ACI 15 «Что на самом деле имел в виду Будда», занятие 5

Class 5, part 1
Transcribed by: Karen Becker

Okay. Where are we in the class (laughs) (laughter) Many people
have asked me that (laughter), no. You know, basically we had a
Bodhisattva come up to the Buddha and said, "during the first
turning of the wheel you said 'nothing exists by
definition'"...I'm sorry..."'everything exists by definition and
then during the second turning of the wheel you said nothing
exists by definition. So what did you mean when you said nothing
exists by definition", okay? And that's that's how it got
started, all right? And then the Buddha went through and said,
"well, in the second turning of the wheel when I said nothing
exists by definition, or nothing has any nature of its' own, I
was actually referring to three different ways in which things
don't have a nature, and some of them exist by definition and
some don don't exist by definition, and of course, I wouldn't say
anything so radical as to say nothing had any nature of it's own
side from it's own side, I would never say that, okay? That's a
the third turning of the wheel, all right, And then this
Bodhisattva's question to Lord Buddha is is it begins the third
turning of the wheel. And then he answers the bodhisattva and he
and he gives all these clarifications...supposed clarifications.
All right. Okay. Because he...because the student has asked the
question, the student is not ready to believe that the second
turning of the wheel is literal. Okay. So Buddha has to back-
track and redesign things for this particular student and people
like him who later will be called Mind Only School people or
people in 1998 who think like Mind Only School people. So, he
has to kind of soften the blow, and you see His Holiness the
Dalai Lama use this method all the time...and all great teachers
use this method all the time. If you, you know, see Khen
Rinpoche teaching a class in New Jersey and then you see him
teaching, you know, a hundred monks in in India, it's quite
different. You know. And it's like that all over the world,
okay? So, we've had this exchange. We've had the question asked
of Lord Buddha and then we've had the Bodhisat...then the
Bodhisattva gets his answer from Lord Buddha, and we call this
"the exchange". Okay. This is the exchange. Now we've reached
the part...a very famous part in the study of this text, in the
study of the Mind Only School called "the outcome of the
exchange", okay. And in the monastery when they explain this
word, "outcome" it means like...they say it's like doing a
business deal. One guy puts up an offer, the other guy puts up
an offer, they negotiate for a while, one guy changes his offer,
the other guy changes his thing, and then after all is said and
done, what's the result of the transaction, you know, who makes
money, who doesn't make money, what kind of thing comes out of
this business deal, okay? And when they explain, explain it in
the monastery, they use that wording. So we're gonna discuss
tonight what we call "the outcome of the exchange". Or the
profit of the business deal. Or, you know, what they got out of
that exchange between whom? Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattva.
Okay. The Bodhisattva is gonna say "Ah ha! (laughter) I learned
something, Lord Buddha", you know, and that's called (drup dun).
Say (drup dun) (repeat) (drup dun) (repeat), okay. I think I
actually have (unclear), let me see, say (drup dun) (repeat).
(Drup) means...(druppa) means "to accomplish" (dun) means" the
meaning". (Drup dun) means "the outcome of the exchange" or "the
meaning that results from the exchange", okay. And it's very
famous in the study of (drang nge), of when the Buddha was
speaking literally and when this Buddha, Buddha was speaking
figuratively, okay. And the Bodhi...this is the important part,
okay, of the whole class is the next minute, okay. The
Bodhisattva says "I get it". You know, and Lord Buddha says
"what?" And he says, "now I get it". He says "the first time
you turned the wheel of the dharma, you didn't mean us to take
you literally, you didn't mean what you were saying. And then
the second time you turned the wheel of dharma, again you didn't
mean what you were saying, and then now in the third turning of
the wheel, now you're telling us the real truth, you know. Now
you're giving us to us straight". Okay? That's called (drup
dun). That's all, okay. So if your homework question said,
"what does (drup dun) mean?" (laughter) "Outcome of the
exchange". What's the outcome of the exchange? The Bodhisattva
gets it. Get's what? When in the first turning of the wheel
Lord Buddha said that everything in the universe exists by
definition...what's that mean in this school, by the way? You
better know. Exists from it's own side through it's own unique
way of being. Okay. And you believe that, okay. You believe
that. You really do believe that, and that's why...by the way,
you can not have a negative emotion if you don't believe that,
how's that? Okay. You can't have a mental affliction unless
somewhere in your mind you're believing that. Because to be
angry at some one or to desire something, you can not be
cognizant of at that moment that it's a production of your karma
and your projection. You cannot be thinking that and have a
mental affliction at the same time. That's the whole reason to
study emptiness. 'Cause you're hoping to accomplish the reverse.
 You're hoping that your perfection of wisdom gets so musclebound
in your brain that it beats up your your mental afflictions,
okay? You cannot entertain a mental affliction in your mind and
be aware at the same moment that this thing is a projection which
is forced on me by my past good karma or bad karma. You can not
be angry at someone and simultaneously understand that you've
created them, okay? You cannot have desire for something you
cannot get and simultaneous be aware that you can never get it if
you don't have the karma to get it. To project it. You see what
I mean? You can't have understanding and mental affliction in
your mind at the same time. That's the whole reason to study
Buddhism. That's the whole reason to study emptiness, okay? You
can't have a negative thought if you understand the emptiness of
the object you're having the mental affliction about. It's very
cool. They can't stay in the same brain at the same time.
They're called (nym bo) and (pang cha) and that's their nature,
okay. So the Bodhisattva gets it, you know, he says, "okay, I
get it. When you when you taught the first turning of the wheel
of Dharma and and you said that everything existed from it's own
side, now you know what it means, right?, and you hold that...you
believe that, every ti...what's I'm trying to say is, there's a
thermometer...or barometer, so that you, how you know when you're
being ignorant is what? A mental affliction. Okay. The minute
you're angry, jealous, desire, anything else, you can you must
have just had a case of ignorance. (laughter) okay? Must.
Okay. It's very interesting. It's very very interesting. You
can not have a negative emotion unless ignorance has just been
parked there. Okay. It's very interesting. You must be
believing that that boss that you don't like or that girl that
you did like, come from their own side, and and then your
emotions that accompany that, okay. You you have to be thinking
that. You can't understand he's yelling at me because my mind is
projecting it because I was angry at someone before. You can't
be thinking that and be angry at the same time. It's impossible.
 Okay. You can't have knowledge and ignorance and mental
afflictions in your mind at the same time. Impossible. That's
the whole reason to study knowledge so you can stop your mental
afflictions and be happy. Okay (laughs) all right. So so
that's...that's what it would be like if the pen came from its
own side. It would be coming from it's own side, out there,
through a nature of its own, and if a dog walked in? He'd see a
pen. If a bug walked in? It would be comfortable to hold in his
fingers, okay. If a two people sitting here looked at the pen,
they would both like it exactly the same. Because it comes from
its own side, and it's has its own nature of being good or bad
and of being a pen, okay. So that's what Lord Buddha said during
the first turning of the wheel. It does come it's from it's own
side, it does have its own wa...unique way of being, it does have
it's own identity from it's own side, okay. And obviously he
was? Being figurative. He's trying to make it easy for people
who would freak out if he said, "hey guess what, you're not
sitting there...it's just your projection, okay? So it's too
much for them, okay. Then in the second turning of the wheel, he
like...according to the Mind Only School, he's just trying to
shock people, you know, nothing exists, okay ( mik me na me, chi
me (unclear)), you know, (b: Heart Sutra), nothing, nothing, your
ears, your eyes, your nose, your tongue, your nose, you know,
Nigel's ears don't exist, you know, and he's like and he's being
like, too much, you know, so the Mind Only School says he was
exaggerating, okay. This thing, nothing comes from its own side,
not even things which anyone in this room can see works, you
know, not even those things...not even the sun that comes up
every morning comes from it's own side...come on, Lord Buddha,
you're being too radical. Okay? That can't be the,
a mental projection of six billion people at the same time.
Right? Okay. It is by the way (laughter) (laughs) all right.
Somebody had a question? Yeah? Loud.

