Нагарджуна, курс 1 — Мудрость Арьи Нагарджуны, курс 1: Восемь невидимых (2018, Аризона), занятие 4

[Speaker 1]
So, I was asking Nick to try to find me a nice scan of the book we're studying, Choney Lama's Explanation, Honey Lama's Explanation, and he found a nice scan and I thought I would, I thought you might like to see it, what it looks like, what we're working with, okay, what a translator works with. Yeah, this is the first page and so we have input centers, several input centers around the world and they, for 31 years, and they type it in and that's one of the things that John's project does. When the Kazakhs give a donation to John, this is what you're paying for, okay.

They go to strange places like Mongolia and they find these books. If we didn't have these scans, I couldn't have this class, I couldn't teach this class. So, that's a lot of what Vimala does, Nick, Christina Kassica, John Brady, people like that, they go around the world and find these scans.

Second page, third page, next page, go to the next page. One more? Can't do?

Can you go to the next page? Oh yeah, is there any way to blow up the one on the left? Nice!

Recognize him? He was really good at making logos and marketing, so, if you take away the dragon snakes, he looks like anybody else and because he has the snakes, then we know that it's Nagarjuna. And we spent 14 years in Russia, in the state library, and we cataloged all the pictures.

We cataloged all the books, but we also cataloged all the pictures. So, the picture you have of Choney Lama on your book, on his explanation of something, is from Russia, and it's the only picture I'm aware of, of Choney Lama, except for the one on the right here, and that's also Choney Lama, okay? So, you can see woodblocks are cool, because they're not like Sanskrit books which were written by hand, and by people who didn't know what they meant.

So, usually the workers in the scriptoriums didn't know what they are writing, they just copy, but they're like a Xerox machine that makes a mistake every other page, and if multiplied times 2,000 years, it's very hard to find a good copy of a Sanskrit book, because they were written by hand. But, this is after Gutenberg, and they carved them, but now we have another problem. Page 18, I think.

I don't think that's it. Maybe it has to be 36 on the way you're doing it. I'll tell you the number, hang on.

Yeah, it comes at 18 of 210 on my PDR. It's page 302 on the scan itself. Okay, the number at the end of the scan. Yeah, is it say 302 at the end?

Okay, well, you can see the problem, you see, sometimes the guy was ... yeah, there you go, right there. Sometimes ...

go to the middle ... sometimes the guy is too ... more ...

back again, I think you're on a different page now. Well, like that, okay? It's impossible to read, you see, and that's the problem with a wood block.

The guy that was supposed to put the ink on the block was daydreaming about his girlfriend or something, and he didn't put enough ink on the block, and so, we have an extra problem. Sometimes we can't read it, and we have to go to another country and try to find another copy and see if page 18 is correct, you see what I mean? So, we can't stop.

We have to find every copy in the world. Sometimes there's only two or three copies in the world. This particular book is very rare.

There's one copy in Russia, there's one copy in Beijing. I think that's it. So, it's very difficult.

We have to go to weird countries, and that's what John and Christina are doing. So, I'd like to play a video for you, just so you appreciate where the book's coming from, okay? You ready, Tim?

I got this video yesterday. I thought it was kind of cool. So, I should give John and Christina a hand, yeah?

So, if you ever wonder where all that money goes, that's where it goes. They found those books in a cave recently, in Mongolia, okay? And, how many books there?

200,000? 300,000 titles there, and we started scanning them, and it'll be a while. So, that's cool.

Alright, and because of John, you get to have homeworks. So, maybe you want to ... maybe you want to hit him.

Can you go back to the Nagarjuna? I mean, so, I like this carving of Nagarjuna, because what it says under the carving is, this is the guy who invented the wheel, okay? This is the guy ...

way down there, it says SHING LTAG CHEN PO, right Nick? SHING LTAG CHEN PO PHAG CHOG LUS GRUB ZHABS, which means, this is the guy who invented the wheel, this is the Arya, this is Nagarjuna. I bow down to his feet, you see?

So, it mentions the guy who invented the wheel. In English, we say the guy who invented the wheel. Maybe a smart guy.

He's tired of carrying stuff to his retreat cabin, or up to the dome for the Yamantaka celebration tonight, if you have an initiation, okay? And, he's tired of carrying stuff up there, and he invented the wheel. In Tibetan, and in Sanskrit, it's called SHING LTAG SOL BYED, and that's on your first homework question, okay?

SHING LTAG SOL BYED. Say SHING LTAG ... SOL BYED.

SHING LTAG ... SOL BYED. And I was excited that I found a SHING LTAG here.

This is the same thing, okay? So, SHING means wood, okay? LTAG NI ...

yeah, MA. MU MA. Wood horse?

Yay, that cost me a lot of brain. MU MA. MU MA.

Yeah, that's what I said. Then, wooden horse, okay? It means a wagon, okay?

The ... SOL BYED means the guy who invented it, okay? The person who invented it.

And in Buddhism, we recognize two SHING LTAG SOL BYEDs. There's only two in history, in India, okay? And Nagarjuna is one of them.

So, I wanted to go through the idea of SHING LTAG SOL BYED. It's very important to Maitreya. Maitreya taught it in his Abhisam Alankara, which is where your lion's dance comes from.

And he discussed the idea of these special people in history, okay? And there's two. Arya Nagarjuna is one of them, and the other is?

Arya Sangha, okay? Arya Sangha, who was Maitreya's secretary, okay? And these two teachers are considered special.

We call innovator, innovator, okay? And there's a definition of an innovator. Innovator, very famous.

TZAM LING DER, MDO DON RANG DBANG DU BRAL BAR MDZAD CING, DE LTAR BRAL BAR MDZAD PA, RGYAL BA NYID KYI LUNG BSTAN PA'I BYANG SEMS PHA PA, SHING LTAG SOL BYED KYI TSE NYID. We have to debate it over and over in the monastery. So, I'd like to give you the definition of a true innovator, okay?

Someone who presents Buddhism in a new way in the world, okay? Someone who really made a breakthrough in how to present that same information without changing it, but cool way, more cool, like rainbow turtles, okay? Understand?

