ACI 6 «Сутра Алмазного Огранщика», занятие 5

ACI Course VI, Class 5: Emptiness and Karma

Partial Transcription of Tape 152a of the Diamond Cutter Sutra - Genevieve
Cerf
(First side of tape and some part of the second side)
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[student: The Conqueror of the [unclear]? ]

Mmm-huh.

[student reads: "Oh {Subuddhi} what do you say? Suppose some son or daughter
of noble family will shape all the planets of this great world system, a system
with a thousand of a thousand of a thousand planets and fill them all up with the
seven kinds of precious substances and offer them to someone. Would that son
or daughter of noble family create many great mountains of merit from such a
deed? ]

Okay, that's all. That's, that's where we start out tonight. The Buddha's asking
{Subuddhi} if somebody took a third order world system, and I'll explain that to
you, and filled it up with the seven precious substances... usually they're called
the seven jewels but not all of them are jewels so we call them seven precious
substances, you'll see [unlcear] lists them there, there's gold, silver, emerald, you
know, basically if you fill up the whole planet, if you cover the whole planet with
those things and offer them to someone, would that be alot of good virtue?
Would that be a good karma? And it's not just one planet, it's alot. So first I'm
going to tell you how many planets that is.

[pause] [unclear] written by who? [unclear ] ...you guys... [unclear]

It outlines... the third chapter's devoted to what the universe looks like, space
and time... and it's really great...and who lives in the universe. So, there's a very
long discussion in the beginning about all the different realms in the, in the
planet... the six different types of beings. Towards the middle of the chapter, they
get into bardos. How do you prove a bardo exists? What does a bardo look like?
You know, how long does it last? You know, things like that. And then, at the
end of the third chapter, there are some beautiful parts about how do you
measure space, how do you measure time? And space they do... they have
different numbers, up to ten with sixty zeros. Every ten has a different name.
And they count it up to ten to the sixtieth power. And then atomic, atomic
levels...they start with a lice egg and then they go down to a piece of dust in
sunlight, in a sun ray, and then they divide that a hundred times and divide that
a thousand times, and it gets down to subatomic particles and [unclear]. Then
they go backwards, and they go up to the planet, and then the galaxy... the solar
system and then the galaxy and then the universe, and collections of universes
and it's really incredible. And then at the very end, they explain how this planet
will burn up in a supernova from the sun and the stages in which, first the people
will die off , and then the plant life will die off, and the mountains will melt and
the oceans will dry up and like that. It's very interesting. Some {kalpas} end with
atomic wars and stuff like that. It's very interesting. So they talk about world
systems, and the first one... Can you see that okay? Do you see the red okay?
Yeah? No problems?

[writes]

Say {tong chipuh} [repeat] {tong chipuh} [repeat].
{Tong} means...is the word for emptiness, but in this case it's the word for one
thousand. Same word, same spelling. {Tong} means thousand {chipuh} means
general, a general type, and what that means is... a world system made up of one
thousand inhabited planets. And that each planet is defined, there's a certain
structure to each planet, there are certain beings on each planet, they're the
same... certain geographical things. Abhidharma is very specific about the whole
thing.

[writes]

Say {tong parma} [repeat] [phone ringing & laughter]

{Tong parma} is a thousand of those. So how many planets?

[students: A million.]

It's a million. It's a major system made up of a thousand of these systems.
This system has a thousand inhabited planets, a thousand planets with people
like you and me on them. And this is a thousand of those systems put together.
And it's very interesting. I mean they have examples where the Buddha tested
his disciples to see how their clairvoyance was and said
"Do you know where your mother is, she died, you know, twenty years ago.
And I think it's {charibuddha [unclear] } said, "I can't see." And then the Buddha
says "She's on this planet two thousand light years off to that way and she's you
know born like that" and then he checks, "Oh yeah, you know..."

[student: So what qualifies as an inhabited planet?]

It has those... it does have those six types of beings on it ... life.

[student: I thought the six types of beings were only relative to earth?]

There are...[laughs] ...what I'm trying to tell you is that there's many many earths
like this, and each one has six realms like these. Each one has a hell, for example.
And guess what this is?

[student: So planets without human beings are not counted?]

No. These are planets which are totally inhabited, you know, functioning like
ours. They may or may not have the Dharma, okay? And very few of them have
Tantra. So the ones where a Buddha has come and taught and where that
Buddhism hasn't died out yet are very few. And among those the ones with
Tantra on them are one in a million. So it's extremely rare... our circumstances
are extremely rare.

[writes]

{Tong [unclear]}

What do you get?

[students: A thousand million... a thousand of a thousand?]

