Серия ежедневной практики, курс 05 — Медитация о смерти и о конце смерти (1999, Роли), занятие 6

[Speaker 1]
Okay, ready? They say, there's a famous lojong, yīshīn nobha lehābhaya, dūnjā dhūpe sāṃbhaya, tattva-cepit-sambhaya, dhāni sañjan tam jay lā, means, you need other people around to do this practice. If you didn't have other people around, you couldn't do this practice, you see.

So they are more valuable for you than an Aladdin's lamp, on that basis. You can't succeed in this practice unless you have other people around. And if they're demanding people, it's even easier, okay?

Alright, so, those are ideal circumstances for this practice, you know. So, at a primitive level, it's what we talked about in the church on Thursday night. It means to put yourself in their place in the sense of, what does this person want right now, you know.

And as we said in the church, you follow their eyes a lot, you know. Follow their eyes and see what they like, you know. And it's true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

And the meaning of that is, if you watch a person's eyes as they move around the room, you know, they will start to focus on the things they like and the things they want. So, you know, if it's a person who really likes chocolate cake and you have a chocolate cake on the table, it's sort of kind of cruel, but sit there across from them and their eyes will keep going, you know, like, you know, like, and, or, you know, there's tea over here and juice over there and they like tea, you know. They'll just be glancing occasionally over at the tea.

And it's subconscious, you're not really conscious that you're doing it. But a bodhisattva has to watch these things, you see what I mean? Because a bodhisattva wants to make sure that they get what they want.

And we gave the example of this little, quiet, jolly, round, baby monk in New Jersey named Jampa Lungrik, who's like, just quietly a great bodhisattva. You know, all he does is make tea and clean the house and brush the dog. And, you know, and it looks like that's all he does.

But if you go there, the tea tastes better than anywhere else. You know, he has this strange knack for providing you exactly what you wanted. And within the first few days of meeting you, he knows what your favorite food is, he knows what you want to do during the day, he knows what kind of thing you like to drink, he knows when you get thirsty, he knows everything.

He's been watching you. And he never says anything. I've never seen him get angry.

I've never seen him complain. Once. And we're talking hundreds of crazy American students junking up the house, you know, leaving messes in the bathroom.

He just quietly goes in and cleans them up and never says anything. Never. I've never...

You know, he's prone to these horrible headaches. I've never heard him mention it to anybody. You know, he just does it.

You know, and that's such a... That's the way. We call in the computer business transparent.

A program should be transparent, meaning it's easy to use and you don't know why, because the guy who designed it was thinking ahead. So, transparent dakshin-nyamje means you're just watching other people. And you don't even tell them.

They never know that you're plotting their benefit. You see what I mean? And it's kind of a reverse schizophrenia, or whatever you call it.

Paranoia. It's a reverse paranoia. You know, where you're plotting to make them happy and not let them know.

You see what I mean? Like, at an extreme level, you'd break into people's houses and put money in their wallets and stuff like that. But, on the assumption that everyone likes money.

but you just... The first levels of this practice, the primitive, what I say, the very beginning levels, are to observe what people physically want, what they're attracted to. You figure out what kind of thing they want to talk about, and then you talk about that.

You figure out what kind of cereal they like the most, and you buy that. And you have that in the house. And you figure out what they like to drink, and that's what they...

And it's on their... It's on the table in front of them before they can ask you. And you get better at anticipating their wishes than they are.

And you know three minutes ahead what they're going to want. And you're already setting it up for them. And this is a...

If you want to know the holiest thing to do with your life if you're going to die tonight, this is it. The whole... I mean, for many reasons, and we'll go into the reasons, but karmically, it's just the most intelligent thing you can do.

And then universally, it's the rightest thing you can do. You know what I mean? It's the most...

It's the goodest thing you can do in the world. You know, it's to think about other people's wishes and try to satisfy them. Okay?

So, we're talking on a very basic physical level. Then you get up to a mental level. You know, what would make this person happy right now?

You know, would they like me to talk about this, or would they like me to talk about that? Are they having some problem at work that I could talk to them about, or do they have a family problem that they might want me to talk about with them? Are they happy to talk about their own work?

And they'd most enjoy at this moment to hear me talk about that with them, or... You know, so you go from the level of physical comfort, meaning food and drink, and you take care of them that way, and then you move up to their emotional needs. You know, and you think, what would this person like me to be talking about right now, and what would they like to talk about right now, and what would make them happy right now?

And you take care of that. Transparently, they never know. Okay?

I saw this thing in Dear Abby, okay, twenty years ago or something, and she said, do something good for somebody every day secretly. Just don't tell them. They never know.

You know, their bank account goes up a hundred dollars, they think it was a mistake in their checkbook or something, and they never know that you snuck it in there or something like that. You see what I mean? Take care of other people secretly.

That's at the end of the eight verses also. Munugune. You know, may I help other people openly and then secretly.

You know what I mean? So take care of their emotional needs. Then move up to their spiritual needs.

You see what I mean? And figure out ways to give them what they need spiritually. You see what I mean?

And just when they need it, just what they needed, at the moment that they needed it, you're supplying it to them, transparently if possible. You know, maybe it's just in a conversation, or you're just mentioning something and you know it's going to be of spiritual benefit to them. Yeah?

Are your mental needs and spiritual needs the same in this case? I'd say physical, emotional, then spiritual. You see what I mean?

What would make them happy in their tummy? And it's not only tummy, but you know, what's the temperature in the room? You know, I happen to know that Dr. Taylor likes a cold room. You know, I happen to know this other person likes a warm room. So you think about what they would like, and you heat the room up before they get there. They never know that you've prepared it for them.

You see what I mean? And you're just watching out for them. And this is first level, physical needs, and then emotional needs.

You know, you're talking about what they'd like to talk about, you're calling them when they'd like to get called, and things like that. Transparently, they're not aware that you're sitting at home like, you know, sweating over what they would like. You know what I mean?

And then move up to spiritual needs. When it's proper, when it's appropriate, you know, pop something spiritual on them, you know, and something they need. There's this vow, I forget what it is, we're not supposed to, when we choose a teaching for a group, we're not supposed to teach what we'd like to teach.

We're supposed to teach what might be most beneficial for them at that moment. And there's a vow about that, you know, it's like, oh, I've been through this three times, I'd rather teach them something else because I haven't been through it three times. And then you got to think, no, that's not right.

What do they need? What's good for them at that moment? And you have to design it that way.

