ACI 3 «Прикладная медитация», занятие 3

Class Three: The Six Conditions for Meditation
February 21, 1994
transcribed by: Kathy Williams
Proofread: May 2003



Everyone who didn't answer was right.

[laughter]

{Nyamshak} is the sixth kind of meditation. We talked about six different kinds
of meditation...six diff...six different words for that, okay? And {nyamshak}
means...it usually refers to meditation upon emptiness directly. And it's as
opposed to {je top} which means, ah,...that's the meditation you...that's what's
happening when you come outta meditation on emptiness directly. {[unclear]}

[cut]

{Dakki jinsok}, ah, you have to change that. Before a class you don't say {dakki
jinsok}. In general, you say {dakki jinsok} but before a class you say {dakki
chinyen...chinyen}. So the {dak} is the same but you replace the {jinsok} with
{chinyen}.

[silence]

Instead instead of praying that all your general good deeds help before, its the
reverse of the six perfections. You're praying that, by the act of your coming to
this class, you should be able to help people. So that's {chinyen}. {Chinyen}
means "to listen to the Dharma," okay? {Chin} means "Dharma," and {yen}
means "listen." And I have to say {chershay} which means "the act of explaining
Dharma." So, I say {chershay [unclear]}. You say {chinyen}, and {jinsok} is what
you do, in general, in the...in your morning practice. Okay, so, we were talking
about {nyamshak}.       {Nyamshak} means the period when you're in direct
meditation on emptiness. It happens for the first time when?

[student : When you experience {shiney [unclear]}]
Yeah, which is? Directly. Talking directly.

[student: Directly.]

[student: [unclear]]

The path of seeing. The path of seeing. Don't worry about it. These are for the
old students, okay? There's a path called path of seeing, mental states. And at
that time you enter {nyamshak} on emptiness directly. You enter this kind of
meditation on emptiness directly.

[student: Path of seeing?]

Yeah. And when you come out of it, you enter a a state call {je tob}, and that's
you're out of deep meditation, and you're having these realizations, including
what?

[student: The four noble truths.]

The four noble truths. That's... the word noble is, as we said before, the the
wrong translation of the word {koppa} which means "at that point you become
an a realized type of being." And those are called realized truths, {arya}. So,
{nyamshak} is opp...is as opposed to {jetob}. {Jetob} is when you are seeing the
four noble truths, thinking about the four noble truths, "Oh, this is suffering.
This is. . . this is this." You actually realized them directly for the first time in in
ever. But {nyamshak} occurs right before that. And that's when you're actually
in deep meditation on emptiness. And that's the classic example of {nyamshak}.

[student: How is that different than in other of these meditaions [unclear]
emptiness?]

Well, they all overlap and they're all fuzzy and I'm giving you the major sense.
You … you notice I said "general sense" and I didn't say "definition" because they
all overlap.

[student: So, really that could be like a part of {nyomjuk} like you said.]

It could. It's [unclear] a kind of {samten}. It is a kind of {gompa}. It is a {ting nge
dzin}. It's also a {shi ne shamatha}, okay. [laughs]
[student: That's clear.]

[laughter]

It's not like {nyomjuk}. It's not one of the classic yogas, okay? So, I just wanted
you to get a sense of these are the main places. It's used in another case in the [b:
Heart Sutra]. It says, "{Dayza chunga day somma no wa sha ja so a ja [unclear]
shok.}" The Buddha enters {nyamshak}. In the whole [b: Heart Sutra] the
Buddha doesn't say anything, except at the end he says, "Oh, you guys did a
good job." And the whole Sutra is one of his students speaking to another of his
students because he's in {nyamshak}.            And he's affecting their minds.
He's...They're like puppets and he's making them ask each other questions. So
that's {nyamshak}. Those are the two classic examples. So if I ask you what's
{nyamshak}, you should say, "direct perception of emptiness" as opposed to {je
tob} which is after you come out of that deep meditation and you start getting
these popcorn, you know, ding ding ding, I understand that, I understand that, I
understand that.

[student: Michael.]

Yeah.

[student: We only use {jetob} after the initial direct perception of emptiness]



{Jetob} is always after

[student: No, but you had made a distiction about the perception of the four
noble truths]

Right.

[student: coming out of emptiness meditation]

Yeah.

[student:    as being something that happens when you first see emptiness
directly.]

Right.
[student: Then doesn't...this is not something]

All right.

[student: that repeats itself every time you do emptiness meditation?]

No, it does. No, I'm talking

[student: It does.]

any direct meditation on emptiness.

[student: No, no. I know. I said {jetob}.]

And so does {jetob}. Yeah, {jetob} is any time you come out.

[student: Come out. So it's not just the four noble.]

It's not just the first time you come out.

[student: Any kind of realizations.]

[student: Can you write {jetob}?]

Yeah, okay, you asked for it. [laughs]

[student: Is that a meditation? It's not a meditation. [unclear]]

It's actually a, ah, a state of contemplation perhaps something like that. It's … it's
… it's … it's no longer ..

[student: okay]

aconceptual. It's no longer non-discurive thought.

[student: It is discursive thought.]

It is. "Ah, oh, this is this. This is that. Oh, this is this. This is that." It's it's it's it's
exactly that. It's not like when you're perceiving emptiness and it just, like they
call, water poured in butter.

[student: Discursive thought about what you've seen in emptiness?]

And you're thinking, "Oh, well, that's an idea." {Jetob.} Most of the paths have
these two stages in them, the the higher paths. But we...don't worry about it if
you haven't had it before. It's okay. It's not on the quiz and I think I just wan...I
felt guilty because I left that out and everybody had trouble on the homework.

[student: After after you]

And I did that last time and then they called me up on the phone and [unclear].

[student: Is this after after you see the four arya truths, this {jetob}?]

This is...you are in {jetob} when you see

[student: When you see the four arya truths?]

when you see...are seeing the four arya truths. {Jetob} means "what you get
afterwards." {Je} means "afterwards" and {tob} means "get." All right? Okay.
Now, actually, we'll go on to the

[student: [unclear]]

lesson. All right? Who squeeked? All right?

[student: Someone over here.]

Which one didn't you get?

[student: The last one [unclear].]

All right. So tonight we're going to talk about...What was it? We … we've had
two classes the first two were about how to get ready for meditiation.

[student: Preparation].

Preparing for meditation. And what did I promise you the second thing would
be?
[student: Conditions in the environment.]

Yeah, the environment in which you meditate. But we didn't get yet to how to
meditate. And we won't for a while. Because the reason most people fail is that
they don't do the the stuff before the meditation to make the meditation go well,
and … and we're gonna see that tonight. He's gonna actually say that. So, the
environment breaks down into six conditions. We call them the six conditions.
As I said before Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism in general, loves the three thises,
the four thats, like that. It's actually a very good method. Mao tse Tung used it
in his [b: Little Red Book], if you ever read it.

[laughter]

He was responsible for Tibet's loss. I read it, you know, know the person's mind
and and he was very good at it. He's obviously a a great propagandist and, ah,
so it's very helpful to mem...to remember things if you say, "the three thats" and
"the four thats," "the five thats." So, we have six conditions, okay. The first
condition is. Now we're talking environment, right?

[silence]

[student: Is all of this out of [b: Lam Rim Chenmo] still?]

Yeah, that's a good question because I'm gonna be telling you where all these
things come from. In general, it's the [b: Lam Rim Chenmo] of Tsong Khapa
but as you know Tsong Khapa was a great plagiarist. And it's considered good
Buddhist writing if you are a plagiarist because the people you are stealing from
are Enlightened Beings. So why write anything new? You just cop things from
all their sutras, and put them in a new order for the new generation, but you
don't write anything new, and that's fine. In fact, it's considered a fault if try to
stick in your own ideas. So this is Je Tsong Khapa relying on several of the
books, and we'll talk about it, several classic books from ancient India. Okay? So
{tunpay yul}. {Tunpay}...I think we talked about it last time...{tunpay} means
"when two people get along, harmony." So {tunpay} means "conducive."

[silence]

[dog barking]
[laughter]

And {yul} means "place, place."

[dog barking]

[student: Mike, those two dogs are [unclear].]

[laughs] I don't know. We'll see.

[student: [unclear]]

[student: Can that also mean like land or country?]

