«Дар освобождения», курс 24 «Пустой Будда — высшая защита», занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
They meet together. Maybe she leads it a little bit. And they choose something that we studied together to study.

Like, they will choose one chapter from Diamond Cutter Book or something like that. And then everyone will get together. So, the doctor is Wang Xia.

The medicine is Ching Kang Jing. And then other people in the reading club are like nurse. Okay, so it's easier to do yoga if you have friends together.

It's easier to do study of Diamond Cutter Sutra. If you have friends together. And so, all three jewels are there in a Shanghai reading club.

So, we're going to do a meditation. It's called Doctor Medicine Nurse. And we're going to meditate about how are you going to continue this study after you go home?

Maybe some people are going to stay in Phuket rest of their life. I don't know. The ocean is pretty nice, although I haven't seen it yet.

So, what I'd like you to do during this meditation, I'll ask you, okay, where would you like to have your medical treatment? Then you could say, I'd like to meet my friends in Starbucks, Shimbunka. You know, three days after I get home.

And then, who's going to be the doctor? It means who's going to lead the reading meeting, reading club meeting, right? Like Wangsha.

Then, how are we going to contact other people to come? Which is like Sangha Jewel. Okay, and what would you like to study?

Together, okay? Pick some book, or you could study one of these talks. Okay, so we're going to meditate about that.

Okay, and prepare your plan for doctor, medicine, and who's the other nurse going to be with you? Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, Sangha Jewel. Ready?

Okay, here we go. Get ready. Don't forget to turn off your cell phone.

Get your mic on. Please relax your eyes, eyelids, and relax your mouth. Slow breath.

Relax your fingers. Pull in your stomach a little bit, and please come to your breath. Focus on the breath.

Long exhales. Then, when I get home, after two or three days, and maybe once a week, I would like to meet with some of my friends, and talk about the things we learned. So, which friends will you call?

Please think about that. To come to the coffee shop together, which friends will you call? Then, try to think about these friends as if you were sick person, and they were your nurses.

They are going to help the doctor, like a nurse, and you are sick person. So, think about them this way for a few minutes. The friends who come to share together, they are actually like Sangha Jewel for me.

They are like nurses who are helping me. And who would you like to lead the reading club or the study together? Which person would you like to lead?

Maybe you or somebody else. And that person is like a doctor for me. And what's the medicine?

We are going to talk about the four steps, using the four steps. And the most important part of that is the pen. Then the most important part, I don't feel sick.

I feel fine. Then my life is not perfect, but it's not so bad. But during this last part of the meditation, it's important to start to think about yourself as a sick person.

But Geshe-la, I don't feel sick. No, but you are sick, and we are all sick. Why?

We are not using four steps. We are not using seeds. We are not using emptiness.

Every time we want something, we go and try to gather it. And every time we don't want something, we try to run away from it. And that's a sick idea.

It's a mental sickness. I can just use a seed. If I want more money in my life, if I'm sick, I will work harder.

Or I will try to find new ways to make money. If I'm not sick, if I'm not healthy, if I were healthy in my mind, I would try to find someone to help who needs money. Every other way to make money is a sickness.

And if I have trouble in my relationship with my husband or wife, with my friends, the people I work with, sick person, will try to go and talk to them, will worry, try to find ways to change them. Healthy person, who is not sick in the mind, will just use the four steps. Stop doing the thing that bothers you when other people do it.

Stop doing it yourself. When someone hurts you, then healthy person, they will just try to stop doing that same thing themselves. Sick person will try to talk to them, ask them not to do it, argue with them.

So, every time in our life, during our whole life, when we try to change things on the outside, that's a sickness. And we are sick. Then a person who tries to change things by changing themselves, that's a healthy person.

So, why I need the doctor, which is the person who will lead our study group? Why I need the medicine, which is what we will study together? Why I need nurses, which is the friends that we study together with, these three jewels?

Why I need them? I am sick. And my whole life I've been sick.

