«Дар освобождения», курс 22 «Ретрит безграничной удачи», занятие 4

[Speaker 1]
Alright then. So, as I said this afternoon, we've reached the eleventh day of the teaching.

[Speaker 2]
So, I think we're not quite halfway through.

[Speaker 1]
And this was given in, I think it was in the 1920s, by Pabongka Rinpoche.

[Speaker 2]
His photo is over there.

[Speaker 1]
Which one, you guys? First one on the right.

[Speaker 2]
On the left.

[Speaker 1]
He gave this teaching.

[Speaker 2]
Then his student, Trijang Rinpoche is there? All the way on the right.

[Speaker 1]
His student took notes because they didn't have cameras and tape recorder. Then the student spent much of his life making this perfect book. And it's really, I think it's the greatest book ever written in Tibetan language.

Later he became the teacher of the current Dalai Lama, and my teacher's teacher. So, he's your great-grandfather who wrote this book, spoke this book. And your grandfather wrote it down.

And it's a beautiful record of the teaching. Perfect. You know, everything.

Okay, so we're on the eleventh day. When they start a new day, oftentimes they quote, they get into the teaching by quoting some old sutra. NYIN BCUG CIG PAR BYED KHRAD DO DE RGYA CHEN ROL PA LAS So there's a sutra called The Cosmic Play.

Okay, and it's a cool sutra. And he put some poetry from there. SRID SUM MI LTAR LTUNG SKYES DRIN DANG DRAG SBYOR BA'I SKYES GCIG GANG LA LTA DANG GSUNGS SBYOR BA'I TSEN ROL RNAMS KHAS LOGS RNAMS GRAMS TE RIGS SA BAG CHUG BZHIN DU MYURN GYUR GRO SRID SUM MI LTAR The three realms of the universe are themselves impermanent.

They don't last forever. This is the desire realm, form realm, formless realm.

[Speaker 2]
We are in the desire realm.

[Speaker 1]
DRIN GYI DRIN DANG DRAG means it's like a cloud in the autumn that comes and goes.

[Speaker 2]
Those galaxies, okay.

[Speaker 1]
SBYOR BA'I SKYES GCIG GANG LA LTA DANG GSUNGS Watching how people are born and then they die is like watching a theater performance. People come on the stage and they talk for a while and then they go off. Okay, people are born and they talk for a while and they die.

And then new people come on the stage. SBYOR BA'I TSEN ROL RNAMS KHAS LOGS GRAMS TE Then the length of a human life is like a bolt of lightning, lightning. RIGS PA BAB CHU BZHIN DU NYON RGYOG DROG means it's like water coming down off the snow mountains.

Our life just comes like that and then it finishes. In the original, it's a very beautiful poetry. ZHES GSUNGS PA BZHIN ZHES PA GSUNGS SA ZHIG RIGS RAB DANG CHE PA YANG THUN GYIR BYIN DANG BRAL BA DANG The three parts of the universe, all those galaxies, the earth, the mountains, like that one.

You guys have to watch me.

[Speaker 2]
I get to watch the mountains.

[Speaker 1]
It's very beautiful. It's like it comes and goes like a cloud. SBYOR BA RNAMS KYI SKAD CIG LA RGYUR NGRO BZHIN And people's life, the time they spend on the stage and then they exit the stage, it's like watching a TV show.

[Speaker 2]
Half hour on the TV. Then they're gone.

[Speaker 1]
I am really upset nowadays because all the rock stars are dying. They didn't ask me. All my heroes.

Who died? Jack Bruce just died. Joe Cocker just died.

[Speaker 2]
Prince died.

[Speaker 1]
They found Prince in an elevator. I was thinking about Daniel. You must have been really upset.

They're just going like that. Then I talk to my friends, David Bowie died.

[Speaker 2]
They're like, who's David Bowie? Then I'm like, come on, it's so important. And they never heard of him.

[Speaker 1]
Or I say Beatles and they're like, what? And I'm like, this is the best music. And they're dying like that.

[Speaker 2]
A lot of them in the last few years.

[Speaker 1]
Then after two or three years people start to forget them. Even those very famous people. Then it's kind of depressing for us because people will forget us in a few days probably.

RANG BYAG RNAMS SKYE MTSE'ANG RING DU MI GNAS PAR Our life also doesn't last very long. LOG RGYUD PA TZAM ZHIG It's like a stroke of lightning, bolt of lightning. DE'ANG SKYE MCHIG RE RE ZHING JIG CING BRAL PA MED PAR Actually our life is worse than that.

It's coming out of seeds like this.

[Speaker 2]
So it's like a waterfall.

[Speaker 1]
And then it just stops. RGYUD DRO BAR YIN PAS It's running like that. So he's introducing...

This is the first thing he said in the morning, right? DE'I PHYIR LTA LTAR NYID NAS PHYIR BYED NYAMS PA DANG So we should try to do some practice now. DE'ANG DUS SUM SANGS RGYAS THAMS CAD KYI BRAL PA GCIG PA'I LAM BCANG CHUB LAM GYI RIM PA LTA BU LO RGYUD PA NYID CHOG YIN PAS And the best kind of dharma practice you can do is to study the Lam Rim from a teacher who understands it.

DE NA SEMS CAN THAMS CAD KYI BRAL DU SANGS RGYAS KYI RGYUD PA'I LTA LTAR NYID NAS PHYIR So in the beginning of the new day, we should refresh our motivation.

