«Дар освобождения», курс 25 «Совершенное прибежище», занятие 14

[Speaker 1]
Let's just do some lam rim, because we can try to finish what I was planning to teach. All right, GNYIS PA SPYOD LA Right? GNYIS PA SPYOD LA SKABS SU SONG BA'I GNYIS This is the second of the positive refuge vows.

What was the first negative one? Yeah, if you take refuge in Buddha, don't waste your time with things that don't work. Second one?

Yeah, once you take refuge in Dharma, don't hurt other people, beings. Third one? Once you take refuge in Sangha, don't hang out with losers.

First positive one? What was it? Yeah, any image of Buddha, consider it real Buddha.

Respect it like real Buddha. Now we reach Dharma. We must still be on individual vows.

GNYIS PA SPYOD LA SKABS SU SONG BA'I GNYIS Once you go to refuge in the Dharma, YID KYI SNA GCIG TSUN CHE LA CHUG KHON SBYONG SMRUG LTA'I KHU PA CHA DGOS You have to respect even a single letter written on a piece of paper as if it was the JIN GANG JING Diamond Cutter Sutra. That becomes difficult. Like you're not supposed to step on a letter.

Then in New York, the newspapers are flying everywhere on the ground, and you have to dance. Or in some countries they put words in the sidewalk. It gets a little crazy.

But the idea is to express Dharma you need letters. You can't teach Dharma without letters. You can't write a Dharma book without letters.

Therefore letters become holy. We shouldn't disrespect letters. Now, in English there...

I'll teach you a new word Xiaoping. It's called officious. Officious means you go to a Dharma event, there are some old students there, and you put the paper on the floor and they go, Let me teach you.

You are a bad person. You put the paper on the floor. I'm the older student.

I will teach you. You are very stupid. Then they make everybody feel bad.

They make all the new students feel stupid and bad. The new student often goes away and doesn't come back. That happened to me a lot when I first become a Buddhist.

I met this kind of officious people. It means they are like Dharma cop. Dharma policeman.

It doesn't feel nice. So don't become like that. Don't say, Oh, you're a bad person.

You put the book on the floor. It's supposed to be joyful and happy. You don't have to practice for other people because it's so much work to practice for yourself.

Just in your own life, quietly. I like to do that. I put my computer away for the night and then I'll put a coffee cup on it.

Then I'm like, There's a lot of Dharma in there. I don't make announcements. I just...

I respect it. That's all. So it should be small, quiet.

Do it for yourself. Respect your Dharma books. Respect your Dharma papers.

Yes, Stephen?

[Speaker 2]
Not to over-complicate things for your Dharma.

[Speaker 1]
That gets complicated. Like the packaging on food and stuff like that. What I do, to be honest, I will keep two separate garbage cans.

The people who know my house, one is in the laundry room and one is in the kitchen. Then the laundry room stuff, that's all written, you know, like not gooey papers with writing on them that aren't got food on them and stuff like that. Then those I keep separately and I throw them in the same garbage can.

When the garbage truck comes, they both go into the same big... But I keep the dirty things together and I keep the Dharma things. The easily kept packaging and stuff, I keep in a different bag.

That's as far as I want to take it. I don't want to spend all my time peeling labels off of oranges and making sure the letters go. I have a limit.

And I think it's a happy limit for me. So you find your own limit. I don't have time.

I don't want to spend the whole day peeling letters off of things. But I respect. Actually I try to not put things on top of my computer.

And I think, oh, Dharma is inside. And that's enough, in my opinion. But you find your own place.

The main thing is that you think about it. I don't want to make you crazy. That's what the Buddha says in the Dharmakara Sutra.

I don't want to make you crazy. But to see a single letter on a piece of paper, you are one in a billion creatures. You are one in a billion beings.

To see a letter and understand it. To see letters put together into Dharma, you are one in a hundred billion living beings. You are an extremely rare person.

To see one page of jing ga jing, you are one time, you are lucky, then you got too many times. You're like, oh, not again. Just letters are rare.

In the universe, you are extremely rare. Okay. SEMS CAN LAS CHUG KHO BA'I SBYOR BA CHUNG NGON NANG DU LTAR PAR GYUR So, DE LTAR MA BYAS NA If you don't respect your Dharma materials, SRED RAB NAS SRED RAB DU LEN ZHING MTHIL MUGS PAR GYUR For many lifetimes you will become a being who cannot understand letters.

