Hi. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for the warm introduction, and thank you all for coming.
I'm so grateful to be here tonight with you, and I'm grateful to have such a big audience.
Wow, it's a full house, so thank you so much.
I'm going to introduce Rinpoche now, so let me use this fancy clicker to advance.
So, Zongzi Kenzi Rinpoche, also known as Kenzi Norbu, is a Bhutanese lama, writer, and filmmaker.
He's the son of Tinle Norbu, who was a great Buddhist teacher as well, and Songyum John Ming Chodron, that was his mother's name.
And this is such a great photo. You can see Rinpoche, the little Rinpoche, in the middle there, and his parents are behind him.
He's the grandson of the Tibetan Buddhist master, Dhritram Rinpoche.
And if you don't already know, Dhritram Rinpoche was appointed by His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama,
as the first supreme head of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
So, a major, major figure in the modern history of Tibetan Buddhism.
At the age of five, Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness, the 41st Sakya Trizin,
someone who...
I've had the great fortune of meeting him multiple times in my life, given my research is primarily on the Sakya school.
He was recognized as the main incarnation of Zongzi Kenzi Chukyiludru, who is pictured here.
He was a figure who was instrumental in the continuation and development of the Zongzi Shedra in eastern Tibet.
And his previous incarnation, Kenzi Wonbo, was the one who...
created that institution.
And if you don't know, Kenzi Wonbo was so crucial to the non-sectarian, re-made movement.
So, he was instrumental in preserving many, many, many teachings that could have easily been lost.
So, both huge figures in the history of, again, modern Tibetan Buddhism.
Rinpoche was a close student of the great Duguken Se Rinpoche.
You can see in the bottom photo, he's there with his father and then Duguken Se Rinpoche.
And then the photo on the top, that's a photo of Rinpoche with Kenpo Ape Rinpoche.
I was very lucky to meet Kenpo Ape Rinpoche in the last year of his life.
I was staying in Nepal doing research into the life of another Dzong Tsar-related figure, Draya Bludra.
And so, I was there doing research and I was able to meet Kenpo Ape.
Kenpo Ape founded IBA. It's this great international Buddhist center in Kathmandu.
And so,
I can tell you to be in his presence was something I'll never forget.
And so, we have just such extraordinary teachers who have led to Rinpoche's incredible learning.
Rinpoche began traveling in the 80s.
This is a picture of Rinpoche with his mom.
They were in China. I think this was 1985.
And I love this photo because Rinpoche has a camera on his shoulder and his mom has a tripod.
So, you can see they're hard at work filmmaking, even way back then.
Rinpoche has been very, very prolific.
I'm just going to list some of the initiatives that he's founded.
So, the first is Siddhartha's Intent.
And so, Siddhartha's Intent, it organizes and distributes in archives Rinpoche's teachings.
If you haven't gone to their website, I really encourage you to go.
It's an incredible resource.
I was exploring it in preparation for the events this week and wow, there's so much there.
So, it's really great.
It's really, really wonderful.
Of course, as already mentioned, he also established the Kensei Foundation.
And the Kensei Foundation provides the financial support that's necessary to fulfill his aspirations and his vision.
And U of T has benefited greatly from the Kensei Foundation.
84,000.
So, I work for 84,000 myself.
And in a second, I'll explain the connection to U of T.
But 84,000, as we saw in the video,
is this remarkable initiative to translate the entire Tibetan Buddhist canon into English.
And that's a 230,000 page collection.
It's huge.
I can tell you that it's a, well, first of all, it's a 100-year project.
So, it will extend way beyond my own lifetime.
We're 15 years in so far.
And I'm very happy to report that we are actually on schedule.
So, we're 15 years in.
We've translated a large portion of the Congre already.
We have a remarkable team.
And each text is edited by multiple people.
First is the translator and then there's multiple editors.
So, it goes through many, many layers of editorial checking.
And one big landmark is we actually just finished The Perfection of Wisdom in 100,000 lines.
That's a 9,000 page text.
It was translated by a Canadian, Gareth Spahm.
And so now, we have to edit that.
