Безупречная: вторая глава величайшего классического труда Чже Цонгкапы о пустоте (2015, Гвадалахара, Мексика), занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
Then, I think it was last year when I was in Guadalajara, Alejandro asked me could we have two special classes every retreat? Something more difficult. I like it.

Nobody asked me, you know. So, this is going to be a little bit deeper class. Chinese like it, yeah yeah.

And there will be a similar class in Taipei, in January, for two days.

[Speaker 2]
They asked me to do a deeper class. So, it's not for the public, but anybody can come, and it's free.

[Speaker 1]
There's a very rare commentary to Diamond Cutter Sutra. It's by Master Kamalashila. He lived just after Xuanzang.

So, that commentary didn't reach China. He was born about the same time that Xuanzang came to India. And it's a very cool commentary.

So, it's about a hundred and thirty pages. It has thirteen kinds of emptiness in it. So, I thought we'll teach that in Taipei in the afternoon, for free, for the serious people.

And then in the evening, we'll also do emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
How to see emptiness, like general talk.

[Speaker 1]
I think in Taipei and Taichung. That class is DCI level 7. Very important.

[Speaker 2]
It's the most important one.

[Speaker 1]
How to see emptiness directly. Practical instructions.

[Speaker 2]
Like, do this, do this, do this, do this, you see emptiness.

[Speaker 1]
I think it's the first time anybody made a teaching like that. So, I took it from many places. And so, that's also very important if you can come.

And we will do it here in about two years or something. So, if you're not going to die in two years, you can wait. Okay.

So, the book we're studying this afternoon is by Je Tsongkapa. It's called Gongpa Rabsel. Say gongpa.

[Speaker 2]
Gongpa.

[Speaker 1]
Rabsel. Gongpa. Rabsel.

So, Buddha taught emptiness in sutras like Shunjin, Chinkanjin, Boroboromido. Prajnaparamita. Then, about 500 years ...

no, yeah about 600 years after Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
700 years.

[Speaker 1]
There came a great teacher, and he's so great sometimes his nickname is Buddha number two. And he's called Nagarjuna. Then, in those 700 years, the teaching about emptiness got a little bit lost.

Then Nagarjuna woke it up. Then, it's two and a half thousand years now since Buddha taught. During that time, very few people saw emptiness directly.

Because they didn't go to Taipei. But, he's one of them. So, we call his name Arya Nagarjuna.

In Sanskrit, Arya means somebody who saw emptiness directly. So, he wrote a book about emptiness. He called it Wisdom.

It's just called Wisdom. It's 27 small chapters in poetry, and very very cool. There's an American poet ...

America is not like China, okay? China literature is 5,000 years old. America literature is like 100 years old.

It's like Ayrton's baby. But, we do have one poet named Edgar Allan Poe, and he wrote poetry a little bit like scary. And somebody asked him, how did you write this nice poetry?

He said, I always drink one bottle of wine before I write. I think you have to drink one bottle of wine every time you read Nagarjuna. Just kidding.

Now the newspaper will say I said that. But, it's difficult to understand in a normal state of mind. And many people tried to translate it, and it's terrible.

So, someday we should do it together. Then, it's a long story, but to say short way, 400 years later came a master called Chandrakirti, and he wrote a book called Entering the Middle Way. Madhyamaka Avatara.

Madhyamaka Avatara. In Sanskrit. And that's also poetry, and very very famous about emptiness.

That book's structure is the same structure as the bodhisattva levels. So, there are ten bodhisattva levels. When you see emptiness directly with love in your heart, you reach level one.

It's almost impossible to see emptiness directly. But, for bodhisattva, this is the beginning. Then you go up through ten levels.

Those ten levels match the perfections, which is the things that bodhisattvas do to help the whole world. Like Spiderman ten levels. Okay?

The first six are ... we call six perfections. What are those six?

They also match the first six meditations which we are learning this week. Joe gave me my city and my country and all these things by giving. Joe gave me all the happiness I find in my life by following ethical way of life.

Joe gave my face beauty. Okay, in my case, Joe was a little lazy, okay?

[Speaker 2]
And all this beauty comes from ...

[Speaker 1]
Joe never got angry or upset. Then ... how now?

We're not to number four, okay? Which we'll talk about this evening. But, oftentimes you ...

like especially if you're teaching, or in your job, you try to ... the people who work for you, you want them to respect you. Even if you have a yoga studio, it's easier to teach the student if the student respect the teacher.

So, like Sri Patavi Joyce ... I met him twice, so I tell everybody I know him very well. And in his school, I was there at the old school, and he was very tough.

And I saw one student didn't listen to him.

[Speaker 2]
He kicked him out like that, you know?

[Speaker 1]
My Lama had many American students came to stay in his monastery. They have Tibetan monk, Mongolian monk, Chinese monk. All the Americans who came there, he kicked them out.

Only one survived. Then, we would like it when we are teaching, or we are doing our job, our career, even like yoga teacher, we would like to have the karma that the student respect us, and the student listen to what we say, because they can improve. If you're a parent, I'd like to welcome Pao's father.

Yeah. You did a good job. If you're a parent, you would like your children to listen to you.

So, what is the karma? It's like a leadership karma. What's the karma to have people listen to you?

To respect you. I used to be on the board of directors of a very big company. I remember we had a meeting one day, you know?

And the guy ... we spent like four hours in the board meeting. All the directors are there.

Then, they said, we have to cut expenses. This year the sales are not so good.

[Speaker 2]
This is diamond company. We have to cut the expenses.

[Speaker 1]
Then, the guy in charge of the building, he says, I have an idea.

[Speaker 2]
What's that? Let's get cheaper toilet paper.

[Speaker 1]
Like, if you go to Starbucks, the toilet paper is half size.

[Speaker 2]
Sometimes also no soap.

[Speaker 1]
Very bad combination. Okay. He said, let's cut it this way, and let's cut it this way.

Then, he said, boss said, okay, very good idea. Then, I'm like ...

