Адам Андраде — Книга 2: Логика. Рассеивая тьму, занятие 21

[Speaker 1]
All right, guys, so it's 41 after, so we can get started whenever you want. Who's got any burning questions? I see Tim's got his hand raised there.

Yes, so I'm wondering about, it seems to be that we're saying that in this idea that mental images achieve is unchanging. Right, so the question I have is, how can an unchanging thing create a changing thing? Or how does one create an archetype that's unchanging if your mom tells you about car and that becomes the idea of car in your mind?

Right, you know, I don't know, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll tell you what does come to mind now is a, so I had the, yeah, I think in a similar way, right? I had the, I got hung up on if mental images are unchanging, how can I have one understanding of the term Katie, right?

Or let's say Geshe Michael. And I met Geshe Michael in 2010, so a little over a decade ago. When I met him, I had one mental image, one understanding of Geshe Michael, and that has changed and morphed drastically over the past decade.

But can we say that those mental images change? Well, I mean, in the moment of the perception of the mental image, the mental image isn't changing. Right.

But so then my next question is then if karma is ripening as a mental image, isn't karma and unchanging thing that would be creating an unchanging mental image in your mind? Yeah, you know, it's really interesting. It's really interesting, right?

I think we should establish what school we're going to be coming from. Fair enough. Yeah, before we continue to talk about this really any further.

Yeah, you know, something I. So, you know, when I first started translating the Dura, I was spending so much time with the text. You know, there were things that that started to jump out at me from the text that I.

I didn't encounter when I first studied course 13. So there's some very unique karma that comes along with translating these texts. And it's.

It's some pretty heady karma. You know, I think the karma of trying to translate these concepts for people in the future can create. The ability to kind of, you know, translating these texts, I think, really pushes along your ability to have to generate realizations on the topics that are in there.

I don't know if that if that makes much sense. But one of the things that came out for me when I was translating the Dura. Was specifically looking at.

So we were just talking about the categories of existence. And what who can tell me the most broad division that you can have? What's the what's the highest kind of group that we have within the categories of existence?

[Speaker 3]
Changing or unchanging.

[Speaker 1]
Changing or unchanging, right? But that's how we split the first group.

[Speaker 3]
Of existing things.

[Speaker 1]
No, no, no, no. Go higher than that. I mean, this is what I'm saying.

It's this is specifically it's a very subtle thing that I didn't pick up until I started translating this stuff. So existing and non-existing things. What's the most overarching kind of group that we have?

If everything can be either a member of a set or a set itself. What is the most overarching group? The chi.

Go higher.

[Speaker 3]
Higher than chi.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Because chi's are what? Chi's are tomba, right?

Chi's are empty. Yeah.

[Speaker 3]
So it's more than just tomchi.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. There you go. Joy put it.

Joy put it up there.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, she did.

[Speaker 1]
Emptiness. Yeah. In the chat.

But we would not say emptiness. We would say dogme, wouldn't we?

[Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
We would say selflessness. So the most broad category that you can have is that which is selfless.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, don't you think an equally broad category is that which has parts?

[Speaker 1]
You can say they're ginkgap not. They cover the same thing. No, no, no.

Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can definitely do that. Because even things that are unchanging in nature can still be shown to have parts, right?

Yeah. So you could say that. But why am I going there in reference to Tim's question?

[Speaker 3]
What was your question again, Tim?

[Speaker 1]
Well, there are several questions. But the main question was, how does, like, for example, if karma, you know, karma is the ripening of karma, which is you did something and it created a karma.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, right.

[Speaker 1]
How does it create an unchanging thing? How does it create an unchanging thing like a mental image? Now, that's why I asked specifically what school we were in before we're going to start addressing this problem.

Right. So I guess the question is, which school are you addressing the problem from? You're addressing from the logic school right now, right?

You know, I find mentally I want to respond as a prasangika. That's just that's the way that I want to respond in the sense that something unchanging cannot produce something that's changing. Right.

So you're saying your initial question was, how can something that's unchanging produce something that's changing? Well, it can, first off. But what were we talking about?

Tanya do Tanya do Tanya do your part existing in name only. Right. And labeling parts.

