«Дар освобождения», курс 28 «Строю пространство для практики (ретрит в Таиланде)», занятие 13

[Speaker 1]
Okay, we're going to keep going on this story. Then I'm going to take questions. Okay, so let's see how long it takes.

DE NAS RGYAL PO BZHIN NAS DE DAG PHYIR NI PHOD DE DAG GIS PHYIR DU RGYU BA NA Then the three princes entered the forest with twelve different levels, deeper and deeper into the forest. Then they found a tigeress, lady tiger. And she was laying down.

And she had four tiger cubs. And it looks like they are six or seven days old. I'm sorry, it says here five cubs.

And they got ... the babies were also very skinny. Sorry, I said it wrong.

You okay? Ba-ba-ba? Ba-ba means baby.

Okay. Yeah, it's five babies, I'm sorry. Then DONG NAS KYANG DGRA CHEN PO'I MED PAR Then the older brother, Big Sound is his name.

RGYAL MA'O NYON MONGS MA DE'I BU'I CHUNG NAS SHAGS GRUB KHAM SHAGS BDUN ZHIG LON PAR GYUR Oh, this poor lady tiger, she has given birth to these five tiger cubs. Six or seven days ago. DE LTAR ZAD MA NYES PA'I YANG NA NI RANG GI BU LA SA BAR GYUR But she couldn't find any food during that time.

So it's possible, if she gets very hungry, she will eat her children. YANG NA NI BRAS PA'I PHYI BA'I DU BYED PAR GYUR Or she will die from this. NYING RTOB CHEN PO'I MED PAR The youngest prince, Big Heart.

Da Xin. Yeah, Big Heart. Da Xin.

He said to his brother, what is this kind of animal? What did they eat? DGRA CHEN PO'I MED PAR And the older brother said, DER KHAMS SHAGS SAR PA DANG, CHAGS CHEN PO'I YOD NA, DE NI DAG DANG, SDONG DANG, BRAS DANG, SEMS BSKYED NANG GI ZAD YIN NO Well, the food of tigers, and bears, and ...

Yeti? Big monster creature. And SEMS BSKYED, lions, they all like the same thing.

They like to eat fresh meat. And they like blood. CHAGS CHEN PO'I MED PAR Then the second brother, middle brother.

DER MONGS MANG PA'I DU BYED PAR DANG, GONGS PA DANG, BSTAN PA'I LUS SU, GYUR PA SOGS KYI LHAG MA CHUNG ZAD GYI, LUS TE RAB TU NYAMS CHUNG BA, DE NI, DER ZAD KUN TSUL NI MI NUS NA But she's so weak, she cannot search for food to eat other animals. DE SOGS YONGS SU GSUNG BA'I PHYIR, SU SHI RANG GI LUS YONGS SU STONG BAR BYED PAR, GYUR ZHIG DGU, Somebody should offer her their body. Who will do it?

CHAGS CHEN PO'I MED PAR Then the older brother said, SKYE RANG GI LUS YONGS SU STONG BAR NI, That's a little too much to ask me. SNYING RTOGS CHEN PO'I MED PAR The youngest prince said, BDAG CHAGS LTA BU SOGS DANG, LUS LA SNGON PAR CHAGS PA, LOS CHUNG BA RNAMS LA NI, TSUL GYIS BYA DKA' LAG GIS You know, people like us three, we are very attached to our body, and also we have a small vision, so it would be really hard to give our body to this tiger. GZHAN LUS YONGS SU STONG BAR LA ZHUGS PA, GZHAN LA PHAN PAR BRTZON PA'I GYUR BU, THAMS PA RNAMS LA NI, CHAGS KA'O MA LAG SO But if there was a person in this forest who was a real bodhisattva, they would easily give their body to this tiger.

YANG TSE BA'I SNYING RJE LAS, CHUNG BAR PA'I SEMS CAN DAG, LHA YOD DANG NI, SANGS RGYAS RANG LUS NYE NYAMS TE, GZHAN GYIS SOGS CHER THUN PA'I DKA' BA'I, YID GYIS NI RGYUR BA MED PAR, BRTZON NYID RNAMS PAR RGYAL YI TSE If a real bodhisattva was here, who had seen emptiness, they would gladly give their body. DE NAS RGYAL BU GZHIN DU DE GZHIN DU MI DKA' TE, MTHA' MO DE LA MIG MI BRDZON PAR, RING ZHIG TU DE DE SONG BA Then they decided to leave the tiger, and they went back to visit their ... to see their parents.

But the third brother, he kept looking back at the tigress, and he didn't feel comfortable to leave her. DE YANG SNYING RTOGS CHEN PO'I, DE NYAMS DU SEMS DE, DE DAG NI BDAG GIS LUS YONGS SU STONG BA'I, DUS LA PO PO, And he thought to himself, the time has come for me to give my body. DE'I PHYI PHYIR ZHES NA, Why?

