Углублённый курс ACI 03 — «Руководство к образу жизни бодхисаттвы» Мастера Шантидевы: обмен себя на других (2004, Нью-Йорк), занятие 1

[Говорящий 1]
So, the history of this talk is that James resurrected an organization called the Pate Institute for World Peace. And that institution was dedicated by the founder of UNICEF to world peace. And all the people in that organization got older and older, and then the organization died.

And they gave us Godstill Retreat Center. It's a $3 million property in Connecticut. They gave it to us for $1.

They said, please take it away. And we did. And then they closed the Pate Institute, and we opened Godstill as a retreat center, Buddhist retreat center.

Then, after 9-11, after we all came out of retreat, it was pretty clear that it would be fun to resurrect the Pate Institute and work for world peace by promoting teachings like this. So, ancient teachings about peace. So, James Connor, I don't know if you know, but his family, he comes from a family of generals, like three generations of army generals or something, and you'll never live at Dome now.

But anyway, so he had a personal interest in reviving the Pate Institute. So, he has legally resurrected this institute, and the old, old people who had been on the board in the 1950s blessed his idea, and now the Pate Institute is having a lot of nice teachings, and we hoped that they would affect the level of peace in the world. We had one teaching last winter, and it was from the same book, which is the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.

And that chapter was about patience, or how not to get angry when someone is being violent to you. And we gave this teaching in New York, and it was very beautiful, and people came, and Aunt Joan spoke. And then something beautiful happened.

There was a person in the audience from Israel. They translated it all into Hebrew, and then they went to Israel and gave the whole teaching again. And I heard that three or four hundred people came for ten days, and they got the teaching, and then they started to apply it in Israel.

So, I feel like we can change the world, and we can bring peace to these teachings. So, I've been trying to select teachings that would help bring peace in the world. And we'll talk a lot about it, but, you know, we believe that the world comes from seeds that you plant in your mind, through how you behave towards others, karma, and that ultimately the only way that you can stop violence in the world would be to not be violent yourself.

But that's easy to say, and it's hard to practice, and it's hard to implement. One of the ways is just to hear it over and over again. So, we'll be talking these ten teachings, and there'll be ten classes, okay?

I wanted to talk a little bit about them. There'll be this weekend and next weekend, Friday night, correct me if I'm wrong on the times, it's 6 to 8 on Friday night, 6 to 8 on Saturday night, 6 to 8 on Sunday night, right? Oh, no, yeah, and then Saturday and Sunday, 2.30 to 4.30 also, okay? And Saturday afternoon from 2.30 to 4.30, and then Sunday afternoon from 2.30 to 4.30 is a special kind of thing where we'll break out into smaller groups, and you get to ask questions and talk about it, and I'll be there also, and we'll specialize. If some people want to learn the Tibetan, or some people want to learn the Sanskrit, they can be in a special group. So, I really encourage you.

Then from 4.30 to 6, you're supposed to eat as much as you can, locally. We're not providing food, but we have snacks, but there's lots of restaurants. Normally, we'll be taking a break halfway through the class.

Tonight, we will not take a break halfway through the class, because I still have one class left of a series of classes we've been giving at Jivamukti Yoga Center about the Yoga Sutra, and tonight is the last class. The reason we had to come out with two classes in one day was, we always move our schedule according to our Lama Khenro Rinpoche's schedule, and he's old school. He says, I don't have to announce my teaching schedule.

You'll get a call the day before. So, we're always ready to change it, and that's how it ended up tonight. So, we'll stop tonight.

Somebody in the crowd will yell at me at 7.45, and we will just literally run out the door to the other place. If you want to come to the last class over there, it's really fun. We did the whole second chapter of the Yoga Sutra.

Tonight is sort of the finale. We'll be doing, actually, we're just going to reach tonight, yoga, after a year of work on this subject. Tonight is the first night that we'll be talking, is where the actual ancient text starts to talk about physical exercises of yoga.

So, that might be fun for you. That's the ancient source, 2,000 years old, for all physical exercises of yoga, and we'll be reaching that verse tonight. So, you're welcome to come to that.

They charge there 30 bucks? 40? Anyway, sorry.

I don't usually charge, but I don't mind that they charge, because we're trying to attract yoga teachers there, and then they're supposed to go out and charge other people. And we donate the money to various causes. Everybody's broke, so feel comfortable.

But you're welcome to come to that. I think there'll probably be space there. And tonight there'll be what we call a loom, which is an oral transmission of the sutra that we're studying, meaning there's a woman there, Lady Ruth Lauer, who has received the whole ancient oral transmission by hearing it from the mouth of her guru, teacher in India, and she's going to give us the transmission tonight by singing the second chapter, and then we sing after her.

So, tonight will be a very special night there. They do have refreshments tonight, so you're welcome to come. So, we'll start.

We have a reading for you. This is from the Bodhisattva Chagyam Tantra, which is the guide to the bodhisattva's way of life. It got lost in the internet today, going from 85th Street to Brooklyn.

Something to do with the Republican movement, that's for sure. So, they couldn't print it out. You'll get it tomorrow.

You have an empty notebook, I guess. But we worked really hard on it. It's done.

It's the Sanskrit, and the Tibetan, and the English for this section of the guide to the bodhisattva's way of life. So, I'm sorry you can't take notes tonight, and you have to, because you have homework to do. We do this thing, we treat it like a real course.

Wilhelm, did the homework make it to Brooklyn? That's weird. Okay.

That's very interesting. So, the homework made it, but the reading didn't. So, you have to listen really well tonight.

But we have this custom where we ask you to do homework because we want you to be qualified to teach it to other people. So, it's not to make you feel like you're back in high school. Somebody accused me of that one time in Boston.

And it's not to, like, embarrass you or make you nervous. It's to make sure you know the material well enough to pass it on to other people. And also, you know, you might not be passing it on to other people for a few months, and you'll forget everything.

So, if you have your homework, and we give you the answer key the day after, then you'll always remember what you're going to be teaching. And teaching can be two different kinds, right? I have students here who are teaching three, four hundred people at a time.

There are people like that. Then I have students here who teach in their homes. It might be ten people or five people, which is a very sweet way to teach other people.

And then I have a lot of students who teach in Starbucks and other coffee shops. And that means somebody sits down next to you and you just talk over coffee. And the whole homework thing that we're going to do is sort of to force you into learning it well enough so that when you sit over coffee with somebody, you can tell them correctly the teaching.

This teaching was written twelve centuries ago. Almost thirteen now. 750's maybe?

700. 700 AD is the date normally given for a Master Shantideva. I'll start writing stuff on the overhead that you should know.

Say, shivaha. I'm going to ask you to repeat the words, okay? Don't be shy, just yell.

Okay, shivaha.

[Говорящий 2]
Shivaha.

[Говорящий 1]
It will put a seed in your mind and three lifetimes from now you'll be in a monastery with a Shantideva. Shivaha. Shivaha.

Shantideva. Shantideva. Okay, good.

He lived about 700 AD. There's a long story about him. Most of you know it, but he was a prince.

He gave, in Bengal, West Bengal, which is the town where Bodhgaya is now, say, and northeastern India. And he was called Bhusku. He gave up his princeship and he went to a monastery.

And he installed himself in a room. And he never did anything, okay? He was like the monastery goofball.

They called him Bhusku, which means, like, do nothing, Mr. Do-Nothing. And sometimes they called him Dushyasambhava. Say, dushy?

Dushyasambhava. Dushyasambhava means thinking about. Sambhava means only three things.

