Серия «Сутра Алмазного огранщика» — Мастер Камалашила: медитации на «Сутру Алмазного огранщика», часть вторая (Аризона, 2016), занятие 2

[Speaker 1]
Hi, thank you for coming, it's nice to see you all friends. So, last night we started the second part of the Diamond Cutter Sutra, I think it's one of the most beautiful sutras of Buddhism, and there was a commentary written about 1,300 years ago. It's very difficult, it didn't, the Sanskrit didn't survive, the Chinese didn't survive, it's only in Tibetan translation, and I think the translator was on marijuana or something, and it's hard to read, it's very difficult to read, and I don't know, I don't think it's been taught in modern times, maybe, I'm not aware that it's been taught in the last thousand years, but anyway, because it's the greatest commentary to the Diamond Cutter, I thought I would take a shot at it, and I don't know, I just got really entranced with it, and some of my students in Asia asked me to teach it, and I've been teaching it, and it's so long, it's 130 pages long, so I thought we would just do it in quarters, and so I've been teaching it during deep retreats at Diamond Mountain Retreat Center in Arizona, and in Beijing, and in Taiwan, and Singapore, and so here in New York we've reached the second part, and tonight I'd like to do the last part of the second part, so you don't have to worry where we are, we're gonna pick up somewhere in the Sutra, and it's a very, very, I think tonight is the most beautiful part of the Sutra, and I think you'll understand why after we get started, okay?

So, last night, the Sutra according to Kamalashila is divided into, I don't know, 12 different parts. The very first part is where the disciple of Lord Buddha says, you know, how are we supposed to think, and what are we supposed to do, how are we supposed to meditate? And then Lord Buddha says, your main focus should be to make Buddhas out of other people.

He makes a new verb in Sanskrit and Tibetan, NYANG NGAN LAS DAWAR, which means you should nirvanicize people, you should take them to nirvana, you know, and then Subuddhi says, well how do you do that, you know, like I would ... it sounds fun, it sounds like it'd be fun to take people to nirvana, I would like to be a nirvanicizer, and how do I do it, you know? And the Buddha says, well there's these six Buddhist activities that we say, if you do them with the right state of mind, they can make you a Buddha, and they can make other people a Buddha.

So, Subuddhi says, you know, what are they? And Buddha says the six perfections. So, I think you can tell me.

First one, is giving to others, you know, sharing what you have with others, including your country and your borders. Second, is ethical way of life, don't hurt other people, it boils down to be nice to other people. Third one, don't get angry at people, be patient.

Fourth one, fourth one is called effort, but what it, you know, it's defined as Tsongkhang Gelabdro Omen means, have a good time doing good things. So, don't like be, you know, I don't know, irritated that you have to do your yoga or your meditation, you know, like get into it, give up to it, surrender to it, have a good time when you do good things. Fifth one, meditation, okay, you should meditate every day, just a few minutes, and I'm going to teach you some meditations tonight, and you have a small handout I hope.

Anybody not have a handout? Raise your hand. Can you guys hand out more handouts?

Coming. If you don't keep your hand up, they don't know where you are. Francis, don't hit your head, have dad on the head when you raise your hand, okay?

That's, you know, okay. Actually, it's kind of fun. So, fifth one is meditation, we'll be doing some meditations together.

I'll do them with you for like five minutes, and when you go home you should stretch yourself and do it for six or seven, and no, you should ... every morning you should meditate a little bit, okay? Just get on your cushion.

I found that if you get on the cushion you will probably meditate, although one day I didn't feel like it after I got on the cushion. Raise your hand if you don't have a reading, okay? So, what's the sixth one?

Yeah, the sixth one is called wisdom, or it means understanding where things come from. I'm not going to teach the pen again tonight, I know you're exhausted of the pen. I actually had people fall asleep or walk out during the pen, so I'm not going to teach it, I'm not going to ask you what is this?

I'm not going to say, if a dog came in here ... this is one way to do it without painlessly ... if a dog came in here and they ...

what would they do with it? They would chew on it. Does the dog see this as a pen?

If you answer me fast we can get through it quicker. Does the dog see it as a pen? No, they see it as a ...

chew toy. Who's correct, the dog or the human? Both, because both can use it, okay?

Then the emptiness question, if I put it here, all the humans go out, all the dogs go out, at that time is it a pen or a chew toy? Neither one, it's ... that's what we call emptiness okay?

It's no more complicated than that. I told a group, I was giving a talk to a group of people today, I said the monks made it more complicated so that they would have a job to do for the rest of their life you know, but you can teach it in about two minutes okay? That's emptiness okay?

When the people are gone, when the dogs are gone, by itself, it's neither one. When the person comes back in, looks at it, it becomes a ... pen, and does that pen come from the pen or does that pen come from me?

It must come from me, because if the dog comes in it becomes a ... chew toy. That's a proof that it's coming from me, it's coming from the beholder right?

In Buddhism, in a Buddhist monastery, we study for 25 years, we just ... we study argument right? And you have to be careful what you agree to.

Like you don't agree right away, you say, let me think about that you know, because then you're gonna get in trouble later okay? But so far everybody agreed, coming from me okay? How?

It's not from wishing, it's that I have some kind of a seed in my mind, and when that seed opens, at the moment that I ... that I walk up on the stage, then a small image of a pen comes out of the seed okay? And then that ...

my mind places that image on the parts of this black stick, and then ... then it becomes a pen okay? Before that it's just parts, and then a seed opens in my mind, a small picture of a pen comes out, and it goes on here, and it becomes a pen got it?

The emptiness is what it was before I walked back in okay? Emptiness is like a white movie screen, it ... it makes space for projections to appear, you see what I mean?

So, emptiness is just what it was before I came in, and then when I came in my mind ... it's almost like a real movie projector, my mind projects 65 images per second according to Buddhism, and then I see a pen okay? So, we were talking about that, and the second big part of the Diamond Cutter Sutra is to do things with that understanding, so it's not gonna make you a Buddha if you're just generous to people, or if you're patient with people, or you enjoy doing good things, that's not enough, you have to understand the emptiness of the things around you while you're doing it.

And it's not a kind of nihilistic thought, or nobody's anything, or everything's an illusion, it doesn't mean that, it means the money I have to share with you, and me being here to share it with you, and you being in your chair to get shared with, those are all coming from my seeds you see? And if you understand that, you will want to share more, because if you understand that things come from seeds, you understand that that's the only way to get anything, is to offer it to others. So, the current thinking in this country is spreading, that we should deny others, or we will be safer if we make borders, and we prevent people, and we don't share with others, we just take care of America.

This is a very, very mistaken idea. In this system, that's a blueprint for poverty, chaos, unhappiness in your country. The only joy, the only goodness, the only reason America is prosperous, is because we've helped other countries so much in the past, you see?

And according to these ideas, we're prosperous because we've always been open to others, and we've always protected others, we've always been open to immigration, things like that. So, to do the opposite is to, in this system, is to sink your country, and it starts a lower ... it starts a cycle that goes down, things that get worse, you protect yourself more, and then just ...

it's a blueprint for ruining a country, a nice country, a pretty good country, okay, in the world. So anyway, we reach this part, the third part of the sutra, after the Buddha describes how you make the karma to become a Buddha, he starts to describe what you're going to be like, and you could just use your imagination okay, I don't like those thangkas much, those Buddhist paintings, I don't want to have 24 arms and third eye and a big bump on my head, or a big belly and long ears, and you know ... when you become a Buddha, you will become to what is you the most beautiful thing you could imagine, you see? So, personally, it's not going to be a bump on the head and big ears, it's going to be, you know, I want to be like an angel, I want to have nice white wings, and you know, I want to fly around and help people, and I don't care, you be what you want to be okay, and that's what you will be, because that's the nature of becoming a Buddha okay, you will take the form that you think is most beautiful okay, but when you look at that form in the mirror, you will have to remember that what gave it to you is serving others, you see? Where'd you get your wings? It's from giving other people help, and where did you get your feathers?

