Адам Андраде — Книга 2: Логика. Рассеивая тьму, занятие 12

[Speaker 3]
Reading.

[Speaker 1]
No, there's a lot of stuff. I mean, I'm pretty much just running on autopilot. Okay, see you tomorrow.

Yeah, definitely. Thank you.

[Speaker 2]
All right, Adam, you ready to go?

[Speaker 3]
Yeah, definitely.

[Speaker 2]
And have a good night. Thank you. Yeah, thanks.

[Speaker 1]
You know what? I'm going to just get a little bit more hot water for my tea here, and I'll be right back. Okay, so we've got our first raised hand here.

Let's see. Okay, Kate, I just promoted you. You should be able to talk if you want to, if you've got a question.

Okay, so if you guys have questions, yeah, feel free. And if you want me to, I can enable your, I can give you permission to talk. But also feel free to just write, to just write your questions into the chat.

27 people here. Hi, how are you? Oh, hi, Anatole.

How are you, man? Okay, so let's see what we've got. Yeah, so we've got, we've got a question from Katie about, I mean, the best way to explain a concept like nirvana to somebody who is unfamiliar with Buddhism.

Okay, should I, I guess, you know what, let me ask first, is this somebody who has no idea of, who's never heard of any of the concepts presented in Buddhism? Or is this somebody who's kind of like familiar with Buddhism, and they understand things like karma, and cause and effect, and never known about Buddhism? Well, you kind of got to start from the bottom, don't you?

So obviously, first thing you do is you teach the pen, right? I mean, you need to establish, I think it's kind of, it was kind of, it was kind of interesting. You know, when Geshe Michael first started teaching us the long rim, he started by saying, you know, it's going to take us like 10, 15, 20 years to complete this book.

And, you know, we're just starting out. And, you know, you guys just prepare, because it's going to be a long journey. And the first year, really, the first year of the teaching, Geshe Michael actually went to the end of the book, Geshe Michael actually went to the, the end of Pabongkha Rinpoche's presentation of liberation in your hands.

And he grabbed the section on emptiness, and he grabbed the section on meditation. And he taught those first, because he felt like those were going to be, that was going to give you the proper tools that you need in order to approach each one of the topics as they're presented in the long rim. So you kind of have to have a really thorough understanding of emptiness and meditation first, you know, but through teaching the pen, you can establish things like karma and karmic cause and effect.

And then you can lead to, to teach people the four noble truths, which establishes where suffering is coming from, the fact that it has a path, that there's a path to turn that off. And through establishing the four noble truths, you can kind of lead into teaching about nirvana, and how to eliminate your mental afflictions one by one, after you've seen emptiness directly. So in order to get to nirvana, you have to systematically, what is it?

Nyanjotmaluparpambe sosartangot, which means having, you've eradicated your mental afflictions one by one, using what you learned when you saw emptiness directly. So you begin to apply that on the bodhisattva levels, and to quickly remove, well, on some paths quickly, on some other paths, not so quickly, you begin to move away, remove your mental afflictions. So it's kind of, that actually, how do I put this?

They say that on the debate ground, proving the existence of, proving the possibility of reaching a state like nirvana, is actually one of the hardest things that you can do. It's one of the most advanced kind of, it's one of the most advanced streams of thought to follow, and it requires a lot of groundwork in order to build up to proving it. So I can talk about things like nirvana, and I can define them, and I can talk about their characteristics, and I can define something like the five paths, and I can say how nirvana is here on the, it's path four out of the five paths, and we can clearly kind of talk about what nirvana is.

We can put it in its place, and we know its characteristics, we know its qualities, but it's a much different thing to actually prove something, and it can take hours and hours and hours and hours to actually prove the existence of nirvana, because you got to kind of start from the bottom, but I know that's kind of a long-winded way of explaining it. So you're saying if we understand emptiness and karma, we can use this to reach nirvana, and we can also go further than expectations. This is, yeah, so that's my mom, actually, my mom just asked that question.

