Дебаты дьявола с ангелом, часть 5: Простой путь к счастью (2012, Феникс), занятие 1

[Говорящий 1]
So we just got back, a group of twelve of us, from a trip to Asia. And we went to Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and then Shenzhen in China, Guangzhou in China, which are the factory cities of Hong Kong. And they have about, I don't know, five or ten million people each.

And then Beijing, and Tianjin, which is... they're both fifteen million people. And the Great Wall, and we did a retreat at the Great Wall.

And it was very beautiful. And the ACI teachers really shone. Especially Christine Walsh, Bonnie Baptist, and Mercedes.

And we had, I don't know, in Singapore we had twelve hundred people a night. In Malaysia it was sixteen hundred. And then in China it was similar.

And I made a contest in each city. I said, who can be quietest? You know, can a group of fifteen hundred people be totally silent?

And I recorded them. And I think Malaysia won. They were really quiet.

So I thought, since Phoenix is our hometown, we should do Phoenix also, right? So, we're going to do a short meditation. The text we've been studying here, which is five hundred years old, is a text about meditation.

And we'll be going through four different kinds of meditation in these two nights. And at the end of it you should have a nice daily meditation practice from the text. So, the first one is called the meditation on complete stillness.

And it's like a warm-up for a meditation. And the idea is, can you be totally silent? And can you be totally still, unmoving, like a stone?

She's getting ready. For like five minutes, three minutes, okay? So, can you not shuffle, can you not sniffle?

Can you not clear your throat? Can you not move in your chair? Can you be completely still?

For three minutes, okay? And we did this international contest, right? So, I would be embarrassed if my hometown lost.

So, get ready, okay? Sit up straight. Sniffle whatever you got to sniffle, because you can't sniffle after that.

Even your breathing should be very, very quiet, okay? And then, obviously you can't move your hands, you can't move anything. The hairs in your nose are not supposed to move.

That's what they say, okay? I'm going to be watching. Okay, so let's try.

I'll count to three. And then after that, see if you can be completely, totally still, and not move anything at all. Even your eyelids.

And don't clear your throat, and don't sniffle. If you start to sneeze, look at the sneeze. Concentrate on the sneeze.

Either it'll go away or it'll explode. Okay, here we go. One.

It'll be a couple minutes. Two. No movement at all.

Three. And slowly, please open your eyes. Scratch your nose.

Okay. I couldn't tell if the air conditioner was... I'll say you're almost as good as China, okay?

So, yeah, I studied in monasteries for 25 years, and during that time, my own teacher, whose teacher was the Dalai Lama's teacher, he would refer to a certain book called The Devil Debates an Angel. But he kind of teased us with it, and he never really taught the whole thing. He started it, but he never finished the whole thing.

And it's a very beautiful poem written about 450 years ago by the first Panchen Lama. So, in Tibet, there are two grand lamas, you know, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. Oftentimes they will alternate.

When the Dalai Lama is older, the Panchen Lama is younger. And they will sort of cover for each other while they're growing up. And the Panchen Lama's monastery is in the second largest city of Tibet, which is Shugatse.

And the Dalai Lama obviously lives in Hwasa. So, the first Panchen Lama was a very extraordinary man. He was a great philosopher, a great meditator, a great retreat master.

And he was a pacifist. He single-handedly stopped a war in Tibet, a civil war. There was a civil war breaking out and he came out of his meditation cave and went and stood between the armies.

He was already quite famous and he said, if you want to fight, you will have to kill me first. And they gave up the war and he went and had tea with the two generals. But he was very brave.

They say in Tibet that he lived to 100 years, but he lived to about 90 something, which was very unusual in those days. Probably in Tibet the average age at that time was 45 or something. So, I think it was because of his protection of life, right?

That he protected life. And then he wrote this poem and it was a poem about an argument within his own mind of two points of view, or two ways of viewing the world. And one is called the tendency to think that things are themselves.

Okay? That's the devil. Alright?

The tendency to think that things are themselves is the devil in his mind. And then there's wisdom or understanding of where the world comes from is the angel in this story. Alright?

So, there's an angel, but the angel lives in his own mind, in this grand lama's mind. And then the devil is also there. And the devil wants to see things a certain way, life a certain way, and the angel wants to see it in a different way.

And they are battling within his own mind. So, you know, he's recording the argument or the battle between two points of view within his own mind. And it's very, very beautiful.

It's one of the greatest pieces of spiritual writing, I think, in the world. I think we just... When we were...

I grew up here in Phoenix, and they didn't teach us Tibetan literature in high school or elementary school. And we missed out on some of the great classics or Chinese literature. So, I think in time, these will be taught in schools all over the world.

And they are very beautiful. They are like Dante or Shakespeare. They are on that level.

Especially his writing. So, we took the best one. And we started it, I don't know, a couple of years ago?

And we are just kind of moseying through it. Not too fast. These are just like little weekends that we do maybe...

We try to do once a month. Four times a year in Arizona we do a ten-day teaching, which is... We are going through a very famous book that was written by the teacher of the teacher of the Dalai Lama, who was the teacher of my teacher when he was very young.

And I think that book is one of the greatest books ever written. It's like Enlightenment from A to Z. It's a thousand-page book about all the practices that you would do from the first day to the last day, which in Tibetan is called lam rim.

And we are going through that book. It's going to take twelve years. I think we are in the third year now.

And we will be doing that in November. So that will be a ten-day teaching in November. Usually we do a ten-day teaching in Phoenix.

And then we... Two or three months later we do a retreat, a ten-day retreat up in Prescott. Except that this winter we are going to experiment with doing that retreat in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Actually a town outside of Guadalajara called Tequila. And they claim that Tequila was named after them. Although there is some argument about it.

But the town is really called Tequila. And it's a Catholic abbey. And they have invited us to do the ten-day teaching there.

And we wanted to try it because of... We have so many friends in China and other countries in Europe, Latin America, who have trouble coming to the retreats because of the new policies of the United States about restricting friends from coming into the country. So last time we did the retreat I think a group of twelve people from Argentina were turned back and not allowed to come to the retreat.

So we thought we would try to do it in Mexico and see how it felt for everybody. For us it's a closer flight than say Chicago or something like that. It's not really a foreign country.

It's just... I think Mexico and the U.S. are physically just about one place. So that's where we're going with that.

And then these are sort of teasers in between those ten-day programs because I promised my close students that I would come back to Phoenix once a month and teach something. So we'll do that. So we're at verse...

I think it's... I think you have the reading in your playbill and we'll start at the beginning. Lama Lhakpa Lhala Chakselo.

I'm going to start... I'm going to read the Tibetan to try to impress you. Lama Lhakpa Lhala Chakselo means I bow down to my angel who is my heart teacher.

So, before every spiritual... any spiritual literature in Tibet you always bow down to your teacher at the beginning. So the First Panchen Lama is honoring that custom of bowing down to his own teacher at the beginning of the text.

Now we're going to have a... We are in the middle of a part by the angel. The angel is talking, alright?

And he says, or she says, nangwa tsam tu thosam dzok chen nar yong bar nge ma thong chung yang sem ni rang le chung tim yang sem tong rang la tim We learn and we study, but only apparently. I don't see that there is anything there if one pauses to examine them. Things do happen, but we understand that they happen from the mind itself.

Things do fade away, but we know that they fade from the mind itself. Anybody doesn't have a program, you can raise your hand. If you need one.

There's two people down here. Some...lots of them over there. By the way, we invented this playbill also so you could announce your own classes or your own activities.

If you are a massage therapist or you're a yoga teacher or you're a musician or anything, okay, you're welcome to put an ad in here. It's free. And it's just so that other people will know what you're up to.

So if you have any kind of thing going on, it doesn't have to be in Phoenix, it could be in Berlin, okay? But you can tell us next time and we'll put it in. Like if you're doing some charitable work or something like that, happy to do it.

So the main thing here is the angel is speaking in the lama's mind. And the angel says, you can learn and you can study, but there's nothing there. The angel says, you can learn and you can study, but there's nothing there, okay?

And then, this is a typical Buddhist statement. It's typically misunderstood, okay? I thought we'd talk about this teaching, right?

