«Дар освобождения», курс 28 «Строю пространство для практики (ретрит в Таиланде)», занятие 10

[Speaker 1]
We're going to do about just a little bit less than an hour of lamrim. And after that, we're going to take a little break, and then we're going to discuss the vow tomorrow. Okay, and Joe Xiaoping is going to help us.

Okay. Sugeng, perna min nak chen dak chik ne ... You got it?

Min nak. Okay. perna min nak chen dak chik ne sug yur thak chur pa shing Min nak means ...

Min nak chen means a criminal. Maybe they killed somebody. And dak chik ne sug yur means, after one month they are going to be executed.

Thak chur pa means it's decided. Then they tried to make a guanxi with somebody, connection. And they talked to a judge or something?

They talked to some official, government official. It's their friend. And so the government official talks to somebody, and they decide for a while, this prisoner can have smaller punishment.

Te chak shu means whip, they have a whip for a horse. And it's better than dying, right? Latik means you drip some hot thing on their head or on their hands or something.

Then they do this every day to the criminal. But in the end, after one month, they kill him anyway. Why this example?

It's kind of a terrible example. It means even if you are one of these people, one person out of a million, who comes back as a human, you will just have another month of suffering, smaller suffering. And then again you will go to the hells or something.

So it doesn't help to come back to this kind of life full of trouble. Lose everything in your life. Lose all the money you made.

Lose the house you built. Lose the family you made. Every mother and father in this world lost their children.

And every child in this world lost their father and mother. So it doesn't help. We want to go to a higher place.

Okay? And then he quotes Shantideva. DENDOR YANG DANG YANG OM TE DE BA MANG PO BYAS BYAS KYANG ZHI NAS NGAN SONG SDUG BSNGAL NI YUN RING MI ZAD RNAMS SU LTUNG Maybe we are happy one life, two lives.

We make some money. We make a family. We get a house.

But then again, we have to die. And most people will go down. RNAMS SHIG LAS SANGS POS PHAN PA ZAD NAS LA NGAN SONG DU MDOR THA CHOS PA YIN So it's actually impossible that you won't go down.

It's just how many lives before that. How many human lives before that. You are like the prisoner who is going to be executed.

Maybe it will be three days. Maybe it will be four days. Maybe it will be ten days.

But still you have to be executed. DE NA PHYIN CHE SDUG BSNGAL GYI RGYUN CHOS PA ZHIG SDOD NA KHO BAR DE LAS BRTEN NAS THAG PA ZHIG BYA RGYUR So can we escape from this jail? DE LUS SKYES BU RDIN GYI SKABS MDIR THAR PAR SDUG BSNGAL GYI LONGS SKYE DGOS PA YIN LA So, there's a very interesting part of the lam rim now.

It's called, I want to get out of jail. It's a kind of meditation. It's called, I want to get out of jail meditation.

And we have to practice how to want to get out of jail. There are two methods. DEN GZHI RANG BZHIN means study the four truths.

So, the first teaching Buddha ever gave in this world, we call the Four Arya Truth. And it will help you if you study them. You can learn about how to get the desire to get out of jail.

And the second method is the Wheel of Life. Twelve parts of the Wheel of Life. So now we are taking a big turn on the lam rim highway.

We are going to a new subject. Four truths and the twelve parts of dependent origination. And those were the first two great teachings given by Buddha.

By the way, this watch. I hate watches. I never wear a watch.

Tie is bad. Watch is double bad. But it's pretty cool.

It's a Vajra. Then, Jasmine said I have to wear it for one day. But I'm hoping to get out of the jail.

I guess she's going to try to give it away, I don't know.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
So, what is freedom? What is get out of the jail? In Buddhism.

Okay, and we say ching drul. Say ching drul. Ching drul.

Ching means please put the handcuff on you. And drul means escape. Okay, break the handcuff.

Break these chains. Very similar to Jasmine's watch. Okay, then break out.

This is freedom. per na thapa la sope dangpa le tarwa na, de le tar she chak tar Then if someone is tied with a rope, and they can cut it off, then we say they are free. So, in Buddhism, what does it mean, free?

