«Дар освобождения», курс 28 «Строю пространство для практики (ретрит в Таиланде)», занятие 2

[Speaker 1]
Good morning. Did you sleep well? If you didn't sleep enough, you can sleep during meditation.

The DCI teacher understand. They can sleep with the eyes open in the class. Okay, good.

So, we're going to meditate right away. So, get ready. It's okay to sit in a chair.

Why did Buddha sit on the floor? There's no chair. In India, 2,000 years ago.

And fang song. Relax. Have fun.

It's going to be, then don't forget to put some shawl. And after meditation, we'll do mandala. Jasmine will do.

Then when we meditate in a group, it's more powerful, but we have to be more quiet. Okay, so please try not to move. Don't play with things.

What did Buddha say is the first preliminary of meditation? Yeah, turn off your cell phone. Geshe Michael.

We're going to do the lion's dance. I know some of you have done it with me before. So, for you, I'm going to add something.

But for the other people, we will start from the beginning of the lion's dance. So, sit up straight. You have a choice.

You can put your hands on your legs, or you can put your hands in your lap. If you feel a little cold, you can put them on your lap. Then the arms will keep you warm.

And if you feel hot, you can put your hands on your legs, and relax your fingers. Usually in the meditation, we start with watching your breath. But in the lion's dance, we start with some sound in the room.

For example, an air-conditioning sound. And just relax and put your mind on this sound. Now, please move your attention to the feeling of your heart beating in your chest.

If you're in a very quiet place, you can listen to your heart. But today, with so many people, we can just feel the heartbeat in our chest. And just relax, enjoy the heartbeat.

Now we'll go to a more quiet place. And imagine you are moving inside your heart, like a small room. And the heart is beating around you.

And try to go more quiet. Okay, inside the heart. Third step, let's go to a quieter place.

And push the heart away in front of you, pretty far away, like 10 meters away. And from a distance, you are watching the heart. And it's beating, but you feel like you're not so connected with it.

Fourth level, and thank you for being so quiet. Now we'll go inside that heart. And imagine floating in the heart.

It's a single grain of sugar. It's a white color. Tiny crystal.

And imagine that there's a tiny door. And you open the door. And you fit your whole self into this one grain of sugar.

Then you close the door. And you are super quiet inside a single grain of sugar. And inside it feels very big, like a nice big luxury hotel room.

Now, fifth level. Think about the beautiful ocean we have outside here. We can see the beach, the shore, on this side.

And we can imagine the far shore, the other shore. But now try to imagine an ocean in your mind. No shores, no limit.

Personally, I like to imagine the water is about the level of my eyes. And it goes left, and it goes right. And it stretches very, very far to planets and stars.

So we're going to drop a small stone into that ocean in the middle of our mind. And then small waves or ripple, tiny ripple will go out left and right with no limit. And it will just go and go and go.

Drop the pebble. Watch the ripple. Goes further and further and further, no end.

Now bring your mind back to the center. Level six. Imagine your mind is like a light bulb.

And we will turn on the light bulb. And then your awareness will begin to expand out into space. First it will cover this whole planet.

Then it will move beyond this planet into space. And just your awareness will grow like a star. And then it will spread further and further.

No end. It will pass many stars and planets. Maybe sometimes it will go through the awareness of another person who is doing the same meditation.

In another world. Okay, turn on the light. Seventh level.

It would be more quiet if we could just turn off the light. Like a light switch. And just turn it off.

When we turn off the mind, there should be no thoughts, no images floating through the mind, no feelings, no memories. So when I say turn it off, then we'll turn off the mind. And if thoughts start to come, or feelings, memories, pictures, try to stop them.

Try to block them. Gently. Okay, let's go.

Turn off the mind. Level eight. We're going to turn off the mind again.

But it would be more quiet if we didn't fight the thoughts and feelings that come up. So now again, we will turn off the mind. But if you see thoughts floating through the mind, or feelings, some pictures, just let them go.

Let them pass through the mind. Like a cloud in the blue sky. Don't try to fight them.

