ACI 6 «Сутра Алмазного Огранщика», занятие 11

Class Eleven: Course Review
May 5, 1995
transcribed by: Amber Moore

Tonight's a fun class there's no... nothing new to learn. Just reviewing right?

student: And a poem.

And a small poem. We'll review first and leave this to the end, we'll do a little
dessert, okay? I'll... the older students know that the final exam comes only from
your quizzes okay, you only have to study from your quizzes, and the quizzes
are the most important stuff. So if you come out of this course knowing
everything in the quizzes, I'm happy, that's, that's fine. Alot of people don't
realize that by the time you finish your Geshe in the monastery you forgot most,
most of what you knew. [laughs] Definitely five years later, but anyway, not
everything, but alot. So there's just the essential things that you need to know
and hopefully they will stay with you. And those are things you need to know to
do your practice. Okay, so I'm going to go around the room, don't get nervous,
just guess, and I'll ask you questions

student: Don't ask me a question.

Some people pull out there old things and follow along. [laughter] So, we'll start
from the front, Miss McHail. The Sanskrit name for the [b: Diamond Cutter
Sutra]. And hopefully no body in this class will ever call it the Diamond Sutra,
okay.

student: [b: The Diamond Cutter Sutra], Vadjra Chedika.

[unclear] [laughter] And what's the Tibetan form?

student:[b: Dorje Chupa].

And which means what? Dorje means what?
student: Stone?

Yeah, Lord of stones, Dor Je, which is Diamond. And Chupa? {Chupa's} the Cut.
The Cutter. Vadjra means Diamond and Chedika means the Cut. It really does,
that Vadjra shape that you see, you know, with Lamas with their Bell and their
Vadjra. That comes from the natural shape of the diamond crystal. Diamonds are
natural octahedrons, that's exactly how they come in nature that's why a baseball
diamond and a diamond on a card, and that's exactly the shape on each side of
the, the vadjra, that exactly the shape that the diamonds would have been
known in India, because they couldn't cut them in those days. So that's the
natural crystal shape, exactly. That's exactly the shape that it comes in. Okay,
Miss Dyan, explain the meaning of the word diamond in the text, wait, this Dyan,
Dy-an. [laughter]. Later, we're working on it.

student: Okay, the first two qualities which are the same as ultimate reality is it's
clarity, indestructible, or it can't be scratched or something and then there's that
every piece is perfect, if you cut it apart, they each have all the qualities of the
entire thing.



Yeah, nice. Perfectly clear, meaning Ultimate truth has always been around you
all the time. Every object in the universe has ultimate truth, all the atoms in your
body have their own ultimate truth, you can't see it. And if there was a wall of
Diamond around you you couldn't see that either. Pure diamond. The other
thing is that every piece of it is pure. The emptiness of every object in the
universe is totally equivalent, except for what they refer to , except for what
they're hanging on to, in other words the object that has that emptiness. All
those emptinesses have purely the same quality and when you've seen one
you've seen them all. In the path of seeing what is the path of seeing? It's
something like, anyway, [b: Abisamayalankara] {migpa dane tamche la} , it
means the object is all phenomena and all their emptiness is all equivalent,
they're all hanging on to different things. And the last thing is indestructibility,
which means that it's ultimate, it really is ultimate, it is a higher reality, it's
qualitatively higher, and you know that when you see it , it's a different kind of,
it's a different kind of reality and it's a superior reality. Okay, Pam, why is it
important to include the word cutter in the title? Originally the word cutter in the
title?

student: Because as good as the metaphor of diamond is, it's not good enough to
describe what that perception of emptiness actually is.
What it actually seems okay. Perception is mind, The object of the perception.
Allot of people get confused about that. I used to get confused about that. All
this stuff is talking about emptiness not about the perception, not about the mind
which perceives emptiness. You see, the diamond compares to the object of that
mind. The diamond compares to what that mind sees, what that state of mind
sees. The state of mind itself is a plain old organic, changing, thinking, living
mind. No big deal. [laughs] The object of that mind is, is, totally a different
reality. So you have to be careful to distinguish between the mind which is
seeing emptiness, which is a plain old changing object, and, and the object which
it's focused of which is, which is a totally, perfect, ultimate reality. You have got
to distinguish between the object and the subject.

student: Are you saying that the object is self existent?

No, I didn't mean to say that. No, I just mean to say that when you , when you
use the metaphor of the diamond, it's not referring to the mind, it's not referring
to the perception of emptiness, it's referring to the object of the perception of
emptiness, referring to what you see and not that state of mind, not that
meditative state of mind. Okay.

student: It's the diamond, not the cutter.

Yeah, it's the diamond, don't compare the diamond to the state of mind. The
state of mind itself is, is, is relative truth, it's living, it's changing, it's caused, it's
thinking , it's moving. It's not the same thing. The object is ultimate.

student: Could you explain one more time why "Cutter"?

[laughs] Yeah, okay. The diamond is inferior to ultimate reality. Diamond is
the highest metaphor possible in the normal world, in what we call deceptive
reality. And, and if you saw emptiness directly, you might want to be around
diamonds for the rest of your life, just to remember what happened. So that
when ever you wondered why you were there, you would think oh, I mean,
your whole life would be a metaphor, your whole career would be a metaphor.
And, like, why do I like do...why am I in this "stupid" diamond business? Oh,
yeah, it's because I was meditating and.... you know like that. It would be like
that. But even then you realize that the diamond is not even close. It is cut,
meaning it is put down by the real thing, the thing that it represents is infinitely
superior to the diamond. The diamond is just the... is the closest metaphor, and
it's infinitely inferior to the, that ultimate reality. So in a sense it's cut. It's close
but no cigar. They should call it the close but no cigar. [laughter] Seriously. We
should start a diamond cutter called the nearly diamond.

student: Almost Diamond Cutter.

Diamonds near, you see. Diamonds are near, diamonds are close, something
like that, but that's all.



Okay, and that's why cut, that's what cut means. And I've said it before, it's
interesting to note that the title nowhere appears in the book, And, and could
have well been put on the sutra by someone who knew something.

student: You had said that in the path of seeing, one of the things that you
understand about the diamond is that ...

In the {jetop yeshe} in the aftermath of the experience, which is the second half of
the path of seeing in the scriptures.



student: So wouldn't that naturally lend itself to being put in the title, and so the
title wouldn't be a mystery?

Oh yeah, but what I mean to say is.. Oh yeah it's just strange that the word
diamond never appears in the whole book, you know, and it's the title. And
when Subhuti directly asked the Buddha, what should we call this sutra, he says,
"The Perfection of Wisdom". He doesn't say the "Diamond Sutra, Diamond cutter
Sutra." It's just that it's interesting. There must be something going on there.
There must be something important there. Mr. Stillwell, describe the {gakcha}.
The {gakche} is the thing that don't exist, it's the thing the thing that you thought
was there but was not there, what is the{gakcha}? It's the object that we deny,
it's the object whose existence we deny. It's like the purple elephant. [laughter]
By the way you are not supposed to know it tonight.

student: It's the purple elephant.

I mean, people, allot of people have a hard time with {gakcha}.
student: It's the self existent thing which doesn't depend on your perceptions.

Yeah, with a ... it, it doesn't... it's very nice to say it in the.. past perfect tense? Or
whatever that is. Conditional tense? It's the thing that would have, or
something like that, not depended on your perceptions. It's the thing whose
existence would not have depended on your existence, on our projections.
Because if you say that it's the thing which does not depend on your projections,
you lend it some existence. You see?                And when you read books about
emptiness, and books about Buddhism, often times you almost get the feeling
that sometimes they forget that they are describing something which doesn't
exist. And you, and they ... you sense it from the verbs that they use, if you are
talking about that "self" is described as, and they don't put quotation marks
around the "self". You see? If it existed it would have been something that didn't
depend on your projections.              The whole idea is that you are describing
something that just that is totally crazy and doesn't exist at all.

student: But that's deceptive reality.

