As I think you've probably heard before, one of our teachings is that you and all sentient beings and Buddha are really one, or Buddha mind and your mind and the mind of all sentient beings are really one. Understanding this is called receiving the precepts. And you may think, oh, well, I don't understand this, so I guess I can't receive the precepts. But if you receive the precepts, you understand this. You may not think you understand it, but you do. When we receive the precepts, we may have some limited idea of what we're doing at that time.

[01:13]

But in the act of receiving the precepts, there is the expression of understanding the oneness of the minds of all sentient beings and yourself and Buddhists. Repentance is... you know, in its ripeness, in its fullness, opens the door to this understanding and prepares us to to receive the precepts. We just read here about the three kinds of three treasures and So there they are. And I want to discuss these three kinds of three treasures.

[02:21]

The first one is called, does it say? The first one is called the single-bodied triple treasure, or one-bodied triple treasure. Next one's called the manifested triple treasure. And last one's called maintain triple treasure. So the first one is looking at the triple treasure as one body.

[03:27]

So there's this thing called anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, complete, unsurpassable, samyak, Anuttara means unsurpassable, no higher. Samyak, correct. Sambodhi, complete. Bodhi, complete awakening. Unsurpassable, correct, complete awakening. That's under this heading. That's the Buddha. That's a Buddha jewel. And then the Dharma... is, under this heading, is the purity and freedom from dust. So first of all, dust means many things, but usually what dust means in this language is dust is something, some object,

[04:38]

that can get in your eye or block your way. So the first jewel, the Buddha jewel, from this perspective, has no dust. In other words, there's nothing that can adhere to or dirty the Buddha because there's nothing outside. The purity of awakening is that there's no objects outside of it. There's nothing outside of it. And the third aspect is the peace and harmony. And that is that there is peace and harmony between the Buddha and the Dharma.

[05:43]

That this purity and the awakening are in harmony. That is peacefulness. So this first three treasures is really one thing. It's something that has no inside or outside, that can't be defiled or have any dust, and that is in perfect harmony with itself. I'm tempted to unpack that, but I'm not going to because we can unpack later if you want to.

[06:50]

The next one is the realization of Bodhi. Realization of Bodhi in his manifestation is called Buddha treasure. That which is realized by Buddha is the Dharma treasure, and learning Buddha and Dharma is the Sangha treasure. This one is, in a sense, the historical aspect, or the triple treasure in terms of history. This is like referring, in a sense, to a person named Shakyamuni Buddha who realized, who became himself and realized what he was. And what he realized he was is Dharma.

[07:57]

So that which is realized or that which the Buddha realized, or that which the Buddha awakened to, is the Dharma. And learning about what the Buddha awoke to, what the Buddha understood about himself, learning about that is the Sangha. You could say those people who learn about that, that would be okay. It says here, actually it doesn't say those people, although you could understand those people, but you could also understand it is not really the people. It's not really like we're the Sangha. But that the learning that happens through us about what Buddha learned about himself, that's what the Sangha is.

[08:59]

In a sense, we as a group of people, aside from our learning about this, are, well, just a group of people. And aside from our learning about this, sometimes we are not in harmony. We are, you know, I don't know what, jealous of each other, angry at each other, imagining things about each other and believing our imagination about each other. And sometimes what we imagine about each other is that each other are, I don't know, not being very helpful or whatever. To imagine things about each other and believe that, that's not learning about what Buddha learned. That's learning about, to some extent, it's to be aware that you're thinking things about other people who are in the nominal Sangha, to be aware that you're imagining things about people, and to be aware that you're believing that is not, strictly speaking, the Sangha jewel.

[10:27]

What is it? It's repentance. So if you're aware of how you imagine things about people and you notice that you believe your imagination and you admit that, then you practice repentance. And as you practice repentance thoroughly, you can open to this jewel, which is where you now say, okay, I've got this problem. Then you can start learning what Buddha learned. And what Buddha learned is that Buddha unlearned that. He unlearned imagining things about himself. It isn't that he stopped imagining, it's that he stopped believing his imagination about himself. And then he understood who he was. And basically what he found out was that he wasn't who he thought he was. By becoming completely himself and understanding himself, he found out that he was nothing like what he thought he was before.

[11:31]

He was something far beyond his fantasies about himself. And everybody else, therefore, is also, you know, far beyond and free of our imagination of them. Learning that is the Sangha. And that part of us that's learning that, that's in harmony with each other. That's the harmony among us. That's the Sangha. So in a sense, the funny thing is that in some sense the Sangha is a group of people But when the group of people are not learning, they're not really a sangha at that moment, they're just a bunch of people who are fighting, or attaching to each other, or maneuvering and manipulating each other. At that moment they're not exactly a sangha, according to this heading. But when we learn about what Buddha learned, what Buddha realized, then that's the sangha under this heading. It's called a manifested triple treasure, a manifested sangha.