So, we have to edit 9,000 pages.
But, so, we're making progress.
And we expect to finish the whole Congre.
So, these are the translated words of the Buddha in just 10 years.
So, we'll have that done in, thanks.
Thank you so much.
And then we have 75 more years to work on the Congre.
Those are the commentarial works.
So, there's a lot more to do.
And then finally, Lotus Outreach.
So, this directs a wide range of projects to help refugees and in particular abused and underprivileged women and children.
So, just such important projects.
And I should add too that alongside 84,000, there's also the Kumara Jiva Project.
That's a project to translate some texts that are preserved in the Tibetan canon into Chinese.
Because these works don't exist in the Chinese Buddhist canon.
So, that's a really interesting project.
And then there's also the Kensei Vision Project.
And that's to translate the works of Kensei Wonpo.
So, one of the previous incarnations of Rinpoche.
To say a little bit about the partnership.
So, in 2021,
during the pandemic,
84,000 in the U of T negotiated a partnership
that allowed for the teaching of classical Tibetan.
We've seen extraordinary growth.
When I first started teaching classical Tibetan here, I had just eight students in the intro class.
And last year I had 70.
So, we have a huge growth in Tibetan language learning at U of T.
And it's so heartening to see.
We also teach courses on Tibetan Buddhism.
And I teach this bigger class on death and dying that focuses a lot on Buddhist tradition.
And if you want to check out the work of 84,000,
so all the publications, it's always being updated,
you can go to 84,000.co.
Okay. So, I think...
Oh, there's more.
Yes. So...
So, to say more about Rinpoche's output.
So, he's a writer.
Just to mention two of his books, two of my favorites.
One is What Makes You Not a Buddhist.
Such a great book.
And also Living is Dying.
Because as someone who thinks about dying,
all the time,
it's true.
And who teaches the course on dying,
this is such a great resource.
So, I encourage you to read that book if you haven't.
And then he's a filmmaker.
And so, again, just to list only two of his films.
There's The Cup.
A really famous film that I remember seeing when it first came out.
And then most recently, Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Mustache.
And so, these are two films, but there are more.
So, if you haven't seen Rinpoche's films,
then please watch them.
Okay.
So, I think...
We can finally proceed to the main event.
So, the title of...
It's not really a talk.
It's actually going to be more of a discussion.
But the theme for today is
Supporting Resilience and Mental Health in the Age of AI.
What's really cool about tonight's event
is that it's actually driven by the attendees.
So, those who got tickets who were connected with U of T
were invited to submit questions.
And so, I have created a list of some of the questions that we received.
And that's what's going to drive the discussion.
So, we're going to welcome Rinpoche.
And then we're going to have a conversation, he and I.
So, let's welcome Rinpoche.
Where am I sitting?
Okay. So, you're going to go here.
Okay.
And I'll go next to you here.
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
Yes, my mic is working.
And Rinpoche, we can hear you.
Yes, good. Okay.
I think so.
Yes.
I can hear you.
Okay.
Okay.
So, as I was saying, Rinpoche,
so this is going to be an audience-driven discussion.
I have collected questions,
and I'm going to pose questions to you.
And then we'll have a discussion based on the audience's questions.
Okay.
And then, by the way, later,
we'll definitely have time for audience questions as well,
in addition to what I have on paper.
Okay. So, the first question.
This is an important one.
So, what advice do you have for young people
who grew up using their smartphones to socialize,
and how do you recommend they start using them?
And how do you recommend they stay healthy and confident?
I mean, this is in a way serious, actually.
So, please. Yeah.
I mean, you know, it's kind of...
Social media can be a little toxic, so...
And myself, I'm very addicted to...
I think they call it what? News junkie?
You're a news junkie.
Yes. Like in the morning when I go to toilet.
Yeah.
It's almost like physically I cannot function
without the phone in my hand.
Right.
Yeah, I'm similar.
It's true.
What was the question?
So, the question from an audience member is,
what advice do you have for young people
who grew up using their smartphones to socialize with one another,
and how do you recommend that they stay healthy and confident?
So, it's really about how do you stay confident, healthy,
given the influence of social media.
