Бетси Грир — Книга 2: Интерлюдия о пустоте, занятие 58

[Speaker 1]
It's almost that time. The content of this meeting is being sent to a third party. All right, it's available.

I want to say something. We're going to dedicate this Schwenzongs Tower session to this amazing group of people in Eastern Europe called the Gold Club, and they have been doing some amazing things to raise money for ALL, which most of you know is an organization that is dedicated to preserving the texts, and we also help with that preservation effort as the translators, and we work with them closely to do that kind of thing, and we're going to, you know, periodically just dedicate these sessions to that Gold Club because they are amazing. They have raised quite a bit of funds to keep ALL and therefore us all moving forward, so thank you guys, and that was an organization originally started by Maria Morgel, and yeah, we're just grateful for you guys, so, and grateful for all of you for coming and participating and learning to do the things that we're so passionate about, and special thanks to our Worldview Productions tech team and our interpreters. So, we have a class with Utpala first, and after that we're going to watch the pre-recorded class of Stanley Chen, which if you haven't seen it, it was the jewel of a class, so stick around, and I'm sure that this one will be as well. Are you ready, Venerable?

Hi, Nick. Hey, hey. Sorry, Zoom was asking me if I wanted face effects, but I think I'll forego that particular endeavor.

We wouldn't judge you. Okay, let's see if we can get started here. Apologies, I always have to close a number of things.

Hi, Geshe-la. Hola. Good to see you, sir.

How are you? I'm fine. Good to hear.

Overworked and underpaid. Speaking of which, Nick, I'll have to talk to you later. All right?

Okay. Have some ideas. Okay.

Why is it not showing? Oh, hold on. Sorry.

I haven't seen you from your home for a while, boss. It's nice to see you snug and comfy. I haven't been home for a month, actually.

Well, welcome home. One day at home. Let me get you out on this side.

Hey, Nick, I met this woman in my house. A human or a feline, or neither? Oh, that also.

That's cool. It is nice to see her. I miss it.

Hopefully, I'll be there soon. I mean, out in Sedona. I'll be in San Diego tomorrow, okay?

I know. I'm looking forward to it. You're paying for dinner, I heard.

Absolutely. All those $100. What does that mean?

Veronica says we should pay. She says, why aren't you nice to me? There's probably lots of good reasons.

Just kidding. Hi, V. You want to say hi?

Hello. Hi. Hi, Udpala.

Hi, Vin. Why is today? What's today?

Udpala's class, Monday. What's the date? It's the day after yesterday.

22nd. The second? 22nd.

All right. Okay, Udpala, go. Okay.

Welcome to the quiz for the class we had last month. We're getting to the part of the text. We've been in for well over a year, maybe well over two years now, but where KJJ is discussing the Mind Only School's idea of what emptiness is.

We're on our way to what the Consequence Branch thinks, but we're not quite there yet. And finally, after a couple of years, KJJ blesses us with a more sort of succinct presentation of what the three characteristics of the Mind Only School are. And we discussed changing things before, and then we moved into Kuntaks and Yondrups last time.

So put on your seatbelts and your thinking caps, because this, I fear, is not an easy quiz. Oh, nice. Yeah, Siri just told me she doesn't understand what I mean by, I fear it's not an easy quiz.

Siri skipped the Mind Only School. She did. Okay.

Unlock your iPhone first. Yeah, it's my computer. What are the two components of the definition of a Kuntak, which we're provisionally translating as mental construct?

Does anyone recall? Two components.

[Speaker 3]
I mean, it's not the object which perceives the thing called mental image, is it? Or the eye consciousness?

[Speaker 1]
I'm not sure. That's a nice guess. And it's not what we're looking for here.

[Speaker 3]
Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Because we're talking about what is a Kuntak? What is the definition of a mental construct?

[Speaker 2]
Does one of them have to do with the fact that it's been applied to a changing thing?

[Speaker 1]
Actually, not. So let's just jump in, then, shall we? Is it that it's merely labeled?

Merely labeled by conceptual thought. The Kuntak part. Now, does this get you to the second part?

It's everything. If the definition is it's merely labeled by conceptual thought, and it's... Can we say it's unchanging or something like that?

An object. A mistaken mind. Yay!

A mistaken mind. Yay! Wow.

Okay. You're hired. I guess you're hired.

Okay. Okay. Just look at those.

Remember, merely labeled by conceptual thought, object of a mistaken state of mind. Now, what are the two categories of mental constructs? Along with the example KJ gave for each.

Now, if you recall, the quiz we had last time actually talked about this because we went to a quote by our dear Jason Capa, and we got into these two categories of mental constructs. And there's a lot of people talking. But now, please speak.

And first, give me one of the categories. And then, secondly, the example for it. And then the next category and its example.

By KJ. Ready? You just quieted everybody down with that last part.

Sorry. Inna in the chat is going where I thought I wanted to go. She said existing and non-existing.

Okay, cool. So, let's go with those. What is the example that KJ gave for an...

A water pitcher. The color blue. Yeah, it was one of those, too.

She says a cup. Uh-oh, we froze her. She's so dissatisfied with our responses that she's refused to ever move again.

This would be the time to throw out anything you think. Yeah, it's definitely a pillar. It's a pillar.

[Speaker 3]
The nature of the cup and then the label.

[Speaker 1]
Uh-oh.

[Speaker 2]
Go.

[Speaker 1]
We'll miss her so. The essence. Keep vamping, everybody.

Sound. No, sound is the least of our problems. The essence of the cup and the details of the cup.

She's in no position to tell you now. Checking my text, yeah. If I know Utpala, she's going to reboot before she comes back.

You want me, how about I start on her book? Let's do it. I think that's a good call.

And if she comes back, we'll continue with the quiz. We'll keep going. Yeah.

Just text her, but I'm sure she'll be back. The essence of the cup. Bad name.

Essence of cup. Let's start on her text, and if she comes back, I'll stop, okay? Yes, sir.

Okay, here we go. I'm going to share my screen. And this is where we stopped last time.

Can you guys see okay? Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

Let's get a big curse here. I mean, cursor. Okay, good.

Nick, do you want to have someone choose someone to read? Yeah, sure. Let's see who's here.

How about Roxanna? Do you want to read? Oh, no, she's translating.

Kat? Maria, just abandon me. You always look so enthusiastic.

I thought you'd... Oh, Nick, you got the plane, okay? You got it.

Sipar.

[Speaker 3]
Thank you. Sipar.

[Speaker 1]
Nice. Yeah, wow. Nice.

Okay, good. Okay, now this is a reference back to where we stopped last time. And where we stopped last time, he was going to give two examples of Yolngu, okay?

What are we going to call it? Totality? Something like that.

