ACI 9 «Этическая жизнь», занятие 11

Class 11, Course Review

Transcribed by: Karen Becker
Proofread by: Summer Moore
Side B Transcribed by: Angie Overy



(cut)

a year for two, a year or two from now. Then the course has been
successful, so treat the final like that. It's not like some
kind of punishment or something like that, I...just things that I
really want you to know and to pass on to your own students,
okay? All right. The way I usually do this is I just go around
the room and embarrass people in order, and people people pull
out their notes and start reading them and that's the whole idea.
 So I'll start over here with Fran Dyan. These are the points
that I think are important, most important, okay? Sanskrit word
for Buddhist discipline?

(student, : the {{vinaya}})

That's tough. (laughter) Tibetan word?

(students: {dul wa})

{dul wa}, means what?

(student: to tame something)

And ‘to tame’ in in two senses. Dharmabhadra says to tame in two
senses. Remember? You're taming two things, basically.

(student: the senses)

Yeah, that's number two. Control your senses. Your your desire
for sense objects, which will make you a lot happier even if you
never do anything else. And number one was...the ultimate
purpose of {vinaya} is what?

(student: (unclear))

Yeah, which is controlling the?

(student: (unclear))

Yeah, which is taming the mental afflictions. That's just
logical. I mean, if the goal of {vinaya} is to reach nirvana, then
the word {dul wa} or {vinaya} which means "to tame" if you're
taming the mental afflictions, you are taming them in the sense
of wiping them out. And you're also taming your sense, your
sense desire. Okay. Those two things. That's what Dharmabhadra
says. And and what you use to tame your self is primarily the
first seven of the ten, avoiding the first seven of the ten bad
deeds, that's primarily what the {vinaya}'s all about. Okay.
Bernard. It says, describe the relationship between the Buddhist
discipline, Lord Buddha and his teachings. Remember anything
like that?

(student, Bernard: (unclear)

And we had a quotation in {vinaya} the other day, what was that?
We we looked it up. We we looked up the sutra which which gave
the answer to this question. And we were concerned because we we
were reading a text with the monks and nuns and the text didn't
seem to read very well and then we found another Tibetan
commentary that had the quotation in a little bit better form and
then we finally found it in the original sutra and it was even
more complete and then we finally figured out what the quotation
meant and remember? Come on. Really? It said, {dul wa ni ten
dang tunpa ngu yin. dul wa ni ten dang tunpa ngu yin. Ten dang and tunpa}
both...{ngu yin} Remember? Nah. We spent a
long time on it. Anyway (laughs) the point is that the
{vinaya}...there's a statement in the in sutra where the Buddha
himself says, "the {vinaya} is the teacher and his teachings; the
{vinaya} is the teacher himself and the teachings themselves",
okay. Why? Why is the {vinaya} the teachings of the Buddha? I
mean there's this part in the sutra where it says, if you were
stuck on a desert island and all you had was a was a book of
{vinaya}, you you could say, I have the whole Buddhist teachings.
(Go chu pa) means, in Tibetan, "one book of {vinaya} can can is a
reasonable approximation of the entire Buddhist teachings"
Period.

(student: The essence of the practice. (unclear))

Yeah.

(student: And your, concentrative level and everything (unclear)

Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

Yeah, so but...that's just a direct quotation, that the Bu...if
if if all you had to take was...if you could only take one book
out of the whole [B: Canon], if you took one book of {vinaya}, it would represent
the whole [B: Canon]. That's from sutra. It would be the same as having the
whole [B: Canon]. The whole teachings of the Buddha. And then after that, the
the Buddha says, and by the way, it is also represents the, the presence of myself,
you know, one book of {vinaya} represents the presence of the Buddha himself
because it teaches you what to give up and what and what to follow; what to
follow and what to give up. Okay. And that's just a very famous sutra. It says
the {vinaya} is the teacher and the vine, the {vinaya} is the teachings. All of them,
okay. It's, it's an advertisement for {vinaya}. Okay. Mr. Siller, since you halfway
answered it already, name the three extraordinary trainings and then explain
how the tra...extraordinary...by the way they're called extraordinary trainings,
right, we don't just call them the training of morality, for example. Why?
Remember? They actually don't call them the three trainings. They call them the
three extraordinary trainings? Do you remember why?

(student, Mr. Siller: (unclear))

Yeah, but also that it's to distinguish generally the general
practice of an ethical way of life from a Buddhist's practice of
an ethical way of life. So these are the three trainings as
practiced by a Buddhist for the purpose of reaching nirvana and
Buddhahood. And that makes them extraordinary. Other people can
practice meditation, other people can practice an ethical way of
life, other people can try to understand reality, but that
doesn't qualify as training. As a Buddhist training. Buddhist
and extraordinary here are the same thing. They have to
be...if they are aimed at reaching nirvana and Buddhahood, then
they are extraordinary trainings. How does...what role does the
extraordinary training of an ethical way of life play in
developing the other two extraordinary trainings, and say it
again, you said it pretty well.

(student: Well, the three trainings (unclear)

The training in? Ethical lifestyle.

(student: ethical lifestyle.)

A. B?

(student: Right thoughts)

Concentration.

(student: Concentration. And wisdom.)

Yeah. Ethical way of life, concentration and wisdom. And how are
they interconnected?

(student: You could never get to the second and third without
having an ethical way of life.)

Yeah, and you can't you can't get into the third without the
second, and you can't get into the second without the first,
basically, like that. And Je Tsongkapa in his letter to, in the
first letter you had, in that epistle to Ngawang Drakpa, okay, he
said he said the same thing. He said by his time, 1400, people
had forgotten what?

(student: An ethical way of living.)

They had forgotten the wa...the connection between
(student: between the ethical way of living and (unclear))

Living good, a good life in your day to day life, and in your
meditation, that you can never learn to meditate well if you
didn't do, if you weren't good during the day (laughs), you'd
never be able to meditate at night, period. Can't do it,
and...you know I've had a lot of Americans come to me and say,
"you know, I've been practicing for ten years or twenty years
I've never reached {shamanta}, I don't even know what it's like, I
can't concentrate, nothing's going right, you know, I do all
these{sadanas} and nothing's happening and I, I, I believe that it's
mainly connected to not following {{pratimoksha}}and I believe among
them for Americans the ones of speech are the most difficult, you
know, that we just...it's almost considered a virtue in our
country to blab, you know, idle talk, and and I'm speaking from
experience (laughs) okay. And I think that's a big obstacle for
us. Okay. And then Je Tsongkapa in that letter ex...he compares
an ethical way of life...I'm sorry, he compares.. he says, an
ethical way of life leads to a calm state of mind and the calm
state of mind is necessary for the moon of what? Emptiness to
reflect in it. So it's almost like you either have to speed your
mind up or slow you mind down to the speed of emptiness, and
that we are all constantly on a different wave length than
emptiness. I mean a different si..we can never get in sink with
emptiness 'cause our, either 'cause our mind is too fast or too
slow and there are emptinesses all around you all the time and
you just don't...they, they go over your head because your mind's
moving at a different speed and that speed is regulated by your
morality. Okay. So the idea is to clean, clean up your life
which puts your mind at a different speed and then it, it becomes
like a mirror and then emptiness can reflect in that mirror as
the moon can only reflect in a pond which is still, and if it's
choppy you don't get a nice moon. Okay. Senor. Name the early
Sanskrit commentary which forms the basis of the study of
Buddhist discipline in Tibetan monasteries. Give the author and
his approximate dates.

(student: [B: Vinaya Sutra] by Master Guna Prabha)
Okay. Approximate da...this is the [B: Vinaya Sutra] by
Guna Prabha...and try to say Master, oka. It's considered
impolite to call somebody ‘Nagarjuna’ or ‘Tsongkapa’ or like that.
Approximate date which we we don't really know very well. Do you
know the...five hundred a.d. Okay. Approximately. Okay. I'll
ask you another question. Is the [B:Vinaya Sutra] a sutra?

(student: (unclear))

Is the [B: Vinaya Sutra] a sutra? Huh?

(student: There are different meanings of word sutra.)