GCIG BYUNG RGYAS PA'I PHYIR CHEN THAR BYED PA'I, THAR NGAN PAR, SNAG CHEN LUS DI ZER KHOM DANG, KHOM DANG MED CHAGS DANG, GZHON PA'OD PAR CHEN PO'I, DAG GIS RUNG GSUM KYANG, SNGAR MED RANG SKYE RANG BZHIN MIN DOR, PHYIR SDU YIN MED, He said, I had this kind of body countless lifetimes. This dirty body. Inside right now, we don't know there's cancer or not.

We don't know. And many times I wasted this body. If I ...

and I just lost it for many lifetimes. And I didn't do anything with it. YANG NA THAMS CAD DU MI RTZA BAR GYUR PA'I NA, DE'I TSOR BA MED KYIS, And it's not going to survive this life.

DE LTAR GYI DE LEGS BSAM PAR LAS LA BYA BA'O, So I should do something beautiful with it. DE'I TSOR BDAG SKYE BA DANG, PHYIR BA'I RGYAL TSAL LAS BRAL BA'I, GRU BO CHER THAL BAR GYUR RO, If I offer my body, it's like it became a ship on the ocean. The ocean is rebirth and death again and again and again.

But if I offer my body, it will become like a ship to go to enlightenment. YANG NI MO MED LU'U BA DRA LA GSUM BU RGYAS GANG PHYIR PA CHOS GSUM PA, Anyway, this body is like a bubble. THAR KA'I PHYIR MI RANG GI PO MA YANG BA ZHANG YANG, BUD BUD DANG, BUD BUD DANG in Sanskrit.

Like Jingang Jing. It's like a bubble. This body will not survive.

GSUM BU RGYAS GANG PHYIR PA CHOS GSUM PA, In the end, the worms will enjoy it. BRAL DANG, BRAL BA'I SRID PA RGYAL RTEN PHYIN DANG, PHYIS BSAD GANG BA'I DI GTAN TE, This is just a bag of poo-poo and pee-pee. NYA NGAN MED PHYIN GYIR MED BU MED, PHYIS MED BSAM GTAN LA SOGS PA YIN RTEN GYIS, KUN DU GANG BA'I PHYIR KHO YIN RTEN RGYAS, GANG DU DANG BRAL BA THOB PAR BYA, If I offer this dirty body filled with poo-poo and pee-pee, then I can get a Buddhist body.

Immortal? Like a rainbow. DE NYING RJE CHEN PO'I CHOG DANG LDAN PA'I NYING TU GYUR PA'I, DE LTAR LTOS NAS, KHYAD NYID ZHES SU GSUM, Then he said to his brothers, you guys go ahead.

You know, I forgot, I have something to do. You know, I have to go for a second. Then he turned around and he went back to the tiger.

BDAG GIS NAS SU GSUM NAS, SNAGS KYIS YAL GA LA GOS SAGS TE, He took off his clothes and he hung them on a tree branch. BDAG NI, DRO LA PHAN CHER, BYANG CHUB GSUM PA MED PA ZHIG BA MTHONG DUS TE, GZHAN GYI GTANG BAR DKA' BA'I LUS NI, BLO GRUB GYUR BA MED PA'I NYING RJE CHEN, I will give this body, which is so difficult to give away, with wisdom of understanding seeds and with love. Then I will become a Buddha.

BDAG GIS KHYAD MED BYANG CHUB RIGS MED, RGYAL SRAS RNAMS KYIS GNYER BA THOB PAR ZHOG, Then I want to be like a bodhisattva. I want to get the things that bodhisattvas want to get. BDAG GIS SRID PA'I RGYAL TSOR, RAB TU GCIG LAS GCIG RTEN GSUM PA BRAL BA'I CHA, ZHIG MIN LA LTA BO, And by doing that, I will escape the prison of this samsara.

And he made this prayer. DE NAS NYID RTOGS CHEN PO'I GTAR GYI SDUN DU NYAL BA DANG, Then he laid down in front of the tigress. DE NAS BYAMS PA DANG LDAN PA'I BYAMS RGYUD SEMS PA LA LTA MO, CI YANG MA BYAS SO, But the tigress was too weak to do anything.

Then he's like waiting, you know? Then she can't move. DE NAS BYAMS RGYUD SEMS PA'I SKYE MA'O, Then he said, oh, she's so sad.

DE NAS NYAMS BYUNG BA'I MI NUS SO NYAMS NAS BLANGS TE, So he thought, she cannot eat me like this. And he got up, and he broke a sharp branch from a tree, and he cut his neck, this vessel here. And then he fell down unconscious next to the tigress.

BYAMS RGYUD SEMS PA, RGYAL MA THAG TU, CHU'I DUS SU GSUM PA'I GRUB RLUNG GI RGYUD PAR BZHIN DU, SANGS RDI RNAM PAR GRUB TU YOD SO, In that moment, the earth of this world shook. He says, like a small ship on an ocean in a storm. So in Buddhism, we say when a bodhisattva does a big thing, the karma's too heavy, and the earth cannot hold it, and there will be an earthquake.