Well, yeah, but it's a little bit, it's a little bit, yeah, totally, well, that's it. So Catherine just brought up a very interesting point. So it's using our understanding of the two husbands in the kitchen to properly respond to the situation, which will bring about, which will bring us to a state of nirvana later.

So it's only by understanding something like the two husbands in the kitchen, and really working with that every time it comes up, every time you have any type of suffering or pain in your life, to look at it through that light. Yeah, definitely. It's, let me, let me just, let me, let me slow down here.

Yeah, because it seems like with Catherine's, Catherine kind of added to the, Catherine kind of added to the discussion. And, you know, my mom asked a question, she said, so you're saying if we understand emptiness and karma, we can use this to reach nirvana? And we can also get rid of our mental afflictions?

Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying. But there's, there's a lot of detail in there. So if you're going to explain something like nirvana, to somebody who's never heard of Buddhism before, first off, I would make sure you have a cup of coffee.

I'd make sure that they have, you know, a half hour or so free to kind of lay everything out. And, and then I would hit it, like, you know, present the pen, present suffering, present the four truths, present the path of removing suffering, as a means of eventually seeing emptiness and then attaining nirvana. So that would kind of be a more succinct, succinct way of putting it.

Anybody else have a question? I hope that was, I hope that was okay. Yeah.

And obviously, that's where Catherine's comment kind of functions into this whole answer is that you, you, you use your understanding of karma and emptiness to, to work with your, to work with the two husbands in the kitchen to, to remove your, your negative emotions, and then to eventually reach nirvana. So yes. We still got 40 minutes, you guys start firing away.

I kind of gotta, let me go get my, sorry, it's one second. I'm just gonna go grab my, my, my tea real quick too. I mean, it's a, it's a really, it's a, it's kind of, it's an interesting question because you start to realize just how much you've had to accept and learn and all of the logical kind of things that you've had to, to understand in order to build up, to have a mature understanding of nirvana and being, that's one of the things you have to be super thankful for as far as having Geshe Michael for a teacher, because his presentation of these concepts is just it's very approachable. So, oh, for someone non-religious.

Well, you know, it's interesting because that's, that's essentially the way that you would present it. Okay. So can you explain reality and ultimate reality for someone non-religious?

So this would be the basic DCI presentation of the two truths. Is there anybody here that can teach the, the two husbands or Spanish, Spanish rec? Are, are you guys, are you guys familiar with the two husbands, the two husband presentation?

Geshe Michael's presentation of the two, two realities? Yeah. Well, that, that would pretty much be, be it.

It's interesting though. I mean, if we, if you guys want to, we can talk about the two realities. You know, if I was going to present this to someone non-religious in a non-religious aspect, right?

Okay. I'm gonna ask you a question, right? So everybody, everybody participate if you can.

So I'll ask a question. You guys just answer in the chat. So who, who sets the current opinion?

Who sets the current worldview for our planet today? Who, who tells us? Okay.

So in, in conventional reality in society, right? In our non-Buddhist lives, who, who defines reality? Okay.

So we're going to take a leap here and I'm going to say, well, yeah, what we do, but I'm talking more from like, okay, so if, okay, so if I walk, if I walk down to the local school here and I go into the school and I approach a science teacher, right? And I say, hey teacher, can you tell me about reality? Right.

He's going to give me a breakdown of, of physical reality, right? So what I'm trying to say here is I'll take the leap for you. Okay.

So the people who are, who are setting the current worldview for our planet are actually the scientists, right? So they will tell you, okay, well, you know, I mean, you define everything, right? Chemistry, physics, you know, electrical phenomenon, right?

Everything is described through some, some type of physics, right? So you've got reality, okay, which is being defined by somebody else, right? It's a conventional reality.

Yeah. I mean, are you guys following? It's so hard, you know, leading these things are so hard because I find that I can't get any feedback.

So, so at Geshe Michael today, and in my texts, excuse me, in my, in my class, in my last class, we talked about what's called inborn things that you learn, like things that are wrong, right, that you learn from society after you're born. So like, in some cultures, it's okay, and it's accepted to eat meat, right? So there are certain cultural norms that are assumed by somebody that's born into that society.

