«Дар освобождения», курс 22 «Ретрит безграничной удачи», занятие 3

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here we go. Adam, you ready? Chiway nampa, I think.

Chiway nampa gongpay...yeah? Cool. All right then. Chiway nampa gongpay kung kyang chunjuk le.

The important word here is kung. Say kung, like King Kung. Okay, let's do a dictionary entry.

kar shep chik kung nga sa kung. Kung means the source from a Jing ancient book that you use for a teaching. And my teacher, when he heard someone giving some ridiculous Dharma explanation, he would say lung dang kung me khen.

Say lung dang kung me khen. Lung dang kung me khen. Lung means...sorry. Lung means like scriptural proof for what you say. Lung is the explanation that comes out of a scripture of what you're saying. And kung means the same thing. Me pa means that person doesn't have.

Me khen means the person who doesn't have. Khen means the person who. So, he's going to give the kung for this meditation about how it feels to die.

What was the kung so far? His own teacher. He said, you know, I'm going to just tell you what my teacher used to say.

Now he's going to the scriptures. And his first kung is chun juk. Yeah, the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.

It's maybe the most famous Buddhist book nowadays. By whom? By Master Shantideva.

Okay, and very beautiful, very beautiful book. Yeah, How to Be a Bodhisattva. And we use that book for DCI, for our business seminars.

We just had a level eight in Germany, which is about how to be a leader. And I asked Scott and Orit, who are there, I asked them to teach you a little bit level eight, I think on Tuesday. Yeah, and it comes from Master Shantideva.

And the most beautiful parts we took out for the business guys. So, chun juk le dru tru song ne shen dak gi ru gong dak dang dak gi lu jikpay chu chen dak tu ni nam shik go nyam je par gyur means if you want to do a good death meditation, go to a cemetery. In India, the cemeteries were very scary.

They didn't bury the body, they just throw it there. Then it attracts a lot of wild animals, dangerous animals. So people used to go there and meditate at night, because it's scary.

You can examine your sense of self. So, dru tru means cemetery, burial ground. shen dak gi ru gong, ru gong means look at the bones of other people.

dak gi lu, and then look at your own body. jikpay chu chen dak tu ni, they are both frightening. Those bones and these bones.

nam shik go nyam je par gyur, they're the same, they're not different. You see those skeletons, dead bodies, you feel scared and you feel disgusted, right? And we will be the same.

go nyam means we will be the same. tatpo shen shi ne dur du torway rupa dang, so go look at the bones of other people. rang gi rupa nyi kye me par nam, kye me par means there's no difference between those bones and these bones.

nam shik go nyam pa ong te, at some point our bones will also be there. dur du na yupe ro de yang, dang bur dak gi lu shing, du mi chi gyi chepar sungway shik yin, Those dead bodies you see or those bones you see, that person loved his body as much as we do. He's also checking for gray hair, checking for any hair, and you know, look, he tried, and you know, he also did that.

gyakor druk chen nam gyi mi gong dang mi tun nam, So there's a custom in Buddhism from India, for example, to use a skull cup. So we take a human skull and we cut it here, and we use it for our Cheerios in the morning. And Tsongkapa himself, who is the teacher of the first Dalai Lama, he's the person who started our tradition 600 years ago.

He loved his mother very, very much, and they were very close. After she died, he kept her skull, he made a cup from her skull, and he carried it with him until he died. And he took his meals out of it.

Then mi gong dang mi tunpa nampa, why do those druk chen, what's druk chen in... Oh man, those synapses. Yeah, Mahasiddha, great yogis, from India.

Why do they carry around these skull cups? Some of them, they take a thigh bone, this femur, and they make a flute out of the bone. Jig nam tunpa.

They're not doing it to be scary like Freddy, Halloween, Friday the 13th. Dig re chepa che, and it's not to threaten anybody. Min bar chiway nampa drenpa che yin, they want to remember their own death.

So that's why he drank his... and he ate from his mother's skull. And there's a lot of Buddhist things like that.

And it's different from the customs of our countries, like Mexico or US. These are different customs. And anytime a new idea comes to a country, then some people don't like it, and they don't understand it.

And they say, oh, those Buddhist guys are crazy. So I think you have to be careful when you do this kind of thing. Because we are a minority, and we are new, and people don't understand.

So anytime you're a minority, you have to be a little careful. You can't freak out other people. So maybe keep your mom's skull in your...

Or they say you're cold, or you're doing strange things. So I think when a new idea comes to a country, like Buddhism came to China 1,700 years ago, and at that time it was strange. And now everybody's used to it.

So we only have to wait 1,000 more years for America. But I think we have to be a little bit... You have to understand that it looks strange to other people.

When Christianity came to Roman Empire, they had to hide in the underground. So it's like that. So you have to...

don't get too disturbed if people think you're strange. Just be sweet to them. All right.

