«Дар освобождения», курс 10 «Новогодний ретрит», занятие 4

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:00 - 0:49)
Okay, good morning. I hope you had a good sleep. If you didn't, you can sleep in the class, it's okay.

All the 6 a.m. yogis look great. So, still we're talking about the benefit of doing the seven part practice before you meditate. So, we have another quotation, and one Lama is trying to say, oh, how important it is to do those three steps before you meditate.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:55 - 1:06)
Collect new good karma, get rid of old bad karma, and get your teacher's blessing.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:09 - 5:59)
Those three things happen by doing the seven steps. So, we're at YOG KEN GNYIS PO BDAG PA SGO MED MED NAG LAS BDAG PA SGO MED MED NAG LAS means great teachers of ancient times said, SOGS SOGS MED NAG LEN MED SA BON DGRA If you don't try to collect some special good karma before you meditate, then you are like a seed without water. It means you have potential, but nothing's going to happen because you need to water the seed.

Then of course I went to find that quotation to see... I like to go into the database prepared by ACIP, half a million pages, then I can see what's the rest of this quotation. Then there's one Lama, let's see what his name is.

His name is Kyutsang Lobsang Jamyang Monlam. He's from my monastery. He lived about 300 years ago.

Then he said this quotation is, it's not by Je Tsongkapa, but Je Tsongkapa used to quote it. He's talking about the context of this quotation. He's talking about what should you do between your meditation sessions.

So to prepare for your next meditation, you have to start now. So if you want to have a good meditation tomorrow morning, you have to start now. Prepare now.

So he said, actually this quotation is a little bit longer. He said, LO SBYANG MED NA RIM BU'I MAR MED DRA which means before you start your meditation tomorrow morning, today, you must try to love other people. Otherwise the meditation tomorrow will not be good.

Be nice to other people today, then your meditation will be good tomorrow. Otherwise, RIM BU'I MAR MED DRA, that's part of the original quotation. RIM BU'I means a drawing, like by an artist.

What's a MAR MED? MAR MED is a butter lamp. So if you draw a butter lamp, it's not going to make your hands warm.

It's just a picture. And if you try to meditate without being nice to other people before that, it's like a drawing of this fire. It's not going to do anything.

What were the two stories for describing obstacle to see your teacher next to you? What are the two people? Example.

One is Master Asanga. One is Master Chandrakirti. One day Chandrakirti was showing off.

They were having tea, and they didn't have milk for the tea.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:02 - 6:11)
So he took a piece of chalk, and he drew a cow on the wall.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:12 - 8:35)
Then he milked the cow. So this example is not so good. DORM KHRIMS MED NA BDAG MED DER DANG DRA DORM KHRIMS means also you have to keep your morality if you want to meditate.

If you are killing animals, if you are stealing things from people, if you are fooling around with other people's partner, fooling around with other people's partner, then the next day meditation is impossible. So he said DORM KHRIMS MED NA BDAG MED DER DANG DRA A person who tries to meditate without ethics is like a gold mine that nobody found yet. The potential is there, but there's no gold coming out.

Then he said SOGS SOGS MED NA LEN MED SA BON DRA And if you try to meditate without making good karma before, then you are like a seed which has no water. So that's the full quotation. And that's how I'm going to make a five-year course into a 15-year course.

YAN LA BDUN PA'I SGO NAS SA BYA NA NGES PAR PA'I NAS LAM GYIS MIG RNAMS KYONG DGOS KYIS So first you should do the seven steps before meditation, and then you should start your Lamrim meditation. Lamrim means one meditation step by step. DGOS KYIS LAM LTAR RNAMS RE NYAM LEN BYAS PA'I MI'ONG GSUNGS But then our teacher said...

Who's the teacher? Our teacher said... Yeah, Pabongka Rinpoche.

Who's talking?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:38 - 8:39)
Trijang Rinpoche.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:39 - 9:40)
So he said, then our teacher said, you're not going to get anywhere by following a path which goes the wrong way. What does he mean path that goes the wrong way? I'll tell you something important about meditation.

We did it in Guangzhou. We did DCI level three. Because Guangzhou is ahead of everybody in the world.

