Archive Result

Title: Three Principles of the Path

Teaching Date: 1992-03-03

Teacher Name: Gelek Rimpoche

Teaching Type: Tuesday Teaching

File Key: 19920303GR3P/19920303GR3P.mp3

Location: Ann Arbor

Level 1: Beginning

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19920303GR3P

Welcome to this course on the Three Principles or what do you want to call it? Whatever it is, welcome for that. It is for a few Tuesday evenings, maybe 3 or 4 at the most.

0:00:43.2 I would like to devote these to the Three Principles of the Path. That’s why we are here. But before we get into the subject I would like to mention to you: what is Three Principles and how is that relevant to the individual and their everyday life?

0:01:28.4 Let me put it in a little traditional orthodox way. The traditional teachings say that the teachings of the Buddha are nothing more than the experience that Buddha gained through his own spiritual path. That’s why we call that path that Buddha had experienced and shared with the people, that is totally what Buddha’s teaching is. There is no such thing that is not based on the Buddha’s personal experience. There is no other teaching. If there is a teaching that is not based on personal experience, then there is something wrong with that. So that is the basis of the Buddhism that we pursue.

0:03:04.6 The teachings that Buddha shares are a vast amount. If you look in the Buddha’s Collected Works – it looks like collected works, but it is not really collected works as in the Western understanding.

0:03:31.9 At that time I don’t think the writings were available. They did write, but Buddha was not writing books in the way we do today. His way was normally by talking, sharing his experience and especially, the people around him, at that period, mostly they would do something, some interesting thing in life or whatever, good or bad, and then people would go ask and Buddha, “So and So did something, what do you think about it?” Then Buddha goes on and said, “Oh yeah, this is that and this is this, this is that.” Sometimes he went back to the previous lives’ stories and said, “This is what happened, that is what happened, this is what it is.”

0:04:30.5 That’s exactly how Buddha’s teaching really worked. Today we talk about it as though Buddha was writing books or thought about it and then said a lot of things, but I don’t think so. Truly that’s how it worked. After Buddha’s death a number of people remembered what he said and what his message was and they somehow collected them and made three different divisions. They are based on the subjects rather than anything else. So these collections – people got together and one of them started saying, “I thought Buddha said this and that” and others would say yes or no and they would have long arguments and after that they sort of built up and that’s why they called that “Three Baskets”. Even in the tradition they call them tripitaka, the Three Pitakas. Pitaka is a Sanskrit word, very popular in the Buddhist world, especially in South East Asia and China.

0:06:06.2 The division is on three things: discipline, metaphysics, and method and wisdom. That’s the three categories. Whatever the disciples of the Buddha were able to collect together, that became the Three Pitakas. On top of that, later the Mahayana added up more, the Mahayana sutras. And all that is called the Collected Works of the Buddha. So the Western scholars chose to call it Buddhist Canon, rather than collected works and I think they are right, because it was not like Buddha sat down and talked and wrote about it. It was collected. So the Buddhist Canon became something like 125 volumes in the Tibetan translation. In the original Sanskrit it was a little more than that. Also the Chinese have some more than what we have in Tibetan. There are much more in Chinese.

0:07:45.0 Originally, it was the Sanskrit and Pali scriptures combined together. These were two oriental languages at Buddha’s time in India. These two different languages combined together and then translated into the various languages later on. What I know is that there are 125 volumes available in the Tibetan tradition.

If you had to go through all the 125 volumes and find out what to do it would probably be next to impossible. Maybe it is impossible. Today definitely it would be impossible to even read it. And then try to understand it and then try to comprehend it and meditate on it and gain development. That’s absolutely impossible.

0:08:59.7 Also there are different interpretations of the events and writings, a lot of them. Finally, what happened in Tibet in the time after 700 BC, the translations came, Buddhism came to Tibet and was translated into Tibetan and then they tried to make is smaller and comprehensive, so that people could handle it. To make a long story short, in about 1370, somewhere around that time, there was a great teacher in Tibet, Tsongkhapa. You can see the picture here. I don’t know how accurate it is, there were no photographs at that time. So they think he looked like that.

0:11:17.1 Later on all the lamas look similar to that anyway. So when you identify the images of the different Tibetan lamas, it is a big problem. Nobody can say anything, because they all look the same and Tibetans are not very good at giving the name of the artists who did it. They never do it. Now there are hundreds of these things and they all look the same, doesn’t matter.

