«Дар освобождения», курс 32 «Пустое приходящее, ментальные бомбы», занятие 5

[Speaker 1]
We're going to go to the text, and do some of the text. We had talked about six main negative emotions, five of them are called not viewpoint of your world, and the last one is a viewpoint of your world. Oh, you got, you guys got it?

Let me see, shuk chok, okay, Z-H-U-G-S, Z-H-U-G-S, space, M-C-H. Yeah, good, that's it. Okay, so we're on the fourth one of the viewpoints, okay?

We did five negative emotions that are not viewpoints, and then the sixth negative emotion, the big one, it has five negative viewpoints inside of it. Let's go over some of those five. First one was destruction view, which is a wrong idea about me, and my things, okay?

Wrong idea about where I come from. Second one was extreme view, and for example, either I am permanent, or I don't exist at all, or I exist from my own side, or I don't exist at all, okay? Third one was thinking my wrong ideas are the best, which is a third kind of view, and then today we're on the fourth one.

Fourth one is called thinking mistaken kinds of practices are cool, okay? And this was kind of very popular in India a long time ago, and we'll talk about it here. TSUL KHRIMS DANG PHYUD ZHUGS CHUNG BRDZIN NI, this is called thinking that kinds of morality and tapas, difficult spiritual practices are the best.

Generally morality is the best, but it's wrong morality, okay? So, we're going to talk about it. GANG PA YANG GCIG GIS BYANG BA'I TSUL KHRIMS DANG, there's a practice in India where if you hold your arm up for years, you will reach Nirvana, okay?

And this arm gets very skinny, and so they try to hold it up for most of the day, for many years, and then this arm gets ... you can't move it much, and and they think that this kind of hurting your body is some kind of religious practice, okay? Another example is MED NGAG BSTAN PA.

MED NGAG BSTAN PA means ... it's like you do a fire offering, which we're going to do tonight, and you sit in front of the fire, but then you build four fires around you, so you are inside of four fires in front of a fifth fire, and it's very very painful, and you know, they think this is spiritual, this is a spiritual thing. I think Christians have a thing in the old days where they will whip themselves with some nails or something, and like hurt your body, okay?

SDUG BSAD GSUM GYI BSTAN DU BYUNG BA. Then there was a weird Indian religion many years ago, where you do your practices, you do your prayers, and you dig a big hole, and you put a three-point spear upright in the hole, so it looks like that, the points are sticking like that, and then you jump into the hole, and you try to get the spear to go here, here, and here, and you commit suicide with one part through your head, and two parts through your shoulders, and then this is considered a way to get to nirvana. YANG SHI BYANG BA THU ZHUGS I didn't know what this was, I looked it up.

This is some kind of weird thing where you dress up in animal fur, and you act like that animal, and it will prevent you from going to that lower birth, okay? Like you bark all the time, or you wear a dog coat or something like that, okay? And then he goes into it a little bit.

RGA' ZHIG GIS MNGON SHAS BYAMS MO BDE NAS. So, some people get a little bit of correct vision into their last life, TSE SNGA MA GYUR KHYAD PAR MTHONG NAS, then they saw that in their last life they were a dog, and they get this strange logic, okay? If I was a dog in my past life, and I died, and I became a human in this life, then the way for me to become a human in my next life is ...

to pretend I'm a dog in this life, okay? They get this strange idea, okay? MI NAS BDOD PA'I KHYI SKYES They bark like a dog, KHYI CHA LUGS SU, they wear a collar and all the dog things.

SOGS CHA CHEN MANG PO DANG, DE LA CHOG TU GSUNGS NAS, and they try to act as much like a dog as they can. NGES PA BYAS PA DANG, DE'I GSUNG BA'I TSUL KHRIMS NGES PA STE, and they keep this, quote, this is a morality for them, called dog morality, and DROD BYED KYI RGYUD TSOR BAR BRDZIN PA, and they think this will free them from samsara, okay? Sansara.

And to us it looks stupid, but probably we are doing some things like that, you know? Probably we also have some ideas like that, and in the reading ... what's the idam number nine?

Yeah, it's young guys doing graffiti, so they are painting walls, it's illegal right? In most places, you're not allowed to do it, and what it means is, you're supposed to be ... I remember my teacher telling me, Ken Rinpoche, you know, you're supposed to save every living being, you're supposed to help every living being, but you are one of them.

You're also one of every living being, okay? Then I think sometimes we forget, you know, we focus on other living beings, we focus on taking care of other living beings, and we forget that we are also a living being. So, this is the idea where they say your body is like a temple, and you should take care of your body, and you should take care of your mind, because you are also one of all living beings.

