«Дар освобождения», курс 10 «Новогодний ретрит», занятие 1

[Говорящий 1] (0:00 - 0:19)
I thought maybe we'd do half hour questions, if you have any questions, preguntas. It can be anything, I don't care. One woman told me from Israel, she said, am I bothering you with my questions?

[Говорящий 2] (0:25 - 0:29)
Maybe I ask too many questions.

[Говорящий 1] (0:29 - 2:36)
Or maybe my questions are too tough. Then in this lineage, in our lineage, in this lineage, we like tough questions. And we like the people who like to argue.

Because then you get to truth, then you can get to the truth. So, I'm happy, any tough question is okay. If I don't like it, I will change the subject.

So, any question or, yeah, go ahead. Please give the question loud, and then please repeat it. Okay, Jeff, Jeff Eddy, go.

The central channel in Tibet is connected to the spinal cord, and then in the pelvis is the spine. A lot of the questions that western people ask are not clear. In half a million pages of the scriptures in the computer, the answers are not clear.

But they do say that, because I was wondering, is the central channel the spine? Is it the spinal column? And I think that there are two great writers about the shape of the channels.

One is Je Tsongkapa, the teacher of the first Dalai Lama. And the other is Choney Lama Drakpa Shedrup, who came from my monastery 400 years ago. They say, central channel is about half inch, that's two and a half centimeters.

[Говорящий 2] (2:39 - 2:40)
One and a half centimeters.

[Говорящий 1] (2:43 - 3:25)
Just more than one centimeter. That far in front of the spine. So, it's supposed to go to here, and it's interesting, the opening is not face down.

The central channel goes like this. But just when it comes here, it has a plumbing thing, it goes like this. So, it's an opening here.

[Говорящий 2] (3:27 - 3:36)
Where Indian women put this bindi, that's the opening of the central channel.

[Говорящий 1] (3:36 - 4:13)
It goes in about this much. Then it goes up, under the bone, and then in front of the spine. They say this much.

But then Je Tsongkapa was disturbed that so many Indian books about tantra had different colors of the channels, and different shapes, and different curves, and he was disturbed about that.

[Говорящий 2] (4:13 - 4:22)
Je Tsongkapa was disturbed because of the difference in the different books about the color and the different shapes of the central channel.

[Говорящий 1] (4:23 - 5:54)
Then he decided that different people experience the central channel in different shapes and different colors. I think when you do yoga, it might be more beneficial to try to feel the central channel rather than try to see it, and try to feel movement of the prana. Instead of worrying about the color like that, try to feel it.

I think it will help you practice if you try to feel it while you're doing yoga. Cool. But it's interesting as about the color of the central channel.

It seems like, to me, the best explanation I saw is that the color is like a flame. So it's like translucent, and the two side channels are opaque. But the middle channel is like a living flame.

So maybe that helps you. Yes, ma'am?

[Говорящий 2] (5:55 - 6:02)
When we're taking the lamas, and we're making the angel drinks for them, do we also end in a cup for everyone to be able to taste one?

[Говорящий 1] (6:03 - 6:04)
Yeah, that's a good question.

[Говорящий 2] (6:04 - 6:13)
When we're bathing the lamas, do we emanate three angels for them? But can we also emanate ourselves to bathe them? That's a good question.

[Говорящий 1] (6:14 - 9:29)
Am I just emanating three other people who do all the work? Or do I also get to do something? Or are they me?

Like that, okay? You can think you are each one of them while they are doing their thing. DROD PA means you send them from you, but then you are inside of them.

When they are bathing, you can be inside of the angel who is bathing. And again, MUS SU YOD PA'I DUS SHES YOD MED KYIS DRIN LABS CHE The power of the practice is higher the more you believe it's really happening. I enjoy doing a practice like that.

Then I will call one of my lamas and say, did you feel anything at three o'clock? And if you try hard, I perceive the world like many strata, many layers. Like a good baklava.

Baklava is a pastry, many layers of pastry. Yeah, and then we are on one level now. I am talking, you are here, we are looking at each other, we are on one level.

