Сяопин Джоу / Элисон — Книга 2: Самоцвет истинного намерения (Панчен Лодро Лексанг о «Виная-сутре»), занятие 23

[ШАПКА ДЛЯ ЦИТИРОВАНИЯ]
Курс: Xiaoping Zhou / Alison — Book 2: The Gemstone of True Intent (Panchen Lodru Leksang on the Vinaya Sutra) — Diamond Cutter Classics
Урок: Занятие 17 — по плейлисту «Session 23»
Ведёт: Геше Майкл Роуч (запись из Киото), Элисон Сяопин Джоу (перевод на китайский); ведущий трансляции и модератор обсуждения — не установлено (техкоманда)
Дата и место: 08.12.2025; запись урока сделана в Киото в тот же день, обсуждение и репортаж — трансляция для онлайн-аудитории
Источник: YouTube, канал Diamond Cutter Classics, плейлист PL1KVm5jgTljRBpdDsc-GnPM-ab-9EEPLy; расшифровка TurboScribe
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[Speaker 1]
Almost time. Hi, everybody. It's almost time.

So, welcome to Xuanzang's Tower. Today we have two classes. One of them will be led by Geshe Michael, but it's pre-recorded from Kyoto.

I guess they did it a few hours ago. And thanks to our great friends in the productions team, we have a recording. Marina is giving me the thumbs up that the recording is ready to go.

She's checking, but she looks confident. It's ready. So, we can watch this class.

That's Xiaoping's class. And then we will have another team class with the glorious Sugeng Shi on the Wheel of Life, Master Vasubandhu's Wheel of Life. So, looking forward to studying together.

And whenever you're ready, Marina, let's go for it. Okay, welcome to class. We are...

every week we do at least one translator class. And these are difficult classes. I think that while you are taking your normal DSEU classes, it's good to eat some vitamins.

And then you'll be stronger later. Okay. So, when we do translator classes, I'm actually planting seeds for the future.

And later you will go to a higher level. So, that's the idea of these classes. Now, today's class is unusual.

Because you can understand it. Okay, it's not so difficult. This class is about ethics.

We have twelve translators. Each one is translating a different language. So, there are twelve different ancient languages for the jing.

And I think in the world, only Geshe will study all of them. Then my goal is to teach twelve people before I go to Nirvana. Then they cover all the ancient books.

And they can translate on their own. So, I think it will take about twenty years. And we finished almost ten years.

We will finish ten years about twelve years later. Chinese New Year. And is Lindsay here?

Yeah, with Lindsay, who's in charge of the Good Night Book Club. We are planning some kind of celebration for next year. Then I don't know what it is.

She knows. She's nodding. I hope so.

Okay. So, we will celebrate next year. And I think most of you heard the two most ancient languages is Abhidharma and Vinaya.

Abhidharma was popular for 700 years after the Buddha died. Abhidharma was popular for several hundred years after the Buddha's birth. And then somebody came and turned it all up one notch.

That's an idiom. They turned up the volume. Turned up the difficulty.

Who is that? Yeah, Longshu. Yeah, Nagarjuna.

Okay. During the Abhidharma time, Vinaya also became popular. And this is the ethics.

So, just by coincidence, although in Diamond Way there's no coincidence, Xiaoping and Stanley are the translators for those two sister subjects. And also by coincidence, they finished their first book at the same time. And we just published them.

In two beautiful boxes. This is the old diamond dealer trick. Would you like to buy this box or would you like to buy this box?

Nobody asks you if you want to buy a box. Okay. And these have the two great books together.

I think it's very romantic. You want to open it? Yeah.

Do you need help? Yeah. Okay, look.

And then the two books right here. Yeah, and it's a beautiful package. Yeah.

If you don't have one, you should buy ten. For your friends. Okay, that's how we sell jewelry.

You want to show this box? Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
It's heavy.

[Speaker 1]
The books are here. The books are here. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the books are inside.

Okay. Yeah, this is another cover design with the two books inside. Ever since Tang Dynasty, if you're a cool person, you should have 1,000 of these in your house.

With a lot of dust on them. I went to many houses like that. Wealthy people in Shenzhen.

They have all those ancient books, you know. So, you should start your collection now. Alright.

These are the most old, most ancient, and very impossible to translate. And I'm very happy we finished them. It means if people study them, they can translate those other books in the future.

And it's my dream that we can translate them into modern Chinese. So everybody can read them. And we're hoping to start a publishing house in Singapore.

Now, then you have to buy two sets. The English set and the Chinese set. Okay, and after...

