Углублённый курс ACI 01 — Учения будущего Будды: «Уттаратантра» Майтреи (2003, Аризона), занятие 1

[Говорящий 1]
So, I'm Rebecca and I've been studying with Geshe Michael for five years and I studied at Sara Monastery in India and I'm really excited to be here and to teach and to talk about this really holy stuff. Okay, so I'm going to give you the Tibetan stuff and then you should write it down even if you've never seen Tibetan before and even if it doesn't make any sense because it plants a really good seed to learn it in the future. Like when I started studying, I didn't want to write it down but I did because Holy Lama said I should and, you know, now I can sort of read it.

I'm studying translation. So, it's really good to write it down and it plants a really, really good seed in your mind and even if you don't think it's working, it is. So, that's my little self for Tibetan.

I'm just going to tell you a little bit about what we're going to be studying, just like a little overview of the course. The book is the Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra, which is here, okay, and then I should write down the English transliteration for the Tibetan, so you know what that is. Sorry, my handwriting is pretty horrific.

I'm working on it. Okay, so the book we're studying. You should always know what book you're studying because, you know, someone might ask you and you might not know and then you might be really embarrassed.

So, this is tekpa, everybody say tekpa, chenpo, gyu, lame, ten, chuh, so tekpa, chenpo, gyu, lame, ten, chuh, and this is Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra, so Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra in the Sanskrit, okay, and then what does this book mean? So Mahayana is, Mahayana means highest, like highest way, maha means highest, yana means way, so that's tekpa, that's, this is way or vehicle, and then chenpo means really big or great, so that's greater way. So you've probably heard the term Mahayana practitioner as opposed to Hinayana practitioner.

Hinayana practitioner would, can be translated as lower way and there's a difference in the motivation of the practitioners. The Mahayana practitioner, they want to study and they want to reach Buddhahood so they can help others, that's their main intention, is everything they do is to help other beings, and then the Hinayana motivation is more to get out of suffering, to avoid the lower realms for themselves, to reach a state of nirvana, to end their own suffering, and Mahayana practitioners want to do that too, it's not like, oh I want to bring everyone else to bliss and I just want to be a dumb schmuck, they want to get to Buddhahood too, they want to, you know, okay. Has everyone done copying or, no? You should write the Tibetan, yeah.

It would help you to have the transliteration also, yeah. Sorry, I know it's annoying, but it'll really help you in the future. As long as you can listen, I mean it's more important to listen, but if you can listen and write at the same time.

Geshe-la says, which means write it, don't carve it. Sorry. Sorry.

Yeah, it's kind of funnier when he says it. Okay, so I'm going to go on and then you can just keep writing it. Okay, so, so gyu means tantra, and a lot of us know tantra to mean like the esoteric teachings of Buddhism, it's not what it means in this case, this is not a secret text, this is an open text.

In this case, tantra means lineage or series, okay. Gyu can mean, oh, I'm sorry, sorry about that. Gyu, gyu means lineage, gyu means series, okay, which is tantra, okay.

And chenpo, lama, lama here is, lama is uttara. So lama we know to mean like teacher, like highest teacher, okay. In this case it doesn't refer to a teacher, it just refers to the highest thing, okay.

And then shastra is tantra, which is commentary. So this is all very confusing. What does this mean?

Okay, this means the explanation of the latter part of the series on the teachings of the greater way. So what does that mean, right? I'm wondering that myself.

Okay, so this book was written by Maitreya, okay, who we say is the coming Buddha after Shakyamuni Buddha. Some people say he's a 10th level bodhisattva who's like hanging out in Gondon waiting to get enlightened. Some people say that he is already enlightened, depends on what school you're in, okay.

He read this, he dictated this book to Master Asanga and we'll get into how that happened because, you know, it's kind of rare for a Buddha or a 10th level bodhisattva to be dictating a book to anyone, right. So why is this book called Uttara Tantra? Why is this book called like the highest thing?

Why is it like the highest part of the series? So there are two reasons for that, okay. Lord Buddha taught the Dharma in three different ways.

Some of you might have heard of three turnings of the wheel, okay. In the first turning of the wheel, after he got enlightened under the tree in Bodhgaya, he talked about the four Arya truths, which is sometimes called the four noble truths. He talked about the source of our suffering, you know, where does our suffering come from?

Why do we suffer? How do we stop that suffering, you know? And personally, I think for me, that was the greatest rod of Dharma.

Like, how do I stop being sad, right? Like, nobody wants to be sad. Nobody wants to have a screaming boss.

Nobody wants to get sick. Nobody wants to die, right? So how do we stop that?

So that's what he taught in the first turning of the wheel. And he didn't talk about emptiness at all. He didn't talk about the nature of reality.

The way I see it is he was going more for your gut, you know. In the second turning of the wheel, he talked about the nature of reality, you know. And he said that there was nothing in this world that didn't come as a result of your projections, which are based on your past karma, you know.

So everything from your screaming boss to your mother dying to the color of your hair to the color of this carpet to the fact that your pen will write is a result of your past karma, okay. So some of that can make sense, right? Like, I can understand how, like, being mean to someone could, like, cause me to see someone being mean to me in the future.

But some of this stuff, like, well, the pen works because it writes. Like, it's a pen because it writes like a pen, right? So some people freaked out after he taught that the pen writes because of your karma, you know.

So the third turning of the wheel, he came out and he said, okay, I was just kidding. Sorry about that, guys. Sorry to confuse you.

But some things are a result of your past karma. Some things aren't a result of your past karma, you know. So for, like, thousands of years now, people have been trying to figure out, well, which one was it?

You know, like, is everything a result of my past karma or is it not? You know, which one is it? And it's really important to try to figure out how to stop your suffering.

