Углублённый курс ACI 02 — «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы» Мастера Шантидевы, глава об уничтожении гнева (2004, Нью-Йорк), занятие 3

[Говорящий 1]
First, I wanted to go over three kinds of patients that we've already talked about. I promised you three kinds of patients. The one we did last night is the real one.

But I just wanted to restate them. First kind of patients. What do you call that?

What's a good way to call it? Pain. Pain.

No, it's like, it's not worth it. You want the Tibetan? You don't want the Tibetan.

No, we don't have time. Get it from your teachers. The first one is called, dunyo danglen gyusopa.

Say dunyo. Dunyo. Danglen.

Danglen. Gyusopa. Gyusopa.

That means to embrace pain. Danglen means to embrace pain. Dunyo means pain.

Danglen gyusopa means the kind of patients where you embrace pain. And it's just this thing where you're faced with the lesser of two evils. Okay?

Like, either you're going to get mad or you don't get mad. And if you do get mad, you're going to wipe out all your good karma. So you just put up with what that other person's doing.

You know what I mean? And it's just like, it's not worth it. It's not worth it to get mad.

Okay? The attitude for this one is just, it's just not worth it. You know?

Like, someone makes you mad, someone hurts you, you have a chance to respond, you're starting to get angry, and you just think to yourself, look, it's just not worth it. You know, what it could bring to me, the trouble it could bring to me, it's just not worth it. I'm not going to get into it right now.

I'm not going to mix it up with it. Okay? There's also a feeling here of, I don't know how to say it, toughing it out.

You could say toughing it out. It's like, if you keep this up, if you don't respond, if you can tough it out, then you'll get to someplace much higher. You see what I mean?

That's all. So whatever small hits you've got to take, I always think of some football player racing for the goal line, and you know, people are smacking him, and kicking him, and trying to tackle him, but he's just looking there. He's just got his eyes on the goal, you know?

And he feels, I imagine they feel something, you know? They feel some kind of contact, you know? But they aren't thinking about it.

Their mind's like, on the goal. You know what I mean? And they're taking hits and hits and hits, and some guy's on their leg, and they're like, just get off, you know?

I gotta go, you know? And they're not like, turn around and yell at the guy and say, why did you try to tackle me? I don't like you.

You know? Get back on your own bench. You know?

They're just thinking about the goal line. You know what I mean? And that's the flavor of the first kind of patience.

Like, I've got things to do. I've got things to go. You're just like a fly, landing on my arm, you know?

Just, okay, okay, you're mad at me. That's okay. You don't like me.

That's okay. Call me a stupid head. I don't mind.

You know, whatever. I've got a place to go, you know? And you're just intent on getting enlightened.

So you're not like, like, whatever small joke you've got to put up with, it just doesn't mean anything. You know? The day you die, all the people that irritated you are irrelevant.

You know? The day you get enlightened, it all becomes irrelevant. You know, who cares?

Who cares back in 2004, February 15th, when I was on my way to Leon's place and this guy was bugging me. What does it mean when you get enlightened? You know?

Who thinks about the guy that tried to tackle the guy that makes the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl? You know what I mean? Do you see him in the newspaper?

You see what I mean? Who cares? You know, like, you're on your way to the winning touchdown, you know?

Who cares who's bugging you? You know what I mean? It's so irrelevant.

It's so, compared to where you're going, it doesn't mean anything. And compared to where you've been, it doesn't mean anything. Okay?

You've been in the hell realms thousands, billions of times, you know? You have suffered every kind of suffering there is. You've been cut to pieces countless times.

You've burned up countless times for nothing. What do you have to show for it? Nothing.

You see what I mean? 30, 40, 50 years of life. Are you close with your will?

No. What does it mean, all the arguments you've ever had in your life? Nothing.

You see what I mean? Worthless pain. You see what I mean?

Just forget it. It's not, it doesn't mean anything. You know?

Just go for it. Put your eye on the girl and what if it bugs you, just say, okay, I, you know, and His Holiness did that, right? I mean, His Holiness, he's got like 10,000 Tibetans surrounding the Potala Palace.

1959, March 10th, in the evening. Right? And he's got a choice, you know?

He can fight through the Chinese. There's soldiers that weren't that many Chinese in Husa that night. He could have called for an uprising.

He said, no, I've got things to do. You know? He snuck out the back.

He dressed in cousin's clothes and snuck out the back. I mean, they're okay. You go, do your thing.

Do your thing with no sinning. I'm, I'm getting in line. I'm doing something else, you know?

And he just went, you know? He just went for it. He wasn't thinking about this, people bugging him and stuff.

Okay? So you've got bigger things to do. You're like a football star.

You're headed for the goal. Don't worry about small things. Okay?

Don't even think about it. It's a waste of brain. Okay?

Now, ready to say something? Is that an ultimate approach? No.

No. Okay? I mean, it's not the ultimate approach.

That, the first kind of patience isn't the ultimate approach. Here's the second one, which is, Chula Nyesem. What is it?

Chula Nyesem.

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah. That's it.

[Говорящий 1]
Say, Chula. Chula. Nyesem.

Nyesem. Chula. Chula.

Nyesem. Nyesem. Chula Nyesem means, and by the way, the descriptions I'm giving you are from the book that John Brady's group saved last year.

Right? Published with oral health help. She laid it out.

They published it. We found it. This is ancient, ancient.

One of the first great books of Tibet. And they recovered it. The manuscript, they printed it.

All that I'm teaching you about these three kinds of patience, it comes from Master Shantideva. But the descriptions come from the Tenrin Chemo. Okay?

The great book on the steps of the teaching. Okay? And what Geshe Dronuba says, who wrote the Tenrin Chemo, he says, this is the kind of patience where you are checking into reality.

You know? Chemo is Dharma. Nyesem means you are focusing on reality.

What's really going on with this guy who bugs me? Okay? What's the real thing going on?

It's not coping with someone you don't like. It's dealing with the question of why did they walk into your room in the first place? Why did you meet them in the first place?

Can you reach into reality itself and switch something and then they exit your life in the same smooth manner? You see what I mean? And then it's not a question of coping with them.

They're gone. And they don't come back. You know?

Only sweet, wonderful, fantastic people enter your life. Okay? That's the real...

Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that. Is this just a temporary approach? No.

This is the ultimate approach. Like, this is where you really want to be. Okay?

