«A» и «The»: углублённое учение о пустоте (2010, Гонконг), занятие 1

[Говорящий 1]
So we were in Hong Kong this week and last week. We were in Singapore earlier this week. We were doing some teacher training, and some business courses, and some relationship talks.

And then, supposed to be tonight, we have off to see Iron Man 2. So you caused me a problem. But, you know, Harmonium said, can you do a little bit of talk in the evening.

Then they gave me unusual request, which I kind of like, okay. They said, Yashla, when you talk to these big groups, usually it's 500 or 1,000 people who are coming, and often times. And then they said, how about we just have a small group, and then you can let loose.

You don't have to make everything simple. So we will bring the more qualified people. That's you, okay.

And can you go a little bit deeper than usual. Because usually when I go to a hall and many, many people come, then if I start to say something a little bit deeper, then I see many people get scared, you know, they get lost. And then I feel bad and I make more simple.

And then the older people don't get to hear anything deeper. So tonight, if you don't mind, we will go a little bit deeper into emptiness. In my monastery, I studied 25 years in the monastery, and sometimes we go to a class with the older students.

We're supposed to go sometimes, and we have no idea what the teacher is talking about. And they say it's good luck, because later you will, you know, you put a seed in your money. So in our monastery, they encourage us, sometimes you go to a class which is way, way over your head, and then, I don't know, American people in a class, they want to know everything the first time.

They don't feel comfortable if they don't understand everything the first time. But I learned in my monastery that they taught us, relax, try to catch what you can catch, and if you don't catch something, it's a blessing. And just relax, don't struggle to understand everything.

Just relax, be like a teacup, let the teacher pour the tea into you, and then someday you'll get it. So I didn't give this teaching ever. I didn't have a group that I thought I could give this teaching ever in my life.

So let's try, and we'll see what happens. The reading which you have in your hand, the paper, this is a book called Tsawa Shera, or Mula Prajna. It was written about 18 centuries ago by a great Buddhist monk, his name was Nagarjuna.

And sometimes he's called the second Buddha. So he was so famous in India that he was called Buddha number two. And people said, after they heard his teaching, they said, oh Buddha came back, Lord Buddha came back.

He lived 700 years after Buddha, but he gave such a good teaching that everybody called him Buddha number two. And we say he is an Arya. Arya means a person, a special person, who saw emptiness directly.

It's very, very difficult. Maybe every 500 years, or 300 years, in this world, an Arya will come. Arya will start to teach.

So it's unusual to have an Arya in the world at any time. So he wrote a book about emptiness, and he called it The Root Text on Wisdom. In Tibetan it's called Tsawa Shera, and it means a textbook about wisdom.

Wisdom means understanding emptiness. And I'm not going to tell you any of my usual stories about emptiness. We're going to go straight to the bone.

So I didn't try this for a long time, so let's see what happens. And to do this in a hot room is very dangerous. Because you will get tired and you will get hot, and your mind will go to McDonald's or something.

But let's try. It's a special night. Also tonight, late tonight, is a very special holiday for us, Haksamea.

It's very important. Tonight is important for us Buddhist people. It's something called Setu.

So I think it's good luck that we are doing this tonight. And it wasn't planned. And let's see what happens.

So you are going to learn one part. I believe there are 27 chapters in the Tsawa Shera, in the book on wisdom by Ligongji. And we are going to learn chapter 15.

So chapter 15 is very, very difficult. For almost 2,000 years, people are discussing the meaning of chapter 15. And in Tibet, in China, in India, if you look at all the explanations of this chapter, I think there must be 10,000 books written about this chapter.

In our monastery, we study this subject for 12 years. So it's difficult. And we'll see what we can do in one night.

So let's go to the first page. I'd like to read the... I will read each verse to you.

This is another blessing. Just to hear these lines after 2,000 years, traditionally it's a great blessing. So if you just hear the words of this book, it's a very great blessing in your life.

So we're going to do what we call Lung. Lung means that I will read the original chapter, verse by verse. And then I'll explain it.

But when I'm reading, you have to open your ears. You have to think about saving the world. This is the recipe for saving the world.

So you should think in your heart, in your mind. Open your ear and let the sound flow into your mind. And just let it come into your heart.

And it will change you. In one week, or one year, or ten years, something will happen to you. If you just hear, it's all shared.

So here we go. It would be wrong to say that quality came from causes and conditions. Quality that came from causes and conditions would have to be created.

Okay, it doesn't mean anything in English, okay? If your English is not so good and it doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry. Because if your English is very good, it also doesn't mean anything to you.

He was a very unusual man, you know? What he spoke, he didn't use big words. And he wrote tiny, tiny poetry.

Just tiny, tiny, like corn. And he didn't make long explanations and like that. He's just a short little poem, okay?

And it's difficult to understand the meaning, okay? This chapter is about emptiness. How to see emptiness.

I'll tell you one story, alright? So, my teacher... Who's this?

Is that me? Okay. When I went to the monastery, it was 1975.

And my teacher, you know, I went to the monastery and the first day, he took me to a very, very small, very, very small room. And there's just one bed. That was his bed.

And then he gave me his old room, his old bed. And the bed is about four and a half feet long. Like, what do you call it?

One and a half meters. Yeah? And it's made for a Tibetan person, not for an American person.

And then next to that is just a little, tiny space for meditation. And there's one small window. And so, he said, okay, this is your first place to stay.

This is for the new monk. And then he said, first thing, I want you to meditate. So I said, what should I meditate about?

And he said, I want you to meditate about emptiness. Because if you understand emptiness, you can do anything. You can succeed at anything.

If you really understand emptiness, you can succeed at everything. And there are many, many explanations of emptiness, and 99% are wrong. Really, honestly.

99% are just foolish. Honestly. They don't know what they're talking about.

Even I heard very, very big lamas, just, they don't understand it at all. So, he said, meditate about emptiness here. He said, do you understand emptiness?

I said, yeah, yeah, I understand, I understand. I know, I know. He gave me a nickname later.

Mr. I know, I know. So, he doesn't call me Michael. He calls me from the kitchen.

He says, I know, I know, come for dinner. So, first day, he said, do you understand emptiness? I said, I know, I know.

He said, okay, you meditate on emptiness. So, I sat in this very, very small space, and I closed my eyes, and I heard some book about emptiness. And it said, everything is black.

You know, like outer space, with no stars, no planet, no sky, just black. Like, if you go to the moon, and you look out, without the stars, everything is black. So, I closed my eyes, and I sit straight, you know, and I meditate about black, black, black, black, black.

Then, I heard the bell. He has a bell. He lives upstairs.

I made his house, you know, and he lives in the upstairs. And he rang the bell. And he said, when I ring the bell, you have to run upstairs.

So, he rang the bell, I ran upstairs. You have to knock on the door. And he said, okay, come.

He was very tough, very, very tough. He hit me sometimes. But I deserved it, okay?

Then, I went in, and then you have to go on your knees. You have to fall down, and you have to say, In Tibet, this means respect, for Lao Tzu, yeah? For teacher.

And then, I'm like, So, he said, okay, what did you do? I said, I meditated. What did you meditate about?

Emptiness. What is emptiness like? I said, black.

Something black. Very black. No light, nothing.

Just black. You close your eyes, you think about black, black, black. He said, I told this story when we were in Singapore.

And he said, you are kukpa, okay? Kukpa means you are an idiot. And you are a fool, okay?

You are stupid, you know? I asked him, what does kukpa mean? He explained very nicely, okay?

And then, he sent me downstairs again. He said, you try again. So, I meditated again, and I tried to think, what is emptiness?

And then, I read some book. It said, you close your eyes, and you think about nothing, you know? If some thought comes, you just watch the thought, and the thought goes away.

And when the thought goes away, this is emptiness, okay? So, you know, maybe you can stare at the wall, and just look at the wall. And then, just think about nothing.

And any thought comes, just let it go, and stay in the space. No thoughts. So, I tried that.

Then I went upstairs, knock on the door. He rang the bell, I knock on the door. I came in.

I get down on the floor. Then he said, what did you do? I said, I meditated on emptiness.

Then he said, what is emptiness? Then I said, I read a book about it. I know, I know.

This book said, just don't think about anything, you know? He said, tell me what is meditation? What is the definition of meditation?

Then I said, meditation is to concentrate your mind. You know? Tse chik tu ting nzin.

Ek agra, in Sanskrit. One point. One point mind.

Just think about one thing. Don't think about two things. Just think about one thing.

He said, meditation means, just think about one thing. Yeah, I said, correct. Then he said, your meditation is to think about nothing, right?

And I said, that's correct. So he said, so you are thinking, one point, you are thinking about not thinking about anything. Very carefully, you are thinking about not thinking about anything.

I said, correct. He said, that's more gukpa. Because you are thinking.

When you try not to think about anything, you are focusing on that. So you are thinking, you see? You are just thinking again.

You know, he said, that's more gukpa. He said, you go, guk tak ten chung sa. Guk tak ten song, means, you are displaying your quality.

You are showing the world what a gukpa you are. Guk tak ten means, you are, I don't know how to say, you are exhibiting your natural nature, which is to be a fool. And then he said, you go back, guk tak ten.

You go back, and you try again. So I went back to my room, and I meditated. I heard another kind of emptiness.