Yeah, {yul} generally means "country" and and you don't have to know that.
Generally, in philosophy, it's a very important word meaning "object of the
mind," but but we won't we won't, ah [unclear]. Tsong Khapa takes his his
description of a of a conducive place to meditate from the following book:

[silence]

Say [b: Dodey Gyen]. [repeat] [b: Dodey Gyen]. [repeat]

The Sanskrit name is [b: Sutralamkara]. [repeat]

And we talked about this before because we had the [b: Abhisamayalamkara].
{Alamkara} is the Sanskrit word that means "get ready for something." {Alam}
means "get...ah, ready." And {kara} means "to get." And when a princess in India
went to a ball she would {alamkara} her...she would put her jewelry on. So
{alamkara} means "a jewel" in the sense of "jewelry." And {sutra} means "any
open teaching of the Buddha spoken by the Buddha." So it's the [b: Jewel of the
Sutras]. And it's written by...it's not a sutra. It's a commentary on sutras. And
it's written by...who wrote the other one, the other [b: Alamkara]? Remember?

[student: Who was it? What was that one called?]

The [b: Abhisamayalamkara, [laughs], the Jewel of Realizations, Ornament of
Realizations.]

[student: unclear]
Ah, he wrote the commentary. Good. Not bad. [laughs] Asanga. Okay. You
have to know Asanga, all right? Asanga. Asanga lived when? You guys know.

[student: About 350.]

Yeah. [laughs] About 350 AD. Asanga. I told you this story before. His mother
was a nun. She had a vision that if she...Buddhism was declining in her era. And
she had a vision that if she gave up her vows and married a king that they would
have a child, and then if she then married another, a Brahman, they would have
a child, and then those two sons would become the two greatest scholars of of all
time. So one of her sons was Asanga. And between him and his brother they
wrote every single book that's used in the monastic curriculum, except for... I
mean they wrote two of them, two of the great five books are by … are by
those two brothers. And they are responsible for just about...You study the first
book for twelve years. You study the second book for about three years. So
that's...they wrote the most important. So Asanga has written this book also [b:
Sutralarmkara]. And in that book he explains what's a good place to meditate.
So. Yes?

[student: [b: Jewel of Ornament of Realizations]?]

Ah, yeah.

[student: [b: Jewel of Ornament] [unclear]]

Yeah. You can call it [b: Jewel of Ornament]. Some people call it [b: Jewel of
Ornament]. Some people call it [b: Ornament]. Some people call it [b: Jewel].
Some people call it [unclear].

[student: [unclear]]

[b: Of Realizations]. This is not that. This is the [b: Jewel of the Sutras]. So he
wrote two [b: Jewels].

[student: [unclear] [b: Jewel of the Sutras].]

Yeah. We're not gonna talk about...Those guys studied the other [b: Jewel] last
course for the whole course.
[student: How do you get jewel for one of those. I thought you said it was to
get ready for a sutra.]

Yeah. Get ready means

[student: "Put on your jewels."]

"put on your jewels." So the word "get ready" became the word for "jewels" in in
Sanskrit. {Alamkara} became the word for "jewel" because it's what you put on
to get ready for a a ball or something. So, [b: Dodey Gyen]. In there he says a
good place to meditate should have five characteristics.

[student: Michael, I don't understand. What does {dodey gyen} mean?]

It … it's the book from which Tsong Khapa has taken the description of a good
place to meditate, a conducive place to meditate.

[student: when you say it’s in the book just lists...you talking about both books
or]

It's actually three or four books...it's a stream that I …

[student: Well, what should we refer to it as [unclear].]

If I ask you who described...and I'm going to ask you [laughs]...the conducive
place to meditate. You're gonna answer Asanga described it in 350 AD in his [b:
Jewel of the Sutras.]

[student: Now, is this this a Je Tsong Khapa's commentary though, or is this
Asanga?]

Yeah, Tsong Khapa is quoting him. Tsong Khapa is explaining what Asanga
said. Because if you go and try to read Asanga, forget it.

[student: And this is this is Je Tsong Khapa in [b: Lam Rim Chenmo]]

Yeah.

[student: explaining]
Explaining.

[student: Asanga.]

Yeah.

[student: Okay.]

Which is like...Buddhism is like an onion. Buddhist learning is like an onion and
you get deeper and deeper and you get closer and closer to the middle the
longer you study. So, first, the first point is...and I...it's in your reading...is that
you should have all the necessities you need. It should be easy to get food,
clothing, everything you need physically should be there. Now, he's mainly
talking about an extended retreat in which you are trying to develop {shamanta}
purposely. Which you can do in like six months if you if you really …

[student: {Shamatha}?]

Yeah, {shamatha} meaning what I've translated here as "quietitude." Which you
had in your first homework as that very very high state of meditation with
which you see emptiness. Quietude. Excuse me?

[student: "The king of {samadhi}," Khen Rinpoche translated it as [unclear]]

King of all king of all concentrations. So, anyway, this … this's mostly referring
to a a real heavy-duty retreat that you do. The place the...where you do it you
should have everything you need.

[student: You mean you shouldn't ever have to leave to get things? Is that what
you mean?]

Well, that's one meaning of it. But you shouldn't … you shouldn't have to think
about anything else.

[student: Like [unclear] electricity [unclear]?]

Food should be set up for you. People tend to think, you know,...when
Buddhism first came to America...I don't know if you knew Alex Leinkoff. He
heard about Milarepa. He went out in the forest in our...next to our house. And
ah, he got cold and came back after two days. [laughs] I mean, it it doesn't
work. You have to be comfortable. It's it's very smart to go...to get a
place...make sure it's nice. And it should be comfortable. Everything you need is
there. You have someone cooking for you. It's very bad if you have to cook
your own food. Someone else should be cooking. Because, otherwise, you're
going to think, "What should I cook tonight?" You know, "I have to cut up the
potatoes. Maybe I should put the"....you start meditating on what you'd like to
eat tonight.

[laugher]

It's very bad, and someone else should be cooking. You should have no contact
with him. In New Jersey, we've done a [unclear] meditation. They put it under
your door or something. You don't know what you're gonna get, so don't
worry about it. And that's better. And you should have enough clothes. Take
enough clothes. And they should be clean. You don't have to be all dirty.
Pabongka in his meditation manual says, "I don't like to [unclear] monks in
retreat so they can have a beard after three weeks." You know you have to be
clean and shave. Be normal. Be comfortable. That's the idea. You you're
meditation is a lot better, because you're not meditating on how much of big a
yogi you are. You're not meditating on trying to stay warm when it's cold. It's
very important to be comfortable. So that was the first thing that Asanga said
sixteen hundred years ago. The second thing is that it should be a safe place.
And Tsong Khapa explains that to mean there shouldn't be any wild animals
around that could hurt you. This refers to people in India or Tibet who go up in
the mountains. Or, if you know Yeshe Tubten who was here last week, he he
spends most of the year up in a cave above Dharamsala. And it's a problem.
You get...I've had bears and stuff. [laughs] It's a little scary. It shouldn't happen.
Very much interrups you medita...I had a skunk one time. [laughs].

[laughter]

[student: Oh, man.]

[laughs] It's very bad. [laughs] So it should it be a place where you're not
threatened in any way. And they also say bad people...that you shouldn't have
any place where you have an enemy or someone who doesn't like you. Any
kind of a threat to you [unclear]. It should be a comfortable place, a safe place.

[student: What's the word for that safe place?]
I can...I can give it to you if you like, but , ah, it's in your reading.

[student: Okay.]

And he, ah, the verse is very cryptic like all the ancient verses were. They were
meant to be memorized by the student maybe ten years before he knew what it
meant. And they still do that in the monastery.

[student: Okay.]

And then the function of...the role of the teacher is to tell you, "Hey, this is what
that means." Then he says you should have a good environment. And he
explains that as meaning it should be a place where you don't get sick. There's
places like...The first monks that came out of Tibet in 1959 were meditating in a
place called [unclear]. And it was in the jungle in West Bengal and and it was just
a lousy place to be. Almost...I'd say maybe a third of them got turberculosis
there. It was very damp, very hot. They didn't have enough nutrition. Their
lungs were expanded to in Tibet. And most of them got sick. So it should be a
place where you're not going to get sick. It shouldn't be too cold. It shouldn't be
too hot. It shouldn't...the temperature should be just right. When you're
meditating it's very important that the temperature's just right. If it's too warm
why

[student: Fall asleep.]

you start to nod out. If it's too cold you get distracted.

[student: So now, in the sense of a long retreat, you know you're gonna go
through seasons for example. Would that mean try to find some place where
you're not gonna]

Yeah.

[student: have like heavy snow or]

Yeah.

[student: hot [unclear]]

Well, where inside it's not gonna
[student: So, it's]

don't be shy to get a place with central heating or [unclear]

[student: or air or whatever.]

