Углублённый курс ACI: Колесо жизни в Сутре сердца (1999, Сан-Франциско), занятие 4

[Говорящий 1]
We're pretty much through the wheel of life. We've been working around the 12 links around the outside. OK.

We've been working our way through these. You can, what's that? Reverse.

OK. That's good luck. It means you're going to get out of it, you see.

All right. So you think about it like a clock, OK? Like 12 hours, OK?

Like 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, and like that. The first class, we talked about ignorance, being the blind man right here, OK? And that's what starts you in trouble.

And we'll keep talking every time a little bit about ignorance, OK? Which means not understanding what's going on around you. Like certain forces are creating your world.

Some people say it was God. Some people say it's random. Some people say it was a Big Bang, or maybe two Big Bangs, OK?

And everybody has a different version. But not understanding where your life come from, not understanding why you're here, not understanding what's driving your life and what's causing the things that happen to you is represented in this first thing. The guy with the stick, it means he's blind, OK?

And that means not understanding where the things around you are coming from. I mean, at a certain point in your life, you stop wondering, right? I think it's when you're about five, six, I don't know.

Now, it's where you ask your parents, why do people get cancer? And they say, because the cells start dividing wrong. And then you say, well, why?

And they say, because a certain electron or neutron hits the cells and they start dividing wrong. And then you say, well, why did that neutron hit their cell and why didn't it hit my cell? And then they say, don't ask those questions.

And then you really do stop asking questions. Like, you grew up in a scientific, rational culture. They told you everything has a cause.

And then you said, well, what causes cancer? And they said, well, it's the cells dividing crazy. And then you said, well, why?

And they said, well, it's the genetic material. And then you said, why? And they said, because some kind of particle hit the genetic material.

And then when you said, why did that particle hit that person's genetic material? They said, that doesn't have a cause. That can't be explained.

Then they, it's actually they're cheating you, right? I mean, either everything has an explanation or nothing has an explanation. But you can't just arbitrarily stop halfway through the explanation and say, that doesn't have a cause.

We believe everything has a cause, except anything else you might ask me. You know what I mean? It's like that.

So is it just random? Is it just by mistake that some people get cancer and other people don't? And that's not understanding why things happen.

And you stopped asking a while back, in your life, at a certain point, you stopped asking. Certain bad things happen to you. Some of them can be explained.

Some of them, you don't worry about it anymore. You just say, that's the role of the dice or something like that. If there's a God, then God is in a bad mood today.

And I got breast cancer, or something like that. You don't worry about it much anymore. You don't think that there's an answer anymore.

That's ignorance, okay? That's the guy with the stick. Then we went through a whole series of steps to get to number two.

Number two is a guy making pots, and that represents doing karma. What is karma? Anything you think, anything you say, anything you do is karma, okay?

Karma doesn't mean, by itself, a cosmic boomerang or something like that. Karma just, in Sanskrit, karma means to do something. Karma means to do something.

So anytime you think something, anytime you say something, anytime you do something, that's karma. It's either good karma, bad karma, or we call neutral karma, okay? But no matter what you think, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, it's all karma, okay?

That's why this guy is making a lot of pots, like he's got pots all over the place here, okay? How do you make karma? You know, what makes you do karma?

Well, first of all, this monkey in a house, okay? Monkey is running from window to window. There's six windows, supposedly, in that picture.

That represents your consciousness, your awareness of the world, okay? So, how do you get in trouble? It all starts with awareness, okay?

Just your raw awareness. And you don't think about that anymore either. You just take it for granted.

You know, you wake up in the morning, it turns on, you go through the day with it, and then at the end of the day, you go to bed. But you don't sit there and think how incredible it is that you're aware at all. You know what I mean?

Like, where does that come from? You know, why are you aware of the world right now? And why do you stop being aware when you die?

What happens between there? You know, like, why does that happen? Why are you aware of this moment?

You see, why do you have a brain right now? Why do you have a mind? Why do you—why can you tell what's going on around you?

That's consciousness, okay? And that's represented in here, link number three. It's called Sumbanamshe, by the monkey, running from window to window.

So, you basically, your mind runs from window to window. What windows? Eye, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, okay?

Your monkey is running from window to window, looking out, okay? Who's the monkey? Your mind, your consciousness, okay?

In the six windows, he can be peeking out at any time. Tibetan Buddhism says— Buddhism says that your mind can alternate quickly between those different objects, but basically you can only have one going on at a time. Like, if you think you are smelling something and looking at TV at the same time, or eating popcorn, or looking at a movie, when you're aware of the popcorn, you can't be aware of the movie.

But you can shift between them by microseconds, you see what I mean? So, you can think that you're aware of the popcorn and you're aware of the movie at the same time. But if you really get into the movie, you know, you can look down and half the popcorn is gone and you didn't remember eating it, you see what I mean?

And that's why we say, Chikki nini mi she te is from Dharmakirti, 8th century, you know, that you can't be aware of really two objects at once. So, really your mind is like a monkey, running from window to window, okay? Fast sometimes, but still running from window to window, okay?

Number four here, is two guys crossing a river in a boat, and that represents the formation of your body in your mother's womb, okay? It represents your body starting, and your mind starting in your mother's womb. Buddhism says that process begins at conception.

The minute the sperm and the egg meet, consciousness enters, and that thing is already alive at that moment, and then the growth starts. Growth of the mind, or development of the mind and development of the body start at that moment. That's why in Buddhism abortion is considered murder, okay?

Even at five minutes afterwards, okay? After conception. Number five...

is called... what do you call that? Keche, okay?

Keche means your sense powers, meaning what? At a certain point in your development, you stop being a little cylinder of cells, which is what you're at in number four. They, by the way, in Tibetan...

what do you call it? Medical theory. There's like nine stages within the womb.

Nine stages of the embryo are outlined, and you go from mer-mer to nur-nur to mur-mur-bo, and these are different shapes, you know? And number four, you're called mer-mer, means you're in a... all you are at that point is a cylinder of cells, like a little tiny sheath of cells.

Looks like a little... a piece of plastic wiring or something like that without the wire, okay? Like a little tiny piece of straw, and that's all you are at that point.

By number five, this represents your body getting developed enough to have... to hear things, to see things, to taste things. Your sense cells, the sensory cells of your body are developing.

They don't have anything that they're aware of yet, you see? Your... the cells at the back of your eye are just developing.

This is really cool, this was developed, you know, two and a half thousand years ago, and they're talking about cells at the back of your eye that pick up colors and shapes, they're sensitive and like that, and the cells in the... in the eardrum and things like that that pick up sound... that are sensitive to vibrations and things like that.

So, this one represents your development to that point. Drukpa rekpa means contact. Here you have a man and a woman touching each other.

But what it means is, finally you're developed far enough that you can have sensations, okay? Of what? You have your...

the cells of your eye, you have the consciousness behind it, and you have some kind of visual object, okay? They say that the first awarenesses you have are in the womb, and they're mostly tactile, like, it's hot in here, okay? You know, like, you're aware of heat, you're aware of motion.

In Tibetan medical theory, a pregnant woman has to be really careful what she eats, how she moves, and they describe what the child can sense. The child is much more sensitive than the way you hear it described in the West. You know, very early on, they can feel uncomfortable if the mother eats certain foods or moves in certain ways or things like that.

So, that represents that stage where the first convening or the first coming together of an object, meaning the heat of your mother's body, and your sense cells, which are now developed, meaning you're in your skin, and then your mind, which is aware of heat. So, that joining of the man and the woman, touching, it's called contact, represents the first time in your life, in this life, when those three things are coming together. Something to feel hot about, the bodily organs that allow you to know that it's heat, and then the state of mind that is aware of the heat, and that's the first time, that's contact, okay?

What happens right after contact is called dumbhacarva. Dumbhacarva means... in the picture you have a guy with an arrow in his eye, and this represents feeling, okay?

The ability to feel things. So, right after the first experience in the womb, you start having opinions about things, you see? This feels good, this feels bad, this I don't care much about.

And they say that that continues on even to your enlightenment, okay? That the ability to feel things, feel good, feel bad, or feel neutral. And sometimes they divide it into five.

Feeling good mentally, feeling good physically, neutral, feeling bad mentally and feeling... Did I say bad already? No.

And feeling bad physically. So, sometimes they divide it into five. And they say in Buddhism that this state of mind continues throughout your life.

You never... it never stops. Even when you're dreaming, even when you're asleep, even if Mike Tyson knocks you out, still you have some level of feeling is going on, okay?

Even if you take heroin and you feel buzzed out, and you think you're not feeling anything anymore, you're still feeling. They say you cannot turn off the function, the mental function of feeling, okay? Never.

Even when you become an enlightened being, you'll still have feeling, okay? And it's part of all mind states. There are, in the Abhidharma, 16 centuries ago, ten states of mind that you cannot shut off.

They're always going, like discrimination, okay? Or concentration. Even bugs have concentration to some extent.

Even amoebas can stop and take the time to wrap around something and eat it, okay? It takes concentration, okay? Next one.

These two are what we're gonna talk about tonight. We didn't get to number eight or number nine yet, okay? So, we've got up to number eight and number nine.

And we're gonna link it to this thing here. In other words, we're gonna talk about the middle of the Wheel of Life. There's a very famous teaching, when they teach this thing in the monastery, which when I went to the course, it took a year to teach this Wheel of Life painting and dependent origination.

There's a very famous nursery rhyme that we have to memorize, you know? And it tells you, it says, for example, that number two and number 10, which means this one and this one, are kinds of karma. These two are kinds of karma, okay?

Then they say these seven, meaning this group of five and this group of two, are results of what you've done. You see what I mean? The fact that you have a body, the fact that you have a mind, the fact that you have sense power, the fact that you have cells in your eye, these are all results of what you did in the past.

You just came out with them, all right? These are somehow neutral, okay? Like, to have an eyeball is not a good deed or a bad deed.

