«Дар освобождения», курс 30 «Как пройти великое путешествие», занятие 13

[Speaker 1]
So this morning, I thought we would just do the lion's dance without talking about it. And I usually do this in many countries because I'll do it today, and I'll do it tomorrow. And we just go through four steps without a break.

So it's a little bit long. It's maybe an hour, 45 minutes an hour, okay? This is the suffering of not having a long meditation, and then the suffering of having a long meditation.

People told me, Geshe-la, we want more meditation. The old ones are too short. Now they say it's too long.

But just remember, you can just do part one. Maybe that's why Buddha made five parts, right? You can do part one.

You can do part one and two. You can ...

[Speaker 2]
okay, you decide.

[Speaker 1]
So today, I'll go straight to four parts, okay? And then somebody has to set up a WhatsApp group for 21 days. Tim's going to set it up.

I still don't understand how it works, you know? Put me in it, okay? Okay.

People over 50 have trouble with these things, right? So I suggest today or tomorrow, you record the whole thing on your phone. And then when you ...

the next four or five days, you can play it. You can play it. You can have a guided meditation, yeah?

Here comes your coffee. We should give those guys a hand. In Mexico, the guy at the gas station puts the gas in your car, right?

This is the guy. Okay, all right, so you can record it today or tomorrow, and then play it for four or five days. And then after that, you don't need it, okay?

I'm also very happy to announce that because of our great immigration lawyer, which is Nick's wife, Erin, one of my sweetest lamas, Geshe-la Tar, got a visa yesterday. So, I hope ... I think he'll be teaching in Arizona in September, if you have time to go.

In Sedona, in New York, and in ... maybe Diamond Mountain, I think. He's my lama's nephew.

More naughty than me, but a really good teacher. Okay, all right, here we go. We hired the kids to do level zero.

The bird was busy today. The guy with the saw has a day off also. Okay, please turn off your phone, Geshe-la.

Okay, here we go. It's nice to clear your throat before you blow your nose. No kidding.

Good. Good job. We didn't have time to practice music, so if you can make some horn noises.

Okay, here we go. So, in this meditation, we don't follow the breath at the beginning of the meditation. We follow some sound in the room.

It could be ... you know, I have a very good refrigerator for doing this meditation. It makes just the perfect noise.

Then try to glue the mind to the noise, and don't let the mind leave the noise. Okay, here we go. Ten breaths here.

Don't forget, when you come to the end of the exhale, pause and then push out a little bit more exhale, and then you won't feel nervous in the meditation. Now, the first floor, let's come to the beating of our heart.

[Speaker 2]
The beating of the heart in our chest.

[Speaker 1]
It's more quiet than the outside noise. Now come inside the heart. It's a small, comfortable, sunlight-filled apartment.

And the walls of the apartment are beating. And it's more quiet than before. Now the apartment expands.

It's like a penthouse apartment. Lots of sunlight. And I am in an inner room.

So, I'm in the center of the center of the heart. Even more quiet. I can just hear the heart beating at a distance.

Then on the table next to me is a small sugar pot. And I take off the top. And I put my third finger of my left hand inside.

And when I pull it out, there's a few grains of sugar on the tip of my finger. And I focus on one of those grains.

[Speaker 2]
And I decide to go inside the grain.

[Speaker 1]
Then suddenly I'm inside a single grain of sugar. Even more silent. Even more quiet.

But inside, it's a very spacious, elegant meditation room with lots of sunlight. And then suddenly, inside the sugar crystal, my mind is the Pacific Ocean. Thousands of miles wide, very deep.

And the top of the ocean is very, very quiet. And it's all a beautiful blue. Now my mind expands to the sky.

This covers the whole ocean. Dark blue. And covers the whole beautiful light blue sky.

But in the sky, there's a few seabirds flying, and they're making some slight noises. These are random thoughts, or random memories, or random images, impressions floating through my mind. Then when I feel one coming through my mind, I grab it and I stop it.

Otherwise, the mind itself is almost turned off.

[Speaker 2]
And the mind itself is almost turned off, except me hunting these thoughts.

[Speaker 1]
Then there are still some slightly, slightly noisy birds, but I decide to just not listen to them, so I just ignore them. And it's as if my mind is completely turned off, and I'm ignoring any noises coming through my mind.

[Speaker 2]
And the birds, the birds, the seabirds, the thoughts, emotions, memories that arise, I let them exist. I welcome them. I don't listen to them.

I just ignore them.

[Speaker 1]
Now I think of one of the teachers in my life. Choose one of the many teachers in your life, and you can change the teacher every few days. Ask them to come sit with you.

Knee to knee. And their eyes are open, and they are looking at you, but your eyes are closed. And there's a lot of affection for you that you are doing your practice.

They are not imaginary. They are real. They are breathing.

They are warm. They smell nice. Now think of one thing that you really enjoy about this teacher.

Maybe they are very patient. Maybe they never get upset. Maybe they work very hard for other people.

Maybe they have a lot of wisdom about seeds. And emptiness. Choose one quality.

Now we take a trip to our past life. You have many thousands of choices, past lives. Any country in the world.

