Мастер Асанга о высшей защите, часть первая (2016, Аризона), занятие 1

[Speaker 1]
So, every time we have a 10-day retreat, I do two special classes which are a little more difficult, so you can't complain, and I wait ... I wait for three to four months to do one class that I really enjoy. So ...

no, I enjoy all of them, but ... So, the subject ... she's having trouble hearing ...

the subject in the Lam Rim right now is, oh, I don't want to go to these three lower realms, so how can I protect myself, okay? And that's the next subject. That protection you can call taking refuge, and they say that taking refuge makes you a Buddhist, okay?

So, it doesn't ... There's a famous joke in the monastery, two monks were sitting with a couple thousand monks, and the abbot got up to give a talk, and this one monk can read the abbot's mind, and he said to the other monk, something interesting is going on, and the monk said, what? He said, the abbot of our monastery is not a Buddhist.

Then the guy, this other monk said, what do you mean? He said, he doesn't understand taking refuge, so he's not a Buddhist, you see? So, in the Christian religion, I was brought up Christian right, and when you are ...

I don't know, three years old or something, they put water on your head, and then you're a Christian, then you belong to Christian, okay? In Buddhism, you can take the vows this afternoon, but it doesn't make you Buddhist, okay? You need to know what is going for refuge, you know?

What does it mean to get protection? Then you're a real Buddhist, okay? So, we don't sprinkle water on your head or ...

well, we can if you want to, but what really makes you a Buddhist if you're interested to be, is taking refuge, and taking refuge, a lot of it means understanding ko shing, emptiness, okay? So, I always joke that ... I don't know, last year 20,000 people came to DCI courses.

In ... from many countries, many religions, and ... now they're all Buddhist, but they don't know.

DZEN DA, DZEN DA. Really, so ... it's a trick.

Anyway, so I had this idea last night, and ... I would like to show ... so, I'm going to ...

there's a famous book by Maitreya, where he teaches what does it mean to take refuge, and ... you take refuge to the three jewels, right? So, he explains what is the three jewels, and especially the Buddha jewel, to understand the Buddha jewel, you have to understand the three or four ...

the four bodies of a Buddha, okay? So, there are three subjects there, taking refuge, what is the three jewels, and what are the parts of a Buddha, what are the four bodies of a Buddha, okay? So, those subjects were covered by Maitreya, and they are coming up in the long run now, very soon.

So, I would like to study with you ... those three subjects, okay? In the more advanced form, okay?

Deeper form. Chinese people always say they want to go deeper. Deeper.

One Chinese teacher told me, until they get confused, Chinese people aren't happy. So, today I'm going to confuse you. And ...

we'll go deeper okay? Then I'll also enjoy it. So, those three subjects are covered by Maitreya.

Then, Maitreya taught five books, famous five books, Jam Chung Nga, the five books of Maitreya, okay? There are five. And they contain the mind-only school and the middle way school, okay?

In the monastery, we have like a 25-year course. The first 12 years is one of those books, okay? Which is called Abhisamaya Alankara.

Abhisamaya Alankara. Say Abhi ... Abhisamaya Alankara.

Alam ... alam means ready to go to the party. Alankara means gets you ready for the party.

Like, since you are all coming on November 5th to Sedona to the party, open house, right? Then you need Alankara. Alankara means the thing that helps you get ready for the party.

And it's a necklace, okay? So, Alankara means necklace. And Maitreya decided to call his book The Necklace, okay?

Alankara. Then Abhisamaya means understand, understanding, okay? So, The Necklace of Understanding.

Abhisamaya Alankara is the name of his book, okay? A lot of books are named necklace because ... when you speak it makes you ...

it's connected to your speaking, your voice, okay? So, he ... he taught this book to ...

who? Master Sangha, Arya Sangha, in ... in Maitreya's heaven, okay?

How did a Sangha get there? Something happened with a ... dog, okay?

I'm not going to tell you the whole story. But basically, a Sangha meditated for twelve years, not three days. He tried to see Maitreya, and he couldn't.

Then he quit. And walking to Tucson, he saw a dog on the road that was dying, and he got compassion. And he ...

the dog had worms in the body, so ... so he wouldn't hurt the worms. A Sangha put his face in the dog's wound, and he tried to lick the worms out.

And then suddenly the dog become Maitreya. And then later Maitreya said, now you have compassion, I can teach you. So, he took him to his heaven.

Arya Sangha was the secretary, and Maitreya was the boss. And Maitreya taught the ... the Jewel of Realizations.

So, here jewel means jewelry, okay? The Jewelry of Realizations, okay? He taught this book, Abhisam Malankara.

That book is seventy-five pages long. Every kid in the monastery memorizes it, okay? I also used to know it by heart.

And we spent twelve years on seventy-five pages. And we work all day. We work, I don't know, twelve hours a day, debating seventy-five pages for twelve years, okay?

So, it's amazing. The book is amazing. So today, I want to teach you something from Abhisam Malankara, okay?

And it's those three subjects. First one, what does it mean to go for refuge? Number two, who's the person you go for refuge to?

What are the three jewels? And number three, what are the parts of the Buddha Jewel? Okay?

Okay? So, we're going to try to cover those three subjects in two days, okay? And I don't know how much we can do, but it's okay.

So, I have a cool idea how to do it, because you're sleepy, and me too. We'll do it with debate. Okay?

So, my idea is I'll teach you for an hour or something some subjects, and then we'll learn to debate them, okay? So, let's pretend... I have an idea.

So, Mr. Wu is coming to the Kamalashila, unless he changes plans. Then... in the monastery, when your sponsor, big sponsor comes, we always have debate show for the sponsor, you know.