A thousand of ... a thousand of these.

A billion. You're almost getting up to deficit numbers here.

[laughter]

[student: Pretty soon you're talking about real money.]

So, I just wanted you to know in the text... in the text when it talks about a third
world system, or a thousand of a thousand of a thousand, that's what it means, a
{tong chembu} . {Tong chembu} is a universe made up of a thousand galaxies of
a thousand planets, inhabited by people like you and me.

[student: A thousand galaxies, meaning a billion?]

[student: What?]

A billion planets.

[student: You just said a thousand galaxies.]

Yeah, I call...let's say if we call this a galaxy, you know, I mean just for fun, okay,
I don't know. You could call this a system and then you could call this a universe,
just for fun, I mean that's not really what it is... but you could say a universe is
made of a billion planets... and it has a thousand galaxies in it, and each one of
those galaxies has a thousand planets with people on it, with people like you and
me.

[student: People, meaning human beings...]

All six realms. It has its own deities, it has its own humans, it has its own hell, it
has its own animals. Then they look like us, they're very similar to us.

[student: Could you state that again?]

Each one of these planets... there's a billion planets in this particular kind of
system, there's more than one of these. And on each of those planets there are
human beings that look like us. There are animals, there are ...in different forms.
There is a hell there, a whole set of the typical hells... sixteen hells... and uh what
they call partial hells, around the size of those.

[student: You say the six forms are...]

Yeah, there are six forms of life on each one of those, just like our planet. We can
only see two of the forms of life on our planet. Animals and beings. So, the
Buddha is talking about somebody who ...

[student: I thought I can see plants...?]

Excuse me?

[student: I can see plants.]
Ah, Buddhism as taught in India doesn't mention plants as being alive... as
having mind, as having mind. They're not included in the six realms, as taught in
the Abhidharma, as taught in [unclear] ...

[student: [unclear] ... realms]

Ah, if you're going from the bottom, hells, [unclear... trading? ] spirits,
sometimes called hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and then pleasure beings and
almost pleasure beings.

[student: Which are the demigods?]

That's what they call... that's number five. Sometimes it's included into six and
they count them five. Sometimes you see five realms in the wheel of life,
sometimes you see six. That painting has probably five, I think. Is it five?

[student: [unclear] ]

Yeah... yeah...

There are six, six realms represented but only five divisions in the circle, I think.
And it depends on which painting you're at, and you can do it either way. It
depends on whether you include the {assuryas}, the demigods, with the
{suryas} ... the full gods.

[student: What's that [unclear] ]

[student: Going up?]

Actually before pleasure beings, there are what we call almost pleasure beings.
And that's really what assurya means. The Tibetans mis-translated it as non-
gods ... because they thought the [ah...unclear] was a negative, but's it's a
differnet thing. And, and what is the implication between saying someone who's
supervisor and someone who's almost supervisor? How will they interact at
work?

[student: Painfully!]

[laughter]

No, how will the person who's almost supervisor feel about the supervisor?

[student: [unclear] ]

Jealousy... jealous! And that is the fixation of what they call demigods. But the
more proper translation is... It's like near pleasure beings or nearly full pleasure
beings.

[student: [unclear] ]

They're a little bit incomplete. And their whole life they're obsessed with
jealousy. It's their... it's the theme of their realm... is jealousy. They're constantly
thinking how to get... It's like the roadrunner. [laughter] He's constantly thinking
how to get at the ... no... who was it? The coyote!
Constantly thinking how to get the roadrunner and always failing, you know?
And that's the story of their realm. Okay? So, you get a taste for that.
Anyway, if you take that many planets, as big as our planet, and you covered
them with gold, ah, and you offered that to someone, would that be a great
virtue? The Buddha asks {Subuddhi} that. Would that be a great thing?

[writing]

And if {Subuddhi} said ... if they both agreed it was a big virtue, but then if the
Buddha said...those, those mountains of good deeds, mountains of merit they
call them... don't even exist, what do you think he's saying?

[student: Self existence [unclear] ?]

Self existently? Do they exist... relatively?

[student: Yes.]

So, good deeds and their results exist, right?

[student: [unclear] Yes...]

Eh... okay!

[laughter]
[writing]

[student: When you say you take all the planets, you mean number one, number
two, number three? Or one billion? ]

Ah, one set of number three, which means a billion. I call it a third order system.

[student: Sounds like Star Trek...]

The Abhidharma reads like Star Trek. A lot of the sutras read like Star Trek. You
read the {vinaya} sutras, they are ...they are more amazing that the most strange
novel you ever read. And they're true, so... They're really stunning. They haven't
been translated yet, but they read like Star Trek adventures.