It's from, I don't know, being gentle with others you see? So, when a Buddha looks in a mirror, they don't see things the way we do, you see? When they look at a pen, they see a past moment when they shared a pen with someone else, and when they see their own wings or whatever your Buddha's going to look like, they are very aware while they're looking in the mirror, that I look the way I look because of seeds I planted in my own mind.

What are those seeds called? Can you take me to the ... it's like six I think, yeah.

I like photos for certain meditations okay, I just like this kind of ... I use photos to remind me of meditations. It's coming, it's a guy like shaving or something.

Yeah, coming, coming. Yeah, people told me I only put pretty girls up there, so I put a handsome boy for the girls. So, assume this guy is a Buddha, and he has a Buddha body and a Buddha face, and when he looks in the mirror right, what he really sees is all the good things he's done for other people, and he understands that this image that he sees in the mirror is coming from seeds in his mind at the rate of 65 per second, he understands that, and he understands that ...

how did he put ... what's the seeds called in English? I mean, you can call them karma okay, I don't like to use the word karma because people don't think of this when they think of karma, but that's what karma is.

If you study karma for 25 years, 30 years, this is karma. Karma is, I must have shared, you know, something with other people, that put a seed in my mind. When I walked up here, and I looked down, I have the honor of seeing this as a pen and not as a chew toy, which means I'm a human and not a dog, you see?

That's all a dog is. A dog is a human that planted bad seeds, and when they look down they see, they start to slobber, and that means you is a dog, you see? So, it's a difficult idea.

So, why I showed this picture of this guy, this is our first meditation, he's looking in the mirror, he's seeing something nice, and he understands where it came from, okay? He understands that ... by the way, that the main karma for a beautiful face or a handsome face is patience.

The main karma is not to get angry with people who drive crazy, or not to get angry with people who write executive orders, stuff like that, okay? It's like this very kind, lovely patience, with everybody, and not just small people or big people, but with everybody, okay? Even people who are really irritating, okay?

Big people who are irritating. Every kind of patience, and if you keep it, you plant seeds in your mind not for a pen, but to see a beautiful thing when you look in the mirror. It's very interesting, and that's where a Buddha's physical body comes from, okay?

So, when a Buddha, this ... I'm pretending this guy's a Buddha, when you look in the mirror, you are very aware, A, that what you see beautiful is coming from the beautiful things you've done for other people, that's the first thing. Secondly, you have this very intense awareness that it could have been ugly, okay?

It could just as well have been ugly, why? This is a blank screen, this is not anything, it's empty, it's like the pen on the table before anyone comes in, it's just sitting there, blank screen. If I had brought to the stage worse seeds, and I looked in the mirror, I would have seen something really terrible, you see what I mean?

And so, a Buddha is very sensitive to that, when they look at their own appearance, their own perfect appearance, they are at the same time extremely aware that they could have been anything, if they had planted different seeds, you see? So, they have beautiful seeds in their mind, and they know those seeds are opening 65 per second, and putting this thing in the mirror, okay? And they appreciate the good things they've done, got it?

So, now you've got two components, you've got a face in front of the mirror, it's like a Buddha body, then you've got some kind of awareness of where it's coming from, you see? You're very sensitive to the idea that I'm having this beautiful face because I was patient in New York traffic on February 7th 2017, you know, and I was late for the talk, but I was still polite to people, and I was still kind to people, and that's why I get to have this face, Buddha face in the mirror, okay? To put it in Buddhist terms, the Buddha at that moment is understanding dependent origination.

I understand that this face is coming from seeds in my mind. What's the emptiness here? They're also aware of emptiness.

Emptiness means I could have had a different face. If I had honked my horn, you know, in the interest of getting to the talk, the Buddhist talk on time, if I had been a bad driver, you know, if I had been insulting to people and gotten there faster, then this face would have been different. So, they're aware of the seeds that made the face, which we call dependent origination.

They're aware that the face wasn't there before they walked in the room, and it was empty, it could have been anything, it's a white screen, okay? And they have awareness of that. Three things are going on in them, that's the three bodies of a Buddha, okay?

Those of you who studied about Buddhas, you can say two bodies, or three bodies, or four bodies, I just gave you three, okay? I just gave you three, it's cool. Why I put the picture of the handsome guy looking in the mirror, is so you can remember the three bodies of a Buddha.

Number one, wisdom body, you know? This face is coming from kindness as I did to others. Emptiness body, I'm aware it could have been anything else, okay?

And then form body, I'm aware that this body is coming out of my own mind, okay? And that one photo is the essence of enlightenment, okay? All the main parts.

The third part of this Sutra is what makes a Buddha's body, okay? And understanding what makes a Buddha's body is what makes a Buddha's mind, okay? So, the next section of the Sutra is about Dharmakaya, okay?

Say Dharmakaya? Dharmakaya. Dharma means Dharma, kaya means body, okay?

Dharma body. So, we distinguish between the physical body of a Buddha and their Dharmakaya, okay? And Dharma has a lot of meanings, okay?

In this case, Dharma means all the stuff there is, okay? Dharma can mean thing, okay? And all the stuff in the universe.

So, they have a body which is equivalent to all the things in the universe, okay? That's why it's called Dharmakaya. What's another meaning of Dharma?

Yeah, teachings, okay? Buddhist teachings are also called Dharma, right? In this case, Dharma body means he understands all the things in the universe, and he understands the ...

we call the quantity and the nature. He understands as many as there are, and he understands how they are, coming from him, okay? Or coming from her, okay?

Now, interesting thing happens with Kamalashila, he starts to mix in the other Dharma. What's the other Dharma? Teachings, Buddhist teachings.

And he starts to do this weird thing, if you're a Buddhist it's very kind of disturbing, okay? He starts to mix the Dharma which is teachings, with the Dharma which is the Buddha, you see? And then he's talking about the body of the Buddha which is the teachings, you know, and it gets confusing, you know, and then ...

you want to go more confusing? Just say yes. There's three jewels, there's this thing called three jewels, which is why we named the place the three jewels twenty years ago I think, today or this week or something like that, okay?

And the first jewel is Buddha jewel, which means, you know, if you get in trouble ... well, that's a long story. Dharma jewel, the second jewel, has two parts, okay?

One is the physical teachings of the Buddha, okay? These three jewels are supposed to protect you, okay? If you get in trouble and you understand these three jewels, you will not be in trouble anymore, okay?

The second jewel is Dharma jewel, it has two versions. One is the physical teachings, videos, talks, books, ancient books, okay? They're all Dharma, okay?

You can call them Dharma. But the real Dharma is understanding emptiness, okay? The real one that protects you is called understanding emptiness.

And so, you can appreciate it, we're going to go back to the two husbands, and I'm not going to bring the two husbands up on the stage because it takes too long, but yesterday we talked about a lady who, I don't know, on Wednesday she had to go to work early and she asked her kids to be ready, and they didn't get ready, so you know, she went in the room, in bedroom, and yelled at the kids, okay? Then, I don't know, Monday, how many days later? Six days later, she like, comes home, she's tired, she worked all day, she took the kids to school, she picked the kids up, she went to get groceries, she's late getting home because she had to buy groceries, and her husband is not helping much.

He's at home, he's been relaxing watching the Super Bowl replays, and you know, and then she's thinking, you know, I hope when I come home, just one thing, I hope my husband gives me a good hug, you know, it's all worth it on the days that he gives me a good hug, and then she opens the door and he starts screaming at her, calling her stupid because she didn't cook dinner yet, okay? And then last night we said that anytime something like that happens, anytime you have a trouble with somebody, there's two people there, okay? Anytime you have a problem with somebody, there's two of them, okay?