When I want money, I go try to do more business. When I want to find a wife or husband, I go to nightclub or internet. Those are all sickness.

Healthy person will just use the four steps, because they work. So, how many times every day am I sick person? And how many times I'm really healthy?

That's why I need the three jewels. In my mind, deep in my mind, I am sick. Then please imagine that all the good seeds from this meditation are like small golden seeds in your heart.

Then imagine you are giving them to another person. Directly from your heart to their heart. Shining golden seeds moving from your heart to their heart.

Put these golden seeds in the bank. In the bank of other people. Okay, then you can slowly open your eyes.

Take a stretch. So the goal of this meditation is a little bit strange. You must convince yourself that you are a sick person.

Okay? Then your mind will fight this idea. I'm not sick Geshe-la.

I don't have mental disease, you know. Actually, I'm a pretty smart guy. I have friends who have mental disease.

But I don't have. But you do. Big one.

All day. Every hour. Why?

When you want something, you take it. Person who takes the things they want is sick. Mind is sick.

The person who is healthy in their heart, when they want something ... I want more donuts, okay? Okay?

That's healthy. Healthy mind. Get things by giving them.

Okay? Don't look for them. Okay?

Don't take. Give. Then you get ten times more.

I'm so happy Dorje took my money. Maybe in the future, if the whole world is healthy, there will be money fights. You take it.

You take it. No, no, no. You take it.

Okay? If the whole world is real Buddhists, they will be fighting, you know. You take it.

You take it. First time I met Tibetan people, I was on a bus in India, and there were two guys sitting in the back of the bus. At that time, I don't even know what's Tibetan, you know.

And in India, the bus, even to go like to the Phuket airport, will take six hours. So, everyone is sleeping, you know. Then I'm trying to sleep in the bus, you know.

These two guys are arguing in the back. They're in the last seat in the back. I'm like, oh man, I'm trying to sleep.

What are you guys, what are they doing, you know? They are fighting. Why?

They are both like to smoke, but they only have one cigarette. Then each guy is going, you take it.

[Speaker 2]
You take it. You take it.

[Speaker 1]
No, you take it.

[Speaker 2]
No, no, you take it.

[Speaker 1]
You take it. Then I'm trying to sleep, you know. I'm like, what kind of fight is that?

It's a giving fight. Each one try to give the cigarette to the other one. Those are two healthy people.

Not their lungs, but their mind. Okay, that's a healthy person. Then, to be honest, none of us is healthy.

We are all sick. We are trying to get things by looking for them. And that's basic human sickness.

Everyone on this world has it. You don't get born in this world unless you have that sickness. Okay, few people here are Buddhas.

Okay, they came here purposely. They are healthy. They didn't have to come here to this world.

If you are not a Buddha, and I don't know how many here are Buddha or not, I don't know.

[Speaker 2]
I'm not.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? I'm really not. So, you know, why I came to this world?

I have to. I was forced to come here, because I'm sick. Okay?

This world is for sick people. Okay? In America, they put the crazy people in a special building.

This whole world is for crazy people. And we are the crazy people. And honestly, you don't come here unless you have that sickness.

So, if you are here, you have that sickness. So, I don't want you to be depressed or unhappy. I just want you to become healthy.

Stop trying to get things by reaching out and taking them. That proves you are sick. Okay?

Anytime you want something, try to arrange that you can give it to somebody else. So, it's even for ... Okay, I took the dance class today.

It was very pleasant. It doesn't even look good to do this. But this one, this looks beautiful.

You know? When you want something, find a way to make sure somebody else gets it. And then you will get what you want.

That's healthy way. Okay? So, it's not wrong if you have reading club ...

if you go to Wang Xia's reading club in Shanghai, it's not crazy to think she's a doctor. And all my friends are like nurses. And the book we are studying is a medicine.

And I'm trying to fix my mental disease. Okay? It's not crazy to think like that.

So, do that second ... In the book. Okay?

I put ... I like to choose these photos. It takes me many hours.

I chose ... Okay, the lady is the doctor, okay? The man is the nurse.