Oh good, that's a good way to answer. If I define sutra as as as
in it's normal way which is as an as an open teaching of the
Buddha, as opposed to tantra which is a secret teaching of the
Buddha, the open teaching of an enlightened being. Is the [B:
Vinaya Sutra] an open teaching of an enlightened being? Which
means is it in the [B: Kangyur], for example? The the [B: Canon] has two parts,
[B: Kangyur] and [B: Tengyur]. [B: Kangyur] is the is, is the part that we have in
Tibetan which was spoken by a an en...by enlightened beings, normally
Shakyamuni, but not necessarily Shakyamuni, and that's about fifteen hundred
separate works; then we have the [B: Tengyur] which is the early Sanskrit
commentaries before before about nine hundred a.d. and those were written by
non-enlightened beings, so where does the [B: Vinaya Sutra] go, in the [B:
Tengyur] or the [B: Kangyur]?

(student: [B: Kangyur])

Huh?

(student: [B: Kangyur])

Is it? Was it spoken by a Buddha?

(student: No)

No, so it's in the [B: Tengyur], okay. It's a shastra. It's, it's a commentary on a
sutra. Okay. It's a commentary on the (b:
{pratimoksha} Sutra). Okay.
(student: (unclear))

On no, sure. But what I'm saying is that, the [B: Vinaya Sutra]
is not a sutra. It's a misnomer. Okay. And you should know.
The [B: Vinaya Sutra] which is the main book used for the study
of {vinaya} in Tibetan monasteries is not a sutra. It's called
sutra because sutra also means short book and it's a short
book. So be careful, I mean, if somebody says, "what're you
studying?", you say " [B: Vinaya Sutra) , you know, and they say
"is it a sutra?" and you have to say "no”, it was written a
thousand years later by Master Guna Prabha. It's not a sutra. It
used to confuse the heck out of me. I would search through the
[B: Kangyur] catalogues for this sutra and it's not there, (laughs) you know,
okay? Carol (unclear) Carol (unclear). Describe the motivation with which one
should engage in the study of Buddhist
discipline. Yeah, renunciation. Okay. you...renunciation. And
in fact there's this big debate in the {vinaya} scriptures about if you don't have
vin...renunciation and you try to take monk's
vows, if they even ever form in you, you know. If you don't have
a single thought of renunciation during the ceremony, is it
possible for the vows to form? And I and as I un...remember it
said, no. They don't ever form. So it...the the reason to do
{vinaya}...Je Tsongkapa, another quote from his letter, he says "if keeping up this
ethical way of life becomes for us something
motivated only by a concern about how we look to others, or about
the honor and gifts we might obtain thereby, then the real point
of ethics is lost". In other words, ethics which is motivated by
how you look, by a by a concern for conforming to what other
people do, or or or worrying about how other people might like
you or won't like you, or something like that, it's not it's not
the proper motivation for practicing {vinaya}, okay, for taking
{pratimoksha} vows. It has to be that you are tired of being
unhappy and that you want to be happy (laughs). I mean everybody
has that but it has to be why you take the vows and you, if you
follow the vows you can be happy, okay. The whole {pratimoksha}
teachings, the whole {vinaya} teachings and especially [B: Vinaya Sutra] has, has
three sections. I mean you can break the whole thing in, down into three
sections...three main sections that relate to the {pratimoksha} vows. Do you
remember what they are?
(student: How to get your vows?)

Yeah. How to get them if you don't have them, number one.

(student: How to keep them.)

How to keep them if you do get them.

(student: How to restore them if they're damaged).

Yeah, how to fix them if you break them, okay, and, and there's
nothing in {vinaya} that doesn't fit into one of those three
categories, so I think it's just good in your mind to, to have
that that overview of, of the {vinaya} teachings, you know, that
that's that's all there is in the {vinaya} sutra is those three
sections, okay.
Tess. When you get to the part about how to
keep your vows from being damaged, there's four, four main
sections. And do you remember what they are?

(Tess: Inner support)

That was number two. How...what was number one? Logically.

(Tess: Outer support)

Yeah, outer support which is what?

(Tess: Remembering the pure intention of taking the vows.)

No, that's the inner support. How's the outer support? When a
monk first becomes a monk...

(Tess: Oh, being under the guidance of their {ne lama})

Yeah, you have to go find a {ne lama, a ne lama}. {Ne Lama}
means "a personal monastic preceptor"; a personal mentor. So
when you become a monk you have to go look for a {Ne Lama}and
it's it's considered extremely important. When you study the
subject of prioritization of ethics in the monastery, which
means, if two events come together at the same time, like if
you're supposed to do two things at the same time, which do you
do first, you know? You have to drop one of them and the classic
example is, you lost your {ne lama}, you lost your preceptor, and
it's also time to go to {so jong}, it's also time...you know,
it's 7:00 and it's time to go do your {so jong} with all the
other monks. What do you do? I mean, do you do you wait the two
hours until {so jong} is over and then go find a preceptor or do
you drop {so jong} which is which is one of the three great
basis' of all monastic practice, do you drop that...which is
almost unheard of, and go try to find this preceptor...I mean is
two hours that important and the answer is?

(student: (But you know)

Don't "but you know"

(student: (unclear) go to {so jong} too)

(laughs) not necessarily.

(student: (unclear) go to {so jong})

No it's not...it's not contradictory to go into {so jong} to look
for your {Ne Lama}and not do {so jong} but, the answer is...I
mean, in the...this is the theory of prioritization, which we did
not get into, it's called ({dom}, but it's what what's more
important. You always have to do what's more important at any
given moment and that's true of all your Buddhist practice. I
mean, there may be very good things to do which are not
ultimately important at that moment, and the answer is you go
find your {ne lama}. You drop {so jong}, even if it's only two
hours. Even if it's only saving you two hours, you go find your
{ne lama}, you know. That's how important it is. {so jong} is
one of the three great foundations of all monastic practice along
with the summer retreat and, and the end of the summer retreat,
but but on but but you'd drop it like a hot potato and you'd go
find your {ne Lama}. So it's that important...the outside
support for keeping your vows. And I repeat, you know, there are
two things you are allowed to do without your {ne lama's}
approval which is, brush your teeth and go to the bathroom.
Everything else you have to ask your {Ne Lama} for ten years.
And then you're considered stable. (Den po) it's called, okay?

(student: (unclear))

Same thing. Okay. Inner support?

(student: The intention that you had when you first took your
vows.)

Yeah, and that's very important, I mean it...I always say that,
you know, we don't...I can't judge people who have given up their
vows. I don't, I don't, I'm not judging the people in America, for
example, who have given up their monks vows and nuns vows. I
can't know that there isn't some special thing going on where
some tantric deity appeared to them and said it would be useful
if you gave up your vows today. You know, and, and in such a case
I think you would have to give up your vows. And so I believe
that's possible. But if that's not the case, I don't understand
why anyone would want to give up their vows because the
motivation with which you take your vows is what? You're just
tired of being unhappy and you recognize that, that those worldly
activities can not make you happy, and so, it's impossible to
give up your vows for for that reason...to be...it's impossible
to give up your vows to be happy. It's in...it's contradiction of
terms. It's impossible. If you understand anything about the
vows, and if you took them with any kind of renunciation, then
it's impossible to want to give them up to be happy. It's
impossible. I mean it's so,.. conversely, if you always remember
why you took your vows, which is because you don't want to be
unhappy, you'll always keep them, and that's why they're
considered the second force that keeps you from from having your
vows damaged. And, and they really do make you happy if you if
you understand them and you understand the theory behind {vinaya}
and if you keep your {vinaya}, it just makes you quite, quite
content and quite quietly happy your whole life, quite cool, you
know, okay. I mean, you meet monks and nuns who are not happy. I
I would say they're not keeping their vows probably, and I don't
mean they're out partying and stuff like that, but I mean, that
they've lost somehow the spirit of keeping their vows. But if
you find...but, but if you're keeping your vows with the with the
full spirit and if you understand why you're keeping your vows,
that just makes you extremely happy, your whole life. Extremely
contented, very...your mind is just in some kind of great
happiness most of the day, except for when your boss is right in
your face. Okay. Number three.

(student: Understanding what factors damage them?)

Yeah, which means to know what the vows are. I mean you'd be
amazed how many monks, even in the monastery, and myself, I mean
I can't list for you off the top of my head the two hundred and
fifty three vows that I have. And the, the nuns, I mean a full nun
has three hundred and sixty four. You're supposed to be able to.
And you must study them so that you know your vows, and that's
that's the important for those of you have bodhisattva vows and
and secret vows. I don't believe that most of the people in our
group, including New Jersey and Washington, who have tantric vows
understand all of the vows or their bodhisattva vows, and and
that...then you then you're gonna break them. So the best way
not...one of the most important things not to break them, I mean
obviously, have a have an external support which is some kind of
guide, some kind of spiritual guide, have the internal support
which is your own intentions of of not wanting to be unhappy
anymore, and then thirdly, learn your vows well, you know. Take
the time to study them carefully. And then you won't break them.
 And then number four?

