«Дар освобождения», курс 6 «Ретрит страсти», занятие 2

[Говорящий 1] (0:00 - 40:40)
If you study your mind while you're trying to meditate, if you watch your mind, meditation means the ability to keep your mind focused on one thing. Say, Ciktu Cepa. Single-pointed.

And then, if you're going to be a good meditator, you have to examine what are your typical distractions. I tried to do ballet. Still do.

I did it in Beijing. It was really fun. I'm really good at it.

But when you're at the bar and you're trying to keep your balance, and then they'll say, a teacher will tell you, watch which way you fall. And you're usually falling the same way all the time. And then you become aware of what you need to balance.

It's not that you fall every way. It's that you have a typical distractions. Everybody has typical distractions that are special to them.

And if you observe your distractions, you'll find that oftentimes they're either future or past. I'd say 90% of distractions, 90% of the things that stop you from good meditation, are thinking about something that's going to happen next week, or somebody who hurt you last week or 10 years ago. And it's amazing.

It's like ballet. You realize that I'm always falling out to the front and to the left. And then in your meditation, you'll start to realize, I'm always living about a week ago.

My body is in the room, but my mind is pretty constantly living in a week ago. And that's a strain on your mind, you see? It's a strain not to be here.

It's a strain to have your body in this room and have your mind someplace else all the time, especially a different time, like a week ago or a week from now. And what you'll find, we'll keep doing that meditation. And then you see, where are you falling?

Where's your mind usually going to? And it's almost always it's the past or the future, which are gone, okay? The past is gone, the future hasn't come yet.

And your mind is in something that doesn't exist anymore or doesn't exist yet. And then you're having emotions about that. You're worried about it or you're sad about it, about something that doesn't exist anymore, you see what I mean?

And then you can't meditate. So you'll find that, I don't know, 90% of your distractions are time-oriented. It's not that you can't stand a certain subject.

It's like you're not even here in the room. And as you start to get better, like in ballet, you realize your shoulder must be bent and it's always making you fall. So then you straighten it and then you don't fall.

And then in meditation, it gets really exciting to be in the present moment. It gets very, very intense to be in the present moment. And life becomes much more enjoyable, because you're just dealing with what's really there, which is the present.

And you find, I don't know, I like to cook for my teacher. And if you're in the present moment, it's like a dance through the kitchen. You're like...

And you're just there and you're so aware and you're so happy to be in this moment. So try it. It's a lot less burden on the mind.

It's very much a burden to be thinking about three weeks or four weeks or four years of time and not just be here. Even when you're planning the future, you plan it in the present moment. So planning also becomes single-pointed.

Or you're reviewing some mistake you made in the past. That's okay. But you're not living there.

You're here and you're focusing on that. You see? It's different.

And you just feel so aware and so excited. So if you keep doing the present moment meditation, it leaks over into your activities that you do during the day. And then you're just like, you're really into what you're doing.

And you do it much better. And you enjoy it. Because if you're going to be happy, it's going to end up in the present moment that you're going to be happy, not in the future.

Okay? It's very interesting. So we'll keep doing that.

And then you should keep doing it after that. And your life will change. And you'll just start being present and, what do you call it?

Excited. All right. We're still reviewing.

We haven't got to the new stuff yet. I'm kind of just going over things that I didn't do very well the first time, or not too clearly. Here's an idea called gyu tok tu gyelwa.

Say gyu tok. gyu tok tu gyelwa gyu tok tu gyelwa That's an idea of... We'll get more into it.

But there's a meditation that Pabongka Rinpoche, who wrote this text, is teaching. And it's that there's two ways to approach these classes. One is that I'm going to sit in the class and obtain information about my spiritual life, which I will take home and I will try to practice it.

We kind of think that way. But he has this thing. He says, could you have a breakthrough during the class?

You see? Rather than listing facts that you hear, list them, but then say, how does that apply to me? How does that apply to my life right now, in this moment?

How does that apply to my life right now? And it's called... That's gyu tok tu gyelwa.

Gyu tok tu gyelwa means... adhere it to your spirit, to the present flow of your spirit. Adhere it to the present flow of your spirit.

That could be a good name for a band, maybe. But anyway, it's kind of long. But in the moment of the teaching, think, how could that apply to me?

Normally, what do we think? How could that apply to my friend, who irritates me? No, we do, right?

We all do. I do. I'm constantly evaluating how other people could apply these principles.

And try to, in the moment, say, how does this apply to me? There must be some karma while you're here. There's a miracle happening.

Lord Buddha is speaking through me. And then he knew 3,000 years ago that you'd be having a bad time with your partner this week. And he put that in the text, so that at 3.30 you would hear it. So constantly think, have that... What do you call it? Sweet paranoia.

That Lord Buddha was planning that sentence for you 3,000 years ago. Because it's true. It's true.

So then how can that apply to me, my current life? And then... Because you might not open up the notebook once you get home, right?

We all have many notebooks collecting dust at home. Okay. Let's see.

Then we've gotten to a section called how to teach and how to learn. Okay? How to teach and how to learn.

And I would like most of you to teach. Most of you are teaching. And I hope you will teach.

I hope everyone will teach. I think you can all be teachers. And then you should know the proper etiquette and the proper frame of mind to be a good teacher or a good student.

All right? So we're at that section in the long run. It's very beautiful.

And if I had to only choose one section, it would be this one. It would be this week. It's most important for all of us.

Okay? How to teach and how to learn. All right?

I think if you're going to be a good teacher, you're probably a good student. I went to see the Dalai Lama a long time ago in New York. And you know how the monks get to sit up on the stage, and some of them are like...

And some of them are talking to each other. And then I saw this one monk, and he's like taking notes. And he's like...

Then I said, who is that? And then, it's Lama Tsopa, who's the last person who needs notes. You know?

He doesn't need any of it. And he's the only person on the whole stage who's like... He's like that.

So I think the best teachers are the best students. Right? Even in a yoga class, I think.

You put a good yoga teacher in a class, and the teacher says, move your left shoulder a quarter inch, and they just do it. And nobody else in the room is doing it. So to be a good teacher, you have to be a good student.

And here are the tips for being a good student and a good teacher. He went through a long description of why it was important to be a student and why it was important to continue learning through your whole life. And he said it was useful to think of the world around you as a series of darknesses, as a collection of darknesses.

Spheres of darkness surround you in your life. And then you illuminate them one by one, with learning. Someone teaches you.

Like speaking English was a darkness for you. And then your mother taught you to speak, or whoever. And then it was illumined.

Spanish. I'm trying to learn Spanish. And then one by one the words are illuminated.

Words that I didn't know become illuminated. And then your world around you becomes more light. So he says, think of your life as a process of removing darknesses into which you were born.

He said, Kameh Sunju. Kameh Sunju means the 30 consonants of the Tibetan alphabet. The 30 letters of the Tibetan alphabet.

