«Дар освобождения», курс 28 «Строю пространство для практики (ретрит в Таиланде)», занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
Okay, let's meditate. Get ready. Turn off your cell phone.

And, turn off your cell phone. Good. You can play some music.

So, we'll start on the ninth floor. And, bring to mind one of your teachers in your life. It doesn't have to be a spiritual teacher.

Any teacher who helped you in your life. Maybe the one who taught you your job. And, we're going to do the traditional meditation preliminaries preparation.

So, first bring them in front of you. Real person. Not a picture.

Breathing. Warm. Smells beautiful.

And, looking at you with great love, even though your eyes are closed. Now, think about one quality that you love in this person. And, this is the traditional beginning of a meditation.

Just one thing you love about them. Then, make an offering to this teacher. There are two kinds of traditional offerings.

The first we will do during the one day vow. And, you offer the whole sky filled with flowers. But, even better offering is something nice you've done for somebody else.

In the last week, offer that to your teacher. Then, tell your teacher any mistake you made in the last week. You hurt somebody.

And, be honest and be open. Then, think about something you saw somebody else do. Which was very nice, kind to other people.

And, be happy. There are a lot of people working for us in this retreat. Everywhere you look, there's volunteers.

And, they paid to come to this retreat, many of them. And, they are working for us. So, let's rejoice in them.

Then, ask your teachers to teach you Dharma. Continue learning. And, ask your teachers to stay.

Then, come back to your teacher. And, look at the one quality that you like about them. Focus on one quality.

And then, come to the center of your mind. It's dark, but it's beautiful. And, there's a nest of silver seeds.

In the center of your mind. Shining. And then, one of them opens.

It's like a small baby bird is coming out. But, that bird is an image of that good quality in your teacher. So, if that quality is patience, for example.

Then, you can see a hologram coming out. It's your teacher's shape, with a lot of patience. And, I like to feel that picture comes to my forehead, the back of my forehead.

And then, it comes out of my forehead. And, it covers my teacher like a blanket. Okay.

Then, because of that, I see patience in my teacher. Now, I'd like you to pretend there are five or six silver seeds. Let them open one by one.

So, one opens. Image comes out of patience. Patient teacher.

And, it goes and covers my teacher. And then, let it settle on your teacher like a coat. And, when that image is clear, then go back to the eggs.

And, let another image come out. Same image. So, actually, those seeds are opening 65 every second.

But, we are doing them one by one, very slow, maybe one every minute, just to get used to it. We are not watching them open directly. We are just pretending.

But, if you practice like this, one day you can see them opening. Okay, one by one. Let's spend a few minutes.

Seeds opening into my teacher. Now, we have fun. We try to imagine, how did I plant those seeds?

In Buddhism, everything has a cause. Everything is dependent origination. And, a teacher cannot exist without a cause.

And, that cause has to be in your past. You did something in a past life to have these seeds in your mind, which are making your teacher have this beautiful quality. So, now, go on a trip to your past life.

It's just imagination. But, anything you can imagine also comes from your seeds. So, partly what you imagine is true.

Or, it's pretty close to true. Later, if you meditate a lot, you can see your past life directly. Today, we are just pretending.

But, use your third eye. The eye of logic. And, open that eye.

And, think in the past, maybe a thousand years ago, who was I? Where did I live? What was my job?

Who was my family? What did I do to make this beautiful quality? How did I plant these seeds?

And, keep going. Don't stop. Make the movie more and more detailed.

You can use any image you saw in the last few weeks. Anybody in this room can be in your past life movie. Any book you ever read, any song you ever heard, any movie you ever saw.

You can use those images. You have a karmic copyright. They belong to you.

So, don't stop. Make it an epic movie. When did I plant these seeds?

When was I showing the same quality myself in the past? Okay, have fun, and relax, and enjoy. If you start thinking about something else like lunch, then slowly bring your mind back to the movie.

Now, please come back to your teacher, and come back to your breath. We'll do three slow, long exhales. Okay, then open your eyes.

Take a stretch. Have some coffee. You guys ready with the microphone, questions?

Okay, any questions. Yes. And just relax, we'll have some questions.

Microphone, good.

[Speaker 2]
Sorry for asking in German. Guten Morgen. Good morning.

Thank you for teaching. Thank you for coming. My question is, Maitreya will be the next Buddha.

But I have learned that I can get enlightenment in my life, and I can get complete enlightenment afterwards. How does that work with Maitreya? What is it when I am faster than Maitreya?

Can I be Maitreya?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, I need a translation.

[Speaker 2]
Maitreya will be the next Buddha. Sorry, I am speaking in German.

[Speaker 1]
I am so sorry. Entschuldigen Sie. So sorry.

Okay, so Maitreya will be the next Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
And with this practice we are trying to reach total enlightenment. So what if I practice so well and I will be faster than Maitreya? Can I be the next Maitreya?

[Speaker 1]
Good question. You mean I will be the next Buddha? Yeah.

Can I beat Maitreya? So when you do Geshe examination, usually there is about, I don't know, you start the Geshe class with about 60 guys. Then it's a 20-year course, right?

Sometimes 25. And slowly, one by one, people will drop out. People die.

People go away. And after 20 years, usually you have about 10 guys left. Then they will do a pre-examination.

It's called rik chung. And you qualify to take a Geshe exam. Then about maybe 6 guys can qualify.

From the original 60. So you get assigned a topic. And my topic was called jamsung.

It means, who is Maitreya? And this was my assignment. So this is fresh in my mind.

And it's a very beautiful question. So, if you work very hard, and especially if you can learn to see emptiness, directly, and I'll tell you the best way you can see emptiness is to think about the two husbands in the kitchen. And it's a very efficient method.

Every time you have a fight with your husband, you will remember emptiness. So you can remember frequently emptiness. So seriously, it's a very good method.

If you're not married, you can use your boss at work, or your parents, somebody who irritates you. So if you can see emptiness directly, then you're on a conveyor belt. You have to become Buddha.