Can you point to something within the categories of existence that exists without the labeling process? There's nothing. Including the categories of existence, including the categories of existence.

Even emptiness itself isn't including emptiness.

[Speaker 3]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. So there's nothing. Even the most broad category that we have is actually unchanging.

Yeah. So anything that can exist within that unchanging. Aspect like when when I look at my cell phone.

Right. What would the highest school say that I'm when I when I hold my cell phone, what would the highest school say that I'm holding? Well, you're if you don't look too deep, you're holding a cell phone.

Right. Collaboration of parts. Right.

Things that look like a cell phone and things that I tie together as as being a cell phone. Right. But at the same time.

Is the thing that's in my hand changing or unchanging? If if if the highest school would say that there's no difference between the mental image and the car that I'm about to start with my key. Why would why would the highest school say that there's a difference between the mental image of a cell phone and the cell phone that I'm holding in my hand?

It does say that in several times, like the punchline is, are they different? Mm hmm. Right.

And so with the quality of. With the. If we're specifically focusing on the on whether or not something is changing or unchanging.

And there is no difference between the mental image and the expression of that mental image. And physicality is the thing that's in my hand. Unchanging.

You know, your question was, how can mental images create things which seem to be changing in nature? If everything everything is a production, everything is a projection. 100 percent.

Everything. Everything in physicality and everything that I can't observe with my five senses. Everything that's in the three rounds is either changing or unchanging.

And we just said that the highest school says that there's no difference. Between the two. I cook it, I guess.

Well, I'm not I'm not I'm not proposing that that I understand it either. You know, I know it's the thing that kind of gets me like this where my my mind wants to like I want to find an answer that I'm. Yeah, cool.

I'm glad we. You know, there's no difference between the mental image and the. OK, can we say that everything that we will encounter, can we say that everything we can think about has to be contained within.

The categories of existence. Yes.

[Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
OK, so anything we can think about has to be within the categories of existence. OK, well then, can we take a step further to say that. In the second school right in the second school, we make a huge we draw a huge distinction between things which are changing and unchanging.

Now, who can give me the list of things that exist within the category of unchanging things.

[Speaker 3]
A list of things that exist in the category of unchanging things. Cessations of mental afflictions in the mind of an arhat.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, the lack of self-existence to all existing things. And. Empty space.

In fact, yeah. So that's kind of.

[Speaker 3]
A lack of doubt in the mind of an arhat. Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
So where does non-existence lie? Things which don't exist. It lies out outside the realm of conceptual thought.

Well, can we say.

[Speaker 3]
Or any kind of thought for that matter.

[Speaker 1]
Totally, totally. It's an empty set. It's an old set.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, yeah. OK.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Can we say that. Can we say that.

Can we say that things which don't exist. OK, so what do we have first? We've got things that are empty.

Right. We've got things, things which are selfless. Right.

Things which have no self. Then within that category. Right.

We can split those two. Into what? Changing and unchanging.

Changing and unchanging. Right. So.

Or let's say let's say first, let's say. That which exists and that which doesn't exist. Oh, can we say that things that don't exist are empty of self-existence?

Exactly. Exactly. Because even things that don't exist have to be empty.

So where I'm going with this is just where my mind is kind of like. It's like it's staying. Is that there's nothing.

And I don't know if this is correct or not. This is just like I said, this is just kind of where my mind is. Is that.

From the perspective of the highest. From the perspective of highest middle way. Is there anything that is changing?

And why do I say that? Well. Think about it this way.

Right. We've been talking about a lot about. Chame, which means no part.

Right. To have no part. Chame.

Right. So. If we talk about time.

Right. And we say that time has no parts. Okay.

This is something. It's something else. I just want to share this with you guys because I found it very beautiful.

Like I said, whenever you're translating this stuff, it seems like the karma that you get from translating these things puts very beautiful kind of things in your mind. So ways that you have thought about. Excuse me.

You. The karma just fine. Just puts very beautiful ideas in your mind.

So I had this one thought about like physicality and the relation, the relationship between physicality and time. Right. Because what is time?

[Speaker 3]
An idea.

[Speaker 1]
Time's an idea. Right. But.

Like. And. I.

