Нагарджуна, курс 1 — Мудрость Арьи Нагарджуны, курс 1: Восемь невидимых (2018, Аризона), занятие 8

[Speaker 1]
We are on homework six, which you're gonna do today before you get here tomorrow. Okay, so I'm gonna finish homework six with you. Then, I've been trying to think, it's not good for you to have no Nagarjuna for a whole year, and then come back, and you're gonna forget everything.

Actually, tomorrow you're gonna forget everything. So, I have a suggestion. Every time I do a retreat, which is, the next one is Thailand, end of December, right Jasmine?

End of December, what date? 8th to 15th of December, if you're tired of snow or cold in your country, come to Thailand. Very, a lot of Russians there at that time.

Actually, there are. I don't know why. I guess it's an easy flight or something.

And a lot of Europeans, Germans like that, Spanish people, Austrians. And there's also a lot of people from Asia there, obviously. Malaysia, JB, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, other countries, okay?

So, you're quite welcome to come. It's a beautiful, beautiful place. Talk to Jasmine, she's here.

She's running it. And I think there's very little room left. I think it's 500 people or something.

So, anyway, it'll be cool. I mean warm. And we're at the beach.

And it's a beautiful place, okay? So, I will, then during that Lam Rim, I will do a Nagarjuna broadcast or something. Okay, so in general, we're not going to maybe broadcast.

We don't know yet. But Nagarjuna, I'll do a class seven, okay? From Thailand.

Then in, so you have to watch, okay? And there's no good time zone, because we all live around the world. So, if you're asleep, you can see the recording.

If you're asleep during the class, you can see the recording. Then, that'll be homework seven. Homework eight will be at Diamond Mountain in April.

And we'll be doing Lam Rim. Which day, anybody, Tim? Look it up, yeah.

And you're welcome to come back. And we'll be doing Lam Rim. We'll be doing lots of retreat, okay?

And that'll be homework eight. And then Guadalajara. Guadalajara?

Yeah? Are you nodding? Okay, I don't forget.

Pachi's nodding or he's in shock? You're in shock or you're nodding? Okay.

Really? Yeah, yeah, okay. July, I think.

Oh, what's the dates in April? April 12th to 21st, here, okay? And we will broadcast homework eight.

And then nine will be from Guadalajara. And the beautiful Lake Chalapa. Why are you laughing?

Okay. Pachala? Okay, Chapala, Chapala.

And that's a beautiful lake. It's the largest lake in Mexico, right? It's very similar to the Pacific Ocean at level five.

Okay, you can't see the end of it. Down near Scorpion Island or something. So, you're welcome to come to that.

It's a beautiful place. Guadalajara is a garden city. We can go there any time of the year.

If you look on the internet, it's Fahrenheit. Okay, I don't know what's a centigrade, but it's 70 degrees all year. It's different, like three degrees or something.

So, it's probably one of the most beautiful climates in the world. Garden city. So, welcome to come there.

It's a beautiful city. I would like to live there someday if I wasn't committed to other places. And then I'll...

So, that'll be homework nine, right? And then we need to do ten from Sedona. So, we'll have a Nagarjuna teaching in Sedona for a day or two.

Okay. Somewhere in there. Okay, we'll just have to figure it out.

Like we're doing in November. Sixteen? And seventeen?

Eighteen. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen in Sedona. If you have time, come.

Sedona is built for tourists. There's 10,000 people live there. Six million tourists every year.

So, Sedona is a big hotel. And they have cheap hotels called Tim's House. And...

Or Nick's House. Phil's House. So...

Right, Phil? He has the biggest hotel in Roomba. And...

You're welcome to come for that. This November we'll be doing a special book called The Angel Debates the Devil. And it's about the bad part of your mind and the good part of your mind.

So, Palma doesn't understand because her mind is all good. But other people have a bad part and a good part. And they debate.

So, the bad part in this case is wrong ideas about meditation and wrong ideas about emptiness. And that part is fighting with the good part which is correct ideas about meditation or correct ideas about emptiness. So, they have a fight.