THOS PA DE YANG SNGAR MI ZHIG GI DGOS LA YOD PA All those lamas who carry those skull cups, that skull used to belong to another person. SEMS MO CHUNG ZAD GZUGS LA YANG And if you... SEMS MO means fingernail.

And if you pinch that guy, he will say, ouch! Okay, so when you say a-tsa-tsa, say a-tsa-tsa. That's in Tibet, when you go like that, they go a-tsa-tsa.

So he used to say a-tsa-tsa. The guy who owned that skull. He also used to say a-tsa-tsa.

You know, hey, don't do that. Now you can bang on the skull, you can do anything. He doesn't care.

But he loved his skull as much as you do. SBYAGS KYANG LTA BU YIN NA This is a good dictionary entry, Adam. SBYAGS KYANG is an abbreviation of an expression called SBYA BA SBYAGS KYANG.

Say SBYA BA. SBYAGS KYANG SBYA BA SBYAGS KYANG Okay, SBYA BA. SBYA BA means a monk.

It's the Tibetan word for a monk. SBYA means a ... sorry.

SBYA means a fence. So the person who stays inside a wall, a monastery wall, is a monk. Fenced in person.

Or maybe the world is fenced out. So they're called SBYA BA. And a monastery in Tibetan is called DRA TZANG.

DRA TZANG means a nest. Like a bird nest or an ant's nest. DRA TZANG means a monk's nest.

KYANG means alone. Where does it come in yoga? KYANG MA What does KYANG MA mean?

[Speaker 2]
Left side.

[Speaker 1]
There's two channels in the body where the chi goes. They start here. They go up here.

They cross. They continue. Cross here.

Cross here. Cross three times behind the heart. And those places where they cross becomes chakras.

So this one is called KYANG MA. What color? Yeah, but creamy white.

And that's why in Sanskrit it's called IDA IDA IDA means what? Sheep. I miss teaching yoga stuff.

I think we do some... We'll try to do some yoga training here. Maybe next year.

Learn all these things. So KYANG MA means solitary channel. With DRAG PA DRAG KYANG it means a solitary monk.

And the Dalai Lama, he often says, I'm just a simple monk. In his head he's translating this word. DRAG PA DRAG KYANG means all I have is my robes and I don't have any other stuff.

So DRAG PA DRAG KYANG means monk, single monk. Monk, single monk. It means live simple.

Live quiet and simple. So here he made it shorter. DRAG KYANG DRAG KYANG LTA BU YIN NA If you're just a single monk, just on your own.

RANG GI SHAGS DE YANG Let's do SHAGS. SHAGS means monks. In English we say monk's cell.

Small room. I had a SHAGS. You can touch the walls like this.

25 years I lived in this SHAGS. That's called a DRAG SHAGS. It's called a monk's room.

So there's a lot of SHAGS words. So it's good to know. SHAGS means little monk's room.

SHAGS DE YANG GANG STONG LTAR BYAS TE One day it will be, one day it will be empty. There's the word for emptiness, right? STONG, GANG STONG STONG PA RI SOGS MKHONG BZHIN MKHONG LTAR BYAS TE DER GZHAN ZHIG SDUG BSNGAL BA DANG Somebody else will come to stay in your room.

And your house also. You're very happy you own a house or you have an apartment. But you should remember somebody else will come to stay there.

In our tantric college, GYUD MED tantric college, there are two great tantric colleges in Tibet. One is called GYUD LTOS, one is called GYUD MED. So you are, because you're studying with me, you are automatically part of GYUD MED, tantric college.

And you're also connected to SERA MED, open college. So if somebody asks you where you're from, you have to say, I'm from SERA MED and GYUD MED. But in GYUD MED they have a nice rule in the monastery.

You have to move your room every three months for your whole life. You can only stay for three months in one room. So you have to, you don't collect a lot of stuff because it's such a hassle to move it.

DUS NA'ANG, KHO BZHI NAS SHAGS GRANGS DI GNAS GCIG LEN SONG ZER BA And they will say, people ask him, how long you've had this room? And he'll say, oh, since Geshe Michael died, like six weeks ago. He died back in August of sixteen.

And I got the room after that. And I've had it for three weeks now or six weeks now. One day somebody will say that about where you are living, for sure.

RANG GI LUS LA RKYEN PA'I CHOS DGOS KYANG So monks robes also, or the clothes you're wearing. GZHAN ZHIG GI SKYE NAS One day somebody else will wear them. I have a, my outer robe, you can see it in the fire offering.

That was a very great tantric monk. He gave it to my teacher and my teacher gave it to me. So somebody, someday they will say, oh, this is Geshe Michael's top.

I got Geshe Michael's top. Or I got Susanna's London, Milan, New York t-shirt. Other people will talk about your clothes like, I got this nice north face jacket from Bertha.

You know the one in Mexico City, not the one in Guadalajara. And we should be able to joke about it. You can't say that to your friends.

They will get angry. But a Buddhist person you can say. And it's healthy.

