Шесть путей духовного воина (1999, Голуэй), занятие 5

[Говорящий 1]
OK, we'll start then. We finished four kinds of activities that make you like a saint, if you try them. And then we talked about a method, that little book, for practicing.

And again, those four activities that we finished so far, those four perfections, they are like scales, like learning piano. And you have to practice. You have to, every day, keep your book.

You have to, every two hours, watch where your mind is and how your mind is going. And it's just like learning to play piano. And don't expect to be good at it until you get enough practice, like learning to play piano.

It's about that difficult. And you have to keep doing it all the time. You have to keep doing it every two hours.

When we take the break, I'm going to peek around and see how many people are writing in their books, OK? Because that will be about the right time, I think. So, I can talk about the theory with you, and I can go through the six things that will make you like a warrior.

But you have to do it. You have to do it yourself. And you can only do it by practicing every few hours, OK?

Again, the goal is to live a life which is something special. We talked about in the Buddhist books, it says that maybe the most sad way to live a life would be if you spent your whole life and then nothing special happened to you. You see what I mean?

We say that every human being has a capacity to have special things happen to them. We say every human mind has the capacity to develop to the point where you start to see another reality in this life. You start to meet all the holy beings that you ever heard about in the Bible.

Miracles start happening to you. You start being like the fishermen who are just spending their... What is it like to be just a fisherman and this guy comes up to you and says, come on, give up the fishing, come with me, you know?

We have work to do. And to be that person, to be the person who is just doing their regular job and then suddenly this thing happens to them, that's the idea. Everybody here has that capacity.

We say every human mind has that capacity. So it's just a question of practicing. And your mind doesn't want to think that you'd have to practice.

It seems like it should be a big lightning bolt of grace or something. And then you meet these holy beings or something. But actually, it's just hard work.

I think this great sitar player, Ravi Shankar, they said, how can you play like that? He said, 10% inspiration. And they said, well, what's the other?

He says, 90% perspiration. And it means he played scales for years, over and over. And really, it's like anything else.

You can meet those beings. You can have an extraordinary life. All the things in the Bible, the miracles and things like that, they're all true.

Things like that can happen to you because of the pen thing. But you have to practice. And you have to.

It's like scales. You have to start like that. I used to play sitar.

I went to India. It was my cover. You see, you're not allowed to have a visa to study Tibetan.

So I enrolled in a music school in Dharamsala, which is where the Dalai Lama is. And I would play scales for two hours, three hours a day. And it was just like that.

They made you do scales over and over and over again. And then I said, no, I want to improvise like Ravi Shankar. And they said, no, that comes about five years later.

You have to practice all day. And it was just like that. We would do scales over and over.

And then you'd say, I'm tired of scales. And he'd say, now you really have to do some more scales. And it's like that.

You have to practice. It takes a lot of practice. And it takes just constant practice.

And then all those things can happen. Why? Because of this thing.

And we talked about it many times. I'll keep talking about it. I'll do it one more time.

People take pictures of me to put in these little magazines. And it's always the same thing. I'm standing there like that.

Whatever country it is, whether you see it as a good pen or whether you see it as a bad pen, it's not coming from the pen. If it was coming from the pen, then everybody would like it or everybody would not like it. But in fact, everybody in this room has a slightly different idea about the pen.

And that's not coming from the pen. It must be coming from you. So the pen doesn't have any quality of being good or bad.

You see it as good or bad. And then there's the famous Mrs. Rebus question from Melbourne, Australia, who came in and said, well, what about the pen? Is it a pen from its own side?

And then you say, well, if a dog comes in here and I show the dog this thing, the dog can't see it as a pen. You see, the dog can only see it as something potentially to chew on or something like that. The dog can't think of it as a pen.

So no, it's not even a pen from its own side. And then you want to say, your mind wants to say, it's a pen, but the dog can't recognize it's a pen. You see, dogs are stupid.

And we're smarter, and we can see it as a pen. But if you think about it carefully, they are having what we call pramana or sema in Tibetan. It means their perception of the pen is just as valid as yours.

They have their own rights. You know, animals have a right to see something their own way. And they see it.

They honestly see it, given all the information at their disposal, and given their equipment, their mind. They see it as something to chew on. And it is for them something to chew on.

So really, there's two realities going on with this thing. There's a dog's version of this cylinder, and there's a human's version of this cylinder. And you can't say that one is more right than the other.

You can't say the dog is chewing on the pen. You have to say the dog is chewing on what the dog sees as something to chew on. And the human is not riding with something to chew on.

You see what I mean? Each has its own idea of the pen. Each has its own perception of the pen.

And they are equally valid. They're okay. Each one of them is correct in its own way, given that person's or that being's background, and their mental set.

It's okay. This is something to chew on, or this is something to ride with. And so there are, in a sense, two realities going on in this room about this cylinder.

You have to think about it. Okay, we'll talk about it. That's an important question.

It's a deep question. The point being this. There was a big debate in ancient India.

They said, if this is only my projection, if this is only my perception, I understand that the dog sees it as something to chew on. And I understand that the human sees it as a pen. And I understand that by itself it's neither one.

So, how can it work then? If it's just my perception, or if it's just my projection, how can it work then? And more specifically, how can good deeds and bad deeds work?

You see what I mean? If everything is just what I see it, then maybe killing could be a good thing if I saw it that way. You see what I mean?

I think that's what you're saying. The dead begins into very dangerous territory, you see? You can say, killing itself, stealing itself, could be just my perception, you see what I mean?

It's on, but it's... maybe it's dead. Oh, sorry.

Which one? This one? Okay.

I have a perception of it messing up. Okay. And that's an important question, okay?

What about morality itself? Couldn't it change if you have a different perception? You see what I mean?

And it is true that if you have different... What should I say? You have to distinguish between it being what you perceive, and it working, you see what I mean?

There are schools of Buddhism. There's a school called the mind-only school. They think that...

They understand that this pen is only what I see it to be. This cylinder, sorry, is only what I see it to be. But they say, but how can it work?

You see what I mean? It still works. It still writes on the board.

When you use it, you can still use it to write something. So it does have some pen-ness about it, because you can write with it. It has its own function.

Therefore, it must have something from its own side, because if it didn't, then pens could write or not write, and killing could be good or bad, depending on how you see it. You see what I mean? Then you could go around saying killing was a good thing, if you had a perception of killing as a good thing.

You see what I mean? I think that's what you're saying, and that gets into very... That was a very, very big argument in ancient India.

And the first thing to say is, not only are objects your perceptions, but the change in objects are your perceptions. Function is your perceptions, okay? That's a touchy thing.

So, you can agree that if you see a pen, that's your imprints in your mind making you see a pen. If you see something to chew on, that's the imprints in your mind making you see it as something to chew on. But what about when the ink runs out?

Does that happen from its own side? What do you think? If the ink runs out, who's making that?

Where did that come from? We say the same sources, okay? You had an imprint in your mind to have this thing work.

And that imprint gets old, like all imprints. For example, when people get old, the imprint to see yourself as healthy is getting old. That's, by the way, the one we want to stop, okay?

You have an imprint in your mind that makes you see yourself get old. And the idea of becoming an angel is to change that. You see what I mean?

Now, why is it that... So, what happens when you hurt someone, and then an imprint is made in your mind, and then it comes out as being sick, or being a person who's not very healthy, or something like that? Is that coming from an imprint?

Is the way imprints work coming from an imprint? Everything does. Everything does.

So, the fact that hurting someone leads to something bad, the very fact that bad deeds give you bad results, is that coming from an imprint? Yeah. Could there be a different imprint that said, if you kill someone, you'll get something good out of it?

That's the big question. We say no. We say no, it can't be.

It doesn't mean it's not an imprint, that that's the way things are. But just because it's an imprint doesn't mean that someday a killing could be a thing that brought you a good result, any more than, you know, is this writing, ability to write, coming from an imprint? Yeah.

