Дебаты дьявола с ангелом, часть 15: Шаг в наш следующий мир (2022, Аризона), занятие 2

[Speaker 1]
Okay, let's go back to the text and we'll do about 45 minutes more, right Tim? I think so. Let's see.

Okay, next part. I'm just going to read it for you for good luck. ,LHA LUS BSTAN PA'I SGRUB PA NA, ,'GRO BA GZHAN DU SKYE BA'ANG MED, ,DOD PA YIN TE SNGA BA'ANG YANG, ,LHA MA SU LA CHAGS PA YID, ,CHAGS PA BSTAN PA'I SNGA BA YIN, ,SNGA BA GZHAN DU MI NGYUR BA'I, ,DRA SOGS DUS YIN SGRUB PA NA, ,CHAGS PA CI'I PHYIR NA, ,SKYE NA SU LA BSTAN DU MI NGYUR BA'ANG Then he's talking about these devas, which are very powerful beings.

They were very nice in their last life. They were very generous. They did not study Dharma.

They did not understand emptiness. But because they were so generous, then they were born as a very powerful and very wealthy being. Then he talks about if they are coming from their own side, then they couldn't change.

This is a very difficult idea that we can talk about. The question is, after we die or when we came into this world, why is it we cannot remember where we came from? It's a big question.

If we could remember where we were before, if we could easily remember our past life, then I think we would all be nice people. There would be no international tensions either if we could remember our past life. I think sometimes when we are studying Buddhism, we don't ask the obvious question, which is why we don't remember past life.

If I had a past life, then why can't I remember it? Why is it completely unknown to me? I think if we are honest, many of us can say, I have some feeling about where I was in my past life.

But if you are honest, I think you can say, I don't really know. I don't remember clearly where I was. Sometimes I have a feeling.

I have a feeling definitely I wasn't a cook in my last life because my cooking is so bad. But I don't really remember my past life. Why is that?

Why is that? This whole poetry here, the whole story is if you expect that you could remember, then you don't understand where you are coming from. If you think, I should be able to remember my past life, then you don't understand where you are coming from.

You still have a feeling that there is a me who had my past life body and who had my past life mind. There is a middle way school. It says they believe that Michael is my awareness of my thoughts.

The person listening to my thoughts is Michael. That feels right, right? It feels correct.

I am listening. I have a body, but I am not my finger. Geshe-la is not Geshe-la's finger.

Geshe-la has Geshe-la's finger. That is why we call it Geshe-la's finger. There is a Geshe-la and he has those fingers, but he is not the fingers.

Geshe-la must be kind of Geshe-la's spirit. Then that spirit moves from life to life. There is Geshe Michael.

Then he dies in this life. He gives up this body. We can see it.

The body gets left behind. Geshe-la goes somewhere else. Then we have to bury the body or burn it or something.

We feel like there must be a real Geshe-la who goes on. He leaves this body and he goes to another world. We don't know what happens to the mind.

The mind is invisible. You can see the evidence of another person's mind in their eyes, how they smile, how they frown. You can see evidence that they have a mind on their face and what they do and what they say, but you cannot see the other person's mind.

We feel like if Geshe-la left his body behind, probably he took his mind with him. His body is here. But Geshe-la, and maybe Geshe-la is mixed up with Geshe-la's mind, he probably went to another life, to another world, and he left this body.

Then Geshe-la will take another body later. That's how we talk about it and that's how we think about it. Geshe-la exists inside his body.

Then the body gets old and Geshe-la gets out of that car and he moves to a new car and he keeps driving. We feel like that and that's what the First Penchan Lama is talking about here. He's talking like when we change life.

We feel like changing cars or something. You get out of one car, your old car, and then you get in your new car and you keep going. But what he says is there is nobody getting out of the old car and there is nobody getting into the new car.

That's not you. That's not who you are. You also leave your mind behind.

When you get out of the old car, you leave your body. We can all see that. But you also leave your mind and you leave Michael.

You leave your Michael. It's not like there's some Michael. I know Buddhism talks like this, but it's only because of language problems.

It's not true. Michael gets out of his old body and then goes to Bardol for seven weeks, 49 days, and then gets into his new body. It's not like that.

That's not correct. If it's like that, then some people should be able to remember the old car. Hang on, I got to go turn off the soup again.

I'll be right back. My Lama gave me a nickname. 30 years ago he called me burner.

