open to everyone. Be fearless enough to do that, and do that, and be fearless, and then we will be able to be non-violent. The Buddha, John Kennedy said, Martin Luther King Jr. had a terrific investment in non-violence. And I thought, there's somebody else who did too. His name was Shakyamuni Buddha. He was really intense about this non-violence thing. He got it a little bit, what's the word? Talked a little roughly about it sometimes in the sense of saying, those who hate are not my students. When you hate, you are not my disciple. on the birthday of Martin Luther King, after we chanted the meditation on loving-kindness, our dedication of the merit of our efforts was said in this way, In the Dharma world, birth and death stand not apart.

[01:27]

There is no self or other, black or white. All things are peaceful, joyous and interconnected, sewn together gently and intimately into the endless robe of suchness. Not seeing the Dharma world living beings themselves and suffer in the stream of dreams. Out of great compassion, awakened ones appear within duality to help all beings awaken and return to the whole vision of mutual assistance. Today, honoring the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., we gratefully remember, celebrate, and dedicate all merit and virtue

[02:54]

That's what it says. All something, all merit to the dreams and goals of his life and the life of all the sisters, all his sisters and brothers, stood upright, joined hands, and walked and sang and danced together to demonstrate and encourage the spirit of nonviolence and reverence and justice for all life. May the spirit of selfless devotion to all beings be realized everywhere. That talk wasn't too short, was it?

[04:09]

May our intentions equally extend to all beings and places with the true merit of Buddha's Way. are numberless. I vow to save them. I vow to save them. I have not been able to get out of it. But it means I'm not going to be able to exist. I've been in a lot of trouble just to say that. I don't know if I should say this or not, but I've been in a lot of trouble just to say that. [...]

[05:22]

I've been in a lot of trouble just to say that. [...] Is there anything you'd like to discuss? Yes. Sin? Yeah. There's some different threads contributing to the way I would use the word sin.

[06:26]

One is the etymological which is that sin has an etymology of the root, which means sunder. You know what sunder means? To cut, to separate. So that's what I would see as the, aside from the word sin, as the basic, well not just the sundering, but the belief in the sundering. the separation of consciousness and what is known, that sundering, I would see as the basic misconception, the basic sin, the basic error. So I would use sin as equal to error, a misconception, and particularly the misconception of separation. And I remember one time Suzuki Roshi said, when you look at a flower and you say it's beautiful, that's sin.

[07:34]

That's a sin. And when I read that, I didn't grow up with much baggage around the word sin. It was almost never used in my house. Not that we didn't have other words used in my house, but the word sin was never really part of what I grew up with, fortunately or unfortunately. But I understand that it brings baggage for a lot of other people who it's very difficult to deal with. But my general feeling about everything in life, good things and harmful things, is that if they stay in the back, in the closet, they will destroy us. But if we bring them out in front, So I know when I bring the word sin out, a lot of painful, twisted, difficult stuff comes up for people. But I feel, okay, let's look at it, let's study it, and let's become free through that study.

[08:37]

And then if people can say, sin means this, sin means that, and we can distinguish between, well, we didn't mean that part. We just mean basic misconception And when Suzuki Roshi said, calling a flower beautiful, in a way, the way I would understand that, one of the ways I would understand it as a sin is that you look at the flower and you don't just meet the flower, you protect yourself, you separate yourself from the flower by naming it and feeling that it is something beautiful separate from you. It demeans the relationship by putting it in that category designation. And I also feel that this kind of error of projecting independent existence upon things. In other words, independent existence being projected on things is the same as I'm independently existing from you independently existing over there.

[09:43]

That kind of projection of essence upon self and other is necessary in order to participate in language. Conventional designation depends on this projection. So it's necessary for humans. So it's a necessary part of our evolution is to use this misconception to be human and to use language, but then to understand how we're using this misconception and become free of it. Is that enough? Yes. I think actually, I think when we see a flower, actually we are directly exposed to its beauty immediately. We're always actually exposed to the beauty of things.