Oh, it looks like we have Utpala back. Oh, we're back. I'm turning it back over to you, Utpala.

Oh, you guys want to continue the quiz? Really? Yeah.

You left us...

[Speaker 3]
You left on a cliffhanger. We really want to know what's an example of an existing Kuntaq. It was bothering us.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, I'm sorry about that. It seems the internet and my phone decided to stop working at the same time. Do you have a good signal now?

Or do you want to send me the quiz so I can share the screen? Well, I mean, who knows what will change in the future? Looks good.

But for right now, can you see it? Yeah, it looks good. Oh, great.

So we're still clear. The example that Kdrupche gives for the type of mental construct that exists is the fact that visible form is the basis of its essential nature and characteristics. Oh, okay.

We talked about that like months ago. Okay, and then, you know, if one can... Oops.

There we go. Those that do not exist. Sorry.

What is the example for the one that Kuntaq said do not exist? Something like that. I mean, we've got a zillion of them, right?

But what is the one that Kdrupche gives? I have an example, but I'm going to shut up so other people can do it. Okay.

It's one that has two parts. Doesn't apply to its basis by nature, by definition? Right.

No. But that's an interesting idea. That things come from a separate substance, meaning a separate seed?

That's very, very close. It's the two types of the self. Oh, okay.

Self-nature of thing and self-nation of person. Okay. They do not exist.

I like it. And they're the ones that happen to get us into the most trouble. Okay, moving on to Yom Kdrup, which we're provisionally translating as established reality.

What is the definition of Yom Kdrup? Does anyone recall? And here we're going to get into what Ben was, and Nick, I think, earlier.

We're hoping that we were going to talk about. We could. It's two versions?

The fact. Is it what? Sorry, go ahead, Gyasi.

I'm sorry. Very well, Gyasi. The fact that the object is outside is its emptiness.

Oh, that's interesting. He did not give that as part of the definition. Isn't that interesting?

That's in my notes. Oh. Anyone else want to give us that?

[Speaker 3]
The fact that Shenwans and imaginations are empty of existing in the way we think about them.

[Speaker 1]
Sort of like that. It's the fact that changing things are empty of existing in the way that they're conceptualized through grasping to those two types of self. So he's like linking in the problem that we had here.

[Speaker 3]
Yeah, me and mine.

[Speaker 1]
Into here. But basically, yeah, it's the fact that Shenwans take away Kuntaks. There you go.

Established reality. And as a bonus question, what are the two types of established reality? Along with K.J.'s gloss for each. Oh, OK. They're very interesting, right? He got into controversial territory.

Especially for a member of the consequence branch. Oh, was it physical and mental? And changing?

Nominal and real? Well, kind of. Well, that's echoing throughout all of Infinity.

So I didn't quite get the originating source of the sound. But one of the types is unmistaken established reality. Does anyone remember what his example was for that?

There's a chat answer. OK. Would someone like to read that for me, Nick?

I could. Some things work. Some things don't work.

But I don't know if that was for the example. Oh, somebody said the category of cup. Maybe that's...

Oh, yeah. We did talk about that. But it's not related to this.

That was more related to the previous question. So unmistaken established reality. The example he gave is the...

Mind of an aria? Equipoise of an aria of the greater way in the direct perception of the selflessness of things. OK.

What's meditative equipoise? Single point of meditation. Yeah, balance meditation.

Now, does anyone recall, given this first one, what the other one was? Must be meditation of the perception of non-arias, the perception of sosokewas? No, it's a general category.

I heard someone say it earlier. Oh.

[Speaker 2]
A mind of an aria?

[Speaker 1]
No. The ultimate nature of things? Oh, that's the example.

That's the gloss. There we go. Unchanging established reality.

Thank you. And then Gelsay, how he glossed it is? The ultimate nature of things.

Yeah. Ultimate reality. Thank you.

Very good, guys. You did much better than I did putting this together.

[Speaker 2]
Can I ask you a question real quick? Would the first one be the unmistaken established reality? Is that sort of just in single point in concentration?

And the second one is the actual direct perception of emptiness? Is that the?

[Speaker 1]
No, I don't think so. Because direct perception of emptiness is a positive phenomenon. What?

The direct perception, a perception, is a positive phenomenon.

[Speaker 2]
The direct perception of emptiness is a positive phenomenon?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, as opposed to what it sees. It's not an absence of something. So the perception is not an absence.

So you couldn't say that. So is there an English equivalent to ngir? Is that a joke?

Like to translate? An English equivalent? It depends on the context.

But it could mean to occur, to happen, happening. Right word, thank you. To become.

Okay. You're met. Unchanging or to not become?

No, unchanging, you're right. That's not a real word. Unchanging.

You're right. I was hoping to trick with the unbecoming, but you know. You didn't fall for it, Gelsi.

That would have been unbecoming of you. That's right. What's the Tibetan phrase for merely labeled by conceptual thought?

And this is making use of some Tibetan terms that you learned last quiz. It's not tope taksa? Tope what?

Taksa? Is it tope taksa? Sounds good to me.

Yeah, it is. It's actually tope takpatsa. Okay.

Thank you. That's the example of something that looks real, but it ain't. Do you have translation?

I do, I do. Okay. Whoa.

Oh my. What happened? Nothing.

Looking forward to it. Reality bending. Don't be alarmed.

Is that changing or unchanging? Unbecoming. Wow.

What happened? Perhaps reshare. Yeah.

We were lost in some sort of fugue state. Oh, it's not. I've prepared everything and it's not finding it.

The new Zoom is not one of my favorite iterations. So I have to stop again. Start again.

My apologies. It's okay. It's working.

Yay. Oh. Ah.

Is that relatively legible for people? You could make it bigger. Okay.

A little bit. Yeah, as big as possible is good for us older people. Okay.

Cool. Venable, would you like to read it? Yes, please.

Nick, can you correct? Yep. And I just put the pa is yes, it is pa.

Yeah. So I'll get rid of this now. Okay.

Maybe. There we go. Okay.

Nice. Can you take us back to the last paragraph just to help people? Can you read us the last?

Do you have it up there? No, I do not. But what I did is I pulled down here what the former was.

And that was the unmistaken established reality. Yeah. So for what we call total reality or established reality, which is kind of the emptiness in the mind-only school, they had two examples.

And one he called unmistaken ultimate reality. And then second was mistake. Yeah.

That was exactly the perception of emptiness by an Aryan. And so in the emptiness of the mind-only school, they want to add the perception of emptiness as one of the examples of the emptiness in the mind-only school. And then he apologizes for it.

He says, of course, the perception of emptiness cannot be emptiness because that perception of emptiness is... A changing thing. Yeah.