[12:38]

And I like that actually the literal Chinese is, what is it called? It's called appearing or manifesting in front. Character for manifesting and a character for right in front. So it's what's happening right in front. And then the third one is the maintaining. And I believe that the characters for that are to receive. I don't remember. Anyway, this means the Buddha under this heading is the edifying. Sometimes they translate this as converting. heavenly beings and converting or edifying humans. Appearing in vast openness of being or appearing within the dust is the Buddha treasure.

[13:46]

So there is the conversion of beings. The Buddha is primarily under this heading, the conversion of beings. Again, it's not exactly that there's this Buddha, this person or this being who's like converting people. It's that when the people are converted, that's the Buddha under this heading. And apparently celestial beings can be converted in this way too, can be edified, and so can humans. And also, this can happen in vast openness of being, or it can happen within dust. Again, within dust means it can happen in dualistic relationships. But it also can happen in relationships where there's not any subject or object anymore.

[14:53]

The edification or the learning can happen in our usual dualistic subject-object interactions, or it can happen in some way that is, in a sense, more mysterious, that we can't... You say that we're not tempted to think is a perception. So, it can happen in the realm of perception, but it's not a perception. The conversion or the edification is not a perception. But it happens in the realm, it can happen in the realm of perception. I think I was talking to somebody the other day about, I proposed that, you know, when you wake up from a dream, when we wake up from dreams, the waking up is always the same. The dream varies. That's my experience anyway. Every morning I wake up from my sleep or my dream, but the waking up is never different.

[16:03]

But the experience I'm having that I wake up from varies. The dream varies, but the waking up is always the same. Namely, you come from dreaming to being awake. So the awakening isn't really the dream, and it isn't what you wake up to. It isn't what you were thinking about when you were asleep, and it isn't the alarm clock. It isn't what you thought the alarm clock was and it's not what you now think the alarm clock is. That's not what awakening is. Awakening is when you come out of one world and realize it was a dream. And now you think, this is happening. But to go from ordinary sleep to ordinary wakefulness and think that the sleep was unreal now and this is real, that's not awakening. To come out of all worlds To understand all worlds, to wake up from the dream of any world you're in, that's always the same.

[17:12]

So all the Buddhas, all the Bodhis are the same. So it's not the perception, but they can happen in their own perception. Like you can come out of a nice vivid dream that you're perceiving and you're in the realm of perceptual give and take and you wake up there But you can also wake up in a realm where you could just be in a state of vast openness of being and wake up there too. That's the Buddha in the maintaining phase. In the Dharma, it is being changed into the ocean storehouse or sutras written on shells and leaves. edifying animate and inanimate beings. So this is that the Dharma can be, you know, it can be transformed into, you know, books.

[18:15]

It can be into videotapes. It can be transformed, it can be made into gardens, into lunch. into all these different forms that can be transmitted into to edify beings. And then the other one is, the Sangha is the relieving of suffering and being free from the house of the three worlds. That's the Sangha. That's the actual, that's the Sangha jewel in terms of maintaining it through the changes that are happening in the world, that keep happening from the time of the first Buddha. So maybe I've... Oh, and then one more thing is, in taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, one acquires the great precepts of all Buddhas. Buddha is your teacher and not one of another way.

[19:22]

And when I read that in not one of another way, I feel like, well, why do you have to say that? But I've noticed that in other forms of Buddhism, too, at this point, they mention this. They say this. It seems to be some kind of a formula, which I'd be happy to discuss with us about. But I've noticed that it's not just in this tradition. I've seen it in... Badriana and Theravada also. At this point, they tell you, OK, now that you've taken refuge in these treasures, then you've made this commitment. And don't take refuge in other ways now. So is there anything you'd like to discuss about the triple treasure from what we've said so far? Yes. I can sort of follow the different aspects. It seems to be different aspects of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

[20:29]

I don't really see what the point of this formulation of three different aspects are. I can see that maybe the first one is Dhammakaya, and the second is Dhammakaya. I'm not sure about some of it. Anyway, why is it those three? What is going on? I don't understand the structure of it. Why they break it down this way? What the point of breaking it down this way? Thank you. In studying these and in discuss, I mentioned in studying and discussing these things, I have found that people have difficulty, in one sense, they have a difficulty of saying, well, why have these three?

