ACI 6 «Сутра Алмазного Огранщика», занятие 1

NOTE: TAPE TWO MISSING
Diamond Cutter Sutra
Vajrapani Institute - 8/24/96



Class One

Let you and me get the mind down and let other people get here.

[pause]

Ah, yeah, there some prayers that...in your notebook and uh, we'll start with the
one that says {kyabdro semkye} and we'll do that three times. That's sorta to set
the tone that you're here because...Yes?

[student: something about the mike]

Is that better? How about I just do it. I'll just talk loud, okay? [laughs] We're
gonna to do a prayer. It's in your notebook. We gonna to do {kyabdro semkye}
and that's mainly to set the tone of the teachings. Hum, it to say why you came
here and what you're going to do. And ideally you're here because, uh, you
want to become a good person yourself and you want to help other people.
And you want to... the best way to help others, according to Buddhism, is to
become good yourself. And so you have a double goal. One is to become good
yourself and the other is to help other people by doing that. So you kill two
birds with one stone. In Tibetan they say {Digay shi goden di shey}, it means to
shoot two deer with one bow...and uh, this is setting the tone. And that's the
purpose of this prayer. Okay, and after that we do a mandala offering. Um.
That again has two purposes. First of all it's requesting the teachings...because
we're not supposed to teach unless people want it. And secondly, uh, ..during
the mandala offering you try to imagine the whole planet earth, uh, as the
perfect place. You know, everyone in the planet has reached some kind of
happiness and and joy and permanent contentment..and then you offer
that...and that's how we...that's the correct payment for this teaching cause that's
the only way thing that would be appropriate for this. There's no amount of
money or uh, jewels or uh, diamonds or anything else that would be worth this
teaching . So...actually offering the whole world in exchange for the teachings...
the whole world perfect and everyone in it happy. And that's sorta appropriate
payment for this teaching, okay? [laughs] So we'll do that prayer. I think that
Drimay will be the chanting master.
[prayer: refuge]

[student, Drimay: it's on page that says {mandel} at the top]

[prayer: short mandala]

[pause]

Okay..okay..this complete? Welcome. We're going to study, uh, Diamond
Cutter Sutra and it was taught by Lord Buddha, uh, 500 bc And, there's an
interesting part right in the middle of the Diamond Cutter Sutra that says, uh,
"anyone who starts studying this, uh, sutra well will start to have disasters
happening in their life". [laughs]. Eh, because it's some kind of purification. You
know, to study this sutra which is so precious ..uh..that all the bad karmas that
you have collected up inside of you already ..they'll start to come out in a better
way than if you had left them there. But the profits of them coming out causes
some problems. And I have no doubt that...and you should have no doubt that
during the course of this week there will be some problems.                   Like the
microphone not working and [laughs] uh, and you have to be ready for those.
Okay, so there will be..uh, things will go wrong..uh.. it will probably rain the
whole week ...uh... it will be too hot or too cold..uh... there will bugs flying
around...uh, right in the middle of the important part you'll start to get a
{klesha}. You know, you'll start to get jealous of somebody or you'll start to
think something bad or your foot will start to hurt or something like that. And I
just want to say..hum...you know, we're very lucky. I mean to have a thing like
this here, uh, is is incredibly rare. First of all, we're all healthy, fairly...I mean,
we're healthy enough to have this class. Huh, we've been blessed by many great
Lamas who have come here..hum, they have taught us and past things on to us.
Many great Lamas here before. [voice chokes] so we're lucky from that point of
view. Hum, and we're lucky that ,uh, people have worked so hard to arrange all
this thing here. Hum, Buddhism is is always against the idea of self- existence.
And this place didn't come here self-existently, you know. Lots of people
worked here. There's lot of people behind the scenes who are really doing a lot
of work and pulling their hair out and usually they don't even get to come to the
teachings. First time the Dalai Lama came to our temple...when they announced
it...people asked me, "Well, won't it be wonderful ?" And I said, "Not really
because I'll be in the kitchen making mo-mos." you know, [laughs] [laughter] I
won't be able to see him and all the people who never come will be able to meet
him, you know, and that's exactly what happened. Hum, and so all the people
who worked to make this possible are still over there washing dishes or
something and you have to be grateful to them . They really worked hard.
Hum, this place is beautiful and it's ,uh, very hard to keep it up. And it's very
hard to keep it here. So, you know, try to express your gratitude to those
people and be grateful to them. So..

[student: Now that you mentioned that, there a list from the kitchen]

[laughs] Okay, there is a guy making mo-mos. [laughter]

[student: [unclear]]