Dushyasambhava means the guy who thinks only about three things, which is eating, sleeping, and pooping, okay? And he got this reputation in the monastery. And he never showed that he knew anything.

And he was called Bhusku, which means lazy guy, worthless. And it was an embarrassment to the monastery. After some years, they had a custom in this monastery that the monks would rotate, giving some inspiring teaching to the other monks.

And, you know, his turn was coming up, and then the other monks had a big meeting, and they said, this is our chance to get rid of Shantideva, you know? His turn will come to give teaching, and he'll get up and make a fool out of himself. And then we can say, could you leave the monastery, you know?

And so they made this plan to embarrass him, and his day came, and he came to the temple. This is in the greatest ancient Nalanda monastery, the greatest ancient monastery in India. And some people here have been to the rooms.

It's a beautiful place. It's a big place. And he got up, and he said, there's a custom that first you should bow to the throne.

You sit on a high platform when you teach dharma, because you're supposed to be like channeling Lord Buddha. So other people let you sit up higher, you see? So they made this throne, and we have one out in New Jersey at the temple.

It has a stairway to it, a special stairway, and you can't get on it without the stairway. And in fact, you can remove the stairway, and we used to store it in the attic of that temple in hell, because that throne can only be sat on by the Dalai Lama. And we couldn't get him here.

For 20 years, we couldn't get a visa for him to come to the United States. The U.S. government wouldn't let him come to the United States. So we have the stairs stored in the attic.

Then one day we got this call, the Dalai Lama was coming, got a visa, and we brought the stairway down and attached it to the throne. This is like ancient custom. So what they did in Shantideva's monastery, they threw away the stairway on his day, you see?

So the throne is like 12 feet off the ground, 15 feet off the ground. And so they're going to make a fool out of him. He can't even get up on the throne to teach, you see?

So he came in and he did his vow. He was supposed to bow to the throne to say, I'm humble, you know? And then everybody blinks, and suddenly he's on top of the throne.

You know? Like some kind of miracle. He's already sitting up on top of the throne.

And then he leans over and he says, You want me to teach something that you heard before, or should I teach something that I wrote myself? You know, and they're all like, ha ha, yeah, right. Teach what you wrote yourself, Shantideva.

You know, like, yeah, right. And he's like, okay. And then he started to teach this book, The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Bodhisattva Charyavatara.

And it has nine chapters. Some people say ten, right? And he began to teach.

And people were just amazed. It's this beautiful poetry. If you can read it in the original language, it's this beautiful, beautiful poetry.

So he taught, and he taught, and he taught. Then when he got to the subject of emptiness, he started to rise off the throne. Like, levitate off the throne.

And then he's getting higher and higher and higher, and then suddenly he's just gone. You know? And there's still a debate about how many chapters the book has, because some people could hear him.

They had, like, what do you call them? We call them munche. Munche means clairvoyance.

So he was, like, already 30 miles away in the sky, 35,000 feet. And they could still hear what he was saying. So some monks said, no, I have eight chapters.

Some people said nine. And some said, no, no, ten chapters. And then they decided they made a boo-boo, like they had embarrassed him.

He didn't come back to the monastery. And sometime later, like six months later, they set out search parties right away to find him. And they found him, like, in southern India, not far from where Saramay monastery is.

And he was just hanging out at some little temple. And the monks came, search party came, and said, oh, please come back to the monastery. We apologize.

We didn't know. He hid what he knew. You see?

As Buddhists, we're supposed to hide our achievements, our attainments. So they asked him, would you come back? We didn't know who you were.

We thought you were just a goofball. And he said, I don't think so. I've got other stuff to do.

And he never went back. But they said, well, could you write out this book, this Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life? He said, yeah, I left you a copy in the rafters in my room.

You can find it there. He wrote it out, and he stuck it in the room. And I said, there's another book there, Shishishamachaya.

It's a great book. We'll study it soon, I think. Lapa Kuntu.

These are two great books by Master Shantideva. And that's how the book came to us. OK?

That's how the book came to us. We're going to be studying a very cool commentary by somebody named Prajna Akaramati. Say Prajna.

Prajna. Akaramati. Akaramati.

Prajna means wisdom. Akaram means jinne, which means source of wisdom. And then mati means intelligence.

So it's kind of like source of intelligent wisdom, or something like that. Prajna Akaramati. And this commentary was written about 1,000 years ago.

And Prajna Akaramati is famous for us because he used to hang out with Naropa. OK? Naropa is the person who really brought the secret teachings to Tibet, OK?

Like Kalachakra, or teachings like that, were brought to Tibet by Naropa. Naropa taught Marpa. And Marpa taught Milarepa.

And then those teachings come down to us. Those of you who are going to Arizona next month, you'll be studying Naropa's six secret teachings for six years. OK?

So Prajna Akaramati, the person who wrote the commentary that we're going to study, was Naropa's sidekick. They used to hang out together, 1,000 years ago, just before Buddhism came to Tibet. So we'll be using his commentary.

Also, we'll be using Gyaltsabje. Say Gyaltsabje? Gyaltsabje.

Gyaltsab means a person who takes over the throne after a king dies, like a regent. And the idea is that our lineage, the Dalai Lama's lineage, began with a lama named Je Tsongkhapa. Say Je Tsongkhapa?

[Говорящий 2]
Je Tsongkhapa.

[Говорящий 1]
And he taught the first Dalai Lama. And that's how the Dalai Lama system started. He was the teacher of the first Dalai Lama.

And, for example, Je Tsongkhapa designed these special robes that we wear. And then it's come down since then. And the person who, his most important disciple is Gyaltsabje.

Gyaltsabje was chosen to take over his teacher's position after the teacher passed away. And now it has come down through history. I forget, we're on the, I forget, we're on the 150th Gyaltsab or something like that.

Stronghold of the Dalai Lama's teacher. And we're very fortunate that the lama who taught us, some of us, has just been selected as the next Dalai Lama. Okay?

So, I think it's 150 generations now. Something like that. Okay?

So we'll be using the explanations by these two great lamas. Gyaltsabje, who lived 600 years ago. And then Prajnaparamati, who lived a thousand years ago.

And I'm going to start reading the verses. What are we going to study? This book is designed around what we call the six perfections.

These are six great, beautiful activities that bodhisattvas do. Bodhisattvas are people who have made a commitment to work for everybody else's benefit. Ultimate benefit.

And that's what a bodhisattva is. And this book is basically how to be a bodhisattva. And it takes you through the six great deeds of a bodhisattva.

First one is learning how to give away things to other people. How to give. And it could be money.

It could be things. It could be teaching. It could be safety.

It could be love. These are the classic gifts. The second perfection is called ethical living, where you learn not to hurt other people, and you learn to serve other people.

That's the second great subject. Third subject is called the art of not getting angry. And I used to think this was easy, but then I met all the people who really pushed my buttons.

And it's very beautiful teachings about how not to get angry when someone is hurting you. And that's what we covered last time. We covered that chapter.

Then the fourth bodhisattva activity is called joy. Sometimes it's called effort. But what it means is you enjoy doing nice things.

By the way, that's Dora, sneaking in, who went to Israel and taught. I should give her applause. She went to Israel and taught.

And she taught the whole patience chapter in Israel, and she translated it all into Hebrew like in two days or something, I don't know. So joy means being happy doing nice things. If you have a choice between going to a movie or going to a hospital to take care of someone, you go to a hospital because you have more fun.

You think it's more fun. That's number four. Number five is meditation.

