ACI 15 «Что на самом деле имел в виду Будда», занятие 2

Class 2
Transcribed by: Karen Becker

Okay, we'll start. I don't like...if you guys want to experiment
with it while I'm making some announcements, that's fine. Okay.
We're gonna try to find...one of the lights has a bad ballast and
it's making noise, but that's okay. Okay. A couple of
announcements, let me see. First of all I'd like to welcome some
people from out of town. Vivianna is here from Miami and she
came...I forget where...California, some of the classes there,
and Myah Ferrell who's hiding where?...back there, one of the
best students from the San...Santa Cruz contingent. There's
about a hundred students out there who've studied off and on and
she worked on the CD Rom and all that, and I think there's some
more but I don't know. Axle and Dido came in from Germany for
the class (laughs) (laughter). Other thing, I wanted to thank
especially Elly Vander Pas...where did she go...for...we had a
very beautiful audience with His Holiness on Sunday and Elly
conceived it, pulled it off, got permission, and we presented him
with our new CD Rom and a laptop with all the data on it and with
all the courses. And he was very very happy and it really really
was a beautiful time. I'd like to thank all the people that
worked on that. If you remember, we're in second class of a
thing called (b: Drang Nge Lekshe Nyingpo). Say (drang nge)
(repeat) (lekshe) (repeat) (nyingpo) (repeat). (Drang nge)
(repeat) (lekshe) (repeat) (nyingpo) (repeat). This is a text of
about two hundred and thirty pages. It's so important that in
the monastery people stop for a year after about ten or eleven
years of study, they memorize the whole thing and then they
debate it. You get a special award in the monastery if you
memorize it. And this is Je Tsongkapa's explanation, basically,
of the Mind Only school, you know, like how do we know when the
Buddha was being literal and how do we know when the Buddha was
speaking figuratively. Like it's very important when you have a
religious figure...in my Diamond Company they used to call it
"the prophet", you know, and my boss would make a statement and
he'd be kidding, like "everybody can take Friday off", you know,
and then some people would take him literally and take off Friday
and then they would quote him and say "you said we could all have
Friday off" and he said, "I was just kidding", you know, "you
don't know when I'm kidding and when I'm not kidding?" And it's
the same problem with any religious leader, you know, it can be
very very dangerous. Like His Holiness gets quoted all the time,
right? His Holiness makes some off-hand comment and then
somebody says "oh, Dalai Lama said so", you know, and then you
have to say, "no, he said that, but he didn't mean that". And
then you have to interpret it, so this is the very very delicate
question of when do you know when a religious leader was speaking
was speaking figuratively and when were they speaking literally,
because if you get it wrong, you make huge mistake, you know, you
make...then you end up with, you know, religious divisions that
kill thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, things like
that, you know. You have to know when is it when the leader was
speaking figuratively and when were they speaking literally,
okay? And different schools of Buddhism have different
interpretations of when the Buddha was speaking figuratively and
when he wasn't, okay? So we're studying...we're in the middle of
studying two of them. One is the Mind Only school's
interpretation, what they say was figurative and what they say
was literal. And then after that we get the Madyamika school,
the Middle Way schools, what they say was figurative and what
they say was literal. So it's a very beautiful excuse to figure
out what does the Mind Only school believe, okay? Is the Mind
Only school correct? Not according to the Middle Way school,
okay? Who's in the Middle Way school? Lord Buddha, Dalai Lama,
Je Tsongkapa, (laughter) Nagarjuna, okay (laughs) Khen Rinpoche,
I mean this is the school that we are holding, and all the
(tantric) schools, you see what I mean, we are Middle Way
schools. Okay. So so they say that the Middle Way school is
wrong. Well, does that mean we shouldn't study the Middle Way
school? Not at all. Okay. Middle Way school was designed by?

(students: Lord Buddha)

Lord Buddha, to fit certain people who couldn't...weren't ready
for Middle Way school...I mean, the Mind Only school was designed
by Lord Buddha for people who weren't ready for Middle Way school
yet, okay. And it's a very very cool version of Buddhism, and
you better know it, you better study it because it means the
reason it exists is that normal thinking people like you or me
might come up with some ideas that follow the Mind Only school
and are incorrect according to the ultimate interpretations,
okay, so we have to learn what's almost correct so that we can
weed out of our own mind our own wrong ideas about emptiness,
mainly, so it's very very cool to study the Mind Only school
because you get some very subtle, very beautiful and little bit
wrong ideas about emptiness. And then they help you clarify your
own thinking about emptiness. If you're very sensitive to this
class, you'll find out that a lot of the ideas you have about
emptiness are Mind Only school's ideas about emptiness and are
wrong. And by studying the Mind Only school, you can purify your
thinking about emptiness, you see what I mean? Mind Only school
is very very close to correct, and that makes it very interesting
to study, okay? And that's why we're gonna be concentrating on
it. Okay. Where are we? If you remember we're...the Mind Only
school says "when you want to know whether what the Buddha said
was literal or figurative you have to go to a certain sutra
called what...do you guys remember?

(student: The sutra)

In Tibetan, it's called (b: Do De Gong Drel)...what's it mean?

(students: (b: Commentary on the True Intent of the Sutras)

You can call it, "the sutra in which the Buddha explains all his
other sutras". Okay. (laughter) Okay. (b: Do de gong drel)
means, literally, "the sutra, in which Lord Buddha said, oh by
the way, here's what I meant in all my other sutras". Okay?
It's even called (b: the Commentary on the Intent...on the True
Intent of the Other Sutras). Okay? Because it was called
"commentary" for many years I thought it was by some Indian
commentator. It's not. It's the Buddha's own commentary.,..it's
like an auto-commentary on his own sutras. It's like the Buddha
explaining "this is what I meant in the sutras". Okay. What
sutras are we talking about? Don't forget we got here from the
two turnings of the wheel. In general there are three turnings
of the wheel, right? There are three great cycles of teachings
in the Buddha's career, and people, you know, tend to say they
happened in order, you know, that first he taught what we call
the turning of the wheel about the Four Noble Truths, or the Four
Arya Truths. After that he gave the turning of the wheel on
emptiness. For example the Heart Sutra, at Vulchur's Peak. And
then later on in his life he gave the, what we call the turning
of the wheel on the fine distinctions, where he explained what he
meant in the other two turnings of the wheel, okay? But, in the
debates in the monastery, we we thrash out that these are not
necessarily historical periods, okay. It's not as if he never
taught the Four Noble Truths later on in his life. It's not as
though he never spoke of emptiness in his first period of his
teaching. So when we talk about turning of the wheel we're
talking about those cycles which incorporate those teachings that
concentrate on those subjects, okay? So maybe there's a first
turning of the wheel the first time he ever opened his mouth
after getting enlightened, and then maybe there's a first turning
of the wheel thirty years later and then there's some more first
turning of the wheel fifty years later...something like that,
okay. And so you have to think of the three turnings of the
wheel like that, all right. Now, don't forget where we are.
Some bodhisattva named, I don't know, Dundam Yangdak Pak, okay,
Paramarta Samutgata, has come up to the Buddha in the tenth
chapter of that sutra called "the sutra where I explain what I
meant in all my other sutras", okay? And he says, "Lord Buddha",
you know, "we really appreciated back in the first turning of the
wheel you taught us the Four Arya Truths, that was really
beautiful. You taught us about the five heaps. You taught us
about the twelve doors of sense, you taught us about the six
elements, you taught us about the eighteen categories, you taught
us about the thirty seven parts of enlightenment including the
eightfold arya path", you know, "all these other beautiful
teachings you gave us. We really appreciate it. Then when you
got to the second turning of the wheel, you basically said five
things. You said, 'A-Nothing has any nature of it's own.
Nothing starts, nothing stops, everything is in a state of peace,
everything is in a state of nirvana'" okay. "Then you said
that." That was the second turning of the wheel. And then what
is this third turning of the wheel. When does the third turning
of the wheel start, basically?
(student: When he asks the question.)

It's when the Bodhisattva asks the question (laughs). Okay?
This is the third turning of the wheel, okay. If you want to
know where it starts, it's where this Bodhisattva says, "hey,
Buddha, you know, first you said all these things existed...when
you gave that whole thing about the Four Arya Truths everything
else, you said everything exists by nature. You never said
anything about nothing existing by nature. You said many things
don't have a self sometimes, you said that, but you didn't say
existing by...they didn't exist by nature. Then when you got to
the second turning of the wheel, you're up on Vulchur's Peak,
using the Heart Sutra, for example...your eye's don't exist, your
ears don't exist, your nose doesn't exist, your mouth doesn't
exist, your mind doesn't exist and he goes like a list like that,
it seems to contradict, okay, you seem to contradict yourself.
First you said all these great teachings about the Four...and, oh
everything is suffering, there's a cause, you can find a way out,
this is how you get out, you know, and like that...these
inspiring teachings, then you get to the second turning of the
wheel, and you just get up and you like do this radical thing of
saying, nothing exists, nothing has any nature of it's own, okay,
so what're we supposed to believe, you know, what what do
you...what do you see to contradict yourself. What are we
supposed to believe when you said those things, okay. So now we
get to the third turning of the wheel. And the third turning of
the wheel is this Bodhisattva...is triggered by this Bodhisattva
asking Lord Buddha, "did you mean what you said in the first one,
or did you mean what you said in the second one, or what did you
mean", okay. Specifically, he asked, "what did you mean when you
said nothing has any nature of it's own". Okay. He doesn't so
much ask, "oh, back in the first turning of the wheel you said
everything did have a nature of it's own." He's more asking
about the second turning of the wheel. What did you ask? I mean
didn't you the first time you hear the Heart Sutra didn't you
ask, you know, "what does he mean when he gets up and says
'there's no pen here'" Okay. What does Lord Buddha mean when he
gets up and says "there's no pen here". Okay? There is no pen
here, okay. Then, by asking that, by implication, you're asking,
in the first turning of the wheel, what did you mean when you
said there was a pen there. Okay? But the Bodhisattva's
question is very specifically about the second turning of the
wheel. And wouldn't your's question be the same? You know, why
did you get up and say that this thing didn't even exist, you
know, what's the point? What're you trying to prove? And
are...were you speaking literally or not? Are we to understand
that nothing exists at all? Is that what you meant? Okay. So
that's the question, which triggers the third turning of the
wheel, right? The third turning of the wheel is called, (b: The
turning of the wheel of fine distinctions) meaning "subtle
distinctions", that the Buddha is gonna start to make
distinctions, okay. In the third turning of the wheel he says,
oh, Bodhisattva, Dundan Yangdak Pak, I didn't know...I I wouldn't
say nothing exists...would I say that? Of course I wouldn't say
that, you know. That's too radical. (laughter) Don't forget,
Lord Buddha says basically five very radical things during the
second turning of the wheel. Nothing has any nature of it's own.
 "Nothing begins. Nothing stops. Everything is in a state of
total peace from the beginning. Everything is in a state of
nirvana." He says those five things, okay. We're gonna
concentrate on the first one in this class and then we'll
concentrate on the next four in the next class, okay? So right
now we're just asking, Buddha is answering Dundam Yangdak Pak,
that Bodhisattva, when he when he says, "what did you mean when
you said the pen is (ngowo nyi me)? Say (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi)
(repeat) (me) (repeat). (Ngowo nyi) (repeat) (me) (repeat).
(Ngowo nyi) means "a nature of it's own." (Ngowo nyi) means
"nature of it's own". (Me) means "it doesn't have any". Okay.
It doesn't have any. Try to get the same feeling that the
Bodhisattva's getting, okay. Lord Buddha is standing up there
during the second turning of the wheel. Lord Buddha is holding
up this pen, (laughter) and saying, "this pen does not have any
nature of it's own". What does that mean to you...when I say
that? This pen doesn't have any nature of it's own. What's it
mean to you? What kind of feeling do you get when I say that?