Any world among all the stars. Any body that attracts you. You could be a beautiful bird.

[Speaker 2]
You could be a beautiful bird. Beautiful animal in the forest.

[Speaker 1]
Any man, any woman. Any social position. Any age.

Any appearance. Choose one that comes to mind easily, because anything that comes to mind, you have seeds for. Now try to imagine what you did in this past life that you planted the seed to see this beautiful quality in your teacher.

First see the general part of your personality in the past. For example, I was a very patient person a thousand years ago. And then try to make a specific scene in the past, some event in the past that you were very patient.

Like you're writing a small movie or a TV show. Or someone ran up the stairs and into my room. And they threatened to hit me.

And I was very very calm and very patient. And within a few minutes they were very happy and calm. Then please come back to your teacher.

Look at them in a new way. Oh, this quality I see in them is not inside of them. It's coming from me.

Imagine how you used to look at them. Oh, they have this patience that I don't have, and it's inside of them, and it's not related to me. But cancel that.

Cancel that lama. Cancel that teacher. It's not true.

It's not real. It doesn't exist. Only the lama, only the teacher whose qualities come from me is real.

Enjoy that quality one more time. Enjoy that it comes from you. Decide today you will try to continue to plant those beautiful seeds.

And now let's come back down. Second part of the lion's dance. If you don't have time, you have to go to work or something, you can come out of the meditation here.

Always end with three deep exhales, and offer these beautiful seeds of the meditation to other people in your city and your country. Otherwise, if you have time, come back down. Step two.

My mind is turned off. I'm like a great dark blue sea and a light blue sky, and I'm not listening to all the thoughts coming through. Coming down should be twice as fast as when you came up, because your mind is tired, your body is tired.

My mind is still the ocean and the sky, but I'm blocking those thoughts. Now my mind is a simple sea and the sky. Now my mind is the Pacific Ocean alone.

Now I'm sitting in an elegant meditation room filled with sunlight within a sugar crystal. Now I'm sitting in a larger room like a penthouse in the middle of the middle of the penthouse. Lots of sunlight.

The walls of the heart are beating far away. Now that apartment is smaller, and I'm inside my heart and the walls are beating around me, but it's still filled with sunlight and still a very beautiful, small, elegant apartment. Now I'm watching my heartbeat.

Don't come back to the sounds outside. Don't come back to the outside.

[Speaker 2]
Don't come back to the sounds outside.

[Speaker 1]
Your mind is already tired. Your legs are tired, and then decide, I'm going to be a tough guy. I'm serious about my practice.

I want to see emptiness in this lifetime. So I'll stay with the meditation maybe another 15 minutes. Because of the pain in the legs or the bottom, the heart gets a little tighter.

The chest feels a little tighter. Then increase the exhales, right? At the end of the exhale, push a little more out.

It makes you more calm. Air doesn't build up in your lungs, and then prana doesn't build up, and you don't feel nervous. Let's go back up.

It's part number three. Now I'm inside the heart again. Lots of sunlight.

Now I'm inside the middle of the middle of the penthouse. Now I'm inside the sugar crystal. Lots of room here.

Lots of sunlight. Now my mind is the Pacific Ocean. Broad, wide, silent, quiet.

[Speaker 2]
Add the blue sky.

[Speaker 1]
Catch any thoughts and stop them. Turn off the mind. Now ignore any thoughts and just let them flow through the mind.

Bring your teacher, please, to sit with me. Choose that same good quality. Remember the event in the past life where you planted the seeds.

Look at your lama in a new way. All this patience is not within them. It's coming from me.

In a way, part of me is as beautiful as my teacher. Come back to the sea and the sky and ignoring the thoughts in the mind. Oh, there's my teacher also.

They had this beautiful quality. Come back to the mind and let it have a few ... I made a mistake.

Part number four.

[Speaker 2]
We're supposed to start at the bottom again.

[Speaker 1]
So after understanding that the patience is not inside my teacher, and really it's part of me that I'm seeing in them, we're supposed to drop down the elevator back to watching the heartbeat. First floor. Don't go out to the lobby.

Lobby. Don't go out to the other sounds. My heart's beating in my chest.

Now my lama appears again. And the beauty I see in them is coming from me. It's not inside of them.

[Speaker 2]
It's not inside of them.

[Speaker 1]
Go inside your heart. Huh, there's my teacher again. Look at that beautiful quality that I am painting.

Go to the center of the center of the heart. Center of the penthouse. Lots of sunlight.

Oh, my teacher's here too. I remember the thing I did in the past to see them so beautiful. Oh, suddenly I'm inside a sugar crystal.

And my teacher's here too. Look at that beautiful quality I'm creating. Because I'm creating it, I can keep them forever.

My mind is the Pacific Ocean.

[Speaker 2]
My lama's mind is the Pacific Ocean.

[Speaker 1]
We are mixed together. We are also the blue sky. We are stopping noises in our mind.

Perfectly quiet, turned off. Maybe some small noises, but I'm going to just leave it.

[Speaker 2]
My mind, my lama's mind, mixed together, ocean and sky.

