Сугэн Ши — Книга 2: Колесо жизни (первый принцип и подразделения зависимости), занятие 25

[Speaker 3]
I didn't get the right for recording.

[Speaker 1]
Hey, let's start record on this computer. Okay, let's start with Homer, what is what is also considered a trigger for almost everything, as mentioned by most of us one do in the text after discussing the trigger for misunderstanding and the firstly penis. Yes.

Okay. I was kind of surprised. What do you guess is the trigger for almost everything.

Wow, this is like very brave. Contact. Yes, contact.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Contact is also taught as being the trigger for almost everything. All right, what are the three kinds of impurities taught in the sutra of the big belly. No.

So cool. Anybody remember desire. What kind of impurities impurities of desire, desire, and then improve impurity of being beings and finally the misunderstanding misunderstanding of the impurity.

Thank you. You have a good notes. The causal factor means that a cost can be the factor, and they are not contradictory.

But which one of the six causes is not a causal factor.

[Speaker 2]
The first one.

[Speaker 1]
What. Sorry I missed you. Okay, shall I give the time so all right.

The door, the functioning cause. Yeah, yeah, let's test. Let's test my memory.

Plenty. Plenty. Plenty.

Anybody remember simultaneous cause simultaneous. Yeah. Tell me, tell me.

[Speaker 3]
The same type.

[Speaker 1]
Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me Wow. All right, Jashula, these are the two paragraphs and I hope they are correct.

[Speaker 2]
Is this from your text or in the Four Factors?

[Speaker 1]
Abhidharma. Abhidharma.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it looks too understandable, right? Yeah, I hope so.

[Speaker 2]
No, it's just not where I thought we left off, that's all.

[Speaker 1]
I just got to find it.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, there it is. Yeah, this was where we left off.

[Speaker 1]
I would say they are Tsumba Dema Thakyan, okay? Oh, by the way, when you say Dema Thakyan, Immediate Factor, sometimes that's a nickname, that's a short name, and the full name is Tsumba Dema Thakyan, okay? Simultaneous Factor in a Mental Link, yeah.

That's the full name of this camp, yeah. It's an Immediate Factor in a Mental Link. They are the Immediate Factor in the Mental Link.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see, okay, I see. Oh, Tsumba Dema Thakyan, all right.

Because they are a state of mind which triggers another state of mind just after them, which they are linked with. Okay, I'll correct the English later. All right, thank you.

Okay, good. Now this is very sexy, and this is one of the reasons why we study causes and conditions in the second chapter.

[Speaker 2]
Can I ask about the first sentence though? Let's take most of the mental and mental states.

[Speaker 1]
I'm sorry, what?

[Speaker 2]
SEMS DANG SEMS SBYUNG BSKYED PA Let's take most of the mental and...

[Speaker 1]
Oh, you can say, I don't know, you can say, what do we call it? Mental functions, yeah. Oh, mental functions.

Yeah, you can say functions, yeah. Okay.

[Speaker 2]
But mental by itself. Mind, we would...

[Speaker 1]
Oh, I'm sorry, okay. Yeah. Is this the one you're referring to?

Yeah, yeah. Oops.

[Speaker 2]
And it would be the mind in most of the mental functions?

[Speaker 1]
SEMS DANG SEMS SBYUNG BSKYED PA No, I think the most goes before both of them. Really? Okay.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
I think, yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Most of my mind, not all of it.

[Speaker 1]
Well, most occasions or most occurrences, right?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
And here's the exception. DGAR BCOM PA THAMS SEMS SBYUNG, okay? So then you know that the one above covers both mind and mental functions, the most.

Because here it says... So leave that alone, that's correct. Most occurs, most refers to both mind and mental functions.

Because in the next sentence below, it says let's take the mind and mental state... Let's take the final mind and mental states. Let's take the final mind, okay?

You don't have to say all, okay? Oh, okay. Just...

The final mind and mental states of an enemy destroyer. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Enemy destroyer. Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

SEMS DANG MI THAG GIS MI YIN TE They are not immediate factors in a mental link, okay? Immediate factor in the mental link? Yeah, in a mental link, yeah.

Okay. YIN TE RIG PA PHYI MA MED PA'I PHYIR What's a NIR RGYUD, you guys, Ben Kramer?

