Нагарджуна, курс 1 — Мудрость Арьи Нагарджуны, курс 1: Восемь невидимых (2018, Аризона), занятие 3

[Speaker 2]
Okay, let's go.

[Speaker 1]
So, I have a very ambitious plan today. I would like to teach you the whole structure of wisdom, okay? I'd like to teach you ...

and Choney Lama does it in his commentary, and it's very beautiful, it's brilliant, but it's too long to put on your homework, okay? It's like 54 things or something, you know? Because it's a chapter name, and then there's a chapter meaning, okay?

And so, I was thinking how to get it on your homework. I had an inspiration. I translated those two, three pages where Choney Lama explains the whole structure of the whole book, and we're gonna be doing this for five years, and the structure is very important.

So, you guys are the lucky ones, you're gonna hear it from the beginning, and I won't do the structure again. So, I think it's very important. So, I had a nice idea.

Maybe you don't think so, but I put the whole translation on your homework, okay? The whole translation is on your homework, but there are blank spots, understand? So, you just fill them in from your notes, okay?

So, for this homework you're allowed to use your notes, and listen carefully. This first question, which is three pages long, is not on your quiz. So, FANG SONG.

Just relax. What do you call it in Espanol? Chilito.

Relajante. Relajante. Okay?

Just relax, it's not on your quiz, okay? But, basically, get the name of the chapter, and get the meaning of the chapter. So, 27 times 2, right?

54. Now, the other cute thing is, and then on your homework you just fill in the blank space, okay? Easy.

Okay? But, and I can't explain the whole book in one hour, but I can give you the structure, and it's very beautiful. Okay, now, Choney Lama does a very cool thing.

He creates a flow of the whole book, okay? So, like he starts with chapter 8, and then he'll be jumping around, and he saw a flow through the whole book, and his commentary is unbelievable. Unbelievable.

It's like after 2,000 years, somebody wrote 13 ... how many years? 1,600 years.

He saw this flow, and I believe it's correct, okay? So, here we go. Basically, you're gonna write three things.

Chapter number, next to that chapter name, next to that, what's it about? Oftentimes, the name tells you. Oftentimes, the name doesn't tell you.

Okay, here we go. So, fasten your seat belt. If you fall asleep, I'm gonna hit you with something.

Okay, alright. So, the most dangerous kind of misunderstanding, right? Misunderstanding.

Like in the kitchen, if you misunderstand the husband, you will yell back, okay? The most dangerous kind of misunderstanding is focused at me, Michael. So, Michael's misunderstanding, most dangerous one, is focused at Michael, and it sees things about Michael that are not there, like the second husband in the kitchen, okay?

So, misunderstanding me, and misunderstanding mine. Me and mine, okay? Michael and Michael's.

Uta and Uta's. Pao and Pao's, okay? Misunderstanding those things, okay?

Is the subject of chapter 18. I said chapter 8, I made a mistake. It starts with chapter 18, 18, and it's about the me and the mind that don't exist.

The me and the mind that don't exist, okay? For example, in your meditation, you fight to meditate, and thoughts come up, and you say, no, we're meditating, don't think about that guy, okay? Yeah, he said something yesterday, forget it, and you fight with your mind, okay?

But, sometimes your mind listen, and sometimes your mind doesn't listen, because actually, you cannot control your mind. Your mind is like the husband in the kitchen, okay? If you were nice to other people last week, the mind will be quiet during meditation.

If you were not nice to people last week, I don't care what kind of meditation cushion you buy, I don't care how you put your feet, left foot first, right foot first, you hold this finger, you hold this finger, it doesn't matter, it won't work, because your meditation is seeds coming out of your mind, okay? It's not you, it's just seeds coming out of your mind, okay? That's me and my meditation, okay?

So, that's the subject of chapter 18. The name of chapter 18 is, what's the first word? An examination, pariksha, an examination of the person and things, the person and things, okay?

Every chapter is an examination. 27 different proofs of emptiness, minimum, okay? 27 different proofs of emptiness.

Let's take Peter Myrtle's left ear, let's do an examination of Peter Myrtle's left ear, okay? Like, that could also be a chapter 28, okay? So, each time we're gonna pick something, okay?

I don't know, but it's gonna be an examination, okay? How does it exist? How can it work?

And the answer is, it cannot, okay? Here we go, second part. The next chapter he lists is chapter 2 and chapter 8, he puts them together, chapter 2 and chapter 8, and he says, if you prove there's no person to somebody, then they're gonna think two things.

Well, and we had these in Kamalashila, we had these in Kamalashila. Well, if there's no person, who makes karma, you know, in 2018 and gets it back in 2019? Who's there, if there's no person?

Well, who does the karma and who gets it back? Where's the connection, if there's no person, okay? So, chapter 2 and chapter 8 are a reaction to chapter 18, okay?

And they ask another question, well Geshe-la, if there's no Dennis, if Dennis doesn't exist, then who goes to the next life, okay? Who goes to the next life? Who is it that goes to the next life, okay?

Those are two questions that come up. If there's no person, which we learned in chapter 18, then two questions come up. Well, whose connection between doing the karma and getting back the karma, and who's the person connection between this life and next life?

If there's no person, then who is it? What is it, okay? Chapter 8, okay, I think is the answer to the good and bad karma question, okay?

And it's called, what's the first word? An examination of doers and what they do. Doers and what they do.

People who do things and the things they do. Doer and what they do, okay? Karma and result of karma, right?

Chapter 2, and I think it must connect to next life and this life, is called, what's the first word? An examination of coming and going. Actually, it's going and coming, okay?

An examination of going and coming, okay? Is it possible to go? Is it possible to come?

Is it possible to do anything? Okay, the answer is, no, okay? No, okay.

Alright, one kind of doing things, alright? So, it's taking off a little bit from chapter 8. One kind of doing things is perception.

You see colors, you see shapes, you hear sounds, you taste coffee, okay? That's one kind of doing things, okay? And that's chapter 9, okay?

And this is a really cool question, okay? Ready? Or are you underwater?

Not yet. Chapter 9, an examination of whether things are there before you perceive them. Very cool question.

An examination, chapter 9, of whether things are there or not before you see them, okay? Did you come in the room and cat was here already? Or did you come in the room and create cat?

Which one? Okay, that's a cool chapter. I'm looking forward to these chapters, okay?

Alright, now somebody else said, when I come in the room and I see cat, cat really exists, and my mind really exists, and they affect each other. She was here before I came in. I walked in, I looked over there, she's there.

Happy to have you guys here today, thank you for coming. And then there's some kind of interaction between Lama Palma and cat and my eyes. There's some kind of touching going on, right?

And the other guy says, okay? The other guy says, it's like a match and wood. It's like a match and some firewood, okay?

The match caused the fire, okay? The match, you light the match, you touch the wood, it has to touch, and then there'll be a fire, okay? He tries to tell Nagarjuna, look, cat is like the wood, your mind is like the match, then the match touches the cat, and then you have cat, you see cat, the mind, the eye touches cat, okay?

It's just like match and wood, okay? He uses an example which is wrong, okay? But we should examine it.

Who said that? That's nice, that's cool. We should examine this guy's idea.

Does the match have to touch the wood, okay? So, the chapter is called An Examination of Fire and Firewood. An Examination of Fire and Firewood.

Chapter 10. Chapter 10. An Examination of Fire and Firewood.

And that's not our example, it's his example, and it's wrong, somehow, okay? We don't know why, okay? Somehow, that example gets us into the question of whether there is a beginning or an ending to things, and this is one of the famous questions asked to the Buddha which he refused to answer, you know?

Was there a beginning? Which came first, the chicken or the egg, you know? And which will be last, a chicken or an egg, you see?

And Buddha's like ... like, don't ask me this, any answer I give you, you're gonna misunderstand, so I refuse to answer. Fourteen unanswered questions, Buddha.

Okay? So, chapter 11. I'm guessing, I don't know for sure, because I'm also learning this book as we go.

I'm guessing that if Cat was here before I got here, then is there any beginning to things? And is there any end to things? Okay?

So, that's the question. Chapter 11. Examine.

Is there a beginning? And is there an ending? Okay?

And he connects it to chapter 12, because these questions about life are really about pain. What causes our pain? What makes us mortal, you know?

Why do we lose our hair in the middle, but we get extra in the ears? I don't know. Okay?

What caused this suffering? Okay? So, this is chapter 12, also coming from the chapter 10, right?

An examination of whether pain was created by ourselves, or was it created by something else? Okay? Was it created by my husband in the kitchen, or was it created by me?

Who created my problems?

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
In life. We all have problems. We all spend time in retreat thinking about our problems.

It seems like when you get quiet, you have more time to think about your problems. So, did I do this to myself, or are other people hurting me? Which one?

Okay, that's chapter 12. Okay, good, cool. Then he goes to the first chapter, okay?

Like, where did these problems come from? This is the first chapter, which is called an examination of ... I'm going to change the translation to conditions.

I said factors before, but he uses factors again later. So, conditions. Causes and conditions, okay?

For Nagarjuna and for the Buddha, in this case, conditions means causes. You can think causes. The name is conditions.

