Базовый курс ACI 3: Прикладная медитация (2019, Аризона), занятие 8

[Speaker 1]
So, the next homework question, which is class 8, talks about three different types of meditation. I say meditation, then I want to blow my nose, I don't know why. Okay, then I remember the first meditation I went to.

I was at Princeton, and my friend said, you want to come to a meditation? I said, yeah, I always heard about meditation, you know. So, it wasn't at the university, we went to someone's home.

And I remember the guy, we sat down, and I'm excited, you know, this is going to be my first meditation in my life. And I said, what do we do? And he said, close your eyes, think about nothing.

Close your eyes, think about nothing. So, I said, okay, you know, and I try to think about nothing. For about, I don't know, 15 minutes, you know.

They said, okay, finish. Then I'm like, that's it? He said, yeah, that's meditation.

Then I didn't meditate for many years after that. I thought, oh, this is stupid, you know, think about nothing. So, real meditation should have an object, okay?

Real meditation should have an object. The word for, one of the words for meditation mind is DE BZHIN, which means the mind which is holding an object. So, even the name in Sanskrit is the mind which is holding an object.

It's the name for meditation mind. So, to say there's no object is silly, okay? It's like saying rubber band is not a band and not made of rubber.

It's just the name means holds an object, okay? All right. So, there are three ways, there are three kinds of meditation, okay?

And it depends on your object, okay? First one, and I would say the easiest one is called Sargam. Say Sargam.

Sargam is very easy, like this morning and yesterday we did a very, I think, beautiful meditation. Thirteen steps. We mixed three traditional meditations.

STONG LEN, exchanging self and others, and the seven steps about seeing everyone as your mother. And there were thirteen steps, okay? And Tim put them up on the board, you know, on the projector, and we saw the thirteen steps.

So, in the first level of meditation, you memorize the thirteen, okay? And you don't have to memorize the whole word, just some word that you can remember, okay? So, you can teach it with your eyes closed.

You can teach it with your eyes closed, which I cannot do, I was using the computer. Did you notice the computer stopped on the last three? I'm like...

It's easier if you memorize, okay? So, Sargam. It's called review meditation, and you go through a list in your mind.

Oh, what's a step number one? What's a step number two? What's a step number three?

And you just review the thirteen steps of the meditation, or any step. What are the six perfections? You know momo?

This is Tibetan national food. It's like American hamburger, okay? What do you call it?

Dum sim? Dim sum. Okay, anyway, it looks like that.

And I used to be the cook for eight years, okay? I was the cook. Not very good cook, because I'm thinking about the book.

So anyway, when you give one momo on the plate, and the person eat it, then you say, oh, there's two truths, two realities. Have two. Then they finish.

Then you say, sambal? Then you put three. Then they eat, they are getting a little bit sick.

Then you say, four truths, four higher truths. These five paths, six perfections, seven parts of ayah path, eight molecules, eight atoms in the molecules, nine steps of meditation, ten advanced perfections, eleven kinds of knowledge, twelve links up the wheel of lie. Then they are like, no, no more Buddhism.

No more Buddhism. Why am I talking about that? You can do that with your meditation.

SHAR GOM. What's the six perfections? What's the ten good deeds?

You can check yourself. I have a friend, Jeffrey Tso, from Taipei. You know him, right?

He's a great man, very great man, great teacher. Those of you who study Vajrayogini, one day we were driving in the car, and I said, you know, your name is unusual. Half of all Chinese people have the same last name.

Wang, Chen, Zhou. Not really, because it's all king's names. Then I said, your name is Tso, I never heard of it.

He's like, oh yeah Geshe-la, it means left hand. The person of the left hand. You understand?

Which is very important in Vajrayogini. Very important. Left hand person.

So, I was like, wow. Anyway, when I met him, he was a small manager at DuPont Corporation. And, human resources?

And then he start to, every morning, he does SHAR GOM. Just this one. And I said, what's the subject?

