«Дар освобождения», курс 41 «Сила доброго сердца», занятие 8

[Geshe Michael Roach]
We were on the five powers and did I make a bet? Did I say I would? But we didn't finish them.

We didn't finish them yet.

Okay, we have a very clear job before grandpa goes to the airport.

There's five powers and they are not the same as the four powers. The four powers you use to clean your old bad seeds. The five powers are how to have a good life, and how to have a good death, and so it's a very beautiful teaching.

There's two sets of five powers. While you're alive you use the first five. Then when you go to the hospital bed, where you will not come out again, you start to use the second five, and it's not depressing or something like that.

The job of the lamrim, it's two things. Teach you how to live, and teach you how to die. And our whole culture, every country in this world, they're afraid to talk about death.

They don't want to talk about death.

They think it's bad luck to talk about death. But all of us are going to die. So, let's get ready.

And it can be a very beautiful thing. And I don't care if you're young or old. When I was walking here this morning, somebody told me, oh my relative, he's very young, he died.

And I feel strange because I'm old and he's young. People die out of order. Sometimes the young one dies before the old one.

So, we don't know when we're going to die. So, let's get ready. And don't be so serious.

Okay? He's like, yeah, I'm going to die.

It can be a very happy experience. And if you can learn to touch the diamond world, you can see where you're going.

You even know the details of who's going to be your teacher the next time.

From the time you're a kid, like Kiri said, you can see your teachers. So, you're very relaxed. And so, we're going to study five powers for how to live a good life.

And then how to use the same five powers when your death comes. And again, don't be ... everybody here is so serious.

You should be happy.

Your whole life, all your teachers, all your friends, pretending you're not going to die.

But you are going to die.

So, let's make it a good one. And it's actually kind of fun.

There's a wrong feeling in your heart when you spend your whole life pretending you're not going to die.

And you are trying to ignore one of the biggest things in life, which is death.

Then when you get a good teaching on the two kinds of five powers, it's actually very relaxing. Oh, okay, now I know what to do. It's good to learn what to do when you die, before you die.

Then you're ready. So, we can learn it this week. Guadalajara teachers can help you in the next three months.

They are going to teach classes in the next two days. They will give you 18 meditations for the next three months. So, let's learn how to die.

And then you put it in your pocket and you live your life according to the five living powers.

And then when the car hits you, you're like, ah, I got the instructions.

Okay, and then you're not, you're prepared.

So, I don't mean to be, what do you call that?

Depressing or something like that.

For me, it's very relaxing to know what's going to happen. Like, I know where I'm going, I know who's there at the other bus station. And I just feel relaxed.

So, here we go. We have to try to finish today.

Geshe La talks too slow. And we're going to take a shorter break today so we can finish.

And Alex Rivas is going to sing us a song.

Okay, here we go.

Where is he? Oh, hi. Okay, don't get nervous.

Okay, all right. Oh, Alex and Pau, I think. Pau?

Where's Pau?

Ah, she achieved shanti. All right, here's the five powers. And I expect that the teachers tomorrow will give $100 to somebody.

I'll do, I'll do half. And you're going to check the five powers for living and the five powers for dying. Okay, five powers for living.

We call white seed. Number one is called white seed. Number two is called a habit.

Number three is called decision. Number four is called destroyer. And number five is called prayer.

Brian, what are the five? White seed. White seed.

Habit.

Decision.

Destroyer.

And prayer. Okay, good. All right, here we go.

There's five.

The names are the same for living and for dying.

And again, please don't get so serious about death.

Okay? If no one taught you how to die, you should be serious. If someone taught you how to die, you should be, yeah, okay.

I understand that. Socrates. I went to see the cave where he was put in prison.

And he was sentenced to death.

And he drank, it's near the Agora market.

In Athens, Greece. And the government required him to drink poison to die because he was teaching the young people strange things called philosophy. And so he's about to drink the poison.

He's, okay. Okay, you want me to drink poison? It's okay.

Then he stopped. And all the students are like, oh look, he's afraid. And he said, oh no.

