«Дар освобождения», курс 24 «Пустой Будда — высшая защита», занятие 1

[Speaker 2]
Hello.

[Speaker 1]
Hi. Good morning. Did you have good sleep?

If you didn't have good sleep, you can sleep in the class. Many American people do that. So, we're going to start this morning with the meditation.

So, please get ready.

[Speaker 2]
Buddha said first step of meditation is to turn off your cell phone.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? I like the Mexico group. If the cell phone rings during meditation, they charge 50 American dollars.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So, be careful.

[Speaker 1]
I guess Earl will have to close the door, I think. My first meditation teacher held up a pencil, and he broke it. And he said, this is one person meditating.

[Speaker 2]
Then he held ten pencils, and he couldn't break it.

[Speaker 1]
He said, that's ten people meditating together. So, it's more powerful. But, you have responsibility.

You have to be super quiet for the other people. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So, when we meditate in a group, it's important to come on time.

[Speaker 1]
Come ten minutes early, okay? I think they are serving cappuccino. Just kidding.

Come ten minutes early, and relax. And then, you don't have to worry about bothering other people, okay? And, we're going to close the door during meditation.

And, you shouldn't try to come in until the meditation is finished. Close the door.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, please sit up straight.

[Speaker 1]
Your feet can be on the floor, it's okay. Try not to lean back. Try to keep your head straight.

[Speaker 2]
If the head is too far back, you will get distracted.

[Speaker 1]
I have a friend, she meditates like this. Then, the chi won't run nicely. So, and if the chin comes down too far, you will get sleepy.

[Speaker 2]
So, the chin should be nice. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
The eyes can be open, but don't look at anything. So, go like this, but put the eyes down. And, close your eyelids a little bit.

[Speaker 2]
If you get sleepy, you can open the eyelids a little bit. But, when you put your eyes down, don't put your head down.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So, chin is still straight, but the eyes can go. If you want to open your eyes a little bit, the eyes are down.

[Speaker 1]
And then, leave your eyes, and don't look through them. And, if you like, you can close your eyes. I like close, and then open just a little bit.

And then, I don't get sleepy. Then, hands, you can do it this way. You can do this way.

[Speaker 2]
I like between.

[Speaker 1]
Like that. Then, my hands don't fall asleep.

[Speaker 2]
If you feel cold in the America air-conditioned room, you can put left hand down.

[Speaker 1]
Then, right hand down. And, this brings your arms close to your body.

[Speaker 2]
And, you'll feel warmer. And, the thumbs are just lightly touching.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? So, you decide what's comfortable for you.

[Speaker 2]
The cause of good meditation, it's not really how you sit. It's not the chair.

[Speaker 1]
It's not the cushion.

[Speaker 2]
It's not how you put your shoulders. The deeper cause of meditation is being nice to other people.

[Speaker 1]
Then, I have a friend, he meditates like this. And, his meditation is very good. Because, he takes care of other people a lot.

Best is take care of other people and sit up straight. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Then, relax your eyelids.

[Speaker 1]
Relax your forehead. Try to be very, very quiet. If you make noise, it will hurt many people.

Mouth is relaxed.

[Speaker 2]
Little smile is nice.

[Speaker 1]
Fingers are relaxed. And then, start to breathe slowly. Long exhales.

Then, slowly start watching your breath. You can pretend you are sitting on the tip of your nose like a little parking lot guard. Just watch the breath coming in.

[Speaker 2]
In and out.

[Speaker 1]
Then, please invite your teacher to come to meditate with you. The teacher that you feel closest to. Could be your mom or dad.

[Speaker 2]
Could be a teacher from your school.

[Speaker 1]
Could be the teacher that taught you your work. Could be spiritual teacher. Could be alive or could be from long ago in history.

[Speaker 2]
Could be your heart teacher that you didn't meet yet.

[Speaker 1]
But, ask a teacher to come and sit together. Your knee is almost touching their knee. And they are very relaxed.

Your eyes are closed, but you can see their face. They are very happy that you are meditating. And they are very happy that you invited them to come.

And we are sitting together. And you feel a great love for them. Then, think about why are they your teacher.

What would you like to learn? Which they know. Then make them an offering.

Give them a gift. What the teacher likes the most is when you are kind to other people, good to other people.

[Speaker 2]
Better than flowers or food.

[Speaker 1]
So, try to think about something nice you did in the last 24 hours. And offer this to your teacher like a beautiful gift. Then think about something you did in the last 24 hours.

[Speaker 2]
Which was not very nice. It hurt somebody. Or you hurt yourself.

[Speaker 1]
And open your heart. And tell your teacher honestly. And clean this negative seed.

Now, I'd like you to think about the best thing you ever did for another person in your whole life. And open your heart to your teacher and tell them about that also. Now, ask your teacher to teach you.

Promise you'll be open. Even if they tell you something you don't like. About how to improve yourself.

Ask them to teach. And then ask your teacher to stay in your life. Help you.

Don't go away. Then ask the teacher to come inside of you. They start to rise up.

Slowly into the sky. A little bit higher than your head. And as they rise, they get smaller and smaller.

Then they turn around to face the same way as you. And they come down softly on the top of your head. Very small.

And they start to melt into the top of your head. And they come down in front of your spine. To your heart.

Inside your heart.

[Speaker 2]
They get smaller and smaller.

[Speaker 1]
Until they are the size of a grain of sugar. Almost like they're inside a grain of sugar. In the center of your heart.

Focus on them there. Tiny, tiny teacher. Will stay there all day.

When you need help, they're there. Then send out the good karma of this meditation. To help other people.

And then slowly you can open your eyes.

[Speaker 2]
Take a stretch.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, again I'd like to thank everyone for coming. It's very exciting for me and all the teachers to have so many people come. And one more time I would like to thank the person who works so hard to make this possible.

Which is Jasmine Yao. Who are you?

[Speaker 2]
Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, that's not good. So most of you know about us through Diamond Cutter Institute. And we go to, I think, over 20 countries every year.

And we visit, we help maybe 15,000, 20,000 people a year. And many of you are from different groups in different cities and countries.

[Speaker 2]
And the purpose of DCI is to find ancient wisdom. And bring it into the modern world.

[Speaker 1]
To make people more successful. We focus on five different kinds of success.

[Speaker 2]
Number one is financial success.

[Speaker 1]
When I say financial success, I mean, I like to call it financial independence.