You can see them, but you don't understand what they are or what they mean. So, RGYUN BZHIN DU BYED You have a lot of serious problems. ZHAG RA BA'I GZHAN NAS RANG SBYAGS CHUG DANG BRTZE MO CI YANG BYAS PA GDUG STE CHUG DANG PHYI MANG BA LA MA GOS PA SRID RAB CHEN PO'I RGYU YIN So, when we make...

I put make light of, but make light is another English idiom. It means, it doesn't mean make light. It means soft joke.

Soft joke about somebody. So, it's not critical. It's just like that Lama looks like Yoda.

You know, like there is a Lama who looks a lot like Yoda. It was Kirti Rinpoche. He looks just like...

In fact, I heard that they made Yoda from his face. Yeah, but but you shouldn't say like even soft jokes. You see, like I don't know.

[Speaker 2]
That Lama looks like I don't know Elvis Presley or something.

[Speaker 1]
I don't know. Just don't make little jokes. He said, if you make little jokes about serious beings, then it harms your thinking capacity.

Okay, got it? All right. RGYU YIN, MONGS PA THAG STE SDIG PA'I CHOG KYI MONGS PA'I RGYU MA SOGS DE LA DE LAS MONGS NA JI LTOS He says, then that Lama said, how did he say it?

Mr. Stupid, please don't collect new reasons to be stupid. If you get more stupid than you are stupid now, how hard is your life going to be? Okay, something like that.

DE YANG RANG RES NAM BU'I KHAR NGAG DANG YI RGYAS SHOG ZAR GNYIS NAS DANG PO MTHONG BYAS TE If you come into a room and there's a $100 bill on the floor and there's a little piece of Diamond Cutter Sutra on the floor, which one will you get excited about? Look, you can tell your friends, I found what? $100 on the floor or I found a piece of scripture on the floor.

Okay, you can check. DANG PO MTHONG BYAS TE MNGUL SRAB DONG SOGS SU LAS BA MA MTHONG BA YOD PAR NI MNGUL TSUL GYIS MTHONG BYAS TE If we see some money fell in the toilet, we will try to get it out. Like if $100 fell in the toilet, even if there's poop in there, I can wash my hand, it's okay.

But if you drop some diamond in there, you're like, oh, it's okay. Okay. NGOS KYI RGYA BA'ANG CHOS RJE'I GCIG BSKYAB KHYEN PO NANG KHAB BDE BA ZHUNG DAG BYA LTAR ZHIG ZHUNG ZER BA SAR DGOS RDZAS PA'I GCIG BSKYAB DU GONG PHABS DGOS CHUNG BA I made a lot of notes because this was confusing.

In 1890, there was a commission to change the Tibetan constitution. and this person was working on it, so he had papers all over his office. And people sit on the floor, right?

So, basically, when he had to go to the toilet or something, he would make very careful stacks of papers, so he wouldn't walk over the papers. So we're not supposed to step over dharma. It's also very serious in tantra.

So we're not supposed to... It's supposed to be disrespectful to step over dharma. In Asia, your feet are considered dirty, super dirty.

In Thailand, for example, there are signs in the temples not to point your foot at the Buddha. Like that. Okay, you get the point of the story.

I'm not going to tell you all the words. He was careful not to step over even government papers.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, that's another story.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, positive refuge vow number three. GSUM PA RGAN SDUG KHWANG CHOG LA BSKABS SU SO BA'I NI Once you've taken refuge in the Sangha, RGYAL ZHIG STON PA RIN PO'I BYED DANG SNYAMS SBYOR CHOG CHEN POS GZHAN PA ZER PO LAS BSGOM PA'I SA YOD KYANG MI BSGOM PAR SDUG GNAS SA TZAM BAR You're supposed to respect even a small piece of monk's robe, old piece, you find on the ground. A piece of monk's robe or nun's robe.

Then you're supposed to respect it like Buddha. And you don't step on it, and you don't... So it's not a problem in Diamond Mountain, we don't have it.

But in those Buddhist countries, there's many, many Dharma things. And it's possible you go into an alley and there will be old monk's robes there. So be careful not to step on them and respect them like Sangha.

Even that color. Then again, it depends on you how far you go. Do you respect every purple color?

Every gold color? Monk's gold color, do you respect it? I think just healthy, modest, personal respect.

You say, oh, that's a Lama color. In your heart you can say, oh, nice, nice, I like your sweater. And in your mind you can honor it.

But don't be officious. Don't go around and say, why you buy red shoes? That's Lama color, don't step on them.

Put them on your arms. You see, converts to new religion in America, for example, or other countries, sometimes they're just a pain in the ass. They just give everybody trouble.