But that doesn't mean it's not real. You can still write on people's faces and they'll still see something. You see what I mean?

Function itself is an imprint. The way things work is also coming from an imprint. That's very difficult.

The fact that imprints work is coming from an imprint, but that doesn't mean that they could ever change. You see what I mean? That doesn't mean that that's not correct.

Is aging an imprint? Aging is the most important imprint. It's actually, you wouldn't speak of it as an imprint, you would talk about it as the imprint for seeing yourself healthy, getting old.

[Говорящий 2]
Yes, but some people say we age because we see other people getting old, and that's a perception.

[Говорящий 1]
If you age because you see other people getting old, it's because you have an imprint to age because you see other people getting old. All right, like that. OK, did you have another question?

Is that what you asked?

[Говорящий 2]
I don't know. All right.

[Говорящий 1]
No, it's very interesting. If you didn't have the imprint in your mind to have it run out of petrol, it just wouldn't. And we believe in, that's why we believe in miracles.

We don't believe that the world is. Do you bottle with petrol?

[Говорящий 2]
Sorry? Sorry?

[Говорящий 1]
Do you bottle with petrol?

[Говорящий 2]
Do I what? Do you bottle with petrol? Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Говорящий 1]
No, because I don't have those imprints yet. Yeah, no, you can fly. People can fly, we believe that.

But we don't have those imprints yet, that's all. Yeah, really.

[Говорящий 2]
But in that kind of topological argument, you say that you can't choose your imprint.

[Говорящий 1]
Oh, you can plant now. It's a gardening exercise.

[Говорящий 2]
What does that say? You can plant. I think that's pretty good in terms of pollution and oil prices.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, it is.

[Говорящий 2]
We're all looking to stop going around teaching now and just concentrate on the petrol problem.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
Like for 20 years. Instead of 20 years.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it is, it is, it is. Why does petrol itself work?

Why does petrol itself work? Why didn't people 100 years ago use petrol? They didn't have imprint, it wasn't discovered yet.

It was there. So were they stupid or something? You see what I mean?

Petrol itself is an imprint that ripened. And to say that because 100 years ago petrol didn't exist, that it was impossible, you see what I mean? That's what you're saying, really.

To say that people can't fly 15 or 20 years from now is like someone in the old saying, horses will always be a good deal. I'm getting into horse farms. Horses will always be the way to go.

There's never been any other way. You see what I mean? And they'll say, horses, so they invest heavily in horse farms in 1910 or something.

And you see what I mean? And then imprints come up, new imprints come up, and totally new ways of things come up. And then people take it for granted.

They say, oh, petrol, petrol works. But 100 years ago, petrol didn't work. It's interesting.

Why did petrol start working? Because someone had an imprint to discover. It's very interesting.

Why was the personal computer discovered? No, it's really interesting. No, because someone, was it just that it was there all the time?

Or does it exist now because people have imprints to see it? You see what I mean? It's very interesting.

It's very interesting. Which, by the way, means wealth is not, it's very interesting. According to this idea, wealth is not limited.

Everyone could be wealthy. You see what I mean? Like when the personal computer was invented, suddenly, I don't know, it was a huge change in the world's wealth.

Very interesting. We haven't noticed it. You don't notice it much because you take it for granted.

But we say there was a change in the imprints of the entire planet. Everyone who's affected by computers, there's an imprint coming up in their mind that sees them see these little pieces of sand, which is all they are, suddenly are able to coordinate the flights of all the people in the world. A million flights suddenly are being, where did it come from?

You see what I mean? And then other things will come. Other things will come.

And you take those for granted. You think, to say that people couldn't fly, or that where I was going to school, they're working on a teaspoon of water being able to run a city for a day through fusion instead of fission. And it's very interesting.

They're keeping it up in the air by magnets because they're afraid that if it touched the ground, it would go through the earth. And it's a reaction that runs off a teaspoon of water, and it will run a whole city for a day. And the idea is you put in less energy, and you get out more energy than you put in.

And it's considered dangerous. They don't know what's going to happen exactly. But you see, if it works, it means a whole imprint has changed for everybody.

It's very interesting. Why does the sun come up in the morning? According to this idea.

Why does the sun come up in the morning? Why does the sun come up? I mean, according to this idea, it's the imprint of five billion people have done something to give light and heat to someone, and now the sun is coming up as a result.

Oh, that's crazy. The sun would come up either way. No, if you don't have the imprint, the sun doesn't come up.

There are people living in prisons, or there are blind people who don't see the sun come up. You see what I mean? They don't have the imprint to see the sun come up.

This is very deep stuff. I don't know if we should go there. Is it OK?

[Говорящий 2]
Yes, because all the things are changing all the time. Where is that coming from?

[Говорящий 1]
Say again?

[Говорящий 2]
I think, obviously, there are new developments and imprints. But what's causing those? I mean, what's organizing all those?

[Говорящий 1]
We say that everybody who's affected by that change has an imprint in their mind to enjoy that new product. But where's that imprint coming from? Each one comes from a different place.

But let's say the invention of the personal computer, which affects everybody in this room, even if you don't think about it, would come from sharing information with other people, or something like that. It's an imprint. And it's a communal imprint.

It's a collective imprint. We don't say collective consciousness. We say it's a similar imprint in the minds of this many people.

So you all have the imprint to see this cylinder. And I think everybody has the imprint to see it as a pen. And if you had done better things, what?

What would you be seeing? You'd see some angel up here, you know? Statue of Liberty.

Let's go a little bit. Then we can do some questions and answers. The next class is wisdom, OK?

Let's finish meditation. OK. Say samten.

Samten. Samten means meditation. And that's the fifth thing you have to get good at if you want to have all these things happen to you.

You have basically a choice in your life. And that's to go on living a normal life, go on going to work, go on going to the kitchen, go on raising your family. Eventually, the family will die.

Eventually, each person will separate and go their different way. All families go like that. You know, there are great families and there are bad families, but it doesn't matter.

They come from separate places. They come together for a while. They go through their troubles and their happinesses together.

And then they all separate and go their different ways. You see what I mean? All families are like that.

All relationships are like that. All households are like that. All companies are like that.

The people come from different places. They meet each other. They stay together for a while, happy or sad.

And then after a while, they separate again and they go their different ways. So you can just sit and watch this happen, you know? You can live a quiet life and watch all this thing happen to you, you know?

And it will happen. You see what I mean? And you will be separated from your body.

It's sort of an insult on top of injury, OK? Like, it's bad enough that your family has to fall apart and everyone has to be separated sometime. On top of that, all the people who got separated have to be separated from their bodies.

You see what I mean? It's bad to lose your family. It's worse that every person in the family, after they're lost, has to lose their body.

And that's, you know, you can either sit and watch that happen. You know, you can sit and watch it happen and sort of be sad about it and sort of be, I don't know, they say, I like this line called lives of quiet desperation, you know, where all of us are trying not to think too much about it because it would make you crazy, you know what I mean? To know, to think about frequently that your family, everything you've ever worked for, the very things you're working for tomorrow, the reason you will go to work, is hopeless.

I mean, it's just going to lose it all anyway. So what's the point? You see what I mean?

And deep down, you know it, but you still do it because there's nothing else to do right now, OK? The idea is, if you do these six kinds of deeds, if you live by this way of life, then things will change. Something in your life will start to change, and life takes on new meaning.

You can change even your life, your body. People ask me, if this stuff all works, can I stay with my family, you know? Do you go to heaven with your family, you know?

Yeah, you can, OK? You will. You know, if you and your wife or you and your children practice this thing on a serious basis, keeping that book, keeping track of what's going on, then yeah, you would reach that place at about the same time, if you make the same effort, and you could be with them.

You see what I mean? Buddhism doesn't say that the end of all things is that you lose everything and that you die and like that. The reason for Buddhism to exist, the reason for these things to exist, is to change that.