What's the medicine? Vegetables and fruit. Okay?

You don't need all those chemical medicines, okay? If you just eat nice, you won't get sick much. Okay?

Eat nice food. It took me 60 years to understand. Okay?

Just eat like dark green vegetables. Every morning, Adriana and Jigme and Xiaoping, they make me a green drink. And ...

that's all you need, okay? Till about 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock, that's all you need, okay? Until 1 or 2 o'clock, you don't have to eat anything else.

And then you won't get sick, okay? So, it took me a long time, but I found a picture where the medicine is fruits and vegetables. Okay?

What's the real medicine? Jin Gang Jing. Who's the real doctor?

Wang Xia, the leader of your study group. Who's the nurse? Your friends, Dharma friends.

Who's the sick person? Me. Are you really sick?

Yeah. I am. Prove it.

I'm here. Okay? Understand?

If you're here, you're sick. If you're not a Buddha, and you were born in this world, only that sickness can force you to be born here. Okay?

So, if you're sitting on a chair right now, you're sick. Understand? Okay, good.

And it's important to think like that. Are you a bad person? No, just a sick person.

Okay, let's read some more sutra. So, if you remember the Buddha's half-brother, Devadatta, he paid all these guys a lot of money to kill the Buddha with this machine to throw rocks. And then the Buddha made them Aryas.

And all those machines are ... they're just standing there, nobody's using them. THONG NAS KYANG LHAG PAR YANG MI SOS PA SKYES TE Devadatta is upset.

Okay? PHYOGS GZHAN ZHIG NA CHA DGOS KYI PHUNG PO RI LA MDZAD PA DANG He climbed up Vulture's Peak from another angle. Why is Vulture's Peak famous?

SHIN CING Heart Sutra was spoken there. JI TZAM LA DROD KHO GYI LOS PA YANG DROD PAR MTHONG NAS He got to the top. All the machines are ...

nobody's there. Then he looked for the general of the soldiers. But DROD PAR MTHONG he realized he ran away with all the money already.

RANG NYID KYI KHOR LO SNGABS RGYAS DANG RGYOG PHANG BAR TZAM SO So Devadatta start to shoot those machines, cut the rope with his knife and then the machine will throw the rock at the Buddha. He himself, he decided I will do it myself. LHAG BSAM NAM DAG Yeah, thank you Phil.

At least one person laughed. In Buddhism we have idea called LHAG BSAM NAM DAG It means even if nobody help me I will save the whole world. Even if people criticize me I will save the world.

So Devadatta is showing some LHAG BSAM NAM DAG. If nobody kill the Buddha I will do it. Okay.

BYAMS PA DE'I KYI BSGOM PA Then the Buddha had the following thought. SNGA NYID KYI LAS TSOG NYES PA SKYEN YONG SU RGYUR BA OS PA SHIN DU NYE BAR GNAS PA SDUG MI SA BAR BYUNG BA'I RGYUR BA LAS DAG BYAS SHING BSAGS PAS He had a very interesting thought. SNGA NYID KYI LAS TSOG I collected the karma to see Devadatta trying to kill me.

Probably Buddha went to a DCI program and he learned to say Why do I have to see a guy want to kill me? Oh, I must have done something wrong in the past. Even Buddha is having this thought at that moment.

OS PA SHIN DU NYE BAR GNAS PA What? Everything that happens to a person they deserve 100%. SDUG MI SA BAR BYUNG BA'I RGYUR And no one can just cancel their old bad karmas.

BYAS SHING BSAGS PA I must have done something wrong. There's a beautiful song in English from a famous movie. This girl fell in love with a young man.

Do you know this song? I must have done something good. Okay, Jill knows this song.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
LAS BDAG SHING SNGA NYID KYI LAS BYAS SHING BSAGS PA I must have done the karma. GZHAN SU ZHIG GIS SO SO NYONG BAR RGYUR NYAM DU BSGOM NAS And no one else is going to get the result but me. MI SNGABS RGYAR BU'O DE DAG LA DI SKAD CES KA TZAL TO So he said something to the 500 guys, soldiers, that he just made into Ayas.