And this was the only, one and only attempt I ever made to do Photoshop, and then I quit. It didn't come out that good. He's screaming at her because she didn't make dinner, okay?

And she has two options at that point, she can think, he's screaming at me for no reason at all, it almost becomes a single word, try, for no reason at all, yeah Francis thank you, at least there's one person listening, you want to be my student forever? Okay, for no reason at all, my husband is screaming at me, okay? There's one husband in the room who's not her fault, okay?

Then there's another husband in the room screaming at her, that one is her fault, because she yelled at her kids last week, okay? She yelled at her kids. How do you plant the karma if you know you're like halfway to Buddhahood?

How do you plant a karma? You hear yourself, you see? You are the stupidest kids in New York, and you hear the words, and they touch your mind, and they make an impression.

Some guy in Bulgaria gave me a piece of clay to do the talk with, you know? The words that you said, or the things that you did, that you saw, or the thoughts you had that you heard, they make an impression in your mind, and those become karmic seeds, okay? So, she yells at her kids, you're the stupidest kids in New York, the seeds are planted, and then next week she comes home, she opens the door, her husband yells at her, okay?

A woman who's just gone to diamond cutter and talk the same night, okay? The next night you forgot already, okay? But if you've been to a talk the same night, if you go home tonight, Bengali and whoever's at home yells at you, you might remember that it's coming from something you did last week, okay?

In that case, do you get angry at your husband? No, you can't get angry at that husband, okay? The husband that you understand comes from you, you can't get angry at them.

Who will you get angry at? Ever go in the bathroom and yell at yourself in the mirror, okay? You're the one who planted it, okay?

You're the one who caused it, okay? He's coming from your mind, and that's true of every negative person you ever met in your life, was an exact reflection of you. I'm sorry, that's the bad news.

The good news is, you can change the world, okay? Because it's coming from you. It's easy to change the world.

If the world wasn't coming from you, in Buddhism we say you couldn't change it, especially as a single individual. But if the world and all the nasty things I've seen in the last few weeks are coming from me, then I have power, you know? I can change them, okay?

And that's what Buddhism says, that you have the power to change them, because they're coming from you, okay? So, this person ... can you go back to the person looking in the mirror?

This handsome dude looking in the mirror, there's actually two guys in the mirror, okay? One of them didn't come from him. One of them was the result of vitamins and gym workouts ...

seriously, okay? Gym workouts, vitamins, you know, massages, whatever it takes, good barber, okay? One is a result of that.

The other guy in the mirror is only the result of being kind to other people and keeping his patience, okay? Now, one of those dudes is real, and one of those dudes is not real. Which one's not real?

The handsome guy who comes from vitamins, gym workouts, and you know, good job or something like that, okay? That ... that handsome guy wasn't caused by that, okay?

Because other handsome guys go to work and lose money, take vitamins and get chubby, and go to the gym and hurt their neck, okay? That's a proof that those are not causes of being handsome. The real cause of being handsome is being patient with other people, okay?

And it's cheaper, okay? Alright? So, he's looking in the mirror, he sees two guys, you know, he has two choices, one came from workouts and vitamins, and the other one is coming from being nice to people and being patient in traffic, okay?

Which one's real? The handsome guy is coming from patience in traffic, okay? So, at that moment he has an understanding of the Dharma, okay?

Next photo, next meditation is seven. Yeah, I kind of like ... I don't know, it's a guy I guess.

Two things are going on here, he's got a physical book, and he's getting understandings from the physical book, okay? So, these are the two forms of Dharma, okay? The physical book is physical Dharma, a lower Dharma, written Dharma, okay?

And the higher one is the understanding he's having right there, okay? Okay? Did you get any Dharma tonight?

And I'll just give you this, okay? If you go home and somebody says, what did you learn at the talk tonight? All you have to remember is one thing, there's always two husbands in my room, okay?

There's always two husbands at home, okay? One is coming from me, and the other just was there, and it's not my fault, he yelled at me, I don't know why, he decided to yell at me, and that's where he's coming from, okay? That one never existed, okay?

The one who's coming out of the seed you planted when you got irritated last week is real, okay? That's the only real one, okay? Understanding that, making that distinction with every person you meet, and even your own face, is Dharma.

That's the real Dharma, okay? Got it? So, if you have to say what Dharma did you learn tonight, don't say Dharmakara Sutra, say I understood that there's always two husbands there, you know?

One is real, one is not real, okay? Which one do you get mad at if you get mad? The real one or the not real one?

Yeah, that's the tragedy of human existence, okay? Every person you ever got upset at, every person your country was trying to prevent from entering the country, didn't exist, and it's a stupid exercise, okay? They don't exist.

If you don't like those people who are coming from your seeds, you should stop making those seeds, okay? How do you do that? Stop being mean to people, you know?

Be polite, be kind, okay? Got it? That's a Dharma jewel.

Now, interesting thing happens in the sutra, and this is my favorite part of the sutra, and you happen to be here, and we're all lucky to be here tonight. Buddha says to his disciple, okay? In the last 500, will there be anyone who understands the two husbands?

In the last 500, will there be anyone who understands the last 500? Sorry, Subuddhi asked the Buddha, his disciple asked the Buddha, in the last 500, will there be anyone who like, goes to auditorium on Broadway and talks about the two husbands? What are ...

what's the last 500? So, according to Buddhism, Buddhism has an expiration date. It's very interesting, and I ...

you know, I've never heard of it in any other religion. The Buddha predicted the end of Buddhism. The Buddha said, you know, this is a nice teaching, I'm really proud to be the founder, this is going to help a lot of people, and it's going to die out in a ...

in a certain ... it has an expiration date, and it happens to be 2,500 years, okay? So, Buddha lived 500 BC, that means we're right around 2,500, right now, okay?

And Buddha predicted, Buddha foretold that his teachings would die in the world, you know? Which Dharma dies first, ideas or books? Ideas die first, the books are in the New York Public Library, and then later somebody throws them out, because they don't understand they're any use, okay?

So, Buddha said, we are in the last 500 now, okay? Just so you know, this is called the dregs of time, this is called the poo-poo time, and this ... Buddha would call this the dark ...

the dark days of Buddhism is right now. This is the darkest, spiritually, that our planet has ever been, is these days, you know? And we're starting in the last 500, this is called the last 500, and it's supposed to be that these get very dark days.

So, Subuddhi asked Lord Buddha, you know, you're talking about two husbands, you're talking about a guy's face that came from his patience, who's gonna understand this 2,000 years from now, you know? This is weird, you know? Whoever's gonna understand this, and Buddha gets ...

I was sitting in the green room thinking of the word for it, he gets peevish. He gets, don't say that! I've never heard any sutra where he gets peevish.

He's like, don't talk like that! He very specifically gets irritated with Subuddhi, you know? He's like, don't ever say that!

And Subuddhi says, why? And Buddha says, because something's gonna happen in the last 500, there will be a brief resurgence of my teachings. There will be a brief rebirth of my teachings in the world, and Bodhisattvas will become very common in New York City.

And people who understand emptiness, people who understand the pen, people understand the two husbands, they will spread in the last 500 as they never did before, you know? He says this really cool prediction, okay? And I'll tell you something, it means that 2,500 years ago to the date almost, Buddha could see that people would be studying the Diamond Cutter Sutra on Broadway in February of 2017.

That's why he gives the answer, you see? So, don't think it's like some kind of ... what do you call it?

Don't think you're like in the days of dark, you're not in the days of dark. You are in the last flash of Buddhism now. This is the last bright flash of Buddhism.