[Speaker 2]
NIR RGYUD, like a NIR LENG GI RGYUD? Yeah. Like an immediate receiving cause?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, so here it means they are not... They are not a... They are not an immediate...

Sorry. There is no immediate result. There is no immediate result.

Of a state of mind just after them.

[Speaker 2]
Just after them, okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. Okay, I see. There is no...

Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Why is that? Because they are...

Because they are an immediate story? Yeah, well, what happens to people when they reach arhat in the Abhidharma system?

[Speaker 2]
Oh, they...

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, they just stop, okay? They just stop. Say...

Anybody for $50 going to give me the famous expression for that? PEM RIG YUN BYAS PA Wow, that was absolutely simultaneous. Right?

Nick said it too, right? I didn't say that. I had only unclicked the mute button when Ben said it.

Were you going to say that, Nick? For sure, but he totally got it quick. I think we should do $50 each.

So, $50 to the Ezra Scholarship Fund, and $50 to the Amalie Scholarship Fund, okay? Or maybe they can both use the $50 to go visit each other when they grow up.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, that's cute that that's how much you think that costs still.

[Speaker 1]
All right, good job, Sugeng. Thank you. That was a good job.

I gave you the sexy part, okay? That's, by the way, the most important sentence in this whole part of the second chapter. It's that there could be a cause without a result, right?

That's kind of weird, right? Oh, wow. Let me see if I can find where we were.

Sorry, I'm a little... Let's see, where did Sugeng go? He's down in Kinshala.

Yeah, I know, but... Where is he? Hang on.

I got to go get him.

[Speaker 2]
Search for three dollar signs. 12, 11.

[Speaker 1]
12, 12 now, right? Yeah. I sent it to you, right?

Yes. All right, here we go, here we go, here we go. Don't worry, don't worry.

Okay. Move this over here.

[Speaker 2]
Farther down, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Not that far. Oh, yeah. We finished.

[Speaker 2]
12, 11.

[Speaker 1]
Here.

[Speaker 2]
That's where we started last time. All right. Go down a little more.

[Speaker 1]
Here we are. Okay, so we finished these two paragraphs. Let me give you a cursor.

Yeah. And you can see it, right? See what?

Oh, okay. A bigger cursor, right? Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 3]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. All right. Let me push this down so you can read the whole thing.

Okay. All right. All right, Dr. Kramer, here we go again. Okay, cool. So, we're on the subject of a mikpeyken, which refers to what, you guys? No.

An object. An object of perception, which in the Abhidharma school triggers your awareness, okay? So, if I put a pen in front of my face, then that triggers an awareness, okay?

So, it's a kin. The pen is the kin. The color and shape of the pen, actually, are the trigger.

And then, as soon as I go like that, then it triggers an awareness in my mind, okay? And I remember an accent. I remember a very famous question from a guy named Leon.

Some of you know him in New York, in the New York classes. And he said, he raised his hand immediately, and he said, but I thought it was coming from me, okay? So, that was a brilliant question, you know?

Because it makes sense, right? When I cover the pen, and then suddenly I uncover it, it triggers a perception in my mind, right? And then he said, but no, the pen's coming from me.

It's the opposite way. So, what do you say to that, Sugen? Kramer, you want to say something, right?

You can tell.

[Speaker 2]
Well, I mean, the first thing I would say is, this is Abhiharma.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, that's all, Sugen. Okay. Yeah, but you probably can find mikkens in the higher school, so that gets a little, it gets a little strange.

All right, so, how many mikkens are there? He says what, Sugen, in the first half of the first line? How many mikkens are there in the universe?

In the universe? How many things are mikken? How many things can trigger a perception?

Everything? Yeah, everything. All right.

And, by the way, sometimes when you say everything in Buddhism, you start with the most basic thing in the universe, which is suk. Suk, the form. And in this case, and then, you know, anytime you see suk, you have to think about, are they talking about all physical things, or are they talking about shapes and colors, okay?

And I would say here, because we're starting with the effect that it has on your visual consciousness, we must be talking about... The object that we can see? Yeah, yeah, we must be talking about suk in that sense, which means shapes and colors.

[Speaker 2]
Shapes and colors, okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, so, Sugen, when I say suk sok, how many of the categories, how many of Stanley's categories am I talking about? Five? No, he says ched dang je.

All six? Eighteen. Oh, eighteen, okay, all eighteen.