(student: Other than the dog (unclear) pen)
In the Mind Only School he has to because it's a pen from its own
side. It is broadcasting pen. It's not that you're
superimposing penness on it. It is broadcasting pen to anyone
who looks at it. That's what it means to exist by definition in
this school. You gotta get used to that. Your boss is a bad
person no matter who meets him. Now, I know some people like
him, they haven't understood him yet (laughter) okay? Really.
And your mind thinks that and your mind is Mind Only any time you
have a mental affliction. How many times today did you get
irritated, upset, fearful, anxiety, desire, you know, wanting
something, every single time you did that you were stuck in Mind
Only. School. That's why we study Mind Only School so you can
get out of it. Yeah?

(student: Could a dog have different (kun taks) about the pen
then we would have about the pen?)

Yeah, I mean in fact the dog does have a...obviously has a
different construct about the pen. Obviously a dog doesn't think
of it as a pen. But this school you'd have to say they do.
You'd have to say they're looking at a pen and thinking of it as
something to chew on. You see? Okay. Big difference. You
know it's a pen, but these poor animals, you know, they're not as
evolved as we are (laughs) okay, all right? But when a deity
tantric deity looks at this thing they see golden light and
flashing pure bliss when they look at this cylinder. Who...so
who's right, you know? Yeah?

(student: (unclear))

He says "in this school you can't be saying that a fly perceives
a pen". You go turn on, you know, Discovery Channel about how
flies perceive things and the scientists on the Discovery Channel
say, "the the fly lands on the pen". (laughter) You know. He's
already...you see, "and the poor fly can't perceive the pen the
way you and I do as a writing instrument", you know, like he's
already declaring that it's self existingly a writing instrument
from its own side and not a landing field (laughter) (laughs),
you see what I mean? (laughs). You know what I mean? And why
is it more one than the other, you see what I mean, and he's
already calling it a pen. Should have called it a cylinder,
right? But even that's touchy, okay? All right, so that's (drup
dun), okay. The Bodhisattva says, "I get it. You were being
lit...figurative the first turning of the wheel, you were being
figurative the second turning of the wheel...what did he say
first turning of the wheel? Everything exists by definition.
From its own side. This is a pen from its own side. What'd he
saying in the second turning of the wheel? Nothing does. Come
on that's too radical. What did he say in the third turning of
the wheel? Let's do a, you know, De Matto compromise here, you
know (laughs) sometimes it is and sometimes it's not (laughs),
okay, you know, like Sikes, you know, there's three, three
different natures and sometimes they do exist by definition and
sometimes one of them does exist by definition...sorry, two of
them exist by definition and one of them doesn't. And that's
what I really meant, okay? It's like a politician All right.
Next part. So if the question said, according to the Mind Only
School, which of these three turnings of the wheel, also called
"groups of sutra", okay, so those are code words for the same
thing. "Turning of the wheel" or a "groups of sutras".
Okay...were spoken literally and which are figurative or
something that we must interpret further? So now you
know...because you've studied (drup dun), okay, you've studied
the outcome of the exchange...there was an exchange between Lord
Buddha and the Bodhisattva and now we all know that in the Mind
Only School, the first two turnings of the wheel were spoken?

(students: Figuratively)

Figuratively, and the third one was spoken literally. Okay. The
next part of that question says, "according to the Middle Way
School which are to be taken on face value and which are not?"

(students; (unclear))

Yeah, second one is face value, first and third ones are
something you have to interpret. Did the Buddha mean it when he
backtracked in the third turning of the wheel according to the
Middle Way School?
(students: No)

No. He was just trying to take it easy on those students who
couldn't handle the real thing, okay? Did he mean it in the
first turning of the wheel when he said "everything exists
truly". Everything exists from its own side. No, not
even...neither according to the Mind Only School nor according to
the Middle Way School was that first turning of the wheel
something that we have to take on face value, okay? Now the big
difference comes in the second turning of the wheel. When Lord
Buddha made this radical statement: Nothing exists by
definition, okay. The Middle Way School says....take it on face
value, okay? The Mind Only School says, he was just being too
radical, okay, all right? You gotta get used to that. Now I
wanna tell you one more thing about that question 'cause it's a
trick question, 'cause the last question says "why so in each
case", okay. Now I have to tell you a new piece of information,
all right? The words "figurative" and "literal" in the Middle
Way School have a different meaning than in the Mind Only School
(laughter) okay. If if you're a Middle Way person you say, this
turning of the wheel was "figurative", you don't mean it's to be
taken on face val...it's not to be taken on face value, and when
you say, this teaching is literal, in the Mind...in the Middle
Way School it doesn't mean you do take it on face value. Okay.