You don't have choice. And you can't stop it. And yeah, you will beat Maitreya.

And then you are Maitreya. Okay? So, it's not that you come before Maitreya.

You will be Maitreya. Okay? And it will happen.

Like that. Now, interesting question. DCI used to be business only program.

Then one day, a lady in Guangzhou started a problem. Maybe Jasmine and Vivian remember, I don't know. We are having a business conference.

First DCI tour, I think, in Guangzhou. And there are all big business people. Guangzhou makes half the stuff in the world.

Probably the chair you're sitting on, the carpet, the build, everything from Guangzhou. And there was a famous question. One lady said, I have a question.

Second day. Big hall, I remember a big hall. And she said, I said, what's your question?

She said, actually, I don't need money. I have a good business. I'm already wealthy.

I don't need to come to your class. Then I was confused. What kind of question is this?

Then I said, well, why did you come? And she said, I have a deeper question. And I said, what's your question?

She said, can you use the four steps to fix your husband? Then I was confused. I said, is your husband broken?

Yes. How? We are married for 30 years.

Then, of course, we are Chinese. The woman should cook. I understand.

I can accept it. But 30 years, he never washed the dishes one time. Then at least he should wash the dishes once a week or something.

Then she said, can I use the four steps to force him to wash the dishes? Then inside my mind, I'm thinking, they forgot to teach me this during Geshe course. But, if you debate a long time, you learn to improvise in your answer.

So sometimes you have to say, oh, sure, yes, no problem. Then we talked about the four steps. Later, she told me, he's washing the dishes every night.

And the next year, she had a higher goal. He should also cook every night. And she did it.

And he's cooking now. Now, why am I talking about this and Maitreya? So, this is a famous deeper question.

If the husband and the wife both come to the DCI program, and they both learn the four steps, and the husband do the four steps never to wash the dishes, and the wife do the four steps, he should wash the dishes. To me, did you watch the Titanic movie? At that time, the Titanic was the newest ship in the world.

And they used a special steel. They say it's not possible to sink this boat. If it hit the iceberg, the iceberg will break.

So, it's like iceberg is a wife and Titanic is a husband. Who is the husband? Wife is the iceberg, of course.

Husband is Titanic. And they are both doing four steps. Wash dishes, don't wash dishes.

Wash dishes, don't wash dishes. Then, when they hit, who will win? What will happen in the kitchen?

Will it be a pen or a chew toy? Yeah, both. Come on, Geshe-la.

With a pen, I understand. It's okay. It can be pen and chew toy at the same time.

But think about it. When you say, this is pen and chew toy at the same time, it means if a dog comes in here, and I'm sitting here, and we both look at the pen, and we see two different things in the same place, it means there must be two realities in the same room. Dog's reality and human's reality.

Do you have a wheel of life, you guys, picture? Slowly. Then, of course, there are two realities in the kitchen.

In this painting, upper right side is the human realm. Lower left side is the animal realm. They paint them in a different place in the wheel.

But actually, they're in the same place. Two realities in the same room. And in this room now, there are about 500 realities.

Each person is having their own reality. And it's no problem, the realities are fitting in the same room. The room didn't break.

There are 500 realities coexisting and overlapping in the same room. So, each of you is Maitreya in your own world. You will be the next Buddha.

How fast will Maitreya come in your world? Depends on you. So, don't delay.

Do your meditation. Especially emptiness. And it's not some very deep, strange thing.

Okay? It's just the husband in the kitchen. One of them is not there.

Never was there. Never will be there. Who's not coming from you.

Just think about that a lot. If you don't have a husband, it's good to get one soon. So, you can fight with them and practice emptiness.

Okay? So, you're all Maitreya. And I don't just say to make you feel good.

This is my Geshe pre-examination subject. And that's the correct answer. Okay, one more question.

Sorry for long answer. Thank you for giving this chance, Geshe-la. Thank you for teaching.

My question is about the emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
So, when I was imagining Geshe-la sitting in front of me, and then he, you, full of wisdom, and then like inside, and then outside is like a kid, and very happy all the time. And when you told us to think about a seed in our mind, and then, yeah, that's wisdom, and just like a kid inside, in my mind, and then you say that's where this you is come from.

[Speaker 1]
It's from our own seeds. Hang on one second. She's going to translate.

Or you want to self-translate? It's okay. I can just quickly speak in Chinese later.

Okay. So, yeah, so, and later, I am trying to think about a seed in my mind, and then later, I am thinking about — you told us that maybe we weren't as animals before, so I go back to find me, that impression where it come from, and I'm thinking I'm maybe I'm a rabbit in the Tang Dynasty, and then after I die, the rabbit die, and then I become a prince in the old Roman days. And then maybe that's the happy and fun rabbit, and also someone full of wisdom from this prince before.

And then when I, and you told us to go back as a projector to put this on your, on you, on yourself, and then that's where you are, that's why you are real. It's a real teacher, Geshe-la sitting in front of me.

[Speaker 2]
And then when you asked us to move this teacher by the side and then bring this another teacher in front of me, another you, and then this you is come from the star, dust, self, and become a monkey, and then become a teacher, become teacher's teacher, and then you are from one of them and then you become that teacher in front of me. And that's not the real Geshe-la, that's something, that's a matter that just formed by the other beings a long time ago and then become you. I will translate very quick.

My question is, when I move this fake Geshe-la away, and I'm trying to move this real Geshe-la back to that seat in front of me just now, you said there's a space, I remember yesterday you said there's a space there, and then that space, my question is the space is the emptiness, and all this real teacher in front of me is the emptiness. And then also, there's another thing that I'm thinking just now in this meditation, where does this seat come from, because you asked us to do imagination, and this seat is a kind of imagination actually, and just like a pen, where does this seat come from?

[Speaker 1]
When I take this seat, as a human being we know that seat we're going to grow, and when the rabbit see a seat, so it's like a foot for her, so it's not a seat for this, so what does this seat mean? What's this seat's mother? Where does this seat come from?