[Speaker 2]
you know?

[Speaker 1]
Then, they said, Michael, do you have a suggestion? Then, I said, in this building, we have an eight-story building, twelve-story building. Every day, we do 300,000 diamonds.

You have to pick them up with tweezers, like this. Sometimes, if you hold the tweezer too hard, the diamond will go PEEP. Then, everybody ...

in the diamond company, everybody knows what everybody else's butt looks like. They are looking for the diamond. One time, we ...

one guy lost five carat diamond. Then, next to our building, there's an accounting building.

[Speaker 2]
We looked all night. We couldn't find it.

[Speaker 1]
Next day, one accountant came.

[Speaker 2]
Is this your diamond? It went under the wall, to the next building.

[Speaker 1]
You know? And, he's very honest.

[Speaker 2]
He promised.

[Speaker 1]
So, you know, I have a suggestion. I noticed, in the elevator, when I go home, there's many diamonds on the ...

[Speaker 2]
in the elevator carpet, because people walk on the diamond, it sticks on your shoe.

[Speaker 1]
Then, I said, we can save like tens of thousands of dollars. Just put a special grill in the elevator. Then, everybody said stupid idea, stupid idea.

Then, next to the vice-president, the owner's wife. I have idea.

[Speaker 2]
What's the idea?

[Speaker 1]
Every year, we give a box, a big piece of chocolate to the ... all the customers. It has our name on it.

It's like, like size of a computer. She said, let's cut the chocolate this way. And, we only give half.

And, do we give half to other person? We can save two hundred dollars. Every year.

Then, everyone's, good idea! So, why people respect stupid idea, and don't respect a good idea? This is the fourth, the fourth perfection.

[Speaker 2]
Have fun doing Dharma. Excited. Turn on.

Too many projects.

[Speaker 1]
Let's do this, no, let's do this, let's do this.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Like that. That's a fourth perfection.

Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Angie said this morning, have fun. Like, when you do your yoga, have fun.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
That's very interesting connection.

[Speaker 2]
If you want people to respect you as boss, you must have fun.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? It's cool. It's cool.

It's very cool. Okay? If your kids don't listen to you, you are not having enough fun with Dharma.

Okay? So, to fix it is, is fun. Okay, that's the fourth one.

Fifth one? Oh, by the way, two weeks later, I'm going home. There's a big fat guy in the elevator.

I'm like, what are you doing? He said, I'm putting special screen in the elevator. The boss's wife had a new idea.

Then they don't have to give me some reward, you know? Okay, anyway, number five? Meditation.

Number six? Understand the pen.

[Speaker 2]
Everything coming from me.

[Speaker 1]
These are the first six bodhisattva level. At each level, when you become super expert, you can reach level number one. Like, giving.

You are super expert giver. You can reach level number one.

[Speaker 2]
If you become super expert being nice to people, you reach level number two.

[Speaker 1]
What's the third one? Yeah, super expert not getting upset. Today I talked to somebody, they said, Geshe-la, I joined a Sangha a few months ago in Guadalajara.

My life used to be okay. Now, everyday disaster. What is that?

The minute ...

[Speaker 2]
if you are a lazy person wasting your equipment, just watch TV or buy things all day, the demons don't bother you, because you are doing what they want.

[Speaker 1]
Then, if you try to meditate a little bit, you will have a lot of disasters. They say, gong numpa means, somebody stick their head up a little bit above the other people.

[Speaker 2]
Then the demons are waiting with a hammer.

[Speaker 1]
Everybody watching TV, very good, very good. Wah! This head came up!

She's trying to meditate! They will cause you some problems. So, patient.

Don't get upset. So, these are the first six bodhisattva levels. So, I'm ...

so, seven ... oh no, yeah, four hundred plus ... eight hundred and fifty years after that, people didn't understand Chandrakirti's explanation of Nagarjuna's explanation of the Buddha.

So, a lama came named Tsongkapa, and he's the teacher of the first Dalai Lama.

[Speaker 2]
Then he wrote a big book about those ten bodhisattva levels.

[Speaker 1]
And he explained Chandrakirti and Nagarjuna. And the translation will be a thousand pages. I finished about ...

in three or four years, I finished about one quarter, okay?

[Speaker 2]
It's very difficult.

[Speaker 1]
So, a few days ago, I finished the second chapter. And I want to teach it to you. So, I picked the best parts, because we don't have much time.

So, there's a reading. You have the So, in Arizona, we have a chocolate company called ... what's the name?

What's it called? It's across the street from ... anyway, very famous chocolate maker.

Sees Candy. Sees Candy. S-E-E-S.

How do you know about it? You didn't give me any. Then, it's very expensive, but they sell a little tiny box, just four pieces, and you can get a taste, you know?

I'm selling you sample box.

[Speaker 2]
You can get ...

[Speaker 1]
you can get a taste of Tsongkapa.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Chapter two. How to lead ethical life.

Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And I chose a very difficult part. Okay, you ready? But very important.

Okay, so first, he's very very cool. Like this carpet here. Tibetan carpet.

[Speaker 2]
There's a start with a brown carpet.

[Speaker 1]
So, Tsongkapa, when he explains emptiness, he takes all of Chandrakirti's words from 800 years before. From the time of Xuanzang. And he put it ...

he hides it in the book. So, I like to show the hiding. So, first we will have the poetry of Chandrakirti.

And then, I will show you how Tsongkapa mixes it in his words.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, you ready?

[Speaker 1]
,GAL TE DE NAS DRIN DAG RANG BZHIN DAG, ,DE PHYIR DE NAS TSUL KHRIMS DAG MIN GYUR, ,DE PHYIR DE NAS BDAG TU GSUM PHRAG LA'ANG, ,GNYIS LO RGYU BA YANG DAG PHRA' BAR GYUR, This is Chandrakirti's poetry, in English. If they were to view, if they were to see, that being nice to other people exists from its own side, they would be immoral. Okay?