So we were talking about when you meditate, you are hearing thoughts in your mind. You are the witness. And thoughts are rising in your mind.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:42 - 9:46)
So you are not thinking those thoughts.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:47 - 10:19)
You are just listening. Then who's making those thoughts? They were made yesterday.

You were nice to somebody. Then today, those seeds will create thoughts in your mind. And you have to listen to them.

And you don't have any choice. You can't say, I want nicer thoughts today.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:22 - 10:24)
It's not possible.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:24 - 10:26)
Ask a person who has depression.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:28 - 10:31)
Or a person who gets angry.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:32 - 11:04)
Or a person who wants three churros when they go to Starbucks. You're only listening to those desires, and that anger. You don't have control.

You can't tell a depression person, just be happy. Because they are listening to the thoughts which already happened. The thought happened second before, and now you are listening to that thought.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:10 - 11:14)
You can't change what happened yesterday.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:14 - 11:19)
And when you hear a thought, it is already thunk.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:21 - 11:34)
And you are just listening to what somebody said a millisecond ago. So you cannot control your mind.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:34 - 11:41)
In the moment. In the present moment. You can only plant the seed for tomorrow.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:41 - 11:45)
I want to have a good meditation tomorrow.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:45 - 11:53)
So, I must plant good seeds today. Then I will hear in my mind, great meditation tomorrow.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:58 - 12:10)
So those of you who are fighting to concentrate, just give up. Alright.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:12 - 12:40)
Well, not exactly. Okay. Then I love the next section, and those of you who have studied with me from New York, I think in 1993 or something we started 20 years ago.

So we're also having an anniversary party for that in February in New York.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:43 - 12:50)
It's the 20th anniversary of ACI courses.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:52 - 14:16)
25th anniversary of the Refugee Project. And a new book coming out, I hope. So, you heard me say many things, and now this week I think you will hear the source.

So I didn't make them up. Because a lot of what I teach comes from this one book. And if you learn this book, it's enough.

If you want to teach for the rest of your life, everything is there. So these are seven steps in Tibet. They are called YEN LAG BDUN.

YEN LAG BDUN. BDUN means seven. There goes Maitreya, I guess.

YEN LAG means branch of a tree. In modern, in Tibet, it means a branch of a bank also. So YEN LAG BDUN you can translate as seven parts or seven limbs.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (14:20 - 14:28)
So this preparation for meditation is like a tree, and it has seven branches.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (14:31 - 14:54)
Then he wants to talk about that idea, seven parts. KHRUG GI YEN LAG BDUN DANG LDAN PA'I SHING RTAG DE YEN LAG GCIG MA RTZA BA NA MI'I RDO BA BZHIN If you have a... he's talking about a wagon.

We can talk about a car engine. I like a car engine.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (14:56 - 15:00)
It has a certain number of parts.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (15:01 - 20:12)
And if you take one of them out, it won't go. So same with these seven preparations for meditation. If you are missing one of them, the meditation won't work.

You need all seven. So I think in New York, even many years ago, we used to talk about a spiritual path. It must have certain parts, like a car engine.

Tibetan people think that American people all know how to fix everything. So you go to the refugee camp, and they give you a watch, and they say, can you fix it? You know, you're from America.

Then me and my lama, we had a vochito. Vochito? Yeah, small Volkswagen.

Small Volkswagen. It has almost 300,000 miles on the vochito. In the beginning, we didn't have any money.

Then it broke. One day it broke. Then he said, you fix it.

He always did like that. He said, you fix it. If I tell him I don't know how to fix it, he says, I don't care, you fix it.

So I found a really good book. It's called The Idiot's Guide to Fix a Volkswagen. Completed it.

Then I thought, that's me. I can use this book. So I followed the book very carefully.

I took apart the whole car engine. Then did what they said, then I put it back together. But one piece is left.

I don't know where it goes. Then I tried to start the car. It started.

Then it blew up. Then we had to get a new car. Meditation is not different from that.

There should be seven parts. If you take out one part, maybe your head explodes. So we need to know all of this stuff.

