«Дар освобождения», курс 20 «Ретрит непревзойдённой жизни», занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
We're studying a special book. It's ... the title is mistranslated as gift of liberation, or liberation in your hands, and it doesn't mean that.

We talked about it last night with Chinese friends. The name in Tibetan is Nandrolakjang Sutupa. So, lakpa, this is lak.

Namdo means freedom. And lakjang means he's going to hold it. And sutupa means to take it.

Take it. You know, it's to slap it in somebody's hand. Take it.

So, it means if you come to this teaching, then the lama just says, here's freedom. You want it? Take it.

So, just to say freedom in your hand is not strong enough. Okay? Then this book is instructions to how to become Buddha.

So, I grew up in Christian church. I really like Christian church. You know, and we prayed to Jesus, but nobody told us we can become Jesus.

But in Buddhism, we believe you can become Buddha. Every man, every woman has a seed to become Buddha. So, this book is a dummy's guide to Buddha.

Okay? It's the easy one. Just do this, do this, do this, do this, you become Buddha.

And so there are steps. I always think when I was studying with my lama, I have to do everything. I do the laundry, cooking, everything.

Build his house. Then I have to do the garden every day, and I hate it. Then I have to mow the lawn.

Then he's always buying new lawnmower. Then he said, look, you should be happy we have new lawnmowers. Then I'm like, ugh.

Then open it up, and just many pieces. Then there's an instruction manual. Step number one, put this on this.

Step number two, put this on this. Then this is the instruction manual for Buddha. Better than lawnmower.

If you just do everything one by one, you can become a Buddha. You don't have to worry much. Just come to the class.

Just do what the teacher says, and at the end you're Buddha. Then my friend, he studied with me. He was the ...

how he became my lama student? He was the postman for our temple. Then one day he's knock on the door, you know.

What do you guys do in here? Oh, you know, we are meditating, we are studying. Then he said, can I come?

Yeah, okay, you can come. Then we told him, you can become Buddha. Then he saw a painting of Buddha.

Do I have to have the bump on my head? Also, ears are too long, you know. Then lama said, don't worry, don't worry.

When you become Buddha, you can look anything you want. You can be Brad Pitt Buddha. Then he's like, okay, okay.

So, don't worry about the bump, okay? When you become Buddha, you can look anywhere you want. So, each step in ...

this book is called Lam Rim. Say Lam Rim. Lam Rim.

Lam Rim. Lam means path, like road, and Rim means step. Step one, step two, step three, step four, okay?

You don't have to think too much. Just do each step. So, last time I think we had 18 main steps.

This time we're going to have, I think, 24. Did you pass the Pastel? No?

Secret? Teaching? Passed them out.

So, I'm going to give you a meditation book, and these are all the meditations you have to do this time. You just do them one by one. Then you become a Buddha, okay?

So, this is the meditations we will learn this time. I think there are 24 of them, and you just do them one by one. Then, if you spend one hour on each meditation, how many hours is that?

24 hours, okay? I did a three year silent meditation. I found out the limit per day meditation is about three or four hours.

So, you can't do 24 hours of meditation. So, we're going to follow Sakya system. Sakya system.

Sakya system is try to focus the mind super strong for five minutes, and I think it's more powerful. So, I know many places they will meditate for one hour, or three hours, or four hours, or something like that. In my own experience, I think I spent about ten years in retreat.

If you try to meditate for five hours, you will think about lunch for four hours, and I really work hard on my meditation for, I don't know, 45 years, and I think you will have more success. If you try these five minute meditations. Then, if you want to do one hour, two hour, that's okay.

But, let's start with five minutes. If you can't do five minutes, if you can't keep the mind on the meditation for five minutes, probably you cannot do it for three hours. Okay?

And, if you try really hard not to think about other things for five minutes, you will find out how difficult it is. But, you can do five minutes. After two and a half minutes, you start to think about other things.

Then you can tell your mind honestly, come on, we only have two and a half minutes left. You can focus for two and a half minutes more. After that, you can think about churros, or astorgas.

Okay? You can talk to your mind. After two minutes, your mind will start to say, I want to think about something else.

Then you just say, come on, it's just two more minutes. Okay? Let's try.

Let's try the first one. Okay? So, get ready to meditate.

I put a picture for each meditation, and you should get used to the picture. Okay? The first, what's the first picture?

