ACI 12 «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы, часть III», занятие 10

Course XII, class 10
RAW TRANSCRIPT
Transcribed by Brian Smith.

[prayer]

OK, so, huh, lot of survivors in this class. [laughs] No, congratulations for that,
because, uh, I think it's the most difficult class we've had, course we've had, and I
didn't expect this many survivors, so that good. Uh, we've reached the final
verses of the ninth chapter, uh, the chapter on wisdom. This chapter is so
difficult that in Tibetan monasteries there were separate chapters written just for
the ninth chapter. And people who have tried to translate it have always ended
up, you know, giving up and translating the verses and they just make it into a
long paragraph or something like that, which you can see. Because it doesn't
make a lot of sense, just the verses themselves. And you can tell that Gelsup Je is
really stretching to fit the meaning into his commentary. So, uh, we've covered
all the difficult sections. We've gone over all the different interpretations of
emptiness from all the different schools, heè's defeated all the other schools, um,
he's gone through a lot of other worldviews and he's eliminated them. Uh, and
now it's like the last verses of the ninth chapter, and what does he choose to talk
about in the last verses? Uh, Gelsup, Master Shantideva. . . By the way, there's a
tenth chapter, and we have to do that tonight too, but that's pretty short. Uh, so
it's interesting what he chooses to make his last, his very last verses, and he talks
about uh the best way, you know, if things are empty, if all things are empty,
and if nothing has any nature of its own, uh, and if its our karma that gives
things their nature, then what would be the most powerful karma of all to
collect. And I think in his mind Master Shantideva was deciding, his audience,
whoever was left by that point, right? He did all this in one afternoon, I guess,
right? The whole book. Uh, and I think that towards the end he's deciding, let
me leave them with the one karma which is the most powerful karma ofè all.
Uh, because if you understand that everything is empty, then you'd want to go
directly to doing the most powerful karma of all, OK? And he does. He starts
talking about that, OK? Uh, which is the karma of compassion, the karma of
wanting to spend the rest of your life to help other beings achieve their goals,
and, and to keep the teachings in this world. You know, so he's talking about
that in the final lines of the ninth chapter. So here we go with that. Hmmm. He
starts out with the definition of two states of mind, uh, which I've translated as
love and compassion, OK? Uh, and I'll give you the description of them. I've
dug around to find a short description because I didn't want you to have too
much homework on your last class. So this is a description of love and
compassion and the difference between love and compassion, uh, according to Je
Tsongkapa in his {b: Lam Rim Chenmo}, OK? And it's very short, and I thought
you would appreciate how short it is, OK? Say {dèewa dang tuda ki shamba
dang dunya dang tandu ki ningje}. Ok, {dewa} means "happiness," alright,
{dewa} means "happiness." I used to mix it up with {gewa}, which means
"virtue," so don't do that, OK? {Dewa} means "happiness." {Dang te} means
"meet up with it," to encounter it or meet up with it, OK? {De} means "you want
them," you want them to do that. And then {shamba}, which is the name of that
nice monk out in New Jersey, {shamba} means "love," OK? Love. So the
function of love is to wish that people should meet with every kind of happiness,
OK? The function of love is that you want to get them every kind of happiness
that there is, all living beings, OK? {Dang} means "and." {Dunya} means
"suffering." {Dang tel} means "to be separated from" or "freed from," "freed
from," OK? {De} means "wants."           And {ningje} means "compassion."         So
compassion on the other hand, {ningje.} By the way, {ning} means "heart" and
{je} means "the lord". "The lord of all hearts." It's a beautiful èword. And, uh, it's
defined as the desire that all living beings be freed from suffering, OK? So you
get the difference. One state of mind wants that all living beings should be freed
from suffering, and the other state of mind wants to make sure that they get all
happiness. And then there's this huge debate in the monastery about which one
comes first. Uh, when you teach the uh, seven step method for getting
bodhichitta, uh, one comes first, but when you think about it logically, the other
one comes first, and there's this big debate about it, OK? But basically if you
think about the metaphor of a child, and a mother wanting to take care of her
child, uh, if the child were sick, if the child had a fever, then first the mother
would seek to remove the child's pain, and then only afterwards would they give
the child a toy. You see what I mean? If the child is still in pain you wouldn't
think about giving the child a toy. So the goal is first to remove people's pain,
and then geèt them to a tantric paradise. I mean, that's the goal. So, in practice
{ningje} comes first: you want to remove people's pain. And then secondly you
want to get them to the goal of happiness. Um, and it's interesting that at this
point, and this is probably the most important thing tonight from the ninth
chapter, what Master Shantideva is saying is, I've just presented emptiness. You
understand emptiness now perfectly. So that means that it's time for you to feel
these two emotions. And he prays at the end of ninth chapter, he says, I pray
that I can get these two states of mind, you know? And I pray, and this is very
important, I pray that I can have an understanding of emptiness while I'm
having these two states of mind. You see what I mean? He's praying at the end
of the ninth chapter that when I look at people and want to remove their
suffering, I pray that I can understand the emptiness. And when I look at people
and wish that I could give them whatever they wish, uh, I èpray that can
understand their emptiness. You see? And he's saying equally, now that I've
understood emptiness I know that the most important thing to do is to take care
of other people. OK? Like he gets it. And he sort of like wants to leave you
with that from the ninth chapter, OK? Like that's the most important thing you
can do with your emptiness. It doesn't help to understand emptiness if you don't
do something with it. So he's saying, now love people. Because now you
understand. . . I think, really, if you understand emptiness well you understand
that love could work, you see what I mean? If people were self-existent, if all the
people who suffer in New York, and they're not suffering just physically, but I
think almost everybody's suffering mentally, if you could, if you took all the
beings in New York, if they were self-existent, you see, if their suffering were
self-existent, then things are hopeless. And I think a lot of intelligent people end
up like abusing druègs or abusing alcohol or getting deep into business or
something to distract themselves from that suffering. It's too much. It's too
heavy. You don't want to think about it. And I think the most, I think what
makes people almost crazy in this world, in this city, intelligent, normal people, is
that they really don't believe that there is anything they can do for other people.
You know, they really don't believe that there's any way that you can really help
other people. You understand that you could feed them, you understand that
you could give them a place to stay, and you also understand from reading the
daily news that every wealthy person in New York is also suffering. So you're
almost, I think an intelligent person, a normal person like anyone here is kind of,
considers it, in the bottom of your heart you consider it kind of hopeless to help
anybody. I mean you could go start a soup kitchen and maybe you could help
fifty people and then you would get old and die. And you èsee that. You know
that. And you kind of, in your heart, you feel like not doing that, because you
know how hopeless it is. You know what I mean? Because they're going to die,
you're going to do, and what's the use of having some soup or not. And you just
sort of go into some kind of denial about it, you see what I mean? And, but if
things are empty then you can do something for other people. You see what I
mean? You can teach them to feed themselves. You can teach them to make
their own money. Uh, you can teach them to make their own paradise. You see
what I mean? And if they were not empty, all those things would be impossible.
So it's appropriate that at the end of studying emptiness you get this huge feeling
of love for people, and compassion. You can have known, logically, or a
functional feeling of compassion because now you know you can do something.
Because until you've studied the ninth chapter, frankly, things are pretty
hopeless. If mental, if the mental unhaèppiness of everyone in New York is self-
existent, then, then things are hopeless. And if their physical life and the fact of
their death, and their old age, and their sickness, if that were self-existent, then
things are hopeless. And you know you sense that and you've always sensed
that. You know I worked for the farm workers for two years, you know I was
on picket lines, I worked all over the place, I stood up to Teamsters, you know,
and people got run over by trucks, you know, we worked for the poor, you
know. And then they were just as poor at the end as they were in the beginning,
you know, and it was like what to do you do, you know? You just kind of, you
know when you're twenty or twenty-two you can do that, but when you get
thirty it's like, what can I do to help people, you know? There's nothing that I
can do. You know, and the people who did end up getting their farm workers'
rights and their farm workers' pay, they ended up watching TV in their little
house and they èended up going to nursing homes and dying anyway and then
you're just like, what can I do, you know? It doesn't seem to mean anything.
Uh, but if they're empty, the whole ball game has changed. You know, if people
are empty and their suffering is empty then you can really do something, you
know, then you can really change them. You can help them move to a Buddha
paradise in this lifetime. And then, you know, you get some more inspiration to
be compassionate and to have love. Because now you have something that you
can do for them. And you sense it and you know it. From this class, you sense
that it's true. And now you have to think about what you can do to, to pull it off,
OK? So here you see the two sides of love. It's almost one word in English,
right, love, but in Tibetan it's {jaba} and {ningje}. The {jaba} part means, you
want them to get every good thing in the world. The compassion part is that
you want them to be free of every suffering in the world. OK? And nowè you
can do it because, because things are empty, OK? They are empty. If they
weren't empty, it's hopeless. Things are hopeless. Because they are empty . . .
because their minds are empty, and their bodies are empty, and their situation is
empty . . . now there's a chance. Now we can do something. You gotta get that,
OK? The ninth chapter's not just an exercise in philosophy. He closes it with
compassion because he wants you to get it, that now, now things are possible.
You know, now we can really help people, now we can do something for people.
You see what I mean? It's possible that we could go to a Buddha paradise, it's
possible that you could change into a different kind of body, and it's possible that
you could teach other people to do that. There's no problem with that. And in
America, the opportunity is perfect. You know, people are well educated, uh,
people have enough food, they can think, they can study, people are fairly
comfortable. People have free time. Thaèt's why the television exists. That's
why movies exist. People have enough time. Uh, people also suffer. You know,
we know, we're sophisticated enough to know that mentally we suffer as badly
as anyone else on the planet, even though we have enough to eat and we have
nice houses and everything else.          But we understand that, almost every
American in their heart they know that they suffer as much as people in South
India or something like that. Mentally. So Americans are quite right. You
know, we also don't have any religion. You know what I mean? There's
nothing. . . People are hungry. People need something, you know. There's
some religions that don't seem to work very well, and there's a lot of people who
don't follow any religion, and so people are missing that, it's like an essential
vitamin or protein in their life. And you feel the lack of it, you know? Even I eat
vegetables from time to time, uh, I get this craving for green vegetables, you
know? Because my body saèys there's something missing, you know? And I
think that people in America. . . you know I did all these interviews of people
who came to class for a long time, and now Elly's doing them, but, uh, people
want something. I mean, people grew up, they rejected their religion when they
were younger, or they didn't reject it but they don't think it works. And it
doesn't. And, and you're hungry for something. And that's why people come to
classes and that's why people order. . . Ten thousand tapes have gone out. You
know. We didn't advertize. . . There's a little thing at the back of [unclear]. . . It's
just word of mouth. But people need. it. People want it. And if there's
something that works then, then, then you some personal responsibility to help,
to help them get it, you know what I mean? I don't mean, you know, what do
you call it? What's the people who come door to door, you know and keep. . .