And he said, if you think about it, when you were young, there were 30 little darknesses surrounding you. And then your teacher said, Kaa. And then they said, Kaa.

And then they said, Kaa. And you were like, Kaa. And then that darkness disappeared.

And then there was one more light around you. So you should. Sabba bhuta ruta znyanam.

Yoga Sutra means, I will come to learn all languages. And you just, at a certain point in meditation, they just come to you. So then you just, all these darknesses start to disappear in your life.

And you should keep learning throughout your life. There should be a formal time during your day that you learn something new. Even if you're like a Geshe, and you learned all these books and all that, you shouldn't stop.

Every day you should learn something new. Set aside a half hour to learn something new. Otherwise you freeze.

Otherwise you become frozen. It doesn't matter how old you are, or what your career is, or something. Keep learning something new.

Half hour every day is something new. And it keeps your mind fresh. And it opens your eyes to the condition of the world.

You can't learn Chinese language and hate Chinese people. It's very difficult. Like whatever the press says.

The American newspapers are really naughty. I mean, you go to other countries and you realize what they're feeding you is wrong. And it's propaganda.

The attitude towards Arabs, the attitudes towards Chinese, it's all just bullshit. In Mexico, it's all just like this. You go there, you learn to speak their language, or you learn to live with them.

Then you're like, I don't know what the news... At first you're kind of innocent. You're like, gee, they made a mistake in the newspaper.

And then later you're like, no, they're putting it there. I don't think it's necessarily, what do you call, malicious. I think it's just dumb.

But the more you learn, especially about other countries and other people, you can't dislike them if you become part of them. So you have to keep illuminating the darknesses around you. And don't buy all the prejudices that people sell you.

All right. Okay, here's a mistake I made last time. He was talking about a thing called...

By the way, this is kind of boring, but I feel like I have to tell you all the mistakes I made. Dongmo Rakshema and Sangdik. I never heard of these things.

Dongmo Rakshema and Sangdik. Okay, so I knew the words brass and copper. So I told you.

He was talking about monks who get distracted by material wealth. So we're only allowed to have two sets of robes, and a bowl, and an umbrella, and a sieve for water. Classically, these are the possessions of a monk.

And then like all other... What do you call it? You call it when your mind is trying to get out of something you're supposed to be doing.

It's a perversion. It's a perversion of the monk's vows. Then they will make expensive Buddha images.

You see, I have a gold Buddha on my altar, and the other guy said, I have a silver one, because I'm working on a platinum one. And then you only have a straw-tipped mattress, and your robes have holes in them, but I have a gold Buddha in my room. Human nature is to get around it somehow.

So I took it to be that, but it wasn't that. It was worse than that. Dongmo Rakshama.

Dongmo means... Have you ever seen a tea churn? They have portable ones.

They look like a cannon barrel. The big ones are like four feet high, and they have a plunger, and they're made of wooden staves, and then there's a brass ring around them. So he was criticizing monks who are proud of the bigger brass rings that they have around their tea churn than the other monks have.

I had one. The first lama I ever met gave me one. A Sakya lama.

You can make Tibetan butter tea in a dongmo. A little one that's like this big. Or you can make like 20 cups of tea like that.

Then he said sang dik. Sang dik means copper tea kettle. So a monk who's supposed to have vows of poverty would be attached to their bigger brass ring tea churn or their copper tea kettle.

There's a mistake in the text. This is just for future generations. It says kye tsang.

It refers to a lama by somebody named kye tsang. And it should have been kye tsang. It's a different spelling.

And so that was difficult for me when I got there. So there's a mistake in the carving, I think. Okay, so now we can start the fresh material.

Then I'm going to go word by word through the Tibetan, which is just something I really want to do. And this is the only time I ever get to do it all year. And it's something I think it would be nice sometimes to have it.

This is the old-fashioned way in Tibet of transmitting a text. So we're not going to leave out a single word. We're going to go through every single word.

I'll say the Tibetan. You won't learn it. Your next life, the seed will open and Tibetan will sound familiar to you.

And you'll learn it. So just be happy and open your mind to it and don't resist it. Don't write on the evaluation form that he spoke Tibetan the whole time.

I know I spoke Tibetan the whole time. But then, you know, I want you to get a full transmission. So we're doing it very slow and leisurely and happily.

And it's going to take ten years and I don't care. And if it takes an extra ten years, that's okay too. So that's the way it is.

NYID PA CHOS DANG CHOS MA BA LA RIM RDO GYI DAG GYUR PA NI How do we gain some kind of awe of the teachings and of teachers? Of our teacher and of what they're teaching. This is a whole section of the Lamrim.

SA'I NYID PA'I MDO LAS The Kshitigarbha Sutra. This is a bodhisattva named the Essence of the Earth. He said, GCIG TU DE'I PHYIN GOS PAS CHOS NYAN GYIS DE LA CHAG BZHIN GUR BAR MI BYA'O CHOS MA BA LA CHOS PA BYA'O NI SANGS RGYAS DAR DE LA DU ZHIG BSKYED So we're beginning a section on the proper attitude for receiving a teaching.

So first he starts by quoting a sutra. GCIG TU DE'I means hold your thoughts of faith for that teaching as it begins. GOS PAS Show respect.

I wince in yoga classes. Like Americans come in and say, I don't want to do that. Then the teacher has to apologize to them.

Please do a down dog. But if you don't feel like it, you can just lay down. In Tibet you do it or you get hit.

I kind of like it. Respect the teacher and try to do what they say. GOS PAS CHOS NYAN Listen to the teaching that way.

GYIS GYIS but don't... DE LA CHAG means like criticize the teacher. GUR BAR MI BYA'O Try to find faults in the teacher like that.

Don't do that. CHOS MA BA LA CHOS PA BYA'O NI To make offerings to the teacher who is teaching you Dharma. SANGS RGYAS DAR DE LA DU ZHIG BSKYED As you make an offering, imagine that you are presenting it to the Buddha himself.

Or to Vajrayogini herself. I think in our culture it's the Dalai Lama. Like you would say, when you go to a class, even just a yoga class, then think of the teacher as if they were the Dalai Lama.

They're going to ask you to do something and then respectfully attempt to do it the way they ask, even in a yoga class. And it's a good habit. I got in trouble.

I turned left on a red light. Actually, I was trying to do something my Lama said to do. They said, get here as fast as you can.

And I ran a red light. Which is a nangdong, right? It's a moral...

What do you call that? Dilemma. I still think running a red light was better.

But anyway, I got pulled over and then you had to take a driver's school thing. But they had this cool thing in driver's school. It was...

Signal even when you know nobody's around. Like it's 2 o'clock in the morning and you're going home and you're turning into your driveway. Signal.

Because someday you'll be on the highway and it'll be second nature and it'll save your life. And that's true. So even in a yoga class, any kind of class, then treat the teacher like the Dalai Lama.

Because they might be... You never know. Then just treat them like...

Treat them...Honor every teacher. It's a beautiful thing. It's a good...