(student: We imagine it or we create it in our minds)

Yeah, he's saying "we imagine it or we create it in our minds".
Okay, but but I mean, if it didn't have any nature of it's own,
then couldn't I hold this up and it would look the same...you see
what I mean. If this didn't have any pen-ness of it's own, and
this didn't have any paper-ness of it's own, then couldn't I just
hold them up then they would look the same? I mean, isn't it
confusing to say, "it doesn't have any nature of being a pen"?
It doesn't have any nature of being paper. I mean, isn't that
confusing?

(student: Yes)

You know, doesn't that seem to be wrong (laughs) you know. Of
course it has a nature of being a pen, you know. I write with
it, it's (unclear) and this one...of course it has a nature of
being paper, okay. What does it mean when you say it doesn't
have any nature of being a pen, okay. What does it what does it
mean when you say it doesn't have any nature of being a pen.
Huh?

(student: It's your projection that makes you see a pen)

She says, it's your projection.

(student: Yeah)

Okay, meaning it doesn't have any nature of being a pen from it's
own side. How's that? Okay. It doesn't have any nature of
being a pen from it's own side. That's what Madyamika would say,
okay. Forget Madyamika. (laughter) Forget everything you ever
learned in this class. You are now Mind Only school. When when
Geshe Thubten Rinchen taught us this in the monastery, he said,
"there is the door to Madyamika, and shut it, and stop going over
there, okay? You are now Mind only school and I want you to
think like Mind Only school, and for the next six weeks you will
be only Mind Only school, so forget this projection stuff"
(laughter) okay? Forget it. Forget everything you ever heard
about emptiness. You're gonna learn emptiness the wrong way now.
 Okay (laughter). You're gonna learn it the Mind Only way
school, and it's...Mind Only school way, and it's very cool,
because by learning it very well, by the end of this class,
you'll be very well confused (laughter), you know, you'll be
thinking (laughs) you know, you'll be thinking of Mind Only
school...you'll be thinking of emptiness like a Mind Only school
person, and then at the very last class we'll tell you you're
wrong again, and you get to go back to Middle Way school, okay?
And what happens is it clarifys your whole thinking about
emptiness. Then you can explain to somebody...somebody comes up
to with some weird idea of emptiness, you say, oh ho, you got
that Mind Only school problem. I used to have that. Yeah, this
is how you fix it, you know. And then your thinking about
emptiness becomes very very clear, okay? So, don't forget what
hat we have on. We are in the (b: Sutra in which the Buddha
explains the intent of his other sutras). This is the sutra that
the Mind Only school loves to pull out and say "here's what Lord
Buddha really meant". Okay, especially the tenth chapter.
What's the tenth chapter? The chapter requested by the
Bodhisattva. Okay. The chapter where that Bodhisattva says,
"what did you mean when you said 'nothing had any nature of it's
own'?" Then Lord Buddha gives a Mind Only school answer, okay.
He doesn't say, "oh I meant everything is a projection". He
doesn't say "I meant nothing comes from it's own side". What he
says is, "oh, you're right, you know, I was speaking
figuratively". Okay. "Of course not, everything is so radical
as that", you know. If if you said this pen had no nature of it
all, of it's own, you'd be saying it didn't exist. You can see
it works, you can see it's works...I wouldn't say that. That
isn't what I meant, okay? He's already giving a Mind Only school
answer. Why?

(student: That's all they can handle)

'Cause that's all they can handle. That's all that the people
there can handle. Okay. So why does he teach something that's
wrong? To get them to move up higher, okay. It keeps them
engaged, okay? Keeps them in the room, okay, and then he teaches
them more and more and more (laughs) and then finally he pushes
them up higher and higher, okay, but it's very necessary, okay.
There's some big implications here. One is that when you teach
your own students, or when you explain Buddhism to other people,
you might find it necessary to make simplifications. And some of
them might even be technically wrong, and that's fine...if it
keeps them engaged and you can bring them up higher. Secondly,
it means that you don't know that any spiritual teacher you ever
meet of any tradition might not be speaking figuratively on
purpose to attract those students. So that means, the
implication there is that we have to be extremely careful about
judging other traditions, and judging other spiritual teachers.
You can say, that's technically incorrect, but can you say that's
of no benefit, or that doesn't lead people further on, or maybe
this person is just speaking figuratively because he he has
certain students who need to hear it that way. You have to be
very careful. What's the first bodhisattva vow?

(students: Praising yourself and criticizing others.)

Yeah, do not speak highly of yourself and critize others, meaning
in in that vow, other religious traditions, other religious
teachers. To criticize them, to judge them as if you could read
their mind, and you can't. You see what I mean? You can say,
that message is incorrect for this reason and this reason and
this reason, but is it of no benefit, and can you judge that
person's mind and their heart and why they're teaching it that
way, you can not. If you don't just the person, absolutely you
must judge the system, you have to say, "that system's not
correct for the following reasons". If it's appropriate to say
that. If it's good for people to say that. It might not be good
all the time. And His Holiness...if you watch His Holiness
teach, every time he gets to a different group he's he's got a
little bit different angle and that's what you're supposed to do,
okay? That's what enlightened beings do, okay? Yeah, did you
have a question?

(student: Yeah. This will be true also for other religions)

Of course. Yeah. I...you know, where do you draw the line
between Buddhism and non-Buddhism as far as saying "this is not
beneficial for people", you see what I mean? That's what I'm
trying to say. If you get good at understanding what we're going
to cover in this class, logically, you have to be very careful
about judging other, other traditions, of all kinds, okay? It
does not mean that when the time comes you don't blow them away
with correct view. You do. But but only when it's appropriate
and only when it's useful and beneficial for the people who are
there, okay? All right. So (ngowo nyi me) means, Lord Buddha
said in the second turning of the wheel, nothing has any nature
of it's own. Did you mean that Lord Buddha? And then he says,
"oh Bodhisattva, no no no I didn't mean that, you know, I'm not
that radical. Come on. You know. You know me better than that.
 I wouldn't say nothing exists, I wouldn't say nothing has any
nature of it's all...I had three different things in mind when I
said that. Okay. Here they are. And this is the whole
foundation of the Mind Only school. If you understand what I'm
about to say for the next hour, you you understand about fifty
percent of the Mind Only school. So here's the first thing I had
in mind when I said that, oh Bodhisattva. Say (tsen nyi)
(repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat) (me) (repeat). (Tsen
nyi) (repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat) (me) (repeat). So
you see the (ngowo nyi me) part is the same, right? Doesn't have
any nature of it's own. And now we just need (tsen nyi). (Tsen
nyi) means "definitive, definitive". Now when we say
"definitive" in Tibetan it's a very very very greasy word, okay.
if I said...think of it this way. Fire is hot by definition.
Okay. Fire is hot by definition. The flu is no fun by
definition. (laughter) Okay (laughs). I had it the other day.
Okay. You know, steel is hard by definition, okay. By
definition means what in that case? Does it mean like if you
look it up in Webster's it's that's its' definition?

(student: No)

Not, no. Okay. By the way, there's a great Chinese commentary
on the original sutra. Je Tsongkapa will const...continually be
referring to it. It's by a great scholar named Wen Sek, okay?
And he ke...constantly is bring up "the Chinese commentary".
This is a huge ancient Chinese commentary on on this sutra, and
in that sutra the Chinese commentator...who turns out to be a
Korean or something, I don't remember...(laughter) but he but he
but he's writing in Chinese and he says, definition here means
"like definition in a dictionary" and Je Tsongkapa says, "no no,
come on. That's not what it means, okay?" It's..."by
definition" doesn't mean by by the definition in the dictionary,
it just means by the very nature of that thing, okay, like fire
is hot by definition. Okay. Fire means something that's
hot...by definition. Okay? A pen, by definition, writes, or
something like that, okay...by definition...meaning from it's own
side, in it's own way, through it's own nature, okay. Here we're
trying to point to a group of things where the Buddha can say,
"those things don't have any existence by definition". Okay.
Can you imagine something that doesn't have any existence by
definition? Okay. And what what the Lord Buddha says, "we'll
take (kun tak), okay. Say (kun) say (kun tak) (repeat) Okay,
I'll spell it for you. Very famous in the Mind Only school. Say
(kun tak) (repeat) (kun tak) (repeat). (Kun tak) is a very very
very difficult word in Buddhism. It has many many different
meanings, but what it means here is like "imagined" or
"imaginary" or a "construct of the mind", okay? "A construct of
the mind". I'll give you an example, okay. Is it possible that
there could be a flower which could grow in mid-air, between us,
right here where my hand is? Is it possible that a real flower
could start to sprout and grow, without any earth, without any
water, without any seed...it could just sit there and grow like
that, okay? Normal circumstances, okay, not LSD, all right?
(laughter) (laughs) Is it possible? Generally not, okay?
Generally not. I mean, you might see it or imagine it or
something like that, but the point is that it's it's generally
speaking...that's what they call a "sky flower" or
something...it's a mis-translation. It's a flower which would
grow in mid-air, without any seed, without any water, without any
earth, without any oxygen, just nothing...just whoop...there's a
flower there, okay. Does such a thing exist?

(student: No)

Can you imagine it?

(student: yes)