Just let them go. Turn off the mind. And no fighting.

No trying to stop anything. Okay, turn off the mind. Now please take three deep exhales.

Just follow the long exhale. Then slowly open your eyes. I like to stretch.

I like to stretch. You can also make some noise. Do you guys have a mic for question and answer?

Question and answer. We are halfway through the meditation for today. But I thought if you have any question, I will not choose the questions.

Somebody else will do it. Maybe Jasmine. Hi teacher, so my question is when I am doing my meditation, I have a lot of thoughts and I couldn't settle in the present moment.

So I want to know how can I settle in the present moment, especially in my daily life, in this present moment peace. Cool. Okay, good question.

Those of you who took DCI level 3, which is how to focus the mind, especially for business. We have a long manual. It's a few hundred pages.

It's based on an ancient meditation poster. Maybe you guys have that poster. Maybe Seiji and you guys can find that poster.

Yeah. And this was developed about the time of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Dynasty.

Inside this, there are many many instructions. And if you are interested about it, you can try to go to DCI level 3. It's being held in many countries.

You can find it in your country. Ask one of the organizers in your country. So we will teach people for 2-3 days about this poster.

Then at the end of the 3 days, we will say, this poster doesn't work. Nothing in this poster works. It means, you know, you have to have the seeds.

If the teacher says, put your left foot up first, then put your right foot up after that. And then hold your finger like this. Or you meet another teacher.

You say, no no, right foot goes up first. And then left foot. Then hold your hand like this.

You will meet different teachers. They will say different things. It's like if you have a headache.

You can take Aspirin or you can take Tylenol. Which one works for you? You need seeds in your mind.

So what are the seeds for meditation? If you have them, your mind will stop talking. If you don't have them, the rest doesn't matter.

How you sit, what you eat, doesn't matter. Your mind will be blah blah blah blah blah blah. So how to plant the seeds for meditation?

And this is a beautiful teaching by Tsongkapa. In a letter he wrote to his student, he said, don't disturb other people's mind. So everywhere you go, you are in the Bangkok airport.

You have to go to the immigration airport. And everybody is rushing, pushing. Everybody is tired.

Jet lag. Then, I like in China, people go like this. It's so graceful.

Then, you go ahead. I go behind. Then people's mind doesn't ...

If you push, then people's mind is like this. So respect other people's mind. Try to make their mind peaceful.

Like, we're going to take a break after the meditation. The morning session, I like to make it very long. Because you are fresh.

You are happy. In the afternoon, everybody like this. So I make shorter.

In the evening, people like this. I make more short. But the morning session, I like to make it long.

But we will take a break. By the way, during the break, every day, if you want to come up and take a photo with me, sign a book, we can do during the break. But if you make the line, everybody running, then you're like ...

To the other person, you go first. Then you are making other people's mind peaceful. This is how we plant karma.

What we do to other people. So, what you hear inside your own mind, this is only karma. That poster will not help you.

You need karma. So, to make the mind quiet, to other people. Okay, another question.

Thank you. I don't know who has a microphone. And by the way, when we do the pictures and signing, just fang song.

I will do many days. So, you don't have to hurry. I will do the last person, I promise.

Okay, don't worry, buddy. So, yeah. The question is, so when you asked us to shut down our mind in the meditation, is it like the situation where we ask the people and the dogs leave the room and there's no one in the room and there's nothing there, it's emptiness.

Is it the same thing? Very good question. Very good question.

Actually, these eight are not good meditation. They are just preparation. Like, if we go to the Olympics, we are runner.

Before the race, we should warm up each muscle but I never saw gold medal in the Olympics for best warmer upper. It's not the real race. So, meditation is the same.

These eight are very famous preparation for meditation. And that's what we're going to do in the second half today. So, these are just for warm up.

And number seven and number eight, turning off the mind, this is not kongshu. It's not the same thing. In the second half of the meditation, we will reach kongshu.

And then you will see the difference. So, be careful. Don't make mistake.

