«Дар освобождения», курс 25 «Совершенное прибежище», занятие 7

[Speaker 1]
Good morning. This thing of getting up earlier doesn't work, does it? Anyway, I tried.

Let's start with the meditation. Let me tell you about the meditation first, okay? Before you close your eyes.

Or you can close your eyes and sleep and just get it psychically. I think at meditation number 18, page 8, okay? We're going to start...

The meditations and the Lam Rim book are going to start to touch on the refuge vows. So, these twelve vows. This is kind of the first one that directly addresses that.

It does mean once you take refuge in the Buddha jewel... Let me read you the vow. Don't seek refuge in worldly objects and deities after you have taken refuge in the Buddha.

So, anybody here who has a Buddhist name, you took this vow already. It's nice to understand the vow more deep. I spend a lot of time thinking about this vow.

In my feeling, in the modern world, there are different religions. There are Buddhism, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, you know. There are lots of different religions.

And they have different teachings. Like Christian says that God took six days to make the world and then on the seventh day took a rest. And that's why we should go to church on Sunday.

Something like that. The old religion of Tibet, Bun says that the world was created by a monkey who had sex with a witch or something like that. Okay?

Something like that. And every religion has a different idea where the world came from and who's running the world. Okay?

But it seems to me, in my how I see things, how I see the world, and I travel a lot, so I get to see many countries. And I see them once a year and twice a year. I see, there's almost no place where we don't go, you know.

We just got invited to Africa. And I think we'll go because it's South South Africa. So, I kind of see what people believe in and what they all believe in is science, is cell phones.

You know, and to be honest, you know, I think the religion or the belief of this world is cell phones. You know, and it's shared by all, what do you call it? Religions.

I mean, like Muslim people believe in cell phones. Christian people believe in cell phones. Jewish people believe in cell phones.

And you know, if your cell phone breaks and you give the person a choice, you can pray to Muhammad or you can pray to Yahweh or you can pray to God or you can take it to the cell phone fixing store. They will choose the cell phone fixing store. They don't go to the church or the synagogue and pray that the cell phone will work, you see?

And they don't try to fix someone else's cell phone. Okay. I taught seeds too.

I had a children's group for many years. It was my fourth power for the mistake I made with an abortion. So, for 15 years I taught a children's group.

And one day in New York we were, I don't know if you remember, it was at Leon's place and I was teaching this kids group and the air conditioner broke. And it was really hot New York, wet New York, hot summer day. And me and this other teacher, we got up on a ladder and we were trying to fix the air conditioner and the kids were running around and going crazy.

And then this little boy came and grabbed my pants, leg, and he pulled it, you know. And he said, no, no, Gosu Michael, you know, don't do that. I'm like, just be quiet, I'm trying to fix it.

He said, no, no, you're not fixing it. I said, I'm kind of, I just, you know, go play, I'm trying to fix it. He said, you should go outside, find another person whose air conditioner is broken and you help them fix it.

That's the way to fix the air conditioner. And then I'm like, oh no. So, everybody believes in engines and motors and the internet and computers and that's the real religion of the world.

We have our culture. Our parents, you know, lit a menorah on, what, Friday night or our parents painted each other on Diwali or dressed up on, what's that called? Purim.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was in Tel Aviv, in Jaffa, on Purim, which is a religious Halloween. Everybody was dressed up as angels and I was so happy, you know.

And I had to give a talk at the Jaffa Theater, I think, 800 people. And I got out of the car in my robes and some guy runs up to me and says, hey cool motherfucker, you look just like the devil. That's a nice costume.

So, we have our religious culture. Christmas dinner or, you know, Christmas tree, Christmas songs. But what people really believe in is science.

Everybody, you know, believes deeply. And a big part of their life is their cell phone. What's this called?

You ready? They left their cell phone in the taxi cab. And people go crazy.

People go, like, it's like someone just told them they have cancer, you know. So, people believe in the cell phone, you know. So, for me, what we have to compete with is not other religions.

Like, I don't think this vow, first vow, first refuge vow, I encourage you, don't think, oh, I'm not Hindu. We don't like Hindus. Or, I'm not Muslim.

We don't like Muslims, you know. Don't think like that, okay? What we don't like is cell phones.

Okay? What we're competing with is cell phones, okay? People believe the cell phone works because Wang Xia and her friends put pieces in this thing.

She's a manager for Apple in Shanghai. We believe that the cell phone works because these people in China, Foxconn, they put the pieces in the plastic, and that's why it works. And we believe that.

And that's the religion we are competing with, okay? That's the one which is wrong. Okay?

Why does cell phone work? What would the boy say in my kids class? You helped someone else communicate, you see?

You helped other people communicate. Then your cell phone will never break. You got it?

Okay? What's the karma for the cover breaking? I don't know.

We have to figure it out. Not being clear to people? Okay, so this meditation, number 18, it's to try to recognize inside of you, your real religion is cell phone, or car, or airplane, and you believe that, okay?

You believe the way to get from Singapore to L.A., San Francisco? San Francisco is to get on a plane. You believe that.

And you believe that the plane works if it has all its metal parts. You believe that. You don't understand that how you got from Singapore to San Francisco was that you helped other people get to where they want to go.

Otherwise the flight would be canceled or they would pull you off the plane if it was united. Something like that. You see what I mean?

And it's very hard because we're surrounded by seven billion people who believe in science. And you have to struggle with it. So in this meditation, you can think about anything.

How you're going to call your family when you when you get home. How you're going to get home on an airplane or in a car. And you have to think about what makes the airplane work, or what makes the car work, or what makes the cell phone work, okay?

And if you can't overcome your belief in the religion of science, then you will never reach enlightenment. It's not possible. Okay?

I don't mean you should hate your cell phone. You should love your cell phone. You know, I love my cell phone and I use it for good things.

And bad things too. But, you know, they're very valuable. They're very precious.

They are unbelievably cool. But understand where it comes from, okay? And that's taking refuge.

When you understand what really makes a cell phone work, when you think about it, you are taking refuge. And then that taking refuge helps to destroy your old bad seeds. It creates new good seeds.

Your life becomes magical. Everything you try is successful. Okay?

You love other people. Okay? So, this meditation is the most important one.