Okay? What's the meaning? Somebody's doing very nice things for other people, but they don't understand the pen.

Then the things they do to other people are hurting those people. Okay? Like, I don't know, what's the opposite of killing?

Teach yoga and give vegetables. It's opposite of killing somebody. You are protecting their life, but if you don't understand where that person is coming from while you give them vegetables, you are killing them.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Very, very crazy idea. Okay? Ready?

[Speaker 2]
Okay, this is the verse, I like it.

[Speaker 1]
Therefore, it says real bodhisattva at the second level. Let's talk about it.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
If I do yoga, will I get stronger and thinner? Yes or no? Maybe.

So, my first teacher was Jiva Mukti. Lady Ruth.

[Speaker 2]
Lady Ruth.

[Speaker 1]
Unbelievable, very close to Sri Patavi Jois. Then, you know, she told me first time, she told me advice. I said, look, I cannot come to the yoga studio every day.

I have to travel. I'm always traveling. So, David Life was there, and they gave me advice.

When you travel, you know, look on the internet, find the closest yoga studio to your hotel, and just go, and maybe you have a good class, maybe you have a bad class, you know? But you will learn new things, because you will meet new teachers. So, I had many interesting experiences.

In Hong Kong, I went to class. Nobody, nobody speaks one word of English. Then I found out yoga is universal language.

You don't need to understand what the teachers say.

[Speaker 2]
Just do what they do.

[Speaker 1]
And it was fun, it was really fun. Then I remember, I took one class in like New Orleans or something, and I'm waiting for the class to start, you know, and one lady come in.

[Speaker 2]
She's pregnant, and I'm like, that's cool.

[Speaker 1]
Pregnant lady come to class. Then second one came in.

[Speaker 2]
She's also pregnant. Fifteen pregnant women come in.

[Speaker 1]
I'm the only guy, I'm the only one not pregnant.

[Speaker 2]
I said, what kind of class is this? Prenatal class.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, I'll take it anyway. Then I went to other class in New York, you know? I just went to the studio, I said, give me the next class.

What's the next class?

[Speaker 2]
Restorative class.

[Speaker 1]
Then I said, okay, I'll take it, you know? Then I said, by the way, what is restorative class? This is the yoga special class for people who got hurt doing yoga before.

Then I'm like, do you charge them?

[Speaker 2]
Yes. That's a good business. First you hurt them, and you charge them to hurt them.

[Speaker 1]
Then you charge them for a restorative class. You can get double money, you know? So it means, we say, yoga has shunyata.

In yoga sutra, it's called nirbhasa, clear light, nirbhasa.

[Speaker 2]
Yoga has clear light.

[Speaker 1]
It means yoga has emptiness. If you have good seeds when you go into the yoga class, you will get stronger and thinner, you know? If you have bad seeds and you take the same class, you will get hurt, and then you have to pay again for restorative class.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
So, the yoga doesn't make you strong.

[Speaker 2]
It's your seeds.

[Speaker 1]
The yoga class with good seeds make you strong.

[Speaker 2]
The same class with bad seed hurt you.

[Speaker 1]
You have trouble with your mother-in-law. Very unusual. And for her birthday, you buy her a shower ...

what do you call it? This thing to put in the shower, pretty, pretty mat in the shower. And then she, first time she used it, she fall down on her foot.

So, this is the emptiness of giving. If you don't understand it, you will get discouraged. You will teach people Dharma, and then they go crazy, and they hurt you.

You teach people in the ...

[Speaker 2]
many yoga teacher got sued, you know?

[Speaker 1]
So, you try to do a nice thing for somebody, but your seeds are bad. Then, they hurt you. Then, people who don't understand emptiness, they will quit teaching yoga.

I don't want to teach these crazy people. Those people broke their ethics.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? If they understand the three spheres, what does it mean? Three spheres.

[Speaker 1]
Every time you do something nice for somebody, you have to understand three spheres. What are the three spheres of protecting life? So, you are giving carrots to all your friends instead of chocolate.

You are trying to protect them. You are avoiding hurting them by giving them cookies, churros, chocolate. Okay?

The person you give the carrot, and avoiding to give them bad food, and the person doing the nice thing, each one has shunyata, nirvasa, in the Yoga Sutra. Each one is empty. What does that mean?

The person you're trying to help is coming from what you did in the past. The person that's helping them, which is you, also coming from what you did in the past. And the action you do for them, like yoga teacher, also coming from what you did in the past.

[Speaker 2]
For example, you met your yoga teacher because in the past, you're happy to share what you understand with other people.

[Speaker 1]
And that creates a teacher in your life. And that's why you met your yoga teacher. If you don't understand that, and you try to teach somebody, and instead of being respectful, they try to hurt you.

If you understand nirvasa, clear light, you will be happy. You won't get angry. And you won't quit teaching.

[Speaker 2]
Oh, this coming from something I did before. This person's not respecting me, because ...

[Speaker 1]
I didn't have enough fun in my dharma before.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Then you won't get discouraged. Oh, this person is not respecting me. How to fix it?

Should you talk to them? Should you kick them out of the yoga studio? Charge them more money?

No! Have more fun teaching!

[Speaker 2]
You're not having enough fun. That's why they don't respect you. So there are two kinds of teachers.

One doesn't understand the thing. Then they will get angry at the bad students. The second kind, they understand where things coming from.

And if the student is naughty, that teacher will fix them, not by talking to them, not by hurting them, but by changing their own seed.

[Speaker 1]
Oh, I'm not having enough fun with my dharma.

[Speaker 2]
Like, when I see the five minute app, I'm like, I'm so busy.

[Speaker 1]
It's better Geshe-la give me one hour meditation, because that's impossible.

[Speaker 2]
Now he gave me five minute meditation.

[Speaker 1]
Anyone can find five minutes. I hate this app. Okay?