It said, everything is illusion. Nothing is real. Someone gives you good ice cream, it tastes good, don't be happy.

If someone hit you on the head, it's just illusion, maya. Then don't be sad. Everything happens to you, don't be happy.

Anything happens to you, don't be sad. Just be like a potato. Just sit like a potato.

Don't worry about anything. Something good happens, don't be happy. Something bad happens, don't be sad.

Just be a potato. Then I went upstairs, knocked on the door, he rang the bell, I laughed. Then he said, okay, what is emptiness?

And I said, I know, I know, you should be like a potato. Everything is illusion. Nothing is good, nothing is bad.

Nothing is, don't be happy, don't be sad. He said, if you say don't be happy, don't be sad, he said, what brings happiness to you? Then I said, good karma, good karma.

If you help other people, something good will come to you. This is the definition of good karma. If you do it, then some happy thing will come to you.

Okay? Help other people, happiness will come to you. Then he said, what's the definition of bad karma?

I said, if you hurt somebody, and something bad will happen to you, then this is definition. Bad action, which results in a bad feeling, is bad karma. Bad action, which results in a good feeling for you, is good karma.

I said, this is the meaning of good and bad karma. So he said, so you don't want to do good karma. I said, why?

He said, because you don't want to feel good. I said, yeah, I shouldn't feel good. Everything is illusion.

Don't feel happy about a good thing. Don't feel bad about a bad thing. He said, that's the most KUKPA thing I heard.

Now you are like three times KUKPA. You are the most KUKPA of all KUKPAs. KUKPE CHONG, means King of KUKPA.

So, you know, then they started to train me, and it took, the beginning course is 12 years. Madhyamika Svatantrika. And then four years of Madhyamika Prasangika.

So 16 years of emptiness course. And, then, at some time I understood, finally I had a good understanding. Because I, usually I teach with a pen, many people saw.

Or I teach with an aspirin. Some people saw aspirin. But tonight I'm going to teach you a different way, more difficult.

Okay? It's more difficult. I didn't teach it, maybe ever I think.

Okay? I didn't really teach it to people. Because I'm not sure, it's not very easy.

Okay? It's powerful but it's not easy. So you have to try hard.

Okay? He is talking here about quality. Something called quality.

Okay? Something called quality, or something called nature. What does this mean?

Okay? What is the meaning of that? By the way, when I want to explain emptiness to you, there's a reason.

Okay? There's a reason to explain emptiness to you. I'm not trying to make you go to outer space or something.

Okay? I'm not trying to make you go into some meditation and you don't come back. You know?

It's not like that. If you can understand emptiness, really, if you really understand emptiness, you can have anything you want. You can make anything happen.

Because emptiness is the is the core of the of everything, of reality. Emptiness is the core of reality. If you understand emptiness, you can do anything.

Okay? So I'm not trying to give you some Buddhist teaching. I'm not interested.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
I don't want to confuse you or or make you a strange person or you come out of here and you run into the light post or something like that.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
It's not my goal. Okay? And I don't care if you keep a Buddha picture in your house or Jesus picture in your house or a picture of Madonna.

It doesn't matter to me what picture you are keeping in your house. It really doesn't matter to me. I will give you an idea and if you understand it, you can have anything you want.

You can make anything you want. So, you know, my Lama, most of you know, my Lama told me, I want you to make a business to help the poor people. You know?

So I said, okay. After some time, I said, okay. I will do.

You know? And then he said, I said, how shall I do? He said, I'll give you a book about emptiness.

Jinganjing. The Diamond Cutter Sutra. And you study that and then you do business.

So I did. I understood the emptiness about it. And then I started a business.

That business was sold last year to Warren Buffet for a quarter billion dollars. 250 million dollars. It has 10,000 people working for it now.

I know nothing about business. I didn't go to business school. My family didn't teach me business.

I don't know accounting. I don't know marketing. I don't know sales.

I don't know production. I don't know anything. But I made the largest, it's the fastest growing company in the history of New York.

Just from knowing emptiness. Just because I understand emptiness. That's all.

And then you can use for your health also. If you want to stay strong, stay young, you can save a lot of money from Sephora. You don't have to spend a lot of money on makeup.

If you understand emptiness, you can stay young, you can stay strong. I had a problem in my foot. I was crippled, handicapped from my father.

I got it from my father. And I couldn't walk some days on my foot. Now I do ballet.

And last year I started to lift up the girl over my head. And I'm almost 60 now. So when I was 20, I couldn't do that.

So you can use it for your health. You can change your health. You can do that.

If you have some sickness, you can... I taught it to people with cancer. Friend Diane, she had cancer 20 years ago.

And she's fine. She is now at my place, University in Arizona. She's building houses.

She's like 75 years old. She's building the houses at Diamond Mountain. She built part of the temple.

She put the bricks on the... Big bricks, adobe bricks. She's piling them to make the place.

So you should change, right? And if you want a partner, if you want a relationship, you can make it. If you understand emptiness, you can have a nice family, you can have a nice partner.

Or you can fix your partner. If you already have one. You can do everything.

But you have to understand. So I'm not going to give you an easy way tonight. I'm going to give you a little bit difficult way.

But those are the benefits. If you can understand what I'm saying, you can reach those things. You can do anything.

Whatever you want, you can do. Because emptiness is behind all things. Emptiness is behind all things.

All things are working from emptiness. They all begin from emptiness. It's like if you know how to change computer code, you can change the program.

Your life is like a video... What do you call it? Game.

Computer game. And then if you know emptiness, you can change the code. And you can make the game end whichever way you want.

If you understand the code underneath. So that's what I'm trying to teach you tonight. And it's very hard.

And it's late. And I'm also very hot. This is like India.

This is like my monastery. And then we will... You have to try.

Okay, we'll try. Okay. So there is something which covers all things.

There is something which covers all things. And there are three ways to explain it. One is like...

I don't know. So here I have a clock. Okay.

Hopefully this clock will save you. He will stop before too late. Okay.

And this clock has parts. Okay. This clock has parts to it.

There is a front of the clock. There is a back to the clock. There is some alarm buttons.

There are some buttons for fixing the time. And inside it has a battery. So those are all parts.

All of those things are parts. But then there is the clock. Okay.

So the clock has those parts. You can say the clock is like the... I don't know what you call it.

It's like the whole thing. The whole thing is a clock. Okay.

And then the clock has many parts inside. Okay. It has a battery.

It has the front. It has the back. It has all those things.

Okay. So compared to the parts, the clock is a whole. Okay.

The clock is the whole thing together. You take all the pieces together. And then you can call that thing a clock.

Okay. Clock is to the parts the whole. The whole to the parts.

Okay. So clock is the whole to the parts.

[Говорящий 2]
All right.

[Говорящий 1]
Then there are many kinds of clocks. There are alarm clocks. There are big clocks like that one.

There are wristwatch clocks. In the world, there are many kinds of clocks. There are...

What do you call them? Wristwatches. There are office clocks.

There are alarm clocks. There are oven clocks. There are clocks in your car.

These are all different kinds of clocks. Okay. There are many kinds of clocks.

So you could have a... What do you call them? A thing which is called all the clocks in the world.

There is a thing which we call all the clocks in the world. There is such a thing. All the clocks in the world.

Right. There is all the clocks in the world. And then all the little...

This is one of them. Okay. This is one of all the clocks in the world.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
This clock belongs to all the clocks in the world. And then there are many other clocks. That clock is also one of the clocks in the world.

It belongs to all the clocks in the world. You can say set and subset in mathematics. Right.

There are all the clocks in the world. And then this clock belongs to that group. So there is a group.

There is a mother group called all the clocks in the world. And then there are... All these clocks belong to that group.

Okay. And then there is a group of all the parts of this clock. And it belongs to the clock.

To this clock. Okay. This black clock.

Okay. So there are... I gave you two kinds of mother groups.

Right. One is all the clocks in the world. And this one belongs to all the clocks in the world.

The other is this clock is like the mother. And then all the parts of the clock are like parts of that clock. Okay.

So there are two kinds of clocks. There is clocks. Clocks.

Okay. She is going to have a difficult to translate tonight. Really.

You are going to have trouble later. There are...

[Говорящий 2]
So please speak a little bit slower.

[Говорящий 1]
Okay.

[Говорящий 2]
Because I am spotting your translation. Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
I will stay still. But not too slow. They will fall asleep.

Clocks. There are clocks. Then there is a clock.

This clock has parts. And this clock is one of clocks. Got it?

Okay. So that is a different thing. Now a little bit different idea.

Okay. Different idea. This is where you have to try to understand.

Okay. I wish I spoke Chinese. I tried.

But I live in my small house in the desert. And I put on Chinese tape recorder all day in my ear. But nothing stays.

I think it goes out the other side. Anyway. There is a thing called clock.

Clock. In English, you put the quotation marks. It means so called clock.

Clock. Clock. Not the clock.

Okay. Not the clock. This is where it gets difficult.

Not the clock. And not a clock. Okay.

There is a thing which is just clock. Okay. There is a thing which is just clock.

And in English, sometimes we put the quotation mark. It means so called clock. Clock.

This is not clock. This is a clock. This is one clock.

This is the clock. But it's not clock. Okay.

