Archive Result

1011

20110604GRNMWT2

00:00

Welcome to the afternoon session. We did the 7 limbed prayer before the break. As you take these pages with you can do this practice yourself at home. The hope is that by doing the practice once here that you will be able to do it at home. You can either do both sides or one side. This morning we did both sides together.

Now in the Jewel Heart prayers we have the mantras. The first is the Buddha’s mantra: OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA. Let’s say this a few times and then the Compassion Buddha’s long and short mantras, which is the famous mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. Then we will get to the Tara mantra and I will explain it at that time.

0:01:52 (Chanting Buddha’s mantra and the long and short compassion buddha’s mantras)

0:07:53 Thank you. The longer mantra you just chanted is known as the “Compassion Dharani” and the shorter one is the famous Tibetan mantra om mani padme hum. More or less everybody who knows about Tibetan Buddhism knows that one. I am not going to explain the meaning of that, because then we are not doing our work today. So let it be there.

Now I would like to remind you that you are looking at the beautiful, blue, open, high space. In the midst of that is a lotus, above that a moon cushion and above that sits Tara, beautiful white in color, one face, two hands, the female Buddha. She has 7 eyes, the two regular ones, the third eye, and two in the palms of her hands and soles of her feet. Remember, you not have just imagined her, but also invited the wisdom being. She lives with you, walks with you, sits with you. She is your Tara. In other words, she is not only the outer physical body we have imagined but also the inner wisdom being we have invited with our invocation. We made the 7 limbed offering.

Today we have especially arranged external offering that you can see in the bowls over there. These are water for the mouth, water for the feet, which is very traditional Indian culture. People were walking everywhere. There were no vehicles in those days. The only way of traveling was walking. When people came walking over long distances in the heat of India, the first thing that was offered was water to drink. They called it water for the mouth. Then they would offer water for the feet. In Indian culture when an honored guest comes they will wash their feet. That’s because they walked through the dust. Indian culture today still does that. Those familiar with yoga know. They pour water over your feet. Then they will give you flowers. Here we don’t have fresh flowers on the offerings, but we use the dry flat flowers. Traditionally, in India they used lots of flowers. They give you flower garlands round your neck and on your head. That is similar to what Hawaiians do. Then there is the fragrance offering. Incense is the traditionally known fragrance. They didn’t have perfume at that time. Even if they did it would have been too strong. Incense have a nice, mild fragrance. Also, if you don’t offer fragrance, and the person has come walking from long distances, there may be other smells. Then there is the light offering and then the offering of cooling, scented water on your chest, either as an ointment or as scented water sprinkled at your chest to make you feel cool. Lastly there is the food and music offering.

To show you what we do in vajrayana, we will not leave it at the ordinary materials, but will bless the offerings. The front generation text does not have that portion. The longer sadhana does and I will say this in Tibetan because we have the externally arranged offerings here today. I will do the blessing and the actual offering: (0:14 – 0:15).

In the actual offering, we offer these things to Arya Tara and her retinue which fill up the space: (0:15 – 0:16). Then there is a short praise (0:16)

With that the offerings are done. When you do this practice at home, just read along with the prayer sheet you received. I just did it a little more elaborately. Now the time has come to say the mantra of Tara: OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA. Before saying that mantra we have to do a little visualization.

Tara is in front of you. Tara’s guru, Buddha Amitayus is sitting on her crown. He looks like Buddha, but his hands are held differently, both in his lap, holding a longevity vase. He is red in color. You have to remember that. Secondly, you have to visualize a little more detail at Tara’s heart level. When you put something at her heart level you don’t have to worry about what happened to her heart and intestines and all that. There are no such organs within that imagined body of Tara. It is all a light natured body. There is nothing blocking. Neither is it hollow, nor is it filled with organs. Instead you fill that with mantras. There is mantra chakra, a mantra wheel.

So in the center you have the long Tara mantra: OM TARE TUTARE TURE MAMA AYUR PUNYE JNANA PUSHTIM KURUYE SOHA. Then you have TA RE TU TA RE TU RE SO on 8 spokes. Then around that the vowels and consonants and the mantra of dependent arising.

The shorter mantra OM TA RE TU TA RE TU RE SO HA. The OM you see in Asian religions everywhere as the beginning of the mantra. OM has a lot of meanings. In many prayers we also say OM to you….