You see what I mean? You could stay with those people. You will change into a different kind of being.

And that's, of course, the goal, that you know in your heart that's what you would like to happen. And you can. You have to follow these six things, and you have to keep them.

And the reason they work is the pen thing, OK? This doesn't have any nature of its own. Your problems don't have any nature of their own.

Your body doesn't have any nature of its own. You could change your body. Your body could change.

To say that's impossible is like a dog coming in and saying, that can't be a pen. You see what I mean? And so really, there's two different worlds in this room at the same time.

When a dog walks in like the dog walked in the first night, there's that dog's world. That dog's world is very short. Everything's up.

And these things don't work the way they work in our world. They don't see them working that way. They can't use them that way.

They don't know how. They don't see it all that way. Everything boils down to very primitive division.

This thing will give me food, this thing won't. This thing will throw a stone at me, this thing won't throw a stone at me. This is a good place to pee-pee, this is not a good place to pee-pee.

And the whole world is very simple for them. These are the choices they're making. They do make choices, and they do discriminate between things, but they're not...

They're seeing this same room in a different way, and then you see this room in a certain way. Don't think that's the only way you can see it. You see what I mean?

Then what are you saying? A dog can't see the room like a dog? And who's right?

You know, humans being on the human side are prejudiced to the human side. They say, dogs are stupid. Dogs might say, no, we're just different.

You know, we see the world different than you do. You see the world your way, we see the world our way. They're both valid.

They're both reasonable. We call it sama, or pramana. So there could be two worlds going on in this room at the same time.

To say there couldn't be a third one is naive. You see what I mean? To say that there couldn't be a reason why there could be a third world, or a fourth world, or a fifth world going on, we say basically there are seven different ways this room could be going on.

There are seven radically different ways to experience this room. As a hell. As an animal.

As some kind of a ghost. You know, as a human. And then there are two higher ones that are temporary.

And then there's a really good one, which is like an angel. So like, you could perceive this room as an angel. We don't believe that heaven is a separate place.

It's just a different way of looking at this room. So should we just follow the power of positive thinking? You know, I decide this room is heaven.

It doesn't work that way. OK, we talked about it. You have to plant in your mind the imprint.

Being a spiritual person is like gardening. And you have to think ahead. It's like, you can't change what's going on here right now at this moment.

But you can be like a gardener, and you can decide what's going to come out next fall. And it's just like that. And it requires that kind of patience.

It also requires some kind of either knowledge or faith, right? I mean, a farmer, you give them some round thing and you say, if you plant this now, you'll have corn in six months or something. And it's an act of faith on their part.

You know, they have to, in our monastery, it's $10,000 to plant the corn. We plant corn. That's how we make money, or lose money, actually.

OK? Every spring we go out, we buy $10,000 of corn seed. This is in India, where $10,000 is like $10 million.

It's a lot of money. And then you go out, and you buy it, and you plant it. And you're trusting that this seed is going to work.

And you plant it, and you wait. And you wait for it to rain. If it rains in three or four days, you're going to have corn.

If it doesn't, you're going to lose the $10,000, like that. And anyway, if you think about it, it's sort of an act of faith that you're putting this thing under the ground, and you're trusting that in six months it's going to come out as a corn. And all of this kind of practice is the same.

It doesn't pop up because you want it to pop up. Nobody would hold a corn seed in their hand, put it in the ground, and then stand there, you know, and say, come on. I want corn, you know.

It doesn't work like that. These things are just like, this kind of gardening is just like other kinds of gardening.

[Говорящий 2]
If the karma there would be so brilliant, I mean, if they're all very enlightened people.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah, who?

[Говорящий 2]
In India, where you're, for all of them, they're saying, why would it not ever grow?

[Говорящий 1]
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If this monastery is filled with very holy monks and nuns, you know, and they plant this corn, or if they planted stones. No, seriously.

We believe in miracles. We don't believe there's a big, in the highest school of Buddhism called Madhyamika Prasangika, they don't draw a big line between miracle things and non-miracle things, because they're all working on the same principles. You could plant a stone and come up with corn, you know, if you had the imprints to see it come up as corn.

So why aren't these people enjoying corn? They're not practicing. OK?

They're wearing red robes. I mean, this is one explanation, OK? They're wearing red robes.

They are studying philosophy all day. You know, are they really meditating? Are they really checking their books six times a day?

You know, if they are, are they really taking it to heart? And some are, and some aren't, in any given monastic institution. And that's the truth.

And it's not, and in Tibet, and in Ireland, it's the same. There's a certain percentage that do see these things happen, and there's a certain percentage that don't. Now, who's who, we can't say.

I mean, that you can never say. You don't know what another person is seeing. You never really know.

So you have to be very careful. But it's the same. And you know, people say, I went to your Tibetan monastery, and I saw three bad people.

I can't believe it, you know? And then I say, that's why we go to a monastery, you know? That's why they put us in a monastery, because we're trying to improve ourselves.

You see, I mean, the people who go to a monastery should be the people who need to go to a monastery. You see, I mean, if you were perfect already, you wouldn't have to go to a monastery. Yeah?

[Говорящий 2]
Michael, that just seems to be close to, if you just anthropologically look, to say, OK, the reason that the Corinthian girls, because they weren't studying philosophy, they weren't meant to be very well, and that this questioner is right, and that they were all praying properly to not grow. That seems to me very close to very primitive, superstitious, ignorant kind of culture, which can actually slow down progress. Because in a very primitive society, in the middle of jungles, they thought that if their daughters were dying, or their sons were dying, probably, possibly, the disease with medicine could now cure.

They'd say, oh, we didn't do the right dances, and we must go to the witch doctor, and we must make a sacrifice. And they'd go and throw people on the fire, thinking that was the best practice. And maybe it was the best practice, if they burnt all the infected people.

But it seems to me that some of this thinking is just, OK, that which we can't control, can't control what can't be dominion over, like the seasons, and like whether it rains for four days, we'll almost place it in the lap of the gods. And we'll say, we must be doing something wrong. And if only we prayed harder.

Whereas maybe you should be all doing good science, and looking at new methods of irrigation.

[Говорящий 1]
Oh, no, I think there's a difference here. There's a logic between the cause and the result. You see what I mean?

There's a consistency of the content of the cause and the content of the result. You see what I mean? What we're saying, and where your mind is stopping, where your mind is stuck, is that there is a logic here.

And it's very difficult for people to get it. It's very, very obvious. And when you say it, it sounds simplistic.

And that's what bothers you. That's what's bothering your mind. Killing a person is a negative deed.

It hurts them. Getting your crops to come up is a positive deed. Sacrifice of a human could never make your crops grow.

You see, there's a logic to it. It's not just voodoo. There's a consistency between the cause and the effect.

You can't get a positive result from a negative action. So it's like, and Jesus said the same thing. And Jesus was adamant about it.

And some people got it, and some people didn't get it, when he talked about thistles and, what was the other thing? Grapes. Yeah, anyway, same thing, same thing.

We don't say that just any voodoo cause can cause any voodoo result. No. There has to be a consistency between the action and the result.

[Говорящий 2]
I'm not suggesting that.

[Говорящий 1]
That's not right stuff. And by the way, does irrigation work? No, does irrigation work?

We have irrigation in our fields. Does it work? No, but does irrigation work?

I don't know what irrigation is. No, if the field is dry, if the field is dry and you water the field through irrigation, do you have a successful corn crop? No.

Not necessarily. If a blight comes, or insects come, or something like that. So we can say that irrigation doesn't cause a successful crop.

It doesn't work, you see what I mean? It really doesn't work. It's very difficult to accept that.

Penicillin doesn't work. In and of itself, penicillin doesn't work. Penicillin has changed in the last few years.

Why? Why does penicillin doesn't work anymore? Because there's like a virus that's stuck to the penicillin.