It's some, I hope it's a girl kissing some guy. And you can see their shoes, and you can see their house, and you can see their blue jeans. Okay?

So, the meaning is this. In the first meditation, you think about all the things you have in your life. I have shoes, I have pants, I have a place to stay, I have a city, I have my friends and my family.

Okay? All the things you own, all the things you have, how did you get them? I found my partner on the internet, I got the shoes at the mall, I rented my house last year, I signed a lease, you know?

That's wrong. That's not how you got them. Everything in your life came because you gave things to other people.

Okay? You have shoes because in the past, the mall has shoes for you to buy, because in the past you helped poor people. You have money to pay for the shoe, because in the past you helped poor people.

You live in a city and not in a refugee camp, because in the past you help other people find places to stay. You have boyfriend, girlfriend, family, because you helped lonely people in the past. So, when was that?

When did ... I was born in Los Angeles. Okay?

So, when did I get Los Angeles? The first moment I came out I have Los Angeles. And we lived there till I was like six years old or something.

Then who gave me Los Angeles? Joe. Okay?

Joe isn't Jetty Jetty Bolo Jetty, okay? Joe is your past life. Then I have a good friend, he's Muslim, and then he's a good Dharma student.

Then he's very smart, very handsome, super beautiful Japanese wife, super rich. Then I said, how come you're such an amazing person? Then he said, Joe.

It's Joe Geshe-la. Then I ... I didn't say anything, but I start to get jealous of Joe.

I think Joe must be some Dharma teacher or something. Then finally I can't stand it, you know. Who is this Joe?

Does he know Tibetan grammar? Then he's like, no no, Joe is my past life. In my past life my name was Joe.

Then who gave me Los Angeles? Why was I born in a wealthy place? It wasn't me.

It was Joe. I didn't do anything. I was just born, like Papi's baby, you know.

When she's born, she has Guadalajara, you know, with the same weather all year. Who gave it to her? Her past life.

So, in this first meditation, you have to use logic. Why am I not a refugee in Europe right now? Why am I not living under the bombs, you know?

Why do I have shoes, and pants, and a place to live, and a beautiful city, and my friends, and my family? Where did they come from? Then somebody worked very hard to give them to you, okay?

Then your past life was unbelievable. These shoes, tennis shoes, you know, looks like gangster shoes. Gangster shoes.

To keep them for one minute, how many karma seeds you need to have shoes for one minute? It's about 4,000. Okay?

To use your shoes for one minute, you need 4,000 karmic seeds. Okay? 4,000 times you were nice to somebody else, to have those shoes for one minute.

Why do shoes wear out? The seed wears out. You were born with Joe's debit card, and you are spending it.

Okay? Every time you walk in your shoes, you are spending Joe's debit card. How many shoes did you give away this year?

How many refugees in Europe did you give shoes to them? Oh Geshe-la, I didn't have time, I was meditating. Or watching TV.

Okay? Then you're wasting Joe's credit, debit card. So, in the first meditation, everything I ever owned, everything I own today came from giving in my past life.

How do you know it was your past life? You had it when you were born. You didn't have time to earn those shoes.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Somebody else gave them to you. Okay? And they're still giving to you.

Okay? Did you make enough good seeds in this life to go back to Los Angeles next time? I don't think so.

Really? Okay. So, okay, let's do first meditation.

Ready? Oh, Scott, can you put up that inside timer thing? Is that too hard?

Maybe after the meditation. I'm going to use a special timer. Modern people feel more comfortable if the phone is in your hand.

Did you see the people in the ... did you go to Starbucks or Shimbaka? And you're talking to somebody.

Okay, watch, okay? Yeah, yes, I'm pretty good. That's a ...

where's my cell phone? I left my cell phone. Did I have any bad picture on it?

Okay, take them off. Okay, alright. Okay, so this is an app.

It's called Insight Timer. We'll put up a ... you can get it, I think it's free, or ...

I think it's free. Huh? Don't tell them they won't buy it.

It's almost free. It's like one dollar for your enlightenment, okay? Alright, then we're going to do five minutes, and we'll be doing this all week.

And I think you will find that if you do five minutes each time, it will stick in your mind, and your mind will change. You won't feel the same about your shoes after the end of this retreat. And that's the goal of the retreat.

