the bodhisattva who regards the cries of the world. And I said again, and I'll say again and again, at the beginning of this retreat, that the root of deep insight into selflessness is compassion. And the fruit of deep insight into selflessness is compassion. There's a difference in the sense that the compassion beforehand might be somewhat dualistic. You might think you have compassion for something other than yourself. But at the end you realize there's nothing out there that you have compassion for, you just have compassion.

[01:03]

But the root of studying the teachings which help us realize selflessness is compassion. Part of the reason for that is that compassion is like the medium or the ground in which this teaching sinks in best. You can understand this teaching to some extent just with your intellectual capacities, but If you have your feet on the ground of compassion, if you have your feet in the world of suffering and you're settled there, this teaching goes in better, goes in more smoothly. If you get up in your head too much, this teaching can bounce around in your head, so to speak. And some people have told me that they've been trying to understand and they get kind of dizzier by some of these discussions.

[02:14]

So actually if you bring your attention down deep into your heart and lower parts of your body and into the compassion practices, the teaching actually goes in. Even though you're not there kind of like processing it up in your head as much as you might think you need to, it comes through that medium anyway. So like I said yesterday, you should keep grounding yourself in compassion as you listen to these teachings. And if you feel like you can't listen to them the way you think you should and also be aware of compassion, then I would say, then be aware of compassion and don't listen to them the way you think you should. Love is the best medium in which to understand these teachings. They are intellectual because they're kind of addressed to your intellect

[03:16]

They're kind of like trying to remodel your mind. But in some ways, you should bring your mind down into compassion, and it'll be easier to remodel from that orientation. KAN ZHE YANG NA MU BUTSU Khandze ambasatsa, khandze ambasatsa, khandze ambasatsa. And, you know, we scratched the surface a little bit this week on studying the two truths. For me, I enjoyed scratching the surface a little bit. That was good, I think, to scratch the surface a little bit.

[04:20]

But the important thing is that you keep scratching, keep studying. What we've done so far is pretty good, but just a beginning. That's, again, why you need compassion, because if you have compassion, you will continue to study these truths, because you'll need to. in order to purify your love. But if you lose track of compassion, you'll give up on studying these teachings because they're, you know, they're challenging. And again, you'll get too much up in your head. So keep working on compassion all the time while you're studying this and listening to these discussions. Ready for some discussions? So yesterday, let me see if I can say what I think Vicky's question was, or paraphrase it.

[05:29]

She was saying, I was saying that these two truths are isolates. In other words, they're somewhat different. They're at least a difference that you can make by discriminating them or having different names for them. But although they're isolates, they're two isolates, they are one entity. These two truths are two truths of one entity, and they are one entity. They are the way the world looks from two different types of mind, a dualistic mind and a non-dual mind. And then Vicky said, well, what about this expression, when one side is illuminated, the other is in darkness? So is that a paraphrase of what you said? And I said I would talk about it at the beginning of this session, when you're fresh.

[06:31]

So now, what does that mean? I think I thought of various ways to interpret that expression, when one side is illuminated, the other is in darkness. In terms of the two truths, except for a completely realized Buddha, when you look at one of those sides, when you look at ultimate truth, when you turn the light on ultimate truth, you can't see conventionalities. So when you're looking at emptiness, you can't see form, feelings. When your non-dual mind's turned on, The dualistic mind is in the dark. It's not producing anything for you. So, in the context of non-dual awareness, there's no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind. There's no birth and death. There's no Four Noble Truths.

[07:35]

There's no suffering, no origin of suffering, no end of suffering. And actually, of course, when there's no suffering, who would care if there's no end of suffering, right? In fact, when there's no suffering, it is the end of suffering. But also, there's no end of suffering. That's also the end of suffering. There's no path, and so on. So that's when one side's turned on, the other side's turned off. Birth and death is in the dark. It loses its function. On the other side, when you look at conventionalities, you can't see emptiness. When you see birth and death, you don't see the end of birth and death, and so on. That's one way to understand when you look at one truth, you can't see the other. Okay?

[08:36]

Another way to look at it, another way I understood it was when you look at yourself, when you see yourself, okay, when the light's on yourself, then something else is in the dark. What's in the dark? Hmm? What? Yeah, but something in particular is in the dark? Huh? ultimate truth, but what aspect of ultimate truth? Huh? No self, yeah. When self's in the light, no self's in the dark. But all those in the dark, you feel it because it's implied. Because you're a smart cookie. You know that if you got a self, that that means there's also a no self.

