Базовый курс ACI 2: Буддийское Прибежище — собрание великих идей из Совершенства мудрости (2019, Мексика), занятие 3

[Speaker 2]
So, this is the ACI teacher training part. Everyone's welcome to listen to it.

[Speaker 1]
And everyone's welcome to become an ACI teacher. But you have to do all the work, okay? So, ACI has been going about...

I think it's 27 years or something. DCI is about 10 or 12 years old. And Diamond Mountain is about 20 years old.

ACIP is 32 years old. Okay, older than you guys. So anyway, then we've had many beautiful days, you know?

[Speaker 2]
And we had some hard times.

[Speaker 1]
We had ... anytime you do big things, you also get big problems. When you're my age, you will realize that.

So, you have a choice.

[Speaker 2]
You cannot do any big things.

[Speaker 1]
Or you can do big things and just work with the big problems, okay? And what I realized is we need a Vinaya. So, what is Vinaya?

Vinaya is a policy manual. And we didn't really have one for ACI. We don't have much for DCI.

[Speaker 2]
We don't have for Diamond Mountain. We don't have for ACIP.

[Speaker 1]
Why? I would rather translate. And it's ...

you know, I don't know, I'm addicted to coffee and translation.

[Speaker 2]
And Krispy Kreme.

[Speaker 1]
And so, you know, it's actually hard for me to spend time on the policy stuff. And I always avoid it. I don't know why.

But I think it's time, if we're going to have a lot of new ACI teachers, we should have some policies. Policies that are written down are much better than policies which are not written down. Because everyone can read it and follow it.

So, I wrote a policy for this week. Last training in Diamond Mountain, we did the birds and the bees policy, which you heard only one class about last night. And I was a little bit shy to talk about it, but it's actually kind of funny sometimes.

So, even more ... so that's kind of exciting, but now I'm going to do the boring policy.

[Speaker 2]
So, you heard it directly from me, that these policies are written by all the ACI Board of Directors.

[Speaker 1]
Especially Tim and Jigme, we should thank them.

[Speaker 2]
So, this week the theme is a financial policy, which is especially boring.

[Speaker 1]
So, here we go. But at least it will be clear. So, I have a document here, it's 12 pages.

I will give you three pages every evening. Here's the first three pages. Then I start out the policy, I talk about my teacher's policy.

[Speaker 2]
So, when I met my teacher, the first day, I went to his ... I took a class from him, and as I mentioned the Dalai Lama encouraged me to meet him, and I went to my teacher's room.

[Speaker 1]
I made him some momos. It's like a small hamburger.

[Speaker 2]
Tibetan national dish.

[Speaker 1]
But I made it with spinach because I'm vegetarian. And then ... so I went to meet him, and I thought I will impress him with my Tibetan language because I was learning Tibetan for a few months.

So, he said, sit down. I sat on the floor, he sat on his bed, you know? And he said, so what do you want?

What do you want? And I said, NA SANGS RGYAS GO It means, I want be, I want be Buddha. And he laughed, he said, okay, okay.

Then I said, I made momos for you, you know? And he took a bite and he goes, mm-hmm. And later he told me he threw them out immediately.

Then I said, I'd like to ask you to be my teacher. And I gave him my, wait. I gave him my bank book.

He's like, he's like, what's this?

[Speaker 2]
What's this?

[Speaker 1]
I said, this is a bank book.

[Speaker 2]
He said, what's a bank book? I said, this is all my money.

[Speaker 1]
He said, your money? He's like, threw it out, he hit me with it. He said, he said, what are you going to pay for Dharma?

You have enough money?

[Speaker 2]
He said, it's no price. He said, priceless. He said, don't insult Dharma.

Dharma has no price. Nobody has enough money to pay for Dharma.

[Speaker 1]
Then he taught me for 30 years. Many times during the day, because I was his, I was his slave. Voluntary slave, okay?