Don't try to cope with all the bad people in your life. Don't try to struggle with should we attack the country or should we not attack the country. Just cancel the problem.

There never was a problem. Okay? We don't sit there and talk about should we attack or not attack Ecuador.

Okay? It's not an American foreign issue policy problem. We just never had a problem from Ecuador.

That's the idea. Okay? On an international level, that's the idea.

Just the problem never happened. The question to attack or not to attack, the question of to negotiate more or to show force, show strength, it never comes up. Why?

The thing never comes up. Why? Because you never created the karma for it to come up again.

How? You don't respond to violence with violence. Got it?

It's very interesting. So I did you a quiz. I did you four or five choices about whether you should respond to violence with violence.

Okay, ready? One, it's immoral to respond to violence with violence. That's why we shouldn't do it.

Eh, no. Okay. Our parents told us it wasn't nice to people to respond to violence with violence.

That's why we shouldn't do it. No. Eh.

Okay. It's not normal to respond to violence with violence. Eh.

The church told you not to respond to violence with violence. Okay. You get termed in jail if you respond to violence with violence.

No. Okay. None of you would know.

Okay. I'm not going to respond to violence with violence because I want violence to go away. Okay.

That's all. Yeah. Okay.

That's all. That's it. That's all.

Forget morality. Forget what the church taught you. Forget what the government says.

Forget what the laws are. Forget what's normal. It's just in your own interest.

I hate to say. By the way, your interest is everybody's interest. Okay.

You don't have to think it's selfish. You don't have to think like that. That's a very American plurality thing.

You know. There's my interest and everybody else's interest. Well, guess what?

Your interest is everybody else's interest. Okay. You get enlightened, everybody wins.

You see what I mean? There's no polarity between your interest and everybody else's interest. If you can stop your own anger, if you can clean out your own mind, you've given the nicest gift you can give to the entire world.

It's that. Forget giving chocolates, flowers, fruits, money, houses. If you can clean up your own head and offer that to the rest of New York City, that would be the ultimate gift.

You see what I mean? So, to get what you need is the nicest way to get what everybody else needs. Okay.

So, no problem with that kind of thinking. I'm going to eliminate all the people who upset me. How?

I'm not going to respond to any of them anymore. Will I just go away if you don't respond to them? No.

They may hang around for a while because those came from the past. Those are produced by your anger in the past. But I will not get angry now.

Why? Because it's nice? No.

Because everybody feels more comfortable? No. I'm getting rid of this guy.

Okay. That's the best way to get rid of somebody who pisses you off. Be nice to them.

Okay. But I know lots of people who irritate me when I'm nice to them. They just keep irritating me.

That's old karma. Don't get confused. Don't get mixed up.

Okay. That's old karma. Don't plant any new karma.

Okay. Just be sweet. Somebody hits you.

This is the holiest words. This is so amazing. Somebody come up to you and seriously propose if someone socks you on this side of the mouth.

I mean sock. If you've ever been hit. Really hit.

By somebody. You know how it feels. Like it's not so much the pain.

It's just the idea that someone would want to hit you. You know what I mean? So somebody hits you.

And then you would say, Oh, hit me here. You know? Like who would do that?

And that's what it means to turn the other cheek. It doesn't mean... Turn the other cheek has become some kind of euphemism or something.

It means somebody smacks you on this side of the head. What should you do then? Here.

Off of the other side of your head. Here. Smack me on that side of my head.

Okay. And that makes sense according to patience number two. Got it?

It's crazy wisdom, right? Crazy wisdom. Crazy wisdom is not like some monk that's up and drinks beer all day or something like that.

Okay? Crazy wisdom is where someone punches you on the cheek and you're like, Here. No, you didn't do this one yet.

You know? And it's intelligent, right? It's the ultimate kind of intelligence.

You can get rid of them this way. You see? You don't punch them on their cheek.

You let them punch you on your cheek because you can get rid of them this way. Okay? Easy to say, hard to do.

Okay. Number three. Where's that Jiminyamba?

What do you want to call number two? We'll do. Number three is going to be, say Jiminyamba.

Jiminyamba. Jiminyamba means don't give it a thought. Don't give it a thought.

But what Geshe Toronto says is, it's basically the attitude, it's my karma. You know? It's my fault.

I got this on myself. Okay? Somebody punches you, somebody says something bad to you, you just say, that's okay, it's my karma.

Just stoic, right? It's my karma. You know?

I should get this back. I must have hurt somebody in the past. Okay?

Is that the kind of, do you want to go around the rest of your life saying it's my karma? No. Okay?

No. Okay, so number two is the cool kind of patience. Number two is where you are actively being non-violent in order to remove, it's a kind of violence in a way, right?

You try to get rid of all these bad people in the world. How? By being non-violent.

It's like the best kind of violence. Okay? It's the best way to attack other people.

Be sweet when they hurt you. Because you can get rid of them. Okay?

It's like the ultimate attack. Got it? So those are the three kinds of patience.

Now, today we're on number three actually. We're already on, you guys did number two in your breakout groups, right? We got to three already.

Oh, you got to three already. Okay. Okay, boy, we got vowels on this one.

Verse number 52, am I right? Yes. Is that right?

Okay, verse number 52. This is how to, this is one form of how to think it's my karma. Somebody comes up and calls you a stupid head.

Okay? What is it? It's vowels, consonants, gutturals, labials, hisses, aspirated tones, non-aspirated tones.

It's just sounds. It's so many decibels and so many clicks, you know? It's just sound, right?

Can't hurt you. Okay? What somebody says to you can't hurt you, right?

So it's called, what do you call it? Sticks and stones may break my bones. Okay, that's all.

Verse 52 is just that. Usually great wisdom of all cultures is contained in its... Idiot, what do you call them?

Cliches. Yeah, in the cliches. When I was in 6th grade, my teacher, we had a cliche contest.

You know, which kid could bring in the most cliches? So I like brought in 400 cliches, right? And the wisdom of a culture is contained in its cliches.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can't hurt you. So just, you know, it's just words. Okay?

Words can't cut you. Words can't punch you. It's just words, okay?

Just let it go. Got it? Verse 53.

That's an explanation of it, okay? Sound can't hurt your body physically. Okay?

You got that one, you don't need that. Okay, verse number 54. No, I mean, you don't need help with 53.

Just read it, right? Now, we have other guys gonna come up now all the time, okay? Say, Kachig.