And you'll learn so much more. Even in just a yoga class or something like that. Try to do what they say.

TSANGS RGYAS BDAG RGYUD LEN DU ZHIG KHYAD BYAS SUM PA LTAR TON PAR SANGS RGYAS LA KHU PA DANG RIM ROL JI DAG DGE PA DANG DRA BAR In the same way that you would have respect and honor the Buddha, if the Buddha came to teach you, THEN CHOS MA BA LA GUR TE DANG KHU PA BYAS DGOS Then you should show that same kind of respect and honor to anyone who teaches you anything. KHU PA BYAS DGOS BYANG SA LAS BYANG SA LAS means Bodhisattva Bhumi by Arya Sangha. KHU NAS NYON MONGS PA MED PA DANG GNAS NGA'I YI LA MI BYAS PAR NYAN DGOS PAR GSUNGS PAS You should take a teaching, receive a teaching, without negative emotions in your mind.

And GNAS NGA'I LA YI MI BYAS PAR Don't have the five attitudes. Then he's going to give us five attitudes. Don't have those five attitudes.

DE LA KHYEN PA DANG DRA BA NI So they're starting off, this must be the first of them. He doesn't tell us, but I think it must be the first. KHYEN PA DANG DRA BA means KHYEN PA means arrogance.

KHYEN PA means arrogance. DRA BA means don't have arrogance around your teacher. And then he describes that as follows.

RGYUS SU NYON PA GUR DI BYAS PA SRID SU BYAS PA MI CHO BA RJES SU GRUB PA LEN GANG MI TSUL BA Six different attitudes within the first one. This is very GRUB PA. Six different points here.

I'll give you the first one. Well, I'll say them briefly and then we'll go into what they mean. RGYUS SU NYON PA means find the proper time.

GUR DI BYAS PA means pay honor. SRID SU BYAS PA means pay respect. MI CHO BA means don't show anger.

RJES SU GRUB PA means practice it. LEN GANG MI TSUL BA means don't pick a fight. How many we have?

That's six. Now I'm going to explain them, so don't stress. Here we go.

DE DANG PO RGYUS SU NYON PA NI This is where we left off last time, but I thought to repeat it because it's so useful for me. RGYUS SU NYON PA means choose the time properly to ask for a teaching, or ask for the teacher's time, or to say something to the teacher. RGYUS SU NYON PA NI LAM MA THUB DE BZHIN THUB BRAL MED PA SOGS DANG LTOS Choose a time when the lama seems to be in a good mood and doesn't seem to be overly stressed out and busy at that moment.

Choose a time, I don't know. For me, it was relating to Ken Rinpoche was very similar to relating to my boss at the corporation. I had the boss during the day and I had Rinpoche at night, and they were very similar.

And I learned to choose my time. Whenever I wanted a raise or I wanted a donation for Sarah, I would wait till the boss was really happy about something else, and then I would strike. It's the same, relating to the Dharma teacher.

Don't press them for something when they're obviously having some problem or they have some worry going on. Maybe one student is very sick or having a crisis, and then you want to talk about some small argument you were having with somebody and convince them that you were right. And it's like getting on midnight and they're coughing and they're trying to eat their dinner.

I mean, you've got to choose a better time. So wait till they're in a good mood. If you have a teacher who's never in a good mood, then look for a better mood.

Okay, all right. And then, THUGS BRAL MED PA means when they're not busy with 10,000 other things. Like, don't interrupt them and try to push your thing.

Same in accompanying, right? SOGS DANG MTHUN NAS ZHUGS DGOS PA LAS RANG LA SKABS GANGS RIGS KYIS HAM PA RANG SHES CHE MI NYAN Don't ask for a teaching or don't ask for advice from your Lama on your schedule, because that's arrogant. That's kind of against the whole theory of asking for a teaching.

I'll tell you when it's convenient for me to have you teach me. Even with yoga or ballet or anything like that, when you go to a teacher you should kind of be like, whatever's good for you Lama, it's okay. Whatever time's good for you, I'll be there.

Then you just make yourself available. People ask me, can we set a meeting for Phoenix next week? I say, I don't know.

And they say, why not? I say, maybe my Lama won't need me. And they say, well, ask your Lama if they're going to need you next Tuesday.

I say, I don't do that. I'm just available. If I have to cancel, I'll cancel.

I can make a meeting, but I might have to cancel. Because that's my thing. That's my main thing.

I'm just available for my teacher. You don't call them and say, can I book next Tuesday? And you didn't know they were going to teach you some secret initiation next Tuesday.

What are they going to say? They're going to say, yeah, okay, see you on Wednesday. And it won't be the same.

It'll be something else. It's up to them what's convenient for them. RANG BZHES MI NGANG RANG BZHES means kind of, what do you call it?

U TZUGS SOGS PO Insisting on your own agenda. Insisting on your own agenda. You don't do that with a teacher, with a Dharma teacher.

RANG BZHES MI NGANG MNGON RGYAS SHES PO LTA BA U TZUGS KA GANG BOS U TZUGS KA GANG BOS DU GSUNGS RAB MANG PO'I GCIG PAS U NYOG NAS So they gave the example, that's the last thing we taught last time. RGYAS SHES PO LTA BA He was a RGYAS SHES from a thousand years ago. And he said, he was teaching in a monastery called KHA GANG in a place called U TZUGS, which is upper middle Tibet.

And he had just taught the whole day, and he was exhausted. And Unyog, he was tired and he had a little headache. There's a lung thing, a prana thing you get if you teach a text all day.

You get some kind of a... it costs you. Your body is...

it wears down your body. So he had this prana thing going. He was tired.

And then, ZHUGS PA'I SKABS, MI ZHIG GIS CHOS ZHUGS PA'I Then somebody wanted to come and ask him a Dharma question. RGYAS SHES PA THUGS RGYAL GZHANG TSUL GYIS THUGS RGYAL GZHANG means his holy heart rose to the... It's honorific.

There's a separate language in Tibet for referring to lamas. There's a third language within Tibet that you use for high lamas. So you don't say the lama got pissed off.

You say the lama gave the appearance of his heart rising, his holy heart rising. Which means he got pissed off. So THUGS RGYAL GZHANG TSUL GYIS YAL GZHANG NAS He leapt up from his seat, THEG PA'I DRUG, and chased the student down the street.

With anger. Therefore, THEG PA'I DRUG LA SKAD PA DGOS Learn to respect the proper time when to ask a question or when to ask the lama for something. Any teacher.

SKAD PA DGOS GUR TU BYAS PA NI So that was the first one, I think, judging the time. What was the second one? Yeah, honor them.

Here we go. GUR TU BYAS PA GUR TU BYAS PA NI CHAG DANG DANG MA SOGS DANG CHAG, what does CHAG mean? Yeah, CHAG means it's the high word for hand.

We just had the low word for hand. What was that? LAG Where did we have it?

