Сад (1999, Нью-Йорк), занятие 1

[Говорящий 1]
Okay, welcome back to classes. This is the first class in this course, and I want to tell you something about the history of what we're going to learn, okay? We've had about, I think, 15 years of courses in New York, and in the last seven years, we've gone through the whole Geshe program.

So Geshe is like, in the monastery it takes 18 years to finish, and we did it in about six years, because Americans are three times faster. And we finished it, and now this year is a review in the more formal classes. On Friday night, we've been doing various scriptures and various subjects from what a Geshe would study during the 18 years of their course.

So, so far in this course, everything that's ever been taught here came straight out of a monastic textbook, and you are getting what was given to Tibetan monks as they go through their 18-year course. In Tibet, there was a progression of how Buddhism started. You know, like, it came to Tibet about a thousand years ago.

Tibetans' kings sent search parties to India to find great teachers, and they would find one, and then they would coax them out of their monastery and say, just come for a few months, you know? And then they would end up staying in Tibet their whole lives, and they sort of stole them from ancient India, you know? And this happened many times.

The most famous case, I think, is a lama, a guru named Atisha, Lord Atisha. And he was already a very successful teacher. He had hundreds and hundreds of students.

And the Tibetan king, one Tibetan king heard about him, so he invited him to Tibet, and he said no. He's too busy. And then this went back and forth many times, and there were many deals going on, and they offered him his weight in gold and everything, and he said no, and then anyway, he decided to come for a short time, and then a war broke out in Nepal, and he didn't go back home for, I don't know, 15, 20 years or something.

And that was one of the ways that Buddhism came to Tibet. After reaching Tibet, Lord Atisha realized that he needed to present Buddhism in a different way. He was used to teaching in the Nalanda Monastery in ancient India.

This had a thousand monks who were great philosophers, like Nagarjuna used to be the accountant, okay? This is like, very qualified people. And then when he got to Tibet, here he's faced with a whole bunch of yak herders, and they didn't have an alphabet.

And like that, he saw that he would have to do something different. So he wrote a thing called The Lamp on the Path to Buddhahood, and we've studied it in this class. And it's like, it's a few pages.

He was used to teaching thousand-page texts to people and stuff like that, but he saw that to present it to Tibetans, he would have to do it this way. And thus was born the Lam Rim. That was the first Lam Rim ever written, and that became the big way of teaching Buddhism in Tibet.

And then people, it became a whole fad, and it was carried on from generation to generation. The last Lam Rim in Tibet was written in 1920s by Pabongkha Rinpoche, and then Tibet was attacked and taken over. But this tradition continued, of a way of presenting Buddhism that would fit the Tibetan people.

And I think in America, there'll be a similar thing will happen in the West. I think, personally I'd like to see it like that, that people study the monastic course, like they learn it very thoroughly, they learn all the points of the monastic course. But I don't think the monastic course itself, which is 18 years of memorizing hundreds of pages of text, for about 12 hours a day, is going to catch on here.

You know, I think... I mean, some number of people will do it, and I think they should. And, so what we've done in the courses is, we've printed the whole book, and you've gotten the whole book, and then we've presented it in an American way.

But all the information exactly as it's presented in the book. And I think that's very important. I think the information has to be exactly what's in the book, but it has to be presented in a way that makes sense to Western minds.

For example, when Buddhism reached Tibet and India, they already believed in the past life. I mean, there wasn't an argument about whether there exists a past life or a future life. They already believed that, so they didn't bother to prove it.

But when you get to America, you better prove it. You better show somebody why, or how does that exist, and can you prove it. And I think things like that.

So, as Buddhism reaches each new country, the important points for that culture have to be brought up. Like, we have certain preconceptions in our culture. You were brought up believing that there was no future life or past life.

You were brought up believing that a certain level of material comfort is all that you need in life to be happy, mostly. I mean, I was brought up in a culture where religion itself was dying out. I think the Christian churches have lost half their membership since I was about 10.

And I was brought up in a culture where people didn't really believe that there was a God. You know, they say, I'm a Christian, and then you say, do you believe that there's a God? They say, of course.

And then they say, well, what's he look like? And what does he do? And do you really believe that all women in the world came from some guy's rib that was pulled out of his body by some guy?

And do you really believe those stories? Do you believe there's a heaven? Do you believe there's a hell?

And then, I don't know about you, but I grew up in a normal American family, said we were Christian, went to church once every two weeks or three weeks, went especially for Christmas, and did all those things. But I don't think really believed any... I mean, you didn't believe that if you went to the church and prayed, that anyone would really get cured.

Like, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You didn't really believe that some guy slapped together the world in six days and took a rest on the seventh day. You know, you didn't...

you grew up that. That's your background. That's what you have been taught.

But at a certain age, like about 18 or 16 or 15 or some people younger, you just mentally, you kind of said, I don't really believe much of that stuff. But you may have continued to go to church or something like that. And you believe in the teachings of compassion, or the Ten Commandments, or things like that.

But what I'm saying is that, if you grew up where I grew up, then you have a certain set of beliefs about the world. You know, I was gonna get in a plane accident, that something went wrong with the landing gear, and they told us, everyone's gonna... gotta take off their jewelry, cause the plane's gonna blow up, and it's gonna melt through your fingers and stuff.

And they had us down like that, and you had like half an hour to think about it while they flew around and used up the fuel and dumped the fuel, you know. And I was like going, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you know. You know, you have something in your mind.

You have something that was planted in your mind as a youth, and it's very powerful, and that's what you grew up with. So I think, if Buddhism is going to speak to you as an American and me, you have to go through all of those points of Buddhism which are in question in your culture. Is there a past life?

Is there a future life? Can you really become a Buddha in this lifetime? You know, can you really stop the aging process of the body?

I mean, can you really reach a heaven? Is there really some hell that we should be avoiding? Can you prove it to somebody?

Is there a soul or not? You know what I mean? There's questions that have to be emphasized for Western people because of our cultural background, because of where you came from.

And so, some book company asked me to write a book about Buddhism, you know. And they said, write it from your own point of view. My whole life I've only done translations.

I've never thought to write a book about Buddhism. But the money they offered was exactly the money that the monastery needed to pay off a building. So I said, OK.

In India, no. Partly that. But, so I wrote this book.

And what I did was, I tried to emphasize the questions that Western people would have. So each chapter is talking about something that I had to work out myself over the last 20 years about Buddhism. And something that was a problem for me about Buddhism, you know.

Because I'm a Westerner, and I'm not a Tibetan. You know, I mean, you don't have to so much prove to me certain logical questions about my future life. You have to prove to me there is a future life.

You see what I mean? And like that. So, this is like an attempt of like what Lord Atisha did.

OK? So this whole class is going to be a story. They said, make it simple.

So I put it into a story. OK? And it's a story about a young man.