As much as I have so much temptation to sort of tell you
I know a trick to overcome this,
I have to say,
I myself, as I was saying,
I find myself a big victim of this.
But recently,
I have found
there's something we could do,
which is maybe learn to outwit the algorithm.
You explore some other channels
so that the algorithm gets so confused.
What's this person liking?
You know?
So, that's one thing.
Because, of course,
I mean,
I would,
you know,
if I tell you,
don't use social media,
don't look at phone,
don't look at computer, whatever,
that's not going to really work.
Yeah.
That's not going to happen.
We will end up doing it.
So, might as well do it from all angle.
But I have to say something.
I can really say,
I can read,
I can read,
mental health in the age of artificial intelligence.
I'm really happy that people are beginning to talk about mental health.
Just about when I was growing up,
like in my, I don't know, 20s,
people don't talk about mental health.
I mean, generally.
And as a Buddhist myself,
I could sort of,
I can proudly say this,
say that anything to do with the mental,
anything to do with the mind,
is something that Buddhism has been quite,
what do you call it,
good or informed,
or really done so much research
and so many, many teachings,
not just some academic teachings,
actually hands-on practice.
Even,
even the very term for sentient,
in Tibetan we call it sem chen, right?
So chen is, what do you call it in English?
It's like one that has...
Possessive particle, yeah.
Possessive particle.
So it already indicates there's something else
that is having the mind.
And that alone,
I think if people can pay some attention to,
could really,
if not health,
at least know some symptoms.
Now the other part of our discussion,
age of artificial intelligence,
that's, you know,
I don't want to pretend that I'm experienced with this.
I'm myself, I'm exploring.
Anyway, going back to your question,
I'm going round a lot.
Simple answers, I really don't know.
I think we need to just be very mindful,
and way to be mindful,
I was already sharing you earlier,
maybe learn to outwit certain algorithm,
that is attacking us.
And that, I could say,
is in some sort of form of a,
some form of a mindfulness.
To outwit the algorithm.
Yes.
Because you know,
even in, even the classic Buddhist teachings,
contrary to what people think,
you know, people usually,
whenever they talk about vipassana or this shamatha,
they always associate this with something else.
Something to do with sitting,
something to do with like being calm,
closing the door, I don't know,
ringing some bell, etc.
But, especially in the context of vipassana,
vipassana is really an art to outwit the habit.
Isn't it?
So, because,
what the habitual pattern does,
is it veils the true nature of your experience,
of the phenomena, etc.
And if you can outwit,
if you can bribe even,
bribe your habitual patterns,
which the Buddhists do.
For instance, like,
sitting straight,
whether you believe it or not,
is a very, very sophisticated form of bribery.
Because it makes you feel
that you are doing something very serious.
You know, if you do this,
you are not meditating.
Right.
I'm trying it out.
Okay.
You want to continue with your questions?
I will, no, thank you, Rinpoche.
That was very helpful.
Okay.
Well, second question.
So, this is again from one of the attendees.
So, the question is, it starts,
my niece is very talented,
but she has serious depression
and has stopped attending school.
So, she's telling us what she's dealing with right now.
And she says that she and her family
don't know how to deal with the situation.
Could you give us some advice
on how to help people who are facing depression?
Could you sort of collect these questions?
Yeah.
So, when audience members,
when they reserve their tickets...
Were there some easier questions?
Well...
That you weed it out?
No.
They were all hard, actually.
It's true.
Okay.
Some were actually harder.
But, yeah.
Okay.
But, yeah.
What advice do you have for people
who have a family member
who's struggling with depression?
I can tell you in my own family,
I've had multiple family members
who have suffered from this.
And so, you know, personally,
I'd love to hear your advice.
I'm not so sure with the term depression
because I think this is a very vast subject.
Yeah.
Sometimes when I talk to my friends
who are supposedly expert with, you know,
like psychology, depression, and all that,
they seem to be talking about prana,
as in, you know, the prana or the lung.
In Tibetan, they call it lung.
Now, in that case,
I think there's a lot of things that we can do,
such as breathing exercise, of course.
