BDW 4 «Алмаз в Киото», занятие 5

(0:16 - 0:24)
Hello, hello everyone. Yeah. Hello everyone.

(0:25 - 0:37)
Welcome. My name is Jessica, I'm from Vietnam, and I'm very honored to be the MC for this session today. We are so glad to have you here with us.

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And we are about now to begin class number five with Geshe Michael Roach. Julie impressed me in the last class that something that Geshe Michael Roach said. Forget time [?].

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The word is just pictures coming from how we treat others. So please enjoy every moment and every mental image, we are about to have this special class. And before we begin, please take a moment to check your Zoom settings and choose your translation channel. 

Wishing you all a wonderful class ahead. Hello, hello. Okay, hi.

(4:19 - 4:41)
Thank you for such a nice welcome, and thank you for coming so far. And you're very, very nice, and it makes me very happy to be here. We're gonna start with advertisement, yay! The Japanese book thing, you guys.

(4:54 - 5:05)
So, this was printed many years ago in Japan, and they just reprinted the 25th anniversary. And I think it comes out tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken. Today, two more days.

(5:06 - 5:32)
Okay, and thank you, where's Sophie Chow and her team? Can you guys stand up? Thank you. Thank you. Nice job. 

It's a beautiful cover. They put extra hair. I think so.

(5:35 - 5:49)
Okay. Alright. We didn't quite finish. 

I'm still on that last image from yesterday. It looks like a planet, I think. In the sky, in the dark sky.

(5:50 - 6:11)
And I didn't quite finish from talking about the Arya truth, okay? The things that an Arya sees. And I think it's good for you to hear it from Grandpa, okay? So, we talked about seeing your death directly. You see your death.

(6:11 - 6:30)
And I repeat that most people, everyone except an Arya, has a deep down belief that they will not die. And they're wrong. But you don't really believe it until you see it, after you see emptiness directly.

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You see your death directly, and then you don't have any doubt about it. Strangely, after that you feel more relaxed about dying. And you don't feel more nervous. 

You feel more certain, okay? Because you know the job you have to do. And you feel very, very relaxed all the time. Even you get into some very dangerous situation, you feel very comfortable, okay? Then I would say, something you see in those minutes, in the, maybe, in my case, I stayed in the temple for maybe an hour, almost an hour.

(7:15 - 7:43)
And then I went to sell my car, to buy a diamond, okay? And offer it to the Buddha. But I remember one thing was that in the temple where I saw emptiness, we have a set of the Kangyur. So, we have the 990 ancient books from India spoken by Lord Buddha.

(7:43 - 8:03)
And I think it's the only wood carved set in South America and North America. It's in that temple. And I was looking at it and I was thinking, as an Arya, you get this strange feeling.

(8:03 - 8:43)
First of all, you want to prostrate to it, okay? And in Asia, in Buddhism, we have this custom to bow down and you can do a [?], you can put your head on the floor, or you can do a kyangchak, you can spread your whole body out on the floor. And on that day, when you become an Arya, you will throw yourself on the floor, okay? Like, no hesitation, you just throw yourself on the floor. And I think that's where prostration came from, maybe, okay? And you just throw yourself on the floor.

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And then when you look at the paintings in that temple, I came from Princeton, I was supposed to be a Christian priest. I was signed up for a seminary already. I was already accepted into seminary.

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And then I was used to this beautiful cathedral at Princeton, very beautiful stone cathedral, very quiet, very serious. And then I came to this Mongolian temple and everything is crazy. Wild colors and all kinds of terrible paintings of terrible things.

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And on that day, as an Arya, you just throw yourself down and you say, oh my gosh, all these paintings are true. All those beings really exist. And there's some kind of great excitement to look at a statue or look at a painting after you know that person is alive and you know that person is real.

(9:53 - 10:15)
And you're so excited to throw yourself on the floor. And I think I did the first real prostration in my life on that day. Then I was looking at the books and I got this intense understanding that these books must survive in this world.

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These books, the Buddhist books, must survive in the world. If they don't survive in this world, it's like the sunlight went out. Imagine the sun got burned up or something.

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Imagine the sun went dark and how it would be in our life. And if those books disappear, if we don't take care of them, if we don't translate them, if they're not available, then this world doesn't have sun. You have physical sun, but you don't have a real sun.

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So it's very, very important. It's more important than I can say. It's like Ben Kramer's book [?].

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By the way, it was sold out. Congratulations. It's not that we can all understand them easily and it's not that everybody is going to read them on the bus or something.

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But they are the most precious thing in the world. And if they disappear, then this world is like hell. You don't understand and you don't really believe it.

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But if you see emptiness, you know that. Let's keep going through this. Wait, I'm on the wrong book.

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Let's go to the angel. I'm sorry, we have to go to the angel, you guys. You're pretty cool [?] to get the wrong book up there.

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Alright, I think we're on this guy in the kitchen. Yeah. Okay, listen, I told the AI, we're going to talk about how, we're going to talk about nang tong. 

Say nang tong. Nang means how do things appear to you, and tong means emptiness, you know. And the First Panchen Lama, he's trying to say that we have to think about nang and tong.

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So I said to the AI, I want the young man in the kitchen who's looking at the pot, in one hand he's holding the pot, and in the other hand it's empty. And then the AI made all these extra hands and didn't put a handle on the pot. I guess if you don't have a handle, you don't need a hand.

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But, I felt like the one person was uniting nang and tong. Nang means appears to you, the pot appears to you as if it were, wow, not bad. Not great, but not bad.

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So nang means, that's a little bit sketchy. Anyway, nang means the way that things appear. And then tong means what they are not.

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So nang, the pot in his hand, means what things are, what they are. They are appearing to you, but they are not appearing any other way, and that's the tong. And the nang and the tong go together, okay? Nang and tong go together.

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Now I ask you a question. Let's do Yibai to keep you awake, okay? It makes my luggage lighter on the way home. Nang, tong.

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Nang and tong, are they cause and effect or not? Let's go through each one. Does nang last forever and never change? Does nang never change? Or does nang change? Okay, let's say that. By the way, 99.999% of the things in the world are constantly changing every second, okay? New pictures, new pictures, things are changing.

