«Дар освобождения», курс 21 «Ретрит радости непостоянства», занятие 8

[Speaker 2]
Let's meditate, ready? Let's go. Close your eyes.

Relax your forehead. Relax your mouth. Relax your fingers.

Pull in your stomach. Relax your shoulders. Pull the backs of your shoulders together.

Shoulder blades. Small smile. And then come to your breath.

Then ask yourself, how much time do I have left in my life? What do you guess? How many years left?

And start to divide that time. If it's, I don't know, 20 years left, then imagine half of it is taken by sleeping, eating, cooking, cleaning. Of the time left from that 10 years, how much of that time will you have to devote to making money, to pay your rent, to pay for your food, help your family?

Maybe seven years? At least three years left. And you're not going to be able to practice all the time.

You have other things you want to do, talk to your friends, look on the internet, see movies. Maybe you have a year and a half left, 18 months for practice in your life. If it goes well, if you have 20 years left, you'll be able to spend 18 months on your practice.

Can you reach enlightenment in 18 months? Sit with this for 10 minutes. And then take three slow breaths.

Watch three slow breaths. And you can slowly open your eyes. Stretch, take a stretch.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so we said we can divide people into adults, right? People over 20. Real people.

We can divide them into people who want, yeah, making excuses. They'd like to be practicing but they don't have time. And then, I don't know, people over 40 who decided it's too late.

Okay, so when we see those people, DE DAG THO BA NA, DE DAG LA RGYUN DU BDAG ZHING, then we should think, I don't want to be like that. NYID MA RE RE MED CHOS BYED BLO MED PA'I BRDOD MED PA'I BYA BA GAL BYED RE GSOS NAS MI BDOD PAR Then don't make up new jobs for yourself. So start to cut back.

Don't take useless jobs from people. It's not nice to waste your life. If somebody else wants to waste your life for you by giving you meaningless jobs, you should politely say, I'm sorry, I'm going to die this afternoon.

I don't have time to bake your cousin's birthday cake. And it's not impolite. If you honestly...

All of us are Buddhists and we want to be nice to people but it's not wrong to tell people, I don't have time for that. I'm sorry, I love you, I would like to bake a cake for your cousin's birthday but I have to do my practice. I went to see the Dalai Lama at Lincoln Center many years ago.

They gave a program for saving the ancient books and he gave a talk at, I think, five o'clock. And then at six o'clock he said, excuse me, I have to leave. And everybody got upset and he said, I'm sorry, I have to do my practice every day.

And it's six o'clock, I have to go home. And I have to go to bed early because I get up early. And he just left a thousand people.

They're like, I have to go home now. I'm sorry. In the middle of his talk he said, I have to go home.

I'm sorry, you guys have a good time. So you should be like that. It's not impolite.

And people will get mad at you for a while but then you should put the uncatchable diamond ahead of you and be the unembarrassed phantom behind you. So for a while your family will say you're not a nice person because you didn't make a birthday cake. And then after a while they forget about it and they don't expect you.

I worked in the corporation for 19 years and the first week I told the boss I will not go to business dinners ever, never, ever. You can fire me now or don't ask me. In 19 years I didn't go to a business dinner.

Everybody had to go. I didn't go. I said I don't have time.

I study in the evening. So 19 years I didn't go to a business dinner. You just have to decide.

I don't have time. And be polite but be firm. I don't have time.

I'm sorry. I love you. I love birthday cakes.

I love to eat birthday cakes. I love to make them. But I'm sorry.

I have a schedule for my practice and I can't do it. If you want to do yoga with me tomorrow we can, I can fit it in. Okay.

Unless it's Orit. I thought I was going to die in the evening. Then I thought I was going to die in her yoga class.

DNGUL LA RUG PA GCIG STE DNGUL LA RUG PA means put a bone in your heart and it means be firm with other people. Just be firm. I'm sorry.

I don't have time for that. GCIG STE CI DAG BZHIN BYAS RANG GI THOB LA MA PO PAS GONG DU Until the day that the Lord of Death shows up at your door and knocks on your door, SPYOD BYED GANG THUB Try to do as much practice as you can. The Lord of Death will show up at the door and the Lord of Death will knock on the door one day.

Try to do something before that. You can watch other people how they're wasting their lifetime and you can use them as a bad example. Your friends die one by one.

All my friends from college, they got cancer and they're like, oh, what do I do Geshe Michael? I said, you should have asked me 20 years ago. It's too late.

DGOS TE BYAS SNGA BA'ANG BRJAMS PA'I KYANG So there was a lama named SNGA BA'ANG BRJAMS PA. He said, DPER NA THONG CHEN PO'I BSTANG RGYUR So if you put a pile of flour, barley flour, out here, outside the door, on a THONG, THONG means a big empty space like a plane or something. Like here, like right here.

BSTANG RGYUR, PHUNG CHEN PO ZHIG You put a big pile of flour, PHUNG YIN NA, LUNG PA'I PHUS NAS And from the high points of the mountains, CHU CHEN PO ZHIG CHUNG BA'I There's a big flood coming. So once a year, this empty wash out here, it becomes a big river, once a year. If there's a big rainstorm, and you can go walking in it, it's kind of fun.

It goes up to about here. It's very deep. That's why we're not allowed to build buildings on that side.

This is the edge because it will flood. Once a year it will flood. And I used to go out there and walk around in the water.

And then I found out rattlesnakes also come down with the flood. And they're like, they're like that. Then when they touch your leg, they're like...

And then I'm like, you know, so... Once a year, this big flood will come. And if you know the water is coming, then CHOG CHUB, if it's about to...

CHOG means to sweep a floor. And GRAB means almost ready to sweep away the grain. BYAS PA LA RANG GI DE NAS RANG BAR DE NA If you just stand there and say, wow, look, there's a big flood coming.

