How lovely. I have here a little card for you. And at the top of the card it says, the 16 precepts of enlightening relationships. Does everybody have one now?

[01:28]

Still moving around the room? Yeah. Try to have it be continuous, yes. Flowing. Like your breath is flowing. Move your body with your breath. So you're actually moving forward, but you're also moving side to side because you're shifting your weight from your right to your left side. So if you watch somebody from the back who's doing this meditation, they're swaying from side to side. These precepts are also called, or more usually called, the Sixteen Great Bodhisattva Precepts, and I renamed them for this class.

[02:48]

Now, how many people are unfamiliar with the word bodhisattva? Okay. One person. So for that one person, we'll have a course on what that word is. Bodhisattva means literally, or etymologically, bodhi means enlightenment or awakening, like awakening from the dream of ignorance. into the vision of truth. And sattva means being, like a living being, but also a way of being. So it refers to a way of being which is enlightenment or awakening, but also refers to one who is in the process, the ongoing process of awakening.

[04:01]

And this awakening is awakening of a particular individual being, but also it's the awakening with other individual beings. So there is a movement that's been going on for a few thousand years of beings whose lives are dedicated to the enlightenment of all beings. And these are called bodhisattvas. These beings, their primary concern throughout their day is how to be with all beings in such a way as to help them become free and enlightened and happy in this brief and amazing life that we are now experiencing in this form.

[05:17]

So to be devoted to the welfare of others, to be looking after the highest welfare for others and also small welfares, little things that you can help people but also the best thing you can do for people, to be devoted to beings in that way is to have an enlightening relationship with them. And it is also to be devoted, and that enlightenment, that enlightening relationship goes both ways. In other words, if you are devoted to another being, devoted to their awakening and their freedom, that also is the way for you to wake up. And if your devotion is deep enough, they will join in this awakening.

[06:38]

It's possible for it to be devoted to someone who does not have much interest that you can see in being free or awake. It's possible to be completely devoted to try to help someone wake up and understand what's going on. And they pretty much will even maybe sign a document saying, I do not want to wake up. I do not want to be free. I just want to possess you or possess this, and I don't care about freedom at all. And I'm already enlightened anyway. Some people like that take tremendous devotion, or I should say need tremendous devotion and tremendous kindness in order for them to like start participating in the relationship, you know, from their side. But part of the, not exactly theory, but part of the

[07:47]

hope or the rationale of this way of of enlightening relationships is that everybody can eventually be impressed by love. That if the person gets enough love they'll they'll give up their small scale concerns and their selfishness and their fixed ideas that they're holding on to because they think that if they let go the world wouldn't take care of them so they gotta like stick up for themselves and hold on to their whatever they can hold on to.

[08:52]

But when we hold on to things it's hard to be enlightened because things do seem to appear in this world but they're not really meant to be held on to. It's okay to maybe touch them a little bit But holding on to them interferes with the process they're going through and interferes with your understanding of them and interferes with your expression of, you know... I guess you could think, well, you could hold a kid and at the same time give to the kid, right? You can be generous with somebody while you're holding on to them. Somebody might think that, right?

[09:56]

Does anybody here think that? But I would suggest that it's not generous to hold people or to hold things. But in some sense, the most kind thing to do And the most generous thing to do to start off with somebody is to let them be themselves. Start with that. Have that be, you know, if possible, one of the first acts of devotion and generosity that you become involved with. These precepts are about this devotion. These are ways that we can get at the devotion and make it specific, get into details about it. Now,

[11:09]

One of the things I thought of talking about was how to start building a context for the practice of these precepts. Now, as I just mentioned, you could try to practice these precepts. You could try to be devoted to one or two or many, many living beings. and be devoted to whatever would be helpful to them. You could do that even though they were not themselves reciprocating. That would be possible. Yes? Would you mind if we ask questions or would you rather we save them until later? Maybe you could wait a little bit longer, okay? So I don't know if one of the things that I mentioned in the little blurb for this course is how to balance self-expression and recognizing others.

