1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,360 So the first thing you do is you offer them water to drink, 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:06,120 right? So this is the first bowl on the 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,960 far left of the altar. You flip the bowl over and you 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,720 fill it with clean, nice drinking water. 5 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,800 This is #1 because coming out from inside from outside in 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,480 India, that's the first thing a guest would want. 7 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,280 We would traditionally light incense to make the room smell 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,240 pleasing, to cover up any bad smells coming in from outside, 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,000 for everybody to feel happy. And you know, it brightens the 10 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,760 energy and all of that. So usually you have a bowl with 11 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,680 rice in it and a couple incense sticks. 12 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:38,400 You're. Taking a step away from ordinary 13 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:43,040 life toward what is possible for you as a human, which is the 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,440 birth of true compassion, true altruism, and love for both 15 00:00:47,440 --> 00:01:00,550 ourselves and others. Welcome back everybody to the 16 00:01:00,550 --> 00:01:03,270 Denver's Ocean podcast. I'm here once again with Joseph 17 00:01:03,270 --> 00:01:05,710 Wagner. And today, as promised, we're 18 00:01:05,710 --> 00:01:09,190 going to talk about shrine and how to set up your shrine and 19 00:01:09,190 --> 00:01:11,150 why a shrine's important and all of this. 20 00:01:11,150 --> 00:01:14,760 We mentioned this somewhat in the previous episode and thought 21 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,520 it deserved its whole a whole episode because it's such a 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,640 central part of a Bajriana practitioner's life. 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,000 So welcome, Joe, and maybe you can introduce us to the topic of 24 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,640 having a shrine and what all that means. 25 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,200 I'm not an expert. I do have a shrine and I've had 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,440 one for a long time. Sometimes people call it an 27 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,400 altar. I don't know if it's really an 28 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:40,600 altar, I'm not exactly sure, but it's definitely a shrine Is it 29 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:46,640 is a crucial, it's a crucial thing to have and it's also kind 30 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,360 of a step on the path as far as I'm concerned. 31 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,560 If you think about how someone gets involved in the path of 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:58,080 trying to attain enlightenment, first, usually they modern day 33 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,520 people, they watch podcasts, they watch YouTube videos. 34 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,560 Then they, if they're a little bit old school, they start to 35 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,920 read books, right? They start to collect books and 36 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,360 they're reading things. Maybe they join a meditation 37 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,440 group and at some point a shift occurs, and that shift has to do 38 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,800 with their own personal meditation practice. 39 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,080 So they end up buying a cushion. They end up buying a Zafu, one 40 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,960 of those round cushions or a Gomdin or some other kind of 41 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,960 thing, a little bench or whatever to sit on. 42 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,320 If they're even more hardcore, they'd buy also a Zabuton, which 43 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,920 is like a the big square kind of cushion. 44 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:35,440 So you sit on that with the cushion on top of that. 45 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,760 You put that someplace in your house that for a lot of people, 46 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,360 that's a real statement about what they're doing with their 47 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,120 time with their life now. They're not just reading about 48 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,560 about spirituality or the path. Almost all Asian religions, the 49 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,600 things we're interested in have at their center the practice of 50 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,800 meditation. In order to meditate, you have 51 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,400 to have a place to do it. And this is the very foundation 52 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,920 of going from someone who's an interested party. 53 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,400 Maybe you're even attending teachings, thinking about these 54 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,080 things, reading books, watching videos to I'm going to do this 55 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,000 in my life. You buy a cushion that's like 56 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,200 this first step. After you do that for a while, 57 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,200 you're meditating. It's, I think it's natural that 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:26,320 you, you have certain objects, pictures that inspire you, that 59 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,560 make you feel like this makes me want to meditate where it's a 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,440 picture of a teacher who you relate to or a statue of the 61 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:38,120 Buddha or whatever, a Tonka, one of these kind of Tibetan style 62 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,560 paintings, whatever. You end up putting that up. 63 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,080 If it's a physical object, you need a place to put it. 64 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:44,520 What's the place? A table. 65 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,680 And that table becomes your shrine. 66 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,440 And that's the very foundation. That's another step. 67 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,320 Now you're creating a sacred space, you're creating an 68 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,080 environment and and in that environment you're going to 69 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,720 you're going to have a numerous things we're going to talk about 70 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,240 like what what those are, But the main thing is you're going 71 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,080 to have stuff that inspires you and it's going to be in one 72 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,640 place, not moving around, right? Whether you were live in a 73 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,320 studio apartment or a giant mansion, it's going to be in one 74 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,120 place and probably in front of that right next to that or 75 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,519 something is going to be your cushion for meditation. 76 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:22,200 So you're going to be going in there, you're going to be making 77 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:27,920 offerings to this statue or this, this picture or whatever, 78 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,520 not because they're, it's necessarily you believe that 79 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:32,840 that statue is this deity or something. 