«Дар освобождения», курс 14 «Красота учителя», занятие 10

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:00 - 0:08)
So I'm going to go for 15 minutes. Then I have a suggestion.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:09 - 0:14)
Everybody here should learn how to take a 10 minute yoga break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:19 - 0:24)
When you are working on your computer all day.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:24 - 0:37)
For me, it's afternoon. It's like 2 or 3 o'clock, I start to get like this. Then there's a thing called a 10 minute yoga break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (0:41 - 0:59)
It's very valuable to learn. So I'm going to ask Anatole, at 3:45 in 15 minutes, anybody who wants to, take a 10 minute yoga break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:04 - 1:08)
Can we allow to do it there? Not so good.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:08 - 1:10)
At that dress?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:10 - 1:11)
Under the tree?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:11 - 1:20)
Okay, we'll do it behind here. Ah, there's tents already? Okay, so let's do it over there, yeah.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:20 - 1:35)
Okay, so there will be, if you want, you don't have to. First do a 2 minute pee pee break. Then we'll have a 10 minute yoga break.

That's a very valuable thing to learn.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:38 - 1:46)
Many people, American people, at 3 o'clock, they take chocolate break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:50 - 1:58)
To get some, to get fresh, to get more energy. They drink some coffee or they eat some chocolate.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (1:58 - 2:00)
Junk food. Junk food.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (2:03 - 3:17)
And it hurts your body. So, let's try, okay? 10 minute yoga break.

It's one of the most valuable life skills you can learn. Okay, let's go back to the book. DUS KYI SNYING PO LAS The lamrim called Essence of Nectar.

You okay, Adam? Are we on it? Okay.

DOR NA DOR NA means to summarize. GZHAN YIN BSTAN PAS If you have a good relationship with a good teacher, GNAS SKABS SU means in the short term. MI KHOM LAS LTAR means you can avoid the lack of opportunity.

You can avoid the lack of opportunity.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:18 - 3:24)
That's a code word in Buddhism. Do you know what it means?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:29 - 3:41)
Yeah, so what does it mean when we say leisure? What's the opposite of leisure? It's to be born in other places, okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:46 - 3:54)
So, when you see that word in Tibetan, MI KHOM, MI KHOM, it means no leisure.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (3:58 - 5:07)
But it's a code word. There are many, many code words in Buddhism. This code word means you are born in a place where you don't have a chance to practice.

It could be that you are born in a country where this kind of meeting is not allowed. It could be that you don't have money to come. It could be that you, physically, you have some problem hearing or seeing and you cannot practice.

You cannot engage in this class completely. Or mentally, you just cannot, you cannot grasp what's being taught. Like today, I took Latino dance class.

Eighty percent of what she did, I cannot even imagine me doing.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:14 - 5:21)
What her hips are doing, I never saw anything like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:22 - 5:49)
She said, do it! And I'm like, what do you mean, do it? I don't have capacity.

So some people don't have dharma capacity. They are born without dharma capacity. And even if you bring them here, they don't know, what are you talking about?

Space number three, space number ... I don't understand what you're talking about.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (5:55 - 6:34)
You should understand something about yourself. If you are sitting here, doesn't matter what country you are from, doesn't matter how old you are, man or woman, how many classes you came to in the past, doesn't matter. If you are here today, this week, out of a hundred million people, you are the best one.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:35 - 6:45)
You are the most amazing person out of a hundred million. I'm not saying I'm a special person. I'm not saying that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (6:48 - 7:20)
To hear about these things, to have the good karma to be here, each one of you, even the one who is asleep right now, you are one in a hundred million people. Please don't forget it. You are extraordinarily good karma.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:20 - 7:25)
Your karma is, if I really told you, your head would explode.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:31 - 7:43)
If I could show you how many thousands of years you worked to come here, you would go crazy.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:45 - 7:46)
You are very special.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:47 - 7:47)
Each person here.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:51 - 7:58)
Sometimes when you feel not so special, you have low self-esteem.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (7:59 - 8:01)
Try to remember.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:02 - 8:13)
You worked for a thousand. If I told you how many years, you would go crazy. You are extremely special to be here.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:17 - 8:32)
And you are extremely precious for the future. Your mind, your brain floating in this place, it's extremely valuable now.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:35 - 8:41)
You have ideas in your mind which make your mind more than platinum or gold or diamond. Your mind is more precious.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (8:49 - 9:03)
You are a Dharma virus and you are extremely precious for the future. So please take good care of your body.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:04 - 9:23)
Just remember, you are very precious. Like somebody asked me, Geshe La, you want to go bungee jumping? I said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I have to take care of this. Very precious.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:26 - 9:39)
No, what I have inside of here can save the life of other people. So don't do dangerous things.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:39 - 9:39)
You are precious.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:42 - 9:44)
Each person here is precious.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:44 - 9:45)
Take good care of yourself.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:47 - 9:50)
The world needs you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (9:51 - 10:43)
Okay, we... We can retire [?]. So if you have a good teacher, because of that karma, you will also have the karma to hear Dharma and to be able to go to classes.