Historically, Buddha said there will be some kind of weird thing happen in a modern world where they have machines and things that fly, and he'll say there'll be a huge group of people that will suddenly get interested in this sutra, and they will talk about it in public talks, and many people in the audience will get it, and they will go home, and their husband will yell at them, and they will ...

they'll smile. Not because they are kind, not because they are compassionate, not because they are moral, not because they are spiritual, but because they don't want to plant such a husband for tomorrow, okay? Got it?

They're just acting on logic, you know? This guy's coming for me, I don't want to see him tomorrow, I'm not gonna tell him he's stupid, even though he is, you know? But I'm gonna keep my mouth shut, I'm not gonna make new karma, and tomorrow he'll be a different husband, okay?

People who understand that, said Lord Buddha, will come. They will come, there will be a resurgence of interest in the Diamond Cutter Sutra, and I just thought it's cool, maybe you would be comfortable believing that you are those people, okay? That Buddha predicted, okay?

And I don't know ... you can feel cool about yourself, okay? And I know it's not supposed to be it's pride or something, or hubris, to think you're cool, but you are, okay?

Modern people, in the modern world, who could be looking at YouTube videos of dogs that walk on their back legs, you know, and other important things, are sitting and listening to the Diamond Cutter Sutra, to try to change their world, to try to make a kinder world, a world of peace, a world of prosperity. A group of people, 2,500 years later, in this cold country, not near India, and suddenly they want to go to a talk about the Diamond Cutter Sutra, you are the people Buddha was predicting, and I think you should give yourselves a hand, and don't think differently, okay? Don't think like, I'm not special, or, you know, you are special, you are living in special times, and there's a reason why this commentary suddenly popped up after a thousand years, okay?

And you're the ones ... it was designed for you, Buddha knew you would be here, okay? And so you ...

by the way, Sangha, the third jewel right, Sangha, there's two definitions of Sangha, one is called lower definition, one is called real definition, okay? The Sangha means like the community right, Buddhist community, the lower definition, the technical lower definition, is any group of five ordained people in a room, okay? If there's more than five monks or nuns in a room, you have Buddhist Sangha.

If a country doesn't have five ordained monks and nuns, they don't have Buddhist ... they don't have the Sangha, they don't have Buddhism, okay? They don't have the three jewels, okay?

Then there's a higher definition of the Sangha, okay? And you should know it, any person who directly understands the pen is Sangha. Whether you wear red robes or not, whether you shave your head or not, whether you come from Asia or not, it doesn't matter, okay?

A person who understands what we've talked about the pen is Sangha, okay? You are Sangha, okay? Why?

Because you're a jewel, why? Because you can protect people, why? Think about the lady who came home and her husband yelled at her, okay?

If she understands this, will she respond? Dharma protected her, you see? The Dharma, her understanding of where her husband's coming from, her understanding of the two husbands protected her, she just became the three jewels, okay?

You want three jewels in New York? You are three jewels in New York, okay? Got it?

But I still had to go look for a new place to rent today, and I found it, okay? Third Street in Bowery, and we'll rent it and we'll start, okay? We got the money, we got the place, just need people with hands to carry stuff there, okay?

And it's not a big deal, there's not much stuff in this region, so ... and there'll be a coffee shop there which I fully support to keep the students awake, okay? So, what's cool if you've been thinking about it, is you are Sangha, okay?

You are Sangha. And then Lord Buddha says something else, you want to hear it, it's really cool. He says ...

and those ... what are the seeds that those people had that they wanted to come to a talk in New York City in 2017, you know? What seeds, Subuddhi says, what seeds did people have in their minds that they would have the weird idea to come and hear some, you know, weird talk in New York City in 2000 ...

you know, Buddha, what's the seeds that people have that makes that happen? And he says a beautiful thing, he says gratitude, okay? He says, don't think that those people in the audience have paid less ...

have paid gratitude to less than a hundred thousand Buddhas in their past life, okay? That's cool, okay? It's not that you, you know, studied in a monastery or, you know, I don't know, got incense holes burned on your forehead or something like that, okay?

You have the seeds to be here, because you were grateful to your teachers in the past, for a hundred thousand lifetimes, okay? You are interested in the pen, and you understand emptiness as much as you do, only because for a hundred thousand lifetimes you honored the people who taught you, okay? And you appreciated them, and you were grateful, okay?

So, I think it's really beautiful that that's the foundation of Buddhist practice, okay? According to the Diamond Cutter Sutra, the very foundation of Buddhist practice is to show gratitude to people who are nice to you, okay? Your mom, your father, your teachers, you know, people around you, fellow workers, the family, okay?

If you want to understand emptiness deeper, if you want to have some kind of peak experience, then the way, according to the Diamond Cutter Sutra, is to show more gratitude, okay? And it's so easy, and it's so fun, okay? Like, gratitude is super win-win.

Nobody minds being thanked, you know? No, I mean, not many people, some people you thank them and they get angry, I don't know, but most people, if you say, you know, thank you Ben Gomi for all the talks you gave me on economy, you know, I didn't understand anything before you taught me, now I understand 1% of what's going on, and I'm really grateful that you're in my life, you know? I'm honored to have you in my life.

And show people gratitude, because they're doing cool stuff for you. Everybody around is doing cool stuff for you, you know? Go into a restaurant, thank the waiter.

I always give huge tips, you know, and my friends get angry. They say, everyone smiles at you when you come in the restaurant, nobody smiles at me. I said, can I give him a hundred dollar tip?

He said, are you crazy? I said, no, I'm just so grateful, you know, it's so cool. I come in here, he doesn't know me, and he's cooking me a nice dinner, and you know, he's so nice, and he asked me if I want anything.

I mean, my friends don't do that, and he deserves a hundred bucks, you know? Well, some of them do, okay. But, to show gratitude, so I thought ...

by the way, that's the 11th meditation here. I would like to do a meditation with you, just ... it's a meditation you can do every night, okay?

It's a gratitude meditation, and ... okay, you ready? In China, people will rush up to the front and sit on the floor, and I say, look, that's not why Buddhist people meditate on the floor, it's because 2,000 years ago there weren't any chairs in India, they didn't have chairs, okay?

You have chairs, it's actually more comfortable, okay? So, sit up straight Mr. Johnson, okay? I think it's almost impossible in these chairs.

You might want to not put your back on the ... on the back, okay? Now, what's ...

what did Lord ... I ... this is an old joke by now, but what did Lord Buddha say is the first preliminary to good meditation?

Turn off your cell phone, okay? Scott taught me that, okay? I'm gonna turn mine off.

We have centers in the world where they charge you $50 if your cell phone goes off. Those are the centers that don't have cell phones going off, okay? Got it?

Second meditation, make your noise now, clear your throat ... Francis, do it ... do it again.

Go! Now he's too shy. Okay, really clear your throat, okay?

Okay, alright, sit up straight, close your eyes lightly, put a little smile on your face, you know, you can't be grumpy and meditate, okay? Just a little smile, it's gonna make me a better person, I'll be a more successful person, I'll be a happier person, you know? Don't feel like meditation is a chore.

Pull in your stomach a little bit, it helps your back. Relax your fingers, relax your forehead, you know, kind of let go of the world and just surrender, okay? We're here, you're stuck here, it's not polite to leave during meditation.

Just relax, start watching your breath, slow your breath down but don't go crazy. Slowly lasso your mind and tell it to be quiet. You can check emails later.

When you meditate, the first job is to bring up your meditation object. You must select from hundreds of choices your meditation object. The most powerful one, one of the most powerful ones, is to simply bring to mind the one person in the world that you are most grateful to.

