«Дар освобождения», курс 9 «Семь дверей медитации», занятие 4

[Speaker 1]
There was a part in the teaching that I said, I didn't know what it meant, yesterday morning, I think. So those of you who are following, it's Folio 94B in the first line. And it says, they were offering three different ways of dissolving the refuge visualization.

And then there was a piece at the end that I didn't understand. So I looked it up. And what it says is, you could also raise up the refuge field, bring in the SOGS SHING, and then when you do the part where the wisdom beings melt into the pledge beings, then you dissolve it into yourself.

And then there was some strange thing that said, GSUM MENG NAG SHAL LA LTOS SHER KHA PA YIN KHA PA YIN means it is hidden. And MENG NAG SHAL LA LTOS SHER means you have to get it from your teacher orally. It's not going to be written down, the full instructions.

So it says, these three options were traditionally kept secret, hidden. And it depends on what your own teacher taught you that you should follow, okay? Thank you.

So that's the part that I didn't know. Somebody left me a note and said copies of the mantra of offering are at the registration desk. Who wrote that?

Anybody? Huh? Oh, is it the one that we gave?

Yeah? You got it from Jigme or something? Good, okay.

Because there's some spelling mistakes usually. But that one's correct.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, good.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you for that. Thank you for the hospital stuff also, by the way. Yeah.

My old lady went to the hospital one day and I called from Singapore, Margie. And she was working overtime that night and met her at the door. And she thought I was a miracle worker.

But we won't tell anybody. Okay. So we were talking about, by the way, I said yesterday that we were on schedule.

We're not. We're a whole class behind. Yeah, I forgot yesterday was two classes.

So that's normal. We mentioned two lamas who are said to have reached enlightenment in their own lifetime. And I didn't have their dates yesterday, but I have their dates today.

So the one named Gyalwa Wensapa, his dates are either, the birthday is either 1504 or 1505. So oftentimes a Tibetan birthday will be described as the rabbit female earth year. And then that will start in February or something.

So we don't know exactly which year he was in, but it's either 1504 or 1505. And he passed away in 1565 or 1566. And the other lama mentioned, which is Chökyi Dorje, I believe is one who was a Gandantipa, meaning he was the head of the Gelugpa sect.

The Dalai Lama is sort of the head of all of the sects. And then, although he's a Gelugpa, and then there's a separate head of, what do you call, what's the word in Catholicism? He's the cardinal of, hierarchical?

Anyway, he's the boss technically of the Gelugpa sect. It's called Gandantipa. So Chökyi Dorje, the second lama, was one of the Gandantipas.

And his birth dates are 1690 and he passed away in 1749 or 1750. Okay, so now we're ready to go to class two, which was supposed to start yesterday morning. TSE GCIG LA Are you okay, Ningbo, you got it?

Yeah, I'd say the line, the third line that you can see here, it starts with BREN GNAS, okay? SON GCOD KYI DGOS PAR NYES PA'I GANG LDAN THUB PA'I LEGS PA'AM So GANG LDAN, those of you who care, LEGS PA'AM means a volume or a historic, a chronicle. THUB PA'AM means emanated.

And there are famous THUB PA'I LEGS PA'AMs. For example, there's a KADAM THUB PA'I LEGS PA'AM, an emanated Kadampa chronicle or book of teachings. This one is GANG LDAN THUB PA'I LEGS PA'AM, which means the emanated scriptures of GANG LDAN, which is, GANG LDAN was the monastery that Je Tsongkhapa was based in. So it became another name for the Gelugpa sect is the GANG LDAN BOS, even though there's a separate GANG LDAN monastery.

So there's also a GANG LDAN monastery in Mongolia, which really confuses everything. Probably the most famous monastery in Mongolia. So you never know which GANG LDAN they're talking about.

GANG LDAN THUB PA'I LEGS PA'AM seems to appear to be not a separate work, but it just means all the books that were ever brought about in the Gelugpa sect by blessings. So it would include the works of Je Tsongkhapa and things like that. So they followed SEMS PA TSUM TEG.

SEMS PA TSUM TEG, we covered it last course, and that was where you had a Buddha within the heart of a Buddha, and then a HUNG letter inside of that Buddha's heart. And there are more complicated versions of that. There's a KADAM THIG LAS CHUD DUG.

His Highness taught that the year you were in Bodhgaya and almost died, those two guys. I think you left just before he started. It was on the millennium, I think, right?

Oh, you came back. Yeah, they were very sick. And anyway, that's 16 people deep, like a Russian egg.

And this is just three. So, and we described the practice in detail last time, but they practiced this practice of lamas within lamas' hearts, and then it helped them to become enlightened. KHYAD PAR CHEN, therefore, it's a MENG NAG KHYAD PAR CHEN.

It's a very special instruction, which comes from the tradition of the kalupas. GANG LDAN BCUG PA'I LEGS PA All right then. DE YANG DE STONG YIN RO MED BYED SOGS NI So, in the recitation text, which maybe we'll do in Guadalajara if I have lots of spare time before then, it talks about LHA LAM.

Say LHA. LHA LAM. What's LHA LAM?

Yeah, the path of the angels. The road of the angels. So, in the original recitation text, that's a poeticism for the sky.

So, you're supposed to imagine the sky filled with different things. But they don't call it LHA LAM. They don't call it just LHA LAM.

They call it DE STONG YIN RO MED LHA LAM. Okay? So, YIN RO MED means indivisible, one from the other.

DE STONG means what? Bliss and emptiness, okay? Then, that's such an important subject that we're going to have a separate teaching on it by Venerable Phil, wherever he is.

Yeah, good luck. On which day? Tuesday?

Tuesday afternoon? Tuesday morning. There'll be a separate teaching on the idea of DE STONG, okay?

But to put it in one sentence, bliss and voidness means, in the secret teachings of Buddhism, you could reach a state of physical ecstasy, like by doing yoga, but not a half hour pigeon pose. But you could, you know, if you practice certain physical practices frequently, then your channels are open and your winds are moving, and then it's easier to see emptiness, okay? So, in a state of physical and mental ecstasy, it's easier to see emptiness, okay?

