Базовый курс ACI 3: Прикладная медитация (2019, Аризона), занятие 3

[Speaker 1]
This is class number three, ACI course number three, which is meditation, applied meditation. What's the applied mean? Yeah, something you can use in your real life, okay?

Not for hippies to stay in the jungle, okay? Okay. So, we had the six steps of preparation.

One of them, Sakyong, included seven different ingredients. And tonight, you get another six. Yay!

But don't confuse it with the other six, okay? These are not preparations for meditation. They are conditions that you need for good meditation.

And these are from Maitreya. And who got them from Maitreya? Asanga, after he met the dog, okay?

And he brought back the lion's dance, and he brought back the teaching on the conditions for meditation. Maitreya taught five famous books. This one is called Sutra Alankara, and we haven't studied it much, okay?

Sutra means the ancient teaching of the Buddha. Alankara means jewelry, okay? Jewelry.

I like this word. My teacher, Sanskrit teacher, he liked it. Alam means to get ready for a party.

Alam means ready for a party. Kara means you learned it to make. So, jewelry is called alankara.

The thing you need to get ready for the party is the name for jewelry, okay? In Sanskrit, alankara. It means get ready.

The stuff you have to put on to get ready for the party is called alankara. The teaching on the six conditions you need for good meditation comes from a book called The Jewel of the Sutras, meaning the most precious thing from the sutras is taught by the future Buddha, which is Maitreya. The book is called Sutra.

Say sutra. Sutra. Alankara.

Alankara. Sutra. Sutra.

Alankara. It just means, I will give you the cream of the sutras. I will give you the most delicious part from that.

I will give you the yo chow of the sutras. Okay? Alright.

And then later, Asanga used it in his famous series of books called the Books on the Levels, like the levels of bodhisattvas, the levels of listeners. It's a very complicated series of books that he wrote. Yogacara Alankara.

Yogacara Bumi. And then later, a teacher from India, a guru from India named Kamalashila, who wrote the great commentary to the Diamond Cutter, which I'm still working on, okay? I didn't stop.

It will come out soon. He also wrote three famous books called Bhavana Karma. Say Bhavana.

Bhavana. Karma. Bhavana.

Karma. Stages of meditation. And I taught them during the Kamalashila series, which was before the Nagarjuna series.

I taught them. They're not very long. Tim, you ready?

Now, my teacher's teacher, who is the teacher of the current Dalai Lama, which is Chidang Rinpoche, he was my teacher's root teacher. So, your great-grandfather is the teacher of this Dalai Lama, junior teacher, who was, I think, the greatest teacher of those times. His teacher was Pabongka, who wrote the famous Lamrim.

So, this is your lineage. You are Pabongka, Chidang, Ken Rinpoche, Gusu Muku, and then you, okay? So, you are in this lineage, okay?

You are in a very... You should be proud of your... Oh, I'm direct descendant of Kamalashila, you know, because you are, okay?

You really are. So, Chidang Rinpoche, I don't know if his picture is here. He had this carving made.

He had this carving. He ordered this carving made, and he designed it. And it includes all of the Bhavana Karma.

It includes all of Kamalashila's instructions for meditation. So, DCI, what course? DCI Level 3 and ACI Course 3 are based strongly on this chart.

And I never taught the whole thing to anybody. Maybe once. I translated the whole thing.

But it's amazing. So, if someday, if you really have time, we can go deeper. But tonight's class about the six conditions for meditation comes from Kamalashila, okay?

This is Chidang Rinpoche. Extraordinary teacher. Unbelievable teacher.

You can't imagine. You can't imagine. I lived next door to him for six months, and I never went to see him, because I didn't want to bother him.

Everybody went to see him, and I said, no, I'm going to be cool. I don't want to bother. He has people bothering him all the time.

Then when I told my teacher, he gave me a massage on the head. So, anyway, we can study that chart. It's a beautiful chart.

It's amazing, okay? And we can go deeper. A lot of the three-year retreatants here used it, right?