Okay, de le tar she tsarway tar yang lai shang la, neng ne kyi pungpa ten ne, le nying gi tar So, we have this kind of body. This body is, what do you call? Out of the factory, it came with a defect.

Like, if the factory makes 100 cars, maybe two or three of them are bad from the beginning. So, this body is like that. Once you have skin and flesh, there's no happy ending.

It must fall apart. It's not a question whether it will fall apart or not. The question is how.

Will you get cancer? Will you get a car accident? Will your heart stop?

It's not a good design. It's like some American car. Not good design.

Not like German car. Then it will break. It's just not a very good design.

But we are Michael's chain to this body. I cannot go trade in for a new one. I can't say, I want to give me a BMW body, I don't want a Chevrolet body.

Okay, I don't have choice. After I'm born in this body, I'm chained to this body. You see?

And what's wrong with this body? Basically, it was created by anger, jealousy, hatred. And it cannot survive.

Okay? And we are chained to it. ,CING LUG NI, ,DE NYID KYI DBANG GIS, ,GAM GYI DBANG DU BYED NA, ,DOD GAM SOGS GAM GSUM DANG, Also, we are chained in the desire realm.

You cannot go to the government and say, I don't want to be in this realm. I want to immigrate, emigrate to Amitabha's heaven. You cannot get a visa.

You are stuck in this country, called this world. You are stuck here. There's no emigration from this world.

You can change country. You can die in a different country. But still you will die.

,RDOR BA'I DBANG BYAS NA, ,RIG RDU GANG LAM RGYUD SNGA DANG, Then we are stuck in this kind of human life. When you buy a car, you have different choices. If you have money, you can buy Toyota.

You can buy, what do you call it? BMW. You know, you have a choice.

In this world, only five choices. Human body, or temporary, like Superman body, animal body, spirit body, hell body. They are not selling any other model.

There's only five choices. All of them are bad. Would you like me to take all your money, or hit you on the head?

It's not very good choice. Okay? Then which of these bad bodies would you like?

,SKYE GNAS KYI DBANG DU SPYOD NA, ,SNGAL BSKYED SOGS ZHIG LA, ,PHUNG PO NYIN TZAM BYA BA NI, ,CING PAS NGO BO YIN PAS, ,DE LAS GRUB PA NI THAR PA YIN, There are four kinds of ways to be born into these five kinds of bad bodies. You can be born from an egg. You can be born from, they call heat and water.

You can be born miraculous, like Padmasambhava. Or, you can be born from a womb. And all of them are lousy.

Okay? All of them are bad. All of them you have to die.

Then he says we are stuck in sansara. Then what is sansara? Generally, ,'KHOR BA SHES PA'I DUN ZAD TSE NAS, ,NAR MED KYI BAR LUS BLANGS NAS, ,KHOR BA LA PHYIR, He says sansara, meaning is, you have to be born into this world.

There's an option, a hell, up to form realm, formless realm. But still, it's a cycle. So, that's the big sansara.

Then for many, many millions of years, you are just going from one to another. And inside this life, we can call mini sansara. Small sansara.

Every day, you yell at your kids, you plant a bad seed, you come home tomorrow, seed opens, husband calls you stupid, you call husband stupid, you put a new seed, next time you see your kids, seed opens, kids are bad, and it goes like this, over and over. This is also called the wheel. So, wheel of life doesn't mean you have to die.

You are in the wheel of life many times every day. LOG NYAMS MA BYAS PA TSUL KHOR BA ZER DU, KHYIM DE KHO BA YIN NA MYA RNAMS Then he has a discussion. Where is sansara?

He said, if people didn't study much, they will think sansara is a place like their apartment. RIGS BDUN GOS NAS DE KHOR BA YIN NYAMS DU And they think this is six parts of the wheel of life. Oh, this is sansara.

NYAMS DU SEMS PA DE'I RIGS CAN DU RUNG BA YANG You can call it sansara. You can call it sansara. But it's not real sansara.

People think sansara is, oh, if I'm born in this wheel again and again. Those places are sansara. People think that.

