Специальная прямая трансляция: Колесо жизни (2016), занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
Hi, so a few months ago, Jasmine, where are you? First of all, I'd like to thank you again. Please come up again.

It's a great program. You did a great job. You are very brave.

There's a joke in English. They say, I don't know if she's brave or just stupid to do this job. It's so much work and no pay.

But anyway, I bow down to you, and you are great. I'd like to thank you again. Thank you.

Okay, then she asked me a couple months ago, will you do a VIP teaching? Then, oftentimes in DCI, we do VIP teaching. It means the people who give a lot of money, they get to have private teaching.

So, I said, yeah, I'd like to give VIP teaching. Then she said, Geshe-la, the real VIPs in this event are our volunteers. And they give more than money.

They give their lifetime and their heart. So, they are super VIPs. So, I agree.

So, I'm happy to see the super VIPs are here. And I'd like you to give yourself a hand. Then this event is very well organized.

I like the food. I also like the cappuccinos. Thank you for a great retreat.

And all of the teachers, thank you. You're really doing an amazing job. And all I heard was great things.

I heard yesterday the people woke up in the afternoon class. That means the teachers are very good. Okay, so, thank you for that.

Then, nowadays I'm working on a special project. I want to make a big book, art book, a beautiful art book about Wheel of Life. And I started working on this book about 33 years ago.

And then my friends in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, they said, Geshe-la, do you want to come to Borobudur? Thank you Singapore. Then, I'll show you pictures.

Borobudur is a big mountain in Indonesia. Java? And about a thousand years ago, one king carved the whole mountain.

Into story of Buddha's life. I believe there's 2,000 big carvings as big as this. And 30 years ago, I found the photographs.

And I was very surprised to find the story of the Wheel of Life is in those carvings. Then I had a chance to go to Borobudur. I met the managers from the government.

And this is also a United Nations heritage site. Then I said, do you know what's on these carvings? No.

I said, this is the Wheel of Life story. Then they said, look, we're too busy right now. Why those carvings survive 1,000 years?

There's a very intelligent system of water pipes. Built 1,000 years ago. And when it rains, the rain doesn't touch the pictures.

It goes behind the pictures down some pipes. And about five years ago, there was a volcano nearby. And it exploded.

And all the dust came down on Borobudur. And blocked the water pipes. And it's about this much dust on everything.

Then they need money to clean it. They are still cleaning. So I said, look, I don't have a lot of money.

But I have a suggestion. I will make a book about the Wheel of Life and about this Borobudur. And then the rights in Indonesia to sell the book, I give to you.

And you keep the money. So they said, okay. And so we're working on the book.

Then Singapore team and Indonesia team, Sugeng, and Jenny Wang, Kelly Tan, they are organizing a two-day teaching there in August. I think twenty-four or five? Twenty-three, twenty-four.

Then I want to finish the book before that. So I thought maybe I would like to teach you what's the structure of this book. And what's the whole structure of Wheel of Life teaching?

Wheel of Life comes in DCI level six, but not very deep. And I want to make a deep book. Then I have a lot of friends in China, especially our great sponsor, Dr. Wu. They are very interested about the Wheel of Life. So I thought I will introduce you to the whole structure, whole teaching, as your VIP dessert. Okay, and thank you for asking me.

And I love to talk about it. Thank you. Then, when did we go to Germany, Ori?

In June, I went to Germany. And I gave a program with a very famous German businessman. And he's also a famous artist and photographer.

So I said, you want to do this book with me? You take photographs, you lay out the artistic part of the book. He said, where should I take the photographs?

I said, it's a little tiny town in Indonesia called Jogjakarta. There's a famous monument there, a Buddhist monument. He said, Geshe Michael, I know about Jogjakarta.

I said, how do you know? He said, I live there. Okay, strange.

He got married to an Indonesian lady, a very nice lady, and he lives there. So I said, okay, that's a good sign. Okay, this is him.

His name is Bernd Kold. He helped start internet in Germany. He was voted number one businessman in Germany some years back.

And he was on the board of Deutsche Bank, German national bank. So we had a really good time together. And I asked him if he wanted to come here to talk about the structure of the book.

He said, Geshe-la, I'm too busy. I'm building my own temple in Jogjakarta. So I said, okay, I will do VIP talk, and I will send you the video.

So, as usual, I'm doing two things at one time. Well, three or four things. I want Dr. Wu to hear about this. He's been so kind to us. And I'd like Bernd to know the structure of the book, because he has to take the photos and lay out the book. And then I want to honor the super VIPs.

Okay, next photo. Okay, this is the Wheel of Life. This happens to be a pretty good painting.

It was designed 2,500 years ago by the Buddha himself. And inside of this wheel is all the teachings of Buddhism. How to reach nirvana.

How to even become Buddha yourself. Those secrets are inside this wheel. So, I divided the book into 12 parts, which is a lucky number, because the main teaching is these 12 parts.