So, suk sok is another way to say everything in the universe, okay? And don't forget that in Sanskrit, the sok means Adi. Why is that so cool here?

Adi. Do you guys remember Dan Kramer? The list starting with...

Yeah, starting from things you can see, all the way up to everything, okay? So, if you say everything, what? Starting with stuff you can see in front of you, and then everything else too.

All of those things in the universe, starting with things you can see, they are mikken. And by the way, mikpa is the full form, and it means an object of perception. Okay?

Object of perception. And I remember my teacher teaching me, which is why it's so wonderful to have a human teacher, a close teacher, he would make a big deal about mikpa and mikpa. Do you guys remember?

Mikpa and mikpa. Yeah, one means the object, and one means to perceive the object. Yeah, the verb to perceive an object is mikpa, and you emphasize the first syllable, okay?

It's like the Chinese tone, right? Mikpa. Are they spelled the same?

Exactly the same, that's the problem. They're spelled exactly the same, that's the problem. And then when you're talking about the object of perception, you go beep beep, like a roadrunner, right?

And then mikpa, okay, mikpa, mikpa. Okay, so what are you going to say here?

[Speaker 2]
Mikpa.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, it's... It's kind of both. I don't know, mikpa kyen.

I think they treat it as a verb. Okay, mikpa kyen. What's this ngot dak mean for $20?

Projects directly. No. The actual object.

No. What are the words?

[Speaker 2]
I'm sorry.

[Speaker 1]
Ngot and dak, and I'll give you a clue, then it says kangroor. Oh, actual objects or labeled objects, any which one. Good, yeah, real objects, ngot, or dak means just called objects.

They're not real objects, okay? Okay, so he says everything in the universe is an object factor, either a real object factor, or we can call it an object factor. That means there must be some object factors that are not quite object factors, but we call them object factors.

And he's going to get into that. Kangroor means either one. Everything in the universe is either a real object factor, or you can call it an object factor.

So, we can start with suk. It's the mik kyen for mik gi nam she. What does that mean?

Suk is the mik kyen. It's the form of the object for the I-sense consciousness. Yeah, form in the sense of colors and shapes is the object factor for the awareness of your I, the awareness of what you're seeing.

And you go all the way from there up to chod tam je, or the mik kyen of the yi gyi nam she. The object of perception of the mental sense consciousness. Is what?

All stuff. Yeah, everything in the universe is a mik kyen for your mental consciousness. Everything.

Why? Because things you see, hear, smell, taste, skin, in the next moment, they are objects for your mental awareness. That's Abhidharma system.

All right, YIN PA'I PHYIR. So, mik kyen is a pretty big category, right? Yeah, very huge.

Everything. And it's one of the easier ones to understand. By the way, I have a problem with kyen, the four kyens.

I was thinking about it this morning when I was washing the dishes from last night. To me, they're not equal weight. They're kind of strange.

They're not like a quarter of the things in the universe and a quarter of the things in the universe. They're just kind of like jumbled up. It feels like Buddha must have mentioned them on different times during 80 years.

Somebody said, oh, he mentioned it four times. It doesn't seem like they are equal weight. And I'm not sure they are comprehensive either.

Or maybe too comprehensive. All right, please read. Mr. Sona wants to check you. The satellite from Singapore is cranky. Cranky? Okay.

Can you hear me? Yeah, you're okay, Sugong. Start again.

Start again, Sugong. You know what this means. SHAG TU YOD DE means he's making an artificial debate.

Let's take the... I used to call it dominant factor or something. We called it personal dak yin.

I used to call it dominant factor. This will help us translate it. SHAG TU YOD DE What's it mean, Nick?

It is a thing. Yeah, we can say what it is. It's just artificial debate.

Take the dak yin. We can say what it is. Oh, wow, you're really tough.

Why? It's the same as je gyu. Same as functioning factor?

A causal factor. It comes from your country, by the way. Oh, yeah, okay.

Causal factor. It comes from... What?

The surfer. Yeah, the surfer in Indonesia. It's the surfer in Indonesia.

Now you have a new idea of what dak po means. Maybe it doesn't mean personal. Maybe it doesn't mean us.

Stanley was saying supporting factor or something like that. Now it seems like dak po... By the way, dak po can mean the owner of a house.