And my friends told me, oh, this guru is taking advantage of you. And I said, no, I'm taking advantage of the guru. And I did all his dishwashing, and clothes washing, and driving his car, and taking care of his garden, and thousand things, you know.

And he taught me many hours every day.

[Speaker 2]
And he never charged me anything, okay, for 30 years.

[Speaker 1]
Show the bank book, okay? So, and in the monastery, there's no charge. If you are accepted in the monastery, then the older teacher has to teach the younger monks, you know.

[Speaker 2]
And it's always for free.

[Speaker 1]
If you try to pay someone, I think it would be very strange. They would feel offended, I think. And it doesn't mean I didn't help him.

When I had my diamond company, I supported the monastery with most of the money. But nobody asked me for money. And so I, when I started ACI, I felt we shouldn't charge.

[Speaker 2]
It's an honor to teach the Dharma.

[Speaker 1]
And so I still think this is how we should do it. I don't think the teachers should be paid. And I don't think we should charge for ACI.

So, for example, all the ACI courses, the 18 foundation courses are online. And you can download them for free. You can do anything you want with them.

And we used to keep a number, how many downloads? Then we just stopped. It was many, many hundreds of thousands and thousands.

And so we don't charge for the materials. And it's many thousands of pages. And it took about 12 or 13 years of very hard work.

I remember one night, I'm translating the next class. And I yell at my assistant, tell them to turn the light off in the next room. It's bothering me.

They said, Geshe-la, it's not light, it's dawn. It's dawn came. You can't turn it off.

So, sometimes we work all night. But it's free.

[Speaker 2]
And it should be free.

[Speaker 1]
But, there are some things you can charge for. And there are some things you can ask for donation for, even for yourself.

[Speaker 2]
So, I'm going to tell you what's the policy.

[Speaker 1]
And we will put it online also. And this is what can you charge for, what can you not charge for, and what can you ask donation for. And you can ask for donation for your own personal expenses, it's okay.

[Speaker 2]
But we'll talk about it. How you ask is important, right?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here we go. So, I'm not going to finish the whole thing in one night. It'll take about three nights.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, four nights.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here's a list of some expenses it's okay to ask for. It's okay to require donation. Or payment.

It's okay to require payment. Like this retreat. You know, if we don't charge you for the hotel room, then we can't do the retreat.

Nobody has enough money to pay all the hotel room. Okay, so here we go. Number one.

Here's a list, okay? Number one. You're going to need a place to hold your class, okay?

And most teachers begin in their own home, because it's small.

[Speaker 2]
I started in my kitchen.

[Speaker 1]
Actually, my first class was in my bochito. My first class was in a bochito, a Volkswagen bug. And my student sat in the back and I sat in the front.

After the class, my neck hurt, because my teacher wouldn't let me bring the student in our house.

[Speaker 2]
So, I asked him, can I teach him in the car?

[Speaker 1]
He said, that's okay. And it was winter. And, so anyway, normally you're going to start out in your own home, normally.

Then, you know, two people will come, and one will quit after the first class.

[Speaker 2]
I'm just telling you, don't get discouraged, okay?

[Speaker 1]
I didn't have 3,000 people come to my first class.

[Speaker 2]
I had one in the bochito.

[Speaker 1]
And I locked the door also. So, you know, don't think you need a thousand students. You don't need.

[Speaker 2]
If it's two or three people, that's fine. And just start. And don't think about it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Just teach, for free.

[Speaker 1]
If you can do it in your house, then do it. Later, if it starts to grow, and you have to rent a place, and that's what happened in New York. I think Hector remembers.

It kept growing and growing and growing, and we had to rent new place every six months, I think. And finally, we were renting the Quaker church on 15th street?

[Speaker 2]
Big church, pretty big church.

[Speaker 1]
Then they kicked us out, because the president of the church met somebody who said, oh, you're in charge of that Buddhist church.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
He got upset. So, then it got too much, I couldn't afford to pay the expense.

