«Дар освобождения», курс 14 «Красота учителя», занятие 4

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:00 - 0:13)
This is the fourth benefit of having a good teacher. What was the first one? Yeah, you get closer to enlightenment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:17 - 0:20)
Second one, all the Buddhas are happy.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:21 - 0:28)
Oh look, my kid has finally become a lawyer, you know, a doctor.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:35 - 0:36)
Number three?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:39 - 1:06)
I don't remember number three. Oh yeah, if you have a teacher it protects you. So now we are at number four.

Number four means if you have a teacher then all your bad thoughts and all your bad behavior, they will start to disappear automatically.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:17 - 1:24)
And there are two reasons for that. Let's read the text.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:25 - 1:58)
,ZHIS PA NYON MONGS NYE SPYOD THAMS CAD RANG BZHUGS KYI RGAGS PA NI, All your bad thoughts and all your bad habits, behavior, will start to disappear automatically. RANG BZHUGS means automatically. ,GZHAN YAN LA BSTAN PA'I SPANG LANG RNAMS SU BZHIN GZHAN NAS DE LTAR BYED LA, Say SPANG LANG.

SPANG LANG There's another more famous version, it's LANG DOR.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:59 - 2:02)
LANG DOR.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (2:02 - 2:43)
LANG means, what are the good things I should do? So what is DOR? What's the bad things I shouldn't do?

So teacher will explain to you, this is LANG, this is DOR. You should do this thing, you shouldn't do this thing. I think most of us, we understand LANG DOR.

For example, in Mexico, we have a strong old church tradition.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (2:48 - 2:51)
Then there are ten rules.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (2:54 - 2:59)
They are very similar to Buddhists. You shouldn't kill people.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:00 - 3:01)
Don't steal things.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:02 - 3:49)
Don't fool around with other people's partner. Then you are lucky if you grow up in a country which has this tradition. You are very lucky.

It's not automatic. There are countries where they don't have this thing. I went to Russia.

We did 14 year project there. We cataloged 141,000 books in St. Petersburg. The first time I went there, the communism just collapsed.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:54 - 3:55)
I was sitting in the airport.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:58 - 4:02)
It was a little bit nervous because the country is very shaky.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:06 - 4:08)
It was difficult to find food.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:11 - 4:45)
Some guy sat down next to me. Then he said, can I give you my business card? Then I said, okay.

Oh, your name is Ivan. Then it doesn't say what is your business. Then he said, I kill people.

Oh. He said $75. I will kill anyone for you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (4:48 - 4:58)
You give me their name. Give me their address. Give me $75.

Tomorrow they will be dead.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:00 - 7:24)
Then I'm like, oh, okay. I will contact you. Then I said, I have to go to the bathroom.

But it means they don't have, at that time, even the basic idea, it's wrong to kill somebody. So you are lucky you grew up in this tradition. That's lucky.

So all of us, most people, we understand we shouldn't hurt people. It's not good to lie to other people. It's not good to hurt other people's marriage or relationship.

That's langdor. That's langdor. But it becomes more subtle with a lama.

For example, my lama had a student and my lama told him the story about Milarepa. So he said Milarepa, when he gave up all his things and he went into the forest and he went to the mountain and he went to the cave and he lived there and he only eat nettles. Then this guy, next day he didn't come to class.

Then everybody is like, what happened to him? Many days he didn't come to class. Then after, I don't know, three weeks, he came back to class.

Then he looks very sad. He looks very dirty. He didn't take any shower.

His hair looked like Milarepa. We are like, where did you go? Lama said Milarepa went to the forest to give up everything.

I also did.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:28 - 7:29)
Where did you go?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:30 - 7:34)
Then I was living in New Jersey.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:36 - 7:44)
He went across the street into the, there's a small forest there, like one mile.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:48 - 8:23)
He sat under a tree for three days. What happened? He got hungry.

He got cold. He couldn't sleep. The bugs are crawling.

Then he, Lama said, you didn't come to the second day. I want to talk about Milarepa the second day. For us, we shouldn't do that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:26 - 8:36)
It's better to have a small apartment with a heater, with a refrigerator. No bugs can come in.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:38 - 9:26)
If Milarepa had a small apartment, he would like it. So you need to be near a lama. You need to be close to a lama.