You guys used it very heavily, I think. For three years they used it. They used to have fights about what level they're on.

Meditation level fights. I'm on level 43. No, you're not.

You're on level 38. Okay, here we go. These are six conditions for meditation.

They are different from six preliminaries, and definitely not the same as the seven ingredients. Number one. I'm going to read the reading, okay?

Where is that? Yeah, okay. I gave you, I translated it from Tsongkapa's Lam Rim Chum Mu.

The reading is from the Lam Rim Chum Mu. I gave you the six. First condition.

The place should be a good place for meditation. The place should be a good place for meditation. We call it tung khyen.

Say tung khyen. Tung khyen means it's a good meditation place. Diamond Mountain is one of the best in the world.

I think so. So on a small level, in your apartment, make a special space that you don't use for other things. And most of us, we can't afford to build another room or something, so use part of the living room or something, but make it a sacred space.

Don't use it for other things. And those, this first one, are you ready? If you want to go deeper, it has five parts.

Now, don't get confused, okay? We're talking about six conditions for good meditation. And the first one, which is it should be a good place for meditation, it has five parts.

And you don't have to teach this when you teach it. I didn't put it on the homework, okay? Now everybody stop writing.

Maybe it's on the homework. Maybe not. So let's go through it.

You should have a source of food and clothing. Okay, you got to have a job. I'm sorry.

You should have TSO BA YANG BDAG PA TSO BA YANG BDAG PA is a Buddhist practice called get a job. It's a very famous practice. There are five parts of that, but I'm not going to teach you that.

But you should have an honest income. It's not a good thing to say I'm a meditator and Brian should pay for it. Brian should go work and Geshe Michael should stay at Diamond Mountain and meditate.

This is not the way it should be, okay? You should go out, work. I had friends, they told me, Geshe-la, I just want to go to Diamond Mountain and meditate.

I can't get a job. Then I got a list of how many people in Arizona have a job. It's five million or something.

I said, look, five million people around you found a job. You're a Buddhist, you're a smart person, okay? If five million stupid people can find a job, then you can find a job.

Don't tell me. You're a Buddhist, you know. You got all these four steps though.

You know, okay. Alright, so anyway. Now, some of these instructions are relating to retreat.

This instruction especially means don't try to do retreat in a strange place, okay? Do retreat in a place where people are bringing you food. So, my retreat, I had one thousand days of retreat.

I had three thousand meals that Jigme made for me and other kind people, okay? We have a long history of she's giving me food. Okay, so, but we fundraised for it before we started.

We retreat mostly. So, three thousand meals. You got to have support, okay?

It means you have to have support, okay? If you're going to do serious meditation, you should have a job. It shouldn't be an 80 hour a week job because then you don't have time to meditate, okay?

So, you have to balance, okay? You have to balance, okay? Maybe you won't make as much money as you could have made if you didn't meditate.

Or maybe you will make even more money if you meditate. Got it? So anyway, the first thing about the place, especially for a retreat, you need a place like Diamond Mountain, okay?

Where it's built for retreat. It's built for meditation. It exists for meditation.

And I really, really, really, really, really, really, really feel Don't wait for Geshe Michael to teach Nagarjuna. Come to Diamond Mountain. This is your place.

You all donated to this place. It's your place also. It's not owned by me.

I'm also just visiting, okay? Bring five people, bring ten people. Really, you're crazy if you don't do it.

Have a party. Have a meditation party from your country. This is your place, okay?

Just ask SON NAMS or GAL TSE, okay? Just ask them. We want to bring ten people from Shanghai.

Okay, cool, do it. This place is for you. This is your place, okay?

This is not owned by anybody. It's your place, okay? So, you're crazy if you don't bring ten people.

Vietnam, get five in Hanoi, five in Ho Chi Minh. Maybe some Da Nang people, twelve people. Then come, do a retreat.

Tie up Mr. Bin, put him on the airplane. It's your place, okay? It's your place.

You're crazy, Singapore people. Get organized. Don't wait for Jenny Wong, she's too busy.

