«Дар освобождения», курс 12 «Ретрит «Главный магнит»», занятие 13

[Говорящий 1] (0:00 - 55:58)
The event or activity that you can expect to go well without consciously planting some seeds starting this afternoon doesn't exist, okay? I'm trying to get you there. It's a kind of emptiness, okay?

It is a kind of emptiness. The person who hurt you in the past this morning, who wasn't your fault, never existed. And the event or activity that you're hoping will go well this week also doesn't exist.

There's no such thing. You're wasting your time worrying about it or thinking about it or being concerned about it because it doesn't exist. There's no such thing.

Only those events which you plant seeds for are going to happen, okay? The rest are maungpa ma kyeway choshe. Maungpa ma kyeway choshe means a future thing that's not going to happen.

It's a joke in the Abhidharma, okay? Future thing that has no odds of occurring. Okay?

Try to... I don't know how to get you there. It's two kinds of emptiness.

They're not going to happen. An event that you hope is going to go well without doing something now to plant some seeds and then some heavy coffee meditation, then that's just... what do you call it?

Gambling. That's just... you're hoping for good luck.

And the other one is... what do you call it? It's kind of designed.

You're designing the success of the upcoming thing. That one exists. That meaning exists.

And you don't have to worry about that meaning. You don't have to spend much time being concerned about whether it's going to go well or not because it will. It has to.

Okay? Then your life changes and you're not worried about the chances of success of something you're trying to do in your life. And you're not remembering hurt that you had in the past.

So you're basically stuck in the present with enjoying the present, you see? And especially when you do coffee meditation, okay? Then the coffee meditation will come easily because you have nothing in the past to be angry about and there's nothing in the future to worry about.

So you might as well do your coffee meditation. You see what I mean? Rather than struggling not to think about the past or the future.

The past doesn't exist. Those objects in the past don't exist. The ones in the future don't exist.

So when you lay your head down on your pillow you don't have anything else to think about. Okay? Try to...

We go around the world trying to tell people this and I can see in a crowd. I can watch a crowd. I can't see all the faces.

There's a thousand faces but I can see like 50 or something. And then I look at them and I say, how many people are getting it? How many people are gonna be happy?

And you can see that a light turns on in people's eyes. The ones who get it and the other ones don't get it. And then you're just like, okay.

There's nothing in the future to worry about because it doesn't exist. Something that might happen well, might go well or might not go well, doesn't exist if you plant seeds. And someone who hurt you in the past that you can remember to be thinking about, they don't exist either.

So it's just phantoms, okay? They're just... Yeah, they're phantasma.

There's nothing there. They're not there. And the whole world gets old and gets tired worrying about those things that aren't there.

It's sad. If there was something there to worry about then the suffering of the world would somehow be okay. But there's nothing there.

It's like everyone's running full speed across the camp to escape from snakes that aren't there. And the whole world is doing that. It would be okay if if there were some snakes, but there aren't any.

And all these people are running away from the snakes. It's just a bunch of ropes, right? On the ground.

I don't know. It's very frustrating for me as I go around the world. It's extremely frustrating to talk someplace and then leave that place and know I won't be back for a year.

And those people will run for another year and they'll worry for another year. Try to get it, okay? Those things are not there.

What's the sign that you have the wrong attitude about them? Yeah, you're either upset or... Any kind of negative emotion is a barometer that you're thinking the wrong way.

It's a wrong think. Anytime you're not happy, you're wrong thinking. So that gives you a measurement.

What do you call it? Lit mistake. Yeah, a barometer of where you're at.

If you can feel upset, you don't have correct view. And if you feel resentful towards anybody, hatred towards anybody, you also have a wrong view. Which means anytime you're not playing music or dancing then you're probably doing something wrong.

I want you to try to feel that feeling, okay? I like it here because we did do a little music and dance. I felt like we were doing the right thing.

Spending our day well. Okay, here we go. It's been occurring to me this week that it would be kind of nice to live like this.

I don't know. Probably at least it's too busy to stay here forever. But you also probably have to pay the cat something.

All right. He was talking about how even with common... I love that example.

Even with making a chair or something like that, you have to learn how to use the tools by watching somebody and painting something or sculpting something, but much less with the most difficult task that a human being has to do, which is getting enlightened, which equals happiness, being happy. I don't know. Sometimes it might be better to think of it that way.

I'm struggling to be enlightened. It's a big deal. But if you say I'm just trying to be happy all day, it's the same thing.

