«Дар освобождения», курс 10 «Новогодний ретрит», занятие 8

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:00 - 1:05)
Okay, so we'll continue with the second of the seven parts to the preparation for meditation. First one was bowing down. Second one is offering.

We finished the four offerings which have nothing higher, and they are all called drupa chupa. Drupa chupa means that I am offering all the lamas my own practice. And that's the highest offering.

When you teach other people, they ask you, what should I offer? My teacher, I remember one day we went to ...

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:05 - 1:29)
he used to teach in Washington DC, and I was lucky because I was his driver, and his laundry washer, and his cook, and his dishwasher, and his gardener.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:30 - 2:50)
But I was lucky because I got to go with him all the time. So, we drove down to Washington DC. I like to drive him in the car for a long drive, because then I can ask him questions.

No place else I can ask him a question. I lived with him for 25 years, but if I ask him a question in the house, he will say, get out of the room. But in the car he cannot escape.

Sometimes he will pretend to fall asleep. Then one day, one rich lady asked us to come to Virginia near Washington. We had a three-day program in her house.

Then afterwards she said, please come to my room. She had some paper, and she said, this is the deed to my house.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (2:51 - 3:06)
This is the title to my house, and I signed it. I want to give it to you, to my teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:06 - 3:08)
My teacher was a refugee, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:10 - 3:21)
He came to America with one cardboard suitcase, and I'm like, you know?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:23 - 3:32)
Then he said, no, no, you keep your house. He gave the paper back.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:34 - 3:37)
He said, I don't need your house.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:38 - 4:18)
I need you to meditate every morning. This is drupa chupa, the offering of your practice. That's all I want from you.

Then I was very impressed. When I met him, I offered him my bank book. He took it like this, and he threw it at me.

It was very cute. Okay, so now there's going to be a quotation from Drolungpa.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:19 - 4:30)
I think he's calling now. That's five hundred pesos.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:33 - 4:34)
We need some money.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:35 - 4:39)
Nick, make sure you charge whoever that five hundred.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:41 - 5:07)
Then Drolungpa lived a thousand years ago. He wrote a book. He was a Kadampa, one of the first hippie Tibetan lamas.

Then he wrote a very beautiful book. It's called Tenrim Chenmo, Tenrim Chenmo.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:07 - 5:08)
Tenrim Chenmo.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:08 - 6:23)
It means the great book on the steps of the teaching. Then four hundred years later, Je Tsongkapa found that book. He freaked out, and he said, I want to write a book like that.

Je Tsongkapa wrote Lamrim Chenmo. He used the same name, Lamrim Chenmo. That's the greatest book ever written in Tibet.

It's like the Shakespeare of Tibet. So, this is an important book for us. It was lost.

It was lost since 1959. One day my teacher and I, we were in the house of the reincarnation of the lama who wrote this book.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:23 - 6:27)
Trijang Rinpoche number two.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:27 - 7:30)
That was at Ganden Monastery. I was in the annual debate competition. We call it winter debates.

So, they choose fifty monks from each monastery. And for one month we fight with each other. It's like the Olympics.

Sometimes all night. They call it sempe damcha. You debate all night.

Then I knew that the other, the first Trijang Rinpoche had a good book collection. So, I asked permission from the new Trijang. Can I look at the books?

And I'm looking through all the books. There's one big one.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:31 - 7:32)
I opened it up.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:32 - 9:06)
Lamrim Chenmo. It's been missing for 25 years. Then we typed it into the computer.

And we printed it. And we gave it away to all the monks. But it's an extraordinary book.

It's a thousand pages. So, anyway, here's a quotation from it. gu dang chu ten ngun tsam ngun sum min, che dang che chu nye kor gyel chen dang, nyel mong che min drupe chos pa, chu shepa nam kyang bu, shepa nam kyang bu gu.

So, this is how to offer. Ten ways to offer. By the way, later we found a copy.

We found several copies in Russia also. So, he just lists the ten kinds of offering. He doesn't tell what they are.

So, I went and got it for you from the original book. So, the first word there is ngun sum, ngun sum. Ngun sum means directly.