Your life will change. MI BSTAN SONG NYE means you will be healthy and your mind will be clear. THAR TU KHOR BA'I SDUG BSNGAL KUN ZAD PAS And in the end, you will escape all pain.

GNAS LA'I SGO PHANG DAM PA THOB PAR GYUR And you will reach the highest evolution of a living being, which is enlightenment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:44 - 10:51)
And you will be able to help.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:51 - 10:56)
You will... People will give you a planet to take care of, okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (10:58 - 10:59)
You take this planet, okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:05 - 11:53)
Me and Alejandro, we are taking a coffee break. Can you cover this planet for a couple thousand years? A thousand years, okay.

It will come. All right? The time will come.

SBYOR BO CHEN PO'I LAM MA RGYA DANG SNAB BCU TZA NYID BSTAN KYANG CI SKYIS KYANG THUB LA MA LTA PA MED GSUNGS PA LTAR So Lord Atisha, who helped to bring Buddhism to Tibet in West China a thousand years ago, he had 152 lamas.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (11:54 - 12:09)
Then he said, there was not one who didn't save my life. Each one saved my life.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:10 - 12:37)
Okay? GZHAN YIN RTEN TSUL LAS PAR BRDZAD PAS And then he served each one correctly. RGYAL PO NYID NA BRDZAD CAN RNAMS GA DANG NYAMS PA CHUNG BA SOGS LTAR YIN NO And because he served those lamas, his teachings spread all over Asia.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:39 - 12:46)
And now it's spread to Guadalajara.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (12:47 - 12:55)
Alright, that's a good place to stop. We finished the eight benefits of finding a teacher, good teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:00 - 13:06)
Unfortunately, now we have to start what?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:08 - 13:36)
There are eight very, very serious problems if you break that relationship. If something goes wrong in that relationship, there are some very serious problems. So this is depressing for me and depressing for you also.

So let's take a yoga break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:36 - 13:38)
So let's take a break.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (13:41 - 16:08)
Eight problems are the opposite of the eight benefits. So for example, what would the first one be? You don't get closer to Buddhahood.

You are walking farther away from Buddhahood. LAM MA DANG POR BSTAN NAS, BYUD DU BSTAN TSUL RLONG NA, BZHIN GYIS GNYER PA BYAS BA'I This is an extremely important sentence. LAM MA DANG POR BSTAN First, to take a person as your teacher and make a formal relationship with them, BYUD DU BSTAN TSUL RLONG NA and then to break that relationship or to fail in that relationship, BZHIN DU GNYER PA BYAS BA BZHIN DU GNYER PA BYAS BA means horrible, terrible karma.

Extremely, maybe it's the worst, I think it's the worst karma there is actually. That's the worst karma there is. BYAS BA'I DANG POR BSTAN RLONG NA MI RUNG So first, you should check them out.

Don't make the relationship until you investigate this person. Dig into their personal life. Talk to their students.

Talk to the people who criticize them. Talk to people who knew their teachers. Check out what they are teaching on YouTube or you can check books that they wrote or things like that.

I think maybe the most important thing is to go to their classes. Listen, listen, you can go to many classes without making a commitment in your heart.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:12 - 16:14)
See what they are teaching.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (16:15 - 18:06)
Then especially how do they behave outside of the class. This is my answer to the diamond dealer question. Should you do yoga break or should you drink coffee?

Both. I told my teacher, okay, I told him. He said a few sips, okay, not the whole cup.