Dak po can mean the boss of your job. Dak po can mean the boss of your country. Maybe we call it a boss factor.

It's going to be expensive. So they are the same as the causal factor? Yeah, which means everything in the universe except the result.

Except the result, yeah. At any given time. Like what's causing this Zoom call?

When we can hear you, it's everything else in the universe. Okay, got it? And what is this de gyu du she pa?

It is explained as being it. Oh, okay, it is explained as being it. So this gyu means it.

This gyu refers to dak chen.

[Speaker 2]
I see, okay.

[Speaker 1]
The word doer cause is explained in the scripture as referring to it, meaning dak chen. Okay, cool. So that means we might want to adjust our mixed nuts translation of dak chen.

Okay. I've seen some good arguments that it should be called personal. But every time I read this part of the Abhidharma, I think we should call it something like dominant or something.

Like the big boss cause. Boss of all causes. Boss of all factors, yeah.

I see, because it covers a lot of things, right? Yeah. And here you see that he has expanded it from dak chen to dak poy chen.

He gave the full name. This is the full name. So dak po always means boss or leader or like that.

And then dak could be self, personal. Now that he put the po in there, who put the po in there? Choney Lama or Vasubandhu?

This is... It's in bow.

[Speaker 2]
Wow, Vasubandhu.

[Speaker 1]
Yes, it's Vasubandhu put the po in there. Let's go see what the Sanskrit is word. Where is that?

Oh, here it is at the end. Oh, dak po chen. I guess it's Adipa.

Adipa. Adipa, the big guy. I guess.

Alright. Is it? Yeah.

Yeah, okay. Alright. Adi means like first one, right?

First one. So here we should adjust it to dominant factor. I would say so.

I would say so, yeah. Okay. And I gave you the definition of a doer cause just in case you forgot.

Where it says anything that doesn't prevent the result from growing. And which actually helps the thing to grow. Because the king...

The king not killing you helps you.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
The IRS, the American Tax Department, is helping me this year. Because they didn't take 100% of my money. They just took 60%.

Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Alright. Next, again, please read. I think Venerable Utpala wants to check you.

Of course, yay. Okay. Yeah, good.

CHUNG SRE means what, you guys? CHUNG SRE. OBOD.

OBOD. Yeah, let's talk about this a little bit, okay? Do you see any bold in the next few paragraphs?

[Speaker 2]
No.

[Speaker 1]
No. It means Choney Lama wants to talk about things. Which is nice, that's why we hired him.

He says, let's step away from the root text for a while. Let's talk about this stuff, cause it's confusing. So when you see a long...

Here it is, right? There's no bold for like a whole page. It means he wants to talk about it.

It probably means something's bothering him. I mean, just so you know. CI DUN GYI CHUNG SRE GZHAN DANG means let's talk about all this stuff from a very overall point of view.

This CI DUN doesn't mean CI GZHAN DANG. It just means, let's take a bird's eye view. Let's take a bird's eye view of all this stuff.

Let's look at it from a big scope. Generally speaking, CHIR GYUL KHYEN GYI MING BRAL What does that mean? They're not contradictory.

To be a factor and to be a cause, these two ideas are not contradictory. One thing can be both a factor and a cause, if you think about it. I don't know.

Water is the cause for the plant to rot, but it's also a ken that helps it grow. Something like that. Water, I don't know.

Everything can be a gyu and a ken. That's not contradictory. MING MING BRAL In fact, the two words are YIN GYEL MNYAM.

Equal sense? Yeah. Everything which is one is also the other.

Everything which is one is also the other. Now we're not talking about factor as a secondary cause. We're not saying fertilizer, water, sunlight.

We're saying in general, generally speaking, from a bird's eye point of view, everything that's a factor is also a cause. Okay. Now he's going to say, but there's a but coming.

There's a but coming. I didn't do the but and then ask me a question. Okay.

Generally, anytime you say it's a factor in this situation, it means it's a cause in this situation. And anytime you say this is a cause in this situation, you can say it's a factor in this situation. Okay.

Now here comes an important qualification. Here comes an important exception. All right, here we go.

And Buddha still wants to check you, I think. Yes. Yeah, okay, good.

What's shi chik la tön na mean, you guys? If one thing relies on a basis. Not exactly.

It means relative to one phenomenon. Shi chik la tön na means relative to one situation or one case. Relative to one case.