We just call it ultimate reality. The perception of ultimate reality, nga mani, we call ultimate reality. And it's just called ultimate reality.

Takpao. Takpao here means we just call it ultimate. It's not ultimate reality.

Is the perception of emptiness by an Aryan ultimate? There can be no higher. Right.

Is it ultimate reality? No. No, because it's a changing thing.

It's a cause thing. So he says, look, it's ultimate. So sometimes we add it to the ultimate reality.

But, shen wang tse nyi pa yin, but actually the direct perception of emptiness by an Aryan is a... Yeah, it's 100%. Tse nyi pa here means it's 100% shen wang.

It's not yong dup at all. It's 100% shen wang, okay? Tse nyi pa means it's a genuine shen wang, okay?

It's a changing thing, okay? But because it's ultimate, sometimes we group it with yong drup. Just nominally, we group it with yong drup because it's so cool and it's the ultimate, okay?

Okay. Then he says, nam rig te lug lang, in the school of the conceptualists, right? Or mentalists.

che kyi dakme ngun tsuk du tokpay. I don't know if I'm saying this directly or something. che kyi dakme ngun tsuk du tokpay, nyi pa pa ma fe nam shak...

Yeah. nye she ba shen wang nam ni sipa. Yeah, good.

So actually, it would be impossible in that state of mind, the direct perception of emptiness, to see any kind of changing thing. Therefore, it cannot be the ultimate reality. It can be ultimate.

The perception of emptiness by an Arya directly is ultimate, but it's not ultimate reality, okay? Why? Because it's not something you could see when you're seeing ultimate reality.

Why? Because it's changing. Okay, cool.

All right, et cetera. Ideas like that. NAM RIG PAS GRUB PA'I THA NAS By the way, I would say, I would like you to tell me how could we fit in the LOPE here?

Well, that's what I put in as a saint. Yeah, the point though here is it's not a MI LO PA. It's not a Buddha Arya, right?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, it's not a Buddha.

[Speaker 1]
Arya's still on the path. Oh, because maybe they could. You could almost translate it as non-Buddha Arya.

Okay? Or an Arya who is still learning. Yeah, that's all.

That's a small, small point in your translation. Everything else is really good.

[Speaker 3]
Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
GZHAN DBANG RNAM MI SRID PAR GZHAN LA LA SOGS PA RNAM RIG PA'I GRUB PA'I THA NAS It's true. Where would you put the LA SOGS PA? I would have phrased it earlier.

I would have said these and other points or something like that. I would start... It's not wrong to make it the first part of the second sentence.

You see what I mean? LA SOGS PA always comes at the end of the Tibetan, but sometimes you can read to the beginning of the next sentence. Not to think about it.

Okay, thanks. There are many positions such as this one. And there's a...

How do I say here? GZHAN LA MA'I SRID PAR GZHAN LA MA'I SRID PAR Yeah, remember a bit from the example. Yeah, LAS TZAM STE here is difficult.

And it says, it means with regard to. Okay? It just means with regard to.

Okay? So with regard to the SEMS TZAM STE GRUB PA, what's that? I'm sorry?

With regard to. With regard to this. If you say SEMS TZAM STE GRUB PA.

Oh, with regard to the system of... Yeah, the mind only school. With regard to the mind...

Since we're in the mind only school, there's a lot of things we could be discussing here. Okay? There's lots more we could discuss.

Okay? Beyond this odd treatment of ultimate reality, of calling the perception of ultimate reality, ultimate. You know, there's a lot of other weird stuff about mind only school.

But in fear of going on too long, I will not write about it here. And you translated that very well. Yeah.

And it's a very typical way to escape a topic. Okay? Yeah.

And by the way, I would say he's correct. Meaning what? There's a lot of weird stuff in the mind only school.

He has been going on too long. Oh, he has been going on too long, too. He finally caught himself.

He's been going on for two years with this stuff. And, you know, I think it's... I think he's right.

I think it's enough, you know? We had very odd interpretations of the three characteristics of the mind only school. And it's kind of enough, right?

All right. Are you... Okay, good.

Nice work, as usual. And thank you. I know you must be spending some quality time on it, and I appreciate that.

Yeah. Okay, we're here back. Yeah, and then he has a...

What's... I'm going to skip to 378. What's that?

Can you read the Venerable Pabongka? PAR GANG GI TZUGS SU BYAS PA'O What's that mean? This is just a little intermission for you.

Yeah, he wants to give us a break. He's been killing our brain for like a year. And he says, how about I sing you a little poetry to take a...

It's kind of a relaxing break. It's an intermission in the interlude. It's an intermission in...

Yeah, that interlude wasn't much of an interlude, if you ask me. So Venerable Utpala, who's going to read? Who would you like to read?

Bertha, are you around? I'm opening chat to see who's here. Boy, I'm sorry.

Zoom has changed, and now I don't know how to do anything. Well, Pabongka, we have a... Someone grab the mic and start reading.

We have a full house in the college if you want to pick a wisdom. Yeah, okay, nice. Okay, Mr. Bing, Chloe, why don't you start things off?

Okay, thank you. Okay. SU SHIK KI KYANG KANG SHIK DUANG LUNG TSE MA NU SE PAI NEI GONG DANG RIN CHEN THAR CI NAS NI CHEN TE RGYAS PA'I RGYAP PA CHA CHE Nice.

Okay. Nice. Thank you.

Look, a lot of victims for you to pick. SU SHIK means anybody, anybody at all. Okay, SU SHIK, anybody at all, which here is in the negative, nobody at all.

DANG DUANG, ever. Nobody at all in any situation could have LUNG BRTEN PA. Predicted.

Yeah, no one could have ever predicted this kind of SAB PA'I NEI. Subtle points. Yeah, subtle points or deep place, okay?

It's kind of a joke because SAB PA can mean deep, right? And that's where you would get jewels or something. GONG DUANG means the true intent of this RIN CHEN GYI DER NDZOD.

Treasure of jewels. Yeah, treasure of jewels. CHA'I If we divide it?

Yeah, here it means open up the treasure chest. Somebody opened the treasure chest of these deep, deep ideas, and you guys should be RGYAS PA. Raised.

Yeah, you guys should be happy that someone was willing to go and find this deep treasure chest and give you all these cool ideas. I think he's saying, I know you have a headache, but you should be happy. Okay?

RGYAS PA CHA'I means you should be producing happiness. You should be happy that someone took the trouble to go to the treasure chest of the true intent of the Buddha or the true intent of the Mind-Only School and pull out these deep points for you, okay? Which nobody could have predicted, okay?

Because it was buried or something like that. Nobody could have guessed it was there, okay? Who's going to read the next poem, Venerable Upala?

Rebecca, are you awake? Nope. I met a person named Mike at the retreat at Diamond Mountain.