So, those are the three, sort of a beginning way to do it. Okay? And you, and you watch, see, in this case, you're still preserving the distinction between you and them.

That's what makes it primitive. You see, you're still thinking, I'm me, them's them, I want what I want, they want what they want, but we'll give them what they want first. You know what I mean?

And you're still dividing between you and me. You know, you're still, at the beginning of this practice, you are still thinking, they're them, I'm me, and I'm giving up what I want so that they can have what they want. And that's a primitive form of this practice.

Okay, that's level number one. Okay? Now we go to a deeper form of the practice, okay, where you're actually switching over to their eyes and looking at things in their body.

And that's a deeper level. Okay, instead of sitting in your body and trying to imagine what they want, you actually meditate on being inside of them, inside of their head and inside of their body. You're watching Michael Roach talk.

You see what I mean? You're sitting out there hoping he'll finish on time because your knees hurt, and, you know, trying to look interesting, you know, and, you know what I mean, and, and you actually, rather than me actually trying to think what you might want, you see, and me sitting here and you sitting there, now I'm sitting there and I'm watching me. And that's level two of the Daksin Yamje.

Okay? So you're actually physically imagining that you're in their body and you're watching you. And you're trying to think how they think.

You see? That's different than trying to guess how they think. Now you're in their mind and you're thinking like they think.

And it's actual, like some kind of teleporting your, you know, beam them down, Scotty, and put, you know, and put your body in their body and watch you. And then think of being them. And that's like a second level Daksin Yamje.

Okay? It's getting more sophisticated and more serious. Okay?

Then the ultimate level is reflected in the readings that you're going to get. Okay? Um, and this requires some study.

So reading number five, in particular, no, four and five. Okay? Most of four and five is how to do the highest form of Daksin Yamje.

And this is where you seek to remove the distinction between you and me. You see what I mean? So I, a little bit, object to calling this teaching exchanging myself and you.

You see what I mean? It's really becoming one person. You know, it's really expanding my sense of me to include you.

And you become me. You become a part of Michael Roach. You see what I mean?

So at the highest form of this practice, you are actually, when you give them what they like to eat, you are giving you what you like to eat. See what I mean? And you're expanding your sense of yourself to include other people.

And now, in Master Shantideva, in this chapter that we took it from, it's from the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, and he very masterfully treats all the objections to thinking like this. You see? And I'll talk about some of the objections.

And they're in your homework, okay? So by the way, this section on how to exchange yourself and others starts out in a very interesting way. He says, Take thyself to a quiet forest.

Sleep under the trees. Divest. You know?

Don't have too many things. Don't have too many activities. I mean, peripheral gray area goof-off activities.

Don't junk up your life to the point where you can just barely have enough time to do your meditation. Divest until you got plenty of buffer to do your meditation. If you want to meditate an extra 20 minutes, there's no way you're going to be let down because you're not there.

Divest to the point where you have true leisure. You know? So, he calls it go out to the forest.

But what it means and the commentary says is, mentally, divest until you have enough space in your life to practice the most important practices. Yeah?

[Speaker 2]
Sometimes, there are relationships that don't seem to be doing me a lot of good, but I just have a sense that I want to be helpful to the person.

[Speaker 1]
We're not talking about those. Those are not junk. Those are precious.

You see? Big difference. We're talking about the ones you engage in just to have an idle talk for an afternoon or something like that.

For you. You see what I mean? The ones that you're maintaining because it helps someone else, that's bodhisattva activity.

So, here you're actually... The first thing in the... It's interesting how he gets to it.

You see? He doesn't say, Oh, exchange yourself with others. He says, Go out in the forest.

Meaning, simplify your life down to you're almost living in a hut. Mentally. You see?

And then, practice the sweetest practice of all. And then he gets into Dakshin Yamje. You know, and for me, it was like, almost contradictory because he's saying, Go simplify your life.

Go live in the forest. And by the way, exchange yourself with all the people around you.

[Speaker 2]
You know what I mean?

[Speaker 1]
And then, you know, the commentaries say, it means, work your normal job, have your normal family, but mentally be in a forest and have lots of space. Meaning, you simplified your life to what's important. You're not doing unimportant things.

And you have lots of free mental space. And then do the practice of exchanging yourself with others. This is the...

This is what you want to do with your life if you're going to die tonight. You see, I'm trying to say, that's what he's trying to say. He's trying to say that if you knew you were going to die tonight, the most important thing you could do is not something physical.

It's something mental. You see? It's something inside of you.

And that's the feeling on the plane as we thought we were all going to die. And you had an automatic Dakshin Yamje. Everybody started to bond with everybody else.

You see? That was the result of a death meditation. It wasn't so much giving up my car.

It wasn't so much, you know... Those were already gone. Already people weren't thinking about the movie, the pretzels, or where they were sitting and how fat the guy next to them was.

They had already stopped thinking about that. But what was the next thing they did? They started to bond.

I've never felt anything like that since then, never, ever. This outpouring of love and sympathy for the people around them. And that's...

That's what would really happen if we were all going to die tonight. You know? I mean, what would really happen, and the point of death meditation is to trigger this emotion towards other people.

What's his name? Who wrote Candide? Voltaire.

Yeah, Voltaire said... He said something very serious, called see other people as your fellow sufferers in life. You know, and have this empathy for other people.

And this sweet... this sweet sorrow for people who are all dying together. You see?

And that... The goal of... The ultimate goal of death meditation is that.

It's not so much giving up certain activities, giving up certain possessions, changing your relationships. It's just a... It's just the beginning.

See, what happens later is you just start to bond with everybody. You see what I mean? Because everybody you meet is on a plane and is going down.

And... Why hassle each other? Why fight with each other?

What's the point of being right or wrong if we're all dying in 15 minutes? You see what I mean? And if your mind can get to that state, you're successful at death meditation.

And that's Dakshin Yam Je. You see what I mean? Then you're exchanging yourself and others.

Because the boundary between you and others has just expanded to include them. You see what I mean? The boundary of who I is has just slipped from my skin and your skin to fit behind your skin.

You see what I mean? You've redefined the self. The real point of exchanging self and others is not...

The primitive one is to watch them and do what they want. The next point is to put your head in their body and watch you and doing what they want. But the highest form is to eliminate the boundary between you and others.

As long as you call it exchange, I think it's a little... The word is bad. It should be called, you know, redefining myself to include Petra or something like that.

You see what I mean? Oh God, now I got two mouths to feed. You see what I mean?

No, really. I got four feet to put shoes on now. You see?