Ask SON NAMS, talk to SON NAMS. Say, we want to do a retreat. Can we have ten days? Can we have the place for ten days?

And we have room. We have room for that. We have time, okay?

Just ask. I think you're crazy if you don't come here on your own. You don't have to wait for me.

You can do more meditation when I'm not teaching. No, I mean, when I'm here, learn the stuff and then come on your own and come for ten days and take a vacation, take a Dharma vacation, okay? Just do it, okay?

This is your place, okay? We have the time. We are not booked up.

And it breaks my heart, the place is empty. Everyone needs retreat. Just talk to SON NAMS. You don't need Tim to organize Nagarjuna retreat. Just make a plan. Talk to your friends. Let's go, okay?

Let's go. You can go back to China or Vietnam. I own a place in Arizona.

It's the largest retreat center in America. This is 1,000 acres, okay? 1,000 acres, okay?

This is like miles and miles. We own all these mountains, okay? I have a private place, retreat place in Arizona.

I can get you in, you know? It's the largest in the United States. I think it's the largest in the United States.

It's possibly largest in the world, okay? We own all those mountains, okay? And just come, you know?

You can brag about it. And the food, oh my God. Their Mabo tofu is better than Chengdu.

Okay. Small life is okay. Okay.

To bring people on retreat. Okay. No, the food's improving.

Okay. So first thing, have stuff ready. Clothes, food, okay?

Things like that. You need a job. You need some support.

Second one. By the way, I'll take a break in about five minutes, okay? I can feel some pee-pee.

I have pee-pee clairvoyance. Pee-pee, P-P-E-S-P. Okay.

Alright, number two. It should not be a dangerous place, okay? And this is especially 2,000 years ago.

People would go out in the forest to do meditation. They would get robbed. A lion would eat them.

Okay. So the place should be safe. Okay.

The place should be safe. And I have tried to do retreat in places that were not really safe. It was not in, you know, there were like weird people around or wild animals.

So, the place should be safe. Okay. Comfortable and safe.

Okay. I told you this story many times. I tried to do a retreat in a cave.

That cave is not far from Sedona. It's a secret cave. There's a whole 20 secret caves and they're in a secret canyon.

Nobody knows. But it only takes about an hour to get there. And I thought, oh, I'm going to be a real Milarepa, you know.

I will go to the secret cave, you know. And I found out secret caves have, things are living there already. Because the rain doesn't fall on you and the sun doesn't come.

So in my cave, there was a green rattlesnake. This is a special rattlesnake. We don't have it here.

But if they bite you, you die. 100% you die. So he was living there.

And then there was a wolf. He was living there in the other corner. But the worst thing was about 2,000 spiders.

And when I meditate, they go, and I'm like, these are not poisonous. They don't bite you. They have these long legs.

And so they're like, I'm like. So I suggest, number two, right? Of the five?

Of the six? Adore. Adore.

Keep out the snake and the wolf and the spiders. Don't be so romantic about Himalaya cave. It doesn't work.

Really, honestly, it doesn't work. There are other people living there. All right.

Number three. Generally, the room you meditate in, especially in retreat, shouldn't have like fungus, or swamps, or things that make you sick. Things that make you sick.

Like it shouldn't be wet. The room is wet all the time, or too hot, or you know. Don't be a hero when you pick a meditation spot.

Pick a nice one with a good temperature, and not too hot, not too cold, okay? The goal is to meditate. The goal is not to be a tough guy, okay?

No, you have to choose what you want. If you want to be a tough guy, go in the cave. I can show you where it is.

You have to carry all your food. It takes about, I don't know, five hours. You have to carry all your food.

You have choice. Have a good meditation, or be a tough guy. Nowadays, I find a nice house in the country, owned by a rich person, who is too busy to go there.

Then I rent it from them. It's super comfortable, and I enjoy my, and there's all the forest. So, many rich people build second houses and never go there, because they're too busy.

There's many, many. Sedona has, how many, JB? A couple of hundred houses like that.

