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These are raw transcripts that have not been edited in any way, and may contain errors introduced by the volunteer transcribers. Please refer to the audio on The Knowledge Base website (http://www.theknowledgebase.com) for the original teachings. The Asian Classics Institute Course XIII: The Art of Reasoning Taught by Geshe Michael Roach Class One: Why Study the Art of Reasoning [mandala] [refuge] Okay. Welcome. This is something like class number thirteen, okay, course number thirteen. When we started the courses, we , [unclear] and I went out and we bought six chairs at Ikea in New Jersey and brought it back in a Honda and I figured if we could make six good translators it would be a big achievement you know. So I’m happy to see that there are many people here. Tonight we’re gonna study Buddhist logic. We’re gonna start Buddhist logic. I waited twelve courses, thirteen courses to start Buddhist logic because I was afraid ure my first job is to sell you on the idea of studying Buddhist logic and then maybe you won’t run away to like the third class or something. So, I’ll tell you the story about Gyaltseb Je. Gyaltseb Je was the main disciple of Je Tsongkapa. Je Tsongkapa is really the beginning of our lineage and he was the teacher of the first Dalai Lama. His dates are 1357 – 1419, okay. Gyaltseb Je – the word Gyaltseb means regent,meaning he took over the show after Je Tsongkapa passed away. He was assigned by Je Tsongkapa. He was appointed as Je Tongkapa’s replacement. Perhaps you don’t know the story of their first meeting. Gyaltseb Je, at the time,was the most famous logician in Tibet, and in fact, in the winter, we have inter-monastic competions and we study from his book on logic. It’s about four hundred pages long. It takes fifteen years to get through the first two chapters in the winter debate. So he was an incredible logician. So he heard that this guy from east Tibet was making sort of a big smash in Central Tibet, that he had come from the East. And that people were starting to come to his classes a lot. So he was curious and he thought he would go and blow this guy away in debate. So he heard that Je Tsongkapa was teaching outside of Lhasa somewhere and he decided he would show up and disrupt the class. So, he put on his big debaters costume and his big pandit’s hat, you know, and he started off. And he got lost on the way, [laughter] and, and he was on the path, the lecture was already starting you know, and he, finally he’s wandering through this pasture and he meets this young lady who’s tending the cows, you know, like a cow-herder. And she’s covered with dirt and she’s all dishevelled and her hair is all messed. And he says, do you know where big-nose is teaching tonight? Because Je Tsongkapa had a big nose, [laughs] okay. His enemies called him ‘big-nose from the east’. And, he said, do you know where big-nose is teaching tonight? And she says, well, what do you mean big-nose? And he says, you know, that guy Tsongkapa coming from, came from, came in from the east recently, you know, lot of people coming to his classes, you know. And she said, no I don’t know, but aren’t you Gyaltseb Je the famous logician, you know. And he says, yes I am, you know [laughter] [laughs] and [laughs] and she says, I’ve always wanted to meet a great logician. I, I have this burning question in my mind and I always wanted to meet a great logician, you know, and so. He says, don’t worry, I can answer any question about Buddhist logic. So, she points to a cow who’s taking a [laughter] making a cow-pie, okay. And, I have this question, you know, when they raise their tail and the poop comes out, it’s kinda going up. But then, when they’re done, it falls down. And I was wondering which is the top and which is the bottom of the cow-pie, you know. ‘Cos going out it’s one way and going, when it falls down it’s the opposite, you know. And then Gyaltseb je was stumped you know [laughter] [laughs] and he took about ten minutes and then he couldn’t get it, he couldn’t figure it out and he turned around and he looked at her and suddenly, there’s this goddess, blazing with golden light, you know. And she had this incense stick between her hands, you know. She says, I don’t know what you mean about big-nose from the East, but if you mean the incomparable, glorious, incredible Je Tsongkapa, master of all the world, you know, of Buddhism, he’s teaching over there, you know. [laughs] [laughter] And then there’s this beautiful story of what happens. So you never know who’s who, okay. That’s one of the reasons to study logic and we’re gonna get into that. So, I thought I’d tell you what we’re gonna study and then show you how it fits into the master plan of, of what you’re doing over the long run, five years, okay. So, I think we’ll do first the, first the syllabus, okay. This is what you’re going to be studying. Class one, we’re gonna go over the class policy – finished that. I’m gonna give you an overview of the course which is what I’m doing now. And then each class will be divided into three parts: first, you’ll get content, okay. Content means something to debate about, okay. When we teach logic, which kids in the monastery start at about twelve years old. It’s the first thing you ever study in a Buddhist monastery. We’ll do the content of logic for about twelve different, ten different classes about, about what are you studying to debate about. And these are great subjects from the ancient logic books that were written about thirteen hundred years ago. And I’ll go into that, where it comes from. Then each class, the second part of each class will be the format of logic. You know, like how do you make a good reason, what’s a bad reason, you know, how do you know a reason is a good reason, and things like that, okay. The third part of each class will be, I’ll teach you a little bit about Buddhist debating, okay. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it in a Buddhist monastery, but it’s a lot of fun. And, and we’ll be doing some, a little bit of Buddhist debating, okay. So that’s never been taught to a wide public audience in the United States, so I thought it would be fun for you guys to do it. It’s a very, very powerful tool for learning Buddhism. In the monastery we debate every day, except Tuesday, which we’re off because it’s market day. Every other day we debate twice a day. The evening debates start at six o’clock. You might get out at eleven, you might get out at three in the morning. But you take the lesson that you learned that day and you get in a group of like ten or twenty of your fellow studentsand you rip it apart by screaming at each other, okay, and it’s a lot of fun. If you’ve ever seen, seen it in a Buddhist monastery, but I’ll teach you a little bit about it. This custom has existed for two and a half thousand years and it’d be really good if we could do it in this country, okay. So we’ll talk a little bit about that. So, every class will be three parts. First part is something to debate about, some part of Buddhist philosophy,okay. Second part of the class’ll be the format of logic – how to make a good reason and what’s a false reason. And then, thirdly, the forms of debating – how do you debate,okay. So each class’ll be like that. Section two, class number two, the topic will be – there’s a beautiful section in the logic books that outlines the, all of existence. How do you divide, classify all existing things. And it’s very useful for Buddhists, okay. We should know. And that’ll be the subject matter. The logic, formal logic subject, will be, we’ll start to get into how you make a good reason, how do you make a logical statement, okay. And then, the debate thing for that night will be how do you stand, how do you bang your foot, how do you use a rosary. You gotta have a rosary when you debate, okay. You might have to hit your opponent with it, you never know, okay [laughter] and how to formulate a logical statement on the debate ground in the midst of fire,okay. Class three, there’s a special subject called ‘Quality and Characteristic’ { chi chedrak}. If you want to see emptiness directly this is the most powerful thing you can study. It’s about how do you make mental images and how you confuse them with the objects.