You are lucky, because the sponsor won't...well. Then the sponsor sit up here. Do you have a dagam, Jingmei? Can you get a dagam?

The cloak? Red cloak? No.

Dagam? Monk's cloak? Oh.

Anyway, the sponsor sit up here, and then the baby Geshe's get up and they... they give a show for the sponsor, okay? Then the...traditionally the sponsor hassles them. Like, what kind of definition is that? Or, where did you get that? Or...

Okay? So, I have this idea. When Mr. Wu comes, we can impress him with some debate, okay?

So, I'm going to teach you Maitreya's Abhisama Alankara by getting ready for a debate. I'm going to show you how we get ready for a debate. And by doing that, you will learn those three subjects.

Okay? I hope. Okay?

And we'll have fun, okay? And we'll yell a lot. By the way, I forgot to tell you, you need a rosary.

You need a rosary today, okay? For the debate, you need a rosary, okay? So, what time we have to stop, Scott?

Three...three o'clock? 3.15? Okay, it's not a lot of time.

Now, when you get ready for a big debate, you make a cheat sheet. Cheat sheet. It's English.

Then... in our school, we write it on our hand. Then in the exam, we're like...

Okay? That's called cheating sheet, right? So, we're going to make a cheat sheet for the debate, okay?

And we're going to put everything we want to cover. What we put on the cheat sheet is the things we want to learn, okay? So, we got to make a list of the things we want to learn.

What are the four bodies of a Buddha? What is the definition of each body, okay? What is the definition of going for refuge?

What is the definition of Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, Sangha Jewel, okay? So, we're going to make a sheet, maybe two, three pages, and we'll do it together, okay? So, I'll help you, okay?

So, it's like... before I do Geshe exam, there's a long cheat sheet. It will go from here to the door.

Really. And then you put it on the wall, like...for six months, and you memorize the whole thing, you know? And then...

if the guy's first question says yes, you have to go this way. If say no, you have to go this way. Half of what you memorized is finished in the first five seconds, you know?

Because he went this way, okay? Then...it's really cool. It's like a big flow chart, and you...

for your Geshe exam you have to do that, okay? So, we're going to do something like that, okay? Ready?

Now... before you debate somebody, you have to agree what system you want to debate, okay? Like...

mind only guy cannot debate with a middle way guy. For example, okay? You have to be inside of one system, because already they don't agree to the system.

So... we're going to... pretend that everybody in this room is from the best monastery in the world, which is...

Sera Mek. Sera J is... okay?

So, first you decide... you know, you and your opponent have to have the same books. You have to be debating from the same books, you see?

When we debate... every year in the monastery we debate other monasteries. We have one month Olympics.

Debate Olympics. And at that time you cannot use Sera Mek books. Why?

Because the opponent is from a different monastery. He will not accept Sera Mek books. So, you have to use...

Tsongkhapa. Because all of our monastery, Gelugpa monastery accept Tsongkhapa. So, you cannot use your own monastery book, okay?

Then one time in our monastery during the debate Olympics we invite... Sakya monks to come. You debate with us.

Then you cannot take Tsongkhapa. You cannot use Tsongkhapa. They do not accept.

So, you have to use what? Indian... and Indian sutras.

So, you have to go back to India, you see? Then one day we invited Bunpo. Okay?

The non-Buddhist Tibetans, you know, to come. Then it's crazy. There is no book, you see?

Okay, so today we are going to pretend we are all from Sera Mek. Actually, you are all belong to Sera Mek because you are my kids and my grandkids. Okay?

So, you are automatically Sera Mek. You have to be loyal to Sera Mek. But you are lucky because it's the best monastery.

So, no problem. So, to get the ammunition for my debate I'm going to go to Sera Mek books about the books of my trip. Okay?

So, I'm going to show you what I'm doing because you can appreciate the database, okay? The work that all these guys are doing, you can... maybe you can appreciate it a little bit, okay?

Can it show up? Do I have to do something? Put it back in?

Okay, it's in. I need to do some F7s probably. Oh, yeah.

Alright then. It may not be this book, but probably the same desktop I guess. Make me an angel from Montgomery Oh, it's showing.

I'm waiting for you. Now I can't show any personal things.

[Speaker 2]
I understand.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Close it? Where?

Just hit... Hmm? Okay.

So... I'm going to teach you how we use this library, digital library, right? We...

in Sedona, on November 5th, we will have the 30th anniversary of our project to input the ancient books of Buddhism. After 25 years, we finished all the books from India. Every book that survives from India in Tibetan, we input 5,000 books, finished five years ago.

We worked for 25 years. Then... John Brady is not here, but we can clap for Connie.

How's that? So, I'm going to show you how I will get ready for a debate about these three subjects, okay? First I will go to...

and I know it's not interesting to everybody, but I don't care. This is called Gopher. This is a special search program that we wrote for searching the books.

We have about 20,000 books input. So... for example, this search was for a book that I'm using for Kamalashila teaching, okay?

And I need this book. I need to find this book. So, I put the name of the book here.

This is a famous commentary on Kamalashila's work. And I go...find. Now watch, it will search about a million pages. Watch how long it takes.

Okay? That's cool. Alright?

That's about a million page search in one second, okay? So, when I teach you like Kamalashila, we will go very, very, very deep, because I have a million pages I can check for what I want to teach. And I couldn't do it without it, okay?

So, thank you for sponsoring this work. We've finished 10% in 30 years. So, it will take us 270 more years.

Unless we get more gasoline. Okay. So, first thing you have to do, we're going to get all our debating information from the books of Sarame about Maitreya.

Okay? The books from Sarame about Maitreya. So, I have to go get those books ready in one place.