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And then some things never change, like tong, like ... Oops, I just gave you the answer. Okay, so anyway, I forgot to bet Yibai. Appearance of things, cause and effect.

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That's nang, okay? And that's changing every second, okay? That's changing. As new pictures come out, it's changing. Tong is emptiness, never changes, okay? When you make a pen in a factory, the minute you put on the last part of the pen, its emptiness begins.

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Sorry, I cannot say begin. Its emptiness comes into being, okay? And then when you destroy the pen, its emptiness goes out of being. And you should try in your meditations, in your mind, try to feel the difference between something growing and something just start, come into existence, okay? Emptiness doesn't grow.

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Emptiness doesn't start like a kid and then grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, like that. It's just, the moment it starts, it's 100% emptiness. The moment it blinks out, it's 100% emptiness.

(15:50 - 16:08)
It doesn't go through this, this kind of bell curve, okay? It doesn't do that. It just exists immediately and then it goes out of existence immediately. Okay, why am I saying that? Nang and tong, okay? Nang is the pot, tong is emptiness.

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This one was made in a factory, apparently. This one was made in a mind. If you like pots, which I don't, because you have to wash them, that's my definition of nirvana.

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When the pot wash itself, when the suitcase pack itself. I don't care about the crops so much. Yeah, so emptiness, this pot comes into existence, its cause triggers it and then it goes.

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And then emptiness never grew, okay? It just blinked in and blinked out of existence, okay? Let me ask you. He says nang is cause and emptiness is effect. Correct or not? I mean, it's just the First Panchen Lama, don't worry.

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Is the appearance, the pot, could the emptiness in the guy's hand, dzu, could that be the cause of emptiness? Can appearance of things, can the growing of things and the emptiness of things be cause and effect? He says they are. Yeah, Ben is very good at arguing with these high lamas. And it's correct, cannot be.

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Cannot be, okay? Why? Emptiness cannot be an effect, okay? You cannot say the pot is the cause and the emptiness is the effect. You cannot say that because emptiness cannot change. Emptiness cannot get bigger.

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Emptiness cannot get smaller. It cannot go like this. It just goes click, click, out of existence, okay? Got it? But he says cause and effect, but just before that he says they almost appear as if, okay? They look like, they feel like cause and effect.

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It looks like the way that your seeds make the thing causes the emptiness of the thing. Okay, got it? Got it? It feels like that, but it's not like that, okay? He just says it feels like that, okay? He says, understand the relationship, there's three elements here, okay? There's nang, there's the thing that's being constructed from your pictures, there's tong, there's the lack of something here, but there's a third thing here, the thing that's not there. Okay, got it? There's what is there, there's the missing, missing emptiness, but then there's a third thing here.

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The third thing is the pan you always thought was there and was never there, okay? I'll say it again. There's a pan that looks like it's coming this way. There's a pan that looks like it's coming from its own side, okay? There's that, then there's the emptiness of the pan, and then there's the nang, there's the way the pan really exists through your pictures, through your pictures.

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There's three things here, okay? There's the pan that's coming at you, there's the pan that's coming from you, and there's emptiness, okay? There's the emptiness of the pan that doesn't come from you. Okay, got it? You okay? You all right? It's very quiet. Okay, all right, okay.

(20:04 - 20:17)
Then he says something beautiful. If you understand there's three things out here. What? You got a pan? Even you got a pan? Sai nani? Meo, meo.

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Oh, okay, okay, okay. Here's a pan. It feels like it's coming from the pan, okay? And you know, even though you can't feel it, that it's coming from your pictures.

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And you know pictures are coming out like chu-chu-chu-chu-chu-chu-chu, okay? Therefore, the pan that's coming this way is where? It's nowhere, okay? It doesn't exist. That's emptiness, okay? What's cause and effect? What's... $100, Yibai. Where's the cause and effect? Yibai. 

Yibai, do your thing. He bought a... The reason, it's what I did early, when I help other people with writing, and the result, it's a picture that I have... Coming out of my seat. A pan, yes.

(21:22 - 21:32)
Yeah. Now, that's an example of Erbai for Yibai. That's $200.

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That's a $200 answer. Okay? Now listen, okay? Listen. Ever since I started to become a Buddhist, I like to visit temples.

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I'm thinking of Emeishan. I went to outside Chengdu. I went to Emeishan.

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And I remember, it's a big holy mountain. It takes two days to walk down it. I walked down it. 

It took two days. And it hurt. I forget trying to walk up.

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You have to take the bus up, okay? I was going to be brave and I walked down. And halfway down, when you get tired, you can stop and there's these little monasteries and you pay $0.50 and you can sleep on the floor. So, I came down that thing.

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And I was always interested to see what do Buddhists look like who were born as a Buddhist? Because I'm not born as a Buddhist. I'm a convert. I changed to Buddhism.

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But I'm always curious. What does a Buddhist look like who was born as a Buddhist? And I watched these guys come there and they bring incense and they light incense and they make offering, you know. And maybe they offer some food, some rice or something like that.

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And I'm watching them and I'm thinking, oh, I better buy some incense or I better buy some fruit. I can offer a fruit, you know. And I was watching them.

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First Panchen Lama says here, you ready? You want to make an offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, understand what she [?] said. Just understand what she said and forget the incense and forget the rice and forget the fruit. Just, you know, I think it's great because it's so cheap.

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Okay? You don't have to offer golden bowl with apple in it, you know. You just remember what we said in this class, okay? And he says that's the excellent offering. That's the best offering.

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And you can do that offering on the plane, you can do that offering in the airport, you know, you can. It's difficult to do it when you're checking out of the hotel, but, right? You're so worried about catching the plane. But you can make this offering everywhere you are, anywhere you are.

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Even, you know, you're sitting with some irritating person and they're like, and you can you can look at them and my wife does this. She's like, Oh! Oh! Oh! And then in your mind you can make offerings the whole time, you know. You don't have to listen to what they say.