Yeah, anybody. Yeah. Not like that, you know. We're not allowed to go dooèr
to door and bother people like that. But if people are interested and they want
to know, uh, it's your responsibility to be ready, and to be ready to help them in
a, an authentic way. OK? Hmmm. I'm going to give you the technical definition
of great compassion. And it's a little bit long but it's very beautiful. So bear with
it. That's the longest thing tonight. I think I'll do this. This is my last shot at you
so I'm trying to make it really long. Say {dunya chengi semche kangla mikya
ma puchipa la sewe se samdu dunya dang towar dupe low shewma mimba rangi
langi kewe lo}. OK. Uh, {dunya} means "suffering." {Chen} here means "who is
suffering," {chengi} means "who is suffering." {Semche} means "any living being."
The {kangla} is "any," OK?, "any living being." {Mik} means "to focus on them,"
"to focus on them." So the first quality of great compassion is that it focusses on
a living being who is suffering, OK?        {Kang} means "no matter which one it
focusses on," OK?, è"no matter which one it is focussing on," {kang}. {Pu} means
"child," "child." {Chipa} means "only child." Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]
Oh, I'm sorry. You can put the {ma} here. {Ma} means "mother," {pu} means
"child," {chipa} means "only," {la} means "towards that child," {sewe}, {sewe} here
means "love," another word for love. {Sut sambdu} here means "no less than
that," "no less than that." So what do we have so far? This kind, this state of
mind, focusses on any particular being who is suffering, OK?, and no matter
which one it's focussing on, the feeling is no less than a mother has for her only
child. There's a mother who has only one child; the feeling you have for those
beings is no less than that, the love you have for them is no less than that. OK?
Exactly that amount. By the way, if you're like me, I mean, I, I, I would like to
have that kind of compassion, I have the feeling that if you had that can of
compassion your life would be something extraordinary. You knèow what I
mean? I think if you had half or a quarter of that kind of compassion you'd be
blissful all the time. You know, I have the feeling that the key to happiness to
have this kind of compassion, you know. . . I, I personally, it always escaped me,
you know what I mean? I can't, I can't walk down the street and someone's
irritating me or someone's doing some stupid thing and I, I can't. . . He says no
matter who, see, kangla, no matter who you're focussing on, you feel like they're
your only child, you feel this love, this overwhelming love for them as if they
were your only child. And for me that's difficult, you know what I mean? And I
always thought it's like the Holy Grail, you know, if you could get to that your
life would be special, you know. If you understand the person's emptiness, I
think you can get it a lot easier. You see what I mean? I think you could get this
kind of love a lot easier. And that's why people who see emptiness directly have
this extraordinaèry event, this extraordinary experience of bodhichitta right
afterwards, OK?, who are on the Mahayana track. They have this extraordinary
experience of bodhichitta right after they see emptiness. OK? And I think the
point is that, for the first time you realize that every suffering of this world is
unnecessary. You know what I mean. All the death that's going on in this
world, all the struggle between people, all the unhappiness of individuals, all the
unhappiness that people have about each other, you know, all the, every cut on
a kid's finger, you know, every kind of terrible thing that ever goes on, from the
slightest headache to the atomic bomb, you know, in Japan or something, from
those, the whole range of suffering, the entire mental suffering of the United
States, you know, it's all totally unnecessary. I think that when you see
emptiness directly, or you have a deep understanding of emptiness, and you see
that all this dying, and all this fighting, is just not necessarèy, that it's just based
on people not understanding emptiness, that then you start to get some feeling
of, uh, of real compassion for them, you know. Because it's needless suffering.
They don't have to die like that. They don't have to suffer like that. And they just
didn't understand it yet. And there's probably planets where, or there's probably
countries on planets where everybody got it already, and there's no more
suffering on that planet. You know what I mean? There's probably planets
where Buddhas have done their thing very effectively, the people were ripe, and
then just everybody on that planet understands emptiness, they follow their
vows, they keep their book, no one's hurting anyone, and just people are just
happy. And people don't suffer, and people don't die like they die here. And
this, so, and we're like somewhere lower on the evolutionary track, you know,
and this planet, in the realm we're in, people didn't get it yet, and very, very,
very few people understanèd that what would really make the world happy, and
what will, and that you can stop death, you see? And that you can stop every
single form of suffering, mental or physical. That it's all, I mean, if you really,
really understand emptiness and you get this true realization in your heart that
it's all a big waste, that it's all unnecessary suffering, people don't have to live like
that, then I think that you can get the feeling a little easier. It's a little more easy
to, if you look around and realize that all this pain is unnecessary and it's just a
mistake and you could fix it, uh, then, for me, it's easier to have compassion for
people. OK, {dunya} means "suffering," mental or physical. {Dungjawa} means
"to be free of that suffering," "to be free of that suffering." {Dupa} means "you
want it." {Lo} means "that state of mind," "that state of mind." {Chumba mimba}
means, {chumba mimba} means when you first practice compassion for other
people it's, uh, what we call contrived. It'ès artificial. You know, you have to sit
there and say, oh I really love all these sentient beings, even my boss, you
know? You know, you're like, you feel like it's your obligation to say it but you
don't feel it at all. That's what we call, uh, contrived bodhichitta or artificial
bodhichitta or something like that. It's also like {kirim}. OK, if you have, uh, that
teaching, it's very similar to {kirim}. {Kirim} is also called {tak den lonsom} which
means "the yoga of pretending," you see what I mean? So there is a state, a
necessary step, where you pretend to have compassion, where you pretend to
have love for people, because that helps you develop the real thing. {Chumba
mimba} means "the real thing." {Chumba mimba} means "not pretend," it's not
pretend, it's the real thing. Pretending is not a bad thing.. You have to pretend
you love people and act like that for a while and then you can learn how to do it
really, you know? You just keep practicing it until it becomes realè. OK? You
don't feel it right away, but you keep trying. OK? {Rangi nangi} means, uh. . . I
had a good translation of that, what was that? Hmm. "Uncontrollable wish,"
OK? {Rangi nangi} means "uncontrollable." It just comes up in you. You can't
stop it. Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]
Which one? It's {lung}. Oh. Yeah, you can say {yang}, if you want, {yang}.
{Lungi}. {Kewa} means "it comes up in you," {lo} means "that state of mind." It's
the state of mind that comes up in you uncontrollably. By the time you get to
great compassion you can't stop it anymore, OK? You just, it just keeps coming
up in your heart. Uh. So we can define it, I'll read you the definition, I mean in
English, OK? What is this a definition of? Great compassion, OK? {Mahakaruna},
you know. {Ningje chembo}. The definition: "that uncontrived state of mind,
that uncontrived state of mind, which, that uncontrived state of mind which, no
matter what suffering being it may focus upon, OK?, no matter whatè suffering
being it may focus upon". . . it means you can't leave out your boss and your
cousin and people like that . . . "feels an uncontrollable wish, feels an
uncontrollable wish, to free them from their pain, with exactly the same
intensity, with exactly the same intensity of love, that a mother feels for her only
child." Again, uh, if you under. . . I think, you know, everyone would like to
have it. We don't have it. How can you get it? Um, for me, personally, it's a lot
easier if I think of their emptiness. Because then it becomes not only people who
are in pain, they're in pain because they're, they're doing it to themselves, you
see what I mean? And that becomes, to me, very pitiful. You know, I then I can
get, I can feel compassion, you know what I mean, it's a lot easier for me. Uh,
they are suffering, every suffering they have they are causing to themselves, and
everything they do during the day to make themselves happy is backfiring and
they don't get it. You seèe what I mean? Now that's, that's like watching a kid
play with a razor blade or something, and cut themselves. And it just feels bad.
It'd be one thing if the kid, like, if something fell on the kid accidentally or
something like that. That's one thing. But to see a kid sit there with a razor
blade and cut themselves up, you know, that's, you almost can't stop but feel sad
for them, you know. You, people, an entire planet, three billion people are, uh,
cutting their own fingers and they don't get it, you know, they don't understand,
and they haven't been exposed to this, the truth, which is that it can stop and
they can stop it but not by collecting bad karma, you know. They have to stop
that. You have to understand what really causes other things, and it's not
cheating or lying or money or things like that, you know. What causes a
[unclear] milkshake is not doing something to hurt someone else. It's taking care
of other people. But people don't get it. So you have a wholeè planet covered
with people who are suffering. And they're doing it to themselves. That's the
hard part, I think. It must be hard for Buddhas to watch us, I think. You know,
it must be kind of sad for them. Uh, it must be very poignant for them. They
can see from two thousand years ago that we would be doing this. They
probably have to watch it through all time. It must be very painful to watch,
you know. Two types of great compassion. Say {semchen dunya dang tawde ki
ningje chembo}.         Uh, {semchen} means "living beings," {dunya} means
"suffering," {dang tawde} means "wanting to free them from suffering," and
{ningje chembo} means "great compassion."              So the first kind of great
compassion is the one that hopes to free people from their suffering, OK? That's
the first kind of great compassion. There's this huge debate in, in Mahayana
literature, like, can Hinayana people have this kind of compassion. Can people
on Hinayana track have this kind of compassion. And the conclusèion of Je
Tsongkapa, for example, is yes they can. They can have that. {De} means
"suffering," it just means "that," meaning that same suffering that we just
mentioned, uh. {Delek cowp} means "to protect people from that suffering," "to
protect people from that suffering," OK? {De} means "it wants to," and {ningje
chembo} means "great compassion." So, by the way, don't confuse this with the
three kinds of compassion you had the other class, you know, the one that just
focusses on the person, then the one that focusses on their impermanence and
other qualities, and then the one which focusses on their emptiness, or
something like that. Don't confuse it with those three. This is now division into
two, OK? The first one is a general wish that people be freed from suffering.
The second one wants to protect them from the suffering. OK, what's the
difference? I mean, in your mind what's the difference? The first one wants to
see them get freed from their suffering, the second one waènts to protect them
from their suffering. OK, it's the difference between thinking, in your mind, it's a
pity that there's three billion people on this planet who are trying to be happy
and because they don't understand emptiness every single action they undertake
to be happy actually causes them suffering. You see what I mean? Now that's a
pity to watch that go on. The better you understand emptiness the more of a
pity it will seem to you. I mean, you go out on the street and watch people drive
or walk or move or go into a store and every kind of human activity, you know,
all karmas, all social interaction, it's all based on not understanding emptiness.
And everything they're doing to be happy is actually causing them suffering.
And, and it's some kind of pity to watch that. That would be the first one. The
second one is something like: could I protect them from that. You know, is there
anything I could do to protect them from that. You get the feeling? the taste?
the difèference? This is Mahayana. OK? Could I do anything to protect them
from that, OK? Frankly, if what we said in the ninth chapter is true, OK?
Frankly, if everything we said was true in the ninth chapter, there's only one
way that you really can help them. And that's to teach them this worldview,
OK? Teach them about emptiness and then teach them about good deeds, doing
goodness, you know. And they have to come together. You can't have one
without the other. That's the great weakness of all moral teachings in the West.
They don't teach about emptiness, OK? They don't teach why good deeds work.
You see what I mean? If good deeds didn't operate in emptiness they couldn't
work, they can't work. Because things are empty, you can change anything, you
see? Because things are empty you can change anything by doing good deeds.
Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