He said that about four other ones. So, okay, now we're ready to meditate. Okay, ready?

Here we go. Number 18. Maybe you want to do this one every day, one time.

So, relax your forehead. Put a little smile on your face. Hold in your stomach just a little bit tight.

Relax your fingers. Relax your eyelids. Check your shoulders.

Are they relaxed? And then let's come to our breath. Long exhales.

Let's not count today. Let's just watch the exhales. Long exhales.

And bring the mind to the center with the breath. Then we'll start a meditation. Please look into your heart and connect with your heart teacher there.

You know, like kind of sneak into the grain of sugar and sit with them and just be with them. No special plan or agenda. Just be quiet with them.

Enjoy being with your heart teacher. Then during the three-day retreat we won't use our cell phones. And then when we come out of retreat, I think it's Thursday or Friday, we will, most of us will grab our cell phone and text somebody, WeChat somebody.

I'd like you to think of two or three people that you will probably contact with your cell phone or your laptop after you get out of the three-day retreat. All of us have some busy things we have to do. We have plans after this program, but also after the three days.

We feel that we will need to write someone, text someone, WeChat. So try to think of two or three people that you might be sending a WeChat to as soon as you take down your boundary markers, or as soon as you reach the temple. Okay, here we go.

Then try to try to imagine that someone comes up to you and says, oh, that's a nice cell phone. I heard about Huawei cell phones and how does it work? And then, you know, we're not scientists and we have a picture in our mind that we talk into the phone, we push a button, and then a circuit closes, and electricity goes across some wires.

And some of us remember from seventh grade science class, electrons are moving through a pipe or something. And then somehow it comes out of the phone as a signal, and it goes and touches a cell phone tower. Then there's more electrons moving in the cell phone tower along copper wires, and then another signal goes out and goes to a satellite, and there's more wires in the satellite, and more electrons move.

And then signals come from the satellite to my friend in Singapore, to my husband, or my children. And that's how we explain a cell phone. If you and me had to make a cell phone, it would take a thousand years, I think.

But we have a rough idea how it works. So get in touch with that rough picture in your mind. Mostly from seventh grade science class.

About how the cell phone is working. Because somebody asked you a question about it after you finished your three-day retreat. How does a cell phone work?

And then try to take refuge, which means, which always means, look at the deeper causes. What makes the copper carry electrons? Who made satellites go up into space?

Who built the cell phone towers? Why am I able to communicate with people I love and do things I think are important with this cell phone? And then try to think about the real causes.

I don't know clearly all the causes, but I believe it must have to do with helping other people to communicate. Maybe a husband or wife that you know, they have trouble communicating with each other, and maybe you help them, or maybe you taught a child to read, or you explained your understanding of Dharma to other people you shared. So try to figure out yourself what has caused the cell phone.

What keeps it working? Now, if you weren't meditating, I would ask you if you want to go deeper, but since you can't talk, I believe you want to go deeper. So you can take this meditation to a deeper level, and think about messages you're getting nowadays.

Who's been writing you? Who's been posting things that you read? What family members or friends are using WeChat to contact you?

And think about some of the messages you've gotten. I try not to read them before I go to bed, because some of them disturb my mind. Good ones and bad ones.

Think about messages you get on your cell phone, and try to understand that they are also coming from you. Good ones that you're getting nowadays, bad ones, what you see on the internet this week, news, entertainment. All the content of your cell phone, not just the cell phone, is also coming from you, and from your seeds.

And all this kind of thinking, all this kind of meditation, is taking refuge, because it will protect you. You can keep your cell phone working, if you help others to communicate, and you can only get beautiful messages and see inspiring, uplifting things on the internet, if you speak that way to others, and you communicate that way to others. And that's taking refuge.

Thank your lama in your heart. That's probably one of the main jobs of a lama, is to keep you thinking like this, and then come back to your breath. Three long exhales, and then slowly open your eyes.

Take a stretch. Thank you Geshe-la. Can you also protect your communication by buying a case for your cell phone?

My best friend bought a case for their cell phone, then they dropped it and it broke. So, yes, you can buy a case. You still have to do all the normal stuff.

You still have to buy a case. Whether it works or not will depend on whether you have respected other people's property. You see?

So, I'm not trying to say don't use cell phones anymore. I'm not trying to say don't put cases on your cell phone. I'm not trying to say don't build a...

we're building an emergency mini cell phone tower for people who get bit by snakes and stuff. You still have to do those things, but they won't work unless you help other people. That's all.

But don't stop taking aspirin. Don't stop. You know, don't throw your cell phone out.

Your family won't be happy. Okay. We're talking about deeper causes, not that there's no apparent causes.

Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you Geshe-la.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, your questions are too hard.

[Speaker 2]
So, when we received the message, before the person typed the message, they had a thinking process about this message, and they heard these thoughts, because they planted the seeds before to hear this.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good question.

[Speaker 2]
Am I responsible for their planting seeds to hear those thoughts to send this message so I can see it?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, that's a good question. So, I'll repeat what Anton said. Let's say I get a not very nice message on my phone, WeChat from somebody, and that's typed by another person on their phone, or they spoke into the phone.

And then there's a call that, ,LAS LAS GCIG TU RNAMS SANGS RGYAS DE NYID SEMS PA DANG DE'I PHYIR, ,DE NYID SEMS PA DANG DE'I PHYIR, Second line of the Abhidharmakosha, fourth chapter. Anytime you do anything, anytime you say anything, a thought comes just before, which is raw karma. so what Anton said is, that person who sent you a maybe a not very positive message, they had a thought that came just before that to say something to you, which is not nice or something like that.

So, Anton's question is, and Anton said, I understand that thought to type a negative message came out of a seed, a karmic seed, in their mind. And then he asked, did I plant that seed? And is that my fault?

Is that my responsibility? Did I put a bad seed in the other person's mind? Shantideva has a controversial part about that.

He said, if that person who says a bad thing to you because you made a karma, and they go to hell because you made a karma, then you send them to hell. You know. By saying something bad to somebody last week.

Okay? I personally don't believe it. You know, I can't plant a seed in that.

I believe that if the other person had a good karma, they would believe they're trying to help me. They're sending me this kind of hard message, tough message. To help me.