But even changing an atmosphere,
such as, let's say, you have a problem with your body,
you have a problem with your body,
you have a problem with your body,
you have a flower vase
somewhere in the middle of the living room,
why not put this in the middle of the toilet?
No, I'm serious.
Wow, okay.
Because the lung, the atmosphere,
now, I'm not talking about geomancy here,
like feng shui.
Feng shui, you're right.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about,
I think it's something
kind of similar.
A long time ago,
I read a book by Carlos Castaneda.
Yeah.
That's right.
Carlos Castaneda, yeah.
Now you can see how old I am.
I'm sure most of the young people here
don't even know who he is.
Carlos Castaneda talks about a spot.
Spot, right?
Spot.
Like you are sitting there,
and I'm sitting here.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And this spot really, really,
really influences the way we think
and the way we interact,
and therefore our mood
and our emotion, et cetera.
Now, if you can just change our spot,
if I decided to sit there
and face there,
immediately it will change.
So if we are talking about depression
in the context of lung or the prana,
I think there's a lot of things we could do.
Of course, not necessarily just, you know,
this flower vase,
but color of shirt,
ball hang-ups,
a walk.
And then, of course,
more in the profound practice you can do,
such as, you know, breathing, exercise,
so on and so forth.
Now, if you want to hear
the Buddhist point of view,
not just like the prana.
Depression.
Then I think it gets really complicated
because many times,
Buddhists might even say
a little bit of that depression
is kind of good
because otherwise...
I think Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
calls it genuine heart of sadness.
I think he called it.
And in the Prajnaparamita Sutra, boom, you know, boom.
In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, there was a bodhisattva,
and he asked Buddha how he feels sad.
And then Buddha said, oh, you know,
sadness is one of the most precious noble wealth.
That person must have a sadness.
So in this context,
depressions are not necessarily something bad also.
It can be very nurturing, enriching.
So I'm just presenting you this to see
if I'm using the word depression correctly.
But I have to admit that the term depression,
depression seems to be really, really vast.
That's true.
Yeah, I mean, there would be cases if someone's depressed,
they may not be able to bring themselves to practice.
And so in those cases,
it would be potentially an obstacle to cultivation.
But at the same time, you're right that recognizing
the suffering that exists in life isn't such a bad thing.
Yes.
Right?
That is the very first teaching Buddha taught.
Right.
No dukkha, no the suffering.
And that has to have a little bit of a depressing experience, right?
Yeah.
But going back to the person's question, the daughter, right?
The daughter.
My niece is very talented.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wow. I don't know what to say.
Yeah.
It's very difficult.
Yeah.
It's very difficult.
The world is so fast and speedy and too much choice.
I think I'm not trying to sort of provoke you,
but I think there's too much freedom also.
Human beings don't know how to handle freedom.
Freedom is really, really, it's like a,
you know,
oversized food.
You know, it's very difficult to handle.
And I think there's too much, you know,
what do you call it, hyper individualism.
And there's just too much freedom.
So you might consider inviting Kim Jong-un sometimes.
To Canada.
That's a provocation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That would be quite a visit, actually.
It might straighten everyone up a little bit.
Wow.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Okay.
I haven't seen that idea floated in the news lately, but yeah.
Because, you know, we never grow up, right?
The children, children also, you need to have, what do they call it?
The parents, they call it boundary.
You need to sort of create a little bit of boundary.
Okay.
Normal.
No, this, normal, that, sleep, what, this hour, that hour.
Nothing on the long run.
It's kind of good thing for the growth of this being.
But the thing is, we just never grow up.
We just have the next childhood.
So I don't know the total, the freedom as in the worldly freedom
is a very,
Something to think about.
Maybe we are depressed because we are just too free.
Thank you, Mabuche.
This is a good question, number three.
Should we create AI Buddhist practitioners?
Could they be helpful to the Sangha?
Could they be spiritual friends to help us in our Buddhist practice?
I have to say,
artificial intelligence is not,
you know, it's something that I know nothing of,
but I have no choice,
but I have to learn.
I need to know.
So I have been reading and listening.