It's something that came out afterwards, all right? So, these seven are called the results. And these two, and number one, well, these two are called the two nasties, okay?

These two are bad thoughts. These two are mental afflictions. These two are bad emotions, okay?

And these are a big, they play a big part in all of the trouble you have in this life, and especially in creating this guy. Who's this guy? Death, okay?

Death. The whole point of this wheel, the whole point of this painting is to figure out how to outsmart him and get out, which is where who is? Yeah, it's like to get where the Buddha is.

The Buddha's not in his clutches anymore, okay? Now, is that like figurative or something, you know? Do Tibetan lamas believe that there's this gremlin running around, you know, and kills people in their sleep or something like that?

No, okay? And when they teach it, they're very careful to say that. This monster here represents a condition with which you are born, okay?

The minute the egg and the sperm meet, the minute consciousness enters the womb, you already have your death inside of you. Death is planted in you when you're born, when you're conceived, actually. Nine months before you come out, your death is inserted in your body, and it means the condition of your body that it has to die.

And then, this condition is gnawing away at you as we speak, okay? Every day, they picture him here, okay? They don't think there's really a guy like that.

They just say, try to visualize it that way, that death is inside you, and death is working its way toward your heart, and he's ripping a little more out each, every minute, you know, every minute that we talk, you know, he's ripped a little closer. Whose heart is he closest to tonight, we don't know, okay? Somebody might die tonight, somebody might die tomorrow.

We all might be dead tomorrow, okay? But he's working his way inexorably towards your heart, and then he cuts into it, and you die, okay? So, the idea is, how do you get out of this condition?

How do you get out of the wheel, okay? What does that mean? I mean, did you ever see anybody not die?

Did you ever see anybody not get old? Is this really what Buddhism is teaching? Or is there some kind of metaphor here?

Is this really an instruction on how to not die? They say, yeah, it really is, okay? Then you have to say, and we talked about it already, I never saw anybody not die, the National Enquirer didn't report it, the New York Times didn't report it, CNN didn't report it either, you know?

It's never happened that nobody died, you know? They talk about it, but I've never met this person. In any way, I wouldn't want to do it, because he'd be really wrinkly, you know what I mean?

That's how you think, you know? Somebody says, you could live forever, you don't have to die. Then you have this vision of, ooh, that'd be really gross, you know?

I mean, I'd rather almost die, you know? And there's these old guys with rotten teeth and stuff like that. It's not like that, okay?

Buddhism says that if you reach a certain spiritual state, you actually start to get younger. The aging process starts to reverse itself. And that's due to the effect that your mind has on your body.

And there's something in between. Your mind's over here, your body's over here, and in between here, there's some kind of invisible body within you. There's a spiritual body that you have.

And the mind affects the spiritual body, and the spiritual body affects the physical body, okay? So, I mean, it's not like mind and body like this. It's mind, body, and then a very subtle combination of the two in the middle.

And actually, tantric Buddhism or secret Buddhism is working with that body to try to fix the mind and the body, okay? So, there's this spiritual body between the two. And it says if you get your mind into a certain high level, then the spiritual body starts to change.

And as the spiritual body changes, then your outside physical body starts to change. And then you actually become younger. And the death process stops.

And then you actually, the body changes from something which is blood and guts and skin and bones, to something which is made of light. So, as the spiritual body gets stronger, and as the mind gets more pure, then the physical body is kind of transformed from something which is blood and guts and skin and meat, and it changes into something which is light, like an enlightened being's body, like an angel's body or something like that. And they say that's quite possible to do.

And they say that that's why to study Buddhism. And that's why we have classes. And that's why the Buddha designed the Wheel of Light.

And that's what we're trying to achieve here. But I didn't answer the main question yet, right? I mean, how many people did you see do this?

How many bodies of light are walking around did you see on Fifth Avenue, you know? You didn't see any, okay? I mean, you didn't read about any...

I mean, you read some crazy thing in the... What's the competition to the National Enquirer? The Star.

Maybe the Star reported something. But you haven't seen it, right? They say in the Bible, they talk about it a little bit, no confirmed sightings of these beings, you know?

Even the Dalai Lama seems to be getting older, okay? So, where are these people? If that's really what Buddhism is all about, then it's not doing a very good job, because nobody reached there, you know?

And we say a very important thing, to see these beings, your mind has to be very close to getting there yourself, okay? And I can give you an example, okay? We talk about this in the monastery a lot.

This is a white and blue cylinder, okay? I'm holding up a white and blue cylinder. If you're a human being, with a certain mindset, with a certain background, you think it's a pen, okay?

Is that reasonable? Yeah, I mean, you saw me open it, you saw these blue circles appear on the transparency, it's probably a pen. It's not stupid to say it's a pen, right?

It's logical to say it's a pen. If an animal comes here, a dog, and I wave it in front of the dog, and I say, here, here, you know, take this pen, what are they gonna do? Especially if they're a puppy, they're gonna chew on it, okay?

I mean, they're gonna just take it and start chewing on it. Do they perceive it as a pen? Do they conceptualize it as a pen, you know?

They see it as a chewable thing. They see it as a doggy treat or something, like, not very tasty, but anyway, it's good enough, you know, until you hit that liquid inside. But, you know, it's pretty soft, it chews pretty well, you know, it's pretty cool.

They see it as a chewable thing. By the way, in Madhyamika, in Buddhist philosophy, you can't say the dog is chewing on a pen. You have to say the dog is chewing on what it sees as something to chew on, a cylinder, okay?

So, is it a cylinder? Yes. Is it a pen to you?

Yes. Does the dog recognize it as a pen? No, they can't, okay?

There's something in their mind. Okay, you can say bad luck, you can say God was short on brains that day, or you can say the Big Bang didn't throw off particles in the right direction. No, it doesn't mean the dog's not smart.

By the way, the dog is seeing it fine. You know, if you can chew on it, why bother about writing with it, okay? Okay, so it's reasonable, right?

It's just as reasonable for the dog to say it's something to chew on as it is for you to say it's something to write with, okay? But can the dog recognize it as a pen? No, can they utilize it as a pen for the good things we use pens for?

You know, can they have a Wheel of Life teaching and stand up here and hold it in their paws and draw circles on the Wheel of Life and say, okay, this is how to get out of death or something like that? Okay, they can't do that, okay? And is that, I don't know, we say the same thing about your body, okay?

Like if I have been studying Buddhism for many years and I have meditated very deeply and I followed all the instructions of my lamas and I kept my vows and been kind to other people and seen emptiness directly and many things like that, and if my own body is changing to me, would you necessarily see it? No, if you haven't done those things, you wouldn't see it. You see, I mean, that's what Buddhism is saying.

If you hadn't gone through that training, if you hadn't seen those things, if you hadn't had certain experiences which you cannot have unless you meditate a lot, you know, like an hour or two every day, every day, then would you see me as a normal person or would you see me the way I'm seeing me? You see what I mean? What does the Dalai Lama see when he looks in the mirror?

Can you say? Do you know? You know, I mean, you can't really say.

You can say how he looks to us, okay? So Buddhism would say that it's just like the pen and the thing to chew on. I mean, to say that the dog is seeing it as something to chew on is not to deny a pen.

You see what I mean? Dogs can't go around saying there's no pens in the world. Just because they can't see them, okay?

They can say there's only chewable things in the world, okay? But that would be some kind of prejudice, okay? That would be denying human rights, all right?

As opposed to animal rights, okay? And for us to go around and say this is a pen and not something to chew on is denying them their rights, okay? And if there was a tantric deity in this room and you looked at them and because of the impurity of your own mind you saw them as a normal person, that's your problem, okay?

And in fact, there's many stories in Buddhism of angels sitting in the audience and other people not having any idea who they are or what they are. They just see them as a normal person. Lord Buddha had a disciple, what was his name?

Lektyar, I think. Anyway, stayed with him for 12 years. And somebody asked him, is there anything special about this guy?

He said, absolutely nothing. He's a plain old person. He doesn't display any good qualities at all.

I don't know what the thing is. People get all excited when he walks through a room. Have no idea what the thing is.

Once in a while, he's got this little light coming out from his head. But I don't see any big deal. I don't see why people make a big fuss about him, you see?

And that's due to his own perceptions, due to the purity of his own mind, okay? And for him, the Buddha is a regular guy, okay? So just because you've never seen anybody not die doesn't mean there's nobody not dying, okay?

Does it prove there's nobody not dying? No, okay? You gotta get used to that in Buddhism too.

I mean, Buddha said, stay strictly logical, okay? So from what I just said, you can say, okay, I agree, it's possible there's maybe somebody in this room who didn't die and who's a tantric angel, you know? But does what I say prove there's tantric angels in this room?

No. So I just have to leave you with that. It's a possibility.

In Buddhism, that's progress. You went from thinking that it's impossible not to die to thinking maybe it's possible not to die. And then I have to get you over to definitely, I don't have to die.

Best way would just be to teach you how to do it and you can check it out yourself, okay? All right, I mean, in Buddhism, that's like the neatest way to do it, okay? That's proof, right?

Could you explain it to other people after that? Could you say, look, don't you see? My body's not getting old anymore.

No, they might not be able to see it, okay? They might not be able to see it. I mean, Dalai Lama gets up in an audience of 5,000 people, I saw in Washington DC, starts an explanation of how not to die, and after two hours, like 50 people have already left, you know?

I mean, they didn't hear it. It wasn't interesting to them. That's just perceptions, okay?

Like that. So, the idea of this wheel is how not to die. And you can do it, you really can do it, okay?

Mark my words, you can leave this class for a year, two years, five years, you're gonna come back sooner or later, okay? Because you're gonna get old, okay? So, remember the address, okay?

And... you know... that's the way it goes, you know?

Nobody else in New York is even claiming that this is possible, you know? And that's the real meaning of Buddhism. That's the real goal of Buddhism.