Their motivation is to help me. So, I believe that how they feel about what they sent me, how that affects them, is coming from their karma, not from mine. But from my side, that the seed was planted by my bad karma.

You see what I mean? So, you can take the karmic seed in their mind, which opened into the idea to send me a message, and you can split it. Okay?

They're going to experience something good from sending me a kind, they feel it's a kind suggestion. Then the other half is, I'm going to interpret the same seed as something negative. You okay?

Got it? So, one seed can be good karma and bad karma at the same time. Okay?

Got it? It's like a pen. Something to chew or something to write.

But can I hurt them by forcing them to send me a bad message? No, I don't believe it. Shantideva says that, but I think it's just to make us try to be better people.

I don't think it's correct. Okay? And I don't think he thinks it's correct.

Okay? Next question. Those Russians.

Let's do more in the afternoon. Okay? More questions in the afternoon.

Okay. Nineteen. Meditation number nineteen.

We have twenty-seven. I'm afraid we won't finish. That's what I usually do.

What's the second refuge commitment? By the way, the first three refuge commitments are negative. Don't do this.

Yeah, once you've taken refuge in Dharma, you can't hurt anything or anybody anymore. Okay? That's the second refuge commitment.

If you were in Thailand, you heard them recently. If you weren't, I mean, Jigme and Phil teach them every time, I guess. Right?

So, second refuge commitment. Don't hurt other people. Then, the Lam Rim book, when we get to there, it's going to say, what's a sign that a person is taking refuge successfully?

Okay? How do you know someone is a successful refuge taker? Okay?

And what's the answer? They're nice to everybody. Okay?

Like, when you say tantra, secret Buddhism, you know, highest Buddhism, what comes in people's minds, I don't know. I think a lot of people see, some people see people killing chickens and spraying blood on people. And some people say, see people having sex and some people see a llama in a big hat and going like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You know, but what it really is, is something like, I don't know, Tahiya or Rob Resinger or Adam. They're just nice people. You see?

That's a high tantric person. They are nice to everybody. Okay?

If not, they have a special bell or okay, special hat. That's how you can tell, oh, this person must be practicing high buddhism. This is a high buddhist practitioner.

Because they're just nice to everybody. Okay? Just sweet to everybody.

More and more sweet. Okay? So, we're not going to do the meditation this morning, but 19, when you get to 19, you can think about, am I successful in my refuge practice?

And that's why refuge is the basis of tantra. Okay? Am I being nice to other people?

Okay? If you take refuge, then it means you understand that things are coming from you. If you understand that things are coming from you, you will always be nice.

Okay? So, the sign that a person understands refuge is that they never hurt anybody. Okay?

They don't say things that hurt other people. They don't do things that are dangerous, like talking on your cell phone when you're driving, you know. They're just super careful not to hurt other people.

Somebody was telling me, how would Connie react to this dinner? We had a really bad dinner the other day. And, and somebody said, no, just think of it like Connie would think of it, you know.

Like, how would you talk to this person? And we had a, we were having a fun, and we were saying, Connie would say, you really put this on the plate nicely, you know, and this has a lot of different ingredients in it. And, I'd like to know about this recipe.

Okay. Okay, so, anyway, that's a sign that you're, that you're refuge. We kept going, I'm not going to tell you all of it.

Oh, you picked up, you licked the stove also! So, so anyway, that's a sign that someone took refuge. Okay?

And that's a sign of tantric practice. Okay? They're just nice to people.

So, he's talking about the result of refuge, right? Which is, if you, it's that flowchart. If you understand emptiness, you understand that nothing happens without you, you behaving some way towards other people.

If you understand that, which is dependent origination, you take refuge. Meaning, you don't do things that are going to hurt you later. And that's protection.

And then, you're a nice person. So, if a person is nice, who went to many DCI programs or something, we hope it's because they understood seeds. Got it?

And that's a sign that they have refuge. Okay? So, obviously, it's difficult to judge if other people, what they're thinking, right?

But we can judge what we're thinking. And we can decide about ourselves, you know, am I a successful refuge taker? Okay?

So, that's meditation number 19. Number 20. Okay?

Number 20. I put, it took me a long time, I found a photo of somebody putting water in a good cup of coffee and ruining it. Okay?

I don't know if you've ever had somebody do that, you know, like they have enough coffee for three cups and four people show up. My mom used to do this. She had four boys and no husband around and she got paid on Friday.

On Saturday, we had orange juice. On Sunday, we had half orange juice and half water. On Monday, it was one-third orange juice, two-thirds water.

On Thursday, it was like horse piss. Okay, and there's a refuge tradition, which is don't water down your refuge, okay? Like don't mix other stuff into it, you know?

Okay, like you hear things from people, you know, like I like this idea that you can fix an air conditioner by helping other people with their air conditioners, but it's the people who say but after that. Okay, but, you know, that's a nice idea, but no, no, let's be practical. You know, from a—I understand that's the dharma point of view, but tell me the practical point of view.

You know, and you got to look at them and say, the dharma point of view is the practical point of view, okay? Got it? You know, okay?

People say be practical. Don't go to Lam Rim all the time. You say, I am being practical.

I want to make money. I want to have a successful relationship, you know? I want to be healthy.

You know, it is—this is the most practical thing. This is the thing that works, okay? So, don't let— don't water down your refuge like 50% refuge, 30% refuge.

Okay Geshe-la, I trust if I help other people I'll have a good business, but you know, I kind of have to cheat people now to get there. No, you don't know how many people tell me this. I mean, they don't say it like that, but they mean that.

You know, so... And when we get to this section in the book later, it's a hard section because he's very critical of things that don't work. You know, and he chooses some other worldviews that were in his country, in his life, in his time.

Like there was a—there was a worldview called Bön. People call Bonpo Bön. It's called Bön, okay?

And they believed that the world was created by this person, and they had a belief. They still exist. And some people told this Lama, you know, my parents were Bön.

They believed the world was made by Shemba or something. And so, I kind of like to be 50-50. Is that okay?

Like, I'll fix other people's air conditioners, but I'll also make a prayer to Shemba, you know. Is that okay? You know, and he says, well, if you keep doing that, it's like orange juice, you know.

