Открытки от Геше Ла, часть третья: Семена (2011, Нью-Йорк), занятие 3

[Говорящий 1]
So we were on the subject of emptiness, and we were talking about the emptiness of a pen, and we were asking, well, how the heck is emptiness going to help me? So if understanding emptiness is important, then what does it do for me? How can it help me get the things I want, be in the relationships I want, help other people?

Why should understanding the pen help me and other people? So we were just talking about how the pen is like a blank movie screen. The emptiness of the pen means that the pen is like a blank white movie screen.

And then we said that if a dog came in the room and they looked at the same object, they might see something that they would like to chew on. And if a human comes in the room and looks at the very same thing, they will see a pen and they will see it as something to write with. So we concluded that the pen must be coming this way, and the pen is not coming this way.

If it were coming this way, then the dog would see a pen also. Or else I would want to chew it. Which I do sometimes.

So then we talked about, is it voluntary what my mind is doing? You see, if my mind is somehow putting an image of a pen on this thing, if something is coming out of my mind and making me see a pen, laying a pen on this object, if that's coming from my own mind, is it voluntary? Is it something I can just choose to do?

Because then things would be exciting. And that's the idea of positive thinking. Just be positive, be happy, and then things will change.

You can call it wishing, you can call it wanting, you can call it positive thinking, you can call it praying. It doesn't matter. Can I just close my eyes?

If the pen runs out of ink, since the pen is coming from me, can I just close my eyes and wish more ink, more ink, more ink? If I'm just positive, if I think positively, will the problems in my life change? Will my boss become a nicer person?

Will my husband stop complaining? You see what I mean? If I'm just positive, if I wish that things were different, since they're coming from me, then shouldn't that be possible?

And then we did an experiment and we closed our eyes and we wished that the pen had ink and it didn't get ink just because we wanted it. So we can conclude that the pen is coming from me. Whether it has ink or not is coming from me.

But it's not something voluntary. I can't control the process in the present moment. Can I control it in the future?

You see what I mean? Can I make things happen? Even if I can't wish things into being one way or the other now, is there some process, is there some way in which I could create the world I want and the relationships I want on the blank screen, on the emptiness of the world, which is filled in from my mind like a movie projector?

Can I make things happen that I want to happen? And I did, okay? I did.

My lama challenged me to make a lot of money for refugees. He challenged me to start a business in New York. It was the last thing I wanted to do.

I have no interest in business. But he said, as an experiment, in the understanding of emptiness, you see if you can sculpt or create a future. Can you make money using the principles we taught you and we'll give the money away.

We'll give it to poor people. And I did. And he taught me how to do it.

You can create your future. You can create the world and relationships that you want because they are coming from your mind. But you have to understand how they're coming from your mind.

If you don't understand how they're coming from your mind and you're just trying to wish a relationship to be a certain way, it's not going to work. And you know that because you tried. There's nobody who's having a bad relationship that wants to have a bad relationship.

They're all wishing it would be good. But wishing doesn't change it. So how do you change it?

Well, then you have to understand why is it you're seeing a pen? What makes your mind project a picture of a pen onto the subject? And that picture is so good that you can use it as a pen.

We're not just talking the mind makes up something. We're talking the mind making up a thing which is so good that it works. And you can write with it or money.

You can make money that way. We just have to understand how to put an image in the mind that is so strong that it becomes reality. How do you put an image in the mind that is so powerful that it becomes what happens to you next week?

And for that you need to understand seeds. Seeds in the mind. We say that if you understand how to plant a seed within your own mind, then you can create the world you want.

You can have the income you want. The company he asked me to make is now a quarter billion dollars. 10,000 people working there.

And it was all created from seeds in the mind. So how do you put a seed in the mind? If we just give a small example of a pen and we understand how to put a seed in your mind, how to plant a seed in your mind, then you can run with it.

You can take it from there. You can create the relationship you want. You can improve your health or your appearance.

You can make money. And you can change the world. I mean, that's the whole point, isn't it?

You could create a world that doesn't have hunger or war. If you understand how to make a pen, eventually you can work up to creating a whole world, which we call mandala. That's the meaning of mandala.

So how do you... How would you create a seed in your mind to see this object as a pen? And we know that, for example, the dog we were talking about doesn't have that seed in their mind.