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When they finish, you will notice. Okay? And you just, Hmm, really? She has this mantra, Really? Oh, really? And I think she's just offering emptiness in her mind. Okay? You can make this offering all day.

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You can make it everywhere. Okay? When something happens to you uncomfortable, you know, somebody says something uncomfortable or somebody does something uncomfortable, it can remind you to please make the offering. Okay? So, you can connect it to the problems in your life.

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When the tax department sends you a letter, you can remember emptiness and offer it. Okay? Got it? I got a letter from the tax department. Igor Sergei got a letter from the tax department in Ukraine.

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Okay? He was a big businessman in Kiev and he practiced the four steps, DCI four steps for a couple years. Then he got a letter from the Ukraine tax department. Come to the office.

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We need to talk to you. And he was very scared, you know. And he went to the office and they said, You know what? You are so honest on your tax, we will give you some tax money back.

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Okay? And this happened to me also. So, in the old days, the great saints will walk on water. And in the modern times, you get a letter from the tax department.

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You know, you got a refund. We are giving you extra money. Okay? So, if you want to make an offering, by the way, the incense doesn't hurt, the apple is fine, you know, you should offer things.

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It helps you remember. But along with that offering, just remember what she said. Just remember what Erbai said.

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Erbai means 200. Okay? And then, that's a real offering. Okay? Cool.

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All right. And he says, next picture. Ta-da! That's the best kind of secret offering.

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Okay? These are cowboys from Rimrock, Arizona. And they wear a special mask. When they rob the bank, nobody can see who they are.

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Okay? This is the special kind of bodhisattva who breaks into your house late at night, opens the door with a special thing, sneaks into your house, opens the drawer, finds your purse, takes out the wallet, and puts more money in and runs away. Okay? That's a Buddhist robber. Okay? Bodhisattva robber.

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Okay? I like it. So, he says, in this verse, if you want to make a secret offering, you know, if you're a big diamond weight person and you want to make a secret, secret offering, you know, you want to be a high [?], Niguma level 63 yoga, yogi, you can, you can offer these gifts in your mind. Okay? You can make this offering in your mind.

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Then you're a tantrica. Then you're a real tantrica. Then you are doing secret practice.

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Okay? Looks like you are having lunch, but actually you're making offerings in your mind. Okay? Cool? As the offering disappears on your plate. Ezra's like, Dad, when are we going home? This guy is weird.

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Okay. Next verse. If you see, he says, by the way, I'm on verse number 381.

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He says, if you see that a particular result always comes from a particular cause and you understand the emptiness of it, which means you understand that the real cause is your own seeds in your own mind. Okay? If you understand that, and then you understand how things are empty, you are making the best offering to every Dharma protector. Okay? Dharma protector.

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And, it's Dharmapala. Okay? Pala means protector. The word, English word pastor comes from that, as a priest.

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A protector of the flock. So, there's some controversy like ten years ago. You know, there was a Dharma protector.

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Don't worry about it. That's one out of a million. And, I don't know, people decide to argue about it, don't worry about it.

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I'm not talking about this one. I'm talking about people who keep the Dharma in the world. People who prevent the Dharma from disappearing in the world.

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Okay? Like Ben Kramer. Okay? That's a real Dharma protector. Alright? Got it? And, and I got a picture of Ben Kramer doing the Dharma protection thing.

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Here we go. No, yeah. That's, I told the AI, I want a tiny box, crystal box of water to represent emptiness.

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And it kept making aquariums. And, I'm sorry about that Ben, but it represents emptiness. Okay? So, and Ben's protecting the idea of emptiness in this world.

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Okay? Ben's protecting the idea of emptiness in this world. How do you protect the idea of emptiness? You just learn it. Okay? That's how you protect it.

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Okay? You can write a book about it. You know, you can teach it to somebody else. But the real protection of the Dharma is when you understand how the seeds work.

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When you understand how the seeds work, you are protecting the Dharma. Okay? Got it? And I think everybody would like to protect the Dharma, right? You know, you feel like, oh, I want the books to survive in the world, and I want all the Five Houses [?] teachers to be successful. I want them to keep teaching in the world.

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I want H3 World News [?] on every television set in the universe with Juan Hazo [?] giving the announcements. You know, you can pray for that. But to understand emptiness is to protect the Dharma.

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That is protecting the Dharma. Okay? Cool? You can be a Dharma protector. And you can protect emptiness in this world.

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The way you protect it is you understand it. That's all. Okay? You just understand it, and that way you protect it.

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Okay? Cool? When I got the Geshe degree, I told my teacher, that's the first time I wore the hat, was the graduation day. And I was all nervous. I was super nervous.

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And you put on like six layers of robes. It's incredibly uncomfortable. And very, very hot.

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And then they tie this apron on you. This long apron and it was some kind of thick bag. And I'm like, what's that? Oh, that's chablung.

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I said, what's chablung? That's a ... Every ancient Geshe used to wear one. And during your Geshe graduation ceremony, you have to wear it. The final debate, you have to wear it, chablung.

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And I'm like, what's it for? And they say, debates is really long. If you have to pee-pee. It used to be like some kind of bag made out of sheep stomach or something.

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And you can pee-pee secretly during the Geshe degree. I didn't use it, okay? I just held it. But you put on this thing and you're just dying.

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And you're so hot. And then they say, you got to put on the Geshe hat. And that's the first time you're allowed to wear a Geshe hat.

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And I put it on and it goes boop, fell off. It's skinny. It's really skinny.

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And I put it on again and it fell off again. Then I thought, maybe I'm not supposed to be a Geshe. And then it fell off the third time and they said, oh, you didn't tie it.

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And I'm like, what do you mean tie it? And then they took it off and there's two little strings on it. And you tie it around your ear. And it's like, I'm telling you Geshe's secret, okay? Why I said that, I asked my teacher, Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, I said, this hat looks a lot like a Greek soldier's hat.

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And he said, it is a Greek soldier's hat. Alexander the Great came to India, came to West India, 325 BC, before Jesus. And he reached India and his soldiers wore this Greek hat to make them look taller so the enemy would be scared.

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And the northern Tibetans liked it so much they stole it. And it spread to Tibet. Cool.

