«Дар освобождения», курс 20 «Ретрит непревзойдённой жизни», занятие 14

[Speaker 1]
Okay. About the music tonight. You know, when I first went to study with my lama, then I went into the Buddhist temple, and there were some terrible paintings.

Do you have a Yamantaka or anything like that? You can google it. Google image.

Then I just came from Christian training. I even lived in the church house for one year.

[Speaker 2]
The priest house.

[Speaker 1]
Then when I saw all these ugly monster paintings, it was very disturbing for me. I thought maybe these people are worshipping demons and things. So I asked my lama, you know, what are these things?

Then he said, no, you don't understand. This monster, in yoga we call kala danda. Do you know kala danda?

[Speaker 2]
It's in Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Kala means time, but therefore it also means death.

[Speaker 1]
Because when too much time passes, you die. Then danda means what? Dandasana?

It means a stick or a board. So kala danda means you hit death on the head with a stick. So his name is Yamantaka.

Yama means death. And ant came into English as and.

[Speaker 2]
Ka means doer.

[Speaker 1]
So what's Yamantaka?

[Speaker 2]
Death killer. Ending.

[Speaker 1]
So it's supposed to be death killer. Then I asked my lama, how come not beautiful space like Guanyin or like Tara, why they paint like this? Then he said, when the lord of death sees Buddha, they are afraid.

Because they know they're going to die. Death is going to die.

[Speaker 2]
So to death, the Dharma teacher or the Buddha, looks like demon. Understand? So this is not his real...

[Speaker 1]
that's not what he really looks like.

[Speaker 2]
But that's what Buddha looks like to a bad person.

[Speaker 1]
Because bad people want people to die. And this Buddha's job is to kill death. That's why we call Yama Antaka.

[Speaker 2]
Then in the song, we use bad words. Who are we talking to?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, my specialty is jealousy. I'm most jealous person in this room. I think so.

[Speaker 2]
Then when my jealousy hears this Dharma, You okay?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, like that.

[Speaker 2]
So, when my jealousy sees Dharma, he gets angry. Then he gets stronger. Then Dharma person, when the jealousy comes up strong, you can't say, Oh, please don't be jealous Geshe Michael.

[Speaker 1]
Please don't be jealous. You're the teacher in this class. You cannot be jealous.

Then it's not going to work. You need... When the jealousy comes up, okay, like that.

But what about that other, shut up. But they said there's another Dharma teacher, shut up. And there's a lot of good Dharma teachers, shut up.

So that's the meaning of this song. Don't be nice to your negative son.

[Speaker 2]
Don't be nice to your dark side.

[Speaker 1]
You can kick his ass. That's the meaning.

[Speaker 2]
Then I think it's interesting, those fierce Buddhist angels and the rapper guys in Los Angeles, they are making the same signs.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, understand? So don't go on the internet and say Geshe Michael became rapper, okay? It will be in the newspapers in America tomorrow.

Geshe Michael became rapper. Okay? So you should understand.

This is the same as this photo, as this teacher. Do you want to hear a Christian story?

[Speaker 2]
There was a small village on a cliff near the ocean in Israel.

[Speaker 1]
And so there was a demon. There were, I think 20 demons in that village.

[Speaker 2]
Then people called Jesus, can you come and get rid of these demons?

[Speaker 1]
Then he went to the village. In that village they take care of pigs, they grow pigs.

[Speaker 2]
Then he called the demons. Then they were like, and he said, what's wrong? You are a demon.

Understand?

[Speaker 1]
Jesus looked like devil to the devil. Okay. Then they got scared.

[Speaker 2]
You look scary.

[Speaker 1]
You know, Jesus is always peaceful. That's the same thing. It's the story.

What happened to those demons? Jesus put them inside the pig.

[Speaker 2]
Then he said, run off the cliff. And they all died.

[Speaker 1]
Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Who is the demon?

[Speaker 1]
Geshe Michael's jealousy.

[Speaker 2]
Don't think it's some guy. It's inside you. We all have some.

[Speaker 1]
If you say you don't have a demon, you have an extra demon. Okay. Alright, here we go.

,'O NA DANG PO NAS CHEN PO ZHES PA'I CHOG GI, Then, why do you have... somebody asked a question to this lama. Why do you have three levels?

[Speaker 2]
First level, medium level, higher level.

[Speaker 1]
What's the first person... first level person want? Little motivation?

What do they want? They don't want to go someplace bad after they die.

[Speaker 2]
Medium level.

[Speaker 1]
They don't want to be in samsara.

[Speaker 2]
They don't want to have any suffering.

[Speaker 1]
Third level. They want to help the whole world.

[Speaker 2]
Specifically, they want to become a Buddha so they can help the whole world. So, this guy asked a question.

[Speaker 1]
,'O NA DANG PO NAS CHEN PO ZHES PA'I CHOG GI, Let's learn the word CHOG, okay? Start dictionary entry. CHOG.