Sedona has about 200 houses like that. The people don't live there. So, good place.

It's not going to get you sick. Not too wet. I did a retreat in Ireland.

Forget that. It rains all the time, and the place was cold and wet all the time, and we all got sick. So, don't do that.

Alright, third one. Fourth one. It's very good if you can meditate, if you have friends who meditate.

Meditation friends. It's like having yoga friends. I can do yoga every day from my video.

I have two favorite videos, Bob Harper and Maris Alward. I can do it every day in my house. I'm okay.

I can do yoga from the video, and I do, but it's more fun with my friends. Teresa kicks your butt. It's more fun with your friends.

So, find meditation friends, especially if you do a retreat. So, get five, ten people, and say, I have a place. It's the biggest one in the world.

It's my private meditation place. Let's go. Let's go next spring.

Make a plan. Okay, talk to, talk to Sunim. Okay, and it's cheap.

This is the cheapest place in the world, I think. Okay, high quality. Alright, so have friends.

Have good friends. The definition of a good friend in the ancient meditation books is two things. Number one, they keep the ten good deeds.

That's a good friend. That's a Dharma friend. They keep the ten good deeds.

Number one. Number two, they believe in emptiness. Okay, maybe they didn't see it yet, but they believe in it.

So, better if you can find meditation friends like that. They are not hurting other people. They are keeping their morality.

And they also are hungry for nirgajuna. Okay, alright. Okay.

Number five, and then we'll take a break. Okay, right? During the day, there should not...

Well, two things. During the day and the night, there should be a place where there's not many other people. Where there's not many other people.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
The ancient, ancient books say a good meditation place, especially retreat. No, especially retreat place should be about a mile and a half away from anything. Okay, and we took a lot of trouble.

We looked for a whole year to find this place. We looked for many, many places, and this one is totally inconvenient. Nobody wants to come around here.

The town looks like a nuclear bomb hit it. We've tried to find a place where nobody's there. And in the world, this is one of the quietest places in the world.

It really is one of the quietest places in the world. So, there should not be many people, and it should be quiet. No highways near there.

Difficult to get there. No city nearby. Like that.

And we chose this place because it's nowhere. Nowhere. It took a long time to find nowhere.

Now you have been to nowhere. And come on your own. Okay, come on your own.

Don't wait for us to have a retreat, okay? Just come on your own. Have fun.

Doing retreat is really fun. The three retreatants can tell you. It's not easy, but you will never...

When you look back at your long retreats, you will say, that's the best thing I ever did in my life. That I really did something. Cool, right Vimala?

When you look back at those three years, and you say, that's the best thing I ever did. I think so. It wasn't easy, but it's the best thing you ever did, right?

Okay? Alright, now the best thing you can do is have a good pee-pee. And we'll start in ten minutes.

Alright, let's go back to this homework. Shuma, shuma, shuma, shuma, shuma, shuma, shuma, shuma. Okay, we only finished the first one.

Right? Five parts. Let's go to the second one.

This typical Geshe Michael class. Say du chung. Chok she.

Du chung. Chok she. Very, very famous from the mother book of Buddhism, which is called by Stanley Bandhu.

Abhidharmakosha. Abhidharma. Very famous.

Meditation instruction. Du chung. Chok she.

Du chung. Chok she. And it means like this.

Be happy with the things you own. Be happy with the things you own. I should show you my shoes.

You want to get my shoes? You know which ones they are? Jigme knows.

Chundam knows. I'll show you. I'll give a living example.

Okay, these are beautiful shoes. Very old. Okay?

They have a nice hole here. Sorry. So you have to be careful when you go for a walk at Diamond Mountain.

But they're so comfortable. And you know, Veronica bought me two, three pairs of new shoes. Then when she's here, I wear the new ones.

She's coming this week, Thursday, okay? But when I'm alone, I wear the old ones. Why?

They're so soft. And we are old friends. They know me.

Pants also. Today I did an operation on my pants. Here.