DE NA, GRU GCIG GYANG MI NON PAR And you don't try to grab some of the flour and bring it inside. Some of the wheat. Don't try to bring it inside.

RGAR DE NA, DE NA, GRU GCIG GYANG MI NON PAR, CHUG KHYER DRO LA, DE BA'I RANG GI HUR DAG TSUM PA'I You should... If you see a flood coming, I saw a video. There was a landslide and there was a couple of cars there.

And the landslide came down and took away two or three cars. And there are other three, four cars waiting. And the guy's like this.

And he saw these cars, three, four cars are taken off a cliff. And then he's like, hmm. And then he turned around very slow.

He put on his blinker and he turned around. You should move a little faster than that. DE BA'I RANG GI HUR DAG HUR DAG means move, move fast, do something.

HUR DAG, TSUM PA MA YANG BAR And don't get distracted while you're trying to pull the grain on. Don't say, oh, look at the sky. There's a Jupiter.

MA YANG BAR BYED MYOS GYUR TSUL KHYAL RNAMS DANG Try to save as much as you can of that precious stuff. PHUNG PO RU GCIG RU NYID SANGS LON PA'ONG Maybe you can save one or two parts of the pile of grain. BSTAB LEGS NA YONGS SROG DGOS NAS If you're lucky, BSTAB LEGS means if things go well, maybe you save the whole pile.

What's the pile represent in our discussion today? More specifically, the time you have left. The time you have left.

You have five years left. You have 10 years left. Then what's the flood?

Your death is coming. So do something. Oh, maybe I should try to save a few years.

Maybe I should try to make something out of the years I have left. So do something. Move.

BOR BPAG Move. Do something. Do something.

You have so many years left. Try to save as much as you can. And again, you have to be tough with the people around you.

They will try to waste your time. Be very polite. I'm sorry, I have to...

Sometimes in my business, when I'm supposed to have a coffee break, I will meditate. Then people start to bother me. Then I would go to the bathroom.

And in the stall, the little door, and I don't lift up the toilet seat. I just sit on the toilet seat and I meditate. And I don't know, people thought I had diarrhea or something.

So if you're serious about your practice, you can find a way. You can find a way. You can say, I don't feel so good.

I got to go sit in the bathroom for 10 minutes. I used to be in the middle of board meeting. Board meeting go for six, seven hours.

And then I said, oh, I'm sorry, I got, you know, I got, ooh, you know. And I go to the bathroom and all the eight other vice presidents are having a meeting and I'll sit there and meditate in the bathroom, you know. Probably there's a lot of rumors about what I'm doing in there.

Nampang. But if you're serious, you can find a way to avoid hurting other people's feelings. You can say, I'm sorry, you know, I can't go tonight.

I love you. I want to see Star Wars number 14 with you. But, you know, I promised my Lama I'd do something, you know.

So, okay. Then people will start to understand that you don't do those things, okay. And then you'll have more time.

So the first few times you have to be clear and nice, but tough, firm, okay. Okay. Save as much of the years you have left as you can.

SGOS PA CHEN PO'I DUS PA LTAR RANG RES KYANG PHYI BA MA'ONG KHONG SKYE PO GSUM GYI LAM NA We have to try to practice the three paths of the Lam Rim. First one up to Guangzhou. Second one up to Shanghai.

Third one up to Beijing. Number one, try not to have a bad death and a bad rebirth. Number two, try not to come back to any suffering place.

Number three, try to become a Buddha and help. So dedicate your heart to those three things. BYED DGOS GSUM, DE LTAR GYUR TZEN GSUM BSAM NAS So now we have three reasons why death is certain, right?

What was the first one? You can't stop it. It doesn't matter how strong you are.

It doesn't matter where you go. Yeah, it doesn't matter where you go and it doesn't matter how much money you have. Okay, that was the first one.

What was the second one? Candle. Yeah, just remember candle.

It's always decreasing all the time. And we just had the third one. Yeah, the time you have left, it's only a little bit you can practice because you got to poopoo, you got to eat, you got to take a shower, you got to make money, you got to sleep, okay?

You got to watch internet movies, okay? So even the time you have left, there's not much left. How do you want to show that in a picture?

If the second one is a candle, that's meditation number 15. I wasn't supposed to get this far. What's the picture going to be for 16?

[Speaker 2]
An hour and a half. An hour and a half, yeah. We can reach that.

[Speaker 1]
Huh? We can? I was thinking just 20 plus 20 plus 20 plus 10.

I don't know. But what do you think? Yeah, a baby sleeping maybe.

I like the hourglass. I think I like the hourglass. The sand is, you know, you know, the sand is going, yeah.

But that's kind of number two. Anybody have a better picture? Yeah, like one eighth of a pizza.

I'll go for that. A pizza pan and only one slice left. How's that?

That's how much life I have left. Seven pieces ate already. One piece is waiting.

Now I want a pizza. Let's try pizza, okay? So number 15 is a candle.

Number 16 is a, number 14 is a, those yoga people, strong yoga people. Okay, if you can do a handstand, you don't have to die, right? Okay, is it wrong to do a handstand?

No, you should do a handstand. Okay, now we're on sawanipa. What's that mean?

Sawanipa. Yeah, the second main idea. The first main idea was, it's not certain.

Death is not, I'm sorry, death is certain. And there were three reasons. Doesn't matter how strong you are.

It's the candle and the pizza. Okay? Okay, we finished the first three.

Now we're on the second group of three. We're supposed to do this in Guadalajara. We are advanced.

We'll probably repeat them in Guadalajara a little bit. NYID PA RNAMS CI NGES MED SEMS PA LA Okay, second one, you don't know when you're going to die. Okay?

First one was, you have to die. Second one, you don't know when. You don't know when.

And again, there are three what? There are three reasons why you don't know when. Okay?

So here we go. Ready? We're on number 2A, which is going to be meditation number 17.

Good. Nice. Okay.