80 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:38,320 We're not idolaters, but we are offering to our own higher 81 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,520 selves, so to speak, to that which we're trying, to which 82 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,480 we're aspiring to actualize. And that's what a shrine sort of 83 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:47,160 represents for the average person. 84 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,040 This is the basic idea, and it's kind of steps toward that. 85 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,440 Yeah. And so when you talk about, you 86 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,440 know, what goes on the altar, I would say that the the first 87 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,200 thing there's, there's kind of like 3 non negotiables. 88 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:04,080 Traditionally that one you would have a body image of your llama 89 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,800 or the Buddha. So a Buddha statue or Grimshay 90 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,360 statue or a photo of your llama, that would be for the body. 91 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:15,000 You have a text, so usually like the Heart Sutra or some of the 92 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,120 teachings of the Buddha or Tantra, something traditional to 93 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,880 your lineage based on what you're practicing and you have a 94 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,960 connection to maybe like the Heart Sutra or the diamonds for 95 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,440 sure. And then a stupa or a crystal 96 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,520 ball. And this is symbolizing the mind 97 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,960 of the Buddha, right? So you're having the the body 98 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,560 speech in mind of the Buddha. Now, of course you could have 99 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,280 just the guru and that could be all of those things. 100 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,080 But traditionally you have all, you have 3 representatives in 101 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,200 the center. You're going to have the Buddha 102 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,640 or the Gurimpache or your llama. Then, you know, you're going to 103 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,880 have a Dharma text and then you're going to have a stupa of 104 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,440 some kind or a crystal crystal ball, you know, in the Zoke Chin 105 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,720 tradition to represent the mind of the Buddha. 106 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,640 And this these are kind of like the the essential objects to 107 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:02,520 which you make offerings traditionally. 108 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,840 Very well said. Yeah, these usually from I was 109 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,440 kind of talking about it how people get involved. 110 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,680 But once you once you have a physical space, what you're 111 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,360 doing is you're sacralizing that area of your house. 112 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,080 Of course, ideal is you have a little house or you have a room 113 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,960 that's solely for this many people or most of us probably 114 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,160 don't really have that that opportunity. 115 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,280 So we just have a little corner, we have a little space and maybe 116 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:32,560 we have a little picture above and we have a little table. 117 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,200 And on the table we have these three representatives. 118 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,360 The body is a physical representation and it doesn't 119 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,400 have to necessarily be the Buddha, but that's what's most 120 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,440 traditional could be Urimache, it could be a yidam. 121 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:49,600 Whatever the case is, the most important thing is it speaks to 122 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,360 you. It says here is a physical 123 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:57,280 representation of enlightenment. And so for most of us that's the 124 00:06:57,280 --> 00:07:00,960 Buddha, but it can be anybody. Buddha Shakimuni, I mean Guru 125 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,200 Biche is in the centre of many Enigma Paz shrines and so forth. 126 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,960 Then as you said, got the speech representation, the Dharma, 127 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:09,800 right? The Dharma is represented by 128 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,840 texts and that text could be in Chinese, it could be in Tibetan 129 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,040 and it could be in English. It doesn't really matter. 130 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,280 It could be a great big thing. It could be a pecha format. 131 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,320 The the most important part of it is it speaks to you right. 132 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,120 When I first got involved in in Buddhism, I was a Zen 133 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,520 practitioner and for me a Buddhist Bible, Keith Goddard or 134 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:37,760 Dwight Goddard maybe was like an important book and that might be 135 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:39,680 for someone. The book that you put on the 136 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:41,400 shrine. This is the teachings through 137 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,680 the Buddha. He comes in the form of a body, 138 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,080 what he says is the form of the teachings, the Dharma. 139 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:52,240 And so we have this text and then the mind is especially in 140 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:56,920 our tradition. Example is like a crystal, 141 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,680 something like that. Or the traditional way is a 142 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,160 stupa, a small stupa. I bought a tiny little stupa, 143 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:07,360 which I'll show you right now. When I was in India recently, I 144 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:11,360 was in, in Bodhgaya. We were looking around some 145 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,280 little things. I found this tiny little cute 146 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,760 little stupa, and it's a, it was just a very cute little thing. 147 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,560 And it's got a little hole in the bottom in which you could 148 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,840 put a sacred substances or Mendrup or Dutzi or a relic of 149 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,680 some sort or whatever that represents the mind of the 150 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:29,680 Buddha. And when you have that, really 151 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:31,880 you have everything. That's really everything. 152 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:33,679 If you have those three things, you got everything. 153 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:35,840 Of course, in Zokshin they say, Oh no, you have to have the 154 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,000 Sanjay Sachik Tantra. As the Buddhist, you have to 155 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,960 have a statue of Vantra Sattva. What is not that important got 156 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:47,280 to have everybody's got to have a Vibran come on these three 157 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:51,480 things and they can in a pinch or in the beginning for those of 158 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,720 you who are just thinking like, well, do I want to do this? 159 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,280 They can be represented just by one of those three. 