I got four pairs of eyes I got to take care of. You know? I got to wear monk's clothes and I got to find ladies' clothes also.

You see what I mean? And that can only come if you practice. Now, see how death meditation goes into that?

The divestment has already happened. And then naturally you feel this sweet sadness. Look, we're all going to die.

Why do we fight with each other? Why do we argue with each other? How many people on a plane that's going to crash in 15 minutes are arguing with each other about which seat is more comfortable?

It's all pales in comparison to the fact that we're all dying together. You see what I mean? So the feeling that we're all dying together should make this kind of family feeling or this kind of redefinition of yourself to expand to everyone here.

Because what are we... What's the use of struggling against each other if we're all dying? You see?

What are you trying to protect? You know, somebody said something bad to you. Who gives a damn if you're all going to be dead in 10 years?

You see what I mean? Or tonight. What's the point?

You see what I mean? It's like frustrating. What's the point of being unkind to each other if we're all dying together?

You know? So you've got to get to that. That's the real goal of a death meditation.

You see, if you're doing it well, it's not that you've got the right color lights going in your head or something. Or that you're like scared of dying or something like that. It's not like that.

The real end of a death meditation should be this feeling of why are we hurting each other if we're all going to die together? You know, if we're all dying and the people that I meet now when I come back the next time here, some of you might be dead. So what's the point?

You know, why would I fight with you about the tea or the coffee or who gets a cookie? You know, the whole idea is to reduce, to eliminate the boundary between yourself and others through a death meditation. And that's the holiest practice you can do.

And that's real bodhicitta. Okay? Then you have all these natural objections in your mind.

And Shantideva very nicely goes through them. Master Shantideva sweetly goes through them. So we're going to talk about some of them.

The main thing is this. Your conception of who you are is first of all largely visually oriented like so many things in life. Do you know why the first skanda is called form and the object of the eye is called form?

Why are they the same? Because the skanda includes all other senses also. So why do they give the name the object of the eye to the skanda or the heap of the physical body?

Why? Because you define yourself visually. 90% of how you define yourself is visual.

My skin stops here. Bill's skin starts there. Therefore we're different.

You know? Therefore he's not me. Therefore he's him and I'm me.

And therefore every language in the world has different pronouns. I and you. You know what I mean?

Mostly visual. You know what I mean? I stop at my skin and he starts at his skin.

Because that's what I see. You see what I mean? And Master Shantideva says, stop thinking like that.

Okay? Stop letting that be the boundary of who you are. Because that's just arbitrary.

Okay? That's just arbitrary. And then the immediate objection comes up in your mind.

I assume it's already happened. But when you poke that skin with a pin, it don't hurt you. You know?

And when I poke this skin with a pin, it does hurt me. And I know it's very noble to think of Bill and me as being the same person, but, you know, I'd rather have him get poked with a pin than me. You know what I mean?

And Master Shantideva says, no, that's not correct. You know? You have the power to define where you, where pain becomes relevant.

You see what I mean? You have the power, a human being has the power to say, my boundary of unacceptable pain will extend to the back of Bill's back. You see?

You have the power to do that. Because it's all arbitrary anyway. The minute you own an object, or the minute you have a family, and someone hits your kid, do you feel pain?

Brandy's child, somebody comes up and punches that kid, will she feel anything? I mean, will she get upset? Yeah, I mean, she has chosen, for good or bad reasons, doesn't matter, to extend her sense of herself beyond herself to embrace the child.

You see what I mean? So you do it all the time. Family people here are doing it all the time.

Don't tell me you can't do it. Master Shantideva says, don't tell me you can't do that. You can easily extend.

You do it all the time. A person comes down 6th Street in New York. I've got my car out there and there's 30 other cars on the street.

But if they start hitting my windshield with a brick, do I react or not? You know? In a sense, do I feel pain?

Do I feel invaded when they do that? Yes, because my sense of Michael Roach has extended beyond the car, to include the car, because it's my car. So don't tell me you can't do it when you want to do it.

You just don't want to do it. Okay? You think somehow it's better not to do it.

And that's it. What he calls fatal error. At the end of the reading he says, fatal error, fatal error.

You know? Yeah? When I hear you saying defining boundaries, where that person begins or ends and I begin and end.

What's to differentiate myself from where Buddha Shakyamuni begins and ends? I define that if I'm understanding what you're saying. Yeah.

Or any of the other Buddhas. Yeah, no, maybe in tantric practice you might try that. Okay?

But that's a little further beyond this right now. Okay, that's a little further than we're going today. The practice today is a path to that.

You see what I mean? But yeah, you can do that. In tantric practice, kīrim is partly that.

That we can't teach in public. Okay? So anyway, but of course it's a part, it's a part of that.

So the idea today is that to realize that where you draw the line of me is arbitrary. So draw it in an intelligent way. What's intelligent?

Encompass everyone in the room. You know what I mean? And there's no difference between me not getting my dinner and Petra not getting my dinner.

Okay? You gotta get... You see, ultimately, if you want to be radically successful in your practice and become a tantric deity in this life, this is the way.

This is the real way. You know? Very radical, and very holy, and all great saints have done it in all religions.

You know? I don't draw a distinction between me getting dinner and she... I'm not giving up my dinner so that Petra can have it.

I'm feeding myself. Okay? And you have to...

And it draws on the fact that the distinction of who I am and who I'm not is arbitrary. It's something based on my past karma. It's something based on my past way of thinking.

It's arbitrary. You can also choose to stop yourself here, and people do. You know what I mean?

Like in a war or something, or when an animal pulls itself out of a trap and the leg is left behind for the good of the rest of the body. That's arbitrary. They've chosen that this part is not going to be there.

Because they want the rest to survive. You see? People do that.

They disassociate from... When you agree to have something cut off of you, or something like that, a cancer cut out of your body, you're stating, in effect, that you don't want that to be part of me anymore. You see what I mean?

So, I can extend beyond the skin, and I can extend within the skin. It's a matter of choice, really. It's a matter of training.

Master Shantideva says everything is a matter of training. You can train yourself to think any way you want. It's just a matter of practicing.

He's very big on practice. If you practice long enough to think of your body as extending to the skin on Bill's back, then you can, in time, by thinking about it constantly, redefine who me is. And it's very, very satisfying.

Like, what happens is that all the people around you become your family. You see what I mean? It's very, very satisfying.

And then there's no struggle. Why is it that a bodhisattva can reach into their eye socket and rip out their own eye and hand it to someone? Why is it they can do that?