When you get on the plane to go back to Guangzhou, you feel different about your shoes. Then the retreat was a success. Okay?

So, I believe you will find that just with five minute meditations, you can change your mind. I think if you try to do 24 subjects in two hour meditation, nothing will change. Your mind won't change.

So, try. Okay, ready? I'll help you.

It makes a sound in the beginning, and then you can choose the sound, it's cool. Okay. Relax your shoulders, sit up straight.

[Speaker 2]
Relax your hands. Relax your eyes. Pull in your stomach a little bit.

Smile just a little bit. Exhale. And then slowly start to watch your breath.

Then I'd like you to think of something you use every day.

[Speaker 1]
It could be your cell phone, your laptop, your shoes.

[Speaker 2]
Think of something you own. Choose one thing. Then think, who made this thing?

[Speaker 1]
Of course it was made in a factory.

[Speaker 2]
Someone invented it. Somebody brought it to the store for you to buy.

[Speaker 1]
You paid money, but where did the money come from? Where did the store come from? Where did the factory come from?

Where did the inventor come from? Go deeper to the cause of the cause, and the cause of the cause is your own actions. You were very, very generous in the past.

You gave away everything, and that created the phone, and the laptop, and the shoes, and the city that you live in. So, think about Joe.

[Speaker 2]
One more minute. Come back to your breath. Watch your breath.

[Speaker 1]
And then slowly open your eyes. Okay. We'll do two or three of those each time.

And then the nice thing about five-minute meditation, you can do it anywhere. I like to be in Alfredo's car in Mexico City. Why?

The traffic is terrible. Then you can do many five-minute meditations. Like ten of them.

Okay? Just sitting there. So, learn to do five-minute meditation anywhere.

You know, you are waiting for the airplane, or you are in Starbucks, you are waiting for your coffee. You know, you are at the dentist. You are waiting for them.

You are sitting on that round meditation cushion in the bathroom. Then, okay, do five-minute meditation. Okay.

Really, just learn to do everywhere, because we are busy. We are very busy. This is supposed to save us time.

This is supposed to save us time. Actually, it takes all of our time. So, we don't have time, because we have so many time-saving devices.

Okay? So, use the little time you have. These are like demons.

You can trick the demon. You can use the demon for your meditation.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Your cell phone can become your Dharma friend. Okay, let's do a five-minute meditation. We should figure out some way to send everybody their photographs.

You know? Like, they can just go through them. Okay.

So, now we're going to go to the text. Many of you I met in DCI programs around the world. I was teaching the pen in your city, you know, for the 100th time.

Somebody in Singapore told me, Geshe-la, it's so boring. You always teach the pen again and again. I said, if you think it's boring to hear it again and again, think how boring it is to teach it again and again.

Then, in the DCI programs, we teach very beautiful things. Last year, 18,000 people came. They heard the pen, and it's good for them.

They don't have time to come to Guadalajara, and they don't want to come to Guadalajara. So, okay, they can hear something for one hour or two hours. In Mexico City, a few days ago, Alfredo's team, without much preparation, over 800 people came, and they heard about the pen.

They start to understand things are coming from them, but I don't have time in one or two hours to teach them much. So, three or four times a year, we do these ten day retreats. They are free.

There's no charge for the teaching. You have to pay for enchiladas, and a room to stay, and you have to pay Air China, but there's no charge for the teaching. And in these ten days, I like to go deeper.

Okay? I want to go into the ancient book, and I don't want to make simple. Okay?

Whole year I have to make simple. I also like to go deeper. So, these ten days, we will go deeper.

If you don't like it, then come to the public talk for DCI. I will repeat the pen for you. Okay?

But, the people who come here, out of a thousand people in the public talk, maybe ten people will come here. And I think those people should go deeper, and that they should become a teacher. So, if you reached here, I want you to think about becoming a teacher.

And with you, I have to go deeper. In ... we live in a small town.

It's ... from meditation way, it's perfect. For shopping way, it's disaster.

There's no grocery store. We have to go one hour to get groceries. But, there's a special store in America called a dollar store.

Everything costs one dollar. Everything's junk. I don't go there, there's nothing I want in that store.

In our town, there are two dollar stores. You cannot buy vegetables, but you can buy ... there's two stores to buy junk, you know.