[Speaker 2]
So, that's okay.

[Speaker 1]
There's two ways to raise the money. You can ask if anyone wants to help you sponsor.

[Speaker 2]
And I'll talk about that later. Or we allow, ACI policy allow, you can charge for the space.

[Speaker 1]
And three jewels, these guys, I think their expenses are, we don't want to talk about it. $435,000? $35,000 per month.

Okay, right? $35,000 US per month. Because it's Manhattan.

We were lucky to find this space. We tried very, very hard to find this space. So, there's no way that they can pay it themselves.

[Speaker 2]
So, they're allowed to charge the ACI students for the space.

[Speaker 1]
And they're allowed to tell the student if they don't share the expense of the space, they cannot come. Everyone should suffer equally. Yeah?

Yeah, the class is free. Or you don't charge for the space? Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
But I'm saying, if you have to charge, you're allowed to charge.

[Speaker 2]
Not for your teaching, but for the hotel. Okay, alright.

[Speaker 1]
The second part of that policy is that if you sign a contract or something with the hotel, or with some Quaker church, that's your problem.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? If you don't pay it, I'm not going to pay it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, understand? Okay. Because we were threatened actually.

I was threatened with a lawsuit. Some student spent, I think $40,000 and didn't pay. Couldn't pay.

And this happened, I think I've lost about $200,000 this week. And if ACI grows, I cannot afford it. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So, if you make a contract with some building to rent space as an ACI teacher, put it in your name, not ACI's name.

[Speaker 1]
And it's your risk.

[Speaker 2]
My suggestion, don't rent a space before you get the money.

[Speaker 1]
Then you will never have a problem. Don't let the Guadalajara people tell you, we'll pay you later Pachi. We'll pay you next week.

Then tell them, okay, next week we'll rent the place. So, my personal experience, especially with Dharma people, get the money first. Then rent the place.

And then there's no problem. And it's very, very serious bad karma if the Dharma students cheat you. So, you are not helping them.

Don't say I will take, you can pay me next month or something. If they can't pay this month, they won't also be able to pay next month. Then, just also I'd like to say about this policy.

Spiritual organizations attract spiritual seekers. 5% of spiritual seekers don't want to work. And it's not from spiritual, it's from lazy.

Okay? And if you pay for them, all the time, they will get a bad habit.

[Speaker 2]
In my, so now from 60, looking from 66, not 25, you are hurting them. Okay? You are not helping them.

Help them to learn to be responsible. Because if they get the habit of not paying their part, they will never pay their part.

[Speaker 1]
They will watch Netflix all day.

[Speaker 2]
You know?

[Speaker 1]
I'm afraid when these people come to my house because when they leave, the refrigerator is always empty. So, if the person is blind, or they only have one leg, that's okay. But if they have two of these and two of these, and one of these cabezas, then tell them you should get a ...

you should work. Okay? And everyone should pay their fair share.

And that's so cool. You know?

[Speaker 2]
Everybody contributes.

[Speaker 1]
If all of us pay equal, it will be very small amount for everybody. So, I don't encourage you to have ... We call in English freeloader, freeloader, couch sleeper, refrigerator tacker.

Yeah, I ... you know, from my experience, I'm teaching Dharma for almost 50 years. You're not helping them.

You're teaching them to have bad habits.

[Speaker 2]
So, really help them and tell them, you know, I worked three days a week when I started in the diamond business. And my teacher required me to work. So, I worked three days a week.

[Speaker 1]
Then the company said, if you work four days a week, we will double your salary. I'm like, will you pay it directly to the monastery? Which means I save all the taxes.

[Speaker 2]
Legally.

[Speaker 1]
And they said yes. And then, okay, I gave them four days. But I had also a time agreement.

I go home at five o'clock.

[Speaker 2]
Don't ask me for one minute later.