The burner of all the pots. I burn all the pots in the monastery. Sorry, I'm still doing it.

It's not that Geshe Michael gets out of his body and goes someplace. Listen, this is what this poem is talking about. New seeds open.

New Geshe Michael opens. You see, I'm not a guy who changes cars from life to life. It's not like that.

Right now my seeds are opening as Geshe-la and Geshe-la's body and Geshe-la's mind. Then those seeds finish. Geshe-la's body stops and Geshe-la's mind also stops.

Then new seeds open. Ten minutes after I die, new seeds are open. There's no Geshe-la who exists at that time.

It's just more seeds. It's just more seeds opening. That's a completely different person.

Of course he can't remember what he was before. Of course he cannot. He's completely different seeds opening.

Of course he cannot remember. There's nobody who can remember. It's just a new body and it's a new mind.

It's not Geshe-la got out of his old body like an old car and get into a new body like a new car. It's not like that. Geshe-la's old car seeds and Geshe-la's old mind seeds and Geshe-la's old seeds finish.

Now new seeds will open. He will be a completely different person. Of course he won't remember anything because he's a different person, different mind.

I know it's not how we usually talk about it, but the purpose of this poem right here is very interesting. I like to tell my students, how long does it take for Geshe Michael to become a dog? How long does it take?

Is it really true Geshe-la goes to Bardo Spirit Realm for seven weeks and then if he's lucky he chooses a new car? No, it's not true. The seeds are opening 65 per second.

65 per second. How long does it take to get into a new car and also get into a new mind and get into a new person? It takes 1 65th of a second.

I don't know why we feel safe. If I die, oh, it's okay, I got seven weeks to figure it out. People will pray for me.

Geshe-la will pray for me. It's not such an emergency. I have seven weeks to choose good seeds for future.

It's not like that. Your seeds will open in 1 65th of a second. It doesn't take an hour to become a dog.

It takes less than one second to become a dog. You don't have to wait for the dog body to grow. It's not like that.

Your whole mind, your whole body can change to another kind of being in one second. Don't think, oh, I have seven weeks to prepare. Don't worry, Geshe-la, I have seven weeks to find a good body, good next body.

It's not like that. What seeds you have when you die, they will decide what you become. It's not your choice.

It's not even your choice to be you. That's not even your choice. What seeds you have in your mind when you die is what you will become.

It's not your choice. You don't have any power. If you have good seeds, that guy is going to be really nice, happy.

Every bad seed you have, there's going to be something wrong with that guy. Okay. If part of you came from its own side, then you could say, oh, Geshe-la is going to the bar now.

Let's do prayers. He will listen to us. Maybe he can remember his good seeds.

It's not like that. You're gone. You leave your body, you leave the old car, and you also leave the old driver.

Then you become a new car and a new driver. It's not like the driver goes from one car to the other car. It's not like that.

Now, these guys who are... We're taking... Let's follow the text for a while.

Otherwise, there's a danger we won't finish it in a hundred years. He says, look, those beings, super beings, devas, by the way, they are so powerful. You have to imagine.

This is a possible future life possibility. There's this child's game called marbles. You play with little round pieces of glass or metal, marble game, kids game.

Those devas, they play with planets like that. Whole planets. It's not just Iron Man.

When they have fun, they can throw Mars over the sun. They can do things like... They are very powerful.

But they also have this problem. They think the pen was made in Japan. They think they bought the pen.

They're still thinking like that. They have wonderful seeds are opening. They have the power to play with planets, like throw planets like baseball.

But still they don't understand why. They don't understand it's all seeds opening from their past life. Then how can they start to feel attachment for anything?

How can anything start? How do things start? We can talk a long time about why something good starts in your life, or why something bad starts in your life.

But to put it briefly, you cannot point to the moment that this pen became a pen. You can say, Geshe-la, the pen was made in Japan. When?

November 3rd, 2020. It came out of the factory. Yes, but what was the exact time when it became a pen?

You cannot find that moment. You cannot find the moment that this pen became a pen. When did they finish making the pen, Geshe-la?

It was 9 o'clock and 30 minutes and 10 seconds. That's when it came out of the factory. Yes, but is that when the front part came out of the factory or when the back part came out of the factory?

Geshe-la, it doesn't matter. About 10 minutes after 9, it came out of the factory. Yes, but actually, this is a very difficult idea.

It must be one side of the pen came out of the factory first. Maybe there's a conveyor belt, and this came out of the factory, and then the end came out of the factory. There should be some time difference.