Does your imagination of it exist? Can you imagine a purple elephant in this
room?

student: Yes.

The imagination of the {gakcha}, oh yeah, that's, that's in itself a {gakcha}. That's
called {unclear} [gakcha}, that's a special kind of {gakcha} which is totally
separate, which means that, that is the thing that you want to deny by your
whole Buddhist career. That's the thing that you want to get over. That does
exist and it causes you all your pain, especially, it causes you all of your bad
emotions. But the {gakcha} that it thinks that it sees, it doesn't even exist. It's
focused on a mental image of something that it thinks it sees that doesn't even
exist. It's focused on a mental image of something that it doesn't even exist.

student: It's like the impossible way that some things would have to exist, if
things...

Right, right..

student: ...were capable of existing self existently.

Right, and sometimes when you read allot of scholastic books about
Mahdyumika and stuff like that, the verbs tend to get very real, and you
wonder. You should always refer to the "self" with quotation marks. The quote,
"self".  You know the quote "John Stillwell" that could exist without his
projections. You know, that's the object, really, you know really, anything that
could have existed without your projections. Independent of our projections,
Don't just say, " A self existent thing." That's a copout. Alright. Self existent. I'm
not even sure there is a word in Tibetan for that... okay, we'll talk about it. I'm
going to go through the four bodies of a Buddha, I'm not going to pick on
anybody. I mean the first person is going to be easy because they can pick
anyone of the four that they remember, and then to fourth person is going to
have it hard, probably, Macys's time. Mr., Carliegh, any one of the four bodies
of a Buddha, I don't care. Give me any of them. [laughter]

student: Excuse me. [laughter] the emanation body.

The emanation body. [laughter] What's it defined as?

student: The bodies of a Buddha that's send out ...[laughter]

You gotta write more clearly. [laughter] What's an emanation body? Just tell
me.

student: I didn't write it down. [laughter]

student: Here Nina.

[laughter]

student: Oh my god. Sends out other sentient beings?

What? No, it's not sending out, the Dharmakaya is sending then out.

student: It's what it sends out spontaneously....

It's just sent out.

student: Spontaneously to help do great deeds to help any being that has
sufficiently good karma to perceive it? Receive it? See it?

If I defined the emanation body as the ultimate form body would that be
enough?

student: It's the second form body.

But if I said that it's the ultimate form that a being could take, would that be
enough?

student: Emanation body, you are talking about?

Yeah, yeah. If it were like the most fantastic form that anyone could ever take?

students: No, no. no.

students: [unclear]



There's a qualifier, there has to be a qualifier.

student: There has to be a need?

student: There has to be a Dharmakaya?

No. [laughs] The part of the definition is that, which those with pure enough
karma can see, even though they have not seen emptiness directly. Non arya.
{Soso kyewo's,}. Normal people who haven't seen emptiness directly yet, it's the
ultimate physical body, which normal people can see, if they have pure enough
karma. That eliminates the other physical body, why?

student: Because the non-arya can never see that. Okay, because you have to be
able to, to see the paradise body, which is called the enjoyment body. The
enjoyment body can only be seen... that's his own body in his own Paradise,
which can only be seen by very high level bodhisattvas, very, very high.

student: So even if a Buddha wanted to they couldn't show an emanation to a
non arya?

No, they would love to. It would help people. They would like to still be on this
planet, but no body was apparently good enough.

student: Could you say that the Buddha is sending out emanation bodies and we
are just not seeing them? Are emanation bodies still being sent out and it's not
dependant on our seeing them?

No, they say that they come when you can see them. When someone is ready to
see them, they are there.

student: So do they depend on our being able to see them?

It's not like, they send them out and there is no one to see them so they bring
them back. [laughs]. Okay, those are the two physical bodies, so how would you
roughly define the paradise body and the enjoyment body?

student: The Buddha in his own Paradise.

His physical body.

student: His physical body, that's when he looks down upon himself.

There's five fixed things about it, five fixed things about it. Do you remember
any of them, just any of them?

student: His body's in Ogmin, it's fixed, his body is always in Ogmin.

What else?

student: It's got all the marks and signs.

It's got al those signs, it's fixed that way.

student: I gotta take off my glasses. [laughter]

student: Circle of followers.

Yeah, it's what? Tenth level boddhisattvas I think. By the way, to get to the first
level you have to be an arya, bodhisattva, I think. So when you say tenth level
bodhisattva you don't have to say aryas. Two more qualities.

student: [unclear] higher vehicles.

Yeah, the dharma he teaches, the dharma that that body teaches is always
Mahayana. And then one more time.

student: Until samsara ends.

Yeah, he always hangs out there until the last sentient being is, is liberated.
Okay.

student: [unclear]

I think it would be great, yeah, I think you should know them really, it defines
that body. Otherwise that body is hard to define. Mr. [unclear] any other body.

student: Okay the last two are the Dharmakaya and the wisdom body is the
omniscience of a, of a Buddha.

Okay, so lets say that you finished, you did the wisdom body, and that's just the
omniscience of a Buddha, okay, Seagal, you're stuck with the...

student: The essence, the essence body...

Number four, okay, which is...?

student: Okay, which is the Buddha's ultimate nature. It's his emptiness, and it
has two parts, the emptiness he always had, even when he was a normal being
like us and the absence of his [unclear].

Yeah, okay, basically it's the emptiness of his other three bodies. I don't mind if
you put that. Okay, it's the emptiness of the other three bodies, I don't mind if
you put it that way. Sometimes it's defined that way to make it easy, okay?
Alright, number six, oops, sorry, [laughter]. I'm sorry, there are many different
positions on how long the Buddha's teachings will survive in this world. Name
three of them and the works they come from, and then describe, name one,
name any one of the three, [unclear] Any one of the three positions on how
long the Buddha's teachings will last in the world, any one.

Student: Okay, five hundred years the Sutra of the Golden Age. Okay so the
Sutra of the Golden Age say five years.

Okay, so the Sutra of the golden age says five hundred years, fifteen hundred
and five hundred. Five hundred years pure and fifteen hundred years as a
shadow. Miss Cranz, we really should mention the Lotus Sutra since it is so
famous. What's the Lotus Sutra say?

student: Fifteen hundred years? Eight hundred years?

I think it's fifteen hundred yeah.

student: What's the name of that again?

student: The White Lotus Sutra?

There's a couple of Lotus Sutras, and you could say the White Lotus Sutra that's
okay.

student: White Lotus Sutra [unclear].

{Dode Pelkar} or something like that.

student: Chonyi Lama was five thousand?

Who's that?

student: Chonyi Lama.

I, I'd like you to put as the third one, I think that the Golden age one is
important, I thing that the Lotus Sutra is important, because obviously, because
the Lotus Sutra is so widely followed around the world, and then I think the,
Kamalashila's is important I think, since he wrote what?

student: [unclear]

One of the only two commentaries to the Diamond Cutter in Sanskrit that we
have.   I think it's very important to mention what he says in that very
commentary, which is?



student: What does he say?

He says how long.
student: [unclear]

Is it twenty-five hundred?

student: Yeah, five thousand, that's what I heard.

I think it's twenty five hundred, [laughs].

student: Which one are you talking about?

student: Kamalashila.

Kamalashila.

student: Sorry, sorry ,sorry, sorry, that's my mistake.

By the way, you should say Master Kamalashila. You know in the Monastery
and in Buddhist tradition, and you should know it, we're not allowed to call them
"Nagarjuna", "Chandrakirti", "Tsongkhapa", you have to put their honorific in
front of this, like Je Tsongkhapa, or Master Kamalashila, or, or, Arya Nagarjuna.
Or, we're not allowed to make, it would be like calling your teacher, hey, hey,
"Tharchin". You know it's considered a very bad thing, okay, not to put that. So
we won't call him Kamalashila, we'll say, Master Kamalashila. Master Sykes!
What does Chonyi Lama say?

student: Yes, five thousand.