Because they're not thinking of the other person as another person. You know, I need my eye. So, I got to rip it out right now.

Because I need... You know, this is the trick to doing all these impossible things that Lama Tsongkhapa does. It's, they're cheating.

Okay? They're not really thinking of other people as other people. They're just serving themselves.

You know what I mean? Would you like... I would like to get this initiation until 3 a.m. this morning. You see what I mean? And then he can stay up until 3 a.m. this morning. Because it's important to him.

Because he's sitting watching him. You know? Because the part of him that's sitting watching him doesn't have it yet.

You know what I mean? And he thinks that... You got to get to that point.

But you have to do it in stages. You have to go through those other two. Okay?

Let's see some more objections he has. By the way, the objection about the pain is very famous. And very common.

I've heard it for 20... It was asked of my Lama in 1974. I remember sitting there and hearing someone say, I don't extend to Bill because when Bill gets poked with the pin, I don't hurt.

And that's just a decision not to feel hurt when he gets hurt. You see what I mean? Because when your own mother gets punched by somebody, it hurts.

And you do something about it. You've chosen to extend yourself to your mother. Or to your house.

You know, it's bad if somebody burns your house or breaks your house. It's not so bad if they break your neighbor's house. Because the me doesn't extend to their house, but it extends to your house.

You see what I mean? And that's arbitrary. And the decision to limit it to some bad habit of the past, to the skin, or your house, is hurting you.

Okay? Now the next argument again. And these are some, you'll have six arguments in your reading.

Okay? One is that you got to get used to thinking of suffering as a common enemy. Suffering is is something we should hate no matter who has it.

You see what I mean? So you have to learn to think of suffering as something to be removed no matter who has it. The enemy of mankind is suffering.

So no matter who has it, we have to try to get rid of it. And I have a good example here. Like I used to have, I have a lot of students.

Students come to me. In my early years, I would have students come to me and say, you know that person, that other group that you don't like? I don't like them either.

Let's stick together. I'll help you. You know?

I'll work on your board and we'll do our best. Not like that other group. You know?

I support you and not them. And in my stupid early years, I'm like, thank you. You know?

You can be treasurer of our group. You know? And and then in my wiser years, what happens is, what you're doing is saying, I like your mental affliction because it's helping me right now.

You see what I mean? I like your mental affliction because I'm the beneficiary right now. And it's very short-sighted.

Why? Sooner or later, mental afflictions come around. You know?

Sooner or later, it's directed at you. What I'm saying is, don't put up with suffering in anybody in this room. Consider suffering unacceptable.

Period. As a principle, suffering is unacceptable. And don't be so concerned about which body it happens to be in right now.

You see? Suffering on the whole is unacceptable and must be fought against. Then you gotta fight against the cause of suffering, which is what?

Mental afflictions. Okay? So whether it's in your friend's head or your enemy's head, you must vow to eradicate it from the face of the earth.

And that has to be your attitude. I will not put up with jealousy, whether it's in my mind or one of my students' minds. You see?

And I won't draw a distinction between the two very much. You see? Whether it's in one of my students' minds or whether it's in my mind, it's equally harmful.

And if you don't think so, then let one of your close friends or relatives continue to be angry at someone else, and sooner or later you'll find it be directed at you. You see? Mental afflictions suck no matter whose mind they're in.

And we have to say, we have to remove the distinction between you and me in that sense too. We have to work to eradicate through equal effort the mental afflictions of every person in this room. Okay?

Period. We can't put up with mental afflictions and drop the boundary between you and me. Your jealousy and my jealousy are both unacceptable.

I can't stand to see you suffer from that. And I can't stand to see me suffer from that. And it's just, as a principle, we choose that this is the enemy and we will eradicate it from this room.

Okay? And that's another form of exchanging self and others. I think that when you hear exchanging self and others, you often don't get the full story.

This is a form of exchanging self and others. Because you are breaking down the boundary between you and me. Jealousy as a whole is unacceptable in our Dharma group.

And each of us should watch each of us to help us not to have jealousy. And it doesn't matter whether it's in your mind. It is in my mind.

And if I see it, if I think it's in your mind, never be sure, right? I don't know if you're a deity or what. But if it seems to be in your mind, I have to help you eradicate it too.

Because any illness that's spreading in your mind will sooner or later spread to mine. Okay? That's very important.

That's another way of breaking down the distinction between yourself and others. Okay? That's another practice.

Okay? Then there's this famous one that His Holiness uses so often. It's called the democratic principle.

Okay? Like, there's x number of people in this room that want to be happy. There's x number of people in this room who equally don't want to be unhappy.

And we must work for that. Equally. You see what I mean?

We must achieve the happiness of the beings in this room. Period. And everybody wants it.

Now, democratically speaking, you know, you use democracy when it's advantageous to you and you break it, you don't use it when it's not. You know what I mean? As long as democracy is what brings you out ahead, you tend to support it.

And then, when it means that you're going to get outvoted in a board, you're like, maybe I don't like this board anymore. But democratically, if you're going to be democratic about it, other people outnumber you. This is Holiness's beautiful argument.

And it's a little hard to swallow for someone who's interested in their own happiness only. But if you think about it, I should do what you guys want and not what I want if I'm democratic. Because you outvote me.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
You outnumber me. Other people outnumber you. You's one and they's 99.

So, they get what they want. If you're going to be really democratic, if you're going to be noble, then majority rule. And what you want should come last.

Because they outnumber you. Okay? That's called the democracy principle of breaking down self and others.

Okay? They should get what they want just by virtue of what's just. Justice means that the most people who want something should get it in a group.

You know? If you're going to be fair, I mean, not at the expense of the minority, right? But if it's a choice that, you know, what would be the best thing to do, you have to go with the majority.

And you guys outnumber me, so I have to do what you want. You see what I mean? Yeah?

In some of your other talks, or teachings, you indicated that society, over a period of time, takes wrong views. Yeah. How do you deal with that if you're talking about from the perspective of the majority or...

Yeah. He said, oftentimes, the majority of a society, especially in the desire realm, you have to understand we are in the desire realm. That's not just some Buddhist thing they made up, blah, blah, blah.

There are other realms. Okay? In the desire realm, things don't work right.

Okay? We are in a defective realm. It should have been recalled.

Okay? Okay? I'm not kidding.

This realm is defective. This realm doesn't work right. Okay?

If you get to be in this realm, it's because you had mental afflictions in your past life. Okay? You're here because the whole idea of original sin is not so crazy.