And this is a beautiful book written by the first penchant lama, Losang Chukyagyansen. He was almost 100 years old. 1567 to 1662 if I'm not mistaken.

And something like that. One of the greatest lamas of all time. And very funny lama.

And very brilliant book. So, we're going to be doing that in Sedona. Okay?

And then we'll broadcast a 10th homework of Nagarjuna. Okay? And then you'll be ready for...

So, every other month or something you'll get some kind of Nagarjuna. Okay? At your house.

And then we'll come back here in November... No, October. Tim's going to look up the date.

2019. Inshallah. What's Inshallah?

God willing. Okay? Like if we all survive.

3rd to the 12th of October. Nagarjuna 2. And we'll do 5 Nagarjunas.

Okay? And that will enable me to stay on schedule. And it will give you dose of Nagarjuna every few months.

Okay? So, you don't forget everything. And tomorrow people have asked me if I could do a review of the whole week and try to tie it together.

So, we'll do that tomorrow. Okay? And today we have to go fast.

Okay? We have to finish homework 6, which you are working on tonight. And taking a quiz on tomorrow morning.

So, the last question is during your meditation did you think about all the things you left here and forgot to pack? Alright. I'm just going to review where we've been so far in homework 6.

We started homework 6 yesterday. The first one was a question about the yarn, strings and the sweater. Okay?

When you make a sweater from strings of yarn is the sweater in the strings of yarn already? And we'll say, no, I don't see any sweater in the strings of yarn. But if there's no potential for the sweater in the strings of yarn then a sweater could pop out of anything.

Out of a pizza. Okay? Like, because pizza also has no potential for sweater.

If there's not some kind of potential for sweater inside of thread of yarn then sweater can pop out of a pizza. Okay? Because it's the same.

Alright? So, there must be some kind of sweater in the yarn. But then you have a problem, you see?

Then it doesn't have to make a sweater because the sweater is already in the yarn. Okay? And if it's not in the yarn then how's the sweater going to come out of the yarn?

Maybe it will come out of pizza.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Alright? Then, are we just playing with words? No.

Are we just goofing around? Mostly. But the point is there's something wrong with stuff.

It's a little impossible. What's happening in my life is impossible. So, where are things really come from?

We're doing pariksha. We're investigating. You know, what...

Maybe investigation is better, I think, than examination. We're trying to figure out well, if it's not the way I thought it was then what's going on? Okay?

Your mind creates threads of yarn. And then later your mind creates a sweater. Okay?

And really they both have to come through your mind. And the only way to get a sweater in that scenario, if that's true, the only way to get a sweater is to share clothing with the poor, to help people who need clothing. Okay?

Like that. Okay? So, it's not just some philosophy.

If you studied Nagarjuna correctly it will make you a more generous person and a more ethical person. If you understand emptiness you become more ethical and more generous. If you don't understand emptiness you become a philosopher and you get hired in a major university.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Just kidding. All those university scholars. You can make fun of me too.

Okay. Okay. Six point second question.

Where is that? All right. Then the guy gave a weird idea which was in India at the time that the seed never goes away.

He just puts on new clothes. Okay? The apple tree seed looks like a seed for a while and then without becoming a result he just puts on tree clothes.

So, the tree was always there in the seed. Okay? And that's one idea of where the world came from.

There's another idea by the way of where the world came from that was popular in Tibet before Buddhism. And that was that a if I get it right a male monkey met a female demon and they had sex. The monkey and the spirit had sex and people came out and yaks and houses and Okay?

You laugh. What's your story from your country? Okay?

All right. No, that was a very serious— if you make fun of that monkey in Tibet you're in trouble. You know, they might execute you or something.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
All right. In the old days. Yes.

Question two. Okay, so question two we covered. Question three.

Two was about the seed changing clothes. The seed remains the seed. It just puts on the outer appearance.

We call nam gyur, manifestation of a tree. And the punch line, Nagarjuna kind of goes— he takes a cheap shot. We call hitting the other guy in the place where you're not supposed to hit him, down here.