So they don't see this object as a pen. How do you put a seed in your mind that will enable you to see a pen? That will open in the mind and then cause your mind to lay a picture of a pen on this object, which is so good that you can write with it.

I'll show you. Let's say I want pens in the future. And then you can use it for dollars later.

You can use it for a boyfriend later. You can use it for a thinner body or a stronger body. You can use it for whatever you want.

Or a world that doesn't have war in it. You see? You can use it for anything.

How do you plant a seed in the mind for an object that you want? Actually, you need another person. To plant a seed in the mind requires other people.

You need other people. For a seed planter expert, other people become very valuable and precious. You need other people.

You can plant a seed with yourself, but it's very weak and very small. You need other people with whom you can plant a seed. Let's say I want pens next week.

In my future, I would like to have pens. Again, it could be a boyfriend. It could be a stronger body.

It could be a million dollars. It doesn't matter. Or a world that doesn't have war.

I want to see something a week or two weeks from now. How do I put the seed in my mind that will enable me to see that? You look for someone who needs what you want.

Let's say I need pens. I want pens. I would like to have pens in my world next week or two weeks from now.

Then I have to look around in my life. I need to find people who need what I want. I need to find, in this case, someone who wants a pen.

If I want money, I have to find people who desperately need money. If I want a new relationship, I have to find someone who wants a relationship. If I want to create peace in the world, I have to find and help people create peace.

In the case of a pen, I look around and I try to find someone who needs a pen. I'm very sensitive to people who need a pen or I'm very sensitive to people who are looking for a new relationship. When I spot one, I jump on it and I grab them and I say, You need a pen?

They say, Yes, I really need a pen right now. Then I take my favorite pen. This happens to be my favorite kind of pen.

This kind of pen is hard to get. It's from Japan and I really like them. I take my favorite pen and I say, Okay, I understand you need a pen.

Then I slowly offer it to them. My hand... By the way, my mind is watching my hand, right?

I am watching one hand with a pen that is approaching another. This is the other person's hand. My mind is like a video camera.

My mind is watching my hand go down to the other person's hand. Then there's a very crucial moment when the pen touches the other person's hand. With the thought that I would like them to have the pen because they need the pen right now.

Watch, I release the pen. I let go. That's called giving.

That action, that moment of thinking, They need this thing and I will give it to them. You release, you hold on your own pen. After you release it, it's not yours anymore.

It becomes theirs. It is a very profound moment. Mine, mine, mine, mine, yours.

When I go from mine to yours, when I think this pen is no longer mine, now this pen is yours, that perception, that thought plants a seed in my mind for a pen. That's cool. That's really cool.

That moment of thought puts a seed for a pen in my mind. Then you should ask me a question. You should say, what's the point?

You already have a pen. Why go give a pen if you're putting a seed in your mind for a pen? Why not just keep the pen?

That means you don't really understand the nature of seeds. Seeds are amazing. Think about the seed which created your body.

There was a little tiny thing, looks like a tadpole, a sperm from your father. Then there was a little thing that looks like a donut, or I don't know what it looks like. It's the egg from your mother.

The red egg and the white sperm. Then they meet. It's only a few cells meet each other at your conception.

Then for 50, 60, 70 years your body is sustained by those two cells, a few cells. Those seeds, those two seeds are strong enough. They have some amazing, miraculous power within the two seeds that for 50, 60, 70 years all of the cells of your body, trillions upon trillions of cells even at any given moment are created from the two.

The same is true of mental seeds. Don't think it's less than that. Putting inside of my mind a single seed for a pen.

I give somebody a pen. When I release the pen a single seed is planted within my mind. Then you have to get the feeling of how strong that is.

That seed will grow in the same way that an acorn grows into an oak tree. It's not that I get one pen back in my life by offering someone else a pen. When I offer someone else a pen, when I offer someone else a pen and a single seed is planted in my mind then that multiplies in the subconscious.

Over time, that single seed multiplies constantly. Then many, many pens will come back to me. You see, because pens don't come back to me, it's that seeds are planted in my mind to see an object as a pen.

Then that happens over and over again. That seed will be repeated over and over again. Okay, so pens are not so important.

But what about if you wanted a relationship that was sustained? The relationship wouldn't go through that normal thing where it's really nice in the beginning and then it starts to go downhill. If you understood the seeds which created a relationship, then you could make a relationship which got better every year and sweeter every year.

So let's talk about that next.