And similar question has been asked to me many times.
Now,
so in Buddhism,
there are a few different sort of method or a school
or a tradition such as Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Now, and the Shravakayana or the Theravada tradition.
Now, if the AI has duality, dualism,
then AI can, or the robot can,
or the entitled or qualified vessel for Shravakayana
and Mahayana.
Okay?
Now,
on top of that,
if artificial intelligence can,
this is a little complicated,
if artificial intelligence can produce Dattu,
how do you say Dattu in English?
Elements?
That's one translation.
Yes.
Dattu?
Yes.
Elements.
Elements.
Like, yes, if it can create elements as in,
actually I'm even talking about the physical elements,
then this artificial intelligence is not only qualified
as a student of Shravakayana and Mahayana,
but then it's also qualified.
Okay.
It's also qualified as a Vajrayana student.
Hmm.
Wow.
Yeah.
So, but I somehow just, I mean, in Buddhism,
we talk about four different kinds of birth.
Yeah.
One of them is called miraculous birth.
Yeah, miraculous, yeah.
So, sometimes I could see an AI being can miraculously appear.
You would classify AI as a miraculous birth?
Maybe, maybe.
But beyond that, for now, I think artificial intelligence is just imputed data by us.
Right.
So, maybe there's a long way to go.
Probably a long way to go.
But, having said this, there are teachers like me, and I can see two at least here,
we are trained in a Buddhist philosophy school for years.
Like nine years, ten years, debate.
And then we are what, you know, like Geshe, Kempo, we are like trained to be information
dispenser.
Now, that job is finished.
That job is finished.
So, this too, me giving information, information dispenser, just giving you, okay, what's the
answer?
Just giving you, okay, what are the four noble truths?
This, this, this, this.
What are the, I don't know, ten Bhumis?
This, this, this, this.
You should ask CHAT GPT.
Okay.
They do much better.
You can always visit any time you like, et cetera, et cetera.
Yeah.
So, the only thing, only thing that these two and me, only thing we can sort of, you
know, tell you so that you should still maybe consider, listen to us is we have at times
good motivation.
You know, like, oh, for the sake of the, you, for the sake of the sentient beings, for the
sake of the mankind, I will teach you.
And that is important.
And I don't know whether CHAT GPT has that.
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Okay.
Thank you so much, Ramuji.
No, thank you.
Next question is about, this is a good one for you.
So, do you believe in work-life balance when you're trying to achieve something great?
So, if you have this ambition to achieve something great, do you believe in having a work-life
balance?
Or should people work hard when they're young and focus on relaxing themselves?
I think we'll be discussing later.
This is part of the question.
And then directly to you, the question is, how have you maintained, if you have, a balance
in your own life, a kind of work-life balance?
This is, I'm really bad with this.
I'm really, because, you know, if you believe in balance, then it means that you believe
that you are in control.
Right?
Oh, you know, I'm going to make it balance.
It's just not going to happen like that.
You know?
Tomorrow is, I don't know what's going to happen.
I have some plans.
All the, my plans are really long.
It goes sometimes two, three years, and that is actually quite depressing.
You know?
You know?
What about 84,000?
Things like, yes, yes.
It's 100 years.
Yes.
Things like April 2000, I don't know, 27.
That's so depressing because, you know,
you're already using up a time that hasn't even arrived.
And not only that, schedule is so, it's, I think,
you know, Buddhists talk about all different kinds of suffering.
I think schedule should be very much on the list.
One of the kinds of suffering.
One of the kinds.
The schedule.
It's really bad.
I agree.
I think that's, yeah.
No, that's good advice.
Okay.
I've seen you talk about this before.
I think it was with Daniel Aiken, the CEO of Wisdom.
So I think I know what you're going to say, but maybe I don't.
In what ways do you think AI is good or bad for the future of Buddhism?
Okay.
Here I'm going to kind of provoke you guys a bit.
I think AI itself,
is, it can be good, it can be bad, we don't know.
But till now, till now, the data designer are mostly in the West.
You understand?
Yes.
And we are talking about Buddhism here.
So to give you one example,
India.