Okay, so let's start. Nick, next. There are two stories of how the Wheel of Life was first painted.

One is a little bit bad story, one's a good story. Okay, then this is a student of Buddha called Ananda. Then he and some other monks, after they became monks, they're a little bit unhappy.

Then Buddha said, why are you unhappy? He said, I miss my girlfriend. You know, he's thinking about his girlfriend all the time.

Then there's a famous sutra. Buddha asked his two students. The main one is called Maudgalyayana.

He said, can you do me a favor? Then they said, okay, Buddha, anything you want. I need you to take a little trip.

Oh, you want us to go to Varanasi? No, I want you to go to hell. Hell, why?

You have this special power. You can go any planet. I want you to go to hell.

Why? I want you to take Ananda with you. Understand?

If he sees the hell, he will become a more serious monk. He won't think about his last life. So they said, okay, let's take him to the hell.

They have power. They took Ananda to the hell. Then when he got back, Buddha said, you want to be a monk or not?

Yes, yes. Then Buddha had an idea. He told Maudgalyayana, you guys not going to be around forever.

And I think it's better you make a painting. It's called Changapo, the five realms. In the middle of the Wheel of Life.

Because people can see the painting. Need some water? And then they will be good monks.

People won't do bad things. They will study the pen to stay out of the bad places. So that's how the first painting was done.

That's one story. So I found that sutra because of John Brady's work. So we'll put that whole story in the book.

The first of the twelve parts of the book is where did this painting come from? Then there's a second story. Oh, this is a this is a drawing that was made from one of the Bodobudra panels.

And this shows, in this box here, they are carrying the first Wheel of Life painting. And one king sent it to another king. And so there's a long story about the two kings.

When I taught you level six before, some of you I told this story. This story is a very happy story because the king who received this painting as a gift from another king, the next morning he saw emptiness directly. So if you really have good seeds, and someone teaches you the Wheel of Life carefully, that can cause you to see emptiness directly.

So you guys know how important that is. That story is in a famous book called The Wishing Tree. It was written by an Indian saint, I don't know, about 700 years ago?

Sorry, 1700 years ago. His name is Kshemendra. Okay, and I like to put that whole story in the book.

Luckily we have the Sanskrit for that story. So that will be the second part of the book, second half of the first part of the book. This has a story that you can find in Buddha Buddha on the Wall.

Next slide. This is Buddha Buddha in the morning. This is a real photo.

And Mr. Kolb's photos are very similar. Amazing place. And amazingly beautiful.

And there are hundreds of Buddhas like this. And next slide. Here's another.

Very beautiful place. Magical place. If you have time, you should come to that special teaching.

We will have the two days teaching in a five star hotel? Four star?

[Speaker 2]
Five star.

[Speaker 1]
I'm thinking we just go late, you know? Until, I don't know, until two o'clock in the morning. Okay.

You know, because it would take a I think it just immersion. And then we'll also visit after you learn about the story, we will go to the mountain and we can see the real drawings. Next slide.

This is from the air. This is the whole mountain from the air. And Mr. Kolb, the German photographer, he's getting permission to fly a drone over the Buddha Buddha and take photos from the sky. Next one. This is from the ground and it's very high. And here you can see the drawings.

These are many many stories about Buddha. So actually we could go for many years and never finish all these things. Okay, next.

This is one of the you know, they are very beautiful. They are more Polynesian style. Polynesia is like Hawaii islands or something.

And it's much more soft than India style. But very old. One thousand years old.

And I think they're very beautiful. Next one. This typical carving.

You see? Here you can see the face is gone. These are taken by stupid people from American museums.

And European museums. They did in China also. Dunhuang books, you can find them in Russia, France, America.

I hope those museums will give back the things to the country which they took them. Okay, next picture. Second part of the twelve.

In the book. Something happened to me when I first came to Thailand about thirty years ago. I was walking to town.

On the wall, someone painted Wheel of Life. Then I'm surprised. I asked my Thailand friend, you have Wheel of Life?

They said, sure, we have Wheel of Life. Then I thought in the book we could put all the different Wheel of Life. You have in Vietnam?

I don't know. Yeah, so we need to get the copy from you. Okay, next one.

Each one is different. Next one. You can see these are different.

In this one, something's missing. Supposed to be a moon here. And we are not allowed to paint Buddha inside the hell.

So some are correct and some are not correct. It's interesting. So if we compare all the paintings with the ancient teaching, we can make a new one, a correct one.

Okay. Okay, next. This is another one.

Especially here, there's different ways to paint it. These are the three causes of suffering. The snake is anger.

The bird, which is a rooster or a pigeon, is desire. And the pig is that it don't understand kongshin. Okay, and sometimes the tail of the snake and the tail of the rooster are coming out of the tail of the pig.

I said out of the mouth of the pig. And that's very important. Next one.

This is from Sichuan, China. And it's a statue, right? Of the Wheel of Life.