YAN LA GCIG MA TZAM NA, SA BCANG NAS DU MI NGRO BA YIN If one part of the meditation preparation is missing, NAS DU MI NGRO BA means it won't work correctly. Meditation won't work correctly. So now we start the seven parts.

That will take maybe a week, I don't know. Okay. I'll say the first part of the first one.

And then because it's the morning, I thought we should do a little bit more meditation. Meditation in the afternoon is hopeless. So we do a little bit extra in the morning, I think.

Okay, so I will do a little bit. Then you have to have somebody ready, Nick. DANG PO CHAGS LA LU NGA'I YID KYI CHAGS SUM YOD PA So the first of the seven preparations is bowing to your teacher.

You can bow to the Buddha, which is Buddha [?]. But you should bow, you do some bow before. Then bowing before the class or after the class, you can see some people are doing it.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:14 - 20:15)
Okay.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:15 - 23:20)
Then you don't have to do it in this class. If it's not comfortable. When I came first to Buddhist class, I said, I don't want to do that.

It feels uncomfortable to me. So in this class, this week, you don't have to do it. Some people will do it, it's okay.

But it's an old custom. At least to go like this. But it's up to you.

What he said here is, if you don't want to do it with your body, you can do it with your mind. You can bow in your mind. There's also a way to bow with words also.

So there are three ways to bow. One with the body, one with the words, and one in the mind. Where does this custom come from?

I like in the Bible, there's a story about Moses. I think he's on a mountain. On a mountain.

He meets God and he talks to God. God comes as a burning bush. Then if you read that, when Moses sees God as a burning bush, he throws himself on the ground, flat on the ground.

Because if you really met a Buddha, you would throw yourself on the ground. Face in the dirt. Because of the power of that thing.

It doesn't matter who you are, you will throw yourself on the ground. So the custom came from there. Someday in a meditation, you can see a Buddha, or God, you can call God, it's okay.

Or you can call Jesus, doesn't matter. But if you really see them in the meditation, you will throw yourself on the ground. No choice.

And this is where the custom came from.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:22 - 23:23)
Okay.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:26 - 23:55)
So, he quotes a book about prostration, about bowing. This book is called Kelsang Dringyen. Kelsang means lucky people.

People who have good karma. You are all Kelsang. If you are here, you are Kelsang.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:57 - 24:01)
Because there are millions of people who are not here.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (24:01 - 25:18)
So all of your, you have some special karma to be here. Drin means throat. And gyen means jewelry.

So there's a famous book called Necklace for Lucky People. It means it's a special book where you sing the seven parts. JI NYE SO DAG CHOG CHOS JI BSTAN NA DU GSUM ZHAGS PA MI YIN SANGS RGYAS KUN BDAG GIS YANG MA NUS DE DAG THAMS CAD NA LUS DANG SNGAGS KYIS YID DANG ZHAG GI'O Like that, and then you sing it.

You sing the seven parts. We can translate it into Spanish and Chinese and English. And then sometimes we can learn to sing it.

But he quotes it here. JI NYE SO DAG CHOG CHOS JI BSTAN NA DU GSUM ZHAGS PA MI YIN SANGS RGYAS KUN You live in the whole universe. You live on worlds.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:18 - 25:21)
You live on billions of worlds.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:22 - 25:27)
You are the enlightened beings of the future, the present, and the past.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:31 - 25:52)
And you are lions among people. I throw myself down in front of you. With my body, with my words, and with my heart.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:52 - 25:57)
Full of faith. So that's the ... he's quoting that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:57 - 25:59)
He's quoting that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:02 - 27:42)
I like the next part, it's funny. Then we'll do a meditation. MTHIG RNAM NAS GSUM PA'I LUS RE RIG LA SGOS PAG MED SOGS CHAGS MA DE NA So some of the instruction books for this prostration, they say that you should imagine that you have 1,000 heads on your body so you can bow 1,000 times at once.

Then he says, for some people this is not comfortable. To put 1,000 heads on one body is not comfortable. Just to comb your hair will take the whole day.