Uh, he asked about the bodhisattva vow of not teaching emptiness to people
who are not prepared. Um, that is a very, very spèecific kind of teaching. First
of all, in the vow, the people listening have to be people who have already
accepted Mahayana Buddhism. OK? That's the first part of that vow. Secondly,
you must teach them a special kind of emptiness called {turdo}. It's a special way
of presenting emptiness that leaves the listener feeling very, uh, you know, how
to say it? Disoriented. OK? I mean, I've never done that with you. I've never
gone through that meditation. I always stop just before that, OK? [unclear] has
a good one, et cetera, other people have a good one. When we did Friday night
class we always stopped just before we got there. And it's like throwing them
off a cliff, you know. If they're strong, if they understand Buddhism well, they
can, they can get great insights, and if they're not, you cannot teach it in public,
you know what I mean? It's, it's the same emptiness that I'm teaching you, but
the presentation is a little scary. So, first of all the people listening havèe to be
Mahayana already; secondly, the emptiness you teach them is that scary one,
OK? And then, thirdly, after hearing it they have to give up Mahayana
Buddhism. They have to say that's too scary, I don't want to do that anymore,
I'd rather stick, you know, to the good old plain Hinayana stuff. You see, that's,
that's how you break that vow. Uh, also, very importantly, if you teach
someone emptiness and you do not immediately teach them ethics or morality,
then you've broken, you see what I mean, then there's a reason to break that
vow. If a person goes straight from emptiness into compassion, if a person goes
straight from emptiness into morality, then they're on the right track. You see
what I mean? If you give people a wrong teaching on emptiness and you try to
teach something weird, or something disorienting, or something that just like
some black hole in space or something like that, then you've really smashed that
vow. But if you teach it purely and properly to people wèho have been
prepared for a year by two other courses in the {b: Bodhisattvacaravatara}, and if
you go immediately to compassion and morality, uh, it's perfect, no problem,
beautiful, saving their lives, you know what I mean? You have to teach that.
You must learn that. And you must spread it. And you can't sit in this class and
not teach it, OK? So, yeah?
[student: [unclear]]

Uh, John said, if people are empty, rather than it being so important to teach
other people about compassion, the most important thing would be that you
yourself keep your own morality and your own compassion and then you get
enlightened. Uh, they're not contradictory. See what I mean? They're not
contradictory. The best thing you can do for other people, if you're doing it
yourself. . . Uh, you wouldn't see them as suffering, they would see themselves
as suffering. See what I mean? Very delicate. And I, I struggled with that for
years, OK? It's not contradictory to say that to me you look like an èangel, and
to you you are suffering. Because you're empty. You see what I mean? There's
no contradiction there. It's a very, very delicate point. It's a very, very delicate
point. I can enter a Buddha paradise and you can be one of the angels in my
Buddha paradise, and you can still be in hell. There's no contradiction there. For
you.

[student: [unclear]]

Absolutely. There's no contradiction at all. That you perceive yourself suffering
very badly, and I perceive you as an angel. There's no contradiction there at all.
If you are not empty, that would be a contradiction. Since you're not empty,
there's no contradiction. If could be entering, or close to entering a Buddha
paradise at this moment and you can see me as a regular old guy, and you can
see your world as a regular old world, and I can be perceiving it as a Buddha
paradise. And that's the whole point. There's no contradiction. If you think
there's a contradiction, then you didn't understand emptiness.

[stèudent: [unclear]]

Yeah, yeah. Uh, it's not a contradiction that you're aware of their seeing
themselves as suffering, OK?