You need to know which one is true. So this book, one of the things that this book deals with is trying to distinguish which one is true. And the book also deals with trying to distinguish, how do you distinguish literal teachings from figurative teachings?

And that's really important, not only for dealing with the books of Buddhism, but I find, you know, one lama might tell me to do one thing and another lama might tell me to do something completely different. And one lama might tell me to do one thing and then five minutes later or a day later or a week later or a year later, it may tell me to do something completely different. So how do you figure out what you're supposed to do, right?

How do you develop your own wisdom and how do you learn to trust that wisdom? So this book deals with that. Okay.

Right. So this is, it deals with the last two turnings of the wheel, which is the latter part of the series. So it deals with the latter part of the series in terms of dealing with the latter part of the three teachings of the Buddha, the last two.

Okay. Oh, sure. No problem.

Sure. The other reason it's called latter part of the series is that Maitreya taught five books to Master Asanga. And within the series of the books, the teachings on emptiness became more and more complicated.

So this book that we're studying, can you hear me? Is that okay? Okay.

This book that we're studying is the last of the five books. So that's also latter part of the series. Okay.

So that's also Uttara Tantra. So when we refer to this book, we don't say Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra because that's really long. Okay.

We just say Uttara Tantra. And when we say it in Tibetan, we just call it Gyulame or Gyulama. Okay.

Okay. That's homework question number one, just so you know. Okay.

Yeah. Well, Thakpa Champo or Mahayana is referring to who this book was written for. This book was written for Mahayana students.

And then later on, later in the week, I think, I think tomorrow, actually, we're going to get into what makes you Mahayana. What makes this book written for you? Why was this book written for you?

Like if you're in this room right now and you have the karma to hear these teachings and you're interested, because most people aren't interested in this stuff, like that makes you Mahayana. And what does that mean? And that's like really exciting, I think, and we'll get into it tomorrow.

Okay. Okay. And then I'm just going to read you the names of the commentaries, so you don't think that I made this up or that Geshe Michael made this up.

Okay. The first commentary is called Gyulame Namshe. And you don't need to know it for your homework, but you can write it down if you want.

And that was written by Asanga. And he lived around 350 AD. There are explanations on the root text.

Yeah, the book that we're reading is the root text. And then these are two commentaries on the root text. Okay.

Okay, well I had mentioned before that you won't be responsible for all the questions on the homework. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I'm going to go to what I think are like the most important things, and then if we have time we'll go back to like, I'll write names of titles down for you.

Yeah, I mean I think it's really important that you know the name of the book you're studying, you know. Okay. And then the second commentary is called Commentary on Uttaratantra.

And that's written by Gyulame Namshe. And his dates are 1364 to 1432. I'll just write the author's names down.

Asanga and Gyulame Namshe. Gyulame Namshe. So, Gyaltsabje, Gyaltsab means, this is kind of a side note but I think it's really interesting.

Gyaltsab means region. Okay. And he took over the throne from Je Tsongkhapa.

When Je Tsongkhapa died he got the lineage from him. And when Shakyamuni Buddha left Tushita to come to earth to teach students and take a human body, he left Maitreya in charge of Tushita. So Maitreya became the regent for Tushita.

And then Maitreya wrote a book that Gyaltsabje, who was the regent for Je Tsongkhapa, translated or wrote a commentary on. So there's sort of like a lot of regent-king things going on, which is just sort of like coincidental and I think kind of neat. It's not on your homework.

I don't think it's on your homework. Okay. Sorry?

Tushita or Gondon? Same thing. Yeah, I always get that confused.

Same thing.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
So I'm going to tell you a story now. And this is on your homework and you should listen really carefully because it's a really cool story anyway. Okay.

So there was a monk who lived in India before 300 A.D. and he reached some realizations. Okay. And he was doing a secret practice of Chinrezig, who's Avalokiteshvara, and we believe that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an emanation of Chinrezig.

So this monk died and he was reborn as a woman. And some people say he became a nun. Some people say he, or I should say she, some people say she just wanted to become a nun.

But she was noticing that the Dharma in India at the time was really degenerating and she was really afraid for what was going to happen to Buddhism in India. And she had a vision that if she had children that they would be able to sort of rejuvenate the Dharma in India, you know? So out of her great kindness, she either gave back her vows or she decided not to become a nun, depending on who you ask.

And she had children. And she saw that if she had a child with a man who was a king, that this child would be this incredible practitioner and teacher. So she had a child and that child was Asanga.

Who remembers who Asanga is? Why is he important? Right, right.

So he wrote one of the commentaries and he received the teachings from Maitreya and wrote them down. So she was right, you know? He became a really amazing person.

So when he came of age, he went to his mom and he said, Mom, you know, what do I do? I'm royalty. What's the best job for me?

And she said, the best job for you is to become a monk, you know? And she taught him. She taught him a lot.

She taught him the Hinayana scriptures. She taught him the Mahayana scriptures. She basically taught him everything, you know?

He became so well versed that he memorized 100,000 verses in five years. Which is about 274 verses a day. Which is like 1,400 lines of scripture a day.

Okay, I had trouble memorizing the blessing for the food, which is four lines, okay? So he was obviously really extraordinary. When it came time for him to study the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, which is the teachings on emptiness, he was totally lost, you know?

He was totally lost. He was totally confused. I don't know if any of you can relate to that, but, okay, I can, you know?

Like, okay, everything's empty. What does that mean, you know? And how do I apply it to my life, you know?

So he got a practice from a teacher on Maitreya. It was like a sadhana on how to reach Maitreya, you know? Like how he could personally get Maitreya to come and teach him, you know?

Which is pretty cool to think about that, you know? So he got really frustrated, and he said, forget it. I'm going to a cave, okay?

