«Дар освобождения», курс 26 «Реальность кармы», занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
We're going to start with a meditation, so please get ready to meditate. This is the first meditation of this class, and it's the last meditation of the last class. So please relax your face.

Get comfortable. We will be meditating a lot in this week.

[Speaker 2]
Relax your eyes, relax your fingers. Pull in your stomach slightly. A little bit of a smile.

And your shoulder blades in the back, a little bit pulled together so your chest comes up. And then slowly come to your breath. Try not to move.

Long exhales. And the inhale is automatic. Eyelids are relaxed.

Then imagine that your teachers coming to the door. Could be one of the teachers you've had earlier in your life. Your mother or your father, or someone who taught you in the school.

Special teacher in your life.

[Speaker 1]
Could be one of the great teachers of history. Like Jesus, or Moses, or Muhammad, Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
Could be heart teacher. Could be a perfect teacher that you haven't met yet. Ask them to come into the room, and to invite them to meditate with you.

And they're very happy because you are meditating.

[Speaker 1]
And they sit down in front of you and they make themselves comfortable.

[Speaker 2]
And they are smiling. You can see their face even with your eyes closed. And it's just quiet between you and them.

Then think of some good quality they have. Something you would like to develop yourself. Then make them an offering.

[Speaker 1]
Traditionally, it could be the sky filled with flowers.

[Speaker 2]
They especially enjoy some good thing you did yesterday to someone. Then think of something you did yesterday that you weren't very proud of. Some mistake.

And open your heart and show them.

[Speaker 1]
And just showing them honestly will clean it.

[Speaker 2]
And also share with your teacher something beautiful you did yesterday. Then ask your teacher to continue teaching you, not to stop. And ask them to stay in your life.

And I'd like to bring our mind into a special meditation.

[Speaker 1]
This is about the Buddhist idea of taking refuge. It's a traditional meditation. And there are three parts.

The first part, with your eyes closed, try to think about places in this world where there is great suffering right now. I was listening to the radio in my car, and they were describing Syria in this city called Mosul. And they were describing this highway, big highway that goes into the city.

And if you want food or water, you must drive or walk down this highway. And so there are people who are hiding in buildings along the highway. And anyone who tries to go for water or food, they shoot them.

And the highway, even today, now, right now, is covered with dead people. And one person who saw it, they said you can see very old people, even some people in wheelchairs who were shot. And you can see small babies also shot.

And the person I heard talking, they saw a teenage girl shot in the hip. And she was lying on the highway for seven days without water or food. Cannot move.

And no one else can reach her. But they can watch her. And there was a baby with her mother.

And the mother was shot. And the baby crawled under her shawl, her Muslim veil, and was hiding for three days. People can see, but they cannot reach the baby.

So, this is happening now, last week.

[Speaker 2]
Then, we live in countries that are different.

[Speaker 1]
We are not having a war like that right now. But we have the seeds to have a war like that. It's not something that can only happen in the Middle East.

All countries have had wars like that. And even the countries which seem very stable, the countries which seem very peaceful, they can change very quickly in a few months. If you understand history of this world, those wars come very quickly and very unexpectedly.

Mosul was a very beautiful city before. And now it's like hell. And we all have those same seeds.

And by next year at the same time, we don't know that we won't be in a war like that. So, we have seeds for terrible things inside of us. Terrible diseases, terrible tragedies, terrible accidents.

Then, before those seeds open, we have to take refuge. And that's by understanding the pen. That everything around us is coming from me.

Even me, to be in this room, is also coming from seeds. And just to understand that, can prevent those wars, accidents, diseases. So, we'll take a few minutes now.

Just try to imagine seeds in your heart chakra. Try to imagine watching them. And try hard to imagine them creating this room, and the people around you.

And also creating yourself sitting on this seat right now. We'll meditate for five or ten minutes. Try to be quiet.

Try not to move. And try really hard to imagine, try hard to picture seeds in your heart opening and creating this room, and the other people, and even yourself.

[Speaker 2]
Especially your thoughts.

[Speaker 1]
Even in your own mind. Try to imagine seeds opening, karma seeds opening, and those thoughts are coming up. See if you can find a place where the seeds are opening.

[Speaker 2]
And we'll stay quiet for about 5-10 minutes. Then, please slowly come back to your breath. Take three deep exhales.

[Speaker 1]
Each time you exhale, please imagine that you are sharing this peace and this understanding with other people.

[Speaker 2]
Then you can slowly open your eyes. Stretch your arms.

[Speaker 1]
You know, as I told you last night, my teacher, I lived with him for 25 years. He's a great teacher. There was a competition in Tibet during his time.

And all the monks around Lhasa, there's about 20,000 monks, they have debating contests, and he was number one. And it's impossible to live with him. He will prove to you the sky is not blue.

But he's a great, great lama. And I was very lucky to meet him when I was about 20, and to live with him.

[Speaker 2]
He taught me this book three times. It's amazing.

[Speaker 1]
And so I thought I would like to teach it to my own friends. And I thought if I don't teach it in my life, then that lineage will stop. So we started, I don't know, six years ago or something?

And we're doing four times a year. Two times in Diamond Mountain Retreat Center in Arizona. Then Alejandro tricked me 2009.

2009? 2011?

[Speaker 2]
I don't know.