Then, my teacher used to tell me, when you go to the dollar store, take a hundred dollars. Then I said, what do you mean? He said, when you go to teach people for one hour, in your mind you should have one hundred hours of teaching available.

Because somebody will ask you a strange question. Geshe-la, I know you can use this to become Buddha. But, can you use it to make your husband wash the dishes?

Then you have to have an answer ready. You have to have one hundred answers ready in your mind. The way to have those answers ready is to come to this class, and go deeper.

Okay? So, we are going deeper, and I'm doing the old way. My teacher got in a car accident.

He hurt his throat. So, for like 30 years, he talked like Star Wars. I told you, don't do that.

So, you're going to go deeper. I'm not going to make anything simple. We are going to study the old way, like in Tibet.

And if you fall asleep, I will hit you. In the public talk, like Singapore Trade Union Building, you know, three people fall asleep, or 300, I don't know. Then I have to say, oh, I'm sorry.

Did you fall asleep? But in this class, boom! Old way.

Okay? Old Tibetan way. And I'm going to read the Tibetan word to put seeds in your mind.

And I don't care if you don't like it. It's good for you. Your mom made you eat many things that taste bad, but they are good for you.

Okay? Then me too. All right?

And sometimes, when we reach an important word from the ancient book, then I will stop. I will explain that word. Because we have an idea to make a video dictionary of Buddhism.

It will take 30 years or something. But Adam is working on that. And it's free.

It's on YouTube. And the word, I explain each Buddhist word. So, I don't know how many we finished.

Like 100? I don't know. 150 with 33 are online.

Okay? So, sometimes I will stop to explain a special Buddhist word. Later we have to translate those into Spanish and Chinese.

Okay. So, we're going to start the book. Adam, you ready?

There's an easy word. S-H-A-M-B-H. S-H-A-M-B-H.

Shambhala. Okay, good. Okay.

Here we go. I will read the Tibetan. Just relax.

Okay? Don't worry about it. I'm planting seeds in your mind, because you are the joe for the next one.

Okay? Ready? DE BA CHEN DANG BZHAMS PA LA LAS SOGS PA DAG BZHIN DU SKYE BA'I RGYU'ANG DE'ANG LIS GRUB NUS With this body, and with this mind, you have the power to send the next person, or to send yourself after you die to Buddha Paradise.

Buddha Paradise is called DAG BZHIN. Start dictionary entry. He will start a video for dictionary.

Say DAG BZHIN. DAG BZHIN. DAG means pure.

BZHIN means a field like a farmer's field. So, this is the Buddhist word for a Buddhist paradise. Say DAG BZHIN.

DAG BZHIN Pure, pure field. Okay, and there are some schools of Buddhism like in Japan, they call Pure Land Buddhism. The goal is to go to the DAG BZHIN of Amitabha.

Pure Land is a translation of DAG BZHIN. But it means Buddha Paradise. Okay, another, two examples of those DAG BZHIN is Shambhala.

Okay, then you heard this name Shambhala. Here's the spelling in Tibetan. I think it's the first time you saw it in Tibetan.

Shambhala. And Dewachen. Say Dewachen.

Dewachen. It means a heaven of happiness. For example, there's a heaven called Tushita, and it means heaven of happiness.

So, this doesn't mean you become a Buddha. It means you get to go to the Buddha Paradise as a student. Okay, so it's like you are born there.

Then Buddhas will teach you. And you can become a Buddha faster. Where is that DAG BZHIN?

You know? Then when I was a kid, I don't know, I was 12 years old, I remember I was on the ocean in a boat with my father. He likes to take us out in the ocean, and you cannot see any land.

We are out in the middle of the ocean. And he said, wait, wait, turn on the radio. And we turn on the radio.

And it's all quiet because all this water around us. Ocean. We are like two days from the land.

Two days. Two days sailing from the land. And he says, listen to the radio.

And I'm listening. And they said, the spaceship is coming. There's the moon.

We landed! And Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the moon. Then I asked my dad, you know, is he closer to heaven?

Maybe he could visit heaven also. I think it must be on the other side of the moon because we cannot see it with a telescope. So, heaven must be on the other side of the moon.

Maybe if he walk around the moon he could find it. In your mind when I say dak shing, 50% of you are thinking it's past the moon. I think so.

Because that's what your mom taught you. Where is the dak shing? It's here.

