500 образов для медитации на шагах пути к просветлению, занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
First one, this tradition of meditation goes back 2,000 years. That's an approximation. It's really 2,497.

I didn't want to put a big number. It sounds more sexy to say. The person, the businessman walks into your meditation center, he say, I'm going to teach you 2,000 year tradition.

Okay, we have at our center, we have a 2,000 year tradition. I would say there's one, two, three, one... Six lamas you should know.

Six teachers you should know. In this lineage. The Lamrim lineage.

You should know six teachers. When you explain this photograph, I want to hear six teachers' names. Number one, Buddha.

Who wrote the first Lamrim? It's called Buddha. Some people say it was the Tibetans or something.

It's not correct. Even the first Lamrim was written by Buddha. First, this tradition of meditation that you're going to learn at our meditation studio started 2,000 years ago with a person named Gautama Buddha.

First person. Second person Tsongkhapa. 2,000 years later, Tsongkhapa.

Extraordinary meditation teacher. The best one that ever lived. Period.

I don't care. Call me prejudiced, but I know. I've done it.

Second one, Tsongkhapa. Third one, Pabongka Rinpoche. Was he born in 1869?

Can you look in the catalog? Passed away in 1941. Something like that.

1878 to 1941. Nice to know the years. What monastery?

The best one. Seramay. What house in the best monastery?

The best one. Gyalrong. Which house are you in?

You are Gyalrong. You own Pabongka Rinpoche. I'm just telling you.

Your karma is not just weird. It's really weird. You are from the same house as Pabongka Rinpoche.

Then he taught extraordinary scholar. Geshe. He passed his Geshe.

Extraordinary. Same level as me. Ling Tse Geshe.

Which is like friendly Geshe. Not too hot. Great teacher.

I think what I would say about him is he had an ability, famous, to teach normal people. If DCI existed in his time, he would be Oredin Scott. He would be teaching normal.

And he was criticized for teaching normal people. He didn't just teach monks. And he was a great writer.

He wrote great, great books. He wrote very difficult books on deep philosophy subjects that Ben was talking about today. And, when my teacher was about 18 or something, my teacher was assigned to work in the kitchen.

Actually, he bought the groceries for one of Pabongka Rinpoche's retreats. Like 2,000 people. So, my teacher was supposed to go buy the groceries.

And then, for some weird reason, Pabongka Rinpoche walked into his room and grabbed him by the head. My teacher was a naughty boy until then. And he was not going to be a Geshe at all.

And that's why he was doing grocery service. And Pabongka Rinpoche conked his head and said, this one's going to be good. And after that, something happened to him.

And my teacher won the debate against every monk in Tibet when he took his Geshe. He was the best of 15,000 monks. Because he got this bunk on his head.

You need a bunk. So, anyway, the next person in lineage is Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, Khenpo Rinpoche, whose photo is here. And he's your grandfather.

[Speaker 2]
Alright, Grand Lama.

[Speaker 1]
Sorry, I'm sorry, Chodron Rinpoche. I take it back. The next one is Chodron Rinpoche.

Born 1901, I believe. Passed away in 1981. And he's one of the two teachers of the current Dalai Lama.

And he's the greatest writer who ever lived in Tibet, I think. His writing is extraordinary. And he wrote the book that you are studying.

He wrote the Lam Rim from his teacher's teaching. So, he took notes very well. There's no recording, right?

No microphone. 2,000 people. And he took the notes and he wrote this book.

And I think it's the greatest Buddhist book on this planet. And there's a lot of competition. There's 200,000 other books.

I think it's the greatest. That's why I'm teaching it. And that's why you're going to teach it.

So, it's the most helpful book you can teach somebody in this world. So, then he taught it and Pabongka taught it to my teacher, Chodron Rinpoche Geshe Lhotsen Tharchin. He was born in 1921.

And he passed away in 2004. An extraordinary teacher.

[Speaker 2]
Walked out of... He became the highest Geshe in his time. And then he became the debate master of the Tantric College, Gyu Med Tantric College.

There are two Tantric Colleges in Tibet. The person who becomes the debate master becomes the abbot. Who becomes the abbot becomes the holder of Tsongkhapa's throne.

[Speaker 1]
So, he was number three as a young man before they lost Tibet. So, he's an amazing teacher. Came to America in 1972 and started teaching.

Some of us were lucky enough to study with him. He taught me all day for many years. He wouldn't take any money from me for his whole life.

Extraordinary teacher. Geshe Michael taught you. You know him.

All right.