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So, it's a Greek custom. And you got, he told me the whole story. So, that's Ben Kramer with a hat, okay? Okay, next picture.

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I'm on verse number 382, okay? And it says, it's infallible. It always works the same. That when you have the same causes, you will get the same result, okay? When you have the same causes, you will get the same result.

(35:25 - 35:54)
It's inevitable. You cannot change it, okay? And then they said, and then there's a debate about it in the logic, when we do the logic debates, there's a debate about it. And I'll tell you the debate, okay? And young people at the monastery, when you're about 15, 16 years old, you debate cause and effect, okay? And here's a question for you.

(35:56 - 36:53)
If you have all the causes complete, okay? If you have all the causes complete, can you stop the result? If the causes all come together, can you stop the result? And the example in the scriptures, in the logic books, is the seed is there, and there's water, and there's sunlight, and there's fertilizer, and it's been there for a while, and it's all interacting, you know, those are acting on the seed, and then suddenly the seed is ready to make a result. Is it possible to stop it at that time? There's a famous answer from the kids. Some kid will say, Geshe La, you can.

(36:53 - 37:26)
You can stop it. Then we're all like, what? How can you stop a result from coming out when the cause is there, and all the conditions are there? Who on earth could stop a seed from going, well, what if a crow comes down and eats the seed? It's a very famous kid's argument. What if a crow comes down and eats the seed? Duh, then the causes and conditions weren't ready, okay? So, don't tell me this crow stuff.

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It means this is inevitable. If the causes come together, there is no force in the universe that can stop it. And that's a big difference between what I grew up with.

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I grew up with, I was taught when I was a kid that God made the universe, God made everything in the universe, and this is how I was taught when I was a kid, you know, that everything comes from that. And then when I studied it, it was, my mind changed. I can tell you this story, but it's a long story, okay? Too long, right? You sure? Don't blame me.

(38:14 - 38:23)
Don't blame me. Okay, I tell this story on DCI. I'll make it shorter, just in case you heard it, okay? Like 20 times.

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So, when I graduated from Princeton, I got honors, and before that I went to the White House. The president called me to the White House. I got a medal from the president.

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And, you know, I felt really smart. And so I was, I felt like I was one of the smartest people in the world. And then, the next day I went to stay with my lama, and he treated me like I'm the most stupid person in the world.

(38:53 - 39:13)
For 25 years, he treated me like I'm so stupid, you know? He calls me stupid, he calls me jackass, he calls me horsefly, he calls me a whole, there's a whole vocabulary. Someday I'll write a book. You can learn Tibetan insults from him.

(39:15 - 40:06)
He called me all these bad names, you know? But I think the worst thing is, he never asked me anything. He just told me why I was wrong over and over and over again, okay? And it got to be a little bit, hurt my self-esteem, you know? Someone can tell you over and over how stupid you are, and how you do everything, you don't wash the dishes good, you don't make good momos, you know? And then after a while, you start to believe it, you know? And then one day I was, I was reading the Tibetan newspaper, and it talked about Sanrikpa, Sanrikpa. Then I asked him, what's a Sanrikpa? I never heard this, and he said scientist, that's the, it's one of our new words.

(40:07 - 40:42)
We had to invent new words in our language, because we don't have this thing. Like lungtrin, wind message, radio, zuktong lungtrin [?], form observing sky message, form observing wind message, TV. Okay, like that, you know? Then it's like, they had to make up new words, you know? Then Sanrikpa means, I said, what's that? He said, scientist.

(40:43 - 41:04)
And I'm like, I said, oh, you don't have science in Tibetan? He said, yeah, we don't have science. And then he looked at me and he said, you know, can I ask you a question? I'm like, yeah, you can ask me a question. I didn't realize that's the first thing you say before you kill somebody.

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You know, you're very polite. You say, can I ask you a question? It means I'm going to tear you apart. But he's like, can I ask you a question? I'm like, yeah.

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And he said, it's just something I don't understand. I'm like, what? Yeah, ask me a question. He said, this Sanrikpa stuff, this science stuff, you know, how does it work? What's their main idea, you know? What's their big, big idea? What's the mother principle of all Sanrikpa, all science, you know? And I said, oh, that's easy, you know.

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Everything has a cause. Everything has a cause. And then science means, progress means, iPhones means, rocket ships means, you find the cause and you can make stuff happen.

(41:57 - 42:20)
You just, science means, everything has a cause, and you find the cause, and then you can make everything happen. We were driving down the New Jersey Turnpike, just outside of Jersey City, and he's like, pull over. I'm like, this is 12 lane highway, you know, no one ever stops.

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You will die. He's like, stop the car. I'm like, no, not here.

(42:26 - 42:33)
No one stops here. I told you, I'm your lama. He used to have a mantra, I'm your lama, you know.

(42:34 - 42:38)
Stop the car. I'm like, we're going to die. He said, stop the car.

(42:38 - 43:01)
I pull over as far as I can, and there's 12 lanes of cars going back and forth, and he goes, ah. And then this big airplane lands at Newark Airport, next to the highway, and he says, look at that. And I'm like, yeah, can we go now? He's like, look at that, steel flying through the sky.

(43:01 - 43:10)
Iron, metal, flying through the sky. It's amazing, you know. I just can't see it enough.

(43:11 - 43:20)
It makes me so happy. You guys figured out how to make steel fly through the sky, you know. That Sanrikpa stuff is pretty cool.

(43:21 - 43:38)
Science, right? And then, so he's like, so, what's the number one principle of science? Everything has a cause. You just find the cause and you understand the thing. Then he's like, oh, really? That's how you make steel fly? Yes.

(43:38 - 43:49)
That's how you make car? Yes. That's how you make an iPhone? Yes. And then he said, well, what made the whole universe? You know, I said, oh man, we got that covered.

(43:51 - 44:03)
In the beginning, there was nothing. And then, then he's like, then what happened? I said, boom, you know, the big bang. And then everything started.

(44:04 - 44:14)
He's like, wow. I said, yeah, that's what science says. Everything started at that moment, you know, and he says, and everything has a cause, right? I said, yeah.

