Нагарджуна, курс 3 — Мудрость Арьи Нагарджуны, курс 3: Пустота мантры (2021, Аризона), занятие 9

[Speaker 1]
Hi, welcome back to Nagarjuna Part Three. And we've reached Chapter 15, which is called An Investigation of a Nature to Think. In Tibetan, we can see here, it's called RANG BZHIN BDAG PA.

RANG BZHIN BDAG PA BDAG PA means pariksha, which means an investigation. RANG BZHIN is an interesting word because it means its own face. BZHIN here means face.

BZHIN RE, which means face. So RANG BZHIN means the face of something, which means its nature, which means, and get it straight at the beginning, it means the identity of something, the inherent nature, some quality of a thing which is inside of it. So you got to get this feeling of, we're going to investigate whether or not, for example, fire has an identity or a nature inside of it of being hot.

And then that nature kind of opens up and expresses itself in the world. Does fire have a nature inside of it which is hot? And then somehow the fire opens up and the hotness comes out.

Does it have its own identity? So when we say nature here, or svabhava, or RANG BZHIN, think about it's sort of a thing deep down inside of a thing, which is its true identity. Think of identity.

All right, here we go to our arguments. First verse. First verse and a half.

RANG BZHIN RGYU DANG KHYAD LAS GNYIS BYUNG BA RIGS PA MA YIN LA RGYU DANG KHYAD LAS GANGS BYUNG BA'I RANG BZHIN BYAS PA CHEN GYIS BSGYUR If you think about it, if something's identity is part of it, it shouldn't have to be created. If the identity of an object is inherent to it, which is what identity means, it shouldn't be something that you get only if something else happens. You're just born with it.

You just come with it. Nobody has to heat up a fire. The fire is already hot.

So if it were the case that you had to do something to make the fire hot, then hot wouldn't be the nature of fire. Are we agreeing? Yeah, if you had to do something else, if you had to light a fire under a fire to make it hot, then the nature of the fire, we wouldn't say hot is the nature of the fire.

So we can say something about nature or identity. It comes with the thing. And it's not something that comes about if other things are there, if other causes and conditions are there.

RANG BZHIN RGYU DANG RKYEN LAS NI BYUNG BA RIG PA MA YIN NA It would be improper to say that something's self-identity were only there if something else happened, some kinds of causes and conditions. RGYU DANG RKYEN LAS GANG BYUNG BA'I RANG BZHIN BYAS PA CHEN DU GYUR Because a nature which was produced by other factors and other causes would be artificial. And artificial is the opposite of nature.

It would be put together and given to the fire. Oh here, let me heat you up. And then the fire gets hot.

Then the nature wouldn't be the nature in the fire. It would be produced artificially and handed to the fire. Okay, got it?

RANG BZHIN BYAS PA CHEN So BYAS PA CHEN here means almost artificial, created. In the jewelry business, they have real rubies and sapphires and then they have fake ones. But when they learned how to make real ruby and sapphire in a laboratory, they had a big debate about whether to call it artificial or not.

And the guys who succeeded in the process said, it's not artificial, it's real. And then the other guys said, it's not real if you don't dig it out of the earth. So they made a compromise and they called it created ruby.

And it sounds better than artificial or substitute. So if it's created, it's not natural. That's the point.

Okay, that's the idea. RANG BZHIN BYAS PA CHEN SHES BYA If the self nature of a thing or if the identity of a thing has to be created from the outside, CI LTA BU NI RUNG BAR GYUR then how the hell can you call it a nature? It's artificial, it's created.

Got it? Like created rubies. All right, Nagarjuna.

Now this is a story. This picture has a story. So my Lama, I told you I was a volunteer for my teacher for 30 years.

And about 25 of those years, I was his chauffeur from New Jersey to Washington DC. It's a five hour drive. And he used to teach there once a month.

So I did that drive over 300 times. I drove him down there. If you count both ways, 600 times.

And so I knew all the road by heart. And I enjoyed driving him because he would always refuse to answer my questions. And in the car, he couldn't refuse.

He was locked in the car for five hours. And he ordered the car without a radio. So I couldn't listen to the radio.

And it costs extra money to order the car without the radio. So anyway, all he had to do was talk about Dharma. And then sometimes he would pretend to be asleep.

