Базовый курс ACI 1: Основные учения буддизма (2019, Аризона), занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
We're going to start class 5 of ACI, it's good to see you, come from many places, I know you're working hard and ... okay, first question on homework 5, and this is a tough question, what is samsara? What is samsara?

Okay, by the way, you're trained at ACI, you're not going to say sam-sa-ra, okay? In the writing it's SAM, in the pronunciation it's sansara, like French ... you can speak French, just talk through your nose, okay?

Sansara, sansara, okay? Alright? Sansara, S-A-N, it's M is illegal in Sanskrit before S, it's ...

it's illegal in ... ahimsa is also wrong, it's ... it's not allowed in Sanskrit to put an M before an S, okay?

So, just do it right. It's one of my ... Masha, it's a pet peeve of mine, samsara, sounds like some guy from Chicago or something.

Okay, I like ... and it took me many years okay, it's 27 years since I wrote this course, and maybe last year I understood samsara. What is it in the kitchen?

Where is the samsara in the kitchen? Yeah, so the ... who has two husbands in the kitchen story, which I think is going to be, you know, Buddha has a heart sutra, I have two husbands in kitchen, okay?

I think mine's going to be almost as famous. So, the woman yelled at her kids last week, she came home tonight, her husband yelled at her before she said anything, and then the natural reaction is to yell back, and say I didn't say ... I didn't do anything, I'm not stupid, you're stupid, okay?

Then that actually plants a seed in her mind which will open next week in the kids room, the kids will be bad again, then she'll yell at the kids, she'll plant a new seed, one week later ... yeah, the husband will yell at her, because the seed opened in the kitchen, right? And it's a cycle, you see?

So, don't think samsara, seyam sar, is some painting of future life or past life, okay? In the Abhidharma, there's a SKAD GCIG MED RTEN DANG, SKAD GCIG MED RTEN DANG, samsara by the minute, samsara by the minute, you don't need to wait for three lifetimes to have a wheel of life, okay? You're doing it every few minutes okay?

You are creating cycles, in English we say downward cycle, and we also say in English, I don't know how it's in your language okay, but we call self-perpetuating cycle, the cycle tends to cause itself to keep turning, so probably in your own country you have some word like that, in Chinese you have? It's a circle which keeps itself going, like those old clocks where they just keep going, you know, the pendulum clock okay? Circle which repeats itself okay?

And it could be repeating two or three times in a day, in one day, that's samsara okay? So, you have little samsaras and you have big samsaras okay? So, I don't want to see a definition on your homework that oh, you die, you go to another place, you know, something like that okay?

Let's be more cool, let's get it right okay? You are spinning samsaras every few minutes, you are turning samsaras every few minutes, you are spinning starting cycles every few minutes okay? How do you break it?

Wait, in the kitchen, where does she break the cycle? Yeah, in the moment that she decides not to yell okay? LUNG BYUNG LUNG DOG, BRTAN BYIN BRAL BYUNG LUG TU DANG LUS MI BTON LA RTOGS PAR BYED That's my trail okay?

What's it mean? Yeah, good okay? The chain reaction like, you don't understand the husband, then you yell okay?

First two links okay? That's called forward LUNG BYUNG in Maitreya, it's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 okay? But, be careful when you say reverse it, because what does it mean?

Do you go 12 11 10 9 8? Yeah good, you stop one, and that stops two, and that stops three, and that stops four. So, when they say LUNG DOG, which means reverse it, don't think it's like reversing a car you know, it's not that you go 12 11 10 9 okay?

It's that you go kill one kills two, kill two kill three, kill three kill four, okay got it? You okay? I can see Jasmine thinking of some problem with it, ask me later, she's too smart.

Okay, good student, LUNG LDAN, high IQ, high Dharma IQ okay? So, that's to me sansara okay? Sansara.

By the way, it's the same root ZER, which means to flow okay? As NIS RANG NA, NIS RANG NA which means renunciation, flow out, or PRA SARITTA PADOR THAMS, you spread your legs and okay, different, same root okay? It means it tends to spread, like in that pose you spread your legs and you grab your feet if you can.

Good class today Word, thank you for class, I had a good, I mean I had a less terrible time. Okay, Andreas' classes, man, but I felt stronger after two of those classes, I don't know, but I wouldn't do it every day. Okay, no I don't want you to teach an easy class, like I'm not hinting, I want a tough class for you, but I want to complain about it, because it's fun to complain.

Okay, second question on homework five, what is renunciation, why is renunciation necessary to escape the cycle of life? And then the second question is, what's the relationship between the first principle path and the second principle path? Okay, and let's answer the first question first okay?

And it's always a metaphor, it's a certain metaphor which is used in Buddhism, which is? Yeah, jail. If you don't realize you're in jail, you don't want to break out.

If you don't realize you're in the prison, you won't want to get out. Okay, so there's a kind of duh, you're in prison man. Okay, if you don't know you're in prison, or you can't realize you're in prison, then you're not going to try to reach nirvana and Buddhahood okay?