GZHAN LDAN DAG Oh, you intelligent friends of mine. LAS CING KUN NAS CIG PA DRAG PO LA GNAS NAS Devadatta is messed up today. BYA' GO'I PHUNG PO RIG LA ZAD KYI BDAG SHING He just climbed up Vulture's Peak and now he's trying to kill me.

DI DAG NI NGES LAS NGES LAS NGES LAS, what's it mean? Yeah, that's my karma. Even Buddha said that.

DE NAS MI SNGABS RGYUR BU'O DE DAG CHOS SO And the 500 guys freaked out and ran away. Why? Devadatta is cutting the ropes, you know.

They are Ayas but they're not interested to die today. SLANG RANG GI ZHES PA MTHONG BA NI OD TU BCUG PA YIN PAS DE NAS NUS CAN LAG NA MDOR BYED Then there are beings who live in the sky. There are some beings who live in the sky.

They are like they are like Buddha protectors or something. And you know, they are just watching the world, you know. Hey, look at that!

That guy is trying to kill the Buddha. You think we should do something? DE NAS NUS CAN LAG NA MDOR BYED DE NYAM DU SEMS TE There was one of them called Vajrapani.

Okay, very famous Buddha. Okay? Vajrapani means he has this diamond in his hand.

LAS BYAS NI CHEN PO'I DE BRAL BAR CHER PHA ROL TU NUS PA BYED ROL Oh, Devadatta is trying to kill Buddha. NYAM NAS SEMS NAS NUS CAN KUN PIRA GANG NA BA DER MTHONG DE Then you remember the second name for this vulture's peak? It's the mountain of the KUN PIRA KUN PIRA Spirit.

Special spirit named KUN PIRA. So he came down to KUN PIRA. And he spoke to KUN PIRA.

LAS BYAS NI BYA DGOS KYI KUN PIRI LA RGYAL GYIS CHEN PO'I DE LA MDOR PHAN PAR MTHONG PA Devadatta is cutting the rope to shoot the stones at the Buddha. CHEN PO'I DE NI KHYOD KYI GNAS NA ZHUGS PA'I This place is under your jurisdiction. You're responsible for what happens on this mountain.

DE LA KHOS PA'I DE RDOR BYED PHAR NANG LA RDOR BYED CHE MA LAG NA It's your responsibility when those stones, big stones are flying through the sky, you should smash them into dust. CHEN PO'I DE KYI RTEN DU PA PAR RGYUR GYIS KHYOD KYI RDOR GYIS ZHIG So can you help me out here? When the stones are flying in the sky, we should smash them into powder.

Then KUN PIRI LA said, GAR SHIN ZAL means yeah, I will obey your request. CHEN PO'I DE KYI LA BSGOM MED PA NA ZHUGS ZHUGS NAS RIGS BUD DU ZHES SO Buddha starts walking up the mountain and he takes off his upper robe and he's like this. Okay, I don't need any cover.

He's walking up the mountain. LAS BYIN KHOR NABS RGYAL PO RGYOL PAR DRANGS TE Then Devadatta and the soldiers who were left with him, they start shooting. LAS BYIN LAG NA RDOR BYED CHE MA BYED PA'I LAS BYED DE BYED CHOM LDAN DE GYI NAS SU LUNG DU CHA BA NUS BYUNG KUN PIR'I LAS PA MA ZIN PA So Vajrapani starts breaking the stones in the sky.

And then KUN PIRI LA is supposed to help out. But KUN PIRI LA slipped. He's trying, like football, he's trying to catch it.

And he slipped. And one piece hit him on the head. And he actually died.

And he couldn't stop the other stone. So one small piece hit the Buddha on the foot and made a small cut. It's very famous.

In Buddhism. It's one of the five ... You know?

It's one of the five biggest bad karmas you can do. Kill your father. Kill your mother.

