What are we talking about? What are we arguing about? Ok. Here’s
the example, or what we are fighting about. My my head’s too big? The letters
are too small? I have to move it up. Ok say, Chi nang gyi.

[STUDENTS] Chi nang gyi.

[GMR] Mupa lam.

[STUDENTS] Mupa lam.

[GMR] Chur chin. (CLAP)

[STUDENTS] Chur chin.

[GMR] One more time. Chi nang gyi
[STUDENTS] Chi nang gyi.

[GMR] Mupa lam.

[STUDENTS] Mupa lam.

[GMR] Chur chin.

[STUDENTS] Chur chin.

[GMR] Ok and then chi means uh outer objects. Like this room ok. Nang
means inner objects like your thoughts or your stomach, no that would be outer.
Eh it might be inner ok.. [Some what out of it?] No uh, ok no pan means no pan
means things that do something. Almost everything in your world is a no pan
no. Cars, glasses, tongues, teeth ok.. Anything that does anything. Almost
everything in this room does something ok. Nam means those things. Chu chin
means lets take those. Let’s talk about those ok. Chu chin means this is what we
are going to debate about. We’re gonna debate about this thing ok. Chi nang
gyi mupa lam chur chin. Ok, ok.

Next is what we call the assertion ok. It’s what we’re trying to prove about them
ok. Du chey chu, alright. And it’s, ok say sin damba.

[STUDENTS] Sin damba.

[GMR] Mey Pe.

[STUDENTS] Mey Pe

[GMR] Dun dampa

[STUDENTS] Dun dampa

[GMR] Mey Pe.

[STUDENTS] Mey Pe

Dun dampa means ultimately speaking, ok. Ultimately me means they don’t
exist. Ok they don’t exist ultimately, in an ultimate way. Do they exist at all?
Yes. Can he use money? Yes. Does he get you things? Yes. Ok uh does a
milkshake exist? Yes. Can it fill your stomach? Does it exist in an ultimate way?
One test is would it tastes the same to everybody? And are its qualities inherent
in itself? And and the test would be well the ultimate test is how many kinds of
milkshakes does Michael and Zoe’s sell? It’s like seven or eight. Why? Because
different people like different shakes. Why? Because a strawberry protein shake
is not self-existently pleasant to everyone. Why? Because being tasty or not
tasty is not a quality of the shake. Why? Because not everybody likes it. If it
was a quality of the shake inherently everybody would like that one and they’d
only carry one kind of shake. Seriously. Sometimes things are so obvious that
you miss them, right? Uh, why do I like that kind of shake? Because my mind is
forcing me to see it that way. To see it as more pleasant as more pleasant than
the other shake, ok. Why is my mind forcing me to see it that way? Some kind
of karma. Was it good karma or bad karma? Must have been good if I enjoy
them, ok. That’s all. That’s the analysis ok. They do exist in a relative way.
They do exist with my mind participating in its goodness or badness and
ultimately in its very existence. But they don’t exist in and of themselves and if
they did, they would be tasty to everybody and Michael and Zoe’s would only
carry one shake and it would be the only shake in town, seriously. Because
nobody else would have to sell any because everyone would only like that one,
ok. Yeah?

[Student] Could you substitute the shake in the in the uh the example that was given
the other day about the cookie? (UNCLEAR)…and prove the same point?

[GMR] Uh yeah you could do, yeah exactly. Yeah.             If a cookie were self-
existently tasty.

[Student] Or a milkshake.

[GMR] Yeah. The example in that case was if you met someone who had just
lost their only son to AIDS or something and you gave them a cookie and it was
a tasty cookie it would obliterate all of their grief. They would be totally happy
in the next instant uh because it was self-existently tasty, alright. A hundred
percent tasty. It would overtake all of their other experiences, ok.     Du dan pi
mey pey. Ok say tun drel.

[STUDENTS] Tun drel.

[GMR] Di bey cha
[STUDENTS] Di bey cha

[GMR] Tun drel.

[STUDENTS] Tun drel.

[GMR] Di bey cha

[STUDENTS] Di bey cha



Tun drel means dependent origination, Di bey cha means because it is one kind
of dependent origination. It arises through depending on other things. It arises,
it grows , it begins through depending on other things. If you’re in the lowest
schools of Buddhism, it depends on other things because it depends on its causes.
If You’re are a little more sophisticated and you want to cover things that don’t
have causes but which do exist, for example, empty space or emptiness itself
then you can say it depends, it’s dependently originating because it depends on
its parts ok. And if your in the very highest school of Buddhism, which is where
we’re stuck, you would say it is dependently originating because it depends on
my projection forced on me by my past karma and aimed at some raw data,
which when you start to look at that depends on its raw data. And when you
look on that depends on its raw data. And when you get to the thing that you
really do believe exists which is atom, some little bits of material, I mean you can
agree with everything I say until I get down to atoms and then you say there has
to be something there. And then I say can you divide it into two and you say
yes. Why? Because it has a left side and a right side and never the twain shall
meet, you know. If they ever do meet the thing will disappear. Seriously, ok.
Everything can be split into two. Everything that’s physical has a left side and a
right side, ok. Must, ok. Must. And then it has to be either parts or a whole it
can’t be parts cause it’s only one thing ok. It can’t be a whole because it’s
projected onto parts ok. It cannot be what it seems, ok. And you get to zero if
you keep going you won’t find anything.

There is no such thing as atoms and that isn’t what makes up your world. And
that’s not what a Michael and Zoe’s shake is made of ok. And you can’t push
those atoms around like you thought you could. You can’t make things happen
by arranging atoms in certain ways ok. Nothing makes another thing move or
work. Nothing causes anything else, unless some other energy is present ok.
And that’s your projections ok. That’s your karma. Prove it. I mean there’s
nothing that works. I mean take a medicine, uh. Medicines work sometimes
they don’t work at other times. Uh, why? If we knew why if if a medicine’s
efficiency or efficacy were based on its atoms it should always work, ok. If
money were the cause of a Michael and Zoe’s milkshake it should always work
when you take money to Michael and Zoe’s to get a milkshake and it doesn’t,
ok. If the theory that external causes could make external events happen were
true, if it were comprehensive and if it were not dysfunctional, if it worked, then
human beings would be happy. And we’re not. It doesn’t work and it’s
incomplete. It doesn’t serve either of the goals of a world view. It doesn’t
explain everything in your world and it doesn’t make you happy. It doesn’t
bring you your goals in life and people continue to suffer and try to push around
self existent objects to make other self existent events happen and it will never
work, it can’t work cause there are no such objects, ok. There’s no such thing as
money which causes a milk and uh uh Michael and Zoe’s milkshake. There’s no
such thing. There is some green paper in your pocket. It’s not money that buys
a Michael and Zoe’s milkshake by itself. In and of itself because if it was then
you could always get a Michael and Zoe’s milkshake with it and you can’t. and it
so it’s incomplete and to think it works and to thinks it’s what causes a milkshake
is an incomplete worldview and it and it doesn’t bring you happiness. It doesn’t
always give you a milkshake. What I’m trying to say is that as I said before the
idea that that’s what causes a Michael and Zoe’s milkshake and that you can get
one by working harder and getting more of this green paper is incorrect.
Period.

Did you have a question? Yeah?

[Student] So you’re debacking(?) the theory…

[GMR] Just about everything. Seriously, it doesn’t work..

[Student] Tell me your view on the…(UNCLEAR)

[GMR] Evolution of species you mean? Or where the human race is going
eventually?

[Student] No no no.

[GMR] No seriously.
[Student] The solar system. The galaxies. The universe…(UNCLEAR)…

[GMR] Yeah

[Student] That’s all projection?

[GMR] Of course there’s nothing which is not a projection. Even emptiness
itself, as we proved last week is a projection ok. Even the lack., even that fact
that nothing is not a project is projected itself. How’s that? Ok. Uh no we’re not
saying there are no dinosaur bones or anything like that, ok. Uh, if if human
beings did come from that. If they did evolve from that. If the physical matter
of a human being did evolve from that. That’s a projection too. That’s all we’re
saying. We’re not saying that a taxi car can’t break your legs. We’re just saying
that it’s a projection. Why? Because saying, because if the answer to the
question of why was I in the crosswalk when the car came across the crosswalk
is that we don’t know. Or that doesn’t have a real cause or that’s random you
know. Like science is telling you frankly we some things have causes and others
things don’t. Some events do have causes other events don’t have causes. That
in itself should make you suspicious. Well where where is what you know.
When do you decide that something has a reason and some when do you decide
doesn’t have a reason. Basically they’re telling you, and they’ve been telling you
all along, you just never caught them, right, they’re telling you when we can’t
figure out the reason it doesn’t have a reason ok. What are my examples. What
example two guys are walking across the crosswalk. Uh a cab comes across the
crosswalk. It hits one of them and kills him. Breaks his legs. Doesn’t touch the
other guy ok. Why? It’s an event. It’s an event as much as a plane flying. It’s an
event as much as corn growing. That’s an event. What? The fact that one guy
got killed and the other guy didn’t. that’s an event. It has to have a cause. You
can’t say some events have causes and some events don’t have causes that’s not
scientific. Science is breaking its own rules ok. They say that doesn’t have a
cause ok. That’s all. Yeah?