It just means causes. Usually, conditions means a fertilizer, sunlight, water. And cause means a tree, seed, okay?

But here, it's a general word for all causes. Okay. So, if things are not themselves, how do they start?

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
We have to examine. Can a thing start from some power of its own? Can a thing start from some power of its own?

Can a ... does a seed for a tree? Cat planted a nice fig tree over there.

Is it still there? I haven't been there for a while. Halfway there.

Did you plant a seed? An actual seed? Like a pit or something?

Yeah. So, you can go see her peach tree. It's still there?

Trees don't last in the middle of the desert very well. Then, there must be some power in the pit that can create a peach tree. Okay?

So, do things, do causes, conditions, have some power inside of them. Okay? That's chapter one.

By the way, that's the chapter we're gonna spend most of this week on.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And it's very deep. You will be dizzy by the time we finish. You will run home to get away from Nagarjuna.

Okay. So, basically it teaches that the power to grow a tree is not inside a seed, and the power to upset you doesn't exist in your husband. It's all coming from you.

There's no power in the husband. There's no power in the seed. If the seed makes a peach tree, the seed and the tree are coming from you.

Okay? And the seed has no power. Then someone says, wait a minute, you mean seeds are not themselves?

Right. Well then, what about all the other stuff that Buddha talked about, especially in the early part of his life? Okay?

So, did they ... they're not themselves? Why did Buddha talk about them?

If they don't have any quality, if they don't have any nature, if they don't do what they do by themselves, if it's all coming from me, why did Buddha make a big list of all the things in the world? What ... what was the whole first part of his teaching about Abhidharma?

Okay? So, there's three chapters there. Okay?

Number five. An examination of the categories. Categories.

Category means Buddha divided the world into 18 categories. Buddha divided the world into 18 categories. Six objects, right?

Which are visible things, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and thoughts. Okay? Six objects.

Okay? Then there's six powers, sense powers that see them. The eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the skin, and the mind.

Okay? Mental sense. And then there's six awarenesses of what you're seeing, what you're hearing, what you're smelling, what you're tasting, what you're feeling, and what you're thinking.

Eighteen total. Six objects. Six objects, six powers, and six awarenesses.

Eighteen. Okay? So, that's chapter five.

Do these have any power of their own? Okay? Chapter five.

Chapter three. Examination of the powers of sense. Your eyes, your ears, your nose, your tongue, your body, your mind.

Okay? Chapter six. Sorry, chapter three.

Yeah. And chapter four, an examination of the heaps. Heaps means body and mind.

Okay? In the West, we say body and mind. In Buddhism, we say the three mental, three and a half mental parts, and yeah, means it like that.

You can call it the five parts to a person. Five parts of a person. Very famous in Buddhism.

SA BU'I KHONG KHONG PO'I SRED ZHIG GIS KHONG KHONG MI ZHIG ZHAG. SHOG ZHANG ZHING ZHIG YI PHU ROL ZHIG. Like that.

Five heaps. Okay? Five parts of a person.

Okay? All right. By the way, some smart person, I think it's Ben Gomi, is gonna keep track, did we cover all the chapters or not?

Okay? Like, it took me about an hour to check, did he— does he mention 27 chapters or not? Okay?

We're trying to get to 27, but it's all over, right? Okay. All right.

Then somebody comes along and says, look, things start, things stay for a while, and then things stop. Okay? And the cause of that is somebody doing something.

Like, we started the road project, then all the Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia people and the Chinese people don't—and some Canadian and American—donate—and German—donate money, and then we finished the road. Okay? So, something caused the thing to start, keep the project going, which is Michael Doon, and then somebody finished the project.

Okay? Three things. Start, going, and finishing.

Okay? Somebody starts it. Okay?

Karma, and people. Okay? And, we get emotions, and he mentions desire.

Okay? He starts with desire, and those also have causes. Something starts them.

So, don't those have some nature of their own? Okay? It's not like I can feel happy, and then I'm jealous.

Happy cannot cause jealous. Next moment. Okay?

So, they must have some nature. Those thoughts in my mind must have some nature. Okay?

They must be coming from their side. Okay? Got it?

Things that start, and stay, and go. And emotions like attachment and desire, they must have some nature. Okay?

To respond to that, we have three chapters. Okay? Chapter six.

An examination of desire and attachment. An examination of desire and attachment. Okay?

Do they have some nature of their own, or are they coming from something else? Okay? Chapter seven.

An examination of how things start, and stay, and stop. An examination of how things start, and stay, and stop. Okay?

Chapter seven. Yeah. Chapter seven.

Then he throws in chapter 13. Okay? An examination of factors.

And he uses another name for conditions. So, I didn't know about chapter 13, I was working on chapter one, so I called it the chapter An Examination of Factors, but then later he used a better word for factors. So, now I have to change this chapter to An Examination of Conditions.

Okay? Chapter one. An Examination of Conditions.

Chapter 13. An Examination of Factors. They're pretty much the same in Buddhism, let's find out what happens.

Okay? Then, some people come along and say, people and things must have something inside of them. Geshe-la, come on.

The glass has something inside of it that makes it hard. Okay? The glass has something inside of it that makes it hard.

There's something inside a glass that makes it hard. Okay? Then, Nagarjuna says, why you think that?

Why you think there has to be something inside? Okay? And they said, well, there's three examples we can give.

Okay? And these are going to be different chapters. Okay?

So, this is a reaction. Nagarjuna is answering three wrong ideas. Okay?

Number one. How can things touch each other? Okay?

How can things touch each other? Geshe-la pushes the clock towards the edge of the table. There must be some contact between Geshe-la's hand and the clock.

Must be. It's moving. Is there?

No. You have seeds for arm to move, and you have seeds for clock to move, and the moving of the arm doesn't cause the clock to move. Really.

Okay? Really. You have to think like that.

Why? Then you can make stuff happen. Then you can have anything you want.

You see? If you understand that, you don't keep trying to push your friends. You see?

You just change them here. Okay? Much easier.

Alright. Stop trying to do something to make something happen. You know, I have a ...

this person hurt me, I don't like them, go to Geshe-la, tell Geshe-la, maybe Geshe-la will push the person. You know, come on. What school are you?

You take care of it. Here. Okay?

Your mind is better to take care of it than Geshe-la. Geshe-la fails sometimes, your mind always succeeds. Alright?

Alright, so anyway, do things make contact? That is answered in chapter 14. That is answered in chapter 14.

An examination of whether things ever touch each other. An examination of whether things ever touch. Okay?

Then people say, well look, you got to have causes and condition to make things happen. Okay? The road didn't just pop there.

We did fundraising. Blood, sweat and tear fundraising. Now I walk on that road, I want to kiss the road.

It's a little icky, but I think I might do it anyway. You know, I'm so happy with this road. We should ...

Michael Dunn's not here. We'll thank him. Oh, he is!

Michael Dunn! Let's give him a hand. In 2003 we took 20 people up there and we cleared rocks to make about 10 meters of road.

It took us a week and ... anyway, Michael Dunn did it in a few weeks. Okay.

So, they say, look Geshe-la, you have to have money to make the road. There must be sponsors, there must be workers, there must be machines, there must be cause of the road, right? Those ...

so, we go to chapter 15. An examination of ... I'll give you a choice, okay?

You tell me which is correct. Ready? An examination of a nature to things, or an examination of THE nature to things?

A. Why? In English, A means maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't exist.

A supposed nature of things. When you say THE, it means I believe it. Okay?

English is very sensitive, okay? That's how I check a translation. If they say THE nature, I throw the book out.

It's so cool to get THE nature, poom, you know. Because there is no nature, you see what I mean? It's our supposed nature of things, okay?

Alright, that's chapter 15. Is there a nature in things?

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Can they do what they do from their own side? Okay? Then, we apply that question to rebirth, cycle of rebirth, okay?

Is there something you do in this life, which has a nature of creating next life, okay? And that chapter is chapter 16, and it's called an examination of bondage and liberation. Bondage means you are like in the jail, okay?

Bondage in English means you are like in the jail. And then liberation, can you get out, okay? So, that's chapter what?

Sixteen. Sixteen. And it's talking about what causes rebirth, okay?

Is there a nature to something where it causes rebirth? The answer is? No.

In this class, just say no, you're safe. In DCI, what do you have to do? What's the answer to everything?

What's that? Okay, in the Garjuna class? No, no, no, don't exist.

Alright, I like the next chapter, I think it's very sexy. Chapter 17, okay? Now that we're on the subject of samsara, cycle of pain, where's the samsara in the teaching?

You yell at the husband, that puts a seed here, and then next week, the kids don't change from their pajamas, okay? And you yell at them, and then next week, husband yell at you, and that's a samsara, a samsara. There are many samsaras, okay?

Everything in our life is a samsara, okay? Alright, they say there must be some connection between karma and its result. There has to be a connection between karma and its result.

There has to be a nature there, there has to be something there, okay? Geshe-la, if it's coming from me, then I will get pizza from everything, and I won't gain any weight when I eat the pizza. You see, like, who made the connection between karma and consequences?

Who made the connection? You know, you lie to people, then people lie to you. Who made the connection?