Which breaks up as?

student: Twenty-five hundred in India, and then...

Twenty five hundred in Connecticut. [laughter] What about, no. no, I thought it
was, it's ten five hundreds, no, isn't it something like that?

student: Ten five hundreds.



And then you should really explain then you shouldn't just cop out and say ten
five hundreds, I mean you're supposed to be...it's nice to know, because when
you break it, it's just knowing the Tripitaka that's all. It's just knowing the
Tripitaka, isn't it?

student: Oh, the Tripitaka.



It's, it's just knowing the, the three subjects of the, of the three vows, which
everybody should know and then it's knowing the, the                three baskets
themselves and then and there's just a couple more than that and then that's all.
Right? Don't just say, five hundred times ten... that a that's a cheap answer,
okay. If you missed that one you are probably not going to get many points off
so we can skip it. [laughter] Alright. [laughter] You might want to write that
one on your palm, okay. [laughter] Okay, [unclear] Valerie you do one, did you
do one already?

student: No, but you lost my quiz number four, so I can't answer... [laughter].

This one is easy, name the three elements in the act of giving, and what it means
not to see them. The Buddha says that the Bodhisattva should not see the three
spheres. There's the giver.

That's easy.

student: The receiver and the act of giving.

Good, the act of giving. That breaks down later when you get into the other
perfections so , the, the one that I see most often is the action, the doer and the
person who is acted on.

Student: Would you call that the object?

Well, it's a little tricky, because it's like in grammar, it's indirect object and direct
object, you're a grammar teacher in high school, right? Direct object is with the
gift, he indirect object is with the recipient. So I say indirect object and non direct
object how is that? Okay and what does it mean...ofome people on the
homework didn't see the second half of the question which says what does it
mean not to see them? [laughs]

student: Does that have to do with their emptiness?

Yeah, not see them as in.. not see them a s being independent of your projection.
And you should say it that way, don't, don't use this old, "dharma translation"
"self existent", I mean, if you appreciate...

student: Why not?

Because that could apply to the Vibashika school, you know they say that there
is no self nature, we want to get more specific, we're talking big time. This is the
most precise meaning of emptiness, of not being empty is to not be dependant
on your projections.

student: Is that true for the rest of the series, or just for the class, I've had
trouble with that one before. [laughter]

You gotta put your hat on, you gotta wear the hat of that school, when you get
to that school., you can always argue against me when you get your home work
back and say look, " You said back in May of 95" that we should always keep to
the school that we are in", And that is ver good advice, Stick to the school that
you are in at the time. When you are studying Abbhidharma, don't mix up other
stuff.

student: What other stuff?

student: So it's gonna change as we go into other classes.

It'll change, and you'll appreciate it later, because you will have students who will
come to you with a wrong idea about emptiness and you'll say, " you know,
that's just what the Svantantricas think, and I'll tell you why it's not they right
one." And they say that in the study of emptiness you must know what all of the
schools say. They say that if you can't sit here and describe what all four and a
half schools say, that you don't really understand it. Okay.

student: Michael, what was the....?

What it means not to see them is to not to see them as being independent, not to
see them as existing independent of your own projections, how's that? Don't
look at them that way. Then they would be all {Gakchas} And there wouldn't be
any gift, there wouldn't be any giver, ect. We won't pick on you since it's your
first night in this class. Well we could but, [laughter]. Well, almost everyone
got this next one wrong on there homework so I'll pick on Eric. The Tibetan
word for renunciation has two totally different meanings, what, what are they?
It's called {nenjung}.

student: One would be to definitely leave samsaric existence.

Very Good. They both mean to definitely leave samsara, and it is a synonym
for?

student: Nirvana?

Nirvana! Naturally, that when you leave samsara that is nirvana, so for the first
meaning that is to definitely leave samsara, or to definately leave suffering and
that's, that's nirvana. And what's the second meaning of it?

student: To definitely leave the worldly life.

Yeah, to leave the worldly life and it was equivalent to {Rabtu jungwa} but I
didn't mean to say {Rabtu jungwa} was the way to spell it in Tibetan, it's
{nenjung} I think mostly it was the Tibetan class that got confused about that.
So it was a synonym for the act of leaving the home life.

student: So which Tibetan do you want?

{Nenjung}, in both cases. Oh, I'm sorry, it does say that you are supposed to
give the meaning in Tibetan. If you are in a Tibetan class, which I think only
Amy here.

student: No.

Oh Dr. Sykes. The first one would be {nyangdey} which would be nirvana. And
the second would be {Rabtu jungwa}, which means the ritual of leaving your
family life and becoming... it's the first step in ordination. It comes, it comes, it's a
required step before you require ordination. You actually leave the home life,
okay. Alright, and, and allot of people missed this. It said explain it's role in the
direct perception of emptiness. Diane.

student: To see emptiness directly you have to give up the worldy life.

Yeah, it's just a prerequisite, because you cannot, I mean if you're gonna talk
scripture way without even thinking about it, you know, technically you can't
achieve the first path if you don't have renunciation. If you have not left the
worldly life you cannot achieve the first path and the direct perception of
emptiness in path number?

student: Three.

Three, so you can't get to three if you can't even get to one. I mean that's the
scripture answer, the essence answer, the meaning is that, and this is very
important is that you won't have time, mentally or physically if you don't do
that.

student: It's true.

You just never will. You never will. [laughter]. It's this, you can giggle, but
we're getting old. We gotta make a choice, you gotta make up your mind. It's
getting late, you can't serve two masters. It doesn't mean that you have to quit
your job, because then you are a burden on other people and you are not
allowed to be a burden on other people, you are not supposed to impose
yourself on other people. But it does mean that, I think Robin and I were talking
about it the other day. That probably a Buddhist will never get to the peak of
their worldly career that they could have gotten to if they were willing got stay
until nine o clock every night. I mean, You are gonna need some time. You
gotta have some physical mental time, and I mean if you are purely devoted to
your worldly affairs, you just don't have the mind space, there's not enough
synapses left over. [laughter] For those Dharma thoughts, okay I can tell you
okay? I know, I am in business, I know it. It will come to your home and attack
you in your home [Laughter], And you'll be thinking about that bad deal that
you made today, you know. It'll just whittle your life away. Your healthy time.
Okay, alright, it's a matter of physical and mental time that you won't have. You
just won't have it you'll never have it. And if you don't meditate for an hour a
day you can't get to that level of meditation to see emptiness directly, you
cannot. So it will never happen. So I always tell people that if you, if you, if it
would bother you to see emptiness directly, just don't meditate for an hour a
day. [laughs ] [laughter]. And your fine, you're disqualified already. Okay,
where are we, Okay, Cheryl. Right? I didn't' pick on you yet. Name and
describe the principle most important for reaching an intellectual understanding
of emptiness during the path of preparation.

student: That was the {Chi Jedrak} ...[unclear]

Yeah, it's the principle.
student: You ever perceive anything directly...[unclear]

Okay, good, our own idealization of that. Okay {Chi jedrak}, Don't put general
and specific, I don't like that translation, what translation do I like?

student: Quality and characteristics.

Quality and characteristic. And there is a big difference. Don't make it plural.

student: Why not?

On either one. It is not characteristics. It's characteristic. Being a Chevrolet is
characteristic...I'm sorry, being a car is characteristic, is characteristic and I don't
say is a characteristic. It is characteristic of a Chevrolet, and you gotta cook that.
If you don't see the big deal between a characteristic and the characteristics then
you didn't catch it yet. And quality is very important, being a car is a quality of a
Chevrolet. Being a car is characteristic of a Chevrolet.

student: Is it being a Chevrolet is a characteristic of a car?

No, not at all, did I say that?

student: No that's my interpretation.