His name's not Mike. His name is Incredible Piano Player. Yeah.

Incredible Piano Player. Are you here? I am here.

Would you like to read? I don't know about Incredible, but there is a piano player here. That's great.

You are a good player. I'm in an airport right now. I'm about to bless a bunch of people.

I'm in an airport right now. Airport? Airport.

Uh huh. I'm in an airport right now. I'm about to bless a bunch of people.

Great, thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Okay, gong dun lok shay de gok dang. Some people have a wrong idea, a wrong way of explaining lok shay, this deep meaning of the treasure. And we have blocked those wrong ideas.

And we have also tried to take people past a state of yi nyi. What's yi nyi? Do you guys know?

Like divided mind or something like a doubt. Yeah, it's an idiom for doubt. It's a synonym for doubt, okay?

So we tried to explore the points. We tried to deny the wrong ideas. And then we tried to explore the places where people might have doubts about the meaning of the mind-only school.

And we got to the bottom of the real meaning, the real intent of the mind-only school, yong dzokpa, right? And lokpay mumpa means... I chanted it as I wouldn't even call that wrong understanding an understanding, okay?

I wouldn't call your idea of... I wouldn't call your wrong idea of the mind-only school even a wrong idea because it's such a bad idea, okay? And kye pay pang means intelligent people should reject the wrong ideas about the mind-only school that are so bad that I would object to calling them ideas.

That's his point, okay? Okay. It kind of sounds like Gyaltsabje.

Right? It's an intermission, but he's got a whip in his hand or something. I think they have insult contests.

I don't know. Okay, who's going to read the next part, Venerable Upala? You and me, please.

Venerable Gyaltsabje, please. Okay.

[Speaker 3]
DE YANG DI PAS RANG LUGS LAS LA KUN THAG RANG GI TSE NI KEE MA JU RUK PAR DUK KYANG OO MA TEL GYUR WAY GAK JE Telngur.

[Speaker 1]
Telngur. Thought I said that. Okay.

Telngur WAY DAK CHE DAK, is that way? GAK, GAK JE, GAK JE, GAK JE.

[Speaker 3]
GAK JE RANG GI TSE NI KEE JUK PE DUN SEM SAM LA KUN THAG LA YANG DUG PAS RANG GI TSE NI KEE JUK PA BYAS PA'I MIN TZAM TSUNG KYANG DONG BZHIN DU SKYE BYAS LA Yay, thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Nice. So he's talking about how two different schools view the expression RANG GI TSE NI KEE DUK PA. Okay?

So what does that mean in general, Venerable Upala? Exists by definition. Yeah, so in some schools, they feel very comforted if something exists by definition.

And in some cool schools, they feel freaked out if something could exist by definition. Therefore, he says, MIN TZAM TSUNG. It's the same phrase.

Yeah, the phrase is exactly the same, but the DUN BZHIN DUG KYE BYAS is tremendously different. Yeah, good. So let's get to the end of this sentence first.

There's an expression that says to exist by definition. And of course, you hear that expression in different schools and it's the same expression, but the meaning of it is incredibly different, okay? And then we can go back to the front of the sentence.

DIP PAS means in this school, meaning in the mind-only school, according to their RANG LUG, what's that? According to their own system. Yeah, according to their, from their system's point of view, KUN DAG is RANG GI TSE NI KEE MA DUG PAR.

Mental concepts do not exist by definition. Yeah, they are, it's a way to say they don't really exist, okay? They don't exist by definition.

Only imaginary things don't exist by definition in their school. But UMA THAM GYUR BA, According to the consequence branch of the Middle Way, their GAR BCA, the thing that they refute, which is RANG GI TSE NI KEE DUG PAR, which would exist by definition. Yeah, anything that exists by definition in the Middle Way school, okay?

They would say, the mind-only schools would say, that is KUN DAG. That is a mental construct. Yeah.

So what the Middle Way school says is YONG DU. Okay? What the Middle Way school says is YONG DU.

The mind-only school would say it's only KUN DAG. Okay. Okay?

That thing which exists by definition, okay? Therefore, the idea of existing by definition is completely different in the two schools, okay? In a way, in normal English, if you say by definition he's an idiot or a criminal, right?

Then it means he's a real criminal. But then if you go to the Middle Way school, if you say by definition he's a criminal, you'd say, well, that means he doesn't exist. Right.

Because nothing exists by definition. Okay, got it? Yeah.

All right. Who's going to read the next one, 380? Let's see.

Inna, are you still waiting to get on your flight? Yeah, I can read. Excellent.

Thank you.

[Speaker 3]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you very much. So we have this problem that if you want to abbreviate the expression RANG GI RTZEN NI KYI GRUB PA, you could say RANG RTZEN. Okay?

Exists by definition. So in the second school, in the pramana schools, in Adam's text, RANG RTZEN was the real cop, right? And RTZEN was the group of cops, so the idea of cop, okay?

So there's a delicate crossover here. RANG RTZEN could mean really exists, but really exists in the Middle Way school means it doesn't exist. Okay?

All right? So RANG RTZEN KYI GRUB PA is similar to RANG RTZEN NI KYI GRUB PA, okay? Dön sangwa.

And what he's saying is the words that are comfortable or the words that are comforting in the lower schools, this thing exists by definition, right? Everything about their description of that word fits the gotcha for the Telangiris, okay? It's the description of what is to be denied by the consequence branch of the Middle Way.

What the world thinks is comfortable because it exists really is exactly what the higher Middle Way school says is ultimately uncomfortable. Okay, cool? It's very interesting.

DE BZHIN DU LTOS PA'I SNANG YIN DANG So what's the status of things that you just imagined? Okay, LTOS PA'I SNANG YIN means objects of imagination. And what's the status of CI TSEN?

And, you know, general truth or something like that. RANG RTZEN KYI MA GRUB PA In this school, do they exist by RANG RTZEN KYI GRUB PA or not? In which school?

In the mind-only school. They do not. Yeah, okay.

RANG RTZEN KYI MA GRUB PA ZHUNG GZHAN LA'I ZHES PA DAG GIS LUG LA'ANG Even in their school, what they describe as not existing by definition in the Prasangika school would be a perfect example of existing by definition and therefore being non-existent, okay? All the qualities that they say real stuff has are exactly the qualities that the higher middle way says makes something not real, okay? Yeah.

And it's existing from its own side, okay? Who's going to read this one? Oh, I'm sorry.

I got sort of excited here. It's exciting because we're transitioning out of the mind-only school and you can feel it. Yeah, I can feel it, yeah.

