Дебаты дьявола с ангелом, часть 11: Стрельба по мишени с завязанными глазами (2017, Аризона), занятие 3

[Speaker 1]
Okay, hi. So, about seven years ago I started a text, to teach a text to the local students in Arizona, and then I got very busy the last few years and I didn't teach it for a while, and I started again in Sedona, because we had two extra days, and it was so much fun, and it's relate to the lion's dance, that I thought, I get to have two classes during the Lamrim, when I'm supposed to do something more fun, and something special. So, I decided to do this book with you guys, okay? So, we'll do it tonight, and we'll do it next week sometime.

This is called a DANG ZIN ZHANG DEP, say DANG ZIN. ZHANG DEP. DANG ZIN ZHANG DEP means debate, a fight between an angel and a devil, okay?

In one person's mind, inside of one person's mind, and it's a poem, and it's very long. In seven years I finished 11%, so I will be 125 when we finish. So, and this is written by the first Panchen Lama, okay?

So, he was a very very unusual Lama, a very very great poet, and a very very great philosopher, and a great man. I like to tell this story, he did a lot of long retreat in a cave, and one day there was ... two armies are going to attack each other outside of his cave, in the valley, like over here or something, and he was meditating, and his ...

he also has a Venerable Jigme, his Venerable Jigme knock on the door of the cave, you know, and he said, I told you I'm doing retreat, and his Venerable Jigme said, excuse me but there's going to be a war here this afternoon, maybe we want to leave, you know. Then he said, war? Who's coming together, two Tibetan armies are fighting each other.

He said, they're gonna upset my retreat. Then he said, don't worry I'll take care of it. So, he went down, he broke his retreat, he went down in the valley, one army is coming this way, one army is coming this way, then he stood between them.

He said, you guys want to fight, you have to kill me first. And he's very, very famous Lama at that time, he said, you have to kill me first, you know, you can kill me first. Who's going to kill?

Who's going to shoot the first arrow, you know? I will stand here, you know. Then everyone's afraid to shoot, you know.

Then he said, let the two generals come to talk to me privately. Then the two armies are waiting, and the generals...this will make a good movie I think. Two generals come, he said, look, you guys fight today, one of you is going to lose, and many people will die, and I have suggestion.

Then they said what? He said, I'm a big Lama, I'm very rich, I have a lot of gold, I will give half to each general, and you go home, don't fight. They're like, good idea.

So, he gave each general gold, and they cancelled the war. And people ask me, should Buddhist people be involved in politics or, you know. If you involve like that, I think it's good, you know.

So, he doesn't want them to kill each other, and he stopped them, okay? So, he wrote this poem, a very famous poem, and my teacher taught us about half of it, then he couldn't finish. And so, I'm going to start at a special place, I'm going to ...the English will be here okay? I translated the first half or something. And in this part, inside one man's mind, there's a devil talking, and an angel talking okay? The angel is wisdom okay?

Angel is understanding emptiness okay? And the devil thinks that the husband who yell at you come from him, not from you okay? The devil supports the wrong idea, pen comes from pen, not from me okay?

Not from my seeds okay? Like that. So, they are fighting, there's a war inside of one person's mind okay?

There's a famous Christian book by C.S. Lewis, who wrote Narnia Tales, it's called Screwtape Letters, and it's very beautiful, if you have time to read it. It's very short, very famous English book, and that one young man start to get interested in spiritual life, then the devil want to change his mind. So, the devil sent his nephew to the earth to try to change this young man's mind, and so the letter, the whole book is letters written by the devil to his nephew about how to ruin a young man's life you know, how to make the young man unhappy, and it's a beautiful beautiful book you know, and I heard an interview with the author, and he said it was very difficult to write this book, because I have to think like a devil you know, whole book I have to think what will the devil say you know, and this is the same, this poem is very similar okay? So, because we are talking about Lion's Dance, and because the Lion's Dance has nine parts which you learned so far, if you're good I will teach you some more okay? I will check after retreat.

There's five parts to that Lion's Dance taught by Buddha in the Kshatras, Sahasrika, Prajna, Paramita, Borobudinamita Sutra, Jin, he taught this Lion's Dance nine-part meditation. First eight parts of the meditation are wrong meditations, they are only, they are like breathing meditation, just to exercise your mind, make your mind strong, but there's no content which will help you. It's just interesting, it's deep, it feels good, it's exciting, and you're not supposed to stop, you're supposed to use them to go to the meditation number nine okay?

Now, the first Panchen Lama's book is very interesting, because in this first quarter of the book, the devil starts to make a list of meditations he likes, he likes them. He says, I like it when people use these meditations, why? I feel very comfortable in their mind okay?

It means they are like, for example, first one is trying to think about nothing okay? Now, there's a principle of this book that you have to understand okay? There's a principle.

Like, if you come home and your husband says something hard to you, some... says bad word to you okay? If you come home, you're tired, you want a hug, and instead the husband says something bad to you, like you're stupid okay?

There's two ways you can look at that husband okay? Number one, the normal way, you know, he had a bad day, he's unhappy, you know, he's hungry, I didn't fix dinner yet, you know, he's feeling bad today, and he called me bad word okay? Then that state of mind thinks husband comes from the husband, and that state of mind thinks the husband decided to call me stupid okay?

That... that's one state of mind okay? Then there's another state of mind okay?

When the husband says you are stupid, then this is an educated Buddhist state of mind, educated Buddhist, correct educated Buddhist. Then they look at the silver eggs in their mind, and they say oh... I remember last week, I called my kids stupid okay?

I remember I did that, and I heard myself call my kids stupid, and that sound made an impression on my mind, and that impression became a... sanskara in Sanskrit, fresh seed, and then that became a vasana, which means ripe seed, and then it... and then when I came home this evening, it...

it opened, and husband picture came from here, and the husband is yelling at me, you're stupid okay? So, I always like to ask people, how can you prove that your husband is correct? Yeah, you call him stupid back okay?

Then your husband was correct, okay? If you want to prove you're stupid, then call him stupid. I'm not stupid, you're stupid okay?