Kill an arhat. Cause a Buddha to bleed with bad intention. Cause you can take blood from a Buddha if you're a nurse.

You see? What's the worst one? What's the fifth one?

Split the Sangha. Cause a division in this group here. More serious than making the Buddha bleed.

Why? This group here is the body of the Buddha. And if you break this group, you are actually attacking the body of the Buddha.

So, more serious. Historically, only one person ever managed to do number four. To cause Buddha to bleed.

And this is the story. All right. DE NAS BYAMS DANG DE'I KYI DE'I TSE SIGS SU BYAS PA'I DKA' TSAGS PA Then Buddha, you know, every time something happens, he makes a poem.

DANG DU GNAS LA LAS KYI MI RGYI BA'I SA CHOG DE NI YOD PA MA YIN TE BAR NA NYID MI RGYA TSUL NANG MIN ZHING RIG PUG TU ZHUGS PA'ANG MA YIN NO He said a famous poem. It's not in there. There's no place on earth that you can go, even the beach in Phuket, to run away from your karma.

BAR NA NYID means you can get in a spaceship and go to the space, the karma will follow you. RGYA TSUL NANG NA You can get in a special submarine and go way under the water. RIG PUG TU ZHUGS PA'ANG You can climb Mount Everest.

There's no location on this planet that you can hide from your karma. Who's he talking about? Himself.

Okay? I deserve this. Okay?

That's why it's happening to me. I must have hurt someone. Okay?

You want to hear the end of the story? Okay. This is just extra, okay?

There's two more stories after this. But if we do that, this lam rim will take, I don't know, 15 more years. That's okay.

I like it. I'm not doing anything else. Okay.

What happened to Kumbhira after he died?

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Let's finish the whole story. DGE BA'I SEMS KYI ZHIG STE ZHIG NAS Did he die in a good state of mind or a bad state of mind? Good!

He was trying to save Buddha from the stones. GSUM RJE LTAR GSUM PA'I LHA BRGYA RNAMS PA RNAMS KYI RNAMS DU BSKYED SONG So he was born among, we call the heaven of the 33, which is a temporary heaven. PHYIR GNYIS KYI LHA'I BU'AM LHA'I BU MO NYID SKYES NAS RIG PO MA LON PAR SEMS GSUM BSKYED BAR GYUR TE Then sometimes those devas are called the ones who get three ideas.

It's not like Shantideva. Sometimes they are called the people who get three ideas. GANG NAS ZHIG BOS PA DANG They can, just after they are born there, they can understand what was their past life.

GANG DU BSKYED PA means they can understand where they've been born into. LAS GANG GIS YIN PA'O And they understand what they did to be born there. DE NUS CIN LAS ZHIG BOS PA DANG GSUM RJE LTAR GSUM PA'I LHA BRGYA RNAMS PA RNAMS KYI RNAMS DU BSKYED PA DANG BCOM LDAN DE LA SEMS BSNGON PAR BRGYAD PAR YIN PAR MTHONG STE Then because he could see why he died, last time, he got a lot of faith in the Buddha.

DE NAS SNGON NUS CAN BYAS PA'I LHA'I BUS DI RNAMS DU SEMS TE Then he thought to himself, it'd be cool to go see that Buddha that I tried to save. Then that starts another long story and I'm not going to do it. So, we finish that story.

That's the story of the Buddha's half-brother tried to kill him. Why are we talking about that? Because this part of the Lam Rim, we are trying to decide who can give us protection?

The answer is Buddha jewel can give you protection. Does Buddha jewel have their own problems? Not really.

Why? Every time somebody shoots an arrow at them, it turns into flowers. We'll take a break, but one more thing.

When you study protection, when you study three jewels, there's always two parts. Always. Two parts.

It's like when you're a little kid, I have three brothers, we are four brothers. We fight all the time. That's why I became good student because I hide in the library at the school.

I don't want to go home and see the fight. Sometimes, we have a rule. I don't know if you have this rule in your family, but we never hit the brother in the head.