So, you know, you should eat well, you should rest enough, and you shouldn't think of yourself as something impure, or someone who's not capable. Many people, spiritual people, they think, oh I'm a bad person, or I'm not very capable, my meditation is not so good, I don't keep my six times book. I remember many years ago, I taught a young man, he was from Burma, did you know him?

He studied in Hull, he came from my job, but uh, you know, he used to have this idea that he was, he wouldn't take care of himself. He said, what's this, Anki, or something like that, and every time I taught him, like if I taught him the six times book, he was upset, and he said, now you gave me another reason to feel guilty every morning. I just have all these reasons to feel guilty every morning, and I'm a bad person, and you're supposed to be helping me, but you keep giving me things to do every morning, and now it's new things to feel guilty about?

Like, now I didn't do my meditation, I didn't do my six times book, you know, all these things you're teaching me, it's just one more thing that I'm not doing. Okay, so this kind of hurting yourself is against this viewpoint okay? This viewpoint where you hurt yourself, it's not that you are sticking a spear through your head, it's that you are constantly thinking you are not good enough, you are not special, you are not practicing well okay?

You get more and more teachings, and it seems like you're a worse and worse person. There's a famous meditation thing they say, if you start to meditate, you will find that your mind gets worse, and the student came to the teacher and said, after you taught me meditation, my mind got worse. What did the teacher say?

It was always bad, your mind was always bad, you didn't notice it before. You're actually improving okay? So, I think this is not some kind of crazy viewpoint where we are jumping on spears or something like that, or we are whipping ourselves.

We tend to beat ourselves up right? In English we say beat ourselves up. We don't respect ourselves, but if you are here, and you came to Diamond Mountain, already you are one in, I don't know, ten million people okay?

And you don't feel special, you feel like a normal person, especially when you have a bad morning, you don't do any practice at all, and you feel like pretty normal, and you don't feel special, but if you're here, you are special, and you can't say you're not, you are okay? So, don't beat yourself up, that's also hurting the temple, which is your body, your mind okay? We're not allowed to hurt this temple.

When you criticize yourself all the time, sometimes you can okay? But not all the time okay? You are like spraying graffiti on the temple okay?

You are making the temple dirty okay? You are a beautiful temple, your body, your mind is a beautiful temple, and you have to admit it okay? You're here, you know, and you don't feel like, oh I'm the most special person in my country or something, but you are okay?

So, appreciate yourself okay? Otherwise you are breaking this viewpoint okay? Okay.

Of course you're a bad person, but sometimes you do good things okay? No, just kidding. If you're here, you're very strange, you're very strange and you're very special, and you have better chance than anyone in this world in your life okay?

You have a better chance than anybody. Okay, number ... number five I think right?

LOG LTA. Say LOG LTA. LOG LTA means wrong views, and I'm gonna list some of them.

DEN GZHI, you don't believe in the four higher truths. It's not true that my whole life is pain. It's not true that I can stop the pain.

It's not true that it has a cause. It's not true that there's a path okay? These are not true.

Or KUN CHOG, Three Jewels, Sambal. It's not true that there are people who escape from this pain, and it's not true that there is a method, and it's not true that you can see emptiness directly okay? It's not true that there are people around me who have seen emptiness directly.

SANGA okay? LEN DRE, it's not true that if I do a small good deed, I can get a huge good result. Karma and its growth, the growth of karma is not true okay?

These are all LOG LTA. You know, and if you got in a room with somebody, if you got in a room with Geshe Michael and Geshe Michael says, do you believe in karma? You say, yes Geshe-la, I believe in karma.

And then, then we go out and say something bad to somebody you know, five minutes later. So, there's believing in karma in your words, and there's believing in karma in your actions right? So, of course all of us tell people we believe in karma, we are Buddhists right?

But, then we do things that looks like we don't believe in it okay? MED PAR LTA BA DI TSOGS DANG, GZHANG YANG MED PA LA YOD PA'ANG DRON DOGS PA DANG, YOD PA LA MED PAR LTA BA BYAS PA LA THABS KUN BDEBS NI Then there's a very famous thing in Buddhism, especially in mind-only school, called DRON DOGS and KUN BDEBS. Who wants to try?

Word for zero dollars. Yeah, yeah, I keep thinking about this, the wife comes home and her husband is texting, and he looks really happy, he's laughing, and she walks into the room suddenly, and then ... wow.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Cool. Now I forgot my example. Oh, he's texting, she comes in the room suddenly, he hides his phone right?