Yeah, NAMDU LAGSANG in the title of the text. So the honorific for hand is CHAG. And to seek a gift, a high gift, is called SEL.

So the word in Tibet for NAMAS, for bowing down, is CHAG SEL. To seek a high thing from the hand. It's very beautiful, CHAG SEL.

So anyway, CHAG means to bow to your teacher. And I'm not selling this thing. I don't care.

I remember I went to study with my first lamas and everybody was doing these prostrations. And I was like, I'm not going to do that. Even in Bible school, they told us, don't bow down to false images.

It was rule number two or three something. And I was like, oh wow, now I got a chance. No one's ever made me try to do that.

And this is it. And I was like, no way I'm going to do that. And it just depends on your culture.

It's just a culture thing. You're welcome to bow down if you want. If you're not thinking about lunch while you do it.

And you're welcome to not bow down if you're thinking thoughts of devotion while you don't do it. You see, it's in your head. I don't care what you do.

I like to bow down. It gives me a chance to get down. Someday in meditation, if you have an extraordinary experience and you meet a holy being, you will throw yourself on the ground and you will do your first real prostration.

And it will come. It will come in your life. It's a beautiful thing.

You will meet one of those beings and you will get your face down on the floor. And just naturally, that's the only way you want to be. So you'll see someday.

There's a reason why people do that. And if you're lucky, you'll do a real one in your life. You meet one of those people, you throw yourself.

You throw yourself flat because there's nothing else you can do. GAC CHAGS in DANG BA. DANG BA means to rise, to get up.

So why would that be included there? Those of you who know tantric vows. Yeah, when your lama stands up, you're supposed to stand up.

When they come in the room, you're supposed to stand up. When they get up, you're supposed to stand up. It's just polite.

Then when they sit down, you're supposed to sit down. I went to Tibet, I mean I was studying with some lamas and I thought it would be more polite to stand up. So I stood up and then everybody was like hitting my legs.

And I'm like, get down. So I don't know. I guess you're supposed to get up when they come in and you're supposed to get down when they sit down.

Something like that. Anyway. So DANG BA means to stand when the lama is leaving or coming.

ZHU ZHU NI Some of this is cultural. Some of this is holy or sacred. I mean it's a beautiful thing.

Like you don't have to think I'm going to be Tibetan or something. You're not Tibetan and I'm not either. It's not that we have to imitate all the things that Tibetans do.

They did a lot of bad stuff too. Like we shouldn't cut off prisoners' hands and stuff like that. But I think the sweet things we can copy.

Okay, get up when the lama comes and like that. I think it's sweet. And the reason I'm teaching this is that I want you to teach your students proper, what do you call it, comportment.

They should be graceful and they should be devotional. It's a kind of beautiful thing. It's not a, what do you call it, doctrinal thing.

It's just a kind of affectionate thing. It's a beautiful thing. And it should stay like that.

We shouldn't have bead people who refuse to prostrate properly. It's not like that. It just should be a sweet thing.

I like it. I kind of got into it when I was in the monastery. It's a beautiful thing.

Me and Geshe Lotak were sitting there one night in the debate ground and then Khenpo Rinpoche came with the other abbot, with the abbot before him. And they got to this door that goes upstairs to the administrative offices. And it's this beautiful staircase that goes like this up to the top of the temple.

And then they got to the door and they got stuck in the door. And they were each like... And we were laughing.

We were laughing so hard. And they spent like ten minutes like that. And they were fighting each other.

You go first. No, you go first. But it was beautiful.

It struck me to sit under the stars in the jasmine and you're doing debates and to watch these two holy people fight with each other. It was very beautiful. It was very beautiful.

Okay. ,'SI ZHUS NI CHAG DANG, ,ZHABS ZHUS SOGS DANG, So ZHUS means... What was the third one?

It was similar, right? Pay respect. That also includes prostration and ZHABS ZHUS.

ZHABS ZHUS means in ancient custom in the Middle East and in Asia of washing people's feet, right? So in the old days everybody wore sandals like in Jerusalem. And everything was dirty.

I mean you're walking through... What was the form of transportation? It's horses and cows and they're pooping all over the street.

So everybody has cow poop and horse poop on their shoes. And then it was a custom when you came to the door of the house, you took off your shoes. And then there would be some water there and you would wash your feet because your feet would be covered with mud and poop.

And as Jesus did, it was considered a very humbling thing to wash another person's feet. So it was a big deal when Jesus did it for his disciples, right? And in Tibet you would do it for a Lama.

When they came to the door, you might wash their feet or something like that. I don't like that custom in America. Somebody did that to me in New York and it was cold.

So I'm not saying... I don't know about that one. But something sweet, you know.

Maybe give them a chocolate chip cookie or something like that. ,GZHAB GZIL BA DANG, ,MI PHRA BA, Right? What was that one?

Don't get angry. This has a specific connotation. ,MI PHRA BA NI, ,BLA MA'I BYA BA GRUB PA LA MI PHRA BA, Don't get irritated when the Lama asks you to do something.

So that's much more difficult than not getting angry, right? The Lama says... The Lama picks you to be the one, to do some irritating thing.

And then you have to be... It's a big deal and it's very difficult to be a real attendant or to be a real helper of a Lama. It's very difficult, really difficult.

So they're going to ask you to do some dumb thing like arrange for a notary to walk in the middle of a class and sign a contract. Let's do it. She has to watch me.

Sorry, this has to be said today. So then you don't get irritated. The Lama's job is to find the thing that would most irritate you, to give you.

And your job is to outsmart them and smile and say, Oh, I always wanted to do that. If you have an attendant like that who you can just count on them, you can give them any dirty job there is, then that's a really... It helps the Lama's mission a lot.

They don't have to worry that you're going to say no or maybe, or you're going to delay, or you're going to feel put out, or you're going to feel... What do you call that? Resentful.

It can even grow into resentment. And if you know that... If you're a good disciple, then...

And I can't talk about this all year. I have to give business seminars. Especially in certain countries, I can't show any kind of Buddhist things.

But here I want to. And we're talking in terms of disciple. And then...

Just with complete grace and utter surrender to do what they ask you to do. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing to be that kind of disciple. It's a beautiful life.

Just don't ever refuse. Okay. I can take care of it.

And the only thing that comes out of your mouth is, I'll take care of that. If it really works, you don't get any credit, and you get criticized by the other students. Be like...

It's very beautiful. It's a very beautiful life to do that. Okay.

LEN GANG MI TSUL BAR NI YUL MI BYAS PA YIN How do you say? LEN GANG MI TSUL BAR We said don't argue or something like that?

[Говорящий 2] (40:42 - 40:43)
No, before that.

[Говорящий 1] (40:46 - 1:22:36)
There wasn't one after don't show anger? Oh, okay. He skipped that one.

Anyway, practiced it. What was the next one? He didn't explain that one.

Don't pick a fight. So he skipped the practice one. And then he said don't pick a fight.

Don't pick a fight means... It's interesting, he says... Don't...

