Would you like me to tell you a story? Once upon a time in China, there were two Zen monks. One's name, Yun Yan, Cloudy Cliff, and the other's name was Dao Wu. which means awakened way or the way of awakening. Thank you. was sweeping the ground.

[01:03]

And Da Wu came up to him and said, too busy. And Yin Yan said, you should know that there's one who's not busy. And Da Wu said, well then are there two moons? And Yin Yan took his broom, held it up and said, which moon is this? And Dawu So while a Zen monk is sitting, performing sitting, even performing still sitting, performing sitting still silently, another monk could say, too busy, too busy performing the ritual of Zen sitting.

[02:28]

But the sitter could say, you should know that right while I'm here busily sitting, still, there's one who's not busy. Are there two realities? The reality of not moving and the reality of moving? I offer myself to you with the questions. Do you have any response to this wonderful teaching of silence and stillness in which the Buddha work is being carried up by all of us together right now? Lois,

[03:30]

You're welcome. You said earlier, although you proposed that you might feel that we are getting to this whole place before the world, or that we leave before the world, or there's some secretode there. Yes. That is not so. So she's referring back to when I said, you may feel that if you enter into silence and stillness, you might enter ahead of the world or behind the world. The world might go ahead of you and leave you alone. So her question is? The question is, you proposed it. How can I accept that? And why would I think that it could cause them suffering? Would you say your question again?

[04:34]

You proposed that, but I want to know how you get that view that you have, or that you're suggesting. And why would I think that it wasn't so, that there was this disparity? Oh, you mean why? Well, first of all, even before you think that there is a disparity, you might be afraid that there would be. Anybody who has actually entered the stillness and come back and told me that they found out they got ahead of the world there. I'm talking about as you start to open to stillness and silence, as you start to open to this realm of the Buddha's work, you might feel that you would enter ahead of the world or that the world would enter ahead of you and then you become afraid. And then you start to tighten up and be afraid of stillness and silence.

[05:39]

But what you're afraid of, I'm saying, you will not run into. You will not get ahead of the world and the world will not get ahead of you. But we get afraid that it will. And we also could be afraid, not all the time, but we also could be afraid that if we entered that once we enter we might leave the world. So people do get afraid of this as they become on the threshold of this place actually where the two worlds meet. Where the world of movement and together meets the world of stillness and silence and communion. Those worlds meet. And as we, on the threshold, we might, we'd actually, on the threshold, we don't have to jump any, you know, we are jumping. If we jump and then if we, in our fear, we tense up and then we sort of pull ourselves back into the world of being separate from each other, of having separate practices and, you know, of moving with not a sense of stillness or of being busy without a sense of not being busy.

[06:59]

So as we come to bring our busyness and start aligning our busyness, ceremonially giving our busyness to the unbusy, at that point we may become afraid of these things. I just mentioned that to you. I've experienced it and heard many people who are successfully getting close to this place, get scared of that. It actually happened to me a long time ago. I don't think that I ever changed from being in that threshold that I kept. shall we say, with going forward or staying back and so on. So when you said it, I was much relieved because it, well, it just met me back there. Yeah. So actually we do live at this, there is this threshold and we do live there. We don't have to move.

[08:02]

So I often bring up this poem by Rumi. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. And I would say people and animals and plants, the whole universe is walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. So now, and if you need any help being present and awake at the threshold, I would be happy to hold your hand there.

[09:14]

I don't want to push you in or out or any place because the world you meet there, you can't actually. And the world where there's mind and object go in and out of the stillness. But we get scared at that threshold sometimes. And sometimes we're away, we don't even know there's a threshold. We just think we're in this world. No threshold to the other world, but the threshold is always right under our feet. And when we start to open to that, we can get nervous or whatever. That's okay. Just be quiet. Now take your busyness into Being busy being still and quiet. Or being busy remembering that there's stillness and quiet. And then that lets us be at the threshold where the two worlds meet.

[10:18]

Where they're in this wonderful... Yeah, the way everything's supporting everything takes care of itself. Yes. And that's already happening. We need to join it. Otherwise, we will be and worse and miserable. We might even take our misery out on somebody, blame somebody for it. Rather than say, thank you for my misery. Thank you. Busy? Oh yeah, the movements of mind and object. The movements of your mind. And those movements are occurring in stillness.

[11:20]

Or there's stillness occurring in the movement. So like if my hand moves or my mouth moves, it's possible for me to not get ahead of the movements or behind them, right with them. And that's a way for me to celebrate and enjoy the stillness that's there in every moment. In nature, cranes or herons, it's like there's a still point that they're moving with. It's just exemplary of stillness moving. What happens to us? Why do we go away from that?

[12:24]

I see it so much in nature. With humans, it's necessary to cultivate that. I think the cranes sometimes lose touch with it, like when they get frightened. You know, if you go, they might go, and lose, you know, like, I lost nature there for a second, you know. When they get frightened, I think, then you may not, you may still be able to see that in their fear, they're actually at the still point still. But they may actually, like, lose touch with it. And you have like a, what is it, a crane falling over. you know, an unstable crane. So we have minds which can create illusions of separation in the situation. And there's some reason why the universe has made us beings which you can imagine being separate from that which created us.