Every place else you can hit. It doesn't really hurt. Then sometime, by accident, the brother will hit you in the head.

Then you will run to mom. He hit me. Okay, right?

Two things are happening there. Number one, somebody hurt you. Number two, you think mom can help.

Whole study of protection in Buddhism. Number one, there has to be a problem. You have to be in a problem.

Somebody has to shoot an arrow at you. Then you will go to mom. Who's mom?

Who is mom? Three jewels. Only if you have trouble, you will think about the three jewels.

Only if you need something, you will think about the four steps. Okay, got it? So, it doesn't make sense, if the brother hits you, if my older brother hits me, should I go to my little brother and ask him for help?

No! My big brother is much bigger. He will fight both of us.

Okay, when you try to get some protection, go to somebody who's special. Who's special? Kind of lucky person, every time someone tries to hurt them, something good happens.

Every time someone shoots an arrow at them, it turns into flowers. That's the kind of protection we want. Got it?

Okay, we need a protection from a person who's special. Okay, let's take a break. See you in 10-15 minutes.

We have about 15 minutes. And I thought we could do some questions and answers. So, if you have a question, please raise your hand.

It's up to Hasso, it's not me.

[Speaker 2]
Hello, Geshe Michael. Hello. We have talked a lot about the refuge, the Three Jewels of the Dharma.

I have a question about the Three Jewels of the Dharma. It's also a long-time question. The Three Jewels of the Dharma are the saints of emptiness.

We go to find them, to take refuge in them. But for ordinary people who don't have the Three Jewels of the Dharma, how can we know whether the guru or the teacher I choose is the one of the Three Jewels of the Dharma? Can we trust the teachers who claim to have the Three Jewels of the Dharma?

If they don't admit that they have the Three Jewels of the Dharma, how can we know whether they are the saints of the Three Jewels of the Dharma?

[Speaker 1]
Geshe Michael, So, Geshe-la, you were talking a lot about the refuge place, and then you said that's the Three Jewels. And then I have a question about the third Jewel, the Sangha Jewel. You said Sangha Jewel is any noble person who sees emptiness directly.

And then my question is, as a normal being like me, how can I see if the teacher that I'm looking for is Arya? How do I know if they see emptiness directly? Or, if someone claims that they have seen emptiness directly, how do I know if it's true or not?

Or, yeah, that's basically the question. Yeah, good question. So, two answers.

First one, everyone who sees emptiness directly they have many experiences in the next few hours after that. So, direct perception of emptiness it takes about 20 minutes or something. First time.

Then, at that time, you can't think about anything else because there are two levels of reality. There's this one, and then there's kongshin. And they cannot mix.

So, when you are seeing kongshin and you're not a Buddha yet, it's impossible to see this world, including yourself. So, during those 20 minutes, you don't even think I did it. I'm Arya.

You cannot think that because me is in this world. So, during those 20 minutes, chu la chu shakpa it's like water was poured into water. And all you can perceive is emptiness.

Then you come out. And then, during the next I don't know half hour, 45 minutes, you have many special experiences which are not emptiness. Maybe the most beautiful one is because your mind is open for few hours, the limits of space are dropped for you.

So, something cool happens. You are not seeing emptiness anymore. And your eyes are closed.

You are still on your meditation cushion, but you are not seeing emptiness directly. Then you see one face of a person you don't know. And you have a special feeling I will save this one.

I will make this one Buddha. Then second face comes up. Someone you don't know.

And you think, I will also save this one. Then something weird happens. The limits of your mind, the limits of time, the limits of places, they all drop at the same time.

And you see billions of faces of many worlds, many people, and you see them directly. And each one you think, I will take care of this one. So, all those experiences like that, they are called the sixteen experiences.

And you can divide them into the four truths. Four each. Then later that became you know, they wrote it down.

And it became part of Buddhism. And slowly people forgot where it came from. But the four, what they call noble truth, they come from that.

One of those experiences is, I saw it. I really saw it. And I know, I saw it.