160 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,240 Certainly find just a stupa or just a crystal. 161 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:03,800 If you're really like kind of like a nature person, that'd be 162 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,320 OK too. Or you could have just the 163 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,240 statue of the Buddha. Totally fine. 164 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,200 The most important thing is you keep that area clean. 165 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:13,560 You keep that area dust free to some degree. 166 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,720 You put, you don't just put the statue just on the table. 167 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,360 You have a little cloth or a little stand or something. 168 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:25,000 You're, you're, you are creating an environment in which what you 169 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,640 are shooting for, which is enlightenment for the good of 170 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,120 all beings, is represented outwardly in a way that you can 171 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,200 relate to it. And in that way, it becomes a 172 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,000 kind of, I'll talk about this more perhaps later, but a kind 173 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,120 of machine, a real shrine is a mandala. 174 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,960 A mandala is a palace of the deity, and you are the deity in 175 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:46,880 the palace. When you set this up in your 176 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,640 house, your house becomes a mandala itself. 177 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,160 And this is very important because we live in such a 178 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,080 secular environment. We need to sacralize our 179 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,480 environment. Otherwise we're just, we're kind 180 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:03,280 of like, we're not really doing it and that and the Tibetans 181 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,120 have got this down. So their houses are like 182 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,320 Damien's, Damien's room. They're filled with tonkas and 183 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,840 filled with statues and filled with little offering bowls and, 184 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:17,120 and little, little small shrines with little flowers and, and a 185 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,520 statue of Tara or whatever all. Why do we do it? 186 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:22,480 Not because Tara lives in that statue. 187 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:23,800 Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. 188 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,640 That's a different topic. But because when we see that we 189 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,760 it's a mirror, it's a mirror to our own higher possibilities. 190 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:33,880 And we think Tara is compassionate. 191 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,080 I'm going to be compassionate when I make offerings. 192 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,800 I'm not idolatizing this, idolatrizing this, whatever 193 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:45,000 this, this physical object, It's that that that is a mirror of 194 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,480 this part of myself that represents love, that represents 195 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,520 compassion, that represents staying stick to itiveness in 196 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,680 the case of the Buddha or whatever renunciation of my many 197 00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:00,520 confused desires. And that's what the shrine 198 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,440 operates on and one level. And that's why it's so important 199 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:05,400 for every practitioner to have one. 200 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,280 Yeah. So I want to get a little bit 201 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,200 into the actual mechanics of how to set this up just so people 202 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,680 have some something to refer to. And so you know what, what the 203 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:21,400 traditional offerings are about is that this all comes from 204 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,320 India. And in India, there is a very 205 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,320 specific custom around when you have a guest come to your house. 206 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:34,160 And this process is what you're reenacting on your altar every 207 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:35,520 day. And I think this is important to 208 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,600 know. So the first thing you do when 209 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:39,920 somebody comes in from, you know, we're just in India. 210 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,320 So you know all about this. You come in covered in dirt and 211 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,280 you're dehydrated and you probably feel like crap. 212 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,520 So the first thing you do is you offer them water to drink, 213 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:52,320 right? So this is the first bowl on the 214 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,160 far left of the altar. You flip the bowl over and you 215 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:58,760 fill it with clean, nice drinking water. 216 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,000 This is #1 because coming out from inside, from outside in 217 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:08,240 India, that's the first thing a guest would want #2A bowl of 218 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,920 water for washing. Because you are dirty. 219 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,040 Like Joe said, he likes to wash his socks after being in India, 220 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:20,520 which I can fully comprehend. Because it is dusty and dirty 221 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,480 and you need to wash. So you wash your hands and you 222 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,960 wash your feet and you wash your face. 223 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,520 So the second bowl is water for washing. 224 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,960 So you fill it up with nice clean water for washing yourself 225 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,360 because no one wants feels comfortable when their hands are 226 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,240 dusty and their feet are dusty. Everybody's wearing sandals back 227 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,160 in the day, so their feet are super dirty. 228 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,720 So they would clean all that up. The next thing is flowers. 229 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,600 So usually you have either a flower torma, which you can buy 230 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,840 on like Patala gate or something like this, or you can just get 231 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,800 like a from a craft store, like a plastic flower, or you can buy 232 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,120 fresh flowers and change it out continuously. 233 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,600 But the next one is you offer flowers. 