[09:38]

However, Since the light's on the self, the no self's in the dark. And when it's in the dark, it doesn't seem like good old no self. It seems like... Just like you look at... When the light's on the self, it's on the self, but it's not like the light's on the self and you see the self for what it is. Because when you turn the light on the self and you still see the self, it means you've got the light on it, but you're not really looking at it. Because it's holding up. So what you do is, you don't have your light of contemplation on the self, you have your light on the existence of the self. So when you have your lights on the existence of the self, in the dark is the non-existence of the self. But you're not examining the existence of the self, because if you did, you wouldn't be able to find it. You're assuming it's there, So in the same way in the dark is the assumption of non-existence of the self.

[10:48]

Except you don't look at that either because if you did you wouldn't find that either. So what you have is in the dark the negative image of a solidly existing self which is a solidly existing lack of self. And it's in the dark and it's haunting you. and you don't know what direction it's going to come and get you. In other words, you're threatened by... You don't know what, except it's all threatening the self. It can come from any direction because you don't know what it is or where it is. So you're anxious. If you have self-concern about the self that you think is there, then the negative of that is somebody out there doesn't care about you.

[11:53]

So it's another understanding of when you turn the light, when you pay attention to one side, the other side's in darkness. When you care about yourself, then what's in the darkness and what's threatening you is nobody cares about you. Or maybe like everybody maybe doesn't care about you. And you don't even know who's who. It's all unknown because you're looking at this side. So here again is the reason why you should be practicing compassion because When you have the light on the existence of yourself, you're suffering, you're anxious, and you need a lot of compassion to, like, enter the school of anxiety, which is the school of how you feel when you have the light on the existence of yourself, when you have the light on your own welfare.

[13:09]

the welfare of this person or this thing which you assume is actually there. And there was another aspect of that one side is light, the other is... but I can't remember what some other aspect I thought of it. Is it compassion that brings us back from emptiness? So he said, is it compassion that brings us back from the realization of ultimate reality to the world of conventional entities?

[14:15]

Well, it's compassion, to some part of it's compassion. The ground of our return to the world of conventionality is compassion. The ground of us realizing ultimate truth is compassion. But I think there's other reasons why we return. And one of the main reasons why we return is the Buddhist teaching that there's two truths. And that without being grounded in the conventional, we don't really understand the ultimate. So we study the conventional, and through studying the conventional, we have a door to the ultimate. But then when we realize the ultimate, we remember there's a teaching of two truths. So although now we're looking at the ultimate aspect of some phenomena, namely its emptiness, we remember... But there's another truth too.

[15:32]

Well, what is it? Where is it? Where did it go? So that's another reason. Another reason, another aspect of Dharma that we have learned, hopefully, is that, excuse me, another reason for returning is what we call the bodhisattva vow. And the bodhisattva vow is not just, I wish beings would be free of suffering and I would like to work to help them. But also, the Buddha way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. That's called the thought of enlightenment. So the thought of enlightenment brings us back from contemplating ultimate reality because in order to realize the Buddha way, we also have to continue to practice virtue. Because the Buddha body being manifested in the world is a combination of compassion practices which help you realize ultimate reality.

[16:34]

But even after realizing ultimate reality, you keep generating virtue to fully inflate the Buddha body. It is possible, I suppose, that somebody would have accumulated such a vast store of merit, that when they first saw ultimate truth, the Buddha body would be manifested. But for most people, I don't know most people, but for many cases anyway, the merit generation and the virtue needs to be developed more in order to precipitate the Buddha body in conjunction with ultimate wisdom, or wisdom of the ultimate. So you realize, I've seen ultimate truth, and this is Buddha, but we have not yet manifested the Buddha body. So I have to go back to the conventional world where you generate virtue.

[17:41]

One of the main virtues, as you all have heard, even in Western tradition we have that expression, isn't it, there's no greater virtue than patience? Patience is the greatest virtue. Have you heard that? You can't practice patience in the ultimate truth. Just like you can't get to heaven in a Cadillac, you can't practice patience in heaven. You can't make a Buddha body in heaven. Although Buddha bodies can teach heavenly beings, you can't practice patience very well in heaven. Maybe a little bit, but not much. Whereas where we live, you all have plenty of opportunities. Even here at Tassajara, even with good food and nice weather, we've got the bugs and etc., right?