Then I can search for them. Tell me what is the definition of refuge? Tell me how many bodies does a Buddha have?

Tell me what is the three jewels definition? But first I have to put those books in one shelf. So, I'll show you how we do it.

I'll go to this finder and go to the database. There are five great subjects for Geshe. The Lam Rim is a simplification of those five great subjects.

Okay? If you want to go deeper, you go Geshe way, which is ACI courses. Okay?

If you don't want to go deeper, you do Lam Rim. But our Lam Rim is deeper. Okay?

So, one of the great five subjects in the monastery is called Boroboromido? Boroboromido. Prajnaparamita.

And these are the books from different monasteries about this subject. Okay? All of these are the books.

And I want the general commentaries. And these are all the people that wrote good commentaries. Okay?

I want two of them for our debate. There are two great writers from Seramay that I want to use their books. Okay?

One of them is called... Where is that thing? Okay.

Kedrup Dhammadangi. This one. Okay?

He was born in 1493 and died in 1568. Okay? So, I'm going to put his books in the search place, in the searching place.

Okay? So, let's put it here. And I'll call it...

What do you want to call this debate? Mr. Woo Debate? Okay, so we'll put Mr. Woo Debate. And... Okay, and I put... Kedrup Dhammadangi's books are inside there.

Okay? Now they're inside what we're going to study with for Mr. Woo's debate. Now I have to go get the books by...

I like one other famous author. So, the cool thing about our library is you can download the whole library. In how long?

From their website? Sundum, how long? In two minutes you can download, I don't know, 10,000 books.

It's free. Okay? I also like to thank Germany.

They helped a lot. And... And also Guangzhou helped a lot.

Thank you, thank you. The other person I like to use is Choney Lama. Okay?

Choney Lama. He wrote famous commentary to... Dhammakaya Sutra.

Okay? So... Now I put those two guys in our basket for searching.

Okay? So now we go back to the searching program and we say, I want to create a new place to search and it's going to be in the Mr. Wu debate. Okay?

Then I say open. Now the search program will go only to those two authors. It won't go to any other authors.

Okay? Got it? Which one you want to do first?

Which subject you want to do first? Which is sexier? I'll give you three choices.

How to take refuge? Or four bodies of a Buddha? Or the Three Jewels?

How many vote for... four bodies? How many vote for refuge?

How many vote for Three Jewels? Oh... Okay.

So I'm going to write down the name. Now, we'll start our cheat sheet. Okay?

Here's our cheat sheet. We're going to open a new... a new place here and it's going to be...

this is going to be our cheat sheet. Can I... can I expand this window?

No. Okay. So this is called...

Cheat Sheet for... I like this font. Cheat Sheet for Mr. Moon Debate. October 16th. Okay. So we're going to have three subjects.

Going for refuge. And... the Three Jewels.

And... the four bodies. So I'm getting ready my cheat sheet.

Cheat Sheet for Mr. Moon Debate goes... Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Okay, so for Four Bodies of a Buddha, we're going to...

we'll start with Tulku. What do you call it? Emanation body?

In Sanskrit, Nirmankaya. Okay. In Chinese?

Chinese? H-U-A? What tone?

Fourth tone? So I'm going to do in Pinyin, okay? Like this, okay?

What's the second word? E-N? Like that?

What tone? One. Okay?

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Speaker 1]
Phew! Alright. And two, let's call it the Paradise Body.

Also called... Enjoyment Body. Same thing.

So, emanation body means... the one that he sends to this world. The body that he sends to this world from Buddha headquarters.

His own paradise, from his own paradise. When he's hanging out in his own headquarters, he will... stay in his paradise body, okay?

Which has how many signs and marks? 112. During Kamalashila, for the first time ever, I'm going to teach you the 112 in detail, in more detail than you ever wanted.

But I never did it before, and it's very beautiful. I would... in my life I would like to do it one time.

So, okay, nirmanakaya. This body is called... Sam?

Boga. Kaya. Sam?

Boga means to enjoy. Okay. In Chinese?

Bao? What term? What term?

Oh! Wu shen shi, wu er shi, okay. Okay?

Bao shen... Okay. Uh...

Next we can call wisdom body, which is... I'm going to say here part of... Dharma body.

So we call it... Jnana... Dharma...

Kaya. Kaya. You got a word for that?

Go. Slower. C-I...

H-I? Oh! Zhe.

What term? Zhe. Shen.

Wow! By the way, the only thing that gets on my cheat sheet is something I want to learn by the end of the two days of debating. Every person in this room should know this.

What's on the cheat sheet? The goal is, by the end of the second day, somebody says, where are the four bodies? You're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Okay? That's the purpose of debate. It's more fun to learn by arguing than to sit and read a book.

You can learn much, much, much faster. For example, I spent eight years translating Abhidharmakosha. Then I went to monastery, learned to debate.

When I came home, I threw out the translation. I started again. Okay?

I understood so much from debate. Okay? So, this is powerful way to learn Tibetan language, or powerful way to learn everything.

You can learn many things in twenty minutes. Okay? Alright.

Fourth body. Ngo nyi ku. Svabhava.

Svabhavadhamakaya. Let's go check the spelling. Ngo nyi ku.

So, here's a Sanskrit dictionary. Okay? This is my secret weapon.

Svabhavakaya. Okay? It takes one second.

And there's the correct spelling. Okay? So, you can call essence body.

Svabhavadhamakaya. And... our team is making a new dictionary with the Sanskrit, the Tibetan, and the Chinese.

And that job is... Word. Yay!

Thank you. How much finish? What percent finish?

No. What percent finish? That book is three thousand pages, right?

He's... How many years? One year now?

He finish two percent in one year. So, fifty more years. Okay.