DANG PO SPYIR DZAM PA LING PA DANG DANG DGOS NYID DUG GI TSE LA NGES PA MED PA NI So we live in a world, our planet in Buddhism is called Jambudvipa. Okay? It's a special planet.

Okay? Our planet is called Jambu. Okay?

In Buddhism, our planet is called Jambu. Okay? Jambudvipa.

And generally, there are four continents on this planet. There are four areas on this planet. We live in the area called Jambu.

Okay? There are three other areas on this world. You can't see them.

Okay? When you do the mandala, there are these four. One, two, three, four.

Okay? We are here. Okay?

We're over here on your left thumb. Okay? There are three other parts of the world you cannot see.

DGOS NYID DUG So in this particular, there are four major parts of the world. You cannot see the other three. Okay?

But they are there. People who live here, on our side, in our world, their lifetime doesn't have a specific number. It's no guarantee 60 years, seven years.

That's average. Okay? Unfortunately, average means 50 people can live to 75 and you can die at 25.

You know what I mean? That's average. You don't know if you're going to live for 70 years.

Okay? 60 years. Okay?

In this part of the world. CHOS DAM PA LING And especially, we live in a time when pollution is very high. Global warming is very strong.

And because of that, people die earlier nowadays. So, you know, in history, I don't know, 200 years ago, most people lived to 40. Okay?

But before that, they used to live to 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000. Okay? So there's a little dip in the last 5,000 years or something.

Okay? This is a bad time in the cycle of the galaxy. And on this planet, people don't live very long.

They used to live longer. Like Adam and Eve time? Like that.

Okay? Many, many years ago, people lived longer. And right now the world is polluted and people are living a shorter life.

GTO'I GYI GNYIS GDUG We call it GNYIS GDUG. GNYIS GMA Do you remember GNYIS GMA? Yeah, degeneration.

And it specifically means the dregs. So when you have a cup of tea and at the bottom there's all the junky stuff, that's called GNYIS. And we live in the junky stuff at the bottom of the tea era.

We live in the time, a lowest time in history. We are living in a dirty era. People don't live very long.

GNYIS GDUG GYI SRED LA NGES PA MED PA NI DE YANG RNAMS CI LA NGES PA ZHIG YOD NA This is a very famous sentence in the Lam Rim. This is a very famous sentence. Maybe you can remember it.

Maybe you can remember it. RNAMS CI LA NGES PA ZHIG YOD NA If there was a definite number of years that we are going to live, like if you're born, they give you a certificate, it says you can live 100 years. Or you can live 200 years.

If there's a number, definite number, then, BDAG PO DROG DU NYAN GYONG Then we could devote 20 years to beating all of our enemies and people we don't like. First part of our life, 20 years I will spend to beat all the people I don't like. I will fight against them at my job.

All the people I don't like at my job, I will give 20 years of my life to beat all the people I don't like at my job. And then next 20 years, I will give to take care of all my family and my friends and make them successful. If you know you're going to live 100 years, okay, 20 years.

First 20 years, I will get rid of all the people I don't like. Next 20 years, I'll take care of all the people I do like. And then I'll have 60 years left to myself in peace.

All the people I don't like, like my old manager at work, they will be gone because I killed them or I moved them. And then 20 years, I'd take care of all my friends. And then I have 60 years to myself.

Okay, if life is certain, if you have 100 year guarantee, then you could spend the first part of your life to get rid of all the people you don't like. Like kill them or make them move out of the country. You can work hard on it.

The next 20 years, you can take care of all your family, all your parents, your kids. Then you have 60 years to yourself. But, ,'JIG RTEN GYI LAS GANG RNAMS CHE, ,GYIS POR BDE NAS, Then you can just be happy for 60 years.

,SPYI MA'I SNGA ROL TZAM DU SPYOD CHE CHOG MA, And you know you have 60 years to do Dharma stuff. You finished your worldly stuff. 20 years you got rid of all your worldly enemies.

20 years you took care of all your worldly friends. Now you have 60 years to yourself. You can meditate.

You can do yoga. You can schedule your life like that. If you know you have a fixed number of years.

,SPYI MA'I SNGA ROL TZAM DU SPYOD CHE CHOG MA, ,DE LTAR NGES PO MED PAS, But that ain't the way it is. When you're born, nobody gives you a guarantee how many years you're going to live. Because of that, we don't have time to do which of those things.

Because there's no guarantee how many years you're going to live, you don't have time to take care of all the people you don't like. So just forget them. All the people who attack me on the internet.

I should spend one month to take care of that person. I should spend two months to take care of that person. Just forget it.

You don't have time. If you had a hundred year guaranteed life, you can split up your time. I'll get rid of that person on the internet for one month.

Do not get rid of that person on the internet. But if you don't know how long you're going to live, just forget them. The worst thing you can do to your enemy is forget them.

It's the thing that pisses them off the most. Sorry, what was your name again? I attacked you for two years.

Don't you remember my name? I'm sorry, I forgot. They really hate it.

If you don't pay any attention to your critics and things, it's the best thing you can do to bug them. Like, yeah, I remember you attacked me on the internet, but I don't remember your name. I'm sorry.

If you really want to hurt your enemies, just ignore them. It pissed them off. Oh, she doesn't even remember my name.

I tried so hard to hurt her. And then your friends, you can't take it, you can't take it. Do what you can to help your friends.

Do what you can to help your family, but it's endless. There's no end. So be nice.

Do what you can for people. But the best thing is to practice and become a Buddha, and then you can really help people. So if you have a choice between making birthday cakes every week, or becoming a Buddha, I think it's better to become a Buddha.

It doesn't mean you're not a nice person. It means you're a more nice person. And maybe the people who don't get a birthday cake won't like you, but that's okay.

You have to make your choices. You can really help people. Like you can go to medical school and learn to cure people, or you can make birthday cakes.

Which is nicer? Which is better? You go to medical school and you can really help people.