You translate, you translate. Thank you, thank you. This is a teacher from the galaxy, from the big explosion of the universe, and then in the end this teacher sits in front of me, and this teacher doesn't have any characteristics, it's just a group of matter standing in front of me, and the teacher says this is a fake teacher, and at this time, my question is when the teacher lets us move this fake teacher away, the real teacher moves back, and in this process we have a space in the middle, there is such a moment of space that is empty, so my question is, is this space empty, or is the teacher that we just moved away empty? And then my second question is, the teacher lets us imagine this seed, I think I'm very confused, this seed is actually for us to imagine, I think it's an imagination, imagine that there is a seed that is projected in front of this teacher, and this seed, when we see a person, when we see a seed, it's a seed, and it will bloom, but a rabbit, when it sees a seed, it can eat it, it doesn't think it's a seed, that's also our imagination, so I'm asking the teacher, who is the mother of this seed, who created this seed, just like a pen, husband, it's the same, this is my question, thank you.

Thank you. Good question. So this screen, there's a projector, for example, up there, this is new style, but that's an old style projector, and then they will put a screen over here, this screen can come down, and it's a white color, and then the projector projects an image on the screen, so every time you have a seed opening over here in the projector, that's your mind, then the image, the seed opens, and the image comes out, it's fun to imagine it coming out of your forehead, and then the image comes to the screen, white screen, that white screen is emptiness, and in the meditation, we will kick out the fake teacher, like the fake husband, the husband who doesn't come from you, that one is fake, and all the trouble in your life comes from the fake husband. The real husband comes from you, comes from your seed.

Is it possible to be angry at the real husband? Is it possible? Not possible.

You understand. Oh, my fault. I yelled at my two kids last week.

This husband is not under his own control. He's under control of my seeds. Last week in Shenzhen, we studied, I think, one of the greatest books of China.

It's Master Yuan Tze, his commentary, and he likes to explain this idea under the control of something else. Your husband doesn't have choice. He cannot not yell at you, because he's coming from your seed, and you yelled at your kids.

The other husband, by the way, and you cannot be angry at this husband, because you understand he comes from you. This is exactly the meaning of the word nirvana. You understand the husband comes from you.

Nirvan, nirvan means blow out. Blow out a candle. So, as soon as you understand, oh, this husband coming from me, then your anger stops.

That's the real meaning of the word nirvana, and that's how you reach nirvana. Only if you understand emptiness. So, you have to kick out that other husband.

Can you kick him out? The husband who didn't come from you. Can you kick him out?

Cannot. Why? He doesn't exist.

Buddha said always the same way. He was never in the kitchen. He is not in the kitchen now, and he will never be in the kitchen.

So, how can you kick him out of the kitchen? He was never there. Now, his never there.

His never there. That's kong shing. That's emptiness.

And the real husband needs that white screen to exist in the kitchen. So, the husband which does exist, Buddha said always two sides of the coin. This is kong shing.

What's this one? Dependent origination. And they come together.

What's this one? Angry husband who come from my seeds from yelling at my kids last week. What's the other side?

He exists in a place. He exists in a space. He needs a white movie screen to exist.

And that's the absence of the fake husband. So, think about in the meditation, the absence of the fake teacher is a movie screen. White movie screen.

Okay? And then, sorry, this one. And then the teacher which come from you is the other side.

Okay? Then if you understand the two husbands, you can do this meditation. If you don't understand the two husbands, you cannot do this meditation.

Now, second part of your question, then we're going to take a break. Then we're going to take a break. How did I plant the seed, for example, to understand this thing?

How can I plant the seed to hear about seed? And that's just teaching other people. Okay?

Then you are not going to go home and teach 1,000 people. Okay? Jasmine is too busy to organize it.

Okay? Your first teaching will be in the kitchen. You'll be sitting with your friend.

She will say, I'm having trouble with my husband. Then you can say, well, listen, your husband's not there. Okay?

Then you talk about the two husbands in the kitchen and you share. Not in a missionary way. Not like, you must believe.

I went to Thailand. I found the truth. I brought back home.

Now, you must understand. If you want your family and friend not to do the four steps, this is the best way. You must do the four steps.

I understand everything. Then they'll say, in their mind they will say, I will never do the four steps. She's so irritating.

Then, well Geshe-la, how do I teach? Become a good example. A real example.

Oh, you used to fight with your husband. In the past, you used ... I know you used to fight with your husband a lot.

Now you guys look so happy. What's the secret? Then you can say, kong shing.

Then you can explain. If you are having trouble with your husband and you are explaining to your friend how not to have trouble with your husband, they will not believe you. So, most important thing, use the four steps on yourself.

Then become happy person. Then you are human advertisement. You are walking four step advertisement.

Then people will ask you, what are you doing? Why are you so happy this year? Then you can teach four steps.

And that's a seed. That's the seed. Sharing is the seed.

Why you understand the seed. Okay? Alright, we're going to take a break.

15 minutes. When it's time to come back, we will ring the bell. If you want to take a photo or sign a book, I'm here.

Okay, see you in 15 minutes. Okay, we'll start. We'll continue with the meditation later.

Don't forget the Maitreya question. In the same kitchen, the husband can never wash the dishes, and the husband can always wash the dishes. Titanic and iceberg can stay in the same place.

Titanic and iceberg can stay in the same place. Then Yao Li is a big business person. Yeah, she sold my chair three times in Taiwan.

Same chair. Then she made this beautiful mala. It has a lion stand.

It has two lion's counter. Very cool. I like it.

And the donation for this goes to ACI programs. Today we will start some debating. When you debate, you need a gun.

This is your debating gun. Then it goes like this. Okay?

So, you need to have one, okay? If you don't have one, talk to Yao Li. You're selling out here, right?

Very beautiful. Looks strong, I think so. Okay.

I'd like to do some lam rim, and we will meditate more later. Adam, we are at... Dana, Jigden, Dine, D-E-S-N-A, Apostrophe J-I-G.

Okay. Or you can look for... Karmar, S-K-A-R-M-A-R.