[Speaker 1]
Maybe some small thoughts coming through the mind, especially thoughts that my lama wouldn't have, and I'm just going to let them go. Now this beautiful lama's sitting in front of me. Will you stay with me today?

Will you guide me today? At times when I'm not good, at times when I'm not like you, will you try to help me?

[Speaker 2]
Oh sure, I would love to help you. Lama starts rising up in the sky, getting smaller and smaller. Comes to the top of my head, turns around to face the same way as me, then like warm honey flows down my central channel, through my head, through my throat, comes to rest in my heart, and is staying there in a small, elegant, sun-filled, comfortable meditation room.

[Speaker 1]
And anytime I need help, anytime today I'm not acting so beautifully, whether I remember they are there or not, they will influence my mind. Suddenly I will feel strength and inspiration to be a beautiful person. Three deep exhales, my breath is like the smoke from the fire offering.

It's spreading into the sky around the world, and anyone it touches, it gives them beauty.

[Speaker 2]
Anyone it touches, it gives them beauty.

[Speaker 1]
Three deep exhales, push the last part out, slowly open your eyes, take a good stretch, drink something, take a break, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Pee-pee, cause and effect.

[Speaker 1]
So yesterday I told you about the deva realms. People are like, you know, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor.

[Speaker 2]
Superheroes he mentions.

[Speaker 1]
NYIS PA LHAG MA YIN GYI SDUG BSNGAL SANGS PA NI'O NA LHAG MED DU SKYES NA DE TZAM ZHIG YOD DAM NYA NA Then people think, oh, that might be a nice place to be born. Temporary paradise. DE'ER SKYES KYANG SDUG BSNGAL GONG NA LAS MED TE But if you are born there, it's just pure suffering.

ZHES SPRING LAS, human dictionary. Nick, ZHES SPRING? ZHES SPRING?

Yeah, Letter to a Friend. Sanskrit? Oh, now you're so ...

ZU'U HUR ROL ZU'U HUR ROL LAS KYIS ZU'U HUR ROL LAS KYIS Okay, good. LHAG MED, notice I didn't offer any money because I'm totally broke. LHAG MED LHAG MED DAG NA RANG BZHIN GYIS LHA'I SPEL LA DANG PHYIR YID KYI SDUG BSNGAL BYAS DE DAG BLO DANG BSTAN NA'ANG ROL BA'I RIGS PA'I BSTAN PA MTHONG BA MA BYAS SO So, the quality of these devas and semi-devas, they're called semi-devas.

The devas have two parts. There's full devas. Then there's like 80% devas.

Anytime you're only 80% as good as another person, you get jealous of them, right? So, life in this realm is defined by jealousy. And even if you don't believe that there are such places, you can understand that in this world, there are many places where everyone is consumed with jealousy.

Jealousy makes them unhappy. Especially Geshe Michael. This is my specialty.

Whole life. RIGS PA'I BSTAN PA MTHONG BA Then because of that jealousy, it's impossible for them to see emptiness directly. So, that's kind of depressing, right?

I told you it would be depressing. GNAS NI RIGS RAB GYI CHUD TZAM MAN CHEN DANG BDAG BA'I PHRENG BA GNAS SANGS PO MI YOD BA DE DRANGS GYUR ZHIG YOD CING So, when we do the mandala, there's a mountain in the middle, and the full devas live on top and in the sky above the top. And the demigods, they live lower on the mountain.

LHA DANG RGYAL RING MTHUN MA STOG BRTEN ZHAG GIS TSOS BTA BU YOD BRTEN ZHAG, or ZHAG GIS TSOS BTA BU YOD So you can think of the full devas and the semi-devas as living in two apartments, in an apartment building, and the devas are on the top floor of the penthouse, and the semi-devas are just below that. Of course, because they have to be jealous about the apartment also. LHA MI NI SPYIR LHA DANG CHANG DRAG TZAM LAS LHA LA BRTEN MI THUGS KYANG So actually, they are not as cool as the full devas, and they're also not as strong as the full devas, so they can't really have a good fight.

LHA MA YIN NA PHOS MED RDZAS MA YOD PA LHAS CHOG PA Then the semi-devas, they have beautiful women, just like Guadalajara, and then the full devas come and steal their women. So, that's the nature of jealousy also. If you are very jealous about your partner, and you make everybody uncomfortable, you're always upset and mean, then the nature is you will lose them anyway.

If you want to protect your partner, help other people to have a better marriage. To try to protect your partner by locking them in the house or something, this doesn't work. Encourage other people to be loyal to their partner.

Help people who are thinking to have a divorce or something, and then your partner will stay with you. LHA LA SPYI MED KYI LTUNG BA SOGS PA'ANG SBYOR CHE BA Then the full devas have a special tequila. It's called SPYI MED.

Sounds great. Amrita, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Say Amrita.

[Speaker 1]
If you want to be a yoga teacher, you have to mispronounce it. Amrita. Amrita.