This is a fault of my own. I have to find a different way of relating these ideas, but in mathematics and in physics, the way that we denote time signatures are not within music, but just time scales is by saying delta T. Right.

It's a change in time. So whenever we say. The smallest moment.

What are we referring to? Well, we're referring to one 64th of a finger snap. Right.

The smallest moment of time. Right. Equivalent with like a plank length of time.

Right. We have to have some way of denoting like the smallest unit in order to talk about it. And believe me from.

Tim. This relates. Just let me try to let me try to tie it back in.

So physicality. Right. Has to do with.

Okay. Like when you talk about the cell phone. Right.

So the cell phone. The screen is put on the back is assembled and then it comes off the assembly line and it's rolled into the box and then it's shrink wrapped and put on the conveyor belt to then be delivered to the nearest iPhone store. Now, whenever this iPhone came into existence, whenever all of its parts came together.

That's why I brought up the Delta T. Okay. Because this object has a first moment in time, doesn't it?

Deceptively speaking. Deceptively speaking. Definitely.

Because when we're talking about first moments, we would have to be able to identify a single moment and we're seeing and we can't do that. So. Whenever we talk about physicality.

It seems to me that time is almost like this way of keeping track of how far along the degradation process and objectives. Does that make sense? Yeah.

We have a pen and we know that if we have this pen, it's going to run out of ink before the plastic degrades before the plastic goes through so many half lives that it essentially radioactively decays into nothingness. Right. We know that eventually that's going to happen with every single thing on this planet, every single thing that's in the universe.

Okay. Now, physicality and time. How does that relate to subtle impermanence?

When we say that something that has a subtle impermanence, what are we saying? We're saying that it's emptiness does not gradually start and it doesn't gradually end. It's simply it blinks into and out of existence.

And how does this how does it do that? But it doesn't catch it. Catch it.

Catch it. It doesn't momentarily. Right.

So every object in the world, every object in the world that you can possibly point to or think about. Right. Is not gradually degrading.

It's simply giving the appearance of gradually degrading. Based on that momentary mental image that is projected upon the cell phone or the pen or whatever you want to you're thinking about. So.

And the reason I'm saying that is because if you've had an introduction to subtle impermanence via Course 13, then you start to understand that every object, the cell phone. It's weird because the background is kind of helping me demonstrate the idea. You know, every object that we have.

It's an illusion that it is solid. It's an illusion. So what's the difference between the cell phone that really exists?

Right. That one that is kind of coming into and out of existence. Catch it.

Catch it. Right. That one that's blinking in and out of existence so fast that it gives the appearance of looking like a stable cell phone.

And now you're not talking about an actual cell phone. You're talking about a series of mental images that you are streaming together, like the composite that we were talking about in the three relationships. You are the person who is linking this cell phone from the previous moment into the cell phone of the next moment.

And so what are you doing? But you're linking two mental images and you are linking unchanging things. You're muted, Tim.

Sorry, I know that was kind of a. No, I want to say thank you for that answer. It's given me a lot to think about, you know, how to, how to, how to conceptual, like just to think about it.

And then maybe. Yeah, it's something I'm working with and you gave me a lot more to chew on, so thank you. Thanks, Nicole.

Thank you for. Yeah, thanks for thanks for your comments, Nicole. Yeah, cool.

You know, and like I said, man, I don't I don't expect that there's even an answer in there. It's just that, you know, when I hear the question, right, there's an obvious discrepancy in my mind and thinking that, OK, well, we know that cell phones are changing. Right.

Cell phones are changing, aren't they? We didn't seem like they change. It seems like they do.

It definitely seems like they do. But doesn't it definitely seem like from the second school's perspective that cause and effect work as well?

[Speaker 3]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
And we know from the highest, from highest middle way that cause and effect is what?

[Speaker 3]
Illusory.

[Speaker 1]
Is illusory. Objection. Exactly.

So. Exhibit A. You know what I mean?

Exhibit A. Yeah, it's good stuff to think about, you know. And like I said, I don't purport to have the answers.

I just I really just like to I really just like to debate with myself, man. Oh, thank you. Essentially, it's just what I just sit around and think about over the past decade.

I've I've had these conversations with myself a bunch, you know.

[Speaker 3]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
Anybody else? Tim, you follow up or anything else? I want to cede the floor.

