«Дар освобождения», курс 28 «Строю пространство для практики (ретрит в Таиланде)», занятие 1

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Welcome, thank you for coming from many different countries, especially China. We just came back from Shenzhen, and we had a beautiful program there. Before that, Tianjin, and some nice meetings with Chinese government, with the Chinese World Bank.

Anyway, it was fun. But the Shenzhen people made me work too hard. So, I'm hoping to swim and relax on the beach.

And I see a lot of people who helped with those programs here. And I know you must be very tired. And I'm very grateful that you came.

Especially one person worked hard to make this program. Whole year. The day after last year's Thailand program, she started getting ready for this year's Thailand program.

[Speaker 2]
And I'd like to give a big hand for Jasmine Yao.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Just for computing [?]. Thank you. Then we're doing the Lamrim.

This book is taught by my teacher's teacher's teacher. And this is the 28th time we are doing retreat. And we are trying to finish this book.

I think it's the greatest book in this world. Then, this last two weeks, it was a little bit hard for many of us. One of the people in our group, in our home, Sedona, she is having dinner with her husband.

And the husband had a heart attack at the dinner. And passed away. In their arms.

[Speaker 2]
And it makes me remember why we come here.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Purpose of this class is higher thing. Like, what can we do to stop this problem? So, here in Thailand, we are not having a business class, or a relationship class.

We are having a Dharma class. And then Dharma means, how do we fix these big problems? Life and death.

How do we make this world beautiful? When you offer this before the class, that's the real payment for the class. And that payment is a perfect world.

So, when you offer it, and if you don't know how to do, ask someone, they can help you. When you offer it, you are imagining a perfect world. And that's the payment for the class.

[Speaker 2]
That you try to work to make a perfect world.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
A world where nobody is unhappy. Nobody gets sick. Nobody dies in their wife's arms.

This is the goal of this class.

[Speaker 2]
So, this is a higher class.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And we are going slowly through this book. We are enjoying ... Every time there's a story, then I will tell you the whole story.

And I'm just going to have fun. Okay, we have fun. And relax.

I know most of you, you are over workers.

[Speaker 2]
You work too hard in your country.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And I hope that while you're here, relaxing is also a difficult job. And take your rest, and go to the beach, okay? Go some swimming.

I also want to go swimming. And to do good Dharma, you have to learn to relax also. Dharma and fangsong, right?

They go together. So, have fun. When you do yoga, not like this.

Okay, just like this. Okay, don't get too serious. And let's have some fun together.

Okay, life is very short. When you are born, your mom gives you this rental car. And you have to give it back after a while.

So, we should have some fun. And Dharma should be fun. Okay, enlightenment should be fun.

Enlightenment should be fun. Okay? So, please don't be too serious.

Sanpao [?] has the right idea. Their son, he has the correct idea. And then you will have fun.

Okay, so, alright. And we're going to do the old way. I'm going to go word for word.

[Speaker 2]
Most of the year, I have to do business way.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
I have to make everything more simple. But in this class, I will make as difficult as possible. And we go deeper.

We're going to do a lot of meditation. There's a special meditation called Lion's Dance. And this meditation ...

How many people did Lion's Dance? Some people.

[Speaker 2]
I know Russians and Germans did it.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Mexicans did it. By the way, congratulations to Moscow people. We закончили еще месяц, по-моему, этой медитации, да?

Надо говорить спасибо вам.

[Speaker 2]
Thank you. I love you.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
The Russian people just finished one month Lion's Dance meditation. Mexicans finished one month, a couple months ago. And Germans also.

Indonesia. Now, you guys have to do. So, starting tomorrow, we will do a special meditation.

It was taught by Maitreya, who is the next Buddha in this world. There's a schedule.

[Speaker 2]
He's supposed to come pretty soon, like a bus.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, coming very soon. Okay, you should be happy. And he taught this meditation to a Sangha.

And we will do it together. Okay, then we will do other meditations, together with me and the other teachers. Halfway through the program, we will have a Dharma festival.

And there will be many teachers teaching from many countries. I will introduce them to you tomorrow. And they will be teaching meditation, kinds of Dharma, and yoga.

And then you can decide which class you want to go to.

