Углублённый курс ACI 02 — «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы» Мастера Шантидевы, глава об уничтожении гнева (2004, Нью-Йорк), занятие 6

[Говорящий 1]
The first one is verse 119. Do you have it? Am I right?

Okay, good. Can you hear okay? Can you hear?

It's like wah-wah. I'll try to speak louder. Does that help?

Sorry, it's like the room, you know. You might want to try in the back or something. Oh, we have some left over from yesterday.

I'm sorry. Let's do that. And then we might have announcements after that.

Good idea. Did we do, I think we did 101, right? Let's pick up, if you don't have it from yesterday, I'll just read it to you.

Verse 101 is, Here am I trying the best I can to enter into the house of pain, and like the blessings of an enlightened being, here comes someone who holds me back and shuts the door and bars it. How could I ever be angry with them? And we went over that yesterday and it meant, I mean, in practical terms, it means you don't know.

If someone, someone came up to me at the Tibet house and said, well, I like this patience chapter thing, but I'm different. You hear that in a yoga class? People say, yeah, well, most people can do that, but I can't, you know.

And then it's very common in a Dharma class. People say, you know, that approach makes sense, but I have a special problem, you know. Everybody has a special problem, right?

And someone is, I don't know, especially if you work in a corporation or an office, a big office, there'll often be people who are trying to, feels like they're trying to get you or something. They're trying to, they're trying to give you a bad name so that they can get the position they wanted or something like that. It's very common in a company.

So what this verse is talking about, you can view it as them blocking you from doing something that is less than what you might be able to do. You see what I mean? Like everything you can think of to do is like down here.

And the possibilities that you could be doing is up here. And basically when someone blocks you from something, when someone like, excuse the English language, but screws you, right? When somebody screws you, you can either get frustrated, angry, fight with them, right?

Like start exchanging notes with them about why they're wrong about you or go tell the boss why they're not such a good person or go defend yourself over and over. Or you can just say, this is a divine being, this person is a divine being and they're telling me I have to head in a different direction. And then just smoothly change directions.

Like water going around a rock in a stream, you know, and you just don't beat yourself against the rock, just flow around the rock and keep going. And my personal experience is that, you know, I worked in a big company, we had 800 employees in New York City and I had people that would try to do this to me and my own experience is that you just grow and grow and grow higher, you know? Like whatever you had your eye on that this person prevented you from, if you make your mind bigger and you just see a bigger view, then you can go up higher.

And I ended up the vice president of the company, right? I couldn't be the president because I didn't own it, right? The guy owned it, he got to be president.

But just don't mix it up with people, you know? Okay, you know, I'll just go this way, you know? And you can sit there in that chair and you can have that position and, you know, you can say what you want about me and I'm just not even going to hassle with you.

And you just flow another way, okay? And then the karma of doing that is that you end up the VP, okay? Then you can quit and go out and do a three-year retreat.

Okay, verse 102. I think you did this verse in your breakout groups, but I'll do it one more time. It's the question of style.

We talked about it. I think it's one of the most important points of this chapter. But the question comes up, and this often happens to me, you know?

Everything I do is some kind of Dharma project, you know? I have 50 active Dharma projects going on right now, you know? With 50 or 100 people helping me.

And I have to watch over 50 different projects. And then obstacles come up, you know? People interrupt me.

People sidetrack things. People, you know, something happens to the money. Something happens to the organizing.

Somebody quits. Somebody's mad. All kinds of obstacles come up.

With any major undertaking, obstacles come up. The more Dharma you do, the more obstacles you get. So, there's a tendency for Dharma people to say, my goal is very important.

Like, I have to get this reading out today. There's 300 people coming to the teaching, you know? If I don't get this out, then there's 300 people are going to be let down.

Maybe their enlightenment will be delayed by millions of years, you know? Therefore, I can get angry at this person, you know? It's a justification, right?

Therefore, I can get upset. Therefore, it's right that I should get upset. Because I'm doing a virtuous thing.

And many people will be affected. And this one person is causing me trouble. So, it's all right that I should get angry at them.

You see what I mean? There's this virtuous goal idea. But then Master Shantideva is into this thing where he says, the process is the goal.

Okay? The process is the goal. It doesn't matter if you're going to give 300 people a teaching about patience.

If you can't be patient with the person who's blocking you at the copy shop, you know, who's slow in front of you in the copy shop. If you get angry at them, so that you can get the copies faster to the teaching, then there is no teaching. You see what I mean?

There is no point to have a teaching. You see, the process is the goal. And it's never that the goal would justify the means.

You see what I mean? The means is the goal. You know, each step in the process is the practice of patience.

And then he's anticipating a... He's really good at that, right? If you've been in the breakout groups, you notice.

Master Shantideva is really good at anticipating the other guy's objections. And the guy comes up and says, Yeah, that's true, but there's bigger goals and there's lesser goals. There's priorities.

I mean, 300 people is more important than one person. Can't we say that? You know, like I can bump one person in the copy shop to get the readings done faster for 300 people.

Isn't there some kind of priority like that? Like, I can get upset at this person. And he says, Generally, you might be able to say that, but what's the highest form of spiritual practice?

What's the highest tapas? Patience. So, you're covered.

To keep your patience with the one person in line is already the highest goal. Okay? If you want to talk priorities, I'll talk priorities.

Being patient with the person in line is the highest priority. Didn't Master Shantideva say that at the beginning of the chapter? That is your highest priority.

So, got it? So, he's like, You want to play the priority game with me? Okay.

Patience is the highest priority. That's the highest practice you can do. So, you can't get mad at the one person to serve the 300.

Okay? Got it? Okay, that's what he's saying there.

And that's the idea. I like to call it style, and it's already become a little catch word among the people that hang out and do these readings together and stuff. They're like, You know, you're getting nervous before the teaching, and they're like, Are you doing that with style?

And style means, every step of the way should be calm, focused, polite, you know, happy. And if it's not, then there's not much reason to have a Dharma teaching. You know, like if you're doing a book together, or you're giving a lecture, or you're doing your yoga, and you have some big goal in mind, but if you can't be happy and considerate and kind at each step in the process, and with yoga, physically, it's if you can't be smiling through the whole thing, not just at Shavasana, you know.

You know what I mean? Like, if your face is all crunched up on the three poses that you don't like to do, you know what I mean? Then again, you don't have style.

You see? There should be this, I call it the Virgin Mary face through the whole series, you know. And it's like, you know, no, and then people spit, you know, you go like that.

and then there's, that, that actually closes up this chakra, right? It closes up this granthi, this knot, here. If you're, if you don't smile, or if you don't at least have a loose face, then you, actually the yoga is meant to open certain channels, and if you don't do it with this Virgin Mary face, then, then you're actually tremendous prana is injected into the channels, and then you're tying it up.

So then you, something has to spurt out, you see what I mean? And that's why people hurt their shoulders, or things like that. You know, that's why people hurt their neck, or, that's, you know, inner body, inner physiology way, that's what's happening.

If you don't keep a happy heart while you're doing those physical exercises, and if you're not keeping a calm visage, right? You actually hurt yourself. You see what I mean?

It's very interesting. that's what that style, style through the yoga, and style through the day. While you're doing these big projects, they're going to help many people, but it, but if you get upset, halfway through, then the, the goal is already destroyed.

The, the way is the goal. Okay? Yeah.

Okay. 103. 103.

He keeps talking about Gek. Gek means someone who is causing a problem, someone who is stopping me from getting things done, right? Like, I want to do a virtuous thing, I'm trying to get this reading done for the class, I have to get the Sanskrit corrected, you know, or else Marcus will tell me I did something wrong, you know, and I'm like, you know, and I'm like, gotta get this done, and then someone keeps interrupting me, and I, and finally I just say, you're, you're a hindrance to me, you're an obstacle to me, you see what I mean?

And you get upset. And this verse is about, you, you want to know who the hindrance is? You is.

Okay? You want to know who's blocking progress? You.

Why? Because you got upset. You see?

You already blocked the whole thing from happening. The thing that's supposed to happen is that people learn to be patient and not to get upset. And then if you get upset trying to get your reading done to deliver a, a teaching on not getting upset, then who's the hindrance?

You see what I mean? It's not the other guy, it's you. You're the hindrance.

Okay? That's all. That was meant for me.