[Student] (UNCLEAR)…

[GMR] Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

[Student] You said that atoms are like different (UNCLEAR)…

[GMR] Oh ok.
[Student] I imagine…(UNCLEAR)

[GMR] She said I said that atoms… She said I said that atoms act differently to
from to compassion that to anger. Not in the present moment. Not in the
present moment at all. Ok. Buddhism never ever said that. In fact we’re gonna
cover that tonight. There is always a time gap between a cause and a result, you
know. If I have compassion now towards a pile of atoms called a person who
irritates me, uh, in the future I won’t have to meet those people again. If I have
anger towards that pole of atoms called the person who irritates me, I will have
to meet that person again. There will never be anything more than my
projections of a pile of atoms but but that’s real. That counts as real, ok. There’s
a joke in Madjamika it says, uh uh, (UNCLEAR WORDS) rang shing gi mey pey
na. Rang shing gi mey pe na mey pe na kyab. Uh, rang shing gi mey pey na
mey pey ma kyap. Just because something doesn’t exist through its own nature
doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Uh, rang shing gi mey pa mey pa kom me chup, to
say that something doesn’t have a nature or doesn’t exist by its own nature is
not equivalent to saying it does not exist, ok. Like that. Yeah? Go ahead.

[Student] Everything has a cause, ok?

[GMR] Uh no. There are a few things. There are a few objects uh such due to
such listen (217)There’s only about three or four things that don’t have a cause.
One is empty space. Empty space doesn’t change. The place where this pen is
doesn’t change. Uh, the place where this pen is doesn’t change. It could either
be occupied, occupado or non occupado. But either way it doesn’t change it’s still
there ok. And emptiness itself, which is the general lack of a thing which never
existed never changes. It’s never less or more empty and it never goes away
and it never starts it’s just always there ok. The object on which it’s hanging can
disappear and then it will disappear but during its existence it never changes and
it had no cause. Yeah?

[Student] Yeah uh, this is off the subject, um…

[GMR] Yeah

[Student] Uh UNCLEAR…for example…(UNCLEAR)…there are species how does
one explain that fact of relative…(UNCLEAR)

[GMR] Yeah. It’s a really good question. Uh, he asked uh how come groups of
people can perceive same things. Or groups of beings can look the same, like all
mammal have roughly the same qualities. Umm, You can ask the question of
why is there a border between Mexico and the US, seriously. Why are there
things called Mexicans and why are there things called Americans, you know?
What created that? According to Buddhism as a nation all the people living in the
United States, if they enjoy some kind of prosperity which is not always the case,
but those who do enjoy some prosperity uh as a group did some charitable
action. Like helped starving people in other countries or something like that.
Decided as a group to pass laws that they would devote a certain part of their
taxes to help people who needed food. And because of that we all have a certain
level of prosperity. And then people living in Mexico, assuming they don’t have
any prosperity, uh, as a group in the past uh withheld there help from other
people and chose not to help other people. And that’s why they’re having a lot
most of them having a lack of prosperity. And if you think about it the border
between the two is totally artificial. It’s created by those two karmas. You see.
Nations are created by the communal actions of those people in the past
together. It’s very interesting. Why do three billion people have a similar
perception of the sun rising everyday, you know. That is a projection. It doesn’t
have to be that way.          One day the sun will burn out, third chapter
Ahbidharmakosha, last line ok. Uh it’ll it’ll nova to seven times it’s not it’s
present heat. The earth will melt and then the sun will die out. Uh, what
happened to the sun? It didn’t die out. Three billion people’s karma to see a sun
has finished, ok. And it’s true.

Everyone in this world frankly, who has the sun come up for them in the
morning must have done, if they enjoy the light ok, if they are thankful for the
light you know, if it somehow helps them, uh they must have, three billion
people must have done some kind of action together who to help someone else
who needed to see something or who needed warmth or something like that.
No kidding. According to Buddhism that’s where the sun comes from. The sun
itself is not self-existent. The sun itself is a projection. The fact that it comes up
every morning is a projection. The day you die and move to another realm for
you that karma has ended ok and you won’t see the sun come up ok. One more
but we won’t get done tonight. Ella (?) do you mind? Be a bodhisattva, ok

[Student] If you keep looking at something keep analyzing a thing and there’s always a
left and a right you keep going…

[GMR] Physical stuff, yeah.

[Student] Ok, physical physical stuff…
[GMR] Yeah, Yeah

[Student] umm, and you keep going down through the levels…

[GMR] Yeah.

[Student] Are you saying that there is something at the end that is not what you expect
or that there’s nothing?

[GMR] There’s nothing. Alright. I mean, she asked is there any…the obvious
question is do you finally get to a point where there is some raw data? Or or I
think maybe you’re saying is it that there is absolutely nothing there at all or is it
that there is nothing there in the way that you thought it was there. How’s that?
Um there are fourteen unanswered questions in fact. The reason the Buddha
didn’t answer them is because the person who was asking them truly in their
own mind was framing the question, both both options that the person
questioning the Buddha gave, that person was perceiving as self-existent. You
see what I mean? So if the Buddha said yes he would have been admitting to a
self-existent yes. If he said no he’d be admitting to a self-existent no. And he
knew that that person was thinking that way. Either option if he had given an
answer would have been interpreted by that person as meaning that things do
have some nature of there own and they are not projections, ok. Maybe I
should cop out. No actual… no there’s always a level of raw data below the
current one until you look at it Ma tap ma je pa, unexamined there’s a level of
raw data. As soon as you examine it you can’t find it. Ok so you tell me, you
see, that’s shy I’m answering your question that way. If you think about it in
your mind both options you were thinking of as self-existent so I’m I’m gonna
give you a pung sumba, a third option ok. That’s all . Ok we gotta go on or you
won’t get home tonight.

Uh den ba nyi be cha, the whole proof says the whole proof states inner and
outer let’s consider all inner and outer things which do anything ok. Uh they
don’t exist in an ultimate sense. Because they depend for their existence in the
highest schools on your projections. They are dependent origination ok and that
is the proof of dependent origination. Normally in a Buddhist syllogism there
would be those three steps and then often times there is a fourth step and we’ll
give that one. Say penna tsun yim shin. Penna tsun yim shin. Uh, Michael Wick
asked me a good question. He said gimme give us the names of each part of the
syllogism. Each of the elements. Number one here is called, you it can call it the
object under consideration ok. The thing that we’re trying to examine. You’re
going to learn all this next next class. By the way logic is not just a stupid exercise
it’s uh called the key to understanding emptiness ok. Somebody else asked
Gyalsab Je what was the kindest thing that that Je Tsongkapa did for him and he
said he taught me logic, you know. Uh, ten tsamba mey tey, uh that is called the
assertion ok. Uh it does not exist in an ultimate sense. They do not exist in an
ultimate sense. Number three is called the reason. Why? Because it’s dependent
origination. They are dependent origination. They have dependent origination
ok. Which is to say in the higher school they are projections forced on us by our
past deeds. Good deeds or bad deeds. Number four is called the example. And
the trick in number four is to give your opponent an example which they can
relate to ok. They already accept with regard to that example that if something
were dependently arising it would be like it would be it would ultimately not
exist. It would not exist in an ultimate sense. They accept that about your
example. Ok so here we go. The example is pen a, for example, pen na means
for example tsuk nyen means the reflection of a person in a mirror ok. Shun
means it’s like that. It’s like a reflection of a person in a mirror ok. If you think
about, I mean I don’t know if you’ve ever done it but I’ve seen children do it.
They mistake the reflection in the mirror for themselves and that’s the point
here. You know like you might over here in one of those cafes that’s really like 6
by 6 and there’s a mirror on one wall and it looks like it’s 6 by 12 you know what
I mean. Uh you’re mistaken the reflection for an actual room ok. So the idea
here is that the reflection looks like a real person but of course it’s not. The
reflection looks like a person but it’s just a reflection in a mirror ok. So it’s an
example of something that looks like it’s real but it’s not real ok. That’s the proof
of dependent origination ok. That’s just so you can finish your last homework.
Now we start the real class. This is how we get behind every week.

Say that again. Sorry? Oh the whole proof. Um. Consider all inner and outer
things which do anything consider all inner and outer          things which do
anything, I’m repeating that proof ok. Consider all inner and outer things which
do anything, they do not exist in an ultimate sense because they exists in
dependence. They occur in dependence through depending on other things ok.
They are for example like a reflection in a mirror. By the way if you remember
where we started tonight. Oh where was that , we were trying to analyze these
3 elements here. The money the shake and the end of the shake. Ok this was
the cause, this was the result and in between here you had a a growing or
starting how’s starting? The starting of the shake. The guy goes in the back and
starts you know throwing stuff in a cup and stuff like that. Around here you
have what? Ending of the shake, that sad moment ok. We try to explain each
element that that diamond sliver proof was meant to prove that this thing here,
the money is not self-existent, ok. What does self-existent money look like?

[Student] It doesn’t look like anything… (UNCLEAR)

[GMR] Good. Nice. He said it doesn’t look like anything it doesn’t exist. Yin na
ya duche namba ma shawa dey tomba tonye tobe me me ay cha, you can’t
perceive emptiness without trying to imagine it though ok. Because perceiving
emptiness on an intellectual level is realizing that that thing can’t exists. So what
would it look like if it did exists? What would self-existent money look like if it
did exists in terms of Michael and Zoe? I hope you appreciate all the free
advertising I do.

[Student] It’d look like a green piece of paper.

[GMR] Nope. He said it’d look like a green piece of paper. Nope. Huh?

[Student] It looks like a cause and effect.

[GMR] It would always buy you a shake. It would always get you a shake ok.
Even if you died on the way to Michael and Zoe’s. Even if you died on the way
to Michael and Zoe’s it would get you a shake. Even they were closed it would
get you a shake. Even if they had run out of strawberries it would get you a
strawberry shake. Really, self-existent money. If money existed the way that
you truly believe that it does, and you live by this. Your life is this. I’m
describing your life. You truly you honestly you totally no matter what I stand
up here and say you believe that the shake is caused by the money and that’s
wrong. The money that you think is causing the shake doesn’t even exists. It’s
not a question of whether it causes the shake or not. The money which could
have caused the shake is is a two-headed purple full sized elephant rampaging in
the cafeteria of the Quaker house. It never did exist. It never will exist,
hopefully. It doesn’t exist now ok And you are living in that world. You live by
that, you know. You think that you might have to tell a white lie so called to get
something. There’s no such thing ok. You can’t get anything by saying a white
lie. Why? What’s the ultimate proof of that. Very simple. It’s so simple that
you missed it for for forty years and Western civilization has missed it for
however long. Seriously, no kidding. What’s the proof that a white lie doesn’t
get you what you want? Yeah?