And it shouldn't make you depressed. If your suitcase is ready, you're fine with it. Just be aware there's some holes in it from the fire offering.

You might have to sew it up when you get it. Okay, like that. GZHAN ZHIG GI SKYE NAS DI RTZAN DE We should do RTZAN DE.

RTZAN means, what's RTZAN mean? Yeah, life. How do you say long life?

ZERING My Lama named all his dogs ZERING. So ZER means life. DE means past.

Like CHUNG LDAN DE Past tense in verbs is DE PA So RTZAN DE means the late, the late the person whose life has passed. RTZAN DE. CHE DGOS MO Let's do CHE DGOS MO too.

CHE DGOS MO means so and so. In English we say so and so. Oh, whose top you got?

Oh, you know, so and so who died last week. So CHE DGOS MO is almost like John Doe or something. Like so and so.

CHE DGOS MO That was his. BDAG GIS NYE BA YIN ZER BA'ONG There will come a day when they say I bought it. There's two stores in America.

One is Goodwill store. That's for the crummy stuff from the dead people. Good stuff from the dead people is next to Taco Guild.

It's called Buffalo Exchange. You can get some good deals there. Dead people's clothes are really cheap.

Some are almost new, right? Sometimes they bought a lot of stuff and then they died before they could try it. DE BZHIN DU DA LTA'I RANG GI BYA LA DGOS SOGS LONG CI MA NUS PA RNAMS NYIN GCIG MI PHYI GYI GZHAN GYI NYON NAS LONG CIG PA'I LTOS ZHIG NYES PA'ONG BA'I So all the stuff that you didn't have time to wear, like you bought a bunch of shoes but you didn't have time to wear all of them, don't worry, someone else will wear them for you.

Okay. DI DAG KYANG RGYAL CHOG RGYAL SANGS RGYAL TSUL About this, one of the Dalai Lamas used to say RGYAL SANGS RGYAL TSUL is the seventh Dalai Lama. He was a great tantrica.

So in Tibet they don't call Dalai Lama Dalai Lama, they call him RGYAL CHOG, RGYAL CHOG. We should make a dictionary. RGYAL means what's RGYAL mean?

Yeah, victor. Victor. In Sanskrit?

JINA Like when you say JAI RAM, JAI RAM JAI means victory. So JINA means victor. It's the Buddhist word for Buddha and CHOG means supreme.

So that's a nickname for the Dalai Lamas, all the Dalai Lamas. So seventh one said SBYOR PA DE YANG RDU GYIS MDOR NGES NYAN PA'I RGAN LA RGA NYAMS BZHIN When you go to a party like when Erin got married last Sunday, we all went. It was really nice.

So me and Vy, we were trying to get ready for it. We cooked all day. Then Erin asked Vy does she have any earrings, good earrings to wear at her wedding.

So we were going through all these earrings. It's called borrow jewelry. Like when you go to a nice party you borrow somebody else's jewelry.

Seventh Dalai Lama said all your stuff is borrow jewelry. You get to use it for a few days, few years, and then you have to give it back. And that's it.

So your body is also borrow jewelry. MDOR NGES means certainly there will come a day when you have to give it back. YUN RIM BSTAN TZAM LAS YANG PO NYID YIN It's just a question of how long do you get to keep it.

It's not a question of do you have to give it back or not. You have to give it back. YAR PO Let's do YAR, okay?

YAR PO means it's confusing because in Tibetan it means either to loan or to borrow. So YAR PO means it's borrowed goods. This body is borrowed.

Like a rental car. Your body is like a rental car. Maybe you keep it for a week, maybe you keep it for a month, but you have to give it back to Hertz or Avis or your company.

Your body is a rental car. This is such a cheerful teaching. Let's do one more meditation and then we'll take a break.

Okay, we'll start. I'm sorry the morning class is so long but you are fresh in the morning. I'm pushing you as hard as I can.

So I know maybe you're going to get tired, but just be a tough guy, okay? You can die later. In the DCI there's a joke, you can sleep on the plane, right?

Okay, Adam, RANG CI BA'I LO MI BYA NA MI GZHAN ZHI BA'I DON DU SONG STE If you have trouble imagining that you're going to die, go visit a corpse. And in America it's difficult. There's law, you have to put the corpse in the refrigerator within I think three hours or something.

So I had a monk, he died and he asked me to do his prayers for him. He asked me before he died. And they want to put him in the refrigerator in the hospital.

We had a big fight. You are going to learn later it's not good to make the body very cold before it dies, or after it dies. Not just after dying.

So we compromised. We put him halfway in and I also went halfway in. In America it's difficult to be around a corpse.

It's not easy, you have to ask permission. I don't think it's just for health, I think it's that people are afraid of them. So if you have trouble imagining that you will die, try to get permission to see a corpse and be near a corpse.

SONG STE LTA BAR BYA And just look at it. Who is that? It's not my nephew.