Because there's a big hole. So I had to cut it off. So these are old friends of mine.

This is new shirt from Shenzhen, I'm sorry. But these are old friends of mine. CHOG ZHES Abhidharma means make friends with your old things.

And be happy. Be satisfied. CHOG ZHES means be satisfied with what you have.

Okay? I'm happy about my shoe. It's comfortable.

It's soft. It's good for hiking Diamond Mountain. Very strange.

I can even wear it in a business suit if I, you know, poo. So, you know, be comfortable. Be friends with your old things.

Okay? And think, that's enough. I'm happy.

DO CHUNG means don't go looking for new friends. Okay? Don't change your shoes every week.

Okay? Then you can't get to know them. You see?

They can't become old friends if you keep buying new ones. Okay? So, this is very powerful advice for meditators.

Second and third rules, conditions of meditation. Make friends with your old stuff. Your old pants, old shirt, old shoes, old house, old husband, I don't know.

Make friends with your stuff. And don't go spending all your time in the mall looking for new things. Be picky.

Be careful what you buy. And buy something you really like. And then keep it for a long time.

And don't be worrying about new things. Okay? Don't be worrying about new things.

You will always have extra money. Okay? You will not get into debt.

Okay? It's more fun. Life is more fun when you have extra money than if you have debt.

Okay? Then you can give money to the students who give a good answer. And you have enough money.

If I have a lot of possessions, if I have an extra house, if I have an extra car, if I buy new shoes, then I won't have money to give to the students. You see? So, have extra money.

It means be happy with what you have. Be friends with your old stuff. Old sweaters are really good.

Okay? They're more soft. So, be careful what you buy.

Be picky what you buy. And then buy something that you can keep for a long time. And then be satisfied.

Okay? And you will be a better meditator. You will be a better meditator.

Much better meditator. Okay? And you will also have extra money, and then you can give your students money.

The students like it. Okay? Alright?

So, have extra money. Don't spend all the money you have. Okay?

Buy a few nice things and keep them for a long time. Become old friends. I don't know how old they are.

They're really old. This hole I have to put some glue. And you'll be happier, and you'll be a better meditator.

Okay? Don't go trying to buy new things all the time. It will disturb your meditation.

Okay? Have a few old things in your house. They don't have to be ugly, okay?

I didn't say you have to be ugly. They should be cool, and elegant, and beautiful. Okay?

I love your dress. I told her three times today. I really like it.

And she said, Geshe-la, it wasn't expensive. I said, but tell everybody it was from Paris or something. Okay?

Buy a few things that are beautiful, and elegant, and soft, and comfortable, and make friends with them. And don't be a bad friend and say, I don't like you anymore. I'm going to have a new friend.

Get to know your possessions. And don't change them all the time. Okay?

And your meditation will be better. I didn't say don't be beautiful. You should be beautiful.

I didn't say you should wear ugly clothes. Don't wear ugly clothes. Wear soft, old, beautiful clothes.

Okay? And sometimes buy something new and get to know it. Okay?

But don't be these people who... There's a lady I know, she had to hire a guy to carry the bags from the mall every day. And she bought a big house.

She goes home, she throws them in the closet. She doesn't even open, doesn't take them out of the bag. She has a shopping addiction.

Okay? Don't be like that. Then you can't meditate.

Your meditation will be lousy. Should you be beautiful? Yes.

Should you be handsome? If you can. Can you have nice clothes?

For sure. Just don't keep dumping the old ones and looking for new ones. Okay?

You don't have time. Your meditation won't be good. Okay?

So now we got three things. You need a good place to meditate. You should be satisfied with your old friends, possessions.

And don't go dumping your old friends for new friends. Change friend every week. That's not a very good friend.

Okay? Those are the first three. Okay?

Two and three are from where? Abhidharma. Where's number one from?

Maitreya. Maitreya. Sutra Alankara.

Mahayana Sutra Alankara. Okay. Now, number four, right?

Condition number four. Don't be too busy. Don't be too busy.