[Student] Cause if you lied you would get something every time you lied.
[GMR] Right. It doesn’t work all the time. Seriously. Causes should be
replicable ok. Given the same conditions the same white lie should always get
you what you want. Some guy came up to me and said, I liked on my green
card applications. I got a green card cause I lied, you know. I married some girl
or something like that. Uh, so so why do you say that it doesn’t work? It works.
I lied. I got a green card. Green card is pleasure for me why is bad karma,
pleasure came from bad karma. So everything you say…this is at central park
the guy came up to me you know. According to Buddhism the green card if you
enjoy it was caused by your taking care of someone else who needed prosperity
or whatever. See what I mean? The reason you got the green card had nothing
to do with lying ok. Why? Because some people lie to try to get a green card
and they don’t get it. Some people lie to get a green card and they do get it and
they’re like the suffering of the entire planet. Everyone on this planet is
undertaking activities which not only don’t give them what they want they get
them the opposite because now that guy will never get a green card again. You
see what I mean. And people, the karma of lying will continue to harm him and
cause him suffering seriously. It has no connections to getting him the green car.
Why? Cause it doesn’t work all the time. Prove it. Your life proves it. You’re
suffering. The way you’re acting now doesn’t work. Do you get it ok? Get it?
Alright. So what am I suppose to do? Be pure ethically. Follow the Bodhisattva
activities. Keep your secret vows if you have them and watch the fireworks.
You know seriously. I mean you’ve tried the other way for thirty forty years
you’re not happy. You’re getting older. You don’t get the things you want you
still meet with crap all the time. Now try the other thing. Give it a try. Give it
an honest try. College try right. It works. It really does work. You know,
that’s why we’re having this class ok.

It even works to the extent that you would not have to perceive this body die,
ok. Prove it, we never saw anybody who didn’t die before. Right you didn’t see
anyone who didn’t die before including you ok. Why do you think you would
see it. Ok. Does that prove that other people haven’t seen people not die.
Maybe even the same people that you saw die ok. Does the fact that you can not
recognize that some people in this room might be tantric deities mean that they
are not? See what I mean? Are there any tantric deities in this room, you know?
Is there anyone is this room who can recognize the tantric deities in this room?
And if they can does that mean that you should be able to? You see. The tantric
deities should be self-existent. If they were sitting next to me I should see them
as a tantric deity. Come on. Get back to the pen. Is this a pen or a chewable
object? It sounds like I’m just being silly. And I like to be silly but I’m not being
silly now. It’s both ok. It depends on what you are. if you’re a dog, honest no
kidding this is a chewable object tsema pramana valid perception. Totally valid
correct for a dog. This is a chewable object. For a human it’s a pen. No
contradiction for it to be both things. If the dog can not see the pen does it mean
the pen’s not here? If you can’t see that some of the people in this room might
be tan are tantric deities does that mean they’re not here? If you can’t see that
there are some people in this room who will not have to die and get does that
mean they’re not here? Does that mean they are dying and getting old? No.
does the dog have to see this as a pen? It’s the same question ok. Really,
honestly. That’s the function of emptiness. That’s the use of emptiness ok. It’s
called natural nirvana, the emptiness of things. We’ll talk about it later ok. We
gotta get on to another proof.

Now we’re gonna talk about the proof of the emptiness of the result which is the
shake ok. The money doesn’t work on its own. It works because of your karma
ok. What about the shake. Let’s looks at it from the result side alright. And this
proof is called. Say yumay kego key densig. Yumay means exists. Me means
doesn’t exist. Key means uh starts. Key means starts or begins ok, or you can
say grow. How’s it grow? Uh go means we deny. It also means to stop, ok. So
here you got stopping and starting. Stopping and starting. Densig means proof
ok. I’ll translate the whole thing. This is the proof. You can say it this way. That
proof that things umm let me think about it. I’ll say it this way. The proof
where you deny that things could grow which already existed or not. What’s
that mean ok. What’s that mean?

When you have a seed for a corn plant say, and you haven’t planted the seed
yet. So the plant hasn’t grown yet ok. The seed is the cause and the plant is the
result. At the time of cause, ok when you have the seed in your hand, does the
result exist yet or not? No. So in fact what seems to happen is that something
that didn’t exist starts to exist right. The plant which didn’t exist before starts to
exist now. Why? Because of the cause. But at the time of the cause the thing
didn’t exist yet. But Nagarjuna and everybody else says forget it, ok. It’s not
true that the result did exist at the time of the cause yup(?) and it’s not true that
the result didn’t exist at the time of the cause, me. By the way he also says two
more things. It’s not true that the cause that the result both existed and didn’t
exist at the time of the cause, he’s covering all the bases. It’s also not true that it
neither existed nor didn’t exist during the time of the cause. All of the above is
wrong. All four possibilities are wrong. What? That result was already there,
that the result wasn’t there yet, that it was both was there and wasn’t there yet,
or that it wasn’t or was there yet. All four don’t work. I’ll say it again, and this is
the proof ok. What’s the chur chen, what’s the example he gives result? You can
take the corn sprouts ok. It’s not true to say, here’s number one there’s gonna
be four ok, it’s not true to say that the plant exists at the time that the seed is still
there. Meaning before you plant the seed say. It’s not true that the plant is there
yet.

Number two it’s also not true that the plant is not there yet. You should give me
a weird look. Ok I had about three. Maybe the rest of the people are asleep, I
don’t know. Number two is it’s not true that there is no plant yet when you are
still holding the seed in your hand ok. That’s number two.

Number three is, it’s not true that the plant was there and wasn’t there at the
same time. Number three is it’s not true that the plant was there and wasn’t
there at the same time. As a seed right? Number four it’s not true to say that
the plant was neither there nor not there at the time of the seed. I’ll repeat it. It’s
not true to say that the plant was neither there nor not there at the time of the
seed. All of the above are wrong.

[Student] (UNCLEAR)

[GMR] I issue, I get a headache actually. I had to do this in Tibetan for like
fifteen years right. At like you know, yu ta …(UNCLEAR. really fast Tibetan)
Uh, it’s not true that the plant is neither there nor not there. All four is not true
ok.. Which one, by the way number on is ok. It is true, I’m sorry. It is true that
it’s not true. It is true that the plant wasn’t there yet when the seed was there ok
number one is ok, no problem. Let’s skip number two for a minute. If number
one is false then number three has to be false cause it’s both number one and
number and number two right. So we can throw out number three right away.
We threw out number one because the plants not there before you plant the
seed. We can throw out number three because it can’t be both there and not
there at the same time anyway. Nothing can ok. Number four is a little tricky.
You can’t say it’s neither there nor not there. It’s got to be something right ok.
Number four we can throw out. Now number two is the tricky one. I’ll say
number ok you think… if you think I was trying to trick you on number four
we’ll do it more slowly. It would be crazy to say look both are impossible. You
can’t say it’s there and you can’t say it’s not there. When the when the seed is
there ok ok. That’s that’s not true of course it’s one or the other ok. number
four we can throw out. Can I?

[Student] No, yes…
[GMR] I’m gonna throw it out ok. Number two. Number two. There’s this
way to win a debate in the monastery, it’s just to confuse everybody and just
keep going. Uh number two. I mean number two is the real one. Isn’t it true
that there wasn’t the plant there when you had the seed in your hand? Yes. And
then when you planted it and watered it then the plant came up. Something
happened. Obviously number two is true but Nagarjuna said it aint true. Why
did he say that? Why did Arya Nagarjujna say that? Come on you know the
punch line. If you studied Madjamika for more than twenty minutes and you
don’t know the punch line come on . You have to add the words self-existently
ok. There’s this huge debate in Madjamika whether you should he should’ve
added the words and made it easier for twenty centuries of people you know.
Anyway you can write him a letter. Uh…ok, is it true that the plant wasn’t there
self-existently? Yeah. Which Master Shantideva, well let me get on to the next
question.