[Speaker 2]
Why are you here? I would like to help.

[Speaker 1]
People nowadays...

[Speaker 2]
We have a project to help the refugees in Syria.

[Speaker 1]
And we gave an award a few days ago to the people helping the immigrants in Mexico from Central America. So we are helping them from hunger and war. But it's bigger than that.

Death. Can we stop death? Can we make the world perfect?

Can we make people immortal? And not immortally unhappy, but immortally happy. RGYUD PA'I LAM RIM CHUB LAM NYID CHOG YIN PA DE NA SEMS CAN So I'm going to sit here for that purpose.

It's good to help refugees.

[Speaker 2]
It's good to serve the migrants.

[Speaker 1]
But those are small businesses compared to this business.

[Speaker 2]
If you succeed here, you can help the people on many worlds.

[Speaker 1]
It's a bigger project. So think about it.

[Speaker 2]
If you meditate a lot, you can see those worlds.

[Speaker 1]
And it's very beautiful to see many other worlds.

[Speaker 2]
You can help all those worlds.

[Speaker 1]
Not just one country's people for a few months. SANGS RGYAS KYI DGOS PA'ANG THOB PAR BYA'I PHYIR BYANG CHUB LAM GYI RIM PAR CI ZHUS NAS So that's why you should come to this class. NYANGS SU LAM DGOS It's misspelled, Adam, or it's miscarred, but it means and what I hear, I will practice.

So I often go, we go to, I don't know, 35 cities every year. And usually I stay in somebody's house. And usually they have a lot of these books there.

There's always a Geshe Michael picture. There's no dust on it. They just put it there.

But the books, I always touch them. How much dust is there? And so, it's not enough to come to the class.

You need to practice it every day. And these are really convenient. We made this kind of binding.

Gina did. So you can put it down in front of your, on your meditation table. And you know, you can pee.

It's very convenient. No one can tell me you don't have five minutes. Come on.

Meditation is more important than poo-poo and you never skip a poo-poo. Five minutes you have. Then every time you have some time, do five minutes, do five minutes, do five minutes.

[Speaker 2]
Just keep it on the out, and you can see it, and just keep doing it. I put it on my phone.

[Speaker 1]
And then, you know, if I'm waiting in the airport or something, I'll just bring up the photos. Okay? Today I was looking for the Diamond Cutter Sutra in Sanskrit.

And I googled Diamond Cutter Sutra Sanskrit. Images, images. And all the pictures from the Kamalashila came up.

So you can get them everywhere. I don't know who put them up. Okay?

All right. SHU NAS NYAMS SU BLANG DGOS You have to practice. KUN LONG SPROD PA You should come into the room with that motivation.

SNAR SA BYAS JI LTAR SONG SU RNAMS SUNG BZHIN KHA SANGS RGYAS MI LTA BU'I KHO NA RGYAL SHES TSE BSAM Then the Lama will always repeat a small summary from yesterday.

[Speaker 2]
And it's a tradition that the students should read it what they did three times between the classes.

[Speaker 1]
You should review it three times. And the easy way to do it is just talk to your friends about it. So, you're in the car, you're going home.

[Speaker 2]
Just talk to each other. That's a review. Do you remember Mark's question?

Or Anton's question? And you start a discussion like that.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. So, we reached a very big section in the Lam Rim. We just finished Chiwa Mi Tapa.

[Speaker 2]
What's Chiwa Mi Tapa?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, the impermanence, which is death.

[Speaker 2]
The impermanence of me. Now we reached a second big section of the Lam Rim. So, actually we should have a party.

But my students are too serious.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. NYID PA'I JIG RTEN PHYI MA JI LTAR RGYUD BA'I SBYOR BA NYID KYI DE'I THUGS BSAM PA LA So, after you die, where do you go? Okay, and so that's the next part of the Lam Rim.

[Speaker 2]
We're going to discuss your options.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, where can you go after that? Nobody talks about this in the whole world. Even in the Christian church, you're not supposed to talk about hell too much.

Nowadays it's not popular. The Pope is a super cool dude. But if he gets up and talks about hell, everyone's going to say he's crazy.

But it's possible to go there. So you have to know what's the options. So either you can go up or you can go down.

DE'I RGYUD SDUG BSNGAL BSAM PA'OG TU SKYER BU DRIN GYIS SKABS NAS SBYUNG MED We'll talk about the higher rebirth later. This is what we call the part for people of medium motivation. Right now we're in the part for people of lower motivation.

People of lower motivation, they just want to have a good rebirth. I don't want to go to hell. So in this section we have to discuss what is hell like.

When I was in high school, we were supposed to read Inferno by Dante. We studied it for, I don't know, a few months. And then I went to study in a monastery.

And it's very similar. I was surprised. Then if you talk to some internet guy, he will say, wow, I can't believe this teaching from India reached Italy.

But if you talk to a Buddhist, wow, somebody in Italy saw hell, and somebody in India saw hell, and somebody in China saw hell, and they're all the same. So we're going to first talk about the lower realms. Three lower realms.

What are they? Hell, birth, hungry spirit, and animals. So those we call the three lower births.

[Speaker 2]
Right now you can only see one of them. You can see animals. If you meditate a lot, you can see the hell realms.