[Speaker 1]
He gave me a special cup, coffee cup. He says Geshe Michael Retreat, Guadalajara, 2010. Really, he did.

What was it? 11? It was in 2010, but I put the cup in 2011, so you come in 2010.

Yeah, the cup says 2011. It's 2010. Then he brainwashed me.

Every day when I drink coffee, I'm like, Geshe Michael, 2011. Really good idea. So we started doing it here in 2011.

And then last year we added a fourth retreat in Thailand, in December. It doesn't matter for people from Guadalajara, but other people, it's cold in December. So those are the four ...

we are teaching this book four times a year. We are about halfway through. It will take another six or seven years, I think.

Inshallah. Inshallah. God willing.

So, we just reached the part about karma. And this is the best explanation of karma in the world. He took ...

the Lama took all of the ancient books about karma, and he put all the information in one place. A lot of DCI comes from this section. So I'm hoping it will sort of push the Latin American team to do more DCI programs.

So this is the real source for most of the DCI basic information. And I made about 30 something meditations based on this. So every day we will learn some new meditations about karma.

These are designed to be short meditations for busy people. I have a yoga teacher, they made a special DVD. It's called Yoga for Busy People.

On the outside of the DVD it says 30 minutes yoga practice. When you play it, it takes an hour. So these meditations are like that.

Supposed to be short. It's supposed to be something you can do every morning. Just five minutes.

And it will make your life very happy. So tonight you will get the list of meditations. Each meditation has a photograph, and it's supposed to help you remember the meditation without too much trouble.

[Speaker 2]
Tim, you have the first one? No.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, that's a picture from Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. And during ... when I was young, this was the war.

Now it's in Syria. And someone is shooting at them. And it's a real photograph.

Next one. This is a lady just thinking about her seeds. So all of us have those seeds.

I was in Beirut, going to India, when I used to study in India. I used to go to Beirut. The cheapest plane stops in Beirut.

And it's a beautiful, beautiful city. All white buildings and special trees. Lebanon cedar, I think.

Now it's destroyed. Everything's destroyed. And no one expected it.

Beirut was like, I don't know, like Paris or something. It was very beautiful. And we all have those seeds.

And it doesn't take long for the situation to change. In America, you know, we think our country is very stable. But in the last six months, we lost a lot of liberties, you know.

The country was built by people immigrating because of religion. And now it's not allowed. If you have the wrong religion.

And the environmental laws were thrown out in a few months, in three or four months. The many pipelines starting, all the national forests are being changed. And war.

Just free, bomb anybody, you know. And the laws controlling the big banks have been cancelled. So the reason America, in my opinion, the reason America is prosperous, is because they used to support other countries.

And the reason they don't have a civil war, I think is because all countries' people have been welcomed. And all religions have been welcomed. So the seeds which created this country are being destroyed.

So no place is safe from your seeds. And you have to understand all of these things coming from us. And when you think about that, then that's called taking refuge.

So Americans, like, we cannot blame one person for these problems, you know. If you understand that, you are protecting yourself. Because you will stop making those seeds.

So this lady says, she's thinking, I also have those seeds. You know, probably I have some old bad seeds that Syria will come to my country. And when you realize, all of us have those seeds.

The Syrian people are not different from us. We are the same. We can have Syria here in two years.

Then you will, Tim, next photo. Take refuge. And when you think about that, take refuge.

Definition of refuge. Technical definition. RANG RTOGS KYI YOD GZHAN LA RE BA THOS PA'I PHYIR PA'I SEMS PA To put all your hopes in another person.

Like your dad. And that other person in this case is who teaches you about seeds. And all of these troubles in the world coming from us.

Then how does it work? How do we plant seeds? How can we stop bad seeds?

If the world is coming from me, if the world is coming from my seeds, then I can control what happens. So we're going to learn that process, called the four steps. The Guadalajara team had a very beautiful t-shirt a few years ago.

ZHI BSAM PA GYOR BA LTAR TUG I think they also put it on a coffee cup. After they got me here, they changed the coffee cup. So that part is coming in this book now.

And all of DCI comes from that part. So you're going to learn the mother book. My Lama taught me this book three times, word by word.

Ten years each time. So I'm going to teach it word by word. From Tibetan.

And I don't care if you don't like it. It will put a good seed in your mind. Also, you can be sure that this is ancient wisdom.

It's not Geshe Michael. It was written by a being, comes from a being who can see everything in the universe at the same time. We believe when the Buddha taught this subject, he was aware that we are going to be sitting here today.

They make a joke about a Buddha. Perfect doctor. When they decide what medicine to give you, they look at you, they look at the medicine, then they look ahead two years, and if the medicine worked or not.

They say, oh no, that's not the one for you. You need this one. So, while you're studying this book this week, just be aware it was designed for you.

2,500 years ago, that person saw us today. Okay, so this book is a record of a teaching. It was given, I think 1921.

Something like 24 days of teaching. They used to sit for eight hours, and no microphones, and a few thousand people. So, we're going, we only, today we are reaching day number 13.

After six, seven years. So, frankly, I just enjoy it. I'm not doing it very fast.

If I see some idea that needs more information, I will put another book inside this book, and we will go there. So, just relax. It's like when the dentist tells you, just relax.

When they say, it won't hurt much, then you know it's really bad. And we'll do about another 20 minutes. Then we'll take a pee-pee break.