Okay, so it's very very lucky , very unusual to have this happen...and uh, it will
be unusual if we get through the week without some problems. So just be a top
ass and uh, and put up with them. Don't be wimpy, you know. If your legs hurt
or something, just do it...okay... and it's very lucky, it's very fortunate. We don't
know if we'll have a chance like this again. So, take advantage of it and and and
do it. Hum, I'm asking people.. this course normally takes about two to three
months and this is sort of an experiment to try to do it in one week. It's going to
be very hard for you. Huh, there will be lot of material. It will be going on very
long each day ...and it will be hard for you to ,huh, keep up with it... and it will be
little uncomfortable for you physically. So you have to try to be tough and try
to try to hang it out and try to finish it. Hum, I'm asking people not to miss
more than ,uh, two classes. I mean, normally in the course in New York we kick
you out, but uh, I think, here, they're being more wimpy or something, I don't
know. Uh, but try to, try to come to all ten. The idea is that this is a
transmission. This is a lineage. Uh, this is a lineage really just starting in America
of the Diamond Cutter Sutra and and really not many people have heard it. The
book you're going to study was just found again. It was lost. Um, it's the whole
start of what I hope would be a long lineage in this country of the Diamond
Cutter. It's extremely important. So, you know, if you only come to half the
classes, then from the very first day the lineage is, like, fifty percent and after...
we gotta to go five thousand..twenty five hundred more years with it. So it's no
good if from the first day there's only half. After a few hundred years it will get
down to ,huh, you know, people doing it as a little prayer in the temple or
something...and people won't understand what it means, at all. So it's very
important, if it's at all possible, that you don't miss any of these classes, okay?
Huh, otherwise you won't be able to pass it on to other people.. And you should
be in the mode or the mood of thinking..huh.. as you go through this class you
won't get this again..we won't have time to do this again. You won't get these
conditions again. Huh, imagine that you are like the last person in America who's
hearing it and it's up to you to hand it on to other people. And it really is. You
have to think of it that way. Making notes very nice...huh, try to pay attention
to everything...try to catch everything...in the state of mind that one day you can
pass it on to other people. Because that's the only way it will survive in this
country. And so you have to be in that mode. You have to be thinking like that,
you know. You are not just listening for yourself, you're listening for other
people. And you have to think like that. You don't...don't waste the time and
don't waste the chance. Get it all...and be able to transmit it to other people,
okay?        That's the very important thing.                Hum.       There'll be
homeworks...huh...and there'll be quizzes and at the end we will have a final..
and if you pass the final you get some certificate Huh...that's kinda one way to
assure that people could pass it on properly..could pass this thing on properly.
Huh, the homework, you know, you didn't do it since high school, or
whatever....huh, but it really does work. You know, I've had many students
over the years and I've come to learn that if people do it...do the
homework ..and do a quiz ...huh, it makes everything very firm in your mind.
And if you think...and if you just sit there and listen and go home, it sorta
disappears in about three days. Uh, so this is just to try try to get it into your
mind and try to get it to stay there. And also this whole idea of the notebooks is
something that you can use for your own students. If you pass it on to other
people huh, you could do it this way. Hum...we also have a system where you
can ...you can order these notebooks ...we kinda give them away right now...uh,
and it's giving making us all bankrupt but it's fun...and huh, and so you can get
more of those if you're teaching. If you wanted to start a small class about it and
teach it to other people that would be very nice...        and so try to keep your
notebook nice..and the homeworks and quizzes like that, you could have those
also if you're interested in it. So this is like a package that you could you could
pass on to other people. Hum, there'll be a group of people grading the
homeworks because it takes a long time to grade. Huh, on the days that we
have two classes, especially, we may not be able to finish them in time to give
them to you for the following class. Because it takes a lot of time. Um, but I like
to introduce you to the people who are going to work on grading. I don't even
know if they all know. [laughs] But Ven. Jigme Palmo is going to be... raise your
hand...is going to be one grader huh and ...Robert Chilton is going to be another
grader ....huh, Robert is also arranging uh, schedules, like if you wanted talk
about things or something like that. We have a ... I don't have much time... but
we have a specific period set out so if you want to have talks about things, hum,
talk to Robert. Tessie is going to do some. I don't know if you know that. Okay
[laughs] well [laughs] Tessie Davis Davies Huh, Elizabeth Heimburg .. where is
she?...and Ora Maimes Sundata. Those people are going to be graders. So if
they don't grade it well, blame them, alright? [laughs] But try to finish it try to
finish it nicely. Hum, it will just make it better in your own mind and you'll be
able to pass it on better to other people. It's not like a punishment or anything
like that. Huh, that's about it..all I have to. Then there's a schedule you can see.
Did everyone get a schedule, no? Just generally we'll start just before ten with
some meditation each week...weekend day and we'll go to about twelve. I like
to take a break in the middle. Huh, we've got some junk food over there...that
you can go have. We brought it from the east coast. We couldn't find any in
Ari..in California [laughs] [laughter]...and you're welcome to go there, but just
please come back like within ten minutes. Because if you strangle back and you
miss...you might have missed the most important line of the sutra or something
like that. okay? Huh, so we'll take a break about half way through. Hum. I'll try
not to run over. Then we'll go from three to five today. Afternoon is really a
hard time huh, to have a class. I almost prefer the evening. But we thought that
people might want to get home ,you know, in time for sleeping and stuff. So it's
going to be hard in the afternoon. I suggest that you don't eat a whole lot for
lunch and you can always eat a lot after the evening class... because you won't be
able to concentrate. Huh, this subject is Madhyamika, middle way...mostly
emptiness...and huh, it's a... it's a great tonic for going to sleep [laughs]. I can tell
you from experience. Huh, there's just something about this subject that puts
people to sleep. Not just me...and huh...so be...be careful about how much you
eat in the morning and the even...the after...and the noon. You can eat in the
evening and it will be digested by the next day, I guess. Huh...during the week...
I think it's ...what nights?...Tuesday and Thursdays? ... Tuesday and Thursday
night, we start at seven and we'll go till nine, okay? Uh, and that's all...try to
catch them all. Whatever you were going to do that you were going to miss
one, just cancel it. You won't miss it much. And this is a...it would be really bad
to miss any of these ... of these parts of this sutra. So that's my pitch. Huh...now
we'll talk about the Sutra. I'll be putting Tibetan on the board and huh...standing
in front of it so you can't copy it on time and [laughs] and you have to... I'll put
the sound of the Tibetan also. You have two choices. You can do your
homework in the Tibetan. You can answer the questions in Tibetan or you can
answer it in English...either way. Huh, I don't care which way you do it. I'll be
asking you to repeat the Tibetan sounds just because it's a good...it's a good seed
to have in your mind. Huh, and there's a lot of people in the classes in New York
who swore they would never learn Tibetan who are now quite good in Tibetan.
And some of them are even teaching it. So don't think you can't learn it. It's a
very simple language. You know, it was invented for herding yaks and huh, it's
not difficult. It's really not difficult. I think it's the easiest language I ever hear of.
So you can learn it, you know. Huh, Try. Try to learn some of it. Okay. The
name of this sutra in Sanskrit

[pause]

In Sanskrit it's {vajra chedika}. Say {vajra} [repeat] {chedika} [repeat] {vajra}
[repeat] {chedika} [repeat]. Okay. {vajra} means diamond, okay. {vajra} means
diamond, and we'll talk about it. We'll talk about why. {chedika} means cutter.
The one who cuts. Okay. this sutra has been translated in the past. It was
translated as the Diamond Sutra and that's.. that's not correct. The name of the
sutra is the Diamond Cutter. And I'll beat up anyone who says diamond sutra,
okay [laughs] it's Diamond Cutter. And we'll talk about it. We'll talk about why,
okay,...so it's {vajra chedika}. In Tibetan

[pause]

Say {dorje} [repeat] {chupa} [repeat} {dorje} [repeat] {chupa} [repeat]. {Dorje}
means diamond ..uh. {do} in Tibetan means lock or stone. And {je} means like
the king or the prince of stone...and so the greatest of stones is the diamond.
Okay. {chupa} means cutter... to cut. {dorje chupa} So {dorje chupa} means, huh,
diamond cutter. I'm going to tell you a little about the history of the sutra. Huh,
they don't get into this much in the monasteries. I mean, you can study a book
for eighteen years and something and not know who wrote it or know much
about the book. I thought that in the West we sorta take an interest in ...in a little
about the history of the book. It's a short, uh, sutra. It's not more than fifty
pages. Uh, it was the first printed book in this world... I mean the Chinese
translation huh, is in the British Museum and it's the oldest printed book in the
world. Huh, it was the first book ever printed instead of written. And huh, it
was spoken by the Buddha five hundred bc.. two and a half thousand years ago.
And in the world...in the Buddhist world, huh, until the recent bad times of
Buddhism in the world, huh, it was one of the greatest books. It was studied in
many countries...in China..in Japan...it's obviously been very very important. In
Mongolia, for example, every family would keep a copy in their home and huh,
once or twice a year they would invite all the monks from the local monastery to
come and read it in their home... to bless the home. So it was considered a very
important, huh , sutra. In ancient India, there were many commentaries. We
only have two of them left. Okay. Huh, in the Tengyur, in the canon. In the
Buddhist canon in the Tibetan language, huh ,which is the Sanskrit books
translated into Tibetan, we only have two commentaries left. Huh, one is by

[pause]
say Kamalashila [repeat] Kamalashila [repeat] Uh, not only did they translated
these great Sanskrit writers' names into Tibetan and the Tibetan translation is
Kamalashila...okay [laughs] This is one name that they didn't change. Uh, he
wrote a commentary in about 750 A. D. Kamalashila is famous because he did
actually reach Tibet ...uh...and he...he was involved in a very famous debate in
the ...in the Tibetan court in which the Tibetans were trying to decide which kind
of meditation to follow. And there was a representative from China who came
and spoke in favor of one kind of meditation and then Kamalashila represented
the ..the ancient Indian viewpoint about meditation...and that the discussion was
whether you should just empty your mind out and not think about anything...or
whether you should take a specific object and meditate on it. And they decided
this question the old way which is that they would ...they debated in the court of
the king and people sat there...and after a week or two of debate , uh...people
voted and uh, they decided which kind of meditation they would follow in Tibet.
Kamalashila won...and the idea that you should meditate on nothing ...or that
you should just try to empty out your mind and think about nothing was
actually banished from Tibet...uh, and the Tibetans didn't follow that tradition
after that. So that's sorta Kamalashila's claim to fame. He wrote a commentary
on the [b. Diamond Cutter] that's very difficult. It's very..quite long and it's also
very philosophical. He gets into deep deep things about the ideas of the Mind
Only school and the Madhyamika schools and he doesn't ..uh...he doesn't give a
word by word commentary. He just sorta uses it as an excuse to write a
long...uh... philosophical treatise, which is very interesting but...very difficult
[laughs]. So we're not going to cover that. Uh, another commentary... earlier
commentary was written by

[pause]

Say Vasubandu [repeat]      Uh...Vasubandu was the half brother of somebody
named...who? Asanga, okay and this were the two.. we call {kitchay nu}... the
two greatest brothers. Uh... they lived 350 A. D. Uh...in the monastery we study
five great books. We study...first we spend twelve years on the [b: Perfection of
Wisdom]... on a book called [b: amnisaraancara]. And then we spend two or
three years on Madhyamika... a book called [b: madhyamika aryatara]. Then we
spend {prativatika}...we spend every winter...about two or three
months...uh...then we have [b: Abhidarmakosha] which we spend two
years...and then we have ...[b. the Vinaya sutra]...which takes another two or
three years. And among those books...two of them were written by these two
brothers. In other words, they have written...uh...between those two half
brothers...most of the important books in the monastic curriculum. Vasubandu
is famous because he wrote the [b: Abhidharmakosha]. This is the most basic
text for Abhidharma. Abhidharma ...in this sense means...the study of...uh...the
first school of Buddhism...the first of the four great schools in India. So his book
is very famous for that. And we study it in the monastery. We spend ten years
on it.    Uh...it's a very great book.       It covers all the ideas of Buddhism
basically ...uh... and it is the most important Buddhist book throughout south
India...throughout the Theravadin countries. So Vasubandu is famous for that.
He also wrote a commentary on the [b: Diamond Cutter]. Okay.