I'm just going to sit in a cave for three years, and I'm going to pray to Maitreya. I'm going to pray with all my heart, and I'm going to ask him to come to me, and I'm going to ask him to explain these teachings to me, you know? So he went into the cave, and he prayed.

And he prayed really, really, really hard. And he gave it three years of his life, and nothing happened, you know? Nothing.

Like he didn't have further understanding of emptiness. Maitreya didn't come to him, you know? And he's like, well, this is lame.

Forget it, you know? Like I tried really hard, and I'm done, you know? So he leaves the cave.

And he's leaving his cave, and he's just on his way back to like start his life again. And he walks past this old lady, and she's got a cotton ball, and she's sitting in front of a block of steel. And she's rubbing the block of steel with her cotton ball, you know?

And he's like, what are you doing? Hi. You're the first person I've seen in three years.

What are you doing, you know? And she says, I'm going to make a needle from this steel with my cotton ball, you know? So maybe if he hadn't been practicing in a cave for three years, he would have thought she was a little weird, and he would have kept walking.

But he understood her tenacity, and he understood her determination. And he was like, you know what? If this old decrepit woman can make a needle with a cotton ball and a block of steel, I'm going back to that cave, and I'm going to find Maitreya, you know?

So he goes back to the cave, okay? He's all revved up, you know? He spends another three years.

He's praying. He's praying, please come to me. Please come.

Please come. And he doesn't show up, you know? And he's like, forget it, all right?

You know? I hope that lady got her needles. Maitreya never came.

Forget it. I'm out of here, you know? So he leaves his cave, and he's walking down an edge of a cliff, you know?

And he sees that this boulder has been split into ten pieces. And he sees that there's this water dropping off the edge of the cliff, and he realizes that that water, that constant dripping, has caused the crack in the boulder, you know? And he realizes again, okay, it's steady practice, you know?

It's steady. It's not intermittent practice, and I think that this is something relevant, I feel, especially in my own life, like about your dharma practice and about your meditation. Like it's not like you meditate an hour a week, you know?

You sit consistently every day. And if you can only do 20 minutes, then you do your 20 minutes, but it's consistent, you know? So he sees this, and he's like, okay, I'm going back to the cave.

And he goes back to the cave, okay? And he sits for another three years. And guess what happens?

Right. Nothing happens, you know? He's like, well, I'm glad, you know, that that lady got her needle, and I'm glad that that boulder split into ten pieces, but this just isn't working.

So he leaves the cave again, and he's like, no, really, this time I'm not going back, you know? But this time he sees a bird. He sees a bird flying in the sky, and he sees the bird's wing hit a cleft in a cliff.

It's made an indenture. He realizes that this bird's flapping of its wing has made an indenture in the rock, you know? And so he thinks to himself, what does he think to himself?

Yeah, you know, right, right. He's thinking to himself, I'm not diligent enough. He's thinking that, like, nine years, six years, three years in a cave is not enough.

I need to go back, you know? Because obviously this bird has been flapping its wings for, I mean, not this bird per se, but birds in general have been flapping their wings for millions of years, you know? And he's obviously been, you know, this obviously wasn't the first lifetime where he was doing practice, you know?

So he returns to the cave, okay? It's another three years, okay? Guess what happens in the cave?

Nothing happens in the cave. This is like a pattern, right? So he goes back.

He decides, this is it, man. I'm done. And he means it this time.

Like, he's fed up. He's annoyed. He's totally mentally afflicted.

Well, I don't know how mentally afflicted you could be after, like, sitting in a cave and doing practice for 12 years, personally, but this is what the story says, okay? So he leaves, you know? And, um, and he goes into town.

And I don't, have any of you heard this story before? Okay. No?

Okay, some of you have. Have you heard it?

[Говорящий 2]
Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
So he, um, he goes into town and he sees this dog, you know? And the dog has been run over by a cart and his gut is, like, slashed open and, um, and he's being eaten by maggots. And Asanga sees that the maggots are about to crawl to his face, you know?

And they're about to start, like, eating his head and his face and, um, and he wants to save the dog, you know? He has this great feeling of compassion for this dog, you know? So, how can he save the dog?

You know, he's got to get the maggots out so he can sew them up, but he knows that if he if he removes the maggots from the dog the maggots will die. And, like, he's even got compassion for these maggots. I mean, it's one thing to have compassion for, like, an old person.

It's another thing to have compassion for, like, a four-legged animal. It's another thing to have compassion for maggots, you know? So, I don't know.

Asanga this whole time has thought nothing's been going on in that cave. I don't know. To me, the idea of, like, wanting to save the maggots is, like, a great sign of, like, great compassion, you know?

So he goes into town, he borrows a razor, and he cuts off part of his thigh. And he's going to give part of his thigh to the maggots. Part of his thigh, he cuts off part of his thigh with a razor.

Okay? So he goes to remove the maggots from the dog's belly, but he realizes if he scoops the maggots out with his fingers, he's going to crush them, you know? So what can he do?

Because he really, he's got this immense, incredible compassion, and he doesn't want to kill the maggots. So, can anyone guess what he does? Yeah.

What? Not yet. He's got to get them out from the ripped open stomach, right?

So he leans over, he closes his eyes. He's a little grossed out. I mean, he's got great compassion, but it's a little gross.

Maggots are gross. Like, they are disgusting, you know? Not self-existently, of course.

But they're a little yucky. So he closes his eyes, you know, and if I were him, I'd be saying some prayers or something. And he leans over, you know, and he sticks his tongue out, and his tongue hits the ground.

And he looks up, and can you guess what he sees? He sees Maitreya. You know?

Like, Maitreya is just standing in front of him, you know? So, like, we can all imagine what we would do if, like, we'd been praying for 12 years, and Maitreya appeared in front of us. Like, what would you do?

