BDW 5 «Мост 5: Пустота в повседневности», занятие 8

(0:27 - 1:03)
Hello everyone, welcome. We are very happy to begin the class 8 with Geshe Michael Roach. It's a great joy to receive this teaching together as a global community. 

Before we begin, please let's take a quiet moment to settle your body and mind. Please allow yourself to arrive fully here and don't forget to set a pure motivation for this class. I wish we can bring more wisdom, kindness, and benefits to other people around us and to all living beings.

(1:03 - 2:06)
Thank you and enjoy. Again, I'm sorry, I didn't have time for a shower. We had board meetings all night. 

B-O-R-E-D meetings. You know what, the good news or the bad news? Wait, good news, raise your hand. Bad news, raise your hand. 

Okay, I'll split it. You ready? Go, sunims. So, I'll give another two and a half if somebody matched me for two and a half.

(2:06 - 2:18)
Matched Utpala. You got to change the number. You got to change the number.

(2:23 - 2:38)
It's 108, 110 if I may point out. Yeah, they'll get it straight by tomorrow. Anyway, congratulations to everybody.

(2:52 - 3:55)
Sunim said the next fundraiser is for a boat. Just kidding. All right, you ready you guys? Upside down. 

No, what? See? Oh, the bad news was we need five more. No, but we got it, we got it. We're finished. 

Finished. I won't bother you anymore until next time. Okay, congratulations for that. 

My dad used to say, sunim, don't spend it all in one place. All right, you ready? You ready with the slide? I like it. So, I got three emails after I sent this to them, and they all said it's upside down.

(3:56 - 4:17)
And I said, no, I want it upside down. And the reason is, misunderstanding the world, thinking that the world is not coming from you, you meet an irritating person at Diamond Mountain. By the way, all irritating people are shipped to Diamond Mountain.

(4:18 - 7:13)
Just so you know. So, this is where you can meet them, all right? Especially on a retreat. So, misunderstanding. 

The devil's thing is to misunderstand things. The devil believes that irritating people come from their own side, right? And the devil tries to negotiate with them, or the devil tries to fight with them, or the devil goes home, and the devil tries to be a bodhisattva and smiles and goes home and hates them all night. And you know, that's the devil's system, okay? And it means the devil's main quality is that the devil doesn't understand people. 

And that's the first link of the Wheel of Life. They call it misunderstanding. And it's just that. 

It's not some ancient Buddhist philosophy thing, you know? It's not some wheel that Buddha designed 2,000 years ago. It's not that. It's just simple. 

You don't understand the people who irritate you, you know? It's like what you used to tell your parents, you just don't understand me. Okay? So, misunderstanding is ... the devil misunderstands everything, especially people who irritate the devil. The devil sees everything upside down, okay? If the devil went to the lecture by Gibson and Rob, he would think it was all coming from his own side or something. 

He would think the lecture about misunderstanding was coming from his own side. You see what I mean? From its own side. He would think that. 

Even if the devil went to the pot-on-the-stove class, the devil would think that that class was coming from that class and not from them, okay? They would even misunderstand understanding. Got it? So, I put the picture upside down and many people tried to correct me. But I want you to remember the picture upside down, because misunderstanding also has dependence, right? There are seeds in your mind that make you misunderstand, okay? Even the devil is following the rules, okay? When the devil doesn't understand things, the devil is following the rules, okay? Even the devil has to follow the rules that he comes from seeds in your mind, okay? Misunderstanding the seeds in your mind has to come from ... seeds in your mind, okay? All right.

(7:15 - 8:48)
What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. Misunderstanding, yeah. I'm saying short way. 

There's all mantras. There's a Nyingpo Ngak, essence mantra. There's the Dugyong Ngak [?], everyday mantra. 

There's the Ngak Gyepa. There's like five mantras for every mantra. This is the short one, okay? He's not coming from something. 

He's obeying the rules of dependence, okay? Even the devil has to obey the rules of dependence, okay? He's also coming from your seeds. He can say, he can say correctly, I'm correct. The devil can say correctly, I'm correct. 

I follow the rules. Why? I come from seeds. So, I don't have any fight with you, okay? It's very cute. 

It's a very cute text, if you understand it, right? The devil says to the angel, I don't have any fight with you, because I agree with you. I believe things come from seeds, and I'm also coming from seeds. What's the problem? Okay? I follow the rules, okay? Got it? He does come from seeds, but we want to use the seeds to ... we want to kill his seeds, which is the only way to stop the devil. 

That's the only way. You have to kill his seeds. After the seeds open, it's too late.

(8:50 - 10:22)
Things are too late. Okay, next picture. I was trying to find a king who looks mean. 

It's pretty good, right? Like a king who looks kind of unfriendly. To me, he looks unfriendly. I don't know. 

The devil says, look, I'm the king inside of the heart of every living being. I own the property of the heart of every person. I'm there, and I'm the king. 

I live there. I'm the king of the three poisons, and I direct people to the ten bad deeds. I'm like the king of the world. 

In fact, when I'm having a good day, people will commit the five immediate bad deeds. A hundred dollars for any one of those. The five immediate bad deeds. 

The devil said, I'm the king. I live in the heart of every person. I'm the boss of the heart of every person. 

I make them to go to the ten bad deeds, and I also, those people who are very talented, I teach them the five immediate deeds. One at a time, okay? Mike Hoffman. Killing your mother.

(10:22 - 10:33)
Killing your mother, yay. Oops, I hope it doesn't go on the ... somebody's going to record that. Causing a schism amongst the Sangha.

(10:33 - 10:49)
Yeah, splitting up the spiritual community. That's two. It's money flowing around. 

Rob, let's go, let's go. Killing your father, Hasso. Killing your father.

(10:52 - 11:02)
Two more. Drawing blood from a Buddha. Attempting to hurt a Buddha, because you can't really hurt him.

(11:04 - 11:13)
Give me a little bit more information. Is it wrong, if the blood goes ... like I go get my blood drawn regularly. With a negative intent, yeah.

(11:13 - 11:21)
Good, okay, yeah, yeah. That's four. If you're a nurse, and you check the Buddhist blood here, it's okay.

(11:22 - 11:33)
One more. One more. You have to get up, you have to get up.

(11:37 - 12:05)
I'm sorry, my first answer ever. Yay! Yay! But we don't know if it's correct yet. I hope so. 

Please, please do it correctly. Divide Sangha? No? No? That's okay. Cheat on your husband? No? Nah, that one's okay.

(12:09 - 12:24)
One more, one more. One more try. Kill a saint person [?]? Like Arya? I don't know, is it? Arhat? Is it? I don't know.

(12:24 - 12:26)
It's okay, it's okay. Give it to someone. Okay, $100.

(12:27 - 12:46)
You got it, you got it, you got it. Yay! Okay, anyway, he does the whole thing, right? He does the whole thing. Next picture.