[Speaker 2]
It's like McDonald's or KFC, Dharma KFC.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Okay, and you choose what thing you like to do. And then on the 12th of December, this is the birthday of Tsongkapa. He is the great founder of the lineage I'm in.

And he lived about 600 years ago. And on the 25th day of the 10th month of the moon, 25th day of the 10th moon month, that's his birthday, and passing away day, and enlightenment day. So it's called Ganden Ngamchö.

Ganden Ngamchö, usually we make 1,000 lights, and we celebrate the birthday. And on that day, we will take a special vow, if you want to. It's called the one-day Mahayana vow.

And we get up early in the morning, about 5.30. And then we come and together, we meet together. And we take a special vow. It has eight parts.

The most important one for most people is you cannot eat after 12 o'clock. And you do a lot of meditation. And we're going to have special teaching about the vow.

So, sometimes the Lama will give you a vow, but they don't tell you what is the vow. So, I like to tell you before. So, the day before that, we will have a special class.

Different teachers will teach. And we will go through the whole vow before you take it. And we'll make sure you understand it.

And it's more fun. It's a very beautiful vow. So, we'll take that vow together.

And we made a ... First time we made a translation of the whole ceremony. We finished it, I think, in the airport, right?

[Speaker 2]
Me and Joy, we finished in the airport.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
I was with Wang. We were finished in the luggage area. I finished the translation.

And now we will have it in Chinese also. And maybe Peter, Veliki, Yi, Maria, Masha, Kuntala, Thieva, can translate into Russian.

[Speaker 2]
This ceremony.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
That's a special ceremony.

[Speaker 2]
You can do it at home.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
We will teach you how to do it. And then you can do it in your own home. You can give yourself the vow.

Only this one vow allow to give to yourself. So, we will do that also. And I have a long translation of the lion's dance for you.

All of that prepared by Jasmine.

[Speaker 2]
I'd like to thank her again.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And Tim. Where's Tim? Maybe he's working.

Yeah. Thank you. Okay, so let's get started.

I'm going to teach directly from the text. And I will go through the Tibetan language. I know most of you don't know this language.

But I like to go word by word. Okay, and I will put this up here. You can follow on the screen.

The book you have, you have lion's dance, and you have the meditations. So, I will teach them to you starting tomorrow.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Tonight, we just go back to this text.

[Speaker 2]
So, you ready Adam?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
You guys ready? Let's do it. Okay, good.

It's a little bit off the screen here. I don't know. Are you okay?

All right. Then, where we are in this book, and what is this book? About, almost a hundred years ago, one Lama taught teaching, called Lamrim.

Lamrim means, what do you call, like instruction manual for Buddhahood. Okay? Do step one, step two, step three, you will get to Buddhahood.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Then you can really help people in this world. Especially to stop those problems of death, old age, suffering, war, hunger.

[Speaker 2]
Okay? If you learn this book, you can help this world stop those things. Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And there are many parts to the book, but if you didn't come before, don't worry about it. Okay? You can start right in the middle, it's okay.

My teacher said, this is like a big piece of candy, or a big youtiao. You can bite on one end, or you can bite in the middle, or you can bite on the other end, but it's still delicious. So, it doesn't matter if you came before or you didn't come before, it doesn't matter.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
We are in a special part of the book. It's how to prepare your machine for Buddhist practice. To change the world, you need a good machine.

Two parts, body and mind. So, if you're going to change the world, if you're going to help this world, you need a good body and mind. Your job after you learn this lamrim, is to share it with other people.

Everybody here become a teacher. Okay? My first teaching is to the postman.

He came to my house. He said, I heard you know something about Buddhism. I said, yeah, I know a little bit.

He said, will you teach me? I said, I don't know, I have to ask my teacher. I think I was 20 years old or something.

I asked my teacher, can the postman come in and I will teach him lamrim? Teacher said, he always give the same answer to me. He said, no.

I said, lama, but he wants to learn, you know. Okay, you can teach him. My lama got in a car accident when he was younger, and he talked just like Star Wars.

Yeah, you can teach him. Then I said, can I teach him in the kitchen? No.

I said, well, where do you want me to teach him? Teach him in the car. Then, we have a very small car.