[13:31]

Like we can feel we're separate from our mother, right? we can feel separate from everything that's supporting us. And we can even feel separate from those we're supporting. But one of the reasons for practicing supporting beings is that it does tend to help us wake up to that we're not separate from those we're devoted to. So, like, we might feel separate from Buddhas, but if we're constantly being devoted to Buddhas, we realize we're not separate. So we have this mind which can imagine separation, and then we feel separate from nature. We feel separate from state. And that activity which gives rise to that is part of what's being given to us, and we're supported to imagine that we're separate from each other.

[14:33]

Our non-separation makes us into beings that can imagine that we're separate from each other. Part of the wonderful richness of our story. And so it pushes us to be even more enlightened than we would have to be if we didn't have a mind that could imagine separation. So in a way you could tell the story that the universe couldn't imagine any separation before it created beings like us. But also then it couldn't know itself in a certain way. So in order to know itself, it made beings who could know objects. So we other beings that can do this trick of knowledge of objects, of consciousness, also have brought into the universe a sense of separation from that which made us so that we could help it be aware of itself.

[15:37]

But then this separation So that's our problem and let's be generous about it and then we'll get over it. Let's be generous with the sense of separation which distracts us from stillness and distracts us from how we're supporting each other in stillness. I also think because of various evolutionary things that we have to move to help each other rather than if we would just be together In stillness, we would see how we're helping each other. And other people would see how they're being helped. It's being helped if they could join us in being together without doing anything. So how can we... So today we're doing pretty well. We're together. We're not doing too much, right? And in that way, we're opening to how we're helping each other.

[16:39]

just by being together. So Buddha, when Buddha's with somebody, Buddha doesn't necessarily do anything to them and they wake up with Buddha. They just meet. But sometimes Buddha, you know, does... I asked some people to do some research for me one time to find out some examples of giving people massages. Shakyamuni Buddha. There's not too many examples of giving people massages or patting somebody in the back, on the head, But there are a few examples of where Buddha touches somebody. But mostly Buddha helps people just by being with them and then realize that they're being with Buddha and you don't have to do anything. We're already helping each other. So rather than think we have to do something later to help each other, already we're helping each other. Already we're helping each other. And we can help each other again, but let's not... And now we're not moving.

[17:42]

Now we're where we are. We're not going anyplace else. Everybody's where they are. Everybody's got their position and everybody's helping everybody before there's any movement. But it might help, you know, maybe if you pass something on the head, they'd be willing to sit still and wake up to it. Good boy. Sit there. Hold still. Okay. Now you get it? Ready? Now I see we're helping each other without patting or anything. But maybe a few pats are helpful, just to get warmed up to that. For the real work of Buddha, which happens, which is, and then some translators say, it is the silence and stillness. It is being together in silence and stillness. That is how we help each other. Another way is that we help each other We help each other. We help within silence and stillness. So it's within and it is.

[18:45]

Both. Both. But, you know, Buddhists can also appear to move if that helps people, so they do. So they say, okay, here I come. Yes? yesterday a car with my six-year-old daughter and there was a song by van morrison by who van morrison van morrison how auspicious i was just trying to remember his name the other day and i remembered it just one day before you told me i remembered ben because he's he one of the favorite people of the person i had dinner with last night position? Huh? He's an eye doctor, but he loves Van Morrison and his children try to get him to turn off Van Morrison because he plays it. That's old folks music. Yes? So my daughter was listening, and we were listening to the tune, and she picked up on two words that said in the song, it says, the garden, nature, and the great sadness.

[19:56]

The garden, nature, and the great sadness. And she said, Mom, what's the great sadness? And I kind of reflected back to her, what do you think it is? Can you hear her? No. No, sorry. So her daughter said, what's the great sadness, Mommy? And Mommy said, what do you think it is? Is that all right? Yes. And the daughter said, sing it, Marianne. The daughter said, maybe it's when you die. And she said, what do you think the great sadness is? Good. And you said? Because sometimes we really want things and we can't have things that we really, really want. So I gave her the... the idea of wanting three chocolate cakes and not being able to have those, and you can get really sad because you know that they're not good for you.

[20:59]

I said, well, why is that that God loves us and we don't get what we want? And I said, because sometimes God knows better than we what it is that we want. But I'm trying to work with this great sadness and understand how to have that great sadness and be on the threshold. Because you can still be still with it, but your body and your mind still believe that there's so much pain in wanting and not getting what you want. In one world, there's great sadness. And it comes from what you're saying, but it also comes from feeling that we're separate from what we want. I thought of that. You thought that was too much for her.

[22:02]

Maybe. Maybe intellectually, I think for sure. But also for me, it's an idea that we're separate. That we're not separate. No, it's an idea that we're not separate? Yeah. Okay, and I'm saying there is the idea that we're not separate. And there is the idea that we are separate. And a six-year-old could understand both of those ideas. However, the idea that we're separate is based on the reality that we're not separate. The idea, there's no basis in correspondence with the idea of being separate. There's no basis for it. It's totally an illusion. It is an illusion of something. The idea that we're not separate is an illusion too, but it's based on a reality that we're not.