KHYAD PA RGA' ZHIG GIS Some wise people, KHOR BA YANG NAS YANG DU, NYING MTSAMS SBYOR BA'I CHA SOGS LA ZHES PA YOD KYANG They say to come back again and again, to be born here, is sansara. RGYAL CHOG KHYAL SANGS RGYAL TSUL ZAG BCAS NYON NAS KYIS PHUNG PO'I SKYE BA'I RGYUN GYI CHA LA ZHES PA LTAR LENG But the seventh Dalai Lama, seventh Dalai Lama, he lived about 300 years ago. Then he said, it's this body.

This is sansara. Okay? You are chained to this body, and the body is going to fall apart.

The mind will also get stupid as you get older. And then, as normal people, as you get older, you forget more things. Even you forget who ...

your children come to visit you, you forget who they are. DE PHYIR LAS NYON GYI DBANG GIS YANG SRID DU NYING MTSAMS SBYOR BA'I RGYUN ZHES PA NA KHOR BA LAS LTA BA YIN Therefore, if we can stop taking this kind of body, then we escape from sansara. Okay?

Now, when I was ... Okay, I'm from America. We don't have Buddhists in my country when I was a kid.

And we will ask my mom. We are in the backyard, and we like to play with little soldiers. And we will dig a hole, and we will play, you know, soldiers game.

Then my mom doesn't like we are digging holes in the yard. She will say, don't dig the hole there. If you dig too far, you will hit China.

And you cannot understand their language. Then also, maybe you fall. Down.

And you fall out other side of world. So, we are like, oh, okay mom, we won't dig the hole. So, we have this idea.

We never heard about rebirth. And we kind of don't believe it. Then when I grew up, I was in college.

I took a Buddhism course. And then they explained about rebirth. And it sounds to me like, oh, I will die.

Then my spirit will come out. And it's like smoke or something. And it will go around.

And then in some place in the world, there's a big factory. They are making dog bodies. Like big factory to make dog bodies.

Then my soul, my spirit, like smoke. It will go near the factory. The factory worker will catch my spirit.

It's like fishing net. And bring it down. Then open the dog's body in the back.

Grab the spirit. Put in the dog. Close the back.

Then I became a dog. I mean, we are thinking like that. I think maybe when you are kids, it sounds like that.

Rebirth. You die. Your spirit goes out.

Finds a new body. Move into that body. Lower school of Buddhism.

Abhidharma. They also say that. Bardo.

Bardo person. That spirit can pass through anything. It can go through wood.

It can go through steel. It can go through concrete. But they have a strange karma.

The back of the mother's womb, they cannot go through. So, they will go everywhere. Free.

Nothing can stop them. They can go through walls. They can go through the ocean.

But karma will bring them to this one small piece of mother's womb. And they cannot pass. Then they get stuck.

And then they are born. You see, that's the lower Buddhist school. Higher Buddhist school.

Okay, be careful. If you sleep in my class, I will punish you. How I punish?

I will teach you pen with my pen. Okay Geshe-la, we will not sleep. Please don't teach pen again.

Okay, I will not teach you pen. But, this one, dog sees as chutar. I'm not teaching you, okay?

Don't worry. Human sees as a pen. Okay, why?

They have different seed in their mind. And this one, and this one, they're the same. Okay, this arm, and a pen, they are the same.

Okay, this arm also coming from me. I have seed in my mind. It opens.

Arm picture comes out. And that's why I see an arm. Okay, this I can see two ways, right?

I can see pen. I can see chutar. Depends on my seed.

This one also coming from my seed. Then, if I have good seed, I can see arm. Okay, if I have bad seed, dog leg.

Same thing. Okay, same. Okay, if my bad seed opens, I will see dog leg.

Then I am a dog. Okay, that makes me dog. So, don't think you have to die, your spirit will come out of your nose or something, and it will go around the world, and somebody will catch, put it in a dog body.

It's not like that. You can easily be in a dog body five minutes from now. Okay, easily.

Just the seed change. Right now, seeds are opening. Arm.

Sixty-five per second. Arm, arm, arm, arm. If those seeds finish, the dog seed will come.

Dog leg, dog leg, dog leg. Then you're a dog. It takes about, I don't know, five minutes to become a dog.

Okay, there's an old joke in the lam rim. He came into the class on his own two legs, and he walked out, and we have to carry him out. Anyone in this class can die in the next half hour.