It's here. Oh Geshe-la, in my dak shing, people shouldn't do fireworks at 5 o'clock in the morning which sound like gunfire. If my dak shing is here, there's a problem.

Then this world can be anything. It depends on your seeds. If you don't want to hear firecrackers or guns at 5 o'clock in the morning, then after 11 o'clock you shouldn't talk loud at the retreat because that's the cause.

Okay, understand? If it's true, that's where the fireworks is coming from. Because you talk too loud after 11 o'clock, then it's possible to create a dak shing.

You just stop talking loud after 11 o'clock and already your dak shing is improving. But you have mind to understand what I'm saying. If you bring a bird in here and you say, did you enjoy the fireworks at 5 o'clock?

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. I don't like it.

Okay, then you don't wake up everybody in the morning. Try to beep, beep a little bit softer. Then he will like, he won't understand.

He doesn't have the equipment. But Joe gave you the equipment. You have a good mind.

You have a good body. If I say heaven is here, dak shing is here. You understand.

You can tell it to a bird for five years, they won't understand. Someone gave you the equipment to go to the dak shing to meet the Buddhas. Where's the Buddhas?

Okay? If your seeds are good, then you will hear each person talking like Buddha. Buddha also coming from you.

Who made the dak shing? You did. Who put the Buddhas there?

You did. Who are they? Normal people that you have better seeds so you see them as a Buddha.

Which are they really? Are they really normal people or Buddha? Huh?

Both. Neither. That's why Nagarjuna said both.

Neither. One and the other. All four.

Is this a pen? Yes. Is it chew toy?

Yes. Is it neither? Yes.

Is it both? Yes. Is Stanley a Buddha?

If you have the seeds. Is he normal person? Yes, if you have the seeds.

Is he both? Yes. If one person with seeds is sitting next to him and one person without seeds sitting next to him, he's both.

Is he neither? Yes. Why?

From his own side. He's not Buddha. From his own side.

He's not normal person. Because he's coming from me. So can we say he's Buddha?

Yes. Can we say he's not a normal person? Can we say he's a normal person?

Yes. Can we say he's both? Yes.

Can we say he's neither? Yes. Got it?

So you don't need spaceship with China Long March Missile to go to the dak shing. All right? You just need some seeds.

Okay. SHING DU SKYE BA'I RGYU'ANG BRTAN DI GRUB NUS So you have very powerful equipment. This mind, this body, can get you to a place where the Buddhas are teaching you.

Okay, next paragraph. What time do we have to stop by the way? Ten?

Okay. NGON RLONG DU LA MED KU TSE DER POR TZAM ZUN BDAG TU MA BRAS PAR RIGS SPRUNG NA BRAL BYOR DON DEN ZAD CING There was a lama named Longdu Lama. His monk's name is Ngawang Lopsang.

Born 1719. Passed away 1794. Very famous.

Great cataloger of Buddhist books and controversial in his time. Half the people say he's crazy, half the people say he's genius. KU TSE DER POR TZAM Then he didn't own anything.

He said, I don't want anything. Then every monk should have a porpa. Porpa means monk's bowl, wooden bowl for a monk.

we don't have a kitchen like that, we don't have a cafeteria like that in the monastery. You come to the temple like this, you do prayers, you bring your own porpa and they will put sampa in your porpa and then you can eat. If you don't bring porpa, you don't eat.

If you don't come to do the prayers, you don't eat. So it's blackmail, spiritual blackmail. KU TSE DER POR TZAM ZIN Dr. Mathepa, he didn't even have a porpa. DANG RGYUR DON DEN TZE CING He lived in the mountain in a retreat cottage. Say RITOS RITOS Start dictionary entry. RAG GI GOS DRI'I KHA RA THOD PA DAG RITOS Say RITOS RITOS means retreat cottage in an empty place, like Diamond Mountain.

So a retreat center should be difficult to go there. It should be very far from the nearest airport. It should be in an empty place.

And oftentimes they're in a mountainous place. And that's called RITOS. Say RITOS RITOS And the person who stays there, a retreatant, is called RITOS PA RITOS PA RITOS PA RITOS NA DANG RGYUR DON DZIN BYAS He got meaning from his life.