To someone else.

[Speaker 3]
Joy has her hand up.

[Speaker 1]
Well, please tell me, Matt, if I'm if I'm not. If I'm being a little too convoluted. No, no, I'm not.

I'm not giving I'm not responding because I don't want to respond, but I want other people to get an opportunity to ask questions as well. I could go off for ages on this. So thanks for the insight.

It was very helpful for me to ponder more deeply. Of course. Any time.

It looks like joy has her hand up. Where is she? There's joy.

Go ahead.

[Speaker 2]
Can you hear me?

[Speaker 1]
Yes.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you. So here are my question. It's based on Tim's question.

And to answer, like we say. The outside object, the outside object, which is the jack is the mental image. So, for example, I want to see.

Oh, we say the outside object is the mental image, but the mental image is not necessarily an outside object yet. Right. For example, when I close my eyes and there is, for example, a blue Tesla in my mind.

But when I open my eyes, I didn't see that blue Tesla. I can only see my mom's Toyota. So if we want to, but our goal is to if we want to achieve certain goals in our life, for example, from having a gym house, a nice car to DP.

So does it mean that what we have to do is to make sure it happens that the mental image becomes exactly that outside object, including seeing me and the 100% matches? Because just like you say, what we see now, any outside object is our mental image. It's coming from our mental image.

It's the jack is from the tree. And then, but the mental image that I have right now, for example, the blue Tesla is not necessarily the outside object yet. So is it means that what we have to do is to make sure that mental image matches 100% with that outside object, including seeing emptiness directly?

[Speaker 1]
Well, it's a it's an interesting way of asking the question, because what I heard you say was, do we need to make sure that our I do we need to make sure that I want to say I ideation, but I don't think that's going to do we need to make sure that our ideation of emptiness match up with what we see in our world? And I would say yes. That's that's kind of the process that you're going through.

That's kind of the entire point of Buddhism is really to refine your understanding of your world and to eliminate the misunderstanding that you currently have. So and forgive me if I'm misunderstanding your question, because I'm definitely pegging I'm honing in on one point that I heard you make, which was, do we need to make sure that our idea of something exists in the same way that it actually ripens? Right.

[Speaker 2]
So mental image is not just an idea, right? It could be the image.

[Speaker 1]
I mean, well, let's let's let's let's I mean, this is really beautiful. It's very, very beautiful way to start your your your statement. So our mental images and ideas is the same thing.

I ask you.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Are they?

[Speaker 2]
I think not just names.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Well, are not just labels.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Are names and labels physical or mental?

[Speaker 2]
I think they're not physical, but I'm not sure if they are mental.

[Speaker 1]
They're mental, right? You can say they're mental. Like when you when you say your name to yourself, you say joy, say joy in your head to yourself.

Right. Yes. Right.

This is mental. This is a mental process. Yeah.

So. If we've had excuse me, what's the first book you study before you go to monastery? What's the first book you study before you're even allowed to go on the debate ground at monastery?

[Speaker 2]
Which one?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. So before you're allowed to go on to the debate ground at monastery, you have to study a text called the Dura. Right.

Which means it's a topic called the collected topics. It's a text called the collected topics. And in this text, there is a series of topics that are meant to help.

To help your mind. Become more closely associated with ultimate reality. Okay.

So first chapter of the Dura. It's called. Cuddle.

Right. Cuddle means color. Okay.

Yep. Means shape. Okay.

So that's what you're studying. You're studying. Cuddle.

The chapter is called. Red and so forth. So it's called.

Cuddle. Cuddle. Right.

So. Believe me. Believe me.

I haven't forgotten about your question. I asked you. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. What is the single.

What is the. Out of all of your perceptions. Right.

Everything you can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Okay. What is the most.

What are the most prevalent. Right. What.

What's that. Out of everything that you can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Right.

Or anything you can think about. Okay. What is.

What are you most involved with?

[Speaker 2]
I think it's. Thinking. I mean.

Different ideas about different things. Because that's where. I can tell this is.

The color or shape.

[Speaker 1]
But aren't a majority of your thoughts motivated by what you see.

[Speaker 2]
Yes.