Are there Indians here?
If there are, I'm going to provoke more.
Like Indians, they're very proud.
Oh, you know, the Google CEO is an Indian.
Something like that, right?
Google CEO is an Indian, et cetera, et cetera.
I don't know whether they should be proud of.
Because let's say an Indian wants to know about Dignaga, Nagarjuna.
Yeah.
Or an ancient Indian poet, Kalidasa.
Mm-hmm.
What do they do?
They Google.
And where's this Google come from?
San Diego.
So billion Indians are learning about Kalidasa.
That is created by somebody or some group of people in California.
Mm-hmm.
And that's really, really important.
Mm-hmm.
Because.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
They have their own something called Baitu.
Yeah, Baitu, yeah, yeah.
Okay, here we can all laugh at them and say,
oh, they are telling all this propaganda and the lies.
It doesn't matter.
It's their lie.
And, you know, you understand.
So this I'm just giving you as an example.
So this is actually a kind of a,
I'm kind of sometimes get passionate talking about this
because, okay, two example I will give you.
Recently I wrote a film script.
And then, you know, when usually when I ask people to read for a comment,
it takes about weeks or month.
I put it on Char GBT, 30 seconds.
And point by point, you know,
it really give you a summary and what do you call it?
Disorder.
Suggestions, et cetera.
Really good.
But then you sit down and look.
And then the formula that they use to criticize
or judge my script is based on Hollywood.
So this is where somebody like myself
who wants to sometimes tell my own stories,
that has got nothing to do with Hollywood, you know.
So.
But that gives me a little bit of a doubt.
The other example, this might amuse or provoke you again.
I recently asked Char GBT to write a very nice praise
to Vladimir Putin.
And Char GBT said, no, we cannot do that.
No, no, no.
And to me, this is wrong.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Because that means there is a bias.
Right.
That's really interesting.
That's an interesting example.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Putin and Kim Jong-un have made an appearance.
Okay.
We're actually going to shift to audience questions soon.
I have one more question.
But if you have questions,
I think we might be able to have people sort of line up a little bit
on the stairways if we have mics.
Anyway, just to give you forewarning,
be ready if you have a question.
I'd love to have you ask your question.
So another question from someone who's here is,
they struggle with balancing trying to be in the present moment
with preparing for what's to come.
And so do you have advice for how to be mindful of the present
but with some reasonable kind of thought to what's coming?
I really hope that you keep on having this problem.
Okay.
Because it actually means you are meditating.
This struggle between trying to be in the present and get bothered
by the scheduling and all of that,
that is what I call dawn of a spiritual person.
I think if you should just invest more on this,
and one day you will realize there is no such thing
as a spiritual person.
Okay.
There is no such thing as a future apart
from this very present moment.
So just like driving cars, like I don't know how to drive,
so I get fascinated when people drive because they have
to use their feet, their hands, they look in front,
look at the rear mirror and some of them file their nails.
Does their lipsticks.
And it's really, they do it so.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
So if you keep on doing this,
I think you will gel the present and the future smoothly.
Thank you.
I think now let's move to audience questions
if we have someone ready.
Yeah. Could you maybe step into the, just to the side?
I don't know if that's possible.
Oh, yes.
It, so maybe, do you have a question?
Yeah.
Okay, very good.
So yes, please, you go first.
And then if the next gentleman,
maybe if you can not so awkwardly sort of get out,
then you can come down next.
Yeah, please, thank you.
Thank you for a talk and thank professor.
I'm really nervous, so I wrote my question down.
I was really moved by the activities and visions of 84,000.
And I have a question regarding translation.
Like how can we make the words of the Buddha more accessible,
not in terms of getting them on our phones,
but in terms of language?
Like will the Gen Z understand what the Buddha
was really talking about culturally?
I feel like if we have to make sense of the Buddhist words,
we need like modern examples,
really getting into that context.
So what would be translating to like Gen Z language,
not only from Tibetan to English?
And I have another optional question.
Like Buddhist terms like reincarnation really confuses me.
Could you explain what that means?
Does understanding AI helps us understand
like those Buddhist concepts?