If you don't recognize the pain of this whole world, constant pain every minute, of every living creature, from bugs to humans, you won't want to get out of it okay? So, a lot of people are just like, I don't know, there was a famous student of Milarepa, and his name is Gampopa, and he was a medical doctor, and that's the first book I ever studied by the way, with Geshe, with a Geshe, was Gampopa's text, and Gampopa was married, and he was a doctor, and his wife died, and then he was like extremely sad, but he said at least now I'm free to go you know, practice hard in a cave or something. This is Milarepa's thing right? So, her uncle came to visit him after she passed away, and he's like, I'm so sorry your wife died, and he says, sorry?

Are you kidding? It's wonderful, and then the uncle took some dirt and threw it in his face, and it's a famous story, and of course it's not a wonderful thing, but he's just saying, now I have a chance, he recognized the suffering of life, and I think it's kind of ... like kids who grow up with money, kids who grow up with a lot of money, in my experience, in my long experience, many times it ruins them.

They don't learn how to work, they don't know what it's like to work, they run out of money, and then they don't know how to work, and they have trouble. I've seen it many times, because I worked in the diamond business, many of the kids were rich, and when my friend's son was married in Mumbai, they rented the Mumbai soccer stadium, they invited 60,000 people, they threw diamonds out the window on the way to the stadium, but those kids are unhappy you see? Those kids never learn to work, and they have a weird life, and then when they run out of money, they have a very hard life.

Why am I talking about that? If you're lucky, somebody will die close to you, or your country will be bombed, and you see what life really is while you're still young, and then you have time to do something about it, start a refugee project, something like that okay? Understand?

You're lucky to have some problems in your life, because life is problems, and if you don't know it, you won't learn what to do okay? You won't have renunciation, so if you don't know you're in a jail, you don't want to get out okay? We teach DCI, we're teaching people five goals, financial freedom, good partner, good health, peaceful mind, help the world, but really the first three or four, you have to lose them you know?

It doesn't matter if you get money, it doesn't matter if you get a nice house, it doesn't matter if you marry somebody, you're going to lose everything okay? That's what we tell them in the ACI course, so ACI is more advanced than DCI, and the best teachers teach for ACI okay? No, ACI's scope is beyond this line, and DCI scope is not okay?

So, actually your scope is bigger okay? Alright, then I was studying lower middle way with my teacher, there's a famous topic called LAM THOB MTHUL, it's almost a surkul, guess it is a surkul, and it's about the five paths right? Give me a mantra.

GAT TE, GAT TE, PARA GAT TE, PARA SANGS GAT TE, BOR DI SOGS PA, five paths, yeah all these CSP people know everything okay? So yeah, then what's the first GAT TE? Yeah, big problem in your life, disaster in your life you know, for me as you know, half my family died in one year, and you wake up, in English we say wake up call, you're like oh wow, life is hard, there's something going on here okay?

Now, there's three tracks, there's actually 15 paths, five, five, and five okay? So that's a lower middle way okay? Because they say there's three degrees of emptiness, there's an easy emptiness, there's a medium emptiness, there's a difficult emptiness okay?

Difficult emptiness is for bodhisattvas, then the other two tracks are for lower way people okay? Who don't want to be bodhisattva okay? And they actually see different kinds of emptiness according to lower middle way, which is not true according to the higher middle way.

In the higher middle way, if you see emptiness directly, it's always the same emptiness that the Buddha is seeing right now okay? And you don't see it any better than a Buddha does, sorry, a Buddha doesn't see it any better than you do. A person who just saw emptiness for the first time directly, is seeing 100% what a Buddha sees, for those 20 minutes okay?

So, don't think it's different, it's the same, there's no degrees, you either see it or you don't see it okay? Why are we talking about that? The entry point for the highest five paths is not personal disaster, it's what?

Bodhichitta, it's the desire to become enlightened, to help the universe okay, got it? Lower tracks, five paths, you enter the first path when you have a personal disaster, like your wife does okay? Then you get interested in religion okay?

But the highest track, it's not personal disaster anymore, you only get into the highest five paths, the beginning is ... you want to become a Buddha to help everybody, bodhichitta, you get bodhichitta, wish for enlightenment okay? Therefore, it's not the same as ...

bodhichitta is not the same as ... yeah good, direct perception of emptiness okay? It's possible to be a bodhisattva before you see emptiness directly okay?

So, it's not true that all bodhisattvas saw emptiness directly okay? The ones who started on the first path, second path, they are bodhisattva but they didn't see emptiness directly. What's the second path in DCI?

Yeah, Geshe-la drives you crazy, teach you the pen again, it's actually second path okay, second path okay. Now I remember, I didn't have a dictionary for 25 years, I had my Lama, and so I would just ask him what's this mean you know, but to be honest he wasn't dying to answer questions, and I had to bribe him all the time, constant process, I collect my questions, if I ask him you know, some question he says shut up you know, and don't bother me you know, but then I make momo for him, which I'm gonna do for Geshe-la, and if you make momo for your Lama he answers all your questions, and what you do is you hold the plate, and you say I have a question, and he's like yeah yeah, what's the question? And I said you know Rinpoche, in the lower five paths, your first path you have to have a disaster, your mother has to die, but then in the third path it's so different, you just have to want to become a Buddha you see, it's so different you know, why is that? I said why?