It's the same thing. It's a struggle, right? It's a difficult task.

It's the hardest thing to do is to be happy all day. It's like having a vacation, which is restful. It's almost impossible.

You know? We're going to get there. Okay.

Then he said you can't learn these things on the internet, right? We are designing 200 shows for YouTube. We already put in a grant request with somebody in Beijing in like a 10-year project, 200 YouTube videos for learning Tibetan and learning how to use the books.

But it doesn't replace a human being. You need a human being. The videos are good to get you started and then you should switch over to a human being.

There's a difference between the two. So he's going to give an example. per na di ne gyakar tabur droway tse Yeah, per na means what?

Yeah, for example, pe chak means a what? A book. And pe means something printed.

And the Russian for to print something is pe chak. It's kind of weird. Okay, anyway, pe chak.

Anyway, I thought it was funny. per na di ne gyakar tabur droway tse So for example, if you want to go from here to India, okay, if you hope to go from here to India, then he says, sa khen shi ngepa tsel gu. Sa means what?

Earth. Khen means a knower, like anyone who knows. Khen, it's not the same as khepa.

Khepa, that's khen, different spelling. This is no yatak. Khen, khen means someone who does that thing.

Like dro khen is someone who is going. What do you say? You say in, or there's a word in Chinese, like ching dren, dren at the end of a sentence means a person who is blah, blah, blah, right?

Dren, it's like that. Yeah, khen, someone who's doing that thing. In Chinese it comes at the end and it's a phra, it's a clause, the person who is doing that thing.

In Tibetan it's khen. Khen means the person who's doing the thing that's in front of that. So sa khen means an earth khen, an earther.

What's that mean? A guide, someone who knows the land. Okay, if you want to go from Tibet to India you need a sa khen.

ZHIG NGES PAR RTZAL DGOS, you have to look for one. Then Pabongka Rinpoche was a high tantric teacher also. And he was one of the greatest masters of the Vajrayogini practice, Angel of Diamond practice in history.

And he wrote the best commentary on it. And we translated it and we studied it in the seven-year program at Diamond Mountain. So he was a great Vajrayogini master.

His student, Trijang Rinpoche, was also a master of that practice, that tantra. And then his student was our teacher. So I don't think he can teach Lam Rim without throwing in accidental or purposeful allusions to higher practices.

And we've seen that a few times, right? This is one also. And I just wonder if anyone who was at Diamond Mountain for this seven-year course remembers anything about somebody helping you to go to India and to the Indian Ocean.

Oh yeah, synapses are trying to fire. Do you remember? Is that the way to explain emptiness?

Yeah, there's two ways to explain emptiness. Yeah, wow, who said that? God bless you.

Directly and indirectly, okay? And that's a very, very, very profound teaching. Because Tibetans never saw the ocean.

They didn't have an ocean. And they had all these myths about the ocean. All jewels come from the ocean.

If you can get to the ocean, you can pick up emeralds and rubies and diamonds because they all come from the ocean. But they never saw an ocean because they're landlocked by the Himalayas. So if you want to go to the Indian Ocean, you need a guide.

And there's two ways you can understand the ocean. One is called direct, and one is called indirect. And the ocean in this case is emptiness or high tantric realizations.

Someone could sit down to you and say the ocean is blue. It's like the Lake Kokonor in Tibet or Lake Manasarova, right? What do you call it?

Lake Manasarova. It's a big lake. It's bigger than that.

Like you can't see to the end of it. It's all blue. And there's fish, big fish.

And if you go far enough, you can go to other countries. You can explain to a person in Tibet what the ocean looks like. That's called a direct explanation of emptiness.

Or you can give them directions to the ocean. You can say, okay, try to get to Kathmandu. You go through that path and you meet all these people speaking some other language.

Then turn left. And then walk for two months. You hit this big river.

That's not the ocean. That's the Ganges. Then follow the bank.

And then you'll see this big, big thing. That's the ocean. And then the person gets a backpack and they start walking to Kathmandu, right?

Confusingly, that's called the indirect method of seeing emptiness. It was always confusing to me because that guy really sees the ocean by the time he gets to the end. But it means the guy, rather than describing the ocean to you, the person gives you instructions and then indirectly you get to the ocean and you see it yourself.

So the teachings on the inner body of yoga, the teachings of yoga, all the chakras, all the channels, how to do yoga, how to do dance. Dance is a big subject in the monasteries, a sacred dance. And how to think as you dance is a big subject and beautiful subject.