James, we, no, not yet, let me know. That, that person's clock was the same as mine, actually. I, from a long time.

Okay. We're going to start on today's reading with verse 119, I think. 117?

119? Okay, good. He's laid a lot of trips on us so far.

Like the, the ones that I come to mind is if you get jealous at another person because they got something nice, then that's just another form of anger. You know? It just counts as anger.

It's a, it's a kind of hatred. Right? And then he, he lays this trip on you in the last reading.

He says, so what kind of bodhisattva are you? You know? I'm going to work so that every living being, I'm going to do these highest practices from the ins, chinam tablat sorbet.

I'm going to work from the inside and I'm going to work from the outside. And through my yoga and through my inner practices, through my meditations, through my study, through my prayers, you know, I'm going to, my body will change into something better than diamond, living diamond. And it will appear on countless worlds to serve countless beings and fulfill their wishes.

But why did she get that promotion? You see? Now, you see?

You see? And so he laid this trip on you, you know, like, what kind of bodhisattva are you anyway? You know what I mean?

This is, what's a promotion? He calls it ngen lun. Ngen lun means garbage.

Ngen lun means junk. You know? What is it?

It's a couple of seconds of happiness in a life that all she's got to look forward to is breast cancer or losing her family or children dying or wars and pestilence and you're worried about this promotion? You know what I mean? What's wrong with you?

You know, this person gets one little lousy stupid moment of happiness in their life and you can't stand it? What kind of bodhisattva are you? You know?

What's this bodhichitta stuff? You know? And he lays this trip on you.

Right? So now he's going to... There's different ways that he gets you to stay patient.

Right? There's different trips he lays on you. Many, many trips so far.

I think that's the hardest one to me. You know, like, I get envious. Other teachers.

Somebody says, oh, so-and-so's got 301 students at their class. You know? And I'm like...

You know, and... And then there's this trip that you have to admit you're not a bodhisattva. And that hurts.

It really hurts. Right? Because you're trying.

You're really trying. So he's going to lay a new trip on you. This 119.

It's like, look, you want to get to the stage of the body of living diamond through your outer practices and your inner practices. Then you're going to serve all living beings. And then we said that there's probably people who have already pulled it off.

I mean, if Buddhism or... These yoga traditions have been going on for almost 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 years, then somebody has done it. Right?

What's it say? Vicharantite. What's it?

Hatha Yoga Prabhavatam. Brahmandevicharantite. There's some...

Khandayitvam Kaladandham. There are people who use the yoga of inner and outer methods. Hatha Yoga Prabhavatam.

They are empowered by that. And in Khandayitvam, they wander around the world. Kaladandham.

They have murdered death. I love that one. Brahmandevicharantite.

They wander around the egg of Brahma, which means the world. So, according to these verses, right, ancient Sanskrit yoga verses, there's people among us already. You know?

Like, in the crowd, there's X number of people who have already pulled it off. And they disguise themselves, right? I mean, people don't show up with a diamond body, and, you know, and then we're not...

we can't handle that. We can't relate to them. We would disrespect them.

We would crucify them or something. So, I mean, we wouldn't know how to behave towards them. So, they just show up as your wife or your child or your friend or your enemy.

Okay? So, he's talking here. He says, these people are working really hard.

These enlightened beings are sprinkled around everywhere. You know? And they're trying to help everybody.

The least you can do is try to make them happy. You know? It's...

He's laying a trip on us. You see? Can't you just do something right?

You know? Can't you just, you know... Mom is...

Mom would be happy if you could just share your toys for five minutes. You know? Like, there's moms all around.

These enlightened beings are sprinkled all around. They're watching you. They're trying to get you to do things right.

You know? Don't you have any shame? You know?

Can't you just be considerate of how they feel? Just... Just be patient with one lousy person at work for five minutes.

Make them happy. Make these enlightened beings proud of you. That's my son.

That's my daughter. See? She shares her toys.

I mean, I hate to say it. I got pictures. She's like the smartest girl in her school.

I don't know. They just... The school tells me they haven't seen a girl like that in years.

You know? And I have to go around the country and hear this from every parent I meet. You know?

Like, I can't... I don't know how there can be the smartest kids are always the people I meet. But anyway...

You gotta... Make them happy. You know?

Like, don't disappoint the Buddhas. See? Don't...

They're sprinkled around. They're watching you. They're...

They're on the bus trying to get you to do something right. They're screwing you at work to send you on a different path next week that's gonna lead to your enlightenment. You know?

So make them happy. You know? Be a mensch.

Or a woman. I don't know. But show your stuff.

You know? Show what you can do. Be patient with them.

And then these enlightened beings are gonna be watching you out of the corner of their eye. They're like, Ah, I'm so proud of them. You know?

They went to the patient's teaching on Sunday. And they still remembered it on Monday morning. And...

And they're acting nice to the people at work. You know? I'm so proud of them.

So, if nothing else, do it for them. You see? He's laying another chip on you.

Do it for mom and dad. Okay? Now he's gonna go through establishing...

Why is the relationship between the person at work who irritates you and enlightened beings like a parent and their child? Like I just said that the Buddhas are looking at you like their daughter or their son and they wanna brag about you but you haven't done anything to brag about yet. And so, give them something to brag about.

Then the guy is gonna come. There's this new Nick in the audience, right? He's like, Well, how come they're your mom or dad?

You know? Why do they care about you that much? That's...

He's gonna get into it now. Okay? He says, Look, Buddhas or enlightened beings or...

You can say, I feel Jesus a lot in these verses. This next teaching, these few verses, I feel Jesus a lot here. You know, just my...

the way I grew up. I know everybody grew up in a different tradition or whatever, but to me, it just hits me like that. He says, Look, these enlightened beings, in order to get enlightened, they had to go through tough stuff.

They went to hell for other people. Like if there's somebody down in the lowest hell and they need help, a Buddha will go without question. You know?

Like, a bus is burning and three people are caught inside. They don't even think. They just walk into the bus.

You know? They don't hesitate. The thing's on fire, they just go.

You know? So these people, countless times, these beings have given up their bodies like that. Enlightened...

To get enlightened, you have to do stuff like that. Countless times they have given up their bodies. They have run into burning houses.

Countless times sacrificed themselves to pull somebody out. You see, don't you get it? They love people.

They care about people. So you can't get mad at those people because if you do, they'll be disappointed. You see what I mean?

You can't hurt their kids. Get it? Like, everybody around you is a child of these beings who have died countless times trying to help them and they haven't...

they love them. And when you get mad at somebody and try to hurt them back, you're hurting their children. You can't do that.

You see, I mean, they love them so much. You can't... You have to at least have a little bit of the love that they had.

And you can't... you can't attack people back. Right?

This is all talking about how you respond to violence, right? Don't forget the whole chapter. The whole chapter is somebody has just said something bad about you.

Somebody has just tried to screw you. And how do you react? And...

and he's saying here, look, all those enlightened beings, they gave up their bodies countless times for other people. They love those people. So you can't hurt those people.

They're under protection. Somebody bigger cares about them. You know?

You can't hurt them. Okay? Because you'll upset their mom and their dad.

Right? Okay? Got it?

Okay. Even should they do me great harm. Okay?

Even if they really hurt you. Even if somebody else really hurts you. You can't hit them back.

Why? Not because it's wrong. Not because it would hurt them.

Because you would hurt the one who cares so much about them. You see what I mean? Got it?

Okay. 121. Here he uses the word Je, Je, like Je Tsongkhapa, which means Lord or Boss.

Okay? In the, in the Sanskrit, it's Swami. Okay?

Swam, Swami, Swamin here. And literally, Swami or Je means like my Lord and Master. Master and Commander.

Terrible movie. Don't see it. Okay?

Anyway. Like, you say, who's your Master? You know?

Who do you work for if you're a Bodhisattva? I'm working for all the enlightened beings. You know?

I'm their representative on this planet. You know? I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the salesman for all the Buddhas on planet Earth.

You know? I'll be the middleman. I wanna be the representative of enlightened beings on planet Earth.

You know? That's the role that, that I wanna play. Okay.

So, if your Boss was willing to do something, would you be willing to do something? Sure. They're my Boss.

You know what I mean? They're in charge. They are my Lord and Master.

Right? My Lord and Master. Okay.