He says, that’s about the same as asking if it did grow would it be self-existent.
You see what I mean? I mean it boils down to that doesn’t it? If the seed did a
plan t, would that plant be self-existent? Ok, could that plant be self-existent?
Could the milkshake from Michael and Zoe’s be self-existent? We finished with
the money, ok. We junked the money already. Money which in and of it self
gets you a milkshake doesn’t exist but you live your life believing that and that’s
why you did actually. Ok. That is the cause of your death. This gets serious, ok.
I mean if you get it the odds, the stakes are very high. Your life, ok. Your life, or
your death, ok. Uh the money which could always get you a Michael and Zoe’s
milkshake, does not have any nature of its own, ok. Well I understand that it
might not always get me a milkshake but isn’t it money per se. Come on, you
know. Take it to Timbuktu see if that green paper gets you a a jacket on a cold
day. You know what I mean? Go to a place where people don’t have the karma
to see it as money and try to use it, you know. It’s it’s I’ve done it. Uh, I got
caught in the snow one time… (UNCLEAR) and and we started fired with these
dollar bills you know. I mean, I wasn’t perceiving it as money. We were
perceiving it as, you know, something to start a fire
with. Ok it changes. The karma changes. The projection changes. Uh.. . How
about the cause? How about the milkshake? You see what I mean? Is the
milkshake…Did the milkshake exist before before you promised to pay the
money? No. I mean you go and you order and it’s assumed that you’re going
pay. If you look really bad they might ask you to show the money first, you
know what I mean? They haven’t got it yet. Uh…so basically you have to have
the money before you can get the milkshake.          But what about the milkshake
side. Is the milkshake a milkshake that would always grow if you had the
money, you see? If the cause were there would it always grow. First question I
ask you is whether, was it there before you put out the money? Was it there
before you came in and ordered it? I mean the strawberries were there and the
milk is there and all that but the milkshake wasn’t there yet, ok. It wasn’t there
yet. That cancels number one. Possibility number one, ok. The shake aint there
yet until the guy makes it, ok. And he aint gonna move until you put up some
money, ok. so number one is wrong. Uh, number three is wrong because it can
not be both there and not there at the same time, regardless of self-existent or
anything, ok. Number four is wrong because it can’t be not there and not not
there at the same time. It’s gotta be one or the other, ok.       But what about
number two? Number two says it’s not true that the milkshake wasn’t made
until you put up the money. Is that true? No. what does it mean? It means a
milkshake that could exist by itself, regardless of your seeing it as a milkshake
and regardless of your karma doesn’t exist, could never grow. Got it? We just
proved that money’s not self-existent, which is the cause. And we just and then
the second thing we did was prove that the milkshake is not self-existent without
your karma, ok. Without your karma. Lot’s of people have put down money
on counters and suddenly died. I I knew a lama who died with a a roll in his
hand. Sitting like that in my house, you know. Uh…You know lots of people
have put their hand on the milkshake and never drunk it, you know. Uh…it
happens. Uh…it’s not necessarily a milkshake until you served it as a milkshake
ok. Alright? Ok.

Who was Master Shantideva picking on specifically, this is a homework question,
wake up, uh…when he tries to prove that results are not self-existent by using
this proof ok. He’s picking on two different groups alright. Here they are. Say
tan chimba.

[STUDENTS] Tan chimba.

[GMR] Tan chimba.

[STUDENTS] Tan chimba.

[GMR] Tan chimba is sanskrit samkya and uh in English you can call them the
numerous. This was a popular school back in uh India in you know Shantideva’s
time, Master Shantideva’s time, thirteen centuries ago. You can call them Judeo-
Christians. Seriously. I’m not picking on and I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing.
I’m not saying that I’m just saying there’s a belief about some of our religious
traditions which is very similar to what they believed in. That’s all I’m saying.
Ok, I’m not criticizing that thing. Yeah?

[Student] UNCLEAR…

I’m gonna explain that right now ok. One believe of that school, of that system
called Judeo Christian belief system. Ok say di du su.

[STUDENTS] Di du su.

[GMR] Nyey pey.

[STUDENTS] Nyey pey.

[GMR] Drey bu.

[STUDENTS] Drey bu.

[GMR] Di du su.

[STUDENTS] Di du su.

GMR] Nyey pey.

[STUDENTS] Nyey pey.

[GMR] Drey bu.

[STUDENTS] Drey bu.

Di means cause. Cause. Du means time. Su means at the time. At the time of
the cause. Yupa means it exists. There exists. What? Debu. Debu means the
result. The samkyas have a very a weird system. There were twenty-something
existing classifications of objects, uh. They were all created by some primal one,
you know. They exist all over the place. When things cause things they were
actually just taking a a sheet away and revealing something that was always
there ok. They believed that all causes in the world have always been there and
when they're caused or when they grow it’s that it’s being revealed, ok. they
believe that’s it’s always been there. It would be the equivalent of saying that
uh the cause is already there, I’m sorry, the result was already there before it
was caused ok. The result was there before the cause did its schtick. As if there
were in some philosophical school a belief that there was a Being who created all
things ok. Uh.. before he got around to creating himself. Which is which is
crazy. You know it’s just silly. It’s just silly ok. it’s it’s it’s if person A created all
things in the universe and if person A is a thing in the universe then person A
must have been there before he created everything. You see what I mean? The
result must have been there before the cause was there. Or the result must have
been there when the cause was there ok.

[Student] UNCLEAR.

[GMR] Say again. Oh I’m just saying this. That if there is a belief like that, that
would be the same thing. It would be saying that before the seed cracked open,
the plant was already there. Which is impossible ok. Uh…And that’s all. The
Samkya’s believe that there was some eternal result there forever and the cause
is just revealing what is already there. That’s all. Ok. They believe that the thing
was before the cause did it’s thing to create the thing ok. On day zero the guy
who created the stuff on the other six days was already there. You see what I
mean? Anyway you get it. Yeah?

[Student] What’s the explanation for knowing the future life the Buddhist canon…
UNCLEAR

[GMR] I’m sorry, to know the future?

[Student] You know the idea that you know that you know that some day the super
nova will pass and …(UNCLEAR)

[GMR] She asks what’s the what’s the nature of it? Or how how do we know
it…



[Student] …UNCLEAR…Causing a …UNCLEAR..

[GMR] Ok she said if the thing hasn’t occurred yet, then how can a Buddha
know it, for example. So it’s said that the Buddhas know all things. That the
Buddhas know the future. They are not omnipotent, right? We know that.
They didn’t create the world. You created the world. How? You collected
karma. Yeah but how was the first karma collected? There’s no such thing.
Ergo, you know there isn’t any such thing ok. But that’s not comfortable. You
mean there’s something without a cause? I didn’t say that. Everything has a
cause. You’re the one that’s saying that there is something without a cause if
you’re saying that there has to be a first cause, seriously. Ok got it? It’s
obvious, I mean I’m sorry but Mrs. Melvin was wrong you know. Mrs. Melvin
was my first grade teacher, alright? She just (UNCLEAR) you with a lot of stuff
that doesn’t make any sense ok. Um…How do the Buddhas know the future?
There’s two theories ok. There’s a Buddhist school that says, Buddhas are very
good. They are like super computers who can see everything in the world now
and extrapolate what will happen in a hundred years, from current events. You
know they know, like a chess master all the possible moves of the future and
that’s all they ever see. It’s not that they really see the future because it hasn’t
happened yet. That’s not what, that’s not how they see things ok. They actually
do see uh future events. Have they happened yet? No. How can you perceive a
thing that hasn’t happened yet? You perceive it as a thing that hasn’t happened
yet. It’s a long story, ok. Alright, there’s a big debate in Abhidharmakosha ok
about it. Anyway that’s the first group that Master Shantideva is attacking, ok?
That’s number one. Number two, say debu.

[STUDENTS] Debu.

[GMR] Rang shin

[STUDENTS] Rang shin.

[GMR] Key.

[STUDENTS] Key.

[GMR] Nyepa.

[STUDENTS] Nyepa.

[GMR] Dep bey.

[STUDENTS] Dep bey.

[GMR] Nang ba.

[STUDENTS] Nang ba.
[GMR] One more time. Debu.

[STUDENTS] Debu.

[GMR] Rang shin key.

[STUDENTS] Rang shin key

[GMR] Nyepa.

[STUDENTS] Nyepa

[GMR] Dep bey.

[STUDENTS] Dep bey.

[GMR] Nang ba.

[STUDENTS] Nang ba.

Debu means the result. By the way for your information De means ripe debu
means fruit in colloquial Tibetan. The ultimate result in Asia is ripe, right. I mean
that’s what you’re interested in producing, ok. Debu Rang shing kye yupa
means has some nature of its own. Exists through some nature of its own. It has
some nature of its own. Dupa means they believe it. They believe that. Who?
Certain but not all nangbas. Nangba means an inner one, which means a
Buddhist. A Buddhist school. The second group that Master Shantideva is
attacking are aha Buddhists who believe that a Michael and Zoe’s milkshake
could occur on its own, ok. Could occur on its own. That anything could make a
Michael and Zoe’s milkshake happen on its own.

So you got two points of view. Is the money self existent? No. Why? Because it
doesn’t always work ok. If it were self-existent it would always work ok. what
about the shake, you know. Is the shake created by the money? No. Why?
Sometimes you have money and the shake’s not there you can’t make a shake.
Shake doesn’t function ok. Or you could say you get a shake in your hand and
you spill it. You drop it. I mean you’ve done it right. Like you stood in line for
like twenty minutes and finally got it you know. And then, you know an ice
cream cone in the summer, and then that top one rolls off you know. Then
you’re like oh man you know. You’re just down to your last dollar right and
you’re like looking at it and you didn’t get. The ice cream is not self-existent. It’s
very uh important, it sounds silly ok. You say but that’s not the ice cream that I
paid for. It’s not fair to pick up that ice cream. It’s not fair to bring up that ice
cream. That ice cream is an accident or random or if you think about it it’s not
really an ice cream anymore. It’s on the ground now. But you’re stuck in that
Western civilization thing that we have to stop asking why the ice cream fell off.
You see what I mean? You should ask, you know. You ask your Mom why
does my ice cream fall off and Johnny’s didn’t? you know. And they say well
you know you tilted it. You say, yeah but he tilts it sometimes and it doesn’t fall
off. Yeah but yours was ready to fall off and his wasn’t. Well how come mine
was ready to fall off and his wasn’t ready to fall off? That doesn’t have an
answer. Oh but Mom isn’t that a phenomenon? Isn’t that a an event? Doesn’t
everything have causes? That’s what Mrs. Melvin said. Yeah everything has
causes but we never talk about those causes cause we don’t know what causes
stuff. We don’t know why your ice cream fell off and his ice cream didn’t fall off.
You see it’s incomplete and it doesn’t make you satisfied. If you’re the kid
whose ice cream fell off you want to know why, ok. Is it a silly question? No.
Could you live in a world where ice cream never fell off? Of course, ok. Frankly
of course. That’s why you’re here. In your heart that’s why you’re here. You
wanna be happy. You think, somehow in the back of your mind, that something
in this class might make you happy. If beings took care of the food needs of all
other beings, no ones ice cream would ever fall off. You could hold it upside
down, shake it. It would not fall off. That in itself is not self-existent, seriously
ok. I’m not kidding, ok. The fact that there’s gravity to make ice cream falls
down is a result of bad karma for the person whose ice cream falls down and it
doesn’t have to be that way, seriously. Really. Everything is possible. You don’t
have to age. You don’t have to age ok. You don’t have to die. Those things are
not self-existent, really. They have causes. And unless (UNCLEAR WORD) get
the AIDS virus and it kills you and that’s what kills you. Come on that’s not
what kills you, ok. Some people live for a long time with it, ok. Seriously.
Something else is killing you. And you can stop those things ok. You can stop
those things. I’m not kidding when I talk about ice cream that never falls off. In
a Buddha Paradise ice creams never fall off. I have it on good authority or
something ok, seriously. And I’m not being funny. I’m not trying to be funny.
We’re talking life and death. You could live in a world where people don’t die.
There are places like that and that’s what Buddhism promises. Buddhism is not
uh for the purpose of being calm while you’re dying or something like that.
That’s not the function of Buddhism. Buddhism. The Buddha said gig a natche,
you can avoid uh rebirth aging death and sickness period. And he wasn’t being
metaphoric. He wasn’t being something like that. (STARTS SIDE TWO OF
TAPE) He’s talking truly honestly ok. Uh, let’s take a break ok then we’ll suffer
some more. Yeah?