And he could be anywhere. It doesn't matter. There's no cars in the story.

There's no trains in the story. You don't know in the story. It could have taken place in any country.

It doesn't matter. But he's growing up. And as you'll read, he's out working on a wagon or something.

And it's Thanksgiving dinner. OK. So I guess that's already America.

But anyway, he's in a family of like four brothers or something. And then he's out working with his brothers on this thing. And then this lady shows up.

And his mother has arranged with her friend that she met, who has four daughters, right, that they should come and visit the family for Thanksgiving. So it's like a setup. And the boys don't know about it.

And so they're sitting there working. And the first daughter shows up. And she's very beautiful.

And they get all excited. And they start to clean their hands. And then the second one shows up.

And she's even more beautiful. And then the third one shows up. And she's even more amazing.

And then the fourth one shows up. And she's like this golden lady. And then to make a long story short, they leave.

He likes the youngest daughter. So he makes up some excuse with his mother to see her. Like he makes sure that a pot gets left at the house.

And he has to take the pot back to their house. And then he can meet this girl. So this is how it starts, OK?

And we'll get to that part later. Anyway, so he takes her out for a walk in a garden. And this is out in the desert.

And there's a special garden. And then he's like learning things from her non-verbally, OK? She doesn't say anything.

They're just sitting in the garden. And then they're walking in the garden. And then he starts to understand all of these things about the spiritual life from this person's reactions.

And nothing is spoken. Except at the very end the lady says one thing, you know? But this process is going on where the lady's natural reactions, her facial movements, everything she says, the way she looks, the way she moves, everything is teaching him something very spiritual.

Some spiritual truth is coming to him for the first time in his life. Then the chapter ends. He gets to know her.

They're like high school. Think of your high school girlfriend or boyfriend, OK? Then something happens.

He gets an invitation. He's very good in school. And he's very proud about it, you know?

Like he's number one in school. And then he gets an invitation from the king to come to a very, or the prince, say, to come to a very special school that only very bright kids can go to. And he's very proud of it, you know?

And he goes to tell this lady, this girl, you know, he's leaving town. He's going to be going to this special school. And he shows her the message from the king, you know?

And she's like totally unimpressed. She's just like staring at him like, So? You know?

And he learns something about pride. And you'll read about it in the story. Anyway, he goes off to school.

He goes off to the king's court. He learns law or something like that, some political thing or something like that. He becomes proficient in his studies.

And he does good at the university or the college of the king. And then he comes home. In the meantime his mother has died.

And he comes back to look for the girl, because now he doesn't know where the girl is anymore. And the girl is gone. And all his brothers are gone, and her family is gone.

He can't find her. So he decides that he'll move back to this place. And he'll visit this garden every once in a while and see if she might show up.

Because this is the garden where they used to hang out. So the young man goes to the garden. He sits there at night.

And he's sitting and listening to see if this distinctive step is walking into the garden. And then it doesn't. And then he's sitting there day after day, night after night, thinking.

And then one night he hears this sound. And he gets all excited and he sits up straight. And he's closing his eyes.

And he hears the steps coming. And he looks up. And here's this short man in robes, Buddhist monk.

And he's got this big nose, and big ears, and kind of chubby, and not very like the Dalai Lama, not at all. You know, like... And he's like, Who are you?

And he says, I'm Je Tsongkhapa. And... Je Tsongkhapa is the teacher of the first Dalai Lama.

So apparently in this story, the young man is able to meet these people in this garden. Like some kind of a special thing is happening in the garden. And he meets this famous philosopher.

And right away he's unimpressed. He's like, I was expecting like Dalai Lama, and you're like this short guy, and you're kind of chubby, and you have a big nose, and he's not very happy to meet Je Tsongkhapa. Je Tsongkhapa is supposed to be the greatest Tibetan Buddhist who ever lived, in 1357 to 1419.

And teacher of the first Dalai Lama, founded the great monasteries of Lhasa, or his students, wrote the greatest poetry, the greatest books of Tibetan Buddhism. And here he is in the flesh. And the young man is sort of disappointed, you know.

And Je Tsongkhapa comes out to him. And Je Tsongkhapa was pretty powerful. He wasn't this nice, smiley, you know, Dalai Lama type.

And this is how he really was. He was not handsome, he had a strong face, he had a big nose. And so he comes up to the boy, and he says, why the hell are you wasting your life?

And he says, I'm not wasting my life. He says, yes you are. He says, no, no, I've been to this big university, I'm very well educated, I'm at the top of my class, I'm the first one from this town to get in, you know, and I'm doing a very good job.

I'm doing well, you know. I'm not wasting my life. He says, yeah, you are wasting your life, because you're not doing anything about your life.

And he says, yeah, yeah, I'm about to start my law practice, and I'm off to a good career, and I can read well, and I've scored high on my SATs and everything, you know. And Je Tsongkhapa says, no, you're really wasting your life. So he says, why?

Why am I wasting my life? And he says, you are, because you're just suffering. Everything in your life is suffering.

You know, which is a Buddhist viewpoint, okay? And by the way, what I want to do in this class is give you the philosophical background for each little part of this story. This is not a stupid kid's story.

I mean, you're gonna get the essence of the collected wisdom of 2000 years, and what I want to do in this class is back it up with the original text. So, there's gonna be this story, we're gonna get where Je Tsongkhapa is attacking this young man, and... and then I'm gonna tell you where it came from, what book it came from, who taught that, you know, what great Tibetan or Indian pundit taught that, and then you're gonna get the argument yourself.

And the idea is that you start to relate with this guy. You know, he's a... the important thing is he's a normal guy.

He's not like some weird guy. And he's... he's like any other normal American.

And he's a sensitive person. Okay? You have to understand, like, he's a...

he's a good person. He's been brought up well, he's gone to a good school, he's... he's sensitive, he cares about people, he's a normal American like you.

Okay? And then so... so Je Tsongkhapa says, you're wasting your time.

Your whole life you've wasted. He says, no, I went to school, I'm on my way to be a good person in life. He says, no, no, you're...

you're trying to do something which is really stupid. You know? You're wasting your whole life.

And... and you know, suppose I got up here and said, every person in this room has wasted their life so far. Up till now, everything you've done is a big waste.

You've wasted your time. And then you'd start to feel like, well, maybe a little bit on Saturday nights or something, but not... you know, not...

No, it's not like I wasted my whole time. I went to school, I got a degree, I got a decent career going, and maybe it's not a stellar career, but it's going okay, you know? I'm an okay person.

And this is what the young man is saying to Jetsun Kava. And so Jetsun Kava says, no, no, you're trying to build something which is ridiculous. You will never be happy if you keep doing this reasonable American life.

Okay? You... you're in trouble, and you don't think so, and...

and the reasonable American life doesn't work, and you're in trouble. You're in deep trouble, and you don't even think so, you don't even understand it, you know? He says, no, no, I'm not in trouble, you know?