This text says here, that the Buddha is pointing to, DANG PAS KHYIM LA LANG CHEN BZHIN, PHYI DAG DE NYID SHONG BAR BYA You can defeat the Lord of Death like an elephant smashing a house of toothpicks. Okay? Something like that.

It says that, okay? So, Lord Buddha said it was possible. And that's the point of Buddhism, okay?

The point of Buddhism is not to... be calm while you get old and die, or... get cancer, or...

equanimity while you get cancer, or... be calm, or... be friendly, or, you know...

It's not the point. You will get friendly and calm when you... reach your angel body, you know?

Because you'll be relaxed. You don't have to worry about dying and stuff like that. You know, you can get—yeah.

She said this, when you're in the transition between, you know, like... a normal human body to like an angel's body or something, is your body in good condition or gets healthy or something like that? It's a good question for this reason.

I mean, Rome wasn't built in a day, and transforming your body takes... it takes effort, and it happens in pieces. Okay?

It's not like you wake up one morning, and it's all finished, okay? You start to have intimations of it. More and more proof that what this guy said was true.

You know what I mean? Like, things start happening to you on an occasional basis, because you're following these trainings. And then...

and then you kind of get interested. You say, oh boy, that's... I wonder if that's coincidence or...

or maybe what I'm doing, you know? And then you work on it harder, you keep your vows, and you keep the purity of your mind and thinking compassionate towards other people. And then, after a while, it becomes obvious that something's happening.

And if you keep it up, after a while, it gets obvious that's... very obvious that something weird is going on. You know, like, people give you a million dollars.

You know... Suddenly, all your pains in your body go away, you know? Suddenly, you feel like ten years younger, and you can do anything you ever wanted to do that you couldn't do when you were twenty.

I mean... And then, certain things just sort of obviously start happening to you. Amazing things start happening to you.

Then it gets into the realm of very amazing, and then it passes a border into miraculous. You see what I mean? Like, there's a point up to where it's just really amazing.

And then there's a point up to where, now, that's impossible. That can't happen to a normal person. You know what I mean?

Like, that's physically impossible. Physically impossible things start to happen. And say, yeah, it's like a gradation.

I mean, it happens over a period of years, and things start changing in your life, and your body starts changing, and things like that. And then, eventually, you change completely, okay? Like that.

So, yeah. And your body does feel great while it's happening, okay? You don't have to die, is what I'm saying.

[Говорящий 2]
But eventually...

[Говорящий 1]
We'll talk about it. No. You change.

Your body transforms. She says, I've often got up here and said, we're going to talk about it today. The idea of pain.

In fact, it's what we're going to talk about right now. Maybe we talk about it right now. Okay.

I want to talk about these three critters in the middle. Okay? It's not very easy to see.

I think I have a bigger one. Let's see. It's about the same size, actually.

Yeah, it's the same size. Anyway, I'm going to talk today about these three animals in the middle. What you have here is a pig, right here, okay?

And in his mouth is a snake, which is right here. Can you see it okay? And in the snake's mouth is a rooster.

And in the rooster's mouth is the pig, okay? And this represents three different states of mind that run the wheel. These are like the atomic energy cell at the middle of the wheel.

If they're there, the wheel can spin. If they're not there, the wheel breaks. You see what I mean?

And this is what drives the wheel. It's three mental states that you and I have that keeps the wheel going, okay? And they even painted the animals as a wheel, you see?

So, one animal's mouth is attached to another animal's tail, and that's why it's shaped like a wheel, meaning that you go round and round and round like that, okay? In the ancient, ancient books, in the Vinaya Sutra, for example, from about fourteen, fifteen hundred years ago, it's not painted that way. And, you know, if you're into Tibetan art, you can actually—it helps you date a painting.

Now I'm going to torture you with one of my drawings. You know, I can't do it very well, okay? So there's a pig, okay?

Okay. And in the original scripture, there's a snake like that, okay? We going to get Droma's daughters here today?

No. She can paint it for us. No.

All right, no. You have to put up with mine. All right, and then in the original painting, there's a—I can't draw it at all, but there's a— does that look like a pigeon?

No. Okay. That's a pigeon.

So in the original painting of the Wheel of Life, that's the center. So in the center there's a pig, and out of the pig's mouth is coming the snake, and a pigeon, not a rooster, okay? Um, the pig represents ignorance, okay?

Uh, the snake represents— you know, usually they say anger or hatred or something like that. It's not a correct translation. You can say disliking things.

And then the pigeon or the rooster represents liking things. And this is very, very delicate in Buddhism, okay? You see, if you translate it as hatred and desire or something like that, which is how they usually translate it, I mean, to me, desire means, you know, like, uncontrollably eating a quart of ice cream, or ripping open a Playboy magazine, and, you know, uncontrollably flipping from page to page, or something like that, something where you're drooling or something, you know what I mean?

I mean, desire to me maybe happens once a day or once a week, or something like that, okay? And then hatred, if you translate this one, which is she dang, as hatred or anger, to me, you know, I get angry once a week. I mean, if certain students are around, maybe twice a week, okay?

But, uh, or more often. But, uh, but, you know, to me, that's anger. You know, anger means I'm starting to shake, I'm thinking crazy, I'm saying stupid things like that, my face is getting redder, stuff like that.

But, but these two mental functions, they're called she dang and dui cha, these are going on every minute of your day, okay? These are constant in your mind. You are doing these from moment to moment.

You know, how many times did you do the snake today? Probably ten thousand. Okay, how many times did you do the pigeon or the rooster?

By the way, pigeon or rooster, because they're so full of desire, okay? Because they, what do you say? They replicate, so...

they reproduce so, uh, so easily, okay? That represents desire, okay? And doesn't really matter which one you use, but you can even date a painting of the Wheel of Life from that.

So, there's a... liking things happens maybe ten thousand times a day also, okay? These are thoughts that are going in your mind all the time.

And at the root of them is ignorance, or not understanding where things come from. Again, the question of ignorance is... ignorance is not knowing the answer to what you asked your mom when you were six years old, you know?

Why do people get cancer? Mom says, uh, their cells start to divide wrong. And then you say, well, why?

And they say, because they had some radiation and a... and a electron or a neutron came out and hit the cell in a certain angle and broke the genetic chain and the cell goes crazy. And you say, well, but why did it happen to this person and not to this other person?

And they say, don't ask that question, it doesn't have any answer, okay? That's ignorance. That's classical ignorance, okay?

Ignorance means you don't understand why things are happening to you, okay? And that leads to liking things and disliking things. Now, I think tonight the most important thing we can talk about is this idea.

There's probably three or four wrong ideas about Buddhism, and I'll repeat them for you. You've heard them before. Number one.

Buddhists, and especially monks and nuns, shouldn't like anything. No desire. I mean, perfect Buddhists, you can...

shouldn't watch movies, shouldn't listen to music, shouldn't like to eat ice cream, okay? I mean, you should sit in a cave and freeze, and you don't care. You know what I mean?

You know, and... if a monk or nun is presented with a picture of a beautiful person's body or a nice big thing of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia, you're just supposed to not care. You know, you're beyond all that.

You're Iron Man. You know, and... and you're not supposed to want those things, you know?

I mean, that's one theory of... that's one misperception about Buddhism. You're not supposed to like anything, because liking things is running the wheel of life, and that's killing you, okay?

So, good Buddhists, especially those monks and nuns, they're not supposed to like anything. Okay, that's theory number one. You know, theory number two is, once you get to a certain meditative state, you don't like anything or dislike anything.

Like, if you're very deep into meditation, you would never like anything or dislike anything again. And there's this theory about pain, you know, that if a monk, you know, stayed in the Himalayas for twenty years and meditated, and then you brought them to America and put them in a dental chair and drilled their teeth, they wouldn't feel a thing, or they could mentally overcome the pain, you know, and not even move, you know, Kung Fu, David Carradine, you know, like, break my arm one bite slow, you know, I have total mental control. I don't even feel it anymore. I mean, this is a misperception about Buddhism also.

I always say, bring me this guy, you know, and I have a dental drill at home, and we'll bring him up here, we'll put him on the stage, we'll check, you know. No, in fifteen years, no one ever brought me this guy, okay? It's not the point of Buddhism, it's really not.

Arhats, people who have reached nirvana, feel pain, I mean, they can feel pain, and they do, you know, they do feel pain, it's not the point. You don't reach a point like that, in any way, who cares if you could not feel the pain, if your teeth are falling out anyway. You know, if you just keep getting older and older, but you have this ability to sit in the snow for four hours, so what's the point?

At some point you're going to be dead anyway. I met this famous master, you know, when I was... her age, you know, I was trying to find a Buddhist master, you know, and they said, we have the master for you, you know, he can sit in the snow for four hours, six hours.

I said, oh, I have to meet him, you know, and they took me to the airport. The great master was coming to the United States. I stayed in this temple for four months, waiting, you know, and they came off the plane, and he was eighty-five years old, and he could hardly walk, and he was obviously in great pain, you know, and I said, I was very disappointed, because I was really young and hopeful, and I wanted to do it, you know, I wanted to learn to meditate like that.

I said, what happened to him, you know, is this the guy that sat in the snow for six hours? He said, yeah, yeah, he used to sit in the snow for six hours, but now he can't even sit, you know, and then I'm like, but I don't want to be like that, you know, that's not what I want to do. I don't care if he could sit in the snow for six hours when he was twenty, if he looked like this, you know, that's not what I want.

I don't want to be like that, you know what I mean? I don't care if he could sit in the snow for six hours, you see what I mean? I want to find some other thing not to die, I don't want, I want something where the people around me don't have, my mother had just died, my brother had just died, my father had just died, I'm like trying to find, is there some way that you don't have to die, and then they bring me this guy, and I quit, you know, I said, no thanks, you know.