Then you teach someone those rivers. You tell them go down that river, follow that river, meaning your inner channels, and follow the prana that way, and then you'll get to emptiness. Then you'll have a perception of emptiness because the prana can trigger that.

The correct practice of yoga or dance can trigger deep spiritual realizations. You see? And that's called the indirect method.

So when they teach it in tantra they call it the trip to India. You see? So here we are.

Accidentally he threw in the trip to India. What is he talking about a trip to India? Oh, you need a Sakyan.

You need someone who knows the land. Trying to go to India without some instructions from a guide is suicide, right? Even nowadays.

All right, ready? Got it? It's very beautiful.

It's a reference to the practice of yoga and dance in the inner body. DE YANG GANG CHUNG GI MI CHOG PAR You can't just take off and hope you'll get there. SNGAR DRO NYONG BA SOGS You have to find someone who's been there before.

DRO NYONG means they have experienced going there. Someone who's been there before. This gyu is interesting.

I want you to learn it, those of you trying to learn Tibetan. So there's R-G-Y-U which means cause. There's R-G-Y-U-D which means or your santana, mental stream.

And there's B-R-G-Y-U-D which means a lineage, okay? Burgyud. But then this is spelled differently from all of them.

And this gyu means acquainted with. So if you don't pronounce Tibetan correctly, it's hopeless. One is gyu, one is gyu, and one is gyu.

One is cut short, gyu, and you close your throat at the last minute, gyu. That's a D, gyu. Then one is longer, gyu, and you say it longer, gyu.

That's this one. Are you familiar with? Are you acquainted with?

And then gyu without either cutting or lengthening is a cause, okay? That means a cause. So if your Tibetan gets good, you should be able to hear the difference.

If someone just says a single word with no context, gyu means what? Gyu. No, lineage, gyu.

That's a cause, gyu. That's acquainted with, okay? And you have to learn to hear it, okay?

Yeah, R-G-Y-U is cause. And it's neutral. It's not cut short, it's not lengthened, gyu.

Like gyun de means cause and effect. Gyu cut short means any kind of a stream. It can mean tantra, it can mean mental stream, and with a B in front of it, it can mean lineage, okay?

Lineage, namas, gyu, okay? And then gyu lengthened is to be used to something or to be acquainted with something, okay? In the old days, they were all pronounced.

The suffix letters were all pronounced. And in the rural areas of Tibet, of the Tibetan language, they still pronounced them. So it sounds very uneducated to a person who's learned Tibetan outside of Tibet, but it's more correct.

So in Ladakh or in Mongolia, they would say, ,GZHAN GDIGS GROGS SU SOGS SU GANG CHUNG LA BRTEN NA, ,BLAM CI LTAR PAR MI GRI ZHING BLOG PA, They pronounce everything, okay? They actually pronounce it correctly because they never heard that it changed. Usually language moves the fastest in the middle of a country, in the large cities.

And then the rural places catch up a few centuries later, okay? The one that's mainstream in front of it is RGYDB? Right, yeah.

And with the B in front of it, it changes to tradition or lineage. So here it means you need someone who is gyu with the with the path to India. Gyu.

Someone who's acquainted. They've been there before. Gyu.

Gyu. Gyu. Gyu.

Gyu. Gyu. But you have to rely on them.

Notice he's used a BRTEN, those of you who care, BRTEN, okay? He didn't use the one that means to rely on a doctor. He's being more general.

You will have to find someone who knows the way. GOS PA BZHIN DU, ,BLAM DON GYEN GYI RGYER BA'I ZHING YIN, ,DE YANG SANGS RGYI GYI GRUB PA'I RNAM DER, ,CI THUB PA ZHIG DGOS, You will also need a spiritual guide who is acquainted with the path to enlightenment, and who is able to guide you on that path. ,GZHAN DIG RDZOGS SOGS GANG SBYUNG LA BRTEN NA, You shouldn't just hook up with anybody you meet.

Your spiritual real estate is precious. Your soul, your mind is a very valuable thing. And you shouldn't expose it lightly to teachings or to people's ideas.

You should be selective about who you expose your heart to, because you don't have much time. You should try to be wise in your selection of who you listen to, or who you choose, what books you read for example. You should be careful.

Try to choose ones that are very meaningful. If we go to a film, try to choose one that is meaningful. And it doesn't mean you can't have fun.

I mean, if you're tired and you just did a 10-day retreat and you need a break, then go see a stupid movie and relax. And that's an important part of spiritual life also. It is.