I did a retreat in Arizona one time and it was...the weather changed forty
degrees, and and it was too hot in the afternoon, and by night I was snoring, and
and...in the desert...and it was distracting. [laughing] You know it got very cold.
So, ah, you know you you gotta find a place where the weather's...but you also
have to make sure that the whatever that you use doesn't make noise.

[student: The heater and stuff?]

Yeah. Like if...a fire is very distracting. A heater that goes click, click. Any noise
after you've been in retreat for about a month, hey, a a mouse can be a disaster,
you know?

[laughter]

And they they are, you know? So you have to find...just don't be shy to find a
normal house in a normal place away from sound as much as you can. I I think a
refrigerator can be a disaster. I found it [unclear] if you've done a retreat for
about a month it starts to sound like a truck.

[laughter]

And then you you go and you unplug everything in the house before you sit
down [laughs], you know? It's very distracting. So it's very important that you
don't have any noises. And and in your daily practice, we're talking fifteen
minutes, half an hour, the the good thing about doing it as early in the morning
or as you can, which I find better than late at night, but I I saw in your papers a
lot of you maybe just don't have time till late at night. Late at night is good and
you we'll see it later in that it's quiet. You know, at least in general it's more quiet
in the early morning and late at night. 'Cause sound, it's it's very famous in all
the scriptures it says that sound is the worst distraction. Sound is very bad when
you're trying to meditate.

[student: We had squirrels digging into the roof.]
[laughs.] You had squirrels? [laughs] Very bad. Okay. Number four is, ah, he
calls it good friends. And it's that, ah, whoever's assisting you in retreat should
be a person who has faith in the Dharma, and he shares your values. He has
good morality, and he believes in in the Buddhist world view, which, you know,
mostly emptiness. He should be a person like that. If you've ever had a
person...if you're in retreat and because you don't have any choice you have
someone coming to help you...you have to have a retreat assistant. You may
never see him during retreat. It's better if you don't. But it should be a person
who's mentally in tune with you. Because you'll sense it, and you'll feel it. And
it's better if if all the people around the retreat are are into it. And the same way
in a...wherever you're gonna meditate. If you try to meditate in a place where
people don't appreciate it, or people don't like it, it's very hard to concentrate.
And that's ah, that's just the way it is. And so it's all coming under...these are all
[laughs] still under this. I'm not going to ask you to label all five. If you
remember some, it's fine. The fifth one he gives is...he says, "it should have
goodness." The verses...all the verse says is "have goodness." And it says in the
day there should not be too many people around. And at night there should not
be much sound. So it just means that there shouldn't be distractions, people or
sounds. When you when you do a good meditation, a retreat, don't waste your
time. It's hard to get the time in your whole life to do a one month retreat or a
two week retreat. And don't waste your time. Set up everything very, very
intelligently, you know, based on this. And talk to people who've done long
retreats before. And they have...after you do one it's good to make a list of all
the things that you did wrong, and then the next time you do it you know what
you need. Like chapstick is very important. Incense is very important. You
know you get a list of things that are very important. And you you learn more
about it every time you do it. So talk to people who've done long retreats before
and don't screw up the first. . .the opportunity because once you get into the
retreat and close the door, you're not supposed to go out for a month or
something. And if you figure out that you forgot something you have to start
writing notes and then that's a distraction. Better if you don't see anyone. You
know, close the windows, tape up, put something over the windows, don't look
outside.

[student: How long should one go into a retreat?]

I think, in our tradition, I mean, there are three year retreats, there are three
month retreats, three years, three months, three days, three days, three months.
But I think, if you, for example, if you take that initiation this summer, or if
you've had that initiation, you will be required to do a certain number of
retreats. And they last between four and five weeks. And they're very great,
because once you take that initiation you swear to do it. And I know I didn't
have...I worked for ten years...I didn't have time to do anything. And I was
exhausted every day and I didn't do any retreats. And then then I got on a
different schedule and I was able to do them again. And it's a very good...it's
good to be forced to do one because otherwise you'll just go on and on and
never do one. And it it's very important to do them. They change you
dramatically. So it's very...then especially those retreats which you have...there
are books on how to do it, the training, everything. And it's...they're wonderful.
They come out really good. And they're not what you expect. What you're
supposed to do is not what you expect. And, ah, it works. It's very nice. I think
Kylie did . . how many did you do [unclear]?

[student: Two.]

[unclear] and some other [unclear]. And other people here have done it.
They're, ah, they're very good. If you do it right, it's it's very nice. And if you do
it wrong, you can crack up. And people do that. So you have to study how to
do it properly. And then you you won't have any trouble. It will be quite
pleasant.

[student: Do these pertain to group retreats, also?]

I...I....I haven't...I've been in group retreats. We don't emphasize that. But I think
some people have said they might like to do a group retreat. I think it might be
distracting, but then again they say that if [unclear] in a group sometimes the
power of the unity of all the minds of all the people is very, very good. So I
think, yeah, I think they would also apply. And obviously you're going to see
other people in group retreats. Good not to talk...with anybody. You shouldn't
see anybody. You shouldn't talk to anybody. Anybody. It's better if you don't.

[student: The fifth one again, Michael.]

Ah, he said, what was it?

[student: [unclear]]

Having goodness in the sense...and he lists only two things. During the day
there shouldn't be a lot of...there shouldn't be a lot of people around in the day,
and there should be no sound, or sounds. So

[student: Ahm]

It has nothing to do with goodness, but

[student: It has nothin' to do with, like]

No.

[student: you know]

No.

[student: a Lama meditated]

No. [unclear] No.

[student: here before.]

No. No. It's a very difficult verse and Tsongkopa is explaining it.

[student: So...so when you say cover the windows you mean you shouldn't
really be able to see what's outside the window. Is that what you mean?]

Well, I think, like where I used to go there was this...was it Mount something? It
was a beautiful snow mountain out the back. [laughs] So I would be, you know,
[laughs] strip across the top [laughs], you know. What I mean is you shouldn't
be able to see any living beings

[student: But like]

squirrels, dogs, people

[student: no movement. No activity.]

Yeah, tape it up.

[student: Including]
You know to the top of the window if you can. Or you...I like to use dez white
curtains...dez...what do you call them?

[student: Shades?]

They're the inside the inside of a curtain.

[student: Shears?]

Yeah. And the light, you can get the light, you know, to see the light. And then
the light is very nice. It's very helpful sometimes when you meditate [unclear].

[student: So so looking at the scenery is okay,or not?]

It's okay. But but if you are on...if you're below six feet you're gonna see
somebody if they walk by so, I mean

[student: Say, like if you're out in the middle of nowhere]

Yeah, that's all right.

[student: in the desert?]

It's all right. But in...I've been there and, ah, it's all sorts of things runnin' around.
[laughs]

[laughter]

It's hard to find a place

[student: Why not see an animal?]

It's very distracting. It's just very distracting. You you should be into complete
solitude and it's better. It's really better. 'Cause what it does, it forces you...also,
you should...we'll get to it, but you...and and don't write it down, but you should
have no other activity. I used to try to memorize some text when I was in
retreat, [unclear] do anything else, you should have nothing else. And then what
happens is you you you get...what do you call it?

[student: Stir crazy.]
[laughter]

No, I mean you get...the isolation drives you into your mind. And you will get
good results. And if you have anything else to do your mind will grasp on to it,
and distract you, you know? If you have to do anything else, your mind will
grab on to it because it's lonely, and it'll distract you and and it's important to
drive yourself into this isolation when you're just forced to live in your mind,
and then you can you can develop some some good meditation. And and it's it's
it's it's new. You never you've never had a day or more than a few days when
you weren't talking and that's hard. All that energy gets driven in. And you
have good meditation.

[student: So if you're doing a month or a three month or six month retreat,
you're not supposed to like go out and walk around [unclear]?]

Not at all. Not at all.

[student: Zippo? Oh, my God.]

Not at all. A true

[student: Six months and like not going out and not walking?]