So in the same way, we're all born into this reality. And from the time that we're very small, we go into a science class, we go to school, and we have people defined to us the nature and the characteristics of our reality, right? So I have not forgotten the question.

The question was, how would you explain this to somebody? How would you explain the two truths to somebody who is non religious? If I was going to explain it to somebody who is non religious, I would come at it from their perspective, which means that I would bring an understanding of quantum mechanics of physics, right?

And how quantum mechanics actually supports the nature of, excuse me, how quantum mechanics actually supports highest middle wave philosophy, right? So I would, I would tie, I would tie in, if I'm trying to talk to somebody whose understanding is non religious, I have to come at it from their level. And so if we're going to talk about reality, I have to assume that they also accept the conventions of society.

And the conventions of our society are such that it's pretty easy, actually, to teach the two husbands using something like the double slit experiment from, from physics. So you guys, you guys have seen Geshe Michael present that, right? He talks about the double slit experiment, right?

He's done it at a few of the long rounds. So I first attack. So you have to attack.

But it's really, it's really weird, though, too, because every time I go into talking about how I would go into a debate with somebody, you also have to remember that you cannot engage in a debate with somebody who is not actively seeking to learn what it is that you're trying to prove. So you can't just go into a debate with anybody. That person has to actively be trying to understand the difference between the two truths.

You see what I'm saying? So if I'm going to have that conversation with somebody, and we're going to talk about the two truths from a non religious standpoint, then, but you know, I think it's really interesting, because I, I really don't think Buddhism is all that much of a religion. I think it's just a description of reality.

And I really don't find it to be that, quote, unquote, religious. It's a bit like if somebody gave me a textbook of how reality works. You know, I wouldn't call that a physics book religious.

But that's just my opinion, too. And, you know, I'm sorry, I know that's probably, probably wasn't the clearest answer. But that did that make sense?

Okay. Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, you guys keep firing your questions.

Of the three levels, the very hidden things must be proved by scriptural authority. How can I tell if they're, if they are the words of the Buddha? Or how can I pick a truly authoritative text?

Thank you. Yeah. So it's kind of a few different.

There's a couple of questions in there. I'll start with the easiest first. And how can I pick a truly authoritative text?

Um, well, we're taught that any book, okay, so if you wanted to really look at this, and you wanted to really study this, you could go look at Ben Kramer's text. He's currently translating. And probably was that maybe a year and a half, two years ago, he did a whole like a long footnote on what's called the four, the four seals.

So any Buddhist book, they say, it says in Scripture, that any book, which is worth studying, will will possess what's called the four seals. And that's how you can choose a text, which is authoritative. So I would, I'd revisit what is known as the four seals.

And then that can actually help you find that can actually help you find an authoritative text. Mind you, though, all of these texts that we're studying are obviously authoritative. So the first part of your question, the very hidden things that must be proved by scriptural authority, how can I tell if they're words of the Buddha?

It's a very interesting question, you know, because you're asking, you're asking for proof that Lord Buddha actually spoke that, right? And yeah, that would have to be done through deduction, because you're, you're not in a place where you can directly kind of perceive the Buddha speaking. So because you don't have direct perception of the Buddha speaking these words, you have to rely on deduction to discern whether or not he did say these words.

The interesting thing about that, though, and this is something, yeah, this is something that I'll get to that in just a second. So, like, if I, like, for instance, my mom is, my mom's on the call, right? She's, she's been on video, she's been dialing in and connecting to these calls.

And it's really interesting, though, if I asked for proof, right? Like, if somebody asked me to prove who my mom was, right? How would you go about proving who your parents were?

Anybody? How can I prove who my parents are? Yeah, but I mean, there's still like a a margin of, yeah, totally.

Although I don't have direct perception of it, of my right conception and birth. And so, yeah, but see, the thing about this is that, is that all of these things could be faked. Like none of these things is actual proof is what I'm trying to is what I'm trying to say.