It's just not going to be very strong. The refuge won't be very strong, okay? So, it's up to you.

I don't mean disrespect your parents. I don't mean that. I go to church.

I went to church a couple weeks ago, and it makes my family happy, and I learned good things. I learned some good things, you know, and that's okay. But keep your keep your worldview, protect your worldview.

Don't water it down. Don't put water in a good Starbucks cup of coffee, okay? Everything's coming from me, 100%.

Don't be a 50% comes from me, 50% comes from something else, okay? I mean, keep that view. I have close Christian friends.

They said, can I still can I still pray to God? I say, yeah, no problem. It's coming from you.

You know, that's okay. How can a person come from me and take care of me? You made your mother.

You made your father. You know, it's possible. It's okay.

In Buddhism, we say Vajrayogini made the world. Okay, but I made Vajrayogini. Okay, that's okay.

Okay, but below it is this belief that everything comes from you, and how you treat other people, okay? And I don't think it contradicts most of the great religions. If you study the 30 pages of the New Testament, Jesus's words, we should like pull out this whole conversation about planting seeds on rocky soil or good soil.

And he's talking about seeds all the time, you know, and that's the main thing. And Mohammed was the same. So, no problem.

MEO DANG THI Okay, but don't put water in your, okay, because it won't help you, okay? Everything comes from you. Everything comes from how you treat other people.

Everything is your fault, okay? Okay. All right.

So, I guess during that meditation you might think about, you know, are you watering down your understanding about seeds? Do you, how much do you believe a cell phone comes from you? 30%, 25%?

Try to raise the percent. Try to struggle your whole life to raise the percent, okay? And it always comes from me, and here's another part of the sentence, from how I treated other people, okay?

It's always comes from me, from how I treated other people, and the building blocks of existence are not atoms. They are kindnesses, okay? You got to get there.

You got to get to where you feel that in your heart, you know? This computer is not made of iron atoms and silicon atoms and copper atoms. Those atoms are made of kindness, okay?

It has copper atoms, it has steel atoms, it has aluminum atoms, but those atoms are held together by kindness, how I treat other people, okay? You got to reach that place sooner or later in your life, okay? Question.

Does this relate to vow number three on a secular trip? We'll see when we get there. I think it does.

Yeah, I think it does. Yeah, there's a refuge vow number three, which is after you take refuge in sangha, we are encouraged not to associate too closely with people who think this is all crazy, okay? Does that mean you can't have a Christian friend or a Muslim friend?

It doesn't mean that. What's the sign of good refuge? Yeah, you're just nice to everybody, okay?

You don't say, oh, you don't believe copper atoms were made by how you treated your wife last week. I don't like you, you know? And you know, I pray that this organization never becomes like that.

And I don't know how, you know, we have to be really careful, you know? I taught 18 steps in the teacher training of how to teach the pen. Second by second how to teach the pen.

It took an hour or two hours. 18 different things you have to do in a two-minute presentation of the pen, you know? And then a week later somebody came up to me and said, I think it's 17.

You know, and then suddenly in my mind came this future thing. There'll be the 17-step pen religion and there'll be the 18-step pen religion and they will hate each other and they will have wars, you know? You know, we have to be careful that it doesn't become like that, okay?

So, this vow, it's dangerous. The vow is dangerous, okay? It means, it means, you know, this one's really hard.

I mean, you have to try to protect your view of the world from the whole world, okay? The whole world believes copper atoms. The whole world.

Every religion person in the world has the same religion called science. Copper atoms. Copper atom, copper atomism, okay?

Everyone is a copper atomist in the whole world, okay? Then, you know, try to spend, when you choose your close friends, try to choose friends like, I said, Katie's mom, Janice, when I was talking about ten ways to fundraise, she's just looking at me like I'm crazy. And I got really uncomfortable, you know, and I said, are you okay?

And she says, yeah, I'm okay. I said, well, what are you thinking? And she said, well, isn't helping other people with their fundraising the way to fundraise?

And I'm like, you know, and you want that kind of people around you. You see, that's all. You want to stay close to that kind of people who can correct you, Geshe Michael, when you have some other idea.

You see what I mean? Okay, that's all. All right.

Let's do twenty-one, meditation twenty-one. We're going to finish, I'm sure. Oh, 9.30, I'll give you a break. Six more minutes, okay? All right. I keep remembering this advice from the most popular teacher at Princeton.

They interviewed him and he said the main thing is let students out early. They will love you, even if it's two minutes, three minutes. I'm just telling you guys, teacher trick.

Good teacher trick. Let your students out early. Are you hot?

Are you warm? How many people warm? Raise your hand.

How many people don't want the air conditioning? Raise your hand. Okay, you win.

Twenty-one. Recently, I was, oh, it was the day I went to church, and I promised myself a good breakfast. Out, you know, at a restaurant, if I went to church.

Because you have to get up early. This is how my mom used to bribe me to go to church. And so I went to church and then it ended early.

And there is no good restaurant where I live on Sunday. Nothing. You know, I even went to the casino.

And I said, do you guys have Sunday brunch? They're like, no. I'm like, all right.

Then that Phil knows a place, El Patio. We have a little Mexican restaurant close to us. It's good food, but it doesn't open till noon.

So, I had like half an hour in my car. I have to waste half an hour in my car. So, there's this Native American monument near my house.

It's called Montezuma's Castle. It's on the side of a cliff. It's huge.

It's very big. And it was made a thousand years ago. 1,400 years ago.

And they made it, and they used to live there, and then suddenly they disappeared. Nobody knows why. They made many houses like this around my house.

There are about a thousand places smaller than this. Nobody knows what happened to them. I think their air conditioners broke.

They went someplace else. Anyway, when I was a kid you used to climb up there, and now they don't let, they don't allow it now. Okay, but I had half an hour.

I've never been there. I've lived there for seven years. It's five minutes from my house.

I never went there. So, I said, I'm going to go look at it. It's interesting because the people are gone, right?

Who lived there. But the place is there. And the place proves that there used to be people there.

That's all. So, I took a picture of this place. I put it, okay?

The place proves that the people were there. Okay, and in the refuge tradition we're encouraged to be honest that we never met Buddha. Okay, are you Buddhists?