And that seems to somehow justice, you know, that you wouldn't have to be nailed up on a cross to see emptiness. That perhaps, in Buddhism, we believe that the karma, which brings you an ecstatic physical state, would at the same time bring you a high state of realization. And that makes sense.

It's sort of like the same seed producing an orange tree and the orange, you see? So, the same seed produces the perception of emptiness and a feeling of ecstasy, religious ecstasy. So, in the higher teachings of Buddhism, you try to bring on a state of spiritual ecstasy.

And it's believed that, karmically, it's more logical that then you would see the highest reality. So, but Phil's going to give us a long teaching on it. Okay.

DE LTAR NI SU MED PA'I YER ZHIG GIS GSUNGS NAMS The wisdom of indivisible bliss and voidness, which is what RANG SEMS means, is what your mind is in. GSUNGS NAMS is a difficult word. He agreed.

GSUNGS NAMS and ZIN NAMS. Say GSUNGS NAMS. GSUNGS NAMS. ZIN NAMS. GSUNGS NAMS. GSUNGS NAMS means, GSUNGS means that thing which is held, meaning the object of a perception. And ZIN NAM means that thing which is doing the holding. And it comes in the Vajrayogini sadhna, GSUNGS ZIN GYI PHYI BZHIN, meaning the grasp, the vines of grasping and what is grasped.

Like I'm looking at the tiger. That's the GSUNGS NAMS. And my mind is the ZIN NAMS, that the holding aspect and the held aspect. In Tibetan, GSUNGS NAMS GZHAR LAMS. The thing you are looking at, the object of your perception, is the road of the gods, meaning the sky. Meaning the sky. DE NAMS KA So DE means, here's a, what do they call it? I forget.

There's some grammar word where you say path of the gods, meaning the sky. I'll figure it out. In Tibetan, in English, you separate it with two commas.

Path of the gods, the sky. No, that's something else. No, it'll come to me tomorrow.

Okay. Anyway, in a positive. It's in a positive.

Okay, meaning one equals the other. In Tibetan, you use DE. You use the particle DE, which has 50 other uses.

But it can mean in a positive, meaning he is our chief of state, the president. Okay, comma, comma. Okay, meaning they equal each other.

In Tibetan, you use DE. So DE NAMS KA, meaning GZHAR LAMS equals NAMS KA. Path of the gods is the sky.

NAMS KYIS GZUG GZUG DGOS NAS DE NGOS SU SOGS SHING NAMS SKYES PA STE So you set forth in your mind a vision of the sky. This is all visualized, right? You are visualizing the sky.

And then NGOS SU means in the sky. This is not NGOS SU, okay? NGOS SU is spelled differently, right?

With a D prefix letter, and it means directly. NGOS SU means in that space, okay? So you have to grasp the difference between those two.

Okay, NGOS SU, say NGOS SU. NGOS SU, NGOS SU, NGOS SU. Okay, and not at all the same.

NGOS SU means directly. NGOS SU means in that space, okay? NGOS SU SOGS SHING NAMS SKYES PA STE Then you visualize space, particularly empty space.

And then in that space, you fill it with the SOGS SHING, with the Lama feel, okay? SOGS SHING DGOS PA NI THAMS CAD DE STONG GI RNAM ROL DU LTA BA'I PHYIR YIN DGOS PA NI means, well, why do you bring up that bliss and emptiness thing, okay? Why don't you just say, in the sky in front of me, I imagine all these Lamas, okay?

Why do you have to say the path of the gods, which is indivisible bliss and emptiness? Why do you bring up bliss and emptiness in an open text to describe the sky, okay? And then he says, THAMS CAD DE STONG GI RNAM ROL DU LTA BA'I PHYIR YIN Just from that single reference in the recitation scripture for the six preliminary practices which is called the necklace on the throats of those who have enough good karma, right?

In that text, they mention bliss and voidness because RNAM ROL DU They want you to understand that every object in your world is the play of bliss and emptiness. THAMS CAD CHAD means for that purpose. That's why, okay?

CHAD YIN DI LA Moreover, relating to this point, AE BAM GYIS DON DANG BYA NAS If you were to apply this general teaching to the true meaning of the word AE BAM, okay? AE BAM AE BAM AE BAM Okay? Then, DE STONG LA NGES PAR DRANGS NAS You would have some insights into the meaning of bliss and emptiness.

GSUNGS RNAM BAR CHAR TSUL You would understand how the object of your perception can appear as an angel, as a divine being, okay? CHAR TSUL SAB CHE MANG DU CHA RGYUD YOD KYANG SAB CHE means there are many profound instructions you could give at this point, applying the idea of AE BAM and bliss and voidness to this visualization of the sky and your teacher. MANG DU CHAR I could give you a million of them.

KYANG But, dear, in this audience, NYEN PAR PO there are people listening, okay? In this audience there are people, DBANG MA THOB who have not received an empowerment, okay? There are people in the audience of this Lam Rim teaching in the 1920s, okay?

Who have not received empowerment. MANG PO There are many of them. ZHIG SNGAGS KYI ZHES SKABS MIN SNGAGS KYI ZHES SKABS MIN SNGAGS means tantra, okay?

Sacred Buddhism. ZHES means to explain. SKABS means an appropriate time, MIN.

It's not an appropriate time to go into tantra because there are people in the audience who have not received permission from their teacher. They're not ready yet. So I can't go into the meaning of DBANG.

Okay, those of you who took the tantric series, which lasted seven years, with over 10,000 pages of translation done by some schmuck cult leader, you went through many deep teachings on it. Just the meaning of DBANG, I think we spent five hours on that or something, okay? It's a beautiful teaching.

It's a very ancient and beautiful teaching. It includes a BA and a MA, okay? Okay, DBANG.

