«Дар освобождения», курс 25 «Совершенное прибежище», занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
So go to the verses just above that. There's a few lines. There you go, okay.

This is meditation number twelve, page six, but don't look. I want to talk to you about it first. This is what happens if you learn to take refuge.

This is the karma of taking refuge properly. BAR CHOS NDUS PA LAS KYANG There are many versions of BOR RO BO LA MI DO, Perfection of Wisdom. One is called the Brief Perfection of Wisdom, BAR CHOS NDUS PA.

Some of them are 8,000 verses, some of them are 12,000 verses, some of them are 100,000 verses, and some of them, 15 I don't know. Anyway, ,RGYABS SONGS SON NAM GZUGS CI NA, ,GAM GSUM DE YANG NUS DU CHUNG, And this is a very, very famous quotation. And it says, if the karma of going for refuge properly was turned into a physical thing, like a piano or a baseball or a cactus, if that karma turned into a physical thing, ,GAM GSUM DE YANG NUS DU CHUNG, the universe couldn't hold it.

There wouldn't be room in the universe to fit it. So it's supposed to be that going for refuge properly by thinking about the husband who's not there. Going to refuge for that protection, that kind of protection of not believing in that husband who's not your fault.

That karma, if it became a physical thing, it couldn't fit in this universe. Then he's going to talk about it. ,GZHAN PA LTAR RGYAL DU BYED PA'I PHAN YON DANG, ,SON NAMS PAG GIS MI LANG BA YOD, So what this is saying is that the good things that happen to you if you take refuge properly, that good seed cannot be measured.

Even by Buddha, cannot be measured. Cool? Cool.

,LHAG PAR SANGS RGYAS NI GZHIN GYES PAR CHEN DU SONG BA'I, Especially Lord Buddha is such a powerful object. And among the three, three what? Jewels.

Among the three jewels, Buddha is so powerful that if you do something towards a Buddha, ,DE LA BRJUN PA'I DGE RTZA, that karma done towards a person who is enlightened, it doesn't matter your motivation. Your motivation can be lousy. Usually motivation is 90%, right?

But the Buddha is such a powerful object that if you do anything, if you sneeze well towards the Buddha, you get... you are rich for many lifetimes. Like that.

Not because of you, because of them. That object is so powerful. We talked about powerful objects.

Mom, dad, teachers, people who need things, emergencies, people who helped you, and people who help other people. So this is just one more. ,RDZOGS BYANG THOB PA'I RGYUR NA NGAN PAR BRAL TE, ,BSKUN LONG RNAMS BDAG GIS, If you take refuge with a good motivation, ,RDZOGS BYANG THOB PA'I RGYUR NA NGAN PAR BRAL TE, that karma cannot go any place except to make you a Buddha.

If you take refuge with good motivation, then there's no choice. That karma will go to make you a Buddha. You can't stop it.

Then he tells a story about that from Nyingje Pemakarpo. What's Pemakarpo? The Lotus Sutra.

Very famous, right? There's a couple of Lotus Sutras, but they're the same. One's longer, one's shorter.

By the way, if you want to be a vegetarian, if you want to tell Buddhist people they should be vegetarian, the Lotus Sutra is the book to read. He makes a list of every known kind of meat, including human meat, and he says, don't eat it. If someone tells you Buddhists don't accept vegetarianism, you can read them the Lotus Sutra.

Now he's going to quote the Lotus Sutra. Lord Buddha is talking to Ananda. Say Ananda.

Don't say Ananda. Ananda means unhappy person. Ananda means very happy person.

Like, amṛta, amṛta means kills you very much. Amṛta means deathless. You see?

Long A, A, means very much. Short A means not, not. When a yoga teacher, I'm in a yoga class and the teacher says, let's do amṛta.

Amṛta. I'm like, no, no. I don't want to die.

All right. GUNG RGA'O ANANDA Very happy person. Ananda.

GYIS DAG DE DPER NA So Buddha is talking to Ananda and he says, let me tell you how it is. KHYIM BDAG ZHING PA'I ZHING Let's say some guy is a farmer, just normal person, and he's a farmer. ZHING DO MED PA And his field has no rocks in it.

And by the way, those of you who grew up Christian, I did. Still am. There's a beautiful...

Jesus uses the same language. He has the same story. KHYIM BDAG ZHING DO The field has no more stones.

SDONG SDUM MED PA There's no tree trunks. Broken...what do you call? Stumps.

David's stumps. And TSER MA MED PA There's no thorns in that field. KHYO MO MED PA There's no gravel.

SREG MA MED PA No pebbles. SA GNOG BYAS PA The ground is very fertile. Good soil.

ZHIG YOD PAR GYUR TE LEGS PAR MOD If they plow the field properly, BLAG BYED KYI CHIN PAR If they work it properly, DES SA BON YANG SRAR PA If they place a fresh seed in it, which is BU'I SONG Powerful. TSE LEGS PAR And they plant at the right time of year. LUNG DANG GNYIS MED MA MED PA If the seeds are not damaged by the wind or the sun, MA CHAGS PA If they don't get broken, MA THUGS PA If they don't get bruised, MA RUL PA If they don't spoil, CHOS MA GSOS PAR GYUR That seed's power cannot go away.

Cannot disappear. SA BON DE DAG DU DANG ZIGS SU ZHING LA BTAB PAS If they plant those seeds at the right time in the field, DU DUS SU CHU CHUD PA If they water them regularly, DUS SU GAM And they let the ground dry when it should dry. Don't overwater.

THAMS CAD LAS LEGS PAR GSUNGS NAS And if they protect those fields from squirrels and things like that. BSKUNG DGA'O And then Buddha's talking to Ananda. Ananda, what do you think?

KHYIM PAR ZHING PA DE'I DUS GZHAN ZHIGS NA Later on, ZHING GI DRUNG DU SONG STE And the farmer walks into the field where he put the seed perfectly, watered it perfectly, sun, weather's perfect, no animals, everything's perfect. ZHING ZHIGS NA DRUNG DU SONG STE ZHING GI MOL DUG If he sits down and faces the field, SKAD SA BON SKAD SA BON DU MA RGYUR CING SKAD SA BON KHYIM MA RGYAS ZHING Use seeds, don't be seeds. And please don't grow.

Please don't grow. KHYIM MA RGYAS ZHING MA RGYAL CING And if you do grow, don't open leaves and don't open fruits. SNGA LAS BDE BU MI DGOS I don't want any wheat.

I don't want any rice. NYAS MDAM MI DGOS I don't need it. Please don't grow.

Got it? KUN RGA'O DE JI NYAMS DU SEMS ANG NGAN DANG What do you think? KHYIM BDAG ZHING PA DE ZHIG GIS SA BON DE DAG SA BON MA YIN PAR RGYUR RAM Because of the words of the farmer, will the seeds turn into not seeds?

SOR BA CHOM LDAN DE MA LAG SO I don't think so. That's Ananda. He says, I don't think so.

DE BAR BSHAD PA MA LAG SO Oh, you know, Sugata. Oh, Buddha. No.