[student: [unclear]]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Because they are suffering. [laughs] I shouldn't
say that. You're right, you're right. It seems to be the case, alright? It seems to
be the case. OK? Maybe at that point you wouldn't see that. You know? Uh,
can a Buddha see suffering beings? Not in their paradise, you see what I mean?
But I believe they can be aware of suffering beings in other realms, in their own
desire realms. One of the qualities of the {sambhogakaya}, there are five what
they call, the five definite qualities of being in the Buddha paradise, and one of
them is that you can't meet anybody except for tenth level bodhisattvas, or
better. You know what I mean? And that's one of the qualities. But it, they
don't say that that applies to the realm in which you send down your
{nirmanakaya}.

[student: [unclear]]

It's not your suffèering, it's their suffering. It is. . . . Yeah, yeah I gave this debate
to Babok Rinpoche when he did his Geshe [unclear]. That was my question to
him. And, uh, it's not your suffering, you see what I mean? Is it suffering to
have to watch it? No. You see what I mean? It's not suffering in that way. Is it
unpleasant for them? They feel some kind of compassion. The feeling, the
emotional content of compassion is not being upset or having suffering. That's
all. That's how they answer that question.

[student: [unclear]]

Because those beings have created the karma to see themselves that way. OK?
Yeah, yeah. It's not an easy question, and I don't, I struggle with it every day, to
tell you the truth. I do struggle with that question. When Rinpoche was asked
that question at McDougal Street twenty five years ago, he said, what do you
think Buddhas are going to do, retire? And then he, he stopped, he wouldn't say
anything else. [laughs] Perhaps you would act the same way tèowards them
even with [unclear]. I struggle with it, OK? I really do, on a daily, on an hourly
basis I struggle with it. That's the best I can come up with. It seems to me that
we might have to behave the same either way. Say {chema dun flaxsom numba
ni tenche chema dun flaxsom numba ni tenche}. {Chema} means "the second
one," "number two," which is the kind of compassion where you want to protect
people from suffering. Rather than just some wish that they might get out of it
somehow. {Dun} means "and." {Flaxsom numba}, {flaxsom numba} is a special
concept, and the word has been mistranslated and abused and all sorts of things.
Uh. I think it's been translated as, not "philanthropy" but something that sounds
like that.     Uh, I forget.      Anyway. {Flaxsom numba} means "personal
responsibility," "to take personal responsibility." {Ni} means "those two ideas,"
"those two states of mind." What? Great compassion that wants to protect
people from pain, and the state of mind we call taèking personal responsibility
for their liberation. {Dun chi} means "one and the same," "they are exactly the
same thing." OK? The same thing. And I really like the word {flaxsom numba}.
It very much attracts me. Stilwell was talking about, this morning, about
corporations where some people have {flaxsom numba}, and some people don't.
{Flaxsom numba} you have to get it. Each person in this room has to reach
{flaxsom numba}. If I never see you again, if we never have another class, if this
is all you ever hear about Buddhism, you should still have {flaxsom numba}.
{Flaxsom numba" means, "I'm gonna make sure that other people don't suffer
anymore. And I don't care if nobody helps me," OK? "I don't care if nobody
helps me." And trust me, they won't, OK? [laughs] Alright? A Buddhist, in the
United States or anywhere else, has to get into this state of mind, you know? I
am gonna practice the path. I am going to study all the teachings. I'm gonna
master them. I'm going to do myè meditations. I'm going to enter the secret
teachings. I personally am going to reach the goals of the secret teachings in this
life. And I'm going to get my rear end enlightened so that I can help other
people, and, and, I don't care if other people don't help me, I don't care if other
people don't understand me, I don't care if other people even attack me for what
I'm doing.     I'm going to do it. You know what I mean? And, and, if you're
going to be a real Buddhist, uh, you gotta get this state of mind. You have to get
into this state of mind.        The closer you get to seriously advancing your
knowledge, the closer you get to your goal, the more crap will come. You know
what I mean? The more problems will come. And the less support you'll seem
to get. You see what I mean? Until, there'll come a day when you think there's
nobody else in the world who cares about what you're doing, you know? You're
like, what are other people doing? I don't get it, you know? Nobody seems toè
be interested in this stuff. I don't care. I'll do it myself. You know what I mean?
You have to be able to get into that mode, you know. You will not get support,
especially in the United States, you're not gonna have dozens of people coming
up to you and congratulating you for taking a one month off your job for
retreat, you know. And you're not gonna get people coming up to you and
saying you're brilliant for giving away all your money. And stuff like that. It's
not going to happen. And, and I, particularly Sangha, OK? It's not going to
happen. It's not going to happen that there's gonna be people standing in line to
feed us, and house us, and make sure we don't have to work, you know. Forget
it. Uh, probably the opposite, you know what I mean? We, Sangha members
especially, and then everybody here, you're going to have to do it on your own.
You know what I mean? You're not gonna get big support from the American
public, you know what I mean? And, and much less youè'll probably get some
trouble from some people, you see what I mean? And you have to persevere.
And you have to be steadfast. And you personally, each person in this room,
you have to decide, I'm gonna reach the goals of Buddhism and I'm gonna help
everyone, whether anyone helps me or not. It'll be totally unilateral. You
know? I don't expect anything from anybody. If I have to pay for the classes I'm
teaching, I'll pay for them. You know what I mean? Fine. You know, you have
to be that strong about it, and, otherwise you'll give up before you . . . What's
ironic is when you get real close to the goal you start to get more obstacles. And
then you're likely to say, to get discouraged, you know, I can't believe these
people. There's this story about this Buddhist saint, and he's walking down the
street in India, this guy comes up to him and says, "you're a bodhisattva, right?"
He says, "yeah." He says, "give me your eyeball. If you're a Bodhisattva give
me, reach into yourè skull right now and give me your eyeball. I want your
eye." So he does, you know. He's like, "yew." He reaches in and he rips it out
and he hands it to him, you know, like, like that, you know. I forget what it is.
He hands it with the wrong hand. And, and the guy takes it and he throws it on
the ground, he smashes it, you know, and he says, you know, "how can you do
that to me, give me your eyeball with the wrong hand," you know. And, uh,
and the guy got discouraged, you know, he was a high bodhisattva, and he said,
"people are unbelievable," you know. I'm serv. . .[laughs] He says, "I'm serving
them," you know. "I'm practicing day and night. Every single thing I do is to
benefit other people. And they're, they're complaining about me, you know.
They're saying, you didn't serve me the way I wanted you to serve me," you
know what I mean, and stuff like that, you know. "Could you take out your
other eyeball, you know, and, and hand it to me with your right hand, you
know.è" And he got discouraged, it's a very famous story, and he lost a lot of
mileage in that moment, he like destroyed his bodhisattva attitude, you know. If
he had just kept it for another five minutes he would have achieved all these
goals, you know what I mean. He lost it. And, don't do that, OK? Just don't
expect any help, and don't sit around and wait for it. It's not going to happen.
Uh, make your meditation perfect, serve other people, give away, use your own
money, use your own resources, and, uh, teach them. You have to. OK? You
have to help other people. Don't expect, don't expect and don't wait for any help,
OK? Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

[laughs] Um, the {b: Diamond Cutter Sutra} says, and it will be in Tricycle
Magazine, I don't know when. It came out already, I think. There's a nice article
in there about purification by Carlito, and uh, uh, in the {b: Diamond Cutter
Sutra} the Buddha says as you practice this path all the bad karma you have,
practicing seriouèsly makes it ripen faster. And much, much, much less than it
would have. So you will get headaches, you will have bad things happen, and,
for example, like on the day you see emptiness directly or something like that,
you could meet demons, you know what I mean? You and I, you don't really
know if demons exist, you know.           We've, modern science and modern,
sophisticated, uh, you know, civilization has told you that there's no such thing.
You know, and it's superstitious and it's stupid and it's, uh, there's no guy
running around with a little sword and spear and red tail and all that stuff, you
know. Um, there are demons, you know, there are beings like that, and they're
not stupid little guys.      They're extremely sophisticated, they're extremely
intelligent, and, uh, they're very, very harmful. And, uh, you will have to run
into a few, you know, before the whole game is over with. And, uh, things like
that do happen. I mean, you have to overcome those. There are some great
testès before you finish. I'm, it does get more and more pleasant, as you
overcome each test, you know what I mean, as you overcome each obstacle.
They will come, you know. The reason modern man hasn't met any demons is
that they're quite happy with our progress, and they leave us alone, you know.
If we continue like that, everything is great, you know. You try to start a class
like this, you know, you try to start practicing seriously, you'll meet a few of
them, you know. But just have {harmsa numbdak}, you know, kick their ass,
you know. And you will. And you can. But don't think they don't exist. They
do. You know. And they're not stupid little Casper the Ghost or something like
that. OK? Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

Yeah, uh, {plasam nundar} is the final step before you get bodhichitta. You
know, deciding, because you have compassion, {ningje chembo}, to undertake
personal responsibility, to take personal responsibility for helping other people.
That's the immediate predèecessor to bodhichitta itself. It's the first, it's the last
step before you reach true bodhichitta. Just before final bodhichitta. Yeah. OK.
Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

They are. [Laughs] The second half of {ningje chembo} is {durngi}, OK? Alright?
Uh, lets' see here. I think we'll take a break here. Ten minutes, alright?