So we are learning and we are studying this text in this teaching. And what the angel says, the good guy says, you can learn, but there's nothing there. It's not there.

There's no learning, okay? You're not learning, alright? Then we call khor sum.

Say, I'm going to ask you to say it in Tibetan. Say, khor? Sum.

Khor sum. Khor sum means the person who's studying, the person who's teaching, and the book that they are learning, okay? So, those are called the three spheres or the three elements.

There's someone teaching, there's someone learning, and there's something we are learning, a book. According to Buddhist idea, they don't exist. The learning doesn't exist because the person teaching doesn't exist, and the person learning doesn't exist, and the thing they are studying doesn't exist either, okay?

Those three things don't exist. So, how could you be learning? Then, what does that mean?

I mean, it sounds sexy, and it sounds mystical, and it sounds totally impractical. You know, like, okay, so, I mean, you can say that, but what are we going to do for the rest of the time tonight? You know what I mean?

No, I mean, it just doesn't... It sounds mystical, and it's very kind of attractive to us, but it doesn't make much sense, and it would be hard to use it, right? So, what it means is that the teacher doesn't exist in the way you thought, and that gets us into the idea of illusion, okay?

So, the theme of these two nights is illusion, and how can you make a path, a spiritual path, out of understanding illusion, okay? So, we are living in an illusion, but what does that mean? If you understood what it meant to be living in an illusion, and if you could see through the illusion, then you could make practical things happen in your life.

It's a simple path. To recognize that you are in an illusion, and to see through it, to break through it, becomes a simple path for achieving the goals in your life, okay? Whether you want to be a successful doctor, or you want to be a musician, or you want a partner, or you want to fix your health, or you want to lose 10 pounds.

If you can see through the illusion, then you can achieve that quickly, okay? You are... You are working inside of an illusion, and it stops you from reaching the things you want, okay?

You can't be happy with your partner, or you can't find a good partner, or your credit card debts are out of control, or your health is out of control, or you don't feel happy, and those are all because of illusion. So, we're going to study illusion for two days. What's the illusion in this room right now?

What does illusion mean right now in this teaching? You're looking at me, and you see me saying something, you hear me saying something, and you think of me as a person. He grew up in Arizona.

One of my oldest friends is here. We grew up together. He grew up in Arizona.

He went to some Tibetan monastery. He came back. He's talking about something that he learned there.

That's how you see me, and that's wrong, okay? That's an illusion. I'm not that, okay?

So, what am I? Does illusion mean that I'm not talking? No, I'm talking, okay?

You're stuck with it, for another hour or so. And, I am talking. There is someone talking, okay?

That's not an illusion, okay? I am talking. We're studying an ancient, beautiful, one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written in this world.

And that exists also. It's in your hands, and it exists. It's not an illusion, okay?

The illusion comes in when you think about, where did I come from? And where did this book come from? Was it carved in Tibet in 1570?

Was it input on a computer in India in the refugee camp a few years ago? Did we translate it and print it? No, okay?

And did I come from Arizona, and did I go to Washington High School? No, we say no. Did I go to All Saints Church?

No. We say no to all the above. That's the illusion, okay?

Then, if I didn't come from those places, where am I coming from? And the answer is your own mind, okay? I'm coming from your own mind.

And we do this thing around the world. Where is it? I need a pen here.

Yeah, thanks. You got another one? That's okay.

You've heard it before. We say you have to hear it 3,000 times to really get it, okay? So, we do this all over the world constantly, okay?

We...all over. We're going to where? Moscow?

Sofia and... St. Petersburg next week or something? We do it all over the world.

What is this thing? Just answer me. What is this thing?

It's a pen. If a dog came in here, a small puppy, and I wave this thing in front of the puppy's face, what will they do with it? They will chew on it, right?

Am I right? So, does the dog see a pen? They see something to chew, right?

Now, I have a question for you. Who's right? The dog or the person?

Huh? The dog can chew on it, right? I think both, right?

Can we say both? Dog can chew on it. It's a toy for the dog.

For the person, it's a pen. That's okay, right? It can be both.

Like, equal right. Okay? No, really.

So, it can be both at the same time. It's both at the same time. Depends on who's looking at it, right?

Then if I put this thing here, and all the people go out and all the dogs go out, then which one is it? Good. From the mouth of babes.

No, that's emptiness. And all over the world, when I ask that question, it doesn't matter what country I'm in, people will go like... will go like that.

I'll say, is it a pen? When the people leave the room, and when the dog leaves the room, at that time, which one is it? And people will go like that.

All over the world, people will go like that. That's emptiness. That's shunyata.

That's tombanyi. That's the Buddhist idea of emptiness. It doesn't mean you close your eyes and everything's black.

It doesn't mean nothing matters, because of course things matter. It doesn't mean there's nothing in this room. Obviously there is.

Emptiness means that without someone observing it, it's not anything yet. And then when a human comes in, it becomes a pen for a human. And when a dog comes in, it becomes a chew toy for the dog.

So we say, how you see it is coming from seeds in your mind. There are some kind of seeds in your mind. Maybe you have seeds to see it as a pen.

Maybe you have seeds to see it as a... something to chew. If you have seeds in your mind to see it as something to chew, you is a...

dog. That's what makes you a dog. And if you have seeds to see it as a pen, then you is a...

human. And I mean a real visionary might pick up this pen and see a way to change the world. They might see it as an instrument for changing the entire planet.

And in Tibet, you're not allowed to place a pen on the floor for that reason. Because it can be used to write letters. And letters can be arranged into knowledge.

And knowledge can save the world. So you cannot put a pen on the floor. So they don't see it as a pen.

They see it as some sacred instrument. You see? Got it?

At the same time it's three different things. Depending on the seeds in your own mind. Alright?

Who put the seeds there? Who put the seeds there? In your mind?

You do. Only you can. Nobody else can do it.

I can die to give you some seeds, right? I want you to see Pitta. You know, especially in China, right?

Three weeks with no... Anyway. You know, but I can't put a seed in your mind.

You put your own seeds in your own mind. And they have to bounce off of somebody else. There has to be an echo.

You have to do something towards someone else. And then it will bounce back and create a seed. Okay?

Seeds can only be planted in the presence of another person. Okay? You needed other people to plant seeds in your mind.

Those seeds are called karma. Okay? You can call it karma.

In Chinese they call it ye li. And zhong zi. And the seed is called zhong zi.

And... Those seeds are put in your mind by something that you do to other people. So you need other people.

If you want pens, if you don't want to be a dog, if you want to see this as a pen, then you must plant a seed for a pen in your mind. How do you plant a seed for a pen in your mind? You must give a pen to someone else.

You must... To plant a seed for a thing in your mind, you must provide it to another person. If you want money, you must give.

If you want to be healthy, you must serve the sick. If you want a partner, you must help lonely people. Okay?

In this theory... And I think Jesus also said the same thing, right? And Moses probably, right?

Moshe. So... In this system, the reason you're seeing a pen is that you were generous in the past, and you put seeds in your mind, and you're seeing this as a pen.

Okay? And a dog doesn't see that. Alright?

That's the introduction. Why are you seeing me? Now we get to the text, you see?

You are learning tonight. Supposed to be learning, right? Then why are you seeing me?

Because you put a seed in your mind. How did you put the seed in your mind? To have a teacher.

You shared what you know with other people. You see what I mean? Freely, happily.

And the seed is smaller than the tree. It's very beautiful. So, maybe you helped someone at work learn a new computer program, right?

Maybe you shared a recipe with someone else. Freely, generously, from your heart. And taught them how to bake it just right.

Right? And you didn't leave anything out. And then that puts a tiny little seed in your mind.

And then two weeks later, you see some announcement for some teaching, and you go, who wrote the announcement? You did. Good.

Alright? You saw the announcement that you wrote yourself. Alright?

It's coming out of a seed in your mind. It's very interesting. So, the angel is trying to convince us that this is where everything in the world is coming from.

The angel is struggling in one person's mind to prove, look, everything you want comes from giving it to somebody else. Okay? In a very practical way.

You see? Why do fifteen hundred people come to a talk in Kuala Lumpur? It's the first time we ever went there.

You know? Why? Why would they come?

They read this book, they thought, that will work. You know? I would like a partner.