Yeah, okay. That' a (kun tak). That's a mental construct.
Okay. That's...there's two flavors of (kun taks), okay? There's
two flavors of mental constructs. One flavor doesn't exist. One
version doesn't exist, okay. A a flower that could grow in mid-
air is an example of one that doesn't exist. Now I'll give you
the classical ex...no no, the imagination exists, but a real
flower that corresponds to that imagination doesn't exist, okay?
The construct is the imagination. That exists. But there is no
corresponding reality to it. Okay. You can imagine it and the
imagination exists, but there's no corresponding real flower.
Okay. You can imagine a rabbit with horns on it's head, right,
but there's no corresponding real thing, you see what I mean? So
we call it a (kun tak) of the flavor that doesn't exist, okay?
Now I'll give you a (kun tak) of a flavor that does exist, and
this is a beautiful example of of a construct, in Tibetan
Buddhism, very very famous example, okay. This was given to us
over and over and over again by the high Lama who taught us this
subject...to a group of us when we were there last month, okay.
He says, okay, so somebody's...some family is blessed with a
child, you know. And the mommy is pregnant and and there's a
child, she gets bigger and bigger and mommy and daddy are waiting
expectantly, and suddenly one day a boy comes out, okay, and
the...a boy child is born. Okay. And then about a day later the
parents consult and they decide the call the boy, Tashi. Okay.
Say (Ta shi) (repeat) (Ta shi) (repeat). Very typical Tibetan
name. It means "good luck" or something like that. Like (Ta shi
de lek) means, you know, "have a good day" or something like
that. So there's this boy...they decide to call the boy "Tashi".
 And then after the second day, when the parents see this child,
they think "the boy named Tashi". Okay. They think, they have a
mental image of this thing called "Tashi". Okay. From that
moment on, in their minds, they think of him as "Tashi", okay?
So there's a difference between the blob that came out on the
first day, that little, you know, (laughter) thing, you know,
it's just a boy child...it's just a child. Okay. At that point
it's just a physical color, shapes, crying, you know, child. And
then after the second day they're starting to think of it as Tashi, okay. So think of
the child as out there, some kind of,
you know, ball of flesh, okay, and then there's the parents
sitting back here, looking at it, and they are thinking of the
child as "Tashi" and in between their mind and this child is this
construct, right, this mental image called "the boy named Tashi",
okay? So you got three different things here. You got that blob
of flesh out there, crying, you got the parents back here looking
at it, and they are naming it, or thinking of it, right? By the
way, when they talk about constructs they talk about constructs
in two senses...naming and thinking, okay? It's one thing to
give it the name "Tashi". It's another thing to think of him as
"Tashi". Okay. So really you have a construct which is created
by mind's...sorry, by names and thoughts. You have to think of
that, okay? Names and thoughts. Constructs are created by names
and thoughts. Name meaning "verbalization"...let's call him
"Tashi". Thought meaning "thinking of him as Tashi", okay? So
you got three things here, right? You got the kid out here,
which existed from the first day, you got the boy named "Tashi"
here, which is a con...concept or a construct which existed from
the second day, and then you have the parents back here who are
naming the boy or thinking of the boy in a certain way, okay? So
that idea, Tashi, that concept Tashi, or construct called "the
boy named Tashi" is something that is a (kun tak) and it's a (kun
tak) which exists. There is a boy that corresponds to that idea,
okay? There is this thing out there that corresponds to the idea
the boy named Tashi. Okay. Our teacher in the monastery went
over this ex...over and over and over, "I'm Tashi, this is a
Tashi, this is a boy named Tashi", you know, over and over again.
 And then we had a one-day break in the middle of these
incredible classes...we went to the tantric college...and the
Abbot gave us lunch and we had a long beautiful talk, and then
the the monastery treasurer came up and he stood up and said, "I
want to introduce myself, and I want to talk to you all about a
special project we're working on we hope you'll support and my
name is Tashi. (laughter) (laughs) And everybody started roaring
(laughter) you know. (laughter) (laughs) and he was like, oh no,
he didn't know what was going on, you know (laughs), it was
really funny. Like twenty four hundred are laughing at him and
he doesn't know why (laughter) (laughs), anyway, so we met Tashi,
okay? So so now you know there's two kinds of constructs, okay,
two kinds of con...constructs. Two kinds of...one of them
doesn't ex...like you can imagine a flo, a flower that grow in
midair, but it doesn't exist, okay? The other is thinking of
somebody in a certain way and you have like this mental
construct. We're already getting very close to emptiness, aren't
we? There's obviously a reason why Lord Buddha is bringing up
these three different kinds of no self nature, okay. He doesn't
answer the Bodhisattva and says "oh everything's a projection,
that's what I sa...meant when I said nothing had any nature of
it's own". He says, "oh oh, yeah, you know, I didn't mean it
literally. Don't take it literally". There's three kinds,
there's three ways in which things don't exist or don't have
their own self nature. One is all of those things in the world
that don't have any definitive nature of their own. "Oh, what
are those", says the Bodhisattva. And Lord Buddha says
"constructs. Things that you make up in your mind". That was
the answer that that Ke...Ken gave when we first started the
class. I said what does it mean not to exist by definition and
he came up with it on his own. He said, "oh things that you
imagine". Things that are just made up in your mind. And that's
exactly the first kind of no-self nature. So Lord Buddha says,
"oh, the first thing I was talking about when I said nothing had
any nature of it's own was things that don't have any definitive
nature and that's all those things that you just imagine.
Whether they exist or not, whether they refer to things that
exist or not, it's all the things that you imagine, Okay? And
that's called (kun tak), okay. In the Mind Only school, if you
understand what we call the "three attributes" of the Mind Only
school then you understand the Mind Only school. This is the
first one. Somebody says "what're you studying in Michael
Roach's class?", you say "we're studying Mind Only." Said, "give
me the three attributes". What are the three attributes? Oh,
first one is (kun tak). Okay. And they'll say, "oh, they're
already on to (kun taks), wow", you know, (laughter) (laughs)
okay? Now you have to know the other two or else you get
embarrassed, okay? Then Lord Buddha says, "oh oh. What I said
nothing has any nature of it's own, here's the second thing I
meant". Say (kyewa) (repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat)
(mepa). (Kyewa) (repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat) (mepa).
Okay. (Kyewa) means "for something to grow", okay? (Kyewa) means
"to grow". (Ngowo nyi mepa) you know. It means what?

(student: Doesn't exist)

Has no nature of it's own. Okay. Has no nature of it's own.
Okay. And what Lord Buddha is saying, "the second thing I meant
during the second turning of the wheel when I got up and said
nothing has any nature of it's own, I meant there are certain
things in the world that don't grow through any nature of their
own. They don't have any nature of their own in the sense that
they don't grow through any nature of their own, okay? What does
that mean? Very very simple. There are things in the world
which grow through their causes and their conditions. That's
all. Okay. There are things in the world which don't grow
through not having causes and conditions. Okay. Can anything
grow without it's causes and conditions?

(student: No)

No. Okay. Impossible. So all Lord Buddha says..."look when I
said things don't have their nature, what I meant about stuff
that grows is that it doesn't grow without it's causes and
conditions. It doesn't have any nature of growing without it's
causes and conditions. Said positively, what? They...all those
things which grow, ha...do have a nature, of growing through
their causes and conditions. Said negatively, nothing has any
nature of growing that grows without growing from it's causes and
conditions, okay? So what's he talking about here...things that
grow. What's he trying to say when he says they have no nature.
He's saying, they don't have any nature of growing by themselves.
 Okay. They depend on other stuff. We're getting very close to
what? Friday night people. (laughter) Dependent origination.
The wheel of life. The twelve links. Okay. All he's saying is
that, look, there's certain stuff in the world that grows, and it
doesn't have a nature of growing?

(student: independently)

By itself. Okay. It does have a nature of growing from other
things. So in each case we're gonna get a positive and a
negative, right. In this case, what's the positive? Things do
have a nature of growing from other things. Things don't have a
nature of growing from themselves. What's the most important
example of this. Your suffering, your bad days, your old age,
your sickness, everything about your life that you don't like,
okay? Everything like that. (Duk den). Say (duk den) (repeat)
(duk den) (repeat). The arya truth of suffering, which is what?
Which is your whole life. Okay. The arya truth of suffering.
Everything about your life. The fact that a) half the stuff that
happens to you is bad, the fact that b) the good stuff always
changes and goes away, gets worse (laughs), okay? That's it,
that summarizes your life. That's (duk den). The truth of the
source of suffering, okay. Does it have...why why is Buddha
saying, "it doesn't have a nature"? What is he trying to tell
you. In the second turning of the wheel he's talking about your
suffering. Everything bad that happened to you all day today,
and he's saying, "it doesn't have a nature". What does he mean?

(students: It's not there?)

He's not saying it's not there. (laughs)

(student: It's not by itself)

Huh? Yeah, he's just saying it doesn't happen from nothing, man.
 You gotta figure out where it's coming from. That's all. In a
negative way, your suffering does not come from nothing. You
have to figure out why this is happening to you. You know, you
have to figure out why you're getting old and you have to stop
it. Okay. You have to figure out why things happen to you all
day that you don't like and you have to stop it. Okay.
In...said in in a positive way, everything has a cause.
Everything bad that's happening to you has a real cause. Okay.
Said in a negative way, nothing bad that's happened to you comes
from itself. There's there's a hidden cause. If you could
figure it out, you could get out of all this stuff. You don't
have to get old. And you don't have to die. And you don't have
to live in a world like this. This world is a booboo (laughter).
 This world is the desire, the desire realm is a mistake. People
get here by making a mistake. Okay. Correct the mistake, you're
out of here. Really. We're all in the same boat...it's very
funny. We're at a slice of the reality pie where you must
suffer, and you can get out of it. You can move out of that that
level. You can go to a different level where they don't suffer.
We're just here by accident. We're here because we didn't learn.
 What? Dependent origination. Okay. So Lord Buddha says...you
weren't here on Friday night, okay...anyway, (laughs) so Lord
Buddha's basically saying, look, you know, don't think...what I
said when I said nothing has a nature, when I was talking about
"caused" things, things that have causes, and specifically about
your bad time in your life, all I meant was it doesn't happen
from nothing. It happens from something. And if you figure it
out you don't have to keep like that, okay. That's all. That's
what I said...that's what I meant when I said "nothing starts,
nothing has any nature of starting". Nothing has any nature of
beginning. That's all I meant. Okay. Would I say it's all a
projection? No. (laughter) you know, okay? All right. It's
interesting. I'll ask you a co...cool question. Third turning
of the wheel is literal or figurative, according to the Mind Only
school. When the Bud...when the Buddha is saying all this stuff,
"oh I didn't mean it's all a projection, I didn't mean that", is
he being literal or figurative?

(students: literal)

Literal. Uh! Yeah, in the Mind Only school. Okay. To the Mind
Only school he's being literal when he says "oh oh, I I didn't
mean that when I said everything was a projection," okay. They
take him to be literal. Now, switch over to the Middle Way hat.
Take off the Mind Only hat and put on the Middle Way. What do
they say about the third turning of the wheel?

(students: figurative)

Buddha was being figurative when he said, "I didn't mean all that
stuff about projections. Of course things have a nature. I
wouldn't say things don't have a nature. Okay." Second turning
of the wheel, Mind Only school, literal or figurative?

(student: Figurative)

Figurative. Okay. The Buddha didn't mean it when he said
"nothing has any nature of it's own". According to the Mind Only
school, okay? In the second turning of the wheel when Lord
Buddha said this pen doesn't have any nature of it's own, he was
being figurative, okay. According to the middle way school?
Literal. Okay. What about the first turning of the wheel? Oh,
the five heaps, four arya truth, they all exist by definition.

(student: For who?)

Ah, good question. (laughter) Mind Only school.
(students: Literal. Figurative. I mean literal)

Literal. Literal. Okay. Middle Way School?

(students: Figurative)

Figurative. He didn't mean it, okay. He was just trying to help
out those poor, you know, five guys that he first met. All
right? You gotta get used to that. It's very cool. You gotta
slide between the different schools. All right? Okay. So the
things in the world which don't have a nature of growing all on
their own, stated negatively? The things in the world which do
have a nature of growing from their causes and conditions,
stated positively, right, are called (shen wang). Say (shen
wang) (repeat) (shen wang) (repeat). Very very famous, okay?
People say, "what're you studying?" Mind Only school. "Hey,
what are the three attributes?" (Kun tak, shen wang). Okay.
You gotta have it like boom boom boom. You know. (Shen) means
"other". Something other. (Wang) means "power". A (shen wang)
means "things that grow are not...what do you call
it...independent, they depend on other things." See they are at
the mercy of other things. How's that. (Shen wang) means "at
the mercy of other things." What. If you have ignorance you
will get old and die. How's that? Okay. Your death and your
aging are at the mercy of your ignorance. As long as the
ignorance is there, it's pushing them around. It's calling the
shots. As soon as you remove the ignorance, you do not have to
get old and die. Okay. Period. Okay. So so aging itself, the
fact that you are getting older year by year is (shen wang).
It's at the mercy of other factors. It's occuring at the mercy
of other factors. What? Link number one in the wheel of
life...ignorance. Okay. Aging and death are link number twelve
and they come from link number one. Link number one triggers a
process which creates link number twelve. If you could shut off
the wheel of life, the faucet, at link number one, you don't have
to get old and die in this life time. You don't have to, okay?
That's that's the whole point, okay? So (shen wang) means "those
things that are at the mercy of other things" meaning, anything
which has as it's own causes and conditions. Okay. Anything
which has it's own causes and conditions. Meaning, all changing
things. Meaning ninety-nine percent of your world. Okay.
Ninety-nine percent of your world. There's very few things in
your experience which are not changing, almost nothing. Okay.
What's an example of one? How about the imagination of a sky-
flower? You see what I mean? Does it change? I mean the
perfect idealization of an object...we call it unchanging, okay.
We say it's unchanging. Okay. And and the idealization called
"Tashi", the boy named Tashi, Tashi the idea "Tashi" is what we
call unchanging. The concept "Tashi" is unchanging. Okay. The
the mental image, he is Tashi, is a fact. It's a...fact's don't
change. It's either true or false but it doesn't change once
it's true. You see what I mean? Is it true that the sky is
blue? Yes. Is it more or less true as the days go by? No.
Okay. Is it true that all things have emptiness? Yes. Could
that be fifty percent true?

(student: No)

No. Okay. It's a concept. Construct. Okay. They don't
change. But (shen wangs) are different. (Shen wangs) change all
the time. What's a (shen wang)? Your pen, your arm, your nose,
your eye, your world, your city, your school, your paper, okay,
your life, everything around you, everything, your mind, okay, is
changing, okay? That's called (shen wang), okay? Does it have a
nature of it's own?

(student: no)

You should ask me whose school.

(students: Yes. Which school. (laughter))

Ah.h.h.h. I would say Mind Only school. Does it have a nature
of it's own?
(student: Yes)

Does your nose have a nature of it's own?