[10:47]

Always. Every experience we're exposed to the beauty of the experience. But we have strong predispositions to make a conventional designation about this meeting with beauty. We're infused with predispositions with powerful habits to conventionally designate every experience. Doesn't mean we will conventionally designate every experience. Just that there's a powerful force, powerful pre-prejudice designating things. So we have a beautiful experience, immediate beautiful experience, and then we cast a packaging on it so we can call it beautiful. But you already have met the beauty, but then when we package it and name it, we kill the beauty, in a sense. We kill it for ourselves anyway. So if I look at you and meet you without any idea, I'm meeting the beauty of you

[11:51]

But when I meet you without any idea of you, I basically don't know who you are. And I can't talk about you. I'm inclined to having a meaningful meeting with you. And the ordinary meaning depends on interpreting you as an image, as an essence, and naming you. That's the normal meaningful meeting. So I have to give up my normal meaningful meeting with people in order to dare to expose myself to the glorious beauty of the moment. We need training to do that though. But the beauty is already there. It's just that we cast upon the beauty some packaging, some essence. But now we know, but now we know the meaning. Now we know the beauty. So I like also the story, the Greek myth of Amor and Psyche.

[12:53]

You know that myth? So Amor, Eros, Cupid meets Psyche. They get together. Originally, Eros was sent by his mom, Venus or Aphrodite, to bump off Psyche because Psyche was so beautiful that people were worshipped the goddess of love. So she sent her son to bump her off. But when he saw her, he fell in love with her too. I mean, love fell in love. Love joined with the psyche, according to this myth. In the dark, the psyche was enjoying intimacy with love, and love was enjoying intimacy with psyche. But they didn't know. There was no meaning. It was just love. I don't know why I love you like I do.

[13:57]

I don't know why... I've got to not laugh. So then Psyche's sisters say, kind of like, they come to visit her in the daytime when love goes away in light. Love goes away in light. Love goes away in the light. What light? The light of projection of concepts upon love. Put the light of conceptualization on love, it goes away. Then we get an idea of love. So they come and visit her and actually love is gone and she tells them about love. Plus they get to see the housing that love has provided to her, which is palatial and spiffy. And she's supplied with celestial food and drink and music. Jealous.

[15:01]

And they say, you know, you might be a fool here. You don't know what this... what this love is like. It might be a monster. Maybe he's just fattening you for the kill. In this story, love is masculine and psyche is feminine. You can switch the genders, maybe. Think about that. He might be a monster. You don't know what he is. I know it's true. I don't know what he is, but I like him. He's cool. But gradually she starts to doubt and thinks, well, maybe I should find out who he is. It would be nice to know, after all. So she goes in the night. I think after she has her nightly meeting with him, and he's kind of like resting afterwards, she gets a knife and an oil lamp.

[16:03]

and comes back to see. And as she approaches him and the light illuminates him, it turns out he's not a monster. He's really kind of a cute little guy. But then she spilled a little oil on him, and he said, Oh, I told you if you find out who I am, you're going to lose me. You blew it. So then he starts to exalt himself back to his mom. She holds on to his leg, but he's got powerful wings, both on his back and his ankles. So he and his arrow take off and she can't stop him, so she loses love right after she found out who he is. So same with us. Every person we meet, we're exposed to beauty and our true relationship of perfect love. It's there already, but we can't stand it. So we know it, and then we lose it.

[17:06]

Every moment, we know it and lose it. But it's there. We have to stop somehow, take a break from believing that the packaging of who we meet, of what we meet, is what we're meeting, rather than the packaging is based on or superimposed upon what we're meeting. And by training ourselves, we can gradually stop strongly adhering to our ideas, our projection upon things as being their beautiful, dependently co-arisen nature. And then we can open to the absence of our ideas of people and things, in the people and things, in their original, ungraspable radiance. Get the picture? But it requires quite a bit of training and getting over questions. Because when we meet people, we kind of feel somewhat, you know, responsible to know who we're meeting, right?