Right? So if I went to the government, like if I went to, I mean, yeah, it has to do with the nature of proof. And the nature of proof is actually kind of a, it's a study in itself.

Yeah, you can use, you got to use deduction. So I don't know if I'm understanding the question correctly or not. I think I got the last part, how you can pick a truly authoritative text.

You use what's called the four seals. And I think that that's, if I remember correctly, the four seals is presented in Course 5. Yeah.

So you can, you can actually go and check Course 5 as well. And yeah, you have to use deduction or scriptural authority. I don't know if I'm understanding it correctly though.

And I hate to move on without, without knowing if I, if I fully answered your question. So was that, was that, did that answer your question? I don't feel like I answered the question to be quite honest.

That's why I'm having a hard time moving on. Please though, if anybody else has, has anything else, burning questions, unless we've got another comment down here. Catherine, is that, oh, that's Dartha's question.

Right. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

I forgot. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

So if you teach the pen, how can you show the two realities? Okay. I like to, I like to think of it this way.

Is the, okay. The husband that doesn't exist, right. Is the husband that is coming.

If the husband, the husband that doesn't exist is the husband who gets upset because of traffic or because he's hungry. Right. If that is the husband who, that's the two headed purple elephant in the right.

So the pen, which came from a factory, you know, that was put together by people in a, in a factory and assembled in a box that I bought at a store. That's another version of the two headed purple elephant. You know, what's really interesting.

If you guys, do you guys want to go a little deeper? So I just, I find myself that like, I want to say something that I haven't heard Gesha and Michael really said before, because we've all heard the presentation of the two, the two truths. Right.

So one of the ways that we can look at the two realities or the yeah, the two truths is okay. So like I said, we're going to go deep. So you guys stay with me here.

Okay. If I look at a pen on a table, right. And I'm seeing a cylinder, right.

With I'm seeing the parts of the pain, you know all I see really is color and shape. Right. And then in my mind, my mind takes the, the input that my eye sees, my eye sees the, the, the colors and the shape of the pen.

And I take that in, in my mind ties them all together. Right. I, I conceptually, I label that I label those parts of pen.

Right. Okay. The interesting thing about that, I'm going to do this, right.

So we're not talking about a pen anymore. We're going to talk about this, this, this cup of tea. Okay.

So this cup of tea that's in front of me, they say is what they say is, is a part of hidden reality. Did you get that? This cup, this cup is part of hidden reality.

Now, isn't that kind of contradictory to what we learned earlier, because we were told that what is evident, the colors and the shape, right. The thing, which is the coffee cup, the, the parts out there, which I label, right. We were told that this was actually part of evident reality.

Right. Like what are the characteristics of the first level of reality that it's evident it's what's called non-cure. Right.

Yeah. Well, the, the, I know it's crazy because this is actually, and you have to remember that the, what I'm saying is from a, is from a perspective of the second school. Okay.

So when the second school talks about how you see this object, right. They say that you can't actually, that you don't actually understand the real, you don't actually understand this real object, that what you're doing is you're labeling this object, right. And you've got an idealized view of it in your mind.

That is the closest approximation to what you think a coffee cup is. Right. So in the second school, if we're going to establish what a coffee cup is, right.

In the second school, we learn that it's what's called my Yimpa Le Lofa. It's the opposite of everything that this cup is not. Okay.

So when I'm perceiving everything, right. I'm getting all this information and all this sense is coming in and all these colors, these shapes, and I'm looking at my computer monitor and I see my headphones and I've got my coffee cup and I look at my arm, right. Every single thing that I've just done is I've labeled that object because I've been tying it together in my mind, right.

However, where does the ability to, excuse me, where does the mental image come from? Where does the mental image for this coffee cup come from? Like, why do I see a coffee cup and, you know, an ant, you know, sees just a big pile of whatever.

Why is that? It's from the seeds, right. So in the highest middle way, so we're no longer in the second school, but in the highest middle way, they say that there's no difference between the object and the mental image.