I would like a new partner. So, I have to serve the lonely. Right?

I have to plant a seed in my mind. And then that will create a partner. You see?

Because a partner is the same as a pen. Right? It's coming from your mind.

Alright? So, the angel is trying to propose a new way of living and a new way of getting what you want. The angel is saying, you must provide what you want to someone else and then it will come to you.

Okay? You plant the seed and you will have all the things you want. That's the angel is trying to convince people.

But then he's also saying, when I try to teach you this, that's also coming from seeds. When I try to teach you about seeds, whether you get it or not, depends on what? How skillful I am?

Whether I know Tibetan and Sanskrit? Or Chinese? What does it depend upon?

For you to learn from me depends on what? You must have shared the things you know how to do freely with others in the past. It's very beautiful.

Oh, Geshe Michael, I have a block, I can't understand emptiness. My meditation is not happening. Okay?

Then share more what you know how to do with somebody else. Okay? Generously, freely.

And then you'll have breakthroughs. Learning itself is coming from you. I'm coming from you.

It's really good if people look bored, you can tell them, if you don't like the show, it's coming from you.

[Говорящий 2]
Alright?

[Говорящий 1]
It's very useful. Alright? And...

Sometimes in China, the whole front row is asleep, like this. Because they work so hard, they work, oh, they work so hard. So, anyway.

I'm coming from you and the learning is coming from you. Okay? So, are we learning?

Yes or no? Yeah, we are, obviously, right? Are you learning the way you thought you were?

No. Okay? You created me and I'm saying whatever you said last week, except in a bigger way, okay?

Alright? So, I'm illusory. Illusion means, the way it looks and the way it is, don't match.

Okay? A mirage, when you drive through the desert and you see... What do they call that?

Mirage, right? It looks like water, but it's not water. Its real condition is not water.

Its apparent condition is water. He says, we can study, but only apparently, you see? Apparent means, it's not what you thought it was.

You thought, some guy that spent time in a Buddhist monastery is teaching you tonight. It's not true. You were generous with what you knew how to do in the past and you shared with others and you're creating this teaching, okay?

Who's saying that? The angel, okay? The angel is trying to get us to change how we live, right?

You want to make money? Stop grubbing around looking for money. Just help other people make money and money will come to you and you can't avoid it, you know?

Like that. The angel is trying to convince us of a new way of living. What you want?

Provide it to someone else, okay? And stop all this... Then the devil is going to say, what?

Work harder. Go on the internet. Find a better gig, you know?

Re-educate yourself. You know? Look, try to get contacts.

You know? Wake up, man. Then you got to, you know, get into canned corn, you know?

Give up that, you know, landscaping business. You know, like, this is where it's at. You know, I figured it out.

You know, this is the next big thing, you know? And it's crazy. It's all crazy.

But we think like that, right? We think, oh, I want to study something. Let me look online and find the cheapest best class, you know?

We think like that. But if you really want to learn something, then teach someone else something you know how to do, freely, generously, with a good heart. And then knowledge will...

Teachers will be banging on your door, okay? Like incredible teachers, okay? My teacher was the...

They had a competition of 10,000 lamas in Tibet. He was number one. Ken Rinpoche was number one, okay?

In the Dalai Lama's palace, okay? You create your teacher. Okay?

You create your teacher. It's very beautiful. Okay, next verse.

Oh, so the teacher rises from the mind and the teacher... What's he saying? Fades from the mind.

What's that mean? If you are generous with your knowledge to others and you thereby create a teacher in your life, as that teacher teaches you, you wear out your debit card. Okay?

The seeds wear out. When a seed creates a tree, then the seed dies. You see?

So, the teacher will fade from your life if you don't keep planting. You see? It's a...what do you call? Pyramid scheme. Like, you got to keep... You know, you got to keep going, you know?

How do you get money, Geshe Michael? How do I pay off my credit cards? Help someone else who's having trouble with their credit cards.

You don't have to give them the money, just support them. Give them moral support, you know? Take them out for coffee once a week.

Talk about their debts and how you can help. Give them advice, okay? And then...

And then money will come to you, okay? Money...opportunities will come to you, and you'll make money, alright? Should you stop taking the person to the coffee shop?

No, because then it will fade. That's what he's saying in the verse, it will fade. The seed will die.

The seed dies by every hour you have money. Every dollar you get kills the seed more. Okay?

It's a debit card scheme. Okay? You have to keep reinvesting, okay?

You make some money. You help someone else make money, money comes to you. Then you can't stop, you have to keep doing...

or else it will fade from the mind in the same way that it came from the mind. Okay? Got it?

That's the first verse. I need a clock or else we could go all night. And some people would be grumpy.

Oh, I have one of those too. Okay, you're right. Okay.

Yeah, I forgot. Okay, next verse, 87. Okay?

By the way, we'll take a break at 8.30. Is that right? Am I supposed to... I am?

Oh, so Nick... Lasha? Lasha.

Anyway, Nick is missing tonight. Her partner is missing tonight. Why?

Why? He's in the Tibetan monastery studying for the last month, two months, with four others, three others. Four others from our group.

So we send volunteers to the monastery to study for a month or two with some of my lamas. And it's a very beautiful traditional Tibetan monastery. There's no English there.

It's like... It's like somebody dropping you on Mars and saying, I'll pick you up in a month, you know? And then you're like in this...

There's how many monks? 3,000 monks, I think, in Serenno. And...

4,000. And it's awesome. It's like an immersion thing.

And, you know, the first day you have a headache and second day you have diarrhea. And then the third day it starts blowing your mind and you learn cool things. But anyway, we pay for them.

We pay for their airfare. We pay for their food. And we do that by selling refreshments at these talks.

So you are going to eat a cookie. And you are going to pay $20 for a cookie. Okay?

And then we can send another group. Okay? And it's really fun.

It's an awesome thing. It's once a year? Yeah.

I think she's raised almost $100,000 with cookies in the last... I don't know, six years? Eight years.

Okay. That's pretty lousy. Okay.

Alright. Anyway. I'll give you a refreshment break.

But that's what you're supposed to do in the break. 87. 87.

DE NA KHYOD DANG NGA GNYIS GNYIS DZIN STAN NGON RGYAL ZHUGS MA DE LHAN CIG BDOD PA'I GNAS MA PHYIS KHYOD RANG GRO BA'I GNAS LA GNAS LA RGYUG That's the way that you and I see things is completely incompatible. There is no one place in the universe where both of us could reside. And so it is you who must leave and go wherever you might.

Who's you? The devil. Okay, who's talking?

The angel. Okay. They're having this argument now for two years or something.

You know, the devil says, you got to get out of this mind. There ain't room in this town for both of us. You know, meaning in one mind there's not room for two points of view.

One of us has to go. And the devil keeps telling the angel, you got to go. And the angel keeps telling the devil, well, I think rather it's you who has to go.

All right. But the point of this verses is that there are two ways to view the world. Okay?

There are two ways to view the world. When we go to Asia, we always talk about the first rice farmer. His name is Bok Lok.

He's married to Wuk Tuk. And... It's a long story.

I won't tell you the whole story. But anyway, Bok Lok... His job is to wander around in the forest and find single strands of rice, one by one, and pull off three or four grains of rice, all day.

He has to wander around and try to find wild rice in the forest. That's us, looking for money in the world or looking for a partner. Okay?

And then, one day he's got a whole handful of rice. It's a long story. He meets a dinosaur.

They fight. And he drops the rice. And then later he comes back and he finds like a hundred rice plants in one place.

That's the invention of farming. That he realizes if you throw the rice on the ground, if you don't eat the rice that you need to survive, but you take some of it and you throw it on the ground and cover it with dirt, you will have more rice later. It's insane.

Right? The first rice farmer was like Einstein. Bigger than Einstein.

The second one was even smarter because he followed the first one. Right? Or she.

Like, the first one's telling everybody, look, take half your rice, throw it on the ground, cover it with dirt. In three months you'll have more. You know?

But that's kind of a leap of faith when you're a caveman and that's all you have to eat. Right? Geshe Michael's sitting up there saying, if you want to make money, help someone else make money and maybe give some of your money to them.

And then you're like, Geshe-la, this lady in China, Guangzhou, she's like, Geshe-la, no, why? You don't understand. You know, I came to this talk because I don't have money.