Okay? There's two kinds of busy. There's two kinds of busy.

John and Connie are busy. Okay? They have this beautiful house in Sedona which is a lonely house because they are never home.

Okay? They are traveling to Singapore. They are traveling to Mongolia.

They travel to Taiwan. They are always traveling. They are always teaching.

Okay? They are busy. So are they breaking this number four?

No. They are busy with good things. That's not busy.

Okay? Busy is Netflix. Busy is texting people about the YouTube videos of cats.

Do not send me YouTube video, cat video, what do you call it? Links. Stop sending me YouTube cat video links.

Okay? That's busy. Okay?

That's busy. That's waste of time. Okay?

Busy means stupid things. Okay? Busy means stupid things.

Are you busy if you are working at Diamond Mountain and you never sleep? No. You are not busy.

You are not busy. You are creating the cause for beautiful meditation. Okay?

Your meditation will be good. Shat karma. Say shat karma.

Shat. You know karma. Karma means to do.

Shat means a hundred. And it means a real meditator can do a hundred things at once. Multitasking.

A real meditator can multitask a hundred things at once. And they can do a good job. And they can still be happy and peaceful mind.

Okay? So, it doesn't mean you have to quit your hospital Mr. Mu. It's too big.

He has the biggest, one of the biggest hospitals in China. He's busy. Okay?

But he's good busy. Okay? He's not wasting his time.

But, okay? But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, pigo, pigo, pigo, pigo. No, just kidding.

Sagan got it. But, never break your practice. Never break your practice.

Okay? No busy is worth your practice. Okay?

Do your yoga every day. You can take a day off every week, you can take two days off every week. That might even be better for your health, okay?

And you can take a day off from meditation, or two days off, it's okay. But five days a week? Practice.

Okay? Taking a day off is a very healthy thing. That's a very good thing.

That was a good idea. I don't know who invented it, but it was a good idea. Okay?

One or two days off a week, that's fine. But there's no Dharma project, there's no good thing you can do, spiritual thing you can do, that you should break your meditation practice and your yoga practice. There is nothing.

And your study. Okay? There's nothing which is that important.

Okay? Nothing. Okay?

Mahatma Gandhi, who without violence freed one of the largest countries in the world, from the British, right? He's supposed to meet the King of England. This is the most powerful person in the world at that time.

It's like meeting Xi Jinping or something. Okay? So he has his own appointment in the afternoon to meet the King of England.

And then his assistant said, you know, we got to make sure your clothes are right, you know. And he said, no, I'm doing my meditation. And the guy said, look, I know you're a spiritual guy, it's okay.

But you are meeting the King of England today. You don't have time to meditate. And then Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi said, how much do I meditate usually?

One hour. Okay, today, two hours. Then the assistant is like, what?

We don't have time. He says, I want the meeting to go well. This is a very important meeting for a hundred million people, you know.

I have to be ready. I'm going to double my meditation today. And he did.

And he freed his country. Okay? So, when I say busy, it can be a good thing.

Helping other people, busy. But if you break your meditation practice, or you break your six times book practice, or you break your yoga practice, or some other physical exercise, okay? I don't care.

Qigong, what's the other one? Tai Chi, football, I don't care. Then you broke, then you can't do that.

Okay? You will have a bad life. You will get sick, you will die.

Okay? Then it doesn't matter if you're busy, because your body is gone. Okay?

You need a body, and you need a healthy mind. Okay? Don't break your practice for anybody, or anything.

Okay? Don't break it.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Don't break it for anybody. Okay? People say, yeah, blah, blah, blah.

I say, yeah, I'm sorry, I practice. I'm doing my practice. I'll see you at 11.

I'll see you at 10. Okay? The morning is mine.

People try to get me to make phone calls to Shenzhen and stuff in the morning. I'm like, the morning is mine. Okay?

I own the morning. Okay? I don't do other things.

Okay? Alright. But don't be busy with stupid things.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
What waste of your time is talking too much to other people, and movies, and things like that. Once a week, once a month, go to a movie, relax. I saw Ad Astram with Veronica.