So, check them out. You know, after I got this teaching, I had not finished my university studies. I went to India and I still had one semester to finish.

And I got all these, I learned this lamrim there. Then I came back to finish my last semester of university. My big lama there, I told him, I want to stay here with you guys.

I will throw away my passport, I will live like a yogi in India. Some French people used to do that. Then they asked me, did you finish your university studies?

Then I said no, I have six months left to go.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:08 - 18:11)
Go home. Finish.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:12 - 18:20)
Because it's a bad habit not to finish. So, why did I bring that up?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:20 - 18:21)
Why did I bring that up?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:25 - 18:26)
What's that?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:27 - 18:29)
Breaking relationship with your lama.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (18:29 - 19:34)
I don't remember, where was that? Huh? Check them out, I don't remember.

Oh, yeah. If I remember, I'll tell you. So, first check them out.

Oh, yeah, I remember. So, I went back to the university. And I said, I should check out my professor before I take the class.

Then I tried to find information about that. I couldn't. This is before the internet, okay?

Then I went to the admissions office in the university. This is Princeton University. I said, can you give me the biographies of the teachers that I'm going to take their course this last six months?

Then they're like, why do you want that? Why do you want to know about them?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:36 - 19:42)
To them it seems strange to check out the teacher before you take the class.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:45 - 19:54)
And it was very difficult for me to get information. So, check out before you make a...

[Geshe Michael Roach] (19:54 - 20:02)
I should say personally before you go to their class, check them out.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:04 - 20:23)
Why? When you go to the class you are exposing your mind to that person. If that person has problems then they will infect your mind.

We said your mind is very precious.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:26 - 20:35)
And when you listen to some teaching part of that person is going into your mind.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (20:36 - 20:59)
So, be very careful who you listen to. Open your mind only very carefully. LAM MA DANG POR BSTAN NAS SBYUG TU BSTAN TSUL LONG NA BZHIN DU NYES PA'I PHYIR BA'I DANG POR BSTAN RUNG NAM Check them out.

RTAG NAS Check them out. CHOS ZHU BA And then ask them for classes.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:00 - 21:04)
Good, you must do that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:05 - 21:35)
And check with many people. I mean, you know the elephant story? The ten blind guys are touching the elephant.

Somebody said, ask one of them, what's the elephant like? There's this long thing. And at the end there's a lot of boogers.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:39 - 21:54)
I think they are like a snake. Get the opinions of many people. And find out the truth yourself.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (21:54 - 22:05)
Some people will see the person as a chew toy [?]. Some people will see them in a special way.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:08 - 22:09)
Compare.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:10 - 22:16)
Ask everybody. Don't avoid problems.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:16 - 22:21)
Dig into the problems.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (22:21 - 23:14)
Then after you are satisfied, go to their class. Dharma class is not like high school class or college class or yoga class. When you go to Dharma class, when you make chundrel, Dharma connection, this is a very, very, very deep connection.

With your root lama, it's much more serious than getting married or something like that. Then you have to be very, very careful. It's not like your relationship with your science teacher or your mathematics teacher or like that.

It's completely different.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:16 - 23:23)
This person can take you beyond death if they are qualified.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:25 - 23:29)
This person maybe is going to or is changing the whole world.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:29 - 23:31)
This person is changing the world.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:33 - 23:53)
Not like your science teacher. It's different. The name is teacher, but it's not a teacher, right?

It's like lama, lama. So that relationship is very deep, very, very deep.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (23:56 - 24:02)
And if you find a good one, it's the happiest thing in your life.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (24:05 - 25:21)
Whole life is beautiful. So I had 25 years, I lived in the same house with my Tibetan teacher. Of course we had many bad days.

It wasn't always happy for me. But my relationship with my teacher is the most beautiful thing in my life. And there's nothing more beautiful than that.

So try to find your teacher. Find who is your teacher. Sure?

Okay, a little bit. What about attachment to teacher? We talked, well I'll give a couple of answers, okay?

In Buddhism, there's a tradition that you cannot hurt another person to protect your teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:26 - 25:40)
Okay, that's pretty heavy. If someone attacked Geshe Michael, the Buddhist tradition is you love that person.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (25:40 - 25:57)
And you take care of that person. And you help that person. They say your lama can take care of himself.