Like that. You have to make a choice. The people in this room are not trying to choose between should I kill people or should I help people?

The people in this room are trying to decide what's better, what's a better good, and what's a lesser good. And you have to make the right decisions. Of course you're a nice person, but are you going to be a more nice person or a less nice person?

Got it? Dharma people have to make tough choices about their career. ,GCIG RTEN PO CHUNG, ,DE LTAR NGES PA MED NAS, ,NAMS CI CHAD MED SANGS PA'I DI GAL CHE, So it's important to realize, to keep in mind, we don't know when we're going to die.

There's no guarantees in this world. In this part of the world, there's no guarantee. ,DE YANG RDZUS LAS, ,DRA MI NYAN PAR BLO STONG STE, ,GNYIS NA CHE CHE'I SPANG PA'O, This is a quotation from DZOS.

What's DZOS? Yeah, good. DZOS means kosha.

And the long name is CHUNG RNGUB PA DZOS, Abhidharma Kosha. This is a book from, the most recent version was written 17 centuries ago. The first one was written by Maudgalyayana.

500 BC And ,DRA MI NYAN means that when you do the mandala, it's this this continent, northern continent. North continent, north part of the world. They have definite lifespan.

They live for 1,000 years. Guarantee. If you get born there, you live for 1,000 years.

It's a different part of this world. You cannot see it. We're over here.

Okay, you're stuck over here. But the people who live over here, they have 1,000 year lifespan. Always.

They always live 1,000 years. The name of that continent is ,'UNPLEASANT SAM. Why is it called unpleasant Sam?

Like two weeks before you die, you hear a voice from the sky and it says, you're gonna die in two weeks. And then suddenly you start to have underarm odor for the first time. And you start to burp and you start to sweat and you start to smell funny and all the other people there are like, and they start to avoid you.

So you die very lonely. ,BYANG DRA MI NYAN, ,BYANG DRA MI NYAN And then it says, ,GNYIS NA CHE CHE'I SPANG PO'O. This is Abhidharma.

It's difficult to understand. ,GNYIS NA means on two. ,CHE CHE means, ,CHE CHE'I SPANG means cut by half.

On two, cut by half. What's it mean? People on the western continent, which is here, they always live for half of what the northern continent people live.

So how much? They always live 500 years. Guaranteed.

Western continent. What's it called? ,PHA RUNG CHUD, Cattle.

They like to grow cattle. I don't know why. Then on the other continent, which is to the east, what's going on there?

Cut it. Yeah, they have larger bodies than we do. And cut by another half.

So how many? They live for 250 years. So the other three parts of this world, they have guarantee.

These guys live for a thousand. These guys live for 500. These guys live for 250.

But what's happening down here? Uncertain. No fixed number.

On our world, you don't get a certificate when you're born. ,CHE CHE'I SPANG PO, ,SHES PA LTAR, ,LING GZHAN PHAL GYUR ZHIG, ,TSE LA NGES PAR CAN MANG YANG, So there are other places where life span is fixed, definite. Then you can make a plan.

First 20 years, I'll hurt all my enemies. Second 20 years, I'll take care of my friends. Next 60 years, I'll practice.

You can make a plan like that. But we cannot. ,DI NA MANG NAS THAMS PA NI, ,BLO CHUD DANG PO RPAG TU MED, This is also Abhidharmakosha.

,DI NA MANG NAS means in this part of the world, our southern part, called ,BYAMS BU ,NGES PAR MED We don't know how long we're going to live. ,THAMS PA NI BLO CHUD, The average lifespan at the end of the cycle is 10 years old. So it goes in huge cycles.

And in the beginning, ,THAMS PO RPAG TU MED, The average lifespan is 10 to the 60th power years. Okay, I don't know. You figure it out.

It's like, I don't know, billion, billion, billion, billion, billion years. So Buddhism believes that each planet goes through an evolution where they begin like a garden of Eden. Buddhism believes that.

Every planet starts with a very beautiful, like a garden. People don't need to eat. Light comes from their bodies.

There's no war. There's no sickness. People live for billion, billion, billion, billion years.

Then somebody tells a small lie. And then it starts. And then the karma begins to change in the world.

And finally you reach a time when the average lifespan is a hundred years. That's what we're in now. Okay?

People live 60. People live 70. We're in the middle of what's called the hundred years era.

And then after that it will go to 90, 80, 70. And at the end, just before the world is destroyed, people's average lifespan is 10 years. So we're closer.

We're very close to that time. And the Abhidharma says, third chapter Abhidharma says, when that time comes, somebody will blow up the world with a weapon which turns the sky to fire. It says in the Abhidharma.

Somebody will release a bomb. Bombs and they will destroy the world. And a few people will survive.

And a few survivors get together and they decide we should be more moral than the people before. And then because of their morality, their lifespan goes up to a billion, billion, billion, billion. Okay, again.

And then the whole thing starts over again. 60 times. 80 times.

Cycles. Big, huge cycles. That's called a big kalpa.

80 of those little kalpas is a big kalpa. And then it goes, it just keeps repeating itself. Garden of Eden.

War. Blow up the whole planet. Few people survive.

Garden of Eden. And it just keeps going in cycles like that. Okay?

DZAM PO LING BAR DANG POR TSE LOGS PAG MED THUB PA'ANG In the beginning, people in this part of the world can live average lifespan, billions of years. CHUNG SMOS It's true. THAR LOGS SPYING BA RIGS DRAG BYED DGOS PAR GSUNGS But in the end, it drops to 10 years old.

SPYIR DZAM PO LING PA'I TSE LA NGES PA MED CING So even though the the range is 10 to a billion, billion, billion, there's no fixed number for any of us. We could live for 10 years. We could live for 30 years.

