«Дар освобождения», курс 6 «Ретрит страсти», занятие 13

[Говорящий 1] (0:03 - 56:30)
The first time I had the chance to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama personally, privately, I think I was about Eden's age. It's an old story, but I was with my mother who was very ill, terminally ill at the time. We went to see Him in His home.

Then we had introductions and she embarrassed me by offering Him a crucifix, which He seemed to really enjoy. The first thing He said, He turned to me and He said, Well, did you ever take drugs? I'm sitting with my mom who doesn't know I ever took drugs.

I didn't take a lot of drugs. I took like two or three times to see what it was like. It was nearby here in a canyon, a very beautiful canyon.

It has water and caves. You can stay there for a long time. It's called Sycamore Canyon.

You can find it. It's hard to find. Me and some friends did masculine, which is, I don't know.

Is it peyote? No, no. It's related to peyote.

I had a wonderful time. I thought I heard angels singing and all kinds of beautiful visions. Then I told Him that.

But the striking thing about it was I was totally present. I was in the moment. I didn't have any thoughts about the past or the future.

I got terribly sunburned. We took off most of our clothes. But you don't think about it.

You're just enjoying every single thing directly in the moment. We talked about it. He and I talked about it.

Then He said, you should meditate because then you can get there anytime you want. Maybe you can stay there most of the day without the downside of taking a drug. The first line of the fourth chapter of the Yoga Sutra says the same thing.

It talks about orshada, which means herbs. So I tried that. I didn't need to take drugs after that.

I never took them again. So you have this capacity to be in the present moment. But that's only a tool.

It's not a goal. It doesn't help to watch your breath indefinitely because one day it'll just stop. Then you're stuck.

Or it doesn't help just to be here in the present moment. Sooner or later you're going to have to go to the bathroom or go get some Cheerios. It's a tool.

They are both tools. Watching your breath and being in the present moment are both tools. Then you turn those instruments, you can call it a telescope or a microscope, but you turn the instrument to something higher.

Then whatever you turn that instrument to will be burned into your consciousness and your subconsciousness. So it should be something important. Like how to get a boyfriend.

Something like that. No, really. When I say that I mean it should be trained, the instrument should be trained upon how do I alter my course of my life and my reality?

How do I manifest a new career that's really exciting to me? Or a new project or a new idea. Like a Steve Jobs sort of mentality.

How do I get that? Or how am I going to help get solar panels to a million poor people? Something like that.

It should be trained upon, when you learn to meditate, then that skill should be turned upon the higher questions of life. Otherwise it's just masculine. All right, here we go.

,GZHAN SOGS MI LTAG PA'I TSUL KHRIMS SES BU, We were talking about, before you get on the seat to teach, you should recite that verse from the Diamond Cutter Sutra. I am like a star. I am like, what do you call it?

A cataract in the eye. I am like a candle burning down. I am like an illusion.

I am like the morning dew melting in the sunlight. I am like a bubble about to pop. My life is like a dream.

My life will pass like a lightning flash. My life will form and then dissipate like a cloud. This is the way of all things.

And I'm no different. Then you snap your fingers and then you get on the throne. Then you get up to teach.

,MI LTAG PA'I TSIG LTUN TE, Recite these words of impermanence. ,TSE RGOL RTOGS means snap your fingers. ,MI LTAG PA'I SKYE GCIG MA YIN YAM, Those of you who know Tibetan, you have to be careful there.

It says SKYE GCIG MA YIN. You could read it as SKYE GCIG MA YIN or you could read it as SKYE GCIG MA YIN. And it should be SKYE GCIG MA YIN.

In that case the MA is not negative. It means I am something of a moment. I am momentary.

I am something that lasts only a moment. SKYE GCIG MA YIN. That's the definition of impermanence in philosophy.

SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, GCIG, GCIG. Say SKYE GCIG YIN. SKYE GCIG.

SKYE GCIG means instant. SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG means instant by instant. SKYE GCIG means rising and dissolving by the instant.

SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, SKYE GCIG, GCIG. MI THAG PA'I TSE NI. Definition of impermanence.

SNYAM DU, GANG SEMS GZIL GYI SNGON DGOS So you know GZIL GYI SNGON DGOS, right? It's like overwhelm somebody. Queen Elizabeth is standing in a group of other lesser nobility.

She's got this aura of authority about her. But here we're trying to GZIL GYI SNGON DGOS GANG SEMS. GANG means arrogance or pride about being a teacher. GANG SEMS GZIL GYI SNGON.

You have to suppress those thoughts of, what do you call it? Pride. What's another one?

What is it? It's like arrogance. Arrogance is kind of evil.

It's conceited. It's kind of conceited. GZIL GYI SNGON DGOS.

DE MIN GCIG TU MA BSTAN DU GDUG SKABS DA RE RANG AA PO NGA YIN NYAM DU. Say AA PO. NGA YIN.

I'm the man. Otherwise, you're going to get into this thing like, I'm the man. I'm really big thing.

I'm really hot stuff. It's literally, I'm the man. PO means man.

MO means woman. AA PO. I'm the man.