This is not kongshu. Actually, you cannot turn the mind off. It's not possible.

Try. It helps you warm up your mind. But it's not possible to turn off the mind.

Your mind has been on for billions of years. And it has an endless future. And you cannot turn it off.

But it's helpful to exercise mind. Then when we go to level nine, that's a real kongshu. Great question.

And we will do every day. So, don't worry. We will do questions every day.

One more question.

[Speaker 2]
How? How do you feel when you walk from the heart to the mind? How do you feel when you walk from the heart I cannot imagine.

[Speaker 1]
OK. So, Geshe-la, the question I want to ask is during one step, you asked us to put the heart away from us. and then you asked us to, then later you asked us to go into the mind, a little drop of the mind.

But I can't really imagine how does it feel like. Can you tell us more? Yeah.

This difference between level 3 and level 4. So, the goal in level 3 is to a little bit calm down the mind. If you meditate a lot, then the level 2, you feel very cool.

Like very beautiful balance. And we call Xinjiang. Xinjiang means you feel very flexible, you can do everything.

And it feels so nice. You will get distracted by the nice feelings. It's like you are kissing somebody.

Then separate, and it's more quiet. You see, the mind is not feeling, oh, this is cool. You are just a little bit separate yourself from that feeling.

And then level 3, the main focus is neutral feeling. More quiet. You are not like ...

Maybe level 1, you are like ... And then level 2, you are ... Then level 3, you are just super quiet.

Then the difference between 3 and 4. 4 is called, in Sanskrit language, called Eka Agra. One point.

Single point. Especially if you have trouble focusing, there's an ancient technique. Think about something small.

Like your last paycheck. Very small. Just kidding.

Then think about, put your mind into something very small. Like a single grain of salt or a single grain of sugar. So, the main feeling of the third level is neutral.

And the main feeling of the fourth level is focused like a laser in a small place. And again, all of these eight, they are just warm up. See if you can put your mind to the whole universe.

Then see if you can put your mind in a single piece of sugar. Then your mind, it's like doing yoga poses. Your mind becomes more flexible.

Okay? Cool. Okay, we're going to do the second part of the meditation.

And don't worry, every day I will do questions. Now, so far we have eight levels. I was in Europe, and somebody told me, I said, where's my hotel room?

We were in Ukraine, Kiev. They said, go to first floor. Take the elevator to the first floor.

Then I said, I'm on the first floor. This is the first floor. They said, no, in Europe, this floor is called zero floor.

You know? Then first floor is the second floor. I said, well, why don't you call the second floor the second floor?

Anyway, when you listen to the air conditioner, you can say zero floor. Okay, so when we say ... This meditation is famous, it has nine levels.

We are counting European way. Okay, Ojo ... Ojo ...

Fangfa? Ojo de Fangfa. We are on a ...

So, the air conditioner is the ground level. We don't count. Okay, ready?

So, we're going to ninth floor. I like the hotel in Kiev. There's a beautiful restaurant on the ninth floor.

Scott and me like it, because our main goal in life is to have American breakfast in every country. Okay? So, Scott and me, we will not get off on the elevator on the first eight floors.

We want to go to the ninth floor. To reach the ninth floor, you have to go through the first eight floors. But don't get off the elevator.

Okay, that's not kongshin. Feels like kongshin, but it's not kongshin. So, you know, enjoy the first eight floors.

You can look out the elevator door, but don't get out. Stay in the elevator. The goal is the American breakfast on the ninth floor.

Okay, here we go. We're going to the breakfast place. Alright, so get ready.

Please turn off your phone. I heard one phone. I like the Guadalajara guys.

They have a rule in Guadalajara. If the phone rings, you have to pay fifty US dollars to charity. So, let's do this system.

Okay, alright, let's go. Get comfortable. I like to clear my throat.

Sometimes I'll play music. Okay, make noise now. Don't make noise later.

If you have a cold, then maybe meditate outside on that day, so you don't bother other people. If you don't have a cold, stay in this room for one day, we will give you a cold. Some people ask me, why is it so cold here?