Maybe he needs help. Jing? I prefer your translation.

What's the tongue? Jing. Jing.

Jing. Flower. Shen.

Shen. Shen. Shen.

Shen. It's like that? Okay, that's one.

Okay. Shen is four. Okay, got it.

Alright. So, those are the four bodies. By the way, this one, part of...

form body. So, when you teach two bodies, you join the first two, and you join the second two. When you say the Buddha has two bodies, you join the first two into form body, and you join the second two into Dharma body.

Sometimes I call it reality body, but Dharma body is easier. Huh? Yeah, Rupakaya.

I'm not going to go there. Meaning, these first two are physical. You can see them, you can hear them.

Okay. The third one is Kongxing. Sorry, is wisdom.

The mind which sees emptiness. And the fourth one is emptiness. Okay.

When you count three bodies, sometimes people count three bodies. It's the first one, and the second one, and three and four together. Okay.

So, it's the body on earth, body in heaven, and then the wisdom of the Buddha with the emptiness it sees together, Dharmakaya. Okay. Now, we're going to have fun.

When you...this is very important, okay? When you start a debate, you say something wrong. That's how you start an argument, just like your wife does.

Okay. Right, Gibson? Okay.

You don't have to admit it in front of her, but... we can talk later. So, when you're the guy who's starting the debate, you're the one who's standing up.

The guy who starts the debate is standing up. He's called the attacker. Okay.

And then the person sitting down is the defender. Okay. So, the guy standing up...

I need a good mala, a big mala, a good one for hitting somebody. No, it's too... I want one to put a hole in somebody's head.

Okay, good. So, debate ground, every day, three, four hours, for twenty-five years, you argue, okay? Then when you get TV interview in China, you don't feel nervous.

You're like... Okay. Come on, come on.

That's purpose, okay? So, two parts to debate ground. They ring the gong.

Gong. Then you have like six minutes to reach the debate ground. If you come late, okay?

Doesn't matter, you're poo-poo, or you're eating your dinner, or when the gong ring, you have to run, okay? One of my teacher has extension cord. He doesn't use this.

He uses extension cord. It hurts more, okay? Then it's like a high school dance in America.

So, Walt knows about that. You walk into the dance and you look for a girl, but you don't look at her. You're like...

Check if she's busy, some guy. Then you get closer. Then you're like, oh, you want to dance?

Okay? And the rule in the monastery, first half of... if the debate session is two hours, first hour, you find your girl and you debate one-on-one, okay?

That's a custom. And we can't do it here, but in the monastery, you have to choose someone higher than you in the higher class, which is very very good, okay? My tennis coach, he say we are not allowed to play someone unless they are better than us.

That's the rule. For a whole year, we cannot play with someone who is same. We have to choose someone better than us.

Then they push you, okay? So, first hour, first half, one-on-one, you know? You just get one other person.

It's like a high school dance and you debate those things, okay? You can choose the person, okay? Like...

sometimes the debate master will say, you're with her, okay? But usually you can choose the person, okay? So, that's the first half.

In the second half, you get together with your own classmates, okay? And I'll teach you how to do that, okay? So, we're going to do both, okay?

So, we're going to start with one-on-one today, okay? You're going to pick your own partner, okay? How many...well, anyway. So, one person will sit down for half an hour and the other person sits down for half an hour, okay? You switch after half an hour, okay? Got it?

And you stand up. The attacker starts, okay? What's the first thing they do?

Huh? Bow. Okay, real respect, real respect.

And I'll tell you something interesting. We are not allowed to get angry in the debate ground, okay? We are like...

you know? But all from friend, all heart, with love. But face is like...

you know? But in the heart you're like... Okay?

Not allowed to get personal. I debate 25 years, I only saw one person get angry. He was new, he was a new person, and he got angry.

I only saw one in 25 years, okay? So, you're supposed to be... I love you, and you're wrong.

Okay? Be tough, okay? So, first thing, always you bow, okay?

In the monastery, we get down on one knee and... you have to drop your shawl like this, okay? And you show respect for the other person.

In our debate ground, we're going to do that at the end also. Okay, thank you, I learned something with you. Thank you, you taught me, okay?

You can learn more in the debate ground than you will ever learn in a class. And faster, much faster, okay? I can tell you the four bodies of blah, blah, blah, and we go learn something else, but you won't remember.

If you debate for five minutes, you'll never forget it, okay? So, don't be shy, okay? I know some people here are shy.

I know you don't like to yell. Yi ji jeng, yi ji jeng, yi ji jeng. Okay?

Not here, okay? Don't be shy. Just say what you think, okay?

Don't think too much. If you say something wrong, he have to prove it. So, you never, you never like that.

I think so. Someone says, how many Buddha bodies? Five.

But never like that. I think five. Maybe it was six.

Okay, just stop. Five. No, it's four.

Prove it. Okay, like that. Then you can make a fifth one.

So, first thing is, like a lion, lion. Singha, Singapore. Singha means lion.

Singha means city of lions. Pur means city, Singapore, okay? City of lions.

Be like a lion. How many Buddha bodies? Five.

Okay, what are they? Fish body. Horse body.

You can just make up something, it's okay. You got to look tough. You never heard of fish body?

Okay, so never, never admit, I'm wrong, you're wrong. You're always like, what are you talking about? After you finish this course, it's difficult to be married.

The wife says something, you're like, prove it. I live with Ken Rinpoche. In Tibet, they had a contest, Best Geshe's, 1955.

He's number one out of 20,000 monks. He's number one, my teacher. Then if he wants me to cook dinner, I cannot win.

I say, okay Rinpoche, because he will say, why don't you cook dinner? Okay, okay. You cannot win any argument.