CHA NA RO CHOG GA CHOG In Tibetan, CHOG means to be allowed or to be enough. So, for example, if you're serving your lama, like I was the cook for eight years. Then, that's why my Tibetan is so good.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, understand?

[Speaker 1]
So, everybody else doesn't want to be a cook. They want to study Tibetan. Then I passed all of them by cooking.

So, when you leave your lama's side, you're supposed to say, ,ROL CHOG GI RIS PA'I, meaning, may I depart.

[Speaker 2]
So, that's the word CHOG. To allow or to be enough.

[Speaker 1]
And it requires the use of the instrumental grammar case. So, here it says, wouldn't it be enough just to teach everybody top level from the beginning? You know, why don't we just teach everybody how to save the world?

Why do you... Why some people you just teach them how not to have a bad death? Or some people you just teach them how to stop all their own pain.

Then, CHUNG DRIN SHES RDOG PA LA DGOS PA MED NYAMS NA Then, why do you have that lower level, medium level? Why? DE LTAR SHES PA LA DGOS PA GNYIS YOD PAS There are two reasons why we have those three levels.

DAM PO NAS SKYE BU CHEN PO LA BLO SBYOR MI NUS PA RNAMS BLOR RIM PAR BYANG BA'I PHYIR DU CHUNG DRIN MED BYANG DE'I KHA SA BLO RAB BYING THA GSUM LA PHAN CHE BA DANG Some people not ready for this one. They're not ready to help all the people in the world. So, we teach them to worry about what's going to happen to them after they die.

Or we teach them to be aware of the suffering that is all around them and inside of them all the time. Death is inside you already. My mom died of cancer.

[Speaker 2]
She had breast cancer.

[Speaker 1]
It was a long suffering. First she had a tumor. Then they cut this breast.

[Speaker 2]
Then they cut this breast.

[Speaker 1]
Then they take out all these glands. Then finally the cancer... She went to stay with my brother.

And every day the cancer is getting bigger, bigger, bigger. And it reached her heart. And cutting, cutting, cutting.

Then finally a hole. And the blood just come out. Like five, ten liters of blood.

We all have that.

[Speaker 2]
Death is already inside. And it's just working. Slowly.

Someday he will reach your heart.

[Speaker 1]
Unless you practice very strong.

[Speaker 2]
You can stop it.

[Speaker 1]
You can yamantakar.

[Speaker 2]
Because he's coming from you also. So you can learn to stop him.

[Speaker 1]
Then the dogs had a meeting. I heard a rumor. What did they say?

It's crazy. You don't want to know. Tell me, tell me here.

[Speaker 2]
Rumor, rumor.

[Speaker 1]
They said, you can use this to write messages. No, no, come on. Why not?

I never saw. Geshe-la, I never saw a person who didn't die. I never saw a person who didn't die.

Understand? Of course you didn't see them. To see them, you have to be almost there.

Okay, so don't think because the newspaper didn't announce it, that it doesn't exist. Don't think because the internet didn't announce it, it doesn't exist. There's lots of things the internet doesn't know.

So first, there are people who are not ready for the highest one.

[Speaker 2]
In fact, there are many people not ready for the lowest one.

[Speaker 1]
For them, you should teach them how to make more money with karma seeds.

[Speaker 2]
It's called DCI, Diamond Cutter Institute.

[Speaker 1]
They don't even think they're going to die. They're not worried what's going to happen after they die. How many, 50,000 people die every day?

[Speaker 2]
Every day, 155,000 people die. 155,000 people die every day in the world.

[Speaker 1]
But some people didn't notice.

[Speaker 2]
So we teach them DCI.

[Speaker 1]
They're not even low level.

[Speaker 2]
So of course we have to have many levels.

[Speaker 1]
You cannot go to 1,000 people in Singapore and say, in the trade union hall, and say, we're going to teach everybody how not to become an animal after you die. Then after the refreshments, only 20 will come back. Okay, that's the first reason.

YANG SNGON MA RNAMS LA MA GRI PA NGAN CING TZAM YANG RGYUD LA MA BSKYED PA BDAG THEG CHEN PO DANG SANG SNGAGS PAR SKYE CHE BA'I SNGAGS RGYAL ZHONG PA'I SGOS PA YOD This is delicate. Second reason why we have these levels. Some people didn't have past seeds.

Sorry. If you want to reach compassion for all people, compassion comes from understanding their pain.

[Speaker 2]
But if you don't think about your own pain, you cannot have compassion. So in the Lam Rim, first we study our own pain. And then, through logic, we can say, maybe he's got the same problem.

And from that comes bodhichitta, I want to help the whole world. But if you don't understand your own death, and if you never think about it, it's impossible to have compassion. And it's impossible to say, I'm serving the whole world.

And without understanding how to serve the whole world, SANG SNGAGS PAR SKYE CHE BA'I SNGAGS RGYAL If you think you're practicing tantra, you are just having a delusion. Secret higher teachings, secret teachings.