(12:50 - 13:31)
This is falling off the cliff, and it relates to, first of all, to Middle Way, okay? So, we study Middle Way, we study Madhyamaka, we study the Middle Way. Normally, they would say that it's the Middle Way between thinking that things exist and thinking that things don't exist, okay? So, in Buddhism, the highest school is the Middle Way school. And it says that when you live your life, it's like you're driving down the street, and I like to think of it on a highway, and I like to think of it like on the Verrazano Bridge.

(13:32 - 13:52)
You know the Verrazano Bridge? It's a very high bridge between, is it Staten Island? Staten Island. 20 miles. So, I broke down on the top of the bridge [?] at midnight one time, and that was the car that I fixed that didn't fix so good.

(13:53 - 14:01)
And you have two choices, you can fall off the right side or you can fall off the left side. And it's very frightening. The bridge is very frightening.

(14:01 - 14:22)
To get out on the bridge in the middle of the night is very frightening. And it was cold, it was winter, and I was trying to fix the Volkswagen. So, if you fall off one side, it says things don't exist, okay? Somebody told you Buddhism means that things are not the way you think they are.

(14:23 - 14:52)
So, what would be an example of that side? The side of falling off the Middle Way because you think things do exist. Stanley? Yeah, you can buy the pen from the store, okay? If you think you can get a pen from the store, you fell off one side of the bridge. Then what's the opposite side? Because it's empty, there's no pen at all in the world.

(14:52 - 15:08)
Good, okay, fine, nice. Notice I didn't offer you any money. Yeah, oh, you could fall off one side if you say the pen comes from the store, but you fall off the other side if you say, if the pen doesn't come from the store, then there's no pen.

(15:09 - 15:58)
The pens don't exist, alright? And you have seen, by the way, what's the percentage of people who fall off the first side, and what's the percentage of people who fall off the second side? Yeah, 99.999% of people fall off the store side. And then there's a small group of Buddhists, strange Buddhists in history, who say there's no pen at all, okay? They say nothing exists at all, okay? It's much more common to fall off the bridge by saying that this pen comes from the store. Okay? How do you stay in the middle of the bridge? Yeah, the pen comes from me.

(15:58 - 16:09)
You can go like that, the pen comes from me. Okay, good. So that's normally the two cliffs, okay? We say two cliffs, you fall off this cliff, or you fall off this cliff.

(16:10 - 16:38)
And that's the picture here, but in this verse, which is 396, okay? We're on verse number 396. After 11, 15 years? Yeah, we've been going for 15 years on this thing. And we are, we're just two thirds through, okay? So you got to do it for another how long? Seven years, something like that.

(16:39 - 17:02)
It's good luck. Here's his version of falling off, okay? That people do their practice, they think about emptiness this way, is because of my blessing. Who's talking? That people think the pen comes from the store, is my blessing.

(17:03 - 17:36)
You know, the Pope goes like this, you know, and then the devil's going like, this is my blessing to you, you know, everything comes from the store. Okay, alright. Then he accuses the, he accuses the wisdom, the angel, and he says, if we accept your idea that it's not true that everything's coming from you, or it's not true that things exist, if we accept your idea, then we fell off the other cliff.

(17:37 - 17:55)
He said, the devil said to the angel, if we accept your idea, then we don't believe anything exists. Okay? If you say you cannot get a pen from a store, then you're saying there's no pens. Then you fell off the cliff.

(17:55 - 18:11)
Who? The angel. The devil's accusing the angel. If you say I cannot get a pen at the store by paying money, then you fell off the other side of the cliff and you believe there's no pens at all.

(18:11 - 18:20)
If I cannot get a pen in the store, then there's no pens at all. Then you fell off the cliff. Okay, got it? You alright? It's very quiet.

(18:22 - 18:34)
I wish it was that quiet when we meditate, Joe. We ask questions during Transcendent [?] Class and it gets really quiet. Then we meditate and everyone's talking.

(18:36 - 18:47)
He accuses her of falling off a cliff. He says to her, if you can't get a pen from the store, then there's no pen. He tells her that.

(18:47 - 19:06)
Alright. Next picture. This is a special kind of mouse called a lemming. 

Say lemming. I don't know they exist in Ireland or something like that. Sometimes they go crazy.

(19:06 - 19:15)
The whole population goes crazy and they run off a cliff and they all die. Like 10,000, 20,000. They don't know why.

(19:15 - 19:23)
Nobody figured it out. But it's called the lemmings. They look like that and they all turn around and they all jump off a cliff.

(19:24 - 19:39)
Like thousands of them at the same time. And they all die. It means the devil says the majority of people don't believe that the pen is coming from them.

(19:40 - 20:04)
The majority of people don't believe that the pen is coming from them. Only a tiny, tiny percent of the people believe that they are making the pen. Okay? If you took a vote today in the world, if you took a vote, how many people vote the pen is coming from the store? You know, 99,999 will raise their hand.

(20:04 - 20:26)
And then only small, small percent of people at Diamond Mountain they will say, no, no, the pen doesn't come from the store. Okay? Then the devil says, I think we should go with the majority. You know, normally if 99% people believe something, it's probably they are right.

(20:26 - 20:56)
Probably they are correct. And I think in this case you have to understand that the number of people who really believe that the pen is coming from them, even intellectually believe, who saw the seeds open, I'm not talking about, that's one in many millions. But who believes it, that things are coming from seeds, that's very, very rare.

(20:56 - 21:09)
Like 0.0001%. Okay? Big majority. If you took a vote, the lemmings would win. The people jumping off the cliff will win.

(21:09 - 21:21)
So the devil says, look, let's just look at the majority of people in the world. Who do they support? Me. They believe my position.

(21:21 - 21:30)
The pen comes from the store. Therefore, the biggest mistake you can make is to share your pens. Because you'll have to go back to the store.

(21:31 - 21:50)
Or you'll have to make more money. You see what I mean? That's his position. The whole world believes that when they don't have enough pens, they should go get some pens. 

Go to the store and get some pens. That means they need money. That means they need to compete with other people.

(21:50 - 21:59)
That means they cannot support other people. They cannot help other people succeed. I mentioned, we had a case this last week.

(22:01 - 22:12)
There's two coffee shops in our town. We opened a small one, and then immediately somebody else opened one. Me and Stanley, you know the story.

(22:12 - 22:28)
Me and Stanley are driving by this place and they're opening a new store. He's driving, right? I was sitting and I'm watching and I said, look, somebody's opening something. What's the sign say? And he said, Stanley says, it says Rimrock Coffee Company.

(22:30 - 22:47)
Then I was like, hmm? And I got a little bit upset. It's my students, so I'm trying to be cool in the car. Then he said, Geshe La, looks like it bothers you a little bit.