[pause]

You're going to be studying a different commentary...and that's by

[pause]

Say {Choney} [repeat] {Drakpa} repeat {Shedrup} repeat {Choney} [repeat]
{Drakpa} [repeat] {Shedrup}[repeat] okay...hum...Up until his time for all we ...as
far as we know. You know. We have now computerized many thousand of
pages of catalogs of books in Tibet. We haven't finished all of them. We're,
maybe, ten percent through [laughs] but we don't find any other commentary
before him on the [b: Diamond Cutter Sutra] in Tibet. Uh...and he also says in
his commentary that he's not aware of any other Tibetan commentary. And in
fact, he was only aware of Kamalashila commentary.              He didn't have
Vasubandu's commentary available to him. Uh, {Choney} is a place in Tibet... it's
in east Tibet. It's part of the province called Amdo. Okay...so {Choney} is a
famous part of Amdo and there's a famous monastery called {Choney
Gompa}..okay...{Choney guchen} which means the great monastery of
{Choney}. Uh, it was largely destroyed uh... after 1959. Hum, {Drakpa
Shedrup} was one of the greatest lamas from that monastery and like many
other people from east Tibet eventually he came to the center of
Tibet ...Lhasa...to study and he studied at the greatest monastery in the world
[laughter] {student: Harvard]

[laughs] [pause]

Okay. Uh...he's from Sera Mey. Uh, Sera Mey monastery. Sera is one of the big
three monasteries in Tibet. It has two colleges and Mey is one of the two
colleges. So he was from Sera Mey monastery in Lhasa in Tibet. Um, in fact he
wrote...uh...most of the...he wrote half of textbooks for Sera Mey. Each...each
major monastery has its own textbook series and {Drakpa Shedrup}
wrote...uh...the second series of textbooks that are used at Sera Mey. So,
through the Geshe course...through twenty years of study or eighteen years of
study ...uh...you would be studying a lot of {Choney Drakpa Shedrup}'s book.
Uh, each monastery in old Tibet kept their textbooks very tightly and they were
sorta of considered top secret property and ...uh...because we often have inter
monastery debates and you don't want...uh... the other team to...uh...find out all
your secret weapons. So the... the books were kept very tightly in the ...in the
monasteries. Hum. {Choney Drakpa Shedrup} wrote twelve volumes. He
wrote, maybe...um...ten thousand pages of commentaries. And those books
were all stored in the library of Sera Mey in Lhasa up to 1959.
1959...um...uh...that monastery was shelled by artillery. And one shell hit the
library and...uh...all those books were lost [voice tearful]... and so we couldn't
find any copies for about thirty years ...of...uh...these books...uh...and no one
could study them for thirty years...hum. We find one copy in Bejing about five
years ago that was very... couldn't read it very well. And then...uh...about three
years ago we found a copy in St. Petersburg, Russia in a great library there.
So...uh...we're very lucky, and you're very lucky to have the book. [slight laugh]
It's the only Tibetan commentary.

[pause]

Say {tylam} [repeat] {selway} [repeat} {nima} [repeat]. Uh... {ty} stands for
{typon}, we had it last night...what was that? Like freedom, okay. {typa} means
freedom. It's another word for Nirvana. And the highest kind of Nirvana which
is...which is Buddhahood...okay? Uh {tylam} {lam} means the path...{lam} means
the path...so {tylam} means the path to freedom. The path to Nirvana and
Buddhahood. Hum, {selway} means .. it...it makes clear...it illuminates, okay?
{selway} means illuminates. And {nima} do you know? {Nima} means sun,
okay? Then...so this is the name of {Drakpa Shedrup}'s commentary. By the
way, sometimes he's just called {Choney Lama}. The lama from Choney...like
the lama from Kansas or something...okay?.. Kansas lama. Uh, {Choney Lama}'s
commentary is named...uh..."The Sun Which Illuminates The Path To Freedom"
Okay? It's like the sunlight lets you see the road to go somewhere. And that's
the name of his commentary.

{student: And what does {selway} mean?]

{selway} means to illuminate or to make clear.
[pause]

And the sutra starts out like this... there's this scene where the Buddha...Lord
Buddha is...uh...it...it starts with Lord Buddha waking up in the morning, okay?
[laughs] And...uh...he gets up and he goes through....you know he brushes his
teeth and whatever and...uh...he gets ready to have his morning meal. Uh, and
traditionally a monk would..would just live off the kindness of other people and
only eat...uh...one large meal a day. So, the Buddha gets up. He does all his
morning chores and then he..he puts on his robes and then he gets ready and
takes his begging bowl...we call it wisdom bowl...and he goes to...uh...town to do
his...to ask for food...and...uh...he...he gets a bowlful of food and he comes back,
he eats....and then he ...he refreshes himself and then he goes into some kind of
deep meditation. And then one of his...then his students start to gather around
him and..uh...there's different versions of about how many students...but it's like
a thousand monks...or something like that...and they're all coming to him very
respectfully. He sits out in a...in a certain garden...uh...this was in a town called
{Sharvasti} in ancient India and ...uh...and this was in a particular garden that had
been offered to him by one of his disciples. And so he's...he's sitting there in the
garden and people start to gather around him. And...uh...there's one very
famous student named {Subhuti}. I'll write his name in Tibetan

[pause]

[laughs] obstacles starting already.[laughs] [laughter] Say {sadinemba} [repeat]
{rabjor} [repeat] {sadinemba} [repeat] {rabjor} [repeat] Uh.. {say} means time....
{sadinemba} means has time. And it's a title used for a monk. [laughter] Uh...
and it means junior monk. You would think it would mean senior and don't ask
me why. I don't know. I think it means they have a lot of time to go
maybe...but uh...{sadinemba} is the form of address that used for junior monks.
So, {sadinemba} means junior monk. And the {rabjor} in Sanskrit

[pause]