Okay.
Thank you, thank you.
Great questions.
Isn't she asking you?
No, definitely not.
No, she's asking you.
Okay.
Recently, I asked again,
the Chathjipiti to write or compose or say Heart Sutra.
You know Heart Sutra is an important sutra.
It's a very fundamental Mahayana sutra.
I asked the Chathjipiti to do it as how Dolly Parton would do.
A Dolly Parton rendition of Heart Sutra?
Yes.
And you know, so many people send me like messages.
This was so good.
It really touched their heart.
It really...
You know, I think, you know it's so...
I appreciate your question.
As I said earlier about artificial intelligence
and the information and the Google,
I think it is really good.
This is something...
This kind of discussion hasn't happened in the past.
This is really good.
I think we are going forward, advancing.
I think discussions like this should happen more.
And we should really, really, what do you call it, analyze.
Like for myself, I already never liked the word suffering
to translate dukkha.
I don't like the word compassion to translate maha karuna,
so on and so forth.
And I think if we have more discussions like this,
and then with all the help of the technology,
so on and so forth, I think not only
we will not lose the original meaning
of the original classic text, but we can also
make it applicable to generation, what is it?
Z?
The Azi.
Or Zed, yeah.
Yeah.
In Canada, we'd say Zed.
Now, your second question, the same thing, related.
This is very related.
Yang si, right?
Yang si.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It should never be translated into the English word
reincarnation, because the word reincarnation seems to apply.
There's a soul traveling.
I mean, the Dharma language.
The language of Yang si is not really like this.
So for instance, if you murdered yesterday,
you murdered somebody, and today the police catch you,
and then judge send you to prison,
you cannot really say, hey, yesterday's you is not,
yesterday's me is not today's me.
That's gone.
Scientifically, technically, you are right.
But the police and the judge has the same reason.
Still reason to arrest you and put you in the prison.
Why?
Because you are this continuation of yesterday's you.
So now we need to really learn about what do we mean by continuity?
Now that's, we will have to sit here.
You will have to hire me from the university here.
Please.
OK.
That would be great.
Thank you so much.
We'll go to this side.
Yeah.
Hi, Rinpoche.
I have a question.
I'm a psychologist, and I work in a psychiatric hospital
with kids and youth.
And I was wondering how to, I'm under the frame
of the medical model, right, in a hospital.
So how to introduce Buddhist ideas, practices, or ways
to approach suffering?
And I'm wondering, in an environment like this,
where I'm quite limited by the medical model
and the hospital system.
It's a very difficult project, I think.
But I think if, with the help of these people, 84,000,
university, the study, so on and so forth, slowly, slowly, you
know?
Or if it's like this, I will give you one example.
Let's say, in about 100 years, people laugh at University
of Toronto for being cultish, religious, believer.
You understand?
You know, this sort of, I don't know.
Superstition.
Superstition, et cetera, et cetera.
This is how.
Yeah.
This is how.
many so-called Buddhists feel when Buddhism gets into the basket of religion.
Because like the great Nalanda University,
they were the center, like University of Toronto,
I don't know, Harvard, where people study about the truth,
about mind, about the matter, about, you know,
definition of continuity, definition of what is coming and going.
There was a guy called Nagarjuna,
he even wrote a book about Drowa Dwa Nwa Thakwa,
meaning analyzing what is coming and going.
It looks very trivial, but they are so profound.
So, I mean, it will take some time,
but I think if we pay some attention and if there's a lot of resources,
like,
84,000, I believe that people will find out.
And I really think Buddhism has so much to offer, so much.
Because one of the big problems in today's world,
one of the biggest problems, it has always been the biggest problem, actually,
is the identity crisis.
Right?
Identity crisis.
And even if you just read Heart Sutra,
it's totally taken care of from the root.
No nose, no eyes, no identity, nothing.
And not even nothing.
So, I think, but until then, I think we will have these problems.
So we will have to, yes, dilute a little bit,
sugarcoat a little bit.
I myself have been told many times,
okay, Rinpoche, please don't use too much of a Buddhist jargon,
make it applicable to the modern world,
which I also do.