But if you need to go, just go. So, Tim, you ready? Oh, I'm going to put the Tibetan up here in English letters, Roman letters.

And you can try to follow the Tibetan. You don't have to, but it's fun, I think. Like a dentist.

You will notice that in Tibetan, we don't say all of the letters. But you can follow it, if you know that. Okay, so let's go.

NYIN CHU GSUNGS PAR CHU GYI RGYAL PO TZONG RGA PA CHEN PO GSUNGS So the Lama, whenever they start a new day in the morning, they just try to create the atmosphere. And the Lama started by quoting Tsongkapa. This is the person who started our lineage, 600 years ago.

Teacher of the first Dalai Lama. People ask me, are you Buddhist? I say, no, I'm Tsongkapa.

Tsongkapa. He's amazing. Most beautiful Lama in history.

I think so. So he said, SHI NI NGAN DOR MI SKYE DANG MED CING After we die, there's not certain we will not go down. It's called ...

and then there are some special words, I will tell you. DANG means guarantee. There's no guarantee.

[Speaker 2]
Right? Not right.

[Speaker 1]
Can you get a DANG? Yeah, we talked about it. If you understand the pen very well, you do get a guarantee.

You cannot go down after you die. I think there's one person in this room that didn't hear me teach the pen. They also need a guarantee, right?

Okay, so I'll just go through it very quickly. We are not teaching it today. I'll ask a question, you answer a question.

What's this thing? Yeah, if a small dog comes in here, and I show it to the dog, what would they do with it? Yeah, they'll cheer it.

What's the next question? Does the dog see a pen? No.

Does the human see a pen? Who's correct, dog or human? Yeah, both.

Okay, what do I do next? Yeah, then I put it someplace. Then I say, all the dogs go out.

All the people go out. At that time, what is this thing? Then it's helpful if you give a choice to the audience.

At that time, is it a pen or is it a chew toy? Then people say, that's emptiness in vacuidad. That's emptiness.

Simple. Simple and clear. That's all.

At that time, there's emptiness. When a human comes back, and they look at it, it becomes... by the way, when you teach it, use the word become.

When the human comes back, what does it become? Pen. If the dog comes back first, it becomes a chew toy.

Then, that's a dog from Romania actually. I met him in the airport. So anyway, even the dogs have blue eyes in Romania.

So anyway, therefore, the pen is coming from me or coming from the pen? Which one? Yeah, coming from me.

Then if you have time, talk about positive thinking. I think it's called the secret nowadays, the secret. Something like that.

If it's coming from me, can I close my eyes and wish or pray or even do mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM, OM MANI PADME HUM? Will this become diamond? Positive thinking?

No. Okay, no. So something is forcing me to see a pen.

It is coming from me, but some force is forcing me to see a pen. And that's a mental seed. Who put this seed in my mind?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, I did.

[Speaker 1]
By the way, when a human comes back and they first see it, then a seed opens in their mind. A small picture comes out, made of light. A pen picture.

And it goes very quickly on top of this thing. It's so fast that you cannot watch it, unless you meditate a lot. You are also making pictures right now, called Geshe Michael.

Each person here is making Geshe Michael. Pictures coming out of your mind. And that seed is called karma.

And that seed is called karma. How to put that seed in your mind? I don't know.

Last week, Alejandro has to sign the contract for the hotel. He forgot to bring a pen. I have my favorite pen.

I don't want to give it to him, but I'm a Buddhist, I have to. Then I go like this. Then when I let go, then that image comes in my mind.

When you teach it, go like this. It makes an impression on my mind. Show it to the audience like that.

Don't go like this. Don't do it like that. Show it to the audience how to make the impression.

And then in like two hours, this impression becomes a seed. You can turn your hand like this. And there's a seed in your subconscious.

Then next week, you come in the room, you look at this thing, and that seed opens, and that picture comes out. So that's how karma works. And that's how you protect your country from becoming Syria.

How to prevent it is taking refuge. So actually, if you understand the pen well, in Buddhism we call cessation, cessation. You get a permanent guarantee that those bad seeds to go down will never open.

Understanding emptiness guarantees that you cannot go down after you die. If you understand it. Then some guy in Singapore, some stupid guy, he's not from Singapore, I won't say what country.

Oh, he says, this is impossible. Why you teach? Every time you come to Singapore, you teach the same thing.

You think we are stupid. We understand the first time you come. Then I said, no, you have to hear it again.

So anytime you get a chance to teach it, teach it. Even if people say, I heard this before. So the Lama talked about guarantee.

And then reviewed what we studied in the past days. Okay, so we'll do five minutes of his new talk, and then we'll take a pee-pee break, and then we'll continue. JIG RTEN PHYI MO BDE BA'I THABS BSTAN PA LA GNYIS So if you want to have a nice thing happen after you die, you don't want to go down.

We finished how not to go down. But how do you go up? Then there are two parts.

DANG PO KHYAM GRUB KHOR LA RGYAL SHES MDZAD The Lama repeated the teaching about taking refuge. KYONG TSUL DOR DU BSTAN PA NAS Finished teaching that, just summarized it for us. GCIG GIS SAB BYAS SKABS NGAN GRUB SDUG BSNGAL BSAM PA DANG KHYAM GRUB SAB BYAS SO SO YOD KYANG Then normally people teach two subjects together.