ME NGAG DI NI MI CHA BA MI SRID It's impossible that you won't get the point of this teaching if you sit next to a corpse for a few hours. RANG CHAGS KYIS MA SANGS PA MA GROG BRJED MED THAG PA MTHONG NA YANG CI PHYIR MI'I JIG STE It's just that we don't think about death. I think we talked more about death in this room in the last two days than you heard in your whole life.

And it feels good because it's true. So we're being honest. He said BRJED MED THAG PA MTHONG NA YANG Then when you see a rope it will remind you of death.

BRJED MA just for you guys is a kind of grass that they make, hemp, like hemp rope. So this is the kind of rope they use to tie up a dead body. So when you see that kind of rope you have to remember.

So your WeChat assignment today, thank you for doing good yesterday. Everybody did really good. You can do it in Spanish or Chinese or English or Russian.

Who's going to get your stuff? Who's going to get your stuff? My mom and my dad, they both died from cancer due to the blessing of alcohol and cigarettes.

Together they're very good for making cancer. And my dad was a big, big strong guy. And he said, I'm not going to die, I'm going to beat the cancer.

I'm going to beat the cancer. And of course everybody says that and it's not true. Nobody beats the cancer.

Very few. And it's not a decision you can make. So he refused to talk about dying.

And he didn't make any will and he didn't prepare anything and then he died. And it took us one year to figure out who he owes money and everything. It was a big mess.

And my mom, when she got cancer, first she made us touch it. Each child. She said, look, I have cancer.

You touch it. Don't be afraid. Maybe it will kill me.

So she made a list of all the things she owned and she took us to the lawyer and he's going to get this, he's going to get this, he's going to get this. Very calm. Everything.

Chairs, plates. So your WeChat assignment, and she had a good death meditation, I think. She died a very beautiful death.

Very peaceful. With a jing in her hand. With a scripture in her hand.

So, decide, send us a WeChat, tell us who's going to get some of your stuff. I don't know. Who gets your Tibetan books?

Who gets your laptop? Okay? And think about it.

It's a good death meditation. Make a plan. And then really you should also do it with a lawyer now.

It's a good death meditation and it's respectful to your family because otherwise it's very messy. And if you don't prepare it now it means you don't understand that you have to die. So it's good to make it a legal document also.

Okay, here we go. GCIG DGOS PA'I TSUL YIN So when you see these things connected with death, like, I don't know, you see in America they have a special car for dead people, hearse. Black car.

Then when you see it you should say, okay, yeah, I like that one. Okay? You should think about death.

Back up your laptop also, Scott. He always makes me back up my laptop before I go on a trip. He's like, Geshe-la, did you back up your laptop?

Okay. GCOD DGOS LTA BU GCIG MA ZAD PA NAS PHYI BA RGYUR BA LA BSAM NA TSE BZHIN DU MTHUNG So this my robes, this is my second set. My first set, my lama made it for me.

He was very good with a sewing machine. And a real monk's robe is very complicated. It lasts about 25 years.

So, we don't change our robes very often. So, you have to think when you see your clothes, the ones that are made well, there's some kind of jeans now before you buy it, they put a rip in it. Not that kind, okay.

But you know, the good clothes you have, probably they might survive longer than you. So just think about it when you use those clothes. Just think about it.

Maybe these will last longer than me. BSAM NA TSE BZHIN DU MTHUNG So, looking at it from that way, life is very short. DI RGYAL PO LA BDAG PA'I MDO LAS GSUNGS SHING There's a sutra called Advice to the King.

So there are many Buddhist books which were written by Buddhist monks for kings. And this is one of them. And that's described in that sutra.

TSE DGOS SOGS KYANG RNAMS PO CHUG PAS TSE BRGYAG PA SKYE BA'I NYEN POR MI BDAG PA BSGOM TSUL SHAM BAR LAM RIM So there's many lam rims, many books called lam rim. You are studying a lam rim. Lam means path and rim means each step.

And so we are doing lam rim now for this is the 22nd one. And I think we'll do about another thirty maybe if Geshe Michael doesn't go someplace before that. So, there's a famous lam rim called SHAM BAR SHAM means hat.

Lama's hat. And BAR means red. So in there they talk about it's good to think about your things that they might survive longer than you.

And then you don't get this kind of bad pride. Oh look, I have a Maserati. Or I have a fancy car.

Or can you believe this silk dress I bought? If you think the dress might last longer than you, then you can enjoy it without pride. So low, low, low Buddhist school never wear silk dresses.

Higher school buy a nice dress, make people happy and remember maybe it will survive longer than you. Then you can enjoy it without pride. This is temporary.

This is a rental car dress. And I hope people enjoy it. Because our life is so short and so violent we should have any happiness we can.

That's okay. Buy some nice clothes. Okay, BDAG PA LAS GSUNGS SHING, SHAL MA'I LAM RIM SHING RANG GI DGOS SOGS LONG CHUG MTHONG BA NA DI DAG NI THAMS CAD RANG GI YIN DO RDO BYED KUR TZAM LAS So when you see your laptop, or your car, or your apartment, they say it's mine.