[Speaker 1]
And you can see spirits. We call hungry spirits.

[Speaker 2]
So these are the three choices. The lowest one is the hell. So we're going to start to describe hell.

[Speaker 1]
There's a very great Christian writer.

[Speaker 2]
I really like him. C.S. Lewis.

[Speaker 1]
And he wrote a great book. You should read it. It's called The Screwtape Letters.

Screwtape is the guy's name. He's a devil. Like screw you and tape.

Screwtape. His name is Screwtape. These are letters from the devil to his nephew.

And his nephew got an assignment from the boss of the hell. There's a young man in England. Then the boss said, you go to England, you try to make this guy to come to hell.

And this is letters to the nephew who's living in England, how to make the young man do bad karma so he will go to hell. And they're really amazing letters.

[Speaker 2]
So my name is Screwtape.

[Speaker 1]
It's an amazing book.

[Speaker 2]
In the introduction, C.S. Lewis said that the devil is very happy with this century. He had one great success. Nobody believes in him anymore.

[Speaker 1]
Nobody thinks he's real. It took him like a hundred years to make people believe there's no devil. Or to believe there's no hell.

So, this is the devil in his ... he says, this is the great achievement, this is my great achievement in the last hundred years. Nobody believes in hell anymore.

So we're going to talk about hell. So we went from depressing to super depressing. du nge du du ngel che pa yin So we're going to describe the three lower realms.

dey ta chiwa nge shik nam chi cha me na If it's true that you have to die, and if it's true that you don't know when you're going to die, chiway je su nam she gyun mi che pa ngepar kyewa len gut the mind never stops because the mind is also coming from seeds. The mind itself creates the seeds which continue the mind. So the mind will always continue.

Then you have to die and you have to take a rebirth. len sa yang to ri dang ngen dro nyi le me There's only two choices.

[Speaker 2]
You're going to go down or you're going to go up?

[Speaker 1]
de khander dro je bak gi shel nu This is a nice word, Adam, for ... it's called shelwa. Shelwa means to weigh something on a scale.

[Speaker 2]
But it also means to estimate.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, shelwa. And there's an ancient word for sheja. What's sheja?

Sheja. All knowable things. The world is sometimes ...

the universe is called sheja in Tibetan. Everything you can know. But there's an ancient synonym called shelja.

[Speaker 2]
Anything you can weigh in the mind.

[Speaker 1]
So you yourself can shell with your ... je pak sem na means logic. You can use logic to decide where you're going.

[Speaker 2]
If someone teaches you how to do it, you can figure out where you're going.

[Speaker 1]
So je bak gi shel to estimate with logic, you can also call it ... you can figure it out. nar shukpa tar rang re chi ma ghar kye thuk tak shuwa dang si sok je kyang So in Tibet, people would go to a high lama.

Can you tell me where I'm going to be reborn? I had lots of people ask me, can you tell me where my mom is? Where did my grandfather go?

[Speaker 2]
Lots of people ask me that.

[Speaker 1]
si sok je kyang or they go to an astrologer.

[Speaker 2]
Can you check the planets and tell me where my mother went to? Then he says, Pabongka says, mi gur Don't waste your money.

[Speaker 1]
You don't need to ask some lama or some astrologer where your parents are or where you're going to go. gyewa chepe den dro If you treat other people nice, you will go up. mi gyewa chepe ngen dro dro If you don't treat other people nice, you will go down.

jungpa sanggye kyi ngar ne longten simpare The Buddha predicted your rebirth 2,000 years ago with those words.

[Speaker 2]
If you hurt other people, you go down. If you're nice to other people, you go up.

[Speaker 1]
There was a guy, Indian fortune teller came to India when I was studying there. My first lama was Geshe Nawang Dagye. Geshe Nawang Dagye.

[Speaker 2]
He lived in the second floor.

[Speaker 1]
He would spy on us all the time. You could see the curtain move.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
One day a fortune teller came, Indian fortune teller. Like those guys with the long hair and the three marks. He talked very strange.

He told me, your little brother is going to live to be 84. I remember, he told me. Then my brother died when he was 20.

[Speaker 2]
Then the next day in the class, Geshe Dagye got really angry.

[Speaker 1]
Anyone who gave money to the fortune teller, raise your hand.

[Speaker 2]
We all like... He took this page, and he said, listen, you don't need a fortune teller. Pakwa.

You don't need it. If you're nice to other people, you don't have to worry. If you're not nice to other people, you have to worry.

[Speaker 1]
Buddha told your future 2,000 years ago. Tim is actually coming. SKYE RAB LAS KYANG Then he quotes SKYE RAB.

What's SKYE RAB Adam? JATAKA The stories of the Buddha's former life. JATAKA DGE DANG MI DGE LAS LAS JI BSTAN PA ROL TU DE DANG MI BDE RGYUR RAB BAB TU NGES BYAS NAS SDIG PA PONG BZHIN DGE BA'I LAS LA RAB TU ZHUGS If you're nice to people in the next world, you'll have a good time.

[Speaker 2]
If you're not nice to people in the next world, you'll have a bad time.

[Speaker 1]
So, I suggest you be nice to people. Very simple. RANG RES BUG GIS STAM NONG YIN ZER NAS MTSAN GYIS DE DUG BYED PA LA MANG PO BYED KYANG Then some of us, we go to our friends and we say, you know, I'm thinking ahead.