I... I just want to be a normal guy. I took philosophy in college, and I am a spiritually minded person, and I know that...

that life is not getting rich. I don't even care about getting rich. I'm not stupid.

I want to lead a normal life. I want to have a little more money than average. I want to have a...

No, I want to have a... I'll go, I'll do some charitable work. I'll be kind to the people who live around me.

I want to have a normal family. I want to have, you know, a boy and a girl, and I'll have a normal wife, and... and...

and I don't think... I'm not trying to be Donald Trump. I'm not stupid.

I know that that is suffering. I'm not a workaholic, you know? I'm gonna spend a reasonable amount of time with my children.

I'm gonna get home by 6.30 or 7. I promise I'll spend my two weeks vacation with them. And he's trying to defend his life.

And Jetson Copper says, you're crazy. You know? That's...

You're in trouble, and you don't know it. You know? And he says, no, no, I'm...

I'm not trying to be a rich man. I'm not trying to be famous. You know?

I know that that's a trap. I want to be a mildly spiritual person. I want to have an average income.

I want to work out a couple times a week. And, you know, I'll eat well. Once in a while, I'll have a pop...

coke and popcorn at the movies, but that's okay. I'm not trying to be something crazy. I just want to be a nice, sensitive, reasonable, modern person.

And that's all I seek. I don't want anything more than that. So don't tell me I'm wasting my life.

I'm not trying to be greedy. I'm not trying to be Donald Trump. It's not my goal in life to be the most famous person.

I'm wise enough to know all I need is a nice little house in New Jersey and a reasonable family. And that's okay. I don't expect to be brilliantly happy every day.

I just want to be satisfied. And Jetsun Kappa says, You're crazy. You're in deep trouble.

And you don't know it. That kind of attitude is crazy. You know?

You are suffering every moment of your life. You see? Because that's what the Tibetan lamas said when they got to America.

I don't know if you heard about it. But they came here and said, That lifestyle is suicide. You see?

To say that that's what you want to do with your life and to say that that's some kind of reasonable happiness. Okay? I'm not saying you're happy all the time.

And I'm not saying you're like jumping up and down. But everybody in this room would like to be reasonably happy. You know?

You're not like dreaming of being Madonna or Donald Trump. You're thinking, I want to be reasonably happy and healthy and that would be okay. I'm not greedy.

And I want to meditate, okay, 45 minutes a day or half an hour is okay. And I... That's how I want my life to be.

You know? And then Jetsun Kapa is saying, You're crazy. You're in big trouble every moment of the day and you don't realize it.

Because every single thing in your life is suffering. Every single moment of your life is pain. And then the guy has the same reaction that you just had in your mind.

You know? He says, Come on Jetsun Kapa. You know?

I know Buddha said everything is pain. Dukkha. You know?

Everything in the world is suffering. Every moment of your life is suffering. But come on.

You know? Pearl is a beautiful girl. Her face is beautiful.

You know? A child. Look at a child.

I've had people in class. They say, Come on. Look at a child.

You know? When she's not being cranky. And a child says, You can't say this is an ugly thing.

You can't say this is a dirty thing. You can't say everything is polluted in the universe. You know?

You can't say sunsets are not beautiful. You can't say that Neil Young's music is not something pleasant. You know?

You can't say that. It's unreasonable to say that every moment of my life is suffering. And the guy objects to Jetsun Kapa.

He says, You know, I'm not stupid. I'm not expecting to be happy every five minutes. Okay?

I know I'll have a bad day. I know my boss will yell at me sometimes. I know my wife will fight with me sometimes.

I know the kids will be bad when they get this. Fourteen or sixteen? What was your last one?

About fourteen.

[Говорящий 2]
Twelve.

[Говорящий 1]
Twelve. Okay. They start earlier nowadays.

I know I'll have bad days. So I'm not expecting to be happy all the time. But don't give me this Buddhist stuff of, Oh, every moment of your life is suffering.

And you better do something about it now. You know? It's not true.

There's lots of nice things in the world. Okay? And this is how the talk is going in the garden.

The young man is talking, he doesn't cop it. So this is the point that I want your mind to reach. You know?

And now we'll go to the scriptural side of it. But is it true that every single moment of your life is suffering? You know?

Is it true that you are in a very dangerous situation right now? You know? Is it true that you should be...

They say in the scriptures that you should be trying to get enlightened as if your hair was on fire. You know? Should you be obsessed with that every moment?

Or is that obsessive? Is that somehow too much? Can you live a...

just a normal, sort of happy life? Is there such a thing as a sort of happy life? Is there any such thing as a moderately, reasonably, pretty spiritual American life?

You know? Is that something that you should try for? Or is that itself, in every single moment, is it suffering itself?

Okay? So that's... You know, I want to talk about tonight, which now we got to the point.

Okay? Is it true... The Buddhists say, you know, this is the very first thing you learn in Buddhism.

Every single thing is suffering. Even a beautiful young child's face. Even a nice sunset.

Even a nice time at home with someone you love, on a night when everything is going perfect. You know? Is that total suffering?

You know? And that's the big question. Okay, so I'm going to go through what we call Dungyal Sum.

Which means the three kinds of suffering.

[Говорящий 2]
All right?

[Говорящий 1]
Say, Dungyal... Oh, by the way, if you haven't been in this class before, I ask you to repeat the Tibetan. Okay?

Because it's a sacred language. The sounds are sacred. It's like Sanskrit.

And... And if you say it, then it'll get deep into your mind, and your mind will start to change faster. Okay?

So... And it'll go where you haven't been before. Okay?

Say, Dungyal... Dungyal... Ki...

Ki... Dungyal... This is the first of the three kinds of suffering.

Okay? And this is what Je Tsongkhapa is talking about to this unnamed young man. Okay?

And he's saying, you're in trouble, and you're in such trouble, you don't even know you're in trouble, because you think you're going to lead a... a normal, moderately happy, American life. Okay?

Dungyal means suffering. Okay? Dungyal Ki Dungyal means the first kind of suffering, which is called the suffering of suffering.

Suffering of suffering... By the way, this is first taught... I checked the computer, we have all these books in the computer, okay?

It was taught in the Lotus Sutra, which is very interesting. The three... These three sufferings are coming from the Lotus Sutra.

Very beautiful sutra. Very big in Japan, in China, in Korea. So...

Suffering of suffering is very simple. Toothache, or a headache. Okay?

Or... Or how you felt when you heard your mother died, or something. You know, intense grief.

Intense physical pain. Sickness. Okay?

But... Having a baby. Okay?

All those things. Although I haven't done it lately. Okay?

But all those... All those feelings are what we call Dungyal Ki Dungyal. Okay?