[Speaker 1]
You cannot practice the teachings which make you a Buddha in one lifetime. If you don't have a strong wish to stop the pain of every other person, and you cannot have a strong wish to stop the pain of many other people, if someone doesn't teach you all the suffering inside of you already. So he says, GZHON PA Let's do a dictionary entry, GZHON PA GZHON PA GZHON PA GZHON PA is a tense of the word GZHON PA Like DRAG GZHON PA Yeah, to destroy.

So what's he saying here? SNGAGS RGYAL GZHON Destroy your pride. What kind of pride?

SANG SNGAGS PAR I'm a tantrica.

[Speaker 2]
Geshe-la, I want to come to the tantric soap next week. Why?

[Speaker 1]
I'm tantrica.

[Speaker 2]
How did you become tantrica? I paid $300. I got initiation.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. Understand? Then that's nagya.

That's delusion.

[Speaker 1]
Look, okay, you want to come to the soap? This is the ticket. Okay, show me you can do these 24 meditations.

No, Geshe-la, that's just beginner Buddhism. I'm advanced. Oh, you are doing algebra, but you don't know what is two plus two, right?

Okay. Yes, I am doing college algebra, but I never did first grade. Okay, it's the same thing.

You can't do algebra without two plus two. But Geshe-la, I'm 40 years old. I'm adult.

[Speaker 2]
I don't want to go back to first grade. But you have to.

[Speaker 1]
When I got to the monastery, when I became a monk, first day, I went to the debate ground, and they said, you know, who's your teacher? I said, Geshe-la Santarshing. Then all the monks are, wow!

[Speaker 2]
Okay, you go to emptiness class.

[Speaker 1]
This is the 14th year of class.

[Speaker 2]
Then I said, okay, I can do that.

[Speaker 1]
Then I sat down. My first debate partner, he already retired as the abbot of Yumin Tantric College. He's the, what do you call that?

He's the next in line to hold the throne of Tsongkapa.

[Speaker 2]
Then they're like, you debate with him. So I'm like, yeah, I can do it. I can do it.

[Speaker 1]
Then we start to debate. Then after one hour, I ran away. I met the debate master, and I asked him, what's the, what's the beginning class here?

What's kindergarten here? He said, oh, you debate with the 15 year old kids.

[Speaker 2]
I was already 30. 31.

[Speaker 1]
Then I said, then I'm asking you permission to join the 15 year olds.

[Speaker 2]
I will start over.

[Speaker 1]
Because I understand, I don't know what they're talking about.

[Speaker 2]
Then he said, okay, you have permission.

[Speaker 1]
So I spent 20, 25 years with the 15 year olds.

[Speaker 2]
We got old together.

[Speaker 1]
And I'm very happy about that decision. I decided to start at the bottom.

[Speaker 2]
And it's the best. So, 24 meditations. If you meet somebody who says, I'm a tantrica, you can say, well, I'm not too sure about this meditation number eight.

[Speaker 1]
Could you explain it to me? Okay? Then they'll say, I don't know what's meditation number eight.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Understand? Be happy to start at the beginning. And you will go faster.

[Speaker 1]
DE NA NGOS ZHIG BYANG CHUB KYI SEMS SKYE BA SNGAR GZHAN SDUG BSNGAL GYI SNAR BA LA MI GSOD PA'I SNYING RJE SKYES DGOS ZHING If you want to be a bodhisattva, you have to have compassion. If you want to have compassion, you have to understand the truth about the suffering that every human being has. Then everybody has the same terrible suffering.

All human beings have the same terrible suffering. Mr. Obama, President Xi, President Peña, they all have to pee-pee.

[Speaker 2]
They all have to eat. They all have headaches. They all have a human body.

And they all get sick.

[Speaker 1]
And they can all die in ten minutes. Nobody's more powerful than anybody else. So until you know that, you can't be a bodhisattva.

How do you know it about other people? You know, I don't live in the White House. How do I know what Obama's doing?

[Speaker 2]
How do I know what he's feeling?

[Speaker 1]
Logic.

[Speaker 2]
I know how I'm feeling. And I know he's the same.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So until you study Lam Rim about your own suffering, you can't say you want to help everybody. Okay? It's not possible.

[Speaker 1]
You can say it, but it's not correct. All right? That's why we have Lam Rim.

Rim means one by one by one by one by one. DE YANG BKUR BA LTA DAG SDUG BSNGAL GYI RANG BSTAN DU BSHAD PA LA RE ZHIG DANG PO NGAN SOGS LA BYAS PA ZHIG DANG PO NGAN SOGS LA ZHIG DANG To really understand people's suffering, you have to be afraid.

[Speaker 2]
Of what? What can happen to you after you die.