Say {depa} [repeat] {ma umba} [repeat] {depa} [repeat] {ma umba} [repeat].
{Depa} means past, in the sense of in the past, already gone by. {Depa} means
past tense, things that are past already. It's part of the Tibetan word for nirvana
for example, which means what?

[student: To go beyond...]

To pass beyond. So what it means is the past, in the past. {Ma umba}, {umba}
means to come, what do you think {ma} means?

[student: None.]

So what does {ma umba} mean? The future. So {depa} means the past, and {ma
umba} means the future. Is the past gone? Is the future {ma umba}? Is it yet to
come?

[student: [unclear] ]

Right, so your good deeds and their future results don't exist, even relatively
speaking.

[student: Just a minute... could you repeat that?]
[laughter]

The good deeds you did in the past are done. They're finished, they're gone.
The results they're going to produce for you are {ma umba}... not yet come. So
they don't exist either. They're both non-existent.

[student: But they're in the form of a seed.]

They're past.

[student: But the seed exists.]

The deeds are finished. The deeds and their consequences are... the deeds and
their consequences don't exist.

[student: So you're saying there's no present, then. That's what you're saying.]

The present exists.
[student: You're saying the past is gone and the future hasn't come.]

That's true, but the present exists.

[student: And there's no good deeds in it?]

But by the time... now listen, this is not a joke, okay? By the time the good deed,
at the time the good deed exists, its consequence by definition, the nature of
cause and effect, is that the consequence hasn't come yet, so you can't ever have
both of them existing at the same time.

[student: But isn't the seed a consequence?]

That's a consequence. But the seed isn't created until the next moment. You do a
bad deed and it created a seed. By the time the seed appears, the bad deed is
gone already.

[student: [unclear] ]

By the time the seed produces a tree, when the tree comes out, the seed is gone.
That's the nature of all cause and effect. By the time the results appears, the cause
must be what?

[students: Gone.]

Gone! If the cause is still around, then the results is not yet come. It's future.

[student: This is applied to bad deeds also?]

Every kind of deed, good deed, bad deed. So by definition, there's no
relationship between Karma and its consequences.

[student: What?]

...because there can't be a relationship between two things if one of them doesn't
exist.

[student: So let's go out and tell people tonight, "Have a ball!"]
Isn't that right, if you have a relationship, the two things that are in a
relationship, the two things that are related, must exist.

[student: Do they have to exist simultaneously?]

If they're past, they don't exist anymore. If they're future, they don't exist yet.
Does 1996 exist?

[student: But they can still be connected in present, even though they don't exist
at the moment.]

How, how can two things be connected if one of them is gone? ... or not yet
come?

[student: You taught us that the karmic seed exists. It replicates itself each
nanosecond. ]

No, but we're talking about the first moment of the deed, and its result.

[student: So how can you have an effect, if its cause...]
It's a [unclear]. There cannot be a relationship between two things...
It's like saying there's a relationship between this guy and his wife, but the wife's
not around. There's no such thing.

[student: [unclear]]

[laughter]

The wife doesn't exist. The wife died two years ago. They have a nice relationship
you know, come on! You gotta have two. But by definition, one of them is
always either past or future. They never exist at the same time.

[student: There's a difference between saying they don't exist at the same time,
simultaneously, and they don't exist at all.]

[unclear]

Okay, nice... and that's how in a debate ground, I mean that takes about three
nights actually, but he did it very well. And I wouldn't give up so easily in a
debate ground. We'd keep fighting and then finally everyone would say "Okay
he wins, let's go home." [laughter]

But that is the answer and you get to it just by your natural instinct that tells that
that's the way it is. So you have to say...and you'll read it in the reading. In
general, they exist, you know, if you restrict yourself to the present moment and
say that the future is yet to come and what's past is not [unclear] ... and they
don't exist. There was a huge debate. Some of the major Buddhist schools ah
differ on this point, the {savativadans} {tantayapamawa}. Those are the traditions
of our robes. Monkhood where in abhidharma school, they said all the times
exist now, and then as you go up, they say no, and when you get to the highest
school they say yes again. [laughs] [unclear] they say all the times exist. All times
exist in the present. Generally speaking...

[student: Can you make that statement again, and then the interpretation of it?]

You said it real good. [laughs]

[student: I missed the first statement.]
Ah it's just that, generally speaking, they don't exist. They are in fact {tanye tapa}
which means labeled with your conceptions.

[student: What is that?]

What are the parts of time... that you label time. It's a very interesting question.
How does time work? How does the theory of emptiness, or this theory of
labeling with your conceptions apply to time? What are the parts of time?

[student: Past, present, and future.]