Venerable Chunzun, would you like to read, please? Okay. DE SHEN DU U MA DU U MA U MA TSA RANG SEM SAMPA NAM KYI DEN PA GRUB PA ZHES LA'ANG NJOK SAM CHA RAK KYI CHE CHEN PO YUD PA RANG GI RTZA NI RGYIS GRUB PA DANG DEN PA GRUB PA ZHES SOGS KYIS MING TZAM LA'I MCHOD PAR MI BYA'O Thank you so much.

DE SHEN DU U MA THAL KHAR MA RANG KHAR MA SEM TSAM PA, okay? In the higher middle way, in the... Lower middle way.

Lower middle way and in the mind-only school. Now he's grouping all three together, okay? Their idea of what makes something denpa grub pa truly existing, okay?

Their tse. This is not sema, this is tse. Their idea of what would constitute denpa grub pa, okay?

The line of what... How they draw that line, dzok. Sam means line, right?

How they... Where they draw the line of whether something really exists or not, okay? And the line between subtle forms and rough forms of it, of denpa grub pa, okay, truly existing.

The way they draw the line and the distinctions they make between subtle ones and rough ones, khyer par chenpo. There's huge differences. Yeah, there's a huge difference between these three...

These two schools, three groups, right? Okay, there's a huge difference. YOD PAS Therefore, when you hear the word RANG GI CHEN PAS KYI GRUB PA, this exists by definition.

Or you hear the word denpa grub pa, this really exists. When you hear phrases like that, don't chulwa. Mm-hmm.

Don't be confused. Yeah, don't be misled by the wording, okay? When someone says this really exists, it should be comforting, but don't be confident.

It could mean it really doesn't exist, okay? All right? When you say, really, in the highest school of Buddhism, it's an insult, okay?

That's all. Be careful with words like really. Now, your text, your book goes into an extremely sexy section now.

It's extremely beautiful, and I've been spending quite some time with it. So I don't know why, I don't know what kind of mood he was in, but he kind of shifts out. The way he shifts out of the mind on the school is he goes to the three turnings of the wheel, and he goes there in a highly unusual way, and a highly beautiful presentation.

It would be worth a whole commentary on its own. Oh, wow. So here we go.

I was hoping we would reach this today. Yay. So who's going to read?

Sarani, would you like to read? I saw you on here. Okay.

She's being very quiet. Lindsay, would you like to read? Yeah.

Great, thank you. Gong, drel, le, kor, lo, ren, pa, sun, sum, pa, ni, kor, gi, du, teb. Tong, ton, pe, ku, se, sig, la, sok, pe, jok, pa, men, gi, jud, wei, je, je, go, ne, yin, la, nu, ne, yin, la.

Nice. Great, thank you. So we're going to start a section, and we're going to be discussing the three periods of the Buddha's teaching career.

And it's called the Three Turnings of the Wheel. Ketubje says, how do we divide the three turnings of the wheel? And he says, you have three options, how to divide the three turnings of the wheel.

Okay, here. And he says, do de gong do, which is the Buddha commenting on the Buddha. Okay.

In that book, in that brilliant book, when it talks about the three stages of the turning of the wheel, okay, korlo rimpo sum, it does not refer to a division of his teaching career according to how he gathered his disciples. It does not relate to three different groups of disciples, his New York students, his Diamond Mountain students, his Sedona students. It does not relate to how and why the students were collected.

Okay, it doesn't relate to periods, different cities or different locations or something like that. It does not relate to that. Okay, min.

It also doesn't relate to the sixth with an S in the life of the Buddha. It doesn't relate to... Stages.

[Speaker 2]
Stages.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it does not refer to periods of his life, of his lifetime, his middle age, his advanced age, his younger age. Those are called ku tse tsik. It does not...

The division of his teaching career into three does not refer to the disciples he had at that time. It does not refer to periods of his life. It only refers to judja.

Subject matter. Yeah, what was he talking about? What was he interested in?

What was the hot topics? Okay, and there were three distinct, different periods of Lord Buddha's teaching career that we can do the three turnings of the wheel. And the Buddha himself, in his comment on himself, he says, don't divide it by who I was teaching.

Don't divide it by how old I was. Divide it by what I was talking about. Okay, cool?

Cool. And then we're going to go very deep into the three turnings of the wheel. And basically we're on a new subject now and we're not allowed to go to Middle Way yet.

Okay. Still kind of a mind-only topic. Who's going to read?

Oh, let's see here. We have to be really quick. So let's take...

A name would like to pop out to me. Tracy, are you around, Tracy? Oh, there you are.

Yes, I am. With all these lovelies, the college. Great.

[Speaker 3]
Okay. Deyang Dakmepe Duntenla Pepe Pepsulki Wangdujipate Shesherdenyumakekatpadang Chudamchela Demedushepadang Ngowo Nyi Sumladempar Yumelekpar Chewa Te Khorlo Sumki Rimshinde Tar Tempe Wangdujipao Beautiful, thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Excellent, excellent reading. Thank you. Your reading is off the charts.

I don't know what happened. Thank you. I keep saying that, but it's true.

Rather, we divide the three turnings of the wheel according to dakmepe dun. The meaning of the lack of a self. Yeah, basically the meaning of emptiness, okay?

Basically, the three turnings of the wheel are separated from each other by Lord Buddha's denla bepa, how he denla bepa dakme. How he... How he...

You could say how he presented it, or how he defined it, okay? Okay. So the three turnings of the wheel, the three parts of Lord Buddha's teaching career are divided, rather, by how did he explain emptiness, okay?

Wangdujipao And then he gives an extremely beautiful summary in a single paragraph, okay? In the first turning of the wheel, he doesn't say that, but we know he's talking about it. In the first turning of the wheel, he did not kakpa tengyin.

He didn't refute reality. Yeah, he did not deny true existence, okay? Shey cher Mostly.

Mostly. Mostly. Okay, there's a little mostly in there.

By the way, he's covering himself in the debate ground. In the first turning of the wheel, Lord Buddha did not deny that things were real. Mostly, okay?

All right? And then, in the second turning of the wheel, we understand he's talking about the second turning of the wheel, he said, chod tab je denme That everything... He explained that everything is...

Not real. Is not real. Yeah, everything is not...

There is nothing which is real. First, in the first turning of the wheel, he didn't take the trouble to deny that it was real. In the second turning of the wheel, he explicitly denied that anything could be real.

Okay? And then, in the third turning of the wheel, he used mo nyi sum. He used three essential natures.

Yeah, he talked about three qualities that we just spent a whole year on. And he said, some of those are den, and some of those are not den. Yeah, he made fine distinctions about what is real and what isn't.

Yeah, he said some of those three are real, some of those three are not real. Okay? And this is the three korlo sum.

Okay? Okay? And they are defined rimshindu, respectively.