By staying in the retreat cottage. And Dr. Matepa means he didn't even allow himself to have a bowl. KU TSE PHYI MAR SHAMS PA LA'I RGYAL POR SKYE BA'I RGYUD TSOGS DRUG CING And in that cabin he planted the seeds to become the king of Shambhala in his next life.

Okay, so you have the equipment not just to go to Buddha paradise, but you can become the king of that paradise. This body, this mind, this equipment has that power. MUN LAM MDZAD NAS RJES SU DE LA BSGOMS PAS Then he made prayers to be born in that paradise.

PAN CHEN SPEL LDAN NYE ZHES Then one of the PAN CHEN Lamas, third one, his name was SPEL LDAN NYE ZHES Born in 1738 that was he died in 1780. So, LONG DO Lama had an idea. If I make a nice offering to this Lama then can I reach my goal to become the king of Shambhala in my next life?

So, at a special ceremony he like made an offering of a small stupa to this Lama. Like those Wichol Buddhas that you gave me before. He made an offering like that.

Then SANGS RDON'I SGRUB ZHUGS PA Then he said to the PAN CHEN Lama by this offering will I be able to get where I want to go? He didn't tell the Lama where he wants to go. It means to be the king of Shambhala.

But he said do you think this offering is enough for me to get where I want to go? PAN CHEN GYI GYEN TE Then the PAN CHEN Lama read his mind. LA RGYEN GDOD PA RANG CHE LA RGYEN means hey you old Lama.

You old man Lama. LA RGYEN GDOD PA RANG CHE You're really asking for something big. DUN GRUB DUN GRUB SID ARTA SID ARTA DUN GRUB What's SID ARTA?

What is SID ARTA? It's the name of the Buddha when he was a prince. His name was SID ARTA.

But the name SID ARTA ARTA means goal. SID ARTA means you will reach. Buddha's name when he was a prince was the guy who reaches the goal.

Then he said, yeah SID ARTA. You will reach it through this one offering. Wichol Buddha offering.

SID ARTA So we also have this power. I cannot do this line without telling you a joke. But I'm going to tell you a secret.

Don't tell anybody. In the monastery there's a secret name for money. So there was a famous disciple of Lord Buddha.

His name was Ananda. Ananda. Don't say Ananda.

Don't say Ananda. You have to say Ananda. Okay?

A in Sanskrit means very much. Long A.

[Speaker 2]
Ananda.

[Speaker 1]
Then Nanda. Nanda means I'm happy. So Ananda means I'm very happy.

Ananda. If you say it a different way it means I'm not happy. So all the American people say Ananda.

Then it means I'm not happy. Okay? So Ananda.

Okay. That's a very famous disciple of the Buddha. So in the monastery there's a secret word for money.

We say Ananda Siddhartha. Ananda Siddhartha. Why?

Ananda. Everybody likes money. And Siddhartha means if you have it you can do anything.

So in the monastery if you want to say secretly to another monk you think the sponsor is going to give us much money today? You just say do you think Ananda Siddhartha is coming today? Then sponsor thinks you are a very religious person.

You want to go deeper? Okay. The Tibetan word is kunga dundrup.

Kunga dundrup. So we have a nun at Diamond Mountain. Her name is Kunga.

It means Ananda. Everybody likes her. Dundrup means Siddhartha.

Okay. A little bit more. Un poco mas.

Un poco mas. Okay. Okay, anyway.

Nyipa Nyi Nyipa Nyi means second part. So up to now we are talking about how you can achieve not ultimate things with this body and this mind. Now we are going to talk about how you can use this equipment to become a Buddha.

Mainly we are focusing on the equipment. Joe gave you this equipment. It means this body, this mind.

Then don't waste it. Joe worked very hard. I always think of Joe like I'm on the Titanic.

And you know, Joe is like sinking like that guy, like Leonardo DiCaprio or whatever his name is. Then Joe is like here, take my money. Take this ring, you know.

You're going to need it. Bye. Then he did that for you.

Your last life. Your last life couldn't reach Buddha. But he said, here's Los Angeles.

Here's some shoes. Here's some shoes. And then you got all this stuff, you know.

What are you going to do with it? Okay? You have to use it.

He died to give you this body and this mind. He used his whole life or she used her whole life to give you this. Then they died.

And they gave it to you. He said, I couldn't reach Buddha. I hope you can.

Okay? He spent his life to give you this chance. Okay?