(22:48 - 22:55)
And I'm like, yeah, it bothers me a little bit. Then I said, turn around. And he's like, we turned around on the main street.

(22:55 - 23:03)
It's dangerous. I'm like, turn around. He's like, what? We turned around and I got a thousand dollars ready.

(23:04 - 23:14)
I went to the door and the lady wasn't there. We left it unknown. I freaking think we left the money there.

(23:15 - 23:30)
Turns out that her husband got the money. And it seems like he didn't tell her. Because recently I met her and she asked me for a loan.

(23:30 - 23:43)
She said, we want to make our coffee shop look like yours. This happens to me in many things. And we want everyone to think it's yours.

(23:44 - 23:50)
And I'm like, oh. Okay. And she said, but we need money.

(23:50 - 23:56)
We need some money. And I'm like, how much do you need? She says $35,000. I'm like, oh.

(23:57 - 24:04)
Then I went home. I talked to my wife and we decided to try. And we loaned her.

(24:04 - 24:09)
We gave her the loan. I don't know if I'm going to get it back or not. But we gave her the money.

(24:10 - 24:20)
Why am I talking about that? It was really hard after many years of Buddhism to stay. I went to the place. My wife and I went together.

(24:20 - 24:27)
We talked to her personally. And she's working by herself. She's fixing the whole place by herself.

(24:27 - 24:35)
Why? The husband disappeared. The two kids are still there. The husband disappeared.

(24:37 - 24:54)
Probably with my $1,000 he went to Mexico or something. So anyway, it seems like even for me after many years of study, it was difficult to do it. It was difficult to offer that to her.

(24:55 - 25:20)
So I think the majority opinion of the many lemmings that you should protect your coffee shop and you should fight with her and you should tell everybody I love that coffee shop. They've got all my people there in the coffee cups. Roaches.

(25:22 - 25:30)
Right? You just little things you say. Yeah, I like that place. It's just, if you can get a chair.

(25:31 - 25:39)
Because usually the roaches are sitting in the chair. That's the old coffee shop by the way. That's the one where they put the bar.

(25:40 - 25:49)
Red Bear. The bar and the hamburgers and pizza. The one you first come into Rimrock.

(25:49 - 25:58)
That used to be a coffee shop. Me and Jigme used to sit there and fight the roaches and try to catalog the Kangyur. We never finished.

(25:59 - 26:23)
The roaches won. So anyway, even after many years it's very difficult, it was very difficult to understand that if we help our competitor it will help us. You see what I mean? Because you grew up in a world where the majority of people don't believe them [?].

(26:24 - 27:00)
It's so difficult when you grow up in a world where 99.9% of the people say, Geshe La you are crazy. She's stealing our design of our patio. Did you know that? She says, look I made the patio just like yours. 

I'm like, yeah that seems to be happening. And so anyway, to be happy and to support a person who's doing that that means you understand the middle way. That means you understand the middle way.

(27:01 - 27:09)
Not to go with the lemmings. The lemmings will say, you're foolish if you help your competitor. You're just stupid.

(27:10 - 27:14)
Got it? Even for me it's hard. It's difficult. I'm saying it's difficult.

(27:15 - 27:26)
Okay? I think you just have to try it. You have to try it. Practically speaking you can do small tests of this philosophy.

(27:27 - 27:38)
You can, if she asks for $35,000 give her $35. Dollars. And start small and see how it goes.

(27:38 - 27:47)
Okay? Got it? Start small, see if things improve. In my experience that's the way to do it. You can't give $35,000 the first day.

(27:47 - 27:55)
You won't be able to do it. Because the whole world is going the other way. There's too many people doing the opposite.

(27:55 - 28:05)
We can't compete with them. Alright, don't forget, what's it called that creature? Lemming. It's like lemon but lemming.

(28:05 - 28:19)
Okay. Next picture. I've been teaching the translators for 10 years.

(28:20 - 28:30)
We had our 10th anniversary celebration. When, Hasso? A couple weeks ago. Oh, on the horse year [?].

(28:30 - 28:38)
February 17th, right? 16th. We had our 10th year anniversary of the translators. 12 people.

(28:39 - 28:50)
Men and women. 10 years ago we started to translate together. I started to teach them how to translate and it was painful.

(28:51 - 29:03)
I have to say they were really bad for a long time. Then something happened after 10 years. About two weeks ago.

(29:04 - 29:17)
No, everyone suddenly got brilliant and Gibson's giving lectures and it's kind of strange. For me it's kind of strange. All the translators are flowering and they are growing like crazy.

(29:24 - 29:43)
Yeah, there's a before and after. Below everybody, nobody has white hair and most people have hair. Then after 10 years later is the above picture.

(29:44 - 30:02)
Notice my hair is most grey. Why am I talking about that? I started a special class for them. We divided into 12 translators because we want to cover all of the great schools of Buddhism.

(30:03 - 30:19)
Basically there are 12 great schools in the last 2,500 years. Each translator has a different responsibility for a different school because each school uses a different language. There are 12 different dialects.

(30:20 - 30:36)
You can understand Abhidharma language and not understand logic language, for example. But there's one language I didn't teach them yet. I think only Geshe's learn all the languages because we spend average 5 years on each language.

(30:36 - 30:52)
Something like that. Sometimes we study two in one time. But I was thinking there's one more language that I would like to teach people which is Diamond Way language which is unique and very difficult.

(30:53 - 31:03)
I started a special class. Just the translators and they are studying the Diamond Way language. How to read Diamond Way text.

(31:07 - 31:33)
I'm also trying to teach them to read script, handwriting, and teach them to read handwritten manuscripts. They are working with four kinds of manuscripts. They are working with carvings, typewriter, printings, and semi-cursive, half cursive, half handwriting, and then full handwriting.

(31:33 - 31:43)
This is full handwriting. This is the book you guys who are in the translator class, Diamond Way translators, this is the book you're studying. So far we didn't get to there.

(31:44 - 31:51)
We didn't get to the handwriting yet. That's next. We're starting maybe in a week or two.

(31:51 - 31:56)
Maybe we'll start then. They're doing very well. They're doing very, very well.

(31:57 - 32:27)
I thought that this whole system of writing the wisdom down, whether you handwrite it, or you print it, or you type it, or you carve it, no matter how you do it, it's all artificial. You see? Buddhism, philosophy, teaching people in groups like this, that's artificial. It's not normal.

(32:28 - 32:37)
It's not human nature. It's not human nature to take 100 people, go in a room, and tell them the pen is coming from them. It's not normal.

(32:38 - 32:43)
It's something new in the world. You can say it's artificial. You can say it's artificial.

(32:44 - 33:03)
This whole system of writing down wisdom, teaching it in classes, reciting it, memorizing, debating, teacher gets up in the class and teaches people, this is all artificial. This is not human nature. This is not normal for humans.