Oh, I found out this new thing, you can't wear red color anymore. Throw out all your red things, okay Anton? Just throw them all out.

I will help you. I've met people like that, it's just really irritating. Okay.

No, it's okay, I don't mind. So just do it happily, do it lightly, do it respectfully, do it inside. You don't have to bother people with your religion, okay?

All right. And I've seen people fight, serious fights about things like that. Very serious fights, like hitting each other and things like that.

So it's just crazy. I've seen terrible things. Satsang sar gyel par nangway chak she tar gen du mi na tse sel bu dang chenpa So even a small piece of monk's robe, mar ser tsam sa la sungwa If it fell on the floor, or you find it in the street, chenpa dak lang shi du gupa chak gu te Then obviously, when a person is wearing robes, you should respect those robes.

It's not the real Sangha. What's real Sangha? People who saw emptiness directly.

That's all. Or at least people who understand the pen. People who wear red robes, maybe very few of them are Sangha.

But we respect the sign. We respect the symbol of the Sangha. That's all.

SA YIN NYID PA'I KHOR LO SPYOD PA'I MDO LO Sutra on the Ten Wheels of Kushidipada Tsampaka is that flower I put there. That's a Tsampaka. Magnolia.

MED DO NYID GYUR KYANG MED DO RNAMS PA GZHAN PA'I GZHAN DU LA There are some flowers that after they get old, like jasmine or something, they still smell really good. Like better than sunflower. Right?

Sunflowers don't smell at all. Okay? An old jasmine flower is better than a sunflower if you want smell.

Got it? MED DO RNAMS PA GZHAN PA'I GZHAN DU LA DGE SLONG TSUL KHRIMS NYAMS SHING SDIG GCOD KYANG MU DE CHEN DAG THAMS CAD KUN PA'I CHOG A monk who is imperfect, a monk who is not perfect, is still better than someone who's not. Okay?

Or who's not keeping any religion, or they don't have any good behavior. It means, okay, monks are not perfect, but they wear the robe which represents people who saw emptiness. So we respect them.

That's all. It doesn't hurt to respect everybody you can because you never know who's a Buddha. So it doesn't cost you anything to respect somebody.

If they're wearing red robe, maybe they're a very great monk, maybe they're a very bad monk, but if you respect them, it's a good habit. DBO NA LDAN DROD TZAM LA'ANG MA DGOS NA NYES PA PHYIR GYUR BZHIN NA What happens if you don't do that? LHAG BSAM GUS BA'I RDO means Sutra where the Buddha told people, please take personal responsibility.

LHAG BSAM LDAN DROD YIN LDAN DROD PA NANG RANG NAS PA YID PAR DO BDAG GIS KHYER NA LTA MI BYA If you guys are going to go on retreat in the forest or the desert, don't spend all your time worrying about other people's faults. Don't go in a cabin and then sit there and think about somebody in Guangzhou that you don't like. The last time I saw my Lama before my three-year retreat, it was very sad, because we lived together for 26 years.

So I'm going to leave him for three years. I said, what's your final advice? And I'm like, oh, he's going to say something cool.

I said, my car is waiting outside. I said, I have to go. What's your final advice?

He said, keep your mind in the cabin. Then I said, anything else? He said, nope.

Try to keep your mind inside the meditation cabin. Don't think about someone you don't like in Singapore. Don't let your mind go to Singapore.

BAR DO BDAG KHAN GYUR LA BDAG MI BYA'O BDAG MI KHYAD PAR BAG BZHIN BDAG CHOG BYAS DE NYAMS DU NI SEMS BSKYED MI BYA'O The better you think you are, the less likely you will get bodhichitta. Something like that. So don't think, oh, I'm the best meditator in this valley.

Everybody should meditate like me. And then you won't make progress. RGYAG TU'I BAR MER KUN GYI RTZA BA STE People who get pride get careless in their practice.

DGE SLONG MED LA NYES PA YONG MI BYA So even if you see a monk who is not behaving very well, RGAL PA GCIG GI THAR PA THOG MIN GYUR and you criticize them, you will delay your own enlightenment by millions of years. It means just leave them alone. I just avoid them.

It looks like this monk is bad. Then I just go stay in Starbucks. I don't stay there and say, oh, you look bad.

Don't do that. I just avoid them. Okay, I don't want to delay my enlightenment.

Maybe you are really a stupid person. Maybe you're not. But I don't want to make any bad karma.

So I'm just going to go take my girlfriend and go to Starbucks. You guys, do whatever you're doing, you guys do that. I don't know what you're doing and I don't want to know.

