Сугэн Ши — Книга 2: Колесо жизни (первый принцип и подразделения зависимости), занятие 19

[Speaker 1]
Pretty easy, so I hope all of you enjoy it as much as I was writing it. So what did Master Vasubandhu do to make sure that the teachings of the victors can last a long time? Anybody remember?

Gave money to all the students.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, he made offerings to the sangha wherever he went.

[Speaker 1]
Make the people, right? Make the people, arrange for the people to do elaborate, very elaborate offerings to the sangha communities wherever they're located. How many people did Master Vasubandhu teach in Odisha and for how long?

And how many students did Master Vasubandhu teach during his time?

[Speaker 3]
So 12,000 people in Odisha. Yeah, for how long? Oh, I think it was like not just one night but three months.

Yeah, wow, perfect memory.

[Speaker 1]
And how many students did he teach during his time? 60,000.

[Speaker 3]
Yeah, wow. Ah, where did Master Vasubandhu do?

[Speaker 1]
Now, what did Master Vasubandhu do at a self-created stupa called Gomasala before he traveled to Sita?

[Speaker 2]
Bodh Dharma. There was something about a monk who looked like a monk but really was a householder.

[Speaker 1]
Oh yeah, I didn't include that part but yeah, that is right. And then what else after that? Mantra problems, right?

Mantra problems, yeah. Anybody remember? What did he do with the mantra?

He said it back.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, he said it backwards and then he passed.

[Speaker 1]
Yes. Yeah, so he delivered his final teaching to the members of his sangha and he encouraged them to follow the teachings and then he recited a mantra from the victorious top note backwards or the other way around. Okay, STW.

[Speaker 2]
What is that? To get someone to do something.

[Speaker 1]
Get someone to do, yes. Get someone to do something. Shatak.

[Speaker 2]
Every single one.

[Speaker 1]
Every single one. Rangjung Kyi Chutan. A self-made stupa.

Self-made stupa, yeah. A stupa that appeared on its own. All right, so.

Okay, Geshe-la, please take the plane. Oh, okay. Did you translate some stuff?

Yeah, I don't know. I just did my best and I know it's crappy. I'm sorry.

Oh, okay. We were going to go to the text, I think. Oh, okay.

But you tried to translate this, right? Yes. Let's do these two lines, okay?

Okay. GANG TU NYA NGAN LAS BDE PA'I SA SA means the place at which, GANG TU, at the place at which HI NYA NGAN LAS BDE PA What's that mean? At the place where he he is residing after the nirvana?

No, good. At the place where he went to his final nirvana, meaning at the place where he passed away. So this NYA NGAN LAS BDE PA you have to read as final nirvana, right?

Oh, okay. And it's impolite to say that a teacher died. Even nowadays in the monastery we say, you know, he left his, he withdrew his emanation or something like that, you know.

Okay. So there, at that place, there were some LOPAS who had a lot of BDE PA. There are a lot of students with a lot of belief, faith.

A lot of faith, good. And GCIG PA means they built. Yeah, they built a STUPA where they could keep his KUD DUNG.

KUD DUNG means like his tomb, his tomb. His, his tomb, like his, uh, T-O-M-B.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, okay. Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. Yeah, good. So KUD DUNG means a place where you put the body of a saint or something.

Okay. Okay, I'll reorganize here. Okay, good.

Let's go to the next sentence. LO PA DANG NI CHEN PO DE LA LO MA BSTAN PA BRTZON NUS PA SANGS RGYAS MI KHYAB PA BYUNG SHIN TE DANG PHRAGS KYIS BDAG GIS BDAG GIS LO PA DANG NI CHEN PO DE This great master... Yeah.

BSTAN PA BRTZON NUS PA means students who could, who had the ability to keep their teachings. Students who had the ability to keep the teachings. Unbelievable.

Some unbelievable ones came after him. BYUNG means came into the world after him. So unbelievable students, like grandpa has.

So unbelievable... Unbelievably great students who had the ability to keep the teachings happened, came after this teacher. But NANG NAS CHOG TU RGYUR PA means...

NANG NAS CHOG TU RGYUR PA means the choke of all of them. What's that mean? Oh, the greatest?

The good? Yeah, the greatest among all of them was she. Uh, she?

Four of those students were the greatest. Oh, okay. Okay, and then he's gonna...

When you see the DE, it means he's gonna list them.

[Speaker 2]
I see, okay. Okay, thank you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, thank you very much, Geshe-la.