He goes— because the other guy made a mistake. He used one bad adverb called, really? The seed doesn't grow into a tree.

It's really just the seed all the time and it changes its outer appearance. So, you think it's a tree but the tree was always there in the seed. And sometimes the seed wear the tree and sometimes the seed takes the tree off.

Okay? That's what's really happening. And then Nagarjuna, we call cheap shot.

He hits the guy in the illegal place. And he says, really? Really?

Real cause? Real result? Go home.

Go home now. I don't want to talk to you. Okay?

There's no real cause. There's no real result. Okay?

The cause with the tree in it already that doesn't come from you, doesn't exist. And the cause that changed its clothes into a tree and became a result also doesn't exist. Really?

So, don't give me the really. If you give me the really, he doesn't really talk about the problem with the idea. He just criticizes one word.

You know? Don't give me this really crap. Excuse me.

Now that my policeman is here. Okay. Stop.

Don't give me that stuff. Okay. Homework question three.

Right? Which we covered already. The guy says, look, there is some potential in seeds.

Why? Because you don't get butter from sesame seeds. And you don't get sesame oil by milking a cow.

Okay? So, there must be something in the seed that's natural to the seed. Okay?

And what did we say? Oh, this is difficult. This one is difficult.

He says, when you say that you, when you say, when you give me those two examples.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Why you give me two examples? Well, I thought it might be more clear. You don't get sesame oil from milking a cow.

And you don't get butter by crushing sesame seeds. I'm just trying to make it more clear. And then Nagarjuna says, so kind of your first, your second example is making your first example more clear.

Right? And he said, yeah. And then he said, so we can say the truth of the first example depends on the truth of the second example.

Yeah. In that case, this is all dependent, right? Yeah.

Well, if it's dependent, it's not natural, right? Yeah. If it's not natural, then the sesame oil is not in the sesame seed from the beginning, right?

Because you can't be dependent and be natural at the same time. Okay? The existence of sesame oil and a sesame seed cannot depend on anything else.

It cannot depend on thinking about milk. Okay? Thinking about the sesame oil and the sesame seed should not depend on thinking about milk and butter.

And if it does depend on thinking about milk and butter, then it's not natural. Okay? In the seed.

Okay? Got it? That's a very difficult one.

If you think it's difficult for me to explain, you should have seen me with the book. Okay? Now, I want to show you something cute, okay?

Are you guys ready with those two images I sent you? So, I'm working through this idea. It's quite difficult.

This idea is quite difficult. Okay? And this and some later ideas in the second chapter which we're about to get to depend on the difference on the word le.

Le means karma or le means act. Sorry, action. Okay?

An action. Like you hit somebody or you kiss somebody. This is karma.

This is an action. And then Nagarjuna is going to play with the difference between an act and an action. Okay?

I don't know what it is in Chinese and I don't care. You figure it out. Okay?

Act and action. Okay? Two different words.

Very similar words. Okay? So, I'm struggling with this.

Okay? I'm really struggling with this. Or, you know, the milk and the butter somehow depends on the...

the sesame and the sesame oil depends on the milk and the butter. Okay? To think of sesame and sesame oil it helps to think about milk and butter, how they're similar and how they're not similar.

Compare and contrast. Okay? Now, you ready you guys?

So, here's the original text. Okay? You have a pointer, dearly whopper?

No? Okay. Anyway, there's a word in the second line.

The first word in the second line says LAM which is L-A-M in Tibetan and it means pa. Pa. Okay?

And it's clearly L-A-M. Right, Nick? Will you agree?

The boss of our input project. Yeah. Yeah.

It's obviously L-A-M. Okay? And there's about 20 of those in this section.

L-A-M's. And it was carved that way and it's wrong. Okay?

So, for 350 years it's been carved wrong. And no one noticed which is frightening because the meaning changes completely. What's LAS mean?

And what's LAM mean? Got it? So, I can just see Choney Lama, he writes a book, he finishes it, he gives it to the carver.