Then you make a new seed, next week the kids are bad, coming from you, you get angry at them, you call them stupid, you plant another seed, you come home after five days, husband call you stupid, you call husband stupid, that's called what in Sanskrit? Sansara, sansara, circle, circle, you're stupid, no you're stupid, no you're stupid, no you're stupid, no you're stupid, no... how many lifetimes do you have to do that before you stop, before you figure it out okay?

What's the correct thing to do? Husband says you're stupid, you should say, you're...

[Speaker 2]
okay I'm stupid, yeah, okay, okay?

[Speaker 1]
Now, the state of mind which thinks the husband decided to call you stupid, and the state of mind that understands the husband is coming from your seeds, they are completely incompatible, in one mind, they cannot stay in one mind at the same time okay? They're like... in the cowboy, there's a...

the cowboy say, there's no room in this town for both of us, you have to leave or I will kill you. Then another one say, no you have to leave or I will kill you. Then it means inside this place here, those two ideas cannot stay, someone has to go, someone has to go.

So, this is a very funny book, the first Panchen Lama calls this your apartment, this is your apartment, and only one person can stay in the apartment, devil or angel okay? Why? Angel understand the husband comes from their own seed, the devil thinks the opposite, they cannot control the mind at the same time, one of them has to go okay?

Understand? Impossible to have both in the same mind at the same time okay? Can they go like this?

Yeah, husband call you stupid one time, you're like, oh wait, that's the Geshe Michael talk about, okay, then they say, you are really stupid, then you're like... I heard a big Lama, he talk like this, you know, he said, first time someone call you stupid, you should smile, okay, second time they call you stupid, you should be like, yeah alright, okay, third time they call you stupid, you can say, kya pa so? Okay, then there are 5,000 people listening, there are American people listening to this Lama, I start laughing, only one person in 5,000, ha ha ha, my friend said, why are you laughing?

I said, you know what he just said? What? Kya pa so means, eat shit.

Don't learn the word okay? Then the translator was like this, you should tell them you don't like it. Then I'm like, you know, okay, so anyway, it's possible these two, it's possible the angel stays for the first time, the angel stays the second time, then finally the angel get tired, and the devil come and say, no, kya pa so?

Okay, alright, so, but they cannot stay in the same mind at the same time. Now, the whole idea of his book, the whole idea, and you have to understand, is if you meditate, if you meditate, the goal, the only goal of meditation, is to create some situation where the devil has to leave, has to leave, no choice, okay? Some kind of understanding has to be, you know, level 9 in the lion's dance meditation, okay?

I ask you, first 8 levels of the lion's dance meditation, can the devil stay in the apartment or not? Yeah, why? Oh, look at your breath, devil's like, hey, you can look at your breath your whole life, you just stay here, come on, let's do this meditation, that's a good meditation, yeah, okay, no problem, you know.

Oh, you want to listen to the air conditioner? Oh yeah, come on, you're my friend, you can stay in my apartment, you know, you can stay in this apartment. Oh, you want to pretend there's no thought in your mind, everything turn off your mind, oh, that's comfortable for me, you can do that meditation for 10 years, you can sit with me, don't think about anything, we are friends, you can live with me, no problem, okay?

But if you reach number 9 meditation right, if you start meditating that your husband come from you, and there's no husband who didn't come from you, which is called what? Kongxin, okay? Now that one, the devil starts to get uncomfortable, you know, no, don't do that, don't meditate on that, why?

Then I will have to leave, you know, I cannot stay here, okay? That idea, I cannot live with that idea in the same mind, don't do that, it's like someone make a big fart in a small room, you know, then you're like, I have to go, understand? Okay, so the principle, the principle of this book is to study many kinds of meditation, and then decide one thing, what's that?

Will the devil have to leave the mind if you do this meditation? That's all, that's all, that's the goal of the whole book, okay? He examines 25 systems of meditation, he examines 25 systems of meditation, one by one, and then he checks them, he describes them correctly, and then he says, do you think the devil can stay in a person's mind if they are doing this meditation?

Okay? And then, so, 25 of them are wrong, one of them is correct, okay? Why, why are the 25 wrong?

Now you tell me, why are they not meditation? Because the devil can stay in the mind if you do them, it's comfortable for him, okay? You watch your breath for 10 years, vipassana, watch your breath, the devil's like, very comfortable there, that's no problem, that's not threatening to the devil, okay got it?

Got it? So, he's gonna describe 25 meditations that don't bother the devil, okay? Then he's gonna describe one which does bother the devil, because then the devil has to move out, okay?

Got it? As long as the devil is in your mind, you will be unhappy, and you will suffer, and you will do bad things to people, and you will die quietly, okay? No hope for you, you can never become a Buddha, okay?

As long as the devil is there, it's impossible to become Buddha, you will suffer for years and years, okay? So, we want to find a meditation which makes the devil uncomfortable, okay got it? That's the whole purpose of this poem, okay?

So, I did some of them already in Sedona, but I'm gonna do the first 10 quickly, just so you know. Now remember, and it's, there are 26 meditations here, one of them makes the devil leave the apartment, okay? Only one of them, it's the same as what we did today, meditation number nine, okay?

Now, I'm gonna describe the meditation, I will scroll through the Tibetan and the English, you can look at, I will send you the whole text if you're interested, okay? You can have for free, it doesn't matter. And I put the Tibetan, you can check it, is Geshe Michael crazy?

I always put the Tibetan, everything I do I put the Tibetan, so you can check, okay? Okay, so now, here starts the 26, okay? Here starts the 26, and the devil's talking.

Yeah, I can do that, is that better? He says, yeah some people being there, I'm a big meditator, I have a special meditation, and they say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw you out of this mind, okay? People threaten me, who's me?

Devil, okay? People threaten me, I'm gonna kick you out of my mind, yeah? How are you gonna do that?

I have a meditation, I'm a meditation master, okay? Tell me, what's the meditation? Okay, here's the first one, okay?

Stay in the present moment, stay in the present moment, okay? We use it in DCI, we use it in DCI, it's not a goal, but we use it. Like the eight non-meditations, okay?

So, I'm not asking you, does it, does it cause you later to see emptiness? I'm not saying that, I'm saying now does it cause you, okay? Ready?