But then, many times, I don't want to also build too many shallow swimming pools
for those who don't know how to swim,
to teach them.
To teach them how to swim.
Shallow swimming pool after shallow swimming pool,
and suddenly you are in the ocean.
You will, you know.
Right.
Not good.
Not good.
No.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I don't think we'll finish this.
No.
I was just going to say, so, because Rinpoche has had such a busy schedule,
he's requested that we wrap up by 8.15.
So we won't get to everyone's questions,
but we have time for at least one more, maybe two more questions.
Okay.
So now we'll go to this side of the room.
This is very fast, Rinpoche.
If I have chat GPT recite mantras for me, will I still get the merit?
Very good question.
Well, merit is something to do with how much sacrifice you also, you know, cause, right?
Oh, yeah.
So I guess switching on the phone, pressing it.
Maybe a little bit.
A little bit of merit.
I guess you have to charge.
Right.
Yeah.
Got to keep it charged.
That's true.
Yeah.
Electricity bills, all that.
Maybe.
Okay.
Just a little bit.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's a good question.
Thank you.
Okay.
Now to this side.
Hi, Rinpoche.
This is a general question for students who are graduating or who are already graduated,
but having their, you know, mini life crisis deciding on their, their future.
Yeah.
And then, you know, deciding on their, their career, what they do to make a living.
Would you say it's easier for them to, in a relative role, in a relative world, achieve,
to have achievements if they choose something they're passionate about, they're talented
about, or compared to something that's more skillful or like considered as a stable job?
Because, you know, like practicing Dharma in this modern world really, like really needs
financial support or, you know, like a rich daddy.
So, yeah.
I understand.
It's very difficult.
This is a difficult answer.
You know, I have a lot of friends in India, and I have lots of friends in China, Chinese.
I mean, not China, China, you know, Singapore, Malaysia, Chinese.
I'm being very, I'm generalizing a lot here.
So one thing, sometimes I feel like, you know, like Indians are so romantic, idealist.
I think somewhat Westerners are also, you know, democracy, freedom of speech.
These are romance, isn't it?
These are romantic.
These are idealism.
Then there's a Chinese job saving.
What was it?
Salt daddy?
What was it?
Yeah, like a sugar daddy.
Sugar daddy.
Sugar daddy, yeah.
A salt daddy.
Yes.
Whatever.
Yeah.
All of that.
You know, this, you have to balance, isn't it?
I think it's really important to have the balance.
And it's so difficult.
I see this with a lot of my friends.
You know, you...
You get carried away by idealism.
Idealism, romance, you know.
And then...
I'm sorry if it is going to offend some of the Chinese here, but I have to tell you this.
You know, I have a...
You know, I was designing lighting for Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.
Yeah.
So one of my...
The main engineer is an Indian, really good.
And he worked in China for a long time.
So...
And, you know, so I...
Once we were talking and I said, you know, Chinese have a billion people and you guys have a billion people.
How come you guys are really, you know, like getting laid and things are not getting done and, you know, they...
And then he said something really interesting.
He said, you know, we human beings, we need recreation.
Like pujas, holidays, you know, like...
You know, we guys always need recreation.
And he said, but for Chinese, recreation happens every day twice.
Lunch and dinner.
Food is so important for them.
You know.
That's it.
Beyond that, they don't even...
I think the boss has to force the people to take holidays.
In some cases.
They work so hard.
They go late to the...
So it's kind of interesting.
So I think this balance is going to be difficult.
But I think, as I've been telling you, maybe just to hear everything what I said, that maybe needs a bit of a balance.
Or I am beginning to...
I am beginning to hear that even in China now there are phenomena called thumping.
What is thumping?
Lying flat.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's right.
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Just lying down and lying flat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, by the way, I have something to say about this, though.
When Chinese parents are unhappy with their kids who are lazy.
Oh.
They will say something, oh, are you becoming Buddhist?
Oh.
You understand?
So I don't know.
Okay.
Thank you so much, Rinpoche.
No, no.
So we are at the 8.15 mark.
I think Sungjung is going to come up and conclude.