He said ah, give me the momos, that's an easy question. Bodhichitta is a disaster for everybody, it's just the same disaster, but it's everybody's disaster, you see, you're not just thinking about your mother dying, you're thinking everybody's mother dying, that's all, he said it's the same thing, it's just personal disaster times a zillion you know, in this world personal disaster times seven billion, that's Buddha, it's the same thing got it? Everyone's mother gonna die okay?

So, if you think like that you entered the first path on the higher track, bodhisattva track got it? That's the relationship between the first principal path and the second principal path, and you have to put it on your homework okay? I'm bribing you, that's my momo for you okay?

Now, something about Lam Rim okay? The word Lam Rim, it can refer to all the steps of the path, from the day your mother dies up till the day you become a Buddha, all the steps, it's called the Lam Rim okay? Got it?

But, each step is also called Lam Rim, a Lam Rim okay? This is the Lam Rim, and it has a Lam Rim okay? So, steps, a step, a step, a step, a step, and then the whole thing together is called steps, but the Tibetan is the same, the Tibetan is the same, and it's confusing when you're a translator, which Lam Rim are you working on?

You say I'm working on three principal paths, no, which Lam Rim are you working on? Oh, I'm studying how to find a teacher okay? I'm like at the beginning, I'm studying how to find a teacher okay?

Got it? Why did I say that? Two famous Lam Rims, meaning two famous steps, relate to renunciation okay?

Stop desire for this life okay? Get you thinking about next life okay? They get you thinking bigger than this life.

Two of the Lam Rims, two of the steps are connected to ... say again, nice, no, you got one of them, say chiwa mitapa, chiwa mitapa, which is a confusing Tibetan word, and it means impermanence in the form of death okay? So, just ...

it's a difficult Tibetan, impermanence in the form of death, but before that, DE'ANG SBYOR GNYED KA, DE'ANG SBYOR DON CHE GNYED KA, I'm so lucky okay? Leisure and fortune, we call leisure and fortune. I got all the chance I need to become a Buddha, I got a human body, I got a good mind, I got teachers, I got good translations, I got friends who want to go there too, like ...

everything's set for me, I have everything I need okay? Good chance, call it good chance okay? So, good chance and death are two meditations, two steps of the Lam Rim that relate to ...

stop thinking about this life, start thinking about next life okay? In the Lam Rim teachings, you're not a Buddhist, you're not practicing Buddhism until you're thinking about your next life, that's very radical okay? It means DCI ...

none of it is Buddhism okay? Technically okay? Very interesting, you're not practicing Buddhism until your motivation touches on what's going to happen to you after you die okay?

In technically, technically, in Buddhism, until you start thinking about your next life, and taking care of that trip that you have to make okay? Like, if you know you have to come to Diamond Mountain, we have a rule in DCI, nobody follows it but you know, it's one of those rules, always pack 48 hours before you leave okay? They're laughing, always pack 48 hours before you leave, why?

Because you're so stressed out after that, you gotta you know, somebody's got to take care of the dog, you got to clean out the refrigerator, there's a thousand things you have to do, so, you know you have to go, the DCI schedule is published on the DCI website, people are always asking me, Geshe-la what's this DCI schedule? They won't give it to me, I asked Conor Reed, he said it's on the internet, it's on the website, look on the website, okay? We didn't put, Geshe-la we didn't put your personal holidays, like Veronica's birthday, we didn't put that on, okay?

So, there's a few days you can't see on the website, but the rest are there okay? Don't, don't whine to me. Okay, so, what was I talking about?

Yeah, so logically, if you're a Buddhist logician, which none of us are, you would pack two days before, because you know you have to go, and you know what you have to take, and you're not going to wear a suit at home anyway, okay? Never ever. That was one of my Lama's favorite expressions, never ever.

So, pack your suits, get them in the suitcase, do it, finish okay? Get it ready, you know, I get it all packed and I leave it open for my toothbrush, and you know, some clean underwear, because I have to do the laundry, because I didn't do it for three weeks, and okay, so the whole suitcase is ready. Why am I talking about that?

Yeah, get ready, just get ready now, take care of it now, okay? Take care of your next life now, okay? Then you don't have to worry, you get hit by a car, you're ready.

You don't get hit by a car, you're ready. So, take care of it now, okay? Do what you have to do to have a good death, and go to the right place.

What's the insurance policy for ... what's the insurance policy suitcase you should pack before you die? Understand the pen, clearly, you know, also with regard to yourself, okay?

Not just pens, you know, hold up the pen with your arms sometimes. She keeps giving me pens, you must be running out. You know, I tell ...

I started telling people in DCI audiences, if you understand the pen ... people complain to me, especially a certain city in South Asia, it starts with SING and ends with POR, okay? And okay, the guy was not from Singapore I have to say, he was from Europe, but he bitterly complained to me, why you keep repeating this pen?