And I think it's very important for us, because this week you are trying to be a ... invent the wheel. You're trying to make a new way of presenting Buddhism, and it's a tradition in Buddhism.

You don't change the information, but you present it in a way that's more interesting for your audience, okay? And it's very important for idims, real labs, okay? You can be ...

I want you to be ... a mu-ma, mu-ma, mu-ma. I want you to be an inventor.

You have to become an inventor. In Buddhism it's encouraged, okay? People who present a new way, and each country is different.

Ukraine, Russia is different from Germany, different from China, different from Singapore. Singapore is different from everybody. You need to present, you need to learn to present in a cool, cool new way, okay?

So, that's part of your job as a teacher, okay? We want cool new ideas of how to present it. Like, I'm very bad with the Internet, you know?

I don't even know what's Facebook, you know? I'm like, Facebook? What?

You know? Okay, I'm the paper generation, you know? So, maybe WeChat ...

you're going to find your own ways to help people, okay? And that's ... then you have to be an innovator, okay?

You have to think of new ways, okay? So, here's the definition of an innovator, okay? On the homework it might say, give the six parts of the classical definition of an innovator, and compare it to modern times.

The comparison is easy, it's me, you can say it's me, I'm making real apps, you know? I'm inventing new ways to present these ancient ideas, okay? That's ...

the second part of the question is easy, you just put your name, Jasmine, okay? Like that. I'm an innovator, okay?

We are finding new ways, okay? Okay, here's the definition. Number one, they have to do their innovation in this world to get to be an innovator, okay?

That means Maitreya is not considered an innovator, because Maitreya doesn't live here, it's here on a visa, okay? Maitreya has their own home, okay? They don't count.

Buddhists who come here, you know, despite the government policy of America, they are not considered innovator. You have to be a permanent resident of this world to be counted as an innovator in this world. That's the first requirement, okay?

Dzamling dir, in Tibetan, dzamling dir, in this world, okay? Number two, they must present the word of the Buddha in a unique way of their own. Special, new, unique way.

Like if you're from Argentina, and you just make new pictures of the whole Niguma series without Geshe-la asking you, because the old ones are so ugly, and do them ... she did them for free and sent them to us, and they're beautiful, okay? Really beautiful.

So, so you did it in your own way. They are also color, more beautiful, okay? And that's the second thing.

Unique way of your own. Present the word of the Buddha, right? It doesn't say the word of ...

you, okay? It says the word of the Buddha. Alright, number three, they are not following the way of a different innovator.

Their way is special, their way is unique, they are not copying another innovator, okay? If you live in Los Angeles, and Los Angeles people are special, then you have to present these things Los Angeles way, okay? And it won't be the same as Minkin, right?

It's different. Number four, here's the hard part. The Buddha must have predicted them.

The Buddha must predict them, okay? So, let's forget that one for us. I predict you, okay?

I'm not Buddha, but I predict you. I think it's halfway you are innovator, okay? So, and it's true that in the scriptures, ancient scriptures, Lankavatara Sutra, Buddha predicted Nagarjuna and Asanga.

He said the Naga will come, you know, 400 years after I passed, and it's beautiful. There are three or four predictions of Nagarjuna, and there are predictions of Asanga in the scriptures, okay? So, it should have been predicted by the Buddha.

By the way, Kanchen, Kanchen, Kanchen, Shinde Suje Tsongkapa, Tsongkapa is considered number three, okay? Tsongkapa is considered number three, innovator number three, okay? In this world.

So, actually you can count three, alright? And we'll talk about it. Okay, and he was also predicted in many scriptures, okay?

Number five, they must be an Arya. They must be an Arya. They must have seen emptiness directly, okay?

So, if you haven't seen emptiness, I still give you permission to be an innovator, okay? You are a wannabe Arya, okay? I want to be an Arya.

That's okay, okay? But, the two great ones, the three great ones are all Aryas, okay? We call Arya Asanga, Arya Nagarjuna and Tsongkapa.

By the way, I went looking for the story of how Nagarjuna saw emptiness directly. I couldn't find anything. I searched ...

we have to input Taranata's history of Buddhism, okay? Nick Taranata. But, I looked through all the great books and I couldn't find it.

All it says is that the Buddha predicted he would be a person who reached the first Bodhisattva level, which is called perfect happiness, Raptagawa, which means to see emptiness directly as a Bodhisattva. So, that was predicted of Nagarjuna. But, I couldn't find any other references, okay?

It'd be really cool to find out what happened. It might be because he was a Buddha before he came here, and that happens sometimes, okay? And then he's in disguise.

So, you don't get the story, you get all the stories. Okay, number six. They must be a Bodhisattva.

They must have undergone that experience, a direct experience of bodhichitta, which means saw countless worlds, saw all the beings on those worlds, like that. That's an Arya Bodhisattva, okay? So, those are six things.

We don't have all those ... we may not have all those qualities, but I still want you to think about being an innovator, okay? I still want you to think about it.

I think when people present Buddhism in a boring way, in a way they are killing Buddhism, you see? They are hurting Buddhism, you see? So, you have to think in your life, you know, how to pass on this wisdom in an interesting way for people, and it might be for children, it might be for older people, it might be for your family, you know, it might be for business people.

It's up to you, but I believe if you don't innovate, you're hurting Buddhism. Buddhism will get boring, people will stop following it, you know, I'm not interested to offer incense in the temple, you know, it doesn't fill my need, what I need in my life. So, I think it's your job to find ways.

I'm giving you the raw data, okay? I'm giving you the information, and this presentation is boring and hard. I'm just filling you with the information, then you have to take that information and make it more fun, and make it more interesting to people, okay?

That's your job. My job is to give you the information in a nice boring way, and then it's your job to take it home and figure out how to teach it to people, and how to share it with people in a fun way, in an interesting way, that relates to their life. And I warn you, it's not the goal of Buddhism to make everybody a Buddhist, you see?

It's not the goal of Buddhism to make everybody a Buddhist, you know, it doesn't matter what religion your parents did, do that one, it's okay. If I'm getting married, I'm gonna go to my old Christian church and get married, okay? It's not important what picture you have in your house, it's not important.

That's not Buddhism. Buddhism is not yelling at your husband in the kitchen, and everyone can do that, okay? So, you want to spread happiness, you know?