I mean a true retreat, yeah. It's important to have enough place I've found to
walk around inside. Because that's just in case you get...there's a thing called
{lung} which is like psychic energy which builds up and if you start to have a
problem it it can cause a big problem. You know you you won't sleep for a few
days, and then you have to break the retreat and go to a hospital and they shoot
you up. [laughs]

[laughter]

with something and you sleep. It's very common for people who don't know
how to do a retreat properly to get {lung}. It's very common for people to
experience that disorder like, you know, serious things when they can't sleep for
a week, and then they then they have to break the retreat. So it's it's very
important to do it right. And and food is very important, to eat to eat very well.
I know Gahwingkah, who is a great meditation master from Burma, who the
Dalai Lama sent to the monasteries to teach us, he would feed you well, you
know, royally and and support you eat well. If you don't eat well, if you eat a lot
of sugar or starches or coffee and cocoa, it's almost make me crazy, you know,
ice cream. You can't have any of that stuff 'cause it will hurt your winds and you
you can go crazy. So you have to eat very oily foods, very heavy foods that
keep you down that keep you down.

[student: Grounded?]

Yeah. [laughs]

[laughter]

[student: Michael, what about taking your offerings out at the end of the day? Is
that something you should have your assistant]

Yes. Yeah.

[student: do for you. You shouldn't even go out to do that?]

No, the line...normally the line of the retreat is the door threshold. When you
seal the door, that's it. You have someone else take them out...you...I would put
them in a garbage bag and I had a neutral territory in my, like a foyer, you
know, put 'em out there, I'd close my door and he comes in [laughs], you know?
It's good. You shouldn't see anybody at all. It'll just drive you into yourself and
the meditation will be great.

[student: Okay.]

[student: What about sleep?]

It's very important to sleep well. And and later I'll teach you. We can't do it in
this class, but there are instructions about that, special instructions about that. So
if you ever do a retreat, we'll talk about it but, in general, you shouldn't try to be
a hero. You should sleep. There are periods for sleep that are different but, in
general, you get a good sleep, a good eight hours. It's very nice when you're
meditating. Enough sleep is very important when you're meditating. Any
extreme action is going to make you nuts. You have to just be normal. Good
eating. Good happy thinking. By the way, no music, that's a big disaster. No TV,
obviously, you know. [laughs]
[laughter]

No books. No magazines. No newspapers. No personal letters. Those are all a
disaster.

[student: No dharma books? No]

Dharma book?        If you getting {lung}, and, you see, that also becomes a
distraction, becomes an excuse to not think and not be inside your mind, and and
you'll find that you're craving it, you know? And it's not because you want to
study Dharma. It's because you want to have some stimulation. [laughs] You
know? So

[student: Wheew.]

that's better.

[student: What about a book that's on the particular practice]

Well, that's

[student: that you're doing?]

good but it's better if you can read it before. You have to have some prayer
books. You have to be doing some

[student: Practice.]

practice. And if you have a commentary...but even the commentary can become
a distraction. It's better to learn it well before going, because you'll find yourself
reading the commentary not because you want to understand the practice, but
because you want some kind of stimulation [laughs] other that meditating, you
know? And and it's better.

[student: Could you say a little bit more about {lung}?]

Yeah, {lung} is, you know, [unclear]. In the West you would call it what? Like
frustration. Or anxiety. Or...it's this...it's explained as some kind of

[student: Called low blood sugar, hypoglycemia.]
It's...technically speaking, it's happening in the nervous system.                   It's it's
it's...consists of energy in the nervous system, and it it starts to feel...it's called air,
and its nuts. It's not air. It's not physical air. It's a it's a it a psychic air or mental
air, and the symptoms of it...and you should know, because many people have a
have a dangerous problem with it when they do long meditations and its...you
start to feel bloated. You start to feel anxiety. You actually...you're stomach
goes out a little bit, and you start to get short of breath. Your breath speeds up
and you feel like you can't breathe very smoothly. You feel, you know, dizzy or
light headed. You you break into giggling sometimes. You get silly, with
nobody around. I mean, you know, I I was...I...one night I was gettin' in this
tremendous laugh about doing a...thinking of a prank on my brother I haven't
met for a long time. [laughs] You know, just starting to giggle. And what else,
Kylie, you you know?

[student: I think, if if we start thinking a lot of interesting thoughts, and you
start just fixing on them and then, you know, not sleeping, thinking]

Oh, not sleeping is the, I guess, the biggest one

[student: [unclear] That's the biggest one.]

The biggest...like if you're in deep meditation and you start not sleeping and it's
very bad. One person who you're supposed to communicate with is your Lama.
He should be close by. At least, in in in necessity you should be able to phone
him if you can. Otherwise...by the way, no phone if you can take it out. Don't
have it available to yourself. He should be available to help you. So it's very
good if you can do your retreat near your Lama, or where you can at least
contact him and get his advice. 'Cause sometimes it's better to just break it and
start over again later. So...and I think the worst sign is that you'll start not
sleeping.

[student: That's especially if you've having wonderful thoughts and realizations
as a result of your meditation and you start staying up all night and thinking
about those.]

[laughs] In a good meditation you feel like talking.

[student: And what about...what about like eating the right food to try and
counteract that?]
Yeah. It's like heavy foods. You need oily food, oily foods.

[student: [unclear]]

If you're a vegetarian, it's very important to eat alot of protein [unclear] like
cheeses and nuts and sour things. But I think it that depends on each person.

[student: Yeah. I was going to say my experience was just the opposite.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[student: I was taken off oil completely because I had opposite from being too
sweet.]

So it might, oh, yeah, I' talking about when you have the opposite. And we'll
talk about it more. We'll get to it later. Okay.

[student: So so those symptoms like shortness of breath, and can't breathe
smoothly, dizzy all that...over what period of time?]

I would say if you're really having a lousy meditation [laughs] retreat that it
could start happening in two or three days.

[student: No, but how long would they go on before [unclear]]

Oh, I'd say if you don't sleep more than two days, you should stop and seek
some, you know...get out. And start, you know...and you say "Okay, it's a good
deed, I tried and I'm not ready and next time I'll do better. I'll do better
preliminaries." And, uh, there's a time when even great heroes run from the
battle. [laughs] Wiser. Many people have been badly hurt by by that. You
know, like being hospitalized. You don't wanna do that. If you do it happy,
everything just right, all preliminaries right, it's just smooth. And you hear all
these stories and you say, "I don't know why these people do that," you know? I
think they come from not...I know one case famous case in ours...where we
grew up as Dharma students when a person...the Lama told him not to do a
certain practice and he did it, and he went crazy, and he was in the, you know,
mental hospital for a couple of days.

[student: Temporary insanity, eh?]
Yeah, very temporary. He came out of it after a couple of days. But he...there
was nothing to do. We had we had to take him that place. So I think it's...you
have to follow instructions. If you do, they go...I don't wanna scare you. Ninety
per cent go very very smooth, very nice, very happy, blissful. I think [unclear]
was telling about [unclear] retreat [unclear]. They don't always start very good.
Your back hurts for a while. You gotta also tough it out sometimes.

[student: So what is it that would cause you to go to the hospital actually?]

Too much {lung}.

[student: I mean but how would that it cause you to go to the hospital?]

Ah, no the guy just got outta con...he he got wired.

[student: Not the mental hospital guy, but like at physical hospital.]

Oh, oh, I think not sleeping for a long time and then you get...you don't eat well
and

[student: If anybody's deprived of sleep long enough takes on these symptoms
of [unclear]. It's once they get sleep it ususally goes away right away. [unclear]]

Here's number two. {Dupa chungwa} It's the second condition. Now, this is not
really part of your environment. It's more of an attitude. {Dupa chungwa}
means "you you don't want many things." {Dupa} means "want." {Chungwa}
means "little." And it's a kind of attitude where you don't need much. I call it few
needs or something. You just don't need much to be happy or to be satisfied,
okay. {Dupa chungwa.} It's cousin, it's brother [silence] is {chok shepa}. {Chok
shepa} means...it's the Tibetan word to. . . for "to be satisfied, easily satisfied with
whatever you get." So what are the diffence between the two? {Dupa chungwa}
means "from the beginning you don't much."               Then {chok shepa} means
"whatever you get you don't. . . okay, that's enough." Those are two different
mental functions, actually. This comes from a very very fantastic book called
[silence] [b: Abhidharmakosa]. I remember when I was a student and I used to
get frustrated by these Sanskrit words. They just went on and on, and I couldn't
remember. And I couldn't see any difference between most of them. [laughs]
Sanskrit is written without any spaces.
[student: Ooo.]

Because when one word gets close to another word they join. And they become
at the joining...the two letters at the end form a new letter. So you can't

[student: Break 'em apart.]

And it's very hard to read Sanskrit for that reason. {Abhidharma} means "higher
knowledge}. {Kosa} means "a treasure."

[silence]

[student: This is the brother?]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to [unclear]. I misspelled this. I think there's an h in here,
and I always forget [unclear]. I worked for ten years on his book. Put it here.