Just because the guy sits down and tells the seeds, don't be seeds, it's not going to make them not seeds. I don't think so. RGA' TSAL PA DE BU DE DAG PA MA YIN PAR RGYUR RAM NYES PA SNGON PA MI SGRUB PA SOD PA And then Buddha asks Ananda, so will those seeds grow into plants which make fruits or make grain?

Will it happen? Ananda says, sorry, is it the case that by the farmer's words, the plants will refuse to grow fruits or refuse to grow rice or refuse to grow wheat? Is it possible?

CHOM LDAN DE MA LAG That's not the case. Oh, Buddha, that's not the case. DE BAR BSHAD PA MA LAG SO Sugata, it's not the way it is.

The farmer's words can't stop them. Okay, got it? RGA' TSAL PA KUN DGA'O DE BZHIN DU SRID PA LA LTOS CING SRID LA RGA' BA'I SANGS RGYAS LA YOND BU LAS Even if...

Okay, Ananda, even if a person is attached to this life and even if a person believes that this life is so nice, so cool, but they make an offering to the Buddha, meaning to a powerful object, right? Puna. NYANG NAS BDAG PAR RGYUR GCIG MA RGYUR GCIG And if they make a prayer when they make the offering to the Buddha, like offer a Buddha a cup of nice tea and say, Buddha, I offer you this tea.

May I not reach Nirvana. Okay? May I not reach Nirvana.

Please. Okay? I offer you this tea but I don't want to reach Nirvana.

Okay? MA RGYUR GCIG DE SKAD ZER YANG DE YONGS SU SNANGS NAS BDAG PAR MI'I RGYUR BA'I MED MED It's impossible that they won't reach Nirvana. Okay?

Because they offered a tea to a holy object, the highest object. Okay? Alright?

Even if they say, please don't let me reach Nirvana, they will reach Nirvana. Okay? Nothing can stop it.

DGO SKABS MED means... DGO SKABS MED means no possibility, zero percent chance. that they won't reach Nirvana.

Okay? Zero percent chance. KUN DGA'O O'A NAN DA SANGS RGYAS LA RGYAS BA'I RTZA BA DE DAG MI SDOD KYANG So, if you take refuge properly, this is from the Lotus Sutra.

The Lotus Sutra is the basis for whole religions in Japan, for example. RNAM YONGS HO REN GYAS SBYOR You know this thing? They beat the drum.

They walk around. I did it for a couple months. It's just the first line of the Lotus Sutra.

That's their whole religion. Millions of people. This sutra.

KUN DGA'O SANGS RGYAS LA RGYAS PA'I RGYAS BA'I RTZA BA DE DAG MI SDOD KYANG O'A NAN DA Even if a person doesn't want to be a Buddha, RGYAS BU NYANG NGAN LAS BDE PA YIN TE Because of that action, taking refuge properly, they will become a Buddha. Nobody can stop it. THA MA NYANG NGAN LAS BDE PA'I BAR DU RGYUR BA SNGA MA'O SNGA MA'O means take my word for it.

SNGA MA'O Take my word for it. Who? Buddha.

Buddha said that. Take my word for it. DE DAG CI'I TZAM DU SANGS RGYAS CHEN PO'I DE LA SEMS GCIG RGYAS PA'I RGYAS BA'I RTZA BA If you just think about refuge correctly once, DE DAG THAMS CAD KYI BDE PA'O NYANG NGAN LAS BDE PA YIN TE you will get the result of enlightenment and nobody can stop it.

SNGA MA'O Take it from me. That's what I'd say. Who?

Buddha. Buddha said that. Take refuge properly.

Second husband refuge. Forget the three jewels. Second husband refuge.

Take it correctly. The karma is the biggest karma you can make. It's cool.

Because you really understand the Buddha. Got it? Then I get this argument.

People tell me, oh, I was reading the Bhagavad Gita. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells... Krishna should be Krishna by the way.

Krishna tells Arjuna, don't be attached to the fruits of your karma. Just do nice things for people. Don't expect to get good health or financial independence or good relationships.

Don't think like that. Just do good things. Don't worry about the result.

There's a tradition like that in America also. I don't know about China. Just do nice things.

Don't worry what's going to come back to you. That's okay. That kind of thinking is good.

But you can't stop it. It will chase you. The money will chase you.

The relationships will chase you. The good health will chase you. You can't escape.

You can't say, I don't want that result. If you plant a karma, you can be a nice person. You can say, I don't need to be rich.

I'm not doing this because I want to get rich. I'm not doing this because I want my husband to be nice to me. I'm just doing it because I want to be a nice person.

You can say that. It's okay. But you can't stop the karma.

It will chase you. It will run after you and catch you. The example I like to give is, 30 years I helped this project with my salary.

19 years in the diamond business. I used a lot of my salary for the ancient books. Then I quit the diamond business and did a three-year retreat.

Then when I came out, I went to yoga at Dharmamitras. Some guy came up to me and handed me an envelope. I don't know this guy.

I never met this guy. Inside the envelope is a $100,000 check. It made the water system that you're using.

We used it for the water system you're using. All of you. It just chases you.

You go to a yoga class, the money will come. You can't avoid it. You can say I don't want the seed to grow, but it will grow.

Meditation number 12. Page number 6. What's the name of the meditation?

What's the name of the meditation? Even if you ask it not to grow. During this meditation, you have to think about the karma of using the four steps.

Getting in the habit of achieving the goals you want and getting in the habit of stopping the problems you don't want by using four steps. Getting in that habit is, what do you call it? Self-perpetuating karma.

It just gets bigger and bigger. The more you use it, the more you want to use it. You see what I mean?

You use it once, you make the karma to use it again. You use it again, you make the karma to use it twice. You use it again, you make the karma to use it four times.

Then that special karma of understanding where things come from tends to perpetuate itself like the Wheel of Life for negative things. The Wheel of Life makes negative things two, four, eight, sixteen. Taking refuge by using seeds to reach the goals in your life tends to multiply upon itself.

It's like double. It goes like this, exponential. You use it once, suddenly you're using it half the day.

Suddenly you're using it every day. Suddenly you're dreaming about it. It's just weird.

It's a weird karma. It's a cool karma. You can say, I'm tired of thinking about seeds.

I want to do something without seeds. You can't. Once you get into it, once you see how cool it is, and all your weird things happen to you, supernatural things, supernatural happy things.

What do we call it in the Mixed Nuts group? You start feeling unreasonably happy. It's because this karma tends to...

what do you call it? Not just multiply. Yeah, exponentially increase.

If you just try it a few times, it'll take over your life. Then you can say, I don't want to be happy. I don't want to have finances.

I don't want to meet new beautiful people. I don't want to live in a bubble where they put me in the top of the Kaohsiung Hotel with the best rock and roll band in Asia. I'm sorry.

You have to go there. Got it? Cool?

When you do that meditation, just think about that. You cannot escape. What's that expression in English?

You can run, but you can't hide. There's an English idiom. You can run, but you cannot hide.

The money will find you. The friends will find you. The success will find you.

Got it? That's a beautiful meditation. All right, number 13.

I'm not going to explain much. We have 27 to go. I mean, 27 total to do.

We're only half way through. You're starting tomorrow evening. Number 13 is basically...

What was the guy with the umbrella? Somebody tell me. Nah.