And now you're telling me to give money away. It doesn't make any sense. You know?

And I'm like, no, it makes all the sense. You give, you get more back. It's like rice.

You throw five pieces in the ground, you get twenty-five come back. You know? But you got to have the faith to throw food on the ground and cover it with dirt.

You know? Like that's insane, right? That viewpoint is insane.

I'm broke, Geshe-la. I have credit card problems. You want me to take someone out to Starbucks and help them with their credit card problems?

I don't have time. I'm trying to get it work. You know?

I'm trying to make money. But that's the way to make money. See?

That will plant the seed for money. See? And it sounds crazy, right?

So, you have two incompatible points of view. One is, if you want more money, work harder. You know?

Go on the internet. Retrain yourself. Thousand different suggestions.

Get more money. Compete more. You know?

Come up with a better product. Market, out-market your competition, you know? This is the...

one viewpoint. Then the other viewpoint is, be totally generous. Find people who are out of work.

Help them get a job. You know? Help other people create new products.

Help other people market their stuff. People come to me, yoga teachers, they say, nobody comes to my yoga class. I say, market somebody else's yoga class.

Then they're like, no Geshe-la, you don't understand. I want people to come to my yoga class. And I'm like, that's what happened up here, okay?

I'm tearing my hair out. And then I'm like, no, you don't understand. You got to market somebody else.

And then people will come to your thing. That's how things work. These two viewpoints are incompatible.

Okay? So, here's your homework question for the two of you who are doing your homework tomorrow. In the case of learning anything then, we are trying to do so, not in the way we used to, but in a new way.

How can we combine the old way and the new way? What's the answer? Good.

You can't. Okay? You got to buy one or the other.

Okay? Alright? You can't like compete in the market and try to out-grub somebody else for money, which is capitalism, right?

You can't do that and follow the angel's path at the same time, because the angel's path is what? Help other people make money. Okay?

Create a product and give it away. Let somebody else run with it. You see?

If you want a promotion at work, what should you do? Help someone else get a promotion. Especially the one that you wanted.

Okay? That's the angel's way. And the old way and the angel's way are incompatible.

You got to choose one or the other. Sooner or later you're going to have to choose. Okay?

You can't go on competing for the promotion and having the angel's viewpoint, which is that you can get a much bigger promotion if you help someone else get this one. Alright? And I was the vice president of a huge multinational corporation.

How? I started as a messenger boy. Okay?

I kept giving away promotions. Okay? I kept getting other people promotions.

Okay? We have 10,000 workers, 10,000 employees. So, how do you get to be number two?

Because number one was the owner. How do you get to be the... You keep giving away promotions.

Okay? That viewpoint is incompatible with your current point of view. Right now you're in this thing where I got to talk to the boss, I got to suck up to the boss, I got to convince the boss why I'm a better person to promote.

That's your viewpoint. And that's the devil's viewpoint. Okay?

It plants lousy seeds. You might get the promotion, then it will create people around you who are trying to pull you down. You see?

It's very interesting. Okay? This system is different and it's incompatible with the old one.

Sooner or later you have to choose. I suggest you go into it softly. Okay?

I think you're allowed to do that. Okay? You're not going to give away all your money on the first day.

You're going to regret it and then that will mess up the seed and you'll just get lots of seeds for regret. You know? So, do it gradually.

Switch over to the angel's point of view. Do little... Gandhi...

What do they call it? Truth experiment. You know?

Do a little experiment. Say, okay, I have a big credit card debt. I'd like to get rid of it.

He's suggesting some kind of new... What do you call it? Strategy to get rid of my debts, which is to help someone else get rid of their debts.

It doesn't mean you have to pay them, by the way, because you can't because you're in debt. Okay? Just take them out for coffee.

Talk to them. Show some concern for another human being about their situation, rather than worrying about your own. And that plants the seeds that your own situation will go away.

It's very interesting. So, do an experiment, you know? Just do an experiment.

I want to have a cool date with some nice guy in a... We had this guy... I wanted to create a Hollywood producer to come and do How Yoga Works.

He called me last week. Alright? I created him.

He did... He did a really important movie called Legally Blonde 2. So, he's flying in tomorrow to talk about this...

Sunday, to talk about this. So, we just create him, you see? Just create them.

And they will come. Okay? Don't, like, go to Hollywood and run around and try to find this guy.

You know? Make him fly to Phoenix. You see?

Make him write you and say, please can I fly to Phoenix. Okay? And then say, okay.

You know? Like that. Alright?

Okay? This is the different system and it's incompatible with the old one. Okay?

The old one is exhausting and it's uncertain. You know? Competing for the next promotion has uncertain results.

This system always works. You always get the promotion. Okay?

It's very beautiful. It's a new idea and it's incompatible with the old one. Sooner or later you have to choose.

And my suggestion is you do little experiments to confirm that it works first before you jump. But then you should jump. A lot of the people in this room have been hearing this for years and I don't think they jumped.

You know? They're still trying to straddle the fence. You know?

So... Okay. Okay.

Next verse. Your cookies are sixteen minutes away. 88 The tendency to think that things are themselves replied.

This is the devil. Okay? What does that mean to say, to think that something is itself?

What does that mean? Is the pen a pen? Be careful.

Is the pen a pen? To me. You have to say, to me.

Now, cancel the to me and cancel the to the dog. Is a pen a pen? Then you have to say, no.

We got the answer. She's leaving because she answered already. We got the answer already.

She said, it's nothing. Okay? It's nothing.

So, can you say the pen is a pen? Independent of everything. No, you have to say, a pen is a pen to a person who has a seed for a pen.

But if you don't have a seed for a pen and you have a seed to chew a pen, then it's not a pen anymore, it's something to chew. Got it? The dog is saying...

The human is saying, why are you ruining my pen? You're putting chew marks on Rob Haggerty's pen. And then the dog says, why the hell don't you chew on that thing?

It's so great. Why are you writing with it? You're wasting the thing, you know?

Like... There's two points of view, right? By itself, it's not a pen.

You cannot say that things are themselves. By themselves. Okay?

You can say that it's a pen to me. But that's all you can say. So, the devil's name is the guy who thinks that things are themselves.

That applies to a husband who is criticizing you all the time. Okay? Don't just get stuck on pens.

Let's use it for real life. Right? Is a husband who criticizes you all the time, a husband who criticizes you all the time?

By himself? No. Where is he coming from?

You yelled at the kids last week. You planted a seed. And now you're perceiving a husband who is criticizing.

Would all people see his words as criticism? No, your sister-in-law. She thinks he's brilliant.

Yeah, you finally told your wife off. I mean, I've been waiting for months, you know. Now you finally saw the truth how bad she is.

You see what I mean? His criticism sounds like... What do you call it?

Music to her ears. Okay? It's also a pen.

Got it? Alright. Next verse.

You chatter on about emptiness, but it's me who actually takes action, sending forth the eight attitudes. Uh... Then I agree that we can't stand this mind together, and one of us has to go, and I think it should be you.

Okay, that's... He just repeats that. What are the eight attitudes?

Okay, these are called jikten chuge. Say jikten. Chuge.

Jikten. Chuge. We got thirteen more minutes, hang in there.

I know it's hot, and I don't know why it's hot, but it's Phoenix, I guess. Jikten means world, okay? Loka in Sanskrit.

Chö means dharma, right? But in this case it means an attitude, and ge means eight. So these are the eight worldly attitudes, alright?

I'm going to tell you what they are, and then let's talk about them, okay? They come in four sets of two. They come in four sets of almost opposites, okay?

So the eight worldly attitudes come in four sets of two. The first set is to be happy when you get some material thing, and to be unhappy when you can't get it. Like a raise at work, or a new car, or you want a certain stereo, or something like that.

You're happy if you get it, and you're unhappy if you can't get it, alright? Number two. The second set is...

This is very common. This is very common for us. When we feel physically well, we are happy and nice to other people.

And when we don't feel physically well, we are grumpy and unkind to others, okay? They didn't do anything to make you sick, but you're grumpy at them, right? I have a cold, you know?

Like that. Or you get... A doctor says you have an illness, and then suddenly your mind becomes unhappy, and everything seems dark and dangerous, and you know...