Okay, yeah, where does it come from? That must be natural, it must be in the universe, it's not me. I'm not God, I didn't make this, I didn't make a rule, if you do good thing, you get good result, if you do bad thing, you get bad.

Come on, Geshe-la, I was born in universe, the universe already had this law, right? Good, now you learn how to enter. Okay, so, chapter 17, I think it's extremely important.

It sounds really sexy, I can't wait to get to chapter 17. An examination of karma and its consequences. An examination of karma and its results, okay?

Chapter 17. Chapter 19, very very cool. I don't know which is more cool, 非常非常酷, 好。

An examination of time, time. Okay, Geshe-la, look, past has a nature, it's gone. Present has a nature, it's here.

Future has a nature, it's yet to come. You can't change those, those have real nature, those have real, time is real, you know? Time doesn't get shorter, time doesn't get longer, time has its own time.

I didn't make it, you know? I didn't make an hour 60 minutes, okay? Cool?

I think that's very important for ... supposedly, after you see emptiness directly, you have an experience that lasts about 20 minutes, where you see the face of every living being in the universe, and love them at the same time. So, time has to shrink, like a billion years has to become 20 minutes, you see?

And is that possible, if time has its own nature, or is time coming from me? You see? So, that guy, when he got to chapter 19, the other guy, all these examinations are because some other guy comes up and says, look Nagarjuna, okay, karma doesn't have its own nature, but there's no connection karma and its result.

I got it, but time, you know? Answer me that one. Doesn't time have its own nature?

Doesn't a minute take 60 seconds, Nagarjuna? You know? Isn't it always like that?

And Nagarjuna says, no, but it would be interesting to see the proof, yeah? Okay, 27 proofs I hope. Okay, then somebody said, if time doesn't come from itself, if time doesn't come from itself, then what about the time it takes the cause to make the result, okay?

If there's no time, if time is flexible, if time is coming from me, then what about the time it takes from the nursing home to the boyfriend, okay? What about the time it takes from the nursing home to the boyfriend? Geshe-la, you always say six weeks, eight weeks.

Geshe-la is always exaggerating, sometimes it takes a hundred years, okay? Don't tell anybody, don't tell the DCI people. Okay, but he says, you know, what about the time it takes things to come and take time to disappear, you know?

If I make the right seeds, my husband will not refuse to wash the dishes, okay? Yeah, but how long does it take, okay? So, we have two chapters about that.

Number 20, an examination of how causes and conditions come together, like water, fertilizer, sunlight, and seed. Seed is the cause, those other things are conditions. How do they come together?

What makes them come together, okay? Something in them, right? No, good, just say no.

Do you want a break? No. Do you have to pee-pee?

No. Okay, chapter 21, an examination of how things appear and disappear. An examination of how things appear and disappear, chapter 21.

Things, you know, relatives die, new sources of irritation arise in your life, like that, okay? So now, someone says, look, Nagarjuna, all that's ... you're basically proving there's no samsara, there's no circle of pain, no wheel of life.

You are proving there's no wheel of life, okay? That's ... you seem to be thinking like this, all the stuff you said, you know, you're saying there's no dependence, there's no wheel of life, you know?

Which means, there's no negative emotions, anger, hatred, jealousy, desire, okay? Then, they can't exist ... do they not exist?

The cause of the wheel, are they? They don't exist. And, how about the people who got out of the wheel?

Buddhas, in the wheel of life, the Buddha like doing what? Pointing to the moon, okay? If there's no wheel of life, well, what about Buddhas who got out?

And, inside the wheel of life, what about these negative emotions that are pushing it, pushing the wheel of life, you know? According to you, there's no wheel of life, there's no karma, there's no consequences, nothing cause anything else. Then, how can you have a wheel of life, how can you be in the wheel of life, and how can you be out of the wheel of life?

So, we have chapter 22, is an examination of Buddhas. It's cool. How can there be a Buddha?

Okay? Chapter 22, how can there be Buddhas? Okay?

Chapter 23, an examination of all the mistakes you can make in your life that keep you in the wheel, okay? It's called an examination of mistakes. Biggest mistake?

Yeah, you think the husband decided to yell at you, okay? You think the husband is coming this way, okay? Biggest, number one mistake, okay?

Then, somebody comes, okay, okay Nagarjuna, I got it, there's nothing real in the whole world, nothing is real, nothing is true, nothing has any nature of its own, right? Didn't Nagarjuna—no, well, I mean, that's what Nagarjuna said, nothing is real, nothing exists, nothing is true, and then the guy says, huh, four noble truths, four Arya truths, oops, okay, four higher truths, what about those? So, they don't exist?

Okay, why you say that? Huh, you said nothing's true, you said nothing's real, okay, there is no four truths, right? There's no first teaching of the Buddha, huh, Nagarjuna?

Okay, so, guess what chapter 24 is called? An examination of the four truths, the four truths, okay? If nothing's true, if nothing's real, well, then Buddha, you know, he should have taken a vacation after he got enlightened.

Why teach the four truths, okay? They don't exist, according to you, they don't exist, okay? And, if there's a world like that, where there's nothing real, and nothing true, and no teaching on the truths, then there's no nirvana, then there's no nirvana.

So, we better have a chapter called An Examination of Nirvana, chapter 25, okay? An Examination of Nirvana. He's covering a lot of stuff, okay?

Then the next one, okay, we're almost done, right? Bengama is gonna tell you we have two chapters to go, I think. Okay, now here, listen, okay?

The Buddha said that, if you understand that the husband is coming from you, if you understand, then you have seen the middle way, then you understand the middle way, okay? If you understand that the husband is coming from you in the kitchen when he's yelling, then you understand the middle way, you are middle way, okay? So, therefore, according to Choney Lama, chapter 26 is called An Examination of the Twelve Lengths of the Cycle of Pain.

An Examination of the Twelve Lengths of the Cycle of Pain, the Wheel of Life. An Examination of the Wheel of Life, okay? Choney Lama believes that's a presentation of the middle way.

Very cool, very cool. Usually we say the teaching on the Wheel of Life is lower Hinayana, lower school, right? Nagarjuna says, uh-uh.

You understand that wheel, you understand the middle way, okay? You understand that wheel, you understand the middle way. He equates understanding the wheel to finding the middle way, okay?

Cool. So, chapter 26 is called An Examination of the Twelve Lengths, okay? Of the Wheel of Life.

And if you understand that wheel, okay, listen, alright? Why did Nagarjuna bow down to the Buddha in the first verse? Yeah, because the Buddha taught dependence, but it wasn't ordinary dependence, it was emptiness jalapeno dependence, okay?

It had a spice, it had the spice of emptiness, okay? So, there's two ways to teach the Wheel of Life, okay? One is lower way, blah blah blah blah blah.

One is higher way. This wheel is also empty, okay? Everything in the wheel, all twelve lengths is also empty, everything's empty about the wheel.

Nagarjuna bows down to the Buddha because he taught both past life in the lion's dance and ... the emptiness of ... the teacher's good quality, okay?

The lion's dance also has both, okay? Dependence, you go to your past life. Emptiness, you see your teacher's good quality, is not coming from them, okay?

That's a sweet dependence. That's ... what do you call?

Churro, super churro, dependence, okay? What do you call? Yo chow, pon chik.

Why I know donut in every language? Not sure, okay. Alright, so chapter 27, last chapter, is called an examination of viewpoints, viewpoints.

How do you view the world? Do you think the husband come from the husband? Or you think the husband comes from you, okay?

This is ... what is your viewpoint? So, if you see that the wheel is empty, you have correct viewpoint, okay?

You have a correct viewpoint. So, 27 is examination of viewpoints. You just got a summary of the entire wisdom, which is super cool.

Now, don't forget, your only job is to fill in the missing names. Sometimes I pick an easy one, sometimes I don't pick an easy one, okay? Alright?

Now, I believe that due to your excitement about this subject, you have proved that you deserve a pee-pee break, okay? So, go, 15-minute break, okay? Then we'll come back.

Is that the right time? Or did I do it too soon? It's good?

Tim has to go, so ... okay, take a break, 15-minute, 15-minute break. Okay, let's continue.

Each of the examinations is more or less a reaction to somebody's wrong ideas. So, when we say examination, it's kind of assumed that we are examining somebody else's wrong idea, about like, there must be a connection between karma and result. From its own side, there must be connection, okay?

So, then we have to do an examination of this question, what's the connection, you see? And then, so, everything we ... every chapter is a response to somebody else's question, and Nagarjuna ...

debating with Nagarjuna is hopeless, right? Super hopeless, and ... so, every chapter, and some of them are very short, some of them are half a page, but they are very, very compact, and they are very powerful and very ...

what do you call it? Like a gun, you know, to this guy's thoughts. So, Choney Lama said ...

he pauses here, and he says, I want to make one thing clear. The purpose of these examinations and the debate is not to argue with other people, okay? So, he said, don't think like that, okay?

The purpose of the examination is not to hurt the other school or the other people, it's to improve ourselves, okay? It's to improve ourselves, alright? So, each examination, the reason for it, debating this other person, is to improve ourselves.

And then he says three levels of improvement, this might be on your homework, along with what he's not doing, right? Number one, if you study these examinations, you plant a seed in yourself to reach liberation, okay? If you study these 27 examinations, you plant a seed inside yourself to reach liberation.