Sorry, separately. Normally separately. One is to think about how much suffering it is if we have to go to the hells, or if we have to become an animal.

And then how to protect ourselves. But he said when you're actually meditating, you combine them. You think about Syria, and then you think about refuge.

How to plant the seeds to prevent Syria in Guadalajara. So NYONGS SPRIG KYONG SKABS OG TU SEL BA LTAR BGRAG NAS BSGOM DGOS When you meditate, you're supposed to combine them. Combine thinking about I don't want Syria in my country.

And then think about the seeds. How to stop those seeds. So during the meditation, during this first meditation, we combined those three photographs, right?

First photograph. A war. Second photograph.

Somebody thinking, do I have those seeds? Is it possible in my country? And if you're intelligent, you have to say, yeah, it's possible.

Any country. If America, United States, North America, can lose half their freedoms in six months, then any country can do it. Third picture.

It was hanging on to daddy. Take refuge. What's refuge?

In Buddhism, we don't believe you can ask Buddha for special treatment. Please Buddha, I hurt many people before, but you know, let's not let those karma open, okay? You cannot negotiate with karma.

So we have to learn about karma. DE'I TSUL NI, BYUNG BA LAM MA LA SOS BAS BTAB BYAS So traditionally, he said, bring your lama into the room, put them on the top of your head. Ask them for understanding.

DE'I THUG PA NAS, RGYAL RGYUD TSOGS SHING LTAR CHA TZAM ZHIG BDUN GYI RNAMS SKABS CHOS TE Then put in front of you all of your teachers. Then, NYAL BA SOS SO DANG, DON DROD GYI DANG, RNAMS KYI SDUG BSNGAL SOS SO ZHUGS DRAG TU TSAM NAS Then think about how terrible it is if you have to go down after you die. And we studied the hells, all the eight hells, and we studied suffering of animals, and the suffering of spirits.

RE RE THAR, GCIG BDAG RE BYUNG BA NA, KHYAM SGROL RE BYAS DE BDAG PA YIN Then if you do a good meditation on just like what it's like to be an animal, then automatically you will want to avoid that.

[Speaker 2]
When you die, it's not that your spirit goes to, I don't know, Yuma, Arizona.

[Speaker 1]
This is the worst town I can think of. Yuma, Arizona. And there's a dog body factory there.

And there are bad people with long poles with a net on the end. And after you die, your soul is floating like this. And they catch your soul.

Then they open the dog body, put the soul in, close it. It's not like that. That's not how you become a dog.

You have seeds in your mind. Right now, they are opening 65% per second. They are creating a hand.

Five fingers and a hand. Then if the seed changes, it becomes a paw. Dog's paw.

How long does it take? One sixty-fifth of a second.

[Speaker 2]
That's all. You're a dog. Then you're a dog.

[Speaker 1]
It can happen to anybody. Anytime. It takes a few minutes.

Then you're a dog. Your country can go to war in a few days. You can have a war here, we can have Syria here in a few days.

It happens. You talk to Syrians. We are supporting the refugees, Nur Ibrahim, right?

Talk to her. She was having a nice, quiet life in Damascus, right? She got accepted to university in Bucharest, right?

Yeah. Then she went to take classes in Bucharest. Then suddenly her whole family is in a refugee camp.

So we have this. Everybody has these seeds. Okay, di ka per na for example, three more minutes, okay?

I have a famous nickname. I told everybody in the world my Mexican nickname, Señor Ultima Causa. One more thing.

di ka per na, chik ten na mi na nyam tak chik go ren pun chenpo shi nye pa na, rang ni kuk me nyam So he gives the example of somebody like in a gang. And he did some bad things. Then they took him to see the introduction of the court.

He killed somebody or something and they take him to the court. gyep tenpunpo chenpo shi yun nyam du lo de bul kyi lam go dren chulwa Then, in most countries, if you have a powerful friend, guang shi, you can ask them, I got in some trouble, can you just do something? If you have this kind of powerful person behind you, you feel relaxed in the court.

ngen tsang la gyepa na, de le kyepay kyep luwa me pa kwang chok sim dak gi kuen kyep su shuk yun nyam du lo ling kyi kyel te khyam du che pa shik gu So we need a powerful person like that. Who's behind us in the court on the day you die. Because you made many mistakes in your life.

You are like that little gang guy who made a lot of mistakes. And the day you die, you need some powerful guys behind you. Who is that?

The Three Jewels. And Three Jewels is not, again in Buddhism, we don't believe someone can just okay, no problem, all your bad karma is canceled. But if you understand karma, well, that's like a powerful friend.

So we're going to study karma. Everything you wanted to know about karma. More than you wanted to know about karma.

For ten days. And it's protection. If you understand how the seeds work, it's like a powerful friend when you go to the court on the last day of this life.

Alright, let's take a pee-pee break. Then he says, SKYAMS SGROL DANG SOGS CHE NA So in Tibet there was a custom. They will say, I go for refuge to Buddha.

I go for refuge for Dharma. And I go for refuge to Sangha. Then there's a custom.

Sometimes people try to say it a hundred thousand times or something like that. And he says, that's okay. That's a good custom.

But he says it's better if you can do this three step meditation. And he gives this meditation that we just did. DE YANG NYAL BA YANGS SU LAS BDAG BU SDUG BSNGAL SANGS SKABS LA BRTZON NA So for example, you can think of a place which is like a hell.