And you treat other people darkly, you know? But they didn't do anything, you know? So, it takes some kind of wisdom not to be unhappy when you don't feel well, or not to be unpleasant to others when you don't feel well, okay?

And in Tibet it's considered an equal weakness to be happy only because you feel well. Like you just did a yoga class, and now you're gonna be nice to other people, for a while. You see what I mean?

That's considered equally ignorant, okay? To be nice to everybody because you had a good workout this morning, you know? Okay.

Third step. Happy when you get some attention or fame, and unhappy when you don't. When people don't give you attention, then you feel unhappy.

And people give you a little bit of attention, and then you're like... You know, people start clapping. There's a direct...

You know, we give tours all over the world, and we have graduation ceremonies. Thousands of people... 4,000 people came to our programs last...

the last three weeks. 4,000 people attended. And when you applaud for them, I don't care how cool you are, or how smart you are, you get this big grin on your face, you know?

And it... Just someone applauds for you, and you're like... You know?

And... So, if somebody pays attention to you, you feel happy. And people don't pay attention to you, you feel sad.

Seven and eight, right? The last pair. They are happy when someone praises you, and unhappy when someone criticizes you.

So, you know, the newspaper writes something bad about you, and then suddenly you're unhappy, and you're treating all the people around you unkindly. You're grumpy. Just...

You're not different from the day before, right? Something came out in the newspaper, criticizing you, and then you feel grumpy. Or something comes out in the newspaper, it says that you're a nice person.

And then suddenly you feel like you're nicer than you were yesterday, but you're not, you're the same person, right? So, that's a worldly... That's a worldly thing also.

These are the eight worldly attitudes. Now, question. How can the devil take credit for creating these in people's minds?

He takes credit. He says, you blab about emptiness, Mr. Angel, Miss Angel. You blab, blab, blab about emptiness.

I'm the one who gives the world the eight attitudes. I do something. I have an achievement.

I've put my mark on every living person on this planet. They all get happy when they feel... when they had a yoga class.

And they all get sad when they get a cold. It's me who did it. I'm affecting everybody in the world.

You just blab, blab about some emptiness thing. Can he take credit for those eight attitudes? And if so, why?

I'm gonna take the example of number eight. Okay, what was number eight? You're unhappy when someone criticizes you.

So, I'm gonna say your partner, okay? Although I know partners never criticize each other. We're gonna take the theoretical example of...

Gunner's like giggling. Okay, no, just stop giggling. We're gonna take the theoretical example of your partner being critical to you.

You know, like, oh, you left the place a mess, or... you know, you can't cook, or... whatever.

Can't you make a bed? I mean, your mother didn't teach you to make a bed. Like that.

You know, your partner says something to you, right? Should you be unhappy? Well, first of all, is it a bad thing?

When your partner says something nasty to you, is it a bad thing? Yeah, it's a bad thing, okay? Should you be like anesthetized and just smile and say, Thank you.

Is that the goal of Buddhism? To just sit there and go, you know, yeah, I'm a lousy person, thank you. It's not, okay?

No, there's some kind of weird... misperception of Zen practice or something, like you're supposed to stare at the wall and not feel happy and not feel sad. Someone punches you, you just smile.

Someone kisses you, you... you try not to smile. Like that, you're supposed to be like, it's all wrong, it's all bad thinking.

And then they say, if you keep that up, you get to go to paradise. I guess in paradise you're just supposed to, you know, be like that forever or something. I mean, it's silly.

Then they draw paradise as some very beautiful thing, you know? And they say you get there by not being happy and not being sad. So, of course it's a bad thing when you're...

when anybody criticizes you, it hurts. And it's a bad thing, and it would be nice if it didn't happen, right? Is it your husband who's criticizing you?

No, it's not. Who's criticizing? Who created him?

You did. When? Last week.

What did you do? You yelled at the kids. You criticized your kid.

Something like that, okay? You put a seed in your mind, that seed opens, that creates a husband. I think it's useful to know how that works, okay?

Like there's some kind of voodoo, karma voodoo thing, right? By the way, you got six minutes to go. There's some kind of karma voodoo thing.

Oh, just believe it, okay? If you step on a bug, you're going to get a cold next week, you know? Like, just believe it.

And I think that's really... When I was a kid, I mean, our parents would say, Don't do bad things, Mikey, because it'll come back to you. And you're like, prove it, you know?

And... You can prove... There's a way to think it through, okay?

And it's useful to know. How does a seed in the mind open, okay? Who created your criticizing husband, okay?

How did that happen? You criticized the kids last week. You yelled at one of the kids last week.

Oh, I just yelled at the kids for a minute. But my husband criticized me for an hour. Duh!

Seeds grow into trees, right? I mean, when you're looking for the seed that caused something, you got to look for something smaller. Okay?

Because the trees... An oak tree weighs 450 tons. An acorn weighs half a gram, okay?

Your parents gave you one cell each. Now you have a hundred trillion, okay? I mean, things grow.

So, if you're going to look for the cause of why your husband's criticizing you this week, you got to look at small little criticisms you did last week, okay? Then you find one, I yelled at the kids, okay? Did that put a seed in my mind?

How? How did it get recorded? You were there.

You were watching. That records it, okay? It doesn't help to go in your room and do bad things.

The recorder goes with you. Alright? Nothing is lost, nothing is hidden from the recorder, okay?

There's not some guy up there who can't see through the roof or something, okay? It's your own mind that's recording. Your own awareness of yourself doing something records it.

So, you yelled at the kids. If I asked you, did you yell at the kids last week? You say, yes.

That proves that you did it. The memory of it comes from the action. You see what I mean?

It's very interesting. Did you yell at the kids last week? Yes.

Why? I remember. So, it happened.

Yeah, because I remember it. How do you remember it? I was there.

I heard it. Who did you hear? Me.

Okay? You're always recording yourself, okay? In your mind.

How does the seed come out? That's the cool part. That's a long story.

I'll tell you after the break, okay? Because it's very, very, very beautiful, alright? How the seed comes out of your mind.

You yelled at the kids last week. A seed went into your mind because you heard yourself yelling. And then this week a seed opens in your mind.

How does that seed open exactly? Because if you can explain it to me clearly, I'll buy your system. Because that's something my mom couldn't explain to me.

She said, if you step on a bug, you'll get sick next week. But she couldn't explain how the seed opened. Okay?

So, let's talk about that after the break, okay? Because it's very beautiful. It's very good to know.

And I'll do some questions also after the break, okay? So, if you have any questions, I'll go through the way the seed opens, and then we'll do questions, okay? But the bottom line is, you can't be angry at someone criticizing you, if you realize you planted them, you created them, alright?

You can go through all eight attitudes. If you understand they're coming from you, you can't have them anymore. Okay?

Oh, I'm angry because I'm sick this week. Who made you sick? I did.

Why? You didn't help someone else who was sick in your family. That's why you got sick.

Who are you gonna blame now? Me. Okay?

But we never blame ourselves as well as we blame others. It's kind of like, that's okay Mark, let's try better next week. Like you don't get upset, right?

Okay? Maybe you should. Alright.

We'll take a 15-minute break. Am I supposed to announce anything? Oh, I got confused about the schedule tomorrow, which is in your pamphlet on page 6.

During the 10-day Phoenix Teachings, sometimes I teach a hardcore philosophy class in the afternoon, which is sure to confuse you forever. Forever. We're going through a book that I started nine years ago at Diamond Mountain and we're on page 37.

Okay? It will take 30 more years at this rate. But anyway, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to teach tomorrow afternoon and I prepared the class.

So, we decided to do the class. So, it's like hardcore, hardcore emptiness teaching. This is the one day of the year that I get to teach what I really want to, even if everyone gets lost.

So, that'll be... We're going to change the schedule for tomorrow. 2.30 to 3.15, we'll have the Prison Project presentation by Jeff Ernie. And then 3.30 to 5, we'll have a hardcore philosophy class here, the way they teach it in the monastery. Okay? And then 5 to 6.30, study groups and dinner. If you want to sit with some other people and do your homework, which you don't have to do, and obviously most people will get out of it. I encourage you to do the homework. I wrote a homework.