It's a great movie. Okay? Good for relaxing.

Okay? But not every day. Okay?

Not every day.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
You will waste your time. Okay, how many we got? Four?

Yeah, number five. Keep your ten good deeds. Keep your ten good deeds.

No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, no slander, no harsh words, no idle gossip, no craving, no ill will, no wrong view. Keep your ten good deeds. Keep your book.

Okay? Keep your book. What did Tsongkhapa say about meditation?

Yeah, the karma to meditate is to keep the ten good deeds. That's all. If you ask Tsongkhapa, what do I need to meditate?

What kind of cushion should I have? Shut up. Should I put my right foot up first and my left foot up first?

Shut up. Is it okay if I am straight this way or this way? Shut up.

Should I meditate in the morning or evening? Shut up. What do you want me to do?

Be nice to other people. Then you can meditate. That's the only cause of meditation.

Okay? You don't need a diamond meditation ring. It doesn't help.

It doesn't matter what cushion you have. It doesn't matter how you sit. Nothing matters.

The best meditator in my monastery, he meditates lying down. Okay? If you have the karma, you can do it.

Okay? What's the karma? Be nice to other people.

That's the ten good deeds. Okay? What's the ten good deeds?

Be nice to other people. Don't hurt other people. That's all.

And that's the cause of good meditation. That's the real cause of good meditation. DCI level three, we teach them 29 different things, and at the end we tell them, it doesn't matter.

Okay? Just be nice to other people, and your meditation will be sweet. Okay?

And you can build a big meditation retreat cabin, and you can have 500 cushions imported from India with kusha grass, and you can have the blessing of the big llama on your finger, and it won't help you at all. Okay? Just be nice to other people.

That's the real cause of meditation. Okay? All right, how many we got?

Number six, don't waste your time with useless stuff. Don't waste your time with useless stuff. Okay?

Don't bother your head. That guy, the guy I heard today, I heard it today, right JB? Who has cancer.

So, I had a problem with some guy. We had some disagreements, and now he has cancer. He's going to die in two months or something.

Then I'm thinking like, don't waste your time worrying about other people. Okay? Just stop it.

Okay? You don't have time. Stop wasting your time.

Oh Geshe-la, I don't like a shut up. Okay? Just don't look at them, or go away, or do something.

You know? Stop worrying about other people. Okay?

You don't have time. You don't have time. You know?

Where are you going to go after this? You know? When are you going to die?

What day are you going to die? That guy swear he's never going to die, and now he's going to die. You know?

You don't have time to worry about useless stuff. Okay? And that's the biggest obstacle to meditation.

The biggest obstacle to meditation, worry about people who said something to you, worry, read the news. The news is written to sell you more news. Okay?

It's not news. The news was written that the goal of news is to make you worried, so you will read the news again tomorrow. No, really.

They're selling advertising. They need you to look at the news again tomorrow. So, if they can worry you about something, they will try.

They will give you all the bad news. Didn't you ever notice there's no good news in the news? It's like, what's going on?

The world is a dangerous place. You have to read the news tomorrow also. Okay?

Or you're going to be in trouble. So, let it go. Don't read the news.

Okay? I look at the news once a week for two minutes. Then I know what's going on.

It's enough. Okay? You don't need to know everything.

Don't worry about, don't worry about other people. Don't worry about news. Okay?

Work on your practice. Take care of other people. Okay?

Don't waste your time. You don't have time. Okay?

You don't have time. Did I say that? You don't have time.

Okay? Right, JB? Him and me were 26 yesterday.

Now, boom, we're 66. Where'd the 40 years go? It just goes.

Trust me. When you get to 66, you can say, oh, what happened? Don't get you I was right.

Don't waste your time worrying about other people. Forget, just forget it. Someone hurts you.

If you live forever, I will say, try to hurt them. If you're going to live forever, you have time. Then try your best to hurt them.

Okay? But you don't have time. So, don't waste your time.