0:11:56.4 Tsongkhapa was a great reformer. The Western people started calling him a reformer.

He was not really satisfied with what was available at that time in the Tibetan tradition. Actually, he tried to go to India to pick up a lot more from the Indian Buddhist teachers still available in India at that time. But a number of people stopped him and really didn’t allow him to go, because he was a great teacher and wherever he moved, thousands of people were moving together. People were hearing that Tsongkhapa was going to a certain place. It is like the Grateful Dead here. They go around and a number of people move with them (laughter).

0:12:52.6 Very similar to that. Tsongkhapa did that. The difference is that the Grateful Dead announce their schedule earlier and people go accordingly. But Tsongkhapa didn’t. People somehow heard he was going here and there and so they moved. And when he moved in a certain area, by the time he was leaving the area, the last people were still coming in and reached there and finally followed him. In that manner he moved around. There were a number of teachers available at that time, including Tsongkhapa’s teachers. They all stopped him from going to India, saying, “If you go to India, it will be very difficult for a number of people.” It was not easy to go from Tibet to India.

0:13:38.4 Number one, the Tibetans were very afraid of the Indian heat. They thought they would die there, all the time - until we were forcefully driven to India in 1959, just to survive. And we were really scared at that time. Number 2, the roads were not that easy to travel between India and Tibet. There was tremendous amounts of wild animals on the roads and one of those earlier translators, if you look in his works, he said,

The trees falling on the path look like dead bodies.

The animals growling at night, even today, when I remember

I shiver with all my heart and intestines and lungs.

That’s what the earlier translators wrote about traveling to India. Actually, when the Tibetans tried to pick up Buddhism from India they couldn’t really pick up much. The chose 21 of the most intelligent students and sent them to India to learn Buddhism and bring it back to Tibet. Only three or four returned, the rest of them died there. That was the first batch and that was repeated a second and third time. So they were very scared of going to India all the time.

0:15:25.2 So everybody stopped Tsongkhapa from going to India. He could not really be satisfied. He had a number of teachers from different traditions at that time, but the more he asked questions and learnt, the more he became dissatisfied. Finally, there was one great lama called Lhodrak Drubchen Lekyi Dorje. He always had visions of Vajrapani. Everybody thought he could stop Tsongkhapa from going to India. They all begged him to approach Tsongkhapa.

0:16:34.7 So Lhodrak Drubchen asked Vajrapani to appear in a vision and Vajrapani said, “Even if Tsongkhapa goes to India, there is nobody anymore he can learn from. There is nothing left there.” So that really did the job.

0:16:50.0 Then Tsongkhapa finally decided what to do, how he could get that problem solved. The existing explanations did not really satisfy him much. A number of them were okay, but at many difficult points, very difficult to do. So finally, there was one of his teachers, Lama Umapa, who always had visions of Manjushri. That’s why we picked up his mantra OM ARAPACANA DHIH earlier today. Manjushri is the deity that is the embodiment of the wisdom part of the enlightened beings. When that is embodied in deity form that’s called Manjushri.

0:17:36.0 So Lama Umapa had some kind of dialog with Manjushri. He kept on talking to him all the time. Tsongkhapa asked questions through Lama Umapa and he would say, “I will get your answer tomorrow.” When Umapa had a vision of Manjushri he asked him and he answered and Lama Umapa passed it on. After some time Lama Umapa became like a postman, did not even know what was going on, he just repeated the words. It had become so profound and so difficult. So then Manjushri said that this won’t work and that Tsongkhapa himself should have Manjushri visions.

0:18:31.7 Lama Umapa did not know what they were talking about at all. So that was not going to work. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Tsongkhapa finally had visions of Manjushri and talked to him. The essence of Manjushri’s teaching to Tsongkhapa was put into words by Tsongkhapa on this one little page. That’s what it is. That also, it is very interesting. Two days ago I came back one afternoon and saw a little note from Tony saying “here is the book you wanted to be copied, both the original and copy are in the cloth.” So I opened the book and I have read the book before, I have the oral transmission of that book before, however I wanted to read a little bit down to see whether the pages are correct or not.

0:19:54.7 So I read about two lines down there and there it said that Lama Umapa wrote a letter to Tsongkhapa and asked him to talk to Manjushri and say, “If Manjushri could give a very, very short and precise advice how to become a buddha within the life time, also not having to put much time in it. So please ask Manjushri that and then put it in understandable language for me and send it.”