(student: Yes)

Huh? I was got through saying it didn't.

(student: Mind Only)

No, it does not have a nature of it's own. What kind of nature
of it's own doesn't it have? It doesn't have a nature of growing
without any kind of causes. Okay. It doesn't have a nature of
coming from nothing. Okay. That's all. That's all. That's
it's (kyewa ngowo nyi mepa), okay. That's that's...oh Lord
Buddha says, "oh yeah, I did say about your nose that it doesn't
have any nature of it's own. I didn't mean it as a projection or
anything wild like that. All I mean was that it comes from it's
own causes. It does not have a nature of not coming from any
causes. Okay. If you like your nose or you don't like your
nose, there's a reason for that. There's a certain karma that's
causing that. That's all. That's all I meant. I meant it
doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't happen out of the blue
from nothing. There's a reason for your nose. There's an exact
reason for every detail of your nose and everything is depending
from some past karma that you do, okay? Yeah?

(student: (unclear))

Yeah, she she said, she said, "what's a (kun tak) of your nose?"
Okay, what's the mental construct of your nose. Yeah, it's
thinking about your nose as your nose, and that doesn't change.
Okay. The fact that your nose is a nose. How's that? Doesn't
change. Idealization of nose...nose. Remember? We were in
California, we did "car car". Now we're doing "nose nose".
(laughter) Okay. Okay. So you see, this is...by the way, one
reason why in the Mind Only school they're called the three
attributes, meaning you can tie them into almost every object,
you see. There's a (shen wang)-ness about your nose which is the
fact that it's a changing, growing thing and there's a (kun
tak)ness about your nose which is that when you perceive your
nose you're actually relying very heavily on a mental picture, or
ways of thinking about your nose. In the Mind Only school
ultimately you are not even perceiving your nose. You are
perceiving some kind of mental picture. Okay. Very subtle. But
you can establish all three natures with almost any object, and
we'll get to that. Okay. Your nose has a (shen wang-ness) about
it and it has a (kun tak-ness) about it. Okay. Your nose is an
example of (shen wang), meaning a changing thing, or a dependent
thing...I'll call it dependent thing, okay. And your nose has a
conceptual thing about it which is? You know, basically when you
perceive your nose, it's that you're thinking about it as your
nose. Okay. And you're actually mostly perceiving your idea of
your nose rather than your nose. Okay. Yeah.

(student: I'm a little bit hung up on the unchanging nature of
(kun tak) especially with the example of the name. If if if if
someone becomes another name, doesn't the (kun tak) of the
original name change?)

He's saying, well, if you talk about (kun taks) as names, can't
names change? For example, first he was "blob" and then he was
"Tashi", right? Okay. I mean that seems to be changing. Right.
 Think of it more as the fact that he is called what he's called
rather than what he's called, okay. See, facts are unchanging,
okay. The fact that it's a certain temperature in this room is
constant. Okay. The fact that this pen doesn't have it's own
nature is constant. It's never one hundred...it's never fifty
percent empty. Or sixty-five percent empty. Or more empty five
minutes from now and less empty ten minutes from now. It is a
constant...facts are a constant. Truths are a constant, okay.
Is this planet round, I mean according to our present knowledge?

(student: yes)

Yes. Does the fact that the planet is round ever change? I mean
not not in our normal every day perception, okay. Can the planet
itself be destroyed? Yes. After that can we say that the fact
that the planet is round has changed. No. It has gone out of
existence, and there's a big difference. The planet did not
become less round. The planet just went away. Okay. Is this
pen empty? Yes. Does this pen have emptiness? Yes. Does it
have any more emptiness today than it has tomorrow? No.
Emptiness just means it's not co...not not a projection (laughs)
okay. It's not like fifty percent empty today and a hundred
percent...truths are unwavering. Truths either are true, hundred
percent or not. They're either on or off. That's all. And
that's what...in (kun tak) the fact that the boy is named "Tashi"
is the (kun tak). You gotta...it's very subtle. And that
doesn't change. The boy can die, but he's not less called Tashi
before before he died than after he died...you see what I mean?
Tashi is gone. You can't say about the boy that he's called
Tashi. But it's not like Tashi's not Tashi. Okay.

(student: But if suddenly he called himself Ronald Reagan?
(laughs))

Yeah, you can say that, you can say that.

(student: So what's changed and what hasn't changed?)

You wouldn't say that the (kun tak) has changed, okay. He is the
thing we call...he he is the thing we used to call Tashi hasn't
is not changing...you see? He is the thing, and he is the thing
we call Ronald Reagan. Is a fact, you see what I mean, is a
fact, is an unchanging fact. Okay. It can go out of existance
or into existence, but it changing...don't forget, changing
doesn't mean necessarily destroyed. Changing means "more or
less", you know, wavering like that. It's very subtle, okay?
It's very subtle. The fact that this is empty never changes, but
the emptiness of the pen can go out of existence. But when it
goes out of existence, it's either existing or not existing.
When it's existing, the pen is a hundred percent empty, okay.
It's never more or less true that it's empty. It's always a
hundred percent true that it's empty. You gotta get used to
that. Okay. Did you have a question?

(student: Yeah, on the last question approximation or fuzzy
notion, where do you put that in this?)
Oh, she said "what about a thing called (yi chu)?" We talked
last class about approximate understandings of things. Those are
(shen wangs). All all mental things are changing things. All
mental things are dependent things. All mental things depend on
their causes and conditions. They are all lumped into the
category of (shen wangs), changing things, dependent things.
Okay. Yeah?

(student: (unclear))

It's a mental image. It's not made of mental stuff. It's like
that. It's a concept. It's a fact and not...mental stuff in
Buddhism means "does it perceive"? You see. Does it perceive.
You see. Is it consciousness itself, okay. That's the test. Is
this mental stuff? No, because it can't perceive anything. See
what I mean. Don't get confused about objects of the mind and
the mind itself. The mind is a perceiving thing. Mental stuff
is perceiving stuff. Stuff which has the quality of perceiving,
okay? And constructs are not perceiving, they are perceived by
the mind. Okay. Big difference. When I saw mental stuff, I
mean made of the stuff of consciousness. Meaning (sel shing
rikpa), knowing, conscious, aware. Okay? The mental constructs
themselves are not thinking things. They are things in your
mind. Okay. Okay. Last one. It's nice to be in another school
because you can always say " oh, this school doesn't make sense"
(laughter) (laughs), when you get into a hard question. By the
way this is probably the most difficult class. I mean this is
where you're getting the the structure of the mind only school,
okay, and then it...from here on it will be easier. This is
where you get the main class with everything that you've learned
before. Okay. Say (dun dam) (repeat), I'm sorry, (dundampa)
(repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat) (mepa) (repeat), and by
the way we will go over these three qualities again and again and
again and again, okay, so don't get nervous. Okay. If you
didn't get it the first time we'll be going it over and
again...this is just the introduction. When the teacher got to
this in in the monastery, everyone was like...(laughter), you
know (laughs) and these other guy go home and think about it come
back tomorrow (laughter) okay. Said (dundampa) (repeat) (ngowo)
(repeat) (nyi) (repeat) (mepa) (repeat). Okay. And then Lord
Buddha says to the Bodhisattva, "okay, here's the third thing I
meant...sorry I keep stepping on your toe... here's the third
thing I meant when I said "nothing has any nature of it's own",
okay. Here's the third thing I meant. What was the first thing
he meant? Oh, some things don't have any def...nature of
existing by definition. What? Oh, things that you imagine, okay
 So that's what I was talking about the first time...you know,
the first thing I was talking about when I said nothing had any
nature was there's certain stuff like imaginary things that don't
have any definitive nature of their own. That's what I meant.
That's the first thing I meant. Oh, and then there's other
things that grow you know, and die...flower and die, oh those
things don't have any nature of growing on their own. Okay.
That was the second thing I meant. Now here's the third thing I
meant. Say (dundampa) (repeat) (ngowo) (repeat) (nyi) (repeat)
(mepa) (repeat). (Dundampa) means "ultimate", okay. "Ultimate".
 (Dundampa) means "ultimate". (Ngowo nyi mepa) is the same. Say
(ngowo nyi) (repeat) (mepa) (repeat). (Ngowo nyi) (repeat)
(mepa) (repeat). Okay. (Dundampa) means "ultimate". Okay.
(Dundampa) means "ultimate". So some things I was talking about
don't have a nature of being ultimate. And that's...that's the
third thing I meant when I was talking about, okay. Some things
don't have a nature of being ultimate. And that's the third
thing I meant when I said "nothing has any nature of it's own".
Okay? Those are the three different things I meant when I'm when
I said "nothing has any nature of it's own", okay. What does it
meant "not to be ultimate"? We could talk about it in two
different ways. Do...are (kun taks) ultimate? Are (kuntaks)
ultimate?

(students: No)

Is that imaginary flower ultimate?

(students: No)

No. It doesn't have any existance by definition. It doesn't
have any real existence, okay? All right. How about Tashi? The
idea Tashi? No. It's an imaginary thing, okay. It doesn't have
it's own self-standing existence, okay? If the dad wasn't there
and the mom wasn't there to think of him as Tashi, you think
there'd be a Tashi?

(students: no)

Not as a Tashi, okay? Would there be a blob of flesh crying?
Yes, okay. Would there be a Tashi? No. Why? Nobody thought of
him as Trashi, Tashi yet and no one called him Tashi yet. Okay.
So in that sense, (kun taks) aren't ultimate. Why. They're just
imaginary. How could they be ultimate? They're just imaginary.
Okay. Are (shen wangs) ultimate?

(student: No)

Are dependent things ultimate? We can go to a different reason
here, okay. Are (shen wangs) ultimate, are changing things
ultimate? No. Why? Because when you perceive them you don't
perceive ultimate reality. Okay. When you are in the direct
perception of emptiness are you focusing...are you perceiving
(shen wangs), changing things? What do you think?

(student: No)

I'll ask you again. In that twenty minutes that changes your
whole being forever, the day that you become two of the three
Jewels, okay, the day that you become God according to Buddhism,
you know, on that day, on that thing that you perceive for twenty
minutes, is that a changing thing or not?

(student: No)

Is it...no. Okay. Why? What is it? What do you see?
Emptiness. Emptiness, okay. Is emptiness a changing thing or an
unchanging thing?

It's an unchanging thing. Prove it. Come on it's just an
absence of something, okay. It's an absence of something. Is
there a two headed purple thirty food elephant in this room at
this moment?
(student: No)

(laughs) (laughter) You say no, okay, I mean nobody looked under
the chairs or anything, okay (laughs), yeah, yeah, you say no,
you know. Why? Well, first of all they don't exist at all.
They couldn't be in any room anyway. I'm talking about one that
purely doesn't exist, okay? Let's say in theory that such a
thing doesn't exist. Two headed, forty foot purple elephant
rampaging through this room, smashing people, breaking chairs,
everything...does it exist? No. Is this room empty of such an
elephant?

(student: Yes)

Yes. That's one kind of emptiness in that room. Is that the
kind of emptiness that when you perceive it it changes your
reality forever? No. (laughter) Okay. So it's not really the
ultimate emptiness. But is it a form of emptiness in this room?
Does this room display or exhibit that kind of emptiness?

(student: Yes)

Yes. Does it change?