Protection from huge mess-ups. Adam got it. In the past.

Protection from huge boo-boos you made when... I mean, most of my boo-boos I made when I was 17. I don't know what it is.

They were all packed into one year in college. That was the umbrella guy. What meditation was that?

11. Okay. 13 is almost the same.

13 means bad stuff that's going to happen to you. Bad stuff that's going to happen to you right now. In the next few weeks.

Like it didn't come from 20 years ago. It came from last week. Just steady-flow bad crap coming to you from crappy weeks last week.

That kind of day-to-day crap. Excuse me. But it's a good word.

That kind of bad things can't touch you. If you're taking refuge regularly, if you're using, just using the Four Steps, it gets you your goals, but it has a side effect. It infects the rest of your karmas.

Even your immediate karmas. So, things you did last week, don't ripen. And you just...

We talk about it in DCI. Just weird stuff happens to us. We live in this bubble.

Somebody sent a Bentley to pick us up. I was telling Nick, Nick, somebody sent a Bentley to pick me up. He says, well Geshe-la, they did a program in a different city that night.

He says, we went in a Rolls Royce. I'm like, dang. Right?

I didn't get a Rolls Royce yet.

[Speaker 2]
Oops. Save this live. Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so, this one is immediate problems. Won't mess with you. Subway breakdowns, stuff like that.

Like snow, just when you get out of the subway, and stops when you get to the Three Jewels. Stuff like that. Immediate unhappy things.

Untouchable means, and the word in Tibetan is untouchable. They cannot touch you.

[Speaker 2]
Who's the last people the Buddha met before he became enlightened? Yeah, demons. What did they do?

[Speaker 1]
They threw spears and they shot arrows at him. Because they were upset. They saw he's about to get enlightened.

And they're like, we got to get to the Buddha tree. Why? Right now.

Just go. Take your arrows. Take your spears.

Why? He's going to get enlightened. We got to distract him.

And they ran to the Buddha tree. I sat there once. It's cool.

And they put their arrows and they threw their spears. The girls took off their clothes. And the spears turned into flowers in the air.

And the arrows turned into flowers. And they just come down flowers. And then he became enlightened.

So this is number 13. Think about the problems you have. I don't know, legal problems, tax problems, wife problems, rent problems, job problems.

And if you take refuge, use refuge to deal with your problems. And then it's like armor. The problems come and they're like, ding, ding, ding.

They just go, bong, bong, bong. And they don't touch you. They can't hurt you.

Yes sir, Jerome.

[Speaker 2]
We use the four steps. It helps. Yeah, it helps too.

Yeah, if you think about the four powers.

[Speaker 1]
Let's say I lied to people. Right? So what's the actual antidote?

What's the third of the four powers? Huh? Make a promise not to do it again.

Okay? And what's the fourth? Do the opposite.

You see, number three is a negative promise. I won't do it again. Number four is a positive promise.

I promise to do the opposite for a while. I'll tell absolute truth to everybody. I don't like your dress today.

Not the whole truth, okay? But if you think about it, that's the same as doing... If you do the four steps, it's the same as the four powers.

That's the point. It's the same. We struggle with that in DCI.

Do we tell them the four powers or we just tell them the four steps again? I don't make enough money. Do we tell them use the four powers to remove your negative seeds or do we tell them share things with other people?

The positive one is more... fits people. Most people prefer to share things with others to fix their poverty than to beat themselves up for six weeks about how cheap they were.

Got it? So when you're teaching people, you can teach them the four powers, which we do. But that emphasis is negative.

You're a bad person. You collected bad seeds. You're poor.

You don't have enough money. It's because you were mean to other people. Go home and confess.

Or, now what you have, anything you get, please share it with other people. That also acts to purify. Because it's step number four.

It's power number four.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
But the one that creates a new good seed also stops the old bad seeds from ripening. That's what we talked about this morning. You see?

So you killed... you feed two fish with one worm. No.

That's not vegetarian. Okay. Okay.

So we finished number 13. So I'd like to do a meditation. You ready?

We're going to do a meditation. And we'll go through the backup after the three-day retreat. I'll read you the scripture.

You can fall asleep. Okay. Then get settled.

[Speaker 2]
Close your eyes. Don't get jet-lagged. Relax your mouth.

A little smile. Relax your eyes. Give up all the stuff you're thinking about.

You can do it later. It will wait for you. Relax your shoulders.

Relax your fingers. Try to just enjoy. And give up all your worries, all your plans.

You can take care of them later. They never stop. You will die before they stop.

Take a Dharma break. Check in with your teacher. Go to the middle of your heart.

[Speaker 1]
Go deep down like you dive into a pool and you're underwater and you're going down, down, down into your heart.

[Speaker 2]
And you meet your Buddha, your teacher down there, inside a grain of sugar. It gets just big enough to fit both of you in a grain of sugar. Sit with them there and quiet.

You're inside your heart. Sit with them inside a grain of sugar. Clear.

Take a moment to settle down. And connect with your teacher. Now I'd like to ask you to think of one of the most frightening times of your life.

Hector told me a story about he was in retreat recently, far away from other people. He was bitten by a scorpion. He thought it might be the kind that kills you.

[Speaker 1]
So he had a strange experience where he had like a half hour, an hour, and he thought it's very possible he will die within that half hour.

[Speaker 2]
It's too far away for other people to help him.

[Speaker 1]
And just think of something like that, some situation in your life which was hopeless and dangerous. Myself, I remember I was on a plane and they told us the landing gear was not working and we might die.

[Speaker 2]
So I think of most terrible moment in your life. Most sad moment, most dangerous moment. The moment when you were most having despair and you thought everything was impossible.

Try to remember a moment like that. Then the Lam Rim instruction for those moments, usually you're too scared to think deeply about emptiness or there's no time.

[Speaker 1]
The plane is falling. You have a few minutes left after the scorpion bit you and it's very difficult to think clearly about emptiness or trying to go through the death process or something like that. So the Lam Rim says, in those moments just say the name of your refuge.

It's okay. Say Lama, Lama, Lama.

[Speaker 2]
Say your Lama's name. Say Buddha. Just say your teacher's name.

If you can, you can do a mantra. Lama's name mantra.

[Speaker 1]
You can say Aum. And then if the Lama's name is John Brady then say Aum John Brady Ahu. Because you're too scared to think of anything else.

You can say the whole mantra. Ultimate refuge mantra. Aum John Brady Ahu.

I'm falling down. My airplane's falling down. Aum John Brady Ahu.

Aum John Brady Ahu. It means help me John Brady if that's your root teacher. Or you can use your own teacher's name.

[Speaker 2]
So Aum, say your teacher's name. Ahu.

[Speaker 1]
If the plane's really falling down you probably won't be able to remember the mantra. So the Lam Rim says, just say your Lama's name. John, John, John, John.

Okay?

[Speaker 2]
So in this meditation you just practice calling your Lama's name when you're in very serious danger and you're too terrified or you're too sad to remember anything else or think about anything else.

[Speaker 1]
Just say their name. John, John, John.

[Speaker 2]
Then you hit the ground with your Lama's name on your lips. So practice in your mind now. Remember some situation like that and visualize yourself just repeating your Lama's name as you die or as something terrible happens to you.