What's your religion? Oh, I'm Christian, I'm Buddhist, I'm Muslim, but what are you teaching? Happiness, you know?

And it doesn't have to be called Buddhism, and they don't have to have Buddhist pictures, and it doesn't matter, okay? That part doesn't matter. Do what your parents did, you know?

I had a friend in Ireland, he was in charge of the group there, what's his name, Kevin? Thornton, yeah. And he says, oh Geshe-la, my daughter's getting married, and I said, oh that's nice, he says, yeah, but I have a problem.

What's the problem? I don't think I can marry her in my meditation room. I got this altar with a guy with six heads and six arms.

I don't think that the daughter's husband's gonna like it, you know? I said, well, why don't you just marry her in the Galway Cathedral of Ireland, which is a beautiful, extraordinary Christian cathedral. He said, oh, now that's an idea, you know?

Let's have the wedding in the Galway Cathedral, you know? And that's the same, make your parents happy, do what they like, and then be an innovator in your real life, okay? In day-to-day life, be an innovator in the kitchen and at your job, okay?

Alright, that's my innovator lecture, now we start the class. Buddhism recognizes ... now, on the subject of emptiness, it will help you if you understand some things about it.

Number one, that it's a negative thing, okay? It's not a positive thing. So, Buddhism likes to talk about positive things and negative things, and Nagarjuna, his first eight things, right?

Are negative, they're invisible, okay? There's no coming, there is no coming, going, there is no changing, there is no ... nothing.

He says everyone negatively, okay? So, we got to talk about negatives. Choney Lama gives us a small background of negatives.

When Adam finishes his text on it, he can teach it here. We didn't get there yet, right? RGAG RDZUGS KYI RNAM SHAG, all about negatives, okay?

So, in general, it's bad to be negative in Buddhism, but now we're talking about a different kind of negative, which is emptiness. Emptiness is a negative, but there's different kinds of negatives, okay? And if you understand them, you won't make a mistake about emptiness.

You won't think something is emptiness which is not emptiness, okay? So, the goal of the next homework question, which says what are the two general types of negative things in Buddhism, okay? You're gonna say the homework answer ...

Jigme told me to go slow when I give the homework answers, okay? The homework answer to question number two, first part. The first kind of negative is, we call ...

in English, we say simple absence. Something's not there, okay? Something's missing.

It could be a credit card in your pocket when you take John Brady to dinner, okay? It could be anything, okay? Missing from that place.

The cup is on the table, and now the cup is not on the table, and the cup is absent. The cup is not there, okay? Alright, that's the first kind of negative.

Second kind of negative is, he's not a president, okay? He is not the president. Is he missing?

Unfortunately, no. But, you can say he's not a real president. You can say he's not, you see?

Or she is not, you see? So, that's an identity thing. Are they a flower?

No. Is this a flower? No.

I didn't say there's no flowers in the room. That's the first kind of negative, simple absence. There's no flowers in the room.

Number two, oh yeah, this is something here, it's not a real flower, it's not a flower. Then that's a negative, but it's not something is not here. It just means it's not something, okay?

So, those two words in Buddhism are called ... say MED GAG. MED GAG.

Deny that something even exists here, okay? And then MA YIN GAG. Say MA YIN GAG.

Deny that something is something, okay? Different things. Number one, deny it's here.

Number two, deny it is something, okay? They are different, right? First one is, exist or not?

Second one is, is it president or is it not president? What is its identity, okay? Those are two kinds of negatives.

Now, Choney Lama gives an example of a couple of MED GAGS, a couple of simple absences, okay? Number one, is there a cup in my hand which is not coming from your seeds? No, that's MED GAG.

There's no thing there. In my hand, there is no cup which is not coming from you, okay? If there's a cup in my hand, it is coming from you, that's dependent origination.

If there's a cup in my hand, it's coming from your seeds, okay? What kind of cup is not in my hand? Yeah, the cup which comes from its own side, the husband who yells from his own side, that's MED GAG, okay?

Isn't there, never was there, could never be there, okay? Just missing, okay? Not there.

Which one is emptiness? This one, okay? Not there.

MED GAG, first kind. Just not there. That husband is not in the kitchen.

Looks like in the kitchen, but not there, okay? That's emptiness, okay? Now, I like ...

you want to go deeper? Okay, I didn't decide, you did. He gives two difficult examples for MA YIN GAG, he is not the president, okay?

He gives two examples, and then he gives a famous third example. The third example is easier, okay? So, I'm gonna do the easy example, and then I'll do the two difficult examples, okay?

Here's the easy example. Very, very, very famous in Buddhism, okay? And you're looking at some monk in the monastery, and you say, he's getting really fat.

That monk's getting really fat, you know, and everybody says, yeah. And then somebody says, but he doesn't eat during the day, okay? He doesn't eat during the day.

But monk only allowed to eat in the first half of the day, okay? So, what's the implication? He has cookies in his bed, and at night when no one's looking, he's eating boxes of cookies, which is illegal for monk, right?

We're not supposed to eat before daybreak, okay? So, he's eating, okay? So, when you say, you know, he's fat, he's getting fatter and fatter, but he's not eating during the daytime, what's it mean?

It implies something else. That's almost the definition of the second kind of negative. It implies something else, okay?

He's not the president means, he's the oaf or something, okay? Something like that, okay? Nevermind, okay?

So, in the first kind of negative, your mind goes to something missing. In the second kind of negative, your mind goes to another thing which exists, got it? That's a difference between the two negatives.

If I say he's not president, you think, well what is he? Okay? If I say there's no cup on the table, you don't think anything else, okay?

There's no cup, okay? Got it? First kind of negative, just something's not there, cup is gone, okay?

Second kind of negative, he's not blah blah, and then you think, well what is he? It takes your mind to another place, it takes your mind to another place. He's fat, but he doesn't eat at the day.

Oh, your mind goes to the other place, to the nighttime, oh he must eat at night, okay? Got it? Now you're ready for the two more difficult examples of the second one?

Extra points on your homework, no doubt. Number one, this is Adam's specialty, okay? I'm gonna borrow from your class, alright?