And then, she's suspicious because he looks so happy. If you ever had this problem you know what, it feels really bad. Oh, the husband is ...

somebody's really making my husband happy, and then you get really jealous you know, and that night when he's asleep you check his phone to find out what's his other girlfriend's name, and you find out he was on ... Alibaba? What's the other one?

Alba? Thao Ba. He was buying you a birthday present.

He wasn't texting his other girlfriend, and he was so happy because he was ... he was thinking about how happy you're gonna be when you get the birthday present okay? But, you had this ...

this is called drondok, drondok means you make a big story about something which is not true okay? The whole thing is not true. What's the biggest drondok in the kitchen?

My husband decided to yell at me. My husband decided to yell at me okay? That's where this yelling come from.

He saw me, opened the door, then he had a thought in his mind, I will criticize my wife, I will call her phan dong okay? Like, that's drondok okay? So, drondok means, it's not true but you make it ...

you make a big thing about something which is not true okay? And we do it about everything okay? Every time someone criticizes us, we are drondok okay?

We are drondok. We are making a story about why they criticize us, which is not true okay? Actually coming from my seeds okay?

Everything is coming from my seeds okay? What's a kundep? Can you give me a kundep in the kitchen?

I don't know. Yeah okay, so you walk in the kitchen, your friend is there, your friend says your husband doesn't exist, from his own side, and then you decide he doesn't exist at all okay? That's classic kundep.

Which one's more common in human nature? First one's more common okay? You think the husband decided to yell at you, but actually he's coming from your seeds okay?

The only people who think that nothing exists in the world, and therefore they can do what they want, they have no morality, is people who got a bad emptiness teaching okay? People who got a bad emptiness teaching from someone. Then they say okay, nothing exists, nothing matters.

I can hurt people, it doesn't matter okay? Okay. PHYIR ROL PA RGA SHIG GI JIG RTEN DI KHYAMS SBYUG GI SBYUG PA PHYIR BYAS PA DANG, THANG CHEN PAS ZHES BYA LA THANG NGA'A BYAS NAS, PHYIR RDZO BA'I PHYIR PA DANG.

Then he gives some examples of religious drondong, and he's talking about ancient Indian religions. One is called Vishnu, and they say Vishnu created the world. He did ten different things and then he created all the things in the world.

Or, the Sankhya school says that there are 25 divisions of existence and they were all created by some ... what do you call it? Primal ...

primeval power? Okay. And then there's another school that talks about a god named Ishvara, and they say everything was made by this person.

Then you ask them, well who made the person? And they're like, nobody made the person. So, you're like, so things were made by someone who was never made?

Yes. So, things were made by a person who never changed? Yes.

So, when a person makes something they don't have to change? Yes. But, by making something you always change okay?

Anytime you do anything you change okay? So, these are all drondong. This idea that someone who has been here forever has made the world okay?

But never changed okay? DGONG GI LTA MIN NGA DANG, DE'I RTEN DU LTA BA NGA GCIG TU'I TSIS PA'I DRUG DE DANG, SA BA'I NYON MONGS KYI PHYA RGYUN DRUG PO. So, he says, yay!

We finished the six major negative emotions. Five are not viewpoints, and five are viewpoints okay? The sixth one has five viewpoints inside okay?

DE NA DE DAG SO SOGS KYIS PA NO NYON PO BSTAN CING DGOS YIN GYANG ZHIG RGYA PA LAS. So, if you get one of these negative emotions, you should use the antidote, you should use the medicine for it okay? DGOS YIN GYANG ZHIG RGYA PA LAS and then he quotes Aryadeva, 400 verses.

LUS LA LUS DBANG JI BZHIN DU, STI MU KUN LA GNAS YOD DE. This is really interesting, and it's difficult to explain. So, in the Heart Sutra for example, MIG MED, SNGA BA MED, SNGA MED, PHYER MED, LUS MED, YI MED okay?

You don't have eyes, you don't have ears, you don't have nose, you don't have tongue, you don't have body okay? And you don't have mind okay? So, there's six consciousness, six parts of you.

Then if you think about it, the first four live on number five okay? Your ears, your eyes live on your body, your ears live on your body, your nose lives on your body, your tongue lives on your body. So, the first four, one, two, three, four, live on number five.

Number five is the home, and the eyes live there, the ears live there. So, that's what this first line means. LUS LA LUS DBANG JI BZHIN DU All the powers of the body live on the body, and in the same way, all negative feelings you can have live on misunderstanding your husband okay?

