«Дар освобождения», курс 12 «Ретрит «Главный магнит»», занятие 3

[Говорящий 1] (0:01 - 0:10)
Any questions? Yes, please. We have a question from Mexico.

I'll do Jane first and then I'll do Mexico. How's that? Okay.

[Говорящий 2] (0:11 - 1:00)
Thank you, Geshe-la. I'm reading Ken Ricochet's book on becoming a bodhisattva and he talks about equanimity and how you, before you can even think, at least this is my understanding, before you can even think about becoming a bodhisattva and wishing enlightenment on everybody, you have to recognize or see everybody as totally equal. So you can't like some better than others and you can't dislike some more than others.

I have a hard time with what about your spouse or your lama? You can't like your husband any more than you like your neighbor or your... I mean, how does that work?

[Говорящий 1] (1:01 - 13:04)
I think what it really means is that you should wish well on everyone equally. That's all it means. You should wish goodness and happiness on everybody equally.

And that's different, right? It doesn't mean that you can't love your husband more than you or feel more affection for your spouse or your teacher than you do for other people. But in wishing them well or hoping for their success and their enlightenment, we should be equal.

That's all. That's all. It's a good question.

Okay. What's the one from Mexico? Alejandro asks, What is the difference between the cup you see in the mind only school in lower and higher lower and higher and the way you see the cup in the higher school is a label projected on parts, but the other schools say there is something out there.

You want me to repeat that? Yeah, please. Okay, sorry.

Alejandro asks, What is the difference between the cup you see in the mind only school, the lower and higher Majamica? The way you see the cup in the higher school is a label projected upon parts, but the other schools say there is something out there. Okay, good.

Yeah, so there's a debate about how much is really out there. And the lower schools say it's all really out there. And science says that.

So the Western concept of science in the last hundred years or two, since Newton or since Aristotle really, it believes that there is a reality to things outside of us. How that expresses itself in science and in lower schools of ancient Buddhism is that the idea of chemicals and elements. So if I ask you, what makes the top of this laptop hard?

It's a titanium case or something? I don't know. Is it?

I don't remember. Aluminum probably. Used to be.

What makes it hard? What makes this... I like apples because I like the case.

Partly because I like the case and it doesn't get scratched or dented. I like the metal case. Then if you ask a scientist or an Abhidharma school, lowest Buddhist school, why is the case hard?

You'd say because it's made of metal. And it has atoms of the element of iron in it. Or aluminum or titanium.

It has chemicals inside whose nature is to be hard. And then you experience it as hard. And if you asked, what's keeping up this building?

You would say these beams. And you'd say, well, why didn't they use rubber? And you'd say, well, they have cellulose and it grows in a certain configuration.

And that has a lot of tensile strength and it will hold up the building. And rubber doesn't have that. And we'd all die if the pillars were made of rubber.

Because there's something inside of rubber that makes it soft. And there's something inside of wood that makes it strong. And concrete and steel, like that.

That's a scientist's viewpoint of the reality. And then you get up into higher schools, medium schools, and they'll say it pretty much depends on your perception. And they'll give an example of problems in your life.

And they'll say if a problem comes up in your life, you can use it as a path. The idea that you can use a problem as a path. So, okay, you're having trouble with your boss at work.

Use that as a path for developing patience. And you should be happy that you have an unpleasant boss because you can become stronger around bad people. And then the highest school says, I'd rather get stronger around nice people.

I want to have my cake and eat it too. I don't want to have to reinterpret all the crap. Excuse the language, but I call it a crap coper.

I don't want to be skilled at having unpleasant things happen to me all day and interpret them in cheerful ways. Positive thinking. I'd rather have everything go well and also be strong.

I'd like to get strong from everything happening good. Why not? And so, there's the middle school to say, things have a certain...

that the boss is a bad person. But with the right attitude you can make something useful out of it. Although it'll be painful.

You can think of him in a certain way, or her, and you can make progress with something that's painful. So in a way, the reality of that boss is half coming from him and half coming from you. So that's the medium schools of Buddhism.

The lower schools are like scientists, old scientists. They say, everything's coming from the chemicals. If you put these chemicals together it has to be hard.

And then middle school would say, it has some reality coming from its own side, but how I take it also determines how it feels to me. So half coming from me, half coming from its side. Then the higher schools of Buddhism say, what?

Nothing is coming from the other side. There's nothing coming from the other side. 100% of the tensile strength of that beam is coming from me.

And it's based on morality. The physical reality of the world is based not on chemicals, but on kindness. And it's very profound.

It's really profound. I gave this talk in New York in the shadow of the World Trade Center in 1999. And I was like, you don't know what's holding up the World Trade Center.

It's not steel. It's not concrete. It's karma.

And if that karma ended, that thing would fall. And everybody was like, okay. And then I said, we're leaving New York.

Anyway, that was another story. So what holds up a building, ultimately, what gives the chemicals, F-E, right? Iron.

What gives it its strength is your kindness to other people. And if that kindness wore out, the building would collapse and nothing could keep it up. No amount of iron could keep a building up if the persons who used it were not kind.

So the way to make iron be hard is not in iron. And the big thing about, if you want to learn highest Buddhist philosophy, cancel the word in. If you really want to get a deep insight how the highest schools of Buddhism think, explore the meaning of the word in.

And you can say dependent origination, self-existence, I find those all irritating. It's just in. Is there anything in the iron that makes it hard?

And Buddhism says, no. Well, but I feel it is hard. That's coming from you.

You did something in the past which made the iron hard. Are you suggesting that water could not be liquid? Is water liquid by itself?

No. The wetness of water and its liquidness is coming from you. That implies you could walk on water if you had the karma.

Got it? Is that enough? Okay.

Let's continue tonight. Chew on that. My Lama used to say, chew on that.

But I don't say it as a religious thing and I don't say it as a spiritual thing. I say it as a practical thing. In the future, in what do they call it, the science of working with materials?

No, I mean just normal. It's a branch of science. It's composite.

Okay, material science. In the study of concrete, iron, bridges, buildings, roads, cars, solar panels. In the future, if we do our work well, it'll all be based on the solar panel company that wants to get a higher index of energy to glass.

They will give away solar panels to poor people and suddenly their product will be superior. It will perform higher than other people's product. That's what we believe.

Ultimately, that's what we believe. So think about that. I don't say it as voodoo or superstition or something religious.

Someone who's not religious at all, if they were to provide housing for poor people, the materials in their home would perform better than other people's materials. That's just the way it is, because it's coming from you. They ask that question in the Manimikavatara, in the beginning they say, what if the person has no motivation to be kind at all?

They just want to have their house materials perform better than other people's materials. It will perform better, even if with no kindness. If they provide housing to poor people with no compassion, their house's materials will perform better.

If they have compassion, they'll perform much better. But it's just like gravity. If you let go, it'll drop.

If any person helps another person, karma will come back. If they do it with love, more will come back, but infinitely more. That's a discussion.

Chandrakirti discusses it. You don't have to have love for gravity to work. But if you do have love, it'll work much better.

Okay, got it?