Yeah, German, Spanish, Russian. Oh, ten, he's got twenty books. Okay, so, we're going to continue with Vinaya today.

Xiaoping's book. We're talking about how do you take a vow? And remember that in Buddhism, in Buddhism, when you take a vow, your physical body changes.

And there's kind of light comes on your body. It's very powerful. And you can take a layperson vow.

You can take five vows. No killing, no stealing. Or, you know, you can take more if you want to.

And her book is also the foundation of Bodhisattva Vow and Diamond Way Vow. So this discussion of how does a vow stay on you, like perfume or something, we're in the middle of this discussion. It's the same system for Bodhisattva Vows and Secret Vows.

Okay, here we go. We're going to start at lung shu ma le. Okay, and please read Xiaoping.

Good. Good. Good.

Good. So, they are trying to prove something. Microphone the wind.

They are trying to prove something. They are quoting a Vinaya book from about a thousand years ago. Which is called, nowadays, Questions and Answers about Vinaya.

You want to use this one? Let's share. Kind of a Q&A Vinaya.

Then that book says kang sak sung Three different people. nyenpar dzokpa mayin te Cannot become full monk or full nun. Cannot.

Cannot become. dak ni kyi miyakpa dak ni kyi ming ne miyakpa When you're in the ceremony, the vow master has to ask them, what is your name? If they are too stupid to answer, cannot take a vow.

You want to take vow? Yes. You want to be a monk?

Or nun? Yes. What's your name?

Then that kind of person cannot take the vows. At least you have to be able to tell your vow master your name. And you have to be able to say the name of the khenpo.

Master? Nowadays, khenpo means the head of the monastery. But...

Yeah, but 2,000 years ago it meant the person who gives you your vow. What's your name? And who do you want to take the vows from?

Okay, that's too stupid to know who's giving them the vow. And third problem, dak ni nyenpar dzokpa miyakpa means even you do the ceremony to give them the vows, they cannot understand it. the vow master says, okay, now you have your vows.

And they say, huh? Means they cannot understand even that when you tell them you got your vows, they cannot even understand it. Those three kinds of people, their vows do not form.

Okay, and then in our mixed nut system, when the author quotes an ancient book, grandpa will go find it in the database. It takes a long time. But we want to check it's spelled correctly, everything's correct.

And the big letters are the quotations from the database. And it's exact, it's precise. Sometimes I will fix it.

In these books, oftentimes when the person quotes an ancient book, they heard the quotation in the debate ground, and they memorized it in the debate ground. And sometimes it's mistaken. Okay, so then I always check.

And this one's correct. Okay, now Xiaoping, who's going to read? By the way, if I find a mistake in the carding, I put these parentheses like this, and I put a percentage sign.

It means the ancient carding is mistaken. That's my unique job. Nobody can do it.

Here, der chok is wrong. It should be tar chok. Very difficult to catch it.

Okay, who's going to read Xiaoping? Okay, who's going to read? Okay, Stan, do you want to start?

No. Microphone, microphone. The countdown is not yet 15 minutes long, so we should cut off 15 minutes first.

tar chok la den ne ngen sok gi dongpa sattu dokpa la ngepa nga chal ki sampe simpak gertek Nice, very nice. Okay. Say tar chok.

tar chok tar chok Yeah, in Buddhism, in ancient Buddhism, there's two ways to become a monk or a nun. One is called sok chok, sok chok. Then like Buddha just come up to you and go like this, come here.

Then his hair fall off, and his jacket turn into robes, and involuntarily he became a monk. Luckily, we don't have this system anymore. But in the very first monks, Buddha said, come here.

Then... Then later, second system started. And that's where you have the ceremony.

Cut the person's hair, give them the robes. They have to repeat the vows. Then system spread.

The ancient word for spread is tar. But it's rare. So tar chok means the new system.

It's only 2495 years old. 2495 years old. Understand?

That's the new system. This system is 2500 years old. Then the new system, the whole ceremony, many monks come, that's 2495 years old.

So the author of Xiaoping's second book, for each one of my twelve kids, their first book was very great book but not too difficult. But their second book is extremely difficult. It's the best one I can find.

We have input or scanned, I think twelve million pages now. So I picked the best one. This is the best Vinaya book ever written in 2000 years.

tar chok la ten ne means if you use the new system. nyen dzok gi tongpa sa du tob When you first receive your vow, that first is a very famous word and very difficult. For example, in the ancient definition of correct perception, you cannot say mi luway rikpa.

mi luway rikpa means not mistaken perception. You have to say sa du mi luway rikpa, which means new correct, sorry, fresh correct perception. Fresh.