So, I mean for a lot of us, it's our mom. If you've had a heart lama, I had a lama I lived with for 25 years, you could ... that's like a super mom.

Or it might be a teacher that you had in school. It might be someone who taught you your business or your career. And just bring to mind the one person in your life that you are most grateful for.

And I know if it's the first time you've done this meditation, you might select some candidates for most, you know, person who helped me the most. So, I'm gonna give you a few minutes and you know, think about different candidates. It might be my mom, it might be this teacher, it might be my spouse, it might be my child.

Think about ... somebody told me it was his dog. Think about the person in your life that you are most grateful for.

Focus on them for a few minutes. It's a very powerful meditation to become a happy person. Okay, here we go.

Okay, three more breaths, don't move yet. Watch three more slow exhales, and then slowly open your eyes. Take a stretch.

The next part is Sutra, and by the way, we'll take a break in about ten minutes. I think we have refreshments, am I right? I think that's the way to do Dharma, and I'd really like to honor two people.

Chunzong, can you stand up? And Stephen, stand up. Stephen, thank you for arranging this talk.

I mean the talk is one thing, but free refreshments, that that deserves a hand. No, they worked very hard for months and I'm very, I'm really grateful. They chose a nice place, people paid for it.

I feel like Dharma should be in a nice place, okay? You know, so we got a nice place, thank you for that. You ready Scott?

Yeah, come on. I'm not teaching this subject tonight, if you want to hear it I'll teach it to you someday, but this is called the Wheel of Life, and you don't have a laser pen, I mean, that's too much. He carries all this stuff on the plane, like, he gets up on, he gets in the plane and they have to put a couple people off.

What do I push? Yeah, okay good. Okay, I'm just pushing, I'm just putting this up quickly, and it's not what I wanted to talk about tonight, but just if you a Buddha, Buddhist aficionados like Bob Chilton or Moonshine, you might be interested, okay?

This is the Wheel of Life, it's supposed to describe how you get in trouble. The whole wheel is the Wheel of Trouble, okay? This is how trouble starts.

This is the Lord of Death, if you cause yourself enough trouble you die, okay? And it starts at one o'clock and it goes till twelve o'clock okay? And the start of all trouble in your life, this guy doesn't understand that there's two wives at home when he gets there, okay?

He's a blind man and he doesn't understand, this is perfect Scott, leave this one up okay? No, this is better, this is, I need, I need a bunch of these guys. This is, this guy is blind, he has a stick, and when he comes home he's blind to the second wife okay?

He thinks his wife decided to yell at him, so he's blind. Okay? And because of that, he makes karma, he makes bad seeds.

When wife comes home, he walks in, wife says you're stupid, he says ... for no reason at all, she said it for no reason at all, and then he gets angry and he makes karma okay? So this guy is making karma, it's called sanskara, he's making pots okay?

Now, why I wanted to talk about this, is this link over here, these two links are two stages in the process of karma okay? This is like in the spring, which is coming up soon, I'm excited, I'm a gardener, I get to plant seeds in about a month. I live in Arizona, not cold place okay?

So, in about a month, I like, I'll go out and plant watermelon seeds okay? Then something magical happens under the ground, I don't know what it is, some ... you know, you plant them, you water them, and it's almost like there's little guys inside the seed and they start running around and saying we got to push this thing out by you know, by August or something, you know, everyone gets excited inside the seed and they're like, we're gonna split it open in August and then we got to pump this thing out you know?

So, something starts happening okay? This is called sanskara, it means, it means the first moment that you yelled at your kids okay? When you yelled at your kids the week before okay?

That's the first moment, then the seed ripens, ripens, the seed sits in your mind, it does its weird thing, you know, the machinery car starts turning inside the seed, and then this is the seed just before it opens okay? You yelled at your kids on Wednesday, on Monday you come home, you open the door and you step in the kitchen and your husband's mouth opens and the seed is here, this is supposed to be a pregnant woman okay? This painting was done by a kid's school in Nepal okay, I'm sorry, but this is the seed when it got ripe, it's about to open, you just walked in the kitchen okay?

This is the seed when you planted it, this is called sanskara, this is called vasana in Sanskrit okay? This one is ready to open okay? What makes it ready to open?

It's very interesting okay? If you don't regularly think about the pen, this seed will get pregnant okay? Got it?

If you regularly misunderstand where things are coming from, it makes the seed grow, ready to open, you see? The difference between this seed when you yelled at your kids, and this seed when you're just about to walk in the kitchen and get yelled back at, the difference is, what's the water on the seed, is that you are habitually misunderstanding pens okay? All the time, you don't think about it.

If you had thought about it once a day after you yelled at the kids, this seed would never open, got it? It's like you never put water on it okay? Got it?

Just nod. If you didn't keep misunderstanding stuff every day, if someone didn't repeat the pen to you every single time they came to New York, then your seeds would start opening, your negative seeds would be more likely to open okay? That's the water on the seed okay?

Got it? Now, there's an opposite, now you can turn ... this is the bad karma okay?

This whole wheel is bad karma. The opposite is with good karmic seeds, is that you have been thinking about the pen okay? And the Buddha mentions it next, he says, suppose O Subuddhi, that a person reaches even just a single feeling of faith for the words of a sutra such as this one, though the Buddhas O Subuddhi know such a person, they are watching such a person, and they see such a person.

It's just like Avatar, like, I see you you know? And if you have a moment's faith, moment's faith means you get it okay? It's not like, oh Buddha I like you okay?

That's not Buddhist faith. Buddhist faith is like, okay you want to hear Buddhist faith? Ready?

That pen thing makes goddamn good sense okay? That's faith, forget the rest you know? Waving incense and you know, forget it.

It's just to say to yourself, hey, that explains a lot of stuff about my husband you know? Now I get it, maybe I'll stop yelling at my kids so much, you see what I mean? What Buddha calls faith at that moment, it's just a daily, brief reflection on the truth of the pen in Buddhism, is faith okay?

And then what does that do okay? So, it's the opposite of the negative wheel okay? Buddha says in the next line, he says, people like that, O Subuddhi, have produced and gathered safely into themselves a mountain of merit beyond any calculation okay?

And then Kamalashila says, and that's the last thing we'll do before the break, almost. Kamalashila says okay, they have planted good seeds and gathered them into themselves safely, they are protecting their seeds okay? They, just people who reflect you know, that, so there's a difference between planting good seeds and watering them okay?

It's not enough to plant good seeds okay? It's not enough to be nice to people, you have to understand why, you see? And if you understand why, they grow faster and they open, they get pregnant in a good way, and they have kids okay?

So, I'm gonna do one more meditation with you, what I want you to think about is this, we're gonna think about tomorrow, and I'd like you to think about a seed that you would like to plant okay? So you know, we do business programs all over the world, we trick people into thinking about seeds and later we switch it to spiritual stuff, but don't tell anybody. So we say, we'll make you rich, or we'll give you a good partner, or we'll make you healthy okay, or happy, but it's just to trick people into doing good seeds okay?

So, tomorrow I'd like you to think about a seed that you would like to plant okay? With anybody okay? For anything okay?

Those of you who have overused credit cards, it can be that, financial ... what do you call ... freedom okay?

Or it could be a nice partner, or it could be improving your partner, or it could be improving your health okay? Think about a seed that you would plant tomorrow. I'm not teaching seed planting tonight, but it would be a theater without the four steps okay?

These are from Vasubandhu, he lived 1,700 years ago, and here's his four steps okay? So, the meditation we're gonna do is about the seed you're gonna plant tomorrow okay? You can be nice to people, you can be compassionate, you can be sweet to people, and you plant good seeds, but you don't make them grow you see?