That's not enough enthusiasm.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, now we can understand this part of the text. ,SHES PA NI GANG GI PHYIR, ,DGE SLONG KA GCIG SO LTAR LAS BRTZAM STE, ,TSUL KHRIMS CHE YONGS SU BDAG PA YIN GYANG GAL TE, ,DE NI CHEN NAM LA RANG, ,ZHING GI GRUB PAR BDAG PA MI'I SPANG NA, ,DE PHYIR GYI CHEN DE, ,DGE SLONG DE TSUL KHRIMS BDAG PA MI'I RGYUR TE, So, suppose you have a monk. Very good monk.

[Speaker 2]
Never tell the dirty joke during the class.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Very proper, you know, very peaceful, you know. There are 253 monks vow.

There are 364 nuns vow. And I'm not going to make the joke which makes Jigme angry about why nuns need more than a hundred more vows.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. But, suppose that monk or nun is very proper. They keep every small vow very carefully.

For example, a real monk or nun in the old days, you know, you're supposed to have your robes, bowl, a stick, that's for dogs and stuff. It's called katvanga, right? And then like danda, dandasana, this stick is called danda, stick.

Then, we're also supposed to carry a strainer, a sieve, a screen, a small screen. We're supposed to keep one. It's like a screen for spaghetti or something, noodle.

You put the noodle in, the water comes through the noodle, stays here. Every monk's supposed to carry one all the time. Why?

When you drink water from a stream, you're supposed to pour it through the strainer to take out the small bugs. This is ahimsa, ahimsa, non-violence. We are supposed to strain any water that we drink.

It's one of the vows. So, all the monks—suppose this monk is very, very proper, but they think the pen is coming from the pen. They think the yoga will make you strong and thin by itself without being nice to other people.

DE'I PHYIR GYUR CHEN DE, DGE SLONG DE'I TSUL KHRIMS BDAG PA MIN GYUR TE That monk is not pure. Okay? They are doing all the rules properly, but they are immoral.

Like, like terrorist. Like someone who kills somebody. They are the same.

Tsongkapa said that. It's very strong. He didn't say they are good monks with wrong ideas.

[Speaker 2]
He said they're the worst monks.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Understand? MAS FUERTE.

Okay, here we go. Difficult. TSUL KHRIMS CHAL BA'I TSUL KHRIMS DANG LDAN PA LTAR CHOS PA STE They are immoral, and they are pretending to be moral.

GO'I RDOL TSEG PA LAS Then, then people said to Tsongkapa, come on man, this is too much, you know? Okay, he's a good monk. He little bit doesn't understand where things are coming from.

Why don't you call him a nice monk who's a little bit stupid? Don't call him immoral.

[Speaker 2]
Don't call him terrorist. It's too much.

[Speaker 1]
He's just a normal monk. He doesn't understand the pen. It's okay, we can fix it, you know?

[Speaker 2]
It's not like he's killing people.

[Speaker 1]
And Tsongkapa said, no, you heard me right.

[Speaker 2]
He's same as a terrorist.

[Speaker 1]
Then, he said, you don't believe me? GO'I RDOL TSEG PA LAS GO'I RDOL TSEG PA LAS means, I'll teach you from Ratnakuta. Ratnakuta is a big group of sutras spoken by the Buddha.

[Speaker 2]
And he said, okay, you don't believe me? I'll teach you from Ratnakuta. I'll teach you from Ratnakuta, which is a group of sutras spoken by the Buddha.

[Speaker 1]
U ZUNG means Kashyapa. Kashyapa is a disciple of the Buddha. It's also the name of the last Buddha before this one.

So, there are many Buddhas. This one is just this world. DGE SLONG KHAR CIG GSOD CHEN DANG LDAN PA YIN TE This is direct quotation from the Buddha.

Some monks, they are very pure. They are following all their rules. SO SO THAR PA'I SDOM PA SDOM PA'I DAM ZHING NAS Okay, they keep their vows strictly.

Every day. All day. DAM ZHING CHOG PA DANG CHUG YUL PHUN TSUM THOB PA And they know all those rituals, you know.

There are a hundred monks rituals.

[Speaker 2]
Like, if I leave my robes here accidentally, and I don't sleep in the same room with them, I break a vow. Then there's a ritual to clean it.

[Speaker 1]
Then there are a hundred rituals like that.

[Speaker 2]
So, this monk knows all the rituals, and he does them very good.

[Speaker 1]
CHUG YUL PHUN TSUM THOB PA His behavior is perfect. KHAR NA MA THOB PA PHRA RAB NA MA'ANG RGYAS PA LTA BA When he thinks about doing something wrong, even very small thing, like a monk is not allowed to keep a piece of cloth for more than ten days. Extra piece of cloth.

[Speaker 2]
We supposed to have two sets of robes, and that's all.

[Speaker 1]
Then if someone say, here's some extra cloth, you can make new robes.

[Speaker 2]
Within ten days, you have to make robes out of that cloth, and throw out one of your old ones.

[Speaker 1]
This is strict rule, okay? Then, this monk is super careful. YANG LTA PA LANGS PA'I LHAG PA'I ZHIG RNAMS LA BLOB CING LUS DANG SNGAGS DANG YID KYI LAS YONGS SU LTA PA Everything they do is pure.

Everything they say is pure.

[Speaker 2]
Even their thoughts are pure.

[Speaker 1]
TSOR BA YONGS SU BDAG means how they make their living.

[Speaker 2]
Like, you teach in a yoga studio, or you have a small store, or you give seminars around Mexico to make money. The way you make money?

[Speaker 1]
Honest.

[Speaker 2]
No corruption. Very careful with money. We did a program in Mexico City a few days ago.

[Speaker 1]
The morning after we finished, Alfredo said, let's have breakfast. And he said, here's the money.

[Speaker 2]
Here's your share. Here's our share, which we are giving to charity, and here's the account, Geshe Michael. Then other countries take six months.

[Speaker 1]
I won't say what country. After six months I will get an account, you know?

[Speaker 2]
They stay up the whole night.