So in the second part of the book, I would like to put all the old Wheel of Life from many countries. I think it would be very interesting. We need someone skillful to lay it out.

And I'm hoping, Mr. Cole, you will do that. Okay, next. Here's the one that I like to use.

I had it painted by order. I ordered it. I put the correct things up here.

Each limb is correct. This is supposed to be down here. This is quotation by Buddha to explain the wheel.

And my friend told me, don't worry, Geshe-la, I know painters in Nepal. Because I was teaching this about ten years ago in Texas. And there's about a hundred people coming.

So I painted 100. Not very big, like this big. And I gave to each person.

My friend said, Geshe-la, I know there's a school of a hundred painters in Nepal. That's the good news. The bad news, all the painters are 15 years old.

He didn't tell me. They're all kids. They didn't do too bad.

But the Tibetan is wrong. And some of these are a little bit ugly. Oh, sorry.

Painter was not so skilled. Painter was young. So I'm hoping we can make a new one.

And it would be fun to give one to each person in Bodhidharma. This is Thangka style. You could take it home in your overnight bag.

So we have to find some ... Dr. Wu has a Thangka school in India. Okay, Mr. Wu. Hi, Dr. Wu. I'm always catching him. He likes it.

Okay, next. Then I'm going to just show you the major parts of the wheel. When you study the wheel, you should break it into pieces.

So I took my kid's painting. The earliest name for the ... By the way, the name for this wheel is Bhava Chakra.

Bhava means existence. Or the world. Chakra means what?

Wheel. Okay, so the Sanskrit name is Bhava Chakra. The wheel of life, right?

So, in the old days, when Maitreya painted the first one, they just called it the five-part wheel. Because the biggest amount of space is in the middle. And there are five parts.

So, this is the five places it's possible to go after you die. So, if you go down, this is hell realm. This is animal realm.

This is a hungry ghost realm. This is human realm. This is called temporary heaven.

It has two parts. So, sometimes this wheel has six parts. These are called 100% temporary gods and these are the 50% temporary gods.

The 50% temporary god always jealous of the 100%. So, they are always fighting. Okay, so sometimes we divide this into two.

Next one. These are called the 12 parts of dependent origination. And this is what do you call it?

What do you call that in English? One thing triggers another thing? Chain reaction.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Chain reaction. If the first one if the first one happen it will cause the second one.

If the second one happen it will cause the third one. Most of you know this wheel starts up here. One o'clock.

Luckily when you teach it there's a 12 links just like the 12 hours of the clock. And if you don't have Scott's laser marker, you can tell people one o'clock, two o'clock. Okay, so these 12 pictures, they explain ...

you can call it dependent origination, but the classic explanation is, where did I come from before I was born? And where will I go after I die? Okay, so the purpose of these 12, where was I before I was born?

Where will I go after I die? Okay, and why I have to have pain? What causes the trouble in this world?

It doesn't matter how smart you are, how handsome you are, even if you can do a handstand like Nick in the yoga, still you have to die. Okay, still you get sick. I had breakfast with Elisa Monte yesterday.

She's about 70, I'm about 60. Then, we were having a nice breakfast. Then she ruined my breakfast.

She said, Geshe-la, 60 is not so bad if you are exercising. 70 is really bad. Doesn't matter how much you exercise.

Everything hurt, you know. Okay, that's life. You are ...

I'm there, you are coming also. Why? Why can't we live forever?

Why do we have to get sick? Why do we have to get old? The secrets are here.

And this is the most important one. First one, blind man doesn't understand what causes pain. Okay, next part, Nick.

This is the upper part of the wheel, and here's Buddha. It's very important, my teacher told me, very important, when Buddha painted the wheel, what? He's not in the wheel.

Okay, everybody in the wheel is getting older, getting sick, okay? My teacher said, never put Buddha in the wheel. He's supposed to be ...

he's free. Now, sometimes people put Buddha in the wheel, and it's not so bad, okay? It means some of the people in this room are secret Buddha.

Okay, there are two kinds of secret Buddha. One is Dharma friend. You know, like when Scott and me want to eat bad food, Auri always want to eat a salad.

Then for us, she's like Buddha. Good Dharma friend. When we get out the chocolate to eat the chocolate, she will say, no, throw that out.

You have to eat a salad. Then there's a second kind of secret Buddha. They sit down next to you on the plane back to China.

Yeah, they are super fat. They are drinking a lot. They are testing you.

Will you get angry or not? Do you understand they are coming from you? So, it's not so bad to put the Buddha in the room with the humans, because it's true.

Then very famous Buddha is pointing to the moon. In Buddhism, the moon is supposed to be very cool painting. Actually, when you were born, he was inside of you.

When you are born, when you come out of your mom, death is already inside of you, and he eats a little bit every day. Okay, start out here. Every day, he eats towards your heart.