So what I'm trying to say is that the characteristics of this coffee cup is actually something that I can only understand if I conceptualize it. And because of that, that's why they define it. That's why they say that it is hidden.

You see what I'm saying? That if you have to use mental images to understand something physical, you're not actually getting at that object, but you are actually getting at just mental images. You see what I'm saying?

Your understanding of all of these objects is just an approximation. And because of that, that's another way that you could teach the two truths using the pen. I would say that the pen that exists on the table, apart from my understanding of where it's coming from, is the two-headed purple elephant.

But one of the things I'm starting to figure out is that, and since, you know, if you guys have a question, just feel free to jump in and ask, but I'm just going to kind of talk because I feel like I've been kind of letting a lot of, I've just been letting a lot of dead air kind of come through, and nobody's asking questions. So I'm just going to talk until somebody has a question. So does the object, the pen, on the table, does the object on the table exist the way I think it does?

It's from the Heart Sutra, right? No, exactly. Yeah.

So we know that the object doesn't exist the way it appears to us.

[Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
So how can we get deeper and deeper understandings of the actual object? Well, we have to improve our understanding of these books, right? So all of the class time you guys have been coming to, all of the time we've been spending in lectures, this is all meant to refine your understanding of reality, obviously.

Yeah. And, but this is all, this is all part of it. Like so far we've talked about, okay, so there's a, there's a, there's a cool idea.

I thought it would be cool, Bertha, to write a book that was, that focused specifically on how each one of the Buddhist, the four Tibetan schools, or the five, if you wanted to, if you wanted to split them on Jamaica, how each one of the schools sees the two truths. So how does each one of the Buddhist schools view the two truths? And I think it'd be interesting to see like a, like an essay, if somebody went through and, and wrote like a small essay or a book or something on the, on how the, on how the view of the two truths changes, you know, from the first school, the Abhidharmas, to the Sutras, to the Mind-only, and then to the Manjamika.

I think that'd be really interesting, you know, because that's essentially what, that's essentially how you define each one of the Buddhist schools, is by their, how they, how their opinions on, on emptiness differ, right? So you define the Tibetan Buddhist schools by how they view emptiness, and how they describe emptiness, right? So it's, it's actually, it's a really cool question, Bertha, and, you know, how do you teach the pen?

So here's a question for you. Is the presentation of the pen a Manjamika presentation, or is the presentation of the pen a Mind-only presentation? Is it highest middle way?

Is it? I always thought it was very interesting, because Geshe-la always talks about the pen as if it's the cylinder, the, you know, the colors, and the shape on the table, and yeah, totally, but it always sounded kind of like a Mind-only presentation, because the way that Geshe-la talks about the, the pen, and the, and the, the dog, and the human, it sounds very 50-50, right? The pen's kind of bringing its colors, and its shapes, and I'm bringing my, I love it.

That was a, was the question we had, I can't remember, we asked Geshe-la that question a few years ago, and I think it's true, it's kind of, it's according to the audience, definitely, because where do you want to go with your presentation of the pen? What's the next step? What, like, like, we talked earlier about the presentation of Nirvana, right, to somebody who, who's never, who's not familiar with Buddhism, but where's a really beautiful place to take the discussion after you teach somebody the pen?

Well, you know, one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, right, well, yeah, definitely, emptiness, definitely. Well, I would go from applying the concepts of emptiness, right, I would go from applying the concepts of emptiness to the pen, to applying them to my own body, my own mind, right? So if I can, if I can, if I can create things like pens, and I can create things like, like, you know, quarter billion dollar business, diamond businesses, then I can also create the karma to view my body as being holy and pure.

And I can create the karma to see my body as that of an angel, right? So the, I think, you know, for me, the natural progression of presenting someone emptiness, if, if you find that the person you're talking to is suitable, right, if they are suitable to teach these things, then I think a very beautiful place to take the discussion of, of emptiness is to applying it to your own enlightenment. And right, so, so you take the pen, and then you superimpose your own body, right?