This part of the pen came out of the factory 10 minutes after 9 and 14 milliseconds. Then this part of the pen came out of the factory 10 minutes after 9 and 15 milliseconds. But when did the middle come out of the factory?

Oh, Geshe-la, does it really matter? It must be 14.5 milliseconds. Yes, but what about the front end of the half and the back end of the half?

Geshe-la, who cares? Listen, you cannot tell me the time that the pen came out of the factory because there are pieces of time at that time which are too short for you to see. Try to understand.

One second. One second has a beginning and an end. One second in time.

This much time. It has beginning of the time, and it has the end of the time, and it lasts for some time. Time start, time end.

But there should be some smaller pieces of time here. But your mind cannot see those smaller pieces of time. I don't want to say.

Listen, I'm planning to bake a cake today for my wife. They say it's not healthy. I don't care.

When you are sick and someone makes you a cake, you feel happy, right? That cake, it will have many parts. There will be the top part.

There will be the middle part. There will be the bottom part. Now listen, if the parts of the parts are too small for you to see, if you cannot see the atoms of the cake, then you cannot see any part of the cake.

If you cannot see the pieces of the cake, then you cannot see the cake. Geshe-la, I know I can't see atom of cake. I know that.

But when you put many atoms of cake together, you can see that. No, you don't understand. When you put many atoms of cake together, and you say, oh look, I can see now.

Now I can see. It's not too small. Now I can see.

But still there must be atom here. And still there must be atom here. And you are seeing the edge of the atoms.

If you cannot see the edge of the atoms, you cannot see the cake. The point is, cake is not made of atoms. Cake is coming from you.

Time is not coming at you. Time is coming from you. Rebirth in another body, in another mind, is not coming at you.

It's coming from you. It cannot come at you. The atoms in this pen cannot come this way.

You can't see them. They are too small. You cannot see them.

If something is too small to see, and you put a lot of them together, you wouldn't be able to see the edge anyway. Because the edge would be one atom. Here, this would be the edge of the atom.

If you can see the edge of the pen, it proves the pen is coming for you and not from the pen. It's very interesting. If you are hoping that you had a pretty good life, and you did pretty good things, and after you die you'll get a pretty good new car, that's a wrong idea.

There's no cars, and there's no drivers. It's just more things coming from your seeds. Things are coming out of your seeds.

There's nobody watching what comes out of your seeds. You are coming out of your seeds. You are not watching what's coming out of your seeds.

You are what's coming out of... the watcher also coming out of the seeds. Don't think you own your body, you own your house, you have your job.

They're all coming out of seeds. Nobody owns your job. Nobody owns your body.

No one gets a new car. It's very interesting. All the things in your life, all the colors, all the sounds, all the shapes, they are coming from your seeds, and the person seeing them is also coming from your seeds, and there's nobody else.

There's nobody who had the seeds. It's not like that. Let's go to the next verse.

LHA'I PHUNG PO LA MIG NAS YID DU'ONG BA'I BYAMS PA DE LTOS MED DENPOR DUG PAR NANG NANG BA SHIN GYUR MI ZIN NA LHA MA YIN DANG THAG PA'I TSE ZHES DANG SKYE BA SNGAL GAL TE ZHES DANG SKYE BA NA YID DU'ONG BA'I BYAMS PA DE LTOS MED DENPOR DUG PAR NANG Then there's a story that these devas, they have beautiful children. They're called LHA'I PHUNG PO. It means the daughters and sons of the gods.

When the devas, people in temporary heaven, when they look at their daughters or their kids, they feel this intense attachment to them. They don't realize that the kids are coming from their own seeds. Geshe-la, somebody had a baby.

Veronica and my friend, she had twins last week. Also, her son's goat had two babies last week. We had two human twins and we had two goats in the same week.

Then the lady was so happy and she sent us a photo. It's very beautiful. The two boys are, each one is drinking from one breast.

She's got two small boys and she's feeding them at the same time. She was so happy. When you have a child and it feels to you like the child came out of your womb and you feel very proud and you feel a deep contentment, fulfillment.

Oh, I gave life to another being. You feel a strong attraction to that being. Actually, he says here, you're not seeing your children correctly.

You don't understand where those children come from. They are coming from your seeds. Those children were born from your seeds and you created you and you created your pregnancy and then you created the children who came out of you.