[Speaker 1]
NGAN SOGS LA MI SBYING PAR If you're not afraid of what's going to happen to you after you die, LHA MI BDE BA LA YIN BYUNG BA MI RGYUR BAS you will get fooled by the nice things of this life.

[Speaker 2]
I want to have a big car. I want to have a big house.

[Speaker 1]
I have to have creme brulee made fresh by a French chef every night. We had that, right? We went to this dinner party.

[Speaker 2]
In China.

[Speaker 1]
And the guy had like five pieces of ginseng. He said, this one's $100,000. This one's $200,000.

US dollar. This one's $300,000. This one's half a million.

[Speaker 2]
Which one you want?

[Speaker 1]
And my cook, I have a cook from a five star hotel.

[Speaker 2]
He's waiting in the kitchen to cook for you. Then if you live in that kind of world, you can't practice Buddhism.

[Speaker 1]
Because you don't have any serious problems. The person who's trying to choose between the $200,000 ginseng and the $300,000 ginseng is not worried about becoming a roach in their next life. And because they're not worried NYID RTE BA MI RGYUD BAS DANG POR CHUNG MU DANG THU MU BA'I LAM LA BLO SBYONG BA DGOS PA NI So they have to study...

Can I say... Okay, listen. Can I say they have to study the path for people of the lowest level.

Can I say that? They have to study they have to travel the road to Guangzhou.

[Speaker 2]
Can you say that? No.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. You have to say they have to use the road to Guangzhou which those other people stop at. It's different because they're not stopping in Guangzhou.

So when you say, you have to be careful. They have to practice the path which is shared with the lower people. DGOS PA NI GANG DE'I MANG ZHIG YAM Let's study the word MANG ZHIG.

Say MANG ZHIG MANG ZHIG The word for four in Chinese E-R-S-N ZOS Yeah, I think it's related to Tibetan. I think Tibetan came from Chinese.

[Speaker 2]
ZHIG We say ZHIG Okay. ZHIG means four. ZHIG means four.

But when you spell it this way, G-Z-H-I it means foundation of a house which has four corners.

[Speaker 1]
And then the full word for foundation is MANG ZHIG MANG ZHIG MANG ZHIG'O GYI TZIG PA LTAR OGYI TZIG PA means like the ... What's that wall in Jerusalem? Yeah, it was the foundation wall of the temple.

The temple must have been unbelievable. There's a temple in Jerusalem. How old is it?

Must be 3,000 years old or something. I don't know. And there's only one piece left.

[Speaker 2]
And it's about this high.

[Speaker 1]
That was just the foundation. So OGYI TZIG PA means the foundation wall. LTAR YIN GYI BYAMS PA NGON SONG LTAR BYE BU THUG RGYAL BAR RANG CHAGS NA MIN CHUNG Here's a good word to learn.

[Speaker 2]
A tough word, okay? But if you learn it, you can learn a lot.

[Speaker 1]
Say THUG RGYAL THUG RGYAL We're going to learn it in Taipei. But THUG RGYAL is a special kind of meditation. Usually if there are 17 levels of meditation, you have to go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, there are 3, 3, 3, and 8.

Then you have to go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and then you go to 17. After you get good at it, what's the lowest one? You are meditating but you can still think about french fries.

[Speaker 2]
What's the highest one?

[Speaker 1]
It's like you don't have any body. And your meditation is like like someone knocked you out.

[Speaker 2]
If somebody went like this, you wouldn't feel it.

[Speaker 1]
Your meditation is so good. So between french fry meditation and pushing meditation, there are 17 levels, Total.

[Speaker 2]
Then when you get very good meditation, you can go like this.

[Speaker 1]
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, just to show off your meditation. It's like those terrible yogis who can go back and do a ...

[Speaker 2]
I hate it.

[Speaker 1]
I hate it. Then the teacher says, Ordhva Dhanurasana, right? Then I'm like ...

And they are going you know, you know. Then that's tugyal. Tugyal means you don't have to go one, two, three, four, like that.

You can go one handstand and you know, sit, and go back, sit, in the meditation.

[Speaker 2]
So why did he mention tugyal here?

[Speaker 1]
He said minjung, rang chak la minjung means in the lam rim, it don't work. Okay? It don't work.

You cannot do lam rim number one, then lam rim number five, and lam rim number two, and lam rim number ... You cannot do that.

[Speaker 2]
There's no tugyal in lam rim. You do one, you do two, then you do three.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And you have to do it that way. Okay.

Minjung means you won't get anywhere if you try to skip any of these meditations.

[Speaker 2]
Each one builds on the next one.

[Speaker 1]
Geshe-la, I have an idea.

[Speaker 2]
I will build a five story house and I'll just skip the second story, okay?

[Speaker 1]
Then it will just fall down. Lam rim is the same. Okay, next.

Then some people heard about these great Tibetan yogis.

[Speaker 2]
They were like super yogis inside.

[Speaker 1]
They never studied lam rim or things like that.

[Speaker 2]
There's an example.