(44:15 - 44:21)
And he gets all excited. That's a special Geshe trap. He's like, oh, wow.

(44:22 - 44:35)
And everything has a cause. Is the big bang a thing? Yeah. Does the big bang have a cause? Then I'm like, you're tricking me.

(44:35 - 44:45)
He's like, hey, you know. Yeah, in our belief, there's no first cause. There cannot be a first cause.

(44:45 - 45:03)
There has to be something there to cause everything, okay? And then I felt very uncomfortable. I said, you know, us scientists, we spend many years to find the first cause. You know, we even send up a satellite, what's that? Telescope.

(45:04 - 45:18)
Which one? James Webb. James Webb, because we can see the images from the big bang. We can detect, we can triangulate the big bang.

(45:19 - 46:14)
And so I'm like, then suddenly, the big bang doesn't make any sense at all, okay? Cause and effect cannot have a beginning, okay? It's not logical. Every effect must have a cause, therefore there's no beginning, okay? And just get comfortable with it, okay? Why is that important here? You never had a beginning, okay? There is no beginning to you, and don't worry about it, okay? You weren't born, you've been here forever, and you will remain here forever, okay? And understand that the seeds in your mind have been making the world you live in and making you for time with no beginning, and every result has a cause, okay? Got it? We call it infallible. Every result.

(46:14 - 46:26)
There's no exceptions. Every result has a cause. It's infallible, okay? There's no exception to the pen coming from your seeds.

(46:26 - 46:59)
There's no exception to that, and there has never been an exception, okay? There was no first pen, okay? Got it? You all right? And he says, if you want to make an offering to the four-faced one, use this, okay? So, you know, Chaturmukha, it's a famous Dharma protector, okay? He has four faces. In each direction he has a different face, okay? One face here, one face here, one here, one here. It's called the four-faced one.

(47:00 - 47:33)
And he says, if you want to make an offering to these divine beings, enlightened beings, who protect the Dharma, you want to make an offering to them, think about where did the first thing come from. Okay, got it? Today you are thinking about what my teacher said. You know, where did everything start? And if you really understand cause and effect, you should say, if the causes are there, the thing will come.

(47:34 - 47:51)
And if a thing came, the causes were there. And even a crow couldn't stop it. Got it? Okay? And once you understand that, that idea is the best offering you can make to the Buddha, okay? Don't bring your teacher some old cheesecake.

(47:52 - 48:04)
Okay? You don't have to bring your, how many, I don't know. Don't, I mean, it's good luck to bring gifts to your teacher. And I don't mind, it's okay.

(48:06 - 48:27)
But the best gift you can make, the ultimate gift, is to think about emptiness, okay? You want to make a gift to your teacher? Put a little piece of paper in a red envelope. I thought about emptiness this morning Geshe La. Put it in the red envelope, you know.

(48:27 - 48:44)
Then go to Geshe La, you know. Or put a hundred papers like that for a hundred days and put it in the red envelope and come give it to the teacher. And the teacher would be more, a real teacher would be more happy, okay? Got it? That's the ultimate gift.

(48:44 - 48:55)
That's the ultimate offering, okay? Even to the Dharma protectors. And I love this offering. If you give me that kind of ... Was it you? Yeah, I think it was.

(48:57 - 49:18)
Sylvia kept her book for 12 years or something? Sylvia kept her six-times books for 20 years. And she's like, Geshe La, I have an offering. I'm like, wow.

(49:18 - 49:30)
She's like, you know, I was like, okay, you keep them. I wanted to read them and see all the bad stuff she did. But that's a real offering.

(49:30 - 49:45)
That's an awesome offering. The cameraman in Arizona, Jim Shalifu [?], this guy, we hired him from Phoenix. He's from a university somewhere.

(49:46 - 50:09)
And he's this old funny guy and he plays Santa Claus every year in the shopping mall. He's the guy that your kid sits on his lap and he says, were you good this year? He's a very beautiful man. And he came to film the classes and he heard how to meditate.

(50:10 - 50:20)
Recently he came to me. He said, Geshe La, 1,000. I'm like, huh? He says, 1,000 days, I didn't break it.

(50:21 - 50:36)
I meditated every morning for 1,000 days. That's just a cameraman. I'm like, you're much better than me.

(50:36 - 50:56)
Okay. So, if you want to make a gift to the protectors of the Dharma or you want to make a gift to your teacher, just think about emptiness. Okay? And the book says, what? Ben can guess.

(50:56 - 51:17)
If you want to make an offering to your teacher, think about emptiness as best as you can. Okay? Then you're like, I don't have to understand it very well. Instead, the book says, as much as you understand emptiness, offer that to your teacher.

(51:17 - 51:28)
Okay? So, even if it's a lousy emptiness understanding, offer it to your teacher. And that's the highest gift you can give to your teacher. Okay? They don't need money.

(51:28 - 51:37)
A real teacher doesn't need money. Okay? If they don't know how to make money by now, they haven't been teaching long enough. Okay? Alright? Okay.

(51:38 - 51:42)
Alright. Now I have another one. You ready? Next picture.

(51:45 - 51:58)
Yeah. Mm. If you simply, if people talk about emptiness, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

(51:59 - 56:38)
Right? And you, when people say emptiness, you don't think about a black hole. Okay? And you don't think nothing matters. and especially you don't think nothing's right and nothing's wrong, okay? Those are the classic, terrible, destructive emptiness teachings, okay? Emptiness is a black hole, or emptiness means try to think about nothing. 

You know, what do you call it? Wipe your mind, try to think about nothing, you know? This is super stinky emptiness teaching, super wrong emptiness teaching, okay? Just think about those seeds are coming out from how I treated other people in the past, okay? Then they are creating everything in front of me, okay? And there's nothing else, okay? There's nothing else in the universe. That's emptiness. And then he says a beautiful thing. 

Say, repeat okay, you ready? Good luck. DE YI, DOR BYED, BOS SOGS, PHYOD. DE YI, DOR BYED, BOS SOGS, PHYOD. 