(student: Monastic practices?)

Yeah, which is, which relates to people who have taken vows, and
specifically to novice monks and nuns and full monks and nuns,
which means, there are like a hundred special rituals that we do
as...there's like a hundred special monastic practices. I've
mentioned the top three which is keeping your confession
ceremony, doing your summer retreat and then the practice of
coming out of your summer retreat. Those are the great three
monastic practices but there are like a hundred of them, hundred,
total of a hundred and something, okay? Okay. Miss Elly. In
the opening lines of his text, Je Tsongkapa mentions that the
vows of individual freedom, which is {pratimoksha} vows, okay,
constitute the subject matter of the scriptures on Buddhist
discipline. I mean, {vinaya} is the {vinaya} is the subject, {vinaya} is the book,
{vinaya} is the teachings and what they teach is the {pratimoksha} vows. Their
subject matter is the {pratimoksha} vows. Why are they called {pratimoksha}?

(Elly: (unclear)

Yeah, very simple. They're called individual freedom vows, {pra
ti mok sha} because if you keep them you get free. And if you
fail to keep them you don't get free. Free means, free from your
mental afflictions, okay, free from samsara. Okay. There is
also an explanation, which you do not have to write on your
homework, or I mean, on your exam, but just so you know, there's
an alternate explanation that says, prati means...prati also
means "for the first time", moksha means "free" and when you take
these vows, you are for the first time, in this life, freed from
the condition of not having vows and then there's this huge
debate about well, should we not call them {pratimoksha} from the
first minute on, you know (laughs) and then, you know, big
debate. Okay. Anyway. In some of the ancient {vinaya} texts
that's the that's what they say for {pratimoksha}. Bill Gross,
you ready? In his little book about {vinaya}, which is the
shortest text on {vinaya} I think you can find in the universe,
which is all we got through, Je Tsongkapa covered six different
subjects. In, in the text it says, {ngowo dang ni rabbye, rabbye
dang sosoy ngundzin keyway ten tongway gyu dang pen yun}. Those are the
six subjects. You remember any of them?

(students: Role. Basic (unclear))

{ngwo} meaning what what is a, what is the vow, what is a
vow, what is a {pratimoksha} vow, okay. And then he said {rabye}
which is, do you remember what that is? Then he said
"divisions", then he said {ngundzin} which is what? You guys
want to help.

(student: (unclear))
Yeah,{ngundzin} means are you gonna describe what the vow is,
then {keyway ten}

(student: Who can take them)

Yeah, {ten} means, "who can take them", okay. This is what our
study of {vinaya} covered. We covered these six subjects. Number
five? {Tongway gyu}.

(student: How they're broken)

Yeah, how you lose them. And number six was {pen yun}.

(student: The benefits of keeping them)

The benefits of keeping them, okay. So whenever you're thinking
{vinaya}, you can think of it like that, you know. What is a
{pratimoksha} vow made of. What, what is {pratimoksha} morality, and then
{ngowo dang ni rabbye, rabbye dang}. How many different
groups of {pratimoksha} vows are there? {ngowo dang ni rabbye, rabbye dang
sosoy ngundzin}, what are the vows for each of those kinds of people, like what
are the one day vows, what are the novice vows, like that, {sosoy ngundzin
keyway ten}, who can take them and who can't take them, {tongway gyu},what
makes you lose them, did I miss one? No,{tongway gyu dang pen yun}. (pen)
means what happens if you keep them, you know, what are you gonna get out
of it, all right, why should you take them. All right. Okay.
Those are just the six categories. When we get to role, which is
means what are the...what is {pratimoksha} morality, go ahead, he,
he had two and a half lines. He said {Ngenjung sampe gyujene shenmu shidang
chepa le dokpa, dokpa, le dokpa} that's his
definition. {Ngenjung sampe gyujene shenmu shidang chepa le dokpa} There's
four elements there. First is (ngenjung).

(student: (unclear) You want to take them because of
renunciation?)

Yeah, you're tired of being unhappy, okay. You're just tired of
being unhappy. {Ngenjung sampe gyujene}
(student: (unclear))

Excuse me?

(student: You want to refrain from hurting others?)

Yeah {shenmu shi} {Shenmu} means refrain from hurting other
people, other living beings. {Shenmu} And then it says, along
with the basis.

(student: Which is the last three of the non-virtues.)

Yeah, because technically speaking the {pratimoksha} morality
refers to the first seven bad deeds of body and speech. {shidang chepa le dokpa}
means "to refrain"; to stop. Okay. And
that's the...I mean if somebody asks you, "what is the essence of
{pratimoksha}?", you could say {Ngenjung sampe gyujene shenmu shi dang
chepa le dokpa}{Ngenjung sampe gyujene shenmu} means "for the reason that
you are tired of being unhappy {Ngenjung sampe gyujene shenmu shidang
chepa le dokpa} "to refrain from hurting other people, other beings, and to
refrain from the basis of that which is the lousy thoughts that make you hurt
other beings, okay? All right. Cool. Where are we next?
Are we up to Bansai yet? Okay.

(student: (unclear))

Oh, Vilma's hiding back there. (laughter) All right. It's pretty
cool. (laughter) Four primary rules of the one day vow.

(Vilma. No sexual activity.)

Good, number one.

(Vilma: No stealing)

Okay.

(Vilma: No killing and no lying.)

Good, okay. I'll repeat them. {mi tsang chu pa} means "any
sexual activity at all", during the whole day. It's a one- day
vow. The four principle rules of the one day vow. No sexual
activity at all. {ren pom tsa way mye pa ma jin pa len pa} which
means "to steal anything of of value", okay. Number three
someone asked me about, and I checked it, okay, it does say {me
ya mir chak pa sok chu pa} which means, to kill a human or a
human fetus, okay, I 'cause I remember I chopped that right out
of the text, you know, I used a computer so I I be...I don't
think I even...I didn't even change it, I just chopped it out,
stuck it in the answer column there, so, you know technically...but of course it's,
on that day it's important to
refrain from any kind of killing, but technically, according to
the commentary we've studied, it's to kill a human or a human
fetus. And then, {ni che la ma dzun de ma wa}, he takes the time to
mention the ultimate form of lying, which is what?

(students: Spritual realization)

To lie about your spiritual attainments, particularly having seen
emptiness directly.



And and then by implication, you know, claims that you could only
make if you would...claims which you could probably only make if
you had seen emptiness directly. For example, claiming that you
could see your future lives or your past lives or things like
that, okay, when you had not. Okay.

(student: So this one day vow, no killing, would imply that you
are for this day refraining from eating meat, no?)

Normally, in the Mahayana version, we do, but eating meat and
killing...I mean the classical answer is that I don't go to the
McDonalds to kill a cow. I go to McDonalds to eat a hamburger,
and th...and so that's the...they say that that's why they can
eat meat and it's not killing. Now, you know that if no one ate
meat, no one would kill any animals, and that you have to work
out. But but in and in the...takes in { tekchen so jong} in the Mahayana
version of these vows, we'd we refrain from eating meat, I don't
recall anything in the text about in in this Hinayana {pratimoksha} morality of of
not eating meat for that day. I don't recall anything like that. I think the
principle in ancient India was you'd, you eat what they give you, you know. You
go to a house, and you're, you're not allowed to refuse...if they throw shrimp in
your bowl and you, you have to eat it and...I think that was why the monks
were eating meat in, in ancient India. Okay. But I'm not a great {vinaya} master
and I hope to become (unclear) I'm
working on it. Okay. Mr. Wang. The five rules and the one
additional part of the lifetime layman's vows.

(student: Would it be that same four plus alcohol?)

Yeah, I guess so,let me see.

(student: Not to commit adultery or variations of it)

Yeah, Yeah. (laughter) You can have sexual activity but you
can't have adultery. Yeah, not killing a human or {su ka ma da
lo pa yam}; {su ka} is killing, {gu} means "stealing anything of
value, {ma} means "stealing of...lying about your spiritual
attainments especially, {lo pa yam} adultery instead of just
any kind of general sexual.