Yes. Who's Buddha? He lived 2,000 years ago.

Are you sure? I think so. What?

You're a Buddhist and you don't know if Buddha lived or not? Well, I don't know. My mom said so.

Like that, you see? There comes a question in Buddhism, in Christian too, Muslim, you know. Are you sure this person lived?

You never, did you meet them? No. Do you follow them?

Yes. Okay, then in Buddhism we say, I have jing kang jing, I have shin jin, I have these beautiful teachings about seeds. Four steps, four powers, four by four, five by four.

You know, there is a five by four. Why? It's a secret.

You know, and I have those teachings and to me they prove a person who was not like anybody else in the world, you know, who wasn't a copper atomist. Okay, there was a person who came to this world and said, no, it doesn't work that way. It works a different way.

You know, the whole world didn't believe it. They're copper atomists. Okay, and then one person came and said, no, that's wrong.

That's not how anything works. It's not just wrong, it's completely wrong. Okay.

Somebody told me the first link in the Wheel of Life is a lack of an understanding. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's a misunderstanding.

Okay, it's not a lack of understanding. So Vasubandhu will hit you on the head three times if you say that. Buddhadharma-san, no.

Thank God there's only three jewels. No, he will hit you on the head and say, no, no, no, the first link is not a lack of understanding, it's a misunderstanding. Okay.

Copper atomists misunderstand where the world comes from. It's not that they don't understand. It's the opposite.

They believe the opposite. Okay. They believe you can ignore a friend who's having trouble with their husband or their wife and your cell phone will still work.

They believe that. Right? Got it?

That's misunderstanding. It's not lack of understanding. Got it?

One person came into this world, your world, that you were born into. Okay. And one person came and said, no, that's not the way it works.

One person against a billion. You know. And we're lucky because people started to believe it and they wrote down what he said and we have those books and we have a tradition.

We have a lineage. Okay. And this lineage, you're a lineage, right?

You are the next lineage lama. Okay. You are, I don't know, 43 or something like that.

You are the next one. Something like that. Don't confuse me.

I mean, I can count them for you if you want, but you are the next one. Okay. And you have to keep it pure.

You have to keep it pure. Okay. Two and a half thousand years, people didn't mess up this explanation.

And if you mess it up, you're the first person in two and a half thousand years. Okay. Yeah, things coming from you, but you know, not everything.

Then you just destroyed two and a half thousand years. You see? So, you have a big responsibility.

In the monastery they say, you're not allowed to go to a teaching unless you can take responsibility to teach it again yourself. So, Chinese people take notes. Americans don't.

I don't know. I guess Americans have better memory. Or maybe they have the knowledge base.

I don't know, but you know, it's your responsibility to pass it on. So, how do we know there existed Buddha Jewel from the evidence we have? Okay.

From the buildings they left. Okay. We can believe it.

So, when you do that meditation, you can ask yourself, why do I believe in this person who I can't see, I can't talk to them, there's no video. There's a joke in Europe. They say, Americans only believe something if it's in a movie.

I think some Deutschländer told me that. So, we don't have video, we don't have photos, but we have the teachings. So, we can believe that there existed this person.

Now, on the day you see emptiness directly, you will see the Buddha directly. You will meet them directly. On that day, you confirm with direct perception what you deduced from the evidence before.

Okay? Different experience. Then you can confirm there's Buddha.

Okay? Until then you are using deduction. But on the day you see emptiness directly, you will meet the Buddha.

The Buddha didn't die. Buddha's still there. You can meet them directly.

And you will never be the same after that. Okay? You will never be the same after that.

By the way, good news, which relates to your debate today, is that you also see your future Buddha self. Your self. On the same day you see ahead and you can see yourself become a Buddha already.

Okay? And teaching and doing all these nice things. Okay?

So, on that day you can see yourself as a... You can see what you're going to look like, what you're going to talk about. Okay?

You can see that. Okay? It's cool.

500 years ahead. Okay? You want to go deeper?

Or you want to go to the bathroom? Let's go deeper for one minute. And as you're going to learn in debate class today, and the debate class will be taught by Nick and Adam and my idea is Katie and Aaron also.

Okay? Because women are better arguers than men are. We know that.

I mean, all the men know that. I don't know. But there's an important form of taking refuge, which is called result refuge.

Okay? It's called result refuge. You're going to learn five kinds of refuge in debate class today.

Okay? You're going to learn five different kinds. One, the coolest one, the fifth one, is called result refuge and it means you can do prayers to a future Buddha named Mike, Monica, or Daniel, or Anton.

Okay? Anton can take refuge in a future Buddha called Anton. They won't call you Anton by the way, but you'll have a nice name.

Okay? Okay, got it? The fifth kind of refuge, the coolest one, is to take refuge in the future Buddha called you.

Okay? And I did that, I told you, sometimes I was having a hard day in my diamond business. Like very busy and the boss is yelling at me, you know, calling me stupid and probably I did do something stupid and you know, and I feel tired, I feel sad and nervous and too much pressure.

Then I would meditate, but I can't meditate in my office because I built my office out of glass on purpose. I built it in the middle of the floor. I built it.

Everybody can see what I'm doing. I'm the boss. Everybody can see everything I'm doing and it helped the whole company because they know I'm not just relaxing.

They can see I'm doing something. So I built the office out of glass and so I don't have any privacy. So I used to go to the toilet and close it.

I do it number two, okay? In a boy's bathroom, it's more private. And I go in there, I sit down.

I don't open the toilet. I just sit on the top. Then I'll say, you know, to my future Buddha, because future Buddha can see all the past time.

You see? So I'll say, hey Mike, future Buddha Mike, I'm having a hard day, you know, and I got mad at my boss and I'm sorry I delayed you because I got upset. You know, I apologize.

It's probably going to take another thousand years for you to become Buddha. And I just want you to know I'm sorry. And I'm trying really hard.

I'm just having a hard day, you know. So you can talk to your future Buddha because they can hear you. And that's a special kind of refuge, okay?

When you're having a really hard day and you don't have any friend to talk to, you can talk to your future Buddha because they are watching you right now. You know, they're like, come on, hurry up. Okay.