Number two, because the examinations are based on difficult questions, your practice will become more and more strong, because those doubts won't come up in your mind anymore, okay? 27 doubts won't come up in your mind, you kind of shoot them down before they take off, and so your own practice will be stronger and less open to doubts that might hurt your practice, okay? Third thing, the practice itself will become stronger and stronger, you become inspired to work harder and harder, okay?

If you study these 27, okay? And it's not just—I think a lot of people—I heard someone told me, you guys are in your head, you're not in your heart, you know? And I thought about it, because usually I'd like to debate, you know?

And I'm like—and I felt like I should debate this. Then I said, you know, you're right. We get to the heart through the head, you know?

We get to bodhichitta through— we think it's very important to understand the husband in the kitchen. Then you can love the husband, you see what I mean? But if you don't understand that he's coming from you, you can't love him anyway.

It'll never stay strong, the love will break, okay? When things get hard, the love will break, you see? So, it sounds very intellectual, this class sounds kind of philosophical, but you're supposed to use it in the kitchen, okay?

You're supposed to take this class to the kitchen. Why are we always mentioning husband or wife? Because 90% of husbands and wives need this class, okay?

Because it's difficult to be married to someone, it's difficult to have a relationship, okay? And if you understand where they're coming from, it gets easier, okay? All right, next homework question.

The second verse of wisdom, which I'm gonna go get for you, let me see.

[Speaker 2]
Okay. Okay, notes.

[Speaker 1]
,GNAS PA LTO, ,NA'API PARA LTO, ,NAG DVAG BSKYAMS, ,GNAB YAB BYED DU, ,'UG PA NA BYA'I THUG PA YIN TE, ,BA BA'A KHWA CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA, Things don't come from themselves, things don't come from something else, things don't come from both, and things don't come without a cause, okay? I'll say it again, slower. Results don't come from themselves, results don't come from something else, results don't come from both, and results don't come from nothing.

,'UG PO GANG DANG, ,GANG NA YANG RGYAS BA RNAM YANG, ,YOD MA YIN, Nothing ever starts. Nothing ever starts. Nothing in the universe ever starts, because there's nothing to start from.

A tree can't grow from a seed, a tree can't grow from the tree, a tree can't grow from both, and a tree can't grow from nothing, okay? Same thing. So, Nagarjuna is starting off on emptiness, this is really the first working verse, and it says, look, all the things that come from other things, they don't, okay?

All the things that come from other things, they don't, okay? Was the husband just hungry? And that's why he yelled in the kitchen.

Was the husband hungry, not hungry, both, or neither? We're trying to discuss why the husband's in a bad mood, you see? Why is the husband in a bad mood?

Why is your husband in a bad mood tonight? Well, you know, I got home late, he didn't have dinner, okay? So, did the bad mood come from not enough dinner, too much dinner, both, or no dinner?

Like, which one came from? Give me, give me, choose one of these four, you know? This is like a diamond deal, right?

This is like, you should buy this car, it's old, but it's cheap, or you can buy this car, it's new, but it's expensive. You choose, and then you say, give me a good car that's cheap and I'll take it, okay? Give me the right car, you know?

Don't offer me these two bad choices, okay? Got it? Four bad choices, alright?

And that's the very, very famous first kind of working verse, and we are examining—what's the name of the first chapter? Examination of Conditions, right? And we're gonna look at causes basically, we're gonna look at causes from the point of view of the result, and from the point of view of the cause, okay?

We're gonna look at causes from the point of view of what comes from the cause, and then what the cause makes, okay? So, right now we're looking at results, okay? Actually, we're looking at the results of conditions, okay?

Your husband is upset, when you walk in the kitchen your husband is upset, I'll give you a choice, okay? He's upset because he didn't have enough dinner, he's upset because he had too much dinner, he's upset because he had both, and he's upset not because of dinner, you see, because there's no dinner. You see, I mean, I'll give you four choices why he's upset.

Which one? Good, yeah, no, nothing. We are in wisdom, nothing, okay?

Alright? So, Nagarjuna gives you these four choices. These are very, very, very famous, okay?

And if you study any kind of Buddhism, China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, doesn't matter, you will see these proofs, and now you know where they come from, now you know who started it, okay? So, it's Nagarjuna, alright? This proof for emptiness, okay?

This is a proof for emptiness, from the causes side, right? Where did it come from? This is called in ...

later, centuries later, it got a nickname called Dorje Sikma, Dorje Sikma, which is what? Sliver of diamond, like, and I like to tell this story, those of us who've been in the diamond business, right Palma? You should see her in the business, oh my god, we're so lucky she became nun.

She liked dragon. You know JCPenney? It was the biggest store in the United States at that time.

Those guys are shaking when she comes in the room. Anyway, you know, one of the big diamond mines is in Africa, and so, people know the diamond is the hardest thing in the world. So, people used to find a pretty big diamond, and they will come to the guy and say, I found a diamond, how much money you're gonna give me?

The diamond buyer? And the buyer will take a hammer, and go park, and the diamond will break, and he just throw it on the floor, and say it's not diamond, it's just glass, okay? You know, go back to the mine, try to find another one.

Then after the guy leaves, he pick up all the pieces, because it is diamond, okay? Nothing can scratch a diamond in the universe. No other substance can scratch a diamond, but they're very easy to break.

They're like glass. If you know where the ... Marmahata?

Yeah, that's Seiji's book. If you know the right place to hit it, it will just go ... So, each of those pieces of diamond, after you smash it, is pure diamond, okay?

No part of a diamond is more pure than the other part. It's all 100% pure carbon. Simple.

Same as plants, same as human skin, it's just a different atomic structure. Pure, totally pure. So, it doesn't matter, you leave it in one piece, or you break it into a thousand pieces, each piece is pure diamond, and not different from other pieces.

Why are we talking about that? Same with emptiness, why? Yeah, everything in this room has its own emptiness, okay?

The light has its own emptiness, the door has its own emptiness, the tip of Dennis's nose has its own emptiness. He's like meditating. Everything has its own emptiness, and they are totally pure, and they are the same, okay?

They are just living in a different place, okay? They attach to something, okay? The cup didn't come from factory, the cup didn't come from glass, the cup didn't come from those things, it's the emptiness of the cup, you see?

The cup didn't come from any place except from my seeds, that's the emptiness of the cup. So, you can say that about everything in this room, okay? And it's all 100% pure emptiness, okay?

And they're not different, they're just... they're just different things' emptiness. They belong to different things, okay?

But it's all... it's all the same, it's all like a crystal diamond. And this is one reason why the Diamond Cutter Sutra is called the Diamond, and why it's called Diamond Cutter, okay?

And if you want to get Geshe-la mad, call it the Diamond Sutra, okay? It's the worst translation of everything, I think, but there's competition. So anyway, it's very interesting that Buddha thought this...

this proof, we shall call it the Piece of Diamond. This is a piece of diamond. He gave this name to this proof, it means Nagarjuna's number one proof.

Nagarjuna thinks it's most important, okay? And we're gonna spend some time on it, okay? We have to spend some time on this proof, alright?

It's not as easy as it seems, okay? And that's one of the reasons why diamond is so important in Buddhism, okay? Tantra is sometimes called Diamond Way, okay?

And when the Buddha teaches Tantra, it's as Vajradhara, holder of the diamond. So, these are not just accident, okay? There's a big meaning to them.

It's why it keeps coming up. Sanskrit root? Vajra?

Vaj? Cognate? Vegetable, okay?

Because in ancient India, it was considered to be the most powerful thing. The life force of a vegetable was considered to be high power, very high power. So, they gave that name to diamond, okay?

But Vajra comes from the same root as vegetable, okay? Because it's considered to be a high power, which is why you should drink your green drink. In between coffee, okay?

Now, what are the two problems we would see if things started from themselves, okay? So, now we have four possibilities, right? Things come from themselves, thing comes from something else, thing comes from both, thing comes with no cause, okay?

The first one, what's the problem with the first one, okay? Then there are two classic answers, okay? Famous answers in Buddhism, okay?

There are two very famous answers in Buddhism, why something cannot come from itself, okay? Number one, if it came from itself, then it would already be there inside the cause, okay? So, a full-grown tree would be inside of a tree seed, okay?

And there are some schools of ancient India who believed that, okay? I forget, Adam, I don't know if you remember, I don't remember, Sankhya I guess. Sankhya say, inside a seed is a full-grown tree, okay?

And when the seed opens, you just see what was always there. You see a tree which was always inside the seed. And as a kid, you know, when you're a little kid, you're like, that must be the way it is, you know?

Like, forget what you learn later. When you're a kid, you're like, look at the seed and you think, mom, there must be a little tree in there, you know? And then when the seed breaks open, this little tree gets out.

And so, there must have been a tree inside the seed from the beginning, okay? And it's a human ... it's a human feeling that we have, oh, that somehow the result must be inside the cause, okay?

But, if that were true, then say, dunme, dunme. This is the first famous reason why not, okay? It's called dunme.

It would be pointless for the tree to grow. It would be pointless, no reason for the tree to grow. The tree is already there in the seed, so why go through all this trouble, you know?

