Углублённый курс ACI 02 — «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы» Мастера Шантидевы, глава об уничтожении гнева (2004, Нью-Йорк), занятие 4

[Говорящий 1]
Just for those of you who maybe knew this weekend, this is the second half of a teaching on a book that was written about 13 centuries ago in India, called Bodhisattva Charyavatara, which means Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. And we've been studying the sixth chapter, which is about anger. How do you respond to people who hurt you?

How do you respond to violence? And we're about halfway through, and just to bring you up to speed, what we covered already, the Master Shantideva is going to give us three different kinds of patience, three different tools you can use not to get angry. And he introduces them by saying, the problem with anger is that it melts all your good karma, okay?

Like, we have a certain amount... What do you call it? Like a storehouse.

We have a certain stockpile. You can call it a stockpile. We have a stockpile of good karma.

Everybody in this room has a stockpile of good karma. How do I know that? You didn't die yet, okay?

No, it keeps you breathing, okay? If you're still breathing by the end of this sentence, you have a stockpile of good karma, okay? And then what anger does, when you get angry at somebody, it melts the good karma.

And it takes a long time to make good karma. Like, we don't make good karma very well. Like, in a normal day, we do a lot more negative things.

We get a lot more irritated than we do kind. And so, normally, our credit card is running on a debit. So, what we don't need is to burn off what little good karma we've stockpiled, okay?

So, he starts out this chapter saying, look, you have a certain amount of good karma. It keeps you alive. It keeps you fed.

It keeps you money coming in. It keeps friends with you, or family, or husband or wife, or children. And you're using it up, but no reason to waste it, you know?

No reason to just burn it, you know? So, you have to be careful not to get angry. Then he says, I'll give you three different ways not to get angry.

Two of them, by the way, we call them band-aids. They don't work very well, okay? They don't work very well.

But he gives them to you because they're quick, easy fixes. Like, I heard that DOS operating system was named that. It's a short for dirty operating system, because they were in a rush, and they named it just that, DOS.

And so, he kind of gives you a DOS. He gives you a dirty operating system. Like, if you're in a rush, or if you don't have time to do a lot of study and meditation, here's two kinds of patients, okay?

And one of them we covered already at the beginning, and that was called, dungyal dangdulembe serpa. And that means, I'm willing to put up with a little... How do you say it?

I'm willing to put up with a little bit of pain, so that I don't blow my good karma. Like that. Like, it's not nice what the person is doing to me.

I should get angry. It would be okay to get angry. What do you say?

It's like, deserves to get angry at. You know, what this person is doing to me deserves me getting angry at them. But balanced against my good karma melting away, I'll just put up with it.

You know what I mean? It's like coping. We called it, last meeting we had, we called it super coper.

Like, this is the kind of patients where you just cope with bad stuff happening. And it's bad, and it's unpleasant, and this person who's attacking you, or hurting you, or bothering you, they are obnoxious. You know?

They are irritating. By all rights, you should get angry at them, okay? But it burns up your good karma.

So on the balance of things, I'll just put up with it. You know, I'll just hang in there. It's like hang in there approach.

That was the first one. Then Master Shantideva went to the ultimate kind of patients. It was number two.

Number two was like, they call it, It means, patience which sees into reality. And then he went off on this long thing, like, you want to control your anger? You want to get over anger?

You want to be non-violent in your life? You want to see less violence in your world? Well then, you have to figure out where it comes from.

See? Like, where does the person who bothers you come from? Okay?

And you know, where I used to work, there's always somebody sitting next to you that you don't like. They say, if a human goes into a room with ten people in it, after an hour you'll like three of them, you'll dislike three of them, and you'll feel neutral towards four of them, right? Then you take out the three that you don't like, which leaves seven, right?

In an hour you'll like two, you'll hate two, and you'll feel neutral about three. Take out those two, five people left. After another hour you'll like one of them, you'll dislike one of them, and three of them.

You see what I mean? And human beings are like that, you see? So the big question is, where do these people come from?

You see, where... Like, when I was in an office, I don't know, in my department we had like 150 people. In the room I was sitting in, there was like 20 people.

And it's like that. Like, you like three of them, you don't like three of them, and the rest you feel neutral about. And the one you don't like is always sitting next to you.

You know? Like, somebody always puts them next to you. Now, who put them next to you?

You see? That's the chidangesangui suppa. That's the second kind of patience.

It stops. It thinks. It analyzes.

Who put this guy next to me? You know? Who put this guy?

And then I had people... I used to be the boss, right? People would come up and say, I'm quitting.

There was a Thai lady I remember, she said, I'm quitting. I said, why? She said, these people are pointing their feet at me.

You know? I said, what? She said, everybody's pointing their feet at me.

You know? Like in Thailand, that's a really bad thing to point your feet. So you know in America, you cross your legs, you point your feet at people.

So I said, no, no. They're Americans. They don't understand.

No, no. They hate me. They're pointing their feet at me.

I'm quitting. You know? Then I said, listen.

You're going to come back to me in six weeks and tell me everybody at your new job is pointing your feet at you. You know? No, and that's the way it goes.

You quit because you can't stand the supervisor. And then you go to a new office. But the karma doesn't finish, you see?

The karma's still there. So in the next office, there's another supervisor. You see what I mean?

Because you didn't finish the karma. That's what happens when people get married multiple times. Like after another three years, they get divorced again.

Like there's never two marriages. It's always three, four, five, right? It's like that.

So it goes like that. So he says, where did this person come from? You can't deal with anger until you figure out who put this guy next to you?

Why is he sitting next to you? And then Master Shantideva gives you three choices. And I think you recall them.

One is called dak, one is called dzog, and one is called lemde. Okay? Dak means, like, is there a big bang?

Is it just random? You see? Out of all the offices in New York, this person walked into my office.

Out of 15 departments on this floor, he walked into my department. Out of 20 chairs in the room, he sat next to me. And who's to blame?

What does science say? I mean, if you're a hardcore physicist, what does it say? The big bang.

The big bang brought this guy next to you. You see? That's all.

The big bang is to blame. You should blame the big bang. Why?

Because there was this explosion zillions of years ago, before there was anything. You see? First there was nothing, then there was something.

And something happened between. But what caused it? Nothing.

It just happened. And then they put a big name on it. What?

What's his name, that guy, the physicist? Stephen Hawking. I read his book.

He said, it's a singularity. What does singularity mean, Stephen Hawking? It just happened once.

What does that mean? It means we don't know what caused it, so we give it a big name. You know?

You're a scientist, right? Like, you're trying to figure out cause and effect, right? Yeah, but on that one, we can't figure it out, so we just decided there wasn't any cause.

You know? Oh, so on the most important thing that ever happened, you can't figure it out? Right.

You know? So, it worked out. It's a singularity.

It's a cone, and you slice the cone, and there's a possibility network, and you know. And the whole thing is just BS. You know?

It's just like, first there was nothing, then there was something. You know? And the Big Bang put that person next to you in the chair right now, who's fighting you for the armrest.

You know? The Big Bang did that. You know?

So, out of countless atoms, countless carbon molecules, countless oxygen, and nitrogen, and just empty space, and stellae, and there was a blow-up, and by some miracle, all these things are bumped into each other, and created the person who's hogging your armrest right now. You see what I mean? That's that, okay?

That's the first possibility. No, really. You believe that.

You live by that. You can't use the web, and drive in airplanes, and cars, and have computers, and have a bomb that can blow up your city. You have to buy that.

The guys who said that made the bomb. And when they blew up the first city, everybody took them seriously after that. Like, Einstein was a nobody until they blew up the first city.

Right? And then after that, they're like, oh, what did you say? You know?

So, no, you grew up in that. You live in that culture. Okay?

The second one is, it's all. It's all means, oh, somebody made... God put the person next to you to hog your armrest.

Okay? Like, God is looking down, and said, you're at the patient's teaching, you're supposed to be dealing with your anger, we'll heat the room up like a Bikram yoga studio, and then we'll put somebody next to you who's irritating or obnoxious, and they'll hog your armrest. You know?

And so there's this big sadistic guy, you know, who's like, you know, it's the village, it's like an S&M, you know? He's like, who can I... who can I bug today?

You know? And, like, I'll bug you. Okay?

No, no, really. No, those are... You see, Shantideva is begging you to think you can't deal with anger until you figure out where the stuff that gets you angry came from, ultimately.