[Speaker 1]
Milarepa So he lived in a cave. He lived on eating nettles? Cactus.

It's like cactus.

[Speaker 2]
He boiled cactus and ate it.

[Speaker 1]
He doesn't have any other food. So he's a very famous tantric practitioner in Tibet and they believe in Tibet that he reached enlightenment in this lifetime. marpe chung ne tumong nang jang zed te tokpa kye pa'i gur mangpo yu But there are many gur.

Say gur. maung ga shep yu gu ra gur I like this word gur. It means it's a spiritual song.

[Speaker 2]
Song or song? Song Then when you're meditating a lot, when you come to Diamond Mountain in March and we also have scholarships there, okay?

[Speaker 1]
But you have to apply before the day before then you'll be in your own maybe your own cabin and you'll be in the mountains

[Speaker 2]
and you'll be like a hundred miles from the nearest city

[Speaker 1]
wild animals are just walking around we have wild pigs we have deer they just walk by

[Speaker 2]
lots of

[Speaker 1]
cool animals and the air is unbelievable and people from there are stars there which people from China never saw in their life and you feel something different and like the second day or the third day then a song comes in your mind

[Speaker 2]
like a meditation song there are many

[Speaker 1]
we did one last night

[Speaker 2]
you know

[Speaker 1]
sa shi gu gyi he he he he he he he some lama heard this song

[Speaker 2]
heard the angels singing

[Speaker 1]
and then he

[Speaker 2]
memorized it

[Speaker 1]
and if you do good meditation spiritual songs will come in your mind

[Speaker 2]
yeah man

[Speaker 1]
and then you're alone in your cabin and you can sing them you just sing along with the angels then they're all like cool, good job that song is called gur

[Speaker 2]
gur

[Speaker 1]
a spiritual song which comes to you from the angels and you cannot hear it unless you are quiet so you have to be in silence for a few days so you should come you should try it it's cool

[Speaker 2]
so there are many gur

[Speaker 1]
which Milarepa is famous he wrote many gur and they have a special rhythm so ge wa di ge wo kan su nam ye shi tso tso shing su nam ye shi le chu we okay, that's normal

[Speaker 2]
then he heard it different from the angels

[Speaker 1]
ge wa di ge wo kan su nam ye shi so you can always recognize his songs

[Speaker 2]
they are backwards okay

[Speaker 1]
how did he get his songs

[Speaker 2]
he studied lam rim with who marpa

[Speaker 1]
who's the teacher of marpa naropa who's the partner of naropa

[Speaker 2]
niguma

[Speaker 1]
Geshe-la I don't want to go to DCI I want to study spiritual things

[Speaker 2]
so niguma is not spiritual the partner of naropa who's the teacher of marpa who's the teacher of milarepa became a buddha in one life what happened to his teacher

[Speaker 1]
oh, I didn't know I didn't know okay DGOS PA DE SKYE BA'I MANG PO YOD so he wrote many spiritual songs about lam rim DER MA ZAD SANG SNGAGS KYI MYUR KHYAD lam rim keep doing good this is difficult wording in Tibetan by the way we have about 20 more minutes just I know everyone's exhausted I'm also exhausted so you have to learn the skill the skill that we learn in the monastery

[Speaker 2]
so you have to learn the skill we learn in the monastery

[Speaker 1]
you keep your eyes open

[Speaker 2]
you look very interesting you even nod sometimes

[Speaker 1]
then behind your eyes you are completely asleep okay so you can practice for half hour it's very useful but there's one problem then the guys in the back

[Speaker 2]
in the temple

[Speaker 1]
you have to move this way

[Speaker 2]
they are hiding

[Speaker 1]
the guy in front is doing this then the guys behind are like this one, two, three, four then sometimes there's a problem this one will fall asleep like this then the teacher hit all of them so to be in the front is a big responsibility okay front row you have big responsibility okay DER MA ZAD BZANG RAG GI MYUR RAM if you want your tantra to be hot you have to BOG DBYIN PA

[Speaker 2]
or BOG BDUN PA same thing what's BOG DBYIN PA mean?

set your meditation on fire our friend is a military pilot he flew the Top Gun movie and I said how fast does the airplane go?

[Speaker 1]
he's like I don't remember it's like 1,000 kilometers per hour minute per hour right?

[Speaker 2]
but he said that's if you don't turn on the special switch there's a special switch when the enemy airplane is following you very close they're shooting at you then you say you push the special switch then it goes you go ten times faster and you run out of gas in three minutes but you didn't die from the bullet that's BOG DBYIN PA how to I don't know how do you say that?