And it's not possible to doubt it. There are 84,000 negative thoughts in a human mind. But on that day, three of them stop forever in your mind.

That's pretty good. You had them for billions of years. On that day, you get rid of three of them forever.

You want to know what those three are? They are called tongpang. Things you get rid of when you see emptiness the first time.

First one, never again will you do some spiritual practice which hurts your body or mind. Like in India, there's this custom, you put your hand up for five years or something. And it destroys your arm.

Or you sit in the middle of four fires or something like that. Then these are supposed to be spiritual practice, but actually they hurt your body, which is your temple. So, on that day that you see kongshin directly, you will never again try those stupid things.

Okay? That's first one. Second one, never again will you doubt these teachings.

Okay? Not possible. Because you saw Buddha directly.

Which part of Buddha? Which body? Yeah, number four.

Okay? You met the Buddha directly. Then you know you met the Buddha.

Are we Buddhist people here? Yes. Who do you follow?

Buddha. How do you know there's a Buddha? It's in the old book.

Did you meet this guy? No. But you believe you are Buddhist.

Yes. Okay. Actually, we don't know.

Maybe they wrote that book three years ago. We don't know. On that day, you meet Buddha directly.

Then not possible to doubt all of these teachings after that. There are two hundred thousand important Buddhist books in this world. It's the greatest number of books of any religion.

And I'll tell you something you will understand on that day. They are all one hundred percent correct. And it's so cool to see it.

So, second bad thought you can never have again is doubt. These ideas, you cannot doubt them again. Now, bad news.

When you come out of that experience, you start to see things coming this way again. You are not Buddha yet. Stanley is sitting next to you.

Stanley said, did you see emptiness directly? Yes. What's it look like?

Nothing is coming this way. Yeah. Can you see it right now?

No. What's it feel like? How do you feel now?

I feel weird. I know things are not coming this way because I saw it directly. But when that twenty minutes finished, and I came out of the meditation, it looked to me again like things are coming this way.

But I know they are not. So the way it looks and the way it is are opposite. The word for that is illusion.

Okay. So in Buddhism, when you say the world is an illusion, it doesn't mean the pen is not real. If you think that's what it means, come up here, I give you a mustache, especially if you are a lady.

It's just illusion. I can give you illusion mustache. Okay?

That's not the meaning of illusion. The meaning of illusion is and only an Arya understands it really, when I saw emptiness directly, I saw that nothing is coming this way. But when I got up from my meditation, everything started to look this way again.

But I know that's not correct. So difference between Arya and Arhat, difference between seeing emptiness directly and reaching Nirvana is the time it takes to stop things looking like they are coming this way. So normally, in most cases, to stop the wrong appearance after you saw emptiness directly is seven lifetimes.

Okay? Five hundred years. Okay?

And that's nothing. You have been alive for billions and billions of years. So seven lifetimes, easy.

Okay? Goes like that. If you study secret Buddhism, diamond way, you can shorten that to one lifetime.

Now I'll answer your question. You have two questions. First one, why I gave a long answer is that one of the experiences you have when you come out is that it doesn't help to tell people you saw it directly.

So most of the time for the rest of their life an Arya will not say I saw directly. With special people, with special disciples who have enough faith, they will tell them yes, I saw it. But generally they will never talk about it directly to anybody.

And that's part of the experience of an Arya. Why? I believe the reason is to see emptiness directly is the most holy thing that can happen to anyone.

Then if you try to explain it to somebody, I saw it yesterday. A little part of them is not sure. They're like, I don't know if you really saw it.

That doubt towards an Arya is extremely bad karma. So Arya understands that. They don't try to tell people what they saw because it will hurt those people.

Now, there's a teacher we want to see emptiness directly. But how do we tell did they see it or not? Because anybody can say they saw it, right?

People who didn't see it who say they saw it are two kinds. One is just lying. They didn't see it, they know they didn't see it.

And they tell people they saw it. That's the worst lie you can tell. Second kind of people, they didn't see it, but they think they saw it.