But I personally feel a deeper level of reality going on with my teacher. As if our hearts are connected down below many layers, below this level of reality. But not in a ray of light or something like that, but in a whole layer that covers the whole world.

So when I do something like the bathing practice, I try to drill down like an oil well drill to that level of reality and then send the bathing to them. Just try it for fun. I just say it's kind of a visualization.

Then call her and say, did you feel anything at three o'clock? Yeah, I told you not to wipe us like that.

[Говорящий 2] (9:34 - 9:35)
Okay, other question.

[Говорящий 1] (9:38 - 10:26)
Oh, good question. Do we do this before we start our meditation? Or do we stop our meditation in the morning and we do the bathing?

Or just in the mind? When do we do this? I'm going to read you a piece from the book.

So, the subject of this book for the last year is how to prepare for meditation. So all of this is happening before we meditate. There are six steps.

[Говорящий 2] (10:27 - 10:30)
So I will repeat them from the book.

[Говорящий 1] (10:31 - 11:59)
Number one. GNAS GANG CI DOR BYED LA GUS SUM THUGS KYI BRTEN BRAM PA Anybody who wants to meditate, there are six steps to meditation. What's number one?

Clean your room. Many of my students stop meditating at that one. The house must be neat or the mind will not be neat.

If the house is all messy, the mind is also messy. Like this, what do you call it? Monastery?

It's clean. It's neat. There's no junk everywhere.

That's a sign that the people who lived here before or who practiced here before, they have good meditation, good prayer, good meditation. The rooms are simple and clean. The place is beautiful.

This place is simple and beautiful.

[Говорящий 2] (12:00 - 12:01)
Elegant.

[Говорящий 1] (12:01 - 14:12)
That's a sign of good practice. Elegance is a sign of good practice. You can be poor but you can be rich.

You can be poor but also elegant. First thing, make your room elegant. Clean and simple.

And BRTEN BRAM PA. BRTEN BRAM PA means set up an altar. It can be a small table.

If your house is very small, apartment, you can put a sheet, just divide a small area for meditation. And the meditation, the altar can be only this big, it's okay. Then you put a picture of your teacher there.

If you have a Buddha which the Huichol people made for you, you can put it there. Like that, you should have some. And then you should put some offering there.

That's the second step. A piece of fruit. One flower.

The highest offering is a churro. Something important. But something which you enjoy, you can put there.

Like that. It's good to put a book there. Holy book.

Could be in any language, doesn't matter. We have a CD. I can make a CD or Nick can make a CD.

Half a million pages on the CD. Or on a flash disk, this big. I gave to one man in Beijing.

It was half a million pages.

[Говорящий 2] (14:15 - 14:15)
It's this big.

[Говорящий 1] (14:17 - 15:11)
So you can put that on your altar. A lot of good karma. Okay.

It says, YOME KOPADZEPA Say YOME. Like you see your friend and you say, hey, yo. YOME.

KOPADZEPA YOME means anything you offer to a lama or anything you offer to charity or any fruit you offer or flowers you offer, it must be clean. You didn't steal it. And if you take these flowers, you have to ask the people here if you can take them.

If you want to offer a flower.

[Говорящий 2] (15:11 - 15:17)
If you want to offer a flower, you have to ask permission to cut the flower before offering the flower.

[Говорящий 1] (15:17 - 15:23)
Then the offering is pure. You ask Padre Osvaldo.

[Говорящий 2] (15:25 - 15:32)
You say, okay, we want to put some flowers on the altar.

[Говорящий 1] (15:32 - 18:11)
Then anything, money you give to teacher or anything, that thing should be pure. You didn't take the money from somebody else. You didn't pick the fruit from somebody else's tree.

I know because when I was young, a hundred years ago, I picked a flower from a tree to give to my teacher. We were walking. And I thought, oh, he'd be very happy.

He got angry. My teacher always got angry. I don't know why.

He said, did you ask those people if you can take the flower? So, when you offer it, it must be very pure. Krupa dzepa means it should be beautiful.

How you put it on the altar should be very beautiful. Don't just put fruit on the altar. You're like this.