(33:04 - 33:17)
To have classes like this is not human nature. Human nature is fight for yourself and your family, or your country. Fight for yourself, fight for your family, fight for your country.

(33:18 - 33:28)
This is human nature. This is the majority rule. If we had a vote in history, the people who write things down will lose.

(33:28 - 33:44)
The people who say philosophy should be preserved, philosophy should be taught, wisdom should be taught from generation to generation, these are a tiny, tiny percentage of human beings. It's artificial intelligence. It is.

(33:44 - 34:04)
Buddhism itself is a very artificial intelligence. It's not normal, and it's not natural. Natural is if you find a deer body in the forest, eat it with your teeth and fight any other caveman who comes and try to kill them.

(34:04 - 34:33)
That's human nature. You see? This idea that no, no, you should share the deer meat with the other caveman, this idea is very strange, and it's very new, and it's very artificial. The natural human tendency, the human habit is to fight for your food against other people, and fight for your family's food, and kill the other people who try to take your food.

(34:34 - 34:39)
This is human nature. This is history. This is natural.

(34:39 - 34:58)
Okay? This has been going on for all, since the first people came to this world, this is natural. To fight for your family, fight for your country, fight for yourself, and don't ever loan money to the other coffee shop. Okay? Really, really.

(34:58 - 35:03)
This is human nature. Now, this is normal. This is 99.

(35:04 - 35:16)
This is the lemmings of the whole history. It's to fight for what? Fight for yourself, and fight for your family, and fight for your country. This has been going on for a long time.

(35:16 - 35:35)
This thing, it even looks artificial, right? This is a small piece of paper, and a small pen writing little strange designs on a paper, and this is a new thing. This is artificial. This is completely unnatural.

(35:37 - 35:46)
Okay? What's natural? Kill the other caveman who found the same deer. Kill them before they kill you. Eat the deer before them.

(35:46 - 35:54)
Eat it fast. That's natural. What's artificial? Call them to come and share with you.

(35:54 - 35:57)
Call the other caveman. Hey, I found a deer. It's dead.

(35:58 - 36:03)
Let's have dinner together. This is not natural. This is artificial intelligence.

(36:04 - 36:21)
Okay? That's not natural to people. And the demon, the devil, he's arguing that in this verse. Okay? Got it? The devil's like very... By the way, our devil, I think we can be proud.

(36:22 - 36:32)
Some of those devils in other religions, they're just kind of funny, or stupid, or silly. Our devil is sophisticated. Our devil knows how.

(36:32 - 36:41)
He knows philosophy. He knows how to argue. He's like, Miss Angel, yes? Let's talk about artificial intelligence.

(36:42 - 37:00)
Okay, okay. Now, what's the natural way to do things? Oh, you fight over the food that you find, and you kill the other people who try to eat it. You know? Oh, that's the way it's always been, right? Yeah, that's the tradition of our people for generations.

(37:00 - 37:06)
Yes, that's natural. We should stick to natural. Natural foods.

(37:07 - 37:26)
Okay? And then, the devil accuses her, this new system, I should take care of the other coffee shop owner. I should loan my money to the other coffee shop owner, so they can compete with me. You know? This is your artificial intelligence.

(37:26 - 37:34)
You just made that up. You are something new in the world. I am the nature of life.

(37:34 - 37:48)
I am the ancient tradition of all life. You are like a beginner, you know? You're like a new person. You just come for a little time, and you're going to go away, and my system will be here after you're gone.

(37:49 - 37:59)
Okay? The devil is very sophisticated. He's like, you can write this new system. Writing itself is not natural to human beings.

(38:00 - 38:19)
It's artificial intelligence. Writing is artificial intelligence. Who thought you could write something down about how to treat deer meat? You know? Who thought you could write down on paper instructions for how to share your deer meat with other cavemen? Who thought of this? It's a new idea.

(38:19 - 38:27)
So he said, the devil says to her, you are not natural. You are some kind of new thing. In English we say flash in the pan.

(38:28 - 38:39)
You are a temporary new thing. You are a temporary new fashion. You are ... What's the ... In Guangzhou, there's a store.

(38:39 - 38:49)
What's the Japanese department store? Not Takashimaya. The new one with the hip clothes. Scott liked to go there.

(38:51 - 38:55)
Uniqlo. You're the Uniqlo. We're the Takashimaya.

(38:56 - 39:03)
We've been here all this time. We've been running the world our way for a long time. You're just going to come and you're going to go.

(39:03 - 39:17)
You're just a fad. The devil accuses her of being a fad. It's artificial intelligence to believe that by sharing what you have with others, you will be more successful.

(39:17 - 39:33)
By the way, I don't even like to say it that way. What's a better way to say it? I think it's not quite correct to say, if you make a loan to the other coffee shop, your coffee shop will be more successful. I think it's not enough.

(39:34 - 39:36)
Hustle. $500. $500.

(39:38 - 39:47)
What? Wait, take your time. Okay, wait. Let's get the question straight.

(39:48 - 40:19)
I think when you say you should make a loan to the other coffee shop so your coffee shop will be more successful, it's a little bit not correct. Okay. I think it's, if you give a loan to the other coffee shop, you help them, and you plant a seed which later will open and bring up a luminous image, based on the kindness you did to them, you will find the success you are wishing for.

(40:20 - 40:28)
No? Go farther. Okay, that luminous image is going to project. Okay.

(40:30 - 40:39)
I still make it $500. What's the question then? I'll say, now we know what's going on. I'll say the question again.

(40:40 - 41:05)
If I present our philosophy, our new artificial intelligence, which started 2,500 years ago, if you support your competitor, then your company's coffee shop will succeed. Is that enough? And I'll give $500 for a good answer. I don't know.

(41:05 - 41:09)
I couldn't hear. Okay, Rob. Rob, you got to find another.

(41:11 - 41:22)
$500 for a better answer. $500 for a better answer. I think maybe there is no competitor.

(41:23 - 41:31)
The competitor doesn't exist. No. You want to try online? You want to try online? Let's try online.

(41:31 - 42:05)
Can we do online? Brian, send the money. I hope so. Hi, Geshe La.

(42:06 - 42:16)
Hi. Singapore? No, I'm from Vietnam. Oh, Vietnam. 

Okay. Yeah. Geshe La, it's not enough.

(42:16 - 42:30)
We should help them to plant the seed to be successful. So, you help them successful, and then your coffee shop will be successful. Money is not enough.

(42:30 - 42:40)
We have to also plant this to help them to be successful. I mean to teach them to plant the seed to be successful. Okay.

(42:40 - 42:47)
I say $500. Yay! Thank you, Geshe La. Thank you, Geshe La.

(42:49 - 43:02)
It's not enough to say, if I help the other coffee shop, I will be more successful. It's not enough to say that. You have to say what? There'll be two successful coffee shops.