[18:47]

But we don't stay here too long. We go back to the city for more opportunities, right? So the bodhisattva vow brings you back too, which means your commitment to develop Buddhahood and also your understanding that you should not cling to ultimate truth. You've heard from other great bodhisattvas how dangerous it is to get stuck in emptiness and make a view out of it, which then can turn into all kinds of problems. So you give it up. So in Zen we say that our ancestors let go of the ultimate. They let go of the ultimate and join hands with all beings and walk through birth and death. Blue Cliff Record, page 100, I believe. But maybe it's 101. These great masters let go of the ultimate and join hands with conventional beings and then walk through conventional birth and death.

[20:00]

You're going to death? Okay, let's go. Going to be born? Okay, let's go. Let's go. I'll hold your hand. Will you hold mine? Okay. It would be a great temptation to stay in emptiness? Yeah, it would. It is. It's even a great temptation to try to get emptiness. And a great temptation to try to realize it. In other words, it's a great temptation to seek it. But if you try to, fortunately or unfortunately, if you try to seek emptiness, you won't get it. So you don't have to worry about it. But once you get it, it's even better than that because once you get it, you don't even get it. That's how good it is. It just has been realized and not by you.

[21:09]

Well, wouldn't that be swell? And it is. It's like nothing's better except coming back and becoming Buddha is better. And it's also a deeper understanding of emptiness to come back and test it in conventionality. Can you talk about some of the dangers of staying in emptiness? Some of the dangers? Yeah. Cruelty. That's the worst. Maybe it's not. I don't know. Anyway, cruelty. Not understanding the Buddha Dharma. Missing a chance to practice in the true sense. Not repaying the kindness of the ancestors who taught you how to realize truth. I could go on, but I'd rather not.

[22:13]

That's okay. Anyway, it's the worst. It's the worst. And almost no one can help you because you don't see anyone. Like I said this morning, even if Buddha came to save you, you wouldn't see the Buddha because in ultimate reality there aren't any Buddhas. So if you hold onto it, you're in trouble. Yeah? You talk about cultivating virtue. I'm wondering if you believe chanting mantras or doing prostrations, if that helps accumulate merit? If you chant, chanting accumulates some merit. You could think of chanting, first of all, as You could think of it in terms of developing enthusiasm.

[23:20]

You could think of it in terms of developing concentration. And then you could think of it in terms of helping you practice patience. You could think of it in terms of keeping you out of trouble, practicing the precepts. And you could think of it in terms of giving yourself to the practice. So you could think of it in terms of all those virtues. And then if there was any merit, whatever merit was accumulated by that practice of chanting mantrams, you then would take that merit and give it away. So that would be the merit of giving. You can accumulate it, but after you accumulate it, like let's say you accumulate 40 pounds of merit. Then if you take the merit and dedicate it to the welfare of others, then it turns, it's inconceivably increased. If you take it and dedicate it to like some ordinary suffering person, it's increased tremendously by giving it away.

[24:25]

By dedicating, not giving it to them like in a big chunk of merit, because they wouldn't necessarily know what to do with it. Especially since it would be like 40 times some large multiple, right? You shouldn't actually give them the merit directly, because they wouldn't know what to do with it. What you do is you dedicate the merit, you trade the merit in on some great benefit for them. So you dedicate the merit to them, you don't give it directly to them usually. And then if you give it to Buddhists, it's even greater to give it to Buddhists. So what you do is give it to Buddhists and ordinary suffering people, like we do in our services. But you can do that whenever you do anything. After you finish, if you notice some kind of like, kind of like sweet stuff accumulating around your head and shoulders, or, you know, like just take it and just... I dedicate it to the welfare of all beings. And you're kind of free to go back to work.

[25:26]

Like, where do you work? Yeah, go back in the dining room. And then, you know, generate merit by serving the guests, giving them, you know, really good service. And then after you finish serving the meal, then dedicate the merit of that to all beings, including the guests. Okay? You have to say it out loud, or do you mean to serve? Out loud is actually, out loud is slightly better than quietly. To do, you know, get your, to think, of course you have to think at first, but to say it out loud... It adds a physical dimension that's good. Some things are better to do silently because sometimes you can hear things better when you say them in your head than when you say them out loud. But in terms of structuring behaviors like that, saying it out loud makes a deeper impact on you than just thinking it. So if you say it out loud, it's more likely that the next time after you finish working, you do it again

[26:33]

Want a little chunk of teaching on the two truths? A little chunk? OK. And for those of you who study koans, case 66 of the Book of Serenity is called Head and Tail. And one interpretation of the teaching of Head and Tail is that the head is ultimate truth and the tail is conventional truth. So anyway, in that story and also in Buddha's teaching in general, the Buddha teaches ultimate truth, not just to sort of like tantalize people, but to help them see it. In some ways, you know, it would be better not to mention it at all and just let people find out without mentioning it. The Buddha has decided to mention ultimate truth so that people know that it exists.