Okay, there's a cup in my hand right? Now, imagine in your mind everything in the universe which is not the cup, okay? Like, everything else in the universe which is not the cup, okay?

Here's cup right here, then imagine, you know, use your blue sky and beyond mental capacity, and imagine everything else in the universe, okay? Got it? Is it clear?

Everything which is not the cup, ready? Ready? Now, pancake, flip it, what's the opposite of everything that is not the cup?

The cup! Okay, take everything which is not the cup, and then flip it, what's left? Cup!

Okay, the cup, got it? That's the first example by Choney Lama of which kind of negative, first or second? Second kind, second kind, okay?

Flip the opposite of all that is not, and there's some schools of Buddhism say, that's how you see everything, that's how you see everything, you see anything in the world. You know, you're at the bus station, you're at the train station in Germany and they say, Brigitta is coming to meet you, how do you find Brigitta? You check faces, oh that's not, that's not Brigitta, that's not Brigitta, that's not Brigitta, and then the last one is Brigitta, okay?

You cancel all the ones that are not Brigitta, you get to Brigitta, okay? That's the first example. Second example, ready?

Things which are not coffee cups do exist. Things which are not coffee cups do exist, okay? That one's hard, you know, if you want to leave it off your homework, I don't care.

Give me the fat monk, it's enough, okay? But you know, if you don't have anything to do this afternoon, besides sleep, that's what I do in the afternoon, maybe, some. Think about that second one, okay?

Think about that second one, okay? Got it? Alright, oh, things which are not the cup do exist.

Oh, you mean Megat? You mean the example from Megat? Example for this?

Second mayinga is things which are not coffee cups do exist. Things which are not coffee cups do exist. It's a negative statement, but the mind thinks of something positive.

It leads the mind to something positive, and that's the second kind of negative, okay? Now, why does Choney Lama go through all this stuff, you know? Why does he explain all this stuff?

He wants to make a comment about what emptiness is and what is not emptiness, okay? So, what we learned this morning is that emptiness means something's missing, okay? There's two kinds of missing, okay?

There's two kinds of missing. Number one, is there a full-grown Indian elephant in this room right now, alive? No, okay?

Could there be? Yeah, I mean if you expand the door and you invite the circus here, maybe you could put one in the room, okay? So, there's an absence of something which could exist.

Is there a Christmas tree on this table? No, but it could be, it could be, okay? Is there a coffee cup in my hand which doesn't come from you?

Is there a quality in your teacher which doesn't come from you? No. The second, that one is emptiness.

Something missing which cannot be anyway. Something missing which cannot be anyway. Then famous question, people come to me, oh Geshe-la, I read that you can see emptiness while you're chopping wood, and you have some satori, and you see something, you know ...

not possible, not possible. It's a negative, it's something missing. It's not a blue light.

Somebody came to my teacher's class, I saw emptiness. He said, what's it like? Oh, it's kind of a green light, but a little bit blue, you know, and then Rinpoche is like, oh yeah, okay.

It's not a ... that's a positive thing, that's not something missing, okay? That's a positive thing.

Cannot be emptiness. Oh, I had a feeling Geshe-la, I felt really like, wow. Yeah, but a feeling is positive, you see?

It's not negative. Emptiness is something missing. So, if you understand negatives, if you understand what emptiness is, something missing, a cup in my hand which didn't come from you, if you understand it's something missing, you cannot make a mistake about what is emptiness.

We call obvious mistake, okay? Thinking emptiness is green light, we call obvious mistake. Okay?

Now there's maggots which aren't emptiness, and that's a not-so-obvious mistake, but at least if you understand emptiness means something missing, okay? Which never existed. Then you're not going to make big mistakes about what is emptiness, and if someone teaches you that, oh, it's a green light, you have to hold this nostril, you know, twist your ear, and think about brownies, and then you know, then you say, you know, be polite, but, but you know, okay, yeah, alright, okay.

So, you know what emptiness isn't, right? It has to be a negative. By the way, you cannot perceive those negatives with your five senses.

Not possible. You cannot see it, you cannot hear it, you cannot smell it, you cannot taste it, you cannot touch it. Emptiness cannot be perceived with your five senses.

They perceive positives. They perceive positives. The only sense you have, the only tool you have to see emptiness is your mind, okay?

It's your mind. You cannot see emptiness with your eyes. It's positive.

Those are positive things, okay? Got it? And you have to think.

You need to reason. You need to pariksha. What's pariksha?

Yeah, examine. You have to look into things, and that's the only way to see emptiness, you see? With your mental sense, you see?

You cannot see it with your eyes, got it? Got it? Not possible, because it's a negative, it's an absence of a theoretical thing.

You cannot perceive that with your eyes. Not possible. Cannot be seen with your eyes open, okay?

Unless you're a Buddha, that's a different thing. But a normal person cannot see emptiness with their eyes open. Not possible, okay?

So, either you're asleep or you're in meditation. Guess which one? Just kidding.

So, that automatically cancels a lot of wrong ideas about emptiness. Let's do one more homework question, I'll give you a break, I promise. I don't know how long the question is.

Oh, yeah, I have another medgok if you want. Yeah, I have another medgok. I have the other absence.

So, I'll give you two. These are Choney Lama's two examples. Number one, a coffee cup ...

let's see, how about this? A lama who is patient because they have patience in them. A lama who is patient because they have patience in them.

That's the first one, okay? Doesn't exist. The absence of that lama is the first one, okay?

Second one, is there a Christmas tree on this table right now? No, it's not here. So, the absence of something which can exist is also a medgok.

The absence of something which can exist is also a medgok. But, emptiness is the first kind. Absence of something which was always impossible anyway.

It was never there. The husband who ... I didn't do anything husband, right?

That one never existed, okay? So, the fact that we don't understand emptiness makes us stupid. But the irony, the worst part, is that the people you're upset at don't exist.

Cannot exist, okay? The enemy that your country fought for five or ten years and killed never existed. Was not there.

Didn't exist, okay? That's the ... that's what makes you want to cry, right?

You cry. Oh, all those enemies of ... you know, America changes their enemies every ten years.

I'm old enough to know. Oh, first it was Vietnamese. Oh no, it was Germans.