Like, otherwise you're just dealing with band-aid solutions. Right? If something doesn't work, figure out why.

Don't just fool around with little temporary solutions. So he says, where did it come from? You know?

So there's two choices. One, it's a big bang, and that arm on your armrest is just some extraordinary coincidence of atoms. Okay?

Unbelievably... extraordinary coincidence. To make an arm out of stellar dust blowing up, you know, by accident?

No, really. And every face in this room is just an accident? That's the first science.

Second one is, oh, no, no, there's a big guy, and he's... he made the world, and he made everything, and he creates all events, and he's overseeing your armrest. And...

no, really. And... and...

and he's made that person to bother you. Okay? And that's...

that's kind of sad. You're like, why would he do that? Why wouldn't he just make the person next to me without an arm or something?

You know, like... You know, I mean, that would be easier, right? Or, why don't they make airplanes and auditoriums with two armrests between each seat?

You know what I mean? Because everybody has an arm, right? I mean, so...

No, I mean, he could have just made it that way in the first place, right? So... so it's kind of funny with armrests, but when you get into breast cancer, or a fatal car accident, or planes flying into buildings, you're like, well, what kind of mind could want that to happen?

You see? I mean, who in their right mind would want that to happen? You see?

I mean, and what's the divine lesson I'm supposed to learn when a baby is ripped out of the womb? You see? I mean, what's that mean?

You see? Why would they make things like that? You see?

So, that's Master Shantideva's second choice. That's your second option, right? And then the third one...

By the way, we're still only on the second kind of patients, right? This is the ultimate one. The third one is you get exactly what you deserve.

There's a perfect justice to the world. You know? You 100% get what you give, and that's the way it works, okay?

So, if something good happens, if you get a raise at work, you can pat yourself on the back, okay? If you get HIV, you can pat yourself on the back, right? Nobody else is responsible, just you.

The whole world is an absolute justice, you know? Every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction, and you get exactly what you do to others. Over the...

a length of time, over a period of time, everything that ever happens to you is 100% absolute justice, okay? Unfortunately, the way we respond to things that bother us is exactly the kind of karma that makes it happen again. And that's why we are still here.

No? See, anybody who didn't figure that out is still stuck here, okay? Whether they're standing up here or sitting down there.

No, really. You know, if you didn't get it yet, you're still in this world. You're still in, like, a lousy world.

And this world doesn't work. This world is... if you didn't notice, this world is broken.

This whole world is broken. You know, why? You're born, you struggle, you go to school, you learn, you get a job, you get married, you have children, you collect things, and then they just rip it away from you.

With no choice. Right? And it's just like this divine comedy, right?

It's five billion people struggling to get things that are going to definitely be taken away from them. So, a whole wasted effort, thousands of worries and troubles and harm shifts and stress and love and attachment and hatred and then, at the end, we all just go back to the worms. You know what I mean?

So, it's just like, is that... I don't know how to say. That's the second choice.

That's the second choice. Karma... Karma is like, if you get it, if you get that what you do to others is what you get back, then you can break the cycle.

And if you're here now, you didn't break the cycle. Why? Because if somebody hurts you, the thing you think to do is what?

You just think to hurt them back. You see? It's...

What's the only way to get someone to hurt you according to the laws of karma? It's to hurt somebody. So, what's the stupidest thing you could do if somebody hurts you?

Hurt them back. What's the most natural thing we do when somebody hurts us? You hurt them back.

Okay? And that makes sense because we're still here. Okay?

You see? No. The people who don't think like that are out of here already.

They're gone. And we're like the... We're like the dummies at the back of the class.

You know? Like... No.

We're the people... You and me are here because we didn't get it.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
If you believe in past lives or whatever, it doesn't matter whether you believe it, they're there. Okay? But...

But they... You... If you had gotten it, you wouldn't be in this class tonight.

And this class is designed... Studying anger is designed to break us out. You see?

Break out of the broken world. You know? Stop responding to obnoxious people in a way that makes more come.

You see what I mean? If karma is true, all the obnoxious people you ever met came because you got mad at... Obnoxious people.

So, every time you repeat it, you're just getting more... You're like a... Honey to a bee.

You're just attracting more obnoxious people by fighting them. You see what I mean? The worst thing you could do is fight back to somebody who...

Who makes you upset. The only way to get someone to make you upset is to fight back at somebody. Got it?

Your natural reaction, the one that comes to you automatically, is the single worst thing you could do. And we're all like that or we wouldn't be here.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
And that's just... That's the second kind of patience. And that one works.

You see, that one just holds up under any kind of... We said that the first kind of patience break down after a while. Like, if you keep thinking, Oh, I can stick it out.

You know? I can stick it out. I'm a tough guy.

I'll be a tough guy. No matter how many irritating people I meet, I'm gonna stick it out because I don't want to burn up my good karma. Right?

Okay. So, then you meet one obnoxious person and you almost blow up and then you say, No, I'm a tough guy. I'm holding.

I don't want to burn up my good karma. Then you meet another one, an hour later, and then you're like, I'm holding. I'm holding.

You know? Then you meet a third one, like at noon, you know? And then you're like, No, I'm holding.

You know? And then, like by five o'clock, you dropped it. You blew it.

You know? How many people applied it in these last two weeks? I mean, how many times did it come to you in the last two weeks?

I mean, I was angry this morning. I got upset this morning. You know?

I mean, the point is, not so much that you understand it. I mean, you understand it in an hour, right? Then the whole job begins.

Then the whole... To really use it when someone upsets you. This is the great...

That's what makes a yogi, right? That's what makes a great person. It's not to sit in a class.

And you get some points for doing your quiz, but it's not that much. You know? But to...

But to pull out this knowledge when someone upsets you is... That's why we're here. So I just urge you, you know?

Like, you're gonna hear... Sometimes I think it's too many ideas. You see?

Sometimes I think I should just say one and we should all sit down for two hours and think about it. It's almost too many methods not to get mad. And then the temptation is not to use them.

You know? You just say, I know the 14 methods. And then someone bumps you and you're like, I know the 14...

You know? And... No, and...

No, it's... You gotta try to use it on yourself. You know?

You have to... You're like the patient and the psychiatrist at the same time. And you have to use it on yourself.

Or it doesn't make any difference. You see what I mean? So that's the second kind of patience.

I refuse to get angry. Why? I wanna get rid of this person.

You see? I refuse to dislike them. Why?

I'm dumping them. I'm terminating them. You see?

How? I'm just keeping my cool. And that will terminate every negative person I ever met.

You see? It's like ultimate wisdom. It's like using wisdom.

Okay? It's so cool. And it works.

Okay? It works. That's ultimate patience.

I created this person. This person walked into my office. They were hired by my HR department.

They were shifted to my department. They were put into my room. And they got the chair next to me.

Not because the Big Bang did it. Not because a guy with a white beard is having a good time with me. But because I hurt somebody in the past.

I was angry at someone in the past. And now I have to sit next to this person. Now, the only thing I'm interested in is getting rid of this person.

What's the best method? Be calm. Be happy.

Treat them nice. Do not respond with anger. And they will definitely leave.

It's so cool. I used to say, either they'll get a heart attack, or they'll be transferred, or they'll get fired, or something like that. And I did it to so many people at my job.

You don't know. No, I did it. Like, I got these teachings, like, I don't know, 30 years ago, I got these teachings in India.

And I went into that office and, like, with this thing as a gun. You know, like, I'm cleaning out this office. You know?

No, I like it. And this guy makes me angry. I...

Hi, how are you? Do you want some coffee? Can I...

You know? No. No, really.

I'm not kidding. You know? And there was one really bad boss.

And boy, did I get rid of them. You know? No, and I was just like, can I carry your luggage?

Can I run around for you? Can I... You know, lower my pay next year.

I'm happy. You know? Put it...

Stick it on your own bonus. You know? Like, it's fine with me.

You know? Just underpay me for a couple of years. I don't mind.

And I'm just thinking in my mind, I'm getting rid of this person. You know? And it worked.

Here I am. You know? No, and...

No, like, I'm surrounded by this incredibly beautiful people. And it's not a coincidence. And it's not just good luck.

And it's not the Big Bang. And I'm not thankful to God. Okay?

I did it. I made it. You know?

Because I knew how. Because somebody taught... My Lamas taught me.

And then I sat down and pulled it off. And now I'm surrounded by these extraordinary... All day long.