Why put water, why put fertilizer? The seed is already ... the tree is already there, so why worry about it, okay?

It doesn't need to grow again, it's already complete in the seed. It doesn't need to grow again, okay? That's the first reason, okay?

Then, second famous reason, okay? If you're gonna be very stubborn, which is very common for our nuns, all of them, all the monks are gone, except one, okay? If you're gonna be very stubborn and you say, no, no, it's ...

the tree is already in the seed, but you know, the seed likes to make a tree, you know? No problem, so it makes another tree, what's wrong with that, you know? Why you have a problem with that Geshe-la?

Okay, then it makes a billion trees and it never stops making trees, okay? If it makes one unnecessary tree, then it can make a billion unnecessary trees, got it? If it has to urge to copy itself, then in theory there's no limit, it can just ...

you plant one seed and 20 trees will come out, okay? This is called ... what is that called?

Hang on ... oops, he has a nice ... I saw something this morning ...

oh yeah, oh yeah, he used a special word this morning. Say, dönme, thugme. Dönme, thugme.

That's the two problems if something comes from itself, that means it's already in the seed. Number one, there's no reason for a tree to grow, the tree is already there, why grow another tree? That's called dönme, okay?

There's no reason to grow another tree. If you want to grow another tree, when you already have a tree, and if they just grow anytime they want, then thugme. Say, thugme.

Thugme means it'll just keep making trees all day, okay? Just extra unnecessary trees, okay? If things come from themselves, okay?

So actually, this is one of the viewpoints in Buddhism we call ... something you learn that's cool. Something you learn that's cool.

It's not something you were born with, okay? Somebody told you in your religion that inside the seed there's a tree, and when the seed opens it, there's a tree pop out, you know? This is just something you learn later in your life, okay?

We call ... jatti. I wish I had my human dictionary.

Anyway, come with your birth, you have it from birth, okay? Some wrong ideas you pick up, some wrong ideas you have when you're born, okay? So, thugme, okay?

Now, I'm gonna go to tomorrow's homework, because we finished today's homework. Or, you know, I have a different idea. I have extra time.

I can go home, or I can read you the commentary, okay? And we can just have fun, okay? You finish your homework, you don't have to write anything, turn off your mind like level seven.

No, level eight, no fighting. Just turn off your mind. I'm just gonna read you from the commentary.

If I had time, I would rather teach this way, but I'm just trying to make things not 20 years, just five years, okay? So, I'm gonna ... I read you the whole part about the chapters, okay?

And I'm not gonna go through that again. So, this is the part where ... so, we're just gonna have some fun for an hour, Tim?

No break, right? Okay, okay. You okay for an hour?

Okay, I'm just gonna go through the commentary, okay? We'll just go straight to the commentary. And this is the way I'm teaching the Lamrim, but it's very slow, okay?

So, here we go. THAMS CAD KYANG RANG RGYUD LA THAR LAM SKYES PA DANG BSTAN PA DANG PHAL BA'I PHYIR DU YIN GYIS GZHAN DANG TSOS PA TZAM GYI CHOS MIN STE. The reason we are studying these examinations is not ...

TSOS PA TZAM, TSOS PA TZAM means just to have arguments with other people, okay? It's not for that. CHOS MIN.

THAMS CAD RANG RGYUD LA, all of the 27 examinations are meant to be targeted at your heart, at your own heart, okay? We want to THAR LAM SKYES. We want to get the path to freedom started in your heart.

Then, BSTAN PA, we want to make it strong. And then, PHAL BA, we want it to increase, okay? We want it to increase.

And then he quotes Umla Jupa. Umla Jupa. What's that?

Entering the middle way. Who wrote it? Yeah, about 450 years after Nagarjuna, okay?

And it's the most famous commentary to Nagarjuna. He wrote two actually, but it's called Entering the Middle Way. Okay, what's the middle way here?

Wisdom. Yeah, it's a nickname for the book, okay? Then he quotes Chandrakirti.

Who? Who quotes Chandrakirti? Yeah, Choney Lama.

BRTEN CES LA SPYOD TSUL TZAM LA CHAGS PA'I PHYIR MAN ZAD. We are not examining all these different debates. We are not checking a thousand books, because we like to fight.

We like to argue. RNAM BRDUL SPYOD NI DE NYID BSTAN. All those books are just to get us to nirvana and Buddhahood.

That's the only reason, okay? It's not like we just enjoy arguing, okay? So, he uses LUNG GI GRUB BYED, Adam?

Yeah, in Buddhism you can prove an idea through two ways. You can quote a good author like Chandrakirti, or you can prove it with logic, okay? So, what was his assertion?

We're not just giving these 27 chapters for argument. There's a reason. We're trying to improve ourselves, okay?

Then, did he prove it ... did he prove his point through logic, or he proved his point through scripture? Yeah, he used scripture.

He used Chandrakirti, okay? That's a typical Buddhist thing. Okay, NYID PA LA GSUM BRTEN CUNG RANG BZHIN GYI STONG PA BRTEN PA, DE STONG MA STONG NA'I KHOR BA NI.

So, now I'm gonna talk more about it the day after tomorrow, but one of the great things that Choney Lama does is he sees a structure in this wild poem, okay? If you just look at the poem, if you just try to translate the poem, or you try to read the poem, it's like a psychedelic ... what do you call it?

Acid trip. It's like some guys ... this guy must be really really drunk, you know?

Nagarjuna must be really drunk, because his mind is just going like everywhere, you know? And Choney Lama imposes a structure. Choney Lama says, he's not drunk, he's not crazy, he has a plan, and I'll show you the plan, okay?

And I love these little plans, and Buddhist authors make them very ... they love outlines. If we had time, it would be wonderful to do an outline.

If we had time, it would be wonderful to translate this book. Extremely valuable, okay? If I had any time, if I had three weeks, I could do it.

Anyway, NYID PA LA GSUM, RTEN CUNG RANG BZHIN GYI STONG PAR BSTAN PA, I'm gonna prove that dependence is empty, okay? I'm gonna prove ... wow, where'd you get that?

Nice. I'm gonna prove that dependent origination is empty, okay? RANG BZHIN GYI STONG PAR BSTAN PA.

Then, DE MTHONG MA MTHONG LAS, KHOR BA'ANG MTHONG BCUG BYED TSUL, I'm gonna show you that if you understand emptiness, you can escape the Wheel of Life, and if you don't understand emptiness, you're stuck in the Wheel of Life. I'm gonna prove it to you, that that's the difference, okay? Does it relate to the kitchen?

Absolutely, right? If you understand what's going on, you can break the cycle. You just run in the bathroom and yell at yourself in the mirror and say, you're stupid, okay?

PHANG PHANG MTHONG, you rice bucket head. I love that word. We were having dinner with Chinese friends, they brought out a real rice bucket, I said, oh, PHANG PHANG MTHONG.

Everybody's like, wow! That's one of my three Chinese words. RANG BZHIN GYI STONG PAR BSTAN PA.

Then, MTHONG NA DANG NGAN GDOG TSUL LO. Then he's gonna show how, if you understand emptiness, you can't get wrong ideas. You will never have stupid ideas.

Then there's a thousand kinds of stupid ideas, you know. If your husband calls you stupid in the kitchen, then you should be more nice, you know, in the evening with your husband or, you know ... Oh, there's a roadrunner.

Very, kind of rare bird. Anyway, if your husband's in a bad mood, you should talk to him, you know, there's things you should say, there's things you shouldn't say, you know, if ... you know, blah blah blah, okay?

These are called ways to not change your husband, okay? These don't change your husband. Why?

Because they don't work all the time, okay? If something, if you try something and it doesn't always work, stop doing it, okay? Stop doing it, you got the wrong one, okay?

Like talking, talking with your husband in the evening, before you go to bed. Never go to bed angry. Then you're never gonna sleep, forget it, okay?

Yeah, okay, talk, but maybe it works and maybe it doesn't work. It's not a solution, okay? It's not ...

it doesn't change the causes, which are in here, okay? So, he says, once you understand emptiness, you will stop using dumb ways to change your husband, okay? There's the threat way, I thought you wanted dinner, but I guess not.

There's the super threat way, I'm gonna have a headache when we go to bed. There's the be nice way, you know, I really would like a hug, I don't like to be called phantom, you know, and none of them work, okay? Because they don't work every time.

Okay, what's the example in DCI? Don't work every time. Huh?

Lipstick is one. Huh? Yeah, we talked about this airline, I got on Song airline, it's a new airline, they play songs the whole way loud.

I thought, well that's gonna be nice, and then the lady tried to get me to sign an insurance waiver at the door. And I said, why? And she's like, we almost understand how these planes work.

Nevermind. Okay, now, proving that dependence has its own emptiness has two parts. We're gonna give a proof, and then in Buddhism, the other guy always gets to come back.

There's always a ... what do you call? Rebuttal.

Yeah, he gets ... in the Buddhist system, you debate the other guy, you present your own position, and then you give him a chance to criticize your position, and it's very healthy, okay? Then, tsultrim pongo.

DANG PO LA NYID DANG MED DOR BSTAN PA DANG, RGYAS PA BSTAN PA BZHES PO This is the structure of wisdom, okay? From a topic, not from a chapter, okay? Number one, I will teach you the two kinds of emptiness.