So, that's a second theory about Buddhism that's wrong, okay, it's not like that, you know, or that somehow everything is an illusion, and while the dentist is drilling your teeth, if you think of it as an illusion, everything is okay, it's not true, it's just not true, okay, it doesn't work, and Buddha never said that, okay, and we've input a hundred and fifty thousand pages of Buddhist text, manuscripts in India, over the last eleven years, it's on the computer, you can search it, he never said that, you know, it's somebody's idea, somebody made this up, okay, that's not what the Lord Buddha said, it's not how we're supposed to relate to pain, and it's not how a Buddhist is supposed to relate to liking things or disliking things, okay, so we're going to talk about that tonight.

What's the definition of disliking things and disliking things? If this is the cause of the wheel of life, are you and I supposed to reach a state where you don't like ice cream anymore? Is that the goal?

Is liking ice cream a problem? Is enjoying a good movie a problem? Okay?

I mean, there's a clue, right? I've watched the Dalai Lama at a musical concert, you know, it's Ritchie Havens, okay, for you old people, and he was doing Frida Ma, you know, and... and the Dalai Lama was like...

you know, like that, and he was obviously enjoying it, you know what I mean, and then I saw him eat dinner afterwards, and he was like, ah, bring me another one, those were good, you know, you know, he's obviously enjoying something, obviously he enjoys things immensely, you know, we're doing these videos, and he's giggling half the time, you know, and so, obviously he's having a good time about something. Now, is that wrong? Is he a bad monk, because he likes ice cream, you know?

Or music, you know, this is a question, this is a real question. So, we got to get to the definition of these, okay? So, we're going to do that in Tibetan, okay?

The first Dalai Lama said, always give them some foreign language, and they think you know what you're talking about. Okay, so... Say, Yi Mi Ong Wa.

Oh, by the way, in this class you have to repeat the Tibetan, okay? It's a communist plot to put seeds in your mind, so that later on, you become a real, you know, master of Buddhism, okay? This life or next, it's okay.

We'll probably still be holding classes. Okay, so, say, Yi Yi Mi Ong Wa Mi Ong Wa Dang Dang Jang Jang De De One more time, Yi Mi Ong Wa Yi Mi Ong Wa Dang Dang Jang Jang De De This is the definition of disliking things. Yi Mi Ong Wa is a beautiful Tibetan word.

It means nice things. I'm sorry, what's the opposite? Crummy things, ugly things, unattractive things, unpleasant things, okay?

Call it unpleasant things. Literally it means things the mind is not drawn to, but the meaning is unpleasant things, okay? De means the desire, desire, okay?

Desire. Dang chal means the desire to get away from unpleasant things, okay? The desire to get away from unpleasant things is the definition, or part of the definition of that snake, okay?

Of the snake, which is running your death. You know, one of the three critters that is responsible for you getting old and dying, okay? It's called disliking things.

Definition of disliking things? The desire to get away from something you don't like, okay? Desire to get away from something which is painful or bad, okay?

Something like that. Now, you gotta talk about this, okay? It's very, very important to talk about it.

Is the Dalai Lama an enlightened being? Supposed to be, okay? Or let's take Lord Buddha, okay?

The Buddha. Did the historical Buddha who walked around this planet, if something bad happened, somebody came up with a knife or something, or, you know, if someone hadn't taken a shower for three weeks or something, would he want to move away from that object? Of course he would, okay?

Of course he would, okay? No, it's no philosophical deep thing, you know? Does the Buddha, if he meets something which is unpleasant, and if it wouldn't hurt anybody, and if there was a clear way to get out of the way, and if it was okay, and if he wouldn't offend them, and if everything was okay, then would the enlightened being called Lord Buddha, you know, like, move across the other side of the street?

Of course he would, okay? I mean, and is that an unenlightened action? Is that a bad thing to do?

Is that a wrong thing to do? Does His Holiness the Dalai Lama, you know, if somebody serves him some food, I saw, I was translating the video, you know, he's having breakfast, you know, and the video guy, this guy, this abrasive guy from CNN says, you know, he's eating breakfast, right, and the CNN guy says, His Holiness, he goes, what? You know, and he says, you know, the guy didn't know what he was, actually he did this in English, and he says, well, when you get up in the morning, what do you think about?

He's like, well, you know, I'm trying to think about compassion and stuff like that, you know? And then, and then the guy says, just how do you do that? And then he stops, you know, he looks at the guy and he says, I'm eating breakfast.

You know, it's time to eat, you know, ask me later. You know, so here's an unpleasant object, which is an American, you know, an American TV guy, and, and is His Holiness unenlightened when he, when he wants to avoid this object? And it's not really hurting the guy, you know, just come, ask me after breakfast, okay?

You know, is that, is that somehow a wrong action? Okay? No, of course not.

Okay? Then why is that in the middle of the Wheel of Life? Okay?

What, you know, what does it mean when Buddhists are supposed to overcome desire? Okay? What does that mean?

You know? Let's do, well, should I give the punchline? No.

Okay, later. This, by the way, is not the strict definition of the Wheel of Life critter, the snake. Okay?

There's something else here, which is zulmin. Say zulmin. Zulmin.

Zulmin. Zulmin means wrong way, the wrong way. Okay?

The wrong way. What's that mean? Okay?

What's that mean? We'll also apply it to liking things. What's the critter that represents liking things?

The rooster or the pigeon? Okay? The bird.

Okay? And that bird represents liking things. What do you think is the technical definition of liking things?

The desire to... Yeah, to acquire an attractive object. Okay?

So the definition of disliking things is the desire to get away from something that's painful or undesirable. The definition of liking things is the desire to acquire something which is desirable. Okay?

And that represents those two creatures. But in each case you have to put zulmin. Zulmin means wrong way.

Okay? And this is a big difference. The Dalai Lama likes things.

What? I know he likes Ritchie Havens. Now I know he likes cereal.

Okay? And he likes his peas in the morning, or something like that. Okay?

I mean, obviously he likes those things. Does he like them in the wrong way? Is the Dalai Lama caught in the wheel of life?

Is that running his pain of his life? You know, is that kind of liking things running all the suffering in his life? Okay?

First question. And not liking things. Okay?

Wanting to have a quiet breakfast. Okay? Not liking to be interrupted at breakfast.

Is this wrong? Is this somehow improper? Does this somehow create all the suffering in the Dalai Lama's life, or what?

Okay? Those are the two questions you have to ask. Is there a difference between...

Well, I guess first of all you have to say, can an enlightened being like something or not? Do enlightened beings like things or not? Of course they do.

What is the career of an enlightened being aimed at? Why did Lord Buddha go through all that suffering getting enlightened back in India two and a half thousand years ago? What was he trying to do?

Huh? Help others. What's the best way to help others?

Get your rear end into a Buddha paradise. Okay? Seriously.

That's the ultimate way to help others. There's also this Dharma rumor that the best way to help others is not to go to Buddha paradise and hang around here to help others. Okay?

By the way, when you get to a Buddha paradise you gain the ability after one microsecond... Okay, it takes one microsecond. You don't have it the first microsecond in your Buddha paradise, and you do have it the second microsecond.

You gain the ability to emanate trillions of bodies throughout the universe wherever anyone needs help. Okay? So, does it make sense to say that Buddhas wait and don't go to their Buddha paradises?

They wait so that one lousy body can help people. I mean, does it make sense? That's a Dharma rumor.

Okay? Of course they get into an enlightened being's body as soon as they can. And the minute they get there they can help trillions of people at the same time.

I'm sorry, the minute after the minute they get there they can help trillions of beings at the same time. Okay? So, would a Buddha want to get to Buddha paradise?

Yeah. Second question. Does a Buddha sit in a Buddha paradise and try not to like anything or dislike anything?

Do they try to sit there and be neutral? You know, like these real good monks. You know?

I don't care about anything. You know? Hit me or kiss me, same thing.

Okay? You know? You know, is that what they're saying?

Is that the goal? Does that feel to you in your heart like something you'd want to do? You know?

Would you want to reach Nirvana where you just sit there like a vegetable and don't worry about anything? Not happy, not sad. You know?

Of course not. I mean, when they paint those beautiful paintings about enlightened beings they don't paint everybody neutral. Okay?

It's beautiful. Everybody is in a state of ecstasy. That's the whole point.

And your heart tells you that. You know, you're not like trying to achieve the ultimate in neutrality. Okay?

You know, your heart tells you that you want to get to a place which is bliss. Okay? And that's what they do.

In a Buddha paradise they're just blissful all day. That would be boring, right? Try it sometime.

You know? Okay? It's not boring.

Okay? That's another Dharma rumor. Okay?

It's somehow boring because there's no pain there. Not like that. Okay?

I mean, it's extremely interesting all the time. And blissful. Okay?

And that's what your heart... That's why you came to Buddhism class, really. You know, you wanted to find something like that.

And it's there. And you can reach that. So, enlightened beings are working all the time to get there.

They want to be happy. Okay? Is that selfish?

Is it wrong to go there first yourself? No. Why?

Well, if you get there you can teach other people how to do it. And until you get there you're just BSing, aren't you? Okay?

I mean, you just... Yeah, I could do it if I wanted, you know? But...

Okay? It's not like that. Okay?

Okay? No reason not to do it first and then help other people do it. It's like learning piano or something like that.

To say, I'm not going to learn piano because I want to teach it better or something like that. You know? I'm not going to get to a Buddha paradise because I want to help other people.

That's a contradiction of terms. You want to get to a Buddha paradise so you can help other people.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
That's... That's why you get to a Buddha paradise. Okay?

With compassion. With bodhicitta means thinking of other people. Because you care about other people you get yourself into total bliss as soon as possible.

Oh, twist my arm. Okay? You know what I mean?

And that's really how it works. Your responsibility as a responsible Buddhist is to reach total ecstasy as soon as possible. Okay?

That's your... charge. That's your commission.

That's what you're supposed to be doing. As a bodhisattva. You know?

You are being selfish if you don't reach bliss quickly. Okay? You got to get used to that.

Let's say Americans... I don't know if it was the... you know...

whip your back thing or something got leaked into Buddhism and... no, I'm not supposed to get there. I'm supposed to wait for others.