He said, I borrowed a chicken from my neighbor to get eggs. And please make sure he gets a chicken back. Then he's like, he's not afraid to die.

He's worried about the chicken.

Alright, you have to be like that. Alright, white seed. Yeah, try to collect good seeds.

Your problem as a lamrim person, you are not going to steal money from people.

You're not going to kill anybody. That's not your problem. Bertha's not sitting there, who should I kill today?

That's not our problem. Our problem is, what's the best seed to make, of the good seed? Which good seed is better?

Because I don't have time to do all the good things. I have to prioritize. What's the most powerful good seed I can do?

Then your problem in Guadalajara, which is the best good seed, because you don't have time to do all the good things. I had a student many years ago. He was from Burma.

His name is Nigel. And I said, I'm going to teach you a new meditation. And he said, stop, just stop, Geshe La, stop.

I said, what's wrong? He taught me so many meditations.

Now you're going to give me one more thing to feel guilty about when I don't do it.

I already have a hundred reasons to do it. I feel guilty every morning because I can't do everything you taught me. So, our problem is white seed problem.

White seed means good people's problem is to choose the best thing to do. Because we don't have time to do all the good things. There's too many good things.

But you should learn all of them. Why? I'll give, do I have?

I don't have that much. Okay, a hundred dollars. Okay, and I'll say the question again.

We don't have time to do all the good things that Aldo and the team are teaching us, Tim.

We don't have time to do all of them. We have to prioritize. We have to do the most important ones first.

But, every day we should learn more. Somebody tell me why for a hundred dollars.

So we can be able to teach it to others.

You're going to pay for the question.

So we can? Teach it to others.

Yeah, a hundred dollars. Cutie.

This is a donation from somebody. This strange Taiwanese-Mexican guy.

Okay. Yeah. When we, we should still learn every day more good things.

Because every person here is going to become a teacher. When you walk in this class, you sign a contract to teach somebody else what you learned. You can teach two people at your apartment, kitchen, dining room, dining table in the morning.

Or you can sing for 6,000 people.

Oh! And teach them. Then he teach them after that.

Okay? But if you listen to Dharma, the agreement is you have to share it with somebody. Because there's a doctor shortage.

It's like Guadalajara has 5 million people. And like 10 doctors. 10 Guadalajara team doctors.

There's a serious doctor shortage. Those 5 million people are all going to die. And not one knows how to die.

So there's a serious death doctor shortage.

And when you come to the class, in this tradition, you agreed to teach other people.

You don't have to get up in front of 6,000 people and sing a song.

Maybe you just teach somebody in the coffee shop.

Okay?

Maybe they don't know you're teaching them. Okay? You just say, Wow!

I learned how to die this weekend. They're like, Hmm, what's that about? Okay?

So the more you learn, the better. Because every patient needs a different medicine. You should have a big bag of medicine.

And you can choose the medicine for the person.

But no doctor eats all of the medicine that they prescribed.

That will also kill you. Alright? So, practice the one that you need.

But learn all of them. And that's the first of the five powers. The white seed power for living.

Okay? How to live. Okay.

Hopefully Grandpa will reach the, Abuelo will reach the five for dying also today.

Okay, second one is habit.

There's a very famous teaching about the Buddha.

That they are in the direct perception of emptiness all the time. Whether they are sitting, standing, walking, or sleeping. It's called sitting, standing, walking, sleeping.

And there's nothing else.

Every, all day you're doing one of those four. And they say the Buddha is in emptiness, direct emptiness meditation during the four.

To get ready for that, you have to follow the second of the five powers, living power, which is habit. And it means when you sit down, think of somebody else.

When you sit down, when you first sit down, think about how you can help somebody else.

When you stand up, think about how you can help somebody else. When you stand up and take your first step, think about how you can go somewhere to help somebody else. And then when you lay down to sleep, think how even in your sleep you can help somebody else.

Okay, so whichever of the four activities you're doing, get the habit. Develop that habit. Here's the idiom, here's the picture.

Where is that? It should be... What's that?

Let's look at that one, that's okay. This is called the continuous flow.