GZIL GYI SNGON DGOS. NGA RGYAL means what? Pride.

What do the pieces mean? I am king. NGA RGYAL PO.

The Tibetan word for pride is I king. NGA RGYAL. It can be a good thing in high spiritual practices where you identify with a deity or an angel.

But at other times, when you're teaching, it's just conceited or arrogant. I'm better than all these people I'm teaching. Like that.

I'm somebody big. DGE YONG GSUM. DE NAS DUD TZAR CHOS PA'I SNGAGS DON PAR GSUNGS KYANG CHAGS SHES SU DE'I DUS DU SHES RABS SNYING PO RDOG PA BYED ZAS DE NAS DUD TZAR CHOS PA'I SNGAGS DON PAR GSUNGS KYANG The oral tradition of our lineage is that after that, you should recite a mantra which prevents negative influences during the teaching.

You can call it spirit influences. But we talked about it before. It's more like you're keeping a good diet.

You're doing good yoga. You're eating like Anatole told you to eat. And then suddenly you get this wave of thought comes to your mind like, I need a box of chocolates.

And I read that they are good for your heart. No, there's this whole justification comes along with it. In the moment.

I mean, it only lasts like five minutes. You want to do something. You're doing good with your practice.

You're self-controlled. You're having a good discipline. And then suddenly this wave comes to your mind with justification.

With a justification. This girl's pretty cute. She doesn't like her boyfriend that much.

And she needs to be liberated. And then a day later, you're like, what did I do? When you recite, there's a mantra you can recite that will prevent that kind of thought wave going through the teaching, during the teaching.

Or another thought wave that goes through the teaching is like, you start thinking about tomorrow. It's very hard the day before you leave a spiritual time. I used to go to the monastery a lot.

It's very hard to concentrate up to the last moment without thinking about next week. So try. DUSAR BCOS PA means, in the teaching, the teacher would do a mantra and that would block thoughts of the flight home or what you're doing next week.

It would block those influences. It's not like the demons are not big hairy monsters that eat you in your bed at night. It's not like that.

They're just like, it's only half a tube of Pringles left. And I can either eat them one by one or I can just finish them off now. And then they won't be there to tempt me all week.

And it just seems perfectly reasonable. So we have to cut. There's a mantra.

He says KYANG, but CHAGS SHES SU In our current lineage, DE'I DUS DU means, in substitution of that custom of reciting that particular mantra, we recite SHES RAB SNYING PO, which is what? The Heart Sutra. SNYING PO means heart.

The Heart Sutra. In our tradition, current tradition, we recite the Heart Sutra. RDOG PA BYAS RDOG PA BYAS means, how do you say?

RDOG PA means you recite the Heart Sutra and then you do a special short prayer. The Dhamma will go like this. RDOG PA means to repel negative influences.

So there's a special verse that you can recite. There are three different RDOG PAs in current tradition. They're called RDOG SHER ZENGSUM.

RDOG means RDOG DGAR PO, which means, it's a tantra called the White Parasol. And then SHES RAB SNYING PO is the Heart Sutra. And then ZENGS means, GANG SDOM PA ZENGS RGYAS SDOM PA CAN, which means a special lady angel who has the face of a lion.

We can learn them someday. If you want, we can learn them someday. But you recite the Heart Sutra, then you do this RDOG PA.

And it repels the... Many people's minds concentrate during the teaching. Then the minute you open the teaching, everybody starts blabbing in the cafeteria.

You'll experience that today. By the way, you should blab in the cafeteria. When you leave here this morning, I want you to start collaborating.

I want you to start making crazy plans with other people. You come to Mexico City. I'll come to Bulgaria.

Like that. You should have these little plots going on. Revolutionary cells forming.

I like that. It's fun. It's fun to make connections globally.

I'm encouraging you to hit on somebody in a Dharma way. Say, hey, let's go teach Lam Rim together. You come to my country.

I'll come to your country. It's a lot of fun. Life should be fun.

You should do crazy and creative things. Don't worry about the money. Anatole and Adriana get everywhere in the world somehow.

They don't have any money at all. They just do it. They're in Paris one week, and they're in Beijing the next week.

If you really want to, you can figure it out. DE NAS SBYOR BA'I PHYIR GDUG, BSTAN DUR YANG DANG BYAS PA STE This is a difficult thing. Let me see.

SBYOR BA'I PHYIR GDUG means the six preliminary practices. They involve the preliminaries that we just did. But they're a little bit more than that.

We're going to study them when we get there. BSTAN DUR YANG DANG BYAS PA STE means it's a custom to use certain verses of poetry that are sung with a certain melody. BSTAN DUR means you could do it slow or you could do it fast.

NI RGYAS BDAG GIS DUG PA THOB RGYIS NA, That would be a fast one. BSTAN DUR would be something like, BSTAN DUR And you go through it slow. We have to make Western melodies to dance.