Like Syria. DANG PO RANG NYID DER SKYE SEMS PAS NYAMS BSTUN TE Then you're supposed to imagine you are running on that highway in Syria. NYAMS BSTUN means you're supposed to try to feel the feeling of running on the highway in Syria.

SOS THABS MED PA'I RTZO BSAM And then you're supposed to feel how frightening that is. DE'I TSE BDAG PO RANG NYID DER SKYE SEMS PAS NYAMS BSTUN TSAM And then part of your mind will object. Oh, I don't live in Syria.

That war is other people's war. My country is not like that. Some objection will come up in your mind.

This cannot happen in Rimrock, Arizona or Guadalajara, Mexico. Then you do MI GOR GNYIS PA MI GOR GNYIS PA means the second part of the meditation. THA LTA DER SKYE MA ZIN KYANG Okay, I wasn't born in Syria and I'm not running on the highway in Syria.

[Speaker 2]
KYANG, but DER SKYE RGYUR GYI LAS STOB CHE BA I have a lot of powerful seeds for the same thing.

[Speaker 1]
Then in Buddhism, we say SAG LA MA NYAMS SAG LA MA NYAMS SAG means I collected those karmas already. I have them. MA NYAMS means and I didn't use the four powers on them yet.

So they are still full power. DE DAG MA ZHIG BRTZON LA SBYONG MI NUS PA'I TSUL DANG And I'm not sure I could clean those seeds before I die. DE MA NUN NA DE DER SKYE NGES PA'I TSUL BSAM Then think about how if you cannot use the four powers on those bad seeds, Syria will come to your country.

In some way it will come. North Korea just launched their first intercontinental missile. Now they can reach United States, Alaska.

Easily they can reach Beijing. And those guys are crazy. Beijing, United States, tomorrow could be like Syria.

So we have those seeds. Everyone, you see, you talk to people who were, for example, who were in France, in Paris, in World War II. One day they are in the cafe.

Next day they are in the, most of them are in jail, or dead, or you know. They couldn't believe it can happen. So you are supposed to get GCIG RTAG SKYE means GCIG RTAG means you are supposed to get nervous.

Everybody who lost their country thought they wouldn't lose their country just before they lost their country. All the people who have lost their country just before they lost their country my Lama was studying this book in the monastery. Bombs start coming down.

He was in the bathroom. He was taking a shower and he ran. His house collapsed, bomb.

Everybody just ran. Then I said, well, did you bring something with you? Like food or water?

He said, when I got to the top of the mountain near the monastery, I realized I have a towel in my head. I forgot to bring water. I forgot to bring food.

I don't have any money. Just I have a towel. He was a big Lama.

He was famous. Then he said, now I became towel holder person. So that's the second step.

We're supposed to think it can happen to me. It can happen to me. I have those seeds.

DNE MI GOR GSUNGS PA Those of you studying Tibetan, MI GOR means visualization inside a meditation. MI GOR MI GOR means visualization when you're meditating. So the third the third the third MI GOR, or the third part of the visualization, DE LTA BU NGAN SANGS RDE LAS SKYOB PA'I SKYAB YOD DI RNAMS LA KHYEN TSE NUS GSUM SOGS Then you have to think who can protect me from Syria or from hell.

Then we say a good protector should have three qualities. I made this section part of the leadership course of DCI. Course number eight is eight, right?

It's leadership. So say KHYEN TSE NUS KHYEN TSE NUS So we need protector. This is the third photograph.

What was the third photograph? Holding your dad. Dad should have three qualities.

Number one, KHYEN KHYEN KHYEN means they understand your problem. They are aware of your problem. Okay?

TSE means they care about the problem. They care about you. Some people have KHYEN, they don't have TSE.

What does TSE mean? I know some people love you, they don't care about your problem, but they don't care. They know you have a problem, but they're too busy, and they don't care.

But the three jewels, they have KHYEN, and they have TSE. They know your problem, and they love you. And they love you, but they don't have any power.

You know what it sounds like. I would love to help you, but... then there's a but, you know?

Like, I don't have that much money, or I'm too busy. But the three jewels, they know your problem, they love you, and they have the power to help you. KHYEN TSE GNOD GSUM YIN, BSTAN PA MED NGA' BA'I, DI LTA BU SKABS TZEL DU YOD PAS, BTAB LAS MNYAM DU BSKYAMS DO BYA BA SOGS RING RES GSUNGS Then, in the third part of the meditation, you have to feel like I'm lucky.

In the Bible, there's some ... what do you call it? Sodom and Gomorrah.

Everybody in the two cities, right? Everybody dies. Except one guy or two guys, or something like that.

They don't have the karma to die in the whole city which dies. If you understand the pen, you're like the one guy ... We have a student.

What's her name? Julia Ferganci. She was on an airplane, commercial airplane.

It fell down. It broke open. Next to her.

And she walked out. Then everybody died. She's really ...

It really hurt her mind. If you have karma, if you have the seeds, the plane will break open next to you and you just walk out and then everybody dies. It's like that.

It means if you understand seeds, if you study the pen, you can protect yourself. You can be the person who walks out. That's protection.

Okay, so we're going to start a section called the Laws of Karma. You need coffee before that. DE YANG GI BSKYAMS RTOD CI RGYEN DRIN GCOD PA'I TSUL DU LAS PAR ZHUGS BZIN NAS So the Lama repeated what he taught about taking refuge.