[12:19]

So if you're devoted to someone, you could be expressing yourself in that devotion, and you could also be recognizing them in the process of that devotion. But what about the other person? And are they also recognizing you and expressing themselves? So in order to develop the fullness of an enlightening relationship, it's necessary not only that I express myself to you and that I recognize you, but that you express yourself to me and that you recognize me.

[13:32]

That when I express myself, you recognize me. And that when you express yourself, I recognize you, but also you need to express yourself so I can recognize you. And in fact, you are expressing yourself so I can recognize you all the time. But one of the ways of expressing yourself that I might not see is you recognizing me. So part of expressing myself is to let you know that I need you to recognize me. I need to tell you that. Now if you feel recognized by me, well then do you need to tell me that you feel recognized? At some time you'd need to tell me.

[14:35]

So right off, in terms of thinking of how to practice these precepts, I'm suggesting that in order to practice them, you need to have some situation where you're not practicing them one-sidedly. This is a kind of like, it's a general thing about all these precepts that you're in a situation of not practicing them in one direction. Like you are gradually, step by step, hopefully skillfully, giving the gift of letting another being know you need them to participate in this process. Now if they're already participating, you may not have to say that much. Otherwise, you could be devoted to someone in the sense that you thought you were devoted and you thought you were being devoted.

[16:00]

But they might not feel that your devotion had anything to do with them. They might think you're just doing what you felt like doing, and you never really check with them whether they feel your devotion. For example, some people think that the way they were devoted to people is to try to control them. They think that's an act of devotion. Whereas the other person might feel like, I don't feel like that's devotion. I feel like you're just expressing yourself and asserting yourself with me, but I don't feel like you're recognizing me. But some people won't even tell you that. They won't even run away to give you a hint. they don't think you want to know that they don't think you're paying any attention to them so they don't tell you that they might not tell you that now some of the gross things here like killing you might think well if you kill something

[17:23]

then how could that be beneficial? So you don't have to like, after you kill something, you don't have to ask them if they thought that was an act of devotion. But how about before you kill them? You could ask them if they think that, if they really feel like you're really recognizing them. And how about stealing? How about taking things from people? Sometimes we think that we can take something from someone, but we don't really check with them to see if it's okay. Sometimes it is. But how do we know? Well, you could ask. And then when you ask, you could watch and look at them when you ask and see if they really look, if they say yes, see if they really look like they mean yes or whether they're just scared of you. Or whether they're just scared that you'll think that they're stingy if they don't give it to you.

[18:26]

And so on. In each of these precepts, maybe we can look at this, you know, how you work with somebody and how somebody can work with you. How someone can help you understand what these precepts really mean and how you can help someone else understand what they mean. How you can work together to realize the truth of them. But right away at the beginning of this series of classes, think about whether you have people like this in your life that already know you're trying to practice these precepts and want to help you practice them and maybe even want to practice them themselves and want you to help them or whether you don't. And if you don't, we gotta find somebody that you can work with here's 50 people right here maybe maybe somebody here can help you if you don't have somebody already and one other big thing I want to present kind of background

[19:53]

view for this course, which I was delighted to find is still on the blackboard from the last class. The yoga room does not use this blackboard too much. And I have this chart written out here for you if you want to pick it up after class. You can have it. So this is, this says 16 BS. That's Bodhisattva. Sixteen Bodhisattva precepts or six to sixteen precepts for enlightening relationships. Okay? And working with these helps, can help us understand what it means to be you are, be upright. Right? And being upright leads us to a vision of dependent co-arising or interdependence.

[21:01]

And having a vision of interdependence is enlightenment. Seeing interdependence is enlightenment. And from this enlightenment of interdependence... Are you leaving? Oh, do you want to ask a question before you go? Well, the question is, is it presumptuous to assume that someone else isn't enlightened? Is it presumptuous to assume they are not? Yeah, like to assume that I'm enlightened enough to presume that this other person is, from my special point of view of being enlightened, that this other person is not enlightened. Yeah, I don't mean to... I'm glad you asked that question because it isn't that I assume that I'm enlightened enough And it isn't that I assume someone else is enlightened. It's that I don't assume I am or I am not committed to help other people become enlightened.