(43:03 - 43:11)
You know? And that's a lot more beautiful. That's a lot more happy. By the way, I went to her new coffee shop.

(43:11 - 43:19)
I stood there. I never met her before. I just met her husband, who they got divorced.

(43:19 - 43:26)
I asked her, I've been helping you since the first day you opened. She says, I didn't know about it. I think the guy ran away with the money.

(43:26 - 43:40)
Anyway, so, she will be successful. She will learn my example the best way you can do it without teaching. With no teaching.

(43:40 - 43:54)
There will be no Buddhist class. She'll just get the money and that will change her behavior slightly. She will start to wonder why another person, competitor, want to help her.

(43:54 - 44:02)
And then maybe, probably, she will change. She will change slightly. And she will start helping other people.

(44:02 - 44:19)
Then we'll have two successful coffee shops in Rimrock, which is two more than were before. Now, you don't know how bad it was, Peter. You had to go, me and Anatole used to go to the gas station to get some coffee.

(44:22 - 44:39)
We counted the number of beers going out of the gas station one time while we were there for half an hour. How many was it? 140 beers went out of the grocery. This is what sells in our town.

(44:39 - 44:46)
Now, something interesting. I met the lady after that, recently. I hope she's going to do okay.

(44:46 - 45:01)
It looks okay. She said, something strange is happening in our town. I said, what's going on? She said, well, first strange thing is the two coffee shop owners are helping each other.

(45:02 - 45:12)
That's strange, and it's wonderful. She said, it's really wonderful. She said, suddenly the income in our town has increased.

(45:13 - 45:33)
The Rimrock economy, the average income in Rim... Did you know this then? No, I mean there's real cars driving around. You know? Like I saw a Tesla and you're like, hmm. Usually it's old Chevrolets from 1960, broken down cars.

(45:33 - 45:44)
No, and the house prices have doubled. The house prices have doubled. So, it's changing.

(45:45 - 46:00)
Maybe there's something going on. Maybe artificial intelligence has reached even Rimrock. People ask me, Geshe La, you live in New York for 19 years.

(46:00 - 46:19)
You made the largest jewel company [?] in the world. Why do you live in Rimrock? So, I didn't want to bother my wife. She had a marriage. 

She was married. I fell in love with her 50 years ago. I didn't want to bother her, so I didn't move to Arizona.

(46:19 - 46:31)
But then she got divorced. Then I got a pin [?]. She has two houses, one in Flagstaff, one in Cornville.

(46:32 - 46:41)
So I put two pins, one on the map. One is Flagstaff, and one is Cornville. Then I see what's halfway between.

(46:42 - 46:50)
I said, I will buy a house there and I will fish [?] for her. That's called Rimrock. That's why I'm in Rimrock.

(46:50 - 47:05)
Just to explain. I can fish [?] both ways. It worked.

(47:06 - 47:43)
Speaking of my wife, this is the library at Dunhuang. Dunhuang is an unusual formation of stone in an ancient river that's mostly dried up in the small town called Dunhuang, which is on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the southeast edge of the Gobi Desert. Basically, if you walk to the west, you will die because it's just sand.

(47:44 - 48:01)
For hundreds and hundreds of miles, it's just sand. At this strange little town, which has a strange, it's very similar to the rock formation here, but that rock is very soft. It's a composite rock, so it has a lot of sand in it.

(48:03 - 48:09)
You can carve it. You can carve the rock. People started to do meditation there.

(48:09 - 48:19)
They built a small retreat center. People carved a cave into the wall, and even the roof will stay up. You don't need any support for the roof.

(48:20 - 48:35)
The kind of stone it is, you can carve a cave, and you can stay in the cave, and you can meditate, and you can practice. People started to do retreat. This is the crossroads of the Silk Road.

(48:36 - 49:13)
Silk going from China to Europe, and then gold going from Europe to China. The Senate of Rome had a vote to stop all import of silk from China, because they were losing, because the women of Rome only wanted to wear Chinese silk, and they lost too much gold. Too much gold was going to China. 

They passed a law against Chinese silk. You weren't allowed to wear Chinese silk. If you exported knowledge of how to make silk from China, it was capital offense.

(49:13 - 49:27)
You would be killed. For a long time, the Westerners didn't know that you feed silkworms mulberry tree leaves. There's only one kind of leaf they want to eat.

(49:28 - 49:44)
That was top secret. They say some queen, small local queen hid mulberry tree seeds in her turban, and she got out. She started to spread the knowledge of how to feed the silkworms.

(49:44 - 49:53)
Now we have mulberry trees in Arizona a lot. I have one in my house, just to honor the Chinese silk road. They grow very well in Arizona.

(49:54 - 50:04)
Anyway, this is the silk road. We were at a crossroads. Dunhuang is at a crossroads between East and West.

(50:04 - 50:43)
If you go one way, you go to Europe. If you go one way, you go to the capital of China, which is what? Old capital. Tangzhou [?]. 

Chang'an. Nowadays it's called Xi'an. So, this idea that you don't have to die, this idea that in theory, if you help other people to live, you don't have to die yourself, is a new invention. 

That's like AI. It's very similar to AI. It's like how to make silk, how to make porcelain, Chinese porcelain, how to make gunpowder, how to make paper.

(50:44 - 50:59)
All of these things were stolen by Europeans from China. Thank you very much. This knowledge of things passed down the silk road for thousands of miles, and I think it's 3,000 years or something.

(50:59 - 51:06)
The silk road is old. It's been passing on. Dunhuang is like the center of the silk road.

(51:06 - 51:24)
Xi'an is there also. I think the devil at this point, he's accusing the angel. He says, I represent the wisdom, the timeless wisdom of the world.

(51:24 - 51:37)
I represent, the devil said, I represent the way it has always been. People have always competed. People have always fought the other people to get money and to get resources.

(51:39 - 52:00)
We have a system in my world called death. All beings must follow it. We have a certain law from ancient times that human beings are allowed to walk around for a while and try to look more beautiful than the other human beings.

(52:00 - 52:08)
Then they get ugly and they die. This is our system. It's been here forever.

(52:09 - 52:26)
This is our tradition. We have to follow the tradition of ancient times. People get born. 

People look handsome, strong. Then we make them ugly and skinny and then they die. This is our system.

(52:26 - 52:34)
And you, who are you? She says, I'm the new way. I'm a new invention. He says, we don't like it.

(52:37 - 52:59)
What's your new invention? We say, if you want to get rich, if you want to have a successful coffee shop or whatever, then help somebody else to do the same thing. Help somebody else to do the same thing. We say, that principle is so true that if you follow it all the way to giving other people life, you don't have to die.

(53:00 - 53:26)
You can overcome death itself. This is a new system. So, at this time in the book, it's very beautiful. 

It's very, very beautiful. The devil is saying, look, getting old, being born, getting sick, losing your hair, dying, kidney disease, all this stuff, this is the tradition. This is the old way.