You know? I have an oversupply, like an overdose, of pleasant, amazing, spiritual, intellectual, sensitive, you know, gentle people. All...

I don't even know what to do with all of them. You know? It's like, I have to run away to John Brady's house and lock the door.

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
No, really. It's like that. And you can just do that.

That's the second kind of patience. I'm going to design my own reality. And in my reality, there's going to be no more obnoxious people.

You know? And you just shoot them with this patience chapter, one by one. Okay?

Really. It's so cool. Okay, anyway, we better do the patience chapter.

We're on the third kind of patience. This is not an ultimate kind of patience. Okay?

This is another band-aid. Why he threw it in at the end, I don't know. Okay?

You have to write Shantideva a letter. Go to page three. Yeah?

Do you have trouble hearing? Any trouble hearing? Raise your hand.

How should I do? We thought we had it better. Would it be better if I held it up?

Is that better? Is that better? If I hold it up?

I can just hold it. I don't mind holding it. Yeah.

I'll just hold it like that. Is that better? Better?

Oh. Try to turn it up.

[Говорящий 2]
Oh, okay. Let's just try and make it a little bit... I didn't even do it yet.

[Говорящий 1]
I'm being patient. You be patient.

[Говорящий 2]
Is that better?

[Говорящий 1]
Is that better?

[Говорящий 2]
Better?

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah? Oh. Go up?

[Говорящий 2]
Back?

[Говорящий 1]
Okay. Alright. Alright.

Okay. We'll go. You okay?

Verse sixty-six. He starts to get into the question of blame. And we're getting into the third kind of patience.

And he's getting into the question of blame. Who do you blame? Who are you going to blame for the guy next to you at work?

Okay? And that examination begins with this verse. Harm is done to living creatures both by things that have a mind and by things that have no mind.

So, somebody at work spills coffee on your white dress. Okay? Like, you take a chance and you wear a white dress to work.

And you're like walking around very carefully. You're like... When you go to work, you're hugging the buildings.

And you're avoiding the curb, you know? And... And you're like...

Before you sit down, you're like wiping off all the chairs. And you're making sure there's nothing close to you. And you're not handling any black things today.

And... And like that, you know? And then the person next to you...

That... Who put there? Big Bang?

No. God? No.

You? Yes. Okay.

Okay. They spill coffee on you. Okay?

So then you get this thing. You get angry at them, right? You get angry at them.

You get upset at them. Then you go home and you get in your car and you're driving back to New Jersey. And...

I used to do... Okay, you're in the bus. Okay?

I used to drive four hours in the bus every day. And... I used to...

Exhausted. I used to just fall asleep in the bus at the Port Authority. And then I would wake up at Perth Amboy, which is one hour away.

And I would do my Tundruk. Okay? I would do my prayers.

You know? And that was just my schedule. But on a bad day, you fall asleep in the Lincoln...

Sorry. You fall asleep in the Port Authority. And you wake up an hour later and the bus is idling in the Lincoln Tunnel.

You know? And you've been in there for an hour just sucking up this carbon monoxide, you know? And...

And you look out and you see the Lincoln Tunnel and you're like, Oh my God, you know? You know? But you don't get...

You don't assign blame. You see? I mean, you're not like yelling at the Lincoln Tunnel.

No, you don't like try to get the window down and throw your briefcase at the Lincoln Tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel is just a tunnel. Right?

Like you can yell at the person who spilled coffee on your white dress. You can tell them how stupid they are. You can ask them to be more careful tomorrow because you're going to wear a black dress anyway.

But... But you can't get like mad at the Lincoln Tunnel. Right?

You can't like curse the Lincoln Tunnel and throw stones at the Lincoln Tunnel. So that's what this verse is about. Why do you make that discrimination?

Why do you... Why do you divide things that way? You see?

It's very convenient, isn't there? There's three choices of who to blame. Right?

In this case. Blame... You can blame the person who spilled the coffee on your dress because they have a mind.

You see? Because they are conscious. They have responsibility.

Right? They have responsibility for what they do. You can think that.

But the Lincoln Tunnel, it doesn't have responsibility for what it does. So you don't get mad at the Lincoln Tunnel, but you do get mad at other people because they have a mind. You see what I mean?

And conveniently, you left out one other factor, which is what? You. You don't get mad at you.

Right? Like, if you can assign blame, you blame this person who spilled the coffee. If the thing is inanimate, if it's just a brick wall in the Lincoln Tunnel, you chill out.

There's nothing I can do. But in each case, the blame is going to somebody who didn't do anything. And you don't blame the third party.

Who's who? You. Like, you absolve yourself of blame by dividing the world into bricks and people.

I can either not get mad at bricks or I should get mad at people. But then you just left out somebody. And that's you.

Okay? So Master Shantideva is saying, Look, logically you should just, you should forbear. You should be patient.

Okay? Because it's all coming from you. Okay?

So you'll notice, like, I don't know, you stub your toe on a stone, you don't pick up the stone and start jumping on it. Oh, bad stone. Bad stone.

You see what I mean? But someone hurts you, then you attack them. Why do you make that distinction?

Because you don't understand that you made both of them. Okay? It's all based on not understanding where stuff's really coming from.

So if you catch yourself making that distinction, it's that you're not focusing on the real cause of the blame. Okay? That's that verse, 66.

67. It's easy to see that there are stupid people in the world, right? Who?

Who's really stupid? According to this, anybody who hurts somebody else when somebody hurts them, right? If you hurt somebody back, you qualify as stupid.

Ultimate stupid. Okay? Why?

Why is that ultimate stupid? It's the only way to get more of them. There's only one way to get more irritating people in your life.

And that's to respond negatively. Okay? If you want more obnoxious people in your life, then keep getting angry.

Okay? If you do that, he calls you stupid. Okay?

You're stupid. So people who hurt people are stupid. Okay?

That we can agree on, right? If karma is true, people who hurt other people are stupid. Okay?

Because they're just going to get hurt back. But what about people who respond to violence with violence? Are they smart or stupid?

I guess they're even more stupid in a way. You see? And he's just saying, look, there's two kinds of people in the world.

There's stupid people, because they hurt people. And then there's stupid people, because they hurt those people back. Okay?

So he says, so which one are you? You know? He's like, now he's like, who are you going to blame, you know?

You want to blame the stupid person or the stupid person? You see what I mean? Like, here's a joke.

He's playing a joke on us. Okay? Someone who attacks, someone who's violent is just plain stupid.

Someone who's violent back to them is just plain stupid. So, so who are you going to blame? They're both stupid.

Okay? The person who hurts you at work is stupid, because they don't understand karma. And if you respond, if you hurt them back, you get to qualify as stupid too.

Okay? That's all. Next verse.

Now he's bringing up the real thing. You know, it's like easy to say that the person sitting next to you at work is your problem, that you created this person, and it's just karma, but I think it's very helpful in a group like this, if somebody just says a few words about how karma works, you know? Okay, karma, karma, karma.

Everybody talks about karma. And when I first went to India, these western people were sitting in their coffee shops in Dharamsala, debating about karma, you know? Where does karma stay after you do it?

Somewhere out towards Pluto, you know? Like, you do this thing, you hurt somebody, like you push somebody on the street, and then this karma just goes out outside somewhere. And, you know, people always see some kind of black space.

It goes to black space, and it's like a boomerang. I push somebody on the subway, and then that bad karma goes, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, and it's like Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, whoo, whoo, whoo. Six months later, bam!

Somebody hurts me, you know? And you're like, why? Why?

You know, and you don't remember you threw the boomerang. You know what I think? When people talk about karma, you get this idea, right?

It don't work like that. It don't work like that. Your own mind is a tape recorder.

Your mind is the ultimate sensitive film. You know, I don't know, high-grain, what is it? Twelve by ten box camera, whatever.

Like, the best camera of all is your own mind. And it records everything you do. Your subconscious records every action you do, you know?

Whether you say something to somebody, or whether you actually hit someone physically, or whether you just think about somebody in a bad way, it's recorded in your subconscious, indelibly, like perfectly, perfect image, okay? And the camera's on 24 hours a day, the camera's on seven days a week, and it doesn't matter if you close the door. You see?

It doesn't matter if no one sees you. It doesn't matter at all, because there's no God watching you. And the police catch you sometimes, and they don't.

And somebody from your church might see you there or not. But your mind is always there. You see what I mean?

The reason to be a good person is always there. The recorder's on, and the seeds are planted. Then when they're planted in your subconscious, then time goes.