0:20:46.0 That was Umapa’s little message. I came across that and I just remember that as I am talking to you today. For that Manjushri said, “Based on this I will say this…” – and then he added up a little bit more Vajrayana or Tantra. So when we started talking about Manjushri and Tsongkhapa I just remembered that two days I read all of that. So this is the really the essence of it.

0:21:28.0 It is really interesting. Buddhism is such a huge and vast knowledge and information and variety of methods and this and that. However, you can also make it into such a small, little thing and very short and very easy and very simple and people can just practice too, easily. So that is possible. But one does need the skill to put them together. It’s like a computer. It becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and becomes very easy, like those notebooks now. But to make it small and easy you need the computer engineers that are able to make it. Similarly, Buddha’s experience, in order to make it smaller, you do need the skill.

0:22:52.2 Manjushri had provided fortunately the skills here and it is really very simple and small. Of course, if you start going out from here you can go tremendously. It is like the human eye. That may be a very small little thing in here, but what you can see with that is unlimited, right? Like that, this came to that too.

Before we go into it I should introduce you to what are the Three Principles and why are they called ‘principles’?

0:23:39.1 The purpose of the Buddhist practice is basically to help the individual, to help oneself. And if you can, help others. First, help yourself. If you can’t help yourself it is not easy or not even possible to help others. So the key to helping others is helping ourselves. Interesting. One of the earlier Indian teachers who brought Buddhism to Tibet, whom Tsongkhapa, the author of this text, admires was Atisha who came in the 1100s. One advice Atisha gave the Tibetans was

Rang gyu ma dü bar du zhen gyu mi tug pen/ tong ma rang gyu tü – unless and until one individual is able to smoothen and develop ……

Today we will use the word ‘develop’. But the word he used at that time was – I don’t know how to say it in English. Traditionally, if you have rough leather and you treat that leather and it becomes very smooth and usable, what do you call that?

0:25:41.1 Audience: make leather soft or supple? The word for that is tanning.

Rimpoche: Okay, I heard that before too. So in order to help others you have to tan your mind. Can you say that? No. You don’t do that, right? But you have to control and make it smooth. In Tibetan they use the same language and the example is the rough leather and smooth leather.

0:26:20.5 Until you are able to do that for your own mind you will never be able to contribute to others to have that within their mind. Did you get that? Until you are able to help yourself, to make your mind smooth and peaceful and well-balanced you will never be able to help others. No matter how much you try to do it you will never be able to do it.

0:27:05.4 So, step 1 or Principle One is dealing with yourself, the individual. Of course, you like to help others, which of course Americans are great doing. I like to help, help, help. That’s what they say, but before you help others it is absolutely important to help yourself.

0:27:41.2 Besides, if you don’t help yourself nobody is going to help you either. Nobody can, unless you help yourself. If you don’t help yourself but try to help others that is also not that great. So the first step, Principle One is helping yourself.

0:28:15.6 Step 2 is developing love/compassion and help others.

0:28:27.4 Step 3 is gaining wisdom – how to do it. These are basically the Three Principles. That is a little untraditional way. In the traditional way I should say: First, renunciation, second bodhimind, third wisdom. But when you say this, what you are really talking about is the first step, how to help myself. The second principle: helping others on the basis of love/compassion, the third principle is the wisdom part. Is that clear to everybody? Because the first thing you see here is: Three Principles of the Path.

0:29:26.4 Why do they say “path”? Because it is a spiritual journey. So you are on the road, right? That’s what it is. And on that journey what’s the most important? These three steps. Is that clear? Any difficulties? Okay. So that will give you basically the idea of whole Buddhism. If you really know how to look basically that gives you the idea of whole Buddhism, just those three.

0:30:46.9 Then it says: lama nam la chag tsal lo - Reverence to the holy gurus.

It is the tradition in Buddhist culture, when you present something, whether you call it paying reverence or homage or something, to do it to someone who has been contributing to be able to do that. In the western tradition that is sort of like giving acknowledgment. In that manner, besides that the Buddhist principle of paying homage is involved. You will notice a number of times that reverence is made to the Buddha, or to compassion or to wisdom or to this particular deity and this and that.

0:32:02.2 Here Tsongkhapa chose to pay reverence to the gurus, particularly the teachers of Tsongkhapa and particularly Manjushri. There are a number of reasons. The first reason is that in this case Manjushri is the source from whom Tsongkhapa could really get the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. Also Manjushri, as Tsongkhapa’s teachers, has now become the link between the enlightened world, those who are fully enlightened beings, and Tsongkhapa; the link between them.