[Speaker 2]
Amrita. Amrita.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good. LHA MA YIN THUGS LTA LTAR PHYOG RTOGS BA ZHIG GI SDUG BSNGAL GYI MED DUNG They are burned by the suffering, the gods, the full gods are also burned by the suffering of jealousy about their Amrita, because they don't want the semi-devas to have any.

[Speaker 2]
And the full gods are also possessed by envy, the possessiveness of their nectar, Amrita, because they don't want the semi-devas to have it.

[Speaker 1]
Now, you are going to remember the suffering of the demigods, half-gods, right? From this picture! I love this picture.

Okay, the little boy has a very nice ice cream, and he could be happy with this ice cream, but he can't stop thinking about the ice cream that the little girl has. His next birth is in Demigod, I think. Then the name of this idim is Formula for Unhappiness Comparing Ourselves to Others, okay?

Like our groups there, like our translation group, we never got paid before. We worked for 31 years, we didn't get paid.

[Speaker 2]
Then finally, I got some money for some of them, and I thought everyone would be happy, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Then the people who didn't get, they come to me, they say, I didn't get any money, you know? So I said, but we didn't have money for 31 years, so we didn't get paid.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, but now this guy got some money, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Then I'm like, but I don't have more money for you, you know? Then they're like, yeah, but why he has, you know? It's like the boy with the ice cream, okay?

You get to translate ancient wisdom all day, but before you didn't need money, but now the other guy has money, so now you're unhappy with him.

[Speaker 2]
You've been translating texts for free for 30 years, and someone who got paid, now you're uncomfortable because someone else is being paid, and you didn't have a problem with them not paying you, and now you do. Then I got a big salary for the second person, and I thought they will be happy, you know? Then they come to me.

[Speaker 1]
My big salary is slightly less than the other guy's big salary. I don't know. There's a DCI joke you should know, a very famous DCI joke.

Alejandro, I don't know why I have to see jealous people.

[Speaker 2]
Then if you want to answer this person, just hold up a pen.

[Speaker 1]
Understand? Okay, it's a DCI joke. It's good to do it.

It's good to say this joke to yourself sometimes, you know? You know, oh, I met this really irritating person. We had a conversation, but they didn't let me say anything.

I don't know why I have to see these people. Okay, but once a day you should also say, you know, I have karma to see this beautiful group in Guadalajara work for many years and get initiation this week. Why I have to see that?

So, at least once a day, you should do a good one and do a couple bad ones, okay? RANG RES BDAG'I SPEL MCHOD CHUNG LA THAG TOG CHUNG ZAD GYI SKYE MTSA'ANG MA BDE PA TZAM YOD NA Then he said, what jealousy does a person have? What jealousy does to you is it makes you unhappy.

It's suffering. It's a kind of suffering. To have jealousy inside is uncomfortable.

LHA MA YIN LHA'I SPEL MCHOD CHUNG PO LA MI GSOS PA'ONG BA LTA CI MOD PAS RNAMS SHIG NA GNAS MED THEG NAS THAG PAR BYIN PA NA Jealousy usually leads to conflict. So, while the jealousy is small, it feels very uncomfortable. It ruins your day.

It's like having a person stay with you all day who's farting all day, okay? And if that's all, if that's all, it's not so bad. But later you will start to fight, okay?

Then you'll have more suffering. LHA'I LAM CHEN SA GSUNG GI PHYIS NA GSOS MTSAMS KYIS RGYOG DO CHEN PO'ANG LTOR BA DANG TSUN PHANGS KYANG LHA RNAMS KYIS SKYE MA BYAS PA'I KHYI BAR MI BYIN LA So, they have super weapons that they use on each other. Better than a cruise missile.

They have the elephant called Sasung. And they taught him how to throw big bombs with his trunk. And they fight with each other.

A lot of international conflict, a lot of wars, are just jealousy, right? Between two countries. China and America are doing this right now, okay?

They are both doing ... they're both contributing, okay? LHA MA YIN NI MTSON CHAD NAS DANG GANG DU MTHRO BSKYANGS PHYIR DRO BA'I LHA MA YIN Then the demigods are even jealous that they die easier in the battle than the gods do.

BDAG TU PHANGS PA SHA DAG MA STOGS RGYAL BA'I THUD MED PA LTA BU YIN And the jealous guys never win. RANG RES MI YUL GYIS MA PHUNG THOB CHE CHUNG DRAG BA NYID THAB PA LA'ANG JI LTAR CHEN PO'I CHE DGOS NA LHA DANG DE LTAR MA THAB DGOS PA LA CI CHOS MI JI LTAR JI LTAR TSE MED PA YANG So, some of these beings are very powerful.

[Speaker 2]
I like to say they play marbles with planets.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, really they are this powerful. They can snuff out a sun like this. Then when they get ...

I almost said a bad word, I'm trying not to say bad words.

[Speaker 2]
When they get unhappy with each other, those wars are amazing wars.

[Speaker 1]
I mean, they destroy whole parts of galaxies together. LHA GYI LHA MIN GYI MA RNAMS LA RNAMS MI MA ZHIG PA DU, DE LTAR LTA LTOS THAB TSAD CHE DGOS PA'I SDUG BSNGAL DANG Then, okay, John can tell you, when I was in ... when we were in three-year retreat, actually, you cannot meditate all day.