Because in ancient Buddhism, memory is not trustable. So the sa du is important. Sampa means what you guys?

Sampa. Sampa. Sampa.

What's it mean? Sam. Sam.

Mind. Yeah, you can say mind. You okay?

You didn't... Sin is a very difficult word. Past tense of zin.

To hold. So I'll tell you a beautiful... That means your mind should be filled by the wish to become a Buddha to help all beings.

That's a definition of bodhisattva. Now, suppose that bodhisattva goes into deep meditation, and they see emptiness directly. That perception of emptiness fills your whole mind.

It's impossible to think about anything else. So then a big question comes. Because bodhisattva intention defines a bodhisattva, during the direct perception of emptiness, do they become not a bodhisattva for twenty minutes?

While they are deep in the perception of emptiness. Then the answer is, that wish to help all beings, it moves deeper into their mind. They cannot consciously think about it, but they have it in their mind deeper.

And the verb there is sin. Held deeper in the mind. So the intention of a new monk, or a new nun, must be held by intention.

While they are taking the vow, they must have intention to help people. When they take the vow to become... The naya vow.

If they don't have that intention, they don't get the vow so nice. And especially, there are five kinds of thought that you cannot have. Okay, very interesting, very detailed.

When you take monk's vow, nun's vow, everything's fine. Vow masters there, assistant vow masters there, three more full monks, everything is fine. Unless, you have five different negative thoughts.

That's very interesting, because you cannot see them in the candidate. In the person taking the vow, you cannot see if they have these five. But if they have one of those five, and they take their vows of a monk, and they wear those robes for fifty years, they are not a monk.

It's very interesting. So, obviously, the person who wants to become monk, or nun, they should know about these five bad thoughts. And during the ceremony, they have to try very hard not to think those five bad thoughts.

We can say in English, disqualified, disqualified. If you have one of these five thoughts during the ceremony, you kicked yourself out of the ceremony, even though you are sitting in the ceremony, and you are wearing your new robes. There's an old joke.

Two monks who can read other person's mind, they are sitting in the main temple. In my main temple, we have three thousand monks. Three thousand guys are sitting in the main temple, and they are just going like this.

For three hours. Then two guys are kind of distracted. Guess what?

The abbot. In charge of three thousand monks. By the way, you have to keep moving your mouth.

When you gossip during the assembly, you have to keep moving your mouth. Wow, wow, wow. I'll tell you something.

Guess what? What? You have to say, what?

You see the abbot up there? On the throne? He's not a monk.

Why? They do like that. Still, you move like you are reciting.

But actually you are gossiping. He had one of the five bad thoughts when he became a monk. Thirty-five years ago.

I can read his mind. It happened like that. Okay, here's the five thoughts.

I put number four you. Okay, he's connected. I'm connected?

Yeah. Okay, who's going to read that one, Xiaoping? Rob?

He's a monk, you know that? Okay. Shh.

Ngepa usually means certain. But here it means specified. Which means you specify an exception.

Will you keep these vows? Yes. Do you promise not to kill, steal, and 251 other vows?

253 other vows. 252 other vows. Do you promise?

Yes, I promise. But in your mind, except if I meet that guy I hate, I will kill him for sure. Deep in your heart, if you think of an exception, if I meet the enemy of my country, definitely I will kill him.

Deep in your heart, you have this deep hidden thought. Generally, I agree to take the vow. Generally, I agree not to kill any living being, especially any human.

But if I meet that enemy of my country, certainly I will kill him. Deep in your heart, if you make an exception, you do not get the vow. You can wear robes for the rest of your life.

You can shave your head for the rest of your life. But you are not a real monk. Because you made an exception at the beginning.

Deep in your heart. So when you take vows, you have to listen deep in your heart. There's no discussion going on there.

No exceptions. Okay, got it? Now we have four more like that.

Here we go. Who's going to read this one, Shanti? Tim also is one of the translators.

He's famous because his book is going to take fifty-six years. And I'm not sure how we're going to finish it. Maybe I have to come back, I don't know.

I don't know. It's a lot of work.

[Speaker 2]
Please read.

[Speaker 1]
Please read. Thank you. Okay, good.

So, chang means what, Tim? You know, I think. Beer.

Yeah, alcohol. It doesn't have to be beer. It can be margarita, maotai.

What should I have beer called? Qingdao. You need alcohol.

To give up? Yeah, I will give up drinking alcohol. But, yen la tham je mi pong yen la khyer means other vows.