DE NYAM THUB MA THOG PA'I NGA'I ZHIG RGYAS MIN PAS RE ZHIG DE TZAM GYI CHOG RE ZHIG means for the time being. DE TZAM GYI CHOG means let's leave it at that, okay? When you get a chance, have someone teach you about DBANG.

As applies to this sky in which you are putting your teachers in order to make offerings to them, okay? BYAS NAS GANG LTAR GANG LTAR YANG means, well, anyway, he's like segwaying on. He's avoiding the secret teachers.

Anyway, RANG GI SDUG BSNGAL RNAMS SKAR In the space in front of you, KUN SANGS CHOS CAN Who's KUN SANGS? Who's KUN DU SANG PO? KUN DU means Samantha.

SANG PO means Bhadra. Samantha Bhadra, okay? I think we have a Samantha Bhadra.

Are you ready, Tim? That's an old painting of Samantha Bhadra, okay? He's a bodhisattva.

In the Kanya, in the ancient scriptures, he made an offering to Lord Buddha that covered the sky. And so then his mantra became an offering mantra. KUN SANGS CHOS CING CHOS CING CIG PA'I NGOG CHOS CING means clouds of offerings, okay?

CIG PA means, it's a beautiful word. CIG PA is the modern colloquial Tibetan for sex. So be careful.

It also means when clouds are, what do you call it? Many clouds are like woven together in the sky. It's called CIG PA.

Like, I don't know how you'd call it. Like the whole area is covered in clouds or cloaked in clouds. It's the same spelling.

Probably they're related. But oftentimes it means a cover of clouds over a big area, okay? CIG PA.

NGOG means in that space, SEMS BDEB DGOS PA'I YIN So you have to, you're going to be visualizing your teacher who has four Buddhas inside of them. But we'll get to that. In a space, it's like a crowded airspace on the East Coast Corridor and many jets going back and forth.

But there are offering clouds like banging into each other. You know, like, oh, there's a big cloud of bananas and there's a big cloud of roses and there's my favorite peanut butter. And all these offering clouds and you got to try to get your teacher in between them because it's kind of crowded with all the offering clouds filling up the space.

Because that's the idea. You should visualize that the space is busy. Many aircraft, many huge clouds of offerings are bumping into each other.

And you got to fit your Lama in there somewhere. It's cool if you try it sometimes. No one can practice all the practices presented in this text.

It's not possible. I tried it once. I did like a three-year retreat.

I said, I'm going to try to do everything in the book and it's impossible. Even if you have nothing else to do, you wouldn't have time. So what I suggest is you pick one that kind of sounds cool to you and do it for a couple of weeks and then move on to some other one.

But it's kind of fun to visualize just clouds of different offerings kind of banging into each other and you're trying to fit your Lama in between there like a Goodyear blimp, you know, like that. DE YANG RINPO CHE SA SHI'I U SU See the ground as RINPO CHE. What's that?

RINPO CHE literally means a jewel, right? RINPO means cost. CHE means big.

Like DIGGY RIN GANG TSUL DU. How much does this cost? So RINPO CHE means valuable thing.

Here it means, what kind of RINPO CHE? The ground. It's lapis, okay, lapis.

SA SHI'I U SU, in the middle of that is a OME GYATSO, is a GYATSO, ocean of OMA, milk, okay? If you've been to Serra, at four o'clock in the morning there are people walking around yelling two things. One is, OMA, OMA, OMA, OMA, OMA, OMA, OMA, which is the milk sellers.

So they milk their cows and they don't have refrigerators so they have to run to the monster and try to sell it. And then in the afternoon there's ISKRI, ISKRI, which is what? Ice cream, okay, ISKRI.

All right, U SU, OME GYATSO CHEN PO, which is the best way to get diarrhea in India if you want because they make it with dirty water from river, right? Okay, it's like, it's like samsara, you know, like you can get sick within five minutes. You'll have diarrhea within five minutes.

And it's just like samsara, okay? GYATSO CHEN PO'I SNANG NAS In the middle of an ocean of milk is a PAKSAMGYI SHING. PAKSAMGYI SHING, you know PAKSAMGYI SHING?

Wish-giving tree, okay? So in the West we have Aladdin's lamp that you rub and it gives you anything you want. In Tibet and India it was a tree, a special tree.

And you would go and ask it for anything you want and then if you wanted a bicycle, it would fall out of the tree. It's like a Christmas tree, okay? Like that, PAKSAMGYI SHING.

PAKSAM means whatever you wish, okay? SHING, TSA BA, the roots of that tree are SER, gold, pure gold, okay? The roots of the tree are pure gold.

DONG PO, the trunk is MU, MU. MU means silver and it's the Tibetan word for money also because it used to be silver, okay? So even in modern colloquial Tibetan, MU means, MU YOD PA'I means do you have any bucks on you?

You got any money, okay? So MU means silver. So the trunk is silver, the roots are pure gold.

The trunk is pure silver. YAL GA means the branches are VAIDURYA. We had it already.

What? LAPIS, okay? The LOMA means the leaves are SHEL.

SHEL means, say SHEL. SHEL, high tone, SHEL means crystal. SHEL means face, so be careful.

Okay, say SHEL. SHEL. SHEL.

SHEL. SHEL means crystal. SHEL means a face.

SHEL GO means a window in modern Tibetan. Glass, okay? LOMA SHEL.

BDAM MA BUG, okay? The petals of the blossoms on the tree are BUG. BUG is a weird gemstone from India, ancient India called Karkatthana.

Karkatthana. I think it might be a moonstone. It's supposed to be a milky white jewel.

I don't know, just in Tibetan they call it BUG. In Sanskrit it's Karkatthana. I think it's like a moonstone.

Although, well, that's a long story. Sometimes it's called the essence of all stones, DO YIN NYING PO. And one of the interpretations of DO YIN NYING PO is ASH MAR GARBA, ASH MAR GARBA, which got shortened to SMARGA, which got shortened to ESMERALDA, which got shortened to EMROM.