[22:09]

And I don't have to be saying I'm enlightened to help other people, to work with other people to realize enlightenment. Two unenlightened people can work together to help each other wake up. I see. One could go around and say, okay, here I am. Right. No, right. I wouldn't presume or assume that I know more than other people. I hope you feel better and come back next week. Do you want one of these two to look at? Yeah. With these two pieces of paper, you'll probably feel better soon. Come back next weekend. We can help each other. Exactly. That's right. Is that a commitment on your part now? I'm going to be here.

[23:12]

So anyway, receiving these precepts and practicing these precepts helps us find out what it means to be a balanced, upright being. When you, with the aid of these precepts, with the aid of practicing these precepts together with other beings who are also committed to practice the precepts and help you practice the precepts, you realize this, you know, proper posture, mentally and physically. This proper posture, again, is one where You bring yourself to a meeting with another being, and also you bring yourself to the meeting with yourself. When you look at yourself and when you look at what's going on with yourself, you do that the same way that you meet another person.

[24:17]

And when you meet another person, you meet them with the same attitude and the same posture, the same upright posture, as you look at yourself and study yourself. In other words, you don't kill what's going on with yourself. You don't kill yourself. You don't diminish, squelch, try to control. limit, diminish yourself and you don't do that with other people either. You don't take something from yourself that's not given and you don't take things from other people that aren't given. You don't lie to yourself and you don't lie to others. You don't intoxicate yourself and you don't intoxicate others. You don't misuse your own sexuality in relationship to yourself and you don't misuse sexuality in relationship to others. You don't slander yourself and you don't slander others.

[25:24]

You're not possessive with yourself and you're not possessive with others. And so on. Practicing these precepts, you arrive at a state of balance, uprightness, and... you arrive at being unprejudiced. Your eyes open in that state of uprightness and you see your actual relationship with beings. You see your actual relationship, your inner dependence within yourself and your inner dependence with other beings. This is called enlightenment. Yes. It seems to me that this is a quandary because there are a number of people that I... with all of my... habits, ill will people, that thing, and so forth.

[26:35]

And yet on the other hand you're saying, be true to yourself, as I understand it. Yes. So how are you going to pull them out of any cage if your true self is lacking? Well, if I look at myself, if I were a person who wanted to practice these precepts, first of all, let's say I was, if I don't want to practice these precepts, if I don't want to try to learn what they mean and learn how to make them come be realized. If I don't want to, then I would say, I don't want to have enlightened relationships with people. Does that make sense? If I do want to, then I may notice that I don't know how. I don't know how and or I have

[27:38]

I kind of know how, but I have strong habits which contradict them. Like perhaps I have a strong habit of protecting myself and feeling like if I say certain things, like tell the truth sometimes, it might harm me. So maybe I have a strong habit of lying. Maybe I have a strong habit of getting angry in certain situations in an unhelpful way. even though I would like to be more helpful and not be so abusive, I noticed that I had this abusive habit. Okay? Part of the practice of learning what it means to not harbor ill will is to notice when I do harbor ill will and to recognize this is an example of me being angry and when I'm angry, things go like this. And the attitude with which I observe myself while I'm caught in anger or right after I'm anger, the attitude with which I would study myself in my angry state would be described by the other precepts.