They grow, they mature, like any other seed, they take time. And then when things are ready, they come out. Where?

The tantric texts say there's a tiny pinpoint in your heart, chakra. It's the size, it's smaller than the tip of a needle. It's called mishigbe tigle.

It's a bindu of consciousness. And the whole world, your whole world, every person in this room, and this whole city, and this whole planet, and all the stars you see, are all just coming out of a tiny dot in your heart. They're all being projected out of a tiny dot in your heart.

The whole universe fits in the size of a needle point in deep in your heart. It's extraordinary. It's unbelievable.

That's where the world's coming from. That's where everything you ever did to anybody is staying there. And it comes out and creates your world.

Every detail of the hairs on the eyebrow of the 16th person in the 18th row is caused by you. You see? It's only by you.

You see what I mean? It's amazing. It's unbelievable.

Countless details, billions upon billions of details in your world in any given moment are being created by how did you take care of other people? You see? That's it.

So if you know that that's how karma works, then obviously the person who put that person next to you at work is who? It's you. And why did they hurt you?

Because you hurt somebody else. It's all coming out of here. Tibetans, they don't say, I think so.

They say, I think so. You see? Because the mind, the real core mind is here.

And the world is being projected out of this point in your heart. It's very amazing. And, you know, you can either project something sweet, you know, if you understand this stuff you can project a good world.

You can shoot all those obnoxious people with the patience chapter. You see? Patience, patience, patience, patience, di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di.

You know? And then like six months later they're all gone. You see what I mean?

From your office and from your life. You see what I mean? Or you can fight back against them.

And then you're planting more seeds. And then they put another guy on this side. You see what I mean?

No, really, really. That's where it all comes from. So, this verse, this is the ultimate verse in the, you know, in the chapter.

He's saying, you want to know who made all that stuff? It was you. And you have to clean up your own messes.

You know? You have to take care of your own world. Okay?

That's the, that's the chapter, that's the verse 68. That's what it means. By the way, I got to say something here.

Is this knowledge the basis for ultimate patience? To understand that the person who makes you upset in your life, and we all have one, right? Like there's, there's the guy at work, there's that person you know, there's the people on the subway, but then there's that one special person.

Everybody has one. I think. Everybody has one.

Like, and this chapter, this verse says, you made them. And you have to clean up your mess. Is that, is that ultimate patience?

Yes or no? It is. It's great.

So, why is it in the wrong part of the chapter? This is the part in the chapter which is on patience number three. Let me tell you about patience number three.

Patience number three is called Say, It means, I don't mind. I don't mind. It's okay with me.

It's okay with me. But it has a technical meaning in Buddhism, okay? It doesn't really mean that.

What it means is, you look at a bad situation, and you say, that's just my karma. That's just my karma.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
So now we got three kinds of patience. What was the first one? I can put up with anything.

I can put up with anything, because it's better than burning off all my good karma. You know? Whatever kind of bad stuff comes to me, I can handle it.

It's tough it out, patience. Tough it out. Why?

Because I don't want to melt up my good karma. And then the second kind of patience is like, I understand what's happening. I refuse to respond negatively, because I want to get rid of you.

Okay? That's the second kind of patience. That's the best one.

Now he's in the third one. The third one is, like you're just this kind of spiritual wimp. Spiritual wimp.

And here this guy sits down to you, and he starts, he starts saying bad stuff to you, about you to the boss. And you just say what? Oh, it's just my karma.

You know? Be nice. It's just my karma.

You know? I'll cope. I'll cope.

Okay, so now you got three kinds of patience, and you gotta, like, I don't know, link into that. Understand that. You have three options at any given time.

Number one, you're not making me angry. I'm not going to get angry at you. Why?

Because I hate you. You're a bad person. You're obnoxious.

You're stupid. You shouldn't be doing that to me. But I'm more concerned about my stockpile of good karma than about responding to you.

Okay? So don't take credit for me not responding to you. You deserve it.

But I'm not doing it, because I can stick it out. I'll tough it out. Because I don't want to burn out my good karma.

That's the first approach. Okay? Second approach is, I'm going to shoot you with the patience chapter.

You know? I'm going to be so cool to you, I'm going to serve you. I'm going to go out of my way to make you a coffee.

And I'm getting rid of you. Six months, you'll be out of here. One way or the other.

You know? You'll be out of here. That's like intelligent patience.

Intelligent patience. And then the third one, get the third one. The third one understands karma, but it stops there.

Got it? It stops there. It says, Oh, it's just my karma.

I'll cope with it. You see? It's just like a bean bag.

You just sit there and let them punch you.

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
Oh, it's just my karma. Okay? You know?

And it doesn't take that extra step. And shoot the person with the patience chapter. You see what I mean?

It's just like taking a shot. Shot after shot. Oh, it's just my karma.

You know? Okay? And you don't want to get into that.

Okay? You don't want to cope. You want to prevail.

You see what I mean? You want to clean up the universe. You know?

No more obnoxious people in the whole world. Okay? Is that possible?

We'll get there. It's coming. Verse 69.

Oh, so this verse 68 where he said, Oh, it's my karma. That was the wimpy kind of, It's my karma. Okay?

That's like, Oh, it's my karma. I guess I'll just have to put up with it. You know?

You hear people say that. Why are we in this life? You're working off your bad karma.

You know? Well, when am I going to be done? You don't know, so just be patient.

You know? That's like an unproactive thing. Like, just put up with the world until the world stops beating you up.

Okay? Just let them beat you up until things run dry. Okay?

That's all. It's sort of a bad attitude, if you ask me. Okay, verse 69.

I just asked you a question, and it's answered in verse 69. If you kept that up, if you kept shooting people with the patience chapter, we got to put a trigger on it, right? You know?

If you keep shooting people, I'm not going to get mad at you. Why? You are obnoxious.

You do bother me. You are the worst person in this office. You deserve to get mad at.

But I want to get rid of you, so I'm going to be nice to you. Okay? What would happen if you kept that up?

You see? What would happen? In my...

I went to college, in the religion department. I was in the religion department. They got up and they said, the test of a religion is what would happen if everybody did it always.

You see? What would happen if you did this all day long? What would be the final result?

You guys are sleepy. I don't know. I tell people in Kansas that people in New York are very sharp and aware and they answer right away.

I guess I have to switch it. Maybe I was in the old days. I don't know.

I remember. What would happen? No, you just go away.

They go away. They get transferred. They have a heart attack.

They become nice person. Okay? They quit.

They get transferred to the next room and a nice person gets put next to you. Is it an accident? No.

Did God will it? No. Did you just pull it off?

Yes. You see what I mean? Yeah.

And then one by one, you shoot them. And then suddenly, you're just surrounded by sweet, sensitive, considerate people. Oh, they're like, Geshe Michael, would you like me to run to Dinan DeLuca and get you strawberries or would you rather have blueberries today?

You know? Or they just go out and get both. You know?

And they come in, which would you like? Oh, you like sushi? I'll be right back.

You know, and they run out and they come back and you just be surrounded by people like that, by John Brady's all over the place. You see? You just be surrounded by people like that.

And the cool thing is, there's a thing in the Yoga Sutra, right, in the second chapter, where it talks about ahimsa, ahimsa pratishthayam, tatsanidau vairatyaga. If you keep up this ahimsa stuff, pratishthayam means if you keep it up over a long period of time, tatsanidau, in your presence, vairatyaga, no more violence in your world. No more violence in your world.

Are you saying that the war in Iraq is caused by, by me getting angry at people at work? Yes. Are you saying that every time I hear news about violence, or every time I see a guy jump out of a car and bang on the window of the car behind him, that I created that?

Yes. So, so you feel like, don't blame me. I didn't do anything.

I'm just living here. I didn't make that guy. I don't, I'm not the president.

I can't decide if B-52 takes off or not. You made the B-52. You made the bombs.

You made the president. You made them. Okay?

It's mind-boggling. But the good news is you can kick them out of office. You know?

No, I mean, you can, you can, ahimsa pratishthayam, if you, if you stand, stand steadfast in your non-violence, tatsanidhau, for you, there's the trick, did you hear it? Tatsanidhau, for you, vairatyaga, there will be no violence in your world. Okay?

That's amazing. Are you saying, ah, in somebody else's presence there will be violence? Exactly.

Well, that's not very fair. It's, everything is 100% fair. That's the way the world works.