And when Buddhas say to an American person, normal American person, who's moderately healthy, moderately happy, and they say, everything is suffering. Then an American person thinks of... of the worst days in their life.

You know, they think of the day my mother died. Or they think of the day I fell out of the tree and broke my arm. Or they think of the...

that time I had a root canal. You know? And what they see is...

is a long line of their life like that. And they see incidents of suffering. You know, every year, or every six years, or every five months, or...

sometimes they came three in a row, three people you know died, and then everything went okay for a couple months, and then you had the root canal, and then everything was okay for about a year, and then you lost your job, and like that. You know what I mean? So, when a Buddha says to you, everything is suffering, your mind rebels against it.

Because you think, my life has been... Okay, I've had bad days. You know, I've had times when I had major catastrophes in my life.

But in between, there were these long stretches of... sort of like... neutral, or...

kinda okay, or some nice times. You know, when an American thinks about suffering in their life, they see this long thing, and they see bad time here, 1985, bad time here in the spring of 93, you know, broke my arm then, you know, went to the hospital for a little operation, was okay, came back, was alright. You know, so they don't see...

when they... when you hear that Lord Buddha said, everything is suffering, you're like, it doesn't click. Because for your experience, you've had incidents of suffering throughout your life.

But... but not like every day you have a root canal. Okay, I mean, maybe some people do.

But... that's the first kind of suffering. Okay, this is what we call outright suffering, or obvious suffering.

Okay? Like, nobody's gonna say that having a bad back is a good thing. And nobody's gonna say that having a root canal is a good thing.

That's obvious, okay? There's no problem with that. Nobody in this room is gonna say that...

But I remember when I heard, oh, you better study Buddhism because of old age, sickness, you know, death, birth, you know, and I'm like, well, I can't see rebirth, so I'm not worried about it. I'm not old yet, at least then, and... and I'm not too worried about that.

I have occasionally gotten sick, not too seriously, you know, it's okay, and I didn't die yet. So, it doesn't really relate to me, I don't see the point. That's not a convincing thing to me.

How about the second kind of suffering? Say gyurwe? Dunya.

Gyurwe? Dunya. Dunya means suffering again.

Gyurwa means change, suffering of change. Okay? That's the second kind of suffering.

And this is where good things turn to bad. Okay? So, the example in scripture is a good dinner.

The example in scripture is a tasty dinner. Like, today I had a vegetarian thali, beautiful Indian food, and a masala dosa on the side, which was really pigging out, and it was great. And that's supposed to be suffering.

Okay? That's in scripture, they say, this is the suffering of change. Why?

Because it can't satisfy you. Sooner or later, it changes to hunger. Okay?

You've never eaten a meal that satisfied you completely. Sooner or later, it changes to something bad. And that's the nature of every good thing you've ever had in your life.

Okay? So, it doesn't matter what. Everything you get that's nice, wears out.

It changes. Okay? And you have the suffering of it changing.

And I think, you know, people ask me, why did you become a Buddhist? You know? And if it's like, some magazine or something, I say, well, three people in my family died in one year, and I got pushed into the monastery by that event.

You know? But if it's my friends, I say, it was my high school girlfriends. You know?

And they say, what do you mean? And I say, it drove me crazy, because first you would see them in a class, you know, and you'd kind of like, try to bump into them in the hallway and stuff, and then they would start to pay attention to you, and then you'd goof off, and then you'd ask them out, you'd make sure you sat down next to them at lunch or something, and then you'd start talking to them, and then you'd go out on your first date, and it was very exciting, and then you'd come home and tell your brothers how well you did, and then you'd go out the next night, and then it would get this peak, you know, and then you'd get really tight and really close, and then inevitably something would change. You know? Like, I don't know how many people in this room are still with their high school girlfriend or boyfriend, but I doubt many.

You know? I mean, and then this pattern went through, you know, where you meet them, you bump into them, you talk to them, you go out on your first date, you go on a bunch of other dates, then you have your first argument, then you have your second argument, and then you find out they were with another guy or girl the night before, and then it gets worse and worse, and then finally you have this big, you know, event that you scream at each other, and you say, I never want to see you again, and you don't. And then, you know, that's not so bad if it just happened once, but it began to be a, you know, it begins to be a pattern throughout your life with relationships, you know? I mean, it just changes.

It has this quality of going like this, and then it goes like that, and it keeps going over and over again, and then it's the same with your job, you know, like, you go for an interview, there's 20 people applying, you're dying to get the job, you know, and they say, okay, you get this phone call, you know, you're in the top three, you know, and you're like all excited, and you tell everybody, and you buy a new suit, and you go for the next interview, and then you get the job, and they offer you more money than you ever had before, and you walk in the first day, and you finally got your own desk, and you get all excited, and then something, it peaks out, and then something begins to happen where you're not satisfied anymore, and it gets worse and worse, and there's something inherent in the nature of those things that they, I mean, relationships, families, jobs, your own health of your own body has, I don't know, I'm way past this one, okay?

I don't know about, I mean, some of the younger people here may be up to here, you know, I don't know, but, but everything good in your life changes, you know, everything goes through this, through this peak like that, and it drove me crazy, you know, I mean, my parents had a very nasty divorce, they were very much in love, and, and they had four kids, and they, and it went to this beautiful family thing, and then it went to this horrible thing, and then it made me think, you know, how can people love each other like that, and then hate each other like that, and, and then it seems to be a pattern, you know, there's this pattern of all the things, that's called gyurui dungyo, okay, the change, suffering of change, so then your American mind should say, and this is what the guy says to Je Tsongkhapa, he says, okay, I admit that when it's changing, there's a problem, you know, the time that you have the first serious argument with your girlfriend, or the first time you find out they went out with somebody else the night before, or, you know, during that, the first moment of the downward trend, that's suffering, you know, if you say that's suffering, I agree with you, I can, I can accept that, I can accept that when you have your first stroke, or, or when you first have your first breast cancer, or, or, I can accept that at that time as your body is changing, that's suffering, but that doesn't mean that everything that came before is suffering, you see what I mean? I mean, your American mind should say, okay, when you first talked about the suffering of suffering, I saw points of suffering in my life, and then when you talked about the suffering of change, oh yeah, you're right, that is especially irritating suffering when something nice starts to screw up, and I accept that, I agree with that, and the young man in the story says, okay, I'll agree with you, before it was points of suffering, and now I can say there's little, you know, things of suffering, but you can't say the whole story of my life, every day, every day, every hour of my life was suffering, you can't say that, Jetsun Kappa, come on, and that's your natural American reaction, when you hear Buddhism says, every single moment of your life is suffering, you're like defending your life, you know, you're saying, come on, you know, I admit that when I found out she was going out with this other guy, I was upset for three or four days or months, but that doesn't negate everything that went before, you know, meeting her was fun, chasing her was even more fun, you know, going out on our first days together was wonderful, we had that day at the beach, you know, we had those times on the lake, we had good days, you know, we had good times, don't tell me that's suffering, I admit that the day I found out she was going to leave me, that was suffering, that was the suffering of change, but that doesn't prove that everything that went before is suffering, okay, and that's, the young man is defending his life to Jetsun Kappa, he's saying, I didn't waste my life, and I'm not wasting my life, and I'm not greedy, I'm not looking to be on a heroin high every day, I know life's not like that, I just wanna be moderately happy, I wanna have a moderate place to stay, I wanna have a nice, semi-stable family, I know there's no such thing as a perfect family, but, but that's not unreasonable to expect that kind of happiness in life, that's all I want, I'm not like crazy and think my whole life is gonna be perfect, but, and you can't say that everything up to now has been a waste, because I had good days, you know, I had good times, there were days even at work that were pleasant, you know, so... so then Jetsun Kappa says, yeah, well, what about suffering number three?