[laughs] Alright.

student: In both instances you said car first. Yeah, being a car is characteristic
and is a quality of a Chevrolet.

student: Can you, can you give an example of how you would apply that to
some every day situation, like, you are seeing, you are evaluating a, a projection
or something. Can you sort of walk us through that verbally, how you would
do that mental analysis.

It's, it's again I will give you a clue. It's a Dharmakirti, Master Dharmakirti, in his
commentary of valid perception spends, I don't know, twenty-five percent of the
book, maybe a little less, trying to, trying to investigate why you know
something is a car. What is there about that collection of parts that suggest car to
you. Why, why when something is a Chevrolet it is already a car. And how do
you ever know that? How do you know that? And then the non-Buddhist
schools that he is debating with say there is a varnish, in fact the word varnish
comes from the Sanskrit {varna}, there is a covering on the car there is a coating
called carness and it is all over the car, and it is a separate thing it has it's separate
reality it's all glued to the car and when you see the car, you subconsciously pick
up on this coating and then you think, you know that it is a car.

student: And you never have to learn that it is a car, by that idea.

Yeah, well they say, their example is a cow of course. [laughter] But they say
that when you see a bump and then this {unclear}, what is that called?

student: Double chin.

That big double chin of a cow. And the and the big bump in an Indian cow, and
all that stuff, then you know it's a cow.

student: So, a baby knows cow, without...

Well that's a debate, I'm not going to go that far, but the cowness is part of
those... cowness is a separate part of those things. And it's coating, coating a cow
and when you see a cow, you know it's a cow, because of that coating. And how
do we explain it? It has to do with quality.

student: Take this candle for instance...

And by the way, excuse me, the thing about a {tsok chi} which means parts and
the whole is not the main point, not the main point, don't spend allot of time on
that, not interested. What is the main point?

student: The {rik chi}.

 We're really interested in the {rik chi} and the {dun chi}. The {dun chi} meaning
that when I say Poncho the dog and you have a mental picture of Poncho the
dog, that's a {dunchi}, and ultimately, when you look at him peeing on your
shoes, [laughter] you are not seeing Poncho the dog, you are seeing your {dun
chi} of him. That {dunchi} is peeing on your shoes. Okay.

student: And the {rik chi}?
That {dun chi} is one kind of {rikchi} You can say that... [unclear].

student: I thought {chi jedrak} was the study of the quality and characteristic?

It is. There are many kinds of {chi's}, Concentrate on the {dunchi}, concentrate
on the {rik chi}. {Rik chi} is that car and Chevrolet, set and subset.

student: Can I run through this and see if I understand it?

Yeah.

student: Take this candle here on the altar there are two possible ways of
mentally... two possible approaches to the cheese. One of them is taking the
parts and assembling it up to a ... adding the parts up to the concept candle.
That's the {chi} where...

The whole, the whole. No, I wouldn't say concept, I would say whole.

student: The conceptual whole.

Not... I wouldn't even say conceptual, just the whole.

student: Okay.

The whole and it's parts.      The candle and the parts of the candle. Not so
interesting.

student: The other {chi} which is important is the one where we take everything
that exists and we conceptualize it and categorize it and somehow in our mind
we create all these categories and subcategories and subdivisions and work from
a top down approach. From like the totality downward?

Yeah, you could say that.

student: And the way in which we do that is one of two ways by either
memory, if we have had a direct perception of it or seen it already or, just by
mentally imaging it through some creative process.

Some ascription, through some ascription.
student: Through some ascription.

You could say that, but why is it when you look at this particular candle, out of
all the candles in the universe that you know it is a candle?

student: Because I've created a, I've taken the totality of existence and I have
taken a chunk of that essentially and said, " You know theses character,
characteristics."

Have you seen all the candles in the world?

student: This is [unclear]

Yeah, this is [unclear], you see what I mean? It's very important.

student: I thought it was a {dunchi} for a second.

[laughter] Now were talking [unclear], {unclear} means why is it that without
seeing all the candles in the world, with out seeing all the candles, that you
suddenly know what candle is?
"Candle", I didn't say a candle, very interesting. Because when I said candle, you
knew what candle is. That's a, that's a {chi} in your own mind. That's your own
idealization, you know candle. How do you know candle?

student: So I would answer that by saying because I have created a set of
characteristics, or qualities, [laughter], which I define as candle. And so I have
taken the totality of existence and in my mind, conceptualized these...

How it goes on is a whole course, it's a whole course. In the monastery it takes
about three years.

student: Is that where quality and characteristics come from? Because you take...



Characteristic. [laughs]

student: Is that where it comes from you know, you take out of this totality of
existence you take particular characteristic...

Which school?
student: I don't care. [laughter] You take anything.

What we're saying, what we're saying is that it's your karmic {bak chaks}, it's
your karmic seeds. What we're saying is that.

student: They have caused you to assemble that in a certain way, out of the
totality of existence.

And it does suggest that to you. They do suggest that. It's valid, it's reasonable
that you're [unclear].

student: Based on the quality and the characteristic.

Based on everything that you know, and mainly based on your own karmic
propensities.

student: Ignorance?

 If you mistook it for the candle yes.

student: Or if you mistook it for a hat?

That would just be misperception, not ignorance.

student: Yeah, but because nothing is inherent or self existent, a candle can be
actually a quality rather than a thing, because if there was such a thing as a
candle there would be only one candle that anyone could ever see.

That's difficult. We didn't get into that. [laughs] We gotta go on.

student: Excuse me, did you just say that the answer, that was the {rik chi}, the
answer being that the karmic seeds...

And I guess you could also say for the {dunchi} as well. But I mainly want to
talk, why, how do I know the quality? How do I know it's a candle? Where is
candle? Where did candle come from? Where is candle? Okay, next one. When
you cone out of the direct perception of emptiness, during the next say, eight,
nine hours, during you saw it in the mid morning, you, you have what's called
{jetop yeshe}, You have what's called this aftermath, during which you see allot
of wonderful things. You're not, it's no longer a direct perception of the god head
or something like that. It's thoughts, it's, it's comtemplations, it's realizations that
you start having. They relate... ultimately, they break down into four categories.
What, whose turn... Mr. Carleigh. I mean ultimately, they can all be broken
down into four bags which are what?

student: So, how many do you want?

Just tell me the four to start with. The four general categories that all those
experiences can be put into. They're the four....?



student: Arya truths.

Arya truths. That's why they are called Arya truths, right? Because you gained
arya, aryaship, [laughs], at, at, when?

student: The path of seeing.

student: Well, you perceive them intellectually, understanding them right before
you perceive emptiness.

But when did you become an arya? The first instant of the direct perception of
emptiness.

student: The first time you perceive emptiness.

Yeah, the first instant, in the first milla instant of, of the direct perception of
emptiness, you suddenly changed your whole status. You are a totally different
level of being. In the universe there are only two kinds, you are know in the
superior kind, you are an arya. So, so what are the four Arya Truths? Hopefully
we can beat to death this "noble truth" word.

student: The truth of suffering.

Right.

student: The truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the cessation of
suffering and the truth of the paths to the cessation of suffering.
Okay, good. So, Mrs. Cailly, examples of two things that you understand during
that aftermath in relation to the first arya truth.

student: You directly understand death and you read peoples minds directly.

Okay, good. Yeah, and it, and I didn't mean to imply, as some people put on
their homework, that you get some kind of super empathy that you actually feel
the pain in the other persons mind. I just mean to saw that you see the suffering
which consists of their bad thoughts, I didn't mean to say that somehow, you feel
their pain or something like that, I didn't meant that. You see directly the
confusion in their minds and for example, the greediness in their minds. you see
it directly, and it's a little depressing, you actually read their mind and you have
to be aware of that.

student: I that that to see emptiness directly you have to first enter into shamata,
right?

Yep.

I thought that when you attained shamata and as a result of that, you could
always read everyone's mind...