Okay, hurry up and go to the bathroom. Okay, we're going to do a meditation, so please get ready. Very good to sip a cappuccino before meditating.

Relax your eyelids. Relax the corners of your mouth. Relax your hands.

Pull them back a little bit. It straightens your back and your chest comes out. And I'd like to do the breathing a little bit different.

So your central channel, chong may, comes to a place, the opening is between your eyebrows, a little bit up from the eyebrows. And this is where the end of your central channel comes out. And sometimes when you do the breathing meditation, you can do it from this place, this hole.

So I'd like you to watch your exhales, long exhales. But please do it from the point between your eyebrows. Guruvar Madhyay, in Sanskrit.

And so you're not breathing through your nose. Actually the breath coming and going through your nose. But imagine that it's coming in and out of this spot between your eyebrows and up a few millimeters.

And let's practice breathing from there. Long exhales. It will help you to focus.

And please come to your heart and make a connection with the mama there. You can crawl into the grain of sugar. Or like a little tent and sit with your lama.

So you are with John and Pratyahara from the outer world. You're deep inside your heart and you're quiet inside a tiny space with your teacher. And look at them make sure it's clear.

The visualization as if they were really there. Breathing, warm, fragrant. Then I'd like you to think about a Buddhist image that you are familiar with.

Maybe it's a painting. Maybe it's a Buddhist statue. Tsongkhapa, Tara, Buddha, Guanyin.

You choose some image. Photograph, painting, carving. Something you see pretty often.

Maybe it's in your home, on your altar. And think about this image. Try to get the details of it in your mind.

What does the face look like? What do the ears look like? What does the mouth look like?

Is it sitting or standing? Bring some image to mind. I'd like you to try to imagine where was this image made?

I have a Tsongkhapa statue. I don't know exactly. I think it was made in Nepal.

But try to imagine the person who made it or painted it or carved it. Go back in time. Trace the lineage of this image back to a workshop or a studio and somebody was painting or carving.

And they were using a model. They had a different image, maybe a photograph, painting, carving of an earlier version of your image. So try to go back in time to the day your image was finished.

In a studio or a workshop or a factory. And the person was looking at a model of an earlier image. In my case of Tsongkhapa.

Now go back again to the day that second image was finished. And maybe you have to imagine the place where maybe it was finished with. We don't know exactly.

In my case, this metal statue, the third one, I think might have been carved. And I'm just guessing or imagining maybe it was carved in a workshop and some very careful Nepalese artisan was carving a similar image to mine three generations ago. And they were using a model, a fourth image, an earlier image.

And now skip back to the first one that was ever made. And somebody saw Tsongkhapa or Tara or Buddha. In fact, I found in an ancient art book, they said that the first painted image of Buddha was the Wheel of Life.

And that's the great grandfather of all images of the Buddha. And that was made by someone who was looking at the Buddha. So with your image, whether it's Tara or Guanyin or Buddha, Tsongkhapa, let's go back to the very first image.

And someone had the good fortune, someone had the good karma to be sitting in front of the Buddha, the real Buddha. Or Tsongkhapa. And or someone had the really good karma to sit in front of a tantric deity angel like Tara or Guanyin.

All images of all holy beings in this world started when someone was looking at or thinking about the real one. Trying to imagine that first sitting. You know, someone's lucky enough to see Tara or Guanyin and they are trying to capture that in a painting or a sculpture.

Now, please come back to your image in your home or on your altar or your wall. The first image we started with. In my case, it's a Tsongkhapa.

Nice statue. Someone gave me. It's on the altar in my bedroom.

Come back to that image, first one, that you were thinking about. And now try to feel different about this image. Don't think factory.

Don't think store. Think, oh, this is a... Ultimately, this image started with the real person or the real tantric deity or angel.

Someone saw them. This statue I have is almost like proof for this statue that I have is the footprint of Tsongkhapa. And it's very valuable and very rare.

And I'm so lucky to have it. And then come back to the lama in front of you. Thank them in your mind for this pleasant meditation.

Then come back to your forehead. Three long breaths from this place of focus. And you can slowly open your eyes.

Take a stretch. Three long breaths. So the goal of that meditation is to help you keep your refuge vow.

Which one is that? Four. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, number four. So, the fourth refuge vow is to respect images of the Buddha.

When I first studied with my lama, one of my jobs was to clean the temple a lot. And I got to know the temple very well. And I would, he would say, move that image and clean the altar.

And then I would grab the image by the head. And my lama would like hit me. He'd say, you can't grab Tsongkhapa by the head.

You have to pick him up by the bottom. You have to show some respect. Okay, so...

And I'll tell you honestly, I mean it's another thing that happens on the day you see emptiness directly. The meditation we just did, you have a direct experience of it. You see?

Because you see the Buddha directly, then when you come out, when you get out, your whole relationship with images changes, you know? So, I'm not, I'm not the kind of person that keeps a very good altar. I have friends who have hundred images in their house.

Dr. Wu, if you ever go to his house, it's cool. There's no place for people. It's all Buddhas.

You know, I don't do that. I just have a few I have a few and to be honest, I don't look at them very often. They just became part of my house, you know?

But on the day you see emptiness, your relationship to paintings and sculptures, statues, it changes. You get very, I don't know, you feel different about them. They almost seem alive, okay?

And you become very, they feel very precious to you and you feel very honored to have them, okay? And maybe there will be a day in this world, there will be a day when people you know, don't remember what this image was or who it is. It's like the photographs of you.

You know, there will be a day when the last one gets thrown out, you know? They say, who is this? I don't know.

It's some grandfather's father or something and they just throw it out. And then the last picture of you in this world will be thrown out by someone cleaning someone's house, you know? And they say, well, this guy is weird.

They throw it out, you know? Who needs this, you know? And there will come a day in this world when you can't get a Buddha image, you see?

so they're precious. And one of the parts of this vow is to be, is to not judge the quality of the painting and not judge the quality of the statue, you know? And there's a, there's a joke, it's, well, there's a, there's a tradition that if you see a a Buddha statue that's not made very well, you aren't allowed to say, after you take refuge in Buddha, you're not allowed to say, that's an ugly statue.