And I'd say, I know you're not asleep. And he'd be like. Anyway, we used to always stop at a Howard Johnson's, at the Maryland border, Delaware border, just before the Delaware Bridge.

And we'd always stop at the same place. And he would order his tea. You know, he's a big tea drinker.

He drank about 15 cups of tea a day. I made him 15, 20 cups of tea a day. And they would try to give him creamer.

And he'd say, no, I want cream. This is creamer. I don't want creamer.

I want cream. I want the real thing. And he taught me all these words for artificial, fake, not natural.

This is, all the words I learned from him, which were all my words, they have a context. We were sitting somewhere. And he said, this is called SPROS MA.

SPROS MA means SPROS PA. SPROS PA means it had to be created from the outside. It's not natural.

All right, and he hated this stuff, dearly. Okay, next verse. It's actually half a verse.

And this is actually RANG LUGS. So what's that mean? This is our position.

RANG BZHIN DANG NI CHOS MIN DANG, GZHAN LA LTOS PA MED PAR YIN If something was a real identity, it shouldn't be SPROS MA. SPROS MA means contrived or artificially created. It shouldn't be like the creamer.

It should just be real. CHOS MIN means not created. What's a famous SPROS PA in Lam Rim?

SPROS MA That's where you try to feel like a bodhisattva when you're not. And that's a good SPROS MA. All right, fake bodhisattva.

Created bodhisattva. Artificial bodhisattva. You pretend to be a bodhisattva and then still you're messing up all day and stuff like that.

GZHAN LA LTOS PA MED PAR YIN If something were a true nature, it shouldn't have to depend on any conditions going around outside of it. If fire is hot by nature, it shouldn't matter where the fire is or what's happening with the fire. It should be hot from the inside, something like that.

That's our definition of a nature. And I was wondering, and maybe you guys could think it over, is this LTOGS PA LTA GSUM GYI RIGS PA? Is this LTOGS PA LTA GSUM GYI RIGS PA?

And that's a very, very useful expression. I remember where I was in a debate one day in Je Bug Monastery and I heard this word, LTOGS PA LTA GSUM GYI RIGS PA. LTOGS PA LTA GSUM GYI RIGS PA means theoretical argument.

Theoretical case? In the theoretical case that something had a self-nature. It should have these two qualities.

What? SPYOD MIN It shouldn't be artificially created and it should be GZHAN LA LTOS PA MED PAR It should not rely on other conditions. So can such a nature exist?

That's another debate, got it? So in theory, we say in theory, right? In theory, this is what a self-nature would be.

In practice, is there such a thing? We don't know. And Choney Lama also expresses his opinion, and this is a very traditional ancient opinion, on what a self-nature would look like if it existed.

And it should have three qualities. Here we go. Number one.

GNOD MED NGO GNOD MED NGO GNOD MA is a very, very rare important word that means from the beginningless. GNOD MA It sounds like GNOD MA meaning a bamboo shoot, but it's not. GNOD MA means primeval, primordial, since forever.

GNOD MED NGO If something is the nature of fire, it should have been in fires since forever. Meaning hot, heat. If something is the...

If fire has a nature, then a self-nature or an identity, then it should have always been in those things as long as fires ever were. That's the first thing. Fires should have been hot since forever.

Number two. No matter whether you're talking about a fire 100 years ago, or a fire 100 years from now, or a fire in this room right now, it should be invariable. The identity should always be there.

Whether you're talking about fire 100 years from now, or fire 100 years ago, or fire in this present instant, that identity should always be there, hot. Number three. It should not be dependent on other sources for its identity.

And he gives an interesting example. You don't have to put a hot water bottle on a fire. Me and Veronica, we have this cool thing down there.

Somebody gave us. It's cherry pits in a bag, and it has lavender flowers in there. And you put it in the microwave, and you heat it up, and then you lie down on it.

It's very pleasant when you go to bed for... It stays warm for like half an hour or something. And then it slowly gets cooler and you fall asleep, and it's very pleasant.

So that's kind of like a hot water bottle. So he says, if fire is hot from the inside, and you don't have to warm up the fire with a hot water bottle, or it's a bunny with cherry pits and lavender inside of it, if you don't need a cherry pit lavender bunny heat up in the microwave to make you warm, you are probably warm by nature. Got it?