We'll stay here for a few minutes. Then please come back to your breath. Three deep exhales.

Check with your Lama in your heart and then bring your mind back to this room. You can open your eyes. Take a stretch.

What's the meditation called? In moments of fear and pain.

[Speaker 1]
In moments of fear and pain. Number 14. Yeah, yeah.

And then it says even just the words.

[Speaker 2]
So this lineage, Diamond Mountain lineage, our lineage, what do you call that?

[Speaker 1]
Neo-Tsongkapian lineage. Okay, we are Neo-Tsongkapian. We're very big on the meaning of things and we don't, we're trying not to do meaningless rituals.

You know, go to the temple, wave incense and you're going to go to Tushita Heaven. We're trying not to encourage people to do things that they don't understand or that are not going to help them very much. But there are exceptions.

If you really believe in your root Lama, if you really have a proper relationship with your heart teacher, whether it's a living person, whether it's a Buddha who lived a thousand years ago, whether it's someone you haven't met yet, but you can imagine them. Either one, the power of your heart teacher is so big that if you just say their name when you're having extreme troubles, like about to hit the ground in an airplane or about to die from a scorpion sting, it's okay. It works.

Because of the power of the, your Lama name is more powerful than Buddha. So, it's okay. In this meditation, you're going to practice getting hit by a car or practice your airplane falling down or practice, I don't know, someone shoots a gun.

I had that happen to me once. This guy was following me too close and I put my brakes on and then he got angry and he followed me. Finally, I turned the corner and I stopped and he came up next to me and he shot a gun at me.

I felt the powder hit my face and it went through the windows and it missed me. Then if something like that happens to you, just something happens and you get shot, then Lama's name die. That's the best you can do.

And it's good. It's sufficient. Got it?

So, let's practice during the three days. What I'm going to do if someone, if they just come up to me and shoot my in the head, then you should have something ready, right? It happens.

Weird stuff happens. Do you remember Tom Carley? No.

His brother, Daniel, his brother. Someone in the East Village came up to him and punched him in the face as hard as they could. Just walking down.

Just walking down the sidewalk. And he just fell on the ground. He's bleeding and he's like, Whoa.

Then you can say, Lama. Lama. So, meditation number 14 is emergency box.

Push the button, Lama's name. That's all. Lama's name.

[Speaker 2]
Huh? Say again? Yeah, yeah.

Huh? My...

[Speaker 1]
What is my name? Sumati. Badra.

You can say Sumati. Sumati. It's okay.

Arya Sumati. Okay. Thank you.

[Speaker 2]
Meditation 15. What time we stop this class? After the retreat.

Okay, I'll give you a break after this one.

[Speaker 1]
We're going to get to this in the Lam Rim after the retreat. But meditation 15. When I was in Thailand, and we gave everybody refuge vow and refuge name, then people get all excited.

And they're running around with their new name and they're showing everybody, Look, I have a new name. Mine's cooler than yours. He gave me this one special.

I'm not like you. You know? And everybody start wearing...

You can see in the Beijing airport, suddenly everyone's wearing these rosaries. Like 10 years ago, nobody. Now, even the business guys are wearing these rosaries.

And yoga teachers like to do that. I noticed when I go to yoga, they're all wearing the rosary on the wrong hand, the right hand. You always wear it on your left hand, because then you can debate.

[Speaker 2]
So it means people like to...

[Speaker 1]
Once they take refuge or something, they like to use the akutu mon, the cute little Dharma things. Look, I have beads. My beads have turquoise on them.

Or I have crystal. You have wood. I have gold on my beads, but yours are just metal.

I have a refuge name, and you don't. It means the outer things that are associated with spirituality. And people like them.

Some people wear religious clothes, like red clothes or white clothes or black clothes, and they get very attached to them. I have... There's a geshe tungga vest.

It has a yellow stripe on it here. In the monastery, it's very important. If you have geshe yellow stripe here, everyone's like, oh, geshe-la, geshe-la.

I refuse to wear this. You never saw me wear it. I have one, but it's too small.

It was made for Tibetan guys. So anyway, and people get very attached to it. If you wear it, also in the Tantric College, you get a special one.

And if you wear it when you're not supposed to wear it, everyone gets upset. You're not supposed to wear that. What I like about the Neo-Tsongkapa lineage that we have, the New Tsongkapa lineage that we have, is we are not very big on these outer signs.

Like I have yellow stripe, you don't have yellow stripe. I have llama hat, you don't have llama hat. I like it that we are disguised as someone who owns a cosmetics company in Singapore.

Everybody thinks I'm just a normal person. And I think that's very healthy. We don't have a hierarchy.

We don't have big llama, little big llama, big little llama. We don't have these things. We don't have people running in saying, you shouldn't do like this.

You should put your fingers inside or you're a bad person. I like it that we don't have all these silly things. I'm happy we don't have these things.

We're working on the inside to try to be a nice person. So, meditation number 15 is to think about that. Am I attached to everybody sees my beads and they know I'm a spiritual person?

Am I trying to impress people with my Tibetan grammar skills like Geshe Michael does? It's the outer thing. It's not an inner thing.

Look how much scripture I can quote. Look how many words I can look up in John's database. Who could find that story that I told you this morning?

These are all outer things. What he's talking about are the outer signs of taking refuge. Beads, name, special hat.

Outer signs that you took refuge.

[Speaker 2]
What he says is, stick to the...

[Speaker 1]
second husband. Second husband refuge. Nobody knows you're doing it.

You're like, oh, this person irritates me. Oh wait, it's like second husband, come from me. There's a joke at Diamond Mountain.

There's a joke. Somebody came from another place. They came to Diamond Mountain.

They said, I can't believe it. What? Everybody I meet is so stupid.

I'm surrounded by stupid people. Then the old Diamond Mountain people go, Understand? Take real refuge.

Nobody knows if you took refuge or not. You understand emptiness. It's very quiet.

Nobody can prove it. People come to me all the time. I think I saw emptiness.

I say, okay, tell me what it's like. I saw a green light, yellow light. I forget it.

You want to hear a real conversation? Arya conversation. I think I saw, you didn't.

I said, no. One of the qualities of seeing emptiness directly is that you are sure you did it. You don't have to ask anybody.

The whole world can tell you you didn't and you don't care. The big, big, big lamas can say you didn't. You say, okay, I didn't.

But I did. Not only you know, and you know for sure. If you're not sure, you didn't.

When you do, you do. When you do, you know. It doesn't matter what anyone says.

The world can blow up and you don't care. I saw it. I know.

Tell me anything, I don't care. Okay? So if you have to ask, you did it.

[Speaker 2]
All right. 16. Then I promise you a break.

[Speaker 1]
4.30. It's 4.27. Meditation 16. By the way, we'll go through the schedule after the break. Your instructions say group 1 meditation, group 2 meditations.

Then we have to split them up. Number 16. Number 16.

It's very, very useful as you die to take refuge. It's similar to the falling down in the airplane. But if you can just remember your lama's name as you go through the red light, the white light, the black, the mirage, the tidal wave, the mountains falling down.

