BDW 5 «Мост 5: Пустота в повседневности», занятие 6

(0:00 - 0:47)
to have you here for this next teaching session. In this it is a gift together together and continue receiving this precious teaching as a global community. Thank you for joining us at ACI Five Houses. 

Please settle in and let's begin. Go. Hi. 

Welcome back. There's a reason why I'm wearing a cowboy hat and boots. But you're going to find out later, okay? So don't be scared.

(0:49 - 3:24)
All right. All right, here we go. So, this next canto, this next section, we're in the angel-devil, right? And the next section is called Objections to Emptiness. 

And the devil starts to say, look, this emptiness thing is very interesting, but I think it's kind of stupid. And I think there's a couple of problems with it. And he starts giving us problems, okay? And that's one of the beautiful things about this book. 

It's just so brilliant to have the devil talk, you know, to have your tendency to hold things as self-existent, to allow them to talk, to allow them to make their case in the court. It's very interesting. It's very beautiful, okay? So, he says, next, first picture is the guys with the pot, the pot, okay? Yeah, okay. 

So, this is how, yeah, hey they have a microphone. So, this is how they picture devils in the Western world, which is kind of funny. There's a famous writer called, what's his name? C.S. Lewis, yeah. 

He said, there's a beautiful book called The Screwtape Letters. If you have time, read it. It's a small book, very small. 

Screwtape is an old word for the devil. And he's a Christian writer, but it's a very beautiful book about the devil. And it's the same as our devil, okay? He talks the same, he thinks the same, all right? So, if you get a chance, you should read it, okay? He says, in that book, one of the best things that happened for the devil in the last few hundred years is that nobody believes he exists. 

Everyone thinks it's a joke. And they write, they paint these funny little guys. For me, this is the guy who wants me to eat cookies at dinner. 

Why Diamond Mountain puts 20 cookies on my table? I don't know. But I have to look at them. And then the devils come in my head, you know, and they're like, I wonder if the chocolate chip is different from the chocolate one.

(3:25 - 3:41)
I'm just checking, I'm not eating them. So, they say it's the devil in the devil business. If you're in the devil business, you're very happy that modern people don't believe in the devil.

(3:42 - 4:08)
Or they think it's some kind of joke, or they think it's the person who's trying to ruin your diet, or something like that, okay? They're very happy, the devil's very happy. But our devil, I would say he's very sophisticated, and he's very clever, and he's very smart. He lived about 400 years ago, right? And he knows how to be a good devil, and he knows how to debate.

(4:10 - 6:06)
And he says, look, you, angel, your big thing is dependent original events [?]. Your big thing is dependent events, okay? We'll get used to it in about five years, okay? Then I'll change it again. So anyway, your big thing is dependence, right? You believe that, right, Miss Angel? And she says, yeah, everything has a cause. 

You can find the cause of anything. And the cause of the pot on the stove is not what you thought it was. It's not a factory someplace in Japan or something who's making pots. 

That's not where things come from. So, if you really understand dependence, then within a few hours you can see emptiness directly. If you see emptiness directly, you are going to be a Buddha and nothing can stop you. 

And soon, very soon, like in one second. Time goes faster, I think, for Aryas. They're like, yeah, okay, seven, die seven times, no problem. 

I can do that. And probably it'll be fun, okay? So anyway, the devil has a very interesting argument. He says, do I, oh Miss Angel, do I have dependent events? What do you think? Yeah, he exists, okay? He really exists. 

He's the one who makes your life less than joyful. If you're not very happy right now, you are enjoying [?] the devil in your mind, okay? I'll say it again. If you're not extremely happy, throwing your computer in joy.

(6:08 - 7:21)
Those Singapore people are so rich, they can just throw computers. So, if you ... anyway, if you have the ... if you have the angel inside of you, you should be very super ... just kind of happy all the time. It doesn't mean bad things don't happen, okay? Angels still get flat tires, okay? And they still, you know, somebody puts the wrong beans in their dinner and they boop all night. 

That happens, but still they feel happy, you know? Do they have some pain? Yeah, but they feel joyful all the time. But the question of whether the devil has dependence. You guys said yes, right? 100 bucks? His name is ... his new name is Ibai. 

Ibai means 100 in Chinese language. Ibai, right? That's the only Chinese I know, after so many years. Kind of lazy, I'd say.

(7:22 - 7:39)
Now I forgot what's it called. Oh, somebody explained to us the dependent ... the dependence of the devil. I think there's a lot of kinds, but ... Tim, you can't take money from your own organization.

(7:53 - 8:23)
So, as we were studying back the other day, everything is coming from the luminous pictures which popped up ... you're on the right track ... from our past deeds, how we treated other people. So, our devil is also coming out from our luminous pictures when we didn't treat well other people, I guess. Oh, now that's a $200 answer.

(8:33 - 9:32)
Yeah, the devil in your mind exists, okay? Really exists. It's not a guy, okay? It's a girl. No, I'm kidding. 

It's ... the devil exists in your mind, but it's a way of thinking, right? It's a ... she proved that the devil has dependent events, okay? Dependent occurring. Does the devil have emptiness? Just a hundred bucks. Ronit? Yes.

(9:33 - 13:44)
Ve-u-lai lo ha-yu ha-dvani me-o-lam, me-o-lam, lo ishkam til shacham. [?] What? It's not coming from its own side. Okay! Alright, nice. 

He's ... the devil's not coming from his own side. So, the devil has emptiness, and the devil has dependence, therefore the devil's going to get you out of samsara, right? In a way. Not coming from seeing [?]. 

Say again? Okay, but is he going to get you out of samsara? Can the devil get you out of samsara? Yeah, who said that? Understanding. Hundred bucks. Yeah, yeah. 

Yeah, if you understand the devil, that can help you get rid of the devil, okay? In fact, it's the only way to get rid of the devil, alright? Understanding the devil, the devil's dependence and the devil's emptiness will defeat the devil, right? Okay? So, to conclude this section, and it's beautiful, and by the way, you can spend a hundred years with this book. It'll come out in Malaysia, if all goes well, right? And it'll be even translated into some languages, if all goes well. It's 600 pages long. 