Those are the three requirements. And again, it's probably tapasangalupa. Here's a woman touching a can of flame.

And one thing you can say about the... One thing you automatically think is, I hope she didn't put her finger in it, because it would burn her. It's nature is to be hot.

All right, next verse. This is some kind of other ideas about identity. My main thing about identity is those three ideas.

But let's talk about some other things. Let's talk about some other characteristics of the concept of identity. RANG BZHIN YOD PA MA YIN NA GZHAN GYIS DNGOS PO GAL LA YOD This is very complex.

If you think about it, fire has two natures. One is inherent and one is adventitious. It's color, for example.

Adventitious means it depends on outside circumstances. So like which chemical did you... What chemicals are in the wood will make a different color of flame.

But the heat is there. The heat is the identity of fire. And the color is secondary.

It's a secondary characteristic. The secondary characteristics of fire can be created by other forces. The self-identity of fire should come from the inside.

So nobody made a fire hot, but you can change the color by sprinkling different chemicals in it. And everything about the fire is contained in those two things. Either it's natural identity or it's a characteristic which is imparted by other circumstances, like it's color.

GZHAN GYIS DNGOS PO GAL LA YOD And there's nothing else about a fire. GZHAN GYIS DNGOS PO'I RANG BZHIN NI GZHAN GYIS DNGOS PO YIN ZHES SPYOD What you call a nature that comes from somewhere else, when the other person thinks of a nature from somewhere else, we would say, you're talking about a self-existence somewhere else. What do you mean?

Does the color of the fire depend on an outside source? Yes. But when you say that, you think the chemicals made the color.

Got it? Did the color of the fire... Is the color of the fire part of its natural identity?

No, it can change according to chemicals. If you put sprinkled chemicals on a fire and it changes the color of the fire, that's advantageous. That's secondary.

That's created by outside forces. But when you hear me say that, you think it comes from the chemicals. And that's a problem.

You're even messing up the secondary ones. Forget that the fire is hot from its own side, which it's not. It's hot from your side.

But forget that supposed identity. You even misunderstand why it changes color. You think it's the chemicals.

Got it? And there's nothing else about the fire, by the way. That's all there is.

There's what it is and there's the stuff it could be. And you don't understand either one. Okay.

RANG BZHIN DANG NI GZHAN DNGOS DAG MA STOG DGOS DNGOS PO GA LA YOD There's no other fire than the one which is its natural identity combined with its other characteristics that are created by other forces. There's no other fire than that. Once you cover those two, that's the whole fire.

And you don't understand either one, therefore you don't understand the fire. Okay. All right.

RANG BZHIN DANG NI GZHAN DNGOS DAG NYON NA'ANG NGOS PO GYUR PAR GYUR Anyway, and here's where he says, you don't understand the RANG BZHIN and you don't understand the GZHAN DNGOS. You don't understand the basic nature of the fire, its own self nature, and you don't understand why it's moving or why it has different colors or stuff or why it's different temperature. You don't understand.

NYON NA'ANG NGOS PO GYUR PAR GYUR If the identity of the fire and the characteristics of the fire existed the way you think they do, it couldn't be a fire. GAL TE NGOS PO MA GYUR NA If there was no real fire, SMOS MED GYUR PAR MI GYUR RO then you couldn't have the concept of unreal. If there's no real fire, then it's difficult to define unreal.

If there's no real cream on the table, it's difficult for my teacher to say, that's fake cream. The powder is fake cream. If he's never seen the real cream, he can't...

The real cream defines the fake cream and the fake cream defines the real cream. And he doesn't smile and say, ah, real cream, if he never had the danger of having fake cream. You get it?

And it was always my job to talk the waitress into giving him real cream. Oh my God, sometimes that took half an hour. NGOS PO GZHAN DU GYUR BA NI When something changes into something else, we already talked about it.

When milk, for example, transforms into yogurt, NGOS MED YIN PAR SKYE BA MA SKYE BA MA means people say, people in the world say. SKYE BA MA means people in the world say. Then what did they say?

It's not what it used to be. When milk changes into yogurt, how do people talk about the milk? They said, well, it's not what it used to be.