NYID MA'ANG DGRA BCAD GYI SEMS PA BZHIN DU, Then also the sun had eclipse, RJES PA MED DO, and then there was no light. LHA'I BU DANG CHEN PO'I RNAMS RJES PA'I MED DO GYI PHYAG YANG PA PO, And the flowers started to fall from the sky. DE NAS LHA' ZHIG GI NGO LTAR DU SKYES PA'I YID KYI BYANG CHUB SEMS PA LA BSTOD PA, Then one of the gods in the sky, they said, wow, this guy is amazing.

And he wrote a poem to him. LOD DUR SANG PO'I KHYUN DIR JI LTAR THUG BYED SEMS CAN RNAMS KHYAB STE, Your love covers to all beings. MI YIN DBANG DU RAB TU SKYES PA'I JI LTAR GUS DI STONG BA'I NA, And you have given up your own life.

SKYE BA DANG NI PHYI BA'I DON DANG BRAL BA ZHI BA'I GNAS KYI CHOG, You want to reach the highest kind of peace, free from birth and death. ZHI BA TZAM MA KHYOD KYI BDE NAS TSE MER RING PO MI THOG NYID, Because of the karma from offering your body so beautifully, definitely you will reach your dreams quickly. Yeah.

DE NAS LTAR MO DE BYANG CHUB, LOD DUR SEMS PA'I LUS KHRAG GI BAG PA LA DE NAS, Then the tiger opened her eyes, and she saw this meat covered with blood. YUD TZAM GYI ZHAG DANG PHRAG MED PAR RUG PA TZAM ZHIG RUG PA BYAS SO, And then very quickly she was able to eat him, until only bones are left. Okay, you know the bones, right?

DE NAS SBYAR BYAMS PA'I TSAR YOD PA'I DE LA BSAM NAS, ZHAG BYAMS PA LA SDIG BSKYED BYAS MED SO, Then the oldest brother asked the medium brother, What's this earthquake? JI LTAR CHOG CHUNG RGYAL TSO THAG TU RGYAL TSOR BYAS PA YID, TSAR RI'I RAB TU YOD ZHING, NYID MA'ANG DGOS NI MED GYUR LA, Why is the earth shaking, like an ocean on a stormy day? And why did the light of the sun get covered?

And why is there flowers falling from the sky? LTAR ZER BDAG GIS RANG GIS NUS NI GTANG YANG DAG, Ah, our brother definitely gave his body. LHA CHEN PO'I MED PAR, DE NYID JI LTAR SNYING RJE TSIG MA LA, BRAL DANG LDAN ZHING SDUG BSNGAL RGYAS TSE PA, ZHIN DU NYAMS SU RANG GIS BU LA YANG, SA BA'I PHYIR LA LTA BA'I BDAG KYANG THOB, I'm also afraid he has too much love.

And I'm also afraid he gave his body. DE NYID RGYAL PO GZHON NUS, DE NYID RAB TU NYANG NGAN LAS NUS MA BYIS MED MI GANG STE, Then they were overcome with sadness, and they started to cry, and they ran back down the path. LTAR MA GRUNG DU BYIN PA, They reached the tigers, and they saw all their brother's clothing hanging on the tree.

And then they saw just bones, and there's this blood everywhere, and some hair is everywhere thrown around. THONG NAS KYANG RGYAL TE, And then they just dropped unconscious. RUG PA'I RTEN DU RGYAS NAS, On top of the bones.

RING ZHING LUS PA DANG, DUS SHES NYES DE, Then they laid there pretty long. You are wondering if she ate them. I'm also wondering, but it looks like she didn't.

I think she was full. DUS SHES NYES DE, LANG NAS BSLAB PA BSTAN TE, NYAM THAB PA'I DRAG BCUNG NGO, Then when they woke up, they just raised their hands to the sky, and they screamed. Like that.

SKYE MO NU'O DUS PA NI RGYAL PO DANG, DE BZHIN DU BU'I LA RAG TU SDUG BSNGAL MA, BSTAN PAR BGRA BA'I MI RING GYIS KYI, KHAR BZHAG CHE, MA NI BDAG CA LA YANG, THA CHUNG RGYUD PAR GYUR, And also, our mom is going to ask, where's the younger brother? KHYE MA BDAG CA NI NI SA CHAG DI NI DUS, It's better we both die right now. We cannot face our mother.