I will not give up. But I won't give up on the other vows. Yeah, I agree, no, I agree to give up alcohol.

But, but I don't agree to give up lying, for example. So, monk has 253 vows. In your heart, when you take the vow, if you make an exception, I listen to those 253 vows.

252, I think I can do it. But that one, I cannot do it. I don't think so.

If you make an exception in your heart, even one small vow, you don't become a monk. Now, hundred dollars. I bai.

I bai. On the note, in the English note for number two, what did grandpa write? ye ye agong Opposite of us.

Opposite of us. I gave countless people the five lay person's vows. I gave to many, many people.

Many Americans ask me, can I take four? I said, why? Geshe-la, I really like to have a glass of wine with my dinner.

How about I take four and you keep the one? Every American wants to have exception for alcohol. It's interesting, in the ancient times it's the opposite.

This example, the guy said, look, I don't have trouble to give up alcohol, that's okay. But I'm not supposed to lie? Forget it.

Pretty strange, strange exception, I think. Anyway, you're going to take bodhisattva vows, for example. Sixteen root vows, forty-eight secondary vows.

Sixty-four total. doctor, shenwa, chu, nomu, ting, shing, shakya, mi, nin, ten, chepa, la, gong, chukwa, dro, chu, pungwa, mir, chungwa, tsa, na, ni, yin, like that, sixty-four. If you say, Geshe-la, I only want to take sixty-three, then you cannot take the vow.

Understand? So, you cannot say, I will keep this one, but I won't keep this one. In English, we say, all or nothing package.

Okay, so now we have two exceptions. First exception, I will keep the vows with most people, but not with my enemy. Number two, I will keep the easy vows with most people, but not with my enemy.

I will keep the easy vows for me, but I won't keep the difficult vows for me. If you have those two attitudes, none of the vows will grow. Okay, number three, we got five exceptions coming.

We're trying to finish five. Pita. Who wants to try it?

Pita, our Piyoko translator. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I thought Pita.

What's her name? Pita? Yeah, that's her name.

Pita is a bread in Arabic. Okay, alright. That must be Xiaoping's microphone.

Okay, Pita. Nice.

[Speaker 2]
Awesome.

[Speaker 1]
Awesome. By the way, we got Roxanne back there. Okay.

Say GOM PA. GOM PA is the ancient word for monastery. Nowadays, some people say GOM PA.

So, GOM PA means monastery. BDAG PO means in a place like the monastery. Like in the DSEU classes.

Okay, when I'm in the monastery, or when I'm around people who understand Buddhism, BUM I will avoid that bad deed. I promise. CHONG YUL DU means in public, on the street, among people who don't know I'm a monk.

MI SPONG I won't give it up. Okay, for example, I won't drink beer in the monastery. And for example, I won't drink beer in the class so everybody knows I'm a monk.

But in private, or out in a public bar, nobody knows I'm a monk. I'll drink anything I want. If that's your intention, even you go through the ceremony for three, four hours, even you wear the robes for the rest of your life, you are not a monk.

When you take the vow, in your heart, you say, I will keep this in front of people, but behind their back, I will not keep it. If you have that kind of intention in the vow ceremony, the vow does not form inside of you. When it forms inside of you, you get a special light.

On your body. A very good person can see it. But if you have this kind of strange intention, when I'm around people who don't know what's a monk, I'll drink.

Then when I go back to the monastery, I will never drink. If you're thinking like that, then you're not a monk. Now we got three exceptions so far.

Two more, right? Okay, who's going to read, Xiaoping? Jenny?

Just try. Okay, give it a try.

[Speaker 2]
She never read it, I think.

[Speaker 1]
Two. Hang on. Oh, I just made a big mistake.

I'm sorry. Hang on. Take your time.

Please drink some water. All right, sorry. Sorry.

Mi Pong Yang Pe Du Ne Pa Dang Nice!

[Speaker 2]
Thank you, everybody.

[Speaker 1]
Let's make it easier for you. Two means what, you guys? Time?

Dawa Month? Month, nice. Month or moon.

Chik means in one certain month. Like doing New Year's month. Which is supposed to be the karmas you make during that month are stronger.

I will keep it during the first month. But not in the other month. Like during the holiday month, New Year's, I will keep these vows.

But if it's not holiday month, I will not keep them. If you have in your mind this kind of exceptions, the vows do not form inside of you. I will keep them during the religious holidays, but I won't keep them during other times.

By the way, that does not apply to the layman's vow. One-day layman's vow. Any day you want, as a layperson, you can take some vows.