You know, this realm doesn't work right. And anybody who gets to be in this realm is a little crazy by definition. You see what I mean?

Because to get here, you've got to be, you've got to have some major mental afflictions. You can't get to this realm unless you have some mental afflictions. Okay?

This is the monastery principle. People come to me and say, I don't know, ever since I went to Sarah's I was really disappointed. And I say, why?

And they say, a lot of the monks are just as bad as normal people. And you say, that's why we're in the monastery. That's why we came here to get fixed.

But anyway, it really, truly is a defective realm. Which means that a lot of what's considered proper or right in this realm is crazy. You know, just a lot of the attitudes in this realm are, like the distinction between you and me, which is like one of the most basic things about our world.

The difference between you and me, the words you and me in every language are different. Which means that in every culture on this earth, they draw a distinction between you and me based on visual, based on skin, or based on the fact that when I poke that skin with a pin something happens to him and it doesn't happen to me. And ignorant of the fact that of course you can expand me to cover Bill.

Or you can expand me to not cover your arm if your arm has to be cut off. You know what I mean? You can shrink it or expand it as you choose.

But we're in a realm where that's considered stupid, to expand it to everybody. I wouldn't have enough money for myself. Yeah, you wouldn't, so we have to make more for us.

You see what I mean? To feed us. You see what I mean?

It'd be, you know, it'd be a weird place, right? So anyway, what you're saying is that, yeah, it's, it is true that in majority things in the world, in the desire realm, what the majority wants is often very wrong. So I had, I remember being in Dageshi Darghe's class in Dharamsala and somebody said, why should I give, why should I be concerned and watch this person to see what they want to eat and what they want to drink when most of their desires are wrong?

You know, most of their desires are hurting them. They want more food than they can, their body can absorb. They want things to drink that are going to hurt them.

Why should I work on temporary happinesses and not, and not concentrate on ultimate ones? And Geshe Darghe got like mad. It was weird, you know, and he said, he said, no, you must give them what they want.

You see what I mean? I mean, I'm not talking alcohol or guns or things like that, but I mean, an extra piece of chocolate cake, yeah, give it to them. You must think that you serve them what they want at the lower levels, you know what I mean?

Like, they want an extra piece of cake, you give them an extra piece of cake because it's a holy thing to serve others even for the moment. You see, he was very adamant that even to serve them with momentary needs that are not real needs, but if it would make them a little bit happier, and I'm not saying a heart attack, risk patient, or blah, blah, blah, I'm saying a normal person who wants some cake, that it's a holy bodhisattva practice to serve them something that will make them happy for another three minutes or so, you know? They'd never think that's unimportant.

He was very adamant about it. So that's all. As far as majority rule, I mean, I mean things like that.

You know, should you go along with the New York Times worldview that says the way to stop a conflict in Kosovo is to kill someone? No, you shouldn't go along with that. The reason you are forced to see people killing other people in your world is your wrong views and your wrong activities.

And if your mind was pure, it wouldn't be going on. You see, ultimately Buddhism says that peace in the world is achieved in your world by being pure. And you'll be, you'll be forced to sit in a bunch of, a big group of tenth-level bodhisattvas, and they don't, they don't have tanks or airplanes or anything like that.

You see, you've created the Kosovo, and ultimately this is the thing. People ask me, which side of the Shukden controversy are you on? And I say, I'm on the side that says I shouldn't have disrespected my lamas in the past and have to see this terrible thing.

That's which side I'm on. So, to remove that, am I going to be on side A or side B? No, I'm going to be on side C, which says I have to treat my lamas better in the future, so I don't have to see someone picketing the Dalai Lama.

You know what I mean? That's come about because of my bad deeds, you know, because I was not respectful to my lamas. And that's why in my world someone's picketing the holiest being in the world, you know.

And if you don't like it, then be better to your lamas. You see? That's worldview.

That's Buddhist worldview. You see what I mean? Very cool.

Yeah?

[Speaker 2]
I still like getting, though, the three minutes of temporary happiness.

[Speaker 1]
Just that it's a holy thing to serve someone else and make them happy, even if it's only for three minutes. At the expense of giving them higher happiness, no. But as an immediate thing, I think all bodhisattvas are interested in that.

You see? The only thing I can think of is that maybe it'll give you a chance to keep talking to them. Well, that's enough.

No, I think the main thing is the habit of wanting them to be happy, at any level. Temporary cake, more long-term place to stay, more long... You make them happy for three minutes to have a cigarette or a drink.

[Speaker 2]
You give it to them.

[Speaker 1]
No, I said except for alcohol or weapons. We're not allowed... The dana paramita, as Master Shantideva is careful to point out, doesn't extend to things which will obviously harm them.

And you're not allowed to give a weapon to a person who's going to commit suicide with it, or alcohol to a person who's going to be crazy with it, or something like that. Now, will chocolate cake hurt them in the long run? Probably a little bit.

My lama used to overfeed his dog, you know, and... and he would stop her. She was like, she was dragging her on the ground.

And I said, Rinpoche, you know, you're really hurting her. And she said, but it makes her so happy.

[Speaker 2]
And...

[Speaker 1]
Anyway, that's the principle. Alright, another question?

[Speaker 2]
If you extend yourself to all other beings, what does that mean that you have an infinite number of mental afflictions?

[Speaker 1]
She said, if you extend yourself to all other beings, wouldn't you have an infinite number of mental afflictions? It's more to extend yourself in the sense of fulfilling their needs as if they were you. That's all.

So actually you'd have... Yeah, you'd be faced with the task of eliminating infinite mental afflictions. And that's what Bodhisattvas do.

That's our dream. That's our dream of a career path, you know, to want to do that. You see?

Yeah. Okay, let's see your answer, Susan. So it's the idea that nobody you meet is any different from you.

Okay? I mean, another reason that the distinction between you and others is so false is that ultimately you are thinking exactly the same. Nobody wants to suffer.

Everybody wants to be happy. Everybody has the same state of mind. There are slight differences in attitude.

There are slight differences in philosophies. There are slight differences in perceptions. But ultimately we are totally the same.

And, and this is not some kind of false logic or something like that. It's not sophistry. It's not, it's not some kind of naive thinking.

It's absolutely true. It's not His Holiness being, you know, Jesus-y or something. It's not that.

It's not like that. It's a very profound truth that we're all the same. You know, we're really all the same.

Everybody wants to be happy. No one wants to suffer. So, this distinction that we draw artificially between each other is false.