Then they make adjustments in your langdor. They can tell you the difficult points. If I want to make a donation, but my husband is not a Buddhist, am I allowed to use the family money or not?

Then the lama has to explain to you the small langdor.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:30 - 9:40)
So you have to be near a lama all the time. When you drive a car, you don't go like this.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:42 - 9:50)
You watch somebody drive a car. They are like this. The new driver doesn't know that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:54 - 9:55)
They are always going like this.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:58 - 10:24)
But later, even you can listen to [?]. What is [?]? It's a group of music.

You can listen to rock and roll, and you can talk to your friend, and you can drink Starbucks, and you can drive like this. You can do your makeup in the mirror. That's dangerous.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:26 - 10:31)
But you can make small adjustments in your path.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:32 - 10:37)
And the lama helps you to do. So it's good to be close to a lama.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:39 - 10:42)
Lama has experience.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:43 - 11:13)
Why? They made all those mistakes before themselves. They are not perfect person.

But they made mistake and they corrected. So good to be close to them. That's the first reason why your bad thoughts and bad behavior automatically start to go away because they train you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:20 - 11:22)
Then there's a second reason, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:23 - 13:36)
DER MA ZAD Not only that, THA LTAR ZHES NYANG GI SDUN DU GDUG PA DANG If you are in the physical presence of your teacher, DGE RGYEN GYI RTZAR BDOD PA RNAMS or even if you are just in the presence of your DGE RGYEN means your scripture teacher or your mom, GNAS CHOS RANG ZHUGS KYI RGAGS PA of course you're not going to do anything bad because they are watching you. We call face time in English. Face time means you are in the physical presence of this person.

Then of course you are embarrassed to do something wrong. Everybody acts very good around their teacher. Then when they get home they start to get crazy.

Unfortunately some people, we call KYANG RANG SHOR KYANG RANG SHOR KYANG RANG SHOR means even they get the bad habit at home and then they cannot stop their bad behavior near the Lama also. They start to do bad behavior near the Lama also. But usually if you are near your teacher frequently during that time you are not going to have big fights with other people or you know This is also an important reason to stop bad behavior near your teacher.

Where else did you hear this idea? Do you remember? Where did we talk about this idea?

Course number five? ACI five. What is ACI course number five?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:37 - 13:38)
Abhidharma, how karma works.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:38 - 13:43)
Oh, sorry. What's the bodhisattva vow course?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:43 - 13:43)
Seven.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:44 - 13:46)
Do you remember anything from there?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:48 - 13:52)
Do you remember anything from that course? The bodhisattva course number seven? The ACI course?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:58 - 14:30)
Yeah, good, good. When someone gives you vows, when you try to choose who is giving you vows, bodhisattva vows, monk's vows, refuge vows, tantric vows, try to choose a teacher that you are near them frequently because that will help you keep the vows.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (14:33 - 14:55)
For example, if you took a vow not to lie or you took a vow not to eat meat then if the person that you take the vow from if you are with them every day that's better.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (14:56 - 15:25)
Then when you want to eat meat you feel embarrassed. They will see I'm breaking the vow. Some people, they want to take a vow, they travel to the other side of the world and they go to some big lama and they take the vow.

They think, oh this will be more powerful. The vow.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (15:27 - 15:46)
They think this will be more powerful because I'm taking the vow from a big lama but it's not more powerful. Because you're not near them all the time.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (15:47 - 16:58)
So try to take the vow from someone who's close to you or move close to the lama that you like. When I chose my Tibetan lama I met a very high lama and I asked them, who's a good teacher? Is there any good teacher in America?

They said, yeah, there's one. I said, who? Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin.

Then I said, great, I will go stay with them. At that time I was living in California and Hawaii. Why?

Because the best surfing is there. Really. Then I said, where does the lama live?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:00 - 17:01)
New Jersey.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:04 - 17:08)
In America we call New Jersey the armpit of the nation.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:15 - 17:17)
They are making all the gasoline there.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:19 - 17:32)
The whole northern part of the state stinks like rotten eggs. And I never saw snow until I went to New Jersey.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:36 - 17:37)
Snow came down.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (17:39 - 18:15)
Then I'm like, oh, it's so beautiful. And I'm playing in the snow. And then I said, okay, when does it go away?

Tomorrow or next day? Five months. Five months.