is Subhuti. Say Subhuti [repeat] Okay. Subhuti is very famous in the ...in the
sutras. You know, the sutras are very hard to read. They're very ancient. Uh,
they've been passed down for a long time. But he's always showing up in the
sutras and normally he's the study of the sutra by asking some question. We
have a very inquisitive student in New York. We named her Subhuti because
[laughs] she's always interrupting the class with a question.      Uh, Subhuti
normally starts out a sutra by asking a question. That's very typical. Uh...he's
often the hero. uh...who starts out the sutras on the [b: Perfection of Wisdom].
Many of the sutras on the perfection of wisdom...uh...the {Prajnya Paramita} are
started out by Subhuti asking a question. So, Subhuti, again, in this sutra...he
comes up to the Buddha and he kneels respectfully. He drops his shawl which
we still do...uh... before a debate, for example. and...uh...he starts out the sutra
by asking a question. Uh...in the Tibetan tradition, we believe that Subhuti was
an emanation of Manjushri. We believe that he is...uh...like the god of wisdom
or the Buddha's wisdom embodied in a human being. We believe he's...uh...
faking it. Uh, we believe he's just asking a question that he knows the answer
to...millions of years ago...uh...but he's pretending to be a normal human being
and he's always asking just the right question at the right time. So, naturally, he's
the one who starts it out this time. And he starts out by asking a very special
question. Hum...that reminds me...there's another name for the Diamond Sutra,
if you're interested...and it's called the three hundred. The three hundred. The
{Prajnya Paramita} in three hundred. Okay, we have a lot of...uh...books on
wisdom...on the perfection of wisdom in Tibet. Uh...there's the very famous one
is called {gaytumo} which is eight thousand verses on the perfection of wisdom.
There's a {neechee} which is twenty thousand verses on the perfection of
wisdom. We have {boom} which is a hundred thousand verses on the perfection
of wisdom. There's supposed to have been other ones which are lost now. Uh,
the shortest one, for example...one of the shortest ones is the Heart Sutra and the
Diamond Sutra is considered very short also. So it's only three hundred verses.
It's not written in verse...so....uh...what it means is that there are certain units of
Sanskrit and those are...those aren't considered a verse.            So it has three
hundred... it's the equivalent of three hundred verses. So sometimes if you read
ancient books, this book will be called...uh...the three hundred verse version of
the Perfection of Wisdom. Okay. Subhuti gets up and he asks the Buddha three
questions. Uh...he says {chamba tempa cheypa la shupa nam key}...Uh...{chamba
tempa cheypa la shupa} means those who are entering the path of the higher
way...the Mahayana...okay. So he starts out with that. He says, "I'm going to
ask yo u a questio n abo ut peo ple who want to act like
bodhisattvas."...okay..."people who are on... interested in the bodhisattva track ."
So that's how he phrases his question. He starts out by saying "If someone is
interested in Buddhism from a bodhisattva...from trying to be a bodhisattva
point of view then"...and then he asks three questions. He says and you should
repeat them...{gita} [repeat] {nepa} [repeat] {ghee} [repeat} {gita} [repeat] {nepa}
[repeat] {ghee} [repeat]. {gita nepa ghee} means how should we live? How
should we conduct ourselves? Okay...how are we to live? How is a bodhisattva
supposed to live? What is we supposed to act like? Okay...that's his first
question. Then he says {gita dupa ghee} Say {gita} [repeat] {dupa} [repeat]
{ghee} [repeat] {gita} [repeat] {dupa} [repeat] {ghee} [repeat] {Gita dupa ghee}
means how are we supposed to practice? What are we supposed to practice?
And then the third question, he says , {gita phem soraghee} say {gita}[repeat]
{phem][repeat] {sohaghee} [repeat] {gita phem} [repeat] {sohaghee} [repeat]
How are we supposed to think? Okay...how are we supposed to think? So if
we're interested in acting like bodhisattvas. If there are any of us out there who
want try to be bodhisattvas , who want to enter the higher way...Mahayana.
How are we supposed to live? How are we supposed to act? How are...what are
we supposed to practice? And what are...how are we supposed to think? What
things are we supposed to think about? He starts out with those three questions.
The first thing that Buddha says is something like {lekeso lekeso} which
means...that's a great question [laughs] All right. That's a very good question.
You've asked a...you've started out with a very good question. All right. So, I
would like to take a break there and we'll come back in about ten minutes and
then we'll talk a little bit...we'll talk a little bit more about the title and then we'll
finish on time, I think. So try to ..don't straggle back. Come back... What time is
it now? So eleven-ten? Eleven fifteen. Eleven fifteen in case there's a bathroom
line. Okay... so please be back at...sharp at eleven fifteen. Okay? Fine.

We'll talk a little about the title of the sutra. A sutra, by the way means...uh... any
teaching given directly by a Buddha is a sutra. Alright? So the sutra part just
means a teaching given by a Buddha. It is also a Mahayana sutra...uh... which
means it's based on the ideal of the bodhisattva or or working to become
enlightened for other beings. And ...hum...it's also called the Prajnya Paramita
sutra which means it treats as its principal subject the perfection of wisdom,
meaning emptiness. Okay, that's the full title. But this uh {dorje chupa} diamond
cutter is very interesting, you know. We've been putting books in on the
computer and you can check with the computer now how many {dorje}s are in
the {dorje chupa}? And...uh... how many times is diamond mentioned in the
Diamond Cutter sutra? and the answer is ...? None, okay. It's not mentioned
once...in the Diamond Cutter sutra. Uh, the word diamond or diamond cutter is
not mentioned at all... in the Diamond Cutter sutra. So what's the point of calling
it Diamond Cutter sutra? And where what does it come from? And what does it
mean? You know...um...and it's a very important point. It maybe the most
important point of the whole sutra. I mean you can get right now the essence of
the sutra ...

[SIDE ONE ENDS]

{SIDE TWO}
called the Diamond Cutter sutra...uh...but it's very very important. The title is
very very important. It's probably the most important thing about the whole
sutra. Without question. It's the most important thing about the whole sutra.
Diamond in this case has three meanings. Uh, there are five steps of realization
in Buddhism that you go through. In your spiritual career in Buddhism you will
go through five steps. There are five landmarks or milestones that you go
through as you practice Buddhism. Uh...the first one is called the Path of...uh...
accumulation {toe lam} and that's where you first get renunciation. That
where...the first day that you ever truly fed up with this life, and this body, and
with everything going wrong all the time. Okay. The nature of our life , the
nature of our bodies, the nature of our relationships, the nature of your job, the
nature of your kids , your family and your house and everything else about you
is samsaric. It can't go right. It's impossible. It will never go right. It's samsara.
It's was produced by...by impure causes and it has to screw up. It has to go
wrong. Uh, that's the nature of our lives. If you didn't notice it yet just stay alive
for a little while longer [laughs] [laughter] you know. You know. If you have,
for example, a relationship that works out for a long time. Then one of you has
to die, first. Then the other one will die. That's the only possible ending. Maybe
if you're lucky you die together or something in a crash or something. But
there's no other future to a relationship. Uh, normally they collapse. Normally
one of you changes at a different rate and the other one ....and then something
happens and you become disillusioned with each other and you split. Uh, in
extraordinary cases you you stay compatible and then one of you dies and
leaves the other alone and then the other follows after that. So I mean, that's the
future of all relationships. The same thing with all your possessions. Anything
that you've been able to get that you like...like a house or a car or even your
prayer books or anything that you own...you must lose. In Tibetan, there's a
joke. It says those items will go looking for a new owner... [laughs] [laughter]
because they'll lose their owner. You know, there's no future in it. There's no
other possible outcome. It has to be like that. You must lose those things. Your
own body, your own house...uh...whatever beauty you might have or vitality
you have or complexion or whatever...you must lose it. Your ears, your eyes,
your sense of taste, your ability to move... you'll lose everything. You must lose
it. Uh, they must go away. There are very...in the realm of the world there are
very few things which are pure or... uh... meaningful. All of those things
are...are something that you must lose and you don't have to be a Buddhist
or ...to accept that. You just have to be observant ,you know. This is the way it
goes. And we don't like to think about it. It's like death. You know mentally
you kind of avoid it because it's something that's hard to put your mind around.
It's sorta depressing to admit that that the way life is. Uh...but there's a certain
energy that it gives you and if you've ever heard the Dalai Lama....they ask
him...oh Buddhism is so pessimistic, you know. And he says, well at least it's
better to admit the way things are, you know. [laughs] It's better to work from
the point of truth than from a point of... of sticking your head in the sand, you
know. And the fact is that everything must degenerate. Everything you own,
everything you are, everything you know, everything...every relationship you
have, anything you own...you must lose all of it. It will all screw up sooner or
later. It must. It's the nature of our lives. And that's...when you really believe
that and you start acting on it, you've entered the first Buddhist path. That's
called {sok lam}, path of accumulation. There's another path, the next path , it's
called {jor lam} and {jor lam} is where you first start to understand emptiness in
an intellectual way. Okay, so the big the big step there is that you start to
understand emptiness but not directly. You start to understand it in a thinking
way... in an intellectual way. So there are four stages in that path and in each
stage you understand emptiness a little more deeply. But it's still only
understanding. It's still only conceptual understanding. Okay. What do you
guess step number three is? That's where you see emptiness directly. It's a
totally different experience of emptiness. Like, during this course you'll get some
intellectual understanding of emptiness. But to reach path number three which is
called {tom lam} called path of seeing...you must be in deep meditation. And you
must have had a lot of training about emptiness and then under certain
conditions you can see it directly. And that's considered the greatest threshold of
all. In the universe, there are only two kinds of beings. There are people who
have seen emptiness directly and people who haven't. And the word Arya,
which means superior person, or....it literately means like an exalted person ...a
realized being. It's given to anyone who has reached that point. I always say it's
a little like virginity in this life. I mean, you can imagine your lives going back
into the past infinitely. And your lives...your mind will go on infinitely. I like to
call it the big spaghetti noodle, you know. It goes from infinite past to infinite
future. Your mind never stops. According to Buddhism there's never even the
slightest second that your mind stops. Your mind is streaming on and it will
always stream on. So you think of an infinitely long line and at some point in
that line...at some specific instance in meditation, for maybe ten to twenty
minutes, you see emptiness directly. And that's a big thing. That's like losing
your virginity in this life. You're either one side or the other. And that's the
basic distinction between all living being in the universe. You've either seen
emptiness directly or you haven't. You're either an Arya or you're not an Arya.
Okay, you've either reached the path of seeing or you haven't reached the path
of seeing. And from then on you're totally different. And they call you a stream
enterer. Stream enterer means you're on your way out. You can think of
samsara as a big conveyor belt and and when you see emptiness directly then
you can say... okay, this person has so so much time to go.                Until that
moment...uh...if you ask even an enlightened being ..."how long does has this
guy got to stay in samsara?" He would say, "I don't know. I can't say" But once
you see emptiness directly...you're called a stream enterer because you're on
your way out. Now now your suffering has a limit. And there will come a time
that you'll be enlightened. And and it's pinpointed during that experience. So it's
very very important. You spend the next...uh...ten years to seven lifetimes or so
on path number four. That's called path of habituation. And that's where you
you use what you saw to get rid of your bad thoughts, your mental afflictions.
Okay, you use what you've saw...which was what?...You use that experience to
to get these bad emotions out of your mind. Anger, jealousy desire, thoughts
like that. It takes that long and it takes that kind of energy to get those thoughts
out of your mind. You must see emptiness to get those thoughts out of your
mind. You must go through the path of seeing. That's the path of habituation.
Path number five is not really a path. It's...it is the end. It called no more
seeing...no more study...and no more learning. If you're not on a bodhisattva
track that's nirvana. If you are on a bodhisattva track, that's Buddhahood...total
enlightenment, okay?