This is a little hard. BYAS TE, DGE BAR PA GSUM PA'I DUG BSKAM PA RGYAS LA RGYA TSOG, CHAGS CHE YIN Then that custom began in the 1700s with a Lama called Rgyas La Rgyas Tsog. CHAGS CHE YIN DE YANG RJES DUG BSKAM PA CHEN PO'I LAM RIM GSUNGS SKABS, SBYOR CHUD DANG YANG RING POR GSUNGS PAS, YUL RING DGOS BA Then there was a Lama of our tradition named Dukkhangpa.

I believe he was Pabongka's grandfather Lama. LAM RIM GSUNGS SKABS When he would teach the LAM RIM, CHUD DANG, he would stretch out the preliminaries. He would do them really slow.

The whole sky is covered with flowers. He'd go on for like an hour. I heard that about Lama Tsopa that he gets on a flight from LA to New York and they serve lunch.

Then he starts his prayers over the lunch. They serve lunch over in Nevada or something. Then they get over New Jersey and he's still doing his prayers.

I heard that the steward or stewardess would come and say, we have to land now, you have to put your seat up. He says, okay, take the food. He doesn't get to the food.

So like that. Then his students got irritated. They're like, could we have a little teaching already?

Because you're spending the whole time in the teaching singing the preliminaries. RGA ZHIG GIS GSUNGS SHES KYI YIN LA GNOD PAS Some people complained. SBYOR BYED RDI LE DUD TZAM ZAD NA Then they use the honorific.

ZAD NA means, if Holy Lama were to respectfully abbreviate the offering verses slightly, the class could go on. The holy teaching could go on a little longer. RDI LE DUD TZAM ZAD NA KHYAD CHAG CI SEMS NGOS What the hell are you talking about?

ZHUGS BSHAD MA LAS DU MDOR MI MDO Whether or not the teaching goes well depends on how we do the preliminaries. LAS DU MDOR DI LA RGAR LAS PA YIN ZIN NAS DU AR MA RNAMS He respectfully refused to shorten the preliminaries. DU AR MA RNAMS NA RA ZHIG PA LTAR CHA CHUD LANG GI RIM PA RTOG PA'I GNAS DANG PO CHUD DANG DI NAS EK YAS RE BA CHE DGOS PA LA As I was mentioning earlier, this is a different kind of class.

It's not like an engineering class where you would hear about a theory of engineering and then go home and try to make something that embodied what you learned in the class, in a Lam Rim class. By the way, there's a time for that also. That's a different kind of teaching.

But a Lam Rim class is a different style of class. During the class, you try to have a breakthrough. You don't collect the information and go home and sit down and have a breakthrough.

You try to have a breakthrough during the class, which means that you have to apply the ideas being talked about to your own self immediately during the class. The Lama talks about jealousy. The minute the Lama starts talking about jealousy, you start scanning your heart for jealousy and try to use whatever methods he mentions or she mentions immediately on your own heart.

Ideally, he says, as I mentioned before, you would be having breakthroughs here in the class. DE LTAR GYEL BA LA TSOG BSAGS DRIB BYANG This is very interesting. To have a breakthrough requires TSOG BSAGS and DRIB BYANG.

Say it. TSOG BSAGS DRIB BYANG TSOG BSAGS DRIB BYANG TSOG BSAGS means pull together some heavy good karma quickly. Pull together some heavy good karma quickly.

TSOG BSAGS DRIB BYANG means purify some heavy bad karma quickly. The idea is could you TSOG BSAGS and DRIB BYANG in the class before you start the teaching? Could you do some heavy good karma collection and remove some bad seeds after you sit down and before the teacher starts teaching the subject?

We did that already today. Bowing down to your Lama, making a gift, that's TSOG BSAGS. Thinking about something negative you did in the last week, that's DRIB BYANG.

Then enjoying what you've done good this week, enjoying what someone else did good this week, that's going back to TSOG BSAGS. Then thinking about what you'd like to be asking your teacher to teach you, asking your teacher to stay, that's TSOG BSAGS. So in those preliminaries to meditation, we're covering TSOG BSAGS and DRIB BYANG.

Then those should be done before you do something important. If you're going to have a big business meeting, or you're going to meditate, or you're going to have a class, then you should do a quick TSOG BSAGS and DRIB BYANG. BYANG BA LA SKYE BA LA TSOG BSAGS and DRIB BYANG DANG SONG DEBS SOGS LA RANG ROL PA'I PHYIR DU BSGOM PA YIN PAS SONG DEBS means asking your teacher for help, even just mentally.

In your mind, you send your teacher a message, help me during this class. I want to have a breakthrough during the class. Because I know once I get on the plane, that notebook's going to go on the shelf and start preventing dust from dirtying the shelf.

I know that. I know I'm not going to have time. I'm going to hit Guelph, Canada.

Mom's going to want me to come over and she's going to cook me a big spaghetti dinner and I'm going to have to clean all the dishes. There's just not going to be time and I know that. I know how it's going to go.

So let me have a breakthrough now that I can take home with me. So you're asking, is it having good karma? Asking your teacher, help me have a breakthrough in this class before this class lets up.

RANG ROL PA'I PHYIR DU BSGOM PA YIN PAS The preliminary practices were designed to help you have a breakthrough. PHYIR DU BSGOM PA means they were purposely designed. YIN PAS SBYOR BCUG GI SKABS KHA YANG MIG YANG YUN GUS MI GZOD PA Then he says, don't do the following while Geshe-la is going through the preliminaries before the meditation.