It's not the point. You're supposed to reach enlightenment quickly, bliss quickly so you can teach other people how to do it. That's the whole point of bodhicitta.

So, is it wrong to like those things? No. Of course not.

And you like to do it for other people. Okay? So, we can say what?

Not all kinds of liking things are bad. There's good liking and there's bad liking. Okay?

There seems to be some kind of liking that's this pigeon or this rooster and it causes you all your suffering including your death. And it seems to be that there's a good way to dislike things. Like what?

Does... does His Holiness the Dalai Lama enjoy it when he sees refugees coming out of Tibet with their arms broken and their neck bones... I've seen collarbones broken from being tied up.

You know, is this... Does he like it or dislike it? If he dislikes it, is he being a bad monk?

You see what I mean? Of course he dislikes it. Does he...

Does he dislike seeing people get hurt? Of course he does. He dislikes that.

Is that something wrong? No. Is that some kind of bad karma?

No. Is that some kind of desire? No.

Okay? So... But...

But why is there a snake in the Wheel of Life? You know, what's it mean? So, it seems to be a good disliking and a bad disliking.

And it seems to be a good liking and a bad liking. And we have to make the distinction between the two. We have to decide what's the difference between the two.

Supposedly, if you stop the wrong ones, you get enlightened. And then you have to learn to distinguish them from the bad ones. And you have to cut out the Dharma rumors or the misinformation that says that Buddhists can't enjoy anything.

Okay? That's the whole point. You're trying to enjoy everything.

Alright? The difference lies in the pig. Okay?

Just as you might have suspected. Alright? The difference lies in the pig.

Okay? It's that third guy there. Okay?

There's something about the pig. There's some kind of... something important about the pig there.

Okay? And... And if you got the pig there, it's bad liking and disliking.

And if you don't have the pig there, it's good liking and disliking. Okay? And you don't get to find out what the pig is until you have refreshments.

Okay? So... We normally take a break about now, and then come back in about ten minutes and we'll finish.

And we'll explain the pig. Okay? So, I think we established that a good Buddhist is not supposed to sit in a chair and try to not like anything or dislike anything.

Okay? And Buddha Paradise doesn't consist of, you know, becoming the perfect vegetable who... really never likes anything or really never dislikes anything.

So, what's the difference? We have to describe the pig. We have to get to the pig.

Okay? What's the pig represent? Pig is ignorance.

Pig is not knowing what's going on. What's that got to do with liking something or disliking? I'm gonna describe liking something stupidly and liking something with wisdom.

Okay? And in fact, the meaning of wisdom in Buddhism is about... is just what I'm about to tell you.

Wisdom involves emptiness, understanding emptiness. Okay? So, the pig doesn't understand about emptiness, and he's...

he's liking things or he's got liking and disliking come out of his mouth. I mean, Julian really should have put his leg in his mouth. Okay?

He's got a leg in his mouth. Okay? And he's supposed to be coming out of the pig's mouth, meaning, the pig is responsible for the snake and the bird.

Okay? They're coming from the pig. If you get rid of the pig, you get rid of the other two.

Okay? So, it all boils down to the pig. The pig is liking...

The pig is responsible for you liking things stupidly and disliking things stupidly. So, what would be a smart way to dislike something? And what would be a stupid way to dislike something?

And the whole thing boils down to that. The whole wheel of life boils down to that. Okay?

You've heard... People have been in this class and heard this a million times, now it'll be the million and first time. Okay?

Let's say there's somebody at work that you don't like. Okay? Which rarely happens.

Okay? But just in case. Okay?

There's somebody that you work with who bothers you, who irritates you. Okay? I'm not talking about the boss.

It could just be another person at work. Buddhism... I mean, there's a joke in Buddhism that...

Given your mental state, if you walked into a room with three people, you would hate one, be attached to the other, and you wouldn't care about the third one. And if you walked into a room with a hundred people, you would be attracted to thirty-three, you would dislike thirty-three, and thirty-three you wouldn't care about. And it doesn't matter what room you walk into.

You still do that. You see? That's why leaving your job and getting a new job to get away from this person is not a good idea.

Because it's your own mind state. Okay? How does that work exactly?

I'm going to teach you the intelligent way to dislike somebody at work and the intelligent way to dislike somebody at work. Okay? And what makes it intelligent or unintelligent is whether it works.

Like, can you eliminate this person or not? By peaceful means. Okay?

I mean, this is the... And by the way, I'm not joking. I mean, the point of creating a Buddha paradise, right, from one point of view, is to eliminate everything you don't want to be there.

Like, you wouldn't want this person in your Buddha paradise forever, right? So, we got to talk about how to eliminate them before you get there. And that's how you get there.

Okay? I mean, we start with the person at work that you don't like, and then we work down to the other stuff that you don't like. Okay?

Including your death. Alright? So, what I'm saying applies to the bad people around you, it applies to the bad things around you, and applies to your own...

the aging of your own body and your own death. They're all the same thing. They're all coming from the same place.

Okay? Does Buddhism say that there's nobody bad around you? No.

I mean, to say that certain people in your office are somehow not bad, and that's your problem that you see them as bad, that's not correct. There are bad people. People do murder ten people, you know?

People do kill six million people. There's bad people. You can't just say, oh, Buddhism says like everybody, you know?

There are people who are bad, and they do bad things and they hurt other people. Okay? There are bad things that exist, you know?

You can try to look at a traffic jam in a positive light, but in the end you're going to be late to your class and people are going to be sitting around and, you know, it's a bad thing. You can't say that somehow it's a good thing or something like that. There are bad things.

I mean, Buddhism doesn't say, it's a Dharma rumor to say that you should just look at all the horrible things, cancer, AIDS, traffic accidents, children dying, oh, that's okay, you know? Or somehow, you know, there's no problem there. There are bad things.

Okay? So, what are you supposed to do about bad things? You know, are you just supposed to sit there and try to think nice thoughts about them?

There is a lojong, okay? There is a mental training thing where you can try to think of your enemy as your teacher, but when you say, think of your enemy as your teacher, what are you saying? You do have enemies, okay?

Think of the guy who's trying to mug you as your teacher. Okay, but he's still trying to mug me, okay? And that's still a bad thing.

I mean, maybe it's useful, maybe it's instructional, but it still hurts when they hit you with that thing, okay? With the pipe on your head. I mean, it still hurts.

Now you can go to the hospital and try to have some idea that, you know, this is good for my pride, you know, now my head's not so handsome anymore, you know, or something like that. But, but still it's no fun to get your head hit with a pipe, okay? So, there are bad things.

And Buddhism doesn't say just sit there and put up with them. Buddhism says you have to go after these things and eliminate them. And to do that, you have to dislike them.

Okay? And you should. You should dislike bad people around you, war, hatred, prejudice, people dying, AIDS, cancer, children getting hurt, you know, animals being tortured, kids being tortured, okay?

I mean, you should dislike these things. It's okay to dislike these things. You should want to get rid of them.

And your own death and your old age, you should want to get rid of them. That's why the Buddha painted this Wheel of Life, okay? Teach you how to get rid of them.

Now, how do you dislike something in a smart way and how do you dislike something in a stupid way? By the way, when I say smart, I mean with the perfection of wisdom. Meaning, that's what separates smart disliking from stupid disliking.

Smart disliking, which His Holiness calls enlightened self-interest, okay, is to dislike something in a way that works, okay? If you don't like this thing, then do something to get rid of it, okay? And I could be talking about another person at work, okay?

How are you gonna remove this person from your life, okay? As a Buddhist, I'll give you two choices. As a Buddhist practitioner, is your goal just to be compassionate to them and to learn to see them as a lesson or...

and to try to understand them and to live with them month after month, year after year, doing this irritating thing. Choice number one. Okay?

Or is it that somehow to transform them into something which is good and beautiful and it does not bad anymore. Or it's someone who leaves the office forever. I mean, which do you think?

I mean, if you go for this one, then what you're saying is that in a Buddha paradise there's lousy things happening, but Buddhas get real good at ignoring them. Really, that's what you're saying. Or they get really good at putting up with them.

Perfect at putting up with them. Okay? And if you go for this one, you're saying that your body and your mind and your world can slowly be cleaned out until there's only beautiful things there.

I mean, which... which is it? It's not...

well, mine is number two. Okay? I mean, that's how it works, really, okay?

I don't know where the other idea came from. I guess it's some kind of misunderstanding about Buddhism. I've been twenty years in monastic studies.

They never said anything about that one. I don't know where that... that came from some guy's translation.

I don't know how it happened. It reached the West without leaving the East. Okay?

Okay? And... and this one over here is what they teach.

And that's what every scripture in the world ever said. Okay? You...

by your enlightened actions and ways of thinking, your world slowly becomes more and more pure until all the irritating people in your office are transferred to Kansas. Okay? Really.

Okay? Now, how does that happen? How do you get that to happen?

Now you have to understand the difference between disliking something with wisdom and disliking something with the pig. Because those are the two choices. Okay?

And apparently we keep doing it with the pig. So, what's the difference? Okay?

If you take the person at work that you don't like, I'll ask you some questions about them. Okay? Maybe we should do a meditation like three minutes.

Get them in your mind. Okay? But usually it doesn't take that long.

You know who I'm talking about. Okay? Alright.

It doesn't have to be at work, you know, if you're like me, unemployed. Could be... somebody in your life that's unpleasant.

Okay? Somebody who's... Okay, pick one.

Okay? And then think about them. Okay?

Here's how ignorance... Oh, I gotta ask you a question. Does anybody in the world like them?

Does anybody in the world think they're pretty cool? Of course. I mean, most...

most of the time. I mean, sometimes you find a perfectly evil person, but it's very rare. Okay?

Somebody in the world likes them. Their mother, usually. Okay?