How to meditate deeply. And then number six is wisdom. Wisdom here doesn't mean just being a wise guy.

It means understanding where the world comes from. Understanding how this world happened. Why did Iraq happen?

Why did the World Trade Center happen? Where did that come from? And that's what wisdom does.

Wisdom understands that. So those are six perfections. Now, we're going to study a special subject.

You can say it's like an exploration of what selfishness is and how to stop selfishness. We're going to study this subject. I'm going to write it out for you in Tibetan and explain it to you.

You should learn this word, okay? I'm going to say it like three times. Dakshin.

Dakshin. Nyamdze. Nyamdze.

Dakshin. Dakshin. Nyamdze.

Nyamdze. I think this is the most beautiful Buddhist practice there is. I think it's the most important Buddhist practice there is.

Dak means me. Dak means me. Shen means other people.

Nyam means treat them the same. Nyam means the same. Treat them the same.

Treat them equally. And je means switch or exchange them. Like, I'll pretend I'm you, and you pretend you're me.

Like, I'll pretend I'm sitting there looking at me. And what am I thinking about, Michael, Roach, Dell? I wish you would have given us a refreshment tonight.

Or, man, I wish they would have got the reading right. I can't really come back to work. I have to put myself in your place, you see what I mean?

And take myself out. And then I put you in my place, you see? Then when I meet you, I say, oh, you should get famous.

Or you should get what you want. So when I look at you, I'm thinking, now you're me. And I treat you the way I used to treat me.

You see, like, oh, you should get famous. Oh, you should know what you like. You see what I mean?

You should have a good time tonight. You see? I switch you and me.

It's a very beautiful and difficult practice. So two practices here. And you have to understand that.

Nyam means learn to treat me and you equally. So if I go get an ice cream, I have to do what? I have to buy you an ice cream.

That's equal. Separate but equal. OK?

They have that in South Africa, apartheid. Right? Separate but equal.

OK? Like, black people and white people should be treated equally, but separately. Like, they should stay over there, and the white people should stay over here.

But we should treat them both equally. That was the apartheid deal. And they didn't treat them equally, but that's another story.

But the ideal was that. You know, like, I'll buy an ice cream. And just by the way, I'll make sure James gets an ice cream.

OK? Like, I'm still separate from James. Then, step two.

Jehoi is a little more powerful. You see? I switch.

You know, he likes sugar. I like mint chocolate chip. So what do I learn?

Sugar. I switch. Like, I switch me and him.

You see what I mean? Like, this becomes an art. And you should learn it.

And it will make you happy in many, many ways. Anytime you're with other people, you think about what they want. You switch places.

OK? Like, if somebody you live with likes tomatoes, because you don't like tomatoes. Now, every time you pass a store, you have to buy tomatoes.

You see? Because you switched your stuff. Like, you wake up, you know, 7 o'clock.

By 7.30, you should be switched. Like, you put on your shoes, you put on your pants, you put on your clothes. And you change.

You switch. You put on them. OK?

This is just what a Buddhist will do. This is what a Bodhisattva does. This is such a beautiful teaching.

OK? When you get out of bed, what? Brush your teeth.

OK? Put on your clothes. Yeah?

And then switch yourself with the people you're going to meet today. As you get up. Right after you get up.

OK? The minute you get up. Brush your teeth.

Either you put on your clothes first or brush your teeth. I don't care which is first. But you brush your teeth, you put on your clothes, and then you think, Today I'm James Conner.

You know? Today I'm James Conner. What does James Conner want to know?

He wants a reading from today. OK, well I've got to do the reading, because I'm James Conner. So you see how it's a very powerful practice.

The first step is I'll give him the same cool stuff I give to myself. The second step is harder. I will beat him.

And I'll watch out for him the way I used to watch out for myself.

[Говорящий 2]
OK?

[Говорящий 1]
And I'll wish for him everything I wanted for myself before. OK? I'll say one more thing.

Step two seems to me, I'll ask you to consider which step should go first. You see? Because I'm not quite sure.

It seems to me like if I switch myself with James Conner and just watch out for what he wants, it seems like a kind of selfishness to me. Like I'm still being selfish. I'm a new person, but the attitude is still taking care of me.

So I had a problem with this in the monastery. When they taught it, I had a problem with this. I'm like, I'm not sure the second one shouldn't go first.

You see? Because in the first one, you're watching out for both people separately. But in the second one, you're just watching out for yourself.

It's just that you're James now. Got it? So for me, there was a little problem.

And we're going to talk about that when we get to it. I'll state the problem again. When you say treat me and James equally, it means when we go out for ice cream, I make sure he gets the one he wants, and he makes sure I get the one I want.

Separate but equal. Step two, I exchange my stuff with James. He likes sherbet, I order sherbet.

He orders sherbet. I'm eating the ice cream that I really don't like, because I'm him. It seems to me selfish.

It seems to me like you're not giving up selfishness. Because you're still watching out for number one. It's just number one is somebody else now.

Okay? By the way, when you translate this, you can go crazy. Like, who's talking?

I want sherbet. Who's me? James.

No, I'm me. What do you want? I want mint chocolate chip.

So we're going to buy you what? Sugar. Because you're James.

You know, when you try to translate this, you can get really confused. When we get to that section, you'll get confused. Okay?

And you should. That means you're getting it. Okay?

So anyway, what is... I always tell this story. I was in a train station in 1980.

1973. 1973. I'm in a train station in northern India.

There are all these Tibetans showing up. They're all running around the train platform. You know, the train's late, which is very unusual in India.

And there's a joke in Bombay. There was the American and the Indian were sitting there. And the Indian said, don't get upset if the train's late.

It happens. So, you know, the train's due at 12 o'clock. And then at 12 o'clock, the train comes in.

And the American says, I don't see what the problem was. The train's running out of time. He said, no, this was yesterday's train.

So anyway, they're running around. And then they're running up to this door. And I said, what's going on in there?

He said, Dalai Lama's teacher is there. You know, this ancient holy Lama. Just to see him is like this thing.

And me and this other Westerner were there. And we ran and bought some cakes. And we ran back before the train got there.

And we ran into the door. And there's the Dalai Lama's teacher. This old, wise Lama.

And behind him is standing my teacher. Geshe Dagye. And I was studying this book.

In the Himalayas. And I didn't know he was there. So he's standing there.

And we run up to the Dalai Lama's teacher. And we offer all these cakes. Cheap old cakes.

And he very graciously takes them. He's doing prayers on his rosary. But he forgot his rosary.

But he's still going like this. You know. Because he never stops.

And so he says, Yeah, I was kind of involved. Where are you from? We said, America.

We're America. He said, oh, America. Yeah.

And then he said, what are you doing in India? Oh, we're studying. You know.

What? Buddhism. You know.

He says, oh, those are Kachigiri. What are you studying? We were studying this text.

And we didn't know the name of the book. So we're like. And my teacher is standing behind me, showing me.

He's like, Bodhichitta. You know. And they were like, Bodhi, Charya, Amitabha.

You know. And he said, oh, that's good. That's a very good book.

You know. So I don't want you to get in this problem. Like you're here in the subway tonight.

And you meet the Dalai Lama's teacher or something. I want you to know why you're studying. OK.

What are you studying? Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. OK.

What chapter? Now I ask you. I just told you.

Giving? Not hurting other people? Not getting angry?

Being happy to do good stuff? Meditating? And wisdom?

Which chapter is this teaching you? To switch myself and others. Which chapter?

Would you put it in? Three or four, right? You know, like not getting angry or being happy, right?