When you see it start, the hallucinations, they're called standard hallucinations. They come to everyone who dies. Bugs, rabbits, fish, humans.

When you see them start, start saying your lama's name. If you can, try to remember second husband. If you can't, just say lama's name.

The lam rim, when I teach you from the book, it will say just if your lama's name is on your lips when you die, you're doing okay.

[Speaker 2]
You'll be okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
I would say personally, okay, this is just my personal idea. I believe that if you have a good relationship with your heart lama and you say their name when you die, you cannot go to a lower realm. I would say that.

Okay, minimum.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
I would go to lama's name as a backup and try to get emptiness in there. But you know, I've been in those situations and you're so scared all you can do is your lama's name. To be honest, this idea of po-wa that in the moment of death you can suddenly cancel all the 65 years of bad deeds, it's not possible.

It's unlikely that you will suddenly change at the moment of death the habits that you've built up your whole life. It's unlikely. Galupa tradition, Tsongkapa tradition, don't count on it.

Okay, you're going to be too scared. You're going to be hallucinating heavy. It's as if you're very drunk, extremely drunk, or you're in the middle of a bad dream.

It's the same. You don't have the capacity to go, oh, po-wa, yeah, step number six. It's not going to happen.

So take care of it now. Real po-wa means take care of it now. Understand emptiness now, while your mind is clear.

Don't wait until your mind is the most unclear it's been in your whole life. Because you're not going to be able to remember anything. Alright then, I think I'll tell you a story.

I wasn't going to do it, but I'll tell you a story after the break. But it's about a person who... No, maybe I should...

How many people going to Indonesia? How many people thinking to go to Indonesia? Yeah, I'll tell you in Indonesia.

No, if I tell you now, I don't have anything to tell you in Indonesia. Okay. You can listen to the Knowledge Base afterwards.

Okay. Have a break. Have a break.

We have to stay... stick on the subject. Okay, okay, I'll tell you.

I got to find it. Okay, take a break. I'll find it before you come back.

Okay, I'm going to tell you Pearl Lady's story. Okay? It's called the story of Pearl Lady.

The Pearl...

[Speaker 2]
Pearl Lady. Pearl. Pearl.

Jew. Jew-ren.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, Pearl Lady. And it's just Dharma vacation time. It has no relevance to anything.

And we should do it in Indonesia. But I was excited. I found this story in...

Where were we, Xiaoping? In Taiwan. In a coffee shop.

This is the third story of how the Wheel of Life was painted. Okay? Cool?

So, to learn all the stories you have to come to Borobudur, Indonesia.

[Speaker 2]
Scott, I'm going to send you a photo. Okay, so...

[Speaker 1]
Our team there, who Sugeng is leading the team, the photo team, they just found the right part of Borobudur. It took us a couple months. And Sugeng found the right place.

I'll show you this photo that they took. Okay. So we know where to go when we go there.

We can climb up the mountain and I can teach you the Wheel of Life from the carvings.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
So this is another story of how the Wheel of Life was painted, but it includes the idea that if your Lama's name is on your lips when you die, things go pretty well. So, this is called a leng shi. What's a leng shi?

Yeah, it's a negative event that happened during the Buddha's life that necessitated making a new rule. Okay. Originally, it wasn't against the rules to drink alcohol in Buddhism.

But then a monk got drunk and did some bad things, so Buddha said, okay, from today there's a new rule, Buddhists can't drink alcohol. Like that. Then those stories, negative stories, are called leng shi.

Here's the leng shi. This is the leng shi for a nun's vow. Not to argue with each other.

This comes from the nun's vow. This comes from the Vinaya Vastu part for nuns. DE LA TSUL PA RNAMS KYI LENG SHI NI What is the leng shi for not arguing?

BSTAN PA ZER GYAS NAS NYA GROL DE'I TSUL ZAL NA So Buddha was staying in a garden called NYA GROL DA. NYA GROL DA is a special kind of tree. BYAMS DANG DE SKYES In India, BYAMS DANG DE SKYES ZHAGS KYI LDAN PA LA DGOS PA DE NA, DE DAG BYAMS DANG DE LTA BA'I PHYIR DU GSUM DU DBANG PAS Buddha was being very successful pushing people into the direct perception of emptiness in that garden.

Buddha liked to hang out in gardens. The Diamond Cutter Sutra is also spoken in a garden. DE DAG BYAMS DANG DE LTA BA'I PHYIR DU GSUM DU DBANG PAS Then people began to...

those garden lectures became very popular. BYAMS DANG DE'I KHYAD KYANG Talk to Chö Shedu and Buddha would just non-stop Dharma teachings. RGYAL PO SREG TZAM YANG ZHAG RGYAL BA BDAG GIS KHOR NAS And the King Suddhodana, who's that?

Buddha's father came to those lectures also. He got turned on by his son's teachings. He and his wife.

DU GSUM DU BYANG DE LTA BA'I PHYIR They would talk to DONG BA RGOMS DE They used to walk to the garden to hear him. DU GZHAN ZHIG NA CHUNG DU DE'I KHYAD KHOR RGYAL PHRAG TU DU MED DUS RTZA BA'I TSER DANG MA THA MUR DANG TSIS TSIG MA MED PA LTA PA'I PHYIR ZHES PAS Started to teach Dharma and people were coming like bees to honey. Something like that.

I'm just giving you a quick translation. DE DAG KYANG SNGA BA'I PHYIR ZHES PA LA MI KYI DBANG PO NI MI SBYUNG PAR NYAN THO The Dharma was so sweet like honey that people were like that. They didn't even have time to blink.

Then RGYAL PO ZAD TZAM MA LA SOGS PAS CHOS NYAN PO'I RLAR SDONG BA DANG Then the king, the Buddhist father, Suddhodana and all his friends went back home in the evening after the teaching. ZHAG YIN MING CHEN GYIS There was a person in the Shakya people called Mahanama. I believe he was one of the four tiger cubs.

I think he's one of the five first disciples of Buddha. KHYIM DU BYIN NAS He went home and he said, E MA HO Where did you hear that? Yeah, it's in your Vajrayogini prayer, grace.

E MA HO means wow! We're so lucky. He went home and said, E MA HO That expression is two thousand years old, two and a half thousand years old.

E MA HO He went home and he said to his wife, E MA HO SANGS RGYAS CHOS RGYEN NAS SANGS RGYAS CHUNG BA NI BDAG GIS BDE BU RGYUR TOG I must have some good karma seeds. Look at these lectures we're getting in the garden. Wow!

DE CHUNG MA'I PHYI PA BAR PA'I SRED DU SPYI LA Then his wife said, Why you say E MA HO? What happened? He said, DE RING CHUNG DU BDE GYI SPYOD SHES PA SOGS CHAGS RGYAL TOG DUS MA SKYE BAR CHEN PO'I SPYOD PAR RGYUR TOG Buddha was teaching all day and thousands of people got huge spiritual results.

It's amazing. It must be my good seeds. Then his wife said, It's not mine.

It ain't mine. It's not my good seeds. SKYE BAR CHEN PO'I SPYOD PAR RGYUR TOG DUS It's not my good seeds.