It really is. But in general, choose, I mean, I would say choose the classics. Choose things that are important.

Choose things that will help your mind. I don't read any other books, frankly. I don't read any other books.

Once in a while I'll read a science fiction book because that's higher than Dharma. But I don't... If a book hasn't been around for a thousand years or so, I don't waste my time on it.

So don't get me... Okay, anyway. They just end up in my bathroom and then I have to drag them to goodwill.

DIG GROG we talked about. CHOD GROG and DIG GROG we talked about. GROG PO means friend, right?

What's a CHOD GROG? Yeah, someone who influences you in a wholesome way. And a DIG GROG is the opposite.

DIG GROG, there's a joke in Tibet. How do you recognize a DIG GROG? Like a bad friend who will screw up your life.

And they say they don't, unfortunately, they don't have horns. They're not like that and they have a tail. They don't have this tail and fangs.

They're usually very reasonable. They're super reasonable. They're like, why do you waste ten days going to Prescott?

I mean, really. I mean, three days would have been enough and you could have helped at your work. They sound very reasonable.

They're not like evil. If they were evil, it would be easier. They're reasonable.

And then you want to do something that's a little bit beyond reasonable and they talk you out of it. They're like, you went already the last time, ten days. I mean, it's expensive and takes a lot of your time.

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to just focus on your job for a couple days? You know what I mean like that? They don't say go kill somebody or something like that.

But they kill you. They kill you worse than that. Okay, that's a big joke.

So, GANG SBYUNG LA BSTAN NA If you just take any kind of friend that comes along, LANG CI LTA BAR MI SPYIS ZHING, they won't be able to lead you on the path correctly. LOG PAR CHOS BAR RGYUR BA YIN PAS, you will go astray. THOB PA GZHAN YIN BRTAN PA DI RGYAL CHE, therefore, at the beginning of spiritual career, you have to find a teacher.

And I'm not saying it's me. I'm just the one who's telling you you need a teacher. Then you have to find your teacher.

I'm happy to be your heart teacher if you want, but you might do better with somebody else. So each person's different. Each person has a different personality.

And you should find your soulmate lama. You should keep going until you find the one that fits you perfectly. Until you find one, I'm happy to substitute.

I'm happy to entertain requests, but I'm not trying to sell myself. What I'm saying is you have to find your heart lama. Somewhere, somehow, you have to find your particular heart lama.

You must find. That's worth your life. THOB PA GZHAN YIN BRTAN PA DI RGYAL CHE, very important.

BYAS RIM PA BYAS KYANG So, Je Tsongkapa also refers to your heart teacher as lam kyi tsawa. It's the root of the whole path. That's the basis of the whole path, lam kyi tsawa.

GSUM PA GNAS CHE GNAS, now you can tell me GNAS. Crucial. It's crucial.

GNAS CHE means it wasn't a mistake that he uses the word root of the path for teacher. He doesn't call it teacher. He calls it root of the path.

Je Tsongkapa. DE LA THOB MA GZHAN YIN BRTAN PA'I TSULA ZHIG So hey, we're finally at a good galupa division. That means we're starting the real thing.

So here we go. Here's how to find a teacher and how to follow them properly. DE LA THOB MA TSULA ZHIG ZHIG means there's four parts to how to take a teacher.

Number one, BRTAN PA'I PHAN YIN Think about all the cool stuff that's going to happen if you find one and it works out. If the relationship works out successfully, think of all the cool stuff that's going to happen. Number two, MA BRTAN PA DANG BRTAN TSUL LO BA'I GNYIS MI Think about how bad it sucks if you don't find one.

Or if you find one and you don't treat them properly. He lumps that together. He puts them together.

Either you don't find one or you find one and you don't relate to them properly. Number three, SANGS PA'I BRTAN TSUL How to relate to your teacher in your own mind, in your own thoughts. And then, SBYOR BA'I BRTAN TSUL means how you relate to them physically.

Logistically, how do you relate to them? Outside, in your actions, as opposed to your thoughts. Number three is how to think about them.

Number four is how to serve them. And Americans have a, I don't know, Americans have a resistance to the idea of service of a teacher. And it probably comes from our democratic principles that you shouldn't be a servant.

We should all be equal. But if the teacher is somebody special and if they're doing wonderful things, if they are serving the world, then to serve them is a great honor and a privilege and a pleasure. And you grow constantly by serving them.

And I did it for 25 years. And I washed dishes for eight years. And I was a dishwasher for eight years.