(53:26 - 53:34)
We have to respect what's always been the tradition of our people. This is our tradition. You are just the new idea.

(53:35 - 53:47)
This idea that you don't have to die, this idea that you have to help your competitors, this is not natural. I'm natural. Now I have a question for you, $100.

(53:48 - 54:14)
You ready? Wake up. It's amazing. The devil says, my system is natural. 

This is the way it's always been. People have been born, people grow, fight, compete, get money, build house, die. Give the house to the kids, they sell it in two weeks.

(54:15 - 54:26)
This is the house you killed yourself to make for your kids, they don't want to live in Rimrock. They sell it in two weeks. This is the old system.

(54:27 - 54:33)
He says, this is natural. My way is natural. Your way is artificial intelligence.

(54:33 - 54:45)
You are not natural. This whole thing of giving the competitor money, this whole thing of supporting the people who try to compete with you, this is unnatural. You are unnatural.

(54:45 - 55:02)
Is he correct? $100. Tell me why. Is the devil's position correct? What's the question Geshe La? The devil has a system that's been going on in this world from the beginning.

(55:02 - 55:10)
He says, this is the way it's always been. This is natural. Your system is artificial.

(55:11 - 55:28)
He says that. Is he correct? $100 question. Because it's coming from my seeds, because I'm planting the seeds to see the devil telling me that's true.

(55:29 - 55:45)
$100. Yeah, she ... You know, you expect the angel to say, no, no. You are not natural.

(55:45 - 55:53)
I'm natural. No, no. You are artificial. 

I'm not artificial. But she says you're right. That's the way it's always been.

(55:54 - 56:00)
You're right. You are the tradition of this world. You are what's natural in this world.

(56:01 - 56:25)
In this world so far, people are born, people compete, people collect things for their kids, they die, the kids sell them. It's been going on since forever. She doesn't fight him on that. 

It's very interesting. It's very interesting. She says you are the natural way of this world, and I admit that.

(56:26 - 56:37)
I admit I'm artificial. I'm AI. The angel says I admit this is a new way, and a strange way in this world, but it's the best way.

(56:38 - 56:48)
I thought it's a very interesting conversation. You are the way it's always been, devil. Your competition thoughts they are natural.

(56:49 - 57:31)
People fight over food from the beginning. You are natural, but you're wrong. You are natural to this world. 

You are the way it's always been, but it's a bad system, and I say we need a new one. It's very beautiful. She's the ancient new AI, and she says I'm better. 

My system's better. And Rimrock can have two coffee shops. They can help each other, and people be happier. 

People can go to one at six o'clock. I'm not opening at six o'clock. And people can go to the other one at 8.30 or something.

(57:31 - 57:41)
Okay, that's okay. Got it? Is she natural in this world? No. But is she better? Yeah.

(57:41 - 57:51)
Okay, got it? It's interesting. Alright. And I've I wanted to say it's been a hard month.

(57:52 - 58:01)
People keep dying. And we are, you know we wanted to build cave houses here. Cave retreat cabins.

(58:02 - 58:10)
We want to copy Dunhuang. We call Dunhuang West. And we chose the rocks.

(58:10 - 58:31)
I chose them many years ago, like 20 years ago. And I said we want to build retreat cabins in the cave. We want to build special ones. 

We'll paint them like Dunhuang. And so we went to a special company, architecture company called Line of Space [?]. They are cool guys because they know this area since they were children.

(58:32 - 58:37)
They know this marble. They know these mountains. They used to come here when they were kids.

(58:38 - 58:48)
They used to go and dig the marble. They used to hike in there and dig it and come out with it in the backpack. So these guys know this area.

(58:48 - 58:52)
Three guys. One is Chinese. One was born in the US.

(58:52 - 59:00)
He's Chinese. So they build a lot of buildings in China. In Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

(59:01 - 59:08)
Beautiful government buildings and things. So we're like, wow, these guys are amazing. And they designed the stupas.

(59:08 - 59:23)
And they built the stupas. It's an amazing company. So we're like, me and Stanley are like, innovation retreat, let's build some cave retreat cabins like Dunhuang.

(59:24 - 59:35)
And we can do better than those Dunhuang guys. We have to compete, right? Then the guy didn't answer his email. We're like getting irritated.

(59:35 - 59:41)
We had a meeting. Stanley's like, I don't know if we should keep these guys. I'm like, I don't know, I don't know.

(59:41 - 59:44)
He's a good guy. I don't know why he's not answering. He died.

(59:45 - 59:55)
He died. He's young. He's strong. 

He's handsome. He has a very successful company. He was riding his bicycle and he got killed.

(59:57 - 1:00:04)
And it happens. That's the world that we live in. So me and Stanley had a meeting.

(1:00:05 - 1:00:14)
Let's not write them for a few weeks. They're trying to get used to that they lost their best friend. One of the three guys died.

(1:00:14 - 1:00:29)
And then I got a text from my lawyer, Bob Brown, if you know him. He's the best church lawyer in Arizona. He teaches church law at the university here.

(1:00:31 - 1:00:39)
And he's been our lawyer for 20 years. He didn't answer his email. I'm like, what's going on? And then he wrote me and he said, my wife died.

(1:00:41 - 1:00:48)
And I said, we just saw her. And he said, yeah, she got sick two weeks ago. She died yesterday.

(1:00:50 - 1:00:58)
He said, she just got sick two weeks ago and then she died yesterday. And he said, Geshe La, good luck. I'm retiring.

(1:00:59 - 1:01:23)
I give up. It's too much. What I'm saying is the natural way in a world of competition, where you fight for the deer meat, where you fight for the farming, where you fight for the land, the best land in Europe for planting crops, is Ukraine.

(1:01:25 - 1:01:31)
It's the biggest land in Europe. So, fight for it. Try to take it.

(1:01:32 - 1:01:44)
But that's the world of death. You see? That philosophy, that thinking that I should fight and I should take the land from the other people. I should put my food here.

(1:01:45 - 1:02:02)
That kind of thinking is the devil's way. Is it traditional? It's traditional. Is it correct? No. 

You see? Death is natural. Death is natural. Getting old, dying is natural.

(1:02:02 - 1:02:08)
That's in this world. But it's a mistake. And there are worlds where they don't live like that.

(1:02:08 - 1:02:24)
You can say Buddha Paradise and I always wonder what they're doing there. It'd be so boring to sit there in meditation all day. Do they have Netflix in Buddha Paradise? Just think about it.

(1:02:25 - 1:02:51)
I don't know about you, when I first heard about Buddha Paradise, I asked my teacher, well, what do they do there? Do they go on dates? You know? No, they just sit on their lotus petal and think about stuff. I'm like, I'd rather be in Buoy [?] than Buddha Paradise. It's more interesting, right? So, you shouldn't think like that.