The carvers who don't speak, who cannot read or write, they just carve because they're carving backwards and they're carving reverse, in reverse. They can't read. They're like a machine that takes the word and switches it around.

You see? They're carving and they made 20 mistakes in like two pages. Okay?

And I can see Choney Lama getting the block, you know, and he's like, oh my god, you know, you can't change it. No. Which is the good thing, but it's a bad thing also.

I could just see him trying to not get angry. I can really appreciate it. And he's trying to be a good example, like, that's okay.

You know? And he probably was fundraising to re-carve those pages. Okay?

Then he probably went on retreat and he forgot about it. Understand what I'm saying? So, the problem is this one is almost understand.

You can almost understand. It's a little strange, but all nāgārjuna is strange. So, you're like, oh, nāgārjuna must have had a bad day.

This is really weird. These sentences are really weird. You know?

Okay, but he's a weird guy. You know? So, I translated it with the wrong word for two days.

I think it was Tuesday and Wednesday or something. Then suddenly I realized they're all wrong. Okay?

Then the next day I realized half of them are wrong and half of them are right. Okay? Now, every woodblock has the same problem.

Okay? All the... I have three versions of the woodblock.

Three versions of Choney Lama. They're all wrong. Okay?

Which means somebody... Nobody noticed? Since he...

three... 350 years. Anyway, that's our job.

Okay, question four which we already covered is, you know, nāgārjuna is a great arguer, but is he really using the Buddha's own speech? And I covered that. I gave you a separate reading.

I translated a big piece of Tsongkhapa for you. You can answer that question. I don't need to go over it.

Of course, he's directly using the Buddha, nāgārjuna. And you... if you're smart, if you did all your homework, you can see nāgārjuna's structure in the sutra.

You can see he's following Buddha's own structure. He didn't write the book by himself. He's...

he's following the Buddha's structure. And you can see it in the reading I gave you. Okay?

So, that's question four. I think now we're on to... let me see...

And we talked about... last part of chapter one, we talked about what it means to be... natural.

Okay? What it means to be natural. It's inside the thing already.

Nobody put it there. Okay? Nobody put it there.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Nobody put sweetness in sugar. Okay? Right?

That's just sugar. That... feeling about sugar.

Nobody made sugar sweet. Sweetness is natural inside the sugar. That's the essence of wrong thinking.

That's the essence of wrong thinking. You made sugar sweet. You made peas round.

That's a famous Buddhist thing. Who made peas round? Come on, peas are just round.

When you say blah is just blah, you have wrong thinking. Okay? Look Geshe-la, nobody made peas round.

Peas are round. No, you just made a mistake. Okay?

That's a sign that you believe in a nature, natural. You made peas round. Okay?

So they could get off your plate easier when you're a kid and fall on the floor so you don't have to eat them. Probably that's the past karma. Okay?

Understand? Who made needles sharp? Who made roses with the thorns sharp?

Who made the sharp? This is a famous Buddhist question. Peas and rose thorns.

Who made rose thorns sharp? You did. Okay?

Nothing's natural in Nagarjuna's world. Okay? And the only way you can get to nirvana is to go to Nagarjuna's world.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Got it? Okay. I don't have to talk about that anymore.

Now I can go to new stuff. Alright. Here's a...

Okay? Here's an easy question. You don't have to think.

You just write down what Geshe-la says. Okay? And this is the difference between Nagarjuna and other writers.

Okay? Nothing Nagarjuna says is easy. And Tsongkapa said if you want to know the easy parts go to somebody else.

I just do the hard parts. You know? So, but sometimes it's nice on the homework if something is clear and easy.

So, here's a non-Nagarjuna, non-Tsongkapa, non-arya question. There are two big divisions of emptiness. And they relate to understanding emptiness intellectually and having your direct experience of emptiness, which are different things, right?

Please give the names of the first two chapters of wisdom and connect them to this division. Okay? How do they connect to this division?

Okay? Here's the answer. Just so you can understand one answer today.