Now it's all hunky. And before it was fluid. And if you could say about a thing that it used to be, then it doesn't have a nature.

That's not what it used to be. It's not what it used to be means whatever changed wasn't inherent, was not its identity. The milk...

When I look at the yogurt, I say the milk, it's not milk anymore. When you say it's not milk anymore, you're saying something about the identity of milk. You're saying that it can end.

You're saying that it can drop its identity. Then it's not inherent, is it? Then it must be coming from somewhere else, right?

Then it doesn't have an inherent identity. All it has is these other characteristics that are created by outside forces, such as your speech and your mind. Got it?

Okay. Then the picture is the real cream. And I always see my teacher smiling when I look at the real cream.

All right. Let's go to the next verse. ,GANG DAG RANG BZHIN GZHAN NGOS DANG, ,NGOS DANG NGOS MED NI LTA BA, ,DE DAG SANGS RGYAS BSTAN PA LA, ,DE NI MTHONG BA MA YIN NO, Oh, this is this typical...

,GANG DAG RANG BZHIN GZHAN NGOS Those are the two things, RANG BZHIN and GZHAN NGOS. RANG BZHIN means its identity, its natural identity. GZHAN NGOS means its additional characteristics added on by other circumstances.

,DANG NGOS DANG NGOS MED NI LTA BA, Is it fake or is it real? Is it real cream or is it creamer? Is it something made from a cow and it tastes delicious or is it something created by powder?

So he's making two sets of distinctions here. Its identity and its extra characteristics that are variable. And then the real milk and the fake milk.

Two sets of differences, two differences. Two sets of differences. When I describe them to you, Nagarjuna talking to the other guy, you still think they're all self-existent.

When I say real or unreal, and by the way, I'll ask you a question. Is it true that real can only be defined by the unreal? Is it true that identity, natural identity, can only be defined by characteristics which come and go?

Is it true that you have to see short to perceive tall in Buddhism? Because a lot of people will tell you, and I see this all the time. There's some Burmese school or something in America.

They're always talking about emptiness as meaning the result of comparison. That nothing is real by itself because it has to be compared to something else. Is that emptiness?

Is that dependent origination? It's not. It has nothing to do with it.

That whole explanation of emptiness is ridiculous. Tall is not defined by short. Tall is defined by the seeds were tall in your mind.

That's all. You can have tall without short because you can have seeds were tall in your mind without short. Tall doesn't depend on short.

Tall depends on what you did yesterday to somebody. Okay, got it? Things aren't what they are by comparison.

Real is not defined by artificial in Buddhism, in real Buddhism. And identity is not defined by temporary coming and going. Characteristics.

Identity is defined by your seeds. All right, DE DAG SANGS RGYAS BSTAN PA LA If you think big is only big by comparison or identity is only identity by comparison to adventitious or coming and going characteristics, people who say that, DE DAG SANGS RGYAS BSTAN PA LA DE NYID MTHONG BA MA YIN They didn't MTHONG DE NYID THAG PA THAG PA Yeah, they didn't see emptiness. DE BZHIN, you know, suchness.

They didn't see, THAG PA means suchness, here. If you think things are only what they are by comparison, in a way, then you're thinking that identity comes from its own side or identity comes from the side of comparison. And then you don't understand the nature of things.

It's a joke, get it? You don't understand the nature, the real nature of things, DE NYID. The real nature of things, it's a joke.

By the way, as taught in the Buddhist teachings, SANGS RGYAS BSTAN PA LA in the third life, you don't understand the Buddhist teachings. And I don't know, I got this picture for you guys. These are three guys with blindfolds on.

And these are the guys who think, they have wrong ideas about identity or self-existence and they're kind of wandering around in the dark. And I just wanted you to see this picture because I want you to appreciate why does Nagarjuna keep saying they don't get it, what the Buddha said. They don't get it, what the Buddha said.

Historically, why do you think he might be hung up on this point? For $100. Historically.

Historically. Why does he keep coming back to this theme of you don't get what the Buddha taught you?

[Speaker 2]
Probably because there was another system.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, good. You got $50 so far. Jigme said there was another system that contradicted.

It was popular for how long? For $50? For the second figure.

700 years. Yeah, Abhidharma for 700 years. People misunderstood.