Zach? Yeah, what would you do? But we'd all probably think we're going to do something really holy and, like, auspicious, and, you know, showing how devout we are, you know.

He was really pissed off, you know? He was like, dude, like, I've been praying to you for 12 years. I've been sitting in the cave for 12 years.

Like, I did everything I was supposed to do. And you're trying to tell me all I had to do was, like, remove some maggots from, like, a dying dog, and you show up. Like, 12 years!

I mean, like, Ani Palma was in retreat for three years, and I'm sure she can tell you, like, three years is a long time, maybe. I mean, I think three years, yeah, it's a long time. He did four times that, you know?

So he's like, what's going on? I don't, you know, and he's, like, you know, he's annoyed, and he's pissed off, and Maitreya's like, I don't know what you're talking about. I was sitting there with you for 12 years.

It's your fault it took so long to find me. I mean, I was sitting there. Like, and in fact, in the morning when you would clear your throat and, like, hawk stuff up, you spit on me.

You know? Like, you were spitting on me for 12 years. And Asanga's like, you know what?

Like, I would have seen you. Like, I would have seen you if you were sitting there. Like, it was a small cave.

I'm not blind. I can see things. I can hear things.

You simply weren't there, you know? And Maitreya says, you know what? We'll do a little trick, okay?

Why don't you just humor me? Why don't you put me on your shoulders? You walk me around the town.

You see how many people see me on your shoulders, you know? So Asanga's like, or whatever, you know? You've got a body made of light.

You probably don't weigh so much. So he gets up on his shoulders. He takes him around the town, and I've heard people say that he was really cheering, and like, I've got Maitreya.

Like, look, I've got the Buddha on my shoulders. Nobody saw him. One barmaid saw a puppy, and, like, a porter saw a toe.

And no one else saw anything else. You know? So Maitreya, you know, he, I guess Asanga realizes that what Maitreya had said was right, that you know, sometimes you just can't see things.

You know? So what took Asanga so long to see Maitreya? I mean, what what was the problem?

Do you have any ideas? Well, that's true. That's true.

But in this case, like Maitreya definitely was outside of Asanga. Like, he was definitely in the cave. What can you think of why he couldn't see him for those 12 years?

Just because he was actually trying and putting so much effort into trying to see Maitreya, and the fact when he was giving himself to somebody else, and all of a sudden he appeared. So what she said about giving yourself to someone else is really important. Like, that's Bodhichitta.

Do you know Bodhichitta?

[Говорящий 2]
It's a27 Well for all the possibilities Well, you know, desire is an interesting word and I think it's misused sometimes.