It's all your seeds. If you understand where your children really come from, then when you see them, you would want to be nice to everybody. If you understood who really created your children, it's the good seeds in your mind.

Then sometimes when we have a family, I don't know why, but some people after they have children, they become more compassionate. I saw it many times in my life. People who are selfish become more compassionate after they have children.

They learn how to sacrifice their own happiness for another person. When I was in the diamond business, I had to hire hundreds of people. I had to hire them.

I had to interview them. I had to find them, interview them, hire them, train them for 19 years. Hundreds and hundreds of people.

After a few years, I realized moms are great workers. Moms are number one workers. If you want a good worker, choose a mom.

They know how to sacrifice. They know how to stay up late. They know how to finish the job.

The father will go to sleep if the baby cries, but the mother will never go to sleep. I always used to hire... I used to look for moms because they know how to sacrifice.

Sometimes, when you see a person who has a child, it makes them even more compassionate. Sometimes, in my observation, I never had a child, when you have a child, your mental afflictions get more. You get more attachment.

You get more anger. You get more selfish. You take care of your kid, but you don't take care of other people's kids.

You have a deep prejudice. I should take care of my kid, but I don't have to take care of my neighbor's kid. Not equally.

What they're talking about here is misunderstanding. Where did your children come from? They're using deva children.

They're talking about deva children. Hey, you know how devas have children? They don't have...

The tradition says the children pop up in their lap. They don't come out of their body. Just one day, there's a kid in their lap.

It seems like a very easy way to have a baby. The idea is here, when children come out of you, there's two ways it can go. Number one, you can understand that this beautiful precious thing is coming from the seeds of sharing things with other people.

Then after you have your child, you take even more care of other people's children, like that. Or, if you don't understand where the child came from, then the birth of the child can be a disaster. You become more...

You become more... You protect your child and you don't really care so much about other people's kids. Either way it can go.

If you understand when your child was born from seeds, then you will understand that you should take care of everyone's children equally. All right. Now, there's an interesting dynamic with the devas.

Their whole life is wrapped up with competition. It's very similar to wealthy human people. I heard a...

I listened to the radio late at night when I come home from work. It's a beautiful drive. It takes me about 45 minutes.

I live in the country. I don't live in the... I live on a mountain.

Even I have a dirt road. When I drive home at night, it's a very beautiful drive. Sometimes I will listen to the radio and I will hear things from other places, like other states.

I will hear the radio from completely different places. Then I hear these famous people, actors, movies. Yesterday I heard an interview.

They even talk about the other actors in the movies. They say, this is my competition. That's how they are thinking.

These beautiful people. Very handsome. Very good looking ladies and men.

Very, very famous. I don't know why they don't have COVID tummy like me. They always look exactly very beautiful.

But the more beautiful you are physically and the more famous you get, then the habit is to get jealous or competition with other beautiful people. It's a curse. It's a very bad problem of successful people, wealthy people, beautiful people.

They feel... Sometimes they can feel intense competition for each other or intense jealousy of each other. Now they are talking about that.

Now the Panchen Lama says, you know, these people have a beautiful life, these devas. And then... But the one thing that defines their life, the most important part of their life, is jealousy.

It's not enough to be number one actor. It's not enough to win the movie award. They are constantly checking out each other.

Oh, she's more beautiful. She's more young. He's more strong.

He has more fans. More people are following him than me. This is talking about the emotions of these devas.

They have two big emotions. Number one, when they have a kid, they feel this intense love for their kid. And then, when they see another deva, they get this intense jealousy and this intense feeling of competition.

So, Panchen Lama is saying, look, let's think about those devas. Let's think about those very beautiful people. Rich, beautiful people.

Two things define their life. Number one, they have their own children, an intense attachment to those children, and beautiful love for their children. But then at the same time, they feel intense jealousy for the other famous people or the other beautiful people.

It's strange that these very successful beings should have intense attachment and intense love for their children, and at the same time, they feel this intense jealousy for other successful people. And Panchen Lama is not saying, oh, you should be a good person. You should love other people the way you love your children.

He's not saying that. He's not saying that. It's very interesting what he's saying.

Don't forget, this is a fight between the devil and the angel. This is a fight between the devil and the angel. The devil says, oh, look Geshe Michael, inside your mind, two different kinds of thoughts.

Number one, big compassion and love for your students. That's so nice. Then number two, intense jealousy of other teachers, for example.

He's not saying that. He's not saying that. First Panchen Lama is not saying that.