[silence]

At the very end of the book, Master Shantideva, uh, he pulls off a big trick on
everybody. And I think by this time he was well on his way south, to South
India, in the sky. And, uh, remember people argued about whether or not he
ever taught a tenth chapter. And, uh, and he saved the perfection of giving for
last. He didn't, uh, you know, he didn't cover it yet. Like he forgot the first
perfection, you know [laughs]. But he's very clever, you see, he, he wants to
have something to give before he covers the perfection of giving, so he just gave
the most precious things, and, uh, so his last action in the book is to give away
the virtue oèf doing the book. You see what I mean? So he's going to give away
the good deed of doing the book, and we can do the same for the good deed of
studying it for a year, OK? And, uh, so now you have something to give, alright,
and in his case it's finishing his book. Like, all the Indian pandits before they
wrote a book they pray that they can have the virtue to finish it. And some of
them never finished their books, and we still have them in the thing here and
they finish, they stop halfway through a page, you know. The person died, or
something happened, and he's finished it, and so he wants to give away the good
deed, he wants to dedicate the virtue. So, uh, he covers, he covers the perfection
of giving by giving away the good deed of, of what he just did, which was
probably the best gift he could have given away, and he couldn't do it at the
beginning of the book because he wasn't finished yet. OK? So, if you remember
the seven limbs, the seven components, of your practice, oèf what practice? Um,
we'll cover it. Hmmm. OK, {sakya ki ne dupe nyela dumbe nangsen tu kirpe
lar}. OK. {Sakyan} means when you do any kind of activity, especially your
morning meditation, your morning practice, first you have to collect good
energy and you have to get rid of your negative energy. OK? {Sak} means "you
collect good energy." And that's that process of preparing for meditation, that
we're talking about on Monday evenings.             And it's the way to get into
meditation. Some of those seven components are meant to collect positive
energy for the success of your meditation. {Jang} means "getting rid of negative
energy," purifying negative energy that's gonna hurt your meditation. {Ne}, {ne}
means crucial point. In other words, if you know the seven steps to do this, you
can save a lot of time and money, you know what I mean? They're very, very
effective. {Dupa} means "it includes those," everything you need to know. {Nyela
dupa} means "the seven steps," "the seven steps."è And that's what you do
before meditation. {Nangsen tu kirpa} means "here's one of them." In fact, it
happens to be number seven, OK? {Nangsen tu kirpa} means "here's one of
them." What is it? {Lar}. {Lar} means dedicating a good deed that you did, OK?
So, Master Shantideva is killing two birds with one stone. Ah, he's gonna wrap
up his book, and he's gonna dedicate the virtue, and by dedicating that good
deed he's gonna show you how to do the perfection of giving. You see what I
mean? So his excuse, uh, for, the way he's presenting the perfection of giving is
to dedicate what he just did, OK? And that's, that's gonna be the perfection of
giving. That's all he says about the perfection of giving. Alright?
[student: [unclear]]

Yeah, I'll translate it. You go backwards, right? Uh, "dedication, which is a
member of the group of seven components that include in them all the crucial
points of how to collect good karma and how to purify bad karma," OK? So if
on your homewoèrk it said, you know, what was, how did Master Shantideva
get out of teaching the perfection of giving, well he taught dedication. Which is
the last and one of the most crucial of the seven steps that you use to collect
good energy and dispel bad energy. OK? You have to know, by the way, the
difference between. . . . Say {lowa munlam, lowa munlam}. {Lowa} means
"dedication," name of the tenth chapter, which is a trick to teach you the
perfection of giving, right? And then {munlam} means "a prayer," "a prayer," like
the great prayer festival in Lhasa is called {munlam chenmo}, for example.
What's the difference between a {lowa} and a {munlam}? What's the difference
between dedication and prayer? Dedication is when you have just done some
very powerful good karma, OK? When you've just done some very powerful
good karma, OK? Then you {lowa}, you dedicate it. It's like putting it in the
bank, OK? Mainly it has two effects. OK? Mainly it has two effects. What the
first one is èpositive and the second one is negative. The first one, the positive
one, is if you think about anything nice in your life, let's say your own body, OK?
Your own body. Whether you have a beautiful body or not, or a healthy body
or not, it still works. It got you here tonight. You have to thank, thank you Mr.
Body, you know? Your body is the result of a good karma, OK? But it's what
we call a dirty good karma. Dirty good karma means it's gonna wear out. OK?
So it's a good karma, but it's a dirty good karma. It's gonna wear out, OK? If
you do lowa with any virtue it will turn into pure good karma. You see what I
mean? Especially if you understand the emptiness of your good deed, you
know? While you're doing the good deed, while you're doing a whole year's
course in the {b: Bodhisattvacaravatara}, you're thinking, I'm empty. The person
studying, the person sitting in this pew, is empty. Great. Now I can make him
into a tantric deity, you know? If he, if he or she wasn'tè empty, I'd be up the
creek, you know? Thank goodness he or she is empty. Now everything's
possible, OK? The person studying, the book itself, the lectures, are also empty.
Some people were bored. Some people went home and never came back. Some
people heard something interesting, and they were studying words, you know,
there were people, it seemed, you know, who were just studying words. Oh, I
learned a new word tonight. Oh, I'm not so interested in that; I already know
that word [tape ends].