Because you're talking about Lord Buddha, okay? So you're supposed to say, the artist was not so skilled, you know? So sometimes I go with my friends to museums, and they'll say, oh my Geshe-la, the artist was not so skilled.

It means pretty ugly Buddha statue, okay? So when somebody said, that's what we were eating, again, we had a really bad dinner, somebody said, the cook was not so skilled. Okay.

So, that's a refuge tradition. So, the goal of this meditation is to get a bigger appreciation for the Buddha images you have. And maybe you want to get some more and have them around.

Maybe you want to end up like Mr. Wu, I don't know. In the monastery people give us, they give the monastery images. And we have hundreds.

We have too many to put in the temple. So we rotate them, and they bought lockers, like athletic lockers. And they keep, you know, week number one, locker one, those Buddhas get to be in the temple.

And then week number three, locker two, they get to be in it. And we it's a lot of work to change the images and now Diamond Mountain is starting to collect. I got like 10 more for you.

People gave me like priceless diamond cutter sutras and stuff. There's one that rolls out from about here to the wall. I don't have room in my house.

So I was gonna give it to you guys. I have to remember. Okay, and we're putting some at the college.

So you're gonna get a bigger appreciation. And that's part of taking refuge. Okay.

Because many, many countries have pictures of angels, you know. Like this one here, I think it's Munich or Berlin. Do you know?

Munchkin? This one's Berlin. Yeah.

Or maybe it's Kiev. I don't remember. But Paris has beautiful ones.

Mexico City. Oh my gosh. A whole street in the middle of two streets.

They're going into the downtown. There's, I don't know, how many 20, 30 angel statues. One by one on these huge pillars.

Okay. And that's good. We should be happy.

You know, all these churches have angels and all these Muslim books have angels. We should be happy. It means somebody in that country saw an angel.

You see? Or met someone who saw an angel. You see?

When you see a statue of an angel in Mexico or Germany or or Guanyin in China, you should be happy. Oh, somebody saw them. Okay.

And you should be excited. Okay. Now maybe I can.

Okay. And if you keep them around, you have a bigger chance of seeing them. Okay.

All right. Let's do two more. Just talk about them.

23. For me, it's people offering food. Okay.

And it's a big custom. The people who translated the food prayers, they asked me, what's this word grace? Okay.

In English we say grace. And grace has three meanings. Okay.

One is the person moves with grace. Like when they walk, they almost look like they are dancing. Okay.

That's called grace in English. This person is very graceful. Okay.

The second meaning of grace is blessing of Lama or blessing of God. God's grace. And then the third meaning of grace means before you eat, before you drink, you offer.

To Buddha first. To the three jewels you offer. So this is a refuge vow.

What number? It's number eight. Okay.

You should offer the first part of anything you eat or drink. Okay. And what's the emergency prayer?

Yeah. Like, no, like this. OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG Okay.

Like the last HUNG is also stiff, you know. OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG Okay. But you know, you should get in the habit of offering always.

Okay. And like all religious things, it becomes a bad habit. You know, you're like OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG, OM AH HUNG Like, you don't think about it anymore.

That's a danger for all of us. You don't think about it. SA SHES BU SKYES BYAS SHING MI DANG BRAL BA'I RAB LAS GYIS NI SANGS RGYAS BZHIN GYI MED DE YANG BA RGYAS GRO KUN RNAMS BDAG BA ZHIGS NA SBYOR PAR SO'O So, try to not get in a bad habit, you know.

Like take some, take a moment. We're very, very busy. All of us are busy.

I'm Dharma busy. Me and Bhiksuni, we're Dharma busy. We're doing Dharma all over the world all the time, and sometimes we don't have time to think about it.

You know, so, you know, try to pause. And because we like to eat three or four, five, ten times a day, we can get three or four, five or ten chances to pause and connect with our refuge, okay? With the three jewels, okay?

So, learn to do those. You can practice in retreat, because you're not busy. Okay, three days.

You can spend three minutes, go to the end of the book, pick the prayer you like, the grace, okay? It doesn't have to be a Christian word, okay? It can be a Buddhist word, Buddhist grace.

And it, and pick the one, okay? First one, three jewels. By the way, the...

Yeah, okay. The Tibetan is also here if you want to learn it. The pronunciation is here, but I would say do it in your own language, okay?

Second one is a grace for your teachers. If you're feeling like you want to make an offering to your teacher of a ding dong or a cupcake, hostess cupcake. Something, whatever bad food you're having.

Okay. Third one is a grace if you want to improve your meditation, okay? So, that would be a good one to do during retreat, because you're offering good meditation to other people.

Okay, fourth one is a grace if you have food problems, like me, like you can't stop eating cakes or... Okay, if you have food problems, do number four. Nagarjuna's grace, okay?

Alright, if you can't stop yourself from eating or you eat too much or you eat bad things, you know, ask for help. This grace, number four, says I don't want to eat to be beautiful or I don't want to eat to be strong. And someone asked me a good question, which I will repeat.

They said, Geshe-la, you said you taught many times the best teacher is someone who's a good example. You see? Like the best way to teach is to follow what you say.

Right? If you're obviously following what you say, people will respect you and listen to what you teach. Okay?

So, they said, I like to eat carefully so my body looks beautiful. So, people who are just starting Buddhism will be attracted to me. And that's a good motivation.

Okay? That's okay. I bought a suit.

I bought a Bulgarian Mafia suit. Because it looks cool. Somebody told me, you look 10 years younger, Geshe-la.

I said, yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. You know? And the pointy shoes.

You know? I always wanted, you know, actually a Bulgarian Mafia guy bought it for me. So, you know, that's okay.

That's not pride. That's, I want to look nice because I want more people to come to class. And so, that's okay.

That kind of motivation is not what we're talking about here. You know? This is a bad motivation.

You know? I want to look beautiful so I get more attention, or so my boyfriend likes me more. It's something like that.

Okay? More boys like me. Okay.

Number five, and the fifth grace is, if you want to connect with Tsongkhapa, which means, if you want to understand what the Buddha said, okay? If you want to understand what the Buddha said, there's nothing better than Tsongkhapa. Nothing.

Ever. Never. Okay?

All right. And the last grace is a very, very beautiful, very, very powerful grace to a tantric angel. Okay?