[Speaker 1]
All right, let's go to work. Let's go to work. You're so lucky it's not five o'clock in the morning for you.

Okay, stop complaining, Geshe-la. Here we go. Oh, hang on, I gotta...

I gotta get your book up. Okay, I got it. Shall we end, continue with the one more paragraph of the biography and before we move on to the text?

I'm gonna go straight to the text. Okay. And then we'll come back to the biography.

We have about a year to finish the biography. You see what I mean? Okay, so let me go here.

I think we're here, right? Yes, we are. Okay.

You're gonna read and... Hey, Nick, how are you doing? Yeah?

[Speaker 3]
Getting better.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, I don't know. That's a hard way to start a new life. Okay, five o'clock in the morning.

Nick's gonna check you, Sugeng. Go, you guys. Okay.

Okay, good. This is a very... By the way, your book is impossible and there's no way to check anything.

There's no commentaries. So we're on our own, which is kind of fun. So NGE'I TSEG is an idiom that you guys don't know, I think.

And NGE'I TSEG means the source Sanskrit. You know, NGE'I means definite. TSEG means word.

But NGE'I TSEG means, let's find the etymology in Sanskrit. What's the original meaning of this word in Sanskrit? It's called NGE'I TSEG, okay?

So when you see NGE'I TSEG in a Tibetan book, it means, here's the ancient Sanskrit source for that word. They'll give you the ancient Sanskrit, okay? And he says, look, GEN is LAS.

So we're talking about what is... Yeah, what does GEN mean? What's the meaning of the word GEN?

And he says it's LAS. And that's why we call it GEN. GEN means LAS, and that's why we call it GEN.

So in Tibetan, it doesn't make any sense at all, okay? And you have to reconstruct the Sanskrit, okay? Otherwise there's...

GEN is called GEN because it's LAS. It doesn't mean anything in Tibetan. So let's go find the Sanskrit.

So GEN in Sanskrit is KARNA, all right? And KAR is the root that means to do something. And when you add ANA to anything, it means the doer, okay?

So KARNA means the maker. So KAR means to make. Create comes from KAR.

And cereal comes from KAR. That's why cereal is spelled with a C. It used to be curio.

So it means something that grows or something that's made. So KARNA is the Sanskrit word for GEN. And it means to do, to make something, maker.

It means maker, okay? So he says, Do you want to know why we call this condition in the twelve links? Each link is a GEN for the next link.

Each link is a trigger. Let's say trigger, okay? Why do we call it trigger?

Well, because it's KARNA. Well, what's that got to do with anything? Well, look, KARNA is LAS.

So what's LAS in Sanskrit? KARNA.

[Speaker 3]
KARNA.

[Speaker 1]
KARMA, okay? KARMA, KARMA. So what Vasubandhu is saying here is that, why do we call each link the trigger for the next link?

Why do we call them KARNAs, makers? Because they are KARMA. KARMA.

It's a joke, okay? They are KAR-ANA because they are KARMA. Okay, you're supposed to laugh again.

Yeah, I know. But I'm thinking, can I just use this in the English text? Because KARMA is kind of...

Yeah, you're going to have to have a... This is going to be heavily explained here. So what it says is, we call the triggers KARNA because they are KARMA, okay?

We call the triggers KAR-ANA because they are KAR-MA, okay? They do something. They make something.

Geshe-la, where do you get the KAR from? Is it from LAS, is it? No, GAN in Sanskrit.

In fact, the English is the same. Factor means maker, like factory. When you say factor for GAN, it means maker.

Okay, so he's trying to make a pun. And that's what you usually do when you do NGES BZIG. When you do a NGES BZIG, when you explain the literal meaning of a word in Sanskrit, they'll be the same root.

The root here is what? KAR? KAR?

KAR, KAR. Yeah, KAR is the root for KARMA, KARNA, okay? So he says, so when you do a NGES BZIG...

I'll tell you a famous one that causes trouble. In the Abhidharma, it says gods are called gods because they live in the sky. And then the Tibetans say they don't understand what it means.

It's a NGES BZIG, it's a NGES BZIG, okay? What's it mean, Nick, do you know?

[Speaker 2]
I'm trying to remember right now. Is it sky people? No, what's the word for...

[Speaker 1]
What's the word for... What's the word for HA? Yeah, and the word for sky is DIV.

DIV, you see what I mean? So that's a NGES BZIG. That's a literal explanation.