Some people ask me, why is it so cold here? Number one, American people like it. Number two, difficult to fall asleep when it's so cold.

Alright, let's go. If you feel cold, put your hands on your lap when you meditate. And please bring a shawl.

Okay, here we go. Shawl is very good for meditation. If you get sleepy, you can take it off easily.

If you feel cold, you can put one. Even for boys, you should have a meditation shawl. We can buy one here also.

I will buy one. Okay, here we go. Ninth floor.

American breakfast. Watch your breath, ten breaths. Focus on the exhale.

Exhale. Nice, long, relaxed, fang song exhale. Now, please bring in front of you to meditate with you one of the teachers in your life.

Then, in our life, we have many teachers. First teacher, and maybe your greatest teacher, is your mother and father. Then the teachers in the school.

Maybe sports teacher. Maybe you met some religious teacher, like a monk or a priest. Your friends have taught you a lot in your life.

If you've had children, they are often great teachers, like Sanbao. So, think of one of them, and ask them to come and sit in front of you. Don't make them like a statue, or a painting.

That's very boring. Ask the real one to come. Could be even someone who died in the past.

Or historical teacher, Buddha or Jesus. And it could even be a teacher you didn't meet yet. For example, Jesus or Buddha.

If we're lucky, we have a heart teacher already. Sometimes we didn't meet them yet. But imagine one of those teachers is sitting in front of you.

They are real teacher. They are breathing. They are smiling.

Your eyes are closed, but their eyes are looking at you. You can feel the warmth of their body. Maybe some nice smell, like lotus smell.

And just sit for a few minutes with this teacher. Relax. We're going to meditate for 10-15 minutes.

You don't have to worry about other things. Jasmine took care of everything. All we have to do is relax with the teacher.

Now please think about one thing about this teacher that you really love. Maybe they are a super patient person. Or maybe they are always helping older people.

Or they are always available to help people in trouble. Something that you really love, about this teacher. Most nice teachers have many good qualities.

But just choose one for this meditation. And now we understand that what we see in this world is coming from seeds in our own mind. So this beautiful quality of my teacher must also be coming from seeds in my mind.

So I'd like you to pretend that you can see those seeds. Go to the center of your mind. I like to see a small dark room.

But it's quiet and it's comfortable. And there's a single light from the ceiling. And it's shining on some seeds in the middle of my mind.

And I like to picture those seeds. They look almost like fat pieces of rice. And like a beautiful silver color.

Kind of shining. So go to the center of your mind. A comfortable, pleasant, dark room.

There's a light shining from the ceiling. And there are five or six karmic seeds. Almost like eggs in a bird's nest.

Picture that. Now imagine those seeds are opening. First one cracks open.

And out of it comes a picture. Made of light. Little bit like a hologram.

And that picture comes out like a baby bird coming out of an egg. I like to feel like the picture is moving to the back of my forehead. And then it moves further.

And it settles on my teacher. Like a feather coming to the ground. And it covers my teacher.

And because of that, I see this beautiful quality which I chose. So myself, I'm thinking about how my teacher helps people who need help. And that helpfulness is actually coming from me.

A silver seed opens. The picture of helpfulness travels to the teacher in front of me. And it covers them like a blanket.

And because of that, I see helpful teacher. So try to imagine that coming from you. This beauty in your teacher coming from you.

Now let's have fun. Okay. Who put those seeds in my mind?

I did it sometime in the past. Then I have lived many, many countless past lives. Definitely, I have lived in every country of this world.

I have had every kind of job in this world. I have been male and female. Definitely, I have been every kind of animal.

In millions of past lives in this world. And in one of those past lives, I planted these seeds. I must have been very helpful to someone.

So, most of us cannot see directly our past lives. And it's a little bit of pride to imagine that we can if we cannot. But, we can imagine our past life.

Maybe I was a general in an army. And I saw a child on the road. And I stopped to help them.

Even though I was so busy. And I gave them some food. And make a story.