My mom got cancer. Then when she got very sick, we keep her at my brother's house. One day, death reached her heart, and her heart broke, broke open.

Many liters of blood come out. So, that started the day she was born. In the picture, he's holding the wheel, but in real life, he's inside of you.

Okay, next picture. This is almost to the middle of the wheel. If you don't understand the wheel, your bad thoughts, this monster, they will drag you down to hell.

If you understand the wheel, and you have a lama, for example, then as we said, even in the deepest moment of death, that lama can help pull you up. This also includes bardo. So, technically, bardo is not one of the five or six kinds of rebirth.

It's like temporary stop. So, we don't draw it in the main part of the wheel, we draw it inside. Next.

I told you about these three guys. This is my kids painting. They did it right.

Anger, when your husband calls you phantom, comes from pig. You don't understand the pen. And desire, I'm not going to tell Scott I have extra snicker chocolate bar in my suitcase.

Because I want to eat it all. That's called stupid desire. If I share it, I will get ten chocolate bars.

Okay, this is stupid desire. And anger, of course, is stupid. And this pig is stupid.

Okay, alright, next. Then I have an idea. Let me see, what's my plan here.

You want to hold this? What's this backside here? Yeah, so, I had a dream.

I want to paint a modern Wheel of Life. You know, I want to find a very good painter. Those paintings are two and a half thousand years old.

Like, DCI is modern Buddhism. And I want to make a modern Wheel of Life. So, my friends, the director of the Three Jewels Center in New York, which is 20 years old this year, and you are welcome to go anytime.

Free Dharma classes, free yoga classes, free meditation classes. The director, which means have to find money for all the free, free, free. Her son is a very famous painter.

So, I asked him to paint, this is hell realm, and he painted the new way. Next, this is the ... which realm is this?

I think deity, oh yeah, or human, I don't remember. I guess it's a deity realm. No, I think this is ...

that's not good. Oh no, this is hungry ghost, I think. Anyway, he has to work on it.

Okay, next. This is feeling, right? It's a person with an arrow in their eye.

Okay, so this is how he painted it. Okay, so one of my dreams in the book, we put a modern Wheel of Life, modern paintings. Next.

Oh, this is a traditional way to paint link number ten, and this is an ancient way, with a vulture, vulture. Usually number ten is what? Yeah, pregnant woman.

But there's an ancient tradition to draw a vulture. So, I would like to include in the book all this ancient, you know, extra information about the painting. Okay, next.

This is a baby coming out of mom. This is the finger of Lord of Death. Okay, next.

Then I, you know, I would like to, in this book, I would like to put the real photo. Why? The purpose of the Wheel of Life is to be shocking.

When you look at it, you know, I don't want to go there. That's terrible. You know, you're supposed to feel like, when you see the Wheel of Life, you're supposed to get upset.

Go back one. Oh, that's okay. Go ahead.

Go one more. Yeah, here's the traditional one. It doesn't make you scared.

She's like, oh, okay. You know, so, this is for Mr. Kolb. I want you to go photograph these terrible parts of life.

You know, it was very hard to find on internet a real baby coming out. It means people don't want to see it.

[Speaker 2]
See?

[Speaker 1]
People get nervous. Or they're like, oh, that's terrible. But, if you're not careful, you have to do it again.

[Speaker 2]
Next.

[Speaker 1]
Go back. Oh, yeah. You're going to do that again.

Okay, just his head came out so far. And it hurts. It hurts him, and it hurts the mother.

Okay, so, I would like to make a new Wheel of Life. Real photos. I think it's ...

because it's supposed to teach people. Maybe even videos. Okay?

Then people say, oh, I don't want to do that again. Okay, let's do another one. This is the arrow in the eye.

Next. Okay, nobody ... nobody said, oh, when I show the painting.

Go back to the painting. Nobody said, oh. But you're supposed to.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
We need a new one, Mr. Kolb. We need ... you have to go find someone with an arrow in their eye.

Take photo. Okay? You can find strange things on the internet.

I think you can find one. And it should ... it should be shocking.

[Speaker 2]
You know?

[Speaker 1]
And I was ... I wasn't sure I should show you or not. But that's a life.

That's your life. Okay? The real one.

That's your life. No, that's your life. The Buddha said, this is you.

Okay? This is you inside the wheel. You will suffer like this.

Then, how do we feel about the wheel? I want to get out. I don't want to be in this wheel anymore.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
So, if we don't have real shocking pictures, the wheel doesn't work. Okay, next. This is link number six.

Okay, we're going to show you the real one, but real ... Very fast. Well, I guess it was censored.

Come on. This is the only one they want to see. Next day, if you pay him five dollars, you can see it.

Oh, wow. My lama told me, don't show this kind of thing. That's a sign.

Okay, yeah. That's the ... No, we should have the real thing.

Go back. Go back one. Different feeling.

Right? Okay? The wheel of life should feel real.