And then when the Tibetans translate it, it doesn't mean anything, okay? Okay, DRA CHENG BA are called DRA CHENG BA because they are worthy. DRA CHENG BA are called DRA CHENG BA because they are worthy.

That's another famous NGES BZIG. What's DRA CHENG BA in Sanskrit? AR HAT, AR HAT.

Yeah, AR HAT. And then the root for to be worthy is AR H. AR H, you see what I mean?

So that's a NGES BZIG. The AR HATS are called AR HATS because they are worthy of prostration. It's a pun in Sanskrit.

AR HAT is worthy AR H of prostration. You see what I mean? So if you don't know Sanskrit, these are ridiculous in Tibetan.

They don't mean anything, okay? All right, and you see people trying to explain it. It's kind of funny.

Okay, YIN PA'I KHYENT. Also, you can say, THA TSIG DGOS means it's expression. It's an expression.

So, THA TSIG is an ancient word. It's an expression for something which spits out things. RAB TU CHUNG here doesn't mean a monk.

Usually RAB TU CHUNG means someone who has taken ordination because they have left the home life. RAB TU CHUNG really came out. But here it means when we call...

The reason we call these triggers karana, maker, is because they spit out results like crazy. RAB TU CHUNG. So here's the whole sentence.

Why do we call these triggers karana? Well, because they are karma. Kar kar.

Oh, and what does that do? Oh, they spit things out. That's why they are triggers.

They produce things, which is why they... They are like little factories, and that's why we call them factors. You might go that way.

It's something like that. Each link spits out the next link. That's why we call it karana.

Because they are karma. They do something. So good luck on that.

You can spend a few weeks on that. Keep going. GYEN GANG YIN GZHAN NA, BDAG PO'I KHYENTE'I PHYI PHYIR GYEN ZHES BSTAN Okay.

Well, what kind of gyen are we talking about? You know, what kind of factor or trigger? And by the way, I really like the word trigger in the Wheel of Life.

I like calling each one a trigger for the next... You can call them yenlak, which means what, Sugden? Yenlak.

What's that mean? Branch. Yeah, good.

You can call them branches. Or link. You can call them link.

Yenlak is link. Or you can call them triggers. I like trigger.

Each one triggers the next one. Then you get this chain reaction feeling. So GYEN GANG YIN GZHAN NA.

What is a trigger? BDAG PO'I KHYENTE'I PHYI PHYIR BDAG PO'I KHYENTE'I PHYIR Okay. So there are five khyents described in the Abhidharma.

And one is called BDAG PO'I KHYENTE'I PHYIR. Okay, BDAG PO'I KHYENTE'I PHYIR. And it has two shades of meaning, okay?

And which way you're going to go is up to you, okay? So BDAG PO. BDAG PO generally means what, you guys?

What's a BDAG PO? Boss? Yeah, the owner of a business or the boss of a business is called BDAG PO.

BDAG means self, right? But BDAG PO means the boss. Or it means the owner, okay?

So one of the five types of factors or conditions in the Abhidharma is called BDAG PO'I KHYENT. BDAG PO'I KHYENT, okay? And it has two meanings.

And both of them are good here. One is that it's a KHYENT which is part of your body, okay? It's a KHYENT which is part of you as the owner.

For example, your eyeball, your eye power, in Stanley's text, is called a BDAG PO'I KHYENT. It's a trigger which is part of your body, okay? It's a trigger which is part of your body, okay?

That's called BDAG PO'I KHYENT. In a larger scale, BDAG PO'I KHYENT means CHE RGYUD. And so the Abhidharma second chapter is going to describe four kinds of factors, KHYENT, and I think five or six kinds of gyus, causes.

And one of them is called CHE RGYUD. And I'll give you a clue, Sugeng, let's see if you remember. It's the surfer in Indonesia.

Oh, anything that is not preventing something from happening is considered a cause of that thing to happen, something like that. Yeah, yeah. So either one you can use here, okay?

When we call the twelve links triggers, we mean they are personal or something like that. Either they are included into a person, or you could say because they are extremely powerful, okay? They run the world.

They are the causes of the world, okay? CI PHYIR MKHYEN SHES BSTAN That's why we call them... That's why we like to use the word trigger, because trigger has the feeling of something inside of you that causes the samsara of you, which is Sugeng, or the samsara which is me.

You see what I mean? Why are you calling these things triggers? Because trigger implies part of the human being.