It's a nice homework. It'll help you understand the subject much better. You go and you...

You go to like, what do you call that place? Paradise Café. And you talk...

You just sit around the table and you talk about... You do the homework together. And then you have dinner.

Okay? And it's a nice way to meet other people. Okay?

Because only smart people come to these programs anyway. And then at 7, we'll have the... the continuation of this particular class.

Okay? Good? Any questions?

No? Is that it? Yeah, I'll see you at 8.45. And we'll go to 9.30. Okay? Bring me a cookie. I'll sit here if you have any questions, or you have personal questions, or... You want to know how to get rid of your yelling husband?

I can do that. All right. Or if you just want to say hi.

So that... Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you... This is not part of the program, okay?

But it helped me so much to understand seeds when they taught me how they open. Because that's something your mom never taught you. Right?

Even in Phoenix, Arizona, in the year that we don't want to mention, right Ian? They... Your mom told you...

It was... You know, if you hurt something, it would come back to you. So now we have half of the formula.

Which, by the way, means we're not going to finish tonight's class, but that's all right. Half the formula is, the seed is planted by your being there and watching yourself do the thing. And there's...

If you want to, you can say there's a guy up in the sky and he's keeping a record or something. That's okay. If that makes you feel better, that's okay.

That's fine. But in reality, all it takes is that you are there when you do the thing. And then it's recorded, because you watch yourself and you hear yourself.

And that's... That's recorded very well. So that's easy.

That part is easy. Okay, that's how I plant the seed. If I want...

I don't know. If I want my partner to be more affectionate, then I should be more friendly to others. Then that will plant a seed in my mind.

And I will see my partner be more affectionate. I understand. I understand that.

But tell me how he comes out of my mind. Because that part is a little fuzzy. Right?

If someone could explain to you how your husband's hug is going to come out of your own mind, then it would be more convincing, right? The whole system would be more convincing. So tell me how the seed opens.

So I'm going to go off the subject, scrap the class, and go to that. Because it'll help you buy into the angel's point of view. If someone can tell you clearly how the seed opens as your husband being more affectionate than he was last week.

Okay? So here we go. Seeds open in...

The way a seed opens is that... Let's say your husband has not been giving you hugs, right? Or your wife.

Like, that's a common... What do you call it? All over the world, thousands of people approach me and say, How can I get my husband to give me a real hug?

You know? So, he used to hug me and now he doesn't hug me. He just comes home and heads for his laptop.

You know? And... So, how do I plant a seed for him to be more affectionate?

You have to be more friendly to others on an hour-to-hour basis. In the supermarket, you know, on the street, just walking by people, you have to be more friendly and... It's affection on a friendly level, right?

Like, you don't have to hug everybody on the sidewalk. Some guy in Norway asked me if he wanted kisses from his wife, should he kiss all the girls he met? I said, No, the seed is smaller than the tree.

So, then you... But how... Then, when you come home a couple days later and your husband walks in the door, what...

How does that seed open into him giving you a hug? Because if you can complete the picture for me, then I'll try your system. Then your system sounds good to me.

Explain to me how the seed opens. So, it's very interesting. A seed...

You... You were generous in the past with things that you had and then you planted a seed for a pen in your mind. And then Geshe Michael's hand...

You can't see it now, right? What's in my hand you cannot see. Then Geshe Michael says, I'm going to raise my hand.

And there's something in my hand. Then Geshe Michael goes like that. In the moment that I go like that, a picture is coming from your mind to the...

to the subject in a millisecond, out of your mind. It's very interesting. You think the thing is appearing to you.

You think I hold up a pen and then your eye sees the pen. The pen comes... The shape and color of the pen comes to your eye and then your brain interprets it.

That's what you believe. That's the devil, okay? What's really happening is, I hold up a black and blue stick.

It's just a black and blue stick. And then in a millisecond a karmic seed opens in your mind and it makes a small, luminous picture of a pen about this big. That's cool.

That's how it works, okay? The karmic seed cracks open in your subconscious. It creates a tiny, luminous picture of a pen about this big.

What do you call it? Kinesthetically, it feels like it's in the back of your mind, okay? It's nowhere, right?

Your mind doesn't have a location. But it feels like it's coming from the back of your mind. If you meditate a lot, you will find, you'll be able to identify when the seed cracks open and the small, luminous picture comes out, you'll be able to watch it happen.

And it cracks, the karma cracks open, a small picture comes out and it goes... In the moment that I... Okay, watch.

See what I mean? The Chinese really love that. I don't know why.

And then... And for six billion people, every object they ever encounter, the timing is perfect. All the objects that six billion people encounter in a single day are happening at the right time.

For all of them, interactively, it's very interesting. It's... It's trillions upon trillions of projections going at the same time and matching, perfectly, because that's karma.

Karma is unimaginably complicated. And when I... In the moment that I hold that up, the seed is cracking open in your mind.

It's very cool. So... Duh-duh-duh, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack...

You see what I mean? Right when I decide to hold this up. It's very interesting.

So... I'll tell you four principles for how that seed opens. And that will help you.

Okay? And it will make your life different. It will change your life.

Okay? Here are four ways that the seeds open. And that...

And if you live with that, if you sit with that for a while, then you can start to use seeds for the things you want in your life. I want my husband to be more affectionate. Or...

Or I'm tired of having credit card debt. Or... I have a bad back and I don't want it.

You know? You can start... If you understand how they open, you can start using it.

Okay? So, okay. Four ways.

Number one. Number one. Whatever you do to someone else will come back to you in a relatively short time.

Okay? That's all. That's number one.

Seeds open with the same content in a relatively short time. If you are yelling at somebody, somebody will be yelling at you within a month or a couple months or something. Okay?

So, that's obvious. That's the karma that everyone knows about is number one. You know?

Help someone else who's struggling with their credit card bills. Help them just sit down calmly and talk it over with you and give them moral support. You don't have to figure out how to pay for their bills.

Just be there for them and talk about it with them. And give them some support and say, I'll meet you next week too and let's work this thing out together. Okay?

Just give them that support and then... and then within, I don't know, two, three months, your bills will start to drop. Your credit card bills will start to drop.

Okay? It's weird. And it's miraculous.

Okay? Weird stuff will happen. I don't know.

Like, we were paying for teleconferencing. A lot. And then Google says it's free.

And they were like, Okay, we'll take it. You know? You know what I mean?

Like, and then suddenly my bills just dropped by 10% or 15%. We believe that's coming from your mind. We believe that that's coming from a seed in your mind.

It's very interesting. So anyway, what you do to others will come back to you in a relatively short time. That's number one.

Number two, you will develop habits that seed will... that seed will open as a habit of doing the same thing again. Okay?

All seeds open as the habit of doing the same thing again. So, somebody tells you, the way to get rid of your credit card debt is to help... is to go take someone else out to Paradise Cafe once a week and try to talk them through managing their credit card debt together.

That's how to get rid of your credit card debt. Okay? And the first time someone suggests it, it sounds stupid.

It sounds like unreal. It's like, you're telling me if I take someone out and discuss their Discover card with them, then Bank of America is going to give me a... cut me some slack.

You know what I mean? Like, you're serious? Are you seriously suggesting that if I go to Paradise Cafe with someone who's having Discovery card problems, that Bank of America will...

will somehow cut me some slack on my own credit card bill? Yes. Okay?

I am saying that. Okay? That's exactly what I'm saying.

Then you should try to check it out. You should try to do it. Right?

I mean, you'd be foolish to come to this class and then not go home and try something. You know? Try something.

Whatever you want, try something. Take somebody to Paradise Cafe in the next five days. I don't care what it is, you know?

Take them and talk to them about their credit card. And then see if it... if something miraculous happens with your own credit card debt.

Okay? Just see. Once you do it, once you get hooked.

You see? Once you have one success, you will start to get hooked. Then you'll say, I wonder if that will work with my kids, you know?

Like, maybe I could, you know, change my kid, you know? Like, let me try it on my kids, you know? And then you're like, Dang!

It works on the kids too. Let's try it on my weight, you know? Can I lose X pounds?

You know what I mean? Like that. Just make yourself little projects and deal with them with seeds.

And it becomes a habit. That's the second way in which karma opens, as a habit, to keep doing more of the same. It works the same with negative things.