Yeah, past, present and future. Instead of saying two arms, two legs, torso, Mike
the Monk, you say past, present, future, I take those parts and I label them time.
So time itself is empty and time itself could not occur without that?

[student: Projection?]

Without your projection... without your labels. Time itself occurs because it is
empty. If time weren't empty, it couldn't, it could never change. Nothing could
ever move. If time were self-existent the way you think it is, the way you
experience it, deep in your heart, it couldn't exist. It's also a gotcha. Time that
could exist the way you presently think it exists, doesn't exist. [laughs] okay?
Time exists as a collection of parts that you call time and that you experience as
time because of what?

[student: Projection. ]

... caused by what?

[student: Past deeds?]

...forced on you by your past deeds... which explains very nicely why...

[student: ... which don't exist...]

[unclear]

... which explains very nicely why time moves slower for certain kinds of beings,
and that's, that's reality. And you can read that in the Abhidharma. On day on
earth is thousands of years in hell. Because of their karma, they experience time
differently. They take those same parts, they project a different label onto them,
and they have the sensation and the experience of a year moving by in a
thousand years. And they suffer that way. So it's really ah, interesting. That
explains how that's possible. You know you have times when you're in a good
mood and time flies. And then when you're at work, and the clock doesn't move
at all. [laughs] Right?

[student: So you have {depa} up here which is the past and then you have {ma
umpa} which is the future. So what's the statement that we're refuting?...based
on past and future?]

Some schools say, some Buddhist schools say those two don't exist. Does
Lincoln's assassination exist?

[student: A hundred times.]

[laughs] Well...

[student: A thousand times.]

Well, what you can say what the {mana...[unclear] gika} says, well it is affecting
our lives now. So it's a {lopo?, local?}. It's a thing. It's a functioning object. It's
affecting us now. If he had not been shot, our life would be different. So anyway,
in that sense, to bring us back to the subject, those mountains of merit don't
exist, in some schools of Buddhism. So if you were in a debate ground, you could
say, well, good deeds don't really exist and you could defend it pretty well...ah,
which would be a mistake.
[laughs] But it's also interesting to know how time is a product of your own
projections.

[student: The mountains don't exist in terms of conventional reality or as the
good deed that...]

I tried to just prove that they didn't exist conventionally and still <unclear> beat
me. Ah... generally speaking they do exist, obviously. Specifically, if you restrict
yourself to the present, it's an impossibility. There's an emptiness there too. Ah...
so they don't exist in that sense conventionally. How do they not exist
ultimately?

[student: [unclear] ]

...like a good deed. Let's take a good deed, okay? Monday's not a good day for
deep philosophy.

[student: [laughter] Silence...]

I'll turn the heat on and finish you off.

[laughter]

[writes]

Okay, say {jimbapo} [repeat] {jimbeyu}[repeat] {jimbechawa}[repeat]

These are called the three spheres, or the three elements of a good deed, in this
case, okay? These are the three elements of a good deed.

[student: Is that what {jimba} means?]

{jimba} means the good deed, the first perfection. What's that?

[student: Giving?]
Giving. Okay? The perfection of giving.

[silence]

So, we're talking about the emptiness of a good deed, okay? We're talking about
the emptiness of a good deed. As you do a good deed, you're supposed to
understand the emptiness of it. You're supposed to see the emptiness of it. If you
see the emptiness of it, it's supposed to be more powerful. In fact, if you don't see
the emptiness of a good deed, it never will produce enough virtue to give you a
Buddha's body. We've already talked about that. So, you've gotta be... you've got
to at least know what it would be like to see the emptiness of a good deed as you
do a good deed. It doesn't mean you shouldn't do good deeds. It means you
should increase your good deeds. And as you do them, you should see their
emptiness. That, that is like enhancing them and, and making them ... it gives
them the nature of taking you out of samsara. And if you don't do that, it just
gives them the nature of producing something pleasant... in the future. There's a
big difference, okay? So if {jimba} is the perfection of giving {dana}, {jimba po} is
the, is the giver, the person who's doing it. What would be a wisdom about
yourself, what would be a good way to think about yourself as you give
something? What would be a, a [unclear, shared? Shera?] way to look at
yourself? ... a wisdom way? As you, as you perform an act of giving.
They say that when a Boddhisattva gives a piece of bread to a bird, or they go
and piss in the bathroom, it's such a good deed that it's worth ten thousand, ah,
great deeds by a normal human being. Why? What's the difference?

[student: It's in self [unclear, presenting?] ]

Well, what does that imply?

[student: It implies that they're ah labeling all these projections onto the events
that are occurring.]