[Speaker 1]
it's like go to a higher level or something

[Speaker 2]
a person who had

[Speaker 1]
complete lam rim training and does tantra is the boom guy and a person who did tantra without the lam rim training is like a burro so before when a teacher is going to give you tantric initiation empowerment

[Speaker 2]
there's a there's a traditional requirement

[Speaker 1]
even if you already finished the eighteen courses you still have to do one more lam rim course in the Diamond Mountain system that course takes its three courses

[Speaker 2]
okay

[Speaker 1]
the Mexican group is learning it right now I think

[Speaker 2]
that special lam rim has two names

[Speaker 1]
DE LAM or NYER LAM

[Speaker 2]
NYER LAM

[Speaker 1]
what do you call it here? I think you're calling it DE LAM or you can say NYER LAM DE LAM means

[Speaker 2]
like path of bliss

[Speaker 1]
NYER LAM means super quick path then he says RTZAN DRA YANG DE LTAR YIN that's why they call it quick path because the person who studies tantra after studying these meditations is ten times faster

[Speaker 2]
so I'm tricking you that's why we're spending

[Speaker 1]
so many years on lam rim because I want you to master tantra faster

[Speaker 2]
okay

[Speaker 1]
Geshe-la I don't want to go through all these lam rim courses I want to go straight to tantra if you spend many years on this you will go faster through tantra

[Speaker 2]
okay got it that's what he said that's why it's called DE LAM that's why it's called NYER LAM

[Speaker 1]
okay we have about a few more minutes MI LA MI LA KU TSE DER GSUNGS KYI RDUG PA SA NGAG GCIG BU MIN PAR TSE DNGOS MAR BSKYED BU GSUM GYI RNAMS LA BYANG BA ZIN PA'I YIN TE what's MI LA?

yeah MI LA RE PA good, I was trying to trick you KU TSE is the honorific for TSE KU TSE is the honorific for TSE in that life so Tibetan has many levels so it's difficult there are six or seven languages inside of Tibetan what's GSUNGS RDUG?

[Speaker 2]
what's GSUNGS RDUG?

[Speaker 1]
yeah, GSUNGS RDUG is okay, I'm going to teach you here it is what are you laughing about? sorry I'm just trying to keep you awake okay, Phil Janice Robin wait, no Robin, where are you? okay, what's this song?

four gentlemen in one great, great bra four gentlemen in one great, great bra four gentlemen okay, stop STOP okay what's that song?

[Speaker 2]
It's called Combination of the Two famous Janet Joplin song why did I play that song? except, besides keep you awake. Yeah, the tantric word for Buddhahood, the tantric word for enlightenment, is a different word.

It's called combination of the two.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? What's the two? Say again?

Yeah, gyu lu and ... what's that? Say gyu lu.

Gyu lu. Gyu lu means rainbow body. Why do they call it rainbow body?

It's made of rainbow light. That's a long story. And uso means what?

Yeah, clear light means to understand gong shing, emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
So the word in tantra, for Buddha, is combination of the two. Your body is made of light.

[Speaker 1]
Your mind is always in the clear light of emptiness. So, mi la sung juk du Yeah, Milarepa reached it in one lifetime. ngak chi du minpa But it wasn't just because he practiced tantra.

Seng Mun Mar, in his former life, SKYES BU GSUM GYI LAM LA BYANG SEMS PAS It was because he had the jet fuel in his previous life. He practiced those three paths, three levels. GONG GI DGU BSKYED SNGA MA KHA DANG PA CHAG RIGS CHOG YIN PAR Then they even know who he was, what was his name, when he was studying Lam Rim, in his past life.

[Speaker 2]
His name was Chag Tri Chok, who was a Kadampa, several hundred years earlier.

[Speaker 1]
THOG MED BLO SBYONG SOGS LAS GSUNGS YIN Then there's a special BLO SBYONG book. What does BLO SBYONG mean? And if you tell me the wrong translation, you're going to come up here, I'm going to hit you.

Wait, wait, wait, be careful.

[Speaker 2]
Be careful.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, you're going to go for it? Yeah, good. Developing good heart.

Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Good heart.

[Speaker 1]
BLO SBYONG, the BLO in BLO SBYONG means mind, but it means bodhichitta. It's the chitta in bodhichitta. Chitta means mind, right?

[Speaker 2]
Bodhichitta means love.

[Speaker 1]
I want to be a Buddha so I can help all people. Then some stupid guys translated it as mind training. Like toilet training.

[Speaker 2]
Something like that.

[Speaker 1]
It's a really stupid translation. I'm upset because I heard somebody say it in this room yesterday.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, anyway, in that BLO SBYONG text, called THOG MED BLO SBYONG, which means the starter BLO SBYONG, it identifies Milarepa's former life. You okay? Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, just a little bit more.

[Speaker 2]
Keep going. Keep going, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
DE LTAR THU MONGS LAM BYANG RNGON SONG GI SANG SNGAGS LA SBYUG DGOS KYANG So the only proper way to start tantra is after you went through the Lam Rim. There's a famous poem. I won't teach it to you tonight.

[Speaker 2]
THU MONGS LAM BYANG RNGON DU RGYUR PA LA Okay, it's very famous.