So he said, if you have trouble to imagine 1,000 heads, you can imagine the countless bodies which you have taken before in your past lives. So, for example, you could take the last 200 bodies that you had and imagine them sitting in this room. It's kind of fun to imagine.

I have a friend, his name is Salim.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:44 - 27:51)
He's a Muslim, but he's a very good Buddhist from Indonesia.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:52 - 28:45)
He has an amazing mind and amazing practice. Then one day I was in the car with him in Australia, I think. I said, Salim, how do you have such a mind and such a practice?

He said, Geshe La, it's not my fault. Joe did that. Then I said, I don't know any Joe in the Australian group.

Where does this Joe live? No, no, Geshe La, Joe is my past life. He did all the good things.

I can't do anything.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:49 - 29:06)
He gave me this body, he gave me this mind. So sometimes it's helpful to imagine sitting in this room your past lives.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:09 - 29:49)
All the Joes and the Josephines that created you. Some will be animals, I think. Some will be dogs.

Cats. You know your past life is uncountable. You have been everything.

You have been President of United States of Mexico many times. Every boy here has also been Miss World many times.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:51 - 29:52)
I'm not kidding.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:56 - 30:14)
I'm not kidding. Every girl has been a soccer champion. Sometimes it's a help.

You can remember and you can imagine this room is full and you can talk to them and say, why didn't you give me some more hair? Like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:25 - 30:35)
And then sometimes they can sing the seven parts together to your teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:36 - 30:49)
And you don't have to try to put one thousand heads on one shoulder. Okay, we're going to do a short meditation and then I think we'll take a break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:49 - 30:50)
Maybe, yeah.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:53 - 33:29)
So, I'm going to sit down. Okay, we'll start again. We have about 20 minutes.

So, I'm going to do some more from the text. You ready? NING DU GCIG STENG NA DU GCIG STENG NA DUR NAS SANGS RGYAS RNAMS So again, he's quoting the song for the seven steps.

And I'll give you the whole verse. Which is DU GCIG STENG NA DUR NAS SANGS RGYAS RNAMS SANGS RGYAS SREG GI U NA ZHUGS PA THAG DE LTAR CHUG GI YID NAM MA ROL PA THAMS CAD RGYAL BA Misspelled. THAMS CAD RGYAL BA BDAG GIS GANG RANG MOD It means DU GCIG STENG NA means on a single atom.

DUR NAS SANGS RGYAS RNAMS You can fit as many Buddhas as there are atoms in the universe. SANGS RGYAS SREG GI U GYI ZHUGS PA THAG And they are sitting surrounded by bodhisattvas. DE LTAR CHUG GI YID NAM MA ROL PA So I imagine all of space.

THAMS CAD RGYAL BA BDAG GIS GANG RANG MOD Filled with Buddhas. ZHES PA DU LUS KHRAB MO CHUG GI STENG DU SANGS RGYAS CI NAS YOD PA ZHUGS NUS PAS DON TE The point of this verse, he says, is that all the Buddhas in the universe can fit on the tip of a single needle. DPER NA GNAS RDOG CIG GI STENG DU MI RGYAL THAMS PA'I MI GZHAD KYI GYIS DU CIG TU BRTEN NA MI RGYAS MI GZHAD KYANG So in Tibet, the most important food is barley.

ZE BA DA [?] Because it's so high, they cannot grow many vegetables or wheat or sugar or things like that. We can say in, we can say vochito. No.

Biscochito. I don't know.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:30 - 33:31)
Biscochito.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:34 - 34:26)
So look at this biscochito. Everybody look at the biscochito. So everybody's eye, eye consciousness is sitting on the biscochito.

And it's not a problem. I don't have to say, you don't look at it right now. I want to look at it.

There's not room on this biscochito for your eye and my eye also. We don't have to say like that. Buddhas are the same.

So if all the Buddhas in the universe, if they focus on this biscochito, then they are there.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (34:28 - 34:30)
Their body is there also.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (34:31 - 35:28)
Why? Why? LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA Okay, you learned it many times.

Here's where it comes. DU CI GYI RTEN DU YES SHES JI TZAM ZHUGS PA DE TZAM GYI GZUGS KU YANG SBYUG PA GSUNGS SBYUG PAS YON TE YIN ZHING DE YANG LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA NAS KYIS YIN Ningpo, can you, LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA can you highlight it? It's down beginning of the third paragraph.