[29:00]

So, for example, if I notice that I was angry, I wouldn't slander myself. Okay? Does that make sense? A lot of people, when they notice they're angry, then they slander themselves. They say, you're angry, you're a terrible person, you know, you're not worth anything because you're so angry. Or, you know, you're so greedy. They notice that they're greedy and they slander themselves about their greed. Rather than just saying, here's an example of greed, recognize it as such which is honest upright and actually kind thing to do because it's kind for us to notice when we slip on these precepts that we want to practice if we do just clearly recognize a mistake as a mistake and you get closer to the truth so

[30:05]

even if we thought we were pretty good at practicing these precepts, I've already indicated that even if you think you're pretty good at practicing these precepts, or maybe fair, not to mention if you thought you were really good at practicing, still, you have to practice them together with other people. And even if you think you're pretty good, some other people might think you have some work to do on these. Similarly, if you practice these and you think you're really, really bad at practicing them, so bad that you can hardly restrain yourself from slandering yourself because you think, geez, I'm just really bad at all these precepts. I mean, like, I'm not even, I'm not worthy of an enlightening relationship because I'm so bad at these. then you would be slipping into slander. But if you were practicing together with somebody else, that person might be able to help you because they would say, well, they might say, you're getting too negative about yourself about this.

[31:13]

It's good that you notice that you're slipping up on all these. And in fact, I agree, you do slip on them. It's true. Almost every one of these, you slip up on. But so do I. And still, you know, you're a great person. And the fact that you notice that you slip up, when you notice that you slip up, that's a moment of truth. So a lot of people slip up on these, but you notice it. And in that way, you're really wonderful. And you're doing little bits of truth each time you notice that you slip up on these. And these precepts help us get close to the truth. On the other hand, if you look at them and you don't ever notice that you slip up, then again you need some help to notice that you probably do slip up sometimes. You must make mistakes sometimes.

[32:15]

Occasionally you must do something not quite right. in the way that you think is really best. You must occasionally think you're not completely skillful. And if you don't ever notice it, that's another case where you need help. You need somebody who you've led into your life by telling them you want them to help you practice these things and that if you don't practice these, if they think, if they're questioning, if they think maybe you're not practicing these and they don't know that you know it, that they are invited to ask you what's going on. Or, anyway, if you never go and tell them that you notice this stuff, then they have to ask you sometimes. So you don't have to be perfect at these to practice at these. Actually, through our imperfection, if we notice it, and through our mistakes, if we notice them, we can tune into reality.

[33:20]

Because actually, we cannot practice these precepts by ourselves, but we think we can at the beginning. So at the beginning of practicing these precepts, we sort of have to try to do them ourselves. But as we do them more and more ourselves, we realize that that doesn't work. And as we start to do them more and more with others, we attain this uprightness. And as we attain this uprightness by working with others, we also see more and more clearly how it is that everything we're doing is working with others. In other words, we realize interdependence. We wake up. That make sense? But again, when you start practicing the precepts, you're pretty good or not good at all, but most people do really think about that they're doing these things by themselves. And some people think they're fairly good and some people think they're not so good. But most people think they're doing it by themselves. But you can't do them by yourself. And you should set things up so you see you don't do them by yourself.

[34:28]

And the more you see that you don't do them by yourself, the more you really do, not do them by yourself, but the more you realize what they actually are. You see the light of the precepts rather than just your idea of the precepts. And then you wake up And then naturally, compassion, great compassion comes forth in your life. And naturally, you practice the Bodhisattva precepts. I say you practice them. One practices them. But actually, the practice of the Bodhisattva precepts naturally comes out of your life as the practice of the Bodhisattva precepts that everybody's helping you do. So that's the cycle. And then, Another aspect of this picture is that when you receive the Bodhisattva precepts, when you try to practice these precepts, these enlightening precepts, you have to express yourself.

[35:34]

You can't keep everything in all the time and practice these. Because again, if you never get it out, people can't help you. So you have to express yourself. You do express yourself, but you've got to, like, own up to that and, like, be wholehearted about it. And it says training in self-expression because at first you're training in it because at first you don't understand how everybody's helping you. So you're learning how to do it. You're learning how to express yourself with everybody, but you don't understand that at the beginning. When you see dependent core arising, then you enter into FSE, full self-expression. And full self-expression is necessary. We have to express ourselves fully in order to realize that we're not independent.