Kachig means one mouth. And it means this guy comes up and says to Master Shantideva, you tell me I should just sit there while somebody's talking bad about me, right? Somebody comes up and criticizes Michael Roach.

He's a bad monk, I don't like him, there's something wrong with him, okay? Then you're telling me I should just chill out. You know, I shouldn't say anything.

But other things will happen, you see? If somebody says bad stuff about me and I don't defend myself, then everybody will get a wrong idea of me. I have to defend myself, you see what I mean?

Otherwise people will lose faith in me, people will say bad things, people will start believing what people say. I have to respond. Otherwise people will start to lose faith in me, right?

I have to say something, I have to do something, okay? Then he says, they can't do to you what you can do to yourself. Okay?

If you get angry, if you get mad, even with this kind of righteous intent, right? Like, I've got to defend myself, and you start fighting back, right? Then, according to the first verse, what will happen to your good karma?

You destroy, like, huge, I call it stockpiles. You destroy huge stockpiles, it's called ge-za, ge-re-za. You destroy huge stockpiles of your good karma.

Unknowingly, invisibly, you destroy huge stockpiles of your good karma. That will make you get old. That will make you die.

Okay? It could send you to another very bad realm after you die. It has those three results.

We got so little good karma to start with, and then if we burn it up, in a moment of anger at somebody, it could cause you to suffer, die earlier than you had to die, and then go to a very bad place after you die. Okay? So, could the person who's criticizing you do that to you?

No. Okay? They can make people lose faith in you.

Right? That could happen. But they can't send you to a hell realm.

They can't shorten your life like that. In other words, another person can't come up to you and destroy your good karma. Okay?

They can't do that. So, if you get mad and you respond to this person, defending yourself, you do something much worse than they could ever do to you. So, chill out.

Now, important point, very important point here. There's a Bodhisattva vow about rumors. How does it go?

You have to stop rumors about yourself. That's a Bodhisattva vow. Okay?

If you're practicing Bodhisattva, and someone's saying untrue rumors about you, well, actually, even if they're true, okay, you either have to get up and confess that they're true, or you have to get up and explain why they're not true. Okay? In order to protect other people.

Okay? That's a requirement of your Bodhisattva vows. How does that differ from what he's saying?

Hmm? Yeah. Yeah.

Got the difference? You're required to defend yourself in a pleasant, appropriate, what do you call it, like, venue. In a proper way, in a proper place, proper time, invite everybody, have a big meeting, say, anybody can ask me a question about this rumor, you know, like that.

Nice, proper, friendly, happy, not angry, and talk it out openly. The thing, but to get angry, and in your heart, say, oh, people are saying stuff about me, I hate them, you know, and get angry, then you're destroying bad karma. So you see the distinction.

Master Shantideva's chapter here is talking about anger. It's not talking about should you respond appropriately. Okay?

Big difference. If you see somebody getting mugged on the street, should you step in? Absolutely.

You should step in. Do the best you can. Even with power, even with strength, defend this person who's getting hurt.

You must do that. That's a Bodhisattva vow. But, and in the Bodhisattva vow, it says you can break the first seven forms of the ten moralities in the service of others.

You know? Like, in an extraordinary case, you could tell a fib or a lie about something outside the womb. Okay?

For a higher purpose. Right? Okay?

So you're allowed to do that. But you can't break the last three vows, which are all mental. Okay?

There's never a case where it's useful to get upset and angry. Okay? Never.

Okay? Can you be powerful and strong like Yamantaka? That's a whole different thing.

I'm not talking about that. But to get upset, out of a sense of being upset, off balance, angry, out of control, never appropriate, always bad karma. Okay?

So you gotta, that's a distinction. Can you act? Yes.

Should you act? Yes. But if you do it out of anger, you just exploded the whole reason to act.

Okay? You just ruined the whole reason to act. So that's what he's talking about.

If you get angry while you're defending yourself, because this person's causing other people to lose their faith, well then you've, you've just done something to yourself that they could never do to you. You hurt yourself in a way that they could never hurt you. You see what I mean?

Got it? Okay. Okay.

This number... Ooh, weird. Ooh.

I've got four outline pages. Am I going backwards? Yeah.

Okay. What verse are we on? Fifty-five.

Fifty-five. I don't think I have that. Oh, I have it.

Okay. This is interesting. You know how monks made their, how did monks eat in the old days?

In Master Shantideva's time, how did monks support themselves? You went around with a bowl. You went door to door and you asked for food.

People ask me, why did Tibetan monks eat meat? Well, historically, it's because they had to eat whatever somebody threw in their bowl. You can't say, I didn't want the uncooked tofu, I wanted the fried tofu.

You know, and then they have to go cook another meal. You know, like, whatever they threw in your bowl, you have to eat. You see?

Nowadays they have more flexibility and some of the senior monks are becoming vegetarian because they, they're buying their food now, basically. They have a choice about what they eat. Okay?

But anyway, historically, that was the way it worked. So, in Master Shantideva's time, if someone talked bad about you as a monk, it could affect whether you're going to get dinner or not. You see?

So that's where this verse is coming from. Just so you know where this verse is coming from. It says, like, the reason I'm trying to straighten this person out about what he says about me, is I'm afraid I won't get food or things.

Okay? I won't get robes. I won't get clothes.

I won't get a place to stay. Okay? So that's, then Master Shantideva says, no big deal.

Okay? No big deal. Better not to have them than to get them by being angry.

Okay? And what he says here is that, if you get angry in the defense, it's worse than if you had just gone naked without dinner. Okay?

Because the bad karma stays in your mind. Okay? The clothes, these clothes, are they mine?

Is this where Michael Roach's robe? Yes or no? I hope it pleases us.

Too long to be hers, okay? Anyway, yeah, it is mine. What does mine mean?

What does I own it mean? Well, I can, it means I control it, right? If I want to rip it, I can rip it.

And I own it in trouble from anybody else. Because I own it. Okay?

If you want to go out and kick your car, there's no problem. Somebody else kicks your car, it's a problem. That proves that you own it.

That's what ownership means. I can do what I want with this robe. Therefore, I control it.

That's what I, I properly got it. It was given to me. I got all the money.

We changed hands. The tailor made it. And I got it.

And it's mine. And I can do with it what I want. Right?

So, control means I own it. Right? So, tomorrow I will have it.

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah. Yeah. No.

[Говорящий 1]
I could die tonight. I could die and say to you, I could choke on Roger Gere's chocolate, strawberry cake, or whatever. Okay?