And the habit is sometimes called continuous flow. Whether you're sitting, whether you're standing, whether you're walking, whether you lay down to sleep, you're still thinking, how can I help other people? Okay, and then the next picture.

This is called the vegetable habit. Unfortunately, I don't have a vegetable habit.

The green drink is full, the coffee is half. But this is a famous quotation, the vegetables.

And it's like you and me, we don't have the... like somebody say, I need a lung transplant. And you and me were like, gee, I hope you can find one.

And honestly, I don't have the courage to do it. I mean I understand, maybe someday I will have it. But right now I think, I think I need both my lungs.

Like that, but, Shantideva said, just start with giving away vegetables. Brian!

Okay? Okay? Yeah.

Then when you give the vegetables, or the green drink, then you make a small prayer.

I hope someday I can give away my lung as easy as I give away my green drink.

Then people get scared when they hear those bodhisattva stories. Oh, he cut his hand off and gave it to somebody. There's a funny story.

In India, this hand, this hand is for eating, right? And they don't use spoon or fork. You pick up the rice and you go, and you always use your right hand.

Because there's no toilet paper in India, every toilet has a cup of water. You always check the cup before you sit down.

There should be enough water.

Then you put the water in your hand and you do, you clean your bottom with your left hand.

By the way, that's why the diamond way is called the left hand path.

Everything's backwards.

Okay, so anyway, so there's a story that somebody asked a bodhisattva for his hand. He said, well, my right hand is more, what do you call it?

Dexterous. So he cut his right hand off and he offered it with his left hand. Then the other guy said, you offering me something with your left hand?

And the bodhisattva is like, but I don't have a right hand anymore.

Then the guy said, you're so bad. Then the bodhisattva got, he's a famous example of a bodhisattva who got discouraged.

And he said, Khan [?], people are so stupid. I give up. Then later he regretted it.

Okay, I'm going to quote Shantideva. Don't forget we're on the second of the five powers, which is a habit.

GOM NA LA BAR MI' GYUR BA'I MOD DE GANG YANG YOD MA YIN. You can get used to anything.

If you make a habit, you can get used to anything. First time you give your hand away, it's very difficult. Second time it's easier.

And by the way, we are not allowed to do these kind of things.

We talk about it, but we are not allowed to hurt our body. Your body is extremely valuable and you have to keep it healthy.

So those are for other people.

Maybe in a million years.

But right now you have to take care of your body. And you shouldn't do any Dharma practice which hurts your body. Okay, next picture is... Yeah, and he says, look, when you were a little kid your mom put a cup of water and then you didn't know how to pick it up.

You're like, you spilled it. There's some nice pictures of Maitri throwing avocado on the wall. His first avocado, there's more on the wall than in his mouth.

When we are little kids, even to pick up a cup is something we have to learn.

And we're not good at it at the beginning. So he said, look, giving away your hand, later it's like it's automatic. You're just like holding a cup.

You don't have to think about it.

You just give all your money. It's easy. Because you have the second power.

The habit. Now you picked up a cup two, three hundred thousand times. It's automatic.

Like driving a car.

You can have a conversation and you're driving.

Later, giving away your hand will be like driving a car. It's difficult at first, but you get used to it. On our level, I don't know, like spending an hour and listening to someone who's very sad.

At the beginning, we feel irritated. They want to tell you for one hour how their mother died.

And in the beginning, you're like, doesn't she know I have to go watch Netflix tonight?

I don't have time to listen to one hour how her mother died. Then just do it once. And then the second time is much easier.

And the third time you forgot about Netflix. So, helping other people, it's a habit.

In English we say break the ice.

I mean, try it once. Just start. And it will become a habit.

Helping other people will become a habit. Then it's easy. Alright.

This is cute. You got that next picture you guys?

Oh yeah. I don't think that's the picture I want. Let's not do that one yet.

Let's stop. I still have... I have to go back to the...

I have to go back to the cup.

Yeah, and he says when you're a little kid you have trouble to pick up the cup by the handle, right? And you spill the water. Your parents have to clean it up, right?