[18:09]

We feel it's kind of silly to meet somebody and not know who they are, right? That's not like adult or whatever. But that's part of what's required. People without the idea of who we're meeting. So you meet somebody and then, blink, you know, a die to the appearance and then look again. Respect. Look again. There's Nancy. Close my eyes. Oh! Almost before I can see where she is, but just keep pointing in the same direction. It looks a little bit just that little trick, you know. Just meet somebody and then give up the idea and look again. Okay, there's John. John, and then, what's that? There's John, give it up, what's that? I'm not going to say John. I'm going to say, but not too hard, because it hurts in the abdomen.

[19:14]

Okay? Okay? What? For now? That's what I meant. Okay? I meant for now. I don't mean then. Roger? Roger, I mean? Yeah, this is what one of his biographies said, is that one of the hard lessons he learned through this racial struggle in America The greater witness of sacrifice than truth. Sometimes you hold the truth up to people and they kind of like, you know, maybe pass on it. Like, later man, let's, you know, get out of here.

[20:20]

But a sacrifice right in their face sometimes gets them to pay attention more than the truth. The bodhisattva might call this, the first way to get people's attention is through giving, through generosity. If you're generous enough with people, they'll stop, you know, I mean, they'll give up ignoring what's happening. They'll start to open. They'll start to witness what's in front of them. You know, usually, I don't know, you know, what, but sometimes we meet. Oh, that's a such and such. In other words, we don't really witness what's happening. We just say they're what we think they are. Like, oh, that's an African American. Or that's a Republican. Or that's a Democrat. Or that's a fascist. Or that's a hippie.

[21:21]

Et cetera, you know. And we just go for that rather than respecting them enough to wonder what they are. Which means sacrifice your idea of what is happening or be generous with the person. And when they see that sacrifice of your idea of them, They like it. It opens them up. Then they start to say, I wonder who you are anyway. First they think you're such and such or so and so. But when you're really generous, they go, I wonder what you are actually. A guy or a girl or a black man or a white man. Maybe you're something beyond my idea of what you are. And to get my attention sometimes, sacrifice is more powerful than to come up and say, I'm really dependent. I'm really beauty. I'm really the truth.

[22:23]

Here's the truth. Maybe that won't make me come off my truth. I got a truth too. Get out of my face. But by sacrificing your position, by sacrificing your view, you may get me to pay attention to who you are. Something like that is what I think is being expressed by sacrifice may have a greater function to promote witnessing than the truth. Yeah. Yes. Do you want an example? One occurred to me from the documentary. Well, the standard one that I often use is, I was having dinner with my wife at some people's house, and my wife says to the man in the couple, she says, I work in Irvine, California. And she says, well, what's Irvine like?

[23:26]

He says, it's beautiful. And his wife says, it's ugly. And he says, it's ugly. is what he said over and over again. And then my wife turns to me and says, you should learn that. So now, as I've told you a number of times recently, I've learned that when people insult me, my idea that I'm being insulted, and rather than being defensive, etc., when I'm insulted or attacked. I give up my idea that I'm being insulted and attacked, and then I laugh. So don't insult me until I recover from this operation. And also, when I'm attacked, you know, I often now don't.

[24:27]

I sacrifice my idea that I'm being attacked, and then so often I feel it's very funny. When I'm being complimented, if I would sacrifice my view, I laugh at that too. But I laugh even more when I sacrifice my idea that I'm being attacked or insulted. That's one example. And another one from the documentary. But he demonstrated where he knew, this is what the document said, that the sheriff, for example, would not be able to restrain himself from, you know, really attacking and bullying and hurting people. And so the truth of the march, what they were marching for, was apparent. But then seeing what happened to the people, the sacrifice people made, that's what we make the choice to know. Did you hear that?