[Speaker 1]
Everything's ... the last dollar is perfect. Then Buddhist people shouldn't worry too much about money.

[Speaker 2]
But when you do accounting for the Dharma, it should be perfect.

[Speaker 1]
I used to be the accountant in my monastery. Then I told one of my lamas, I said, I hate this job. I hate accounting.

Then he goes, what are you talking about? You know, I said, why are you angry? Who was the accountant at Nalanda Monastery?

I said, I don't know, that was like almost 2,000 years ago.

[Speaker 2]
Nagarjuna.

[Speaker 1]
What?

[Speaker 2]
Second Buddha was accountant? Yes.

[Speaker 1]
Why? When you make a mistake in Dharma accounting, the bad karma is so strong, you'll be poor for a thousand lifetimes. So, only Nagarjuna is pure enough to keep the accounts.

Then I'm like, I'm like Nagarjuna, this monk.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
So, I also taught. That monk, very careful with money. DE DAG TU MA BA YIN TE, SOS TSUL KHRIMS CHAL BA TSUL KHRIMS DANG LDAN PA LTAR BCOS PA But, that monk, DAG TU MA BA, DAG TU MA BA means, no, this is DAG and not THA.

Okay? This DAG means self.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Atman, Atman. He believes the pen is coming from the pen. Okay?

He doesn't understand the pen is coming from his mind because he has a seed, because he shared pens last month.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Okay.

[Speaker 1]
He thinks you get the pen at the store. He thinks the pen was made in the factory. Okay?

He believes that. He doesn't understand you get more pens by giving other people your pens.

[Speaker 2]
He doesn't understand you get more pens by giving other people your pens.

[Speaker 1]
So, DAG TU MA BA means, he says things come from themselves. US SU'O KHA SHAB PA He's still talking to his student.

[Speaker 2]
Who? Who's talking?

[Speaker 1]
Our Buddha. Our Buddha. You have to say our Buddha.

There are a thousand and one Buddhas. He's our Buddha. Like the UNAM Puma is my team.

[Speaker 2]
Never mind.

[Speaker 1]
KHA SHAB PA DE NI TSUL KHRIMS CHAL BA He is immoral. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
He's hurting people.

[Speaker 1]
TSUL KHRIMS DANG LDAN PAR DAG CHOS PA He's faking it.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
He's not a real monk.

[Speaker 2]
He's a fake monk. Looks good. Not real.

[Speaker 1]
Then I remember every place I was when my Lama taught me these words. So, I lived with my Lama for 30 years. Very high Lama.

[Speaker 2]
Lama.

[Speaker 1]
Then I don't need a dictionary. If I see this word CHOS PA and I don't know what it means, I just have to go ask him. So, I remember when I read this first time, we were in the Howard Johnson's coffee shop at the Delaware border before the bridge.

[Speaker 2]
And he says, CHOS PA Here, this is CHOS PA. He was angry.

[Speaker 1]
This is CHOS PA. I said, this is cream dream. Cream dream.

[Speaker 2]
Ah, es crema de los sueños.

[Speaker 1]
Meng shang ... Milk meng shang. Why they call cream dream?

This is for making tea. Why did he stop before the Delaware bridge? He has to drink his Tibetan tea.

[Speaker 2]
Then, I have to tell the waitress, you know, he's having tea.

[Speaker 1]
He's about like ...

[Speaker 2]
He's short, but dynamite.

[Speaker 1]
And he always wear his robes. I told the waitress, he's Tibetan. They drink 15 cups of tea every day.

[Speaker 2]
So, he needs butter. He needs salt. And he needs milk.

And he needs cream. In the tea.

[Speaker 1]
Then, she brought him cream dream. It's CHOS PA. It's CHOS PA milk.

What's CHOS PA? Now tell me.

[Speaker 2]
Fake. Fake. Lousy fake.

CHOS PA is false.

[Speaker 1]
He said, this stuff tastes like Thai Chimba. Then, I learned a new word.

[Speaker 2]
I learned two words on that day.

[Speaker 1]
This is not cream, this is CHOS PA.

[Speaker 2]
Fake cream. It tastes like Thai Chimba. I said, what's Thai Chimba?

Horse piss.

[Speaker 1]
It's pee of the horse. Okay, understand?

[Speaker 2]
That monk is CHOS PA. Fake monk.

[Speaker 1]
Very, very proper. Never tell bad joke in the class. Never do rap music.

And very proper. But they don't understand where things coming from.

[Speaker 2]
And their morality is harmful. Okay, understand? It's not just wrong.

It's hurt people. Very heavy. Who said that?

Buddha. Okay, so Tsongkapa's like, don't blame me. I said it, but I'm just repeating what Buddha said.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, it's not my idea, it's Buddha's idea. It's El Jefe. The big boss, in Spanish.

USUNG SHEN YANG, not only that, this is still the Buddha, OKA SHYAPA. Not only that, it's okay we don't have a break, is that okay? Again, okay.

DE LA DGE SLONG KHAR CIG BYAMS PA'I YONTENG CHOS NI YANG DAG PA'I LAM KYANG So, there are monks who keep the twelve ways of life of the old monks. They are super monks. They keep the twelve difficult way of life of the old, old monk system.

Then, Tsongkapa doesn't say what are those twelve. So, because John Brady put all the books in the computer for twenty-eight years, I just have to ask the computer, what are the twelve ways of life of the old, old monks?

[Speaker 2]
What are the twelve ways of life of the old, old monks? You want to go deeper. Okay, so we are taking detour to the twelve ways of life.

[Speaker 1]
Then we have to come back to the good monk who's a bad monk.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
And we only have thirty-five minutes.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
I put the twelve in your book, number one. That monk doesn't keep food in their house.

[Speaker 2]
When they need food, they go beg other people's house.

[Speaker 1]
Do you have leftovers?

[Speaker 2]
Do they knock on the door?

[Speaker 1]
Did you eat breakfast this morning?

[Speaker 2]
Yes.