Okay, so all the things which I tell you in the classes, probably you can find them in this book somewhere. So that's a very famous mantra for yogis, for yoga.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (35:33 - 35:46)
LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA Say LUNG LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA SBYUG PA GCIG PA LUNG SEMS LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA SBYUG PA GCIG PA LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA Okay, good.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (35:48 - 38:06)
LUNG means your prana or your chi. SEMS means your mind. SBYUG PA GCIG PA means they ride together like a horse and a horse rider.

So if the prana is running smoothly, your mind is happy and intelligent also and lots of love. And if the prana is not moving smoothly, then you feel angry or you want many things. Why did he mention that principle here?

In yoga we mention it because if we move the body properly with yoga, we can cause the prana to flow smoothly. And then we will feel happy. By the way, if you play a good soccer game, yesterday I think I heard somebody playing, I think, or if you do a good flamenco dance, it also moves the prana.

It also causes the prana to move smoothly. Same. And then after that you feel, you feel fresh and happy.

So that's for, in football, yoga, and flamenco. LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA Mind follows the prana. Why did he mention it here?

Because where the Buddha's mind goes, the prana will follow.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:08 - 38:13)
And their body is made of prana.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:14 - 38:50)
Their body is made of light, which is prana. So, when you say, oh Buddha, look at this vochito, biscochito? This is not vochito, this is biscochito.

When you say, please look at the biscochito, because of LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA and because their body is made of prana, they must come here.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:51 - 38:55)
And they are all sitting on the biscochito.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:56 - 39:41)
And they don't feel crowded. Then that makes it easy for us to bow down to all of them. So, if you imagine all the Buddhas are in this beautiful Buddha which we got yesterday, you can have one Buddha like that on your altar.

Then you can ask all Buddhas, please come sit here. Then you can prostrate to the one Buddha here, and you prostrate to all of them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (39:45 - 39:51)
And you get the karmic seed of prostrating to all of them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (39:52 - 39:53)
Much easier, cheaper.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (39:56 - 40:02)
So you can get a billion times more karma.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:02 - 40:20)
Ask them to come. Just in your mind. Then do one bow, and you bow to a billion.

How much karma you get depends on how much awareness you have that you are bowing to a billion Buddhas.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:31 - 40:54)
And that depends on how much you understand LUNG SEMS SBYUG PA GCIG PA and the idea of SBYUNG SBYUG. SBYUNG SBYUG means, we said yesterday, combination of the two.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:55 - 41:13)
Clear light and the rainbow body. That is enlightenment in tantra. It means where the Buddha's body, where the Buddha's mind goes, the Buddha body has to go together.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (41:14 - 41:16)
SBYUNG SBYUG.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (41:20 - 42:10)
SOGS SHING LA GUS PA'I RDZUS MO DRANG BA'ANG GSOS YANG LUS KYI CHAGS RGYUN So, what does it mean to bow down with your body? Then my teacher, Khen Rinpoche, if he walks, if he leaves from that door, if he goes from this seat to the door, he will pass by the Buddha. Then he always has this thing, he goes by, he goes, you can see some big Tibetan lamas, they are always like, and this is also bowing, they are bowing, they are going like this.

So, maybe you can go like that, I don't know.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:10 - 42:11)
Or like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:12 - 42:45)
But it's okay, everything. He's talking, RDZUS MO DRANG BA means just lift your fingers, he said. When you walk by, you go like that.

I grew up in a Christian church. I like it, I love it. And when you come to the middle, you're supposed to, before you sit down, you're supposed to bow.

That's fine. Something.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:46 - 42:48)
Little thing is okay.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:48 - 43:08)
Okay, RDZUS MO DRANG BA. DE LA RNAM DANG RGA SHES YOD PA LAS There are many kinds of physical prostrations. KUM CHAGS NI One is called KUM CHAGS.