KHA YANG means your mouth gets distracted. Which means you start whispering to your neighbor or something like that. MIG YANG means your eyes get distracted.

The Lama's going through the preliminaries and your eyes are wandering around the room. Yesterday in yoga class our teacher told us, why don't we keep your eyes on your mat today? I had teachers tell me that in yoga.

They said, Geshe-la, everybody else is doing okay. You don't have to support them with your eyes. You just concentrate on your yoga.

MIG YANG YUN GUS means killing time. When's he going to finish the preliminary time? YUN GUS MI GZOD PA means I really wish he'd get on to something new and exciting and not keep going over the same preliminaries.

MI GZOD PA MI PHYIR PA, don't be like that. CHOS THON GYI RING GI MI KHOR GYI NYAM SNONG CHOS BDEB GYI RANG NA SKYE BA'I CHOS DU SAGS BYONG I want to have a breakthrough. On the subject that's being taught today in the class.

MI KHOR GYI NYAM SNONG I want to have a personal spiritual realization. LHAG BU NI GANG I want to have an epiphany sitting right here in the class. MI GZOD PA MI PHYIR PA, CHOS BDEB GYI RING GI MI KHOR GYI NYAM SNONG CHOS BDEB GYI RANG NA SKYE BA'I CHOS DU In order to do that, I have to SAGS BYONG.

I have to collect some good karma, even in the class. I have to clean some negativities even in the class. You can't think about your last partner and be angry at them and have a breakthrough in the class.

Really, you have to clean it before the class starts. Clean whatever heartbreak or anger you have and then get down to the class and you can have a spiritual breakthrough there. If you carry the bitterness into the class, it'll poison the class and you won't have a breakthrough.

You have to leave it all at the door. Then come into the class clean. Then you're open and you're ready to have a breakthrough.

CHOS BDEB GYI RING GI MI KHOR GYI NYAM SNONG CHOS BDEB GYI RING GI MI KHOR GYI NYAM SNONG Very important. DE NAS MANG DOL DRUG NAS CHAGS PA'I U LA THUG NAS DGOS RLONG CHOS PA Then there's a custom. We do the mandala, which we forgot to do today.

SA SHES BU GYI RJUS SHING What is this thing? This thing here in the middle is Mount Meru. In the geography of ancient times, there was a central mountain, an axis of the world.

What do they call that in the Yoga Sutra? The axis thing. The pole star.

Dhruva. It's called Dhruva. There's a central...

The world doesn't form around a molten core of magnetic junk. The world forms around a big pole, like a central mountain. That's called Sumeru or Mount Meru.

When you do this, this is the central mountain. Then there's four places where the fingers cross, where the thumbs are holding and the first fingers are holding. These are the four great continents of ancient geography, cosmology.

In each direction there are four continents. When we did the mandalas yesterday, which Rosa and her crew did so beautifully, then they each had their own color and their own direction. That was represented in the sun mandala.

When you offer this thing before the class, you're offering all the beautiful things in the world. You're saying all the birds who are flying right now and singing. All the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

All the mothers who are kissing their children right now. You can make it really beautiful. It's really beautiful.

Then you say, I offer that as payment for the class. That's a mandala. Mandala also implies that you think of the world as enlightened already.

Then you offer that for the class. LEN DANG DUG NAS CHAGS PA'I U LA'I DUG NAS Then there's a custom to take the scripture. The colloquial word for scripture is pecha, which sort of means an impression of a print.

Pecha. Then you're supposed to touch it to your head. I heard Edgar Cayce used to sleep with a book under his head and then in the morning he would remember it all or something.

Maybe it's like that. You're hoping something will happen. In Asia, when you put your head below something else, it means I respect it.

Like you touch your head to someone's foot, it means I respect you. Then the honorific of pecha is chagpay. Chagpay means the holy scripture, the honorable scripture, chagpay.

There are two or three languages in Tibet One is used for high lamas, honorific. Then there's an epistolary language. There's a different language for writing correspondence.

Then there's a colloquial language. Then there's a scriptural language. So it gets complicated.

KUN LONG CHOS PA Fix your motivation. Set your motivation. Touch the book to your head and say, I will teach.

I want to help the people in the room. Keep going back to that as you teach. Keep going back to that.

Is this thing helping the students right now? Lama asked me the other day, what are you doing with your girlfriend right now? Girlfriend means this thing.

He said, what are you doing with your girlfriend right now? I said, I'm studying for the class I'm going to teach. He's like, what are you on right now at this moment?

I said, the Eight Buddhas. The Eight Buddhas of Menla, of the Medicine Buddha, which comes later. I'm on the Eight Buddhas of Medicine Buddha.

Who are they? I said, I looked them up. They're blah, blah, blah, blah.

Is that going to help your students to know the Eight Buddhas' names? They're like, I don't know. Probably not.

I mean, most people in Tibet never know their names. It's OK. Something like that.