[23:07]

And when there's the garden and there's nature and there's the idea of separate, and we believe it, there is the great sadness. The sadness of being separate from mommy But there's a bigger sadness of being separate from all beings, including all the mommies, all the daddies, all the brothers and sisters, and all the Buddhas. That idea is the great sadness. If we sit still and open to that sadness at the threshold, we'll be ready to see that the world where we're sad and the world where there's no sadness, there's just Buddha's work and teachings in sadness, we'll see those worlds are always meeting. And we really do live between those two worlds. We're actually on the threshold, but we're usually so busy resisting the sadness in the world of separation

[24:19]

that we don't notice we're on the threshold of the world of non-separation. So we need to teach our children to feel that sadness. And I would say, you know, you're wonderfully blessed by her daughter who's asking you, what is the greatest sadness? And then you can ask her also, in addition to what you already asked her, you can ask her, does she feel the great sadness? And you can ask her if you can join her in feeling the great sadness. Or she can ask you, Mommy, do you feel the great sadness? And you can say, Yes, darling, I feel the great sadness. It includes that I'm sad for all the little Margos I've lost. I used to have many other Margos. I lost all those Margos. You can tell her about all the Margos she's lost. Her daughter's name is Margo. She's lost innumerable Margos. And you're sad about that to some extent. your sadness and then she can tell you about hers and together you can be sad mommy and baby and open to the life at the threshold and then teach her how to live at the threshold

[25:37]

And if you have trouble being able to live at the threshold, because you have trouble living at the threshold, then you tell her, Mommy's having trouble, actually, with her sadness. I'm a little bit having trouble with my sadness. I'm a little distracted. You can tell her about it without making her feel like she's responsible to, you know, make sure that your sadness all the time. Although she is responsible, you know, other people are helping you. So you can help me, Margo, but I also have other friends who are helping me with my sadness. So you don't have to do it all by yourself. But she is helping you. Your daughter is helping you. Open to the great sadness. Isn't that great? And Van Morrison's helping you. And my friend, the eye doctor, is helping you. Everybody's helping you and me. There is a great sadness. And if we can be silent, if we can practice being silent and still, that will help us find this great threshold where the world of busyness and stillness meet, where the world of misery and the world of peace meet.

[26:56]

And we don't want to flip over into the world of peace and stay there. When we go there, we're going to bring the whole world with us. It's all the world's going to come with us into it, and we're going to come out of it. We merge with realization and then go beyond it, back into the world of the great sadness. And then in the stillness, we merge, we enter realization and come back out of it. So please take care of the great sadness with your daughter. And, you know, she asked what it is. That's great. Six years old, what's the great sadness, Mommy? And you could also say, you want to hear about what the great happiness is? Want to hear about that? You can tell her. That's where when you see a cake, you don't feel separate from it.

[27:58]

The cake, but you don't have to run over and grab it. You actually already like enjoy it. You don't feel separate from it. Or when you see a gorgeous boyfriend or girlfriend and you're like, hey, thank you. I'm so grateful that I see a gorgeous girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever. Teach her that. And she said, well, we're separate from it. Well, that's the world of great sadness. So they're both good worlds. They live together. So it sounds like she's ready to start studying Zen. Your little Dharma sister. She actually asked me, because she asked me about my prophecy and what was on the back. Who is this little person coming to visit? What would my name be? Wow! And I have a daughter. who gave her the Bodhisattva precepts.

[29:03]

And she's a daughter who did not grow up with me. She didn't know I was her father until she was 21. And now, for the last about 18 years, we've been knowing that we're father and daughter. And then recently she asked me if I would give her the Bodhisattva precepts. And part of that would be, I'm going to give her a name. Because when she was first named Deborah, I was not consulted about the naming. But now she wants me to name her Deborah. So I will be giving her a name. And she's also looking for what name to call me. she's been calling me Reb, you know, but she says she feels like she's kind of ready to call me something like Father. But Daddy doesn't seem right, or Dad doesn't seem right, because she's got that she thought was her dad for many years. So she's still going to call him Dad, but she's looking for a name to call me.

[30:07]

So, yeah, so you can try to find a new, imagine what her Buddhist name would be with her. and tell her that maybe, although you and she are... She actually formally becomes a disciple of Buddha. The teacher who gives her the precepts would also maybe be involved in the naming. But you could have a pre-Buddhist name or something like that. You could discuss it. And then you could also ask her what name she would like to give you over and above... Marianne and... Your name has something to do with courage, doesn't it? What is it? Diamond. Diamond courage? Courageous diamond? No, a diamond of courage. Diamond courage. Diamond courage. You like that? Yeah. So I'm thinking about what name, what Buddhist name, what Dharma name to give my daughter, my 40-year-old daughter.

[31:15]

And she's thinking about what name to give to her father. I thought of one just now. Bio-dad. Okay. Michelle? No? Okay. I thought you raised your hand. You moved a little bit there, though, didn't you? Yeah, I saw that. Lois? Yeah, you're dominating the whole situation. talked about and repeated, you know, coming back to the world when you said we go through it.

[32:27]

I took off into the nether or ether or either world. So you said once you passed the threshold plane, now you just oiled it. Back to the Great Sadness and come back, so more circles. I spoiled it, huh? When you did, it was for a few seconds there. I was out in the ozone. Oh, I brought you back from the ozone. Good. Thanks for the feedback, Lois. I know. You did. Great. We want you back. Come on back into the mud with us. Yeah, come on. Come on. Come on, put those tendrils into the mud. Got to grow a lotus here. That's the spirit. Be honest about the pugnace with the world of suffering. All the way up. Yeah, right. Okay, here we go.