[student: on path number four do you still do certain actions? [unclear]]

Yah. Yah. You know you're wrong but you can't stop yourself. Okay? [laughs]
Excuse me?

[student: in Tibetan?]

Path number four? {gom lam} {gom lam} {gom} means meditation and it also
means to get use to something. It means getting use to what you saw in order
to remove your mental afflictions. Only by reaching the direct perception of
emptiness can you reach Buddhahood and only by seeing emptiness directly can
you get rid of your bad thoughts from your mind. It's the only way. According
to Buddhism it's ...there's only one way and that's it.

[student: does the Buddha [unclear]]

We're going to talk about it. Basically it's the Dharmakaya... it's the emptiness of
the Buddha. Mostly...mostly...yeah?
{student: do you say in Tibetan [unclear] in the fifth path]

yeah {me lop lam} {me lop lam} And {jor lam} path of preparation. It means
you're getting ready to see emptiness directly. You're started to learn about it
intellectually at path number two. Uh...{me lop lam} which means no more
learning. Nothing more to learn. You've learned everything. Mr. know-it-all.

{student: what's number one?]

[laughs] It's called {sog lam} which is path of accumulation. You're collecting
together enough energy to get to path number two and three. Okay? So you
can see that path number three is the big threshold. If you can see emptiness
directly you're on your way out. It's its very difficult. A lot of a lot of things
have to be there. And we're going to talk about that. A lot of conditions have to
be there. But it's possible for any thinking person to reach it. You need proper
training, proper teaching, and there's a lot of lousy teaching about emptiness.
There's a lot. I mean, there's the straight forward...uh...lie and people who have
no idea what it means teaching about it in ...never studied it...never knew
anything about it and they're teaching it in extraordinarily terrible and confusing
ways. [laughs] Uh, very common in this country. And then, secondly you have
the people who have a good heart and a good intention ...didn't study it well...
and and are not teaching it well. Thirdly, you have people ...have a good
heart...good intention...did study the books well...haven't experienced it directly
who are teaching it. And if they stick to the books , that's good. And then finally
you have to try to find someone who's who's got both ...uh... a theoretical
background for it and...uh... some kind of experience of it. Ideally you should
try to find that.    So, I think, it's one of the most misunderstood things in in
American in Buddhism....is that. I remember reading a book by the chairman of
Sony...uh...who said, "I run this company so well because I understand that
nothing really exists. I've understood emptiness", you know. And then Joanna
Macy always tells the story about the lady who ...uh...they went to a Buddhist
conference in a hotel and on the way out her suitcase broke open and all these
towels fell out. And [laughs] [laughter]...and they realized that this Buddhist lady
had stealing towels from the hotel ...and ...uh...the lady said, "Well, it doesn't
really matter. Everything is empty anyway." You know, these are classic, classic,
terrible ...uh...wrong views. These are like the classic ...uh...wrong views. That
emptiness means nothing. Or that emptiness means that you don't have to be
good or bad ...and good and bad don't mean anything. These are like poison.
These are like the worst poison you could ever...that's like giving
someone...uh...a vaccination that's that's not only not medicine but it's a poison.
It's completely wrong and com...very bad. The thing that emptiness means
nothing and you should just put your mind on nothing ...it just waste people's
time. Um, to say that emptiness means that you can do what you like because
there's no good or bad and there's no samsara or no nirvana is ...that's like
poisoning people. That's that's like giving people poison that hurts them.
Um...don't...so there's a lot of bad views, wrong views about emptiness. You
have to study emptiness correctly, carefully, and then you can do it. You can see
it. You have to train in the proper way. You have to get good teaching on it.
And then most importantly you have to...carry it out [laughs] yourself...which is
where most people fail. Uh...and then you can see emptiness directly. Um, that
experience occurs on the heels of another experience. At the very peak of {jor
lam} the second path , the path of preparation. It's called {chu chok} which
means the ultimate ...moment of of non... emptiness. Uh, the mo...the ultimate
moment of life before you see emptiness directly occurs ...you can say maybe an
hour before you see emptiness directly. Okay, and that is not in meditation.
You do not have to be in meditation. At that moment you see...what normal
reality really is. Like there's two kinds of reality. One we call deceptive reality.
And one we call ultimate reality. And we'll talk more about that. But it's only at
the very final hours of the second path that you finally figure out that this reality
is not what it seems. Okay, at the ...at the very end of the second path you
understand for the first time what we call deceptive truth...sometimes it's called
relative truth...and it's a synonym for dependent origination. You see directly
the meaning of dependent origination...for the first time ever....you understand
that things are not as they seem. You understand what you're doing to create
this reality. Uh, that happens at the very final stages of the second path. That
can happen standing at a stove looking at a tea kettle...making tea for your
lama...and you suddenly understand what what it is to be dependent origination.
What it is to be deceptive reality...and what the people normally call relative
truth which is not a good translation. Uh, but you see that at that moment. Then
you go...you go into your temple or whatever, you sit down... you meditate.
You get into a certain deep meditation and and at that moment you see
emptiness directly. Um, you've never had an experience of...if you haven't done
that...which I don't know...uh...you've you've never seen ultimate reality dir...at
all...directly...until that moment. Every thing you've ever seen was what we call
deceptive reality or or what they translate as relative truth. Okay, you've seen
all of the objects that you're experiencing right now, right here, are in the
category of deceptive reality. It's real and it's tricking you. Okay, it functions
and it's false. It's real and it's false, how's that? Okay...uh...it's tricking you. It is
not what it seems. Then you go into the direct perception of emptiness and that
is what it seems and it's ultimate reality. Are you deceptive truth or ultimate
reality? Maria. [laughs] If I...I mean is Maria ultimate reality or deceptive reality?
Deceptive, because you can see yourself every morning. You know. when you
comb your hair you see somebody. Ah...so while you're ...while you're in that
direct perception of emptiness...let's say ten minutes or twenty minutes ...can
you perceive yourself? You can't...because you are ultimate reality...I mean
you're not ultimate reality [laughs] Okay. You have ultimate reality but you are
not ultimate reality. We'll talk about it. But you cannot perceive yourself during
that...during that time your mind is in what we call like...you're not able to
distinguish between the subject and object...for that period of time. It doesn't
mean that subjects and objects are the same thing. It doesn't mean that. Uh... it
just means that for that period of time there's no way you can think to
yourself...I finally did it!. I'm seeing emptiness! You can't do it. You can't think
that. Because the minute you think "I" you're thinking...a deceptive reality.
You're thinking of a normal object. Uh...so that so that period is {chulla chushak}
what we call "water poured in water". And you're seeing emptiness directly.
You you cannot be aware of it at that moment. You cannot be aware that you're
seeing emptiness. You are seeing emptiness directly. You can't be aware of
yourself seeing emptiness directly. You're just seeing it. Okay. Then you come
out of that...and for the next...huh...let's say for the next...for the rest of the
day...let's ...maybe the next fifteen, sixteen hours ...extraordinary events happen
to you. You can read other people's minds. Uh, you can...you have certain
unusual powers. Um...and you start to perceive certain important spiritual
truths. And those can be summarized into four. And those are the famous four
noble truths. Okay. Noble truth is another mistranslation. The word they
translate as noble is Arya. It's Arya. And it's means...Arya means what?
Someone who's lost their virginity, right? [laughs] [laughter] Nah. I'm not...they
are not part of the ...they are not part of living beings who have seen emptiness
directly. So it's not four noble truths. It's four Arya truths. It's four...it's the four
truths that people see right after they see emptiness directly. They come out of
that experience and they begin to have these popcorn...spiritual realizations
[laughs]...like in one day you've had more than you've had in your whole life.
And...and you understand the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths. You
understand sixteen different things and more.              But you have all these
incredible...uh... realizations occur during that day...following the direct
perception of emptiness. One of them is that "I just saw something ultimate".
Okay..."I just saw ultimate truth"... and it's on a much higher level than what I've
always been in. There is a discrete separate reality called ultimate reality and I
saw it. Okay. Then your mind starts searching for a metaphor. Your mind's
automatically attracted to something that is ultimate. And that is the diamond.
Okay. The diamond is the closest thing in this planet, in this universe, in your
own perception, right now, to an ultimate thing. I mean you can't say, "This is
the hardest thing in the world." Normally, you can't say "This is the longest thing
in the universe or this is the shortest thing in the universe or this is the hottest
thing or the coldest thing." You can't say that. You can't...you can't pick some
string and say "This is the longest string that ever was and ever will be". You
can't say that. But
you can generally say that in the universe there is one thing which is
ultimate...ultimately hard. And that's a diamond. So the first quality of a
diamond, that's important is that it's ultimate. It's close to ultimate.