So this idea that you have to fight people who try to hurt your lama or something, that comes from bad attachment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:06 - 26:27)
But if you mean love and affection for that lama, the desire to serve them, and the deep wish that they will stay in your life forever, for many lifetimes, we don't call that attachment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:29 - 26:46)
That's a very healthy idea. There's a deeper meaning of attachment. What is that?

Yeah, to think that that lama didn't come from you is attachment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:46 - 26:59)
To think that the teacher didn't come from you is attachment.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (26:59 - 27:00)
How do you find a teacher?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:01 - 27:04)
Go to India?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (27:05 - 28:00)
Share with other people what you understand. Geshe La, I don't understand much. You are like one bad doctor in Mexico City.

Okay, Mexico City, imagine, 25, 30 million people. You are the only doctor. And you didn't finish medical school.

Then if I break my arm, will I come to you or not? I will come. I know you're not a 100% doctor, but can you help me?

The numbers are worse than that in the world right now.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:05 - 28:11)
Millions and millions of people don't have any hope.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:12 - 28:22)
They will eat, and work, and die. And they have no choice, no idea something else is possible.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:27 - 28:31)
So if you can help them a little bit, it's good.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (28:33 - 29:44)
Share what you know. Then the teacher has to come to you, no choice. You are like honey for the bee.

And the bee cannot control themselves, they have to come. We have a group in Bulgaria. Very small country.

All of Bulgaria will fit into one quarter of Shanghai. Then the lady came from Sofia, Jana Ivanova, she came to see me in Germany. She said, will you come to Sofia?

Where is Sofia? Bulgaria. That's under Russia and above Egypt, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:50 - 29:51)
Yes, correct.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:52 - 29:54)
I said, listen, honestly I don't have time.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:56 - 29:57)
It's a small country.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (29:59 - 30:55)
Then she said, how can I get you to come to Sofia? Then I taught her about this, share what you understand. She published all my books in Bulgarian already.

She finished everything. We just got the Karma of Love in Bulgarian. I'll show you tomorrow, later.

You know where it is. Then I don't have a choice, I have to go. We have three strong groups in Bulgaria.

Beautiful, very good students, like Guadalajara team. So, that's how you find a teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (30:58 - 31:09)
You create them. It's like a husband or wife. You have to plant the seed for them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (31:09 - 31:32)
Okay, now we have about ten more minutes. Let's start the most depressing subject in Buddhism. I'm sorry about it.

It's my job to teach you what the book says. Problem number one. There are eight problems.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (31:33 - 31:35)
Here we go.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (31:35 - 33:18)
NYE MED DANG PO LA LAMA LA NYES MO'I ZHO NA RGYAL BA KUN LA NYES PA NI When you criticize your teacher, your lama, after you check them out, after you made the relationship, then you are criticizing every single Buddha in the universe. He's polite. When he wrote this book he was polite.

He said NYE MED ZHOR. ZHOR means if you slip and criticize your lama. If you slip and criticize your lama.

It means he's trying to tell you you're not so bad. Of course I know you wouldn't criticize your lama, but if you just slip a little bit. Something very, very...

By the way, not to do this, to avoid criticizing your teacher, it is the most important vow in the secret teachings. Number one vow. It's the first vow.

LAM MA NYE MED BLA BYAS KHYAD ZHIG RGYAS PUN LA KHYEN CHUG BRAL DAG CHOG PA PO MO'I GCOD SEMS DANG SDOGS LA CHOS LA MOD MA MED ZANG SDOGS RANG GI PHUNG PO NYES SDOGS PA NYID PHUNG DU CAN RTZA BAR RTEN LTA BA MI DANG DE LAS ZIN PA'I RTEN DE LAS ZIN RGYU MED MOD PA'I DE KHUS MED MOD PA'I DE RTZA DUNG PHYIR GZHI SOGS DANG RGYUR TE GSUNG Fourteen root vows in the secret teachings.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:18 - 33:22)
By the way. First one. First one.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:23 - 33:56)
Don't criticize your Lama. And in that vow, there are two parts. The smaller one is to criticize them verbally or in writing or on the internet.

Okay. This is the smaller half of that vow. What's the bigger half?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:57 - 33:59)
In your mind.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (33:59 - 34:42)
Boy, that's difficult. Very difficult. Oh look, Geshe Michael's overeating donuts.