Okay, so it might be an EMROM, I don't know. Anyway, you worry about it. DE RINPOCHE NA DUN LAS GRUB PA RINPOCHE NA DUN means the seven traditional RINPOCHES.

The tree is made of the seven traditional types of RINPOCHES. RINPOCHE here, you have to be careful not to translate it as jewel, because the roots are made of gold, and the trunk is made of silver. So some translators just see the RINPOCHE and they translate it as jewel, but it means precious stuff.

Okay, in this case. NA DUN LAS GRUB PA RTZA BA SOGS TZANG MA BDUN SEMS BDUN SEMS DU YOD PA All of the parts of the tree, such as the roots, are made of BDUN SEMS BDUN SEMS. They come in groups of seven. There are seven roots, there are seven branches.

The branches have seven flowers, like that. YI BZHIN GYI GNOD PAR LTAR DGOS DU THAMS CAD PAG PA DANG SANGS PA TZAM GYI BYUNG BA What about this tree? What does it do?

YI BZHIN GYI GNOD PAR LTAR It's like a Citta Mani. What's Citta Mani? Citta means what?

Bodhichitta, mind. Mani means a jewel. So Citta Mani means a wishing jewel.

And that's a special jewel and you have to treat it a special way and you stick it on a certain date. You stick it on top of a flagpole and you do certain prayers and then it will give you anything you want. YI BZHIN GYI GNOD PAR LTAR DGOS DU means everything you could ever want or need.

DGOS, NEED, DU, WANT THAMS CAD PAG PA DANG SANGS PA PAG PA means as you can imagine and SANGS PA means as you can think of. Therefore, the tree is called BAG SEMS tree. BAG SEMS tree.

He's glossing the word BAG SEMS. If you were to hypertext this section that would be the literal explanation of BAG SEMS. Special kind of tree. BAG SEMS GYI ZHING TZAM GYIS BYUNG BA All you have to do is wish and the thing will appear. BAG SEMS GYI BYUNG BA YAL GA SOGS KYIS PA'I BRAL BA'I When the branches of the tree are moved in the wind and when the leaves rustle in the wind, they sing out CHOS KYI SDOM ZHIG.

Say CHOS KYI SDOM ZHIG. CHOS means Dharma. SDOM, you know SDOM PA.

Vow, SDOM PA means vow. But SDOM without the PA has a different meaning which means a summary teaching. So SDOM doesn't equal SDOM PA.

And be careful, SDOM is a bear. SDOM is a sexual organ. SDOM PA is a vow.

SDOM is a summary. Here we have a summary. All right.

No, I mean, people make funny mistakes. So CHOS KYI SDOM ZHIG means the four, the summary of all Dharma in four lines. What are they?

These are called DA BA RGA RTAG GI BYA RGYA ZHIG. Say DA BA RGA RTAG GI BYA RGYA ZHIG. Very famous.

The four phrases that define any work as the Dharma. Okay. If the four phrases apply to a written work, that's Dharma.

If a teaching includes these four ideas, it's Dharma. RGA RTAG means certified as the word of the Buddha. And if they don't have these four ideas in them, either implied or explicit, then it's not Dharma.

It's pop psychology. All right. Understand?

All right. What's the first one? DU BYED THAMS CAD MI RTAG PA Everything that comes about through causes will pass.

Everything that has a cause will pass. If you met your husband, you will lose your husband. If your body was born from your mother's womb, it will die.

If you met your teacher, you will lose your teacher. Okay, like heavy. It's very heavy.

If a thing was produced by causes, it must end. DU BYED THAMS CAD MI RTAG PA SAK CED THAMS CAD DU MYAL BAR Say SAK CED. THAMS CAD DU MYAL BAR All impure things are suffering.

All impure things are suffering. What makes something impure? It's tied up with not understanding where it comes from.

When your wife or your partner complains to you, is it impure? Not necessarily. If you understood that they were coming from you, you could therefore take action to change them and it would no longer be impure.

What makes something suffering is that you don't understand it. You don't understand where it's coming from. A litmus test is are you blaming anybody else for it?

If you are, it's impure. Okay, all right. SAK CED THAMS CAD DU MYAL BAR CED THAMS CAD STONG ZHING BDAG MED PAR Say CED THAMS CAD STONG ZHING BDAG MED PAR Nothing is itself.

Nothing is itself. What's that mean? We talked about this in Russia.

They really liked it. Another litmus test that you are having, that you are misunderstanding the world is if you have any kind of negative emotion, period. Any kind of negative emotion means you are misunderstanding your world.

If you feel upset, jealous, angry, frustrated, desire, wrong desire, then it's automatic that you are misunderstanding your world. Why? Any person towards whom you are upset doesn't exist and never did.

It's impossible to feel upset towards something which exists. Let's say it the other way. Every time you get upset, you are imagining something that you're upset at which never existed in the first place.

What's an example? My husband who criticizes me, who's not coming from me. We have to add the last part.

Any husband who can criticize you, who's not coming from you, is the only kind of husband you can get upset at. If you thought they were coming from you, you wouldn't get upset. You would just change it and get rid of them.

I call it water on the bathroom floor. It's Saturday. You wake up super early.

You start to take a shower. You suddenly realize it's Saturday. You turn off the water and you go back to bed for a couple hours.

Then you put on your last pair of wool socks because it's cold and you walk into the bathroom and you step into a puddle of water. Then you run downstairs and scream at everybody in the house, your kids, your husband, and say, why did you dump water on the bathroom floor again? And they all say, mom, weren't you up early taking a shower?

And you're like, yeah. Once you realize that you caused it yourself, you don't get angry, do you? We are very forgiving towards ourselves.

Once you realize it's coming from you, you don't get, you don't stand in front of the mirror and say what you would have said to someone else who put water on the floor.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, thank you.

[Speaker 1]
CI THAMS CAD DONG BZHIN BDAG MED PA It's the third of the four things. Anytime you get upset, it's a sign that you don't understand what you're upset at. Because if you understood it, you couldn't be upset at it because you would understand that it's coming directly from you.