[Speaker 1]
Because you need your time for your Dharma practices. And if the company won't let you go home at five o'clock, then quit and find a company which will.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And take less ... I took half salary. Okay?

They said, we will double again to give us five days. I said, no. So, you have to set your limits.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
If you have a family, if you got married, if you had children, that's a commitment.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Then, if you have to work eight days a week, you should do it. Why?

The Dharma person who breaks their commitment to their wife or husband to do Dharma, will break their Dharma commitments after that.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? The person who gets a habit to break their commitments to their family, later they will break their commitments to their Dharma.

[Speaker 1]
So, this is another thing I learned from 66, okay? Okay, something happens when you're 60. You get air conditioning, and the wisdom increases like 100%, I don't know why.

Okay? And, I'll just tell you, keep your commitment.

[Speaker 2]
If you're married, if you have a family, it's not Dharma to give trouble to your family and the commitments you already made. So, keep those commitments.

[Speaker 1]
It's also not Dharma to make a commitment to your company, and then you disappear one or two days a week because you have spiritual commitment.

[Speaker 2]
You have to keep your old promises before you can make new promises. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And, if you need more time to do your Dharma, you have to negotiate your old commitments honorably.

[Speaker 2]
You have to talk to your company, you have to talk to your wife or husband, and they have to agree. In Buddhism, the money of a family is owned 50% by the wife and the husband, and financial decisions are made together. So, even if you're the main income person, Buddhist tradition, after you're married, is you make decisions 50-50, and it's a very negative karma.

[Speaker 1]
And, Alison can tell you, she's translating even the monk and nun vows. We are not allowed to accept money from husband or wife who didn't ask the other husband or wife, can they give the money? Because then you are helping to break them up really.

So, if somebody comes to you and say, I want to ... I was with my teacher one day.

[Speaker 2]
We were in Virginia.

[Speaker 1]
We were in a very nice house of a college professor, and he taught an amazing Diamond Way class.

[Speaker 2]
And she said, I want to give you my house.

[Speaker 1]
And he came to America with a cardboard suitcase.

[Speaker 2]
He couldn't afford a suitcase. It was a cardboard box, with a rope, you know?

[Speaker 1]
And now this lady is like, that class was amazing. I want to give you my $3,000,000 house. And I was behind her, and I'm like ...

And he's like, and he's like, I don't think so. And he's like, he's like, nah, it's okay, you keep it. And I'm like, you know, we can do so much with this money.

And then, in the car on the way home, it's very quiet for three hours, you know?

[Speaker 2]
I'm like, you know.

[Speaker 1]
Then finally I couldn't hold myself, you know? I'm like, we could do ... what we can do with the diamond with $3,000,000?

[Speaker 2]
You know what I mean? It's so crazy, you know?

[Speaker 1]
And he said, no, she will regret it ... later. She will have doubts later.

And he said, to have doubts about a donation is a special bad karma.

[Speaker 2]
if Geshe Michael gets back to Arizona next week, and see how many hundred dollar bills he gave away, and start to get upset, it's a special bad karma.

[Speaker 1]
So, don't let a sponsor give you too much.

[Speaker 2]
If you're not sure, then wait.

[Speaker 1]
Tell them to wait. You know, give it to me in six months. You know, and see what they say.

Okay, more along ... So, if you sign a contract for a building or something, don't put ACI's name. We certify as a teacher, that's the only thing we certify.

It's your ... it's your karma.

[Speaker 2]
It's your karma.

[Speaker 1]
And it's beautiful karma. And don't ... don't be ...

[Speaker 2]
don't be afraid. Okay? Do it.

But do it responsibly.

[Speaker 1]
Before you rent something, then get a lot of the money in advance from your students. If they won't give it, then don't rent it.

[Speaker 2]
And don't rent it and hope the money will come.

[Speaker 1]
Bad idea.