Which creates things. Which creates the world, okay? It's very interesting, okay?

Can you repeat again? The CHE RGYUD means what? Something very powerful?

The BLA ZUNG. CHE RGYUD means anything in the universe which doesn't prevent another thing from happening. Doesn't prevent, okay.

Got it. It's considered a cause of it, you see what I mean? So sometimes BDAG PO RGYEN is explained that way.

Sometimes it's explained as a cause which is part of your being, of a human being's being, of any animal, any creature's being. Probably that's more appropriate here. These triggers, if you think about it, they are always part of a person.

They're always part of a person. These twelve triggers are part of a person, if you think about it. You know, the sense, our organs, contact, feeling, death, aging.

These are all triggers inside of a person, okay? All right. By the way, a famous BDAG RGYEN is the YESHE CHUG KU, which is the wisdom of a Buddha.

A famous BDAG RGYEN is the wisdom of a Buddha which you achieve in the first moment of your enlightenment. And that triggers the emanation bodies in the second moment of your enlightenment. So if you say, give me a classical example of a BDAG RGYEN, of a personal RGYEN, a personal trigger.

The classic example in scripture is the wisdom of a Buddha in the first moment of enlightenment, which spits out emanation bodies throughout the universe in the second millisecond of enlightenment. Because that wisdom is part of that Buddha's body, part of their being. And then they spit out emanation bodies in the second millisecond of your enlightenment.

In the first millisecond of your enlightenment, you're one body short. Okay, you have a shortage of bodies. And then in the second millisecond of your enlightenment, the personal trigger, which is your omniscience, spits out the emanation bodies.

And so when you see a discussion of BDAG RGYEN, the wisdom of a Buddha is a very famous one. The wisdom of a Buddha in the first millisecond of their enlightenment is a famous one. All right, cool.

If you want to go deeper in BDAG RGYEN, here's a reference. And this is Tsongkhapa, and he says, look, there's five classical causes here in the Abhidharma, and there are four classical conditions. The first one is RGYEN in the Abhidharma, ZHIS DE.

Why don't you read this first two lines again? Since you want to go deeper into BDAG RGYEN. Yes.

Thank you. RGYEN NI RNAM PAR ZHIS DE, RGYU'I RGYEN DANG MIG PAS, RGYEN DANG DE MA THAG PAS, RGYEN DANG BDAG PO'I RGYEN NO Yeah, good. The different types of factors as opposed to causes, or the different types of conditions as opposed to causes, are four.

RGYU'I RGYEN, which is that idea of something that doesn't stop something else from happening. They call it a cause condition. It's a weird name.

The four kinds of conditions. The first of them... And by the way, we'll get it in the second chapter of Stanley's text.

Why would Vasubandhu be thinking about these four conditions? Because he wrote Abhidharma. He wrote the Abhidharma Kosha.

So it's on his mind. Conditions which are causes, which is kind of that surfer in Indonesia doesn't prevent the birth of a baby in England. At the same moment.

So a surfer taking a wave in Indonesia, in DCI Level 7 we talked about it, doesn't prevent a baby being born at the same moment in England, on the other side of the world. Therefore, that surfer has caused that baby. Therefore, that surfer has caused that baby.

Because they haven't stopped the baby. That's a complicated thing. MIG PA'I RGYEN is easy.

When you look at a coffee cup, the coffee cup triggers a perception in your mind. So it's called object trigger. DE MA THAG RGYEN is a beautiful idea.

It means immediate condition. Immediate condition. It refers to one thought leading to the next thought in your mind.

So, that's a special kind of factor or cause. Karana, right? Karana.

Where one thought triggers the next thought. And then he says DAG PA'I RGYEN, which is the one we're talking about, which emphasizes that the condition is part of your body and mind complex. It's part of a human being.

For example, your sense powers are a condition which is carried with you. So, what's he saying in this sentence? I would say, he's emphasizing that when we say dependent origination and we get into the origination part, we're talking about triggers.

And those triggers are part of your being. And each of the 12 is a trigger for the next one, as part of your being. That's what Vasubandhu is trying to say.

He finished explaining why they're called Karana, because they cut up. And then he went on to explain what kind of trigger are they. They are triggers that are part of your being.

Cool? He's actually going very deep in a few words. Okay.

Keep going. RGYUD DANG PHRAD RGYUD DANG ZI MA YIN NAM GZHAN NA Yeah, now this is hard, okay? By the way, the whole commentary is hard.