234 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,080 This would be, you know, sometimes they would offer a lay 235 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:06,680 kind of traditional flower Garland around the the person's 236 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:08,520 neck. And this was a way of receiving 237 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,720 a noble guest or, you know, in our Western culture, it'd be 238 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,080 like offering a bouquet. But so we have this symbol of 239 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,480 flowers. This is what we offer to a noble 240 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,040 guest who comes to our house. Next is incense. 241 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,000 You would traditionally light incense to make the room smell 242 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,920 pleasing, to cover up any bad smells coming in from outside, 243 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,720 for everybody to feel happy. And you know, it brightens the 244 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,480 energy and all of that. So usually you have a bowl with 245 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,880 rice in it and a couple incense sticks stuck in it. 246 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:41,480 This is the incense offering. It's symbolic. 247 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,640 You also could light incense and then put that in a burner, but 248 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,440 that would be not on the altar. Traditionally it would be on the 249 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,680 floor or a lower position, a separate place because of 250 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:54,600 burning dust and ashes you don't really want on your altar. 251 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:59,080 So they're just three clean incense sticks in rice for that 252 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,760 offering is sufficient. Next is light. 253 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,040 Light is very important, symbolically representing 254 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,880 knowledge and wisdom, but also just the ability to see as 255 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,840 you're having a guest over for dinner, this sort of thing. 256 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:17,200 So you know, before Electric World, you can have either a 257 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:21,680 candle or a LED candle like Joe likes to use. 258 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,880 And so that that goes in a little bowl. 259 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,080 Also usually use rice for most of these. 260 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,600 If you want to like bring it up a level so you can see it. 261 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,600 You know, if it's like too far down in the bowl, then you can 262 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,320 put some white rice in there and set it on top, either a tea 263 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,720 light or an electric tea light. So you're bringing light to the 264 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,920 dinner. Then the next one is water with 265 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:44,800 saffron tea in it. Basically, you usually if you 266 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,400 have a boomba, but you don't have to have that, but most 267 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:49,960 practitioners will at some point. 268 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,840 And in that is saffron water. This is very easy to make, just 269 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:55,400 like tea. You take a few strands of 270 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,920 saffron, you put it in hot water, you filter it out, you 271 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,040 have saffron water. And you can keep that in the 272 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,360 boomba to the side of your shrine or on the shrine and you 273 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,960 can put a little bit in some water there. 274 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,600 And this is your anointing the guest with some kind of perfume, 275 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:11,320 right? So that that's what this is 276 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,160 symbolic of. However you want to do that, 277 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:15,520 don't get hung up on the details. 278 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,680 Saffron water, that's the main point. 279 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,480 And then the next one is food. You're offering them dinner. 280 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,160 And usually traditionally in Tibet, this would be a torma. 281 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,760 They would use a real torma where you get a metal torma or a 282 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,040 fired porcelain torma. There's many options here. 283 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,520 You can also do like a symbol for food, which could be like, 284 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,840 you know, a kind of piece of candy or something like that. 285 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,480 But you can buy, you know, a nice little torma that goes on 286 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:44,680 the rice or you, you know, an apple or a piece of fruit or 287 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:46,720 something. You change out regularly if you 288 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,800 don't want to use the symbol. This is dinner. 289 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,800 And for the final of the seven offerings, we offer music, and 290 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,280 this is symbolized usually by a conch shell. 291 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,520 And just like the previous ones, you can put it in the bowl with 292 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,600 a little bit of rice and then set a little small conch shell 293 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,600 on there. I've also seen people do like an 294 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,840 ornament of like a violin or, you know, you can kind of be 295 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,360 creative, whatever symbolizes music to you. 296 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,920 I guess you could put ACD on there or something, if anybody 297 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,520 even knows what those are anymore. 298 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,760 But this? Last one, so you've offered. 299 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,040 Them food and now traditionally you know you would have like the 300 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:29,320 sitar and the Indian traditional classical music offered to a 301 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,480 noble guest. So this is the final aspect of 302 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,800 the seven offerings. Just wanted to go over that so 303 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:37,680 you can get some idea of what it is you're doing. 304 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:42,760 And basically some of them kind of stay the same and some you'd 305 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,760 take down and put up every day traditionally. 306 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:52,480 So the water and the, the candle and the incense and the food, 307 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:54,840 depending on whether it's a torma or real food, you would 308 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,840 like change these out, right? So you, you dump the water out. 309 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,640 So when you set up your altar, you go from left to right, just 310 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:02,480 like you're reading. And at night when you take it 311 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:07,280 down, you go from right to left. And so you're closing you those 312 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,280 water bowls, you put them in a pitcher and you pour it and dump 313 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,640 it outside. And then in the morning you put 314 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,880 fresh water and you dry the bowls and you can keep them like 315 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,720 upside down the water once overnight. 