No, it was British. No, it was Muslims. No, it was ...

you know, they change their enemies every ten years, you know, because they don't exist. You can change them because they don't exist. Okay, now one more question on the homework.

Let's see here. By the way, those of you who want to try to read the Buddhism, the text, I decided to put the homework in the text where it goes, okay? So, the homework question now is in the text where it goes.

So, you can see what came before and what came after. Especially after I translate this, after you guys take over all the fundraising and staffing of Diamond Mountain, and I don't have to take care of that. Yeah, in the famous second verse, this is the question.

Arya Nagarjuna examines all the possible ways that something could start. What are the four choices he mentions? And, why are three of them easy to eliminate?

Three of them are not possible obviously. Three of them are obviously not possible. Then, how do we eliminate the fourth?

So, Geshe-la's doing this mean thing to put four questions in one question. Did you notice? Maybe.

I have too much time. Okay. Number one, do things come from themselves?

No. I mean a seed, I mean a tree doesn't come from a tree, the tree wasn't there, right? A tree doesn't come from a tree, it comes from a seed, right?

So, a tree cannot come from a tree. There's two problems with thinking that, we don't have to talk about it, we covered it. Number two, could it be from something else and from itself?

And from itself, both at the same time. Possible? No.

Impossible. Okay, 50% obviously impossible, 50% also impossible, but not so obvious. Could things happen without a cause?

No, not possible, okay? Not possible. So, three of those ...

Nagarjuna gives you four choices, very very famous. Three of them are easy, okay? Yeah, things don't come from themselves, they're not 50% come from themselves, they don't come from nothing, okay?

So, what's the only thing left? They come from something else, okay? Something else.

Check this out and I'll give you a pee-pee break, okay? Focus for two minutes and I promise you a pee-pee break, okay? Or a coffee break, whichever one you want, or you can do both, okay?

Okay, here we go. So, is a pen different from paper? Is the pen different from the writing on some paper?

Yeah, it's a different thing. The pen is over there, it's in your hand, the writing on the paper is over here, okay? Does the pen cause the writing on the paper?

Then bring your pen here and come here, I'll give you a mustache, but don't worry it doesn't cause it. I always tell people that. Yeah, of course it causes, of course it causes, okay?

Of course it does. If you want to write something you have to ask, you know, Jenny can you find me a pen, I don't have a pen, okay? So, why did he say it doesn't come from something else?

Why he said the writing on the paper doesn't come from something else? So, I'm going to tell you the whole first chapter in one minute, ready? I'm going to tell you the whole first chapter in one minute, okay?

Your seeds create a pen. At first moment, your seeds create a pen, okay? A minute later, your seeds create writing on the paper.

I invented this in Russia, I remember, or Irpin. Irpin, Ukraine. There were a lot of Russians there now, they said, Geshe-la, what was that?

Astanavi? Stop that, you idiot. Why, we're having a talk you know, don't do that.

I said no, I have to do it. They're like, why? I said, I have a job every day.

What? I have to make the sun come up, tomorrow. Every time I hit the microphone, the sun comes up, the next day.

I'm worried, if I stop hitting microphone, the whole world gonna be dark, no more farms, everyone will die. I have to do this, okay? Why?

Next day, the sun always comes up. Yeah, Geshe-la, no connection, no connection. Did it happen before the sun come up?

Yeah. Did Geshe-la do it every day? Yeah.

Did it make the sun come up? No. Do you always have a pen before you have writing?

This is the banging on the microphone, and this is the sun. This is the banging on the microphone, and this is the sun, and there's no connection. There's no connection.

Your mind makes a pen, then your mind makes writing, okay? But the pen didn't make the writing outside, coming from here, and coming from here, cool? That's cause and effect.

Now you can skip the first chapter. That's real cause and effect, okay? This is the microphone, banging, and this is sun come up, but they're not connected.

Both come from me. Just one come after the other, got it? Then that's easy, you don't have to study Nagarjuna now, okay?

You can actually take a break, alright? So, that's how we prove that things cannot come from other things, okay? It looks like that, but it's not real.

It's not real, okay? If you want writing, share pens. If you want a pen, share pens.

I went to my Lama, I said I want to write a famous book. He said help art with his book. This is my jealous object, jealousy object.

His Tibetan is much better than mine, his Sanskrit is a thousand times better than mine. I hate this guy. He's my teacher's other student.

I'm like, Lama, I want to write a famous book, what should I do? Help him write his book. Oh, come on, you know?

This is before computers. I typed his book three times, okay? And I edited it.

Then I came back to the Lama, you know? I said, okay, I did it here, and I typed it three times. He changed it, I typed it again, he changed it, I typed it again.

Here, this is the book, you know? This is the manuscript. He said, that's not a book, that's a manuscript.

I said, yeah, but you know, you expect me to publish it? He's like, you want to write a famous book or not? I'm like, come on.

He says, go talk to a publisher, you know? So, I talked to a publisher, they said $20,000, which in those days was $20,000. I mean, now it'd be like $100,000.

He said $20,000, and I paid. I worked for six months, and I paid for the book, you know? And the next week, the biggest publisher in the world called me and asked me to write The Diamond Cutter, okay?

The next week, the biggest publisher in the world called me and asked me to write The Diamond Cutter, okay? Got it? So, you know, how did the book come, you know?

Was it from a pen or, you know? No, it was from helping someone else write a book, okay? All right.

So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from a pen or, you know? No, it was from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay?

All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know? Was it from helping know?

Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay? All right. So, you know, how did the book come, you know?

Was it from helping someone else write a book, okay? All right. Okay, the next homework question I covered before, but you forgot, so I'll do it again.

I stole it from Nick's text, and the interpretation which is perfect, I stole from Venerable Utpala. So, if you see them you should thank them. It's a question about the two schools of the Middle Way.

So, the highest school ... oh, I forgot to tell you this morning, Nagarjuna is the innovator of the Middle Way, and Asanga is the innovator of Mind-Only. Okay, I forgot to tell you that.

Mind-Only School. Asanga, Arya Asanga, the second innovator, innovated the Mind-Only way to present Buddhism, and Nagarjuna innovated the Middle Way way to teach Buddhism. Okay?

And you are making your own way this week. Okay? And I like it.