[Говорящий 1]
Like, I like ice cream, you know? I don't know if I would say I desire ice cream. I guess you could say, like sometimes I desire ice cream If I don't do something to hurt someone to get it, and I'm not hurting myself to get it like it's okay to want some ice cream you know you have to understand where the ice cream comes from you have to understand that like the ice cream doesn't really come from the ice cream truck like if I get ice cream and I like ice cream it's because I helped someone else get ice cream in the past or I helped someone get what they wanted in the past you know and and in fact the highest thing that you could desire would be to meet a holy being so they can teach you Dharma so you can help others like that's that's the most amazing thing you could ever want you know yeah yeah yeah you gotta get to total and perfect enlightenment yourself before you can get someone else there you know yeah that's important so yeah sure sure definitely but but what what's gonna remove that ignorance you know like sometimes they you know they say like to meditate on emptiness right and the whole thing with Asanga was that like he didn't know how like he didn't understand these scriptures you know like okay sit down and think about emptiness well what is emptiness right like emptiness is the lack of a self-existent nature I mean I don't know about you but when I try to sit down and think about a lack of a self-existent nature like I have a really hard time because I can't even fathom what the lack of a self-existent nature looks like because it doesn't look like anything because it's the absence of something and we're gonna get into that a lot of talk during this class over the next four days of like is emptiness a positive thing that you can think about or is emptiness a negative thing and if it's a negative thing how the hell are you supposed to think about it you know so um so the really important thing I mean like think about it like he was sitting in the cave he was trying to think about emptiness it wasn't until he left the cave and he he tried to help the dog in these maggots I mean it was bodhichitta it was kindness you know so that's like that's really important you know so because he and this is on your homework because he had this bodhichitta and because he and because not only because he had the bodhichitta I mean because he was sitting in the cave like it's really important that he was making efforts in this you know like even though it was so difficult like he collected the karma to be able to see Maitreya when nobody else could see Maitreya because Maitreya is empty you know I mean Maitreya is empty in the same way that like my old boss is empty who used to like yell at me a lot and I kind of thought was a jerk and other people who um he was a casting director and actors who would come in who he had gotten like $100,000 jobs loved him like they didn't see him as a screaming boss they saw him as this guy who like made their living and like helped them buy a Porsche and like you know so Maitreya is empty in the same way that like everything else is empty you know so that's really important you know and I I think sometimes you know like you don't know who's around you like Maitreya was sitting there for 12 years like Asanga was spitting on him he couldn't see him like Asanga who sat in a cave for 12 years and then like I think I know who I'm sitting next to like I think I know who my mother is I think I know who she is when she's nagging me and like why aren't you spending the holidays with me like I think I know who she is I don't know who she is I mean and that's that's emptiness and that's worldview you know like what you do your actions in your body and your speech and your mind totally affect the way you perceive your world you know like you have a problem with your world you want to change your world like you change how you're treating others you know and you understand where they're coming from and you understand like you understand why you're seeing yourself suffer and you understand why you're seeing other people suffer and then you try to change it and like that I think is the most of my amazing thing about Dharma you know that like you can change things you know so so that's the story of Asanga I really like that story does anyone have any questions about it yeah yeah well I think it's a really like I think it like a couple of things about the story really interesting like one is that like one is those stories like he saw the consistency like I think I mean for me I certainly can't speak for anyone else but yeah okay I did like a one-week Jetsun Kappa retreat and I was like annoyed that Manjushri didn't show up like one week like I think that I can so profoundly change my karma in a week to like see Manjushri like show up at my doorstep and I'm like annoyed that he doesn't show up I mean come on you know that it's you know and then and then you hear I oftentimes hear people in Dharma classes be like I've been kind to people for a year you know I've been nice to people I give and I give and then people just take and nothing ever comes back to me and I'm like well one thing you know is obviously like what's your motivation are you really helping them how are you helping them like what's the power of your conviction but the other thing like is it consistent like are you are you like working at a at a food bank in the morning and then going home and like being obnoxious to your wife your husband or your kids or your friends you know like it's not this thing where like you can just be kind once in a while or you can just be kind when you're in a good mood or you can just be compassionate like when you're not tired you know that it has to like really be this consistent thing so yeah I mean you know I mean if karma was immediate then I think we wouldn't be at war and nobody would be hungry that's a really good question and to be quite frank I have a lot of questions about that myself so the thing about they say about Maitreya is that when when Lord Buddha was teaching like like 2,500 for the 2,500 years ago or it was yeah so that was 2,500 years ago they say that at that time Maitreya was a 10th level bodhisattva they say that at the time that you see emptiness directly it generally takes seven lifetimes which you could say it's like 500 years to become a fully enlightened Buddha so you can do the math right like 2,500 possibly but that's assuming that's assuming that every 500 years someone sees emptiness directly I mean they say that like if one in a thousand with one person in a thousand years sees emptiness directly you're having a good thousand years you know but it you know I've actually asked I asked issue Michael that question and and I haven't really gotten a very clear answer so so I don't know how to answer it frankly um they also say you know that's that's that's Tantric way that you can get enlightened in one lifetime or you know sutra way is it takes like three countless eons and then in like a countless eon is like 10 with 69 zeros after it and then there's three of those so like sometimes when you're reading a Dharma book you have to look it at what school it's in like is it a sutra school which is an open teaching which says things take longer which I mean frankly the the bird flapping its wings on making the break in the the rock I think could probably be symbolic of that I'm just putting that on there but I think that could be symbolic of like sutra way you know but that takes a much longer time but they say if you're practicing tantra it can happen like in one lifetime which that's cool you know that'll put a fire under you yeah but will people be able to see him is the question like when Shakyamuni Buddha came like some people saw a Buddha I'm like was it one person went and saw him and said you know he's got like this bump on his head and he glows and there's but I don't know he's kind of weird like they didn't see him as a Buddha you know and um and I think that that's a really important thing like who's around you and how are you seeing them and who are they really like I think that I think that I think that's the most important thing about the first class of this series of classes you know that that it could really make you question like who's sitting next to you and do you really know you know and um and if you're unhappy with who's sitting next to you then how do you change it and are you really gonna try to change it you know like is Dharma this thing that is um it's fun to do on the weekends and it's interesting and you get to meet new people and there's nothing wrong with that like or is it something that you're really gonna internalize and and are you gonna let it change your worldview like the entire way you're seeing the universe you know is it gonna like infiltrate you you know yeah yeah so that's um that was what I said about I'll just I'll just give you guys the answers the compassion is the three so the three the three ideas of worldview are our body cheetah you know karma and emptiness emptiness so let's just like let's just do it together so what's the the bodhi cheetah aspect of the story and then what's the what's the the karma part but that he was doing things he was it's not like the karma isn't the time that it took the karma is the actions he was taking within that time that he was meditating for 12 years and that he actually took the it's not enough to just like be like oh it would be nice to help people like you got to try to help people you know you got to take the action like I think everyone wants to help people I think what sets people aside or sets people apart is that you're willing to get off your butt and you're willing to do something about it so that's the karma like okay and then Pamela what's the what's the emptiness part yeah I mean have you ever like seen someone in your life just profoundly changed I mean maybe not like from being invisible and to like being visible but like someone at work who is kind of jerky who like changed or a friend who changed or yeah see it's like an interesting thing right like I was in New York when the World Trade Center fell down and I was just in New York for like a week afterwards because then I like by coincidence was planning what's coming to Diamond Mountain to volunteer anyway but um you know people got really nice like that week like I mean I got to tell you the weirdest thing for me about September 11th was not the fact that I saw the buildings fall it wasn't the fact that people were jumping a hundred stories to their death it wasn't the fact that we got hit by terrorists I swear to you like the weirdest thing for me was that I was walking down Broadway I mean like I'm five one you know I'm like small I get I get hit all the time I get knocked into all the time no one ever says sorry people said sorry like people were shoving me and people were saying sorry and like to me like that was the oddest thing of the entire day like I swear you know you know because something I saw a change happen in New York like I saw that now people make eye contact on the street like sometimes you might even smile at someone or like say hello you know like you see kindness happen and then like it's a question right like did they change or did I change who changed they changed so it's who thinks that they changed yeah yeah it's it's a it's an interesting thing I mean like are me and Zach separate or like are we separate from each other did you feel something I didn't feel anything I mean that didn't hurt me are we separate sorry are we separate right so what's the what's the relative level right I just smacked him and it didn't hurt me at all okay so what's the ultimate level well we'll we'll get to that we'll get to that what's the ultimate level like are we separate are we not separate we're not separate so if he has to pee I have to pee so what's the ultimate what do you what do you mean by ultimate well I guess when I think

[Говорящий 2]
in terms of the ultimate level it's almost like the idea I think in my mind relating it to the interdependent origination or interbeing or who knows the kind of that concept in the sense that I'm hitting and peeing and like those are all very relative things but when we transcend that then