[21:37]

And I could say, well, because you got three treasures, so you should have, whenever you have three of something, you should have three of three, so you have nine. you know, and so on. So that could be the answer. Like one time they asked Suzuki Roshi, why do we have seven days of sesshin? And he said, because we go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So that's the reason. But even now that I told you that, still you have some problem with these. And I've observed that there are some things about the teaching which I've seen people, generally speaking, people generally go, ah, [...] you know, they get it right like that. It's just like, even though it's kind of like an aha, even though it's kind of like people kind of get a new perspective,

[22:44]

Like you walk people down a certain way and then they're kind of expecting something and they get a surprise, but it makes sense to them. There's some teachings that are like that. And there's other teachings which are always shocking to people. You know, they always go, oh, good, yucko, you know, just real hard. But this one is not real hard for people. It's more like this one people get, what do you call it, they get bored, they don't see the point, or they say, why'd you say that? It's just like, you know, it's not exactly inaccessible, it's like, who wants to access it? That's my experience, and when I was reading one of Suzuki Roshi's lectures about this, about these three kinds of, three treasures one time, and he said something which was quite helpful. What he said was, that, um, The thing about these three kinds of triple treasures is that they are so common, so ordinary.

[23:51]

There's something so ordinary about this presentation. I don't know what it is about it, but it just seems so ordinary. And in some sense, acknowledging that seems to be quite helpful. Ordinary, dull. What's the point? It's not so much like, I don't get it, or this is really shocking. But the ordinariness seems to be the key factor here. That the three treasures are very ordinary in themselves, and now we've got three kinds of three, and it didn't make us understand how neat they were. It made us even feel more how ordinary they are. And in some sense here, The fundamental thing here is, is ordinariness, and it's not very interesting. And to some extent, you know, when I read, as I said, I could unpack that first one, but if I unpack it, it might get interesting.

[25:06]

You might say, oh, You know, like Kaigen said, well, I can see maybe it's buddhadharma, maybe it's sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya, you know, dharmakaya, maybe that's how, that would make it kind of more interesting, because then you could lay this kind of like intellectual structure on it at least. And for somebody else, you know, maybe you could make some other way to make this particular presentation interesting, but in some ways, what this is saying, not what this is saying, it isn't even that interesting that it's saying this, What's required here is that we deal with ordinariness right away. Deal with ordinariness. Now we've repented, right? By repenting, since we've repented, and what we've repented from, basically one of the main things we've repented from is trying to make life interesting. I mean, I'm not saying life isn't interesting. And I'm not saying life is interesting. You hear that?

[26:10]

I'm not saying it is or isn't interesting. I don't have to say that. Nobody needs to hear that from me. If somebody's about to commit suicide, if I go up to them and say, life is interesting, that's not going to work. I have to make life interesting for them or not. But telling them so doesn't matter. Life is interesting when you can accept how ordinary it is. But because we have trouble accepting ordinariness... Because we try to get something out of life, we have to repent. And what we basically repent is all the things we do, all the things we've done to make life a little bit more interesting. And it is built into the human nature to make life more interesting. It is built into the human nature to want to be something other than what she is. It is built into the human nature to try to be something other than human nature.

[27:13]

It is built into our nature to evolve and move beyond and confuse that for trying to improve things. He also said that before Buddha appeared before Buddha appeared, people thought that liberation and freedom, that kind of thing, religion, was a matter of some great spiritual mystic power. But after Buddha, they could accept being ordinary. And again, I hear that, I heard that first as a historical statement, that before Shakyamuni Buddha, people's understanding of religion was, you know, you might say, shamanic. That it had something to do with something special, something extraordinary, supernormal.

[28:23]

You know, travel in other realms and so on. But after Shakyamuni Buddha, people could think maybe freedom, certainly the Buddhist form of freedom, in other words, complete freedom for all beings, has something to do with just being a human being completely, and thereby that very, very radical ordinariness to achieve liberation from the human predicament of always trying to make something out of life. by admitting that we're always trying to jazz things up and make them interesting, we can become free of that nature. Not by stopping it, but by admitting it, and by admitting it, be willing to accept these jewels which help us be ordinary and calm. And another way to hear this is not historically, but when Buddha arrives in our life now, we can stand

[29:29]

the ordinariness of our life. So, like it or not, and I tell you the truth, I don't like it, I don't like these things, but there they were and I didn't skip them. I repeatedly have the experience of reading these things to people and most everybody just sits there and goes, blah. But again, it reminds me that this is an essential ingredient in practice, is to not come down and deal with like a necessarily intense, nitty-gritty pain, which is difficult too, but deal with ordinariness. Accept it and take refuge in it. Or not so much take refuge in ordinariness, but then in taking refuge, really there's something very ordinary about it because it's just going home. He also says these three types of triple treasure are just you yourself sitting still.