And he reached the second big subject here. DE LAS THAMS CAD KYI RTZA BA LEN RE LA YI BYED KYI BDE PA SKYE BA LA How to get an understanding of the Laws of Karma. DE LTAR KHO YIN CHOG LA SKYAB TSUL SONG BA'I NGAN DU SKYE BA LEN RE LAS NYID TZAM RTOGS PA NGES KYANG If you learn to do the refuge prayer, BU RAM ZHAG LA RAM DGOS BYA'O MI This is something they do in Sri Lanka, for example.

They take refuge in Buddha Dharma Sangha. And some people in Tibet, they will do a hundred thousand times. They just say, they don't understand pen.

They just, I take refuge in Buddha Dharma Sangha. They say it, they repeat it, but they don't understand it when they repeat it. They repeat it thousands of times.

Then definitely it will help you. You're thinking about refuge. But, it won't protect you from lower realms forever.

For that you need a pen. BYIN RJE NGAN SONG DE MIN GRO BA'I LO BSTANG BSTAN PO ZHIG GNYIS DON NA Then you have to think, I don't want to avoid lower realms a little bit. I want a permanent guarantee.

I want a permanent guarantee. BSTAN PO ZHIG GNYIS DON NA KHYAB GRUB LAB BYA LA BAS DGOS Then you're going to have to do this study, the seeds. Karma.

DE MA'I BAS NA If you don't work on that, BAS NA MI NA CHEN ZHIG GI KHA DRAG PA'I DPON NA KHYAB CHU BA NA DE'I PHYIN CHE LANG STO'I DI DANG, DE'I RGYIS ZER NYON NA MI NYON PAR It's like you have a powerful friend in the court, and they give you advice of how you can avoid punishment, but you don't listen. You don't listen to the advice. LAS RTZA PO CHE ZHAG DRAG PHYIR NA And you keep doing what you were doing before.

DPON DE KYANG RGYOP THAG MED PAR Then you reach a point where the powerful person can't help you anymore. LAR DRIN GYIS SNAR BAR And you will suffer the punishment of the court. So, if we don't understand how the seeds work when you take refuge, KHO YIN CHO GSUM GYIS CI YANG RDZAS DU MED PAS the three jewels cannot help you.

They want to help you and they cannot. There's this yoga tradition joke. They say God has a hook, but you need to show a ring.

God has a hook, but there's no place to catch. You need to do something from your side. And that's to understand karma.

Three jewels cannot help you if you don't understand the pen. DE'I RJES DON PA DE'I RTEN PA'I NGAN SONG LA RGYAL PA'I RGYAL PA'I RGYAL DNGOS NI CHOS YIN Therefore, understanding karma is the real refuge. DE YANG LEN BRAS KYI BLANG DOR BYED PA NYID YIN And the essence of that is learning what kind of karma should I do and what kind of karma should I not do.

LEN BRAS LA YI PHYIR GYI BDE PA MA RKYEN NA DGE BA CHUNG MU NUS SDUG MDUG DANG MI DGE BA CHUNG MU NUS PONG DU MI KHYAD LA If you don't understand karma laws carefully, you won't reach a real understanding of karma. What's the sign that somebody understands karma? When they get a chance to do a small good karma, they grab it.

Would you like to wash the dishes after the program tonight? Yeah, I'm there.

[Speaker 2]
Me, okay?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, me, I'm washing. Then that's a sign this person understands seeds. Or they avoid even small, like push somebody or something.

To talk to a real Buddhist who understands seeds is very frustrating. You're like, how much money do I owe you? I think it was ten bucks, right?

They're like, I think it was nine dollars and thirty-six cents, but I'm not sure. Let me check on it. You know, they are very too careful.

They don't want to make even a small mistake. I think it was thirty-six cents, but it might have been thirty-seven cents. I will check.

Nick gave me, he was doing this to me yesterday. Here's how I spent the three dollars he gave me, you know? He wrote it all out on this piece of paper.

I'm like, it's okay, I don't need it. But a real person who understands karma, if they get a chance to do a small good karma, they jump on it. If they see a way to avoid a small bad karma, like thirty-five cents or thirty-six cents, then he says DOR TSUL BZHIN MA BYAS NA if you're not like that, SKAD PA DE NUS GSUM PA you can know all the Tibetan books by heart.

It doesn't matter. You can do a three-year retreat. GRUB PA THOB PA'I GNAL SBYOR PA means you can be a big yogi.

GNAL BAR GRO and you will go to the hell realms. So, does it matter you know all these books very well? He said, no.

Does it matter your yoga is very good? No. Does it matter you did a three-year meditation?

It says here, no. What matters is are you careful around karma? Avoid the small mistakes.

Take the small opportunities. Then you protect yourself. But knowledge is not enough.

Then he's going to go into a long explanation of many very educated Buddhists who went to hell. It's a depressing section. But I have to read everything.

Lama Abhadutipa So there's a lama named Abhaduti in ancient India. What's Abhaduti? Yeah, it's a central channel.

Those of you who are interested in yoga, if you came to the talk on yesterday, Sunday, you know central channel. And another name for central channel is Abhaduti. And it means, get off of me, get off of me.

Like if a spider crawling on your unit. Yes, get out. Get out.