Those eight help you to see emptiness, but they are not meditation, they are not meditation. Drinking green drink also helps you to see emptiness, but it's not meditation. Even going to a Ritz yoga class can help you to see emptiness, but it's not meditation, okay?

Got it? So, my question is not, you know, does it sharpen your mind? Green drink also sharpen your mind, okay?

My question is, if you do this meditation, does the devil have to leave your mind? Is it incompatible with the devil? Okay, and this one is, don't think about the past, don't think about the future, don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow, don't worry about what your ex-husband said to you, okay?

Live in the moment, focus now. Does that meditation, is it incompatible with the devil to stay in your mind? No.

Okay, got it? You see where we're going? Now I'm going to ask you 25 more times, that's only the first one.

It's called present moment meditation, okay? Stay in the present moment, no hopes, no regrets, don't worry what happened in the past, don't make plans for tomorrow. In English there's a famous book, be here now, be here now, but it doesn't hurt the devil who creates all your suffering, and you're gonna die if you be here now.

You will be here now, be here now, be here now, be here now, bleh! I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding, okay? It doesn't hurt samsara, it doesn't stop your suffering, okay?

It doesn't stop your death, okay? That's what we want, okay? We want to help the whole world, not to have this kind of body, okay?

Just being in the present moment, it's a nice practice, it's useful for mental exercise, but it's not the Olympics, okay? There's no Olympics in... you guys okay?

There's no Olympics in stretching, okay? They don't have stretching Olympics. Stretching is not the goal, run the race is the goal.

Is it useful to be in the present moment? Yes! You can focus, you can do better business, you can pay attention to your kids more carefully, okay?

It's nice, it's good, it's not gonna save your life, okay? Got it? And we don't know how long we have to live, we don't have time to do lower meditations, we don't have time.

If you guarantee me 50 years, okay I'll do one year of lower meditation, okay? But if you say, Geshe-la might fall on a stone tonight and die in his cottage, and tomorrow you have to go there and... you know, it's possible right?

So, we don't we don't know when we're gonna die, we don't have time for lesser meditations okay? We don't have time, we don't know how long we have, okay? Alright, if you know then okay, first week you can spend on this meditation.

Okay, next one. By the way, in the end, they not only don't hurt the devil, they are meditating on the devil. Why?

They are meditating on the mind, okay? The mind's not the devil, the mind holds the devil, but the mind's the apartment, come on, what's the problem with that? Every moment you spend in meditation without challenging the devil, you are getting in a habit of not challenging the devil, okay?

It's dangerous, okay? You are getting used to living with the devil in your mind, okay? And that's dangerous because every karma is a habit.

We learned that already, okay? Alright, next one. The way present moment meditator sees things, and the way I see things, who's I?

Devil. They're okay, they can live together, no contradiction. You can think about present moment and be angry at your husband, okay?

No problem. I'm in the present moment, I'm right here now. My husband called me stupid, I call him stupid.

I didn't think about yesterday, I didn't think about tomorrow, he's stupid right now, okay? It doesn't hurt the devil, okay? How can they do any damage to me?

In fact, he says, I don't remember I ever met you in those people's mind. Never, ever, once. Who's you?

Who's you? The angel. He says, not only this meditation doesn't hurt me, I ...

all the people whose mind I live in, who are doing present moment meditation, I never saw you there one time, you didn't even visit. Got it? They didn't think once about where did my husband come from really.

You see, they just feel angry in the present moment, okay? Got it? You didn't even visit this apartment.

Okay, got it? Veronica told me, don't say just not, wait, wait until everyone understands. Understand?

Okay, angel came occasionally, if you do at least little bit correct meditation. What's correct mean? Is present moment meditation in the DCI manual?

It is, okay? Is it correct? It's not a meditation, okay?

It's not a meditation, okay? It's a focus, it helps you focus your mind, it's not a meditation. Meditation should make the devil uncomfortable, okay?

We call it meditation, it's not real meditation, okay? So, when I say a meditation is wrong or bad, what I mean is, what the word I like to use is ineffective, ineffective. It doesn't give you the result you need, okay?

I like to compare this meditation and the other 24 to a company which sells fire extinguishers to people that they know don't work, okay? And that's some kind of very ... what do you call it?

Cynical and cruel and greedy, you know? There's a company in India, I told this story, I took an aspirin in India one time, I got very sick, and I asked my Indian friend you know, I said I got very sick, I took an aspirin, they said what kind of aspirin? I said you know, like Rajesh aspirin, they said oh, never take that aspirin!

I said why? I said, this company found out rat poison is cheaper than aspirin, and they put rat poison in the aspirin, because it's cheaper, okay? You take it because you're sick and then they kill you, you see what I mean?

And to be honest, if a meditation doesn't hurt the devil, it's like a fire extinguisher that doesn't work, and the company knows it, okay? And then you get a fire in your kitchen and you pull it off the wall and you push it and ... nothing happens, okay?

What's the fire? Your death, okay? It's okay to do silly meditations when you're young, when you get older it becomes more serious, okay?

I don't have time for silly meditations, I need something that can put the fire out, okay? Maybe I'm gonna be a dog next life, or I go to hell, I need a fire, I need a real fire extinguisher, okay got it? Okay, all right.

Here's number two, ineffective meditation number two. Others try to stop the mind from thinking about anything, their meditation is to be careful not to think of anything at all. Do you recognize this one?

Which one? Third formless realm meditation, qi yang me, say qi yang me, yeah, think about nothing, remove all thoughts from your mind, go into the void, okay? There's the silence of an empty mind, okay?

And does it hurt the devil? Does it hurt the devil? No, no effect on the devil, okay?

You come in the devil's apartment here, devil's been living here how long? Since forever, okay? We're trying to evict him, he didn't pay rent all that time, okay?

Millions of years he didn't pay rent, our job is to kick him out you know, it's time to leave you know. Then, if you think about nothing, does it threaten the devil? No, he doesn't care, he's like, come on, sit here next to me, do that meditation, I love it, why?

Because I will get stronger every hour you spend in it, I will get stronger you know, come sit next to me, meditate about nothing, empty your mind, see the void, you know, nothing, okay got it? The devil's very comfortable with that man. I also can't remember that I ever saw you in that person's mind, ever.