S-K-A-R-M-A-R. Karmar. There you go.

Now go up one line. Go up a little bit more. There you go.

Okay. We're going to start here. Dana, Jigden, Dine, Rang gi dikpa sakpa, khen lob dang, pongpo sok gi ma khenpe, kyun me nyampa che kyang.

When we have a bad habit, we think, if nobody sees me, I won't have a problem. If I steal this money secretly, there won't be any problem. If my teacher doesn't find out that I did this bad thing, then there's no problem.

And we think like that up to now. Ever since you were a kid with your mom, you think if she doesn't see what you did, you are free. And that's what this sentence says.

In the world, people think if they can hide their mistakes, then everything's okay. Actually, most of us make more effort to hide our mistake than to fix our mistake. Including Geshe Michael.

It's a human habit. We all have it. Then he quotes a famous sutra.

It's called Samadhi Raja Sutra, TING NGES RDZIN GYI RGYAL PO. And this is a special sutra about meditation. It's like the mother of all meditation teachings.

And it's a very beautiful poetry. I think it would make a nice rock and roll song. DA BA'I KHAR MA BYAS PA NAS STONG ZHING Maybe the moon and the stars, one day, they will fall down.

RI RANG DRANG DU BYAS PA'I SA ZHIG LA Maybe this whole planet will dissolve. RNAMS SKYES KHAMS NI RNAM PAR ZHING RGYUR KYANG Maybe the blue sky will disappear one day. KHYUN NI MI BSTAN PA'I TSIG MI GSUNG But you, Buddha, you will never say something incorrect.

Stars can fall down. Earth will melt. Blue sky will disappear.

But you will never say something wrong. Then, what are they talking about? DE NA, DGE SRIG PHRAG MO'ANG CHOS SU MI BRAL BA'I And Buddha said, even the smallest thing you do, it plants a seed.

Like someone hit you in the class. Then you're like, you know, just like, you're irritated for one second. That also plants about 50 seeds.

Okay, watch. 50 seeds. Tomorrow those become 100.

You see, Buddha said, and everything he said is correct. It's not exaggeration. It's correct.

CHOS SU MI BRAL means, after you plant that seed, it won't just go away. Like sometimes you borrow money from somebody. Stanley, can you pay the taxi from the Bangkok airport?

Then if you wait long enough, he will forget. Okay, but karma never forget. Okay, even after one year, two years, ten years, the karma never just go away.

Even this one, it will stay for a hundred years. Okay, it will not go away until it opens. Okay, therefore, be careful.

Especially if you get a chance to do small good things. Okay, open the door, or help somebody with something. If you get a chance to make tea for somebody, give Stanley coffee.

Okay, do it. Okay, you get a chance to do small one. Sometimes we have trouble to do big good karma.

Will you help Jasmine for two weeks? You mean like, Geshe-la, I was planning to swim. Okay, can you give a coffee to Stanley?

That one I can do. Then if you get a chance, do the small things, in the elevator. Okay, let the other person go.

Okay, So, that's on the good side. On the bad side, if you make a small mistake, you know, you feel jealous of someone in this class. Everybody here is Buddhist.

Everyone is outside there smiling. Inside, many jealousy. Me too, me too.

Somebody told me, Geshe-la, this guy, Tony Buzan, British guy, coming to Shenzhen. Very nice teacher. I'm like, Yeah, good, good.

I'm very happy. Okay, like that, okay. So, we all have.

We all have it, okay. So, if you make a small mistake, immediately do the four powers. Right away.

And you got your can. I'd like to thank all the people who organized the can. We should give them a hand.

Is that a good seed or a bad seed? Coffee fight. You want to see Buddhist fight?

This is Buddhist fight. Okay. So, Venerable Chunzong is going to teach us in the afternoon how to do this small fire offering.

Then Venerable Jigme told me a story. One of our friends, some of you know her, Anipama. One day in New York, Venerable Jigme was going to see Venerable Palma.

And there were two fire trucks outside of her house. Understand? She did the can in her house.

Jenda, Jenda. And she started a big fire. In America, most handsome guys are fire fighters.

So, I'm not sure it was a mistake. Okay. GNYIS PA'I KHYER PAR DU RTOGS SHI SBYONG BA'I TSUL So, how to clean away old bad karma with the four powers.

BSGOM DU SBYOR PHYIR KHAB GZHUS ZIN GYANG We already talked about the four powers a long time ago. I think retreat number five or something like that. This is retreat number twenty-eight.

Doing this for many years. My plan is to keep doing. I'm not in a rush to finish.

Why? Lam Rim supports your life. Actually, I'm not trying to finish.

If you go to Lam Rim once a year, twice a year, it's like gasoline for your spiritual car. So, I'm not in any hurry to finish. I think we will have fifty retreats on this book.

Then there's another great Lam Rim by Tsongkapa. Fifty percent about emptiness. And shamatha.

I'm thinking that's for dessert. That will take, by itself, it will take ten years or something like that. So, you need Lam Rim for your life, all your life.

My teacher taught it to me three times. It took twenty-five years. It's because it's a constant support for your life.

So, once a year, twice a year, come to fill up the gasoline, spiritual gasoline. Maybe in Mexico, America, Thailand.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
But get the gasoline once a year. Okay. ZIN GYANG, DE BZHIN DU GAL CHE I already explained the four powers in detail, but it's extremely important.

SA BYAS KYI, MU ZIN LTAR TZAM DIR YANG RGYAL MDO TZAM ZHU NA Then it's appropriate in the outline of the Lam Rim that we should repeat it here. Because we are talking about karma. DI LA ZHI LAS There are four parts to the four powers.

ZIN, because he explained them before, he's just giving some more details. And he does it out of order. So, actually, next he's explaining the second one.

Say NAM BAR NAM BAR NAM BAR ZUL ZUL RGYUN BAS RGYUN BAS RTOG So, I will briefly tell you the four powers. And if you do this little can fire offering, it doesn't help anything. Doesn't.