We don't have any money. We have small Volkswagen car. It was about 100 years old.

So, I taught him. He sat in the back seat, I sat in the front seat. Then I have to use the mirror, right?

Okay, now I teach you lamrim. Okay? Then he said, okay.

Actually, he became a good student.

[Speaker 2]
He stayed for 20 years.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
He learned to translate. He translated the ... Sugeng, he translated the Wheel of Life book.

That's a postman book. So, the first teaching you give, maybe it's in a Volkswagen, okay? Or on an airplane, or in a car.

Okay? But you should become teacher.

[Speaker 2]
Everybody has a seed.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, take good notes. Pay attention. We are starting with the eight ways to get a great body and mind to be a teacher.

And you have to learn them. So, take good notes. I know Chinese people take good notes.

Russians and Germans take good notes. The Americans, I don't know. But don't go home and they say, what did you study in Thailand?

Oh, I studied the eight ways to get a great body and mind for teaching. Can you teach me? Yeah.

Then only six. Two I forgot. Okay, so don't be like that, okay?

Here we go. Three of them we did last time, last lamrim. In Diamond Mountain.

It's our retreat center in America. We do this lamrim four times every year. In the spring and the fall, we do at our retreat center Diamond Mountain.

You are very welcome to come. Many Germans and Russians and Mexicans and Chinese came there.

[Speaker 2]
So, you are very welcome to come.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
In the summer, we have a lamrim in Mexico. And that's nice because it's easy to get a visa. Unfortunately in America sometimes we cannot get a visa.

Then once a year, this time of year, winter, we will do here in Thailand. If Jasmine agree. Okay, so we can keep doing.

She worked very hard to find this hotel and her team, and I'd like to thank them again for this beautiful hotel. They worked very, very hard to find this place. Whole year they are looking.

It feels like Amitabha paradise to me. It's really beautiful.

[Speaker 2]
Yeah.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Okay. Among the eight ... how do you say eight?

Eight? Ba? This one?

Eight ... Not this ... seven?

Six? Five? Fourteen?

Okay. The first one. If you want to help this world, you need a long life.

Okay? It takes many years to learn everything. You need long life.

Okay? If you really want to be a good teacher, you have to live a long life. Then there are special ...

you have to learn the karma to live a long life. And we are in the section about karma.

[Speaker 2]
We are studying all the kinds of karma.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And we have two cool translation teams. One of them is in America at our college in Sedona. And then we have another translation team in Shenzhen in Asia.

And they are translating these ancient books. In Shenzhen, we just worked on a text by Master Wonchuk. He's a student of the greatest translator, Xuanzang.

He wrote a 2,000-page book about these subjects. And it was sort of missing in China for about a thousand years. And this week, it's the first people who worked on this book in a thousand years, I think.

It's a Tang Dynasty. Maybe one of China's most important books. And our team is translating it again into English, into German, into Russian, into Spanish.

And modern Chinese. So, all those translators, they are here. They're going to talk about their translation.

And we will have some nice talks about karma. So, basically, four things to do for a long life. Okay?

And now we're starting the real class.

[Speaker 2]
You should become a teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
It's your destiny. You have a seed in your heart to become a teacher.

[Speaker 2]
Even if you don't want to be a teacher, you will be a teacher.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Okay? So, you need eight qualities. First one, you should have a long life.

Teacher learns more and more, right, Phil? The longer they live. As long as they live, they will learn more and more about life and about Dharma.

Okay? So, we need to live a long life. So, the book gives four causes for long life.

We finished it in the last retreat. But I'm going to review.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, when you go home, you will have all eight causes. Number one, don't kill anything. Including animals.

Okay? So, of course, we wouldn't like it if someone kills us. And, of course, the animals don't like it if you kill them.

In America, there are some people who say animals don't feel pain. I'll tell you a story. I did a three-year silent retreat.

I stayed in one room for three years.

[Speaker 2]
Meditated.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And I was in the desert, empty place.

[Speaker 2]
We got permission from a rancher.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
He has a very, very big ranch. We said, we want to do a three-year retreat on your ranch. He said, okay, you can have one.

This place, nobody ever stayed there. No human ever stayed there. And we built a small hut.