Say, khyapa, dujeiki, dungyel, khyapa, dujeiki, dungyel, okay, dungyel means suffering, the N means suffering, khyapa duje means, everywhere, the nature of things, okay, that's suffering, which is the nature of everything, okay, and that's the big one, you know, that's the big debate, that's why I'm talking tonight, that's what I wanna try to get your mind to, okay, and, and your mind doesn't want to believe it, okay, where did we leave off? The guy was saying, I admit, suffering number one I'm okay with, I admit that I broke my arm in 1985 on that day, I admit that I was in a car wreck and hurt my back, you know, I admit that I have migraines, and I do, you know, like every three weeks or something, and have to stay in bed for a couple of hours, but that doesn't mean everything else is suffering, you can't say everything is suffering, you know, and then he says, Je Tsongkhapa says, what about the changes, you know, the times when you were having a good time, and it suddenly went sour, and he says, okay, okay, we'll add those too, but that doesn't add up to every hour of my life is suffering, come on, and Buddhists say, if you don't get it, you'll never get out, you see what I mean? If you don't, by the end of tonight or some point, admit that your entire life, every hour of it, has been suffering, that you won't be able to do what you have to do to get out of it, you see what I mean?

There's a joke in Tibetan, you know, if you don't, if being in jail doesn't bother you, or if you don't know you're in jail, you can't break out, okay, and you have to get to a point mentally, where you get to recognize intellectually, there's two ways to do it by the way, a lot of the good Buddhists I know, and I can say almost 90% of them, have had a major disaster in their life, you know, and I'll count them for you, one girl's sister was, disappeared one day, and has never been found, you know, hitchhiking, one mother's youngest daughter was crushed under a truck, you know, like that, just like boom, you know, and then this other person, you know, me, I lost three people in my family in one year, you know, something like that, but I mean the really good Buddhists, I think the people get serious, are people who have had real disasters, I was even joking with one class that, you'd be lucky if your mother died in your arms, and then you'd get serious, you know, and then one lady in the back introduced herself to me as Ora's mother, you know, I said sorry, you know, but...

but it's not like that. So, so is there, is everything suffering or not? We got to talk about the third kind of suffering, khyapa duchekhi dungel, okay, that kind of suffering, is...

is it true, that everything, in your life, is suffering? Because if you realized it, maybe you would do something about it, okay? So now Jetsam Kapha is arguing with this kid, you know, and he's saying, come on, you got to understand this, everything is suffering, and once you get it, you can just get out, you say, I mean, I'll teach you how to get out, but first you have to admit, that everything is suffering, okay?

So the guy says, okay, prove it to me, and then he says, alright, I'll teach you this thing, this is a very famous example, in scripture, say, dupa, dungchi, jengi, budhi, da, one more time, dupa, dungchi, jengi, budhi, da, okay, so they get to this point in the conversation, and the young man says, look, I've had good days, you can't tell me that every hour of my life has been suffering, you can't tell me that everything in my world is suffering, you can't say that, and Jetsam Kapha says, prove it, so Jetsam Kapha was this, debater, you know, like he would fight with people, he was a gunslinger, from when he was a youth, he would walk into another monastery and say, come on, I'll take on anybody, you know, and they would go this, Tibetan debating, I don't know if you've ever seen it, it was like, kimata, da, cha, da, you know, and he goes to these, proving these things logically, and they go for four or five hours, and they fight, like, it's like martial arts, beautiful, if you need to get, you know, your anger out and stuff, but, so, so he says, okay, prove it, show me something pretty, show me something good, you know, he says, what about a child's face, you know, like, okay, you're not so beautiful, but, but what about this, I didn't set it up, she just sat there, okay, and that's the example in the book, okay, he says, what about the face of a child, you can't tell me this is something ugly, or dirty, or suffering, or, come on, you know, this is something beautiful, you know, this is like a sunset, there is beauty in life, you know, you can't tell me that everything in life is horrible, you know, what about a child's face, you know, this is something good, you know, and Je Tsongkhapa says, okay, will this child see, you know, horror in their life, will they see people slaughtered in the world, and in different countries, you know, will they see people around them get old and die, you know, will they see everything around them change from year to year, and will they see their own body get worse and worse and then die, you know, will they go through this or not, you know, and the guy says, of course they will, you know, of course, that's the nature of life, people go through that, but that doesn't prove that the child's face is bad, that's just that the child is going to have a hard life, and there is going to be bad things in their life, but that doesn't prove that everything is... that doesn't prove that a beautiful child's face is something suffering, and dirty, and ugly, and that we should try to get out of this world like that, that doesn't prove that, so then Je Tsongkhapa says, oh, so, ... which means, oh, I guess life is not like...

... okay, what's a... ...

okay, ... means honey, okay, honey, so Je Tsongkhapa says, now he's... he's doing this logician thing on him, if you've ever been with a real...

Tibetan Geshe, you know, doing this thing on you, they set you up, you know, you think you're just having a dinner conversation with them, and then suddenly, by the end, you're like, they've proved something to you, you know, and, you know, and they really do set you up, so he says, oh, so I guess, I guess honey is something nice, okay, and the boy says, of course it's something nice, you know, and he says, why?

and he says, oh, it's nice, you know, you get something with honey on it, like a spoon, and you start licking it, and, and after a second, you have this taste, and you feel good, and it, you know, unless you're allergic to honey or something, it's a nice thing, you know, and Je Tsongkhapa says, yeah, right, it's something nice, right? Is it? Of course, later, okay, so, so is licking honey off a spoon is something nice?

He says, yes, of course it is, you know, and then he says, suppose you put honey on a razor blade, which, which, puti means razor blade, and dangzi means honey, so he says, suppose you put honey on a razor blade, and, and then you give it to somebody, you give it to somebody who doesn't know, you know, like you, you give them a big glob of honey on a spoon, but you got a razor blade hidden under there, and it's like sharp, and you know, it's like, held up nice, and then you, you go like that, you know, is that something nice? Is that something good?