PHYIR LAS PA'I GSOS NA, DE LTAR MA YIN, SNYING RTOGS CHEN PO MED PAR GYUR BA'I, BDAG CA LA BHAG MA BDAG GIS, JI LTAR LTOR LTA BAR GYUR, How are the parents going to live with us if they realize we didn't stop him? DE NAS RGYAL POR GZHON NUS DE NI, SNYING RJE'I RJE'I SKYES DE, RNAMS MANG POR GRUNG NAS SDONG NGO, And they just sat there for like an hour crying. DE NAS RGYAL POR GZHON NUS RIM GROB PA RNAMS KYANG, GZHON NUS TSUL ZHING PHYOGS DANG, PHYOGS SANGS SU RGYUD PA DANG, Then all the assistants of the king are looking for the princes.

And they were searching everywhere. GCIG GIS GCIG MTHONG NAS GZHON NUS KHAR BA'I, GZHON NUS KHAR BA'I ZHUGS RGYUD YOD, Where's the boys? Where's the boys?

DE'I TSE'I MTHUNG MO MED LA NYE BA'I, MI LAM NA SDUG PA DANG PHRA BA'I, PHRA BAR DMIGS PA, DI LTA STE, The mother was taking a nap. The queen. And she had some strange dreams.

That she lost something that she loved. DI LTA STE NUS MA NYID BYED PA, She dreamed that someone cut off her breasts, two breasts. SO CHUNG, and that her teeth fell out.

THI BA'I GRUG RGUD, BRTAG PA GSUM ZHIG NYES PA LAS, And she dreamt that she found three baby doves, those peaceful birds. Pigeon, yes. Very small, very cute, and kind of scared.

Three small scared doves. And then suddenly a falcon, big strong bird, eagle, came and took one of them and flew away. DE NAS MTHUNG MO YOD PA'I, SNYING SNANG DE, MOD LA ZAD NAS And then the earthquake woke her up.

SEMS PA LA ZHUGS TE, SEMS PA LA ZHUGS TE, SBYUNG PA'I BSTAN MA RGYA TSUG, DGOS CAN DI NYID KUN DUR RAB, YOD ZHIG DGOS Why did the ... There's a poetry word for ocean. Why did the man who wears the oceans shake today?

It's a poetry word for the earth, because the earth is covered with the oceans. NYID MED YOD ZER MED PAR RGYUD PA'I, SNYING LA MYA NGAN GYUR BA BSTUN, And the sun getting dark. This kind of pain is also coming, that darkness of pain is coming in my heart.

SNGA YI LUS NI ZHUNG ZHIG MI KYANG, YOD LA RANG GI NUS MA BYAS MI SPANG, Then I'm shaking. And this bad dream about my breasts cut off. SNGA'I BU RNAMS SNAG PHYIR BSDOD NI, TSE STONG BA LA RGYAS PA'I GYUR RAM SKYE, I'm afraid something happened to my boys in the forest.

DE NAS DE NYAMS DU SANGS PA DANG, PHRAD MO'I BA SNYER TE DBANG NAS, MTSUNGS PA LA MED PAR, CHOG MO'O GZHON NUS RIM ROL PA NA, GZHON NUS TSUL SHING PHYI NA, PHYOG RTEN LTOR GCIG LTA'O, The assistants of the king are looking through the forest and trying to find the boys. But something happened. DE SKAD CES THOS MA THAG TU, TSUL MED SNYING BDA' ZHIG MI STONG, SDONG GCIG MED GANG, LI RGYAL PO RKYEN DU SONG NAS MED PAR, Then immediately she started to cry.

LA BDAG GIS BU DUS PA LTOR GCIG THOS SONG, I heard something. I think we lost our beautiful son. RGYAL PO'ANG SNYING RDAG BZHIN GZHIN DU NUS, DE SKYES BU BDAG GIS BU DUS PA LTOR BRAL BA LTA ZHIG MA SONG, And then the king also, his heart started to beat crazy.

And he feels almost crazy. And he says, I think we lost our most beautiful boy. DE NAS RGYAL PO'I TSUL MO'UG YING BA'I PHYIR, SNGA GZHON DU BRTZAMS BA LA NEN BRTAN DU BYED KYI SANG MO NYANG NGAN MI BYED ZHING, Then he told his wife, the queen, Don't worry.

I will go myself to the forest. I will try to find out what happened. DE BZHIN DU TSUL BA LA ZHUGS PA RNAMS SKYE BA'I TSUL TA RUNG RUNG PAR BSKYED RTO, Then he met all the people running to the forest looking for the boys.

DE NAS RING PO'I MA RNAMS PAR RGYAL PO'I RGYAL PO'I BZHIN DU, NYID KYANG RING PO NAS DBANG BA MTHONG NGO, Then the mother and father saw the only two sons coming out of the forest. MTHONG NI KYANG MED PAR GZHON NUS DE DAG NI, DBONG BA THAMS CAD NI MA YIN TE, SKYES BU PHUR RANG BRAL BA ZHES BRAL BA NI, SDUG BSNGAL PA'O, Then they realized they had lost their son. CI LTAR BU RANG BRAL BA RGYAL NA, YID MI BDE BA MI RNAMS BU NYES PA NA, DI LTA RGA' BA MA YIN NO, It's the worst thing that can happen to a person is to lose one of their children.