And I'm proud of it. And that's why I can teach you these things. That's why I understand all these things, because I wash the dishes.

And that's part of, I guess in dance it's the same, right? You have to sweep the floors and open the place and close the place and straighten up. And it's the people who attach to the master and do the dirty work at the dance studio who end up being the great dancers.

So anyway, DE YANG SNGON DU BSTAN PA'I PHAN YIN DANG, MA BSTAN PA'I GNYIS GNYIS TZAM DGOS SHING To do all that you're going to have to consider carefully the benefits. In Buddhism you never undertake a practice without a sales job. So the Lama has to do a sales job.

And you're not supposed to follow a practice unless they can sell it to you. You're not supposed to just do it because they said so. You're supposed to say, prove to me that this is worth doing.

Prove to me that this is worth my time. And then they have to give you like 10 reasons why this is going to help you. And then you're supposed to say, all right, that sounds okay.

You're not just supposed to do stuff because they told you to. Because you can get in trouble that way, right? It should be logical.

It should make sense. If they can't explain to you why you should do something, you should say, I love you, but I'm going to wait until I'm convinced. Okay, like that.

That's how Buddhists approach their teacher. PHAN YIN DANG, MA BSTAN PA'I GNYIS GNYIS means, they should also be able to convince you of how bad it's going to be if you don't buy this car. Okay, they should do a sales job on one hand.

They should tell you how great it's going to be if you take the car. But they should also be able to tell you how bad it's going to be if you have to walk. You know, they should sell it to you positively and also negatively.

And then GUR SHING, DE'I SRAM NA DE LA BSTAN PA'I GRO ZHUGS CHE BA CHUNG If you are convinced, if the person takes the time to explain to you why this is a useful religious practice, then you'll be happy to do it. If they sell you well enough on the idea, then while you're washing the dishes, because you want to save humanity, you'll wash them happily. And if they don't explain it to you before and they just say wash dishes, then you'll probably get resentful after a while and you'll quit.

So it's important in Buddhism that the teacher presents logical reasons why a practice is going to be helpful for you and for all those you love. Okay, here we go. So what are we going to do first?

The benefits. I have to do a sales job. I have to sell you on the idea of having your own...

What's that guy in Karate Kid, the Japanese? You need a Mr. Miyagi. Okay, now I'm trying to convince you why you need a Mr. Miyagi. Who's the guy in the Star Wars movies? Yeah, you need a Yoda. You need a wise old somebody to tell you deeper stuff.

Everybody needs one. You should have your own Yoda or Mr. Miyagi. Okay, who's the one in Kung Fu Panda?

Shifu. Shifu. Okay, it's probably a Japanese word, but okay, they stuck it in there.

,DANG PO GZHAN NYANG BSTAN PA'I PHAN YIN LA'ANG, Here are the benefits to having a Mr. Miyagi in your life. ,GNUR LAM LAS GSUNGS PAS, He's going to quote Quick Path, which is a Lamrim. It's a different Lamrim text.

,LAS GSUNGS PA'I LAM MED GSUNGS RGYUN LTAR DGOS PA, So I'm going to teach it to you from that other Lamrim, Quick Path, with according to the oral tradition, as it has come down to me, said Pabongka Rinpoche, okay. DGOS PA And there are SACE RGYAS There are eight parts to the outline. There are eight points.

What do you call them? What do they call them on a business proposal or something? There are eight bullet points.

There are eight bullet points, okay, to why you need a Mr. Miyagi in your life. There are eight bullet points. ,DE DANG PO, Here's the first one.

,SANGS RGYAS KYI GOS PA LA NYE BA LA'ANG, ,LAM MED DAM PA BSTAN PA, ,RAM SRID The first classic one is that it will bring you closer to enlightenment. If you have a Mr. Miyagi in your life, it will bring you closer to enlightenment. Why is enlightenment useful?

No, you can help more people. You can be ultimate help to countless beings. A person who's enlightened can serve billions of creatures at the same time.

That's cool. And you want it. Deep down, it's better than sex or music or ice cream.

Deep down, you want to save the world. That's the deepest human desire. And you can get it if you have a Mr. Miyagi. ,SANGS RGYAS KYI GOS PA LA NYE BA LA'ANG, ,LAM MED DAM PA BSTAN PA, ,RAM GYIS The Lama teaches you what to do and then you do it. And that brings you closer to enlightenment. That's how the Lama brings you closer to enlightenment.