Maybe it's not a true story. But make a story about your past life. I'm imagining that general was in China.

But you pick a country. You pick a job that you had. And a body that you had.

Could even be an animal. Maybe even an animal. Maybe I was a bird who fed her babies.

And that's how I planted these seeds. To see my teacher so helpful. So, we'll spend a few minutes here.

Feel free. You are free to imagine anything. Any country.

Any time in history. Let your mind go free. If small feelings come.

Oh, that general was wearing a nice blue coat. Then use that small thought. Even those imaginations.

They are also coming from real seeds. You cannot imagine being a general in China a thousand years ago. Unless you have those seeds.

So, anything you can imagine about your past life. When you created the seeds for this teacher in this life. Anything you can imagine.

It's partly true. So, feel free. Make a movie of your past life.

Use every kind of memory or imagination that comes to you. To explain how did you plant those seeds. Okay, here we go.

Have fun. Now, please come back to your breath. Watch three long exhales.

And then slowly open your eyes. Take stretch. Good, very quiet.

You are very quiet. Nice group. Maybe everyone is just jet-lagged sleepy.

Okay. We are going to take a 15-minute break. I will also go to the bathroom.

Then I will come back. And we can start. I will start signing books.

There will be a line over here. And we start at 10.15. So, 10.15, please be on your chair. Thank you.

More questions in the afternoon. And Jasmine is going to make a mandala offering. Can you guys show the mandala offering?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you, Jasmine.

[Speaker 2]
Nice.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you. We are going to do a little bit of the lam rim. And then I would like to introduce the teachers to you.

So, we are going to do a little bit of the lam rim. Mr. Adam, you can look for da LTA GZH da LTA Nice. Perfect.

You are so smart. Okay. Then we are going to just read through the text.

I am going to mention the West Chinese language. Just relax. Okay?

I don't expect you to remember everything. But I want to put a seed in your mind. Okay.

,LTA LTAR ZHUNG SA, ,GANG LDAN PO DANG PA CHEN PO'I, ,CHAB SRID LA YONGS SU DRAG PA'I, ,MI CHOS TZAM MA CHUD DU BYED PA'I, ,NANG DU'ANG So, we are in the middle of the explanation about respecting people. And this teacher is mentioning a system that was in West China. This means in their local government, they had a special rules for the whole country from like a thousand years ago.

And there are sixteen of them. One of them is that younger people should respect elder people. So, I didn't teach this when I was younger, but now I'm old and I'm teaching it.

So, all younger people should respect older people.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Then, he explains some different kinds of special people we can respect. PHA MA SOG DKA' DRIN CHE BA'I YUL NAM DANG And those of you who know DCI, you will recognize some of the DCI here. So, those people who have helped you in your life, they are very powerful karma for you.

For example, the person who helped you the most, mother and father. Then, in America, many people have trouble with their mother or their father. Oh, Geshe-la, I don't have to respect my mother.

She's actually kind of mean to me. That means you didn't think about what she gave you. Nowadays, there's a birth control.

In many countries, there's abortion. Then, to keep you inside of her for nine months, and to nine months, she can think about maybe she will die when she gives birth. But your mom made a decision.

I want to give life to this child. Actually, she risked her own life to give you your life. This life is kind of cool.

Pretty fun life. So, she was very nice to us. Father also did some work to make us, not much, but it's not easy to be father.

Very difficult. So, we should ... They have powerful karma for us.

Then he says, yun ten gyi shing la su shu che pa means there are also some people in our life, they have great qualities, maybe educated, or understand Dharma. Teachers. Then we should respect them.

And ul pong, people who have emergency, we talk about it in DCI. Ul pong means very poor. Like nowadays, many refugees in the world.

Nyepa means sick people. Nyamtapa means had some problem. Pendapa means if we help them, it's a more powerful karma.

Then, you know, when I teach this lam rim, I like to go to the ancient history. I like to give you extra information. So, he mentioned 16 rules from ancient times.

I went and found them for you. This is from an ancient lama called Longdu Lama. Here are the ancient 16 laws of the kings.