Yeah, I'm good. Think about it. What looks nice?

What looks nice to the other side? Because they are looking at you. So, they are sitting over there.

When you put a flower, you put it to face them. So, these are the six preparations for meditation. Third one, sit on a good meditation cushion.

In the proper posture. And there are seven or eight characteristics of the posture. Like you shouldn't go like that.

You shouldn't go like that. The eyes can be a little bit open, or it can be closed. You see what's more comfortable for you.

Hands can be chin mudra, or you can put left hand down first, right hand down. Like that. So, there's a special posture.

You can cross your legs in lotus.

[Говорящий 2] (18:16 - 18:17)
Half lotus.

[Говорящий 1] (18:19 - 22:15)
Sukhasana. Comfortable. No cross.

Or you can sit in a chair. It doesn't matter. Many people think, oh, I have to put my legs like that.

Then they meditate. I can tell you the sound in their head. Aya!

That hurts a lot. How long do I have to... Like that.

Then they can't meditate. So, it's better to sit comfortably in chairs. One of the original purposes of yoga was to learn how to sit for a long time without moving.

And the word asana means how to sit. So, it used to be sitting postures. Okay, so that's step number three.

And you bring up a good motivation for meditating. I want to help the whole world. I'm meditating for my family.

For my friends. For my enemies. And I want to help everybody.

When you put your body in the right position, you should put your mind in the right position also. Step four. Picture these teachers, all the teachers.

If you're a great yogi, you can picture all of them. If you're like me, you can just picture your own teacher. It's enough.

Just one is enough. They include all of the past teachers in one teacher. So, that's step number four.

Bring your teacher. In DCI we do golden room. That's step number four.

To bring a teacher. Step number five. Just before you meditate, you should collect some fast good karma.

And you should get rid of all your bad karma quickly. Just before you meditate. Then meditate.

Before you get angry again. Then the meditation will go good. So, step number five.

Collect a lot of good karma quickly. Clean a lot of bad karma quickly. Then meditate quickly.

Before you can say anything to fight with anybody. So, which step is this practice? Yes, number five.

It's perfect. We are cleaning. And we are also making good new karma.

So, this is all before you meditate.

[Говорящий 2] (22:16 - 22:32)
Then, if you are a famous television personality in Guangzhou, you don't have time to do all this in the morning.

[Говорящий 1] (22:33 - 23:18)
Then you can do the bathing once a week or something. You don't have to. If you do all the preparation every day, it will take more than 24 hours.

So, just do what your heart feels like on that day. Sometimes you just do the bathing and you don't do anything else. And then sometimes you just...

I like to cook a really good French dinner. Or some good enchiladas. And I make fresh red sauce.

[Говорящий 2] (23:18 - 23:21)
It takes a long time.

[Говорящий 1] (23:23 - 23:46)
You have to roast the chilies. You have to peel the quinoa. Take out the seeds.

Then you have to grind it. Then you have to cook the onions and the oil. And then you have to cook the sauce.

To make a good enchilada, it can take two hours, three hours.

[Говорящий 2] (23:49 - 23:54)
Then I put one on the altar. That's all.

[Говорящий 1] (23:54 - 24:02)
Throw out the rest. Or give to somebody. But two or three hours for one good enchilada.

[Говорящий 2] (24:04 - 24:06)
For the teacher.

[Говорящий 1] (24:06 - 25:23)
And I put it on the altar. Then I go to work. That's enough.

That is meditation. That's very powerful. Sometimes we go to very expensive restaurants.

We order extra plate and wine and everything. We tell the waiter, they are coming later. Then after two hours we finish eating.

We did in Bulgaria, in Sofia. You have a great French restaurant there. What's the name?

Do you remember? Ne? Le Franchet.

Great restaurant. So, we put the whole meal for the lama. Then at the end, it was very interesting, right?

The waitress came, she said, this person never came. Then we said, oh, it's something special. Then she said, are you giving to God that food?

She understands. It's very beautiful.

[Говорящий 2] (25:23 - 25:24)
Beautiful.

[Говорящий 1] (25:24 - 25:25)
Yes, very nice.