And the kid goes, this is in the book, okay, and the kid goes, no, of course not, you know, and, and Je Tsongkhapa says, well, doesn't it taste sweet? Doesn't it taste good? And he says, yeah, yeah, I mean, the first second, right?

You know, the first second, it tastes good, you know, and it, in the first moment, you're all making faces at me, okay, don't forget that, okay, don't forget that, keep that in mind, I'm setting you up too, so, so he's got this honey on the razor blade, and he says, yeah, in the first moment, you know, for, I don't know, what, half a second, two seconds, there's this intense feeling of sweetness, you know, it's, it tastes good, and then you rip your tongue off, and it's open, and then it's, it's gross, you can imagine blood coming down, and, like licking on a, a knife or a razor blade by accident, and, and looking down and seeing blood pouring down your face, and things like that, and thinking, that was a nice thing, so, so Jetson Kappa says, I thought you said licking honey was pleasant, and the guy says, it is, and he says, well, it's not pleasant when you lick it off a razor blade, is it? And he says, right, you know, you're supposed to be this great logician, Jetson Kappa, but, what's the point, you know, of course it's not fun to lick honey off a razor blade, but if you lick honey off a spoon, it's okay, you know, so Jetson Kappa says, what's the difference?

And he says, well, when you lick it off a razor blade, you always get a bad thing after that, I mean, something really bad happens, you rip open your mouth, you rip, you have a huge cut on your tongue, it's not the same thing, you see, eating honey on a spoon, nothing happens, eating honey on a razor blade, right after that, something horrible is happening to you, so, so that's suffering, eating honey on a razor blade is suffering, and eating honey on a spoon is not suffering, so then Jetson Kappa says, so if you have this beautiful, beautiful thing, like eating honey, but you know, that the end of that experience, has to be something horrible, is it a good thing, or a bad thing? Okay, if a pleasant experience, always has a bad ending, you see what I mean? If the honey always comes with a rip in your mouth, then is the whole thing, you gotta get it, together is it a good thing or not?

And the guy says, of course it's a bad thing, it's a horrible thing, and then he sees the child's face, and that's the end of the chapter, you know, he sees that, you're talking about exactly the same thing, when you say that there are good things in your life, get it? They always come to death, you know, they always come to suffering, you see, and Je Tsongkhapa says, don't come tell me that, licking honey off a razor blade is a good thing, and then the boy says, but I don't get it, you know, good things happen, what? A kid's face, but this kid is doomed to go through this suffering, this kid is doomed to end up in a nursing home somewhere, dying of some cancer or something, it's honey off a razor blade, okay?

So, so the first few seconds are nice or not? No, if they always come with suffering at the end, if the, if the, if the good time is always linked to a disaster, is it a good time? You see what I mean?

If everything in your life must descend into loss, if you have to lose everything you've worked for, if every day of your life has been wasted by the time you end it, you know, if your body itself is going to die on you, and you're going to be ripped apart from every person you ever met in this life and never see them, I mean, that's it. If you're going to be torn from them, if you're going to lose every dollar you ever made, you know, if everything you ever wrote or, or said to someone is going to be lost and forgotten two months after you die, then what's the point? You know, can you say that any part of your life was pleasant?

You see what I mean? And then your mind goes back immediately, oh, no, I've had good days, you know? And Jetsun Kapa says, no.

You know, everything good in your life is going to be ripped away from you. And that's Khyapa Di Chakya Dungyal means, by the very nature of it, there's something going on in your life, there's some kind of energies that work in your life, you can't keep anything, and nothing that's going right is going to stay that way. So is it suffering or not?

You see what I mean? And Buddhism says, no, it's suffering. And unless you admit it, you won't even try to get out.

You see what I mean? So the purpose of this class tonight, and now you get to have some refreshments, okay? But the purpose of the class is to say, look, you know, it doesn't matter what you have.

Are you handsome? Are you beautiful? Are you intelligent?

Are you smart? Do you have a nice family? Have you been able to get some money?

Do you have a nice place to stay? Are you a reasonable, good person without any big expectations? It doesn't matter.

You're going to lose it all. Everything. So what's the point of getting up in the morning, you know?

I mean, admit it. You know, that's what Je Tsongkhapa is saying. Admit it.

Everything you're working for is... you're going to lose it. There's always a razor blade under the honey.

It seems like sweet for a short time, and then you know you're going to lose it. So do something about it. And then Buddhism says you can.

You know, like... we'll talk about it after the break, but the forces or the energies which are causing those things to happen to you. What?

The fact that you're going to die. The fact that you have to get old. The fact that you have to lose everyone you love and everything you own.

Very shortly. Those have causes and you can stop it. Buddhism came into Tibet.

It was a very beautiful process. It's coming into America the same way. It's very beautiful.

It's very interesting. It's very similar to the way it moved into Tibet. It's happening now.

And then very quietly Buddhism spread through Tibet. And very quietly, thousands and thousands of Tibetans reached some kind of spiritual place where those things aren't happening to them anymore. Okay?

It's very interesting. You know, very slowly, thousands of Tibetan people practiced. They learned these things and they meditated.

And by meditating on them, you reach a place called Nirvana. And then you reach a place called Enlightenment. Especially if you study Tantra.

So... And then they're gone now. They went to a different place.

They're in a different state. Thousands and thousands of them. And that's the whole idea, is to get to that point.

You don't have to go through life like that. You don't have to die like that. And you don't have to lose the people you love and things like that.

That's not true. And that's what Buddhism said. People say to me, come on, Buddhism is just having a good meditation once in a while.

Or being friendly. Or... you know, learning to cope with life.

It's not. Buddha said, Heart Sutra... ma rikpa me ma rikpa sepa me pa ne ga shi me ga shi sepa pariyamado It means...

you can overcome... you don't have to go through life like that. You can go through a radical change in your life, where you don't have to get old.

You can stop the process of aging. You don't have to die. And Buddhism is nothing less radical than that.

Don't... What do you call it? Don't put Buddhism down by thinking it's an occasional good meditation or something.

It's not the point. The point is that... if you're a normal American, and you study it well, and you do certain kinds of meditations, you don't have to go through those things at all.

You can change everything. And... So that's what the idea of the teaching is.

Okay? I'll do questions... later.

Okay? Say? Oh.

He needs the English translation. And then we'll take a break, and then we'll talk about... what I said, and is it radical, and how many Tibetans have you met that didn't get old and didn't die?

Okay? Really. Somebody should ask the question, right?

I thought that's what he's gonna ask. Okay, I'm gonna give it to you in English. Döpa means all the nice things in your life.

Zhangzi means honey. Zhangzi qian means ana. Qianji means ana.

Pudi. Pudi means a razor blade. Pu means hair, facial hair.

Ji means a knife. Pudi is a razor. And dra means just the same.