It's just flatly false. Okay? We're all the same.

That's all. Okay? And, and, that's so profound that it sounds naive.

And, as very profound things often do. And, and you have to think about it that way. So, so how many arguments we got now that, against the distinction of yourself and others?

I mean, the first one was what? Against the thinking of suffering as a common enemy? I think, yeah.

One is, think of, think of all suffering in the room. And I would include all causes of suffering in the room. Like, I'm more, when I get to this particular meditation, I'm more remembering in the past when I used to support mental afflictions in others if they were serving me.

You see what I mean? If your mental affliction means that you side with me rather than with them, we'll live with that mental affliction. That's a stupid idea.

Mental afflictions must be stamped out whichever skull they happen to be in. Suffering, which is the result of mental afflictions, must be stamped out whichever bag of skin they're in. Okay?

So that's two. What's another one? That's one, really.

See, I have, think of all causes of suffering, then fight against suffering, and democratic principle, then everybody you meet is the same as you, no one is different. Well, one is the idea that, I think one of the sub-meditations here has to be that the demarcation between me and Bill is artificial. Okay?

It's artificial. It's just a decision. It actually happens to be a projection of my past karma.

I'm so used to thinking of me and Bill as separate, because when you poke him with a pin, I don't feel that precise pain, that I believe it now. And I live by it. And that is the cause of all suffering.

You see what I mean? Drawing that distinction, and then believing that it's natural, causes all your suffering. Okay?

Yeah?

[Speaker 2]
How do you relate this to the fact that we all have separate mind streams?

[Speaker 1]
By the way, I'm not suggesting that we all have the same mind stream. I never said that. I was careful not to say that, because I knew somebody would bring that up.

Okay? Do you mold into one big mind stream later? No.

Do all Buddhas become one big fat Buddha? No. Is there a supreme consciousness?

No. Why? Because karma is collected individually.

How can we become one with everybody else? The idea is to conceptualize that physical, visual thing as being part of me. That's all.

That's all. You can decide that another mind stream's happiness and suffering is as much your concern as yours is. You see what I mean?

That's okay. I'm not suggesting that the mind streams are the same. If that mind stream out there does good deeds, that mind stream's going to get itself enlightened.

If this mind stream... You know what I mean? There is a distinction like that.

I'm not saying that. But you will not get enlightened unless you learn to do this practice. How's that?

I gave you the carrot, now I give you the stick. I mean, it's not only the right thing to do. It is the holiest purpose of a person who's going to die tonight.

It's the smartest thing you can do in your life if you're going to die tonight. And you can go to work for the last day and do it there. See what I mean?

Now death meditation gets a little more difficult. It'd be easy if it was just quitting your job. But we're saying you may want to spend your last day of your life at work breaking down the distinction between you and me.

Because that's the holiest thing you can do if that's all the time you got left in your life. And your death meditation must go there at some point. Skydive?

Get that over with. Go to all those movies you haven't seen yet? Get that over with.

You know what I mean? Tell that person what you really think? Get that over with.

You know? Apologize to that person you really wanted to apologize to but were embarrassed. You know?

And get that over with because you won't be around tomorrow to be embarrassed. You know? And then go do darshan yam je.

You know? And the point I want to make is you may end up doing this at the same job you did the last ten years. And you may want to spend the last day of your life at that job practicing darshan yam je.

Okay? That's all. So we're talking something much more difficult than what we call divesting.

We're talking divesting of an attitude. That's much harder. Okay?

And much holier. You know? Can you in the last day of your life do the holiest thing possible which is to extend the self to include other people so they become you?

You know? Because it's arbitrary anyway. And all great holy beings have done that.

You have to go through that. You have to reach that ability. Okay?

Sooner or later you're going to have to do it. And you can see it in a small dharma group. For example, if it gets sweet if people are keeping their vows then even something like food becomes confusing.

You know? Whose pancakes are those? I don't know.

We've all been eating it. You know? And I mean, it's a sign that even eating becomes...

And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. A cup of tea becomes everyone's cup of tea and we forget whose it was.

You see? Because it's everybody's. And money becomes...

You know, we run everybody's credit cards out.

[Speaker 2]
And... I'm not kidding.

[Speaker 1]
And there's not much concern about whether it's mine or yours. You see what I mean? And...

And there's one fork and there's a plate of food and everybody's eating from it. Because you're... Ideally you're starting to break down that idea that even this is my food.

You see? This is whoever's food is hungry and needs to eat it right now. And what's amazing is the bread and the fish thing really happens that the karma of that sweet attitude is that you'll have enough for everybody.

It's very amazing. That's the miracle of the bread and the fish. The karma of wanting everyone to be fed is that somehow the bread is multiplying.

And it's weird. It's very profound. The cause for there being enough wealth in the world for everyone is the willingness of everyone to share all the wealth they have.

And then there would be enough for everyone. And they'd come back with more fish and bread than they started with and say, how'd that happen? You see what I mean?

And it can happen like that. So don't get scared when your credit cards get run out serving others, you know. There'll be some big benefactor just over the...

at the end of the month, no doubt. Okay. All right.

So we're going to meditate on that. You ready? Why don't you take actually...

Take like a five minute break, stretch. And then we'll do the last room. Okay.

Okay, we'll start. Got to get through the last few rooms, okay? And then it's important to practice this for the next three or four days so you don't forget.

People have done it before. They immediately went home and drew themselves a blueprint. Okay.

And that's very important. You know... Susan did a really great one last time.

Susan did one... Are you working on one? She did a really great one last time and it ended up looking like some tantric mandala thing.

And then it dawned on me that this is what mandalas are. You know. And...

[Speaker 2]
Huh?

[Speaker 1]
That's all. This is the meaning of a mandala. Okay, we'll start.

She drew it on a strip of paper like that and it was very cool because it was different shapes and very beautiful. And then you just use it wherever you go. You don't have to have any writing on it, you see?

And it's very cool. And that's what the early mandalas are. So start with breath.

Start with your breath. Deep breaths, but not forced. Then focus on the lama in your heart.

Gundu Noble Loop. The all-encompassing jewel. Meditation.

Then put yourself back in the turret room and the sunlight's coming down on you and you've lifted up the staff, the kadampa... kadang... kadang...

kadvanga. Okay. I got mixed.

And you're holding it up towards the light. You're looking up. And it represents...

you devote yourself only to your practice because you realize it's the only thing you can take with you. And if you die and take this way of thinking about self and others with you, you'll have very holy time. And you point to the blue door.