Understanding them, doing the seed planting purposely, it's like doing a bad seed without understanding, you see what I mean? It will grow faster okay? If you understand what's going on and you plant a seed, if the seed planting is, what do you call ...

conscious, you get big results, and if you don't, you don't okay? So, I want you to think number one step in planting, here's the four steps for planting a seed, if you learn it tonight, the rest of your life will be extraordinary okay? And I think I can say that all of us who teach it, or all of us who are on the staff, we use it, we use it all the time, he used it, he planted his wife, he told me he wanted a wife, I said well wife's not so hard, he said wait a minute, I want one who meditates all the time, I'm like yeah that's okay, that's not so hard, he says yeah, but they have to be a yoga teacher, I said well you know, just tweak the seed a little bit, yeah but she has to be beautiful too, yeah okay that's a little harder, then she has to be intelligent, oh intelligent? He's like yeah I want intelligent too, yeah she should like have two college degrees, I'm like yeah okay we can do that, and he planted her, and he married her, and it was all just what I'm gonna teach you, then they told me they need a house, you know, they're tired of an apartment, and I said that's harder you know, and anyway they bought a house, they paid cash okay, and they used the four steps, so it's not BS, it's real, it's real okay, the only reason not everybody gets it is they don't try, I'll teach it, I waste my breath, you don't do it, you come back next year and you're the same, okay ready? Number one, decide what you want okay, that's all, maybe it's financial freedom, I don't say rich okay, I think rich can be slavery right, rich is okay, but I want to be free, I want all the money I need and I don't want to have to think about money, because thinking about money is boring you know, I want that kind of freedom okay, or maybe you want a nice relationship, or I don't know, you'd like to be healthy, or you'd like to lose five pounds, or maybe a few people like to be happy also, or have peace in the world, you decide okay, number one, decide what you want, number two, choose somebody else who needs it okay, choose somebody else who wants something similar okay, okay, so if you want money, choose someone who wants money, if you want a partner, choose someone who's lonely, if you want health, choose someone who's sick, if you want to be happy, choose someone who's depressed okay, if you want world peace, then find all the above. Okay, third thing, help them for one hour a week to get what they want.

Geshe-la, how can I help somebody make money if I don't have money? Don't worry about it, it's intention okay, once a week, for one hour, help somebody else get what they want, not what you want okay, help them. If you sit in this audience, you come here for a hundred years, I come ...

it's almost a hundred years now, if I keep coming back to New York and you don't try it, then I can't help you, you just waste your time, waste my time you know, let me go to some other place you know, you try it, but it requires that you help someone else okay, you can't get what you want unless you give it to someone else, not possible. You can, I can talk to you for a hundred years, if you don't spend one hour a week exclusively on someone else's hopes and dreams, just forget it, you will always be the same okay. Fourth one, it's very most important part of seed planning, is that you have to put water on the seed okay, you know many people who have been nice to other people and didn't get what they wanted okay, that's because they didn't know step number four.

Step number four, you do it just before you go to bed, it's called THAR THUG in Vassa Bandhu, and it means that you appreciate the nice things you are doing okay, you appreciate yourself okay, I'm so smart, I'm getting money by helping other people make money, I'm different you know, I'm trying a new program for success, I'm giving someone else what I want okay, if you have those kind of thoughts just before you go to bed, you'll be successful.

I spent 19 years here in New York, I started a company with three people, we borrowed $50,000, we doubled every 18 months for 19 years, we doubled, double employees, double space, double income for 19 years, then we sold the company to Warren Buffett, 250 million dollars per year okay, it works, it's not a, what do you call, hippie thing, I'm a hippie, but it works okay, try it okay, it's just weird that people don't try it, it's very frustrating for me okay, and I have everything, I have everything that I want, perfect, everything in my life is unbelievable, and I just use it every day, and it's fun, it's more fun to get things by giving them than by taking them, you get it? And then just before you go to sleep, it's it's, what do you call it, essential, that you must think about the kind things you are doing to other people okay, and you must be grateful to others okay, otherwise the seed can sit in your mind for a hundred years okay, and it will, you will die before it opens okay, not good okay, you have to be happy about serving someone else okay. Alright, so we're gonna do this meditation, this is number 12, and we're gonna do two things, Buddha called it producing and gathering safely into yourself karmic seeds okay, we're gonna produce seeds, make a plan for producing seeds, and then gather them safely into ourselves means, understand them.

The opposite of that is the pregnant lady okay, those of you who are interested, negative karmas, it's misunderstanding seeds that makes negative seeds grow, and open, that's the difference between nyipa, duje kye le, and chupa sipa okay, but the opposite of that is to appreciate how seeds work, and just plant them for fun, and be happy about them okay, then they grow fast okay. I've had it happen in the morning that I gave someone, I don't know, thirty thousand dollars, and in the evening we got, I don't know, a couple hundred thousand okay, it works, it's part, if you know how to plant a seed it works okay, got it? Here we go, sit up straight, think about refreshment, no I mean, watch your breath for just a few seconds, just relax, just get used to it you know, don't be so serious about meditation okay.

Please think about something you would like to happen in your life now, in the next month okay, we're at the beginning of February, close to, think about something you would like to have by March. Options are, you know, money, friendship, better health, more peace of mind, or a world which is less chaotic, more peace. That's step one, choose something.

Step two, try to think of someone else who wants that same thing. Step three, think about how you're going to help them to get that, once a week for an hour. And then fourthly, think about how, before you go to sleep tonight, try to change your habits, don't worry about what your boss said, or what your husband said, or what your kids are doing.

Tonight I'm gonna appreciate myself, meaning I'm gonna think of a few good things I'm doing for other people, and I'm gonna appreciate what I'm doing. Just a few minutes before you sleep, come back to your breath, three slow breaths, and then open your eyes, stretch. Okay, let's go again.

We have about half an hour, I'll keep you a few minutes late, that's okay. If you have to go, just go. I was teaching in Beijing, they said, will you teach online?

And I said, if you stay, I'll stay. And we went till 3.30, and at the end this guy walked in with 20 American pizzas covered with ginseng, and we had such a good time. Okay, about the bodhisattvas who will come in the last 500 years, which I suspect is you, okay, and you shouldn't be shy about being them, because you are, and it's nobody else, okay.

And don't think that because you're in New York and you're not in a cave in the Himalayas, you don't understand things as well as they do. I can tell you, you already do, okay. You probably are the bodhisattva of the last 500 years, okay.

And then it gets more complex, okay. Lord Buddha says to Subuddhi, those bodhisattvas are so smart that when someone's explaining the pen to them, okay, everybody remembers the pen, I come to threaten you with it, hearing it again, okay. They said, when someone explains the pen to them, they are so smart that they understand that the person explaining the pen to them is coming from them, okay.

So, they don't even get caught into the trap when someone's explaining to them the trap, okay. When someone's explaining to them about the two husbands, okay, they are seeing two guys up on the stage. They are seeing two Geshe Michaels up on the stage, okay, got it?

They are such cool bodhisattvas, they are so advanced, they understand so easily that they understand that there's two Geshe Michaels up on the stage, okay. One of them came here from Arizona, is headed to Vienna and where? Kazakhstan and India tomorrow, okay.

Came on a plane, leaving on a plane, staying at Nancy's house and Francis's house and you know, came that way, okay. That's one of the Geshe Michaels up here on the stage, okay. There's a second Geshe Michael up on the stage that came here because of all the times in your life you tried to help somebody, okay, that you tried to explain something to somebody, like maybe somebody's looking for the subway, who's from Kansas and they got their mouth open, you're walking down the street with a subway map, you know, that's like a recipe for getting robbed in New York, right?