In fact, it's coming directly from what you did last week to somebody else. So how can you be upset at someone who's criticizing you if they were created because last week you did the same thing? Okay, I mean, it would be insane because so basically the person that you're upset at, meaning a partner who is not coming directly from how you were acting last week, doesn't even exist.

You might as well yell at, go out and rag on two-headed purple elephants. Like go out on your front doorstep and scream to the world about how bad purple two-headed elephants are. Because they have the same amount of existence as a partner who's not coming from you.

Anyway, and if a philosophy or a teaching doesn't state that either directly or indirectly, it's not Buddhism. It's just pop psychology. And it will be, be nice to your partner when they yell at you.

Understand them. Maybe they had a bad day. Talk to them and work it out.

Or if you have a teacher who's bad, like report it to X. You know what I mean? They're not coming from you.

So I mean, like that. NYANG NGAN LAS BDE PA ZHI BA'O That's the fourth one. Say, NYANG NGAN LAS BDE PA ZHI BA'O What's NYANG DE?

Nirvana. ZHI BA Is peace. Nirvana is peace.

If you want peace, then go for nirvana. What is nirvana? Go, go.

NYON GYIB MA LUNG PO BAM PAS SO SOR TANG NGO The permanent ending of negative emotions because you figured it out that everything you were ever upset at didn't exist at all. Okay? That sort of flows from number three.

How can you be upset at anybody if they're all coming from you? Go in front of the mirror and rag on yourself. Once you get it and once you're able to put it into practice, which are two different things, right Geshe Michael?

Then you can no longer have a negative emotion. It's not possible. And that's the definition of nirvana.

And that's the only way to eliminate negative emotions permanently. There is no other way. If your husband yelling at you existed from his own side, endless years of negotiation.

It will never end. It's not possible to end your negative emotions. If he exists, it's not possible to end the problems with that person.

That the only way to resolve those problems is to finally get it that the person you're seeing is coming from you. And they may not even see themselves that way. You see?

Like you see them be criticizing you. They could be praising you, but you'll take it the wrong way because of your own seeds. They could even be doing lovey-dovey to you and you think they're criticizing you because of your seeds.

All right. This is not to be used on partners. Oh, I'm not a bad person.

It's your seeds. It's to be used on oneself. You get the distinction, right?

You don't go to your partner and say, I'm not the bad person you think I am because I'm coming from your misbehavior last week. Rather, you would say, I understand I can't see you purely because I was negative last week, so I'm sorry and I'll try to improve myself. It's always aimed at yourself, hopefully.

All right then. Those are the CHOD KYI SDOM ZHIGS. Why did we get into those four?

Yeah, if they're not there, it's pop psychology or some other worthless thing, frankly. And I don't mind to say it. But why are we talking about it in the first place?

Yeah, the leaves of the tree, the jewel tree, when the wind blows those leaves, they don't just rustle. They talk about the four principal ideas of Buddhism. They are talking about the socks and the shower and everything.

Okay, all right. SDOM ZHIGS BDAG SBYIN PA This SBYIN PA is not the same spelling as JIN PA. This one is prenasal.

SNG SBYIN PA, SNG SBYIN PA. SNG SBYIN PA means to give what? SBYIN PA means to give dana, right?

First perfection, okay? SBYIN PA. BDAG SBYIN PA means they are singing the four teachings of Buddhism, the four root teachings of Buddhism.

DGAR BTAG, say DGAR BTAG. DGAR BTAG means they certify a teaching as the word of the Buddha. And if they're not there, it's not Buddhism, okay?

All right, if somebody's telling you just be, what do you call it, cope with your problems, that's not Buddhism, okay? Because the problems don't exist. Cope with your husband being mean.

Just cope, be nice. That's not Buddhism. It might be okay, some other thing, but it's not Buddhism.

Buddhism says the husband that you're trying to cope with doesn't exist. You try to perceive that, and then you won't have to cope. Better, right?

Make a husband who doesn't need coping with. Okay, because you made your husband, right? Okay, all right.

U SU SHING DE MED TOG SHIN TU CHE BA ZHIG GIS BSTANG DU In the middle of the, this gets complicated, okay? U SU means in the middle. SHING DE MED TOG means there's a flower growing out of the tree, the branch of the tree.

SHIN TU CHE BA, extremely big, a huge, what do you call, massive flower, okay? SHIG GIS BSTANG DU. On, set on that flower are SREN GYI CHEN PO RGYAS, eight great big lions, okay?

Eight mighty lions. No tigers or bears yet. BDEGS PA means they are holding up.

And there's scriptures that debate how are they holding, are they holding their paws up, or are they like this, and it's on their back. I don't remember what they said, okay? Anyway, somehow they are supporting a throne.

A throne in Tibet means a platform similar to this thing, okay, it doesn't mean a European king's throne, okay? It means a platform, and they are holding that up. RIN PO CHE, RIN PO CHE, the platform is RIN PO CHE.

What's that? It's made of jewels, it's made of precious. Usually it's like precious stuff that's studded with jewels and stuff like that, okay?

CI means a throne. DE YANG, so why the lions, okay? So you'll never see this kind of detail.

This is nice, those of you who care, why is he being held up by eight great lions? Why does it always have to be eight big lions, okay? SREN GYI NI, CANG GYUR SEMS PA CHEN PO NAM GYI GUR DI SOGS KYI BYAS, SREN GYI TSUL DU BYAS NAS BDAG PA DANG CANG GYUR SEMS PA CHEN PO NAM GYI GUR DI SOGS KYI BYAS CANG GYUR SEMS PA means what?

Bodhisattva. CHEN PO, great bodhisattvas, mahasattvas, right? NAM GYI, what is a mahasattva according to the Heart Sutra teachings?

CANG GYUR SEMS PA SEMS PA CHEN PO CANG GYUR SEMS PA SEMS PA CHEN PO GWANG CI TZA'I BU SA, what? Yeah, they've seen emptiness, okay? They are bodhisattvas and they've seen emptiness.