You know we have to pay every time, we have to pay for the same thing every time? I said ... to him I said, you didn't understand it the first time, that's why I have to repeat it, but ...

or the first ten times, but nowadays I tell people the truth, which is, if you understand the pen well, your suitcase is packed, you don't have to worry about dying, you will come back to this crappy world, okay? But at least you won't go to the hell, okay? And you won't be an animal, impossible, not physically possible, okay?

If you understand GONG ZHING, emptiness, clearly, especially about your arm and the pen, these are the same, then it's impossible to take a lower birth, that burns ... if anger burns bad seeds, pen burns ... sorry, anger burns good seeds, pen burns bad seeds, okay?

Pen burns the seeds that take you to a lower birth, okay? Got it? So, that's a LAM RIM right?

I'm so lucky I have a chance now, but, PHYI BA MI RTAG PA, okay? And what's the ... what's a real death meditation?

What's ... I mean, before we get to it, what's death meditation? What's a simple way to do death meditation every day?

When you brush your teeth and you see this handsome guy in the mirror, I mean it's not true for everybody, but that's me and John Brady, you know, when you're brushing your teeth, just say, I'm gonna die today. I'm gonna die today, okay? Because one day it will be true, okay?

So, why not get ready? Pack your bag in the morning, I'm gonna die today, you know? Do I really want to waste time today?

Or do I have some cool plans today? Do I have some fun Dharma plans for today? Of course you have to go to work, of course you have to take care of your family, but while you're brushing your teeth, I'm gonna die today, I'm gonna pack my bag, I'm gonna get things ready, okay?

I'm gonna think about the pen today, or I'm gonna read ... reread ACI course number one, make sure I got it straight. Like that Geshe who had the logic book on his chest in the hospital on the day he died, okay?

Like, you should have your ACI teacher trainer manual on your lap, your phone should be on your chest, okay? So, that's a death meditation, that's a real death meditation. It's not like you sit down and your head falls apart and ...

you know, it sounds very sexy right? Very mysterious, very mystical you know, death meditation. Death meditation is toothbrush meditation, okay?

It's not more mystical than that. When you brush your teeth in the morning, say, I'm gonna die, and this stuff will come out and ... that's a good sign, okay?

Alright, I'm gonna die. So, those are the first two steps of the path that relate to not being attached to this life, okay? Pack your bag, do the toothbrush meditation, and recognize you have a great chance, you have a great chance.

And by the way, don't think ... don't start tomorrow, start today okay? Because you may lose the chance, like that lady who got cancer last week, she was totally healthy two weeks ago, she was normal, the whole family, she's totally normal, then she feel like a little bit sick, then they do a MRI, she's got tumors everywhere, she died a few days ago, you know, we don't know right?

It's kind of what? Word said it in yoga class, we don't know what's going on in our body, our own body, we don't know what's going on. So, get ready now, pack the bag now, you know you got to go, so do your pen, learn your pen, learn the pen well, get ready, get the backpack okay?

Then if you get hit by a truck, you're like, no problem, my bag ... your friends are all like ahhh, you're like eh, it's okay, my bag is packed. Get ready now, okay?

I told you that, no one's going to do it, but at least I told you, okay? And think about how lucky you are, things are not going to get easier for your Buddhist practice next week, or next month, or next year, forget it, okay? I'm telling you from 66, get your kicks on resist ...

I'm telling you from 66, you get busier every year, not less busy every year, okay? You have more commitments every year, okay? Not less commitments, kids have kids, kids have kids, you know, things pile up, okay?

Your life will be more complicated next year than this year, unless you die, okay? Got it? So, don't think you're going to have more time next year, start your practice tomorrow, do your practice tomorrow, cut the time out for your meditation tomorrow, okay?

You're lucky, you got everything, don't tell people, oh you know, my hair fell out in the middle, the girls don't look at me anymore, you know, don't whine about your life, you are so goddamn lucky, you know? The people in this room, you are one person in a hundred million, you really are, okay? Everybody has to die, everybody has to pack their bags.

In Arizona right now, you're the only 60 people who are hearing about how to pack your bag, trust me, I believe that, okay? Got it? Don't tell me, oh I'm five pounds overweight, or you know, I can't find the perfect shoes that I've been looking for, I'm not so ...

you are goddamn lucky, okay? You're here, alright? You are one in a hundred million, you must be pretty cool, or you're here by accident and ...

no, no such thing in Buddhism, alright? If you're here, you are an extremely special person, and you should teach, special people should teach, okay? So, those are two lamrims to prevent you from being too attached to this life, okay?

And that's what? Toothbrush meditation, and? God, right now everything's right, I'm healthy, you know, my mind is clear, I got a pretty decent family life, everything's ...

my country allows me to do things, I'm pretty ... everything's cool, let me get it done now, let me pack my bag now, okay? I'm really special, I'm really lucky, okay?

I'll tell you something cool about Tibetan medicine, so I translated for the two most famous Tibetan doctors for about five years, whenever they came to the US, I translated for them, and I learned a lot, and there's one doctor, Yeshe Danden, he said the most amazing thing, he said ... you have these, what do you call it? Doshas?