Did you pick the six perfections, or the seven parts of the Arya Path, or the eight molecules? He said, no no Geshe-la, I do my schedule for the day. 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock.

And I visualize tonglen. I go through the meetings, what I'm going to do, what I'm going to say. How can I be Bodhisattva all day?

I prepare the whole day's work before I go out of the house. I do SHAR GOM. Then, he became the manager for all DuPont HR in Asia.

I think he has 15,000 people under him. Understand? That's SHAR GOM.

Right? Alright, second one is called BYAS GOM. Say BYAS GOM.

BYAS GOM means problem solving meditation. Then you think about some problem. I think very often it can be some problem you're having, personal problem, or some goal you want to reach.

You can do BYAS GOM. It's a meditation, you're in meditation posture, and you say, okay, I'm having trouble with my, I don't know, my wife's mad at me, or my husband is mad at me. My husband is yelling at me, he calls me phantom in the kitchen.

And, you know, I'm having some problems, so, how can I work on that? What should I do? And that's called BYAS GOM.

Second kind of meditation is problem solving. Or, I want to make 10 million dollars next year, so, how can I solve this problem? Or, I want to see emptiness directly, okay?

Which is easier than 10 million dollars, okay? Okay. If you have Nagarjuna.

Okay. So, that's the second kind of meditation. So, you get the feeling already that all meditation has an object.

There's no such thing as a meditation which doesn't have an object. There's no such thing, okay? Now, the last one is called BYO GOM.

Say BYO GOM. You don't tell jokes during the meditation. Okay, so Gang got it.

We are both naughty guys, so we understand each other. Shantien and Veronica are like, you know, I have to live with these guys. Say BYO GOM.

BYO GOM means put your mind on the object and don't move. Don't move it, okay? So, typical is visualization, right?

You make a picture of your teacher. You look at your teacher in the meditation. And you don't take your mind off the teacher.

Or you put your mind on the friend who's having a problem and you keep your mind on them. And that's called BYO GOM, okay? Single-pointed, single object.

Just one object. Then all three are real meditation, okay? Don't think that that Princeton University meditation is meditation, okay?

Think about nothing. That's not meditation, okay? Every meditation is one of these three.

These are the three kinds of meditation. We learn maybe a hundred different meditations in the monastery, but all of them fit in these three, okay? So, learn them.

And now, when I designed course number three, ACI course number three, I wanted to do a meditation course about meditation. At that time, a hundred years ago, many people didn't know about meditation, especially in America. Everybody's trying to think about nothing.

The whole country, they don't know what's a meditation. So, I thought it's important in a meditation course to put a valuable object for the meditation. So, the last two and a half homeworks, okay, are about the object of meditation.

I put an object of meditation. What was it? Yeah, it's a short lam rim.

It's a short lam rim. YIN DANG ZHIG RGYUD MA, right? The source of all my good.

So, the object I chose for the meditation was the steps of lam rim. So, which kind of meditation is it? It's kind of a shargom.

It's kind of an outline of the steps to Buddhahood, okay? Lam rim means steps to Buddhahood. When I was a kid, we used to, I used to mow the lawn, you know.

It's something you have to do in Arizona. We have big houses, big lawns. Every house has a big lawn, and we have to mow it.

And that's why you have kids in Arizona. Just someone to mow the lawn. So, then sometimes my dad will buy a new lawnmower, you know.

And they will come with a special instruction book. How, 14 steps how to put the lawnmower together, you know. Number one, open the box.

Number two, take this part and put it together. And if you just follow the instructions, you get a good lawnmower. Then you can mow the lawn, okay?

Now, when you're a kid, you never follow the instructions. You put all the pieces out there, you say, I think this one goes here. Maybe this one goes, this maybe here goes here.

Who needs a book, you know? If you do that with your meditation, you will get similar results. Oh, this lawnmower never worked.

I don't know what's wrong. One time I finished, put the whole thing together, and there's one screw is left. Then I like, where does that screw go?

