Бен Крамер — Книга 2: Драгоценность истинной мысли (Геше Йеше Вангчук о Дхармакирти), занятие 53

[Speaker 2]
Hi everybody, this is Vivi from Vietnam. We now continue with the teaching Sunshine Tower, led by G.C. Michael Roth, open to on-track and supported by translator and grammar teacher. Please get ready to begin.

Welcome dear G.C. Michael Roth. 如果大家手头有我们刚才所做的这个长寿的提前文的话 邀请大家可以拿出来 我们以自己的速度 我们可以来阅读 我们不要浪费这个等待老师的时间 谢谢 好, our teacher is here, so I would like to invite everyone to stand up.

[Speaker 1]
请大家起身,我们一起来邀请格西老师入场.

[Speaker 2]
Let's welcome G.C. Michael.

[Speaker 1]
Now he looks jealous, he wants to do a clap. Hello, yeah. Are you going to start?

In theory, but I don't know how to project. He has to project his computer. Okay, welcome.

Welcome. So, every week, we have three translation classes, two on Monday afternoon in Arizona time, one on Saturday morning Arizona time. And we have 12 translators translating the great books of 2,500 years.

And during those 2,500 years, every 200 years, the language kind of changes. You ready? Ready?

One bata pala with a shot of salt of the drug of man to pass it to the road and bother every being in sweet liquor. A witch been doing gender is the floor. English.

Chaucer. 500 years ago. So it's been five times longer, 2,500 years.

So we have 12 different languages for translating Buddhism. So we have 12 translators, each one's learning a different language. And Ben has been learning two of those languages.

One is called Siddhanta. And Siddhanta means books that compare the different schools of Buddhism over the last 2,500 years. So special books that compare, they'll take one idea like Nirvana, and they'll see what 10 different schools think about it.

And then we can learn a lot from that kind of book. So this is the first Siddhanta book I ever worked on. And it's the most famous in history.

So Ben worked on that for six, seven years. And he finished that one. Then I asked him what he wanted to do next.

He said, I want to translate a difficult logic book. And logic is not as boring as it sounds. Logic is very exciting in Buddhism.

The Buddha was a great logician. All the great yogis, the great yoga practitioners were great logicians. And it's a fun thing in Buddhism if you can learn logic.

So Ben is translating, I think, the greatest book on logic ever written. And it was written in the 1970s and 80s by the teacher of my main teacher in the Geshe course. So Ben's working on that.

I think it will take 30 years or something. And he's been on it for a few years now. So we always start the translation class with homework from the translator.

So I'd like to introduce Ben Kramer. Yay! Are you up?

No. Oh well, just fake it until it's ready. Thank you Geshe Michael so much for having us here.

It's been an incredible honor for my family to be here. Yeah, his son Ezra and his wife Kendra. Kendra just got an award from the city of Albuquerque?

State of New Mexico. New Mexico for doing the best Shakespeare performance or something like that. So congratulations.

We're working on getting the homework up. You can buy the first book. I've been pitching it to people as a cheat sheet for all of the Mixed Nuts classes.

If you don't know what school we're in or what hat we're wearing, you can get this book. And then you can crack the code of understanding where we're at. Lindsay, are there any of these left?

I don't know. Yeah. Okay, yeah.

Yeah, we brought lots. We made Ezra carry most of them here. Everyone brought one suitcase full.

We felt like we were smuggling drugs. Okay. No.

But someone got in trouble for bringing an apple. Whoops. That was another story.

Yeah. You want to do it? Can you project Ben's computer on the screen?

Should I? They're working on it desperately. It's been an incredible honor for my family to be with all of you beautiful people.

And the harmony here is amazing. The kindness that you've all shown my family and I shows a lot of harmony in this community. And as Geshe Michael said, this is a great way to take care of our teacher and keep you around in our life.

And it's easy with such kind friends who have been so nice to us, so nice to my family, nicer than we deserve. But you don't know that, and so you're so nice anyway. It means you have to come again.

Yeah. I would. Anytime.

Please. Should we sing a song together? Is there a way we can start it?

We could just start if you want. Let's just start. We'll start.

But then you would have to project your screen, or I could... One of us has to, right? I'm not on any screen.

Can you do the homework orally? We could try that. Let's try that.

Yeah. Okay. Or I could start the class.

That's a good idea. One way or another, we have to put one of us on the board. Okay.

But in the meantime, for those of you who have been following the classes, I would ask, in the Middle Way system, why would it be difficult to distinguish between realizations in the hearts of listeners or self-made Buddhas? And then you have to try and answer that question if you've been following along. Wait, you've got to say IBRAHI.

What does that mean again? That means I fund a hundred dollar reward.

[Speaker 3]
Oh.

[Speaker 1]
I... Nice. And a book.

Oh, can we get the book for that?

[Speaker 3]
Oh, that's good.

[Speaker 1]
If you can guess the answer, you get a book and you get a hundred dollars. So suddenly hands went up when you said that. And a trip to Kyoto.

Yes. And the question was, I'm going to make it easy. Okay.

There's three famous tracts in Buddhism. One is called Bodhisattva Tract. Then below that is Self-Made Buddha Tract.

And below that is Listener Tract. And Ben's asking, what's the difference in understanding between listener and self-made Buddha? Especially for a realized being.

For an Arya. For an Arya who's a listener or a self-made Buddha, why is it hard to talk about the difference between what they see when they become an Arya? Jigme knows.

Oh, she's got a book. Sorry. She doesn't.

Oh. Microphone has to turn on, you guys. There's no difference in their realization.

Yeah, cool. Sorry. Agree or no?

I agree. Okay, a hundred bucks. Yeah, that's great.

If you're an Arya, you see the same thing. All Aryas see the same thing. Even a Buddha, when they see emptiness directly, they see the same thing that all Aryas see.

And all Aryas of all levels see emptiness just the way it's described in the Middle Way school. So how could we make a difference between the different levels then if that's not a way to make a difference? Is that a money bet?

I don't know how much money there is. They respond better. There's a hand.

Okay. Wait, we got to make clear the conditions here. What was the question?

How would we distinguish between them if we can't do it by the realization? If the Aryas on the two lower tracks see emptiness the same, then how do we tell the difference between them? I can see it.

So it's because the difference is the motivation. One is the God Enlightened for myself. The other one is God Enlightened for all the other living beings.

I think it's great. I think that's wonderful. I would give it to her.

Yeah. They say it's the... The teacher in this book says it's the size of their karmic bank account.

It's the size of their seed bank account is bigger, but it's bigger depending on your motivation. So our friend is right. I think that's the heart of the idea and a very good way to put it.

Did she get a book? Yeah. Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Okay. All right.

Lindsay is happy. The teacher in the book mentioned eight forms of logic, and then you can write in the chat, or you can say here, we want you to try to name them if you can. I don't think we can give $800.

[Speaker 3]
No.

[Speaker 1]
How about one person get as many as they can? Duoduo might know. He's waving his hand.

This is a hard one. We need a sophisticated student.

[Speaker 2]
I've got the notes.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, you can use your notes. We allow cheating in this course.

[Speaker 2]
So the first two is correct deduction and incorrect deduction. Second two are the correct direct perception and incorrect direct perception. And the fifth and the sixth are the correct, how do you put it, proof and incorrect proof.

And then the last two are correct refutation and incorrect refutation.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, great.

[Speaker 2]
That's wonderful.

[Speaker 1]
Ibai, Ibai. Great. So, yeah, as Duoduo correctly said, there are correct and incorrect discussions.

There are correct and incorrect methods of logic. Correct and incorrect, perhaps you could say, descriptions of direct perception. Correct and incorrect ways of proving things.