And what's the other one? Gunas? You have these energies in your body, for example, heat, bile, wind, and what is it?

Lungphlegm, you have this hot power in your body, you have cool power in your body, for example okay, so like, the body is breathing to keep the body cool okay, and it's competing with the circulation system, the lungs are competing with the heart, the lungs job in Tibetan medicine, Chinese medicine, is to keep your body from getting too hot, and the purpose of the heart is to keep the body from getting too cold, so actually, in your body is two forces that are fighting with each other from the moment you are born, and health is an accident. In Ayurveda, health is an accident okay, health is like, did you ever like, I don't know, throw a toothpick on the table and it stand up, and you're like oh my god, you know, or your coin, you drop a coin and it lands on the side, and it goes like this, it stays, that's health, that's to be healthy, it's unusual, it's abnormal.

Sickness is normal, human condition, health is abnormal. Health is a coin that landed on the side and stayed there, okay I'll let go of the toothpick okay, it didn't really happen. Coin can happen right, so health is an accident, and sooner or later one of the ...

if the cooling element gets stronger you get pneumonia, if the heating element gets stronger you have a heart attack, sooner or later one of them will get stronger okay, they will fight, they'll punch it out and one will get stronger, and you will die okay. Why am I talking about that? You have a chance right now in your life, you got everything, you got good teaching, good solid teaching, you got really senior teachers, spent 40 years meditating, did the three-year retreat, do their practice every day, understand emptiness, you got Diamond Mountain, you know, you got everything, come on okay, and it won't last okay, it's like a coin on the side okay, it's going to fall down okay, use it. I used to go borrow books from my teacher, he didn't like to loan books, he's like very cheap with his books you know, but I remember he gave me a book and he said, use it, don't lose it.

I think that's the last word he ever said to me, he passed away after that, and I kept the book, but he said use it, don't lose it okay, human body, ACI courses, Diamond Mountain okay, use it, don't lose it okay. Alright, say JIGS BSTAN GCOD DGE, very very very famous in Buddhism, what is that? Yeah, you can say eight worldly dharmas, GCOD means dharmas, but in this case it means attitude, perfect, eight different attitudes, so these are called eight worldly attitudes, they are famous in Buddhism, so you should know them, if you're an ACI teacher you should know the the eight worldly attitudes, there's eight worldly attitudes okay, and we're going to go through them now okay, and they come from Nagarjuna's Suharlekha, Letter to a Friend, you can find them in there okay, and we should study that sometime, we should go through it. There's a beautiful commentary by Tsongkapa's teacher, Rendawa, Sakya. Okay, here we go, number one okay, number one of what?

Eight worldly attitudes okay, NGES GUR BYUNG NA RGA, okay, happy you got something okay, someone gives you a red envelope and you're like wow, I got a red envelope you know, my teacher, I don't know what happened, a demon bought him a television, I really believe it was a demon, and actually some weird weird thing happened and I saw a demon in this person, and he bought him a television and he started watching baseball all the time, and like every day you know, and I wasn't really sure he was watching the TV, because his mantras were going, and sometimes you would ... he'd say turn the TV off, and you'd say, Rinpoche, they're about to say who killed the guy in the next two minutes, he said turn the TV off, so I was never sure he was watching it, I thought maybe it was for me, to make me feel comfortable with this foreigner you know, he watches American TV, he must be normal, you know what I mean?

So, anyway, so some guy would hit a home run you know, he'd make a good play, and he'd go like this, they'd close up on the baseball player's face and he's like ... and Rinpoche said worldly Dharma number one, right there, right there, he's always teaching me, he said oh that's number one, that's number one, that right there, okay, and it's always followed by ... yeah that at the end of the game he drops the ball, everyone hates him in the whole stadium, and he's like this, you know, and Rinpoche said perfect number one and two, every baseball player, perfect number one and number two, they do something good, they're like ...

all the fans are also number one and number two, oh you're so great, you're so great, you know, then he messed up, everyone's boo boo, they throw things at him, and they throw beer bottles and stuff, they stop serving beer and bottles at baseball games. So, that's one and two okay, something nice happens, you get something, like a new car, somebody gives you a new car and you're like ... okay, then next day you scratch it, somebody in the parking lot, that's in America, they scratch your car and they run away, and you come out of the grocery store and there's a big scratch in your car, then you're like this ...

okay, those are two non-Buddhist attitudes okay, don't get too happy if something goes right, and don't get too sad. Okay, from 66, not from 71, I don't know about the 71 guys, but from 66 I can tell you something, stuff's gonna mess up in your life sometimes, don't take it too seriously okay, your problems are not the biggest problems in this room, forget it, they're probably the smallest problems in this room okay, the person next to you, they have cancer, their mother died yesterday, come on, you have a scratch in your car okay, take it easy okay, from 66 I'm telling you, right Gyelse? Diamond Mountain director ... by the way, the Diamond Mountain director is going to be retiring to work harder in Sedona, and I'd like to give her a hand, and we're gonna have a small party for her, and there's a big fool called Sunim, who agreed to be the new director, we should give her a hand, so we're very lucky.