We had, I think, five huts.

[Speaker 2]
And each person alone inside a fence.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And we meditated for three years. We didn't talk for three years. And we found out something interesting.

If you don't talk for three years, after about six months, the animals will talk to you. So, if you don't make this loud human talk, then the animals will come. And they have their own language.

It's beautiful.

[Speaker 2]
They will go like, peep boop, peep boop.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And if you don't talk for three years, you can understand the animals.

[Speaker 2]
Just then, after about six months, you can understand them.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And they helped us a lot. There were some poison snakes came. And the bird, there are two birds.

They are called, we call them, meep meep, meep meep. We gave them a name. Then one day, I went outside, and the bird is like, meep meep, meep meep, meep meep, meep meep.

[Speaker 2]
Then I'm like, what? Meep meep, meep meep.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Then I look around, there's a big snake.

[Speaker 2]
Poisonous snake.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And they will tell you, be careful, be careful. I had a rabbit also. He will come to my door.

He will, he doesn't, he cannot knock on the door. So, he will go. Then I come out, and he's like, he's like, wants something to eat.

He only eats one kind of cookie. If you give the other kind, he will say, Then, I also don't have electricity. And I don't have toilet.

So, I just have a bucket, outside. Then, one day I went out to the bucket, I'm doing my thing. Then, he's knocking on my leg.

Then I'm like, what? And he's like, look at this. He dug a hole, about this big.

Then he spread his legs, and lay down like this. And three babies came out.

[Speaker 2]
Then I, wow, you're a girl!

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Then, they will put the baby in the hole, and they will cover it with grass, because they are bleeding. Mom is bleeding. So, mom will run away for three, four days, because we also have a wolf.

He will come every night to see me. They are a little dangerous. He doesn't talk much.

He's like, I'm like, So, he will come every night. So, anyway, we have a cow.

[Speaker 2]
The rancher had many cows.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
In that place, they just make the cows, the cows, they release them in the desert, and they have to find their own food. Then, once every six months, the rancher will come, and I watched, he will ride in a truck. One guy drives the truck.

Other guy has a seat in the back, and they will drive through this big desert.

[Speaker 2]
And they have a box of carrots, and they throw the carrot.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Then the cows are like, and they will walk after the truck. Then they will take the truck to a fence, and they will catch all the cows.

[Speaker 2]
Then they give them a number in their ear.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
They have a machine, makes a hole in their ear. And then they put a big number. Each one, we don't know their names.

We call them number 36, number 23. And they will come during the retreat, because we will give them a little bit of food or something. But we have a big fence.

So, they will look through the fence. And we will give some extra food. So, my favorite is number 23.

And one day, well, she got fat. So, I realized she's pregnant. Then one day she brought two babies.

And she's very proud of them. She wants to show me.

[Speaker 2]
She's like ...

[Geshe Michael Roach]
You know, she was really happy. And we almost can talk, you know. And she's like, this one's my boy.

This one's my girl. I'm so proud of them. And she will feed them milk, and she will stand there, I will watch.

If you don't talk, they trust you. So, anyway, later she came with the two babies. And the girl baby got this tag, you know.

Number 34.

[Speaker 2]
Then the boy baby, he has a red one.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And it doesn't have a number.

[Speaker 2]
It says kill.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
To kill. They plan to kill this one. Later I found out they don't like boys.

They don't want to keep the boys. They eat more, and they don't give milk. So, they will just keep one or two to make babies.

And other boy kids, they will kill them. And there's a special name in English called veal. Veal, it means young baby cow meat.

Softer. And I didn't understand what is veal. Now I understand.

[Speaker 2]
It's the boy, they kill all the boy cows. When they are babies.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Because they eat too much.

[Speaker 2]
She went away for a week, and then she came back, and she's alone.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And the boy is gone, the girl is gone. And then she came to my fence, and she looked at me, and then she goes like this.

[Speaker 2]
She's just hitting her head the fence.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Like she wants to die or something.

[Speaker 2]
She's just hitting her head like this.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And then I realized, you know, my parents taught me to eat meat, right? And I thought, oh, this is a bad thing. So, you can't say they don't have feelings.