[33:27]

All right. To me it was, you know, on and on and on. Yeah, but it's enter realization. and then go beyond. Beyond, that's what I meant. Yeah, but beyond means go back. One of the ways to go beyond is... No. A part of going on is you give away realization. Anybody need some realization? Here. That's part of it. The other way, one other thing you do is you go back into non-realization. You visit the world of unrealized being. you're happy to go back to your little grass shack in Kahalikahu, Hawaii. You have attained something that doesn't make you afraid of the lowest hells, the deepest mud.

[34:30]

Or even if you're afraid, you're not afraid of being afraid. Okay, can we give you some fear now? Yes, okay, here it comes, all right. Oh, fear, wow, this is so frightening. Yeah. We're here in stillness, in the fear. Wonderful. Can we have the fear back now? Okay. So it's a geography lesson. Yeah, it's a geography lesson, right? Any other feedback anyone care to offer? Roderick? The world came in. The world came in, yes. And the idea that the worldliness is trying to grasp or get something.

[35:36]

Yes, worldliness is trying to grasp. One of the main worldly activities is grasping something in the universe. So, the sadness seems like the starting point. Yes, right. One of the great sadnesses is that we spend so much time turning it into something that seems much more negative. Like the idea that if you want to be best friends, you spend that time beating each other up. And to see all that. That's not so sad. What's sad is that we wanted to be friends, and we weren't. But we held on. to wanting to be friends. And because we held on to being friends, when we weren't friends, we felt sad.

[36:42]

If we'd given up being friends, and then we weren't friends, we would have realized we were friends. But holding on to anything, then when we move out of it, which we do, we're dragged back even to old friendships that are gone. because we're holding on to those old, those friendships. Then the new friendships, we have trouble meeting them because we're being dragged back by our attachment to the old friendship. And we even call the new friendship not friendship, perhaps. Or not as good as the last one. But I think you're right. Start with the sadness. Open to the sadness and you'll let go of your wish. to be friends and your wish or your experience of being friends or your ideas of being friends that you're holding on to. The sadness is, let go of all that good stuff. We're over that.

[37:45]

We, you know, your actual life, are over that. Let it go and come on and be with us. So the sadness is like medicine coming to say, take this sadness pill. this great sadness, and then you'll be able to, now you'll be able to be our friend, because now you'll be with us again. So start with the sadness. When it comes, welcome it. And the grasping is the trying to change it? The grasping is trying to change, or the grasping is just trying to hold on to something. And everything's moving, so whenever you try to hold on to something, you're holding on to something that's moving, and you're squelching it. you know, for yourself, you're squelching the life of it, and vitality is pushing you to let go, and the way it pushes you to let go is it gives you a great sadness. Now, you're missing this offering, so then it gives you another sadness, and then it gives you things worse than sadness, until finally you say, okay.

[38:48]

And then you let go of trying to control and hold on to what can't be controlled What we've got today is this idea of celebration, of silence, and the lack of inner effort. You're celebrating silence, yes. And to celebrate the sadness means to go beyond, like, there's one word that produces frustration and sadness, and if we drop the frustration, Trying to get something out, but trying to fix it. Yes. Yeah. Drop the frustration. We then can just enjoy the sadness. Enjoy the sadness. Cross the transcend, the threshold. Beyond the threshold. And then come back to the sadness with some kind of, something to offer.

[39:54]

Yeah. Instead of... Yeah. Yeah. Sadness will be temporarily over once you feel it. Sadness is meant to be felt. You don't hold on to the sadness either. You feel it. Okay, come back to the world of... Yeah, so you feel... By feeling the sadness, now you're back to the world. You're back in the USSR. Now you're back. But you're fresh. You're dealing with now. You're dealing with your rock. Now, fresh. And you've got something fresh to offer. Just like it's got something fresh to offer to you. You meet the freshness and now you can practice with it. Until the next moment you try to hold on to something and then vitality says, okay, time for sadness again. And again... If you're not in touch with stillness, you may miss the offering, this subtle, quiet offering of sadness.

[40:59]

When we sit quietly and still, the sadness comes up. Or in driving the car and listening to Van Morrison, there's some stillness there, which our daughter can feel, and she can hear what the guy's saying, because she's not hysterical. the garden, nature, and the great sadness. She can hear. She's there. She's at rest. And then she can ask the question, what is it? So as part of what we need to, we need to celebrate stillness. And in the celebration, we taste it enough to feel the sadness. Be still with the sadness and let the sadness do its work, which is be something to feel, not something to hold, and then we let go, and then we're ready to make a fresh offering to this world where there's all this suffering. And with sadness the feeling is the celebration. Pardon?

[42:01]

With the sadness the feeling is the celebration. Yes, for the sadness the feeling is the celebration, or feeling the sadness is celebrating the sadness. Sadness is asking to be felt. And if your feelings open to sadness, your feelings let go of the past. And in that openness to the sadness, you're open to the present. And now we've got a whole new set of problems. But anyway, we're here finally. And now we can try to be quiet with the freshness. And then again, if we hold on, we've got to be sad more. But plus, we'll have a few moments of actually being here and being just. ...on anything and do some good work before we slip into grabbing onto something, like our good work. And then hold on to your good work, then you've got to be sad, probably. Unless you can spot it and let go without. Sometimes you can go directly to letting go of it after you grab it, without going to the sadness thing. That's also... Best way, you know, I shouldn't say best way, but one way is don't hold on in the first place.