Joyful to do good things. Not so sure I'm going to be able to put it in chapter eight. Not so sure I'm going to be able to put it in chapter eight.

What's chapter eight? Oh, you don't know. Chapter eight is the one on meditation.

I mean, it doesn't go one, two, three, four, OK? It's the chapter on meditation. What's it doing in the chapter on meditation?

For this, I really have to read you the first verse, OK? I get to do it because you don't have it. Just listen.

DE LA SOGS PA'I NAM PA'I YID OENG PA'I MYON TEN SANG CHE NE NAM STONG NYID PAR ZHIG PA DANG BYANG CHUG SEM DE KONG PA CHA It means... Well, I'll say this in English. Think of these considerations and others as well.

Contemplate the benefits of isolation. He's halfway through the chapter on meditation. He's halfway through the chapter on meditation.

He just told you, try to find a workplace in your country which is hot, dusty, dirty place, nothing but rocks, no water, no towns around there, rattlesnakes all over. Go there and meditate. OENG PA'I means find the wilderness.

Find a place where there's nobody. Your nearest grocery store is an hour away, right? There's not even a convenience store.

We went out to buy a... One day Kristina says, I'm going nuts. We gotta go somewhere.

We're all from New York, right? And I'm like, the nearest diner is three hours. And she's like, we're going.

Okay. And we went. And there's nothing there.

It's a truck stop. And there's all these plastic things for sale. And they sell one taco.

And we bought the last taco. But we got out. It's not like New York, okay?

But anyway, you find a place. This is San Simón. Nine, nine, what do they call it?

Nine corner truck stop? Anyway, something like that. I didn't go back again.

That's true. But anyway, find a place like that where you can go into a tree and really concentrate. You know, he says, find a place, find a wilderness.

Then he says, there's two kinds of wildernesses. One is physical and one is mental. Okay?

And this is an ancient teaching, you know? People say, oh, I'm going to meditate so I'm going to go out to Diner Mountain in Arizona because it's three hours to the nearest restaurant so I can concentrate because I won't want to go anywhere, you know? And then the great teachers say, it's good to achieve physical isolation but then you might daydream about lattes at Starbucks in New York on 14th Street, Union Square, where are we today?

Yeah. And this happened at Tree of Retreat. We dreamed all the time about Starbucks.

I didn't do it. You know? Like a really nice pastry and a nice latte.

And in Tree of Retreat, we're sitting in the desert, you know, and I would keep dreaming about these New York coffee shops, you know? But they say the advanced kind of wilderness is mental, you see? Like you can live in New York City, you can have a good job, you can be around all this crazy busyness and still be in the wilderness mentally, okay?

Like still be living like a yogi in the desert mentally. So that's the goal. Sometimes you need the first kind of wilderness to develop the second kind of wilderness.

Then you can come back to New York. Okay? So a couple of years out in the desert first.

Okay? That's what he says in this verse. Think about the benefits of isolation, okay?

Then he says, put an end to useless thoughts and meditate upon the wish for enlightenment, okay? Useless thoughts here means thinking about lattes and music, okay? It's okay.

You're supposed to enjoy yourself. The one person I've seen who enjoys things more than anyone was the dino. I went to dinner with him in Washington, D.C. along with 400 other people. And... No, I was sitting near him within 80 feet or something. And...

No, I was watching him. And then Richie Havens came along. Those of you who are my age you know Richie Havens from Woodstock.

And he played a benefit thing. And his line is, first of all, he is enjoying this food. He's really...

He's like eating with this big smile. You know, he's like... You know, big bites, you know?

And then when Richie Havens came along he's like, $3 a month! And he's like this, you know. And I'm like, wow!

He likes music. And... I think when you get advanced spiritually you learn to enjoy things in a healthy way.

You see? It's not like you're grabbing for them or hurting people to get them. You're like...

Then you can really enjoy them because you don't give them up often. Okay? So he's saying, learn to enjoy things without being attached to them.

You see? And then you can really enjoy them. Like, if you're just about to buy into a big lemon cake once we had at Starbucks and then somebody says, could I have half of that?

Then you just smile and say, yeah! Or take all three, you know? Then you're really enjoying it.

You see? So he says, forget the bad thoughts about cakes. Find that kind of wellness and then meditate on bodhicitta.

Okay, we gotta talk about bodhicitta. If you don't know what bodhicitta is. People translate it as mind of enlightenment because that's the literal meaning of the word.

Bodhi means enlightenment. Citta means mind. But it doesn't mean that.

It means like this, okay? Like, we're giving talks at a yoga center. Why?

Yoga is this very advanced practice. It's tantra. In the monastery, we're not allowed to do yoga for 25 years.

And the yoga teachers are secret. My yoga teacher in the monastery didn't tell me for 25 years that he was the yoga teacher. I didn't know he was the yoga master of the monastery.

They keep it secret. And you're not allowed to study it until after you finish all these things. So after 25 years, we were allowed to study yoga.

You know, they call you in the room, there's three people, and they say, okay, we're going to do yoga. And you're like, I didn't know you knew yoga. This is secret.

And so we went in. Kristi and I were trained. And we did the yoga.

Yoga is meant to a physical way. Like if I do a twist this way, then certain channels, like different chakras, right? Like inner wheels.

Certain channels in your body are affected when you turn your body to the right. And you do it properly. Then it opens up a channel in your body.

And if you keep doing that according to the ancient instructions, your body will change into life. Okay? Like, believe it or not, I mean, that's what yoga was meant to do.

Not just lower your waistline. Okay? It was practiced in ancient India and Tibet, secretly.

Because if you do it right, your body will turn into life. So what's the use of having a neon body? Okay?

I mean, you walk around New York and people stare at you. They stare at you if you wear a rose, right? But I think if you were shining, you might even get more attention, right?

No, I mean, it's a little, you feel shy to be all white and shining in New York. So what's the use of turning into life? The day that that happens, like it happened right now to me, if my body turned into life, at the same moment, your body appears on about a million planets, different planets.

Okay? The moment that happens, you suddenly appear, clones, right? Cloning, genetic cloning, spiritual cloning.

You appear on like a billion planets in the universe at one moment. Okay? Why?

You become like the Jesus of that planet, or the Buddha, or the Muhammed, see? You become the spiritual leader or an important spiritual guide for all the people on that planet. It just happens like that.

The moment yoga succeeds, the moment yoga changes your body, you're suddenly on a billion planets at one time, serving that planet, the servant of that planet, you know? You can also be like 500 servants of that planet, or a million servants of that planet. Half the people in this room could already be changed.

You see? Half the people in this room could already be changed. And then just copies go out of you.

You see? I'm standing here, but there's a billion me on a million other planets, helping people. And you can look like anything.

That's the fun thing, okay? Somebody's lonely, you look like their pet dog. Okay?

Somebody's on a bus and they feel bad because somebody just got fired. You're the person sitting next to them, saying, oh, yeah, I know somebody who could help you out. You see?

Somebody wants a girlfriend, you're a girlfriend. Somebody wants a boyfriend, you're a boyfriend. Somebody needs a grandmother, you're a grandmother.

Somebody needs a kid, you're a kid. Somebody wants a fish, you're a fish. You see?

All that without thinking. This is what yoga was meant to do to your body. And this is what human beings are meant to do.

You see? Like, all the careers you can think of in this world are not what you're really supposed to do. That's just supposed to feed you for a while.

You see? And bringing up a family, or having a career, or whatever you think you're doing, is just a sideline. Okay?