. . interesting, and they were studying words, you know, there were people, it
seemed, that were just studying words. Oh, I learned a new word tonight. Oh,
I'm not so interested in that; I already know that word. You know what I mean?
Some people were getting the class on the level of words, you know. And then,
some people were thinking, maybe I'll meet some nice people here, you know,
or something like that, some other motivation. And then a few people got it. A
few people were lièke, oh my god, you know. First of all, everything I've been
taught in my life up to now doesn't work, you know? And here's something that
if it's true then I don't have to die. I really don't have to die, you know. If it's
true what he said, then I can actually change that and everything else about my
life, you know. I can have all my loved ones forever, you know. I can have a
body that's perfect, you know. I can have the high school cheerleader, you
know. Stuff like that. You know, all things are possible if they're empty. And
you don't have to lose them later on. You see what I mean? And then some
people got it, you know. So the teaching is empty. Different people are hearing
different things. You know. You're empty. You could be a normal person,
you've got a choice now, it's a flow chart, right? A certain percentage will die.
Uh, a certain percentage will die and go to some kind of suffering. A certain
percentage will die and go to some kind of happiness.               And èa certain
percentage, if they're lucky, won't die at all. I mean, they'll practice secret
Buddhism, and they'll just not have to die. And they'll enter some kind of
paradise, you know. So, everything is empty. You're empty, I'm empty, the
class was empty. You know what I mean. There didn't have to be this class.
Because of the virtue of everyone in this room tonight, this class is happening.
You know? If there wasn't, if you weren't here and you didn't have the virtue,
this class wouldn't be happening, there wouldn't be this class. That virtue is also
wearing out, you know what I mean. That virtue you have to be very careful.
That virtue is very expensive. You know what I mean? So the class is empty,
you're empty, and the book is empty, OK? Everything about that is empty;
there's a whole emptiness going on. Um, and you can either take the virtue of
doing this class and just kind of enjoy some result you're going to get from it, or
you can very consciously, and I suggestè that when we finish tonight, you know,
during the meditation, that you put it in the bank, OK? If you dedicate it to
becoming an enlightened being in this life to help other people, you see? I
always thought helping other people would be a big hassle, you know? Like
helping people on the subway's a big hassle. You might miss your stop, you
might be late to work. It's a hassle to help other people. But in Buddhism it's
not, you see?        The best way to help other people is to be enlightened.
Enlightenment happens to be the most blissful thing you can do. And the path
to enlightenment, which is keeping your vows, all three sets of vows, is the most
exciting and turned on and happy and blissful thing you can do anyway. So,
Master Shantideva said "a blissful path to highest bliss." You see what I mean?
Doing it is fun, blissful, it's very cool to keep your vows. It's a lot of fun. If you
start getting into it, there's nothing like it. There's no kind of sensual pleasure,
there'ès no kind of mental pleasure, there's no kind of any kind of pleasure that's
as fun as being a Bodhisattva. Know what I mean? And the result is that you get
ultimate pleasure. So, you know, twist my arm, you know. It's cool. It's really
fun. It's really fun. So dedicate to that, you know? And, and Master Shantideva
says at this point, any small thing you ever do, you know. . . I was sitting with
this really good Buddhist, you know. And we were eating, uh, it wasn't sugar,
OK? It was like a croissant or something. And this sparrow came in to the door
of the cafe. And we're sitting there and we throw a few crumbs to them. And
then we're like whispering, you, within three lifetimes, are going to study ninth
chapter with me. You know what I mean? [laughs] It's like a trick, you know,
and you think, come on, come on, come on. And you throw it just the right
way, and they're like scared, and then they get a little closer, and you say, come
on, come on, come on. And they're geètting like closer and closer, and you say,
come on, ninth chapter, ninth chapter. And then they take it and they it eat, you
know, and you say, alright, I got you, you know. Three lives, you know. I got
you, you know.          And you can do that all day long. It's not some stupid
fantasizing. They are a sentient being. If you have the right energy, and if they
pick up the right energy from you, you can do it. So don't. . .                 Master
Shantideva at this point says, dedicate everything, you know, the smallest little
thing. It's more fun, actually, to dedicate small things, it really is. Give some kid a
candy, you know, and say some prayer in your mind, you know like, you're
gonna be, you know, my friend in Buddha paradise field number thirty four,
you know. Uh, and we're gonna hang out together, and you can play your tuba,
alright, or whatever. You know what I mean? And you can think like that, and
you can do anything for anybody. Master Shantideva says don't blow the
chance. You knèow, anytime you do something good, if you don't think like
that it becomes dirty karma, you see. And also if you don't understand the
emptiness, it becomes dirty karma. And then it just wears out. But, but if you're
thinking, in the back of your mind, you are gonna learn the perfection of
wisdom from me, you know, when I get to be a Buddha, you're gonna be with
me. We're going to toast together the nectar of immortality, you know. Why?
Because I tricked you into taking this piece of bread from me, you know? And,
and all the time, all day long think like that. It's not some stupid fantasy. It
works. It really works. So dedicate everything to that, he's saying. The
difference between dedication and prayer is, with dedication you have some
kind of raw material to work with. What is it? Virtue. You did something good.
And you say, I don't want this to become some dirty karma. I don't want to get
a Lexis from this karma. I'm going to the big time, you know. I want
Manjushèri's hair, you know. That's what I want this thing to do. Why? Because
when I get to be this incredibly blissful, incredibly beautiful deity, I'm going to go
and teach other people how to do it, you know what I mean? And, and there's
this thing about doing it yourself that other people smell, you know. If you've
done it yourself, people smell it. And if you haven't done it yourself, people
smell it. So do it, alright? And all the time think in your mind, I'm going to do it
for my mother, I'm going to do it for my brother, I'm going to do it to help other
people, you know. And it happens to be the most fun you can ever have
anyway, so why not? You see what I mean? That's mulam, sorry lowa. Mulam
means a general prayer without having done any specific virtue that you're
dedicating. Mulam is a nice wish. Lowa is an investment. You see what I mean?
Big difference, OK? Mulam is like some kind of nice wish. Lowa, you know,
you've got something to invest, you know? I was, uèh, just a joke OK, I'm not
saying it's really. . . I'll give a facetious example, OK? So I gave somebody this
little diamond on, last Saturday.         Not so small, OK? Pretty nice. And, uh, on
Sunday this lady gave me a pretty big diamond. So I was thinking, gee that was
fast. [Laughs] You know. No, sorry, I gave it away on Friday, I got the big
diamond on Saturday. On Sunday I went and gave it to Khen Rinpoche. You
see? This is reinvestment. You see? And, and that's how you have to think.
Don't waste your virtue, you know? Anytime you get something, turn it over,
you see? Turn it over immediately. It's really, really cool. And it keeps
snowballing, you know what I mean? I mean, I'm not talking about money as
the only thing. That's just one example. Things happen like, things will happen
like that. Just keep giving, you know? Just, every time you get something back,
then just give it away again, you know? And dedicate it. Trick the people
around you, you know? You èare going to be in my Buddha paradise, you
know? OK? That's the difference between {mulam} and {lowa}, OK? So in a
positive sense, even little actions like giving -- in that case, it was, honestly, like
giving a few crumbs to a sparrow -- turns into some incredible virtue. Like, you
don't have to live your life as an ordinary person. Especially if you're a
{kirimba}, you know, you don't have to live that way anymore. You don't have
to think of anything as ordinary anymore. Little things that you do have
profound karmic result, you know? Giving a piece of bread to a bird can result
in a Buddha paradise. And that's very, very much part of the tantric teachings
and everything. You know, they're constantly saying, if you know how to give
a piece of bread to a bird, you know, that virtue is unbelievable. You can't
measure that virtue, you know? Like, people who understand emptiness know
how to give a piece of bread to a bird. How? Remember the emptiness of the
bird. They can èbecome your student. Remember the emptiness of you. You
can become Vajrapani or Vajrayogini or anybody you want, you know? And
you can meet them in the future, and there's no problem there. So you have
to. . . The world is struggling to make you think ordinary thoughts. You know,
New York City, the people around you, the New York Times, they're struggling
to make you think you're a normal person, and that nothing special's going on.
You know, and if you go to somebody at work and say, you wouldn't believe
what's happening in my life, you should see all the neat things that are
happening -- they'll try and debunk it as fast as they can. I mean, the world
wants to convince you that your life is just some stupid, ordinary thing, and it's
not. OK? Especially if you're sitting here tonight, forget it. You know, you're
one of a hundred Americans, two hundred Americans, to go through the whole
{b: Bodhisattvacaravatara}, you know? If you think you're just a normal person,
forget itè. You know, and don't let people convince you of that, you know?
You're walking around New York, you know, setting up your future paradise.
And you're selecting, you're volunteering all these candidates to be with you
there. You see what I mean? And don't think of it any other way, you know.
Go through New York, everything's empty, it doesn't have to be like that --
every building, every sidewalk, every subway, every other person, you know,
go ahead and fantasize. Uh, it works. It actually works. When you get to the
secret teachings, that's a major component of the secret teachings. It works. It
really does work, OK? Uh, oh, negatively, if you don't dedicate it, what will
happen to that good deed? It becomes dirty good karma, OK? It becomes just
plain old dirty good karma. What will you get? You'll get a Michael and Zoe's
milkshake that runs out. OK? And you won't remember it the next day, and it
will be gone, OK? And then all that stuff is wasted, you know, all thatè effort is
wasted. So dedicate it, dedicate it that I will become, I will move into my angel's
body in this lifetime. And I'm doing this deed for that. How many deeds should
you dedicate? If you've been doing the book, and you've heard of the book, you
know. It's not this huge, big good deeds, you know. It's not like you're gonna
save a million people's lives, or stuff like that. It's not like that. Dedicate the little
things you do. Master Shantideva's very adamant about starting small. Dedicate
even the little stuff you do. If you clean the bathroom at Sixth Street, dedicate it
to your future enlightenment, you know? If you clean up a table which is messy,
dedicate it to your future enlightenment, you know? If you say good morning
to someone at work, dedicate it to your future enlightenment. Because that's the
realm we're in, and that's the raw material, and it does create your future
enlightenment. Don't just wait for, you know, the next time you get a million
dollarsè to save, you know, thousands of people or something. It's not like that.
Yeah?
[student: [unclear]]

Immediately. Immediately. You know, every time I have a flower to give my
lama I like run and give it to them because I might die. You see what I mean?
You gotta do it quick, you know. The minute you think of a good deed, just do
it. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. You know, sometimes you feel uncomfortable.
People will think I'm eccentric, you know? Forget it, you know. All those people
are gonna die. At least you can die eccentrically enlightened, you know what I
mean? And don't worry about, you know. Don't worry so much. . .the whole
world wants you to be normal, and the whole world's trying to convince you
that all this stuff is not real. This is more real than they are, you know what I
mean? This is the real thing. Yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