Okay? If you're violent, you will experience this room as violent. If you are non-violent, you will experience this same room at the same time as this unbelievable paradise.

Okay? Well, which one is it really? Those of you who went to the Yoga Sutra, you know.

It's both, it's neither, I don't know. Okay? Yeah.

But, well, what's the real thing? Don't, don't talk like that. You know you're at work and you don't like somebody and you go to the lunchroom and you sit down and, you know, say the guy's name is Joe and you sit down and there's three people having lunch there and they're talking about Joe and you're like, ah.

And they say, he's really nice. And you're like, no, he's really bad, you know. They say, no, he's really nice.

You want this confirmation, right? You're waiting for the day when everyone else in the office, their eyes will open and they wake up to the fact that the guy who sits next to you is so bad. And you can't believe why everybody doesn't get it.

You know, like, I know he's a bad person. I know he's the worst person in this office. But the other people just don't get it, you know.

And then you try to, what do you call it, you campaign for your, for your point of view. You know, you're like, no, no, let me straighten you guys out. He sits next to me.

He, like, does these irritating things all day. You don't know, you know. And they say, no, no, we saw something different.

Joe is empty. The guy is empty. Get it?

You, tatsa ni dao baira tyaga. If you, if you give up violence, then slowly, your whole world will become non-violent. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. Okay? You're, you're responsible for all violence.

Okay? You gotta think like that. If you keep up non-violence, you will, he says, all the living beings there are come to find feelings of love each one for the other.

You'll be surrounded by people who are taking care of each other. All day. You'll be surrounded by people who just are madly in love with each other all day long.

Okay? And that's the way it happens. That's the way it happens.

And, and by the way, that's not just some philosophical BS, you know. You can count on it. You can take that to the bank.

Because things weren't made by the Big Bang, and things weren't made by some wacky guy. Things are made by you. And there's a perfect justice to everything.

So, you can either be the victim of that justice, or you can take advantage of that justice. You see? So, like, if you're in the know, then you have to really take care of other people.

And then the, then justice will take care of you. You see what I mean? It's so cool.

You can create your own world. And we all do all the time. But now you know how it works.

Okay? Uh, next verse. He gets into an idea here.

Okay? He gets into an idea here. We talked about lower kinds of patience and band-aid patiences.

I think here he gets into the worst one. I don't like this verse. I think he should have left this verse out.

But, uh, I gotta teach the whole thing. Like, we said we'd do 134 verses. We're gonna do 134 verses.

Okay? We're gonna do the whole, you could say you heard the whole patience chapter. I don't like this one.

He says, you know when you're living in India and all the huts are, are, touch each other? Like they're all, you save one quarter of the cost of building your house if you use your neighbor's wall? You see what I mean?

So all the huts are like built on each other. And then all of the roofs are thatch. They're made out of grass.

Right? So if, if one catches fire, he's saying, your house, your, your roof catches fire. Or, this happened to me in New Jersey.

I, I was, uh, studying in Howell at this temple. And, um, we, we have, I don't know those of you who know the place. Out back, there are all these shacks.

And, uh, really bad, crummy houses built in the 40s for summer vacations. And they weren't meant to be lived in in the winter. And, and there's a garage there.

And I start out in the garage. Okay? Like, cold.

And then, uh, the pipes would freeze. You know? Like, one day the pipes froze and they all broke.

And, and this, this old blind Mongolian Geshe, he's calling me, Mike, come help me, you know? And I run in there and the water's creeping up to the electrical, uh, outlets. And I, like, take an axe and I'm just like, bam, cutting the floor open, you know, to get the water out.

And, and then they, they, we call this guy across the street. He comes over for free with a, uh, welding torch. And he, like, heats up the pipes for us.

And then, you know, it's the coldest day of the year. So, he goes down in the basement and he starts heating up all the pipes. He starts a fire without knowing it.

He goes home. You know? And then there's this fire burning through the walls.

And we're just sitting and it's getting a little warm, you know? And, uh, for once, you know? And, uh, no, and then finally it breaks out of the, out of the roof, I remember.

And then we realize, oh God, all the walls are on fire inside the wall, you know? So, we call the fire department. And then all of the Mongolian people come.

These big, tough guys, you know? And, and the firemen start laying these axes on the roof, you know? And they start destroying the roof.

And the Mongolian guys are like, stop it, you know? This is our house. We gotta live in it, you know?

And they're saying, you gotta cut your losses, man. And they, they actually called the police to hold these guys back. And they just went at it.

And they just destroyed the roof so they could get into the walls, you see? So, sometimes you gotta cut your losses, you see what I mean? You gotta do something bad to get what you, a bigger thing.

And that's what this is about. He says, if your house catches on fire, you should be willing to go up and rip all the roof off and get the fire out to save all the other houses. You see what I mean?

Ten other houses are gonna burn down if you don't sacrifice the one that you're attached to. So you should be willing to just get up there and, and, and rip your own house down. Or else you're gonna hurt everybody else's house.

What's that mean? I, I don't like this approach, I tell you again. I think it's like a Hinayana approach.

I think it's like a small-minded approach. But if you think about it, I think sometimes you have to use it. When you're not strong enough to do some kind of tantric approach, when you're not strong enough to use your wisdom and do the analytical approach, when you're just really pissed off at somebody and you, you need something to do but you just, you know, since Patience chapter is too much, I, I'm just mad.

You know? Vinny says, cut your losses, get out of the, get up, get away from them. Just get away from them.

You see what I mean? Whatever's making you upset, get away from them. You see what I mean?

Just run away. It's basically run away. Okay?

From what? He says, figure out what it is that you're attached to and drop it for a while until you can calm down. Like what?

Like your family. Like your income. Like your white dress.

Okay? Whatever it is, just avoid it for a while. Don't wear the white dress for a couple of weeks.

You see what I mean? If you get angry at people because they're hurting your family, then leave the family. You see?

If you're trying to defend your income and your position at work, give up the position because you can't handle it. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. You know?

And it's a very, I think it's a very, I don't know, it doesn't appeal to me much, but I can see if you're really having a problem with somebody, like real anger all the time, in this verse he's saying, cut your losses. Cut your losses. leave them.

Leave them for the time being. Like if you have a relationship and you just can't handle it, then the lowest thing you can do, okay, is to get out, is to get away from the person for a while. Okay?

It's like that. Or if you find that, you know, you're attached to this person and three other guys are attached to her and you just can't handle your jealousy and your anger, then let her go. You know?

Just let her go and move to another town or something like that. You know? Cut your losses.

No. It's like a Hinayana approach. Cut your losses.

Okay? That's all. That's what this verse is about.

Tear, tear the roof down and leave. Okay? By the way, that's the basis of the monastic life.

It's, the world is a hard place, the world is a tempting place, the world is a distracting place. Once you get into a city, there's going to be 45 opportunities a day to break your vows. So just stay out in the middle of nowhere.

And there's a distinction in the Vinaya between a great monastery and a small monastery. A great monastery is, is like 15 miles or more from the nearest dwelling of a non-monk. You see what I mean?

Even if it only has one monk there. That's a great monastery. And then a small monastery is one that's closer to a city or closer to a town.

You see what I mean? And if it could have 2,000 monks there, but if it's, but if it's closer to a city than 15 miles or so, then it doesn't count as a great monastery. It's a small monastery.

You see what I mean? And the idea is, if you can't handle temptation, if you can't keep your patience in a certain setting, then leave the setting. You see what I mean?

Leave it. And go somewhere, go somewhere where you don't have to deal with that. That's kind of a wimpy solution because what?

Your karma follows you everywhere. It's merciless. You might get some brief respite from whatever's bothering you, but it's not a permanent solution.

Verse 71. This is where he explains the previous verse about the fire spreading. And he says, if you have some attachment to something, you can say like you're attached to a boy and three other girls are attached to him too.

Then he's saying, if you can't handle it, if you find yourself getting angry or jealous, which we said is another form of anger. We're going to do that tomorrow afternoon in the breakout groups. Okay?

You're going to get that tomorrow afternoon. His whole teaching on why jealousy is just another form of anger is going to be tomorrow. You can't miss that one, right?

But what he's saying is, look, if there's three other girls attracted to this boy and you keep getting jealous and angry, then just leave. Leave it. Okay?

Because you can't handle it. You're over your, what do you call it? You're over your head.

There are certain situations where you're just over your head emotionally. You cannot be patient. You cannot keep from getting angry.