Who's you? Angel, what's the angel stand for? Wisdom, what's wisdom when your husband yells at you?

He's coming from me, that's all, he's coming from me, okay? If you really understand emptiness, it's impossible for another human being to make you angry, cannot, okay? The more angry they get, the more you're like, seeds, seeds, seeds, seeds, seeds, seeds, seeds, my seed, my seed, oh, ten of my seeds, okay?

You blame yourself, it's my fault, okay? Then no fight, no anger, okay? The devil has to move out, okay?

That's wisdom, that's the angel, okay? Okay, you're right, this is not the angel, okay? Here's number three, ineffective meditation number three.

This is a famous mistaken meditation in ancient times, it's called Shentong, say Shentong, and this is a wrong idea about emptiness, okay? Is Geshe Michael this flower? I'm not, okay?

First of all, I don't smell so good, okay? So, is that flower part of me, of my body, this body? No, it's over there, okay?

Now, this people who don't understand emptiness, they say look, Geshe Michael's body is empty of the flower. It's true, okay? The flower is not in my body, you cut my body open, you won't find the flower, okay?

Is it true Geshe Michael's body is empty of that flower? Yes, there's many kinds of emptiness, okay? Will that help you the next time your husband yells at you?

Your husband yells at you, you are stupid, you say, I'm not a flower. It's true, okay? It's true, you are empty of flower, but it doesn't help you, okay?

Okay, it doesn't help you. So, that's number three, stupid, I say ineffective meditation, okay? Ineffective meditation.

This is, particular one, is that the mind is empty of being a physical thing, that flower is not Geshe-la's mind, okay? Is my mind empty of that flower? Yeah, that's a physical, my mind is mental, it's not in my mind, okay?

But that's not the true nature of my mind. Now, trick question, trick question, is it an emptiness of my mind? The flower.

It is, my mind is empty of flower, but it's not real emptiness, okay? Got it? Got it?

My stomach's empty right now, it's not gonna take me to Nirvana, okay? Got it? There's many empty, right?

My bank account's empty, it didn't take me to Nirvana, not yet, okay? People who meditate like that, and by the way, the school was called Jonnangpa, the school was called Jonnangpa, it was about 600 years ago, and it's gone. There's still a few people trying to do it, but it's, it's a, it's a bad idea, it just doesn't help anything, okay?

Then he says, those people were nowhere near you, who's you? Angel, yeah. Okay, got it?

That one's easy. Okay, here's another one. This is good to know these 25 meditations which are fire extinguishers that don't work, because you will hear these in yoga studios, in meditation schools, somewhere, almost every meditation you ever heard in a yoga class is in these 25, so it's good to get familiar with them, because your next yoga class, there might be a different one of the 25, okay?

Then at least you, you know the principle, okay? What makes a meditation ineffective? Not useful.

What makes a meditation not useful? It doesn't hurt the devil, okay? What's the devil?

Wrong view, come on, tell me your husband, husband. Yeah, the husband is not my fault, you ready? Here's the ultimate expression of ignorance, ready?

Take a deep breath. I didn't do anything, he just yelled at me, I just opened the door, I didn't say anything, he started yelling at me, I didn't do anything. Okay, that's, that's a devil talk, perfect devil talk, I didn't do anything, he started yelling at me.

Okay, you always did something, okay? There's no such thing as, I didn't do anything. Okay, got it?

[Speaker 2]
Alright.

[Speaker 1]
Now, this is called sem jenpa, it's an old bad idea, it's called, look at the naked mind, okay? Focus on the naked mind, okay? Buddhism says the mind has 52 or 51 mental functions, attention, memory, concentration, wisdom, ignorance.

There are 51, 52, some people say 46, different Buddhist psychology system. Strip out all of those, take away memory, take away intellect, take away jealousy, take away wisdom, what's left is raw awareness, okay? In Tibetan it's called naked awareness, jenpa, okay?

So, there's a kind of meditation where you dig, dig, dig into the mind, and you take out, it's like you are a brain surgeon, and you cut open the brain, and you take out memory, take out attention, take out intellect, take out anger, take out compassion, and what's left is the raw mind knowing, the knower, okay? And then some people think that's meditation. Find the knower, go down deep into the mind, to the center of the mind, find the one who knows, the naked mind, sem jenpa, and then this is meditation, okay?

Will it hurt the devil? Not at all, okay? That's our test of a meditation, okay?

A meditation should directly, or indirectly, but rather directly, hurt the devil, okay? And this one doesn't, okay? He's like, you want to come sit in my apartment and look at your naked mind?

Welcome, come on, okay? You can sit here your whole life, waste your life on that meditation, and then I achieve my goal, which is your suffering, okay? Got it?

Alright. I never saw you in those people's mind, and it didn't hurt me at all, okay? Who's talking?

The devil's talking, okay. Now this is called Unstoppable Mind, which is, in Tibetan it's called sangthel, okay, sangthel, and this is where you let the mind ramble, okay? The mind is going blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...

What are we doing for dinner? What time we going to stop this class? Because, you might go, are we going to have a break?

Do we get refreshments? And you just get out of the mind's way, okay? Let the mind do its thing, let him...

it's almost like... I'll kiss you but your husband's there. Okay Nick, you can trust me.

Yeah, it's almost like number eight, okay? I choose to let the mind do whatever the mind wants you know, I will be passive, I will observe, I will make no attempt to get into the runaway car called my mind. I won't get in the way of this vehicle that has no driver, okay?

I would just stay out of the way and let the mind do any crazy thing it wants, okay? And they think this will bring greater peace to the mind, okay? Just stay out of the way, don't interfere.

Your mind wants to be jealous, just step to the side, let the mind be jealous okay? Your mind is worrying about stupid things just because you're tired. What's that thing they taught us in NBC?

Tired, angry, hungry... what was the other one? Hungry, angry, lonely, tired.

And there's a system of psychology that says, don't trust your mind under these four situations. When you're hungry, when you're angry, when you're lonely, when you're tired, don't trust what your mind is saying okay? And it's not a bad instruction.

Does it hurt the devil? Maybe a little irritating. Okay, okay, all right?