My lama used to sit and watch NBC every night, and he'd say, come, come, look, you know, and he'd say, look at that, it's unbelievable. And they'd be interviewing the mother of the guy who just shot ten people in Brooklyn, you know, and they'd say... You know, what do you have to say about your son's killing ten people this morning, you know, and she says, it couldn't be my son, he's such a wonderful boy, you know, he sometimes gets a little angry, but he's a wonderful boy, you know, and...

and... so, there's always somebody who loves them, you see what I mean? There's always somebody who's perceiving them as being something nice.

Okay? The person that you dislike the most in the world, somewhere, there's some... mom, somebody likes him or her.

Okay? Or it. Alright?

Someplace there's somebody like that. In Buddhism, that proves the emptiness of that person. Okay?

They're just like this... Come on, be... Be democratic here.

Cylinder. Okay? We're not gonna call it a pen anymore, right?

Equal rights. Okay? Alright?

And we're not gonna call it... I got one here. Check it out.

People in the front can see. Chewed... Chewed by a dog, really.

Okay? It's not a chewable thing and it's not a pen, it's a cylinder. Okay?

It's a cylinder. We say that this pen is empty of being a pen from its own side. Okay?

That's what emptiness means in Buddhism. Okay? It doesn't mean some kind of black hole in the sky or something like that.

And it doesn't mean that you close your eyes real hard and then nothing matters anymore or something like that. Okay? It doesn't mean that.

This cylinder is not a pen until you see it as a pen. Prove it. Because there are beings in the world who are not crazy, who are normal dogs, who don't see it that way.

And their... the way they see it is just as valid as the way you see it. Okay?

There may be a touch stupider, sometimes a touch smarter, but they don't see it that way. And they're not crazy and they're... you know, they don't see it that way.

If this thing was a pen from its own side, then when I hand it to a dog, what? They would pull off the top and write a dog's poem or something. Okay?

And they don't. They cannot see it as a pen. If pen-ness...

Okay, you gotta think carefully. If pen-ness belonged to this cylinder inalienably, you know, if it was part of this cylinder from the beginning of all time, then every creature who encountered it would say... pen.

But they don't. That's the emptiness of the pen. Ah, cylinder.

Pen. Okay? The emptiness of the pen is that it's not a pen from its own side.

It's a cylinder and you're seeing a pen because of something you're doing. Get used to it. Okay?

Your mind is doing something to this cylinder. When I held it up, did you think, oh, look, blue and white cylinder. No, you automatically thought pen.

And you're so used to it that you believe in your heart that this pen is coming from its own side. You believe the pen-ness is something glued to this cylinder forever. It's always been like...

But it's not. Because if it was like that, then when a dog came in and you showed it to him, they'd say, hey, nice pen. Okay?

They don't see it as a pen because there's no pen. Okay? There's nothing pen about this cylinder by itself, from its own side.

No. You're seeing it that way. You're seeing it so often and so intimately that you start to believe it's a pen from its own side.

You forget that it's you who's making it a pen. Okay? You forget that.

Now we go back to the person at work that you don't like. Are they a person? Yes.

Are they bad or good from their own side? No. Prove it.

Somebody loves them. Okay? If they were evil in and of themselves, then everyone who met them would hate them.

Now you get people at work who are almost like that. Okay? But not a hundred percent.

Somebody likes them or somebody has some kind of feeling about them which is good. Okay? And by the same token, there's nobody you can meet that everybody likes.

Not even Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha was... Two people tried to kill him during his lifetime.

I mean, more. One of his sponsors tried to kill him. His half-brother tried to kill him.

Okay? I mean, the Dalai Lama is... I was in Beijing.

I saw a poster. Public enemy number one. I'm like, gee, I wonder who that is.

You know? And it's a Dalai Lama, you know? I'm like, woo.

Then I put my robes farther down in my bag, you know? You know? You know?

And... It's possible. It doesn't matter how nice you are.

Someone's going to see you a different way. That proves the emptiness of his holiness, and that proves the emptiness of... of the guy sitting next to you at work.

Okay? What is this leading to? Okay?

By the way, the pig doesn't understand all this. That's why the pig... That's what ignorance means.

Pig doesn't get it. Okay? Pig doesn't get it.

What's this got to do with anything? Okay, I got one more question for you. Can you choose to see them as good or bad?

This is the dental-drilled question. Okay? Can you just sit there and decide this person who constantly says things that irritate me, who constantly does things to irritate me, who goes out of their way to find ways to irritate me, that...

that, okay, from tomorrow, because of that emptiness lecture I heard last night, I'm going to see them as the nicest person. Does it work? No, it does not work.

Okay? It does not work. Why?

By the way, that's proof that your mind is compelling you to see them a certain way. Okay? Your mind is creating them as a bad person in the same way that your mind is creating this as a pen.

But can you, by sheer force of will, see this cylinder as the tastiest, chewiest thing you can imagine? No. Do dogs see it that way?

Maybe. Okay? Can you do it just by willpower?

No. Okay? That's the point.

If I drill your teeth, can you by willpower decide it's something nice? By the way, is the pain of a... what do you call those things?

Root canal. Is it something bad? By the way, you're in dangerous territory, okay?

Because if you say it's always bad, then according to Buddhists, it doesn't have emptiness.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
And Buddhism says everything has emptiness. What's the emptiness of a root canal? Could a root canal ever be pleasant?

Come on! I mean, you ever seen a dentist who just realized you need three root canals? Okay?

In New Delhi. Sorry, but... you know, I met this dentist who drilled the wrong tooth on purpose, because he knew I'd be back in two weeks, you know?

He fixed the wrong tooth, okay? He's like seeing big bucks. He's American who needs dental work, you know?

So, I mean, yeah, even a root canal can be a good thing. If you're a dentist, then you need money. Now, I'm not saying just in India, I mean it happens everywhere, okay?

But... but this... somebody can see it as a good thing.

That proves the emptiness of root canals. Okay? It proves the emptiness of root canals, okay?

Later, later. I'll take it later. Okay, so anyway.

Everything is empty according to Buddhism. This guy sitting next to you at work is empty. And it's not a...

What I'm trying to say is it's not a matter of choice. You can't choose to see this guy as a nice person tomorrow, because tomorrow they're going to try to screw you again. Okay?

So, they're not. They're not like that, okay? So, where is it coming from?

Where is the penness coming from? We eliminated from... from here.

So, what's left? You, okay? It's coming from you.

Something in your mind is making you recognize this, or think of this as a pen, okay? So strongly that you forgot you're doing it, and you think that this is a pen from its own side, okay? That's what we call ignorance.

That's the pig. That's the pig. Okay?

So, what's that got to do with me? How's it supposed to make me not die? How am I supposed to get to a Buddha paradise by remembering that this stick is a pen because I'm thinking of it as a pen, or my mind is making me think of it as a pen?

What's making you think of it as a pen? According to Buddhism. Your karma.

Okay? What you did in the past. How does that work?

Very cool. I used to think of karma as this big boomerang that went around Pluto and came back about six months later, hit me on the head over here. Like, where'd that come from?

Okay? It's not like that. It's very cool.

When you are generous to someone, let's say someone needs to write something down in a rush, okay? And automatically, without hesitating, you have your favorite pen in your pocket and you just give it to them. Okay?

When you see yourself doing that, your mind is like a video recorder or something like that. It's recorded. An imprint or an impression is put on your mind.

Okay? Like when you're in the first grade and they keep screaming the numbers or the ABCs at you. An imprint is made on your mind.

That imprint stays how long? Until you die or until you get senile. Whichever comes first.

By the way, that's why link number 11 is called aging and or death, 9 and 12. You know, meaning, you know, either you die first and forget your ABCs, or you get old and you forget your ABCs. Okay?

But by the way, that imprint that your teacher put on your mind in the first grade, you carry it for your whole life. So, it's the same thing with karma. Karma means making imprints on your mind.

So, when you see yourself being very generous and saying, oh, here, take this pen. No, it's okay. I gotta run.

You can keep it. Okay? That's all recorded on your mind.

Certain imprints are made on your mind. According to Buddhism, later, that forces you to have an experience of a pen when you need a pen. You know?

When you really need a pen, someone's like, oh, here, have a pen. It's giving you a pen. And that's all your mind's doing.

Okay? It's very interesting. They're giving you a cylinder.

You have some kind of impression in your mind that makes you see it as a pen. When was it planted? When you gave the pen to someone else.

According to Buddhism, every detail of your life is the same. Every single detail of the objects around you Every thought you have, your body getting old, all of those are impressions that you stuck in there before. And now you're seeing things like that.

Okay? Do you believe that? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Okay? I'm explaining it that way. You can buy it or not buy it.

Have I proven it yet? No. Is it possible?

Yes. Okay. Are you making this pen from your side?

You have to say yes. I mean, nobody in this room is going to say that a dog sees it as a pen. It's got to be coming from somewhere else.

It's not coming from the cylinder's side. You have to admit that. I say you have to admit that.

Okay? No argument about that. Now, are you seeing it as a pen because you gave somebody a pen in the past?

I say so. Buddhism says so. You don't have to buy it yet.

Think about it. Okay? Think about it.

And it's not some sort of stupid idea of karma going up to some guy and he writes it down until it comes time and then he gives you something bad or something like that. It's not like that. Buddhism says an impression is created in your mind when you do some good thing or bad thing to somebody else and then when you see a nice cylinder and you have that impression in your mind from before, suddenly it's a pen that you really needed at that moment.

And that's where pens come from. What's this got to do with dying? What's this got to do with the guy at work?

Okay? It's very interesting. According to this theory, what is the guy at work that you don't like?

A cylinder with four other cylinders and one fat cylinder on top. Okay? Really, same thing.

Exactly the same thing. Okay? If you think about it, you know, does a roach crawling across the floor recognize him as Joe Schmo?

No. To the roach, it's like a life-threatening machine or something about the size of Mount Everest. Okay?

Meaning, he's not even a person from his own side. Okay? He's a torso and four limbs and a round thing on top.

And then something in you is making you see them A, as a person and B, as somebody you don't like. Okay? This is very interesting.