[Speaker 1]
You see what I'm saying? That's not to say that. All far.

All thoughts are motivated by what you see. But the reason. That question.

Is because. Color and shape. Is what we are most engaged with.

From the time that we awaken in the morning. Till the time that we go to sleep at night. Color and shape.

Is what we are most involved with. And color. Is what we most readily.

Misperceive. Okay. So you ask a question.

About our perceptions. And making those. More in line with the way that they actually exist.

In our mind. Right. So we have an idea about the way that something exists.

Like once again. Like this cell phone. I have one idea about the way the cell phone exists.

Yeah. So the dura. Does what?

The dura. Goes through. From the most gross level.

To the most subtle level. Of all phenomenon. And it explains to you.

How it exists. Without any nature of its own. So you go through.

And you talk about the true nature. Of color and shape. Everything that you can see.

Then you talk about the emptiness of sound. Then you talk about the emptiness of everything you can smell. And taste.

And then touch. And then think of. Right.

So. The dura. Which is the first text that you study.

As you're going into your monastic studies. Right. Refines.

Your idea. Of every aspect of your reality. From what you can see.

To everything you can hear. To everything you can smell. To everything you can taste.

Everything you can touch. Now we talked about. Which is the categories of existence.

After. After the first chapter. Of the dura.

You should be able to. Give everything. That can appear to your senses.

A proper place in a category. You understand. How goes on.

The dura. Dura. Is meant to give you.

The most refined outlook. On your physical existence. As you could possibly have.

Before you move into mind only school. And then. Excuse me.

Your. Middle way studies.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
It's meant to prepare you. For that. So.

I would say. That is the entire. That's the entire point of Buddhism.

If you had. If you had one goal in life. Right.

Let's say you're born. You had one goal in life. What's your one goal?

[Speaker 2]
Seeing emptiness directly.

[Speaker 1]
Seeing emptiness directly. How do you do that?

[Speaker 2]
Through learning.

[Speaker 1]
You have to refine. Your understanding. Of how things truly exist.

Okay. To such a degree. That every aspect of reality.

That could appear to you. You know how it actually exists.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. So. In this goal of.

Seeing emptiness directly. Oh, about the color and shape. So, for example, back to the blue Tesla.

That's the color and shape, right?

[Speaker 1]
So.

[Speaker 2]
I mean. Just like the example I get. Yeah, it was on the color and shape there.

But when I open my eyes. I see that my mental image. Doesn't matches with the outside object.

But according to you. Even I. Create a blue Tesla in front of me.

But. It doesn't necessarily. 100% matches with my mental image, right?

It's not necessarily right. Because. It depends on.

How I. Perceive with this blue Tesla in front of me. As being a color and shape.

And I idea of a blue Tesla. It also. Affected by the other factors.

For example, when I see that Tesla. Does it bring me kind of. Ultimate happiness.

But. It necessarily bring me that happiness. So, does it back to that.

What we are going to achieve in our life. Is in. In a certain degree.

Depends on our motivation. And how much we love others. So that when I did.

Create that Tesla. And the kind of. In color and shape in labels.

It matches with my mental images. But it doesn't necessarily. Bring me happiness.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. So.

[Speaker 2]
Do we need to. And. That's why.

They say. Even some people. They see emptiness directly.

But they didn't. Have this. Ultimate body cheetah.

So they can still go to the hell realm. And still have kind of suffering there. Is it.

Related with. Your idea. That you share with me.

[Speaker 1]
You know, joy. I'm going to have to ask you one more time. Just ask.

Ask the question one more time. And. There were so many different things that I kind of.

I started to focus in on. On what you were saying. I just want to make sure that I.

Just ask. Ask the question one more time. I just want to make sure that.

That I'm hearing you correctly.

[Speaker 2]
You mean. I said one more time.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Please.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, okay. Thank you. So actually.

According to your. Sharing with me. I.

I get. Kind of idea. Already.

And. Now back to the. Example that I gave.

Just now. I said. I want to.

Make sure. I want to make sure that. My mental image.

100%. Matches with. The outside object.

But even. I. Create.

A blue Tesla. In front of me.

[Speaker 1]
And it doesn't show.

[Speaker 2]
That. And. Yeah.