Then leave the situation. Get out of the situation. It's just a temporary solution.

Number 72. What time we got? 9.20. Let me see what the next verse is. Oh, I like the next verse. Is anybody going to sneak out during the refreshments or can I trust you to have refreshments? I'm counting.

No, you've got to get this next. That's the sexiest verse in here probably. I'll trust you.

You can have refreshments now, okay? Come back in like 15 minutes and we'll start with the rest of the talk. I'll try to get you home on time, but who knows.

Okay. Somebody came up to me during the break and said, you know, I appreciate all this talk about not responding to people, but what do I do if somebody is really screwing me? I mean that was the language they used, you know, and they said, somebody's really cheating me financially or hurting me in a serious way.

Are you suggesting I just sit there? And I want to say now, the idea is you can undertake steps to try to solve a situation, right? You can do things that you have to do to try to...

If you see somebody being mugged on the street, you don't just put your hands behind your head and say, that's your karma. You know what I mean? You're responsible to go and help, you know, that's your responsibility.

As a spiritual seeker, it's your responsibility to step in, even in dangerous situations and try to stop the violence, you know, try to stop the person. What level of force can you use? They say in the scriptures, what would you do if you came home from work and somebody had slipped acid, LSD to your mother and your mother's gone crazy and she's standing at the door with a kitchen knife and she comes at you?

You know, would you just sit back and shoot her? You see, your own mother, you see, just temporarily crazy. What level of force is appropriate for you to use with your own mother if she comes after you with a knife because she's crazy, she just went crazy?

That's how much force you can use, you know? And believe me, you would find a way, right? If you really, really love that person.

You see, depending on the amount of love you have, you'll find a way. Love always finds a way to deal with something. So no, it's not that you just have to stand there and let the person beat up on you.

Why? It's bad for them. You see?

It's bad for them. They're making tremendous bad karma. Whatever you can do peacefully, whatever you would do to your own mother, you see, whatever you can do...

But there's one... You know, so physically and verbally, we are allowed some kind of space to respond to violence. Buddhism allows a certain kind of space.

You can undertake like special means of resisting violent people. But mentally, you are allowed no space. Zero tolerance mentally.

Whatever you do must be done with love. That's style. We talked about it last time.

So, even if you determine that you need to use some kind of force on this person, you know, not to hurt them, but restrain them. Whatever you do, you can mix it up, right? With them.

I saw this thing... There's this old movie, 1950s. There's an airplane flying to Hawaii.

They don't have enough gas. It's called the point of no return. Right?

And there's fuel leaking from the airplane. And then at some point they realize that they've gone too far to turn back to the California. But they just have to keep going and maybe they're gonna crash and maybe they're gonna not crash.

And then there's a priest on the plane and he's sitting next to a guy and the guy freaks out and he starts screaming or something. Oh, we're all gonna die, you know. And the priest goes, BAM!

And he knocks him out for the good of everybody. You see what I mean? And, you know, and that kind of thing, bodhisattvas can do that kind of thing.

But mentally, 100% love, you know. So whether you decide to restrain them, whether you decide to grab them around the waist, whether you decide to smack them a little bit, you cannot use anger. You see what I mean?

This book, what we're gonna talk about right now especially, is not about how you respond, it's about your state of mind when you respond. You fail when you get angry. You see?

You have failed if you get angry. It's not a question of do you hit them or do you hold them or what do you do? He's not talking about that.

He's talking about do you get angry? Because it's anger that's the dangerous thing. You see what I mean?

If what you do is motivated by love, if you really, really care for this person as much as your mother, you don't have to worry about decisions. You will know the right thing to do. You will do the right thing.

Physically. You see? He's not talking about physically or verbally.

He's saying, mentally, you cannot hate somebody else. You see what I mean? That's all.

So we're gonna get there now. Verse 72. Okay, somebody's on death row.

And in the old days it wasn't the way it is now. Okay? Death row wasn't an injection and then, you know, five seconds of kicking or something like that.

It was... They put... Kegak in Tibet.

Kegak. They put a noose around your neck and they string you up to a tree. And you just kick until you die.

You see? And it might be an hour. The idea of hanging somebody is that it's slow.

And you don't drop them through a gallows. You just hang them there. And then they choke to death.

Very slowly. And that was one of the punishments. You see?

And there were cases in Europe where people paid young boys to jump up and grab their feet and hold on so they would die faster. Young boys would go to the prisons in England and sell their services to the condemned prisoners. You know, like for five pennies I'll hold your feet while you're hanging just so you can die faster.

You see what I mean? And there were kids who would do that for a living. You see?

And... And so suppose there's a guy waiting in this prison and he knows he's gonna die like this. And then they come up to him and say, Look, we'll make you a deal.

We'll cut your hand off and we'll let you go. He's gonna say, OK. I'll do it.

You know? I mean, if I can save my life and just lose my hand, that's OK. I can do that.

And you would agree if you were in that situation. OK? It's called...

The idea is, again, cut your losses. And there's two ideas floating around here, OK? One is if you're in a situation that you can't handle without getting angry, leave the situation.

OK? If you have a position at work and you can't stay cool, then it might be better to ask for a transfer. You see?

It's avoidance. It's the approach of avoidance. And it's a wimpy approach.

But often you and me, we can't handle anything else. I mean, frankly. You know?

You can't deal with a situation. Get out of the situation. You know?

Again, if you're... If you have jealousy about other friends of the girl you like or the boy you like, then you might have to drop that whole relationship. Cut off your hand is better than dying.

You see what I mean? Cut off your hand is better than dying. OK?

Why? What's the big deal about anger, jealousy? If you really understood jealousy, if you really understood anger, you would rather lose everything in your life that you consider important than get angry.

What's producing all the money you make, all the food you eat, all the friends you have, all the career you have? What's producing that? Your good karma.

Your stockpile. You can wipe out a couple of years of good karma by getting angry in one day. OK?

So cut your losses. Cut your losses. Leave the situation.

You see? If you really got his first verse, you would do anything not to get angry. You see what I mean?

Because every time you get angry, you lose a few years of effort. Every good thing you did for anybody, you lose years of effort in 5, 10, 20 minutes of real anger. You see?

So, he says, cut the hand off. You know? Get out of the situation.

If you can't control yourself with certain people, even if you care for them, even if you want to be around them, cut the losses. Cut your hand off. So that's one approach, OK?

That's one meaning of this verse. There's another meaning. There's a second meaning.

He's saying, what he's saying is, if somebody slugs you in the face, got it? It happened to a friend of mine, Dan Kiley. We sent him to Bangkok to be our ruby buyer.

And he worked there for years. Then he comes back to New York City for a business conference. He's walking down Broadway.

And some guy just comes up and hits him in the face. Just like that. Bam!

And he doesn't know anybody in New York. And this good guy hits him and then just laughs and walks off. And then he came into the office with this big black eye and everything.

We're like, wow, what happened to you? If somebody hits you in the face, what's the proper reaction? He's about to tell you, you know, tie your hair back, push your hair back a bit, you know, face the guy in the right stance, right?

And then say, now hit me on this side. Okay? If you want to, just punch me on this side now.

You know, if you still feel like you didn't get your anger out of you, hit me on this side. Which is what? Turn the other cheek.

Turn the other cheek doesn't mean be nice or something like that. It means when somebody slugs you full on on this side, then the proper response is, would you like to slug me on this side? And let them slug you on that side.

And then people say, you're crazy, you know. You're crazy. And Shantideva says, no, you're caught in your handle.

It's just caught in your handle. It's nothing. It's nothing.

You just saved yourself from thousands of years of torture. You know, to save anger, to prevent anger for five minutes, ten minutes, it's worth it to get slugged again. You don't lose your good karma by getting slugged.

You lose your good karma by getting angry. Let's put it a different way. Every time you get really angry, I guess you could say you're cutting a year off of your life.

How's that? Seriously. Seriously.

Your life is sustained by your good karma. What makes your heart beat? Three choices.

You know them now. Oh, it was a cosmic boo-boo. Singularity.

You know. No, no. It's some guy made your heart beat.

No, it's your karmas making your heart beat. Well, why does it keep beating? Who put the beat in your heart?

You see? Who put the beat in your heart? Who put it there?

You put it there. What's sustaining your heart beat? Just your good karma.

You run out. If you draw down on that credit card, it'll just stop beating. You see?

So, for God's sake, don't get angry. You see? You just cut like a year off your lifespan.