Really. Really. It's happened.

I've seen a monk die with a, with a roll up through his mouth like that. I was in the room. You know?

He didn't even make it to his mouth. Okay? He died.

His heart failed right there. And his hand froze that way. You know what I mean?

And they took him to the hospital like that. And, and they said he's dead. It's too late.

You know? So, it could happen. I don't own this thing.

You see? But, you're gonna die whatever robes, food, money you were fighting over to defend. You know?

People should have faith in me so I don't lose my sponsors. What's gonna happen to the Three Jewels? You know?

What's gonna happen to ACIP? You know? What's gonna happen to Godstone and Devon Mountain?

I, people have to think well of me. You see what I mean? So I'm mad.

I should defend myself. You know? Do you just put a seed in your mind which is gonna last lifetimes.

Thousands of lifetimes. And the stuff you're fighting for, the house, the hermitage, the nice adobe hermitage, right? The stuff you're fighting for, you're gonna lose it.

Okay? That's all. So don't, that's Master Shantideva's point in this verse.

Okay? If you put up a fight and you get mad, you put a seed in your mind that lasts for thousands of years. And the stuff you're fighting over, your sponsors, it's gonna be gone.

Okay? Just like that. Okay?

Got it? That's dismissed. Okay.

And by the way, these are the old days. It doesn't apply at your work. I mean, I've lived in a corporation for 15 years.

Talk about politics. I was a VP. You know?

2,000, 3,000 employees. Talk about politics. I know politics.

People can stab you in the back like that. You know? People on the 8th floor when you're on the 3rd floor for 5 minutes.

You know? You don't know. You know, you come back, you just got blamed for a $200,000 loss and you had nothing to do with it.

And you can't defend yourself. You see what I mean? It's the same principle.

Okay? Yeah, but, but if I get fired or my salary gets cut, what are the monks going to eat at Sarah Mae? You can't think like that.

You can't think like that. There's never an excuse to get angry. If you get angry about someone screwing you at work, even if the money's going to some charity, right?

You just blew the whole thing. You just blew the whole point. Yeah?

That, that's even going to last for thousands of lifetimes. The food you got for Sarah Mae is going to last a day or two. You see what I mean?

That's all. So what are the consequences? Can't get angry.

Can you defend yourself? Yes. Okay?

Which brings me to the question of, I like to call it style. Okay? We're going to talk about style.

Say style. Style. Okay, style.

Style. This is a, what Master Shantideva's getting into here is extremely profound. We're just on the edge of breaking into a new kind of thinking.

Last night was the ultimate kind of thinking. That's the ultimate breakthrough you can make. Last night was that.

But here's another cool breakthrough. Okay? It's called style.

And it's like this. Basically, what the other guy is saying is, given larger concerns, whether Sarah Mae Monastery keeps afloat with my donations, whether God still continues, whether there's hermitages at Diamond Mountain, whether ACI, ACIP survives, these huge, virtuous projects. Look, it depends on how people see Michael Roach.

You see what I mean? If people lose faith in Michael Roach, it could hurt thousands of people. All this stuff won't keep up.

You know? All these books won't help people. I have to look at the larger ball, you know?

So I have to get mad at this person. I have to defend myself. I have to fight.

I have to struggle with this person. There are big, virtuous things at risk here. I must fight with this person.

You see what I mean? Master Shelton Davis says, eh-eh. Eh-eh.

Okay? What do you call it? The ends never justifies the means.

Okay? That's where we're getting here. That's where we're getting to here.

You see what I mean? That's a very interesting thing. And what he's going to say here is that the minute you get angry, you blew all those projects already.

They don't mean anything anymore. You see what I mean? What is a spiritual project?

What is a hermitage? What's an ACI course? What's a new book coming out?

What's it mean if you get angry? You see what I mean? You just screwed them all already.

You see? To engage in a negative cause for a higher purpose is to destroy the higher purpose. Okay?

There is no higher purpose. You just ruined it. And that's very cool.

That's really cool. That means that every step in a virtuous life, in these big virtues that we're engaged in, people running these projects, if you can't do each step cool with style, that's what style means. Every step of the way has to have style.

It's not like the leap that you make at the end of the stage. It's how you cross the stage before you make the leap. You see what I mean?

The goal doesn't mean anything if you're like this irritable, angry, nervous person getting there. Okay? It doesn't mean anything.

Every day of the project, every dollar, every discussion you have with somebody has to be sweet, has to be an expression of dharma in itself. You see? Or else the goal doesn't mean anything.

You see what I mean? That's very powerful. That's what I mean when I say style.

Okay? Like, there is no goal worth getting upset, distressed, angry, uptight, nervous, not sleeping. Okay?

You've got to take care of yourself. The practice is the goal. If you're going to blow your practice so you can build retreat cabins for somebody, what's that mean?

You see? What's that mean? If you get nervous and upset and you're scaring people to build these cabins, what's that mean?

You see what I mean? What do you mean somebody else is going to meditate there? What do you believe?

You see what I mean? And so every step on the goal, every step has to be as cool as the enlightenment that you're headed for. Style.

Deal with style. You see what I mean? That's what he's talking about.

It's very interesting. Okay? It's in that, every step, you have to be as calm, as collected, well meditated, well fed, well slept.

You know? And well fed means no junk food, etc. It means healthy, mentally, healthy physically.

Practice is done in the morning. Yoga is finished. Meditation is finished.

Study is finished. Book is up to date. You know?

Then you go out and save the world. Because if you don't do that, you already screwed the world. You see what I mean?

Okay? Got it? And the next time I give you a project and you already have 16, you say no.

You say I'm back in New York City, you know, and that's the way it should go. Fran Diane's good at that, right? That's her famous thing.

Okay. She does one thing for free all day and when I try to give her a second one, she's like, Geshe-la, I can do this one happily, properly, accurately. That's what I can handle.

Like, respectfully, I can't take on another thing now. You know what I mean? And still keep my practice well.

And you have to, even against your Lama, you have to keep that line. Okay? I have this line, I tried last month, I couldn't do it, I broke down.

You know what I mean? And so, which one do you want me to do? You can diamond deal your Lama.

Okay. Okay. Verse number 56.

Am I on the right? Yeah. Okay.

This is when, it's basically saying, you see all the same ideas here? If you live a long life, okay, you fight, you defend your good name, Geshe Michael's good name, you defend yourself, you know, and then you fight, and you get angry, and everyone is looking at you like, you know, who wants to be around this person anymore? You know what I mean?