I think especially to other people. And then correct and incorrect ways of proving people wrong. And then finally, our author groups these eight into two groups.

How does he group them together? So how would we split these, divide this into two, following our author's method? For those of you who are following along in this class online.

Okay, good. No hands, no money. Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Oh, Gelsay. Gelsay.

Notes are fine. I like notes. Over here.

I need notes. I'm reading from notes. So I have that the first four are presented, they're targeted, targeted to students.

And the second four are for attracting other students. A method. If the second four are for attracting other students, then the first four are for who again?

[Speaker 3]
People for whom the book was already written for.

[Speaker 1]
I think that's right, yeah. The first four are for you. And the next four are for everybody else.

You see things with direct perception and you prove things to yourself with logic. But then you can prove things to other people and help them get away from their mistaken ideas. Okay?

Yeah. Cool. Yeah, I think they did.

Are you guys ready to project Grandpa? Do you have a reading? I do, but we can't project it.

But I can blow it up real big if you want to look at it. But I could say it out loud and you could talk about it however you think is best. Yes, do that.

Okay. They have some problem getting you up there. Apparently.

Okay. Okay. Do you want to email it to me?

I could even. You could use my phone. Yeah, let's see.

Hang on one second. We're in tech problems. We're solving them logically.

That's what I think, too. That's a good idea. I think that's wise.

Okay. Okay. Okay, here we go.

I know. I agree. Thank you, Stanley.

Not for Sarah. Not for John. Grandpa.

I think that's fine. All right. We're going to give up on that.

We're just going to do the class, okay? You ready? Did you translate this part?

Yes. I did. We can talk.

Why don't you read it? Yeah. You read it.

How's that? Okay. Okay, can you guys see the text?

Yeah. Okay, here we go. Okay, good.

All right. Well, how's your translation go? Yeah, so the reason for this thing that Gelsay just said is because once we have used deductive and direct perception to accurately understand both the hidden and obvious levels of reality, then we can use proofs and refutations to bring about deductive and direct perception.

Okay, good translation. Basically, all of this book of logic is meant to help yourself understand things, and then secondly, it's meant to help you teach other people things. And there's two forms of logic that you can use yourself, or two forms of perception, and two forms of perception or logic that you can use for other people.

And that covers the four great chapters of Buddhist logic, okay? For yourself, you can either use your direct senses, or you can use logic, okay? For other people, you can use proofs, or you can use...

Refutations.

[Speaker 3]
Refutations, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Arguments. How to argue that something's not true, okay? That's all.

And that's mainly all of Buddhist logic. All of Buddhist logic is meant to show that you can perceive the world yourself through your direct eyes and ears, or you can figure things out with your eyes closed, okay? For yourself.

For other people, you can use convincing proofs, and you can use debates to show that they're mistaken, okay? That's all of Buddhist logic. Four things, okay?

All right, we're going to... You wanted someone else to read? Yeah, fun.

Okay, who wants to read? Oh, look, everyone's raised their hand. What about, can I make Kendra read?

No, she said no. Nah, go ahead. It's okay, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I don't. Perna. Perna.

Good.

[Speaker 2]
Help me out.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. Thank you. Okay.

Sorry. Translate. For example, to bring about, in your own mind, a deductive, a logical perception that realizes sound is changing, you have to use a reason with a reason, the three relationships that you learned today, an hour or so ago.

But to be sure of that, you have to have an accurate perception of the three relationships, because you need direct and deductive accurate perception to make sure of those. Nice. Okay, good.

Basically... Yeah. They give the example that sound is a changing thing, okay?

That's the most famous Buddhist proof of all time. Why? Hundred dollar question.

They should wake these people up, I don't know. Kind of warm. It's a nice room by the way, thank you.

Because of the sound of OM? Yeah. These other schools believe that the sound OM was unchanging and eternal.

Okay, hundred bucks. Yay! So it's very common for early, early, early Buddhists to try to prove that sound is a changing thing, okay?

And to do that, you can use logic. You can use logic, okay? And when you use logic, there's three relationships you have to prove.

And then you have to confirm each one of those three relationships. So really to have one confirmation, you need three confirmations, okay? All right, all right.

We're not going to go through them because we did for a long time and we got to finish this book this century. They learned them today. Oh, you had them today.

They learned them today. You know the three relationships, right? Yeah, see, you don't have to say them.

You just have to say, yes, you learned them. Yes, I learned them earlier. Okay, you got another sentence for me?

Yeah, don't let Lindsay leave the room. Oh, she's a good reader. Go ahead.

Okay. After you assure yourself that sound is changing, you can use correctly formed refutations to stop someone from thinking that sound is unchanging. Or by using correct forms of positive proof, you can dispel the sort of doubt which thinks that either way might be true.

Cool, very nice translation. Okay, all right. By the way, this is difficult.

It's hard to do in Kyoto when you just flew here and you have jet lag. Right? And it has a profound effect on your mind.

Even if you don't understand everything exactly, even if you're sleepy, even if it's not so interesting, if you come to the translator class and you just listen, it will make deep changes inside of you. Even you don't want to. All right?

So just relax and listen. Okay? All right.

He's talking about how do you see a high principle and then how do you prove it to somebody else. Okay? All right.

All right. Who's going to read? Oh, okay.

We're going to start some new material. Who would you like to read? Oh, you know who would be frustrated about it is Joel.

Hey, Joel. The reason I got your catalog was I was looking for a book in Mongolia that I found in Russia in 1990 and I couldn't find another copy. And then I was sitting with Jamie and we found a copy online by accident.

So we got this book. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Yay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Please read. Okay.

Here we go. Take your time. Great.

Now we're going to read for a couple of minutes. All right? All right.

All right. DRA-CHU-CHEN-MA-JEH-PAR-THAO TAK-PEI-CHEH SHE-KHO-KHU-CHEH-KHU-PHA-NA DRA-TAK-PAR-KEH-LEN-PHA-DOR-NEH-TEH SOM-KYE-PAR-JEH Nice. Yay!

Okay. We'll go slow. We'll go slow.

And Ben will translate. DRA-DTAR-PAR-DZIN Holding to the idea that sound is... or believing that sound is unchanging.

Yeah, and that's again... It's like those early yoga schools, and they believed the sound OM was unchanging. They believed the sound OM never changes.

If they hold that, that's DANG-DZIN GUN-DAG, as opposed to GZHAN-GYI. That's a learned idea? Yeah.

Wrong ideas can come in your own mind, or wrong ideas can be taught to you when you're a kid. Like a natural wrong idea that all people have. Like the idea that things are coming from their own side.

That's called GZHAN-GYI. People have that. Every human being who's born in this world by karma, they have this wrong idea that things are coming from their own side.

And then GZHAN-GYI means if someone didn't teach you the wrong way in school, you wouldn't think it. But because you lived in a country or you lived in a culture where they taught that, you believed it. We're talking now about GZHAN-GYI, which means in this case, the person was taught in school by their teachers in their culture that sound never changes.

The sound OM is eternal. GYUL LA BSTAN PA'I KHA ZAG If there's a person like that. Who has this idea in their mind, sort of?

[Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
PHYAG RKYEN GZHAN ZANG NA And if they have other qualifications to be a NGA'GUL. An appropriate debate opponent? Yeah.

Logic has a lot of definitions of things. And there's even a definition of someone you can fight with. Okay?

It's kind of cute. They must have a certain wrong idea. Maybe they learned it in school or something like that.

And that makes them a good opponent. By the way, logic in ancient India, logic in Buddhism, logic even in Hinduism, it's not like politicians arguing with each other. It's not like that.