(student: (unclear))

All right. Sorry. (laughter) In the Middle Way School, when you
say one of...this particular turning of the wheel, say, the
second turning of the wheel was literal, you don't mean it's to
be taken on face value. It has a totally different meaning. For
them, the very word "literal" and the very word "figurative" have
a different connotation. Totally different meaning, okay? And
you have to know that. And to them, to be literal and to be
something you can take on face value, do not mean the same thing.
 Okay. Now wha...what does it mean in the Middle Way School when
you say, "this is a tea a teaching that the Buddha meant
literally and this is a teaching that the Buddha meant
figuratively"? There's only one criterion. Don't forget it.
Does that teaching primarily address emptiness?
Direct...clearly, okay, let's say clearly. If a teaching clearly
teaches emptiness, then in the highest school of all Buddhism
that's what the Buddha really wanted to talk about. Then we call
it?

(students: Literal)

Literal, okay? (nye dun, nye dun), okay. Then we say this is a
literal teaching. This is a case in which the Buddha was talking
about what he really wanted to talk about. Okay. Very radical.
Very interesting, okay? Meaning, if you see emptiness directly
in this life, you is out of here, (gyun shupa), stream enterer,
you are on the conveyer belt, you must get out in a certain
number of lifetimes. Normally seven, okay. You're on your way
out. Most important, most crucial, by far the most important
thing to do in this lifetime, you must see emptiness directly.
Anytime the Buddha taught emptiness clearly in a teaching, he was
talking about what he really wanted to talk about. And any time
he didn't, he was being?

(students: Figurative)

Figurative. Because he's trying to get you up to that, okay.
Yeah...let me teach you how to put your robes on, you know...let
me teach you Vinaya...let me teach you about the hell
realms...let me teach you about bodhicitta...they all aimed at
getting to see emptiness directly, so are they literal?

(students: No)

No, not in the Middle Way School. Are they figurative, yes, why?
Because they don't clearly address the question of?

(student: emptiness)

Emptiness. Okay. So, so that's tricky, all right. Now "face
value'"s a different thing, okay? (laughter) Face value means
"can you take it as the wording says"...in the Middle Way School,
okay...got it? So I'll backtrack a little bit. Mind Only
School, to be literal and to be something you can take on fact
value is the same thing or not?

(students: Yes)

Yes. In the in the Mind Only School. In the Mind Only School,
is figurative and something you must interpret further or
something you cannot take on face value, are those the same
thing.

(student: (unclear) literally)

In the Mind Only School?

(students: Yes)

Does it mean the same thing to say, "this teaching of the Buddha
was figurative, meaning you must interpret it further, you cannot
take it on face value? Yes, that's what they mean. Okay. Now,
move to Middle Way School, okay, move up. It does it mean the
same thing to be literal and to be something you can take on face
value? No. Because literal in the Middle Way School is a code
word for any teaching in which the Buddha talked about what he
really wanted to talk about, which was what?

(students: Emptiness)

Emptiness. So you gotta get used to that. So if somebody asked
you, from the Mind Only point of view, is the third turning of
the wheel literal, in which Buddha backtracked and said, "yeah
yeah yeah, half the stuff I said was true and half the stuff I
said wasn't"

(student: In Mind Only, yes)

In Mind Only School?

(students: Yes)

Totally literal. Okay. Are you to take it on face value?
(students: Yes)

Yeah, okay. Now go to the Middle Way School. Ready? (laughter)
 This is very good for understanding emptiness, okay. Is the
third turning of the wheel literal?

(students: No)

No. Why not?

(students: It's not about emptiness)

It doesn't clearly do it...talk about all things being empty, or
something like that, okay? Doesn't clearly talk about that...or
does it?

(student: (unclear) (laughter))

We'll have to talk about it. Okay. We'll have to talk about it
(laughs). You gotta be careful on that, okay? Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

I'm sorry?

(student: Are there parts of the third turning of the wheel that
talk clearly about emptiness?)

Maybe all the parts of the third turning of the wheel talk
clearly about emptiness. He either says, I didn't mean that to
be empty and I did mean that to be empty...we gotta talk about
it. I gotta look it up actually. Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

How do you tell what?

(student: If you're actually are perceiving emptiness)

Many people ask me this question, you know, you know, given that
so many great, brilliant, pandits, wisemen, thinkers of ancient
India have these questions and, you know, they can't decide among
three of them what emtpiness really means, how can...what chance
do we have, normal Americans, and how do you know if you're
seeing it or not, you know, given that the, you know, somebody
like Vabaviveka can un misunderstand emptiness, so what chance do
we have. There's a quality of the direct perception of emptiness
that you know when you're seeing it, okay? So, there's no
question, okay. Ac...when you come out of that expe...you can't
think about it when you're in it, okay, but directly after it you
have a direct valid perception...we call pramana, that you just
saw emptiness directly, and you are never wrong. And you always
have that perception right after that, okay. So people ask me,
"I think I saw emptiness...I'm not sure if I saw emptiness
directly,"...if you're not sure, it's certain that you didn't see
it directly. If you did not see your future lives, if you did
not see the day of your own enlightenment and all those other
things that happen on that same day, you certainly haven't seen
emptiness directly, and you don't...and and if you're not sure if
you saw emptiness directly, you haven't...you definitely haven't
seen emptiness directly, okay. You have to...those are
experiences that happen to a person who who comes out of that
perception and those experiences are so important they dumped
them into four groups and called them?

(students: The Four Noble...Arya Truths)

The Four Noble Truths. Mis-translated as "noble". Meaning
"arya", person who just saw emptiness. Which is the most basic
and important teaching in Buddhism, okay? But you don't
experience those four truths directly until you've just seen
emptiness...directly. Okay. Last question or else...this a long
class tonight. Remember it was Sal who kept you here (laughter)
not me. Yeah?

(student, Sal: Not self existent)

Okay, not self exi...yeah, if your karma (laughter) says, it's
your karma to suffer until ten thirty tonight, okay.
(student, Sal: (unclear)

We're about to do that.

(student: Thank you)

He wants a matrix. Let's do a matrix. Okay. You asked for it.
Before I do the matrix, one more small thing. (laughter) In the
sutra where the Bodhisattva says, "I get it, you know, the first
one was something I have to...figurative, the second one was
figurative, the last one's literal, when he says that he doesn't
quite say it in those words and I want to give you the words that
he does use. And these are code words for the same thing, okay.
He says the foll...these are very famous. I'm just gonna do them
in English. You can read 'em in Tibetan in the reading. Number
one is: They have something higher. Okay. I mean, the
Bodhisattva doesn't say, "Oh I get it. These are figurative and
these are literal". He says, "oh I get it. There's something
higher than the first and second turning of the wheel. Meaning,
they're not literal. See what I mean? When you say this is not
the highest interpretation, the implication is that, this is
something I have to take figuratively. All right. By the way,
I'm simplifying it for you and there's a huge debate about each
one of these expressions and you can get it in the reading. But
I figure, in the homework, you might as well stick with these.
Okay. It's the obvious one. There is something higher meaning
what? The third turning of the wheel is higher than the first
two, okay? The Bodhisattva says, "I get it. There's something
higher than number one and there's something higher than number
two". But number three what's he gonna say?