So keep checking back with your mind. Is what I'm saying helping their life? If not, go on to something else.

MAN DOG DUD MED CHAGS PA'I UD LA BSTAN PA'I KUN NA PHYIR RGYUD LA PHAN PA'I THUGS SMIN ZAD PA DE YANG Make a prayer at that moment that the teaching you're about to give will also affect your own heart. ZAD PA DE YANG, RJES DU GANG MA'I CHEN PO'I CHAGS PA'I YANG DU SHAR ZHAL RE LA SKABS TE Then he mentions the same Lama, RJES DU GANG MA. And he says he would either touch the scripture to his head, or he would take...

OK, so this is a Geshe hat. This thing costs you 25 years of pain. It's all you get.

You don't normally get... Nowadays they give a degree, but that's just a Western thing. People die for one of these things.

So anyway, then it was a custom to... Then a Lama, normally in Tibet they would wear it. They would put it on.

And they would teach with the whole class like that. But before the class they would take it off and they would... So you'll see a high...

Maybe His Holiness would do it sometimes. And they'll cover their face with that hat. And then they'll do a prayer at that moment.

So they kind of... It's like a kid putting themselves in a closet. And they're like, OK Geshe-la, you're about to teach a class.

OK, we're going to teach something that helps them or something that makes you look good? I don't know. And then you have to like...

OK, I'll teach something that helps them. OK? Like that.

And then you're supposed to put it on. This one's too small. All right.

I have a bigger head than most of them. SKAD TE THOS MIN RDZAS PA'I CHAGS SHES DANG YIN Then make a prayer that you will give a teaching that will help them. DE NAS SANGS RGYAS CHOS TSOG MA'I SKABS Then you should recite SANGS RGYAS CHOS TSOG MA.

What's that? SANGS RGYAS CHOS DANG TSOR GYIS BYANG NA OK, there it is. SANGS RGYAS CHOS TSOG MA The name of the prayer is SANGS RGYAS CHOS TSOG MA.

Many prayers are named from their first few words. OK, like... Think on it.

I Pledge Allegiance would be called I Pledge Ma. And you'd put ma on it. And that means the prayer that starts with I Pledge Ma.

So SANGS RGYAS CHOS TSOG MA means the prayer that starts with SANGS RGYAS CHOS DANG TSOR GYIS BYANG NA. SANGS RGYAS CHOS DANG TSOR GYIS BYANG NA SKABS When you get to that prayer, LAM MED BDAG GIS CHOS BYIN So how does it go? SANGS RGYAS CHOS DANG TSOR GYIS BYANG NA LAM MED BDAG GIS CHOS BYIN BDAG GIS Then there's three versions of that prayer on the third line.

BDAG GIS You can say BDAG GIS BDAG GIS BYIN SONG RGYIS PA'I SON NAM KYI By the good karma of my following the six perfections, which begin with giving. BY the good karma of my following the six perfections, which begin with giving. CHOS JIN SOG means giving and the rest.

But before our class, you change those two words to... if you're... he says LAM MED should say...

in our tradition we say CHOS ZHES by my explaining the Dharma. BDAG GIS CHOS BDAG GIS CHOS He said you can also say BDAG GIS CHOS JIN by my giving the gift of the Dharma. BDAG GIS CHOS JIN RGYIS PA'I SON NAM KYI And then the student...

LAM MED BDAG GIS CHOS NYIN Then the student should say different words. By my listening to the teacher. By the karma of my listening to the teacher.

So when they get to the third line, the Lama is saying by the good karma of my making a gift of the Dharma. And the student is saying by the good karma of my listening to the Dharma. And that's why there's a little clash on the third line in the class.

And then students get all nervous. That's not what the Lama said. What did the Lama say?

No, they're supposed to say something different. By my giving the gift of the Dharma. DOL LA PHAN CHOS SANGS RGYAS DU PA ZHOG May I become a Buddha?

The last line is the same for everybody. To help all beings. RGYUD PA KHA RGYUR KHA RGYUR DGOS PA YANG BDAG LTAR YIN Then you should change the third line as appropriate.

BDAG LTAR YIN means everybody knows that. BDAG LTAR YIN DE NAS LAM RIM GANG RNAMS KYI TSIS ZHAGS RAB TU NYIN THAMS CAD DANG So say TSIS ZHAGS. TSIS ZHAGS The spelling is TSIS ZHAGS and the colloquial is TSIS ZHAGS because they pronounce the prefix letter with the second syllable.

So TSIS ZHAGS is a custom in Tibet. The Lama will call on one of the students in the class and say, give me the outline up to here. Oh, there were four parts.

The first was, we went over the biography of the teachers of the Lam Rim and then we got into how to study and how to listen to it. Then we got into how to respect the teaching. Now we're into...

He recites back the traditional outline from memory. It's called TSIS ZHAGS. That's kind of scary because the Lama can call on anybody.

It's kind of like, let's see if you were listening. They'll say, give me the outline and where are we now? That's called TSIS ZHAGS.

You have to sing it to the Lama. Then everybody sings it back to the person. It's a beautiful custom.