He says, sky is red. Okay, Rinpoche, sky is red. You're right.

Because he will prove it to you. It's hard to live with these people, these Geshe's. Okay.

So now, I have a question for you. When you first get up, uh, what time we have to start? 3.15?

How come my computer is not showing? Do I have to do something here to see? No.

Ah, it's okay. I have to put my clock on. Okay.

So, okay. We'll start in about 10 minutes. Okay.

Somebody give me a good opening statement about the four bodies. The name of the third body is the essence body. Huh?

[Speaker 2]
The name of the third body is the essence body.

[Speaker 1]
Good, yeah. The third body is the essence body. Okay.

Say something wrong. Give me another one. Opening, opening shot.

Anything. Yeah, there's only one body. What's another one?

Yeah, second body is tantric body. Anyway, you're not allowed to debate tantra in sutra. Okay, seriously.

Not allowed to debate. Okay. The first body and second body are the fourth body.

He said, we didn't get there yet, but... First body and second body are real protection. How's that?

That's more difficult. That's a good debate. Okay, anybody got another one?

Huh? Four ways to... Four ways to...

Oh, the four bodies? Oh, you mean the jewels?

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Speaker 1]
Okay. Is this enough? Now, by the way, I would like you to debate the Sanskrit names and the Chinese names.

Okay. No one can give me the Sanskrit name for the first body. Okay.

The name of the first body in Sanskrit is... Sambhogakaya. Okay, say something wrong.

Okay, so when you leave this class, you're going to learn something new. Got it? Which includes learning the Chinese name for everybody.

Okay. Got it? Huasheng.

Huasheng. Okay. Huasheng.

If you want to get really good, you learn the... the accents, okay? Huasheng.

And that's later. Huasheng. Okay.

Sounds pretty good. Okay. By the way, the person who's sitting down can say, And then the debate is finished.

Okay. The first body is Nirmanakaya. Yes.

Yes. So, it's important to say something wrong. Otherwise it's a short debate.

You want to go get the definitions of these bodies? We'll start, we may not have time. Okay, now we go to johnbradys.library. Okay. And you say, And those of you who know Tibetan, you have to... you have to check it in its expanded form and in its short form. Okay?

Got it? Okay, got it? So, we're going to check those two writers.

Did either one say, this is the definition of the... emanation? What was it?

Emanation body? Yeah. Okay.

So, we go to our two writers. Mr. Wu debate here. Okay.

And we say, see if the definition of the first body is there or not. Okay. Here we go.

It takes one second. Okay. And this is from...

Who is that? This is Choney Lama. Okay.

He gave a definition. Adam or Nick, tell me why we can't use this one. Can't see it?

Oh, sorry. Sorry. Can you see it?

It's not moving. Where I can't see it? Oh, okay.

There you go. Right here. Why can't I use this definition?

Yeah. This is... These books are debating books.

So, to teach you, they teach you by debating. What's the first sentence? Something wrong.

Okay. And it always has serna after it. If it's wrong, they say, somebody said, at the beginning of debate...

So, I cannot use this one. This is the wrong one. There's something small is wrong with it.

Something small is wrong with it. That's how you learn. Okay.

So, I can't use this one. I'm going to say, give me the next one. Say again?

Comes after, serna, serna, serna. Serna means cheap, won't give me any money. Serna means some debater said something.

Okay. Nick, anybody, how do we know this is the right definition to use? Look up a few lines.

Here. Yeah, Ranglugla means, here's our system. Okay.

So, this is the real definition of what? Nirmanakaya. Okay, here's the real definition.

Oh, that's interesting. Now, I'll go put this in my cheat sheet. And I'm going to, I'm going to translate it for you.

Okay. I'm going to simplify it. Okay.

Fine. Fine, definitely. By the way, I can share this file with you if you like, okay?

Okay. If we go to Paradise Body, you will understand. Okay.

So, I'm going to go to Paradise Body. So, we're going to have to go to the... definition of Paradise Body.

Okay. Okay. Okay, ready?

This is Paradise Body. Let's see how long it takes. Ding.

Good one, Nick? No. No.

This is a debater. It's wrong. Okay, don't trust this one.

How about this one? Yeah, it's Ranglugla. Yeah, it's Ranglugla.

We can take it. Okay, here we go. And we'll go and put it here in our cheat sheet.

Let's make it simple, okay? Has the five certainties. And I'm going to, I'm going to say here, which does not have the five...

Okay. In Tibetan? In Tibetan?

Oh, the definition of the... the body that Buddha sends to Earth is the part of the form body which does not have the five certainties. And the definition of the body that the Buddha stays in his paradise is called the ultimate form body which has the five certainties.

What should we look up right now? Alright. And then we can start debating, okay?

By the way, the point is this. Well, you'll understand. Let me give you.

Now, when... when they're explaining a list, the five skandhas, the twelve links of dependent origination, there's a Momo game based on numbers, okay? Like...

the one path. Okay? Tathagatagpachig, ultimately all paths are one.

The two truths, the three jewels, the four noble truths, the five paths, the six perfections, the seven branches of the Arya wheel, the eight... verses of Sengesang, Diamond Lion, the nine... you know, you can go on forever, okay?

When they explain a list, they often put the word me after it, which means, here are the five. So, I suggest we look for NGES PA NGA NI and let's see if someone explained it. I'm just telling the Tibetan students, okay?

Here we go. I'm not sure, I'm just saying this is how I would do it. Nope.

That's all I want. I want to stick to those two books. Yeah, I'm sticking to those two authors.

I happen to know one of them. So, I'm going to search near that, okay? You see what I'm doing, Nick?

I know one of the five. So, I'm going to search near the five, I'm going to search the first one and I should hit a list. Ready?