Clock, if you think about it, clock is an idea. Okay. Clock is an idea in your mind.

Okay. If I say, if I, if I say close your eyes and then I say clock, in your mind comes a picture. In your mind comes a picture.

I say clock. And then in your mind you see twelve numbers and and you see something round usually and you think clock. This is a quality.

Clock. You can say clock-ness. You can say clock-ness.

Okay. Clock-ness. It's a quality.

Okay. It's an idea. It's in your mind.

Where does clock-ness stay? Okay. Mostly in your mind.

Okay. Clock is an idea in your mind. Maybe in China, maybe in Chinese it's easier because you have a different character for everything.

You know. Maybe it's better for, easier for you. I don't know.

I think the character is is useful. But in English, when I say clock you don't think of of a sound. You see?

You're not thinking about a sound. And I'm not talking about a sound. I'm talking about the idea.

Clock. In your mind, clock. So, stay with me, okay?

Stay with me. If you get it, you can make quarter billion dollars. You can fix cancer or bad foot.

You can get any partner you want. You can fix, you can make your partner anywhere you want. You can choose everything.

If you understand clock, you can do anything. Okay? I'm not just wasting your time.

And I'm not just, I don't like philosophy. Okay? I was, when I was in college, university, I hated philosophy.

They just talk, blah, blah, blah, blah, to each other, you know? And then it doesn't make any sense. Usually they don't eat enough.

They look terrible. They talk all the time. They can't stop talking.

And they don't make any sense. At all. And they fight with each other.

And I don't know what they're saying. After a long time, I decided, I don't know what philosophers are saying at all. And I don't care.

I think we should, half of them we should put in the insane asylum. And then half of them we can put in the university. Okay?

And we can switch the half maybe, sometimes. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not trying to talk about philosophy.

I want you to get your dreams. I want you to get whatever you want. You have another one?

[Говорящий 2]
It's coming back.

[Говорящий 1]
It's coming back. I don't think so.

[Говорящий 2]
Can we switch it? I think the battery died.

[Говорящий 1]
Okay. It's hard enough if you hear everything. Okay?

So, when I, you have to try to get it. Okay? Clark.

[Говорящий 2]
You have to Clark.

[Говорящий 1]
I want to say one more thing. There are, I don't know how many people in this room. Maybe 50 people or something.

Okay? Some people will understand. And some people won't understand.

Why? Why some people will understand and some people won't understand.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
This is a seed in your own mind. Okay? It's a seed in your own mind.

Alright? Some people have a seed which is ready. And some people won't have a seed which is ready.

Okay? And I, I just want to tell you in general, if you want to understand emptiness, gong xin, right? If you want to understand, you need to be a good person.

Okay? We talked in the yoga class. You need all your prana and your sushumna.

Okay? You need prana to move into the sushumna. You will not understand what I'm saying unless you are being good to other people.

Okay? This is the way it works. Okay?

Your mind won't be clear enough unless you are helping other people. Okay? So, if you have trouble or it doesn't make sense to you or it doesn't seem important to you.

Okay? You have to help other people more. So now, in your mind, think something.

I'm doing this for other people. Okay? I will listen to this for other people.

And, and, and I will, I will try to help other people with what I learn. Okay? So in your mind right now, think that.

Okay? I will try to learn something and I hope it will help other people. Okay?

I think there are many, many people in the world suffering. There are many poor people. There are many sick people.

I think the worst suffering is sadness. There are many sad people. Depressed.

Upset. Many, many, many unhappy people. Many people who look normal are unhappy.

You know? They are deeply unhappy. They, they get to work.

They go to work. They get on the bus. They can cook the food.

They can take care of the children. They can do everything. But inside their heart they are very, very unhappy.

So some people are dying from cancer. Some people are dying without food. But there are millions and millions of people who are unhappy.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
So they are dying without happiness. There are many, many. Okay?

In the world there are many, many. If they understood this thing, they wouldn't be unhappy. Okay?

They would, they would be very happy. Okay? Because you can do anything.

Right? You can get anything. So, in your heart, in order to understand what I'm saying, right now, you should think about all the people in the world who are unhappy.

And who are, you know, it's a very embarrassing question. If someone comes to you and they say, are you happy? You know, people ask me, do you have money?

I say yes.

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
And then they say, you know, do you have a business? I say yes. You know?

And then they say, do you have friends? I say yes. But then they ask a very difficult question, are you happy?

And this is a good way to embarrass everybody. You say, you are meditating, you are doing yoga, you are, you are going to school, you are doing business, you have a family, you have a husband, but I have a question for you. Are you happy?

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
And then if you hesitate, I know you're not. Okay? If you have to think about it, am I happy?

Then I know you need emptiness. Okay? Alright?

So, think about, tonight, think about all the people who are not happy. And think, maybe if I, if I learn something, I can, I can make them happy. Do we need a bow?

Yeah? We'll try. We'll try to find it.

When you teach emptiness, the demons try to stop you. Really, really.

[Говорящий 2]
Because, because it will help many people.

[Говорящий 1]
And there are some spirits that don't, they don't like to help many people. Okay? They would like to see people be unhappy.

Okay? Stay unhappy. Stay in their condition.

Okay? So we were talking about clock. Okay?

You have an idea in your mind called clock. It's not a sound. It's not the word clock.

Okay? That's different. It's a picture of a clock in your mind.

It's a universal clock. It's clock-ness. Okay?

And you have that in your mind. Okay? Then when I hold this thing up, in the talk, tonight, I hold up this thing and I say, what is this thing?

How do you? Then you say clock, right? You say clock.

What is this thing?

[Говорящий 2]
Clock.

[Говорящий 1]
Clock. Okay. What happened in your mind to understand that it's a clock?

Alright? What happened in your mind to understand it's a clock? Okay?

Then, you know, some philosophers say in your mind when you say, oh, Geshe Michael, it's a clock. Okay? In your mind, you have a little picture of a clock.

You have, we can call it quality. The quality of clock-ness. Okay?

In your mind, you have a perfect clock. Perfect picture of a clock. Maybe you saw it when you were three years old and you saw the clock on the wall and it was pretty and you asked your mother, what is this thing?

And she said, this is clock. This is a clock. Then, in your mind, you had a picture.

After that, you know, I don't know about you, but my first clock was in my mother's house. It was on the wall of the kitchen. It was colored white.

It had black numbers. And usually, the second hand didn't work. And when I say, oh, this is a clock, then I am comparing that picture to this thing.

You see? I have a lot of pictures in my mind. Many, many, many, many.

I have maybe, what, 50,000? They say in Chinese, if your Chinese is good, I don't know, but they say 50,000 characters, then you are really well educated in Chinese language characters. So, in your mind, you have one picture for everything in your life.

In your mind. If I say, what is this thing? Your mind makes a picture of a light.

Probably it's the light that's in your mother's kitchen when you were three years old. For me, it's a light which was in my mother's kitchen when I was three years old. Then you say, what is this thing, Rishi Marco?

Then, I have a light in my mind. Then I compare that to my mind. Right?

How do you notice when I say, what is this thing? There's a picture that comes in your mind. Your mind is full of little pictures.

Okay? That's why I think Chinese language is so powerful. Because you are using pictures directly.

You got it fixed yet? Okay. Alright.

They went to the doctor. Microphone doctor. Alright.

I'll try to, maybe he's telling me to slow down. So, in your mind, you have many, many perfect pictures of things. And maybe, maybe they came from when you were a child.

In your mind, you have many, many perfect pictures. Then when I say, what is this thing?

[Говорящий 2]
Microphone.

[Говорящий 1]
You say, right away you say microphone. But what happened in your mind? You went to the library.

You went to all the books in the library. You went down every row, maybe million rows of books, right? And you pulled out pictures.

And you said, oh, this picture looks like this one. You know? It's right next to ice cream cone.

That picture is right next to ice cream cone. Looks almost the same, yeah? Then your mind paused for one split second.

Could be microphone, could be ice cream cone. Which one? Then it said, he's not licking it.

He's talking. So, the mind very quickly, unbelievable quickly, the mind chooses out of the whole database of perfect pictures, the mind chooses microphone. And it compares this thing to the, to the perfect picture in your mind.

And then he said, microphone. But it took one second. And he has, he has millions of pictures in his mind.

Right? There are many things that we don't even have words for. Right?

Like I just said, microphone doctor, right? I made a new picture in your mind. You didn't think of that picture before.

Then you saw one guy in a white costume. And he has a stethoscope, right? And in his hand he has a sick microphone.

And he's checking the microphone. Now, you made a new picture. Like that.

Because you laughed. You see? I know you made a picture because you laughed.

You see? Then your mind made a new picture. Now, now you have another picture in your mind.

Now you have forty million and one. Now you have a picture in your mind of a microphone doctor. Somebody said to you, how did you learn about microphone doctors?

I went to Geshe Michael's college. And he gave me a picture. He gave me a new picture in my mind called microphone doctor.

And we learn new ideas, right? We learn new things. I hope you will have a new picture of emptiness tonight.

We learn new ideas. And we put new books in the library. And then later our mind can take down this book.

So, what some Buddhist people say, old, old school, South Trantica, what they said, Dharmakirti, he said, in your mind, when I say, what is this thing? Your mind goes through all the pictures in your mind unbelievably fast. And it compares this thing to all of those pictures.