[30:35]

That's all they are. So you can say, why break it down into three types of three? Maybe because to show that even after we do that it still isn't interesting. So maybe you can get an idea that if someone presented you a vast system of interpretation of the triple treasures, that even that wouldn't help. It basically, it just brings you back to being yourself and there's not going to be any improvement. You're not going to get anything out of life. If we can receive that, then we have the best possible life. And again, we have to admit, we're always trying to get something out of life. We're trying to capitalize, exploit, and get some gain out of our life. This is our tendency. We're built that way. Let's not fight that either. But watch it, accept it, admit it, and then receive the triple treasure. Which again, receiving the triple treasure means that you understand that you and all sentient beings are one.

[31:41]

and also one with all Buddhas. So how could there be any improvement? Yes? In the book, there's talking about the ancestors after Shakyamuni. Yes. And they're always taught... I haven't gone very far, so maybe that's why, but in every book they keep talking about the ten powers and their... all these, like, magical powers they have. Yes. So that, I mean, it seems like, and now there are marks that they have. Yes. So it seems like that would pull them away from this ordinaryness, this commonness. Yeah, it does. Especially when you hear about that, that might make you, you know, even could be a distraction to you to hear about that stuff. So to some extent... It is, to some extent, that text you're reading has often been hidden from people so that they won't get distracted. But, you know, on the other side, you might as well face it that the funny thing about the situation is that those who deeply receive, for example, these precepts, deeply receive these refuges and go home to their true home

[33:01]

The funny thing is these people then manifest supernormal powers. And supernormal powers, in various ways of talking about supernormal powers, but most supernormal powers, they develop the ability to be supernormal in their ability to help people. And all these supernormal powers can be understood as just poetic in the sense of created imagery and fantasies about how they help people. The marks of these awakened people are really marks of a helpful person. Like I mentioned the webbing between the hands is really to show that whenever they relate, they always engage people's suffering and help people meet their situation. And if you enter into, receive the triple treasure, take refuge in the triple treasure, throw yourself in the triple treasure wholeheartedly, the reward of that, as you can see,

[34:15]

you can see the marks of people, you know, and you enter into a kind of glorious realm where you see how beautiful people are. And it happens, you know, people at Zen Center, too. When you sit still, in fact, when you sit still with yourself, you are the triple treasure. This is your faith. You're practicing your faith, and as a result of that, people who do that walk out of those samadhis and they look around and everybody looks beautiful they may be still maybe somebody's still their enemy but they see how beautiful their enemy is and they've realized their enemy deserves to be in this world as much as they do and their enemy is working just as hard as they are they really appreciate even so-called enemies i love enemies that's a reward for your faith. It's a reward for your faith that the Buddha is saying, your job is to be you. And your job is to admit that you have tendencies to avoid that.

[35:23]

And not to beat up on yourself for those tendencies because they're built in to human mind. And then again, because you practice sincerely... these supernatural powers may dawn on you you're super normal not supernatural they're quite natural to this process but they're not normal to most people and but only because most people are you know not admitting their human situation so they're actually quite normal to a person who is completely willing to be herself but since human beings have strong habits to not to pretend not to be themselves it's not normal to to be yourself and therefore it's not normal to get the powers of being a human being who has completely settled on herself. What you said before Sarah asked the question sounded to me like a contradiction to something you said I guess this morning in the Dharma talk that you gave, which said that

[36:37]

It seemed like this morning you were saying that it's not just you, that even when you're sitting there accepting this ordinariness, this radical ordinariness, and just completely being yourself, that there has to be a crossing, there has to be this thing, what sounded to me like this thing outside you that was very much in line with the shamanism prior to Buddha, like some kind of entity or force or just something outside of yourself that had to come up and meet you in your ordinariness. But then it just seemed like a few moments ago you were saying when Buddha came he kind of was able to do away with the religious concept that there's this mystical power outside yourself and that just by being yourself and being completely yourself and accepting the ordinariness of the world that that's how you

[37:42]

attain this kind of realization. And it doesn't sound like there's this thing that needs to happen outside you and cross with that. You don't see how that, I mean, do you understand why I see that as a contradiction? Should I make it all better? Whatever you think. Let's just let it be bad. I'll keep talking about that though. That happens here in this taking refuge. When you take refuge, when you adore these triple treasures, when you respect them and when you, what do you call it, give them the deepest esteem to the deepest value in your effort there, your personal effort, okay?