[student: So then the first one is from Asanga and these two are from
Vasubandhu?]

I think I misspelled. I'll check it for you. Vasubandhu is the other brother. He's
Asanga's half brother.

[silence]

[student: Were those books written in Tibet?]

No. This is in Sanskrit.

[student: It was written in Sanskrit? When?]

Yeah, about six hundred years before Buddhism came to Tibet. And so these are
by the

[student: All of them were written in Sanskrit?]

All of the books we're gonna study in this five year course started in in ancient
India. They are the original books of Sanskrit of Buddhism. So Vasubandhu
wrote the [b: Abhidharmakosa]. When do you think he lived?
[student: At the same time as [unclear]]

[laughter]

Okay, he's

[student: [unclear]]

Yeah, it's...I have it wrong.

[student: How is he the half-brother?]

Well, remember that he came...I don't remember which came from

[student: [unclear]]

the Brahman and which came from

[unclear]

[student: She got around [unclear]]

She had she had two. Be careful. She's a holy

[laughter]

[student: [unclear] holy lady]

Vasubandhu, okay.            And he has a chapter...his book, the [b:
Abhidharmakosa]...I spent ten years translating the first Dalai Lama's
commentary to it, and it's incredible. It's just incredible. And we'll study it some
day. In the monestery you study it just before your geshe exam. And these two
principles he lists as important for meditation, okay? So, in general, your
meditation can't succeed. Once you go into that room forget about everything
else. You don't need anything else. Live without whatever you live without,
you know? Be happy with whatever you have. If you're thinking that you you
need one more thing to build the meditation, or you need something else, or
you have any desire for anything in general. And he's talking before the
meditation, too. If you're a person who's hoping to get a new house, hoping for
a new car, hoping for a air conditioner to work, not satisfied with what he has
which is a is a disaster. I think there's a...there was an ancient king called
Lollinew. He was a buddha. He was the Buddha in his former life. And he said
the greatest suffering in the world is that people are not happy with what they
have. They always want more. And if you've seen that with you job or
whatever...you know, I started my job at seven dollars an hour. I was very
happy. And I remember every year I got...I always thought that that wasn't
enough. You know, and every year they would raise you. And then if someone
asked me now, "Would you work for seven dollars an hour?" I would, you
know, I would I would say, "Are you crazy?" you know? But its...that's the result
of not having {chok shepa}. {Chok shepa} means "whatever I can get, fine. It's
enough. I don't need anymore than that." You can't have a good meditation
unless you really have these two thoughts. And you can't have them...you can't
not have them up to the time you walk into the meditation place, and then
suddenly get them, you know?

[laughter]

You have to start from you life, from you daily life. And they're very useful. I
mean, that monk that I spoke about, Yeshe [unclear]. I heard a story last night.
And he lives in Dharmasala in a cave. And somebody gave...he always walks
around with his robes up to here. And he looks like a dork.

[laughter]

And I saw him at 4:30 in the morning here last week. And he just looks goofy,
you know? And and I found out he does it on pupose. He doesn't wanna be
proud. So he he wears his robe like he just looks funny. And somebody gave
him a...new robes. And he burned them. And because he...not...because he
doesn't want to be tempted by it, you know? And he and he purposely doesn't
give himself anything to be tempted about. So those...that's {dupa chungwa} and
{chok shepa}. It doesn't mean to go to work sloppy, or purposely don't iron
your shirt or something. If you're going to work and you have to ride, you need
to have [unclear]. According to Buddhism, you need to support yourself and not
grub off other people. And you gotta stand on your own two feet and not
bother other people. So you should have a job. It should be a nice job. You
don't have to do anything wrong. And you should look neat and nice and and
you should do okay. That that doesn't mean that, but it means be satisfied with
that. Don't go don't go to Macy's if you can go to, what's the other one?

[laughter]
Someplace [unclear]

[student: Salvation Army.]

[student:    Could you just say what the differences between these two again,
please?]

Yeah, again. They're they're kinda hard to distinguish. {Dupa chungwa} means
"not wanting many wants". And {chok shepa} means "being satisfied with
whatever you get." It's not quite the same. {Depa chungwa} means "from the
beginning, you don't need much." And {chok shepa} means "whatever you get,
no matter how lousy it is, well, okay that's enough, that's enough for me."

[student: Does does this apply only to wordly things, or what about your like
hunger for the Dharma? Are you supposed to be satisfied with]

No.

[laughter]

No, you're supposed to be thirst-less.

[student: And also not attached. You gotta be willing to let go of what ever you
get.]

It's dangerous to be attached. But I remember when I went to New Jersey
twenty years ago, and there was this old monk [unclear], and there was this
other student there named Art that's a great scholar. And he said, "It's very good
you have Art." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Well, you'll be jealous of him.
And you'll compete with each other in your Dharma studies and your [unclear].
And then later you'll give up the jealousy, okay?" [laughs] So...and he's joking
but, I mean, you can use your, you know? It's not . . {Dupa} is a difficult word.
{Tongda} means "a desire for freedom, desire for liberation." Westerner's hear
this idea of no desire, and they think you're not supposed to want anything,
even nirvana or Buddhahood. That's not correct. That's totally wrong. {Dupa} is
okay. It's supposed to for Buddhahood. What's the definition of bodhichitta?

[students: [unclear]]
[unclear] {Dupa.} Desire. To want Buddhahood for the sake of others. That's
the definition, and by Asanga, of bodhichitta. And we have it. The other people
memorized it. [unclear] some kind of desire, but it's a good desire. And we'll
talk about it someday. There's a definition of just that desire. We'll take a break,
I think. [unclear]

[student: It's about ten after eight.]

Okay. Do that. [laughs]

[laughter]

Listen, take a take a ten minute break. Actually, no. I'll do something else.
[unclear] those two they take awhile. And you need to use a lighter. The gas
thing is broke.

[silence]

And then let's let's do one more thing and it'll heat up in the meantime.

[silence]

[student: So, I I'm getting the impression if you go into retreat with sort of the
idea of, "Well, I read some Dharma books while I'm there and I'll walk around
outside [unclear]]

There are there are like study retreats.

[student: No, I'm talking like that single pointed concentration retreat.]

No. I mean, you're allowed to take books into retreat. And we'll see. We'll talk
about it here. It'll be here. But in in Buddhism there are what are called the inner
sciences and the outer sciences.

[student: Yeah.]

The outer sciences are like medicine, Buddhist medicine, and Buddhist astrology,
Buddhist painting, Buddhist sculpture. The fine arts are considered lesser
sciences. And then there are the Buddhist sciences, the religious sciences, spiritual
sciences. And it's considered very bad in a retreat to do the lower sciences. You
see? And it's even considered bad to study them until you've finished

[cut]

but then if you...it's very good, you know, especially if you're a Westerner and
you haven't studied these books alot, it's very good to have the instructions with
you because you run into problems and you wanna refer to something. That's
fine. I...I'm just saying be...beware. I'm speaking from experience. Your mind
will grasp on, you know, to this activity something it can do. [laughs]

[student: I was thinking, you know, if somebody who went into retreat, for
whatever, you know, six months, or nine months, and they wanted to attain
calm abiding.]

Yeah.

[student: And they, you know, had a wide perimeter and they walked around
outside and looked at the creatures running around on the ground and
[unclear].]

Ah, it's...I don't think they could do it, or it would be difficult. And I and I can say
that the opposite works very well.

[student: What what do you mean?]

Total isolation.

[student: Michael, [unclear] {shamata} retreat. Almost everybody at that retreat
did go outside, did go down to the dining hall for lunch and dinner, you know,
didn't talk but availed themselves of the out of doors. And there was one person
who really stayed in her room, didn't come out for mealtime, took her meals in
her room, and she made lots of progress.]

[laughs] Yeah, I believe that. I've tried both.

[student: Is this the year-long? That the year-long retreat?]

[student: [unclear] she did that apparently. She [unclear].]

There's a lady's three year residence. Actually [unclear].]
[unclear]

[student: [unclear] did six months [unclear]]

[student: There area a lot of people who've done three year retreats

[unclear]

[student: [unclear] then they do [unclear].]

Some people do three three years in a row.

[student: What about {shamata}?]

Those are different, and those take a lot of preparation. So, this is the...I'll give
you number four and by then the tea should be warm.

[student: [unclear]]

Is it all right?

[student: [unclear] I don't think the gas is on.]

[student: Under the teapot? No.]

[student: No, the others are off. It's okay.]