Okay? In those three ways. And that's interesting.

I think you could have a nice debate in the debate ground. If there's a teaching by Lord Buddha in which he does not specifically deny that things are real, but that teaching was given a week before he passed away, is that the first turning of the wheel? And you'd have to say yes, it is.

You see what I mean? And if, according to next 60 verses, if in a Hinayana text, he hints that nothing is real, is that the first turning of the wheel? No, that's the second.

No, it's the third turning of the wheel. Even though it was the first thing he said after he got out of his meditation. Got it?

Okay. Keep going. I would like to spend another hour on this, but I don't think you're going to let me.

Oh no, I will let you. Let's do this paragraph and nobody minds. I don't know.

Okay. Okay. Who's going to...

Why don't you read it, Utpal, for good luck? Thank you. tsul de tar tenpay do le shenpe nga de la shantak dunpor go war sungpa tabu nam takme henlampeksul min drawa sunggi kone rangne sosor jeypan ndi drawe rangne cheppe chirong dunmede shantak dunpor go war sungpe tuntsul ni takme tuntsul sungpo kong yang yinpe chur Yeah, and then I'll read this paragraph quickly, because I know we have to get on to a karma speech next week.

But... Yeah, sorry. He's going to assert that there is material that Lord Buddha taught which doesn't belong to any of the three turnings of the wheel.

Okay? He's going to make a case that there are certain teachings given by Lord Buddha that don't fit into any of the three turnings of the wheel. Okay?

And I've never heard this before, but it's kind of... I like it. tsul de tar tenpay do le shen.

Okay? If there are sutras which treat other kinds of material, then reality. Okay?

For example, to the ngag de, to his first five disciples, which are the four and the one. The four babies and the mother? Yeah, the four cubs and the mama tiger.

[Speaker 2]
Oh.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, and I put their names down here for you if you're interested. And they're very famous, because they achieved the direct perception of emptiness at the first teaching. Okay?

So anyway, he said to them, sham tab dun bar go. You should wear a skirt, a circular skirt as part of your robes. Okay?

Sham tab means lower robe. Dun bar means there shouldn't be a split in it. There should be a whole circle of material.

There shouldn't be any place where you could open it. Okay? Okay.

Dun bar means circular, a solid circle of cloth. And then goa means I want you to wear that. Okay?

And by the way, it has all kinds of deeper significance, you know, about their sexual behavior, or even how they pee-pee and things like that. Okay? There's no chance that their member will ever be revealed like that.

So he says, I advise you to wear a circular skirt. Robes. Okay.

Dabu nam. Dag me ten la bepa'i tsul min dawa sum gyi go ne. You can discuss three different ways to decide what is emptiness.

Okay? You can trang ne so-so che. You can discuss which ones were real, which ones were not real.

Dun dawa trang ne chokpay shir. And there are teachings which you can examine to see whether they were meant as literal or to be interpreted. But there are certain teachings where ung dun me.

It doesn't go there. It's not... You can't say, was Lord Buddha being literal or figurative when he talked about the lower circular robe, you know?

And Ketubje is making a case. If there are teachings which cannot be discussed in terms of to be taken literally or not, they do not qualify as the three turnings of the wheel. That's awesome.

Then he says, shantab dunpo gowar sungpay. When he said that you should wear a circular lower robe, dun su ni, the way you teach that does not fit into any of the three classic ways that you teach dakme. Right, that you teach the lack of self.

Yeah. You can teach emptiness in three different ways. Telling people how their lower robe should look doesn't fit into there.

Therefore, it doesn't fit into the three turnings of the wheel. If you define the three turning of the wheel by how much emptiness or how did he teach emptiness. It's very interesting.

It's very, very interesting. So I'd like you to translate for next time. Yes, please.

Don't worry about this nga de. That's just their names, okay, of the first five disciples. Okay.

I'd like you to do 385 and 386, okay? And by the way, if you're going to make any class, if you're going to make any class, Mixed Nuts class this year, come to her next class. Yeah.

It is amazing. It's really amazing, okay? And you're going to work on it, okay?

385 and 386. Now, does 386 include the quotation that you've... Yeah, it does.

You see here? Okay. I found the quotation.

Yeah. Okay. And it's difficult.

It's beautiful. It's extremely beautiful, okay? I just love it.

I think it should be a whole week teaching at Diamond Mountain or something. Okay. Venerable Sunam, sign me up.

Okay, cool. So, Dharamahutpala, can you lead a discussion for 10 minutes about what materials in here that we might use in our real life? And Geshe-la will shut up, and then we'll go to the world news.

And then after the world news, we have a class by Geshe-la's avatar. Thank you so much, Geshe Michael. You're welcome.

Thank you for doing this book. Okay, so we talked about that weird kind of established reality, the one that's really not established reality, right? Even though it's called established reality.

And then we talked about, oh, there are phrases that mean, oh, this doesn't exist by definition, but it means the opposite, that it means to another group. I mean, we're talking, the whole day was about different phrases that mean different things to different people, right? Right?

So what do you as a person here in the Mixed Nuts class, what do you think about all of that? I mean, whether or not something is a member of the turning of the wheel of Dharma, the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, or it's not, is whether or not it's a teaching on emptiness? Was the Vinaya not a member of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma?

I mean, that's really controversial. So that, gosh, what do we think about all this? Yeah, I have something on the first one.

We were talking about how there's certain things that are comforting in the lower schools, and that's the exact thing that's uncomfortable in the higher schools. And I was thinking about how in our lives, there's certain things that we, it can be comforting to feel like they're solid, like our parents, our teachers, our job, the money that's in my bank account, things like that. But when something goes wrong and you lose the job, somebody who you love upsets you, when there's something that disrupts it, you can start to see the ways in which they aren't solid.

We were talking about at the retreat how the people who hurt you can maybe be the most helpful in your life, and it just kind of forces you to see where it's actually coming from. It's not the comfort and all of that wasn't coming from the money in your bank account, it wasn't coming from your parents, it wasn't coming from how it was coming from how you treated other people in the past. And so I was just kind of thinking about that.

And the comfort didn't come from your certainty about whether something was true or not, right? That's a big one, we think that. Okay, yeah, I get that money comes and goes.

Okay, yeah, I get that people die. Okay, yeah, I get that sometimes people are angry, sometimes they're happy. But man, I really think that that's true.

I'm certain of that. And that, you know, that certainty is a problem. Anytime I'm certain it should be like a, I don't know, should be a red light going off and an alarm saying, excuse me, Paula, what was that?