(student: No)

Does this room at a certain hour become less empty of a thirty
foot, two headed purple elephant? No. It's either purely empty
or not (laughs) okay. You gotta get used to that. Emptiness is
the pure absence of something. Hundred percent absent. It's not
like there's half of a purple elephant here, or maybe there could
be one tomorrow, or there's a doubt about it or something...it's
just purely empty of that. Self-existence is the same thing.
Most people don't ever understand that when we speak about
emptiness we're speaking about something that could never exist
anyway. It's exactly the same ontological level as a two headed
thirty foot purple elephant. For something in this room to be
self-existent would be exactly the same as anything in this room
being a two headed purple, thirty foot, rampaging elephant.
They're equally impossible. There's no such thing. There never
was any such thing. There never will be any such thing. And
this room is empty of self-existence too. Same thing. It...does
it ever get more or less empty of self existence? No. I, it a
self existence can't exist, okay. It's...this room has always
been a hundred precent empty of self existence. This room will
always be a hundred percent empty of self existence. Self
existence is an unchanging absence of something. Okay.
Unchanging absence of something. That's ultimate reality. Okay.
That is the ultimate. Now, question. Can (shen wangs) be
ultimate reality? Can dependent things, which grow from their
causes and conditions be ultimate reality? No. Why? They
change. (laughs) okay. Once something has come from a cause it
changes. Why? The energy of the cause fluctuates, therefore the
thing it's pushing out has to fluctuate. It's like a fountain,
you know. If the water pressure changes, it has to get down. If
the water pressure increases, it has to go up. Okay. If the
cause is strong the result is strong. If the cause weakens, the
result weakens. Cause...results are at the mercy of their
causes, okay? And causes always wear out. That's why you're
having a bad time in your life. Whatever wimpy good karma you
ever had is wearing out as we speak (laughs) (laughter) okay, and
you're getting older, okay, really, okay. (laughs) It's the
nature of good, dirty...what we call "dirty good karma". Any
good thing in your life is at the mercy of a cause called "dirty
good karma" and dirty good karma always wears out. Don't feel
bad about your last break up. It had to break up. (laughter)
Okay. It was (laughs) created by dirty good karma. Okay. As
same as everything good thing in your life. The idea is to
get...is to change things to pure good karma. There's a big
difference, okay. Yeah?

(student: My questions kind of goes back to the last (unclear)

Yeah

(student: talking about like facts (unclear) completely
independent so in other words if you have the facts (unclear) but
that is completely unchanging, right?)

Yeah, the facts don't change.
(student: That what keeps throwing me because like because to me
the facts that appear to arise in conjunction with viewing the
earth as being round, okay, so that would arise by, you know, my
perceiving it)

Yeah.

(student: So that's kinda throwing me because when the earth
goes away that fact no longer has any relevance or value)

Right.

(student: So how (unclear))

Facts, you have to get used to this. It's a big distinction and
you have to think about it and you have to cook it, okay. Facts
can go in and out of existence as the objects to which they refer
go in and out of existence. The fact that this pen is empty will
one day go out of existence, when?

(student: When the pen goes)

When the pen itself is destroyed. But does that fact ever
change? No. As long as it's present, it's value never varies.
How's that? Okay. It can go out of existence but it can't like
get less.

(cut)

thirty seconds, you know, that somehow it's less empty
thirty...as it's going out of existence, okay. As long as it's
here in any shape and form or any part of it is still here, it is
 still a hundred percent empty. Okay. That's...you gotta get
used to that, okay. Yeah?

(student: Is it safe to say that Mind Only school way of thought
would say that if the tree fell in the forest when nobody was
there it would still make a sound and the Middle Way school would
say that it didn't make a sound)
(laughs) You can say something like that. She said, you know,
tree in the forest thing. Mind Only school would probably say
something like it's it's there because it's existing from it's
own side. The the Middle Way school would might say that it's
not there 'cause no one's perceiving it. Okay. I I would say
that's probably fair although you'd to be careful, you know, but
generally speaking say that. By the way I'll tell you, and it's
very important, it's on your homework, okay, now that she brought
it up, okay, what does it mean to exist really in the Mind Only
school, okay. What does it...by the way, when I say "really" I
mean "by definition". Okay. In the Mind Only school we're gonna
talk about "by definition", okay. Some things exist by
definition. Other things don't. What does it mean to exist by
definition, okay. We have to talk about it. Generally, if a
thing has some unique way of being from it's own side, in the
Mind Only school, we say it exists by definition. Pens exist by
definition. Okay. Why? It has some nature coming from it's own
side. It has a unique way of being coming from it's own side,
okay. And that's how you feel, right? We are touching on a sore
point, okay. You...reason you haven't seen emptiness directly
yet, if you haven't, is because you really believe this. You are
a Mind Only school person. I accuse you of being a Mind Only
school person. (laughter) Okay. Everytime the boss yells at
you, you swear it's coming from him. Okay. From his uni...you
can't stand to think that it's you. You cannot accept it. You
go on denying it and you keep suffering because of that. It
let...if you had not seen emptiness directly in this lifetime or
gotten very close, I accuse you of being a Mind Only school. My
boss exists by definition. Why? Because when he gets mad,
that's coming from it's own unique nature that's coming from him,
not from me. There is something out there. I de...I insist
that there's something out there. Okay. You're Mind Only
school. You're stuck in the Mind Only school. That's why we
study the Mind Only school...so you can get sensitive to that
fact. You gotta go to work tomorrow and see if you're Mind Only
school or not (laughter). Okay. No, and how do you tell? It's
when you get upset. You can only have a mental affliction if you
misunderstand reality. That's the way mental afflictions work.
You cannot get upset unless you misunderstand reality. You
cannot get upset at an object in your life unless you are
Mind...stuck in the Mind Only school...about that thing, okay?
Yes, it has it's own unique way of being from it's own side.
It's not me, okay. There is something out there, okay, coming
from it's side. And I'm mad at it and I wish they would fix
themselves (laughter), you know, okay? You can't have a mental
affliction unless you misunderstand reality. Mental afflictions
and an understanding of emptiness can not coexist in one human
mind at one moment. Impossible. That's why the antidote for
mental afflictions is seeing emptiness, is understanding an
objects...you can not be unhappy towards an object if you
understand it's emptiness. Period. It's cool. (laughter) The
key to happiness, you know...if you're not stuck in the Mind Only
school you cannot be unhappy about an object. How's that?
If...or, conversely, if you are unhappy or upset at something,
you're stuck in the Mind Only school way of thinking about it,
okay? Yeah, Sikes?

(student, Sikes: Has there ever been a Mind Only school arya?)

(laughs) He says, "has there ever been a Mind Only school arya"?
 The answer is no. Has not. Has not. Okay. And it's a big
debate in the monastery. So what about Arya Asanga. He was Mind
Only school. He taught the Mind Only school. So did Lord Buddha
(laughter) okay. You see what I mean? Okay. Oh, so somebody
comes up to you and says, "what does it mean in the Mind Only
school for something to exi, to exist by definition. What're you
gonna say? That thing exists out there, from it's own side, with
it's own unique way of being. Okay. That's what it means in the
Mind Only school to "exist by definition". Okay. Yeah.

(student: Mind Only as opposed to other schools (unclear)

Sorry?

(student: Does the Mind Only school as opposed to all the other
schools that believe that objects have an existence of their own,
from their own side, say that it exists only by definition?)

Yeah. Basically.
(student: I'm kind of confused because)

Basically, but it's very delicate...no it's very, it's it's very
delicate, it's very delicate. We'll go into it. We'll talk
about it. Okay. Say (yong drup) (repeat) (yong drup) (repeat).
(Yong drup) is the word for the lack of any ultimate nature, and
it is the code word in the Mind Only school for emptiness itself.
 Okay. And this is the third thing that the Buddha was referring
to when he said nothing had any nature of it's own. What's that?
 (Yong drup). What's (yong drup)? Emptiness. Okay. Emptiness
itself.

(student: Did you say the code word in the in the Mind Only
school?)

Yeah, Mind Only school, (yong drup) is a code word for emptiness,
okay. What does (yong) mean? (Yong) means "everything,
totality". (Drup) means "is". What's "totally is" mean?
Totally is means "the minute an object exists it is one hundred
percent empty. So in the Mind Only school we call "emptiness"
"totality". Okay. You can call (yong drup), you can translate
it as "totality". Totality. Don't forget it's a code word for?

(student: emptiness)

Emptiness. It's the Mind Only school's word for emptiness. What
does (yong drup) mean literally? Oh, everything exists. What
does that mean? The soon...as soon as an object exists, it's one
hundred percent empty. Okay. Every object. As soon as it comes
into being it is permeated by emptiness. Is it emptiness? No.
This is a changing thing. It can't be emptiness. We already
talked about that, okay? All right. Yeah?

(student: What about before it comes into being. Does it have
it's emptiness then?)

He asked, "before a thing came into being, does it have it's
emptiness"? No. You have to be existing to have your own
emptiness. It's...before you come into being, you don't have
emptiness. After you stop being you don't have emptiness. Okay.



(student: Does emptiness have it's own emptiness?)

Emptiness absolutely has it's own emptiness.

(student: In Mind Only?)

In Mind Only. Yeah. Okay. So (yong drup) is gonna be our code
word for emptiness. So, we're gonna take a break but just before
that I'm gonna ask you three questions, okay? Lord Buddha, in
the second turning of the wheel, said "nothing has any nature of
it's own". Was he being literal?

(students: For who? Yes. What school?)

She's the only one who answered correctly. (laughter) What did
you say?

(student: For who?)

For whom? Okay. I'll ask it again, okay? (laughs) Lord Buddha
got up at the second turning of the wheel and said "nothing has
any nature of it's own". Was he...did he mean it?

(student: Not to the Mind Only School.)

Not for the Mind Only School. Okay. Well, what did he mean? Oh,
don't you remember? He talked about...the Bodhisattva asked him
that. And he said, oh oh oh I didn't say "nothing has any nature
of it's own". What I meant was, there's certain things like
mental images, constructs of your mind that don't have any
definitive nature of their own. That's one thing I meant. I
mean they don't have any real reality from their own side. You
know, they're just kind of made up with your mind, okay. That's
the first thing I meant. The second thing I meant was there's
these changing things all around you, okay, and when I said they
don't have any nature, I meant they don't have any nature just
happening from their own side. They're happening because of some
bad karma you did. Get it? Okay. And then the third thing I
meant was, look, things don't have a nature of being ultimate.
Changing things aren't ultimate because they are not what you
perceive when you perceive emptiness directly. Okay. Images,
constructs aren't ultimate because you just make 'em up. And
that is their emptiness, okay? That is their emptiness. They
are not ultimate. Okay. They are not ultimate. Those two
things. Okay. Their lack of being ultimate is their emptiness.
How's that? Okay. So that's how we derived emptiness in the
Mind Only School. We'll be going through it over and over again
Don't get nervous, okay (laughter), don't, don't not come back
after the cookies. Okay. (laughter). Come back in about five or
ten minutes, okay?

(break)

Say (rang gi) (repeat) (tsen nyi kyi) (repeat) (druppa) (repeat).
(Rang gi) (repeat) (tsen nyi kyi) (repeat) (druppa) (repeat).
This means "exists by definition", okay? (Rang gi tsen nyi kyi)
means " by definition". (Druppa) means "exists". Exists by
definition. Now you gotta put your thinking hat, okay, on.
Which thinking hat?

(students: Mind Only)

Okay (laughs) Mind Only. (laughter) Somebody made an
interesting point...Axel made an interesting point. Somebody
asked me were there any Mind Only aryas, and I said no, right?
According to whom? (laughter)

(student: Middle Way)

According to the Middle Way School. According to the Mind Only
School, how many Middle Way aryas are there?

(students: none)

None. (laughs) (laughter) Okay? Why? Oh those Middle Way guys,
they're nihilists. They think nothing exists. They say nothing
exists. They're crazy. Okay. All right? You gotta think like
that. All right? Okay. Mind Only School (Rang gi tsen nyi kyi
druppa). Exist by definition. What do they mean? Does this pen
exist by definition according to the Mind Only School?