He's not saying, look, you have good thoughts and you have bad thoughts, and please try to have more good thoughts, and please try not to have bad thoughts. He's not saying that. He's saying, nobody is having those thoughts.

He's saying, nobody is having those thoughts. Nobody has the love for their kid, and nobody feels the jealousy for their competition. Nobody is there to have the feelings.

That's devil talking. If the Dharma teacher tells you, please try to increase your loving thoughts, and please try to decrease your competition thoughts. If the Dharma teacher tells you like that, they don't know what they're talking about.

Because when I tell you, you should have more good thoughts like you have for your children, or you should not have competition thoughts like you do for your other people at work. When I tell you that, I'm talking about you, but there's no you. There's no you.

If you think there's a you who has the loving thoughts to your kids, and if you think there's a you who has the competition thoughts at work, then already you lost the war. You already lost the war. I'll say it again.

If you think there's a you who's having the loving thoughts, and if you think there's a you who's having the competition thoughts, and if you think you should have more loving thoughts, and that that you should have less competition thoughts, you already lost the war. You're already listening to the devil because there is no you. Nobody's having those thoughts.

Geshe-la, why are we having this class? If there's no me to improve myself, and if there's no me who will get worse if I don't study, then why are we having this class if there's no me? There is no you.

There's just seeds. There's just seeds. There is no you.

Nobody got out of the old car and get into the new car. Nobody loved their own children and hate the other people's success. There's no you.

It's just seeds opening. It's just seeds opening. Well, Geshe-la, if there's no me, then how can I be happy?

Who becomes a Buddha? Nobody becomes Buddha. The Buddha seeds open.

Then you're a Buddha. Got it? So don't worry about me.

I'm hearing somebody's open mic, by the way. It sounds like you're chewing on tinfoil. There's no me having happy thoughts.

There's no me having unhappy thoughts. You are your happy thoughts, and you are your seeds opening. So don't worry about me.

Just worry about the seeds. When you see yourself being loving to your children, you are watching your own loving seeds open. When you see yourself being competitive to other people, you are just watching competition seeds open.

That's all. So what am I supposed to do, Geshe-la? Well, try to understand.

You are watching seeds open, and you have to focus on the seeds. Don't focus on me. Don't focus on me.

Just focus on seeds. Geshe-la, I have trouble meditating. Yeah, I know.

It's a seeds opening. You are watching seeds open. Okay, last thing.

Then we'll take questions. Okay, Tim? I told this story a couple of times, but I don't know.

Grandpa teaches so many days of the year, I forgot what story I told. I have a problem. This is my kitchen.

You guys can see my kitchen. Recently, when I wake up at night, and I sneak into the kitchen to sneak some snack that my wife doesn't hear, I keep stepping in the water. There's always water on the floor.

Every night, quietly, I will step in the water barefoot. It's very cold. It's winter here also, Surnam.

We don't have snow, but then it's cold. The water is cold. Then I feel responsible.

I feel like I'm a good person. I should clean up the water on the floor. I will get down on my hands and knees.

I clean up the water. I say, maybe the dishwasher made some water. I don't know.

Maybe we spilled some water. Actually, I cleaned up the water on the floor for five or six nights. Every night, I get down on the floor and I clean the water.

Then suddenly, I don't know what happened. I said, I'm tired of cleaning the water. Maybe there's a pipe leaking.

Maybe I should fix the pipe. It's so much work to clean up the water every night. Maybe I should find out where it came from.

That's what we're learning here. Don't focus on the result. Focus on the seeds.

I called my friend Daniel Garcia. He came and he got under the sink. He fixed the pipe.

He fixed the leak. What the First Panchen Lama is saying here is just worry about your seeds. Take care of your seeds.

Don't focus so much on the result. Just take care of your seeds. Also, when you feel intense love for your kids and you feel intense jealousy at work, that's also coming from seeds.

Take care of those seeds. Don't worry about me. Don't think about Geshe Michael, Geshe Michael, Geshe Michael.

The love is coming out of seeds. The jealousy is coming out of seeds. The Geshe Michael jealous is coming out of seeds.

The Geshe Michael loving is coming out of seeds. Work on your seeds. Work under the sink.

Find the pipe. Fix the pipe. The pipe is your seeds.

The problem is, the person working on the seeds is also coming from the seeds. The person who's working on the seeds is also coming from the seeds. Therefore, whatever seeds you have more also make you better seed worker or worse seed worker.