It really means don't take a lot of credit. It's okay, so it's not what it sounds like. So you serve your teacher.

You do something for your teacher. And then you don't boast about it. You don't advertise it.

Don't advertise it. Serve your teacher almost anonymously. And that's more powerful.

DE BZHIN DU CHOS DANG CHOS MA BA LA KHYAD SU MI BYAS PA'I KHYAD SU NI NYON MONGS DANG BRAL BA YIN There's an expression in Tibetan called KHYAD SU. It's a very, very... What do you call it?

Dark word. I don't like the word. It's a dark word.

It's a word that we don't have in English. It means to... KHYAD SU MI BYAS PA means almost like blow off your lama or something like that.

Blow them off. Or disregard them. Ignore them.

Ignore their wishes. You can say ignore their wishes. But in a Buddhist context, that's a very heavy thing.

To ignore your teacher's wishes. It's a very heavy thing. So you know what they want and you purposely ignore what they want.

And you do what you want. Something like that. So they give you some advice.

And it's not just a question of not following their advice. It's a question of consciously and purposely... How would you say that?

How do you say it? Yeah, but disregard knowingly. Very knowingly.

Flaunting almost. It's a very strange dark word. So that's how he explains to not do that is what it means to be free of negative emotions.

That was the first one, I think. Way back at the beginning. That's the special negative emotion.

Okay. So that's what it means not to have a negative emotion. NENG AR YI LA MI BYED PA Then he said don't think about the five things, right?

You ready for the five things? Here's the five things. TSUL KHRIMS NYAMS PA It literally means a problem with the person's ethical behavior.

A problem with the person's ethical behavior. So there are two kinds of faults in a teacher's ethical behavior. I mean, you should check and investigate a teacher's behavior before you take them as a teacher.

You should be... What do you call it? Look for scandals?

Look for misbehavior. Financial, sexual, etc. Whatever.

And you should be very demanding. But if they've had a moral lapse and they admit it... I had a teacher who...

He made a mistake and then he admitted it later publicly. Or you're judging the person. Like you say, I like this person as a teacher but when they were packing the car they got upset.

Like that. Then don't judge the teacher. You see what I mean?

Then be careful to select a teacher carefully and to investigate them before you take them as a teacher. Once you undertake that relationship with them then be careful about judging what they do or say. They may be doing it for someone else's benefit.

They may be trying to teach somebody something. And just be careful judging them, their behavior after that. Okay?

So there's two... It's a balance, right? One is, before you take a teacher you should investigate them and you should be demanding.

And you should want to know everything. After you take them as a teacher be careful about judging what they do around people because they may be doing it to teach somebody something. MAWA RIG MAWA means never judge a teacher for their cultural background or racial identity.

It should be colorblind. Choose your teacher colorblind. My root lama is Spanish.

All my other teachers have been Tibetan and now Chinese. I have Chinese teachers. And I was brought up to hate Chinese, right?

I was brought up, not consciously, unconsciously, but now I've been to... I was studying shufa, calligraphy with a teacher a few weeks ago. And then it should be colorblind, okay?

You choose the teacher for their qualities and not for their... for their... what do you call it?

What country they're from or what language they speak or like that. RIG MAWA DU CHA CHA'I NGES PA means their physical appearance, okay? We live in a world where the way we relate to people is very much connected with their physical appearance, okay?

It's subconscious. You can't get through it. You can't get over it.

If the teacher is a woman and she's good looking, she's more likely to attract male students and vice versa, okay? And that's just human nature. We have to try to overcome that nature, okay?

We have to try to relate to the person with what they're saying. I have a yoga teacher. Up to Jenny Brill, right?

She's overweight. She's very short. She has purple...

what do you call it? Highlights all through her hair. And she told me a story.

She told me in the class in Sherman Oaks. We were in class. And she said, I went yesterday.

I gave a class at the resort. And this guy comes into the class. And then I got in front of the class.

And he's like... He did this thing with his eyes. And then she said...

She didn't use the F word, but I know she wanted to. She's like, well, what's the matter? And he's like, you're the teacher?

And she's like, yeah, I'm the teacher. And he says, I don't know if I want to be in your class. And she says, honey, I don't know if I want you in my class.

And she's a really, really fine teacher. She's an extraordinary yoga teacher. We import her for our programs because she's so good.

So be careful. It's human nature to judge someone from their beauty or their handsome or their muscles or like that. And it's wrong.

It's a mistake. Very handsome and beautiful people can be very, very rotten on the inside. And very homely looking people can be very pure on the inside.

And as a Dharma person, you have to be sensitive to that. We just tend to trust beautiful people more and they can burn you really bad. And then people who seem not physically very attractive or whatever, they turn out to be geniuses.

Moral geniuses and spiritual geniuses. And they have an extraordinary beauty. And as you get older in your life, you tend to become capable of making that distinction.

When you're younger, you're always attracted to pretty girls or handsome guys. As you grow older, I think you gain this knowledge to judge a person from their inside. So don't be too hung up on the appearance.

Don't judge a teacher on their appearance. BYA BYED NGAN PA DANG, ZING SDUG BSNGAL PA ZING SDUG BSNGAL PA means their ability to speak in flowery terms. Don't judge them from that.

I think as you also get older, you get wiser in your life. You learn that there's a special class of people who speak so smoothly in flowery words and very politically correct words and they're not saying anything. Afterwards, you're like, what did he say?

And he didn't say anything. And then some people, they don't know how to speak to people. They just blurt out whatever they're thinking.

But in many cases, that's just absolute truth and very accurate. They're not very good at saying things. Maybe not so smoothly, but what they say is truth.

And so we have to kind of learn to overlook the wording and look at what they're saying. Is that five? Okay.

SIG MI NYAM PA MA WA TE That's four. Okay. SIG MI NYAM PA MA WA means the last one.

Well, the fourth one was a poor choice of words. And the fifth one is words that aren't so sweet. Okay.

They don't know how to speak in a flowery way. The fourth one is they don't know eloquent words. Okay, how's that?

I don't know. Anyway, same thing. MA WA TE SNGA LA KHYUN DU DE STE Don't consider these faults of a teacher.

Don't look to a teacher for these things. DOR BA MI BYAS PA DGOS And don't give up a teacher because they don't speak politically correct or something. Listen to what they're saying.

And is it true or not? And then follow them. Okay.

We only have half an hour so I'm not going to give you questions or meditation. His section is starting in the long room now about how to receive a teaching, how to listen during a teaching. GSUM PA NYEN GSUM NGOS LA NYID The way in which to receive a teaching I will cover in two sections.

RGYAL KHYEN NUS KYI KHYUN GSUM PO BA DANG THUNG KHYEN DU SHES GRUB BSTAN PA'O There are things which work against your learning well and there are things which support your learning well. So he's going to talk about things that could prevent you from learning well and then he's going to cover things which will help you to learn well. The first has three and the second has six.

So three things that could disturb your spiritual education. Three things to watch out for. You know these, most of you.