Emptiness is divided into the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of things. Okay? Then in parentheses in your answer it's going to say which can include the parts of the person.

Which can include the parts of the person. Things can include the parts of the person. Okay?

Got it? And in fact, it classically does. You might even argue that there's no other kind of emptiness of things.

But that's another story. Okay. Which one of these two do you see when you see emptiness directly for the first time?

The emptiness of people. By the way, it doesn't have to be humans, right? It could be bugs or you know.

Okay. Or snakes. Alright.

And by the way, if you want to be precise, you don't say you see the emptiness of the person when you see emptiness directly the first time. You see the emptiness of a certain person. Which is always yourself.

Okay? If you're Palma, you see Palma's emptiness. If you're Ani, you see Ani's emptiness.

You see? The first time. Alright.

But, when you're teaching DCI program in Johobaru, that beautiful city on the river, which kind of emptiness is easier for your audience to start with? Things. Okay?

Use a pen, use an aspirin. Okay? Use something like that.

Okay? So, if you're in the Garjuna and you want to write two chapters and one chapter about the emptiness of things, and one chapter about the emptiness of people, which one would you put first? Chap— What?

Yeah. No, not direct perception. By the way, if we're having a direct perception while we're studying the Garjuna, we can't see the book.

Right? We talked about that. So, yeah.

He should do things first. And he does.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
In his examination of conditions. Conditions. Okay?

You can say causes, that's okay. You can say factors, that's okay. But the first chapter is called— I'm starting to like investigation.

Ko— Ko— Ko— Koa. He likes that too. I like the word investigation now.

So, the earlier homeworks are always going to be different from the later homeworks because Geshe Michael changes things. Okay? Invest— Investigation of conditions.

Okay? It's the first chapter and it's talking about the emptiness of things. Okay?

Got it? Then you can predict the second chapter. Yeah, it must be talking about the emptiness of people.

And a convenient way to talk about the emptiness of people is to talk about how people move. How do they come? How do they go?

Who's going? What's happening? Is it coming from me?

Is it even possible that people can be going and coming in the way we always thought? And the answer is not possible. Second husband in the kitchen.

Not possible. Okay? The way you always thought.

People go and people come. I'll give you an easy example, okay? But he doesn't have any easy examples.

When I go towards the door, what's really happening? Yeah, my mind projects a door of this size. And then my mind projects a door of this size.

And then my mind projects a door of this size. And then my mind projects a door of this size. Okay?

And then when I come? Yeah, my mind projects a size this. My mind projects this size.

My mind projects ... Well, how come I never noticed that Geshe-la? Because it's 65 per second.

Well, who ... How can you perceive ... How ...

Who understood that? Anyone who meditates well. Okay?

That's why we're doing Lion's Dance before Nagarjuna. If you meditate well, you will see the seeds opening. Okay?

You can see. One day you'll go, Oh my god! Geshe-la was right!

You know? You're gonna go like this. Oh!

You know? I'm so glad I went to Diamond Mountain. It wasn't a waste of money.

You know? Got it? So, only a person who meditates every day will ever see a seed opening and ...

the door coming out. Okay? Got it?

That's an easy explanation. Nagarjuna has more difficult ones. Alright.

Now, that was the easy question. That's the only kind of question you get in some classes, but not in Nagarjuna. So, question seven.

We okay on time, Tim? Can we take a break at 10.30 and then start the presentation? Okay.

Okay. Let me speed through the whole homework. Hmm.

We'll do some tomorrow. How's that? Okay.

I'm answering question seven now. Okay? In the beginning of his discussion ...

So, we just moved to chapter two. Okay? The easy question was the beginning of chapter two, which is an investigation of going and coming.

Okay? We're changing the subject from causes to the action of going and coming. Okay?

In the beginning of his discussion on going and coming, Choney Lama says, let's agree on one thing. Okay? This is also an easy question.

Okay, Tim? That's perfect. Then we take a pee pee break and do some fun things.

Okay? Choney Lama says, remember one thing about this chapter. Okay?