[Student] What about the mother who says oh God know…

(Tape skips to after break)

[GMR] Homework question number three. Explain the basic reasoning that
Master Shantideva uses to show that cause can not give rise to a result that does
not exist at the time. Ok so someone came up to Master Shantideva and said I
like your…Excuse me? Hello…I put it down there because sometimes they leave
it on during the break and I’m lots of embarrassing things get out ok. Uh… .
Explain the basic reasoning that Master Shantideva uses you don’t have to right
the questions come on, to show that cause can not give rise to a result that does
not exist at the time. So the opponent says come on Master Shantideva says I’m
not one of these stupid samkyas you know. I didn’t think the result was laying
there under a sheet and then suddenly the cause like took the sheet away and it
was there, you know. I don’t I don’t happen to believe that God made himself
before he made himself ok. I’m not that stupid alright. Uh but it seems quite
feasible to me that the thing was not there when the cause was starting and then
when the cause did its thing, the thing that didn’t used to be there started. And
that’s the way things really happen ok.. How does Master Shantideva talk about
that? Uh you have to understand he starts out, the reason I put the question
here is that he starts out by saying look it’s not you could ever create a thing that
never changed ok. that’s his approach.

It’s interesting. He doesn’t start talking about projections. He doesn’t start
talking about causes. He does talk about Dependent Origination. He says look
how could you ever create a thing that never changes. Ok so that’s the answer to
the question whether you understand it or not. Ok his approach, which I think is
interesting and Gyaltson Je is gonna have to cover for him uh., is look how could
you create something that’s never changed?          OK how could you create
something that never changed. Or how could you take something that never
changed and turn it into something that did change? Ok, that’s his question to
the opponent. You know like you’re the opponent and you’re saying like what’s
that got to do with my question ok. I’m I’m asking about something that didn’t
exist yet. Your talking about something about something that’s not changing
you know. The implication of course is that if the Michael and Zoe’s shake
existed on its own it could never change. For example it would always be the
most delicious shake in New York ok. If it had a quality of its own of being
delicious, then it would be delicious to everyone all the time. It would never
ever change to sour. It would never ever melt. It would never ever evaporate
under my closet and start stinking and then I’d find it like a week later you
know. You know what I mean? It would be delic…If being tasty were a quality
of that milk shake, it would always be tasty ok. And that’s the answer to
someone who says I think causes cause things that don’t exist yet and then come
into existence. And he says no because the things you have in mind is again like
someone asking a question but in their mind always thinking a self-existent milk
shake. So how do you answer a question like that. Somebody comes up to you
and says “I think a milk shake that was tasty from its own side didn’t exist before
you ordered it”. And he says no you’re wrong. It ever could have exist anyway.
It’s not like a self-existent tasty milk-shake didn’t exist and then when you put
the money down a self-existent tasty milk shake was created. That’s impossible.
That’s all. He’s saying, what you have in mind as a milk shake is exactly what
you had in mind last class when you were talking about money. Money which
has power of its own to buy a milkshake. And milkshakes, for example which
have tastiness as part of their being are both equally totally non-existent. There
is no such thing.

You live in a world where you struggle for those things. You create bad karma
to buy and sell those things and you’re doing it all for nothing, ok. You see what
I mean? That’s the irony of our existence you know. You are lying, stealing,
sexual misconduct, killing, slander, harsh words, [UNCLEAR WORD(s)] craving,
ill will, wrong view. Because you try to get things self-existent. That you see as
self-existent. You can not get a milkshake by paying for it. And a milkshake can
not be tasty from its own side. If you want a milkshake to be tasty you have to
serve other people. You have to supply food to other people. You have to take
care of other people. To the best of your ability. It doesn’t mean you have to
give away all your money. No no you could just like give away half and then
you’d be in half of a Buddha paradise ok. Is it advisable to give it all away the
first day that you hear this teaching? No. Cause you’ll regret it later and that’s a
very bad karma ok. What does Master Shantideva say? Start out with carrots
and potatoes. Start start on a real level that you can maintain. And then work
up to giving away you’re eyeballs ok. Like reaching in and handing it to
somebody, ok. and you can. You’ll be able to do it ok. But realize where the
shake is coming from. It’s not coming from the money. Realize what’s making
it tasty. It’s your karma ok.

Will there be a last pop song that you can hear on your radio on your car radio?
You know. They’re not self-existent. You know you think right now you could
go home and play a song anytime you want. You really think that. You do
believe that. You know you look at your radio and you say, you think you have
a choice of turning it on and not turning it on. You know. You really do believe
that. You believe that the breaths that come in and out of your nose are are
innumerable. You’re not like counting them. You’re not like worried you know
like there goes number seven billion three hundred and ninety nine you know.
But you should be counting them. The karma will change. All karma will
change. There will be a day when you play your last song on the radio. And
and literally you will not be able to play another song on the radio. You are not
running your life. It’s under the power of other forces, ok. And there will be a
day when you can’t turn on the television anymore ok.              It happens to
everybody, unless you get it. Unless you get emptiness. Unless you do
something about it ok. Sure, later ok. We gotta go. I, John’s gonna hit me and
that’s really bad karma. Uh.. Anyway maybe the elephant can.

Ok that’s all. So basically he attacks the other guys. The people who come up
and say the shake doesn’t exists until you put your money down, he says you’re
talking about a shake that was self-existent. By the way if the shake was self-
existent he says, it would never change ok. Of course it does change alright.

Number four, name another kind of event which the above proof demonstrates
can not exists through any nature of its own ok. What have we been trying to
prove so far? Did you remember that stupid picture, where is it? We were
talking about…we promised to talk about three things. The cause, now you see
money doesn’t work. Honestly, money doesn’t work. So you can stop fighting
for it. You can stop ever doing saying and thinking any thing negative to
another living being to get money because that doesn’t work. That’s not how
you get money and that’s not why money works ok. You can not get money by
saying, thinking or doing anything harmful to another living being. It’s a lie it’s
an illusion. It’s incomplete worldview and it will never you happy and you’ve
confirmed that with your life so far, so give it up. Money doesn’t have any
power of its own until you endow it with your good karma, with goodness ok.
Then it has all the power you want. You can take a dollar and turn it into a
million dollars honestly ok. Uh, the result the shake is not existently tasty
alright. The tastiness doesn’t come from the shake. You can go to a restaurant
and complain all you want, you know. You can go to the best restaurant and get
a crappy meal. You know that ok. Why? You don’t have the karma to have a
nice meal. All right. It doesn’t depend on your money. It doesn’t depend on the
name of the restaurant. It doesn’t depend on how many stars it has ok. really
because it’s not self-existent. That not what’s making it tasty. Your karma’s
making it tasty. That’s why you can go to a good restaurant and have a crappy
meal and that’s why you can go to a lousy restaurant and have a nice meal ok.
What about the ending of the shake. We gotta talk about that ok. We’ve
explained how things start but we didn’t explain how things end. And Master
Shantideva at this point says Oh you can use that last proof I gave to explain why
things end. Why things stop. Why did the shake run out ok. Why is it that if
you don’t practice the Buddhist path correctly you will listen to your last song on
the radio or you will see your last TV show in this life? There will come a day in
this life when you’re incapable of reaching out and turning on the television. It
will happen ok. It will happen. If you don’t practice this worldview properly it
will happen. It must happen. Ok why? What happens when a Michael and
Zoe’s shake runs out that’s the question then we can move on? Why?

[Student] Your karma wore out.

[GMR] Your karma wore out ok. Your good karma wore out. That’s all.
Karma is created by causes. Anything created by causes wears out period ok.
Good karma wears out. So what about a Buddhafield? What about a Buddha
paradise. I mean, you you’re standing up there saying I can reach a some place
where I don’t have to die. You can reach some place where there’s angels around
me all the time. Isn’t that gonna run. Isn’t that just the result of good karma.
Isn’t it just another projection forced on me by my helping the old ladies to cross
the street and all that.