And again, I've never met you in those, in the minds of those people who say, just get out of the way, let the mind do its thing, okay? Sangtao. All right, okay, next useless meditation.

Trying to meet the mind face-to-face with no training okay? No education. So, this is an idea that you don't have to learn meditation, you just follow your natural instincts okay?

And you are just complicating things, if you go to a Lama and you learn meditation, and you learn techniques of meditation, you are just making it too complicated okay? Just relax, you know, be here now, you don't need to study meditation. That's like studying how to poo-poo or something.

Everybody knows how to poo-poo you know, you don't have to go to school and get a class on how to poo-poo okay? Really, they think that about meditation. You should let natural happen and you don't need to learn meditation okay?

Every meditation is useful, be nice, don't complain about other people's meditation, everything's good, okay? Like that, all right? You don't need to study.

Okay, next one. Now, there was a school in Tibet that said, if you understand that the devil is not there, that's meditation. Is the devil in a human mind in samsara?

Of course they are, yeah, but Nagarjuna said nothing exists and nothing doesn't exist. Yeah, who said that? I'll kiss you but you're a nun.

Okay, but I'll hug you. Yeah, we have to say, is it ... does the devil exist?

Yes. Can we say the devil is not there? Yes, in the same way that the second husband is not there.

The husband who's not coming from your seeds, was never in your house, never came to your house. The husband who's not coming from your seeds, was never in your house okay? The devil, seeing things wrong way, that didn't come from your seeds, was never in the apartment here.

Okay, got it? But it doesn't mean the devil's not there and you don't have to do anything okay? That's a ...

that's a mistake okay? It's a wrong understanding of what the Buddha said, nothing exists. He means, nothing exists that doesn't come from your seeds okay?

So that ... that's obviously a hopeless meditation. I don't have to meditate to fight the devil, because the devil never existed anyway, because Buddha said that.

It's a misunderstanding of what Buddha meant, even ... even your wrong understanding is coming from your seeds, you planted it okay? You planted it.

Alright, how many we got bad meditation? That was number seven. I don't know how many we're gonna do, let's see ...

this one is ... it's a long story, but I'll make it simple for you. People who discuss emptiness without using it at home with their husband okay?

People who ... like universities okay, and they discuss Nagarjuna, and they discuss Chandrakirti, and they discuss Middle Way, and then they go home and have a fight with their wife okay? They don't think they should use it okay?

So it's called ... it's kind of like academic discussions of emptiness that you don't use with your family, or you don't use with your job you know okay? Got it?

You understand the theory, but you don't use it at home, and you don't use it in your business, and you don't use it with your health and ... okay? So that kind of meditation, just academic study about emptiness, it's not going to hurt the devil okay?

There are many academic Buddhists who understand the Sanskrit and the Tibetan, and they're very unhappy okay? And they don't know how to use it okay? Alright ...

then this is not a meditation, but he gives a ... he just gets a poetic ... sometimes people are meditating on nothing more than me, sometimes they are meditating on nothing more than nothing, and sometimes they are meditating on trying to think of nothing okay?

Now he mentions 26, but he doesn't tell us what it is okay? He says a person who really meditates on the seeds opening, and creating the things around them okay? And the emptiness of a Bubu Lama.

Those people, that contradicts how I look at things, they contradict me. It's uncomfortable to be with them, and in fact when they enter this apartment, I have to ... leave okay?

But ... they are as common as a star which comes out in the middle of the day okay? Got it?

Except for the sun alright? Then he ... he makes a little detour, he says ...

okay, until we come to a day when you can change the situation, don't talk to me that you're gonna kick me out of the mind. Who's talking? Devil, he said come on, this is the way it is, I've been living here forever, you're new, you ...

our body went to Diamond Mountain, they studied for a few hours, they came home, they want to invite you into the mind, but you're just new, I've been here forever okay? So don't talk about kicking me out. I'm the permanent resident of this apartment, you are Udumbara, say Udumbara.

It's a special flower in Buddhism, it opens every time a new Buddha comes to this planet. It opens once every thousand years, once every ten thousand years okay? When that flower opens, all the gods get excited, oh Buddha's coming, new ...

next Buddha's coming okay? Then devil call the angel, you are Udumbara, you show up every thousand years you know, the person go to Diamond Mountain retreat, they learn for two weeks, they come home, they meditate for a few days, then you're here for a little time, then you ... they get tired, they go back to their usual life, come on, you are like this cobalt lotus, blue lotus, you think you're gonna kick me out?

You show up here once every thousand years, and you think you're gonna kick me out? Get real okay? To make you stay in the mind, this person that we are both living in their head, is gonna have to do good karma all the time okay?

In fact, the only way you can make that much karma, is to have a Lama and serve them. Who said that? The dem, I'm safe, why?

You don't have enough karma to cause me trouble, why? You don't even have a Lama, the only way to make that much karma, is to help someone who's trying to help the whole world, you see, that's good karma, be the DCI organizer for Thailand, you know, ACI organization you know, then you make some serious karma, then maybe you can kick me out, but who does ... how many people do that?

I'm safe man, I'm safe okay? People who serve the Dharma, Michael Dunn, president, you know, running Diamond Mountain, maybe he has enough seeds to kick me out, but you other guys, you don't even want to wash the dishes, you know, I'm safe, I'm okay in your mind, got it? Okay, alright, he ...

what he means is, the karma to kick out the devil is heavy, heavy service of the Dharma, heavy, heavy service. Like Jasmine go crazy for two years to do Thailand, you know, the morning after Thailand retreat finished, she looked relaxed, then I say, how about next year? Then she's like ...

okay, I'm the resident Lord, but can we go straight, we have another 40 minutes, it's okay? You don't need PP? Okay, if you have PP you can donate to Diamond Mountain, okay, you don't have to ...

just get up and go, okay? We are having fun tonight, this is the fun class, this is the easy class. I live in this, I am the resident Lord, I am the guy who rent this apartment for a billion years, okay?

There's no other choice, the only way to get me out, is to have the opposite view of your husband, it's coming from me, that there's no other choice, okay? Yeah, anyway, everybody likes me, and as long as they like me, they will never have freedom, okay? Next one, okay, here's another meditation that people do.