I want to see a real one. Okay, go very fast. Okay, again.

Okay. Two of the twelve links are most important. Link number one and link number two.

Where can you stop the wheel? When I hear that, I always think like when you're a kid, and your friend keeps hitting you with their bicycle. You know what's a cool thing to do?

When they are riding their bicycle, run behind them. Get a big thick stick. Put it in the wheel.

Then everything breaks. That's the goal. You can only put the stick in the wheel at link number one.

Change how you think about the world. Understand the pen. If you break number one, you break number two.

If you break number two, you break number three. Okay, so first part of the wheel, this guy's blind. Okay, he cannot see.

He thinks the pen is coming from the pen. Good job. Okay, second link.

Next one. Yeah, without blind man, this guy's making karma. Okay, he's making a pot.

Okay, without blind man, you cannot make a pot. So it's in Buddhism for the last 25 centuries, every generation has been trying to understand what's the blind man? Who's the blind man?

If we understand, we can stop the wheel. Then we can be with Buddha outside of the wheel. So for 2,500 years, each generation has been, you know, like writing books, trying to explain kong shing.

And then there came to be in India four great schools about what is meaning of emptiness. And each one explains it a little bit different. Okay, each of the four great schools explain a little bit differently.

And I'll tell you something very interesting. Each of those schools teach the wheel of life. Whole thing.

And they each try to understand, especially the first link, the blind man. So, if you understand the four different explanations of the wheel of life, you understand emptiness. Why?

Three of them are wrong. One is correct. Okay, if you understand the difference, you understand kong shing clearly.

Who taught the three wrong ones? Buddha. Why?

Because he wants to explain to people the wrong idea which is possible. Oh, you guys want to know what emptiness is? Yeah!

Okay, sit down. Close your eyes. Look at the back of your eyelid.

Everything's black. That's emptiness. Not really.

Okay, if I teach you wrong way first, then if you meet some crazy teacher, Geshe Michael's wrong. Emptiness is black color. No, Geshe Michael already taught us that's wrong.

So, in Buddhism, we always teach the wrong way first. It's like yoga. It's very interesting.

Or meditation, okay? I had special meditation retreat in our retreat center in Connecticut, near New York. We had about a hundred people.

I made special plan. I gave everybody a lot of pizza in the afternoon. Just after that, we meditate.

Everybody's like this. Then I said, this is called negative teaching. If I tell you, please don't eat pizza before you meditate, you'll feel tired.

You can't concentrate. Or don't eat pizza before yoga, then you won't listen to me. If I give you pizza, and then make you do yoga for one hour, you're like, ugh, ugh, ugh, I'll never eat pizza again before yoga.

Buddha taught same way. Teach emptiness a little bit wrong, and then explain to people why it's wrong. Then later, if you meet someone who gives you wrong explanation, do it.

Because, haha, that's wrong explanation number three, come on! You know? Okay, understand?

So, in Buddhism, we will teach you what's the wrong explanation of the Wheel of Life. So, there are many ... basically there are, I don't know, seven different explanations of the Wheel of Life.

If you split up the four schools, some schools have two parts, or three parts. Okay, so ... I want to put in the book an explanation of the Wheel of Life from all seven schools.

Okay, is it seven? Check the next page. Yeah, seven.

So, let me tell you the seven, okay? No one ever did this before.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
No one had access to the seven great teachings on the Wheel of Life. But we do. Why?

John Brady! Okay? Thirty years.

They are going all over the world. Find the ancient Buddhist books. Input them.

Then I can sit on the airplane. Dr. Wu paid business class. I just put the bed out and I work for ten hours.

And all those explanations are in my computer. In the ancient languages. So, because of John Brady's project, I would like to put in the book all the seven great explanations of the Wheel of Life.

And then explain, oh, this part is great, this part is wrong. So, in your reading, you have a picture of Vasubandhu. Okay, so the first great explanation comes from Vinaya.

This is part of the first school. This is the kind of Buddhism you find in Sri Lanka. Or Thailand.

Okay, and Burma. And that's what they understand, what they understand the Wheel of Life. And mainly, I put it here for you.

What's the great book for that school? It's called Vinaya Sutra. Is it a sutra, Nick?

No. Sutra means spoke by Buddha. It's not spoken by Buddha.

But sometimes sutra means short book. What's another example? Yoga Sutra.

Okay, so there's a Vinaya Sutra. Towards the end, they explain the Wheel of Life. Okay.

How do you understand this school's teaching of Wheel of Life? You see how do they explain link number one.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, good.

[Speaker 1]
How do they explain link number one? What does it mean to be blind man? You know the highest one, okay?

I taught you many times. Don't understand the pen comes from me. Don't understand when my husband call me fan tong coming from me.

That's the highest idea about link number one. But if you understand the lower ideas, it will make your understanding stronger. So the lowest idea of the blind man from Vinaya, everything has cause.