0:21

In other words, in the Tara mantra OM means I prostrate, I bow, I pay homage, I pray to you. OM alone does that. This is the rather simple explanation. In Tibetan we don’t say that, but the Ladhakis and other Himalayan people will use similar language, like “ju le ju”. In their language that means, “I prostrate to you” or “Hey to you”. It really means “homage to you”. In Central Tibet the language has become a little more sophisticated, so they left those phrases out. But the old Himalayan regions, anthropologically speaking, in the backs of mountains, without much contact to the outside world, maintain those phrases in their conversation. “ju le” means the same as OM to you. Then the last “ju” is from Muslim Kashmir influence and means “you”. So Ladakhis and Kinnauris and Newaris even today will say that. These are old Himalayan pockets where the language didn’t change much. Tibetan language has many colloquial influences from both, Indian and Chinese languages. It keeps on changing.

OM has also deeper meaning. It is the combination of three letters, A – O – M. That is really how the sound OM comes out. A is the life of every sound we make. O makes the A lower and thicker, heavier. In the writing it is represented by the circle and then M is added up. Together they make the sound. Without O it would be A-M. Without M it would be just A-O. It is easy to say OM. When I first came to the United States in the mid 80s, I met Ram Dass and he said OM AH HUM a lot. I didn’t know him well then, so I thought that he was nice, but in my heart of heart I was thinking, “Does this fellow really know anything about it?” That is my pride. Isn’t that stupid? Then I met Allen Ginsberg and he also said, OM AH HUM. Why is OM made of the three letters O A M? It represents body, speech, mind of ourselves and of the object of refuge. Saying them together, becomes the union of body, speech and mind. Today we often hear body-mind combination, but we don’t hear about body, mind and sound combination. But sound is mantra. There is tremendous activity. All our dream activities are sound activities. When you are dreaming, the indestructible drop, the basis of our consciousness, which normally is known as a gene that comes from father and mother and which has become joint together inseparably, travels through your body completely. When it reaches the throat level you are at the dreaming stage. I don’t want to go in that much detail, but when it gets to the brain level, you begin to think and function normally. But that’s not my subject today. I just mention this because of the activities of body, mind and speech or sound.

0:29

Sound is energy. Energy is sound. Sound is mantra. Mantra is energy. Energy is mantra. Just this much about body, mind and speech and OM. So OM is my body, my mind, my speech. It is also the body, speech and mind of Buddha Tara. OM alone conveys that. The next letter TARE is Tara’s name. It means “liberator”. What does she liberate from? She liberates from samsaric suffering, the sufferings of the lower realms, unwanted miseries and so on. TUTARE is the protection from fear. The Tara tantras and rituals specifically mention eight fears. I might not be able to talk to you about that, but if you read my transcript or the little book in the Tara Box, it talks about the eight fears. Fear is associated with emotions, so it is divided according to what emotion is comes from and there are metaphors for those negative emotions, like lion, elephant, ghost, water, thief, snake and so on. Snake is jealousy. Lion is pride. The English translation pride does not mean good old American pride but should really refer to the superiority/inferiority complex. But all the dictionaries, including Tibetan, Sanskrit, Chinese, call it “pride”. But that doesn’t mean pride in the sense of self esteem. Self esteem is not the object of negation, but superiority – and inferiority complexes are. When the Tibetan teaches describe it, it is exactly that. It is that feeling of strong inferiority and in order to protect that you make yourself into something very big, which are not. It hit me during the late 80s. The African Americans at that time liked to wear lots of jewelry and drive huge cars, just to show they are equals. The inequality was there and they suffered tremendously for a long time, but that inferiority/superiority complex is one of the fears.

TUTARE then is liberating not only from suffering, but also from fear. TU RE is healing from diseases and illnesses. Finally SOHA means to lay the foundation. The purity of being free of disease, the purity of being free of fear and suffering, the body, speech and mind of you, the protector – refuge, may merge with my body, mind and speech. That is the meaning of SO HA, merging, becoming oneness. So the object’s (i.e my) body and speech and mind and the subject’s (Tara’s) body, speech and mind will merge together and become oneness. My body becomes your body, my speech becomes your speech, my mind becomes your mind. They become oneness. Likewise, Tara’s mind becomes my mind, her body becomes my body and her sound becomes my sound. SO HA thus means merging, becoming oneness.