So, they give up their bodies for these schmucks. Okay? You gotta think like that.

Like the bus is burning and three people are caught inside. These are like three of the worst people in New York. They are criminals.

They are rapists. They are terrorists or something. And then, up along walks this most noble, beautiful, compassionate, talented person called an enlightened being.

And compared to the schmuck in the bus, they are so high. They're so much different. Right?

They are higher kind of being. But what do they do? They run into the bus.

They push the other people out and they die. You see? So, they think it's important.

Even for really bad people. Even for really rotten people. They think it's important to give up your life for them.

You know? They think it's important. So, you should.

Okay? That's all. So, you can't...

Again, it's a thing. It's in the context of someone's attacking you. Someone's screwing you.

Okay? Do you attack them back? No.

Why? These enlightened beings give up their lives for these people countless times. Terrible, horrible, murder, rapist.

And they give up their beautiful, holy, sacred, sensitive, kind, compassionate person's body for these scum. Okay? They give up.

They give up their body. So, you have to do the same. You have to be Dasa.

Dasa in Sanskrit means... You see it at the end of people's names? Dasa, like Krishna Dasa.

Or Saracandra Dasa. Or... It means...

Dasa means servant of the world. Servant of the world. You know?

You have to be the servant of all these people. Why? Because your Master has been the servant.

If your Master can stoop down to be the servant of these people and you're the servant of your Master, then where's that put you? You see? Got it?

Okay? If your Master would give up his or her life for these terrible people and you're the servant of your Master, where's that put you? You have to be willing to do the same.

Okay? You're the servant of your Master. So, that makes you the servant of the servant of everybody.

Okay? Everybody's servant. You have to...

You have to think you're everybody's servant. You're everybody's gopher. You're the universal gopher.

Okay? Alright? Gopher of the universe.

Anything people need, you're going to take care of it. That's all. Even crummy stuff.

Even stupid stuff. They want coffee. They want a hot dog.

You know? They want a beer. I mean, there's a touchy there.

But anyway... No, but you... You serve everybody.

Why? Because he's enlightened being stooped that low. What?

You think you're too... You're too good for that? You're stupid.

He calls you oaf. He says you're an oaf. Okay?

Momba means like... You're just a dumbhead. Okay?

And he says, if you add a pride, if you say, look, I'm an ACI teacher. I know some Sanskrit. I can type Tibetan.

You know? I've been through eight levels of classes. You know?

I don't have to go be a gopher for some schmuck out on the street who's just this ignorant stupid guy. And then Master Shantideva says, you don't get it. Then you're the stupid person.

You're the idiot. Okay? If you're too proud to serve everybody, then you're the idiot.

You're just a dumbhead. He's like... He calls you an oaf.

Okay? Like that. Alright.

Next one. This is very beautiful. It's like, you do something nice for other people, you make mom and dad happy.

Okay? If you do anything nice for other people, you have made the enlightened beings in the universe happy. And that's the greatest thing you can do.

You know? These people, these enlightened beings are around us all the time. They are always trying to guide us.

Without them we would be... we would be hopeless. We're hopeless.

Right? They call a single light in the world, right? You are the light of the world, right?

And there's just a few people like that. And the whole world is like dark. And the whole world is just fighting with each other and trying to eat for themselves and have what they want and ignore other people.

And then there's a few bright lights in the world. You know? There's a few wonderful beings in the world who are trying to raise us up to a higher level.

Right? So try to make them happy. You know?

Try to honor them. What's the best way to make them happy? What's the best way to honor Buddha?

And then people go out and they put out 45 offering bowls and they make them gold and then they build big buildings and then they do all this stuff. You know? I offered 45 dishes of mush-mush to the altar.

You know? And like that. He says, No, no.

You want to make an offering to the enlightened beings. Be nice to other people. Don't fight back when they fight with you.

Ultimate offering. Forget all the other stuff. You know what I mean?

Jesus said... What is it? Lay down your...

Go to the... He meets some guy. He's making an offering in the temple in Jerusalem.

And he says, Forget the offering. Drop it. Just drop it.

Drop it on the floor. Go say you're sorry to the guy you had a fight with yesterday. That's the offering.

Right? That's the real offering. And this is like an offering that you can make all day long.

You know? So next time someone's like says something to you, Hey, stupid. Then you're like, Okay.

Did you get that? You know? No, you say, You know.

No, an offer. Offer it. Ten times better than giving money to lamas or everything.

Everything. If you want to know how to make lamas happy, right? And Buddha, lama, enlightened beings sitting next to you, same thing, right?

You want to make them happy. They don't need money. They don't need houses.

They don't need anything you can give them. Really. A real lama, a real guru, they don't need...

You can't give them anything. They have what they need. They have the best things.

And the only thing that can really make them happy is you take care of somebody else. You see? Then you say, I offer that to you.

I took care of somebody today. I didn't get mad at somebody today. I offer that to you.

Then that they need. You know? That makes them happy.

Okay? They don't need money. They don't need things.

Really they don't. You can't give them anything they don't have. You don't have anything to give them.

You don't have anything that a person, a real lama needs. You don't have anything. They don't need anything you have.

But you can give them your patience. Right? You can say, I offer you my patience with this person.

And then they're like, Ah! Okay? Alright?

Like if you want to keep your guru happy and healthy and you know, around in the world, you have to give offerings. Right? You have to catch him with the flypaper, guru paper.

And the best way is to keep them around, is to, in their presence and outside of their presence, you take care of other people. And when someone's like crapping on you, you just used to say, I offer this to my lama. You know?

You say, Can I take you out to lunch? Yesterday I said, you should take out to lunch the people who are screwing you at work. And then all these people came up and said, God, I don't know if I can afford that many lunches.

Okay. Okay. And when you hurt other people, when you fight back, then you disappoint your lama and they won't stay.

They get hurt. They get hurt by that. It's like, it's like stabbing a knife in them.

You see what I mean? It's one more pain. You know?

It's one more negative thing and then it hurts their life. You know? So, So he's laying this heavy trip on you now, right?

It's getting heavier. Okay. This is really beautiful.

He says, You know, if you go up to your lama and you have $10,000 and you, you know, you lay this check down and you run out and you buy pies and cakes and you offer them and then you, you buy them some flowers and you build them a big house and you do all this stuff and then you fight back to someone who, who does something bad to you. You struggle against a person that's trying to screw you. Well, that's like pouring gasoline over a person's body and light the match to it and then offer them some ice cream.

You see what I mean? It's like that. It's like when you are bad to other people, when you fight back to other people, it feels to an enlightened being like you just covered them with gasoline and you lit the match.

And then what? You're making offerings? Are you going to give them an orange then or a flower?

They're, they're burst into flame, you know? They're, they're in this torment of flame. Their body is ripping open and you're like, do you want Ben & Jerry's or, or would you rather have Haagen-Dazs, you know?

And they're like, don't talk to me, my body's on fire, you know? And, so if you're bad, if you fight back, it's like lighting gasoline on, on enlightened being, the enlightened beings around you. And then everything else you do doesn't count, you see?

It's like somebody's caught in a car and it's burning and you're like knocking on the window, do you want some ice cream in there? You know? And they're like, what are you talking about, you know?

You want to make me happy? Get me out of the car, you know? So, it's like that.

The other offerings don't mean anything if you're not being nice to the people around you. And especially to the people who are trying to screw you. Next page.

Heavier, heavier. At this point, the other, Master Shantideva says, he's always anticipating where your mind's going to go. This is an old debater thing.

Debaters learn to be like chess players. They think 14 moves ahead. In a debate in the monastery, you learn to think like 14 moves ahead.

Shantideva was in the monastery, right? He was the greatest debater at Nalanda, right? And don't forget, everything he's writing here is in the context of a guy who has just been screwed by everybody in the monastery.

Right? Remember this story? Like, they're actively trying to get him out of the monastery.

He's a great, kind, compassionate, very knowledgeable, very a saint, right? They don't get it. Everybody in the monastery is out to get him, to get him.

So, he's writing this book and he's delivering this first teaching of this book in an assembly of maybe 500 monks who hate him, who are trying to get rid of him. You see what I mean? And you've got to remember that.

Like, it's so powerful that he's doing that, okay? Then he gets to this point and suddenly he, like, has a realization. He says, God, you know, how many people I've been mad at in my life?