I think you can just keep it with you for the rest of your life, and when you sleep, or if you have someplace else that you sit for a long time during the day, you can read parts of it for the rest of your life. It's so deep, I think you could read it for the rest of your life, okay? Alright, so I think it'll come out in in Malaysia, I hope so, right Rosa? Can I say that? Where is she? She's hiding. Will it come out in Apsara [?]? Will Devil Angel come out in Malaysia? Okay, you heard her. 

Alright, yay. Then you can use it for a long time. Here's the devil, now the devil comes back. 

Who could ever take something that is really there, the fact that things depend on other things, and put it up on a ladder which is made of rabbit horns? Okay, the devil says to the angel, you are making a ladder. You got that next picture you guys? Yeah, you are ... by the way, I asked the AI six times to make a ladder out of rabbit horns, then I tried deer horns, and rhinoceros horns, and it just refused. Sometimes it says, that's a dirty picture, we can't make that. 

And I'm like, horns? Rabbit horns? Anyway, this is the best I could do, alright? If it's empty, does it mean it doesn't work? That's what the devil is saying. If it's empty, it doesn't work, right? If it's ... can we say if it's empty, it cannot work? Right? Say again? Nice, okay. If I had more money I would give you ... I promise.

(13:45 - 28:41)
Yeah, say again? It works because it is empty. It works because it is empty. Nice, okay. 

So again, the devil's trying to confuse things. And I have to say, I've in my long life, I've had many people come up to me and say, I don't think I can follow this teaching, and I don't ... it's not comfortable for me. And I say, why? And they say, because you keep talking about emptiness, and my life's empty enough already, you know? I don't need more emptiness, you know? If you'd say something, be nice to people, that, I'm okay with that, but keep talking about emptiness over and over again, it seems very negative, it seems like nothing exists. 

And this is one of those cases in history, when whole countries have misunderstood emptiness. Like a whole country has misunderstood emptiness, and people sit down and meditate and stare at the wall. When I was taking a Buddhism course in Princeton, I remember the teacher said, there's an Indian boy in the class, he knows all about Buddhism, he's gonna lead us in a meditation, you know? And we were all like, cool, you know? And they took us outside, not the same tree, but a similar tree. 

They took us outside under a tree, and there's like 10 students there, and the Indian boy brought a ... what do you call it? A dozen eggs. Chicken eggs, you know? Cooking eggs. Carton of eggs. 

And then he said, okay, this is a special meditation they taught me about emptiness. And we're like, wow. And then he, each person, he cracked the egg and put it on their head. 

That time I had hair. And he cracked the egg and put the egg on the head. And then he said, okay, close your eyes and meditate, you know? And then you feel the egg going like this, you know? And I was like, I can do this, I can do this, you know? And I was following the egg down my head, you know? And then I'm wondering, I wonder if it's going to reach my shirt, you know? And do I have to change before my next class? At Princeton you have five minutes to get to your next class. 

They bring a bell, you know? And then it's going like this, and then he said, okay, stop. And I'm like, yeah. And that was my emptiness meditation. 

That's the one I learned first, okay? And what I mean is, the whole countries of people in the past have misunderstood this meditation. And you get things where people stare at walls, and try to think about nothing, and things like that. And it's very, very common. 

It happens a lot. I think one thing for us, if you've had, if you've been lucky to have the classes, you know? Gibson Chang teaching you mind only, you know? Where are you? Hi, I got a question for you, do you mind? So, you do mind. So listen, you're translating a mind-only text, right? And it's the birth of the mind-only school. 

Yes. Then there's Wordsmith, who's translating mind-only for 10 years now, and his book just wants to talk about kunshi, kunshi, kunshi, foundation consciousness. And your book just wants to talk about the three characteristics, two characteristics, three characteristics. 

Why? I have this question a long time ago, I couldn't find the answer. Okay, sit down, sit down. I'm curious about it, I'm curious when it changed, I don't know, at some point it changed, right? They don't talk much about ... yeah, I don't know yet, I'll tell you later. 

Okay, that's a nice question to ask. Okay, anyway, I would say that as, as modern, you know, people interested in emptiness, and I don't say Buddhist, you don't have to be Buddhist, you know, I think DCI, which started 17 years ago, the idea of DCI was very radical, and it was, can you learn these ideas and not be a Buddhist? Can you not go to temples? Can you not light incense? Can you not take tantric initiations like the old way? Things like that. Can you follow a way of life where you understand those ideas, but you don't have the, what do you call it, the rituals and things like that, you know, and that was, that is what DCI is meant to do. 

And I, and I would say, my, my last teacher passed away recently, Geshe Lotar passed away, you know, less than a year ago, I think one year is coming up, and, and then I felt a change in my life, you know, I thought, well my last intimate connection to the monastery is finished, you know, and, and then I was thinking about the future of the monastery and things like that, and I feel like, when I think about DCI for example, and it's just an example, YSI is similar, but when I think about DCI, and I think about the monastery, to be very honest, I would, I think DCI is teaching these ideas better, okay, and I, and I believe that, you know, I really believe that, and I don't say it lightly, and I love the monastery, and I, it made me, my whole life was created there, but I have to say, I think for using the ideas of emptiness in your real life, there's no comparison, there's really no comparison. People in the, traditional teachers and students in the monastery, they don't think this way at all. The way you guys think, they don't think at all, okay, it's kind of strange, okay, so it goes on like that, the question is, what do you do about it? Do you, do you go around, put on a special hat and say, I'm the only Buddhist who understands Buddhism, and I'm not a Buddhist, okay? Do you, do you go around, I don't think that's good either, I think to me, the way to affect other people is to practice what you learned and prove, prove it with your life, okay, and it, you don't convince other people by talking, you know, you convince other people by living a successful life, and I, I don't mean success is just money, but it doesn't hurt to have some money, but it's happiness, you know, if, I would say, if, if a group of people understand dependent events, that's still kind of hard, or emptiness, then as a group, they should be more harmonious, they should be more happy, more successful not as a business, but more successful as people, more successful people, and they should die well, they should know how to die, and they should die well, and I, I would say that, you know, I would say, I'm pretty happy about what's happened with DCI so far, and I had a plan for a long time with it, for how it should go, and we get, what do you call, obstacles sometimes, but we go, keep going, and I, I feel a strange thing in my heart, that it's, more what the Buddha wanted, than, than temp, big temples, or big, big expensive statues, and things like that, you see, I believe that, so, I feel very happy about it, I feel very proud about it, okay, what I wanted to say though, is how do you, so, should we go around to all the temples, and tell people, we're right, and, and you don't understand emptiness, you know, is that what we should do, you know, and I think, we have to talk about it, I think, I think, what do you do when you meet someone who really misunderstands emptiness, or dependence, or even diamond way, how, how do you, what should you do, you know, should you, how do you, how do you interact with them, what should we do, how should we go forward, and I think, I don't think the main thing is talking, I think the main thing is to be a good person, be a happy person, and be a joyful person, and be helping everybody, and then you don't have to, you know, start a new philosophy, or you don't have to do that, just be who you are, what do you call it in DCI, what's it called? Success is love, they have a beautiful thing in DCI called success is love, and that's one of the life tools, in DCI we have 12 tools to use in your life for each DCI level, and every DCI level we create 12 new tools, 12 times 17 is, I don't know, huh? 204. 