You don't have time.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Do sweet, beautiful things. Be with sweet, beautiful people, with your sweet, beautiful old shoes. Okay?

Don't waste your time with all the stupid worrying about what somebody said, or somebody criticized you. Just forget it. Okay?

You're going to die. They're going to die. Okay?

Half the people who used to criticize me are dead. That's my approach. I just wait till they die.

I don't worry. I don't try to write a more better internet, defend Geshe Michael. I just wait.

Then they say, he died. Oh, okay. That one's finished.

Okay? All the problems you have, all the people who give you trouble, just wait them out. Okay?

Don't waste your time. Don't waste your time. In the time I didn't spend watching movies, and in the time I didn't spend fighting with the people who want to fight with me, I translated more books than anyone in the world.

Okay? Because I have time. Because I don't waste time on people who give me problems.

I just ignore them. Okay? Okay?

Then you have more time. Okay. Alright.

And your life is a lot happier. So, you have someone who's giving you trouble. Okay.

I went to a teaching by the Dalai Lama. Okay? Many years ago.

And I'll tell you, this is a little bit funny story. Okay? There were 5,000 people.

It was at the Beacon Theater in New York. So, I went with the parents of one of my students. Their parents invited me, so I went.

We're sitting and this teacher, this Lama, somebody asked a question. What should you do if your neighbor always coming over to your house and criticizing, yelling at you? And he said, well, the first time they come over, just smile.

Yeah. Then let them yell. Okay?

Then just smile. Okay. Okay.

I understand. I got it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. I appreciate your concern. Then the student asked, what if they come a second time?

Well, the second time is even more important. You should smile. Be super nice, you know.

They're yelling at you, some problem, and you, oh, you know, I understand, you know. Okay. By the way, the translator was from Oxford University.

He talked a lot loud. He's from Oxford University. His Holiness says that on the second time, you should try to reason and smile.

Be reasonable. And then the student said, well, what if they come a third time? Then the Lama said, tell them kyakpa so.

Tell them kyakpa so. Then I'm like, ahh! A whole 5,000 people are like, what's kyakpa so?

What's kyakpa so? Kyakpa so means, tell them to eat shit. I'm like, what?

Then the Oxford guy says, tell them you are very uncomfortable. I'm like, that's not what he said. That's not what he said.

Come on, you're not translating. Okay. So, let it go, let it go.

Just let it go. Have fun, okay. Don't take life so seriously, okay.

Don't be so serious, and don't listen to people who criticize you. Just let it go, okay. Don't waste your time.

Even if your wife's in a bad mood, right? Just let them talk. Finish dinner and go have some ice cream.

They're going to get tired after a while. Okay. Don't fight with people.

Don't waste your time. Okay. Yeah, okay, I already gave you that.

The dates for Kamalashila, 750 AD. 750 AD, okay. The dates for Kamalashila.

You know the dates for Maitreya too. What's it, 350 AD. Okay, it's on your homework.

Maitreya, okay. And you know where the teaching for old shoes come from. Old comfortable shoe.

Old friends, and don't go looking for new friends. There's two parts, right. DUS BYUNG, CHOG ZHES.

The first one is the second, the second one is the first one. CHOG ZHES means, you know, be happy with your old friends. And then DUS BYUNG means, don't go looking in the mall for three more sets of shoes, okay.

Be friends with the ones you have, okay. Got it? Did I say you couldn't go shopping?

I didn't say that. I love shopping myself. Did I say you can't look nice?

I didn't say that. I want you to look nice. Looking nice is an offering to other people.

Teresa's outfit is really cool. And it's an offering. It's like a flower from your heart, right.

It's an offering to other people. That's a beautiful thing. That's a good thing.

I didn't say you can't wear nice things. I didn't say that. You should wear nice things.

It makes people happy. Our job is supposed to be to make other people happy. If you look like a homeless person, then you're not going to make other people happy.

So try to look nice for other people. For other people, okay. It's like you're a flower.

You're offering a flower, okay. All right.