How many times I got upset at people and now you're telling me that all the enlightened beings around, when the times I got upset at people it was like I threw gasoline on them and lit it, like it was causing them that much pain? And then he's like, uh-oh. Okay, he's like, uh-oh.

You know? Like, it's one thing to fight back when someone hurts you. But to think that that caused intense pain to an enlightened being and maybe many, many enlightened beings.

Then you feel like, oh God, can I take that back? I mean, that's the human, the human reaction, right? Is there any way I can take that back?

And there is, okay? I mean, you have to study it. There's a way to clean your old karma.

There's a karmic search-and-destroy method. And we've taught it several times. If you don't know about it, talk to the ACI teachers.

It's a special teaching. It comes from the ancient scriptures. It's called the Four Powers.

So, the most important thing you have to do, knowing that you've, you've just ignited the bodies of so many enlightened beings, even just this morning on the way to the teaching, like I'm getting irritated, I'm getting upset with somebody, right? So, knowing that I did that, what do I do? How can I clean up that karma?

And the best way is just to admit it, okay? Stand up in front of 300 people and say, you know, I'm teaching you the patience chapter and I can't do it. You know what I mean?

And, you know, every time I'm working on this thing, something happens to upset me and I'm, like, irritated. I'm, like, mad. You know?

And then admit it openly. Shakpa. Tushin Shakpa means just admit it.

And that's the most powerful thing. To clean the karma, just don't hide it. Just be open.

Say, look, I have it. I have the same problem, okay? And I got irritated this morning with somebody.

And then that, that, that does a big blow to the karmic seed. The karmic seed gets, like, blasted. Okay?

The minute you admit it, then you can make progress, you see? If you admit it, especially to yourself, then you're eligible to go somewhere. But if you keep denying it, oh, I'm really a pretty nice person.

I'm teaching the patience chapter, after all. I must be a nice person. Even if I get upset, I must be a nice person.

You know? Then you're just fooling yourself and you won't make progress. Okay?

So there's this thing of, first step is to admit it, that you have it. Then you can work. Then you can go.

Then you can work on it. You see what I mean? Yeah.

Okay. I like this verse. I don't know if you can read the Sanskrit.

The last, the last word in this verse in the Sanskrit, he's asking the enlightened beings to be patient with him. Please forgive me, he says. Please forgive me.

But the word for forgive and the word for be patient is the same. Kshama. See?

It's very, he's making a big pun. He's making a big pun. He says, please be kshama with me, enlightened ones.

Be patient. Forgive me, if you read it that way. But what's it also say?

Be patient with me. You see? He's using the word patience as a joke, okay?

If you know Sanskrit, he's saying, keep your kshama with me, okay, Buddhas? Meaning forgive me, but also meaning be patient with me. It's a joke.

Okay. 125. There's this thing in Asia, okay, where your feet are considered very dirty.

Like if you touched your foot on somebody, it would be like spitting on them. Okay? It's just the same as spitting on them.

Like in Thailand, you go to a temple and there'll be a big sign on the Emerald Buddha Temple, right? It says, foreigners, don't point your feet at the images, you know? Like there's just a big sign.

Like you don't know our customs, but at least you can learn one. And that's don't point the bottom of your feet at the images, okay? Like you can sit on the floor of the temple and cross your legs though.

Don't stick them out at the images. And it's the same in India or Tibet or anything like that. That's why when you meet your guru, you touch their feet.

And that's why Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. It's like humility. Because that's...

The foot is considered like covered with poo-poo almost. You see what I mean? Like to touch somebody's feet is like very filthy.

Or to point your feet at somebody is very wrong, you know? So he's saying here, part of the process of removing bad karma is to admit it. And the most powerful step in removing old bad karma is what?

Don't do it again. You see what I mean? I'll give an example.

If you're having a physical problem like a bad back or something like that, okay? If you're having a physical problem, that's because of bad karma. You did some kind of bad karma, okay?

What kind of bad karma? You hurt some other living creature, okay? You killed animals for food.

You hit somebody. You know, something like that. You did some kind of harm to another living being, okay?

And then you say, are you doing that kind of thing now? And you say, well, no, I'm a pretty nice person. I'm a vegetarian, you know?

I haven't punched anybody that I remember recently, you know? Okay? But to remove that karma that's hurting your body, you have to go much, much deeper.

And you're... How do you say? You're ahimsa, right?

Has to go to a new level. You see? If you want to remove sickness from your body, you can take medicine, but it might or might not work.

You can do yoga, and it might or might not work. You can have an operation, and it may or may not kill you. Okay?

Really. Really. But what decides what happens is are you taking care of other people?

That's all. Medicine doesn't have any power to cure you. Doctors don't have any power to cure you.

Operations don't cure you all the time. Sometimes they fail and you die. What decides whether they work is did you take care of other people?

So, if you have a medical problem, go to a doctor. Do what they tell you. But then work very hard to take care of other creatures, other living beings.

Protect them. Protect their lives. Save them from pain.

You see what I mean? And then it will... it will work.

So in this verse, he's doing what we call Domba. Domba means part of cleaning up old nasty karma. What nasty karma is he cleaning up?

He burned all these Buddhas. Right? He threw gasoline on all these Buddhas.

Why? He fought back when people were hurting him. He fought back.

And that made them unhappy, like as if fire was covering them. So he said, I'm really sorry. Okay.

So first he admits it. And then step number two, he says, I won't do it again. I'll restrain myself.

This is called restraint, the power of restraint. I will restrain myself. And just so you know, if you don't have time to do the whole course about karmic cleansing, they say, don't collect a lie.

Don't make a new bad karma when you get to this verse. Don't say, I'll never get mad again at this person. You know, I'll never fight back again with this person.

Why? Because you'll lie. Because tomorrow you won't be able to control yourself and you won't remember it and you'll do it again.

Now you collected two bad karmas. You got mad at the person again, but you also broke your vow to the Buddhas of the universe. So it's better, they say, make a time limit.

Okay. So tonight, until I take the first bite of that Indian dinner at the fundraiser, I promise I won't get upset at person X. Like you make a promise like that and then you keep it.

And that goes into your karmic storehouse like search and destroy mission. I think of those guys chasing Neo in the Matrix in the ship. You know, those little bug things and they're like...

And it goes into the tubes of your karmic channels and it seeks out heat missile, heat seeking missile, it seeks out the karma of disappointing so many Buddhas and it destroys it. You see what I mean? Just the decision to control yourself for an hour, for two hours, like that, it destroys old bad karma.

So you can get rid of your old bad karma. You can. And that's the way.

So in this verse he's showing us how to get rid of old bad karma. So he says, look, even if somebody comes with their dirty, filthy, poop covered shoes, right? Very filthy in Asia and hits me on the head.

This part of your head is like considered the the most important part of your body in Asia. Like, you never ever put this down below anything. You see what I mean?

You never touch a statue here of Lord Buddha. You never ever touch it here. That's considered inviolable.

You see what I mean? That's why when they say, I put my tsukto at your lotus feet, that's what the big deal is. You're putting the most sacred part of your body on the filthiest part of another person's body.

See what I mean? That's a big deal in Asia. Okay, so he says, now look, from now on, even if somebody comes to me with a shoe covered with poopoo and they slap me on the top of my head with it, no problem.

I'm not going to react. Okay? What's the only thing worse than that?

He says, or tries to kill me. Okay? Like, those are his two ideas of something really terrible happening.

You know? You could say somebody at work tries to screw you. Right?

For us, that's the thing. You know what I mean? Somebody at work, like, goes around you to the supervisor and sets up a thing where you're going to get blamed for some problem at work.

And you can't prove that you didn't do it. Right? So somebody tries to get you and it might cost you ten thousand bucks next pay raise or next bonus time.

It might mean that you don't get a promotion. And you just chill out. You say, I offer it to the Buddhists.

I'm sorry for the things I did in the past. You know? What do I have to offer you?

You don't need anything, but I know it makes you happy when you see us do something right. So I offer it to you. I'm not going to fight back.

I'm not going to get all excited. Just offer it to you. Somebody asked me, somebody sent me a note and somebody said lots of people were asking, aren't you then hurting the guy who screwed you?