[43:06]

When you're given a moment of fresh suffering... say thank you very much, and then get ready for the next one. That's one way. Another way is, it comes, and you hold on to it, and then you get dragged down by your clinging. But if you keep practicing stillness, you'll be given more moments of sadness. Feel the sadness, experience it, go back to the present, and try to practice again. So most of us, to do quite a bit of grieving on this path. And when we're still, we give grieving a chance. If we move too fast, you know, if you drive too fast, your daughter won't be able to hear Van Noor Morrison say, great sadness. If you drive, you know, just mindfully, then she won't be scared, and she'll be able to be quiet in her seat and hear the Dharma.

[44:08]

And so if you're driving your car, drive it so that you're not ahead of you where you're going. Okay? Be right with every turning of the wheel. Be there. And you'll hear the Dharma while you're driving. You can be still and quiet. And then you'll hear the Dharma on the radio, from the street noise, from your own sadness. Is that enough for this morning? Is that enough for this morning? Can it be enough? Because it's getting towards dinner time. Pardon? Yeah, mediodia. It's past mediodia. So we can have lunch now and I would suggest for lunch time

[45:14]

I would suggest, since it's raining, and not too many people rain, although that sounds really interesting. I might try it myself. But anyway, for those who want to eat indoors, which might be quite a few people, I would suggest these two rooms be rooms for people who would like to converse during lunch. But I would also like to offer for anybody who wants to be quiet And the rooms I offer for quiet would be that room here, over here, and the room upstairs over there. It's okay. Those two rooms for anybody who wants to be quiet. And I'll check later. If nobody wants to be up there, I'll open them up for conversation too. But I'd like to leave some quiet space. I'd like to continue being quiet during lunch if there is anybody. And then this room in the kitchen and this room in these two, this big room here for... for quiet conversation. Okay? So... And there's cheesecake being offered.

[46:22]

With graham cracker crust. Thank you very much. And thank you very much, everybody. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true Dharma of Buddha. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates. I vow to enter them.

[47:25]

Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Now we have said that all Buddhas and ancestors who uphold the Buddha Dharma, who live in the Buddha Dharma, have made it the true path of enlightenment to sit upright in the midst of this awareness of receiving a self and giving a self. They make the true path of enlightenment to be upright in the awareness of the practice of all beings and the enlightenment of all beings.

[48:33]

This awareness of how you receive yourself and give yourself. of the practice of all beings and the enlightenment of all beings. That's where the Buddhas practice, in that realm of awareness and reality. And it totally illuminates human beings and all their activities, but none of our activities reach it. However, it illuminates all our activities. And it occurs, this whole universal enlightenment and practice occurs in stillness. And some translations say it occurs in quietness and some say in stillness. I haven't seen one that says quietness and stillness. But it's quietness and stillness.

[49:36]

this realm where all beings are supporting each other and being supported, where all beings are practicing for the sake of all beings and are practicing by the kindness of all beings, that realm is quiet and still and radiant and ungraspable by the consciousness of any being, and it totally includes all consciousnesses. So in this translation which we just recited, it says, each moment of zazen is equally wholeness of practice, equally wholeness of enlightenment. Another translation is, each moment of zazen is equally the same practice and equally the same enlightenment as each of us in all beings. That's the zazen that you're talking about.

[50:42]

And that Zazen is also called the work of Buddha, the Buddha's activity. So we call it Zazen, or sitting meditation. And what we mean by sitting meditation in this context is the activity, the way all beings are working together in the same practice. That's Zazen. Is there anything that's not it? Anything that's not it? You know, if someone, for example, is being cruel, in that case that cruelty is not what everybody is doing. Not everybody is doing the practice at that time. And that cruelty is not the enlightenment of all beings.

[51:48]

But it is being supported by all beings. And the way it's being supported by all beings, that is the zazen. And the way it supports all beings is the zazen. But the cruelty itself... is not the zazen, is not the same practice and the same enlightenment as people who are being kind. But their kindness, your kindness, is not the same kindness that God is doing. But the kindness, but your support of all beings and all beings supporting you, that kindness is not your kindness, even though you're totally included in it. That kindness is the same kindness that even a cruel person is participating in. The zazen. And to make every action, to give every action to that practice, to give your action, which is not everybody's action, to the practice, which is everybody's action, that unites your action

[53:02]

to the actuality of the Buddha's activity. So even if you did something unkind, if right at that moment you would admit that was unkind and effort in noticing this unkindness, a gift to the practice of all beings, then that would realize this thing. So, there is, you know, in this book of talks by, what's the name, Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains, one of the articles is the Ceremony of Zazen. And my wife likes that article. She doesn't like most of my articles, but she likes that one because she actually wrote it. And for a long time, whenever anything good would happen for us or for our community, she would say, is that because of Zazen?

[54:15]

And I would say, yes. But then after that article, she says, is that because of Zazen? And I say, yes. And she says, the ceremony of Zazen. Zazen is right now how we're helping each other and how all beings are helping us. That's Zazen in this context. It's how all the Christians and Muslims and atheists and Jews and Hindus are helping us and how we're helping them. It's not just how we're helping all the Buddhists. That's not our practice. We're actually benefiting each other and being benefited. However, we must do the ceremony of Zazen. We people must do a personal practice in order to join the person.

[55:18]

And on the book, on the cover of Being Upright, there's a character which means ceremony. And the part of the character, the left side of the character is a person and the right side of the character is justice or righteousness. Or you could say the way we're actually helping each other. Okay? And you put the person together with the way we're actually benefiting each other. Put it together and it's the character for ceremony. Ceremony is the way your action is devoted to righteousness or justice or the practice of all beings. Your own personal practice joined to that. And then your personal practice is a ceremony celebrating peace and justice and beneficence and health. among all beings.