So, we've created 204 different principles to live by, and can I brag about you David, is that okay? All right, you got it with you? No? He's got something in his pocket, he's looking for it, I'm just gonna, why don't you come up here, sit here for one second, okay? So, last, on the last DCI level we wrote, or the one before that, we made some special cards, and they look like gambling cards, I designed them to, me and Rosa designed them to be like gambling cards, but each card has a picture of one of the DCI ideas called life tool, and then you, the name of the life tool is on one side and the picture is on the other side, so for the last DCI level, last DCI level? We created these cards and people who signed up got a pack of cards to use, and like that, and we're also trying to convince people hopelessly to do the good night book club, go to bed at 10, get up at 6, be fresh, you know, change your life, really change it. Yeah, there's the cards, Rosa designed them, and and they're English and Chinese right now, so anyway, my friend David said, Geshe La that's so retro, you know retro? Retro means old man, and we should make a, you know, we should combine the good night book club and the playing cards together, and make a special clock that you can carry around, but the clock will quiz you about the DCI ideas, so that, you know, like when you go to bed you touch the clock and it says, what's the picture when they're sharing the doughnut? What's it mean? And then you have to answer, okay? So, do you want to, it's not ready yet, it's not ready to distribute, it's close, we're gonna let it out, not this time Jenny, next time, but you're here and you know before the other organizers, so, so I'm gonna ask David to describe it. Okay, and again, we just, he just created the first prototype, and we still need some, we added some features, so, but I thought just for the Diamond Mountain people, and the other 2,000 online, but I thought he did such a cool job, and just spend a few minutes and tell us what it does. 

Thank you so much, Geshe La, for all the instructions and every, you know, the prototype and also thank you Rosa for helping all the way through. So, what I have in my hand is a little device, I don't know if you can zoom in. It's small. 

It's, it's small because we want you to carry it with you, and the way it works is that we feel that there are so many, you know, we attended classes, we learned the life tools, and, you know, we saw all the idioms, but, you know, after life goes on, it's hard to carry it with you and to remember it with you, so we thought, why not we have something that's, you know, not on your phone and not distracting, and you can keep it with you all the time, and it will give you one idiom, sorry, I will slow down, and give you one idiom, one a day, and on the clock, you can see there's a idiom in the background. That's the, that's a very special message for you today, and also there's a clock. You can click on it, and you can see, oh, it says, Arya, breakthrough thinkers, the evolution of our sentient life.

(28:49 - 30:25)
So you can, you can test yourself during the day, quiz yourself, especially in the special room [?]. And that's randomly generated, by the way. It's, it's randomly picked, so very special message for today, and also you can have a chance to use the first steps, you know, have a question in your mind, what are you facing, and who else could this help, and Geshe La, could you tap, and we can draw a special message card. 

Yes, and here it is, a special card. It says, the video camera [?], how seeds are planted when we share a pen. Thank you. 

Thank you. I just got a new name for it. Oh, please. 

The new generation fortune cookie. Now we finally have a real fortune cookie for all the Chinese restaurants. And also it has a meditation timer, which you could also use, and also it has a library, if you, you know, they have all the DCI life tools, level one to level seven so far. 

I also have a, like a quiz that Geshe La just, just said, you can have a multiple choice question to test your understanding of the idioms. So that's still under development, and we're working hard on it, so we'll let you know about more updates. Thank you.

(30:31 - 31:04)
David, I have a question for you. Oh, just push the button, don't ask a question. Yeah. 

I'm wondering, you know, this is an awesome product for DCI, but I'm wondering, you know, what if we were to do something like make a whole bunch of images for Lamrim, for example? Is that something that we could potentially do and make it available for a different worldview group? That would be a wonderful idea we can do. Yeah. Oh, great.

(31:04 - 31:07)
For sure. We can do it. Thank you.

(31:18 - 32:51)
Cool. Also, because I have trouble when, like when I'm traveling, when I'm at home, I put my computer and my phone in the bag, and, you know, and I put it next to my wife, on the floor next to her side of the bed, so I have to sneak over there to get into the computer after 10 p.m., which is impossible with my wife. So, I like it, David's idea, because it's so compact, you can have a ... no, by the way, it does not go on the internet. 

You can't get on the internet with this little box, okay, which is good, you see, but it does act as an alarm clock. So, I have trouble waking up without ... I have a big alarm clock, it makes noise, and if I had this little alarm clock, it'd be so cool. Yeah, so, I'm very excited about it. 

And he, lots of people propose things to me all the time, every day almost, and only a small percent actually do it, and I'd like to thank David again. Is there enough memory to fit ACI stuff on there? Okay, Tim, we'll split the development. No, I couldn't.