[Student] (UNCLEAR)

 [GMR] Yeah it would wear out except Buddhas know how to what do you call
it recycle what do you call it perpetuate it. There’s a perpetuating method ok.
it’s like if every time you get money you give it away you’ll have money. You
see what I mean? Uh, if your if you keep dedicating you know if you keep…uh
Buddhas have a an ability to take the result of their good karma and turn into
more good karma than the good karma they started with. And it’s just always
going like that. It never ends ok. I think it’s like fusion they say that there’s
gonna be that the idea that you put less energy into the reaction than you get
out and if they could ever discover that, I know they’re working on it right then
a teaspoon of water would run all the cities in the world because more energy
would come out than is put in, you see what I mean? Karmically it’s already
been done. Karmically Buddhas are already doing it. Yeah, less energy in than
out and always perpetuating itself ok. Yes?
[Student] Isn’t it possible that they emanate that they’re emanating… (UNCLEAR) …
that it’s their bodhicitta wish that… (UNCLEAR)…

[GMR] I think it contributes, yeah. Yeah. She said their ability to be in all places
where someone needs somebody and have the karma to see them as anything
like a dog or a tree or a a wave. Uh, yeah they’re automatically collecting good
karma all the time. It’s perpetuating itself. Yeah?

[Student] What you said about good karma is it true also for bad karma that it wears
out?

[GMR] Absolutely. And that’s why you can get out of the hells. And that’s why
a headache stops. It’s not because you took aspirin. Why?

[Student] It sounds like it would just winds down by itself you know.

[GMR] No because you’re perpetuating the opposite. How? You get angry
you know or you’re hurting or you didn’t get enough sleep you get grumpy or
something like that you see what I mean? It’s the nature of bad karma that
normally it’s a downward cycle. Uh when you don’t feel well you yell at people.
Uh when you yell at people you don’t feel well more and because of that you
yell at people. And people say karma doesn’t sound uh fair. You see what I
mean? God’s God’s fair you know. If your if you’re nice He’ll help you and even
if you’re not nice He’ll still help you. Uh but karma sounds kind of cruel you
know, it doesn’t seem fair. It’s like accusing gravity of not being fair you see
what I mean, seriously. I mean gravity doesn’t care whether you’re a pen or a
human standing on the hundredth floor of the empire state building. If you
jump he’ll pull you down and flatten you whether you’re a person or a pen and
you can’t talk karma in those terms. Karma is not a person. Karma is a
principle. You can’t avoid it. If you step off the empire state building karma will
do its thing, you know uh. And if you throw a dummy off the Empire State
Building he’ll do his thing. He doesn’t care if you’re a nice person, or a fat person
or a skinny person or you have kids or don’t have kids or anything like that.
Karma is relentless. If you know how it works you can use it for good things. If
you don’t know what’s going on it is gonna make you suffer. And and there is
no justice. Uh, if you’re good you get exactly…crap in crap out. You know, if
you’re good you’ll get an excellent result. If you’re bad you’ll get a bad result
and never ever does anything else happen.            Uh that’s why you can get
enlightened, you know. Yeah? By the way, if it ever acted some other way
things would really be terrible you couldn’t get enlightened you know. You
wouldn’t know what to do. Yes? Loud.

[Student] I don’t know much about it but I’ve heard the term fallen angels.

[GMR] I saw it in the subway.

[Student] I don’t know what they mean by that. In the case of the description(?) of
enlightenment the Buddha’s (UNCLEAR) able to perpetuate and recreate …
(UNCLEAR)...a safety clause…(UNCLEAR)

[GMR] He’s asking is Buddhahood an eternal state, you know once you get
there could you ever degenerate? And there’s a huge scriptures, huge books
written about it. They’re call getomishu. The twenty permutations of the it’s a
flow chart for enlightenment. You know all the stages of realization. Some of
them you can regenerate from and some of them you can not. And you can not
degenerate from enlightenment. Once you’re there you’re always you will be
there. You can’t go back. It’s called ningtopa. It’s like there’s a state you reap
reach before enlightenment where you can not be turned back. Nothing in the
universe can turn you back at that point ok. All right.

So what we did basically was we proved that the cause of the milkshake depends
on its existence on your karma and your proje..and your thoughts and your
projections and that even more difficult to understand the starting of the
milkshake also depends on your projection ok. It’s one thing to understand the
emptiness of a of a of a standing object , something that’s not moving. But to
understand the emp..you know, to understand the emptiness of the sun coming
up that’s a little harder. Motion seems to be more self-existent than things that
are standing still. And the last two classes what we’ve been trying to say is that
even the motion of things is caused by your karma ok. it’s a projection. If you
sit and stare at a chair, that’s a projection, or at a pen. But if I drop the pen and
and go down then my movement is also your projection. Got it? That’s a little
harder. The fact that the milkshake can stand there and be for a while is a
projection. And very importantly, the ending of the milkshake, the reason any
of the good things in your life end is also only a projection. It’s a shift in your
mind. Nothing’s changing outside. It’s a shift in your mind. If that were not the
case things could never change. Get used to it. Things change because they’re
empty. Things change because they are your projections. Get use to it.
Nothing’s changing outside of you ok. they don’t change. You, your mind
changes. Your mind shifts. As long as you keep up the karma that makes things
shift, you will be forced to lose everything nice in your life, period. Ok? Your
health, your appearance, your family, your friends, your career, your own
mind’s ability to think. Everything about you you must lose, you will lose.
Why? It’s a projection. It will run out ok. That’s why you suffer. That’s the
emptiness of Samsara, got it? That’s the emptiness of suffering. That’s the
emptiness of your life ok. Your karmas are wearing out as we speak.

There was a karma that threw you into this realm. There was a big huge karma
that threw you into this realm. The minute you get here it starts running out.
Everybody gets old, you know. Everybody as we sit here is falling apart ok.
Your mind is actually slowing down as we sit here ok. It mean I…(TAPE
BREAKS UP)…It’s a projection of my karma and that’s wearing out as we speak
unless you can learn how to create the best kinds of good karma it will wear out
it must wear out. And that is the emptiness of suffering. That’s the emptiness of
our lives ok.

Question, is the opposite also empty? If it’s true ok, what you’re standing up
there saying, what you’ve been saying all these classes. Of it’s true, if your world
view, you know one guy against three billion ok or whatever you know. If you
world view happens to be right and the worldview shared by three billion
people is wrong, ok let’s say just for argument’s sake, it’s called takba ta sim ge
rimka in Tibetan. Let’s just say that your world view is correct ok. Does the
opposite process also involve emptiness ok. In other words if I understand that,
for example, that my bo… that my body is is just a bunch of colors and shapes
and that if I had different kind of karma I could be looking at the radiant arm of
an angel ok. Uh, is that also supported by the fact of emptiness? Is emptiness
responsible for that? Absolutely. You see what I mean? The process by which
the world gets screwed up and the process by you and I are getting old and
dying depends on the emptiness of this world ok. Why? Because everything is a
projection. Everything is our karma. Our karmas are wearing out so we get
pain ok. All the nice things are projections. They must wear out. You must lose
them ok. Can you turn it around? Of course that’s why we’re having a
Buddhism class ok. And you can ok. How much time do you have to do it? You
don’t know. You don’t know when the karma’s gonna wear out. How much
karma does it take to turn it around? A hell of a lot of karma. What’s the first
step? You have to understand the process. If don’t really believe it, if you sit
here and listen and then you don’t anything in two or three days you’re just
gonna die like everybody else ok. You have to turn it around. How to turn it
around? Collect good karma. What’s good karma? You know what’s good
karma if you can see the future. I can’t see the future. I don’t which actions are
good, that create good karma in the future. I don’t know which actions are bad
and create bad things in the future. Could you tell me? When refer to an
enlightened being. Who? The Buddha. How do you collect good karma? Three
sets of vows ok. Three sets of behavior. Three guidelines for behavior.

First one is called praktimoksha ok. It’s morality. Plain old morality. From the
ten good deeds on up to the two hundred and fifty three vows of a fully
ordained monk. So you can, you know. choose your poison between them, you
know. If you want ten, ten’s ok. Thirty-six, thirty-six, you know. Whatever ok.
Whichever level you choose to follow, you have to have some kind of code of
behavior. Ethical code. Then there’s the bodhisattva behavior, which you have
been studying for this whole year ok. At the end you should take the sixty-four
bodhisattva vows and then start practicing them, ok. Uh, if you want to
excelerate things and get everything done in this life for sure, take tantric vows
and keep them ok. Are they some kind of weird sexual thing? I saw it at Open
Center last night, you know. I have a student her husband asked me, uh you
know…is that…? Not at all ok. Not at all. They’re very sweet, normal, beautiful
clean behavior. They are strongly based on on the ten non..you know avoiding
the plain old ten non-virtues ok. They’re totally based on that. They’re totally
based on living a very pure, clean, holy life. And uh, in fact much more strictly
than someone who doesn’t take them ok. Uh, so nothing like that. Um, keep
those vows.

Is it just is it enough to take them and just have them for a while? No you have
to keep them. What’s the best way to keep them? I’ll tell you. I’ll break a tantric
vow ok. Well I won’t exactly break it ok. Anyway it, it involves, it involves ok
closely monitoring your behavior ok. The Kadampa Geshes uh used to keep a
bag of black and white rocks. And every time they thought something dirty or
said something bad, they would take a black rock out and put it in their left
pocket. And every time they had a good thought they would put in a white rock
in their, a pebble, in their right pocket. And uh, at the end of the day they would
empty out their pockets and count, you know. And there’s this big pile of black
pebbles and this little pile of white pebbles you know. And basically that’s that is
the method. And I’ll teach you and I can teach you. I’m allowed to teach you.
We’re gonna do it on this Monday night, this coming Monday night. If you
don’t know how to do that, practice monitoring your vows, which is the only
way to get to enlightenment, uh come on Monday night. At Sixth Street, seven
o’clock ok.