We just talked about the{jimba po} the giver...

[student: So they're labeling themselves. ]

Well, how would that help? What's big deal? Pretend I'm not here, or pretend I'm
just labeling Mike the Monk as I give you tea, you know?
[laughter]

So what's the benefit of that? I mean that's where most teachings on emptiness
break down, I think. That's where most people go home a little dissatisfied, see?
Okay, I'm supposed to see myself as empty but I still have to get up an hour
earlier and go to work today. You know, what's the use?

[student: The only reason you'd be doing it, ah, is to create better karma for
yourself and become a Buddha.]

Well you could just quite consciously...knowledge means...wisdom means...this is
the only meaning of wisdom. You consciously, coldly, self-interestedly say well,
if I, if I give and I do it with the right motivation, ah, I'll create a paradise...
because I'm empty. This, this Mike the Monk form, you know, with the bony
elbows and the bald head and the fingers, I mean, I could change it into a
Buddha's body ah with the right knowledge. If I had the right knowledge as I
gave away things, I could change it into a Buddha's body, quite consciously,
ah...because it's empty...because it's a projection. If I change my projections, I
wouldn't look like this to myself anymore. Can you change those projections
willingly? Consciously? We wished! [laughs] It don't work that way. They're
forced on me by, you know, past Mike, ah, whatever he did good or bad and
there are [unclear] forces in stuff like this. So if I want everyone to see my self as
something different, I have to do good deeds.

[student: So how does seeing yourself as empty...?]

You... it reminds you ... that, that's knowledge. If I understand that this form is
empty, it means I understand that conventionally, it's a projection. If I
understand that it's a projection, I know how to fool around with the projection.

[student: So the point is then that you will only do good deeds if you see yourself
as empty.]

Absolutely! If you knew that you were empty, it would be foolish to do anything
else. I say to people it's like reading the label on a cigarette package and then
smoking, you know? [laughs] I mean, reading the label on a cigarette package is
understanding your emptiness. Once you understand your emptiness, it would
be the height of foolishness to do anything but good deeds. You know? It would
be really stupid. That would be self, ah... whatever you call it, you know? It'd be
like people who smoke and read the thing on the pack, sorry...[laughs]
[laughter]

Okay? Ah...It would some kind of ah...

[student: So you see the good deed as being empty and so...]

So far, we only got to the guy who's doing it, right? Okay?
[student: So you see the good deed as empty and therefore, seeing that makes
you what?]

It makes you understand why you should only do good deeds. Because I, I look,
who's giving this ah...who's giving tea to these people tonight? Mike the Monk?
Well, why's he look like that? Why doesn't he look a little better?

[laughter]

Projection! He's got a lousy projection!

[student: Not enough sleep...[laughs]]

It's a lousy projection, you know. So, how could I have a better projection?
Maybe I'll just think of a better projection, you know. You try and it still looks...

[laughter]

It still looks the same! And then you say, well what really causes the projection?
Well, my past karma. So how do I get a good projection... how do I get a decent
projection later?

[laughter]

[student: What are you looking at, anyway? Your feet?]

[laughter]

[unclear] I don't know... stinky socks! People could give me socks. I guess it's a
hint.

[laughter]
But I could change it by doing good deeds. That is knowledge. That is wisdom.
That's the last paramita. That's the only meaning of the last paramita. Just do it.
Just understand emptiness. Then you're on your way, okay? {jimbe yu} What do
you think is the second element in an act of giving?

[student: The object?]
[student: The deed?]

Ah, the person your giving it to, in this case...{jimbe yu}...{yu} means object in
the sense of the person who's getting it. What do you think about that?

[student: Did you cover this [unclear] before?]

Friday night, were you here Friday night?

[student: Yeah...]

Did I do this already?

[student: [unclear] ]

All right, all right. We are on emptiness and karma. This this this class, class
number [unclear] .Okay. {jimbe yu} means the person who's getting the good...
So what's the emptiness in him? Who cares about his emptiness? What's the big
deal?

[student: [unclear] ]

He's empty too. He doesn't have to be what he looks like. What's his emptiness?
I mean there's a lot of elements there. Ah, why is he getting this gift? Is it your
generosity?

[student: No... [unclear] ]

He has to get the gift.

[student: He's getting the gift because he created the karma [unclear]         see
yourself giving it to him]
He's getting the gift because he did it. No, and more like... yeah, because he
created the karma to see me giving it to him.
[student: Or you created the karma to see yourself giving it to him. ]

Well, that's why I see him getting the gift. But why does he think he's getting the
gift? Because he collected the karma to see me walk up and give him the gift. So
in that sense, he's empty too. He looks down and looks at you know, Joe, Joe the
student. He's getting us a cup of tea and he... he can understand the emptiness.
That's the emptiness of the person getting it. Actually he's at a disadvantage. He
just used up some good karma. Okay? [laughs]

[student: So what's the value of seeing it as empty...the recipient as empty?]