Okay? If you do it, Buddhism will survive. If you don't, Buddhism will not survive.

Okay? All right. So, I told you the difference between the two schools, the two parts, the two branches of the Middle Way school, is the lower school, for example, if they taught this proof, they would say, things don't come from themselves, things don't come from both themselves and something else, things don't come from nothing, and what would they say?

Last one. And things ... yeah, things don't come from something else, from its own side, or you can add anything, by itself, or inside the Lama, or you add anything which is self-existent, you see?

They think when Nagarjuna taught this verse, he should have added an extra line when he said things don't come from something else, he should have said, they don't come from something else by themselves, or from their own side, or self-existently, okay? Or without my seeds. They all mean the same thing.

They all mean the same thing. Then he got criticized by the highest Middle Way people, who said what? Yeah.

Yeah. Do you think the words you want to add have some power of their own that the word other doesn't have? Got it?

Do you think the words from its own side, or self-existently, or inside the Lama, do you think those words have some power that the word other doesn't have? Because if you think that, you already made a mistake, okay? You believe words have power of their own, and they don't, right?

You can tell your kid not to do something, and they will do it the next day, and they will say, well you told me to mom, and they said, no I told you not to do it. Yeah, but I thought I was supposed to interpret. So, even word doesn't have power to say what it says, okay?

Even words don't have power, okay? Children and adults with desire can take the same words in completely different ways, okay? Than you intended, okay?

Right? We know that. We all do that, okay?

Alright, so the higher Middle Way School says, you think those words have some kind of independent power? I think we'll name your school the Independent School, okay? So, that's how they got their name.

They are called, the lower branch of the Middle Way School is called Independence Branch of the Middle Way School, because they believe those words have some independent power, okay? Or, when you give a reason, it has some independent power. Okay, got it?

Alright, I don't have to cover that. Okay, now, so the other guys in Nagarjuna's text, okay? The opponents in Nagarjuna's text, we don't know who they are, okay?

But, in the next verse, they get to say something, okay? I think it's the third verse, they get to say something, okay? And they come back to Nagarjuna and they say, look, you know, it's not us who said things come from something else, okay?

Writing does come from a pen. Then Nagarjuna says, why you say that? Why you keep insisting that the Sun comes up from, you know, why?

They said Buddha said so. Buddha taught four kinds of causes which are something other, okay? Buddha taught four kinds of causes which are something else.

So, Nagarjuna, you can't say things don't come from something else. Writing comes from pen, tree comes from seed, okay? Babies come from ...

ask Alan, I don't know. They know, okay? Don't, you know, they come from something else, okay?

Even Buddha said that, okay? So, the next verse, verse three of wisdom, right? The next verse of chapter one, Nagarjuna lets those guys talk.

He says, okay, you, what ... when did Buddha say things came from something else? You tell me.

When did Buddha say things came from something else? And then they say, okay? Alright, and they give four kinds of causes that Buddha taught, and they say Buddha said there are something else from the Rizang, okay?

Even Buddha said that. So, here's the four. It's on your homework, okay?

By the way, the homework starts out with, these other guys, they're not stupid, they know things don't come from themselves, they know things don't come from both, they know things don't come from nothing, but they think, like all of us, that the writing came from the pen, and not from helping the other student write his book. Got it? Okay?

They're still holding on to that. So, here's the four kinds of causes Buddha taught himself. Who's talking?

The other guy, the other guy. He said, Buddha taught these four causes, they're all something else. What are you talking about?

Okay, here they are, ready? By the way, what do you think is the next thing comes after that? If you're Nagarjuna, and someone ...

huh? Yeah, prove they're wrong. Number one's wrong, number two's wrong, number three's wrong.

Yeah, they come from other, but not by themselves. Number two, yeah, come from other, but not by itself. Oh, number three, come from other, but not by itself.

What about number four? Come from you. Okay?

So, then later, tomorrow, we're gonna cancel the four, one by one, in different sexy ways, because he's an innovator. Okay? Alright, here we go.

Number one. Now, first of all, they're all called conditions, okay? He doesn't call them causes, he calls them four conditions, okay?

And I was talking, I forget who I was talking to during the break, Christina Kasica, she said, you know, what are all the Sanskrit words here, you ready? Condition is pratyaya, okay? Pratyaya.

Cause is hetu, okay? Hetu. Factor is sanskara, okay?

Sanskara. So, there are different words in the Sanskrit, okay? And he chooses the word condition ...

I'll say it again, slow. Condition. Pratyaya.

Okay? Condition. Pratyaya.

Where have you seen this word? Pratyaya samudpada. Dependent origination.

That's the real word, okay? Pratyaya. Oops, sorry, slightly different.

You're right. So, pratyaya means condition. Normally, condition means not the main cause.

The cause for a tree is the seed. The conditions are water, fertilizer, sunlight, okay? But in this text, in this verse, Buddha is using condition to mean cause.

Then people say, you know, this is not on your homework, okay? This is not on your homework, I repeat, this is not on your homework. Well, why didn't, why didn't Nagarjuna say Buddha taught four causes?

Because really, he's talking about causes. The problem is, the first one is called a cause-cause, okay? The first of the four is called a cause ...

is already called a cause, so he ... I think he just wants a different word. Otherwise, he has to say the first one is cause-cause, okay?

But he says, let's not, let's not go there. Let's call it a causal condition. Causal condition.

The first of the four, the first of the four is any condition which causes something else. Easy, okay? Anything, you know?

Pizza makes you fat. Fish make you poopoo. You know, I don't know, everything.

Everything which does anything is the first kind of cause, okay? Choney Lama says all things that do anything are in the first category. All things that do anything are in the first category, okay?

A car, a pen, you know, pizza make you fat, etc. Okay? Alright, second one.

By the way, if you want to give an example, you can just say the seed for a tree. The seed for a tree is a causal condition, first one, okay? And I think that's why he didn't call them the four causes, because he didn't want to say causal cause, okay?

I think, that's my opinion. Okay, second one. The second kind of classic cause, and a lot of this is in Stanley's text, but you'll see it's slightly different, okay?