[Speaker 1]
Did you throw away any food? Yes. Can I have it?

[Speaker 2]
This is the real old monk system.

[Speaker 1]
And we are not allowed to say no.

[Speaker 2]
So, if the family come out with half-eaten sausage, put it in your bowl, you have to eat it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. So, people ask why Tibetan monks eating meat. It comes from the old days.

Anything they throw, any junk food they put in your bowl, leftover food, you have to eat it. You can't say, don't you have any half-eaten churro?

[Speaker 2]
No churro.

[Speaker 1]
You can't ask for something you like. You have to eat whatever they put in your bowl. Number one, of the twelve.

Number two, only eat once a day. Okay. So, only have that main meal once a day.

And we are not supposed to eat after twelve o'clock. So, I kept that rule for many years. Then I started to do yoga.

[Speaker 2]
My teacher said, you have to do yoga in the morning.

[Speaker 1]
And then, don't eat before yoga.

[Speaker 2]
Then I can't eat in the first half of the day, and I can't eat in the second half of the day. So, I changed.

[Speaker 1]
Now I eat main meal afterward. Try not to eat much in the morning.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Number three, eat that one meal during one sitting, because some bad monks used to get the food and sit for six hours and eat and eat and eat and eat. Okay? Or they come back, they get a big bowl of food, they eat half at nine o'clock, they eat some more at twelve o'clock, they eat some more at three o'clock.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, you have to eat it all together at one time. No cheating.

[Speaker 1]
Then, only can wear monk's robe.

[Speaker 2]
Cannot wear jeans. Cannot wear t-shirt. Geshe Michael, why you wear jeans?

That's keep a higher vow, to make the student comfortable. If I shave my head, go to give a talk to Communist Party of Xi'an, like we did in July, and I'm wearing this, they will kick me out in two minutes.

[Speaker 1]
So, I have to adjust to my student. Okay, number five. That robe should be made of some cheap cloth, not fancy cloth.

So, some people said, I'm monk. Then they put diamond on their cloth, you know. So, it should be cheap, cheap cloth.

[Speaker 2]
Number six.

[Speaker 1]
Then Buddha got more tough. That cloth should be taken out of the garbage. In America English we call, that big garbage can is called dumpster?

Dumpster?

[Speaker 2]
And it's a little bit high. Then, very poor people, they have to, they climb up, open the top, and they jump inside, and they try to find things in there. It's called dumpster diving.

[Speaker 1]
So, real monk is supposed to be dumpster diver.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, you find junk cloth, like someone's old jeans, someone's old t-shirt, someone's old socks, and then you're supposed to cut them into squares.

[Speaker 1]
Then you're supposed to color red color. Then you sew them together to make robe. So nowadays, they take one big piece of expensive cloth, they cut it into small squares, and you pay extra to sew it back.

Okay? Alright. That's why monk robe always has these patches.

[Speaker 2]
And it's corruption, it's a corruption.

[Speaker 1]
They buy expensive cloth, then they cut it up and sew it back together. They didn't go dumpster diving. Okay?

This is the old way.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, next one.

[Speaker 1]
Stay only in the Dharma center very far from the cities. Then in Buddhism, there's a small monastery, medium monastery, and a big monastery. How many monks in a small monastery?

How many monks in a medium monastery? How many monks in a major monastery? It doesn't matter.

Okay? A monastery with five monks can be major. A monastery with three thousand monks can be minor.

Why?

[Speaker 2]
Why?

[Speaker 1]
It doesn't matter how many monks are there. A monastery is major if it's five hundred gyan trak from the nearest city. So, gyan trak is ...

this is complicated, gyan trak is like, I don't know, you can say five thousand, that's like, I don't know, ten miles. If the monastery is ten miles away from the nearest city with a grocery store, for example, that's like medium monastery, even if there's only five monks there.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? If the monastery is fifty miles from the nearest grocery store, and it only has five monks, that's a major monastery. Cool?

[Speaker 1]
When we build Diamond Mountain Retreat Center, it's almost impossible to find a piece of land in United States which is fifty miles from the nearest grocery store.

[Speaker 2]
But we did it.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Very quiet. Very inconvenient.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
But it's cool.

[Speaker 2]
Super cool. So we ...

[Speaker 1]
in the modern times, I think major retreat center is the one that doesn't have cell phone coverage. So, Diamond Mountain is like that. It's one of the only places in America where your cell phone doesn't work in the retreat valley.

Okay, how many we have?

[Speaker 2]
Seven.

[Speaker 1]
Number eight. And your bedroom should be the base of the closest tree when it gets done. That's why monk has to have this thing.

It's called Zen. It's a sleeping bag.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
In the old days. Then you just ... you don't own anything.

You don't have a house.

[Speaker 2]
When it gets dark, you find a good tree, in case it rains.

[Speaker 1]
And you wrap this, you know ... This is really long, okay? It's ...

okay? And it's nice.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
I like them. It's very good for rain and ... it's cold.

Okay? Pull. Check it out.

Okay? This is legal Zen. Okay?

It has to be a certain number of arm lengths. Okay? That's your bed.

If you don't fold it back up immediately in the monastery, they will hit you. Okay. And when you sleep, number ten ...

always sleep under open sky.

[Speaker 2]
You don't build a house.

[Speaker 1]
Geshe Michael, why you live in a house? Why you have a house? I tried a cave.

I got three friends in the cave.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
I really, I tried to live in a cave. In Arizona, I can show you sometime. Very beautiful.

It has water.

[Speaker 2]
Beautiful cave.

[Speaker 1]
First one, I got visit by green rattlesnake. The ...

[Speaker 2]
the diamond mountain rattlesnake, they are easy rattlesnakes. If they bite you, it gets a swell up for a few days. But the green one, if they bite you, you die in half an hour.

[Speaker 1]
No, no cure. Then, first friend I got was a green rattlesnake. Then, I moved.

I said, oh, this your house? Oh, I'm sorry. I moved to another cave.