It's a very beautiful couple of lines here, okay? SOGS. SOGS gathering can mean diamond way offering twice a month, okay? Diamond way offering twice a month, like yesterday, okay? The day before, SOGS. SOGS, we call it SOGS. 

SOGS means gathering the offerings together, okay? SOGS means gathering, okay? Then PHUN. PHUN means brother or sister, okay? PHUN means brother. It's the ancient word for brother or sister. 

In modern colloquial it's PHING RGYA, PHING RGYA, okay? But it means brother or sister. DOR BYED means diamond. It means the king of stones. 

DOR BYED. DOR BYED means king of stones, okay? So, DOR BYED PHUN SOGS, hundred dollars. YI BA'I! DOR BYED PHUN SOGS, diamond way brother and sisters. 

SOGS. Then say SOGS. SOGS. 

What's the SOGS? Here it means the group, the group of your diamond brothers and sisters. Hundred dollars, yeah. And there's the picture right there. 

Yeah, I think the AI did pretty good. If someone gets a diamond way initiation, empowerment, from the same teacher, you are their brother or sister, okay? You are automatically their brother or sister. Geshe La, what if they gave that empowerment 20 years ago and you never met the person? Doesn't matter, okay? If they got empowerment from the same teacher, then you are family. 

You are a diamond family forever. It means you have a special relationship. Do you have all those cousins that you never wanted? I have one like that. 

You know, people say, is that your cousin? You're like, well, yeah, okay. It doesn't matter how you feel about them, okay? It doesn't matter if they're nice to you or they're not nice to you, or they're smart or they're stupid. It doesn't matter, okay? If they have received an empowerment from the same teacher, you are family. 

You are diamond brothers and sisters. We call it DOR BYED PHUN, okay? DOR BYED PHUN, okay? And he says here, if you want to make an offering to your diamond brothers and sisters, and the tsok is a phun here. The tsok is a phun.

(56:40 - 1:04:10)
What's that? Two tsoks here. Yeah, so one is the tsok of all your brothers and sisters, and the other is the twice-monthly offering, sechu, tsok, okay? Cool? If you want to make a tsok offering, then sit down for a few minutes and understand that there's nothing in your world that's not coming from your seeds. And if you want to make a nice offering to your brothers and sisters, you can cook something nice, bring it to sechu, you know, you can take everybody out to sushi restaurant if it's not Monday. 

We had trouble, you know, you can do a nice, you can do all this nice restaurant, you can do all this stuff, but the best offering, the best tsok dinner for your friends, your diamond brothers and sisters, is to spend a few minutes thinking about the pen, okay? That's the most delicious thing you can give them. Cool, ma? Alright, okay. I like that. 

I like that he is, if you notice, he has quietly slipped into diamond way, you know? It's just a coincidence, right? That we are slipping into diamond way, okay? And he's slipping into diamond way on the same week. It's just coincidence, right? Okay, okay. Last thing, then I'll do some Q&A, okay? I made this last class shorter, so I could tell Tim that I finished. 

Next picture you guys. I have a question, and diamonds keep showing up in our teachings, okay? Like, you know, if you're a Buddhist, if you study, diamonds keep showing up. We just had Dorje Pün, what's that? Yeah, diamond brother or diamond sister, they keep, you know. 

Then we're about to enter the diamond way, and Grandpa's book that he put up, the first picture today, that's the, that's based on the Diamond Cutter Sutra. That first book of Grandpa, 25 years ago, which is this, which is, the book is the anniversary, 25th anniversary book. It's structured on the Diamond Cutter Sutra, okay? And there is no diamond in the sutra. 

It's never mentioned once. The word jingang? It's not in the sutra, nowhere, okay? Why do we keep talking about diamond brothers and sisters? Why are we talking about diamond way? Why are we talking about diamond cutter? $300! Why does diamond keep coming up? Sanbai, Sanbai. Because diamond is the most closest thing in this world to emptiness. 

Yeah, $300. Yeah, okay, understand? Okay, when you come down from seeing emptiness directly, as you're coming down, you are desperately searching for something in the normal world which will remind you, because you even in that moment, you understand you should never forget this thing. So, you remember, you think of a diamond, okay? You always think of a diamond. 

It's always the same thing, because a diamond is the hardest thing in the universe. There's nothing that can scratch a diamond, except for another diamond, okay? At a certain angle, but nothing can scratch a diamond. On the Mohs scale of hardness, corundum, which is ruby or sapphire, is like nine, and diamond is 10,000, okay? Like, you can scratch 10,000 rubies with a diamond and nothing will happen to the diamond. 

I was teaching this to my kids group in the Mongolian temple. I had a kids group, and I was teaching them this one, you know, and I thought if I show them a diamond, and I put that seed in their mind, you know, by the way, they were like 10 years old at the time. They recently came to visit me in Diamond Mountain. 

They are in their mid-50s now, and that was weird, and we played rock and roll together. One of them is, what do you call that, a tribute band for Grateful Dead. Chag tselo [?]. 

But I said to them, I had a special pen that has claws on it, and you can put a diamond on it, and it will hold the diamond. And I said, this diamond is the hardest thing in the universe, you know. I tried to plant a seed in the kids mind, and they're like, wow, you know. 

And I said, try it on the door, and they scratched the door. They said, try it on, you know, this coin. They scratched the coin. 

And then this kid says, I wonder if it will write on the window. And he goes, he signed his name on the window, you know. And it was there for the next 30 years, you know. 

And my teacher was really impressed, you know. That was another stupid thing I did. But anyway, it's good if you can keep a diamond, okay? It's good if you can keep it. 

That's why diamond keeps coming up in all these books, okay? And $500. You got enough? I'm trying to use it up. Then there's less luggage to carry home. 

If a diamond is like the coolest thing in the universe, then why would you want to write a book and call it Diamond Cutter? Why would you want to call it Diamond Cutter? And by the way, there's some translations, especially in Vietnam, where they left off the cutter. They just call it the Diamond Sutra, which is a really big mistake, okay? I will speak Chinese, because I'm so nervous. Okay, don't be nervous.