Let's see, is it banana? No, it's black. Okay, not banana.

Is it a bicycle? No, it doesn't have wheels. Okay.

And then it goes through the whole library of all your pictures and it finds a clock. And it pulls out a clock and it says, ha ha, looks like a clock. Let's check.

Yeah, it has numbers. Yeah, it tells time. Okay, it's moving.

Yeah, especially it has this big thing. This must be a clock. Then in your mind, at that moment, you have a picture.

Perfect picture of a clock. Okay? You have one.

That's a lower score. That's self-tragic. That picture, perfect picture in your mind, it never changes.

It never changes. Clock never changes. Clock never changes.

It's perfect. It's a perfect picture. It's 100% perfect clock.

It doesn't get more clock, and it doesn't get less clock. It's a picture in your mind. Do you have a clock in your mind?

You say yes. Yes. I say, how do you know?

When you held it up, I knew what it was. I went through the whole library of pictures in my mind. I picked that picture.

That picture, can you make it more clock? Can you make it less clock? It's just clock.

Okay? It's perfect. It's a perfect picture.

It can change a little bit, like get white color or pink color. When they make Hello Kitty clock, that has to be pink, right? So there can be little change in the color or something like that.

But clock doesn't change. Okay? It's clock.

Alright? It's clock. So now we're ready to read the first verse.

You can call those perfect pictures. Nagarjuna is calling those perfect pictures in this chapter. He calls them quality.

Quality. What do you mean when you say quality? What do you mean, Geshe Michael?

I don't mean good quality and bad quality. I'm not talking about that. Okay?

I'm not saying you have a good quality Mercedes-Benz car, or you have a bad quality American car. Okay? I'm not saying that.

Okay? I'm not saying good quality and bad quality. I'm saying the nature of that thing.

The clock-ness. Got it? The perfect clock in your mind.

The clock-ness is a quality. It's a quality. What is the quality?

Clock. I didn't say a clock. I didn't say the clock.

I said clock. Okay? And that's a quality.

Okay? That's a quality. It's a nature.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Does this thing have clock-ness? Does this thing have clock-ness? It has to have clock-ness.

Or else it would be a banana. Or whatever. You see what I mean?

If it didn't have clock-ness, it couldn't be a clock. Okay? So that little picture in your mind, that perfect clock in your mind, the perfect clock in your mind, this has that picture.

It has that. This thing has clock about it. Because if it didn't, you wouldn't know what it was.

Okay? Right? Just not.

Okay? My teacher said, when you don't understand, he said, only help the people who understand. Okay, just nod.

Just nod. This has clock-ness. It has clock-ness.

It has the quality of clock about it. It has some clocky thing. It's clocky.

Okay? It's kind of clocky. What do you mean it's clocky?

It has the quality of clock. Okay? What's the quality of clock?

When I compare my picture of clock that was in my mother's kitchen when I was two years old, and I compare it to this thing, this is doing the same thing. So it's clocky. It has clock-ness about it.

Okay? That's the normal way you can think about the quality of clock. Okay?

Is this clock? No. Is it clock-ness?

No. Is it a clock? Sorry.

Yeah. It's a clock. It's not clock.

Okay? It's not the idea in my mind. It's not that perfect little clock.

Okay? It's not the clock from my mother's kitchen when I was two. It's not that clock.

It's a clock. Okay? It's one of the clocks in the world.

But it's not clock-ness. That's a different thing.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Clock-ness doesn't change. Clock-ness doesn't change. It's a perfect thing.

It's a perfect thing. Okay? It's an ideal in your mind.

It's a... Freud called it archetype, right? It's a stereotype in your mind.

It's a perfect clock. 100% perfect clock in your mind. This is not clock.

This is a clock. Or you can say the clock. But it's not clock.

Okay? So let's read this first verse. It would be wrong to say that quality...

Quality means... When you see quality now in this paper, what are you going to think? Just think clock.

When you see the word quality, forget quality. Or you can think clock-ness. Clock-ness.

Does this have clock-ness? Yes. Is it clock-ness?

[Говорящий 2]
No.

[Говорящий 1]
Because there are many other clocks. They have clock-ness also. Clock-ness is some kind of quality up on top of everything.

It's the clock in your mind that you compared to this thing before you recognized it. That's clock-ness. So what he said here was it would be wrong to say that you could create clock.

You can't make clock. Clock-ness is there. Clock-ness is there.

Nobody made clock-ness. Okay? You can make a clock.

You can make the clock. But you can't make clock. Clock is perfect.

Nobody made clock. Nobody went to a factory and made clock. Clock-ness.

Clock-ness is just a thing. And some things have clock-ness and some things don't. This thing doesn't have clock-ness.

Okay? It doesn't have clock-ness. But nobody made clock-ness.

Clock-ness is just an idea. It's just a picture in your mind. It's not like somebody put together a clock.

And also it can't have... It shouldn't have parts like normal clock. Okay?

You can't take any pieces out of clock-ness. Then it won't be clock-ness anymore. Okay?

You can't say I'm going to make a clock-ness without numbers. Or I'm going to take off the front of the clock-ness. You can't say that.

Clock-ness is an idea. And South Africa says it never changes. It's unchanging.

It's takpa. In Tibetan they say takpa. Unchanging.

It's a perfect picture. It doesn't change. If you changed it a little bit it would be something else.

It wouldn't be clock anymore. Clock should have numbers. Clock should tell time.

Clock should break once in a while. Clock you should set to wake up. Okay?

It should have these qualities. Perfect clock. Oh, I got one yawn already.

Okay. Here we go. Quality that came from causes and conditions would have to be created.

Nobody created clock. Okay? How do you know nobody created clock?

Okay, I'll tell you why. Ready? Now they should put guys in.

Nobody created clock. Okay, it's not possible to create clock. I'll tell you why.

I'll tell you why. Think about a tree. Think about a mango tree.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
When you plant a mango tree the seed, there's a big seed, right? Mango seed. And then it breaks open and it grows into a tree.

Right? And it's changing all the time. Every moment it's changing.

Okay? Anything which has a seed anything which is created it's changing all the time. It's getting older second by second.

You can't see it get older. But if you check after 3 years it will be higher. And if you check after 3 more years it will be higher.

And if you check after 15 years it will fall down. You see? It didn't fall down in one day.

Okay? It didn't grow in one day. It was growing so fast you couldn't see the little pieces grow.

Okay? It's growing so small every hour. Nobody can say oh your tree is much higher now it's 4 o'clock.

And it was much smaller at 3 o'clock. Okay? Nobody can say that.

But you know it is growing from 3 o'clock to 4 o'clock. It must be different. 3 o'clock tree must be a little bit shorter than 4 o'clock tree even though we can't see.

We can't see it change. Okay? We can't watch it change.

You don't see wrinkles. You don't wake up one morning and you have wrinkles. You know?

16 wrinkles on your face. Okay? You wake up when you're 50 and you find wrinkles on your face.

Okay? Then you say how did I get those? They didn't start yesterday.

Okay? They didn't start yesterday. They started when you were born.

The wrinkles started when you were born. And then they instant by instant they are getting more and more and more. Then when you are 50 you say oh I have wrinkles.

But they started when you were born. Okay? And the skin starts to dry out when you are born.

When you come out of your mother the skin starts to dry out. That's all. And then when you are 50 it becomes obvious.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
But it's been going like this. Okay? It's been wrinkling like this all the time.

Then you notice it at some point. Clock is not like that. I caught you.

Clock is not like that. Clock never changes. Clock doesn't get older.

Clock doesn't change from second to second. Clock when you were 3 years old and clock now are the same. Because it's a perfect picture in your mind.

It doesn't change. It's a perfect picture in your mind. You see?

That clock-ness never changes. You can't say this is more clock than other clock. Right?

Either it's a clock or it's not a clock. Does it tell time? Yes.

Then it's a clock. Then it has 100% clock-ness. If the alarm is broken, you can say it's not an alarm clock.

But it's still a clock. Okay? Clock-ness doesn't change.

Got it? Clock-ness doesn't change. Clock-ness doesn't get older.

Okay? Does this have clock-ness? Yes.

Is the clock getting... Is the... Okay.

There you go. Is the clock getting older? Yes.

Yeah. It's going to break. I mean, it's already like 10 years old and that's funny sometimes.

But is its clock-ness getting older? No. Is it still clocked?

[Говорящий 2]
Yes.

[Говорящий 1]
Yeah. When I break it... Well, I almost did.

When I break it, does it have clock-ness? Yes. If I can't use it to tell time...

If I break the whole thing and it doesn't work to tell time anymore, does it still have clock-ness?

[Говорящий 2]
No.

[Говорящий 1]
No, it doesn't have clock-ness. You can say broken clock, but that's a little tricky. It's not really a clock.

You wouldn't use it to wake up. I mean, once a car breaks, once a car doesn't go anymore, it's not really a car. Okay?

You can say it's an old car, a broken car, or something like that. But if it doesn't work as a car, it's not a car during that time. If you fix it, it becomes a car again.

Okay? Got it? So, question.

Big, big question for you. $250 million question. Or fix-your-husband question, okay?