They have feelings. And they like their kids. And she was crying.

Sounded like a human. So, you know, and my friends told me, if you don't eat meat, you will get sick. You know?

I stopped eating meat over 30 years ago. Now I have this, sorry. Then all my friends, they told me, if you don't eat meat, you will get sick.

You will not be strong. Then, all those guys are dead.

[Speaker 2]
They got heart attack.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Cholesterol. Too much fat. They're all gone.

Only I'm alive. My ... Sorry.

My ... You know, I feel great. I can do ballet.

Christian's going to kill me in the yoga class. So, you don't need meat. It's not true.

It's not true.

[Speaker 2]
You will live much longer if you don't eat it.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, try to stop. Slowly try ... Sorry, I banged my head.

[Speaker 2]
Slowly try to stop.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
You will live longer life.

[Speaker 2]
You can help more people.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Okay?

[Speaker 2]
And they can really feel.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Those animals are not stupid. They can feel. Second thing for long life, help people who have emergency.

Right now in the world, there's a big emergency in Syria, Africa. I know a lot of African ... Chinese people help the African people.

And that's a very good idea. They have ...

[Speaker 2]
African people.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Ojo male [?]. Okay. It's a good thing to help the poor people.

And there are almost two million refugees in Turkey, for example.

[Speaker 2]
Turkey.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And you can help them. We have some ...

[Speaker 2]
We are helping them.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
If you'd like to help them, you can talk to ... Who's here, Jigme?

[Speaker 2]
Maybe you can talk to Jigme. You want to stand up?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
If you want to help the hungry people, refugees, we are giving them work. We are teaching them how to make clothing. Okay?

So, help hungry people. We also have a nice group ... Nick, I don't know if you have any ...

Who's running? Seiji? Or who's running over there?

Oh. Do you have any pictures of Nick teaching in the prison or something? I don't know, those prisoners.

The other way to ... Third kind of karma for long life is to help prisoners. People who are in prison.

Okay? We have a nice group helping prisoners. They are very lonely, and they love meditation.

They love to learn yoga, and we help them. Okay? And it's actually fun to go to the prison.

They are so lonely.

[Speaker 2]
If you go there to help them, they are very grateful. Our Mexico group did some work in prisons.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Yeah, these guys are learning yoga in the prison. Yeah, almost 4,000 prisoners. I like this one.

It's the best.

[Speaker 2]
He killed somebody, but now he's a good meditator.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, to help prisoners ... I know the Singapore group is also helping prisoners.

[Speaker 2]
And the Mexico group.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, it's very good to live long life.

[Speaker 2]
Help prisoners.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And on the outside they look tough, on the inside they are like kids.

[Speaker 2]
And they just want someone to love them.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Okay, also sick people. If you can help sick people. These four are karma.

To live a long life. And that's the first thing you need to be a teacher. Okay, second one.

This is funny. If you want to be a teacher, you should have a nice smiling face. You should be ...

I don't know. When people look at you, they should think, oh, this person is nice person. So, as much as possible, you should have a pleasant face.

Now, there are two kinds of pleasant face. One you can get from makeup. Smile a lot.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
That's the first kind of pleasant face. Second kind of pleasant face is karma pleasant face.

[Speaker 2]
Do you have ... What's her name?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
You know the one I'm talking about. See if you can find her. So, there's a karma to have a beautiful face.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And if you have that karma, you don't need makeup. People just like your face. So, that's a special karma.

And you should learn. And then if you forget your makeup, it's okay. Still, you look beautiful.

And actually, on the one-day vow, we were talking today, what shall we tell people? What's the one-day vow? Then in the meeting, people ask me, well, can you wear makeup?

No. Can you put on makeup?

[Speaker 2]
No. No.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
They said, can I put on the makeup the day before? I said, no. Then they said, you know Geshe La, there's two kinds of lipstick.

One has a color. One is clear. Can we put on the clear one on the ...

Then they're asking me many questions.

[Speaker 2]
What about shampoo, you know?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
I said, shampoo's okay. If we don't use soap, we smell funny, you know? Like that, many questions, okay?

Just make the karma, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Just learn the karma.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
For beauty, some women are beautiful without any makeup, right? And some look terrible with the makeup. Okay?