That's not what you're supposed to be doing here. You were born, and you came into this world to learn how to change your body into this being. And that's what you're supposed to do.

And I'm telling you. Okay? No, I'm just here to remind you.

You're not supposed to eat, and sleep, and die. And collect stuff that you're going to lose anyway. No, we did.

See how useless that is? Futile? Futile?

Futile. Uh, work. Uh, eat.

Sleep. Dedicate. And then die.

And all those things you work for, you lose them. And everybody you love, you lose them. That's a dead end.

That doesn't mean anything. Okay? The reason you came to this world, the reason you were born, and what you're supposed to do in your life, is to change into this being.

And you can call it an angel, you know. We have this trouble, in terms of the book. Do you call it angel?

Do you call it divine being? Do you call it Jesus? Do you call it Buddha?

What do you call that? I don't know. Call it angel, I don't care.

But you change. You're meant to be this thing. And you're supposed to go through life, and learn how to do it, and practice, and then do it.

And sometime before you die, you're supposed to change into this thing. And we believe Jesus was that, we believe Buddha was that, Muhammad, all those people, Moses, they were all just people like us, plain old people, who worked hard, studied this stuff, and then changed. Okay?

So, get that feeling in your heart. That's why you're here. That's why you're on this planet.

That's what you're supposed to do in your life. That's bodhicitta. That feeling is bodhicitta.

Okay? If you want to know what bodhicitta is, Mind of Enlightenment, Wisdom of Enlightenment, it's just this kind of feeling about that's what I'm supposed to be. That's what I'm supposed to do.

And by the way, one day, in deep meditation, if you reach a certain stage, which you can learn here, how to get it, how to reach it, your mind opens, and you can see yourself standing on a billion planets. You just get a preview, sneak preview. Okay?

No, it's like years before it really happens. In meditation, the mind opens suddenly, and you see yourself standing on a billion planets, helping people. You see it.

You know it's coming. Okay? It's like knowing all the lottery numbers in the world.

You see? It's like some very weird thing happens to you. This is bodhicitta.

The day you get bodhicitta, the real thing, the heart chakra opens. This chakra opens. Okay?

And then, with your eyes closed, you see, directly, every living being there is, in you. In one second. In five minutes.

Like that. It's weird, right? Like I can look at...

I have to look at ten faces, ten faces, ten faces, ten faces. I can't look at everybody at once. Okay?

I can't do it. Right here. The day you get bodhicitta, and I swear it's true, heart chakra opens completely.

And something weird happens in your mind, and your eyes are closed, right? Your eyes are closed, and you see every living being, there is. Not just people, but all animals, on countless planets, in the whole universe.

With your eyes closed, you see all of them, and you know you will serve them, and take care of them, like Jesus, or Mo, something like that, okay? And you can reach them, and that's what this book is for. And that's why we're here, tonight.

And that's what this course is for. Okay? I swear to you, you can do it.

You can reach them. And then what are you going to do? You see, then what means anything?

Then you're going to be worried about your job, or worried about your house, or, it doesn't mean anything anymore. I saw myself standing on a billion planets, taking care of a billion, billions of people, directly, at the same time. What else do you need?

You see, what else do you need with your life? Think about how happy you will be after that. You see?

Think about how sure you'll be about what you want. And you'll never have any doubts again. You see what I mean?

Never. Ever. Because you saw what you're going to be.

And there's nothing like that experience. This whole course, this whole book, is only to get you to see that. It's only to get you to have that experience.

And there's nothing like it. And it will come to you. It will come to you.

Okay? You have to work hard. It's not easy.

But that's what this course is for. You can learn how to do it. Okay?

So, how do I get off on that tangent? What he says is, in the chapter on meditation, he says, after you get to Arizona, after you've built your adobe hut, with cat airborne, right? And, after you're meditating, decided to go and sit there for a week, or a month, or three years, right?

Well, you've got to have something to meditate about. Because in this tradition, Dalai Lama's tradition, it's very, very strong. You shouldn't go sit down and not know what you're going to do.

You know? People need that. And like, after people heard about this retreat, some of my friends who are in yoga, they took off, and did a retreat.

And I met them later, and I said, how was your retreat? They said, I don't know, it gets kind of boring sitting in a house for a week, you know? About the third day, I turned off my emails, you know?

And I'm like, what are you doing? You know? And they said, I was in a retreat.

What are you doing in a retreat? I don't know, I just locked the door, you know? No, you've got to have something to meditate on.

You've got to have a practice. You've got to have a daily thing, you know? You've got to know what to do.

And that's what he's saying. He's saying, look, you want to learn meditation? You've got to have something to meditate about.

And that's bodhicitta. That's love. Okay?

I hate to say love. You get the feeling, right? It's the idea that I'm going to stand on a billion planets.

Okay? So every time I say bodhicitta, you're going to say, oh, he means that billion planet thing. Okay?

You know, people call it ultimate love, blah, blah, blah, compassion. I don't like that. Yeah, you compassionate?

Yeah, sort of. You know, but you don't get this feeling of, oh, I can stand on a billion planets. I could take care of a billion babies on a billion planets at once.

You know? We all have that urge to take care of at least one child, maybe. But to take care of a billion children at once, that's something, you know?

You have to think like that. That's what we're doing in this class. That's why we're here this weekend and next weekend.

That's all we're doing. Okay? Just how to do it.

How do you get that state of mind? How do you get the heart chakra to open? Okay?

There's two ways. Say, jinam. Kabla.

So what's that? What's that mean? Say it.

Raise your hand.

[Говорящий 2]
Say it. Say, say it.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, working from the inside and the outside. This is a secret vow. This is a metaphoric system.

You don't need to take this off for 30 years in the monastery. I'm like breaking the code of silence.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
They told me I could, okay, I also would be doing it. Work from the inside and work from the outside. What's the outside of nothing?

There's this cool thing called heart yoga in the monastery. When they finally let you do yoga after 25 years, they teach you heart yoga. This is meant to open up this chakra.

Okay? Like, this is a weird thing. In the advanced teachings, you could trigger ultimate love, the billion planet thing, okay?

We don't call it relationship. We call it the billion planet thing. You could trigger it if you could force the heart chakra open.

You see? By physical means. That's the beauty of yoga.

That's why it was this high, high, high secret teaching in the old days. Just by physical exercises, you pass this chakra open. And I'll do an advertisement, okay?

Mercedes and Aura, where's Aura? They're gonna teach this to everyone tomorrow and Sunday starting at 10am at the new 3 Jewels. I'll put the address.

It's in the binder. Cool. Okay, it's that pink thing in the binder.

That's the yoga that they teach monks in the monastery. And it's a big secret. So how come I've let them do it?

I asked my lamas. We had meetings with the lamas who taught me yoga. Taught Kristin my yoga.

And we said, we have to talk to you. And they said, why? And we said, something's happening about this yoga thing.

And they said, what? Some of them are very tumbo. Tumbo is a Hawaiian word for hard-ass.

And I'm like, what? And I said, well, respectful lama, you know this secret yoga thing that you didn't let me learn for 25 years? Yeah, yeah, what about it?

Well, some people know about it in America. And they're like, yeah? People know?

Yeah, yeah, people are thinking. Well, how many did you see? I said, well, I read a Harris poll.

20 million people? And they're like, what? I said, 20 million people are doing your secret yoga.

Oh, it can't be the same. It can't be the same. No, they're doing pretty much the same exercises.

And they're like, yeah? Hmm. And then I thought they'd be upset.