You see what I mean? If you just stand there and let them punch you or if you just let people go around you, then aren't you hurting the person who's screwing you? Right?

And that depends on motivation. One hundred percent motivation. Right?

If your motivation is to help them, then you're even allowed to do forceful things to other people. You see what I mean? You're allowed to punch somebody.

You're allowed to do forceful things to other people under rare circumstances. If there's no other way. You're allowed to do forceful things to prevent people.

My boss used to say, I was in the diamond business. We had these safe, we had metal boxes, strong boxes. We had like 50 strong boxes and they each had their own key and you know, the manager walks around with the pants falling down because there's 50 keys on a chain.

And he'd walk through the department and there'd be a strong box open and he'd say, don't leave them open. You know, and I'd say, well, you're just attached to your diamonds, right? And he'd say, no, you're just tempting someone to get in trouble.

You see, you're not being kind to the weaker people in our department. You see what I mean? Somebody won't be strong enough to not pick up a diamond.

And then you're hurting them by leaving it open. So it's not, I don't care so much about losing one diamond. I got hundreds of thousands of diamonds.

But you're hurting this other person by leaving it open. You're giving them a temptation that they may not be able to avoid and then they'll get in trouble. So it's more kind to lock the box.

You see what I mean? And that's the same idea and that's a good idea. If your intention, you know, is to, if someone's trying to screw you at work and you know they're going to collect bad karma, then in a kind way, in a thoughtful way, in a peaceful way, and in a totally 100% happy way, you can go and help them.

But what does Master Shantideva say about that? What's he say when that subject was brought up? I think it was last weekend.

There's a but there. Do you remember? Say again?

You don't know who they are. Yeah. Well, one thing is you don't know who they are.

That's all. Yeah. But he said, but I want to see you doing it for everybody else who gets screwed in the department too.

Right? If your sacred motivation is to save this other person from the bad karma of screwing you, then I want to see you in there mixing it up when he's screwing other people too. Right?

Because all you care about is him, right? Not yourself. Right?

Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, if the country has oil, we'll send troops.

If the country just has snow, not so interesting. Okay? Now, you see?

You see? If you're really not self-interested, let's see you help the country that has nothing to produce except snow. Okay?

All right? Then we know what you really have, these noble motivations. Okay?

All right. 126. Is our friend here?

No. Okay. I must have hanged somebody in my pathway.

Okay, here we go. I really like this one. This is hard, okay?

This is hard. This one's hard. What is an enlightened being?

Okay? What is Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig, the Dalai Lama? Like, people say the Dalai Lama is a tantric god.

Right? The Dalai Lama is not just a human being. The Dalai Lama is is Chenrezig, or Avalokiteshvara, Quan Yin, some holy being, white light being, you know, this holy, this holy and sacred being.

And then I used to ask my Lamas, you know, I said, what's that mean? You know, they said, oh, the embodiment of love, you know, and you say, what's that mean exactly? It means, they told me, they said, if you took all the love that has been felt on this planet in the last 24 hours, all the feelings of tenderness, all the feelings of affection, all the feelings of care, you know, all the people taking care of other people, if you took all those good feelings and collected them in one space and like made a person out of it, that's the Dalai Lama.

You see what I mean? That's so cool. Like, if you took all the sweet thoughts, all the goodness, all the love that a mother's in the world, two billion mothers feel for two billion children, and you took all of that love and packed it into one person's body, that's the Dalai Lama.

That's what it means. That being is produced by that love. You see?

If you took all the love in the world and could put it in one place, Avalokiteshvara would be there, because that's what Avalokiteshvara is. That's what the Dalai Lama is, you see? So, but what if you took all the Dalai Lamas of all the universe and packed them all into one person?

Got it? It's like the cream of the milk, they call it in Tibet. You know, if you took all the love of all the worlds and made Dalai Lama on each world, and then you could get a big spaceship and pick up each of those Dalai Lamas and put them into one person, who would that be?

And he says, the person who's pissing you off. Yeah. Yeah.

Got it? No, and he says, it's not an exaggeration. It's not an exaggeration.

That's how the Dalai Lama feels about that person. You see? That's how they feel about this person.

Got it? It's not like you have to recognize them as being that. It's not like you, you have, you have confirmed Shantideva's book that you believe that this person is that.

He's not saying that. He's saying, if you took all the Dalai Lamas in all the worlds and you ask them, who's the one person that is you, all packed together? They'd say, it's the person who makes you angry.

And that's how much they mean to us. You see? That's what they, that's how much they count to us.

So you can't fight with them. You can't, you can't hurt them back when they hurt you. Okay?

Because we are the, we are all the essence of every kind thought ever thought in the world today. And the essence of all of us is the person who just hurt you. And we care about them that much.

So you cannot hurt them back. You cannot, you cannot do violence back to someone who has hurt you. Because that's how much they mean to us.

Got it? On this subject, the purpose to have this teaching in New York was that we couldn't have it in Connecticut. Okay?

Like, we have this retreat center in Connecticut called Godstow. And one of the, that place is dedicated to teachings, it's dedicated to retreats, like short-term retreats, like one day up to 30 days or something like that. And that's what that place is dedicated to.

But on a deeper level, for many decades, that place has been dedicated to world peace. The, the, it's an estate, it's a large estate that was owned by the, a man named Maurice Pate, who devoted his life to world peace. And then when he passed away and he didn't have children, that he, that he gave the estate to, eventually the estate made its way to, to our group.

And given the recent violence in the world, like, we have been trying as a group to at least do some teachings and some work to promote nonviolence. So I think even just this last verse, you can feel that that's what we're in the business of, that's why we're here. It was too many people to have at the place in Connecticut.

They, we have laws, zoning laws, like we couldn't have this many people there. So we brought it to New York City and we had the teaching here. And the whole teaching's being sponsored by the Maurice Pate Institute, which is for world peace, working for world peace.

And the idea that you have to work on it on a personal level. And, and you knowing where things come from, right? You have to work on your mind.

So really, stopping violence in the world comes down to, do you fight back when someone hurts you, right? It boils down to that. That's what this teaching has been all about.

And the teaching in August will be the same subject, like how do you exchange yourself with others? If you was the person you're gonna fight, would you fight them? Got it?

If you were the person you're fighting against, would you fight with them? You see what I mean? It'd be like punching yourself in the head, or bombing your own house.

You see what I mean? If it were the case that every bomb unleashed in Iraq landed on your house, would you still support it? You see what I mean?

It's like that. We're gonna be doing that in August, okay? And so, I think it's a very beautiful offering to Maurice Pape and his memory to have teachings like this.

And again, the teachings in August that we're gonna have. So two things are gonna happen right now. One is, where is Dvora?

Oh, she's very shy. Raise your hand. Stand up for one second.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dvora is an ACI teacher for many years.

And she's been doing this thing of going to Israel to teach. She's fluent in Hebrew, and she's been going to Israel to teach ACI courses. And then, we don't have any money.

None of us has any money. She bought this little webcam and stuck it on her computer. And she has 300 students in Israel.

Every couple of days, she's teaching a course. I heard from them, and they said, Well, she's kind of shaky sometimes, but she's okay. And she just translated the Heart Sutra into Hebrew.

And then, she's in the group of teachers who had advanced training in this class, the Patience chapter. So she has already translated all those teachings into Hebrew. And she's going to Israel soon, in a week, to pass these teachings on in Israel.

So, to my mind, it's like sending milk into a fire pit. You see what I mean? It's like this sweet knowledge that may be of great benefit to people who are really under fire about not responding to violence.

You know, it's easy for us to say, right? We're sitting, trying to decide which biscotti to have. And they're faced with real violence, very serious violence.

But I think the whole exercise of sending an emissary to the midst of the hornet's nest with these teachings, and it's not going to happen in a day. But it will plant seeds, and they will grow, and beautiful things will happen. You see?

So I thought it's very auspicious that Dwara is doing that. I thought we should dedicate it to that Maurice Pate's vision. And secondly, in this regard, we thought today it would be very inspiring to have a short talk about Maurice Pate from a woman who worked with him her whole life.

You know how one guy usually gets up and gets the credit, and then there's usually some lady behind him who is really doing all the work. You know, and so we're very fortunate that today we're able to have the lady behind Maurice Pate has agreed to come today and just give us a... I thought, Aunt Joan, if you could just give us some small, personal things about Maurice Pate.