But you cleared up everything, and now your sponsors are coming by, you're getting more money, your projects are going great, you know, and you're a really grumpy, nasty person, okay? But the money's coming and everything, so what's the point of it? What's the point of it?

If that goes on for a long time, what does it mean? Okay? If it's wrong, if the style ain't there, what does it mean?

You see what I mean? Then he says, for a person like me, the pain of death is all the same, even if, look, even if you live a long time, by defending yourself, you know, and you get more money, more fame, more people like you, but when you die, it's all gone anyway, you see what I mean? So what's the point?

He was doing a general attack on possessions, okay? Possessions. What's the point of getting more stuff if at the moment that you die, you lose it all, okay?

And that could apply to working 40, 60, 80 hours a week. You know, my boss came to me when I got raised from $6.50 to $7 an hour as a messenger in the diamond business, you know, running stones. I know these envelopes.

I used to run them up and down to 47th Street in my pocket because you can't send diamonds anywhere. You don't send them by mail, right? Somebody carries them.

And that was what I did. And he said, aren't you thrilled with all the new money we're getting? And I'm like, I guess so.

And he's like trying to think, you can buy all the magazines you want to do now, right? And I'm like, you can take out subscriptions now. Like, I didn't have any money.

And he's like, I'm like, yeah, I guess so. You know, what I mean is, your income, whatever your income level is, your expenditures adjust to that. Right?

You make $50 a week, you live on $50. If you make $100, you live on $100. I got up to $200,000 something, and I spent it.

You know what I mean? Then it collapsed to zero, and I was like, I'm okay. You know what I mean?

I canceled all my subscriptions. You know, and I used to sit on the toilet. People know, I had a box in my bathroom, and it had these stacks of magazines still in their plastic wrappers, like, not even opened yet.

Like, three years ago, Yoga Journal's at the bottom, you know, and it still hasn't been opened. I'm thinking I'll open it someday. You don't need all that stuff.

Okay? Your expenditures will adjust to exactly 110% of your income. That's how we are.

That's how we are. It doesn't matter how much you're making. It just doesn't matter.

Everybody's in debt. You know? You made much more than you made five years ago, or ten years ago.

And you spend more. You see? It just adjusts to what you're doing.

And then the day you die, it doesn't mean anything. Okay? The day you die, someone will have to clean their magazines out of the bathroom.

Okay? That's all. You're dead.

It doesn't matter. Next verse. I love this verse.

This is one of my favorite verses of all time. Okay? 57.

Okay? You're in a dream, and in the dream, you live a hundred years. You go through a hundred years of pleasure.

You are Miss Universe. You are Donald Trump at the same time. You know?

For a hundred years. You know? And then the alarm goes off, and you're like...

You know? And you still gotta get to work in 20 minutes. You know what I mean?

Like... Or you dream that, you know, you're getting, finally, someone's letting you eat cherry pie. Understand.

You know? A whole slice. Without a word.

Maybe a la mode. Jerry Garcia. Jerry Garcia a la mode.

And, you know, it takes like two minutes to eat it in the dream, and then the alarm goes off. And then you still got 20 minutes to get to work. You see?

It doesn't matter. On the last day of your life, whether you had enough money for 50 years, 40 years, or no years, it's all meaningless. You see?

All the efforts you made, and here, all the fights you had to make it, they don't mean anything. It's just the same as the guy who just woke up. Okay?

Doesn't matter that the dream went on for a hundred years. Donald Trump, this universe. Doesn't matter that the dream went on for a few minutes.

Just a cherry pie. When you wake up, it's all out of your reach. It's all out of your reach.

It doesn't mean anything anymore. Now, that's okay, but we're not even gonna die. How about Kalimantu?

What do you think? What do you think, Kalimantu? Where's Kalimantu?

Where's Kalimantu? Where's Sal? He was in the class.

Last time I taught in New York. He was in the class. Where's Kalimantu?

He survived the World Trade Center. He missed his bus that day. Where is he?

He was in the... He went to the World Trade Center. He missed his bus that day.

He survived. Where is he? He's dead.

So then he got a cancer. He died. When are you gonna die?

Oh, I still got some time. We used to call him Kalimantu. We used to say from the back of the class.

We used to say, Kalimantu. You know, he would debate with us. Really sweet man.

He's not here. You don't know. So what does it mean?

All the fights he had in his life. What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything.

What does it mean that he had money or he didn't have money? He had a good job or he didn't have a good job. So what does it mean?

It doesn't mean anything. Okay? That's how it's all gonna go.

So just let it go. Okay? That's what he's talking about.

Okay? Just let it go. I'm sure he's enjoying the class.

58. He's just wrapping up the example for you. Okay?

He's just explaining the example. You live a long life because you've successfully defended your interests and fought off other people. Or you live a short life because you didn't defend your interests and you didn't get enough to eat.

Well, when you die, it doesn't matter. So wipe with all those bad comments in your mind. Got it?

If you live a little less long, but you live with style, that's worth it. Okay? Like, okay.

I'm not gonna struggle. I'm not gonna fight. I'm gonna chill out.

People might talk bad about me. I might lose some sponsors. But I'm gonna live with style.

I'm not gonna get angry. I'm gonna be sweet to people. I'm gonna be peaceful.

I might not get as much food. I might not get as famous. I might not have all my projects work out.

But I live with style. I do it my way. You know?

And then, you know, when I reach the end, maybe I died a little earlier than all those guys who had a Central Park or whatever. But anyway. But I kept up my Buddhist life.

You know, I held the line. I kept my Buddhist... Yeah, good, thanks.

Okay? That's all. Because the day you die, it doesn't matter.

Okay? You're famous. You weren't famous.

People were giving you money and working you. It doesn't matter. Okay?

See? At that point, what's it matter to count on my tomb? Okay?

Here we go. Verse 59. In the old days, when they mugged you, they didn't take your wallet.

They killed you and stripped you. Took your shoes, your pants, your underwear. Okay?

Any gold in your teeth. This is like up to about two, three hundred years ago. This is the real way to mug somebody.

This is the old time way. And that's what chöndi means here in the Tibetan. A thief.

In the old days, they would just strip you. And everything. If you had a good pair of shoes, that was a lot of money.

You know? So, Master Shantideva says, look, the day you die, you go lakaton. Or like it's rikta hasta in Sanskrit.