We had it happen last week. There's a nice Thai restaurant near our office. We go there all the time.

One of our students' husband died right there last week. They are having nice Thai dinner. Then the seed changed.

Maybe you have dog leg seed. So, to become animal, it takes about, I don't know, one minute, two minutes. Anybody in this room can become.

Okay, don't think American kid idea about dog factory. It's not like that. If you can walk through this door when this class is finished, then you can become a dog when this class is finished.

Same. And to escape from that, that's freedom. What is freedom?

What are we doing in this class? What's the name of the book? Liberation.

That's freedom. Escape those seeds. Escape those seeds.

Then you are free. Okay? Then you are free.

He said this, what Lama said here, don't think you're getting free from some building. You're not getting out of some building. Samsara is not a place.

It's seeds. If you can escape those seeds, then you are free. Okay.

DE YANG TSUN PA TSUN GANG LAS LTA BA LAS DE LAS THAMS CAD SKYES BU But if you want to escape a prison, you have to want to escape the prison. And at this place ... We'll take a break in about three minutes.

My Lama used to tell a story. Okay. He said there were two flies, and you know, what's a fly's favorite food?

It's dog poop. They love dog poop. Okay, you be one fly, I'll be one fly.

They are sitting on the poop. They are talking. You think you want to go to Amitabha's heaven?

I don't think so. Why? No dog poop there.

Okay, understand? It means we are living in a dog poop. But if you say, you want to go to heaven?

No, no, I like it. This is pretty nice, you know? Okay, we don't even want to go there.

We are not like excited, oh, Amitabha's heaven, I will go right now. No, this is pretty good. Dog poop is pretty good.

We are like crazy. So, to get out of the jail, you have to learn to not like the jail. There's two ways not to like the jail.

Number one. Meditate. Learn lam rim.

Number two. Wait for your family to die. Wait for your wife to die.

Wait for your husband to die. Wait for your mother to die. Wait till you get cancer.

Then you say, oh, this poop doesn't taste so good. So, you can wait until something bad happens. Or, do it now.

Get out now. It's not like you go to the other side of the moon. You just escape the seeds.

Seeds to see your husband die. Seeds to see your children die. Escape those seeds.

Then you are free. You don't have to leave your family to reach nirvana. You should reach Buddhahood together.

Become Buddha together. Then it's cool. You are not sitting on the dog poop.

It's like the whole universe is a youtiao. Everything is happy. So, don't think if you become Buddha, oh, I have to become a monk and say goodbye to my family.

Not like that. After you become Buddha, you stay with your family forever. Even the ones who died before, they also become Buddha.

Then you enjoy. So, first you have to understand. Don't be satisfied with the dog poop.

Have a dream. I will become Buddha with my family and my friends. We will live happy ever after.

Okay, let's take a fifteen minute break. Then we're going to learn the vow. Good afternoon.

[Speaker 2]
Good afternoon. I am very happy to share with you about the one day vow we are going to take tomorrow. I have to thank my colleagues, the translator, the standard translator.

And then we have a little stress right now, a little pressure.

[Speaker 1]
PBT, please.

[Speaker 2]
You can see the names of this ceremony about the PBT thing. And then the Chinese name you see on the PowerPoint is a traditional translation.

[Speaker 1]
But, this time we have translated the whole ceremony, the whole ritual into more than Chinese.

[Speaker 2]
And this is a principle of our translator training in the States, in the translation college. Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
And our translation college in Shenzhen is also following this principle. Thank you.

[Speaker 2]
Because we want to use an easy way of understanding to make sure that people can access to this wisdom. And the writer, the name of this writer, of this ritual is called Qi Jiang Ren Po Jie. And he is the teacher, the teacher of Geshe-la.

And then the name of this vow that we are going to take is called the One Day Vows of the Greater Way for Cleaning and Restoring. And actually, the original name of the West Chinese language, they put the they put the cleaning first, and then the restoring later. The reason is, once we have taken this vow, mainly it has two functions.

First is, we automatically clean our back seats. Doesn't it sound exciting? I feel like I have to do some sales job today.