No, certain viruses have come up. AIDS has come up, and then penicillin doesn't work anymore the way it used to work. Is that why it doesn't work?

[Говорящий 2]
It still works for some soft tissue.

[Говорящий 1]
It still works for some. At least this, no, it works this year. But why does it work?

Why did it work last year on all tissues, and this year it doesn't work on all tissues? Why? Because certain types of changes were the cause.

Because certain viruses came up. This is the scientific, by the way, it's good that it comes up. It's a little, it's not on the subject for this.

No, no, it's very good, and we have to follow this logic. The scientific answer to why penicillin stopped working a couple of years ago, for some people, for some diseases, is that certain viruses have come up. And a Buddhist says, why?

And they say, well, AIDS wasn't around before. And then you say, why? And then the scientist says, don't ask me a stupid question.

It just wasn't here before. No, and then you say, why do you say I can't ask why? You see what I mean?

Why do you say I can't ask why penicillin works for some people and doesn't work for other people?

[Говорящий 2]
But what if they said to you that, that would probably be a particularly recalcitrant scientist who says, I'm not going to ask you a stupid question. What if they said to you, because it is the nature of viruses, as in evolution, to mutate, and therefore, in an environment where we introduce penicillin, those viruses, which are resistant to penicillin, are the only ones to survive and thrive, and therefore, we're in a constantly changing and evolving situation. But certainly, if you were to look at it, longevity in the West has improved massively in the last, say, 200 years because of medical advances.

[Говорящий 1]
Why do viruses mutate like that? I mean, no, if you keep asking scientists, sooner or later, you can go back two steps or three steps, but sooner or later, they get frustrated and they say, National Geographic, 1998, October issue, here is why people age. Sorry, here are all the signs of aging.

Liver gets old, skin stops working, less elastic, the cartilage starts to shrink, the lung stops working like it used to, the bones are more brittle. And then at the bottom of the page, you can check it out, it says, but we don't know why. You see what I mean?

It's very honest. It struck me as very honest. The question is why.

You have to ask, you're describing to me how penicillin has stopped working, but not why. It's very profound. At some point, you have to ask why.

Things don't just happen from nothing. But at a certain point in science, they have to say what? That just happened.

If you work backwards, sooner or later, they have to say, that just happened.

[Говорящий 2]
I just remember having an experience once, a very extraordinary experience. And all I do is just keep wondering about everything. It's a sense of wonderment.

[Говорящий 1]
I mean, I didn't want to get into it today, but I'll get into it a little further. Two people sitting in a car. This is my favorite one.

This is a real thing, OK? Two people sitting in a car, one's on the left. And then we'll leave it, OK?

One person's sitting on the left, one person's sitting on the right. This really happened to me. I wasn't in the car, OK?

The car hit somebody else. This happened to a friend of mine in school. And there was a girl, and the girl went to the windshield and died.

Young girl, like five years old. And my friend was driving, and he had a seat belt on, and nothing happened. So you go to your mother, and you say, why did this have to happen?

And here is the scientist's answer, OK? Here's the science answer. Here's the modern Western civilization answer.

What? She didn't have a seat belt on. She didn't have a seat belt on, and he had a seat belt on, OK?

And then you say, but Mom, what are you going to ask? Why didn't she have a seat belt on? Come on.

She got in the car late. He was already in the car. He had time to put his on.

She didn't have time to put his on. And that's all. And then you say, why didn't she have time?

Don't ask stupid questions. She was coming out of school in a rush. Her class lasted later than his class.

Why did her class last later than his class? Because it went to four, and his went to three. But why did it go to four, and his went to three?

You see what I mean? And at some point, your mom says, stop asking stupid questions. That's just the way it is.

And that's where science breaks down. At some point, at some point, it breaks down. And at some point, they say, at some point, they have to say, it's just the way it is.

Don't ask that. Don't ask why she was sitting on the right, and he was sitting on the left. You see what I mean?

Don't ask why the car hit them on the right side and not on the left side. We can explain the velocity, and why the windshield broke, and why the head broke before the windshield broke. And you can explain all that.

But you didn't answer the question. You're explaining to me how it happened, and you're not explaining to me why it happened. And at a certain point, you were taught in your life, you were taught by your background, you were taught by Western civilization to say, there's not a reason for that.

But that's not scientific. Everything has to have a reason. You see, there has to be a reason why her head broke.

That's because the windshield was harder. There has to be a reason why her head broke, and his head didn't broke, because there were seat belts on him and no seat belts on her. Every event has to have a reason.

So is the fact that she died and he didn't die an event? Yes. She did have a reason.

But we're trained not to think like that. We are seriously, deeply ingrained not to think like that. Don't ask why she was sitting on the left side, he was sitting.

You see, don't ask that. There's no answer to that. It's just the way it is.

But that's not scientific. Everything has a reason. Everything has a cause.

And we say it's imprints, OK? And we say that the imprint must resemble the result, like all seeds and all results. There must have been something negative.

It sounds like an easy explanation to explain the bad things in the world. It sounds so simplistic that you think it's false. But that's just your culture.

That's just because of what you grew up with. And to tell you the truth, you only believe it for one reason. Your mom told you.

It all boils down to that. In Tibet, there's a very famous philosopher. You know, it was 500 years ago.

And he said, everybody in Tibet believes in a future life. And I've never met one who could tell me why. They just believe it because what?

Their mom told them so. And it's deep, deep, deep, deep ingrained in you. You can't overcome it.

Your mind doesn't want to think why this person was sitting on the left and the other person was sitting on the right. Your whole culture, your whole life and mom tell you there's no reason for that. You see, I mean, it's not true.

Everything has a reason. There is a reason why somebody is sitting on one side and somebody is sitting on the other side. There is a reason.

And it has to do with have they been good or bad. And all the great religions recognize that. And that's why all the religions teach something about morality.

But you need to hear it explained every once in a while. You see what I mean? OK, are we going to go this way?

All right.

[Говорящий 2]
Just a statement, really.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
Having listened to you, I heard you talk last week and this weekend as well. I just now see how walking is walking. I wouldn't have seen it before.

[Говорящий 1]
It's called the separ ki tingen dzin. Say, separ ki tingen dzin. It's a level of meditation where you're able to change the function of certain elements, which means the water element becomes the earth element.

And you can walk on water. And that's like long before you can do other things. You see what I mean?

Yeah, good, easy. Yeah, no. But I mean, yeah, it explains why miracles can happen.

If things are coming from imprints, it explains why miracles can happen and explains why Petro works and explains why the personal computer works. And that doesn't strike us as a miracle, but it is a miracle, you see. I just want to say one thing about the event for Petro.

[Говорящий 2]
I had an imprint on my mind for a little while. It was very calm. And I ran out of water.

[Говорящий 1]
Imprint ran out.

[Говорящий 2]
I'm sorry, my imprint ran out.

[Говорящий 1]
Imprint for Petro ran out.

[Говорящий 2]
Doug, come in. No, I was just going to say that I'm happy to leave. I've only an inkling into this walking of water.

I believe in you.

[Говорящий 1]
Because I think you know. No, I believe that... Well, that explains why miracles can occur.

Then I'm going to wait.

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah, don't do it today. What about for our neighborhood?

[Говорящий 1]
But it explains why miracles can work. It explains why miracles can work. But they can't work by what?

Wishing. Wishing it. It's gardening.

It's gardening. Always think gardening. You know, you want to walk on water?

Then help other people today. The idea, by the way, my idea of an interesting life would be if I could walk on water. If I could have one good miracle happen in my life.

I was reading the story of Lancelot, you know. He was like saying to Guinevere, if I could have one good miracle happen in my life, I'm going to go look for the Holy Grail. You know, he never got it.

But he saw it, you know. And just to have one good miracle in your life, I think. And you can.

I have two questions. First one, the pen thing. Everyone sees it in different ways, but there is one way that we can only see it, and that's solid, as a solid object.