(student: And that specifically means not having sex with
someone who's married?)

Yeah. Normally.

(student: And then intoxication, or not drinking. Is that
(unclear) intoxication)

Or any kinds of intoxicants. The text says, {che ma} or {che ma
Mayimba} meaning, "chemical or or natural". (unclear) {lo ca
nyem ba} can, doesn't have to mean just adultery, okay, it can
mean all those other kinds of sexual misconduct too. I think the
primary one here is adultery.

(student: (unclear)

Yeah. Yeah.
(student: Sometimes he says this way, sometimes he say (unclear))

Yeah, Generally the word {loca nyem ba} refers to all the ones I
mentioned when we went over karma, you know, all those kinds of
sexual misconduct. But I'll check it. I'll check it for you.

(student: (unclear) the time of day you do things (unclear))

How do you mean attitude?

(student: That you're approaching sexual activities.)

Oh no, if it's between consenting adults it doesn't matter why, I
mean I never seen a thing, unless you're intending to hurt
someone or something like that, you know. They...whether it
would hurt somebody was listed in the, you know...if it's done
with malicious intent, you want to ruin their reputation, or
something like that, yeah.

(student: (unclear))

They don't say. Doesn't say, you know. Let me see there. Yeah,
but, I believe it's, I don't know...I'll see if it's if it's
specifically adultery...maybe I'll do it right now. Elizabeth,
can you get my computer out of my briefcase? Okay. (laughs) Okay.
Oh wait, it's here, hang on. Yup. It's adultery. (laughs).
laughter) No, I have the Tibetan here. It's {rung nyi pu mi
mayimba la lopa ma yema} which means to have sex with someone
who's...it says "not your wife", but what it means is someone
else's wife.

(student: Does it mean like this, if you are single or you are
not single, you know, like)

No, well you can be single and have adultery with someone else's
wife, for example. And that would be...

(student: And there's this other. What about if you are married
and the, and the woman is not married?)
It's still adultery. Yeah. Yeah, it is specifically adultery.
It's not the other kinds of sexual misconduct, okay. In, in his
commentary, in Dharmabhadra's commentary...it's here in the
Tibetan. Okay. What was the extra part, which we almost forgot?

(student: Never breaking the advices on going for refuge)

Yeah, do you remember some of them? Did we go over some of them?
I don't remember. The advices for taking refuge.

(students: Intention of virtue (unclear))

Yeah. (laughs)

(students: The Dharma Jewel. Not harming others, something like
that?)

We better get it out. Can you...I, I better give you a little
course in that, okay. We'll do that. We'll do that after the
break, okay. It's something you're all supposed to be keeping if
you take this up. Okay. I think I'll give this one to Elly.
(laughs)

(Elly: (unclear))

That's okay. It's {vinaya} right. The number of full monks vows
by naming each of the six groups...by the way, it's classically
five groups bu,t but one of them is normally split into two,
right? And stating the number of vows in each group.

(Elly: Eu-u-u-u. (unclear))

{Pampa ge da, hlakma, tung sun ban je su pang tung, tung je bashik
ku chu do, so shak pa che chu do, nye je}

(Elly: That's it, that's it. (laughter)

What is it?

(Elly: (unclear))
{Pam...pam bashik}

(Elly: Oh yeah, four {shis}, eight downfalls.)

Wait. What? Four defeats. (Pampa shi da), how many? How many
Hla...how many remainders?

(Elly: (unclear))

{Hlakma}

(Elly: Thirteen)

Thirteen. {Tung je bashik}), how many? {chu sung pang tung}
(unclear). How many?

(Elly: Thirty)

Thirty {pang tung}, okay. By the way, we'll go through...why is
it called a {pampa}? A defeat?

(Elly: (unclear))

Something like, you've been defeated by the mental afflictions.

(Elly: Oh yeah.)

And and pretty much your vows are pretty much really seriously
damaged, extremely, immensely damaged, okay? Thank you. Thanks.
That's all, yeah. (Hlagma)? Remainder?

(Elly: I want to say that it was thirty but I'm not sure.

No, why are they called remainders?

(Elly: Why are they called remainders? Because there's a
little bit remaining (unclear)

There's a little bit left to confess (laughs) okay? There's a
little bit left that you could restore, okay? How much {chu
sung}, thirteen for a monk, {pang tung, sum jung}? (laughter)

(Elly: Downfall, right?)

You can say ‘downfaller’, okay, downfall, but the kind that
involves giving up something.

(Elly: Oh, ah)

The kind that involves giving up something, which is,(laughs)
{pang tung sum jung}, thirty, okay. What does it mean to give up
something?

(students: (unclear) Something you do like an antidote. (unclear
probably good if you had (unclear)

Yeah, it's something, you know, it normally involves some kind of
possession that you weren't supposed to have that long or, you
know, like cloth that you weren't supposed to keep. A monk is
not allowed to keep cloth more than ten days without using it for
robes or...basically not allowed to possess things which we
didn't get into much, but it's a very, it's a very sweet part of
the {vinaya}, you know, that monks just, I mean, the whole
point is that you don't possess things. And you're not allowed
to possess cloth unless you use it, and if you don't use it
you're supposed to get rid of it, okay. So {pang tung} and then?
{Tung je bashik}? Which means just a, a downfall, meaning you
don't have to give up anything.

(Elly: (unclear))

{Tung je bashik}...what's that? It just means...it, {bashik}
means, just a downfall which means you don't have to give up
something to to fix it. {Tung je bashik gyu chu}, ninety.
(unclear) {Sor shak sha pa chu chik}

(student: What needs to be confessed individually)

Yeah, have to be confessed individually by each monk before (so
jong), during {so jong}. (So sor shak pa chup chik), I think it's
eleven, right?

(students: Four)

{So sor shak pa shi} okay, that's for a nun, {so sor shak pa shi
nye je nyi ga dang chu nyi} a hundred and twelve {nye je's},
which are what?

(student: Bad deeds)

Yeah, they're sort of, they're sort of more minor, you know,
mistakes or bad, bad deeds. Okay. Whose turn is it now? Ora?
Ready? Ora. Five things that can make you lose any one of the
{pratimoskha} vows. Any one of the five ki...the eight kinds of
{pratimoksha} vows.

(Ora: Giving them back?)

{Lappa pul dang}, yeah, give them back.

(Ora: When you die)

{Shi pu dang}

(Ora: Changing sex three times.)

{Tsen nyi jung} that's the one everybody remembers. {Len sum
gyur), missing two.

(Ora: (unclear)

{Tsen nyi chu jung}, yeah.

(Ora: (Unclear))

{Ge tsa che}

(Ora: Lose your root of virtue)
Yeah, Roo...lose your root of virtue. Cut your root of virtue.
I asked Rinpoche, as I promised I would, if there's any
difference between {ge wa}and {ge tsa}. {ge wa} means "good
deed". {ge tsa} means "root of virtue". And you know, I asked
my scripture teacher in the monastery if there's any difference
between them, you know, and they both said "no, there's no
difference between them". So {ge wa}and {ge tsa}are the are
pretty much the same. Rinpoche added...I mean, so {ge wa}
represents your accumulated good deeds and if you get, for
example, some very extreme form of wrong view, you, you cut those
good deeds, {ge tsa che}. He said the word "root" is meant to
emphasize the causal part of virtue, meaning that if you cut them
they'll never flower or they'll never mature into something
desirable, okay. All right. Mr. Gross. No. Mr. Kish. I got a
Bill Gross and a Bill Kish, okay. Two results of keeping the
vows. (unclear){Nekap drebu hla mi dang,tartuk drebu jangchub sum.
Nekap drebu hla mi dang,tartuk drebu jangchub sum. Nekap drebu}
means the short term goals, the short term benefits. It's {hla}
and {mi}, which means what?

(student, Bill: {Hla} is a pleasure being)

Yeah, or {mi}.

(student, Bill: A human)

Yeah. To become a pleasure being or a human, short term result.
It's that first motivation where you don't want to slip below
that line called hu...animal (laughs) okay? I mean, we're animal
enough (laughs) okay? Doesn't...mind doesn't have to slip below
that. {Ani pak, ani ani} means what? "And then". {tartuk drebu jangchub sum,
tartuk} means "ultimate result". It's {jangchub shum} which is what?

(student: Types of bodhi?)

Yup, {sum}. Why does it say three kinds of Buddhahood?