[Говорящий 1]
maybe you if you fully had transcended that and you were an actual Buddha then you would be able to experience well there's there are varying schools of light like degrees on emptiness and this actually relates to one of your homework questions which you don't have to do because we're not gonna get into it so much it's our actually you're not gonna have to do a bunch of these questions but nevermind it's not on your homework anyway so you really don't have to do it but this I brought this up because it sort of remember I mentioned that this was the fifth book there were five books that Maitreya dictated to Asanga this is and that this is the fifth book and that the first four books had to do with varying degrees of emptiness you know and that the fifth book had to do with what we call like pressing geek at emptiness which is like the highest view which is what Gisela teaches, you know. So some schools do say that like we're separate, you know, some people say that he's out there and I'm here, you know, some people say, and some people say and I actually don't even think that this is Buddhist I think this is, it might be but I think this is just an understanding that like we're really one, we're really one person, but like I just hit him and I proved that we're not one person, you know, and then some schools say that, that there's like a seat in my mind, you know, and that's projecting everything. And it's projecting Zach, it's projecting like the way he is it's projecting his glasses is projecting like why I see him in the way I see him. You know, I would have said it depends on who you ask, you know, I would have said like relatively obviously, and, and there's, there's another word you can use which is apparent, which seems to which Gisela has been using lately and I like it because apparently like it seems like we're separate, you know, I would say that, I would say that, that he is a separate person, but I would say that he exists only, only in the way that my karma is forcing me to perceive him. Yeah, exactly, because it's right.

Exactly, exactly because it's either coming, you know, the Tibetans say my mind, and the Americans say my mind, you know, so it's coming from somewhere between here and here, you know, so then if I'm changing what's inside that I'm changing what's outside. So then it comes back the question is, like, did New York change or did I change. Right, so it's depending on who you're asking right like churn and apparent sense New York change, but New York could only change, because something in one of these places changed, you know, you guys need a break.

Take a minute. I always thought I had to give you a break. We're going to.

Yeah, why don't we take a short break, just so like that your brain's thought. Yeah, sorry as someone who's seen emptiness directly. Yeah.

So the Tibetan for aria is Papa. And this is took me. Everybody say took me took me again took me.

And then took me as a song. And I should find out what the literal translation of a song is because I don't know it. Do you know what Andreana.

Do you know the literal translation of a song because I don't know. It's something like I can look it up in my head something like one who never will understand. Okay.

So you guys can keep writing while she. The literal meaning is to not to bump into something. Oh right, it's like to not bump into something which is like, like a knife through hot butter that his intellect was so sharp that that it was like a knife through hot butter there were no obstacles to what he could understand, except for emptiness.

Then he became an area so we know he figured it out right. And then this is. Do you want to look up for a sec.

Sorry. Okay. Actually, why don't you finish writing aria song and then.

Oh good. Oh, do you want to get a guilt of it Oh cool. Excellent.

Okay, so this is guilt of J. Everybody say guilt of J guilt of J. And then I'm going to point so you know what letters refer to what.

So this is gal. Seb. J.

guilt of J. And who remembers who guilt of J is. Right.

Yeah, he wrote one of the commentaries, and what's interesting about his name. Yeah. And what's interesting about the fact that his name means region.

His name means region. Yeah. Right.

So what's interesting about that. Jason copper. Uh huh.

Yeah. And Jason cover right, and he wrote, what did he write. He wrote the commentary.

He wrote one of the commentaries we're studying master sangha wrote one of the commentaries on the book that he wrote down that my tray dictated to him guilt of J. Jason copper was the teacher of the first Dalai Lama. So guilt of J was the throne holder after Jason copper.

He wrote the commentary on the book written by my tray. My tray is the region in Tashita after Shakyamuni Buddha wrote, left, left Tashita so. Yeah.

Okay. And then everyone look up for a sec. Say jumper.

So this is john, and this is past so jumper. And jumper is the Tibetan name for my tray. Oh, this is a Shay.

You'll see all these have a Shay, and a Shay is like a grammatical ending. It's like a period. So you know, and, and often I forget to put them down and I've been told to not forget to put them down.

So, so sometimes you might not see one because I might just forget I'm trying not to, but it's basically it's a grammatical thing and it doesn't change the sound of the word. There are a lot of letters in Tibetan that are silent, and they change the way other letters sound like just like an English, but that's not what the Shay is the Shay is just like a period. Yeah, sure.

Like why are we giving Sanskrit Tibetan and English. Well, the Buddha spoke Sanskrit, you know, like, he wasn't speaking English in India. He wasn't speaking Tibetan in India, he was speaking Sanskrit.

So a lot of the books were his books the Buddhist books weren't written down. Yeah, they were they were translated into Tibet and when when Dharma. Yeah.

When they got taken, when, when Buddhism reached Tibet, they sent a bunch of people to like Marpa, Marpa Lodzawa, like Marpa was a translator so Marpa went from Tibet to India to get the books, and he translated them and he brought them back to Tibet in Tibetan. And then Geshe-la out of his like infinite kindness for us and other like holy translators are translating them to English because like most of us can't even read Tibetan. You know, and an inspiration like a reason to read, read, learn to read and understand Tibetan is because, you know, we're sort of like the people from Tibet who went to India to get the books in Sanskrit and translate them into Tibetan, like if it weren't for like their kindness.

Like, we'd have to study Sanskrit and Sanskrit is like infinitely harder than Tibet. You know, so you can, you can think of learning Tibetan as, as like a gift to other people to translate, like you're translating the books for them. You know.