Decide not to decide, nothing is good, nothing is bad, nothing is right, nothing is wrong, okay? Like that. Don't make any decision about anything, okay?

Just, don't judge people, nothing's wrong. Somebody kills somebody, that's just something. Somebody kiss somebody, okay?

Then don't decide something's bad, something's good, okay? Everything's the same, everything is empty, right? Okay?

This idea is so bad, I can't stop laughing when people talk about it. Who said that? The devil, he's like, oh, no good, no bad, everything's illusion, kill people, kiss people, all the same, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

That's great, I love that one, you know? He's really, we should make a play out of this or something, you know? He's like, oh, I love that one, you know?

I really like this one. So, there's another one that, in Buddhism there's two realities, right? Ultimate reality, what's the opposite?

We call it deceptive reality, okay? Why? It's called illusion, why?

It fools you, it tricks you, okay? It says, I'm not coming from you, I'm not coming from you, I'm not coming from you, okay? That's called deceptive reality.

Everything except kongshin, everything except emptiness, in Buddhism we call deceptive reality. Why? It fools the mind of anyone who's not a Buddha or an Arya, okay?

It fools your mind, it says I'm coming, I'm not coming from you, I'm coming from my side. All the parents talk to you like that, all the husbands talk to you like that, okay? I'm coming from my side, I'm not coming from you, okay?

Got it? So, actually the world is a lie, it's an illusion, it's always lying to us, okay? Does it lie to a Buddha?

No, okay? If a Buddha walks in the room, is it still deceptive reality? We say yes, because the definition of deceptive reality is that it fools a person who doesn't understand emptiness, okay?

That's the definition. It fools an uneducated person, okay? Don't worry about it, it's late.

So, they think that since the world is supposed to be an illusion, the mind must be an illusion, so I can meditate that my mind is an illusion, okay? And that's a good meditation. If someone were to find during their meditation that I was something that didn't exist, that would damage me, because I can't not be here and be here too, but until a person reaches a meditation where they see that I'm not what they thought I was, then the way we look at things is the same.

No problem, they can live in this mind, okay? Anyone who doesn't understand that the devil is coming from seeds in your mind, that person, they can meditate all day, it doesn't hurt me, okay? Got it?

I'll say it again, is your husband like the devil? Yes, on a bad day, yes. Your habit to see things the wrong way, your habit, old habit, who put it in your mind?

Yeah, you did. Who put the seeds there? Yeah, so that's one kind of emptiness, okay?

The devil is also coming from your seeds, okay? The wrong way of looking at things in your mind, whose fault? I didn't do anything!

Whose fault? Yeah, your fault, okay? Bad deed number ten makes bad deed number ten.

It's the only one that makes itself over and over, okay? Got it? Alright, number eleven.

I taught you four-space meditation. It's a big part of DCI. What level?

Seven, okay? So, there's a famous meditation called nam kha tabu, which means what? Like space, similar to space, okay?

And there's three ways to misunderstand it. So, in DCI we teach people to go through four ways of meditating on empty space, okay? We go through four ways, and he's covering them now.

Now, the next few wrong meditations are wrong meditations about the meaning of space in Buddhism, okay? First one is so easy, it's gonna come later, but let's cover it, okay? There's an Abhidharma school, some very low ...

during the time between the Buddha's life and Nagarjuna, is considered a bad days in Buddhism. This is when Abhidharma became the worldview, okay? This is ...

and Abhidharma was taught by Buddha, and it's a very beautiful system, but it has some important mistakes in it, which the Buddha put there, okay? And one of them is that space means the blue thing above you, that's empty space, okay? Blue.

Well, blue is a positive thing, okay? It's a wrong idea. So, those school called Vaibhashika, it became Buddhism for 600 years, after the Buddha's death.

Abhidharma, and I spent 12 years on Abhidharma, I spent 12 years on it, I know it, and it's wrong, okay? But it's useful to know, you know, it's an important tool, but it's wrong, okay? But it became popular for five, six hundred years, and it spread to other countries for five or six hundred years.

Anyway, part of the Abhidharma view is that space, during meditation, means blue sky. Open your eyes, look up, that's space, okay? Blue sky.

CHOS NAMS SAGS CES SAGS PA MED LAM MA RTOGS PA'I DU BYAS NAMS SAGS CES GANG PHYIR DE DAG LA SA RNAMS KUN DU RGYAS PAR GYUR, SA MED LAM GYI BRTEN PA'I DANG, DU MA BYAS NAMS SEMS YANG DE NGON DKA' DANG NI DGOS PA NI, DE LA NGON DKA' MA GRIB PA'O, that's the opening lines, Abhidharmakosha, and that's where they say it's the sky, okay? So, one wrong idea about space, ready? That's one.

Second one, when you go past the blue sky, what's out there? Yeah, black space, between the stars, okay? So, is it a meditation to go out at night at Diamond Mountain and lay, we used to lay down on the top of my house at Diamond Mountain and stare at the sky, watch the stars, it's very beautiful, but is that black thing emptiness?

Is it real space? No, okay? It's not, it's a color, it's a black color, okay?

It's not emptiness, it's a positive thing. Emptiness is a negative thing, okay? Okay, now, third one, and I'm just telling you the next three or four meditations, because we do it in DCI, I put them all in one meditation so you could feel the difference, okay?

The third one, do you remember? What's the third one? You are sitting, yeah nice, I'll kiss you but you're not so kissable, Stanley.

Yeah, empty space, that one is more subtle and more close to emptiness, but it's not emptiness, and it's a difficult idea, and you can only see it with your mind, you cannot see it with your eyes, okay? It's an idea, okay ready? Is this clock standing in space?

Yeah, it has a place, okay? It has a place. Now listen and try to understand, that space, that place is not like your bathtub, okay?

It's not like your bathtub where you take a bath, okay? It's not, it's not like that. When you get into your bathtub, if the water's up to the edge, you know because you did it when you were a kid, and your mom hates it, you fill up the bathtub to the very edge, then you get in and it goes and your mom says, don't do that, you're like, mom, you said to take a bath, you know, okay?