Because most of us won't... You know, we can read stuff in books, but maybe some inspiring things about what he said or did. Would you be willing to come up and talk?

This is Joan Dido.

[Говорящий 2]
He's got the best seat in the house. Good evening, everybody. I'm sorry I've been late.

And it's a pleasure to be here. Maurice Pate was the founding director of UNICEF, having been imbued with self-sacrifice and peace since World War I, when he worked with Herbert Hoover, who was one of the best, well, I wouldn't say philanthropists, but he started a food program for people in Europe after tremendous devastation. And Maurice Pate was going to join the Canadian Army, but he heard about Herbert Hoover, and so he applied and was accepted to work with him, first in Belgium, and then in France, and Germany, and then really all of Europe in that whole thing.

He was a very, very shy reserve person. It was hard to go him out until he talked about children. Then all of a sudden, everything flowed out of that.

He was born in Pender, Nebraska. Parents were fairly comfortable. Not rich, but, you know, he went to Princeton and did very well.

But this nagging feeling of wanting to do something for children and people kept pestering him. He really couldn't leave it alone. And so, ultimately, he worked with Mr. Hoover and then later on founded UNICEF, along with a few other people at the United Nations. And he started with really no money, or very, very little, but he was so modest himself that he drew people to him. He was a magnet. He was also very good looking.

That didn't hurt. Six feet four. He didn't have a great personality, but this is that richness that you felt in him sort of enveloped everybody.

And at UNICEF, no place worked on a smaller budget. You had to use a piece of paper and then turn it on the other side. Use it on the back.

And the postage, you had to be sure it was the least expensive method of mailing. And yet, with all of that, UNICEF grew and grew and grew. And he had a lot of international experience, so it wasn't difficult for him to, well, you know now what living in other countries is like, especially when you don't have the GDP that we have.

The organization kept growing and growing modestly, and he started different aspects, the health measures. The food situation was the most, but the health measure. I think he, I've forgotten now what it was.

Yaws, I think. He was able to get people to cure that. There was an enormous infantile paralysis program that was sponsored by or paid by, I forget the name of the company, but they gave millions.

And I think it still goes on. Then they got into education in a small group. I myself went to Lagos, Nigeria after the Biafran War.

There was nothing there. The schools were all demolished. Farms hadn't been planted.

It was really just terrible. But little by little, things got at least to the point where you could exist with it and there was food to be had. Not a lot, but a little for each.

The Nigerian people are not the ones I met. They don't look forward to helping each other as much as in other countries. But the miracle was that they started to.

They didn't believe you should save kids. They came first. But in a little while, tables turned and they really were very active in doing it.

It was a miracle. I don't know what UNICEF's size is now, but it's many thousands of people and many offices around the world. So I'm very proud to have been a little tiny part of it.

I think I'll end it now unless you have specific questions to ask. Anybody? I may not be able to answer them if you do.

[Говорящий 1]
Yes? Can you talk a little bit about Martha Pate and Morris in terms of their vision for peace?

[Говорящий 2]
Yes. Morris was not a bachelor. He had been married in Poland to a countess, Jadwiga, something or other.

And that broke up after some years. And for some reason, Morris Pate just was crazy about Poland. And he learned the language and the country.

And they had apparently a gorgeous home. But whatever happened, happened. So he came back, started his own business.

And somewhere along the way, he met a woman named Martha Lucas. And they fell in love and were married. And it was she who had the house in Connecticut, Godstow, which means...

What? Place of God. Place of God.

Yes. And it's a very beautiful place, over 100 acres and ponds and nature and trees and serenity. And then one day, Morris Pate just dropped dead on the street, on 57th Street.

They were coming back from a recording for the blind session. And he passed out. His father had done the same thing.

So it was apparently a genetical thing. But Martha Pate kept the flame going and kept using Godstow as a sort of a retreat place, but not a formal group of religious people, but just gathering all kinds of people together who would do good and benefit. And then, ultimately, she died about 15 years ago.

And what to do with Godstow? Is Susan here? She's working?

Well, it was Susan's idea. Who would be better to receive it than you and your group? And that's what we ultimately did.

And there you are. And doing a very proud job, I must say. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Говорящий 1]
I think we're on 127. If you can read the Tibetan, he says, dini, dini, dini, dini. And in the Sanskrit, he says, tareva, tareva, tareva, tareva.

He means, this is the way, this is the way, this is the way, this is the way. He says it four times. Okay, what?

Don't fight back when people hurt you. Don't hurt people back when people hurt you. That's all.

This is the way. To do what? First of all, you'll make all those enlightened beings happy.

Okay? That's the nice thing. I mean, I don't think that when you're patient with somebody, you necessarily think this way, and you should try.

You should really try hard. Okay? Like, somebody hurts you, then you should really try hard to be good to them and dedicated to these higher beings who can see what we're doing and say, I offer this to you.

Best offering, right? Better than cookies, cakes, two boots pizza. You know, offer, offer them, you know, that's what they really want from you.

If you do that, then you get everything you ever wanted anyway. Okay? So it's not only a way to please them, you get everything you ever wanted.

It also happens to be the single best way to remove the pain of our world. Okay? So, why not do it?

He says, you know, if you're going to concentrate on one good practice, you know, you don't have to go to a cave and spend three years, you don't have to learn 25 yoga poses and twist yourself up. Those are good things, by the way. Great things.

But this one is so easy, and there's so much raw material, right, to work with, you know. Everybody who bothers you, everybody who irritates you, there's so many people. So, it's so easy.

It's always available to us to do this thing. It's the best offering you can make to the enlightened beings. It's the best thing you can do to remove your own pain.

It's the best thing you can do to help other people. So just do it. Okay?

It's the it, it, it. Okay? Next verse.

This is cool. This is a story, okay? There's a king.

There's a big king. I don't know who it'd be, like George Bush or something. And he's got a short temper.

Okay? And he's powerful. Okay?

Short tempered and powerful king. Okay? Then he's got some kind of people working for him who he sends out on different tasks.

Okay? And there's a couple of them who are really wimpy. They're really nerdy.

They're men in black suits, like in the Matrix. Black suits, but very like... They're not strong.

They're not intelligent. They're not... They don't have big guns or anything.

They're just like... nerds. You know?

They're just nerds in black suits. You know? So they come to your town or they come to your house and they start causing trouble.

You know? Like maybe they kick the door down and maybe they hurt some people. And then he says...

And then you're standing there. Okay? And this guy is just a wimp.

You know? He's just a nerd. He doesn't have any special CIA gun.

You know? He's just got those little sunglasses and he's just about four feet tall and he's just like skinny and you could just punch him out. You know what I mean?

Like... He's nothing special. But would you do it?

You see, would you do it? Would you like... hit him?

I don't know. Like the IRS comes to your door. Would you hit the guy?

No, I mean IRS guys are usually accountants. I mean they're like... You know?

And... No, it's like that. You know?

It's like somebody... We've... You know, there's 14 cents missing on your bill and, you know, the penalties will be for...

You know? You're like... You could blow the guy away.

You know? You could just hit him or kick him or something. Would you do it?

No, you can't. Right? I mean as much as you'd want to.

You can't. Why? He's working for bigger forces.

He's working for bigger... He's working for bigger people. Like he personally may be a nerd and a wimp and he's only bugging you for 14 cents on your bill but you can't punch him out.

You can't hit him. You can't even fight with him. Because then you know what'll happen.

They'll be auditing everything you ever did. You see what I mean? Right?

No, I mean there's bigger things going on. There's bigger things. So far-sighted people, they don't hurt the representative of the big shots because they'd get in trouble.

You see, if you're short-tempered, you just punch the guy. But if you can think more than a few days ahead, well, let me just be nice to him, I'll offer him some iced tea, I'll give him the 14 cents, I'll send him home. You know what I mean?

And you don't hit him or anything. Why? Because he works for bigger people.

He works for bigger people. He's a wimp but he works for bigger people. Okay, that's the feeling you gotta get from this verse.

Next verse. So what he says is, even if the wimpiest clerk comes to your house from the IRS, okay, you must never disregard them or hurt them back, even the weakest of them. Why?

Because they're working for the king. It's not that he's strong. It's not that he can do anything to you.

He's working for somebody bigger. You see what I mean? He's working for the IRS.