[38:53]

Your personal effort. You may not see it this way. You may not feel that, what do you call it? Well, you should feel that way. You may not originally think, okay, my respect, my love of the Buddha is not just my love of Buddha, but my love of Buddha is also an offering to Buddha. It's a gift. You know that story of the littlest angel? That story? I don't remember the story, but it goes something like this. There was a little angel, and then there were big angels, and then I think God was having a birthday party or something. And all the angels are supposed to bring presents. Right? Does anybody know this story besides me? Wow. That must be nuts. Couldn't be true. Really? Nobody knows this story besides me? Huh? What?

[39:55]

Yeah, it sounds familiar. Anyway, so anyway, they're having this party and... These, you know, big-time angels, like, you know, generally speaking, they look like they're about six, seven feet tall and really gorgeous, big, you know, big, gorgeous wings, you know, and really cool robes. They bring these presents to Buddha, you know, I mean, to God. Oops. And they bring stuff like, I don't know what, you know, I forgot what they bring, like, you know, really neat harps, you know. rainbows and, you know, hurricanes, you know, that sing or something. I don't know what, you know. Extensive complexes of palaces, celestial palaces and, you know, infinite orchestras of wonderful sounds and, you know, cloud fronts of wonderful fragrances. You know, they bring these fantastic presents.

[40:57]

And the littlest angel looks there and goes, oh, my God. The little angel's just a little stubby thing, right? And young, too, like, you know, four years old, maybe. The little angel brings, like, I don't know what, you know, like a butterfly, kind of a dented butterfly or something like that. Just some old junk that he found around heaven, you know. Sort of over in the waste paper baskets or something. And of course, so, and it brings us, you know, but that's the best it can do because, you know, it doesn't have a, it just doesn't have that much facility. It's probably, it's... It's like the practice period people that went to the Goodwill to get a present for Sabrina. But, you know, it was appreciated. Because you guys weren't holding out, were you? You don't have big bucks that you weren't delivering, right? Anyway, probably this little angel was a baby that died, right?

[42:01]

So it was just a baby. And anyway, it brings this present. And I forgot exactly, but, you know, God liked it. And I think God kind of said, well, actually, this one's better than all the other ones or something like that. But anyway, it gave the little angel a lot of encouragement. And that's basically the idea. When you sit still, it isn't that... To the extent that you think that you sit still, and that's a result of your effort and your dedication and your faith, that's good. And in a sense, that's your offering, that's your praise of the Buddhas. Say Buddha's sat, I'll sit. Buddha's do these cool things, you know, like all the wonderful compassionate things that help people in all these ways in the world. And they ritually practice sitting, I'll do that too.

[43:04]

I'll also try to do the wonderful things they did, but I can't repeat those things because those situations aren't manifested anymore. I hope someday to do similar good things, but as a ritual, I make this offering of myself to the Buddha's. And I do it by maybe saying, I take refuge in you, you know, or I take refuge in awakening. And I adore it, and my adoration and my refuge is an offering and is an expression of praise. And you're sitting in that too. You can sit as a gift, as an offering to all beings. That effort that you make from your point of view is not, strictly speaking, the Buddha way. what I do is not the Buddha way however what I do is what I do and if what I do is dedicated to the Buddha way it resonates with the Buddha way it relates to the Buddha way it is a gesture towards the Buddha way it is an appeal or a call to the actual Buddha way which is far beyond my ideas and my effort but far beyond doesn't mean it doesn't connect with it it's just like a thread

[44:17]

that you string out through the universe and connects with the entire universe. And the meeting place, there is a meeting place between your personal effort and the entirety of the Buddha way, which is ungraspable, vast, you know, wisdom and compassion. And there is a place where they meet. And that place they meet is where we take refuge. So, we have to make personal effort because we're built that way, but we should also understand that it isn't only by our personal effort that the Buddha way is realized, that the taking refuge is realized. It is realized... Because our way, or at the place that our way intersects with the actual Buddha way, which is the way of all sentient beings. But where is the way of all sentient beings? It's vast.

[45:18]

But at the place where our effort intersects with this vastness, with the efforts of all beings and all Buddhas and all realized ones and all those dedicated to realization, that intersection is where the true merit of taking refuge occurs. Impulse literally means the arrival of energy or the arrival of this opportunity and this inquiry or this arrival and the response always come up together. It isn't like you say, I take refuge in Buddha and then Buddha says, thank you. Right at the time you say, I take refuge, the Buddha's there smiling and greeting you and supporting you. Now, where's the contradiction? Do you see a contradiction anymore? So you can bring it up if you want to.