So, empty space doesn't mean, when I put the clock in the space, some of the space has to move, you know, like water in the bathtub, okay? Those of you who know DCI, you studied it, you are nodding, I love it, it means you are educated. But generally, it's difficult to understand empty space.

They had it many times, they went to many level sevens, finally they understood it. Okay, now watch, I'm gonna take the clock out of the space, now I'm gonna occupy the space. Occupied, akupado, and then not occupied.

Space is occupied, space is not occupied, okay? The space doesn't have to move when it's occupied, because if it wasn't there, you couldn't put, if something was already in that space, it would be occupied, you see? But it's not, okay?

Now, when I exit the space, okay, ready? One, two, three. Is the space still there?

Good, now, I'll occupy it. Is the space still there? It has to be there or the clock wouldn't fit, you see?

Okay, is the space unchanging? Yes, okay, it's one of the few things in the world which is unchanging, okay? I didn't say eternal, I said unchanging, okay?

It doesn't change. Occupied, not occupied, the space is the same, okay? That's good to think about, to understand emptiness.

It's not emptiness, but it's useful, okay? If you're really stupid, it's useful to look at the blue sky and think about emptiness, okay? If you're pretty stupid, then black outer space.

If you're less stupid, think about this one, it will help you, okay? But if you're intelligent, go to the fourth kind of space, nam kha tabu, akasha. What is it?

Sama, akasha sama. Real emptiness, real emptiness, okay? Real emptiness, okay?

What's that? Is there a clock which is not coming from Geshe Michael? No, okay?

That's all. Is there any clock like that here? No.

Let's go deeper, could a clock which is not coming from Geshe Michael exist? No, impossible, no such thing, okay? So, what we learned in DCI 7, emptiness is empty of something ...

not of something which could exist, it's empty of a thing which is impossible, okay? Impossible, okay? A husband who's not coming from you, a husband who call you stupid who's not coming from you, that kind of husband is impossible, we call gaccha, right?

Okay, got it? When that husband, when you see there's no husband like that in your kitchen, you are doing nam kha tabu, you are doing a special meditation called space-like, space-like. It has a Buddhist name, it's a Buddhist name, it's an emptiness meditation.

Is it space? Is it the blue sky? No.

Is it the black outer space? No. Is it the place where I put the clock?

No. Is it the husband who was never there? Yes.

Got it? Now we can study the next few wrong meditations, okay? Here we go.

Some people think about infinite space and they mix it with the mind and they meditate on that, and they think that's a space-like meditation, okay? What I can't figure out is why they think that would hurt me, okay? Space is infinite, sound familiar?

Come on, come on, give me the number, give me the number, nice, I'll kiss you but you're too far, okay? Meditation number five, okay? Nam kha tabu, that's nam kha tabu, nam kha taye, infinite space, okay?

Is it fun? Yes. Does it expand your mind?

Yes. Does it sharpen your meditation skills? Yes.

Will it keep you from dying? No. Is it incompatible with the devil?

No. Okay, good. And so I continue my delightful dance here in those people's mind, okay?

Got it? Who's dancing? Where?

In the mind which is thinking about blue sky, or black space, or where I put the car. Okay, got it? I love to dance in those mind.

They think, they got a taste, they want to eat, they're hungry for emptiness, they heard about it, they heard it was like space, they focus on empty place, and they love it, and they think, oh I'm meditating on emptiness. It's such a pleasure to continue to live in the mind of a person who thinks they're meditating on emptiness, and they're not. It's such a good joke, you know, I love it, I love to stay in this mind, these people, they are meditating on emptiness, they don't understand anything, it's so, it's especially sweet for the devil, okay?

He dance in those minds, got it? It's like super cool, okay? It's, what do you call it, I know, he likes it.

Oh, you meditate on emptiness? What's emptiness? Nothing exists?

Oh, I dance in your mind man, I love your mind, that's a great meditation, you keep doing that, okay. This is a misunderstanding in Nagarjuna, and Nagarjuna said nothing starts, nothing stops, okay? It means without seed in your mind, okay?

Without a seed, nothing can start, without a seed nothing can stop, okay? That's all. Then, these people misunderstood that, and when a thought comes, they stare at it.

How did this thought come from nothing? Okay? Suddenly I'm thinking about something, pizza, I just think about pizza, I wasn't thinking about pizza five minutes ago, where'd that thought come from?

From nothing. Oh, that's emptiness, okay? They misunderstand, okay?

This one's easy, we don't have to talk about it. Why am I rushing? I don't know.

And then they say, when the thought slips away and there's nothing left, that's the Dharmakaya, that's the Buddha's emptiness body, okay? Then, there are a lot of weird ideas like that, okay? If a thought leaving your mind was the reality body, then you should try to have as many random thoughts as possible, okay?

Anyway, that doesn't make sense. Now, this one's hard, okay? This one's hard, maybe you need a break, you want, you want, I think maybe you need a break, take a ten minute break, come back.

Now, now, what we're gonna do next, the devil in the mind is the lower middle way school. So, you need pee-pee before that. This is not a stupid devil, this one's sophisticated, okay?

Lower middle way. Okay, go. Ten minutes, Earl will ring the bell.

So, those of you who came to SCIM last term I think, second term, we talked about the proofs for emptiness, and there's one called Chikdrudel, what's that mean? Yeah, things are neither one nor many, okay? This is a proof of emptiness.

There's another proof called Dorje Sekma, where's that? Huh? The sliver of diamond, and there are, there's a group of proofs of emptiness that I taught you in ACI 2?

ACI course 2, okay. What I didn't tell you at the time was that those are mostly used by the lower middle way, okay? Most of those are, they are mostly used by the lower middle way school.

The dependent origination argument is shared by both, okay, typically. But, so there's a proof of emptiness which is used by the lower middle way school a lot, which means people like Kamalashila, Shantarakshita, Bhav Viveka, okay, and they like those proofs, okay? And I'm gonna tell you what they believe, and then it's enough for tonight, and we'll continue next class, okay?

Because here, the first Panchen Lama begins to talk about proofs for emptiness, or meditations on emptiness, which are Buddhist, and they are lower middle way, and they, they make the devil uncomfortable, but they don't kick him out, okay? So, we're about to learn some meditations that are, they make the devil uncomfortable, but they don't force him out of your mind, okay? So, they are nice to learn, they are partly correct, but they are not ultimately correct, okay?