Your body's still, but your head moves to the right. You look towards the door and you point the staff at it. And you go to the door and you look at it and you reflect that this is going to represent the practice of exchanging myself and others.

I almost like to call it redefining myself and others. Then you go to the door and the first room... These are much larger rooms.

And in the middle of the first room is a big table and there's a person sitting there on the other side. And there's one of those checkered tablecloths. And it's all laid out for eating something.

And there's a stand next to the table on your side. And on top of the stand is a nice plate of food and a cup of something to drink. And then you approach the table and you sit down opposite them and they're looking at you.

And you pull your magnifying glass out of your pocket and you lean over the table and you look at them through the magnifying glass at their eyes. And then they're glancing over at the food in the cup and there's dessert there, of course. And then you realize that's what they want.

And then first you give them the plate of food. And that represents fulfilling other people's physical needs, what they want, physical desires, which are legal and moral. Then you hand them the glass which is fulfilling their emotional needs, anticipating and fulfilling what they need emotionally.

And then finally you fulfill their spiritual desires, which is dessert. And you hand them dessert. And this is like giving them sweet teachings on Dharma or getting them interested in a book or something basic.

It doesn't have to be a Dharma book. I mean, maybe they have to start with a movie that has an uplifting moral to it or something like that, or a song that has some good lyrics to it. It doesn't always have to be a blatant Dharma.

And these rooms are like large ovals and they're working around the... You're actually working around the courtyard but you're still inside the building. And then the next room you come to is another large oval room.

And it's very similar, a very similar person sitting across the table. Same things there. And this time you go around to their side of the table and ask them to sit on your side and you sit on their side.

Musical chairs. And then they reach for the food themselves and the drink themselves and the dessert themselves. And don't forget, this represents putting yourself in their mind.

The first one, in the first room, you're still maintaining the distinction of you and them and you are watching them from another side of the table. And you're seeing what they want and you're supplying it. Anticipating it and supplying it.

And then in the second room you're actually putting yourself inside of them mentally and trying to think like them, trying to understand what they like. But from a much more intimate viewpoint that you're actually inside of them. But you're still sort of maintaining the distinction between you and them.

It's you in their body. And this is, in practical terms, instead of just observing them and giving them what they seem to like, it's really trying to understand their lives, their background, their preferences, where they're coming from, and trying to think like them to try to figure out what it is they really need. And when it comes to the dessert it'll be much more profound because you'll be much able, better able to give them what they need spiritually.

Then enter the third large oval room. By this time you've worked around all the way opposite to the turret room. So you're...

Now you're in the exact western part of the building. You still haven't reached the courtyard. You're traveling around parallel to the edge of the courtyard inside the building.

And there's a little like cafe table, those little round ones. And there's two seats facing each other. And again there's a person on the other seat.

And there's this big nice cake in the middle. And the first thing you do in the room is you have this little ball of string in your pocket, it's a red string. And the first thing you do when you get in is you take the string and pull out some of the string and you walk around to the left of the table, like counterclockwise around the table.

And you're... You're laying the string out on the ground and making a circle that includes both chairs. So it's a big circle of string on the ground, on the floor, that encompasses the whole table and the chairs.

And then you come back and finish it and you stoop down and tie it. And that represents breaking down the distinction between you and other people. Now you and me is me.

Then the guy says, Why didn't you put the string between us on the table? And you said, Well, you know, it really is just arbitrary. Let's put it around both of us.

And it doesn't wreck the cake that way anyway. Okay? Then you sit down and you lean over the cake and you tap on their forehead and they tap on your forehead with their finger.

First finger of your... Make it third finger of your left hand. Okay?

And just tapping on their forehead like three times. This represents the meditation on the common enemy. Like it's...

It won't really help just to remove the mental afflictions from your own mind. We got to work on them, all of them, in everybody's mind. It doesn't matter where they're apart right now.

If you allow the people around you to have mental afflictions, if you encourage mental affliction in the people around you, sooner or later it will hurt everybody. So it represents helping each other against the common enemy. Then the last thing in that room is that you take one fork and you both hold it and you take a big piece of cake out with the fork and you both eat it off the fork at the same time.

And that represents that it's incomplete to just work for what you want and your own happiness. It's not really very satisfying to be happy when everybody around you is miserable and that we're working for a common goal, that everybody's equal in wanting to be happy and not wanting to be unhappy. So it represents that really everybody's the same.

Then you get up, you walk around the table and you go to the next door, just like a silver door, and you open it and there's a strange room, hexagonal, six-sided. In the middle is a big incense burner, like a big pot, and the smoke is coming out of it, this really beautiful, lovely smoke. And this represents bodhicitta.

And I think when Americans hear the word bodhicitta they think of some kind of ultimate love, or someone who really loves everybody or something like that. And it's really something much more specific, which is that I will try as hard as I can to become an angel, a tantric deity myself, so that I can really be of service to others. I can really help other people.

And I'll try to be the one happy person in the world, truly happy person in the world. I'll try to mold myself into a happy person, ultimately happy person, so that I can have the best influence on others and lead them to that. But the idea is you must do it yourself first.

And that's real bodhicitta. When you look at the incense and the smoke coming out of it that's permeating the room, the sweet smell, it's bodhicitta. And it's the idea that I will myself stop my own death and my own aging, and I'll stop all the unhappiness in my mind.

And then I'll be able to teach other people. Imagine the influence of a person who has done that. And bring your mind back to the lama in your heart and enjoy them for a while.

And then there's like some light, diffusing, liquid light, warm, beautiful, golden, spreading throughout your blood veins, throughout your body, and then bursting out of the pores of your skin like needles of light, great needles of light. And I'll dedicate the whole karma of this whole class that we've had. Very unusual karma for a good-sized group of people to get together and talk about death all day, for three days or something.

And then at the end to come out with some kind of feeling of love and breaking down the borders between myself and others. And to reach that state of mind by thinking about corpses and stuff, is some kind of huge big karma. Very unusual.

I don't think there's been another discussion like this in Raleigh today. And think about it and think about the good karma of it, the rarity of it. And then let that light go out and touch more people than before.

I'd say all the way up to the Mississippi because Petra and those guys promised they would work from the West Coast. And we would meet and drive the Golden Stake in Kansas City, I think it was. And we'd like enlighten everybody up to there and then enlighten everybody the other way.

Okay, and then relax. Last thing in your homework, by the way, is called The Glass of Water. And I don't think I can leave you without talking about The Glass of Water.