(students: There is nothing higher)

There is nothing higher. This is the ultimate explanation, okay.
Who would use this sutra to prove their school?

(students: Mind Only)

You gotta be Mind Only. Okay. They're gonna search through
thousands of sutras and come up with the one where Lord Buddha
seems to support their ideas, okay. And this is it. Okay.
Here's the second one. What's the "they" here, by the way?

(students: one is literal)

Yeah, first and second turning of the wheel. First and second
turnings of the wheel. There's something higher. What?

(students: The third turning of the wheel)

The third turning of the wheel. Why. Because in the third
turning of the wheel the Buddha spoke what he really wanted to
say which was that "half of what I said was true and half of what
I said wasn't". Half the things in the world don't exist by
definition, but half of them do. Okay. All right. Whew. Awful
quiet out there. (laughter) All right. (laughs) I figure
everybody's gonna drop out,'ld drop out by now, so, you know, I
can just start opening it up. (laughter)

(student: (unclear))

Theys always the first and second turnings of the wheel. Okay.
As compared to the?

(students: Third)

Third turning of the wheel. When he gets to the third turning of
the wheel, by the way, he reverses all these. There's nothing
higher. They don't leave an opening. It it doesn't leave an
opening, meaning the third turning of the wheel, okay? This one,
he says...by the way, that's an important thing in the text, this
one doesn't have anything higher. Then what's he talking about?

(students: Third)

Third. Why would he refer to the third turning of the wheel as
"this one"? Hey baby, he's in the middle of it. The third
turning of the wheel started when he opened his mouth. This one
is real close to him (laughs) okay, he he's experiencing it as he
talks. This is the third turning of the wheel, okay? All right.
 Okay. Number two: They leave an opening, meaning they can leave
an opening for someone to fight over them. What the hell does
this stuff mean, what'd the Buddha say when he said everything
was...didn't exist from its' own side? Or what did he mean when
he said everything did exist from its own side. They leave an
opening for...fighting, discussion, you know, questioning...what
do you mean, okay. Does the third turning of the wheel leave
such an opening?

(students: No)

No, he's just being literal, okay. No one's gonna fight...nobody
with a brain is gonna fight about that (laughter), right? Who's
saying that?

(students: Mind Only)

Mind Only School, okay. Middle Way would School would say,
"nobody with a brain would think the third turning of the wheel
didn't leave an opening, okay? But don't forget what school
we're in, we're in Middle Way School...sorry...(laughter) Mind
Only School, just checking. Okay. They leave an opening. Okay.

What the Buddha Really Meant
Class 5
Transcribed by: Karen Becker

And then there's a whole big fight that's gone on for two
thousand years about what the word "opening" means here, but you
can general take it as "opening to have a fight about it" or
"opening for discussion" or "opening for argument about it",
okay. And then you can read the other ones in the text which you
have, okay, we translated it and it comes out. By the way, you
should thank the people...Ora, Kristy, those other people..they
work like...they get this reading like...at ten o'clock in the
morning and they work all day to convert it and make it pretty
and all that, so you sho...if you get a chance you should thank
them. Okay. This is easy okay. Come to Mind Only School point
of view, do the first and second turnings of the wheel have to be
interpreted further?
(students: Yes)

Yeah. You can't just leave it that that. "Nothing exists by
definition" You must discuss it further and interpret it, or you
can't just leave it at "everything does exist by definition"...is
what the first turning of the wheel says. You have to interpret
it further, okay. Interpreting it further and being figurative
are just about the same thing in this school. Right. Number
four. (unclear) Oh they they all boil down to the same thing. I
mean, I'm just trying to give you the actual wording of the
sutra. Now different scholars over the last two thousand years,
different thinkers have said "he's trying to get at a slightly
different shade of meaning here" and you can read the
commentary...you'll have it, you you'll have it at the end of
class, you can study it. There are arguments...you get the
Chinese commentary's version, you get an Indian ancient
commentary's version, and then you get Je Tsongkapa's boiling
down of it...about each one of these expressions. Okay? Last
one: They serve as a basis of contention, meaning "somebody'll
fight over this. If you just leave it like that and publish it,
and don...if you you don't start spreading those sutras in Mind
Only town, people are gonna start arguing about it", okay. "We
can't just leave it like that. It's gonna cause a fight, okay?
People gonna start arguing about it". Okay. These are the four
ways in which the Bodhisattva expresses himself during the (drup
dun), you know, when he says, "Ah, now I've seen the light"
(laughter). He doesn't say, "you you were meant that
figuratively or you meant that literally." He goes through each
of these four for each turning of the wheel. When he talks about
the first turning of the wheel he says, "Oh, it has something
higher. It leaves an opening for dispute or discussion or
question. It has to be interpreted further. This is gonna cause
a fight". Okay? (laughter) He says that. When he gets to the
second wheel he says?

(students: the same thing)

Exactly the same thing, but then when he gets to the third wheel,
what does he say? He puts a "not" on each one of these, okay.
"Ah, the third turning of the wheel has nothing higher. The
third turning of the wheel leaves no opening for any further
question. The third turning of the wheel you don't have to
interpret further, we can take it literally. The third turning
of the wheel, nobody's gon...in their right mind, could ever
argue about it". Okay. Je Tsongkapa's careful to say "in their
right mind"...in his commentary, the very last paragraph you're
gonna read says (laughs), you know, contention means "people who
aren't crazy", okay, I mean, crazy people can fight over
anything. But no person in their right mind would fight over the
third turning of the wheel, obviously it's literal. According
to?