All negative feelings, these six cannot exist without misunderstanding. So, misunderstanding is like the home base, like the body, and then your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, these are all like all your negative emotions okay? They cannot survive without a place to stay, and anytime you have a negative emotion there's a misunderstanding under it okay?

And that's really interesting okay? And I'm translating Tsongkapa's GOMS PA RAB GSAL, it's his greatest explanation of emptiness. We're halfway through, it took five years, it's 750 pages.

We have to send it to somebody by the way okay? It will be 1500 pages. He was just using, he was just quoting this, you can't have anger, or desire, or hatred, jealousy, pride, if you don't misunderstand things around you okay?

Cannot. Cannot have. You can't have a nose without a face.

See what I mean? That's the idea okay? Alright, GSUNGS PA LTAR, STIG MU GYIS, NYON MONG BZHIN, THAMS CAD LAR, KHYAB CING, RGYUD BYED PA'I, Misunderstanding your life, spreads through all of your negative emotions, and causes them.

DE'I NGON TZIN GANG BA'I OG TU BYED GSUNG, and it, but it's difficult to see how misunderstanding is always present when you feel negative emotions. So he said OG TU BYED. Word?

OG TU BYED. Yeah, I'll cover it later. He says it's a difficult ...

it's difficult to understand every time you have pride, every time you have anger, every time you have addiction, it has to be that you are misunderstanding that person, or that food, or ... okay? It must be.

So he's going to talk more about it later okay? We reached the second category, which is how do negative emotions start up in your heart okay? How do they start up in your heart?

But I'd like to ... I'd like to take a break before we cover that. We have about 40 minutes I think, and let's do some more review of the old Lamrim, the last eight years okay?

So, I'm on number 88. What's the picture? Number 88.

Huh? It's the dog helping the little girl cook the cake okay? You okay?

You guys with me? You want me to wait a few more minutes? Hmm ...

ah, it doesn't look like it. Okay, I'll wait. Let me know when you guys want to start.

Sure? Yeah? Everybody?

Peter, stop throwing things back there. Yeah, yeah. Alright, all the troops are quiet.

Say SAB BYED. Okay, Lamrim has many many subjects. I think our review of the Lamrim, if you want to be a Lamrim specialist, meditation master's degree in your ACI teacher training, I think it's about 800 idims you're going to have to know okay?

Total, and ... but those have a SAB BYED. What's a SAB BYED?

Word? Do you know that? Yeah, they have a certain order okay?

They have a certain order. So like, when you're working on a car, you try to fix a car, there's a certain order of things you should do, one after another, and working on your mind has a certain order okay? You can't just take a piece out of the Lamrim and do it randomly okay?

They're all nice practices, they're all good practices, but they have to be done in a certain order okay? A, B, C, D okay? And so in the Lamrim that's called SAB BYED.

The order of the practices, like first you should find a teacher, and then you should think about your ... the good chance you have, then you should be meditating on death. So, I think ...

I don't know, in America there's three kinds of people, I mean one is ... they just go anywhere and they learn anything they hear. They just go to any yoga class, or any retreat center, and they just do whatever the people are doing.

And then I guess secondly, there's people who learn Lamrim, but they kind of mix it up. They just do one thing and then they do something, but the best way is to do it in the proper order okay? So your mind has to be changed in a certain order, and that's called SAB BYED okay?

So that's an important thing about Lamrim, you should learn it, and you should follow the SAB BYED okay? The next eighty-nine is called the Four Magnificence, the Four Super Cool, Four Kinds of Super Cool, and recently they found this photo of my teacher, it's really nice. This was some of his first classes in the United States, I guess it was 1974 or something, 75, and I like how he's touching the planet, it's like he has some plan you know.

So I'm gonna read you this section from the Lamrim, hang on ... CHOS KUN TSUM PAR BRTAN PA'I PHYIR, BRTZAS PA PO'I PHYIR BA So, traditionally at the beginning of teaching the Lamrim, you talk about how cool was the people who started Lamrim in this world okay? And mainly we talk about Lord Atisha okay?

So, we call cool Source, Magnificent Source okay? So it's traditional to study a little bit about Atisha's life, and how he started the Lamrim tradition. He wasn't the first Lamrim teacher, the Buddha was the first Lamrim teacher, but historically he's the one who came from India to Tibet and spread that teaching.

Secondly, we studied the greatness of the teaching, there are certain things about this teaching which are amazing. And for example, if you study the Lamrim in order, then you could see emptiness directly, you could have that perception of bodhichitta that we talked about yesterday okay? What do you call it?