[Speaker 2]
I don't care who you are.

[Speaker 1]
You can meditate, I don't know John, total four hours a day maximum? I don't know. Maybe he's more, I don't know.

But sometimes, huh? Okay, I was going to say three, but I was embarrassed. Because the people not doing retreat can do two, so why do three-year retreat for one hour?

But you also get very lonely. We are alone.

[Speaker 2]
Then, interesting thing, if you don't talk for three years, after about six months, animals trust you.

[Speaker 1]
So, we had many animals who would visit me every day.

[Speaker 2]
You know, and then we would hang out.

[Speaker 1]
One day I was ... so, I didn't have a toilet, okay? No electricity, and I poop into a plastic bag, and I leave it for the ...

I push it over the fence for the caretakers, you know? And I had a pet rabbit. She would come every day.

[Speaker 2]
He would come every day.

[Speaker 1]
He would bang on the door with his shoulder. He wants a cookie, you know? Then he would only eat one kind of cookie.

He's like, if you give him a different kind, he's like ... walkers, butter, shortbread cookies, you know? From Scotland, I think.

Maybe he was in Scotland his past life, I don't know. Then, so one day I'm pooping, you know, outside on the plastic bag, and he comes and he hits my leg, you know? And I'm like, I'm pooping, come back later.

Then he's like ...

[Speaker 2]
he's like this, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Then I said, oh, what? You know? Then he dig a hole, you know?

Then he spread his legs, and he gave three babies. Then I realized he's she.

[Speaker 2]
She wants me to see, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Then she starts pulling grass with her teeth, you know? And she's covering the hole with grass, you know? Then she hit me, you know?

[Speaker 2]
Then she ran away.

[Speaker 1]
And later I found out they are bleeding for one or two days, right? So they don't want the coyotes to come to the kids.

[Speaker 2]
So the mom will run hard for a few days, run around, and the coyotes will chase them, you know?

[Speaker 1]
We also had a coyote, he comes every night, and he wants ... mostly they want water, right? Why am I telling you this?

So, sometimes there's no animals, and you're really bored. Like you're going crazy for some kind of contact with somebody.

[Speaker 2]
So you go look at the ants, you know?

[Speaker 1]
There's like ants ... ants are trying to climb over a rock to the other side, you know?

[Speaker 2]
You're like, oh, let me help you, you know?

[Speaker 1]
You move the rock, you know?

[Speaker 2]
Then they go ... and they run all around, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Like, no, I'm just trying to help you, you know? Then they have wars.

[Speaker 2]
The two ants ...

[Speaker 1]
and one of them will grab the other one on the waist, right?

[Speaker 2]
They're like, don't fight, don't fight guys!

[Speaker 1]
You know? Then you try to separate them with little pieces of grass, you know? And they won't let go, for anything they won't let go, you know?

I tried putting them in a glass of water, you know?

[Speaker 2]
I thought maybe they will let go, you know? They won't.

[Speaker 1]
They will die before they will let go. There's no way to separate two ants. I'm just telling you, if you do three-year retreat, I'm trying to ...

I'm trying to help you.

[Speaker 2]
I'm just telling you, if you do a three-year retreat, there's no way to separate two ants that are fighting each other.

[Speaker 1]
Why are we talking about that? That's like gods and demigods, okay? They always fight to the death, okay?

There's no halfway war with them. They will completely destroy each other's countries, until there's nothing left.

[Speaker 2]
They will completely destroy each other's countries, until there's no one left alive.

[Speaker 1]
LHA MIN SHES RAB DANG LDAN YANG LAS GRIB CHEN GYI RTEN CHEN YIN PA'I RTEN DE LA BSTAN PA'I MTHONG BA'I RGYAL BA MED BSTAN PA'I MTHONG BA'I RGYAL BA MED Okay, no money left. Just tell me what it means. BSTAN PA'I MTHONG BA'I RGYAL BA MED BSTAN PA'I MTHONG See emptiness?

RGYAL BA like RGYAL BZANG Yeah, like ... Yeah, they have intelligence, but they don't have the seeds to see emptiness. GSUM PA LHA'I SDUG BSNGAL BSAM PA NI We finished the suffering of the demigods, which is a short subject because they're kind of boring.

Most jealous people aren't boring, okay? GSUM PA LHA'I SDUG BSNGAL BSAM PA NI So now we're going to go on to the suffering of the temporary gods, temporary demigods, okay? You can think of the demigods are Loki and the full gods are Thor.

Loki is like Thor's younger brother, always jealous of him, and not quite so powerful, and not so handsome either. So we finished Loki's problems. Now we're going to Thor's problems.

Okay. ,'ONG NA LHA' ZHES PA DE LA BDE BA ZHIG, ,'AY YOD, Okay, I'll teach you a new word, human dictionary. ,'AY YOD Say, ,'AY YOD.

,'AY YOD Well, Thor must be happy. ,'AY YOD ,'AY YOD means he's got to be happy. ,'AY YOD He's blonde, I mean, come on.