It's two people going on a search for truth, holding hands. In a real debate, like if you go and negotiate a debate, it's not that one guy is trying to beat the other guy. It's they are traveling through a beautiful forest of ideas and they are helping each other.

And that's why they're debating. It's not like a debate in your kitchen or something. Okay?

Much different. It's a mutual exploration by two cool people. Don't think of debate anything else.

KUN SANG NA Then that would make them NGA'GUL YANG DAG. An appropriate person to debate with. Then you could say to them, DRA BCAD CAN Consider sound.

Take sound. MA BYAS PA LTAR Oh, so it's not... No, it went up.

MA BYAS PA LTAR Oh, well, but it's not made. Isn't that a very down thing to say? No, it's not.

If you go down, it's sarcastic. This is very sarcastic. No, it's...

MA BYAS Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. He's right.

I hate him. Sometimes he's right. Okay.

DRA BCAD CAN Let's take sound. MA BYAS PA LTAR Yeah, you're telling me it's not made? Are you saying there's a sound that no one and nothing ever made?

Are you saying there's a thing like that? And he says, Why do you say that? Because it's unchanging.

Because it doesn't change, okay? Are you saying there's a sound in the universe that was never made by anything or anybody? And then he says, Why do you say that?

And he says, Because you said sound never changes, okay? If it never changes, it means nobody ever made it, okay? Why are we talking about this stuff?

Why are we debating this stuff? Who cares about OM? Why are we talking about this?

Because we are impermanent. We're talking about sound. We're trying to talk about the sound of a bus or the sound of the wind or something, okay?

But really, we're trying to prove to ourselves that we will die. And we all have to die. And we all think we're not going to die, okay?

It's very strange. So he says, he didn't say, Look, you're going to die. He didn't say that.

He said, Let's talk about the sound of a fart. Okay? And that's my example.

And then, was it made or not? Yeah, it was made. Somebody made it, okay?

There's no such thing as a fart that nobody made. Right, Ezra? I mean, we can say, right?

Okay. So, if it was, if it's a sound, it must have, and then we say to that guy, Oh, your special fart noise must be never made, okay? You're just one fart noise starting when you were born, and it stayed until you die.

Okay? We're doing sarcasm. Sarcasm.

It's a Buddhist method. Oh, so you're going to live forever, right? You don't have to listen to this stuff.

You don't have to worry. You're the first person who's not going to die. Congratulations.

You don't have to listen to this class. Like that, sarcasm. Okay?

All right. RTAG PA'I ZHU ZHIG RGUB NA RTAG PA'I SKAD LEN Yeah, if someone who believes that sound is unchanging, Yeah, DOR. gets rid of that idea for them.

Yeah, they will give up the idea that sound is unchanging, which means, in time, they will give up the idea that they're not going to die, and they don't have to prepare. Okay? All right?

DOR NAS THET TZAM SKAD They'll get some doubt about the subject. Yeah. Before you get someone to admit they're wrong, you get them to admit they might be wrong.

Okay? And that's called THET TZAM. THET TZAM means, gee, he might be right.

My husband might be right about that restaurant. I don't know. Okay?

THET TZAM SKAD That's the first step in proving something. Get the person to doubt their own position. Later, prove to them it's wrong.

Okay? But start with doubt. Throw them into doubt.

She says, Ben, we got to go to that restaurant tonight. You say, oh, you mean the one with the cold noodles? And then your wife starts to doubt.

You know? Later, he proves to her that, I don't know, McDonald's is better. Just kidding.

Okay. Who's reading next? Do I have a volunteer?

I'm going to volunteer quickly. Be brave. Fast.

Or get picked on. Wonderful. Rabenga.

[Speaker 3]
THET TZE THET TZE THET TZE Louder.

[Speaker 1]
Louder. THET TZE These guys are awake. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
THET TZE JENA MITAKPE KHYAP PERNA BUMPA SHIN TRA YANG CHE SO SHEDRUB NGAK KUPE TSUL BSUM GCIG CHAR THUD DRAN PA'I DRAN ZHES BSKYED Nice.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so we're describing the steps in proving something to your wife, okay? Which we go through daily. Okay, DES BYAS DES BYAS, then after that?

After that, we get them to accept the CHE NA MI LTA BU'I KHYAB Yeah, if something is made, it has to be changing. Yeah, anything that was ever made must die. Anything that was ever created must die.

KHYAB PHAN NA For example? BUM PA A pot. Yeah, and in Buddhist logic, you give the logic and then you always give a THUN PA'I YANG DAG Say THUN PA'I THUN PA'I YANG DAG Get them to talk louder.

THUN PA'I THUN PA'I YANG DAG YANG DAG Yeah, it means you're giving a good example. A good example, okay? Anything that was ever made has to fall apart.

Like a BUM PA. Like a, or you can say a glass, okay? This glass was made in a factory, therefore, it must break.

Okay, in Buddhism. This glass was made, therefore, it must break. Sooner or later, it must break.

Okay, no choice. PHAN NA BU'I KHYAB DA'ANG PHYES SO Yeah, so it's the same with sound. Yeah, sound is the same as the glass.

Why do you think it's different? All right. SDUG BSNGAL DGOS If you give them proofs.

Yeah, positive proof instead of sarcasm. By the way, what's the name of the highest middle way school?

[Speaker 2]
That's sarcasm school.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, so I guess this glass will never break. And you say, why do you say that? And they say, because you think you're not going to die.

Okay, got it? It's a logical example, okay? It's sarcasm.

The highest Buddhist school is called the sarcasm school, okay? Let's say it again. Oh, I guess this glass will never break.

Why? Then you're supposed to say, why? Because you're going to never die.

Okay, then you're like, oh, I get it. Okay. Then you start studying very seriously.

Okay. Or you eat as much as you can. Okay.

THAD TZAM DE'ANG SEMS NAS Now that you've cleared away their doubt? Yeah, TSUL KHRIMS CHI CHAG TU DRAN Then they realize or they see all of the three relationships? Yeah, once you use sarcasm, it leads them to conclusion, okay?

Oh, I guess this is never going to break, right? And you say, why do you say that? I say, because you think you're not going to die.

And then they say, you know what? I think I am going to die. Then you say, okay.

Then we prove to you death. Okay, got it? All right.

By the way, at your age and in your health condition, you don't really believe it, okay? When you get older, like me and Jigme, you, John, you, no, then you'll be more open to the idea, okay? Once you're making prostrations to doctors three times a day, you will say, oh man, I remember in Kyoto they said that, okay?

The time will come. We're just planting seeds for that time, okay? It's hard to understand when you're not old yet.

But we're planting seeds for that day. That's why we're in the class, okay? All right.

Who's next, Ben? Quick volunteer. Fast hand.

Somebody help. Racing to raise their hand. Kielse?

Cool. Okay. Yeah, he's been describing a process by which you convince somebody logically of something, okay?

Now he says, DJ. Yeah, after that. You can present DRA BCU GZHAN MI LTA DU BYAS PA'I PHYIR.

Sound is a changing thing because it's made. Yeah, you can RTAG DGOS PA. You can give them that proof, that reason.

And they will SKAD PA GZHAN MI LTA DU BYAS PA'I PHYIR MA They'll get a logical understanding for themselves that sound is changing. Yeah, or obviously the glass is going to break and it applies to you too. And then people say, oh, now I get it.

Okay, now I get it. DE'I THAMS CAD BYAS PA'I BYAS PA'I YIN LA YIN NO Then you, what, you have an accurate perception of that it applies to all things? No.

All the stuff I've listed for you here is a YIN LA. Is a step? Yeah, that BYAS PA.