So are you saying if we perceive it as non-solid, you can actually pass right through it? That's the water thing. That's the water thing.

And the story of Jesus walking in the water is absolutely true. And yeah, you could pass your hand through it.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay, second question. The newborn baby that dies. Sorry?

[Говорящий 1]
The newborn baby that dies. Has it had a chance to do any bad thing? Yeah, I was afraid somebody would ask that.

A newborn baby... By the way, we'll forget meditation will do it in the afternoon. A newborn baby gets burned in a fire.

A tenement fire. I mean, for me, it was my mother. Gets breast cancer.

She's like the most incredible person I can imagine. We did not have a lock on our house. Everyone slept in our house.

People we didn't know slept in our house. We didn't have enough food, because by Sunday it would all be gone, because everybody came and ate as much as they wanted. And it was just there.

And people came in. So I'm like, how can this lady get cancer? How can this happen to this lady?

How can a newborn baby die in a fire? Three choices. Three choices.

One is random. It just happens. You know what I mean?

You're coming to this world. There's an accident. Thousands and millions of years ago, this thing blew up.

Little rocks started hitting each other in the air. Gases formed. Things got hard.

Broke up. One became the sun. One became the earth.

You know, chemicals came. Water was created. Water rained on the earth.

Lizards came out of the water. Walked up. One lizard one day stood up.

You know, this was your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Really. Okay?

And that's how it happened. It's all like a tremendous coincidence. You know?

Just random things hit each other until we are here. And there's no logic. You see?

That implies there's no logic. There's no good. There's no bad.

Good things don't lead to good things. Bad things don't lead to bad things. That's one possibility.

That's really what Western people believe. That's really where our minds are. You know?

If you really, really dig, dig, dig, dig to a Western person, that's what you really believe. You know? You really believe that.

You're living by that. Okay? Second explanation.

For why the child... Also, the child died because a rock went to the wrong direction three million years ago. And it led to this fire.

And this person was there. And it's just coincidence. It's a huge, terrible coincidence.

There's no sense to it. You know? There's no cause and effect.

Good things don't lead to good things. Bad things don't lead to bad things. It's just...

Everything is this massive coincidence. Okay? Second...

And we really believe that. You know? You can say what you want about going to church.

Blah, blah, blah. It's not what you really believe. You really believe in that.

Second explanation. There's some conscious person running this thing. You know?

Some person is consciously... You know? Running the thing.

And I think about 20% of your belief is that. You know? Still, when you get in an airplane and it starts to go...

You're still saying... You know? That's especially when it comes up.

You know? This thing... Okay, there is a conscious thing.

And... Help me out here. You know?

You know? Really, you spend your whole day as if there were no conscious thing. And when you get in big trouble...

You... You start to believe in a conscious thing. You know?

No, I'm not kidding. I'm telling... I grew up the same as you.

You know? So, then... Maybe it's a conscious thing.

You know? Maybe some conscious reason why this... There is a conscious being who's...

Who's decided this child has to burn or something. Okay? For some reason.

Okay? And then the third theory. Okay?

Is just that there must have been some negative content to cause the fire for this person. Okay? This child is burning in this fire because of something they did to harm life in the past.

And we... It's one of the reasons we believe in a... That the mind of that child didn't start when they were born.

That the mind of that child is older than that. And that you can... You have to...

I'm not here to prove that. It's too much in one weekend. There are many compelling arguments for it.

We believe that the soul or the mind of that child is older than the child. And that... And that you can't destroy a soul.

You can't destroy what we call mind. And that the mind has... That soul or that mind has...

Has other imprints in it from before. Now, there's a very, very, very, very dangerous thought that comes up after that. Well, then everybody has their own imprints and I don't have to help anybody.

You know? That child had an imprint to be burned and if they burn, they burn and that's their fault. You see what I mean?

That's a very, very sick and wrong idea. We don't think that. The child may have an imprint to burn but you have to try to run into the fire even at your own life's risk and save that child.

You see what I mean? Because it's their imprint to burn doesn't mean that at all that we are... I mean, the whole life, the whole system that we're talking about requires that if you've been playing your scales you have enough strength to go in there burn yourself and help them out.

You see what I mean? So it doesn't imply anything like oh, it's their fault, you know, don't... That's a very, very important thing to say.

You can't teach the one thing and then not talk about the second thing. Yeah? The parents have the karma to have grief.

The parents have imprints to see the loss of their child. They have contributed to... They have not respected life completely.

And they have imprints to see the loss of their child which is almost as bad as losing your own life. So they have... They have not respected life and that's why they have the grief.

But is that an opportunity for them to deal with that? Yeah, can you change a problem into an opportunity? That's a great thing.

Now somebody said to me, interesting, the other day we were sitting up here and they said because the death of their child provided them with an opportunity to strengthen their inner spirit it was a good thing. You see? Now, if they have the imprint for it to change into a good thing that's a good imprint.

You see what I mean? But the imprint to have to change a bad thing into a good thing is bad. You see what I mean?

The fact that there was a bad problem that they had to reinterpret itself is a bad thing. Couldn't they just have inner strength without this? This is the test of God thing.

Oh, God is just testing you. You get in a car accident and your arm gets cut off because he wants to see if you can strengthen you and test you. But the idea is that you could have made the person perfect in the first place.

You see what I mean? They wouldn't have to be tested. You could have gotten the same result from the test without being tested if you had different imprints.

It's very interesting. So you can say that it's a good thing that a problem has led to a... You've been able to take advantage of a problem.

But if you had been better, you could have taken the same advantage without the problem. You see what I mean? It's a little bit subtle.

I think we'll take a break. If you have some more, come up and we'll do it. Okay, we'll start again.

What do you think the best thing to do? Everybody is coming back for the next class, right? Okay.

In that case we'll finish something. And then we'll take a break in a half an hour for lunch. And then the next class will be a marathon.

Now, in the next class we'll do the following things. We'll go over again how to keep the book properly, which takes care of your new imprints. Then we'll do a short thing on how to wipe out old bad imprints.

Then you won't have any bad imprints and you'll start seeing angels by the time we stop. Okay? Probably you'll be an angel by the time we stop, okay?

By the way, it's the same thing, right? To see yourself as an angel happens while you're starting to see other people as an angel because your mind is becoming... the imprints are becoming lessened.

Then somewhere in there we'll have some more debate. You know, in the Buddhist monasteries for 18 years it takes to finish the course, for 4 or 5 hours every night we debate. And, you know, one person sits down like that, 5 or 6 people sit around and you do this.

I'll do one, don't get scared, okay? I just want to show you how exciting it is, you know. Uh...

Sambhagyatini Shakyamuni Meditation. It's like... Nobody can give me the definition of meditation.

Sambhagyatini Shakyamuni Yatha. Sho! You know, and then they go like that for 4 or 5 hours.

And... By the way, if the audience doesn't like the debate, if they want to say, this guy hasn't been doing a good job, they go... And it's this great fun, you know.

So you have like 15-year-old monks who are living cooped up and they have to get... You know, they're not allowed to play games and so this is like 4 or 5 hours and they get these big muscles and it's really fun. And this has been 2,500 years.

This has been the custom. So you get used to it. And the Buddha said debate is the most wonderful thing you can do.

You know, to sit there and say, I don't believe that, you know. Somebody says, why prove it? You know, and then you have to...

For hour upon hour, hour, for 18 years you have to... You know, this intense thing. It's not anger, okay?

Like, everyone's laughing. Sometimes. But, I mean, there's no...

You know, we actually stop one day a week and we do 2.5 hours of meditation on being joyful while you debate and not getting angry and not getting competitive. I took 7 days of examinations when I finished my course. 1,500 monks asked me questions in public.

For hour after hour. And I would go home at night, you know. And the...

My friends, I had 15 friends from America with me, and they said, who won? And I'd say, there's no such thing, you see. You take a position.