(32:54 - 33:08)
Next picture you guys. What the ... how are we doing on time? What time do I have to stop? Say again? From now? Oh, okay. All right, they're gonna fall asleep before then.

(33:09 - 33:42)
All right, there's a ... you heard of ri-bong-gi-ra? Gibson? Horn-on-Rabbit, and you heard of Nam-khe-me-tok? Nam-khe-me-tok. Yeah, flower that grows in space [?]. And now I got a new one for you. 

Say, Rubel-gyi-pu. Rubel-gyi-pu. The ... fur on a turtle's back.

(33:44 - 33:52)
You're supposed to laugh. Okay, like fur. Okay, yeah.

(33:53 - 34:24)
Geshe La, why don't you take a shower more often, and change your clothes sometimes? I don't have time, okay? I don't have those minutes, you know? I have administration problems, not translating. Right, Rob Rossinger? He and I have a common interest. We solve all the problems of all the boards of directors. 

Okay. But I can't do both, sorry. All right.

(34:25 - 34:42)
So, irritating person. Coming from you or not? [?] Yeah, how can you make more of them? Yeah, keep complaining about the administration work you have to do. And ... oops.

(34:44 - 35:09)
Yeah, keep complaining, keep whining about your life, and get grumpy and things like that, okay? If you want more to grow. So, what does this turtle represent? In the text right now. The irritating person or persons who don't come from you.

(35:10 - 35:27)
Okay, they are the same as a turtle with Jigme, our generation, with a beetle haircut on their back, okay? With big hair on their back. Don't exist, no such thing. All right, okay.

(35:31 - 36:04)
But, and then the angel and the devil, they go a different way, okay? After the hair on the turtle's back, they go a different way. Next picture. Uh ... So, I don't get upset actually very often. 

It's hard to get me upset, except when I drive. And, I don't know what it is. My wife doesn't like to drive me, seriously, she said ... she's in Tucson right now, seeing our granddaughter.

(36:04 - 36:42)
And I'm like, you want to drive home with me? She says, no, I don't know. And I'm like, what's wrong? She says, you never say one word on a four-hour trip driving, you know? And I said, I'm just trying to stay alive, you know? It's all these crazy people driving around me, you know? I'm just watching for the next stupid person to do something dangerous, you know? Like, I'm really scared when I drive. And I'm very serious when I drive. 

I'm always ... waiting for the person to do something wrong. And I don't trust anybody. When I'm in a car, I don't trust anybody.

(36:44 - 37:17)
And so, I get really upset. So, are those irritating drivers real or not? Yeah, they are real, and they can kill you. And they ... and it's a good way to die. 

It's a very common way to die. So, until the automatic cars get better ... I think there'll come a day in David's generation, you'll probably help it occur, when they'll think it was insane to let people drive their own car. They'll say, what a terrible thing, 150,000 people die every year.

(37:18 - 37:30)
You know, don't let people drive their own car, you know? It'll come. In Arizona, Arizona will be the last place. You know, in Arizona you still don't have to wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle.

(37:31 - 38:15)
It's the only state, I think, in the United States. Because we have freedom. So, anyway, people who drive bad do exist. 

They really are there, but they are not who we thought they were, right? And, who can explain the water on the floor in the bathroom? A hundred bucks. You choose. This is a DCI, I mean, we could ask David's invention, but ... Let's do Brian, yeah.

(38:16 - 38:34)
Yay, Brian! Yay, tech people! So, basically, when you're ... Wait, when you teach, you have to tell a story. So, you're at Diamond Mountain? Yeah, like you're teaching Kiri, okay? Okay. You're at Diamond Mountain.

(38:35 - 38:42)
Then you have to wake up at 4 a.m. to be here at 5.30 or something. To fix the tech table. Right.

(38:43 - 39:08)
And then, just when you step, it's cold in here, right? There's a lot of wind. So, you go to the bathroom, and then you step on the little mat, a little bath mat, and you forgot your slippers, which actually I did. So, when you step into the mat, it's damp.

(39:09 - 39:25)
It's so wet, and the water is so cold. So, you get so upset. Francisco, last night, when you took your shower, you did a mess, man.

(39:26 - 39:35)
And now my feet are so cold. Oh, wait, but maybe it was Pachi. He took a shower before me.

(39:36 - 39:59)
Now you got it. So, I go to the room, and I'm like, who the hell left the mat wet? And then they were like, Brian, actually, you woke up in the middle of the night. You were so nervous about missing the class, that you just wanted to go, and you took a shower.

(40:00 - 40:09)
Then you realized that it wasn't the time yet, and you came out of the shower all wet. Yeah. So, you left it like that.

(40:10 - 40:33)
And then you're like, oh my god, you guys are right. The real culprit is me. Good, nice. 

Yay! Every time somebody drives badly around you, it's you. You did something before. And it's funny.

(40:35 - 40:43)
I'm ... I have a special problem with people tailgating me. They drive too close behind me. My wife almost died this way.

(40:43 - 40:52)
The car was destroyed. Someone followed her too close, and she stopped, and they hit her. So, I have a special thing.

(40:52 - 41:15)
I don't know what it is, people always tailgating me, people always close to me, pushing, pushing, you know. Then I, you know, just while I'm thinking about it, I call Rosa, where's the book? You know? Where's the book? We're going to have Diamond Mountain, you know? We're going to have it delivered during the class. Just, and Rob's going to be there, and then Gibson's going to need the book, and I'm pushing, I'm pushing, and then I'm like, duh.

(41:17 - 41:45)
Okay, you can always find ... Probably you're doing ... whatever caused the problem in your life, probably you're still doing it. Not necessarily, but probably you're still doing it, okay? So, try to find the things that you're doing that are doing similar. So, I give her another extra day to get the books out, and people are driving about three inches farther away.

(41:46 - 41:57)
It works, right? The nice thing is she never gets angry at me. I don't know why. I think she's taking drugs or something.

(41:58 - 42:28)
Okay, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Now, since we had such a good explanation of water from Brian, I'm ready to do my little ... you guys ready? Tech table? It's going to start with a wagon, right? No, no, don't do that. 