And labna, which is where naked comes from, right? You go empty handed. You go naked.

It's all the same mood. You can't take the last blouse you bought. Okay?

You can't take the shoes. You can't take the fame. You can't take whatever people are thinking about you.

Doesn't matter. You're just another naked corpse. You know?

I went. They call the monks, you know, when somebody dies. These people never come to temple.

They don't come to class. They don't do their homeworks. They don't do their quizzes.

The only time they call you is when they're dying or they're already dead. Okay? So I'm always going in what you call mortuary.

And, you know, here's the neighbor in hell, Sripji, if you know him. He's laid out on this metal table. I'm thinking, God, it must be cold.

It was cold. And he's naked. And they're draining the fluids out of his neck.

You know? And I just, last time I saw this guy, he was giving me a hassle about not taking him to the store in my car and stuff like that. And there he is.

He's laid out, dead on the, on the cold table. And he doesn't care. He's dead.

So I did a heart surgery. I did a diamond cutting. We all pray a little bit.

We go home. And that's how it happens. That's how we do it.

But you see it. You know, we get called all the time. We go and we watch the bodies.

Here are these people who didn't want to study, didn't want to meditate, didn't want to keep their book, didn't want to hear about it. And then they call us. Like, it's really irritating.

The family calls you. Come, come pray for him. Pray for him.

And then he's gone. Okay, we'll come. We'll do the prayers, you know.

And then you go and you do some muddlesome prayers and it's too late. You know, the guy's, that's all you have. This guy, I know him.

He's been like 50 years struggling. He was angry at everybody. He was always fighting for his interests.

Now he's laid out, dead cold on this metal table with the fluids draining out of his neck, you know. so what's it mean to defend your interests? What's it mean to get angry defending your interests?

Okay, that's all. Just let it go. Just let it go.

Do you remember? Verse 60. When you get into the argument, listen to the legal argument.

Get this one. I have to defend Michael Roach's name. Why?

Because I'm a bad guy. Okay? I'm Michael Roach.

I have to defend Geshe Michael. Someone attacks Geshe Michael's reputation, etc. I have to defend myself.

Why? Because I'm a bad guy. What's it got to do with it?

I need time. I need time. I gotta confess all my bad deeds.

I gotta purify. I gotta study more. I gotta meditate more.

I have to stay alive longer. I need money. That's for a noble purpose, you see.

I need more time. I gotta stay alive as long as possible. I need sponsors.

I can't have people thinking bad about Geshe Michael. I gotta put up a fight. Because I know I'm a bad person.

You see what I mean? I need time to clean out my soul. I need time to do virtuous deeds.

I need someone calmer, you know. I gotta attack this guy who's hurting me. Who's making people think that I have to defend my reputation.

Okay? That's the other guy. Sound pretty good?

It sounds not so bad, right? I don't know. Here we go.

Here's Master Shantideva. Master Shantideva's answer is on the next verse. Oh, sorry.

Still on verse 16. He gives his answer on verse 16. You see?

Isn't it the case that you just collected a lot more and more bad karma? And what? What's the first verse of this chapter say?

No, when you get angry, you destroy your stockpiles of good karma. So, aren't you just doing the opposite of what you say you're doing? Got it?

Got it? I'll write it by you again. I have to protect Geshe Michael's reputation.

I have to get more money. I need time to collect more good karma and get rid of my bad karma. Yes.

But by defending yourself and getting mad at the guy, you just destroyed all your good karma and collected more bad karma. Okay? Got it?

This is Master Shantideva's answer. It doesn't work. And again, it's the style.

It's a question of style. You can defend yourself. You should defend yourself.

But with style. Okay? Nice style.

Sweet. Funny. Pure.

Okay? Okay, next one. Verse 61.

Right?

[Говорящий 2]
Yes.

[Говорящий 1]
Okay. This is a summary, okay? This is a summary of the style thing.

Okay? If you break your style to achieve your goals, then you just destroyed the goal. Got it?

That's all. Simple. Okay?

If you're grumpy, nervous, overworked, if you're not, like, smooth, happy, celebrated, healthy, mentally and physically, and emotionally, okay, and you're struggling to get some higher goal, you just destroyed the higher goal. Got it? So every step of the virtuous practice, every step in your spiritual practice, has to be cool.

Okay? Every step has to be cool. You know?

You can't get stressed out, angry, upset, in the service of a higher goal, because you just destroyed the higher goal. Okay? That's all.

Style. Verse 62. And by the way, you can't do anything you want to do, and things won't work out.

You'll stay up for six weeks doing the reading, and then they'll print it, and the king goes and takes all the vowels off. Okay? And just when you're maybe last finishing touch, spending eight hours straight in the car from Asheville, you know, every part of the Sanskrit is perfect now, you know, then you send it to king, he goes and they take all, how do they get the vowels off?

I still can't figure it out. You know? But if at that point in the patience chapter, you get upset, angry, you know, the student in class says, hey, you spoiled me, there's no vowels in this one, you know, then you have to just chill out, be happy, okay, you're teaching the patience chapter.

Right? Okay? So, even when you're doing some big virtuous thing, every step has to be with style.

Okay? Or there is no virtuous thing. Okay, 62.

This is really cool, and I want to draw attention to its international, what do you call it, nullifications. Okay? Somebody, now this guy responds, I understand everything you said, Master Shantideva, you're very convincing, you know, your twisted logic is very good.

It's twisted logic all through here, right? I think he's making fun of us. I think he's saying, your anger gives twisted logic 24 hours a day, so I can use twisted logic on you.

Okay? Your anger consists of twisted logic. I can give you any kind of twisted logic I want.

Okay? But here's one, he says, okay, I can accept your twisted logic, that's okay with me. I understand that I shouldn't defend myself violently, even if it's gonna cost me my health and my sponsors and everything else.

But, if I don't speak up when someone criticizes me wrongly, it will hurt other people. I'm just defending other people. It's not me.

Okay? I'm not mad that they're saying bad stuff about Geshe Michael. But if other people get mad at me, and I'm really a pure, nice, perfect person, they're gonna collect bad karma.

So, I have to defend myself. You know? I don't want this person who's attacking me to convince other people that I'm a bad person when I'm not, because then everybody who believes it will collect bad karma.

I'm just trying to help everybody else. It's not me. Then Master Shantideva says, you know, I didn't see you saying that when they were attacking other people.