You know how when somebody finds out a secret that nobody's supposed to know and that was your big secret? And then they looked like this for a while. They said, oh, blessed, blessed.

I said, what? Blessed. Your country is blessed.

I said, why? They said, 20 million people were high yogis in their past life. 20 million people in your country were doing yoga in their past life.

In their past life? Oh, no, sorry, sorry. Thousands of past lives.

Thousands of past lives. 20 million people don't start doing yoga in their country unless they have done it for thousands of past lives. You don't stop at a yoga center and walk through the door.

You don't even notice the sign unless you have been doing yoga in thousands of lifetimes. If you haven't been doing yoga in thousands of lifetimes, you look away just before you get hit on the street. You know, you're looking at something on the other side of the street and you miss the sign.

Because the sign is being created by your karma. It's not out there. It's coming from your mind.

You created the sign. You see? So they're like, wow, 20 million people in your country are suddenly doing this life practice that they've done in thousands of lifetimes.

You've got to go tell them what it's about, you know? You've got to go get them to do it the right way, you know? And I'm like, no, no, no, they don't know anything.

They can't be yogis in their past life. They just want to get thinner, you know? They're like, they don't get this.

They're refugees, right? They don't have enough food anyway, you know? They're like, what do you mean get thinner, you know?

I said, well, they eat too much. What do you mean they eat too much? They can hardly get anything to eat, you know?

They're like, two of my longest-time conversion bosses because they couldn't get enough food, you see? They're like, people in your country have to work to get thin. They're like, yeah, they eat too much, you know?

And then we're like, OK, but they should understand what they're doing. We should teach them what they're doing. They shouldn't just do it for that.

They got sidetracked. They stepped in front of a taxi. They got hit.

They died. They forgot what they were doing. Then they got attracted to yoga in their next birth.

So it's up to you to go and try to convince them to do it for a higher reason. Try to convince them to open their heart chakra, OK? So that's why they're doing this heart yoga thing.

By the way, any kind of yoga you do, you can adjust it for heart yoga. If you learn the principle, you can keep going to whatever yoga you go to, OK? Then you just know how it works.

So how come I brought this up? Oh, you can work on opening the heart chakra from the outside. And that's a very great practice.

Also, you can work from the inside. That's what that Tathagatagarbha, Chinon Tathagatagarbha, you can work on the inside. You can open the heart chakra from the inside.

That's what this book is about. OK? That's what this book is about.

Which one is better? Inside work or outside work with yoga? Which one is better?

They taught me this in the diamond business, OK? Ready? I was in the diamond business.

Mrs. Smith, do you want this big yellow diamond? Or do you want this smaller diamond with black spots? You see?

What's the right answer? I don't want either one. Give me a good one.

You see? In the diamond business, they teach you to put the customer's mind on the duality. Put them on.

Do you want this yellow one or do you want this black one? And don't let them think, I don't want one. You see?

You get them to think about these two choices. So I'll do the diamond here, OK? Do you want outside work or do you want inside work?

Both! OK? We call it principle.

Third choice. Just say, I want both. Don't put this diamond here.

I want both of them. OK? So go do yoga.

Learn yoga. Learn that kind of yoga. And then what we're doing here, I'm not going to do exercises here because I do a shower for everybody.

I never do anybody except Christy and my teachers. But I'm going to teach you the inner method. So the outer method, you go to these guys' little seminar thing.

And they'll teach you about the outer method. And then we're going to work on the inner method here. OK?

And obviously, the most powerful thing to do is both. OK? Like our regimen every morning, we get up and we do the inner method.

And then we jump up and do the outer method. And then I have a huge breakfast. OK.

Well, I negotiated for a huge breakfast.

[Говорящий 2]
Uh...

[Говорящий 1]
OK. By the way, I'm going over your homework questions to make sure I do them all. Yeah, there's this weird question.

Uh... Four good reasons why he threw the billion planet thing into the chapter on meditation. What's it got to do with meditation?

Why should kindness meditation be in the middle of a chapter on how to meditate? OK. And here's, uh...

Here's four reasons.

[Говорящий 2]
Uh... Who... Where was this 10-day?

[Говорящий 1]
Where was this 10-day? I don't even mind. It's over here.

OK. Went, erased, fine-point, transferred to Sanford, Bellwood, Illinois. OK, it was there in Illinois.

Right? You're supposed to say no. Wake up.

It's like Friday. You don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. OK?

You're supposed to say no, no, no. OK? Who made this 10?

Was it made in a factory in Illinois? No. No.

OK? Uh... As you learn more about these teachings, you'll learn more about how your mind is trained this way.

Does that mean you're stuck in your own head forever? And your friend isn't your friend? He's just a little corner of your mind and...

You know? No. OK?

I have a mind inside, and James Conner is outside my mind. OK? He is outside me.

My mind is producing him as another person. Get it? So don't feel lonely.

Don't go home and go crazy. OK? You're not inside your head.

I'm outside your head. OK? I am outside your head.

You are making me outside your head. OK? Got it?

OK? So this 10 is going to be you. Now, what about your own thoughts?

Who's making those? Who thinks your thoughts? Are you listening or are you saying?

Careful. Careful. Are you the one listening to your thoughts?

Or are you the one talking your thoughts? Or are you both somehow? Some people say listening, some people say both.

I didn't say talking. I don't know. Somebody's got to be talking.

It's not you guys. But I think. Right?

Anyway. It's like this. This 10 is created by seeds in your own mind.

Carbon seeds. That were planted there for when you fill in the blank. Give a 10 to someone else.

OK? When you give a 10 to someone else, it plants seeds in your mind. And then you see your 10.

All right? Comfortable? My body's staying.

They're only there. Comfortable? OK.

Now. Your own thoughts are coming from the same place. OK?

If you think nice things about other people, your own mind will be. The guy who talks in your head will be saying nice things. OK?

Wow. This is great. I'm going to learn how to be on a million planets.

OK? If you have thought nice thoughts about other people, that seed grows in your own mind as sweet thoughts. Wow.

He's going to teach me how to be on a million planets at once right here in New York City. You know? OK?

Now. If you've been grumpy and thinking bad thoughts about other people, the guy talking in your mind will be saying it's too hot in here. It's too cold in here.

It's going on too long. You're not going to get refreshments. OK?

OK? The same seeds that create the 10 are creating your thoughts. And you don't have control.

You see? You're listening. You're listening.

OK? Who's making the thoughts is the seeds from how you treated people in the past. How you thought about people in the past.

You're just listening to the result now. You can actually tell if you're depressed, it's because you've made other people sad. If you're happy, it's because you've made other people happy.

You can tell what you were doing before. You don't need to see your past balance. You can see your past balance in meditation.

You can learn how to see your past balance in meditation. But you don't need to. If you're happy, if the guy talking to you all day is like, because they got a class now, you know?

He's got to teach you that billion planet thing. And we're getting freshmen tomorrow. You know?

That's because you were nice to him. And if your mind is like, I'm nervous. I don't know if I can do that.

Oh, I don't like that. It's too hard. It's too cold.

I don't like these people bumming. The guy sitting next to me. I don't know why I want to put my elbow.

I don't know why they get the seats with one elbow rest for two seats. Like, why did you do that? OK?

No. No, I mean, that guy talking was created by negative karma. What's that got to do with why you put this in your meditation checklist?

If you want your meditation to succeed, well, be nice to other people. OK? Be nice to other people.

You want to get to this total stillness? Shantan, right? You want to get to this total crystal clear tranquility that they always have in the movies, the Kung Fu guys.