[Speaker 2]
It means I have enough money to do what I want. And my mind is free from thinking about money.

[Speaker 1]
I know how to make money come. It's enough for me. And I don't have to think about it.

For me, this is financial independence. Then we can have a nice place to stay and a nice car.

[Speaker 2]
But if we don't have any friends, or if you want a partner and a family, if you don't have those things, then your life, I think, is not complete.

[Speaker 1]
So DCI also helps people to have beautiful relationships. Friends, business partners, family partners, good relationship with children and parents.

[Speaker 2]
Then if you have financial independence and nice relationships, but you don't have good health, it's difficult to enjoy those friends and family. So we try to teach people how to plant the seeds for good health. Then those are outer things.

Some people are very rich, beautiful family, good health, but inside they are very unhappy.

[Speaker 1]
So I think it's important to have success inside.

[Speaker 2]
And the mind feels peaceful, happy.

[Speaker 1]
So those four things, I think, make a full life. But if you go to a restaurant with, I don't know, five or six friends, and there's only enough food for you, and your friends are hungry, it's difficult to enjoy your dinner. So I think all of us would like to make other people happy.

It's lonely to be happy and successful when all the people around you are not. So I think the fifth goal of DCI is to teach us how to spread that happiness to other people. And those are the goals of DCI.

DCI is based in ancient Buddhist teachings. And to make the DCI courses, we use over 10,000 ancient books. But we try to make DCI open to everybody.

[Speaker 2]
So last year, for example, we went to many Muslim countries.

[Speaker 1]
Many Christian countries. We are strong in Jewish countries. So we want to teach people without asking them, oh, you have to be Buddhist.

[Speaker 2]
So we don't talk about Buddhism.

[Speaker 1]
We just use some of the wisdom for people to use in their own country, in their own religion. So, I don't know, if we give a talk for 1,000 people, say in Singapore, then we will have a retreat. And we will say, you can go deeper in the retreat.

And from 1,000 people, 100 people will come to a retreat. One out of ten. And we go deeper for two, three days.

[Speaker 2]
From that 100 people, ten of those people, which is one out of a hundred, they will say, I want to go deeper.

[Speaker 1]
Can you teach me those ancient books? Can you teach me this ancient wisdom? So for those people, we have a separate organization.

It's not called DCI, it's called ACI. Asian Classics Institute. And they teach deeper the ancient books.

And the spiritual side. So you are all the one out of 100. This is the ACI course.

We do it four times a year. Ten days usually. Sometimes longer.

Like October we had, I think, three weeks. So four times a year. Two times a year we do it in our retreat center in America.

Which is a very beautiful, empty place. And even many people have done three-year retreat there. Then some of my friends said, oh, American visa is hard to get.

Can you do a retreat in Mexico? Mexico visa is pretty easy. So once a year we do retreat in Guadalajara, Mexico.

It's a beautiful lake called Chapala.

[Speaker 2]
Then recently, especially friends from China and Europe, they said Mexico is easy visa but difficult for airplane.

[Speaker 1]
You know, we have job. We cannot just go. We have family.

We cannot just fly to Mexico. So can you do one retreat every year closer to China?

[Speaker 2]
Closer to Europe.

[Speaker 1]
Then only like 15 people have jet lag and the rest are fresh. So I said, okay, let's do that. Especially Jasmine pushed me.

So that's why we're here. And this is an experiment. Experiment, yeah.

So we're going to see how it works. Those four retreats I like to make free. We don't pay the teachers.

You are giving donation to hotel. And Air China, China Southern, China Eastern. But we try to make the course for free.

And it's a lot of pressure and a lot of financial risk for people like Jasmine. I thank her again for being so brave. Then when I go to China, I love China.

I just finished a book about China with a Chinese businessman, Dr. Eric Wu. And it's a book about how China and the rest of the world can be friends and be prosperous. And last, I don't know, five years as I go to China, almost every time I meet with the security people, and I ask them, is everything okay?

Do I do everything okay? And they said, you're great. And everything's good.

But to respect them and to respect the policies of Chinese government, I don't wear my robes when I go to China. And I don't teach Buddhism in China. But a lot of friends ask me, will you teach us Buddhism?

So I said, okay, you come to Thailand. And I told also the government, and they said, that's great. But I would like to show the video in different countries.

And so I'm not wearing robes. I hope you don't mind. It makes it easier for everyone to watch the video.

And I also don't have to wash my clothes so much. I'd like to thank the tech team and the foreign team.

[Speaker 2]
Both the local team and the foreign team, thank you.

[Speaker 1]
They worked really hard for many months to make the videos happen. And I believe the class is being streamed live. Maybe you can put up the link so people can tell their families and things.

But it took several years of work to get all these cameras and things like that.

[Speaker 2]
And I'm very grateful to them.

[Speaker 1]
So about, how many years ago? Six or seven years ago. My Buddhist students, they asked me, you know, will you do a retreat every year?

[Speaker 2]
Or four.

[Speaker 1]
And we started. And I tried to think of what's the most precious thing I can teach.

[Speaker 2]
And this is a book which my teacher taught to me. So I lived with my teacher for 25 years. Same house.

[Speaker 1]
He put up with a lot of trouble from me. And he taught me this book three times. It took over 20 years.

And I think it's the greatest book in the world. So it was written by a lama who lived about a hundred years ago. And you know these books called Dummies Guide to Car Repair or something.

It means everything you need to know. My lama, you know, he was from West China. And one day our car broke.

He said, you fix the car.

[Speaker 2]
Then I said, I don't know anything about fix the car.

[Speaker 1]
He said, this car is made in America.

[Speaker 2]
You're American.

[Speaker 1]
Then I got a book. It's called Idiot's Guide to Fixing Car. And watch the screwdriver.

Then I read the book very carefully. And I took apart the car. Anyway, I broke it.

We had to get a new car. But this book is similar. Everything you need to know to become a Buddha.

So I grew up in a Christian country.

[Speaker 2]
And I went to church all the time.

[Speaker 1]
And when I met my lama, he said, the goal is to become Buddha. Then I said, I was confused. I said, no, no, I just have to pray to Buddha.

I don't want to become Buddha. He said, no, no, in Christian, you pray to like Jesus or God. But in Buddhism, you become God.

You become Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
That's the goal. Then you can help millions of people.