[27:41]

And by the way, another teaching of the two truths is that it exists conventionally, not ultimately. So the Buddha mentions this so you know that there is this ultimate truth that will liberate you. But once you've realized it, it actually shouldn't be mentioned anymore. At least not to you. And then someone has actually said, well, but doesn't ultimate truth in some sense contradict conventional reality? And as a matter of fact, it does contradict it. It doesn't invalidate it as conventional reality, but it kind of contradicts it. And one of the ways it contradicts it is that in ultimate truth there's no impermanence.

[28:44]

Ultimate truth, there's no impermanence. And isn't one of the basic teachings of Buddhism that everything's impermanent? And yes, but by everything impermanent means every conventionality is impermanent. Everything that's realized by dualistic consciousness is impermanent. But empty things are not impermanent. The emptiness of things is not impermanent. Because the emptiness of things is you can't find the impermanent thing to establish that it arises and ceases. So when the Buddha said a number of times, but at the end of her life said, everything that are all conditioned things are impermanent. Strive on. Those conditioned things are the conventionalities, the things realized by dualistic consciousness.

[29:51]

All those are impermanent. And when you see that impermanence, that's a big encouragement to you to practice. But impermanence is not ultimately true. Because impermanence isn't like, just again, just like emptiness isn't absolute. It's the emptiness of phenomena. Impermanence isn't an absolute either. It's the impermanence of phenomena. But although phenomena are characterized by impermanence and emptiness, in emptiness there's no impermanence. So we say phenomena are characterized by impermanence, but that means the conventional aspect of phenomena are characterized by impermanence. The ultimate aspect of phenomena are not characterized by impermanence because the ultimate, there's no way to establish the permanence or impermanence of phenomena. But that doesn't mean that we refute that in the conventional truth that things aren't impermanent.

[31:37]

They are in that context. And it's not conventional truth that things are permanent. That's not true. If you think phenomena are permanent, you're not accepting conventional truth That's invalid. That can't be validated. However, it can be validated that conventionalities appear. They do appear. Matter of fact, there is the constant production of the appearance of things which ultimately fail to exist. Yes?

[33:21]

Is there any point for a realized person to continue to study? Were you here yesterday? Well, yesterday I mentioned that when the Buddha was giving one of his talks, he said at the end of the talk, now you may think that since I continue to do the practice, I don't really have realization." But it's not true, the Buddha said. I do have realization. And I am liberated. And one of the things I'm liberated from are the practices. But I continue to practice for two reasons. One is, I like to. The other is, to set an example for later generations. Which is what you mean by teaching, right? But if a Buddha was in an area where there was lots of other Buddhas hogging all the teaching assignments, the Buddha might continue to study and practice Dharma just because she liked to.

[34:34]

Buddhas actually love to study Buddha Dharma. You leave them alone, that's what they'll do. Just like, you know, have like a secret video camera watching the Buddhas, you know, take away all the students. When they're gone, the Buddhas, like, start studying. They study Buddha Dharma. They love it. They don't do it because they have to, though. They're not addicted. And if you say, okay, no more Buddha Dharma for you, Buddha, they say, okay, what do you want me to do? Can I die now? No. Can I go and rest in nirvana? No. No. You have to just sit there and don't have anybody to teach and you don't have any practices to practice and no dharmas to study. You just be happy. Okay. They can handle that. But if you don't prohibit them from studying Buddha Dharma, they'll study it.

[35:42]

Because it's really good stuff. And where is it? It's everywhere. That's how good it is. It's like, you know, it's like, you know, everywhere you go, you can study it. It's like, I heard that like two-fifths or something of the meals eaten in America are now like in these drive-through restaurants. Two-thirds of the people, two-thirds of the meals are being eaten in cars in this country. So Buddha's like the ultimate drive-through. Everything's like, every person that Buddha meets is like a drive-through meal. Can you relate to that, Salvi? Good try. It looks like you're thinking about that. Or like, everything that Buddha meets is a feeding station.

[36:47]

Whereas for some of us, there are just some places where we get nutrition. So yeah, they continue to study because they like to, not just to teach. Liz? Right. Well, like concepts, like all phenomena, phenomena are constantly arising. They appear to be arising, but ultimately they don't exist. And you can say, you know, what does that mean? It doesn't mean that they don't appear. They do appear. But if you try to find out the way they actually are, what you find is that you can't find them.