And you know, and you stopped and said, put the map away, close your mouth, what subway do you want, you know? And you explained something to somebody who needed it, okay. And because of those seeds, which always grow, right, they double every 24 hours, because of those seeds you planted, by being kind to someone and helping someone, maybe from another country, who needed some help and you were kind to them and you reached out to them and you created the guy on the stage, okay.

The guy on the stage talking is like the husband that you created by yelling at your kids, except hopefully he's positive, okay, understand? So, Lord Buddha says, the next thing he says in the Diamond Cutter Sutra is, those bodhisattvas are so smart that they understand the person teaching them about the two husbands is like the two husbands, got it? Just nod, okay, okay?

Like they aren't even fooled into thinking that guy comes from his own side, got it? They understand the guy teaching them that nothing comes from their own side isn't coming from his own side, because they're such smart bodhisattvas, are you? You are.

Okay, just nod, okay, all right, good. I put, the picture is, what's that guy, DiCaprio? Lawrence?

Anyway, Leonardo, it's the Titanic movie, okay? He's standing on, it's probably illegal for me to use this photo, and I don't care, he's standing on a this is the most popular movie in all history, and you know, I cried this third time and the fourth time I saw it, and it's all fake, okay? He doesn't know her, he doesn't like her, they were both paid to stand there and hug each other, you know, it's all fake, you see?

So, I'm the same way, okay? I'm coming from you, okay? And you have to understand that even while two actors are professing forever love in the movie, they're paid to say it, and they're just, it's all a creation, okay?

Even the guy explaining to you that things are a creation is a creation, got it? Just nod, okay, a nice creation, okay? And I like that, and I go to the movies and I like them, very much.

I saw La La Land, and the best one I saw recently was figures, something, hidden figures, you should see it, okay? It's all fake, and it's beautiful, okay? Okay, next, this relates to Cutie, where's Cutie?

Where's kite Cutie? No? He's back there, okay?

He's a little smaller than Francis. Francis is too big to hold up now, you got, I told you to stop going, but you didn't listen to me. Yeah, you can.

So, that's Cutie back there in the back, okay? Now, why he's the subject is, when you see a child who's dressed nicely, or you know, is playing with stuff, it's evidence of something that went on before, okay? Like, if you see a child, I put a photo of a, I don't know, Cutie's a 13 months old?

See? I'm his uncle, not his grandfather. And so, I put there a child, she's, I don't know, four years old, and she has glasses, okay?

So, my brother, my little brother, he always was bad in school, and that made his attitude bad, and then he had bad behavior, and everyone called him stupid and bad for his whole life. We had a nickname for him, which I can't tell you, and we had four brothers, so three of them picked on one, right? It was probably a terrible life, and much later we figured out, he couldn't see anything, you know?

He couldn't read because he needed glasses, but no one understood that, and he got behind in everything, and then he got behind socially, and you know, it was a terrible life. Now he's the best one, very compassionate because of what he's been through, but when you see a child with glasses on their face, it tells you a story. What?

The parents cared enough to figure it out, you see? And they took the child somewhere, and they paid money, and they bought glasses for them, and they figured it out. Why is that the photo?

Because Buddha says in the next lines, okay? In the Diamond Cutter Sutra he says, there are people who see emptiness directly, okay? This is a high spiritual goal, okay?

And what he has to say about those people is that, when you see them, it's evidence of something behind them. And then Subuddhi says, what? And he says, gratitude, okay?

That's really cool to me, you see? When you see someone in an audience, their eyes are like perky, and they get it, you know? They're like, oh, I can change my husband, I'll start tonight, you know?

Because he's coming from me, you know? I'm gonna stop yelling at the kids, because I don't like to be yelled at by my husband, you see? And their eyes perk up, and they walk out resolutely with a plan, and they appear to have understood the teaching, you know?

When you see those people who get it, it's evidence that they have been grateful, okay? Buddha says, when you see spiritually aware people, you can be grateful for their gratitude, okay? It's evidence that they have been grateful, okay?

What he's saying indirectly is, what? If you want to see emptiness, the biggest practice is gratitude, okay? Towards everybody, it doesn't have to be like Dalai Lama gratitude, you know?

It can be gratitude towards your mom, and gratitude towards your siblings, and even the ones who yelled at you, and gratitude towards your school teachers, and gratitude towards your wife or husband, and like that, gratitude to people helping you. Just keep telling them, okay? My experience in life is that, you can thank somebody every half hour, and they don't notice that you're doing it over and over, they just don't like it, okay?

Everybody likes it, and my experience is, make sure it's true, you know? Thank them for something that's true, and if you just limit yourself to thanking people for things that are true, you'll be thanking people all day, because there's many many things to thank people for, you will never run out, okay? And it's fun to thank people, you know?

So, just do it. I mean that's another thing about Ben Rami, okay? I'm sorry to embarrass you, but he's always thanking everybody, and I'm like, wow, he just thanks people all day, and it's a nice habit, and it makes you happy, and in Buddhism, it's the cause for the deepest spiritual realizations, okay?

You will see emptiness directly if you make it a habit just to be thankful to people, show people gratitude, okay? So, don't worry, you know, I didn't study Sanskrit Geshe-la, yeah, but did you study gratitude, okay? That's enough, okay?

You don't have to speak Tocharian, and Gilgit, and ... okay? Just Aramaic, just show people gratitude, and then emptiness will come to your doorstep, okay?

Got it? Just nod, or we won't go on, okay? The next one is a little bit delicate, and sometimes I don't like to teach it, because sometimes people don't get it, okay?

But it's photo number 15, it's a boat. I needed three boats, I got four. By the way, this is the beach where we teach in December, okay?

At a five-star hotel there, and it's a very difficult week. And the reason I use this photo is, in the Diamond Cutter Sutra, Lord Buddha says to Subuddhi, there are things that these bodhisattvas ... who are those bodhisattvas?

Yeah, it's you guys, okay? Those bodhisattvas know how to leave a boat behind. He says like that, he says, they understand what's Dharma, and what's not Dharma, and what's not Dharma, they leave it behind.

And then Kamalashila quotes another sutra where Buddha says, there's Dharma, and there's not Dharma, and you should leave behind what's not Dharma like a boat, and you should also leave behind what is Dharma like a boat. You know, and this gets complicated, alright? What's it mean?

So, there's a big theme in Buddhism called Prajnaparamita, Bolobolomido in Chinese, okay? Like, there's a big theme about perfection, right? But the Sanskrit word is Paramita, Mr. Chilton?

Gone to the ... gone across, gone to the other side, okay? So, param, the perfections, the word in Sanskrit and in Tibetan for perfections, is to cross to the other side.

Take a boat from LA to Shanghai, okay? When you get to Shanghai, okay, you're in a sailboat, right? And you get in in Los Angeles, and you chart it across the Pacific Ocean, okay?

And you arrive on the Chinese coast, you know? How many intelligent people would pick up the boat and walk to Tibet with it on their back, you know? So, there's this big theme in Buddhism that, you know, don't ...

well, don't take ... it's okay, it'll just flow. Don't take unnecessary things on your back, you know?

It's okay, leave it. It'll water the rose, it's good. And your ...

no, not really. There's times when you have to leave a boat behind, okay? And there are three examples, okay?

So, get it straight, and don't leave behind a boat that you still need, okay? First one, Kamalashila says, first thing Buddha's talking about, when he says you should leave behind things that are not Dharma, is things that don't help you, okay? Like, I don't know, doing mean things to other countries people, thinking that's gonna help your country, okay?

That's stupid, that doesn't work, okay? It's the opposite. The more you do that, the worse your country will be, okay?

So, that's called non-Dharma, okay? It's mistaken, right? By refusing others their happiness, I will be happier.

That's ... that's perfect ... not idiot, but non-Dharma, okay?