He said can you keep dedicating it. For sure, yeah. You can keep rejoicing in
something you did, you know. If you were tèhe director of some dharma center
in California that was really hard work and no one ever helped you and stuff like
that, uh, but you were obeying you lama wishes by doing that, yeah, keep
dedicating it. Every time you get irritated, then, well, wait a minute. I can
dedicate this. And just dedicate it. And then you keep getting. . . You can get,
the investment can be made over and over again, no problem. I had a friend
who says, uh, he sees a good parking spot on, on the street where he lives and
he doesn't want to take it cause he'll say he'll use up his good karma, you know?
Forget it. I mean, if you understand emptiness, you go to a store, you get the
nicest, biggest dessert they have and you sit there and eat it, you know. And
you dedicate it. Like I was surfing and dedicating it to Khen Rinpoche and Geshe
Dargye, you know. Great. No problem. You don't have to think like that. How
do you think Buddhas perpetuate their paradises, you know? Do they deny
themselves thoseè ecstasies? No. They consume them, and create more. They
turn it around. They dedicate it. They reinvest it and they get more in than they
put in, more out than they put in, right? Like that. You don't have to worry
about that. Enjoy your life. Enjoy everything you have. Enjoy music, enjoy
your friends, enjoy nice food, whatever, you know. And dedicate it. And, and
it's more powerful than saying, oh, I shouldn't eat it or something like that. Go
ahead, you know. It's great. That's the whole point. And the more you dedicate
it, the more things are going to happen to dedicate. And it's just a big snowball.
That's the whole idea. OK? Uh, OK, last thing. What is that? We'll skip that
word. At the very, very, now we're at the end of the tenth chapter, OK? By the
way, the tenth chapter, we don't have time to go through it in detail. I thought it
was more important to go through emptiness, in some detail. But, uh, it's a very,
very beautiful chapter, you know, you shèould read it. There's a couple of
translations out. They're probably pretty good. And read it. The tenth chapter's
very, very beautiful. Master Shantideva goes through just about every kind of
suffering you can imagine, in the whole universe. And he prays that he could
become the antidote. You know, and so he's like praying for all the people in the
hells, and he's praying that he could become a raincloud and that he could be the
raindrop and drop down on them. Uh, he prays for the crops in every corner of
the world. He prays that every pregnant women who's delivering today should
have a nice, smooth delivery, you know. And all these beautiful prayers. I
mean, it's really, really beautiful. Uh, it just felt to me like you either go through
the whole thing or you don't. And, I, I didn't know how to choose one of them,
they're so beautiful. And it goes on for page after page. It's really beautiful. It's
so beautiful that in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries we just do that chaèpter as a
prayer, and we read it and just follow the prayer that he's making, the dedication
that he's making. So you should try to get the translation and read it. I didn't
have time, it's a little bit long to translate, and I think it would have to be done
very beautifully, you know, it'd have to be done in a deep retreat or something
like that. I was in New York, so. . . uh, what I did do is that I went straight to the
last one. The very, very last dedication he makes, OK? And to me it's the most
important one, OK? Uh, and I'll show it to you. It must have been the most
important one for him too, cause he saved it for the last. OK, say {drowa
dungya manchikpu tamba yune ngechik}. Uh, the final dedication he makes,
you know, of all the dedications he makes, he goes through every single
suffering of mankind and he dedicates the virtue of his book, and we can
dedicate the virtue of studying the book, sometimes I think that we did a bigger
virtue because it was harder for us tèhan it was for him, I think, uh, we can
dedicate it, this is his final dedication, these are the last two lines of dedication.
This is what he chooses as the most important thing to dedicate to. And I would
propose that we do the same thing. {Drowa} means "living beings," all kinds of
living beings. {Dungya} means "their pain," "their pain," physical and mental pain.
{Man} means "medicine," "medicine," medicine that cures the pain. I'm gonna
skip {chikpu} for now, save it for later. {Tamba} means "these teachings," OK?
"This system of teaching." I don't think it really matters whether you call it
Buddhism or not, you know? If you can teach somebody, it doesn't matter
whether you call it Buddhism or not. If you could teach somebody about the
emptiness of the pen, and teach them that it applies to themselves, and then get
them to understand, uh, virtue, good deeds, compassion, they, they will enter an
enlightened body and mind. See what I mean? I don't think it even matters if
yèou call it Buddhism or not. It doesn't really matter at all, you know. What can
you do to get people to understand that the pen is not the pen from the pen's
side. It's your mind that's making it the pen. If it were the pen from its own side,
then to a dog who walked in here it would seem like a pen. You see what I
mean? But you think of it as a pen because of your own karma. And he thinks
of it as a chewable thing because of his own karma. And the only thing that's out
there is blue and white in color and a cylinder shape. That's all your eye can see.
Your eye cannot see pen. Teach somebody this truth -- its a truth -- and then
teach somebody that that makes you eligible for enlightenment, you know, your
body is empty. It doesn't have to be like this. You're seeing it in a certain way
because of your past karma. If you were compassionate, if you served other
people, you'd see something totally different. And you wouldn't have to die.
And there wouldn't have to be all tèhe suffering that's going on in this realm. It's
not necessary, OK? Teach them that. That's the teaching. I don't think, it's
totally irrelevant whether you call it Buddhism or not. It doesn't matter. Uh,
{yuring} means "long time," "long time." {Ngechik} means "may they stay," may
these teachings stay in the world, OK? Because they are the medicine that cures
the pain of every being. I wanna talk about {chikpu}, OK? Remember {chikpu}?
Here's {chikpu}. {Chikpu} means "the one and only one," "the one and only
medicine," OK? And, I, I think it's the most important word here, OK? It means,
if what I say is true about the pen, if the principle of karma is correct, if by
serving others good things come to you and if by hurting others bad things
come to you, if it's true, and all the religions of the world are flirting with that
idea, more or less, more or less they're all saying if you hurt others you will
suffer, if you serve others you will be happier, pleasure will come to yoèu. In
my mind, Buddhism explains it much more clearly, with the idea of emptiness,
you know. Because things are empty, and because karma is stored in your
mind, when you see yourself doing good things, or when you see yourself doing
bad things, then every object of the world takes it content from that, you know,
whether it feels good to you or feels bad to you, whether it makes you happy or
not, whether you die or not, all depends on how you treat other people, you
see? Uh, I don't think that, in my, in my own experience, that hasn't been
expressed to me in any other teaching except this one. You see what I mean?
And I, and I say it's true and you can confirm it yourself. You know what I
mean. You, you have to try it and confirm it yourself. But suppose it is true. I
always say suppose, OK? I'm not saying it is, OK? But suppose it is true. Then,
uh, on the negative side all the other systems are, they're incomplete. Why? Uh,
they don't explain why my mother died. I mean,è for me, that's all I need, you
know. They do not explain it. They don't even try to explain it. You know, they
say she got cancer. I say, why her? She wasn't at the average death, you know,
she was forty something. She wasn't seventy point three years. So why? Why
did she get it? Oh, she smoked. Millions of other people smoked, they didn't get
cancer, you know. Why, why her, you know? I understand that the smoke
caused the cell, caused the division, caused the tumor, caused the brain, caused
the death, you know. But that's not the answer to my question. The question
was: why did she get it? You see what I mean. Why did she have that happen?
And, and any system that you're gonna follow should answer that. If it doesn't
answer that, give it up. You see what I mean? It's incomplete. And you can say,
those things have no answer, and I don't buy it. You know, you might as well
kill yourself as far as I'm concerned. You know what I mean? And my brother
did, for examèple, when my mother died. Uh, you know, if that's the way it is
then I don't see any point to life, to living, you know, if there's no answer for that
thing, I don't see any, uh, point to it. You might as well just stop it, you know.
It's obviously pretty suffering. You might as well just stop it. Uh, if there's no
answer to those things then you should just give up. The second one is
dysfunctional. There's some kind of fancy spelling, right? Oh well. Is it like that?
Is it? Dysfunctional. [pause] Dysfunctional means the point of human life, the
point of human activity, the point of every person's every action, and word, and
thought, is only one thing. People want to be happy. I mean, you can say, we're
not trying to be happy here. We're trying to sell cars, you know. But, but you're
selling cars because you want to be happy. I mean, there's nothing, basically,
that any human being does except that they think it might make them happy.
Even sado-masochists who beat theèmselves, they like to have, they get some
kind of happiness out of it. You see what I mean? There's nobody, even people
who commit suicide think they might be happier. You see what I mean? They,
they believe that, better than not. You see what I mean? And it's the goal of all
human life to be happy. It's not just some Dalai Lama, smiley, compassion thing,
you know. It really, truly. . . it's not like he's just some irrelevant, uh, fringe
person who's running around the world telling everybody that they can be