We don't know. DGOS NYID RTUG GI TSE LA NGES PA MED PA NI More especially in these days, which are called the days of darkness, NYID RTUG NGES PA MED PA NI PHYIR RANG CHAGS LA BRTEN NAS MI CING YANG PA'I SANGS PA MED KYANG Nobody in this world, in these times, reasonably expects to live forever. But PHYIR RANG PHYI MOD THAR LOGS TZAM MI PHYIS Everybody says, I know I have to die someday, but I don't believe I'll die in 2016.

Like there will be a day when Geshe Michael dies, but it's not going to be 2016. We have this feeling. SANGS PA'I BLO ZHIG MA ZHIG PAR DU'ANG And people carry that thought until the day they die.

They're always saying it won't be this year, and then they die. DE'I RGYUD TZAM YANG, and the reason is RGA' ZHIG GIS RAS ZHIG MI PHYI STE LUS GZHIN PA'I PHYIR NYAMS NA Some people can say, some people say, I'm still pretty young. Geshe-la, I'm only 25.

Or Geshe-la, I'm only 30. Or Geshe-la, I'm only 35. I'm pretty young.

So, I don't have to worry so much. DE'I KYANG MI PHEN TE Come on, open your eyes. CI BA NI LOGS RGYUN ZHING GOS RIM MED PAR Lord Death doesn't take people in order.

Lord Death doesn't kill older ones first, and then the pretty old ones, and then the medium old ones, and then the youngest ones last. It doesn't do that. BU GRUB NGON DU BZHIN NAS PA MED DUR BDEBS There are many, many cases in the world where the mother and father have to bury their son or their daughter.

And there's nothing more painful. There's nothing worse than that. Many people have to bury their son.

Many people have to bury their daughter. They are younger. They die first.

It happens. It happens to many. It's a terrible, terrible thing.

It's the worst thing for a parent to see their child die. Then the parent will say, I wish I died first. The parent will say, I wish I died first.

But Lord Death doesn't have any logic. Death takes the young one. Then Death takes the old one.

Then Death takes two medium ones, and then goes for three young ones. There's no logic. BU GRUB NGON DU BZHIN NAS YI PHAN LAS BYUNG RLOG KHYEN GZHUN GANG ROL NYID BU BYUNG NYID PA MED DUR BDEBS DGOS PHA'ANG MANG DU YOD You can see it with your own eyes.

You can see it with your own eyes. And all of us, DE BZHIN DU RANG LAS PHYIN BA'ANG MANG PO ZHI NGAR ZHI ZIN LA All of us saw people younger than us die. All of us saw people younger than us who died.

GA GCIG NI SKYE MA THAG TU ZHI BA YOD There's a lot of people who die just after they're born. A lot of children die in the first few weeks for no reason. They just die.

GA GCIG NA TZAM MED PA'I MI PHYIN NYAM YANG Then some people say, Geshe-la, I'm very healthy. I don't have high blood pressure. I don't have big cholesterol.

I don't have any particular sickness. DE YANG NGES PA MED TE MED TE NGES PA MED SA NYAL NAS BDOD MA BYAS PAR Do you think you're supposed to get sick first and lay on the bed for six weeks and then die? Do you think it always goes like that?

No. NGES MED KYI MI MANG PO LO BU DU CI GRO BA'ANG YOD You can see many people die suddenly. Car accident.

Choked to death on a stake at the casino in Singapore. Up on that big restaurant at the top of... What's it called?

The casino in Singapore. Many rich people die in those restaurants. They choke on the good food and they die.

Then they didn't lie in the bed for six weeks and die. They just died on one evening. Many people.

There's no order. You can't say I'm young so I will have longer time. You can't say I don't get sick, Geshe-la.

I never catch a cold. Yeah, but you might catch a car accident. Somebody went off the road on the way here before.

You know you go across that mountain, there's all these big rocks. What was her name? Nes Chu from Chinese Lady.

She fell off the... in those rocks. Her car fell down.

She fell asleep driving and her car fell down that cliff. Right there, on the way to that mountain. And she didn't die.

There were two Mexican guys. Illegal. Everybody else just drive by.

They got out of the car, they climbed down in the mountain and they saved her. She's fine. She lives in New Zealand.

She has a good practice. She married a nice New Zealand guy. Who is this dude in here?

But you don't know. You can die on the way to Diamond Mountain. She almost died.

That worst place, those big, big rocks. Many big rocks. She fell off there.

Alright. I'm going to stop there. We have about 15 minutes.

If you have any questions about your retreat, because this is your last chance to ask a question. If nobody has a retreat question, I'll do other questions. Does anybody have a retreat question?

Not sure what to do about retreat.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, Mr. Dennis.

[Speaker 2]
I really liked the Jason Copper retreat we did last March. So I was wondering if I could slip in a little bit of those meditations.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, sure. It's your retreat. It's your retreat.

Generally, it's good if you master these meditations. But I think you have time to do some more if you want. So if you have something special you want to do, like Amitabha mantra, that's fine.

We don't have retreat police coming to your house. Make sure you're doing the correct mantra. It's your retreat.

It's your life. How much life you have left, you don't know. So do what's close to your heart.

That's fine. It's your retreat. If you don't feel well, take a break.

If you feel nervous, take a break. If you feel like you can do more, do it. It's your retreat.

[Speaker 2]
Hi, Geshe. I do have a question. First of all, thank you for this three-day teaching.

Thank you very much. Have you gone through a period of time which you will be questioning your belief in Buddhism? What do you do about it?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. Okay. If you come through a period of time in your life when you start to question all of these things, what should you do about it?

There's a place you can reach in your practice where you will never doubt anything again. It's called Path of Seed. If you reach that, it's a cool level.

You see Kongxin directly. You understand all the books are 100% correct. All the books of this lineage, all the teachings of this lineage are absolutely correct.

You can see it. There's one day when you see it directly. Then nobody can tell you anything.

You become super stubborn. Before you were stubborn, then you become super stubborn. People are like, Yeah, my Geshe-la, I read this psychology thing.