(1:02:51 - 1:03:03)
I mean, Buddha Paradise is exciting, cool, happy. It's like Paris and Shenzhen mixed together. Okay, so, don't think like that.

(1:03:03 - 1:03:11)
The new system is different and it's artificial. It is artificial. It's not natural.

(1:03:11 - 1:03:23)
But there are planets where they already live like that. We are the dumb guys. In the galaxy, we are the dumb guys.

(1:03:24 - 1:03:46)
This world is still dumb guys. And there's better worlds where they figured out their coffee shop thing a long time ago, and they live that way, and they're happy, and they help each other, okay? And people don't die, alright? The competitive way of thinking leads to dying. The cause of death in this world is competition.

(1:03:47 - 1:03:56)
It's very interesting. The reason people die in this world is they don't want other people to succeed. That's the cause of death.

(1:03:57 - 1:04:11)
In America, within how many hours? I think within two hours, by law, you have to call the police if somebody dies. They have to come and make sure you didn't kill them. There's a piece of paper that they sign.

(1:04:12 - 1:04:24)
I tried to do prayers for one monk in New Jersey, and the police came and said, you can't do prayers. He has to go to the hospital. I'm like, no, I got to do prayers.

(1:04:24 - 1:04:36)
He's in the bardo. That's my job. They said, no, no, by law, he has to go in the refrigerator within, I don't know, three hours or four hours? By law.

(1:04:37 - 1:04:54)
If you keep him here, we can charge you. I'm like, then what happened? We both went in the ambulance, and I stayed in the refrigerator with him for like four hours. I had all these coats on, and I was doing the bardo prayers.

(1:04:55 - 1:05:11)
In this country, I don't know other countries, but by law, they have to go in the refrigerator because it smells, and the insects come, and then it spreads. It spreads disease. It's been that way.

(1:05:11 - 1:05:29)
We're talking about a new world and a new way. By the way, this, how much time I got, Tim? Ten minutes? Good. This is the caves.

(1:05:29 - 1:05:42)
The mountain you see in the background is partly sand dunes, but it's partly that porous rock. That's where there's 700 caves have been carved out of the mountain. It's a beautiful place to go.

(1:05:42 - 1:06:13)
If you get a chance in your lifetime, you should go there. Can you imagine 700 retreat cabins? Can you imagine 700 people meditating at the same time in retreat cabins for a thousand years? Can you imagine such a thing? There's a funny story that one monk was there. By the way, well anyway, he was having a cigarette illegally.

(1:06:15 - 1:06:26)
Monks aren't supposed to smoke. Oh, he's Taoist? I didn't know. He's leaning against a cave wall and he's smoking.

(1:06:26 - 1:06:35)
He noticed the smoke and it goes into the wall. He's like, that's strange. The smoke is going into the wall.

(1:06:36 - 1:06:50)
He saw a crack in the wall and then he realized it's a fake wall. It's not the edge of the cave. They dig, dig, dig and they found 60,000 books hidden behind the wall.

(1:06:51 - 1:07:04)
They were stolen by four countries. France, Russia, Britain and US. There's some books still there.

(1:07:05 - 1:07:24)
Most of the books were stolen by those four countries. Anyway, we are working on those books. Stanley, Rosa has a project to make jewelry and those bags, special bags, Good Night Book Club bags.

(1:07:25 - 1:07:55)
If we sell the jewelry in China or we sell the bag in China or Vietnam or any other country, we donate the profit to the, after salaries, we donate the profit to something in the same country. That's our tradition. So we've, Rosa has donated 30,000 last year to Stanley's project to save the books in Dunhuang and to make a catalog.

(1:08:06 - 1:08:20)
I saw those books in Russia. We were in St. Petersburg for 12 years and a Chinese team came from the Chinese government. We were having lunch together all the time with the team from China and our Russian team.

(1:08:21 - 1:08:26)
We were working together on the books. It was very fun. It was very beautiful.

(1:08:27 - 1:08:41)
You want an old man story? We worked together. We were there for 12 years. We paid all the salaries and we cataloged 141,000 books in 12 years.

(1:08:41 - 1:09:19)
On the next floor, the Chinese scholars, our sister team from China, they are cataloging the Dunhuang books that were stolen by Russia. So we eat lunch together and then one day they said to us, and we can barely speak to each other, and they said, we're going home, we finished. We're like, oh man, we like hanging out with you guys. 

We like having lunches together. They said, yeah, well, we're finished. We took film of all the Dunhuang books.

(1:09:19 - 1:09:40)
We're going back home. Then that night they went home, took all their equipment home to their apartment in St. Petersburg and the police came. They locked them, handcuffed them to the plumbing in the bathroom and they stole all their equipment.

(1:09:41 - 1:09:49)
They stole all the slides and everything. Then they, we called the police. They stole everything.

(1:09:50 - 1:09:57)
We called the police. Also one of our guys was kidnapped. They said, pay $50,000 or we'll kill him.

(1:09:59 - 1:10:11)
We're like, phew. So anyway, we called the police and we said, why you stole their equipment? They said, we didn't go there. Somebody dressed up like police.

(1:10:12 - 1:10:22)
Somebody bought police uniform and went to their apartment and got inside. So, they never got their slides. They never got their copies.

(1:10:22 - 1:10:25)
They went home. They were scared. We stayed.

(1:10:27 - 1:10:51)
John Brady finished, so we should give them a hand. We are using the Dunhuang manuscripts in the new empowerment. If you take empowerment in October, you have to talk to Tim.

(1:10:51 - 1:11:00)
Talk to Tim. There's no room for everybody who wants to go. By the way, I need to reserve some places for some of my friends.

(1:11:02 - 1:11:12)
But you have to talk to Tim. We have to figure out a way to find space for more people. We have to figure out some way.

(1:11:12 - 1:11:26)
It'll be at Dragon's Head in Rimrock, the capital of the universe. Alright? We will be using some manuscripts from Dunhuang. We already translated them.

(1:11:26 - 1:11:39)
It's very exciting. It's very, very exciting. These are written in Tibetan script, in Chinese calligraphy style, vertically, which is very, very rare.

(1:11:39 - 1:11:52)
I've never seen that before, so it's kind of cool. Two minutes for questions. You decide.

(1:11:52 - 1:12:25)
Tim or who? Microphone person? I've always found it was really pleasant when the students got laryngitis. Thank you. Thank you for always pushing me.

(1:12:26 - 1:12:47)
A few days ago I heard you. The question is, how do I work with my seeds in order to hear you say Aryas in my world? That's a good question. I'll repeat.

(1:12:49 - 1:13:07)
Saragni [?] said, I heard you say a few days ago that you never saw another Arya. How can I change my seeds to make it happen that you say you saw many Aryas? We're doing it. Just keep doing what we're doing.