,'AY YOD I have one student in my class, one student in Norway, he's more handsome than Thor. He's like six and a half feet tall.

[Speaker 2]
Extremely handsome.

[Speaker 1]
Blonde hair down to here. Yoga teacher with, I don't know, I try to get those muscles, nothing happens. He's just popping out, you know.

His parents are some of the wealthiest people in Norway. They own a shipping line. And the worst thing, he's spiritual and he's extremely nice.

[Speaker 2]
And the worst of all is that he's spiritual and he's extremely nice.

[Speaker 1]
Then the organizers of the Thailand retreat, they're like, Geshe-la, maybe we could have like extra yoga programming.

[Speaker 2]
I'm like, yeah, sounds good, you know.

[Speaker 1]
This is Jasmine, okay, I'm sorry, she's not here, so. Do you think we could get that boy from Norway? I'm like ...

Okay, anyway, here's his problems, okay? So all the boys can feel a little bit better, he also has problems. His name's Christian, I'll give you his email.

[Speaker 2]
We brought him here, we brought him here. Maybe I can make some money back.

[Speaker 1]
So they ... well, they must be happy, he must be happy. So they have a special problem.

Their whole life, they are ... what do you call them? Silver spoon.

They are super lucky. Yeah, super privileged. But, during the last week of their life, yeah, I think we should applause that he's here.

Okay, okay, that's enough.

[Speaker 2]
One week before they die, they have the karma to see where they are going.

[Speaker 1]
And as I said, they wear out their debit card, so they always go to the hell realm, okay? This is tradition, they always go to the hell realm.

[Speaker 2]
So, for one week, they can see where they are going.

[Speaker 1]
And also their karma starts to shift. And for the first time, their body starts to smell. Like, they don't have to have this spray their whole life, and then suddenly they need it.

[Speaker 2]
Then one by one, their friends start to leave them.

[Speaker 1]
And they can smell it. And it happens in the human realm also, right? You are very popular, you are very handsome, you are very beautiful.

Even if you have money. I heard a joke, they said, if you're a woman under 30, you should be beautiful. If you're a woman over 40, you better have some money.

[Speaker 2]
Same like that, okay?

[Speaker 1]
So, they start ... in the human realm also, people start to ignore you. You're not as pretty as you used to be.

You're not as handsome as you used to be. You don't have as much on top as you used to have, right JB, you and me? Then people's attitude towards you starts to shift slightly, and it's very painful.

Like, you go to a restaurant and they don't talk to you. They always talk to the handsome guys first. And if you used to be handsome, it's very painful.

So, for the devas, it's much worse. Because their friends start to find reasons not to talk to them. Why is ...

Okay, ready? I think Anatole can do this one, but I'm not ... no pressure.

[Speaker 2]
I mean, anybody can do it.

[Speaker 1]
The emptiness of time plays a part in the last week of a deva's life. No, not quite. I should have bet you some money.

What's that? Exactly, okay? Because of the emptiness of time, the last week feels longer than the whole life, okay?

There are two DCI proofs for the emptiness of time. Number one, the dentist.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Twenty minutes at the dentist. You know, you go to ... I go to the dentist with Veronica, you know?

Then the guy says, he'll be out ... Geshe Michael will be out in twenty minutes. Then it's like ...

Then, you know, you finish and you're like ... Then you come out and you say, Veronica, I'm sorry, I was in there for two hours. I'm sorry.

She's like, no, it was just fifteen minutes. Then the other example, which ... maybe you remember, in Phoenix, a hundred years ago, we will go to the outdoor movie, the driving movie, because both of us, we are from poor families.

Her mother has four daughters, my mother has four sons, and they work together at the same school. One day they had an idea, but I'm not going to tell you. Anyway, so ...

we used to go to the ... So our parents used to go to the driving movie because it's cheaper, because as many kids as you can fit in the car, you can take because they charge you per car. Then later we will also go to the driving movie, but not for the same reason.

But I remember one night, and it's okay. I think I was having trouble breathing. She was giving me artificial respiration.

Something banging on the window. We're like, what? It's a policeman.

We're like, roll down the window.

[Speaker 2]
Yes sir, what?

[Speaker 1]
He said, what are you doing? Oh, he has trouble breathing. He's like, come on, who believes that?

[Speaker 2]
He's like, the movie ended three hours ago.

[Speaker 1]
He's having trouble to breathe for three hours. Then he's like, he's like, can you guys leave so I can lock the gate? I have to lock the gate.

I'm the policeman. This is the emptiness of time. It seems like the movie must still be going, but the movie ended three hours ago.

So, with these gods, as Daniel said, the last week is extremely long.

[Speaker 2]
Very painful.

[Speaker 1]
SHES SPRING LAS Yeah, Nagarjuna said, LUS KYIS KHA DO MI SDUG BSGYUR BA DANG RTEN NA MI DGA' MED TOG DRANG SNYING DANG KHOS LA THI MA CHAGS DANG LUS LA SNYING MNGON BYAS MED PA'I SDUG BYUNG ZHIG RGYAS BA LUS KYIS KHA DO The color of their skin changes. As a human does when you get at a certain age, the skin starts to change color, right? Gets more gray.