Yeah, it's a good question. Um, well, most of the time I think, I mean I think when people talk about like people like Asanga or Maitreya, they're referred to as Asanga or Maitreya, and if I just came out with Pakpa Thogme, you'd have no, or sorry if I just came out, yeah, if I came out with Pakpa Thogme, which would be the Tibetan like, you wouldn't know who I was talking about. Whereas if I referred to like someone who is usually referred to in Tibetan like Jetongkapa by his Sanskrit name, you wouldn't know.

So I think maybe that's part of the reason. Like, I don't know why some, it's interesting because some of the names, some of the Sanskrit names like did get translated into Tibetan, some of them didn't get translated into Tibetan, and I don't really know why. Yeah, I don't know why.

But I mean just as far as like Diamond Mountain, like Geshe-la, since being in retreat has like been very interested in yoga and then those books are written in Sanskrit and then he's taught Christy and Christy is like a very good Sanskrit scholar now, so I think that there will be like a great emphasis on it, you know. But it's interesting because Geshe-la really stresses that like Dharma in America is different than it'll be in Tibet, like that it's important to know what your prayers mean. Like, you know, he really stresses that, that you can say your prayers in English, you know, because the Tibetans don't say their prayers in Sanskrit, you know, yeah.

All of that is true. I was thinking like two things. I mean, even though the Tibetan is is very well translated and usually they when they translated from the Sanskrit into Tibetan they had to have a special council of people and it would often take years everyone would have to agree on on the exact meaning.

And I don't have a good example off the top of my head but I can look one up for you. Sometimes when you start looking at the Sanskrit, the original Sanskrit, and you compare it to what it's been translated to in Tibetans, you find that some of the, the essential meaning is there but sometimes studying the Sanskrit more deeply brings out the nuances in the translation. And you'll probably see that when we start looking at the names for Buddha nature, where the Tibetans, you know, chose to use the same word for something but when you look back, and it does convey the essence but when you look back at the Sanskrit it gives a slightly different flavor to the meaning and so sometimes for people who want to go a little deeper, there's something nice about looking at the Sanskrit for that reason.

So there's a question on your homework. Question four. Arya Asanga's coming into the world was predicted by Lord Buddha himself in the root.

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
Cool. Great.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, Geshe-la has also been doing some stuff with some Pali texts, but I don't know much about that, but it's cool. Okay, so it's cool. So question four, Arya Asanga's coming into the world was predicted by Lord Buddha himself in the root Tantra of Gentle Voice Manjushri.

How does this, the root Tantra of Gentle Voice Manjushri, this is question four, do you have a homework? Yeah. Okay, so I'm just reading question four.

Yeah. How does this prediction relate to the fact that the five books of Maitreya may seem to contradict each other? So it's what I had said earlier about how this book, the Tara Tantra is, well, one of the things we're going to be talking about is how to differentiate between literal and figurative, you know.

And like I had mentioned, the five books talk about different views of emptiness, right? So why would someone do that? Why did the Buddha teach two different ways of looking at emptiness?

Well, the thing is that the second turning of the wheel is highest view of emptiness. So he didn't teach them in order. Right?

Yeah. Yeah, it depends on what you got to check on which school you're in. Right.

So, but, but like according to like Diamond Mountain, right? Like Geshe-la teaches Prasangika and says Prasangika is like true. Prasangika is the second turning of the wheel, where he said that like, nothing is self existent, nothing is any nature of its own.

Third teaching, he said, Okay, I'm just kidding. Sorry, some things have a nature of their own and some things don't. The pen writes by itself.

Pen is a pen because it writes, makes it a pen, you know. So it's interesting, right? Like, why?

Why didn't he teach the second? Why didn't he teach the third teaching second? I'm just asking this, frankly, because I wonder it myself, you know.

Yeah, it's, um, it's an interesting thing. Like, I don't know if you guys talked, if you talk to your friends about Dharma, like your non-Buddhist friends about Dharma, but I often find that it comes up like people ask, people ask me. And, and it's, it's always a question in my mind, like you're at a party and like, there's loud music.

Someone's like, so why are you Buddhist? Like, which story do you tell them? Right?

And then, um, and how much do you tell them? And you just jump into being like, the World Trade Center fell down on your head because like, you have bad karma. Like, do you say that to someone who's like, father could have been there?

Like, do you say that? Or do you say it in those words? Do you ever say it in those words?

You know, you know, and, you know, like Geshe-la was saying, it's really important that everyone passes stuff on, you know. And, um, and so then I think it's an important thing to think about how you would present karma and emptiness, you know.

[Говорящий 2]
Some people just, that's not going to do them any good to hear that. Regardless of whether it's the truth or not. And it is interesting to think that, that what you're learning and share what you're learning in a way that is meaningful to other people.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, because that, you know, like some people really, really, really care about dates. Some people really don't care about dates, you know. And some people just want to dive right into like, a body, you know, a body turning into light, you know, and some people don't.

So it's, you know, it's an interesting thing, I think. Yeah. Um, let me see if there's anything else on your homework we should cover.

Okay. Um, do you know? Yeah.

Yeah, well, well Asanga became, Asanga is really well known for teaching the mind only school, you know, which is the mind only view of emptiness, which is lower than the Prasangika view of emptiness. Like, he taught it, but he didn't buy it. You know?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, oh, there's um, well, Shantung is, is like, it's like mind only.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. But it's an interesting thing, you know, because even like, what, what we quote unquote see it as like the lowest or like the wrong view on emptiness can really help somebody to get to the next level, you know. So I even feel uncomfortable saying like the lower view.

I feel like it's really dry. I feel like it's a derogatory name. And like that it could really help some people, you know.

Yeah. So, um, the last question is, um, I mean, I'll tell you about that because otherwise you can't answer it. According to tradition, question six, what levels had Arya Nagarjuna, Arya Asanga and Maitreya reached during their lifetimes?