No.

student: All the time, I thought you had clear...

No. not all the time. You can, I mean there are states of meditation where you
can read other peoples minds but that's not [unclear] Anyone who sees
emptiness directly and who did reach necessary shamata to perceive emptiness
directly, prior to that could read other peoples minds.

student: I thought that always happened when you see shamata, you have clear
sentience.

student: When you read peoples minds, is it just for the day that...

No, there's some kind of special power then after.

student: Does it last all day?
Pretty much. Okay, Perriello, Two facts of the arya cause of suffering, the arya
truth of the cause of suffering.

student: Okay one of them must be [unclear].

Meaning what?

student: That means that everything that's been done up to that point has been
motivated by selfish...

Yeah, and I'm talking, the slightest things, like the gestures you make at work in
front of people, and when you make your offerings on your altar in the morning
and when you recite you Dakye in front of other people and the Tsog, it's all self
interested. It's very weird, it's sad. And we all have it. Everything you did was
to create some impression or, it's at the depths, that was behind everything, it's
very depressing to know. All your personal relationships, because you get
something out of them. If it were truly that you couldn't get anything out of it
you would run away from it in zero time. It's just the way we are.

student: Do you, do you move away from that once you have that realization?
Yeah, yeah, if you have bodhichitta. And then the second one?

student: Okay, the second one is that [unclear].

Yeah, happen and incorrect. How many of your perceptions?

student: All.

All, I mean all, I mean every millisecond. According to some schools on
Buddhism in this amount of time, [snap] you have sixty-four discreet thoughts.
Milli, milli, mini perceptions, [snap]. That could be broken into sixty-four micro
seconds of perception, and each one of those was a mistake. So how many
you've had of those... [laughs] if you are as old as me...[laughs], that's been allot.
Very, very, you're just amazingly... no, you're young, I'm sorry, [laughs]. It's a
joke we have, he stays up all night and works. Okay, Miss Pelma, okay, you see
the arya truth of the end of your. After that moment you see something about
the end of your suffering, what is it? Do you remember? Take a guess. If I, if I
had some insight into the end of all my problems, what would it be like. What
do you see? What do you see? You see your own Buddhahood, you know haw
many lives it's going to be, exactly. You see our own Buddha hood. You see
your own future Buddhahood, very cool, you know, who can bother you after
that? [laughter] What do you care after that? Yeah.

student: I just wanted to ask you a question. Why do you see..[unclear]

You don't see yourself, you don't see the event, by the way, you don't see the
events of every life, you don't see your body suddenly changing color and the
bald spot all growing in or something. [laughter] You don't see that kind of
stuff, you just have this awareness of precisely how many lives it's going to be.
The number seven comes into your mind, and you know that it's going to be
seven lives from know, you just know it. You just know it's going to be seven
lives, you don't perceive the details of those seven lives. You do know that
during those seven lives you will always be very, very, comfortable in every
sense, physically comfortable, mentally comfortable and dharmically
comfortable, you will have good teachers, you will always be born in a country
where dharma is flourishing, or even if it's not flourishing, you'll be the only
person who runs into this Lama, that's the only Lama around, that's teaching.
You will have those circumstances and you know it, and it's sort of a comfort.
Yeah.

student: And you can't articulate this after you come out of the experience of
emptiness, right? I mean you couldn't go and say I know it's gonna be seven
lives, I mean you could have a sense of it.

What do you mean you can't articulate it? You can articulate it as much as I just
did.

student: So in other words, if we were fortunate enough to have an arya with us
tonight who was speaking on this point, this person would be able to say with
certainty, and by the way, I know that within seven lives, I will achieve my
Buddhahood.

Well, by the way there is a detail about it that they will never say it directly.
They will never say it directly. They will never say, "I saw that"

student: Well, I guess what I'm getting at then is the similarly to the point that
you will see a Buddha directly. We used to talk about this allot, at first you used
to say, "Yeah, it's definitely like shaking hands with a Buddha." Then afterwards
it seemed more like you will see the Dharmakaya of the Buddha.
Sense the presence of the Dharmakaya, sense that you have been in the presence
of he Dharmakaya.

student: So then this sense of you own Buddahood is not like that, it very clear?

No, not like that, oh, no, you do not see the physical form that you are going to
have as a Buddha, no, you just know that you're gonna...

student: But it's very clear, precisely the time frame involved?

Yeah, that's clear. The number is very clear. Okay.

student: Might that person say it indirectly?

Yeah, sort of. [laughter], but there's an unspoken, I don't know what it is, but is
is written in the scriptures also. But I think that the person would just never say
it directly. Okay, we only got one, I think there were... We need another one.
Saw his own Buddhahood and what else?

student; [unclear]

Yeah, met the Buddha.

student: Met the Buddha.

Yeah, met the guts of the Buddha, met the important part of the Buddha. Yeah.

student: Can you put that on the final?

What?

student: Can you put that on the final? Met the guts of the Buddha. [laughter]
Must of been a rough day.

I had a rough.. Who had a day off? She had most of her department was laid off,
we had a hundred people laid off. Go ahead, speak louder.

student: Is this Shakyamuni? [unclear]

No. not necessarily.
student: So you're talking about a Buddha.

Yeah.

student: Well, you see, you said the guts of the Buddha... [cut]

[cut] No, it wasn't that experience. No not at all, no, really. No it's not like the
Buddha came and said, "seven more lives, it's okay." No it is not that. It's not the
act of prediction. That happens much later.

student: You just said that you sense the presence of the Dharmakaya. What's
that?

You sense that you have been in the presence of the Dharmakaya, because by
the time you have had the direct perception of emptiness you are no longer in
the presence of the Dharmakaya. Being in the direct presence of emptiness is to
be in the presence of the Dharmakaya.

student: Which is the emptiness of the Buddha?

Yeah.

student: Okay.

Well, the essence of it. He's taking the refrigerator away. [laughter] I think we
should put the landlord in that refrigerator. [laughter] Okay anyway. Last one...
last arya truth, [unclear].

student: You have a strong sensation that.. [unclear].

Okay, so those are the path basically, and the most important path being the
experience of bodhichitta. As a physical feeling, like the feeling of... the feeling of
some kind of, something coming out of your heart physically. Like light rays,
but not having rays just being clear, like a diamond and your heart touching all
living beings and you know that for the rest of you life you will dedicate your
efforts to helping other people and your whole life, everything you do. Yeah.

student: Are their [unclear].
No, not at all and someone, we were talking about it. I don't remember who it
was. Someone in this class. Your perception of emptiness during the path of
seeing, and the perception of emptiness of a Buddha are not qualitatively
different. I mean, he is also seeing deceptive reality at the same time. He has
that extra power, but your knowledge and the depth of the perception of
emptiness is equal. I mean you either see it or you don't. There's is no [unclear].
Alright, Janet Diamond. What a name. [laughter] Did the Buddha in his former
life feel pain as his limbs were slowly cut off by the king of Kalinka, and he
understood the emptiness of the three elements. Someone has added a new
phrase to this question. Explain in some detail. [laughter] It's not on your quiz.
That's because so many people wrote yes, yes. And I couldn't grade it wrong.
[laughter]

student: What, what do you mean? Explain in some detail.

Did he feel pain and, and you know, give us a commentary.

student: Okay, he, he, felt pain, but he chose not to become angry because he
saw that having his limbs cut off was caused by his karma and not by the Kings
inherent nature and he didn't want to perpetuate his own suffering by having a
negative reaction, which would create future negative karma for himself.

That's a great commentary, that's pretty cool. I can't think about anything else
about that. Okay, next question. Answer the next question too. Why didn't he
feel any hatred at that moment. And it's really what she just did.

student: She covered it.

She covered it. it means that he didn't want to perpetuate it. I like that the best.
I mean I liked that so much that I even took the time to write it on everyone's
homework.

student: You did what.