I said, it's probably not important screw, you know. So, I start the engine and it go, then it go, everything blow up, you know. That's how your meditation will be if you don't follow the Lam Rim, okay?

Don't just make up some meditation, okay? Follow the, there's a step invented two and a half thousand years ago by Buddha. He invented Lam Rim, and just follow step by step.

Don't do the lawnmower extra screw thing. Really, I blew up the lawnmower. My dad was very angry.

Okay? So, don't blow up your mind. Step by step.

So, that's the Lam Rim structure, and that's it. I chose for the meditation object, okay? Then I'm going to answer some of the homework questions for you, and the teachers during the teacher training, right Tim?

Are going to continue with the Lam Rim, okay? But I'll do some homework questions with you, and then we'll have, right? Some real labs.

What time would you like to start the boring policies first? The boring policies first? But if we do the policy last, they can get a good sleep tonight.

I'm kidding. Okay. Let me finish this and I'll start the policy.

Okay. Alright. The question on the homework is a trick question.

Very rare. Why? Which of the five great books and which level of secret practice can you find in the Lam Rim?

All of them. Duh. Say duh.

Of course. But, supposed to be you put the five great books in your... five great subjects.

You put them on your homework answer, okay? Let's try in order. Anybody want to try?

In the order of the Geshe course.

[Speaker 2]
Hmm.

[Speaker 1]
Wait, wait. Raise your hand. Okay, I'm offering no money.

Go ahead. What's the first one? Say in English.

Protection of Wisdom. Yeah, basically what book? Do you know?

Basically, Asanga Maitreya's Little Pinch of Heaven. Abhisamaya Avalokite? Okay.

And then... Lower Middle Way. Lower Middle Way.

Yeah, Lower Middle Way is first. Twelve years. Twelve years, and then four years on Upper Middle Way?

Good. Yeah, four years Higher Middle Way. Text is?

Entering the Middle Way. Middle Way by? By Chandrakirti.

Master Chandrakirti. Master Chandrakirti. Okay, you got two of the five.

And then two years on Abhidharma? Yeah. Good.

We can say yes. Yeah. Okay.

And then two years on Vinaya? Nice. And then interspersed every winter three months on logic.

Yeah. Yay! You're lucky because usually he won't give correct answer with no money, but tonight he did.

So those five great subjects, Lower Middle Way, Higher Middle Way, Abhidharma, morality, and then logic, they're all in the Lam Rim. All of them are in the Lam Rim. As far as secret teaching, both stages are in the Lam Rim.

But very short. You're supposed to find a different teacher for secret teachings. But the books, they are in there.

Some information is in there. Alright, so Lam Rim is pretty cool. Alright, the book we're going to use for Lam Rim meditation is called YIN RTEN GZHIR RGYUR MA Say YIN RTEN GZHIR RGYUR MA Okay, it means the source of all my good.

All my goodness come from one person. All the good qualities I have come from one person. Right?

And that's my teacher, my heart lama. Okay? It was written by Je Tsongkapa.

Okay? And he went to a monastery called Radreng which was founded by Atisha and his student Dromton Je who never became a monk. He was a businessman.

One of the greatest lamas of history was a businessman. Understand CSB? And I'd like to thank the CSB people for coming.

Can you stand up? Can you stand up? Thank you Stanley and Allison for bringing them.

These guys, they all have big, big, big businesses, okay? And they are taking a special course to use the great ideas in their business and to help other people in the world to learn it. They're all ...

I'll teach you some Chinese word. Say, pang mao. Pang mao.

Pang mao means tostoya koshka. Tostoya koshka? Tostoya koshka.

Fat cat. Gato gordito. It means successful business person.

They are super successful business person. And they are using these methods to improve their business and their life. And when I met them, they are all tired.

All successful business people look like that. And little bit here, some ... I wasn't sure they were pregnant or not.

Then they start to do yoga. Then they start to do meditation. They studied many, many things.

They worked hard. And every morning they make a phone call to each other to support each other. 6.15, I'm asleep. They are calling. Amazing. And now look at them, they are very beautiful and successful.