Oh, are the steps for bringing someone to their own logical understanding. Yeah, all the steps we've talked about today so far are steps that we use in Buddhism, Buddhist logic, to help people get ready for their death. Okay?

We're not debating sound is going to last forever or something. Nobody thinks that. But we're trying to get you to say, I understand the glass will break.

Then we say, well, that's you, okay? And then supposedly you'll be nice to everybody forever. Okay?

All right. Now, the next, we kind of, after how many years? Two or three years?

Yeah. Two or three years, Ben's been working on this book. We are about to start the book.

Yay.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And the author, I don't know, it's a very long book. And he's ready to start the book. He's going to start now quoting the most famous book of Buddhist logic ever written, which is the?

Pramana Bhartika. Pramana Bhartika, which is a commentary on? On the Pramana Samuccaya.

Or commentary on Pramana. Yeah. Correct perception.

Okay? Now we're going to start the book. Okay?

All Buddhist books, well, mostly, start with a promise. What's the promise? I will finish this book.

Or? Die. Or I will die trying.

He made that promise foolishly. Okay? He said, when a Buddhist starts to write a book or translate a book, you make a promise to yourself and to the world.

You say, I will keep going until I'm too sick and too old or dead to finish. Or I will finish. Okay?

But I will not give up this job. This job is important for the world and I will not give it up. Okay?

So Dharmakirti, who lived a thousand years ago? Eight hundred-ish? Okay.

Over a thousand years ago. Right?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
He's like, here's where he makes his promise. Here's where he makes his promise. And he kept the promise.

He wrote the whole book. It's a huge book. Four chapters.

But, he died before he could finish the commentary. Okay? And it was finished by other people.

So he's a good example, I think. Okay? He couldn't finish in his life.

Alright? Okay. If we're lucky, we finish in our lifetime.

Okay? Alright. Now, we're lucky because we have a very cool Sanskrit recovery team.

90% of all Buddhist books written in ancient times are gone. They were destroyed by different wars and what do you call those things? COVID pandemics and things like that.

Okay? Only 10% survived. Luckily, Ben's book is one of them.

So we have the Sanskrit. So, I don't know. Is Christina here?

Surely. Kasika? Do you want to read the Sanskrit, just the first two lines for good luck?

Okay? This is the original Sanskrit. Alright.

Slow and correctly. Yes, sir. Praya.

Okay. Today. Praya.

Oops.

[Speaker 3]
Wait, I'm sorry. The screen disappeared.

[Speaker 1]
Are you okay? Something wrong? I have it here.

[Speaker 3]
Praya. Prakrta.

[Speaker 1]
Nice.

[Speaker 3]
Saktir.

[Speaker 1]
Good.

[Speaker 3]
Apratibala.

[Speaker 1]
Good.

[Speaker 3]
Prajna.

[Speaker 1]
Good. Jhana. Good.

Kevalam. Kevalam. Kevalam.

Kevalam. Kevalam. No, you don't close your lips.

Kevalam.

[Speaker 2]
Kevalam.

[Speaker 1]
Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Na... Na... Anarthe...

Oops. Anartheva. Subhashitai.

[Speaker 3]
Parigato.

[Speaker 1]
Arigato. Arigato. Parigato.

With Vyeshthapi. Long eye. Irshya.

Irshya. Irshya.

[Speaker 2]
Irshya.

[Speaker 1]
IR SHYA MA LA'I Yeah, and then give a rough breathing at the end. MA LA'I MA LA'I It's like Hebrew. MA LA'I MA LA'I MA LA'I Okay, good.

All right. That's a huge blessing to hear that, okay? It's a huge blessing, all right?

And this verse, this opening verse, we are required to memorize it in the Geshe course, okay? Listen, just listen. DGE'O PHAS BYAS PA'I LA BYA CHEN ZHIG ROL TZAM MED PAS NA LAS ZHIG RNAM DU SDUG MI GNYEN KHO NA MA ZHIG PHRA DANG PHYI MA DAG GYI DANG BAR YANG YONG YOD DRE NA DAG LA DI YI SHEN LA PHEN PA YIN ZHIG SANG BA MED SEMS NAS YIN RIN LAS ZHIG KHO BA THOB LEN KHYAD CHOS DI LA DGA' BAR SKYE Okay?

Now, ten lifetimes from now, you will remember. All right? It's a very, very famous, extremely famous verse, okay?

And we're going to go through it. Let's go through it before we talk about the commentary, okay? Ben's going to translate piece by piece.

It's extremely famous opening lines. It's like the start of the, I don't know, you know, in the beginning was the word or something. It's very, very famous, okay?

So let's go slow, Ben. DGE'O People. Yeah.

PHAL CHER Most people. Most people are chakpa. Most people mostly are jealous.

This chakpa means desire, okay? Most people are attracted to PHAL PA which means normal crap. Okay?

Most people in the world, excuse me for bad words, but they're correct. Okay? Most people in the world want to watch Netflix till they die.

You know, they want the next Korean soap opera. The newspapers even have, you know, I read the New York Times. They'll have a whole big article about the latest Korean soap opera, okay?

Most people are interested in that. That's how he starts his book. He says, look, most people are just interested in crap, okay?

Then they don't have the TZEL which is acrobatic, okay? PHAL CHER Yeah, the skill for wisdom. They don't have quick and fast wisdom.

And TZEL means, my teacher used to say, it's like acrobats in the circus who can move really fast and do things. Like on the trapeze, those people have TZEL. They don't have the TZEL of wisdom.

They don't have that ability, quick and skillful wisdom. Most people don't have it. Therefore, BDE NA, what's their opinion about LHAG BSHAD?

About eloquent speech, fine speech? How did they feel when they heard a great Buddhist book? Like Ben's book, okay?

They don't, not only do they not like it. Yeah, they could care less, okay? They're not interested at all.

Most people are interested in what's on TV tonight. And if you show them one of these books, they're like, okay, okay. Nobody in this room.

Not only that, not only they're not interested in these beautiful things, okay? They are CHAG STO. Jealous.

Yeah. First of all, almost nobody's interested in great thinking. And the few people who are, are mostly CHAG STO.

They're just jealous of each other, okay? Oh, his Madhyamika is better than my Madhyamika. I hate him.

Okay, got it? Okay, THYMA. Like the stain?

The stink. Yeah. They smell bad, okay?

You get near them, they smell bad. Why? They're jealous of the other Buddhists, okay?

They smell like that. They smell bad, okay? THYMA BDAG GIS.

DANG BA is an emotion. DANG BA GONG MTHO. GONG MTHO, anger.

Yeah, and they get pissed off at each other. They're like, I hate you. Why?

You understand Madhyamika better than me. Okay? Why you hate me?

I'm jealous. Okay, all those words are here. He's talking about, I got to tell you, okay?

One day I was invited by a very great university scholar to his great university to impress me. And we had lunch together at the university cafeteria. And I quoted these lines to him.

Anyway, he didn't know them. All right. You understand?

Because this was a problem at the time between us. Okay, like that. Okay, got it?

All right, it didn't help much. All right. People don't have self.

They don't have agility in their intellect. They don't have intellectual agility. So how do they feel about great books?

They don't care. Or if they do care, they're just jealous. They're interested because they're jealous.

BDAG GIS BDANG BAR They're always irritated. YONG GYUR means situation. Okay.

DE YIN NAR Yeah, in a situation like that. Yeah, listen. That's the way it is, okay?

99% of people could care less about these books. 1% they care, but they're jealous. BDAG LA BDE NI GZHAN LA PHEN PA YIN ZHES I don't even have a Sampa like that.

I have no thought at all that somehow this is going to help anyone else. Yeah. Listen.