Here's the book. I always go like, Oh, thank you so much. Then I'm like, I just throw it away in the airport.

I know what I believe because I saw it. I don't believe the other stuff. People are like, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I'm like, yeah, thank you very much. Until that time, you can have doubts. So what should you do about doubts?

I think, who wants to show me the DCI dance? He can show you. Ready?

We learn in DCI. Anybody ask you a question, just go like that. Use the four steps.

Really, it cures everything. It's the correct answer for everything. If you want to be a DCI teacher, you can learn in about three minutes.

It's funny, many people want to be a DCI teacher and we tell them, just give people the same answer, four steps, and they don't get it. I don't know why. Number one, I want to resolve my doubts about Buddhism.

In Buddhism, it's a good karma to have a doubt. In Buddhism, it's a good karma to have a doubt. To accept something when you don't understand it is bad karma.

That's a bad karma. So all those nice people say, oh Geshe-la, thank you. I believe everything you said.

They are making some bad karma. Then the people who say, Geshe-la, I believe 90% of what you said, but 10%, I don't know. I'm not sure yet.

Somebody asked Maitreya, if I have a doubt about what the teacher said, should I just believe the teacher? Do I not love Geshe Michael if I have a doubt? Maitreya said, no, doubt is good.

In Buddhism, doubt is good. That's why we just had a debating. You're supposed to talk about your doubts.

When you go to the debate ground, you bring your doubts. In the monastery, you don't just have to debate principle number three, and then principle number four, and principle number five. If you're a good debater, you bring your doubts to the debate ground.

You say, look, Geshe-la said the Buddha set aside this karma of 60,000 wheel, emperor, king lives, and that's supposed to mean nobody gets hungry anymore whoever practices dharma. I'm not sure. I kind of doubt it.

Then you see if anyone can help you prove it. Maitreya said it's important not to say bad things about the dharma. You cannot say that's a stupid idea.

It's important to say, I respect you. I love you, teacher. But that idea, I got to chew on it more.

I'm not quite sure yet. I love you. I know you're a good person.

I know you studied for many years. But that idea, I'm not sure yet. Then Maitreya said that's a good karma.

That's a good karma. And he said, have a special box in your house called all my doubts about the dharma. Write them down.

I'm not sure about the 60,000 king of the world saving the karma for other people. I'm not sure about that. Write it down.

Keep it in the box. Look at it every few weeks. So that's a good karma.

Just to accept everything. If I tell you you should go out and kill all the deer you see this week, then you're not supposed to accept it. You're supposed to say, why did he say that?

And eventually you're supposed to say, Geshe-la, I think that's wrong. I think you're testing us. So in Buddhism, you're supposed to not believe anything if it doesn't make sense.

So it's a very good thing. If you want to use the four steps, number one, I have doubts. I'm not sure about them.

Number two, find other people who have doubts. Number three, help them with their doubts once a week. You can take them to debate ground.

We're building, I hope, Inshallah, we're building a special coffee shop in Sedona. We bought the property next to our college. The college will be finished in two months.

You can come and take DCI teacher training, ACI teacher training, in two months the college will be finished. And we bought the land in front of the college. Why?

We are building, a cat is building a coffee shop. Why? That's the modern American debate ground.

Starbucks is the place where we debate in America. We don't go out here in the sun. We sit and have coffee and say, Geshe-la said that thing about 60,000.

I don't know, I just can't buy it. Do you have any ideas about it? Can you help me with that?

We're building a modern debate ground. It's called Starbucks. We're going to call it, what was that?

Riyadh, it's a Muslim coffee shop. Because the government and the newspapers told us we're supposed to hate the Muslims, so we're going to name it Muslim coffee shop. Okay?

And then at night, be happy. You are working out your doubts. So I want to repeat, in Buddhism, to have a doubt is a very good karma.

Very healthy, very correct. And then you can solve it with karma. Four steps.

But doubt is very good. Very good. But the doubt shouldn't be disrespectful.

You don't throw the book in the garbage and say, Geshe-la, this is stupid. You'd say, I'll keep that on the shelf for a while. I'm not sure about that word.

That's what Maitreya said to do. All right, other questions? Especially about retreat.

Especially about retreat.

[Speaker 2]
Retreat questions. I was wondering what the other mantras we might be saying would be, other than just the, can you say them?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, okay. That's a good question. There's...

In this retreat, you are encouraged to do jatsamkapa mantra. MIG MED TSO BA'I BRTAG CHEN CHEN RIS GYI But, in any retreat, forever, in your life, you can do the name mantra of your teacher. You can do the name mantra of your teacher.

And that's very powerful. If you can't remember MIG MED TSO BA'I BRTAG CHEN CHEN RIS GYI, you can just remember name mantra. When I did my three-year retreat, I just did my lama's name for three years.

I didn't do any other mantra. I didn't do Vajrayogini mantra. For three years, I did my lama's name.

How do you do a name mantra? First, you say OM. You say OM.

OM is a godren. We call it godren. Godren means the opening chapter of the mantra.

It's called OM. It's always OM. So then you say OM.

If you're Jenny Wang's student, you say OM. Jenny Wang. You say your teacher's name.

OM. Jenny Wang. And then you say A-A-HUNG.

OM A-HUNG. So you start with OM. OM.

OM. Jenny Wang A-HUNG. So Jenny's name mantra is six syllables, I guess.

OM. Jenny Wang A-HUNG. Yeah, six.

Like OM MANI PADME HUM, same, six. Or if your teacher's name is Candy Lai, then you say, OM. Candy Lai A-HUNG.

And you just say it over and over. Okay? All right?

And you can always do your teacher's name mantra. Generally, we do syllable by syllable. You can do that.

When you get used to the mantra, you can say, Okay? You can do that. Okay?