There's a lot of reasons. I mean, if you really wanted to help him then, would
you just be giving people money and food and tea? If you understood his
emptiness?

[student: You could give him dharma.]

Give him a way to change his own projections, that's something nice. That's a
good deed.

[student: And tea!]

Tea too![laughs] Tea to get him to come to class! Okay, {jimbe jawa}. Now
different scriptures have different things for number three. Some scriptures say,
what do you guess? The emptiness of the ...

[student: Emptiness... gift.]

...of thegift. But that's not what it means here. {Jimbe jawa} means the emptiness
of the act of giving. The emptiness of the act of giving.

[student: Does it mean the act of giving or the emptiness of the act of giving?]

Ah, this means the act of giving, sorry. But, the point is that when you give
anything or do any of the perfections, your wisdom has to see the emptiness of
these three things. Your wisdom has to understand the emptiness of these three
things. What's one of the big emptinesses of the act of giving?
[student: One of the big emptnesses?]

Well, you could just say, what's its nature? What its nature? What's its main
quality? It's a good deed.

[doorbell rings ... chatter... tape pause]

Now the Buddha says something radical in a sutra. I'll read it to you, just to
prove it to you. I won't put it up on the board because it would take us [unclear,
over?]. But you can just listen. {Dole}. {Dole} means kama sutra it says. {fast
tibetan} ... which means...{parchin damma la} the first five perfections...{tibetan} if
they lack the perfection of wisdom...{tibetan ...ming mi tok} they don't deserve
the name of perfections.

[student: They don't deserve the name of what?]

Perfections. They shouldn't be called perfections. The first five perfections, if
done without the sixth perfection, don't deserve the name of perfections. That's
Buddha. Direct quotation. In perfection of wisdom, in those five perfections,
means these three spheres of these three elements, as you do them, you must
perceive the emptiness of those three parts of it. What would it be in the case of
the... by the way, we covered the first perfection, right? I'm just going to say P,
okay? Since they don't deserve the name.

[laughter]

First is the perfection...[?] What's the second perfection?

[student: Morality?]

Yeah, morality. By the way I don't like the translation of generosity because as I
said last time, giving protection to somebody is the first perfection. Ah, giving
dharma, I mean, generosity doesn't quite fit. [writes] Morality basically falling
into three different categories ah, what we call {pratimoksha} you don't have to
know all this, you don't have to write all this. Ah, {pratimoksha}means the
normal morality vows. Okay? There's eight sets of vowed morality... one day
vow for laymen , ten vows for lifetime for laymen or laywomen, and then five
kinds of ordained vows, starting with a novice vow and going up to four monk's
vows. Or, just keeping the ten moralities because you're a Buddhist, okay? Those
are all the first level of morality. The second level...yeah?
[student: [unclear] ]

Ah, they're precepts when they're given as a vow...

[student: Okay.]

... in the case of the second and third of the eight {praktimosha} vows, and
they're precepts for a layman until he dies, in the {praktimosha} system, in the
{vinaya} system. But all Buddhists have to keep them. If you keep them without
a vow, it's not as powerful. If you keep them because you took a vow, it's more
powerful. Ah, and it really starts... There are six kinds of ah, lifetime laymen's
vows and they involve a minimum of five vows. Long story, okay? Ah, second
level of vows is the Bodhisattava vows, sixty-four vows, eighteen main, forty-
six... and then ah, third level is secret vows, Tantric vows.

[student: They... they coincide with the six levels of perfection?]

No. Those are just all different kinds of the second perfection. The second
perfection can fall into any of them. Okay, third one...

[student: [unclear] ]

Yeah, I like that. [writes] The perfection of not giving...There's no good word for
this in English, okay? Patience falls a little short, I think. Patience means the
ability to wait in a doctor's waiting room I think, in English, right? [laughter]
Patience means the ability to wait, in English, I think, more than the ability, more
than... This is a perfection, it's a very very specific emotional state, which means
that when the heat comes on you ... and that means when someone pushes your
buttons, when that one person in the world who knows where to push, pushes,
you just... you just let it go. We don't respond with anger. And that's the third
perfection.

[student: So this person doesn't know... ]

[laughs] Doesn't know what?

[student: Where's the button.]