Slot machine okay? PHYIR BA NI LAS GYI'I PHYIR LA NYAN ZHES BYED PAR GSUNGS, protocol in English means what's the proper method? Protocol means proper method, and this is called in Lamrim it's called NYAN ZHES.

NYAN ZHES means there's rules about how to teach it, and how to study it okay? There's rules for the teacher, and there's rules for the students okay? So, that's called protocol.

There's a very strict tradition of how you teach it, and how you study it okay? So, when you study Lamrim, before you start the Lamrim, you study about teaching, you study how do we teach, and how do we learn, what are the rules in Buddhism for studying, and learning, and teaching okay? Last one, then you can DANG PO'I DNGOS KYI LOMS PA'I JI LTAR DRUG YIN RIM PA, then you actually start the Lamrim okay?

So, these are the traditional steps, number one, you talk about the person who helped start the Lamrim, number two, you talk about how cool is the teaching in general, number three, you talk about the proper way to teach it, and to study it, and then you start the Lamrim okay? This is the tradition okay? What's the picture?

I don't remember. Oh, can't remember Jay.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, alright.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, item number 90 is Lord Atisha, and we said roots, training, and mission. Then, in this Lamrim that we've been studying, there's a very long life story of Lord Atisha, who brought the Lamrim to Tibet, and I would like to ... I'd like to go through some of his life, it might take the rest of the time this morning okay?

So, I'd like to go through ... we studied it already, I think many of you were not there, and I'm just gonna do highlights of his life okay? We can't cover his whole life, but I think it's interesting how he developed himself, and then how he started to teach okay?

Maybe you can think about it for yourself, you know, if you want to be an ACI teacher, maybe you should go through the same kind of steps that he went through okay? Here we go. Then traditionally his life is divided, and I'm just gonna skip through his biography, because it's very long, and we don't have time to do it again.

RIGS PUN TSUM SOGS PAR SKYE BA ZHES PA'I TSUL, THAN DE LA YON DANG NYES PA'I TSUL, NYES NAS BSTAN PA LA BYA BA RDZAS PA'I TSUL LO, So, you know, where did he grow up? How was he born? What was his family?

First one, I call it roots right? Second part, how was he trained okay? What kind of teachings did he attend?

What kind of teachings did he get in his life okay? And then third one is mission, then what did he do after he became a teacher, after he became qualified? Then what did he do?

And all of us are the same in this room, everyone who wants to be an ACI teacher, I think we're very lucky because we have such a rich variety of people here, we have people from many countries, we have people of many different kinds of personality, we have big businessmen, we have artists, we have musicians, we have all kinds of people, and so you have different roots right? Then training, how should you train yourself? And then you're gonna have your teaching career, you know?

Maybe people will talk about the Three Turnings of the Wheel by Peter and Masha in their life okay? So, let's look at his life story, and as we go through it don't think about some Indian who lived a thousand years ago, think about your story okay? Alright, and I'm just gonna go through the the highlights of his life.

He was born in Bangla, which is probably Bengal nowadays, and he was born into a royal family, he was a prince. They had 35,000 subjects, which is a big city in his time. They had a golden palace, grew up in a golden palace, and extremely powerful family okay?

So, many of the Buddhist saints had the karma to be born into very powerful families. RGYAL ZAS CHUNG NAS BDAG BA CHOG RGYAS LAS MA SONG BA'I KUS CHUNG NGU. At the age of 18 months, he started to study refuge and bodhichitta okay?

He's a little bit ahead of us. Okay, when he was three he studied ... CI means ...

what do you call it? Astrology, but in the old days this was important. It was a very exact science, and very difficult to learn, and he studied writing, and he studied Sanskrit.

He became a master of Sanskrit at the age of three. Then they say at the age of six he learned to distinguish between the outer and the inner. He learned to distinguish between the outer and the inner, and that means what's the difference between Buddhist philosophy and other kinds of philosophy?

What are the ideas that are different between Buddhism and other philosophies? And he mastered it, and they say he was one of the few people ... there were only three people in India who got it right, which is Atisha, Naropa, and Shantipa.

And they made a joke, Naropa had passed away later, then Atisha had gone to Tibet, and there was only ... there was only one person left in India who clearly understood the difference. But he understood it at six.

When he was eleven, he discovered girlfriends, and then he decided it wasn't worth it. Sixth grade right? Fifth grade, sixth grade.