They quoted Buddha. They memorized Buddha. They could memorize, they could recite all those books.

And according to Nick's text, Professor Nick's text, Buddha kept the Abhidharma sutras. They also describe emptiness. Nagarjuna proves in the 60 verses that the original sutras that we call Hinayana also talked about emptiness.

He proves it. So imagine how frustrated is Nagarjuna. He's bucking 700 years of misunderstandings.

He's trying to stand up in front of a 700-year tidal wave by himself. Hey guys, it's all wrong. You know, and so he has to keep going back to the scriptures and saying, you don't get it.

You guys just don't get it. That's not what he meant. Okay, got it?

Can't you hear 700 years of frustration in his voice? I don't know. All right, that's the blind one I'm supposed to remind you of.

All right. Now we shift to a major, major topic in Buddhism. Extremely important.

And I'm sorry it's halfway through the last class for today because everyone's tired, but here we go. ,BCOM LDAN LUS DANG DNGOS MED PA, ,KHYEN PAS SKAD DBYA YANG NA YI, ,BDAM LAGS LAS NI YOD PA DANG, ,MED PA GNYIS PA RGAGS PAR BRDZAD, Very, very Nagarjuna. Very important.

Very important for the two husbands in the kitchen. ,BCOM DE, Bhagavan, the Buddha said, he understood, ,KHYEN PA, the Buddha understood the difference between DNGOS and DNGOS MED. DNGOS and DNGOS MED here means the real and the unreal.

The Buddha understood the difference between real and unreal. The husband in the kitchen who's real and the husband in the kitchen who's unreal, he understood the difference. And in a book called Personal Advices to Katyayana, this is one of his favorite disciples, Katyayana.

Katyayana is very important in the sutras about the Wheel of Life. He's there when they first paint the Wheel of Life. Then he comes home and tells the story.

So anyway, Buddha gave private advices to Katyayana. I went looking for them. You find some, but they're not clear.

,LAS NI YOD PA DANG, ,MED PA GNYIS PA RGAGS PAR BRDZAD, The Buddha denied that things could exist and the Buddha also denied that things could not exist. The Buddha denied that things exist and he denied that things can't exist. And that's really a big nāgārjuna thing.

Very, very important. It's very helpful in the two husbands in the kitchen. For $100.

Where's the deny something exists and deny that something doesn't exist? In the kitchen. You got to get both to get the $100.

What does exist in the kitchen and what doesn't exist in the kitchen? The husband you created exists. And the husband is not your fault, don't exist.

To say that the one that don't exist, does exist, is called the extreme of existing. And to say that the one who does exist, doesn't exist, is called the extreme of not existing. You went too far.

There's, oh, if the husband in the kitchen is not my fault, he don't exist. Sorry, if the husband in the kitchen is not his fault, he don't exist at all. Got it?

And because the husband in the kitchen is my fault, he does exist. So the husband exists and doesn't exist at the same time. To deny that he exists is a problem.

To deny that the husband who's your fault exists is wrong. And to deny that there's any husband in the kitchen at all is also wrong. Got it?

Two extremes. We call falling off a cliff. In fact, the picture here is of a bridge threading, I was trying to find one and it got lucky.

This is called middle way. And you're trying to thread your way through doesn't exist and does exist. If you think the husband who's not your fault does exist, you fell off one side.

If you think there's no husband at all, then you fell off the other side. And here is the great reference to that idea in all of Buddhist scripture. It's here.

Yay! Okay, which means a good place to throw in a Sanskrit lesson. I researched the extreme of saying he exists from his own side and the extreme of saying he doesn't exist at all.

So those have special technical terms in Buddhism, which is called YOD PA'I RTAG MED PA'I RTAG. YOD PA'I RTAG MED PA'I RTAG Say RTAG. MED PA'I RTAG YOD PA'I RTAG MED PA'I RTAG YOD PA'I RTAG means the extreme of saying he exists from his side and not because I yell at my kid.

That's called... By the way, I'm really thinking the next book I write, I am going to write the Two Husbands Sutra. Okay, so it's called bhuta koti.

Say bhuta koti. Bhuta koti. Bhuta koti.

Bhuta means he exists. Koti means extreme or cliff. Koti means cliff or extreme.