(students: It has...that there's (unclear)

Nah.
(students: (unclear))

Yeah, the three tracks, the three tracks. And, and most people
never know that. I mean, there's three bodhichitta’s also, there's
three forms of {sem kye}, and, and that's why they say Mahayana
bodhicitta, because that's the bodhicitta of the third track, but
there's also bodhicitta of the first two tracks, meaning, the the
wish for enlightenment, of that track, which in the lower two
tracks just means nirvana; a lower nirvana, okay.

(student: Are they the same?)

That's a good question. I can't think of any difference between
them to tell you the truth, okay, I mean the state of...they're
both Hinayana nirvana. In Madyamika Svatantrika system you get
there by seeing different levels of emptiness. They don't call
them ‘emptiness’, they call them ‘selflessness’. And, but I don't
see...I don't think there's any difference in the result. In the
nirvana between those two, okay. So tho, those, if somebody asks
you on a on a final, for the (laughs) two results, you say, short-
term result, human or pleasure being rebirth, long-term...by the
way, which is, you know, we skip over it like blah, blah, blah
because you have not seen your future life, you know, because you
are not aware of your future life. And you, frankly, having grown
up in America, you don't believe in future life, and it's not
part of your psyche. And when I say, "hey, if you kept your
{pratimoksha} vows you could reach...you could stay a human", it'd
be, it doesn't click, you know. You don't say, "wow, great," you
know, "that would be wonderful", you know, but it's really a a
huge accomplishment. One...probably as the people who live in
America at this moment die, less than four or five hundred of
them will be born human or or a god, or a pleasure being, okay.
If the two hundred million people living in America, as they die,
most likely less than five hundred would be...would retain this
kind of a life. Okay.

(student: Any kind of human, like you're starving somewhere?)

Yeah, I mean that would be a great achievement. And, and most
people never...it's very depressing (laughs) fact, okay.

(student: (cat meowing) Is it better to be a house cat?)

No, no. 'cause a house cat can't achieve enlightenment and
nirvana in this life, okay. All right. So it's really a big
achievement. It's really not just something you should skip over
on your...you know, and say, oh you know, I'll just become a
human or a or a pleasure being. According to all the
scriptures, that is about the odds of the people living in the
United St...you know. And people call me up all the time and say,
you know, will Aunt May become...is she is Kansas or is she in
Minnesota, you know. And I'm like...she's (laughs) in neither
one, you know (laughter) and it…

(student: (unclear))

…You know (laughter) and then, and you don't want to tell them the
truth, and it's very hard to tell the truth, you know, yeah.

(student: (unclear) What sort of karmic things are going to
ripen as human but (unclear) as someone's favorite cat (unclear)
normally, say like Hitler, or you know)

You, you know. You finished class number seven, right. I mean,
it's the habit of enjoying killing. So, killing in this life.
Killing things. Disrespecting the sacredness of life. Okay.
Then the ultimate, I mean {jangchub sum}, to reach enlightenment
in this life... nirvana or enlightenment. Nirvana you cannot
even imagine. I mean, you can, you can imagine coming back as a
human and only one in a million people will, but I, I it's very
hard to imagine nirvana. It's almost uni, unimaginable. The
pleasure that it would be to be happy the whole day. I mean, to
to not have any kind of irritation or jealousy or anger or desire
for days, you know, to be freed from that, from that torment of
having those thoughts in your skull is some kind of a extreme
pleasure, and you can't imagine it. You can't imagine what it
would be like not to be irritated or stressed or have any kind of
anxiety, or any kind of selfishness, or any kind of, any kind of
bad feeling about another human being, I mean, you can't even
imagine what it would feel like. That's a sh...that's a smaller
goal. And then the ultimate goal, you know, Buddhahood,
just...being in a Buddha paradise and, and having the capacity to
show up wherever any single living creature in the entire
universe needs it at any given moment...that would be kind of
cool, you know. So like that. You're gonna get...there's
there's ten bad deeds...I'm not gonna go through them. You know
them. You are assiduously avoiding them. We need two, two
consistent consequences for each of the ten. What's called
consistent consequences. (unclear) What's that?

(student: Asualdo.)

Asualdo. You ready? (laughs)

(student: (unclear) (laughter)

By killing, there would be two, two consistent consequences. Do
you remember either one, any of you?

(student: Short life)

Yeah.

(student: Yes, your life is short or you get sick easily.)

Yeah, you life is short and you get sick easily. Okay. I think
we'll just do these as a group, how's that? You life is short or
you get sick easy. The point...the reason why I really spent a
long time on these ten is that. It's not, I don't...I'm not into this thing where
you're threatening somebody, you know, where you're saying "oh you shouldn't
do bad things (unclear) you know, you met (unclear) (laughter), I don't...it
doesn't appeal to me...I don't think it appeals to anyone, but, but the point is this,
you can reconstruct the causes for your world, you know. You can be like an
archeologist or a detective. You can figure out what it was that got you here. If
you don't have energy you can figure out why you don't have energy. If you
health is lousy, you can figure out why your health is lousy. And you fix, you can
do a lot to fix it, you know. So that's, that's why I spent so much time on these
ten. It's really the real causes of for the messed up things in your own life and
you can fix them or you can a you can address them, okay. So if your life is short
or...which you don't know yet (laughs), or if you get sick easily, a avoid killing.
Okay. Stealing? Don't have enough money to live on and what was the other
one?

(student: You have to share with everyone.)

Yeah, whatever property you do own is never...you never get to
have the unique use of it yourself, you know, you know, someone
can cut your head off and, and if it, if it just doesn't bother you at all, it's not a
result of bad karma. Okay.

(student: Isn't the desire to have something yourself a mental
affliction? Uniquely yourself?)

Yeah, it is. It is. But it's more fun to use it for yourself,
you know. (laughs). Anyway, of course, of course there could be
afflictions by want...by being, you know, attached to having it
yourself, but, but it's also the result of a bad karma if, if in a
bad way you have to share it with other people. You don't get
the use of something, the exclusive use of something yourself.
It's a lot more fun to have a limousine than a New Jersey transit
bus, okay. Sexual misconduct?

(student: The people that are around you are unreliable?)

Yeah, people around you...you can't count, count on the people
around you. The’re, they're inconsistent because you were
inconsistent and that's a big one, you know. I mean...I tend to
get upset or angry or disappointed when the people around me are
not...when I can't count on them, or I don',t I don't get help
that I think I need, but, but the point is that I can't get
angry 'cause I did it (laughs) okay? All right. And that's the
whole point, you know. I can't be angry because it was the result
of my own sexual misconduct. I don't remember the sexual
misconduct but it doesn't mean anything, you know, and if I if I
don't like having that problem, I, I could concentrate more on on
my own sexual misconduct, okay. And the second one?

(students: Competition for your partner)
Yeah, people are always coming on to your wife or your girlfriend
or your husband or like that. You, you don't...your partners...I
should say, people are attracted to your partner. People are
always fighting with you to get your partner. Used to happen in
high school a lot. (laughs) Been there before. Lying.

(student: No one believes you)

No one believes you even when you're telling the truth. And you
know, if that bothers you, and it does happen, you can either get
ang...we're gonna do [B: Bodhicharyavatara], we're gonna do
Shantideva, next year, probably the whole year, and it's full of
this kind of thing, but if you're...if if people don't believe
you, don't get mad, don't get angry, just stop lying, okay.
That's what caused it. It's not them, you know. There's this
big thing in the Madhyamika literature, it says, Shantideva says, "what do you
think", you know, "that some somebody sent a
construction crew down to hell to make hell?", you know. Who
made hell?, you know. Who put all those pots of molten- steel
there, and who put all those demons with these spears to stab
you, and do you think, you know, that they were drafted somewhere
and sent down there by somebody, and you know, and construction
crews went down there and nailed hell together and stuff like
that. It was created by your deeds. And, and, and by extension
the people around you at work, you know. You can't blame them
for anything. You created those, you know. If you're tired of
of people who don't believe you or if you're tired of people who
don't help you, clean up your morality. Okay. What was the
second result?

(student: People are always deceiving you.)