(1:04:24 - 1:05:20)
Because even the diamond is the hardest substance in the universe, the wisdom of emptiness can still cut it open. Okay, yeah. Yeah, good. 

Good. It's still not ultimate. Emptiness is higher. 

Emptiness is more ultimate, okay? Got it? Alright, mmm, Q&A. We have 10 minutes. Any subject, I don't care. 

I'm sure the older students will respect the younger students' chance to ask a question. Hello, Mr. Geshe, how are you? Hi, how are you? Ten years ago, I asked you a question about my experience of cutting a diamond. Hello, can you hear me? Yes.

(1:05:21 - 1:09:19)
At that time, you said that in Tibetan, there's a word that describes a lake that still has a lid on it. You said that I was trapped inside the lake. If I died in that position, you said that if I worked hard enough, I could open the lid and enter the Shamatha again, which is the wisdom of emptiness. 

May I ask, what does the lid mean? Okay, so, I have this question on Shamatha. Ten years ago, I asked you this question. I have the experience of Shamatha before, and you said that my experience was like a lake, but with a cover on it. 

Under the cover, I'm in the lake. If I don't remove the cover, I will die in the lake, and I will keep this kind of chaotic state of mind, in a way. So, what I need to do is that I have to open up this lid, or this cover, and to get another experience of Shamatha, or a DPE. 

So, my question is, what is this lid, or this cover that you're referring to? Okay. I don't remember the Q&A, but I can tell you what it means. He talks about it in this book. 

In this book, The Devil Debates an Angel, he talks about this question, and he says, as you know, there's two states of mind. One is called Shamatha, one is called Vipashyana, and it's not called Vipassana. And Vipashyana and Shamatha, okay? Shamatha means the ability to keep your mind on an object perfectly, without distraction, and without getting sleepy, okay? No jingwa, no gopa. 

Perfect concentration is Shamatha. And it feels peaceful, okay? It feels peaceful. Then Vipashyana means you use that gun towards emptiness. 

You think about the emptiness. The first emptiness you ever see directly, and that was my last Geshe question, by the way. The first emptiness you ever see directly, in my case, was the emptiness of Michael, okay? It's the emptiness of yourself, okay? So, you aim that weapon, you aim that gun, Shamatha, at you, and you try to understand, why am I empty? Why am I empty, okay? And he talks about it in this poem. 

Towards the end of the poem he talks about it. If you just get deep into the Shamatha, if you just go deep into the meditation, and you don't aim the gun at something, or at somebody. If you take that powerful meditation mind, and you don't think about the emptiness of something or somebody, then that's a mistake, big mistake. 

That's like drowning in a lake, okay? To stay under the lake, peaceful, and stay in that peaceful state of mind, but you don't aim it at you. Who are you? Where did you come from? What's creating you? If you don't use the concentration to investigate your emptiness, then you will drown in that concentration. You will lose yourself in that concentration, okay? Got it? So, it just means the concentration is a great thing, but use it for something. 

Use it for something. Think about where am I? Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I here? Okay? That's all. Okay? Think about it.

(1:09:19 - 1:10:04)
Thank you. And we're going to reach that maybe in a year or something, okay? Hi Geshe La. Hi. 

I have a question. Can you hear me? You always have a question. It's not true. 

It's a good thing. Tak madrup [?]. I have a question, because I think I could hear some contradictions, and I would like to ask you to address them, because people are coming to ask me, and then I don't know how to answer. 

Wait, I can't hear you. Is the microphone on? Can you guys hear it? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please.

(1:10:04 - 1:10:22)
Can you hear me? Yeah. Just be loud, like this. Kiss the microphone. 

Okay. Geshe La, you said that you have seven lifetimes. Then you said unless you practice tantra.

(1:10:23 - 1:10:31)
Does it mean you didn't? Okay, okay, good, okay. Alright. Good question.

(1:10:32 - 1:11:47)
Somebody asked me that last night. If you practice Diamond Way, it's supposed to be the case that in this life, before you die, you can reach Buddhahood. You can reach enlightenment in this lifetime. 

And there's different statements. Some books say 16 lives, some say 12, some say 1. And they do say that. If your practice of Diamond Way is successful, you can become a Buddha in this life, or 12, or 16, something like that. 

And I'm just being honest to say I have not reached that. Okay, I believe it's possible. And I practice Diamond Way all the time myself, because it would be nice to do it now and not wait for seven lifetimes. 

But I personally have not reached that myself. Okay? I hope to, but I cannot say honestly that I have reached that. Okay, I believe it can be done. 

I believe you can do it. And I believe if you follow Diamond Way well, you can do it. Okay.

(1:11:47 - 1:27:33)
Cool. Kiss the microphone. So my question is of my mom she's she finished her the last part of her life journey this year and before she left I used what you taught in lamrim class 23 the four steps to help her and But that time I did not had a chance to learn the diamond way and in my past house And in my life, I was wondering how can I help after since we're learning the diamond way? How can I in my life help my friends and my family to face death and also you mentioned about the Tibetan books of life? and death and there are some potential Problems with it and I used a book about ten years ago to help some of others So I was wondering if there's any thing that we should do and what should we do? Okay, good. 

Good question. Good question I would say two things and And one I think I mentioned and one is to help our parents if it's your parents or somebody like that Who is who's very ill or something like that? We should do our best to help them to clean any big mistakes they made in their life and I'll tell you a quick story. I By the way, I believe in stories. 

I think you remember stories So I it's not that I'm just an old man and I like to tell stories, but that's also true So My dad was dying of cancer. He had lung cancer and And the doctor said they they split open his chest. They cut here They broke the bone in half. 

They opened his chest. They checked his lungs and They didn't do anything they just closed it back up and they sewed it and they said he's gonna die for sure There's nothing we can do, you know, and then he slowly died and So I went to stay with him While he was dying and his main thing he drink orange juice no eating and Watched football games. So I watched a lot of football games with him and he couldn't stand up So I I sat with him and I watched many football games and drank a lot of orange juice. 