0:37

I don’t want to do the longer descriptions for the longer mantra. If I try to explain the mantra circle may be a little difficult without everybody having the picture or the slide. So that’s good enough. You know what OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA means.

Since you don’t have the mantra circle, make a simple request to Tara, the embodiment of all enlightened beings. They are all those who made it through, all the supreme refuge beings. Whatever traditions they may belong to, that’s what it is. Truly speaking, Tara’s function is so fantastic that you find it everywhere, in every corner and nook of the world in one form or another. Every tradition has her. They may not call her Tara, but she is there. In the Judeo- Christian tradition she is Mother Mary. In Tibet she is Dröl ma. In Chinese she is Kuan Yin, in Japan Canon. She is the feminine energy of all enlightened beings like a mother.

0:39:54

It is the mother who will never, never let down her child. It is the enlightened love and compassion in feminine energy form will never let you down. Even in little, funny traditions, not so well established religious traditions, everywhere, wherever there is opportunity, the motherly energy is always provided. People talk even about the earth itself as mother. That is all the feminine energy of the enlightened beings. For me it is the manifestation and activity of Tara. It is amazing. One time I was in Arkansas. Somebody took me for lunch in a nice, little café and when I walked in the first thing I saw a Tara picture hanging on the wall near the door, facing the door. I thought, “What the hell is she doing in Arkansas?” This happens to be the form of Tara as an art piece, so I recognized it. But then there is different female forms. In reality they all become the feminine principle, representing that energy. Then you know the motherly care and energy. No matter what happens, it is there, they won’t give up. Even when the children tell them, “Get out of there”, they sit in the distance and help and do whatever they can. That is Tara’s energy.

Now urge and pray for whatever we seek. The most important thing we seek from her is the help to overcome those negativities and negative emotions. Then physically, as I mentioned to you last night, we seek the healing of our physical elements, like earth element. Through the Tara we have imagined in front of us, we make strong requests with the mantra OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA. But first we seek the blessings of Tara and all the enlightened beings. What we don’t want is the blessings of the devils. They have power too. What we want is the blessings of the good, enlightened ones. Enlightened beings are those who are free of negative emotions, like hatred, obsession, ignorance. In Buddhism these are called Three Poisons. Those who are controlled by one or more of the three poisons are negative. That’s where we draw the line between the devils and the good ones, internally or externally. External devils are just manifestations. Mostly they are internal. So the mind controlled by one or more of the three poisons is on the negative side. Being free of them is positive. The perfection of positivity – that’s what the enlightened ones are. So we seek their blessings. First simply remember the meaning of the mantra and make requests for blessings. So we are saying a few Tara mantras together and later you can do it by yourself.

0:46 Chanting and recitation of Tara mantra (many times)

0:48 By making that strong request, think that Tara creates light that reaches to all enlightened beings. From the Buddhist point of view these are buddhas and bodhisattvas, dakas and dakinis and dharmapalas. Their positive energy in blessing form is collected back with light and nectar. That reaches to us, showering the blessings of enlightened beings over us. It is milk-white nectar, very strong, not just one or two drops, but like a rain storm, but instead of rain it is white nectar. It comes through our crown, reaching to us and going through, inside, in between flesh and bones, and flesh and skin, inside, outside, in between, everywhere this milk- looking nectar is washing our negativities, particularly illness, diseases, anything you want to get rid of. It washes them completely down and out of your system. Washing is easier for us, the lay people. It is a good way to think. Let’s say a number of mantras again

0:51 saying the mantra (many times)

0:51:49 Undesirable things within our physical body are washed away completely in the form of undesirable color, like dirty laundry water – completely washed away. You become clean, clear like crystal. Meditate that for a little while

saying the mantra (many times)

0:53

Now, the healing aspect. We are making strong requests to Tara to heal us and all those who are not well. Not only healing alone, but our physical bodies, which are made of the four elements. First let us deal with the earth element. We are asking Tara to specifically focus on and heal any disturbance we have in our flesh, bones, channels, etc of the earth element of the physical body. Light comes from Tara’s body and particularly if you have her mantra mala at her heart level, from there, light comes out and reaches to the earth element, such as Mother Earth, and just the touch of the light repairs the impurity and also collects the essence of the earth element in the form of golden light, almost looking like pure, refined gold. That is the color of the light and as well as nectar. This reaches us from the physical body of Tara. There is tremendous amounts of golden sun shine light. It reaches our crown and not only that, all our hair pores receive them. It is like sitting in the beautiful sun shine outside and receiving the warmth and the light of the sun. We are receiving all this energy of the earth element, from the Mother Earth, etc. And you don’t have to worry about depriving the Mother Earth of her energy. We collect these and rejuvenate our physical condition. Please join me in saying OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA (many times)