[Speaker 1]
And he said, everybody in this room has a seed to become Buddha. Then I thought, oh, that's cool. I like that.

[Speaker 2]
I'll try. So, this book, it's called Lam Rim.

[Speaker 1]
And I will use some Tibetan language in the class. Lam means path. Rim means step by step.

So, if you study this book from beginning to end, anybody can become Buddha. You just have to sit there in the class.

[Speaker 2]
Do what I ask you to do. Step by step.

[Speaker 1]
And anybody in this class will become Buddha. So, we started this book ... I'm going to pass the book around.

The shape comes from ancient India. When I finished my Geshe, my teacher gave me his copy. So, you can ...

I will pass it around. And you can check it out.

[Speaker 2]
Please don't mix up the pages.

[Speaker 1]
And it's kind of falling apart. Very old. So, in India, Buddhism started before paper.

So, they didn't have paper. So, they just used leaf from the tree.

[Speaker 2]
Palm tree.

[Speaker 1]
And they take a needle and they scratch the leaf. And then they take charcoal and they put it on the leaf, in the scratches. And those books, you can still see them in India.

So, they don't have binding. They're just loose pages. And they're shaped like leaf.

[Speaker 2]
Then, nowadays, they put them in a cloth to keep them together.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe Earl can pass this around. You can just pass it around for, I don't know, a couple of hours. And you're welcome to look at it.

Be careful of the top pages. So, in the old days, they will drill a hole through the book. And they will hold the pages together with a string.

[Speaker 2]
And the Sanskrit word for string is sutra.

[Speaker 1]
So, that's why this book came to be called sutra. So, we started this, I don't know, six, seven years ago. We finished about one quarter.

We had 24 retreats. This is number 24. So, to be honest, I think it will take me 50 more times to finish.

Then, I'm going slow.

[Speaker 2]
And I'm teaching the old way.

[Speaker 1]
If you don't want to study the old way, come to DCI.

[Speaker 2]
This class is for serious people.

[Speaker 1]
And it's harder. And we go deeper. And I'm going to read this book I'm going to read every single word from the old book.

So, I don't care if you don't like it.

[Speaker 2]
Because in my life, I want to teach the old way to a few serious people.

[Speaker 1]
So, we're going to go word by word.

[Speaker 2]
Not only we're going to go slow, I'm going to add a lot of stuff from the older books. So, it's going to go even slower.

[Speaker 1]
So, you will be old, and I will be older when we finish. But I'll tell you, you will be very, very happy. And you will become Buddha, or you will become close to.

[Speaker 2]
Just come.

[Speaker 1]
Just try to come as much as you can. And I hope Jasmine is willing It's like 10 more times. 10 more times in Thailand.

Then 30 more times in other countries.

[Speaker 2]
So, if you have time, you are very welcome to come to the other Lam Rim.

[Speaker 1]
And it's a lot of fun. We have a lot of guests from China come to our retreat center. We even have two Chinese members of our board, Vivian and Stanley.

[Speaker 2]
So, you are always welcome to come. So, the goal this morning is to catch you up There are many new people in the room.

[Speaker 1]
And that's fine. And you can catch up. Almost all the old classes are online.

And slowly you can listen to them. Beijing people, Mexico City people, very lucky. The traffic is unbelievable.

Then you can play the Lam Rim audio in your car. And it's all online. From the past 6, 7 years.

There's a special website called The Knowledge Base. They have, I think, 5000 teachings by Geshe Michael on the website. Last 30 or 35 years.

The director of that website lives in Thailand. And, where are you? Jamie.

Thank you for making it free for all of us. Thank you. So, this morning my goal is to give you a short summary of the last 7 years.

We'll take a break in about half an hour. But let me give you a short summary of what we did so far. Guess how I'm going to start.

American students can go to sleep. If you're not already. I'm going to give you a 5 minute teaching.

[Speaker 2]
This is called the pen teaching.

[Speaker 1]
It's very important for this week.

[Speaker 2]
What we are studying this week is protection.

[Speaker 1]
In Buddhism we call the three jewels.

[Speaker 2]
These three jewels means three things that can protect you in your life. If you're having trouble with those five things.

[Speaker 1]
I can't make money.

[Speaker 2]
I'm having trouble making money.

[Speaker 1]
I try really hard. I work very hard.

[Speaker 2]
I'm not succeeding.

[Speaker 1]
Or I try to get along with my wife or my husband and I have problems.

[Speaker 2]
Or I have trouble with other people. Or I have a health problem.

[Speaker 1]
No matter what I do, it's not getting better.

[Speaker 2]
Or in my mind I feel depressed. I can't sleep.

[Speaker 1]
I can only sleep if I try to meditate. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Problems like that.

[Speaker 1]
And we all have bigger problems. Everybody's getting old. I don't care how young you are.

[Speaker 2]
How strong you are.

[Speaker 1]
Your life is like a candle. It's like a debit card. You are losing life every day.

[Speaker 2]
It's leaking out.

[Speaker 1]
And slowly you are getting older. And eventually we will all die. And so there's a bigger question about life.

And we don't talk about it in DCI. And that's where am I going to go after that? Where was I before I was born?

And where will I go after that? And who can protect me? Who can go with me?

[Speaker 2]
Who can help me with the big things? So this is not like a university class.

[Speaker 1]
In the university they don't teach you how to die. They don't teach you how to go to a better place. So in a way the most important thing in life you can only learn in this room.

Everybody has to die. Everybody has to go on that trip. Nobody's talking about it.

Nobody's telling you how to get ready.

[Speaker 2]
Nobody's telling you where you're going to go. So this ten days that's all we're going to talk about. Because it's the most important thing.

[Speaker 1]
And so you're very lucky to be here.

[Speaker 2]
The goal of this class is bigger.

[Speaker 1]
Why do people get old? Why do people get sick? Where did war come from?

Can we stop war? These bigger questions is the purpose of this class.

[Speaker 2]
So maybe ten or twenty days a year you should come to this class to think about the bigger things.

[Speaker 1]
Then of course you should balance that with a nice job. Nice family life. But a complete human life it should include family and your career and find out what's going to happen when I die.

How can I get ready? How can I be safe?

[Speaker 2]
That subject protection three jewels is the purpose of this ten days.

[Speaker 1]
So I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to just tell you from a story.

[Speaker 2]
We'll start with the pen and after that I'll tell you a story.