{Jar mong pach} {Ja} {Ja} means "activities."       {Mong} means "many."      {Pach}
means "give 'em up."

[laughter]

Give up doing many things. You know, and I can speak from experience. I've
done many now long retreats. And, ahm, I I used to think that during this
sessions I would walk and I would memorize a book, a holy book. Because
that's...I'm required to. And, ah, even that became a distraction. Or translate a a
holy book, you know? And that became a distraction. And, ah, I think you just
have to give up just about everything. It's better.
[student: That's for the retreat? Not]

During the

[student: your life?]

No. No. Ah, outside...by the way, money, activities, that's a function of your
spiritual progress. You know, the Dali Lamas were traditionally the wealthiest
people in Tibet. And some Panchen Lamas were traditionally, and the Dali
Lamas, were traditionally the greatest politicians in the country. And they were
rough politicians. They weren't like wimpy, Plato, like that. They they had
difficult decisions to make. They they were...terrible things happen, invasions,
you know, internal problems. They had the same problems that Clinton has.
And they they were the they were great Buddhist practitioners. In other
words...and the first Tantric practitioners were kings in India who went to the
Buddha and said, "Look, we don't have time for this

[laughter]

all this studying, [laughs] you know? Can't you just give us something to do
powerful?

[laugher]

And that was the original...some of the original Tantras were designed by the
Buddha for them. So it doesn't mean to give up...you don't have to give up even
a very high position in the company or you don't have to give up money even
wealth, great wealth. It just means that like the, I think it was the Seventh Dali
Lama said, "The only thing I consider that I own is my bell and my dorje...you
know, my ritual my two little ritual instruments. And the rest, I own half the
country, but I don't feel like it's mine, I I I...if someone took it, I could handle that.
And the present Dali Lama, I mean, he...if you think about the power of a king
or a Dali Lama, he can go to any person in the country and say he needs
anything and you have to give it to him. It's not like America where, you know,
there can be a scandal and you can kick him out, you know. He owns
everything in the country, basically. And and he just left it and came to India and
lived like a beggar. That's a good sign. That shows it. It means you can have it,
and if you have it use it well. And many people do. Many wealthy people use it
very well. But then have the right attitude about it. Be ready to give it up on an
instant.
[student: It would be Pat Robinson without the urge to ask people for money.]

[laughter]

[laughs] {Jo mang pang} means "give up doing a lot of things." Don't...when
you, when you...we're talking about a retreat in which you consciously try to
indulge {shamata}. You go into that retreat thinking,"By the time I come out, I'm
gonna have perfect meditiation." And it and it takes time.

[student: Seems like that contradicts what you said earlier. Does it say give up a
lot of things but not everything?]

No. It means...well, it means do the few things that you have to do which is set
up your altar. You know. Clean the floor. [laughs] Even that you can get
obsessed on, you see? Your your mind plays tricks on you. You have this,
"Maybe I should spend a little more time preparing the altar, not quite sitting
quite so long." Or "Maybe I should get up and change the incense right now."
It's your mind doesn't want you to sit there. Okay, have some have some tea
and we'll start in ten minutes.

[cut]

what we talked about before. If it's physical stick it out.

[student: unclear]

Especially when you get pains in your body, which you will. They go away after
awhile.

[student: [unclear] no exercise, nothing at all. No stretch [unclear].

They...this, ah, some people do prostrations [unclear]. I I don't know. You can
also do [unclear].

[student: Michael]

distraction. They become a distraction.

[student: Well, not having any exercise can become even more of a distraction.]
Right. You can do it [unclear]. If you can do it and get away with it, [unclear].
Okay, say {tsultrim dakpa}. [repeat] {tsultrim dakpa} [repeat] What's {tsultrim}
mean, you know, the current Tibetan meaning? It means "morality."

[student: What?]

"Mor...Morality." Morality is defined in Buddhism as {"shiney suhudam [unclear]
go ma} which means, ah, the basic thing is not harming anyone. Avoiding any
harm to another living being. That's morality.

[student: What does harm mean?]

Causing them physical or mental pain. Physical or mental suffering.

[student: [unclear].]

To cause anyone else physical or mental suffering.

[student: That's {tsultrim}?]

That's the definition of morality. "Avoiding causing any physical or mental
suffering," as well. That's what {tsultrim} is. {Dakpa} means "pure, pure
morality."

[student: Is it all sentient beings or [unclear]?]

All sentient beings, and yourself.       You're not allowed to commit suicide in
Buddhism.

[student: But what about all those times you help someone [unclear]?]

That's not what I'm talking about. When a when a good teacher knows the time
to [unclear].

[laughter]

It's it's good. It's very good.

[student: Not suffering. Okay.]
Ah, {tsultrim dakpa}. This means that if if you've been in a long retreat, you
know,...can you hand me that paper [unclear]? [laughs] Now, we have it. You
all right? I'm sorry. You look cold. Ah, you you wanna go? Go.

[student: No, I'm all right.]

Okay. She did her final. Okay, ah, {tsultrim dakpa}. When you do a deep
meditation in a deep...a long retreat...if you've ever done it. If you go into the
retreat with any bad deeds on you conscience, you will never you will never be
able to develop good concentration. Forget it. Forget it. And it's just in general
with concentration, if you have any activity which you which you're doing
regularly which you know in your heart to be wrong or harmful, you won't be
able to develop concentration. Most of us who who do bad deeds, even though
we know they are well meaning...in my case, I...one of them is that I say harsh
things to people at work because I I wanna joke, and I say the wrong thing and I
hurt someone's feelings. Common. Very common with me. Ahm, you can't
control yourself. You know, it's the idea you know it's wrong. You try to stop it.
But you can't control yourself. Then you just have to to keep doing the proper
confession up front and try to prevent yourself. I mean, if you're working on it,
it's not that it's you can't have concentration. But if you are...it's particularly with
monks if you're trying to hide something wrong that you're doing, you cannot
reach...we say, if you hide...a a monk can commit his worst...he can break almost
any vow and not lose his vows. In fact, he can break any vow and not lose his
vows as long as he doesn't hide it. You know, as long as he tells people. So it's
very important that you not you not go into a retreat or you not try to develop
good meditation with anything on you conscious that you know to be bad. And
and, in general, leading up to a retreat you should try to be really good for a
while [laughs] if you can. And most of those who you know is wrong and you
can't stop it, then then make sure you have a good outlet for confession. The
minimum is that you confess it in front of your image at at your in your in your
altar, but much better if you can do it to your Lama because it's much more
embarrasing.

[laughter]

[laughs] You probably won't do it if you...if there's anyway you can get out of
telling your Lama, "I've done really bad things. And I"... Sometimes when I
couldn't control myself, I'd set a goal for I'd say, "I'm gonna tell Rinpoche." And
you know Rinpoche, he's tough. He knows. So I did not wanna tell him openly
what I did. So I I would I would rather restrain under any circumstances. If I
hadn't promised myself I would tell Rinpoche then I would be pretty safe not to
do that thing. So...although not always, but sometimes I would have to go to
him and tell him and it's very embarrassing. So, I mean, it's, ah, once you get
into that habit of revealing to people to your Lama what you've done along. It's
very very healthy. It's very very good for you. And then your mind, your
conscience will be clear. And then your meditation will go really nice. So, this
again one of those things I've had many people come up to me and say, "Ah, I
tried to develop {shamata} and nothing happened, and I went into retreat. I got
a little happy for a few days. I got a little calm. I could hear my heart beating in
my ears and stuff. And ah, and nothing happened," you know? It's 'cause they
haven't prepared properly.        They...one of these things they're not doing
properly. And, ah, you you won't you won't feel [unclear].

[silence]

[student: The sixth?]

[student: Yeah.]

Yeah, finally.