(students: Mind Only)

Mind Only, okay. Now in the monastery, in the very beginning of
our studies in the first few years, we go through a course called
(Chun kor). Say (chun kor). (repeat) (Chun kor) (repeat). This
is not part of the Mind Only School. This is a study that we do
in the lower Madyamika Schools, Svatantrika...Sautrantika...and
and...sorry, Svatantrika, okay, and it's a very important subject
and I'm just gonna give you a few little takes of it. This is
basically boils down to Sal's grid, okay. You just draw a big,
you know, Excel chart and and divide it all up, you know, like
like "who believes the first turning of the wheel, who doesn't
believe the first turning of the wheel, what did they teach
during the first turning of the wheel, who was it taught for,
where did he teach it, okay, and what was the main subject
matter, and what's the viewpoint that it expresses? Okay,
you've...by the time we end up tonight you'll have this huge
chart about all the details of all the three turnings of the
wheel...'cause you're a Buddhist, you should know, okay? You
should know about the three turnings of the wheel because
eventually they evolved into the difference between Hinayana and
Mahayana and everything else, you know. Hinayana Schools say
"Buddha never taught the second and third turning of the wheel",
okay, like that...you have to know. You have to know the
difference. Okay. So (chun kor), for those of you who know
Tibetan, there's an illegal prenasal here, okay, it happens
sometimes, right (neljorma), no, that's normal...how 'bout (dor
je) or (gyon sen) or things like that, okay? Say (chun kor)
(repeat) (chun kor) (repeat). (Chu) means "Dharma", (kor) means
"wheel", "wheel of the Dharma." Okay. (chun kor). It's a whole
subject in the monastery. You might spend six months on what
we're about to do tonight. Which is the way this whole class is
going, okay (laughs) okay, for the last few years (laughter) all
right. Buddha discussed (chun kor). And I'm just gonna make for
you a chart for each turning of the wheel. Okay. First. Name.
Name of the first turning of the wheel. Okay. In Tibetan.
There's gonna be a lot of Tibetan tonight 'cause you have to know
it, okay, and please turn in your homework, if you don't, you
won't learn anything, trust me. I turned out students for
fifteen years who didn't retain anything and I don't want to do
any more, okay? Say (den shiy) (repeat) (chun kor) (repeat) (den
shiy) (repeat) (chun kor) (repeat). (Den shiy) means "the
four?...arya truths." The four truths, okay. Those
groups...four groups of experiences that anyone who sees
emptiness directly has during the twenty four hours following
that. Okay. Or until you get to bed, okay? I don't know. Call
it twelve, fourteen hours, okay. During that time you have
extraordinary spiritual realizations, like more than you've ever
had in your whole life in in ten hours and they can all be
grouped into four categories, and those are the four arya truths,
okay. That was the main subject of the first turning of the
wheel, okay. Everybody says, you know, "what do you call the
first turning of the wheel?" Well, it's either called the first
turning of the wheel or the turning of the wheel on the four arya
truths. Okay. Mis-translated as?

(students: Noble truths)

Noble truths, and continues to be spread that way, okay? Where
was it taught...I mean...by the way, in general you can say that
for each turning of the wheel there was a huge convocation, at
some point there was a huge gathering of people who learned this
particular turning of the wheel in a certain place, in a certain
time. Does it mean that everything Lord Buddha said at that
place to those people, constitutes the first turning of the
wheel? No. Like he might have said, "you guys can take a break
now", or something like that, (laughs) all right, okay? Does it
mean that something he said fifty years later couldn't be
included in the first turning of the wheel? No. If he taught
the four truths fifty years later and said they?...exist by
definition, then you can throw that into the first turning of the
wheel, okay. But generally speaking each turning of the wheel,
generally, relates to some huge gathering that happened. This
hap...particular one happened where? First turning of the wheel,
first time Buddha ever taught.

(students: Varanasi)

Varanasi and and in Deer Park, Sarnath, okay. So Varanasi in
Tibetan is "Waranasi". (laughter) (laughs) Okay. Why didn't
they put a "v"? They don't have a "v" (laughter) (laughs) okay,
no "v" and no "f", that's why you have "coppee" for "coffee"
(laughter) and "wan" for "van". (laughter ) (laughs) okay. And
if you've ever been to the Watcan to see the Bop (laughter) okay
(laughs). I read that in a newspaper one day, I asked Rinpoche,
what's "Watcan", what's "Bop" and they said, "it's Vatican and
Pope", okay (laughs) (laughter) okay. Okay. So that's Waranasi.
 That's where he taught it. Okay. East Bengal...West Bengal,
right, (unclear) Bengal, okay. Still there. It's outside of
Varanasi, okay...I hear. I've never been there, okay. Who did
he teach this se...first turning of the wheel mainly to? Did you
have a question?

(student: (unclear))

Sorry?

(student: (unclear))

You want me to leave it on for a while? Okay. Who'd he teach it
to? Who do you think would be the main disciples that wouldn't
get anything, I mean, you have to say about emptiness, yeah, oh
don't worry, everything exists from its own side, it has it's own
nature.

(students: (unclear)
You could say, Hinayana School, okay. Students in the Hinayana
School. By the way, you have to...when when we got to this part
in the monastery the teacher took the time to stop and say, "I'm
not talking those beautiful holy monks in Sri Lanka,
Thailand...that's not what I mean when I say "Hinayana".
Hinayana in this context, refers to people who think with the
viewpoint that says, that pen must come from its own side. That
makes you lower way, okay. It's not dissing those beautiful holy
wonderful monks in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, everything...you
know, it's not in scripture, in Buddhist philosophy, that's not
what we mean by Hinayana. Hinayana means a person who holds a
viewpoint about this pen which in still immature, okay. Which is
still kind of...first grade, okay, and there're lots of monks and
laypeople in Tibet who still think of this pen that way, and
there's lot of monks in Sri Lanka who understand the emptiness of
this pen. Okay, so, it's not a statement of, you know,
tradition, okay. It's a statement of viewpoint. And you belong
to? (nyentu tekpa) is you hold that about the pen. That it must
come from its own side. If you belong to what Hinayana means in
this case, lower way, then Buddha has to treat you with kid
gloves, or he have to say, "oh don't worry, every thing exists by
definition". By the way could you study suffering, and the
source of suffering and try to get out of it...then teach them
the four noble truths, okay, four arya truths, all right?
(Nyentu) means "listener". Okay. In this case it's a code word
for Hina...hinayana. (Tekpa) means "yana or vehicle". So it's
"listener vehicle". Now, listener means a lot of things in
Buddhism. In this case it means people who have a mindset...an
emptiness mindset which is still not very advanced. They're
still in like the first...they correspond to the first two
schools of ancient India, okay, which are what? The Abhidharma
school and then the logic school. We've studied both, okay. But
those are what we consider Hinayana...from the point of view of
how they think about emptiness. Their their thinking about
emptiness is not very progressed yet. Are they stupid and to be
rejected?