[Speaker 1]
RANG RES DE LTAR MI BYAS PA DANG PO NAS SNGAGS LA SBYUG But you know, people like you and me, we hear some big lamas giving initiation in Los Angeles. And we run there, and they go, ding, ding, ding, ding, you know.

[Speaker 2]
Three parts. Initiation has three parts. Ding, ding, ding, ding.

[Speaker 1]
Red envelope initiation.

[Speaker 2]
Red envelope initiation.

[Speaker 1]
SNGAGS LA SBYUG DANG TSIG MI GSUNG BA RIM NYID SGO MNOD BYAS KYANG Then we try to practice the two levels of tantra. You can get used to those levels now. Okay, it's okay.

You know, you can hear about them.

[Speaker 2]
You can think about it. But to achieve it, you need to do lam rim.

[Speaker 1]
By the way, there's two ways to study lam rim.

[Speaker 2]
One is Geshe course. It's better. It's more detailed.

It takes 20 years. Five great subjects.

[Speaker 1]
The 18 ACI courses have all of those five subjects in them. So you can do a serious way. You finish the 18 courses.

But in Tibet, there's some people who couldn't have time to go to monastery. They will do lam rim.

[Speaker 2]
It's okay. Same thing. Geshe course.

Lam rim. Which is better? Both.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good. Good answer. Word is answering for everybody.

Thank you. So, let's talk about the two levels of tantra.

[Speaker 2]
We talked about it before. First level, what's the name? Yeah, kye rim.

Kye rim means try to meet angels. First level of tantra, all of the teachings, many, many teachings, the purpose is to meet an angel. Where do the angels live?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, words like if you have normal seeds, you will see the people around you as normal people. Like Gina is just a normal person, not an angel.

[Speaker 2]
If you make beautiful seeds by using the lam rim, then next time you meet Gina, she looks a little more special. More, more, more, more, more. Then next time you meet her, she looks a little bit suspicious.

[Speaker 1]
You think she's an angel?

[Speaker 2]
10% chance, 10% chance.

[Speaker 1]
More lam rim, more lam rim, more lam rim.

[Speaker 2]
Next time you meet Gina, you think she's an angel? 30% chance. More lam rim, more lam rim, more lam rim.

[Speaker 1]
More five minute meditations. Then finally, like, I don't know, you're in a restaurant. You go to a restaurant in New York City, which is still open by the way.

And you and your friends go there to have a tsok, right? And you have dinner. And there's an old Jewish lady who is the waitress.

Chubby, like some of these ladies today from the kitchen. With the blue coat, right? Then, you know, you're having tsok, you're having tantric dinner.

And you do all your secret prayers. It's getting late. It's like midnight.

And everyone's like, let's go home, you know. Then you're like to the waitress, you know, we need a bill. I don't know what you do in Mexico.

In America, you go like this. Then she comes out, you know, waddle, in English, I'm going to teach you a new word. Waddle means walk like this.

[Speaker 2]
Fat people. And she comes out. And she says, excuse me?

What are you doing? I need a bill. La cuenta?

Yeah, give me a bill. Then she's like, you know those fat ladies go like...

[Speaker 1]
And then she says, you want me to charge people who are doing Vajrayogini tantric dinner?

[Speaker 2]
Are you crazy? Then she, everybody's like this.

[Speaker 1]
Then she goes back to the kitchen.

[Speaker 2]
Then everybody's like, maybe she's Vajrayogini. Let's go talk to her. Run in the kitchen.

Kitchen is empty. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
If you do... Okay? Do a lot of them.

And you can have experience. Then you succeed in tantra without tantra. Would you rather have tantric experience without tantra training, or would you rather have tantra training without tantric experience?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, you beat me. The tantric experience is pretty cool. Like you meet an angel.

There's no way. She's some old Jewish lady. No way she knows about Jigme Yudrma.

[Speaker 2]
Yudrma? Yudrma?

[Speaker 1]
Yudrmo. Yudjamu. There's no way she can know about it.

[Speaker 2]
That's first level tantra. In the second level tantra, she will come out of the kitchen.

[Speaker 1]
She'll say, you guys, you're trying to do a tantric dinner.

[Speaker 2]
Come on.

[Speaker 1]
You're supposed to put the cup over there.

[Speaker 2]
It's supposed to be there.

[Speaker 1]
Do I have to tell you everything? Who's your lama? This is the way we do it in heaven.

Okay? Then they start to teach you. The ones that you met in the first level become your teacher in the second level.

What are you learning from them?

[Speaker 2]
How to become them. Angel training school.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Alright? Got it?

Okay, so those are the two levels of tantra. But you cannot reach them if you don't keep your tantric vows. You can't get tantric vows unless you take initiation.

When you take initiation, the lama is supposed to take a few days and teach you the vows.

[Speaker 2]
15 minutes, one hour. I saw it many times. I'm not just complaining, I saw it.