So be grateful to him. THAR PA'I GRUB PA LA DE GRUB BYED KYI CHOS LA'AM LA PA GSUM LA BSTAN DGOS LA To reach liberation. You need the Dharma which creates that.

And that's called LA PA GSUM. LA PA GSUM means what? YIG What is LA PA GSUM?

The three trainings. Okay? What are they?

What? Yeah, ethical life is one. Meditation.

And the pen. And understanding emptiness. You heard about three baskets, right?

DE NAS GSUM Each basket teaches one of those subjects. What are the three baskets? In Sanskrit.

Abhidharma. Sutra. And Vinaya.

Which one teaches to be a good person? Vinaya. Which one teaches concentration?

Sutra. Which one teaches pen?

[Speaker 2]
Abhidharma. Okay, like that.

[Speaker 1]
You heard three baskets, very famous. So to reach Buddhahood, you need these three. DE DANG PO TSUL KHRIMS LA SO THAG GI DANG PA LTA BUR MTSON NA So let's talk about the first one, which is Vinaya.

And there are three kinds of vows. What's the first one? Yeah, we call freedom vows.

Like monk's vows or layman vows. If you want to take them this week, Venerable Phil and Venerable Jigme they will give them. And you start with four or five.

What are they? I agree not to kill a human being in my life. Including abortion.

I agree not to steal anything which costs more than ten dollars. Okay? It's like a karshapani.

In ancient times it's called a karshapani. That's like one kind of money. Like peso.

Okay? Rim and bin. I agree not to No?

What's the third one? I agree not to take other person's partner. I agree not to fool around with other person's partner.

It really hurts people. I think it's worse than killing somebody. To take somebody's partner.

Then their whole life they feel bad. They didn't die but they think about it their whole life. So, respect other people's relationship.

Don't hurt them. Don't hurt their kids. That's number three.

What's number four? Yeah, don't lie about your spiritual life. I was talking to Manjushri yesterday.

He asked me if I would sharpen his sword for him. I told him I was a little busy. Usually people hint.

They hint. You know? Did you sleep well last night?

No, I was. You know? Like that.

Then we're not supposed to lie about those things. That's called the worst lie. So be honest.

You know, I'm a jealous person. I didn't meet Manjushri last night. I was thinking about the other Buddhist teacher that I don't like.

Be honest. So that's number four. Number five is alcohol or drugs.

Use alcohol or drugs. My friends told me, oh Geshe-la, now we're free. My brother told me, my little brother.

He said, it's so good, you know, now. I said, what's good? He says, I live in Washington State.

So I said, why is it good, you know? He said, I spent twenty years trying to stop my daughter from using marijuana. Now it's legal.

We smoke together. Then I'm like, oh no. Then it's going to get so worse, you know.

Marijuana started when I was in college. I used to smoke it every Thursday because I had easy class on Friday. Then I stopped when I became Buddhist.

Like, I don't know, 45 years ago. But some of my friends didn't stop. Then I try to have conversation with them.

How are you doing? Oh good, good. How's your work, you know?

What? You know, like that, you know. Do you want to go to the movies?

No, it's okay man, I'll just stay here. They're like that, it makes you stupid. Or alcohol.

I have many friends drink alcohol. They think it's cool and they think they are not addicted. But I can see they are.

Every chance they get, they will drink. But they will say, it's just cool Geshe Michael. It's like, make me relax.

And my friends, we have a good time. Then you say, are you addicted? They'll say no.

And then they'll say, you want to have some? Like that. It's very, very, very addicting.

And part of the addiction is that you don't understand you are addicted. No, no, I'm not addicted. I'm not addicted.

Can you stop? No. But I'm not addicted.

Okay, okay. SO THAG GI SDOM PA LA LTA BU So if we take example those five vows, DE NGAN BYUNG LA BSTAN NAS SKYES DGOS BZHIN Why people take those five vows? I don't want to live in a world where people kill 15 or 20 people in the Christmas party.

I don't want to live in a world like that. If you don't want to live in a world like that, take those five vows. Because if you stop your seeds for hurting people, then the world will change.

So there has to be some motivation. I don't want to live in a world where people just kill people for fun. I don't want to see that.