[46:20]

I guess it's not a contradiction if, as you say, it's not something that follows from, but rather that's something that sort of automatically happens with? It automatically happens with, and it's not outside you. Something that's bigger than you is not outside you. It's just that you think in limited terms. But only you or I make it outside ourselves. It doesn't think it's outside of us. But we have to always convert what's happening into some limited thing. We interpret reality constantly as fantasy. We're always interpreting it. We don't stop doing that. And in the realm of interpreting the world, we also make an effort. And if we make an effort towards admitting that we're interpreting, this opens us up to the uninterpreted

[47:36]

and uninterpretable reality, which is never separate from us, but particularly connects to us in our admission of the place we're limiting ourselves. And we're the only one who meaningfully can admit our small-scale activity. It doesn't really count for other people to acknowledge our limitations and to admit that we're narrow-minded. It doesn't really cut anything. That's called actually criticizing others or talking about others' limitations. Nobody says you're supposed to do that. I'm supposed to admit my limitations. And doing that is called repentance. And it's also, at the moment I do that, I don't violate the precept of, for example, putting myself up and putting others down, and so on. That's my job. Nobody else can do it for me. And that's not the whole Buddha way, but that's my entree into receiving the precepts.

[48:48]

And if I receive the precepts, then I can enter into the practice which will realize the Buddha way. So admitting my limitation is the key or the gate to unlocking the Buddha way. which is meeting me every step of the way of my effort, and particularly if I notice that my effort is my offering and my appeal to be met, then I have a chance to witness being met. Then I have a chance to notice that all things are coming forth and meeting me moment by moment. And as they come forward, then I'm born. I can witness that, if I'm watching my small-scale activity. But if I turn away from my small-scale activity, and I just keep doing it, I don't notice that there's another way of looking at things.

[49:51]

Rather than I'm doing things, I do things, there's another way of looking at that things do me, and they happen at the same place. So one side is I, limited being, by myself, do something and that meets unlimited being comes forward and then there's me. They meet at that place. That's the crossing. And watching that place is admitting my small-scale activity and receiving this unlimited activity which realizes my life. So they turn on each other at that point. That's the intersection. So it's not that these things are outside myself, but that I usually see things as me doing Buddhism

[51:05]

me doing Zazen, me practicing Zen, me confirming and realizing the Buddha way. I think that way. Most people do. And that's basically that we're into that. So it's admitted. That means you tune into what you're dreaming about. And in that effort and that faith that this is your work, that the Buddhas have said, you should admit this, you should watch this process, you should study yourself and watch how you do this, you should watch how you think that yourself operates, this is your appeal. And the response is there. There's a crossing of the response. The response crosses you. The path of the response meets the path of the appeal. The student path crosses, meets the Buddha path.

[52:15]

This is sometimes translated as inconceivable spiritual communion. But that inconceivable is an interpretation Literally, it means appeal and response, crossing of the paths, or intersection of the paths. But the repentance never ends. The repentance never ends. The repentance never ends, no. That's right. Sometimes when you're talking about it, it sounds like in the head and then something else happens. Well, the and then, you know, I'm sorry about the and then, but it's not really and then.

[53:23]

There really is no and then. Really. Really. The ultimate truth is that there is no and then. There's just now and now and now and now. But we can imagine the history of the universe and the future of the universe in this now. Like right now, I have an idea of the rest of the universe. Like I think the universe could last more than ten more seconds. But once I say that, I think, well, you know, is that really such a good attitude? So then I can change it to another idea, like I'm not going to have an idea, and so on. Anyway, right here in the present, I have ideas of future and past. But there really is no end then. But there is the ability to fantasize that there's an end then, and a normal human being does that. So we have a language that does that.

[54:25]

So if I say, if I say repentance, and then you can receive the refuges, and then you're met by what you're going home to, it may sound like it's one, two, three. But It's not really. And repentance, at the moment of repentance, there is the opening to the refuges and the precepts, and in the opening to the, in the receiving of the precepts and understanding of the precepts, these things are already there. So it's not really one, two, three. But in a sense we have to realize that we live, we have in our mind the ability to think in sequences, So we have to accept that and watch these sequences.

[55:25]

But they're really how our mind works. There's not really a sequence happening. But we imagine that there is. And if we can admit that, we can understand that, and we can understand also that Buddhas even are involved in that, and all sentient beings are involved in that, And then again, we receive the precepts. But the end then is not another time. It's a special kind of time. It's called a wake time. In the Heart Sutra, there's a when. The Heart Sutra is about a certain kind of time when the bodhisattva in compassion realizes that things are empty and is saved from suffering.