So just learn the karma. And it's a serious thing we have to talk about, okay? Because if you look nice, people will come to your class.

Okay? So it's not a bad thing.

[Speaker 2]
We should look nice.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
But you can use karma, it's cheaper. Tell the boys, if your partner says, let's go to Sephora, tell her, no. I'm taking you to expensive dinner.

It's worth it, okay? If you go in that store, you will spend at least 300 US. Better to take her to expensive dinner.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, here's the karma for beautiful face.

[Speaker 2]
Okay?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Why are we talking about that? You want to have a nice face because you want people to come to your class. So make the karma.

First karma, don't get angry at other people. Okay? Also, this is same for boys, okay?

People will say you are handsome. Now, I'm not talking about this, okay? Okay?

That doesn't look nice, right? I'm not talking about that. When you get angry, it plants a karma seed.

And then when people look at you, they will see something bad. So I'm not ... of course when you get ...

My mom used to tell me, don't get angry. Why? Your face will stay like that.

It cannot stop it. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about karma.

Nick, you got that lady? I'll show you an example, come on. Okay, this is ...

what's her name? Cindy Crawford. Very famous American actress.

Americans think she's like most beautiful lady in America. But actually she has this big mole here. And if it's on another person, it will look ugly.

[Speaker 2]
But everyone likes her mole.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
The young girls go to the beauty shop, they say, can you give me one?

[Speaker 2]
Can you put one here?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Her face is not nice, but she has karma. And everyone says she's beautiful. So it doesn't matter what is your face.

If you have karma, that's a proof.

[Speaker 2]
That's true.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
If you have karma, people see you as beautiful. And it helps you to be a teacher. Now, number one, you can ...

I don't want to look at her anymore. Okay, good. Number one, don't get angry at other people.

And your face will become more beautiful. Number two is don't get upset at things. Okay, like traffic jam.

Plane is late. You know, I don't know, the weather is too hot. Too much rain.

The ocean has a jellyfish today.

[Speaker 2]
Okay, outside things, which you cannot control.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Don't get upset. So, first one, don't get angry at other people. They call you stupid, something like that.

That's okay. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to teach you the husband in the kitchen.

[Speaker 2]
Very important. You guys learned in Shenzhen, right?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
That's the best way to learn kongxin. Okay. But also, don't get upset at things.

Keep your patience. And your face will change.

[Speaker 2]
Okay.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Number three, in Thailand, they have a lot of Buddha statues. And there's a custom. You go to it, and you put some gold on it, or some silk, like that, to make those Buddha statues more beautiful.

This is a special karma. And I noticed on the way here from the airport, you can see a lot of Buddha statues. They put silver, or they put gold.

This is a special cause to be beautiful. My lama, he went to teach in Brazil, and there's a very famous statue of Jesus there, on the mountain. If you go to Brazil, you're supposed to see this statue.

So, I took him there. He didn't look at the statue. He found some small jewelry, cheap jewelry, nice stones.

He spent the whole day picking out this. And I'm like, Rinpoche, you're supposed to see this statue. He said, yeah, I can see statue anytime.

I need this jewelry. Look, good price. Very, very nice.

And then, I said, why are you buying jewelry? Then when he came home, he has a special jingang yuqienü? Vajrayogini statue.

He's like, I bought something for you. She's like, she doesn't move. Then he carefully, he put each one on her.

So, this is karma for a nice face. Two more, okay?

[Speaker 2]
Then we finish for tonight.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Buy clothes for other people. I have a friend named Nick. Every time we go on a tour, I said, come on, let's go buy some clothes.

We buy clothes for a partner or friends.

[Speaker 2]
We did yesterday, right? Yesterday?

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Day before.

[Speaker 2]
In Shenzhen.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, go to the mall if you have some extra money. And just buy clothes for your friends. Any friend.

I bought Nick a coat. I bought a shirt for John. Uta got a nice coat.

So, this karma of buying clothes for other people, it change your face. It doesn't have to be expensive. It's just intention.

Then the last one, buy jewelry for other people. Buy them some small gemstone or something like that. Rugo [?] telling Tony, this is a good idea.