People are always deceiving you. People are always lying to you, like that. And
I, I don't know about you, but I have met
people in my life and, people who have been close to me, I can
think of one in particular, and and we would go around together
to different places and the other person would constantly be lied
to and there'd be people who'd tell me the truth, and it was
really weird, it was quite strange, you know, and this person was
always paranoid that people were lying to them. And they were
(laughs). (laughter). And then I would talk to the same person
and they'd tell you the truth, and it was really weird, you know.
It was really weird. And, so the other person was getting this
paranoia about the whole world and and I'm trying to say, "well,
that's not what happens to me", you know, but, there's a reason
for it, okay.

(student: So if he gets mad, it will just come back?)

Yeah. Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

Oh no, normally the anger would create some kind of other, in
fact, I think anger leads to ugliness, physical ugliness, you
know. If you're not as pretty as you'd like to be or handsome as
you'd like to be, I believe the cause is li...is is anger, okay.
But you have to study these things. Lying, slander, oh
splitting up people, devisive talk.

(student: People are fighting around you)

Yeah, the people around you are always in conflict, and you know,
you've been in offices where everyone is struggling against
everybody else, and then you've been in offices where everyone
seems to be working together as a team, and what causes it? It's
you, okay. Second one.

(student: (unclear))

Yeah, you're around people who are bad, you know, and, and that's
a big, that's a very bad karmic result because then they make you
worse, you know. To be around people who are not honest or who
are not thoughtful or sensitive, or who are, you know, not
straight, and who are cruel, is a very bad karmic result 'cause
then they make you...they affect you, you know. Nobody in this
room would not be affected if they stayed for any length of time
around somebody, you know...I've been in business and I've had
years where I was...where I had to work closely with people who
who just their their idea of, of, of what lying was and what
honesty was, was quite bizarre, you know (laughs). And, and it
starts to affect you, you know, you start to think, well, maybe
that's not so bad, or that's pretty smart, they seem to be
successful, you know, and it's a very bad karma, okay. Harsh
words.

(student: Hearing (unclear))

Yeah, don't get mad at the garbage trucks and the Indian guys
pulling down their metal shutters at midnight, you know (laughs),
it was created by your...and by the way, this is, it's for real.
If you study karma and the way karma is planted in your mind,
you'll see that this is not just some kind of...I've seen many
western books where they've said, "oh the Buddhists, they're just
trying to explain why the world is like it is. They just made
this up. It's a very interesting thing that Gautama made up to
make feel people feel better about the world, you know, they'll
understand the world better. They'll be able to explain why
someone's yelling at them, and it comforts people (laughter). It
was a real, you know, a real great advance in thinking that
Gautama made this up, you know, to make people feel better."
It's not like that. I mean, the, the garbage truck's in New York
really were created, if they bother you, by your harsh speech.
And if you don't like it, then don't do harsh speech anymore. And
the whole environment is like that. Your whole world is like
that. Everything in your world is like that, including your own
nature, including your own thoughts, including your own moods and
emotions. Yeah.

(student: (unclear))

It's the irritation at the garbage trucks, how's that? (laughs)
Yeah, okay. Irritating garbage trucks. Um. And then second
one? For harsh speech?

(student: People are argumentative around you)

Yeah, and I've seen that too. I've seen people...I know people
who just, you know, their first interaction with anybody is that
the other person starts to attack them (laughs) and they're like,
you know, and they start to get defensive 'cause their first
experience is always getting attacked, you know, and it is, it
really is. They're not crazy. And then they start attacking all
the time and then it becomes like a habit and like that, okay.
Number seven, idle talk.

(student: No one respects what you say)

Yeah, I mean, you...I, I don't know, I always see it in business
meetings at at work, you know. And there's always like two or
three people who, who have a really good idea and they, they raise
their hand and they give this really good idea, and the boss
looks at them like, "are you stupid or what?", you know (laughs)
and, it's...to everyone else around the table it seems like a
really good idea, and it is a good idea, but because they have
done a lot of idle talk, just nobody nobody considers what they
say to to be important, okay? And then what's second one?

(students: Low self-esteem)

Yeah,yeah, you have low self-esteem, okay. And that's a very
interesting karmic result. You don't have confidence in what
you're going to do or say because no one thinks it's worth
(laughs) anything anyway. And, and it may be exactly the same
thing that somebody else does that everybody praises. It's very,
it's very funny. That's the emptiness of what you're doing.
Okay number eight. Yeah?

(student: So when you're spending an hour or two with your
shrink one a week, are you (unclear) to cure yourself (unclear)
are you perpetuating this (unclear)?)

I don't think so, if the, if the cure is gentle and positive,
because then, the reason why some cures may work, the reason
that some therapy’s may work is that actually you may be
performing some kind of four powers, you know, and, and if the
cure, if the therapy is gentle and constructive then you are, you
are collecting new good karma instead of reacting to it with
anger, hatred or something like that, you know. But it's very
interesting because you, you...it means that you have to be
patient with your own faults, you know. You have to be loving
about your own faults. You can't react to them with anger. You
can react to them with a desire to change, a strong a strong
repulsion to your bad thoughts, but not with some kind of anger,
or…

(cut) [end side a]
[side B]

…. frustration in that sense, it's very interesting. It says in the [B:Abhidharma]
that the only negative emotion which is virtuous is regret. It's very interesting.
Craving. The result of craving, number eight.

(student: (unclear))

You want things. Okay, and you meet people...you know, I think
all of us have...this is most beings in the desire realm which is
all of us are here because we have some kind, we had some kind of
overwhelming desire. They say, the people who are here because
of anger are one in a hundred and the other ninety-nine are here because of their
desire. So that’s much more common to be afflicted by desire than by, by
continual desire, is like low- level radiation you know? They still don’t know the
effects, you know like I deal in topaz, blue topaz, it’s created by low- level
radiation and gives off low level radiation. And try to get the NEC to tell you
what it does and they can’t. They say, “we don’t know. Because you’re exposed
to all this radiation all day long so we don’t know what the effect of being
around this stone all day. We can’t say.” But desire is like a low level radiation.
You know, you have it all day, anger comes up, it flares up once a day or twice a
day but low level desire is supposed to be much more weakening and damaging
to your heart than these outbursts of anger. Okay so your personality is
dominated by desire and what’s the second one?

(Student: you never find any satisfaction.)