But you're already graduated from the simple commentary. He says, why do you call RGYEN? Because normally, RGYEN means secondary cause.

RGYEN means not the main cause. The RGYUD of a tree is what? It's even seed.

That's seed. What's the RGYEN? Sunlight and soil.

Water, fertilizer. See what I mean? So somebody comes and asks Vasubandhu, why are you emphasizing RGYEN here?

Condition. Why don't you say RGYUD? When you talk about origination, when you say 12 triggers, why don't you call them...

Each one causes the next. Why do you say each one is a condition for the next? So he says, I think you should have called them RGYUD, cause, and not condition.

Or you should have called them CHE RGYUD, which is an ancient word for effective cause. Or you should have called them ZHI. And those of you, as you guys learn more scripture, you will learn that the word ZHI, which means what?

Foundation. Yeah, foundation, can be used as a cause. In ancient books, sometimes causes are called ZHI.

Which means, which is a little strange. Why? Somebody tell me why it's strange.

Why is it strange to call a cause a foundation?

[Speaker 3]
Usually it's an emptiness as the foundation.

[Speaker 1]
That's not a bad answer, but I want something more. Think about the timing here.

[Speaker 2]
Because it doesn't exist at the time of the result?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, when you say my YETI microphone is resting on the desk here. Where is that? Okay.

The desk is the ZHI, and the microphone is sitting on the desk. They're at the same time. They're going on at the same time.

The desk is holding the microphone. That's a ZHI. That's a foundation, basis.

And the microphone is on the basis. But when you call causes ZHI, it's a little strange. Because the cause is gone by the time the result comes out.

That's like when you put your coffee cup on the table, the table should disappear. You see what I mean? Because the table is the ZHI, is the cause.

Okay, so it's a delicate idea. And you'll see it in ancient books. You'll see causes referred to as foundations.

Should I think about it? Yeah, sorry. I mean, should I have...

Because apparently this is not the higher middle way. So should I keep my mind with the lower middle way, or even mind only when thinking about all these things? Yeah, well, there's a big debate about it.

But I would consider this book to be a little bit of a mix between mind only and lower middle way. Yeah, because he does get into kunshi. He does talk about kunshi.

But, so ZHI here is a rare word for cause. Okay, so what's happening here? What's the guy saying?

Sugeng, what's he saying? What's this sentence saying? Hey, Vasubandhu, why did Buddha...

Why did Buddha not use the cause? Good, and the maker cause and foundation, which are synonyms for causes. Why did he use this condition, which is a secondary kind of cause, like the fertilizer and the sunlight and the water?

Why is he talking about secondary causes? What is this nam? Nam is what?

Use? Is that the meaning? Oh, that's a question mark.

Okay, so A-M is a question mark in Tibetan, A-M. And the first letter of it has to match the last letter of the word before. I see, okay, got it.

Okay, so what would you say after CHE? You'd say CHE DAM, because CHE ends in D. So it has to match the last letter of the word before.

It's a good question. It's a good question. There's no question mark symbol in scripture.

It's just A-M, okay? And then you match the first letter to the last letter before. Okay, what do you use if the last letter before is a vowel?

You use the apostrophe. Apostrophe. Okay, A-M.

Okay. Here's, I guess he's here. This is a funny comment by Vasubandhu.

Please read. GANG YANG RUNG BA MUD NA YANG PHYIR GOS BAR GYUR RO Okay, so what's a PHYIR GOS, Ben Kramer?

[Speaker 3]
That's the debater, and I always forget which side.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it's the other guy. It's the opponent. Yeah.

Yeah, the opponent. The opponent debater. He says, and MU means to state, right?

MU means to say, S-M-O-S, MU, okay? And what's this saying? Oh, you guys can read my English.

Vasubandhu kind of throws up his hands and he says, look, whatever word we use, someone's going to complain. You know that from your kids, right? Shentian.

Whatever word you use, somebody's going to complain about it. But GANG YANG RUNG BA means anyone at all. MU NA means if you use it, if you say it.

YANG, anyway. PHYIR GOS, somebody's going to come and argue against it. He doesn't really answer the question, does he?

Let's see if he answers it below. Please read. BSTAN CING BRAL PAR BYUNG BA'I SKABS SU NI GANG LA BRTEN NAS GANG BYUNG BA'I DE'I BSKYEN GNYIS MDI YIN PAR BRTEN STOB Yeah, so SKABS SU means in the context, okay?