RTEN NA MI DGA' All chairs start to feel uncomfortable after ten minutes. Doesn't matter what chair.

[Speaker 2]
It feels uncomfortable after ten minutes.

[Speaker 1]
Then they have a special ... like in Hawaii, these flower necklaces.

[Speaker 2]
LAS, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
MA LA Generally, they have a lot of flowers in the god realms. But they never get old. But now suddenly they get old.

[Speaker 2]
Flowers tend to die faster during that week.

[Speaker 1]
KHOS LA THI MA CHAGS And their clothes start to smell funny, like a nursing home, if you've ever been there. And before, they didn't have to take a shower so much. Like when you are twenty, you can get away with a shower every two, three days.

But after fifty, you better take one every day.

[Speaker 2]
I don't know.

[Speaker 1]
I have to take two. No, just kidding. MTHOR BA'I PHYI LTOR BRAL BYED PHYI STE NGA And they start to get signs that their death is coming.

So it's very depressing. You can believe this story about these beings. We cannot see them.

Even if you don't believe it, I believe it. I think they exist. But if you don't want to believe it, then just think they are talking a metaphor for the last years of your life.

SA YUL GNAS PA'I SLA RNAMS LA SBYUNG STE SA BSTAN MI RNAMS CI BUR RGYUR BA LTA SBYUNG PAR BYED PA'I PHYI STE RNAMS DANG DRA And then they get ... Humans also can get the same signs of their death coming. BSHAD PA LTAR RING BA'I PHYI STE NGA DANG NYES BA'I PHYI STE NGA Just for you guys, you human dictionary, DTES LTAS LA'U RTA TAT LTAS RTAS It's the past tense for to see, but it's a noun that means vision of the future, de, a sign of the future, a portrait.

And if you want to learn some bad words in Tibetan, which since my Lama's coming, you can impress him. Okay, there's a soft bad word, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Suave.

[Speaker 1]
Suave. You can say, ready? TENG NGAN.

[Speaker 2]
TENG NGAN.

[Speaker 1]
But you have to stretch it out. TENG NGAN. It means a bad sign, something bad going to happen next week or something.

TENG NGAN. But it means, when I look at you, I think next week something bad's going to happen. Soft insult, okay?

People always remember bad words in foreign language before they remember the good words. I don't know why. Okay, so there are ten signs of death, here they are, okay?

Five, they're called, five are called far, and five are called near. Number one, LUS KYI DRANG DANG NYAM, your complexion gets a little more, it goes from pink to a little bit gray. LDAN RTEN DU SDUG SNYING MI RDUG PA, it becomes difficult to sit on any chair.

LUS KYI MED DO SNYING PA, flowers, foods, things around you, they they spoil faster for an older person, okay? KHO LA KHRI MA CHAGS PA, your clothing takes on some bad smell, okay? Number five, SDUL BYUNG BA, it's weird, your house and your clothes get dirtier faster, get dirty faster, okay?

Now, if you're four, okay, here's five other ones that are closer to your body. So, those beings have some natural light that comes from their body. There's a story in Buddhism about the Garden of Eden, same as Christian Genesis, right?

And they say in the beginning people were happy, people didn't have to eat, and they lived in a beautiful garden, and there was no sun, because the light comes from their bodies, and it it makes the world like this bright. So, number one, their light begins to shrink. LTUS KYI TSE LUS LA CHOS CHAGS PA, when they get out of Lake Chalapa from swimming, if you have Thor Karma, you don't need a towel.

[Speaker 2]
The water just finishes, okay?

[Speaker 1]
But as they get ... during the last week of their life especially, the water starts to stay on their body. DGOS RGYEN LAS BRA MI NYAMS PA, then these guys have lots of jewels, and silk, and they dress like a movie star, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Then something strange starts to happen.

[Speaker 1]
Like, if they're putting on an earring, you know, they're like ...

[Speaker 2]
and then the earring will talk to them, you're going to die.

[Speaker 1]
And then nothing. Then put the earring on, you know, you're going to die. You're going to die.

You're going to die. That's a bad thing. And then little things ...

things start to whisper bad things to them, okay? Mik Tsunpa, more and more often you can see them like this. Their eyes are closed more often.

I mean I can tell you from a human point of view, you start taking more and more naps. I think you take one nap, then you take two naps, then you nap all day. It's called dead, okay?

Yul Chikla Chapa, the fifth close one, the fifth close sign of death. They start to get lost in things like Alzheimer's, okay? Like, you show them a picture of their husband who died 30 years ago, you know, and they just like, they get lost in the picture, you know?

So, these are signs that death is closer. Here's the IDIM. I can't really see it.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This is a famous American singer called Barbra Streisand, and she was the best singer in America when I was young.

Then they put her in the movies with the most famous handsome movie star, Robert Redford, you know, and everybody in America was in love with them, you know.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, they are so happy, you know.