[pause]

It's ultimately hard. Nothing in the universe can scratch a diamond...and that's
just a fact, you know. We've learned how to laser them. You can drill a hole
through them. Uh...you can smash them with a hammer. They split very easily.
Uh... but nothing in the world can scratch a diamond. There's nothing that can
scratch a diamond. Uh.. when you cut a diamond you have to use...another
diamond. {laughs] Okay. They have soft directions and hard directions. So you
try to find the hard direction of the cutting diamond and you try to find the soft
direction of the diamond to be cut. And you can rub it away through a long
process. Uh... but generally speaking there's nothing in the universe that can
scratch a diamond. Diamond is ultimately hard. It's the closest thing in the
physical world to something which is ultimate. Okay. And that...that metaphor
immediately you realize it...during the period following the direct perception of
emptiness. We call it {jeto neshay} {jeto neshay} means the period of wisdom
following that experience.         Okay... and you realize that the diamond is
important for that reason. Secondly,

[pause]

A fine diamond is totally clear.        Okay.      That's the second quality of
diamond...which is important. You know, if you take a piece of glass and you
look at it this way you can see through it. If you hold it up on the end on...if you
look down the edge... it looks like what? It turns green. It means that it has
some impurities in it and...and when...if you had a wall that was made of glass
that was twenty feet thick you would be opaque...you couldn't see through it.
Uh, diamond is not like that. Diamond's crystal structure is perfect...absolutely
perfect. And you could have a wall of diamond a hundred yards long and if you
looked through it, it would look totally clear. You could see everything on the
other side. If there was no light behind you reflecting, you couldn't even see the
wall of diamond. You wouldn't know there was a wall of diamond there. Like if
you put a wall of diamond around this stupa area, and if the light wasn't
reflecting on it, you couldn't even see it. You would never even see it. It could
be all around you and you'd never see it. Uh, emptiness is exactly the same.
Emptiness is all around you right now. Every single object in the universe has its
own emptiness. Okay. People are thinking like emptiness is really hard to see.
It's like finding a needle in a haystack. It ain't like that. There's...for every single
object that exists in the universe there's a emptiness corresponding to that object.
Every object has its own emptiness. So on this platform alone there's like...eighty
ninety emptinesses sitting here listening.{laughs] Belonging to the people who
are sitting here listening. You each have your own emptiness. And every part of
you has its own emptiness. Every object in the universe has its own emptiness.
But just like that wall of diamond you can not see it right now. You are
surrounded by emptinesses. You can't see them. You're oblivious to them. And
through your whole life you've been oblivious to them. Okay. They've been all
around you all the time. Even as we speak they're all around you all the time.
Your own body and your own mind has hundreds of thousands of
them...emptinesses and you just can't see them. And because you can't see them
you suffer. You know. If you could see them you could remove your mental
afflictions. You would be totally happy. If you could see them you could be a
stream enterer. You'd be on your way out. So it's sorta ironic. They're around
you all the time. They're constantly around you, but like a clear wall of diamond
you just can't see them. Okay. They exist all around us. Can't see them. So
they're totally clear. Third thing.

[pause]

Third thing is every emptiness is completely equal.         And this is another
realization that you that you have during that {getop yeshe} during that period
following the direct perception of emptiness. Every kind of emptiness is
completely equal. When you as a as a plain old Dharma student in America see
emptiness for the first time...while you are in that experience...your
understanding of emptiness and your perception of emptiness is totally as good
as the Buddha. It's exactly the same experience as the Buddhas are having at all
times. You're not less than a Buddha at that moment. Your perception of
emptiness is as perfect as a Buddha's perception of emptiness. It's totally
completely the same. You're either seeing emptiness directly or you're not. But,
once you are....you you're seeing it just the same way as any being in the
universe is seeing it. Totally exactly the same. And the quality of that emptiness
is completely the same as the quality of the emptiness that any other being is
seeing in the universe. All of those emptinesses, although they belong to
different objects, are completely the same. Okay. They are different only that
they are attached to different objects. But their quality, what they're made of,
what they are, what they consist of, is completely totally the same. Okay. So no
matter....they're called {dorje secma}...say {dorje} [repeat] {secma} [repeat] {dorje}
[repeat} {secma} [repeat]. {secma} is a very unusual word, very difficult to
translate. When a wave hits a rock and all those little bits of waves of salt water
fly through the air... each one is a {secma}. When you take a diamond and you
smash it with a hammer...you can't scratch it but you can smash them ...uh...each
tiny piece is is a {secma}. And and {secma} means little piece. If you take a
diamond and you hit it with a hammer, which I've done, and...uh... [laughs] or if
you're cutting it the wrong way and it blows up...which happens sometimes...
every little piece around the room is pure total diamond. It's perfectly pure
diamond and it's no different from the diamond that it was before. I mean, each
piece is purely totally absolutely diamond in exactly the same way that the whole
piece was diamond. And the emptinesses are the same. Each object on sitting on
this platform has its own emptiness and each one of those emptinesses is totally
the same. It's completely perfectly absolute reality. No less no more. Uh, all of
them are... and diamond has that quality also. Diamond...every every molecule
of diamond is as perfect as the whole diamond. And it doesn't matter how
much you smash it down to an atomic level. It's pure diamond. Every piece is
pure diamond. It has a structure which is totally pure, perfect. So those are the
three reasons why diamond is so important. Those are... and that and that
comes to you in the period after you see emptiness directly. You will you will
understand that. It'll come to you automatically. Yeah?