Here we go. Okay. Okay.

Here they are. If you know how to use this tool, it's very powerful. So, you don't have to memorize all this, but it'll help you.

So, I'm going to put them here. Okay? Those are the five.

Now let's translate. And this is how I prepare classes for you guys, okay? Hundreds of pages.

I do it this way, okay? So, there are five things are definite about the body that stays in heaven. So, its definition is the form body that has five definite things, okay?

If it has five definite things and if it's the form body of the Buddha, it must be... paradise body. If it doesn't have those five but it's the form body of the Buddha, it must be nirmanakaya.

Got it? Aldo got it, for all of you. Okay.

I'll give this document to Adam and he can send it to people who want it, okay? But I still think it's good to write it down. It gets in your brain better.

His or her body is certain to be adorned with the signs and marks in their full form. If you don't add in their full form, what's the problem? For example, if you have the karma to become king of the world, Chakravartin, world emperor, you will have those marks on your hand.

The wheel... they're called the wheel marks. A Buddha has...

when you see their hand, they have a special mark here. You're gonna learn it during Kamalashila. It's the first of the major signs.

You know? Somebody says, I'm a Buddha, they say, let me see your palm. Okay?

And it's... they say, don't think it's drawn... it's not drawn on your hand, it's raised.

It's... the skin goes up and down. Okay?

If you're a king of the world, you also have a circle here, but... some of the parts are missing. Some of the parts are missing.

So, if you want to say... if your opponent says, all the bodies in paradise have... if you have wheels on your hands, you must be a Buddha in paradise.

Yes or no? No, not necessarily. Macau.

Why? Show me an exception. Mitumpe.

Yeah, take a world king. They have wheels, they're just not complete. Okay?

See the definition here, in their full form. Okay? In their full form.

Okay, got it? How many signs? How many marks?

32 major signs, 80 minor marks, you're gonna learn them in Kamalashila. You will be sick of them by the end of October. Okay?

I guarantee you. Geshe-la, can we learn something else? By the time you get the karma to be a Buddha, you are living in a bubble, and everybody around you is a bodhisattva, and they saw emptiness directly.

You never meet other people. You don't have the karma to meet schmucks, or nidniks, sorry, phantoms. Okay?

In your own paradise, you never meet anybody less than a bodhisattva who saw emptiness directly. Okay? Alright?

So DCI is okay, Scott. Five-star hotels. What can we do?

What's nyan-nen-le-dawa? Nyan-de. Nirvana.

Now, don't write what I'm gonna type. Don't write until they reach nirvana, their final nirvana. Okay?

That's the polite word in Buddhism for... bye-bye and they go away. Okay?

We went to Dunhuang cave. The biggest Buddha is this Buddha lying down. Five minutes before he went to his final nirvana.

Okay? That's not what the sentence says. Don't copy the capitals.

Don't copy the capitals. Why? Because it says...

tsul-dön. Tsul-dön. What's dön mean?

What's dönpa? Dönpa la-me-san-gyur-myin-po-chi gyop-pa la-me-san-gyur-myin-po-chi Yeah, a teacher. In a verb?

To teach or to show. Tsul means to show the way, and it's an idiom that means to pretend. Pretend.

Go through the act. Okay? So, we gotta add that.

Be careful. You could make a good debate here. Sexy debate here.

Oh, until such time as day. Because in Tibet you say, until I don't go, I'm not gonna talk to you. You see what I mean?

Okay, so...and they... What are we gonna say? Pretend to reach final...

I'll read it. His or her time is certain. They will remain until the cycle of pain is empty of people.

People also including animals, okay? Hell beings. And they pretend to reach their final nirvana.

They retire. They don't really retire, okay? What are we defining?

The five certainties. Who has them? The paradise body.

Only the paradise body. The body in this world doesn't have these five. Okay?

It may have one of them, I don't know. You have to debate it. Okay?

The Dharma he or she teaches is certain. They only teach greater way. Mahayana, okay?

Pitaka means basket, right? That's just for you Sanskrit nerds. Okay?

Pitaka. Will you get a Vinaya teaching in a Buddha paradise? That's a debate.

You'd have to debate it. Is a Vinaya which is presented as a step to reach the Mahayana, Mahayana? So, there's no Hinayana.

Never. Now, you have to say, why do you say that? What's wrong with you?

Of course there's the Hinayana. Because all the Hinayana teachings are presented for the purpose of getting people to the Mahayana. So, there's nothing they don't teach in a Buddha paradise.

Okay. And there's only four certainties. Got it?

That's how you go. Okay. All right, fifth one, then we can start debating.

Lucky for you, there's not a lot of time. Okay. I think it's Akhanistha.

Let's go check. Is it? Let's go look in a Sanskrit dictionary.

Yeah, Akhanistha. Okay. This is like a super paradise.

It includes all the Amitabha's paradise and things like that. Okay, so don't worry. Okay.

Yes. Doesn't say. The definition doesn't say.

You can debate it. Okay. I think it means go away or disappear or something like that.

But they never disappear anyway, so... Okay. But the idea is they don't give up on people.

If they have to stay an extra billion years for one more guy, they would do it. That's the main thing. They don't give up on people.

Okay, give me a opening... Give me an opening statement, anybody. Yeah, but I only want to...

I only want to stick the things on this paper. Well, I don't want to make it endless. Yeah.

I just want you to know the stuff on this page. That's enough for today, maybe enough for tomorrow too. Okay.

Did you have one, Peter? My Lama is not the Buddha because he doesn't have the five certainties. That one...not true. He does have the five certainties. If he's your Lama, he has the five certainties. Oh, that's okay, yeah.