,LAM MA CHOD CING, ,GNYENG KHOR BA'I If you Lama CHOD, which can be shortened to oh no, Lama CHOD PA, right? That's what we're going to do tomorrow. Duh.

If you make offerings to your Lama, it doesn't mean money. Usually Lama doesn't need money because they understand karma and they can make money. They don't need your money.

They understand how to plant money. They want what from you? They want you to practice.

They want you to get enlightened because they need colleagues. They need more help. Not working for them, but opening their own franchise.

,LAM MA CHOD CING, ,GNYENG KHOR BA'I ,GNYENG KHOR BA'I means to respect your teacher. And that's a big deal and we'll talk about it again and again. It's not an American thing.

In fact, in America, I think almost the opposite is valued. The independent junior junior officer is always the hero in the movie who goes against his superior's wishes and saves the ship or something like that. Brash, irreverent hero is one of our ideals in America.

But in this tradition and in this lineage, they are your ticket to gaining the skills to help other people, save other people's lives. So you're just kind of in a place with them that you... It's an affectionate awe.

And it's never short or complaining or whiny or disrespectful. That's totally the opposite. ,LAM MA CHOD CING GNYENG And you should develop that and it's a very beautiful thing.

And they have it. There are many problems in Tibetan monasteries but they know how to respect their teachers. And it's very beautiful.

It's a very wonderful atmosphere to be in. ,NYENG KOR BA'I ,SANGS RGYAS KYI DGOS PA NA ,NYE BA ZHES ,SA CHE NYID SU BYAS NAS You can really divide it into two parts. Number one, if the mama teaches you and you do what they say, you will get closer to enlightenment.

Or, if you make offerings to your lama and respect them, you will get closer to enlightenment. So Pabongka Rinpoche's own teacher, Dhagpo Lama Rinpoche, divided it that way into two. Closer to enlightenment means if you do what they teach you, you get closer to enlightenment.

A. B. If you respect them properly, if you have this affectionate what do you call it?

Huh? It's an affectionate respect for someone who knows a lot. And yeah, it's kind of like that.

It means I don't know. It's like you want to learn to play piano really well and there's a master. There's a real master.

And so there's a mixture in your feeling towards them if you become their student. There's a mixture of affection for them and then there's a mixture of respect for what they know how to do. Like a awe of it's not really devotion.

It's like you're like in awe of how well they play piano. And you also, but it's not a cold, there are cold students. They just want to know how to play piano and they could care less.

If the piano teacher has a stroke, they're like gone the next day. They find another one who can still play. Not like that.

It has to be both. Find a master and then have this loving relationship with them. That's best.

SA BYAS NYID SU BYAS NAS CIG PA BDAG GIS BSKYEMS So that's a tradition that he learned from his own Lama. So you can tell his thoughts are on his own Lama. He's talking about how his Lama taught him how to behave towards a Lama.

It's kind of cool. We'll stop in about, I don't know, let's give it like five more minutes and then we'll take a break. And then we'll do some questions afterwards.

DE LA DANG PO NI PHYIR SANGS RGYAS KYI BSKOGS PA LA NYE BA'I YANG GZHAN YIN RTEN PA'I PHAN YIN TE So here's the first one. What was the first one? If you listen to their instructions and carry them out then you'll get closer to enlightenment.

NYE BA'I YANG GZHAN YIN RTEN PA'I PHAN YIN TE LAM GZHAN LA RGYAL CHEN GRANGS MED DU GRU MAR GRUB DGOS PA'I SA LAM RNAMS There are spiritual paths which you can practice which can take many lifetimes for you to reach your goal. He says GRAL CHEN GRANGS MED, countless eons. How long is an eon in Buddhism?

It's not that. That's the next word here. GRANGS MED means 10 to the 60th power.

That's how many great eons you'll have to take. A great eon is not defined in scripture. If you study the Abhidharma fourth chapter, they have a wonderful presentation of time and space.

I tried to sell it to a physicist recently but he didn't buy it. But what you call a kalpa or an eon in Buddhism is measured in a very odd way. It's a cycle with 80 sine curves on it.

It depends on the time it takes for a planet to grow oceans and then creatures and then evolution into humans until they blow themselves up with a weapon of fire that covers the earth. That's Abhidharma third chapter. And then it starts over again.

Like a few people survive. And then it starts over again. So 80 of those is a kalpa.

Then times 10 to the 60th power. So if you practice some spiritual path it could take you that long. But if you had a good teacher se chik la drul tok se chik one lifetime.