Okay, everything has cause. Okay, they don't understand the cause is the seed in your mind. Or they don't say it clearly.

Okay, let's go to the ... Oh, by the way, the author is Gunaprabha. And there's a great commentary from West China in Tibetan language.

And I'm going to put the whole thing in there. Okay. Number two.

Lower Abhidharma school. Okay, those of you who know the four schools, this is part of the Vaibhashika school. And Vinaya is even lower part of Vaibhashika school.

Okay, now, this famous book called Abhidharmakosha written by Vasubandhu. I think we have a picture of Vasubandhu. This is the Vinaya author.

I think you're out of order here. Okay, this is good. Yeah, Master Vasubandhu.

Okay, he wrote Abhidharmakosha. It has a beautiful explanation of the Wheel of Life. Very long.

Four famous ... in fact, four famous explanations. Okay, I like ...

one is called Instant Wheel. He explained how the wheel can happen in one second. Then he also has a beautiful explanation of how the wheel represents the stages of a person's life.

So he has four beautiful explanations of the wheel. A little bit wrong. And his idea of blind man I put here for you.

Sorry, I'm sorry. Vinaya blind man doesn't understand everything changes. Lower Abhidharma doesn't understand things come from cause and effect.

Okay, number three. This is called Higher Abhidharma. So Vasubandhu's brother ...

By the way, don't worry about all this. I'm just trying to tell you in the book there will be a big part about the real meaning of the wheel from many ancient books. Okay, and in the third part we call Higher Abhidharma.

This Abhidharma book written by Vasubandhu's brother. That's not him. Next.

Yeah, I guess we lost it.

[Speaker 2]
Go back one.

[Speaker 1]
You can stay there, that's okay. Okay, so Sangha wrote a book. It's like summary of Abhidharma.

Abhidharma Samuchaya. But it's not Abhidharma school. Okay, it has a lot of mind only school.

It actually mixes many schools together. But it has a great explanation of the wheel of life in ten parts. And a very famous Tibetan Lama, main student of Tsongkapa, Gyatsobje, which is here.

Nope, sorry, the last one. He wrote a commentary. Very beautiful.

Okay, so because of John, we have a very rare and there's almost no other explanation of the Abhidharma Samuchaya. So we'll include that in the book. Okay, fourth one.

This is the second great school of India. So the first three explanations of the wheel come from the lowest school. By Vashika.

The fourth explanation comes from the next school, which is the next painting. This is Dharmakirti. Which hand is he wearing his rosary on during the debate?

Left hand. You guys know that. I saw somebody today wearing on their right hand.

Okay, so this is the famous debater, Dharmakirti. Oh, by the way, if you care, the higher Abhidharma says that the blind man doesn't understand the relationship between the whole car and the parts of the car. And we'll talk about it some other day because you're already sleepy.

I'm not trying ... Okay, next. Second school in India called Sutrist.

And this is their famous ... Sorry, go back. This is their famous teacher, Dharmakirti.

He wrote a famous book called what? Commentary on Correct Perception. And I think the greatest commentary on that is by Khidrupji.

He lived about 600 years ago. He's Je Tsongkapa's second great disciple. So, in the book, we will put their explanation of the Wheel of Life.

So, now I already have four explanations. If you count Vasubandhu's extra three, there's already seven. Okay, and they say the blind man, what he doesn't understand is that their main idea of the blind man is he doesn't know where he came from before he was born.

And he doesn't know where he's going after that. After he dies. Then that's a kind of blindness.

Okay, number four. We're going to switch translators.

[Speaker 2]
Come on.

[Speaker 1]
I need a battery charge. A battery change? Change the battery.

Cappuccino break also. Thank you, Stanley. They are older than me.

They need a rest.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, next painting.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, this is a picture. This is Maitreya. And this is Asanga.

And Maitreya show himself human to talk to Asanga.

[Speaker 2]
Maitreya.

[Speaker 1]
And Asanga is writing a book called Uttaratantra. Most important book. Most important book of the Mind Only School.

Then Mind Only School has their own explanation of the wheel. What is blind man for Mind Only School? When your husband call you phantom, both you and the husband are coming from one seed.

[Speaker 2]
You are like two branches on a tree.

[Speaker 1]
So, the blind man in the Mind Only School doesn't understand the person who hurt you and you coming from one old seed. And it split into phantom husband and wife.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, so that's interesting. It's helpful. It's not 100% correct.

[Speaker 1]
So, nobody ever put all the explanations in one book. I would like to do that.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, next one. Number six.

[Speaker 1]
This is another picture of Maitreya. He taught a book called Abhisamaya Alankara. And in this book he taught three different kinds of emptiness.

Easy to see. Easy to see. Little bit hard to see.

And very hard to see. Only the highest one is real emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
But the other two are useful. So, what's the blind man in this school?

[Speaker 1]
He doesn't understand those three kinds of emptiness. And already we are up to fourth school.