Why? Why called Abhaduti, central channel? Yeah, those two side channels.

Get off of me, get off of me. That's called Abhaduti. It means I don't want to have these chakras.

Get off of me. So this lama's name is Mr. Get off of me. Then he was, what's his name?

He was talking to Atisha. I think Atisha was going away, and he was his teacher, and they're at the end of a bridge, so he's on one side of the bridge, Atisha's on the other side of the bridge. He's like, goodbye, see you later.

Then he says, don't forget one thing. Until you really understand karma, it doesn't matter if you're a great master. And it doesn't matter if you're a great yogi.

NYAL BAR SKYES DU You will be born in the hells. See you later! That was his last word to his student.

And he explained that it means you have to understand the pen. BDAG TU BRDZIN PA MA SPANG Say BDAG TU BRDZIN PA MA SPANG It means you have to understand that the pen is not coming this way. That's called BDAG.

The pen is coming from the pen. Until you understand that, people call you Geshe-la. People call you big yogi.

Still you go to the hell. Have a good time in teaching in Tibet. Because Atisha went to Tibet to teach.

Then there's a very famous lama called Radlo Tsawa. Here he's called Radlo. Radlo.

He brought the teachings of Yamantaka to Tibet. He brought most of those Bhairava teachings. Then they stayed, and he was a great, great translator.

All the lineages for Bhairava start with him in Tibet. He also went to hell. He had to go to hell.

He's called a famous example in Buddhism. He's called Mr. Basketball. He went very fast, and he came back very fast.

Like this. So he did a lot of good karma. He started Yamantaka practice in Tibet.

But he made some mistakes in his life. Even he had to go to hell. Just for like a few hours or something.

Like a basketball. Then came back. If you care, it's polong.

Polong means ... They don't have basketball in ancient Tibet. So they will give children a ball of yarn, wool.

They will play with the ball, and it goes like ding, ding. Okay. YANG RGYA RGYUN NAS DOR BYED GCIG BYAS KYI NYAL CHOG PA ZHIG YID DAM DE GZUGS CAN GYI DUG BRAS YI LTAR ZHIG GIS PA BU DU RMONGS PA LA Then in India, there was a great practitioner of DOR BYED GCIG BYAS means Vajra Bhairava.

Tantra. NYAL CHOG PA means he was a great yogi. He didn't follow rules of karma carefully.

So after he died, he was born as a preta, preta, spirit. Hungry spirit. But that spirit has the shape of a yamantaka.

Then Atisha realized he was trying to get into Tibet. Then he made a special dharma. And SPYIR BSDOD means he kicked him out of Tibet.

ZHES BYIN LA SPYOD PUNG GCIG BLO LA YOD PA'I KYANG MA THAN PAR NYON BAR RAB TU TSA BA SKYES Then Buddha's cousin or half-brother? Devadatta. He memorized like 10,000 Buddhist books.

He was a great scholar. He went to one of the lowest hells after he died. Because he didn't obey the laws of karma.

I'm sorry, he keeps... there's more, okay? It's depressing.

DRAM ZE RGYUD BYANG NA KA ZHES PA ZHING RJE ZHES GRUB PAS MI MA MO NGON CHUD KYI THOS ZHES PAS Then there was a Brahman, a Brahmaputra, son of a Brahman. His name was Chanakya. And he also studied Yamantaka Tantra.

But he used the tantra to kill people. Then he went to the lowest hell. LAS BRAS TSU BZHIN MA GSUNGS NA TZAM NYAN GRUB BYED KYANG MI PHAN TE He says, if you don't carefully follow the laws of karma, TZAM NYAN GRUB BYED KYANG MI PHAN TE you can go into three-year retreat.

It won't help you at all. That's also depressing. He specifically mentions it.

PHAN PO BUD DU BYI BYED KYI NYAL SBYOR PA ZHIG KYANG YID DAM GYI GZUGS CAN YID BDAGS SU SKYES NI Then there's another example of a yogi who was doing Yamantaka Tantra. He's from a place called BUD DO in a state called PHAN PO. Never mind, it's okay.

He was also born as a preta with the shape of Yamantaka. GRUB GROG TZAR GZUR LONG BA'ONG And he used to be in retreat with some other guys. They did a three-year retreat together.

He died and became a ghost but with the shape of Tantric deity. And his friends are still in retreat. And he would come and ask we give torma to the spirits.

[Speaker 2]
Like last night.

[Speaker 1]
Then they look outside. They are clapping. They are giving the food to the hungry spirits.

And they're like, what? Our friend who died, he's out there eating the torma. His friends are freaked out.

He did three-year retreat with them. Then he died and he was born as a ghost. And he's eating the torma from the three-year retreat.

RIGS KYANG MA NA ZHIG LAS GNAS RTEN ZHIG KYANG YID BLA LAG PA'I PHYING RKAG LOG TU GYUR PA ZHIG TU SKYES TSUL There was also a very famous older monk called Stavira. From a famous Indian monastery called Vikramanashila. And he was born as a spirit also, because he didn't follow the laws of karma.

LAG PA'I PHYING RKAG LOG TU GYUR PA means, our hands are like this and his hands are like this. They are backwards. Connected backwards.

Like this. DE NA LAS DE LA YID CHE GYI So if you don't learn the laws of karma, it doesn't matter how much you study and it doesn't matter how much retreat you do. It won't help you.