I'll just go do my little translation project. Okay, like that. BDIN NI BSTAN PA DE LA GO RE MYIN This is a principle of the teachings that you should avoid criticizing other Buddhists.

Just take care of yourself. Just take care of your own. You have a lot to do inside.

You don't have to worry about outside. ZHES GSUNGS PA LTAR I gave up a long, long time ago. I go to China and people say, you want to meet this Buddhist group?

I'm like, it's okay, I'm going to Shambhaka. I'm going to Starbucks and read my sutra.

[Speaker 2]
I don't want to get any... Just quiet practice.

[Speaker 1]
All right. GNYIS PA THUNG MONG GI BSLAB BYA LA GRUNG LAS We reached the guidelines, which are all three jewels in one. Now there are six more.

GNYIS PA We have about 15 more minutes. You want to know the principle for Dharma travel? Traveling?

Just when you get over jet lag, you have to go home. Then you get again. Okay.

GNYIS PA THUNG YIN REN GRUB PA'I SGO NAS YANG DAG YANG DU BSKYABS SU BSDOR BA NI YIN REN DREN PA'I SGO NAS What's the second thing we do on many mornings in the meditation? What's the second thing I often tell you to do? Besides relax your right eye and your left eye.

What's the second one? Yeah, no. That's the third one, isn't it?

Yeah, first you bring them, and then what do you do? Yeah, you think of a good quality of them. I don't like to say bow down.

It loses meaning. What bow down means? Think of a good quality that you like about them.

Why are they your teacher? What do you want to learn? When you say teacher, there's something that you want to become, which they have.

So, number seven, right? The first of the last six, is think about the cool things of the three jewels. That's all.

[Speaker 2]
Think about how cool they are.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, that's the buddhi in the Diamond Cutter Sutra. He's so cool. It's like when you hear a good rock and roll.

You're like, oh man, that guy is cool. Tupac, man, that's really nice. Think that about Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

YANG NI YANG TSUL KHYAB GYI BRAL NAS GONG DU ZHUGS PA LTAR CI NANG GI BSTAN PA DANG, BSTAN PA'I KHYAB PA DANG, CHOG GSUM NANG PHAN TSUN GYI YIN RTEN RNAMS CAN DU, YANG YANG RGYAMS ROL BYAS PO Just thinking about their cool qualities is a kind of refuge. Just thinking. I just think, especially people who have been here for 20-something years, there must be something new.

There must be some reason. There must be something cool about these three jewels. Think about it sometimes.

Appreciate them. All right, second one. KHA RIN DRIN PA'I SGO NAS, CI SA CI THUN GYI BOD Here's a word, Adam.

BOD P-H-U-D BOD Say BOD. BOD means... We don't have an English word.

It means anything you drink or eat. The first sip should go to... You take a sip, then I'll drink the rest.

Like that. To Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Okay, you...

Oh, this smells so good. You take a sip. And then you wait.

Just wait one second. Then drink it. But in your mind you have to think they took the first sip.

Okay. Then anything you eat. Yotao.

I like the yotao we had in Taiwan. Stanley? It's like that long.

That's a good yotao. We were playing with it. So, you know, you're going to bite this yotao and go, You take the first bite.

And then you pretend they go, Ah, thanks. You eat the rest. Okay.

Okay. Got it? So, always the first part to them.

Just to say thank you. It's just thank you. You're cool.

Thanks for taking care of me. You take the first sip.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
And then try to pause like one hundredth of a second. And don't be officious. Everybody's watching me.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You okay? Okay.

Then when you're alone, you're like, Oh, yeah. Okay. That's officious.

It's just like painting the ass Buddhism. Okay. All right.

So, BUD means first sip, first bite. What's a BAR BUD? Very famous in the monastery.

What's BAR? Huh? BAR means any impression or photograph or card or imprint.

So, when you make a new book, you always send the first copy to your Lama. And the name of that is BAR BUD. The first copy of the book.

The first sip of the book. Okay. It's a nice word.

And we don't have it in English. I don't think, right?

[Speaker 2]
No.

[Speaker 1]
Dip. That's true. PHOS KYI CHOS PA NI SANGS RGYAS DANG CHOD DANG RGAN DON GSUM YID YUL NAS MA BYAS PAR SA LTUNG GI SKABS THAMS CAD DU'ANG Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, anytime, anything, PHOS Give the PHOS.