[36:42]

You can't just sort of like hide out and understand that you're interdependent. You have to like fully express yourself. And you can't fully express yourself by yourself so you realize your interdependence. Yes, Martin? I have a lot of friends that are not practicing the true self. In that context, how would you... How could they know this type of relationship? Or is it possible? Well, start with people who want to practice them with you. And that's one way. The other way is like, well, like, you know, like I say with... with some people who somehow you do have a relationship with, in fact, and they're not particularly interested.

[37:51]

I mean, they don't necessarily say, well, I want to kill, steal, and so on and so forth, but they aren't necessarily saying, I want to learn how to not kill, I want to learn how to not steal. I want to understand what that really means. They aren't necessarily up for that, right? And maybe they're like us. They actually are killing and stealing. But maybe the difference between us and the other people who are breaking these precepts is that we want to understand these precepts. So some people are deluded and then other people are deluded. But some deluded people want to be understand their delusion and be free of it. But some deluded people do not want to become, do not want to understand it. And one of the ways they express that is by telling us that they're not deluded. So when you meet somebody who's not deluded, how do you relate to them, right? Because they're not deluded. Matter of fact, they don't even violate these precepts. They're not interested in practicing not killing and stealing and so on because it's just not a problem for them because they never break them.

[38:55]

So how do you relate to somebody like that? Hmm? with these precepts is how you relate to them. Okay? So one of the things you do is you be careful not to praise yourself at their expense by saying, okay, they're deluded, I'm deluded, but I want to be free and they don't. So I'm a little bit better than them. Because Reb said I was. And he's got proof of it too. So I'm actually better than them. Well, that's not the way to relate to them. Okay? So, and there's some of these people, some of these people, you know, these deluded people who don't do anything wrong. You know those people? I mean, they're not only deluded, they not only make mistakes like us, but they don't think they do. So, in a way, they're more deluded, aren't they? I mean, really, they are.

[39:57]

In fact, They aren't. But you don't have to praise yourself and put them down, even though, in fact, they're lying. And you're not. So that's one of the ways to relate to them is be careful when somebody is like, doesn't care about, you know, being careful of other beings, thinks they're perfect, thinks they're not deluded, thinks they're harmless, and maybe, like most people, is causing some trouble but doesn't even notice it. So one of the things you do, one of the things you're going to be most likely to do with a person like that is think you're better than them. It's very hard for you not to think you're better than them because in a way it almost seems like you are, doesn't it? But some part of you doesn't think that way. Some part of you doesn't think you're better than them.

[41:00]

Some part of you knows, yeah, they're deluded, I'm deluded. They don't even admit it, but at least I admit it. But still really, you know, I'm so deluded that even though they got these problems, I see that there's really good things about them. So you start to notice... not praising them at your expense exactly, but because you notice how poorly you're doing on these precepts, you start to notice that they are actually doing pretty well. You're not thinking that they're perfectly enlightened, but you notice that there's something good about them and your eyes are opened to the goodness of them because you notice your own shortcomings. So the people who are practicing are the ones who are noticing their own shortcomings.

[42:08]

And they meet other people who aren't practicing who don't notice their shortcomings. Right? Because they're not practicing. They think they're perfect. That's the definition of a bachelor. Is it wise on the planet to stick with people or cultivate relationships that are interested in the same thing? Not that you said it in the first, but it's just more nurturing, it's better for my well-being. That's a difficult point for people. The Buddha says, you know, actually, don't associate with, I think he says, foolish common people. Don't associate with them. But at the same time, Buddha was intimate with, not to say, not just foolish common people, but, you know, Buddha was intimate with, what do you call it, you know, the worst people.

[43:11]

I mean, like, Buddha was intimate with a mass murderer, a mass murderer and a serial killer. But he didn't associate with them. He didn't like, you know, go out and kill people with them. So bodhisattvas are actually going to be, you know, work towards being intimate with people, everybody. Okay? But it doesn't mean you associate with them. But there are some people that you're going to be intimate with that you do associate with. So it is good to associate with some other people who are actually working on the precepts, who are working, who are sort of your peer, in a sense, or your senior, in recognizing their shortcomings. They're working on recognizing their shortcomings and admitting their shortcomings. You're recognizing, you're noticing yours and admitting. You'd rather help other people. Okay? That does help. That's called sangha.