[56:22]

So we have to do the ceremony of zazen. We can't just say, okay, zazen is taking care of everything and I'm taking care of zazen, which is true. You can't just say that. But if you say that and you say, okay, me saying that, that's my ceremony. I proclaim that. I sing that. I dance that. That's my ceremony. But unless you think that and say that and posture that, You don't have a ceremony to celebrate the Zazen. You don't realize it. So in order to realize this wonderful practice, this inconceivably wonderful and all-pervading practice, we must do the ceremony of this practice. Otherwise, we're going to do ceremony of something else and not even notice that we're doing a ceremony of something else. And then we won't realize it. So here we did it today.

[57:23]

We did the ceremony. I shouldn't speak for you, but may I? You did the ceremony. Your body, speech, and mind sat still and quiet, celebrating the still and quiet of all beings. We did Buddha's work today and we realized it in our body, speech and mind. So, may there be more days like this throughout the universe where people themselves to celebrate reality and reality is beyond good and evil and is totally healing, holding, beneficent. And I'll photograph of me and the last Pope meeting in Carmel 21 years ago.

[58:27]

And I put it there to remind you and other people that our practice is for the welfare of the Catholic Church and all Catholics. And all Catholics are helping us. We're not doing a practice other than Catholicism. We're doing a practice which is the same practice and the same enlightenment as Catholics. But I also put it there because that dear Pope thought that Buddhists were not doing a practice which included the Catholics. He thought Buddhists were doing a practice just for their own personal happiness, their own personal freedom. But it's not... And some people who say they're Buddhists do have that attitude, that they heard about practicing for the welfare of all beings and all beings practicing for their welfare, but they say, well, later on that for me is practicing for some peace of mind or some personal freedom.

[59:44]

And I honestly admit that, and may I be allowed to stay at Zen Center even so? And usually we say yes for a while. Eventually you should get over this, but for now you can stay for your own well-being, for your own tranquility, peace of mind, happiness, etc. Those are all good things. And if you become happy enough, maybe you'll open up to the big practice. doing the same practice and the same enlightenment as all beings, religious or non-religious. I don't know, you know, what earthworms and cockroaches and antelope say, you know, but I think they actually are involved in this.

[60:47]

But I don't know if they're involved in the ceremony of this. They're supporting us. We're supporting them. In that sense, they're part of our enlightenment, our practice. But in terms of the ceremony, I don't know about them practicing the ceremony. So we want to find a ceremony to celebrate the practice that we're already doing together with everyone. And so we have a few ceremonies. I leave it to you to make everything a ceremony in your life. I feel like even if nobody's made some of your activities into ceremonies before, it's fine for you to do so. Yes. It occurs to me as you say this, that when I think about unskillful behavior that I've indulged in and seen, that it almost is a ceremony, even more so because back on campus.

[62:01]

Yeah, like I said, it's like it's a ceremony to separation. It's a ceremony to, you know, your practice all by yourself. It's celebrating that reality. But it's a sad celebration. I mean, it's a painful celebration. Yeah, and it's got its own habit strength. And that, in reality, supports us. Actually, so thank you very much. And we support you doing that, so you can say thank you to us. And not only that, that interdependence more and more, we become free of our unskillful action. Including that we admit our unskillful action. We do that part too. That's part of the course, is to be honest. That seemed unskillful, what... And learn how to say that what somebody else did is unskillful without putting them down.

[63:06]

If anybody asks you. Usually you don't have to say anything unless they ask you. But for yourself, you may have to say something even if no one asks you. Because there's some unskillful things which you might have going on that no one knows about. So you have to bring it forth. in order to do the ceremony, do that ceremony of bringing it forth, to realize the reality, it actually is being brought forth. It's being brought forth and it's liberating you in that way. So you have to practice that. You have to make a ceremony of that. Which you do. Right? Many of you are doing that quite well already. Thank you. Yes. Your mind does what? Your mind becomes foggy while you're reciting? Yeah, and I'm turning away from the text when it shows who receives these water and fire benefits.

[64:23]

I have no clue what that is, and so I just turn away. Oh, but finally you asked about it. Please tell me. You got that out in the open. The fogginess has been exposed in public. Good. Because probably other people don't understand either, you know, but they haven't brought it forth yet. Okay, so you got the earth, right? got the earth, and you got the trees, and the grasses, and the birds, and the bees, and the rivers, and the mountains, okay? And they're practicing together, right? They're practicing together, they're helping each other. And so, because of that, the water, and the wind, and the fire, and the earth, all those things that are helping each other, those are the wind and fire and air benefits of these. And they're working together. So the way they're working together makes the elements of the earth beneficent.

[65:30]

And also the all beings help these elements and they return this benefit. There's no being separate from the elements, so I just don't... There's no being separate from the elements, no. There's no being separate from the beings, and there's no being separate from beings, and there's no elements separate from elements, and there's no being separate from... See, there are some beings that aren't really elements. There are beings that aren't like earth. Well, like an emotion isn't a earth or whatever. All the material things are made of these elements. Now the beings, the consciousnesses arise in dependence on these elements, but the consciousnesses are not those elements. Except you could say, well, maybe there's space.