So, I'm very proud of my kids in Shenzhen. Grandpa proud of you. All right.

I'm going to skip over to the boring part. Which is the policy. Oh, by the way, the end of the story.

Tsongkapa, he went to that monastery 400 years before him was a great teacher from India called Atisha who is 400 years after Xuanzang. 400 years after Xuanzang came to China. Right, Stanley?

350 years after Xuanzang. Atisha came to West China and started to teach. Then Tsongkapa was born 400 years after that.

He wanted to get the blessing of Atisha. So he went to that monastery, Raden, to Atisha's monastery. And there is a famous statue of Atisha.

And Tsongkapa prayed at the bottom of that statue. And he got a vision of all the teachers of the Lam Rim. And because of that later he wrote the big Lam Rim, 1,000 pages.

If you translate into English it would be 10,000 pages. We can do it in a couple of weeks. Yeah, just kidding.

But he got this inspiration for this small Lam Rim. Complete small Lam Rim. And its emphasis is that we need a teacher.

How to find a good teacher. Let's do it. Just one thing, okay?

I'm going to steal the good part, Tim. You teach the boring part, okay? He's like, Yeah, I like this one.

The emphasis of that book, and this is the last teaching for ACI tonight, right? Tomorrow some more Nagarjuna, right? Okay.

The first part of that Lam Rim, lawnmower instruction book is how to find a good teacher. How to find a good teacher. What kind of person I should look for when I want to find a good teacher?

What should I look for? Then there are two famous lists. There are two famous lists.

Each one has five qualities to look for. How to find a good teacher. Here's the guideline, traditional guideline.

How to find a... What kind of teacher to look for? First quality, they keep their morality.

They don't kill things. They don't steal things. They don't cheat with other people's wife or husband.

They don't lie. They don't like to split up other people. They don't say harsh words.

They don't waste time gossip, gossip, gossip. Cat videos. Not everyone's going to go home and look at cat videos.

But while you're watching the cat video, please don't think about monkeys, okay? They aren't happy when other people have problems. They aren't sad when other people get something.

Most important, they do believe in karma. And they do believe in emptiness and Sambal, three jewels. So those are...

Look for a person who knows the ten good deeds and they keep it. If they have bodhisattva vows and they are keeping them, that's like yo chau with a sweet icing? How do you say?

On top. Now I'm getting hungry. Extra sweet on top.

If they have bodhisattva vows and they are keeping them, super sweet. If they have secret vows, unbelievable, delicious. And they are keeping their vows.

They are a good person. They don't hurt other people. Second one.

They have good meditation. Their meditation is good. You can't see their meditation, right?

Maybe they are sitting very good and they are having subtle dullness. And they are spaced out. Maybe they are sitting for three hours, they are doing nothing.

It's possible. Many people did that. They have no meditation object.

It's possible. But, the person who is meditating every day, they are nice person. And they are compassionate person.

And they have good focus in their business also. They are like a laser gun. Their mind is like, when they meet Nagarjuna, they are like, or when they meet business problem with the tax department, they are, everything legal.

Okay? Their mind is so powerful, they can do anything. They don't get upset easily.

They are focused people. So, from the outside we cannot see if they are really meditating or not. But from the behavior, we can guess if they are meditating or not.

If they seem nervous, they can't focus, they get angry easily, then whatever they are doing is not meditation. Alright, third one. They have wisdom and they use it to control themselves.

When they walk in the kitchen and their husband says, you are stupid, they go, yee! And they stop. They can't control themselves with wisdom.

Emptiness. Where is the emptiness in the kitchen? Yeah, there is no husband who is not my fault.

That's real emptiness. Don't think that the Buddha sees some other emptiness. It's not like that.

Oh, Geshe-la always talk about the husband in the kitchen, but I think Buddha's emptiness is higher. It's not. It's very famous debate in the monastery.

If the wife see that the husband not there, this one, I didn't do anything. And if a Buddha see emptiness, is there better or worse? Then the famous answer, no.