In your lifetime what would take many eons you could do in one lifetime if you have a good teacher. If you have a good teacher. After the explosion of the weapon that covers the world with fire the earth gets vaporized in a few zillion years by the sun, the local sun supernovas.

That's in the Abhidharmakosha. That's what I want to teach in April. I want to start teaching that in April.

I've never taught it. It's very beautiful. Hen tenpai pen yin tenpo tsu shi tenpo tsu shin chepa tsu shin chepa means if you relate properly to that Lama it can take you only a single life.

ngak la me gyi nyer kye kyang la mi nyel chok kyi sok tu chepa ne chung ma This is a beautiful thing and then we'll take a break. What's ngak? Tantra.

Literally it's mantra. The translation of the Sanskrit word mantra is ngak. Ngak, low tone ngak means speech.

Ngak with an accent on it, high tone means mantra. Enlightened speech. Ngak is what we do.

Ngak is what Buddhists do. Are you ngak-ing or are you ngak-ing? Huh?

Yeah, sung is honorific. So ngak means tantra. What's la me mean?

La me unuttara unuttara Yeah, no higher. Un means not. Uttara means higher.

Like uttanasana. So unuttara means nothing higher. And Americans say unuttara or something.

Unuttara or something. Unuttara tantra which is the highest of all tantras. There are four classes of tantra and unuttara is the highest.

Why does unuttara tantra work so fast? Why can it change you into an angel in a single lifetime? Gnyur kye la me nyam tsor Yeah, the practice of serving your teacher is the tsok.

What's tsok, srok? No, that's tsok. Tsok means life.

What is it in Sanskrit? Ayus And then before the word veda which means the science of S is required to change to R. So it becomes ayurveda.

The study of the life. So tsok. Tsok means life.

In scripture life means I don't know how to say it. It's the thing inside of unuttara yoga that allows it to be so powerful that you can get enlightened in a single lifetime. I don't know.

The Tibetan word is it's the life. Like inside of a tree trunk there's a core of juice that keeps the tree alive. And proper service of your teacher is that for tantra.

What do you call it? Inner lifetime juice thing. We don't have a word, I don't think.

But in Tibetan it means the life inside a thing. Say again? No, arulika is a different thing.

That's an interesting thing. That's a different thing. It's not ayur.

It's arulika. But I don't know. You find a word.

It means inner core lifetime essential juice thing that makes the thing work. And if the tree doesn't have it, it dies. What do you call it?

You can say life force. The life force of high tantric practice is honoring your teacher. And that's the only way, that's the only reason it can work to get you enlightened in one lifetime.

SOGS TU BYAS PA LAS CHU MA And then he gives an example. NAM THAR means normally moksha, but as I said the other day it also means biography. And he says, do you see the last line?

Can you go to J MED LA? What's that? J MED LA Huh?

Say it fast. MED LA Yeah, MED LA RE PA It's his brief name. We say Lord Mila but it's short for MED LA RE PA So this is great yogi in Tibet.

The most famous meditator in Tibetan history. And who was his teacher? His teacher was a beer guzzling Tibetan businessman.

Not a monk. And who went to India and learned the high teachings. And then their relationship was very stormy.

but he stuck it out. MED LA RE PA stuck it out. And Marpa gave him lots of very difficult tasks.

Like to build a nine-story tower by carrying the stones like the pyramids. And then after he built it, he said, ah, that sucks you. It's all crooked.

That tower is still there. I mean, it's big. And then he just berated him after he spent all that time and worked so hard.

And then Marpa was like, I wish I had a student who could build one that was straight. Who'd want to stay in that? But anyway, he mastered tantra with Marpa because he trusted him.

And he just did what he said and it worked out. So he's giving an example of MED LA RE PA for the juice in the tree idea. All right then.

Let's pause there. We'll take a break. We'll start.

So we're going to hand that thing out tonight. Let's do it tonight. I think night's better energy for that.

Okay. Just one announcement, then we'll do questions for, we don't have a lot of time, 15 minutes. There's a tradition in the monastery called GNAS LAMA.

GNAS means the place where you stay. LAMA means Lama. So in the monk's vows you are required to have a GNAS LAMA which means a big brother in the monastery.

My GNAS LAMA taught me to put my robes on which was really difficult. They fall down for the first three days. It's a lot of spectacle.

They teach you everything. They teach you all the practical stuff and then they keep their eye on you in case you get in trouble. If you have a crisis, like if you get sick in the monastery your GNAS LAMA takes care of you.