You never find any satisfaction. So we know what caused that.
Number nine, ill will – being happy when other people fail. [student: unclear]
Yeah, never get what you need, or, the first one was, yeah, never find the help
you need. And then, secondly? [student: unclear]
Yeah, you’re always hurting other people or being hurt by others, okay.
Last one, wrong view. [students: unclear]
Yeah, you have wrong views and? [student: unclear], deceitful. I don’t what’s the
connection with deceitful. I’m not quite sure. I, I don’t quite, I don’t see… Does
anybody have a proposal about the logic about the deceitful thing? I mean,
that’s what the text says but I’m just curious. [student: unclear] Mmm. Maybe
it’s a kind of lying or something. I don’t know. I don’t know. By the way, a lot
of them are like that which means you have to study Vinaya to learn all the
connections. And only a Buddha can see them perfectly. Yeah. {student: unclear]
Killing. Yeah, not respecting life. Do you guys want to take a break or do you
want to [ student: unclear]. We’re pretty close to finishing. You want to go
straight through and have a night off? Okay. Environmental consequences.
Let’s do those together. Killing? [student: unclear]
Yeah, the world that you live in is dangerous. People around you die young.
And, and food and medicines don’t have much power in your country or in your
area, things like that. You take, like asprin, and nothing happens [laughs]
[unclear] can tell you. Or you take a [unclear] and nothing happens. You know,
you take three and nothing happens, okay.
Okay, stealing. I mean, he gives, like a dozen different kinds of things that
happen with crops and I’ve, I’ve seen it related to urban American life. You
know, I’ve seen it related to urban life in the scripture, to where you try business
and it doesn’t go right. You know, you meet people who, you know, struggle to
make a business run and it just never goes quite right. And then you meet
other, you meet other people that have the golden touch and everything’s going
just right. And the people who have the golden touch it wears off, like Donald
Trump. You know, I remember his book came out. It was called, “The Art of
Negotiation, The Art of the Deal” and when it hit the news stands, the
newspaper came out and said he was bankrupt. [laughter] It was kind of funny
to see the book and newspaper next to each other in the news stands, you know.
It wears out. That wears out. So, basically, from stealing, all your attempts to, to
make a living don’t go well, okay. And, and just the business economy, you’re
in an economy … It’s very interesting, according to Buddhism, the idea of
sharing wealth or the distribution of wealth is what? The idea is there’s a limited
amount of wealth and that people have to figure out the best way to distribute it,
is what? It’s just false. You know, there’s no reason why the whole world
economy couldn’t be great forever, you know. There’s no reason why some
people have to be poor and some people have to be rich. It’s not, it’s not like
there’s a limited amount of possessions and that the problem is that they’re not
distributed properly. That’s not the truth. The truth is that everybody in the
planet could be poor or everybody in the planet could be wealthy and
comfortable if they collected the right karmas, okay. It’s interesting. Um,
number three: wrong sex causes what? [student: unclear]
Yeah, stinky and shellfish [laughs] okay. I always think of this fruit container on
Thirty-Ninth Street, outside the door there. [laughs] Every time I went past
there I was thinking what kind of sexual misconduct did I do, you know. And,
and there’s this thing about your life where, I don’t know if you’ve experienced
it, but in certain times of your life where nothing tastes good, nothing seems
enjoyable. You know, you go to a movie, it doesn’t seem to be quite exciting.
You go on vacation, it doesn’t quite work out. You go to a restaurant to have a
good dinner, it doesn’t quite click, you know. And then, you have other periods
in your life when everything is vibrant; colors are vibrant, music is vibrant, food
is vibrant, your friends are vibrant. You go somewhere and it’s like electricity.
Those are all the result of sexual misconduct or keeping your sexual mores.
Okay.
Number four: lying. These are mainly broken down into two things. One was
any kind of work you do with other people, cooperative efforts, like a project
that you undertake with a group of people, they don’t work out, okay, if you’ve
been lying. And then you live in a world where people are cheating each other
and they also mention fear in a lot, in a lot of these. And they mention it here,
like, there’s a lot, there’s muggers, there’s robberies, there’s natural disasters,
there’s, you know, dangerous things in your environment, okay, because of
lying.
Because of trying to spilt up people, what? [student: unclear]
Yeah, it’s very interesting. We were talking about [laughs] a certain Dharma
center in California where, I mean, the road is like this and the whole place is like
this, you know. And they wanted to know what karma would fix that road, you
know. [laughs] And it was this, you know. It was not divisive speech, not
engaging in divisive speech. They wanted to, I, we wanted, we were exploring
in a class in California the karmic reasons for having a dirt road that goes to their
house which is very dangerous. It’s on the edge of a mountain. It’s likely to be
washed out and stuff like that. And, ultimately, it’s divisive speech and if they
wanted to fix it should they go to accounting and ask for it to be fixed or should
they do the four powers and work on divisive speech, you know, clearing up
divisive speech karma? And that’s, that’s the answer. That’s how to fix that
road. Then accounting would come out and fix it, you know. And that’s the only
thing that would make accounting come out and fix it. And that’s kinda cool.
[student: unclear] What’s that? [student: unclear, same karma to be born in
Tibet?] Oh, yes, if it bothers you, if it hurts you. Like, Rinpoche’s whole life in
Hlasa, as I, as I understand it, it was pleasant walks from Sera to Hlasa on a flat
road and that he didn’t have that karma but he did when he ran away from Tibet
if he was a normal person which he’s not, but you know. It’s when they ran
away and then they had to go over these huge mountains and suffer. Yeah, if it
bothers them, yeah, okay.
Yeah. [student: unclear] Excuse me? [student: unclear] You never know. You
never know. Can’t, you don’t know. Alright.
Harsh words? Harsh words: the ground is covered with dangerous things –
glass, thorns, things like that and again, there’s many things to fear okay.
Talking meaninglessly: nothing ever ripens at the right time and there’s no place
for you to take your rest, you know. There’s no quiet place in that city where
you can really go safely and hang out on the grass and enjoy the trees and things
like that, okay [unclear] and again, many things that make you afraid.
Number eight, from coveting, it’s very interesting.          From coveting other
people’s things, the things which yourself come to have just are constantly
deteriorating. Like, if you get a house the plumbing’s always breaking. You
know people who have houses like that. [laughs] You know, and it ends up to be
this huge suffering as the house starts to deteriorate. Or, or you get a car, you
know, you get the one out of a hundred that came off the assembly line with
everything that’s going to break and that. And you know people who go crazy
with the new car that’s causing them all this suffering ‘cos little things keep
breaking. Then there’s Rinpoche’s car, you know, ten years later never been
fixed for anything, you know. It’s a different kind of karma, okay.
Number nine: ill will. You live in a world of chaos where there’s a lot of disease
and counties are fighting each other and hurting each other. And also harmful
things like insects or snakes or muggers or things like that in your world. If you
want to wipe out crime in New York what do you do? For you? [student:
unclear] Yeah, don’t be happy when other people fail, okay. That’s the real way
to wipe out crime in New York. It’s very interesting. This is the truth by the
way. I’m not just joking around. I mean it’s not to hire more cops and it’s not to
pay them more and it’s not to give everyone more money or something like
that. It’s to stop having ill will towards people and there won’t be crime in New
York. Very interesting.
Number ten, basically number ten is you’ll be born in a place where there is no
Dharma and people where you live will have wrong view. Specifically, they’ll
think that things which are unhappiness, are happiness. Like, they’ll think that
worldly things will make them happy. I mean, I guess it’s trying to say you’ll be
born into a material culture. [laughs] Okay.
Alright, we’re almost finished. Elizabeth, do you want to do one?
The five, the five main persons in the lineage of the Lam Rim, starting with?
[student: unclear]. Okay, and then second level? [student: unclear]. Yeah,
Maitreya and Manjushri. [student: unclear] Yeah, Asanga and Nagarjuna.
[student: unclear] Atisha, who combines them and then all the other lamas,
yeah. Okay, cool.
Almost finished. Four special qualities of the lam Rim. {denpa ….} I’ll go over
them quick ‘cos we’re almost out of time. {denpa …} means, you will see, you
will see that no teaching in Buddhism contradicts any other teaching in
Buddhism. And I admit, and I openly admit that it doesn’t seem to you that way
now but if you study theLam Rim deeply it’ll, it’ll dawn on you that it’s all
perfectly consistent with each other, okay. Number two is { Tibetan …} which is,
any teaching you pick up seems to be personal advice to yourself. { …..} means,
you begin to see why the Buddha taught different things and you begin to see
the place they have in getting you to enlightenment, okay. And I gave you the
example like Buddhist logic. According to Gyeltseb Je, Tsongkapa’s greatest
disciple, the kindest thing Tsongkapa ever did for him was to teach him Buddhist
logic. I’ve been afraid to teach Buddhist logic in New York because everyone
would die of boredom, you know. [laughs] But if you come to a point where
you can see where that applies to your enlightenment, directly, you’ve achieved
the third point of the lam Rim. You’ve understood the third benefit. And the
fourth great characteristic is {…..}, which means, if you study the Lam Rim which
gives you this incredible overview of all the Buddhist teachings you will never
again put down any of the Buddhist teachings - which would be a huge mistake.
You’ll never again say, I like ninety percent of it but that stuff’s stupid, you
know. That Vinaya stuff it’s not like emptiness and bodhisattva stuff. It’s kind of
boring and I think it’s for, I think it was meant for ancient Indians. I don’t see
really where it has a place in the modern times, you know. That’s called the
“great chasm”, the “great mistake”, thinking something like that. If you study
Lam Rim well, you’ll study the inter-relationship of all the Buddhist teachings.
You’ll never fall into that, okay.
Qualities of a proper lama, okay. I’ll go through them real quick. Controlled: in