And you talk about purifying your town and creating a beautiful paradise out of your town, right? And purifying your world, and purifying your, your flesh and purifying the blood. And then that's the goal, right?

So I always thought that's a very beautiful place, because you can get people very, you get people very inspired, right? And then people start to think to themselves, oh, well, you know, they think about all their suffering, and they think about the things that they want, and all the good things out of life that they want. And then that gets them very inspired, because you give them a method for achieving their, their deepest wishes, and their deepest, their, their deepest wishes, and their, their biggest dreams.

You teach somebody emptiness, and you, you give them all things, you know. So it's a very beautiful place to, to start to talk about how they can purify their own mind and their own body. Got eight more minutes.

I'm going to stay, I'm going to stay here all eight minutes. So here's a good, here's a good question. I got a question for you guys, right?

How do you handle things like jealousy? Like I'm, I'm particularly having a really hard time with jealousy right now. Can you guys give me some help?

Come on, you DCI teachers.

[Speaker 2]
Where have I planted it before?

[Speaker 1]
Oh, well, you know what? Here's, here's a question, right? This is something I used to ask, I used to ask.

So if I'm jealous of someone, does that mean that I want to take what they have, and have it only for myself? Like, like, if I see somebody driving a car, right? Do you recognize the person you were jealous of?

Totally, totally. Yeah, like, if I see someone driving a car, right, and I really like that car, and you know, that's, that's the car I wanted. Since I was a little kid, I used to dream of driving in a car.

And I'm jealous of the fact that that person has that car. And for some reason, I'm thinking to myself, you know, I deserve that car, and they don't, right? Can you, what's the difference between admiring something that someone has, and then wanting to, and then wanting something only for yourself?

You guys see the difference? We could see the others doing well. Oh, totally.

That's a, okay. Okay. So, okay.

So Tom Lin. Totally, totally. Thank you guys.

Yeah. Totally. Okay.

Like, I think, you know, what, you know, here, let me see if I can ask, if I can ask this. So I was specifically having, having a conversation, this was like a few years ago. And, and I was like, you know, it's not that I don't want that person to not have the car.

It's just that I wouldn't mind having the car also. Right? So what I'm trying to ask is, is there a, is there a quality to jealousy, which has to be focused on wanting, on not wanting the person who you're focused on to have that good thing.

Does that make sense? So it's like, if I'm truly jealous of somebody, I want something only for myself and I don't want them to have it. Right.

You guys see the distinction I'm making? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's true.

I mean, I planted the seeds to see them have the car as well. Right. Yeah, totally.

That's a good way of looking at it as well. Definitely. I mean, what does that say about all of us to have such a beautiful teacher?

Like we have the most amazing teacher, the most perfect, holy, beautiful teacher who can teach us the entirety of the path and bring us to ultimate enlightenment who has all of the knowledge who's walked the path himself. Right. What does that say about us?

If we have the seeds to see a holy being like Geshe Michael, what does that say about us? Right. If the same thing is true about the car, we're pretty lucky people.

[Speaker 2]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you guys. Thank you for your input. I like this.

Um, totally. I mean, this is coming from me, right? Tonglin, definitely gratitude.

It's my good seeds to see others doing well. Right. Rejoice in them.

I'm just reading some of the comments here. I think these are very beautiful. Thank you.

Yeah, normally share the dharma in the path, knowing the source. So let me ask you this. Um, oh, thank you.

We've planted Adam. Um, so let me ask you this. Um, how, how do we plant karma?

Excuse me. What is the karma to S what's the karma to keep Geshe-la in our lives? And what's the karma to get closer to Geshe Michael as time goes on.

So what's the karma to keep our teacher in our lives and what's the karma to get close to them? No dispute. Definitely.

Definitely. Yeah, that, well, you know, specifically, um, that, yeah, serving him totally. You know, it's interesting that no dispute thing.

Um, that specifically relates to, um, Geshe Michael to Geshe Michael's life. Right. So if the students are bickering, then it actually decreases the life of the Lama.