Then then but I went there and I lived there for 25 years so I could be close to my teacher. I lived in my teacher's house for 25 years.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:16 - 18:17)
In New Jersey.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:21 - 18:29)
So my personal advice, if you find a good teacher move close to them, be close to them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:32 - 18:43)
For me it was very successful and it made me very happy and I learned all these things.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:44 - 19:23)
Okay, we have 10 minutes. I'm going to use it. He's going to quote a scripture.

This is a Buddhist teaching tradition. When you explain some new idea first explain and say everything logically so it makes sense to the other people.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:24 - 19:44)
Use many examples like Russia and things like that After that you should quote famous people that people believe them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:49 - 20:22)
This process is called lung rik say lung rik lung rik It's so famous in Tibet monastery that even some monk's name is lung rik. The monk who took care of my teacher for many years is Jampa Lung Rik. So rik means logic.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:25 - 20:34)
Then lung means a quotation from the scriptures.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:34 - 21:04)
It's like somebody asks you, what's for dinner tonight? Then you can answer with logic or you can answer with scripture. What is logic?

Somebody asked me, what's for dinner tonight? Sorry, should be Nick. Nick asked me what's for dinner.

Then I say, I think we are having quesadilla.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:06 - 21:07)
Cheese crisp.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:09 - 21:30)
Then they say, what? Then they say, why you think that? Oh, I saw the car came up and Pao came out and she had many corn tortillas.

And then I saw Aldo he has carrying some cheese, you know.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:33 - 21:38)
So using my logic I think we are having cheese crisp tonight.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:42 - 21:47)
Then not only logic I met Alejandro outside.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:49 - 21:50)
He's the boss of the retreat.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:52 - 22:18)
I asked him, what are we having tonight for dinner? He said cheese crisp. He said quesadilla.

So this is scripture. Then it's completely sure we are having cheese crisp tonight. You proved it with the two ways.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:21 - 22:24)
Logic and authority.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:25 - 22:26)
Lung and rik.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:27 - 22:28)
Lung and rik.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:29 - 23:38)
So now we have to do lung. We have to show this quotation about what? If you stay near your teacher because you are embarrassed to do bad things and because they are always teaching you what's a good thing, what's a bad thing then automatically you will become a better person.

SDONG PO BKOD PA LAS SDONG PO BKOD PA means special book. It's a sutra. DONG PO means like a tree trunk or a stalk of bamboo or something like that.

BKOD PA means in special arrangement. In Sanskrit it's called Gandavyuha Sutra. Very famous sutra but if you look for it you cannot find it.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:42 - 23:48)
Because it's a chapter in another sutra.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:48 - 27:32)
That other sutra is called Avatamsaka. So if you are looking for it look in the Avatamsaka. And don't look for it by its name because it's not called that in that sutra.

That's just the name everybody calls it. Inside Avatamsaka it's called DONG BU RGYEN PA which means adorned with the trunks adorned with the tree trunks. It means like this park has beautiful, it's like a jewel the tree trunks are like a jewel.

So he quotes that sutra. Only a little piece. I went and got you the whole thing.

That's why this class is so slow. Okay, here we go. This one definitely I'm going to give you the whole thing because it's very beautiful.

DGE BA'I GZHAN YIN GYIS YOD SU BSRUNG BA'I BYANG CHUB So this is not in the text, okay. DGE BA'I GZHAN YIN GYIS YOD SU BSRUNG BA'I BYANG CHUB SEMS PA RNAMS NI Those bodhisattvas who are living near their teacher LAS DANG NYON MONGS PA'I THUB PA RGA BA YIN Their karma and their bad thoughts will not beat them. DGE BA'I GZHAN YIN GYIS RTOGS KYIS BSTAN PA'I BYANG CHUB SEMS PA RNAMS NI Because of the power of the teacher DUS THAMS CAD KYIS MI THUB PA YIN NO Also those bodhisattvas bodhisattva here means a student, right?

They will not be defeated by the demons. DGE BA'I GZHAN YIN GYIS BSTAN LA GNAS PAS BYANG CHUB SEMS PA RNAMS NI Those bodhisattvas who have the foundation of a teacher BYANG CHUB KYIS YANG LA THAMS CAD NI RNAM PAR PHAL LO All of their bodhisattva qualities will grow higher and higher. Those of you who are studying Tibetan there's a special verb in Tibetan for going to a teacher and behaving correctly with them.