It sounds like Abhidharma, but it's slightly different, okay? Second one. Any object of perception, a cause ...

sorry, a condition for perception, and it means objects. Cup, red, smell, fart, rock and roll, okay? Your butt feels strange today, after three and a half hours.

Those are all ... the object, the hardness of the floor, all of those objects are the second kind of condition. They trigger an awareness, okay?

You open your eyes, there's a blue handkerchief, and then it creates a perception of it, okay? In Buddhism, the object triggers the perception. So, which came first?

The object. The object was there before Geshe-la talked about, this has been there with all its valuable contents since the beginning of class, but only now I said, look at this thing, it's been here since the beginning of class, and then you look at it and it creates a perception, okay? The object triggers a perception in the next moment, okay?

Got it? That's called an object condition, okay? MI KHYEN.

Object condition. Third, there's a beautiful, famous category called the cause for what comes just after, okay? The third type is called the condition for what comes next, right after, right next, okay?

The very next thing. The condition for the very next thing, okay? And traditionally, these are restricted to states of mind.

Traditionally, these are restricted to states of mind, and it's a big subject in the Abhidharma, because there's an important question. If a thing needs a cause which is of the same kind, if watermelons can only come from watermelons, then how is it possible to have your first perception of emptiness directly, after billions of years? How is that possible, you see?

How can one state of mind, how can one human mind which has never seen emptiness directly, in billions of lifetimes, suddenly, in the next moment, it goes into direct perception emptiness? Well, how's that possible, you see? Abhidharma spends a long time on that.

Also anger, you see? What's that? Halt?

What is it? Halt? Hungry, angry, lonely, tired.

These are the states of mind that come just before, you know, what was it? You say something bad to somebody, okay? Then these would come just before that, you see?

Just before that. Just before you get angry, you're hungry. Or, just before you get angry, you're tired.

Or, just before you get angry, you're lonely. You see what I mean? These are classical ...

say, DEMA THAG RGYEN. DEMA THAG RGYEN means ... they create, they usually create something just afterwards, just afterwards, okay?

State of mind, upset, okay? Feel hungry, feel lonely, feel tired, then these are perfect mental states that in the next instant, you will get upset, okay? So, we study them in Buddhism, for negative reasons and for positive reasons.

Negative way, we want to anticipate what may cause us to get upset. We want to avoid the hunger, the loneliness, and the tiredness, because we know we will be susceptible. We will, very likely, we will get upset, okay?

So, in a negative way, it's good to study states of mind that in the next moment might do something, okay? But, in a positive way, what are the special conditions mentally that we have to prepare to see emptiness directly? DCI level seven, right?

Long list. Serve people. Serve a teacher.

Serve the Dharma. Meditate every day. Study, study, study, and study, okay?

Alright? Got it? That's number three, cool?

So, we study them for both positive reasons and negative reasons, alright? Number four, the main—I like to call it self-sufficient cause, self-sufficient cause. What's a self-sufficient cause mean?

It has the power to create its result, okay? It has the power to create its result. There's no difference between number one and number four, okay?

There's no big difference between number one and number four. Number one emphasizes—how can we say—working, it works, okay? Number one emphasizes that it works, and number two just emphasizes that the cause has the power to give a result, okay?

But, they're the same thing, okay? Two of the four can only be mental. Two of the four can only be mental, or involve the mind.

Perceptions, yeah? And the thoughts that come just before other thoughts, you see what I mean? Okay?

Got it? Alright. Now, if your homework said—that's how I get people's attention—if your homework said why, in the last line of this verse, NGA'A STI'I PAN CHA MA'I.

NGA'A STI'I PAN CHA MA'I. There is no fifth. PAN CHA.

PAN CHA means fifth. Finger comes from PAN CHA. No fifth.

There's no fifth kind of cause. Buddha said, Nagarjuna said, NGA'A STI'I PAN CHA MA'I. There's no number five.

Then Choney Lama says, why did he say that? There's lots of other causes, you know? Why did Nagarjuna say there's no number five?

And then he gives us his answer, which is why his commentary is so valuable. He says, some people think that the universe was created by a person or by an event like a Big Bang, okay? There are people who think that car accidents involving little children who burn to death and birthday cake are both created by some person, big person, okay?

And then other people believe there was a big explosion, there was nothing, and then there was a big explosion and then everything came out. He said, those are not the fifth. Those are not fifth.

Means what? They don't exist. Those are not causes.

He said, forget those things, okay? Not possible. Nothing which was not caused itself can cause another thing.

Impossible. If you say this person had no cause, or if you say this Big Bang had no cause, or Little Big Bang, it's not possible. Impossible, according to Buddhism, okay?

Newton's third law? Energy is conserved, but there has to be energy in a star ring, okay? Sorry, it had to come from somewhere else.

It was also conserved, okay? Alright, we got through that. You think you're almost finished, but you're wrong.

Let me see here. By the way, I get confused, and I think Nick and our translation group, the last one is called DANG RJE. Self-sufficient caught.

The fourth one in Tibetan is called DANG RJE, but that has different meanings in Abhidharma. So, we have to be careful. DAG RGYEN BYAS RGYU in Abhidharma is a different thing.

A surfer who catches a wave in Indonesia causes the birth of a child in New York at the same time. Why? They don't prevent the birth.

So, in Abhidharma they are a cause, you see? So, I got confused. I think one of our translations, it came up.

There's DANG RJE, DANG RGYEN, okay? DAG BUR BDE BU, different things, okay? So, we got to go back and check.

Yeah, it's been confused by Geshe Michael with that. So, self ... for today, number four is anything that has inside of it the power to create something, okay?

And these were taught by Buddha. The fourth one for example, you know, which Daniel brought up, is that everything has inside of it the power to create it. Every cause thing has the power to create a result, right?

Inside it. That's illegal language in Madhyamika. You can't say inside.

It doesn't have any power inside. Your mind gives it power. It's not inside, okay?

And that's the problem the other guy has, okay? Let's take your fourth one Nagarjuna. Let's take this fourth one.

Who taught it? Buddha. What did he say?

Every cause has inside of it the power to create a result. Look, Buddha said, inside, it has its own nature. It has its own power.

None ... it creates something else. Buddha said, okay?