[Speaker 1]
Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, and for many decades, she was the wealthiest woman in America. She'd get like a hundred thousand dollars if she goes, uh-huh. Here's her picture now.

Next. She cannot get a job. Nobody wants to hear her sing.

Nobody puts her with a handsome movie star. She can only play in stupid comedies. Like, not even good comedies.

This particular role, her role in this comedy recently, it was voted the worst performance by a woman actress in 2017. Okay, got it? She was the wealthiest woman in America for many years.

The name of this idim, which is two pictures, is a good looks, comma, and then money.

[Speaker 2]
He got it.

[Speaker 1]
It means that while you're young, you better have some good looks, then later you better have some money because you're going to lose the good looks. Nobody will pay any attention to you. They'll put you in the comedy movie.

Then the second half of the idim is always the solution, right? Do I look for beauty in others? Nobody in the world is 100% stupid.

Even Trump is one half of one percent. There's some brain. I think.

Then, no one is 100% ugly. No such thing. There's an intense beauty in every human being.

You have to learn to find it, right? So, if you don't want to be like this woman, if you don't want this karma, then every person you meet, try, you know, Geshe-la says there's something very beautiful here. What is it?

And do a game with yourself, you know. Anytime, like I used to do this in the subway when I'm going to work in New York, you know, it's dirty, it's dangerous, it's cold, and you face each other in the New York subway. Then I would just say, what's the beauty in this person?

And it's a game you can play with yourself. Okay, and if you do it a lot, then you can change this karma. Then you will not become like this.

You will not lose your beauty, okay? NE KHUG KHUG GCIG DU NYA BYAS RTZEN DU BDE BA LTAR MED NA DON BZHIN LA SOS SU BZHAG BSTUN In the last week of their life, these devas, he says their life is like when you take a fish, you hook a fish, you take it out of the lake, and you throw it on the hot sand. Hot sand on the beach, yeah.

You know, and they die on the sand, right? And they are trying to flop like this. The last week of their life, they feel like that.

LHA SOS SU BZHAG BSTUN DE RE STE RGYAL CHEN RIGS SHES PA LTA BU MI LO GSUM RGYAL SNGABS CHU RI'I SDUG BSNGAL MYONG DGOS But as Daniel said, time slows down. During the last week. So the subjective feeling of the last seven days is 350 years.

LHAG PA SA RNAMS LA SKABS GSUM PA SHES NGAR GANG GI RGYUD LHAR BSKYED PA DANG There's a name for these devas in Tibetan, which is SKABS GSUM PA. SKABS GSUM PA. Yeah, three-timer.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
And there's a very famous poem by Tsongkapa that we are required to sing during the monks and nuns sojong, twice a month, at confession. It's part of confession.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, you got it?

[Speaker 1]
SKABS GSUM PA DANG DBANG PO DANG TRI SA BYAS PA'I GYIS NAS Like this. I'll teach it to you. SKABS GSUM PA DANG DBANG PO DANG TRI SA Wawa...

Shh, don't tell anybody. Thirty years of Sojong. Let's not talk about that.

So why are they called three time kap sumpa? During the last week of their life. They see where they came from.

They see what re ... past rebirth? Just before?

And they see the current life. And they see where they are going next. We have five more minutes by the way, then we're going to take a photo.

I just tell Tim and Alejandro, when you do a group photo, announce it the day before.

[Speaker 2]
Because the ladies like to dress up and fix their hair and stuff like that.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, next time. Okay, ,GZHAN PA NGAR GANG GI RGYUD LHAR BSKYED PA DANG, ,LTAR LTA NAS SKABS GANG YIN PA DANG, ,'CHI BA'I OG TU GANG DU GRO BA STE, ,SUM KHA SHES PA'I PHYI MA GANG DU RGYAS BA ZHES, So they understand where they're going next. They understand where they came from, and they understand their life now.

,LHA'I RTEN DE LA NGA RANG RGYUD SEMS DU CHE NAS, ,NGAN CUNG DANG GZHAN SDUG BSNGAL BA RGYUD SEMS DU CHE NAS, ,SNYING RJE SOGS KYI RGYUN BA, ,SNA GCIG KYANG MI CHE, But, if we suddenly have a vision of where we are going next life and it's bad, we will suddenly become very spiritual. And we will also become more compassionate towards other people, because we know they are also going to go to these places.

[Speaker 2]
So, if you could really see where you're going next, suddenly you would become a very moral person and you wouldn't fall asleep in the lam rim.

[Speaker 1]
Everybody's like ... Then, also when you meet your friends, you would feel some ... I don't know, how do you say that?

[Speaker 2]
You feel empathy towards each other. They also are going someplace bad.

[Speaker 1]
Now the devas, they see their future. They understand other people are going to have the same problem, but they have some kind of mental block. They don't even have this reaction where they say, okay, now I should be a good person.

And they don't have this reaction where they think, oh my friends, I feel compassion, I feel empathy for them. SEMS NAM NGAR ZAG PA NI BYED DE ZAD PA RGYUR, they are just on the last tiny piece of their debit card. Okay, we're going to stop there.

It's getting a little bit warm over here.