[Speaker 2]
Get the commitment, get the money, then rent it. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And if you get in trouble, Tim and me and Jigme were going to say, we never met you before.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, I'm telling you.

[Speaker 1]
So, so be ... you know, be responsible. And don't take risks.

Be ... be wise with money. In English they say, I don't know in Spanish, we say money is the root of all evil.

[Speaker 2]
What's the Sanskrit word for root?

[Speaker 1]
Mula. Mula. See?

Understand? Okay. The root of all evil?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Never mind. Okay. Here's some more allowed costs.

[Speaker 2]
You're allowed to charge. When I say allowed to charge, I mean allowed to say this is required charge, if you want to come to the class.

[Speaker 1]
And if you have money, or you have a nice house, and you can do it for free, God bless you, that's fine. Make sure your wife or husband doesn't mind people messing up the place twice a week and not helping to clean it up.

[Speaker 2]
I have this thing where I hate Seichus.

[Speaker 1]
Because I cleaned up after Seichus for 25 years. Seichu is a twice a month Diamond Way holiday. And I think Hector ...

Hector used to come, and all the students would come into our kitchen and eat many cakes and cookies, and drop a lot of them on the floor, and then they would just go home.

[Speaker 2]
And me and the other monk who take care of my teacher, we hate that holiday, because we have to work for three, four hours to clean the kitchen.

[Speaker 1]
So anyway, make sure your wife or husband, you don't ... make sure you don't inconvenience your wife or your husband. If the students leave your house a mess, then stop using the house.

[Speaker 2]
If your students make too much mess, stop using your house. My teacher taught Dharma, and he taught dishwashing.

[Speaker 1]
Understand? Okay, many Dharma students never learned dishwashing. A lady came to Diamond Mountain, I said, will you sweep the floor?

She said, yes. Then she ...

[Speaker 2]
she got the broom, like this.

[Speaker 1]
I said, how old are you?

[Speaker 2]
I said, 35.

[Speaker 1]
Did you ever use a broom before? No, my mom does all the sweeping.

[Speaker 2]
So, I think it's very cool to teach your students to use a broom, and wash dishes.

[Speaker 1]
It's actually you're being a better teacher. Okay, if they didn't grow up by 35, help them grow up by 36. And that's ...

you know, if you think about it, that's a big part of being a teacher.

[Speaker 2]
You want to help this person to be a good person.

[Speaker 1]
If they don't learn to clean up a room, it doesn't matter how much emptiness they understand. They will irritate everywhere. Okay?

So really, as a teacher, it's good to teach them both. And nowadays I don't like to teach people who refuse to work. Because really you are just stealing money from the other people who are working.

[Speaker 2]
It's the same.

[Speaker 1]
Alright, here's more of the list of allowed expenses you can charge the students.

[Speaker 2]
This kind of sound system, to rent it, or to have a sound system engineer, or projection, you can charge.

[Speaker 1]
And if the students say, I won't pay, then tell them to find another ACI teacher. If you have to rent chairs, tables, kitchens, and modest refreshments.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Not very expensive refreshments.

[Speaker 1]
If you can do it, it's a lot of fun to pay for it yourself. It's very elegant. To me, you look very sexy if you pay it yourself.

And personally I enjoy to pay it myself.

[Speaker 2]
But if it's hundreds of people in ACI financial policy, you are allowed to charge the students.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And I'll give you this document online.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, next one.

[Speaker 1]
And this is important. The transportation of the teacher to the teaching place. I spent thousands of dollars flying to different countries and cities, and for some reason the organizer thinks the airline gave me a free ticket.

And they don't even talk about it, you know, and I'm like, I'm like, oh, I have jet lag because I flew so far. They're like, oh, let me give you an aspirin, you know? And I'm like, yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Anyway, you understand.

[Speaker 1]
So, it's okay to tell the organizer directly, I will not come unless you pay the transportation. And the organizer is allowed to require the students to pay the fair share of the transportation.