Then he got upset. He said, Why do you say such an unpleasant thing? She said, SKYE PAR RNAMS KYI PHYIR BYAMS CAN DE'I RJIG RTEN DU BYUNG BA NI The Buddha came to this world to teach males.

BU MED KYI PHYIR MA YIN He didn't come for women. She's pissed off. DE MED PA DE SKYE MA SOR BYED He said, No, no, no, don't say that.

BYAMS CAN DE NI SEMS CAN THAMS CAD LA PHAN PA Buddha wants to help all living beings. YIN GYI KHYAD CHAGS KYANG DANG PHYIR Why don't you ladies organize a teaching? Come get a Dharma teaching from Lord Buddha.

He likes everybody. LHA DANG, BDAG NI BZHAG KYI MANG PO'I KHOR NAS CHUNG DU DE LA SRID PAR ZHUGS PAS BDAG CHAGS PU MED LHA'I PHYIR NGAG CHUN YIN DU NGO TZAM NA So the ladies had a meeting. All the BZHAG KYA clan ladies had a meeting.

They said, Yeah, let's go ask Buddha for a Dharma teaching. Just ladies only night. The husband said, Why ladies only?

She said, We feel embarrassed in front of men. We can't let our hair down. We can't feel natural.

We just want ladies there. Can we have a teaching like that? BDAG CHAGS PU MED LHA'I PHYIR NGAG CHUN YIN DU NGO TZAM NA DE'I DE LHA DAG NI NGA GRO CHUN YIN BDAG CHAGS KYI LAS GRO CHUN YIN PAR SNANG NA PHYIR I have a suggestion, she said.

You men go in the morning before noon and then us ladies will have our Dharma teaching in the afternoon. DE NAS, MING CHEN GYI BSAM PA BDAG GI RGYAL BO ZAD TZAM MA LA MED NA MI NGAN PAR Then her husband said, he thought it was a good idea but he thought it's a little disrespectful to ask the king, Buddha's father, can we have a girls only afternoon? Because he's not a girl.

SKYE RGYUN BDAG MO CHEN PO LA CHU LO NYAM NAS DE DAG LA CHU LA Then he thought, it's more appropriate if I ask the king's wife. Okay. I don't think it's Lord Buddha's mother at this point.

I think she died or something. It's a long story. I'll ask her permission.

Then the wife can always convince the husband what to do. DE NAS SKYE RGYUN BDAG MO CHEN PO ZHAG GIS CHUNG MA LA NYAB SKYES KHOR NAS CHOS NYON PA'I PHYIR NYA RGYUR DU NAS So they made the arrangement and 500 wives and women of the shakya people walked to the NYA RGRO DA garden. DE TSE ZHAG GIS MING CHEN GYI CHUNG MA RGAN THAMS CAD KYI RGAN PA NAS DE DAG DANG LHAN CIG TU SONG BA DANG Then the women who went to the garden said, if we're going to go to teaching by Lord Buddha, we should dress up.

We should wear our best sari and all of our pearls and gold. We should look nice. RGAN NAS DE DAG LHAN CIG TU SONG BA DE GZUGS BZANG BZHIN GZHON PA DANG RGAN THAMS CAD KYI RGAN PA NA And all the ladies dressed up with all their silk and jewels.

THAMS CAD KYI RGYUR DU BDOD CHAGS DANG MA BRAL BA'I BDAG YI MTHRO PA BYAS PA TSE DANG DE MA KUN DGA' BA'I MTHONG NAS Ananda was there. He was allowed... The monks were allowed to stay.

The shakya husbands had to stay home. But Ananda was looking around at the monks and some of them were like... Then he thought to himself, some of these monks are not advanced enough to be around a bunch of beautiful ladies.

He thought to himself like that. These ladies are too hot. SEMS MONGS KYIS KYI YONG GI KYANG YIB LAS PA LTAR DUG BZHIN BSAM NA RGAN THAMS CAD KYI RGAN PA BDAG CI MOD DE Then he told the ladies, I think you shouldn't dress up so much when you come to the teaching because it's bad for the young monks who are not experienced.

DE'I PHYI CHU ZHES NA THU BO BYED DI DAG THAMS CAD NI BDOD CHAGS DANG BRAL BA'I MA YIN NO Frankly speaking, not all of our monks are free yet of desire. Because some are young, they're not very experienced. ZHES BYAR DE NGO TSA'O RGYUR NAS RGAN THAMS CAD PHYOGS TE PHOGS TE Then the women immediately understood and they decided to take off their jewelry.

PHOGS TE BU MO'I SNGAG ZHU MA BSGUNG BA CHEN ZHES BYAR BA CHUN YIN PA'I PHYIR DE DAG LHAN CI'O MA Then there was a young lady who was a servant girl and she had come along with them to serve them drinks and things like that. So they said, here, take our jewelry back to the houses. They asked her, you take the pearls and things, put them in our house.

LHAN CI'O MA RGAN DE DAG KHYIM CHU GCIG DANG DE'I KYANG SKAL NAS LA'ANG SO Then she took all the jewelry and went back to the village. DE NAS BYANG DU BDE GYIS CHOS SHES PA DAG ZHAGS BSKYED MO SHU NUS MA ZHIG CHOS BYED PA'I TSE RANG NI DGUL NA YOD PA'I MU DIG GIS SEMS DO LA CHAGS PA YANG DANG YANG DU LTA ZHING LAGS PA'I KYANG No more. Then Buddha started to teach.

But there was one young lady, wife of somebody, and she was too proud to send back her pearls. So she still wear her pearls. She's like this.

Then Buddha's teaching, and then she's like... She's just distracted by her pearls. She didn't send her pearls back home.

DE NAS BYANG DU BDE GYIS MI LTA BU'I CHOS SHES NA YANG ON KYANG MA GTANG BA DANG MING CHEN GYI CHUNG MED SHU NUS MA DE The Buddha thought, I should teach about death meditation and this lady will stop looking at her pearls. So he taught death meditation. Then she's like...

She didn't hear it.

[Speaker 2]
Got it?

[Speaker 1]
Then Mahanama's wife, the one who asked for the teaching, she thought, I have to get this lady to stop looking at her pearls. Then she had an idea. I will send the servant girl back to my house to bring my big pearls and I will put them on.

And then this lady will stop looking at her pearls. Because those are cheap and mine are expensive. Then she won't be distracted.

So she asked the servant girl, you know, I changed my mind. Go home, bring back my pearls. RANG GI SEMS OD DO CHAGS PAR MTHONG NAS DI NYAMS SANGS TE The pearls, by the way, if you care, it wasn't a necklace exactly.

It's called SEMS OD DO. SEMS OD DO is when you go to a big party, expensive dress, and you wear a long dress, and then you have a small vest, it stops here, just covers here. That's called SEMS OD DO.

And it's made of pearls. She said, go back and get my SEMS OD DO. BSTAN PA'I DE BYAS MI BDAG PA'I ZHES PA NA YANG DI RANG GI SEMS OD DO LA RAB TU CHAGS NAS YANG NAS YANG DU LTA NA DI GAL TE BDAG GI SEMS OD DO LA MTHONG NA If this girl sees my SEMS OD DO, DE'I PHRAD PA THAMS CAD MED PA RGYUR RO NYAM DU she will forget her pearls and she will start listening to the Buddha.