happy. Like, have a nice day, you know. And it kind of, it not only doesn't
make you happy it makes you disgusted in a way, you know, like, what do you
mean have a nice day, you know. I'm not having a nice day. You know what I
mean? I mean, don't think of the happiness of mankind as just some weird idea
of some Tibetan guy who's running around the world. It's not like that. It's, it
really is truly what everybody wants. And it's not a side issue; it's the issue.
Yèou know, people want to be happy.                 And that's why everyone does
everything they do. And you can talk to me all night about it, but I don't believe
you if you say anything else. People want to be happy. And the viewpoints that
we hold now don't work at all. They just don't work. But we continue to cling to
them. It's weird. You know what I mean. It takes some kind of, you know,
disaster in your life, or some kind of miracle, for you to wake up, you know.
That this way of looking at the world, which is so reasonable, and fashionable
and scientific, doesn't work at all. It doesn't make anybody happy, you know.
Uh, so, you have to find a viewpoint or a system that's not incomplete. It does
explain why my mother died. And it does make people ultimately happy. And,
and if it's not possible just, I mean, if it's not possible than I would just kill myself
or, you know, I'd wait for a while until things got worse, you know, like, until
the credit card company caught up with me, yèou know. Uh, but if it's not
possible I don't see much point in going on like this, I mean, you're not happy
and life is really bad, so. . . If it's not possible, then just give up, you know. But it
does happen to be possible, and it's not possible with what you're using now.
The present system by which Western people live doesn't work. It's very
possible, you know, that a billion people are making a boo-boo. It's not
impossible. And, and it's also possible that you can fix it, with a certain
worldview. What is it? Things are empty. And therefore things can change.
And if you collect enough virtue, and if you teach the people around you to
keep, to do virtue, then, then I say it's possible that in fifty or a hundred years
the majority of people in the United States could be following a totally different
way of life, and that they would be extremely happy, and that honestly and
sincerely, and you should imagine that a certain percentage of them have
entered their own Buddha pèaradise, you know. And will not be dying this time,
you know. I mean, the obituary page would go out of business, you know.
And, uh, think of, imagine, I'm saying imagine it, OK? When you dedicate, what
did Master Shantideva think was important enough to dedicate about? These,
these ideas spreading to other countries. These ideas spreading in the world.
And, and I say imagine it. Just try to imagine it, you know? We're gonna
dedicate the virtue of this class later on. Just try to imagine what would happen
if the whole country were behaving along the lines of the Guide to the
Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Try to imagine it. And if what I said was true, try to
imagine a significant number of people entering their own Buddha paradise, you
know. Imagine it. And then dedicate the virtue of this class to that, OK?
Dedicate the virtue of what you did today, OK, tonight? Don't say that I'm crazy,
and don't think that it's impossible. It's happened in other countries, you know.
Ièt works, you know. And, and the other thing doesn't work, so why not give it
a try, OK? The other system doesn't, it just flatly doesn't work, OK? So give it a
try. OK, last, last thing. That's not the last line. It's the last line of dedication.
And here's his last, last, last line. And then you get to go home, right on time,
almost. Say {daki gila gewe chok darwar zepa gewe chenyen la dat choksaw
lar}. OK. This is the final, final word of the book, OK? And, uh, {dak} means
"me," {daki} means "my." {Gil} means here, the best word in English is, "your
heart," "in your heart," OK? It means "mind" or "heart," {gila}. {Gewe chok}
means "the virtuous side of things." {Gewe chok} means "all the goodness that
there is," OK? "Goodness itself," OK? {Darwar zepa} means "to spread," "spread
them," OK? It's a pun, OK? He just prayed that the teachings should {darwar}
throughout the world, and now he's praying that goodness should {darwar} in
his own heart. You see, because {darwaèr} is normally used for spreading
teachings into new countries and stuff like that, OK? {Darwar.} So "the person
who spreads all goodness in my own heart," my {gewe chenyen}, OK, {gewe
chenyen}. Um, {gewe chenye} is an old Sanskrit word, {kaliyana mitra}, and it
means, uh, your lama, your root lama, OK, your lama. {Gewe} means
"virtue," {chenyen} means "friend." "Virtue buddy." OK? Your lama. The
shortened version is {geshe}, OK, and that's where that word comes from. Uh,
{la}, "to that lama," {dat}, "I," {dat} means "I," {choksaw}, {choksaw} means "I bow
down," "I prostrate to my lama," OK? Uh, we just finished going through the
whole {b: Bodhisattvacaravatara}, OK?              We went through the whole ten
chapters, and, uh, and the book is extremely, extremely powerful. I mean, the
ideas there could transform whole nations, you know. The ideas there can
transform millions and millions of people's minds. And the ideas there can save
millions of people from death. Literally, OK? Butè, uh, you can't study it, and it
won't work, unless you find a lama. Your own heart lama, OK? So each person
here, you have to go find your lama, you know. And, and, uh, you have to, you
can't do it without some holy being who comes to you and helps you, OK? It's
impossible. You have to go find this person. And it's a long journey, you know;
it might take a long time. But you have to find that, that one being who can
really spread these things in your heart, you know. And you know I can get up
and teach you and stuff like that, you may or may not have that relationship
with me, but you have to find that person, OK? You, you have to personally go
and find the person that fits you, and that, and that you have the karma that
they can actually drag you into your Buddha paradise, OK? Uh, and they will,
and they do, OK? But you have to find that person. This whole book, and all
this study, all this homework and quizzes, you know, all these hours of work, it
doesn't mean anything èif you don't have a lama. You have to go find your
lama. And, uh, don't be shy about it, and when you find them, glue yourself to
them, because they, you can't get to a Buddha paradise unless they help you.
You need to find them, OK? You need to find that person. And, and you should
check carefully, take your time, don't just take the first one you meet, uh, check
out many, many people, find the one that fits you perfectly and then, uh, then
just give yourself to them, OK? And, uh, let them lead you to them. There's a lot
of things that you have to do to get there that you can't do on your own.
Impossible. And, uh, and you will actually fight with them. You know what I
mean? If you use a lama, if you find your lama, they know special ways to get
you there much faster than you could ever do on your own. And some of them
are not what you would guess, and sometimes it's uncomfortable. You know,
and sometimes it's like, I dunno, you know, they're telling me to do this but it'sè
not what I would do. But you just do it. You see what I mean? They know your
future. They see everything. And they know what's the best thing for you at
that moment. And just give yourself up to them. Make sure they're a pure lama
first. You know what I mean? You don't just give yourself up to anybody. Your
very precious, you know. Your mind's very precious. And check them out. I
mean, in scripture oftentimes they, the student checked out the lama for twelve
years or something. Very common. You know, I mean, go look, find a pure
one. Test them. Check them. Ask other people, you know. Examine their
behavior, you know. Examine what they teach. And, and spend your life trying
to find this person. And then when you find them, you know, glue yourself to
them and then listen, you know. Keep your ears open and follow, follow what
they say. And then, uh, devote yourself to them. And, uh, then you can do all
this stuff. And frankly you can't do it without, without thaèt. It won't work. It
just won't work. So find that person. You have to. Then, so he's bowing at the
end. Who's his lama? Just before this he mentions bowing down to Manjushri.
Apparently he was bowing, you know, he was being coached by Manjushri.
And, and eventually if you find a lama, and if you can live with them in the
proper way, then, uh, they will be, you'll see that they are a tantric deity. There
are all these tantric deities waiting, there's one special one, they've been trying to
reach you, they've been working very hard to reach you, and, uh, you have to
follow them, you know. You have to find them. And, uh, a lot, when you do
then give yourself to them. And, and, you'll reach your paradise, OK? Um,
that's all. Uh, that's actually all I have, so. We'll do a little meditation, and then,
don't cop out on Thursday. Come. Thursday's the review class and it's very,
very important. And don't think it's not important. It's probably the most
important class, so, hso come on Thursday. I suspect you might get out a little
early. I don't make any guarantees, OK? But, uh, but don't cop out. That's a
very important class, OK? We'll go over the whole final exam, OK? Alright.
And I thank you for making me do it, OK, cause, uh, you don't know what I'm
perceiving, unless you're enlightened, I don't know, but, uh, for me, uh, you
know, this is the most precious thing that I have the opportunity to do. And, uh,
for me it's an incredible blessing. And, uh, I suppose if there were a bunch of
tantric deities in New York they'd just, you know, trick me into teaching them
the {b: Bodhisattvacaravatara}. So thanks, OK? [laughs] OK. Um, meditate for a
few minutes and dedicate it, OK?

[silence]
[chant]

The transcriber wishes to dedicate the virtue of this transcription to the well-
being and happiness of all living beings

Course XI: Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Part Three, NYC, Oct-Nov 1997
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Course XII: Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Part Three—NYC—OCT-NOV 1997
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