Then, about midnight, my second friend, he's a wolf. Then, I'm like, oh, this your house? I'm sorry, I will move.

Then, I found a ... this is like midnight, and the moon was out. I run out of the cave.

I don't know where to go.

[Speaker 2]
Then, something cool happened. I look up, and there's a boulder, big rock. It looked just like my Lama's face in the moonlight.

[Speaker 1]
Then, I said, there must be a cave there. So, I climb up there. Beautiful cave.

Then, I'm like, ah, finally. Then, I meditate. Then, my third friend came.

Then, I said, okay, I won't move. Then, I don't know, he's checking me out.

[Speaker 2]
Then, his friend came.

[Speaker 1]
Then, 100 spiders.

[Speaker 2]
100 spiders.

[Speaker 1]
Then, I'm like, I can do it, I can do it. Then, finally, I'm like, ah, ah, ah. That's why Geshe Michael live in a house.

Number ten. Don't sleep too much.

[Speaker 2]
And in the old times, you sleep in meditation posture. And you don't lay down. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Old monk. And you're not allowed to lean on something. So, there are some monks in Tibet, they do that, they have a little stick here.

They hold it. There's a stick. It's called a sleeping stick.

[Speaker 2]
It looks like crutches, you know? But short. You put it here, and you're like ...

[Speaker 1]
So, I tried that, forget it, it doesn't work. I have a friend who tried that.

[Speaker 2]
And they hurt their legs.

[Speaker 1]
And they cannot walk without a cane.

[Speaker 2]
I think it's too extreme.

[Speaker 1]
Number eleven. So, in India, when somebody dies, in ancient India, you take the body and you throw it in a special area. And the animals come to eat it.

So those ... it's called smarshana in Sanskrit.

[Speaker 2]
Smarshana.

[Speaker 1]
It's a cemetery where you throw the body on the ground.

[Speaker 2]
You don't bury it.

[Speaker 1]
And all the person's things, like their cups and plates and things like that, you throw them with the body. Okay? You don't keep them.

So then there's no fight between the relatives. Then, those smarshana are very dangerous place to go at night. Because tigers, lions, they will come to eat those bodies, you know?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
So, sometimes people meditate there to learn about fear. Because there will be lions eating people's body next to you. So, your food, your clothing, your spoons, bowls, you have to take from those places.

[Speaker 2]
Dead people's things. Okay? Number twelve.

[Speaker 1]
Your mattress that you sleep on, it's made of grass. You just pick a grass and you pile it there and you sleep.

[Speaker 2]
Or leaves.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Okay, when my Lama taught this, there was a very sincere young man in our class. And next day, he moved out of his house.

And he went to sleep in the forest. He told my teacher, I'm going to live very pure. And I will keep the twelve.

And he went to live in the forest in New Jersey. After two days, it snowed.

[Speaker 2]
He came back.

[Speaker 1]
He looked so dirty and he's like ... He said, I think I'm meditating in my house. So, you shouldn't try these twelve unless you have a good teacher who knows about them.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
You are not allowed to do these twelve by yourself. Then the teacher will guide you. Every monk in the monastery has a personal helper older monk.

What's the name of that monk? Nei Lama.

[Speaker 2]
Nei Lama.

[Speaker 1]
Nei means stays with you, stays close to you. So, when you become a monk, they will assign an older monk to guide you. And you are not allowed to do these twelve without an older monk to guide you.

Understand? Okay, so I don't want to hear you are staying in a cave with the spiders or something.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Now, why are we talking about this cave?

[Speaker 2]
Buddha said ...

[Speaker 1]
Okay? Tsongkapa is quoting the sutra. He said, and the Buddha wrapped up, the Buddha finished by saying, Okay, there are some special monks who can keep those twelve.

But, when they look at themselves, they see Michael coming this way. Okay? They don't understand.

[Speaker 2]
When Michael look in the mirror and see blue eyes, he's seeing something that Joe gave him.

[Speaker 1]
But, if he thinks, I have blue eyes, these are me.

[Speaker 2]
This is mine.

[Speaker 1]
I'm Geshe Michael. He doesn't understand everything came from Joe. Then, if you don't understand that, you can be like this, you know.

Okay? You can start to have bad minds.

[Speaker 2]
That kind of monk, they are keeping those twelve things, but they don't understand where they come from.

[Speaker 1]
Usul? What's it mean? Kashyapa?

Kashyapa?

[Speaker 2]
He's still talking to his student.

[Speaker 1]
Tsultrim Chalwa. He's immoral. He's hurting people by keeping the twelve.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, understand? He doesn't understand the pen. That kind of monk is hurting people.

And he's chupa.

[Speaker 1]
Fake.

[Speaker 2]
He's fake.

[Speaker 1]
He's a fake monk. He looks like a good monk, but he's fake. Like cream dream.

Fake, fake coffee, coffee cream. Okay, we almost finished. Hang in there.

[Speaker 2]
Stay there.

[Speaker 1]
I enjoy deeper class.

[Speaker 2]
Then Buddha said something strange.

[Speaker 1]
He says, that's the fourth kind of monk. How many monks did he talk about? Only two.

The first one's keeping his vows very nice.

[Speaker 2]
And he knows all the rituals. And second, the second monk, he's keeping those twelve ways of life.

[Speaker 1]
But the Buddha ends the sentence by saying, that's the fourth. Because in the middle of those two statements there's dot, dot, dot. He didn't give you the whole quotation.

Tsongkapa gave you the first part and the fourth part.

[Speaker 2]
So, if you have ACIP database and search engine, and you are practicing perfection number four, what's that?

[Speaker 1]
Let's check what's number two, what's number three. It's so cool.

[Speaker 2]
Let's go dig into the sutra. Let's try to find that sutra, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Let's find out who's the second monk.

[Speaker 2]
Who's the third monk? If you have John Brady's database, you can do it. You want to go deeper?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, here we go. Okay, monk number two, which he didn't explain, he didn't quote it. Okay, I went to the sutra, I got it for you.