(students: No)

No. You have Bodhisattva vows against that. You have
Bodhisattva vows against saying that. Okay. Because they are
beautiful, holy, sacred, wonderful teachings as lower rungs on a
ladder to get to a higher place, okay, and it'd be stupid to take
half the rungs off the ladder because they're not close to the
top yet, and you you couldn't get to...up to the top without
them, okay, and anyone who's gonna teach Buddhism or see
emptiness directly, you'd better know those four schools. You
better know how to think about emptiness because I think you
already have a taste of how a lot of your life is Mind Only
School. You thought you were Madyamika. (laughter) But but
when I point out...you know, if you really were Madyamika you
wouldn't get angry at anybody the whole day. You can't. Okay.
If if you really were thinking about them as a Madyamika person
thinks about things, you couldn't get angry. You...I accuse you
of being a Mind Only School person today every time you got upset
at somebody, okay, and myself, 'cause I got upset at lots of
people today. All right. What was the main subject matter? I
say "main". It gets you out of a lot of problems in the debate
grounds, you should learn it (laughter) (laughs) okay? And
somebody says, "wait a minute. He said of that (unclear)", he
said, "I said "main", I said main". It's all war (laughs).
Okay. Very useful in the debate ground. Almost every sentence
you say in the debate ground starts with "mainly". Okay (laughs)
(laughter). So you see Sal, we're building up your chart, okay?
Your grid. And I I was thinking to put it on a grid, it wouldn't
fit though, you know. Okay. Maybe you guys can put it on a
grid. Somebody should put it on a grid, how's that? Say
(pakpay) (repeat) (denpa) (repeat) (shi) (repeat) (Pakpay)
(repeat) (denpa) (repeat) (shi) (repeat). (Pakpay) means what?

(students: Arya)

Yeah, arya, someone who has seen emptiness directly, okay? In
Sanscrit, arya. Hitler misused it, abused it, screwed around
with the word, okay? It has nothing to do with that. It does
mean "superior" in the sense of being special, because you've
seen emptiness directly, okay. That's what (pak pa) means.
That's what arya means, okay? The verb (pak pa) means to be
higher than something else, like there's a part in the (b:
Abhidharmakosha) that describes this mythical tree that grows way
over our continent, and that's called it (pak pas) up above the
whole world, so that's what (pak pa) means as a word, okay.
(Denpa) means truth, truth, and (shi) means four. The four arya
truths. Okay. That was the main subject matter of the first
turning of the wheel. Okay. He taught it first to how many
people...the very very very first turning of the wheel?

(students: Five)

Only five. The four tiger cubs and their mom (laughter) okay?
For those of you who were in the first class back in the first
class in 1980...three was it? I don't think there's anybody
here, actually, (laughter) okay, we read that sutra during that
class, okay? Anyway, that was the first group. And upon his
teaching it one of the people there actually achieved the direct
perception of emptiness right at that moment, I mean right
shortly afterwards, okay? And so it was a really beautiful
turning of the wheel. Because you're gonna...we're gonna talk
about the meaning of turning a wheel, okay. We're gonna get into
that later. But that's a classic turning of the wheel because of
the reaction of the student due to the turning by the teacher,
there was a real turning of the wheel at that moment. Okay.
We'll get into the meaning of "turning of the wheel", okay. What
was the viewpoint expressed? It's kinda long, I'm sorry, you
know, what was the main viewpoint about the world that Lord
Buddha expressed at that time? Isn't there anybody here who was
in KTB in 1983...I don't think so. Nope. Okay. Anyway we read
the (b: Sutra of the Holy Golden Light) and and about the tigers
(unclear)

(student: (unclear))

Huh?

(student: Wasn't Robin there?)

Robin was there? But she's not here (laughter), okay.

(student: (unclear)
Huh?

(student: (unclear) (laughter)

I didn't what?

(student: You didn't give homework)

I didn't give homework, that was a mistake. Okay. Say (Chu nam)
(repeat) (rang gi tsen nyi) (repeat) (kyi) (repeat) (druppa)
(repeat). (Chu nam) means "everything in the universe". (Chu)
means "Dharma" (nam) means "plural". Every existing object in
the universe, okay (chu nam). (Rang gi tsen nyi kyi druppa)
means "exists by definition"

(cut)

(Tsen nyi mepa) means, (tsen nyi mepa) lit...it literally means
"no definition". What do you think it lit...really means?
Things don't exist by definition, okay. (Chun kor) means?

(students: Turning of the wheel)

Turning of the wheel of the Dharma, okay. This is the name of
Dharma wheel turning number?

(students: Two)

Two, okay? Because during that turning of the wheel, Lord Buddha
said, "nothing exists by definition. Nothing has any identity
from its own side." Okay? And and so then that turning of the
wheel, that whole caree...part of his career where he taught that
is called "the turning of the wheel where he said nothing exists
by definition", okay? Where did he teach it? Same place as the
(b: Heart Sutra). That in fact was in part of that.

(students: Vulchurs peak)

Vulchurs peak. Here's the Tibetan. This should be (ri) okay?
This place still exists. It's in a place called Rajighira.
Okay. It's also in Bengal. It's a it's a peak, okay, Vulchur's
Peak. Scott Hamilton didn't climb it yet but he's planning, okay.
For those of you who care, (jagu) means "vulchur", (pungpoy)
means "skanda" but it means here shaped like a a vulchur, okay,
and (ri) means "peak", okay? Who are the students that he meant
that teaching for?

(students: (unclear))

(Tek chen). Okay. Mahayana. Mahayana from the point of view of
their viewpoint about emptiness, okay, people who had a very
mature viewpoint about emptiness. Okay. Question. Would the
Mind Only School say it was taught for Middle Way School people?
Second turning of the wheel. Would they say it was aimed at
Middle Way School people?

(students: Yeah)

Yeah. That's the one they think is literal. When the Buddha
said all that radical stuff, who believed him? Middle
Ways...those dumb Middle Way people (laughter) they were they
were taken in by it. Okay. Okay. By the way, real Mind Only
School scholars say "we also were the students meant for that
because we knew he was talking figuratively (laughter) (laughs),
okay, all right? That's another...we'll get a, we'll do that
some other day, okay? Main subject of the second turning of the
wheel? You're gonna become turning of the wheel experts by the
end of tonight, okay. What's (tongpa nyi) mean?