According to Buddhism, the person that you don't like the most is a neutral or empty or blank object that your mind is perceiving as someone you don't like. There are no more a person that's bad from their own side than this is a pen from their own side and it's exactly the same law. Exactly the same way.

Things work the same way. Okay? If there's a person at work that you don't like, it's because there's a being there that you are seeing as bad because...

because you were bad to someone before. Okay? When you were bad to someone before, you put an impression in your mind.

Now you're meeting a neutral object. You can call it emptiness. Okay?

You're meeting an empty person. And then your mind forces you to see them as bad. Okay?

Prove it. Well, they're not bad from their own side or else their wife wouldn't like them. Okay?

So, it's gotta be coming from somewhere else. It's coming from your mind.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Now... Now you get into some very interesting stuff. Okay?

If what I said is true, does it... is it logical or smart or intelligent to fight with them? To hurt them?

To try to get back at them when they hurt you? No. Why?

Or why not? But she says because you're the one who's doing it. I mean, it's really your fault, isn't it?

If they're bad to you, it's your fault. But I don't like that answer. You know?

If I could get rid of them by being bad to them, I probably would. Okay? So, what's the real answer?

You're perpetuating it. Okay? It's very interesting.

Catch this. Buddhism says that the natural reaction to something that you don't like is the only way to get it to happen to you again. The only way to get something bad to happen to you again is to be bad back to that thing.

You see what I mean? The only way to meet a bad person again is to be violent to someone. It's very interesting.

I'll say it again. The natural reaction to something negative happening to you, which is what? Say something bad.

Do something bad. Gossip about them. Make jokes about them if you're a Buddhist.

Okay? Okay? Okay?

But all these kinds of violence, right? According to Buddhism, check this out. The natural reaction to something negative in your life is the only way to get it to happen again.

What's the converse of that? You can eliminate all the people at work you don't like just by being kind and sweet and non-violent to them. Every time they hurt you, be good to them.

Every time they say something to get you angry, control your anger. Okay? Very cool.

Very cool. Last question. Does this mean that if you see someone beating up somebody on the street, you should just smile?

No. No. Your Bodhisattva vows say you must go to their aid.

You know, once you've been in this class, you're in trouble. If you see someone hurting someone else, you are, by vow, compelled to go help that person. You know, you must help that person.

You must go stand in the way and try to take the blow or something like that. You know what I mean? But what is your mind— what kind of imprint is being done on your mind stream?

That depends on your emotions at that moment. Okay? Karma is imprinted by your emotions.

Karma is imprinted by your intentions. Okay? If you are truly thinking some kind of compassionate thought, then at that moment you don't collect a single bad karma if you punch the guy in the face.

Okay? Seriously. And you must punch the guy in the face.

Seriously. Okay? And if you don't have the slightest negative thought in your mind, you can only collect sweet karma.

It's very interesting. The karma of protecting another person. Okay?

But if you have any anger in your mind at that moment, you can't do it. Okay? Because what?

You're making an imprint which will create another guy. You see that? It's very cool.

It's very cool. Okay? So, Buddhism doesn't say, put up with all the terrible people at work.

Okay? Buddhism doesn't say, learn to think of them as friends, you know, or teachers. They are.

But wouldn't it be better to just get rid of them? You know what I mean? So, Buddhism says, with wisdom, don't be a pig.

Okay? Be a non-pig, you know? With wisdom, like, with wisdom, eliminate them from your life.

Okay? The gradual process of eliminating all the things in your life like that is how you get to a Buddha paradise. Okay?

It's just a gradual process of removing all the things you don't like. Start with the guys at work. I swear to God, they'll be transferred, they'll have a heart attack, something like that.

Okay? Okay. I'm not kidding.

It's very... It's weird, after all. I mean, mostly they get transferred, okay?

And... Or they put you in charge or something, which is even more fun. Okay?

But that's exactly what will happen. That is the key to success. You know, compassion, non-violence, happiness, being good to them.

Okay? It doesn't mean that if someone at work is hurting someone, you're not supposed to step in. Yes, you are.

You must step in. But if you do it with anger, you're creating the next one. If you do it with kindness, you're stopping the process.

And you're helping somebody else. So, it's considered very smart to step in and help. Okay?

So, that's how to eliminate people. By the way, I just described intelligent liking and intelligent disliking. Okay?

If you intelligently dislike the people at work that are irritating, you can eliminate them peacefully. Okay? By being good to them.

Okay? And if... And what would be the stupid kind of disliking?

The kind that does violence back to them. Why? It makes them happen again.

Why? Because they're empty. Okay?

And you gotta get used to that. Okay? It all comes down to because they're empty.

What does empty mean? Blank. What does blank mean?

They're not good or bad from their side. It's how you see it. Oh, well, then I'll see them as nice tomorrow.

No, no, no. It's how you're forced to see them by your old karmas. Okay?

By your old impressions. So, you can change everything. It's very cool.

This is how you get to Buddha Paradise. Last question. Could you do this with your body?

I mean, treat that last backache or headache which I happen to have right now or something like that. Treat that like the guy at work. Can you eliminate it by this theory?

Can you eliminate it? Same principle. Okay?

Doesn't matter whether it's sitting on the chair next to you at work or happening in your own head. Same principle. Something you don't like.

What? Backaches. Headaches.

Getting old. Wrinkles. Bald head.

Okay? I don't like that stuff. I'd like to change that stuff.

Okay? You can... It's the same principle.

You can eliminate those things. It applies equally to the guy at work and to the bad parts of your own body and mind. You can eliminate them.

Why? Just remember the pen. Because it's not a pen.

Because they're empty. They're blank. You're making it what they are.

Why? Because you were bad. Okay?

And you can change it. Okay? In theory, what would happen then?

Your body would start to change. Okay? Very interesting.

You know, first your aging would slow down and then you actually start to feel better and better. And then slowly your body would start to change. Very, very interesting.

This is how you get to heaven. There is a heaven, Jane. You know?

There really is a heaven. And you can become an angel's body or something like that. You can become a being of light.

You will become a being of light. You will. Okay?

You do. You just have to know how to do it. That's all.

And Buddhism is very cool because it tells you exactly what to do. And then you just do it. Okay?

It's very cool. The Wheel of Life painting is really just an instruction book. It was a very brilliant idea by Lord Buddha to smash it all into one little painting.

Everything is there that you need to know. So now you understand the pig and the pigeon or the rooster and the snake. Why do the old paintings, the original paintings, draw it all coming out of the pig's mouth?

Because that's where it all comes from. It's not understanding this stuff. Because you don't understand this stuff, then you get mad at people, or then you go after things that you like and hurt people doing it.

Okay? Why did somebody later change it and put them all in a circle? Why?

Because you go around in a circle. Yeah, you go around in a circle. How do you go around in a circle?

The guy who yells at me at work. What's the natural reaction? Yell back.

According to this theory, right or wrong, you can decide later, okay? Right or wrong. According to my theory that I've expressed tonight, what's the only way to meet him again?

Yell at him. It's very cool. That's why the wheel was painted in a circle.

And that's why at some point in history they changed it to the animals, they perpetuate each other. You see? If you get angry at somebody, you're going to meet an angry person again.

And then what will happen? You get angry again. And then what happens?

You meet another angry person. And then what happens? You get angry again.

Is that fun? No, it gives you an ulcer, okay? It makes you unhappy, okay?

So really, that's how you can get to heaven. That's how to get out of the wheel. And you can do it.

Each person here can do it. Remember it tomorrow, okay? I mean, when someone gets angry at you or you don't feel good about somebody and you're about to say something to them, try to remember what we said tonight.

Try really hard to remember. And at least you can stop a few of the impressions from being put in your mind, okay? And then gradually it gets better and better.

It really, really does work, okay? Anything you want, you can achieve this way. I mean, death and not dying and not getting old is way over here, but between here and there, a lot of cool things happen, okay?

I mean, before your body changes, a lot of other neat things are happening, okay? That's all. Any one or two questions?

Yeah. Good, good, good. He says, explain how you like a milkshake in an intelligent way, okay?

Yeah, stupid way and intelligent way, okay? Intelligent way... Why are you having...

By the way, is there cold, wet things that are not very nice? Yeah. No, there's like...

Sleet in New York City, okay? And then there's cold and wet things like a milkshake which are incredibly nice, okay? For most people, okay?

You see, which way you perceive it is up to impressions in your mind, okay? So, while you're having a milkshake that you enjoy, if you share it with others, what will happen? You'll have...

You're planting an impression in your mind to be given another milkshake. You see what I mean? The smartest thing a person can do is share stuff with other people.

It's brilliant. Being Mother Teresa is not like some sort of self-sacrifice. It's the smartest way in the world to get what you want, okay?

It's very cool. I mean, real bodhisattvas are like... We call them virtue pigs, you know?

They're like, here, take it, you know? Have another one, you know? Because, you know, because that's how you get more.

It's very interesting. You get rich by giving things to other people. So, why?

Is it some kind of dharma magic? Is it some kind of self-existent karma that goes out towards Pluto and comes back? No, it's very cut and dried.

Your mind is recording everything as we speak. When you see yourself give something to someone, you create an impression in your mind to receive the same thing back. That's all.

It works exactly... That's how karma is stored. That's how karma is recorded.

And that's how karma plays itself back. And it's just very smart to share it. Now, what would be the stupid way to enjoy a milkshake?

Try to get it first. Make sure nobody else gets one. You know?

Make sure you get more than anybody else. Like that. Okay?

Which is the best way not to have another milkshake. And I'm not... This is not some kind of...

You know, I've seen western books where they say, oh, this is just stuff that Buddhists tell their kids to make them act nice or something like that. It's not true. It works.

It really does work. Keep... Every time you get something, give it away as fast as you can.

Okay? Take care of other people. And you never have to worry about anything again.

It's unbelievable. It's not just noble. It's smart.