And you're like, oh no, no, no. Probably he's meditating on emptiness. Okay.

So the mental vows are very difficult. Again, I'm not talking about me. You have to find your own teacher.

You have to make your own connection with them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (34:46 - 34:48)
If you want, I'm happy to be.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (34:49 - 34:57)
But every hand needs a different glove. Maybe you should have a different kind of teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (35:00 - 35:13)
But once you make that commitment, then the worst thing you can do, the worst karma you can make is to criticize your teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (35:15 - 36:07)
Even mentally. Now he explains that vow, that, sorry, that problem. LAM MA NI SANGS RGYAS THAMS CAD KYI CI SU RANG DU BYED DU BYUNG PA THU MI LTA BU YIN Don't forget that your lama is like a representative sent from the Buddha Congress.

BYED DU BYUNG PA It's a beautiful word. You got that one, Adam? BYED DU?

BYED DU? BYED DU means tailor-made for you. The Buddhas got together.

They had a meeting. Okay, there's a Nick Lashaw.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (36:09 - 36:10)
He needs a lama.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (36:12 - 36:19)
Let's design a perfect one for him. In China I teach a lot, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (36:21 - 36:22)
I always wear a business suit.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (36:26 - 37:24)
Whatever you read in the newspaper, I have never seen a Gucci business suit. Gucci or Armani? Sorry, Armani.

My business suits were made in Vietnam on the sidewalk in one night for $75. They forgot to finish some of the legs. Then I was in...

Where was I? Zhengzhou. I was in Zhengzhou.

One guy came to me, one very nice Chinese man. Then he said, look Geshe Michael, I love your teaching. It's fantastic.

But your suits. I never saw such a terrible suit.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (37:25 - 37:29)
He said, I have a suit company.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (37:32 - 37:43)
He's pretty famous. Then he said, let me make a couple suits for you. Then he flew a tailor from Shanghai.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (37:46 - 38:07)
He came to my hotel room and I had to stand there like a monkey for two hours. And this guy, like two guys, they're like touching me everywhere.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:11 - 38:13)
Then they made a suit.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:16 - 38:19)
And it's perfect. Everything is perfect.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:20 - 38:24)
Every part is perfect.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:24 - 38:29)
Custom made for Geshe Michael.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:29 - 38:44)
Your root lama was custom made by the Buddha tailors for you. They took your measure. Your mind.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:45 - 38:46)
Your courage.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (38:47 - 40:13)
Your heart. Your, what do you call that? What do you call it?

The ability not to have a nervous breakdown when you have too much work. Endurance. Your endurance.

They check out your endurance. Fortitude. Then they designed a teacher for you.

Just for you. That's the meaning of the word chedul. I love this word, chedul.

Dul means, in order to dul you. Dul means tame you like a wild horse. Dul is the Tibetan word for taming a wild, crazy horse.

And they sent a lama to tame you. Custom designed tamer of your wild mind. Then it's like in the ancient times, the king will send a representative to another government, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:19 - 40:29)
Very powerful king sends his representative to you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:30 - 40:32)
And you spit on that representative.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:34 - 40:36)
What will happen?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:36 - 40:37)
Some problem will come.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:39 - 40:40)
Then it's the same.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:41 - 40:44)
Your Buddha was sent from every ...

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:44 - 40:52)
Sorry, your lama was sent from all the Buddhas.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (40:54 - 41:34)
If you disrespect them, you are disrespecting all the Buddhas. DE GCIG LA'ANG YUL NYANG BAR BTAG DGOS NA Then if you meet one Buddha, if you are Catholic and you walk into a room and Jesus is standing there, probably you should be a little bit careful with him. Don't do something wrong with him.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (41:36 - 41:59)
Respect him. Then he says, if one Buddha came to your room tonight, walk into your room. Of course, you have to be careful.

Don't mess up. Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:01 - 42:48)
Then what about all the Buddhas? Like a billion times more. Of course, you have to be extremely careful.

Mindful. Very mindful. Oh, this is lama, you know.

I have to be careful. What was that? We have a student in Taiwan.

His name is Jeffrey Tso. Very, very beautiful man. My Taiwanese brother.