JI BSTAN LA GANG DAG BU MED PAR DANG, ZHIG BA MI RNAMS GANG DAG BU GSUM PA DE DAG DE, DE BA YIN RNAMS CI, The worst thing in the world is to lose one of your children. The greatest happiness in the world is to have them safe. DE NAS TSUL MO BZHIN DU, NYA NGAN DE SKYES RNGON PA'I, SNGA MO NAS DU RNGON PA BZHIN DU, BZHIN DU MI ZAD PA'I DRA BCUNG NGO, Then the queen screamed.

DE LTAR BU YOD GSUM DA NI, YOD KYI SOGS BYED TE, ME STONG RNAMS KYI RGA' BA'I, SNAG PHYIR DU ZHUGS PA LAS, BDAG GIS BU RGYAS THA BCUNG NGON, SOS PAR MA RGYUR NA, BDAG GIS SNYING DANG BRAL BA'I, THA BCUNG DE RGA' BA'I, Why did I lose the youngest one? He was the one that I loved the most. DE NAS DE NYID LHAG PA DANG, RGYAL BU LA GRI PA, RGYAL THA BCUNG KHAR NAS ZHIG ZHU NUS NYID LA GRI PA DANG, Then they asked the two boys, what happened?

DE NAS NYANG NGAN GYI NYAM THAG CING MI'I PHYI MA'I GANG, DE BSKYEN DANG PHYIR DANG KHA DANG, SOGS KHAM NAS BYAMS SRAS SO, They were so upset, they couldn't say anything. BRTZON MED MED PAR, KHO MO'I DUG THA BCUNG BU, DUG TSUL, ta chung di ka re, ko mo nying di sel tuk gyur ching, lu ni sep rab tu sir gyur te, ku mar drenpa nyam gyur di nyur du me. Tell me what happened."

Queen said. de ne shi nu, de nyi ji tar gyur pa de, shik tu me pa. And then the two boys told what happened.

de tu ma ta du, gyel po lang tsu mo nyur pa gyur te, nyur ne, nyur pa sang ne, nying je je kye du, de kye du, ngu shing chok te tongwa. And the king and the queen went crazy. de ne gyel po lang, tsu mo nyur pa, de da sharang tra dang, gyur pa me ching drak chok dang, chok tsam su towa tong ne, shing lung gi tabpa shing du gyel to.

They went to see the place where the boy was killed. And they saw the bones without flesh, and without blood, and without tendons. drak chok, then they saw the hair, their son's hair is just spread everywhere.

And they fell down like a tree that got hit by a tornado. de du na dunpa dang lungpo de da, de tar gyur pa de, tong ne chur dang, ri ma la ye, tsan neng gi de kyi, gyel po dang tsu mo nyur simpa che so. Then the helpers of the king came with like sandalwood water, and they sprayed it on them to make them wake up.

de ne ring shik lungpa dang du shik nyu ni, gyel po lang de, nyu je ji kye de rikpa pa, kyi huk pu yul dang yi wang tongga wa, chi la wang suk chi yul nyu du song, the Lord of Death has come early for one of my sons. Why didn't the Lord of Death come for me first? tsun mo ang nyur pa la sang ne, tra shik ching lapar nyi kyi, trang la dung de, nya thang la chungwa shindu, say ten du, dren dro ching ma he biyu tongwa dang, nga mo diyu tongwa shindu, nyu je ji kye shi, then the mother started screaming.

Who has destroyed the beautiful lotus of my youngest son? And she wrote a long poem. Then they got all the bones together, and put them in one place, and they built a stupa, and they put the bones in the stupa.

Then Buddha finished the story. Then he told his disciple Ananda, you might think that the tiger was somebody else, but don't think like that. It was me.

I'm sorry. The prince was him. I was the prince.

Then those tiger babies, they became the first five disciples. When he was dying, the prince said, if you eat my body, then you sign a contract. After I become Buddha, you have to be my first student.

My first five students. So, that's the story of the tigers. And those five, they were at the first turning of the wheel.

They were at the first teaching. And the Buddha taught the four truths, the four Arya truths, at the first turning of the wheel. And it's a beautiful story.

He repeated it three times. He taught the four truths three times. Three times.

Then those five young men, in the teaching, in the same hour, they saw emptiness directly. All of them. Okay.

Now we're going back to Lam Rim, just for a while, then I'll take questions. Here's how he taught the four truths. DGE SLONG DAG, DE NI SDUG BSNGAL BPAG PA'I BSTAN PA'O, DE NI KUN BYIN BPAG PA'I BSTAN PA'O, DE NI RGAGS PA'I BPAG PA'I BSTAN PA'O, DE NI LAM BPAG PA'I BSTAN PA'O O monks, this is the truth, the Arya truth of suffering.

This is the Arya truth of where it comes from. This is the truth of how to stop it, the stopping of it. And this is the truth of the path to stop it.