I'm like, I'm not just thinking about this year or next year. I like China government. I like it.

They have 10 year plan, 15 year plan. In Dubai, they have a 20 year plan. I like it.

So that's called a long term plan. And it's very serious and it's a good idea. Americans plan about two weeks ahead.

[Speaker 2]
So, maybe.

[Speaker 1]
Anyway, so people come to you and say, okay, I have a long term plan with my life. And then they talk about all the details about their plan. DE'I BUG GIS STAM NONG MA YIN But that's not a long term plan.

DE BAS BLO RGYAL SKYES TE You got to think bigger.

[Speaker 2]
Beyond death. That's a long term plan. What's your plan for the next 500 years?

[Speaker 1]
You got to think like that.

[Speaker 2]
And you can. If you meditate, you can plan for 500 years ahead.

[Speaker 1]
BSAM DANG BLO RGYAL SKYES TE PHYI MA GANG GROL LA BDAG DGOS So you should be examining the question of where am I headed after I die? DE'I BDAG PA NA SKYE BA PHYI MA BDEN DRO NGAN DRO GANG RUNG ZHIG TU DRO BA LAS MAN TE ZHING So if you start this kind of examination, where am I going after I die?

[Speaker 2]
You can start by saying, okay, there's two choices.

[Speaker 1]
Higher realm or lower realm? DE NYID KYI GANG DU DRO YANG RANG DBANG MED And you don't have any choice. When the time comes, you got to go up or down.

[Speaker 2]
At that time you don't have a choice.

[Speaker 1]
DE YOD NA BDAG TSUL NGAN DRO BA GZU YANG MI SBYUNG If you could just go where you want after you die, nobody would ever go to the hell. So you can't choose in the last few days. It's too late.

[Speaker 2]
What karmas you did your whole life, they will choose.

[Speaker 1]
You don't have any ... you don't have any choice in the last few days. It's too late.

DE NA PHYI MA GANG GI SKYE BA NI LAS KYI RJES SU'I SBRANG DGOS You are dragged up or down by your karma. You don't have any choice. Your karma will pull you and you just follow it.

You don't have choice. LAS SKYE MI RGYAS BRAS MA MANG DU YOD NA So what if I have mixed up karma?

[Speaker 2]
You know I did some good things and I did some bad things.

[Speaker 1]
GANG STOBS CHE BA Which is more powerful? You have to follow that one. Like you killed somebody but you made cookies for lots of people.

Then you go down. Which is more powerful? DE NYAM NA If they're equal, like I stole cookies and I made cookies.

Then RGYEN LA KHO MO CHE BA Then which one you were more... was your habit in this life? You will go that way.

if you stole sometimes but it wasn't your habit but you cooked cookies for other people but it is your habit, you will go up. DE YANG NYAM NA RNGON DU GANG CHE PA DE NGON NA MIN And if those are equal, you had a habit to make cookies for people and you had a habit to steal them. Then the earlier one we'll choose.

Which came earlier in your life. So, in DCI we have four sets of four, right? What's the first one?

I don't know what you want to call the first one. Yeah, the most important one is the four steps.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? To plant a seed.

[Speaker 1]
I'll do the four fours with you, very fast. We did it first time in Guangzhou, I remember.

[Speaker 2]
To plant a karma. Four steps. Number one, choose what you want in one short sentence.

[Speaker 1]
I want a boyfriend. Number two, choose someone who wants the same thing. Number three, help them once a week for one hour.

[Speaker 2]
Number four, be happy when you go to bed about two things.

[Speaker 1]
I'm glad I visited the old lady to plant the seed for a boyfriend. And I'm glad I'm not going to nightclubs anymore. It means I'm glad I'm using the real system and not the fake system.

Give me another set of four. Four laws of karma.

[Speaker 2]
First one.

[Speaker 1]
Watermelon, watermelon. Who said that?

[Speaker 2]
That's sweet.

[Speaker 1]
If you plant a watermelon, you get a watermelon. Jesus said, if you plant a banana, you're not going to get a cactus. Oh, sorry.

You don't get figs from thorns. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Same thing.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so that's the first one.

[Speaker 2]
Second one.

[Speaker 1]
Karma always grows.

[Speaker 2]
Karma always grows.

[Speaker 1]
You hurt someone with a small thing, but after one month, the karma will be very big.

[Speaker 2]
Third one.

[Speaker 1]
If you don't do any, if you don't plant any seed, don't expect any result.

[Speaker 2]
Fourth one.

[Speaker 1]
If you do plant a seed, it's going to follow you.

[Speaker 2]
Good or bad. If you help someone make money, money will come to you, even if you don't want it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, you can't run from it anywhere in the world.

[Speaker 2]
It will follow you.

[Speaker 1]
Third for the four.

[Speaker 2]
We call four flowers.

[Speaker 1]
First one.

[Speaker 2]
This is how the karma seed opens. There are four rules how it opens. Every seed opens in four ways.

Number one. You get what you give. You get what you give.

[Speaker 1]
That's the way, that's the one we all know about.

[Speaker 2]
Second one.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, you get to have it. So if you cheat on your taxes once, you will cheat on your taxes twice. If you divorce once, you will divorce twice.

[Speaker 2]
If you do an act of corruption with your taxes, you will do it again. If you divorced once, you will do it again. You get a habit.