[Speaker 1]
If you heard ...

[Speaker 2]
Somebody asked me in Singapore Geshe-la, how many times are you going to teach the pen?

[Speaker 1]
I said, my teacher told me I have to hear it 3,000 times. So still you have 2,995 to go, okay? To protect yourself after you die.

[Speaker 2]
And before you die you must understand the pen.

[Speaker 1]
Because you must understand kong shing emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
The three jewels Buddha Dharma Sangha These three things three kinds of protection at the core they are all kong shing. They are all emptiness. So this week we're going to talk about protection.

And they all relate to emptiness. So let's talk about emptiness first. Then we'll review the three jewels.

And then we'll start to read the book together. And we'll do lots of meditations.

[Speaker 1]
You'll also have special classes. I'll talk about those. So if you heard the pen already 10 times my suggestion try to guess what I'm going to say next.

Because then you can teach it. Okay, you can be a teacher. Alright, here we go.

[Speaker 2]
What's this thing?

[Speaker 1]
Pen? Okay, good.

[Speaker 2]
Next question. If a small dog came in here came up near on the stage and I go I show this to the dog what would they do with it? They'll bite it.

Puppy dog. Okay, next question.

[Speaker 1]
Too early. Does the dog see this as a pen?

[Speaker 2]
No, how does the dog see it?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, shoe toy.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, who's correct? The dog or the human? Both.

No problem. Dog can chew. Human can write.

No problem.

[Speaker 1]
Next question more difficult. If I put this pen here on the table then I say, okay, coffee break.

[Speaker 2]
Everybody all the people go out.

[Speaker 1]
All the dogs go out.

[Speaker 2]
Last person probably Jasmine's the last person close the door. Everything's empty.

[Speaker 1]
The room is empty.

[Speaker 2]
There's no people here. There's no dogs here. At that time is this a pen or is it a toy?

Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Nothing. It's like nothing yet. Okay, now you stay there.

Okay, then I don't know. Stanley comes back. Then Geshe Michael comes back.

And Geshe Michael's walking up to the stage. Hi Stanley. I like your phantom haircut.

Then I say, oh, what's that?

[Speaker 2]
Okay, at that moment what does this become? Yeah, a pen.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, it became a pen when I look at it.

[Speaker 2]
Next question.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, Vivian's right.

[Speaker 2]
So, show me with your hand. Is this pen coming from itself or is it coming from me? Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, like that.

[Speaker 2]
Easy.

[Speaker 1]
When you teach that it doesn't mean the people don't like you. It means the pen is coming from me. How?

There's a seed in my mind. Okay, there's a small seed in my mind. Scott, you've got to get ready.

Okay, then come up here and be ready.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, there's a seed in my mind.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, when I reach the stairs and I look at Stanley, then I see this thing, you know, then at that moment a seed opens in my mind.

[Speaker 2]
Now listen.

[Speaker 1]
Karma, karma, karma, karma.

[Speaker 2]
Ye Li, Ye Li, Ye Li, Ye Li. Okay, what's it mean?

[Speaker 1]
Just a seed in your mind. Okay, everything else you heard about karma is wrong. It just means a seed in your mind.

Okay, when Geshe Michael got to here the seed didn't open yet.

[Speaker 2]
When he reached here the seed opened. Small picture comes out. Pen picture.

This big. It's about this big. It's made of light.

And it comes out of the mind to the stick. And then the stick becomes a pen. Next question.

I'm going to change the question, okay? Is the pen real?

[Speaker 1]
One guy in America has told me it's not real. It comes from your mind. I said, sir, could you please come up to the stage?

Then he came up, you know.

[Speaker 2]
Then I took the pen.

[Speaker 1]
I gave him mustache. He said, what are you doing?

[Speaker 2]
I said, don't worry, it's not real. It just comes from your mind.

[Speaker 1]
Then he had a permanent mustache for like one week. Okay? It's coming from your mind.

[Speaker 2]
But it's real.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
If you could plant a money seed and the money came out that money is real. You can buy things.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
No problem.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so I'm going to show you how to plant a seed.

[Speaker 2]
How many steps?

[Speaker 1]
Four. Okay, now I need Scott.

[Speaker 2]
You ready?

[Speaker 1]
But Scott gave it, right? No? She representing you?

Now it's too much competition. It's okay. Okay, we're going to plant a seed together.

This is really a Lam Rim class, but he has a baby, I know.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, all right, so please stand up.

[Speaker 1]
What's your name? Dorje.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, we're old friends.

[Speaker 1]
One of my first organizer in China. But he has a problem, he had a baby.

[Speaker 2]
So, we're going to plant a seed together.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And Dorje is going to help me. So, he's going to hold his hand up.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, watch. Four steps. Step number one.

[Speaker 1]
I want a thousand dollars.

[Speaker 2]
I have a hundred.

[Speaker 1]
U.S. 100. Not bought, okay? U.S. 100. Okay? And I want to make it into one thousand dollars. And I'm not kidding.

[Speaker 2]
I really want to make it into a thousand dollars.

[Speaker 1]
Christmas is coming up. I have to buy a lot of things. I need more money.

So, I will plant a seed.

[Speaker 2]
Number one. I want some money. Number two.

[Speaker 1]
I have to find another person who wants some money.

[Speaker 2]
Dorje, you want some money?

[Speaker 1]
He's like, okay.

[Speaker 2]
Step number three.

[Speaker 1]
I must help him make money. Okay, so I put money in his hand. He has a small company, I know.

So, he can use some extra money.

[Speaker 2]
Now watch.

[Speaker 1]
Step number three. How is karma planted?

[Speaker 2]
I let go. I see my hand open. That picture comes to my eye.

It touches my mind.

[Speaker 1]
And then it makes an impression on my mind. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
And that impression, within two, three hours, it becomes a seed below the conscious mind.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And then when that seed opens, I will make ten times more. A thousand dollars.

Recently we were in Singapore, Johor Bahru, Jakarta.

[Speaker 2]
I gave ten talks.

[Speaker 1]
I gave away ten $100 bills.

[Speaker 2]
What month was it?

[Speaker 1]
I don't know. August?

[Speaker 2]
August. Yeah, then when I came home, on my desk, in the mail, there's a letter.

[Speaker 1]
Inside, $10,000 check.

[Speaker 2]
Really. Jenda, jenda.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? So, that's how you plant a seed.