It will not help. It doesn't stop a bad seed. Unless you think about the four powers.

So, just doing the little can is not going to stop your bad karma. In Buddhism, you always have to understand what are you doing. So, let's talk about the four powers.

Number one, just think about the pen. Okay? GONG ZHING dependent origination.

If you want, you can ... If you had a fight with your husband today, you can think about a husband. Okay?

Same thing. Okay? Just think about it.

Okay? That's called TEN GYI RTOG. TEN GYI RTOG means a foundation of Buddhism.

It's the pen. Okay? So, that's the first one.

Second one, just think about the second law of karma. I have to kill this bad seed now. Because every 24 hours, it is double.

Interest double. It's worse interest than American credit card. Okay?

Interest double 100% every 24 hours. So, number two is actually ... Some people start to feel guilty at number two.

I'm a bad person. I can't stop my bad habit. I did again today.

I'm hopeless. Don't think like that. Okay?

Number two is a warrior. Okay? The name is a NAM PAR GZUN ZHIN PA'I RTOG.

It means ZHEN LANG R. You are ZHEN LANG SAN. I'm a ZHEN LANG SAN.

I'm a wolf warrior number three. This is a famous Chinese movie. It's like Rambo.

You know? I will destroy this seed. Okay?

Generally in Buddhism, you cannot do this. But for bad seeds, ZHEN LANG SAN. I'm going to kill this bad seed.

Quickly. Okay? Like that.

That's the second one. The name is destroy completely. ZUN ZHIN PA.

Okay, third one is the most important one. Stop doing it. And set a time limit.

Okay? Then, I don't know. If it's a big one, big mistake, in my life, when I was in college, I did abortion with a girl.

Then, I thought it was okay. Later, I found out it's a killing. So, I made a promise.

Step number three. I will never do again in my life. So, big thing is easy.

Small thing, Geshe Michael jealous of the other teacher. This one, I can only promise for three minutes. I will not do.

Then, I have to get a big youtiao and eat slowly. Maybe I won't think about the other teacher. Okay?

So, number three. Stop doing. Make a promise not to do.

This one destroys the old seed. Now, actually you cannot stop a karma. You cannot destroy a karma.

Okay? When you make a promise not to do again, you put that seed in a permanent refrigerator deep inside the mind, and it will never open. Okay?

Then, Geshe-la, if I do a lot of four powers, maybe my refrigerator will get too big. Then, don't worry, okay? All the seeds of a lifetime, they can fit on the tip of a pen.

Okay, easily. All the seeds in a billion years can fit on the tip. Then, you just move them into the freezer, and they will never open.

Okay? Or they will open small way. Okay.

What's number four? Make something to balance the karma. Okay?

Do something to balance the karma. In my case, my big mistake, one of my big mistakes, I started a children's class. For Buddhism.

I taught it for about over ten years. Okay? And that's to balance the karma.

Okay? So, you can do things like that. Okay, now, let's see his extra comments.

He taught the four powers already. Now, he's just making some extra comments. About the second power, NGAR BYED KYI SDIG PA LA RGYUR SEMS SHUGS DRAG BYED PA STE We call intelligent regret.

Okay, I spilled this coffee on the floor. I have to clean it up. I have to do it quickly.

In the ancient book, it's called intelligent regret. It's not guilt. It's not this, okay?

Oh, I'm a bad person. I always make the same mistake. Maybe Lama will hate me.

You know, not like that. Wolf warrior. Okay, I'm going to kick the ass of this bad seed.

Okay, like that, alright? It's called intelligent regret. Don't get paralyzed.

I'm a bad person. I'm a bad person. What can I do?

Not like that. I'm a bad person. I am.

Now, I'm going to kick the ass of this. Okay? Okay, and tomorrow if I make the same mistake, I will kick again.

We will have a fight. So, be brave. Happy fight.

Happy fight is tremendous good seeds. Okay, it's the best seeds you can make. So, if Geshe-la says, I'm going to stop drinking coffee, then happy fight.

Then, just fight for a few seconds. Okay, while you are fighting, you are making the best seeds. We are not strong.

We are weak. We make the same mistake over and over. We are bad karma alcoholic.

But, at least fight. Your bad habit is like a big, strong sumo wrestler from Japan. And compared to that, you are like a little kid.

Then, here comes the coffee bad habit. Then, little kid is like, I will fight with you. Like that.

Then, kid can fight, okay? No, no, no. No, no.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

The bad habit will beat you. Okay, it's true. But, delay a little.

Okay, during this delay, few seconds delay, you are making extremely powerful good karma. So, if you have a bad habit, and the bad habit makes you upset, and you feel bad about yourself, I can't stop drinking coffee. Fight one second.

No. Fight two seconds. No.

Then drink, okay? Okay, that fighting time, you are planting a seed, which in the future can beat the big guy. Because seed grows.

Okay, seeds always grow. So, at least fight your bad habit. Okay.

Don't meet the big guy and say, Okay, hit me. Hit me. I can't wait, you know.

It's true you can't wait, but delay a little bit. Okay, and during that time, you are planting a good seed. In the future, you can beat him.

So, as much as ... as long as you can delay, delay. Even three seconds.

Then do the bad thing. Okay? Alright.

Then he says, of the four powers, second one is most important. Yeah, he said. Then you know how Geshe-la teach Lam Rim.

Every new part, he will say, this is most important one. And it's true. Each one is most important one.

Okay. I think number three is most important. But he said ...

Okay. If you have this wolf warrior attitude, then number three and four are easy. So, he wants to say this attitude.

I will kick your ass. Yeah, right. Okay.

The attitude helps with three and four. Okay. To feel number two strong, you must study karma.

Go to DCI program. Go to Lam Rim retreat. Study karma.

Okay. Okay. Then he makes a comment on number four.

NYEN PO KUN DU SPYOD PAS STOBS LA NGAR ZHUGS ZIN PA LTAR RTZO BA BSLAB DU NAS GSUM PA GRUGS DANG So, this is cool. He says, earlier in this teaching, I talked about power number four. How to balance the karma.