Okay? So, all the good things in your life are just the same as honey on a razor blade.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
No different. And we have to talk about that. We talk about how to stop it, and whether or not thousands of Tibetans really did it.

Okay? Because where are they? And why does the Dalai Lama himself appear to get old?

You see? I'm gonna have to answer that question. But you take some refreshments first.

Come back in about ten minutes. I wanted to show you... Oh, wait, I was gonna tell you about those thousands of Tibetans, right?

And where are they? Okay. This gets into the subject of emptiness, which I'm not gonna talk about a lot tonight.

But, you know, I have here popcorn. Okay? And there's a whole plate here.

You know? And like, I'm pretty hungry. I just had lunch, but that was all.

And I'm gonna teach you about the emptiness of popcorn. And I'm not kidding. You can understand emptiness in about five minutes.

It's not a big thing. This... It's a piece of popcorn.

Now, some people, like, if you're really hungry, you're wondering if I might leave the plate here when I leave, you know? And then maybe you can sneak over here and get it, you know? So for you, this thing looks nice.

It looks interesting. Potentially interesting. Sorry.

And then some people are wondering if it's the movie kind or the plastic bag kind, you know? Like, to them, it looks like neutral. You see what I mean?

Like, it's not even very potentially interesting, because they figure it's probably the plastic bag kind, which it happens to be. And when I said that, another third of the people in here, like, already canceled this popcorn. You know?

It's like, not interesting. I don't care if I could sneak over there. You know?

So there's one kind of popcorn here, and then three different kinds of people in the room are having three different perceptions of it. Okay? Some people are saying, this could be interesting thing, you know?

Maybe there's some in the back on the way out. I'll mosey over to the left, you know? And then some people are thinking, I could care less about this popcorn.

Either way. And some people are thinking, I wouldn't eat that if you gave it to me, you know? Because it's probably, which it is, it's kind of mushy, and it's not crisp at all, and there's no butter on it.

And so, the emptiness of the popcorn is that, what you see depends totally on your own mind. You see what I mean? This popcorn, from its own side, okay?

That's what emptiness means. From its own side, it's neither delicious, or neutral, or very soft and crunchy. Okay?

From its own side, it's none of the above. Okay? It's not desirable, or undesirable, from its own side.

That depends on what? It's your perceptions. Okay?

Don't blame it on the popcorn. Okay? Somebody in this room would think it was really good at this moment.

And then some people in the room at this moment would say, that's like the grossest popcorn I can think of. And then some people would say, I don't much care about it, you know? That's coming from your side, okay?

Not from the popcorn side. So we say that the popcorn is empty of any nature of its own. And that's what emptiness means.

It is not good, or neutral, or gross, from its own side. It is empty, or blank. It should have been called blank, I think.

Emptiness is a little bit of a... In English, emptiness means worthless, or meaningless, or life is empty, or... That's not what...

You should have called it blankness or something. It's blank. Whether you see something good, bad, or indifferent, is your problem.

Okay? And that's the emptiness of the popcorn. What's making you see it that way?

Like, why do some people get saliva when they see it? And why do some people are wondering when he's gonna get to the something else? You see?

What is it that's making your mind do that? Karmic predilections. Karmic predilections.

Meaning... Your own karma. By the way, that's an example of karma.

Karma is acting on your mind right now. Karma is determining whether you see it as something wonderful, or indifferent, or something lousy. Okay?

From its own side, it's... Nothing. That's what emptiness means.

But from your side, if you had good karma in the past, you'd think it was really good. And if you had bad karma in the past, you'd say, I don't like plastic bag popcorn. And if you had neutral karma, which is when you're just sitting there and spaced out, you collect neutral karma.

Then you'd sit there and you'd say, I don't care about that popcorn. You see what I mean? So, that's the emptiness of this popcorn.

So... How many people think it's like they don't care much about the popcorn? Okay?

Okay, so... I ask you... No, no, no.

I'm gonna ask you, is there any delicious popcorn in this room? I mean, up here. No, the people who said that they could care less about the popcorn, which is most people, I guess, and it was true.

Is there any really good popcorn in my head? Like, fresh, hot, real butter, not the soybean oil stuff. You know?

Is there any really good popcorn in my head? And you say, no. And I say, that's reasonable.

You know, your karma is making you see it that way. Somebody who didn't get dinner or lunch, okay, would see it as something very, very good. You see what I mean?

But you see, you can't see the good popcorn, because your karma is pushing your mind around and making you see something neutral. You see? And you would say, there's no good popcorn in your head.

You know, there's no delicious popcorn in your head. And if somebody else in the room had a different kind of karma, they'd be saying, that's really good popcorn in your head. Who's right?

You see, neither one. It depends what your mind is making you see. You can't say this person is right, or that person is right.

Okay? Would it be reasonable for the people who raised their hands to say, there's no such thing as good popcorn in your head? And you could say, I don't see it as good, but maybe somebody else might.

I mean, if you're reasonable, you'd say, I don't see it as anything special, but I can imagine, if somebody was in this room and didn't get to eat, and they knew you were going to leave it there when you walked out, you know, they might see it as something really special. But I don't see it that way. I can't see that.

But is it reasonable for you to say that no one else is seeing it that way? Is it reasonable for you to say nobody in this room is seeing this as delicious? No, it's not reasonable.

It's pretty good, actually. Okay? And by the way, the same thing is happening with death itself.

And you've got to get used to that idea. The same thing is happening with death itself. All objects in the world are empty.

Death itself is as empty as this popcorn. What's that mean? It means that as His Holiness the Dalai Lama seems to get older to you, he may be seeing something totally different.

You know? Tibetans say he's Chenrezig. He's Avalokiteshvara.

He is the god of love. He's a tantric deity. He's an angel in disguise.

He's not getting old at all. Okay? He himself, when he looks in the mirror, sees this golden, beautiful, sexy bodhisattva.

You know? But when you look at him, you see something else. Why?

Your karma is making you see it different. You see what I mean? So it's unreasonable to say that...

By the way, if what I said about the popcorn is true, then what I said about the Dalai Lama is true. Okay? It's possible.

I don't say it's sure, okay? Because I can't see it. But it's possible that he looks in the mirror and sees a tantric deity.

I mean, that's what millions of Tibetans have said throughout history. You know, how many of them really knew or didn't know, it doesn't matter. But it's possible that he's seeing something quite different.

And in fact, if you study Buddhism seriously, and you study perception and emptiness well, and you understand karma, you get to a point where you understand that people could overcome death itself. And you could become like that. You know, if you meditate properly, if someone teaches you how to do it right, you yourself could change into that.

Would the other people in the room see you do that? Depends totally on their karma. Depends totally on their own state of mind.

See what I mean? It's very interesting. So to say that I never heard in the New York Times of thousands of Tibetans becoming tantric deities, I don't believe all that.