You see? Like, when rumors were spreading about other people, like monk number 23, you know, Geshe so-and-so from so-and-so, when he got criticized, or people were saying bad things about him, I don't recall you defending him so well. In fact, I don't recall you saying anything.

You know, and then you're like, if your only interest is that other people should do the right thing, right? If your only interest is this moral intent that other people shouldn't collect bad karma, how come you didn't speak up when they were attacking this other guy? You know?

That's Master Shantideva. This is this verse, okay? And I think it has, the United States only seems to step in internationally when there's oil involved or something.

You see what I mean? Like, I met a Tibetan. He said, God, if we'd only had oil in Tibet, you know, you know, if we'd only had oil when the Chinese attacked us, you know, then the United States, the savior of the world, would have stepped in, you know?

So, it isn't this normal wish to remove the world of dictators. Is it that, or is it that it involves directly your economy or your own interests? You see what I mean?

How come you weren't so noble when they were attacking this other one? You see what I mean? How come you didn't say anything?

Okay? That's what this verse is about. And it applies at work, okay?

When was the last time you defended the other VP who was getting attacked?

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Like that. Verse 63. 63?

Oh, okay. I can't control what people say about other people. Got it?

You know, they attack Geshe Michael, I can supply some information, you know? I wasn't there at 6 o'clock, I was in Texas, you know, I didn't do what you said I did, blah, blah, blah. You can defend yourself, right?

And, but this other person, like, you know, I can't control what happens to everybody. That's not my business. You see what I mean?

This is the, it's not my business argument. Okay? They attack this other person, it's not my business.

I can't, I can't control what happens to this other person. Well, then you shouldn't get mad at the people who are attacking you. Got it?

I'll say it again. Ready? I can't control what happens to other people.

They attack this other monk, I can't do anything about it. Well, then you shouldn't speak bad, you shouldn't get angry at the person who's criticizing you. Got it?

I'll say it one more time. I can't control what they say about this guy. You know?

They talk bad about somebody else. They hit some other country. I can't control anything.

It's out of my control. I can't control those things. Well, then you shouldn't get mad at this person who's talking bad about you.

Why? They can't control it either. Cut them some slack.

Cut them some slack. Why? They're out of control.

They can't control what they're doing. Okay? They don't have any choice of what they're doing.

Got it? Why? Mental afflictions.

Anger. Jealousy. Envy.

Someone attacks you. You're a good monk. You've worked your whole life to support people, help people.

You get attacked. You know? So, should you attack this person bad?

No. Why? For the same reason you shouldn't defend another monk.

I can't help what people do to him. That's out of my control. Okay?

Well, that person's mind state is out of his control. Okay? If you're going to talk about lack of control, why are you mad at this person?

They are totally out of control. Their own anger, their own jealousy, their own envy is driving them to criticize you. So, cut him some slack.

Already. They don't have control. You just said no control is why you don't get involved.

So, don't get involved with the guy who's attacking you. Why? He's out of control.

He can't help you. Envy. Jealousy.

Anger. Okay? He's out of control.

So, cut some slack. You cut yourself a lot of slack, don't you? So, cut him some slack.

You see, got it? The guy who's attacking you. Cut him some slack.

Why? You cut yourself so much goddamn slack. Come on.

Okay? Okay? Then there's a control question.

How much can I affect things? Okay? Okay.

Next one. These are the last couple of verses in all. I love these verses.

We're onto a whole new idea. I love this. I really love this.

I spoke a lot about this the last time we taught this chapter in the Quaker House like six years ago, seven years ago. But get this. To me, that these two verses exist in this book make it one of the greatest religious classics in the world.

You know? The fact that these verses that were just at 64 and 65, the fact that they are in this book, to me it makes it one of the most important religious books ever written. Why?

Because verse 64 says, Someone comes to your church. Someone burns the altar. Someone destroys the statue of Jesus.

Okay? Someone burns a Ku Klux Klan thing in the lawn of your synagogue. You know?

Somebody spray paints all over the holy sanctum of your temple or your church or your synagogue. What should you do? Just chill out.

Just chill out. They can't hurt God. They can't hurt Buddha.

They can't hurt Moses. They can't hurt Mohammed. Just clean the spray paint off, buy a new altar, you know, take up a collection, fix the doors, start over again.

Don't hurt anybody. Don't kill anybody. Don't go out and build all the Muslims' houses like they do in India every six months.

Okay? Just calm down. Nobody got hurt.

The Buddhists don't live in the statues. Jesus is not up there in papier-mâché or with gold spray paint. You know?

Okay? Moses, he left from the top of the mountain a long time ago. He's taken care of.

Okay? Build the temple back. Make a better one.

You know? Plant some new flowers on the lawn of the synagogue. You know, just calm down.

No reason to attack other religions. Nobody got hurt. You can't hurt God.

You can't hurt Buddha. You can't hurt Mohammed. Okay?

They are on a different level. Just chill out. These are just pictures, just very lousy representations of Holy Beings, plastic, paper, tin, gold, doesn't matter.

They don't count for nothing. Build the church back. Calm down.

Don't fight. Just be happy. Nobody got hurt.

Okay? I love that. I think that's so cool.

Okay? And to say it, you know, this is our Bible. You know?

This is what our Bible says to do when they attack a religion. And it's also talking about verbal attacks. Okay?

Just chill out. If there's something you can do, if you think there's somebody you can convince or something, then do it with style. Right?

Calm. Buddhist. Smiling.

Happy. Joke around. Intelligently.

Sharp. You know, great ideas. Hit them with the great ideas.

But engaging in some kind of violence or some kind of fight with people, what's it mean? You know? Nothing.

Okay? You can't hurt the Dhamma. Nobody can hurt the Dhamma.

Okay? So chill out. What's the Dhamma?

The Dhamma is the director of self-righteousness. You think you got hurt with the Chinese machine gun, the Joke Kong in Hasa? Okay?

No. It's there. It exists in the world.

Okay? You can't blow it up. Okay?

So don't fight. Just don't. Okay.

Don't get angry. Verse 63. Oops.

I keep going backwards. What is that? I am going backwards.

Yeah, okay. 64 is that. Okay, 65.

But what if they attack my Lama? Okay? Like we got this thing about Buddhas, right?

We got this thing about Lamas, right? I mean, your Lama's involved. Lama is everything.