[56:40]

It's a kind of time. Yes. I remember in one of your talks, you said that it's our job is to go out and meet it. And it's at the tip of our noses. It's at the tip of our hair. It's all around us. I think you made the reference to that it's all around us. And our job is to go out and meet it. Well, you know, excuse me. May I say something? May I say something? Yeah. It may have sounded like I said go out and meet it, but what I, what I, what sounds more like the way I would say it was that if you completely, you know, thoroughly be yourself to the limits of yourself, not to like you leave Roberto and go out someplace to meet somebody else.

[57:49]

Because actually if you go out to meet somebody else, you're really just going to meet yourself. And you won't meet anybody else. As long as you go to meet somebody, you'll never meet anybody. But if you realize that when you go to meet somebody, you're really going to meet yourself, then that will be one of the ways you can thoroughly be yourself. And at the limits of being yourself, you will actually meet somebody else. you will actually meet, for example, your death. But if you go try to meet your death, you'll just meet yourself, more yourself, and you'll be deluded into thinking you've met death. But you'll never meet death that way. You'll just be meeting your version of death, your dream of death. But you'll be confused by thinking that you've met death, which is kind of unfortunate because you've just actually met yourself. But if you always think, that you want to completely know yourself and you watch yourself go out to meet your fantasy of death, then you're being more thoroughly yourself.

[58:53]

And at the limits of being thoroughly yourself, when you reach the end of your individual particular expression in a moment, there you will meet what really isn't you. And then you'll realize even more who you are as a limited being. Like somebody was telling me today about he wants to pay off his debts. Part of the reason why he wants to pay off his debts is because his debts are like a cloud hanging over him. He said that to me after I said, yeah, it seems like it would be good for you to pay off your debts. It's kind of like you go into and clean out a certain realm of your consciousness.

[59:58]

So paying off our debts is sometimes a way to go into a certain part of our mind that we have trouble dealing with. And the parts of our mind which we don't have trouble dealing with are like clouds hanging over us. There is somebody out there, but we always convert that person, those people, into our own stuff. And if we can admit that, we can actually meet somebody. You folks are very thoughtful. What's going on? Laura? Uh-oh.

[61:04]

Could you explain when you said something about Repentance was not a sangha jewel. Did you say that? Yeah, I did. For example, it's not sangha jewel for me to hate you, okay? That's not really a sangha jewel. I may say, oh, you're being very dualistic. But, you know, it's not really the Buddha way to go around hating people and being cruel. That's not what we mean by Buddhism. Okay? Excuse me, but that's... For starters, let's just say that, all right? Of course, there really is no such thing as cruelty.

[62:06]

But anyway, if we think there's cruelty, we shouldn't confuse that with a happy sangha. You know, that's not love and respect for each other to be cruel. Okay? Well, I don't know. Are you lost now? No. Okay, good. So that's what I'm saying. Now, to admit that I'm being cruel, and not just admit it in general, like, oh yeah, I'm cruel, but actually, like, notice some cruel thing I've done. How I haven't really respected someone. For example, how I haven't appreciated that somebody is like a jewel in my life and I adore this person and I'm devoted to this person in the deepest way. If I, you know, radically speaking, to not be devoted to a person is cruel. To notice that I'm being cruel is repentance. To notice that I thought that this person wasn't worthy of my respect and love

[63:10]

to admit that is repentance. That act of admission is not the jewel. However, the act of this admission opens me to the jewel. If I notice I was cruel to someone and admit that, then I start to notice I see the jewel right before me then. It opens me to to receive the jewel than once I admit that I didn't see the jewel. So the Sangha jewel is a realization that comes when you admit. The Sangha jewel, in a sense, is the object of my adoration. It's the object of my adoration of Buddha in the terms of these three kinds of Sangha. In particular, maybe it's the object of my adoration and respect in terms of those who are trying to learn what the Buddha realized.

[64:18]

As I watch sentient beings trying to find out what awakening is, and I adore them and I'm devoted to them, my devotion, the object of my devotion is the Sangha. Those who I'm devoted to, who I see and respect doing this wonderful work, that's the Sangha. And when I receive that fully, once I receive the sangha, then the sangha is no longer an object. Because then I understand, you know, that subject and object don't hold up. And the reason why I adore this person so much and respect them so much is because they're me. But first I have to admit that I think they're separate. Once I admit they're separate, and that I don't really see them as as valuable and worthy of my devotion as my own life is, then I open up to the errors of that way, I start to become devoted, and as I start to become devoted, I see the Sangha jewel, and in my devotion I overcome the separation and realize the Buddha.