For example, in my case, I taught the children's club. Now, there's a famous book by Shantideva. Shikshasamuccaya Compendium of the Trainings.

Summary of the Trainings.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
And in there, he gives six suggestions for number four. Six karma balancing techniques. And it's good to know them.

Okay, let's do them. And I put the list here. I went to that book and I took it out.

Number one, DE BZHIN SHES PA'I TSEN means just recite the names of the Buddhas. Okay, there are prayers for reciting the names of the Buddhas. Number two, GSUNG SNGAGS means mantra.

Do mantras. One very cool mantra is SHIN CING mantra. GAT TE GAT TE PARA GAT TE PARA SANGS GAT TE PO DE SO HA Okay.

And you can say it. You know. So, you know, if Geshe-la drink coffee today, then after that he can do the mantra.

I think even more powerful is the CING SKANG CING mantra. DA LA DKA' THI MA RANG GI PO MA YIN PA BZHAG YANG BU BUD DANG We will teach it to you. Right, Aaron?

[Speaker 2]
Where are you?

[Speaker 1]
You're going to teach it, right? You and Nicole or somebody? Okay, when?

Tomorrow. Okay, let's do ... How about this afternoon?

Do you have time? Are you ready? Or you want to wait until tomorrow?

Tomorrow's better? Tomorrow. Okay.

We'll teach it tomorrow. Okay, number three. Study.

It says here sutra. Study Dharma. Nowadays you can use the knowledge base because of Jamie's hard work.

And just study. Okay, and say, Okay, today I drank coffee. And I want to clean the karma.

I want to balance the karma. So, I will listen to knowledge base for half an hour. And you can relax, listen to knowledge base, drink some coffee.

Then you can listen for another half hour. Okay, like that. It's a beautiful, beautiful website.

I'd like to thank Jamie again. Thank you. Most powerful.

Number four. Most powerful way to balance the karma. Study emptiness.

Think about emptiness. Meditate about emptiness. You will not get a better teaching on emptiness than the two husbands in the kitchen.

It's perfect. Okay? It seems too easy, right?

But you will not find a better teaching on emptiness anywhere. And there's no deeper emptiness. Understand the husband in the kitchen.

You will not find a better teaching on emptiness anywhere. You understand emptiness perfectly. Okay?

And just think about it again and again. Okay, there's no more about ... I can teach you emptiness for five years.

And I will enjoy. We have a special class called Six Flavors of Emptiness. Only the volunteers get to hear.

Okay? Jasmine arranged the class. If you want to come, you have to be a volunteer next year, I guess.

Blackmail. But I can teach you emptiness for many years. But honestly, the husband is complete.

If you understand the two husbands, you really understand emptiness. And I can teach you many details, but it's nothing different than that. So work hard on that.

Again, it's very helpful if you are married. You'll have many chances to practice this meditation. Okay, alright.

So, that's the most powerful balancing karma. Who said that? Shantideva.

Very famous bodhisattva who wrote the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Okay, number five. Chöpa.

You can make offerings. Okay? You can make offerings on your altar at home.

Beautiful flowers. Go out and buy ... find an expensive flower shop.

Okay? And buy some really beautiful flowers. And put them on the altar.

Or go get organic apple or something. Put it on the altar. Some kind of offering.

I like to offer a very good chocolate croissant. Because after 24 hours, you're allowed to eat the offering. Okay.

It's a little bit old, but it still tastes good. Okay. Then, kusu la tenpa nam kusu la tenpa nam means like get Buddha images.

You know, make them beautiful. You can clean them. You can put some jewelry.

Some image of Buddha. I really like here in Thailand. You saw those ...

every business has the stupa. And they have Buddha image there. And I used to have a diamond office here in Thailand, in Bangkok, for 15 years.

And every office has Buddha. There's an altar in every office. It's very cool.

Okay. Like that. I was thinking it would be nice to buy one of these little stupas and send it back to the college or something.

Okay. Any good karma you do is a balancing karma. Any good thing you could ...

not just these six. Any nice thing you do for other people. Then he talks a little bit extra about power number three.

NYES PA LAS BLANGS RDOG PA'I RTOGS NI This commitment to stop for three minutes or three years. PHYIN CHE SOGS LA BAB KYANG MI CHE NYAMS PA'I DON SDOM SEMS RTEN PA STE SDOM SEMS means a decision to restrain yourself, hold yourself. Then in the DCI level one, right?

We talk about this idea. Big things like killing somebody. Abortion.

You can say, I will never do it again in my whole life. Small thing. Jealous of the other teacher.

Then we teach you in DCI make a time limit. I will not fight with my husband for eight days. Then go to Thailand.

Okay? Easy. Don't bring your husband.

NYES PA LAS BLANGS RDOG PA'I RTOGS He says, PHYIN CHE SOGS LA BAB KYANG MI CHE Okay, of course it's nice if you can say for the rest of my life, even if I die, I will not do this thing again. Then he gives this explanation about setting a time limit. DE YANG DANG PO NAS NYES SPYOD TZAM MA BSTAN DU PONG THUB PA RKA' YANG It's difficult to stop something 100%.

Immediately. Geshe-la cannot go like this and suddenly he will not be jealous of other teacher. RTZA BA NAS PONG THUB PA RNAMS RTZA BA NAS So if you can stop for the rest of your life, then make that commitment.

Like for big, big, big bad deeds. Okay? Physical one.

Mental one is difficult. Talking one is pretty difficult. Physical one is easier.

RTZA BA NAS DE LTAR MI THUB PA RNAMS KYANG If you cannot stop for your whole life, NYIN RAS SHIN TU DE RING YANG MI BYED So here's where the DCI teaching comes from. Every morning, when you get up, if you feel strong, say, okay, today I will not drink coffee. Tomorrow I will drink 10 cups.

But today, I will stop. Then just make day by day. Okay?

Commit for one day. Then drink coffee for one week. Then, okay, commit for one more day.