It's a lot of pressure for the Lama because you have to do... When you're like the Abbot of Sera Mey, you have to do TSIS ZHAGS with every class, 12 classes once a week. In your head, you have to have the outlines for the seniors, juniors, sophomores, eighth grade, seventh grade, sixth grade, fifth grade, fourth grade.

You have to do TSIS ZHAGS with them once a week. It's a lot of pressure to be the Abbot. You have to review the outline with them from memory.

They recite it to you and you recite it back. That's called TSIS ZHAGS. Where every class is, physics, math, geography, social studies, you have to recite the outline back to them.

There's a NDE MIN BYIN CHAGS. It's best if you could do it every day. Every time you have a class, somebody would recite where we are in the outline.

DE MIN NYIN GCIG NYIN GSUM SOGS GANG NUS STONG ZHING BLO MED TSOR ZHIG GI RGYAL RGYUR If you can't do that, then at least one of the better disciples should recite it every two or three days at the beginning of the class. DE MIN NYIN GCIG NYIN TSIP BZHAG SNANG BA LTAB MA GDUG KYANG If you're in a situation where you couldn't have a TSIP BZHAG, which is where we are, CHAGS SHAS DI LTA YIN ZHES NGES PAR GSUNG DGOS You should at least tell the students that there is such a custom. There are separate texts of the outlines of the lamrims.

There are separate things that you memorize. People memorize them. The satche, the outline for the lamrim and chenmo is huge.

It's like 25 pages. People memorize it. Because then you have guidelines for your own meditation in your head.

When you do a retreat, you have it all in your head. Oh, now I'm supposed to meditate about teaching. Now I'm supposed to meditate about how to study.

Now I'm supposed to meditate about impermanence. Now I'm supposed to go on to dependent origination. Now I'm going on to the nine steps of shamatha.

It's all in your head. You don't need anything else. When you do a retreat, it's in your mind.

DE NAS CHOS CHEGS KYI CHAGS RGYAL DANG PHYIR Then you should start with this thing. This is the mudra. Mudra means hand gesture.

We did some last night. Each offering has its own hand gesture. You give them.

As you make the offering, you do the mudra. You do the hand gestures. They train us in those mudras.

When you teach, you should start with the... This is the teaching mudra. This is the I'm going to pass on the Dharma mudra.

At your heart. RGYAL DANG PHYIR ,LHAG DANG LHA MIN SOGS GSUNGS PA'I TSE, ,RGYAL BYIN SOGS LHA LUS MA YIN CHUN YIN PAR, ,DUS PA'I LUS PA PHYIR Then when you get to the part in the preliminaries where they talk about... It's in the end of the Heart Sutra.

LHAG DANG LHA MIN, ,JI LTEN GCOD PA'I JI LTEN YANG, ,DE CHUNG DE KYI SEMS BSLANG NGON DU DGOS DANG, At the end of the Heart Sutra, the whole world of gods and men rejoiced. Then when you get to that part in the traditional preliminary text, which is called GAL SANGS RGYU RGYAL, a necklace for those of good fortune, meaning something beautiful to recite, which we'll study. You'll learn it.

It's called GYOR GYUR. These are the preliminary practices. That's the thing you sing before the class.

We'll learn it. In the course of these 10 years, we'll learn it. When you get to the part about gods and men, you should think about the spirit beings in the room and in the forest around you and deliver the teaching to them also.

MOD PA'I PHYIR, ,LHAG RNAMS SA LA SDUG MI SOD PAS, These spirit beings, especially the more powerful ones, like Shiva or Indra or Brahma or worldly gods, they don't like to sit on the ground. SDUG MI SOD PAS ,LHAG RNAMS SA LA SDUG MI SOD PAS, Then you have to mentally give them permission to sit higher than you because they'll be in the sky around you. It's kind of sweet.

Mentally you say, you don't have to sit on the ground. I know it's uncomfortable for you guys. Then you can cluster around the teaching room.

You can bump your head on the ceiling. That's okay. You can be on top of the roof.

You can stay there. You are higher than me, but that's okay, because it's not comfortable for you to sit on the back. ,SNGO BA BSTAN PA'I NYAN CHOG PA'I LAM PA'I SNGO BA BYIN PA'I, ,DNGOS PA YANG PHYIR DGOS PAR GSUNGS PA, ,DI RNAMS BSTAN PA'I THUG KHUR THEG PA'I DANG PHAN RNAMS KYI, ,THUG LA SBYOR PAR MDZOD, Then he says, take these advices seriously.

He's finishing up the physical details of how you should teach. Like all the stuff you should do before you start teaching. He says, those who have taken upon themselves the burden, the heavy burden of the Mahayana, the greater way, trying to change the world, having a vision of a new world, of an enlightened world.

Everybody has solar panels. Everybody understands how to get a boyfriend by helping lonely people. You see, a new world.

Then those who have taken on that new vision, they should follow these customs because they reflect their respect for the subject matter. The subject matter could change this planet and people would learn to obtain the things they want by giving them to someone else first. Then the planet would change.

The whole behavior of the planet would change. Given the gravity of that undertaking, when you sit down, you should do all these things because that's a big thing to talk about. You should honor the throne.