[Speaker 2]
But the fourth school has two parts.

[Speaker 1]
This book, lower fourth school.

[Speaker 2]
What's the name of the fourth school?

[Speaker 1]
Middle way. The lower part has a special name. Yeah, you can say independent.

Independent school. So, they say the blind man doesn't understand three kinds of emptiness. Okay, seventh one.

[Speaker 2]
Higher middle way school.

[Speaker 1]
Also the foundation of the secret teachings, Vajrayana.

[Speaker 2]
Who's the great writer?

[Speaker 1]
Arya Nagarjuna. Who's the great commentator?

[Speaker 2]
Je Tsongkapa.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, everything I teach you in DCI, everything I teach you in the other room, Lam Rim, I'm using this explanation of emptiness.

[Speaker 2]
Highest one.

[Speaker 1]
Blind man doesn't understand the husband who called her phantom coming from the seeds she planted when she got mad at her kids last week.

[Speaker 2]
If you understand this part, you can break the wheel of life. You can be up with Buddha. That's freedom from the wheel of life.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, so that's the I don't know, headache section of our new book. There's seven different schools among the four great schools. How do they explain emptiness?

Okay, next part of the wheel. Oh, by the way, this is Kamalashila. He's a great teacher in the lower part of the middle way school.

And we're going to study a little bit of him on Sunday, or tomorrow, or the next day.

[Speaker 2]
Because he wrote a famous explanation of Diamond Cutter Sutra. Next photo.

[Speaker 1]
This is Nagarjuna. He wrote a separate book about the wheel of life.

[Speaker 2]
And it's perfect. So, that will be part of the book. Okay, I already translated most of it.

[Speaker 1]
Next. This is Tsongkapa. He's the best explainer of what Nagarjuna meant.

[Speaker 2]
So, that's the bones of the book, the most important part. And like a bone, it's harder and you have to chew on it. Okay, it's difficult, but fun.

[Speaker 1]
We'll do more in bodhobuddha. In office.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, next. Hey, this is emptiness.

[Speaker 1]
Lower school. Black, black, black.

[Speaker 2]
Hey, hey, hey. Black, black, black.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, we'll wait for it. Let's go from here. The next painting on your paper.

This is Shakespeare. The greatest writer in the English language ever. He lived over almost 400 years ago.

He wrote a great poem about the wheel of life. He didn't know he was writing about the wheel of life. All the world's a stage.

He wrote a very famous play. It's a stage. And all the people are like actors.

Then he talks about, he really gives the Abhidharma explanation. So, I would like to put a little bit of Shakespeare in the book. Next.

He's not next. Heisenberg is next. Okay, let's just use ...

Einstein will do. No, it's okay.

[Speaker 2]
It's okay.

[Speaker 1]
Anyway, next is three physicists.

[Speaker 2]
Modern physicists coming very close to emptiness.

[Speaker 1]
They almost understand emptiness. Einstein.

[Speaker 2]
Next one.

[Speaker 1]
Hawking. He wrote a famous book called Brief History of Time. It sold more copies than any English book in history, I think.

Then I met his publisher in New York.

[Speaker 2]
He invited me to his office.

[Speaker 1]
He said, Geshe Michael, will you write a book for me also?

[Speaker 2]
I said, yes, I will write.

[Speaker 1]
He said, what's the name of your new book? I said, A Better History of Time. Okay, so if you understand Wheel of Life, you can actually understand physics better than the physics guys.

And I gave that talk at Princeton to the physics department.

[Speaker 2]
And they all want to become Buddhists now. Really, really. Okay?

Very interesting.

[Speaker 1]
They said, wow, now we understand. Two young students want to quit Princeton and join me. I said, no, no, you stay here.

We'll change the department later.

[Speaker 2]
We change the department?

[Speaker 1]
Physics department. Okay, so I'd like to put something in the book which compares Western to Asian and modern world to ancient world.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, we have 15 more minutes, okay? I'm trying to go fast.

[Speaker 1]
Okay, next. Oh, man. Oh, that's pretty good.

What's that next? Yeah. Yeah, that's next.

Okay. This is the verse as I told you before. TZAM PA BYA' ZHIG YONG BAR BYA, SANGS RGYAS BSTAN LA BRJOD PAR BYA, DANG PAS KHYIM LA BLANGS CAN CING, PHYI LAS BDE NI GZHANG BAR BYA, KHAR SHES RAB TUG PA YOD PAS, CHUNG DU SDI LAS, CHUG RGYUR PA, SKYE BA'I KHO NA RAB PA'ANG NAS, SDUG BSNGAL THAMS MA BYAS PA ZHOG, Very famous.

This is Buddha's own commentary to the wheel.

[Speaker 2]
And he said, whenever you paint the wheel, please put those words at the bottom.

[Speaker 1]
It's like on the biscuit package, there's an explanation of what's inside. So, the next part of the book, which is the ninth part, I would like to put a good explanation of these two verses. Okay, next part.