[44:12]

And that's what this group is for, to some extent, is to create support for doing hard work. It's easy to think we're doing well and notice other people's faults. Now, some people are also good at noticing their own faults. Fine. I've seen people like that, a lot of them. But almost everybody can notice other people's faults. If somebody does have faults and you want to help them, the place to start is not by noticing their faults. Because a lot of people probably notice their faults, but maybe nobody helps them. You ever heard of people like that that have some faults and they have a lot of people around them who notice their faults? Have you seen any people like that? There are people like that. Almost everybody around them thinks they've got faults, and the person just basically is a criminal, right?

[45:16]

Somebody has to, like, notice that there's something good about this person. That's how the Buddha converted a serial killer. The Buddha can see a serial killer literally. and he saw a serial killer, he saw the person had some virtue, and he went to that person and woke that person up. So if you're with somebody who's not interested in the practice and has got all these bad habits and so on, okay, let's say you notice that. Well, fine. Don't hold that against yourself that you notice that they're doing all this stuff. Just set it aside, and now can you see something good about them? Can you appreciate them? If you can't appreciate them, you can't do much for them. You can punish them, but they're going to get punished anyway. You don't have to do it. Somebody has to see that this person has virtue.

[46:20]

The Buddha sees that the person has virtue. And one of the main ways to see that people have virtue is to notice my own non-virtue, which happens to be available to be noticed. You don't have to look that far to find it, at least a little. If you practice these precepts, you can notice the fact that you don't always practice them. When you notice that you don't practice them and admit them as such, that's truth. And it's a truth that you get to see. And by seeing the truth, your eyes open. And when your eyes open, you get to start to see other people's virtues. And when you see other people's virtues, you can show them that you see their virtues. And when they see you see their virtues, they think you're an intelligent person. And they feel like you're a generous person because you are.

[47:25]

When you see other people's virtues, that's because you're intelligent. Now, when you see other people's faults, it doesn't mean you're completely stupid. It just means you're just completely ordinary. You have average or below average intelligence if you notice other people's faults. Very, very, you know, my daughter used to work with people who were, you know, what they call mentally retarded, you know. Mentally retarded people can notice that other people are more mentally retarded than them. People who are very petty can notice people that are more petty than them. It doesn't take that much intelligence to find some fault in people. It's very easy. It's very easy. What takes a lot of intelligence is to see people's virtues, especially in someone who almost, you know, always doing bad things.

[48:26]

We all have that intelligence. We all have those eyes that can see virtue in people. But we sometimes have the eyes shut because we're not looking at our own non-virtue. We don't want to look at our own non-virtue, so we close our eyes. So then we can't see other people's virtues. But you can see other people's non-virtues with your eyes shut. You can. You don't have to look that carefully to see something wrong with somebody. Have you noticed how easy it is? But to see people's virtues, sometimes you have to open your eyes real wide. But if you open your eyes real wide, you'll see your own non-virtues and you want to shut them again. But if you open your eyes to your own shortcomings, you get to see other people's virtues. When you see other people's virtues, then they want to practice the precepts with you. Maybe not right away, but little by little they say, You're somebody who really appreciate it. You appreciate me kind of all the time.

[49:31]

It's not like you don't have problems with the things I do, the bad things I do. You do. But you appreciate me anyway. Of course, everybody appreciates me when I'm giving them a lot of money. But you appreciate me even when I'm stealing from you. You don't like that I steal. As a matter of fact, you tell me that you don't like that I steal. You tell me you have a big problem with it. But it's coming from your appreciation of me. So I listen to you. And actually, since you appreciate me so much, I appreciate you a little. And therefore, when you tell me you don't like me to steal, I kind of feel like, well, maybe I won't. Because, you know, I care about you. Why do I care about you? I care about you because you care about me. And you don't just care about me. You not only care about me, but you act like you've got a reason to care about me. And so on. This is how to work with people who, quotes, are not practicing and don't want to. because they feel so unappreciated that they think, you know, I'm not worthy to practice these things on some level.