I'm about to write the greatest book on logic in this world. And how many people am I intending to help? Nobody.

Okay? It's an extreme statement. By the way, we debate this for many days in the monastery.

Is it true? Is this opening lines true? Does Dharmakirti, before he wrote the book, did he give up on everybody?

Because they're too jealous or too lazy. He says, I give up on everybody. Okay?

I'm not writing this for anyone else. Then why is he writing it? BSAM PA'ANG MED SEMS NI NGES SEMS Not only SEMS. For my mind. It's for my mind. I want to improve my mind. I want to GOMS PA in its other sense.

I want to get my mind used to. Yeah. I want to get used to these Lekshas.

These beautiful words. Yeah. I just want to expose my own mind to this beautiful stuff, so I'm going to write the book.

I want that to go on for YUN RING. Yeah, long time. A long time.

Because that's how long it will take Ben to finish this book. It's going to be, say YUN. YUN RING Long time.

He will be a... Ezra will have his second child by the time we finish. I think so.

Okay, I'm just trying to get... There's GOMS PA by the way. Anybody want to talk about GOMS PA?

What's GOMS PA? GOMS PA means meditation. But the root of the word GOMS PA means to get used to something.

Like, you know, get used to I don't know, tight pair of shoes or something. It's GOMS. Say GOMS. Now say GOMS. They're not the same. Listen, GOMS. GOMS. Understand? You hear it? Say, low tone, GOMS. Then GOMS. GOMS means get used to something. GOMS means meditating.

They're obviously related. They're obviously related. He says here, I'm just writing this book so I can spend a lot of time around these ideas.

I want to be, I want to spend a lot of time around these ideas. I want to calm my own mind. I'm not writing this for anyone else.

Because A, 99% of people could care less, which is true. And the 1% that cares, they are just other scholars who are jealous. That's the only reason they care.

Calm now. PHLIR LEN. Difficult word.

PHLIR LEN. We haven't had it much. PHLIR LEN like suddenly?

Yeah. I want to kind of, if I write this book, then almost by accident I will become an expert in this subject. Because it's going to take so long to finish.

Right, Ben? By the time, PHLIR LEN GYI, I just want to get used to it by accident. Because I'm going to spend a long time on this book.

Therefore, PHLIR. Therefore, DILA DGA'A. Yeah, so be happy with it?

Yeah. I'm really excited. That's his first lines.

He has no idea he's going to spend 30 years on this book or something. I'm excited about this book. Why?

Because nobody cares. Got it? A few people care and they just care because they're jealous.

But, I have dream that by writing this book my heart will improve. My heart will improve. I can maybe see emptiness or something like that.

Okay, got it? That's the opening lines. Now, we debate viciously between monasteries.

Inter-monastic debate. We debate these lines viciously. Why do you think?

What's the debate? Say again? Yeah, is he Chang'e?

Chang'e. Is he being literal or not when he says it's not for anyone else? Does he mean what he's saying or do you think he doesn't mean what he's saying?

Anybody want to give their opinion on a microphone? Here's the question we debate. And we debate it sometimes for a week.

Is he serious? And if so, why is he serious and why isn't he serious? Just like both.

He's serious and he also wants to learn. Talk louder. You sound like you're in a funeral home.

[Speaker 3]
Both.

[Speaker 1]
He's serious and he... What was the question? He's serious...

No, no. In the winter debates, in the debate Olympics, we debate this, these lines viciously between monasteries, you know, and it's exhausting. It's like many, many hours we will debate these lines.

What's the conclusion? What do you think is the conclusion?

[Speaker 2]
I think he's serious. Okay.

[Speaker 1]
In my experience. Yeah. I think Jigme, I would say, he's describing a true situation.

I'd say that. I would start by saying he's describing a real situation. 99% of the people in the world could care less about this stuff.

The 1% who does care, sometimes they're just from other schools who are jealous and they want to see what we're up to or something like that. But, can you give me a but? Well, I grew up in a library with somebody who wasn't jealous.

Oh. So, my own experience, but I don't know if that's a fair thing to say. Where do you think this debate goes before we move on to the next line?

Because we stop here, we pause here for like two weeks and you have 500 of the best debaters in the world are debating these lines. Why? Microphone.

But if it ever comes a great student who's ready, then they can learn from it. Yeah. So, it's not only for me.

It's for whoever is ready. Okay. Stanley said maybe some good student will show up and I'll be ready for them.

Kendra has the final word which I hope is more all-inclusive.

[Speaker 2]
Well, where are these selfish people coming from? It's like, where's all this negativity? It's like, okay, I'm doing this for me because all of you selfish people are coming from me.

So, I've got to end this seed by writing this book.

[Speaker 1]
He's helping to improve. Last thing, last word, Mr. Haggerty. By the way, we defeated the idea of apperception.

The mind cannot know itself. A man cannot ride on his own back. A knife cannot cut itself.

Ibai cannot give Ibai to himself. Yeah. Although we just started the class about what logic was meant for.

Literally, we started this day with that, how it's meant for ourselves and for others. So, it'd be sort of silly to think that it was just for himself when just a line or two before he said, you know, what is this book about? And it's not just to understand that sounds a changing thing, but how do we defeat death itself?

Yeah, I would assert that there's never been a Buddhist book written that wasn't written to help other people. There is no Buddhist author in history who didn't want to help other people with their book, okay? That's how we ended up in the Geshe course.

We just all sit there and agree. Yeah, I mean, it's true, teaching people is trouble. You got to fundraise, John, right?

You become a fundraising preta, go from country to country looking for money. And it's not fun, but it's the only thing to do. It's the greatest thing to do, okay?

He's saying, look, it's not fun to write books like this, and it's not fun to try to change stubborn Netflixers. But what else are you going to do? You got to take care of people.

Okay, got it? That's the debate that we have in the Geshe course. Can I say, I met a lot of people after the debate class and who asked me about how to convince people in their life of things.

And I think maybe when you're stuck and you can't convince the people you're trying to convince of things, maybe it's time to work some more on yourself and then circle back and see if it's helpful again later. Yeah, good. They call it logic presented to yourself.

Debating yourself. Okay, we have eight minutes and we are not going to waste the time. We're going to use it, okay?

So here we go. Who's going to read then? Would you like to read one more for good luck?

Okay, thank you. Here in Kyoto where we're so glad to have you. It's so wonderful.

Ezra. It's amazing. What a beautiful place.

Please don't tell Ezra about yuzu ice cream. Because there's already a shortage and your grandpa means his yuzu ice cream. Okay, go ahead.

BDAG PA'I LO BUN GYIS MUG DE Nice. This is a beautiful sentence, okay? Those lines we just had are standard lines in front of every Buddhist book and they are called SOM PAR DAM BYA BA which means?

The pledge to compose the work. Yeah, I will write this book or I will die. But one or the other, I will finish it.

There are books carved in the ancient sutras that stop halfway through the book. The carving stops halfway down the line and the person died, but he didn't quit. He said, I will quit, I will never quit and I will die trying to finish this.

That last lines, two lines in Sanskrit, four lines in Tibetan, I think. They are, I promise to write this book and I will not give up, okay? SOM PAR DAM BYA BA NI Why?

I'm going to go over time and just relax you guys with the clock. Just kidding. Okay, SEMS DE BDUN About the seven books on accurate perception?

Yeah, were they all written by Dharmakirti? I believe those were, yeah. Yeah, this most famous Buddhist logic teacher wrote seven great books on logic.

They're all connected to each other. And he wrote a rangdo. An auto-commentary.

Which wasn't finished. He never finished it. They don't mention that here.