You can say I haven't seen it, and you can say I didn't see it reported, but that doesn't mean it didn't take place. You see, that's what I'm trying to say. If you accept the popcorn thing, you have to accept the other thing.

And your mind may not be quite ready for that. You say, I don't get it. I get it about the popcorn, I don't get it about His Holiness.

But anyway, consider the possibility. What I'm saying is that it's possible that outside of the limits of your own perception, outside of the limits of what you can see, it's possible. And I would say that it's true that thousands and thousands of Tibetans have reached enlightenment and become tantric deities.

And you can't see it right now. And there's another implication here. The person sitting next to you.

Aha. Don't try to... Don't try to write it, okay?

This is to me one of the most beautiful pieces of scripture that exists, and I'm not going to keep you more than five, ten minutes more, okay? It says, ka-nyam la-gyam gyi drog-che dak-gyang, chi-hi mi-she-pe, ka-yi yang-rung kye-che nyen-chun dak-lang-jang, dak-lang-jang, gyal-se chen-po shi-wa la-yang, kye-pa mang-po du-she, sun-pa chen shi-le, yun-ten ma tong-wa shin, tong-tsul tsam-la nge-pa me. And this is a beautiful text that was written by Pabongkha Rinpoche.

He was the teacher of the teacher of the present Dalai Lama. He was the teacher of My Root Lama, okay? And it says...

And it's a very famous book, okay? It's a very famous lamrim. Maybe the last lamrim that was ever written in Tibet, okay?

Before Tibet was lost. Ka-nyam la-gyam means... Ka-nyam means same mouth, la-gyam means same hand, and in Tibetan that means your buddy-buddy, you know, the person sitting next to you.

You eat together, you walk together, okay? Drog-che... Drog-che means your best friend, your wife, your children, your mother, the people sitting next to you in this class, okay?

Che-da-kyam, che-yin mi-she-pe, who knows who they are? Okay? Who knows who's sitting next to you?

By the way, Tantric deities are very patient, you know? To them a million years is nothing. Seriously, their perception of time is totally different.

You know? They could spend the whole life masquerading as your daughter, to teach you something when they get to be 20. No problem.

They're very patient. To them, twenty years is like a drop in a bucket, okay? And...

no problem. And they would emanate as your daughter in order to teach you something, okay? In order to teach you every day, probably.

Okay. Kānyī yāng rū, yī yāng rū. Anyway, whatever they are or aren't, which you're not gonna know right away, okay?

You don't know how many tantric deities there are in this room. We don't know. I don't know, okay?

Yāng rū, kē chē nian chūng. Kē chē means, do the thing that you can get the most mileage out of. Nian chūng means, do the thing which is least problem for you.

Dād nāṃ jāng. Dād nāṃ jāng means, why not just think of them that way now anyway? Okay?

I mean, if the chances are pretty good that the person sitting next to you is already a Buddha, then, what do you got to lose? You know? Think of them that way.

Treat them that way. You know? It's like, what do you got to lose?

You never know. By the way, disrespecting a Buddha is a very bad karma. Being good to a Buddha is a very good karma.

So what the hell, let's be good to everybody. You never know. You know, you never know who the person sitting next to you is.

That's what he's saying, and it's true. Okay? They're very patient people.

You don't know who's sitting next to you. To do something bad to them is very potentially risky, if they're an enlightened being. If you do something nice to them, the profit potential is huge.

Okay? Then they say, gyal se chenpo shiwa la yang. Gyal se chenpo means that great bodhisattva named shiwa la.

Shiwa means shanti. La means deva. So shanti deva.

Okay? The great saint from ancient India, wrote the guide to the bodhisattva's way of life. Incredible.

Greatest book ever written, maybe. Okay? La yang.

He also... Kepa Mongo means many great wise people of his time. Many great monks and nuns gave him the name Dushesambhava.

Okay? What was it? Busukku in Sanskrit.

Busu... Busu... Bu-su-kku.

Okay? He was called Busukku. Bu means he loves to eat.

Su means he loves to sleep. Kku means he doesn't know how to do anything but poop. Okay?

Busukku. So it's like, he's worthless. I mean, they saw him as the laziest monk in the whole monastery.

He was lazing around, he never studied, he never meditated, so they called him Mr. Three Thoughts. Dushesambhava means, all he thinks about is eating, sleeping and pooping. That's his three activities.

When he's done with that, his day is finished. You know, that's all he cares about. Actually, he was secretly in his room, he was writing this book, which is now like the most famous Buddhist book from ancient India.

Okay? And he actually hid it in the rafters of his room, because he didn't want to let on who he was. Okay?

Thayang... Dushesambhava shigle yinden ma tongwa means, they didn't see anything special about him at all. They thought he's just a normal guy.

Okay? Tongtsu tsam la ngepa me. So he says, be careful of judging people on their appearances.

You never know.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
And this is a very important... To me, it's maybe the most important teaching of Buddhism. You never know who's sitting around you.

You never know that the person who jostles you on the subway, and gives you a lesson in patience, isn't Manjushri, or Vajrapani in disguise. You know? Who's been waiting on that platform for hours, for you to get there.

You know, knowing that you would. You know? And then, bumps you, just when you need it.

Just when you thought you were doing pretty good with your practice. You know? And...

You know, you never know. And then you can do what they call in history... What they call it?

Revisionism? You can rewrite your past now. Okay?

Meaning, can you say that your high school girlfriend wasn't Tara? You know? Can you say that she wasn't setting you up a million years ago, to bump into her in the hallway?

You know what I mean? I mean, go back to your first boyfriend or girlfriend, or whatever. Seriously.

I'm not kidding. Okay? Can you say for sure they were not a tantric deity?

And did they ever do anything to affect you that changed your life? And they set you on a certain course. And now you're sitting here in this class, and you might get your rear end enlightened in this lifetime.

You know? I mean, is it possible that there were people in your past, during your life, that affected you in a certain way, and nudged you a certain way, and then you ended up here? You see what I mean?

How many people are there in your personal life's history, that might have given you this little nudge that got you sitting here, tonight? You know? Are there people that you can think of, that might have been some bodhisattva in disguise?

You see what I mean? And Buddhism says, you know, this quotation says, very, very possible, even probable. And so you have to do some...

What do they call it in history? Rewrite your past. Revisionism?

Go back to the people that you grew up with, and go back to the people that were around you, and think about the possibility, that they were not what they seemed. You know? And that maybe there's a reason for you to be here.

And there's a purpose for it. There's a reason why you're sitting in this class. You know?

That you are supposed to do something, soon. Okay? Consider that possibility.

And that's the first chapter of that book, so you'll see that. Something's happening in the first chapter like that. And it's true.

Okay? Okay, we'll stop there, and we'll start again next week. Okay?

Okay, thank you.