Later you get used to it and it's automatic. And he says your understanding of lamrim will become so automatic that you'll become like some lamas in Tibet. When they get on a horse they put their foot in the stirrup first foot.

Then they jump up and the second foot goes over the horse, right? And then they put the second foot in the second stirrup.

Between the first stirrup and the second stirrup they can do a whole lamrim outline meditation.

Between the time you fasten your seat belt and the time you start the car you can do a whole lamrim meditation if you're good at it. Cool. Alright.

You just have to start the car very slowly.

Alright.

Next. Can you show the next sentence on the... It starts with GOM.

G-O-M-S. Yeah. Can you highlight that one? GOMS PA. The whole two lines.

And by the way, a lot of what you heard Grandpa say for the last 50 years you can find it in this lamrim.

So every once in a while we will come to a sentence which you heard me say many times before. And this sentence says the Tibetan word for meditation means to make a habit.

So the Tibetan word for meditation is GOM. Say GOM. And the Tibetan word for make a habit is GOM.

So if you GOM, GOM, GOM If you GOM, GOM, GOM, you GOM.

And that became the word for meditation.

So the word meditation in Tibetan means to make a habit.

The Sanskrit is very interesting. Say bhavana. Bhavana.

Bhava means to be. And the word to be comes from bhava. Na means to make it.

Like plumber, teacher, singer. It means the person who does that thing. So bhavana means to create a new person.

It's very beautiful.

Ana or na means ER. And bhava means existence.

And the Sanskrit word for meditation means to create a new person. It's very beautiful. So bhavana.

The Tibetan means to create a habit. The Sanskrit means to build a new person.

And those are the words for meditation.

It's very beautiful.

Okay.

Number four.

Oops. He puts them out of order.

I'm sorry.

Okay, he puts them. I don't know why.

You can ask your students to figure it out. But number four is what?

Destroyer.

Yeah, now you can show that ugly picture.

In Tibet, in India, in my monastery, there's a lot of wild dogs. Okay, and this is common in the third world. In my monastery, it's actually a problem.

So, you know, the dog starts out in somebody's house. Then they get lost. And then they learn to live on the street.

And they're very dangerous, actually. And they get into packs. And it's very, it's actually quite dangerous.

There'll be like 20 dogs walking down the street.

So, there's a there's a habit in India or Tibet. When you see those dogs, you squat down really fast. Because you have to pick up a stone and throw it at them.

And now they are so well trained, when you squat down, they run away.

So, I'm just telling you how to walk down the street in India.

Also, if you see more than three teenagers together, squat down. Especially if you're a lady. It's actually dangerous.

So anyway, it becomes automatic.

I put a fly because it's automatic. We call shoo, shoo the fly. You know, some fly lands on your nose.

And you go like that. In fact, when you're meditating, it takes a lot of self-control not to do that.

Sometimes I let them go, you know. Go ahead. They're like, when they reach my nostril, I break the meditation.

By the way, if you're in a place with fly problem, get a mosquito net. And there's a special kind you can put on a hat and it covers you. Now, like if you do a retreat, take a mosquito net.

It's important. Otherwise, you will break your meditation every five minutes. Okay, what are we talking about here?

Number four was destruction.

Destroyer.

It means this.

What's that mean?

Or it means this. And it means every time you start thinking about what you want, just automatic habit. It has to be automatic.

It's like a fly landed on your nose. You don't think about it. You know, when a fly lands on your nose, you're like ...

When you're in India and you see a pack of dogs, you just ... So, what it means is destruction means when you start to worry about what you want and you forget of what other people want, you have to make a habit to destroy it.

And it should become instinct. It should become instinct. It should become automatic.

Aldo, you're waking up all the people. Yeah, this has to become an automatic habit. Yeah, but when do I get my churro?

Think about other people. Yeah, but are they serving coffee to me too?

Okay, every time the thought comes about me, me, me, me, then just ... Okay, that's the destruction power. I think we finished three powers of living.

I still owe you two living powers and five dying powers. Therefore, we're going to take a shorter break.