So I'm going to take those vows. And that's the Buddhist way to stop violence. LHA SOGS SGRO BA GZHAN GYIS BSTAN LA NGAN BYUNG SOGS SKYE BAR KA So there are people in the world who are very successful, very rich.

They can buy anything they want. And their life is like, what do you call it? Unreal.

It's very difficult for politicians to do programs for the poor. Because they were never poor and they never meet poor people. So they're like, if you say, what are we going to do about the people who cannot feed their kids?

They will say something like, well, why don't they just go get some cakes or something? You know, what? Who said that?

Marie Antoinette, yeah. Somebody came to the Queen of France hundreds of years ago. The people don't have bread to eat.

Then she said, so let them eat some cake. Okay, like that. So, if you don't have problems, if you don't meet poor people, if you don't see a video of somebody killing twenty people, you won't want to take vows.

Okay? So, there's a people called deva. They are like, we call pleasure beings.

Their life is super cool all the time. They never have any problems. There's a place where they live, you cannot see it.

Is it better to be born there or is it better to be born here? To be born in a place which has problems makes your life honest. Real.

Okay? If you are very rich, you don't think you have to die. You don't see people die around you.

So, it's ... I'm very happy I was born in a poor family. And I like it.

You know? I know people die easily. I know you can catch cancer anytime.

I saw all these things. So, I want to ... I want to practice Dharma.

But if I'm very rich, if I'm very rich and nothing wrong happens to me, you just live a long life and then you have a terrible death. dra so dro shen gyi ten nge dru So, other realms like pleasure beings, they don't want to practice. Why should I take vows?

Live in a nice place. One of the nicest towns in United States is called San Bernardino. If you have a lot of money, you go there.

That's where they killed 20 people yesterday. Okay, alright. dra so dro shen gyi ten la ser gyur dra mi nyen pa dongpay ten dru mi rung shing There's a ...

In Buddhist belief the world is shaped like that. And there's a big mountain in the middle called Sumeru. And there are four continents like Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, Americas.

So, each one has a different people there. The northern continent is called dra mi nyen. It means bad sound.

Then people there live a thousand years. They always live a thousand years. Nobody dies at 999.

So, for 1,000 years they are happy. Nothing goes wrong there. But in the last year they hear a sound from the sky.

This year you're going to die. And after that, because you used up all of your Joe debit card, you will go straight to the hells. And it's too late to stop it.

So they just waste their credit card. Debit card. Like surfing their whole life.

Then suddenly they die. And they know. Just before they die they hear.

Those people during their life don't want to take vows. Because they don't want to fix the world because the world looks okay. Okay, then there's three other continents.

These are all humans living on these. Then of those three we are on the best one. Southern continent.

It's called Dzambuling. Which means the continent of Jambu. Jambu.

Why is it called Jambu? There's a tree that grows there near the ocean. It has a big fruit like durian.

Like pineapple. And when it falls off the tree it falls in the water and it goes, Jambu. Jambu.

So our place is called Jambu. Dzambu. Then I heard one big Lama teaching and they said they were apologizing for a Buddhist book.

Oh, I'm sorry, this is an old book. There's supposed to be four continents. Big mountain in the middle.

Of course it's not like that. Now we have satellites. We can see the world is not like that.

Understand? Okay. Do you think people will see the world the same way 100 years from now?

They won't. And they will say those people in Guadalajara in 2015 what they saw from the satellite they believe it. So stupid.

Every generation sees the world differently. Don't think you are the smartest people in the world. It changes every generation.

100 years from now people will say those people back in 2015 Can you believe it? They thought the world is coming from itself. They thought the world was round by itself.

Can you believe it? It's so stupid. They don't understand coming from there.

They don't understand can be any shape. They thought satellite was correct. It's so unbelievable.

And I'll tell you something else. They spent in America six billion dollars per year to take care of their pets. And then they ate some of the other animals.

And then they said animals cannot feel anything. But they spent six billion dollars to make their dogs happy. Then you say why you spend six billion dollars to make my dog feel good?

Why you kill the cows, pigs, chickens? They are animals, they can't feel anything. Can you believe it?

Okay, okay, understand? So, we are lucky. We live in this world mixed up suffering and happiness.

Things don't go well all the time. Violent things happen and then they push you to take vows. So, we are lucky.

We have first class equipment in a suffering world. We are in the best position to become a Buddha. Cool?

Okay. We're going to stop the class there.