316 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,079 Then in the morning you open them starting left to right and 317 00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,119 refill them like this. And, and as you go down the 318 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,079 line, you can do the things appropriate. 319 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:31,120 So if you're offering incense, then you can offer the incense 320 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:34,520 when you get to the candle, you light the candle or turn it on, 321 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,600 you get to the scented water, you fill the water, put the the 322 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,240 scented water in. And if you have a real food 323 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,080 offering, you can make a fresh food offering. 324 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,440 Or if it's the Torma, then you just kind of visualize and all 325 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:48,600 of this you can visualize and multiply. 326 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,480 And that's really important in the Vandriana. 327 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,080 You can imagine infinite candles, infinite incense, 328 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:58,960 infinite food, infinite buffet, this sort of thing as you go 329 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,720 through and make your offerings. And you can kind of use the 330 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,120 traditional Ramyam kaam Omahum. You have ramyam kaam purifies 331 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,360 and oma, whom multiplies and increases. 332 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,760 So you're just making this offering this as much details I 333 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,640 could probably get into here, but I wanted you to have a 334 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,880 general sense of what it is we're doing and how to do it. 335 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,560 There are more videos on YouTube that'll actually like walk you 336 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,680 through all of that, but this is the the general idea. 337 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:26,480 Yeah, beautiful. That's great. 338 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:28,680 Yeah. For those of you who are just 339 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,680 getting started with this, making offerings, what why are 340 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,440 you doing that? Again, you're making offerings 341 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:40,760 to your own path to the Buddhism bodhisattvas as representatives 342 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,520 of what is possible for us. So don't think that you're, I 343 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,560 mean, as Westerners and especially as Christian, you 344 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,320 know, many of us have a Christian background. 345 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,080 Even if you're never a Christian or Jewish, there's this, there's 346 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:59,200 a sort of feeling that idolatry is bad, you know, there's, So 347 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:00,880 you want to be a little careful with this in your own 348 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,480 psychology. What are you really doing? 349 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,760 You're making offerings to your own path by recognizing, hey, 350 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:08,720 the Buddha. What does Buddha represent? 351 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:12,200 Absolute accomplishment, the highest level of humans. 352 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:14,320 In fact, I take this as an opportunity. 353 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,520 When I was in Bodhgaya just a few weeks ago, they had these 354 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,360 posters advertising the anniversary of the Buddha's 355 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:23,600 enlightenment, you know, depending on which tradition. 356 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,400 I can't remember what the exact date was. 357 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:30,840 And it said come and celebrate the highest accomplishment of 358 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,240 humankind or of all time or some kind of thing like that. 359 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,160 That I was really like, wow, they really see there's a Hindu 360 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,000 country, but man, do they recognize that the Buddha pulled 361 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,360 something major off, you know, our own little shrines and our 362 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:47,560 own little lives of practice. We're we're acknowledging the 363 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:49,040 same thing. The Buddha woke up. 364 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,560 I want to wake up too. I'm asleep. 365 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,840 I know that. So I make offerings to this 366 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,720 awoken part of myself. If that speaks to you more than 367 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,360 making offerings to some celestial form of some deity or 368 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,040 something. Just important to keep that in 369 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,400 mind. I really like the way that you 370 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,560 put you. You described all the offerings 371 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,720 and stuff. This is this is exactly right. 372 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,000 Usually they're done in little offering bowls and you can buy 373 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,520 those offering bowls. We always push Patala gate. 374 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,640 I like those guys a lot. They're really sweet and but 375 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,920 there are many places online you can get them from Etsy. 376 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,800 You can probably get them from Amazon for goodness sake. 377 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:30,680 There's usually 7 bowls. The simplest way is to make only 378 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,960 offerings of water. This is this is done everywhere 379 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:39,280 in Tibet and Nepal, in India. And although when you do a 380 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,240 Sadhna practice like a cycle where you're really setting up 381 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,720 your shrine as a kind of mandola machine to capture and enhance 382 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:50,720 the blessings, then you usually do use this sort of incense in 383 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,680 the special way and all the different things. 384 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,360 It's okay as just getting started or your whole life to 385 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,080 just offer water. Water symbolizing water for 386 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,560 washing, water for drinking, flowers, incense, lamps, 387 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,240 perfume, food, music, the traditional offerings. 388 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,680 Just as Damien very nicely described. 