(students: Emptiness)

Emptiness. Shunyata. Okay. Emptiness. The lack of a pen that
comes from its own side that was never there in the first place.
And won't be there and couldn't be there now anyway. Okay. All
right. What viewpoint did Lord Buddha teach during the second
turning of the wheel? That's enough for me to get some smoothie.
 (laughter) (laughs) That's why I write the long one. (laughter)
 By the way, after you've written it, I can tell you can just add
a (ma) to the one you had before (laughter) (laughs). Heh heh
heh. (laughs) Okay. It just negativized the one that came
before, okay. (Ma). You just add the wor...the one syllable
(ma) which means things...

(students: Don't)

You know, in English, when you reverse something you have to say,
 "nothing...no existing thing in the universe exists by
definition", you see what I mean? And translators sometimes
don't catch that. In English the positive you say, "everything
in the world exists by definition". That's the first turning of
the wheel. That's the viewpoint of the first turning of the
wheel. But when you get to the second turning of the wheel, in
normal English we'd say "nothing exists by definition". Okay.
And some translators mistranslate it as "everything doesn't exist
by definition". It's a...which you don't normally say in English
'cause it doesn't...it gives you the wrong meaning
sometimes...it's ambiguous. Okay. Okay. Ready for the third
turning of the wheel? Where is it? Name of it? By the way,
sometimes just called "the last one", but that's too easy, so I
wrote out the long one. Okay. Say (lek chey) (repeat) (chun
kor) (repeat) (lek chey) (repeat) (chun kor) (repeat). (Chun
kor) means?

(students: Turning of the wheel)

Turning of the wheel of the Dharma, okay. (Lek chey) means,
(lekpa chenwa) means "fine distinctions", f-i-n-e distinctions.
Okay. The turning of the wheel in which the Buddha made fine
distinctions, and now you know what distinctions he made, what
was it?

(students: (unclear))

Yeah, "I did mean it when I said that, and I didn't mean it when
I said that". (laughs) okay? He's making distinctions, okay.
When I said everything existed by definition I was only talking
about this stuff and when I said nothing existed by definiton I
was talking about this other stuff", and he makes distinctions
about what he said before. He draws distinctions about what he
said in the wheel before that, okay. In the two wheels before
that, all right. Question?

(student: (unclear))

Yeah

(student: (unclear))

She says "why does one sutra become a whole turning of the
wheel?" Actually it's any sutra in which he expressed this thing
about the three divisions, the three attributes...you see it's
not only the (b: Sutra called the True Intent of the Other
Sutras), but he actually taught this in many other sutras also.
So it's that body of sutras in which he said, "you can divide
what I said about lacking any self nature into three different
kinds". What are they? (kun taks, shen wangs, yong drups)
okay. And you can make those distinctions, you know, and he
didn't say that only once but he said it, this is the classic one
in which he said it, but he also said it on other occasions. He
did teach it on other occasions. And those...all those sutras
together are known as the third turning of the wheel, okay.
Where did he teach this one? At (yangpachen) which is Sanscrit
is "Vaishali". The big convocation or the big teaching. This is
the way he taught it in Santa Cruz. This is the way he taught it
in Miami. Okay. You see what I mean. And that's exactly how it
happens, you know, "wait, that's not what he said out in, you
know, Indiana, you know, like that. That's exactly how it
happens. Don't think it doesn't happen nowadays, you know,
someone says, "I saw His Holiness in Washington D.C. he said
this", say "yeah, that's not the way he taught it in New York".
You know. Why? Because New York people are different (laughs)
We're smarter (laughter) (laughs) All right. Okay.
(Yangpachen). Okay. That's where he taught it. Who did he
teach it to? Say (tekpa) (repeat) (tamche) (repeat) (tekpa)
(repeat) (tamche) (repeat). (Tekpa) means "yana, or you know,
way, higher way lower way". (Tamche) means "everybody". Okay.
Everybody should understand this eventually, okay? This is meant
for everybody, okay, and there's many interpretations about what
he meant by (tekpa tamche) but in the bottom, the bottom line is
the third turning of the wheel is something good for everybody,
okay. Everybody should understand that this is? Literal. And
this is what the Buddha really meant. Okay. (Tekpa tamche).
What is the main subject matter of the third turning of the
wheel? Say (tsennyi) (repeat) (sum) (repeat) (tsennyi) (repeat)
(sum) (repeat). (Tsennyi) here means...doesn't mean
"definition", (tsennyi) here means "attribute", those three
categories of the Mind Only School. Sometimes the code name is
"attribute". Okay. If you want to make it easy, it's just the
three groups of stuff that the Mind Only School talks about.
What? (kun taks, shen wangs, yong drups). (Kun tak) meaning?
Imaginary stuff. Okay. (Shen)...or constructs we've been
calling it. (Shen wang) meaning "anything that's changing or has
causes, dependent things", and then (yong drup) meaning
"totality" which is a code word in the Mind Only School for?

(students: Emptiness)

Emptiness. Okay. Cool. Woo. You guys are good. (laughter) By
the way, I think we set the date for the second half of Geshe
Thubten Rinchen's version of this, which will be next December, a
 a year from December, so, if you want...oh, a year from January
maybe. Anyway, if you want to make it, you can start planning,
okay? In my opinion the the best explanation Mind Only School
ever given in the English language, okay? Period. Okay.
(Tsennyi sum). This is what he taught, and if you...after you
write that, you're pretty much done tonight, and pretty much is
literal. (laughter) (laughs) Axle asked me if a person should
be (cho). We don't have an oomloughted "o" in the English
language. Okay. He's German, so he had one (unclear) but you
know, it's really "uh", okay, it sounds more like "ou" to a an
American than it sounds like "o", you don't say "cho", you say
"chu", which sounds more like "chu", so we use a "u", okay, and
we have a rule for doing this which is unusual in this world, and
you can check it out sometime, it's in the document that was
actually written up and the rules for how to transcribe. So
it's...at least it's standardized. The the first rule is to be
consistent, and it's consistent, all right. Okay. Say (chu)
(repeat) (nam la) (repeat) (rang gi) (repeat) (tsennyi kyi)
(repeat) (drup) (repeat) (madrup) (repeat) (lekpar) (repeat)
(che) (repeat). Sorry it's so long, but that that is the
viewpoint of the third turning of the wheel, okay? (Chu nam) you
already know, means?...everything in the universe. All existing
objects, okay. (Rang gi tsennyi kyi drup madrup) means "they
exist by definition and they don't exist by definition", okay?
Some exist by definition and some ar...don't exist by definition.
 And (lekpar che) you had in the name of this turning of the
wheel which means?