So she sent the servant girl back to the house. DE PHYIR NYAN PAS SKABS MED PA RGYUR NAS YID LA NYAM DU BSAM SO The servant girl walking back to the home started to think about it. E MA HO But this is an upset E MA HO.

E MA HO PHYIR DI BDAG ZHES PA LA RJES MO'I GNOG STE LTAR BA'I Everybody else gets to listen to the Dharma and I'm running back and forth with pearls. You know. RDUN RGYUN CIG RGA BAR ZHES To be a servant in these times in India is not fun.

SDUG BSNGAL YID BLANG TU MED GANG RTEN NAS ZIG SU SBYOR PA MED PA DRAN GYUR NGAN PA SDUG BSNGAL MANG LA GZHAN GYI DBANG It's not fun to be a servant. It's a lot of pain. Everyone's bossing you around all the time.

And I don't have a good income. All of this is because I didn't hear Dharma in the past and now I don't get to hear Dharma again and I'm just going to be like this. I want to listen to the Dharma.

ZHES MED PA DANG CHUNG NA DE KYI BSGOM PA DI'ANG SNGON SANGS RGYAS LA BYA BA BYAS PA ZHIG STE Then the Buddha was reading her mind as she's walking. ZHES MED PA DANG SRED MTHUNG BA'I KHOR BA RGYUR BA LA YONG BAR BYA'O NYAN NAS Then he saw her life is not going to be very long. She's not going to live very long.

RDZUS KHRUB KYI ZIG SU BYAS PA PHYO BA LA PHYIS TE PHYIN NO Then he wrote a verse on a tree by magic on the bark of a tree. You know this white tree? What do you call that?

Birch tree. Before paper they used to use this for writing. White tree skin.

On that she's walking and he wrote it, magic, from that teaching place with his meditation. SKYE BA RNAM NI BYIS PA RGYUR All things which are born die. DGE MED TSE YANG RIG PA SPYOD You should understand your life.

NEN RTEN DUG STE RGYAS LA NYON You should try to do some good karma. SNGAGS BDAG GIS NI SHES PA LO'O I give you this private teaching on the tree bark. Then she's like, wow!

She's so happy. She takes the tree bark off and she's walking to get the SEMS DO She's like, wow! Buddha wrote me my own poem.

I'm really special. She kept reading this verse to herself. Then she ran into a cow and it kicked her and she died.

On the road. She's like, boom, dead. Like that.

Just die like that. She had Buddha's name on her lips. That's why we're reading this story.

She had Buddha's name on her mouth when she got kicked and she died with Buddha's name. PHUNG PO DE YANG RGA NA'I SIG CHE DE'I DUR ZHING SANGS RGYAS DRAN ZHING SO BA'I TSE THUNG BA'I LAS KYI DUS LA BAP NAS BLAM DU SPYOD MIN ZHING SO If you care, the cow was pregnant. I don't know why they say that.

DE'I SANGS RGYAS DRAN ZHING DU CI BA'I DUS SU BYAS PA'I Because she died with the Buddha's name on her lips, she was born as the princess of Sri Lanka. DE'I GTAM DANG TSE PA'I TSE MUTIK GI CHAGS PA PAS MING YANG MUTIK MA RTOGS SANGS And because she had the pearls in her hands, the day she was born, pearls fell from the sky in Sri Lanka. The whole country.

Pearls. Her mom and dad, the king and queen of Sri Lanka, they were saying, maybe we should call her Pearl Girl. So they named her Pearl Girl.

Pearl? They named her Pearl. DE NAS ZHING DU ZHING ZHIG NA YIN DU YOD PAS TSONGS PA GCIG RGYAL TSOGS LING DU THUG CHEN PO BZHANGS DE RGYAL TSOGS ZHUGS PA LAS LUNG GI MTHUS ZING RGA LAS LING DU PHYI NO Then some businessmen, merchants, were in a boat off the coast of Malabar Coast, southwest India, and they got caught in a windstorm and it pushed them to Sri Lanka.

[Speaker 2]
They are from a place called Shravasti. What's Shravasti?

[Speaker 1]
It's where Lord Buddha taught the diamond cutter. They happened to be from Shravasti. DE NAS RGYAL PO PO RANG NAM YOD PAS Then they landed in Sri Lanka.

They started to do some business and they rented an apartment next to the palace of the king. LDAN PA MTHONG NAS LENG ZHIG LDAN LDAN PA MTHONG NAS DE'I RANG LAS LDAN PA MTHONG NAS ZHIG SU BYAS PA DANG THUB PA'I ZHIG SU BYAS PA DANG LDAN PA MTHONG NAS And every night the business guys, merchants, they used to get together and read sutra out loud like Jingang Jing or Xin Jing and they will sing the sutra. SA BU YI RKONG RKONG BU YI SA SA RGYUS SU RKONG RKONG RGYUS SU SA SHOR SHANG ZHIG ZHIG YI BU RU ZHIG They started to sing it.

Then a pearl lady was in the palace and she heard this beautiful song. Wow! I never heard this.

This is such a beautiful song. Then she said, those musicians are really good. Then she asked her father, can you invite these foreign musicians to sing in the palace?

He has a lot of money and he asked the business men, you guys, you must be a rock and roll band or something. Can you come to the palace and sing for us? Okay.

RTEN TZAM GYI NI SANGS RGYAS SHES GYIS SO Then they said, look, we're not singers. We're business men. But every night together we sing the Jingang Jing and Xin Jing.

It's a prayer. And she said, well, what's the prayer about? They said it's to Buddha.

And when she heard the word Buddha she said, something happened to her. She said, oh, Buddha! Some past life memory, she said, oh, Buddha!

DE DAG GIS SANGS RGYAS YI CHE BA YIN DE SNGAGS PA LA ZHUGS TE Then they started to tell her how cool is Buddha. This guy named Buddha. BUDDHA.

BUDDHA. Then they told his whole story. How he was a prince, how he got enlightened.

And she was... She heard the whole story. Then the evening was finished and she said, when you guys are ready to go home can you come see me?

Because I want to send this guy a message. DE DAG KHO BAR BYAMS PA DANG, DE NAS BYAMS PA'I DANG LAS SDUG BSNGAL GYI'I DRIG PA'I TSUL And she gave them... she wrote a message to the Buddha.

And it's a poem. LHA MA YIN DANG LHA MI CHAGS CHE BA KHYAD DANG SNGA BA'I JIG LAS SNGON DU BRTEL DRAG PA CHEN PO'I SNGA BA'I KHUN DU BDAG, DRANG SOGS BSDUS GYI DNGOS PO NYAMS MED BDAG LO Gods and humans bow to you.

[Speaker 2]
You are free of the fears of birth and death.

[Speaker 1]
DRAG PA CHEN PO'I SNGA BA'I KHUN DU BDAG Everybody in the world has heard of you. DRANG SOGS BSDUS GYI DNGOS PO NYAMS MED BDAG LO Can you grant me nectar? Can you give me nectar of deathlessness?