Anyway, don't get ... from 66 I'm telling you, look, sometimes bad stuff happens okay, sometimes ... we had bad stuff here, we had very serious bad stuff here, it happens in your life, stuff happens okay, don't freak out, don't give up your Buddhism, don't get all sad okay, this is the Eight Worldly Attitudes you know, stuff goes wrong okay, life doesn't go perfect, you have good seeds, you have bad seeds in your head already okay, so don't get all serious okay, have fun, go out and look at the scratch on your car and say, oh man that's such a scratch you know, and you have a choice right, you always have a choice, you can be sad, you can be ...

here number two, you can do number two, you can tell everybody for three days, actually nobody cares okay, that's the other thing, don't talk about your problems, nobody cares, oh my car got scratched, oh I'm so sad, I'm so sorry, but not really, I ... don't you have anything else to talk about? Did anything nice happen today okay?

By the way, your students as an ACI teacher, to tell you the truth, they're not interested in your problems okay, so don't waste their time and don't waste your time okay, funny thing happens to me when I go to teach in some countries, two, three thousand people will come, and a thousand will line up for a ... for a signature, and I feel like they really like me, and I'm famous, and I feel pretty good, three thousand people in the audience you know, and they're all waiting for two hours to get their book signed you know, and sometimes this very lovely lady will come up, and we always take a picture, they always sit next to me you know, and we take a picture you know, and I'm like wow, all the most beautiful women in Taiwan want to sit next to Geshe Michael you know, and they take the picture, and then I have a smile ready, and I go like this, and they're already walking away you know, I'm like ...

you know, they just want the picture okay, your students don't really care about your personal life okay, if Geshe Michael have a heart attack after the photo it's okay, so don't get all this thing about you know, you want to hear about my car got scratched, or you want to hear about this blue car my students gave me, as a teacher they don't want to hear about you, they're there for themselves, they want you to help them, you see what I mean? They're not coming there to tell you how cool you are, they're coming there because they got cancer okay, I translated for a Geshe Dundun, about a hundred people came to the tarp, it was a normal audience just like this you know, it was at Nancy Karen's house, Alice was in her arms, she's our accountant okay, she's probably 40 now, she has her own kid right? So, she was in Nancy's arms, this is how long ago I was translating, and the doctor finished the whole teaching you know, it was very beautiful, and then he announced ...

and it was a normal room like this, he said if anyone in this room has an extremely serious medical condition, come tomorrow to this address and I will treat you for free, you know, very famous doctor, the most famous doctor in Tibet probably, and so I thought okay, he said can you translate? I said well you know, I got to go to work but it's going to be early right? He said yeah, it'll be early, like seven o'clock.

I said okay, I can do like probably going to be five, six people, I can do it. Every person in the room showed up. I'd say 90% of these normal people had a serious medical condition and they're just barely standing up, you see what I mean?

But they look normal okay? So, you go on the subway, you go on the airplane, you see an airplane full of normal people, half of them are very sick okay? You just don't know.

So, don't ... as a teacher, don't bore them with your problems, they don't really care okay? And I don't mean they don't love you, they love you, but they have problems of their own, and they have serious problems, and the reason they came to you is to help them with their problems, not your problems okay?

So, don't waste your time. Go whine to your teacher about your problems okay? That's cool, that's okay, that's what your teacher is for.

And if they're a real teacher, when they make a commitment to you, it's not for one lifetime, you can whine for multiple lifetimes okay? Got it? And they will not give you up, that's the last great quality of a ...

of a teacher okay? So, once you have a real teacher, you have a whinable ... available whinable okay?

But don't bother your students, they don't care okay? Really, don't tell them all your problems and stuff like that okay? If you want to use your problems as an example, that's okay.

I have jealousy, it's my second worst klesha, what's that joke about? Yeah, Geshe-la will always tell you the second worst one, but he's so embarrassed about the first worst one he will never mention it, and that's the same with everybody in this room okay? The worst one you don't want to tell anybody because you're embarrassed, but my number one ...

my number two is jealousy okay? That you can say, that you can say in the class, that's honest right? I have a problem with jealousy okay?

Geshe-la, we're so happy in Singapore, what? This teacher came, he's trained in Buddhist monastery, he's a foreigner, he's very handsome also, I'm like, oh I'm so happy! Okay, so those are the first two ...

what, you saw me do that? Why are you laughing so hard? Okay, number three, now this is really hard, there's a joke in Tibetan okay?

Word, hundred bucks, NGA NA NAS KHYAD PA DE PO MA BYUNG, NGA NA NAS KHYAD PA DE PO MA BYUNG, and you got to get every word, NGA NA NAS KHYAD PA DE PO MA BYUNG, yeah good, cancel that shopping, no money, no money honey. Okay, ever since I got sick I haven't felt well. Ever since I got sick I haven't felt well.