These are called the three problems of the pot. Here we go. This is the source.

A lot of the stuff you've heard before and this is the source of all of them. DANG PO NUS KYI KHYUN GSUM NI If you consider a pot in which you're going to cook some tea or you're going to cook some beans or something, then there would be three problems that could ruin the meal. NUS KHAR BUD PA LTA BU KHYUN A pot which is upside down.

NUS PHYI MA CHEN LTA BU KHYUN A pot which is already filled with something which stinks. NUS KHAR BUD PA LTA BU KHYUN A pot which has a hole in the bottom. These are the three problems.

They're called the three problems of the pot. Upside down, something stinky inside. Right side up, it has a hole in the bottom.

NUS KHAR BUD PA LTA BU KHYUN GSUM NI DANG PO NI Here's the first. NUS KHAR BUD PA LTA BU KHYUN CHU TZAM PO CHU TZAM LUGS KYANG DE NANG DU MIN ROL BA LTAR If you're going to make spaghetti sauce and you're pouring it into the pot but the pot is turned upside down, it doesn't matter how good the sauce is. Like, what's that guy?

Paul Newman's. It's pretty good. But if you pour it in the pot, the pot's upside down, it's not going to...

It doesn't matter how good it is. It doesn't matter how good the Dharma is if the student's not receptive. If the student's just not open.

It doesn't matter how good the teaching is. DONGS MI NI DE NANG DU MIN ROL BA LTAR LUS KHYER BRAL TU DE KYANG Your body physically is sitting in the teaching but SNAR BA LAS PA MI STOD PAR SEMS YIN You're not listening. You're sitting in the class but you're not listening.

That's a little different than what we might expect, right? When we said open. He's giving it a spin.

He's saying, probably some guy was asleep in the class or something. This is all a record of a class, right? So, somebody was physically in the class but they weren't paying attention.

SEMS YANG NAS DEBS PA They were sitting there and they were thinking about something else. GANG SEMS PA YANG MI SHES PA CHU BRAL DU MA DEBS PA DANG BRAL BA YONG If you sit in a class thinking about something else, which is the opposite of present moment meditation, right? So that's why we're doing present moment meditation before the class.

If you're sitting in a class and thinking about what you're going to do after the class or thinking about what happened to you before the class or last week or your third boyfriend before, then it doesn't matter how good the teaching is. He says, CHU BRAL DU MA DEBS PA DANG BRAL It's almost the same as if you weren't there. It's almost the same as if you hadn't come to the retreat.

If you sit in the retreat and you don't pay attention to what's happening and your mind is on something else, then it's pretty much the same as if you had not left Guadalajara or Tepoztlan or wherever you're from. CHU BRAL DU MA DEBS PA DANG BRAL CHU BRAL DU MA DEBS PA DANG BRAL DES NA RIGS DRAG DRAG LA CHAGS PA BZHIN DU BSAM PA THAMS CAD KYIS NYAN DGOS Therefore, you should listen as intently as a RIGS DRAG. RIGS DRAG means any kind of wild animal, but specifically it's usually, in this case, a deer.

Deer are said in Tibetan... I don't know. I used to hunt deer, but their ears are very, very...

They have huge ears, right? And they're like radar. They can hear you.

You can't hunt a deer. You pick a tree and you sit there. And if you're lucky, they walk by.

And if you're not, you just get called. Because you can't move. You can't move because their ears are so sensitive.

But they say in Tibet that they love music. They really love music. So I checked it out.

I have lots of deer come up to my house. So, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago, this doe came with two fawns. And she came up.

You surprise them, right? You walk out the door and they're standing there and you're like... And then I said, I'm going to check out this long-rimmed thing.

And I sang the mandala. And they didn't move. They just went like...

So they say you should be like a... You should listen in the class like a deer. Okay, like that.

,DAR LHAG DANG LA CHAGS PA BZHIN DU BSAMS PA, ,THAMS CAD KYIS NYAN DGOS, ,BSAMS PA THAMS CAD BYAS PA NI, ,BSAMS PA BYAS KYIS CHUN YIN, He says you should listen with your full attention. And then he wants to define what he means by listening with your full attention. What I mean by full attention is, he says, ,BSAMS PA BYAS KYIS CHUN YIN, ,CHES GZHAN DU YANG PA LTA BU MI BYA BAR, Don't listen to the teaching with half your mind and then think about what's for dinner with half your mind.

Or your current problems. Everyone thinks they're special, right? Everyone thinks their problem is unique.

I've been to almost every country. They're all the same. And everyone in this room is having some kind of problems.

Then you're here because if you learn something, you can stop those problems. So don't think about the problems. Don't split your attention.

Okay, I have a problem. So does everybody else. Health problem, relationship problem, something.

But when you're in the class, focus on the class. Let the problem be for a while. Maybe you'll learn something that you can use for the problem.

All right? Don't split your attention. ,LTA BU MI BYA BAR, ,THAMS CAD GZHAN DUG PA'I DANG YIN, Devote your total attention to the class.

See, the reason I'm going through this especially is I want you to teach it to your students. And it's always easier if you do it in the guise of a book of an existing book. You see?

If you say, I'm teaching you Pabongka's Lam Rim, it's a lot easier to tell people bad news. You see what I mean? If you say, I decided you don't listen in class, or I don't want you to listen with half your mind, they won't pay much attention, or they might get offended.

So always find a text that you can quote. I'm just reading the text. I'm not saying it applies to you.

But the text says, the text says, don't sit in the class and think about what you have to do, or work on your computer, or wander around. Like, what do you call it? Zone in.

Just totally link to the teacher during the class. Just totally, totally link. Like a communication download.

And just be like that. And let it pour into you. Don't think about other stuff.

If you want to think about other stuff, then go get your iPhone back, and go to Prescott or something, and check into a motel. The reason you came here was to get filled up. So don't block it by thinking about other stuff.

I want you to teach this to your students. How you teach it to them is a little touchy, right? How do you teach a student to be respectful to a teacher is a little self...

What do you call it? Yeah. What do you call it?

There's a conflict of interest, you see? Oh, every student should give all their money to their teacher. You know, I mean, you gotta...

I offered to teach this so that it would be on record, and you could just play the recording for your students. You know, Geshe Michael said, you shouldn't walk around during the class, or work on your computer, or something. You know, you should pay attention.

Any class, okay? It doesn't matter, okay? I went to Ken Riverside's classes.

I went to all of his classes for 30 years. I went to his alphabet class in the 30th year. And I learned something.

And I didn't work on my computer in the back. I put all my stuff away. I sat there in the back of his alphabet class, and he taught ka, and ka, and ka.

And I had heard it 3,000 times. And I paid attention, and I learned something new. I learned about how to teach.

You see? So don't think, oh, I heard that before. I can work on my computer, or something like that.

Then don't come. It really disturbs the energy of the class also. Every time you think of something else, it disturbs the combined mental energy of the class.