0:33:26.4 Plus the information, knowledge and development – I am talking about spiritual development. It is interesting. When we say information, in normal western language, information is simply information. You are informed, you have built up tremendous knowledge, you can speak or do whatever and it ends there. But here it is slightly different. The information is the basis of meditation. On what you meditate. Normally, people will think that meditation is sitting together, trying to calm down the mind, trying to concentrate on your breath or all sorts of things. For that you get different meditations, looking inside and all this.

0:34:45.3 That sort of idea you get. But when you go deeper, the meditations are actually training the mind to be able to concentrate on whatever you want to, whatever you need to. The subject of the spiritual path, you can concentrate on that. In order to do that you need to know the spiritual steps and paths. That’s why the information becomes important on the spiritual path. Sometimes, I think in the West, it is even overlooked. So information is not only information, but already material that you will use in meditation. Here the information is a little valuable than just information. So when you talk about source of information, it actually means source of the actual thing you get.

0:37:09.9 Let me put it in a sort of funny language, so people can get the idea. The information, when talking about source of information, it is more than informational thoughts.

You know, in this yucky movie … 0:37:36.1 (inaudible, tech. glitch, then dialog with students inaudible)

Audience: Yoda?

Rimpoche: No, ET.

0:38:00.0 inaudible…

0:38:10.0 Anyway, sorry about that, when we talk about information it is not only information but really the source of the thoughts. That’s why the link, the connection, the source of development, also becomes the field of merit and all this. That’s why Tsongkhapa chose to pay reverence to the gurus.

0:38:42.9 Tsongkhapa sent this in letter form to one of his disciples who was living at a distance. But also it was poetry form. That’s a normal rule, they write in three ways. First is homage, then second, the promise of what the author will do. That has a lot of meaning behind it too. And then also he says: if you are fortunate enough, and if it suits you, listen to me. So he asking them to pay attention and promise to complete and paying homage. These three things they always do in the old system.

0:39:43.2 Like here [in the West] you have the introduction and acknowledgment and you can dedicate to someone or something. So here in the Tibetan system they do it this way. So Tsongkhapa, although this is in letter form, he also did it that way.

If you pay attention here – I will need someone’s help to read. The translations are always upside down. The verse in Tibetan has the line: “I will explain as best as I can” as the last line. In this English translation it comes first. So let me put it this way.

I will explain as best as I can – what is he going to explain? The essential importance of the Victor’s teachings. “Victor” is referring to Buddha. There are a lot of reasons, actually.

0:41:18.4 Victor is one who gains victory. You chanted earlier OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA. That is Buddha’s mantra which we say all the time. Muni is Sanskrit and means victory. So it goes: Victory, victory, greater victory. Victory over what? Over the delusions, the internal evil. There are two kinds of delusions: gross and subtle. So victory, victory, greater victory. One who has overcome not only the gross delusions, but also the subtle delusions. Not only that, but who gains the full, positive strength by overpowering the negatives. That is Maha muni.

0:42:54.1 Tsongkhapa uses the term in Tibetan gyal wa. People often translate that as “Lord”, but sometimes as “Victor”. I am glad this one has victor. So that is because this is one who won the war over the delusions. The delusions here is not being deluded and saying wrong things – no. Here I am referring to delusions of negative thoughts, such as anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. And there are gross and subtle ones. The gross are easy to overcome, the subtle are more difficult. So one who is truly enlightened means, when you overcome all the gross and subtle delusions you have nothing that blocks. There is nothing to obstruct you, nothing to block you.

0:44:02.7 There is nothing to limit the individual. It is completely open and has become limitless, knowing whatever it is. That’s enlightened. Buddha is Sanskrit. I don’t know what it really means. But we call him enlightened beings. The gain over the obstacles of the delusions – today we tremendous amounts of limit. We have limits of knowing, limits of seeing. We are very much limited in whatever we do. We get all these blocks or obstacles come up, we get jealousy, hatred, anger, ignorance, and all of them make us very limited.

0:45:25.1 tech glitch……

0:45:43.2 …information that we get will open up a little bit, but still we are very limited, right? Very limited. Some people may be very well educated, however, they have tremendous limitations too. No matter how highly educated we may be today in terms of education, we have a lot of limitations, mental, physical, emotional. These limitations come through nothing but our delusions. They are direct results of our delusions. Our emotional problems are directs results of our delusions, nothing else. We cannot one single individual problem that is not a result of a delusion, we cannot. If you can, then the buddhas and fully enlightened ones are lying. But we cannot.