Like during Medicine Buddha practice. This is very useful. You mean the one-day vow?

Yeah. That's fine. But a monk or nun, they cannot say, I will keep it during the religious month, but not on the other month.

Okay, we got four so far. Just to review. Number one.

I will keep the vow towards some people, but not towards other people. Number two. I will keep some vows that I like, but I won't keep other vows.

Number three. I will keep it around people who know who I am, but be around strangers, I'll do whatever I want. Number four.

During the religious times of the year, I will keep it, and the other times I won't keep it. Now number five. By the way, all of these are in your mind during the ordination ceremony.

It's actually... It's actually very difficult to watch your mind. If there's ceremony, monk ceremony, maybe three, four hours.

As the candidate, as the person taking the vows, it's actually very difficult to watch your own thoughts and be careful not to have one of these thoughts. It takes a lot of focus to take your vows. If a strange thought comes, it can ruin the vow.

Okay, number five. Who's going to read it? Aaron, our accountant.

Okay. Can you come closer? Can you come closer?

Okay. Come closer. Yen.

Si. Te. Ngan.

[Speaker 2]
Ta.

[Speaker 1]
Chao. Wei. Peng.

Sim. Pa. Gu.

Pe.

[Speaker 2]
Che. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice job.

Thank you.

[Speaker 1]
THAB MO'I, I don't think you guys know the word. THAB MO'I means fighting. Like if someone attacks your monastery.

Some soldiers attack your monastery. Fighting time. Or, I think the next carving is wrong.

I think it's supposed to be TSONG. TSONG means when you're doing business. So, what do you think it says?

TSONG means do business. TSONG means business. THAB means fighting time.

TSONG means business time. When you take the vow, during the ceremony, do you agree never to kill a human being? Yeah.

Unless they attack my monastery, then we have to kill them. If you're thinking like that, you don't become monk. You mean someone attack my monastery, I'm supposed to be peaceful to them?

Yes, that's called Buddhism. Okay, understand? When you're becoming a monk, you cannot say something like, I promise not to kill anybody unless he really pisses me off.

I promise not to kill somebody? Anybody, unless... You cannot do that.

You took a vow you cannot kill a human being. For any reason. What if they kill me first?

That's not a bad thing. To die is not a bad thing. To kill is a bad thing.

Okay, the choice is easy. Okay, understand? I'm not kidding.

All right, second one. Here, TSONG. What's that?

I promise not to lie unless we're doing a big negotiation in my business. Then I have to lie. This is business technique.

Yes, I give you $10,000 for that diamond, but I cannot give you more. This is very common in negotiation. Even you know it's worth $15,000.

I can give you $10,000 for that diamond. Can you give me $11,000? Oh no, it's not worth it.

Actually, it's worth $15,000. Then a lot of people think in business negotiations you have to lie. But if you want to be a Buddhist, it doesn't matter.

Negotiation or no negotiation, you cannot lie. There's no white lies in Buddhism. Okay.

Okay, tough. If you think you can tell a white lie, then you... Okay, now there's one exception.

Some soldier is chasing another person. They're going to kill them. They run into your house.

You hide them in the closet. The soldier knocks on the door. Where is that guy?

If it's to protect someone's life or something, you can go like that. Something like that. That's okay.

But it's dangerous. Okay, anyway, in number five. Yes, I agree to give up lying, for example.

Or I agree to give up fighting. Unless a bad person attacks my monastery. Or unless I'm negotiating to buy a new car.

Then lying is normal. If you think like that, the vow doesn't... you don't get the vow.

Okay, it's kind of beautiful. So there's five famous exceptions. Who's going to read the next one?

We have two minutes. Grandpa says never waste two minutes. Grace, would you like to read?

No, no. Just plant the seed. I promise not to lie unless the teacher asks me what I like to read.

When the teacher asks me what I like to read, my classmates can help her. We can all help her. YUL DANG DU DANG BYAS NYAN PAR MI CHE NA Nice.

What's DZOD mean Stanley? Abhidharmakosha. That's his book.

In his book it says and by the way, the carving is wrong. NGES PA SNGAGS PO means those five exceptions. Which literally means those five specifications.

What are the five? SEMS CAN? SEMS CAN?

Yeah, with certain people I will not do it. With other people I will do it. YAN LA, Tim?

Component. Yeah, I will keep this vowel, but I won't keep that vowel. HWANG YUL HWANG YUL Yeah, when I'm in the monastery I will keep it.

When I'm in Kyoto downtown at Takeshima, I will not keep it. To hospital. Time, yeah.