He checked it out and he decided this is not for me okay, this is not what I want to do. And a woman, a young lady came to him who was Tara in disguise, and she said, BU MO NGOL SANGS MA ZHIG GIS LHA GCIG MA BYA MA BYA DGE BA CAN DAM PA'I RTZAL DUS LANG PO'I PHYIN BA LTAR, DUS PA'I STAMDIR PA'O GYUR CING NA, TSUL KHRIMS DGOS BYIN NUS PAR MI'I RGYUR RAM You are potentially as powerful as an elephant. Your spiritual life could be as powerful as an elephant, but when you chain an elephant, it's the greatest loss.

When you chain up the most powerful being, it's a great loss. So don't waste your time with small things. You have a great future, and you should ...

you should try to help the world, not just enjoy yourself okay? Today is the day that Jesus was crucified right? And there's a tradition that when he started to teach, he was taken out into the desert for 40 days.

He fasted and tried to pray, and the devil came to him and showed him all the riches of the world and said, this can be yours if you want, this can be yours. And the same, very similar tradition in Buddhism, that at a certain age people are offered great wealth, great fame, and these great saints give it up. These great saints say no, that's not all I want to be, I want to be more than that.

So, for him it was around what did I say, 12 years old? 11, when he was 11. So he faced this same decision when he was 11 years old, and he decided not to be a famous king or to spend his time in pleasure okay?

Didn't they say he left the palace with 130 cavalry officers? Horse soldiers with him? And he went looking for a llama okay?

So I guess he's 12 years old, and his bodyguard is a hundred and thirty horse guards, and he went out to the forest, and he met a famous Buddhist teacher named Jettari, Jettari, and he taught him, he gave him refuge vows okay? And then he said you should go meet this llama at Nalenda Monastery, which is northeast India, and his name is Bodhi Bhadra, Chanjusambal, and you should go study with him. So he did.

Maybe he's 13, something. DE KYANG SANGS RJE DANG BDAG MA NGAG LA NI NGON GYI LAM BA'ABA DU DE Then he taught him about bodhichitta, and he gave him the third kind of teaching, what do we say? ZHUNG BA BA, LAM RIM BA, DANG NGAG PA.

Yeah, he said you go get personal advices, not formal teaching, from a llama named Ava Duti okay? Ava Duti. What's Ava Duti?

Yeah, it's the ... ZHONG MA'I? It's called Ava Duti okay?

As I remember, Ava Duti means to throw off, you know like, take it off, get it off okay? And refers to what? These two channels, pingala, irtha, and you take them off, so all the chi moves to the central channel.

So that llamas name is throw off the side channels. The teacher's name was throw off the side channels, which is the goal of yoga for example okay? Okay.

YAB YUN GYIS KHOR BA'I RKYUN RGYAL SRID GSUNGS LA KHO BA'I SBYONG LA SPYOD PA, U PONG LA BYIN PA TSUD LA GANG ZHING LA. Then his mom and dad said look, the job of a prince is to build temples, give charity to the poor, and make offerings to the Three Jewels. It's not that kings are meant to become monks, or become spiritual practitioners okay?

And so you're kind of ... it's okay to be spiritual, and they were spiritual, but they said you're not doing it the right way. You shouldn't do it that way.

RGYAL SRID LA CHAGS PA'I RNAMS DU TZAM YIN MI DGOS. Then he said to his parents, to tell you the truth, there's nothing about this palace that's interesting to me, and I don't want to be a king. NAG PHRAG, for me it's the same as ...

the food you serve in this palace is the same to me as eating rotten dog's meat. And all the silk you guys all wear, I don't have any attraction to it. So he kind of had a ...

what do you call it? Tension with his parents okay? Alright.

BDAG LA THEG CHEN SEMS RGYAS DBANG KHOR NI GYIS, GNAD PAR CING BA'I DE LA BRJOD LA ZHIG ZHIG ZHUGS PA SNYING PHRAG CHU GSUM PA RGYAS BZHIN NI RGYAL PO GCIG PA BRTEN NA. Okay, in the old days, with special people, it would happen that they would get tantric initiation first, and then they would study the great books later okay? So, ACI, we do it you know, you learn the subjects first, open subjects, and then later you learn the secret teachings.

But if the person's special, there is a tradition to give them Vajrayana first. So, Atisha was like that, and he met a tantric teacher, and he got the name Yeshe Tsangwa, Yeshe Tsangway Dorje, Secret Wisdom Diamond okay? And he studied with a tantric Lama named Rahula.