0:47:36.1 So that is where the limitations come in. Enlightened means to be free from all these limitations. When you are open, when you have gone out it, gone beyond. That’s why you see Buddhist text referring to those who are ‘gone beyond’ – tatagatha. To clear those limitations is a fight, a struggle. And those who win becomes a victor. So that’s why we call these the victor’s teachings.

JE TSÜN LA MA NAM LA CHAK TSEL LO

Homage to the Great Masters

1.GYAL WEY SUNG RAB KÜN GYI NYING PÖI DÖN

GYAL SE DAM PA NAM KYI NGAG PEY LAM

KAL DEN THAR DÖ NAM KYI JUK NGO DE

JI TAR NÜ ZHIN DAK GI SHE PAR JA

Heart of the Buddha’s teachings,

path praised by Bodhisattvas,

gateway to liberation,

this I will explain as best I can.

So here, the first line says: it is the essence of all the Victor’s teachings. That is referring to nothing but to wisdom. Each one these lines refer to the principal subject which is going to be explained later. The essence of all the Victor’s teachings is referring to wisdom. Wisdom is the method through which you free your limitations. You can overcome the delusions through wisdom only. That’s why it is essentially important in the Victor’s teachings. So that is referring to the wisdom.

0:49:21.6 What are you going to explain? The essence of the Buddha’s teachings, which is wisdom. Second, the path praised by all the holy bodhisattvas. So again, we have a technical word ‘bodhisattvas’. That is again a Sanskrit word. Incidentally, now Buddha and bodhisattva are in the English dictionaries, in the Oxford Dictionary it is shown. Bodhisattvas are those people who are committed to becoming enlightened, they work and are committed to becoming enlightened. But don’t think of somebody else outside. When you say ‘enlightened’, Buddha’s teachings say that each and every individual is able to become enlightened, has the potential and capability to becoming fully enlightened.

0:50:53.2 That means each and everyone of us has the potential to overcome our blocks and obstacles. When you overcome them you are limited much less. You are educated and the amount of education reduces your limits in that subject. Here we are not talking about a specific subject but about totally, in general. So each and everyone of us has the capability to become limitless, open completely, overcoming all the obstacles. That is what they are talking about in Buddhism: that everyone can become a buddha. That’s what they mean. They don’t mean you become yellow and have little long ears and a bump on the head. They are not talking about that. When they say that everybody can become buddha that means everybody has the capacity to become limitless, you can open all your limits, you can really become that. That’s what they are talking about.

0:52:01.9 So bodhisattva is a technical name for those men, women and children – and animals even – who are committed to follow that particular path and free the individual self from limitations and obstacles. These persons are called bodhisattvas. So that is path praised by the bodhisattvas.

What do bodhisattvas praise? Their practice, what they do. They love their practice, they praise their practice, they are totally in with their practice. If you don’t believe in your own practice and if you don’t become part of your practice you are not going to achieve anything else.

0:53:12.4 If you want to achieve something you have to believe, not only believe, but you really have to be in that, you have to be part of it.

You can’t just watching from over there and going a little bit to that side, that’s going to reach nowhere. So the bodhisattvas are totally committed and believe in their practice and they praise what they do. They enjoy what they are doing and praise that. And what is that path? Nothing but love and compassion, equal to all beings. Love and compassion for all beings, that is the path that these bodhisattvas believe in and work with and they live with that and die with that.

0:54:08.6 They praise that. That is the second step or principle. Principles one, two, three and this is the second. Then the third one, - these three are exchangeable anyway, there are three ways of explaining. So the third one is the “entrance for those fortunate ones who seek freedom”. Everybody seeks freedom, particularly all Americans – free the world. Everybody seeks freedom. But where is the true freedom really? It is very interesting. I am not going to say there is no freedom in America, don’t worry. I am not saying that. But when you go around, sometimes you feel there is no freedom in America too.

0:55:35.5 If you don’t how to handle it, probably. I was living in India and I could almost do anything I wanted to in India. It is possible – almost, anything I wanted to. Then, when I moved to America I noticed it was very limited, to tell you the truth, very limited. When they say no, it means no. Until you really know what to do but until then. When they say no it is no. In India you can always do something and no matter how many times they said no, you keep on insisting until they say yes. And if that person never does anything you go to the boss above him and then you beyond that and beyond that and make them say yes – all the time.