Number three. Yeah, your weather in your city, the traffic, the pollution, the government people, corruption, it's all coming from you. Okay, fourth one.

Yeah, after you die, you will get the same thing back. Now we have three sets of four. Give me another set of four.

Okay, four powers. How do you stop an old bad seed? Number one.

[Speaker 1]
Think about the think about the pen. Where is everything coming from?

[Speaker 2]
Okay, second.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it's just like this thing is doubling every day. I got to stop it. I got to stop it.

[Speaker 2]
This seed is doubling every day. I have to stop it. Third one.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, make a promise not to do something.

[Speaker 2]
For one month, or one year, or whole life.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, fourth one. Yeah, do a karma to balance. Like if you stole many things, then go to the school and give them some money.

[Speaker 2]
There's a fifth set of four.

[Speaker 1]
I'm going to give it to you from a good source.

[Speaker 2]
This is dessert.

[Speaker 1]
I'll give it from you, from Tsongkapa. Okay, here it comes. This is from Master Vasubandhu's own commentary to the Abhidharmakosha.

LAS KYIS KHOR BA PHYI GANG DANG, NYE BAR GANG DANG, KHOR BA GANG, BU'I PHYI GANG YIN DE DAG LAS, SNGA MA SNGA MA RNAMS MING RGYUR These are the rules about which karma will open first. So Pabongka Rinpoche was summarizing it, but here's the real verse. And I translated it.

So I'll just read you the English translation.

[Speaker 2]
Here in the cycle of life, karmas ripen in order of those which are particularly serious.

[Speaker 1]
The most serious one opens first. Then the ones which are closer will open. So if two karmas are the same heaviness, then you have to drop down which one is closer.

Then you have to go find another commentary which explains what does closer mean. Yeah, good, I taught it to you guys when we went to Sedona.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, which one is closer to your death?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so in the Christian tradition you have these really bad guys, and just before they die they say, okay, I'm sorry for everything and I believe in Jesus.

[Speaker 2]
Vasubandhu says it works. Vasubandhu says it works. Good idea.

Very close to death, do some cleaning.

[Speaker 1]
And say, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Now I believe, okay.

[Speaker 2]
And that one will ripen first because it's close to death.

[Speaker 1]
So during the time of death karmas close to that time open first. GOMS PA GOMS PA Yeah, habit. Which did you do most, which did you do often?

[Speaker 2]
if two karmas are pretty equal heavy, and then both of them are about the same time in your life, then you drop down to which one was a habit.

[Speaker 1]
The one which was a habit will open first.

[Speaker 2]
Got it? Equal strength. Equal time in your life.

[Speaker 1]
I did all my bad deeds when I was 16, okay? Then if they're equal then I have to go down to which one was a habit.

[Speaker 2]
If they're similar I have to go down and see which one was a habit. So now we have three. Fourth one, if the karmas are equal strength and you did them around the same time in your life, or the same distance from death, and then one would, they both were habit.

Then you drop down to which one came first.

[Speaker 1]
And that one will ripen first. First in, first out in accounting and in karma. Okay, so we wanted to add that to the DCI 4x4.

So you can add it to the, now we can call 5x4. Okay. Oh look, he quotes it here.

Sorry. He's pretty smart. Okay.

Then he quotes the same quotation, I'm sorry, it was in the Lam Rim.

[Speaker 2]
Then he goes on.

[Speaker 1]
RANG CHAGS LA DGE'I MI DGE'I NYID LAS MI DGE BA NYID THOB BYED PAS If you check how many good things you did and how many bad things you did, if you're honest about it, we did more heavy bad things. MO SANGS GAL GYUR CHAGS SOGS KYI BSTAN PA ZHIG DE MED Most of the motivation for why we do anything is selfishness. Even when you give a donation, you're hoping everyone will see you gave the donation.

If they tell you, can you buy the offerings for Lama Chupa tonight? You always buy the stuff that you like to eat after Lama Chupa.

[Speaker 2]
So even the good things we do, they are mixed up with a lot of bad motivation. DE MED NA DE SKAD PA'I LAS THAMS CAD MI DGE BA YIN ZHIG So if you look at how the motivation polluted even the good things we do, then the conclusion is almost everything we do is a bad karma. If you count the motivation and the selfishness.

[Speaker 1]
DGE BA BYED PA'ANG MI DGE BA BSAM PA'I DBANG DU CHOR Even when we try to do something nice for somebody, we often twist it into something negative. And TSE CHI MED DON DU NGO BA BZHIN TU MYONG And the karmas we make which we consciously dedicate to after our death are almost zero. Like, if I give Alejandro a tea, it's because I want tea next week, not after I die.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So all that, even the people who understand karma, they are mostly doing karma for this life.

[Speaker 1]
Very few are thinking, this karma is packing my suitcase for the trip. Then he gives an example, and I think he's giving an example about himself.

[Speaker 2]
I think he's doing a small confession, maybe.

[Speaker 1]
Then, for example, DGE MTHU LA DAM SHES DANG LA LTA BUR TSUN NA Let's take the case of a lama who is trying to help his student by scolding him for something he did wrong. BSAM PA GUNG DU BZHIN DU CHEN PO The... Okay, now you have to understand something.

ZHI BSAM PA SBYOR BA THAR THUG Where did you see this thing? Where did you see it? The Guadalajara team puts it on the floor in front of every shirt.