If you understand yoga, okay? Like we just had a ten-day yoga sutra, right? You understand the physical process of this.

There's the pingala, there's the ida, there's the sushumna channels. And if the pingala, which is the anger channel, if it chokes tightly, major prana moving through the right hand channel, constricting these chakras, you just cut a year off your life. That's how it happens physically.

I mean, it's very powerful. It all has a physiological basis. Prana is being prevented from entering the channel of life, sushumna, the umma, the central channel.

Every time you get angry, you are undoing like two years of yoga. Okay? Like a one or two hour, was it two hours, Anatole?

A two hour yoga thing with a really good teacher might keep your prana going, I don't know, you might pick up six weeks of life. Okay? Seriously.

And then, physiologically, five minutes of anger chokes that much prana. You got to understand that. It actually shortens your life physically.

Okay? So cut your hand off. It's nothing.

Punch me again. Punch me again. I refuse to get angry.

You know? You want to hit me, you hit me again. Keep hitting me till you're tired.

You know? And try it. It's very powerful.

I mean, next time someone's really hurting you, okay, hurt me. I had a kid, I used to babysit these kids in college because I needed a place to live, right? And there was this one kid, he was really violent.

And he would just punch and punch and punch. So I just decided, I was under the influence of this chapter, right? Punch me.

Keep punching. And he punches and punches and punches. And then, finally, he's just like, Oh, I'm really sorry.

You know? And then, I just let him punch me till he finished. And he was so, so, he got to him after a while.

And he just stopped. And he's so, Oh my God, you know? And then, and then, 1999, I get this call.

This is John Cohen. Who's John, Kogan. Who's John Kogan?

You were my babysitter 25 years ago. You don't remember. I'm like, Oh, yeah.

Why'd you call me? He says, I saw you on this, I couldn't sleep at night, I had insomnia. I got up at 2 a.m. Do you know you're on TV at 2 a.m. on this little Brooklyn, you know? He said, No, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, you're teaching Dharma at 2 a.m., between 2 a.m. to 2.15, you know? And, and I'm like, and he said, he said, Thank you for letting me punch you.

You know? I'm like, no, at a certain point it just, you know, he's a stockbroker now, he's really good. But anyway, if you can save the prana getting choked, you can cut, you can prevent six months, a year, getting cut off your life, just by letting them, let them punch you.

Let them get it out of your system. Tell the karma where it's at. Just do it.

Okay? That's all. That's what he means when he says, you can either die, which means cut your life short, or just let your hand get cut off.

What's, if you had the choice, what would you do? You see? Nobody wants to get their hand cut off, but if it was a choice between dying or getting your hand cut off, cut my hand off.

Okay? People always say, I had this Mongolian guy, I used to give him his insulin every day, and he said, I'm never going to get my leg cut off, I'd rather die. The doctors told him, you have to cut your leg off, you've got gangrene.

And then he was close to dying, he said, I'll cut it off. You know, I mean, no, I mean you, when the time comes, you won't be such a tough guy, you'll say, yeah, cut it off. Or people have breast cancer, they say, I'll never get my breast cut off.

Then they're like, you're going to die. Okay, cut off my breast. You see what I mean?

No, you make a decision at that point. and all those people who are going to be tough guys, they change their mind. You know, I'm never going to the hospital.

What, you think people want to go to the hospital? You know, you think people, it's a decision they make? You see what I mean?

When the time comes, you'll go, because you're afraid, and you don't want to die, and you'll do whatever they tell you to do. And if it's cutting off something, you'll cut it off. So let them punch you on the other side of the face.

I mean, this is very powerful and very hard to do. It's the smartest thing to do. Let them punch you on the other side of the face.

Some lady asked me about financial, somebody cheating them financially. Yeah, let them cheat. Just do it.

Cut your hand off. It's better than dying. Okay?

It's hard. It's really hard. It's really hard.

And we have examples of great saints who do that, right? We have that example. The person who said, turn the other cheek.

He was trying to say that, right? He was telling us the same thing. It's very hard.

Ultimately, you're making this thing. Let them hit you. Okay?

Okay, next verse. Get this. Get this.

I'll tell you this verse in one second, okay? Save you time. Somebody comes up to Master Shani Davis and says, I can't do it.

I just can't do it. What? I can't let them punch me.

I can't. I just can't do it. I understand the theory behind it.

You know, I understand the Pingala and the Heart Chakra thing. I even believe you. But when it comes down, when it comes down...

Okay, I was going to do this verse quickly, okay? Some guy says, I understand everything. I understand the Chakra thing, the Pingala thing.

You convinced me. Then he says, but I just can't do it. You see?

It hurts too much. And then Master Shani Davis says, See? I told you.

I... You proved what I said. What's he mean?

No, he says, if you can't take, cut your hand off, how are you going to take the gallows? You see what I mean? You proved what I said.

Do you get it? He's saying like, the guy says, no, no, no, I don't want my hand cut off. I can't take it.

That's why you have to cut your hand off. Get it? Get it?

If you can't take pain, you must get your hand cut off. Get it? Okay?

I don't know, does the English sound like that? Let me see. Yeah, it's like that.

It's like that. He says, if you say you can't get your hand cut off, it proves you should let your hand get cut off. Because getting killed is much harder.

Got it? Got it? I'm too wimpy.

That proves you should get your hand cut off. Okay? Because the other option is really bad.

And he talks about hell realms and you don't talk about, you don't believe in hell realms, so I can't talk about it. Okay? You think you're just going to die and the Budweiser commercials were right.

One life to live. Drink up. You know?

No, you believe that. So an American teacher can't get up in front of an American audience and say, look, if you get angry, it not only shortens your pingala and your heart chakra and you die earlier, but after you die, it's a really, really, really bad trip. Horrible.

Horrible. Horrible things happen to you after you die. Okay?

If you've been an angry person in your life, you will experience many, many years of suffering the moment after you die. Okay? So, you know, I can't prove it to you.

If I had seen it directly, I can't prove it to you. Like, I... If I had seen those things directly, I couldn't convey that to you in a way that you would say, oh yeah, he's right.

You see what I mean? There'd always be this doubt in your mind. So I just throw it out, you know?

The... You don't just stop. When the body dies, the mind doesn't just stop.

And all those billions of seeds you stuck in your mind, they don't just like float away. Okay? No, it just doesn't work like that.

You don't stop when you die. It's saying that a person's mind stops because the body stopped is as ridiculous as saying that every broken down car on the New Jersey Turnpike abandoned car, that the driver is dead. No, it's the same logic.

No, it's the same logic. Like to a Tibetan, when an American explains why they... why you stop when you die, they think you're just nuts.

They say, what does that prove? No, no. I never saw a dead person move.

Duh! Okay, you never saw a dead person move. That doesn't mean they're not alive.

That doesn't mean they're not still going. The body died. The truck stopped.

The guy got out, walked to the nearest... What do you call those? Rest stops, you know?

No, he didn't sit in the... You know, just because the car is broken down. No, people say, yeah, but he didn't move.

Yeah, but the body is broken. The body wore out. It doesn't say anything about the mind, don't you get it?

You know, so you can believe it or not. I mean, believe it or not. Believe that you just came into the world by accident.

One body. And with infinite possibilities, you will never happen again, right? Believe that.

You throw the dice three trillion times, they'll never come out standing up on end, on a point. You see? It can't happen twice, but it can happen once.

You make sense of that. You see what I mean? No, no, really.

Things don't just stop. And then the mind goes to very, very bad places. If you've been an angry person, you have all these horrible seeds.

So he's just saying, here he's saying, you know, let them cut your hand off. Why? Because if you get angry, things you can't even imagine will happen to you after you die.

Take care of yourself. Watch out for yourself. You know, people do go on.

The mind does go on. Don't put all these, what do you call it, time bombs in your mind for you in the future to suffer from. You see what I mean?

Like, we have this thing, Americans are very selfish. Like, we use up our forests, and we're not thinking about the next generation. We just don't think about it.

You know? I got out of a three-year retreat. I met this forestry major, and she said, guess what?

The government has allowed all this cutting of the forest. You know, all those parks that existed when you went in the three-year retreat have been, what do they call it? Harvested.

You know? Oh, you mean they cut all the trees down? They've been harvested.

You know? And then, yeah, well, where's the kids going to play? Where are they going to go to camp?