It's a joke, ever since I got sick I didn't feel well. Does it make sense? What it means is, okay here's what the meaning is, especially as a teacher, as a teacher, some days you're teaching in pain okay?

Some days you're teaching in pain, yoga teacher also you know, and you just do it. That's my deep advice for ACI teacher okay? Some days your girlfriend just left you that afternoon, or your company went bankrupt, or the doctor told you you got a big cancer in your leg or something, and you don't feel well, you have a headache, you feel sick okay?

But here, totally happy okay? Big smile. They say, Laosha how do you feel?

You're like, I feel great. How's it going? Fantastic you know, and you're in great pain, like you have a very bad headache, or you didn't sleep last night.

A teacher has to get through that, a teacher has to work through that. I'll tell you something about famous people, like famous musicians or something. One of the things that makes them famous is they came to the concert okay?

That's one of the things, to be a really famous musician or a famous actor, you have to come to the movie set, or you have to come to the concert when you don't feel well okay? And you don't feel like it. You feel sad, or you feel sick, and you're you know ...

okay, who was there in Guadalajara? I gave a talk, and I said I have to finish ten minutes early. I think Hausa was there, I don't remember.

I ran to the door, and I threw up, not like blah, I threw up like blah, and I was totally sick. I held it the whole talk, and I'm very cheerful you know, and then I said good night, I have to finish a little early, and I kind of walked fast to the door, and then right on the other side of the door, okay it wasn't like dribble out, it was like projection, like future life karma. And okay, so number three, you know, if you feel healthy, if you feel like you just finished Andre's class, and you feel strong and happy that it's finished, and don't get too excited okay?

Don't worry, you will break something tomorrow, okay? You'll catch something tomorrow. Don't get too excited when you're feeling good, oh look I lost five pounds, trust me ten will come back.

This is another 66 thing right JB? Every time you lose five, ten comes back, I don't know what it is okay? Don't get too excited when you're feeling good okay?

It's gonna change. Accept it, use it, be happy, be grateful, but don't get too attached to it, because it will change, and that's number ... what are we on, four?

Number four is when you get sick, especially as a teacher, don't whine, don't tell people, again very few people care in the audience, they're there to listen to how you're going to help them, they're not there to hear about your medical condition okay? So, a good teacher, a good musician, a good movie actor, they learn to ... to do their thing under ...

in pain okay? When they don't feel so well okay? There's days when you won't want to do your yoga.

David Swenson, you know him? It's like, there's days when you feel like a bag of wet cement, but do your practice okay? Do your practice okay?

Ignore how you feel, got it? That's three and four, don't get too attached to how you feel, work through it okay? If you cancel things because you don't feel well, you'll have to cancel everything, eventually okay?

If you don't meditate because your legs hurt, what's going to happen ten years from now? You think it's going to magically get younger? It will, it could.

Okay anyway, alright, number five ... you get famous for something you know? They write about you in Tricycle magazine, there's a beautiful article about Geshe-la, you can find it in the old magazine, there's a long article, he's so amazing teacher, he did the ACI courses, he understands diamond cutting, that's that picture cutting diamond came from there.

And then you feel like wow, I'm really something you know? Boy did I give a talk yesterday in English about Abhidharma, three different source languages, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, and people clapped, boy, it must have been about 20 minutes, and so you get some little fame okay? Now trust me, next week something bad's going to happen, and everybody will be criticizing you on the internet, the whole world, it happens okay?

They say keep your head down if you don't want trouble, like don't ... don't put your head up. Dharma head up?

Like, don't become a teacher, because the minute you become a teacher, the demons will ... they're looking for who puts their head up, you know? Who wants to do something important in this world?

Then the demons pay attention to you right? If you just stay quiet and watch TV, demons never bother you okay? But the minute you try to do ACIP, or ACI, or DCI, or Diamond Mountain, something will happen okay?

And don't freak out about it okay? It's called fame or not fame. There's a word you know in English, famous right?

There's the mother ... the sister word which is infamous, different accent, famous, and then infamous, and it means opposite of famous, everyone criticizes you, everyone says you're a bad person okay? You're gonna get both if you're an ACI teacher okay?

Just plan on it okay? Remember the night that Geshe-la told you okay? Worldly attitude number five and six okay?

Geshe-la predicted one week after you get famous for your Abhidharma talk, somebody criticizes you on the internet, like B, some newspaper tells a bad story about you, and one million people read it okay? It happens like that okay? And I'm telling you from 66, I've had both okay?

I've had both, I've been ... the Congress of Mexico gave me a PhD you know, in the Congress, and then I've been criticized by the highest people in the world, and just let it go. What are you gonna do, quit teaching?

You're on, what are you gonna do? You're gonna quit because someone criticized you on the internet okay? So get ready now, before you become a teacher, get ready now.

Worldly attitude number five, worldly attitude number six, if everyone says you're a wonderful teacher, we love you, please teach us forever, if they take a vow in front of you, I will serve you forever, don't get too excited, just say okay thanks, I really appreciate it, and then next week they're gonna criticize you okay? And get used to it, your job as a teacher is not to be famous, and it's not to be praised okay? It's to serve people, and you can serve people who hate you okay?