0:56:39.6 But when I first came here, no was no, right? Anyway, so I think that is limited. But truly speaking, it is limited. We do have freedom, of course. The world’s best freedom is in the United States, believe it or not. You really do have it. I have gone to almost every part of the world, except mainland China. But there is no doubt that the best freedom is available here, for sure. However, it is also very much limited here. We do have limited freedom – for anything, including individual rights. The blocks come in from the other side. Take abortion or anything. There are limitations, because there are other people who will say no. So you have got all these limitations.

0:58:04.6 And then above all, we have the delusions and we have ignorance, which limits us tremendously. When you really seek freedom, you should complete freedom from the delusions, at least from the control of ignorance. The sufferings we experience today, the mystery of not really understanding the depth of human life, what it is, is because of ignorance. And we do get sufferings in our life, all: mental, physical, emotional, even spiritual sufferings, because we under the control, under the clutches of ignorance. That is our problem. So when you see freedom, if we love freedom, we should get free from that. That is the First Principle, that’s why here they say “Entrance for the fortunate who seek freedom.” If you are fortunate you can get it. if you are not fortunate you cannot.

0:59:48.4 So seeking freedom means freedom from control of ignorance. That makes us run around, repeat things, get born, live, die, get born, live, die – continuously, from the Buddhist point of view at least. So the mystery and the sufferings of life which come out of the mystery means we are in the clutches of ignorance. Once we are able to clear that we do really have the big freedom, real freedom, which has no limitations. So these are basically the three principles of the path that Tsongkhapa said he would like to explain.

1:00:54.9 Similarly the second verse here: Listen with clear mind, you lucky people.

Would you like to read that, please? Something like “Listen with clear mind, you lucky people”.

(inaudible) [inserting here later translation by Rimpoche himself]

2. GANG TAK SI PEY DE LA MA CHAK SHING

DAL JOR DÖN YÖ JA CHIR TSÖN PA YI

GYAL WA GYE PEY LAM LA YI TÖN PEY

KAL DEN DE DAK DANG WEY YI KYI NYÖN

Not addicted to samsara’s delights,

fulfilling the mission of precious life

pursuing the fully reliable path,

listen with a clear mind, you fortunate one.

1:01:41.8 Thank you. What you just read has many more lines than the previous, in Tibetan it also just has three lines, so (laughs) anyway. Anyway, the path that pleases the buddhas is nothing but love and compassion and altruism. “Who works to give meaning to the leisure and opportunity” is nothing but seeking freedom from the cyclic life which is continuing. The “last of the existence’s chain” is talking about nothing but wisdom. The wisdom is the direct opponent of ignorance. Wisdom is the key to clearing ignorance. It not so simple. It is not like saying, “Here I got the key, let me open.”

1:02:57.7 It doesn’t work that way. Perhaps each and everyone of us, somehow or another, do have the wisdom key with us, however, we are unable to utilize that. And there are lots of reasons behind that. That will come later. Anyway, the second stanza is not only the path he is going to explain, but he says, “I am going to explain this, so would you pay attention to these important points?” – again referring to these Three Principles.

Thereafter we are touching with the First Principle. Looking at the time here, probably we stop here today, but basically, once again, I would like to say: I explained what are the Three Principles. And each one of them are totally relevant to our life. The important point here, particularly a path like that, the wisdom and love/compassion may not be present for us. It is, but not today. However, the First Principle is totally relevant to our life, to our daily life, because here we are basically talking about our life. The first lines are about leisure and opportunity. That’s talking about our life. I am briefly giving you what we are going to talk about next Tuesday.

1:05:16.1 It is talking about our life. We call it the recognition of life, the importance of it and embracing it, rather than reject it. That, plus the First Principle also covers the karmic system. What does karma mean? How does it function? What are their rules, what is possible, what is not? All them we are going to talk about. It is nine o clock, I think we should stop. I am racing a little bit, but I am afraid how long I am going to run. I don’t want to run more than 14 days. So that’s what it is.

1:06:27.7 Okay, so basically the First Principle is about that: recognizing the importance of life, embracing it, how karma functions and what it is. This is very much relevant to our everyday life, what’s happening. We hope to cover that next Tuesday. Thank you. If you have questions, if you don’t understand me, I should not take that time away from you. But nobody raises a hand, so that’s fine. So I presume that everybody here is fully enlightened.

1:07:28.1 End of file


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