KUM CHAGS means, those of you who study Vajrayogini practice, you should know KYANG KUM.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (43:09 - 43:17)
KYANG KUM Her legs are KYANG KUM.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (43:20 - 43:52)
One leg is extended, one leg is bent. It's very famous in Tantra. KYANG KUM Her legs are like this.

So the KUM means bent. So what do you think is a KUM CHAGS TZAL? KUM CHAGS TZAL This is, we call a half prostration.

So, Mark, you ready? Can you do one?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (43:53 - 43:54)
Okay.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (43:55 - 43:59)
Alright, good. So pretend you are bowing to this Buddha.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:00 - 44:02)
And just a ritual prostration.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:02 - 44:20)
No, this Buddha. No, it's okay. Then, just this Buddha, please.

Then, he goes down to the floor. And stop there. Yeah, he's touching, five things are touching the floor.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:22 - 44:26)
Two hands, two feet, and two knees.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:27 - 44:37)
And his head. Okay, thank you. Stay there though.

No, I mean, you can sit down, but stay there. That's called KUM CHAGS.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:38 - 44:39)
That's KUM CHAGS, that's five parts.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:39 - 45:08)
KUM CHAGS means five, in here it says YAN MA RNGA SA LA REG PA It means five parts of your body are touching the ground. KYANG CHAGS LUS THAMS CAD SA LA BA PA The whole body is extended on the ground. So let's practice that.

You show us one of those. From standing maybe. Yeah, and then you extend your arms.

Yeah, like that. You can lift up your hands slightly.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:09 - 45:11)
Yeah, like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:11 - 45:17)
Okay, and then come back up. So that's called KYANG CHAGS.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:18 - 45:18)
Thank you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:19 - 46:15)
So one is called half prostration, and one is called full prostration. KYANG CHAGS KYI KUNG KYANG CHAGS KYI KUNG means what's the source historically for the full prostration? It's called DONG PO SKO PA'I RDO The sutra called in Tibetan it's called DONG PO SKO PA In Sanskrit it's called GANDAVYUHA SUTRA GANDAVYUHA SUTRA Then here's a quotation from that sutra.

And this is supposed to be the source of a full prostration.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:15 - 46:20)
Here's a quote from that sutra which is the source of that full prostration.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:20 - 47:30)
ZHU NUS NOR SANG GI SHING DONG SHING DONG PO SA LA RGYUR BA SHING DU LUS THAMS CAD SA LA BAG PA STE CHAGS SA BA NA DOD means look at how this prostration is done. Oh young man, his name was Norsang. When you bow down to an enlightened being, you should be like a tree which fell on the ground.

Then the tree trunk doesn't do half prostration, tree trunk does the whole prostration. You should do like that. ZHES PA DE YIN Then I went and tried to find that quotation and that's a long story.

That's a long story. Let me see. Someday I'll teach it to you, okay?

Not today. Then I think we should stop there today.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:32 - 47:33)
This morning.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:34 - 49:50)
But the point is that later they're going to say every atom that your body covers down to the core of the earth, you get one karmic seed. So when you spread your whole body on the floor, all of the earth from your body to the center of the earth, each atom, you are making another karmic seed. So of course it's better to put the whole body on the floor.

When you are in a class, there's not room. Even in the monastery, in our temple it was very, for many years we didn't have enough room in the temple. We were sitting on each other's lap.

Each person's knee has to go over the other person's knee. Then there's only room to go like this. Surya Namaskara.

In yoga we do Namaskara. The meaning of Surya Namaskara is a prostration to an enlightened being. It's not for exercise.

It's because you want to bow to your teacher or to any other enlightened being. So now when you do those Surya Namaskara, you should think of the real meaning. That's the real meaning of the first pose in yoga.

In Buddhism, the Buddha is called the sun, often called the sun.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (49:55 - 50:08)
So when you say bowing to the sun, Surya Namaskara, you can think I am bowing down to my teacher or any enlightened being.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:10 - 50:46)
Whoever is your own, whoever your heart feels your teacher, could be Jesus, could be Confucius, I don't know. But when you do yoga, if you think about that, the yoga is more powerful. That's the original meaning of that namaskar [?].

Then you can make a lot of good karma while you are doing yoga.