(students: yes)

Yes. Okay. Why? It has some existence from it's own side.
Okay. If it didn't, then I could hold this up and it would be a
pen. I mean if things were just random, crazy, nothing has any
nature of it's own, then why don't you see a pen when I hold this
up? You see what I mean? Things must have some nature of
existing from their own side through some unique way of being of
their own, okay? They exist through some unique way of being
from their own side, on their own, okay. They must have
something. Okay. That's what it means, in this school, to exist
from your own side. I'm sorry, to exist by definition. Stated
negatively, it is not simply a made up with your mind. Okay. It
is not simply something you made up with your mind. It has it's
own unique way of being from it's own side, okay. Now of those
three categories of stuff in the Mind Only School...what? Say
(kun tak) (repeat) you...this is gonna become a Mind Only mantra,
okay. (Kun tak) (repeat) (shen wang) (repeat) (yong drup)
(repeat). (Kun tak) (repeat) (shen wang) (repeat) (yong drup)
(repeat). (Kun tak) meaning "constructs", right, mental
constructs. (Shen wang) meaning "dependent things...things that
come fro...grow from causes and conditions". (Yong drup) meaning
"emptiness itself". Okay. Now. Question for you guys. If
existing by definition in this school means it comes from it's
own side, through it's own unique way of it's own being, of it's
own and it's not simply made up with your mind, how many of those
three things exist by definition? Do (kun taks) exist by
definition according to the Mind Only School?

(students: No)

No. Why? They're just made up with your mind. They don't come
from their own side. Tashi...if if Tashi came on it's own side,
then the minute that blob came out of the mom's tummy, they'd say
"oh, Tashi." Okay. He would suggest Tashi from his own side.
The way that the blob does, okay. That proves, okay. That
proves that they're not. Okay. Can't just grow on it's own,
okay ...in the mi...air like that. Okay? You can imagine it,
but it can't really do it, right? Okay. How 'bout (shen wangs),
how 'bout things that come...how 'bout this pen, thing that came
from it's own causes and conditions. Does it exist by
definition? In the Mind Only School?

(students: Yes)

Yeah. Why? Negatively stated? It is not just a? Imagined
thing, okay? It's not just something you made up with your mind,
okay? Positively stated? It is something that's coming from
it's own wa...side, through it's own unique way...it has it's way
of being, out there, on it's own, okay, it does have, okay.
That's what it means. Now how about emptiness itself. Is it
something you just make up with your mind? In this school?

(students: No)

No. Okay. Every object has it. Especially (shen wangs) have
it. Okay. Every object has it. It's something that also has
it's own unique way of being from it's own side...emptiness.
Okay. So it does exist by definition. So in this school, how
many of those three groups groups exist by definition?

(student: Two)

Number two and number three. Number one doesn't because it's
just something you make up in your mind, okay? Now contrast
that...what what'd they say in high school? Compare and
contrast, right? Compare and contrast. Compare and contrast
that to the...now go to the Middle Way School. Go back to those
other classes we had, okay. Does this pen exist by definition?

(students: No)

No. And I'll tell you why. If you strip away the idea of the
pen which is forced on you by your karma, can you find a pen?

(students: No)
No. When a dog comes in here, without their karma forcing them
to see it as a pen, do they see a pen?

(student: No)

They can not. Do not. They see a stick...something to chew on.
Okay. Strip away the name, meaning strip away the thought of it
in a certain way forced on you by your past karma, you can not
find the pen. That's proof that it does not exist by definition,
okay? Now you got two...you gotta be able to flirt between the
two schools. You gotta be able to flow between the two schools.
Okay. Ready? Here we go. (laughter) Mind Only School. Does
it exist by definition, this pen, Geraldo?

(students: Yes)

Yeah, why? 'Cause I'm not just making it up in my mind, and it
has it's own unique way of being from it's own side, okay.
Nigel. Middle Way School...Does it exist by definition?

(student, Nigel: No)

No, why?

(student, Nigel: nothing does)

Come on. Wimpy. (laughter) No because if I strip away my idea
of it as a pen which is forced on me by my past karma...if I
strip away...if I try to look at it as if I'm a dog or an eskimo
who never saw a pen before, I have no karma to see it as a pen,
strip away that, strip away the name and thought of it as a pen,
is there a pen there? Can you find a pen there? No. Okay.
That's proof in the Middle Way School that it does not exist by
definition. How many things in the Middle Way School exist by
definition?

(student: None)

Nada. Nothing. Okay. If you don't have the karma to see
something a certain way, if you don't have the projection or the
imputation caused by your own karma to see it a certain way, will
you ever see it that way? No. Will it ever exist that way? No.
 Okay. What's that got to do with my life? It's a projection to
see myself getting old. It's a projection to see myself dying.
You can change it. If it wasn't a projection you're stuck. You
might as well just go out and drink tonight. (laughter), you
know, because it is a projection, there's hope. Okay. It's it's
extremely important that it's a projection, okay. It's our
ticket out. Okay? So if it's a projection what'm I supposed to
do? Collect some good karma please (laughs) okay? All right?
That's all. (laughter) That's all. Okay. Su...Buchari. Does
it exist by definition in the Mind Only School.

(students: No)

Huh?

(student, Buchari: In the Mind Only? Yes)

Yes, why? Because it's not just a?

(students: (unclear)

It's not just something I'm making up in my mind. It exists from
it's own side through it's own unique way of being. Okay?
Seward. Middle Way School. Does it exist by definition?

(student, Seward: No)

No. Why? Because if I

(student, Seward: Because first you're project...you're
describing a quality)

Say it a negative way. If I strip away

(student, Seward: The i...concept of pen, it's not a pen)

Yeah, my projection caused by my karma of it as a pen, if I look
for the pen without the imputation pen, I'll never find a pen.
There's no such thing. That's evidence that it doesn't exist by
definition. You gotta get it straight. It's on your homework.
(laughter) One more time. (laughs) Okay? That's the only reason
you have to get it straight. (laughter) (Okay) (laughs). Mind
Only School. Does it exist by definition? Yes. Why? It's not
just a figment of my imagination. Like (kun taks) are, okay? It
exists from it's own side through it's own unique way of being,
okay. Middle Way School. Does it exist by definition? No.
Why? Because if I don't think of it as a pen, I can't find a
pen. Okay. What's making me think of it as a pen? My past
karma. Okay. It's forcing me to see it as a pen. If if I
didn't have that projection or imputation, there wouldn't I
couldn't never find a pen. If you go looking for a pen without
the karma to make you see it as a pen, you'll never find a pen.
That's all. Okay. Get used to it. You gotta be able to swing
between those two schools. Okay. And I accuse you in your real
life of thinking of all of these things in a Mind Only way. Oh,
it's exists out there on it's own. It's not just my karma making
this traffic jam (laughter), you know. It's gotta be all those
other stupid drivers. You know, okay. It's not my mind making
me see this. I don't have to be patient with them, you know.
Yeah?

(student: (unclear)

Yeah, yeah. She said "is...so, essentially it's the Middle Way
School saying everything is a karmic construct". You could say in
one way, yeah. Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

Excuse me?

(student: Even emptiness?)

Yeah. Even emptiness, yeah.

(student: I'm trying to understand a little bit better the
concept that something has unique existence from it's own side.)
Yeah.

(student: In (unclear) wasn't there the idea of a functionality
attached to that that gave it existence?)

Yeah, it's a good question. He said, "can you give us a little
bit more of information about what it means to exist through it's
own unique way of being from it's own side. When we asked the
Lama in the monastery to teach us that, he gave us what he called
a unique oral instruction. He said said there is a level of
instruction about what it means to exist through it's own unique
way of being from it's own side, and he described it primarily in
two senses, okay. And it's a very good question. One, if it
comes from it's own causes and conditions it's already coming
from it's own side through it's own unique way of being, okay?
That's the easy part. So what you say functionality's pretty
close to that, you know. Once it's got it's own causes and
conditions...once it's arising from it's own causes and
conditions it must have, according to the Mind Only School, some
way of being on it's own, out there, okay. And then secondly,
what they would call some kind of intrinsic identity. Those are
the two flavors of what it means to exist from it's own side
through it's own unique way of being. Those two flavors. What?
A) It's coming out the...it's it's out there because it's caused
by it's own things out there, okay. There are things out there
that are making the pen happen, and the pen is out there
happening out there on it's own. It must be independent of me
because there's...it's got it's own causes cooking it up, out
there. And then secondly, it's got a unique identity. It's got
some pen-ness to it. That's that's the flavor of what the Mind
Only School people think when they say that, okay? Now, is it
only changing things that we talk about that as being existent by
definition. No, emptiness also exists by definition. So you'd
have to apply only the iden...the unique identityness thing to
that, okay. Okay. We better move on or we won't finish. So we
kind of said that the Mind Only School has these three
categories, right? What are they? (Kuntaks) (shen wangs) (yong
drups) (Kun taks) meaning constructs of the mind. (Shen wangs)
meaning anything that causes dependent things. Things that come
from other things, okay. And then (yong drup) being emptiness,
okay. Now there's a homework question here. (laughter). Explain
for each of these three attributes why it is that it can be
described as the corresponding lack of a self nature. Don't
forget that (kun taks) or imaginary things were described by Lord
Buddha as not having any definitive nature, right? And then when
he got to dependent things he said, they don't have any nature
of? Growing. Okay. It's in your notes, don't worry. Then when
he got to the third thing he said, they don't have any nature of
being ultimate. Okay. So not having any nature of ultimacy is
hang with emptiness. Not having any nature of growing seems to
hang with dependent things. Not having any definitive nature
seems to hang with imaginary things. Now why is that?
Remem...why how does this all come, don't forget okay...but if
you think you're confused, you should've been in our class.
(laughter) Okay. Don't forget where we're coming from. Where
are we coming from? The Buddha in the second turning of the
wheel said what?

(students: (unclear))

Nothing has any nature of it's own. Nothing has any nature of
it's own. And then the Bodhisattva said, what're you talking
about, what did you mean? He says, Oh I didn't mean it
literally. I meant three different things. Things don't have
any definitive nature. Things don't have any nature of growing.
And things don't have any nature of being ultimate. And we call
those (kun taks, shen wangs, and yong drup). In my new school.
It's called Mind Only School. And that's the real one I believe.
(laughter) (laughs) Okay. All right? Okay. Don't forget where
we're coming from. Okay. So here's hear how it goes. Why is it
that constructs can be said not to have any definitive nature of
their own? Remember the word definitive. Why is it that
constructs don't have any definitive nature of their own? Well,
it's 'cause they don't exist by definition. What does that mean
in this school? They don't exist from their own side through
your own unique way of being. They are just made up with your
mind. Okay? Got it? Who? I'll say it again. Constructs don't
exist by definition in this school, in the Mind Only School,
because they aren.. they are just something made up in your mind.
 They don't come from their own unique way of being. You know,
what? A a a sky flower? A does a thirty foot two headed purple
elephant have some way of existing from it's own side. No.
They're not a common problem in this cafeteria, okay? They're
not. Okay. That's an indication that they don't exist from their
own side. They're just made up. We just made it up in my mind
and you made one up too...'cause you giggle, so you must have
been thinking of one, right. Does it have some unique way of
existing of it's own, from its' own side, especially its' own
causes and conditions. No. It's just a figment of the
imagination, okay. That's that's why when the Buddha said
nothing has any nature of existing definitively he was talking
about (kun taks), okay. Constructs. Mental constructs. Boy I
just lost like five students in the next class. Okay.
(laughter) (laughs) Why did the Buddha say about this pen that
it didn't have any nature of growing?

(student: independent)

Yeah, independently. Without any causes and conditions. It
doesn't have any nature like that. That's all I meant. I didn't
mean anything was a figment of your mind. I didn't mean anything
was a projection of your karma. I wouldn't say that. (laughter)
Would I say that? Okay? That's Lord Buddha. Right. Okay.
Third one. Why can we say that this thing doesn't have any
ultimate nature? Why does this pen not have any ultimate nature?
Nature of being ultimate?

(students: (unclear))

You can go at it from a couple of angles. First of all, it could
never be the object of the direct perception of?

(students: Emptiness)

Emptiness. So it can't be ultimate reality. Easy. Okay? It
can't be ultimate reality, okay? That's easy. All right. Does
it have self existence? Does it have self existence? By the way
I didn't say "definition", I said "self existence". In this
school, does it have "self existence"?
(student: (unclear))

I didn't say by definition. I said does it have self existence?