BYAS PA TZAM He TZAM TZAM TS He wrote those, having written those? He wrote those, past tense, right? SEMS DE When he had finished, DNGOS TSUL BZHIN means, the BZHIN here means, in keeping with the LUGS TSUL of NGON MA.

LUGS TSUL means tradition. So, in keeping with the tradition of those days. Yeah.

I think it was 500 AD, something like that. Okay. They took his new book, the Pramanavarttika, and they DRIM, which means to distribute, to all the panditas.

All the, like, scholars of the time? They found all the smart Buddhist guys of the time, and they took Dharmakirti's new book, this one that you just started studying, and they gave a copy to all these guys, okay? All these other great authors, okay?

And Pell Cherokee, MAKHOA, MAKHOA. Most of them didn't understand it. They didn't get it, okay?

Most of the people, they made copies by hand. They handed it out to lots of great wise guys. And Pell Cher means the majority of them.

He's repeating, SKYE BA'O PELL CHER PELL LA CHAG He's repeating a part of the line that he gave above. Most people. He says most people.

Here it's most panditas. Most scholars, MAKHOA. They didn't get it.

They didn't get it. SNYING SHES Like just a few of them understood a little? Yeah, a few dudes.

Really few dudes. They got it. They understood the book, but then they got chattel.

They were jealous. They were all jealous. Now in those days, if somebody wrote a new book and it was unpopular, if it didn't pass the check of wise people, they would dock it to a Khin Jukma.

You'd tie it to the dog's tail. Yeah, they would grab a stray dog and they would tie Dharmakirti's book to the dog's tail. And then they said go.

That was a custom. If the person wrote a book and it wasn't well written or it wasn't correct about emptiness or something, then all of the great teachers would take the copy that they got and they would tie it to a dirty old dog's tail and tell them to go. All right?

And what was our Lopin's, our Acharya, what was his reaction? YI MUG PA MUG PA means fog. But his YI MUG.

Oh, our Lopin? He got depressed. He got foggy mind.

He was bummed. YI MUG means he was saddened. He was very sad.

Here he wrote this great book, handed out copies to everybody and then they didn't understand it or the few guys who understood it got jealous and they tied all the copies to dog tails. Then they make the dogs run around town. Then everybody knows, oh, somebody's book was not very good.

So he got famous for writing a bad book because A, most people didn't care and B, the few people who did care were jealous. That's what happened when this book came out. So I would say, if my book, if people brought my book to Kyoto in suitcases because of the great demand, instead of tying it to a dog's tail, I would be happy, Ben.

[Speaker 3]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
All right. We got, we still got two minutes. Your clock is going slow.

Your clock has jet lag. Let's do this one. Read fast, Ben.

SKYE BA PHAL CHAD PA'I LA CHAGS SHING ZHES RAB RTZAL MED PAS NA LEGS SHES RNAMS ZHES SOGS GCIG BYAS CIG RTZE MA RNAMS BRAL GYIS GUR TSAR DU BCUG PA PAR BRAG KYANG MI THES Nice. Very nice. That first line, SKYE BA PHAL CHAD PA'I LA CHAGS SHING ZHES RAB RTZAL MED PAS NA LEGS SHES RNAMS Most people are too jealous and when they see some good philosophy, dot, dot, dot, okay, he quotes the first line.

GCIG BYAS CIG GCIG BYAS CIG Like one line? Here it means the whole verse. Oh, that one verse.

This one opening verse, okay, which is at the goal of this book called ZHES MA RNAMS BRAL. At the front of the commentary. Yeah.

This verse is very famous. It's at the front. It's at the beginning of the book.

Some people say, CHAGS means, a lot of people say, TSAR DU BCUG PA Oh, it was added later? Right. Some people say, Dharmakirti would never say such a crude thing.

He would never say, I wrote this book to help nobody. They're all stupid. Then they say, it doesn't sound like Dharmakirti to me.

Some people have said that this verse, the opening verse, was added later by somebody else. But our author, the glorious Geshe Wangchuk says MI TE. MI TE, that's no good.

That's a bad idea. That position is mistaken. Okay, that idea is mistaken.

And then he says DE, which Ben's going to explain. MI TE TE Am I? TE MI TE TE, that?

That's incorrect. Because. Okay, yeah.

Okay? He says, then the bell rang. Okay?

So those Korean soap operas, they're about to kiss. They're almost ready to kiss. And then they say, continue next week.

Okay? Alright? Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Alright.

[Speaker 1]
Yay. That's a good show. 13.

Lucky 13. Okay, cool. And thank you for.

No, no. We have 12 translators. We are going to have our 10th anniversary around Chinese New Year.

Okay? We will be working for 10 years. 12 people work for 10 years.

Nobody died, nobody quit. And I'm very grateful. Okay?

They did. They did though, and I don't know where they get the time. They did have a lot of kiss.

Okay? So Grandpa has to fundraise constantly. So the nicest way you can help.

You want to talk, Lindsay? You want to say something? You want to come up and say something?

We have the main fundraiser boss here. Lindsay Jilk. Thank you.

Hello. Could I also have Inna stand up and Mr. Wong from Vietnam stand up too, please? Yeah.

Mr. Wong from Vietnam. Thank you. And then is Inna here?

No? Oh, hi, Inna. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So this is Inna from Europe and Mr. Hong from Vietnam are doing also major, major things in translating these books into more languages, fundraising, getting people to read them. So thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Very special to have all of us here together. Yeah, we have some time in the Peach Tree World News to talk about the 10th year anniversary, but I also want to say another way to support this project is to attend the translation classes.

They happen twice a week. They're free, always free to attend, and it's like this, but over Zoom. And I put a link in the Telegram group so that you can get more information on that and join us weekly if this is something that you're interested in.

And we also have Kim. And I hear Ben is signing them. Kim nicely.

So, yeah. Cool. All right, thank you.

I'd like to say she has a full-time job. She's really highly paid. It's like a mixed nut company.

And I went over to her club and I saw her.

[Speaker 2]
She was in the garage. It was 115 degrees. $47 per day.

She's out there pocketbooks every day. Very, very crazy. Tim?

[Speaker 1]
Oh, I'm sorry. Ben will lead a 15-minute discussion. We always have a 15-minute discussion and the question is how can you use this stuff in your real life?

Okay, Ben. Okay, you have to help. Tell me some ideas that you had during this class about how to apply this in your life.

And I just got old and finally need glasses. So I'm clearly a maid thing. But I think that's Ina back there with her hand up.

Can we get you a microphone? Thank you so much, David.

[Speaker 3]
I'm giving you guys time to think about your applications. So I was thinking it's actually funny that Master Dharmakirti, he is saying that he's composing for himself, right? The work.

And not for other people because other people are kind of selfish and stupid and jealous. And I was thinking that I mean, there's no other way to understand something better than to explain to other people, right? So basically he cannot avoid planting seeds when he's writing a book.

And I also was thinking that it's a great example when you think that something is contradictory. I mean, either he should write for them or for himself. But actually it's not.

And the teaching for me is that a lot, I mean, probably everywhere in the teachings the contradictions are solved by understanding how the contradiction is not contradictive. You know? That was my application.

[Speaker 1]
And you can't you can't help just yourself. Lines between you and me are not real. Then your service of one another serves you and to make yourself healthy will prepare you to love everybody because that's what a healthy person is helpless but to do.

Someone else, please help me. I'm not allowed to be the talker. It has to be Rebecca.

This is how we learned tones in the monastery. We were taught Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca Rebecca.

[Speaker 2]
Hello. It got me thinking, you know, just this image.

[Speaker 1]
It got me thinking about this hello, oh there's so many of you about this image of Master Dharmakirti working on this book for 30 years.