Uh, we’ll be back in Connecticut right? Ok. Alright. Right? Ok. Ok. That’s
good. Uh, oh so in a way, if you think about it, the fact that our suffering has
emptiness is what causes it. See what I mean? It’s a projection of bad karma and
the fact that nirvana has emptiness is how we can achieve it because that’s going
to be projections of excellent karma ok. By the way, what’s the definition of
nirvana? Basically removing all of your bad emotions forever. Jealousy, anger,
desire, pride etc. ok. What’s really happening when you get there? Are there
self-existent bad emotions being removed from your mind forever? No. What’s
really happening? Interesting. It’s cool. The day you reach Nirvana you are
being forced by your past good deeds to imagine that you don’t have any bad
emotions in your mind. It’s also a projection. Get it? It’s also the result of good
karma. There will come a day when your karma is so powerful it will force you
not to see those emotions in your own mind. And that’s called nirvana. The
fact… that quality which nirvana has and that quality which Samsara or suffering
has is called natural nirvana ok. and I’m gonna write it for you.

Ok say it rang shinge nyande de. Rang shinge nyande..Nyande as I said, nyande
means nirvana, ok. Nyaande the end means nirvana. Nyande. Nirvana is
defined as roughly as the end of your bad emotions ok, negative emotions,
roughly ok. But rang shinge nyande means the fact that everything is empty ok.
there is nothing which has any nature of its own. All the nature that things have,
good or bad or neutral, is coming from you ok. on their own they don’t have
any nature at all. They don’t have any nature of even existing on their own.
That’s also coming from you ok. Everything has that quality and as we near the
end of the ninth chapter, which we are. Master Shantideva wants to tie
emptiness into your life, you know. It’s no good to study emptiness like a
philosophy class and then go home and not use it for something, ok. He wants
to tie it to your life so he says, he teaches the principal of, say see shi yampa nyi
ok. See means your suffering life. The life your in right now unless you’re a
tantric deity that I didn’t recognize yet ok. See see means Samsara ok. for
example the Wheel of Life is called See Korlo. See Pey Korlo ok. Shi means peace
which in Buddhism is a code word for nirvana and Buddhahood. The opposite of
See ok. Nyampa nyi means they are the same. They are equivalent. Nyampa
nyi means doesn’t even mean similar. It means they are equivalent. You know
you hear these people say, uh ah then no problem you know. It’s all the same
you know. Buddhism says, I heard, Nagarjuna said, Arya Nagarjuna said
Samsara, meaning your suffering life and nirvana are all the same. We just
didn’t see it yet. It’s some mystical state where you get into where pain is as cool
as pleasure. Something like that ok. In fact, I’ve heard that Shantideva said,
where is that?…ok say Nang yen de dang la dey pa ang tenee tunee key pa ney.
I think it’s nee, ok. I’ll check ok. It’s somewhere in the computer well we’ll
worry about it later. Hmmm. Hang on a second, let me get it right. I’ll give it to
you next class but I think it’s nee ok. Uh, Nang yen de means nirvana. Dang
means and. La dey pa means not getting to nirvana. Getting to nirvana and not
getting to nirvana, I’m going to the next, to the last half of the second line, key
pa ney means it’s all the same. No difference. No difference between getting to
nirvana and not getting to nirvana ok. That’s like saying there’s no difference
between a Two Boots pizza and getting your wisdom teeth taken out ok.
Seriously all right. That’s like saying that. And people have ss… I’ve heard
many people say that. Oh, Nagarjuna, Arya Nagarjuna said it’s all the same.
Master Shantideva said in this two lines. It’s all the same. Suffer here. Get
enlightened. It’s all the same. No different ok. But there’s this other little part
here right? Day nee doo nee or day nee doo nah, ok. Day nee doo nee means in
terms of their real nature ok. In terms of there real nature. What nature? Their
natural nirvana. That’s why we call it natural nirvana. What’s their natural
nirvana? Their emptiness ok. From that point of view your pain and your
enlightenment are the same. Why? They’re both empty. Whether you through
one or whether you go through the other it’s gonna be because you’re
projecting on to it. It’s your projection of your mind. Oh, in that case, I’ll take
the pleasure. Uh, sorry. Sorry you have to do the good karma first ok. Can I
get it(?UNCLEAR) today and uh sit back tomorrow? Probably not ok. You
have to do it for a while. You have to do it seriously ok. According to Buddhism
it can not fail. It’s not like self-existent money. It’s not like self-existent
milkshakes. It’s not like Capitalism, or Socialism or Communism or Western
world view or science or anything else. It works all the time. All the time. And it
explains everything. It’s functional and it’s comprehensive.

And my claim and the claim of Buddhism is that the worldview that we hold
now is not comprehensive. Why? It doesn’t explain why some people die and
others don’t die at any particular time. Uh, and it’s dysfunctional. Why? Human
beings in the world today are not one iota more happy than human beings who
lived a thousand years ago ok. It it doesn’t work. It did not make us happier. It
did not achieve your goals and it didn’t make you not die or get old, ok. It keeps
you together a few years longer maybe, ok. Oh well maybe Indians were happy
in the old days, you know, nature and all that. Forget it, you know. The, some
of the cruelest wars fought on American soil were the Indian tribes slaughtering
each other. You know what I mean? Don’t don’t fall for that either. People are
just as miserable as now as they were a thousand years ago and they were just
as miserable as we are. Why? They didn’t have right worldview. It didn’t work.
They didn’t see that the best way to get more meat is to make sure that other
people get the bison, you know. They, that’s hard to figure out. They didn’t see
that the way to make money was to be generous, you see. They didn’t see that
the way to get delicious meals was to cook other people meals, you see what I
mean? They didn’t see that the way to happiness is to be compassionate and
caring for other people. Period. And until you do you’ll suffer ok. But from the
point of view emptiness suffering and pleasure. Pleasure and pain are totally
equivalent. See shi yampa nyi. Nirvana and not going to nirvana are totally
equivalent. Why? They both have this great potential called what? Natural
nirvana. Code name for? Emptiness, ok. Got it? So you see natural nirvana
and nirvana are very closely related. That’s a homework question. I call it
regular nirvana. Somebody said, somebody saw the homework they said come
on don’t call it regular nirvana ok. By the way I really want to thank the people
who help with the readings and the homework. It takes like ten hours of intense
work. People are working all night sometimes to finish the readings and stuff
like that. And they all are getting cranky and over stressed and hopefully not
creating any bad karma, but there’s people working really hard to finish them
and I would like to thank them and I’m not going to name them ok. Uh, but
that’s what Nagajuna meant when he said suffering and and pleasure are the
same. Nirvana and samsara are the same. All he meant was they’re both
empty, they both have natural nirvana, and if you know how to use natural
nirvana you can get to what? Regular nirvana and Buddhahood. That’s all. I
think we’re just about done. Dampa tseway (? UNCLEAR) Let’s see. I can make
up something more. There’s one short one. Two minutes. Ok say say pey.

[Students] Pey

[GMR] Kor sum

[Students] Kor sum

[GMR] Pey

[Students] Pey

[GMR] Kor sum

[Students] Kor sum

[GMR]       Uh the last thing that Master Shantideva wants to talk about in in
regard to all these emptinesses is how do you get it to work for you? How do
you get it to work for you? Sepa means an act of craving. You can say jealousy
for example. Wanting what other people have and being unhappy that they
have it and you don’t have it. Sepa. Sepa generally means means craving. I’m
gonna use the example of jealousy because that’s the enemy which I am
struggling with just about everyday ok. Sepa.

Kor means the three elements. Kor sum means the three elements. There are
three things going on in an act of jealousy. If you understand the emptiness of
each of them you can get out of it. You can defeat it. Forever ok. And only,
according to Buddhism only by understanding these three emptinesses ok.
What are they?

First one; the emptiness of the Sepa shi. The thing you’re jealous about ok. The
thing you’re jealous about. What? Oh, atten…somebody else getting attention,
for example ok. The object of your jealously ok. Sepa shi.

[Student] Can you place that with anger… (UNCLEAR)

[GMR]      You can place it with any mental affliction. There’s 83,999 others,
according to scripture ok, roughly ok. Sepa shi. What’s the example, you have a
friend who has another friend and the other friend is getting attention from your
friend when you would like him to him have to pay attention to you ok. what is
the object of the jealousy is the your friend’s friend, ok. the other friend. The
other person who’s getting the attention that you’re not getting ok. That would
be the object of of the jealousy. What is the emptiness of that object? By the
way I’m giving you a clue ok. You know a real Emperors Chaka baras right.
They ruled the world according to Buddhism there’s planet planetary president
and the whole world begs them to be presidents and then if don’t have quite that
much karma you have to sort of threaten everybody and they’ll make you
president. You have to campaign and then they’ll make you president. And if
you don’t have that much karma you have to collect a big army and like
threaten everybody and they’ll say ok you can be president of the world you
know. But this is there have been beings like that on this planet and other
planets ok. And it’s very interesting, you see the ones that have to threaten
people have the karma to have competition. You see what I mean? There’s a
karma that makes you have competition. What is the karma? If it’s like in a
relationship the karma is sexual misconduct, adultery. You did a adultery in
your past. You checked out somebody else’s spouse or something like that,
even just lightly and now you’re gonna have competition for years with the
person that you like. That’s the emptiness of the object of your jealousy. That
person exists because you committed some kind of sexual misconduct even just
mentally ok. that’s why that person exists, ok. That’s where they came from.
Don’t blame them and don’t blame your friend who’s giving them the attention.
You created it literally ok. They exist only because of you. Prove it. There’s
people who don’t have competition.         Well how come some people have
competition and some people don’t? Well your worldview doesn’t explain that
yet ok. Is it just random? Is it a God who is like unfair to some people and fair
to others? You know, you you you figure it out ok.