And then some people say eighth level or higher, something like that. Okay, anyway, these are high level bodhisattvas. GUR DI means to show respect.

GUR DI means like namaste. GUR DI means to show respect. SOGS KYI BYAS In order to show their respect for someone, SEMS RGYAS TSUL DU BYAS, they take on the form of a lion.

They assume the form of a lion. And they hold up the throne. So they are showing their, they are honoring the beings who will sit on the throne.

Bodhisattvas have chosen to appear as a lion to honor the people on the throne. SEMS RGYAS RI DAG YOD SOGS THAMS CAD SIL GYIS RNAMS PA LTAR RI DAG means, do you know RI DAG? It's not, RI DAG means any kind of wild animal.

Bears, deers, tigers, they're all RI DAGs. SOGS means a group of them. THAMS CAD means all of them.

I like the word SIL GYIS RNAMS PA. It's important in Buddhist philosophy. What does it mean SIL GYIS RNAMS PA?

Anybody? Outshine. And we went through it in Umachidhun, right?

A person who has the slightest glimpse of emptiness outshines all other saintly people, automatically. In the same way that a prince who is an infant in their first two weeks already outshines every wise minister on the cabinet because he will become the king. By birth, by nature of his, what do you call it?

Family. He is already superior to the, like all the financial advisors of Warren Buffett. Once Warren Buffett has a son, that son SIL GYIS RNAMS PA is all the financial advisors of Warren Buffett because he's going to inherit everything by birth, by virtue of his family.

The same with the bodhisattva who sees emptiness. All right, anyway, SIL GYIS RNAMS PA. SIL GYIS RNAMS PA LTAR Lions outshine all other wild animals.

Just so, ,'DOD DANG JIG RTEN PA'I LHAG CHEN PO DAG DANG, ,MUD TEGS PA'I TSOGS SIL GYIS RNAMS PA TSUN, Just in the same way, bodhisattvas and other holy beings, SIL GYIS RNAMS PA outshine DOD. DOD means demons, okay? Demons.

Does Buddhism believe in horned demons who run around and poke you in the bottom? No. In Buddhism, a demon will appear as your friend and you're about to do your yoga and you're just putting on Barb Harper's Ultimate Workout.

And your friend says, how about we just do 20 minutes of something else? And that's a demon. At that moment, that's a demon.

Seriously. Or they say, don't do your book right now, we can do it in the car. We'll have time in the car.

Something like that. And they look just like your friend. All right.

SIL GYIS RNAMS PA TSUN And GCIG RTEN PA'I LHAG CHEN PO means powerful beings who are still in suffering, like Ishvara or Brahma or, what do you call it? I don't know. Who's the other ones?

There's three of them. Vishnu, yes. People like that.

You can think Donald Trump. LHAG CHEN PO DANG MUTTEG means people who teach kinds of philosophy that are, what I call today, pop psychology. I don't mean to criticize pop psychology.

I just mean, if you have a fire in your house, don't use a teaspoon of water because it ain't going to help, okay? All right. DRANG RGYAS DU BYAS NAS Why are there eight lines?

DBANG BCUG RGYAS They represent the eight, but do you mind if we go straight to four o'clock? It's another 20 minutes or so. We don't take a break.

Is that okay? We'll take a break then, okay? That's when it's supposed to end the first session.

Am I correct? Yeah, okay. Geshe Michael made the schedule.

DBANG BCUG RGYAS So there are many versions of the eight siddhis or the eight powers. These are called DBANG BCUG RGYAS, which means Ishvara. So I could give you the normal eight powers, but they're not exactly the DBANG BCUG RGYAS.

So I went and found you the real DBANG BCUG RGYAS, which is more complicated and difficult than the easier eight siddhis, for example, in the Yoga Sutra, okay? Like making yourself small or making yourself big or walking underground. So I'm not going to give you those.

I'm going to go straight to the more difficult ones. Okay, you ready? This is the real DBANG BCUG RGYAS, okay?

They're more profound and they're more difficult. It's not like flying in the sky. Okay, first one.

DBANG BCUG KYI SEMS CAN THI'I JIG RTEN KHYAD JIG BYAS PA PHRA BA DANG In Hindu mythology, Ishvara, which in Tibetan is called DBANG BCUG, because ish means power and vara means full of, okay? And wish came from ish because somebody powerful gets whatever they want. Okay, seriously.

They have, Ishvara is said to have the ability to create the world, both the beings and the places, okay? That's Ishvara's traditional role is to create the universe, okay? Among those, the people are the smaller things than planets and galaxies, right?

So they're called subtle. So the first of the eight powers on a deeper level is called subtle, subtlety, okay? Subtlety means the living beings that are created.

How are they really created? We just went through it. Your husband is one of them.

They're created by you, okay? Got it? All right.

Okay, that's the first power, to create people around you. Who created the people around you? You did.

Which of the three ways in which karma ripens expresses that? Sorry, four ways. Huh?

The third one, right? Environment, okay. All right.

We'll get into that someday. ,GNOD KYI JIG RTEN KHYAD PA YANG BA DANG, ,DE NYID KYI RKYEN CIG BYAS PA BDAG POR BRGYUR PA YIN LA, ,DER NI MYONGS SBYOR PA'I, ,DE RNAMS GROL PA DANG BRGYUR PA BYAS NYID PA'O, The second is the ability to emanate the worlds which they inhabit, those beings inhabit, okay? The third one is the ability of a yogi.

So the first two can be also related to yogi, the power of a yogi. A yogi has the power to create people, and a yogi has the power to create planets, okay? And the third one is, they have the power to withdraw those worlds and those beings, okay?

Back into themselves, okay? A person who understands where stuff is coming from has the power to create the people around them and the city around them. And they also have the power to withdraw those objects if they wish to, okay?