[66:33]

But in speaking of how the garden and the nature, the physical nature, in that's the way that they're supporting each other, brings forth these physical benefits through these elements. They are benefited into their existence and then they resonate that back to other beings who then resonate back So, but to some extent, some of the benefits that human beings can send to the hillside are not, strictly speaking, the water and fire and wind and earth elements. There may be more heart element or consciousness element. But the way they help us is through their physicality. But then the way they help us, then their physicality helps us and resonates back from us to them. So this is the water and fire benefits.

[67:35]

Thank you for bringing that up. Any other feedback on this practice, this enlightenment? Did the Pope ever understand what the Buddhist... Pardon? Did the Pope ever understood what... I don't know if anybody... He did go to Sri Lanka one day and some of his bishops, I think, did apologize on his behalf and I don't know how much he evolved around this. And his successor still seems to be misinformed. about Buddhism, and partly because you think that way, that Buddhism is about personal liberation. And it's not false that it's about personal liberation, but it's personal liberation in the context of universal liberation. So it doesn't exclude the person, and a liberated person can work

[68:39]

beings but there's no liberated person separate from that that's why they do that so I think that in some Buddhist scholars also say that Buddhism is about personal liberation so there's quite a few people some Buddhist scholars and some who are really very smart, intelligent people, they look at Buddhism and they say it's a world-hating, individual, you know, check-out-from-the-world kind of religion. And Gnosticism has been said to be like that. from an evil world. And the Catholic Church, with the aid of the Dominicans, suppressed Gnosticism as a heresy. I don't know if the Gnostics really were that way, but the idea of doing a religion for your own... Many people think of religion that way.

[69:44]

Even though they're really not that way. They think about themselves that way. So any religion could have people who are members of the group who think of their religion that way. And they would... And then you could say that the whole religion is like that. But some Catholics would be like that, some Jews would be like that, some Muslims would be like that. But in all those religions, you also have people who say that the religion doesn't have to do with just helping the people in that religion. And... you can find examples, I think, in all the traditions of people who are not caught by thinking that their religion is just about the people who have membership cards for that religion, but it's for the whole universe. And I would say that those people and all those religions are in accord with the teaching which we just have been talking about today, which is called, you know, the Mahayana, or anyway, it's called the way Buddhas work.

[70:51]

Buddhists are not in any way limited in who they're working with. Buddhists are working of beings. So, yeah, so I'm still in communication with the former Pope, you know, trying to get him to open up a little here, a little bit more, and accept that he's helping us. Buddhism all along, and we've been helping him. And so I put his picture up in the other room there to let you guys know that we're working with the Pope here. And we're working with all the rabbis and all the imams and all the moms. We're working with everybody. That's reality. And everybody's working with us. And we do a little ceremony every moment, right? To celebrate that. And we forget, we confess, I forgot, I forgot, I forgot, sorry, sorry.

[71:59]

Okay. I forgot what you just said to me was really helpful. I was so amazed that you didn't appreciate what I just did, that I forgot that this meditation was really helpful to me. But now my eyes are open again and I see that you really were helping me when you showed me that you didn't think I was helping you. Thank you so much. But I didn't have that problem today. All day long I thought you were helping me. Even when you thought I wasn't helping you, I still thought you were helping me. But you didn't actually tell me too much about it. So it was easy for me today.

[73:02]

But sometimes some of you do tell me that I'm not being helpful and I appreciate those gifts too. Everything that comes is a gift. Everything you are is a gift, non-stop, inconceivably. So is the ceremony just a matter of awareness to the reality that's happening? whatever brings awareness? No, it's more than just bringing awareness. It's bringing awareness and then lining up your karma, your activity with it. Bringing awareness... If you're bringing awareness to your own actions, then you would say, okay, now I'm aware of my action, I'm talking, and this talking is...

[74:12]

donated, dedicated, aligned with this universal Buddha work. That's the awareness part. The awareness is awareness of what you're doing and also the awareness of this teaching. You have this awareness of this teaching, you have awareness of what you're doing, and then you line up what you're doing with the teaching. you're willing to and you so then again you you will you intend you dedicate you consecrate your activity to this to this practice and enlightenment of all beings it seems like that would almost be with it if the awareness is there of the larger reality inevitable that the lining up would happen yes But even if the awareness isn't there, it's still inevitable that the lining up will happen. But then, would you still call that the ceremony, though?

[75:15]

No, I wouldn't call it a ceremony. So, it is inevitable reality. We cannot resist it indefinitely. We're eventually going to succumb to this irresistible love of the universe. We cannot hold out forever. We will succumb to it and join it. However, if you're not doing the ceremony, you're effectively resisting it at the moment. My karma right now, my action of body, speech, and mind are not going to go for this end. No. At that moment, you feel like, hey, I successfully resisted it. See, I didn't give in. No way, Jose, on everybody helping everybody. I'm not with you on that at all. I'm totally opposed to it. And this is not a ceremony in reverse. You know? I really, I'm really not, I don't like this stuff. So, this is not going to work.

[76:16]

You're going to have, you know, you're going to break down pretty soon and say, you know, okay, thank you. It is inevitable, but we can resist it. And people do support us to resist it. And our resistance... supports them to try again. It's job security for the... Our resistance is what we call a non-ceremony. Which is what I call a non-ceremony. Most people don't even know the concept. So again, they're doing ceremonies to their delusion. Like, I'm doing a ceremony, I'm celebrating that you're not my close friend. You know? I don't say usually it is a ceremony. It's like an enactment of my idea that we're not close friends. I talk, I think like that, I talk like that, I actually do give my karma to that. But if I hear about, you know, how wonderful everything is, but I don't line my karma up with it, then it's kind of some spiritual awareness.