According to the law of my country this is mine. I have the car owner's certificate. Let's do a dictionary entry, Adam.

He's got YIN DOG DOG Okay MA'ONG DA NA RO DOG DGA' DOG DOG means color. Like KHA DOG DKA' MAR is a famous debate. Red and white color.

But when you repeat it or you lengthen it DUL LO BDE LTAR YIN DOG ZER DU It has a different meaning. It's an idiom. And it means supposed to be mine.

It means colored mine. But what it means is YIN DOG DOG means the certificate, the registration of my cars has Michael Roach on it. It means I own it.

YIN DOG means I'm supposed to own it. But karma can take it away in one minute. You don't own anything.

You don't own your arm. Yes, it's my arm Geshe Michael. It's my arm.

It's not Utta's arm. It's not your arm. You have a rental arm.

You have it for a while. Your name is on the rental certificate. But it doesn't mean anything.

You don't own anything. You don't even own your own fingers. It's temporary.

It's on loan. There's a that scripture Diamond Cutter Sutra in Chinese is the oldest printed book in the world. The Chinese government loaned it to an American museum.

It's in Los Angeles until September. I think we should all go and see it and go to the beach and have some margarita. I mean, we should enjoy it would be fun to go together some of the Guadalajara people in Arizona.

Sonora, state of Sonora it goes from Guadalajara to Sedona. New country. And then we should go see it.

But it's definitely on loan. The museum cannot keep it. And your body is the same.

So yin dol dol you have these ownership papers for your house, for your car, but it's not real. You don't own anything. You can't keep them.

It's all on loan from the Chinese government. Like that. tsultrim nam shik na shen dak gi pin dzin kye shing At some point another person will go, will drive away with your car.

Or they will move into your house. A good death meditation is to trace all the owners of your house or who rented your apartment before. This one died.

This one moved away. This one got divorced. There's a story.

Diamond Mountain property has this story. It's very interesting. But I'm not going to tell you.

Every house has a story. de tsen de di re che And then they will say dun mi sa Let's do a dictionary entry. dun mi sa It's a very strange expression.

dun means evil spirit. sa means to eat. dun mi sa means beyond a shred of doubt, beyond any doubt.

So why it means that, I don't know. Not eaten by the demon means it's without a doubt. Without a doubt.

dun mi sa Somebody will drive away with your car. dun mi sa Somebody will wear your clothes. dun mi sa Somebody will move into your apartment.

And they will say she used to live here before she died. dun mi sa They will say it. Without question, it will happen.

rang gi lu la'ang thakpa di nyi dak kyi chepa kyang kyangpa le nam shik na ro shepa tong na jik Even your own body, the one that you love so much and the one you take care of so much, nam shik na one day people will call it ro. The corpse. The body.

The dead body. ro has another meaning in Tibetan. Flavor.

Be careful when you translate it. It might be the flavor, the food has a good flavor, or we were eating a corpse. It's fun to read bad translations of Tibetan.

You can get some very interesting stories. ro shepa tong na jik shing There will come a day when the people who love you the most, when they see your corpse, they will actually make them afraid. rek na gyuk drowa Let's read gyuk drowa.

gyuk means to vomit. gyuk drowa means disgusting. So, rek na gyuk drowa means nobody wants to touch that body.

It feels dirty, right? Even if you love this person. Somebody says, go ahead, at the funeral, they say, hug your mom, and you're like, it's okay.

gyuk drowa ne su gyur te Then, it's just kind of, people don't like to touch the dead body. drowa ne su gyur te takpay dangpa sok gi nam gyur di nang di tabur chepay gyur nyampa dang Then just sometimes think about, in Tibet, they will say, think about how they're going to tie the rope around you. Will they put it under your arms or over your arms?

In America, you can think about what suit will they use? Where will they put you to show people? takpay dangpa sok gi nam gyur di nang di tabur chepay gyur nyampa dang tsam hlak kyi chod tsam dang nge go ne pa dong ngur tu che tsul sok sam Then in Tibet, there's a food called Tsampa.

And it's made from barley and you cook it. What do you call it? You toast it.

And there's barley toasting parties. They're really fun. You make a big fire and you have a big thing like this and you sing barley roasting songs.

I have it every day. I still eat it every day. And then you grind it up.

Every monk has a small bag and they keep a Tsampa. And we don't when you're studying in the Geshe course often times you don't eat meals because you're too busy. So you don't go to eat meals.

When you feel hungry you throw some Tsampa in a glass and you mix it with some tea and you eat it like this. Then you're like, okay, now it's the bed. Like that, we don't have time to eat.

So anyway, traditional, the last part of the Tsampa you make a little ball and you squeeze it in your hand and you press it down here and here and you throw it on the floor. And that's for dead people. So, we said they can eat smell.