It's a two-minute talk, okay? It's a glass of liquid. Glass of liquid.

And it's in Majjhimika. It's a very holy section in Chandrakirti. And the idea is the three beings sitting around a table.

And on the table is a glass. And in the glass is a liquid. And one of the beings is a...

I always see a dark basement like a poker game going on. And like a lady with one of those barmaid costumes on and one of those things. And she's coming up and putting this glass of liquid on the table.

And I see like one of those green poker lights coming down and everybody has a visor on. And three beings. One is a human.

One is a preta, hungry ghost. And one is a worldly deity. And then they are...

they've gotten together from three different realms to have this poker game. Which is technically impossible, I guess. And they're sitting around a glass of liquid.

And there's only one glass. And the barmaid sets it in the middle of the table. And this is from Chandrakirti.

And the hungry ghost... I mean the human sees a glass of water. The hungry ghost sees a glass of possum blood.

Because that's their karma. You see? And the human...

I'm sorry. The deity sees it. A glass of nectar of immortality.

Okay? Like we call amrita, ambrosia. And there's only one glass of liquid but there are three different perceptions going on.

Who's right? All three. All three are having a pramana or antsema.

Okay? All three are having a valid perception. Can one thing be three different things at once?

Not to one person. You see? You have to say it that way.

This pillar can't be all blue and all red at the same time. That's a principle of Buddhist logic. You know what I mean?

It can't be. But from three different points of view, can it be three different colors at once? Yeah.

That proves that the color of it is not coming from its side. It's a perception or a projection from your mind. That's all.

And an example I give in New York in class is the cylinder. Okay? Notice I don't call it a pen.

And very briefly, if a dog walked in here and saw this, they would perceive it as a cylinder, something interesting to chew on. You see, their only idea about this cylinder would be, what are the odds that I could chew on that? Will this human let this go or not?

You see what I mean? They would only see something to chew on. And then if a human from Raleigh, Cary, in 1999 walked in and looked at it, they'd say, magic marker or X-Bone 2, low order dry erase marker.

They'd say marker. And so which one is it? It's both or neither.

You see what I mean? And you've got to think neither sometimes. Okay?

Neither means, from its own side, it's neither a marker or something to chew on. Because if it were emanating marker-ness from its own side, then the dog would step up and write a poem. You know?

So if marker-ness were a quality that was coming from its side, then the dog would recognize it as a marker. If chewable stick-ness was coming from its own side, then the human would start to salivate. You see what I mean?

So we conclude that there is no quality that it has in and of itself. That's its emptiness. That's all.

Forget everything else you heard about emptiness. It's all silly. It all doesn't help you.

Okay? That's all. It's very simple.

That's the emptiness of this what? Animal rights cylinder. Okay?

That's all. That's the emptiness of this cylinder. What's that got to do with anything?

This is another cylinder. Actually, six. Okay?

One, two, three, four, five, six. Another cylinder sitting here. Okay?

I happen to be in a human realm right now. So when I look at these cylinders, I see an arm. A wrinkly, freckly, getting skinny and bumpy arm.

Okay? And that's what I perceive. Okay?

If I had better karma, you know, if I had kept my vows perfectly, what would I be seeing? I'd be seeing this ineffable daddy's body. Seriously.

It's the same principle. Never forget it. Okay?

Just don't forget it. Don't forget the marker, okay? Or the cylinder.

The principle is exactly the same. This doesn't have any nature of its own any more than this does. If you accept what I said about the cylinder, you must accept what I say about this.

Okay? In debates, in the monastery, it's like a huge pleasure to get the guy to agree to the cylinder. Because then he's checkmated.

[Speaker 2]
You know what I mean?

[Speaker 1]
Like, you just like are just asking questions. I did it a year ago, October, in the monastery, 1,500 monks, you know. Hey, what is this thing?

Oh, prove it's a cylinder. And then I held up this. Hey, same thing or not.

You know, and you can't get out of it. You have to say, same thing. You see what I mean?

Same principle applies. I see it as an arm right now because of my karma. Okay?

If I had pure karma, I'd see it as a deity's body. And they don't have to die. Okay?

You can throw out your death meditation book. All right? All right?

Same principle. You can't deny it. You're stuck.

Checkmate. Okay? You have to agree it's the same thing.

Okay? You don't have to die. You know, the whole, the last meditation, okay, is get out to that courtyard.

There's a deity out there. Okay? There's a few tantric rooms you've got to go through.

Okay? Kirim and Dzogrim. Okay?

You can study them from the Lamrim tapes sometime. Okay? But you don't have to die.

Okay? You don't have to go through that. The first principle, you can, you can destroy that first room.

The gold door, you know, death is not certain. Okay? Because of the pen.

Sorry, cylinder. Okay? Same principle.

That's the principle behind tantric enlightenment. Okay? Emptiness and keeping your vows means that you don't have to die.

and I leave you with that. Okay? It's totally up to you.

I have all these people coming into this little room over there saying, last time you inspired me so much and I kept my book for three weeks, you know, and I kept, you know, I tracked my vows every two hours for three weeks. And then I, then I know what's coming next, you know, it's like, but I, but I, you know, stopped, you know. And you can't get there any other way.

Okay? Tantric initiations don't work if you don't keep those vows and if you don't check them every two hours. It just doesn't work.

Tunduk, checking your vows six times a day is a requirement for all tantric, anuttara tantric practice. You can't do it. And if you do check your vows, this will happen.

It really happens. It really does happen. And you can, you can change.

You don't have to die like that. Okay? And that's how tantra works.

Okay? Same principle. So don't forget the glass of water thing.

Oh, glass of liquor. It's so sneaky. All right, let's leave it.

That's the holiest thing I can tell you. Okay? Keep your vows.

Keep the book. Okay? If you don't know how to do it, learn from somebody.

If you don't know your vows, get a list of them, for God's sake. Okay? And do it.

And you won't be able to get away from that thing. Okay? It'll start changing.

You won't have a choice. Very cool. Okay?

All right? All right. So we'll do a little prayer, and finish there.

Okay? Can you start that Ming-Mei thing very softly? Ming-Mei Yeah.

Ming-Mei Yeah. Ming-Mei Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Ming-Mei Yeah. Ming-Mei Yeah. Ming-Mei Yeah.

Ming-Mei Yeah. Ming-Mei Yeah. Ming-Mei Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ming-Mei Ke-o-ku-ma-sang-he-chu Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok Chok