The best debaters take a position which is wrong. Slightly wrong. And then they let the younger monks try to prove it wrong.

Because if they can't, then they're not strong enough yet. You see what I mean? So, you take a position which is a little controversial.

And then you let the other person try to convince you. You already believe that it's wrong, but you let them try to prove it. And it's very healthy.

Buddha started that. And we do it for 4 or 5 hours a day. So, we'll try to do a little bit more than that.

Okay, half an hour. I'll tell you something. Very interesting has happened.

Where's Mercedes? What has happened? Tell them what's happened about this thing.

Vivian. There's metal on the pencil. Every time I go like this, this neutral object is messing up the microphone on the video.

Do you know that? You see? You see?

Now what is it? You see what I mean? It has so much metal in it.

It's interfering with the video. It's very interesting. Every time I go like this, it messes up the video.

It's very interesting. I said, you're kidding me. They said, no.

So, it's a bad pen. We can decide now. Okay, we'll use it anyway.

Five... Five things to watch out for in meditation. Okay?

Yeah, psalm 10 means meditation. Sorry. Yeah, that's where we started this morning.

By the way, it's not bad to debate. It's great. And if you just sit there and accept everything I say, you will never be good at it.

You know? You have to question it. Until you're satisfied, you have to question it.

Okay? If you accept everything I say unquestioningly, the next week somebody will come and say the opposite. You'll say...

Very dangerous. They say meditation, but don't forget, meditation is a state of mind that you keep throughout the day. Okay?

Meditation is not some kind of close your eyes, see something black, like that. It's not like that. Meditation is a state, is a balanced state of mind.

Okay? Meditation is a balanced state of mind. And you have to keep it throughout the day.

It helps you keep the other things clear. You will be respecting life, you'll be respecting other people's things, you'll be keeping your sexual purity, etc. If your mind is healthy and happy and clear all day long.

That's the point of psalm 10. So, psalm 10 doesn't just mean you know, meditation. Psalm 10 means a level keel, even keel, all day long.

Some kind of mental evenness, and ability to concentrate. Okay? I'll tell you a story of a lama, we're driving in a car, he has never seen a car really, you know, come out of eastern Tibet, the mountains, it's about 1975, and the early Tibetans come out and we're driving in this car, and the car breaks down.

So he gets out. I say, you don't have to get out, we're trying to fix the car. He says, I want to see how you fix the car.

We're like, it doesn't matter, you're never going to be fixing a car. He says, you never know. He says, you have to learn everything, because you might be able to help somebody someday.

You see, that's his reasoning. If I knew how to fix a car, even one thing, I could help somebody someday with it. So, I must watch you fix a car.

So we open up the hood, the bonnet, what do you call it? And, we're leaning over there and he says, what this do? And we say, that goes like that.

He says, what this do? And we say, that does that. Don't bother us, we're fixing the car.

And he says, it's broken here. You know, like, because he has samtan. Samtan is like this incredible ability to concentrate.

Just an extraordinary ability to concentrate. And think. You see what I mean?

Like, you could do much greater things with your mind if you had samtan. Like, business people can use samtan. Baseball players use samtan.

My lama watches baseball, you know. And he says, look, this guy has samtan. I say, how do you know?

He says, look at his eyes just before the ball comes. And his eyes go, you know, like that. And they interview the guy afterwards.

They say, how come you can always hit home runs, you know? And he says, I don't know. My eyes open, and the ball looks about this big.

And it's easy. I just swing, you know. And, it's concentration.

It's a samtan. This is a state of mind that you can stay in all day long. And you can use it for anything.

You see what I mean? Concentration. The ability.

Yeah, samtan. It's a noun. Samtan.

Yeah. There's about ten words for meditation. And they're in that course we did.

It's very nice. I took all the words for meditation and explained each of them separately. Nyomjuk.

Samtan. You know, is it gomba? Like that.

Many different words. Okay, anyway. First part.

By the way, this instruction comes from Nagarjuna, from 200 A.D., 17 centuries ago. Five things to watch out for. Say, gungyut.

Gungyut. Gungyut. Gungyut means thinking about something else.

Right? If you try to meditate in the morning, like if you have a job, I'll guarantee you that half of the meditation will be about what? You know, what are you going to do today?

Oh my god, that thing's due today. I've got to work on that project. This other thing is due.

Oh, I've got to remember this other thing. And then you jump up and you've got a list of five things to do. And you haven't meditated for a minute, you know.

So that's the first thing to watch out for. Is your mind wandering to what you have to do? And again, this is not just when you're sitting down meditating, right?

It's all day long. It's the ability to block out the other things that you have to think about and concentrate on one thing. And you have to practice it.

All day long. You know, you have to be able to concentrate on the present task. Okay?

Gyö. Gyö means thinking about the good old days. It's like one of the worst problems in meditation, you know.

If I just hadn't said that to her, she might still be here. You know, or... You know, I remember when I was healthy.

You know what I mean? And... It's not living in the present tense, okay?

And there's a future part to this, right? What's that? You see, if I could...

Now, if I just invested this money, and... You see, I mean, it's living in the future or in the past. And it's not living in the present time.

You see, I mean, that's a problem. It's not living in the present. Okay?

Does it mean you shouldn't think about your past mistakes in life and try to correct them? No, it doesn't mean that. Does it mean you shouldn't make reasonable plans for the future?

No, it doesn't mean that. But it means this inability to enjoy the moment. You know?

Inability to be here in this moment and accept it and enjoy it. It's always like thinking, maybe things will be better tomorrow. Or, I remember the good old days.

You see what I mean? And it's unable to just be here and concentrate on what's going on right now, okay? And what's happening to you right now.

And those are put together as one thing that hurts your ability to keep your mind on an even keel. Like you're walking along shop street, but your mind is really thinking about the good old days. Or your mind is really thinking about what you have to do tomorrow.

And you can't enjoy shop street. You see what I mean? Like that.

And you can't focus on your current reality. Okay? That's the first fault of meditation.

And... By the way, if you want to meditate well on next Friday morning, you have to keep these things starting now. You see what I mean?

It's not that you wait till Friday morning. This is a state of mind that you have to keep all day long. Like, lots of times the way your meditation goes in the morning is determined by what you did yesterday.

How you ate yesterday. How you kept your mind yesterday. You know?

A lot of people come to me and say, I'm having terrible meditation, I can't meditate. I say, what did you do yesterday? I say, what's it got to do with today?

It has everything to do with today. You see what I mean? It's how you...

It's maintenance of your mind every day. All day. Okay?

And then your meditation is good in the morning. Because you've kept your mind for the last 24 hours in a good shape. You see what I mean?

Okay, number two. Say, nyi muk. Nyi muk.

Okay. Nyi means sleepiness. Muk means dullness.

Fogginess. Something like that. And these are two more enemies to meditation.

A lot of people I know try to meditate and then they get up in the morning and they say, it's just not working. I just can't meditate. I say, what happened?

They say, I don't know, I get sleepy. I get drowsy. I say, how much did you sleep last night?

They say about five hours, four hours. You see, you cannot meditate unless you get enough sleep. Period.

Impossible. Forget it. Okay?

Like, if you try to sit and meditate without enough sleep, you just get sleepy and you can't... you won't be able to come out of it. Okay?

You have to take care to have a healthy amount of sleep. Too much sleep ruins your meditation and not enough sleep ruins your meditation. You have to sleep just right.

Muk means dullness normally created by too much food. Okay? You can't meditate on a full stomach.

Impossible. It's like exercising or something like that. You can't do it.

Hopefully you should be... have your stomach clear for two, three, four hours before meditation. Personally, my students, many of us, we eat an evening meal and then we don't eat it again until noon the next day.

Which means your breakfast time, what's normally breakfast time, you're meditating during dad time and your stomach has been empty for twelve hours or something and it's a lot clearer. Have a juice, a fruit juice or something like that in the morning to keep strong. And then it's really good for you.