Seeds make more seeds. And there's nobody in control. What seeds you have now, probably you will be similar tomorrow.

Because they are creating the person who's working on the seeds. The seeds are creating the same person who's trying to fix the seeds. And if there's a problem with the seeds, then there's a problem with the seed fixer also.

Geshe-la, it sounds like samsara. It sounds like a vicious circle. What you said, it sounds like we cannot improve ourselves.

It's difficult, but it's not impossible. As long as you understand things are coming from seeds, you have hope. And if you forget that, then you don't have hope.

Keep focusing on the seeds. Keep focusing on the seeds. If you have bad seeds, it's because you come from bad seeds.

Then Geshe-la, how can I fix myself? How can I fix my bad seeds if I'm coming from bad seeds? It seems like it's impossible.

No, because you can do small things. We are lucky that seeds grow. We are lucky that seeds grow double, double, double, double, double, double.

You can do a small nice thing today. If you can do one small nice thing, then there's hope. Because those seeds double, double, double, double.

So today, practical step. If you want to have a good rebirth, then just do some small good things. That's all.

Just do some small good things. I'm making a soup. It's not very good soup.

I'm not a very good cook. My Tibetan is better than my soup. But do small nice things for other people and dedicate those new seeds.

Let's all dedicate them to international tension solution. Let's all do some small good thing today, like make a soup. I'll let you guys know how it comes out tomorrow, if I burn it or not.

Do some small good thing. Dedicate the seed. The seed will explode.

The seed will expand. That's our hope. Make small good seeds and let them grow.

That's our only hope. All right, Timothy. You got questions for me?

I think we got another 20 minutes or so, something like that.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah. Okay. Stop that.

Okay, cool. All right, Keshla. Thank you for teaching us today.

[Speaker 1]
My pleasure. Thank you for asking.

[Speaker 2]
This question continues on with what you had said about focusing on the seeds and not focusing on me. A couple of questions have come in about when we're talking about seeds through the various schools, like in the Mind Only School, the seeds are stored in the kunshi, right, near the heart. And then you go to the upper middle way, and we kind of say things like the seeds are stored in me or in what comes out of the seeds.

So the questions are wondering, like, can you explain this a little bit to us so we can hold on to why do we get taught that it's stored in us, but then you're saying to us now that don't focus on me, focus on the seeds themselves that seem like outside of me.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good question, good question. Look, in the lower schools, Buddha says be a nice person. Try to make good seeds.

And then when you die, you will get a new body, a nice body, and you'll be in a good place. That's first turning of the wheel. That's how Buddha talks to beginners.

Please make good seeds. You're going to die. You want to have a good rebirth.

So please make good seeds. Then you can carry them like a suitcase to your next life, and you can open them there. What the First Panchen Lama is trying to say here is don't forget that the person who's working with the seeds is also coming from seeds at the same moment.

Okay, so the person who's trying to improve their seeds, the person who is making the new good seeds, in that moment they are also coming from seeds. You see, the seed maker is also coming from seeds. So if you understand that, you have a chance.

But if you think there's a seed maker who is not coming from seeds at the same moment, you're going to have trouble. You're going to have trouble. So try to understand the seed maker is also coming from seeds.

For example, if the seed maker is in a good mood today, then the seed maker will make some good seeds. And if the seed maker is in a bad mood today, then the seed maker won't make any seeds today. So you have to understand that the seed maker is also coming from seeds.

And we need to plant the seeds that will make us a good seed maker. The seed maker, the seed planter, is also coming from seeds. So we have to pay attention to planting the right seeds to be a good seed maker.

So we have to spend some time to think about, why am I happy to plant seeds? Why do I understand seeds? Why do I believe in seeds?

There are special seeds to believe in seeds. And that's the root of all seeds. So what First Panchen Lama is saying is, take care of the seed maker.

Think about it. Why are you in a mood to come to this class today? You planted seeds before.

Be careful with those seeds. Take care of those seeds. Don't lose those seeds.

Which means, keep encouraging other people. Every time you see somebody do something good, tell them, wow, that's so cool what you're doing. This whole thing about rejoicing, a coffee meditation aimed at other people, that's the real seeds to make you a good seed maker.

So take care of your seed maker seeds. What's the best way? Just tell other people how cool are they.

And do it all the time. By the way, don't lie. Don't make up a story, oh, you're so nice.