Okay. So let's say that we're talking about a specific case where a seed is growing into a sprout, right? Okay, you planted a watermelon seed and you're trying to grow a watermelon plant.

Okay, so that's one situation or one circumstance. So shi chik la tön na means with regard or relative to a single situation. Khyapa.

There are features. No. There are differences between...

Yeah, yeah, they are different. So in general, you can say every cause is a factor, and every factor is a cause. But with regard to a single situation, there's a difference between the two.

Then condition takes on a different meaning, and it doesn't mean exactly cause. Then they get separate. Why?

The near limb of the watermelon plant, just any particular thing. The immediate cause, or the direct cause, or the material cause, you can say material cause. The material cause of a thing is called...

is the gyu separated out from the two of gyu and kyen. So when you talk about the material cause of the watermelon plant, then you have to split causes and factors and call it the cause. Nyi su chelwa means you have to split cause and factors and call it cause.

What's the immediate... What's the substantial cause of a watermelon plant? A seed.

Yeah, the watermelon seed. It means what turns into the plant. What turns into the plant.

So the seed, watermelon seed for a watermelon plant, is called a cause. The material cause. The immediate cause.

He says when you're talking about the material cause of a thing, you're going to have to split the two ideas, cause and factor, and call it the cause. And not so much the factor. When you're talking about one specific situation.

Not in general. But what's coming up next, you guys? Anticipatory translation.

What's coming up next? You split up the kyen. Say again?

[Speaker 2]
You split the cause and the factor, and it's the factor.

[Speaker 1]
Good, yeah, okay. So, chen chik chepa nyi means contributing. The contributing cause.

Chen chik chepa means contributing cause. That, you split, again you split these two, the same two, and that's the factor. That's called the condition or the factor.

So the contributing cause, the classic ones are, for the watermelon plant. Soil, sunlight, water. Soil, sunlight, fertilizer, water.

And very importantly, the Abhidharma will always list the effort of the gardener. The effort of the gardener. Except for the weeds, right Ming?

Okay. Okay, good. So, Sugeng, I'll ask you a question.

Does gyu and ken mean the same thing? In general. Good.

Except in a particular case. Yeah, except in a particular situation, right? And shi chik la dun na means except relative to a certain situation.

Like a particular watermelon plant growing from a particular watermelon seed. Then you have to split cause from condition. Here's a case, by the way, where calling ken condition is much more comfortable.

Remember we could call ken condition, or we could call it factor. But when you're talking about a particular situation, it's much more comfortable for me to call it a condition. The problem is, you can't change horses halfway through the stream.

They say in American English, you can't change the horse in the middle of the stream. It means you've got to commit for the whole book. You can't wait for this sentence.

So, you maybe have a footnote that says what we've been calling factor all along is what you would call a condition in this case, or something like that. Geshe-la, isn't it that ken means different things at different points? I think we do that with words.

Yeah, it does. In fact, when you're talking about the 12 links, I really like what? Triggers.

I like to call it a trigger. In that way, we do that, I think, in all the books with many words. Yeah, we do.

Depending on what they mean. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

We're going to see these kens, I think, again today in somebody else's book, which is good. It's good that we're covering it. It's good, Sugeng, that you gave up two classes to Stanley so he could finish his book last night.

So, thank you for that. That was a Bodhisattva activity. More than happy.

Yeah, probably your book is going to come out faster. All right. Let's read this one.

Rob Haggerty wants to check you. Yay, Rob. RGYUD CHE MA YIN PA'I PHYIR NI, MI KHAN NGOS NGOS NAS DU PAR MI BYA STE, DE'I KHAN MA YIN PA'I PHYIR Okay.

Up above, we said, here, we said NGOS LTAR. Everything in the universe is an object factor, because everything in the universe can trigger an awareness of it. When an Arya sees emptiness directly, then you can say emptiness is the MI KHAN.

It's triggering the awareness of emptiness. But it's not a functioning thing, Sugeng. It can't do anything.

How can you call it a KHAN? How can you call it a factor? Emptiness never changes.

If something never changes, it can't do anything, because when you do something, you change. Right? So up here, he said everything in the universe is either a real object factor, or you can just call it an object factor.

Here we go. Here's our exception. Okay.

Please read. Rob, give him a hard time. This one, I just read.

[Speaker 2]
I'm sorry.