You can say the Lama I can see. The Lama I can see, which must be a nirmanakaya. That's okay, I agree.

Stops the debate. Give me another one, opening line. Give me, come on, be creative.

By the way, you can say obvious ones, you can say stupid ones like, you know, there's only four certainties, you know. The lazy monks in the monastery, the ones who don't want to study, they come to the debate ground and they say, there's only four certainties. Then it's half an hour, the other guy has to explain the five certainties.

And they're just like... Okay. The really good debaters, they say something a little bit controversial.

They... When I say controversial, it means something I'm not sure about, I say. Got it?

The purpose of debate is to learn something new. So, say something you're not sure about, like what Earl asked. He could say, when it says that Buddhas will remain, you know, in that paradise until samsara is empty, it means remain in a Volkswagen.

Because they don't know what the remain, they want the guy to prove something to them. They're asking for help. A good debater only debates the things they're not sure about.

If you know the five certainties forwards and backwards, you never come in and say, nobody could tell me the five certainties. Okay? Because you won't learn anything for the next half hour.

You always bring up something you're not sure about, then you learn... you're hoping the other guy can beat you. You're hoping the other guy can beat you.

You see what I mean? Because then you will learn something. So, there's no pride.

You want the guy to beat you, because you want to learn something new. So, you only ask questions, you only make statements that are going to bring up a controversy that you're not sure about. Okay?

Got it? Yes, go. Duh!

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. Then, just to be...

By the way, we can have a debate where you say something you don't believe and I say something I don't believe and we try to prove it. And that's fine. So, what was your question?

What did you say? No, it's not. It stays there forever.

That's correct, and samsara can't be end, that's why it's called samsara. Kolo! Uh?

Wisdom is a powerful antidote. Wisdom will be ignorance. Yeah, if it meets ignorance.

If we've been alive for countless years and wisdom didn't meet ignorance yet, why do you think it's going to meet it next year? No, there's not a time gap. What about those people who go straight to hell after they die?

Okay. Like that, okay? Just...you can't go wrong. You know, if you're debating, you're going to learn something. You might learn how little you know. Okay, so, we're going to start the first half of the debate.

This is your material. No? Okay, four bodies of the Buddha.

These are the five certainties. And then, Paradise Bunny. Okay, and I'll move this up and down, okay?

You guys ready? Don't forget what's going to happen, high school dance. Pick one person.

Then you talk to each other, you say, who's going to be attacker for half the time? Who's going to be defender? Okay?

And then we'll switch. When the... Okay, I'm the debate master or Nick, Nick's the debate master.

When he says, O La So, practice, O La So, it means switch. It means switch. O La So.

It means, it's time. O La So. When you're in a big debate with thousands of monks watching, you're so waiting for the O La So.

Did you say O La So? Do you want to say O La So? Okay, so, pick your partner, start.

If you're the attacker, say something wrong. Go. Go or I'll give you this.

O La So. O La So. O La So.

O La So. No. Questions?

Any questions? We have 10 minutes for questions. You guys did a nice job.

Thank you. Let's give yourself a hand. Nice job.

I was very impressed. Questions? Microphone.

I have a question. Actually, we have a question here during the debate. For the emanation body, and it was said that the form body which is not distinguished by the five definite certainties.

So, would they have at least one or two? Or totally not? Do they have any of them?

Yeah. So, the definition of the emanation body, the body on earth, the body that Buddha sends to earth. By the way, nirmana means sent, like sent to earth.

So, the definition of the body that is sent to earth is that it's part of the form body, but it doesn't have the five certainties. And the question is, does it have one or two or three? Let me see here.

Does the Buddha always come to this world with the 112 signs? No, first is not certain. Can they have signs?

Yeah, can have. Are they only... Is the nirmanakaya only surrounded by high bodhisattvas?

No. He says, I hope not. Uh...

Does that body stay on this world until everyone is out of samsara? Does not, yeah. Does that body only teach Mahayana?

No, it teaches Abhidharma? It teaches Vinaya. These are lower, Hinayana.

Is the body which comes to earth staying in the heaven? Only one? Yeah, so I think...what do you think, one? Yeah, I think so. Uh... But it's not certain, is it?

Possible not. Other question? Is...are the five certainties accepted by all schools? Uh...definitely accepted by all Mahayana schools, yeah. So it's not just Maitreya's idea, yeah. Any other question?

Uh... When you have a translator, you have to pause. Yeah, he can't catch my name.

Oh, okay. If you can't put butter on bread in your dream, which one is more difficult, putting butter in your dream or putting butter in your death? Which one is more difficult?

If we want to practice, should we start from here?

[Speaker 2]
This is the first question. Whew! Geshe-la, my question is during the three-day retreat, for twice I was remembering the very end of the dreams.

So one of them is I remember that I was looking down on my... some friend that I didn't see for 20 years. I was, like, judging them negatively.

So my question is, if it's so hard, so difficult to put the butter on the bread in the dream, what would happen during the death process?

[Speaker 1]
Should we, like, which one is more difficult? What do you think of that and how should we practice? That's the first question.

Good question. In Buddhism, when they say dream yoga, it means try in the dream to put the butter on the dream. Oh, this is coming from me, this is coming from me.

Like... I don't know, when you have a new girlfriend, she even comes in your dreams, right? So, when you have a...

when you're really thinking about emptiness a lot, it should come in your dreams. You should start to think about it in your dreams. And in the three-year retreat, I don't know about Earl, but we...

I don't know, for like a year we woke up early, like four o'clock, and write down our dreams right away. So, when you do a retreat, you have time to study your dreams. That's one reason to do a lot of retreat, because you have time to check your dreams.