Then he quotes a verse. LAS KYIS RNAM PAR MIN PA SA MI RGYAL RTZE BA'I DAG NI CHEN YANG DON DOR BSKYED If you don't... Sorry.

It says the way that the seeds open is unbelievable. And even very compassionate people can be born as an animal. LEN PAS KHYAD DU ZAN NA BYANG SEMS DAG NI CHEN PO YANG NGAN TSUL DU SKYE BA RNAM PAR GSUNGS The point is even a bodhisattva they call mahasattva, great being, who has compassion, but if they don't follow the laws of karma, they will go to a lower realm.

DE NA SGON GYI SGO KUN LONG CHOS PA'I DANG LAM RIM GYI SGO LDAN CHOS CHOS LAG LEN GYI SGO LEN DE NAS TSUL PA YIN Then he mentions three doors. He says the door to meditation. Those of you studying Tibetan, this is SGO.

SGO means door in the sense of the starting point. The first thing you should do in a meditation is check your motivation. Why am I meditating?

The first thing you should think of when you're studying Lam Rim is I'm so lucky to be here. And then the door for practice is karma. Understand karma.

DE LA GCIG RTEN PA'I YANG DAG PAS LTA BA ZHES KYANG ZER TE There's two kinds of correct view in Buddhism. Correct view. One is called worldly correct view and one is called correct view beyond the world.

The one beyond the world is emptiness. The one for the world is called karma. Understand karma.

Why is it called worldly correct view? Because until you see emptiness directly, this should be your main focus. DCI.

Okay, you should be thinking about karma. What should you be thinking about karma? THA LTA MANG PO ZHIG GIS LTA BA LA MA PA CHEN DO GAL BAR BYED KYANG So he says nowadays there's lots of Buddhist people running around talking about emptiness, emptiness, emptiness.

So they studied a lot of emptiness. But they didn't study karma. Then he says, first you need the karma, then you need the emptiness.

DE MIN CHOS BRTEN KHUL GYI KHA BRTEN GSOS GSUM ZHIG STANGS Then all these people saying lots of prayers, ZANG GI PHYIR DANG, ZANG GI PHYIR DANG NA, BYANG NAS PA NI RANG NYID RGYUD TE, DANG NYID RGYUD TE NI MI ZHIG NI, DANG NYID RANG NYID RANG NYID NA DI RGYUD LA SKYE BRTEN PO'I BYED NA, BYANG NAS NAS, YAB PA'I RGA'ANG RGYA RGYAL PO'I RGYAL NA, SKYE RLUNG GI RGYAL NAS BYUNG PA DANG, BYANG NAS BZHIN PA'I RGYAL NA, THAMS CAD DU DE'I DE'I TSE BYUNG PA DE'I, SANGHO NA BAR ZHIG BYANG GI DRIGS NA, LENG TU NI YIN ZHIG LA NUS PAR ZHIG PA SOGS, DE'I TSE BYUNG PA DE'I SANGHO NA BAR ZHIG BYANG GI DRIGS NA, LENG TU NI YIN ZHIG LA NUS PAR ZHIG PA SOGS People are just blah blah blah blah blah blah.

And they pretend they are trying to understand emptiness. don't know anything about dharma. ,RGA SHES RANG GIS KYANG SNYING SEMS THAMS CAD DU, ,DIG PA BYAS LA, Then some people, they are doing bad karma all day, and all night, he says.

,KHOR YOD RGYAS THU BZHIN MANG PO YANG, ,CHOG THAMS CAD DU SNGAGS NAS, They are also encouraging their students to do bad karma. But they get up early, and they go to bed late. They are always studying or reciting.

,BLAG MED DRIN GYI BLO BSCOD, They are trying to look good to other people. He says that's the opposite. Don't worry about how you look.

Learn karma and follow it. That's better than looking good but not understanding karma. So the goal is not to look spiritual.

The goal is to understand karma and follow it. Even if you don't look so cool. ,DE NA LEN TE LA YI BYED KYI BDE PA SKYE BA LAS, ,LA LEN TE BSAM DGOS PAS, So we have to start meditating about the laws of karma.

Then that meditation is going to have three different parts. And we will be doing it all week. First one, ,LEN DE PHYIR BSAM PA, Say, ,LEN ,DE ,PHYIR BSAM PA ,PHYIR BSAM PA ,LEN DE means karma and its results.

So first we'll study the laws of karma in general. Then ,CHE DAG TU BSAM PA Say, ,CHE DAG ,CHE DAG ,DU ,DU ,BSAM PA ,BSAM PA Mainly we will study the ten good karmas. This is like the ten commandments in Christian.

And they are the foundation of everything. If you want to practice tantra, the foundation is the ten. So he's going to explain the ten in very great detail, like DZI.

So first you're going to get the four laws of karma here. Then you're going to get a careful, detailed explanation of the ten good deeds. Then BSAM LAS SBYOGS DU BYA TSU Then what are we supposed to do?

And that's going to be the four steps. PHYIS BSAM PA SBYOR BA LTAR TU So in this week, you will get the details and the ancient sources for all of DCI training. So I think for those of you who studied DCI, it'll be nice for you to learn the actual sources.

So he's going to start off on the four laws of karma. And we'll start that in the afternoon. Then again I encourage you to go to yoga.

I encourage you to go to yoga.