[Speaker 1]
I'm sorry. Okay. What's DE'I KHAN MA YIN PA mean, you guys?

I guess words are the only person who can remember DE'I KHAN.

[Speaker 2]
It is not a thing that came about due to the convening of causes and conditions.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, not a product of causes and conditions. DE'I KHAN MA YIN PA Is there any such CHOS? CHOS means existing thing, right?

Dharma. Is there any such thing? Yes.

Of course. Like what? Empty space.

Yeah, or emptiness, or empty space. Good Nick. Okay.

Let's take things that never started, but they exist. They exist, but they never started. Okay.

They weren't produced. Okay. MED KYAN NGON NAS PAR MIN GDOD We don't agree.

What? The real... That they are real MED KYANS.

Okay. Okay. Can you call them MED KYANS?

Yes. Are they real MED KYANS? No.

Okay. Got it? Why not?

DE'I KHAN MA YIN PA It's here. They are not defective? They are not factors.

They can't do anything because they didn't start. When you do something, you change. You got it, you guys?

You okay? Yeah. Is it a MED KYAN?

Yes. I'm sorry. No.

Well, we can kind of a MED KYAN. Why do you say kind of? Because it's not a kin.

It's not a factor. Why? Because it can't do anything.

Why? Because it can't change. Because why?

It never started. But if it never started, how can it exist? It came into existence, but it didn't start.

Okay? And that's something you have to learn. And I think you'll hear it very few places.

Okay? If you don't understand that, you can't read this stuff. All right.

When you say just the word, do you mean the idea or the concept? Oh, yeah. If I say it's not a real one, right?

If I say it's not a real one, yeah, I think you could say that. The general concept of something you look at that triggers an awareness, it kind of generally fits that, but not really. Okay?

Not really. Okay? Can you call a pizza the moon, Hasso?

[Speaker 2]
You can.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of similar. But, you know, it's not going to make you turn into a werewolf.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, that's an American joke. Okay. All right.

Who's going to read this next part? Allison Jo is coming up on my screen. Let's go.

Did grandma bring you any more food? Oh, yes. Every day, right?

I can't believe it. That's why you guys went back to China, just to be in quarantine. All right.

Here we go. Yeah, and what's a dema thagyen, Sugeng? The one factor that is following immediately after?

Yeah, and usually they are mental, right? Because we add the word sumpa. What's sumpa mean when we're talking about mental stuff?

It means linked. It means linked. The mental function and the mind are linked together in five different ways, okay?

Oh, yeah. Okay, so this particular kind of factor is very specifically referring to linked mental states, where one mental state triggers another mental state, okay? Why is that so interesting in the Abhidharma?

Why are they so fascinated by one mental state that triggers another mental state in the next moment? Why are they so fascinated about that? Sixteen aspects?

Well, partly, but they want to talk about how do you achieve nirvana. You're going to have to shut down these kins. You're going to have to shut down this kin, because nirvana means?

Your mind stopped. Your mind stopped, okay? So when they talk about mental factors which trigger an immediate factor in the mind after it, they're mainly talking about negative states of mind, okay?

Because very pure states of mind can't do that, okay? If you have a super pure state of mind, it's going to actually stop your mental stream, okay? So when the Abhidharma school talks about immediately preceding factors, they're always talking about mental, and they're always talking about what, you guys?

Nyo-mong chen. Yeah, like negative. Yeah, negative ones.

So Choney Lama says, Hey, you guys, didn't you think it was strange that they're always talking about negative states of mind, which trigger negative states of mind in the next instant? Why is the Abhidharma guys so hung up with negative causes negative, okay? What do you guys think?

Well, they're trying to explain how you achieve nirvana, okay? That you've got to shut down this kind of cause, this kind of factor, okay? So che mey is che da ma wey, Sugeng.

Che da ma wey. Yeah, he calls them deist. Deist.

Deist. He made an abbreviation, okay? Those deist guys, it means detailist guy, okay?

Che ma is an abbreviation. It's like calling Sugeng's skin, skin. All right.

This gen guy, okay? These deist detailists, they only recognize nyo mong chen kyi sem as a dematakin. Negative mind with negative emotion as the immediate factor.

Cause, immediate factor. Yeah, okay? The only thing the detailists want to talk about, when they say that one state of mind triggers the next instant state of mind, they only want to talk about negative states of mind, okay?