[77:19]

I'm saying we've got to get our action into it, and that's a ceremony. You don't have to call it a ceremony, but it is a ceremony. And that is necessary in order to line up with the inevitable. I can imagine the awareness would still be resisting the action part. Yeah, exactly. A lot of people say, I love Buddha. I believe in the enlightened beings and compassion and all that. And I actually kind of would be perfectly happy to make offerings It's not necessary to actually make the offering, to actually like say, okay, this, my body is an offering, or here, you know, I offer you Buddhas, my practice, I offer you my devotion to other beings, I offer this to you. I say that with my mouth, I think that with my mind, my body.

[78:21]

So I'm saying that in this school of Zen, or this school of the Buddha, We put all this stuff into action. Not to say that just thinking about it and thinking it's a good idea isn't good. It has to be there. But it has to be activated too. It's an inaction kind of practice. Would it be fair to categorize the lighting up as a non-attachment practice, that at the moment of awareness of your karma, you're giving in that ceremony, that you're not attaching to the karma? The ceremonies can be a ceremony of non-attachment. That could be the ceremony. Or anyway, a ceremony of alignment is a ceremony which will lead you to non-attachment.

[79:23]

So either it will lead you to non-attachment or it is a ceremony about non-attachment. And as we talked before, if you do ceremonies like this and there's anything, if there's any John, for example, in addition to the ceremony, John would probably notice that if we're doing a ceremony about non-attachment there would be a John separate from the action of the ceremony. So then that would flush out this sense that you're in addition to the process. Now all the more if you were doing a ceremony about non-attachment. If there was somebody there aside from the process it would be even more obvious. But even if you weren't specifically thinking like a lot of people younger people in the practice, they make offerings to Buddhas and they think, I'm making an offering to Buddha. And they do that over and over. But gradually they realize there's nobody making it. There's just me and Buddha and offering being made.

[80:26]

I'm not doing the offering. Buddha's making the offering as much as I am. Neither one of us are really doing it by ourselves. The offering's happening and there's nobody doing it. But for a long time you think, I'm doing Zazen, I'm making offerings, I'm helping people. But the more we make offerings to Buddhas, the closer we get to the inevitable realization that there's nobody making the offering, and somebody's there, but that person's not doing it. If you're a gift, you're not making the gift. And yet there is gift giving and you are the gift and you are also receiving. The whole process is ungraspable. But by putting into action any kind of resistance to it, like I'm doing it or I'm not doing it. Doing Zen, I'm practicing Zazen is a resistance to Zazen. But we let people start that way.

[81:27]

And as you practice, and people tell you that it's not that way, you gradually notice that you think it is that way. And you don't want to hear them talk about that anymore. So you go to a different Zen center. You get to do the practice. Yeah, you can join our group. We'll let you be that way. But the whole group will eventually fall into the great pit of there's nobody doing Zazen. Because Zazen is what we're doing together. But you can start out with, I'm doing zazen, I'm practicing non-attachment. Ceremonies will flush out anybody who's outside the universe. It sounds like there might also be a stage where you get attached to making ceremonies. Yeah. And you have to go through that stage as well. Yeah. Like, John, we'd like to change the ceremony today. No, no. I just learned this thing. You know, I just kind of got the hang of it.

[82:30]

Oh, we're not going to do it that way today. No, please, don't change the ceremony. Don't make me go back to go. This tea teacher, Nakamura Sensei at Green Gulch, And she had various forms she taught us. And one of the great things about the way she taught was just as we would learn the form, she'd move on to the next one. Just when we got it, and like, if you just let me repeat it two more times, I would actually have it. Let me do it five more times so I'll have it. I wouldn't actually say that, but there was somebody inside kind of like, could we do this over a few times so that I'll remember? And she didn't speak English, so it was pretty easy for her just to move into the next form, which we'd then be a beginner at. Then we'd do that one. And when we were just about able to get a hold of that one, she'd go back to the previous one, which by that time we had forgotten.

[83:34]

And kind of like starting over, but not exactly. And then again, you get to the point where, oh yeah, I just got to get... And then for some reason or other, just... just from when we were about to get her, when I was about to get it, that would be just the right time for me to move on to the next thing. And I never really said, you know, let's stay at this level. But if she spoke English, I might have. I said, couldn't we just do this over a few more times? Because then I'd have it. So as a result of studying teeth for quite a few years, I remember almost nothing, but I do remember that feeling of I do have that feeling of not getting anything out of it and being willing to go. And being in that situation, getting anything out of it, the tea tastes really good. If you go back to your own little apartment or your own little kitchen and make the tea where you can actually get control of the ceremony, the tea doesn't taste as good. It's in the tea room where you totally have no control.

[84:38]

It's really delicious. You have no control over those and they're so beautiful. And everything's so beautiful because you can't get anything. But if you don't try to do the ceremony, you won't realize that you don't have any control. You'd say, well, if I tried, I'd probably get control. So if you try, then you realize that nobody's in control and yet you're helping everybody. I'm not in control of you but I'm helping you. And you're not in control of me but you're helping me. Thank you very much. I'm full of appreciation. And please drive really carefully. May our intention equally extend to every being and place.

[85:38]

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