[50:39]

Okay? So if I work on my own practice, opening my eyes to other people's virtues, noticing other people's virtues, I start to notice that people aren't practicing, really, are still virtuous. But if they practiced these precepts, their virtue would, like, really bloom, and I would really love to see that. That would be great. Even though you see somebody's virtues, you can still see that, boy, they could, like, that virtue could, like, grow into a great, great, great thing. And I'd like that. That would be wonderful. I see your potential, you know, But it's not like I see your potential, but you're no good now. It's you're great now, and you can be greater. And you can really mean that. Chris? I'm wondering if it's partly because of the relationship that you're focusing on now in short,

[51:42]

Is that... Excuse me. You don't exactly focus on your own shortcomings, okay? Don't focus on your own shortcomings. That's a good question because you shouldn't go around focusing on your shortcomings, okay? What you do is you focus on these precepts. You try to practice these precepts, okay? You try to use these practices, these precepts to be upright, to be balanced, you know, and open, okay? okay and you will notice your shortcomings but don't focus on that's too much don't stick your head in your shortcomings just sit up right you know be aware and balanced and then you might notice some option shortcomings but when you notice them don't like lean over into them and like just like only see them Just say, okay, there's a shortcoming, there's a mistake, that's a mistake, that's a mistake. If you dwell on your shortcomings or focus on your shortcomings, you'll miss the next one. So what you want to do is just sit upright and say, okay, shortcoming number one, fine.

[52:48]

Shortcoming number two, shortcoming number three, shortcoming number four. And you can live that way, you know. You can breathe and walk around and live a happy life noticing shortcoming, shortcoming, shortcoming, shortcoming. But if you focus on them, you miss something. Because it's really like this. Shortcoming, shortcoming, virtue. beauty, shortcoming, [...] shortcoming, beauty, beauty. It's like that. When you open your eyes to shortcomings and you don't lean into them or prefer to look at them rather than other things, you see beauty too. You see virtue too. But I want to say one more thing. If you try to look at beauty, say, I want to see beauty, I want to see beauty, I want to see beauty, and I don't want to see shortcomings, then your eyes close to the shortcomings and close to the beauty. When you open your eyes to the shortcomings, you see the beauty.

[53:49]

My question was, I'm wondering if it's the process of doing this work that allows the person you're in a relationship with to show their virtue, or if the virtue's already there and it just allows you to see it. The virtue's already there and allows you to see it. However, the virtue's already there and your practice of observing what's going on with you and being upright and noticing what you're doing You can also, by the way, occasionally you will notice your virtues. But again, some people don't have that much problem noticing their virtues. But if you practice the precepts and you're upright and balanced and open, you'll notice your non-virtues and your virtues. But if there are some people you don't notice any virtues of, if you practice this way, you'll start to notice them. But their virtues are already there. I mean, by mean that they're there, I mean there have been moments in the past when their virtues were manifesting. Those virtues are now gone and now there's new virtues.

[54:53]

We have a new virtue right now. Each person has their fresh, new virtue. Each person right now has the way they are is their virtue. And that's the way it has been all along. that every moment that you lived throughout your entire life, every moment you had the virtue of you, what you are. There's virtue there. Everybody's that way. That's what the Buddha teaches. And there's never a moment in your life when you don't have virtue. What a living being is, the way they actually are, is their virtue. But all those virtues are gone now, and now you have this one now. Okay? Okay? Still, it's possible that although we all have our virtue, that our virtue can grow in a sense. In other words, we can be more fully and truly what we are. By understanding these precepts and understanding that what we are is not something we're doing by ourself.