Some people would rather fix their husband. When I break the clock, does the clock-ness go away from this clock? Yes, it does.

Does it change? Clock-ness? No.

No, good, good. Very, very good answer. Okay?

So I can see that three people are still with me. So, when I... Okay, four.

When I break this clock, it loses its clock-ness. But that clock-ness didn't change. It didn't get less clock-ness, or more clock-ness.

It didn't become clock, or lock, or ock, or something... Okay? It didn't become half clock, or half clock-ness, okay?

When I destroy the clock, the clock-ness goes away. But I can't destroy clock-ness. It just goes away from this thing.

Still there is clock-ness in the world. Okay? Still there is clock-ness in his library.

Still there is a place in his mind where there is clock-ness. Clock-ness didn't go away because I destroyed the clock.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
It went back to your library, and you are waiting again until there comes another thing that works to wake you up in the morning. Okay? Right?

That's a beautiful, beautiful, important idea. If you get that, you are almost to emptiness. If you get that, you are almost to emptiness.

And if you are almost to emptiness, you can make anything happen. You can stop death itself. What do I use emptiness for?

What do people use emptiness for? You can make money. You can fix your leg.

You can kill cancer. You can find a beautiful, beautiful partner. You can fix your husband.

But the big... You know, what's the big... What do you call it?

The big time. What's the big time? You know, stop war in the world.

Stop death in the world. You know? Stop hunger for all people.

Stop all poverty in this planet.

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
Make death a thing that doesn't have even death-ness word anymore. Nobody has that in their library anymore. Because there is no thing which has that.

You see? Death. Okay?

Death-ness. We all have death-ness. Okay?

Right now, we all have death-ness. Because we will die. Okay?

We all are immortal. We have death-ness. There is possible to remove the idea of death-ness.

And there won't be anything who dies. People will not die anymore. We are in a really, really strange place in the universe, okay?

We are like... I almost said a bad word. The universe, I don't know, is like all of Hong Kong.

All those beautiful buildings. You know, you can see. Like the universe is like that.

The whole world is like that. And then we are living in some little shed in the corner. Okay?

Like we made a boo-boo. Okay? The whole universe is already like those beautiful buildings like that.

And we are like under the water somewhere. As a little fish or something. We are the place where people are still dying.

The place where people still have war. The place where people are still hungry. There are dumb places.

And we are in one. Okay? We are stuck in one.

It's not normal. Okay? We are in an unusual, weird place.

A bad place. And we are so bad that we don't think we're bad. Okay?

No, we are like the little fish under the harbor. And all the other people in the universe are living in those beautiful buildings, you know? And we are like in the mud.

In the bottom. And we are like, I like the mud. I have better mud than you.

Oh, do you? Yeah, I have really good mud. Yeah.

What's your mud like? I make $100,000 a year. Yeah, really?

Are you not going to die? Well, of course I'm going to die. Well, then your mud is better, right?

Okay? It's like crazy. Everything here is crazy.

All the things you think are good, that's crazy. You're just better mud than other mud. You know?

And you can live in those buildings. And many, many worlds, they don't have that. And they don't have sickness.

And they don't have war. And there are many places like that. And we are like, we are voodoo.

Okay? We are voodoo. We're a voodoo place.

Okay? Why? We don't understand clock.

Okay? If you really understand clock, you can change it. Okay, here's the next step.

Let's see what he says next. Rang shin che pa chen she char. Chee tar pur ni ru mar chur.

Rang shin tak ni chu min tang. Shen la dupa me pa in. To say, somebody made clock nuts, would be stupid.

Okay? Nobody made clock nuts. You can't make clock-ness in a factory, you can make a clock, and it will have clock-ness.

As soon as you put the last piece on it, clock-ness comes on it. Got it? As soon as you put the last part, clock-ness comes.

And it stays there until you break it. Got it? Okay?

It's a clock after you put the last piece on it, and it stays a clock until you break it. So clock-ness stays on it from the time you put the last piece on until you break it. When you break it, clock-ness goes away, but clock-ness doesn't change.

When you break it, clock-ness doesn't disappear in the world. Clock-ness is still in Eric's mind. Okay?

And then next time somebody brings all the parts together, they'll say, Eric, what's this? And he'll go through his library, you know? Ice cream, microphone, no.

Clock, yes, clock, clock. It looks like a clock. And he will say clock.

Okay, got it? But what he said here is, if somebody said, oh, I made clock, that would be wrong. If you know people struggling to learn English, it's crazy, right?

When you're first learning English. I taught English to many people, right? And they say, Geshe Lothar, he was one of my students, right?

My lama, he brought his nephew from India, okay? And he brought him to America. And he said, okay, Michael, teach him English, you know?

So I'm like, okay. Two years I tried to teach him English, you know? He says, I like clock.

I said, no, Geshe Lama, you can't say I like clock. He says, why not? I said, in English you have to say, I like the clock.

Or I like a clock. But, Geshe Lama, you can't say, I like clock. Okay?

And then he said, I don't see the difference. You know? I mean, it's clock.

It's clock. I said, no, Geshe Lama, it's not clock. It's a clock.

You know? He said, well, what is all this a thing and the thing? It's so stupid.

In Tibetan, we don't say jutsu, we say clock. You know? What is a and what is the?

You know, I worked for two years. Every day, two hours, I taught him English. Finally, after two years, I said, I remember, I was sitting downstairs at the guest house, the guest room, in Howell.

We were back in the corner in Janta's room. I turned to Geshe Lama. I said, Geshe Lama, I'm going to be honest with you.

You can't learn English. It's not possible. You know?

You can't. After two years, you don't have a and you don't have the. You know?

You're still saying, I like clock. You know? It's not possible.

I'm sorry. You know, I tried hard and I love you. But it's not possible.

You can't learn English. Okay? So then I went upstairs to my sifu, yeah?

And I said, you know, Rinpoche, I'm sorry, your nephew, you know, he's not really like you. My teacher learned English when he was 60. He started English when he was 60.

And then he was lecturing after one year. Okay? So, but then I said, your nephew is not like you.

Okay? Something wrong with your sister. And he will not learn English.

So, Rinpoche said, okay, Avanai, if he can't help me teach, he should get a job. He has to go get a job. So we try to find a job for somebody who can't speak English.

It's not easy. You know? Finally, I found a job.

It's a cafe. It's really a lounge. Okay?

And they are serving hamburgers and beer. Okay? And then he stayed in there for, I don't know, six months, you know?

Then one day he came home. He's speaking English perfectly. You know?

I said, damn, I should have sent him to the restaurant, you know? Because he has to learn English. He doesn't have a choice.

One day he's cooking, you know? He's cooking in my teacher's house, right? And then he burned his hand.

He goes, ah, shit! Then I said, Geshe-la, you're a monk, you know? You can't say, ah, shit, you know?

He said, what's wrong? Why can't monks say, ah, shit? I said, Geshe-la, you know, do you know what ah, shit means?

He says, I know what it means. I know. I said, what does it mean?

He said, it means I burned my finger. I said, why do you think that? He says, the cook in the restaurant, every time he burns his finger, he says, ah, shit.

But he never got a clock and that clock. Somehow he never got it. Then he says, qualities cannot be formed, says Nagarjuna, because they depend on something else.

They depend on, they don't depend on something else. Sorry. So, if you destroy this clock, it doesn't hurt clock-ness.

Clock-ness is up, I think, next to God. Clock-ness is staying up next to God. And you can break all the clocks.

But clock-ness is up safe. He's safe up there. Nothing, he's not going to hurt him.

He doesn't depend on, even on clocks. He's free. He's independent.

He is clock. And he doesn't care about the clock, or a clock, or all the clocks. He's different from all the clocks, even.

Got it? Remember, at the beginning I said, oh, this is one of all the clocks? But that's different.

That's different. If you destroy each clock, you destroy all the clocks. But clock-ness you didn't touch.

Because he's up near God, somewhere. Clock-ness is safe. Clock-ness will always be the same.

That's the meaning of the second verse. We go to the third verse. Maybe I won't give you any break.

I just have fun. And I don't care about how you feel. Okay.

Okay. How could there be a thing if there was no quality? The quality of the thing is what we call it.

Okay. If I take away clock-ness. If there's no clock-ness in the universe.

Okay. Clock. No clock.

If there's no clock, can there be a clock? No. Impossible.

Not possible. Okay. Not possible.

If all the clock-ness went away, there couldn't be any clocks. Okay. Not possible.

Is it possible to destroy all the clock-ness? It's not possible. Okay.

Don't worry.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay.

[Говорящий 1]
You can still get to work on time. It's not possible to destroy all the clock-ness. But if you could destroy clock-ness, the clock would go away.

Got it? The clock would go away. Okay.

So, you couldn't have a thing if there was no quality. If there was no clock, there couldn't be one clock. Or a clock.

Or the clock. Got it? That's clear.

Right? No problem. Say yes.

[Говорящий 2]
Yes.

[Говорящий 1]
Okay.

[Говорящий 2]
Alright.

[Говорящий 1]
Even when you're sleeping, you have to, you know... Then I'll be happy. Okay.

The quality of thing is what we call the thing. We call this what? A clock.

A clock. But if clock-ness didn't exist, we couldn't call it a...

[Говорящий 2]
Clock.