They only want to talk about negative states of mind. Now, de means that's all they want to talk about, okay? Kyi means what, you guys?

At the end of a sentence. But, at the end of a sentence, it's the rear end of the sentence, right? But, nobody got it.

Ha ha ha ha. We're just not laughing, Geshe-la.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, yabba ma jo, just cause we're laughing.

[Speaker 1]
But, okay. Patalopon mi she. It didn't explain that.

It doesn't. This she means accept, accept it. Accept a position.

Who's the lopan? Vasubandhu. Yeah, Vasubandhu, okay?

Now, you talk to a real detailist, he'll tell you, immediate factors are always states of mind, and furthermore, they are always negative states of mind. But, the lopan mi she. Oh, okay.

So, yeah, because Master Vasubandhu is coming from the other philosophical school level? Yeah, he just thinks it's weird. If you're going to call something an immediate mental cause, that you just say it's only the negative ones.

There's nothing in the word that suggests negative, right? It just says immediate, okay? Now, his position.

sak che kyi sem sem chung kyi, sak me kyi sem sem dema dak yin, sak che, states of mind, can produce in the next moment what? Vimala's mind. Vimala's mind.

Yay, Vimala. Okay. What do you call it?

Impure states of mind, can trigger in the next moment, pure states of mind. It's possible. He says, you guys, when you say the cause and the result are both messed up, or impure states of mind, well, what happened to pure states of mind that come right after an impure state of mind?

Okay? And that might lead the master, Vasubandhu, to say when you reach nirvana, you cut. You don't cut your mind.

Yeah, it sounds like he's still having one. Yeah, you see the implications again? You see the implication?

If dema dak yin always refers to messed up states of mind, then when you become an arhat, all your dema dak yin should stop, and your mind should stop. Vasubandhu says, no, no, no. You can have a messed up state of mind that triggers a pure state of mind, and what he's implying is you don't have to disappear when you reach nirvana.

Okay? Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now, why we are studying this stupid thing? Why are we studying this stupid thing?

This is what we want. This is the big question. Okay?

How do you... How does a messed up state of mind become a pure state of mind in the next millisecond? How's that even possible?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
How can you go for billions and billions of lifetimes and not see emptiness, and then one day your ignorant mind creates a perception of emptiness in the next millisecond, because that's what happens when you become an Arya. Okay? How is that even possible?

Okay? And so gang, that's what they're really struggling with in the second chapter. That's what they really want to explore.

How can you have a messed up state of mind for billions and billions of years, and then suddenly it triggers a pure state of mind and you see emptiness? What happened? What can do that?

What can make that happen? That's what the Abhidharma is all about. This sentence here is what the Abhidharma is all about.

Okay? How... After billions of years, how can you make that change?

How is that even possible? Okay? And it's very beautiful.

It's very... The reason they're covering this topic is they want to explain how you become an Arya. Okay?

How is it possible? How could a... How could a faulty state of mind create a perfect state of mind in the next millisecond?

How could it be? How could it ever be? How can you ever get out of samsara?

Okay? And it must be extremely rare, right? It must be something weird happens.

And the whole point of Abhidharma is to make something weird happen. Okay, Stanley wants to check in there. Last minute.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
That was a great last sentence, by the way. That's how. Oh, wow, there it is.

There it is. Okay, Sugeng's going to... Master Sugeng's going to explain it to us.

That jor lam, the path of preparation, is the dema thak yen for tong lam. Is the immediate factor for the path of seeing. Good, good.

Here's the punchline of the whole Abhidharma kosha. Somehow, the path of preparation triggers the direct perception of emptiness. Okay?

In the next millisecond. In the next millisecond. Okay?

SHES PA'I PHYIR SHES PA means Vasubandhu believes it. Okay? Vasubandhu says, no, no, no.

You can't say all immediate factors are negative. There must be a millisecond when you cross over from impure to pure. When you go from path of preparation to path of seeing, there must be some process in a single instant when your mind goes to pure from impure.

Okay? DEMA THAK YEN DEMA THAK YEN Okay? Very important in the Abhidharma.

This is the guts of the Abhidharma.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yay! That's up there. It's very important.

Wow. And that's all? I'm still waiting.