Now you know, there's someone in your life. I know who it was for me. I had a
boss who just ... anything would set me off. And ah, you know, everybody has,
most people know somebody like that. And that means, it doesn't mean like in
the heat of a nice tea that you stay cool. When the moment, that that one person
whom you really don't like very much, says the thing that would most hurt you
or anger you, you just stay cool and it's accepted in Buddhist philosophy that
that's much more difficult than staying in a cave for five years and meditating.
It's a much more difficult austerity. That's recognized as the highest austerity in
Buddhism. That's considered the highest austerity, much more difficult to keep
your cool in that one moment at work than to sit in a cave and meditate for
years. And the bad karma of letting it happen is much more significant. You
guys have karma class, you know that anger ... and you know in life that one
good incident with somebody can ruin your relationship for years. One
explosion can sour a relationship for years. That's karmically correct. Number
four... [writes]
What is that?

[student: Joyful effort.]

Yeah, I like that, okay? And you can say virtuous [laughs] ... Okay, those are
additions, okay? Why do they say virtuous? Because it's not the perfection of
effort to try hard to cheat people, or to try hard to hurt people or to try hard to
get money or... That's not perfection of effort, okay? Effort is defined as {tsunka
gela ...} which means the perfection of effort is to enjoy doing good things. And
that's cool. That's nice. You just enjoy doing the right thing. You don't resist it, or
figure out ways why you should do it or you shouldn't do it [laughs], okay? It's
defined as enjoying doing good things. What's number five?

[student: Concentration.]

You can say the perfection of... you can say meditative concentration, okay?
[writes] Now what's the difference between the perfection of giving and just
plain giving? What's the difference between the perfection of morality and just
plain morality? Ah, we'll talk about that after you have tea, okay? [laughter] Go
have some tea.

[pause]

[Tape not started in time here]

{parol tu chimba} [repeat]
[student: (aside to the person recording) I turned it off, okay, I'm sorry...]

{parol tu chimba} is the Tibetan word for perfection, okay? Perfection. Like the
six perfections. [spells it out] {rol} means side. Who's Gary Larson?

[student: Cartoonist.]
[student: Far Side.]

Yeah, Far Side. [laughter] Classic example is when you're standing on a
mountain and there's another mountain like twenty miles away... that's {parol}.
That's the far side. You're on the near side. That's on the far side. The other
example is like the shore of Japan compared to California. If you stand on the
ocean side at Malibu and look across to the ...that's {parol}, the far side, way over
there. {Tu} means to and {chimba} means gone. In Sanskrit, the word gone is
{itta} and far side is {fara} and you indicate this second grammar case with an "n"
so {paramita}

[laughter]
[student: What is that? {para[unclear]?}]

You live in Paramus [laughs]

[student: Is that genitive?]
[unclear]

No... {lacata ?}

So {paramita}, ok, {paramita}. Gone to the other side. Gone to the far side.
If the far side is...if the ocean you're trying to cross is samsara, then what do you
think {paramita} is? What would be the {paramita}?

[students: nirvana]

Nirvana and Buddhahood, okay? You can think of it as Buddhahood, okay? The
ultimate nirvana. [writes] I'm sorry the bottom part right and {ita} means gone
to. So I ask you a question. Does anybody really have {paramita}?

[student: Buddha]
Buddha! Okay. [laughs] Buddha's the only dude who's got paramita.

[laughter]

All right, really! {Paramita} means gone to Buddha, gone to enlightenment. So
really, only a Buddha has {paramita}.

[student: This means full enlightenment?]

Yeah...

[student: What about bliss? When you say gone to bliss, is that the same word?]

Yeah, that bliss means enlightenment. So {paramita} really, only the Buddha has
{paramita}. But ...one of these perfections has the function of {paratuchin} and
then you cut it off here and you say {che}... which means takes you.
{Paratuchin}... instead of {ba} you say {che}, ok? {Paratuchin che} means the thing
that takes you to ...

[student: Paramita?]

... to the far shore which is Buddhahood, enlightenment, ok? And that's the
second meaning of the word perfection. So really...I mean I used to always
wonder about it? You know, why is it called perfection? You ain't perfect when
you're practicing those six , you know? As they exist in the mind of a Buddha,
these are actual perfections. As they exist in a Bodhisattva's mind, who's not yet a
Buddha, they mean trying to get to perfection, something that takes him to
perfection. Right? Those six deeds take to you to perfection. They should have
been called the six "takes you to perfections", ok? But I guess it was too long, or
something.

[student: You say one of them is called..?]

Which one do you think is the real {paraduchinche}? Wisdom.
The real {paraduchinche} is wisdom. The real one that gets you to Buddhahood is
wisdom.