SKABS SU means in the context of what? Of whatever comes before. So BSTAN CING BRAL PAR BYUNG BA'I SKABS SU NI GANG LA BRTEN NAS GANG BYUNG BA'I DE'I BSKYEN GNYIS MDI YIN PAR BRTEN STOB In the context of dependent origination, okay, in the context of dependent origination, when we say BSKYEN, when we say condition or trigger, what we mean is the thing that was there that made the other thing happen.

That's all. That's all, okay? When we use the word BSKYEN in the discussion, in the context of dependent origination, we are not talking about secondary cause.

We are not talking about fertilizer, water, sunlight. That's not how we're using the word. We like the karana.

We like to use the word karana because it fits the meaning here, okay? If it's there, it's going to spit something else out. If it's there, it's going to trigger something else.

That's all. We're not using BSKYEN as a secondary cause. We're using BSKYEN as a trigger for something else, okay?

When it's there, it will trigger something else, okay? GANG LA BRTEN NAS If you rely on it, GANG BYUNG Something else will be spit out, okay? Okay.

Keep going. GZHAN DAG NA RE RGYUD MYOS NA NI DE MA THAG PA'I BSKYEN LA SOGS PA RDZIN PAR MI'I RGYUR RO GZHAN NA Now, somebody's still arguing that he should have called it RGYUD. They should be calling the triggers RGYUD.

And they shouldn't be calling the triggers KHYIM, okay? So this is a new guy. GZHAN DAG NA RE means KHO NA RE.

A different guy. A different guy comes, GZHAN DAG NA RE. So NA RE means he said.

RGYUD MYOS NA NI If you had used the word RGYUD, okay? If you had used the word cause instead of factor or trigger, then people wouldn't misunderstand. And there wouldn't be a danger that they would think that you're talking about one of the other three types of KHYIM.

So remember we said there's four types of KHYIM in the Abhidharma. There are four types of conditions, okay? And DE MA THAG KHYIM, do you guys remember?

It was a long time ago, about six minutes ago.

[Speaker 3]
Right after it happened?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, and it refers to mental, mental causation, okay? One thought leads to another thought, okay? DE MA THAG KHYIM means just after condition.

Trigger for something just after. And that's a code word in Abhidharma for the way that one thought triggers another thought in your mind, okay? So what the debater is saying, the other debater is saying, look, if you use the word KHYIM, people might misunderstand and think you're talking about one of the other kinds of KHYIM.

Okay, because there's four kinds of KHYIM. I think it's a bad choice. I don't think you should have used the word trigger.

I still say you should have used the word cause, okay? Cause is clear, but condition can be misunderstood because there's four classical conditions and some of them have nothing to do with what we're talking about. For example, the DE MA THAG KHYIM, which means the condition for the next moment of your mind.

So that's not what we're talking about in dependent origination. Vasubandhu, why did Buddha say KHYIM instead of RGYUD? Because RGYUD would be clear and KHYIM can be misunderstood, okay?

Somebody's complaining, all right? He said people are going to complain anyway, right? BRDZIN PA MI'I RGYUR RO means people wouldn't misunderstand.

People would not misunderstand by thinking you're talking about, for example, how one state of mind triggers the next state of mind. I don't like the word trigger. There's too many meanings that people could misunderstand, okay?

This other guy, okay? Keep going. GZHI DANG PHRAD RGYU SMOD NA NGES PAR CI YOD Okay, then why do you want to use RGYUD?

Why don't we use ZHI? Or why don't we use GZHI DANG PHRAD RGYU? Those are good words too, you know?

If you have a problem with KHYIM, if you have a problem with condition, well, why did you specify cause? Why don't we say foundation? Or why don't we say maker or something?

GZHI DANG PHRAD RGYU, okay? Now I ask you, why you chose the word cause and you didn't say foundation? When everybody knows that foundation can mean cause.

NGES PAR CI YOD We had NGES PAR last night. What's it mean, NGES PAR? That we had LALA and we had NGES PAR in the same sentence.

Do you guys remember? Whose text was that?

[Speaker 3]
The false. That was my text. It's not a problem?

It's not a problem.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, NGES PAR CI YOD. Yeah, NGES PAR CI YOD means, well, what's the problem with using any other word? Why do you want to use RGYU?

Why don't you use GZHI, you know? That's also better than KHYIM. Okay, got it?