No, no, no, that's the last one. Okay. Aiya.

(42:29 - 42:46)
Shit, they have numbers on them. Okay. Yeah, okay. 

I have a pitch for you, which is related to the cowboy hat, okay? Sunim, you ready? Yeah. Not yet, not yet. We put the hook when you're ... okay.

(42:47 - 44:10)
So, I want to tell you everybody a story about Diamond Mountain, so you understand about Diamond Mountain, okay? So, I don't know, 1849, they discovered gold near San Francisco, and you know, all these people, it was called the Gold Rush of 49 or something like that, and all these people got wagons, people from New York, people who drink coffee from New York, they all got, they all bought wagons, and they all said, I'm going to get rich, and they started to take the trip to California, okay? And, the best route, because of the Rocky Mountains, see, the Rocky Mountains are too high, and there's like a wall between California and the rest of the world, the only place to get around the Rocky Mountains is to come down to southern Arizona. So, a lot of the wagons came to through southern Arizona, and then went to San Francisco, you know, to find gold, and they needed water. And when they hit Arizona, there's no water, okay, at all, and so, it's very difficult for them to get water.

(44:11 - 45:21)
Then, they found out that there's a place called Bear Springs, okay, and spring means the water comes up out of the ground from the stone, you know, the water is stored by the mountains. The mountains have to have a special shape, and then the rain comes down rarely, but it collects under the ground in the mountains, and then it slowly comes out, it leaks out in a spring. So, spring means like a natural little river of water, and Bear Springs is one of the only springs in southern Arizona. 

In hundreds of miles, there's just a few, and we have one of them here, okay, so it's kind of, that's why this property is so valuable, it's not the rocks, it's the water, okay. People used to find heart-shaped rocks at Diamond Mountain and offer them to my teacher, and then he made a big announcement, no more heart rocks, I have enough. So, anyway, next picture.

(45:24 - 45:50)
So, this person's father is named Cochise. We don't have a picture of Cochise himself, but he was an Indian leader, an American Indian native leader. Right here, he lived on this land, partly he lived on this land, and he was a very intelligent and a great leader, a good leader, and he was compassionate.

(45:51 - 46:18)
He was a good person. This county is called Cochise County, this area, this state, this part of the state is called Cochise State [?], and so his father was living here, he died here, his father died nearby here, right here. So, there was big fighting because these people lived here at the spring before the white people.

(46:21 - 46:56)
That was their place, that was their place, you know, so they were living here, then more and more people came in their wagons and they started to kill these people, they started to push them off of this land, okay? Next picture. So, the United States government built a fort, and they put, I don't know, I think around, there were about a thousand soldiers here. Right here, you can see the place, it's called Fort Bowie, and it was built right next to here, you can walk there.

(46:57 - 48:16)
If you go past the last retreat cabin, you're on Fort Bowie property, and they built a big fort, and they had like a thousand heavily armed guys, and they had, many of them had fought in the Civil War. They were very violent and very good fighters, survivors of the Civil War, and they were really crazy people, good with guns, and you know, it was a, and they tried to kill all the the native people around here. There were about 250 native warriors against a thousand, you know, American Army soldiers, and it was, it was unclear who's going to win. 

Okay, next picture. So, the fort needed the water from the spring. They also needed the water, that's the only water around here, and so they built a special house to protect the water, and the water is right next to this house, this yellow house is the Lama house up there, and it's about a two-minute walk to the spring, and you can see the spring water there.

(48:17 - 48:38)
So, they built this house about a hundred years ago or more, 150, it's a historic house in the United States. It has a, we're not allowed to change it actually, it's a it's a historical house in the United States. But I'll tell you something really interesting, okay, and sad.

(48:39 - 49:10)
If you look closely at the left side of the lower story, you see the windows? Two windows? They are skinny. They are not normal windows, okay? That was the original part of the house, and the windows are skinny and long. Why? Easy to shoot people from the windows, and it's still, it's still there, you know, the house, the windows are still there, you can see it.

(49:10 - 49:54)
You can go see it, and it's very sad, and the water is right there, so you can shoot anyone who uses the water, and so that's what was going on here. That's the history of this land, and it's a sad, it's a terrible history, okay? Next picture. So, this is two handsome guys, when we got here, the spring was dying, the water was dying, and eventually it stopped completely, okay? So, the spring didn't work after some years, it was just stopped, there's no water anymore.

(49:54 - 50:48)
You can see where it goes, you can see where the spring goes, but you don't see any water, and so we dig deep wells here. If you want to dig down and get water here, you have to dig, sometimes 500 meters, okay? To get to water, you see what I mean? It's because it's a desert. So, you know, we were hoping to wake up the spring, you know, and I called my teacher, this is my teacher's nephew, and he's Geshe Lothar, he passed away about a year ago, and we invited him here, okay? And we want help to wake up the spring, you know, so he has a special connection to ... Next picture.

(50:50 - 51:46)
This is Naga Arjuna, Naga Arjuna, Nagarjuna, and Arjuna, as you know you Bhagavad Gita people, was the greatest warrior of the, of Indian history, and Naga means this water dragon, okay? And they like to, they are like a dragon, but they can take the form of a human, they can show themselves as a human. And they used to come to Nagarjuna, they used to talk a lot. Nagarjuna was a, the John Brady of his time, and he was a great book collector, and, and he, he realized that some of the ancient Prajnaparamita, Prajnaparamita was missing in this world, and he figured out that the Nagas were doing Smaug.

(51:49 - 52:42)
What's Smaug? Yeah, Kiri, what's Smaug? He said, come on! Lord of the Rings, he's the dragon in the Lord of the Rings, and in the story, in the Lord of the Rings, he likes to sit on gold, and valuable things, and, and jewels, and that's supposed to be true. It's supposed to be that water dragons, and, so, western dragons usually fly in the sky, water dragons, eastern dragons are usually in the bottom of the ocean, or water, they like, they like to live in the water. So, anyway, they say that those Nagas came to this world to collect gold, and figured out that the Prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom, is more valuable than gold.