0:57 Think that this golden light has healed you completely, particularly your earth element. Next is the water element. That is the moisture and liquid in our body. Make the same request to Tara for the healing and rejuvenating the water element. Light is going out from Tara’s body. Now it is white light, reaching to all the sources of the water element. We live next to the Great Lakes. But also from the great oceans and lakes of all the world and a variety of universes the water element is collected in the form of milk-white light and nectar. There are different types of white: moon-white, silver-white and so on. This is milk-like nectar-light. There is tremendous amount of moisture and element power coming in, reaches us and rejuvenates the moisture power in our bodies, so that it is not overdone, nor under-dune, but is just right: OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA (many times)

Now you think that the power of your moisture and water element has been rejuvenated. Next is the fire element. That is responsible for the heat and digestive power in you. Make strong requests to Tara and because of that light goes out from Tara’s heart and reaches to the great sources of fire, such as the fire at the end of the universe, the fire that destroys the universe, etc and wherever the fire element is. That is collected and comes back as bright, Chinese-red colored light and nectar, reaches Tara and Tara in turn gives us very strong orange-red colored light and nectar. We receive that and that rejuvenates the power of our fire element - OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA (many times)

1:03

This has rejuvenated the power of heat in our bodies, particularly digestion and so on. Next is the circulation and movement through the air element. We make strong requests to Tara, who in turn sends light to the basis of the universe. The universe is based on the air mandala, and then comes the fire, water and earth mandalas. So the air element is keeping the basis of the universe together, so it can’t fall down. The air element is bright green in color, emerald green. We make strong requests to Tara and through that light goes out from her heart, particularly her mantra. Concentration, mantra and mudra combined has tremendous power. We are not using mudras, but we are sitting and focusing. So physically we are also in the meditative state. That is in itself also a physical gesture. We are not lying down, but sitting respectfully, whether we fold our hands or not. We make strong requests to Tara from the bottom of our hearts, without doubt whether Tara is capable or not, or whether this is going to work or not, with profound respect to Tara and the enlightened beings. We rely on them and make strong requests of healing in general, particularly the air element - - OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA (many times)

You think that all your circulation and air energy has been rejuvenated. So earth, water, fire and air – elements are functioning on an equal level and right. Now to the basis of maintaining all this, our negativities, especially our broken commitments: we have a lot of broken commitments. If we do not purify those broken commitments, even if we rebuild everything, it won’t last very long. The broken commitments will take all of it away. So we have to purify. So through our strong request to Tara, multi-colored light comes from Tara’s body, reaches to our body and washes away all our negativities in general and particularly the negativities that will shorten our life, all negative karma and in particular killing karma. If we have killed anyone, including insects, birds, animals or any other living beings, all of them are purified by the multi-colored light from the physical body of Tara, which comes to us and washes out everything through our body and mind through the midst of our speech, mind, body. All is washed out. In other words, our body, mind, energy, are separated from those negativities. With this mind, do make a strong request to Tara by saying the mantra: - OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA(many times)

1:14

This was the healing of the elements and broken vows and commitments. Before that we did the blessings. This much I would like to share of the activities. But that is not the end of it. There is a tremendous amount of methods. I can do this with you for three weeks and there is still no end. Honestly. But maybe that much for you people to begin with. I didn’t give you the opportunity to ask questions earlier, so maybe we can spend 10 15 minutes now, if you have a question. If not, I give you something else.

Audience: What is the difference between White Tara and Green Tara, besides the color?

Rimpoche: If you look from the point of view of difference, there are differences, the sitting posture, hand gestures, etc. The tantras are different too, and even the categories of tantras. But to think easier, whether it is green, white, yellow, black or any other colored Tara, all Taras are Tara. White is particularly specialized for healing. Green is more for carrying out activities. But if you think in your heart of hearts, whatever color, it is Tara. In that manner it is much easier and works better.

Audience: What is the difference between Amithaba and Amitayus?