Other people can sense it, okay? It's weird. It's really weird.

Especially during meditation. If you're meditating in a group, or you're taking a teaching in a group, and you think of something else, you have hurt every other person in the room. It's very strange, okay?

They can sense it. There's something in the communal attention that is broken when you think of something else. So if nothing else, Lama Christi always does this cool thing.

She puts this guilt trip on people in the meditation class. The person next to you was about to see emptiness directly. And you sniffed.

And you wrecked it. You know? No, it's true though.

It's like that. Every time you think of something else, or every time you're wandering around in a class, or making noise, or working on your computer, it subtly disturbs the rest of the class. Even if it's just mental.

Inside your mind, quietly, you're thinking about, I don't know, the heart power yoga cartoon. It's so cool. You gotta look it up.

It's called heart power yoga, but after you get out. So be careful in class, okay? Don't disturb the other people.

If you don't want to pay attention, then don't come in. I'm not being mean or something. It won't work.

Either devote your whole time to the class, or don't come. And then wait till you can devote your whole time. But once you're here, just listen carefully.

Even if you heard it 10,000 times before. Alright. RIGS DRAG DRAG LA CHAGS NAS NYEN GAB GSUR NAS NGON PA'I BDAG PHANGS KYANG MI SHES PA LTAR DGOS PA YIN So there's a tradition in Tibet that says, if you play music for a deer, or if they hear some beautiful sound, they will be so engrossed in the sound, that they will not hear the hunter draw his arrow and kill him.

You see what I mean? The hunter can make a lot of noise, but the deer won't hear it, because they're so engrossed. So you should be totally engrossed in the teaching.

Like as if you're listening to a really good piece of music or something. You should learn to do that. Like a lot of us, I enjoy music.

And I enjoy science fiction novels. And I enjoy certain movies. And when I get a good one, then I'm like, what was that book?

I don't remember. I read it two weeks ago. I couldn't stop.

It was 800 pages. It was like Robert Jordan or something like that. But I couldn't stop.

For 800 pages I couldn't stop. And it ruined all my classes and everything. But learn to do that with the teaching.

There are certain people who can do it, and there are certain people who don't try. At least you should know that there is such a place. There's a zone.

You can get into a zone in a teaching where you are sitting with the Buddha, and there's nobody else on the planet. And you're sitting in a cave in the Himalayas, outside on a ledge, on a cliff. And the Buddha is speaking to you privately.

Has come down to this planet to speak to you. You go into a zone in a teaching. And it's good to develop the skill to learn to listen to music.

In my grade school, they taught you how to listen to music. And that was a wonderful thing. To teach people how to be quiet and listen to music.

Or teach you how to get into a book. Or teach you how to watch a good video. To listen to a Dharma teaching is a similar skill.

And you can learn it. But you have to know there is such a thing. There's a zone, and you can get into it.

But you can't do it if you're thinking about some other stuff, or you're walking around. When you walk into a teaching, and someone's teaching Dharma, go into the zone and stay there. Learn to do it.

Learn to go into a zone. And you're just like... And you open your consciousness to that person.

And it's a beautiful skill to have. So if you don't have it, try to develop it. Try to imagine.

What's it mean to go into a zone during a teaching and then try to find that place. And it's very powerful. It's really beautiful.

It's like if you didn't know how to read a novel, or you didn't know how to listen to music. Taking a teaching is a similar skill. It's a skill to go into a zone during a teaching.

So try. Try to feel it. Try to go there.

Okay. Like a deer who doesn't hear the arrow being pulled. We have a few more minutes.

I'm going to use all the time because I'm afraid we're going to get behind in the 10-year plan. GNYIS PA NI Second problem of the pot. What was that?

Something stinky in the pot already. GNYIS PA NI NUS KA BUR PA MA YIN GYANG Even if the pot is turned right side up, GNYIS PA NI NUS KA BUR PA MA YIN GYANG DE'I RNAM DU MI TZAM BA DANG THUGS SOGS YOD NA If there's already something... MI TZAM BA means...

It means dirty like poop or pus or old rotten something. Or THUGS. THUGS means poison.

If the pot is already infected with something lesser. CHU SANG PO LUS KYANG Even if you pour something beautiful into it, LONG CHOS MI RUNG BA LTAR You can't eat that food, right? You put Paul Newman's spaghetti sauce on top of something that rotted three weeks ago.

And then you try to eat that. The sauce is good. But what was in the pot before made the sauce inedible.

LAS PA STE KYANG You can have a student who is listening to the teaching engrossed. They are engrossed in the teaching. But KUN LONG DGA' ZHIG GIS But they have a defective motivation for being there in the first place.

So his version of pre-existing rottenness is your motivation. You have a lesser motivation. And it will...what do you call it? It will pollute the new teaching that is poured into you. He gives some examples. THUGS RGYAL CHEN PO CHEN YANG PA DANG Some people just see dharma teachings like collecting baseball cards or something.

Like, I have more dharma teachings. Did you get the Yamantaka? Yeah, yeah, I got that.

I got it from six lamas. And then you are like, Yeah, but did you get... Did you get great samadhi?

Come on, I got great samadhi from the Dalai Lama. They are just collecting new impressive things that they can tell people they got. Like that.

That's one kind of pot that's dirty. Pre-dirty? Pre-existing dirty.

DGA' ZHIG GIS CHEN LA SHES NYAM PA SOGS KYIS NYAM PA YOD KYANG Some people are overly interested in the fact that they are just collecting a new teaching so that they can give another new class to other people. I'll have another thing that I can teach and charge for. Something like that.

If I go to that teaching, I'll be able to teach Lady Niguma. Not in a good way, in a bad way. Then people will think I'm smarter.

I'll collect new shtiks that I can perform and get more attention or money. Like that. DGOS NA DGA' ZHIG GIS CHEN LA SHES NYAM PA SOGS KYIS NYAM PA YOD KYANG DE RNAM PAR ZHAG NAS RANG NYID CHI PO ZHIG DON DU NYES KYIS KUN RNGUB LTA BU NYEN KYANG He says, well, suppose you are a little better than that.

You came with a better motivation, but your motivation is RANG NYID CHI PO ZHIG DON DU NYES KYIS KUN RNGUB LTA BU In your heart, the reason you came to the teaching was that you yourself would like to be privately happy. I want to be peaceful and I want to be happy. And you're not thinking about other people.

Even that is a lower motivation. Even that is a pollution, he says. Just to come and think, if I go to that teaching and if it's all true, then my relationship will work out, and I'll have more money, and my health will get better.

And he's saying, even that is a lower, even that is a polluted motivation. I think we should say, there's an adjective, that in itself, that alone is defective. That as a foundation is fine.

If you're thinking, I'll straighten my life out, and then I can help other people straighten their life out, that's a good motivation. If I get my act together, then I can help other people get their act together. Then that's a good motivation.