[37:53]

That's the way that they ultimately are. So they don't exactly exist, since you can't find them. But you don't get heavy about it and say, well, they're like, they're totally non-existent. It's just that they're, because they appear. If you don't look carefully, they seem to be there. So they're kind of like an illusion. They have an illusory appearance, existence. And that kind of existence is impermanent because they don't, those kinds of existences don't, they don't hold up for a long time. They come for a while and they go away. Also, they're not real satisfying because, you know, they're illusions. Like you try to bite into them and they're not there. If you try to bite into them and you don't really pay attention, you think you got them. But if you look carefully as you're chewing on them, you say, what does that taste like anyway? And you don't find out what it tastes like. It's like, I don't know, I haven't done this for a while.

[38:57]

When I was a kid, I used to look out of the corner of my eye and see doubles. And I would try to grab the double, you know, but you get the original. You know what I mean? You can't get it. It's an illusion. There really isn't a double. But that's the way it is for the original, too. So they're unsatisfying, really. And also they're painful because there's this shadow element to everything. Like you reach for something and even if you reach for that thing, and don't get it, and you think, that doesn't bother me so much. This is just a metaphor for the thing you're really worried about, namely yourself. And this is one more insult to the basic program of self-concern. And so on. So all these phenomena are characterized by impermanence, not-self, impurity, and pain.

[40:06]

That's when you see them validly. You see them invalidly, which most people do, then they seem to be pure, have a self, be pleasurable and permanent. So part of the practice is to reverse those perverted views and then you can see actual, ordinary, conventional reality. which things are permanent and so on. But that's still not ultimate truth. So, anyway, maybe that's enough on that. And also in this story about head and tail, I don't remember exactly the story now.

[41:28]

Does anybody have a book of serenity on them? So I don't remember if this is right, but I think the story goes something like, the monk says to the teacher, what's the head? And the teacher said, we taught it so that you'd know that it exists. And the person says, what's the tail? And it says, we taught it so that you practice. So conventional truth is taught to motivate you to practice. Conventional truth is things appear and disappear and there's suffering and misery and so on. So conventional truth is taught by the Buddhas. They affirm the world of suffering so you'll be motivated. But they also tell you that there's an ultimate truth so you know there's hope. for freedom. But once you're free, they don't talk about ultimate truth anymore. They don't get bothered by it.

[42:29]

They just want you to know it exists. So now you know that conventional truth exists and conventional truth isn't that everything's swell. Conventional truth is that there's things appearing which are impermanent that there's birth and death, that there's subjects separated from objects, that there's anxiety, that there's a Buddha Dharma out there separate from you, which you can study, and there's a practice separate from you that you can practice. But there's also... Another truth, which is that there isn't any suffering, there isn't any Buddha Dharma, there isn't any practice out there you can practice.

[43:34]

But there is a practice that's not out there that can be practiced, that realizes the truth. And that practice is just like the truth. Namely, it has no characteristics, it's with you all the time, All you got to do is not move and give up seeking an attachment and it will be realized on the spot. Just relinquish all your views, all your attachments and the Buddha's practice which realizes ultimate truth is instantly realized. And that's not the end of the story. That's just the realization of Buddha's practice in terms of the practice which realizes ultimate truth. After realizing ultimate truth, you come back to conventionality where there's birth and death and me and you and suffering and a practice that you can do.

[44:47]

Various practices you can do. And you're invited to come back If you happen to leave town, please come back and practice with us. All those nice virtues. So we have some Buddha bodies here. We need them. So please don't go away too long into realization of emptiness. Before you go, you know, make sure you intend to come back so we get the Buddha body out of you. do you promise to come back? After you realize the ultimate, do you promise to let go of it once you attain it and come back and hold our hand and take us through birth and death with you? Or let us take you through birth and death with us? Well, do you promise or not? Well, thank you. So we're safe. All you great yogis will come back and help us after you realize emptiness.

[45:52]

That's great. We need that. We're all set then. Must be time to stop. No, we have... It's 4.22 and 22 seconds. How auspicious. John? I mean, Peter? Hope? Sorry, I was just kidding about hope. But there is a possibility of liberation from all disaster through realizing the final way things are. So there is that possibility that the enlightened ones had held out to us. Okay? But I'd rather not make that a hope because that slips into seeking too easily. This bead also, these beads also have a little hole you can look through and see Kahn Zeon for yourself.