(students: no)

Does it happen by itself? No. Okay? It's empty. It has it's
own emptiness, all right? So still in this school they talk
about emptiness and still in this school they talk about not
being self-existent. Okay. Still in this school they say that.
Okay. Next. On the subject of (yong drups) which means what?

(students: totality)

Totality or emptiness.

(student: (unclear))

Say again?

(student: (unclear))

(laughs) He's gonna use some examples to give you an idea of what
totality means or emptiness. Okay. By the way, why is it called
totality? All it means is that, any time something comes into
being it is one hundred percent empty. We'll call it totality.
It has totality. It is one hundred percent empty. It's totally
empty. So a code word in the Mind Only School for emptiness is
totality. Okay. Now question for you. In the sutra where the
Buddha teaches all this stuff, the Bodhisattva says, "could you
give us some examples, I mean like it's like nine o'clock, I'm
kind of tired, I worked hard today, and I'm not sure I'm gonna
remember half of what you said tonight (laughter) and it's
getting a little confusing. Could you just give us a few simple
examples about, you know...could you give me an example for (kun
tak) and then give me an example for (shen wang) and then give me
an example for (yong drup), okay? Give me an example for
constructs. Give me an example for dependent things. And then
give me an example for totality or total emptiness. Can you
please give us an example." So Lord Buddha starts out with
number three, okay. He starts out with number three. Which is
emptiness. So here's your example. It's on your homework.
(laughter) Thomas Olson thinks he's gotta grade all these things
too. Heh heh. Okay. It might be easier just to make a stamp
with the right answer on it. (laughter) (laughs) Get some red
ink or something. This is your last thing. Say (yong drup)
(repeat) (namka) (repeat)(dang) (repeat) (dra) (repeat) (Yong
drup) (repeat) (namka) (repeat) (dang) (repeat) (dra) (repeat).
You'll be glad to know we can stay here until ten thirty, okay?
(laughter) We get to have snacks and we get to stay late. We
didn't ask them about dogs, but we can find out. (laughter)
Okay. (laughs) Okay. (Yong drup) you know is the...we
translate it as totality, but you know it means "emptiness" in
this school. (Yong Drup) means "emptiness" in the Mind Only
School. Emptiness is (nam ka). (Nam ka) means "empty space"
Okay? Empty space. Does it mean outer space? Black with white
dots in it? No. Okay. Does it mean the space between my right
hand and my left hand. No. Some scriptures say that it's wrong.
 (bu kam nam gen lo kan dak), something like that. That's a
lower school idea. Space means the place in which things stay.
Okay. Space is the absence of physical obstruction which allows
things to stand where they are, okay? You can...this this pen is
occupying space. Now it's not occupying that space any more.
Did the space change?

(students: No)

No, it's always there. Whether it's occupado or non occupado.
(laughter) It's (laughs) the same, okay. Empty space is an
example for an unchanging thing in Buddhism. It's one of the few
unchanging things around you, okay? Whether this planet is blown
up or not, the space which it occupys will remain, okay. Whether
the planet moves on in it's orbit or not, the place where it was
will always be there, occupied or not occupied. It's place.
Place itself, okay. (Nam ka) means "empty space" in that sense.
And it's it's often misexplained or unexplained (laughs)
okay...all right? Empty space. So what is Lord Buddha saying.
(Dang dra) means "you want an example for (yong drup)"? (Dang
dra) means "just like (nam ka). (Dang dra) means "just like (nam
ka)". You want an example for...what's (yong drup)? Emptiness.
It's just like empty space, okay? How do we define empty space?
The absence of physical obstruction. Okay. Is this spa space
being physically obstructed right now? No, or else the pen
couldn't stand there. The pen would have to just to the side.
It'd be pushed out to the side. There is empty space there.
Occupied or not occupied it's always there. It's allowing the
pen to be there, okay. It's the absence of physical constraints
in that place, okay? It never changes. It's occupied or non
occupied but it never becomes more or less empty space. Okay.
Got it. Emptiness is just like that, okay? And importantly,
emptiness is the absence of something, okay. It's like what?
It's like the the lack of a two headed thirty foot purple
elephant in this room. It's a perfect example. Why? It doesn't
exist, couldn't exist, never existed, won't exist, okay. Self
existent things are the same. The thing that causes all the
suffering in your life, the thing that's dying, the thing that's
making you die is an idea about...is a belief in something that
never existed anyway. It's so crazy. You see, it's not just
like something that does exist and you have to deny it. It's
something that never existed, never will exist, never could exist
and because you think it exists, you're dying. Okay. That's
emptiness. It's a ...space is a perfect example for it. Space
is the absence of something. So you want a good example for
(yong drup) says Lord Buddha? How about empty space, okay.
Simple absence of something. Okay. Yeah

(student: What is the definition of space...of of emptiness
according to the Mind Only School?)

Ah, she said something very sweet. "What's the definition of
emptiness according to the Mind Only School? Okay. What's
the...let's put it a different way. What is emptiness empty of
in the Mind Only School? You see. What is emptiness empty of in
the...what's the (gak cha)? What's the thing we deny when we
speak of emptiness. When you say there's no (gak cha) in this
room, and that's what the emptiness of this room is, you're
saying "there's no self-existent thing in this room" but what
does it mean in the in the Mind Only School to be self-existent?
Well let me first check in with you students who've been through
fourteen courses (laughter), what's the (gak ja) according to the
Middle Way School?

(student: Self existence)

Self existence. Wimpy. Come on. Describe it. What would a
self-existent pen look like? If it existed, which it doesn't.

(student: It would be independent of your projections)

It would be independent of your projections. It would be a pen
whether or not you were thinking about it as a pen, it would be a
pen whether or not your karma was forcing you to see a pen, it
would be a pen to a dog and a virus and a roach and everything
else. Okay. Because it would be a pen independent of your
karmic projections. Okay. It would exist out there on it's own.
 That's the (gak ja) according to the Middle Way School. Mind
Only School?

(student: It would be independent of your (shen wangs))

It's more difficult. We won't do it tonight, okay (laughs)
(laughter) It's too much to do at nine thirty at night. Okay.
Very briefly, and I'm...this is not on your homework and this is
not part of the lesson for tonight, okay. Very briefly, just to
give you a (bak chak), a taste for the future (laughter) okay, it
is the fact that it is not the case that this pen and your eye
perceiving this pen have come from different karmas. You and the
reality around you have come from one karma that you...or a
single karmic event in the past. That thing doesn't exist
independently of of your mind perceiving it because they have
both been produced by the same karma. One karma has produced
Nigel's eyeball and one karma...that same karma, has produced
this pen. You are looking at your toes. Okay. You're actually
looking at part of you, okay? That's a difficult question, you
know, we'll get into it. If any pen ever existed otherwise, that
would be a self existent thing. And that doesn't exist in this
school. Now that..you gotta...very delicate...we'll get to it
later, okay? We'll get to it later. So it's still true in the
Mind Only School that emptiness is the absence of a non-existent
self-existent thing, got it? It's still true. It's just that a
self existent thing is described a little differently, okay. But
it's still true that emptiness is the general absence of a self
existent thing that never did exist, never could exist, and never
will exist and doesn't exist now. Okay. That's still true. Now.
Je Tsongkapa says, therefore...at this point in the text he says,
 "therefore anybody in Tibet who came up and said, 'I believe
this sutra is being literal, I believe this sutra has to be taken
on face value'". Okay. When when Lord Buddha said what? When
Lord Buddha said that emptiness is like empty space. A good
example or a good illustration of emptiness would be empty space.
 Why? Because it's the simple absence of something. It's the
simple absence of something, okay. Now suppose somebody in Tibet
came up and said, "Lord Buddha was being literal when he said
that". Was he being literal, by the way, in the Mind Only
School?

(students: yes)

Yes. Emptiness is the absence of a non-existent self existent
thing. Is that also true for the Middle Way School?

(students: Yes)

Yes. It doesn't matter what school you're in. Both Middle Way
School and Mind Only School say that emptiness is the general
absence of a self-existent thing that never could exist and never
will exist. Now what's a "self existent thing" mean? Is
different between the two schools. But both schools agree that
Lord Buddha was being literal when he said, it's just like empty
space. It's just the absence of something that's not there. And
that's what emptiness is. Everybody agrees that Lord Buddha was
being literal. Now could you, could you then say in the same
breath if you're not crazy, that emptiness is this positive, self-
standing object? Could you say that? Could you on one hand say
that Lord Buddha was being literal when he said "emptiness is the
simple lack or absence of something" and then on the other hand
say "yeah, emptiness is this little ball thing, positive thing,
stands out there on it's own"?
(students: No)

No. You'd have to be crazy to say that. Yous...contradiction,
okay. And Je Tsongkapa says that in the text at this point. He
says, you know, you'd have to be crazy to think Lord Buddha was
being literal when he said it was like empty space and then at
the same time say emptiness is like this white ball, you know,
and it's this thing, you know, it's this sphere, you know, this
positive, self-standing, white spherical light thing, you know, I
saw it the other day, it was like green, you know, a little bit
yellow, or something like that, there were people in Tibet who
said that. That school is called Jonangba. Okay. You should
write it down. It's called Jonangba. Okay. Jonangba. I'll
spell it, roughly. It's interesting because this school is
having a little comeback nowdays, you know, some people say, oh
yeah, that's right. Emptiness is this positive thing. Emptiness
is a positive, self standing thing. And and and some...not the
Jonangba but some other people say, oh yeah, and it's kind of
white light or something like that. There is a description of
emptiness as "clear light" which has nothing to do with light.
It's the absence of a self-existent thing. But then some schools
get confused and start saying, "oh you know, you close your eyes
real hard, maybe you squeeze on the eyeball, you see this white
thing", you know, and that's emptiness. Or some kind of, oh
yeah, I was in this deep thing and I saw this white light, you
know. Forget it. Emptiness is an absence of something. Okay.

(student: These are Tibetan schools, right?)

These aren...several Tibetan schools did say it. Je Tsongkapa at
this exact point in the text is criticizing them, and then you
still hear it nowadays, you know. It's totally wrong. Buddha
said over and over again, in all the schools, "emptiness is the
simple absence of something that couldn't exist anyway". And
it's not some kind of white light, and you know, you go find a
nice girl and you, you know, get deep into this thing and see
this white light, you know. No, okay, it's not that. Totally
wrong. Totally mistaken. Deadly mistaken. Why? If you do not
figure out under...emptiness in this lifetime you will die.
Definite. Guaranteed. Okay. Give somebody some weird
explanation of emptiness you're signing their death warrant.
Okay. Literally. Okay. If you don't perceive emptiness in this
lifetime you have no chance of tantric enlightenment or any other
kind of enlightenment. Period. You will die. People who are
teaching that are killing people. It's it's bad, it's very
wrong, and and Je Tsongkapa is attacking it here. He says, "who
could believe that. Who would ever say that". You can read it
in the reading, okay? Here's your other example, and then you
can go home. Sure. (laughter). Say (kuntak) (repeat) (namkay)
(repeat) (metok) (repeat) (dang) (repeat) (dra) (repeat.
(Kuntak) (repeat) (namkay) (repeat) (metok) (repeat) (dang)
(repeat) (dra) (repeat). By the way, don't...I I again ask,
don't get nervous, you know, this is very heavy stuff. This is
the last course of the ACI series, seven years, and it's the
hardest one. But if you hang in there you'll be all right.
Okay. Tonight you got the most information that you'll ever get.
 From then on it's easier. Then when I say (kun tak) you know
what I'm talking about, (shen wang) you know what I'm talking
about, but the first time you hear it takes it takes a while to
get used to it, so don't get nervous, and and don't disappear
next class, okay?
(laughter) We paid a lot of money for the space and everything,
okay. (Kun tak) means, you know, "construct". Okay. Construct.
 By the way, the Bodhisattva's asked Lord Buddha, "could you
simplify things? Could you give us some example of each one?
Could you give us a metaphor or an illustration?" So he says,
"okay. I'll give you an example for (kun tak) which is means
"constructs", right...do constructs refer to existing things or
not?

(students: Which school?)