So do you remember what I had said about Maitreya? Right, Maitreya is a 10th, according to tradition, he reached 10th level Bodhisattva within his lifetime, which is one step away from Buddhahood. Like a 10th level Bodhisattva could be hanging out in Tushita, you know.

According to tradition, Arya Nagarjuna reached the first Bodhisattva level. So, Nagarjuna was an Arya. Yeah, that right.

Right. It means he saw emptiness directly, but it means he didn't go through, he didn't go through any further Bodhisattva levels like they say there are 10 Bodhisattva levels before you reach Buddhahood. So, um, personally, like, this is one of those things for myself that when I heard that Nagarjuna was only a first level Arya, I was like, huh?

Like, I just always imagined he was like an 8th level, like I had imagined he was in Nirvana, like he wrote all those things and he was responsible for, he's, he's called like he's referred to as like a second Buddha, you know. Yeah, just the first level in his life is what they say. Sure.

They say Asanga reached the third level. No, Buddha was like the Buddha. Buddha is like the 11th level, which means Buddha.

There's no 11th level because it's like just a fully enlightened Buddha. Maitreya, who's the next coming Buddha. They say reached the 10th Bodhisattva level in his lifetime.

And they say he's like hanging out there waiting to come to earth before he gets enlightened. Well, that's another question, right, this will come up in one of Andriana's classes, like, is the Buddha enlightened before they get to earth, or is the Buddha enlightened when they get to earth, or is the Buddha not enlightened until they sit under the tree, but that's Andriana's class, so we won't get into that. That's like a teaser.

Right, and when did they become a Bodhisattva? And how long were they a Bodhisattva for? And how long do you have to be a Bodhisattva before you reach Buddhahood?

And like, I wait a minute, I thought Geshe-la said like, if I practice Tantra, I can reach it in one lifetime. But Arya Sangha only reached the third level. And Nagarjuna was only a first level Bodhisattva.

Like, and I'm supposed to like, be able to reach something that Nagarjuna couldn't reach. But I trust my Lama and if my Lama says that like, we can all do it in one lifetime, I believe him. So what's going on?

And boy, you know, if I understood this book, and I understood how to differentiate like literal teachings from figurative teachings, I'd be able to figure this out a whole lot better, wouldn't I? Yeah. So, so that's that homework question.

So I should tell you what you're not responsible for. You are responsible for one. You are responsible for two.

You are responsible for three, but if we need to go over that tomorrow in class, we will, because I started rushing it. Or I can just tell you now. Do you guys have those?

Okay. Asanga is 350 AD. Okay, yeah.

Okay, you are related. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you are responsible for four. You're not responsible for five, so don't worry about it.

And you are responsible for six. So just don't do five. And, um, yeah, really, like, talk about this, if you want to, if it was interesting.

I hope so. Then, you know, talk, talk to each other about it. And, and like, have a discussion or a debate, like, if there's one thing that, like, really didn't make sense, or one thing that really, really did make sense.

You know, or one thing even that you're apathetic about still discussing, you know, yeah, and help each other with your homework. And if you have any questions, ask me. And I think it's about two.

So, yeah, do tomorrow. Yeah, undo it. Just do it.

It should, it should take like 10 minutes. Just do it. It'll, it'll help sink it into your brain.

And then in tomorrow's class, we're going to talk, I said, we're going to talk about, like, what it is to be a good Dharma student. And, and then you could think about that. And we're going to talk about the Buddha jewel.

Yeah, do your best on that. Yeah, it's okay. Do your best.

I'm grading it. And we'll go over it. We'll go over it some more.

Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah, I think, um, I think, you know, you could ask somebody for advice on something.

And they could tell you what to do. You could ask somebody for advice on something, and they could give you a few different ways to look at your problem. And then you, you learn to develop your own wisdom.

And I think like one of, like, the most important thing is to learn to develop your own wisdom, you know, so definitely, you know.

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, definitely. And that's that relates to the answer to question four about the literal and the figurative, like why, why, why do they seem to contradict each other? You know?

Yeah. For those students? Well, they say that the Buddha, like, knows everything, including the nature of a student's minds.

So it's not an accident that he taught three things that contradict each other. And, and he knew that we would be sitting in this room and like Tucson, Arizona, having this discussion, you know, like he knew it. He planned it, you know, he like set causes in motion, so it would happen.

So it's interesting, right? Had like Lord Buddha not taught three different ways, like had not taught three different turnings of the wheel, like, we wouldn't have this class, maybe we wouldn't be here and maybe Geshe-la would have taught a class that wasn't as appealing to you. Maybe you wouldn't have come all the way from Australia.

You know, I mean, it's, it's really interesting. So, yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
What do you mean? Did he become the Buddha? Because today, because of him, we are sitting here already.

[Говорящий 1]
But if you believe that there are like, beings who appear in the world to like help you, that they're sort of setting you up for things, then yeah, sure. And, and it could be someone you don't like. And it could be like your kid.

And it could be someone who flew an airplane into the World Trade Center. And it, right. I mean, it just comes back to Maitreya sitting in that cave and Asanga not being able to see him.

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah. What is Tushita again? Whose paradise?

It's where Maitreya is. Oh, it's where Maitreya is.

[Говорящий 2]
When he left Earth, he went to Tushita. Before he came to Earth. I thought they considered the Earth as Pure Land as well or something.

The Earth is Chakravarti's Pure Land.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, I'll just go around. Have you finished?

[Говорящий 2]
Or do we have to meditate now?

[Говорящий 1]
I didn't bring the bag. We're gonna do a dedication and, and it's very like tremendous karma to be studying such holy things. And then you should send it out to, to people who I think aren't fortunate enough to like have Dharma in their lives and who aren't fortunate enough to see that there's a way to not suffer anymore.

You know, and maybe hope that that their suffering will end really soon.