[student: Even if you don't know anything about diamonds?]

You can never have had any interest no contact, no relative in the diamond
business [laughs] ... you know... no... no interest no nothing about diamonds. It
will come to you, you know. And from then on you will you will want to be
around diamonds and you will want to ...[laughter] ...uh ...keep that in your
mind. Because because it's reminding you...it's one little metaphor of what you
saw. Because it's very lonely after that. You can't see emptiness any more
directly... you're out of it. So you you want to surround yourself with something
that will remind you of what happen. Yeah?

[student: Have you ever had the experience...}

You can go back into it. During the path of habituation you can go back ... but
it's very difficult... extremely difficult. Okay. Uh, but you do. [laughs] What's
that?

[student: seen like glass....less color [unclear]]

Say it again. Uh. It's not, but I guess, it might be similar but it's nothing like that.
There's no comparison. There's nothing like that. Okay. Um... but you would
have a sorta an affinity and you would want to constantly be reminded of what
happened. So... uh... you would try to be around them. Uh...now what about the
cutter part? Okay...why didn't they call ... if the diamond is so cool why don't
they just call it the Diamond Sutra. Okay. Uh...the {tifer} is very important. The
cutter is very important. And what it means is that diamond don't cut it. Okay.
The diamond is a metaphor. The diamond is very similar. The diamond can
remind you of what you saw but it's absolutely no comparison. It's absolutely
no comparison. I mean, okay, in the physical world of my own experience
diamond is the closest thing. but how close is it? Not at all. [laughs} Okay? Got
it? It's the closest thing and it's a zillion miles from ultimate reality. Okay. It ain't
close at all. Of all the relative objects in the world... of all the pieces of deceptive
reality ... it is absolutely by far the closest thing. How close is it? Not at all?
[laughs] Okay. No comparison. Ultimate reality is infinitely higher ... infinitely
higher. It just doesn't compare. Okay. It's the closest thing but side by side with
ultimate reality it is just another piece of deceptive reality. It just another piece of
the normal world. It's the best thing to remind yourself of what happened but
but ultimate reality is infinitely higher. Infinitely more important. And and
nothing can compare. Nothing in your experience, nothing in your mind,
nothing in your physical world, nothing in any of your concepts can compare
with what you saw. Nothing. And in that case, the diamond is cut... meaning
the diamond is inferior. Okay. The diamond is is cut or smashed by ultimate
reality. Okay... so diamonds are important but they're only ... they're only like a
very poor second. Okay. They're very important but they are put down by
ultimate reality. Ultimate reality is infinitely more ultimate. It's really ultimate.
And there's really no comparison between the two. And you know that. Uh...it's
just ... it's just the closest thing you have in your world to relate to at that point.
Uh...yeah?

[student: [unclear]]

Uh..It's not... it's it's one of the ideas is the clarity ... but ...uh... it's not the meaning
of it in this case. Uh... it's not the meaning of the hardness. The point of the
hardness is that it's close to ultimate. It's not ultimate... okay. There is no
ultimate in the physical world, period. There isn't. A diamond is the closest thing
to the concept of an ultimate. But once you see a real ultimate, which is
emptiness... directly... then you've met for the first time something which is
ultimately something. Because there ain't anything with is ultimately anything,
except for that... emptiness. Uh... there's no compar....I mean a diamond is just
the closest you can come to explaining it to a person who hasn't seen it. And
that's that's all you can do. That's all you can do is describe it in that way. Uh...
but there's no other way to talk about it. Okay. Any more quest? We've got
about three minutes. Any more questions...no? ...yeah.

[student: [unclear]]

No. There really are and we'll... you'll... by the end of the course you'll
understand why. But every object that exists possesses its own emptiness. Is it
emptiness? No. You know, are you emptiness? No. Is you're body emptiness?
No. Are your thoughts emptiness? No. Is your mind emptiness? No. In the
Heart Sutra Buddha says {sucto.....in Tibetan} He's just's being metaphorical. It's
an example of a scripture where he lies. Okay? [laughs] In the in the monastery
and in the study of Buddhism, in the study of what we call interpretation, it's an
example of a sutra which is not technically correct. You are not emptiness. You
have emptiness. Okay. Your mind is not emptiness. Your mind possesses
emptiness. It's a big difference. Okay. But there... you'll come to see why that
every object has its own emptiness. Okay. And obviously certain emptinesses
are more important than others in that sense. You know, the emptiness attached
to the Buddha's mind is something special.

[student: [unclear]]

Ah...when you perceive it directly there's a huge debate about which emptiness
you perceive first. And I can tell you... the answer is that you perceive Maria's
emptiness first. If if Michael Roach saw emptiness directly it was Michael's
emptiness that he saw first. That's the one you see first. It's the emptiness of
you. Okay. Does that mean that you don't exist or that you're not there or that
you don't understand yourself or something like that...no. And we'll talk about
that. Uh. yeah?

[student: When everything brings together are you sorta melt....what is that?]

[laughs] You mean in other circumstances or...?
[student: meditating or in nature]

Yeah. Uh, we wouldn't call it the direct perception of emptiness. And it's not
purely what they mean by non-duality. Non-duality is a very abused word like
so many Buddhist words. It does not refer to the to the idea that there's no
subject and object. The word for mind in Tibetan is object-holder. And the word
for the object of the mind is the object. And they are forever and always
separated. And they are different. They have many different qualities. They
will never be the same in actuality. It's only during the direct perception of
emptiness that you literally cannot perceive yourself anymore. And and that we
call non- duality. But otherwise it a big mis... it's a big mistake . It's a weird
translation. You can have times in your life when you have an emotion of
feeling at one with things. Uh.... like you can be in nature or in the ocean
swimming or surfing or something and you have this pleasant feeling of oneness
with everything. That's not that not that experience. That experience is pleasant.
It's a result of a very good karma. And it will not lead you to nirvana. It doesn't
function that way. It's its something very nice and attractive. It's important. It's
very special. It's precious. It's the result of a lot of good deeds. Uh... but it's not
the same thing. It will not remove your mental afflictions. In fact it might make
them worse. You know....because you'll be attached ... you'll want that more and
you'll try to... you'll struggle to try to recreate that situation when you can't. You
won't be able to. Uh...it's it's not the same thing. It's a nice thing. It a good thing.
It's a goodness and it's somehow similar to that. Uh... but it but it doesn't... it
would be nice to have the real thing. You know. That's the ....one more maybe?
Yeah?

[student: You mentioned that there were weren't many commentaries from the
diamond ...]

In Tibetan

[student: in Tibetan. There were on the Heart Sutra and [unclear] in Chinese
Buddhism there's a lot of Diamond Cutter Sutra but very little on the [unclear]
version. Do you have any perspective on this?]