[Говорящий 1]
We couldn't do. Okay? If there wasn't clock-ness, you couldn't say this is a clock.

Got it? That's clear. Okay.

Here we go. How could things exist outside of qualities and things? So, now we have two things.

Okay? This is a very important step. Okay?

Maybe I'll give you a refreshment after this. Okay? After this step.

Okay? There has to be two things there. There has to be clock-ness.

And there has to be a clock to have a clock. Okay? There has to be clock-ness.

And there has to be the clock before you can have a clock. Got it? Okay?

Without clock-ness, you can't have a clock. But without something here, you can't have a clock either. Right?

There's two things. There's the idea of a clock. Clock-ness.

And then there's like something that has numbers on it and... Okay? And you need that cooperation.

You need that collaboration. You need that partnership. There has to be clock-ness.

And there has to be a thing that you call clock. Okay? There has to be something in your hand.

And there has to be an idea in your mind. Okay? There has to be two things.

Or you can't have a thing. Okay? There has to be something to call the clock.

And there has to be clock. And then you stick clock on the clock and it becomes a clock. Got it?

You stick clock on the clock. And then you can have a clock. Got it?

You're good. Maybe I should teach this more often. Or maybe you're just special.

Okay. Alright. So, there has to be two...

There has to be cooperation. There has to be idea clock. And there has to be some thing to call the clock.

Okay? Got it? There has to be two things.

The only way things can exist is with quality and things. That's what we just said. We just said that.

What's things mean? What's quality mean? Partness.

Or you can say? Clock. Okay.

Good. You're good. Okay.

So you don't get refreshments. Alright. We'll do one more.

One more quiz. I have to teach as much as I can before refreshments. Because three people will sneak out during refreshments.

And then they won't get rich and they won't... Nothing will happen. They'll just get old and they'll have to live with a bad husband for many years.

Okay. I'm not talking about anybody. Just generally.

If there were no things, there couldn't be what they weren't. Okay? What does that mean?

If there wasn't this thing, there couldn't be a banana. If there wasn't this thing, there couldn't be the thing that it is not. So you look at a banana, and in one school of Indian philosophy, they say all objects are identified through the process of elimination.

Your mind doesn't go directly, Eric's mind didn't go to the clock. Sorry, Eric's mind didn't go to the clock. Eric's mind went to every single object.

All the bananas, all the mangoes, all the taxi cars, all the worlds. And it said, this is not what I'm looking for. And then the last thing, there was one thing left on the shelf.

It said, it must be that. It must be clock, what's left? Clock.

We threw out banana, we threw out mango, we threw out taxi cab, what's left? There's one picture left, your mind is like reporting on the cell phone. What's left in the mind?

We checked all the objects, it's not a banana, it's not a mango, it's not a taxi car, it's not the bridge to Kowloon, it must be clock. A clock, it's a clock. And so there's some schools that say you recognize a thing through eliminating other things.

If this didn't have clock, it could be a banana. That's a problem. It must have clock.

There's got to be an object, and there has to be a quality. And the quality has to apply to the object. If there's no objects, and if there's no quality, then bananas can be clocks.

This is a problem. Then everyone would get sick because they would be eating clock splits. Alright?

And you'll get sick. Even with chocolate sauce, it's not so good. What they're nots, what people call something else, right?

Not clock is something else, right? You take a banana in your hand. You give the banana to Eric.

You say, what's this thing? His mind says, well first of all it's not clock. It's not a clock.

And then it finds banana. Something which is not clock. I think we'll take a break there, but let me say one more thing.

And we'll go a little bit later, okay? Is it alright? I would prefer, is that okay?

Yeah, is that okay? I'm not going to stop, okay? I will ask them to pass your refreshments.

This is tough guy class. This is tough guy class. I'm not giving a class in Taipei to 1,000 people, okay?

This is Hong Kong. You're going to be famous. Later they will call you the Hong Kong 50.

Who was there in the Hong Kong 50? So please pass some refreshments up to people. And if you can, there's a custom in the monastery that you should spill 3 cups on people's heads.

Because they do this in the monastery. They pass hot tea. And always the kids have to pour the tea and they're always spilling it on monks.

It's very funny. It's good fun. Because the monk can't leave.

He's covered with butter tea. And he's stuck in the middle of 3,000 monks. He can't go anywhere.

So it's fun to watch the older monk who's covered with butter tea. Okay, so... There's a problem in the monastery.

They always give the abbot the tea first. He should get the tea first. But he cannot drink it until they say the prayer.

You cannot start the prayer until the last monk gets his tea. So 3,000 monks have to get their teas. Then by the time number 3,000 gets his tea, the first monk's tea is cold.

It's very funny. So the big monk doesn't get hot tea. And the little monk gets hot tea.

I don't know why. So I'm going to stop here. I'm going to tell you the punchline, okay?

How to make money, how to stop debt, all that stuff. It's not true what I said about things and qualities. About the cooperation, about the partnership, about you need both of them.

It's not true. Okay? It looks like that.

It looks like that. You've got to pay attention to this. You've got to watch him.

I don't know if I should give you a question. It is not true. If you understand why, you can do anything.

He's setting you up. He's saying something which is not true. Jorlam Chittob.

Highest step of Jorlam. Second path. Those of you who know.

Jorlam Chittob. The last stage is before you see emptiness directly. The last hour.

Before you see emptiness directly. Jorlam Chittob. In the scripture they call it highest phenomena.

It's the last stage of path number two. Just before tolon. Just before the path of sin.

An hour before the path of sin. Okay? You are standing in the kitchen of your Lama's house.

Okay? And you are making tea for your Lama. You are making tea.

Salt tea. Butter. Salt.

Water. Tea. Baking soda.

Cloves. Okay? It's terrible.

Okay? And I drank for 20 years. 25 years.

You are making tea for your teacher. Thank you very much. You are making tea for your teacher.

Okay? You have been studying a lot. You went to many classes.

About this. Okay? And you were meditating a lot.

And you were studying Chi Ched Aap from the Dora. Okay? Alright?

You have to study Chi Ched Aap. Then... You've been helping old people.

You've been helping sick people. You've been helping all the mothers. You've been helping very powerful karma.

You've been making the most powerful karma. You've been helping your teacher. This is the most powerful karma.

You've been helping old people, which is number two karma. You've been helping your mother and father. It's number one...

Almost number one karma. Okay? You've been doing all these good, good things.

Okay? Your mind is ready. Your mind is very, very strong.

Okay, look at this thing. Okay? Look at this thing.

Let's pretend you have been, you must have been making good karma or you wouldn't be here tonight. I can tell you that. Okay?

No, you wouldn't be here. You must be doing something right. You wouldn't be here.

You wouldn't hear this thing. Okay? Only 50 people in Hong Kong.

I'm not kidding. You are the 50 most special people in Hong Kong. What happened?

Why you are here? That's, I don't know. You have to check.

But you are special. If you are here, you are special. Nobody in Hong Kong is talking about this tonight.

Nobody else. I don't think so. Okay?

You are special. Okay? So, so look at this thing.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
Look at this thing. Now I'm going to tell you something. Okay?

Look at this thing. Everybody look at this thing. Look at this thing.

Everybody look at this thing. Okay? I want to tell you something from my heart.

Okay? Because I love you. I don't want you to die.

Okay? I want to give you a gift. Okay?

I want to give you a gift. I want to give you a gift. So listen.

Okay? You are not looking at a clock. You are looking at what?

You are looking at a clock. You are looking at a clock. You are not looking at a clock.

Okay? I don't have anything in my hand. You are watching a picture in your own mind.

There is no clock in my hand. You are watching a clock. You are watching a clock.

Where is that clock? In your own mind. Okay?

I am not holding anything in my hand. I swear. Because I love you, I swear.

Okay? No, I'm serious. Dead serious.

Dead serious. You have to understand. It will change everything.

You will go to the skyscraper from the bottom of the mud. Okay? You can live there.

People don't die there.

[Говорящий 2]
Okay?

[Говорящий 1]
You are not looking at a clock. You are not looking at the clock. You are looking at a clock.

You are looking at a perfect picture of a clock in your own mind. Okay? There is no clock here.

There is no thing which I call a clock. It's not true. Okay?

It's not that there is one clock, and he has a picture in his mind of a clock, and that picture fits this thing. That whole idea is wrong. It's not true.

Okay? It's a lower idea. It's not true.

You are watching a thing in your own mind. You are watching a picture in your own mind. Okay?

And there are many signs. There are many clues. I'll give you one.

Okay? I'll tell you one. What is this thing?

Just tell me generally. What is this thing? A clock.

It's a clock. Okay? You can say a clock.

You can say a clock. What does the back look like? Is there a litchi nut tied to the back?

Is this a litchi nut in the back? How do you know? But how do you know I didn't put a litchi nut in the back?

I mean, technically, you don't know. It could be. I mean, these guys can see, but you can't.

Okay? Okay? But you believe, when I held it up in the beginning, you said, you didn't think it was a litchi nut, right?

You thought, oh, that's a clock. And your mind filled in the back. Your mind filled in the back.

You didn't see the back at that time, but your mind filled in everything. Your mind made a perfect clock. Your mind, you are not watching the clock.

You are not seeing a clock. You are watching clock. You are watching clock.