Then those of you who have Vajrayogini initiation, I'll tell you something interesting.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:52 - 42:58)
We are driving from Taipei to Taichung.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (42:58 - 44:12)
He always drives a car. He's the head of all public relations. for DuPont Corporation in Asia.

He's in charge of tens of thousands of people. But he always takes his own vacation time and drives the car to Taichung. Then I'm like, you know, Jeffrey, in China there are only a few last names.

Like should be Chen or Sha or you know, like that, Wu. And then there are like five big last names. Everyone is something Jones or something Smith in China.

Then I said, your last name Tso, I never heard that name before. A little bit unusual. Then, what does it mean, Tso?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:14 - 44:17)
He said, it has a strange meaning.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (44:19 - 45:36)
It's called the man of the left hand. Oh, okay. Anyway, why did I mention him?

No, before that, I forgot what I'm talking about, Jeffrey. I don't remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe I'll remember later. No, it's before that. Anyway, anyway, if you're supposed to be careful with one Buddha, then obviously you should be careful with a billion of them.

So be very careful about your teacher. Oh, okay, I remembered, sorry. I asked him one day, I said, so you work for DuPont Corporation.

Yes. You make chemicals.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:38 - 45:39)
Then he said, yes.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (45:39 - 46:13)
Then I said, I'm just curious, what did you do today about chemicals? He said, I was handling a shipment, I think it's called titanium oxide. I believe it's called titanium oxide.

I'm handling a special chemical called titanium oxide. You need it for certain kinds of paint and things like that. But it's like, I don't know exactly, but one pound can poison all the water in Taiwan.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:18 - 46:24)
One pound can kill many people.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:24 - 46:33)
Then they have a special, obviously they have a special container. That goes inside another special container.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:35 - 46:38)
That goes inside another special container.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:38 - 46:56)
Then there's like 50 guards. They are taking this to Taiwan like this. Very carefully.

They are watching everything. Then Lama is like that.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (46:58 - 47:03)
You have to be extremely careful.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:03 - 47:05)
Don't make small mistakes.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:06 - 47:08)
It's a lot of pressure.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:10 - 47:17)
Somebody, some Lama told me, it's very easy to adore the Lama that you don't have to live with them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:17 - 47:22)
It's very easy to adore the Lama that you don't have to live with.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (47:22 - 48:13)
But if you have to stay close to them, then of course you will see mistakes. Or bad habits. Then the person who is close to the Lama, it's a very dangerous position.

They have to be more careful. They get, we call, SKAD NYEN CHEN PO Say SKAD NYEN CHEN PO [?] High risk, high yield. High risk, high yield.

Very dangerous to be close to them. Very, very profitable if you stay close to them.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (48:15 - 48:19)
High risk, high profit.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (48:20 - 50:07)
There's no higher profit than that. If you can stay close to one, it's the best karma you can make. And it's the most dangerous place to be.

Okay? Understand? So, people ask me, maybe I shouldn't be close to my Lama.

I think you have to have guts. This is like a card game. This Buddhism is like a card game.

Sometimes you have to take a big risk. You're going to lose all your money. But if you're going to become a Buddha, if you're going to make that much karma, you have to be on the edge a little bit.

You have to take some risk. They say, maybe I shouldn't stay with my Lama. Then I always say, go for it.

I'll tell you the last thing, then they will stop. Somebody asked my teacher, Khen Rinpoche, said, I don't know if I want to stay close to you. It's so dangerous if I make a mistake.

If I make a mistake with you, maybe I have to go to hell. Then he's like, no, no, you should be close to your teacher. We're all going to hell anyway.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:12 - 50:17)
But when you go to hell, you can say, I'm not like you other hell guys.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:22 - 50:23)
You know how I got to hell?

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:25 - 50:27)
I was serving Khen Rinpoche.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:29 - 50:32)
I'm not just anybody. I was serving a great Lama.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:32 - 50:36)
You can brag in hell.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (50:40 - 52:09)
He said that. I hope it was not serious. Okay, you don't have to go to hell.

And take a risk. You have to risk something to gain something, right? Okay, who do we have?

Daniel, you ready? Daniel. BU RGYUD CHOS BZHIN MED DOG MTHONG [?] Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Geshe Michael Roach] (52:11 - 52:13)
Thank you.