(students: fine distinctions)

To make that distinction very well. (Lekpar). This is the (lek)
in (lek so lek so) in the (b: Heart Sutra) where the guy says
"great great". Okay? Who? Lord Buddha complimenting his
student that he just took over his body for half an hour to say
all that stuff and then when he's done, he says, "oh, you're
really smart". You know. (laughs) okay. (laughs) okay. So,
(lekpar che) means the turning of the wheel...the viewpoint of
the third turning of the wheel is that, hey, we hafta make a
distinction very carefully between things. Certain things exist
by definition and certain things don't exist by definition, okay?
 And there you get three different viewpoints. Now if you're in
the debate ground, they'd say, "okay. Feed it back to me. Right
now". Okay. Place of the first turning of the wheel? Varanasi.
 Place of the third turning of the wheel?

(students: Vaishali)

Vaishali. Place of the second turning of the wheel?

(students: Vulchur's Peak)

Vulchur's Peak. Viewpoint expressed from the first turning of
the wheel.

(students: Everything exists by definition)

Everything exists by definition. Viewpoint expressed in the
second one?

(student: Nothing exists by definition)
Viewpoint expressed in the third one?

(students: Some things do and some things don't).

You gotta divide it (laughs) yeah, yeah yeah yeah, okay, oh
you're ahead of me. Who who who was he talking to in the first
turning of the wheel, mainly?

(students: Hinayana)

Hinayana...meaning, and that's on your homework, people who
mentally belong to the first two school of Indian Buddhism. The
Abhidharma School and the Logic School, okay. Why? Because they
have certain primitive ideas about what emptiness means. Okay.
So we call them "lower way". We're not dissing Theravada, okay.
You gotta be very careful, okay. Theravada's beautiful, okay.
And, and who did he teach the second turning of the wheel to?

(students: Mahayana)

Mahayana, meaning philosophically, people who belong to the Mind
Only School or the Middle Way Schools. People who have that
advanced viewpoint about emptiness, okay? Who'd he teach the
third one to?

(students: Everybody)

Everybody. Okay. All right. Subject matter of the second
turning of the wheel?

(students: Four Noble Truths)

Emptiness. Subject matter of the first turning of the wheel?
(laughter)

(students: Four arya truths.)

Four noble truths. Subject matter of the third turning of the
wheel?
The three attributes of the Mind Only School, okay...those little
(kun taks, shen wangs) and (yong drups), okay? All right, you
got it. Now I'm gonna give you a little vignette from the (b:
Perfection of Wisdom Sutra). Why...this is just for your own
information, okay, I mean you could'a gone home now...this is all
extra, sorry. (laughter) (laughs) Okay. Why do they call it
turning the wheel? I mean did you ever wonder what they mean
when they say "turning the wheel of the Dharma", you know, I
mean. You have this vision of Lord Buddha...with one of those
you know old ice cream machines (laughter) you turn rrrr.rrrr
(laughs) okay, all right. Here's where it comes from, all right.
 This presentation is a lot from the (b: Abhidharma), and some of
it's from the (b: Perfection of Wisdom), but it's accepted by all
schools and that's pretty cool. All right. So here we go. Oh,
you got some more Tibetan there. Okay, say (korlu) (repeat)
(gyurway) (repeat) (gyalpoy) (repeat) (korlo) (repeat) (rinpoche)
(repeat). Okay. Remember the long mandala offering you go into
all this stuff...(korlo rinpoche, norbu rinpoche, tsun mo
rinpoche, lon po rinpoche, lang po rinpoche, ta chog rinpoche,
mag pon rinpoche, ter chen poi bum pa) okay, there are like
these precious things that a world emperor has, okay, this is
called a Chakravartan, okay, in Sanscrit, meaning "he who rules
by the wheel". Okay. And they have these wheels...and you know
when I first studied Abhidharma and they said, "look the really
good ones have a gold wheel and they can control the whole
universe", and then the not so cool ones have a silver wheel and
they can only control part of the universe, and and like that,
and then I had this like vision of this little, you know, ninja
wheel that he's got in his hand, or something like that, you
know, and it wasn't clear to me what it meant exactly. Korlo
Rinpoche means "the precious wheel", meaning one of the precious
things that the King has, okay. This is a King who control....he
has the karma of controlling the whole world, and the best ones
have the karma to be begged by the whole world to do it, you see
what I mean? And the ones with a little bit worse karma has to
like threaten people, they have to or have to go to election or
something, you see what I mean. But the ones who have really
cool karma, people come and beg them to be president of the
world. You know, and then they say, okay, I'll do it, you know.
 And they actually have signs on their body like the Buddha's
have, but they're a little bit off center. (laughter) Like they
have...they're not quite perfect...they don't have the karma to
be a Buddha and and then you know, when you get close to being a
Buddha you can be a world president or something by unanimous
decision of six billion people and and you're not quite
enlightened and your you know you bump isn't quite big enough and
your...and the things on your body are not quite...they're not
very clear or distinct, like the Dharma Wheel on your hand and
stuff that like, okay. Later when we studied the (b: The
Commentary on the Precious Wheel) in the (b: Mandala Offering
Commentary), it turned out to be really cool. Precious Wheel is
two thousand...it's a space ship, okay, it's it's a flying
saucer, it's two thousand miles big...the diamater of the space
ship is two thousand miles across, okay? First thing. It can
travel half a million miles a day. Okay. And the function of it
is to carry the King, the Emperor and his four forces...you know
according to Buddhism the world exists with four continents. So
he can like pile in the marines and the air force and the army
into this flying saucer and be on the western continent in half
an hour to subdue any rebellions there and stuff like that, okay?
 And that's the point of the wheel. In in the scripture it says
it's a flying...it's actually a flying saucer an...that flies
through the air and then he can load his whole military...you
know, thousands of troops into it and then be over in Kansas in
half an hour, you know, if like some trouble over there or
something like that. And that's that's the meaning of the wheel,
okay. And and in the (b: Abhidharma) they explain that that's
why the wheel of the Dharma is called the wheel. Okay. Why?
Because you conquer unconquered spiritual territory with the
wheel. Okay. Like if you have one of these wheels, meaning one
of these flying saucers, called what? The Dharma. Okay. You
can take over all the spiritual territory that you haven't
got...that you haven't conquered yet, you see what I mean?
Especially the Path of Seeing, okay. And in fact in the
Abhidharma system, it always refers to the Path of Seeing, you
see. And in the other schools they say, "not really" okay but
all

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What the Buddha Really Meant