If the person is an asshole, don't tell them they're a nice person. That's not going to help them. I'm not saying that.

I'm saying when you see something really good that somebody else is doing, then tell them how cool is that. It's kind of selfish if you don't tell other people how cool what they are doing. Wow, I saw how you talked to that difficult person today.

You are so cool. I saw how much patience you had. I just want to say it's beautiful.

I wish I could be patient like that. And that's all. Those encouragement seeds to other people makes you a better seed planter.

It's very cool. Watching other people, telling them how cool is their seed planting, honestly, when they are cool, then that makes us a better seed planter. That's all the First Panchamama is talking about.

Where we plant the seeds, I think the Mind-Only School is useful. Word just finished his first book. Word Smith.

He just finished his first book on the Mind-Only School. I think it's the greatest book about the Mind-Only School ever translated. I think it's the best book I ever saw about the Mind-Only School.

It's out. It's Diamond Cutter Press. Look them up online.

Diamond Cutter Press. The book is called The Golden Key. If you really want to understand Mind-Only School, then get that book and chew on it and ask Word Smith to teach some classes about it.

It's amazing. I read a sentence recently that just blew my mind. It's by Tsongkapa, who's always correct.

He said, Look, if you really understand the Mind-Only idea about the refrigerator where you keep your seeds, if you really understand it, then you can practice tantra. Then tantra is successful. Then you can practice the secret teachings.

You can live with the angels if you really understand that. I was like, whoa, that's pretty cool. I really encourage you to study that book.

Then many people told me, Geshe-la, I bought the e-book. By the way, it's instant gratification. It's so cool.

With the e-book, you just order it and you get it in 30 seconds. You don't have any excuse about it. You don't have to wait for the post office.

It's lucky. In America, if you wait for the post office, it might take two years to get the book. So, you can get the e-book in about less than one minute.

Many people told me, Geshe-la, that Mind-Only school is too difficult. Well, there's two things you can do. Number one, if a book is not difficult, it means you already understand it, then in my opinion, there's no reason to buy the book.

If a book is easy for you, then it's because you already understand those things. Then in my opinion, you shouldn't buy the book. There's no reason to buy the book.

If you already understand something, then why should you buy the book? In my opinion, and Tsongkapa's tradition, we should buy the book which we don't understand. We should get the book which we don't understand, because then we can go deeper.

Those mixed nuts, man, they work for five, six years now. Each one understands their own book very beautifully. I want to show you something.

Let me see. Tim, can I do? Let me see if I can find it.

Sure. You can share the screen. Okay, here I go.

We're going to show this this week in the mixed nuts classes. Can you guys see this? You can read this this week.

You can come to the mixed nuts classes. These are the mixed nuts topics. I'm giving you a secret preview.

Don't tell Nick. But here's where it all came from. These are the original sutras, two and a half thousand years ago.

We are translating six of them. Then, let me get this. Here's Abhidharma.

That's about 2,000 years ago. Then comes the Mahayana books, 18 centuries ago. Then comes the mind-only school, Asanga, 1,700 years ago.

Then comes Dharmakirti and all the logic schools, how to think. That's 1,500 years ago. Then comes the great morality schools, Vinaya.

That's 1,300 years ago. Then comes the Tang dynasty in China, great, great translators who brought the wisdom from India, like Yansi and Shenzang. Then comes the lower middle way.

This is Kamalashila, great, great writers like that. They also loved meditation. They wrote the great books about meditation.

This is 1,300 years ago. They wrote the great meditation books. After that came higher middle way.

This is Chandrakirti. They really understand emptiness. Amazing, amazing guys.

This is about 1,300 years ago. Then came Lojong, how to develop the good heart. That came 1,000 years ago.

Then came Lam Rim, the glory days about 600 years ago, Tsongkhapa. Then came the study of the different schools in two different ways, studying all the great schools together. Those are the great ideas of the last 2,500 years.

Now I'll show you something cool. You guys ready? Sonam, I can see you're so interested.

I'm going to shrink this. Here's the books that we're translating on the side. We are translating six sutras.

Some of them are translated already. They're already available. You can buy them.

All the kinds of karma, Sutra of Lapis Light, Commentary to the Diamond Cutter Sutra, Commentary to the Heart Sutra, you can buy all those. They're finished. Every great subject of ancient times is being covered by the mixed nuts.

On the left-right sides, you can see the books of the mixed nuts. They cover every great topic. Every great topic in the last 2,000 years is being translated by the mixed nuts.