First one has four parts. First of the 16 has four parts. Number one, don't kill people or animals.

Number two, don't steal other people's things. Number three, respect other people's relationship. If they are married or they are partners, then don't bother that relationship.

It's a very serious karma. And you will always have trouble in your relationships later. If you bother other person's marriage, 1D, okay, lying, not being honest, cheating on taxes, other kinds of cheating.

These four together, no killing people or animals, no stealing, no hurting other people's relationship, and no lying, corruption. Those four together are number one of the 16 ancient laws of the kings. Number two, respect the three jewels and try to practice dharma.

This was the ancient law. Three jewels. Three jewels.

So, I have two friends, two three jewels in my life. Number one, Buddha. Number two, teaching.

And number three, right here, all these people practicing. You are sangha. Okay, so respect the sangha.

Okay, ancient law number three. Respect your parents. Try to pay back the kindness they gave you.

Every chance you have. Take care of them. Okay.

I know it's a big custom in China. And it's something that people from America, we can learn from Chinese people. You didn't lose this custom yet.

We lost it in America. So, keep it. Okay, number four.

Pay respect to people who have more dharma qualities than we do. If they are helping old people, they are helping sick people, they are helping poor people. Then respect them and help them.

Okay, that's ancient law number four. Okay, ancient law number five. If you have good friends, dharma friends, okay, we have a dharma friend and we have non-dharma friend.

Dharma friend said, Hey, tonight you want to have some fun? Yeah. Okay, let's go visit the old lady in the hospital.

Non-dharma friend. Hey, did you see Zhenlang-er? Let's go see a movie.

They have a lot of cool shooting. That's a non-dharma friend. Okay, I think real dharma friend will take you to the ...

see the old lady in the afternoon and take you to Zhenlang-er in the evening. That's okay. That's okay.

Okay, you need to relax also. My friends, they have trouble relaxing. Scott, Orit, Seiji, Stanley, Allison, Also have to see movies sometimes.

Then you don't get crazy. Okay, number six. Then help your neighbors.

Help your community. Help your country. Okay, do things to help your city and your country.

And your neighbors. Actually, I don't like my neighbors to talk to me too much. I'm so busy.

If they come to my house, I have to make tea for them. Talk about football. But I did go to each neighbor and said if you need help, I'm here if you have emergency.

So, help your neighbors. One lady came woke me up at night. My neighbor.

I don't know her very well. But I went to her house like long time ago. And I said, I'm your neighbor, so if you have some emergency, you can call me.

Then she said, I live on a mountain, very steep mountain. Even the mailman will not come to my house. And then she called me.

Something happened. I said, what? Two young boys walking on the mountain.

It's like midnight, you know. She said, did you see them? I said, no, I was working.

Then she said, can you check? I'm afraid to go out there. So, I have to walk the whole mountain with flashlight looking for two boys.

And I didn't find them. But she was very happy. So, take care of your neighbors.

Take care of your city, your country. Okay, number seven. Be honest.

Don't be corrupt. And be humble. Take the lower position.

Wash the dishes. Clean the toilet. If you need to practice number seven, talk to Jasmine.

She'll give you some job. Okay. Number eight.

Try to find people who are good example and try to stay close to them. Find a person who's better than you. Better means they have bigger heart.

And try to become their friend. Hang out with them. They're called chudok and dikdok.

Chudok means person who is better than you. So, when I was in high school, I was on the sports team. We played tennis.

And then our coach, he has a rule. We are not allowed to play with the other player who is worse than us. We can only play with the person who will beat us.

And this way you can improve. So, try to find some person who is nicer than you. Become their friend.

Then they will pull you up. If you find a person who is worse than you, it's called dikdok, means bad friend. And they will pull you down.

My brother, I remember, he got some bad friends when he was young. He was about 20 years old. And I met those guys.

Some of them even have gun and they are doing drugs. Then I thought, oh, these are not good friends. And later my brother died because of those friends.

So, be careful. Choose your friends. Choose good friends who will pull you up.