the sense of having an ethical way of life. Peaceful: in the sense of knowing how
to meditate. Completely peaceful: in the sense of understanding emptiness,
having wisdom. Exceeding qualities: in the sense of having personal qualities
which are much greater than the student’s qualities. Having effort: in the sense
of being dedicated, having dedicated their life to achieving what’s good for
themselves and what’s good for others in an ultimate way. Rich in Scripture:
having studied the three collections of scripture. Having understood emptiness:
infinitely preferable if they have seen emptiness directly. There’s no comparison
between a teacher who has seen emptiness directly and one who hasn’t, okay.
A master teacher: in the sense of knowing the capacity of their students and
following it well. The image of love: in the sense of not being, not teaching
because of wanting to gain anything from their students but teaching the
students whatever will benefit them the most at any particular time. {kyewa
pang}, overcome distaste, which means they never get tired of teaching, okay,
no matter how bad the students are. [laughs] Okay. Alright. The next two
questions have to do with where do, what are the karmic causes of these
qualities in the lama? And why, why, you know, a lot of people ask me, what’s
the point of this question, you know? And it was this, it was that, it’s to point out
the emptiness of those ten qualities, okay. What is the emptiness of those ten
qualities? It means that the teacher may have the karma to see all of those
qualities in herself or himself. I mean, the teacher may, for example, have seen
emptiness directly, and the teacher may, for example, only be motivated by
concern for the students in everything they do. And everything they do they do
only to teach their students something. And so, from the teacher’s point of view,
maybe these two things, for example these two things - (a) they really have seen
emptiness directly, (b) whatever they do even if it seems strange is only
motivated for, in order to teach their students something, but the karma of the
student may be to see, to look at that same person and not understand that they
have seen emptiness directly and also to think that some of their activities are
improper or seem strange, like that. And that, that would be the student’s
karma. It’s very interesting. So, that would be the emptiness of these ten
qualities, you know. Does that mean you should follow a teacher who’s
breaking their morality? No, okay. And, and that’s the other thing that you
have to say in the same breath, you know. I mean if, you have to make a
judgment based on the best of your knowledge but you also have to be aware
that if your mind was more pure you might be seeing something completely
different. I mean, at this level, you should not follow a person who is breaking
their morality but also be aware that like Maitreya and Asanga and the dog, did
we [unclear] yet? [laughs] Yeah. I mean, just be aware that, that as your own
mind becomes more and more pure you will be seeing more sacred qualities
where you never expected them, and where you could not see them before, not
because they weren’t there. Not because Maitreya wasn’t sitting in the cave for
twelve years next to Asanga but because Asanga wasn’t pure enough to see it,
you know. So, be careful in how you relate to, be careful in judging people. I
guess I want to, it’s the difference between judging and, you can’t judge another
person’s activities, but if they are unwholesome you must avoid them, okay.
Like, I can say I don’t know why monks and nuns in America are disrobed. I
can’t judge them but I can say it’s a bad activity, you know. Disrobing is a very,
very bad thing but I can’t judge those people who disrobe. I can’t tell. I don’t
know. I don’t know what they’re thinking, you know. I can tell you it’s a bad
activity. I can tell you that. I would not want to, to be too close to those people,
you know, that I might be affected by them or something like that. So that’s the
distinction I’m trying to make. When your own mind is pure enough a lot of the
things that you think you see now you’ll realize are defects in your own mind.
But, in the same breath I’d say you must follow these ten rules for seeking out
your {shen nyen}. But eventually, I mean, find a good {shen nyen} and
eventually the things that you think are wrong you may find out that they’re,
they are very holy person. Really, I mean can I say “really”? That they are
really very holy people, can I say that? Can I say the liquid was really water?
No. It’s not contradictory for them to be a drunkard and a holy man at the same
time. It’s not contradictory. You cannot follow a drunkard. You must follow a
holy man. Which one was Trungpa, Chogyal Trungpa? Which one was he?
[laughs] [students: unclear] Yeah. I mean it’s a very difficult thing. You can’t
follow a drunkard. [student: unclear] Well, we’ve said, how do you find a {shen
nyen}? And that’s the whole point, I mean ultimately that’s the point of this
question, how do you find that incredibly holy being who will take you
personally to a Buddha paradise?
[students: unclear] Huh? [students: unclear] Yeah, clean up your life, clear up
your own mind. And what we said was you don’t have to get on a plane and go
to India, okay. If you clear up your own life they will be forced to come to you.
It’s like putting out honey for flies. [laughs] Clean up your mind, they have to
come. They will appear sometimes in whom and where you least expect it, you
know. But that’s how you find your {shen nyen}. Finding your {shen nyen} is
the holiest thing I can teach you, you know. The holiest thing I can say in all of
these classes is, you know, clean up your heart to the point where you, where
your {shen nyen} will come to you, can come to you, like Maitreya could come to
Asanga, you know. He was there all the time. He couldn’t see him. You have to
find a {shen nyen} so put out the bait of your pure activity and mind. [unclear]
[student: unclear] [laughs] Okay. Alright. I’m not going to go through the four
powers. We just went through it. But the four powers should become for you
something very, very important to you, okay. It should become a daily practice.
You should constantly be applying it to the last time you got mad at your boss,
which was today, okay. Last time you had desire for such and such a thing
which was this afternoon, you know. And before the karma gets too powerful
apply the four powers. I can’t do it for you. I can tell you it works. And you
have to just get to where it becomes an automatic reaction. We just did the four
noble, sorry [laughter] Arya truths, so I don’t have to go over those. And the
last question is the sweetest question. It’s why is bodhichitta like the alchemical
elixir and how does that relate to dependent origination? What’s that? [student:
unclear] Go ahead. [student: unclear] That’s true but also a good deed becomes
like gold [student: unclear] yeah, they’re just temporary, yeah. They’re just a
temporary [unclear].
Okay, that’s that. First of all I also wanted to thank, there was a lot of people
working on all, this stuff has become, as the classes got larger, this has become a
lot of work and this was the first time when I really had students helping me
translate the text. Ora and Elizabeth did a lot of it. The monks who live here
helped with a lot of it and that was really nice. It saved me, well, it was a great
help first of all. Secondly, a lot of people spent a lot of time typing them up,
cleaning them up, xeroxing them. They’re not self-existent, okay. And that was
Ora did a lot, Tashi did a lot, John Stilwell was involved. I think there were
people involved that I don’t know about. Elizabeth helped. Ani Pelma did a lot
of them. Elly did some. And I don’t know everybody else but what’s happening
is, and then I want to thank [unclear]. You know the papers are being graded,
these monks stay up all night and do the papers. I mean it’s a lot. There’s
hundreds and hundreds of papers and they’re also doing hundreds of papers for
correspondence students so they don’t get anything out of it but the work, you
know. So I think if you could thank those people as you see them as you meet
them, you know, thank them.
Last thing to say is that I really believe in Vinaya and I look forward to Vinaya
being very strong in the United States. I think it’s a good time for it to start. I,
myself, as I taught it got a lot more appreciation for it and began to, I don’t
know, it just started to make me happier and happier as I started to get in more
and more into the mood of pratimoksha, you know. And I couldn’t have that
happen or I could never get those results without my teachers. And, also, I
couldn’t have all those results unless I had people who come to help me talk
about it. And that’s you people. I just want to thank you very much for that ‘cos
I need that and if people come who, we call who are of the same spiritual
aspiration, you know, and if I’m around people like that for me it’s a great
blessing, personally. It’s a very great blessing. So I have to thank you very much
for that ‘cos it makes my life very happy. I thank you for that. Yeah. [student:
unclear] [laughs] [student: unclear] So rejoice, okay, rejoice for three minutes,
okay and then we’ll, then we’ll go home.
[student announcement: unclear]
[laughter] [laughs]
[unclear] be happy, okay. [laughter] [student: unclear] [unclear], {…}, the
ultimate offering to your teacher is to keep your practice. So, try not to lie, try
not to steal anything, try not to say anything bad to people [unclear]
last thing, I would really hope in November that we could have some kind of a
ceremony. It’ll probably have to be in New Jersey. Rinpoche has said he doesn’t
feel well enough to travel [unclear], that he could grant at least lifetime layman’s
vows. No reason not to take them. You’re not going to kill anybody. You’re
not going to steal anything. You’re not going to commit adultery and [unclear]
is a waste of money and time. [laughter] So there’s no reason not to do it.
You’re not going to lie about emptiness so [laughter] you just might as well take
them anyway. It’s a lot more powerful. And consider taking higher ordination if
you [unclear]. I think it looks like, maybe, tomorrow we will close the deal in
Connecticut. We’ll have a place for a monastery and a nunnery and as you get
older in life you might want to consider it. There’s not much else to do and
[unclear] tried everything and it looks like your life is gonna start heading
toward spirtual things [unclear]. Keep it in mind. {…} in Tibetan means, keep
the possibility in your heart that you could do it. Anytime’s okay, alright. And
we have a nice place for you and it would be wonderful, be wonderful to have a
nice solid group of monks and nuns so don’t think it’s impossible. You never
know. Keep in one corner of your mind the possibility [unclear] [laughs]
Yeah. [student: unclear] Just be happy. You create a lot more merit if you’re just
happy [unclear]
[prayer: mandala]
[prayer: dedication]




 Course IX: The Ehical Life, NYC, jul-sept 1996
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