Where did it come from?

[Говорящий 2]
You know?

[Говорящий 1]
Where did it come from? But why did it come in the mind? Who put it in your mind?

You see? These are very, very deep questions. This is where most of the teachers on emptiness, if they get this far, they break down here.

If they get this far, they break down here. Okay? They don't get this far, but they break down here anyway.

Okay? Then comes the big question. Okay?

Big, big question. If I am watching clock in my own mind, if I am watching clock in my own mind, who put it there? Where did it come from?

This is not a stupid question. This is not a stupid question. Who's going to put 250 million dollar nuts in your mind?

Okay? Who's going to put perfect husband nuts in your mind? Who's going to put breast cancer went away nuts in your mind?

How to put that in your mind? Because that is reality. Okay?

The picture is reality. Some people have small understanding. At this time, they get nervous.

They say, oh, I'm only watching clock next in my own mind. I'm only watching a picture in my own mind. That's not real.

If Gershi Meier is right, then everything is crazy. Hong Kong is only in my mind. That's uncomfortable.

What about all my friends? They are also just in my mind. I'm alone.

I'm completely alone and nothing is real. Whole thing is in my mind. It's like a dream.

Maybe I will wake up. Maybe I will start another dream. Maybe I'll be in Guangzhou.

Maybe I'll be in I don't know where Chengdu during the earthquake. Something. Everything is If what he says is true, I'm uncomfortable with that.

Then all my friends are not my friends. They are some picture in my mind. How can I love my new husband if it's just a picture in my mind?

Guess what? Clockness is clock. It's the clock.

Clockness is a real clock. And that's the only clock you ever had. The only clock you ever had was a picture clock in your mind.

And that's a real clock. This is where a lot of teachers break down. This is where a lot of teaching breaks down.

Is there clockness in your mind? Yes. Is it real?

Yes. Can you use this picture to wake up tomorrow morning? I'm going to.

And I've been using it for 10 years. And I know it's a picture. But it works.

That was Nagarjuna's big, big thing. He said, this is a picture in your mind. But it works.

So it's as good as Hong Kong. It's okay. Hong Kong's inside.

Hong Kong's outside. Doesn't matter. Hong Kong is there.

You can live in Hong Kong. You can have friends in Hong Kong. You're going to buy a big apartment in Hong Kong after you finish this talk.

Okay? It works, okay? No problem.

That's the real Hong Kong. That's the real clock. The clock in your own mind.

The picture of the clock. Clock. It's the real clock.

And it always has been. And you didn't know. And you didn't know.

How is this going to make you happy? How is this going to make you successful? How is this going to kill cancer?

How is this going to change your husband? Okay? You have to go one more step.

That's why I didn't let you leave. Okay? That's why I didn't...

No. Somebody leaves with the clock in their mind as a problem. Then they just run into a taxi cab.

They're wandering around like, oh, nothing real. You know?

[Говорящий 2]
And then...

[Говорящий 1]
No, I've seen... People go cuckoo. People go cuckoo.

People get cuckoo. You know, you can't let them leave. Okay?

You have to say... You're only watching clock-ness. You're only watching clock.

But that's great news. Where does clock-ness come from? Why do I have clock-ness in my mind?

Why? You ready? I'll show you how I planted the clock-ness in my mind.

Where did the picture of clock come in my mind? Why do I have a picture of clock and a dog doesn't have a picture of clock? Okay?

A dog cannot see a clock. You can hold this to a dog and he won't see a clock. He can see something possible to chew on.

Okay? That's all. He doesn't see a clock.

He doesn't see clock. He sees black square possible to chew. Okay?

That's all. He doesn't have a picture of the clock. Okay?

Got it? And almost every human being doesn't have a picture of not dying. And we are like dogs.

We are like dogs. Okay? He cannot see a clock.

He doesn't have a picture in the mind of a clock. And we cannot see that it's possible not to die. We can't see it.

So we are like a dog. You know, you ask a dog, are there clocks? He says, no, no.

Why? I didn't see. Nobody saw.

How do you know nobody saw? I asked all the dogs. Nobody saw a clock.

Got it? We are like dogs. Okay?

We are living in the buildings. We are on the bottom of the harbor. There are people living in the buildings.

They live with clocks all the time. They use clocks all the time. And nobody dies there.

They don't have a word for death. You call them from your cell phone on the bottom of the harbor to the building and you say, hey, we have a problem down here. They say, what's the problem?

They say, lots of the mud people are dying. Mud people I understand, but what is the meaning of dying? Because they don't have that thing.

They don't have the picture of it. Like a dog doesn't have a picture of clock. Got it?

Don't think you're the only people in the universe. Don't be so small. People come from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is good because you see people from all over the world. Where I grew up, Phoenix, Arizona, they say, Phoenix is everything. Everybody is from Phoenix.

Everybody must come from Phoenix. Everybody should be like people in Phoenix. Then they hear about Chinese people, they get nervous.

What Chinese people? What are they like? They start to worry.

Don't be like that. Don't be like somebody in Phoenix, Arizona. The universe is a big place.

There are many kinds of people not like us. They are higher than us. There are many, So, I asked you a question.

This is the big question. Who put Clark in your mind? If you can answer, then you can put $250 million in your mind.

You can put beautiful husband, beautiful wife in your mind. You can put no more cancer in your mind. Who put it in your mind?

And how can I put new stuff in my mind? Just teach me. If the world is not coming from your mind, it's hopeless.

Your life is hopeless. If the world is not coming from your mind, you will die. And the world will continue to suffer.

Hunger, war, poverty. Can't change it. If it's not inside your mind, you can't change it.

Because it's coming from your mind, because it is Clark, you have power. You can change anything. You can change anything.

What stuff is in your own mind you can change? If the world was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and if the people in Africa were starving, if people in Chengdu got crushed by the earthquake, then there's no hope. If it's coming in your mind, if it is all pictures in your mind, you can change it.

Why? Who plants the pictures? How do you plant the picture?

If I learn how to plant the picture, I can plant 250 million dollars. People say, you know, all your talk is crazy. You're just crazy.

You're some crazy Buddhist monk. Maybe you fell on your head in America one day. Then I say, no, you can go look on the web.

You can go Google Andean International Diamond, the fastest growing company in the history of New York. Since New York beginning, some stupid Buddhist monk who knows nothing about business made the fastest growing company in New York. Maybe it's a mistake.

Maybe it's accident. Maybe it's good luck. But maybe he understands something.

Maybe he knows how to make a picture. Very nice. He can make a god damn good picture.

Just teach me how to do that. Really. Buddha said you should, he told the monks, do some amazing thing.

Then people will listen to you. My teacher, my sifu, he said, do something amazing. Make a quarter billion dollar company.

Then people in Hong Kong will think you're crazy. They'll listen to you a little bit. The fastest company in New York.

So here's how to make a picture of a clock. Here's how to make clockness in your mind. She needs a clock.

She wants to know what time it is. She told her mother I'll be home by 930. They're stopping the talk at 930.

I'll be home by 945. Don't worry mom. I'll watch the clock.

Then she doesn't have a watch. I'm checking. Then I say, I feel bad for her.

I say, I understand you need to get home at 945. Your mother will worry about you. You need a clock.

I'm telling you you need a clock. I know you want a clock. I only have this clock.

I have this clock for ten years. I like this clock. My three year retreat I had this clock.

This clock is dear to me. But I'm going to give her the clock. Because she needs a clock.

So I give her a clock. When I let go of the clock, the clock is planted in my mind. Got it?

When I let go of the clock, through kindness, through love, through concern, through wanting to help someone else. When I let go of the clock, clock is planted in my mind. It will take some time to come out in the mind.

It's planted, it takes some time to come out. But if I give her a clock with love, with concern, with caring, clock, not a clock, not the clock, clock is planted in my mind. Clock is planted in my mind.

That clock will start to grow. Clock will start to grow in my mind. All the demons are trying to stop us tonight.

No, I swear to God. Heat demon, sleepy demon, refreshment demon, and now the car alarm demon. They are sending all the demons to the Hong Kong 50.

We don't want them to understand. We want them to think about the car alarm. Maybe that's your car.

Okay. When I give her clock, how can I give her clock? It's in my mind.

How are you going to give somebody a clock? Come on. Geshe Michael, you're crazy.

What, are you going to give her a picture? You're going to give her clock? Can you give her clock?

You can see clock. You can see I'm giving clock. You can do that.

It's possible. That's the real giving clock. There is no other giving clock.

Don't think there's any other giving clock. The only giving clock is the clock you give in your mind. I'm giving her clock.

It plants clock in my mind. Clock comes out after one week, after two weeks, after three weeks. But there's something beautiful, okay?

You have to understand something. In the time that clock is in my mind, in the time that clock is growing in my mind, it gets bigger. It splits.

Like, did you ever plant bulbs? Like, I planted iris flower in my house, and my friend, she helped me to plant the iris flower. My teacher helped me to plant the iris flower.

She taught me how to plant the iris flower. Then she said, every three years you have to do something. I said, what?

She said, you have to dig them up. Why? They are splitting.

Underground, they split. And they grow, one iris bulb becomes fire. And if you don't dig them up, they get too crowded and they die.