Vasubandhu is being difficult. Yeah, he's being difficult. It's just like talking to your kids, right, Shunchen?

Okay, please go ahead. Okay, good. RGYUD DRA GZHAN LA YANG THONG STE YANG DAG PA'I DA BA RGYAD PAR BYA BA'I PHYIR RGYUD GNYIS BSKYEN GNYIS YIN LA TZAM PA DAG NI RGYUR MA BA STE RGYUD DON PAR BYED DOGS ZHES BYA BA LA SOGS PA'O Good.

RGYUD DRA GZHAN LA YANG THONG STE Look, you say if we use the word GYEN, which means trigger, people might get confused because that has other meanings, like one state of mind leading to the next state of mind in the next instant. And Vasubandhu says, oh, well, so the word cause doesn't have other meanings? Okay, that can also be misunderstood.

That's a bad argument. You shouldn't use GYEN. You shouldn't use the word GYEN.

It can mean other things. And Vasubandhu's second answer is, oh, well, so I guess cause can't mean other things? Of course it can mean other things.

So why is your word better? Why is RGYUD better than GYEN? RGYUD can also mean five other things.

GYEN can only mean three other things. Okay. RGYUD DRA GZHAN LA YANG THONG STE By the way, DRA here means word, right?

It doesn't mean sound. And what's the famous DRA in the sciences, in the classical sciences? Shabda.

[Speaker 2]
Sanskrit.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, the study of Sanskrit, Shabda, is called sound. It's just called sound, DRA, okay? So DRA doesn't only mean sound.

DRA can also mean word. Here it means word. We see the word RGYUD also in other contexts.

And then he lists two contexts, okay? What's the first one? Don't you remember the discussion that says, there are two causes, RGYUD, and there are two GYENs?

For YANG DAG PA'I LTA'O. Worldview? Yeah, and that's the third of the three principal paths, right?

[Speaker 3]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, what's the first two? The renunciation and the bodhicitta. Yeah, okay, good.

He says, look, don't you remember the discussion where they say, the third principal path has two causes or two conditions? Got it? There the word cause is being used in a completely different context, okay?

So aren't you afraid people will misunderstand it if we use RGYUD, if we use cause instead of factor? Okay, got it? The guy said, if you use the word factor, which is what you're doing, people could misunderstand it for other contexts.

And then Vasubandhu says, well, what do you want to use the word cause? He says, yeah, I want to use the word cause. Then he says, well, isn't the word cause used in other contexts?

Isn't the word cause even used as a synonym for kin in other contexts? Because there are scriptures that say there are two causes, RGYUD, there are two kins, factors, if you want to develop an understanding of emptiness. And those are the first two principal paths.

Got it? So in those books, the first two principal paths are called RGYUD NYID RGYEN NYID. The two causes, the two factors.

This isn't a positive. It's the same thing. People have classically called renunciation and bodhichitta RGYUD NYID RGYEN NYID.

The two causes, the two factors. Okay, so we say, Vasubandhu says, well, then why is RGYUD better than RGYEN? They both have other contexts.

They can both be misunderstood. Okay, we're not talking about three principal paths here. We're talking about the suffering of the universe.

Aren't you afraid they're going to misunderstand? Okay. So Geshe-la, in the three principal paths, the RGYUD and the RGYEN basically have the same meaning, is that right?

Yeah, in this context. In this context, yeah. Yeah.

Hey, look, there's two causes, there's two factors for getting a correct view of emptiness. Well, what's that? Well, you...

By the way, I have a new phrase for renunciation. We used it in advanced level one. Nick, can you guess?

It's when you get so sick of a problem that you get up off your ass and you do something. That's my new definition of renunciation. Okay, when you get so sick of a problem that you finally fix it, like a leaky sink.

When you get so tired of stepping in the water that you get up and do something. That's my new definition of renunciation. And then bodhichitta.

Okay, got it? All right, and now he's going to give another example of why the word cause also has other contexts. Okay, here we go.

SANGS PA BDAG NI RGYUR MA BA'I STE Then Brahma says, I'm the primordial cause of all things. Okay, he claims to be the creator of the universe. Brahma.

He says, I'm the lord of all things. I created the universe. He calls himself the gyu.

I am the gyu. What's the Sanskrit band? Do you remember?

I don't remember.

[Speaker 2]
Lakshana maybe? I don't know.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, there is a word for it. Hetu maybe? I don't know.