[25:30]

Did you get your examples? You didn't hear it? Did everybody else hear it? Tell her later. And drive it deep into her heart. Because she's going to Africa. Yes. Is there such a thing as a Zen personality? Well, anyway, if there is a Zen personality, then I think our practice is to become free of Zen personality. Not to get into there is or isn't a Zen. If you say there is a Zen personality, you're somewhat hung up on it.

[26:31]

If you say there isn't, you're somewhat hung up on it. But I don't say it is or it isn't. I say, if there is, fine. If there isn't, fine. Let's become free of that there isn't. That's the point. You said the word sin. In fact, I use it when I talk to people who come to the Old Testament. The original sin is eating from the three of [...] the three Yeah, duality is the original sin. Well, not just duality. It's not just... Believing that duality is so. It's believing it. It's tasting it. It's eating and making the duality part of your body. Well, yeah.

[27:36]

Would I say that they use something more neutral? Are you asking me if I'm... Well, if you wonder how it works out, keep your eyes open and just watch. Just watch how it works out. If I don't use the word for the next two weeks or three years, you'll see how it works out. If I do use the word or you use the word, you'll see how it works out. We're going to see how it works out, okay? And if you have an opinion about how it's working out now, I would say, then you have an opinion about how it's working out now. And guess what I would suggest to do with your opinion? I'd see anybody who, besides Jane and Laura, that had their hand raised in the past.

[29:10]

Jane. In the Huna religion from Hawaii, there were Yeah, and some people would say that separating yourself from the divine, say separating yourself from anything. Not so much separating yourself, but believing that you're separated from yourself. You can't separate yourself from anything. It's impossible, I would say. But believing that you can, you're offering to one and all, because we're all connected. So if you screw up and believe you're separate from anybody, everybody has to live with that. That's the thing about personal purity and responsibility.

[30:14]

All the people who feel separate from certain other people will for that world that's created by that. So I can't get myself to be pure and away from all these people who are trying to be pure by getting themselves separated from something. I can't separate myself from those who are trying to separate themselves I'm connected to all the people who want to sin and all the people who want to separate themselves from sin, which is just a reiteration of the basic problem, to separate ourselves from anything. That's just a basic error. Yes? Laura? I thought you talked about Martin Luther King making a choice about going to a certain school. And then he came upon something that stirred belief in choice.

[31:24]

Yes. And I think that is, I don't know, choice like myself. Mm-hmm. So... But actually it's interesting that this biographer who said, after he read Reinhold Niebuhr, his plan didn't change, but almost everything else did. So he was planning to go, and the reason he was planning to go was for prestige and pleasure and I don't know what else. So his plans to go to graduate school didn't change when he read Niebuhr in his senior year. But his competence in all his ideas, and of course he already didn't have confidence in other people's ideas, but his confidence in his chosen ideas was shaken.

[32:28]

So I would say he still may make plans and you still may make plans and decide to buy shoelaces next Tuesday but not being under the spell of the thought process that you're going to go get shoelaces. It's to give up the enchantment of our plans that's important. And then you can go ahead and make plans. I'm going to go to such and such a college. I'm going to go shopping. I'm going to go talk to so-and-so. I'm going to practice Zen. Make these decisions. These are thought processes. You're involved in them. Okay? But are you caught by what you do? You believe that actually you're going to do this by yourself. Do you believe all that? And if you do, then you've been enchanted by your own thinking about what you're going to do. But it doesn't mean that stopping thinking you're going to do anything would work, because that would be another enchantment.

[33:33]

That would be what you call a counter-enchantment. Just accept the enchantments they're doing. Like, I think that I think this would be a good thing to do this afternoon. But don't proceed with this kind of confidence that that's really going to happen, you know, and that's really so. But just, this is my idea of what's going to happen. And somebody could come up to me and say, you know, like you've walked... Well, I decided to go to Green Gulch and walk in the hillsides, and it's a beautiful day, and someone can say, no, it's not. And you can say, it's not. You're not stuck in your naming of this day. Or if you are, you say, I confess what I think is happening. I really think that what I think is happening is true, and I'm strongly adhering to that, and I am a sinner. I'm a sinner because I believe that what I think is really true, including I believe that I'm a sinner, which is a sin.