[silence]

I wanna make sure I [unclear]. [laughs]

[laughter]

I wanna make sure you've heard everything I know already. [laughs] Say
{namtok}. [repeat] {Pang.} [repeat] {Namtok pang.} [repeat] {Namtok pang.}
[repeat]. Ah, {namtok} is a...{namtok}is a very hard word to translate from
Tibetan. It can mean "fantasy." It can mean "imagination." It can mean "a wrong
thought." I've translated it as "a stupid thought." [laughs] You're dead thinking
about it. And it refers to, ah, in in this case it's desire but it can be anger and
other negative thoughts. But we mainly mean desire. Desire means two things
here. One is the object of the senses are sometimes called objects of desire in
Tibet. It doesn't mean a pretty lady, or it doesn't mean a big pile of money or
something like that. It just means sounds, any cars, tastes, sensations on your
body, and when you get deep into meditation you will have to withdraw from
those, also. That's why it's so important to get your body into the right position
because once you take that position you...you're gonna shut...you're gonna
withdraw from your body. You know, you're not gonna be aware anymore of
your body. So it should be in a position that when your mind withdraws from
the body, it can keep breathing and going on without falling over, without the
mouth drying out, without slober coming down your [laughs] tongue. I mean,
when you're in deep meditation the body should be so supported...in India
sometimes they would put a...the method...the Hindu meditatiors which I I did
meditate twenty years ago...they would...they had a special thing they put under
their arms to keep the body up while while they were in meditation. So you
wanna...you're gonna withdraw from all your senses and, ah, that means "to
give up," {namtok}, "to give up those even those kinds of perceptions of the
senses." It also means just "to give up wanting anything." Okay? And and that's
the main sense in which Tsong Khapa in his commentary...that's how he writes
it. He says, in his commentary and which you can read in the back, "This desire
also means here any kind of desire for anything in your life, any normal worldly
thing in your life." And he says, "Think about it. Trying to get them you do bad
deeds, you cause other people pain, you cause yourself pain. Trying to get
worldly objects. Secondly, they're doomed. [laughs] Even if you get it." You've
been in a situation...I've had students come to me, "Will you give me some
practice and if I do it I can get a good job."

[laughter]

And I and I did. And some of them did. But I knew what was gonna happen.
After six weeks they said, "I hate this job."

[laughter]

It's so bad.

[laughter]

[student: I know. You're right.]

[laughter]

It always changes. Every desirable thing changes. Every good thing you lose.
Every worldly good thing you will lose, period. And so Tsong Khapa in his
commentary, which you can read, says, you know, "Think about it. You're
crazy. It's crazy. Don't don't go and try to go into meditaton wanting...you have
to go into meditation with an attitude of renunciation. Anything else in your life
is gonna...you're gonna lose." Sometimes I think the worst thing at work is to get
to be a vice-president. And then you find out there's nothing there. [laughs]
And then you're stuck. [laughs] Very embarrasing to go from vice-president
down to some'n else, [laughs] you know? So [laughs] why did you have to
actually [laughs] [unclear].

[student: [unclear]]

Ah, so it's it's a...you you nothing can satisfy you. And whatever you get of all
the things you struggle to get, you will lose. And you will have suffering as you
lose it. So give it up. Give up those kinds of ideas. Give up those thoughts.

[student: [unclear] meditation and the senses and all those little things that you
do as preliminaries that, ah, incense and all that sort of thing that's...it's
distracting.]

It can be. It can be. I mean, if you, ah, I've found in in in long retreats that I had
to put out the incense because the smoke would distract me and the smell

[student: Yes.]

would distract me and I would start opening my eyes, you know, and say,
"Maybe I should [unclear], [laughs] you know what I mean, [laughs], anything
except meditation. Yeah, it can be distracting. If if you're distracted by anything,
chop it off. Jesus said, "If you're eye offend thee, pluck it out." [unclear] So, if it's
bothering you, stop it. Get rid of it. [unclear] {Pang} means "to get rid
of" [unclear]. We had it before.
Okay, one more point.

[student: So hopefully, it's get rid of sex desires.]

Yeah, or, and also, get rid of the desire for anything in your life that's not related
to...that's impermanent, that's not related to your reaching nirvana. Because
that's the only thing that really counts. It really is. Nothing else will help you.
Nothing. Even the comfort that you achieve at this level, you know, right now.
You're relatively young. You live in a comfortable house. You have enough
food. You must lose all those things. You must lose any kind of attractiveness
you have in your body. You must lose whatever health you have. And and I
think what bothers me, and lot of other people here maybe, you must become
stupid. You know, you...I'll forget all my Tibetan. I'll forget most of what I
studied. You know, if I live long enough. I mean that's...you're doomed to metal
decrepitude, also, and that's frustrating if you...as you start to age, that's very
frustrating. And whatever good deeds you do are gonna have to be so
ingrained in you that as you get stupid they they're habitual because you're no
longer gonna be able to concieve of those good ideas that you had. Everything
fails. So so that...don't don't go after things that are gonna plant seeds that are
worthless. You're gonna lose everything you have. I mean, and and then I I I
hear these I always hear these ladies they're so funny, "I'm not gonna get fat like
my mother was." You know, I go, you know?

[laughter]

When I was a teenager I used to check out the mother first, you know? Because
if the mother got fat, I'd go [unclear]. Did the mother look old or...the the
daughters, they get the same, you know, come on [laughs]. Wha'da ya think?
[laughs] You think you're different from the millions of [unclear] that gave you
birth? We're all gonna be like that. It's no...it's silly. There's nothing you can
keep, except very deep seeds of Dharma in your heart. They go on. Okay. Ah,
Tsong Khapa then says, and this is the last thing that's on your homework.

[silence]

You had this last week, remember? [b: Gom Rim] [b: Gom Rim] is the book
from which he took all six. Eveything I've said tonight Tsong Khapa took from
[b: Gom Rim].

[student: Tsong Khapa took it from [b: Gom Rim]?]

Yeah

[student: I though you said]

Yeah, he took the first step from Asanga.

[student: Oh.]

And so did [b: Gom Rim].

[student: Okay.]
Okay? [laughs] So so don't get confused. I'll repeat that.

[student: So, but two two and three were [unclear]]

Tonight we talked about six conditions. The first condition was staying in a
conducive place. That had five parts but of which you don't have to remember.
You're not responsible for [unclear]. Those five parts came from another book
by Asanga. But all six of what we talked about tonight...the whole list that you
have now...those came from [b: Gom Rim]...written when?

[silence]

And we talked about it. He was the one who defeated the Chinese master.
Kamalashila. So, as usual, Tsong Khapa is saying, " I didn't make this up. This is
not my idea. It comes from a very good source. It's from the [b: Gom Rim] of
Kamalashila." [b: Gom Rim] means "[b: Stages of Meditation]." Remember you
recognize the {rim} as in [b: Lam Rim], right. It's it's three huge books. It's
beautiful. We have a sampler for it. So that was [unclear].

[student: So is the [b: Abhidharmakosha] also known as the [b: Gom Rim]?]

Now, what about [b: Abhidharmakosha]? [b: Abhidharmakosha] is the source
for two of the six ideas I talked about. Two of the conditions I've talked about
tonight. What were they?

[student: {Dupa chungwa.}]

Yeah.

[student: {Chok shepa.}]

Yeah. Not wanting a lot of things and being satisfied with whatever...with with
with whatever you get. The reason they came from the [b: Abhidharmakosha]
and then Kamalashila used those. So if I asked you on the homework, "Who
wrote the book for all six?" You'll say, "Kamalashila in [b: Gom Rim]." Then if I
say, "Who wrote the book for those two concepts, being happy with whatever
you get and not wanting much?" That's?

[student: Vasubandhu.]
Vasubandhu in the [b: Abhidharmakosha]. And then if I say, "Who wrote the
five parts of the very first thing I talked about which is conducive place?" You're
gonna say?

[student: Asanga.]

Asanga. So, I just want you to get it straight. You don't get confused. I have this
very

[student: Could I have that very quick once more?]

Yeah, one more time. The source...by the way...whose...who wrote the whole
book? It's not on you homework.

[laughter]

Tsong Khapa is talking. And Tsong Khapa is pulling his...what he is using for all
six that I have talked about tonight...which are what? I I I I got every one of 'em
erased off.

[student: Conditions.]

Equinimity.

[student: The conditions.]

Place. And then what?

[student: [unclear]]

Good place. Real good place. Not wanting many things.

[student: [unclear]]

Being satisfied with what you have. What's number four?

[student: Giving up doing too many things.]

Yeah, giving up a lot of activities. And then morality.
[student: Morality]

And then?

[student: [unclear]]

Yeah, getting rid of desires and similar stupid thoughts. All six of those come
from [b: Gom Rim]. Who wrote [b: Gom Rim]?

[student: Kamalashila.]

When did he live? We don't know, in fact. Who who is Tsong Khapa using for
the very first one of those things...the five parts of the six where stay in a place
with no wild animals?

[student: Asanga.]

Yeah, Asanga wrote that in his in his [b: Sutralamkara]. Who who is the source
that Kamalashila uses for the second and the third one, not wanting many things
and being easily satisfied?

[student: [unclear]]

Vasubandhu's [b: Abhidharmakosha]. Yeah?

[student: So did the...there's a Sanskrit version of this?]