[Speaker 2]
And this image of sorry, of the book being tied to a dog's tail.

[Speaker 3]
And it got me thinking like like in our own lives when our virtuous activities don't work out something we've been working on really hard and it doesn't work out and I never think about these Masters as having a hard time.

[Speaker 2]
You know, to me like Nagarjuna's life was just rad and Master Chandrakirti's life was just amazing and Geshe-la's life is just incredible and I never think of them as having any pain or any suffering and then obviously it worked out for him because we're studying the book but it just sort of gave me some solace to know that even the great Masters had a hard time.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, that's beautiful. Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah, your work your work is not lost. You can't lose your hard work. It might seem like you didn't get the result you thought that you were going to get but the work changes you.

The seeds are planted. They don't go back. They don't go away.

You are helpless but to get beautiful results next person who has something wonderful to share with us that they thought of during this Anton, you're like scratching your beard like that. You're definitely going to have something clever to say. I just have this feeling.

So the practical thought for me was if you are aiming for a hopeless job do it with joy. That's right. You don't know how long it's going to take to get there.

You might as well enjoy it. And then who knows by the time you get there the enjoyment maybe you don't need the things so much because oh shoot you're happy now. We have six point some odd few minutes.

Keep sharing. It's wonderful. I think this is what puts it in us to have some appreciation in our lives for what we learn together and to share together and to get to know one another by our thoughts.

And no no only twelve of you can raise their hands at once. Thank you. Hector, please.

Thank you. Thank you for the hard work on this amazing book. And what you just did.

For me it made me think about what's the use of logic? Why are we talking about om? And something landed today to go the whole point is to wake me up.

Yes, you're impermanent but it's not to depress you. It's not to get all spooky about death and dying. It's about realizing get ready because it doesn't have to happen in the way that we think it is.

[Speaker 2]
I mean I live in New York. Everyone loves death and spooky. And they get stuck on the teachings on permanence.

[Speaker 1]
And so for me it's like no no. It's to get ready, right? Because you can transform that.

So it was very useful today. Thank you. We have another volunteer over here to share their thoughts with us.

Thank you.

[Speaker 3]
I'm from Russia and I have a translator. Thank you for the teachings. And I want to say that for many years I'm studying.

And I write a lot usually and especially after Xuanzang Tower I have a lot of insights and ideas. And I write a lot usually I have a lot of insights and ideas And I try to share a lot because maybe I don't understand it clearly but I feel it with all my heart so I try to share. And my friends and my brothers and sisters they tell me maybe you will write a book finally.

And today I have understood that maybe my motivation was wrong before. And today it seemed to me that there was many questions why should I write this book. And I've heard today from Geshe-la that maybe it will open your heart and you will see emptiness directly.

And right after that I've listened to my heart carefully and I've heard from my heart that maybe my book will help others and they will see emptiness directly. So I want everybody to share like that because with our own experience we can solve the whole world. Like you are doing right now, you teachers.

Thank you so much.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you. And thank you for coming to the classes. It's nice.

It's a weird thing. We're like the opposite of a fancy university in that the hardest classes that we offer are the free ones. We have time for one more.

Yeah, please. Thank you. I'm sorry.

You have to run around. We got it.

[Speaker 3]
I'm a bit nervous. It's my first time. I'm very new to Buddhism, to ACI.

It's my first... I discovered this first year. It's my first year at ACI.

So everything is confusing and I'm a bit jealous. I'm in this book. He recalled to me.

Maybe that was one of the smelly ones. The jealous person who... Everybody knows everything and I'm a bit confused.

I don't know what's happening. But like he says, I'm writing this book and I'm not giving up because somebody will understand. And I'm one of those who is not going to give up.

And this is how he recalled to me that I will understand one day. I will understand three jewels, DCI, ICI and all these things that are happening. And that's where it is called to me.

This little line, that's how much it meant for me. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Thank you so much. Well, me too.

And I thank you for the time. And I'm not going anywhere as long as it takes us as many lifetimes. I'm not going anywhere.

I'll keep working. Please stay with me. Please never give up on me.

Boss, I'm so grateful to be here and the time that you spend with me. You don't have time to spend this time with me. And please keep spending this time with me.

It's so precious to me. I'm so blessed. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody. Dr. Juan Hasso. Look.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome, everyone.

Thank you, Geshe-la. Thank you, Ben. Thank you, team.

Thank you, Rob, Lindsay, Xiaoping, Stanley, Jigme. It's like just unbelievable. I could keep thanking people.

But it's like for real, for real. I've been thinking how beautiful like a family we are. And yes, of course, we have to admit it's not always easy.

I know sometimes I cause some trouble. And I just want to say thank you for being patient as well. But I do really see all of us as a beautiful family, like brothers and sisters.

And Geshe-la taking care of us and taking us and then you know, you fight with your siblings and then you go with your mom and like, Mom, this happens. But then when I see these kind of events and how we all come together and how much all of us are contributing to create like this beautiful I don't know how to say delivery or impact in the world. It really gives me a lot of hope.

And this hope I think is kind of fueled to keep going towards this big dream. To live basically in a perfect, beautiful world reality where we can use this amazing ancient wisdom to make our dreams and other people's dreams come true. So really, thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And please stay, all of you. So, okay.

Let me, yeah, okay. What are we doing here? This is Speech Tree World News and what we do is to talk about news that happen in the Worldview Network.

The Worldview Network is like the 42 or more, I would say, organizations that use Worldview and have been pretty much like founded or encouraged by Geshe-la and are active operating into the world. So that's what we call the Worldview Network. We do news every, during every class of the Translation Translational Project.

That pretty much means Monday and Saturdays in Arizona. Tuesday mornings in Asia. Saturday nights in Asia.

You can see, oh, I have my friend here. This is like a friend, Pichiquino. It's like a great tool because then it just saves time and it really helps to have him around.

People have been trying to kidnap him, but he always manages his fine way back home. Okay, so this is the QR code. You can access these classes every Monday, every Saturday.

Let's assume you are in the west side of the world. Follow the QR code. You can join.

There is no excuse. You can always be there when Geshe-la teaches. Sometimes the class is led by the team.

Those classes are fun, too. It's different. You get to know the personalities of each one of the translators even more.

Then they misbehave a little more when Geshe-la is not around, so it's interesting. Next picture, please. Let me see.

Okay, cool. Yeah, that's the Asia time if you are interested. Now, if you want to know more detail, you can approach the stand and we will tell you information about all these programs and events that are happening all over the world.

Book night! Good night, book club! Pretty much this is what Lindsay has been helping us to do lately and it's like a great way to gain access to the content that is translated in these classes.

Finally, we finish. The books get printed and that's a great way so you can get them into your house. It also includes some very, very amazing practices.

I have allowed myself to do them. It's basically try to go to bed at 10 or at a certain time and take your eight hours of sleep. It's really amazing.

The productivity changes. Your mind starts changing. You are supposed to read the books before you go to bed.

It's a really, really good practice. Don't look at it just only like, oh, it's a project. It's like a practice as if you were an asana practitioner or a meditation practitioner.

You can be a good night book club practitioner, a good practitioner and it really brings results including losing dreaming and other interesting ideas. The mailing list is part of it. You can also get everyday updates on the content that Geshe Michael is translating.

Everyday it will come to your email. Geshe-la shares parts of his personal life and updates on all the content so everyday you can be connected. It's very beautiful what is shared there.

It's really worth it. If you're interested on that, again Lindsay is the person. Some of the news that, for example, you will find there are like what Geshe-la was talking about which is, oh, wait, there's one picture before that, no?

I have it here. Gina, no? A picture between those, no?