Vajrayogini. Chinkang Yudjommo. So, that's a beautiful one.

In that one, it's nice to do in retreat. You pretend you are her. You eat the food.

You offer the food to her directly. Okay? Like this.

Okay, ready? I'm going to do number six. I'm Vajrayogini.

I'm going to offer this to you. Thanks. Okay, got it?

It's very cool. It's a little schizophrenia. Okay, I'm Buddha, and I'm offering to Buddha.

Okay? And it's very powerful. It's a very good custom.

Okay? All right. What happens?

Does Buddha have to drink cappuccinos? No, they don't need food. They don't need water.

They're not living on food or water. Okay? They don't need to drink it.

What happens to a Buddha when they drink cappuccino? They don't get nervous. They don't get alert.

They see emptiness again. But didn't they see emptiness before they had the cappuccino? Yes.

They saw emptiness here, here, here. But when we offer food to Buddha, we're supposed to imagine when it touches their lips, they get more emptiness, like, wow! And they feel super cool, you know, like super cappuccino.

You know, emptiness cappuccino. Wow, that was good. You know, and they see emptiness even deeper.

Okay, got it? And it makes them super happy. So we call emptiness and bliss.

Okay, we have emptiness and bliss. Okay, got it? So that's number six.

That's grace number six. You have time during your retreat to take your time to do your graces. So do it and learn them.

Okay? Pick one that you want meditation, you want Vajrayogini. What do you want?

You choose it. Okay? And memorize it.

Get to know it. Okay? If you say it for 10 days, it'll come automatically.

You will start to learn it. Okay? And that's wonderful to have that in your Dharma toolkit.

Okay? All right. We got about 20 more minutes.

One more. Number 24. Meditation number 24.

The ninth refuge vow. The ninth refuge commitment is to encourage other people to take refuge. Okay?

The ninth refuge vow is to encourage other people to take refuge. And I just want to talk about that. I was in Singapore.

Singapore has probably the best follow-up programs in the world. Of all the Dharma, of all Jenny Wong's group, because of Jenny Wong, they probably have the best follow-up. Every, almost a couple times a week, you can do follow-up in Singapore with somebody.

Or you can go visit a nursing home. Or you, they do. It's very regular and it's very organized.

Like Singapore people are so organized, right? Not like anybody else in the world. Then I said, So Jenny, what are you guys doing this week?

And she said, we're having a sharing. And I kind of didn't know what she's talking about. I said, well, what's a sharing?

And she says, you know, we get up and we share. And I said, well, what do you share? She said, we share DCI, you know.

We share DCI. I said, oh, you're teaching people. She said, no.

She looked at me like this. She said, no, we share. We don't teach.

Then I'm like, oh, that's cool, you know. Geshe Michael teaches. Singapore people share.

And it feels much better, right? It feels, it means you get to say something also. And I don't get up and say, I'm the best person in this room.

I know everything. I also know Tibetan grammar. You know, you don't.

And so I will teach you, you know. But if you go to Singapore, they will say, I will share with you my experience. You share with me your experience.

And let's help each other. You see, it's mutual kind of thing. So, this refuge vow.

By the way, what's the picture? This lady is telling, not sharing. Okay?

And her friend is irritated. Stop teaching me, you know. Okay?

Stop telling me. By the way, this is very common. When people go home after a retreat at Diamond Mountain, and they tell their family the truth.

Geshe Michael say, everything you do is wrong. You know? Geshe Michael say, only I understand.

In this whole family, only I understand. You know? And everybody should do like me.

You know? And you will quickly become the most unpopular person in your family. Okay?

People, when your family, there's a family gathering and people see you, they will go the other way. I hope she doesn't tell me what to do. Okay?

So, I think with this refuge vow, number nine, okay? Encourage means, if people want it. Okay?

If people are interested, then share. If they're not interested, don't bother them. Okay?

One of the most irritating things in the world is a new Buddhist. You know? Like, oh, now I know everything.

You have to accept what I say, you know? And then, if you want to alienate other people, if you don't want them to learn anything, be like that. Missionary?

They call missionary, right? Like, you must believe what I believe, you know? And, people don't like it.

Okay? Nobody likes it. I don't like it.

Someone starts talking to me like that. There's some groups in America, they come to your house, they bang on your door, and they, you open the door and they say, do you believe? You know?

And you're like, believe in what? They say, oh, you want to know. Then, then you can't get them, they get their foot in your house.

It's like the camel. And you can't get them out, you know? When I was in the temple in New Jersey, they used to come.

And, I told Rinpoche, I said, these people keep coming back. He says, debate them. Just debate them.

And we had fun. And they were pretty nice. So anyway, don't irritate other people with your Buddhism.

Okay? You can talk about, you know, cell phones, but be careful. They might put you in the mental hospital.

Okay? Like, don't, don't go crazy. Share with the people who want to know, but don't bother people.

Okay? So, when you do meditation number 24, you can think about how to share sweetly like Singapore people. And you can think about, do I, do I over, do I tell people, you know?

Do I share or do I tell? Okay? Okay?

Do I have this bad habit of pushing my religion on other people? Okay. Okay.

And I think that's important for the refuge vow. Okay. All right, I'm going to do a little bit of the book just because I like it.

Question 573. Oh, I thought it was 11. Okay, then let's take one question.

Okay. Where is the refuge in this?

[Speaker 2]
Where is the protection of sharing?

[Speaker 1]
That's a good question. If I decide to, he asked, each refuge commitment, there are 12, right? Each one should involve refuge.

So, if I, let's say I'm in Jenny Wong's group. They're very organized. They have assistant sharing leaders.

They have sharing leaders. They have, what do you call that? Intern sharing leaders.

It's very cool. They have a very cool system. So, how is that taking refuge?

If I decide to share rather than tell, what do you think? Yeah, more protection for more people. More protection for more people.

How's that? I think the word refuge is a little weird in English. It's like refugee or...

I think shelter or protection. I think protection is pretty cool. I'm not comfortable with any of them.

They all have good points. Those three words, refuge, shelter, and protection. But I think sometimes think of it as protection.

Like, we're going to learn that in the debate class. The definition of taking refuge is in the debate class today. Okay, and it involves protection.

Okay.