The first time you lied to your mother is very difficult. I remember. It's like, you got home at midnight last night.

You're like, Oh, really? And then your mom's like, Well, what happened? And you're like, We had a flat tire.

Where? Well, you know. And then your mom's like, You're such a lousy liar, you know?

And then the second time, you get better at it, you know? It's like, where were you? Where were you?

And you're like, Oh, yeah, it was a church function. Yeah, until midnight? Yeah, well, you know, the place was locked in the head again.

And then you get really good at it. So, bad habits and good habits, that's the second way karma opens. Try helping someone else with their credit card debt in order to pay off your credit card debt.

And see if it works. If it works, you'll start to get a habit. And you'll start to apply it to other problems in your life.

Okay? It's very cool. That's the second way.

Third way. The karma opens as your environment and the people around you. Okay?

As your environment, meaning the people and the things around you. Okay? So, let's say you...

I always get accused of exaggerating in my talks. So, let's say I do exaggerate. Then I will create people around me who exaggerate.

You see what I mean? That's the third way that karma opens. Whatever you do good or whatever you do bad shapes the people around you.

You will perceive people who exaggerate all day around you. It's very interesting. Okay?

Or if you are... If you are thoughtful enough to help someone else with their credit card debt problem, then you will see ten people helping you with your credit card problem. Okay?

Around you. It shapes your environment. You do walk around in a bubble.

People accuse me, they say, they say, are you happy? I say, I'm the happiest person I know. And they say, Geshe-la, it's not real.

I say, why not? They say, you're walking around in a little bubble. All the people around you are fantastic.

And you just never see the real world. And I'm like, but that's the world for me. That's what I walk around in.

You see what I mean? I created it. And yeah, people immediately around me will constantly tell the truth and be kind and share things.

You know what I mean? Have higher vision in their life. But you create the people around you.

Okay, that's the third way that karma opens. You even create the weather around you and the condition of the streets. Okay?

Rebecca is wondering why she created 120... What was it? I don't know.

That's your problem. Stop blaming it on Phoenix. Okay?

It wasn't that hot when we were young, right? Somebody changed it, Rebecca. No, but you can change the weather.

Okay? And the streets and the... Everything about your country and global conflict, things like that.

A Buddhist approach to a war in Iraq is to be less violent to those around us. You see what I mean? Anyway, so that's the third one.

It's very, very interesting. Can you put seeds in another person's mind? Can you make your husband be affectionate?

You cannot. Can you make your husband more affectionate? Yes, because of the third...

We call them the flowers. These are called the four flowers. The third flower means, if you are constantly friendly to others, you will perceive your husband as more affectionate and he will be.

Okay? Does that mean you put a seed in his mind? No.

How does he perceive himself? That depends on his seeds. Are you telling me that one person can seem unaffectionate to himself and affectionate to me?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay? It's not a big deal.

You already bought that. Alright? Okay?

Understand? It's very cool. Can you make your husband more affectionate?

Yes, because he's coming from you. How will he perceive himself? That depends on how nice he is to other people.

Are you telling me that there's no standard reality? There's just what I see him being and what he sees him being, but there's no him? Yes.

Is that upsetting? No. It's cool.

It's cool. You can have people around you who are beautiful all the time. Then you teach your husband how to do it.

Okay? That's alright. Alright, seed number four is more complicated.

How much time we got? Yeah, we got time. We're gonna go for another 19 minutes, okay?

Seed number four takes some explanation, okay? Somebody asked the Buddha two and a half thousand years ago, how many seeds do you make per minute? How many seeds do...

If I'm friendly at the grocery store to a stranger in aisle 12 for one minute, how many seeds do I create to get hugs from my husband? Like, there must be some equation, right? So, what's the number?

And Lord Buddha went like this. Say to a person in the grocery store, I like your dress this morning. You created 600 seeds for hugs.

Okay? That's pretty awesome. Okay?

Same with negative things, okay? Yell at your kids for, you know, I told you a thousand times to make a bed. You also got 600 seeds to have your husband be critical of you.

Okay? It's interesting. Or your boss.

How many seeds does it take to sustain a second of reality? How many seeds have to open for me to see you? How many seeds have to open for you to see my arm come down?

It's also 65, okay? It's 65 per second. My arm doesn't come down.

You see frames. Seeds open in your mind in frames. And then you think there's motion, but there's no motion.

It's like very good video. So, I have a big argument with all my Buddhist friends. What's the frame rate for a pretty seamless video?

It's 24, I believe. I believe it's 24. Then my friends are saying, Well, why do you need 65?

And I'm like, But you got to have smell. And you got to have touch. Right?

And you got to have consciousness. These are all coming out... I guess 65 is okay.

24 would be enough for video. But you don't get tactile or... or fragrance and things like that.

Okay? So, anyway. You create 65 a second.

You use up 65 a second. But there's a problem with the math. Which is that a seed left in the mind for 24 hours doubles.

Like, I have iris bulbs in my house, in my garden. And every year I have to dig them up and split them. Break them apart, because they split underground.

They multiply. And then they kill each other, because they're eating the same nutrients, right? So, you have to dig them up and...

And in the mind, karmic seeds double every 24 hours. Okay? You give someone a pen.

You create the seeds for, say, 10 pens coming back. But if they don't come back in 24 hours, 20 will come back in 48 hours. Okay?

Or if you yell at the kids for 5 minutes, and you're supposed to get 20 minutes of yelling at your husband, and the seed doesn't ripen for 48 hours, it's gonna be 40 minutes. Okay, got it? It doubles.

So, the seeds you're making should be a lot more than the seeds you're using up. You got it? Alright?

If I'm making 65 seeds a second, and they double every day, inside my mind, and I only use up 65 a second, then there's gotta... By the time I get old and leave this body, right? By the time I leave this motor coil, I got a hell of a lot of extra seeds.

I got millions of extra seeds. They cannot be destroyed. Seeds cannot be destroyed.

Okay? That's a principle. Energy cannot be lost.

You cannot destroy a seed. You can... What do you call it?

What do you call it when you have a bomb, but you do something to it, and then it's not gonna blow up? You can defuse a seed. But you can't destroy a seed.

Okay? So, basically, as you reach the end of your life, you have millions upon millions of extra seeds, from that life, that have to open. This body dies, but there are millions of seeds which must open.

And they... They create a new mind. They create a mind.

Those seeds open and create a mind. And then that mind sees things. It's very interesting.

The extra seeds create a mind, and that mind sees things. And that's another world. You see another world.

Okay? And you have millions of seeds to sustain another world. Okay?

The body dies, the mind doesn't stop. And you see another world. So, the fourth way in which karma opens, is that you see...

you will see another world. If you've been, I don't know, friendly at the grocery store a lot, then you will see a world where people are all extremely happy and in harmony, great harmony, like that. It's very interesting.

Okay? And that will be sustained for a lifetime or more. Okay?

It's very interesting. So, that's the fourth way that the seeds open. Alright?

So, now you know how seeds open. And you can use it. You can use it for stuff.

I mean, people hear this stuff, and they go home and they forget it, but... But, pick a problem that you have, like your credit cards or something. Or pick a goal that you have, you know, like...

Like, I want to make a good movie. A Hollywood movie, right? Pick a goal that you want.

And then plant the seeds. And make cool stuff happen. I get excited about it.

It really irritates me. People sit in a class and they go home and they... I see these papers, they collect dust.

They're huge piles in people's homes. I had a complaint at Diamond Mountain. Somebody said, Geshe-la, I only have one tent.

And I'm like, Well, what's the problem? And they say, Yeah, but your notebooks take up the whole tent. You know?

And I'm like, Yeah, but did you do anything with those notebooks? Yeah, they keep the javelinas out. You know?

I mean, it drives me crazy, you know? If you have some dream, then go for it. You know, like, plant it.

And then make some Hollywood producer fly in. You know? And make a movie, you know?

Do something cool, you know? Like that. It's really...

If you understand how they open, the four ways, you can make stuff happen. And then... Cool stuff.

Okay? All right. I think we got...

Unfortunately for you, we have twelve minutes. Okay. Let's go to verse number ninety.