That I wrote it on everyone's home work I think, who didn't write it. I think I
wrote it.

student: But I think what you wrote on my homework, cause I had a problem
with that. I don't believe that when you're actually being physically assaulted
you don't feel anger in the same instant. That you don't feel agony and then
later, you say, oh that jerk...

I understand, I understand, within the next few instants you start to feel hatred.
That's not the point. The word, at that moment, you could change it to during
this event, over the course of this event, okay.

student: But for instance, what about with people who have been sexually
abused when they were children, they are not able to feel the anger until thirty
years later?

Okay, then I'm talking thirty years later also.

student: In connection with.

About this experience and any time later.

student: Do you put, therefore he didn't want to perpetuate it.

Why didn't he feel any hatred at that moment? Because he knew that would
perpetuate it and that was the last thing that he wanted to do. That's a good
answer. It applies to every irritation that you have at work, and just use it, it
helps allot. [laughs] I got through today. Alright. Let's see, we gotta go back up
to here. Helen Mc Hail. Describe the emptiness of an arhats mind. Don't say,
"He doesn't have anymore bad thoughts.

student:   Okay, quote"     As a result of his having led a good life and
understanding emptiness, he has the projection of the elimination of his own bad
thoughts, permanently."

Yeah, nice.

student: You said it.

[laughter] He's also forced to have a projection, as he looks, as he focuses on his
own...

student: [unclear].

No, his own mind as he listens to his own mind, he is forced to see that mind
never have a bad thought again. His mind is also empty, his mind as he listens
to his own thoughts is also a projection. So whatever thoughts he's forced to
hear wander through his mind, as they are all so sweet and never a tinge of
hatred or jealousy or desire or anything. That as he experiences the sweetness of
his own thoughts, he understands perfectly well that this is just another
projection forced on him because of what he did in the past. But for him it's
forcing quite an opposite one than what is it to us, right? Even his own thoughts
as he hears them, are projections, and they are quite conscious projections, and
he designed them that way, and he wanted to have them that way, and he is
now enjoying having them that way. And that's the only way that you can get
them that way by the way, that way, is with that kind of knowledge. Okay,
Fran, why doesn't the truth of suffering exist in a Buddha Paradise? This is a
very easy answer, most people went on too long.

student: Because the cause of suffering is non virtuous deeds and mental
afflictions don't exist.

Period. Okay. Why doesn't suffering exist in a Buddha Paradise? Because the
causes for suffering don't exist there. They just don't exist anymore, they don't
apply any more. They are two things. Dirty karma, impure karma and your
own, your bad thoughts. Okay, the two causes that could give you suffering are
gone. That's a hint. [laughs] If you don't like suffering, just stop those two.
How do you stop bad thoughts, incidentally, the guy who got his fingers cut off
by Kalinka, stop his bad thought?

student: Wisdom.

Wisdom, wisdom, he said, " I don't want to perp, perpetuate this, so I'll stop."
That's how you stop having bad thoughts, how do you stop having bad karma?

student: Good deeds.

student: Don't do it anymore.

That's for the future but what about the old stuff you got in your karmic pocket?

students: Purify, four forces.

Purification, yeah. That's why it's so cool to know purification, because if you
know it well, you've polished off half of your problems.
student: If I understood you correctly though I thought that you said that it
doesn't eliminate it, it just reduces it.

Yeah, and the more you do the purification, over and over and over and over
again, we call it {unclear}. until it's worn away, until it's paper thin and then it's
not going to have any big results. People in, I think it was the Tibetan class or
was it in this class, they said, tell us the exact process by which karma is lessened,
I can't, I'll ask Rinpoche.

student: Karma is what?

student: Lessened.

Why is it that you only get a headache? We all know that the Diamond Cutter
and the Buddha Himself states it, but what is the mechanism? I can't explain the
mechanism, I have to ask Rinpoche. [unclear]

student: This question confused me allot, because I would think that in a
Buddha's Paradise there would be no suffering for any Buddha's that were there,
however it's a place where Mahayana aryas who are still samsaric beings...

They are not in a Buddhas Paradise. They are not in a Buddhas Paradise.

student: They're not in Ogmin?

They are not in a Buddhas Paradise.

student: Oh, so we're talking about two different things then.           A Buddhas
Paradise...

student: That a Buddha perceives.

How about the place that one guy is staying and the other guys are visiting? I
don't know. But yeah.

student: It's because it's from the perspective of the person that is there not from
the perspective of the "place".

No, it's a good question. The only way I could get out of it in a debate would be
to say, " I didn't say anything about anyone staying in a Buddha Paradise. Those
aryas are not in a Buddha Paradise."

student: Well then it can amount to saying that anywhere a Buddha is, is a
Buddha's paradise, and a Buddha doesn't experience any suffering anywhere,
Paradises, or other wise.

student: That's right.

That's true. However, an arya going to see a Buddha in a Paradise would not be
in that Paradise?

Yeah, right, if you debated me I would say that they are not in that Paradise.

student: Looking through the window?

student: They are at the gate. [laughter]

student: When you say that Ogmin and a Buddhas Paradise is a place where
they are surrounded with this retinue...

Are they in the Buddha Paradise Ogmin? No.

student: Where is the retinue?

Are they in Ogmin? Yes.

student: Oh, my gosh.

Okay. Sounds like we are gonna take a break. [laughs] We'll take a break. [cut

[cut]

You guys know the four forces of the purification of karma, so I don't think
that's any big deal. There was a second part of that question that allot of people
didn't notice.

student: Because you never taught it.

Because I never taught it. It says, " name an early source for this". The early
source is called the Sutra of the Four Dharmas, okay? The Sutra of The Four
Dharmas. Why did I say that? Why is that part of the question?

student: So that you know that it was spoken authentically.

That it was spoken by the Buddha. And it's in the [b: Kangyur], you can go read
it. It's there, and it's not something that Tibetan Lamas made up.

student: Shhhh...

It's not something that Tibetan Lamas made up. It's not, you know, you can go
look at it, it gives them exactly the same way. It's in the [b: Kangyur], it's in the
Canon. What's that? Okay, you know the four Perfections of Wisdom, almost
nobody didn't get that one. At the end of the question it says, "Indicate which
one is the actual perfection." Let's say that I'm talking about the perfection of
Wisdom as a sense of perfected. So who's, which is the only one that has been
perfected?

student: [unclear]

Is D., is the one that the Buddha has. In the sense of having gone to the other
shore, Paramita, right? Nobody had much of a problem with the grasping to the
extreme of existence, you know those two. Every one got the fourfold of
existence right.

student: The fourfold what?

The two is's and the two is not's, right? Two exist's and two doesn't exist's. Well
what is? You guys are in a mood tonight.. The last three questions are hard.
Why do things change and why do some things in our world cause other things?
The simple answer is? Your projections shift in your own mind. Nothing is
changing out there, Nothing. Your projections are shifting. That makes sense
because what makes things change is?

student: [unclear}

Karma! Okay.

student: Does it have to do with when you do a deed...

By the way, excuse me, did you think that karma was out there pushing things
around like a magnet? [laughter] No. It was, karma was dictating your
projections and your projections shift and the guy seems to be getting nicer, or
nastier. Or doing what you wanted him to do or not doing what you wanted
him to do.

student: So how the karma of that actually shifts is... the source of that is
whatever that deed is that you do, that that deed is not a whole intact thing, that
there are different points.

Right, that deed like all other caused things is constantly in fluctuation, it's in flux.
It wears itself out as it wears itself out it is fluctuating and that causes the
perception of, the projection of change.

student: What school are we in?

Highest. Mahdyumika Prasanghika.

student: Which says that there are things out there which are...

They are out there and they are caused b projections of your own mind.

student: And they are caused by karma, out there.

They are out there. They are caused by karma and they are our projections.

student: Would you like to list ...