What are they? Emptiness of people and things, okay? Emptiness of people and things.

Then, RGYAS PA BZHES PO, I will give you a big explanation. To teach the emptiness of ... yeah, okay.

We're gonna examine how cause and effect works, okay? In order to prove that things are empty. We're gonna examine how causes create things, in order to prove that things are empty.

Then we're gonna take a look at coming and going, which is chapter ... two? Then we're gonna take a look at coming and going, to prove that the person is empty, okay?

Got it? Chapter one helps prove that things are empty. Chapter two helps prove that people are empty.

Chapter one talks about how do things grow from other things, and chapter two talks about how people can come and go, okay? Got it? Alright.

DANG PO LA GSUM RAB BYED KYI GZHUNG ZHES PA Then, Choney Lama always goes through the words of the root text, and I'm not doing that with you, okay? He goes word by word through the poetry, and he explains each word of the poetry, okay? We don't have time to do that.

NGES SDUG GI LUNG DANG, BYAR BA means ... then he connects it to other great writers, other great books, okay? Then TSEN BSTAN PA'O, then the last thing he's gonna do in the first chapter is TSEN BSTAN PA.

Adam, you got a guess about that? He's gonna BSTAN PA the TSEN of the chapter. Explain the TSEN, the name, okay?

He's gonna explain the name of the chapter. Why do they call it the chapter on ... conditions, right?

Why do they call it a chapter? That's the last thing, okay? Got it?

I'm putting you guys to sleep, I can see. That's okay. Okay.

Now, it's all a big outline, okay? If I ever have time to translate it, you will see. Okay?

I'm not whining, I'm just complaining. BYE BU LA SKYE BA'I RANG BZHIN DGAG PA, Results don't grow, okay? First part.

Results don't grow. We're gonna look at why results don't grow. That's the verse that we're on today.

Things don't come from themselves, things don't come from something else, they don't come from both, they don't come from neither, okay? By the way, we'll keep on that tomorrow, so I don't want to tell you all the punchlines today. SKYE BYAS LA SKYE RANG BZHIN DGAG PA And then we're gonna look at causes, and see why there's nothing inside of them that can make things grow, okay?

There's nothing inside. You can say self-existent, you can say it comes from its own side. The husband, right?

In the kitchen. His anger is self-existent, or it's coming from him, or it came from lack of good dinner, okay? You can say all those things, from its own side.

But in Buddhism, you can say it's in him, and it means that, okay? The glass has something about it that's hard. Steel has something in it which is hard, and glass, especially Geshe-la's cracked, has something in it which cracks, okay?

And you feel like it must be that. Science is based on that. Science says there's little pieces in there.

This one has, in the third shell it has two electrons, in the first shell it has one electron, therefore it's oxygen. You know, they say it's all inside the thing, and in Buddhism that's a bad word. It's like saying four-letter word, but it's just two-letter word, in, okay?

Don't say in, okay? Oh, anger is in my husband. Yelling is in my husband, okay?

Got it? Not in, nothing's in, okay? If you want to be like Nagarjuna, what's Nagarjuna's style?

Short. You not say possess a lack of inherent existence, okay? He says, in.

There ain't nothing in anything. He said one word. No, really, that's his style, and people like it.

People, when you teach these things, don't say, you know, this has an inherent lack of, you know, inherent existence in front of, you know, what do you call it? It's not pedagogical. What is it?

Epistemological lack of inherent existence, okay? Yeah, Nagarjuna wouldn't ever say that. That guy would end up chapter 28.

Nagarjuna would criticize him in chapter 28. An examination of long words. Okay.

Alright, then we're going to discuss results from the viewpoint of tashi. Tashi means four choices. Four choices.

And shen kye means, do things come from something else, okay? Four choices means, dak le kye, shen le kye, nyi ka le kye, gyu me le kye. What's it mean?

Adam. Rang le kye. Dak le kye.

Come from itself. Shen le kye. From other.

Nyi ka le kye. From both. Gyu me le kye.

It can happen without a reason, okay? Those are the four choices. One of them is sticky.

Yeah, others is sticky, okay? Others is sticky. Isn't a seed other than a tree?

You know? Isn't my mental seed other than my husband's yelling? Doesn't he come from something else?

Okay, we're going to talk about it tomorrow. Okay, that's the sticky one. That's the problem.

Okay. SKYE BA SGOS PA'I DAM BYA BA DANG, SGOS PA'I RIG PA'O. Then he said, we're gonna ...

DAM BYA, we're gonna assert, we're gonna show why we think nothing can start. We'll talk about why nothing can start, okay? And then secondly, we will use logic to prove it, okay?

We will use logic to prove it. And I put my own notes in here. You don't have them you guys.

It's changed since then I think. When I have a question, I use John Brady's database. I go get what I want and I put it in the text, and then later I use it for a footnote or something, okay?

And I was trying to remember what's the diamond sliver reasoning, right? It came from Nagarjuna, but what's the full proof, okay? So, I thought if you're not bored enough, I will give you the full proof, okay?

Here's the proof, diamond sliver proof, as it's taught in Buddhism, okay? And this comes from Kedrup Dhammadhagye, 1493 to 1568. He wrote the textbooks for Sarah, me, okay?

500 years ago. Alright. RGYUD LA CHOS PA'I DORJE ZEGS MED TAN ZHIG ZHES PA LA YANG.

Let's look at the causes of things, which is called the sliver of diamond, the proof of the sliver of diamond, okay? THAG SGO PA means, first I will give you the reason, okay? The syllogism, okay?

Syllogism means proof. Take ... what's the four parts of a syllogism Adam?

Number one, yeah, take ... take this clock. Number two, yeah, it's keeping the time.

Number three, because that's what it was made to do, it's like a car, okay? Four parts to Buddhist logic. Take something you want to talk about, okay?

Like tree, take a tree, okay? Number two, it doesn't come from a seed. Number three, why?

Because it grows, okay? Something like that. So, first he's going to give the reason, the syllogism, logical statement, then you always give an example at the end.

It's like a ... the growth of a fish or something, okay? Let's take that ...

so, the example in the diamond proof, sliver of diamond proof, the example is, PHYI NANG GI DNGOS PO. Say, PHYI NANG GI DNGOS PO. PHYI NANG GI DNGOS PO.

Things inside of you, and things outside of you, okay? Things inside of Pachi, and things outside of Pachi, okay? PHYI NANG GI DNGOS PO.

Let's take all the ... it means all the stuff in the world, right? Things that are inside of Pachi, and things that are outside of Pachi.

PHYI NANG GI DNGOS PO RNAMS CHOS CAN. BDUN DANG PAR MI SKYES TE, they don't grow ... ultimately speaking, they never grow, okay?

Ultimately speaking, they never grow, okay? Got it? Why?

BDUN DANG PAR BDAG LAS KYANG MI SKYES, they don't grow, ultimately speaking, from themselves. BDUN DANG PAR GZHAN LAS KYANG MI SKYES, they don't grow, ultimately speaking, from something else. GNYIS KA LAS KYANG MA SKYES, they don't grow from both.

RGYUD MED LAS MI SKYES, and they don't grow from nothing, okay? Got it? You want to go deeper?

You want to get lost completely? Bored out of your head. Okay, I think this is on a later homework, but later we'll do something else.

As you know, there's two schools of ... there's four schools of Buddhism. First one is ancient Indian Buddhism.

By the way, there's four schools in Tibet, that's different, right? In Tibet, there's, in historical order, Nyingma, the old guys, Kagyu, the keepers of the word or something. Yeah, Sakya, the ones who come from the place where the dirt is white.

Sakya, and then Galupa, Tsongkhapa's lineage, okay? So, I'm not talking about the four schools of Tibet, I'm talking about the four schools of India. What are the four schools of India?

Number one, Vibhashika, basically Abhidharma guys. These are the accountants, right? Very dry, very dry.

They took, they went to the Buddhist scriptures, they took out the driest part, and they made dry, dry books, okay? So, the next school is called Sutras, Sutras school, because they say, you guys are just accountants, and you brought all this boring stuff, you know, stick with what the Buddha said, it's more interesting, okay? We don't like your Abhidharma books.

These are just, you just took pieces out of all the sutras. Why don't you just leave the sutra alone? They're called Sutra school, okay?

Sutra school. Next school, mind only, okay? Mind only school.

Basically, that the things you see around you are just part of your mind, okay? Basically, a part of foundation consciousness, okay? And then the highest school?

Yeah, well, Middle Way. The highest of the four schools is Middle Way, okay? And, I'm going to give you a summary of what we're studying in Nick's book, right?

Because it comes here, it comes in this class, okay? Ready? This is difficult.

Hmm, okay, here we go. So, the lower Middle Way school is called Svatantra, which doesn't mean Tantra, it just means independent, independent. They're called independent group.

I like to call them group. Two groups inside the Middle Way school, okay? The Middle Way school, highest school, has two groups.

The lower group is called independent, okay? The higher group is called—oh, all fruits are red. All fruits are red.

All fruits are red. Go ahead Phil. Take a long thing.