And instead of. A Toyota. But even.

It comes. In front of me. It doesn't.

Still. Not necessarily. 100%.

With my mental images. Right. Because it.

Depends on. Other factors. The other.

Hips. So. And this.

Kind of. Outside objects. Even.

It matches. With my mental image. Instead of a Toyota.

Yeah. It cannot still. Make me feel happy.

It cannot bring me. Ultimate happiness.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Let me ask you a question.

[Speaker 2]
It's why we say.

[Speaker 1]
Let me ask you a question. Joy. Can a Buddha.

Control. The ripening. Of his own karma.

Or his or her. Own karma. Their own karma.

A Buddha. Yeah. Can a Buddha.

Can a Buddha. Control. Their karma.

[Speaker 2]
I think. Cannot.

[Speaker 1]
You don't think they can. Well. What about.

What about. What about the. What's the.

What's the purpose. Of body cheetah. Then.

[Speaker 2]
Oh. To help. Infinite.

Living beings.

[Speaker 1]
Right. So. If a Buddha.

Has body cheetah. And body cheetah. Purpose.

Is to help. Infinite living beings. Then.

Can we say. Excuse me. And.

Does a Buddha. Have to think about. Does a Buddha.

Have to. Does a Buddha. Have to schedule.

When they will go. And help someone.

[Speaker 2]
No. Because. He already.

Got. Total enlightenment. So.

He has. All the abilities. To go to different.

Places. In the whole universe. And then.

[Speaker 1]
It's fun.

[Speaker 2]
To come. Anything.

[Speaker 1]
Exactly. And it's. It's not like.

[Speaker 2]
Simultaneously.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Exactly. Aldo.

Exactly.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
It emanates. Spontaneously. Right.

So. Can we say. If a Buddha.

Can spontaneously. Create. Create an infinite.

Amount of bodies. To serve an infinite. Amount of beings.

And we say. That a Buddha. Has control.

Over their karma. Yes. Right.

Like. So. The reason I say that.

Is because. You were asking a question. You said.

You know. Okay. I had this.

This mental image. Of a. Tesla.

In my mind. But then when I open. My eyes.

The blue Tesla. Isn't there. And then.

Like let's say. I walk into a Tesla. Showroom.

And I see a blue Tesla. On the showroom. But then I close.

My eyes. And for some reason. I can't.

Imagine. The blue Tesla. Myself.

Okay. What's the difference. Between you.

And a Buddha. There's a lot of things. I don't know.

I mean. I literally. I don't know.

Who you are. But. A Buddha.

Has such. Excuse me. Buddhas.

Have such. A. Buddhas.

Understand. Emptiness. And karma.

Okay. So. Whenever we learn.

About. Whenever we learn. About the four flowers.

Okay. How. Okay.

Here's a. Here's a different question. How can we speed.

Up. The ripening. Of a seed.

[Speaker 2]
Speed up. By. Thinking about.

We are. Using the. Right.

Method. Of seeing. Things coming.

From our own side. Because.

[Speaker 1]
We only have. We only have. Like four more minutes.

So. The. The more.

You understand. Emptiness. Right.

The quicker. You can get seeds. To ripen.

Right. So. The more.

Refined. Your understanding. Of ultimate reality.

Is. The quicker. Seeds.

Will ripen. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. You can say that.

So can you also say. That even areas. Control over their karma.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Not yet. So an Arya doesn't understand the four, the four powers.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah, I understand.

[Speaker 1]
Arya understands the four powers, right? And an Arya has been practicing in the moment or over time.

[Speaker 2]
Yes, that's a question.

[Speaker 1]
You see what I'm saying? So what I'm trying to say is that the process of becoming a Buddha is one that depends on refining your understanding of ultimate reality. And the more you refine your understanding of ultimate reality, the more you have control over which seeds fire and which seeds don't.

And the more you have control over when they fire and when they don't. And how would I apply that to the blue Tesla?

[Speaker 2]
It could be a way to Nirvana as well.

[Speaker 1]
Even you just because we have one minute, because we have one minute, I'll just go ahead and say, right, because, yeah, the more you refine, the more you study with Geshe Michael and the more we all come to these very beautiful holy teachings, the more we have an ability to control every aspect of our reality.