And I hope you can enjoy it. So we talk about the word cleaning, and the meaning of the word restoring. Like if you have come to our Thailand retreat last year, you might have taken some vows, like the refuge vow, the five lingers vow, or the Bodhisattva vows.

Or you have taken some other vows from other teachers. For people like me, we will make some mistakes during the process of keeping the vow. But if you keep the vow of the Greater Way of Cleaning and Restoring, it will help us fixing the vows.

[Speaker 1]
It will give you more motivation. Next slide please. Okay, next one.

[Speaker 2]
So as we go into the context of this contract, before that, I want to share one thing. Like we heard about many Buddhas, like the Shakyamuni Buddha. But, they were not enlightened beings at the very beginning.

They were like us. We were studying together at the beginning. And then they felt this disgusting feeling towards this world, this samsara.

And they knew that we were living in the prison. And this prison is the prison of misunderstanding of seeds. So they realized this, and they decided to break the prison.

And not only they are going to escape the prison themselves, and they were going to take every other being to leave the prison together, to escape the prison together. So they developed this great compassion for all living beings. And they wished that every one of us could understand the pain, emptiness.

And understand the two husbands in the kitchen. And then they would like the yelling voice of you are stupid to disappear in the kitchen. And they wished that there will be warm hugs in every kitchen for all living beings.

So guess what they did?

[Speaker 1]
Yes, you are very smart.

[Speaker 2]
They took this vow.

[Speaker 1]
They took this vow and they kept it.

[Speaker 2]
This one day vows of greater way of restoring and cleaning. Cleaning and restoring. So right now, let's just get into the contract and see what's inside.

And you can check if you are determined to sign the contract. I see many people are getting excited.

[Speaker 1]
Next slide please. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
So this vows of the greater way of cleaning and restoring has eight commitments. The first one is giving up killing. From like little animal, like insect.

Like some of us have taken the five layman vows. So the first one is also no killing. But the content is different.

So the not killing in the layman vows is not killing human or not killing fetus. But here, no killing is more careful. It's not killing any kind of creature.

Like we have grass outside. So when we take this vows, we should be very careful even walking on the grass. We should keep this awareness of not hurting any living being.

So naturally, we want to stop eating meat. So if you take on this vows, then for 24 hours, you should not eat meat. You are not allowed to eat meat.

So like we have mentioned many no, no, no in this first commitment. But I hope you are not getting depressed when hearing this not this, not that. So as you all know, I'm translating a book which is about Vinaya, about morality.

Like when we think of morality or vows, then we feel limited. It's like there's a lot of things we could not do. Actually, it's the opposite.

Vows could protect us. And they told us what we can do, what right things we can do. And you can get what you want.

And then you can avoid some things. Then you will not plant some bad seeds. Then this is like double insurance.

So actually, the vows is like the green light, the traffic light. It protects us. I hope you can enjoy it when you are listening to it.

Be happy about it.

[Speaker 1]
The second one, not stealing.

[Speaker 2]
Not stealing anything belongs to somebody else. Even just a leaf. So if you don't own the tree, then don't pick up the wildflowers on the road.

The reason we can come to here is because we have great seeds. Actually, we will not steal other people's things. Like I will not steal Stanley's things, his purse.

But about those little things, like maybe unconsciously we take other people's things without permission. Or like you see some beautiful flowers outside and then you pick it up. So these things are pretty subtle.

But they can help us, train us, to keep our awareness. Number three, means no sexual misconduct. To give up all forms of sexual activity.

So one vow of the five laymen vow, it's about the same thing. It's about sexual misconduct. But this is no sexual activity, so it's different.

So in the five laymen vow, they talk about no sexual misconduct. Or in the ten good deeds, we talk about respecting other people's relationship. Like when we talk about sexual misconduct, it means having not proper sexual relationship with other people's partners.

But here, it's more strict. It's to give up any form of sexual activity, including the activity with your partner. But it means during the vow taking time, like in the 24 hours.

It includes the activity with your partner. Of course, including the activity with other people. If they are boy or girl.

Including the activity with yourself. I'm sorry, the book just mentioned about it. Just to mention.

By the way, this book is written by Chi Chiang Rinpoche in West Chinese language. Then Geshe-la translated into modern English. So our Chinese team have translated into modern Chinese.