[Speaker 2]
Those three steps plant a seed.

[Speaker 1]
Right? Three-step system, right?

[Speaker 2]
Taichung.

[Speaker 1]
No, say no.

[Speaker 2]
Three-step system.

[Speaker 1]
What's missing? Yeah. Three steps plant karma.

You know, my mom planted a lot of good karma. She gave money to many, many people. And she died with no money.

She was poor. Why?

[Speaker 2]
You know, if she can give money her whole life, but she dies poor, then we think, oh, it doesn't work. No, Geshe Michael, it sounds very nice.

[Speaker 1]
It's very compassionate. It's very sweet that you are giving money to Dorje and his child. You're going to take your wife to dinner tonight, I know.

[Speaker 2]
But it doesn't work.

[Speaker 1]
Many nice people are poor. Many bad people are rich. You know, it doesn't really work.

[Speaker 2]
It's very spiritual. It's very religious.

[Speaker 1]
It doesn't work.

[Speaker 2]
It doesn't really work. The problem is that doesn't work.

[Speaker 1]
That seed might take one hundred years to open. Okay? You have to find out how to make the seed open faster.

[Speaker 2]
That's why we do step number four.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Step number four makes the karma open faster. That's a meditation.

[Speaker 2]
Don't do this.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Don't do that. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
For step number four, before you go to bed, relax.

[Speaker 1]
You know, go back on your pillow. Think about the nice thing you did for somebody. That's the most important thing you will learn here for ten days.

Okay? You can go swimming now for nine days.

[Speaker 2]
You heard the most important thing.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Just relax on your bed. Think about the good things you do for other people.

Or the good things you see other people do.

[Speaker 2]
And just be happy.

[Speaker 1]
That's the big secret for success. Okay? And then the seed will open fast.

Like, when you get home from Singapore, the seed opening will be waiting on your desk.

[Speaker 2]
So, this whole ten days, most important thing, be happy about the good things you're doing. When you go to bed, you're not allowed to say, Oh, I'm a bad person.

[Speaker 1]
My husband yells at me. My boss doesn't like me. My kids are stupid.

[Speaker 2]
Nothing's happy. You can think that all day, but not when you go to sleep. Okay?

Just before go to sleep, think something beautiful. Think about the good things you're doing.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? You have to.

[Speaker 2]
Otherwise, karma won't open.

[Speaker 1]
You will die like my mother died. Take all those seeds to die.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
The only way they open is if you're really happy about the good things you're doing. And the good things you see other people doing. So, where's the kong shing?

Where's the emptiness? Which step in that explanation was emptiness?

[Speaker 2]
Yes. Yeah, when I put the pen on the table, and everybody went out, at that time, the pen is kong. Okay?

The pen is empty. And when I came back, and the seed opened, and the picture came out, then it got full again. Okay?

So, when it's on the table by itself, and it's nothing yet, that emptiness, that's protection. Why? How?

How do I use it? For ten days we're going to talk about it. The emptiness has a name in protection.

It's called three jewels.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
In Buddhism, there are three jewels.

[Speaker 1]
It means like three gods or something. If you use them for protection, then you're a Buddhist. And if you don't, you're not a Buddhist.

If you know about them, and you use them, three jewels, you're a Buddhist.

[Speaker 2]
If you don't, you're not a Buddhist. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Doesn't matter what you think.

[Speaker 2]
Doesn't matter what temple you go to. Doesn't matter what clothes you wear.

[Speaker 1]
There's a very famous story in west side of China.

[Speaker 2]
Big monastery, 10,000 monks, and the boss of the monastery is giving teaching. Then two monks are listening, and one monk said to the other, this is really strange. What?

The abbot, the boss of one of the biggest monasteries in the world, what's wrong? He's not a Buddhist. What?

He's not Buddhist. Why? He doesn't know what's the three jewels.

He's teaching all day. What do you mean?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, but he doesn't understand what is three jewels. Therefore, he's not a Buddhist.

[Speaker 2]
To be a Buddhist, you have to understand the three jewels. That's what makes you a Buddhist.

[Speaker 1]
In Christian religion, you become Christian when they put water on your head when you're a little kid. Then you're a Christian. In Buddhism, you become a Buddhist when you understand the three jewels.

So, let's talk about that. I'm supposed to give you a break. I don't care.

Let's start. If you have to go to the bathroom, just go.

[Speaker 2]
I don't mind.

[Speaker 1]
So, now I'm going to tell you a story. It's a review of what we did in the last six years. Then we'll start reading the book.

Scott, you ready with that thing that I gave you this morning? That we started at four o'clock this morning? Okay, what's the first picture there?

Yeah, okay.

[Speaker 2]
In America, when you're a little kid, I have to walk to school.

[Speaker 1]
So, I'm like, I don't know, six or seven years old.

[Speaker 2]
And we have to walk to school. And there's a special sign where, you know, the sign is on the street.

[Speaker 1]
And this is where the kids are supposed to cross the street. They put a sign up like that at my school.

[Speaker 2]
Because one day, one kid in my class, he tried to run across the street by himself. And he got hit by a car.

[Speaker 1]
And he died.

[Speaker 2]
And I was there. I saw him. After, he was dying.

A little kid.

[Speaker 1]
And I remember his head was torn, you know.

[Speaker 2]
And he's like this, you know.

[Speaker 1]
And I remember this movement, you know. He's like that. And then he died.

And it was terrible. Then they put this sign near the school. This is crosswalk.

This is place where the children can cross the street. Then my mom went crazy, of course.

[Speaker 2]
You have to walk to this sign. When you see the sign, you can cross the street.

[Speaker 1]
Next slide. So, you know, this is me and my friends, you know. And we can only go to the sign.

Then there's a problem. Nobody driver cares about the sign. They just ignore it.

You know. We are supposed to wait for the cars to stop. Nobody stops.

[Speaker 2]
They just keep going. But we had a friend. His name is Bob.

We call him Old Man Bob. He's drunk. What do you call?

[Speaker 1]
Homeless man.

[Speaker 2]
He drinks and he sits on the sidewalk near the sign.

[Speaker 1]
And then he says, I'll take you kids across, don't worry. I'll take care of everything, don't worry. Then he's like, take us across the street.

[Speaker 2]
Halfway across the street. He get confused.

[Speaker 1]
Because he's drunk. Then he's like, You kids got any spare change? You got any money?