And we also have this custom where we buy one plate of food and we share it between two people. And it keeps you healthy. It keeps you light.

And it's good for keeping an awareness that there are other people around. You see what I mean? It's like sharing.

So you feel better and it saves money. We're always broke, you see. Normally in the United States, I don't know about Ireland, but they give you enough for two people on every plate.

So, we just share and we just split it. So, watch your food. Food is a big enemy of meditation.

Did you have a question?

[Говорящий 2]
Yeah. Dozing off while meditating?

[Говорящий 1]
Or getting enough correct sleep? Nhi means a problem with drowsiness during meditation. It literally means sleep.

But it doesn't refer to enough sleep. It refers to drowsiness. You're right.

And that's a big enemy. Many people try to meditate and they just don't realize that they haven't had enough sleep the night before. You won't be able to do it.

So if you find yourself getting drowsy, check your food and check if you're getting enough sleep. People think that Buddhists think that you shouldn't be healthy or something like that. You can't be proud of this body.

This body is a failure. Try to turn it into an angel's body as soon as possible. But in the meantime, you have to deal with it.

You have to use it. It's your vehicle. This is your car.

You have to maintain it well. You have to take good care of it. Don't overfeed it.

Don't underfeed it. Don't undersleep it. Okay?

Also, all of those other problems that we talked about, anger, jealousy, stinginess, they all get worse in a mind that didn't have enough sleep. If you really want to break your vows, stay up late. And in the next day, you'll be grumpy.

You'll be on the edge all the time. You'll be... They say that a mind that hasn't had enough sleep is like a very fertile field for all kinds of mischievous thoughts.

So you have to be careful like that. Say, Döpa, La, Dömba. Döpa, La, Dömba.

Oh, I think I'm going to miss Ireland. Okay, anyway. Döpa means objects of the senses.

Okay? And Dömba means over-attracted to them. Okay?

And this is... Some of the typical ones are food, like you're thinking too much about food, drink, sex, music can be a problem. Okay?

You know, monks and nuns aren't supposed to listen to too much music. Why? It's not that music is evil.

It's a great thing. It's a wonderful thing. It's a blessing in the world.

You know that. I mean, you can't... Every time you read a book about heaven, there's celestial music going on.

You know, it's not like it's all quiet there or something. You know what I mean? But...

At a certain point when you're meditating, you have to cut down your music, because it'll run through your mind while you're meditating. You know? Especially if you're musically inclined.

There's nothing worse than to have your neighbor play some stupid song over and over, and then when you sit down to meditate, it starts coming to your mind, it's driving you crazy. You know what I mean? So...

This means cut down on all those other things. Sex is not evil. Sex is not bad.

Sex is a natural, healthy thing, happy thing. But if you think about it too much, if you get too obsessed with it, it'll ruin your meditation. Also, it drains your energy to a certain point, so you might want to check that out.

You know, if you kind of can lessen it, your meditation will be a little bit stronger. So... So it's like...

Be... All the things that your senses are over-attracted to, cut that down. One of the most common obstacles to meditation is thinking about food.

I think about breakfast every morning when I'm meditating. I can't stop it. You know what I mean?

I'm always thinking about what I'm going to be eating. You know what I mean? And...

You have to be careful. So those are... That's an obstacle to the...

It's not bad to enjoy food. I was sitting with the Dalai Lama, we had dinner, you never saw anybody eat with such gusto. You know, he's like...

And I saw... We went to a musical concert afterward, a benefit, and Ritchie Havens, I don't know if you know, Woodstock, but he's playing his guitar, and his horn is just like... You know, and going like that.

And you know, obviously he's enjoying the music, so it's not... It's not the point that you shouldn't enjoy anything. I think if you're a spiritually inclined person, if you keep these vows, and these guidelines, you'll enjoy everything more.

Music will sound better, food will taste better, sex, I guess, will be better, okay? But... But the idea is not that it's not enjoyable.

It's that... Don't let it disturb your meditation. You know what I mean?

If you find that it's disturbing your mind, if you're thinking about it too much, then cut it down. Okay? Now number four.

Say nusim. Nusim. Nusim.

Nusim. Attraction to the senses ruins your meditation in a very... sneaky way.

You see? You start thinking about breakfast, music starts to come in your mind, you know... You're not attracted to sitting down to meditate, because you'd rather watch television or something like that.

You know what I mean? Nusim is different. Nusim comes in your mind once, and your meditation is destroyed like that.

Nusim means like anger at other people. Or... Or thinking about someone who hurt you.

Thinking about someone you don't like. Remembering how someone hurt you. And if you want to destroy your meditation for like an hour, just think about the person at work that you don't like.

You see what I mean? And then, two or three arguments will come in your mind. Yeah, they said that three days ago.

Oh, and I remember this other thing they did. And you know, a year ago they said that... You see, they forgot eleven months ago about this thing.

You still remember what they said. You see what I mean? And then your meditation will just...

like that. It'll just dissolve. You know?

If you want to ruin your meditation like quickly, think about someone you don't like. If you want it to go slow, then think about breakfast and music and stuff like that. Last one, and then we'll take a break for lunch.

And then afterwards we'll do those three things. We'll talk about the book more. We'll have a little bit of debating more about what we call wisdom, which is worldview.

Which is the root of everything. You must resolve all your questions about worldview. Your view of the world.

Is it a big coincidence? Is there some kind of thing running it? Or is it cause and effect?

Is it good things bringing good things and bad things? Three choices basically. Anyway, we're not going to do that right now.

Number five. Oh, and then the last thing we'll do in the other class is purification. What do you do about old bad imprints?

Especially if people ask me about like if I was young and I was in an abortion or you know, stuff like that. Then how to wipe out those imprints before they come back. You see what I mean?

Say tetson? Tetson? Tetson means unresolved doubts.

Unresolved doubts. You can also put here something like... What would you call it?

We call it like wavering all the time. I don't know how to say it. Yeah, indecision.

Indecision. Indecision. Now they have to say something about this idea.

There's two kinds of doubt. There's two kinds of doubt. One is where you've thought about it carefully and you just can't accept that thing yet.

Just not ready for it. You say, okay, maybe that's true, maybe it's not true. I understand that you believe it.

I understand you're standing up there teaching it. I understand all the arguments you gave for it. But it just doesn't make total sense to me yet and I'm not ready to accept it yet.

We say in this way of spirituality that that's wonderful. You should keep those doubts on a shelf. You say, I need more information about that.

I have to wait on that one. I'm not ready to accept that one. You know, I appreciate the other things you taught.

I'm gonna put those into real use in my life. All the things. That one thing you said, no matter...

You know, I understand your arguments. They were compelling, maybe not so compelling. They didn't convince me.

So we say, take those and put them on the shelf. Don't deny them. Okay, there's a difference.

One thing is to say, it's definitely wrong before you've decided either way. Just say, I think it's probably wrong. I respect you, maybe it's right.

I'll tell you what, I'll leave it. We say, just leave it for a while. Okay, don't decide yet.

That's a good doubt. This kind of doubt is a lazy doubt. This kind of doubt is a lazy doubt.

Usually because you just don't want to do that thing. I'm not sure if what you said about adultery was right. You know, I'm still not quite sure about that.

Oh, you mean you like this other guy's wife and you don't want to decide about it.

[Говорящий 2]
Well...

[Говорящий 1]
You know what I mean? It's not that you really can't decide. You don't want to decide.

There's a big difference between those two. This one means you've just been lazy. And you should ask questions.

You should decide one way or the other. It often comes in this kind of teaching that you hear something that you don't want to accept only because it's too hard to think about. You see what I mean?

You just don't want to think about it. It's inconvenient to think about it. Those you have to decide, you see.