(52:43 - 53:18)
So, they got excited about Prajnaparamita, and they stole some of the sutras, and took them to their water caves, okay? And then there's a whole story about Arya Nagarjuna made deals with them. He was in like a business with the Nagas, and he became the, he became the boss of the Nagas, Naga Arjuna, so they, everybody calls him Nagarjuna. Go back to Geshe Lothar.

(53:19 - 54:13)
So, my, the nephew of my teacher, who's Geshe Lothar, is a Naga expert, and he knows how to communicate with them, he knows how to get them to do things, you know, and I'll tell you the truth, I didn't believe it. To be honest, and he said, I'll come there, and I'll fix your Naga problem. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I know you just want to come, you know, and he, he came, and then Rob Rossinger is driving him around, and Geshe Lothar's like, there's a Naga here, there's a Naga here, there's a Naga here, you guys got to do special offerings to the Nagas, and you can wake up your water, you know, and we're like, yeah, okay Geshe Lothar, you know, it doesn't happen to be your favorite cookies also.

(54:14 - 54:42)
He's like, yeah, they, they really like those, you know, so, so he really did, right? He did a lot of Naga rituals here at the spring. And something else happened, next picture, next picture. David Stump, is Susan here? Yeah, his wife Susan is here, great teacher, a wonderful teacher.

(54:53 - 57:22)
When I did the three-year retreat [?], we, we shipped some yurts from Mongolia, and they came in these big boxes, and then we opened the boxes and, and we, there's all these sticks, and cloth, and pieces, and we don't know anything how to make a, how to make a yurt, we don't know anything. Then this strange truck shows up, pickup truck with a camper on the back, and they, they drive up across the desert, there's no good road, just you drive across the desert, they stop, David and Sarakneet [?] get out, and they say, you guys need help putting together your yurts? And we're like, who are you? And they're like, oh, we just live nearby. And they, he built the yurts, he put the, they, they worked like crazy people, and they put it together, and David designed the water system at Diamond Mountain. 

So, we have deep, deep wells, we have a few deep wells, we have a few old wells that don't work so good, and he built, I think, five miles of, five miles, he laid five miles of pipes, okay? He's sick now, he has Parkinson's, I think, so he could not come, but you should pray for him, and if you get a chance, you should thank her [?] to thank him, like send him some cookies or something, okay? By the way, Sarakneet was the, was the treasurer at that time, that's the only reason we didn't go bankrupt, because she's tough with the treasurer. So anyway, he built, he built the water system here, and it's, it's very difficult to build, and it's very fragile. There's only a few wells, and the water is very difficult here, okay? Next picture.

(57:24 - 58:08)
When you drove here from Bowie, you saw new trees, hundreds and hundreds of them, and this is a company that it wants to grow nuts, they want to sell nuts. What kind of nuts is that, pistachios? Pistachios. And thousands of trees, so they are sucking the water from the mountain, they're sucking the water from us, because they're below us, so they, their water comes up out of the pumps, and then the water is, we're losing water, here we're losing the water, and it's, it's legal, it's okay, in America that's legal.

(58:09 - 58:33)
You know, they're, they're, they can make their own well, and so they're, they're growing in the, in the middle of desert, which is kind of crazy, they are growing thousands of trees, which will, they're nuts, she says they're nuts. What they have a right to do, in America they have the right to do it, okay? But anyway, we have, we have to think about our water. Next picture.

(58:34 - 59:31)
So, luckily we have Cat, where is she? Yeah, Venerable Cunningham [?]. And I guess about five years ago, I don't remember, we raised a hundred thousand dollars to grow trees here. There used to be a forest here, it was destroyed by the railroad. 

The railroad track is where the highway is now, Highway 10 is the old railroad track. They grew cows here for free, just released them on the desert. Who, who survives? They put on the train, send them to Chicago, kill them, put them into New York by the next morning.

(59:32 - 59:56)
No refrigeration, there's no electricity at that time. So, it's a big system, grow the cows here, put them on the train to Chicago, kill them in Chicago, get them to New York within a day or two. That's why people use so much spice in meat, because there was no refrigeration, and the meat was often rotten.

(59:57 - 1:00:15)
So, human beings ate rotten meat for many centuries, and they invented French cooking. Okay, I'm not kidding, okay? It was to hide the smell of the rotten meat, okay? So, anyway, they cut all the trees here. They didn't leave one tree for us.

(1:00:15 - 1:00:52)
I mean, we have two trees, I think, left from that time. They cut all the trees and used them for the railroad, to make the fire in the train. So, that's why we don't have any trees. 

So, we have a project to bring the trees back, but Cat said, before you bring the trees back, you have to stop the water from flowing down. You have to make dams. So, all that money we paid to feed volunteers and help to pay people, and they just make these dams.

(1:00:53 - 1:01:24)
These are rock dams. They just, for months and months and months, years, they carry rocks in these mountains, and where the water goes quickly, they slow it down. Then the water sinks into the ground, and then we get it into our well. 

You see what I mean? And they did that for several years of hard work, and... next picture. It worked. Okay, and the spring came back.

(1:01:38 - 1:01:48)
And this is right behind the ... it's in front of the Lama house. You can shoot somebody, who comes there. Rob can, from the second floor, is really good.

(1:01:49 - 1:01:57)
Okay. And I'm staying there in Venerable Gyelse's old house, and I can hear the spring. At night I can hear the spring.

(1:01:57 - 1:02:13)
And it's very beautiful, and it's very rare. So, we want to make a water system which uses the spring water, and it will be nice fresh water, mountain water. I even want to make, sell it like Perrier.

(1:02:14 - 1:02:25)
No, I mean, it's the same as Perrier. It really is the same as Pellegrino or Perrier. This is ... I have a dream to make a diamond water, sparkling water.

(1:02:25 - 1:02:36)
Qi Pao Shui. Jin Gang Shan De Qi Pao Shui. Okay.

(1:02:38 - 1:02:56)
So, anyway, you know what's happening. In the old days, when you need money, you ask people to put it in your cowboy hat. So, I'm not kidding.