You know, like, ah. You know? Never get upset.

Never get nervous. 2,000 people shooting arrows out the window. You know, how do you get like that?

How many people do that karma? Especially in New York City. It's all karma.

It's all karma. If you practice thinking about how to get rid of negative karma, your mind will be still tomorrow. You see?

It's because karma runs in your mind as tranquility. OK? So the first reason to throw this meditation about switching me and James and the ice cream, the first reason is that the karma from that will make your meditation perfect.

And that's the only way to get the perfect meditation. People ask me, should I change my position? Should I do a half, three-quarter pose?

With the right foot up first or the left foot up first? Will my meditation get better? Even though, it doesn't matter.

You can sit on a chair. You can sit on a couch. You can go to a movie.

Sit on a chair. It doesn't matter. The karma is what makes the meditation good.

OK? You can be all slouchy. You can fill up your stomach with hamburgers.

You know, you can do all the stuff that you're even not supposed to do. But if you have the karma, you'll have tranquility. And if you don't, it doesn't matter how straight you are.

OK? It's all coming from how much you take care of other people. Got it?

So that's why, that's the first reason why this is in the teaching on meditation. What's the second one? There's supposed to be four.

Oh yeah. If you have this idea that I would like to stand on a billion planets and take care of other people. If you've got that motivation, then you'll work hard at your meditation.

[Говорящий 2]
OK?

[Говорящий 1]
So, if you like working for other people, you can do stuff that you won't do for yourself. My yoga teachers used to say, look, when you cook for yourself, it's like, what do I got to carry? Oh yeah, OK, whatever.

You just throw it down there and you make it and you eat it out of the pot, right? Like that. OK?

But when you're cooking for somebody else, you see, it's like, oh, oh, it's got to be pretty and it has to, oh, it has to have the spices in. I'll get a recipe book, you know? And I'll do everything nice.

And then you make the table nice and you put candles out. I don't know. And my yoga teacher, Sharon and David, right, they'll stand there and say, I'll be...

which is my enemy, my worst enemy, right? I can't do it. After five years, I can't do it.

And I'll be like halfway up and I'm going, hey, hey, hey. And David will be like, don't breathe like that, Nathan Michael. And, you know, and I'm like, and then Sharon will say, do it for somebody else.

Do it for somebody else. You know, I go, you see? Now, I'll think about one of you guys.

I'm going to do it for the knit, you know? I'm going to do it and get up. And then I fall down.

But anyway, you can see if you're working for somebody else, you can do stuff that you can't do for yourself. So, that's another reason why I threw this into the meditation chapter. You're not going to get up at 3.30 every morning for yourself. You know? You'll start skipping days. But if you think, I've got to meditate today.

Why? Because my daddy's waiting for me. You know?

She's going to be on one of those pilates classes You know? She's going to need me. I've got to do it for her.

You know? And when I get up every morning, we chase, we take somebody. This is a nice practice.

Usually, I do somebody that I dreamed about. Like, I just dreamed about somebody and I woke up and said, I dedicate the day to this person. You know?

Like, if I dreamt about my dad, I'd get up and wake up and say, okay, today, all the stuff I don't want to do, like my yoga and my meditation, I'm going to do for Nanette. And then I feel like I can do it. You know?

Like, when Nanette sees me next time, there'll be this subconscious vibe. She'll know I was working for her. And she'll be happy.

You see what I mean? So, do it that way. That's another reason.

Third reason. Oh yeah. When you start working to stand on a billion planets at once, the billion planet thing, it's the best way to attract obstacles.

Demons. And if you don't believe in demons, just try to meditate seriously for a year or so. Okay?

And they will come. Really heavy stuff. People don't believe in demons.

They're for real. They exist. Okay?

God's spirits exist. The minute you start trying to help other people big time, you're like a magnet. And they're just attracted to you like that.

Like this, I think this alarm goes off in the demon world. You know? Like, look, somebody's trying to help other people big time.

Where? 85th Street, John Brady's apartment. Okay.

We'll be right over there. And then they just come. Don't think, they are real.

They are real. They really are real. I mean, modern man has declared that they're not real, and we're wrong.

Okay? Doesn't matter if you declare they're not real. They are real.

They don't bother people much nowadays because we don't do anything of it. Okay? No, it's not like the Middle Ages when everybody was having demons coming in, you know?

It's like, we're just eating. We work 50 weeks a year to get two weeks off. You see?

We work 50 weeks a year to have two weeks to do any work. We're so insane that they're just like, leave them alone. They're doing great.

Perfect. Perfect. But what if they go to meditate during those two weeks?

No, no, get this vacation thing going. Go to a beach. Burn yourself.

Get skin cancer. You know? Leave me happy.

Come back and work another 50 weeks. You know? No, they're like, we're right where they was.

So they don't pay much attention to us. Now, if you start the billion planet thing, and if you seriously start to do meditation, they will come. Like, people ask me at the yoga class, they said, I can't sleep well at night.

I have trouble sleeping. And in the monastery, when you tell your teacher I have trouble sleeping, they say, go to bed thinking about standing on a billion planets at once. Like, as you fall asleep, think about, I will stand on a billion planets at once.

I'll be the one. I'll do it. And what happens is, when you fall asleep with those thoughts, it's like a, they call it the diamond wall.

Like an igloo, that goes under the ground also. It's an egg. But they say, just wishing that you could have a billion people at once shuts off all negative influences.

Like that. Boom. And then you sleep really sweetly.

So try that when you go to sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, they say that around 1am, 2am, your mind is very vulnerable to demons. And that's why people have trouble sleeping.

Your mind is open, and you're not really watching it because you're asleep. So your mind is like very infeasible. So, this is a way, the third reason to put this teaching in the middle of a meditation teaching is that it's the ultimate form of protection.

There was this controversy recently in Tibet. Protective controversy. You know, should you believe in this protective god or not?

Should you believe in offerings or prayers to this protective god or not? You can just throw the whole idea out. It doesn't matter.

The true protection is to want to take care of other people. If you have any kind of problem, if you have a medical problem, if you're in pain, emotionally, if you can't sleep, stop thinking about yourself and just think about somebody else. And there's this automatic protection, aura, like an aura comes around you and nothing will bother you.

Nothing can bother you. When you start thinking about yourself, you're vulnerable. When you start worrying about other people, oh, I'm going to do this for Nanette, you see, then there's this automatic protection.

They call it kocha. Say kocha. Kocha means armor.

It's like psychic armor, spiritual armor. And you get it by thinking about other people. Last reason.

What was that? Oh, yeah. You can't stand on a million planets unless you learn this practice.

OK? Switching you and me and James apart. You have to learn this practice, otherwise you can't help other people.

So you've got to learn to help other people. You've got to think about helping other people. You have to meditate on it in order to pull it off.

You've got to train your mind. In Tibetan, the word for meditation, bala or gomba, means to train the mind. It means to brainwash yourself.

OK? In a nice way. OK?

And you have to. Your mind is not going to take care of other people naturally. Why?

You've been through several billion lifetimes of watching out for yourself. OK? You've been through billions and billions of lifetimes just watching out for yourself.

You're not going to start worrying about other people's icing from one lecture at PS89 on a Friday night. There are billions of seeds working the other way. And you're like this guy with a finger in the dike, like the Pacific Oceans on the other side, and you're holding your finger in the dike.