If someone criticizes you, you can still serve them, and it's kind of cool. I had a lama who said, the best way to hurt someone who doesn't like you is to serve them, they hate it okay? Send them money, you know, stuff like that, it's the most irritating thing.

God, I criticized him for two years on the internet, and now he made a donation, you know, I hate this guy. So, if you really want to hurt your enemies, send them donations, support their projects okay? Got it?

As a DCI teacher, ACI teacher, you will have periods in your life when you get famous, and with you know, and then there'll be periods in your life when people criticize you, online for example, and just expect it, and don't get too ... keep your heart steady, keep your heart steady, I'm sick, oh oh I'm sick, oh I just took Andre's class, I feel like a million dollars, yeah calm down, you're gonna get sick later okay? Like, just keep your mind ...

don't get too excited, don't get too sad okay? Stuff's gonna happen okay? 66 right?

What are you can I ask? Hey, give me five, I mean give me six, this is Chinese for six. Yeah, all the smart people are 66, so just calm down okay?

Make your attitude equal, level okay? Don't get too excited, don't get too sad okay? About anything, I don't care what it is alright?

I have stood in the White House and the President of the United States has given me a medal, and I've been criticized by some of the highest spiritual people in the world, let it go okay? Just keep a ... serve people okay?

It doesn't matter if they like you or they don't, they will still take your money okay? Just serve people okay? Got it?

And it's ... that's the only way to have fun in this life, from 66 I'm telling you okay? Keep your mind level, don't get too excited, it starts hailing in the summer at Diamond Mountain, just calm down, tomorrow will be sunny, and you'll be complaining about how dry it is.

Okay, number seven and eight okay? And this is similar, five and six were you get famous or you get infamous on the internet okay? Like that.

Seven and eight is people praise you or people criticize you, it's a little bit different right? You get famous or people praise you, it's not quite the same okay? People say oh you're so smart you know, you know all this stuff, you're so smart okay?

Then next week they tell you how stupid you are okay? And just, if you're a Buddhist, keep your mind steady okay? Keep your mind steady, don't get all excited when they give you a PhD, and don't get all excited when they tell how much they hate you okay?

Why? Your job is to serve people, it doesn't matter what they think okay? Serve them secretly, that's really satisfying okay?

Serve your enemies secretly okay? I grew up in the Christian Church, and I grew up in a church called Episcopal, Church of England, and the prayer book, the 1921 prayer book, the old prayer book, many people said it was written by Shakespeare, it's unbelievably beautiful, it's unbelievably beautiful prayer books, I grew up with this prayer book you know, and in the church they said, a lot of people thought it was written by Shakespeare, but it was written by somebody else, Archbishop of Canterbury something, but ... and I looked him up because I was curious, because when I translated the Vajrayogini Sadhana, which is about a two-hour ritual, I wanted to make it beautiful like that, so I got interested in him.

I also sent the manuscript to Ursula Le Guin, and asked her to fix it, and she refused. I asked her to, I told her I will come to you, I will rent a house next to you, and I will only come over when you're convenient for you, and you help me make this into some beautiful science fiction thing, because she's the most famous science fiction writer, and she said no, and then I sent her a big raw diamond, and I said some diamonds need cutting, and she sent it back to me, then she died. Anyway, not because of that, I'm gonna mention that later.

Okay, why am I talking about that? Yeah, so there's an interesting story about the author of the prayer book, it became public knowledge that you should try to be his enemy, because he believes so much in Jesus's teaching that he tried to serve his enemies first. So, he will give money to his enemies, he will make them famous, he will buy them dinner, they said if you really want to be happy in London in, I don't know, 18 something, become this guy's enemy, because he will serve you, because you're his enemy.

Got it? So, people attack you, people say you're a lousy ACI teacher, the best thing to do is serve them, quietly, anonymously okay? If you serve them and they know about it, you're just trying to piss them off, come on, okay?

Like, serve them. People who criticize you at work, people who criticize your family, find ways to serve them, and you will never fall into these eight. You will never fall into these eight, okay?

Serve people, whether they like you or not, and that's your job as an ACI teacher, your job is service, it's not to get people to like you. And it's a hard ... mountain to climb over okay?

It takes time to learn this attitude, you know? I'm going to serve you whether you like me or not, and I'm going to serve you whether you praise me or not, and I'm going to serve you whether you pay for the class or I have to pay for the class. I paid for a lot of classes in my life, millions of dollars okay?

Just serve okay? If they don't help, it's okay, just serve them, that's your job okay? Got it?

And I'll tell you something, it's the most fun life there is, just serving people who hate you, it's the most fun thing in the world okay? And I ... do I look like a sad person?

It's just fun okay? So, get in the habit okay? Serve everybody okay?

And don't worry about these eight okay? Don't worry about these eight. You're going to go up and down, your bad seats, good seats, you have a whole mix in your bank account.

Don't get so worried about it, keep a steady mind okay? Got it? That completes class five.

Yay! I'm on schedule!