Why would you want to withdraw a person or a city if you weren't getting along with them, okay? How do you withdraw them, with a gun? No, you stop the seed in your heart, right?

So my boss yells at me all the time. Then withdraw them, okay? How?

Stop yelling at your children, okay? Like a real yogi means, not somebody who can do a one-hand handstand. A real yogi knows how to create people and how to withdraw people.

We create nice bosses and withdraw nasty bosses by changing their seeds, okay? Got it? And the office also.

The office is number two. The boss is number one. Withdrawing them is number three.

Got it? Okay, number four. Why are we talking about these eight?

Because there's eight lions holding up a throne, standing on a big flower, in a tree which is made of jewels, sitting in an ocean of milk on a huge plane in your imagination, okay? With lots of clouds being air traffic controlled around the trees. Offering clouds, okay?

Got it? Just remember where we are. PHYI MA NI YANG DAG THOB PA'I BSTAN NO PHYI MA NI YANG DAG THOB PA'I BSTAN NO I don't know why that's there.

He got confused. Geshe Michael got confused here. Okay.

I'm going to keep going, but I have to fix it. There's something wrong here, okay? I'll have to look at it again.

YID LUS KYI GANG SANGS PAR CHEN PO NI GAR YANG KHYAB PAR BSTAN DO They can emanate wherever they want. They have the power to emanate wherever they want. Spread wherever they want.

In body or in mind. SBYUNG MO KUN GYI CHOS PA BYA BA NI OD DANG SRID GYIS GZHAN RNAMS SU KYI NUS PA RAB TU SO'AM SNANGS PA'I BSTAN NO In their ability to make... We are number five.

In their ability to make offerings, they outshine other people. That's the fifth of the eight. What are you going to call them?

Powers? Ishvara. They're really Ishvara.

Cities? I don't know. SEMS CAN NAM LA SAR BYED DANG BYAN TZIN GYI DBANG YOD PA NI DBANG DU SPYOD PA'O They are in control, meaning that they can either choose to...

How do you say? They can choose to try to make another human being more conscious or they can leave them for the time being because they're not ready. They know who's ready and they know who's not ready.

And they apply their effort to the people who are ready. And they are waiting on the people who aren't. And they know when to do one or the other.

Number eight. I'm sorry. This is all out of order.

BSTAN PA'I BSTAN PA means they can sustain their attainments. They can keep them up over a long period of time. And they have the power to...

They have the ability to use their powers at will. Nothing about their use of their powers is... What do you call it?

The opposite of at will. It's not accidental. They know how to make things happen because they plant the seeds.

If they want something, they just plant the seed for it. Nothing is good luck. It's all by choice.

What happens to them, what they have in their world is by conscious choice, by planting it. All right. I want to work on those.

I have to look at them again though because I have to check the text. I'll tell you hopefully next class. DE BSTAN DU, are we at DE BSTAN DU?

I don't remember where I got that from. Anyway, it's some scripture. DBANG CHUB DGE DAG ZHIR BYAS NA MIN GCIG PA ZHIG ZHIR BYAS NA means if you choose to make the lions only four, which is an option, they're holding up the corners of the throne, of the platform, I guess.

Then they represent the four fearlessnesses. The four types of fearlessness. So this is a quality of an enlightened being, all right?

And there are four kinds of fearlessness that an enlightened being possesses. So I thought you'd like to hear them. Here we go.

This is from Gyaltsabje. Who's Gyaltsabje? Whose disciple was Gyaltsabje?

Yeah, Jetsenkapa. What does Gyaltsab mean? Yeah, a region.

So he was the first Ganden Chippa, which is what we just mentioned at the beginning of class, right? The hierarchical head of the Gelugpa sect. The first one was Gyaltsabje.

His name was first region. He was given that name. What was his real name?

Dharma Rinchen. Okay? And that Dharma has nothing to do with Dharma.

It's a different spelling. But that's another story. Okay.

He wrote a commentary on the Abhisamaya Avankara of, written by, dictated by, Master Asanga. Dictated by Maitreya to Master Asanga. And that's a 75-page work, all monks memorize it, and we study it for 12 years.

You're talking four pages a year. It's kind of difficult. Full-time, four pages a year.

First 12 years of the Geshe course. So anyway, he explains in that commentary, RANG SDUG GI DBANG DU BYAS PA'I KHOR GYIS U GSUM LA NI CHOS THAMS CAD RNAMS PA THAMS CAD YID DU SNGON PA RDZOGS PA'I SANGS RGYAS SOGS ZHES DANG NI ZHAL TU BYAS PA LA CHOS DI THUGS SU CHOS DO ZHES CHOS THUNG GI DGOS BA MED PAS RTOG PA KUN RDZOGS LA MIN JIGS PA means from his or her own side, sitting in a large group of disciples or other interested people, this person is not afraid to say, I have reached enlightenment. I have now reached enlightenment.

And I have understood such and such things. And no one can dispute it. That's called not afraid to, what do you call it?

Proclaim that they have understood things. Not afraid to proclaim that they have reached the highest understanding. A person who has acceptable reason among a group of people to admit that they are enlightened and that they are omniscient.

Then in Buddhist tradition, you wouldn't do that in front of anybody. I mean, they would have to be your close disciples or something like that. You wouldn't say that kind of thing because people won't believe you.

And if you have, then they'll collect bad karma. You see what I mean? So we're not allowed to say, oh, I've seen emptiness or I talked to Tara this morning.

We're not allowed to make those kinds of claims because if they're true and the people you talk to have no faith, they will collect bad karma because they will not respect you. So it's better not to say anything. I have not reached this particular one.

I can state that directly. All right. Okay, but to the first of the four, fearlessness is not embarrassed to say, look, I'm an enlightened being.