Um, so, um, fighting amongst the students actually hurts the Lama's body. Um, and I think it's very interesting, right. It's very interesting because if you are, we, as, as Geshe Michael Sangha, right.

We are all, um, representatives of the Dharma in this world. Right. Um, so as Geshe Michael's, um, students, um, we have a responsibility, right.

To practice the Dharma well, to be good examples of it. Right. So I think it's very interesting though, that if instead of cooperating and getting along and working together, um, if students began to fight and are jealous, right.

Um, and I'm doing that many confession right now. So thank you guys for letting me confess. Um, but, um, you know, um, you're attacking you.

So let me ask you a question. Okay. So it's, it's eight o'clock.

So we've got, uh, we've got, um, we've got, uh, what was it? Like five more minutes or so. Um, let me ask you guys a question.

So why is it that fighting amongst the students of a teacher would, would, would, would hurt the life force of the Lama? Yes. Think about it.

Right. How is the, how is that fighting amongst the students? Right.

Like an attack on the body of the Dharma. You see what I'm saying? And because you're attacking the body of the Dharma, you're also attacking the body of the teacher.

You see what I'm saying? Because you are a part of the Sangha. And when you go to fight with other parts of the Sangha, it's like you're fighting with yourself.

Right. You see what I'm saying? Yeah.

Our teachers are representative of the Dharma. So if you're, if you're attacking the body of the Dharma, meaning your Dharma brothers and your Dharma brothers and sisters, then you're actually hurting the body of, of the Dharma, you know, which would make sense as to why you would see a ripening, like your teacher getting sick, or your teacher getting older, also eliminating good seeds. Yeah, totally.

Because the seed and seed are the same. Yeah. Our teachers are representative of the Dharma.

Yeah. Yeah, study the Dharma and teach the Dharma. Totally.

They say, and the reason that I asked that question, you know, because the question was, the question was, how do we keep our teacher in our lives? And how do we get closer to them? Well, you do your practice, and you do what they asked you to.

You serve them, you serve them well. And, and you do your practice. They say that's the highest offering you can make your teacher is just to do your practice and be a better person.

So the more you do your practice, and the more you do what your teacher asked you to do, the closer you'll get to them, and the more they'll stay in your lives, the longer they'll stay in your lives. Was that okay answer? I hope this has been fun.

I mean, I hope it hasn't been too boring. I don't like to hear myself, like, just ramble on and talk like this. But I hope you guys have gotten something out of it.

[Speaker 2]
Cool. Very cool.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, definitely. You know what? Definitely.

Yeah. And, you know, maybe one of the things, totally, Ola, I like that. I'm trying to put together, like, a course.

I've been wanting to put together a course on, on debate, and how to, how to debate. So that's definitely something I'm, I'm looking forward to doing. And Ola, whenever I put that together, you'll be one of the first people to know, definitely.

This is very beautiful. And, and you do, you need to go in and kind of, you need to study it, but more so than just studying it, you need to go in and speak it. You need to actually, like, debate with somebody else.

And so, yeah, totally great thing. Both you guys. Yeah, so I've been wanting to put together a series of, of instructional videos that will actually take you, like, lesson through lesson to get deeper and deeper into, into debate.

So you start off very simple, you presume, you know, and then, and then we can get into, to talking about things like the, like the, the proof of, of the existence of Nirvana, right? So we can get into talking about that. We can, the proof of past and future lives, right?

And we can actually get in and, yeah, and we can talk about this because you guys had some questions, but how do I present some of these advanced topics to people who have never heard of Buddhism, right? And if you want to do that in a skilled way, learning how to debate is a very, very beautiful and proper way of learning how to present Buddhism to people. So it is 8.05. And, and I'll tell you what, guys, I really appreciate it. And thank you for bringing your questions. And I hope it was beneficial and that you all at least learned something. I hope it wasn't a waste of time.

Anyways. Cool. Yeah.

Thank you all as well. And love you much and see you guys all in the morning. Okay.

Thank you. Bye-bye.