There was a guy in the debate ground in my monastery. He's like, I saw emptiness. Then we said, oh, what's it like?

Little bit purple light on this side of my head. Then everybody's like, oh. Forget it.

So, the way to guess if a person saw it or not can they explain emptiness clearly? And I'll tell you in, I'm sorry, it's the last question. There are three classic ways to mis-explain emptiness.

Okay, here's number one. What's emptiness? What's emptiness?

Watch the back of your eyelids. Everything's black. This is emptiness.

Okay, that's the most stupid one. My teacher called kupa. Kupa means stupid.

Oh, emptiness is black. The second wrong explanation of emptiness. Close your eyes.

Any thought pass through your mind. Let it go into empty space. Don't think about anything.

Calm the mind. Just thoughts come and go like clouds. Try not to think about anything.

This is emptiness. No, you laugh, but many, many people say that. And you can do that meditation.

And very honestly, I will tell you what is the karma of that meditation. You see my cell phone? I had it.

I can't remember. My car keys were with the cell phone. I was in my room.

Adam was with me. We went. Maybe can you call my cell phone?

Okay? When you do that meditation, try not to have any thought. Or watch the thought just go.

The karma of that is quickly you become like an old man. You forget everything. I came to the toilet, I don't remember what I was going to do.

No, seriously. Okay? So, we all get like that later, but if you do that meditation, it will happen sooner.

You can call Alzheimer's meditation. Okay? It's not good and not correct.

My teacher calls a Shintokupa. Shintokupa. Someone say to him, can I do this meditation?

Don't think about anything. He said, yeah, you can do, but it's Shintokupa. Shintokupa means very stupid.

The hey, hey, hey, black, black thing? That meditation is just kupa. Stupid.

Stupid. Second one. Don't think about anything.

Watch the thoughts go. He called Shintokupa. That means very stupid.

Okay? Now, here's the Shintuninekupa. It means super stupid.

Close your eyes. Just think about things. Nothing's good, nothing's bad.

Everything's illusion. Someone kiss you. Don't get happy.

Someone hit you. Don't get sad. Don't smile.

Don't frown. Equanimity. All things are empty.

Don't be happy. Don't be sad. Nothing matters.

Don't worry about anything. Don't be happy about anything. Okay?

That's the Shintuninekupa. Super stupid emptiness. Okay.

If we see Thangka of Amitabha, he's like ... He's not like that. Okay?

That's a really bad idea. Buddha Paradise is super fun place. Okay?

It's not this. Okay? So those are three.

If someone explain emptiness this way, you can guess they didn't see emptiness directly. Okay? What's a correct explanation?

What we call Tsongkapa's explanation. Dependent origination. Emptiness.

Okay? The world, the way the world works, and emptiness, they cooperate. They get along with each other.

You need both of them. It means if you really understand emptiness, you should be super successful. You can make anything happen.

Because four steps depend on emptiness. Okay? Money.

Relationships. Your health. The peace inside of your mind.

And what effect you can have on the world. Can you help the world be happy? If you really understand emptiness, you can use it to make good things happen for yourself and for other people.

Okay? That's a sign that that person understands emptiness. That's a sign that they saw it directly.

So normally we cannot read other people's minds directly. So you have to depend on you have to have logic. That thing he said about emptiness yesterday doesn't fit what he said today.

If I do, if I try that kind of emptiness, I think it's not going to help me or my family or my country. Okay? Those are signs.

I'll tell you another small sign. Person who saw emptiness directly in this world, they understand all of those 200,000 important Buddhist books are all 100% correct. Every single page is correct.

100 million people in the world have AIDS. It will kill them. Then there's one person found the cure and they wrote it down.

How will you treat this paper? Is it important? Yes.

Will you like leave it in the bathroom? No. You will be like oh, oh, it's only one copy.

Stanley! Take care! We can save 100 million people lives.

[Speaker 2]
Take care of this book.

[Speaker 1]
So, that person who saw emptiness directly, they will be crazy about saving books. That's a small sign. Alright.