[Speaker 2]
Yes. OK, I see.

[Speaker 1]
So there will be a point at which your understanding of emptiness becomes so good that you could close your eyes, have the mental image of a blue Tesla, and open your eyes and then see it. Right. Now, that does that negate the problem that Geshe Michael brings up when he says, OK, I'm going to imagine a diamond in my hand, right, and when I open my eyes, is the diamond going to be there?

Well, for a normal person. More than likely, there's not going to be a diamond there for a Buddha who can create anything that they want, any time that they want, or even for a first level bodhisattva, they can create a diamond in their hand if they wanted to. Why is that?

Well, because you have an infinite amount of seeds in your mind from an infinite amount of past lives. And you have done all things and you have been all things, which means that you currently have the karma in your mind. To open up your eyes.

And look on the floor and see a blue Tesla.

[Speaker 3]
Yes.

[Speaker 1]
You currently have that karma right now. Right now, your ability to control whether or not that manifests or not.

[Speaker 2]
Right.

[Speaker 1]
Has to do specifically with how well you understand emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
I see.

[Speaker 1]
And if you were on the same level as somebody like Geshe Michael, well, then you could you could you could manifest anything you wanted. Based on your storehouse of past. Karma.

You're not creating it out of thin air. You see what I'm saying? So the difference between you closing your eyes.

And not seeing a blue Tesla when you open them. Or from seeing a blue Tesla and then closing your eyes and not being able to picture it in your mind. Right.

Yes. Nothing to do with anything else other than how well you understand emptiness. OK.

Hakosan. Hakosan means understand. Yeah.

[Speaker 3]
Oh.

[Speaker 1]
You understand. All right, so it's it's it's nine thirty and I'm sorry, I've been talking so long. I could have filled in more questions.

But it is it's it is nine thirty. So I'm I'm I'll stay for longer. Isabel, I saw that you had your hand raised.

So I'm more than happy to stay for as long as you guys need. Otherwise, feel free to log off whenever you want.

[Speaker 2]
Hi. Yeah.

[Speaker 3]
This is Tom Tom. Just to want to add up, because there is an interesting connection with what happened in the McCurdy's night, because they guess you are taught that if you can learn to deconstruct things in the right way to into what's coming from you in the end, then you will have new seeds to emanate, to make new bodies. So I think it's very similar to what you just said.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, definitely. You know, there is a very beautiful part of the Gomba Robsel, right, which Geshe Michael says is Jetsun Kappa's Jetsun Kappa's highest book on emptiness that he ever wrote. There's a part in that book that talks about.

The things that you get. So whenever you become a first level bodhisattva, whenever you perceive emptiness with bodhicitta in your heart. They say that you get 100 emanation bodies that after you see emptiness directly, you automatically get 100 bodies to then emanate.

But around each one of those 100 bodies, you also get an additional 100 bodhisattvas to then serve those beings. Every bodhisattva level after that, that you ascend the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, it goes up exponentially. So by the time you get to the eighth bodhisattva level, when you reach the eighth bodhisattva level.

You essentially you have. Nearly uncountable bodies. To then project into the world.

So I just I want to say that, yeah, I just I, you know, I just want to say that, yeah, it has everything to do with how well you understand emptiness and your ability to do anything that you want to do is all. It's all based on on how well you understand reality. OK, so if you wanted to close your eyes and then picture 100 Tesla's in front of you.

That's no problem. Why? Because for a first level bodhisattva to create a thousand bodies, it's easy.

It's easy. Do you think it's easier to create a emanation body or a Tesla? OK, well, yeah.

So thank you, guys. I'm sorry. I just I really enjoy talking about this stuff.

So I'll keep going unless somebody shuts me up. But I love you all. And thanks for a good evening and really appreciate your participation in the course.

Any time.

[Speaker 3]
Thanks, Adam. Thanks, Adam.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, of course. It's it's nine thirty. So everybody make sure you get a good night's rest before before your break.

And I'll see you back in a couple of days, OK?

[Speaker 2]
Have a good break. Thank you. I can squeeze that for you.

Yeah, but yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Love you guys. Good night.

[Speaker 3]
Bye. Nice. Thank.