I can tell what you're saying. So, yeah, these are all special karma. Make your face more beautiful.

Why? Yeah, so you can be a better teacher. Okay?

That's the second kind of karma. So, so far we had two. Eight qualities you want to have as a teacher.

[Speaker 2]
This is your equipment, Dharma equipment.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Number one? Long life. Number two?

Nice face.

[Speaker 2]
We have five minutes, let's not waste it.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
I will tell you number three. Say RIKTO. Say SUKSANG.

Sorry. TSERING. TSERING.

SUKSANG. RIKTO. TSERING.

SUKSANG. RIKTO.

[Speaker 2]
TSERING means long life. SUKSANG means nice face.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
RIKTO means people respect you.

[Speaker 2]
You are like higher class in your country.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
So, in every country it's different. Maybe in China, higher class, I don't know what it's, you know. Like, they get more respect from people.

In America, I guess it's mostly money, I guess. People have more money. Every country is different.

So, it doesn't mean I want to be king of Thailand or something. It doesn't mean that. It means in your own society, if you are a little bit higher, higher in that society, it's easier to teach.

[Speaker 2]
People will respect you.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Generally, we shouldn't care if teacher is high in the society or not. We shouldn't care. And we shouldn't care what the teacher's face look like.

[Speaker 2]
We shouldn't care.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
But, people do, okay? People do. Is it a good thing?

No.

[Speaker 2]
People check your face.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
People check how high are you in society. It's not a good thing that people do that. It's a bad thing.

But, it's human nature. All of the, many great saints in Buddhism were kings or princes. Buddha was a prince.

Asanga was a prince. Atisha was a prince. Shantideva was a prince.

Okay? People respect them, okay? It's not correct, but it's true.

Okay. We have two minutes. I will give you some karmas.

[Speaker 2]
Three of them.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Three kinds of karma. Okay, number one. Check yourself for pride every day.

Do a pride check, like tomorrow in the yoga class. I always hope the teacher will do the one pose which I'm good at. Then everybody will say, oh Geshe Michael can do yoga.

I'm more worried about that. So, even in the yoga class, we have a bad habit, right? We are hoping people see I'm more strong.

I can do headstand. I understand this Tibetan language.

[Speaker 2]
So, check for pride. Check yourself for pride.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
If you keep it down, you will go higher in your society. And then people will respect you as a teacher. Okay, second karma.

They call it take the lower place. So, like, if you're a volunteer for Jasmine, Jasmine said, who's going to clean up the room after the class? Then you say, I will.

You take the dirty jobs. You always take the dirty. Who's going to wash the dishes?

I will wash the dishes. I was a cook for my lama after Princeton University.

[Speaker 2]
With honors.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
And after, go to the White House. Then I went to help my teacher. I was a dishwasher for 15 years.

I was the cook for 8 years. I was the gardener for 20 years. I dig the toilets also.

[Speaker 2]
And I'm the main toilet cleaner.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
That's why all these people are giving me flowers. Seriously. Okay?

So, if you want flowers, then ask Jasmine for a dirty job. Jasmine, please give me a dirty job. Okay, last one.

Third kind of karma for high social status is respect other people. Even the people who drive you here from Bangkok airport. I want that this hotel, Dusit Thani Hotel, I want that they will say in the future, oh, that's the nicest group we ever had.

They show respect for everybody.

[Speaker 2]
For cleaners, cooks, drivers, the maids, the guys who do the gardening.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
I want, okay? I want them to say we are the best group they ever had. They are showing respect to us.

Give them a little money, okay? It's so cool. It doesn't have to be much.

They will be happy. They will go home and say, today some Chinese person gave me money. It's so cool.

I met a Russian person. They gave me some money. And it's just very nice to show respect, okay?

Then when you become a teacher, people will respect you, or respect you. So, let's make them the happiest hotel staff in Thailand. Cool?

Okay. Now we reached the start of the book. We finished the three from last time.

How many more qualities of teacher? Five more, okay? Three finished.

Say Tsering. Tsering. Suksang.

Rikto. Tsering [?].

[Speaker 2]
Suksang.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
Beautiful face.

[Speaker 2]
Rikto.

[Geshe Michael Roach]
High level in society. Okay? All right.