Okay? Day by day. NYIN RAS SHIN TU, NYIN RAS YANG MI BYED DE RING YANG MI BYED NYAMS PAS SDOM BSAM GTAN PAR YIN Then that's the best you can do.

Don't make a promise too big. You will make a new bad seed. You will break it.

Don't promise not to drink coffee for three days. Then decide what's keepable. What can you keep?

And make that commitment. Too small is better than too big. Too big, you will break it.

Then new bad seed. New bad seed. Then killing the bad seed became a bad seed.

Okay, now he talks about TEN GYI RTOGS foundation power, number one. TEN GYI RTOGS NI, BSKYAMS SROG SEMS BSKYED PA YIN PAS Don't forget in step number one. And you think about emptiness.

You think about things are coming from seeds. He says, don't forget to add the idea that I will become a good example. I will become Dharma virus.

People told me, Geshe-la, how to do bodhichitta? Bodhisattva's attitude. I call it virus chitta.

Virus chitta. It's a better word. I will be virus.

I will use the four steps. I will become happy person. I will have a beautiful marriage.

Then of course people will say, how you do that? Last year you guys were fighting a lot. This year you only fight every day.

Then how you improve so much? Then you have to say, I'm using four steps. I understand emptiness of my husband.

I understand everything I see about my husband is actually coming from me. And I have power to stop it. Okay?

And then you become automatic example. And then people will ask you, how you do that? Then you say, I'm using four steps.

That's bodhichitta. Then you're bodhisattva. Bodhisattva doesn't run to every person in Thailand and give them money.

Buddha said it's actually not possible. There are, I don't know, hundred million people here. You cannot run to everybody and give them money.

And that's not bodhisattva. And that's not bodhichitta. That's not bodhichitta.

Use the four steps. Make money. Yourself.

By helping others. To make money. Then of course your friends will say, Stanley, you have much more money this year than last year.

How you do that? Oh, I'm using four steps. I make money by helping other people to make money.

Then try it. You know, when I gave a talk, before we came to China, I gave a talk to a big, big American businessman group. Stanley and Xiaoping came to watch.

It's called YPO. Then they are nervous. I'm going to try to make them Buddhists.

Then I said, I don't care. You don't be Buddhists. I'm not trying to make you Buddhists.

Just try four steps. If it works, do it. If it doesn't work, okay, you were nice to somebody else for a few days.

You can't lose anything. Just try it. Take it home.

You don't have to join Geshe Michael fan club. You don't have to keep this little statue of Geshe Michael, which Yao Li is trying to sell you. Just use it.

Take it home. What religion your mother did, do the same. If your mother is Christian, then do Christian.

It's okay. If your mother is Muslim, then do Muslim. Four step is separate.

Take it home. Try it. If it works, if you make hundred million dollars, send me email.

Thank you. It's enough. It's enough.

It's not about a person. It's not about one person. This knowledge go from generation to generation.

Then you are the next Geshe Michael. Probably they will make Vivian Wong statue. Like a parody.

Okay. And it goes from generation to generation. Okay.

It's okay. Okay. ,GAM DOR SEMS BSKYED PA YID PA YIN PA'I, ,DOR SEMS BSGOM DE, ,DOR SEMS BSGOM DE DANG, ,DUNG BZHAG SOGS KYI UR YANG, ,SKYAB SEMS SBYUNG BA NAS KYIS YIN, So don't forget this bodhichitta during the four powers.

Okay. When you think about the pen, think about becoming a virus. Okay.

You can change the world. You can make a better world. But it comes one by one.

It comes from good example. Just be good example. What's a good example?

You are happy. You are successful. You have beautiful marriage.

You have good easy income. Your health is good. Your mind is peaceful.

Then that's bodhisattva. Automatic advertisement. By your life.

Your life becomes advertisement. Many times I'm on the plane with Scott and Ori. When we land, we go to the American immigration.

They will say, what's your address? They try to trick you. Quickly they say, what town you live in?

Then we say, United Airlines, Flight 888, San Francisco to China. No, but oftentimes on the airplane. It happens several times.

I'm sleeping, Scott is sleeping, Ori is sleeping. Then the flight attendant, they will come, wake you up. They say, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Can I ask you a question? Yeah, okay. I was sleeping, you know.

Yeah, but I have a question. What? What do you guys do?

What's your business? What kind of company you do? Do you need another worker?

You know, they don't even know what's our business. But they can feel something cool. And happy.

It happened in a restaurant several times. The waitress will say, do you have extra job for me? What do you guys do?

And so that's a bodhisattva. Okay, you're just happy. And people want to know how you do that.

So that should be part of step number one. Okay, ten more minutes. Then we're going to do some small group photos.

And Jasmine's going to organize it Chinese military way. Okay, all right. Okay.

King has a special treasury. They have special room. When you open the door, there's diamonds everywhere.

Many thousand diamonds. But our bad seed storehouse is like that. Completely full here.

We have all kinds of bad seeds. So there's a special karma called NYON NGES KYI LAS NGES NGES KYI LAS NYON NGES KYI LAS This means if you do that karma, you must experience a bad result. No choice.

Like very serious karma. If you destroy a temple, then very serious karma. You must experience a bad result.

Unless unless you do the four powers. Four powers can clean any karma. There's no karma which is too bad for the four powers.

If you do these four steps, you can clean any bad karma. More powerful. Okay.

YOD KYANG MTHO'I ZHIG ZHAG SDONG GZHAN YIN GZHON NAMS NYID PAR BRJOR CHOS SKABS ZHUGS PA LTAR YIN Like I told you before. GZHAN YANG BSLAB DUS NAS GSUM PA'I RNAMS YIN GYIS ZHAG PA DANG THUNG ZHAG KYANG CHAGS DANG BRAL BA SRID RIGS DAM PA'I ZHANG SDOM BYAMS KUN TSONG KHA PA CHEN POR GAM BUM MTHO'I BU DE SU ZHUGS PA SOGS DAG BYAS NA CHO YIN Then he gave example of several scriptures you can read. My favorite here is called Serudambe-do.