I don't have that, but I'm just describing it. I don't have that. ,GZHAN SDUG GI DBANG DU BYAS NA, ,DOD CHAGS LA SOGS NYON MONGS PA'I SGRIB PA DANG ZHES, ,JES SGRIB PA THAR PA DANG THAMS CAD, ,KHYEN PA'I PAR BYED CHE BA NYID DU SGRIB PA LA, ,BANG CAG GIS BSTAN KYANG BAR BYED DU MING GYUR ZHES, ,CHOS DUNG GI DGU'A MED PA'I BAR CHOS PA'I CHOS BSTAN PA LA MING RGYUS PA, Not afraid to say, number two, right?

Not afraid to say, this is the kind of thing that's going to cause you people problems. What? Negative emotions brought on towards non-existing object.

Anger at the husband who's not coming from you. Okay, anger at the, being upset with the husband or the children who are not coming from you is your problem. They're not afraid to get in front of a group of people and say that.

And the rest is all pop psych. They're not afraid to say that, okay? They're not afraid to say, that's what dharma is, okay?

If you continue chasing phantoms by getting upset with people in your life who are not coming from you, you're crazy. Because they don't exist. There's no such thing.

All the people, every wrinkle on your face was created by a thing that did not exist. That's pretty sad. Okay, I got lots of them.

I'm talking from personal, look at that. So every time you got upset or you had a problem or you felt upset, which creates wrinkles on your face, right? Those wrinkles, they're interesting because they were created by something that didn't exist.

Normally something that doesn't exist can't produce an effect. But these are special, okay? You see what I mean?

It's like saying a pen that has no ink wrote the Constitution or something. You see what I mean? All the signs of a lifetime of anxiety or worry on a person's face are created by phantoms that never existed, which is the tragedy of human life.

All right, number three. THAMS CAD BSHAD PA NI DANG, BLA BCAD PA NI LA SOGS PAS, LAM THAR PA DANG, THAMS CAD KHYEN PO NGES PAR BYUNG BA NYID DAG, DU RAB DU BSTAN PA LA, LAM DU'I BSTAN KYANG NGES PAR BYUNG BA BYED, MI NUS SOGS SHES, PHYIR THON GYIS BSGOM PA MED PA, NGES PAR BYUNG BA'I LAM BSTAN PA LA MIN GCIG PA, They are not afraid to describe the path which will get people out. I don't know if afraid is the right thing, right?

They're not shy to stand up in front of a thousand people and say, if you ever want to be happy, you must understand that your husband that you fight with doesn't exist and never did. They're not shy to get up in front of a big group of people and make a statement like that. That's the third of the fearlessnesses.

By the way, each one is accompanied by the words in the Tibetan which is BSGOM PA MED PA, PHYIR THON GYIS BSGOM PA MED PA. BSGOM PA means someone who could dispute what you say. MED PA means there is no one.

PHYIR THON means what, anybody? PHYIR DANG THON PA, PHYIR THON, PHYIR DANG THON PA. PHYIR means the Dharma, right?

THON PA means in keeping with. PHYIR THON PA means same. Could someone dispute what the Buddha said?

Yeah, I mean, a crazy person. In debating in the monastery, you get a guy who just won't be logical with you. Are all fruits red?

Yes. Isn't orange red? No.

So are all fruits red? Yes. And then you just say, in Tibetan debate, you say, NYON DENG BA DANG TSOD PA MED.

Say, NYON DENG BA DANG. NYON DENG BA DANG TSOD PA MED. Who can debate the insane?

And then you just walk off. You say, NYON DENG BA DANG TSOD PA MED. You just turn your back on them.

Because they're just being blatantly illogical. Do they agree to A? They agree to B.

And it doesn't follow to C. Then you just say, you know. So each of the four fearlessness here is accompanied by the word, cannot be disputed by a person who is sane.

Or following logical form. Number four, ready? Then we can take a break.

Sorry, I'm a little bit over. RANG DONGS PHANGS PA PHUN TSOGS LA MIN JIG PA DANG GNYIS KYI SA PO MA RGYUR PA SRED PA GNYIS DU GSHEL GYIS SRED PA LA GCIG TU NYID DGOS BA MED PAS BDAG DE BA THOB PA DANG BAG TSA BA MED PA DANG MIN JIG PA THOB PA'I GNAS TE GYI RGYUR LA PO CHE GNAS SU THAMS CAD BA'O I'm, what's Muhammad Ali say? I'm the greatest.

What did he say?

[Speaker 2]
He felt like a butterfly sting like a bee.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, felt like a butterfly sting like a bee. But he also said, I'm the greatest. So BDAG DE BA THOB PA means I have reached ultimate happiness.

BAG TSA BA MED PA There's nothing in the world that can worry me anymore. MIN JIG PA I ain't afraid of anything anymore. And that's where I'm at.

And I'm GYUR CHOG. GYUR CHOG means, GYUR means a herd of cattle. CHOG means the front bull.

The bull in front of a stampede. The bull who leads the stampede, the biggest horns is called GYUR CHOG. And in ancient Indian philosophy, this means I don't mind to say I'm the greatest.

Nobody can worry me. Nobody can make me afraid. I'm totally blissed out all the time.

I don't care what else people say or people do. And I know it. So that's kind of a, it's not an arrogance.

It's a kind of power. If you reach an enlightened state, I'm not saying I have or anybody I know has. I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying these are the traditional four fearlessnesses that are described in scripture. Why are we talking about them? If you answer that, you get to have a break.

Yeah, why would you cut the number of lines from eight to four? It would be the four forms of fearlessness. I ain't afraid to say that.

I ain't afraid to say that. Okay? All right then, we'll take a break.

We need a mandala offering. Ningbo, you want to do it?

[Speaker 2]
GYUR GYI GYUR ZHIG MED PA DANG GONG YID RAB DUNG ZHIG MIN PAS GYEPA NGON SANGS RGYAS SHIN TU MI DE DGOS BAR GYI DUG NAM DA SHING LA CHUG PA SHING DANG NGON RAB DUNG NAM DANG RAGAM YATHA DIG GYUR LOKAN SANAM YOSHIN SONG SONG SHING SANAM YOSHIN MED CHUNG NI BAM PA KUNI DUG PAR