So it is written in the book.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, next one.

[Speaker 2]
No lying. It means to give up any form of lying. Also it is mentioned in the five layman vow, no lying.

But that one is mainly about no lying about your spiritual life. Like you haven't met Kwan Yin Avalokiteshvara, then you claim that I have seen her. Or like you haven't seen emptiness directly, and you tell people that I have done it.

But here, number four, it refers to any form of lying activity. So do you understand? Are you thinking not to take the vow right now?

To take or not to take? To take or not to take? To consider taking it or not.

Next one. No alcohol. It means to give up any form of thing that can get you any form of intoxicants.

Classically, it refers to alcohol or drugs.

[Speaker 1]
Next one.

[Speaker 2]
By the way, so before the vow ceremony, it could be tonight or tomorrow morning, we will print out this vow ceremony for all of you. So you will have this content in the printing. But it is good to take notes.

Because when you are going to sign a contract, of course you want to make sure you know the content of the contract. Because it will bring us a huge result. But if you don't follow the contract, according to the rules of the game, you will have some bad results.

So it's important to take good notes. And you can share it with other people. So number six.

[Speaker 1]
Sorry, can we go back to the last one? Thank you.

[Speaker 2]
So to give up dance or singing and the rest, or to give up garlands and the like.

[Speaker 1]
Fragrance.

[Speaker 2]
Many ladies are looking at me right now. So when the first time I learned about this, I was wondering also like how could we actually do it. So no dance, no singing is clear.

Actually it's mainly about your motivation. Like if your motivation is to offer some music. Like if you want to offer some music performance to the Three Jewels and your Lama.

Then it doesn't count. But if you are just doing it just for fun or to enjoy, then you should not do it. Don't wear the jewelry, don't wear the garlands.

But there are some exceptions. Like the jewelry that you usually wear, and it doesn't count. Those things that you usually wear in your daily life.

Like your wedding ring.

[Speaker 1]
But you can still wear it.

[Speaker 2]
Like there are some earrings that you are wearing everyday, so it's like your normal thing and you can still wear it. So the point here, just to say again. Don't dress too fancy during the time of the vow.

Don't wear like fancy jewelry that you don't wear usually. Also no fragrance. And some makeup.

No makeup. So good news for tomorrow. If you are going to take vows tomorrow, then we will see each other's real face, bare face.

[Speaker 1]
But I think this is also true. But I have asked the teacher before, if those lipsticks and skin care products are okay. These are okay.

[Speaker 2]
So I actually ask this question for all of you. Especially for the ladies. So this is number six.

Number seven. Without any compelling need, don't sit or lie on any luxurious chairs or beds. Some people start to look at their chairs.

It means during the time of the vows, don't sit on those very expensive chairs or beds. Or they are made of expensive materials. Like jade bed.

Silver chair. Or gold chair. According to the old books, they also mention the height of the chair or the bed.

It should not be higher than this. This is called cubit. Okay, cubit.

From the top of your fingers to the elbow. So now you should not start to measure your chair right now. Don't do that.

When I was studying this, I was asking teacher, what should we do when we were living in a Huaxing five-star hotel? Should we just sleep on the floor? And our teacher said no.

Again. The point is, the key point is, the idea is about our motivation. So you have to really see what's the situation.

If you are determined to sleep on the floor and you get sick, actually it's not worth it because you couldn't have classes the next day. So here the idea is to remind us not to use those luxuries. You can see the picture on the PowerPoint.

[Speaker 1]
We chose a fancy car.

[Speaker 2]
We didn't choose chairs or beds. So the idea is to emphasize that during the time of the vows, don't use those luxuries. It doesn't mean that if your bed is higher than this, then you should not sleep on it.

It doesn't mean that. Of course, if you think you can do it, then do it. Again, it's to emphasize not to go too extreme.

Not to be too fanatic.

[Speaker 1]
Next one.

[Speaker 2]
Should not eat after noon. Means after 12 p.m. Then stop eating. Especially those not liquid things.

But there are things like yogurt or milk, you should not eat them too. Or rice. After 12 p.m., you should not eat them. So tomorrow, please watch your watch.

[Speaker 1]
Just kidding.