389 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,360 Yeah, I was going to say something about not wearing your 390 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:14,120 shoes in India. It's so weird. 391 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:16,800 I was. There's a grocery store in, we 392 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,760 were in Tiruvannamalai where Ramana Maharishi was, and 393 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,680 there's the Ramana grocery store. 394 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:23,560 So we went in there as one of the first thing. 395 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,160 Get some water, get some other stuff. 396 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,840 You can't wear your shoes in the grocery store and people would 397 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,920 wear sandals everywhere. So their feet are disgusting. 398 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,560 And here they are walking around in the store with bare feet. 399 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:37,960 It's it's the opposite of what you would expect. 400 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,560 You'd just think they'd be forcing you to wear your shoes. 401 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:45,280 No, you're wandering around in this muddy grocery store with 402 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,600 all the other hookworm infested Indian pilgrims. 403 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,840 It's hilarious. And anyway, that's why we offer 404 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,600 water for washing because it's dusty in the world. 405 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,920 And if you going around with bare feet, your feet are dirty. 406 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,640 This kind of idea. So and you just as Damien said, 407 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,000 you just have a little pitcher. You fill it up with pure water 408 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,160 in the morning. You turn the bowls over water 409 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:08,400 for washing water for drinking flowers. 410 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,440 And like that. That's the simplest way. 411 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,200 At night, you empty them out and one Damon said you pour that 412 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:15,680 outside. And that's exactly right. 413 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,400 Don't pour it down the sink. Don't pour it in the toilet. 414 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,520 You want to offer to plants or throw it in your yard. 415 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,200 Poured it in a clean place. That's what they usually say 416 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,880 It's you know, because it's been an offering. 417 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:31,960 It's a little bit consecrated or so you want to offer that in a 418 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:33,520 clean place. You don't want to just pour it 419 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,560 in the toilet. This creates like a negative 420 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,160 karmic relationship with those offerings, just to be sure about 421 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,280 that. But the main thing to do is what 422 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:48,760 you're doing is you are taking a step away by having a shrine in 423 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,800 the 1st place, by having a meditation cushion in the 1st 424 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:53,880 place. You're taking a step away from 425 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,680 ordinary life toward what is possible for you as a human, 426 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,440 which is the birth of true compassion, true altruism and 427 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,640 love for both ourselves and others. 428 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:08,760 A true responsibility for this life and what we can do with it. 429 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,360 That's, and then when you make those offerings, you're making 430 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,520 that offering first thing in the morning to this aspect of 431 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,800 yourself and to of this aspect of all beings. 432 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,080 It helps to equalize everyone and you know, this is what this 433 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,760 is really about. If we understand the psychology, 434 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,360 we're more likely to do it. If someone says you need 7 435 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:27,840 bowls, fill them up with water. Then you just, maybe you do it, 436 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:29,880 but he doesn't have any. You're kind of like, what the 437 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,920 hell? You feel like a foreigner in 438 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,920 your own religion. That's not good When you 439 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:36,360 recognize like, I want to be clean. 440 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,880 May all beings be clean. I want to have water to drink. 441 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,480 May all beings have this. You know this guy. 442 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,760 I want the environment to smell good. 443 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,360 I want to have flowers on the table. 444 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:48,600 I want to have food, whatever then that that you're, you're 445 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,600 building up your compassion and you're making offerings to that 446 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,360 part of you, which is the the part that you're honoring and 447 00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:56,720 training in, in the whole, on the whole path. 448 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,960 So just to put it in a in a perspective that the average 449 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:02,680 listener can can understand what it means. 450 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,080 And, and for those of you practicing Guri yoga, for me, 451 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,440 like for a long time I was doing these 7 offerings and I didn't 452 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:09,800 really understand what we were doing. 453 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,880 Like I got the general idea that incense and water are nice 454 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,600 things, but I didn't really understand this like receiving 455 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,360 of a guest, an honored guest, like a royal guest. 456 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,040 Once I started doing that and I united it with my Guri yoga 457 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,960 practice. So I actually just visualized my 458 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,880 llama on the throne, my shrine. And then I as I do, and I'm 459 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:34,360 imagining serving him like a, a, a noble guest, like a king. 460 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:39,280 This strikes my heart much stronger than this kind of 461 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,240 pulled fully symbolic thing, right. 462 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,440 So if you're into that, if you're practicing Guri yoga, 463 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,960 this is an amazing way to develop devotion. 