Then I'm going to go on another detour. Okay, why they're called the four Arya truths? It was the first teaching of the Buddha.

All of our life is suffering. You can go to the DCI courses. You can make money.

Find a beautiful partner. You can be pretty healthy. You can have peaceful mind.

But you will lose it. You will lose all of it. Everybody loses it.

And it's amazing that we don't go crazy already. It's amazing we are trying to make money, or build a house, or have children. They will all die.

We will lose everything. And after we die, the children will die. Sometimes they die before us.

So, this is what our life is. And I feel like some people say, where are you going next week? Oh, I'm going to Thailand.

Why? Oh, you know, it's a meditation course. Then they think you are a little bit hippie.

They say, oh, yeah, okay, you go. You are not a serious person. I'm a serious person.

I have a big business. I have many offices. I have a big house.

I have to take care of it. You are a little bit hippie person, meditation person. Yeah, you go.

And then we feel like, we also have this low self-esteem. I'm not such a big person. I don't have a lot of money.

I'm also just hanging out in Thailand. We also have a little bit of that perception of ourselves. But actually, there are only 425 sane people in the whole world right now.

That's you. Okay? Everybody else is crazy.

Okay? You are trying to stop death. You are trying to stop pain in this world.

A lot of people took bodhisattva vows today. You made a commitment to try to stop death in this world. And maybe we are crazy.

And maybe there's no way to stop death. But we are so smart to try. And the rest of the world is a little ...

You can look at them, no, you are hippie. You are crazy. If you don't go to Thailand, then you are crazy.

I'm not crazy. Actually, you are crazy. This make a big business, more houses, more cars, even beautiful family.

Are you blind? You never read a newspaper? You don't understand?

You have to lose all of it. And the kids too. You have to lose them.

You didn't notice? And so, I think all those people who are not in this room or in a similar room, they are actually a little bit crazy. I don't know, it's like their house is on fire, but they are having some cappuccino.

I'd like to have a better cappuccino. House is on fire, you know? They are like, this cappuccino not so good, you know?

I need a bigger one. This one's good. They are a little bit crazy.

Okay? Then, that's the first teaching Buddha gave. First truth.

Wake up. Just wake up. Are you crazy?

You didn't notice every generation before you died? And they lost everything? And you're still trying to get things?

What's wrong with you? That's first truth. Second truth.

Everything has a cause. Okay? If there's a water leak in your kitchen floor, I have some friends.

Actually, the friend is me. I don't want to admit it. Nick knows because he helped me to fix it.

My roof started leaking. And I feel ... I don't know, maybe you are like that.

I feel lazy. Probably I didn't do the fire offering correctly. I don't have the power to finish things quickly.

And the roof is leaking, you know? This year. Then I just look at it, you know?

Oh, roof is leaking, you know? And I get the mop and I clean the water. So, it doesn't rain very much in Arizona.

Good for lazy people. Then it rained again. Roof is leaking, you know?

And I cleaned it again. And I did that for like, I don't know, three months. Nick, where are you?

Nick knows. Yeah. Then finally I said, this is stupid.

I will clean the floor a hundred times. I should find where's the leak, you know? Still I feel lazy.

So, I did a smart thing. I called Nick. Nick, you want to fix my roof?

I'm an old man, I can't climb up on the roof. You are young. Then I tell him how handsome he is.

He will definitely come. He found the hole. Okay?

That's the second Arya Truth. Find the hole. Stop cleaning all these small problems.

It will never finish. Find the hole. That's second truth.

Find the source. Okay, third truth. It's important.

It was a big teaching, first teaching. I mean, Buddha sat down in the first teaching with five of his friends, meditation friends, and he said, the five baby tigers, right? By the way, you can do it.

It's a lot of fun. Go to McDonald's. Don't buy the hamburger.

Buy the french fries. Go outside. If you're from Shenzhen, buy some french fries.

Go outside. Break them into small pieces and then throw for the bird and make a prayer. We cannot give away body, we are not strong enough.

We can give away french fries. So, break the french fries. Throw to the little bird and say, you know, I do this prayer.

If you eat my french fries when I become Buddha, you will be my first student. You can do it. It's a lot of fun.

It's a very correct way to think. Very pure way to think. You have some spare time.

You're hungry. Eat most of the french fries yourself. But give a little.

Then just play this Dharma game. You know, make a prayer. You're my first student.

You're my second one. Then you can do ... You can do it all the time.

And it's true. It's really true. So, when the Buddha met those five guys and he gave his first teaching, it was very radical because the third Arya truth he looked at those five guys and he said, you don't have to die.

You don't have to die. I know where the hole is. I can teach you.

That's a big thing. If someone comes to your house and says, you don't have to die. Then you're like, are you sure?

You want a donation, right? Then ... No, really, you don't have to die.

But Geshe-la, we never saw in the newspaper someone who didn't die. The dogs had a meeting because one dog said, you can use this to write. Super smart dog, Buddha among dogs.