[65:30]

And at that time of realizing Buddha, I also received the precepts in the full sense. So these distinctions are in some sense segmented and really don't hold up because then again, Buddhas practice repentance. But the Buddha's practice of repentance can be discriminated from the Buddha itself. The Buddha is that which does repent. And by repenting, the Buddha is that which keeps returning to Buddha through the repentance. It's a living being that can create separation in its mind and can lose track of its respect for all beings, but then can admit that and catch itself at that error. And by catching that error, it gets back in the path, receives the precepts, enters the way, realizes Buddhahood, and then, again, creates delusions, slips, admits, and goes. And so Buddhas still are practicing repentance.

[66:37]

And in our ceremony, after receiving the priest, after practicing repentance, we say, even after acquiring the Buddha body, will you continue the practice of repentance? So even after becoming Buddha, achieving Buddhahood, you vow to continue to practice repentance. And then, again, continue to take refuge, realize the way, and practice repentance. So I don't want to lean heavily on these distinctions, but I did make that distinction. And I will, you know, temporarily say, you know, stand by it for a little while. But I don't want to be too heavy about it. Roberto's got a question, unless somebody else wants to beat him to it. Martha. I just want to ask a question about making amends.

[67:39]

Making amends? Yes. Like... Today I had a disturbing phone call with an old friend, and when I hung up, I felt moved to call her up and apologize for the tone of my voice. Yes. I was impatient. Yes. Well, I didn't. And, you know, I'm going to see this person soon, but it's... Like, I admitted to myself that I... definitely felt separated. Yeah. But how to... Yes, uh-huh. Well, yeah, it's not enough. You can do more than that. For example, you can also discover a mind which says, I'm never going to do that again.

[68:49]

But not like I'm never going to do it again, like in the future I'm never going to do it again, but right now I'm never going to do it again. You can say that too. And then if you see this person, you can say something like, you know, whatever you have to say. Like you can say, I'm sorry. And you can say, you can say, Thank you very much. You're a wonderful person. You've been a big help to me. And I'm sorry that I was inattentive the other day and got confused and blah, blah, blah. Yeah. That's part of... That's part of receiving... That's part of going for refuge in the Sangha. You know, look at... Tune in to this person... into what you respect and adoring this person and talk to that since they thank you and say you're sorry that you slipped and tell them that you love them, that you adore them.

[69:50]

Maybe they'll know what you're talking about. On the other hand, maybe they'll get confused and think you're talking about them. Hey Roberto, nobody else got their hand up. I briefly want to go back I'm thinking when, if I'm engaged in my practice fully, giving my best effort, and the Buddhists say to study the self is to forget the self. So when I'm not going out anymore to meet it, but I'm engaging in meeting myself. So, like what you said, and then when I fully meet with little self, what I think is myself. And then I finally see that it's just delusion, or I got to realize that it's not even what I thought it was at the first place.

[71:02]

then that's the death of myself per se. It's I know or I think I know myself. And then on it could come together. Is that what you're understanding? That is definitely somewhat of an understanding. Just keep working on that. Clarifying that. I'm surprised by how quiet you are. Well, if you maybe next time we'll then go on to the study of the

[72:08]

the three cumulative pure precepts. And since we didn't do it at the beginning, we can do it now. Rick. Rick. Eva. Eva. Leslie. Leslie. Sarah. Sarah. Carrie. Carrie. David. David. Michael. Michael. Janet. Janet. Tygen. Tygen. Sarah. Sarah. Bruce. Bruce. Kay. Kay. Petra. Petra. What? Hadley. [...] Oh, I called, what did I call, what did I call you, Hadley? Sarah. I said Sarah twice? Yeah. Hadley. Hadley. And Petra and Kay, did I say Kay? Yeah. And Stuart. Stuart. Galen. Paul.

[73:13]

Daryl. Laura. Jay. Bert. Roberto. Amanda. Sandra. Patrick. Janine. Was there another Jeanine in the Cohen class? Yes. Don't tell me. Jeremy. Jeremy. Maya. Maya. Catherine. Catherine. Tim. Tim. Sonia. Sonia. Ramon. Ramon. Arlene. Arlene. Alfred. Alfred. Alan. Kent. Pat. Zoe. Martha. Ross. Christina. Suki. Derek. Eileen. Stove. Brett. They are in tension, and they're eagerly entering.

[74:33]

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