I like this one, this is kind of weird, this is what we did in the hippie times. So, Atisha went and studied with this tantric Lama, and with some of his friends, and they all came back to the palace dressed like Tantrikas. So, and they were dancing and singing and acting a little crazy, and the parents were really upset.

But they loved their son, so they let him stay in the palace, but it was a little bit crazy because they are ... they are doing like tantric rituals, and singing and dancing, and the parents were really uncomfortable okay? I think there's some kind of message there.

I don't know what it is, it's interesting. Then they basically ... I think it was a plan, because finally the king and queen kicked him out, and said don't come back, and then he was free okay?

Like he was embarrassing them, so they they kicked him out. And from the age of 21 to the age of 29, although there's some debate about it, maybe 28, he studied with Amadute, and a great tantric master. They have an interesting expression in Tibetan.

NGA THANG DRAN DANG MED PA DE CHIL MED THAL BA BZHIN DU MTHUR. He took all that power, political power, and financial power that he had, and he spit it out like a booger. You know, like ...

and to him it means that much. All the money, all the power, he just put, and to him it wasn't more important than spit okay? And this ...

Pabongka says that was pretty amazing to give up so much power and so much wealth like spit. He continued to study Vajrayana. He started to get ...

what do you call ... big head? He said, oh I'm a real tantric master, and so the dakinis, the lady angels came to him, and they showed him a huge library of tantric books that he never saw before.

They said, you're not a tantric master, look you never even saw these books before. So he got ... they put him in his place?

Okay, alright. Then one of his tantric lamas said, you know, if you really want to help the world, you should become a monk. Which is a cool statement okay?

We think that first you become a monk, and then you should become a tantrica. But in this case, one of his tantric teachers, Rahula Gupta, told him look, if you really want to help people, it's not enough to be a tantrica. You should be a monk also.

And so, he became a monk. At the age of 29, which is pretty old okay? So nowadays in the monastery, you go there at 7, they get first ordination around 15, and at 21 they become a full monk.

But, I think there's something important that Atisha, who's kind of like the grandfather of our whole tradition, waited until he was almost 30. And you're talking in a culture where people live to 40, you see? So he was three quarters through his life before he became a monk.

So it means it was a very serious step in those days. Eventually he studied with a hundred and fifty seven teachers. And then he met a teacher named Dharmaraksita okay?

Whose text Seiji's translating. And with him he studied ... you know that text is very almost tantric, but what did he study with Dharmaraksita is Vinaya.

The whole Vinaya. We call it Seiji. And Lumba.

Yeah, Abhidharma. He studied Abhidharma. So you think, you know, when you read that poem, it seems like Dharmaraksita must have been his tantric teacher or something, but it turns out he was his teacher for the foundation subjects, Vinaya and Abhidharma okay?

And they studied Chedak Trishepa, which is a detailed explanation, which is why the detailists are called detailists okay? So in those days it was common to teach from this Abhidharma book. Pampukyejya, 800 chapters to that book okay?

And he studied it for 12 years with Dharmaraksita okay? And then when he left for Tibet to teach Dharmaraksita gave him the Crown of Knives. I like this part in his life a lot.

I think I even put it in the Lojong course, I don't remember. But he was hanging out in Bodhgaya okay? Which was called Vajrasana at that time, a Seat of the Diamond.

And two women, two beautiful ladies were flying through the sky okay? And he's like, whoa! You know, and they were yelling at each other you know, and one of them said, hey if I want to get enlightened really fast you know, what should I study?

And the other said, bodhichitta, bodhichitta. Then he's like, hmmm. You know, he got this sign okay?

Then he was at a special wall which was built by Nagarjuna around the Bodhi tree, because the Bodhi tree was getting eaten up by elephants and stuff. So at that time there was a famous wall built by Nagarjuna to protect the Bodhi tree. And there was an old lady and a young lady, and they were sitting against the wall, and the young one asked the old one, if I wanted to get enlightened really fast like, what would be the best way?

And the old one said, oh you got to study bodhichitta, you should study bodhichitta. And then a third thing he was doing, gando korwa means ... what do you call it?

Circumambulating the whole Bodhgaya stupa, which we can still do, we did it ... we all went as a group not long ago. 1999.

And so, he was walking around the stupa, and there was a ... there was a Buddha statue, and it started talking to him, and it said, hey, if you really want to get enlightened fast, you got to study bodhichitta. You know, so these are three ...

oh, it looks like there's another one. Yeah, and it happened again with another image. So, he thought, well that ...