That's always a super powerful mantra. If you have a heart teacher, you can use their name. It doesn't have to be live.

Some people really respect Jesus. Some Buddhist people really respect Jesus. That's fine.

You can say, Yeshu A-HUNG. That's okay. Or Mohammed.

We have a lot of Muslim students now. You can say, That's okay. No problem.

It could be someone you didn't meet yet. There's a song by, what is it, Alanis Morissette? No, Bjork.

What's the first part? I miss you, but I haven't met you yet. So you can just make a name, you know.

OM. Lama A-HUNG. OM.

Lama A-HUNG. Okay? OM.

Lama I didn't meet yet A-HUNG. OM. Lama I didn't meet yet A-HUNG.

That's okay. That's fine. That's fine.

No problem. Okay? You can say, OM.

Lama. And in your mind, you can think, the one I didn't meet yet. You know, you have to keep going in your life until you meet your heart teacher.

And then you will know. Okay? You don't, there's no rule that if someone teaches you Lam Rim, that's your heart teacher.

Okay? You will find your own. Could be me, could be anybody.

It's up to you. But you're free. You know?

You see who you feel connection with that person. Could be dead already. Could be you miss them, but you didn't meet them yet.

Okay? So you do what your heart tells you. Okay?

And that's NAM mantra. Okay? All right?

Any other retreat question? I think there was one over here. Oh, same question.

Good. Or if you feel close to Amitabha or something, you can do that mantra. Okay.

Retreat question? Ronit? One more over here.

[Speaker 2]
I'd like to add one more question. When you're saying your Lama's name, or your Lama's name, and then A-Ho, what's your visualization like? What are you going to think when you're trying to do this?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. Sometimes you can try to picture them and that they are watching you. And the most important thing to concentrate is that they love you.

So if you're focusing on their eyes, that they are looking at you with a lot of love. So when you're doing their mantra, you are taking a shower in their love. They are just loving you.

So it doesn't have to be very complicated. They are just loving you. And you feel the feeling of their love like a nice warm shower.

I hope I get warm shower these two days. I'm worried about it. Just you feel their love coming down on you like that.

That's the main thing. If you don't get their hair right, or their eyes are moving around, or their nose gets two noses, that's okay. That's not so important.

It's the feeling of how they feel to you. That's the important thing. Don't worry too much about if you got all their freckles correct or something.

Xiaoping.

[Speaker 2]
Yes, Geshe-la. So, just I mentioned about the name. Just I mentioned about that Jenny Wang, Kunti Lai.

It's their... What's the name, right? So, when we say the mantra, should we say the Dharma name?

Or what can we say? Can you say some examples? For example, if we want to say the name of you, what should we do?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good question. If you know their Dharma name, it's better to use their Dharma name. So, my Tibetan Dharma name is Lobsang Chintzin, but it's easier to say the Sanskrit.

What is that? Sumatidharma Dharmadara S-U-M-A-T-I Sumatidharma D-H-A-R-M-A Dharma, D-H-A-R-A That's a Sanskrit name. Sumatidharma Dharmadara If you're not sure, ask Jigme.

I'm not sure. Any other question? Oh, you had a question, yeah.

Go ahead. Microphone is coming. Sounds like India.

Ronit.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, Geshe-la, for all your loving teaching. Just to make sure I understand, when we do the Je Tsongkapa mantra, we do one beat, how do you call that, one beat? To all the mantras.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Can we, like... I never met Je Tsongkapa yet, but can we imagine your Heart Teacher is Je Tsongkapa and the rest of the Buddhas there?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, for sure, for sure. I have a Heart Teacher who is a woman, And one day she came, I kept seeing her as Tsongkhapa, and I kept resisting it because it was so weird. You know, she's a woman, Je Tsongkhapa's a guy.

But I couldn't stop thinking like that. And finally I just decided it's okay. She's Je Tsongkhapa.

So it's okay. Outside looks like one person inside Je Tsongkhapa. That's great.

So you can do Je Tsongkhapa mantra as your name mantra of your teacher also. Any other question? Okay, we kind of have to get started pretty soon before it gets dark, but go ahead.

There's one question over here. Try to make short question. Try to make short answer Geshe-la.

[Speaker 2]
Vielen Dank für die Gelegenheit, dass wir hier sein dürfen.

[Speaker 1]
Bitte schön.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to be here. Und über den Tod nachdenken zu können. Was mich die ganze Zeit berührt ist die Frage, wie war es mit Jesus?

Er ist nicht gestorben. Thank you for teaching us thinking about the death. But the question which touches me most is, Jesus did not die.

[Speaker 1]
Say again?

[Speaker 2]
Jesus? Jesus didn't die.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. Okay. Yeah, the idea, the purpose of studying death meditation is not to die.

The purpose to study death meditation is to learn not to die. Yeah, that's true.

[Speaker 2]
One more, I think. Stanley, Chen Chen, Xiaoping? So Geshe-la, I have participated in this kind of three day retreat three times.

And every time that I have this question, because we have this sticker to put on our home paper. And usually what we do is that we put the sticker on the door. But sometimes during the retreat we would just walk outside.

So is it correct that we put the sticker on the door? Or we should put it to the border that we would walk towards?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, okay, good question. That samto, the OM AH HUNG marker, you should put it on the... Usually we put it on the side of the door where it doesn't move.

You see, the door moves, but this part, the frame of the door, we put it on the frame of the door. Facing out. That's for special protection of your retreat cottage.

Because most of your meditations will be inside the retreat cottage. For protection outside the retreat cottage, Tim has arranged people to run to the four corners of the property. And there will be a marker.

So when I did my three year retreat, one marker was like half a mile that way, and one marker was half a mile that way. And it was fun at the end of retreat, we tried to find them three years later, and we found them. They say it's important to take down the marker because it blocks spirits.

Then if you don't take them down after retreat, if you leave one up on the mountain, it causes traffic jams, spirit traffic jams, for many years, because they keep working. So you have to be careful to take them down also. You have to remember where you put them.