Rimpoche: Amitayus is the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Buddha of Longevity. That’s why I said that Tara specializes in healing. Longevity is her thing and her guru and teacher is Buddha Amitayus. These are mostly representations. The Buddha of Love, Maitreya, has a stupa on his crown. That represents Buddha Shakyamuni. These are iconographical things. In reality, anyone of them are not alone. The whole lineage works together. That is the real, true message. Guru doesn’t just mean one person. It is the whole lineage. The most important guru in Buddhism is Buddha and that is not just one Buddha. There are zillions of them. They all work together. That shows you.

Audience: What is the Sanskrit word again for “universal king”?

Rimpoche: Chakravartin Raja. Chakra means wheel. So it is the king of the wheel. You know a ship’s captain holds the wheel and the car driver holds the wheel. So the wheel is very effective symbology. So in the old Indian culture the most powerful kings are called “Kings of the Wheel”. [wheel turning kings].

Audience: Can you quickly go over the three essential elements of Tibetan Buddhism you went over yesterday?

Rimpoche: I did talk about the Three Principles, but didn’t use the term ‘principles’. So these are love and compassion for yourself and liberating yourself, the second is compassion for others and the third is wisdom.

1:23

Now we have here the ritual of the pill and the nectar. I have done all other preparations this morning, but didn’t do the pill and nectar preparation. Originally, in the Tibetan tradition of White Tara, they give you a pill. The pill originally is to overpower the 404 different illnesses and therefore contains 404 different herbal medicines. They are collected and made into a pill. The rolling of pills came into the Tibetan culture only in the 1600s. Before that everything was powdered herbs. So we don’t have 404 substances to make such pills from. Even in Tibet they actually used barley powder with butter and sugar made into pills that are then meditatively created. Here we have the usual, good old American white chocolate. Those of you who have had a full initiation may generate themselves into the form of Tara and those who did not, may generate a Tara in front of you. In any case, light radiates from Tara, reaching to the infinite pure lands where buddhas and bodhisattvas abide. The light from our hearts reaches there, draws their attention, makes offerings to them and reminds them of the bliss void combination of joy and in return we collect their blessings of healing power in the form of necessary herbal medicines. That light dissolves back to the pills we have plus the nectar here is nothing but milk. I don’t know if it is full milk, 2 % or half and half. I have no idea. But it is milk from the super market or the hotel. Lights go out and collect back and also dissolve to the pills as well as the nectar. Think that the chocolates and nectar dissolve into the nature of emptiness. From the emptiness rise the medical pills that have the capability of healing and the medical nectar that has the capability of healing. They look like chocolate and milk. You say the mantra OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA, plus OM AH HUM.

Let’s do this together. First I have to say it in Tibetan: OM VAJRA AMRITA KUNDALI HANA HANA HUNG PHAT OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDAH HUM – ton pa nyi du gyur. Everything becomes empty. When you dissolve into the nature of emptiness, you dissolve not only the pills, but all forms, colors, smells, potential of pills and nectar into the nature of reality. All is empty. From emptiness suddenly rises letter OM, which becomes a beautiful jewel tray, which carries pills and nectar. Light comes

from the heart of Tara herself and reaches to all buddhas and bodhisattvas everywhere, making offerings. The essence of offering is to remind them of the bliss and void combination. There is nothing new to develop but reminding them of what they have already developed. Thereby buddhas and bodhisattva acknowledge our offering and sending their blessings, particularly healing blessings in the form of herbal medicines, which are dissolved to the pills as well as to the nectar. Zillions of them come, like snow storms, and dissolve to the pills and nectar. Please join me in saying the mantra: OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA many times – OM AH HUM (many times) Normally, the instructions say that to prepare pills and nectar one has to say 1000 Tara mantras and 1000 OM AH HUM as a minimum. But here we have a large number of people, so if we all say 100 x these mantras it will become more than 1000 for sure. I hope we are not cheating a little.

1:37 Now we have to offer the pills and nectar to everybody (attendants go round giving pills and nectar to everyboy while Rimpoche continues to chant Tara mantra and OM AH HUM).