Projected out there. [laughter]

student: Would you like to list briefly, the four and a half schools.

Yep. Yeah, I am sorry, maybe we never got that with some people. The four
classic schools, the four Buddhist schools. How many of them were taught by
the Buddha?

student: All of them.

All of them. Cheryl, if you have to go, go.

student: No, way. [laughter]
[cut]

[unclear]

[cut]

student:...other names for Abbhidharma.

Vaibashika.

student: Then what's Yogachara?

[laughs]

[silence]

Who are the what?

student: The Half Eggist's.

I don't know what that is.

student: It is, I can't tell you now, [laughs]

[laughs]

student: Now the lower schools that you have mentioned in the past two
readings, which ones are they?

These two are Hinayana. And these two are Mahayana. The whole point of this
course is that you're gonna go through all of them. The whole point of this five
year course is that you will become a master of all of them.

student: So what is the half?

Oh, I just call....that's a long story, okay let's go on. Why does the Mind Only
school believe that there must be {Allai visinata} that basis consciousness,
foundation consciousness. Because they don't understand...?
student: The emptiness of karma.

The emptiness of karma itself or the fact that karma itself is a projection.

student: Would it be accurate to say that they, that they think that the {bak chak}
is self existent and so they think that it needs a place to reside?

You could say that. They actually believe that all functional things have their
own nature, their own nature.

student: But would that explain why they need a place?

Because they last, you could explain that one reason is why they go on so long. I
mean it could be a million years till that thing gives it's result, where does it stay
all that time?

student: If they don't understand the emptiness of karma itself, then how does it
work for them at all?

Well then they get in big trouble. [laughs]        They have to, therefore karma
becomes a sort of self existent thing for them.

student:...causes and conditions..[unclear] they don't make the leap.

Yeah, they don't make the leap, I would say in, of, of, grasping the emptiness of
the interaction of things.

student: Because they would..[unclear]

Yeah, I guess, but that's not them.

student: But don't they also subscribe to that?

They also have a lower idea of what dependence means, yeah.

What happens to that [kunshi] in between the death and the next rebirth.

They would say it continues, but it doesn't even exist, it's like a {gakcha} you
know. The {kunshi} doesn't exist, now, how they explain that a {kunshi} works is
another subject. We could spend allot, we'll spend some time on that.
student: But they believe that it's actually a physical [unclear]

No they believe that it's one of the six, it's the seventh consciousness. It's the
seventh part of your mind. They accept the five sense consciousness, one mental
consciousness and they have two more consciousness, they must exist. They
don't exist. The Buddha did said they exist, but he just said it for people like them
who needed that.

student: But wouldn't..

I mean, I don't mind this, but. no one can complain to me that we're here to ten,
okay? Alright, go ahead.

student: I'm a little confused about projections. How do we avoid [unclear] it,
and how is it that they are not a {gakcha}?

They exist. It's mistaking the projections for the reality. A projection which is
the reality is the {gakcha}. A projection that could have been the reality is the
{gakcha}.

student: What's that?

Or you could say that a reality which is not a projection is the {gakcha}. How's
that.

student: But the question is that how do you not have a self existent projection?

Excuse me?

student: The question is, I think is how do you not have a self existent
projection?

That's a big, that's long story, that's a real long story. That's a real long story.
Oh, you mean how can you have a projection and not think it's self existent?
When you remove the seeds of ignorance.

[silence]

I better get out of here, I'm losing this debate. [laughter] Okay, and then the
whole punchline of the whole course is, it would be crazy to say that because
things are empty, you don't have to be moral. That would be the height of
stupidity, to say that because things are empty, I can be immoral. To say that
because things are empty, I can, I can somehow fool around with morality. I
don't have to follow plain old morality. I'm above that. Tantric, I could be
tantric, you know .

student: What does that mean?

"You know, plain old morality doesn't apply to me any more." "Plain old
morality doesn't apply to me, because I understood it's emptiness." It means that
someone has misunderstood totally the meaning of emptiness, taken it to mean
some kind of subjectivity, and , and then made up this idea, that if I were
somehow very holy, I could do whatever I wanted, since it is all subjective
anyway."

student: Is that what you mean, "I can be Tantric." Is that what you mean?

Yeah, it's this idea, in fact, I read a line by Tsongkhapa today, he said, "The idea
that a tantric practitioner doesn't need to follow morality, common morality,
plain old regular morality, is the hail stones that destroy the bountiful crops of
your Buddhist practice and therefore you should run away a trillion miles from
it, or something like that. It's a beautiful line, I mean it is very beautiful. But I
mean if you really want to destroy your whole life, and your whole practice,
then get this idea that emptiness means that, and that tantra for example means
that you can do whatever you want and that you are some how above those,
those moralities are the basis of all the other practices, I mean, you must have
them. I mean things are... you must be moral because things are empty, and it's
only because things are empty that karma can ever work anyway, If they were
fixed, they couldn't change, it wouldn't matter how good you were, they
wouldn't build a pizza parlor across the street. No matter how many classes you
taught. [laughter]

student: [unclear]

It is good, it is good.

student: It's not that great.

Go ahead, go ahead.
student: Somewhere in here you have to say that if you believe in the laws of
karma.

Oh, no, if the laws of karma have been presented to you properly, in I don't say
believe.

student: The laws of karma, it seems to me preclude thinking this way, that even
if you don't really understand the emptiness of the process is, the laws of
karma...

No, I think that you could understand it as we presented it in the last course and
still not grasp how it, what it has to do with projections, I, I think you could...

student: But how could you not grasp that good result come from good deeds?

That would be extremely difficult.

student: Well that's what morality is about, essentially.

Yeah, it would be very difficult to be so stupid, but we are. Okay, now dessert,
we'll stop within five minutes, okay, so don't get scared. There's a verse at the
end of the Diamond Cutter Sutra which is probably one of the most famous
verses in all of Buddhism. For example, us, monks, we are required to get
together twice a month and confess our bad deeds. Right in the middle of that
confession we have to get up and recite this verse. It's right in the middle of it,
so, so just recite it after me, okay. It's a good {bakchak}. {Garma}, [repeat],
{radrib}, [repeat], {marme dang}, [repeat], {gyuma}, [repeat], {silwa} [repeat],
{chubur dang}, [repeat],{milam}, [repeat], {lokdang}, [repeat], {drin dabdur},
[repeat], {dutse chuman}, [repeat], {detak da}, [repeat]. Then go like that, look,
hold out your hand. On the count of three, click, okay, one, two, three, [snap].
Okay, and that's, and even when the Dalai Lama gives a teaching, he, he bows
down to the throne first, and then you'll see him, he'll bow down to the throne
and then he'll go like this, [snap]. And what it means is, you know, don't get a
big head about sitting up in font of all those people at the Kalachakra, because
you're like that, [snap]. The other thirteen Dalai Lamas were like that, [snap],
and the Fourteenth is going to go like that, [snap]. And it's all, it's all like that, life
is like a flash. I think especially when you get, you know when you are a certain
age and you look back on whole periods of your life and they are just like, they
are just like that, [snap]. They are just blank now, they are just gone and they
are like a flash and all you have are a few memories left and the whole reality of
them is total gone, during the last part of your life, the last few days of your life,
I guess, that would be very intense, that feeling. That the whole thing is just like
a mirage. The whole thing passed like a dream and there is no substance to it
anymore. You know all that past, all those years that you lived on this planet
and did all these important things that you didn't have time to meditate about,
they are all just, they are all gone, they don't mean anything, your whole career
doesn't mean anything to you at the last few minutes of it, it was a whole big
blur. And it's all over now. So that's the first meaning of that verse. It's very
famous there are nine examples, and the commentary here is very precious
because he also explains why all these examples also refer to emptiness. So
when he talks about, for example, a star, he's talking like in India, the stars are
very bright at night, especially in the country side. Very, very bright, they look
really, really strong, and then the first dawn comes up and they just, and their
just like, boom! and then they are all gone. And life is like that, your life is like
that. First it's all very bright and very healthy and shiny, and then a little bit of
light comes up and, boom, it's all gone. But what he wants to say is that, if you
could, really catch on to the idea of emptiness, if you could really, perceive
emptiness, directly, then, that thought in your own mind would suddenly, dispel
all of your bad thoughts. You can't entertain an understanding of emptiness and
also have a bad though at the same time, it's impossible, they are direct
contradictories, they are opposite, they are bi polar?

student: They are diametrically opposed.