That's ancient law number eight. Ancient law number nine. Drink a green drink.

I hate two things in this life. First one is the green drink. Second one is called yoga.

But I do it because it's good for my body. So, ancient rule number nine. Be careful what you eat and what you drink.

Eat things which are good for you. Nowadays from America came to China 10,000 KFC and McDonald's. I think they kill, I heard they kill 20 billion chicken every year in China.

[Speaker 2]
Inside China.

[Speaker 1]
Chinese people become addicted to this. It will make you fart. It will give you heart attack.

It will make you unhappy in your mind. Karma of killing all those animals. So, if you go to KFC buy french fries and a salad.

Maybe later they will stop selling chicken. Okay, don't support it. Okay, all right.

Number ten. Don't upset good people, old friends. Okay, keep your old friends.

Many of the teachers here. We are together for ... Jing Mei, how many years?

I don't know. 25? Yeah, she's my personal assistant for 25 years.

Scott and Orit, I think 15 years. Like that. Keep your good friends.

Keep them near you for many years. Okay, eleven. Don't borrow money.

If you borrow money, pay it back quickly. Okay, what did they say in English? If you want to become enemy with somebody, borrow money.

Or loan them money. It's okay in emergency. But generally it's a bad idea to borrow money.

DCI company, for example. We started with, I don't know, $10. We never borrow money.

Now the company is quite large. But if you borrow money, you will get some trouble.

[Speaker 2]
Usually.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, number twelve. When you do business, be honest. Always be honest in business.

I was in Europe. I told you this story. It's a fun story.

One guy came to DCI program. He said, Geshe Michael, I have a question. Then I said, okay.

He said, you come with me to lunch. I will ask you. Then he brought like 15, 20 people to the program, his company.

So I thought, oh, I should go with him to lunch. Then he took me to a special restaurant. Then I walk in.

It's a little bit strange. All the ladies have very short skirts. All the waitress.

Many guys are in there. They have nice coat. Under the coat there's a big bump like that.

Then I'm like... He said, sit down. Then I realized it's a mafia restaurant.

Then I'm like... I feel like a chicken in the fox's house. Then he said, I want to ask you a question.

I said, yeah. He said, you said we shouldn't do corruption. We should do honest business.

I said, yeah. He says, all my business is mafia business. I have 10 mafia companies.

Each one pay bribe to the government. Then I don't think I can do business if I do your way. Then I said, okay, let's do experiment.

He said, what kind of experiment? I said, you have 10 mafia companies. They are mostly export companies.

I said, one of them you run my way. For one year, I will tell you what to do. Honest way.

Nine of them you run mafia way. Then after one year, let's check which one make most money. Then I sent advice for one year.

Then I was in Germany. Hamburg. Suddenly, in my hotel room, there is a bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

I opened the door. He's like, I got to talk to you. I'm like, it's okay, it's okay.

Calm down. Then he pushes away in the room. Then I'm looking, where's the bathroom?

I can run in the bathroom. Maybe I can call Scott. I'm like, it's okay, it's okay.

I got to talk to you. I said, what's the problem? He said, I have to tell you something.

I said, what? The one company made double money from the other nine companies. And I want to thank you.

So he stopped doing the mafia stuff. So that's number twelve of the ancient law. Be honest in the business.

You will make more money, okay? Just try. You can do experiment.

10% super honest. 90% mafia. Then see which one is better.

Okay, number thirteen. Treat all other people same. Respect everybody.

Equally. Number fourteen. Keep your system of goodness.

Don't listen to other people who make bad suggestions. Geshe-la, you can make more money. Let's not report the taxes.

We can make more money. Then don't be tempted by those kind of people. Number fifteen.

Speak politely. Speak softly to other people. Okay, and number sixteen.

Take on the heavy jobs and keep a happy mind. Like Jasmine. I gave her this job.

Thailand retreat. Then more and more headaches every year. Multiple headaches.

Then she did it. And secondly, she's always smiling. So be like that.

Like Jasmine.