And they will not force the devil to leave your mind, okay? So, we've been describing how the seeds open in your mind. Just before you see emptiness directly, you see seeds open in your mind, okay?

You can call that dependent origination, okay? When you can see seeds actually open, and create something in front of you, you've seen dependent origination for the first time, okay? Because your mind is doing it 65 times per second all the time, okay?

What's the classic example for that in a DCI level 7? Nice, I'll kiss you but you have a beard. You used to have a beard.

Yeah, it's a ... okay, this is a story, you know, the student is standing in the kitchen, they are making tea for their Lama, and they are waiting for the water to boil, and they have all the conditions for making enough karma to see emptiness directly, okay? Which include what?

Serving ... serving poor people, serving needy people, serving elderly, okay? That's one.

Secondly? Meditate every day, minimum one hour. If you do a nice lion's dance, you're covered.

Number three? By the way, in DCI I say half hour. If I say one hour, they will go home, okay?

Third one? Yeah, serve the Dharma somehow, serve the Dharma, okay? Help organizer in Guangzhou, or you know, do something, help the Dharma, okay?

What else? Yoga helps. Study, study, study, study, study, study, okay?

Somebody recently came to me, they said Geshe-la, I'm leaving. I said, why? They said, you teach too much.

That's like, there's a joke in Buddhism, they say, that's like saying, I'm really hungry but I don't feel like eating. So anyway, by the way, in the Prajnaparamita tradition, the most intelligent students want more proofs of emptiness, they want more information, they're hungry, they want more, okay? It's a classic way to divide a good student from a lazy student, or a good student from a student who's not ready yet, okay?

The good students want, they say a thousand proofs of emptiness, that's this expression that Lord Buddha used, you know, the good student wants to hear emptiness a thousand different ways, and the other students like, too much information Geshe-la, okay? I like the first kind of student, because I like to, anyway. So anyway, when you're looking at the pot on the stove, there are parts there, okay?

There are parts out there, that typically, in that case, three parts, three main parts, one black straight thing, which is what? Handle. Then there's a silver circle, which is the top, and sorry, there's silver, circle, and black, okay?

Three parts. Then the seed opens in the mind, and you can see the image go out, okay? Standing there, you don't have to be in meditation.

Is it emptiness? No, it's dependent origination. Here comes the pot, it's this big, it's been staying here, okay?

It comes out of a silver seed, it goes out, and it lands on the pieces, and it makes them into a pot, okay? The same pieces, if you have the seeds of an ant, make a silver mountain, okay? The ant's picture is wow, Mount Everest, silver, difficult to climb, okay?

Same parts, different picture, okay? Now the difference between the higher Middle Way school, and the lower Middle Way school, mainly, is who put the parts there? Yeah, okay, I did.

They all, they came from me a moment before the other picture, okay? First the seed opened for silver, color, then the seed opened for round, then the seed opened for black, straight, then the seed opened for pot, okay? So, who made the raw data?

Yeah. Now the lower Middle Way school says no, they say the silver was there already, and your mind is interpreting the silver, okay? It's not creating this silver, your mind is taking the information, okay?

Like Neil Young's song, or Scott's song tonight, okay? Then some people explain emptiness what? Oh Geshe-la, some people like the song, and some people don't like the song, although we're not gonna tell Scott, and that's the emptiness of the song, okay?

But, but it's, it's not that emptiness is how you interpret the song, emptiness is who made the song, okay? We are not interpreting the same song, we are creating the song, okay? It's different right?

When you say I'm interpreting his song, I like it, and then some people say I don't like it, both people are assuming there's a song, okay? Some people say there's a song and I don't like it, and some people say there's a song and I do like it, both of them think the song is coming from Scott, understand? Okay, higher Middle Way, Scott also coming from me, okay?

Song also coming from me, okay? Got it? Lower Middle Way, you can call them interpreters, they interpret what's there.

Is this silver thing a mountain, or is it a teapot? You see? But both of those people believe there's something there, but there's not, okay?

Before your mind made the silver, before your mind made Scott, okay? There was nothing, okay? It's not Scott came in and sang a song and some people like it and some people don't like it, that's not emptiness, okay?

Emptiness is, you made Scott first, and then two minutes later you decided the song sound good or bad, okay? Got it? Lower Middle Way says, you didn't create Scott, you didn't create the silver color, okay?

Got it? Okay, now, so every time they use the reasons for emptiness that were given by the Buddha, they misunderstand them, okay? Even, they teach the proof of one and many to prove emptiness, they prove emptiness with the proof of one and many, but they prove it the wrong way.

They don't understand. They use the proof, they come to some emptiness, and it's not emptiness, okay? Now, is that gonna hurt the devil?

Not really, okay? He's like, uh-oh, they're getting close. Oh, where'd the silver come from?

Oh, it was there, uh-huh, okay, you can stay, come on in, you know, sit with me, you know. Well, I was afraid you were gonna say the silver wasn't there, you know, but, okay. Okay, got it?

Okay, so the whole next few parts, which we will do next weekend, we'll do some more, okay? They're gonna be more subtle. This text is unbelievable, it's funny, it's very poetic, and it's very deep, because he even criticized Middle Way, you see?

He even said you are devil also, you know, probably they will kill him I think, you know. These are Kamalashila, this is big lamas, you know, and he said no, you don't quite understand, you are also helping the devil. When I teach you Kamalashila, I'm teaching you Nagarjuna Kamalashila.

Okay, so don't worry about it, okay? He also taught some Lower Middle Way, but he did, I believe he didn't believe it, okay? He taught it for certain people, because they feel uncomfortable if Scott's not there.

Got it? Okay, all right. Luckily, it's time to stop, and I'll see you in the ...

okay, so we stopped at ineffective meditation number 13. I don't know, you guys compare your notes. 13, we didn't cover yet, 13 is Lower Middle Way, and they are going to misuse the meditation on one or many, okay?

Got it? You try to figure out what the first 12 ... I'll say them again next time, okay?

Then you guys don't have to fight. All right.