The mixed nuts books are on the side. There are 27 translations. If you don't get them, you must be crazy.

You're a real mixed up nut. You are nuts. Anyway, if you have time this week, we will have 60 classes about this idea.

You asked me. It's not my fault, Tim. You asked me about Mind Only School.

If you really want to understand how your seeds stay in your mind, come to the mixed nuts classes. There are 27 different books that we are translating that cover the whole thing. All right, Tim.

Let's do one more question.

[Speaker 2]
This is a combination question, Geshe-la, from a few people. They've asked about... One person asked about that their partner has seemed to run out of love for the family and wants to leave.

Someone else has asked about themselves. They seem to have run out of compassion for other people. They're not able to really feel that for other people.

What are some of the advices you have? There are two different situations, but they're kind of similar, seeing people run out of love and compassion for others.

[Speaker 1]
I like the question. It's one of the saddest things in the world. On the one hand, you're in a relationship and it seems like the other person is losing interest, or it seems like they don't love you as much as they used to love you.

It's very disturbing. It feels like water running through your hands. You can feel it happening.

You can see it's happening. It's very, very sad. You had feelings.

This person had feelings. Now it seems like the feelings are going away. On the other hand, sometimes I'm the person who's losing the feelings.

I used to care a lot about these people, my family, or my partner, or my job. Now I don't feel that passion anymore. I don't feel this.

I don't feel love for them. I feel, instead of love, I feel obligation. Oh, now I should be nice to them.

This is my family. This is my partner. This is the company that hired me for many years.

I don't have passion for them. I don't feel this passion anymore. But I feel like I owe them something.

And then both are very bad feelings. Oh, I owe love to my family, but I don't feel it. And it's uncomfortable.

Or look, someone in my family, or someone in my company, they don't seem to have as much passion about us, or me, as they used to have. And both feelings are the same thing, right Tim? You said that it feels the same.

Love is being lost, or love has gone away. Then what can we do about it? And again, luckily, the first law of karma says that small seeds expand quickly.

The first law of karma says that seeds double every 24 hours, if you understand seeds. So that's cool. It's like super fertilizer.

If you understand seeds, then the good seeds you plant will grow like crazy. Like crazy. So if you see love is being lost, it's like water on the floor.

Don't try to fix the water on the floor. Fix the pipe. Fix the place where the water is coming from.

So personally, and I've had a long life, so I've seen love lost many times. It doesn't work, I think, to go to the person and say, look, you don't look like you have so much love anymore. Can you please improve yourself?

You have a family. You have a partner. We care about you.

Please try to have more love. And I can tell you it doesn't work. Because why?

It's coming from you. How much love they have is coming from you. So you just have to plant more seeds for love.

And that can be appreciation. So think about the people who are serving you. Somebody's growing the oranges for my orange juice.

Somebody planted the coffee beans for my coffee. Somebody planted watermelon, even in the winter. And so many people taking care of me.

I should show some love, even just gratitude, for the people. I'm living in the winter in Arizona. It's really cold outside.

I'm in the mountains. But somebody's sending me electricity. Thank you.

I don't know where you are, but I know if I pay my bill, you send me electricity, and I'm warm on a cold day. And just try to show gratitude for all the beautiful things in your life. And then that plants the seed that this love won't disappear.

The love will come back. The love is a big, big thing. The love of a partner.

The love of your family. Your own love for your family. Other people's love for you.

You can replant them. You can start that spark again by showing gratitude for other people. Oh, thank you for heating my house.

Thank you for coffee beans. Thank you for internet. Thank you, Tim, for organizing these classes and working like a maniac all day, all night to give us all these chances.

Show other people gratitude. And the love will come back. And it's very exciting when it comes back, when it works, because it's coming from seeds, right?

It's very, very nice to know how to bring the love back in your own heart or from other people in your family. It's so cool to be able to turn up the love just from your own side. It's like fixing the pipes, right?

So more gratitude seeds, more gratitude seeds, more gratitude seeds. Okay. All right, Tim.

See you tomorrow. Yeah. And thank you again, Tim.

Thank you really for organizing all this. And thank you all the translators. I know Tim has a huge group of people supporting him.

And thank you so much. I know it's a huge group of volunteers. Thank you very much.

And you translators, it's a headache to do this kind of translation. I know. And I don't know how you do it, but God bless you.

All right.