So, we always take the last and even now when I eat we always leave a small piece. Never eat the whole meal. Always leave one small piece.

Then in your mind you say, that's for the dead people in this area. So, their spirits are flying around. Like if you get some McDonald's french fries here, last one, throw it on the ground or something.

And in your mind say, this is for the dead people. So now every time in the future when you eat french fries you're going to think about dead people. And that's what he wants.

He says, TZAM LHAG GYI CHOS TZAM TZAM LHAG means the last piece of the Tsampa. Always leave a small piece. Even if it's this apple pie.

Just leave a little piece. Sometimes I negotiate with myself. I don't think the dead people need a lot.

This is a really good pie. And just cut that in half. I cut the last piece in half and sometimes I cut it in half again.

But it's a good custom to remember. So, when you always leave the last piece. CHOS TZAM DANG NGES SGO NAS And when you put your head down on your pillow BAR DO NGOS SPYOD CHE TSUL Just remember that this may be the place where in Catholic tradition where the priest takes your final confession which is a very good custom.

Very, very good. So, in Buddhism maybe the Lama will come and sing the BAR DO song and try to help you when you go on that narrow path. So those are both good customs.

But when you see your pillow you have to be a little bit paranoid. That's the pillow I'm going to use for my prayers. GALI SOGS KYANG GZHAN GYIS BLANG STE DI DE GALI RE Your skull also.

So GALI means kapali, means skull. And it's from Sanskrit kapala. And I think kap may come from it.

kapali SOGS KYANG GZHAN GYIS BLANG STE There will come a day when someone else picks up your skull. This was Geshe Michael's skull. That's a so-and-so's skull.

LEGS NAS GANG DE'I DU Let's do two dictionary entries, okay? LEGS, so in Tibetan sometimes you use two opposite words to describe a quality. So length is called RING LTUNG Long short.

What's the long short of this microphone stand? So here it's LEGS NAS which is what? Yeah, good, bad.

GANG DA'I DU means how is it? How's it man? How's it man?

Very colloquial. GANG DE'I DU You should learn it if you go to the monastery. Adam, say GANG DE'I DU GANG DE'I DU What do you think man?

What do you think man? How's this skull? Is it cool or not?

I don't know, it's a little bit square. Someday people will discuss your skull. LEGS NAS GANG DE'I DU What do you think about this skull?

I don't know, it's a little small. Probably the person was pretty stupid. LEGS NAS GANG DE'I DU SDUG BSTER BA'I RGYU ZHIG BSNGAL PA'ONG He keeps repeating BSNGAL PA'ONG means the day will come, the day will come.

They will discuss your bones. LUN TSOS NAS RGYU MI DGOS PA ZHING BSNGAL PA BYED So the time to take care of things is now. Use your time well.

It doesn't mean get crazy. It doesn't mean go, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Just calmly, sanely, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. And I got to take care of things. Do it happily.

When my mom was dying, she was very happy. She was very cheerful. You take this.

You take this. Don't mess this up. This is your grandmother's.

Don't break it. And she was cheerful and sane. We have to be like that.

It's not that you should be afraid or morbid. Just be healthy. Look, I lead a group of people and I leave my laptop to Nick.

Stuff like that. You should do it. You should take care of it.

And take care of your karma. Make sure your karma is taken care of. Pack your suitcase.

Then you don't have to be nervous. We'll go one more sentence and then I'll take some questions. CI BA'I MI LTA PA RTOGS PA'I RGYUD LA SKYES PA'I TSE DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA LTA BU DGOS GSUM NAS So this section of the lam rim is called CI BA MI LTAG PA It's very famous.

It's one of the first steps of the path. CI BA means death. MI LTAG PA means you're not going to last forever.

So CI BA MI LTAG PA Now if you did it well, if you meditate well, you will be like DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA Then he doesn't say why, but we already had the story of DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA and because DGE BZHIN Michael is going so slow, it was a long time ago. Maybe some of you weren't here yet. So DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA I have a plant like this.

He had a plant. He lived in a cave and he had a plant. It's like the plant on your old apartment, the one that grows on the outside under the roof.

MONETA I think they call it. Yeah. I had a professional gardener.

A gardener came to my house? He said, you get rid of this now. It goes underground like 10 meters and grows again.

He said it will knock your house over. It will destroy your house. Then I'm like, oh man.

Really, it's growing everywhere. I hit my head on it all the time because it grows like this. Everywhere, all the trees, it's hanging down.

I hit my head on it a lot. So DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA had a MONETA or a TRUMPET vine. Every day when he comes out of his cave he will hit his head on that TRUMPET vine.

He's like, God, I got to cut this stupid thing. But first I'm going to do my meditation. So for 10 years nobody cut the vine.

You see what I mean? He kept saying, after I do my meditation I'll take care of it. He didn't cut it for 10 years.