If you don't decide, like, if you're going to meditate or not, or if you don't decide that the book is a good thing or the book is not a good thing, you won't do it, you see what I mean? You'll always be one of those people that... that's not quite sure that you could meet an angel.

And you won't. And you'll be one of those people at the end of your life that say, there is no such thing. And for you that may be right at that point.

You see what I mean? You don't have to live like that. You have to make up your mind about some things.

And especially about something like the book. Now, make up your mind. Is it a good idea or not?

I say you cannot meet angels if you don't keep it. Impossible. So, you make up your mind.

You see, you have to go home and say, look, he gave me a challenge. He said, do it or don't do it. But if you don't do it, don't expect anything.

Okay? So now, what am I gonna do? And then sit there and decide.

If you don't, then you have this obstacle to your meditation. You see what I mean? Okay, so there's good doubt, which is very healthy.

And you must keep doubting until you get proof. And that makes you a good spiritual seeker. On the other hand, if you keep doubting something that's obviously correct, or if you're just too lazy to decide either way about something you should decide because you might die tonight, then stop it, you know?

People ask me, what do you meditate about? You see, there's meditation and there's the content of the meditation. You see?

There's a big difference between meditating on nothing and then having meditation on something. We don't believe that closing your eyes and pretending everything's black is meditation. We don't believe that watching your breath for three hours is useful.

You see what I mean? It's good to bring your mind down, but it's not morally compelling to breathe. Okay?

There's no goal for that, you see what I mean? It doesn't have any big effect on your mind. What's a good meditation you can do?

I'll teach you one in the next 30 seconds, then we'll do another one in the afternoon. I'll talk to you about death meditation. Okay?

Very, very, very simple meditation. We call it death meditation. Dying.

Okay? Death meditation. And then, you know, people have written books about it nowadays, and everybody thinks you're supposed to close your eyes and try to stop breathing and see if there's any purple lights or not.

You know what I mean? It's not like that. That's not death meditation.

Death meditation is much different. Death meditation goes like this. Very, very simple.

In the morning, wake up. You know, get ready for meditation. Sit down.

Prepare your place. And say to yourself, if I was going to die today, what would I do? That's all.

Very simple. If I was going to die tonight, what would I do with my day today? You see?

And immediately some things come in your mind. I would quit that job I don't like, and I would try to do the thing I really wanted to do. Even if I didn't make any money at it, or not much money at it, because I'm going to die tonight.

The bills will all go unpaid. They can worry about that. You know what I mean?

I'm going to die tonight. You see what I mean? So, one immediate thing in your life was you would stop doing all the things that don't interest you.

And you'd do all the things you ever wanted to do. By the way, I'm talking moral and ethical, okay? I'm not saying you should try out adultery because you're going to die tonight.

I'm not saying that, okay? I'm just saying, try all the good things, all the sweet things, all the very creative and excited things that you didn't have time to do. I mean, if you're going to die tonight, you might take the day off, and go try something that you really wanted to do, like paint a picture, or write a song, or write a poem, or go talk to someone you wanted to talk to.

You see, it liberates you. Death meditation is not some depressing, you know, pessimistic thing, where you're picturing your body on the slab, you know, all cold, and, ooh, he's really cold. It's not like that.

You close your eyes and you say, if I... By the way, when you get good at death meditation, it's not if, it's I'm going to. You see, when you get really good at death meditation, you sit down and you say, okay, Michael, you're going to die today.

You're going to die tonight. By midnight, you will be dead. Now, what are you going to do with today?

What are you going to do with this day? And then you meditate on that. That is a meditation.

That's a very powerful meditation. First of all, you start doing all the things you wanted to do with your career. You see what I mean?

Secondly, you might find that you'd want to go to a few people and apologize or forgive. You see what I mean? You'd say, I'm sorry for what I did to you, and by the way, I forgive you for what you did to me, because I'm going to die tonight, and I want to go out happy.

And I don't want you to regret what you did to me, because you'll hear I'm dead and you'll feel bad, so... you know, let's just solve things like that. And then you would start to do...

What would your life be like if you did that every day for a year? You see, imagine if every day, 365 days in a row, you did what you would do if you were going to die tonight. You see what I mean?

And eventually, to tell you the truth, you'd get into a lot of spiritual things. I mean, I think towards 6 o'clock you'd start to want to get ready. You know...

You see what I mean? About halfway through the day you'd say, wait a minute, you know, I'm not quite ready, you know, maybe there's something after that, maybe I'd better clean some stuff up, you know what I mean? And then you would do all that too.

Naturally you'd want to do it, you see what I mean? So try it, that's a good meditation. Do you have a question?

If you thought it and really believed it, would you die tonight? If you thought it and really believed it, would you die tonight? No, no, no...

It's not in practice what happens, I mean, yeah. Because you can't control your death, it's an imprint, right? You can't control it.

You can't say that there should be a 100-pound note in my hand. Somebody told me there's no 100-pound notes, I don't know. Okay.

Okay, anyway. I can't just say all day there's a 100-pound note in my hand and there'll be a 100-pound note. We talked about that.

You have to garden, right? So, no, it doesn't kill you. It makes you very strong.

And it liberates you. You don't know what it's like to do that for a month or two. And then your whole life becomes incredibly creative.

You see? You don't want to waste time reading a trash novel or reading a dumb newspaper or watching a telly for three hours. I only have 12 hours to live.

How am I gonna... You do all these exciting, wonderful things, you know what I mean? And your mind is clear.

You went to all these people, you said, I'm gonna die tonight here. Bye. Take these things, you know?

You would get rid of all the things you don't need right away. You see what I mean? Your whole life would be...

We say that each possession you have is another little chain on you. Why? You have to remember where it is.

Okay? Where is your other pair of shoes? Right now.

You see? And then your mind starts saying, Oh, that one's over there, that one's over there, and that one has to be fixed, I remember now. And...

And you see, that takes up... limited mind space, you see? You only have so much memory, you're like a computer.

You only have so much you can hold. So, the more things you own... If I ask you, where are they?

You say, they're here, they're here. Where is that memory staying? It stays in your mind.

It junks up your mind. The way those things junk up your house. You know what I mean?

And just... If you were gonna die tonight, what would you do with those things? I mean, you'd want to give them away.

It's more fun, right? So, you would just start giving them away. So, start now.

Start today, start tonight, get rid of them. Okay? It's very, very liberating.

What do you end up with? You end up with very few possessions. You end up doing the thing you always wanted to do, even if you don't make much money at it.

You know? You end up apologizing, and straightening out things with all the people you know, because you're never gonna see them again, why not? There's no pride left, you see?

There's no reason not to apologize and make everything clear. And then, your whole life becomes, like, free. It's very interesting.

And then you just don't own anything you don't need, and you've made up with everybody, and your mind is clear. And try that meditation. That's one meditation you can do in the morning.

Okay. Last, last, last question. No, it's okay.

It's okay.

[Говорящий 2]
What's happening? I'm new to meditation, right? After a yoga session one evening, I was doing relaxation, and there was all these purple colors, you mentioned purple there.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah.

[Говорящий 2]
What's happening? You know, when I summerize, or I want the spiritual leader in my life over there to come into my head or soul, these purple colors start appearing and disappearing, and then appearing again. Is that just all imagination?

[Говорящий 1]
She said she gets, she's had an experience where purple colors came into her, and like that. When I mentioned purple colors, she remembered purple colors. We say not too significant.

Okay. It's some kind of physiological thing, like from the yoga or from the relaxing. I know because I know that, you know, at the end of the yoga session, they cover you and they cover your eyes, and that's just a physiological phenomenon.

You don't have to worry about that. That's just more of a physiological thing. But you could have the awareness of a presence coming into you, of your teacher, or some holy teacher, into your mind or into your body.

That's a good thing. The particular thing about purple is not, that in itself is not significant. But the idea of the presence of the teacher coming into you is very significant.

So, that's right. Okay, we'll take a break for lunch.