That's the punchline. All right. And the purpose of the rest of the Abhidharma kosha, Stanley's life up to 2032, is to learn why, how we do it.

How do you do it? After billions of years, how do you, in the next instant, how does a totally effed up mind create a totally pure mind? How's that even possible?

Okay? And that's what the rest of the Abhidharma is for. Yay!

Wow. Thank you. Thank you very much.

We didn't finish the khyens, but... Yeah. Look, down here.

We have one, two, three, four, five. We have five sentences to go, and we're finished with this little part. Wow.

But that's a great place to stop. Yes, thank you. And inviting everybody to come back in February to watch the tremendous sequel.

Yeah. Okay. Nice job, Sagang.

Thank you. I'll make a quick announcement. Thank you, Geshe Michael.

Go ahead, Nick. But Allison, can you just, while I'm doing that, can you look up the dates for next term, please?

[Speaker 3]
Me? Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, because you have the master calendar.

[Speaker 3]
Oh, okay.

[Speaker 1]
Thank you so much. I'm just going to have it ready. I might be able to look them up also, Nick.

The 7th through the 20th of February. Okay, there it is. Arizona time, February 7th.

[Speaker 2]
Can you please repeat that?

[Speaker 1]
Arizona time, February 7th to 20th. Arizona dates.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah. Are we going to add six more days because we got two more books? Two more days because we have two more books?

[Speaker 1]
Grandpa has to think about it, okay? I have some ideas if you want to talk about it, Geshe-la. Yeah, I'm happy, Nick.

We'll talk about it. I think me, Gibson, and Tim go to Hawaii and do those six days together. Something like that.

Indonesia surfing trip? Yeah, Bali too. Yeah, okay.

We'll make a decision on that. But Nick, I'm happy to talk to you about it. Cool, cool.

Anyway, thank you. Maybe when you buy me a cappuccino in Encinitas. Oh, yeah.

Let's do that. Yeah, that sounds great. All right.

So, thank you so much. That was amazing. This is the last day.

This has been incredible. That was a really amazing moment to end this book on. So, thank you so much, Geshe Michael and Sugeng and everybody.

That was awesome. Right now, I'm going to give a class on diamond mining. We'll just have a discussion about it.

So, if you're interested in this kind of thing, like making practical applications out of this material, that's something that I'm working on a lot these days. Sugeng and Stanley too. We're trying to learn from Geshe Michael and then create a process for us all to learn that.

And it's fun, actually. It's interesting. So, I'll just go through how I've done that if you want to check it out.

And then we have three more translation classes tonight, and that's it for the term. So, please mark your calendars for February 7th to 20th. Please come back.

Tell all your friends how amazing this is, that they too can learn what the Abhidharma means and how it's guiding us to reach nirvana. Hey, Nick. There's also a New Year's class, the three days including New Year's and the two days before, that you guys are welcome to come to.

And the topic of that is how to have a good year. It's some suggestions on how to have a great New Year that come from an ancient book by Tsongkhapa. Cool.

Okay, we can share the link for that on the website, I guess, on the Diamond Cutter Classics website. Yeah. Please check out the Diamond Cutter Classics website, diamondcutterclassics.com.

[Speaker 3]
Yes, sure. Sorry. Just to remind that you mentioned that these three talks, because we have students from mainland China now.

So, that's their opening.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Only New Year's Eve in Asia. Only New Year's Eve in Asia, if you're from mainland.

Yeah. Okay. Nick.

Cool. Oh, and just one thing to consider before we break. We, Diamond Cutter Classics, this translation organization functions in large part, thanks to donations.

So if you want to support us for the long run, we do need help. We're signing up monthly donors, even if it's just a little bit. I think most of you already are.

But once again, tell all your friends, if they're interested in these books being translated, it's going to take us a really long time, because there's just so many books. But we're doing it correctly, as you can see, since you've been here. So, you know, obviously, I think, and this is really a cause worth supporting, because the wisdom contained within these books can really help us change our worlds from a world of pain into a world of perfection.

And it just gets better along the way. So there's just really beautiful things in these books that we're trying to make available to the world. And we want to make it available to everyone for free.

So please support our organization if you can, even just a little bit. Diamondcutterclassics.com if you want to make a donation. All right.

All right, let's get back to class. Thank you so much. Okay, have a good class, Nick.

Thank you. We'll take a five minute break over here. I'll be back.