He never had time because he was doing his meditation. So that's what the reference is here. We should be like DGE BZHIN GANG RAG PA All those stupid little jobs that can wait, keep pushing them off.

Especially if you're a man and the woman is telling you to fix all this stuff, just tell her, tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow. Because definitely you're going to die one day and you're going to save your time. You don't have to do it.

Okay? So those little things you don't have to do, just keep delaying and you will die and you don't have to worry about it. Okay, RAG PA LTA BU DGOS GSUNGS NAS LAR YANG SBRING DU SPYOD PA'I RGYA SHAS ZAD Then the Lama, remember this book is a teaching that was given in the 1920s.

And then it says the Lama repeated some of the points and then he stopped for the day. So in Tibet, in the old days, what we finished in six years, they finished in ten days. So we reached day eleven.

Yay! And we'll start it this evening. In the afternoon we'll do kamalashila.

We'll finish kamalashila. We have about twenty minutes if anybody has questions. It's cheating when the microphone guy gives a question.

So Geshe-la, this is my question. According to this system we produce or we plant 65 seeds per second and assuming that we also use 65 seeds, 65 seeds per second, how can you die and still have some leftovers? Do you want to say it in Spanish?

Yes, if we understand that we plant 65 seeds per second and I'm assuming that we also waste 65 seeds per second, how can it be that we can die and still have some leftovers? Okay, good question. If you think carefully about it, we have seeds to have a certain kind of body and when those seeds wear out like a pen, that body will finish.

But the mind never stops. I call it the infinite spaghetti noodle. It goes all the way into the past with no beginning and it goes into the future with no end.

Your mind will never end. In Christian religion we call it soul. Or spirit.

And that's okay. It's the same thing. So there's a part of you which never dies.

So the seeds in your mind which will perpetuate themselves are independent of what form you take. It's like changing clothes. So what we call Pachi or Roberto, that's infinite and it will never stop.

But some seeds for this body finish and seeds for a new body open. So the seeds for the body are not the same as the seeds for Michael. So Michael, in some schools, lower middle way school, your mind is Michael.

And you will change clothes many times. But Michael continues. And we're going to talk about it this afternoon.

Kamalashila is going to talk about who is Michael. And he's going to give us three different ideas. Okay?

Any other questions?

[Speaker 2]
Nick?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, she said that she's been thinking a lot about death. Maybe around three years she's been thinking that she's going to die of cancer. And a lot of people around her have been saying not to think that way because the mind is very powerful and she's going to create it for herself.

Yeah, I think that's true. So I think we have to be careful. Yeah, when we do these meditations in the higher Buddhist school the meditation should always end with but I'm going to change my body to an angel body.

Okay, so we're going to have a discussion like that. Is it bad luck to think about this body dying? Or maybe it can even cause this body to die.

In this teaching we have to balance two things. I'm definitely going to die and I'm never going to die. And it feels crazy.

But if you don't think like this you will never get to this. You will delay to practice. So to reach the place where you never die is the goal of these retreats.

To get there we have to believe we're going to die. And some student asked the Lama, you're making me crazy. At three o'clock you say meditate you're going to die and at four o'clock you say meditate you're never going to die.

It's an old question. It's a thousand years old. But they go together.

So you have to think about your death because you will die if you don't practice very well. So you do death meditation enough to start practicing well. But the goal of that meditation is never to die.

So it's a very delicate balance. If there's not enough of this one you can't reach this one. If there's too much of this one you might get in a car accident.

Sorry, you have to it's a delicate balance. We're supposed to think for example that our wife or our husband is just a walking corpse. And dirty things coming out of they call the nine holes I don't remember how many.

One, two, three, four. Just dirty things coming out. So the inside must be dirty also.

At the same time we're supposed to see our husband or our wife is a real Buddha. And so we need to reach this one you have to have this one. You have to think about death to reach immortality.

It's a good question.

[Speaker 2]
Good question.

[Speaker 1]
There's a question from a Chinese student who asked me so you say when you plant a seed the seed will never be destroyed and you also say when you get angry it's like fire burning the whole forest your anger will burn your merit so it seems like there's a conflict I have given them some answer but I prefer to hear from you Geshe-la. What do you think about it? It's a good question.

Tomorrow and I don't know the other day, it's Friday maybe we're going to talk about reaching the path of preparation. Should I say a question? Oh yeah, go ahead.

Geshe-la said if you plant a seed nothing can destroy it but at the same time we've been taught that anger is like a fire in the forest that burns everything and destroys the merit you have.

[Speaker 2]
So it seems like there's a conflict. I gave him some answer but I'd rather see what you would say. And then Geshe Michael said that in a few days we're going to have a teaching where we're going to talk about that.

[Speaker 1]
And when you reach this certain level in your practice as we said it's impossible to go to lower birth and it has to do with the pen. When you understand gong shing emptiness enough after that forever it's impossible to go to lower birth. Then there are some people in the room who said they didn't hear about the pen.