Yeah, certain times of the year I will keep it. Other times of the year I will not keep it. Then ZAD ZAD means situation, okay?

Like a fight against the monastery or negotiation in business. Except for those situations I promise to keep the vowel. So, five kinds of except.

If in your heart you don't buy the package 100% when you take the vowel, it doesn't form on you and you're actually not a monk. Okay, understand? Very beautiful.

Okay, thank you Xiaoping. I'll tell you something cool. I chose most of those people twelve years ago.

Sorry, most of the twelve people I chose nine and a half years ago. Nobody gave up and nobody died. And I'm very grateful to you.

Thank you so much, Geshe. Thank you guys. Alright.

That was a cool class. They asked me what we should do because they did do some discussion there in Kyoto on this topic and I noticed that there's over 400 people joining us here together. So, I don't know.

I thought it would be really nice if we could take this time to discuss our own ideas and interact a little bit. So, I would really love to hear from you all. It's often me or a couple just a few handful few people who give ideas about practical applications and I think that this section of text had a lot of ideas that we can bring to our own lives.

So, I'd really love to hear from you all your ideas for some practical applications. Anybody? I'm going to go in the English channel if there is one.

That way if you say something in a different language I'll understand and we all will. So, go into your channel and somebody feel free to jump in. We can it doesn't have to be questions.

Sugeng Sugeng Alright, let's hear it Sugeng. I just felt that basically it means that if we want to do if we want to practice if we want to do something we need to do it thoroughly instead of what do you call that? Doing it according to our preference or circumstances.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Absolutely. Yeah, I think this is important. I'm reminding myself also not to choose based on what I like but to do the whole thing completely and seriously.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it goes for spiritual practice like maybe the context of taking vows and stuff and it also goes for whatever activities you decide to engage in. There's so many things where if you don't fully commit and if your heart's not really in it you're not going to be successful in what you're doing.

Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
I'm thinking as you talk that they say if we could keep our vows perfectly we're already perfect. We're already enlightened. So we know we're not going to keep the vows.

I think the importance is that our intent is pure because we know how karma works and we know that if our motivation is pure that that will plant the most powerful seeds and enable us to be more successful in being able to keep them perfectly eventually. I used to... I hear this a lot, right?

If we can keep the vows perfectly we don't need the vow.

[Speaker 1]
But can we say that if we are keeping the vows perfectly we are also already keeping the vow, you know? It doesn't mean that we don't need the vow at all.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 1]
I don't think anybody would say to give them up in that case. Yeah.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah, I don't think we ever give them up.

[Speaker 1]
No, no. Even if we were to keep them... If we already can keep them perfectly we are still having them.

We will never give them up. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you for sharing, you guys. It's good stuff. What else?

Anyone want to build upon what Sugeng and Paula have been saying? Or you have your own ideas? I don't know.

For me, when I hear this I think about the different times in my life when I've been able to really focus on my motivation and how easily we can get distracted. So I think about the time you want to take to meditate upon your motivation and sit quietly and be clear on why we do things like take vows or other things so that we can really be coming from the most powerful and deepest parts of ourselves that want to do it. Because I think that...

I personally feel like so much of the good progress that I've made in my own life on my own journey is because of getting really clear on a powerful intention to want to help all people. And getting clear on how imperfect this world is. And it's easy to get busy and lose sight of those facts.

But I feel like when you take the time to sit quietly you can find that deeper motivation again pretty quickly. It's my own journey with it all. But it's important to get in touch with that every once in a while or as much as possible.

Maybe I can share. Because this class made me think about how often I try to avoid any vows that I have. Sometimes I keep them very clear but sometimes this is maybe any boundaries.

What I think about it. And I try to do myself the best. And this is...

I just thought how often I really try to do my best. And how often I do just... maybe without motivation or maybe without keeping my motivation.

It's maybe more correct. Because I do everything with motivation. But sometimes I really understand that I maybe do my work without controlling my motivation.

Without keeping it. And this class made me think about how I really do it. How I keep my morality away.

And maybe I should do it more clear in my mind with motivation. All the time keep it. Not just progress any work.

No. Do all the time and keep your promises and everything in morality way. So it was really a beautiful class.

Yeah, Vinaya, this is a great book and a great subject. Thank you for sharing, Marina. And you do so many good things.

I hope you can just feel good about that. But yeah, I agree. It's so important to...

Maybe it's so much more powerful when we do things with that high motivation. So the more we can remember that, the better. It seems like every moment that we're alive we have a chance to do good things, do negative things, do neutral things.