Which is more difficult? I think it's probably easier to think about emptiness in your dreams than it is to think about emptiness when your mind is exploding. So, that's a good question.

It shows how difficult it is. So, it's probably better to get enlightened before you die. Seriously.

Okay. But you can use that death process during meditation to reach the crystal. So, it's useful to pretend you're dying many, many, many times, and you can use that to reach a very subtle state of mind and chi.

Okay? When we talk about the four qualities of emptiness recognizing emptiness is the first step. So, how can we recognize emptiness?

Does it mean... The first step is to present emptiness. The second step is to recognize emptiness.

So, does this mean that what Geshe-la is teaching in the seven steps of DCI is very important? If we practice that well, does it help us in the process of death? If so, please come to Guangdong to take the course.

[Speaker 2]
Geshe-la, the next question is you were talking about the four qualities of the crystal, the emptiness. And number two is how we take it, how we recognize it's empty. Does it mean that if we practice well in the teaching of DCI Level 7, like you taught us how to see emptiness directly, it will help us to do that in the second quality of the crystal?

If that's so, you're very welcome to come to Guangdong DCI Level 7.

[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it's for that. The purpose is for that. Yeah, I can't tell everybody in Guangzhou that, but that's the purpose of Level 7.

Yeah, that's the purpose. Up to Hero. Up to Hero.

No, no, it should be another person. Give someone a chance.

[Speaker 2]
Last question. Thank you, Geshe-la.

[Speaker 1]
Oh no, you're too dangerous.

[Speaker 2]
This is, I think it's good. A youthful can be. It's just about, I was doing the meditation, the four steps on the crystal, and then I was thinking about, I have heard that when you perceive emptiness directly, there is like no me to perceive, there is nothing to be perceived, so there is no awareness.

So I was thinking, and then I hear you were saying that this part, the three steps, when it's joy, the thing who puts you inside, the experience, but, so the thing is like, when that, the four emptiness, the lights, but then it's the crystal, the four steps, when does that come? It's like, you are in the black, not aware, like subtle, subtle consciousness, and then you perceive emptiness directly, so it's no me, and then after, it's when you realize like, what I just, what I just seen was emptiness, so it's like emptiness, what I've just seen was emptiness. Oh, I'm super happy, because I'm recognizing it, and it's amazing, and I'm this, I want to be this, but is that experience happening before perceiving emptiness directly, or after perceiving emptiness directly?

[Speaker 1]
And then the thing is, Hey, how many questions are in this question?

[Speaker 2]
Just two. Sorry. And then, do you still having all this amazing realization after you perceive emptiness directly, even if it was a dead moment, you see all the faces, and you see all experience?

[Speaker 1]
Okay, good question. There's a big, it's true that you cannot be aware of a changing thing while you are seeing emptiness, and you cannot be aware of anything which is not emptiness during the direct perception of emptiness. So, haso is not emptiness.

So, while you are seeing emptiness directly, you cannot think, I did it, I saw it. Okay? And Kamalashila is going to talk about that.

When we say joy, it comes before. So, it's not the joy that comes from seeing emptiness. It's not after you see emptiness, then you say, Oh, that's so cool, I saw emptiness.

It's not that. Before you see emptiness, you put your mind in a state of great happiness, and that opens the chi, the prana, in the central channel, and because of that you can see emptiness. So, when people say open heart, you have to have an open heart.

Here it's literally true. Your heart chakra open, and the wind can, the chi can go through the jongmai, central channel. Okay?

So, the joy comes before you see emptiness. Now, unless you're a Buddha, you cannot perceive a changing thing and emptiness at the same time. Not possible, impossible.

So, during the perception of emptiness directly, you cannot feel joy. Then another question comes, can you have joy and not feel it during that time? And they say yes.

This, that comes in another debate, which is, when you have bodhichitta, I want to help the whole world. When you have bodhichitta, that's not the direct perception of emptiness. So, there's a question comes, Oh, all those bodhisattvas, a bodhisattva never sees emptiness directly.

Why you say that? Because a bodhisattva cannot feel bodhichitta during direct perception emptiness. It must be when they start seeing emptiness, they become not bodhisattva.

Then 20 minutes later, when it finished, then they become bodhisattva again. Right? And then the debate say no.

SEMS SKYES KYI SEMS PA'I DGONG NAS SEMS SKYES KYI SEMS PA'I DGONG NAS It means, if you have a big dosa ki cerveza, Mexican beer, okay? Okay, you drink a big Mexican beer. Of course, Buddhists cannot do that.

Then, you are 17 years old, and you go home to see your mom. You come home to go to bed, but your mom is waiting in the kitchen. Then, for those five minutes, you have to pretend— Hi mom.

How are you? Then when you reach your bed, again you kind of— Okay. So, during those five minutes with your mom, in English we say, you are under the influence of the cerveza, but you are not showing it.

Okay? So, that's the same argument. During the direct perception of emptiness, you have bodhichitta, you are under the influence of bodhichitta.

It's holding you, but you don't feel it. Okay? But it didn't go away.

You didn't become not bodhisattva for five minutes. Just in the same way, you didn't become not drunk for five minutes in front of your mom. You just maintain.

Maintain. Got it? So, you go in, the joy takes you into emptiness.

Then the joy is still going, but you don't feel it. Okay? You are still under the influence of the joy like...

like a good... Bauhof? Beer.

Ban... Cinta. Banha.

Cinta. What's that place in... What's that place in Munich where I got the lecture?

Hofbrauhaus. I met the owner of the biggest, oldest beer factory in Germany and he gave me one hour lecture about bliss.

[Speaker 2]
Gemütlichkeit.

[Speaker 1]
Gemütlichkeit. Okay.