The other guy has a problem. Now, Nagarjuna is going to have to fight these four, okay? And we'll talk about that tomorrow.

He fights them in the next couple verses, okay? All right. Last question on your homework.

Yay! I'm on time. Yay!

What is the basic problem which Nagarjuna brings up in the fourth verse, the next verse, when we think that a seed could cause a tree, in the way we normally think, okay? If a tree seed causes a tree, what's the problem with that? The tree is something other, okay?

What's wrong with that, okay? In the way we think, there must be dependence. No seed, no tree, okay?

The tree depends on the seed, okay? We believe that. We think that.

The writing depends on the pen, okay? We believe that. We feel that.

When one thing depends on another thing, they must make contact somewhere. They must touch each other, even in time. There must be a moment where one touches the other.

They must exist in the same moment, if they are depending on each other, okay? If you have a table in this room on Tuesday, and Geshe-la has a laptop on Wednesday, if you take the table away on Tuesday night, there's no place to put the laptop, okay? They have to touch.

Dependent means, one is underneath, and one is on top, right? Somewhere, according to how we believe things are caused, a tree seed must touch the tree, somewhere. In the last moment of the seed, should overlap with the first moment of the tree, or they are disconnected other, or there's no connection, then everything in the world is coming out of a seed, you see?

There must be some personal connection between the seed and the tree that comes from the seed. There's got to be at least one millisecond when they both exist, so one can rest on the other one, you see? If there's a gap between the end of the seed and the beginning of the tree, then anything could come from anything.

If they don't have to be next to each other, if they don't have to be in the same place at the same time, then there's no connection, then anything ... then you eat a pizza here, and I eat a pizza, and John gets fat. If that pizza doesn't touch me, then if there's never a time when that pizza touches me, and it was so cruel to give me pizza yesterday, if that pizza never touches me, then it should make John fat too.

If it doesn't have to touch me, there's no connection to me, you see what I mean? There's nothing connecting me with the pizza. So, okay, if the pizza comes first, then there's a little time gap, then Geshe-la gets fat, then John should get fat also, because he also has a time gap.

We call it disconnected other, okay? Disconnected other, okay? Got it?

Alright, now, so the last part of your homework says, if a seed caused a tree in the way we normally think it does, then at some point the tree would have to depend on the seed, which means the tree would have to touch the seed, which means the seed would still have to be there after it created the tree. If they're gonna touch, then the seed still has to be there after the tree is created. After the seed opens up, the tree should be there before the seed finish opening up, because they need to touch.

If the seed finishes thing, and then the tree grows, that's impossible, then John will get fat. Got it? They have to touch, they have to overlap somewhere, okay?

But we believe no, we believe not, okay? Ever since we were a billion years ago, we believe it, okay? Now, last, last thing, because I have two minutes and I'm gonna use it, because I know what life is worth, okay?

Now I forgot what I was gonna say. I really did forget. Anyway, if the tree ...

what was I gonna say? Well, we believe that ... oh, okay, it's like the writing and the book, okay?

There has to be some connection, but there was something more cute I was gonna say, but I don't remember. Anyway, we feel for time with no beginning, that that's how things are caused, and then when we want to get happiness, we do the wrong things, you know? We try to create seeds that are not seeds, because we think we have a wrong idea about how things happen, okay?

We can never be happy, because we are doing things the wrong way. If you want a pen, then share pens. If you want to write a famous book, then pay for someone else's book, okay?

But don't get a pen to write a book, okay? Got it? We live like that, okay?

We live like that. We have a wrong idea. The problem is, the whole world thinks that way, okay?

We are in an addictive environment. We talked about it last week. Everyone around us is drinking, and we're trying to stop, you know?

And it's almost impossible. If everyone around you is drinking wine at dinner, and you're an alcoholic, it's almost impossible to stop, you see? We have our own misperception, we have our own problem, how we think trees are made, we have our own problem, but so does everybody else around us, and that's a problem.

Everyone talks that way. You want a tree? Plant a seed, okay?

Got it? So, we're in a ... we have a special ...

on this planet, a few people have to break out first, and then it will spread like a virus, but a few people have to get a correct idea, and then it will spread. People will use it, and it will spread, but in the beginning, the first ... the pioneers?

What's it called? The wooden ... Muma, Muma, the Muma makers, the Muma makers, the wooden horse makers, they have to break out first, okay?

They have guts, they have courage, they are innovators. You have to start acting different. You have to say the way to make money is not necessarily to work harder.

The way to make money is to help someone else make money, and if you live that way, then you're Nagarjuna, then you're following Nagarjuna, okay? If you're helping others to be successful, because you want to be successful, then you're a new kind of person, you're like the next evolution, okay? You're like the next evolution, but it's hard.

The first ones, it's the hardest, because we're surrounded by people who say, if you work harder you will make more money, okay? And they're not interested in sharing what they get, okay? Got it?

So, it's harder for you guys, but you are innovators. Maybe pioneer is a good word for that, okay? Alright, Miss Vivian, are you ready?

SINGERS SING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE SINGERS SING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE Two things. Tonight there's a special ceremony at the dome, on top of the mountain, it's Yamantaka, which is the night before the black moon. So, we do special prayers to try to fight the black moon.

Black moon, it doesn't matter if you live in Guangzhou, you won't feel black moon, but if you're out here in nature, with no city, no lives, you will feel it, and you may feel a little sad today, or a little sad tomorrow, you can just blame it on the moon, okay? So, that happens when you're out in a very very quiet place, with no city, no electricity things, then you might feel a little bit down today or tomorrow, okay? So, just ignore it, and if you see people walking up, it's okay, okay?

They're going to a special ceremony. Second thing, tomorrow is the black moon, and it's tradition for monks and nuns to do their confession on the black moon, and so, I'd like to have a ... they asked me if we would have a ceremony.

I was at a teaching one time by a high lama who ... they did the ceremony in the teaching room, and they let other people to watch it, and I thought that would be nice, if you don't mind, is that okay? So, we'll have a sojong, you can see a traditional monk or nun's sojong ceremony tomorrow, after 11.30 okay?

Tim? Yeah? Okay, we'll delay lunch slightly, or people can go for lunch if they want, but save some lunch for the people who's ...