You should keep the, what do you call it, decorum in the room and the etiquette. You should insist on that as a teacher of this stuff. You should, it's a kindness to force your students to show respect to the teaching because it's something that could change the world and they will be better for it later.

When you correct them, they will hate you. They might say, okay, Lama, but in their mind, they're like saying something bad. That will hit you.

That wave will come at you. You feel their emotion and you have to be tough because it's tough love. It will make them a better person.

Correcting a student is unpleasant, but to not correct them is to hurt them. Then correct them wisely and kindly. The moment after that, tell them, dude, you're the best student you ever had.

Make the correction a little gentler. But don't let them misbehave. Don't let them be jealous of other students in the class.

Don't let them misbehave in the class. Don't let them show disrespect in the class. If they show disrespect, ask them to leave the class.

If you ask them to be silent for a week and they can't do it, then ask them to leave. That's a kindness to them. You have to get used to that.

I'm not like that. I don't like to correct people because I don't like them to dislike me. Then you're shortchanging them.

You're hurting them. Correct them. Make them good people.

That requires some bad days with them. My Lama did it a lot. He did so many things to me.

I'm glad for it, but only later. Just like cleaning up a kitchen. He had a rule, you couldn't have a single...

In my home, when I was a kid, all the dishes and plates in the house were in the sink, in the dirty water. When you needed a cup, you went and washed the one cup. They just stayed there.

If you needed the one on the bottom, it was really gross. Rinpoche had this thing, you cannot leave an unwashed cup in the house, anywhere. You finish your tea, you stand up, and you go wash the cup and you put it away.

That took many years of tension between us. I would hide the cup under my bed. He would look under the bed.

You got a cup down there. I said, really? But I'm grateful for that.

He worked us hard. He really worked us hard. I think as a teacher, you have to be willing to have the student dislike you, at times, in order to help them.

That takes a lot of confidence in yourself and love for the person. It's hard to... You have to love them enough to have them dislike you.

I like that. We're like on class two or something. We're supposed to be on class ten, but I don't know, I'm having a good time.

CHI PA YUL GANG LA SHES PA DPA'I MI SHES PA'I KHYAD PA NI This was category number four. It was, who is it proper to teach and who is it not proper to teach? There are people to whom it is not proper to teach these things.

CHIB DU BA LAS Generally speaking, as a general rule, for deciding whether or not it's proper to teach somebody, the vinaya, duwa, the teachings on vowed morality, monks or lay people. It's wrong to translate vinaya as rules for monks or something like that, because it's all vowed morality. The teachings on vowed morality say, MA GZUN BA MI BYA'O Say MA GZUN BA.

MI BYA'O Don't teach unless they have requested you to teach. Don't impose your ideas on people. Don't grab people by the collar and sit them down and say, oh, I learned this thing and you have to learn it.

Especially your partner who's at home who's not interested in Buddhism. Don't impose your ideas on them. Let them come to whatever they're going to come to in their own way.

Don't try to lay a trip on people and force them to listen to what you've learned. If they're interested, teach. If they ask you, teach.

But the ancient Buddhist system is don't teach unless someone has actually requested you to teach. MI BYA'O ZHES GSUNGS PA LTAR SU BA MA THABS PAR BYED DU MI RUNG It's improper to teach someone these ideas unless they've asked you. MI RUNG BZHIN SU BA THABS NA'ANG DE MA THABS MI BYAS PAR Even if they do ask you, don't agree right away.

MA THABS MI BYAS PAR BDAG GIS LAS PAR MI SHES PAS BYAS MI NUS Say something like, I don't really understand that stuff that well and I'm not sure I could teach it to you. You have to kind of like, MI NUS. Or, KHYAD BDAG PA'I BDAG NYID CHEN PO'I BDUN DU BDAG GIS JI LTAR SHES NUS What could I tell a person that's intelligent as you?

NUS SHES KHYEN KHYUN That's not insincere. That's not just words. You should mentally review your current condition of your soul and realize that for you to give a teaching on the pitfalls of jealousy would be kind of, what do you call it?

What is that called? Hypocritical. Somebody asked me, should I teach Geshe-la?

I said, yes, we will both rise to new heights of hypocrisy. Get up and tell people about removing their anger and jealousy and then get angry and jealous the next moment. That's okay.

JI LTAR NUS SHES KHYEN KHYUN BA'I BDAG Before you teach, you should be aware of your own weaknesses. At least be aware of them. Then teach.

KHYEN KHYUN BA'I BDAG CHEN GYIS MA PA'I BDAG NAS Check what they need to know at that moment. What do they need at that time? What do they want in their life at that moment?

Direct the teaching towards that. Everybody has something they want and that's why they came to Prescott to brave the cold. They wanted something.

So try to be in touch with what they want before you speak. MA PA'I BDAG NAS GZOD NUS DU RUNG BA NGES NA BYAS PA CHAG DGOS PA YIN TE If you see that the person is a worthy vessel, then teach them. If it's appropriate to teach them, then teach them.