I made orange juice for him and Then I asked my teacher before I went Is there anything I can do to help my father? and he said Make sure your father has Cleaned his worst bad deeds, you know Try to talk to him about his worst bad deeds and then try to get him to regret He if your father says I'm sorry, I did those things. I won't do them again Then he if he passed away He will have a much happier life he would have a much happier journey So I I I knew my dad He was in World War two He was very young. I think he lied about his age and he was put on a submarine and And and that submarine is still exists in Arkansas because it's called the Razorback and The state of Arkansas bought it and put it in the state fairgrounds or something. 

So he was on this Razorback for for most of the war and the submarine has a big machine gun on the top and Normally, they're underwater, but if they sink a boat then everybody jumps off the boat the boat sinks then the submarine comes up and One soldier has to shoot all the enemy soldiers in the water. They are hope they are helpless They cannot defend themselves. They are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean they are just swimming and your job is to shoot them one by one and that was my job my dad's job and So I I thought I have to get him to Confess, you know, and he doesn't even like to talk about it. 

He only talked about it to me once and So I I was thinking how can I get him to confess, you know and Here's what I did and I suggested okay, if someone's gonna die in your family Try to bring up that thing like dad Look at that football game. Wow He's killing those people by the way in Japan in the war you know like bring the conversation to That thing that they did, you know, and I asked him I said dad Would you do that again, you know, you did it once would you do it again? And he looked at me and he said I would never do that again. I don't care what I would never do that again and I'm like, ah You know now that's four powers. 

He did the four powers, you know, he can die and That'll be better for him. That's one suggestion. Okay second suggestion I Don't have Usually day to day I don't have Ability to see People's minds or I don't have this ability normally and I don't have the ability to see people who died or things like that But it did happen to me once That I saw my roommate in college and he died He was he died It's a terrible story. 

We went to Princeton together, at Princeton they require that you learn to swim. I Don't know why it's like a hundred-year-old rule. You cannot graduate if you don't learn to swim and He didn't want to learn to swim So he didn't learn to swim and he sued the university and he won He won the court case and he was not required to learn to swim Then he fell in a river and died After that, strange story. 

Then I had some dreams about him, you know, and I believe they were true and He was Looking, he has a two children and his wife, his high school girlfriend and he's He's standing behind a glass Window and the two children and the wife are eating breakfast and he's talking to them and They can't hear him and he doesn't know he's dead He didn't understand he's dead and he's he's banging on the window and he's trying to get their attention and they they can't hear him and they just keep talking and eating breakfast and he's he's banging and he's trying to get their attention and he can't and Then I told my teacher about it He said, yeah, you saw him. He's in the bardo Then I said, but he can hear everything that's happening. And he said yeah, he can therefore You should talk to your family member, okay, you should talk to them even you can't see them and Even you can't hear their answer But you should talk to them. 

So sometimes After a family member passes away You can sit in a in a room by yourself you can sit on your bed and And you can talk to them. Okay, you can just talk to them and you can Help them through their experience and especially it's very very important And by the way, you've mentioned changchok the other day this ritual for the dead This is in the changchok. Okay, this is part of the changchok and we even hold some possession of theirs that they used to love like if she had a scarf or She had a rosary or she had something that she used to use a lot. 

Hold it in your hand and Talk to them. Okay, and they are attracted to that possession that they used to have so you can speak to them and You can help them through the death process How to help them Ask them to focus on the good things they did. Keep telling them Okay, don't say mom you used to burn the spaghetti and You know Mom, I remember all the spaghetti you cook for us Thank you so much and you were such a good mom and you helped so many people. 

Keep mentioning good things to them and They will remember the good things they did and even you can keep a list during the day Keep a piece of, keep it on your phone make a list on your phone of the good things. When you Before you start that You think oh your mom did ten good things for you Then slowly that list will become a thousand. It will grow and grow and grow You will remember more and more and more things and then tell her I Remember, you know you bought that surfboard $90 at What was the place? Surf Pacific Beach Surf Shop $90 Six foot ten board. 

I remember that was so cool mom, you know, like tell your mom all the good things and When she's happy about the good things she did it protects her in the bardo Okay, it protects her in the bardo. Supposed to be the bardo cannot go for more than 49 days Supposed to be maximum 49 days But I believe that when you speak to them even after their rebirth or in the next bardo You can have connected bardos. I Believe that they can hear you and I have a friend. 

What's that lady's name in? In [?], right? Terrigia [?]. Yeah, that's what I said Her daughter died her daughter died and she's been doing it now for 20 years, I think 30 years She's been doing that. She's been talking to her daughter for 30 years and I believe it's having a big effect on her daughter. 

Okay, where her daughter is you don't you can keep going and you can keep doing this practice and it's very very beautiful if you Want to learn more about this practice? You can talk to Venerable Jigme, Venerable Gyaltse stand up, please Yeah They started a new organization called blue sky friends and They do prayers For people who passed away they organized prayers among all the monks yeah, and Sometimes Rebecca does that you want to stand up? She organizes that. Thank you No, and then it's not here, okay. Yeah talk to them they have a Instructions how to do these practices, okay, they have all the paperwork and They also can help you personally if you have questions if you need help over a long time You can talk to them and they will keep helping you for many years even right? Say yes Okay Okay, we're supposed to stop anything else. 

I'm supposed to do. Oh, I have an interview. I have to go Okay, and I'll see you when I get back. 

Okay. Thank you Hi, hi everyone, this is Jessica from Vietnam again and I Am happy to be back as MC for closing this class number five On behalf of all our live students. I would like to express my deep Gratitude to Geshe Michael Roach for teaching us one of the deepest idea about emptiness and If we would like to give the best offering to Geshe La Please just remember what we learned in this class That is the most excellent offerings and if you would like to have real protection of the Dharma Is when you understand emptiness understand how the seeds work is such a profound and precious class So dear Geshe La, please stay with us. 

Please. Please continue to teach us. We need you and the world needs you So now please take a short break and join us again at 5 30 p.m. Kyoto time for class number six and especially there is a event Celebrating Geshe Michael's birthday Yeah, and please make sure to come back on time and so you don't miss your final class and the birthday celebration We look forward to seeing you soon