And if you have a mental crisis, they take care of you. It's a lot like a sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous. Do you know that system?

Like someone will tell you, I'll be your sponsor and then if you, if it's two o'clock in the morning and you feel like taking a drink, you can call them and they will come. They'll come to your house and they'll take care of you. And I think that's why that's the most successful program in the United States.

So GNAS LAMA is very similar. So at Diamond Mountain, I don't know, eight years ago or something, I asked everyone to try to choose a GNAS LAMA, that they should choose an older student that they felt could be there. We have a buddy system.

I used to surf a lot. My parents wouldn't let us surf without somebody else with us. And that's if the board hits your head and you go unconscious, someone has to pull you out within two minutes or you die.

And it happened three or four times in my life. And somebody had to pull somebody out. So we had a buddy system.

We weren't allowed to go surfing unless somebody else also went with us. And I think it should be that way spiritually. Then, I don't know, we got lazy about it.

And we stopped talking about it and we stopped requiring it. So in the monastery, it's totally required. You can't be in the monastery unless you have a GNAS LAMA.

You got to have an emergency backup. So I would like to encourage you to get a GNAS LAMA. It means an older, maybe more experienced person in this room who's almost like a peer.

They're almost like a fellow student but they're a little more experienced. And if you have a crisis, you can telephone them or you can email them and you can say, I'm having a crisis. My husband walked out today or the doctor just told me I have cancer or I'm going cuckoo in my meditations.

Then, it's a wonderful custom to have a, what do you call it, emergency backup. So I'd ask, and I like to have those names. I like to know who your GNAS LAMA is.

You don't have to tell anybody who's your GNAS LAMA. It's not required, even in the monastery. And you can switch GNAS LAMAS if it's not working out.

You can switch in five minutes. It doesn't matter. If you find one that you feel will be better for you, then you can switch and it's no big deal.

Everyone's like, okay, cool. That's fine. You switch.

So it's not your root LAMA, right? It's not your heart LAMA. It's like a mentor or an emergency backup person.

So I encourage you. We have like 24 hours left. I encourage you to think about it and don't be shy.

You can ask someone if they'd like to be your GNAS LAMA. I kind of encouraged my students not to take more than, how many was it? Ten or twelve.

I think it was twelve. I asked them not to take more than twelve people to be their GNAS LAMA because then it gets too spread out. Because then a hundred people ask me to be their GNAS LAMA and I can't answer that many emails.

I do have people for whom I am a GNAS LAMA. They usually live near me. They've moved there to be near me and I take care of them when they have their crises.

Usually they have to take me to dinner and I'll listen to them. But I don't try to do more than twelve. I don't do more than that.

So I'm booked. you can ask other people. But I encourage you not to take more than twelve.

Because it has to be that you're available at two o'clock in the morning when they're having a crisis. You can't be that for more than twelve people or you'll never get any sleep. Then you'll have a crisis.

I encourage you. If you have a GNAS LAMA I ask you to tell. If you don't mind telling me it helps me if you have a crisis that you can't speak.

Like if you get in a car accident or something. If I know who your GNAS LAMA is I can talk to them about what are your practices. Then I can help you when you're unconscious or after you die.

I can help. But it helps if I know who your GNAS LAMA is. So I'm asking if you don't mind telling me tell Rebecca and she'll keep a list.

We won't tell other people who's your GNAS LAMA. Then if you don't have a GNAS LAMA I encourage you to ask someone here at the retreat or someone else that you trust. It also doesn't have to be a Buddhist.

I mean it could be anybody that I know is taking care of you when you have an emergency. It just helps me to help you. So think about it and don't be shy to ask someone to be your GNAS LAMA.

We couldn't work out a word for the GNAS LAMA is the person who's the GNAS LAMA but what do we call the other person? Somebody said GNAS LAMI After 10 years I don't know what to call this person. Is it a victim?

I don't know. Caree?

[Говорящий 2] (56:10 - 56:11)
Pigeon.

[Говорящий 1] (56:12 - 56:42)
Pigeon. I don't know. I don't know if I like that.

I'm open to it. If someone can think of a sweet word. Bajji?

Bajji? Okay, anyway, let's open to questions. Maybe tonight somebody can come up with some suggestions for what we call the person who has the GNAS LAMA.

Let's do this thing. Bridget, anyone there?

[Говорящий 2] (56:42 - 57:41)
Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon Pigeon you