I think some of you know ngun sum tsema. Ningbo, what's ngun sum tsema?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:06 - 9:09)
Some of you know ngun sum tsema.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:10 - 10:26)
Yeah, direct perception, valid perception. Yoga Sutra says pratyaksha anumana agama. First one, pratyaksha, direct perception.

That means you can hand an offering to the Buddha himself or herself. Second one, ngun sum min. Ngun sum min, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. The quotation starts from gu. Gu means the body of the Buddha.

So, you can offer directly to a man or a woman Buddha. Then, second word there is chö ten. Chö ten means stupa.

It's a special kind of temple. So, you can chö ten nam tsam gong You can make offerings like on an altar.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:27 - 10:29)
You can make offerings like an altar.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:31 - 13:47)
GSUM PA NAS DE DAG DBANG PO LA NA BA NGUN GSUM DU NYID DU SPYOD PA STE Then the third one, ngun sum means directly. You can offer, hang on a second. Okay.

You can offer directly to a Buddha or to a temple. And you can think that you're offering it to all the Buddhas and all the temples in the world, or in the universe. ZHIG PA NAS DE NYID NGUN GSUM DU MA GYUR PA LA SANGS RGYAS NI CHOS TAN THAMS CAD KYI CHER NGA MA BZHIN DU BSAM PA SPYOD PA BYAS PO Then that becomes offering number four, which is ngun sum min means to the temples and to the Buddhas who you can't see.

SNGAGS PA NAS DE DAG LA SPYOD PA BYA BA DGOS PA'I RANG NYID KYI BSLAG GIS SPYOD PA BYAS KYI LAS BLO DANG MYONG DU DANG BHAG MED PA'I THAN KHO LA SOGS PA SPYOD DU MIN GYUR PO The next one is called BYAS BYAS PA BYAS PA means you offer it with your own hands. As opposed to the sixth one, which is CHEN GZHUGS. CHEN GZHUGS means you ask, you give an offering to somebody else, and you say, you know, you are going to tequila [?].

Can you put that on the altar when you get there? And then he makes a note, he says, don't be lazy and send somebody else when you can go yourself. And he says, when you ask somebody else to do it, we call THABS KAS, THABS KAS.

So, for example, I had a woman, I think it was in Russia, and she said her son is mentally handicapped, right? Challenged. And she wants to know, how can he make good karma seeds?

So I said, take him to the school, or take him to the hospital where children are staying. Then he can't think about giving things [?] to other children. So I said, take him to the hospital where children are, put some toy in his hand, then push his hand to the other child.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:51 - 13:53)
Release his fingers.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:53 - 16:15)
Then the other child will get the toy. And he will get some karma. So, we can do the same.

I have a friend, he's a big diamond dealer. He used to have, I think, like 200 million dollars. But then his company started to go down.

And I thought, he's not giving any money to anybody. So I asked him, let's go to dinner. And I took him to dinner.

I said, don't worry, I'm paying. Then we went to dinner. Very nice dinner.

Then it finished the dinner. I took out a hundred dollar bill. Then I said, he said, what's the hundred dollars for?

I said, I love to give a big tip to the waiter. He said, a hundred dollars is crazy. I said, you know, we are Buddhist people, we do a lot of crazy things.

Then the waiter is coming. Then I said, you know, I have to go pee pee. Really bad.

You give him the hundred dollars. Then I went to the bathroom. But I didn't sit down.

I'm watching in the bathroom. Then he's like this. Then the waiter is like...

Then he's like... Then I came back. I said, how do you feel?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:16 - 16:19)
He said, I feel great.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:20 - 16:26)
Now he started to do by himself. Maybe fifty dollars.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:30 - 16:46)
You can trick other people. Ask them to give something for you. Then they start to get a habit.

They see how much fun it is.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:46 - 16:55)
Like that. This number six, have the other person do it for you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:57 - 16:58)
Especially if they are very cheap.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:01 - 17:23)
Then they will see how much fun it is to give. Okay, number seven. So the next one is NYE KUR.