And if we can start our day like infusing our minds with a good motivation and then go through the day with some kind of great motivation and just try to let it infuse all of our actions, it can really help propel us to a better life or a better future more quickly. And I know it sounds basic, but for me, this class really reminded me a lot about trying to perfect your motivation. And making exceptions is unfortunately an easy habit to fall into once you start doing it.

That's what I think. Thank you for sharing, everybody. Lupala, thank you for all your great notes.

I see people thanking you in the chat, but I want to thank you out loud. It's really helpful to all of us. So please keep doing that.

Anybody else? Do you understand English a little? I do.

My English is good. It sounded like Daniel Garcia. Yes, this is Pichdi, what news will be from taxi right now.

Sorry, I was talking to our taxi cab driver.

[Speaker 2]
Yes.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, right on. I didn't know Juan was unmuted. Sorry about that.

I'm asking our taxi cab driver if he speaks English. Right on. I thought that was you.

It's nice to hear your voice, Daniel. It's been so long. Hey, guys.

Juan is going to have to broadcast from the back of the taxi because we are running a little late. Right on. It's great.

Well, let's just get started then. Let's do it. We get to see a little bit of Kyoto as we go.

[Speaker 2]
Actually, it's a very nice ride, and I'm so surprised that this is working because the internet is not that great, but between me and Daniel here sharing the internet, it's working. I was hoping to send a video to Marina, but it's still uploading.

[Speaker 1]
So you're saying that you've managed to combine your internet into one more powerful internet?

[Speaker 2]
That's amazing. No, not quite, but it's like... Mine's better.

We're using mine. His internet is cold, but my internet is trying to send materials to Marina, so we'll see if it works. I mean, we can take the PPT, and if the video, it's 84%, happens to be ready, we show it in a moment.

All right. Okay. So the reason we are here in the taxi is because we are going to the Prince Hotel.

The Prince Hotel is where the venue of the SKA is happening and the five houses as well, but Daniel and I are staying right now in a very cheap hotel, $30 a night. If sometime you want to come to Kyoto and you wanted to make a cheap trip, talk to me. By now, I kind of know where to find the cheap accommodation, the cheap transportation, things like that.

So yeah, believe it or not, you can find a nice, decent hotel. How was the hotel, Daniel? Nice?

Not bad, yeah. For $30 a night, it was very comfortable. Yeah.

So we can give you, maybe later, we can open something called like Big Three World Tours, where we give you information about how to travel the world for cheap or something. Anyways, yeah, we are going to the Prince Hotel. And right now, I want to show a little bit because yesterday they had the first day, today, second day.

Some pictures, Marina, can you please go next? Yeah, this is the event. It's going to happen today and tomorrow as well.

So now, yes, next picture. This is the production team I met yesterday. This is, from right to left, Yaya Liu, and then it's Cheryl Wang, then in the middle, it's me, and then Yang Su, I guess, the pronunciation, and Kentaro.

They were super, super welcoming, very great production, super fun. Now, the video is 95%, so there is hope you're going to be able to look a little bit of some of the activities they did. And, yeah, thank you so much for the hospitality.

These are two of the MC people. The name of the guy is Erwin or Erin, I don't remember, but I have to check again. And the lady is Vimala.

And they are super fun people. They are really good MCs. I was thinking maybe I should steal them for Peachtree World News.

They did a really, really good job. And now the video is at 90. Yay, now the video is supposedly sent.

If Marina, if you have the video, let me know, and anytime you can play it, I know you may need some time to download or something, but now the video should be good. Hopefully it is. Then Holger is the next picture, please.

Holger Wall from Germany. He's a very successful businessman. He gave a very great talk on how to use the SEEDS principles to develop a successful company.

And it was a very impressive talk. Next picture, please. For example, some principles he mentioned is that time is our most valuable resource and how we can actually play with this idea of using this resource for generosity, how to be generous with our time, and that at the same time helping us to be successful.

Then he also talked about principles on how not to get angry as a very important key success for business. And it makes sense. If you think about karmic correlations, supposedly anger is one of the most destructive ones repercussion-wise.

That was very cool. So today we have more talks. In a few minutes I'm going to be there for JB's last talk.

And then Hector Marcel is there. He's going to have a talk. Tim and Joel, they're also going to have a talk today.

We'll see. But okay, now the video is ready. And Marina very kindly is going to share it with you.

It's just an activity they did that I found very creative and fun. And it could inspire us to be more creative and fun when we develop programs. Thank you, Marina.

Let's look at it. Thank you. Does it look like maybe Juan lost his perfect internet connection?