I need some more alcohol. Then the cars are coming. He's like, you know, you got any money?

So, we got tired of Old Man Bob. We can't trust him. To take us across the street.

Okay, it doesn't work. He was really nice.

[Speaker 2]
But he couldn't take us across the street. Nice guy. Funny.

Big smile, no teeth. Cannot take us across the street. Then the school decide, we'll assign a student.

To take the other students across the street.

[Speaker 1]
His name is Little Jimmy. Okay, we call him Little Jimmy. Then they gave him a sign.

It says, go slow to the traffic. And he has a special hat. And a special, this thing here, belt.

You know, he's called crossing student, crossing guard. Then he's supposed to take us across the street.

[Speaker 2]
Little Jimmy.

[Speaker 1]
Then he's so little, the cars don't see him. And anyway, they don't care. So, he stepped out, then he jumped back.

He's like, stop, stop!

[Speaker 2]
And the cars are just going, you know.

[Speaker 1]
And we're like, Little Jimmy's not much help.

[Speaker 2]
He's official guard. But not much help. So, I think another kid got hurt.

And they brought Captain John.

[Speaker 1]
Captain John had a big stick. And he also has a gun.

[Speaker 2]
The cars all stopped.

[Speaker 1]
Like, we were happy with Captain John.

[Speaker 2]
You know, he just go like this.

[Speaker 1]
All the cars are like, uh!

[Speaker 2]
And he say, go ahead, walk across the street.

[Speaker 1]
We feel safe with Captain John. We don't feel safe with old man Bob. And we don't feel safe with Little Jimmy.

But Captain John, we feel safe. And he was a really nice guy. And he really take care of the kids.

Why are we talking about that? There's three kinds of protection in the world.

[Speaker 2]
Old man Bob. Little Jimmy. And Captain John.

Which one you want?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, you want Captain John. Okay? So, we're going to talk about it.

What is protection? And what's real protection? Okay?

You don't want old man Bob.

[Speaker 2]
You don't want Captain John.

[Speaker 1]
And you don't want Little Jimmy.

[Speaker 2]
You want Captain John. That's real protection.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Why is old man Bob not a good protector? He can take you halfway.

[Speaker 2]
Then maybe he will stop. Okay? So, when old man Bob take you across the street, it's not sure you will reach the other side.

[Speaker 1]
That's like not very good protection. How about Little Jimmy? Official protection or not?

Official or not? Yeah, approved by the school. But not much power.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Maybe you can reach the other side safely, maybe not.

[Speaker 2]
Captain John? Good protection. You can always reach the other side.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Now I want to show you some more kinds of protection.

[Speaker 2]
You tell me, is it little Bob? Sorry, old man Bob? Or little Jimmy?

[Speaker 1]
Or Captain John? Are you ready, Scott?

[Speaker 2]
Next image.

[Speaker 1]
How many people vote that this is old man Bob? How many people vote this is little Jimmy? How many people vote this is Captain John?

Only one person is correct. Janice. Congratulations.

This is old man Bob. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Why? What's wrong with old man Bob? He take you halfway, he stops.

[Speaker 1]
When you go with old man Bob, you're not sure you're going to succeed or not.

[Speaker 2]
When you go with old man Bob, you're not sure you're going to succeed or not. This is old man Bob. It's called a doctor.

Okay? Maybe fix you, maybe kill you.

[Speaker 1]
The woman who voted for old man Bob, do you mind if I say? A doctor killed her two weeks ago. Her heart stopped.

And luckily, her friend was there, has medical training. Doctor gave her some medicine, wrong medicine. Her heart stopped.

And she's going to die in two minutes. And her friend helped her. And I'm glad you're still here.

This guy is old man Bob.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? You have to understand. Okay?

Why?

[Speaker 1]
Not sure he can fix you. Sometimes fix you.

[Speaker 2]
Sometimes kill you. Or many times cannot fix you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Not a good protector.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? We think he's a good protector.

[Speaker 1]
He looks intelligent.

[Speaker 2]
He looks friendly. He was well trained.

[Speaker 1]
And he's not a good protector. Same as old man Bob.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Try to understand. The best doctor in this world is not a good protector.

[Speaker 2]
Let's try next one. Fireman. Is this old man Bob?

Or little Jimmy?

[Speaker 1]
Or Captain John?

[Speaker 2]
How many people vote for old man Bob?

[Speaker 1]
How many people vote for little Jimmy? How many people vote Captain John? Okay, this is old man Bob.

Okay? My house was on fire. The fireman came and destroyed my house.

[Speaker 2]
Little bit stupid fireman.

[Speaker 1]
He like to break things. That's why he became fireman. He break everything in my house.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
You don't know if he can help you. Maybe he can put out fire, maybe not. Not a real protection.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Not a real protection.

[Speaker 1]
Let's try another one.

[Speaker 2]
Try to do better, okay? This is a lawyer.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
There's a famous story in America.

[Speaker 1]
Two guys found a oyster. They'll keep the shell with the pearl inside.

[Speaker 2]
Pearl.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, then they open it. Then they found inside very valuable pearl.

[Speaker 2]
Then they start argument.

[Speaker 1]
Who owns the pearl? So finally they had court case.

[Speaker 2]
They got a lawyer.

[Speaker 1]
What happened? Lawyer took the pearl. Each guy got one piece of shell.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Is this old man Bob? Little Jimmy?

[Speaker 1]
Or Captain John? Old man Bob.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Same as a drunk old man.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Same as a drunk homeless person. Why?

When you hire a lawyer, you don't know what's going to happen.

[Speaker 2]
Even good one. Even honest one. Okay?

Maybe you will win, maybe you will lose. Bad protection.

[Speaker 1]
Like old man Bob. Take you halfway. Don't know if I can take you the whole way.

[Speaker 2]
Not good protection.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Maybe can help, maybe cannot. Every lawyer is like that.

Okay? Every lawyer is old man Bob. Let's try one more.

I'm sorry if the lawyer is in the audience.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, this is a judge. Old man Bob? Yes!

Why? Maybe you win, maybe you lose. Maybe he protect you, maybe not.

[Speaker 1]
Someone trying to steal my house. Someone trying to take my money. Maybe judge decide for you, maybe decide for the other person.

It's not good to go to them.

[Speaker 2]
It's not good protection. Definitely not one of the three jewels. Okay?