He explained to the other dog, you can use this to communicate. Then they decided, no, he's crazy. They don't have seed to understand.

No, we never saw anyone use that communication for communication. This is only for chewing. We never saw a person didn't die.

There is no person like that. Understand? You have seed to see Chutra.

And you say there's no pens. It's in your mouth. There's a people around you who didn't die.

All day. But you can't see them. You have dog seed.

Okay? Don't say they don't exist because I cannot see. Okay, that's third truth.

You can stop it. You can stop there. Then number four, there's a path.

There's a way. If you follow it, you don't have to die. Okay?

That's the first teaching. For the five baby tigers. So, I have a suggestion.

Each of those four has four parts. There are sixteen parts to the four truths. Nobody teaches them.

And I think nobody understands them. And I would like to teach them to you. Okay?

But evening is a good time for that. I would like to do it tonight. So, my suggestion, let's take like a ten minute break, and some people wanted to sign more books.

And don't worry, I will also do tonight. But let's take a ten minute coffee and signing book break. And I'd like to ask the teachers, please come up here and answer personal questions.

Ten minute break, then we'll come back. Alright, here we go. So, this is like a wedding cake.

Dessert for you. Okay, we're going to talk about the four truths. In English, many years ago, they translated Chatur Arya Sattva, four truths, the word Arya.

They translated it as noble. Noble means a good person, like a gentleman. Nice person.

And the early translators of Buddhist books into English, they didn't understand what's Arya. So, they put noble truth, four noble truths. And still in English you can see.

This became very normal translation. But it's a bad translation of the Sanskrit word Arya. So, they are not four noble truths.

They are four Arya truths. Then, what's the meaning Arya? Arya means simple.

It means anyone who saw emptiness directly. If you see emptiness directly, you must become a Buddha in a short time. You don't have any choice.

Even if you don't want to. You will become Buddha in a short time. So, what's the best way to see emptiness?

What's the best way to become Arya quickly? Start meditation on the air conditioner. Then, meditate on those four form realm levels.

Four formless realm levels. Bring the teacher to your mind, which is the most powerful karma you can make. And then, understand the emptiness of the fake teacher.

Fake teacher is the one who is not coming from you. It's like the fake husband in the kitchen. What's his nickname?

I didn't do anything. He yelled at me. Okay, you can call him the husband, Mr. I didn't do anything. I just opened the door. He yelled at me. I didn't do anything.

This mind, I didn't do anything. That's part of what we have to cancel. Teacher coming from you.

Every beautiful thing about the teacher coming from you. Every problem in the teacher also comes from you. This air conditioning comes from you also.

So, everything comes from me. There's no teacher that I didn't meet in my past life. And there's no teacher who will not go with me to Buddhahood.

That kind of teacher is fake. And there's no such thing. So, you have to practice that meditation many times.

Right now, for us, all the parts of that meditation, except for the air conditioner, are pretending. We're just pretending. We can reach form realm.

We can reach formless realm. We can see emptiness. We can see past life.

We can't do any of them. Very difficult to reach even the first form realm. If you do three year retreat, maybe you will reach first form realm.

The real one. Or, do this meditation every day and plant seed. Plant seed, plant seed, plant seed.

Then, you can do it at home. You don't have to go away for three years. Okay.

Sambao will be three years older when you come back. So, not necessary. Do this meditation every day.

Then, quickly, at level nine, you will see emptiness directly. At that moment, you become Arya. How long do you stay in meditation?

It's about twenty minutes. When you come out, I mean, just in the emptiness part, the restaurant, not the elevator. Then, after that, you must become a Buddha quickly.

You don't have choice. Don't have to die. Can take care of your family forever.

They can live with you forever, and they won't die. All the little irritating things about your family will be gone in your Buddha paradise. They will only be nice family.

Okay. So, why are we doing the lion's dance? We want to see emptiness directly.

When you see it directly, after that twenty minutes, when you come out, you're Arya. Then, you're like, I did it. I'm Arya.

Okay. Then the karma is so powerful that for one day, many strange things happen to you. Many amazing things.

So, those are the sixteen parts of the four truths. Sixteen amazing things happen to you. Four in each truth.

And you can see the names of the sixteen, but you cannot find a real explanation. So, we're going to do that this evening. That's your special teaching this evening.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Thank you. I'd like to do about ...

We have about ten minutes, if you want to do some questions. You guys have a microphone?

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, Geshe-la, for teaching.

[Speaker 1]
Hey, you're a regular student. Okay, go ahead, go ahead. She made me so many delicious dinner, breakfast, lunch, all the time.

I'd like to thank her. Thank you, Geshe-la. She made me a little bit fat.

[Speaker 2]
So, thank you, Geshe-la, for teaching. Thank you for fat. So, we're having dance classes here at the retreat, and people seem to be having a really good time with them.