It it it would be...the Sanskrit is available. It was originally written in Sanskrit.
Why don't we have the Sanskrit of ninety-nine percent of the other books?

[student: They were destroyed.]

They were burned by the Moslems when they came to India [unclear].

[student: Okay, but you also said that Kamalashila was the person who defeated
the Chinese school of meditation in Tibet so we [unclear]]

Oh, he was a visiting scholar.
[student: He came from India]

Yeah, he came from India.

[student: to Tibet?]

He was one of the first carriers of Buddhism from from India.

[student: And he wasn't native to Tibet?]

No, he was Indian. I'm only studying the classics. It's the Asian Classics Institute.

[laughter]

Okay, what time is it?

[student: Nine [unclear].]

I'll say one more thing. Maybe I can make it [unclear] anyway. He says, "By the
way you should be aware that there's another set of conditions which"...and this
is not on your homework. It's just for your [unclear], okay?..."There's another
set of conditions which help you develop concentration." And they are? Which
which one of the perfections is concentration?

[student: Fifth]

[student: Fifth one.]

It's number five of six. And he says, "Remember the first four are also called. So
the first four are supporting the fifth. And the first five support the sixth. They
are like that. Not not only like that there's other relationships, also.

[student: The first supports the second. The]

Generally, yeah. Generally. And he quotes Asanga. He says he says that.

[student: Michael, isn't Lama Tsong Khapa quoting Kamalshila's [unclear]]

[laughs] Tsong Khapa. He's quoting Tsong Khapa. And what he's what he's
say...what are the first four perfections for people who haven't read it?
[student: [unclear]]

Cha...Charity. Giving.

[student: Morality.]

Morality. Patience meaning, we don't have a word in English, "not getting angry
when the time comes and you should get angry." You see, patience is also what
you do when you're waiting for the bus. It doesn't mean that. You see, it means
"not to get angry when the time comes." And there isn't a good word, and
patience partly covers it, but it means when that guy at work...that thing that just
hurts you a lot. And and I get it every day, and you get it everyday. If you work
at a large office, somebody says something during the day that hurts you. You
you cool. You chill out. Okay? You know, you don't get angry. This is a great
great Buddhist practice, and [unclear] says it's the most beautiful Buddhist
practice there is. At the moment of heat, not to react, not to give in. That's the
third. What's the fourth?

[student: Effort or perseverance.]

Those are lousy words for {sunkan ghahla dzoroh}, Master Shantideva's
description. {Sunkan ghahla dzoroh.} What is the definition of effort? Effort is a
good translation. But what does it mean? It means "to enjoy doing good things."
That's the definition of Buddhist effort, enjoying helping somebody, doing
something right, doing something beautiful, and taking some kind of pleasure in
it, getting off on doing good is the definition of the fourth perfection. And those
are all conditions which help you reach the fifth perfection which is
concentration. So I'll leave you with, ah, this is what Tsong Khapa puts at the
end. He...sometimes after he's finishing quoting all the great Indian masters,
including the Buddha, he'll quote some Kadampa. Who are the Kadampa?

[student: [unclear]]

These are the pioneer...I talked about it last time?

[student: Yeah.]

These are the pioneer Buddhist of Tibet. They are the...you are the Kadampas of
the of the move of Buddhism to America. You know, you are the people who
were not Buddhist from birth. They were they were really great practitioners.
They were wonderful. As they matured in their knowledge, they were they
were very wonderful Buddhists. So Geshe Tubten was one of them. Geshe
Tubten says...by the way, Geshe used to mean any "spiritual teacher." Now it's a
degree in a Gelugpa monastery for a doctorate of [unclear] but it used to mean
just any "spiritual teacher." And he says, I I'm translating from the Tibetan,
"When we find ourselves unable to develop deep concentration, we blame it on
the instructions that we got. And we go and we look for some different
instructions.    The real problem though is that we have failed to prepare
ourselves as described by the Buddha," okay? In other words, if you've ever
tried to do a retreat, or you've ever tried to do morning practice, and you didn't
get much results from it, it could well be not only this, but it could very well be
that you haven't done these preparations properly. So try them. Try them. So
what you're meditating on this week is those six conditions. Just go over them in
your mind, one, two, three, four, five, six. What are they? And use those six
preparations that you have, which were what? Just just to go over...I mean, let's
see if you could meditate. So what what was the first [unclear] for preparation.

[student: Cleaning up the room. [unclear]]

[student: [unclear] Taking refuge.]

And sitting down.

[unclear]

Actually imagining that they're coming into the room. That's even better. Five?
Five?

[unclear]

[laughter]

[unclear] In the monastery if the students aren't ready to to debate Master
[unclear] he wades through the place. [unclear] outside [unclear].

[unclear]

And then last?
[student: Requesting a blessing.]

Requesting a blessing. And the seven you know perfectly so I won't have to go
over those. I have a couple of announcements. One is I don't know if you guys
know Allen. Allen has AIDS. He's been in this class before. He's in the hospital
now at New York Hospital. Room 1715.

[student: [unclear]]

He was in the Tibetan. But he also came before we started this class. And and
he's a very good practitioner. And I think its even good for you if you see him.
He he...I asked him the other day if he minded if people came. And he said, "No,
I don't mind. In fact, I would like it 'cause sometimes I get lonely and I start
crying [unclear]." He's a very strong-minded man. But...but so if you have the
chance, I think he he would like that.

[student: What's the hospital?]

New York University. New York, I'm sorry, New York Hospital. Sixty-eighth
and New York.

[student: What's his last name?]

Last name is Tune, T-U-N-E. And he'll be there for a while so.

[student: What's he look like?]

He he was an actor. He was a very handsome Chinese guy. Also, Mark, Mark
has AIDS, also. And I want...we had a big discussion about whether I should tell
you that sometime. But I think I should. Mark, here. And I wanted to tell you
because if anyone has a problem then you should know. I don't have a problem
with it, that happened, it happened, but I I'd I'd say I feel it's my responsibility to
to tell if you've got a problem. Next thing, [unclear]

[student: [unclear]]

[student: Channel thirteen?]

Channel thirteen tomorrow
[student: [unclear]]

at nine o'clock there's a movie about

[student: Red Flag Over Tibet. Red Flag Over Tibet.]

There's a there's a movie about

[student: Twenty years of oppression and stuff.]

[student: [unclear]]

[unclear] documentary it's got some of the footage of [unclear]

[student: Who made it?]

[student: [unclear] a very good]

[student: Sad, huh?]

[student: [unclear] a lot of people in Tibet [unclear]]

Somebody [unclear]. If you're new and you haven't taken...this is your first
night, you have to talk to me because you're only allowed to miss two and you
missed it already.

[laughter]

So [laughs] you wanna [unclear] we have to talk.

[student: [unclear]]

The Israelis call it a kickback question.

[student: Can can I ask a question one question, please?]

Yeah. [unclear]

[laughter]
So, oh, good idea.

[student: So on the six perfections. So on the first, on charity, you have to do
charity or you can't develop wisdom each supports the next is [unclear].]

He's saying that it's symbiotic actually. Each one supports each other one.

[student: So it's not linear that way?]

Yeah, it it and it is explained as linear, and also as non-linear. In other words,
you do have to have good charity to get to morality. Good charity helps good
morality. But it's not necessarily

[student: One not...you don't have one you can't get the other?]

You get good morality, normally, you're gonna end up doing charity, too. And
espec...and they also say that they can't be called perfections unless they're done
with wisdom. So it's a catch twenty-two. And it works out. They they support
each other.

[student: Can you perfect a earlier one before you perfect the later ones?]

No.

[student: Or they're not really perfected until they're all [unclear]]

True perfection of them occurs in relation to the bodhisattva [unclear] and that's
what defines the bodhisattva vows. Bodhisattva...the ten bodhisattva levels are
defined by perfection of wisdom's perfection. So the first bodhisattva vow
would be perfect [unclear], like that.

[student: So you can perfect an earlier ones]

You do.

[student: before you can only [unclear].]

But it's not called perfection. It's called obtained an incredible ability to practice it.
You know, some kinda super ability.
[student: Are we gonna do chanting?]

Excuse me?    Oh, you you don't know those prayers?       Open your notebook
[unclear].

[silence]

[prayer: short mandala]

[prayer: dedication]

[cut]

[student: During the preliminaries, you know, before going into meditation, is it
this kinda thing when you have like a much reduced chance of succeeding if
[unclear].]

[unclear]

[cut]
940224-1.aaa
4a.txt
ACI Course III: Applied Meditation