464 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,600 You could visualize Gurimphe or Shakyamuni like right in front 465 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,040 of you and actually imagine offering them flowers and 466 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:58,520 incense and you know, like bless getting the blessings of their 467 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,120 body by making offerings to it. I think this can really give a 468 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:06,120 connection on a deeper, more heartfelt level than just this 469 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,000 kind of like abstract Tibetan thing that we don't really 470 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,760 understand. Very good. 471 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,720 Yeah, Doing it. We have to make these things our 472 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,480 own. This is so important. 473 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,240 As we said in the last episode, we're in a transition period. 474 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,480 The Dharma has been in Tibet for 1000 years and it's still in 475 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:25,920 Tibet. Things are pretty good there. 476 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,280 It's OK, but now it's transitioning. 477 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,520 It's transitioning to the West with like the European West, to 478 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,720 the South American West, to the American West, and also to 479 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,120 China. It's coming back to China. 480 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,800 So they're rediscovering their roots of this. 481 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,080 And what does it mean to be a Buddhist practitioner? 482 00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:43,840 We have to discover that ourselves. 483 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,880 So you're making these offerings, but maybe when you're 484 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,240 offering water for washing, you're offering a whole swimming 485 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:52,840 pool because you love swimming so much. 486 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,400 That's OK, you know, whatever speaks to you. 487 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,960 And then maybe they're they offer traditional incense. 488 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,520 Maybe you don't like incense, so you're offering something else 489 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,280 that smells amazing. Essential oils or something? 490 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,240 Essential oils are Sato Paulo, one of that stuff from South 491 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,480 America that speaks to you. This you got to make this your 492 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,840 own, as Damien was saying. And when you make the offerings, 493 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,080 you're making them to that which is highest to you. 494 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,680 Could be your guru, could be the Dalai Lama, could be Shakyamuni, 495 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,120 whatever. You're making these offerings to 496 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:28,640 them and you're and you're making a connection and they're 497 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,120 they're happy because if you give someone flowers, they give 498 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:33,040 a smile on their face. You know, even if they don't 499 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,120 like flowers, they're like, wow, that's cool. 500 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:36,440 Thanks for going into the trouble. 501 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,520 Same thing here. And you feel that warmth even 502 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:42,680 though it's a visualization. That's the power of pure 503 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,040 perception, like we talked about in our last episode. 504 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,840 Yeah. Well, in tying this again to our 505 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,920 last episode, you know, maybe you never, maybe you met your 506 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,720 llama only once or you see them only once a year, this sort of 507 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,800 thing, or once every five years. If you really do this offerings 508 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:04,000 every day and imagine you're seeing them in person and you're 509 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,840 doing this, then you're making sure that relationship is there 510 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:12,200 every single day. This is how you see your llama 511 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,680 every day. We need to do this, otherwise we 512 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:17,800 just lose it. We lose the thread because the 513 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,200 world, like you said, is so secular and having a 514 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,080 relationship to somebody. The way the Tibetans really 515 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:30,200 understood gift giving was how you bond to somebody, right? 516 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,160 Like when we do the kata thing, you offer them the kata and then 517 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,120 they give it back to you, right? So now you've given them a gift 518 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:39,120 and they've given you a gift. Now you're really karmically 519 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:41,520 connected. They understood that that's kind 520 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,600 of like how karma works. So making offerings is a 521 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:50,040 supreme, easy, powerful method for building your relationship. 522 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,800 And if you're practicing guri yoga, this is it. 523 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,600 But even if you're not practicing Guri yoga, just your 524 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,760 connection, like Joe's been saying all along to your highest 525 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,920 self, to the path, to the founder of your teachings, the 526 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,280 of the teachings you're practicing that all of these 527 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:10,120 things, gift giving is how you connect to it and stay connected 528 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:12,400 to it. You have to have a relationship. 529 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,000 And so, you know, you do these offerings and then you do your 530 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,880 prostrations to the altar and this like turns it on, right? 531 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,440 Like this is like we've talked about it being like a blessing 532 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,160 generating machine, right? This mandala that that, it's 533 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,760 like, that's how the juice gets going. 534 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,200 And then your prostrations are like pulling the RIP cord, 535 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:30,760 right? Like on a lawn mower and you're 536 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,120 getting the engine started and it goes and it powers you 537 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:37,080 through the whole day. Even as you go to work and all 538 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,760 of this, you're still connected to it because you turned this 539 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:41,880 on. I think this is so potent. 540 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,360 Very good. Yeah, I'm going to. 541 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,280 I mean, we're going to conclude, but I want to encourage 542 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:52,280 everybody to set up something, a shrine in your house and what is 543 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,120 it? It needs to speak to you, right? 544 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,040 Whether it's traditional stuff or not. 545 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,160 If this traditional stuff speaks to you, that's great. 