But many people were asking, you know, why are we having dance classes at a Lam Rim retreat? And then also, on the day we took the one-day vows, many people were asking, like, you know, should I take the class? And some people didn't come to the class that day because they were wondering about the dancing.

And so, I was wondering if you could speak a little bit about the purpose of dance as a practice, and what, if anything, it has to do with the goals of seeing emptiness directly and getting enlightened, and so forth.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good question. So, I'll tell you a nice story. Before I did my three-year retreat, I did many, many one-month retreats, or two-month retreats.

And one time I was doing it in a small cabin near the Grand Canyon. And I was doing pretty good. The meditation was pretty good.

And then one day I went outside, and there was a lot of smoke. And the cabin is in the forest, next to a mountain. And I look up at the top of the mountain, and I see a huge mountain.

And there's a huge fire. And then the wind started blowing. And the fire was jumping from tree to tree without touching the ground.

And I didn't know, but later I found out seventeen firefighters were hurt that day. Near my cabin. They were between me and the fire.

And the fire trapped them. They all went to the hospital. So, the fire was coming very fast.

I was doing Khandro-he, Lady Buddha Protector, last night. I'm like, I'm Khandro-he, I'm Khandro-he, I'm Khandro-he, I'm Khandro-he, I'm Khandro-he, I'm Khandro-he, I'm doing mantra. And those of you who came to Diamond Mountain, you know this, how do you say, you put this special marker on your door and your window to protect the cabin.

Then I did also mo. Should I run? Then the mo said, no, no need, you can stay.

Then the fire is getting closer and closer. I said, maybe mo is wrong. Then I grabbed my suitcase and I ran.

And I forgot my phone. I was so scared. I went to the highway and I hitchhiked to the town.

The fire burned all over the whole area. I was in a restaurant and I met some people. I don't have anything, I don't have a car, nothing.

They said, you need a place to stay? I said, yeah, but I need for one month. I'm doing retreat.

Then they're like, we have a barn where you keep the cows. Very huge building. If you want to, you can stay in there for one month.

The cows are gone. Then they said, yeah, that sounds cool to me. Yeah, I will do it.

So, I went to this barn. I was meditating. I rented a car because I wanted to get my phone to see if it burned up.

I went back to the cabin. The owner who rented me the cabin, he's sitting in the cabin. The whole forest burned for miles.

It jumped over the cabin. He's so happy. He's like, you Buddhists, you Buddhists, you Buddhists.

He's so happy. He said, those little things you put on the door, you got to teach me. Only my house survived.

He was so happy. I'm also happy my telephone was okay. But the smell is very, very strong.

The whole forest burned. So, I went to the barn. Then in the meditation, I heard a voice.

It said, you are supposed to be here. You are supposed to come here. Then I said, why?

He said, you're supposed to dance. Then I said, at that time I was even more pumped. Then I said, I'm not a dancer.

And I never wanted to dance in my life. It's like I hate yoga. I don't want to jump around.

But the voice was very clear. And it told me, after you finish retreat, you should dance one hour every day. Because it was a very big space like this.

And then you should look for Zeva. Ze-eva. You should look for Ze-eva.

Then I'm like, who's Ze-eva? Don't worry, just look for Ze-eva. So anyway, I started dancing.

Then when I got back to New York, I gave a talk at Princeton University. Somebody introduced me to this lady. Her name is Zeva.

And I said, well, what do you do? She said, Princeton University just started a dance department and they hired me to be the director. So I said, you're supposed to teach me.

So she lives in New York. She commutes to Princeton. And I said, you're supposed to teach me.

She says, are you a dancer? I said, no, I don't know anything about it. Then I got another message.

I should wear my robe during the dance. So first time I went for lesson, I told her I have to go to the bathroom. She said, you have to pee pee?

I said, no, I have to change. She said, oh, you have dancing clothes? I said, yeah.

Then I put on my robe. Then I come out. She's like, you're going to dance like that?

I said, I'm sorry, I have to dance like this. She said, that's cool, that's cool. Then I danced with her for several years.

When I was doing the ACI courses in New York, seven years. At night, I will go dance with her. And I realized this is a Buddha practice.

The chi is moving very, very nice. It really makes Buddhists happy. Last night in the fire offering, we do special mudra, right?

One is called nurture. Nurture means dancing. So it's a very beautiful offering.

And the Buddhists really like it. So it's very good for your chi. It's a very beautiful offering.

And Buddhists really like it. And as you get older, you can't jump as high, and you can't run around, but you can become more elegant. Like these old tai chi ladies in the park.

And Buddhists like it. They really like that older person who doesn't stop dancing. They really like it.

So maybe if you can do some tai chi, do some dancing. A good place to dance is your house. Move the furniture.

Put some music on. Don't tell anybody. Just do it.

Then it's just you and the Buddha. So sometimes when you ... Very beautiful.

Okay, we're going to stop there. I'll see you again at 7.30. And we'll do the four truths.