CHOS PA CHOS PA'I MDU DE DE DAG CHOS PA PHUN DAG PHAN YON SHIN DU CHE BA CHOG GSUM NI SHING KHO NA MED PA'I RGYUS CAN GYIS YIN PAS KHYAS SU DANG BAR MED LEN LO ZOG MA BRAS PAR Don't get lazy. And say, ah, that's a waste of time. There's a vow against thinking that minor vows are stupid.

There's a vow against thinking little vows are stupid. Ah, that's so stupid. Nobody's going to drink anything.

Just drink it. I'll tell you a story. In America, you know, Christmas is a big holiday.

our parents will tell us that the guy who brings the presents, named Santa Claus, he likes to come down the chimney. Okay? But he's supposed to be very fat.

So, you know, even kids are like, how's this? You know, and then they always tell you before you go to sleep, the day before, they say, put some milk and some cookies for Santa. If you don't put it, then maybe you won't get a bicycle the next day.

You know? You don't have that photo of Geshe Michael on the bicycle, right? I don't think you have it.

Somebody took a photo of me with my bike on Christmas one day. Anyway, then one, you know, then when the kids go to bed, the parents will drink the milk and eat the cookies. Then they will leave a little bit there.

And in the morning we wake up and we're like, oh wow, Santa Claus was here, you know? Then I think every American kid remembers the day that they found out mom and dad are eating the cookies. Every American kid remembers that day.

You're like, oh man. You know? I heard V's kid when she told them Santa didn't, when they found out Santa didn't exist, the kid said, Cazzo, if you know Cazzo, he said, now he's 30, but he said, mom, and she said, what?

He said, did you lie to me about God also? He's like five years old. Did you also lie to me about God?

Then she was in a bad, difficult position. Okay. Anyway, they really do drink and they really do eat it.

They take a sip and they see emptiness. More than before. Got it?

,SPAN YIN GZHIN DU CHO CHOG GSUNG YIN MI LAM NAM YOD TSUN GYIS, So don't be lazy about it. ,MA BRTAN MA NYON DANG, ,CHAB CHEN PO'I MTHUN BYAS KYI, ,RGYAL BA THAMS CAD KHYIM PA'I, ,GDUN DU GSOS PA'I TSAR PA'I, ,TSUL BA ZHUGS, So, when you meet a high lama in Tibet, there's a lot of etiquette. I was Rinpoche's GSOS PA means attendant who does the food and drink for a long time, many years.

It's a difficult job. It's a, what do you call the guy in the White House? Chief of protocol.

You have to make sure the lamas all get fed. He had many important lamas come to visit him. My life was very difficult.

I made... McDonald's used to have a sign that said 10 million burgers made and I used to say, I made 10 million momos easy. You know?

So, anyway, when you offer tea to a a lama, a high lama, it's very, very complicated. You have to put the cup... I think Japanese tea ceremony is similar.

And Chinese, I had a Chinese tea ceremony. You put the cup there and then you have to turn the cup so they can drink it. And then you have to make the cup warm.

And then you have to pour... It's supposed to be like the elephant's trunk. There's a word for it.

It can't come out like this.

[Speaker 2]
It has to go...

[Speaker 1]
So you have to pour and it has to go like that. He said, don't get lazy with the Buddha. Don't say, hey man, you want some?

You got it? Okay. Be a little respectful.

And then you can drink it, okay? And it's up to you. Some people are officious and they are like, I know how to do a grace.

You know, I'm... I'm sure the Buddha is going, oh my god, not again. Just give me some of it already.

So, in my opinion, it should be friendly. It should be joyful. It should be like you're offering your friend some coffee.

This morning, this morning Jigme made me... Jigme or Andriana, who made that AeroPress? I will die for this coffee.

It was the best one I tasted in like a month. So I gave some to Chinzo. Was it you I think?

I'm like, taste this coffee. It should be like that. Hey man, taste this, this is so cool.

And don't be like... Okay. Alright.

It should be affectionate. Dharma should be affectionate and joyful. And not like...

Alright. And you got six graces. How many people you...

No, I won't embarrass you. I won't ask you how many people learned a grace during their retreat. Three?

Not bad. Yeah? Okay, good.

Good. Nice. Keep it, okay?

Don't leave it at Diamond Mountain. We have enough. Take it home with you.

Use it at home. Use the graces at home. Those are very valuable.

And they make your life meaningful. Okay? They make your life meaningful.

Your life will be a lot happier if you're... Americans eat and drink so much. Think how much good karma you're going to make if you just offer each time.

Enjoy and make it sweet. Taste this Earl Press that Jigme made. She put in a little more than usual.

How do you like it? They can taste it. Alright then.