He's talking, I'll get my act together, and I don't care about other people getting their act together. To help other people, you have to get your own act together. If your motivation is to get your own act together, that's fine, if you're building on it.

You can't be an unhappy person and be teaching people how to be happy. It's suspicious. We're in a new market, right?

We're in an open market. In most countries, they haven't had any good Dharma, or not much. So you don't have any competition.

You can walk in with NAM DANG LAG LTANG, and you can teach it, and people will listen, because it's new, and no one else is teaching it. But as the field gets more saturated, as there's more teachers, and as there's more teachings coming to the West, it applies to yoga also. The people who teach yoga and obviously don't do yoga, or the people who teach Dharma and are obviously unhappy, nobody will come to them.

There's no point. People aren't stupid. If you're teaching something and you're obviously not doing it, then people will just...

Unless you're the only act in town, when there's other acts in town, they'll start to fade. People will leave you, because you're teaching how to be happy, and you're obviously aggressive, or you're obviously nervous all the time, or like that. Then what's the point?

Who's going to come? They come in the beginning, because there's no place else to go. But that will change.

So you have to be... The best way to teach is to just be an example. People don't do what you say.

People do what you do. I can get up here and teach all day, but probably you're going to act kind of like whatever I do. Then that's more difficult.

Then I have to do the right thing. People will copy whatever you do. As a teacher, people will imitate you.

No matter what you talk about, they will imitate your behavior. I mean, all teaching is done by example. All right.

THA BUG KYANG BDUN NO PHYI MA CAN GYI RKYEN DU GSUNGS PAS Therefore, to have a lower motivation, I would like to be happy myself. But to actively exclude other people, that's a lower motivation. To include other people is fine.

I want to be happy myself, because then I'll be in a position to be an example for other people. That's good. That's a good motivation.

RKYEN DU GSUNGS PAS DE NA BYANG CHUB KYI SEMS MA THAR CHOS MA TSUN CHAD KYIS KUN NAS BLANGS TE NYAN DGOS Therefore, we should listen with some kind of bodhichitta. What is bodhichitta? I don't know.

It's a hard word to... The word is dangerous. The word means Buddha mind, right?

Bodhichitta. So it has given rise to many unfortunate translations. Like enlightened mind.

Enlightenment mind. Or altruistic intention. I don't know.

When was the last time you heard altruistic used in English? Never. I can't think I've ever heard it used in a conversation.

So don't confuse words. Don't use words that nobody uses. Bodhichitta means a vision of an enlightened world.

A vision of a world that could be enlightened. What does enlightened mean? No war.

No hunger. No poverty. No unhappiness.

And no death. To imagine a world like that is bodhichitta. It's not Buddha mind or something like that.

It's just a bad translation. It's the vision of a world. And it's some cool stuff happening.

I mean DCI, we made a list of the cities that we either had invitations to or we're actively working in. Or we've expressed some interest. There's 150 cities around the world.

We can only do about 7 cities in a year. Or 10, 12 cities in a year. So it's 150 places on all 5 continents.

Want this stuff. They really want this stuff. It could become, it is global.

It has become global. The DCI, the work we're doing is irrespective of borders. There's no consideration anymore of borders.

We just call it cities. We have 150 cities. We don't pay any attention to what country they're in.

Because they're all just cities of the globe. What I'm saying is that if you get a chance to go on a DCI tour, you will get this feeling that it's viable or it's possible that you could change the whole world. We're in a position to do that.

Practically speaking. I'm not just talking, you sit in your room and you say, this is a mandala, right? This is supposed to be bodhichitta.

Oh, I have a vision of a perfect world. It's very vague and it's kind of like somewhere a thousand years in the future or something like that. Don't be like that.

The 150 largest cities in the world all want this. And they're asking. And it's changing.

The world is changing. It's very strange. It's really strange.

We went to Ukraine, okay? We were in Kiev after Sofia. And all these people came.

They said, where are you from? We're flying in from Moscow. And we're like, who are you?

We are Uralsim. And I said, what's Uralsim? You don't know Uralsim?

And they're like, no, I don't know Uralsim. What is it? I don't know.

Then they're like, we're the largest company in Russia. We have 30,000 employees. We own most of the oil factories and the banks.

And I said, I'm sorry, I didn't know. And they're like, every employee is required to read the Diamond Cutter when they're hired for the last three years. The owner requires every employee to read the Diamond Cutter.

In Russian, right? Something like, I never heard of you and I never heard of that. Who printed it anyway?

I'm not getting any royalties. Which is another problem. But things are changing.

Things are really changing. So to have that vision that it's possible, without the trappings of religion, to promote a worldview which says, you will get whatever your heart desires if you take care of other people first. If you provide it to other people first, you will get what your heart desires.

And if you can instill that worldview, without religious thing. I wear a suit, right? Then you would have a world where people were just helping other people constantly.

And it would make them successful. And the whole world would change. It can happen.

It's just a viewpoint. It's not a religion. We are very close to that.

And that's bodhicitta. To have that vision that it's possible in your lifetime to contribute to an effort that brings peace to the entire world in a practical way. That your teaching is required reading in an oil corporation in Moscow for 20,000-30,000 employees.

It's possible. It's coming. So then have that vision that you have to contribute to that as a teacher.

You have to learn these things. And then you have to turn people on to them. And then bodhicitta isn't some blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's like, okay, next week we're going to San Jose. Or San Juan. And you make it happen where you can.

And that's bodhicitta. And that's why you should come to a teaching. That should be in the back of your mind.

I can change the world. And it's possible in my lifetime to overcome poverty and suffering in this planet. You see?

It's very practical. It's very possible. It's coming.

You can help. And that's why you should be here. Nothing less.

Don't cheapen it with some other thing. Oh, I have a bad back. Or my boyfriend is not cooperative.

Don't cheapen it with those lesser motivations. You can have those motivations. I'm going to fix my back and my boyfriend and thereby save the world.

That's okay because if you figure out a way to do the first two, then you can save the world. And if you can't figure out a way to do the first two, you can't save the world. Then who wants you?

People have boyfriend problems and people have back problems. If you can't help them with that, they're not going to listen to some other thing. Whatever you're teaching should be able to help those things.

Because that's part of happiness, right? So in the class, think, I will perfect my own life with these teachings. I will become a truly happy person.

I will get all the things I dream of. That's your first job. Then I'll be in a position to preach to others.

Then I'll be in a position to offer something to others. And then come with that motivation. You will learn things in this class that will help you acquire everything your heart desires.

And I have everything. Then you can help other people. You can teach other people.

You can give them something. So have that in your mind. It's cool because you get to eat your cake and have it too.

Have your cake and eat it. You get all the things you ever wanted. And then you have something.

Because you've done it, you can explain to others how to do it. So what's your task? What should your motivation be?

I want to come to the teachings and get everything I ever wanted. Everything my heart desires. And then I can help other people.

Then I'll be in a position to help other people. Then you get what you want and you help others. And then what else do you need?

You don't need anything else.