Please. DE NAS SONGS PA DE DAG GYI SDUG BSNGAL GYI DE GYUR NAS BYONG DU DE LA BUR NA They went back to Shravasti, they met Lord Buddha, and they gave him the note. SKABS BSAL BA SONGS PA SKYE RNAMS GZHING RGYA LAS LING DU GRO BA'I TSE NGA LA BRDUN CIG And Buddha said, what?

When you go back to Sri Lanka, can you take a message? DE DAG GYI SDUG BSNGAL GYI GYUR NAS And they said, yeah, sure. BYONG DU DE KYI GNYIS KYI KU'I TSE RIM PO'I PHYI STE In the meantime, Lord Buddha had a portrait made of himself to send to her.

Painting. DE'I OG TU GSUM LA BSKYAMS SU SGRO BA DANG BSLAB PA'I PHYIR MA NA And then below, at the bottom part of the portrait, he drew the Wheel of Life. It's a strange message to send to someone you just met.

Here's my picture, and here's the Wheel of Life. THUM PA DANG MI THUM PA DANG, PHA PA'I LAM YIN LA'I PHYIR NAS BSGOM NAS GZIGS BYAS PA And he wrote that famous verse, right? BSAM PA BYA ZHIG YUL BA BYA, SANGS RGYAS BSTAN PA'I SGRUB PA BYA, BDAMS PA'I KHYEN LA LANG CHE CHEN YIN, DE DU ZHES NA DE NI GSUM PA BYA, GANG ZHIG PA LTAR LA YOD PAS, MTHUN DU BDIN LA GCOD RGYUR BA, SKYE BA'I KHOR ROL LA BSTAN PA'I, SDUG BSNGAL THAMS PA BYAS PA ZHOG, He wrote these two verses, very famous.

DE NAS MUD KTIS MA DE NI, CI YIN ZHES MTSAMS PA DANG LA MED PA DANG Then she got the message and the painting, and she opened it up, and she asked the businessman, What is this? What's this thing? Then they told her what's the painting about.

And who's this guy's picture?

[Speaker 2]
Then she went to her bedroom and she recited the Twelve Links three times, and before she finished the third time, she saw emptiness. Cool.

[Speaker 1]
SANGS RGYAS RIGS NA, Then she said a very famous poem. SANGS RGYAS RIGS NA ZHUGS SHIN DU, SHES RABS KYIS NI MI BYANG STE, Buddha, you live far away. I never met you, but you have opened my eyes.

GANG GIS MI NYID DON DANG BA'ANG SMRAN GYI DE LA, You are the supreme physician. You are the greatest doctor in the world. SANGS RGYAS RIGS NA ZHUGS SHIN DU, LTA BA'I GSUM DU RTZA NAS CHUNG, You ripped out my wrong idea about the world.

GSUM DU BYIN PA CHEN PO'I PHYIR, MEN GYI DE LA CHAGS SO, I bow down to the great physician, the great doctor. BYIS PA'I BSAM PA DE LA LA SKYES RNAMS SGROL NA, LTA LA RGYIS ZHIG DE DAG GIS BRAL BU DAG, So she said, can you take this poem back to Lord Buddha? Because she reached Arya.

MU THIG MED DE DAG LA DAG GIS ZHIG CHUNG DU DE GYI ZHAL LA CHAGS KYI DE RGYAS TSUL ZHIG, MI DE BA CHUNG RNAMS MYUR DU GZHANGS TZAM Then she sent back Lord Buddha her best wishes. DGE BA'I GZHAN YIN CHUNG DU DE LA BSTAN PA NA Then she said, because you became my teacher, BDAG SEMS CAN NYAL BA CHOS SONG DANG, YID BDAG NAS CHUNG, I will never again have to go to the hell realms. I will never again be an animal.

I will never again be a hungry spirit. In fact, I will never be a human or a deva. I'm free from the wheel.

[Speaker 2]
GZHI MA NANG PHRAG GIS... Sorry. You have...

Okay. I have crossed the mountains of skeletons.

[Speaker 1]
I have destroyed the mountain of wrong views with my Vajra, my diamond, because of your teaching. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
And I reached Arya because of you.

[Speaker 1]
SPRING PA BDAG RGYAL TO LUNG DU RGYAL TO I crossed the ocean. I crossed the ocean. Now I will always take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

Can you ask him if he will give me my lifetime vows? Laman vows.

[Speaker 2]
Can I have those vows?

[Speaker 1]
Then she packed up three boxes of pearls. See, pearls are coming back. She made three chests of pearls.

She said to the merchants, give these to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha when you get home. One box for each. They went back home and they offered the three boxes to Lord Buddha.

Then Lord Buddha said to Ananda, Do you remember that irritating servant girl who was unhappy about carrying pearls back and forth? And got kicked by the cow? He said, yeah, I remember her.

That was very sad. Then he said, well, as she was dying she had my name on her lips. So she was born as the princess of Sri Lanka.

I sent her the Wheel of Life and because of that she saw emptiness directly. Then Ananda's like, wow, that's super cool. He was really happy.

Then he said, what do you want me to do with the three boxes of pearls? Then Buddha said, well, the part that she dedicated to the Buddha is for me. So I want you to glue them to the wall of the temple.

Put them on the walls of the temple so the temple is beautiful. All pearls. That's what you can do with mine.

The box that was for the Dharma jewel, you have to give to people who are practicing Dharma. And the part that was for the Sangha, you can give that box to the Sangha. THON PA'I CHUG GI DGOS RGYAL GANG YIN PA DE CHEN ZIN PA GANG ZAG RNAMS BLANG BA ZHES GSUNGS PA DANG DE TSE MUN ZIN PA RNAMS BDAG CHAGS KYI CHUNG DU NUS Then...

So there were monks who specialized in sutra teachings. And there were monks who specialized in Vinaya teachings. And there were monks who specialized in Abhidharma teaching.

Guess what happened? Each one said, we get the box. The Abhidharma guy said, we should get the box.

The Vinaya guy said, we should get the box. The sutra guy said, we should get the box. And then they started to argue.

And that's the end of the story. No, then Buddha said, don't fight over physical things. That monks and nuns shouldn't argue with each other.

And that's the LANG SHI. You see, the whole story is not about the Wheel of Life. And it's not about the Twelve Links.

And it's not even about... It's about not arguing. Because then Buddha had to make a rule.

Monks and nuns shouldn't argue with each other. Got it? Okay.

Now you got it. That's the short version. I believe it's Trijang Rinpoche's summary.

And there's a 200 page long version, which I didn't do. That's like the 10 page version. There's a much longer version, very beautiful.

200 pages long. Very beautiful. Anyway, that's another teaching of the Wheel of Life.

And he explains the Wheel of Life. Okay. Oh.

Yeah. This photo was taken two days ago by our team in Borobudur. And this is one of the stories.

So we identified the carvings about the Wheel of Life. So the whole... We'll climb up the mountain now and I'll teach you the Wheel of Life from the carvings.

Okay. It's very beautiful. And Sugeng and...

We're doing a book with a very famous German photographer, Bernd Kolb, who's a famous businessman. He was the Entrepreneur of the Year. He started internet business in Germany.

We did a program together and he's a very famous photographer. So we're trying to finish a book before that for you. But I don't know if I'll have time.

We're trying. Okay.