Doctor, fireman, lawyer, judge, not three jewels. Why? Three jewels never fail you.

They always help you. If you understand the three jewels, you always succeed. Three jewels are Captain John.

[Speaker 1]
Everybody else is the old man Bob.

[Speaker 2]
There's a few little Jimmy's. Okay, next.

[Speaker 1]
Stock broker. Old man Bob. Come on.

Maybe lose all your money. Maybe make you money.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, don't be stupid.

[Speaker 1]
If he can make you money, he won't make you money, he will make his own money.

[Speaker 2]
Understand?

[Speaker 1]
That's why he's an investment advisor.

[Speaker 2]
Because he doesn't know how to make money. Understand?

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Old man Bob. Take you halfway. Maybe you don't reach the other side.

All of them, you can't trust them. They are nice people. They are good people.

They are trying to help you.

[Speaker 1]
But maybe they will fail.

[Speaker 2]
That means they are not three jewels.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, now let's go deeper.

[Speaker 2]
I like Chinese people because they like to go deeper.

[Speaker 1]
I'm going to go so deep this week, you will fall asleep or you will get confused. Okay, next. This is a place called Borobudur.

We are going to have a program there in August. It's in Indonesia. Whole mountain covered with Buddha.

Made one thousand years ago. I will teach Wheel of Life.

[Speaker 2]
Two days and two nights without stop. No sleep.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Is this Captain Bob or Little Jimmy?

[Speaker 2]
Or ...

[Speaker 1]
Sorry, Captain John. Or old man Bob. Which one?

Statue of Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
Statue of Buddha. Little Jimmy. Okay, why?

Official. Approved by the school. But only statue.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Cannot directly help you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? You can go there. You can sit next to the statue.

If you have cancer, you will probably die. Okay? The statue is good.

Statue represent Buddha. But it's not Buddha. Okay?

Cannot protect you. Okay? You can go to temple.

Pray to Buddha. Sometimes cancer go away, sometimes not.

[Speaker 2]
It's almost old man Bob.

[Speaker 1]
But it's approved.

[Speaker 2]
We can say Little Jimmy.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Statue can help you a little bit. But not much. Okay?

It's good to go to temple.

[Speaker 1]
It's good to pray to statue. But cannot help you directly.

[Speaker 2]
And actually, in this book, we call this Buddha not real Buddha. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Just like representative of Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Statue cannot help you. Many people died in temples. Okay?

Many people walked into temple and carried out of temple. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Cannot directly protect you. Okay? Next.

[Speaker 1]
This is Buddha in Buddha's paradise. This is Amitabha. Living in Amitabha's heaven.

Which one of the three?

[Speaker 2]
Be careful. This is very difficult.

[Speaker 1]
This is Amitabha. And by the way, we are reviewing last course. Those of you who came to Arizona, you should be able to give me a good answer.

Real protection or not? I'm not talking about the painting. I'm talking about the real Amitabha in Amitabha's heaven.

Who says it's kept ... sorry, old man Bob. Yeah, good.

[Speaker 2]
It's not old man Bob. It's little Jimmy.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Cannot help you directly. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Just Buddha's face, Buddha's hands, cannot directly help you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Living in another place.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Cannot help you directly. Okay? Is it beautiful?

Yes.

[Speaker 2]
Is it enlightened? Yes. Is it Buddha?

[Speaker 1]
Yes.

[Speaker 2]
Is it real protection Buddha jewel? We say no. Very interesting.

Okay? Cannot directly protect you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? What's the next one? This is my lama.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
We believe Buddha come to earth.

[Speaker 1]
Amitabha came to earth.

[Speaker 2]
Show like a human being, but not real human being.

[Speaker 1]
Actually Buddha. We supposed to think like that. We call nirmanakaya, nirmanakaya.

[Speaker 2]
Buddha came to earth. Buddha show a body on earth. Which one?

[Speaker 1]
What?

[Speaker 2]
Little Jimmy. Little Jimmy. Represent Buddha.

Official approved.

[Speaker 1]
But cannot protect you directly. There is a famous story. Buddha's village was attacked by other country's people.

[Speaker 2]
Many people ran to Buddha's house. Hold on to Buddha's clothes for protection. They were all killed.

[Speaker 1]
Buddha wasn't killed. But all those people were killed.

[Speaker 2]
Buddha couldn't protect person sitting next to him. Much less statue.

[Speaker 1]
Little Jimmy. Very difficult.

[Speaker 2]
We need to talk about it for ten days.

[Speaker 1]
Is it real Buddha jewel?

[Speaker 2]
We have to talk about it.

[Speaker 1]
Next. This is also Bodobudur. But I put it here because it's to show Buddha meditating.

It's impossible to show you a picture of Buddha's mind. But I chose this picture. I'm not showing you statue.

I'm not even showing you living Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
I'm showing you how a Buddha thinks.

[Speaker 1]
What is Buddha thinking? Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Which one?

[Speaker 1]
That's Captain John. How Buddha thinks.

[Speaker 2]
How Buddha meditates.

[Speaker 1]
This is protection.

[Speaker 2]
If you have it, you will always reach the other side of the street. If you have it, nothing can hurt you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Cannot die.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
If you have this, that's real protection. Real Buddha jewel.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Got it? And we'll talk more about it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Next one. What's in the picture?

[Speaker 2]
Pen.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Pen.

[Speaker 2]
So the most important part of the Buddha, the core of the Buddha, the heart of the Buddha, is kong shing. Emptiness.

[Speaker 1]
That's why I talked about it at the beginning of the class.

[Speaker 2]
That's what this picture represents.

[Speaker 1]
It's a picture about a pen. Okay? The girl is just a young girl.

But in her hand is the core of the Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Definitely Captain John.

[Speaker 2]
Super Captain John. Okay? If a child understands the pen, that can protect them better than Buddha statue.

[Speaker 1]
Better than Amitabha. Okay? Better than Lama.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
If they understand a little bit about the pen, that's protection. And that's a real Buddha.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? So we have to talk about it.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
We have to talk more about it.

[Speaker 2]
It feels to you wrong, or confusing, or controversial.

[Speaker 1]
If it feels like that, it's good. Okay? And then we have to talk about it for ten days.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Why? My goal is to give you Captain John.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
When you leave here in ten days, you should have something which can protect you always, even after you die.

[Speaker 2]
That's the goal of these ten days. And it will take ten days to understand what's the real protection.