[Speaker 1]
There's a thousand people and the lama didn't say anything about tantric vows. The purpose of initiation part of it is to teach the people the vows, because if they keep the vows they become Buddha. If they don't keep the vows, they go to hell.

[Speaker 2]
Then what does this lama say about those people?

[Speaker 1]
DOR BYED NYAL BAR BYED DU BYUD MKHAN MANG No, it's worse than that.

[Speaker 2]
They are training to go to tantra hell.

[Speaker 1]
That lama is teaching them how to go to tantra hell.

[Speaker 2]
Like purposely teaching them how to suffer.

[Speaker 1]
Why? If you break those vows, you go to the worst hell. Then the lama gives you a ten minute initiation.

What do you call it? Red envelope initiation.

[Speaker 2]
Doesn't teach you the many vows. Then next day you will break them all.

[Speaker 1]
If you break them before initiation, nothing happens. You don't have a vow.

[Speaker 2]
After you take the initiation, then if you break them, it's like you are, I don't know, you are studying how to go to the lowest hell. It's like studying how to go to the worst hell.

[Speaker 1]
So learn Lam Rim. Okay, next. We have, I still have you for six minutes.

DE NA DANG PO NAS CHOS LA LO RGYAL KHYER NAS MI KHOR GCIG LA'ANG MI TSE BRAL NYAMS PA'I LO RGYAL KHYER DGOS KYIS You okay?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. So you have to make a decision in your mind. When you do these 24 meditations in the next four months before I see you at Diamond Mountain, the first time you do it, okay, I'm going to do a five minute meditation.

[Speaker 1]
Where did my shoes come from?

[Speaker 2]
Who sent you the shoes?

[Speaker 1]
Joe, your last life sent you those shoes, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Even Tara has shoes. How old is Tara? One year.

[Speaker 1]
She didn't have time to give away 500 pairs of shoes and make those shoes.

[Speaker 2]
She didn't make the seeds for those shoes. Her last life made those shoes. Then you hear it one time from me.

[Speaker 1]
Then you, I'm checking everyone tomorrow if you have the app, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Then you meditate about it. One time. Then when you see your shoes, you're like, hey, that's pretty cool.

[Speaker 1]
Then meditate, meditate, meditate, meditate. Every day. Just five minutes, come on, don't tell me you don't have time.

It's the same time as a long pee-pee. In English we call number two. I don't know what you call it.

Number two. In one big number two you can do two five minute meditations. Geshe-la, I don't have time.

Okay, then stop pooping and start meditating. Okay, every other day. And Monday you can poop.

And Tuesday take that time for meditation. And hold it until Wednesday. So don't tell me you don't have time to do it.

[Speaker 2]
Then after one or two weeks, when you see your shoes, something will trigger in your mind.

[Speaker 1]
And say, wow, that's proof of my former life.

[Speaker 2]
And those old, dirty, comfortable shoes, they are proof that I'm a pretty good person.

[Speaker 1]
Because I mailed them to myself.

[Speaker 2]
Then keep meditating, keep meditating. Then after like six weeks, when you look at the shoes, you can almost see Joe's face.

[Speaker 1]
You can almost see the face of your former life.

[Speaker 2]
Geshe-la, I want to see what was my former life. Can I do some meditation? Learn to look at your shoes.

They are proof of your former life. But you have to meditate a lot to feel it.

[Speaker 1]
And if you meditate a lot, you will see Joe's face when you look at your shoes.

[Speaker 2]
Directly, directly. So what he says here, each meditation, if it takes you one month, six months, six years, 60 years, it's worth it. So you have to be brave.

You have to decide.

[Speaker 1]
I will master each one of these one by one.

[Speaker 2]
And I don't care if it takes me a year or two years or three years for each one to get the true experience of this lam rim. Why? You will become a Buddha faster.

[Speaker 1]
Do it, do it, I don't know, do it well.

[Speaker 2]
Master it.

[Speaker 1]
Then go to the next one. So, I don't mean you have to only meditate on one of these for six years or something. Later he will say, I don't know how to say it.

It's like yoga. If you learn to do the pose correctly the first year, then you can do the more advanced poses.

[Speaker 2]
If you do the pose wrong, wrongly, then the second one will be wrong and the third one will be wrong.

[Speaker 1]
So if it takes you a long time to get the first one correct, then it's okay, it's okay. Then the second one will come faster.

[Speaker 2]
So don't think I'm going too slow.

[Speaker 1]
Geshe-la, I spent three weeks on the first meditation. MI'I TSE BRAL NYAMS PA'I BLO RGYA RGYAS DGOS GYIS You have to think big. If it takes me a hundred years to master the first one, it's okay.

[Speaker 2]
Or my whole life.

[Speaker 1]
RANG CHAGS GCIG RTEN LA BLO RGYA RGYAS DE'I KHO LOG TU SONG BA We'll do that tomorrow. Let me make a mark.