It's not enough, you see? It's too powerful. Billions of lifetimes of watching out for yourself.

on a Friday You're not going to start worrying about other people's icing from one lecture on a Friday night. You're not going to start worrying about other people's icing from one lecture on a Friday You're not going to start one lecture on a Friday You're not going to start other people's icing from You're not going to start worrying about other people's icing from one lecture on a Friday You're not going to start worrying about other people's icing from on a Friday You're not going to start worrying about other people's

[Говорящий 2]
icing from on a Friday

[Говорящий 1]
You're not start worrying about other people's icing from one lecture on a Friday You're not going to start Okay? It went into the foot.

When you step on a nail, does your hand get a hold of it? He doesn't know. So logically, if you stepped on a nail, you shouldn't pull it out of your hand.

Got it? Okay. Got it?

You step on a nail. Since your hand isn't injured, you shouldn't pull it out of your hand. Got it?

You're supposed to say, No, it's one body. You're supposed to say, No, no, it's one body. When I step on a nail, I pull the nail out with my hand, even though it's the foot that's got hurt.

Why? It's all me. It's all me.

Okay? And that's how Master Shantidharma says, Start thinking about that. Start thinking about where me begins and where me ends.

Okay? You decided that your foot and your hand are the same me. Now, am I and James the same me?

Okay? Think about it. The idea of one body.

Am I James? If James gets hurt, should I do something? Should the hand take a nail out of the foot if they're not connected really?

So, me, if you think about it, is an idea. Okay? I decided that me is just my foot.

If I see three guys outside smashing a car window of a car, and they look kind of big, I'm likely to just walk out. Okay? But if it's the car that I bought yesterday, you see, I might, like, try to get a cop or something like that.

Okay? That means that me has been extended to the cop. Okay?

And if it was somebody else's car, me has not been extended to the cop. Okay? If you have a child, you start to take care of them, right?

And if somebody threatens your child, you act. But if you're sitting watching CNN and an American missile comes down in Baghdad and ruins someone's house and hurts their child, you don't, like, jump off and run to the TV and do something. You see what I mean?

Because that's not your child. You see? So, me has extended to one child, but me has not extended to the Iraqi child.

Because it's not my child.

[Говорящий 2]
You see?

[Говорящий 1]
So, a little bit of me, the border of me, can be expanded to this thing, child, right? If I want to expand. So, me, the point here is, me is expandable.

Okay? Me is expandable. How far you expand is what we're going to talk about.

And last question, then I got to run away. Master Shantideva, Prajnaparamati, and Gyan Sathe were all the bears. Okay?

Ready? This is how we do this in the monastery. Okay?

Don't wear shoes. And we do this for five hours every day in the monastery. Ready?

Shakyamuni Buddha, Yeah, then you kind of nod. I'm doing James, okay? I am a Shakyamuni Buddha.

Shakyamuni Buddha means, let's talk about other people's problems. Let's talk about other people's problems. First, you always take an example.

Then you say, Not something I need to worry about. By the way, you've got to go, Not something I got to worry about. Then he can either say, Chi Chi or Du.

Chi Chi means, what are you talking about? Du means right. Let's do it again.

I'll do my part. Let's talk about other people's problems. Then you go, okay.

Not something I got to worry about. He says, why do you say that? Let's say, Oh, I'm sorry.

I blurted. It is something I should worry about, right? Yes or no?

He says, right. What the hell? No, they get real like this for like five hours.

It's so cool. Sometimes your hands are just spouting blood. It's all split open.

You're like, damn, this blood's going in the guy's face. You're like, ah.

[Говорящий 2]
You're like, Du.

[Говорящий 1]
Why? Why is other people's problems something I should worry about? Because it's a problem.

Okay? Because it's a problem. Okay?

Got it? This is the logic. We do this five hours a day in a month.

Take other people's pain. Okay. It is something I have to get rid of.

Why? Because it's a pain. Now, what's the other guy going to say?

I don't have to worry about it. It's not hurting me. It's not hurting me.

Why should I worry about it? Then we say, Damn it. Because it's the same as your pain.

It's the same as your pain. You got it? Here we go.

Take other people's pain. Say, take other people's pain. It is something I should worry about.

Why? Because it's pain. It's the same as my pain.

It's four steps logic. Okay? Always four steps.

I'll do it again. Okay? Take other people's pain.

It is something I should worry about. Because it's pain. Why?

It's the same as my pain. It's the same as my pain. And I want to leave you with that.

Okay? Think about it.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
The guy just said, Master Shantideva just said, Take other people's pain. You should work to get rid of it. Why?

Just because it's pain. Generic pain. In the world.

Are you telling me any kind of pain in the world is something I have to worry about? Yes. Why?

Because you worry about your own pain. Now, You should be having a lot of problems with that already. Like some people are looking like this already.

You know what? It's not logical. It's not logical.

I mean, if you go up to anybody in the street and say, That lady over there is having a problem. Right. You should go over there and help her.

Right. Why? Because she's having a problem.

So what? Well, if you were having a problem, you'd help, right? Yeah.

Same thing. Now, Now the whole book, The whole teaching for the next two weekends, right, is going to be, Is that a good proof or not? Is that true or not?

Okay? I should get rid of pain. Why?

Of other people. Why? Just because it's pain.

No better reason. Just because it's pain. Now, we've got to talk about that.

We're going to spend the whole ten classes talking about that. But I leave you with that. Okay?

Think about it. Okay? I have to, All the pain in the world is something I have to get rid of.

Why? Just because it's pain. And pain hurts me.

Okay? So, you know, how now we're going to go from there, we're going to talk about tomorrow. We're going to talk about tomorrow.

You know what the guy says. What's the guy say? What's the other guy say?

Yeah. James Scott. Okay?

I can feel your pain. I'm not in your house. I didn't lose my house.

I'm the kid that got killed. You know. I mean, I appreciate it.

It's a noble sentiment. You know, you're a good guy. You're a monk.

You've got love and everything. And, you've got this ancient book. And, it's very noble.

But, to tell you the truth, when an American missile comes down in Iraq, it's not like my house falls apart. You know, I understand I should be compassionate. I understand that it's a bad thing.

But it's not really my house falling apart. You know what I mean? So, so I don't really have to run to Iraq or go demonstrate at the Republican Convention.

You know what I mean? It's not really my problem. Because I don't feel that pain.

We're different. We're different. I'm not James Conner.

If he doesn't get shivered, there's no skin on my back. As long as I get chocolate mint chip. Okay?

Don't bring me a chocolate mint chip, Carlos. She won't let me have it anyway. Okay?

Alright. So, you've got, oh, so you do have homework, right? Okay, so grab a homework on the air, and we are on the way in tomorrow.

One or two of those questions will be on our own quiz. Okay? And, you should be ready to answer it.

And don't be lazy and avoid it. You can avoid it. There's no police here.

But then you won't know it very well. And you won't be able to help other people, right? And again, if you'd like to come and, to the yoga class, you're very welcome.

I'd like to, Alice Chitton. There's one person here tonight that I'd just like you to recognize, because I don't know if she's coming tomorrow. Ms. Pei, is she here?

Yeah. Raise your hand. Don't be shy.

So, Ms. Pei is from Taiwan. And, we wrote a book about ancient Buddhism and business. And when I was sitting in a cabin for three years, she found this book, and she translated it into Chinese.

And worked out with the publisher and all that. We didn't know anything about it. We didn't know anything.

And now it's like the third most popular book in Taiwan. And I just want to give her a hand for doing all that. Nice job.

And I think we're going next year to the top. And it's been very beautiful. And I can thank you for doing it.

And we'll see you.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
Okay. Give away the good karma, you ready?