[student: So it's trying to get to perfection? Or it's working on its perfection. Or
would you say trying to get?]
Yeah, yeah. Takes you to perfection. Perfection itself is a little bit of a stretchy
translation, right? Reach the other shore. But it's ok. It does give that sense that
only a Buddha has it. The real... the real one. And the rest are just getting you to
perfection. Although we call it perfection because it can [unclear] perfection.
What makes something a Bodhisattva's activity? What makes you a Bodhisattva?
We learned it in a couple of courses. What makes you a Bodhisattva?

[student: Well, compassion... linking the understanding of emptiness with
compassion.]

That's perfection of wisdom. That's the definition of the perfection of wisdom.
You're mixing up the definition of perfection of wisdom with the definition of
bodhicitta.

[student: unclear]

Yeah, [recites in Tibetan]. Bodhicitta is defined as the wish to achieve
enlightenment to help other people. So does that say anything about emptiness?
No, it's just the wish to help. So, an action like giving, or an action like not getting
angry, something the other class said was the perfection of keeping your cool...
ah... which is not bad... ah...

[student: Except keeping your cool can also shut people out.]

Yeah, ok. Ah, where was I? So what makes them Bodhisattva activities?

[student: If they're done with that... [unclear]]

Yeah, if they're done with that motivation, which is to achieve Buddhahood for
the benefit of other people. And that's correct. That's the correct answer on your
last question on your homework. The thing that makes these the perfections, the
thing that makes these Bodhisattva activities is that they're done with the
motivation to reach Buddhahood for the sake of all other beings. And to reach
Buddhahood implies for the sake of yourself too, remember?

[End of side 1 - start of side 2]

[student: Well for a Buddha, it's their activity and for a Bodhisattva, it is thei
activity which will get them to...]
It's the motivation. It's why you do it, ok? What makes a perfection? What makes
giving the perfection of giving is only doing to help... to achieve Buddhahood for
other people. So if you were in a debate, I'd say, [claps] you know, why then did
the Buddha say, if they're not done with the perfection of wisdom, what?

[student: They're not perfections.]

{Min mi to} What do we say at the end of class? If you do ... any of those other
five are done without the perfection of wisdom, without seeing the emptiness of
those three things...

[student: They don't deserve the name.]

They don't deserve the name perfection. So there's this huge debate in Buddhist
texts ever since then, you know, did the Buddha deny that the other five are
perfections? Without number six? What makes them perfections? If they're done
with Bodhicitta. If they're done with the wish to become a Buddha. To help other
people. So that's... that is the correct... that is what we call {rangu}. That's the
correct position. What?

[student: When you say if they're not done with number six it implies two
things? If they're not done with an awareness of the lack of self-existence in all
those three...]

Of those three things...

[student: That's the second part and the first part which makes it a perfection in
the first place, being the Bodhicitta.]

Right. So, the correct answer is...

[student: So there's really two things...]

It's not two things. I mean, they do deserve the name perfections because if
the're done with ...

[student: Bodhicitta.]

Bodhicitta. Ok? Bodhicitta is what makes them perfections. Now it is true that the
Buddha said that if they're not done with wisdom, they don't deserve the name
perfections. But that's ah, interpretive? It's like when the Buddha said "Kill you
father, kill your mother" I mean, don't take it that way, ok? [laughs] It means...
he meant that it's very important. But he didn't mean it so radically to say that if
you're giving and you're doing it to help all sentient beings, it ain't the perfection
of giving. Of course, it is. That's what makes it the perfection of giving. Because
there's a logical problem there. If I have to get the number six through, how?
What do monks in the monastery do just before they study {madyamita}? They
study the perfection of wisdom for twelve years. Then they go into meditation,
they go in retreat. Why? I mean they're about to study {madhyamita} for four
years. Why do they in retreat? It's to collect virtue. You have to collect some
monstrous virtue to understand emptiness. So monks, they go away from the
monastery. And Rinpoche did a very famous retreat before he studied
{madhyamika}, he almost died. He went out and did this in a cave I mean this
retreat. In other words, you need the first five perfections to ... what?

[student: To see emptiness.]

To get to number six. You got to have a heck of a lot of virtue just to get to
number six.

[student: I mean it depends on how loosely... on how broadly you're using the
word virtue. You've also got to develop ... you've got to develop [unclear] or
you can't see emptiness, anyway?]

That's number five... that's number five.

[student: Right. But it's not just virtue. But without that...]

Right, but mainly virtue. So, you can't get to number six without what?

[student: Without doing all the rest...]

Without the first five.




@@@@continue transcription from here, taped cued to proper place on side 2
The Asian Classics Institute

Course VI: The Diamond Cutter Sutra