Why? I don't know. I really don't know. Um. {Choney Drakpa Shedrup} says
something. He says..uh... he he speculates .... he says, "Perhaps the reason there
was not more commentary in Tibetan was that it was so difficult" You know, the
meaning of the sutra is not very evident...and the Buddha is constantly repeating
himself. I mean, it's impossible for a Buddha to speak badly or poorly. Uh... in
other words a Buddha never repeats himself unless there's a specific reason to
repeat himself. But in the Diamond Sutra, the Diamond Cutter Sutra, he's
constantly repeating himself and he's... and there are many strange uh...things
being said that don't mean appear to have any...if you study philosophical
Buddhism ... you can't relate them to specifics concepts and things like that. And
so I think from that point of view it was very difficult. And I just think that
secondly, apparently, in some versions of the [b: Tengyur] that we have. only
Kamalashila commentary reached Tibet. Uh... Vasubndu's did also but many of
the Tibetans didn't have...apparently it was not available to them. So you only
had one Indian commentary and it was also... it doesn't talk about the sutra
much. [laughs] It's mostly takes off on other subjects. And so I think maybe that
and that maybe in China and Japan they were more ... uh... maybe originally
more more more commentaries reached there. But otherwise I have ... I don't
really know. Uh. It is considered one of the most important sutras ever and it's
constantly quoted by great scholars of emptiness. Je Tsongkapa quotes it
constantly throughout the {gomba rapsel} his ultimate book on emptiness. He
he quotes it all over the place ...so... apparently it was important but no ... I don't
know why there weren't more commentaries. Yeah?

[student: [unclear] the five steps [unclear] what's realistically achievable are still
not obvious]

Yeah. I think so. I think ...uh ... two things ... two parts to that answer. One is
that ... uh... sometimes when you read about all these things it seems like
something that you could never do yourself. You know. It seems that these are
almost mythical and... you know... maybe some great Tibetan lamas in some
cave somewhere near Lhasa did it. You know. But us plain normal ...
uh...American people, we could never do that. You know, I think that's one ...
that's one ... uh...common thing. And then secondly, you hear... I mean stories
about the Buddha that it took him seventy six thousand great kalpas. Great
kalpa consists of ten to the sixtieth power times something years. You know.
Uh... and you think, you know, what chance is there for me in this life? That's
the first thing that happens. I mean you get overwhelmed. And then secondly,
you know... if you've been trying to practice for ten or twenty years and nothing
happened much ... and you're saying, "Well I don't know if this is really possible.
I don't know if this can be done. This sounds great and in theory it sounds
wonderful and I've had many little experiences that maybe were that but maybe
happened after that. And then it sorta of faded away... and I don't know if I saw
emptiness or not... or maybe I started to get close...or I'm not quite sure what
happened." Uh... there are two impressions of Americans, I think, of western
people and to to answer it one is....if you have ... uh... gotten to this moment in
time and heard these things today then you're already an extraordinary person.
You are already one in a million by definition. One in about two million,
actually. Uh... and you're a very very special person. If you got here and you
understood anything of what we've been talking about, you are in a very elite...
uh... in your spiritual life... you are one in a million. Uh... secondly, we do have
direct contact with the Tibetan tradition. You know. We have met ... we have
bumped into historically now the lineage that came out of Tibet. And people did
see emptiness directly.... and it is possible... then...secondly. Thirdly, if you have
a good teaching and correct teaching ... uh... your odds are are infinitely
improved.         Uh, lastly...and most importantly... you have to do something
[laughs] Okay. You know...and no matter what kind of pure teaching you get
about it , even from a person who might have seen it directly, nothing can
happen unless you practice. Nothing can happen. And if you do practice things
can ... extraordinary things can happen. The practice has to involve three things.
First of all ... uh... as a foundation, and as a basis, you must be leading an ethical
way of life. Your life must be clean. And I'm not talking Billy Graham type of
clean, okay? [laughs] I'm talking from day to day, from moment to moment,
hour to hour, you must be leading a good life. You must care about other
people. You must be considerate of other people. You must be trying not to
harm other people. You have to be clean in your finances....not stealing
anything... not cheating on anything. You have to be clean in your personal life.
You're not fooling around with someone's girl friend or husband or wife. You
have to be honest in the way you speak ....uh ... not to tell lies ... not to tell half
lies... not to give misimpression... very difficult. I mean, your whole life has to be
very very clean from that point of view. Based on that foundation you can
meditate properly. If you don't have that foundation, you will never succeed in
meditation and you always be wondering why not?... you know. You'll always
be wondering why can't I concentrate. It this subtle thing about your life. Your
lifestyle has to be clean and then you can meditate properly. Uh... you must be
able to get into a deep state of meditation to see emptiness directly... you must.
There's even a certain level called {samten dambo}. Among that level there's
called {nemdok}. Inside the {nemdok} you must reach {nicolmay}. Uh...
{nicolmay} you have to reach that level. It's a certain level of meditation. if you
don't reach that, you will never see emptiness directly. To reach that you must
spend at least an hour, an hour and a half a day meditating. And there's no other
way. You won't be able to reach it... impossible. I always tell people....it's like a
joke ... if you want to make sure that you don't see emptiness don't get to that
level. You know... make sure that you skip your meditation every other day
and that you're too busy to do them. And that there's other things more
important in your life and there's a thousand reasons why you can't do it. Your
legs hurt, your back hurts, you know... blah blah blah. But if you want to
absolutely assure that you don't see emptiness directly then don't meditate every
morning. Okay. Just find excuses why you can do it every third day and it's still
okay. You know. You must reach that basis that platform. It's only based on
that platform. {samten dambo nemdok nicolmay} It's only based on that
platform that you can see emptiness directly. Uh... but can you do it? ...
absolutely!        You can't find a better time or place, you know. You got
everything. We got everything. You know, you're healthy. We not that old.
[laughs] Uh... getting older. Uh... you have pure pure teachings. We really do
have absolutely pure good teachings and especially you guys in this area.
Vajrapani , the FPMT tradition, the lineage that you are in is absolutely pure
and ... uh... Tsongkapian and Nagarjunian and Buddhisian. I mean you have
everything totally totally clean pure. You have a very very pure root lama here.
You are serving him the right way. You have all the right conditions. You you
can't....you're in a position that no one's been in much ever in this country. You
can't complain. You have all... everything you need. You know, you have a
very very pure tradition. And I mean pure from the point of view of correct.
You know. If you follow it properly you will see emptiness directly. But it
depends on you....ultimately you have all the other ... causes. You have all the
other ... circumstances. You have very pure teacher. You have a very pure
tradition. You have a very pure scriptures and teaching tradition and it's just...
it's really, you're not like other people who don't have those things. All that's left
for you guys is effort. You know, all that's left for you is to just sit down and do
it. Uh... and you can ... you have all the other causes. You're very fortunate here.
So .... it is eminently possible for a Westerner. There's no problem. And and you
won't get a better chance than this anyway. [laughs] So you might as well do it
now. You know. Okay. Uh..quick question and then I gotta to stop.

[student: What [unclear]]

Uh. I'm just talking about the ability to meditate. Okay...yeah shamata. Okay.
yeah..[laughter} I'd say an hour... you can get away with an hour. And shamata
is a big.... I mean that's very high but what I'm talking about is like every thing
else... like dieting , like jogging, like aerobics... if you just do a little bit each day...
you'll get there. If you do great effort when you go to Vajrapani for the
weekend and then during the week you're too busy nothing will happen. It will
be just like dieting and jogging. You know, you don't have to jog for two hours
every day but you must do it every day for half an hour. And you'll definitely
reach ... you'll become a good jogger. It's all it takes. It's the regularity and not
the time. It's the fact that you do it every single day. And nothing ...and then it
will be enough. Yeah?

[student: You were saying there were three items essential for practice]

Oh... and the last one is wisdom. The training in wisdom. We had...people call it
morality. I don't like morality because morality reminds me of Billy Graham.
Ethical way of life number one. A good clean normal life. Number one. Honest
life. Uh... secondly meditation. The ability to meditate deeply. Thirdly, you must
train yourself in the theory of it. You must train yourself in the in the plain old
classroom time. And that's that's recognizing scriptures. It's called this is the
{sherab kyi laba hapa kyi sherab laba} You must have a lot of classroom hours
in the correct theory of it first. And it has to be accompanying the other two. It
triggers

[TAPE ENDS]
TAPE 2 MISSING?