(1:02:56 - 1:03:15)
In the church, they hand out the hat, you know. So, you know, Venerable Sunim has been working on a new water system, and they ... and Rob was working for several years on it. And we have permission from the county, which is very difficult.

(1:03:16 - 1:03:27)
We have permission to build a new water system. And we are now ... we have the status of a small town. So, we are considered a small town here.

(1:03:28 - 1:03:43)
And we can have our ... Okay. Here comes the part that you knew was coming. We need a hundred and eight thousand dollars to make the new water system.

(1:03:44 - 1:04:12)
A hundred and eight. Okay, one zero eight thousand. And, how we fundraise at Diamond Mountain, we just say, my teacher said, when somebody's fundraising for something cool for future generations to live here and be in the retreat, you know, for hundreds of years, even if you don't have any money, get your finger in the pie.

(1:04:13 - 1:04:37)
My teacher said, get your finger in the pie. Give five dollars, give six dollars, get your finger in the karma pie. And then, you know, so what I'm asking today, here's my hat, give something, okay? I don't care, it doesn't matter, you know, I'm not asking you to do something you cannot do.

(1:04:37 - 1:05:01)
And it's irresponsible to use your family money if your family does not agree, or if it's difficult for your family. You are not allowed to give that money, okay? In this room, you are not allowed to give family money without asking your family, and something comfortable for your family. Except me, I don't have to ask my wife, I'm going to tell her tomorrow.

(1:05:05 - 1:07:15)
So, you know, give what you can, don't not give, okay? Give something, give one dollar, give five dollars, it's okay, get your finger in the pie, okay? And to pressure you, I will give twelve thousand, okay? Twelve five, twelve point five, twelve and a half thousand, which means if someone match me, we have a quarter finished, understand? I will give twelve thousand five hundred, my wife and I, she doesn't know yet, and if someone match me, or if some group of people match me, we can get to twenty five, and that's a good start, and we'll keep bothering you for many years until we get the money, okay? Now, several ways you can donate, you have a QR code you guys? Yeah, there's the QR code, you can do it online, you can donate online, okay? Anything, okay? One dollar, I don't care. Or you can put it in a red envelope, we have a special white envelope if you prefer, and you can put it in this hat, this is the old cowboys custom for donations, okay? You want to pass it around? Maybe you put this inside, yeah, okay. Yesterday, about thirty more loose rock dams were constructed, which is amazing, and in the desert, this is a lifestyle that's very beneficial to adopt, so the other way you could donate is come out and throw a few rocks with us, anytime, very important.

(1:07:17 - 1:08:08)
Thank you. Okay, all right, I have a feeling someone's going to match me, did anybody match me? No? Okay, all right, slowly. Tim, we got eight minutes or something? Seriously? Hmm, okay, please live a long life, thank you, okay good, all right, we got that done.

(1:08:10 - 1:08:45)
Let's do Q&A, we have about five minutes or something, okay, anybody here? Somebody over here. Can I ask a question? Thank you Geshe La for teaching, and thank you for your time, please stay. My question is, what kind of seed should I plant, except serving, apart of serving, that in my next life, I'll meet you and my Lama? Say again.

(1:08:45 - 1:09:13)
What kind of seed should I plant in this life, apart from serving my teacher, my community, everyone, that in my next life, because in the previous Lamrim you talk about sixteen things, that in my next life, I will meet you, and I'll meet my Lama. Okay, all right. Okay, joke answer, all right.

(1:09:15 - 1:10:56)
The stars here are amazing, the stars at night are amazing, and there's ... I understand each country has their own way to see the stars, like China's constellations are not the same as the western constellations, like you have the fish, and we have the warrior or something like that, but there is one called Orion, who's a warrior, and maybe if you don't know it, you can ask someone to show it to you. When these guys did three-year retreat, we bought a telescope for each person, and so, there's two stars for the two hands, there's two stars for the two feet, there's three bright stars in a row for the belt, and there's a little bit difficult to see stars go down in a diagonal, which is the sword of Orion. Why I tell you that, find the right foot from your, you know, find the left foot, and draw a line between the two, and keep going left, okay? Keep going left, understand? Keep going left, and you'll hit a bright blue star called Sirius, okay? It's, you can't miss it, that's how, what they say when you get lost at Diamond Mountain, you can't miss it, no, but you can see it, you can go see it, so, um, the star is called Sirius, it has a slight blue color, the, the, the heat of it is, has the blue color.

(1:10:57 - 1:13:42)
So, anyway, we can meet there, all right? Uh, somewhere there, uh, just kidding! Nah, we have a joke at Diamond Mountain, they say, just kidding, nah, um, but, um, yeah, I would like to meet you too, and, um, I think it's just to do your best, okay? Uh, you know, they say, uh, the best way to serve a teacher, the best way to make the karma to stay with your teacher is to want, you just want to. So, um, with my teacher, I, uh, that's what I, I used to cry, I used to sit on the, I used to sit outside on the step of my house and cry, and, because my teacher was far away, and, um, now I live with her, so, uh, you can do it, help other people, uh, dedicate it to your, to stay with your teacher, right? And, uh, we can do, it's no problem, probably we're stuck with each other for a long time. In your next life, you'll be asking your teacher, how do I get rid of a teacher? So, uh, you know, just, just practice and be happy, be relaxed, uh, help other, help other people to the, the best you can, and say, I dedicate that, uh, to be with my teacher, okay? And it doesn't have to be me, everybody, there's different teachers [?] for everybody, okay? And it doesn't have to be me. 

Who, who you find, who you connect with, uh, who seems to fit you well, uh, that's wonderful. I, I'm very happy, okay? So, I'm, I'm proud and happy if it's me. I feel like I'm a bride [?], but, uh, if you find a teacher that you really like, and you feel like they can really help you, then, then that's very beautiful, then go for it, you know? Don't, don't, uh, it doesn't have to be me. 

I'm, I'm an unusual person, and there's many, many teachers, many very beautiful teachers. We have a lot of teachers in this room. So, uh, whoever you feel, uh, close to, then, uh, make a prayer. 