That's non-Dharma. That boat you should leave behind, that's easy, that's a no-brainer, okay? You shouldn't embrace it, and you should object to it, and you should make your voice heard in a kind and thoughtful way, okay?

You should reject that boat, you shouldn't get in that boat, okay? Then there's things that are Dharma, okay? Geshe Michael teaching on the stage, right?

But leave behind a Geshe Michael teaching on the stage who didn't come from you, reject that one, okay? A Geshe Michael who's up here teaching you something that you didn't create, because that's not real, okay? There is no Geshe Michael up here who's not coming from you, okay?

Just like the husband, okay? You did something kind to other people, you cared for other people, you explained things to people who needed explaining in a kind way, and you created, you know, this weird talk in New York City in 2017, where someone's trying to talk about how to make the whole world happy, okay? But reject a Geshe Michael that you didn't create, because there's no one up here like that, got it?

It's like the pen, okay? How many pens are coming this way? None, okay?

How many Geshe Michaels are up here teaching from his side? It feels like that, but it's wrong, okay? You have to ...

even while you're getting a teaching on emptiness, you should apply that emptiness to the teacher, you get it? And what he's saying, or what she's saying, you should understand that that's also coming from you, okay? Then there's this famous question, how can I learn more from a person than I know?

If he's coming from me, how can he explain something to me that I don't understand, okay? That's how you learn things you don't understand, because karma grows. Every 24 hours, karmic seeds double, okay?

You be nice to somebody, you know, three jewels, teach them a little meditation, and then suddenly you've got somebody up there teaching Diamond Cutter Sutra to you that hasn't been taught in a thousand years, from Kamalashila's comment, okay? That's how it happened, you were kind to someone else, you supported the three jewels, I'm sure, right Steven? Everybody in this room, I know.

You supported the three jewels, you supported free classes for 20 years, and you know, and because of that, you created somebody to talk to you, got it? So, leave behind the dharma which is not coming from you. Now, what's left to leave behind?

Can you think of anything? That's a difficult one. First one's easy, leave behind ideas that are harmful, leave behind the idea that your country will improve if you, if you hurt other people.

That's a non-dharma, right? Second, leave behind dharma which is coming from Geshe Michael and not from you. Leave that behind, because it never existed, okay?

But what's higher than that? Hmm? Leave behind the dharma that's coming from Geshe Michael, I'm sorry, that that's coming from you from Geshe Michael.

What's that mean? It means succeeded at it, and you don't need it anymore, got it? Use it, and then you, you know, it's like you, I don't know, it's like eating a hamburger, a veggie burger, and you eat it and then that's it, you don't need it anymore.

You got it? You have strength, you got vitamins, okay? There will come a day when you don't need the Diamond Cutter Sutra, okay?

Because you know it, and then you can put it on the shelf at the Three Jewels bookstore with all the other dusty books, and just leave it there, because it's part of you. There will come a day when the dharma is part of you, and then you don't need books anymore, okay? Got it?

Does Buddha walk around with sutras? No. Got it?

He left those behind. Now don't get, you know, arrogant and tell me, Geshe Michael I threw out all my Diamond Cutter books by Geshe Michael, because I understood them. You know, my teacher, that's the point at which my teacher would massage my head with a rosary.

Okay, so be careful about the third one. I mean, we're more interested in the first one, which is very obvious. You can't get happiness for your country by making other people's, other people's, other country's people unhappy, and whatever teaching you receive in your life, it's coming from you.

It's coming from your gratitude that you express to others, okay? And just be aware. Don't complain to me that I don't come to New York enough, you know.

I had a student who said that, they're from Bulgaria, they said, you never come to Bulgaria. I said, there's like 12 people in Bulgaria, you know, I got to go to places where there's more people, and then they said, well is there a way to get you to come to Bulgaria? I said, yeah, you do the four steps, I have to come to Bulgaria.

She did, and now, I think in the last talk, how many people came in that last crazy talk? 700 people came in a room that was meant for 300. People were standing, people were sitting all around the stage, it was a big fire hazard, you know.

She forced me to go to Bulgaria, she did the four steps, okay. All right, mmm, let's do one more little piece okay? I did the next couple meditations this afternoon, you can see it on the Knowledge Base, can you find a website address for Knowledge Base?

Yeah, there's a guy, a crazy guy in Thailand, he's American, he decided to put all my talks up online. He's been working for how many years, I don't know, how many years? Six, seven years?

Eight, nine years? He put 5,000 talks up for free online okay, if you want, take a photo, it's called the Knowledge Base okay, .com, and he's putting up like a thousand every year okay, and these talks will be there okay, I guess in a couple days, he's pretty fast. Oh they're going up now, and he does it, a typical teaching, he'll do it in six languages at the same time, so he's pretty amazing.

Okay, last thing, it's Meditation 21, this person, there's a lady who's standing in a stream and she's turned around and she's helping another person to enter the stream. So there's an idea in Buddhism called stream enterer, which means to see emptiness directly okay, and it means that you have reached a certain level okay, and she's a stream enterer and she's inviting you to enter the stream okay. Now in the Diamond Cutter Sutra, Lord Buddha has a comment about this lady okay, and I'll share it with you and then we're done okay, and you know, don't forget we still have to do part three and part four, next two years okay, so we have a date okay.

Buddha says, and Kamalashila starts a new section, section four okay, so we've had a section on Nirvana Saizeng, we've had a section on the six perfections, we've had a section on how to get your physical Buddha body, we've had a section on how to get your Dharma body, and now we reached a new section. Section five is called how to avoid ultimate pride okay, and then Buddha says what's ultimate pride? And he says a funny thing okay, and I'll just leave you with that, because I like this sutra, it's intriguing right, you never get to the bottom of it.

He says when you leave the theater tonight okay, when you leave the theater tonight, please don't think I got it okay, it's not normal pride, it's spiritual pride you know, he says please don't think I got it okay, because if you think that, you didn't get it. That's a sign you didn't get it okay, so he's like when you leave the theater and you're walking out, if you're one of those confused people you're probably better off right, it doesn't mean that okay, it doesn't mean that. It means, not only is the teacher up here coming from you, coming from the seeds in your mind okay, not only is the person who taught you the Diamond Cutter Sutra tonight, not only is that one come from your seeds, not from me okay, but you sitting there, you created you also.

Got it? The listener tonight, the person who got it tonight is coming from your seeds, and the only reason you got it was because you are kind to other people, got it? You are showing gratitude to other people.

If you don't leave here tonight saying, I understood everything, therefore I'm going to be more grateful, got it? Then you you will blow it okay, you will lose what you learned okay, on the way out tonight, is it okay to say I understood? Yes.

Is it okay to say I was slightly enlightened? Yes. But why?

Because the microphone worked, because we got the sutra from the Tibetan you know, because somebody paid for the theater and thank you for doing that? No. The reason you understood anything tonight was because in the past you showed gratitude to the people around you, got it?

So Buddha says when you walk out of here tonight, that's the next meditation, and if you think to yourself, I understood what he's saying, I'm gonna try it, but you don't reflect that it comes from you, and it came because you showed gratitude to the people around you, then you failed, you didn't get it, got it? Okay, so when you step into the aisle, and you step up there, and you go out the exit door there, you should be thinking, who can I be grateful to tomorrow? Because then you will keep the diamond cutter going in New York, got it?

Everyone in this room, if you want to keep it alive in the last 500 right? In the last 500 years, you want to keep this knowledge alive in New York, then your responsibility on the way out is to think, I'm walking out of theater, I'm going home to sleep, and when I wake up I'm gonna thank somebody, and then start thinking about who you're gonna thank, okay? And that's the way to get the diamond cutter back to New York next year, cool?

Okay, thank you very much, and good night, okay.