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
I like that idea about the, or just what you guys said about the money coming and going, because, you know, sometimes that can be helpful, I guess, but money's not coming and going and relationships aren't coming and going, seeds are coming and going. And so maybe these teachings are sort of, you know, as it seems like, as we've talked about, they are like the stepladder to get us, like there isn't ever a teaching that doesn't address someplace where we are or not in our life, which is the beauty of it. I mean, there's always, no matter how we come and go in our ups and downs, there's always a teaching which relates to us and is helpful, which is pretty awesome.

Like there's never a place you can, there's no place you can turn that isn't something that's gonna be beneficial to you. And even like when we were talking about the round circle of the robe, I was just like, wow, it's so cool that it's like an unending circle. Like it's totally part of the teachings.

And then Kedra was saying, no, no, that doesn't fit into any of the three turnings. And I was like, wait, what? Because I remember when we were taught Trangay with Geshe Thubten Rinchen and what is figurative and what is literal.

And that was the example about the monk tying his robes. And that is a figure, it's a literal statement. But yeah, I don't know, it's just so great that there is something relatable always.

And that's really super helpful.

[Speaker 1]
Right, it is. And then also like in the, I don't know, the vein of Manjushri of if something is not comfortable, just put it up on the shelf and bring it down one day, it will be comfortable.

[Speaker 2]
Right, and if you're uncomfortable, you're in the right class.

[Speaker 1]
And yeah, exactly.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, it's so great. Yeah, we're lucky.

[Speaker 1]
So confident. Yeah, I guess I was thinking if there are two husbands in the kitchen and one exists and one doesn't exist, that that's an important teaching. And it's critical to know that the one that is upset for no reason at all doesn't exist at all.

And then there's maybe a temporary stopping point along the way where we take utter solace in the real existence of the guy who's coming from our seeds. But that's not real either in the sense that we have to keep planting seeds. Like that guy doesn't stay there either.

There's a next step where we have to keep treating people lovingly.

[Speaker 2]
I mean, by the way, that husband was yelling, right? He doesn't have to stay there either. So the one guy, the husband who's yelling for no reason, he doesn't exist at all, that's a relief.

[Speaker 1]
But this other guy who is yelling for a reason, he can change if your actions change from being a pain in the butt with the people that you work with to being kind and loving with the people you work with. And then he's not real either. He becomes replaced by a loving husband and maybe eventually Manjushree herself standing in your kitchen.

And I think our language itself, it is problematic for us because just saying this husband, like what? This as opposed to what? Husband is like, it turns something that is an experience into a thing.

It turns the experience of a husband who is loving into a thing and that's a problem.

[Speaker 2]
It'd be fascinating to track language as say a person or people or in the Buddhist time, as the understandings shift, as we become more clear, how does our language, what does that look like? What does that sound like? What does, you know what I mean?

Like the, it'd be cool, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
That would be a great study for somebody.

[Speaker 3]
Linguistic, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
To go back through, like a person, I guess you'd have to find out, have they seen emptiness directly or not? But you'd have to go back and then see what did they talk like before they saw emptiness directly and now how did they speak? And to whom, right, and to whom?

[Speaker 3]
Even the ACI courses, you can hear the language actually.

[Speaker 2]
My perception is, you know, the language changes over time and who Geshe-la is speaking to and what audience is there and et cetera, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
And you have changed, I would guess, in a similar way from when it was first recorded to when you listened to it the second time and the third time. Thank God, yeah, right, Ben, nice. I mean, yeah, I've gone back to teachings and it's like, oh, this is entirely different than what I heard the first time.

Yeah. Wow. We're getting into tricky territory there, hee hee.

[Speaker 3]
I would like to share something I learned in Venerable Sumathi's class. Venerable Sumathi taught us to give us a training to catch the gajap, catch the misunderstanding in our mind. So what I do for myself is I really put myself in the training, I prepare, first I set in my mind before the problem come.

So when something challenge come, I monitor myself and how fast I can catch and I turn my mind, change my will and act correctly. And then, so you'll feel like more prepared and I would suggest you can do journaling. You write in a book, journaling, and then monitor your progress.

You'll have to monitor your performance like that and then see how your progress moving.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, beautiful, thank you.

[Speaker 3]
I want to thank you very much, Venerable Sumathi, if you're watching now, thank you. You give us a training to catch the gajap.

[Speaker 1]
Yay. Is Juan Haso ready, you guys? I don't know.

I think I heard him back there somewhere. Really? I want to find out what's the news.

Hello, everyone. Hey.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, today I was thinking about a friend of mine. She told me like in Mexico, sometimes they say, no news is good news. So I feel like everyone is tired, maybe no news and that's great news.

But of course, no. We didn't do that. We came all the way from Diamond Mountain today.

I drove like a few friends. Actually, two flat tires. It was crazy.

We were trying to come yesterday. We couldn't leave. I want to show you people gathered together at the Sedona College.

Yay. Even Tim Lowenhaupt, he's very busy, but he made the time to be here with us. He loves us so much he couldn't resist.

So here we are, very happy to be here. And as we say, we had a wonderful time at Diamond Mountain in the last retreat. It was beautiful experience to see everyone there, to have the chance to spend time together.

It was about 160 people, I think. Is that correct, Tim? 160, 130?

[Speaker 1]
That's a nice exaggeration for us.

[Speaker 2]
130, 120? 80 people. It was just us, but I'm just kidding.

120. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience. And one thing that happened is like, it sold out so fast this time because people are excited to start coming back to Diamond Mountain to attend this retreat.

So the directors of Diamond Mountain really encouraged us to sign up for the next retreat right now because it's gonna sell out probably very, very fast. Me, myself, this time, I couldn't find a spot. I had to go for the camping, but you can avoid that if you sign up ahead of time.

So here is a QR code. You can register and plan ahead. It's gonna be next fall, October 11th to the 20th, 2024.

It's gonna be wonderful. I really think so. So speaking of Diamond Mountain, a very distinguished member of Diamond Mountain, Bernabel Cat, his next picture, please, is going to be having a special class together with Benji from YSI.

They are gonna be teaching about, yes, thank you, thank you. They are gonna be teaching about how to do retreat and many elements that are involved in the practice of doing silent retreats. Some from the perspective of a very experienced retreat person, which is Cat, and another perspective, Benji, which has a lot of insights on the yoga practices on how to use or how say, yeah, do the practices with a subtle body that Lady Niguma and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, another ancient text, yoga text, share with us.

And that's very soon. That's when we are sharing it with you. It's in three days, four days, April 25th.

So you can sign up. It's actually very early in Arizona, but in New York time. Could you move the picture a little bit, Gina, please, so people can check the QR code if they wanna sign up.

[Speaker 1]
It's okay.

[Speaker 2]
It's okay, they can see the QR code? Okay.

[Speaker 1]
It's opening.