I used to make a prayer every night. I used to put out a candle every night to, to bring my teacher. Teachers are like honey bees.

(1:13:43 - 1:14:13)
The, by the way, the bees are out now. This is the time of year, the flowers just opened. Uh, you can see them everywhere here. 

There's a secret bee hive in a cave, uh, 100 meters from here. But it's secret. and, uh, if you are sweet to other people, the Lama has to come like a bee, okay? They don't have choice, okay? And they're not limited to one world.

(1:14:13 - 1:14:23)
They're not limited to one country. And they, they can go wherever there's honey, they will come. Okay? You just have to be sweet.

(1:14:25 - 1:15:06)
Got it? Deal? Mazal? Mazal? Mazal? Okay. Uh, now you have to find the bathroom, okay? So we'll take a ... right, Tim? Any announcements? Come. Okay.

(1:15:06 - 1:15:26)
All right, please, please, ow, that hurt. Please stay here for a few more minutes. Okay.

(1:15:26 - 1:15:33)
Okay, that hurt. Thank you. Okay.

(1:15:36 - 1:16:17)
So as most of you know, I know we just did a big fundraising pitch for Diamond Mountain. It's, and it's very exciting to see how much is already flowing in. You know, keep that water flowing. 

And I think it's a really beautiful opportunity to support something that's going to be here for generations. And if that weren't enough, you know, one of the founding principles of ACI and Five Houses is that the teachers offer the teachings for free. And I know many of you are like, but, but you, we had to pay a lot of money to be here.

(1:16:18 - 1:16:34)
Right? And, and it is a lot of money to run a retreat center. The food costs are extraordinary. I'm always fighting with Sunim. 

No, the campers need to be, it needs to be cheaper. And she's like, damn, the food just costs that much money. You know, it's, and it's expensive to be here.

(1:16:35 - 1:16:59)
It's expensive to run that tech table. It's expensive to support all the things that we do to bring this to, in 12 languages to over 2,000 people currently enrolled in this program. And all the teachers don't, all the teachers teach because they believe in something bigger.

(1:17:00 - 1:17:25)
They believe that this is something bigger than money. And, and so all the teachers, including Geshe Michael, do not get paid for these programs. That's why it's so hard to find teachers. 

No, just kidding. No, but as you guys noticed, that was a half joke, but we have so many more teachers now than we've ever had. You know, we just certified 59 teachers.

(1:17:26 - 1:17:50)
We had a graduation ceremony last month run by Alejaso [?]. Thank you very much. And, and where's Venerable Katrin? Is she here as well? She's one of our key volunteers. 

Where is she? I can't see her. She's right here. Thank you so much.

(1:17:54 - 1:18:22)
You know, and, and as you all know, Geshe Michael doesn't stop working, ever. In fact, he's spending a lot of time right now working on a program that will benefit many, many people for many generations to come. He's working on a brand new, I'm not sure how to describe because I don't know it, but he's working on a brand new Diamond Way presentation.

(1:18:23 - 1:18:47)
And he's been working for hours and hours and hours and hours and here as well. And I know how much time he puts in for each and every one of us. And the longer you spend with Geshe Michael, the more that you know, as much as he seems to, he seems to say he doesn't have time for us because he has to work and translate.

(1:18:48 - 1:19:02)
But he will give his time freely to people no matter what's going on, whatever is happening. He does support people individually. He supports 43 organizations and he does most of it for free.

(1:19:04 - 1:19:57)
And I don't know anybody else who does things for free and then turns around and gives it all away again. You know, a lot of the money that he receives, most of the money he receives, he turns it around and he goes, who needs this? And then all the directors are like, my organization needs it, right? Or individuals or building fire hydrants in this town, right? And he's thinking not just tomorrow, he's thinking generations into the future. So if you feel called to, and it's not a requirement, we also have an opportunity to support him and support the teachers who are giving their precious life to support these ideas and spread them around the world.

(1:19:58 - 1:20:18)
So where are my people, Pachi? So we also have an opportunity here if you would like to support Geshe Michael and the teachers. Is this one just Geshe Michaels? And the teachers, other one is back there as well. Big GMR.

(1:20:19 - 1:20:29)
The other one's the kitchen, okay. Online we're raising money for the teachers. But if you feel called to, and it's not a requirement, this is why we said the teachings are free.

(1:20:30 - 1:20:49)
And know that when he gets this, immediately he's like a doctor [?], you know, and he's just like, and he finds the place to put it. So if you feel called to do this, we'll be making an offering to him tomorrow. And when he leaves, before we all go into retreat.

(1:20:50 - 1:21:36)
All right. So if you're called, it's again, it's not a requirement. You know, making any kind of offering to your teachers, even through service, is a tremendously valuable karma. 

Very, very powerful. So if you're, who wants to, I'll just start down here. And if you're online, we have QR codes for you. 

Nice. Please put them up. And put them up here for people if they don't have cash as well. 

Thank you. So again, thank you all very much for coming. Yes, Upala? Do we have, we will make one.

(1:21:37 - 1:21:47)
So Upala has asked if there could be one for the ACI volunteers as well. So, well, we have one for them already. Yes.

(1:21:50 - 1:22:22)
Yes. I just wanted to say that no matter what size your offering is, what it's really about is strengthening your connection with Geshe La. It makes a very strong karmic connection. 

You want to know about seeds of how to be close to your teachers? This is how you're close to them. It's not about the amount. It's about a very personal connection.

(1:22:23 - 1:22:39)
I just wanted to add that. Thank you. That's beautiful. 

Thank you. So with that, let's have a nice break. And what time? We have 20.

(1:22:40 - 1:23:26)
We have 23 minutes. Hurry up. And we'll be back for our next class. 

Thank you all very much. Thank you everyone for joining Geshe Michael Roach class 6. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to receive this teaching together. And we hope this session offered insight and inspiration and something mindful for our practice.

(1:23:26 - 1:23:36)
Thank you for being with us at ACI Five Houses. See you soon. Walking away [?]