ZHI BSAM PA SBYOR BA THAR THUG If you don't remember, just go check his closet. ZHI BSAM PA SBYOR BA THAR THUG ZHI is the student, right?

[Speaker 2]
BSAM PA The teacher is angry.

[Speaker 1]
The student broke the teacher's cappuccino cup.

[Speaker 2]
So, ZHI was the student. BSAM PA is anger.

[Speaker 1]
SBYOR BA If you read the Tibetan, he's following the four steps. SBYOR BA ZIG PHA RUNG TE LAS LA GANG PO PA Then the angry lama will try to choose some words which will strike the heart of the student and hurt them. Then he...what's the next word in the sentence? THAR It means THAR THUG.

[Speaker 2]
It means THAR THUG. Then he does step number four.

[Speaker 1]
YI RANG YI RANG BA Yeah, he's like, I got that student.

[Speaker 2]
What do we call that? It's a coffee meditation. He's teaching you to do the four steps for bad seed.

[Speaker 1]
ZHI BSAM PA ZHOR BA THAR THUG ZHI picked the student.

[Speaker 2]
What do you want to do? BSAM PA Oh, I'm going to hurt him. ZHOR BA You are the stupidest student I ever had.

THAR THUG After the student go home crying, the teacher does a bad coffee meditation.

[Speaker 1]
I got that student. He's not going to break my cappuccino cups anymore.

[Speaker 2]
He's doing coffee meditation about the bad seed.

[Speaker 1]
ZHAG PAR Everything we...listen. THAR YI RANG SOGS SBYOR MOD BYAS SUM The beginning of the bad deed is complete. ZHI and BSAM PA Decide what you want and pick the person. Then the planting is complete.

Number three, you said what you want to say.

[Speaker 2]
And what we call the BYAS means the conclusion. Coffee meditation is complete. So it's not only a karma, it's a path of karma.

So in Buddhism there's a difference between karma and path of karma. Karma is anything you think, say, or do. Path of karma is much more powerful.

[Speaker 1]
And all four are complete. I want to hurt this student. I choose him.

I'm angry. I say something to hurt her or him. And then before I go to sleep I say, haha, I showed that student.

[Speaker 2]
Coffee meditation.

[Speaker 1]
So you can have a bad karma path also. So most of the bad karmas that you and I do are complete. We are very thorough.

[Speaker 2]
All four steps are complete.

[Speaker 1]
And that seed is much more powerful. You know, some people told me, I don't know, when I'm standing around my brother, these thoughts come through my head like, kill him right now. Of course I would never kill my brother.

The thought comes in my head like, and they ask me, is that a bad karma?

[Speaker 2]
It's a little bad karma, but it's not a path of karma.

[Speaker 1]
You didn't prepare to have the thought, you didn't have the thought, you weren't happy about the thought, it just came to your mind.

[Speaker 2]
But that's how we do our bad karmas. Four steps are complete.

[Speaker 1]
Let's do one more sentence and we'll take a break, okay?

[Speaker 2]
But when we do our good karmas, then he gives the example of a prayer.

[Speaker 1]
DGE BA DI KHYER BO KUN SEMS RANG RIGS SHES RTZAL RTZAL GZHIG SEMS RANG RIGS SHES LAS CHUNG BA'I DANG POR KUN NYID DU DANG POR TSUL Okay, then even a short prayer.

[Speaker 2]
He says a halfway through.

[Speaker 1]
You're already thinking about something else. That means you're not doing the four steps. So, for your bad karmas, you are very careful to do the four steps.

And for the good karmas, you do one second, then you think about something else. So those of you who care, the example, the prayer in the example is the thousand angels of the heaven of bliss. This is the Tsongkapa prayer.

And he doesn't say who he's talking about.

[Speaker 2]
He says, there was once a man who started the Tsongkapa prayer to recite it.

[Speaker 1]
Then halfway through he got distracted and he started to talk to somebody else in the room.

[Speaker 2]
Then he started, he forgot how far he reached. So he started halfway. Again.

But he did it like five times. He has to start the prayer again five times. Then he just says, once there was a guy.

[Speaker 1]
In Tibetan it's NGON MI ZHIG Once there was a guy. I think this last two example he's talking about himself. Once there was a lama who got angry at his student and he planted a bad seed very carefully with all four stairs.

Then he decided to read the Tsongkapa prayer. Five times in the middle he stopped and he forgot where he stopped.

[Speaker 2]
He had to start over five times.

[Speaker 1]
I think he's talking about himself. Okay, let's take a short break and then we'll do some questions and answers. Two questions people ask me.

Okay, I think they're important. First question. What should we do if somebody in our family dies, especially a child?

[Speaker 2]
What can we do to help them?

[Speaker 1]
So there is some prayers we can do for 49 days.

[Speaker 2]
They can hear what you say.

[Speaker 1]
And the explanation for that is very long.

[Speaker 2]
That bardo spirit, the spirit of the child, it can live for seven days and then it will die again in the bardo and then it will be born again in the bardo.

[Speaker 1]
It can go seven times. So seven times seven is 49 days. And they have special power.

They can hear you. Even a young baby can understand your language. So it doesn't matter if they die young and they couldn't talk at that time, still in the bardo they can understand what you say.

[Speaker 2]
So you can talk to them. Okay, so my suggestion and what I did myself when my brother died and my father died, you can talk to them.