[46:56]

If anybody wants to come and look later. So anyway, I've been studying the two truths for a while and I've enjoyed studying them this week with you and I have been discussing them with you and in the breaks between talking to people I've been studying them also and I've really enjoyed studying them and I intend to continue studying them because I think they're really wonderful things to study. So I will continue to study because I like to, not because I have to. And I also study because I want to be, you know, part of the program of encouraging others to study these two truths.

[48:03]

I think that if we study them we'll understand our practice, our Zen practice, what we're doing here. Because Zen practice is not just conventional practice. Although it can be that. As I said yesterday, it can be a practice that you do. But it is also a practice that you don't do, and I don't do, but happens because we're all working together. That's also Zen practice. There's two kinds. One that we do all together, and one that we do individually. And to understand the relationship between the individual practice we do and the ultimate practice which is happening, which we are doing, that helps you understand both of those and helps you understand the whole scope of Dharma.

[49:16]

And What's his name? Dogen Zenji. The Zen master Dogen, the Buddhist teacher Dogen, he said, you know, he spoke about a real dragon and a carved dragon. The carved dragon is a dragon that our dualistic mind carves. And the real dragon is is not the true dragon. The true dragon is not the true dragon that our mind makes, but it's the true dragon that the non-dual mind sees or realizes. It doesn't make it, it realizes it. So we have these two kinds of practice, carved dragon practice and real dragon practice. And so he says, you know, don't, and also sometimes he calls the carb dragons quite nearby.

[50:38]

We know about the carb dragon practice. That's the practice that you can see and that you can do. So you know about that practice, right? It's the practice that you can do by walking up to the meditation hall and sitting. You can do that. You can walk up the steps and take your shoes off, right? You can do that. You can sit on your seat. You can do that. That's a carved dragon. That's carved dragon Zen. You know about that. That's near. But there's another dragon Zen, or Zen dragon, which you can't do. And it seems kind of far away, in a sense. It's actually not far away at all. As a matter of fact, it's not the slightest distance away. The practice you can do is actually a little ways away. It's within your hand's reach. But the real dragon is like so close that it's the whole universe. So it seems far away. It's the practice that you do together with the stars and the comets and the herons and the moons of Jupiter

[51:46]

and the bugs that bite you. That's the real dragon, Zen. So in one sense, it's so close and so far. So Dogen Zenji says, don't esteem or despise the carved dragon. Don't esteem the practice you can do and don't despise it. just because it's small-scale dualistic practice. But rather become intimate with it. Become adept at it. Same thing. Become intimate with the practice you can do all by yourself, with a little help from your friends. You know, they build the zendo for you, and assign you a seat, but then you do it by yourself.

[52:51]

That's a nice card, dragon. So, don't esteem that practice. Don't be proud of it, but don't put it down. Just become intimate with it. And also, when it comes to the real dragon, the real dragon practice, don't esteem that or despise that. Don't be proud of the practice that you and the stars do, that all the Buddhas are helping you with. Don't be proud of it, and don't despise it. Become intimate with it. How do you become intimate with it? By being intimate with the carved dragon. So please take care of the carved dragon, and the real dragon will come to visit you.

[53:53]

But when it comes to visit, keep taking care of that carved dragon. Stay in your seat. Don't be afraid. It won't hurt you. Don't flinch. You'll be OK. He also says, you know, while we're sitting here, you know, carving our little dragon in our little meditation hall, carving our little Zen Buddhas in here, carving our little monastery, carving our little practice periods, carving our little things, our little virtues and our little merits. And we got this nice little practice. At that very moment, the real dragon's up there, you know, floating in the sky, creating rain and wind and stuff at the same time. It's big.

[54:58]

It's grand, but it's no better than our little dragon. So, just because the real dragon is so fantastically wonderful and inconceivable and everything like that, it's no better than our little, tiny, small-scale thing we're doing. So don't put down your little practice just because it's so little. No, take good care of it. You feel better now? Yeah. You can carve your little dragon. But you should remember that there's a little dragon. Don't forget the other one. Otherwise, you're getting a little off. Then you're what are called not properly oriented. So you should remember, here we are doing our little tiny thing here in our little tiny room with our little tiny friends, and we're just doing this cute little thing, you know?

[55:59]

But we don't put it down. It is lovely. But it's also just a little kind of like an illusion, a magic show. But be good little magicians, okay? Neither one of those truths is better than the other. There are two truths. Okay? Thank you very much.

[56:29]

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