Kendra's picture. Okay, yes. So, for example, one time Geshe-la shared this news with us in the daily mailing list.

Congratulations, Kendra. It was very amazing to see that and to me, you both are like a great example, not as individuals only, which you are, but as a couple. It's very beautiful to see what you're doing together.

So, just congratulations and thank you for being here. Congratulations, Cesra. You choose well.

All right. So, this picture is because some other things we do in Pittsburgh News is we go to events when we can, okay? We try to go to many, but sometimes it's not possible.

But, for example, this time, beautiful chance that SCA team produced this event here in this hotel just before this. This one. And it was so beautiful to see the classes, the activities.

Many, like Hector, Holger, JB-la, Connie-la, they were all part of this. And the staff members, super welcoming. Thank you so much.

So, it's part of that. Go there. I take videos or other people from Pittsburgh News.

We report and try to share with all of you. So, you have a little window to what's going on. And taking the opportunity for this, I just want to thank also Sugeng and Chintian, because they couldn't come this time, but I just want to extend my gratitude.

They have supported me and many, many people for so many years. Actually, Sugeng is letting me use his house in Greenbrook to create like a little studio. So, thank you, Sugeng, Chintian, if you're watching this, your house is safe.

Don't worry. I haven't done parties without permission. Now, we what we do, we also promote events.

Like upcoming things that are going to happen. Examples of that is Kentaro was telling me, right, during the Sky Event and lately. To tell you about Mental Seed Project, for example, upcoming with Sophie Chow.

She should be somewhere around. Can you hear him? No, it's very...

Yeah? Okay, great. Yeah, and this is going to be Konila J.

Vila. Best wishes on that. You'll be here in Japan again soon, right?

If everything goes well. Next year? In one month.

Okay. So, this is the kind of things you're going to get to know. Now, when we go to events, what we've been doing lately is to create a stand where people can just find comfort or refuge or like a little oasis of things that you may need, even if sometimes it's just talk with someone or whatever, right?

Like, you just come, ask. People laugh about the hand lotion until they get their dry hands. Then they don't laugh anymore.

And then they come and they really enjoy. And I'm so happy, really, to see when I can fulfill hopes and needs of people, even if they are weird or unexpected. I mean, if they are very weird, I'm probably going to meet you with somebody else.

But you can see some happy customers there. Aisha got a toothbrush for Kitty. Ale, Alona using lip balm.

That was in Phoenix. We had lemonade and hot water. And yeah, more ideas to come.

It's just growing. This is the third time. But if you see the Pitch Tree stand and you need something, we want you to feel welcome to come, say hi, look what we have, ask.

You may give us ideas to keep improving in the future. And this time, also, I want to thank Gina because she produced these shirts. And it's very cool.

We are also sharing the stand with Ola. Her project is very beautiful. Talk to her.

This is a T-shirt made with angels for your mom, honoring our mothers. Some of, I'll say, first angels in our lives. And the project is very beautiful.

And some profits that come from it are donated to five houses. So you'll be supporting the cows. Congratulations.

Ah, yeah, she wants artists. If you want to design your T-shirt, approach her and she may give you a job painting. That'll be beautiful.

Okay. Now, what do we have next? Oh, yeah.

I was talking with Rosa and she was like, but what are you doing? And I was like, well, I'm representing Pitch Tree World News. My job is to, I'll say, advertise for you.

I have to help you to do this advertising. It's just to say that what I do is I let people know, like, look, there is Geshe Michael Luxury, for example, and they have a stand over there. And their products are super high-end, super, super beautiful.

And not only that, but everything that's collected then serves so many projects, for example. Then there's another stand. It's the DSU stand.

Amazing classes. I have been lucky to be a part of it. Thank you, Shopping, for everything you do.

And also for how much you take care of Geshe Lights. Really beautiful. Great example.

Shopping has this project of the DSU. Their team, really cool team. Ed Monson, I see them there.

Thank you so much for everything you do. Approach them, talk to them. Their curriculum is really great.

We have, we talk about things like Diamond Mountain, YSI, Earl is there with Connie. Look at them, how happy they look. Just kidding.

Alright, so yeah, that's pretty much what we do in the news. It's like news from the Worldview Network, and you can follow us on social media. Alright, now let's really start the news.

No, just kidding. We have almost to finish. We want to talk about, just super quickly, Five Houses has their new Instagram account.

And that's very cool. You can follow them. A reminder that Blue Sky Friends, what they do is they train people how to prepare for the death moment, or how to help others to get ready for that.

Amazing classes with Jikme and Gielse. Oh, here they are. Talk to them.

They are experts on how to die, I guess. Or how to do it well. Something like that, but it's really cool.

I listen to their classes. Really, really cool. Next, please.

YSI upcoming event. Some in Malaysia. Talk to Earl.

Talk to Connie. Ina Ibanina and Bill McMichael having retreat in Chicago about financial. And Bhagavad Gita 3 upcoming in February.

And finally, the very exciting news about the next Five Houses event, which is going to be in March. In Diamond Mountain. It was confirmed.

This is going to happen in Diamond Mountain in March. But just before that, I want Lindsay to come real quick and talk about the Chinese New Year celebration. We have only one minute.

Maybe show the picture and we finish, but invite them all. We're having a party. 10th anniversary of Diamond Cutter Classics is in mid-February.

Yeah! We're going to produce a very cool event to commemorate the Diamond Cutter Classics 10th anniversary. It's going to be what?

Food and drinks. A party, food and drinks. Special class with Geshe Michael Roach.

Special classes with the different teachers. Ben is already thinking what is he going to teach. I can see his face.

And yes, come. We'll keep you posted. But follow the news if you want to know more details on it.

And yeah, I think time is up. Hope you enjoy. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for all beautiful information. Beautiful news.

Now our time is very tight. We're going to move on to Puttisapha Vow. Brian, would you please project that screen?

Yes. So for this Puttisapha Vow prepare... I'll speak in Chinese.

First of all, we ask the second row, third row, and fourth row to take out all the objects. And all of you who registered two days ago who want to do Bodhisattva Vow raise your hands who want to do Bodhisattva Vow If you are in the second, third, and fourth row, please stay there. If you are not in the Bodhisattva Vow please leave your seats so that they can sit in the front.

And all of you who want to do Bodhisattva Vow or want to do Bodhisattva Vow or want to do Bodhisattva Vow please sit in the back. Is it clear? Okay, so for everyone who's sitting at row from number two to number five may I have your attention please?

May I have your attention please?

[Speaker 3]
Very important.

[Speaker 1]
So for everyone who's sitting from row number two to number five if you are not taking the action Bodhisattva Vow please kindly leave your seat to our friends who's going to take the action Bodhisattva Vow. And if you are going to take the Vow Renewal or if you are going to take the Wish Bodhisattva Vow please sit behind row number five to leave the space for our action Bodhisattva Vow takers. And give the blessing to them.

If you don't have enough space for the action Bodhisattva Vow let me say it again the action Bodhisattva Vow takers may sit on the carpet in front of you may sit on the carpet in front of you and kindly leave the space for row number two to row number three. And the second one the second one is very, very, very important if you want to take the action Bodhisattva Vow please go outside and when you get it I will teach you how to do it. This is the second one.

And our break time is only forty-five minutes. Only twelve minutes. Only twelve minutes.

[Speaker 2]
Hi everybody. Thank you V.C. Michael Ross for the recent teaching. Thank you teacher and teacher for beautiful teaching.

Please stay and keep teaching us. We now take a short short break and return in about ten minutes for a special class with V.C. Michael Ross open to fall on track. Please take a moment to check your application form Bodhisattva Ordination is complete.

Thank you for being here with us.