NYE KUR means things you give to show respect to other people.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:29 - 17:45)
For example, if some people worked very hard in the kitchen to cook your food, then you might collect some money for them. Just a gift.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:47 - 17:54)
And that's called NYE KUR to show respect for those people. That's number seven.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:57 - 18:05)
If you don't have the original book, it's difficult to divide correctly.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:06 - 18:30)
Then RGYA CHEN means, RGYA CHEN means very big. Here it means give those things for a long time. Like continue to help those people in the kitchen, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:33 - 18:39)
So maybe one time we collect money for them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:39 - 19:17)
But then maybe next time you're in Guadalajara, you go see their Hare Krishna center, and you make some little donation or something. And you keep doing. You don't stop.

To remember the good thing which they did years ago. That's very powerful with the teachers who taught you in the school. You should thank them.

I like to go see my sixth grade teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:21 - 19:23)
He's still alive.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:24 - 19:46)
And the monk who helped to make me a monk, Geshe Lothar, that was 30 years ago. Still I send him some gifts every year. Help him to build his new house and things like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:48 - 19:54)
So to keep giving the gift for a long time.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:55 - 21:06)
And your gratitude lasts for a long time. And it makes you happy. To show gratitude for other people for a long time, it makes your whole life happy.

Okay. Sorry, this is kind of a long book. ,GUB PA NI RANG GI LAG GIS BYAS KYI, ,LAS SOGS PA'I GZHAN NA MI TSUL MA DANG, ,GOS PA LA MI MYONG BA DANG, ,RGYUR PA LA SOGS PA NYON GONG GYI PAS TSUL SHING MA YIN PA, The next one is NYON MONGS CAN MIN.

NYON MONGS CAN MIN means when you give things there shouldn't be a bad motivation. You should do with respect. Don't throw the gift at them.

When you are offering something to somebody, concentrate on the offering.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:06 - 21:12)
Don't think about other things.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:12 - 21:16)
Like if you are making dinner for somebody, to honor them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:20 - 21:23)
Then focus on them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:23 - 21:38)
The, what do you call? iPad, iPhone, i-i-everything, you can leave it for a few hours. And focus on that person.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:39 - 21:42)
And then that's a better gift.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:45 - 24:00)
RUNG BA'I DNGOS PO means when you offer something, it should be a clean thing, a pure thing. So when you offer something to somebody, you should think, will this hurt them? Or did it hurt anybody to make this thing?

Like, I think when you offer alcohol, you should be careful. Or you cook meat for somebody. Things like that, be careful.

If the things hurt other people, or maybe they will hurt them. I knew a very good monk to put a lot of effort into that Tibetan [?]. Then one person came to study with him from America.

And I felt that person was a little bit, how do you say? I had bad feeling around this person. Then he offered that lama a television.

And he watched that television for, I don't know, twenty years. And I always felt a little bit bad about it. So, be careful what you give to people.

Then he says an interesting thing, I think we should talk about it. Oh, by the way, he also mentions offerings which hurt the environment. So this is a thousand years ago.

Don't offer things which hurt the environment. But in this example he also says, give something because you want something back.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (24:06 - 24:11)
You shouldn't give for that reason.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (24:13 - 25:11)
Then in the DCI [?] tours, many people ask me a question. You are teaching people to give money because they can plant a karma seed and then they can get more money. And you are teaching people to go to the nursing home and visit the lonely person so they can get a boyfriend.

Then that seems like a bad motivation. When you give a gift, you should give it out of love. And not because you ...

you don't give somebody ten dollars and say, okay, now give me a hundred, okay? This is not a beautiful gift.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:13 - 25:18)
So many people ask me this question.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:20 - 25:35)
So for example, it's true, if you go to the nursing home to help the old person, only because you want a boyfriend.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:36 - 25:45)
Somebody asked the Buddha, will it work if your motivation is selfish?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:46 - 25:48)
Buddha said what? Do you know?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:50 - 25:51)
He said, yes, it will work.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:52 - 26:28)
It's like a law of the universe. Like gravity. If the feather is lighter than the world or mass, then if I let it, the petal [?], then it will fall.

If you help a lonely person, you will get a boyfriend. You can't stop it. Even if you want to stop it, you can't stop it.

There is a lady in Europe, she said she wanted a boyfriend.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:31 - 26:34)
I met her in Hamburg.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:34 - 26:37)
She's not from Hamburg, but I'm not going to tell you where she's from.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:40 - 26:42)
She said, Geshe La, I want a boyfriend.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:44 - 27:01)
I said, help the lonely old lady. Then she helped, she's a little bit, what do you call? Overachiever.