And the IRS can hurt you, right? So he's working for somebody big. So you have to be nice to this little wimpy guy.

You got the feeling so far? Can you guess where it's going? Okay, next one.

Who's he got working for him? I mean, you know who the guy from the IRS is, right? It's the person you...

It's the one person that irritates you the most in the world. It's that guy. Okay?

It's that one person in the world who bugs you the most is the guy he's talking about. That's the guy that the king has sent to your house. Right?

The one person who bugs you the most. And they are wimpy. You know, you're stronger than them.

You have power. Maybe you have political power. Maybe you have...

Maybe you're just strong physically. Maybe you're in a position to get them in trouble, but you don't do it. Why?

They're working for bigger people. You know? It's like they're working for the mob.

And... No, and you don't diss the small guy because he's working for Luigi or something. You know what I mean?

You don't... No, I mean, you're nice to the small guy. You see what I mean?

So what's the point here? Every person you meet who causes you trouble is like this small guy. They're not...

They're not very strong. You can diss them. You can talk back to them.

They're not going to do anything to you. You see what I mean? You can...

The people who irritate you, you can talk back to them. You can say bad words to them. You can maybe even hit them.

You know, you can raise a ruckus with them. But... Anyway, but you can't...

But you don't do it. Why? Because they're working for somebody bigger.

Who are they working for? The enlightened beings. Okay?

They have the enlightened beings backing them up. They care about these people. Okay?

This person, someone cares for them. Who? It's not their fault.

You know how like you didn't want to punch the kid whose father was very, you know, aggressive? Like the kid is wimpy, but the father is very aggressive, so your gang always goes around this kid when you have a gang fight, you know? And it's like that.

You shouldn't cause... You shouldn't fight back other people because they are... Bigger people are watching out for them.

Okay? Bigger people are... Who?

Enlightened beings are watching out for them. Okay? And this is the idea of...

Somebody is taking care of them. Right? Somebody cares for them.

And you have to respect that. You can't... You can't fight with them.

You can't hurt them. You can't hurt other people because somebody big is watching over them. Not only that, the king has verse 20...

Verse 130. He's got two pung. Pung in Tibetan means military force, like the marines would be a pung, the army would be a pung, the air force would be a pung, and the navy would be a pung.

You see what I mean? Those are all called pung. In ancient India, it was your elephant squad, archers, infantry, and like cavalry.

And then you had these four... What do you call it? Armies.

Armed... Division of the armed forces. Right?

So they say, besides that, the king has two armed forces working for them. Who? First of all, they got every enlightened being in the universe is backing this guy up.

Okay? That's the first one. Who?

The guy that bothers you. The guy that irritates you. Every...

Every enlightened being in the world is ready to step in. Like it's not President Bush. President Bush is just one guy, right?

But he's got these armed forces. You see what I mean? So any particular person you meet who gives you trouble, you have to be nice to them.

Why? They got back... They got strong backing.

There's people behind them. Who? They got all the Buddhas behind them.

And they have all the guards of the hell realms. Huh? You know?

Well, we had this talk the other day, okay? And you don't believe it and I have to say it because it's in the verse, okay? Your mind doesn't stop when you die.

The body stops, the mind doesn't. The mind... You can't touch the mind.

You can't split the mind. You can't burn the mind. You can't divide the mind.

You know, you can shoot a gun into your hand and the mind just... It just enters another place in that same foot. Okay?

The mind isn't affected at all. The body breaks. The body gets old, the body decays.

It's like a car that breaks down. If you see a car that broke down at the side of the road, it doesn't mean the driver died. It's just the machine is broken.

No, no, but it's not moving. Yeah, okay, the car is not moving. The guy just walked away.

Okay, get it? But nobody ever told us. Right, the car is broken.

Do you get it? They can't move their mouth anymore. The mouth is broken.

They won't say anything to you. It's dead. The body is dead.

They can't tell you what it's like to be dead. Because they're dead. Okay?

No, because the body broke. Dead means body broke. Then no matter how much the mind wants to tell you I'm not dead, it doesn't have a vehicle.

You see, it doesn't have a telephone. There's no way to communicate it to you because the body is broken. The body is not working anymore.

But according to all of the Tibetan, Buddhist, Indian scriptures, even before Buddhism, the mind just goes on. The mind is not affected in the least. The mind is ineffable.

The mind is not made of carbon and iron. It's ineffable. What do you have in your refrigerator at home?

In the freezer, John. Yeah, see, literally your mind went to the freezer. You see?

The mind is not limited by skin. It's such a primitive idea that your mind is limited by your skin. You can't see me.

Oh, I'm further than your skin. You see, I mean, the mind is ineffable. The mind is immortal.

The mind does not end. You will go someplace. What's the best way to go someplace bad?

Be an angry person. Be a dissatisfied, grumpy, little person. You know?

Fight back with all the people who give you problems. Fight them back. And then definitely you'll put all the seeds in your mind to have a really bad death.

An after death. Because you will have an after death. And you will have a death.

And you have to get ready. And the only things you'll see are whatever seeds you put in your mind. Okay, so this guy has other backers too.

The guy who causes you trouble has serious backing. On one side he's got the marines. That's all the enlightened beings.

On the other side, he's got like the air force. Who's that? That's all the people in the realms of hell that you don't believe in, that most people go to.

Okay, so that's all. He's got big backing. Bigger than the mafia.

Bigger than the American army. You see what I mean? He's got big backers.

So you can't hurt him. Got it? No matter how much he bugs you, you can't hurt him.

There's bigger stakes, bigger things at stake. Does he deserve to get hurt? Yes.

Is he irritating? Yes. Could you at least scream at him?

Yes. Has he done a dumb thing to you? Yes.

Should he go away? Yes. Should you be angry?

No. Okay, you got it? That's all.

Yeah, it's not saying he's not bad. He is bad. He's stupid, bad, irritating.

It's all true. But he's got backers. You know?

So you just gotta let it go. Okay. 131.

Is there any law enforcement agency or military organization which could force you to suffer after you die? Cannot. You see?

Like, people can cut your body, they can make you miserable, they can do all sorts of things. But they don't have control what happens to you after you die. Right?

Like, only you decide that. You see? Does anger have that power?

Yeah. Okay? So what he's saying here is that, you know, political force, we've been using a metaphor.

What? We've been comparing the guy who makes you angry at work, we've been comparing them to somebody who works for a king. But when you think about it, it's a lousy analogy.

Why? A king can only do so much to you. You know?

The police, the army, a terrorist, they can only do too... They can only go so far with you. But anger, anger, that can hurt you beyond your death, after you die.

That has a longer arm than every physical agency in the world. You see what I mean? So he says, in a way, my own example is not so good.

You see? Because a king couldn't do you as much damage as your own mind can. Got it?

Okay. You know what the next one is going to be? If a Buddha, if Jesus came into this room and said, I want to give you enlightenment, I want to make you enlightened right now.

You know? He just comes in the front door. Oh, P.S. such and such. I heard it was going down at seven o'clock, some dinner or something. By the way, anybody want to go to heaven? You know?

Does a being like that, can they just touch you and make it happen? I mean, we say no. What's the proof of that?

I'm still here. Okay? I'm still here.

I don't know about you. Okay? You might be an enlightened being.

I don't know. I really don't know. It could be just a few sprinkles here and there.

It could be the first three rows, but not the next three rows. It could be the left side, but not the right side. I don't know.

What do I know? I don't know. I know, but I know that I suffer.

You know, I know I have pain. So if there was such a thing as this saint coming in and just touch you and send you to heaven, they would have done it already. Right?

They're not like holding out. They want you to grovel or something. You know?

They would come. They would break the door down. They would say, here, let me touch you.

You know? Touch me. And you'd be gone.

They can't do it. You see what I mean? So in a way, he says, my example is bad again.

The king can't give you anything either. As good as what your mind can give you. So my example breaks down again.

Who's the king? Like Buddha. You see what I mean?

Can they give you what your mind can give you? No. They can't touch you and give it to you.

Your mind can give it to you. Right? If you decide to be patient with other people, if you decide not to get angry with other people, then your mind will take you to heaven.

Right? The mind can take you there. Wow!

You know? So in a way, your mind is more powerful than the Buddha's. Okay?