Number two (UNCLEAR??) ser pra po. The emptiness of the person having the
jealousy ok. Ser pra po. By the way in the case of someone who irritates you,
what’s the best way to get rid of them. I mean by the way, you don’t even have
to live in a world where you you have competition. You can eliminate all
competition. How? Buddhism doesn’t say you don’t have to put up with the
crap. You can eliminate the crap. You can get rid of the other guy. How? Be
perfectly moral sexually. Keep your vows sweetly. You’ll never have any
competition ok. You can actually get rid of the other people. How do you get
rid of irritating people? Stop being stop be… acting with anger and they will
slowly disappear. There are people who seem to slide through life without ever
meeting bad people very often and that’s because they have been patient year
after year and now they’re getting the sweet result of that and everyone they
meet is sweet. You see? It’s possible. It works. Eventually if you keep that up
you get to a paradise, seriously. You will ok. Serpa po means the person who’s
being jealous ok.

[Student] It would be you in that case?

[GMR] Yeah me.

[Student] I mean the…

Are you reading my book? Sorry. No the person being jealous. What’s the best
way to be ugly, have bad breath, have perspiration you know be physically
unattractive in the future? It’s jealousy ok, seriously. That’s one of the karmic
results of jealousy. If you want to make sure that you never get the object of
your attention uh be as jealous as you can ok. It’s interesting. You’re screwing
up your own future be having a mental affliction ok.. You you’re messing up
your own future happiness, you know. Buddhism says people actually very
actively engaged the art of screwing up their own futures. You know. Yeah?

[Student] Is there a list of this in scripture?
[GMR] Yeah there is and I’ll give it to you if you like. Je Tsongkapa called it
from scripture. The Vinaya scriptures, the Kyra, the Jakata Tales of the Buddha,
they are not kids stories they were meant to outline all the actions and their
consequences for the beings who can not see into the future, which means us ok.
For example um I lived on thirty-ninth Street in Hell’s kitchen.. We had this if
you guys remember who were there we had this huge garbage thing outside.
And on a hot day there was a vegetable stand and a fruit stand and it was full of
rotting vegetables and there was this incredible sweet smell you know. Uh, that
smell is a result of sexual misconduct ok. For example, I mean I know you would
never guess that. Uh the reason there are potholes in New York is the result of
unkindly speech towards other people, for any who falls into a pothole.
Seriously, no kidding. And you know they’re difficult. You wouldn’t guess
those things. You can, by the way address the karma that’s creating any
particular problem you have. Health problem, mental problem, depression, low
self-esteem. The spouse that you’re having your problem with. A boss you’re
having a problem with. You can analyze backwards. You can work backwards
from the problem and you can identify the karma that you must have
committed even though it might have been long ago and you can stop that
karma. And that's a very cool process. That’s purification. It’s a four-step
process. You can identify the real causes of problems in your life and you can
go about removing the karmic seed which is actually causing them to exist, you
know. It’s very cool ok.

Sepe cha wa. The action of jealousy itself. The action of jealousy itself. The event
of me getting jealous. Why did it happen? It’s one of the karmic results of being
jealous in the past ok? One of the screwy things about jealousy or any other
emotion is that, negative emotion is that it creates karma for that to continue in
your mind in the future ok. The event of my having the jealousy is being caused
by my past jealousy and now I’m gonna have to undergo more mental
suffering in the future. I will have the same habit in the future. Long into the
future. It will make me miserable much longer than the present moment ok?
That’s called the three elements. The three…kor sum means the three elements.
If you understand in an of jealousy what’s really going on the last thing you
would want to do is continue, ok. It’ s the best way to screw up what you’re
trying to get. In fact, according to Buddhism it’s the only way to lose what
you’re trying to get. It’s very ironic. It’s very ironic. I’ll repeat The natural
reaction you have to something bak happening is the best way to get it to
happen again. According to Buddhism all your suffering is coming from your
stupid reactions to things you don't like, ok. And you have to learn to do the
opposite ok. Yeah?
[Student] …(UNCLEAR) Uh, about the emptiness of the karma itself…

[GMR] Uh it is empty itself and we can talk about it. And what that means is
that some people will never understand it. Some people will never perceive it as
an object, as an existing thing. The laws of karma are not written up in Time
magazine every week you know. Uh, all those people who don’t get to read
about the laws of karma, don’t have the karma to be projecting the laws of
karma, ok.

[Student] So …(UNCLEAR)…laws of karma can’t take place?

[GMR] Right, can’t take place. But you can get really fast karma, you can get
really fast karma and I’m going to talk about that right now and then we’ll stop
by ten and still we all have to be out in two minutes ok.

We’ve been talking about a lot of different proofs about emptiness. A lot of
them I know to you seem to be very obscure or difficult. You know I sit up here
and said this is this and you were like, you know. And then I kept saying stuff
like and maybe you got more and more or maybe you didn’t get more and
more but you were wondering does he really get it? You know, um. I mean
Master Shantideva if you at the picture he really did start to fly. I mean as he
taught this chapter I assume he was already into this part because this is near the
end he actually, there were very few of monks in that ancient monastic
monastery who could understand what he was talking about you know. Very
people there understood the last part of this chapter. He taught it in one sitting,
right, the whole book. Uh, and they just, they say he started to fly up into the
air. Whether you think it’s a metaphor or not definitely the whole audience was
pretty confused or lost by that time ok. Um, it is possible to hear all of these
things. It is possible to pick up the ninth chapter and immediately understand it
as if you were reading a newspaper ok. Not only that it’s possible to take that
chapter and go sit down in meditation and see emptiness directly ok. you can do
it ok. There are people on this planet who can look at the ninth chapter and
immediately understand all of it and there people on this planet who have seen
emptiness directly. Uh, so what’s a person who has done it and a person who
has done it yet. Is there any trick, you know what I mean? That’s the last thing
that I wan to talk about tonight.

Je Tsongkapa uh, who was the teacher of the first Dalai Lama, uh he spent half
his time… you know he was a great scholar. He wrote ten thousand pages of
commentary, that are a lot of them are a lot harder than this ok. He wrote ten
thousands pages in his life. He founded the great monasteries of Tibet. The
three great monasteries, which at their had like twenty-five thousand monks in
them. Um he met the Buddha directly in the form of Manjushri. He learned this
subject directly from an enlightened being ok. How’d he do it? You know, uh
and wouldn’t this be..I’m trying to say if you’re going to really study emptiness
you better know the trick to get it fast and to get it so that you just look at it and
you know immediately know what they’re talking about, uh, or that you see
emptiness directly. He spent about half of his lifetime in retreat in meditation.
And and most of that time was spent requesting his lama for his blessing ok.
That he could bless his mind ok. So if you really, seriously. In the monastery
when you get to the study of emptiness it’s your thirteenth year you start
studying this subject. Uh, you actually get time off. They give you time off and
you go do some retreat. Khen Rinpoche, for example did a very powerful
retreat when he reached his thirteenth year of his studies. Which would have
been around 1940 ok. Uh, and uh, you actually go into mediation and you go
into a retreat and you sit and you visual your heart teacher, your root lama and
you beg them for their blessing, know what I mean. And uh, you have to learn
that skill. I mean we should have had a class on that maybe. But uh if you do it
you can pick up this book and read it like a newspaper and everything would be
obvious to you and uh and then you will see emptiness directly ok and and then
you don’t have to die like this. But you have to spend, what I’m encouraging
you to do is spend some amount of your time as you try to understand these
objects, maybe just before your final, uh you know meditate on your root lama
and ask your root lama for their blessing you know. Uh, and it works, ok. I
mean uh the only way I ever studied these things was I literally when I do a
reading I spend about an equal amount of time doing that, seriously honestly.
I’m not trying to uh praise myself I’m trying to say it works. And you can give
them equal airtime, you know. You should disappear a couple of days before a
reading and uh ask them for a blessing. You know try to be in their presence
and and try to get their blessing.

What’s the emptiness of their blessing? Is their blessing self-existent? Can they
bless you? What are they like cheapskates? They only bless people who beg
them to bless them? That’s the Christian thing right. Please bless me you know.
Yeah, I’m not gonna bless you until you really get down on your knees you
know. I’m jealous…you know. Anyway. Why? Why you know? Are they like
holding out until you grovel. Uh, obviously not. They love you more than you
love yourself, you know. They would love to bless you but something’s missing
and and it’s interesting, they don’t have any power to bless you at all ok. If they
could bless you they would have done it yesterday. They would have done it
before you started the ninth chapter. They have no reason to hole out. There’s
no absolutely no incentive for an Enlightened Being not to bless you if they could
bless you, but the fact is they can’t bless you, ok. So why did Je Tsongkapa
spend roughly half his life asking his lamas for their blessing, you know. And
trying to stay in their presence. Trying to be near them to have their blessing?
Uh, it’s a result of your faith, you see what I mean? You can get a blessing. You
can wheedle, you can force a blessing out of those lamas. How? With great
devotion, ask them to bless you. You know what I mean? With with faith and
with knowledge ask them to bless you ok. And if the faith, you know it’s funny
you know, as with everything else it’s your motivation and it’s your devotion
which creates the blessing, you see. And and you’ll get it. An and I swear you
pick up a book on emptiness or something, you just, it looks like a newspaper.
You can just read it, you know. You understand it perfectly. Of so you have to
you have to uh, I’ll I’ll answer afterwards ok. You can come…(UNCLEAR
WORD) I’m I’m giving you a, what do you call it, like a clue about it. Inside
dope ok. Yeah inside dope. Do it ok? and and then everything will change.
Your whole understanding of madjamika will change.              Try to spend uh,
especially with emptiness, it’s funny. You can sit there and stare at the same
Tibetan words hour after hour and you won’t get it. Go into your prayer room,
visualize your your Holy Lama. Sweet Holy Lama and uh ask him for the
blessing ok and they do it. Ok it works ok. Alright that’s all.

(Short Mandala Offering)

(Dedication Prayer)