Koti also means ten million, but that's a different thing. So, BU means to be. And it came from, in Indo-European it's called BU.

And we get the words be, build. Where is the Sanskrit lesson? Oh, I'm sorry, I must have left it out.

Oopsie. Be, build, and physics comes from that word BU. Physics also, the PH in physics comes from BU.

Okay, BU PHYI. Koti, I couldn't find much except cut, which means angle, sharp angle. Something fall off.

And KOTI DGOS is the MU in MU SRID MU GSUM. $30, MU SRID MU GSUM. MU SRID MU GSUM.

MU SRID MU GSUM. You know MU SRID MU GSUM. Yeah, what do you call permutations?

Four permutations, okay. So 20 bucks for that answer. It means four, it's like you're on a table with four edges.

Four possible combinations. Okay, KOTI, let's call KOTI cut. All right, good.

Then the opposite is, what's the opposite, Christina, of bhuta koti? Of bhuta koti, okay, of bhuta koti. Which means the extreme of thinking if he's not coming from his side, he doesn't exist in the kitchen, which is also another extreme.

Which of those two extremes is learned and which of those two extremes is inherent in people? The classical answer, okay, I'm just, you can chew on it, is that the extreme of saying he doesn't exist at all comes from a bad explanation of emptiness. That's all.

That is normally learned. If he's not what I thought he was, then he doesn't exist at all. It's most often said by people who didn't understand what emptiness means.

All right, here we go. Let's do some more. Next verse.

,GAL TE RANG BZHIN GYIS YOD NA, ,DE NI MED NYID MIN GYUR RO, ,RANG BZHIN GZHAN DU RGYUR BA NI, ,NAM YANG THEG PA MIN GYUR RO, This is two separate thoughts and they are our own system. ,GAL TE RANG BZHIN GYIS YOD NA, If any entity existed to some nature of its own, which means the kind of identity we've been talking about, then, ,MED NYID MIN GYUR RO, it could never change. If its identity was inherent, it could never change to something else, which means it could never stop because that's also changing.

So if things had an identity of their own, because the identity is permanent, the thing could never stop because it had a permanent identity. It's a very interesting idea. And he says, it would be like ,DAM GANG MI GYUR PA, What's a GYUR PA, Tim?

Do you remember GYUR PA? GYUR PA. GYUR PA.

MA GYUR PA. GYUR PA? To obscure.

To cover. Okay. Then he says, Choney Lama says, ,NAM KHA MIN GYUR PA, What's that?

What's NAM KHA? No, not sky. Empty space.

You got to say empty space. Four kinds of space, right? You got to say empty space.

Never changes. He says, then everything. If things had identities, then because the identities never change, those things could never change because if they change, they would lose their identity.

And then that also means if the identity lasts forever, the thing would have to last forever. And it would be like empty space, which lasts forever. Whether the earth is in that space, whether the planet earth is in that space, or whether you destroy the planet earth, the space is always going to be there.

MA GYUR means it's open and cannot be obstructed. It's not like a box. It's like the space.

RANG BZHIN GZHAN DU SBYOR BA NI RNAM YANG THEG PA MING YUR RO Okay, so if the identity of a thing never changed, the thing would last forever. If the identity of a thing did change, then that's not much of an identity, is it? If fire could get cold, then what's the use of having an identity?

Got it? Then the other guy comes and, oh my God, first he puts us and then he puts the other guy and he doesn't tell us he's switching. Okay, here we go.

RANG BZHIN YOD PA MA YIN NA GZHAN DU SBYOR BA GANG GI YIN If the milk's nature could never change, then where did the yogurt come from? If the milk's nature could never change, then who turned into milk? That's who turned into yogurt, sorry.

If the milk's nature could never change, then who turned into yogurt? Then we say if the milk could have a nature, then what changes? Okay, it's called RGYUD PA DGOS TSUNGS.

RGYUD PA DGOS TSUNGS means parallel reasoning. I'll say it again. He says, sorry, I got to look at it.

If things don't have a nature of their own, then how can you say it changed into something else? If milk doesn't have a nature, how can you say the milk turned into yogurt? If the milk doesn't have a certain identity, how can you say it changed to something else?