We don't have a word like that in English. I don't know Spanish. It's one word BSTEN and it means find a teacher, connect with a teacher and behave correctly towards the teacher and become a Buddha.

It's a beautiful verb, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:33 - 27:35)
It's a very beautiful verb.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:35 - 28:00)
So it's BSTEN Then I like this quotation from this is Lord Buddha talking. I like this quotation because he says the bodhisattva should have the foundation of a teacher. The building of the bodhisattva should be resting on the foundation of the teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:03 - 28:24)
Buddha says that the building of a bodhisattva should have the pillars of a teacher. And the word in Tibetan for foundation is what?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:25 - 29:09)
BSTAN So they use the word for foundation for this process of having a teacher and becoming enlightened because of your teacher. DE'I PHYI PHYIR GZHAN NA Why will that bodhisattva get more and more higher, higher and higher? RIGS KYI BU, DGE BA'I GZHAN NAS NI, SBYIS PA'I RGYUD PA'I PHYIR GZHAN BYAS LA'I RNAM PAR BRAL BA'O Because the teacher has themselves had many problems before and they fought with those problems and they got over those problems.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:19 - 30:07)
Benjamin Franklin said Benjamin Franklin said that the captain whose ship got run on the reef, who got stuck on the reef, the captain who crashed their ship on the reef, they know where the reef is. So, the teacher who made mistakes in their life, they can teach you about mistakes.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:07 - 33:01)
,DE BA'I GZHAN YIN NI, ,DIG MTHO LAS RNAM PAR MDOG PO, That teacher has finished their bad habits. ,DE BA'I GZHAN YIN NI, ,MI BYA BA RNAM GONG DU CHUG PAR BYED PA'O, That teacher knows what's a bad thing and what's a good thing to do. ,BAG MED PA'I GNAS LA YANG DAG PAR MDOG PO, They used to be, how do you say?

They used to be a little crazy and now they're not so crazy. ,MA RIG PAS MNGON PA RNAM PAR ZAL BA'O, They cleared away the darkness of not understanding. ,LTA BA'I PHYIN BA LTU PA'O, They broke the chains of thinking about things the wrong way.

,KHOR BA'I GRONG KHYER NI DON PA'O, They got on the train and they left the city of the suffering of samsara. ,JI STEG GI GNAS DOR BAR BYED PA'O, They got rid of the suffering world. ,DUG GI ZHAG PA LAS THAR PA BYED PA'O, They broke off the lasso of the demons.

Rope that you use to catch a cow. Yeah, yeah, they broke this man, teaching. Demons.

,SDUG BSNGAL GYI GSUM BU JIN PA'O, They ripped out the pain of this life. ,MI SHES PA'I THIB PA LAS THAR PA BYED PA'O, They walked out of the darkness of the room of not understanding. ,LTA BA'I MYA NGAN LAS YONGS SU RTOG PA'O, They left behind the grief or the sadness which is caused by not understanding things.

,GZIS PA'I CHU BO LAS GRU BA'O, They swam across the ocean of suffering and they reached [?] or something like that. ,GDOD PA'I DANG NAS SBYIN PA'O, They struggled out of the mud of the sea of suffering.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:03 - 33:15)
They came out of the swamp of this life.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:16 - 33:43)
,LAM NI BDE BA NAS RNAM PAR RTOG PA'O, They turned off the bad road. ,CHAN GYUR SEMS PAS LAM YANG DAG PAR DONG PA'O, Therefore they can teach you the path. ,CHAN GYUR SEMS PAS YID DAM LA ZHOG PA'O, They are under the care of the [?].

Okay, we stop there.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:44 - 33:44)
Beautiful.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:45 - 34:48)
,CHIN PUN GYI GYUR SEM LEN POR RTOG, We rise. ,YIN SHIN YIN DEN RIN PA NI, Sangye Shindu YIN TE DU WA NI, ,DUG NAM DAK SHIN NA CHEN PAR ZHOG, ,YIN HANG PURU RANG NAM NAM NARAKAM GYUR YANG TAI, ,DUG WA NI GYUR OKUN SEM NAM NI SHIN SOG SOG SHIN, ,SEM NAM NI SHIN NI CHUNG YIN NAM PAR GUR YIN RTOG PAR ZHOG,