So don't worry. He's taking care of the whole property. We're going to activate that fence 15 minutes after we finish this class.

We're going to activate the big fence. Electric fence. Electric Dharma fence.

One more question, I think. Real serious questions, because we're supposed to go. No?

You didn't have a question before.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, Geshe Michael. My question is that, here is the schedule. Shall we be very strict with the time?

Because when I first saw that from 7 to 7.30 we need to read more than 150 pages, I thought, and then I found that maybe it is quite difficult for me too.

[Speaker 1]
Can I share? It's a good question. It's a good question and someone asked me earlier and I forgot to mention.

So the GZHOR CHOS, the thing you're supposed to recite in the morning, just do half hour and stop. Where you finish, you stop. Next day, start there.

And go like that. So remember where you stop. You can't do the whole thing in half hour, it's correct.

So do half hour, stop, mark the place. Next day, start there. And then just keep going like that.

Good question. Other questions? Jenny had a question, I think.

Om Jenny Ahu has a question.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, Geshe-la. I just want to make it clear about these things. Is it put on the door frame, one, and another tree?

We have a whole paper here. So another tree goes to a different wall?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, outside wall. Outside wall. So start with the front door.

Well, actually, walk out your door and do the one on the left first. So don't do the main door first. Main door last.

It's like closing the door. So go out your door, turn left, go around the corner, and put it on the outside of that wall. Then go around the next corner, put it outside that wall.

Go around the next corner, put out that wall. Fourth one, last one, is your door. The frame of your front door.

That's the last one. So it's in the top of the frame? It should be pretty high up and it should not blow away and it should not get wet if it rains.

But it doesn't rain here much. Can I see it? You should have some kusha grass.

So you make three folds. Like that. Then you put your kusha grass inside.

And you tape it strongly. So if there's a strong wind, it doesn't blow away. So tape it really strong.

And find a place.

[Speaker 2]
Can you put it on a branch or tree or something?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, you can put it on a nearby tree or something. If it's difficult to tape it on the wall. If the wall is like this and it doesn't stay, you can tape it on something else.

That's okay. So it's put on the wall or put on the floor? High up.

[Speaker 2]
It's put on the high up.

[Speaker 1]
Like a Vajrayogini who is seven feet tall, they will see it on the eye level. Vajrayogini is seven feet tall. Two meters and a half.

Sometimes I see her in the airport. Some lady is two and a half meters high. She's always that tall.

So it should be eye level with her. A little bit high. Thank you very much.

Any other questions? Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, Rinpoche. For people staying in a tent, where shall we put this stuff?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, if you're in a tent, you can get a bunch of heavy rocks, put some heavy rocks at the bottom, then put it there and put a few heavy rocks on top of it. That's okay. For a tent, if you're staying in a tent.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you. Where will we get the tape?

[Speaker 1]
From Tim. Everything is from Tim. Also, if you need a pizza, just ask.

Other questions? There's some questions over here. Wait, wait, wait.

Microphone. Slow-mo.

[Speaker 2]
In the last retreat, people were attempting to put the samtos on the door frames and were using rocks to try to hammer things in. It really wasn't working very well. And I know that many of the houses, if you try to put push pins in or something, you're going to get the stucco falling off.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, we asked people this time to use tape.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. And if possible, maybe not directly on the house, but as you said, rocks or trees or something.

[Speaker 1]
It should be directly on the house. And then the staff will fix the cracks afterwards.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
One more question over here, I think.

[Speaker 2]
Because we are, like in my katharshi, we are four. How are we supposed to put them?

[Speaker 1]
Oh, just one set of four is enough. You don't have to put 16.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
No, it's a good question. It's a good question. It's a good question.

Not a bad question. Any other questions? Okay, one question over here.

Ronit, I think.

[Speaker 2]
I'm in a tent and I have a torma. So where do I put the torma in order not to have encounters with wild animals?

[Speaker 1]
Keep the torma inside the tent. If you need, put it in a jar. Put it in a jar.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
You can keep it, but keep it in a jar. Put it in a jar. If you don't have a jar, ask Tim.

Question over here. By the way, you should not leave food outside. It's not nice.

It doesn't help the animals. They get cavities. Don't leave food outside.

Don't think you're giving food to the animals because we have big, big, big animals who come. Bear. You don't want them to come.

So don't leave food outside. Don't leave food outside for the animals. It doesn't help them.

We had one bear who came here because we left food outside. The government caught the bear and killed it. So you don't want to do that.

So don't leave food outside.

[Speaker 2]
The first question is, where should we put the doormat? The first question is, where should we put the doormat? And the second question is, our house, we have four people, but two rooms, and we have six different wards.

How should we put the sticker?

[Speaker 1]
Oh, pick four walls, it's okay. You don't have to put six. If there's six walls, you can put six, but outside, on the outside.

Okay, the dharma, I suggest you keep on your altar for the whole time. Okay, keep the dharma on your altar the whole time. If you get bugs...

[Speaker 2]
Three people, three dharma?

[Speaker 1]
That's okay. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Together?

[Speaker 1]
That's fine.

[Speaker 2]
In the same altar?

[Speaker 1]
And then put them in a jar. Okay. Well, we have to get some jars.

I don't know. Anyone who needs a jar, tell them. Or you can keep it in a glass, but keep it closed, okay?

Because the bugs will come. Okay, wait, any more question? Wait, microphone.

[Speaker 2]
The protection marker doesn't have to follow direction, four direction of the...

[Speaker 1]
It's okay. Whatever the four walls are, it's okay. Yeah, that's okay.

Jasmine, question?

[Speaker 2]
After this retreat, we will have a seven-day retreat more, so should we take off those?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, take them off on Friday morning. And we will have a new set for the next retreat. And we'll have new dharmas for the next retreat, okay?