[Speaker 2]
Perfect. Okay, next picture, please. Now, as you know, we just had a beautiful, wonderful experience at Diamond Mountain.

And before that, we spent some time in Japan. Team Lowenhaupt is hosting another course, course number two of Protecting Your Seeds, Steps on the Path, an Immersive Experience in Kyoto, Japan. It's gonna be on June 4th to the June 8th.

So you can sign up if you live in Asia and Kyoto is a place that you can easily go. I really recommend you considering this because I was there and it's so beautiful. The classes were very fun.

The place is really magical, very, very beautiful. And there is gonna be like another teachings going on there as well. If you cannot make it for any reason this June 4th, you can start planning for December, is the next picture, yes, where Geshe Michael himself is gonna be there.

December the 2nd to the 7th, Kyoto, Japan again, Steps on the Path. We will be giving you more information about the venue and the hotels very, very soon. We have special material prepared for you.

We will have very soon. And also speaking about Kyoto, teacher John Brady is gonna be teaching along those dates also in June about the Heart Sutra. He's gonna be giving a special immersive course there.

Not exactly, not quite in Kyoto, but very close to Kyoto. So if you go to Kyoto, you may also be able to attend to this event if you're interested. What I'm saying is that you can go to Kyoto and use the time very, very well because many things are gonna be happening there.

And speaking of the Heart Sutra, there is another class that's gonna be happening, but this time is a little later during the year. This one is gonna be in October and it's gonna be hosted by teacher Sarani and David. Wonderful teachers.

There were Diamond Mountain, wonderful people. I have heard that their classes are amazing. So if you're interested or you're around that area and you wanna go, check this QR code and you can get more information.

You still have a little time for that, but we're gonna keep informing you how it's going. And next picture, please. Mexico is getting ready to host a very cool event.

I was there in this few days in Diamond Mountain. A few meetings were happening, intense meetings about what's gonna happen with the future of Mexico. But the team is brave.

The team is strong. They are ready to produce big events. So team Lowenhaupt was able to see the big heart and he said, go for it.

So Mexico team, congratulations. You're producing an Angel Debates the Devil with Geshe Michael Roach in July 26th to the 28th, Mexico City. I already convinced Ina Ivanina and Bill to come.

They say they were coming. So the job is in progress. Next picture, please.

And speaking of them, they are advertising their program, which is focused on how to improve or develop. If you don't have anything to improve, if you don't have a broken car, you need to get the car first. So first, how to get the car if you don't have the car and then how to fix it.

Hopefully it doesn't need fixing, but you know how it is sometimes. Chloe, oh yeah, that's another story I will tell you. We had say two times, two flat tires and me and Pachi were not able to figure it out, but then Chloe appeared and she saved the day.

She fixed the car, she did everything. And then she can tell me, wow, it's interesting. Chinese girl is more capable than Mexican guy to fix a tire wheel.

I think it's true. Thank you, Chloe. Thank you so much.

She saved the day. That's why we can be here. Speaking of cars, but this is not quite cars.

It's relationships, but either you don't have a relationship or you want to fix your relationship, you can use this course and do the practices they propose that I really believe are, I would say, already proven by ancient wisdom, by some professionals. And next picture, please. Yes, we are planning our next Pitch Tree Big Event.

Usually once a month, we have it. Mostly once a month. This time we want to celebrate the Teacher's Day because you know, in United States, in Mexico, the Teacher's Day is celebrated in May.

So we want to use this chance to celebrate our teachers and the teachings we have and the big blessing, the great love we have of having them in our lives. So we will be keeping you posted about it. It's going to be wonderful, big surprises and meaningful content being planned here.

If you're interested, just sign up and very, very upcoming, very, very soon. No, no, no, wait. Okay.

We have a special guest with us. She wants to talk about the... You're not going to present?

Yeah. We have a person with us to invite us a very special event happening in New York. Chloe, please come.

And thank you so much for helping us with the car. Here we are with a wheel, tire, flat master. Thank you.

So tell us, what are you planning and what has been your experience with these events?

[Speaker 1]
Okay. So hi everybody. So Met Gala is a annual fundraiser event for Three Jewels in New York City.

So as you may know, Three Jewels was started by Lama Palma and Geshe-la in the 90s. So everything was from there. So it's very dear to my heart, my home center.

So basically this is the party where you dress as your future self who has achieved the highest potential. And then you'd also hold this view to see other people as the same highest form throughout the event. And this year we'll have a new way to participate for people to send in a message as your future highest form self to yourself, like your advice from the future to yourself.

And it's an international art installation where your message can be recorded and people will be able to hear that in that party. So I'm gonna send...

[Speaker 2]
Can we show the video?

[Speaker 1]
Yes. So take a look at what it's like to be in that party and be in your highest potential forms.

[Speaker 2]
We have a special video. Wow. I wanna say...

[Speaker 1]
I haven't seen it. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
As far as I understand the money that they get from the tickets they sell, they use it for a scholarship for the meditation teacher training, right?

[Speaker 1]
Yes. So a lot of the money gathered from this event, from the tickets and the funds the fundraiser effort will go to all the trainings, the classes. And last year Three Truths was able to give $250,000 worth of scholarships.

And they hosted 3,500 classes and all this money will go to retreat. So if you wanna plant a seed of people becoming in Bahamas in the retreat, I have a friend, personal friend, she got the full ride. She gave a scholarship to the retreat in Bahamas too.

So anyway, so if you wanna join, there's a way. So you... Oh, sorry, translator, I forgot.

It's learning. So Gina, would you show the next slide or the picture? So this is how you can participate.

Basically is how, what would the future self tell you? Who has already achieved all your goals, right? And know everything you are going through and they come back to you and tell you some message.

So you can participate, record a message, follow this link. Then you can donate $5, $10 and then all this money goes to someone, goes to a retreat or learn a meditation teacher training. So it's a cool way to help others and participate.

And then 3000 people in New York attending this event will be hearing your voice. All the messages from, it's called the collective voices of future selves.

[Speaker 2]
So no cursing. Unless you're cursing suffering, maybe.

[Speaker 1]
So the next one, please.

[Speaker 2]
Sorry.

[Speaker 1]
And then we should probably start in a moment. Yeah, so this is the how you sign up. And then thank you so much for letting me present.

[Speaker 2]
Yes, so this is a QR code for people who want to attend the actual event. And the other QR code was for people who want to send their materials. And we will be talking a little bit more about it next time, just before the 2nd of May, that's the day of the event.

So if you're around or you really want to go, you still have time. And yeah, I think that's it for now. We will see you again on Saturday, next Saturday.

And remember to sign up for the May 14 event. Thank you very much. Back to you, Nick or Ben.

[Speaker 1]
Here I am. That was great.