But here you have the Hindu god saying, I'm the cause of all things. Hey, aren't you afraid that if we use the word cause, people will think we're talking about the Hindu god? You see what I mean?

So Vasubandhu is answering his critic. The critic says, don't use the word factor because it has other applications. And Vasubandhu says, okay, then we shouldn't use the word cause because it has applications, like king of the universe.

Okay, got it? There's a word, Ben, I can't remember. Like the primordial cause of all things.

There's something I heard in the Bahamas. They kept saying it in the Bahamas. I don't remember.

I don't remember. Anyway, I don't want to remember. What's that?

Spanish is infiltrating. Okay. Okay, gyud tunpa cheddo.

Brahma said, I am the cause of all things, and I am the one who shows causes in the world. Gyud tunpa cheddo. Okay, I'm the one who made causes in the world.

I'm the cause of all things, and I created all the other causes. So, according to you, we shouldn't use the word that you want to use. Because it also has other contexts.

Okay, got it? All right, let's go on. All right, two more minutes.

Yeah, therefore, I don't like your arguments, okay? These are not good answers for... It's not a good answer when I say, well, what do you want to use instead of kin?

And you say, I want to use gyu. He says, that's not a good answer. That's a lousy answer.

That also has other meanings. Okay, got it? Geshe-la, do you want to teach me how to split this?

Deway na and then dey dak ni. Oh, okay. Deway na means therefore.

Okay, deway na means therefore. Dey dak ni means those comments you made, okay, about, oh, you should use cause, right? LEN DU MI RUNG NGO Those are inappropriate as answers.

Okay, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this is a mistake. This is L-E-N and not L-A-N.

Therefore, it would be inappropriate, MI RUNG, to accept your ideas. LEN means key len, okay? Key len means to accept, okay?

It would be wrong for me to accept your arguments because they are illogical, because the words that you want to use also have other contexts. So if I'm not allowed to use the word trigger, because trigger can mean a gun, you know, and somebody might think we're talking about guns, then, and so we should use cause instead of trigger. Well, cause also, they're using it when they describe the cause of the universe as some guy, you know, with a big hand, you know?

So that's also got problems, you know? So I don't like, I'm not going to accept your arguments, okay? LEN DU MI RUNG It would be inappropriate for me to accept your arguments, okay?

Let's go one more sentence for good luck. Yes. Okay, so if you recall, this is a commentary on a one-page sutra, okay?

We're going to spend five years on a commentary to a one-page sutra. And I was trying to find places where I could insert the sutra. You see what I mean?

Like, does he cover this line of the sutra, and then he talk, talk, talk, talk, and then he covers this line of the sutra? And he does. He does.

So it's like a root text. The sutra is like a root text. So I have inserted the sutra here.

It's the 11th section of the sutra. What's it say, Sugeng? What does this one sentence say?

By the way, number yewa means divisions. Number yewa means divisions. So there are divisions of the dependence and the connection?

Yeah, and shena means, kang shena means, if you ask me, if you ask me, kang shena means... So in the sutra, who's talking? Master Vasubandhu?

In the sutra, who's talking? Oh, Buddha. Yeah, Lord Buddha says...

Lord Buddha says everything happens in dependent origination. And then he pauses, and then he says, hey, you guys want to know what the links are? You guys want to know what the links are?

What are the divisions of dependent origination? You guys want me to tell you? I'll tell you.

And now we have a commentary on that. And it's long. All right.

And then so Buddha says, hey, he says, hey, you guys, you want to learn dependent origination? They all say, yeah. And then he says, you want to learn the 12 links of dependent origination?

They all say, yeah. Okay, that's where we are. That's where we are.

That's how far we got. Okay, thank you, Geshe-la. Wow.

21. Okay. Okay, Ge-wa.

Ge-wa, Geshe-la, thank you very much. All right. How long is our break, Nick?

Is 15 minutes or 20? Oh, five? In five?

Actually, I think seven minutes. There's a special meeting, Nick. I will continue with the diamond mining here.

I'm aware. So everybody, please stay tuned for Sugeng's diamond mining class, which is coming up here. Ooh, diamond mining class.

If you want to learn how to make a practical life tool from the stuff that we're studying here, this will be a great class for you. Please check it out. He's a great teacher, too.

He's going to make you laugh and have fun and smile the whole time, no matter what time of day it is. Okay, I'm looking forward to your class, Sugeng. By the way, the purpose of re-