[Speaker 1]
What's the real Buddha jewel.

[Speaker 2]
Ten days from now, if you stay in the class, you'll be a Buddhist. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And maybe you're not now. And maybe you don't know. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
If you understand what is protection, you're a Buddhist. If you don't, if you think just go to temple and blah blah blah blah blah blah, you're not a Buddhist. Okay?

According to Buddha, not me. This is Buddha's definition, not mine. If you don't understand who's Captain John, you're not a Buddhist.

Even if you want to be a Buddhist, even if you've been a Buddhist your whole life, okay?

[Speaker 1]
So, it's very important, these ten days. Okay? Next picture.

[Speaker 2]
Is this ...? Which one is this? It's sutra. Jingang Jing.

Oldest printed book in the world. Diamond Cutter Sutra. Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Hmm?

[Speaker 2]
Little Jimmy.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? It's not protection. It's little protection.

[Speaker 2]
It's not real protection.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? That's amazing.

[Speaker 2]
Is this Dharma? No. No.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? It's not Dharma. Alright?

[Speaker 2]
It's not real Dharma. The paper cannot protect you. Even the words cannot protect you.

We have to study it. We have to try to understand it. Next one.

Is this Dharma? If she's thinking correctly about kongshin, then her mind is the only real Dharma. Books are not Dharma.

[Speaker 1]
Not real Dharma. Cannot protect you. People in West China put Diamond Sutra on their neck.

They wear it on their neck.

[Speaker 2]
Cannot protect you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Cannot protect you.

[Speaker 2]
The meaning of the book protects you.

[Speaker 1]
Where does the meaning stay?

[Speaker 2]
In your mind. Okay? If you understand the book, that's Dharma.

If you don't, the same book is not Dharma. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Not one of the three jewels. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So you're confused, I like it.

[Speaker 1]
Ten days I will make clear.

[Speaker 2]
At the end of ten days you will understand. You'll be a Buddhist. Next.

[Speaker 1]
Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

[Speaker 2]
Sangha means community. Legally, in Buddhism, it means five or more fully ordained monks.

[Speaker 1]
It's legally Sangha. Which one of the three?

[Speaker 2]
Little Jimmy. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
It's not Captain John. Okay? We don't know what's in the monk's mind.

If that monk doesn't understand kongshim, they are not real Sangha.

[Speaker 2]
They are little Jimmy Sangha. Okay? They are approved by the school.

But they are not real Sangha. They cannot protect you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Understand? Next one.

DCI 2016, Shanghai. I'm guessing every person in that photo understands the pen.

[Speaker 2]
Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Captain John. Okay? 250 Captain John.

Okay? Are they monks?

[Speaker 2]
I don't think so.

[Speaker 1]
Do they understand kongshim?

[Speaker 2]
Yes. That's real Sangha. They can protect you.

Okay? They can help you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Understand?

[Speaker 1]
If monks understand the pen, they can protect you.

[Speaker 2]
If a monk doesn't understand the pen, he cannot protect you.

[Speaker 1]
If a family person understands the pen, they can protect you.

[Speaker 2]
If a family person doesn't understand the pen, but they are a doctor or a lawyer or a judge or a stockbroker, cannot protect you.

[Speaker 1]
What about a doctor who understands the pen?

[Speaker 2]
Captain John.

[Speaker 1]
Got it? What about a doctor who doesn't understand the pen?

[Speaker 2]
Old man Bob. Understand?

[Speaker 1]
Got it? Okay? Not easy.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Not easy. We have to talk a lot about it.

Okay? What can protect you? If you understand who is Three Jewels, you don't have to worry about your life.

Everything will be successful.

[Speaker 1]
If you don't understand, even you go to temple every day and blah blah blah, you know what? You will suffer. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
You will have problems.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Got it? So, in this ten days, we have to talk about what's the real Three Jewels.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? And which is almost like little Jimmy.

[Speaker 1]
And which is not. Okay? That's the goal of this ten days.

And it's not difficult, but it needs correct explanation.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? So, starting in the afternoon, we will do the explanation. And it's difficult and it's deep, and don't complain.

Don't fall asleep.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Okay. One thing before Tim makes announcement.

We're going to start yoga now. I've got to teach you the secret yoga mantra. Ready?

[Speaker 2]
Okay, say, I hate yoga. I hate yoga.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? I also hate yoga. Okay?

I don't like yoga. I like eating. I like swimming.

[Speaker 2]
I like reading old books.

[Speaker 1]
I don't like getting sweaty.

[Speaker 2]
You know, I don't like it.

[Speaker 1]
But I do it every day.

[Speaker 2]
Since Lady Ruth taught me yoga twenty years ago, almost every day I do it.

[Speaker 1]
Why? It keeps me alive.

[Speaker 2]
Healthy. Okay? Strong.

I don't like it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? I wish I could take a pill and be strong. I wish I could eat a youtiao and be healthy.

But it doesn't work.

[Speaker 2]
So, I do yoga every day.

[Speaker 1]
And, you know, I feel like twenty-five years old. I can do things I couldn't do.

[Speaker 2]
When I was a kid.

[Speaker 1]
Very healthy. Okay? It's yoga.

So, I really, really want you all to do yoga. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
We can hate yoga together.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And just do it every day. It takes, I don't know, half an hour or so.

[Speaker 2]
And you'll be healthy for the rest of your life.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? I'm sixty-three. All my friends are twenty-eight.

And they get tired and I'm still working. I did this presentation at three-thirty this morning. Okay?

I don't feel tired. Okay? It's because I do yoga.

So, let's do it together, okay?

[Speaker 2]
If you never tried it before, don't worry about it. Just come. We'll suffer together.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And don't worry about how old you are.

[Speaker 2]
It doesn't matter. Okay? We'll just have fun.

Listen to some good music.

[Speaker 1]
You know, do all the stupid things.

[Speaker 2]
And you'll be healthy.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? And it's good for your family.

[Speaker 2]
If you don't get sick, you don't get diabetes, you don't have blood pressure, it's so easy for your family.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So, if you don't do it for yourself, do it for your family.

[Speaker 1]
If you get sick, they have to take care of you. Spend a lot of money. My Chinese friends told me, what, eat before forty, pay the doctor after forty.

Yeah. So, let's do yoga. Let's have fun together.

[Speaker 2]
And you'll be healthy for many years.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, Tim has ...