They are diametrically opposed in the sense that they cannot exist in the same
space a the same time. It is impossible to entertain a {nyomong}, a bad thought
and the understanding of emptiness at the same time. It's impossible, it's totally
impossible. That's the whole clue to getting out of suffering. It's very interesting.
It can't stay in the same skull at the same time. They are direct antidotes for each
other. Once you have a... Wisdom. Wisdom and the more wisdom you have,
jealousy hatred, desire, they have to go. They have to leave.

student: That's from an intellectual perception.

Even not..

tuned: As long as it's not...[unclear].

If it's a good one then to that extent will the bad thoughts disappear. They can't
stay in your mind at that time, it's very interesting, the more you develop this
thought then the more you're protected, and that's the meaning of wisdom. So
that's all, it was a nice class, you had a good...

student: Teacher. [laughter]

No. It's a holy, holy thing, you can say now you studied the Buddha's direct
words. And it's a very, very holy chance to get that explanation. It's a very rare
opportunity, it's a very, very rare opportunity. And, and all of the things came
together, you now, we had a place to stay. We had the time, nobody died
during the course. You, we had a commentary, You, where did it come from?
Why did this commentary just happen to show up? And you got it, you got that
explanation. Stop that. So, very precious, rejoice about that. [laughter] And
then study it, you know, meditate on it. If there is any teaching that defines our
tradition in America as we are now sort of a fledgling part of that. If there is
anything that defines this groups personal mission, it should be this sutra. If
somebody says, what should we call those early American Buddhists that used to
hang out on thirty ninth street?         You can say, "Oh they were the Diamond
Cutter fanatics." [laugher] "They are always talking about the Diamond cutter, I
don't know why?" And as you teach your own students, I mean, this is precious,
this is what you should pass on to them, this is the most precious thing you can
give them, right now, okay. As you transmit that to other people, use this,
that's the main thing. That's the main thing that you have to use. In that vein,
Rinpoche has agreed to give us an oral transmission of this Sutra. Which means
that he'll just recite it and, and put the seeds in our ears. I've, I've never seen him
do an oral transmission and avoid the chance to explain it a little bit. [laughter]
So, that will be a very, very holy opportunity, so that will be in June, we'll send
out some announcements, we don't have a date yet. I guess, a weekend,
Sunday? He asked that we come out there, he's too... he's not that well that he
want to take a long trip at that time. Also, he's starting to teach this Sunday at
two o'clock. He's teaching an early Kadampa text, called the Rays of the Sun.
Kadampa texts are very good for the office. They are mainly for that. [laughs]
In the office okay, in the stress of the office.

student: Will it be every Sunday?

He's just gonna do it on one Sunday. Oh this is starting this Sunday, it'll go on
every Sunday, he doesn't do it on days that are holidays cause he has to pray for
a couple of hours or something like that. Don't forget your transcription, you
have to do it. I really will hold your exam. It's allot of work but it really is good
for you. And, and I think I mentioned the other class schedule. Thursday nights
in June.

student: Wasn't there supposed to be some mailed announcement?

There will be an announcement mailed out, but we had allot of confusion
because there are allot of holidays in there. Thursday is gonna be Art Engle.
He's gonna be teaching the Sutra on the three Ratnas. And he's a very, very
good scholar, and he translated that whole sutra. It's not a long sutra, but he
translated it. He knows it very well, he knows the Sanskrit very well. So that
would be a good class for you if you want to get into some Tibetan. He goes like
a rocket, you gotta keep up with that. Thursday nights at seven. Wednesday
nights at May seventeenth we'll start having meditations here. And I hope that
that would just go on. That's one thing that I think would be nice if it just went
on forever. And then I would like, different, each month I would like a different
student to lead that meditation. So, I will do the first month, I think Ernst will do
the second month, and then we'll start splitting it up.

student: Seven?

Seven o'clock. And then Tuesday nights will be Annie Thubten Chonyid, the nun
from New Jersey and she's gonna teach Lam Rim subjects about how to find a
Lama. How to find your own Lama. Okay, then Friday nights is going to be
Steve Foster, he's going to do {Yonten shirgyirma} which is The Source of All My
Good. He's going to teach from a commentary by Pabonka which we found, it
was not in his collected works, actually, the third Pabonka gave me the copy and
it's being translated now. We translated it, so. Friday nights at seven, that's a
work by Je Tsongkhapa about the whole Path, even up to the preparation for
tantra.

student: Starting when?

Friday nights, this whole thing will start in the later, the first Tuesday night class
will be that last Tuesday in May, and then the other classes will be starting in
June, okay?

student: That will be just in June?

Yeah, in June and I think Art spills over into July one week or something,
because the holiday is there, so I think the announcement you get will have the...
if your name is not on the printout, or if the address is wrong or something, then
let me know, and I'll let Margie know.

student: And what about June third in the Park?

What day is that?

student: Saturday, June Third.

Saturday June third, Tricycle has this thing in Central Park and me and the two
young monks from New Jersey will be debating the existence of the self. And a
simultaneous translation.

student: Do you know what time?

I have no idea. And then this course will start again in late July. Or actually, the
first week in August, and we'll do bodhisattva vows. We're gonna concentrate
on the best explanation there is, which is by Je Tsongkhapa. He wrote this huge
commentary to the bodhisattva vows. It's very, very, beautiful, no one has ever
translated it.

student: When's that class?

It'll start the first week of August.

student: The same nights?

Yeah. And that's all. In July I'll be in retreat, Please pray for me, seriously.

student: Je Tsongkhapas text on the bodhisattvas vows, is there a [unclear] on
that.

It's long, it's big, it's about a hundred pages. It's here we have a copy. Rinpoche,
according to Mrs. Cheryl has indicated that he... the third weekend in August he
may be doing... he may be continuing his tradition of giving the Vadjrayogini
initiation, I don't know if that's what he's going to do.

student: He just said to keep it free, he didn't say specifically what he would do.

She asked him, roughly, "should I block out that time as I have done in past
years" and he said, "yes you should."

student: His exact words were, "Block out the third weekend in August", and my
exact words were, "Well, maybe...[unclear]" He was like, " Well, maybe, but
don't count on it."

Well, I think it was like, a maybe.

student: He starts like the third weekend in June, July and August. The only
thing I know that he said was third weekend.

And I'm going to ask Stillwell to chase you about the tapes, if I see that they are
not coming in, I'm gonna ask him to chase you. So when he does chase you
please don't get irritated. [laughter] Get irritated at the stick.

student: Michael, thank you for teaching.

Oh, my extreme pleasure.

student: Please return.

student: When's the final.

Oh yeah, final next Thursday, seven o'clock. It'll be here, come in and do it. Just,
I would like everyone to do it at the same time. If you're gonna be out of town
and you can prove it, if you have a Doctor's note. [laughter] A Doctor's note or
if your daughter's in the hospital, one lady had that happen. I mean, you know,
let me know, but not because you're not ready or you didn't have time to study,
or, you'd like some more time, I'm not interested.

student: Any time Thursday?

I, I prefer at seven.

student: What if we came earlier?

I don't mind, but I prefer together.

student: Or like it says in the Sutra, if we could visualize all the virtue we got
from this class it would be like incredible...[unclear].
[prayers: Short Mandala]

[prayers: Dedication]

student: Michael, somebody I know died.