It means Golden Light Sutra. And my favorite part of the Golden Light Sutra is the story of Buddha and the tiger. Mother tiger.

It will come later. Then I'll read you from the sutra. It means after you do the four powers, then stop thinking about this.

Okay? It's finished. We talked about it yesterday.

People feel guilty. Geshe-la, I'm a bad person. I broke this vow last week.

I thought you did the four powers. Yes, I did. But I broke this vow last week.

Did you do the four powers? Yes, but I broke this vow last week. Then finally, I just want to grab them and say, Shut up!

You did the four powers. It's finished, okay? Then stop talking about it.

That's an important part of the four powers. And it's here. SDIG PA LHA MED DU SONG NYANG PA DANG It's gone.

Then stop talking about it. Stop feeling guilty about it. You cannot be born in this world unless you have bad seeds.

The people who don't ... The bad seeds are like a ticket to the movie. This movie called This World.

This planet. To come here, the ticket is bad seeds. If you live in this world, you have bad seeds.

And you were born here because of bad seeds. Also me, every person, unless you are Buddha in disguise, the ticket to come to this world, what we call earth, is bad seeds. Some people have 98% bad seeds.

Some people have 99% bad seeds. The best people in this world have 97% bad seeds.

[Speaker 2]
Really.

[Speaker 1]
Me too. The difference in this world between bad people and better people is about 1%. So, never get discouraged.

I'm a bad person. It's true you're a bad person. But don't talk about it.

Clean the bad seeds. Then clean again tomorrow. Then you will be a good person.

After you did four powers, don't talk about it. It's finished. I asked my teacher, okay, I killed somebody.

Then how many times I have to do four powers? Then my teacher always give an irritating answer. He said, how many times you have to do four powers?

Until the seed is finished. I said, well, how many times is that? Until the seed is finished.

I'm like, how do I know when's the seed finished? Oh, you will get several signs. There are several signs.

So, if you did a big mistake, then yeah, you have to do four powers several times, maybe for several months. You will burn many cans. Then how to know the seed is gone?

This is in the Jingang Jing, Diamond Cutter Sutra. First time, the seed is finished. You see, the four powers can move the seed to the icebox, or it will make the seed open too early.

If I put a watermelon seed on this stage, and I water it, and it's warm, it will open. Small sprout will come out, and then it will die because there's no support. There's no nutrition.

Same with the four powers. When you do the four powers, it's like putting water on the bad seed. It will open a little bit, but if you understand the pen, it doesn't have the nutrition to grow.

And it will die. So, first sign, four powers is finished. You will have a small, sudden, powerful problem in your life.

Small car accident. You get sick for two days. Jingang Jing says maybe you get a headache for two days, which you never got before.

That's a sign the seed opened and died. Okay, so, Buddhist people are strange.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, Stanley!

[Speaker 1]
What? I have such good news! I got a two-day headache.

You're so lucky! Your seed opened. Okay?

So, Buddhist people are strange. Somebody asked me a question. Wait a minute.

How do you know the difference bad seed killed or just bad seed opened? What's a good headache and what's a bad headache? Ah, that's a good question.

It's kind of irritating to me to meet Buddhist people. I'm so happy.

[Speaker 2]
Why?

[Speaker 1]
I'm having terrible week. Many bad seeds are opening. I'm so happy.

Sometimes I'm thinking, it's not your four powers, it's just your bad seed. Then what's the difference? That's a second sign.

Okay? After the bad seed is killed, you feel very happy. For one day or two days, you feel light.

Here's that backpack. This is my office. I went to Beijing.

I met a big, big business guy. He took me to his office. It's huge.

He said, this is the most expensive office in Beijing. Five million dollars per year. The rent.

Then he said, you want to see my house? Actually, I don't want to see his house, but I said, okay. Then we went outside.

I saw a Starbucks. I said, what? I said, okay.

He said, what? I said, that's my office. I have in every country.

They built for me. They built this office for me. I always put everything in here.

There are 20,000 sutras in here. I carry it everywhere. Except when I take my partner, Veronica, when we go to movies, they don't allow her in the movie.

Only there I will take it off. Put it in the car. Then I get out of ...

I feel so light. I'm like, wow, I feel really good. I said, why I feel so good?

She said, you are not carrying your backpack. Then feel very light. If the headache is a bad karma seed killing, you feel very light.

That's the second sign. Like you carry this for many years. We are carrying those bad, old, bad karmas.

And we don't notice because we carry it all the time. And always, it's heavy. Then finally, when you kill the seed, you feel super light.

Younger. Happier. You feel something clean.

That's a sign your bad seed is gone. Okay, last thing. I'll tell you a nice story.

One lady in California. This was many years ago. Before Jamie.

And people will use a CD-ROM. And they will take my teaching with them in the car. And she was driving.

She has a Volkswagen bus. This is a usual hippie car. And she's driving down ...

We call Coast Highway, Ocean Highway. In California, very beautiful. Highway number one, is it called?

Yeah, and very beautiful. You should go sometime. Then she was listening to the Four Powers on the CD.

And she's driving. And then she said, As Geshe-la teaches the Four Powers, I will do them while I'm driving. Power number one, think about the pen with bodhichitta.

Then she's thinking about it. Power number two, courage. I want to kill this.

Okay, she didn't. Power number three, make commitment. Okay, I will not do it again for one week.

Power number four, balance the karma. Okay, I will do some mantra. In the car, she's driving.

Then on the CD-ROM, Geshe-la said, and if the seat is clean, you will have small problem. Quick small problem. Her car caught a fire.

In that moment, all smoke, you know. And the car is burning. She pull out, jump out, car is boom.

She's like, yay! Police are, what's going on? I'm so happy, my car is burning.

And she sent me this email. I'm so happy. My car burned out.

Then at the bottom of the email, please, Geshe-la, send me new CD-ROM. Old one melted. Okay?

So it really works. Thank you.