So I'm going to ask you to talk to maybe Orit and Scott, stand up. Nick, Stanley, Jigme, John and Connie, Phil. You can talk to all those teachers.

They're going to teach you the pen if you want. Maybe before your class or put it in your class somewhere and you can ask them about the pen. But it's supposed to be if you understand it you don't have to go to lower birth anymore.

So something happens to your old seeds and they discuss three choices. One is called the seed is damaged. Like you take a little chip out of the seed.

One is called the seed is covered in grease. Like butter or something and it won't grow. And then the third choice is the seed is burned or it's damaged by fire.

Then they discuss what does each one represent and we're going to talk about it tomorrow. It's a famous question and many people ask this question. What happens to my bad seeds when I understand the pen that they can never open?

Do you destroy the seed or do you remove the causes which will help it to grow like the water and the soil and the fertilizer? And it's a great question and we'll talk about it tomorrow because we have to talk about what happens to all your old bad seeds when you understand the pen. We'll do it tomorrow.

But just remember there's three choices. The seed is damaged like you cut it or the seed is covered with oil and it cannot get water or the seed is put near a fire or in a fire and it destroys the ability to grow or does the seed itself, is the seed destroyed? There's four choices.

And we'll talk about it. It's a good question. We'll talk about it tomorrow.

And different Buddhist schools have different ideas from ancient India. Alright, one more question I think. Un poco mas ¿Por qué te vas, mi bien?

Tan deprisa no gozas, mi agonía Si la noche se espera todo el día espera tú también That's all my Spanish. I use it up.

[Speaker 2]
I like this song. I thought it doesn't work. Thank you Geshe-la for your perfect teachings.

Happy. Everything. I just have a new question because after one of the questions that was asked here So basically are you saying that it's enough to think about something in order for it to happen?

Because we as I remember we were taught that only a thing that we do to other people can ripen for us. So if I think I'm going to be sick that there is enough to make me sick?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good question. Do you want to translate?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, good question.

[Speaker 1]
So when you reach higher Buddhism called Vajrayana Diamond Way Tantra then it's called using the result as a path. So during that time after you get trained you pretend you are already a Buddha. And you know there's many many ways you can do.

Some lamas keep a wig. Geshe Lothar keeps a wig in his... you saw it on the wall of his room.

So he's practicing a tantra called Vajrayogini And it means in that tantra God is a woman. Highest angel is a woman. In lower Buddhism they criticize women sometimes.

In the higher Buddhism a woman is the best Buddha. And the man has to try to reach woman. So they actually wear this.

I'll show you a picture this afternoon. In World War II American government asked the Tibet government we want to send supplies to China government. From India.

So can we go directly and give supplies to Chiang Kai Shek and Mao Tse Tung? And then Tibet government said no. Then they said we won't talk about it.

So some crazy American plan they fly a big bomber over Tibet and they crash on purpose with some very good negotiators because they're not allowed to come in. It's actually Tolstoy's nephew. Neil Tolstoy's nephew.

He was an American officer. But when they crashed they came to a temple and they had very good cameras and they took some cool pictures. The lamas are doing some tantric ritual and they are all dressed like Vajrayogini.

So it's a very rare photograph. I'll show you.

[Speaker 2]
Secret photograph.

[Speaker 1]
The guy just like and and so it means during that practice we pretend to be Buddha already. And there are little secret things you're supposed to do. Like you reach for your coffee cup with your left hand because she always uses her left hand.

So even if you're right hand you use your left hand. And like that. Then by doing that you make the karma to become her.

So pretending to be her already causes you to become her. So that's a very deep Buddhist practice and that's a good practice. And I think it's true that if you meditate that you are sick or something it's possible you would get sick.

Like I had a massage therapist ask me I don't want to do a massage therapy on this person because they have cancer or something like that. Then I think that vibration will come through my hands. And that's a stupid idea.

That's a wrong idea. If you serve a person with cancer it's like you got an injection against cancer. So that's not a good idea.

So you should serve anybody and you won't get sick or something. So to think about your death I agree what we said before. Thinking about it a lot can it's a good karma if it's your motivation.

I have a friend, she always thinks she has cancer. She gets a little spot she goes to the doctor. I told you, I got cancer.

I think that kind of fear or selfishness really. I'm sick, take care of me. I think that could be a cause of cancer.

But our death meditation the goal is to become Buddha and help millions of people. So that meditation can't hurt you. Probably make you live longer.

Definitely make you live longer. Because it's a good karma. Even to think about your death.

But in this group just remember the goal is to stop death. This is just one more step in the lam rim and the goal is to stop death for everybody. So we are just starting.

Keep in mind the goal. There's nobody sitting in a room right now in the world, very few people thinking, if I do these meditations I can save the whole world. So you are very strange people.

Anyone who made it into this room even standing outside is a very special person and you are close to helping the whole world. So this little room and these few people is very powerful seed to help the whole world. You are learning something which you can use to help the whole world.

Alright then.