[Speaker 1]
And you can say, you know, we're sorry you're gone and we will meet you again.

[Speaker 2]
We will quickly, we will work hard in our meditations until we get the power to see you again.

[Speaker 1]
And think about all the good things that happened with us. Tell them, if it's a child, oh you are so beautiful.

[Speaker 2]
You are so precious to us.

[Speaker 1]
And try to talk to them about all the good things you remember.

[Speaker 2]
Because they will hear and they will also remember the good things. And that makes a good seed. So just talk to them.

[Speaker 1]
Tell them how much you love them. Tell them you are going to work very hard in your practice so you can meet again very soon. Okay, so if you meditate very well you can see them.

You can meet them. You can talk to them. And you can live together again.

So, you know, just all day, take a break, go in another room and talk to them about good things. And even after 49 days, by the way, the day of dying is number one, not the next day. So, you have to count on a calendar.

The 49th day is very important because then they decide their karma, where they will go. So, 49th day you should have sort of special, most of the day you should talk to them. And this is a way you can help them.

[Speaker 2]
And if you follow this path you will be together again.

[Speaker 1]
You will be together as a family again. And, you know, after 49 days you can still talk to them. And just talk to them about beautiful things.

Beautiful things you remember. And you can have this conversation. I had a woman, she lost her ...

that lady in California, right? Jing Mei? She lost her daughter many years ago.

And I taught her this practice, I think 20 years ago.

[Speaker 2]
And she did it for 20 years.

[Speaker 1]
And she has a very deep relationship with her daughter. So, if you lose a child, you can do this, okay? Alright, second question I got.

[Speaker 2]
And it was such a good question, I thought we should talk about it. So, in this system if you want to have money you should do four steps.

[Speaker 1]
By the way, in DCI we teach people the first thing we teach people is how to make money, because Lord Buddha said that's the first thing you should teach people. But what's interesting is when we ask those guys why you want to make money and we go to many countries every year, about 90% of them say I want to help the world. I need money to help the world.

[Speaker 2]
So, four steps.

[Speaker 1]
You know, I want to make money. Number two, find someone else who wants to make some money.

[Speaker 2]
Number three, help them. One hour every week.

[Speaker 1]
Number four, when you sleep, be happy about what you did. Okay, if you want a husband or wife, number one, I want a husband or wife. Number two, find a lonely person.

Then old ladies are very good in nursing homes, or old men.

[Speaker 2]
I have one.

[Speaker 1]
For over 20 years she was my mother's friend. My mother died, but she's my mother's friend. Then I'm helping her for about 20 years.

This guy one day tried to steal her from me. But I treat her better.

[Speaker 2]
So he had to find a new one.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, and then visit her once a week. For one hour. And then do coffee meditation.

Before you fall asleep, be happy about what you're doing. So, someone asked me a question. We'll do the last question, okay?

[Speaker 2]
They said, I understand the four steps.

[Speaker 1]
If I want to make some money, I should help another person to make money. If I want to find my wife or husband or girlfriend or boyfriend, I should help the lonely person.

[Speaker 2]
And this will plant a seed.

[Speaker 1]
But Geshe-la, you just talk about how low motivation can ruin a good karma.

[Speaker 2]
What was the example? Lama Chupa offerings.

[Speaker 1]
You buy the thing you like to eat. So, is it a good karma to offer churros to your lama? Of course.

But if your motivation is, oh, maybe I can get some of them later.

[Speaker 2]
Then that low motivation poisons the result. So, during the break, someone asked me a very good question. If I help somebody to make money, but I just want to, I want money for myself.

[Speaker 1]
I plant a seed. Actually, I don't care about him.

[Speaker 2]
But I'm just using him to plant a seed.

[Speaker 1]
Or the old lady, I go to visit her.

[Speaker 2]
Actually, I don't love her. I don't care about her. But I need her to plant my seed.

[Speaker 1]
Then it seems like it's going to poison the karma. And that's true.

[Speaker 2]
That's true. So, what we say in DCI, when you go to help the old lady, you have two choices. Number one, when you touch the doorknob of her house or her room, to go inside, you can think in your mind, I just want a boyfriend.

[Speaker 1]
I don't like this old lady. I just need her to plant a seed for my boyfriend.

[Speaker 2]
Then Buddha asked a question. And Tsongkapa asked the same question.

[Speaker 1]
Will it work if you have a selfish motivation? Will the spoon drop if I have a selfish motivation? Yeah, it doesn't matter.

[Speaker 2]
Karma is like gravity. If you help the old lady, you will get a boyfriend. You can't stop it.

If you plant a seed, you can't stop it.

[Speaker 1]
But, what kind of boyfriend? He will be, excuse my language, a selfish son of a bitch.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? And he will use you for money, for sex, for attention. He will use you.

Because you planted mixed karma. You helped a lonely person, but the motivation was selfish. Same with money.

Many rich people are surrounded by selfish people.

[Speaker 1]
They're always trying to get something from them.

[Speaker 2]
I have a rule with my rich friends, when we go to dinner together, I always pay. Because I don't want them to think I'm trying to get something from them. So that's one motivation you can have.

Still you will get rich. Still you will get a nice partner. Sorry, you will get a partner.

But they will be selfish.

[Speaker 1]
Now, you can have a different motivation with the same doorknob. I'll just give you an example. When you touch the doorknob, you can say, I'm trying a new way to find a boyfriend.