Both perfect. Both perfect emptiness. Buddha is not, okay, Buddha doesn't have a wife, okay?

Maybe. But has this perfect, his emptiness and the wife's emptiness in the kitchen exactly the same. It's a very famous question in the scripture, okay?

Exactly the same. Nobody who didn't come from you is the same. Got it?

The people that the Buddha met who threw spears at him, tried to kill him with an elephant, okay? Then husband who yells at the wife. Both are GONG, equal.

If you see one, you saw the other, okay? Alright. How many qualities we got?

Good. Number four, they have seen emptiness. Best is if they saw it directly.

If they are, yeah, okay? Best is if they have seen emptiness directly. That's best, okay?

But, even if they didn't see emptiness directly, they are a pen expert. And every time they go to Singapore, they teach the pen again. Yeah.

Then the Singapore people have a nice nap during the pen. Just kidding. Every time they go somewhere, they are always talking about the pen, okay?

So, best is if the person saw emptiness directly. But, even if they didn't, they understand the husband in the kitchen, they understand the pen, okay? They have a good understanding, intellectual of the pen.

That's quality number four. Okay, quality number five. They love their student.

They love their student, okay? It's possible you have a teacher who is very intelligent, very smart, can explain the Garjuna very well, but doesn't love the student, really. They like to show how smart they are, or how good they can explain, or they can use Sanskrit or Tibetan, but they don't really love me.

They don't love the student. Then it's not enough. That's not a good teacher, okay?

There are many great teachers, like piano teachers, who don't like the student, okay? Maybe you met one of them. BANG!

My teacher loved me so much, he BANG also. Okay. Now, I said there's two lists of five, right?

Here's the other traditional list, okay? First one, in our life we always have a choice. We can focus on the world they live, or we can focus on the spiritual life.

And you should find someone who likes to focus on spiritual life. Oh, Geshe-la, so you cannot be a businessman, right? No, that's not true at all, okay?

The greatest Buddhist masters in India were all government officials and big business people. Kings, okay? Kalachakra Tantra.

Tantra, secret teaching, was made for kings. Okay? The way of the kings, okay?

Really, her program is called DBANG LTA'U in Guangzhou. Very cool. Yay!

So, but when those business people do business, they are helping other people to succeed, they call their business competition, can I help you? I found a good worker, do you want them? I will give them to you.

They are crazy businessmen, right? Okay, got it? So, it's not outside what's the business, it's the heart.

In their heart, they are following karma, they are following spiritual way, okay? So, look for this kind of teacher, okay? Sometimes that teacher on the outside look very Buddhist and on the inside is always thinking about how to make more money, right?

Or how to sell more Dharma book or... Just kidding. Okay, so sometimes look like a businessman, on the inside they are Buddhist master and some people look on the outside they are Buddhist master, but on the inside they are businessman.

Okay, so try to find the one who is real master. It doesn't mean they are not doing business or they are not married or things like that, okay? They...

What is their heart? Is their heart spiritual? Look for that, okay?

Okay, second one. We always have a choice in our life and we can focus on this life or we can focus on other lives, okay? This life extremely short, okay?

According to Buddhism this life is one second, like that, and then all your future life, billions and billions, okay? And your past life, billions and billions. This one is nothing.

So, don't worry too much about this one. Get ready for the next one. If you tomorrow, okay, something break in your cabin, don't fix it, leave it for sunam.

You are going home. You are going to come back in 12 months, okay? So, don't worry about the small thing.

If you are going on a long trip for 12 months before you come back to your real home at Diamond Mountain, okay, then don't spend a lot of time on the, you know, two hour, go fix your house in China or fix your house in Russia or Argentina, Buenos Aires. Still in Buenos Aires? Yeah.

So, you know, the future life is much longer. It's the real house, okay? This life is like Diamond Mountain cabin on the last day.

Just throw everything on the ground and go. Sorry, I am just kidding, okay? But when you are going on a long trip, you don't worry too much about small thing, you know?