Huh? Which school? Ah. I like that. Mind Only School. Some of
them do and some of them don't. But you can imagine a flower
growing in the middle of the air. That's a (kun tak) but it
doesn't have any real existence, okay. And you can also think of
the person next to you as being Joe of Sally or something like
that, you are using a construct when you think of them that way,
and that does that does correspond to the person. There is a
person named Robin and I'm thinking of a person...I'm thinking of
you as Robin. There's nothing about you that suggests Robin
independently, but I can think of you as Robin and and that's
okay. Sh...there is a a woman named Robin, okay. So
the...constructs can either refer to things which really do
exist...these are things you make up in your mind, right? Or
they can refer to things that it don...really have any existence,
 okay? So (namka metok...namka) means "space". You just had it
meaning empty space. Here it means "mid-air". Okay. In this
example, (Nam ka) means "in mid-air". (Metok) means "flower".
Flower. A flower. Okay. (Dang dra) means "similar to or just
like". You want an example for (kun taks)? I'll give you an
example for (kun taks). A flower that grows in mid-air. Okay.
One, one more point and then it might answer your question. A
flower that grows in mid-air has two different characteristics.
We're only talking about one of them and we're not talking about
the other one. What's the first characteristic of a flower that
could grow in mid-air? It is an imaginary thing. That's what
we're talking about here. Lord Buddha says "you want an example
for a (kun tak)? Think of a thirty foot two headed purple
elephant. That's a (kun tak)". You see what I mean? He's using
flower that grows in mid-air as an example of something that you
can imagine, something imaginary. Now often times in Buddhist
scripture, (namka metok) or flower that grows in mid-air is used
as an example for something that could not exist. And that's not
the meaning here. It is not the meaning here. The point here is
that (kun taks) are imaginary things. Okay. Got it? So we're
not talking about something that doesn't exist. That's not the
main point here. We're talking about something which exists only
as an imaginary object. And that's what (kun taks) are. That's
the example Lord Buddha gives you. If you don't remember what
(kun taks) are in the future, try to remember this flower growing
in mid-air as being an imagined thing. Or you can imagine
anything else. A a positive balance on my credit card (laughter)
you know, like totally imaginary thing (laughter) okay? No
seriously. It's a...same thing. Just totally impossible thing
that you just imagined. Okay. Like that. All right. We still
have one of the three to go. Which one was it?

(students: Shen wangs)
We don't have an example for (shen wangs). We don't have yet an
example for dependent things. Here we go. Changing things.
Things that are caused. This is the last sentence tonight
(laughter). And I'm being literal.

(student: In which school?)

(laughs) (laughter) Say (shenwang) (repeat) (gyuma) (repeat)
(dang) (repeat) (dra) (repeat). (Shenwang) (repeat) (gyuma)
(repeat) (dang) (repeat) (dra) (repeat). Okay. (Shenwang) means
(shenwang), okay? Those things which are the mercy of other
things, a code word for? Caused things. A code word for things
with causes. Ninty-nine point nine nine nine percent of the
things around you, okay. Changing things. Caused things.
Impermanent things. Okay. All all synonyms for (shen wangs),
dependent things. I'm gonna be calling them "dependent things".
They're at the mercy of other things, meaning their causes.
Specifically your own suffering is produced and maintained quite
sweetly by your ignorance until it kills you. Okay. (Gyuma)
means "illusion". Or like a magic show. In modern terms you can
say a movie. Okay. Looks like it's real but it's not, right? A
good movie. Especially when you're really into it, you know. It
looks like they really are blowing up New York City with an
asteroid or something. You know what I mean. I mean you're
like...ducking, you know. That's an illusion, okay. Probably if
the Buddha was alive nowadays he'd be talking about movies a lot.
 I think, okay. (Gyuma dang dra...dang dra) means "is similar
to". You want an example for dependent things? They are like an
illusion. They are faking you out. They are tricking you. In
what sense? What school we in?

(students: Mind Only)

Mind Only School. They are tricking you in one sense. Remember
that thing? Let me ask you something. If you never heard of the
Mind Only School would you say that your eyeball and that pen are
intimately connected?

(students: no)
They were born from the same mother. They are both being
produced by the same energy. Your...you standing here and that
pen being over here so that you can look at it, your eye and your
consciousness of your eye and this pen, over here, are they
intimately, totally so connected that you can call them one
substance almost?

(student: In the Middle Way, no.)

No, especially in the Mind Only School. You see what I mean. In
the Mind Only School, the fact that my eyeball is here to see
this thing, and the fact that there's a pen there to see are
being created by the same thing. What? My past karma, okay?
I'm not just talking about a projection or something like that.
Mind Only School is saying something very radical, and get used
to it. Mind Only School. Big tenet. Big idea in the Mind Only
School. That pen over there and my eye are being created and
sustained by the same energy. Something I did in the past.
Okay. My eyeball and that pen are being created by the same
power. One karmic seed. One and the same karmic seed. Is that
obvious to you? Did you go around saying "I created all this
pens around me", you know. Hey, you know what, the karma that's
making my eyeball be here is also making that pen be here. Do
you go around saying that? Was it obvious to you before you got
here tonight?

(student: No)

No. But it's true. And you've been faked out all this time.
Therefore, dependent things are just like an illusion.

(student: They appear to exist by theirself)

It appears that the pen's over there are caused by a plastic pen
factory and it appears that this eyeballs over here caused by my
mommy and daddy, and whatever hamburgers I've been getting, okay?
Right. But it does not appear that that thing over there and
this thing over here are being created and sustained by the same
karma, by one karmic energy. Okay. By something I did in the
past. Something I did in the past is creating New York City, and
me to experience it. That's a lot of stuff for one karma, you
see what I mean (laughter), okay, you know, does it seem to be
true. No. In this school is it true? Yes. Therefore there's
an illusion, okay? You never would have guessed it if Lord
Buddha hadn't told you. Okay. It's an illusion to think
anything else. (Shen wangs), changing things are lying to you
all the time. They say, I'm a pen out here and I was not created
by the same karma that created you. Okay, but the truth is that
it was. And that's the meaning of illusion, okay, in this
school. In this school.

(student: (unclear) different meaning)

Uh.h.h. That's the meaning of of what it means when Lord Buddha
compared changing things to an illusion. Okay. What he meant
was, it doesn't look like they're coming from the same karma as
you are, but they is. Okay. All right.

(student: What about Middle Way?)

He said "what about Middle Way School". About what?

(student: Illusion)

When they say illusion, they mean something totally different.
They mean something totally different, okay. The most important
illusion in the Middle Way School is right after you see
emptiness directly, and you come out of it, you start seeing
things as self-existent again, and you know you're doing it and
you know you're wrong. And then there's this discrepancy between
what you see and what you know is true. And for years after that
you still see things that way, wrong, but you know you're wrong,
so it's pretty weird. It's like a kind of schizophrenia. It's a
kind of illusion after that. That's what the main meaning of
illusion in the Middle Way School. Okay. Yeah?

(student: If they say the pen and yourself comes from the same
karma)

Le..let's let's say not "self" but let's say your consciousness
of the pen.

(student: Your consciousness of the pen. It comes from the same
substance then. How can they attribute an intrinsic nature to
the pen? You know, we were talking about the (unclear))

Yeah, yeah.

(student: we were talking about how it had a)

They'd say it has an intrinsic nature which is created by your
karma (laughs) okay?

(student: Even if it's the same substance, it could have a
separate and unique nature)

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And by the way, it's not the meaning of Mind
Only that everything is mind. Okay. That's not what Mind Only
means. We'll get into the meaning of Mind Only later, but it's
not what you think. And it's not what it seems to be, okay.
It's not at all. And basically it just means that your mind and
everything that it sees are being created by the same karmic
seed. So in that sense, they are of one substance. But not to
imply that they are the same material. Okay

(student: So that could mean that in Mind Only there is just one
karmic seed.)

Well, when I saw one karmic seed...it can be the same group of
karmic seeds, you see. It could be a billion karmic seeds, but
what it means is...when I say one karmic seed I mean one karmic
energy whether it's composed of billions of seeds, separate seeds
or not.

(student: Because everything which is experienced)

Yeah, no, no. They don't believe that you just did one thing in
the past and you have to experience New York for forty years.

(laughter) (laughs) It's not, it's not like that. No it's like,
when I mean one karmic seed I mean one and the same at any
particular millisecond, okay. They can keep changing.

(student: But this is pretty close to (unclear)

Yeah. Yeah. Something like...yeah.

(student: Although I understand naming something (unclear) but
but I have (unclear) the difference between the Tashiness and
the penness because isn't the penness just construct?)

Yeah. Pen is a construct, in the same way as Tashi. It was a
blue and white, you know, stick, and then and then based on your
past experiences you start thinking of it as Tashi...sorry, pen.
(laughter)

(student: (unclear) the thing which is changing is not the pen
it's just the blue and white blah blah blah)

Yeah, don't think of "the" pen, the construct you should call
"pen", and get used to that. Car. Pen.

(student: But then it's a person, Tashi's a person, but person
still is a construct)

Yeah. Yeah. The idea con...the idea of Tashi. Technically it's
the fact that Tashi is named Tashi. How is that?

(students: (unclear)

Technically it's the fact that the pen is call the pen.

(student: I have a problem with the other (unclear))

Oh, the (shen wang)?

(student: Yeah, why isn't that a construct?)

Ummmm, because it's not just made up of your own mind and it
comes from it's own side through it's own unique way of being,
and has its own causes and conditions and whether or not you
called it pen it would be a pen from it's own side. In the Mind
Only School. Yeah. Okay. Last question.

(student: Can there can there be a mental construct without a
name? Is there such a thing?)

She said, "could there be a mental construct without a name". I
think, technically, yes, if it were a thought, you see. They
call (ming de shak). (Mind de) means "verbalization and/or
thinking of something in a certain way. How's that. Okay.

(student: You could have an image, something that's historically
an image but not necessarily has a word name.

Yeah. There's a thing called a (dra chi) and a (dun chi). (Dra
chi) means the verbalization image, you know, you hear the word
Robin and then (dun chi) is to to actually conceptualize a person
as a certain shape and color and like that, so there...yeah,
nominalization occurs both in a verbal sense and in a mental or
imaged sense. And they're both apply here. But I believe you
could have one without the other. They call (da jang de kye bu)
if you want to know technically, you know. A person who knows
the name of the thing. And you can be it...the person who's not
a (da jang de kyebu) and still conceptualize a thing because
you're making a mental conceptualization of it
without...independent of a verbal conceptualization, okay? I
think they would say that in this school. Okay. Hang in there,
okay. This is tough and it's the key to understand the Middle
Way nicely. You're already know Middle Way better because you're
starting to learn Mind Only, right? And the idea is to get a
little bit confused so that in the end you can distinguish more
carefully between what the Middle Way thinks and what the Mind
Only thinks and then get your own idea of emptiness much much
clearer. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, on Sunday, you
have to study study study. (laughter) And he said, forget that
(jo gong), forget that one single pointed shamata meditation, you
have to do analytical meditation fifteen min...he did say
fifteen minutes (laughter) on on emptiness and on what you think
emptiness means, and you must rip it apart and think of it over
and over and over and over again...he said it for fifteen minutes
he went on about how you have to study at the beginning, and then
later you can take that study and go to the bank with it. And
perceive emptiness directly in a state of deep meditation, but
you must have the study first. You are getting a very very sweet
distinction between the slightly wrong ideas about what emptiness
means and the real ideas about what emptiness and by the time you
get done with this, your idea of what it means to be a projection
will be totally clear. Because you understood what's not quite
that, okay? And that's the whole idea of doing this study. Next
week we'll do the four other...remember when he said "things
don't exi...have any nature of their own, they don't start, they
don't stop, they are at peace, they are nirvana"? So we're gonna
get to the other four. We've finished the first one, Okay. All
right? We'll do some prayers. Okay.

(student: Next week?)

It's the next class which is Thursday. Thursday. Sorry.

(prayer: short mandala)

(prayer: dedication)
Course 15
What the Buddha Really Meant