[34:38]

But now I'm not a sinner. I believe I'm a sinner. But what am I? What am I? I don't know what I am. I don't know if I'm a falcon, a storm, or a great song. Are you ready? Yes. Yeah. I can understand that. I once lived at that stage of development. And this story is not necessarily about his understanding.

[35:41]

But he went through that phase. He went through phases. You know, he was like a very smart, enthusiastic young student, son of a very powerful Baptist minister. He's quite a guy. But he also was pretty immature, too. Like I said, when he went to graduate school, Before he read Niebuhr, he was kind of like into the pleasure of religious studies and the status of it and all that. So maybe this wasn't the final development of him. So what's my story? My story, I was going to do a class here, a workshop here at Green Gulch. I think Pat was in it. Patricia, the one who's going to Africa, she was in that class on fear and fearlessness. Weren't you? Weren't you in a class like that? Yeah. She's a big person in this story, so watch.

[36:43]

She will leave Green Gulch famous. Maybe. But you won't be enchanted by this story of her fame, will you? Anyway, so they are coming, so I thought, before they came, I thought, now what can I do to frighten them? So I had the office tell the people who signed up to bring a bathing suit. Now, I didn't realize the multi-dimensional effect of the fear that might arise. There was fear that might arise. I was thinking, what I was thinking of was to take the people in the workshop down to the beach to go swimming in the dark. That's what I was thinking of, this kind of scary experience we could do together. So we could have some direct experience of fear and fearlessness. But I didn't realize that perhaps when people heard about the bathing suits, they thought maybe they were going to have to stand before the group in the bathing suit.

[37:50]

Or whatever, you know. I realized that the bathing gets closer to the naked body and all that. Anyway, so that announcement, did you ever hear that announcement? No. Anyway, I think there was an announcement like that and I don't know if it increased or decreased the enrollment. But then I thought a little bit more about it and I thought, if we go down there in the dark and it's going to be hard for me to keep track of the people after they go in the water in the dark, I might lose a few. So we just walked down to the beach. You remember walking to the beach? You don't. So this is going to be a new story for Patricia. So we walked to the beach, but we didn't go in the water. We held hands all the way to the beach in the dark. And we came back.

[38:55]

But it turned out that that wasn't that scary for people. At some point in the workshop, I realized that what was most scary for people was to be themselves and have other people see it. That was what was most scary to them. And Patricia, as I remember, was afraid that if she was herself, people wouldn't be able to handle it. And I said to her, Patricia, we can handle it. Go ahead. But she said, no thanks. I don't remember what she said. But anyway, I realized that that's what people are most afraid of, is to be themselves and be seen. That's what people are most afraid of. And you don't have to have a special outfit or anything. It's always this possibility that you will be yourself and people will see. And they might not like it or whatever. Or they might like it and then change their mind again.

[39:56]

They might love it and then stop. It's very... That's what I realized. So I realized I didn't have to manipulate the situation to have the scary situation. And maybe Martin Luther King realized that later too. That all he had to do was do what he thought was really appropriate. And that would turn out to be requiring sacrifice. Sacrifice means, in some sense, to make something sacred. And I would say we make ourselves sacred when we give ourselves up. A person who gives herself up becomes a sacred person. But you can't give yourself up before you go out there to give up. That's hard, too. That's scary. So it's scary to be who we are, and then it's scary to give it up. But in this open space is where we really meet, where we perfect love. I think so. But it's just my idea.

[40:59]

Don't be enchanted. Is it time for me to stop? my God, it's exactly 12.30, right? It's exactly 12.30 and I'm supposed to stop at 12.30. Wouldn't it be amazing if we did? Wouldn't it be astounding if we were on Zen time?

[41:22]

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