[Speaker 1]
I think so. Maybe I can keep going just with slides and show you because we have more events. This is how I understand from YSI events in Kazakhstan.

It's already should be done, but I don't know exactly. Oh, no, no, no. I'm not.

I just show you slides where we have pause. Oh, my God. I think we need Juan for this.

I don't know what is exactly. Okay. Let's maybe wait.

I don't know. I can keep going with slides. Sure.

Okay. Let's do it. Oh, I think, you know, we have a new Instagram for five houses.

Please join us. So I want to find what we have here. Okay.

Next will be event in Kyoto. So we're very excited about this event. And I think if you're not joined yet, please join us online.

If you cannot be in person. Oh, maybe just ask. Oh, Juan.

Get back. Yeah. I see Juan.

I hope he will connect soon. But let's go to next slide where Juan is not here. Don't speak with us.

Okay. Samadhi Project. No idea if true, but I think this is application for meditation.

What we're doing right now. Maybe this is about this. I don't know.

Why you spotlight me? Oh, this is event from Gina and Bill. They have retreat in January 29th to February 2nd.

And it will be in Chicago and online also. So please join. And what we have next.

Blue Sky Friends. Yes, we have classes, by the way, every month. First, second and third Fridays.

We have events. So please join. And this is really a good project for all people who have any grief.

And it's really helpful. Even just join and study with these great teachers. And this Friday, by the way, we will have event anyway.

It will be 7 a.m. Arizona time. Please join too. Because we keep this event.

We have not classes of Geshe-la in this time. So please join after big event to this event. And this is event from Christina Kasica.

She will teach us Sanskrit. And from the beginning, how I understand, we will have serious one. And who already took classes from Christina Kasica.

We also have serious three. And I'm sure we will have translation to any languages. But I'm not sure what exactly.

But if you need translation, just ask. Enjoy. We still have not one.

Okay. This is, I think, new book. Yes, new book from Ben, teacher Ben.

Yes, you can take even e-books. Please just join. And about these books, Geshe-la today already said us too, I think.

Yes, I think about Lindsay. She needs help. And if you're in Kyoto, please join to her and help her this amazing project.

She needs help. Oh, Juan, good back. Please.

Where are you? Okay. This is about our event.

Wait, and this is the last slide. I don't know, Juan. Are you here or not?

Can you give us any explanation, maybe through chat, about your picture with small dog? Because we have no idea about this picture. Juan is muted.

[Speaker 2]
Juan.

[Speaker 1]
Turn on your mic, please. Juan. Or put in chat, because it's really.

[Speaker 2]
Can you hear me now?

[Speaker 1]
Yes. Please.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. Thank you so much. You didn't hear what I say about Lindsay and all that?

[Speaker 1]
No.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, sorry to hear. Okay. Anyway, she was here and JB's class is about to start.

We made it to the hotel. And my apologies, because we were in the taxi, and then we lost Internet, as you were all able to see. But what can I say?

I saw you. Thank you so much for trying to explain the PPT.

[Speaker 1]
We need to know about the puppy. Tell us about the puppy.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, I see. Well, the puppy, it was actually a picture that I received this morning. This happened during the last event in Phoenix.

Then many people came to Greenbrook, right? So, hey, how are you? Look, people are coming to attend the class.

These are friends from Japan. We are in the news. Yay.

Holger is here. You want to send hello to people? You are in the news right now.

Oh. Yeah. Great class yesterday.

Thank you. Amazing. Anyways, the puppy is just a picture that they sent me, and then I thought to use it as an example.

Like, please, we can really use pictures when you want to share news or things like you saw that are interesting or nice or something. Just send them, and then we can definitely use it. It's an invitation for all of you to send pictures, because this morning they sent me this picture that triggered the memories of that event when we went to the Phoenix event just a few months ago.

Then to the Peachtree, and then I took the picture with the dog. It's a Ukrainian dog from some friends in L.A. So, what can I say? Just an apology that I couldn't really tell you more of the banners today, and the class is about to start.

Dave is going to teach about the Heart Sutra, and I'm going to record and try to share with you the link later to be able to see the class or something. But for now, I think pretty much it's time for the next session. Thank you so much.

I'll keep reporting. You can also follow more news on the Telegram chat and the Instagram account. I'm uploading stories, and yeah, I owe you one because I caught half of the time, but I'll show you if you're curious just how the venue looks.

It's about to start, and with this, I leave you until next time. All right. Thank you, Nick.

See you later. Thank you so much.

[Speaker 1]
Good to see you. Good to see you, Daniel.