[Speaker 2]
So above is the eight commitments of these vows of restoring, cleaning and restoring Mahayana vows.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you.

[Speaker 2]
So now you have heard about many not this, not that, don't do this, don't do that. Does it feel very inconvenient for you? Especially for those who want to sign this contract.

So why do we want to do this? Why those people, those saints before chose to take this vow and keep this vow and attain enlightenment? It's actually just because it causes us inconvenience.

So, therefore it will constantly remind us why are we taking this vow. If everything is so easy, comfortable, then we will just easily forget about it. It's just because of the inconvenience.

It will cause many discomfort for many of us. So then it will constantly remind us why are we taking this vow.

[Speaker 1]
It's because that we want to help more people.

[Speaker 2]
Help them to escape the prison of samsara. To escape from the misunderstanding of emptiness.

[Speaker 1]
To really understand the pan and seeds.

[Speaker 2]
Help them really understand the husbands in the kitchen.

[Speaker 1]
That's the motivation of taking the vows.

[Speaker 2]
Only those who are brave will take the vows. So now there are some details about taking the vow.

[Speaker 1]
Next slide please.

[Speaker 2]
The time of taking the vow. Actually we took this picture during the day break today from our balcony in the hotel room. It's about 5 a.m. something. It's beautiful. So during that tomorrow, you should get up at day break. So our schedule says 5.30 you should get up. And then the vow taking time is 6.00 a.m. So it says wash well. You should wash yourself well. So you should take a good shower tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning. If you are going to take the vows, then please have a good shower. Dress some clean clothes.

Or some beautiful clothes. But not luxury. It just shows our respect for the vows.

It's like you are going to meet your important friends, then you will need to dress up. Like to meet your respectful teachers or elderly. So proper dress.

Clean. So tomorrow will feel like fresh. Day break means the time when you can see the lines of your palm under the natural light.

It's important. Because this vow is going to take 24 hours.

[Speaker 1]
Each time.

[Speaker 2]
So then you should not eat after 12 p.m. When can you start to eat again? The day break of the next day.

[Speaker 1]
When you can see this again.

[Speaker 2]
So it's important to know this. Especially for those who really enjoy eating. The next one is to set up an altar.

You can put some representation things of the three jewels. Or some beautiful offerings like beautiful flowers. Again, it's to make it beautiful.

And then you should set forth the offerings. And the offerings should be of high quality. That is affordable for you.

And it's very elegant. And then you should put it elegantly. Not just like throw it on the altar.

So you can offer some flowers. Fruits or food that you enjoy. But the idea is you should have a genuine heart when you are setting forth the offerings.

So it's about the motivation of taking the vows. What would you be thinking during those times? There are two points.

First you should have the refuge, taking refuge. You should take refuge in your heart. So here what does taking refuge mean?

Actually it's simple. What is that? It's to think about pen.

To think about where does the pen come from. To think of where the husband comes from. Therefore the vow that you are keeping will be more powerful.

And then your wish for enlightenment. Usually we say bodhichitta. So in the manual we say the wish for enlightenment.

It means when we are keeping the vows, we should constantly be thinking about all living beings. So that the same activity then you will have very powerful seeds. This is a requirement of this vows of greater way.

Even though you cannot have the real wish for enlightenment for some of us, at least you can have this artificial, this fake wish for enlightenment.

[Speaker 1]
Next slide.

[Speaker 2]
So actually you can take this vow of greater way of restoring and cleaning in front of a statue. Or you can take it from your teacher, your lama. So after you got these manuals of the vows, today, tonight or tomorrow, you will find out there are some difference in the context.

For example, if you are taking this vow from a statue instead of a teacher, then the rituals of that is a little bit different from the other way. So maybe we will explain those details later or tomorrow.

[Speaker 1]
But today, I just want to tell you the general way of restoring and cleaning.

[Speaker 2]
So today is just to briefly sell you this vows of the greater way of restoring and cleaning. And just to tell you the benefits of taking and keeping this vows. And now, I believe that you are pretty sure, clear about these eight commitments, right?

Very good. That's what I want to share today. Thank you very much.

Thank you, my translator. Thank you, Geshe-la, for your translation and your teaching.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you.