He's just saying the whole analogy of a king sort of breaks down a little bit. Okay? Next verse.

The next two verses are... I'm not gonna do them. Okay?

They're not found... Some of the last verse, the last verse or two are not found in some of the older texts. It almost feels like somebody might have thrown them in.

He's just saying, look, you be patient and stuff will work out for you even in this lifetime. You know? Like, you want money?

You'll get money. You want good relationships? You'll get good relationships.

You want to eat well? You'll eat well. You know?

If you remain patient, because you won't burn up your good karma. I don't think Master Shantideva would have gone around making a big deal about that. These verses are not found in like Master Prajnaparamati's commentary.

Okay? So, I kind of see that somebody was teaching this to a king and they just got through this thing about the king really doesn't count for nothing and then he felt obliged to teach him about Chakravartin. Chakravartin means a special kind of king that is kind of like king of the world.

And he says, if you can keep your patience, then even before you become this enlightened being, you can... Good stuff will happen to you. Nice stuff will happen to you.

Okay, that's all. Last two verses. Now it's time for some inspiring...

What do you call it? Summation... Sum up?

Sum up the thing. Anyway, to sum it all up, okay, he said you have to learn about patience. You have to learn how not to get angry because every time you get angry for five minutes, you blow about one year of good deeds.

Okay? Every time you get angry for like five minutes, you melt about a year of good karma. A year of good karma.

So it's like trying to convince you not to get angry. Speaking personally, I get irritated like ten times a day, fifteen times a day. I don't know what your rate is.

Your irritation rate. But that's how I work. I think maybe as you get older, you get more irritable.

I don't know. I wasn't this irritable when I was younger. I don't know.

I think it's a blood pressure thing or something. I don't know. But, I just get...

Maybe it's because you've seen everything over and over again by the time you're fifty. You're like, it's so dumb, it's so stupid. Listen to me, I'm fifty.

I can tell you stuff that you don't know when you're twenty. And they're like, yeah, yeah. I don't know what it is.

But anyway, you get irritated at a certain rate. So you've got to assume that you're burning off good karma at a certain rate. You see what I mean?

All of us. All of us. We're like karma leaks.

You know? Karma's leaking. All the time.

Why? Just because you're mildly irritated. Forget the big blow-ups.

You know? Not talking about the big blow-ups. Just talking about the little irritation.

Just on the street. You're walking down the street, you know, and somebody's, he's so dumb, you know? Look, he just threw the paper on the ground.

He's so dumb, you know? And then you get on the subway and some guy's pushing through or screaming or some guy last night, some guy walking across the road, just doesn't care, just walk out in the road, you know, and everybody's screeching to a halt. It's just like, it's so dumb, you know?

And you feel just this, it's just a minute, right? It's just a second. It's just like, God, the guys, this city's so dumb sometimes, you know?

People are so stupid sometimes. And then, so much good karma's just leaking out. I call it low-level radiation.

Like, as a story, I was in the diamond business. We did topaz also. Topaz is brown.

Topaz looks like mud, muddy water. And then you take it to a nuclear radiation facility and you nuke it with neutron radiation and it turns this beautiful blue. You see what I mean?

So, like, we did 60,000 pieces a week or something and they'd come back in these big bags, you know, and I'd say, I got women in this department who are pregnant, you know, I mean, are these radioactive still? And they'd say, well, one by one they're not. You know?

And I'd say, yeah, but we do bags, we're holding bags of them, you know, are these radioactive? And they'd say, well, we haven't really decided that. You know, I called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, you know, and they said, look, we're more worried about atom bombs, we're not going to worry about your topaz, you know?

And I said, well, but if a person handles one by one 10,000 of these in a day, would it hurt them? You know? And they said, ah, well, that's the low-level radiation thing.

I said, what's the low-level radiation thing? They said, well, it's not like you put a bag on your lap next to all your reproductive organs, you know? It's like you're just handling one, one by one, all day long.

And they said, yeah, it's the same as holding a big bag on your lap. You know? Because each one gives you a little bit of radiation.

And it's accumulative. You see what I mean? The effect is accumulative.

You don't, it's not like when you let it go you lose that much radiation. The body keeps all that little radiation. And then it gets more and more and then you get cancer, like six years later.

And you don't remember that you touched 10,000 pieces of topaz. You see what I mean? What I mean to say is that we do this low-level radiation thing all day long.

Every time you get irritated. It's not the big blow-ups. It's not like once every six months you scream at somebody and you slam the phone against the wall.

You know what I mean? It's not those that kill us. It's the low-level radiation.

It's the, it's the, ah, such a schmuck, you know, this guy walking on the street, you know, it's such, it's just such a, you just bug me, you know, and then you just turn away. You see what I mean? And then, then a little bit of good karma is just destroyed.

And the interesting thing is you'll never know it. You see? It's just gone.

So, so what's the effect of this low-level radiation? You get old. You get old.

You want to talk prana? You want to talk inner body? You got two channels coming here, Pingala, Ida.

In the middle, Sushumna. They cross here, they cross again here, cross here, cross here. Yoga was meant to open those knots.

And then good prana can flow in your body. When the prana flows in the central channel, you're kinder, you're more intelligent, you're more sensitive. And when you become an angel, it's because all of the prana has shot into the central channel.

When you see emptiness directly, it's because all of the prana for a brief moment is in the central channel. When you get bodhicitta, the heart chakra opens wide open. For what?

Three minutes? Four minutes? And then you have ultimate kindness.

You can see every living being in the entire universe. The beings that you will be meant to serve. You see?

It's because the certain physical things have happened at the very deep level. And yoga was meant to set you up for that, make you ripe for that. You see what I mean?

That's why people did it. So every time you get angry, low level radiation, every time you get a little irritated, there's this little tense, tensening, tensing of those knots. And then you choke it.

And you step one step back from where you're trying to go. And then you say, this guy is so stupid, you know? And then you step back another step.

And then you're just stepping back your whole life from where you really need to go. And that causes aging. Okay?

The reason people get old is the little things. It's the little, it's the little bad emotions. It's very interesting.

A negative emotion chokes the thing which gives you life. The thing which causes your heart to beat is choked every time you get this little irritation at somebody. You're killing yourself.

It's very dangerous. Anger is very bad. It's not some noble thing.

Oh, don't get mad at people. It's not like that. Every time you just get irritated with somebody, even just upset slightly, you just cut 10, 20, 30 minutes off your life.

It's very weird. And that's why people get old. Oh, so you're telling me if I could like not ever get angry at people, I wouldn't get old?

Exactly. Combine that with a practice, an external practice that helps open those channels. Yeah, the body would change.

Into what? Into... You know, you see all these pictures in churches of these angels.

You see Thangkas from Tibet. You see Italians painting this thing. And people in France are painting these things.

And American Indians are painting these things. They exist. People saw them.

People whose body is made of light. And they walk among us and they help people and they look like the person sitting next to you. Okay?

And that's the way they work. That's the way they operate. And you have to do it too.

You have to learn to do that. But anger just kills it. You see?

Anger puts you back into this kind of worm food. Okay? Yeah?

So think about it. I mean, we've had karma leaking out our whole life because of small irritation with other people. If you could just stop that, you'd be so far ahead.

You see what I mean? If you could stop the damage, you'd be so far ahead. You'd be surrounded by beautiful people your whole life.

And I think that's what he's trying to say at the end. Look, for no other reason, if you could just stop your anger a little bit, you'll just start to be surrounded by the most extraordinary, beautiful, sensitive, wonderful, spiritually minded, cool, happy people that you could imagine. And that's where we're at.

Okay? So don't mess it up. We'll give away the good karma.

We had a really good time. It's been like three intense weeks in New York, you know? I mean, exhausting in a way.

But heavy karma. Heavy duty karma. And New York has changed a lot.

And you can be proud of it. You know? You're like little viruses in the web, you know?

And we're sending you out to infect the web, right? And you have changed your city. People who've been away for three years, we see it.

Great progress in this city. You don't feel it because it's like you don't see yourself getting old because you see yourself in the mirror every day. But if you came here after three years without seeing you, the city has made great progress.

You know, there's great, great things have happened. People's minds are changing. People's hearts are changing.

So, I like to think that every little virus helps, right? So, give away the good karma, okay? We do this little thing, give away the good karma, right?