Okay? We are all going on a much longer trip in the future, after this life, so focus on that one. So, look for the teacher who talk about what's going to happen after you die.

Look for that kind of teacher, okay? Alright. We have another choice in our life.

We can take care of other people or we can take care of me, right? Guess which one is a good teacher? Okay.

Yeah, they like to take care of other people first, okay? There is a thing in English, there is a bad expression in American English, it's called looking out for number one. Number one is going to be number one.

Ten dollars Adam. Red Hot Chili Peppers did a remake. Come on, you don't know.

I'll play it for you. Sly and the Family Stone. What's the name of that song?

You figure it out Tim, you got to play it for us. Not the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Come on, that's Three Dark Nights.

Get your decades right. Okay, okay. I want the sly, okay?

I don't want the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[Speaker 2]
I have to teach you everything.

[Speaker 1]
Eyeglasses. Eyeglasses. Okay.

There's a line in the middle. Okay, okay. Sly.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, here we go. Ay-yah.

[Speaker 1]
Ay-yah. I'm sorry. If you want me to stay, if you want me to stay, you'll remember.

It wasn't that long ago. Alright. Tell me when you're ready.

I'll teach more Buddhism, okay? Alright, so they take care of other people before themselves. That song is called Taking Care of Number One.

Number one's going to be number one. Here it comes. Okay, number four.

They are very careful what they say. The bass player, always the most important. You know I got to be me Granted you see I'll be gone for a while The person that you really are now Number one's going to be number one.

Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, so that's a lama you don't want.

Number one, number one. Okay, number four. They are careful what they say.

They are careful what they do. They are careful what they think. Playing rock and roll is also careful, okay?

Okay, Yao Li promised me a band. Oh my god, she's so cool. Six thousand people, I'm looking forward to it.

Okay, anyway. They are careful what they say. They are careful what they do.

They don't hurt people. They don't hurt people. Alright, number five.

They don't teach the students a wrong path. They teach them seeds. They teach them seeds.

That's all. They teach correct path. So that's the beginning of the lam rim.

That's the most important thing in the lam rim. Right? What is it?

How to find a good teacher. How to find a good teacher. And be picky.

Be picky. It's more important than getting married. You don't get married to just anybody, right?

You take your time, find a rich guy who's also handsome, and doesn't mess around with the other lady. You know, you take your time when you marry a handsome guy like Sugeng, right? You try to catch all the handsome guys, then you take Sugeng.

Right? But, but teacher, you have to be even more careful. Why?

That teacher is going to be with you for many lifetimes. You are stuck. You are stuck.

Alright? So, take your time. Check.

Ask many people. Ask many people. Did you study with this guy, this lady?

Yeah, I studied with them. Are they good? Yeah, except they steal your money.

No, I mean, ask other people. Okay? Ask other people.

Like, if you are going to hire someone to build a house for you or something, you will ask many people. Who's honest? Who's not going to take my money?

So, when you find a, when you take a teacher, so many people just go, come on, this guy Lama is teaching, let's go, you know, okay, yeah. He has a nice big hat, you know, okay, let's go, you know. Don't be like that.

Okay, check, check many days. Atisha went to talk to his teacher in Sumatra, right? He traveled for 11 months.

When he get there, he didn't go to his house. He start asking people to get references. Is he good?

Is he really good? He spent one year on the boat to go to Indonesia. And then, when he land, he check him out.

He didn't ask him to teach. He check him out. So, don't be shy to check out a teacher.

Don't be shy. Dig in today. Find out all the stories.

Ask all the students. Because this is a big relationship. This is your whole life.

To lose some money is nothing. To lose your lifetime, you cannot get it back. No one can give it back to you.

You don't have time to spend with a bad teacher. You have to find a good one. Take your time.

I don't trust people. They come to me after one talk. Oh, can I be your student?

Will you be my lama? I'm like, no. Ask me in two years.

So, don't jump quickly. Wait until you check the person. Alright.