Just in case you forgot where you are, you're in Thailand. 2016. 2016.

Okay, I just gave it to Nick like ten minutes ago. Yeah, people always blame the computer, I know. Anyway, as I'm working on this book, I asked my own Lama, do you have advice for me about this book?

And she said, that book should be used by modern people for modern problems. Okay, don't write some history book about seven ancient schools of India, and people cannot use it to fix their husband who called them phantom. You're way ahead of me, I think, no?

Oh, yeah, so, as you know, DCI level six, we use the wheel of life to help people stop their addictions.

[Speaker 2]
Could be alcohol, smoking, gambling, overeating, internet. Okay, so this wheel of life teaching is very useful for addiction.

[Speaker 1]
And I put some other things here. If people understand wheel of life, we can stop war. Do you have another painting?

Next picture?

[Speaker 2]
No?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, it's out of order. We can stop insomnia. Next.

That's okay, just do it. Nope. You can learn how to beat the stock market.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, if you understand wheel of life. Next.

[Speaker 1]
You can learn how to fix the husband which does exist and the husband which doesn't exist. Next. It will improve your yoga if you understand the wheel of life.

This is a DCI yoga class in Colombia.

[Speaker 2]
Eight hundred people can.

[Speaker 1]
We did outside in a special park which has a roof on it. But if you understand the wheel of life, you can be more successful in healthy ...

[Speaker 2]
be healthy yoga practice.

[Speaker 1]
Next. International relationships between, for example, China and America. This afternoon I spent three hours with a film crew, Chinese speaking film crew.

And we talked about international relationships. This is a new book by me and Dr. Wu. How to have successful relationship between China and America.

[Speaker 2]
And the government asked me for this copy.

[Speaker 1]
Government of China. And we had a meeting about it. And I think they're happy with the book.

Okay. How to use wheel of life to improve relations between countries. Next.

How to prevent war. This ship very expensive. If we all understand wheel of life, we can give the money to poor people.

We don't have to build these ships. So, I also want to include that in the wheel of life book.

[Speaker 2]
How to use wheel of life to stop war. Next.

[Speaker 1]
Next section of the book, I think number eleven. I would like to include some meditations in the book that people can do at home. Based on the wheel of life.

Okay, so two kinds of meditations. One is just like these people. How to use meditation in your ...

How to use the wheel of life in your business. You know, how to use it for your relationships. How to use it for your health.

[Speaker 2]
Next one. Ultimate purpose of wheel of life. Serious meditation.

[Speaker 1]
To see emptiness directly. The first meditation is for just normal people.

[Speaker 2]
This one is for serious people.

[Speaker 1]
This is the house at Diamond Mountain Retreat Center where I stayed during the Lam Rim retreats. We have about thirty retreat cabins like that. So, in the wheel of life book, I would like to include instructions how to do long, serious retreat on wheel of life.

[Speaker 2]
And if you guys, anybody interested to do serious retreat at this beautiful retreat center, we are lucky to have the two directors of the retreat center are here. Michael and Melissa.

[Speaker 1]
Your wheel of life retreat cottage is waiting for you. You just have to ask them. Okay?

I heard they even deliver cappuccino during retreat. Okay, next. Next page.

Last one, okay? Then we can stop. This is called a maze, right?

And you go in and you just walk around. So, I was sitting in the Singapore airport about six years ago with my friends, having a cappuccino just before the flight back to America. And we were sitting around a table.

They said, Geshe-la, what's your next project in Singapore? I want in the Singapore airport, next slide.

[Speaker 2]
This is the new terminal at the Singapore airport.

[Speaker 1]
I want to put a wheel of life.

[Speaker 2]
Real size, real size.

[Speaker 1]
Then you can walk through the wheel of life. And everything's this big, you know?

[Speaker 2]
Like that guy with an arrow in his right hand.

[Speaker 1]
Full size. The link number six room will be very popular. But you have to go through link number seven to get to link number six.

Okay, maybe most people won't go to link six, I think. Anyway, it's my dream. In English, we call art installation.

[Speaker 2]
Full size wheel of life. You can walk to the wheel of life.

[Speaker 1]
And maybe you get teaching on wheel of life. Like, you know, you can walk through the wheel of life.

[Speaker 2]
If people get delayed flight in Singapore, instead of wasting their time, they can get enlightened waiting for the late airplane.

[Speaker 1]
And we can move it to different airports. So, that's my dream. Those are the twelve ideas I have.

About the book of the wheel of life, I think it will be like a new level of Buddhism in the world. I think my friend, Bernd Kolb, he's going to watch this video. It looks to me like you have a lot of work to do.

Dr. Wu's been explaining this wheel to, for example, young people in China. And you have a lot of work to do. Okay, and all of you have a lot of work to do.

So, thank you very much.

[Speaker 2]
I'll see you in Bodo Bodo.