If you don't have a driver's license to start with, how can you say you got a fake driver's license? How's that? Okay, that's the other guy.

And then we say, no, you don't get it. If it does have an identity, then it couldn't change. Don't tell me it couldn't change if it didn't have an identity, which is his argument.

If it's not something, how can it change? And we say, no, you don't get it. If it is something, how can it change?

Got it? Cute? Confusing.

Halfway through the second half, we switch to us. Thanks, Nengarjuna. All right.

And I don't know, I forget why I put a sculptor here. Yeah, I mean, the idea is, could you change something which was unchangeable or something like that? All right, here we go.

Don't worry, we're getting there. The next verse is even more famous than the last ones I told you were famous. This is the super famous verse.

,YOD CES BYA BA BTAG PA BRDZIN, Say, ,YOD CES BYA BA BTAG PA BRDZIN, ,MED CES BYA BA BYED PAR BTAG, ,DE PHYIR YOD DANG MED PAR LA, ,KHAS PA'I MED PAR MI BYA BA, If you think things exist, you are falling into the extreme of thinking that things can never change. If you think that things don't exist, you are falling into the extreme of thinking things never started. Therefore, those of you who are masters should stay in the middle.

And there's Middle Way. What's the nickname of wisdom? What's the nickname?

Yeah, Middle Way, Madhyamaka. That's the nickname of Prajna. Where do you see that nickname used for $100?

[Speaker 2]
Should I not have commented it? Yeah, I don't see it.

[Speaker 1]
You're close.

[Speaker 2]
Entering the Middle Way.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, enter $100 for $100 for $100 for $100. Yeah, Chandrakirti did not call his book Entering Wisdom. He called it Entering the Middle Way.

But that Middle Way is called Madhyamaka Shastra, the commentary on the Middle Way. All right, so here it is. If you think things exist, then they could never change.

If you think things don't exist, then you're a nihilist. Therefore, real wise men and women should stay somewhere between those two. You should stay between those two.

What's that mean in the kitchen for $300?

[Speaker 2]
Go slow, go slow.

[Speaker 1]
This is a lot of money. Where's the Middle Way in the kitchen?

[Speaker 2]
When you understand that if they have been killing a few, it's because they yelled at their kids in the classroom.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, and therefore, that exists. What doesn't exist in the kitchen?

[Speaker 2]
The husband said, because I didn't do anything.

[Speaker 1]
That, I didn't do anything, husband, don't exist. So stay between those two places. Got it?

$300. She's taking out the dinner, Pachi.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good. ,GANG ZHIG RANG BZHIN GYIS YOD PA, ,DE NI MED PA MIN PAS BSTAGS, ,SNGON BYUNG THA DANG MED BYED PA, ,DE NA BYED PA GAL TE, And he expands on the meaning of unchanging and never starting. By the way, these two extremes, unchanging and discontinuing, these two extremes are described as the results of certain opinions.

They're always described as the result of certain opinions. If the husband was coming from his own side, he could never change. BDAG PA And what's the other one?

BYAS PA If he, I guess if he is coming... Oh, if he's not coming from his own side, he can't exist. Then he just stop.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, got it? Okay.

[Speaker 1]
All right. And I have a special picture I made for you guys. The middle way to the two husbands.

Okay. So if you think he exists from his own side, you fell off the right side of the bridge. If you think if he doesn't come from his own side, he can't exist, you fell off the left side of the bridge.

And if you stay in the middle way, you have this happy relationship. Yay. Okay.

Oh, I'm so sorry. That's the last picture in the class. So let's summarize.

What was the name of this chapter? We were discussing identity. Could a thing, could something have an identity of its own?

And we decided it could not have an identity of its own because even those characteristics of things like the heat of fire that seem to be in the fire are coming from us. That's the bottom line. So there is no natural identity to anything.

Yay, okay. Oh, what's that mean about medicine Buddha mantras? Yeah, suppose you had a bad motivation and you did a medicine Buddha mantra, I don't know.

What would happen then? That's a sign of the identity of the mantra. Does it have an identity of being beneficial?

No. If you say those mantras like with a competitive attitude, then they could hurt somebody, right? Cool?

That's the emptiness of the mantras. They don't have an identity. They don't have an identity of their own.

Cool. See you next time. Yay.