I guess it means I should study bodhichitta. And he started to check around if there was a good teacher who could teach bodhichitta, and he heard about Lama Sterlingpa, Suvarnadvipa Guru, okay? Suvarnadvipa, which means Sumatra in the old days.

So, he got information that if he went to Indonesia, what they call Golden Island ... is that where we're going gentlemen? We're going to Bali for the Lam Rim in December.

So, you guys should come, because it's very close to where Atisha got the instructions on bodhichitta, and besides that, it's a beautiful beach. I think that's more important. We went there with the Indonesia group recently.

It was quite beautiful, and I think it's a good karma to study those subjects where they were taught. So, if you have time, talk to Jasmine about it. So, he heard about this Lama called Lama of the Golden Island, Sumatra, and he decided he would go request the teachings on bodhichitta, and he got in a boat, and they went for 13 months, okay?

And in those days, extremely dangerous. Very small survival rate. Then they had lots of adventures.

Whales and sharks tried to tip over the boat, and special lightning storms, and Atisha would always stand in the front of the boat and do prayers, and then they they made it. Took 13 months, okay? They say, there's an interesting thing they say, Pabongka says, look, you and me, if we go out of the monastery for a couple days, we change our clothes.

We put on lay clothes, but during those 13 months on the ship, Atisha never took off his ... he didn't wear normal clothes. He always wore his monk robe.

And that's the next item. What is the next item? 91.

I think it's a bunch of DCI teachers, like Peter and Masha dressed up in nice clothes, and suits, and stuff, and this is very much something that Atisha would have done. You know, he thought it was very important to dress the part when you're a teacher, so he ... and there's many stories about him making sure his monks were ...

nati? Nati means like, you know, looking very nice, and there's many stories of him encouraging his students when they teach to look professional. I don't mean an ACI teacher should wear a suit and a tie, I think it might be uncomfortable for his students, but you should look nice, okay?

There's a tradition that when you teach the Dharma, you should look nice, okay? You shouldn't look like a bum, you know, like you didn't shave, or you didn't do your hair, or something. Like, to respect the Dharma, it's a tradition to dress nicely, and to look nice for your students, okay?

And you know, we're Buddhists and we think dressing nice isn't very important, but it is important when you're a teacher, okay? You should make a good impression. If your students parents came to the talk, would they be happy?

Okay? That's a good way to think about it. I personally don't like to dress up at all.

I really enjoy old jeans. My jeans are old, really old, and I like old shirts. The shirts I wear sometimes in the evening I got in the Goodwill, and I like them because they're soft, but when we go to teach DCI, I put on this ridiculous suit and a tie, and it's for the Dharma, okay?

It's not for your comfort, okay? So, you should look nice when you teach, okay? You don't have to look fancy, but you should look clean and nice.

If your students parents came, would they be happy? Okay, alright. ,GYUR DU THAMS CAD KHYAMS PA'I KYANG SNGON MI, Then when he got to ...

by the way, I might go over a few minutes, okay? When he got to Sumatra, I think I told you a different time, but it was 14 days. He didn't go to see this Lama for 14 days.

He met all of his students, and he asked questions, and he investigated the teacher. I think nowadays it would be on the internet, you would investigate the teacher, okay? And he investigated that teacher for 14 days before he even went to his house.

So, if it's you and me, we will jump off the boat and run to the teacher's house after 13 months, but he ... you know, he gave us an example that we should be picky about the teacher, and we should investigate the teacher, check them, okay? Almost done.

The first book he studied with that teacher, 15 days of teaching, was the Jewel of Realizations, okay? A sangha's text, where we got the lion's dance from, okay? Then he spent ...

then he got sold, and he spent 12 years there. He stayed with that teacher for 12 years. Okay, $500 word, okay?

You ready? Because I know you're never going to get it. U NGES BRAL.

U NGES BRAL. U NGES BRAL. Okay, forget it.

Anyway, you'll never forget it in the future. U is easy, BRAL is easy, but NGES you'll never get it. Okay, let's give up.

You give up? Yeah. Okay, U means your head, NGES means your pillow, okay?

NGES means your pillow, BRAL means ... so for 12 years they were as close as your head is to your pillow. It's kind of a sweet way to say they were inseparable, okay?

So, he spent 12 years there, and studied the teachings on bodhichitta. And the teacher said, it's time for you to go do your thing in the land of snows. And Atisha had no idea what he was talking about.

I think we stop there. It goes on quite a bit, okay? I'm gonna stop there.

We'll do more tomorrow. Mark, Salustra, you ready? NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, SRI MARK, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SALUSTRA, NGES BRAL, SAL