There's not room for them, there's not enough food for them. So, every two three years, you have to dig up the iris flower, you have to split the bulbs, and then you have to move them apart. Otherwise, they will kill each other.

That, sorry, clock, clock in your mind is like an iris bulb, like a tulip bulb. It is splitting, it is cloning, it is multiplying inside your mind. After you give clock, you plant clock in your mind, it gets more, it gets more.

You give her one dollar, you will get ten. You give her one dollar with understanding, you will get a thousand. Okay?

Got it? What makes the seed, what makes the bulb split faster is understanding. Okay?

It's very beautiful. People come to me and they say, Geshe Michael, I went to your talk last year, you said to give away money, I gave away money. You know what happened?

I said, what? They said, I got broke. Now I have no money in the bank.

Everybody, all my friends, I split my money, I gave them to everybody. I want to supply lots of seeds. You told me ten percent, I didn't listen.

I gave a hundred percent. Now I'm broke, I don't have any money. Nothing happened.

I'm just broke. I get this all the time. The more you understand, the more the pot will split under the ground before it comes out.

See, if you give her one dollar with understanding, you can get a thousand. Bulbs will grow in the mind. If you give one, if you give a thousand dollars with no understanding you'll get broke.

Got it? Okay, not really you will get about one thousand and five back in a long time Okay in a long time. Okay.

So the more you understand What's happening the faster things will come? Okay, got it How does the money come back I gave her let's say the clock is $1, okay, I Gave her $1. I Plant $1 seed in my mind.

Okay, and like the iris bulb it is multiplying in my mind Now very very very important if you understand this then you will believe me. Okay How does it come up? How does it come up?

How does the iris? Come out and and flower. How does it come out of the money?

How does clock come out of the money how does dollar come out of the money I Gave her one clock. Okay, I Planted one clock in my mind one clock seed it will split before it grows. It will split before it goes I will get three clocks.

I will get ten clocks. I will get a hundred bucks Okay, I will get it will come to me. But how does it come to me?

Someone come to my hotel room and deliver a 500 clocks How does it come to me the I go to the store and they say oh you're a customer number 500 We are giving away 50 clocks to customer number 500. Here are 50 clocks. How does the clock come back to me?

How does it grow You have to understand that or you won't make the 250 million, okay, how does the clock grow? It's Just clock It's a picture It's just a picture Okay picture comes up to the front of the mind a picture comes up to the front of mine And you'll have many many many of them got in Will you get rich if you give money if you give one dollar if you give? If you give dollar Okay, then dollars planted in your mind then thousand dollar comes out where In the mind in the mind and that's a real thousand dollars Got it And you can take it and you can buy an apartment Okay, with not with dollars Not with the dollars Not with a dollar not with a thousand dollar you will buy your apartment with dollar and They will take it and you will live in an apartment for the rest of your life the most beautiful apartment in Hong Kong That's how you get the most beautiful apartment in Hong Kong Did I say the most beautiful apartment? Got it you you you give them $1,000,000 $1,000,000 learn and You get most beautiful apartment Not the most beautiful apartment and not a most beautiful apartment.

You'll get beautiful apartment got it It's all in your mind, but it's real. Okay, it's real. You can buy food for poor people That's what I did.

I spent all my money. It's all gone completely 100% gone You can buy you can use dollar and buy money for poor people Okay, you can say word And stop that You can say word And stop that You can hear word and stop that and Our hair and logos who said that? In our head and logos It's the beginning of John.

What's the gospel of John? Okay, what's what's it mean? What's it mean in our head and logos?

In the beginning was the word In the beginning was the word Okay, it's very beautiful. If you understand this thing, it's it's it's it's caught John said in the Bible He said in the beginning was car And there's something important there. Okay, there's something very important there.

Got it. Okay, so I think we can almost stop Okay, you know everything now, you don't need to finish the chapter. You don't need to finish the chapter Okay, you I'll review I'll review what we learned and then I will make a plan Okay, I'll review what we learned and then let's make a plan, okay, so what did we learn?

There is a thing called clock there's the clock And there's a clock, okay, and and it seems like Clock is an idea and that clock is real. It seems like that It seems like somebody holds up a black thing and then in your mind you you pick a word called clock And you put the word on the thing. It seems like that.

It seems like that, but that's not correct. Okay? There was nothing more than the word in the first place There it was always just clock okay, and in your mind, it's just clock If it was the clock You you would have to buy the clock If it's clock You can make more clock How?

Help somebody else With love give to somebody else with love give money to somebody else. Okay to make more dollar in your mind You have to give dollar to somebody else Because the mind is the only place where dollar money is made people say I'm making money, right? It's funny I like that people say I make a lot of money.

I said you don't know what make money means You see people tell me I make a lot of money. I say you don't know what make money means. I made money From nothing you see got it.

I make money you are trading money. You are turning money You are rotating money. You are you are circulating money.

I make money. It's different why I Give money to another person With love with concern for them to help them right that puts seed for what? Money in my mind and Then and then I have more money when it grows.

It's like tulips or like irises. Okay, got it So what about if you have a cancer? What to do?

How to plant not cancer Help somebody else Help somebody else who has cancer is cancer incurable Is cancer incurable? Nothing nothing cannot be changed nothing death is curable Because it's a thought it's a picture. It's in your mind.

It's a picture in your mind. Everything can be changed Everything can be changed you have power to do anything It's amazing. I saw a very funny.

Okay, I'll show you this is very funny. Then we can go Okay, you have to this is some guy. He's from Canada grand Brand burn So he came to me so guess why you have to see something on YouTube, you know, I said, okay show me You know, he's from Canada.

He's one of my students. He's an actor He gets a lot of money and but he's also a comedian So he said guess why you gotta see this guy, you know, and this guy is on Letterman show Okay, and he's talking to Letterman, you know, and then Letterman says, okay. Tell us tell us a story He says oh I got a story for you.

I was on American Airlines the other day, you know, okay What did you do on American Airlines? I got on the plane the plane took off guy is sitting next to me and he has I wake up iPhone Okay, and he says look I'm online, you know, and I said, what do you mean? You know, what do you mean?

You're like he says look that the plane has internet, you know, it's a new thing The plane has wireless in the sky, you know, and he's and he's like, wow And the guy is really happy and then and then the day, you know, the comedian guys like you're so he's so amazing Yeah, he says yeah. Yeah, I got internet and he goes. Oh shit, you know, oh Dang, you know and this is what's wrong.

He says it's slow He's on his phone like this, this is terrible what's wrong it's slow, you know, and the guy said But it's amazing. This is the first internet on the airplane. You're so lucky.

He said yeah, but it's slow You know, he says then he gets mad. He says give him some slack be Understand a little bit. He has to go to our space to the satellite.

It takes time It's a long way You're typing your email to your your wife That email has to go to outer space. It has to go to the satellite Then it has to give give him some slack cut him some slack. It's okay.

He's a little bit slow It's all right, but it's the first time you could do your email in the plane. Aren't you happy? Aren't you glad about it?

It's a little bit amazing. Okay, it's a little bit slow. It has to go far He has to go far.

He has to come back. It takes one second instead of half second I mean be happy. It's okay, you know and another thing You know 50,000 years of human enterprise on this planet For 50,000 years people are doing business on this planet and it was a dream of human beings to fly in the sky Okay, it was a dream for 50,000 years people want to fly in the sky, you know, they tried to make airplane They tried to make some way to fly in the sky you are flying to the sky.

Isn't that amazing? Not only that You're sitting in an iron chair and you're flying to the sky. Your chair is made of steel It's the heaviest thing and it's flying to the sky Be a little bit happy You're in the iron chair you're flying to the sky 50,000 years people are waiting to do this.

You are doing it today and you have internet Be a little bit happy. Okay, it's a little bit amazing. This is an amazing thing.

Iron can fly in the sky Steel Can fly to the sky you can sit in a steel chair and you can in 10 hours You can go to America 15 hours. You can go to Los Angeles, right? It's amazing.

It's amazing. Where did that come from? Why after 50,000 years You can you can do internet now anybody in the world you can It's amazing Who made that?

Internet made it. Mine made internet. Mine made airplane See new things can come People say you say we can stop that you say that Gershwin.

I say yeah, because you made iron fly in the sky And you made you can contact any person in the world for free In one second, you know It's impossible before it's not possible people a hundred years ago. They say If I say you can fly in the sky, they say you're crazy Forget it. You can fly in the sky an iron chair.

Now. You are really crazy Gershwin you know and after 2003 You can send a message to anybody in the world for free in one second Not possible. You have to send this a letter You have to send a telegram you have to use a fax machine Right and you have to pay You know, you can say those things are impossible, right?

You can make anything you will make anything You will make anything if you understand how things work If you understand about Clark, okay, never forget Clark. Okay, the Hong Kong 50 Will always remember Clark, okay, every time you check your watch Every time you look at what time it is, okay Every time you wake up in the morning and you look at your clock think I made that I Made that thing in my with my mind by giving it to somebody else By giving it to somebody else then you will know what to do with your life. Then you will know what to do with your life give You know give I had one llama.

I said, what should I do? He said give give give he never says give once He always says three times What should I do llama give give give You know, he's like that all the time. He said give give give then you will get you know, what you want you can have Because it's all it's all clock.

Got it. Say yes