(1:13:07 - 1:13:29)
I believe that the organizations that each organization, technically on paper we have 41 organizations. Okay? It's very, very difficult for me, because in the end I have to be the umpire. What do you call it? I have to be the referee.

(1:13:29 - 1:13:46)
I have to keep them all cooperating with each other and funding, and it's really, really difficult. It's like having 41 kids. Okay? I mean, it's my pleasure to do it, but it's difficult.

(1:13:47 - 1:14:03)
It takes many, many hours every day. But each organization's goal is to produce Aryas. In the end, the purpose of all the 41 organizations is to produce Aryas.

(1:14:03 - 1:14:17)
I believe that each organization has a unique ability to create Aryas. So like, YSI is creating Aryas through asana practice. Like that.

(1:14:18 - 1:14:48)
And then the translators are creating Aryas through studying the ancient books. Like that, I believe that each different organization was designed to have a unique ability to create a different kind of Arya from different raw material. You see what I mean? So we tried to identify all the kinds of students there are, and then we created that many organizations.

(1:14:50 - 1:15:10)
I don't think you can do less than 41, okay? You can't force the yoga people to meditate all day, and you can't force the meditators to do headstands all day. They won't do it, and it won't help them. So you kind of have to have each one of those organizations.

(1:15:10 - 1:15:21)
Each one of those organizations was designed to create Aryas in a different format. Or through a different training. So that's why they all exist.

(1:15:22 - 1:15:35)
I would love to cut some of them. I don't think I can. I tried to cut YSI in my schedule, and like the next night I had some kind of weird experience.

(1:15:35 - 1:15:43)
I said, oh my god, we got to keep YSI. I had some weird channel experience. And I'm like, oh, we got to keep YSI.

(1:15:44 - 1:16:02)
So, each one is designed, and I truly believe that each organization is succeeding. You don't see it. You just see the organization that you're in.

(1:16:03 - 1:16:11)
But Grandpa has to worry about all of them. I have to keep them cooperating with each other. I have to make sure they don't steal each other's funding, stuff like that.

(1:16:11 - 1:16:17)
I have to keep them all going. And it's a big hassle. It's an extraordinary hassle.

(1:16:18 - 1:16:46)
But each one is creating Aryas of their own kind, and it's working. I say it's working. So I would say if we can support each other, all of the different organizations, all the different teachers teaching slightly differently the same Arya-producing information, that we will be successful and we'll have a big crop of Aryas.

(1:16:46 - 1:17:01)
So that's my belief. Okay, take a break. See you in—I'll get your question on the way back when we come back.

(1:17:01 - 1:17:23)
Okay. What time we start again? Oh, please stay, please stay. Really, for that? Please sit for a moment, okay? Tim's going to make an announcement.

(1:17:46 - 1:17:56)
Okay. All right, so very quickly. A couple things.

(1:17:57 - 1:18:16)
So, where are the envelopes? So we have envelopes for various types of offerings to volunteers and teachers and Geshe Michael. So if they're here, they're passing around, just wanting to remind you about all that. And then there's one thing I did want to chat with you all.

(1:18:18 - 1:19:11)
It's as Geshe La just said, his organizations, there's 41 organizations, and they're around the world in various places, and each organization has its own audience, and it has its own way of presenting, and they're tailored to different cultures and different—it's designed for all types of people, where they are. And Five Houses, as we are a worldwide organization, there's also some places where five houses— There's such diversity in the world, and so we have a diverse way of doing things. And so one of the things that we do at Five Houses is that we respect all the laws, regulations, policies in every single country.

(1:19:12 - 1:20:14)
And it's a gift that many people can come out of some of those countries to visit the Five Houses. But we have to be very, very careful with what we're doing and how we're doing it. And so when you're here, it's beautiful. 

Please, please share all the materials, but also know that there's some places where we have to be very sensitive with Five Houses materials. And that's why we have 41 organizations. There were some Five Houses teachers that came to me last year, and I asked them not to teach somewhere, and they taught there anyway. 

And I was like, please, don't do that. There's reasons. And as Geshe La was saying, these ideas are unnatural in a way, right? We're trying to change things through kindness and compassion, and we have to respect everybody where they are.

(1:20:14 - 1:21:04)
And we respect all the laws and countries and policies around the world, and we don't push it. In fact, I've been to all of those countries, and I love going there. And it's so sweet, and so beautiful to see different choices of the ways to live a life, right? And so I don't think we should see it as restrictions. 

I just see it as respecting others, respecting what they want, and how they want to promote a healthy society, okay? So just keep that in mind, you know? And I don't want to be harsh about it, and I think we should be gentle and celebrate. But we also just have to be mindful. So Five Houses.

(1:21:05 - 1:22:29)
It's beautiful that we're here at Diamond Mountain. And when you do go home, please be mindful that some places, we're just not there, okay? Including teachers as well, you know? So think about some people, and I've done that. Why do I have to see it? Because I've done it. 

I thought that I could just go under the radar, right? No one will notice, right? I'm not important. I don't have impact, you know? But that's not the case, right? Like, each and every one of you is important, and each and every one of you will have impact, right? So just please be careful, and please be respectful of what other people want. We don't push on other people, right? And if you think about seeds, you understand why. 

So I just wanted to, we just unfortunately have to say things like that sometimes, but I also think it's a good lesson for us to respect what other people need and are asking for. And it's a gift that you can come here, and it's a beautiful seed that we are here, and that we have so many people online. We're in 12 languages.

(1:22:30 - 1:22:43)
We have 2,000 people registered for this program. You know, it's amazing what we're doing. You know, the world has 8 billion people, and we're only 2,000.

(1:22:46 - 1:22:57)
It's a good start. Okay? It's a good start. So we are going to be going to retreat tomorrow, and so Geshe La has one more class, and then we're going to start the preparations.

(1:22:57 - 1:23:28)
We're going to start how to get into retreat, getting ready, and then through tomorrow, we're then going to do all those very special preparations, including the boundary ceremony, where we'll be protecting the [?], protecting our retreat space, our mind, and our physical space. And then we'll have a couple days to find joyful effort [?]. Yeah, I mean, it was great.

(1:23:29 - 1:23:39)
I walked in this morning, and I was like, how are you? And she was like, I'm awesome. I'm like, great. Like, let's have more I'm awesome.

(1:23:39 - 1:24:10)
So let's take a break, and we'll see you in a few minutes, and thank you all very much. Yes? Please, please. What was the time? Thank you, everyone, for joining Class 8 with Geshe Michael Roach, and thank you, teacher team.

(1:24:11 - 1:24:31)
And we invite you to express deeply gratitude to our dear teacher, and for so generously sharing these profound teachings. Now please take a short break in around 10 minutes, and we will move to Class 9 very soon. We look forward to seeing you again very shortly. 

Thank you for your time.