Okay? And there's no conflict there. Don't feel guilty while you're having the twenty milkshakes back.

Okay? You can enjoy them. Alright?

Yeah?

[Говорящий 2]
I told you maybe four or five years ago I'd change my day.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
And I think you'd look a lot better without it.

[Говорящий 1]
Next question. No, I have a question.

[Говорящий 2]
No, okay. Go ahead. I feel you.

[Говорящий 1]
I'm going to ask you. This is Sally Lama. This is like the number one, number two, number three, thirteen or whatever.

What about... And then the Buddha himself, they say that... Somebody mentioned to me that they found the Buddha.

They found the Buddha. He was falling. And there's this thing that they told people would die.

And they talk about, well, I'm just going to go to sleep and I'm going to come back anyway. I mean, is that what we're talking about? Are we talking about like a different type of...

Like my, you know, I mean, I never came across this thing about retarding the aging process. I've always thought about being... Yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
Even though I might have a...

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, cool. Okay. Basically, the question is this.

you know, they talk about, he said, he talked about the fight, the historical Buddha appears to have died and stuff like that. I mean, what's going on? Is it that you get reborn into a nicer place, or how does it work?

Okay? Or does it happen now while we're standing there? Okay?

It's a very interesting question. The answer is very simple. If you find a method that would accelerate the ripening of the karma, you mean, I mean, you do great things for other people, now normally there's this time lag while it's recorded in your mind and plays itself back.

There's a time lag. Why? Because no cause and effect happens simultaneously.

There's always a time lag between a seed and a tree. And karma is the same. Okay?

The idea is, how do you speed it up? Speed it up at such a rate that you become an enlightened being in this life before you die. Your body changes before you die into a body of light.

Okay? What is that... How do you do that?

Okay? There's a special method called tantra. Okay?

Secret Buddhism. Okay? And you have to train yourself in all of what we're talking tonight until you're really good at it.

And then you go to a tantric lama and they teach you how to do tantra. And then you can pull it off in this lifetime. Okay?

And everyone in this room should do it. Okay? And you can do it.

Train yourself, come to some classes, learn how to do everything properly, learn the theory, exactly what we talked about tonight. Then find a good tantric lama and they teach you how to do tantra. And then in this life, before you die, your body can change.

You can do it. Okay? And again, it has to do with mind-body and some kind of body here, some kind of spiritual body, inner spiritual body.

In tantra you learn to... to work with that very quickly.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
By the way, that only works under one condition. You have to keep your Buddhist vows perfect. Okay?

What are some Buddhist vows? Don't hurt anybody. Don't lie to people.

Don't kill anything. Don't steal anything. You know, don't do any kind of violence to another person.

This whole process I'm describing only works if you keep to that code of life very strictly. So, the idea that tantra consists of some kind of holy misbehavior is very stupid. Okay?

Actually it's the opposite. You know, tantric yogis are strictly keeping their vows of not harming anyone else, and not doing anything that's... that's not proper.

You see what I mean? It's very interesting. I don't know, that's something that never left the East either and got to the West.

You know, learning annex. Tantra in a day. You know?

No cameras allowed. You know? Very, very evil, stupid.

Evil for what? Not evil because people are misbehaving, okay? Evil because you could have taught somebody how not to die, and now they're wasting their time on some stupid thing.

Okay? You're wasting their holy lifetime, and they ain't got much left. Okay?

So... You know, evil for that reason. Not evil for, you know, being...

you know, gross or something like that. Uh... You asked me a bunch of questions.

How am I done, lady? Also, your questions are too hard. Sorry?

[Говорящий 2]
What makes eight and nine bad?

[Говорящий 1]
Okay, good, good. I was afraid somebody would come back to eight and nine. Okay.

Number eight is very simple. Eight and nine are very simple. Number eight is...

Uh, I'll show you number eight. Where'd number eight go? I actually have it on a...

Let's do it from here. We were supposed to talk about eight and nine tonight. She got me back on the subject.

Number eight is a guy enjoying a nice meal. Okay? And that link, number eight...

Link number eight is called, uh... You can call it desire. Okay?

Desire. Now you know it's... stupid desire.

Okay? Why? Because it's in a link of events that's gonna lead to this one, which is what?

Death. It's the kind that kills you. And it starts with the blind guy who's the same as the...

He's the pig in disguise. What? Ignorance.

Okay? Don't forget that... the link of desire and desire in general are a big difference.

Okay? This is desire acting in a circle of events that kills you. But what about desiring to reach a Buddha paradise?

That's not this one, okay? Big difference. Okay?

You gotta remember that. This is the desire that's caught up in a wheel of life that's gonna kill you. They should have called it the wheel of death, right?

Anyway... All right. Number nine.

Uh... Gupa lemba means grasping to things. Grasping to things.

Okay? Is it wrong to want something? Is it wrong to go after something?

No. Forget that. Okay?

Is it wrong to go after something in a stupid way? Yeah, that's all. How do you get Alexis?

Help other people as much as you can. Okay? Do you get Alexis from working hard and smart in your company?

No. Okay? It can be the method, but if it works or not, only depends on one thing.

If you've been kind to other people, if you've been generous to other people. Does it mean you shouldn't be smart in business? You should be smart in business.

Does being smart in business always work to get you Alexis? No. There's lots of smart businessmen who are bankrupt, there's lots of dumb businessmen who are rich.

Okay? There's something else happening. What?

Somebody's been generous or not. That's really all that matters. Does it mean you can be purposely stupid in business and you'll still get Alexis?

No. Okay? It's not contradictory.

Being intelligent in business comes from being generous to others. Get it? Okay?

If you're a good businessman, it's because you've been generous to others. It's not a God-given gift and it didn't come from the big bang. Okay?

Yeah? Is there a skillful generosity, like someone who's sort of taking advantage of you? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

She said, is there a... Yeah, is there a skillful kind of generosity, you know? Does Buddhist idea of giving require that every time someone asks you for a hundred dollars, you give it to them?

Not at all. Okay? There's a pecking order.

There's a prioritization system. Okay? Like what?

Like, the first rule is that you should not give more than you can. Okay? I mean, to put yourself in debt and create problems for yourself and for your family and stuff like that.

Like, I have new students who come and say, okay, you can have my house. I say, no, I don't want it. You need it for your family.

You see what I mean? And it's like that. Yeah.

First rule of giving is that you give within your means, within correct, right livelihood, is a Buddhist principle. You should have an income which does not harm other people, like gun running or drug dealing. Okay?

And you should also have an income that allows you not to grub off of other people. Okay? Because that hurts other people and that bothers other people.

And as a Buddhist, you're not allowed to do that. You should have an honest living that supports you and doesn't harass the people who live around you when you give grubbing stuff off of them. Okay?

I mean, that's right livelihood is one of the eight Arya actions. It's a holy action. You're supposed to do that.

Okay? So, yeah, no, it's not required of you as a Buddhist that you automatically give whatever somebody asks for. You have to give intelligently.

You have to say, this person needs it more than this person. You know? This person is really in need.

This person is lazy and won't get a job. You know what I mean? And yeah, you give it to the person who really needs it.

There's no problem with that. Generosity is very strictly defined in Buddhism as, you know, give within your means, give generously, give with no regrets, never regret it. You wipe out the karma when you regret it later.

Okay? If you make a boo-boo, just say, okay, I gave away my karma, that's fine. You know, never regret it.

I mean, maybe do it more wisely next time, but never regret it. Okay? And then think about it carefully, you know, like, okay, where would it do more good, you know?

Would it help this person or this person? The perfection of giving doesn't consist of removing every poor person in the world. It's very famous.

It consists of the state of mind in which you are perfectly willing to give away everything you have to those who need it. You know? Within your means.

Like, you don't make your own family suffer to give away things. You know, you fulfill your responsibilities, and then you give. Okay?

But once you fulfill your responsibilities, you give everything. Okay? And it's very cool, and it makes you very happy.

Last question. Yeah? What's the picture at number nine?

Oh, what's the picture at number nine? It's a monkey grabbing fruit. Okay?

How is number nine defined? Number nine is defined as liking things that got real bad. Okay?

Like, liking things that's gone worse. Okay, so number eight represents liking things— starting to like things. Number nine got to where you're really out of control, which implies that you're about to do something bad.

Adultery, stealing, you know, something like that. You know, you're about to go over the line of what a reasonable means to get something and what's gonna really hurt you later. Okay?

Last thing to say tonight. Number nine, strongly wanting something in a stupid way, triggers, in this wheel, number ten. Number ten is karma at the moment of your death.

Okay, so next week—I'm doing an ad for next week. Okay? I'm doing an ad for—is it next Friday?

This is an advertisement for next Friday. The cool thing about number eight is that this is the precise emotion of wanting something at the moment of your death that triggers very serious consequences in the next few hours. You see what I mean?

So, it's very important to study it. We're gonna do a whole class on it next week. Okay?

We're talking about the specific emotion that you have as you are dying that's gonna have very serious consequences, you know? And if you can learn about that— this is called sundepa. Say sun— —depa.

—depa. —Sundepa.

[Говорящий 2]
—Sundepa.

[Говорящий 1]
It triggers enormous consequences during the dying process. So, we have to study this not just as a general liking or disliking of something. Next week, we're gonna talk about it as you are dying.

What sort of state of mind should you try to maintain? Because if you don't, it triggers very bad things. Okay?

So, actually we say that number nine is a sort of a selection process. Number nine represents which karmas are going to be activated as you die, which determines what happens to you afterwards. Okay?

So, number nine is crucial. Number nine is the exact emotions that you have as you go into the dying process. And they are going to activate certain other karmas, which is number ten.

We're not gonna do number ten tonight. We'll start with number ten next week. Okay?

So, it's very cool. The reading you got starts on that process, and we'll talk more about it next week. Okay?

All right. We'll do a short prayer. And thank you for coming, and thank you for— —that we could talk about holy things.

This is real holy things, like how to really go to heaven. Okay?