YIN TE STEN GYIN TSE GYI RGYAL BUD DO NAS The Samadhi Raja Sutra, the sutra on deep meditation says RAB DGE DAG GIS MA LAB ZHES THOB MAR GZIGS TE RGYUP PAR CHAG This is Lord Buddha talking about teaching. He says, at the beginning, at the very beginning, THOB MAR means at the very beginning, say the following words. RAB DGE DAG GIS MA LAB ZHES I haven't studied extensively.

Somebody asks you, can you explain the Heart Sutra? Say, I know about the Heart Sutra. I've studied it some, but I'm not like the world's expert on the Heart Sutra.

There are people who know better than me. MA LAB ZHES KHYOD NI ZHES GZHAN SKYE YIN NA DAG NI CHEN PO'I DON DU NI DAG GIS JI LTAR ZHES NUS SHES And I'm aware. This happens to me a lot.

I go to some country. Argentina comes to mind. I don't know why.

But I go to some country. I'm supposed to be visiting a teacher for a week. I'm supposed to enlighten them about something.

They pick me up at the airport. They drive me to wherever we're going to have the teaching. And the people who are driving are so kind, and so together, and so patient, and so free of jealousy, that it's embarrassing to me.

You know, like I'm supposed to teach you guys? Just the people who pick me up in the car are already obviously very sweet people and free of many of the negativities that I have. Then you have to be aware of that as you teach.

CHE MI NUS DAG NI CHEN PO'I DON DU NI How could I teach somebody like you? Think about that. NUS KHYOD KYI BDEGS KYI BYAS PA BYA It means Lord Buddha said we should...

That's how we should respond to a request for teaching. We should be honest. I'm not perfect.

I'll teach you. I heard from Geshe-la or I heard from somebody else. I got the Lam Rim teaching.

I'll gladly pass it on to you. But I haven't been able to change my heart perfectly. I still have a lot of faults.

Might as well be up front at the beginning. They will notice your faults after a couple of days anyway. Then you get some points for telling them ahead of time.

KHYOD KYI BDEGS KYI BYAS PA ZHES SUM There are cases where even if a person doesn't express an act of interest, you should teach them. You should start talking about this stuff. I don't know.

Your friend is having a crisis. I know in China a lot of ladies come... I guess it's a custom in China for the husband to abuse the wife.

Then it's a custom not to talk about it. So then, if you know a person, if they show up in class with a black eye, and they say, I hit my head on the cupboard, and then you're like, then you can, it's okay, even if they don't ask you, you can take them aside and say, here's some things you can do about this situation. Here's some Dharma advice about the situation.

Here's what they say in the scripture about that. And help them, even if they don't ask you. So certain conditions, it's okay.

I can also think of a case where you know somebody would be turned on by it, but they don't know to ask. Rinpoche would ask us, you know, you guys never give me, you never ask me to teach in an appropriate way. And then we were all like, Rinpoche, we don't know what to ask for.

You know what I mean? We don't know enough to ask you to teach. We don't even know the subject that we would like to know.

So please just go ahead and teach us, even if we don't ask. SONG BA'I PHYIR DGOS PA'I NUS PA DE NYID And then the same scripture, which is what? Samadhi Radha, the King of Meditation Sutra says, GAL TE NUS NI ZHES RGYUR NA SU MA THAB KYANG ZHES PA BYA Very important, okay?

Say GAL TE. NUS NI ZHES RGYUR NA SU MA THAB KYANG ZHES PA BYA You are allowed to teach a person, even if they don't ask you to teach, if you know they would really benefit from it, or they would be a worthy vessel of that teaching. They would respect it.

They would try it. It would help them. But they don't know enough to even ask you for it.

ZHES PA BYA, okay to ask, okay to teach them. ZHES GSUNGS PA LTAR ROL Then there are some rules about the student's physical position. Here we go.

KUN BYUNG GI KHYAD PAR BDUG LA There are some, what do you call, etiquette, protocol things, he says, about teaching and not teaching. DRANG DE MI SHES PA We're not allowed to teach a person who is standing up when we are sitting. If the teacher is sitting and the student is standing, the student should sit down.

That's just tradition. Of course, there's exceptions. You broke your leg going to the fire puja in the dark and the student has a back problem.

It's okay. NYONG BA LA BDUG DE MI SHES PA We're not allowed to teach a person who is lying down. BRTEN DONG PO LA MA BA NAS MI SHES PA We're not allowed to sit lower than the student and teach up to the student.

Then there are GNYIS SHES SA BDUG There are 26 such situations mentioned in the Vinaya scriptures. There are 26 protocol situations that you should be aware of. We're out of time.

I went to the Vinaya and got you the 26, which is why we're not going to finish on time the whole class, because I keep doing that. We'll go through the 26 together. I thought you'd like to know.

These are actually monks' vows. These are vows that apply to monks. These are conditions under which we're not allowed to teach people.

There are 26 of them. That's why monks have so many vows. But nuns have more because they're more naughty.

Okay. No, it's 253 monks and 364. It's like there are 110 more.

All right.

[Говорящий 2] (56:30 - 57:22)
Thank you. Namo Amida Butsu