So she helped many old ladies.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:03 - 27:15)
Then next time I went to Hamburg, she flew to Hamburg to ask me one question. Geshe La, now I have a problem.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:17 - 27:33)
There's like ten boys who want to be my boyfriend. How do I take out the seed? Then, if you want it or you don't want it, if you do it, it's going to come.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:38 - 27:42)
Even if your motivation is bad, it will come.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:43 - 27:55)
But if the motivation is selfish, the boyfriend will be selfish. We call in English son of a gun.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:57 - 27:59)
Son of a gun.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:03 - 30:16)
He won't be kind. He will be selfish. Because your motivation was selfish.

So what to do? When you use this karma method, four steps, when you use the karma method, you have to have this vision. You must have this vision.

I will visit the nursing home. I will plant the seed for a boyfriend. I will get a beautiful boyfriend.

All of my friends will copy me. And their friends will copy them. Like nuclear bomb.

Like a virus. Everybody will go to the nursing home. And I started the virus.

Because I went to the nursing home. Then that motivation is higher. There will be no more lonely people in the world.

And it will start with me. So a lot of Buddhist people and a lot of Buddhist teachers, I believe they don't understand this point. Is it wrong for a Buddhist person to be successful?

Is it wrong to have a nice house? Is it wrong to have a nice car? Is it wrong to send your children to a good college?

It's not wrong. If you have the right motivation, I will be successful. I will be an example for other people.

I will be successful and I will be very happy.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:16 - 30:19)
And other people will copy me.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:20 - 30:22)
Then the whole world will be successful.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:24 - 30:27)
That's not a problem. That's love.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:28 - 30:47)
So there's a way to give things and you want something back, which is wrong. And there's a way to give things and expect something back, which is good. And you have to be careful.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:50 - 31:00)
When they draw those Amitabha Paradise, there's lots of nice things there.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (31:03 - 31:52)
They're not like sitting on the side of the road. If it's okay for Amitabha, it's okay for us. But they have the right attitude.

Okay, number ten, then we'll take a break. CHOS PA NI CHUNG ZAD CHUNG ZAD DANG, YOD TZAM YOD TZAM THA NA THA NA BA SPYOD TZAM GYI BAR DU BANG, SEMS CAN THAMS CAD LA BYAMS PA LA SOGS PA BSGOM PA DANG, DU BYED THAMS CAD LA MI LTA PA LA SOGS PA DANG, KHOY DU GSOS NA BAR DU DU BYAMS PA RJES SU BRTAM PA DANG, SPYOD THAMS CAD KYIS BDE BZHIN PA NI, LAM ROL PAR BSGOM PA GNAS PAR BYED TE, DE'O BSGOM PA'I KHO NAS BAR DO LTA CI MOD Number ten is drupa chupa. Okay, that's the final and the highest level.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (31:52 - 32:05)
The highest offering. According to the oldest teachings in Tibet.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:06 - 32:15)
If you can tell me what is drupa chupa, you can have refreshments. Can you have refreshments?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:16 - 32:17)
Sorry.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:18 - 32:19)
Well, you can have a break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:22 - 32:25)
Or go to the bathroom. What's drupa chupa?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:27 - 32:28)
Offer your own practice.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:30 - 32:30)
Offer.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:33 - 32:56)
People give me their, what do you call? Six times book. People offer me their the book that they write in six times, what they did good or what they did bad.

I love it. I love those books. I have a pile of them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (32:57 - 33:00)
And I keep them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:00 - 33:28)
When you open them, they are all the same. I was jealous of so and so. I tried to do my meditation, but not the whole time.

I used to have a small temple in New York. And one day, one lady snuck into my room and took the confession book.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:33 - 33:37)
She thought it was mine. She's looking.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:39 - 33:41)
Then I said, I don't like this lady. It was her.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:47 - 33:50)
And she got very angry at me.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:50 - 33:53)
I said, you stole the wrong book. It's not my book.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:59 - 34:07)
So anyway, when you give the book to the teacher, they are happy.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (34:08 - 34:15)
That's a drupa chupa. And that's the highest offering, number ten. Okay, we'll take a break.