You know? I haven't pushed it in these classes because it's not that you shouldn't do the Lama thing, but I just don't think Americans are ready for that. But I mean, if your Lama has to cross a rain puddle, your jacket's off, thrown on the ground, they step on your jacket, you know?

Like your Lama once asked in Tibet, you just jump off their ceiling. Voof, you know? Your Lama needs something, boom, it's there.

You know? So what are you going to do if they hurt your Lama? What if somebody attacks your Lama verbally, or even physically?

Okay? Master Shantideva, I love it. It's so cool.

And he's talking from a culture where they would give up their life easily for their Lama. You know? Shoot me and leave my Lama alone.

Like any good disciple would do that, right? In India or Tibet, okay? So what's Master Shantideva says?

Someone comes up to you and talks bad about your Lama, attacks your Lama verbally, says bad things about your Lama, or even attacks them physically. He says, chill out. Chill out.

Okay? There's only two things going on. Two possibilities.

Your Lama's either enlightened or they're not. Okay? Your Lama's either enlightened or they're not.

Okay? If they're enlightened, who's going to hurt them? Okay?

They're manifesting in some body for your benefit. They call it the dance of the golden orb or whatever. Okay?

They'll just hear... For them it's like a TV show. You know?

They need somebody to talk down in New York on planet Earth. Okay. Let's get down there.

We'll be half an hour late. Lama's half an hour late, right? And, you know, they're just manifesting.

I'm not like that. But, I mean, if I was enlightened, like his holiness say, you know, he's enlightened. Who's going to hurt him?

You know, there's a play going on. There's a drama going on, right? Someone comes up with a knife.

Someone shoots a gun. It looks like the body goes. That's your karma.

That's not his karma. That's your karma. Okay?

You have the karma to see that. If he's an enlightened being, if he's Avalokiteshvara, which he is, okay, who can hurt him? So what are you stressed about?

Are you going to fight with somebody about that? Okay? Now, suppose you're not enlightened.

Suppose you have one of those lamas who is not quite enlightened yet. Okay? That's a very prevalent Western viewpoint.

My lama's pretty cool. Ninety-five percent cool. He's got this five percent.

Okay? I mean, that's our worldview, right? My lama's really cool, except, well, you know.

Okay. So what if they're not enlightened? Then just sit back and watch, watch the laws of the universe play out.

Okay? They collected bad karma, and they're collecting the result of bad karma. You can take it as an example.

Okay? We are watching the universe unfold in the way it must unfold if we are going to get enlightened. Okay?

Got it? If the laws of karma could be suspended because this is a lama, if the laws of karma didn't work because this is a lama, you know, if you're going to fight against the laws of gravity, right, then everything is lost. You see what I mean?

If it's not true that good deeds will produce good results, if it's not true that not taking care of others means you won't get taken care of yourself, if we break that law, if we suspend that law, then all is lost. That law must remain, stay in place. It's the only way that we can all get enlightened.

It must be true that if you take care of others, you'll get taken care of. It must remain true that if you don't take care of others, you can't expect to be taken care of. And if for some reason you want to suspend that law, everything is lost.

Life is hopeless. So just watch the laws of karma play out and rejoice that karma exists. Rejoice that this is how.

Rejoice that there's a sense to the universe and things aren't crazy or random. Okay? Rejoice that good things bring good and bad things bad.

Okay? Rejoice that gravity is being respected. You know?

The laws of the universe are playing out in front of you. Okay? That's all.

It's very powerful. Very powerful. Someone attacks your own llama.

It's more dear than your mother. Right? Cheer up.

If they're enlightened, nobody can hurt them. If they're not enlightened, you're watching the same laws of the universe that are going to enlighten all of us are playing out. Okay?

Now, does that mean you don't try to step in? Don't be a dummy. Okay?

I mean, of course you can step in. You can even use force in a non-violent way. They say, use the amount of force you would use if your mother took an aspirin and it turned out to be LSD and she came at you with a knife.

You know what I mean? Okay? Like your mother, intemporary crazy, and she comes at you with a knife.

What would you do? You know, would you use violence? And what level of violence would you use?

You see? That's the line that as Buddhists we can't cross. Okay?

Everyone who hurts you, you treat them as if your mother went crazy. And that level of force is okay. And any more is not okay.

And it doesn't matter if they're Iraqi or whatever. Okay? Beyond that, you can't use any kind of force Up to that, you can and should use that kind of force to help people.

Okay? So that applies to lamas or anybody else. The same.

You don't stand back and say, there's this joke. Oral Blatt told me about it. Her mom was a disciple of...

Swami, she remember? Yeah. And the Swami was upstairs and the disciples were making dinner in the kitchen.

And in every kitchen in every monastery and ashram in the world there's some tension. Okay? Trust me.

This is where the real dharma comes down. Okay? So anyway, there are two ladies who don't like each other.

One of them makes this beautiful dinner for the Swami. You know? And then she trips and spills it.

You know? And the other lady is like, It's so good. You know?

And this is like rejoicing. So Swami heard about it and he comes down and he walks up to the lady and goes, Bam! on her foot.

You know? And she goes, Ah! And he says, It's your karma.

Okay? And that's not the argument. Okay?

Here. Okay? We're not doing the It's your karma argument.

We're not standing there and watching someone get hurt. That's not a Buddhist approach. Okay?

You stand there and say, Oh! They're getting mugged. Oh!

My Lama's getting hurt. It's your karma. You know?

You don't do that. Okay? You step in and you try to help.

But without violence, without anger. Okay? Can't have violence or anger.

Okay? Better to let the Lama, someone from my side, if it ever happens, you have to chill out. Okay?

Just prove your Buddhism at that moment. Okay? That's when you can prove your practice.

You know? Let it go down. Okay?

Okay. We're done. What time is it?

Wow! Not bad. Okay.

Personally, I think that's just one of the coolest parts. I think we can be really proud we have that in our scriptures. You know?

That last thing. Okay. We'll do a short prayer.

And then, you have 45 minutes to wander over to 6th Street. Okay? So, what time is it, Nelson?

7.21. Let's start 8-ish. We'll start Seichu around 8. Okay?

Over there. And it'll be short. I don't want people to burn out and get cranky because then it wouldn't have style.

Style. Okay? Then we wouldn't be doing Seichu with style.

You see? It has to be done pleasantly, calmly, sweetly. Okay?

Don't get all nervous and you're late and blah blah blah. Okay? Okay.

We're going to do the prayers today. I need to do them? Okay.