[55:58]

So our virtue is there already, but we don't necessarily understand how great it is. And the more we understand it, the more we are appreciative of everybody else who's helping us because everybody gives us our virtue. I actually mean this, you know? Yes? There's something arbitrary about the number 16. I recall something about... Yeah. It's kind of... Yeah, right. It could be other numbers, yes. This particular setup is just one approach. There could be one bodhisattva precept, right? Love. That could be the one bodhisattva precept. Or another one bodhisattva precept is the first one.

[57:03]

Take refuge in Buddha. In other words, be Buddha. That's the one precept. Be enlightened and compassionate to all beings. be enlightened and understand just what to do to help the person at the present stage of their development to take the next step towards their complete enlightenment. That's one precept. And you can expand it to sixteen, to hundreds, thousands, millions of precepts. The entire universe, everything in the universe could be included as something that teaches you how to realize the first precept of being a great loving Buddha. But this love is not just liking people and caring about people. It's also knowing how to help them because you understand them. Okay? Anything else tonight before we have another period of meditation?

[58:07]

Yes? Could you explain what the Triple Treasure is? Triple Treasure? Oh, the Triple Treasure at the bottom, the tenth of the major precepts, the Triple Treasure is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So don't disparage means, you know, don't talk or think about the Triple Treasure in a disparaging, demeaning way. So we can talk about that later with that, how you might disparage or not disparage the Buddha, the Buddha's teaching, the Buddha's truth, and the community of practitioners. Yes? The word refuge brings to mind shelter and protection. Yep, that's one meaning of refuge is shelter and protection, safety. But another meaning of refuge in English, which is also the same as it is in Sanskrit, is to return.

[59:38]

Rifuge. Fuge means to fly. Rifuge means refuge is like the return flight. So you go back to Buddha. So Buddha is both our safety The place where we're safe is in enlightenment. When you're enlightened, you're safe. Now, certain things can still happen to you, like people throw rocks at you and, you know, break your arms and legs and stuff. But basically, if you're enlightened, you're safe. Can you believe that? You can get cancer, but you're safe. You can be put in prison, but you're safe. People can like you, but you're safe. You can get rich, but you're safe. No matter how you are, if you're enlightened, you're basically cool. No, because what being Buddha is, is that you're practicing together with everybody.

[60:45]

That's why you're safe. The reason why being a Buddha is safe is because you're practicing with everybody so nobody can hurt you anymore and you can't hurt anybody else. You're safe, everybody else is safe because you're totally caring about everybody else and understanding how their life is your life. That's safety. Slightly inconceivable, but there it is nonetheless. To be Buddha is to practice together with everybody. That's the real shelter. If there's anybody in this world that I'm not practicing together with, I feel a little unsafe. If there's one person excluded, I'm not practicing with them, I feel a little threatened by them. If there's two, it's approximately doubled.

[61:48]

If there's many people I'm not practicing with, I feel afraid and anxious. Buddha doesn't exclude anybody. So that's the basic precept, is you don't exclude any living being. All beings are practicing with you. You're practicing with all living beings. You're living with all beings. All beings are living with you. That's the basic precept. But you can start, you know, you work with individual people, though. Each person is like that, that you're practicing with that person. But you gradually realize you're not just practicing with that person, just that person's in front of you right now, but really you're practicing with everybody, and you keep that in mind. That keeps things in perspective. But it doesn't mean you're less devoted to that person just because you're devoted to everybody else. Okay? It's that kind of shelter. I mean, like, it's real shelter. It's real safety. It's the only reliable safety is enlightenment.

[62:55]

Because we got some rough stuff ahead coming up for us, in case you haven't noticed or heard about it. All of us are going to run into some tough stuff. Even the Buddha had some tough times. But it wasn't really a problem. Because whatever came to him, he always responded to lovingly. So he got to be Buddha having problems. And you know, here, all of us are helped by the way Buddha had problems. And one other thing I'd like to say is that if anybody, oftentimes I adjust posture during the sitting, so if anybody does not want me to adjust posture, just let me know and I won't. Otherwise, I'll adjust posture while you're sitting. And I'm not correcting your posture, okay? I'm just making a suggestion about how you can find your upright posture.

[64:03]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_88.03