I'm just gonna read it to you, cause it's beautiful. na-dan-sen-mi-do-pa-di-ri-gya-po-ri-ram-da yo-gul-me-pa-do-pa-yin I am part of the inner circle. Who's I?

Who's I? Ignorance. The devil.

Okay? The one who thinks her husband will never give her a hug. That it's impossible to change him.

He comes from himself and not from me. If he comes from himself, you're in trouble. You can't change him.

Okay? You might as well get rid of him. Okay.

I am part of the inner circle. You are the fleeting of a moment. The partnership between me and this mind is like Mount Meru, king of mountains.

I stay steadfast. I stay unmoving. When my husband doesn't give me affection, I demand it.

Or, I stay in bitter silence. Right? No, I mean, ignorance.

The devil believes in these choices. Choices, you know. Should I just shut up and give him the cold shoulder?

Or should I try to convince him? You know what it's like to get a hug? Did you convince someone to give you?

You know? You know what I mean? What is it worth?

You know what I mean? So, I mean, the mind in ignorance tries to make things happen. I will confront him and force him to understand that I need a hug.

Or I will just not serve him dinner for three days. I will stay silent. These are the devil.

These are the devil thinking. This is devil thinking. And it's endemic.

What do you call that? It's a... like an illness that you've always had.

It's part of the mind. And you've always had it. And it's there all the time.

It's in the mind steadfast. Mount Meru is the Tibetan word for Mount Everest. You know, you can't move Mount Everest.

And this way of looking at your life, the way to get a hug out of your husband, is to demand or to be silent. You know? This way of thinking is immobile in the mind.

It cannot be shaken. It's been there forever. And it will run your life forever.

And you will try to demand hugs. Or you will give the silent treatment to get a hug. You see what I mean?

You will have these choices in your mind. ,GYUR NI DGE PHYI LO DANG DRAG, ,SNGA NI RGYA TSU CHEN PO'I DRAG, ,DGE PHYI MED PAR DOD PA YIN, ,GYUR NI MI LAM YOD TZANG YIN, ,SNGA NI RGYA TSU RGYUN DANG DRAG, You...who's you? The angel.

I will get a hug from my husband if I... be more friendly to people at the supermarket. Try it.

Plant it, purposely. See what happens. You come into the mind like a flash of lightning.

To think you can get hugs by being friendly to strangers. To have that thought is not going to stay in your mind. It's going to go, ZHIT!

And then, WHOOP! And then, you'll be back to demanding hugs or giving the cold treatment. You see what I mean?

To understand where hugs come from is very fleeting, like lightning. Understanding can only stay in the mind while you're sitting in the new vision center and Geshe-la is yelling at you. And then you get home and you're like, how come he doesn't hug me?

You know? He's talking about hugs tonight. Like the understanding comes in your mind and disappears in a second.

It's hard to maintain it. It's hard to sustain it. Why?

That's also a seed. And it burns out fast. The karma, to understand karma, is the hardest karma there is.

Okay? And it's like a greased pig. Alright?

Alright. Here, but for, I though am the great salt sea. Who's the devil?

What's the devil say? Demand a hug or give him the cold shoulder. Okay?

I'm like the great salt sea. It means like, look, the ocean has been on this planet forever. It doesn't like dry up, does it?

Like my way of thinking stays in your mind forever. Okay? He continues on the next verse.

You are here for the length of time it takes to blink an eye. I am the enduring love of a mother for her child. You are the distant cousin who arrives for an occasional visit.

Meaning understanding. Okay? Even if you sneak in the mind, the mind will eject you within a few hours.

Trust me. Okay? You'll be back to demanding hugs by tomorrow.

Okay? You'll forget this whole idea of giving what you want. Okay?

The mind can't hold it. The mind can't sustain it. Okay?

Okay. There's probably some homework question about that. Let me see.

You can only finish four of your questions. Okay? Who's in charge of the TAs and stuff?

Is that Nicole or who? So, after... Can you come up and explain it?

But I'll... Let me finish four and then we'll... That'll be it for tonight.

This says... Question four says, How often are we wrapped in illusion? What do you think?

How often does it happen that you fall for the illusion? What's the illusion? Your husband decided not to give you a hug.

The reason you don't get hugs is that your husband decided not to give you hugs. That's an illusion. Okay?

Why? Illusion means the reality doesn't match the appearance. Okay?

What's the appearance? He decided not to give me hugs at some point in the fourth year of our marriage. You know?

What's the reality? Your seats for hugs wore out from the first four years of hugs. Your debit card for hugs got used up every time you got a hug.

And you didn't refill it. Okay? I'm not kidding.

Okay? That's why relationships die and get boring, if they don't die, which is worse than dying. Okay?

Alright? No, I'm not kidding. Okay?

Got it? You had the seats when you met him. And then, every time he gave you a hug, you used up like, what?

If it was a two minute hug, you probably used up like 3,400 seats. Right? And then you lose.

The seats wore out. And you didn't make new seats, because you didn't know how. And then he lost interest in hugging you.

But he didn't lose interest in hugging you. Your seats ran out. Whose fault was it?

It's your own fault. Okay? Which means you can't get angry at anybody anymore.

But that will wear off by tonight. Okay. Alright.

Do you want to come up and tell us how to do our homework tomorrow? At least the first four questions. There are six questions.

You can only do four of them. Wear and win. You got the new schedule?

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah. Okay. The new schedule.

Okay, so, everybody heard what the new schedule is. After the yoga class, there's a break. Then from 2.30 to 3.15 is Jeff Eddy's talk about the prison project. Please come. It's wonderful work. We've been to the prison a bunch of times, and it's it's really, really rewarding work.

And it's great to hear Kiesler runs that program, so it'd be really nice to hear that. Then the Umachitin is 3.30 to 5? Jiggy?

3.30 to 5. And then the study groups will be from 5 to 6.30. We'll leave here directly and go over to Paradise Cafe. If you turn to page 9, there's map and locations from the New Vision Center to Paradise Cafe at 7000 East Mayo Boulevard.

We'll meet there. You can get a nice salad and a drink. They have fresh orange juice.

And Jim Day will be assisting me with the Can you stand up? He's from He teaches in San Diego. He founded ACI San Diego.

And he's a lovely teacher, and so we're going to be running the study groups. Please come. Do the homework.

It's really fun. We can debate and just share some time together. Meet new people.

Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
The schedule. So the schedule for tomorrow Rob, here's your pen. Sorry?

You will get the homeworks as you leave the door. Right?

[Говорящий 2]
No, we're going to hand them out as people are going out.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah. As people go out, they will get their homework, if you want one. I suggest you do the homework because then you can help other people more.

And that's the best reason to do it. Okay? All right.

So tomorrow at 9.30 we'll have a meditation session here. I will lead you through the four meditations from this text, which are awesome. And it's something you can continue to do every day.

Okay? They take about 15 minutes. Whole.

All four. Together. Okay?

So, we did the first one tonight, but Geshe Michael talked too much and we couldn't do the rest. Okay. And then at 11.30 we'll have a nice yoga class. I believe Anatoly is teaching. He's our yoga star. And he's going to teach a very beautiful class that he taught us in Prescott, which was granted to him by a yogi who was 110 or something?

119. So I guess it works. And then at 2.30, 3.15, we'll have the come to the prison project thing. You can join us in the prisons and work in the prisons. It's very, very, very beautiful. They are very sincere.

They are a captive audience. And they meditate very well. They're actually quite happy.

Usually it's some guy who got in trouble when he was 16 and now he's 40. And he's quiet and he's polite and he's sweet. And they're just dying to know how to meditate or do yoga and stuff like that.

So we now... I think we're in three or four prisons now and it's very successful. And when you come out of the prison, you feel like a million dollars.

You feel like you're the best person in the world. And they just love it. And they're dying for someone to help them.

So come and start and learn how to help with that. It's very sweet. And it's right around here.

You just take a drive. We all go in together. Last time we went, I don't know, 60 prisoners came.

We gave vows. And I don't know, seven or eight of us went together and it was really nice. Four...

No. 3.30 we'll do the impossible emptiness text which will give you a headache. And then 5.00 we'll do the study groups. Okay? All right then. We usually give away the good karma.

Talk to me. You ready? Good night.

Thank you.