Take a long thing. Yeah, take a banana. Take bananas.

Ah, I guess they're red, okay? That's called Prasangika. It's a kind of logic.

It's sarcastic logic. The highest Middle Way school name is Mr. Sarcastic. Okay, oh, oh, all fruits are red?

Yeah. Okay, I guess, let's go have a red banana, okay? I guess bananas are red, right?

That's called, in logic, it's called a Prasangika. Okay, a Prasangika. Also, I guess your husband's gonna be yelling in the kitchen forever.

You know, he started tonight, and 20 years from now he's still gonna be in the kitchen yelling, right? Why do you say that? He's not coming from any seeds, and those seeds are not gonna wear out.

He's just out there yelling on his own. Nothing caused him to yell. He'll yell forever, okay?

Right? And then the person says, no, no, he stops yelling after two, three days. Usually he stops yelling, okay?

So, Prasangika means, oh, I guess your husband's gonna yell until the day he dies, right? Why? Because he's yelling from his own side.

Why do you say that? If he's coming from you, the good news is, seeds wear out 65 per second. Sooner or later, even if you don't say anything, the husband has to go to bed, okay?

Really, really, really, okay? So, that's a Prasangika. That's a Prasangika.

Ready? Oh, my husband started, yelled at me. Why?

I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything. Oh, really? So, he's gonna yell forever?

Did he yell all night? Is he still there in the kitchen yelling? No.

Why do you say that? Because he's not coming from you. He's not coming from your seeds, in your mind, which wear out.

Every time he says a bad word, you wear out like a hundred seeds, okay? If he says long bad words, it's better. You use up more seed, right?

No, this is Seiji's text, right Seiji? He says you should, in Seiji's text it says, you should think your husband is the Buddha. Why?

Because he's helping you use up your bad karma. He's so sweet to yell at you. So anyway, Prasangika.

Now, why is the independence called independent? Because that relates to this section, okay? So, there's a very famous argument, it's not in this text okay?

We spent a long time on it in Sedona, in the Sedona College. If you don't listen to those classes, you are crazy. In one day you get all five schools of Buddhism, you know, Ad Lam Rim.

You get an hour of deep, deep ... and they're online right? For free.

That's the best way to make people not look at them. Anyway, sorry. So, we learned that independence ...

why are they called independent? Because, after Nagarjuna came a guy named Buddha Palita. Buddha Palita.

Well, there's one name Buddha Palita, okay? And he wrote an explanation of Nagarjuna, okay? Then came a guy named Bhavaviveka.

Bhavaviveka. And he corrected Buddha Palita. He said you're wrong, okay?

He said you're wrong. And one of the things that Bhavaviveka said, this Nagarjuna verse is not so cool. This Nagarjuna verse needs explanation.

Why? You can say things don't come from themselves, that's okay. And you can say things don't come from bone, and you can say things don't come from nothing, but you cannot say things don't come from something else.

You can't say that. Nobody can say that. Everything comes from something else.

In Nagarjuna's text, the next verse, someone's going to quote the Buddha, who said things come from other things in four different ways, okay? Things come from other things. The next verse in Nagarjuna says things do come from other things.

Therefore, said Bhavaviveka, when you get to the fourth choice, things don't come from other things, you better add the word from their own side. You better add the word from their own side, okay? My opening the door doesn't make my husband angry, from its own side, okay?

Got it? You got to add that. Why?

Because things do come from other things, okay? Nagarjuna, you should have said, this happened to me recently, someone was going to rewrite it some book, anyway. You should have said, things don't come from themselves, things don't come from both, things don't come from either, and things don't come self-existently from something else.

You should have said it that way, come on. Because everything does grow from causes that are other things, got it? He said that.

Chandrakirti comes along and says, you're a fool, okay? This is one of Chandrakirti's favorite things, you know? You're a fool.

Why you say that? You're talking independent, you're talking independent. What do you mean independent?

You ready? You think a person who doesn't get it when you say that things don't grow from other things, is gonna get it if you add from their own side. You think some words have an inherent power from their own side, and you think other words don't have an inherent power from something else.

You understand? Your deepest belief is that those words, from its own side, come from their own side. They have independent power, got it?

I'll say it again, if I say things don't grow from something else, intelligent people will understand. Oh, you mean without my seed, yeah, you mean without my seed, okay? People who get it will get it, okay?

Other people, I have to say, look, they don't grow from something else on their own, from their own side, by their very nature, by the definition, okay? I have to add all those words, but listen, if the guy's too stupid to get it in the first place, he's gonna misinterpret those words too, and he's gonna think they have some independent power, and that's such a bad habit, let's call their school the independent school. They're just called independent for three words they said, for a thousand years, because they wanted to add on-side, from on-side, ah, you're independent, okay, got it?

They made a mistake. Their school believes that things come fifty percent from the object side, and fifty percent from my side, okay? There's data out there, there's colors and shapes, and then my mind organizes it into a thing, they believe that, okay?

They think that's the way it is, okay, got it? Why is that relevant here? What verse are we on?

Things don't come from themselves, things don't come from something else. Did Nagarjuna make a mistake? Should he have said, from their own side, from other thing, by themselves, from other thing, you see?

No, if you think he should have said that, then you believe words come from themselves. The power of words comes from themselves, you see? Then you believe that.

You believe the word from its own side has its own power, and you believe the word come from something else doesn't have its own power, and that makes you crazy. Either things have their own power, everything, or everything doesn't have its own power, but don't go 50-50, that's called lower middle way, okay, got it? I didn't mean to go there today, I just had too much time.

That's the problem of making me write a homework, because sometimes they go faster, and sometimes they go slower. If I could just wander around the book, and do whatever I want. Okay, then he gives the verse, BDAG LAS MA YIN, GZHAN LAS MA YIN, NYID LAS MA YIN, RGYUD MED MA YIN, NGOS PO GANG DANG GANG DANG YANG, SKYE BA RNAM YANG YOD MA YIN, things don't come from themselves, things don't come from something else, things don't come from both, things don't come without any cause, everything that exists never started, okay?

Then here's Choney Lama, he made it into a proof, okay? Choney Lama made it into a proof. Oh, there's a Sanskrit by the way.

We had a really hard time putting the Sanskrit back together. Many people have tried and we don't have a good manuscript, but it was quoted in other books, so we put it together, you see? Pieces, okay?

DER NAS BYIN RNAM GYI NGOS PO NANG GANG DAG CHOS BYED, Take all the things inside a person and outside a person. BDAG LAS YOD DANG RDU DANG RDUG STE GANG DANG YANG. So, okay, I'm going deeper because we have time, and this is what I would do if we had 20 years, okay?

But it's just because today the time is slower than yesterday, okay? Which is impossible if time comes from itself. Alright, Nagarjuna says nothing at all comes in these four ways, okay?

He uses the word nothing at all, okay? KVA CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA, in Sanskrit, KVA CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA, nothing at all, okay? CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA, KVA CHEN NA means nothing at all, okay?

Then Choney Lama says, why did he say nothing at all, okay? I didn't put this on the homework, okay? Because I didn't want to make you crazy.

Why did he say KVA CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA in any way at all? Why did he say that? Because it doesn't matter what object you're talking about, it doesn't matter what time in history you're talking about, and it doesn't matter what school of philosophy you're talking about.

Place, time, or school, KVA CHEN NA SKYE CHEN NA, doesn't matter. In any case, they don't come from themselves. Nobody thinks that, okay?

Got it? GANG NA YANG GANG SKYE BA RNAM YIN YOD MO YIN TE, BDAG LAS SKYE NA, if something were to grow from itself, BDAG LAS SKYE NA, LA YANG SKYE BA DON MED PA, it would be meaningless for it to start again. If the tree was in the seed already, it would be meaningless for the tree to grow from the seed, okay?

And, LA YANG SKYE BA THUB PA MED PA'I for no need. If it has one unnecessary baby, it'll have a hundred, okay? Like that.

JI LTAR NA MYUG DGOS CHOS CHEN, let's take sprouts. Sprouts are very popular in the Garjuna, why? That's what pops up out of a seed, okay?

So, when I say sprout, don't think sandwich, think seed and something coming up, okay? Like this, okay? When I say sprout, think of this first ...

you see the head of the baby? My nephew had a baby two days ago, he wrote me email, you know, we're getting email every ten minutes, you know, she's groaning, she's moaning, then she's like, we got hair, we got some hair, we got an inch of head, I can see an inch of head, you know, like this, okay? Right?

So, when I say sprout, think inch of head. By the way, baby came out fine. JI LTAR NYUG DGOS CHOS CHEN, LAR RANG GI RGYU'I SKYE MCHED NYID PAR, SKYE BA DON MED PA'I THABS, so it must be meaningless for the sprout to come up again, okay?

Why? RANG GI RGYU'I DGOS NA RANG GI DANG NYID DU RDZOGS PAR THUB ZIN PA'I CHEN, because it exists a hundred percent complete in the seed, at the time of the seed. So, because it is the seed, okay?

DAG LAS SKYE, it grew from itself, therefore it's meaningless for the head to come out. The kid was already, went to college, got it? Okay.