[Speaker 2]
I'm not going to night club. I'm not going to dating website. I'm trying diamond cutter system.

I'm going to help this old lady and I will make her happy. And if it works, all of my friends will say, what's the website? What's a night club?

[Speaker 1]
Are there any more boys there? Okay, then you have to say, it's not night club.

[Speaker 2]
And it's not a website. It's a nursing home. Then what will they say?

He looks so young. Then you have to explain. No, you don't understand.

There's four steps. If you want a partner, say, I want a partner. Choose another person, lonely.

Visit them once a week.

[Speaker 1]
And then be happy you are using intelligent new system and not night clubs.

[Speaker 2]
Then your friends will try it. And their friends will try it.

[Speaker 1]
So I want to show you a video. This is the last thing tonight. It's one minute.

I was teaching in Norway and one young man asked me, how can I get a girlfriend?

[Speaker 2]
And I taught him those four steps in the class.

[Speaker 1]
And then about two years later, he sent me this video. The video is in Norwegian language? Norway language.

Then I don't speak Norwegian. He taught me one word.

[Speaker 2]
He said, chino, chino. It means go to the movies.

[Speaker 1]
Like in Russian you say, kino. You have paid for kino one year. Like that.

So he also said chino, chino. So, with that one word, you can understand this video. Then you tell me what's going on.

This video was made by the government of Norway. It was paid for by the National Telephone Company of Norway. Can you cut the line?

Okay, here we go. What in the world am I doing in a cinema? I'm 80 years old.

[Speaker 2]
And that was the last time you were in a cinema? The last time you were in a cinema?

[Speaker 1]
It's been a long time. I've been in a lot of cinemas. I'm getting used to it.

It's an experience for us as a family. We have so many experiences. We were so happy and grateful.

It was so fun to meet and hug. It's a great experience to experience something like this when you're 86 years old. It's a great cavalier.

It's an experience just like we did when we were young. She actually came up to me and said that she didn't want to be separated from it. The cavalier took me in her arms and kissed me on the cheek.

And then I thought, this is where it starts. Okay. So, now, in Norway, if the young person will take the old person to the movie, the government and the national telephone company will pay for both.

Who started this virus?

[Speaker 2]
Who started this virus?

[Speaker 1]
It's like a virus. You teach somebody how to find a partner. You should help someone in the nursing home.

Then when they get the partner, their friend will ask them, five years you didn't have a partner. This one is so beautiful. How do you do that?

[Speaker 2]
And when they have their partner, they say, hey, for five years you didn't have a partner. How did you get this one?

[Speaker 1]
Four steps, four times. Then their friend, then their friend, then their friend, then their friend.

[Speaker 2]
So, when you are going to visit the old lady, and when you touch the door knob, you can have a selfish idea.

[Speaker 1]
I don't care about this lady, I just want a boyfriend.

[Speaker 2]
And it will work. You will get a boyfriend, and he will use you. Or, same door knob, the motivation, I want to start boyfriend revolution in my country.

[Speaker 1]
There will be long lines of young men and women waiting outside of the nursing homes. Do you have any old ladies available today?

[Speaker 2]
No, they are busy. Make a reservation for next week.

[Speaker 1]
And then there won't be any more lonely old people. I was in Vancouver. No, yeah, Vancouver.

I was watching, I was giving a talk, but I was watching outside. There are two guys. Okay, watch.

They are like, like, why the police cannot see them? I don't know. I can see them.

Everywhere, you know. In the new system, Hey, hey, you got that number for me? Yeah.

Is it a real old lady? Yeah, I got the number.

[Speaker 2]
Fifty bucks.

[Speaker 1]
Like that, okay? Like that. Okay?

So, you can have that vision in your mind when you help someone to make money, when you help someone to not be lonely.

[Speaker 2]
Your motivation. What's the other name for that motivation? Bodhichitta.

Okay?

[Speaker 1]
It's not like G-Y-D, G-Y-K, you know? It's real bodhichitta. And it changes the whole world.

[Speaker 2]
So, it's up to you.

[Speaker 1]
The four steps are not selfish. They can be selfish. Or they can be Buddha mind, bodhichitta.

[Speaker 2]
It's up to you. Okay? Same thing.

Same four steps. Cool. You can start a revolution.

You can be the virus.

[Speaker 1]
And every time I see that video, I start to cry.

[Speaker 2]
I feel so happy.

[Speaker 1]
I start the virus. So, you can be like that.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Okay. You can do.

[Speaker 2]
You can do the same thing.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? according to that system, the most compassionate thing you can do is to be successful yourself. Have a beautiful relationship.

Have a nice life.

[Speaker 2]
People will copy you.

[Speaker 1]
And that's the most compassionate thing you can do. You know? If you tell people, I had a student, she was teaching meditation.

I was sitting in the back of the room secretly. She was teaching meditation in a yoga studio. And she had a, I don't know, a cup of coffee or something.

And she was like, so it's very important to meditate. You can be calm. And then I heard two ladies in the back.

One of them said to the other lady, I don't know what kind of meditation she's teaching, but I don't want to learn it.

[Speaker 2]
So, if you're a good example, then people will copy you. If you're successful as a person, if you're a happy person, then people will ask you, how do you do that? Then you can have this motivation.

Okay?