And where are their kids going to go to camp? We just don't think about that. And on a personal level, you like cram all these lousy seeds into your mind stream, into the bindu at your heart, and then, oh, let Michael Roach deal with it ten years from now.

I don't care. You see, it's the same kind of mentality. You know?

You're setting up a bad scene for yourself later, but that's somebody else. I'm having a good time. I'm going to get angry.

There's this thing about anger feels good at a certain point, right? I like being angry. Don't tell me I can't be angry.

But you're going to cause a disaster for yourself five, ten years from now. I don't care. I'm here now, man.

Okay, that's all. That's all. It's a kind of thinking.

And it's really dangerous after you die. If you've had anger in your mind, it's really dangerous after you die. Okay?

Verse 74. He's talking now that in the normal course of a day to get the things you want, you do a lot of bad things. Okay?

You do a lot of bad things. Also, in the course of a day, you really do a lot of unpleasant things to get money or to get the things you want. You put up with a lot of stuff.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Like in a normal day. I know. I worked in a corporation for 15 long years.

You know? Two weeks off a year, 50 weeks on a year. Such a good deal.

You know? Thank you. We're gonna up your vacation.

What? Well, you get 14 days now, right? Yeah.

We're giving you 15 days. Wow. Thanks.

And I worked 350 days for that. Yeah. Makes sense.

You see? And you're like, Oh, I'm so grateful. You know?

And you work. And you work. And you know and I know you put up with so much abuse at work.

You know? Every hour. Every 15 minutes.

Some kind of dumb thing. You know? It starts with getting up at 5.30 in the morning and standing in the rain until the bus comes. And then it's like dark and it's coming down Highway 9 and you're like trying to catch, wave this bus down, you know? And it's coming at 60 miles an hour and it's raining and it's 5.30 in the morning and it's dark and you're like waving for the bus and you get to this thing where you can stand right on the yellow line and you're like, you know? And then some car cuts it off and they can't see you.

And it's vroom! You know? You're like jumping up and down and they don't look in their rearview mirror, you know?

And then you're out there for another half hour. That's just the beginning of my day. That's countless days.

351 times 15. Whatever that is. 2,000 days?

Something like that. I don't know. No more.

I don't know. 5,000 something. But anyway, that's how good a diamond...

No. So, that's just the first 15 minutes of the day. And then the whole day is like that.

You put up with so much pain and suffering and unpleasantness. Why? For some grubby little money.

So you can buy all this stuff that you don't need. So it will distract you from having your meditation practice. You see what I mean?

So it can ruin your meditation. You see what I mean? So you can have more stuff in your house.

So you definitely can't practice. You see what I mean? No, no.

No. So, Master Shantideva is saying, Look, you put up with so much pain just to do something meaningless. Then let the guy punch you.

Because such a great thing you're doing, such a noble thing you're doing, you are building the angel's body. Right? You are building the body of diamond.

Right? You are undertaking to build the holy, sacred angel of diamond through your good deeds, through your good karma. You know?

So finally, you're doing something that makes, that has meaning. Okay? It's not just gonna die when you die.

Right? Everybody dies. People work, they're so funny.

They say, I'm not working for myself, I'm working for the kids. Right. You know?

And what happens to the equity you built up? It's called your house, right? What?

60, 70 thousand dollars of equity. Two weeks after you die, they'll sell the house. And they'll go splurge the money.

Believe me. You know what I mean? Like you're going through all this pain for nothing.

They'll throw out your pictures in two years. Nobody will remember your name in ten years. Nobody will think about you in ten years.

That's how, that's how much your, your, all of your suffering to make the money will be slowly, quickly erased in this world. No effect. No effect.

No lasting results. Just pain. Just standing in front of the bus.

You know, trying to wave it down. And for what? At the end, it's just meaningless.

It's all wiped clean. The world is wiped clean of every trace of you. People won't remember anything about you.

All the money you made is just gonna go back into the economy somewhere. You know? Starbucks or somebody will get it.

You know what I mean? No, really. But, if you do this thing, let him hit you on the face.

Let him hit you on the other side of the face. Why? Why?

Because now you've got some pain that's gonna have some good result. Why? I'm creating the body of diamond.

You know? I am going to become like a savior for countless beings. So, hit me again, Sam.

You know? Just hit me. You know, finally I'm doing some painful thing that makes sense.

You see what I mean? So, he's saying like that. You know, finally you're doing something that is gonna have a lasting result.

So, you are the same people who've been standing out in front of that bus for five thousand days. And you put up with that pain. So, put up with a little pain.

This is gonna have a big result. You know? You will become the person who takes care of countless creatures on countless worlds.

For that you can stand in front of a few buses too. Okay? It's the same pain, right?

It's nothing. Okay? He's like on a roll.

Okay. Next verse. I think this is the last verse for tonight.

And it's very short, okay? And I know you gotta get home and it's a late night. And here it is.

Here is the punchline. If you let somebody punch the other side of your face for this purpose, you know, what? Bodhicitta.

I want to become the diamond angel. Living diamond, right? Living diamond.

Your body is like living diamond. You know, that's what yoga is for, right? We talked about it.

Living diamond. To dwell in countless worlds and serve countless beings at once. You know?

You should not only not feel upset when you let somebody punch you. It should feel like, Ah! Ah!

You know? You know? You should be blissed out.

You know? Hit me! Why?

Because I will change. You know? It will...

I will become this beautiful being. Enlightened being. If I can put up with you, I can become this enlightened being.

Punch me. Hit me. Do anything.

So it's not... There's this idea that you're just... What do you call it?

He's saying, don't practice patience with this kind of fatalism. This Spartan attitude. Okay.

Okay, I'm ready. Hit me again. Hit me.

You know? Yell at me again. Tell the boss again a lie about me.

I won't say anything. When they find out, it's such an interesting thing. The reaction of your whole office, when they know you're not going to defend yourself, is very interesting.

It's like the kid who keeps hitting you and finally... Finally like, aren't you going to hit me back? No.

You know? Aren't you going to tell the boss you didn't do all the stuff I accused you of? No.

Go ahead. Go ahead. You know?

And what Shantideva is saying, don't stand there like this. Okay, hit me again. You know?

Tell the boss again I'm a bad person. Tell him I made that mistake you made. I'll stick it out.

It shouldn't be like that. You should be like, man, hit me again. You know?

You should take joy. You know? I'm finally doing something meaningful.

You know? I'm finally responding to violence with the right way. And it's going to change my whole life.

I will become this exquisite creature that can serve all living creatures on all planets. Hit me! You know?

You've got to be like, excited about it. You've got to... Like, don't go to work tomorrow and say, sorry, Monday, whatever, and say, oh, Geshe Michael said I had to put up with it.

Okay, I'll put up with it. Not like that. You walk in there like Margot Fonteyn.

You know? You say, hit me! You know?

No, you're just like, hit me! You know? Because I'm going to become this beautiful creature if I don't get angry at you.

You know? So, give me your best shot and I'm going to be graceful and I'm going to be exquisitely patient and even happy that you hit me. And that's because I'm finally doing something meaningful.

You see what I mean? Finally! I'm doing something that won't be erased the day after I die.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Like, that will last forever. That lasts forever. Why?

Because the mind lasts forever.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
It's very beautiful. So think about it. And then try not to get angry on the way out of class tonight.

I'll try. Deal? Mazal?

Mazal. You know mazal? Those of you who don't, mazal is what diamond dealers say when they break a deal, when they make a deal.

Mazal, mazal ul-burkha, means deal. And in the diamond business, in the big diamond business, like 100,000 diamonds, 200,000 diamonds, you never have contracts. And there are no lawyers allowed in our diamond bourse, in the diamond clubs.

There are no lawyers. It's just all on, on, what do you call it? Your word of honor.

Mazal means my word of honor. And once you say mazal from your mouth, no one ever breaks a deal. If you break mazal, then you're just thrown out of the business.

You can't buy a diamond in the world. Your name goes out to every diamond club in the world. Mazal.

If you ever break your word of honor. So lawyers are not allowed in the upper echelons of the diamond business. There are no lawyers.

And there are no written contracts. It's all just, your verbal word is the thing. So why did I bring that up?

When I make a deal with you, I want mazal. Mazal means, okay, between now and tomorrow at two o'clock, make me mazal. Give them the other two.

Okay? I'll try and you try. Okay?

And we'll give mazal. Got it? One, two, three.

Mazal. Okay. We'll do a mandala.

Ready? Give away the good karma. Give away the good karma.