Which part of this going and coming is the difficult part? Okay? That Nagarjuna says, that's weird.

Okay? Which part of going and coming is so difficult? You know?

Which part you're gonna say, wow, that's weird. Must be coming from me. Okay?

Here's the part. Nagarjuna divides all going and coming into past, past, I went yesterday. Okay?

Or, I came to the temple this morning. Okay? The past part.

Then, future part, I'm going to walk to the bathroom as soon as Geshe-la shut up. Okay? So, I walked to the temple this morning, past, past walking, past going, past coming.

Okay? And, after Geshe-la stops this question, we're all gonna walk or run to the bathroom. Okay?

That's future going. Nagarjuna says, that's not so interesting. That's not so interesting.

I'm interested in now. I-N-G, in English, I-N-G, going, coming. I'm not interested in went, and I'm not interested in going to go.

I'm interested, what is going, and what is coming. Nagarjuna says, there's a reason I put I-N-G's on the name of the chapter. We're gonna investigate what's going in the present moment, and what's going in the future moment.

And since we're on the subject, and it would only take a second to do homework question eight, let's just do it right away. Nagarjuna has a problem with going. Okay?

Nagarjuna has a problem with going. Okay? So he says, what is going?

You know, what is going? When you put your foot down, okay, ready? Do you walk like this?

And the whole foot comes down at the same moment. Or do you walk like, dup, dup, dup, dup. Which one?

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
So, which part of the foot is gone, and which part of the foot is gonna go? Which part of the foot is gone? The heel.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, the toe is gonna go. The heel is gone. Right?

Where's the line?

[Speaker 2]
Where's the going?

[Speaker 1]
Is it somewhere under here? How wide is it? Is it a centimeter?

Is it half a centimeter? You know, how wide is the going? Where's the going?

Okay? There's a problem. The Garjuna loves that stuff.

The Garjuna loves that stuff. Okay? When you walk, you don't go, bump, bump.

You go, gup, bump, gup, bump. Then when the guh is down, the bump is not down. Then the going must be somewhere between, but where does it start?

And where does it finish? Okay? Got it?

There's a problem. Maybe your mind is making bigger doors. Maybe there is no guh dang guh dang.

Got it? If something's wrong with the way you go, then look here. Maybe it's coming out of your mind.

Okay? Got it? Geshe-la, why you waste time like that?

I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm not going to worry about this line. If I worry about this line, you're going to have water inside the temple.

Okay? Understand? Don't make me worry about some crazy things, you know?

No, but you don't understand. The body that has to go to the bathroom will die. There's only so many peepees in your human body when you're born.

I think you have, I don't know, you figure it out, Tim. 100,000 peepees. Okay?

I'm up to like 98,000. You're around 60,000. Okay?

It's mileage on your rental car, right? So, you better figure out where it's coming from. Because we're in a race with death.

Peepee number 100,000 come first, or, or you figure this out. Because, if you don't figure out how this is coming from your mind, you will die. Okay?

You must use nidgarjuna on your body. Change your body. Okay?

Before you get too old. Then it's too late. Okay?

It's too late. So, we're kind of in a race to the bathroom, and also a race against death. Got it?

We got to understand nidgarjuna before this gets too old. Okay? And it will get old.

Okay? Those of us who are over 40, we can tell you, it's like, you know, wait a minute, Veronica and I met each other when we were 16. We had a crush for 48 years, 49 years.

But, it goes like, you're like, wow, what happened? I don't know. We were just in high school.

Okay? So, there's not time. You got to figure out where it's coming from.

Where is coming coming from? Where is going coming from? Because that's the only way you can change your body.

Okay? In the meantime, we still have to pee pee. So, take a break, and then we're going to do the presentations, right?

We're going to do some real life presentations.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And you can do eight questions on your homework.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
And I'll do the last one tomorrow. Yeah, last one tomorrow. By the way, tomorrow, to do question nine, we're going to go to a sangha for a while.

We're going to go to Maitreya for a while. Okay. All right.

Bye. Go run. Flat foot.

To the bathroom.