546 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:03,560 If it doesn't, just a statue, just a crystal, just a beautiful 547 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:07,040 stone that you found that represents nature in its most 548 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,560 pure form, whatever. Having something where you, it's 549 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:14,680 not that you're focusing on it, but you're honoring that aspect 550 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,160 with this and then those that creates a relationship with 551 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,880 whatever it is you're honoring and that builds it up in you. 552 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,720 And that's what the real guru yoga really is. 553 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,000 You know, it's, it's making a relationship. 554 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:32,520 Yeah and, and it's, and this process takes years like this, 555 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,560 this Vajrayana process, you know, you at 1st it's like 556 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,200 forced and it feels weird and feels foreign and feel you're 557 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,120 going to feel all those things and like I don't know what I'm 558 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,880 doing and I guarantee you're going to do things wrong. 559 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,040 If you want to follow the traditional model, you'll be 560 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,840 like 3 years down the road. Like oh, I've been doing this 561 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,120 wrong the whole time and I still find things all the time that 562 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:54,960 I've been doing wrong for 20 years. 563 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,960 That's OK 'cause it's the intention that matters. 564 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,760 So don't get hung up on like, am I doing this perfectly? 565 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,760 Just know that your, your intention to connect to your 566 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,360 path and to make offerings to your highest self is happening 567 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,400 every day. That's the main thing. 568 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,880 Like Joe said, you can do this in so many different ways if the 569 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:14,920 tradition has potency behind it, right? 570 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:19,040 This morphinogenic field behind all these people having done 571 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,840 this for so long. So there is power in following 572 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,000 the traditional model, but don't get like, I can't do it. 573 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,560 It's too complicated, you know, like don't, don't get caught up 574 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,760 that way. Just go, just try, do your best 575 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,520 and make corrections over time. It'll be fine and it'll it'll 576 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:36,720 change. Yeah. 577 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:38,840 Yeah, I think that's great. Yeah. 578 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,280 It's an opportunity, The Dharma, whether whatever the Dharma, the 579 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:48,400 Dharma here means the law, the practice is the opposite of 580 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,000 ordinary life. It is against the grain. 581 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,400 So of course, do we make offerings in our regular life? 582 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,920 In a sense, yes. But this is a formal way of 583 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,800 doing it. And it's, it's acknowledging 584 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,360 every morning and every evening what's most important. 585 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,320 That's what this is really about, right? 586 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,200 And giving it a, a foundation in your life. 587 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,360 It has real estate, it's got space, it's got, it's holding 588 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,200 space. That means it's important. 589 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,800 And the more important it is, the more space it will hold. 590 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,520 I've seen Damien Tran, it's got a great big, I've got a whole 591 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,400 little house in my yard that's only for this stuff. 592 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,160 So. So does that happen? 593 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,240 Yes. But what's the what's the intent 594 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,800 behind it or the goal behind it to make space for this new you 595 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,920 in this old life? And that's what we really are 596 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:35,880 trying to do. It isn't about worshipping some 597 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:37,800 weird deities. It's not about that at all. 598 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,240 Yeah, it's this. What's the center of your life 599 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:41,720 like? I know so many people that have 600 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,120 like a video game center, you know, that's like they've got 601 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,880 speakers and ATV and you walk in their house and you're like, 602 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,400 dude, this guy's a gamer. Like, you know that that's the 603 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,360 altar at which they worship, right? 604 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,880 And this is what we're doing. You know, like how many people, 605 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,200 you know, that football, they wear the jerseys and that, you 606 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,800 know, their television is as big as their wall and all of this 607 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,680 stuff. Like our physical space tells us 608 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,520 ourselves and the world what is most important to us and so. 609 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,800 Beautiful. This is a powerful method for 610 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,880 transforming that. Let's lead on that. 611 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,280 That's awesome. Yes, thank you, Joe. 612 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:24,720 As always, thank you, Ricky, our producer. 613 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,560 Thank you, you for watching and listening every week, every two 614 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,440 weeks that we really appreciate you doing all the things 615 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,960 supporting our show, asking questions, making comments. 616 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,800 As you can see, we we do these topics based on what you guys 617 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,040 asked us to do. So please ask. 618 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,240 We actually try to do that and we'd write them down and we keep 619 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,480 them in the docket and we get to them as soon as we can. 620 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,680 So thanks again. We really appreciate you go 621 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,680 forward in your path and enjoy yourself as you make your altar 622 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,640 and whatever practices you do Beautiful. 623 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:57,680 See you in two weeks.