MA RKYAB NA, hey, and then somebody says, just because it existed completely at the time of the seed, doesn't mean it can't grow again, okay? MA RKYAB, right? Adam?

Just because it existed completely at the time of the seed, doesn't mean it can't grow again. Aren't you glad I didn't put all this on your homework? DE'I PHYI CHEN, KHYER LANG SKYE BA THUB PA MED PA'I THABS, THUB PA MED PA'I THABS, oh, so that must keep giving sprouts every five minutes for the rest of eternity, okay?

Why? RANG GI RGYU'I RANG GI RGYU'I RANG GI RGYU'I RANG GI RANG GI RANG GI THOB ZIN KYANG, even though it already exists at the time of the seed, the sprout, right? RANG RGYUS PA'I DE NYID PA'I PHYIR, because it's not meaningless for it to grow again, okay?

It's not meaningless for it to grow again, got it? If the kid already went to college, why have a baby again? If the baby already went to college, why have the same baby again?

See what I mean? If the baby is full-grown inside mom, like the tree is full-grown inside the seed, then there's no need to have the baby. Baby already grew up, already went to school, okay?

Already got married, why have a baby again? Got it? Okay.

DNGOS PO'I GANG DAG CHOD CHEN Now, we get to the hard one, which is what? Yeah, things don't grow from other things. Things don't grow from other things.

Things don't grow from themselves as easy, right? Except when it's your husband yelling. That grows from itself.

Okay. DNGOS PO'I GANG DAG CHOD CHEN Take anything. GZHAN LAS RNAM YANG YOD MA YIN TE It doesn't grow from other things ever, never.

My Lama used to say, ever, never. It never, ever, ever, never grow from other things. What's it mean, ever, never?

We had it at BAM. KVA BYAN NA KYI BYAN NA. KVA BYAN NA KYI BYAN NA.

What's that mean? That was 20 minutes ago? In no way at all.

No place in the world, no time in history, and no school of philosophy, okay? No, it doesn't matter. Why?

GZHAN LAS KYI BYAN NA KUN LAS KUN SKYE BAR RGYUR BA'I PHYIR If something grew from a—ready? You okay? If something could grow from an unrelated other—did I add a word?

Unrelated. That's the trick, okay? Ready?

If something could grow from an unrelated other, okay? Then everything would grow from everything. You could plant apple seed to get banana, okay?

You can plant a sandia, shikwa, and you will get, you will get trucks. Toyota trucks. We need, right?

Alright? Then everything would come from everything. If something can grow from another which is unrelated, okay?

Unrelated. Oh, Geshe-la, why you add the word unrelated? They didn't say unrelated.

The apple tree is related to apple seed. They are related, you know? It's not just the crazy.

There's a relationship. Apple trees come from apple seeds. It's the other thing, but it's related.

Same family, relation, right? Who made that? Okay, is that inside the seed somewhere?

Oh yes, this is genetic. There's a special small things inside the seed, you know? Okay, not true.

Okay, not true. A tree, we're gonna come to it later, okay? But, by the time, but it's a Buddhist rule of logic, that if two things are related, they have to exist at the same time, okay?

Must. Okay? Two kinds of relationship possible in Buddhism, possessive or identity.

Possession or identity. Only two, two kinds, you know? Palma has a big bunch of money.

Lama Palma has a big bunch of money. Then the money and Palma are connected. They are related.

Why? Belong to her now, okay? She came in with the bandito and left with all the money, okay?

Then now there's a connection. Possession. Possession, okay?

Or Lama Palma is a nun. This is identity, okay? There's a connection, okay?

It's part of her identity. There's two kinds of connection possible in Buddhism, but the two things must exist at the same time. The two things must exist at the same time, okay?

Right? Otherwise there's no connection. Can a tree, ready?

Can an apple tree be connected to an apple seed? Impossible. Why?

They're at different time. When this ... okay, we're gonna get to it two days from now, okay?

They cannot be connected. Seed happened before, tree happened after. When the seed approaches its destruction, the tree approaches its completion, but when they're both complete they cannot exist at the same moment.

Impossible, okay? Not possible, okay? Okay.

If it ... if they could not exist at the same time, okay? If they could not exist at the same time, and the seed could give a tree, okay?

With no connection, right? Then all things could ... could bear all things.

All things could come from all things, right? From banana seed you will get Toyota trucks, like that, okay? It's not just some kind of crazy talk, okay?

People read Nagarjuna and they say, I don't want to read this, this confused me, you know? I'm already confused with my life. I don't need more confusion.

The point is, and then we'll stop, okay? The point is, what you think is happening is impossible, okay? If you think an apple tree can come out of an apple seed, then ...

then in one way you're a crazy person, okay? And ... and the whole world ...

okay Geshe-la, if that's true, then the whole world is crazy, and Nagarjuna say ... this time Nagarjuna doesn't say no. Nagarjuna say, yeah, you're right.

Whole world is crazy, okay? It's possible the whole world is making a mistake, okay? Global warming, you know?

Because you want to drive a car, it's possible you will destroy this planet, okay? Because you cannot ... because you need to drive to the store when it's a five-minute walk, it's possible you will destroy this planet for future, for the whole future.

It's possible the whole world makes mistakes, it's possible. Big mistakes, you know, it's possible. So, Nagarjuna is saying, the husband is not yelling because he decided to yell, okay?

It's not coming from that. Where's it coming from? You yelled at the kids last week.

Come on, it's more logical, right? It's more logical. You yelled at the kids, there's justice to the world.

You yelled at the kids, you said bad things, you planted a seed for bad things, that seed went into your mind, and a week later the seed opened, and you opened the kitchen door, and your husband said bad words to you. It's more logical, okay? It's more logical.

Trees ... seeds don't make trees from themselves, and husbands don't decide to say bad words by themselves. It's not true.

It looks like that. Then the whole world is living that way. The whole world is trying to send the husband to therapy, you know?

This will fix the husband. Send him to therapy, you know? This will fix the husband, okay?

Yeah. You have to fix the husband. Yes?

Okay. Yeah. Exactly.

She said, if I get a partner by taking care of an old lady, isn't taking care of the old lady something other than the partner? Yeah, it is. It is.

But, there's a ... okay, now I have to be ... now I have to be lower middle way, okay?

I'll be lower middle way. But it means that there's something inside of the nursing home that creates a husband, you see? That there's something there which you did not create.

You see? You always have to say which you did not create, okay? The connection between taking care of old ladies and me getting a partner, the connection between karma and result is natural.

It's part of nature. It's part of the universe. I did not create it.

I wasn't here then. I wasn't around. I was busy planning to be born a million years later.

That wasn't created by me, okay? And that's ... that's the mistake.

If you go to the nursing home to get a partner and you think you are following a law of karma which you didn't create, it doesn't work as well. It doesn't work as well, okay? If you think the connection between visiting the nursing home and getting a partner itself was not made by you, then the partner comes slower.

How's that? It's very interesting. It's very interesting.

Even the connection that we accept between seed and result is coming from me. And if you don't think that, you're thinking wrong, okay? But that's too deep, okay?

Alright. Did you have a question? Okay, you're just waving your arms.

Sarajni has a question.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, okay, good question. I know the question. So, when somebody does a ...

I'll repeat it. When someone does their Geshe degree, they have to defend themselves in both Sarajay and Saramay. And then they have to defend themselves in Saramay, first to all the Geshe candidates, and then to all the older Geshes.

And it takes three weeks. Before that, you have to defend yourself in your own college. So, there are 12 colleges at Saramay, and you have to defend yourself in your own college.

And it's tradition that the next guy to do Geshe questions you first. So, the next guy in line to finish his Geshe gives the first question. So, Pabongka Rinpoche, number three, is from our college, because we're the best college in the best monastery.

And so, he was doing his Geshe just before me. So, I have to be his ... I have to give him questions.

I have to be the first question to Pabongka Rinpoche, you know. I'm like, okay. Then I said, that's Sarajni's question, you know.

I said, are Buddhas surrounded ... is the definition of Buddha, parinib definition, is they are surrounded by 10th level bodhisattvas? Then he said yes.

Then I say, do those people see themselves ... are they somewhere else, or some other Buddha paradise? Or, could it be right here?

He says, could be right here, because everything's empty. Then I said, well, so is it possible that I reach Buddhahood, and I see everybody around me as 10th level bodhisattva? Because my mind is pure, right?

Yes. And is it possible they don't see themselves as 10th level bodhisattva? And he said, yeah, of course.

So, I said, well, then they must be suffering, right? They're not 10th level bodhisattva, they must be suffering. Right.

So, does Buddha see everything? Yes. So, does Buddha see that they don't see themselves as Buddha?

Yes. So, does Buddha see them suffering? Yes.

If a Buddha sees suffering, then a Buddha has seed in their mind for suffering, right? Like, tsar, you know. Then the debate master said, holazo.

Then he drops his shawl, and it means, you stop. And I'm like ... and he's like, we can't embarrass this Rinpoche, you know.

Let's leave it, you know. And I'm like, come on, this is something I really want to know. So, the lama who became the head of Gyumay Tantric College, we went out on the porch, and we started arguing for three hours on this question, okay?

And it means, I don't know.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, let's stop there. I'll see you tomorrow.