Okay. But he's ... that monk is very good person, but he still has jikta.

Okay, say jikta. Very difficult word. Do you know this Wheel of Life painting?

What's the first ... that's the Wheel of Life, you know? If number one starts, it starts number two, three, four, five.

[Speaker 2]
...

[Speaker 1]
These are the twelve. Okay? Then they trigger each other.

[Speaker 2]
Chain reaction. Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And that's why we suffer. And it's why we die. What's the first one?

Jikta.

[Speaker 2]
Jikta.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, technically, it's jikta.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
It's not just ignorance. It's a special kind of ignorance. What's the picture in the first step of the Wheel of Life?

Yeah, a blind guy, you know? He doesn't know what he's doing. 99.99999% of people who didn't come to this class in Guadalajara, they are like that.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? They have no idea what they're doing. They are looking for money, looking for girlfriend, looking for health, and they don't realize they can have it if they help other people.

[Speaker 1]
Then there's a special kind of ignorance.

[Speaker 2]
For me, for Geshe Michael, that's the ignorance about Michael.

[Speaker 1]
I don't understand Michael. For Alejandro, the first part of the Wheel of Life is misunderstanding Alejandro.

[Speaker 2]
The first time you see emptiness directly, I will see it about Michael.

[Speaker 1]
And you will see it about Alejandro.

[Speaker 2]
And you will see it about candy.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? The first time you understand reality, it's about your own reality.

[Speaker 2]
Yourself.

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
To misunderstand me is the cause of all suffering. And it has a special name. It's called jikta.

A viewpoint which will destroy you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay? It will ruin your life. And there's other reasons to name it that, and I don't want to go too long.

The second kind of good monk who's a bad monk, is the one who doesn't understand himself. Okay? So now you have three.

[Speaker 2]
You are number four.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, okay. Number four, actually number three, okay? Yeah, third one.

Sorry? Yeah. Okay.

This one is very interesting, okay? I don't know why Tsongkapa didn't mention it, but I think it's because it will come later. This third monk is different from the other three.

[Speaker 2]
This monk has love, super love, for other people.

[Speaker 1]
I want you to be happy. I want you to have all your dreams come true. I want you to have a good boyfriend like Adam.

I want you to have the ultimate dog, Gracie. I want you to live in a great place like Sedona. I want your two stores in Colorado to be super successful.

[Speaker 2]
I want you to have a beautiful mom.

[Speaker 1]
I want you to have Andreana hanging out with you, helping you make it, you know? Like, this is the definition of Buddhist love.

[Speaker 2]
I personally want you to have everything you dream of.

[Speaker 1]
This is love. But, okay, here's the but, and that monk, if you go to that monk who has love, and you are discussing this pen, and you say, look man, I have to tell you something.

[Speaker 2]
Do you think this was made in a factory?

[Speaker 1]
You say, you're the stupid monk, okay? Yes. Then I say, you're wrong.

Do you think this is made from plastic? You're wrong. Do you think you get this by buying it in a store?

You're wrong. Do you think somebody brought it in the truck from the factory to the store?

[Speaker 2]
You're wrong. That monk says, just stop, just stop.

[Speaker 1]
This is freaking me out, man. Okay? They call it Jigpa.

He gets freaked out. He's like, look, I just want to have love, okay? Everything groovy.

You know? Don't tell me all this stuff, you know, it wasn't made in a factory, it didn't come out of plastic, it didn't go to the store. I can't handle it, man.

You know, I feel, I feel uncomfortable when you talk about that stuff. The Beatles said, all you need is love.

[Speaker 2]
You know?

[Speaker 1]
All of this philosophy is freaking me out, man. You know, like, just, just, you know, don't, don't do that. Okay?

That monk is, is immoral.

[Speaker 2]
That monk is hurting people.

[Speaker 1]
Why? You can't, your love for other people, if you believe they are coming from their side, will, someday it will break down. If they, if they slap you, you will say, okay, I still love you.

[Speaker 2]
You know? And then they, then they hit you.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, man, oh, yeah, I still love you.

[Speaker 2]
Then they're like, BAM!

[Speaker 1]
I saw a certain big lama one time. And somebody asked him a question. If your neighbor, you know, tells you you're stupid, what should you do?

Then he said, just be calm, be calm, be calm. Then he said, if your neighbor calls you stupid and hits you, what should you do? Then he said, just be calm, calm, stay calm.

[Speaker 2]
Then if he hit you, slap you, and take your girlfriend, what should you do? Then the lama said in a big talk, there are 5,000 people there, he said, you tell that guy, I didn't make it out, okay, I'm just playing.

[Speaker 1]
Then the translator was like, I'm laughing like crazy, you know, everybody else is like, what, what? Because he said it in Tibetan. And then I'm like, then the translator said, tell them you are unhappy.

[Speaker 2]
I'm like, okay. Love, if it doesn't understand other people, if those people hurt you, bad enough, your love will break. But if you understand they come from you, each thing they do to hurt you more and more, the love gets stronger and stronger.

[Speaker 1]
You love them more.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? Because you know what's happening. When you hurt a normal person, a little bit, they're like, okay, I still love you, you know?

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, I still love you.

[Speaker 2]
Bad enough, BAM!

[Speaker 1]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
But, this kind of love, understand where everything come from.

[Speaker 1]
The more people hurt you, the stronger the love gets. Okay? Okay?

So that's the third example. That monk doesn't understand, and that monk's love will fail.

[Speaker 2]
If things get bad enough, that monk's love will fail.

[Speaker 1]
If you don't understand where things coming from, if you do understand, that love gets stronger the more you hurt the other person. Okay? Sorry?

I do? Oh. I think I'd like to stop there, okay?

If it's okay. For me, that's the best place to stop. Don't forget, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Real morality, real kindness, it has to understand where things are coming from.

[Speaker 1]
If it doesn't, it will fail. Okay? Okay?

When things get tough, it will fail. Okay?