1:38 (Rimpoche chants verses of praise in Tibetan and says more mantras while pills and nectar are being distributed)

1:46: Now finally, we conclude here by saying the auspicious prayers. We say that by the power of generosity that the buddhas have created, whatever our wishes are maybe fulfilled. There are six such activities. I begin with generosity (Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan). Second by the power of morality that buddhas have used, may our wishes be granted ((Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan). The third is patience that buddhas have used doing their contemplated period. By the power of that patience may our prayers be granted. (Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan). Fourth, enthusiasm. The buddhas have engaged in tremendous enthusiastic activities to accumulate virtue, to overcome negativities. Through as much as we have done and all their power, may our wishes be granted. (Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan). The fifth is concentration meditation. Buddhas have created tremendous virtue by meditation and concentration. We did too. Through all these powers may our wishes materialize. (Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan). The last is wisdom. The power of wisdom that buddhas have and the little what we have, all together, by that power, may our wishes be granted. (Rimpoche chants verse in Tibetan).

1:51 Whatever mistakes we have made in this practice we purify by saying the hundred syllable mantra: OM PEMASATTVA SAMAYA…..(3x)

1:54 (2 verses for forgiveness in Tibetan)

1:54:54

Okay, so now the visualized Tara you have to take with you. That will be, whenever want to visualize her you can do that. If you can do the invocation of the wisdom being that will be fine. Then make offerings and do all the practices we showed you today and you can repeat that any time you want to in your home. You can do it for your own purposes and the purposes of benefiting others. Particularly if you are in the healing work, like giving massage or healing and all the healing service work, always try to think that Tara is functioning through you. That will be helpful. This is not only healing but also for people who need it for future needs, like the time of death. Think about that when you say the mantra, not necessarily loudly, because you may draw unnecessary attention. So do it quietly and then dedicate. For this always try to be kind, compassionate and caring and loving. Share your love, care about people, have kindness for yourself and for all. That is sort of your commitment. Rely on activities for Tara. She will never let you down. If you have time and interest, learn and practice a little more, so that you may become Tara one day.

1:58:06

As Chris and Ujjen-la have mentioned earlier we as Jewel Heart are a small organization and we try to preserve the dying Tibetan Buddhist culture. The way we do that is in different ways. First we try to practice ourselves and then we share the 2600 year old wisdom that Buddha has shared with us. This was preserved and promoted by the Tibetans for the past 1,000 years. We are presenting these teachings and share them with you, so that you can help yourself. That is the way of preserving that culture and tradition and method. We do that in various ways.

Secondly we also have the young Tibetan incarnate lamas who are studying so that they will be become good teachers in the west in future. That way the younger generation in this country will also be served as well as Europe and everywhere else. We also promote and preserve the culture that way.

2:00

We have been talking about membership and that is not like being an American Express member or a Club member, where you give this and they give you that. It is not a selling and buying business. This is your interest, your help, your support, to promote and preserve this dying culture. We don’t have the exchange of we give you that and you give you that. Sometimes people argue with me about what they call “membership benefits”. But this is not a club membership. In a club you can have all the benefits the club can offer. But this is not like that. All our ideas and teachings we would like to make totally free. In order to make them free we need to pay our bills. In order to pay the bills we need the membership dues. That is exactly the vicious circle (wish circle) we are in. For many years we never paid attention. Jewel Heart was founded at the end of 1987, early 1988 in the United States. We never paid attention to membership until the last 2 years. The board members asked me, “What is the membership in Jewel Heart” and it turned out we only have something like 40, 50 or at most 100 members. Then we began to pay a little more attention and we have now 400 some members. But organizations similar to Jewel Heart, like Rigpa and FPMT, have 40,000 to 60,000 members. That’s because we never paid attention. In the beginning Allen Ginsberg helped us. He was a wonderful person to guide us. But he never liked the membership business. He used to tell me, “Rimpoche, the membership business is not that great. If you do that I am out of here.” That’s because after Suzuki Roshi died, his disciple, Baker Roshi, got kicked out by his own membership. So because of that we never paid attention to that and now it is becoming necessary. So those of you who are members, I thank you and those who would like to be members, please join. Ujjen-la has given you forms along with that little transcript of mine, the Four Mindfulnesses. So that’s that.

I really like to thank you all again, Chris and Michelle and other Northern Michigan Jewel Heart members, thank you. Thank you, Sean for helping us and doing wonderful work yourself and thank you all of you for keeping yourself nice, kind, compassionate and wonderful as you are and please, do continue to help yourself and help others. That way your life will become worthwhile. Thank you

2:04:53 applause 2:05 end of file